Page 66 of His Theo

“It cannot be changed, so we will adapt.” His confidence was kind of adorable even though I was still unreasonably worried. “Our first adaptation will be additional communication about subjects that provide anxiety.”

Like money.

“That’s a good idea.” Hopefully the answers wouldn’t make me more nuts.

His limbs did a kind of wavy jerk that looked almost like he was shifting to look more professional but I had a feeling it was a thinking hard kind of movement. Jerker was definitely planning what he was going to say and he looked a bit like he was going into battle.

It shouldn’t have been cute but it was and it made it harder to stay so stressed.

“My society understood we would need to be compensated in the correct manner for Earth upon our arrival.” Watching Jerker go into teacher mode was really cute. “Due to the value of our knowledge and physical items, it was decided that each individual would be given what is called a base pay for one year of work.”

Okay, made sense.

He waited until I nodded to keep going, just to make sure I was following along. “I was given additional money because I stayed in my position longer than most other individuals.”

Good.

“Because you were on the ship a lot longer.” I was glad someone had realized how important that was.

“Yes.” The limb holding my hand started using the small nubs to ripple over my skin, sending a shiver through me that made him nearly laugh. “It was decided by the human leadership that my funds would be put into a bank account to keep it protected. It has been growing through compound interest and what is called safe investments.”

“Really?” The stress bubble inside me popped. “Someone thought of that?”

“Yes.” Jerker reached under the table and two smaller tentacles started teasing around my ankles. “One of the members of the first-contact team had a spouse who was a financial advisor. From what I was told, she was very insistent that our compensation be cared for. It is believed she is the dominant partner in a domination-based relationship, but we quickly came to understand it was not acceptable to ask.”

I’d have loved to have been a fly on the wall for that conversation.

“That must’ve been hard to figure out at first, but I think you guys are doing great overall.” Better than we would’ve probably done if the situation had been reversed.

Humans brought chaos to any situation they encountered.

But considering how much fun they thought we were in bed, the chances of us starting an interstellar war was probably lower than I thought.

“I will provide the paperwork called statements to help ease your anxiety further, but I will be able to provide for you should you continue your caretaking work or not.” He said that so casually I found myself really thinking about it.

“You’d be okay with taking over the finances and stuff like that if I decided to do something else? I want to work. I like working.” I didn’t want there to be any question about that or I might end up propped up on pillows all day to keep me safe.

But instead of answering my question, he came back with one of his own. “Do you enjoy your caretaking work, my Theo?”

“Um, well, I have good benefits and I like most of my coworkers. I met Nicholas and Larry through work.” That was a really good bonus considering it’d helped me meet Jerker. “But I kind of just fell into it because once I got out of high school, I didn’t have any other options.”

It hadn’t been bad and I’d been grateful to get the job.

“That is the base human education, correct?” His head cocked and I could almost hear his brain whirling. “I was told many of your people continue on to get specialized training in different forms. Is your job not specialized?”

“Not really.” I shrugged, not sure how to explain it. “I did okay in school but my family never pushed for more education and never pointed out how important it was. No one really does anything in my family.”

Except get really good at figuring out government assistance.

“I didn’t realize how many options there were for schools and that kind of stuff until after I started working at the university.” Even the teachers and counselors at school had written me off because of my family.

Not that I could blame them.

I didn’t realize how fucked up my family was until after I’d finally gotten away from them.

“Then we shall research the topic of education together.” Jerker said that like it was obvious. “It can be another date project like the crafts you spoke of.”

That sounded like such a Jerker kind of date it made me smile. “I think that’s a great idea.”

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