2. Volt #2
Though Volt didn’t mention how their debts had bloomed in the past few years. There was no reason to get into it when they were clearly just scraping by day to day. He couldn’t explain their extenuating loans and the machinery that kept breaking down.
A part of him kept wondering if this was just normal for a business and he was the one messing it up. It seemed like it had all started a few years ago when Magnolia got sicker and he’d fully taken over the business side of things. The worry gnawed at him.
But even if it was all his fault, he didn’t want to sound like a total failure in front of his new boyfriend.
“I’m not sure if I’m overstepping,” Wallace offered, “but do you need financial help? Because I have plenty of resources. Just let me know…”
“No, thank you,” Volt interrupted. It came out a bit colder than he’d meant it to.
But the very thought of Wallace paying his debts made Volt’s skin crawl, especially since he hadn’t brought up their dire situation. Was Wallace’s offer made out of generosity or the desire to have something hanging over him? What would it obligate Volt to do afterward?
All he could hear was those whispers of his past. Of clients who could buy him with their pocket change. I could pay off your contract, baby. Want to be all mine?
He didn’t want to be bought. And no matter how Wallace spun it, this still sounded like buying him.
Magnolia’s greatest gift to him had been his freedom. She’d absolved him of the responsibility of paying off her investment in his purchase the moment he caught the spark, and he’d stayed out of loyalty.
“Oh.” Wallace’s face shut down, and silence fell over the room.
Now Volt felt like an idiot.
He knew Wallace better than this. Or at least he was pretty sure that he did, even if it was only their first date.
He was sure that Wallace wasn’t like that.
Well, mostly sure.
And he couldn’t bear seeing Wallace upset.
“Sorry, sweetheart. That came out wrong. Thank you for the offer, but we’re fine.”
Angel sent him a staticky burst of disagreement, but Volt wasn’t about to go into it now.
Volt knew that Wallace had issues with being used for his money.
It was just that Volt had his own issues with people wanting to buy him, like he was some object to be owned just because he was designed as a sexbot and worked in that industry.
Maybe in a few years, if everything went well, he’d feel comfortable enough with his boyfriend to talk about Prism’s debts.
Right now, everything about it just felt icky. This was his own burden to bear. There was no way he was taking Wallace’s money.
Wallace nodded, his voice even softer when he spoke again. “Then, uh, maybe you ought to raise your prices? I, um… I don’t know if this is weird to say, but I don’t think I was paying nearly enough, now that I understand what’s involved. And the non-sentient bots have to be a lot lower.”
Volt met Angel’s eyes, silently agreeing to let Angel handle that part of the conversation. Especially since Volt was still all turned around inside from Wallace’s offer and the unexpected wash of feelings it had raised.
Fortunately, Angel was ready. “Actually, hot stuff, you were paying a lot more than most of our customers, since Volt’s a spark.”
Did you give him the “rich dude rate”? Volt asked silently.
Yeah, Angel replied. I didn’t know you were going to keep him.
He still thinks it’s not enough. Volt sent back. Many of their regular customers balked when they saw his rates, not understanding the true difference in what he offered.
Your man is loaded, Angel told him.
I know, Volt replied. He’d known it from the beginning, but his uneasiness with it tripled now that the offer was on the table.
Wallace could probably buy out their whole business without a second thought. The loan numbers that circled like vultures at the back of Volt’s mind were probably pocket change to Wallace.
They were from two very different worlds. Worlds, in fact, where Volt provided a service and Wallace purchased it.
Wallace could so easily find another boyfriend. A human one. A rich one. He was going to realize soon that Volt was just a cheap commodity, unable to keep a struggling business alive.
“So it would have cost less if I…” Wallace didn’t finish the sentence, awkwardly avoiding eye contact.
“If you’d come here for sex with a non-sentient bot?
” Angel finished for him. “Yes. Magnolia sets her rates intentionally lower than street rates for human sex workers. She wants to give clients a choice of not using and abusing other sentient beings—make it not worth it for cheap pimps to deal in people. This leaves the upper rates still available for highly skilled escorts who enjoy and have control over their work. Which includes Volt.”
How was Wallace going to handle all of that? It was the first time they’d really talked about selling sex, or Volt’s role in it.
Volt was pathetically glad that Angel was here to help them both navigate everything.
As long as Wallace didn’t freak out.
“So Prism is kind of doing this as a charity?” Wallace asked, completely avoiding the most important part.
“Yes and no,” Volt answered. “We’re still trying to make a profit. But I guess you would say that we’re mission driven.” It sounded better when he put it that way.
“And you, uh, like your work?” Wallace asked, clearly speaking to Volt, though he was toying with his spoon. He’d finished his ice cream, and it clinked against the empty bowl.
“I do,” Volt said carefully.
He metaphorically held his breath, his audio hookups fully attuned for Wallace’s next words.
Everything had seemed so easy this morning when Volt was feeding Wallace little bits of pastry, basking in the glow of their new relationship.
But there was a lot of stuff they probably should have covered first.
He knew that kink, with its deep vulnerability, could lend a false sense of knowing someone. He’d just been too naive to realize how much he still had to cover. It didn’t seem like Wallace was going to ask him to stop seeing clients, but what if he did?
What would that mean for Volt’s identity? His work? He’d been so focused on whether Wallace would be interested in dating him at all that he hadn’t let himself think about this aspect of things yet.
Angel stood up, making his chair scrape across the floor and drawing both of their eyes.
“Oops. Look at the time. I’d better head upstairs.
” That was a lie. He had nothing to do upstairs since Magnolia was likely asleep at this hour and Volt could see that the bots were all going about their normal cleaning and charging routines.
Volt wasn’t sure if he appreciated the privacy or wanted to beg Angel to come back and help them wade through these murky waters.
It would help if Volt knew what he wanted himself.
Well, he knew what he wanted in the long run. A sub to pamper, praise, and punish. A partner who he could share moments of joy with and rely on in times of trouble. A love that was so pure that it grew stronger and more beautiful every day.
But was Wallace, a man who’d just offered to pay off the debts they were drowning in like it was nothing, the one he was looking for?
Angel gave a little wave as he headed out the door. “Thank you again, Wallace. You’re amazing.”
Wallace returned the wave with a flick of his hand and a strained smile. “No problem.”
Volt looked at his boyfriend, wishing he could see inside his brain. Or into the future. Would Wallace turn around one day, thank him for a good time, and walk off into the sunset with a real human of his own social caliber?
All Volt could see, though, was how uncomfortable Wallace was, sitting in the kitchen with his empty bowl. How he was closing in on himself, his shoulders curled like they hadn’t been since Wallace’s first few visits.
Wallace pushed the bowl away, like he could distance himself from it.
This was how Wallace looked when he talked about his father. When he talked about the cruel and superficial women he’d dated before. When he apologized for what he ate, or how he moved, or how he dared to even exist.
Volt had his own shit to deal with, but he was too much of a Daddy to leave Wallace feeling like that. Like he’d somehow done something wrong, when really, he’d been a blessing in every way.
Volt might not hold a lot of trust for rich men, but his baby boy was still covered in dust from spending a long day fixing Prism’s bots when Volt had promised him an outing at the park.
And he couldn’t stand seeing Wallace look sad and uncomfortable.
Volt stood for just long enough to manhandle Wallace into sitting crosswise across his lap, eliciting his signature squeak.
Volt usually would have laughed, because it was adorable, but Wallace’s body was still stiff as he leaned into him.
Because Volt was the one screwing everything up. Were the chasms between their lives too big to bridge?
“What are you thinking, baby boy?” he made himself ask, channeling every bit of his Daddy energy and pretending he wasn’t dreading whatever Wallace was about to say.
“I’m trying to be supportive,” Wallace started. Which sounded like it was going to have a big but after it.
Volt steeled himself.
But Wallace kept surprising him. “You have a job. You enjoy your work. And you’re, uh, very good at it. I mean, I read about this. Dating a sex worker. And I don’t want to mess anything up. I get it that, uh, clients and relationships are different.”
Frankly, Wallace was handling this far better than Volt had expected.
Far better than anyone else had before. Bobby had been disgusted that a sex worker would want a real relationship.
Sadie had assumed that Volt would drop everything to be with her exclusively, unwilling to even have a conversation about alternatives, then had dropped him without a second thought.
And then, there had been Kurt, who’d steal him away to fancy weekends at his beach house, but had gotten angry when he couldn’t buy out Volt’s contract and keep him there all the time.