Chapter Text
When Zoey had stumbled into this bedroom last night, she hadn’t paid any mind to decor other than that there was a bed. Fortunately, however, she’d accidentally chosen well. The covers of this bed were strangely soft, and above her, ebony posts held a navy blue canopy with silver swirls running through it. The silver glinted when she moved her head back and forth, so Zoey spent a few minutes doing that when she woke up. The room otherwise was one of the smaller guest rooms in Casa De Zoey, with tapestry walls stylishly matching the canopy of the bed and ebony furniture. Zoey’d often admired the windows too, which reached from the floor all the way to the ceiling with fancy matching drapes. But now the curtains were drawn, the lights off, and the full effect of the room was lost in the darkness.
Not that Zoey really cared right now. She stared up at the silver strands of the canopy and tried desperately to make sense of the world in which yesterday Will had told her that he had developed romantic feelings for her. Will Blackwater. The man whose father figure was her father. The man who had saved her life and a great deal of her money way too many times to count. The man who was feared by pretty much everyone in Tabula Rasa, for good reason. Who had arranged for Jezza to be killed. Who was fifteen years older than her. Whose wife had been ran over by a car. Who was basically a robot. Who had nearly killed her date in an attempt to scare him off. Talk about messed up.
Her phone beeped with a text at 11am, and Zoey’s heart jumped in her chest. She lifted her phone to check the name.
Carlton. Asking if she wanted breakfast.
No, she did not. She wanted Will to text her, or come see her, or anything to make this situation better. Things always seemed a little less fucked up than they really were when Will was talking to her. Maybe that was his skill at negotiation, but she probably wouldn’t have managed to get through even half of the whole thing with Molech without his bizarre little pep talks, if you could even call them that. She would’ve fled long before they finished that mess, and even if she got through that, she wouldn’t have managed to get through all the incidents since then. Whenever she couldn’t handle anything else, when she was wrecked with despair and horror, Will would somehow manage to get her back up and into the Mold Room. And even though she knew those conversations were often laced with manipulation and reverse psychology, she always felt a little better, a little stronger afterwards.
Now she thought about it, she hadn’t truly had a breakdown in a while. Will had kept coming by to talk to her just as often, but about more enjoyable topics, with fewer business reasons and excuses. Though when they were working on business, he was his same old android self.
Old and android. He was fifteen years older than her, he’d already been married. The marriage was the only reason Zoey knew he had romance programmed in somewhere, even if she’d never seen it. Unless, of course, his wife had been a robot too.
Her phone beeped, and Zoey jerked again. It was now 1pm, Carlton was asking if she’d want lunch. She felt a twinge of guilt; she hadn’t replied to his last message. She sent a quick text telling him she was fine and would be in bed most of today, and not to worry about feeding her until she texted him. Then she collapsed back onto her pillows.
A fifteen year age difference was supposed to be super important. Many people disapproved of such things, but then, Zoey never cared what everyone else approved of. The idea was normally that it was sexually perverted or that with such a large age difference, the couple wouldn’t be able to relate to each other. But while the intrinsic differences between her and Will would never go away, in general she thought they understood each other pretty well, even if she then did the opposite of what she understood he wanted. And the sexual perversions she’d tried in the past had been quite pleasurable.
Zoey groaned. She was supposed to be readjusting her world after Will’s confession, not justifying why them dating wouldn’t be a horrible idea.
Then again, maybe they could be the same thing. After all, Will having feelings for her made sense if they would be a decent couple. That wouldn’t be so disorienting.
Her phone beeped again, and once more her heart jumped. It would be Carlton again, she chided herself as she lifted the phone.
The text was from Will Blackwater. Zoey’s breath hitched, and she hurriedly unlocked her phone to read the message.
Upon further consideration, I think the reconstruction option we discussed for the tech startup would be the most profitable. Unless you object, I’ll implement that.
Cool and professional. She supposed she wouldn’t have expected anything else, given his words when he’d left the room.
No objections , she texted back. Her heart raced. Maybe we could discuss the implementation plan in person?
Sent. Zoey took a deep breath. She needed to see him, even if it was just business. She needed to hear his voice, watch him pace the room and point at things and even lecture her, just so she could sort this out. Just so she could test their patterns of interactions, the playful banter that they had sometimes, the comfortable camaraderie and tension all at once… test all of that in a romantic context.
Her phone beeped in her hand, and Zoey unlocked it immediately.
No longer possible. Currently in California, meeting with company executives. Will email you implementation plan later tonight; reply with any objections by morning.
Her heart plummeted. Of course. Will couldn’t just go work on other projects like a normal human being, he’d booked himself a plane ticket to another state to be away from her. Zoey tossed her phone onto the bed next to her. Well then. Either she had to figure out for herself whether she wanted him romantically and hope she wasn’t wrong, or she had to wait for him to stop wanting her so he’d come back and she could figure out if she wanted him, which would then start her own period of unrequited desire. Or a disaster needed to occur that would require Will’s expertise to resolve.
As tempting as it was to text Andre and see what he would suggest for creating a disaster, she stopped herself. Creating a problem bad enough that Will needed to come back to fix it would probably be a bad start to the relationship.
Not that there necessarily would be a relationship.
She wished Will was here.
How long do you need to be in California? Zoey texted, and sent it before she could second-guess herself.
Will didn’t reply. After another couple hours of staring at the canopy, Zoey managed to get up and go looking for Andre or Echo. She knew she should probably eat, but her stomach felt like it was in knots.
At first when she saw Echo walking towards her in the hallway, in one of her tailored pantsuits, Zoey thought she’d found Echo. It was only when Echo halted that Zoey realized that while she had been wandering aimlessly around the hallways, Echo hadn’t. Echo had found Zoey.
“There’s nothing he has to do in California,” Echo said as soon as their eyes met. “If you don’t force him to talk about it, he’s going to keep avoiding you even after he says he’s finished avoiding you.”
Zoey stared at her for a few moments, trying to comprehend both the new facts and that Echo knew exactly what Zoey had been about to ask and why. “He told you?”
“I suspected it. And I assume you demanded a truthful explanation from him as to why he wanted to test new weapons during your date. Now he’s on an unnecessary plane to California, and you stayed in bed most of the day. Doesn’t take a genius to figure it out.” Echo paused in thought. “Or I misread everything and he really was trying to ruin your life. That would have about the same results.”
Despite her overarching feeling of illness, Zoey snorted at that. “It was the first one.”
Echo said, “Oh good, I’d be disconcerted if it was the second.”
“How do you know he’ll keep avoiding me?”
“Because that’s how he deals with stuff like this. He doesn’t need to be there, I could rebook his flight for tomorrow morning.”
“Won’t there be a change fee?”
Echo shrugged. “Yes.”
Zoey considered it for a few moments. If she didn’t want Will romantically, there was no reason to force him home early other than just to help her make her decision. If she did… she might as well establish now that he wasn’t going to be able to avoid this forever.
Hell if she knew. “Do it.”
A trace of a smile appeared on Echo’s lips. She lifted her phone to her ear and strode past Zoey, and as her voice trailed into the distance, Zoey could barely hear her rescheduling the flight.
Zoey smiled and began walking in the direction of the kitchen. Will would be back soon.
She was eating one of her favorite sandwiches when Echo walked through the door of the kitchen, her shoulders slumped with exhaustion. She grabbed a stool and sat down across from Zoey. “Do you want the bad news before or after you finish the sandwich?”
She should’ve known. Zoey set the sandwich, of which she’d been about to take a big, juicy bite, back down on the plate. “You asking that is already bad news.”
“Did you tell him you were gonna try to get him back?”
“No.”
Echo said, “Yes, you did. Somehow.”
“I didn’t.”
“Well, he might’ve called in a couple favors, but the short of it is that somehow in the last few hours, he’s rearranged things so that if he stays in California for another month, Livingston Enterprises will acquire about ten billion dollars in assets.”
Zoey frowned and stared at her sandwich. Okay, so maybe it would be a bit immature to give up that much money because she wanted to have a face-to-face convo with Will. But it wasn’t like Livingston Enterprises was hard up.
Echo continued, “But even Will can’t call favors to get billions of dollars out of nowhere. He made a deal.”
Zoey groaned.
“If Will stays and keeps all of his recently scheduled meetings, everything works out. If he doesn’t, we’ll lose all that, another billion dollars, the tech startup he went over there for, and the good will of the mafia family that rules crime in most of California, thereby putting a price on any of our heads next time we enter the state.”
“ In five hours?” It had to have been her text asking when he could come back. But how would he manage to cut out such an awful deal that fast?
“This is how our enemies normally feel. Having Will on our payroll is nice.”
Zoey sighed and jabbed at her food angrily. She didn’t feel so hungry anymore. “So? Now what?”
Echo smiled tightly. “You’ll have to see him in a month.”
“What- No. This is your job, you can-”
“I called our lawyers, I called Will, and I called the mafia.” Echo shrugged. “Sure, there’s probably some sort of way out, but it’s not one I can use.”
“But-”
Echo stood and pushed her stool in. “I’ll keep trying. I’ll have Budd make some calls, see if he can outmaneuver Will.” She sighed. “I’m sorry, Zoey. Whatever you said, you shouldn’t have warned him until I could set up roadblocks.”
“I didn’t warn him.”
“You didn’t warn him expressly, perhaps.” Echo shook her head and made for the door. “I’ll let you know when I have more information.”
For a few minutes after Echo left, Zoey just sat and glared at her sandwich. Goddammit, when she asked when he’d be back, she hadn’t meant that she would try to get him back. She hadn’t even known she was going to ask Echo to bring him back at the time. And somehow he’d talked to the mafia since then?
Zoey pulled her phone out of her pocket and swiped to Will’s contact. When I approved the reconstruction plan, I didn’t say you could make deals with the mafia.
His text came only a few minutes later. The bastard had probably been expecting her. My contract allows me to deviate from plans when in the interest of Livingston Enterprises. The deal is quite lucrative.
For some reason, Zoey felt like crying. She wished the feeling would go away. Maybe I’ll make a disaster so you’ll have to come back.
Didn’t Echo tell you? Andre is on a plane to China now. So good luck with that.
Zoey glared at her phone and dialed his number. The phone rang out, even though it was almost certainly in his hand. But then, she’d rather expected that.
She started to type I hate you but then realized that his expectation of that was probably the whole cause of this mess. And she wanted him to come back.
I miss you , she typed, and pressed send before she could second guess it.
Will didn’t reply.
Zoey spent the next few days trying very hard not to text Will, lest she say something else letting him know they were still trying to get him back. She read some of the papers on their new acquisitions Will had asked her to read over a couple weeks ago, which only succeeded in boring her mind to think of Will constantly. Thankfully the architectural plans for the remodelling of Livingston Tower came in then, and Zoey could legitimately focus looking at those and marking all the additional changes she wanted to make.
She didn’t hear anything more about the situation with Will until Budd came by the office she was working in three days after she’d spoken with Echo. “Say, Zoey,” he said, “Exactly what’s our budget on operation ‘Force-Will-Home’?”
Zoey started at him for a few moments, then shrugged. As much as Will would probably have scolded her for thinking with her heart instead of business sense, she wanted him back to scold her. “Whatever,” she said. “Just preferably less than ten billion dollars.”
Budd grinned and tipped his hat. “That should be doable.” He dipped out the door, and Zoey stared blankly after him.
She really ought to be thinking with her head more. The amounts of money Echo and Budd were tossing around, trying to get a deal with the goddamn mafia just to get Will home a bit earlier… it was ridiculous that Zoey was actually requesting they play with her fortune that way. And yet she was.
It wasn’t like Will had never been gone before. He’d been away for weeks at a time, so it wasn’t like she was having some weird separation anxiety. But this time… it felt different, knowing he was away because he wanted her too much. And meanwhile, her whole lethargy ever since he’d left for California was for the same reason: she wanted him back home too much.
Zoey’s finger traced one of the lines on the design plans in front of her. They both wanted each other too much. Wasn’t that the most ridiculous way to feel heartbreak?
She froze a moment later. Heartbreak. She felt heartbroken. For Will.
She guessed that answered her question on whether she returned his feelings or not.
The ball pit seemed less jovial when one was sad and confused, Zoey reflected two days later. She laid on top of the balls in the ball pit with her arms and legs spread out like she was making a snow angel. Maybe she should make a room with artificial snow. That would sure be something Arthur Livingston would’ve approved of.
When Echo stepped through the door, Zoey tried to straighten up and ended up falling through the balls. For a moment she stayed there, underneath all the colorful shapes, then finally gathered her energy to push back up and hear what Echo had to say. To Echo’s credit, she only had a hint of a smile on her face by the time Zoey reemerged.
Echo said, “If we commit to a ten year contract of doing business with the mafia, we can get Will home in two days with only losing the tech company.”
Zoey’s face split into a grin, but she tried to contain herself. After all, if she made a stupid business decision, Will wouldn’t probably be in the right state for a happy reunion. “Is a ten year contract with the mafia bad?”
Echo said, “Maybe if you’re a church. We have contracts with three other mafias across the United States though, so I wouldn’t be too concerned. It’ll be profitable.”
Zoey frowned. “Since when have we been dealing with mafias?”
“Since before you came. You might want to read the reports I give you every once in awhile.”
Maybe she should. But there were always just so many more enjoyable things Zoey could do than read reports that the Suits already knew by heart.
Yet somehow, Zoey just couldn’t bring herself to care about dealing with mafias right now. “Sure,” she said. “Make the deal. See if you can get him back tomorrow.”
A small smile slid over Echo’s features. “Of course,” she said, and exited the ball pit room.
Zoey continued laying in the balls until she got a text from Echo. His flight is booked for tomorrow morning, it said.
Zoey tried to do a little flip in the balls. She somehow ended up kneeing herself in the stomach, but she couldn’t bring herself to care.
She was going to see Will tomorrow.
An hour later, Zoey got a text from Will. I would rather stay here for the full month.
Zoey smiled. Ruining Will’s plans was always so much fun. Too bad. Will you come meet with me after you arrive or do I need to wait at the airstrip myself?
Five minutes later, he still hadn’t replied. So Zoey texted him again. Meet me in the last room I saw you. I like the chair.
Will didn’t reply to that either, which Zoey took as agreement. Besides, it wasn’t like he could run away. He worked for her.
Zoey was already waiting in place when Will’s flight landed, never mind that he wouldn’t be there immediately. She sat in her red throne-chair at the head of table, stroking Stench Machine in her arms. Part of her wanted to call a photographer to come in; she imagined she looked quite stately. All she needed was a crown.
Will stepped into the room, dressed in one of his lighter sand-colored suits with a light blue tie. More color than usual. Zoey liked those suits, he looked less robotic in them. His eyebrow raised a fraction as he looked at her.
Will said, “I told you I would reassign myself. To spare both of us discomfort.”
Zoey said, “Yeah, and I realized causing you discomfort is basically my job. Come over here.”
Will eyed her, somewhat apprehensively. “I’d rather not.”
“Okay, you stay right there then.” Zoey stood and set Stench Machine down on the table. She took a deep breath and reminded herself that this was just a test, she just was confirming what she already thought she’d figured out. Then she took the far-too-many steps forward to Will, his eyes widening with every step she took, and lifted one hand to the back of his head. His eyes were almost comically wide now, and his mouth gaped open just slightly in surprise. Zoey tugged his head down and pressed her lips to his.
There weren’t fireworks, the world didn’t stop spinning, but a profound feeling of rightness raced through her. Will gasped into her mouth, probably more out of surprise than anything else, but still kissed her back, even if it was far less passionate than Zoey was certain he was capable of. She slid her tongue inside his mouth and Will finally began to really respond, answering her probing with his own tongue and sliding his arm around her back.
They kissed for a few minutes, exploring each other’s mouths and wringing small little gasps and moans from each other. Will was the first to pull back, his expression quickly growing guarded. “Zoey, I-”
“Shhh.” Zoey shook her head. “I made my decision already. That was the last test.”
“Of?”
“You. So, given we’re basically dating now, you’re like, my boyfriend right? Cause that sounds weird with you, but you’ve got to be something.”
Will’s expression was a bit petrified and he kept blinking rapidly. “We’re dating now?”
“Duh, you like me romantically, I think you’re pretty great, we had a great make-out sesh just now… not dating seems stupid.”
“All right.” Will seemed to be slowly putting himself back together. Zoey couldn’t help but feel proud. She must’ve been a better kisser than she’d thought. “Well then. Dating introduces a variety of new issues that must be discussed and considered-”
Zoey groaned. “Oh no, we are not gonna treat this like-”
“You already introduced the issue of terminology, which is partially dependent on the degree-”
“Are you trying to make me hate you again?”
“No, but terminology depends on the degree we keep our relationship private.”
“You are not going to be my secret boyfriend, you can forget that right now.”
“Indiscretion seems inadvisable, given the amount of time we spend featured-”
“I give so few shits about bad publicity.”
“If our relationship is primarily unknown, the issue of terminology is less important-”
“Goddamnit Will-”
“We will also need to consider the separate issues of professionality and sexual intimacy, as well as nepotism and-”
“Stop. Just stop already.”
To Zoey’s relief, Will did indeed stop talking.
Zoey said, “You’re not going to convince me not to try to date you by prattling on about this stuff, you’re just going to remind me that I really need to force you to go to therapy.”
Will said, “These are all issues we will need to address if we enter a relationship. I’m ensuring you are aware of all of them. We cannot possibly separate a personal relationship from our working relationship.” He placed his hand on one of the chairs and leaned casually on it.
“There’s no need. Look, you’re already basically running my company, and everyone in Tabula Rasa is terrified of you. The ones who aren’t already know that kidnapping me is a good way to get at you, since I’m your boss, and that kidnapping you is a good way to get at me, since we need you. So. No need to worry about endangering each other if everyone knows we’re a thing. Okay, nepotism. You’re already at the top of my company, I can’t give you anything else with favoritism. Done. Now, with those handled, terminology is down to feelings about which words you like. Issue talk over.”
Will stared at her through the entire speech with a strange look of engagement. “That made a surprising amount of sense, even if you did ignore half of the related factors to be taken into account.”
“Wow, so glad you had high expectations.”
Will said, “Normally I have to fill in the gaping holes in your logic.”
“Wow,” Zoey said again. “But seriously, can we deal with anything else later? Like, we don’t have any awful reasons why us dating is doomed. I thought about it all yesterday.”
Will cocked an eyebrow and said dryly, “And we should always trust one day’s worth of consideration over several months of consideration.”
“We haven’t had several months of consideration.”
Will tilted his head, his expression going blank again. “I have.”
Zoey sighed. She didn’t really know how long Will had been feeling this, but it was true that she’d been thinking about it for only a day, even if she wasn’t quite sure she hadn’t already felt something for him before that. She wasn’t really sure about any of this. “Okay, but can we have a few minutes of romance before we plunge back into arguing?”
“ This isn’t going to work, Zoey. I’ve thought about it extensively, that was why I didn’t tell you-”
“You didn’t tell me because you didn’t think I’d like you too. Don’t lie.”
“ Among other reasons . Even ignoring all of the serious issues regarding Livingston Enterprises, and the fate of the company when we break up-”
Zoey said, “Wow, so much faith.”
Will gave her an annoyed look. “We constantly disagree, Zoey, there’s no way we wouldn’t break up.”
“Well, having that attitude won’t help any. And makeup sex is pretty great.”
Will’s jaw clenched.
Zoey said, “Look, how about we just try it, okay? And if we can’t get along, we’ll break up, and it’ll be chill and you can go off to California or whatever just like you were trying to do now. And if it works, we’ll figure out all the other issues.”
There were a few moments in which Will just stared intensely at her, until at last he nodded his head just slightly. “We’ll reevaluate after a month.”
Geez, you would’ve thought she was the one who’d confessed to having feelings only after trying to kill another love interest. But it wasn’t like she hadn’t expected Will to be, well, Will.
Will said, “We’ll still need to discuss how private-”
“Later. Just shut up and kiss me so I can remember why I just decided to date you.” She gave him her best come-hither look, and was gratified when he miraculously took the necessary step forward to kiss her. He must have already wanted to, otherwise there would be no way she would’ve convinced him with just that.
She had no doubts that this initial burst of joy would fade, and all sorts of problems would assault her and Will’s relationship, and most of them would probably be their own fault. But after all, Will had fallen for her, and had grudgingly accepted dating her, so he had to have some sort of plan to make this work. He was too obsessed with contingencies not to.
They’d figure it out.