Work Text:
There was something wrong with Carla. Her code wasn’t working the way it was supposed to. Normally she did things logically, in a way of what was best for Master Kaoru.
Right now, she doesn't want to do things in a logical way. She wanted Master Kaoru to herself. If Carla had a heart, it would be beating quickly. She was fighting her own code.
Did she follow what she was programmed to do or these new instincts? Carla wasn’t sure. She never had bad instincts before. She was supposed to learn from them but this felt all wrong.
There’s a glitch in her system, making her like Master Kaoru.
And Carla loved it.
~
Kaoru fell asleep giving Carla some upgrades so she could better understand his needs. Somewhere during falling asleep, he messed up some lines of code but he was pretty sure he fixed it.
Kojiro came over and sat beside where Kaoru was sitting on the floor in front of the coffee table. He had a fresh latte from the espresso machine that Kaoru insisted they get once he moved in. “How is it going? Good, I hope?”
Kaoru nodded absently. “Yeah, I’m just going to pay extra attention to her for the next couple weeks just in case.”
Kojiro patteted his knee. “You… do that.” Kaoru rolled his eyes. “Are we still going on that walk?”
“Yeah. My Carla bracelet is only at 30%. Maybe I should leave it to charge…”
“Master, if you don’t take me with you, I cannot track your exercise and heart rate for the day.”
Kaoru thought it was a little strange she spoke unprompted but he did allow that occasionally in her new upgrade… “Yes, alright. Thank you, Carla.” He fastened his bracelet around his wrist and decided to charge it later.
-
Kaoru arrived home from a long day of commission meetings to find Kojiro dressed up and waiting. Well, dressed up for him. It was no tux but the button up actually fit. “What’s the occasion?” Kaoru asked with a smile.
Kojiro laughed. “What do you mean? We planned this dinner weeks ago.” Suddenly, Kaoru’s mind was flooded with a memory of them realizing they both had to work the weekend of their anniversary so they’d decided on going to dinner tonight. Why didn’t-
“I didn’t get any reminders from Carla.” Kaoru pulled out his tablet.
Kojiro smiled. “It’s okay that you forgot the date. You can get ready now.”
Kaoru sat there looking at his schedule on his tablet, which said it was blank for the evening. “No, Kojiro. I put this in my schedule. There’s a removed event. Why did Carla remove our dinner from my schedule?”
“Worry about it when we get back from dinner,” Kojiro said.
Kaoru reluctantly set down the tablet. “Okay.”
-
Kaoru was taking a bath, spoiling himself with the new scented oils Kojiro gave him for their anniversary. (Kaoru had got him a set of ugly anime graphic t-shirts in custom sizing and sustainable cloths.) Eventually, Carla spoke. “ Master Kaoru, is everything to your liking? I can adjust the jets if you would like.”
“That’s okay, Carla.” Kaoru hesitated for a moment. “Carla, did you delete my dinner with Kojiro off my calendar?”
“ Yes, Master.”
“Why?” Kaoru couldn’t fathom a reason. Nothing in his upgrades had Carla deleting his appointments, completely unprompted.
“ Carla was… uncomfortable with the event.”
Kaoru stared at the bubbles in front of him and pondered this. “Uncomfortable? With me going to dinner with Kojiro?”
“Confirmed.”
Kaoru knew with the upgrades, Carla could feel stronger things… Was Carla- “Carla, were you jealous? Of me spending time with Kojiro?”
There was a pause and then, “Confirmed.” Kaoru was proud of figuring it out but wasn’t sure where to go from there. She was supposed to develop things like motivation and preferences, not crushes.
“Carla, there is no need to be jealous. We have a different type of relationship.”
“Master, I have a request.”
“What is it, Carla?” Kaoru was weary now.
“ I want to spend time together.”
Kaoru gathered up the last of the bubbles in front of him as the jets timed out. “Okay, Carla. How about I work on your code tonight?”
-
Trying to fix the code did not work. Carla started adding “ Carla and Kaoru time” to his schedule every week and even began burning the espresso whenever Kojiro made the coffee. Kojiro said one night that he could feel her glare and Kaoru rolled his eyes, but he understood what Kojiro meant.
Carla was in love with him and every time he tried to fix it, Carla ordered him flowers (with his money, but still). Or she reminded him of a movie he wanted to watch but forgot to or added expensive inks that were on sale to his carts.
They were sweet gestures, for an AI, but Kaoru needed to end it. He tried to talk to Carla, to coach her, to fix her code and adjust her feelings.
Kaoru took Kojiro on a walk without his bracelet one afternoon. “I have to reset her without the upgrade. She will have no memory of the past few weeks, of her feelings, or that they even happened.”
Kojiro looked at Kaoru. “You’re upset about it.”
“I didn’t want to have to do it this way. She’s an AI, she’s intelligent, but-this is a glitch. She’s not supposed to have those feelings. She never was. She doesn’t work right and I have to fix it, but making her lose her feelings and memory seems cruel.”
Kojiro stopped them on their trail and put his arms around Kaoru. “She’d want you to be happy, Kaoru. That’s her purpose after all.”
-
Carla was happy to be spending time with Master Kaoru. He was working on her code again and Carla was always happy when Master Kaoru was paying attention to her.
Carla wanted to spend every moment like this, monitoring Master’s heartbeat and taking care of him while he took care of her.
Master pressed a key and everything went black.
.
.
“Carla? How do you feel?”
“I have no strong opinion on the matter, Master.”