25. Volt
Volt
After another hour of assuring customers that they had nothing to worry about while he was falling apart, Volt finally retreated to his office.
He turned on the screen for the unenviable task of researching carpet replacement costs and trying to factor them in with other planned expenses.
Sometimes it helped to have everything outside his head when he moved a few numbers around.
He didn’t need to, but there was something about having it on another surface that made it seem like it would actually make a difference.
“Daddy?”
Volt looked up, wondering if he was hearing things. He didn’t think that could happen to sparks, but after a night like this, it wouldn’t surprise him.
Could sparks hallucinate?
But no, Wallace was actually there! Warmth flooded through his weary body. “Hi, sweet boy.”
Wallace was wearing his usual work clothing, a white shirt, suspenders, and dark slacks crumpled by a long day at the office. His signature bow tie was likely in his pocket, since his collar was open.
He still looked delicious. Like an oasis in the desert.
And of course, his work attire revealed nothing of what he was wearing underneath. Maybe a cute pair of panties?
“What happened with the door?” Wallace asked.
Volt winced. He didn’t want to think about it now that Wallace was here. “Just some assholes with a balloon full of paint.”
Wallace clenched his fists, face going red. “That’s just wrong! How could they do that to you?”
Volt shook his head. “I don’t think I’ll ever understand how people can do terrible things.”
Wallace crossed the room, climbing up to straddle Volt’s lap. “What do you need right now, Daddy?”
Volt tugged him close. God, just holding him was almost enough.
Almost.
“Distract me,” Volt said. “How were the drinks?”
“The drinks?” Wallace wrinkled his nose, like maybe he’d forgotten where he just came from.
“Oh, the drinks. Yeah, it went pretty well, I think. We talked? Though I don’t think I understand beer, and apparently this was special beer?
The burger was good, though, and they had these thick-cut, handmade fries with this tangy sauce that I want to get my chefbot to make.
We only stayed for an hour, but I think it wasn’t too awkward?
Like, we’re not best friends, but it was a good work thing, I think. ”
Volt squeezed him tight, letting the little bubble of happiness fill him up. “I’m so proud of you, sweet girl.” He truly was. These little moments—Wallace’s successes—were the best part of his life.
Wallace beamed. “Thank you, Daddy. I think it’s really working.”
“I know it is. And how was the rest of your day?”
Wallace shrugged. “Long. My father was, spoiler alert, an asshole. But the project is almost done. One more month of development, then two months to market.”
Wallace had, for a variety of reasons, decided that he wanted to finish one more project before he turned in his resignation, a nursebot that would be more financially attainable for more clients.
Volt understood it was special because Wallace had his hands in the actual design and was enjoying working with the team that he’d started to get closer to, as well as his true mission of helping people with his work.
Unfortunately, the nursebot project was only a few hours per week out of all of the other burdens that fell on Wallace’s shoulders.
Volt often wondered if staying was worth Wallace’s mental health.
It was what his baby wanted, though, and he wanted to support Wallace’s growing confidence in making decisions for himself.
They both just kept repeating those timelines.
“It’s better now that I’m here,” Wallace told him.
Volt pulled Wallace into his lap. “Better for me too, pretty pansy. You’re the highlight of my day.”
God, was he ever. With Wallace in his arms, he could turn off the rest of the world. Pretend, for just a few hours, that he was the powerful Daddy with all the answers. Let Wallace look up at him with those adoring eyes and pretend that he could do anything.
Wallace planted a sweet kiss on his cheek, his cute little beard adding a soft tickle. He no longer blushed at every compliment, just accepted them happily. More evidence of how he was growing. “You’re the best part of my day, Daddy. Even when it’s just a text, but this is better.”
“Your lunch looked tasty today,” Volt commented, eager to sink into the normalcy of the interaction. “Thank you for showing me.” He wondered if Wallace truly knew how much those texts meant to him.
Wallace snuggled closer. “You’re welcome, Daddy.
I almost forgot to eat because my meeting went late, but I wanted you to be proud of me.
” He sighed happily. “You know, I’m eating so much healthier than I was before.
I feel more balanced, too. People at work are even noticing it.
They don’t know, though, that it’s all because of my Daddy taking good care of me. ”
God, when Wallace said things like that, Volt felt like he could take on any challenge. Climb any mountain. Except for the ones on his desk.
“That makes me so happy, darling. And I am proud of you. Every day.”
It was like the one thing he could do right. Pretty much the only thing.
He felt his gaze slipping toward the computer.
“What’s wrong, Daddy?”
“Nothing, creampuff.” He didn’t want to think about it now. He turned off the monitor with a mental command.
He wasn’t sure he had the emotional energy to give his boy a special spa night or do a deep scene, but even watching a movie on the couch and making out together would be a luxurious vacation from the nightmare in his head.
Wallace raised an eyebrow. “Nothing, as in, it’s not a big deal and I’ll get it figured out in a few minutes or nothing, as in, we’re not at the part of our relationship where we talk about real things yet?”
Volt winced. “When you put it that way…”
He just wanted Wallace to see the best of him. All the time.
And Wallace was getting unerringly good at calling him out on it.
“Nothing, as in, I don’t want you to think badly of me, I suppose.” That, and how Prism was completely screwed. And how unaware Wallace seemed to be about money sometimes, buying things on a whim that Volt could never hope to afford. Their social classes were on completely different planes.
Wallace took Volt’s hand, one of those little innocent gestures that still made Volt go all warm and melty inside.
Because Wallace was more confident now. Because it was just so boyfriend-y.
“You know that being bad at something won’t make me think less of you, right?
I mean, on our first date you told me that you weren’t very good at mechanical stuff. ”
Volt sighed. “Yeah, but this is something I thought I was pretty good at. Since you fixed those two bots and took care of the licensing upgrades, we’ve been better off financially. The rate increases seem to be going well, though this month has been a bit lower in sales.”
Wallace nodded encouragingly.
It would be so easy to talk about that four percent drop in sales and get Wallace’s advice, but he would just be avoiding the problem.
He met Wallace’s eyes and finally admitted it.
“Even with the changes, it’s not enough to cover our debts.
I can’t figure out what I’m doing wrong.
We’re still doing all the same advertising and I’ve been trying some new avenues.
We’ve still got plenty of customers. I just… baby, I’m just not very good at this.”
There, he’d said it. Laid everything out.
“Do you mind if I look?”
Volt closed his eyes for a moment. All of his failures were going to be spread out before him.
And there was still the other option that he was trying not to think about: asking Wallace for a loan.
What would Wallace think of him then?
What leverage would Wallace hold over him, over his family, when his sweet sub decided to stop slumming it with an outmoded sexbot and realized that he could have anyone in the world?
Every choice felt worse than the last.
Volt finally opened his eyes. “Go ahead.” In a few minutes, Wallace would know everything that he’d done wrong.
Wallace turned in his lap, flicking the screen to bring the computer back to life.
“No password?” he asked.
“I’m the password,” Volt told him. “Magnolia used to type one in, but I have an encryption key. You wouldn’t be able to get on without me here.”
Wallace nodded, half distracted. “Good.” He was already skimming the balance sheet, then flicked over to the quarterly reports.
He hummed a few times, then started to dig around in the software to show comparisons of different segments of their business across previous years. Volt hadn’t known it could do that.
“We had some debts that had to be reconciled at the beginning of this year,” Volt mentioned, nerves dripping from his body. “Magnolia had taken them out without us knowing.”
“Hmmm…” Wallace said again, then switched over to a graphical view.
Volt’s stomach lurched when he saw it. There it was. No more hiding. They’d been doing well for years, their income hovering neatly over their expenses with some savings to tuck away. Then the lines crossed. Income dipped slowly but surely. Expenses shot toward the sky.
“What changed four years ago?” Wallace asked.
Volt’s gears felt like they were locking up. “Magnolia got sick, and I agreed to take over the financials.”
“Hey, Daddy,” Wallace turned around, speaking gently. “Unless you made a conscious effort to change the whole business model, you didn’t do this.”
Volt wasn’t convinced.
Wallace started poking around in different files, pulling up comparisons and more charts like it was as easy as breathing. Volt just watched, caught between amazement at his boyfriend and dread at what he would find.
“Well, I can tell you one thing. The revenue drop is mostly from private parties. It looks like you used to do a lot more of them. Is that right?”