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darkbluekies · 1 year

Note

Can I request a one shot with a reader that managed to pick the lock and escape the hospital? (Dr.Kry)

Escaping a madman

Doctor!yandere OC x reader

Summary: you pick the lock and escape doctor Kry. You don't know that he knows exactly where you live and decides to go get you back.

Warnings: yandere, drugs, obsession, mentions of killing, threats, non consensual kiss, kidnapping

Word count 1.9k

"All tucked in nicely?" he smiles, feeling the duvets with his hands.

You nod.

"Okay, good", the doctor continues. "Alright then, sleep well, Y/N, I will be back in an hour or so to check up on you. If there’s anything you need, just press the button on your bed and I'll be here in a heartbeat."

Doctor Kry thinks it's just one of your normal afternoon naps. If only he knew what you have planned. The very second the door closes behind him, you can hear the lock turning. You sprint up from your bed and over to the desk. You open drawer after drawer with your weak hands, already feeling how your head is spinning with all this movement and fear. Dr Kry could come back any minute if he suspects something and then he'll catch you red handed. Maybe that's why he started locking your door?

You can't take more of him. He's like a parasite that feeds off of you and he doesn't seem like he can get enough. You need to get away before he sews himself together with you.

Gosh, how you miss your family. Dr Kry barely tells you what day it is, so you don't know how long you've been separated. All you know is that it's too long.

You rummage through the small drawers until you find a paperclip. If you bend it enough, maybe you can use it as a lockpick?

You don't wait to find out. Quickly, you run to the door and insert the little metal stick into the keyhole. You poke around, trying to find the right trigger. Something has to be pressed to unlock the door.

You sit there for a good ten minutes before the lock gives in and clicks open. With a small, relieved smile, you open the door. You sneak out into the corridor, carefully looking around. You've barely left your room since you've come here. The only times you've been let out has been by Dr Kry’s side (and the few times you managed to run down to the cafeteria). The cafeteria is close to the entrance, right where you have to be. You know the way down to the cafeteria wonderfully.

You decide to take the elevator. Less people will see you that way. You only need once glance in the elevator mirror to grow cold. If you've ever seen a walking zombie, that'd be it. This hospital has turned you into a living dead.

As soon as the box you're in stops moving and the doors open, you brace yourself. Be quick, unnoticeable and brave. Don't stop if anyone asks you something … and if Doctor Kry sees you … run for dear life. He has to be the reason why you're looking and feeling like you do. Thankfully, no one seems tk bat an eye. Everyone is so busy with their own things that no one seems to see the person walking out the entrance in a hospital gown. Your heart is beating in your throat. Bare feet touch the asphalt and you gulp. You're free! You're outside! The fresh breeze caresses your body, welcoming you out, congratulating you for finally escaping.

Tears run down your cheeks as you run over to the payphone in the middle of the parking lot. You have to call your parents and have them pick you up before Dr Kry realizes that you're gone. Only problem? You don't have any coins. Desperately, you look around and find that someone must have dropped there on the ground. You pick up the two shiny coins and push them into the slot. Fingers shaking as you press the number buttons. A few signals pass by before it breaks off.

"Hello?" a familiar voice says.

"Mom!" you breathe out, near tears again.

"Y/N?! H-How are you feeling, you haven't let us see you-"

"No, it wasn't me, I promise. I-Ill tell you everything, just please come pick me up! Hurry!"

"I'll be there soon."

And so she hung up. You sink down on the asphalt and start to bawl. Feeling overwhelmed would be an understatement. Hearing your mothers voice again, being outside, about to be picked up, being noticed by doctor Kry … it'll end your poor heart.

Fifteen minutes feel like two years. Your mom's car finally slides into the parking lot with a screech and is close to hitting another car. It stops right in front of you. Your mother jumps out without bothering to close the door behind her. She throws herself over you and you cling onto the woman as if this is the last time you'll ever see her. The familiar smell is hypnotizing, it makes you think of a better time, a time that feels so long ago. It's summer now and when you went into the hospital the snow was falling heavily from the gray sky. Either it's been a year and a half or six months. It feels more like the first alternative, but your mom hasn't changed at all, so you believe it's only been a couple of months.

She brings you into the car while asking a million different questions. You answer them all, but your body starts to lose the adrenaline. You slump back into the seat. Normally, you would be sleeping at this time and your body has adapted to your different nap times.

As soon as you come back to your childhood home, an immense feeling of exhaustion washes over you. You're home, you're finally safe.

You want to tell your family everything that has happened, but you think that you're going to faint if you don't get to sleep in your own bed again. They help you up to the second floor and place you gently into the bed. Everything around you is as you remember it. It smells like it usually smells, it looks like it usually looks and it feels like it usually does. You're home.

A weird noise wakes you up. Something sounding like a door creaking open. You open your eyes, but to your surprise, you can't see anything! You must have slept longer than planned. The moon is up outside your window.

You look around, noticing a figure in the darkness. As you're about to gasp, a hand slaps over your mouth. Only by the scent, you're able to identify the person.

"Shh, my little one", Dr Kry whispers and holds his other finger over his lips. "If you make any noise I'll kill them."

You don't have to ask who he means. Terrified, you shake your head as quickly as you can. He sighs, looking down into your pleading eyes.

"Why did you have to run away, hm?" he says sadly. "It was supposed to be the two of us. Don't you understand how scared I got when I walked into your room and saw that you weren't there? I looked at the security footage and you and so sheepishly walked out! I knew that you'd go here. You missed your family so much, didn't you, little one?"

Tears start to run down your cheeks, flooding down on his hand.

"Don't cry", Dr Kry whispers and bends down to lean his forehead on yours. "I'm not going to hurt you. I'll remove my hand, okay? Remember that if you make any noise, I'll kill your parents. You don't want that, do you?"

You shake your head just as quickly again.

"Good", he whispers and removes his hand.

Your bottom lip trembles tremendously and you're about to let out a sob, but you bite your lip to prevent it.

"You're so pretty", Dr Kry whispers.

You shake your head. You saw your reflection in the mirror. Whatever he's done to you, it's anything but pretty.

"Yes, you are", he whispers and cups your cheeks softly.

His cold hands make you shiver. You pray that this is a nightmare. A side effect from the lack of drugs he's given you. But his touch, his breath, it's all too real.

Suddenly, his lips meet yours in a gentle kiss. You gasp and stare at him, too shocked to push him off.

Dr Kry pulls back and picks up something from his pocket. You notice how he's not wearing his doctor clothes. He's wearing a sand colored jean jacket and a pair of jeans. You can't tell what he picks up from his pocket, but it looks like a cloth.

"Take a big breath", he urges and presses it to your face, covering both mouth and nose. "Come on, sweetheart. Can’t you do that for me?"

You start to turn your head back and forth, but you can't escape his claws. The cloth follows your every move. You hold your breath and glare at him. He seems to be as calm as ever. He knows that you’ll have to breathe sooner or later. You can’t win. When you can't hold your breath anymore you're forced to breathe it in whether you like it or not. A dizzy sensation enters your brain, numbing it.

"There we go", he cooes. "What a good little thing you are, darling. Big breaths, good job. Don't be scared, when you wake up, you'll be where you belong again and we can pretend that this never happened."

The last thing you see is Doctor Kry’s blue eyes staring right into yours.

When you wake up, the sun is shining in your eyes. The groggy feeling in your head is making everything harder. You can’t seem to move or think. With half open eyes, you look around, finding that you’re back in the hospital. You lift your hands to rub your eyes, but your right hand stops. You look down. He’s handcuffed it to the side of the bed! In panic, you start to move your hand, hoping to get out of it.

The bathroom door opens and Dr Kry comes out, fixing his white lab coat. You freeze and stare at him with wide eyes. He smiles slightly.

“Oh, darling, don’t look so scared”, he says and nods at your cuffed wrist. “I had to do that to make sure you don’t go rummaging through my drawers again. If you can pick the door lock with a paperclip, I don’t want to know what more you can do.”

“L-Let me go!” you shout.

“No, I won’t.” He sits down on the side of the bed, right by your knees. “You need me as much as I need you … it’s just a matter of time before you realize that. You’re sick, Y/N, you can’t be out in the large world. Don’t you see that I’m protecting you? You need me to protect you. You can’t survive without me.”

“I hate you. You’re such a piece of shit!”

“You’re just frightened. I know you don’t hate me. You like me when I’m nice and I’ll be just as nice as you want me to be, but then you need to be a good little patient and not run around when you’re not supposed to. Promise me that you’ll never try to run away again. I didn’t touch your parents this time, but if you ever try again, I’ll burn down their house. Remember, Y/N, I’m good at making murders look like accidents.”

“No …”

“Yes. Promise me now. Promise that you’ll stay here for the rest of your little life and that you’ll never try to leave me again. Promise me.”

“I can’t …”

“I know where you live, I know where all of your friends live-”

“I promise! I promise to n-never leave you again. Please, just let everyone be. I’ll do whatever you want if you just let everyone else be!”

Dr Kry smiles cockily and kisses your forehead. You shiver and close your eyes. Can you ever escape this madman?

#yandere #yandere drabbles #yandere x reader #yandere x you #yandere imagines #yandere fics #yandere stories #yandere doctor #yandere oc x you #yandere oc x reader #yandere x darling #male yandere #dr kry oc

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unpretty · 5 months

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hey kitty! if its not too boring of a subject for you, do you think you could talk a little bit about how you stay organized at work? i've been doing the bookkeeping at my job for about 6 months and i'm not doing too badly, but i'm still always worried i'll forget to pay an invoice or lose a credit card receipt or whatever. you're the coolest accountant i know, so any tips you have would be awesome. thank you!!

here's an old post i did about office supplies if that interests you

the two big ones for me are

microsoft to-do

ezstax

these are both Brand Names but alternatives that work for you are fine, these are just what work for me

to-do because my job is literally just doing the same things over and over again so i have lists for things i do every day, every week, every other week, every month, and annually. in my first year of employment every time i got assigned a new task i added it to my list and set it to repeat based on how often it got done and by year two i had most of the things. to-do also lets you create a checklist for each list item, and attach files. i keep my really detailed notes on How To Do My Job in OneNote because that's what i used in college so it's what i'm used to, but breaking everything down into checklists is really handy for me when i forget how to perform basic tasks like an amnesiac baby.

particularly because it has the 'my day' feature where everything due that day automatically gets added to your day so if you forget what you're supposed to be doing you just open it up and it's like "hello have you done all these yet". you can also just add things that are just 'tasks' if they're not recurring, so if someone says "can you do thing by time" i'm like "sure" and then i add it to my list.

i'll put the rest behind a cut because this is only relevant if you are working somewhere that still uses paper for every fucking thing. with digital files just add a date to the beginning of every filename when you save it. you will thank yourself later. give files names descriptive enough that later you can just type LEAVE REQUEST FORM in your start menu in a panic and have the correct file pop up. attaching things to your to-do list items can also save you a lot of time.

oh right, pay one time for foxit pdf instead of getting a subscription to do pdf shit. there's probably alternatives but whatever. foxit works fine. foxit is also trying to sell me a subscription but i ignore that.

ezstax are much dumber, they're little plastic things that let you sort all your paperwork into files and then stack them on top of each other instead of having piles of paperwork all over your desk.

sane people use files and file folders for this but i don't put anything into a file folder until i know for sure that something will happen to trigger my taking the item back out of the folder. because i am going to forget. if i forward a copy and am waiting to hear back, the original invoice is not coming back out of the file until i hear back. i already gave you the paperwork. if you need reminders to get it back to me that's a you problem. i'm not getting paid a management salary so i'm not here to tell anyone how to do their job.

(file folders work fine for credit card receipts because i can paperclip them to the folder to make them stay put and then when the statement comes in i know to get the receipts out of the folder. i only in the last year realized that i could put sticky tabs on cardstock and label each piece of cardstock for a different department and paperclip the receipts to that in order to create subfolders in my credit card folder. i felt very clever about this.)

anyway obviously that creates a problem when i have paperwork that i'm supposed to set aside until i do something else. if it's in a file i will not remember it. it will be forgotten, forever. so instead i keep it on a stack in my desk. so every time it's time to do payroll, i grab the payroll stack, and anything i needed to set aside until payroll is sitting there staring me in the face.

same goes for invoices! i get a stack of invoices and i sort them into 'ready to pay' and 'still needs info', and once that's sorted i put my 'still needs info' stack on top of my ready to pay stack so i can sort through it more thoroughly. i send out reminders for purchase orders and set things in a folder to wait until i get my purchase order back, i email vendors for invoices on statements that i never got, etc etc. i keep my inbox empty except for things that i need to take action on so i don't forget about anything i got emailed about. if there's more than ten emails i will start forgetting things and the situation is dire.

#original #boring work stuff

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mostlysignssomeportents · 3 months

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Solar is a market for (financial) lemons

There are only four more days left in my Kickstarter for the audiobook of The Bezzle, the sequel to Red Team Blues, narrated by @wilwheaton! You can pre-order the audiobook and ebook, DRM free, as well as the hardcover, signed or unsigned. There's also bundles with Red Team Blues in ebook, audio or paperback.

Rooftop solar is the future, but it's also a scam. It didn't have to be, but America decided that the best way to roll out distributed, resilient, clean and renewable energy was to let Wall Street run the show. They turned it into a scam, and now it's in terrible trouble. which means we are in terrible trouble.

There's a (superficial) good case for turning markets loose on the problem of financing the rollout of an entirely new kind of energy provision across a large and heterogeneous nation. As capitalism's champions (and apologists) have observed since the days of Adam Smith and David Ricardo, markets harness together the work of thousands or even millions of strangers in pursuit of a common goal, without all those people having to agree on a single approach or plan of action. Merely dangle the incentive of profit before the market's teeming participants and they will align themselves towards it, like iron filings all snapping into formation towards a magnet.

But markets have a problem: they are prone to "reward hacking." This is a term from AI research: tell your AI that you want it to do something, and it will find the fastest and most efficient way of doing it, even if that method is one that actually destroys the reason you were pursuing the goal in the first place.

https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/security/engineering/failure-modes-in-machine-learning

For example: if you use an AI to come up with a Roomba that doesn't bang into furniture, you might tell that Roomba to avoid collisions. However, the Roomba is only designed to register collisions with its front-facing sensor. Turn the Roomba loose and it will quickly hit on the tactic of racing around the room in reverse, banging into all your furniture repeatedly, while never registering a single collision:

https://www.schneier.com/blog/archives/2021/04/when-ais-start-hacking.html

This is sometimes called the "alignment problem." High-speed, probabilistic systems that can't be fully predicted in advance can very quickly run off the rails. It's an idea that pre-dates AI, of course – think of the Sorcerer's Apprentice. But AI produces these perverse outcomes at scale…and so does capitalism.

Many sf writers have observed the odd phenomenon of corporate AI executives spinning bad sci-fi scenarios about their AIs inadvertently destroying the human race by spinning off in some kind of paperclip-maximizing reward-hack that reduces the whole planet to grey goo in order to make more paperclips. This idea is very implausible (to say the least), but the fact that so many corporate leaders are obsessed with autonomous systems reward-hacking their way into catastrophe tells us something about corporate executives, even if it has no predictive value for understanding the future of technology.

Both Ted Chiang and Charlie Stross have theorized that the source of these anxieties isn't AI – it's corporations. Corporations are these equilibrium-seeking complex machines that can't be programmed, only prompted. CEOs know that they don't actually run their companies, and it haunts them, because while they can decompose a company into all its constituent elements – capital, labor, procedures – they can't get this model-train set to go around the loop:

https://pluralistic.net/2023/03/09/autocomplete-worshippers/#the-real-ai-was-the-corporations-that-we-fought-along-the-way

Stross calls corporations "Slow AI," a pernicious artificial life-form that acts like a pedantic genie, always on the hunt for ways to destroy you while still strictly following your directions. Markets are an extremely reliable way to find the most awful alignment problems – but by the time they've surfaced them, they've also destroyed the thing you were hoping to improve with your market mechanism.

Which brings me back to solar, as practiced in America. In a long Time feature, Alana Semuels describes the waves of bankruptcies, revealed frauds, and even confiscation of homeowners' houses arising from a decade of financialized solar:

https://time.com/6565415/rooftop-solar-industry-collapse/

The problem starts with a pretty common finance puzzle: solar pays off big over its lifespan, saving the homeowner money and insulating them from price-shocks, emergency power outages, and other horrors. But solar requires a large upfront investment, which many homeowners can't afford to make. To resolve this, the finance industry extends credit to homeowners (lets them borrow money) and gets paid back out of the savings the homeowner realizes over the years to come.

But of course, this requires a lot of capital, and homeowners still might not see the wisdom of paying even some of the price of solar and taking on debt for a benefit they won't even realize until the whole debt is paid off. So the government moved in to tinker with the markets, injecting prompts into the slow AIs to see if it could coax the system into producing a faster solar rollout – say, one that didn't have to rely on waves of deadly power-outages during storms, heatwaves, fires, etc, to convince homeowners to get on board because they'd have experienced the pain of sitting through those disasters in the dark.

The government created subsidies – tax credits, direct cash, and mixes thereof – in the expectation that Wall Street would see all these credits and subsidies that everyday people were entitled to and go on the hunt for them. And they did! Armies of fast-talking sales-reps fanned out across America, ringing dooorbells and sticking fliers in mailboxes, and lying like hell about how your new solar roof was gonna work out for you.

These hustlers tricked old and vulnerable people into signing up for arrangements that saw them saddled with ballooning debt payments (after a honeymoon period at a super-low teaser rate), backstopped by liens on their houses, which meant that missing a payment could mean losing your home. They underprovisioned the solar that they installed, leaving homeowners with sky-high electrical bills on top of those debt payments.

If this sounds familiar, it's because it shares a lot of DNA with the subprime housing bubble, where fast-talking salesmen conned vulnerable people into taking out predatory mortgages with sky-high rates that kicked in after a honeymoon period, promising buyers that the rising value of housing would offset any losses from that high rate.

These fraudsters knew they were acquiring toxic assets, but it didn't matter, because they were bundling up those assets into "collateralized debt obligations" – exotic black-box "derivatives" that could be sold onto pension funds, retail investors, and other suckers.

This is likewise true of solar, where the tax-credits, subsidies and other income streams that these new solar installations offgassed were captured and turned into bonds that were sold into the financial markets, producing an insatiable demand for more rooftop solar installations, and that meant lots more fraud.

Which brings us to today, where homeowners across America are waking up to discover that their power bills have gone up thanks to their solar arrays, even as the giant, financialized solar firms that supplied them are teetering on the edge of bankruptcy, thanks to waves of defaults. Meanwhile, all those bonds that were created from solar installations are ticking timebombs, sitting on institutions' balance-sheets, waiting to go blooie once the defaults cross some unpredictable threshold.

Markets are very efficient at mobilizing capital for growth opportunities. America has a lot of rooftop solar. But 70% of that solar isn't owned by the homeowner – it's owned by a solar company, which is to say, "a finance company that happens to sell solar":

https://www.utilitydive.com/news/solarcity-maintains-34-residential-solar-market-share-in-1h-2015/406552/

And markets are very efficient at reward hacking. The point of any market is to multiply capital. If the only way to multiply the capital is through building solar, then you get solar. But the finance sector specializes in making the capital multiply as much as possible while doing as little as possible on the solar front. Huge chunks of those federal subsidies were gobbled up by junk-fees and other financial tricks – sometimes more than 100%.

The solar companies would be in even worse trouble, but they also tricked all their victims into signing binding arbitration waivers that deny them the power to sue and force them to have their grievances heard by fake judges who are paid by the solar companies to decide whether the solar companies have done anything wrong. You will not be surprised to learn that the arbitrators are reluctant to find against their paymasters.

I had a sense that all this was going on even before I read Semuels' excellent article. We bought a solar installation from Treeium, a highly rated, giant Southern California solar installer. We got an incredibly hard sell from them to get our solar "for free" – that is, through these financial arrangements – but I'd just sold a book and I had cash on hand and I was adamant that we were just going to pay upfront. As soon as that was clear, Treeium's ardor palpably cooled. We ended up with a grossly defective, unsafe and underpowered solar installation that has cost more than $10,000 to bring into a functional state (using another vendor). I briefly considered suing Treeium (I had insisted on striking the binding arbitration waiver from the contract) but in the end, I decided life was too short.

The thing is, solar is amazing. We love running our house on sunshine. But markets have proven – again and again – to be an unreliable and even dangerous way to improve Americans' homes and make them more resilient. After all, Americans' homes are the largest asset they are apt to own, which makes them irresistible targets for scammers:

https://pluralistic.net/2021/06/06/the-rents-too-damned-high/

That's why the subprime scammers targets Americans' homes in the 2000s, and it's why the house-stealing fraudsters who blanket the country in "We Buy Ugly Homes" are targeting them now. Same reason Willie Sutton robbed banks: "That's where the money is":

https://pluralistic.net/2023/05/11/ugly-houses-ugly-truth/

America can and should electrify and solarize. There are serious logistical challenges related to sourcing the underlying materials and deploying the labor, but those challenges are grossly overrated by people who assume the only way we can approach them is though markets, those monkey's paw curses that always find a way to snatch profitable defeat from the jaws of useful victory.

To get a sense of how the engineering challenges of electrification could be met, read McArthur fellow Saul Griffith's excellent popular engineering text Electrify:

https://pluralistic.net/2021/12/09/practical-visionary/#popular-engineering

And to really understand the transformative power of solar, don't miss Deb Chachra's How Infrastructure Works, where you'll learn that we could give every person on Earth the energy budget of a Canadian (like an American, but colder) by capturing just 0.4% of the solar rays that reach Earth's surface:

https://pluralistic.net/2023/10/17/care-work/#charismatic-megaprojects

But we won't get there with markets. All markets will do is create incentives to cheat. Think of the market for "carbon offsets," which were supposed to substitute markets for direct regulation, and which produced a fraud-riddled market for lemons that sells indulgences to our worst polluters, who go on destroying our planet and our future:

https://pluralistic.net/2021/04/14/for-sale-green-indulgences/#killer-analogy

We can address the climate emergency, but not by prompting the slow AI and hoping it doesn't figure out a way to reward-hack its way to giant profits while doing nothing. Founder and chairman of Goodleap, Hayes Barnard, is one of the 400 richest people in the world – a fortune built on scammers who tricked old people into signing away their homes for nonfunctional solar):

https://www.forbes.com/profile/hayes-barnard/?sh=40d596362b28

If governments are willing to spend billions incentivizing rooftop solar, they can simply spend billions installing rooftop solar – no Slow AI required.

Berliners: Otherland has added a second date (Jan 28 - TOMORROW!) for my book-talk after the first one sold out - book now!

If you'd like an essay-formatted version of this post to read or share, here's a link to it on pluralistic.net, my surveillance-free, ad-free, tracker-free blog:

https://pluralistic.net/2024/01/27/here-comes-the-sun-king/#sign-here

Back the Kickstarter for the audiobook of The Bezzle here!

Image:

Future Atlas/www.futureatlas.com/blog (modified)

https://www.flickr.com/photos/87913776@N00/3996366952

CC BY 2.0

https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/

J Doll (modified)

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Blue_Sky_%28140451293%29.jpeg

CC BY 3.0

https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/deed.en

#pluralistic #solar #financialization #energy #climate #electrification #climate emergency #bezzles #ai #reward hacking #alignment problem #carbon offsets #slow ai #subprime

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dfortrafalgar · 8 days

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I'm Losing You... (But We're Filling the Cracks)

Having a family isn't always as easy as fairy tales make it seem. But sometimes, you just need a little bit of love... and a little bit of science.

Warnings: read chapter 1 for warnings.

Chapter 26

[Prev] [Next]

Your fingers gently knocked against the firm wood of your boss’s closed office door, your opposite hand clutching a closed envelope. It had been an incredibly slow day with very few meetings and a large project having just been finished, so you felt slightly more comfortable approaching her during the work day. After a few minutes, her cheery voice beckoned you to enter. You slowly pushed open the door and stepped inside with a small smile on your face.

Your boss was ridiculously gorgeous. You often wondered why she was busying her time working in a graphic design firm rather than modeling on international runways or selling luxury clothing, but at the same time, you were more than happy to be working under her. She came from a long line of strong, independent women, and made sure to instill the same values in her workplace.

“Ms. Boa, thank you for your time,” you stated politely as you sat down in the plush seat in front of her desk. Directly beside her computer monitor was a framed photo of her and her two younger sisters. The sight made your smile widen.

“It’s never a problem, darling,” she responded, a small grin on her own lips as she finished typing an email, sending it off with a sharp click on her keyboard before turning her full attention to you. “What can I help you with?”

You pulled out the envelope from behind your back, slipping it over the top of her desk. Curiously, she took the parcel and peeled up the flap on the back, dipping her perfectly manicured nails inside the paper and pulling out a small stack of photographs, held together with a wire paperclip. Her eyes widened almost instantly, making your heart skip a few beats as you watched her absorb what she was holding.

“No way,” she uttered under her breath before turning her sharp gaze towards you, her eyes sparkling with glee. Her next sentence came out almost as a squeak. “Twins?!”

You nodded eagerly, fidgeting with your hands in your lap. “I’m about 13 weeks along now.”

Boa Hancock launched herself from her rolling chair, almost sprinting around the desk to envelop you in a hug. She had been one of your biggest under-the-table supporters of your pregnancy struggles, having allowed you generous time off that most companies would strongly turn their noses towards. She almost jumped off of the ground as she pulled you from your seat and wrapped her lean arms around your shoulders.

“I could cry right now, I really could!” She pulled away from you, her hands still gripping your shoulders. “13 weeks… that’s longer than the other two, right?”

“Yup,” you stated curtly. “It’s been really weird coming to terms with it, but I’ve made it this long and everything’s been progressing normally according to my doctor, so I’ve finally started telling more people outside of our immediate friends.”

Hancock smoothed her hand over your cheek, a mothering gesture that made you smile brightly. “You’re already glowing, look at you!”

After a few moments, she finally retreated back to her desk and gazed lovingly at the ultrasound pictures you had handed her. They were from your 12-week scan just a week prior, and you could already see their individual traits. Large, alien-like heads, little nubs for hands and feet, two little bodies curled up tightly in your womb.

“This is probably the best news I’ve heard all year,” she sighed, clipping the pictures back together and handing them back to you in their original envelope. “I take it you used IVF?”

“We did. It was an insanely long process, but clearly,” you held up the envelope with a cheeky grin on your face. “It worked.”

Hancock squealed again, spinning around in her chair. “I’m so, so happy for you and your husband, I mean it!”

Her sentiment made your heart flutter in your chest. Knowing sparing amounts of her history, you knew topics of maternal nature were very important to her, and the fact that one of her best employees was finally succeeding in something she had wanted for so long was an act of pride for the female boss. She collected herself, still maintaining a smile as she folded her hands on her desk and looked at you.

“So what can I do to help you out?” she asked, her dark gray eyes focused.

“Well, I wanted to hopefully discuss maternity leave sooner rather than later,” you offered. “I know I’ve taken far too much time off of work, so even if you wanted me back after four months–”

“Absolutely not,” she stated flatly, cutting you off. “Sweetie, you’re pregnant with twins. The least I would give you is a year and a half!”

You backpedaled, your eyes widening. “That’s too much…!”

She shook her head, affirming her stance. “Darling, think about it like this.” She tapped one of her manicured fingernails on the wooden surface of her desk. “You are easily one of my hardest working employees. You put your all into every single project you’re given, you work amazing with the rest of the team, you’re an all-around irreplaceable person to have. You’re also an amazing woman outside of work. And your husband is a heart surgeon who can barely get time off. Twins are a handful, and even if you have good support at home, you’re going to want those extra months to spend with your babies and to share those moments with your husband when he’s home.”

Hancock’s words rendered you speechless, your jaw essentially hitting the floor. You couldn’t disagree, though, the woman was right.

She seemed to know it, too, as she leaned back in her chair and crossed her long legs. “So?”

You quickly bowed your head. “I wish there was a way to repay your generosity, seriously.”

“You can repay me by giving birth to two healthy, happy babies. And the first step to doing that is taking care of yourself.” The smile she gave you was enough to melt a glacier.

Your eyes began to well with tears. “Can I hug you again?”

Hancock laughed, once again standing from her seat to embrace you. “I’m saying this as more of a friend rather than your supervisor. You are so deserving of all the happiness you can get. I’m so proud of you for staying so strong and pushing through what you’ve gone through, and anything you need from me over the next eight months, just say the word. I know the entire company would be more than happy to back you up.”

You wiped your eyes on the sleeve of your work blouse, your lips forming a smile through their quivering. “Thank you so, so much, Ms. Boa.”

“Have you told the rest of the team yet?” she suddenly asked.

“No, I haven’t. Only Ikkaku knows,” you replied.

Her eyes became sparkly as her lips curled into a cheeky grin. “Wanna go share the news?”

—

“Law, you look like you’re glowing!” Rebecca’s large brown eyes gazed up at her superior from her seat at the nurse’s station as Law passed by with a cup of coffee in his hands.

With a small smile, he stopped to look at her. “Do I?”

“You do!” She stood from her seat, gathering a few papers in her hands before circling around the counter and joining Law in his walk to the break room. “Has something big happened? I mean, you usually don’t radiate positivity this much, but it’s just coming off of you in waves!”

Law gazed forward down the hallway as he walked, the warmth from his styrofoam cup warming his hand. He had to admit, his shoulders had felt significantly lighter, and his chest certainly felt fuzzy in the past few weeks. “Rebecca, if I tell you, you have to promise not to spread it around. I’m trying to keep it under wraps for a little longer, but I think I can trust you.”

Rebecca’s eyes were wide with curiosity as she eagerly waited for whatever news Law was holding on his tongue.

His lips curled into a pleased grin. “My wife is pregnant with twins.”

The pink-haired nurse almost dropped her papers in shock, her feet planting her to the floor as she gasped. It clearly took her a great deal of restraint not to burst out in excitement, so she expelled her quick burst of energy by covering her mouth with her papers and exhaling a long, pronounced sigh. “Law, that’s incredible!”

He simply smiled, continuing to walk. Rebecca regained her composure and scampered after him.

“You guys were trying for a long time, right?” Now it was her turn to glow with happiness. “That’s so exciting, I’m so happy for you both!”

“Thank you, I appreciate it,” the surgeon replied, his own voice airy and light. He couldn’t remember the last time he felt this excited to share the details of his personal life with someone. While he had been keeping his surgery team up-to-date with some of the details regarding your procedures, that was mostly due to the fact that his cell phone had become a returning character in the operating theater. Rebecca wasn’t a part of his surgery team, so her interactions with him were mostly from patient rounds. Nevertheless, it was clear that the younger girl was more than excited to be told the incredible news, if her bright, toothy smile was anything to go by.

“How far along?” she asked.

“13 weeks.” He took a deep breath. “It’s been a stressful three months, but so far everything’s been going smoothly.”

Rebecca sighed dreamily. “Wow, that’s seriously incredible… Congratulations, Law!” After a few brief moments, she turned her head to look at her superior. “Hey, if you want any help with picking out baby clothes, I know a really good seamstress downtown! She runs a clothing boutique but also does custom orders. I can put in a name for you and your contact info!”

Law pondered over her offer. Truthfully, neither of you had started planning anything regarding when the babies would actually arrive. The thought suddenly made Law a bit nervous. You were just about starting your second trimester and with everything going well regarding your health and the development of the babies, it seemed like now would be a good time to begin preparing actual baby gear for your apartment.

“That’d be really nice, Rebecca, thank you,” he finally responded with a cordial smile.

Their conversation quickly dissipated as Rebecca needed to depart to go on another shift of rounds, but before she departed she scribbled a name and number onto a piece of paper and slipped it into the pocket of Law’s white laboratory coat. With a small smile remaining on his lips, he entered the break room and finally placed his now-lukewarm cup of coffee on the counter before sitting down and pulling out his phone. He had a few new text messages from you, making his smile grow.

Mama So i might have caved and told all my coworkers today… they want to plan a baby shower now but i told them to take it easy! But dont be surprised if we get a bunch of new baby items in the coming weeks <3

Mama Wait did you change my contact name???

Mama I didnt know my phone could do that LOL it says you changed my contact name

Law chuckled as he tapped on his screen to begin typing.

I changed it a few days ago. I can change it back to Wifey if you want.

After a few moments, another bubble from you popped up.

Mama I think i like being mama <3

Mama Ive been addressing you as ‘daddy’ in that journal you got me so i guess its not much different!!!

Law needed to duck his head to hide his broad smile from the other colleagues on their break. The last thing he wanted was any unnecessary attention drawn to himself thanks to his uncharacteristic grin.

You need to stop making me smile, one of my nurses already told me it looks like I’m glowing.

Mama AWWW BABYYY… YOU ARE GLOWING!!!!

Mama I have to go anyway and take bepo for a walk, i’ll see you later love!

Text me if you want something brought home for dinner.

A little heart bubble appeared next to his response for you. With a long exhale through his nose, he placed his phone back in his pocket and took a long sip from his coffee.

—

Law arrived back to your apartment later that evening, a brown paper bag of take-out sushi in his hands as he closed the door behind him with his foot.

“Babe?” he called. The apartment was eerily quiet, making his heart rate momentarily spike.

“I’m in here!” you yelled back, your voice coming from the living room. “I’m in a bit of a predicament.”

Law was quick to kick off his shoes and round the corner into the main living space of your home, placing the bag with your dinners on the counter. A smile tugged at his lips at the sight of you sprawled out on the floor. Bepo was laying flush against your side with his head resting perfectly on top of your belly.

“He hasn’t moved in, like, fifteen minutes,” you said. “My neck is starting to hurt.”

Your husband walked over to your spot on the floor, sitting next to you opposite the dog and reaching his hand over to card his long fingers through Bepo’s fuzzy head. The animal slow-blinked like a cat in response, the sight making you laugh.

“Do you think he knows I’m pregnant?” you asked. “He’s been a lot more attentive of me lately.”

“Animals have really keen instincts, it wouldn’t surprise me if he senses something different about you,” Law replied, rubbing small circles behind Bepo’s pointy ears. “There have been a lot of reports about animals recognizing symptoms of various illnesses in humans, maybe you smell different to him.”

The thought made you smile. “Whatever it is, he’s already showing off how good of a big brother he’ll be.” You fidgeted slightly on the floor, making Bepo pick his head up enough for you to push yourself up on your hands. Law supported your back with his arm, placing a kiss on your head when you sat up high enough.

“He’s our gentle giant… we’re probably going to need to get a new vacuum cleaner, though,” he offered, holding out his hands to help you to your feet. You eagerly gripped him back, wheezing slightly as he hauled you off the floor.

“Oh, definitely. We’re probably going to need to wrap all of our baby things in mesh to keep his fur out!” You placed a kiss to the tip of Law’s nose before proceeding toward the kitchen. “Hopefully neither of them have allergies.”

Law snorted. “Bepo would find a new home with Shachi and Penguin in that case.”

You excitedly opened the brown paper bag, your mouth watering at the sight of your favorite sushi rolls packed neatly into plastic containers. There were five rolls in total to split between the two of you. “You know me too well, baby,” you moaned out, removing the containers from the bag and fetching two pairs of chopsticks from your utensil drawer.

Law pulled out two chairs for the both of you at the table, helping you place your food down. He waited until you took the first bite before digging in himself.

“So I made an impulse purchase today,” you began, pulling out your phone from your back pocket. A few taps on your screen brought you to an online shopping app which you then showed to Law.

His eyes lit up almost immediately. “Sora pajamas?!” He snatched your phone out of your hands, making you laugh at his excitement. You had ordered a set of footie pajamas for all six of the main Sora characters- Sora and the five officers of Germa 66. “I didn’t even know they made these!”

“Me neither! Sanji told me about them today!” You popped a piece of sushi into your mouth. “Sanji’s always had a weird connection with that comic. Have you noticed how much he resembles Stealth Black?”

Law finally handed your phone back to you. “And his siblings, too. Have you met his older sister?”

You laughed at the thought. “It’s uncanny!”

“Well,” Law began after swallowing another bite. “That makes me feel better. I might have made some purchases of my own while I was on break earlier. I was talking to one of my nurses and she gave me the name of a woman who runs a local boutique downtown, apparently she takes orders for custom apparel. I might have placed a few orders for baby clothes.” He had a cheeky smile on his face as he shared the information with you.

You practically beamed at him. “I’m glad we’re both on the same page!” After a few brief moments of silence passed, you whispered, “Sora pajamas…”

Law beamed back at you. Maybe he really was glowing.

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