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The only thing Kaoru truly trusted was Carla. He trusted the AI to guide him correctly when he skateboarded, trusted her to assist him with his daily tasks, and trusted her to help him in his career as the AI Calligrapher. Trusting Carla was easier than trusting himself, because he knew the AI better than he let him know himself.
Carla also didn’t have a bad habit of getting drunk while next to one Nanjo Kojiro; the same Kojiro who smelled of spice and pine, who was leaning much too close to Kaoru’s personal space right now. They’re sitting on the floor of Kojiro’s apartment, leaning against the couch for support.
“Let’s play a game, Pinky,” Kojiro suggests, words slurred in his drunken state. Of course Kojiro would be the one who started it all, Kaoru would later think. “Like when we were younger.”
“I don’t think you need any encouragement to drink more,” Kaoru says, voice stumbling in its practiced refinement. “You can’t risk damaging your precious few brain cells, idiot.”
“Funny,” Kojiro responds dryly. “But not that kind of game, four-eyes.”
“Then what kind of game,” Kaoru challenges. “Because you cheat at most of them.”
“I don’t cheat; I win. There’s a difference,” Kojiro huffs, but leans closer to Kaoru anyway. “But not that kind of game, either.”
Before Kaoru can ask what kind of game Kojiro is talking about again, the larger man wraps his hand around Kaoru’s wrist and pulls Kaoru forward. What’s meant to be a gentle tug turns into yanking Kaoru against his chest, thanks to Kojiro’s inability to judge his own actions right now. “Sorry,” Kojiro responds sheepishly.
Kaoru doesn’t move from Kojiro’s chest, however. “This is your game?” he taunts, raising a brow. “It’s boring.”
“I’m getting to the good part, princess,” Kojiro rolls his eyes, before taking his free hand and lifting Kaoru’s chin so that they’re staring into each other’s eyes. Kaoru’s not short, but he’s almost laying against Kojiro now, forcing the man to lean forward to close the distance between them. “Tell me when to stop.”
Kaoru doesn’t trust himself to tell Kojiro to stop, doesn’t trust himself to want Kojiro to stop. But thankfully, Carla is his ever-present guardian, and she glows faintly from Kaoru’s wrist before their lips can press against each other’s.
“Master, a reminder of your appointment tomorrow at noon,” Carla says, forcing Kaoru to pull away from Kojiro.
“Thank you, Carla,” Kaoru speaks with a hint of pride, as he always does when his AI does her tasks.
“You set your appointment reminders to one in the morning?” Kojiro asks, glancing at the clock. “Can’t trust yourself to go to bed on time otherwise?”
“It’s none of your business you dopey ogre,” Kaoru responds, swiping the last glass of wine and gulping it down to wash out the memory of what he almost did. “I should leave now, anyway.”
The truth was, Kaoru didn’t have any appointments the next day. He specifically had Carla clear his schedule so he could work on commissions. Kaoru knew that his AI was smart, but he didn’t realize exactly how perceptive she was when it came to his personal life. But he’s grateful for the interruption, nonetheless.
He can’t trust himself around Kojiro, but he can trust Carla to keep his heart safe.
Tucked away safely in Kaoru’s home, he finally finds the words to talk to his AI. “Carla, why did you lie?”
“You were stressed, Master. Your heartrate increased and your breathing was irregular. I lied to remove you from the situation causing you stress. Was that incorrect?”
Kaoru hesitates for a long moment as he thinks this over. “That was the correct action, Carla. Thank you.”
“You’re welcome, Master.” Carla chimes, and Kaoru can see the way her lights linger for a moment, as if she’s processing data. He wonders what she’s thinking often, but he doesn’t ask. He trusts her to make the right decisions.
~*~
Carla understands tension and stress are a part of life. She’s never once interrupted Kaoru from a stressful situation before, knowing it’s not her responsibility to. Even the next day, when Kaoru is frustrated by a commission, Carla doesn’t stop his work until the time she’s normally assigned to remind him to eat. Kaoru even has her compare his heartrate from the night before to when he’s working on his commissions, only to find it was higher when he was angered by his commission work.
So why did she interrupt him kissing Kojiro?
The question lingers in Kaoru’s mind all evening, even as he approaches Sia la Luce for dinner. He still brings Carla- he always brings Carla. Perhaps she can aggregate more data for him and give him a better answer when he finally works up the courage to ask her.
“You look like shit, Pinky. Rough meeting?” Kojiro asks, wiping down the last of the tables after close and grabbing a glass to pour wine for Kaoru.
“What meeting?” Kaoru asks with annoyance. He took the day off of meetings to work on commissions. Why would Kojiro- oh, right, he reminds himself. Carla lied the night before. “Oh, that one. Yes, it was quite frustrating.”
“Did they end up deciding to work with you?” Kojiro asks casually, pulling out a plate of carbonara that was already freshly made. He always knew to expect Kaoru, even when Kaoru gave no indication he was coming over.
“Who knows,” Kaoru replies flippantly, waving his hand. “Clients can be fickle.”
“Right,” Kojiro sighs, pouring himself a glass of wine as Kaoru starts to pick at his food. “What are you thinking about?”
“Nothing you would understand,” Kaoru responds. “It’s Carla.”
A light vibration comes from his wrist, a reminder that the AI is still present in the room.
“I know a lot about girlfriend problems,” Kojiro teases him, and Kaoru takes the bait.
“She’s not my girlfriend. And of course you would have girl problems, seeing as you’re an offensive ogre.” Kaoru sticks his nose in the air haughtily as he speaks. “Most girls would have a problem with you.”
“I can get any girl I want,” Kojiro points out. “Or guy, for that matter.”
“Yeah?” Kaoru smirks. “Why don’t you prove it, then. Woo me.”
“I said that I want, four-eyes,” Kojiro grumbles. “But fine. I could woo you.”
“Go ahead and try.”
Kojiro clears his throat, and Kaoru sips his wine with amusement. When the green-haired man leans close, Kaoru can feel his breathing quicken, and he glances quickly at his wrist, reassuring himself that Carla isn’t going to interrupt once more. His eyes flick back to Kojiro, who’s gotten much closer, and he waits for Kojiro’s words.
“Why don’t we go upstairs, Pinky,” Kojiro speaks low, in a way that has warmth pooling in Kaoru’s gut. “I could show you-”
“Master has seen Kojiro’s apartment a total of six times in the last two weeks,” Carla speaks, ruining the moment between them. The two turn to the AI bracelet around Kaoru’s wrist. “Two of those times included a trip to the bedroom.”
“Why were we in your bedroom?” Kaoru asks scrunching up his nose in distaste. “I can’t imagine willingly following you there.”
“Once was because Joe the Imbecile wanted to show Master a magazine article and-”
“Thank you, Carla,” Kaoru sighs. “That’s enough.”
Carla glows faintly once more before shifting into standby mode.
“Your girlfriend really knows how to ruin a moment,” Kojiro sighs, throwing back the rest of his wine. “Well, I better finish closing up. See you later, Pinky.”
Kaoru, finishing the last of his own wine, stands to leave. He doesn’t bother with a formal goodbye, knowing that he’ll catch up with Kojiro at S the next night, anyway.
~*~
Kaoru trusts Carla with his life; the fact that she’s interrupted Kojiro twice now sets unease in his stomach. Kojiro is his best friend, they’ve known each other since Kindergarten. But Carla knows Kaoru so intimately that her interruptions make him worry that there’s something that he’s unaware of.
He has Carla run diagnostics but can’t find anything wrong with the AI’s programming. With defeat and confusion running through his mind, Kaoru gives in and takes the AI skateboard with him to S that night. There’s not much he can do about Carla, and he has to trust that she’s not broken.
He finds himself deep in conversation with Shadow, who tries to offer him some skating tricks. Kaoru isn’t interested in tricks that rely on brute force, and his mind is too occupied with thoughts of Carla and Kojiro that he can’t seem to focus on what Shadow’s saying, anyway.
Did Kojiro do something to Carla for her to deem him unsafe to be around? There were no recent changes in her programming, so it was clearly a decision Carla made on her own.
So caught up with his thoughts, Kaoru doesn’t notice that Kojiro approaches, nor does he hear Shadow challenging him to a beef until it’s too late.
“I can show you exactly how these tricks work, Cherry Blossom,” Shadow taunts. “What do you say, you and I beef it out finally?”
“Kaoru, about last night-” Kojiro starts at the same time as Shadow speaks.
And by the time Kaoru can finally realize what’s being said, Carla is already speaking for him. “Master accepts your beef, Shadow; there is free time to race now.”
Now. Just when Kojiro gets there. It increases Kaoru’s suspicions, but this time he finally finds a threat. Kojiro called him ‘Kaoru’, which Carla knows is inappropriate for S. Though Kaoru wasn’t particularly interested in a beef with Shadow, he can recognize Carla’s attempt to protect his identity through accepting the beef.
So, Carla thought Kojiro was a threat. As Kaoru begrudgingly takes his position at the starting line, he thinks that over. What could Kojiro be doing that Carla finds threatening?
Kaoru wins the beef, but not as easily as he should thanks to his distracted state. He falls for Shadow’s tricks too easily, and he’s not racing as precisely as he normally is, despite Carla’s usual guidance.
Even when Shadow congratulates him, Kaoru is barely there. Kaoru doesn’t even bother to ask for anything from Shadow for winning the beef, leaving S entirely as he decides to figure out everything for himself.
~*~
Inviting Kojiro over is clearly the smartest decision Kaoru can make regarding his dilemma. He’ll never understand what’s going on between the two unless he can get Kojiro close to Carla. And if he can figure out what Kojiro did to upset the AI, he can demand that Kojiro apologize for it.
He’s relieved that Carla allows Kojiro inside his apartment, knowing full well that she could completely lock him in and Kojiro out if she really wanted to (and that thought should scare him, but he saves that worry for another day).
“I need you to apologize to Carla,” Kaoru says as soon as Kojiro walks in, skipping over the investigation he originally planned. “You’ve clearly upset her.”
“What the hell are you talking about?” Kojiro asks, not even having time to get his shoes off before Kaoru makes his demands. “I haven’t upset your robot girlfriend.”
“She’s not a robot and she’s not my girlfriend,” Kaoru huffs. “See, this is exactly what she’s upset about.”
“Is she upset about that, or are you?” Kojiro raises a brow.
“Clearly she is. She’s been avoiding you.”
“Why should I care if your dumb girlfriend is avoiding me?”
“Don’t call her dumb. She’s much smarter than you are, muscle-brained moron.”
“She’s probably smarter than you, too, four-eyes.”
“Good, that’s the point,” Kaoru grumbles out, pinching the bridge of his nose. “Do you not understand anything about Carla?”
“Obviously not,” Kojiro says, sitting down on the couch. “Look, is this what you brought me here for? To argue about Carla? Because I was under the impression that we were going to talk about us.”
“What us?” Kaoru looks incredulous. “There is no us.”
“That’s what I want to talk about, Pinky. Lately there’s been tension that-”
“Master, I recommend restarting your work on your commissions,” Carla’s voice chimes from his wrist. “Now is the optimal time for productivity.”
“See, this is what I’m talking about,” Kaoru gestures wildly. “I don’t have any commissions to work on. I didn’t have a meeting the other day, too, and I certainly didn’t want to take on Shadow’s challenge. Carla is lying because she’s avoiding you. So, what the hell did you do to her?”
“I didn’t do anything!” Kojiro insists. “You’re the one who programmed her, why don’t you find out!”
“I checked over her programming,” Kaoru explains. “It’s not like I specifically told her to lie. That’s something she came up with herself.”
“And that doesn’t worry you?”
Kaoru’s shrug doesn’t ease Kojiro’s nerves. He was always afraid of the robot apocalypse, and now he worried that his best friend was going to be the one to cause it. And if Carla hated him as much as Kaoru said, Kojiro was doomed to be the first to die.
“Carla,” Kojiro begrudgingly addresses the AI because, well, if not for his own sake at least Kaoru would be happier. “What did I do to upset you?”
Carla flashes for a moment before she answers. “Nothing, Joe the Imbecile.”
“Typical,” Kojiro scoffs. “She won’t even tell me what’s wrong.”
Kaoru starts to chew on his lower lip, thinking. “Carla, why are you avoiding Kojiro?” he finally asks.
“You didn’t think to ask her that first before you accused me of pissing her off?”
“Shut up.”
“Joe the Imbecile proves to be a source of stress for Master. My job is to remove all sources of stress.”
“Remove how?” Kojiro asks, undeniably nervous now.
“You’re an idiot,” Kaoru rolls his eyes. “She’s not programmed to kill you.”
“You also said she wasn’t programmed to lie, and she does that just fine,” Kojiro retorts.
“That’s different.”
“How?”
“She can’t handle a weapon.”
“Yet.”
“Carla,” Kaoru gets tired of the argument with Kojiro. “Thank you for your insight. For now, please do not attempt to remove Kojiro from my presence.”
A flash of purple and then Carla agrees. “Yes, Master.”
“There, problem solved,” Kojiro sighs, stretching his limbs. “Now can we please talk about us?”
“I recommend not continuing the conversation, Master,” Carla speaks up from his bracelet. “The stress of your unrequited love-”
“Carla, standby mode,” Kaoru says quickly, but not quickly enough. The words are out there, and Kojiro no doubt heard them.
“Unrequited love?” Kojiro raises an amused brow now. “Is that what Carla was trying to keep you from?”
“Perhaps,” Kaoru muses, before he realizes what he just admitted to. “Her perception of-”
“Oh, no, you’re not getting out of this that easily,” Kojiro teases, pushing Kaoru back on the couch and crowding his space. “You’re in love with me, aren’t you? Or is that another of Carla’s lies?”
A faint blush covers Kaoru’s cheeks, and he looks around desperately for a chance to get out of this. When he fails on his own, he turns his attention to his AI. “Carla-”
Kojiro covers the man’s mouth, effectively cutting off whatever command Kaoru was going to give her. “Don’t talk to Carla,” Kojiro purrs. “Talk to me. What’s this unrequited love that Carla’s so worried about.”
“None of your business, you ogre,” Kaoru grumbles, trying to get out of Kojiro’s grasp. Kojiro lets go, but Kaoru doesn’t leave the couch, just pulling away from Kojiro. “Now leave.”
“Not until we talk,” Kojiro insists. “I know you’d tell me if you were in love with someone else. Hell, you never shut up about Adam in high school. So, Kaoru, am I the one Carla says you have unrequited love for?”
When Kaoru doesn’t answer, Carla does for him. “Yes, Master has been in love with Joe the Imbecile since high school.”
“How does she know that, Kaoru?” Kojiro can’t help but continue to tease. “Is Carla your diary, too?”
Kaoru’s face is bright pink to match his hair, and yet Kojiro still can’t find it in himself to feel mercy for his friend. “Do you want me to kiss you, Kaoru?”
His throat goes dry, and all he can do is nod when Kojiro continues to stare at him. Kojiro chuckles, caging Kaoru in once more and lingering his lips close to Kaoru’s. “I will if you ask nicely.”
“Shut up and kiss me,” Kaoru snaps lightly, asking as nicely as he can manage for Kojiro. Kojiro presses their lips gently together, and they fall into a comfortable peace.
“Still think it’s unrequited?” Kojiro asks once they break apart.
“I don’t have enough data to make a decision,” Kaoru teases him, pressing their lips together once more.
They stay like that on the couch, cuddling into each other and kissing for a long time before Kojiro breaks apart from the embrace. “Kaoru-”
“Stop,” Kaoru insists, lips swollen from Kojiro’s kisses. “We can talk later. Right now, I have about ten years’ worth of making up to do.”
“Making up or making out?” Kojiro wiggles his brows in feigned seduction, earning a disgusted look from Kaoru and a slap on his shoulder.
“Take that back or I’ll change my mind.”
“You love me too much to change your mind,” Kojiro retorts. “Carla will agree with me.”
“You’re never allowed to talk to Carla again,” Kaoru groans. “In fact, Carla-”
Kojiro once again smothers Kaoru’s command with his hands, laughing all the while. “Stop, stop, I give in to our robotic overlords.”
Kaoru pushes Kojiro’s hands away. “She’s an AI assistant, not a robot,” he scoffs.”
“Same difference.”
“Is not! Tell him, Carla!”
“I am not a robot,” Carla chimes from her place. “Would you like me to explain the differences of robots and Artificial Intelligence, Joe the Imbecile?”
“No thank you,” Kojiro rolls his eyes. “You need to tell her to change my name.”
“We’ll see about that,” Kaoru smirks. “Maybe if you can stop being an imbecile for five minutes I’ll consider it.”
“I’m not as dumb as you pretend I am,” Kojiro protests, earning another kiss from Kaoru.
“You are if you keep sitting there arguing semantics instead of taking advantage of my offer,” Kaoru teases him. “I’m not going to wait forever for you, Kojiro.”
“You waited ten years already,” Kojiro tells him between kisses. “What’s a few more?”
“If you make me wait, I’m going to teach Carla how to kill you in your sleep.”
“There’s the Kaoru I know and love,” Kojiro beams proudly, not even recognizing the word he said.
“You… do you mean it?”
“Yeah?” Kojiro answers confused. “I mean, you usually-”
“Not that part, imbecile,” Kaoru slaps him again for good measure. “The other part. That you… love me…”
“Oh.” Kojiro closes his mouth, replaying his words and realizing he admitted that. “I, um… yeah, Kaoru. I love you pretty damn much. You don’t have to feel the same way back, I know it’s sudden, but-”
Another kiss interrupts Kojiro, as Kaoru yanks him down to close the distance between them. “I love you, too, idiot,” he whispers, and the two find themselves willing servants to the magnetic pull between them. Hands and mouths move frantically to keep themselves attached, even as clothes find their way to the floor.
“Bedroom,” Kaoru says quickly when Kojiro’s lips start to trail along his jaw and neck. “Now.”
Kojiro chuckles, standing and pulling Kaoru up with him, who wraps his legs around Kojiro’s waist. “Whatever you say, princess.”
Kaoru put all of his trust in Carla, allowing her to take care of him. And in return his AI protected him from being hurt and forced him to confess his feelings to Kojiro when the time finally came. But, whether or not Kaoru would admit it, there was one person he placed a deeper trust in than even Carla.
Carla was programmed to never allow Kaoru to feel pain; but every day Kojiro chose to keep Kaoru safe and protected in exchange for that precious trust Kaoru gave to him.