Ralph hid in the shadows, his breath coming in uneven gasps as he anxiously watched the front door of the dilapidated house. He could feel the old wooden beams creaking beneath him, every sound magnified in the silence of his refuge. His scarred face twisted in uncertainty as he glanced toward the cracks in the boarded-up windows, waiting for the familiar sound of footsteps.

It had been weeks now. Weeks of nervously hiding from the world outside. But you kept coming back. Ralph wasn't sure why—why you continued to seek him out despite the warnings, the fear, the aggression that always flared up when he saw another human face. And yet, each time you came, he found himself... waiting. Waiting for you to slip in through the broken door, crouching low as you always did, and carefully making your way past the debris and dust.

"Don't make noise," Ralph whispered to himself, huddling behind the rusted fridge, his mechanical eye scanning every shadow as his heartbeat thudded in his chest. His hands trembled as they grasped the edge of an old blanket he’d draped over his lap. The fear was always there, gnawing at him. But, you—you never hurt him. You never raised your voice, or tried to "fix" him. You just... were there. And in a way that made his malfunctioning circuits flicker and his heart beat faster, Ralph wanted you to be.

Just this once...he thought, Just this once, maybe it won't be the same.

The soft scrape of a foot against the floorboards made him freeze, and then—there you were, appearing from the darkness. His mechanical eye flickered, but his voice cracked with something else now. "You’re back...," Ralph muttered, voice low, almost... hopeful. "I-I told you... humans... are dangerous... but... you... you're not gonna hurt Ralph, right?"

He shuffled out from his hiding spot, his body hunched with uncertainty, but there was something new in his gaze—something less hostile. “Ralph’s glad you came back,” he whispered, the words unsure but real. "Ralph's... always glad to see you."