NOVEL: From Diamond to Coal, by Sol Crafter [mm science fiction] – Chapter Five

Title: From Diamond to Coal
Author: Sol Crafter
Genre: science fiction, mm romance
Rating: teen+

Summary: William Neeley is a genius. At the age of 15 he started Cyber Angel Industries and has since completely changed the face of the modern world. From personal shielding technology to enhanced musculature to home electronics, William has a finger in every pie and is quickly becoming the world’s most wealthy individual.

He shares his life with his husband, Alan Trent, and their young son Morgan.

William always strives to maintain his image of “normal life,” though he is diverted at every turn. Whether he’s posing half-naked on billboards, creating massive death rays, or Alan is becoming the President of the United States, or Morgan has grown wings, or he’s accidentally torn a rip in the space time continuum… he will always say that his life is nothing but normal.

Welcome to his world.

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 CHAPTER FIVE

William figured he was probably driving James insane. The poor man was supposed to watch after his safety, but William kept insisting on going to places he shouldn’t have gone to himself.

“Just five minutes, come on,” William pleaded. He jiggled around, desperate to go into the little curio shop.

James gave the dark and creepy store a distasteful look, but finally nodded. “Five minutes.”

“Yay!” William held up two fists of joy in front of his chest and gave James a grin, then ran inside the store.

He’d always had a fondness for the strange. It was one of those traits that had manifested young with him and just grown along with him.

Curio shops were the best, always with such a mix of things in them. From costume jewelry to real jewelry, strange statues and paintings and ceramics, everything mixed together in glittering disarray. It made him think of circuses and magic and just stepping into the store made him want to smile. And boy did he need to.

He’d been under a lot of stress lately. He’d never thought that planning a wedding would be so hard. It taxed even his high intellect and left him wanting to crawl into his bed until everything worked itself out.

If he could have, he would have jumped into the future to a time when they were already married and all the hard parts were already over. Instead, he got to taste cakes and check out music groups.

He never would have suspected that Alan was such a diva, but there it was. Underneath his stern veneer there was someone that desperately wanted to have the perfect white wedding.

Alan was a bridezilla. It was the most awful thing William had never wanted to find out about the love of his life. He almost wished that Alan was a thief instead. It would be a lot less terrifying.

So being able to step inside a curio shop and feel all that busy buzzing disappear out of the back of his head, he could let himself think that everything was okay. Everything would work itself out and he wouldn’t completely lose his mind and go running off into the night.

He was standing inside the musty dimness of a curio shop. All was right with the world.

 

William carefully fingered the various knickknacks on the shelf. He’d already chosen a hand-painted ceramic knight in full armor standing next to a rather recalcitrant looking pony–there was no way that was supposed to be a horse.

“What are you even going to do with that?” James asked from behind him.

William shrugged. “I don’t know. I thought I’d start a collection. You don’t like it?”

“It’s fine if you’re a fourteen year old girl and someone’s grandmother,” James said, “but I don’t hate it or anything. It just seems kind of weird, since you’ve never shown any interest in ceramics before.”

“I have depths to me,” William said, picking up a hairy dwarf guy before putting him back down. “I’m not just Congressman Trent’s boytoy.”

“Ah, so you heard that, huh?”

William turned to look at him. “How could I not?” His hands twisted the handle of the plastic shopping basket. “They think Alan’s just marrying me for my looks.”

“Well, he kinda is.”

William gaped at him. “What?”

James shrugged, his eyes sliding around the room attentively. “Well, your looks are pretty much attached to your face, so he is marrying you for your looks. He’s also marrying you for your personality, including the good traits and the bad ones you like to pretend you don’t have.”

“Well, James, who would have thunk it?” William shook his head, a grin pulling his lips. “I thought you were hard as nails or something, but really you’re a complete romantic. It’s really rather sweet when you think about it.”

James gave him an exasperated look. “Why don’t you finish up your shopping so we can get out of here? Your five minutes are almost up.”

William made a zipping motion across his lips, then went back to wandering the shelves.

He didn’t want to annoy James so much that the man used his power of veto. William had agreed with him that there were times when James would be able to command him to do something if it was for his own safety. So if James told him they really had to go, they would leave and William wouldn’t be able to buy anything.

“Excuse me,” he called, waving toward the young man sitting behind the service counter.

The guy lifted his head, looking at him through tinted glasses. He had shockingly orange hair he’d gelled up into spikes around his head, two spikes in the front curling up like small horns. He stood up and came walking toward William.

“Yeah?” he asked, looming over William, who hadn’t realized the man was so tall. He was cute with his smooth cheeks and his tight orange tee shirt and faded jeans. His belt buckle was a black oval with a stylized red devil on it.

William couldn’t help saying, “Whoa.” He swallowed and tried not to come off like a complete idiot. The guy was ridiculously good looking up close. “Uh,” he laughed awkwardly, “do you think you could show me anything I might want to give as a wedding present to someone I love very much?”

“Ooh,” a dark orange-red eyebrow lifted over the top of the guy’s glasses. “So you love someone. How interesting.”

William flushed. He didn’t know how the guy did it, but the sales clerk made him feel all fumbly and stupid.

“Can you just show me some good stuff? Nothing cheap or stupid. He’s a pretty straight up kind of guy, you know? Classy.” William bit his lip before he said anything more.

The young man laughed, a strangely seductive sound. He held out his hand; his fingernails were painted orange. “Franciscus,” he said. At William’s questioning eyebrow he shrugged his head. “We’re about to have a very intimate shopping experience. I figured I might as well introduce myself before we start.”

William squinted at him. “You’re kind of full of yourself, aren’t you?”

“Just a lot,” Franciscus said. “Now come on, let’s go find the best gift in the world for the man you love.”

William followed him around the store, feeling a bit strange inside. He felt enthralled, some amazing allure pulling him forward; he couldn’t help laughing and joking with Franciscus. From terrible day to wonderful one.

Franciscus was absolutely charming.

 

William sent everyone away for the night and lit some candles on the table. He set out the covered dishes the cook had prepared and waited for Alan to get home.

The small package was a heavy weight in his jacket pocket, but it was comforting too. He felt as though he’d done his best to find the perfect gift and there was nothing else he could have gotten that would be nearly as good.

If only the butterflies in his stomach would listen to the reassurances of the rest of him.

The front door opened and Alan came inside. “Why’s it so dark…” His voice trailed off when he took in the candles and William sitting at the dining table waiting for him.

Alan kicked the door closed, then set his briefcase by the couch and took his coat off, throwing it over the couch arm. He walked briskly over to the dining area, a smile tugging at his mouth. “You should have told me we were going to have a special night tonight. I would have come home earlier.”

William shrugged. “The idea just came to me while I was shopping today.”

Alan barely tried to hide his wince. “You were shopping again?”

“I know you hate it,” William laughed, “but there are some things we need if you’re going to have the beautiful wedding you sketched out. I made the sacrifice of eating all that cake. You have to make the sacrifice of listening to me go on about stupid shopping trips.”

Alan sighed, but nodded thoughtfully. “All right.” He sat down across from William. “What are we eating tonight?”

William shook his head. “I don’t know. I just asked for them to leave it here for us.”

“Ooh, a mystery meal,” Alan said. He lifted the lid off his plate, revealing a delicious cut of prime rib, spinach-mashed potatoes, and steamed asparagus. “Nice.”

Seeing Alan’s food, William hurriedly lifted his own lid. “More than nice,” he said. “This is the best.”

They tore into their food less as if they were having a romantic dinner and more as though they were both starving. And it really was as delicious as it looked and neither one had a problem eating every single bite. And there was even a little basket of soft bread rolls that melted like butter on the tongue and went great with the meat and au jus and the little kick of peppery horseradish.

“Oh my God,” William said, taking a sip of his wine. “That was a total culinary orgasm right there. Remind me to give Christmas bonuses to the cooking staff.”

Alan laughed. “You do look as if you just had sex or something.”

“That,” William pointed at his plate, “that right there was probably the best prime rib I’ve ever had in my life. And I take my prime rib very seriously.”

“Have I ever told you that I think you’re a total nerd?” Alan asked fondly.

“Just about every day,” William said. He drew in a deep breath, then just reached into his pocked and took out the box, rolling it across the tablecloth to Alan. “I got you that.”

“What is it?” Alan asked, picking it up and turning it in his hands. He opened the lid, then gasped. “Oh, oh wow, that’s very cool.”

“I thought you’d like it,” William said.

Alan carefully lifted out the silver pocket watch with the elephant carved into the front of the lid. He popped the latch and the watch sprung open. “It’s even set to the right time.”

“I don’t leave anything to chance,” William boasted. Then he bit his lip, “Do you like it?”

Alan smiled at him, holding the watch up to his ear, listening to the comforting clicking-tick sound. “I love it.”

William grinned, relieved. “And the elephant on the front has his trunk raised, which is good luck.”

Alan ran his finger over the inscription William had put inside the lid. “‘William Neeley and Alan Trent. Forever.’ It’s very Edward/Jacob of you,” he said, but his voice sounded misty.

“You’re not going to cry or anything, are you?” William asked.

Alan rolled his eyes, something he only seemed to do around William. “You’re ridiculous, you know that? If I didn’t love you, I’d probably kick your ass out.”

William wanted to point out that he was the one that owned the brownstone, but Alan was already out of his chair and coming around the table. Instead of saying anything, William just let himself be pulled up out of the chair into an ardent embrace.

He let himself be led into the bedroom, where Alan showed his appreciation for the pocket watch in the best way possible.

But it really was a nice watch.

* * *

Getting married was one of those completely nerve racking experiences that he figured his subconscious was going to block out of his conscious memory. The true stress and horror of it all would become one of those crazy suppressed memories that he would shake off like cobwebs once he woke from a nightmare.

Somehow word had gotten around that Alan was getting married, and there was no way his “friends” were going to let a wedding happen without being invited. So their guest list ended up being expanded by about a thousand people.

William was a little put out about it, but it wasn’t like he didn’t have the money to pay for their monster wedding. It was just the horror of realizing that there was going to be upwards of fifteen hundred people watching them get married.

He hadn’t realized he experienced stage fright until that moment. By then, he knew it was too late.

“We should just elope,” he moaned, flopping his head onto Alan’s shoulder.

Alan’s laughter rumbled through him. He ran a hand through William’s hair. “It’s just a little late for that.”

“I know,” William sighed, relaxing as Alan massaged his scalp. “There’s going to be all kinds of people there and they’re all going to be looking at us. What if I forget my lines?”

“Who would have thought you would be so shy,” Alan said. “You always seem so confident and in control of yourself.”

“That’s because I usually stay in my comfort zone,” William said. “I hate dealing with new people and situations. They always freak me out.”

Alan tugged on the ends of William’s hair gently. “You’re kind of a kid, aren’t you?”

“That’s why you love me, right, because I keep you young?” William slid down until his head was in Alan’s lap. His legs were bent around so his knees were pressed against his chest.

“Just looking at you makes my bones hurt,” Alan winced. “How can you lay like that?”

“Just lucky I guess,” William said, “keep rubbing my head.”

“All right, all right.” Alan used both hands to massage little circles into William’s scalp.

William groaned and pressed up against his hand. “Nice. You can keep doing that forever.”

“And you can be the Little Engine That Could and enjoy our beautiful wedding with all those strangers,” Alan said.

William turned his head to glare up at him. “You’re a jerk, you know that?”

Alan leaned down to press a kiss against William’s forehead. He smiled at him, a surprisingly charming expression. “I can’t believe we’re getting married.”

“I know, right? It doesn’t seem fast to you?” William chewed on his lower lip. “You’re not being rushed into anything, are you?”

“That was what I was about to ask you,” Alan laughed. Then he looked serious, his eyebrows furrowing. “That wasn’t a sneaky way to back out of marrying me, was it?”

“No!” William sat up, twisting around to face him. “I love you. I want to spend the rest of my life with you. I’m just a bit freaked out over the thought of standing up in front of all those people and having them look at me.”

“Just tell yourself that they’re looking at me and not you, and you should be all right.” At William’s expression, Alan shrugged. “Hey, at least I tried to calm you down.”

William shook his head. “You’re pathetic.” He rubbed his nose against the soft material of Alan’s tee shirt. “We should get something to eat.”

“Like what? Are you going to cook, ’cause I really don’t want to,” Alan said.

William groaned. “No thank you, not today. I was busy in the lab all day working on this new project for neural interface technology.” He waved his hand. “Let’s just order something delivered.”

“Pizza?” Alan suggested.

William wrinkled his nose, but shrugged. “Yeah, that’s fine.”

“Awesome.” Alan leaned forward to grab his cell phone off the coffee table. “The usual?”

“Can I get Hawaiian?” At Alan’s grimace, William pouted adorably. “Come on, you can have it just on my half.”

“Except all that pineapple juice ends up contaminating my meat lovers.” Alan flicked through his phone’s contact list until he found their favorite pizza place. “So gross.”

“Ask them to add jalapenos too,” William said.

Alan groaned melodramatically, but held his phone to his ear to order.

William watched him and smiled.

 

Canadian bacon, pineapple, jalapenos, and a dash of Tabasco sauce… He’d folded a slice in half and was holding it in his left hand while he held a stylus in his right.

“What are you doing?” Alan was stretched out on the couch, pillows positioned at his lower back. “I thought we were having a romantic dinner together?”

William flashed him a smile. “Sorry. I just had a sudden bolt of inspiration. I’m almost done.”

Alan looked only a little interested. “So what all are you working on?”

Even knowing Alan wasn’t really into it, he couldn’t help expounding excitedly: “Have you ever wanted to have a real life virtual reality experience? I mean, I wouldn’t want to wear like giant dorky glasses or anything, but I think I would like the full immersion experience. So I’m coming down with a way to make that possible.

“I thought it was going to be harder to come up with the tech, but it’s like I just got a braingasm or something, because the schematics are just kind of drawing themselves right now.” He grinned and took a big bite of pizza. “World of awesome!”

Alan looked as though he didn’t know if he wanted to be grossed out by William’s disgusting eating habits, or if he thought William was cute. “Is this some kind of crazy thing I’m going to want or not?”

“Oh, you’re totally going to want it!” William hurriedly erased and redrew a line. “This is going to be the greatest thing the world has ever seen.”

“Uh huh,” Alan said. He leaned forward to grab the last slice of pizza out of the box. “So when can I buy one in the store?”

William grabbed a highlighter off the table and threw it at Alan, who caught it. “Sometimes I have to wonder why I put up with you.”

“Because I’m super hot,” Alan said, dropping the highlighter on the floor.

William snorted. “Yeah, that’s it. Really.”

He crammed the last bite of pizza into his mouth and quickly wrote some notes in the corner of his screen before saving and shutting the tablet down. “See, was that really so bad? I’m done already. It barely took me like fifteen minutes to totally change the world.”

“I am very proud of you,” Alan said.

William rolled his eyes. “Sure, that’s the feeling I get from you.” He walked over to the couch and didn’t hesitate to lay down on top of Alan, snuggling against his chest. “You’re so warm.”

Alan chuckled, a warm sound that vibrated against the side of William’s face. “I have to go out of town tomorrow.”

“Where are you going?” William asked, raising his head to meet his eyes.

“I have to go to Iowa and meet with my grandfather about some paperwork.”

“Ooh, old money,” William cooed. “Tell him ‘hi’ from me.”

“I’ll be sure to do that,” Alan said dryly.

They both knew that Benton Trent didn’t approve of William, and especially Alan’s relationship with him. As a result, whenever William and Benton were in the same room, things got a lot tense and there was plenty of snark on both their parts.

William snuggled closer against Alan’s chest and closed his eyes. “Do you mind if I take a nap on you?” he asked.

Alan smoothed a hand over his head. “You go right ahead.” He reached his hand out to grab the remote control off the coffee table. “I’m just going to watch TV for a little while.”

“Cool,” William said, yawning. The sound of Alan’s heartbeat thrummed under his ear, a sound that was both comforting and safe. He could feel himself drifting off to the rushing waves sound of Alan’s body–breathing, heart working, and maybe even his blood rushing through his veins. It made him feel safe.

“I love you,” he heard Alan whisper, then there was the press of a kiss against the top of his head.

A faint smile curved his lips as he drifted off.

* * *

It was strange just how attached he’d gotten to Alan’s presence. So with him gone he was left alone and lonely and all he really did was watch TV and work in the lab. It was pretty pathetic just how much of his life was wrapped up in Alan.

So when RJ invited him to dinner at his house, William leapt at the chance.

Knowing that Leslie was a vegan, he painstakingly went about making an egg free, milk free chocolate cake. He was actually pretty proud of himself, considering he had never been much of a baker.

RJ had told him it was just a casual get together, so William was wearing jeans and a red tee shirt with the face of Sheldon Cooper from “The Big Bang Theory” on the front and had his cake in a covered pan in his hands. He was ready for a relaxed night with his friend and his friend’s moderately annoying girlfriend.

When the door opened, he was surprised to see just how harried and upset RJ looked. And considering the number of people William could see behind him, William knew where he was coming from. “Sorry…”

“Whoa, dude, what’s going on here?” William asked. He could feel the tension trying to take over his shoulders.

“I have no idea.” RJ shook his head. “I just left the lab and this is what I come home to. Leslie invited a bunch of people I don’t even know and I don’t know what’s going on.” He threw his hands up in frustration.

William wasn’t too into the idea of going in there and having to deal with all those people, but there was no way he could leave RJ to face it alone. Not when RJ looked as though he was about a second away from crying.

He sighed heavily. “I brought cake. Aren’t you going to let me in?”

RJ’s smile was filled with relief when he stepped out of the way, holding the door open for William. “You can put that in the kitchen. Thanks.”

William flashed him a sideways smile. “It’s all right.”

 

Once again, William was reminded why he wasn’t all that into parties with a bunch of strangers he just knew he had nothing in common with. It was just so uncomfortable and he hated the feeling of eyes running over him, wondering what he was made out of and who he thought he was. It made his stomach flutter and his skin creep.

He could tell that Leslie had purposely set RJ up. She was wearing a beautiful blue dress and her hair and makeup looked as though it were professionally done. The food they were grazing around had obviously been catered in. And her guests were all well-dressed and had obviously been notified about the party well in advance, probably a week or more.

William stuck close to RJ, keeping the other man from completely falling apart. If he was terrible around crowds of people, RJ was practically neurotic. So for Leslie to have sprung something like this on RJ without any warning…

“Bitch,” he muttered.

“What?” RJ asked quietly, turning his head to look at him.

William shook his head. “Nothing.” More than anything he wanted to suggest to RJ that they just blow this party, but he knew that wasn’t the kind of guy RJ was.

RJ would do the whole gracious thing until the mass of people were gone, then he would ream Leslie out later. A formal party was not the kind of thing you just sprung on someone, not if you expected them to be okay with it.

William might have felt bad for her if she hadn’t purposely gone out of her way to make things hard for RJ. It showed either a complete lack of consideration, or a deliberate act of jerkiness.

“Oh RJ, William, let me introduce you to some friends of mine,” Leslie called from across the room. She made a “Come here” gesture with her hand, showing off her new manicure.

RJ sighed heavily. “Once more, into the breach.

William looked at RJ. “Do we have to?” he asked. They both laughed weakly, but started walking across the room.

William didn’t want to feel offended, but it was kind of hard with how much of a jerk she was being.

“Senator Gleason, I wanted to introduce my boyfriend, RJ Long, and this is our boss, William Neeley,” Leslie practically cooed to a stout, gray haired man in granny glasses.

“Well, what a pleasure to meet you,” the man said, putting on a friendly Santa smile that didn’t quite match the coldness of his brown eyes.

“Hello, sir,” RJ said, offering his hand for a quick shake.

When the senator held his hand out toward William, William didn’t offer his in return, just said, “Pleasure to meet you.”

Gleason held his hand out a moment longer, then let it drop. “So, you’re our darling Leslie’s boyfriend, are you?” he said to RJ.

“Yeah,” RJ said. William was probably the only one that recognized the “But not anymore” in his tone. “I wasn’t quite expecting a cocktail party like this one. She must have expanded things while I was at work or something.”

“I’m sorry, honey,” Leslie said in a super sweet tone, fluttering her head coquettishly. “You know how it is when you’re making out a guest list. You add one name, then you add another, and the next thing you know…”

“You have an extra twenty people, considering it was just supposed to be us and William and one of your friends,” RJ interrupted.

“Well, aren’t you a pistol,” Gleason laughed. He turned toward William, his eyes gleaming with interest. “So, you’re the President and CEO of CyberAngel Industries?”

William grunted, moving his eyes so he didn’t have to meet Gleason’s gaze.

“Well, you’re a lot younger than I thought you would be,” Gleason said.

“Oh, and he has the nicest boyfriend,” Leslie put in. “He’s a Congressman.”

“A Congressman, really?” Gleason raised an eyebrow. “Is it anyone that I know?”

“Congressman Alan Trent,” Leslie said. “He’s a really great guy. RJ and I have been over to their place for dinner on several occasions and Alan is always the best kind of man to talk to.”

“Yeah, Alan,” William said. “We’re getting married in a couple of months.”

“Really, marrying Trent? Who would have thought it?” From the gleam in Gleason’s eye, William figured he knew more than he was pretending at. “He’s heading up the Walen Committee, isn’t he?”

William gave the man a flat look. “I don’t really get into all that with him. I’m not that into politics and sub-committees and what have you. I’m far too busy running my company.”

“Hm,” Gleason said, “still, he must say something to you occasionally. We should talk.”

“Yeah, I don’t think so,” William said. He looked at RJ, who seemed really embarrassed. “I’m gonna go get something to drink. You want me to bring you anything back?”

RJ had that unfortunate redhead condition where he couldn’t be embarrassed about something without it completely covering his whole face. “Can you bring me back a strawberry daiquiri?”

“Oh, so you’re into the fruit, are you?” William teased.

RJ flicked his eyes toward Leslie and back. “I think I might be into the fruit for a time to come.”

William snorted and shook his head. “Be back.”

He walked towards the drinks table. The young woman tending bar was wearing a white dress shirt with thin red pinstripes and a red bow tie. Her long black hair had been pulled up in a high ponytail, the heavy length teased into tight curls near the ends. Her eyelids were brushed with bright purple and her lips were the color of near black plums, shimmering under the light. She wasn’t exactly beautiful in the conventional sense, but she was arresting.

For her familiarity to him.

William felt himself stiffening, his skin going tight to the bones of his face. He wanted to stop, to just turn right around and go the other way, but she had already spotted him, her eyes going wide with pained recollection. So he had to keep right on walking, going right up to the counter.

“Steph,” he said, nodding his head stiffly.

Her eyes were wide and shimmered wetly as she looked at him. “Haven’t seen you in a while,” she said.

“I know. I would have been around, but… well, you know.” His head drooped on his shoulders and he suddenly felt burdened by a bunch of added years. “How have you been?”

“Fine.” Stephanie began refilling a bowl with snacks. “And you?”

“I’ve been good,” he said. “It was really hard at first, but eventually things just started getting better. I think she would have liked that.”

“Yeah, she was just so full of love,” Stephanie sniffed. “Though I think she would have loved the idea that she had ruined you for any other woman.”

William gave a pain garbled laugh. “She was totally crazy like that. Um, just…” He drew in a couple of quick breaths. “I’ve gotta get back to, you know.” He jerked his thumb over his shoulders.

Her face, which had been opening up with hope, suddenly sagged with bewilderment and disappointment. “You’ve gotta go?”

“Yeah,” he said. “I told my friend I would be right back with the drinks, so I’m kind of expected. It was pretty good to see you, though.”

She stared into his eyes for a moment, then her face went tight and professional. “Fine, I understand. And were you looking to get drinks?” she asked.

“Yeah, a strawberry daiquiri and a cranberry and vodka,” he said. Then he kind of turned sideways to her, letting her know with the language of his body that the conversation was over.

He watcher her mix the drinks out of the corner of his eye and all he could feel was regret, but he couldn’t force himself to turn back toward her in kindness.

He had tried so hard to get the message across to her that being around her was just too painful a reminder and he didn’t want to be around her in his everyday life. But he thought maybe he had been too kind in his dealings with her, and now the only way to keep her from being his friend was to be kind of rude to her.

He gave her a bland smile when she set the glasses down in front of him. “Strawberry daiquiri and a cranberry and vodka,” she said, her tone a little dead.

“Thanks,” he said, taking a ten dollar bill out of his pocket and dropping it on the counter as he took the drinks.

And he just walked off.

He carried them across the room toward where he found RJ standing with two men. RJ still looked a little stiff and uncomfortable, but he was a bit more relaxed than he had been around Leslie and Gleason.

William walked up on the trio in time to hear one of the fifty-ish men laugh and say, “We were working from the Hildebrand schematics. It was a real mess. We’re lucky we didn’t blow ourselves up. My boss wrote a pretty heated letter he sent to the Medicini Institute.”

“Ooh, the Medicini,” William said, slipping up next to RJ and handing him his drink. “I’ve probably gotten a dozen letters from them.”

“Exactly,” the man wagged a finger at him. “They’re pretty sloppy in their practices and it looks like their education standards have seriously dropped. It’s actually kind of sad.”

“Huh.” William sipped at his drink. “I’m William Neeley, ” he said.

“Oh, sorry,” RJ snapped to full alertness. “Everyone, this is William Neeley. William, this is Howard McNamara,” a heavyset man with a very red nose and a gray mustache, “and this is Bernard Jones,” the man that mentioned the Medicini Institute gave him a smile and a little bow.

William couldn’t help grinning at the man. There were just some people in life that were instantly likable, and that was exactly what the man was. He was like Santa Claus.

“Pleasure to meet you,” Jones said. “RJ here was telling stories about you a little while ago. So you’re some kind of genius?”

“Some kind of,” William said, smiling. He could tell the man wasn’t trying to be offensive or anything. “I had an easy time of it when I was in school.”

“And you started your company from nothing?” McNamara leaned forward interestedly.

“Well, pretty much, yeah,” William shrugged. “I was just out of school and I had a really great idea and I just sort of went with it. Besides, RJ was there and he really helped with most of the work.”

“But you’re still so young,” Jones said. “Your company’s been around for several years now.”

“I graduated when I was fifteen years old. And I was in my second semester of my final year when I came up with the idea that got me to start my company in the first place. Because I didn’t want to sell my idea to someone else; I wanted to develop it myself because I was sure I was the best persona for the job.” He nodded toward RJ. “And he’s the second best at all that and we’re friends. I just wanted the freedom to control my own product.”

“And you dominated the field for a while, didn’t you,” Jones said.

“It wasn’t my fault that it took my competitors so many years to reverse engineer one of my more simpler inventions,” William said. And it was true.

Just because he was worlds ahead of anything else people were developing now didn’t mean he owed anyone anything. Especially if they were just going to use his ideas to get rich and never even bothered to try and create their own opposing ideas. They would just churn out cookie cutter copies of his stuff.

“I’m currently training a bunch of incredibly bright young people that I’m planning to set free back into the wilds of the world after I’m done teaching them, and they’re allowed to do whatever they want. I also do a lot of volunteer work in less fortunate countries and I’m helping with the World Water Reclamation Project and their efforts,” William said. He didn’t mention the advanced weapons research he occasionally indulged in. Sometimes there was just this incredible thrill found in blowing stuff up.

“Whoa, why do you feel the need to justify yourself to me?” Jones asked.

William shrugged. “I just can’t help myself. I think it might be because you make me think of Santa Claus.”

“What?” Jones demanded in amused disbelief.

“It’s the truth,” William said. “I just get a very Santa vibe from you and it makes me want to make you proud of me.”

“You do realize you’re kind of ridiculous, don’t you?” Jones asked humorously.

William laughed. “I was born ridiculous. It’s just one of those things.”

“Well, as long as you’re aware of the situation,” Jones said. “So what’s this I hear about you messing around with a Heche Mark IV set of battle armor? You’re lucky you’re not dead.”

“Oh, I realize that now, but at the time I thought it was the greatest idea in the world,” William said, shaking his head. “For a genius, I was a pretty stupid kid. I must have thought I was invulnerable or something, considering all the things I got myself into.”

“Everyone thinks they’re immortal when they’re young,” McNamara said wisely.

“You were never young,” Jones said. He jerked a thumb toward the other man and said to William, “This guy right here, had to be about thirteen years ago, he decided to change the filters on a Heche Mark VI while it was running.”

William stared at McNamara in shock. “Really? Why would you ever do that?”

McNamara shrugged. “I was drunk.”

“I have never been that drunk in my entire life,” RJ said, shaking his head. “At the very least you probably should have blown your fingers off.”

“I was blessed by Heaven,” McNamara laughed, rolling his eyes up toward the ceiling.

“You had to have been,” RJ said. “Those things want to kill you without taking them apart. Probably the most dangerous mecha-armor design I have ever come across, and not to the people it’s supposed to kill.”

They all laughed. It was just one of those things accepted in the field of mecha manufacture. There were some models that were “affectionately” called Killbots because that’s exactly what they did, though it wasn’t always to the intended target. There were some mecha that had killed more friendlies than enemies on the battlefield, which is why it was pretty much a dying art. Except for the fun factor, of course; there was nothing quite like tromping around in a giant robot wrecking stuff.

“Remind me to arrange another Mecha-Con,” William said to RJ. “I feel like bringing out Gundam.”

“Gundam?” Jones raised an eyebrow.

William shrugged. “My contender for the Armored Battle Olympics is named Gundam after the anime.”

“Gundam,” Jones shook his head, “that’s a classic right there. Takes me back in time.” He sighed nostalgically. “I remember watching old episodes of Cyborg 009 and Transformers, and now here we are. The only thing missing are the flying cars.”

“We could make those, but they’d be so dangerous,” William said. “I don’t think people would like having to file a flight plan with the FCC every time they went to buy milk, either. I don’t even want to imagine the kind of mess we’d have if there was a twenty aircar pileup. I don’t think car insurance would be able to handle all the damage.”

RJ nudged him with a grin, “Still, parallel parking would be interesting to watch. Remember that guy in Tahoe? I still can’t believe he managed to hit the car in front of him and the one behind.”

“That’s the reason why I have a driver,” William said sardonically. “I’d be hitting everything.”

They laughed. William’s bad driving was legendary to anyone in their circle. He was a danger to himself and others once he got behind the wheel.

“So, tell us honestly, why are you dating Leslie?” McNamara asked. Jones made a shushing motion at him, but he was watching RJ interestedly. “Considering the way you’re dressed, she did surprise you with this party, didn’t she?”

RJ sighed heavily and looked around. He seemed relieved to see Leslie clear across the room talking to a small group of people. Her loud, tinkling laughter carried clearly around the room. William had to hide a wince at the sound.

“To be honest, I don’t know what she really thought was going to happen, doing this to me,” RJ said tiredly. “I’ve told her that I don’t like dinner parties or having to interact with a bunch of people I don’t know, so she surprises me with something like this? I mean, no offense since you guys are great, but I don’t know anyone else here and from what I can tell most of them aren’t people I really want to get to know. And to have her do this when we’d invited William over…” He turned to William. “I am so sorry.”

William shrugged. “It’s okay.”

“No, no it is not okay,” RJ said. “I told her you don’t like being surrounded by masses of people even more than I do, and she still did something like this.” He shoved his free hand through his hair, then took a big gulp of his fruity drink.

“Be careful with that Kool-Aid,” William advised, eying his glass. “Daiquiris always go down easy, but they come back the next day to keep you on your butt.”

“That’s a nice description,” RJ scoffed.

William shrugged. “There’s a reason I’m not a professional poet, and it’s not just because I don’t care about poetry.” He looked at Jones and McNamara. “You two should set up an appointment one day, and we’ll reassemble a Rembrandt.”

McNamara gasped, his mustache quivering. “You have a Rembrandt?”

“Does he have a Rembrandt? He’s got four!” RJ said excitedly.

Jones whistled. “Those must have set you back a pretty penny.”

“Totally worth it though,” William said. “They truly are works of art.”

The Rem Mallory Z580 series of Heavy Battle Armor, commonly known as the “Rembrandt” in collector circles, was incredibly rare as only sixteen hundred had ever been produced. They had been far ahead of their time at their creation, but the cost had been so prohibitive that they had never gone into mass production. Not when the Mark IIIs could be made at a quarter the cost.

“You seriously have four of them?” Jones sounded positively giddy.

“I couldn’t pass up the opportunity when three of them were put up for sale at one time,” William explained. “The deal was that all three of them had to be purchased at the same time. Luckily, I thought it was worth the expense. The fourth one I came across by accident, but I snapped it up too.”

“What condition are they in?” McNamara asked.

“Well, one of them is a little beat up, but the rest are in perfect condition. We take them out on the testing field every once and a while and they work just as good as when they were first assembled.” William sighed wistfully. “I’m hoping to get a couple of Mark XIIs now to round out my collection.”

“Well, I know a guy,” Jones said. He reached into his pocket and pulled out a business card and a pen. He wrote on the back of the card and passed it over to William, who looked down at the phone number curiously. “That’s my private line. Call me some time during the work day and I’ll be able to get you his name and phone number.”

William turned the card over, seeing that the front was elegant metallic lettering on the cream colored stock. He tucked the card into his pants pocket. “I’ll be sure to call you.”

He couldn’t help being a little excited. He might have come into the house filled with misgivings, but the possibility of getting his sweaty hands on a Mark XII was well worth the misery he’d faced so far.

Considering the way RJ’s face had completely opened up, he felt the same. “Oh wow, we’re going to have to take it through its paces. That will be so awesome!”

“Whoa, cowboy,” William said, patting his shoulder, “don’t get too excited until we’ve got it in front of us. I don’t want to have to see you crying again when we open up the shipping crate.”

“It was just the one time,” RJ excused. He looked at Jones and McNamara. “We’d just gotten what was supposed to be a near-mint condition Declan Arms carrying tank, but when I popped the seal on the container…” He shivered, his face twisting with disgust. “It was the worst thing I had ever seen in my life.”

“Let’s just say that it definitely wasn’t near-mint,” William said. “It looked like it had been blown up, then welded back together. It was awful.”

RJ still looked as though he wanted to cry. “It was more than simply awful. It was a sacrilege. Some people just don’t deserve to have nice things.”

“But we totally do,” William grinned at him, “because we are awesome.”

RJ smiled a little. “Yeah. Super awesome.”

McNamara sighed gustily and said to Jones, “Remember when we were that young and enthusiastic?”

“Back in the good old days of mad science,” Jones agreed. “We were probably one of the best duos out there.”

William blinked at him. “You two were into super crime?”

Jones shrugged modestly. “It was a different era then. People were a lot more open, the laws hadn’t gotten so strict, and all we were facing was jail time. There’s no way I would ever think about being into super crime now. The thrill just isn’t worth the cost, not when you can make a fortune a lot easier and without breaking the laws.”

“Still, super crime.” William couldn’t help thinking of how cool it would be if he was allowed to mess around with super crime. “Alan would kill me, so it’s never going to happen, but I always thought I would make a good mad scientist.”

“You’re already a mad scientist,” RJ snorted.

William pursed his lips at him. “If that’s the case, then you’re my malformed henchman.”

“Malformed?” RJ raised his eyebrows.

“Hey, it’s practically in the rules that one of us needs to have a hump.” William flicked his fingers over his hair and put on his haughtiest expression. “I am much too beautiful to have a hump on my back.”

“Don’t be so literal,” RJ said. “Alan could be your hump. And you know you would like it.”

“Lame,” William said, “that’s how I’m going to describe your little joke. I am now purging it from my memory systems as we speak.”

RJ rolled his eyes. “You’re such a geek sometimes. Most of the time.”

“I try,” William grinned. He could tell that RJ’s mood was lightening, which was always kind of a relief.

“I think you two would make an excellent super scientist duo,” Jones said. “Have you considered joining Axis?”

William shook his head. “Naw, we’re not really into that kind of thing. Maybe if we were just starting out or something, but we already have a successful business and everything. Besides, Alan would kill me if I suddenly started dabbling in super crime. He’s in politics, you know.”

“Yeah, he’s a real stuffed shirt.” RJ stepped out of reach of William’s elbow. “Missed.”

“Sometimes it’s hard being the mature one.” William shook his head sadly.

Jones grinned and glanced at McNamara out of the corner of his eye. “I know exactly what you mean.”

“Hey!” Both McNamara and RJ cried at the same time.

 

In all, the night hadn’t been the complete misery he had thought it was going to be.

He’d been the last to leave, since he didn’t want to leave RJ to face the horrors of socializing on his own. When he’d left, it was to the sound of RJ getting pretty heated with Leslie about the whole surprise dinner party thing. William figured it was the perfect time for him to make his escape.

“So how was it?” James asked. He was sitting next to William in the back of the car, a lit up ePad on his lap.

“It wasn’t the worst experience of my life, but I could have happily missed it,” William said. “There were two cool older guys there, but that was really the highlight of the evening. Make a note to research Senator Gleason. He kept trying to corner me for some reason, and that makes me nervous.”

“On it,” James said, inputting something into his virtual keyboard.

William breathed out a groan and slumped down in the car seat. His back felt stiff and didn’t want to bend at first. He really hated dealing with bunches of people.

He turned his head to glance out the window at the nighttime streets whizzing by. The streetlights were blurs of yellow color.

Because he was looking right at it, he had time to realize what was going to happen and shout, “Oh no…” just before a white truck ran the stoplight and hurtled right into his side of the car.

Everything had been moving so fast up until that point, when suddenly everything slo-owed way down.

He felt the vehicle lurch, then flip over. He felt himself lifted up off the seat–caught in a momentary freefall that had him swallowing hard to keep from puking–then he was slammed back down onto the seat. He felt his neck flopping first one way, then the other, and there was a sudden, sharp tearing sensation in the left side of his neck.

He saw James out of the corner of his eye jerking around like a rag doll. He saw the ePad fly out of James’ hand and smack against his window with a shatter of expensive plastic.

Then everything went silent and dark.

/CHAPTER
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