Page 50 of Garbage

Evan disappeared into the room, then came out, looking freshly pressed, but still yawning. “You wore me out last night, babe.”

Oooh! Quincy had been Q before, but babe was a thousand times better. He loved it already.

Quincy was too excited to sit down, so he hovered over the table, serving Evan a little bit of everything, and then watching while he enjoyed it. Evan complimented him over every dish. “Are you sure you don’t want to open a restaurant or something?” He took another sip of his latte. “People would pay good money for this.”

Quincy shook his head. “I don’t think it would be as fun if I did it all day.” Then another thought struck him. “Is it alright that I don’t know what job I want? I know I’m not bringing in any income…” It was a fear that crept up on him sometimes. The chat with Ben last night had been reassuring in some ways, since it gave him a plan for seducing Evan, but it had brought up his financial dependence much more starkly.

Evan wiped his mouth. “You actually can’t bring in an income until you’re registered, so there’s no hurry there, though we can set up some ads on your makeup tutorial and route the income to my account until you have your own. And most humans spend years trying to figure out what they want to do. You can try out a few things, or choose a career and change your mind, or just do something different every decade. You don’t need to decide on your whole future right now.”

Quincy finally sat down in the chair beside Evan. Every time he started to get worried, Evan was there to talk him down.

“One reason I suggested restaurant service is because it can be a good way to get job experience and work with people in a lot of different capacities, without requiring a lot of specialized training first. If you like it, you could try it for a little while, while you’re figuring other things out.”

“Oh! Yes, that’s a good idea.” He could see it now. Maybe baking in the back of some cute little pastry shop, and then chatting with the customers when they placed their orders. Maybe Evan would come in over his lunch break and he could make him something special? As long as Quincy wasn’t stuck with it forever, it would be much more fun than garbage collecting. “You think someone would hire me?”

“I think they would hire you in an instant, and you’d be able to negotiate for higher wages, since you can work faster than most humans.”

“Even with my…” He pulled out all of his hoses and pincers, waving them around.

“Absolutely. It’s an asset, I promise. I think we should visit a few restaurants that have android or spark employees. And we need to introduce you to more sparks in general.”

Evan suddenly looked up. “Yipes! I just saw the time. We’re late, but I think we can make it if we hurry.”

Quincy hadn’t been paying attention, but Evan was right. He wished they could just… take the day off. Spend all day in bed.

But of course, he didn’t get days off. He was still a little scared of what would happen if that security guard even saw him coming in late.

“I can put all of this away,” he offered. He was already picking up the cutting board, where warmth still rose from the bread, while his pincers reached out for the fruit salad and Evan’s plate.

“Thanks, Q. I’ve got to grab a few things and then we can hit the road.”

Quincy boxed and wrapped everything, listening to Evan in the background. He didn’t have time to wash all the dishes, but he packed Evan a lunch, and they made it downstairs in less than five minutes.

Evan tapped his fingers on his leg as they sped toward the depot, both staring at the clock. “It takes a while for all the trucks to load out, right?”

“Yeah,” Quincy agreed. He’d never been late before, though. “We should make it on time.” The map showed that they’d arrive two minutes late instead of ten minutes early, but that was fine. Probably.

“Good. I just wanted to say…” Evan blew out a breath. “Last night was really nice. Really, really nice. As long as you know that you still always have choices. You don’t have to…”

Quincy held up his hand, palm out. Mo used to do that, but the thought didn’t fill him with any warmth right now. “Stop.” Evan was going to tell him again that he didn’t know what he wanted. Or that he wasn’t in a position to make a reasonable choice.

Quincy had done a lot of research on what Evan had said last night, and he’d found things like grooming and Stockholm syndrome and coercion. He understood much better what Evan was worried about now.

But he also knew that he was right about this. Evan wasn’t just the person he knew the best, he was sweet and funny, supportive and sexy. He made Quincy happy.

Except about this.

“I know I don’t always have words for my feelings,” Quincy started. “And I know I’m still learning new things every day. But please don’t dismiss me.”

Evan squinched his eyes shut. “I’m not trying to dismiss you. I’m not. I just want to make sure…”

“I’m sure.” He leaned forward, into Evan’s space. He was so used to Evan knowing more than he did, to having Evan talk him down from a panic or explain how the world worked, that he’d forgotten for a minute that he could be the Dom.

But when he got to do it, it wasn’t just sexy… it was like finding a whole new undiscovered part of himself. Like makeup or happiness or even anger. It was like something that had been locked away inside him, but it had settled over him last night like a second skin.

He wanted more of it.

And even though he was hurting, he wanted it with Evan.