Every Day is Exactly the Same

For thirty years, Ralph had never had someone following him aside from his own shadow. Every day was just the same: wake up from his enormous collection of loose bricks as soon as the arcade opens, walk his way towards the apartment complex, and slam his fists into the building. He leapt from one platform to the next, trying to catch Felix while he was off guard.

The job was only difficult after the arcade closed; well, depending on how skilled the players were, the job could have been harder during opening hours.

But the hard part wasn't the job itself, because Ralph was very good at what he was programmed to do. It was everything else in this world. The Nicelanders scurried away whenever they saw him, the junkpile he slept on was the most uncomfortable surface in existence, and not once did he receive a "thank you", or even a "good job today, Ralph", from anyone.

If that wasn't bad enough, the people outside Niceland looked down on him the same way. No matter what he did or what he said, he was just radiating "Bad Guy" code everywhere he went.

It didn't matter that he'd just given a cherry to the game-less characters outside of his game's tunnel. Or that he helped Princess Peach onto her feet after she'd slammed into him and was knocked back on her rear end.

Or that deep down, he wish he could just bake a pie for every single character in the whole GCS just to prove that he wasn't as bad as they thought.

No matter what game a character came from, Bad Guys were always seen as inherently evil and unpredictable. It was true that Ralph tended to destroy things in his path, accidentally, but he didn't deserve that quick judgement he received from others.

If Ralph decided to disappear for just one day, his game would be out of commission. And only then would the Nicelanders learn to appreciate Ralph for who he was, despite the binary language that defined his code.

Maybe someday, but not today. But soon, he hoped, he would seek out that greatness he felt he deserved.

...

There was only one person that treated him just the slightest bit differently than all the others in this small town. That little 8-bit handyman whose name was on the entire console. The one guy whose goal was to ruin Ralph's day each time there was a Quarter Alert.

Fix-It Felix, Jr.

One day when Ralph had lost more times than he could count, Felix - for some odd reason - hopped down from the higher levels of the apartment complex and over to Ralph, who was faced-down in mud.

"You doing okay there, brother?" He would ask the wrecker, in that sweet, innocent voice of his.

"Since when do you care?" Ralph answered, spitting mud out of his mouth.

Felix's typical grin left his face. "I didn't mean to get you booted off the building so much."

The answer confused Ralph, because Felix never apologized for doing his job, just like Ralph never apologized for the same thing. And to surprise him even more, Felix grabbed ahold of his huge hand and helped the nine-foot tall man stand on his feet. Well, Felix tried to, anyway.

"Ow!" Ralph yelped and dropped to his knee. The leg that was now limp underneath him was aching tremendously.

"Let me help you with that." Felix said.

"What are you going to do?" Ralph asked out of genuine curiosity.

Felix smiled again and grasped his golden hammer. "I'll fix you right up."

And with one tap of his treasured item, the pain in Ralph's leg disappeared.

"How'd you do that?" Ralph asked, even though it was rhetorical.

Felix twirled his only defense against Ralph in his gloved hand. "It's all in the hammer, Ralph."

The big man sighed and hung his head, as he returned to his stump for a long night's rest. His feet were practically dragging behind him as he wandered over to the place he called home.

And as soon as he sat on the lonely stump in the sea of red bricks, it cracked underneath him and he shouted as he fell backwards. Several large bricks poked into his back.

"Mother Hubbard!" He yelled as he struggled to get up.

Felix - whom he didn't realize was following close behind - hopped up on the top of the brick mountain and leaned over the heap to look at the fallen man.

"Ralph! Are you okay?"

The big man brushed off the debris from his dirty overalls and stood up. "I'm fine! I'm fine... Darn thing couldn't keep holding me up for another thirty years."

Felix rushed to the wrecker's side and whipped out his hammer. "Do you want me to put it back together?"

"Bah," Ralph sat amidst the sea of bricks. "Don't worry about it."

In the past thirty years, Felix had never taken so much time to help Ralph out. Usually, he just smiled and brushed past the big man and up the stairs to his lavish apartment. Did Felix finally get tired of humoring the Not-so-Nicelanders?

"Relax, Felix, I'm sure I'll be even more in an even better mood tomorrow after I've slept on all these mashed up bricks." He smoothed his big hand over the pile. "I'll give you the biggest challenge you've ever had."

Felix stood up straight, his hands on his hips and his gaze sharp. "My good fellow, you are not sleeping in this junkpile tonight!"

Ralph raised his brow. "Look, Fix-It, I don't know why you're being unusually generous today, but it's not like I've got another stump, or brick pile lying somewhere else in this game."

"Well," Felix shifted his eyes to the ground. "What about my place? I'm sure I can get it all spick and span for you!"

To this, Ralph was speechless, but he graciously declined.

"No, no, no, I'm fine." He plopped down on his bottom. "It's not so bad once you get used to it."

But Felix decided he wasn't going to take "no" for an answer. He rushed over to the taller man and gently grasped his hand, struggling to lift it off the ground. It almost made Ralph laugh to watch Felix try to pull him.

"Come on, Ralph! Don't be down in the dumps tonight!"

He kept tugging on Ralph's hand but the giant man didn't move. It was like having a tiny dog on a leash trying to yank him forward. Rolling his eyes at Felix, he decided to change his mind.

"Alright, fine. If it'll get you off my back."

...

The Niceland apartments were designed for people whose height came up to his knee, which meant that Ralph had to duck down and squish his body to fit through the hallways.

Felix opened the unlocked door of his apartment. Apparently, everyone in this apartment complex was so friendly and non-thieving, they've forgone the use of locks. Ralph couldn't have thought of anything people would want to steal from his home, if anyone in Niceland felt like stealing.

Ralph was afraid of standing up straight and hitting his back against the short ceiling, and he sat on his knees in Felix's living room. Of all the awkward situations he could have been in, sitting in Felix's residence while said person turned on the coffee machine in his kitchen was the last one he could have imagined. Especially when earlier that day, Felix was happily killing it in the scoreboard.

"Want a cup?" Felix asked, looking at him from the kitchen. "Freshly brewed. I grind up my coffee beans myself."

"Uh... sure."

Felix hung up his tool belt and did his silly little walk where he planted one boot in front of the other and swung his arms in a very cartoon-like manner, whistling the tune of his game. Why did he have to do that every time he walked? Why did he have to do anything he did?

Felix wasn't the only one who was acting out of the ordinary that night. Suddenly, Ralph was starting to notice every little detail about the fixer.

Such as the way that his brow moved smoothly across his forehead. His round cheeks, his gigantic blue eyes. His lips that were always smiling. It was a wonder how his cheeks never became sore.

Why did he have to be so good? Why did he have to make Ralph's Bag Guy heart pound in his chest whenever he walked by?

Ralph's gaze left Felix's facial features when the short fixer walked over to him. He handed him a mug that said "World's Best Hero" on it.

"Can I get you anything else?"

"Why are you being so nice to me?" Ralph asked, fidgeting on his knees. "We're enemies by code."

Felix shrugged. "We may be rivals during opening hours, but there's nothing in my code that says I can't help a poor soul out."

Aside from hating being ridiculed, Ralph didn't liked being pitied, either. What was this, a charity case to boost Felix's reputation even further? To show that Felix was so good he would even help the Bad Guy out when no one else was? Ralph was annoyed at himself for looking at Felix's face for so long while he was in the kitchen.

"I don't need anyone's help." Ralph stubbornly grumbled. "I was perfectly fine where I was."

"Oh," Felix's little face fell. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean it like that."

And then Ralph felt bad about his quick retort. "No, it's fine. I'm just... not used to someone caring about me."

Felix took a sip of his coffee. "It's no biggie, Ralph, I'm just as concerned about you as everyone else."

Did the Nicelanders have a secret fondness for Ralph that Ralph didn't know about? Or was Felix as oblivious as he was cute? Wait, where did that last word come out of? Well, all the other Nicelanders - specifically the women - called him cute. Ralph was just jumping on the bandwagon, wasn't he?

"So, Ralph," Felix started, clearing his throat. "Tomorrow's the thirtieth anniversary of our game, and well... we're having a little get together to celebrate. All of us."

Ralph's head perked up. "Yeah?"

"And... Gene's going to be there, too."

At first, it seemed like Felix was actually going to invite the wrecker to this party. It would have been the only party Ralph had been invited to since the game's upbringing. But Gene was Ralph's other enemy. And if Gene was going to be there, then that meant Ralph had to be at least a hundred feet away.

The big man dropped his head. "I get it, I'm not allowed. You could've just told me that."

"No, Ralph, that's not what I meant!" Felix tugged at his collar. "I just mean that... I thought I'd give you a little warning if you decided to come."

"Am I actually invited?"

Felix nodded briskly. "Of course!"

But the smile on Felix's face looked uncomfortable and insincere.

"Thanks, Felix, but I'm not going to put myself in a place where Gene's standing too close for comfort."

"I understand, brother."

So, Felix just dragged Ralph over to his apartment so he could tell Ralph to not show up at the thirtieth anniversary party? Even though Ralph was technically a big part of the game and deserved to take part in this celebration?

He was clearly angry and set the tiny coffee mug on the table to avoid smashing it in his hand. If that was the case, then why did Felix say he could stay at the handyman's apartment?

Well, any place was better than that dump he ran off to at the end of every working day.

Felix stood up and stretched his arms. "Well, I'm going to hit the hay now. Got another long day tomorrow."

"Yeah, sure, okay, then."

He felt a small hand lightly tap him on his upper arm.

"Let me know if you need anything." Felix said as he smoothed his gloved hand over Ralph's limb.

That small gesture actually had an even bigger effect on Ralph than he expected. Was Felix always so touchy-feely with other people? He could imagine so with Felix's closest friends, but not Ralph.

This was the first night Felix said more than two words to Ralph in the past thirty years. All of a sudden, the handyman was acting like he and Ralph were close friends. Maybe he felt bad about owning Ralph in the scores most of the time.

Ralph laid across the tiny couch, which creaked under his huge weight and sounded as if it would give out if he made any other moves. He shut his eyes and tried to sleep, but all he could think about was the way Felix's hand grazed over his upper arm.

And the way the shorter man smiled at Ralph for much longer than anyone else had. And Felix was the only person in the entire arcade that allowed him to have a roof over his head just for one night. Not even Zangief or Clyde were that generous.

Was it possible Felix actually wanted to be friends? After thirty long years of this ice-cold freeze between them?

Ralph shook his head and considered this one of Felix's natural Good Guy movies. The handyman was so good that he'd even welcome a guy like Ralph with open arms. But he did start to wonder why Felix did it tonight, after so long of just passing each other.

Well, clearly, it was because he wanted to uninvite - but make it sound like he was inviting - Ralph to the anniversary party. But that couldn't have been the only reason. They've had celebrations like this before. The ten year anniversary, the twentieth.

And Felix had not batted an eye at Ralph's loneliness during those times. It didn't make any sense. Maybe Felix was growing tired of seeing Ralph sulk all the time. Ralph's attitude was probably bringing down the entire town of Niceland.

Ralph sighed heavily. "Maybe I will come over to that party tomorrow. I'll show Gene just how much of a good guy I can be."

And with that, he closed his eyes and allowed his mind to go blank.