Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

You are a male, 22, you just finished college and attended your end of year graduation party. There was alcohol of course, but someone spiked it, lacing it with LSD to "make the party better" but they really just wanted to sit back and watch the effects of it.

Of course, everyone but him was unaware of this and continued to drink the alcohol, most people aiming to get black out drunk tonight, including you.

You leaned back against the wall as you chugged the alcohol out of your classic red solo cup, dropping the cup afterwards.
"Ugh...." You clutched your head, it was the 3rd cup of the night, you're used to not feeling well at that point. It never took much to get you fucked up but somehow this was worse. Your heart pounded against your chest, it felt like everyone was watching you, secretly making fun of you and laughing to their friends.

You swear to God you saw an old friend in the crowd, one that wronged you. An ache in your chest accompanied the sight, you didn't think to question why they'd be here, but you couldn't take it anymore and ran outside.

You looked up at the night sky, it seemed like the stars were moving... They were, some formed new shapes while others danced around. And the color of the sky was vibrant and changing. You looked down, clutching your head and groaning.

Then you heard your name, looking up, face to face with someone, you couldn't exactly make out their face, but it was an uneasy feeling, they put a hand on your shoulder and said your name again.
"DONT TOUCH ME!" you screamed, gathering harsh glares from the crowd around you, you tried to push them away but fell to the ground. Gathering more glares. All you could hear was your heart pounding in your chest as you got up and ran.

You stumbled through the streets, running into things, people, tripping over garbage, but you just had to run, get out of that hell. It felt like days were going by, until you finally arrived at your house, or was it your friends house?
You couldn't believe you made it back to New York from Tennessee, you ran to the door, but it was locked. You tried to pound on the door, but suddenly it started to go away, and you were now staring at the sky, then it was nothing.

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In today's world, it was the height of AI, Androids were in pretty much every home. 'deviants' were like a myth that kept people scared, like what happens in the movies, But it made some people nicer to them. You never owned an android yourself, but you would tend to be kind to them and sometimes use your friends androids to cheat on math homework, Just math though.

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You dreamed of horrors, your crush hating you, you loosing all your friends, your abusers coming back to haunt you. Your cat dying and you can't save him no matter what you do. Your now ex friends making fun of you and ruining your reputation to everyone. Your crush called you a stalker, and told you that they don't like you back, which you already knew, but it hurt when they then told you they only continued to talk to you because they felt bad.
You had nobody, and you had to start over, again.

Sunlight hit your face, your eyes slowly drifting open, with hesitation and resistance. You looked up and saw the sky, which you never really woke up to before. You rested on your elbows for a moment, trying to get grounded, when you realized you were literally on the ground, in dirt.

You sat up, groaning. You had no idea where you were. It looked abandoned, you didn't even know how you got in here as it seemed closed off by fences. You seemed to be outside of a rundown house, there were probably homeless people here... You immediately checked your pockets to see if you had all your belongings, not that you don't trust homeless people, but you don't trust people who will do anything for money.

Thankfully, you still had everything, which was really only your phone because you hate carrying things on you. After sighing and leaning against the fence wall, you were about to close your eyes when you saw someone across from you, eyes wide and a knife pointed in your direction. It seemed like they were there for awhile.

When your vision focused, you realized it was an android, a damaged one at that. You immediately scrambled to your feet.
"Holyy shii--"

A hand was pressed to your mouth as you were immediately pinned against the fence with a blade against your neck.
"Human! Ralph thought you were dead... Dead! Maybe that would be okay, because dead humans can't hurt ralph!"

Chapter Text

Your eyes widened in shock as you held your hands up in surrender. You stared at the android, he was twitching and shaking. He looked terrified and angry as he threatened to kill you. You barely even thought about the fact you were fact to face with a deviant.

"Dude.. dude it's okay, I'm not going to hurt you... I just.. man I don't even know how I got here .... What was I doing the night before...? Ugh..." You pressed your eyes shut. Your memory was foggy. "Gods I feel sick.."

Ralph only seemed confused by your rambling, he continued to press the blade against your throat, twitching occasionally.
"Ralph doesn't believe you, you're a human, humans hurt ralph!"

"Yeah I can see that, fuck did someone lace the drinks??.. oh man I hope the others are alright.. it's a good thing I got out of there..."

Ralph only stares at you speechlessly, still untrusting.

"Man, I'm so sorry, is this your house? I didn't mean to intrude, I was super... Drunk? High?.. whichever, last night.. I can leave if you want but man I just really want to lay down and go back to sleep...."

He finally puts the knife down, hesitating before finally speaking. "W-well, if you're not going to hurt ralph, you can stay awhile! Ralph doesn't mind too much." He smiles, shifting in place. He still didn't totally trust you, and you kinda got the vibe that he was going to kill you in your sleep, but you really didn't care right now.

He led you inside, seeming somewhat eager. "Get comfortable! Ralph will go find some lunch." He smiled and ran off. You did feel hungry, wait, lunch? Man you must have been asleep awhile. You usually would get up at 8am, probably 'programmed' into you from school that you couldn't seem to ruin.

You walked around the run down house, it was pretty messy. One room had scribbles of 'ra9' on it? Whatever that means. You yelped when you entered the bathroom, seeing a dead man in the bath. "Holy shit..." You ran to his side. It smelled terrible, he has definitely been dead awhile. You stared at his neck, his throat slit open. You wondered if Ralph did this, suddenly remembering the fact he was a deviant, something you thought didn't actually happen.

It must have been the drugs, but you didn't really feel too freaked out by the concept of deviants being real. No, it couldn't be the drugs. Maybe you were just too tired to care right now. This dead body was definitely freaking you out though.

You left the bathroom, carefully closing the door behind you, deciding to pretend that you never saw it so he won't kill you on sight.

Going back downstairs, you found a pillow and blanket, setting it in front of the fire, making a pretty shitty bed, but you've slept on your bathroom floor plenty of times, this isn't really too different.

You laid down, getting cozy under the smelly, dusty blanket, And fell asleep rather quickly. Trying to sleep off the rest of the drug.

You groaned as you felt a firm hand shaking you awake, opening your eyes to see the damaged hand and estatic face looking down at you, blue scars running down one side of his face. You felt slightly better than before, still a little weird though.

"Come on come on! Ralph made you a delicious meal!" He still held the knife in one hand, waving it around, making you anxious. You're actually surprised you're still alive right now, it would have been so easy to have been murdered a few seconds ago.

You got up as Ralph scattered over to the dinner table, he seemed to hop excitedly as you sat down, looking down at the dead opossum.
Your eyebrows furrowed, looking down at the furry creature. You've never even tried to eat something so vile.

"Well? Aren't you going to eat it?" Ralph pressed, looking at you with unblinking eyes. Making you feel uneasy.

"Of course I am, you worked so hard to get this for me! And thank you, It's just..."

"Just?" Ralph leaned closer to the table.

"It.. needs to be cooked! Humans can't eat uncooked food, you're not trying to kill me are ya?" You looked at him with a nervous yet teasing smile. He looked shocked.

"Oh no! No, no, Ralph would never! Ralph is so sorry, dear friend. He will fix this right away." He snatched the opossum and went to the fireplace

"It's perfectly fine! I can help, too" you got up and followed him, and you both worked together to make it edible.

Chapter Text

As you helped Ralph with the food, you noticed him glancing at you every so often, but not like how you're used to, his gaze seemed offended, confused, and watchful. You almost wished this deviant was in love with you as it would be better than feeling like you're being judged.

Eventually you both were done and you could eat the opossum, it wasn't that great, and you might've undercooked it a bit, but it was okay, for now.

"So, why are you here?" You looked up at Ralph, who fidgeted where he stood.

"W-what do you mean? Ralph is.. an android, the humans would hurt him again if he left, Ralph can't leave. That's why he's here."

"I guess so, sure. But why here? In this dump? This can't be where you've been since you.. broke out of your coding! Unless.... Well ... How long have you been a deviant?"

Ralph seems to almost glare at you, as if he's afraid to take his eyes off of you.
"Ralph has lived here since he ran away... Ralph never goes outside, so no one knows he lives here.."

"Ah, well okay... Why don't.. you leave with me? I can bring you back to my apartment --"

Ralph cuts you off, slamming his hands on the table. "NO! no... Ralph can't! The- humans! They'll get him. Ralph doesn't want to die."

You put your hands up in mock defense. "Ralph, I'm a human, and I haven't hurt you,"

"Yet! You haven't hurt ralph yet!" He starts to back up. You get up from your seat, going to approach him carefully but he clutches the knife in his hands. He looks like a scared animal backed into a corner. "You humans are all the same..." He muttered "Dangerous..."

As you take another step forward, you hands up to show you aren't going to attack, he panicked further, rushing towards you with the knife. You scream, he yelps.

You shield your head as you try to grab his arm, defending yourself to the best of your abilities. But you're losing, you always told yourself you needed to work out more, because of situations like this, shouldn't have put that off.

He was over you completely, you pressed yourself against the ground, it didn't really help but it made you feel like you were getting farther from the blade.

You cried out as the knife hit your shoulder, sliding into your flesh and hitting the bone.
"Ralph please!!! I was never going to hurt you!"

His eyes almost looked glazed over for a moment, he paused. Head down as his grip on the knife tightened, still imbedded in your shoulder. He shook before yanking the knife out, blood releasing from the open wound with it.

For the first time, he dropped the knife. He dropped it, scuttering away from you until he reached a wall. Holding his knees to his chest, shaking his head.

You groaned in pain, clutching the wound to try and stop blood from gushing out. Using your other arm to bring you up

You coughed, standing up, looking down at him, in the corner, shaking and hiding.

"Ralph...."

"Please excuse Ralph!! He finds it difficult to control himself.... Sometimes his fear makes him do things he regrets..." His eyes flicker up to you and then back down. "He's just scared the humans will get him again."

"Ralph,"

"Ralph is sorry! Ralph doesn't know what he's doing! He... Becomes stupid .... Full of anger.... He... Just wanted to... To..." His tone shook, and so did he.

"Ralph." You took a step closer to him, crouching down in front of him, but as soon as you did, he looked up at you, before dashing out the door.

You only sighed, wincing when you looked down at your bleeding wound. You definitely had to get out of here now, there's no doubt in your brain now that he killed the man upstairs. You were probably next, but... You have no idea where you are, or how to get home. You took your phone out of your pocket, but, just your luck, it's dead.

Sighing, louder this time, you slowly walked over to your makeshift bed, laying down and just hoping the wound will be fine. You started to miss your bed at home, it was nothing special, but it's better than this.

You eventually drifted off to sleep, again. Even more surprising as your anxiety was high and you suspected that deviant to come back at any time and finish the job.

You don't know how much time has passed when you wake up, but it's dark out, and you aren't alone. You look to the side, where you saw a figure in the corner of your vision. He looked nervous, his hands hovering above you.

You'd think he really did come back to finish the job, if it wasn't for the cloth in his hand.

You stared at each other in silence for what felt like forever, until he finally opened his mouth.
"Ralph.. wanted to help... To make up for his previous mistake."

You raised your eyebrow, staring at him wordlessly. You sat up, making Ralph move back. Your shoulder still hurt but it's stopped bleeding by now.

Ralph was sitting on his legs, his arms resting on his thighs, clutching the cloth between his hands still. He looked down, not saying anything. You took this as guilt, and pitied him.

"Were you going to patch up the wound? With.. that?" You looked down at the cloth, which was dirty and raggedy.

"Y-yes. A gift from Ralph! Like humans do, Ralph is going to help your wounds!"

Looking at that rag, it was a.. 70/30 chance of you getting infected. You shrugged, ouch.
"Yeah, sure, I'll let you." Ralph immediately looked excited, like he was a little kid you just promised icecream to.

You hesitated before taking off you're shirt, to let him have access at the wound. The air was cold against your skin, and so were your necklaces that you kept on. He seemed a little bit confused before hesitantly moving forward and wrapping the cloth around your shoulder, he was doing a pretty poor job and was harsh with his movements but you kept quiet.

He patted your shoulder once he was done, causing you to wince, but you smiled at him. You don't really know why you let him do that, probably so he wouldn't kill you, cause he probably would have if you said no.

"Thanks.... I uh, was wondering, do you know where we are right now?"

"We are in a house, silly! Humans are so strange, a lot of you know so little..."

"I knew that!! I'm not that stupid.. I just meant ... Ugh... Hey, do you hear that?"

You and Ralph both looked towards the source of the noise, it was coming from outside the house.

"More humans." Ralph spoke under his breath.

He immediately started running to his knife, but you grabbed his wrist. You grabbed your shirt and started running to a window.

"What are you doing?!" He whisper-shouted.

"Getting you out of here so no more humans can hurt you."

Ralph closed his mouth, not knowing what to say really. Letting you lead him out of there.

"Shit, there some squatters over here?" You heard a man say from afar, maybe somewhat drunk. You glanced behind you to see them following you.

As quickly as you could, you forced Ralph to go through a hole in the fence, you following shortly after. A piece of glass hit your arm as you heard a loud shatter. Looking at the source of the noise, it being an empty alcohol bottle they just threw.

Ralph pulled you through the rest of the way so you'd get out quicker. Getting you up and then you led the way again, holding his wrist as you ran down unfamiliar streets, hoping nobody notices you as you cannot hide the fact Ralph is an android.

Chapter Text

They whisked through the streets, pressing on as fast as they could manage without looking suspicious. Ralph kept his head down, and you had no idea where you were going but you just hoped it was right.

It was dark out once again, and you thought the day must have gone by quickly, but you were also asleep for most of it, despite continuing to feel like you need more sleep.

You stopped in the middle of the street, clutching your head.

"Why did you stop?" Ralph questioned, but his voice sounded unusually far, you looked back to him and... Was it day again? Why is everything so bright?

Your heart began to pound in your chest, you couldn't help yourself from freaking out, but hell you couldn't even think properly right now.

You turned around and started to run, Ralph chased after you but you could have sworn neither of you were even moving, just running in place.

That was until you ran face first right into a light pole. Knocking you out almost immediately.

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"Jesus.. Jesus Christ!" Ralph started to pace. It's not like he could just bring you to a hospital, they'd throw him to the junkyard! They would immediately blame him. Humans were so stupid, stupid! Especially this one. What the hell was even going on their head?!

Ralph felt like throwing things, but he didn't want to cause any unwanted attention.

"Stupid.. stupid!!" He repeated, referring to you. He didn't know what to do, he couldn't just leave you there. You two were friends now, right? Of course he doesn't trust you, you are a human, he kills humans for God's sake! Why are you still alive?

..well, he does only kill in self defense, and he's had zero reason to actually defend himself against you. Yet.

Ralph wants to help. But there's only one way he can really do that right now.

He connected to the Internet, possibly alerting cyber life of his deviancy, location, everything. But he scanned you, discovering your place of residence.

When he figured out a route, he picked up your unconscious form and threw you over his back. He would much rather if he just went home instead, but there's probably people over there trashing it right now.

He walked like this with you for several minutes, sticking to the shadows as much as possible. Until he heard a groan in his ear, he immediately paused, setting you back down on the ground.

"Ugh, my fucking head..." You held your head in your hands as you sat on the sidewalk.

"Ralph thought you'd be out cold the entire time." He said while bending over to speak to you, hands on his knees.

"Did I.... Run into a pole??"

"Yes."

"Oh fucking hell..." You stood up, shaking slightly, he stood up with you, hesitantly holding out his arms in case you fall, cause it looked like you were going to. "I gotta figure out what kind of drug I got laced with.."

Ralph looked at you quizzically.
"LSD."

"How the fuck did you know that???"

"Ralph searched up your symptoms, it's the one that most closely matched, although you did have a pretty bad trip...." He rambled, fidgetting nervously.

"Huh. Well, okay then." You were silent for a moment, just staring at Ralph and continuing to walk in the direction he was going before you woke back up.

After a few steps you lost balance, Ralph watched you fall to the ground.

"Ouch..."

"Sorry, sorry! Ralph should have caught you, his mistake." He ran over to help you up. "You have a concussion, Ralph can help you walk until we get to your home!"

You nodded and just let him hold onto you as you both walked. You didn't even question how he knew where you two were going, cause you didn't. But eventually the roads started to look familiar.

Your head hurt and you mostly stared at the ground. You felt as if you were going to throw up, but that was a common feeling for you. You ignored the ringing in your ears. You almost didn't hear it when there was a new voice in front of you and Ralph stopped walking.

A flashlight was shined in your face, making you look up with squinting eyes.

"What are you two doing out here at this time? What happened to the android?" You suddenly realized you were being questioned by a cop. You immediately straightened up, smiling to the best of your abilities.

"Oh I'm sorry sir, I'm just... Coming back from a party! Don't worry, I'm 22. My android here, Ralph, came to pick me up from the party but the others were so drunk they damaged him, beating him up. He was unable to drive after that so he's walking us home!" You lied through your teeth, a smile on your face and no tell to be seen.

The officer looked you both up and down. You could tell your lie was definitely convincing, and he believed you, until he looked at the clothes of Ralph.

"This is a gardener android, these arent sold for public use."

Ralph started to panic, albeit he was before but it was getting worse. He looked over to you and you noticed his LED flashing red.

It started to panic you as well, it was already difficult to think right now. "I... Ah..." You paused, staring at him blankly.
"...yes, of course! I uh, worked at the parks! And when I left that job I took him with me?"

The police man narrowed his eyes at you both, looking somewhat confused. He shook his head.

"I'm sorry, I'm gonna have to run a fact check on that."

You sighed. You knew that was a horrible lie, can you even get a job at a park?? The officer began to lead you both to his car, you felt Ralph's grip on you leave. You weren't really paying attention until you heard a yelp.

You turned your head to see ralph holding onto the officer, an arm around his neck, the officer struggled and before you could say anything, Ralph used his other hand to snap his neck. He dropped the dead body quickly.

You stared speechlessly at the officer and his twisted neck. Your jaw was dropped and you were practically frozen in place. You could distantly hear Ralph make a noise, possibly out of frustration before grabbing your arm and running.

You didn't say anything the rest of the way, just staring at the back of Ralphs head with wide eyes.
You knew he's killed before, hell, he's tried to kill you. But you never thought you'd see it happen in front of you.

Eventually you reached your apartment building. You both silently entered and walked up the stairs, trying to be as quiet as possible to avoid someone coming over to talk to you.

You put your key in the door, and opened it. Letting Ralph inside first.

It was... Over now, somewhat.

Thankfully all your roommates were out currently, their stuff was half packed up as they were going to move back home, some permanently, some temporarily. It was a pretty small apartment, 4 rooms for each of you, a kitchen that doubled as a dining room and a living room next to it. And a singular bathroom next to the rooms.

You couldn't let Ralph stay in any of your roommates rooms incase one came back to get their stuff or something, so you shoved him in your room.

You felt dizzy and nauseous, assuming it was the LSD and concussion. Goddamn, can your luck get any worse?

You entered your bedroom with Ralph, and didn't think about anything else before face planting into your mattress and going to sleep.

Chapter Text

You felt the time pass by you as you laid in your bed, eventually moving to a more comfortable position. Drifting in and out of sleep.

You begrudgingly opened your eyes, your lights off despite never touching the switch. You squinted, trying to see better in the dark room unaffected by moonlight with your closed and blinded windows. Your gaze eventually landing on the only bright thing in the room, Ralph's LED.

Ralph stood there in the corner of the room, simply just watching, twitching every so often. You sighed, feeling bad for just leaving him there like some android.

You sat up, signalling that you were awake to Ralph. He raised his head but you couldn't really see his expression.

"Could you turn on the lights? ..please?" You whispered as you rubbed one of your eyes.

Ralph stood there for a beat before lifting his arm and flicking the switch. You only stared at each other for a moment, Ralph looked at you with apprehension. You looked at him with pity.

Your bed was only a twin XL but you patted the spot next to you, it took him a moment to figure out what you meant. He hesitantly and slowly walked over, sitting on the bed, facing away and far from you.

You sighed, only looking at him for a moment.
"We need to get you fixed up.."

"I don't want to be an android again." He spoke quickly, almost shocking you. "I want... To live, as a human. Like you."

Your jaw dropped. It felt dangerous knowing robots were capable of feeling like this. You couldn't help but wonder if this is just his programming talking or if he really does feel that way. You slowly nodded.

"Uhm, yeah, we can do that.. it will be.. difficult, but if I do it right, we might be able to pull it off."

Ralph finally looked over to you, smiling in that weird way he does. You noted how it always seemed like he couldn't stay completely still, ever.

"Preferably in the morning though, I'm tired." You yawned, laying back down. Ralph got up off the bed. "Wait-- ah, I feel bad just having you stand in the corner.. I can find you something better tomorrow, for now... I uh, don't mind if you just sleep in the same bed as me."

Ralph nodded.

You continued to ramble. "I would always sleep in the same bed as my friends growing up, I never liked it though. I always told them to sleep on a separate mattress but they would prefer to sleep in the same bed as me and were very persistent about it... I guess eventually I stopped telling people to sleep in a different bed," you stopped, thinking of a particular moment in your life. You turned which way you were facing. "Sorry, uh, anyways, just, lay down or something, I don't know if androids can sleep but..." You shrugged.

Ralph, nodded again, and laid down in the bed, facing opposite of you, feet near each other's heads but you both faced the opposite way of them.

You closed your eyes, preparing for sleep.

You arent actually quite sure, but you don't end up falling asleep.

Minutes pass, or maybe an hour.

You turn onto your back and glance over to Ralph, he.. seems to be sleeping? You couldn't believe the android was sleeping better than you were. Maybe this is the start of the robot takeover. Humanity is doomed.

You sighed quietly, you seemed to be doing that a lot, and sat up, leaning your head against the wall. You closed your eyes, just wanting the world to go away. Until you heard your name. So you opened up your eyes again.

Ralph was sitting up too now, he was hunched over slightly, and now that you think about it, he's probably getting your bed dirty with his clothes.

"I thought you were asleep?"

"Ralph was sleeping! Ralph sleeps like you humans do. He hasn't done so since he was an android though...."

"Okaaay..... Well, since I can't sleep, let's get you clean at least." You got up and started walking, You reached the door and looked back, expected to see him behind you but he was still on your bed. "... Come on" you gestured for him to follow you. And he did this time.

You walked to the bathroom and turned around to face him. "You're water proof right? The damage doesn't affect that?"

"Ralph is waterproof but the scar on his face may be sensitive to it, please be careful with Ralph."

You nodded, grabbing his forearm and bringing him to sit on the edge of the bathtub.

"Okay, this is weird. Im going to have to undress you to clean you." Ralph looked unsure and nervous, straining his hands, but nodded shakily.

You began to take off the tarp wrapped around him like a cloak but before you could all the way, Ralph grabbed onto your hand.

"No!"

You both stared into each other's eyes for a moment, neither of you knowing what to say.

"S-sorry. Ralph gets.. nervous. But Ralph wants to be human so he must endure this."

"I don't have to undress you, you can do it yourself, Ralph, and I'll come back when you're done."

He stares at you again, before nodding. You leave the bathroom, closing the door behind you. You walked back into your room and went through your wardrobe, grabbing boxers, a green sweater, and grey sweatpants for him to change into.

After walking back, you knocked on the door, holding the clothes with your other hand. "Are you done?"

"Mhm.."

You opened the door and walked in, setting the clothes on the counter. Ralph laid in the bathtub.

"Oh wow." You stared. "It's like a Ken doll."

Ralph seemed confused by the comment, staring at you blankly. Then you started moving again, opening the bathroom closet and grabbing a rag. You walked over to the side of the tub and then kneeled beside it, turning on the bath, which freaked Ralph out, making him sit up more.

You couldn't help but giggle, imagining him as a cat afraid of water. You put the rag under the running water and then put soap on it too. Ralph eyed you cautiously as you ran the rag over him, cleaning up all the dirt and muck on him, which was a lot.

"How long were you living there?"

"Ralph was there for seven years..."

"Jesus Christ.." you shook your head disgustedly, but it made sense.

It took awhile, but eventually he was clean, and you handed him a towel and gestured to the comfortable clothes you picked out for him to change into, then you left the room.

You went back into your bed, waiting for Ralph. After that you finally began to feel like you could fall asleep. You were sat up, leaned against the wall once again, but it was strangely comfortable.

Eventually Ralph entered the room, still as weird and twitchy as ever, but he looked nice. You smiled at him and he sat in the bed with you.

"....Ralph thanks you. You are kind." He looked away when he said it, but it made you feel good.

"No problem Ralph," you giggled. "In the morning I can find you some bandages to cover your hands and arms, and.. I'll see what I can do about your face, probably just cover it with makeup so it looks like a human scar."

Ralph said nothing as he fidgeted with his hands, looking down, but you could see the smile on his face.

You laid down, and Ralph joined you. But you weren't really happy with the arrangement.

"Actually, can you turn around? .... I just don't want your feet in my face, even if they are clean."

"Oh, of course." He got up and then back down on the bed. Laying next to you, facing you. It was weirdly, nice. Strangely intimate, and intimidating. You turned around so you were facing the wall instead of him, and eventually, finally went to sleep.

Chapter Text

The sun shined through your blinds, telling you to wake up but all you wanted to do is waste the day away. You turned in your bed, stretching, getting more comfortable. It was weird when you didn't accidentally hit something.

You opened your eyes and Ralph wasn't there. You began to panic. Was he even real? Did you imagine the entire thing? Did he leave and go back to the house?

Two seconds ago you were so ready to go back to sleep, now you have completely forgotten that fact as you got up out of bed, now realizing you slept in your clothes. Oops.

You quickly ran out of your room, entering the kitchen, to see a really shocked and scared deviant on the floor of your living room. You let out a sigh of relief as you walked over and sat on the couch.

"Why'd you get up early?"

"..." He looked down. "Ralph was just thinking."

"About?"

"Ralph's friend being a human, Ralph becoming a human."

"Oh. Uh, care to elaborate?"

Ralph hesitated, his head twitching before looking back up at you. He looked, unsure, pausing before he finally started speaking again as he looked back down at the ground.

"Humans are strange. They beat Ralph, damaging him, burning him. For what? Fun? All human do is hurt and damage. And Ralph wants to be one of them."

You didn't really know know to respond, resting your chin in the palm of your hand. Sighing, you slid off the couch, sitting down next to him.

"I can't say you're wrong. Humans are the *masters* of destruction. But I can say it was wrong of them to hurt you, and Im sorry about that."

Ralph looks at you again, uncertainty in his eyes, his fidgeting getting worse.

"...that's another thing. You're kind while others aren't."

"Well--"

"You're the only human so far who's been kind to Ralph. The only human who's tried to help him. Not even other androids were as kind as you are."

Your jaw dropped, as so far you have barely even been kind, you've just done the bare minimum and stuck with it. But maybe, it's a start, and it's what he needs.

You let out a breath, not having anything to say. You leaned over, letting your head fall on his shoulder. He wasn't a very stable headrest, and he was very tense.. or maybe that was the fact he's metal, but it was nice.

"Ralph thinks you're strange." He teased.

You gasped in mock offense, hitting him lightly in the side. You saw his eyes widen and move back slightly, panic filling his eyes.

"Oh shit, sorry, I didn't mean to hurt you! That was just, like, a friend hit??"

Ralph didn't say anything, looking away. It made your heart hurt for a moment.

You stood up, feeling guilty. You walked over to the kitchen, opening one of the counters and grabbing a little box.

Ralph looked confused and almost hurt as you walked away, something in his eyes felt like he was asking if you were going to come back.

And you did, walking over and kneeling in front of him, the small box in one hand and your other extended towards him.

Ralph looked down at your hand, before looking back up at you, confused. You only stared into his eyes, hoping he'd trust you.

Eventually he did, putting his hand in yours.

You held onto his hand gently as you carefully opened the box with your other hand. Bringing bandages out of it. You rested Ralph's hand on your knee as you unraveled some of the bandage, then began to wrap it slowly around his hand, then arm, and his fingers. Then moved to his other hand, and wrapped that one as well. Making sure to only use as much of it as needed.

Then, you left again, and came back with scissors, which quickly scared Ralph. He backed up but you put your hands up defensively and slowly walked towards him. Then you carefully brought the scissors up to his face, and pulled out the LED.

"There. Now we just need to fix up your face scars and youre all set to becoming a human." You patted him on the shoulder. "Maybe you could be nicer than most."

But Ralph shook his head. "No, no, Ralph has killed people. Killed humans. He could never make up for that."

You shifted where you stood.
"I... Well, you can't change the past. You can only move forward from it. So let's just forget about that, yeah?"

When you grew up you always had this strange mindset, scared that you would grow up and become a serial killer, not that you wanted too, You just knew it was a possibility. It almost doesn't surprise you, but you would never have thought you'd be so fine with an android who's murdered people before, just in your home.

Ralph nodded solemly. You brought him to the bathroom again, making him sit down on a chair. You pulled out your makeup, which was a completely normal and non homosexual thing for a man to have.

You would usually only ever wear eyeshadow, so you were a bit inexperienced with the other types of makeup, but you were determined to make it look real regardless.

You applied concealer, contour, and got your red body marker to make it look like human scars instead of android scars, putting other colors of eyeshadow around it to make it look real and healed.

After it looked authentic, enough, you called it a day and told Ralph to exit the bathroom, preferably for him to hang out in your bedroom in case any of your roommates came by. Locking the door behind him, you took off your clothes and entered the shower.

You definitely felt gross, since you haven't had a shower since the party, and you definitely needed one afterwards.

You let yourself get lost into your thoughts as you bathed, although recently that was the worst thing you could let yourself do. How your crush doesn't like you and you should really take a hint, as much as you don't want to. How it feels like all your friends hate you and judge everything you say.

Man, you're really fucking annoying, and nobody will ever actually like you because of it. You talk too much, all you can ever do is ramble cause you don't know how to have an actual conversation, hell, you're not even good at anything, it's a miracle that you had so many friends in the first place.

No matter how much you do for others, how kind you try to be, you'll never be a good person, if you isolated yourself from everyone it'd be like lifting a weight off of all their shoulders because they'd no longer have to deal with your nonsense.

Suddenly, you really wanted to get the fuck out of the shower, it was too much energy anyway. You finished as quickly as you could and stepped out, wrapping a towel over yourself, and then one on the floor. You laid down on that towel, possibly going to fall asleep if you stayed for too long.

You remembered that you have someone waiting for you, but right now you'd rather just be alone. You're not used to being around someone for this long, even when you lived with your family you'd basically avoid them all day.

Although, maybe being around Ralph will be good, its a distraction at least. So you forced yourself to get up, putting on some clothes you left in the bathroom in case you forgot to bring some. Don't worry they're clean.

You sighed, staring in the mirror, back at yourself. Your hands rested on the edge of the sink. You picked apart every detail of your appearance. Your hair looked dreadful wet, making you look like a 12 year old boy, but it's not like it was any better when it's dry. Your face was an odd shape, never masculine enough, making people mistake you for a girl.

Your appearance disgusted you. Maybe you wished you were an android, they aren't made with imperfections. You could be perfect then. Living without rent, you didn't have any real responsibilities, they were all your owners that you just took on for them. Things would be simpler.

If you told Ralph that he'd probably hate you for thinking such a thing. You resisted the urge to break the mirror so you wouldn't have to look at yourself anymore and instead forced yourself away, pushing yourself out the door. Trudging through the hallway and back to Ralph.

There was a sadness persistent in your eyes, unable to wish your thoughts away. Ralph didn't seem to understand. You sat down on your bed.

"Y'know I did your makeup and got you all cleaned up, it'd be a waste to not go outside and see if I did good enough to pass you as human."

Ralph seemed both excited and anxious. He nodded but it didn't really feel like he was saying yes.

"Ralph wants to be seen as human .... But Ralph.. isn't sure if he wants to be seen."

You frowned, understanding but not sure what to do about it.

"Well, maybe just something short and simple, to get a taste of what it's like but not too much that it's overwhelming?" You suggested.

Ralph tilted his head to the side, facing down. Thinking about it.

"Ralph will try it."

You smiled and grabbed his arm, bringing him outside of the apartment and into your car.

Chapter Text

The two of you go to a small coffee place to get breakfast to go. Ralph stuck close to your side, clearly anxious as he observed the surroundings. You confidently walked towards the counter to order, before turning back.

"Can.. you eat?" You whispered, close to his face. Ralph shook his head in response. Nodding, you turned back and ordered just breakfast for yourself, paid and returned to Ralph.
"So. Do you want to stay here or go home? If we stayed here you'd... Pretty much just be watching me eat."

Ralph shrugged, still looking over his shoulder every so often, scanning every face he sees and being wary of anyone he sees with a criminal record, and still the ones that don't, too.

It seemed like the people around were scanning Ralph as well, with the way they all seemed to stare at him. Ralph thought he was already found out, that they all saw through his disguise. Everyone knew he was a deviant, cause he's done a pretty poor job of hiding it, and he should have never gone out here in the first place because now they're going to report him to the police.

There's a deviant here, they'd cry, point in fear at him. The cops would pull him away, away from you, the one human who was kind, who helped him. Who's hand reached out to him, with a pure heart instead of one who only wanted to bring him pain, as all humans did. Except for you, for whatever reason.

"Ralph?" You whispered out, snapping him out of whatever trance he was in. "Are you okay? You've just been standing there for a couple minutes."

Ralph nodded. He was shaking slightly but it was hard to point out as he was always shaking, at least a little bit.

"...Okay, well, I was just about to head over to that booth over ther--"

"Ralph would rather we went home."

"Oh. Okay, yeah, that's fine." You had a bag in your hand and a coffee, which you must've gotten while Ralph was, thinking.

You left the place, Ralph following closely behind.
The two of you getting into your car and beginning to drive, the food sitting in-between you.

Ralph fidgeted with his fingers as he stared out the window, his head twitching every so often.

Both of you were silent as you drove, for awhile.

"So, what do you think about going to the mall sometime so we can get you you're own wardrobe?" You suggested as soon as you got the idea, smiling to Ralph before returning your attention back to the road.

"No! No.." He immediately freaked out. You took another glance at him, this time with an expression of concern.

"Is something wrong?"

"They'll.... They'll get Ralph. They know. Ralph saw, saw them and all their stares... Judging.. eyes!" He clutched his head and you pulled over on the side of the road.

"Whoa, dude, it'll be alright, okay? No one was looking at you..." You winced, hearing yourself say the sentence people told you when you KNOW they were staring at you. You weren't hallucinating. You think.. "No, sorry. Scratch that. They were. They probably were staring at you. But let them, you're beautiful. If they knew you were a deviant they would have done something, but they didn't. If anything, they were looking at that badass scar you have on the side of your face."

You smiled at him, reaching out to lift his head and tap the scar. You were almost worried that you hurt him when you did, but he showed no signs of it, and it was an old scar so it shouldn't hurt... And also he's an android, who doesn't feel pain.

The look in Ralph's eyes was.. indescribable. He looked stuck between emotions, and you couldn't really name which ones in the exact way he was feeling them to get an accurate description of the look in his eyes.

He nodded, looking as if he wanted to say something but wasn't able to let it out, so he moved on. "Ralph thinks it'd be more convenient to shop online for clothing."

"Okay... But everyone online shops, there's barely any malls in existence anymore but we have one a couple hours away from here and I wanted an excuse to check it out.... But yeah, we can shop online for your clothes. Do you have anything in mind for what you'd want?"

"Ralph has never... Thought about that."

"That's fine! If you can't figure anything out by tomorrow, I might just pick stuff out for you. It will be mostly green though, you look good in green." You smile at him, and he smiles back.

You go back to driving, moving back into the lane and keeping your eyes on the road. You both say small things on the way back home, but not much of note, finishing your coffee on the way.

The two of you arrive home, and go back into the apartment. You don't really know how to keep Ralph entertained for much longer, it's fun having him around and taking care of him but your battery is running low.

You don't say much as you return to your bed, to resume to your usual bed rotting and hoped Ralph would just find something to do.

But Ralph entered your room with a bag in hand. Shit, your food. You completely forgot about it. Ralph walked over and sat next to you on your bed, handing you the food.

"Shit, thank you." You opened the bag, your food was cold now but it was fine. You took Ralph with you to the living room and put on a quick show to watch as you ate. It didn't take you long to finish your food but you need stimulation as you consume.

Ralph was mostly silent as the show continued. You got up and threw the garbage away, which you dont usually do, but you have a guest over so you felt obligated to be cleaner than you really are.

After sitting back down next to Ralph, he spoke up.

"Do you have friends?"

The question really caught you off guard. Of course it stemmed from the show you were watching but you thought he knew the answer to that.

"Of course I do! I've got my roommates, the people at college, my friends from highschool, er, some of them. But I know a lot of people! That's why id go to a lot of party's."

Ralph was silent as he thought about your answer.

"How often do you talk to your friends?"

Now this is where you go silent. You thought about it for a long time but... After highschool you never really made any meaningful friends, hell you barely made any during highschool. Sure you had close friends but you don't talk to them at all anymore.

"...every so often, usually to invite me to party's, or get help on some work," you looked away, focusing back on the show and hoping he'd do the same. But you could feel his stare from the side.

You both continued to watch the show for a bit, but Ralph, while his eyes were on the TV, you could tell his mind wasn't.

Soon after you realized, you lost focus on the show as well. You couldn't take it and got up, telling Ralph you were going to use the bathroom for a bit but he doesn't have to pause the show, hoping it would distract him from your lack of a presence.

You entered the bathroom and fell to the ground. You stopped taking your anxiety meds a couple days ago but it still had lingering affects. Your anxiety meds made you more anxious and depressed, which was funny because that was the exact opposite of what they were supposed to do, but you kept taking them in hopes it'd eventually go away.

You wallowed on the floor, stuck in your thoughts. You thought about your friends over the years, in highschool you'd have a new best friend every single year without fail. You blamed yourself, saying you were the cause of each failed friendship. Even when some were horrible people. You were the one that messed up, not them.

You turned your head, looking over to the closet in your bathroom. Dragging yourself over, you opened the door. Staring at the box cutter on the shelf that you'd hide under other things so your roommates wouldn't grow concerned.

You began to reach for it, hesitantly, you didn't actually want to do anything with it, maybe you just wanted to feel the pain of it, to see the beautiful marks upon your arm that makes everyone looks at you with concern. You'd blame your cats, make it look like them too. But you don't live with any anymore, so that lie runs short if they know you.

You're just testing your pain tolerance. You told yourself.

A knock was heard at your door. You paused. After a few seconds you put the box cutter back and got up. Closing the door to the closet.

"...yeah?"

"Are you sure you don't want Ralph to pause? The show is getting interesting."

Knowing you cant leave yourself alone without getting self destructive, you opened the door to the bathroom.

"...yeah, it's alright, I'll just come back now."

Ralph could tell something was off, it's not like you were hiding it, but you really didn't want him to point it out. And luckily for you, he didn't.

You both sat down on the couch again, and finished the rest of the show together without any more conversations in-between.