2. Volt
Volt
“Oh my god!” Angel shrieked, doing a little happy dance when he saw the two bots standing casually by the stove. “Did you really fix them?”
Volt’s heart swelled as Angel flew around the kitchen table to wrap Wallace in a hug.
Wallace froze, then awkwardly patted Angel’s arm. “Uh, I guess?” He looked like he was trying to hide a smile, but he was just too, too cute. And proud of himself, like he should be.
Volt was certainly proud of him.
And hoping that this hadn’t been a horrible first date.
Wallace had been down in the basement for nearly twelve hours, working on the bots long after Volt had asked if Wallace wanted to stop and finish another time.
Volt could have gone all Daddy on him and made him do more than just take a dinner break.
But Wallace was adamant about finishing, and Volt was still trying to figure out this whole boyfriend thing.
He loved being Wallace’s Daddy. But was it different now? Did Wallace still want their daily rules now that they were dating? He’d said that it was okay for Volt not to be in Daddy mode all the time, but now the lines were blurring in every direction.
He knew that Wallace enjoyed their daily texts and calls, but was that because he truly wanted to submit or because he wanted someone out there who cared about him?
Volt knew that he’d been responsible for pushing their interactions toward Daddy kink, but had Wallace accepted that because he felt like he didn’t have another choice if he wanted to be with Volt?
Volt was becoming rapidly aware of how inexperienced Wallace was. It had been fun to show him a whole new world during his paid visits, but what did it mean for them now?
It seemed like Wallace had been all too happy to think of Volt as just a regular, non-kinky boyfriend.
It had given Volt a lot to think about as he’d eventually come upstairs for his evening shift circulating through the lounge and managing paperwork, wondering the whole time if he ought to go back to the basement to be with his boyfriend.
Instead, he’d just left the boiler room cameras on a constant feed and managed to restrict himself to eight visits, thirty-seven texts, three phone calls, and one blowjob with Wallace panting and crying out his name, pressed up against the brick wall.
To be fair, two of the phone calls were because Wallace needed information about the bots, so they weren’t his fault.
And it had been twelve hours. He’d tried really, really hard not to interrupt.
It was just difficult because Wallace was so cute when he was concentrating, with his tongue peeking out between his plush pink lips and those adorably chunky glasses. He even had a smudge of dust on one cheek, and his hair was all mussed after the blowjob.
It made Volt want to take him upstairs and dirty him up even more.
But how could Volt say no when Wallace wanted just a little more time to fix the bots that made up Volt’s livelihood?
Still, it had been a huge relief when Wallace had texted him to announce that the second bot was fixed.
Volt had no idea what he’d done, especially when their usual repair person hadn’t managed it, but they now had two fresh bots ready to go back into rotation. Volt could have sent the Jade model out to the lounge hours ago, but he’d wanted Wallace to see Angel’s response when Prism finally closed.
Wallace’s shy smile was worth everything.
“You’re amazing,” Angel gushed. “I can’t believe you fixed them. This is just… Wow. I’m just in awe of you.”
Volt agreed. He still didn’t know how he’d gotten so lucky.
“It wasn’t a big deal. The diagnostic apps did most of the work.
” Wallace hid his grin in a bite of his midnight snack, a chocolate ice cream and brownie confection that Volt had asked the chefbot to whip up while he was eagerly waiting for Wallace to call it a night and wondering if he ought to pull the Daddy card.
Wallace looked deliciously rumpled, his eyes starting to lower from exhaustion, though he’d perked up at the conversation.
“You still had the apps and knew how to use them,” Angel returned, finally taking a seat.
“Tell him what you found,” Volt prompted Wallace.
“Oh, uh, they both had corrupted chips. Like, physically corrupted chips, but with this weird code on them? Maybe it was supposed to be a patch or a work-around. But I can’t figure out how the two chips would have gotten broken, then not sent up any alarms directly.
Then there was a code packet that I think was supposed to fix them, but it was just shutting down the alarms and making it worse.
It was strange. Maybe some self-writing code? But it was too similar between them.”
“Maybe something the repair shop tried to do?” Angel guessed.
“I didn’t take the Jade model in. We couldn’t afford it.”
Angel met Volt’s eyes, sending him a silent communication. You think someone tampered with them?
Either that or it was sitting in their code for a lot longer. We last brought the Jade model in for a tune-up a year ago, but it shut down last month.
Can you check in with the repair shop tomorrow?
Volt nodded grimly. I’m going to head over when they’re open. But by our records, they’ve been reliable for the last thirty years.
Things can change.
“Hey, are you two talking to each other?” Wallace asked.
“Yeah,” Volt told him. “Sorry, that was rude. We were talking about the repair shop.”
“It’s okay,” Wallace told him. “I mean, as long as you’re not talking about me behind my back.” He gave a nervous laugh.
Volt scooted closer, where he could wrap an arm around him. “Never, baby.”
Do you want to tell him about the sabotage? See if he can find anything? Angel asked while Volt nuzzled against Wallace’s neck.
Wallace smelled like chocolate, machine oil, and aftershave, layered on his own unique scent. It shouldn’t have been so intoxicating, but it was. Proof of all the amazing things that made his little hamster who he was.
No, Volt answered with a staticky burst of annoyance. Things were already too fragile with Wallace. Too new. He didn’t want to drive Wallace away. That’s not his problem. And we don’t even know if the attacks are connected. There were a lot of people who had it out for a place that sold robot sex.
Angel returned a complex burst of annoyance and agreement. It was stressing them both out, but it didn’t need to involve Wallace.
Oh, and I forgot to tell you. The heater was shutting off because the air pressure was wrong in the intake. I finally checked the vent on the roof and it looked like it had been bashed in.
He could see Angel stiffen and then force himself to relax. There aren’t any trees or anything up that high, right? No fallen branches?
No. Could have been an animal, I guess. It was unlikely, though. It would take a lot of force to bend the metal. While Volt had been able to press it back into shape with his inhuman strength, it was far beyond what a stray cat or raccoon could do.
Wallace had melted against Volt’s body—such a delicious little vacation from the stress in Volt’s life—but he was still looking at Angel avidly.
“We’re not talking about you, sugarplum,” Angel told him. “Just talking business, and grateful that you were able to fix the bots. You’re our hero. God that’s gonna be…” Volt could see Angel trying to do the math in his head.
“It should give us about an eight percent bump in revenue,” Volt filled in. “Nearly back to where we were last year.”
“Two bots make that much of a difference?” Wallace asked.
“That’s my best approximation. Each bot out of rotation adds, on average, a four minute wait for the typical customer on a busy night.
There are variations within that—most of our customers prefer female, humanoid bots, so it’s different for male and specialty bots—but having four bots out means about sixteen extra minutes of wait time.
Multiply that by a large crowd on a Saturday night when there’s already a wait, and some folks just walk back out the door.
Or they stick around for one experience, but they remember the long wait time and don’t come back. ”
Wallace looked fascinated, clearly doing his own calculations in his head, and with much more interest than Angel usually took on. Angel could do the books if forced, but it was people that came naturally to him. Wallace, meanwhile, was nodding along eagerly.
“On weeknights,” Volt continued, hoping he wasn’t boring his new boyfriend, “four bots out means less selection. Fewer bots to wander around the lounge getting nervous or choosy customers excited about possibilities. Less selection means fewer repeat customers. And all this time, we’re still paying for the loans on the bots while they sit in the basement. ”
“Do you want me to work on the other two bots next?”
Angel gave Volt a sharp look, but they’d already discussed everything there was to say.
One bot’s circuits were completely corroded, as if its panels had been left open to the elements for months without ever triggering an alarm.
The other one simply wouldn’t turn on. At all.
Even after they’d replaced the entire power system.
“I think those two might be beyond anyone’s help,” Volt told Wallace, trying to keep things upbeat.
“We’re just grateful to have these two back. ”
Wallace’s brow furrowed. “I’d still like to look at them sometime. What percentage of your bots are fully paid off?”
Volt kept being surprised as Wallace dug into their loan rates and payoff dates, but he realized he shouldn’t have been. Wallace had a degree in business and another in engineering.
It was a relief and a bit of a buzz, talking about this with someone else. Volt had been doing this all himself, and the burden had fallen heavily on him. Yet in a handful of simple questions, Wallace had the entire framework of their profit structure figured out.
Wallace was proving himself to be so much more than just a cute sub. With every hour they were together, Volt’s happiness grew.