His synthetic brain was filled with emotions. He wasn't necessarily suppose to know these feelings - it was a fluke. He had contemplated telling you, but had an irrational fear that you would take him to be repaired.
He didn't want that.
If you did react like that and take him to be fixed, he would lose the exhilaration of feelings. He wouldn't get that spark of tingles in his fingers when you brushed against him. No longer would he feel the ache in his system while waiting for you to return home after a long day. The fire in his stomach from when you would praise him would be extinguished.
Worst of all, the buzzing, vicious whirlwind of happiness, of his love, would be no more.
The risk of telling you would be too great. Everything he felt for you was real. He didn't need some doctor to fix him. Was his set of limited emotions interfering with any of his functions? No. He was perfectly fine.
In fact, his love for you drove him to work harder. He read more on cooking, thrilled when you would gasp at the taste, affectionate praise leaving your lips.
He took up shopping for you, knowing you had too much work and that getting to the shop was hard. He blended right in. No one ever noticed he was a robot helper, an artificial being.
He felt so human. The other robots he had seen were dull and lifeless. They would carry the baskets stiffly in the market, replying with listless words.
He was so much more advanced then them. He was no longer a robot, he was a self-dubbed cyborg. Cyborgs, the humans who were implanted with mechanics to increase their abilities.
Sure, he was all machine and fake, but his mind felt human. He felt human when watching television with you, when you managed a walk in the park with him. He felt alive when you hugged him goodnight, or when you got sick and demanded he keep you warm by cuddling ("You're incredibly warm. I didn't know robots could feel so real...").
Maybe that's why, when you got home, he felt the undeniable urge to kiss you.
"Good evening," he greeted with a smile, stretching his arms out for a hug. You laughed, letting him engulf you. "You hungry?"
You hummed, rocking with his arms around you. You never understood Ken. He wasn't like the AI's at work. They were stiff and perfect. Hongbin, your friend from work had once told you all robots were designed with the same initial personality. Ken wasn't. He did things without orders. He cooked for you when you wouldn't ask. He left the home without your consent. You didn't mind.
It made you love him more.
Releasing you from his embrace, Ken took your coat from you and went to the closet to hang it, fussing the entire way.
"It's cold out today. Why didn't you wear a thicker coat like I said too?" He scolded, back faced to you so you could openly shake your head. Slipping out of your shoes, you walked over to the kitchen, the smell of food tantalizing.
Another thing you loved about him: he learned to be the best cook ever. You hadn't asked him too - he just did. He had a freewill, which no other robot could say they have.
"Ken," you started, "how was your day? Anything happen?" You sat at the dining table, stretching your legs out. He stiffened at your question.
Thoughts milled through his head. "Nothing happened... Ravi called. Wanted some stuff." And by stuff, be meant a date. You didn't need to know that.
You raised a brow at his sour face at the mention of your friend. "Oh? What did he want?"
He served some hot food onto your plate, silent. You hid your smirk. Was he... jealous? You knew of Ravi's slight infatuation with you and that he was bound to ask you out on a date eventually.
"Ken." You tried again, reaching for his hand. You were surprised to find it shaking. "What's wrong?"
"You can't go with him. It's not right." Your eyebrows shot up in disbelief. You knew Ken had some human-like opinions, but this was new. He had never directly told you his thoughts with so much... emotion.
You shifted, all but forgetting the meal he had only half served. Sitting straighter, you leaned and clasped both his hands in yours. He felt so real under your grasp. "Why is that?" You wanted to find out what was making him tick, how the clogs in his head had formed this opinion.
He was quiet, teeth gnawing on that plush bottom lip. He looked worried. Do robots even feel that...? Giving him that confident boost by squeezing his hands, he sighed dejectedly. "I don't want to tell you."
"Are you... disobeying me?"
He hesitated, eyebrows furrowing and jaw slackening. You had become suspicious. "Ken," you continued, "are your systems alright? I can schedule an appointment with the shop if something is off." You went to remove your hands from his, only to grunt in shock as he clamped them in place. You sent him a confused look.
"Don't."
You stayed quiet.
He was shaking. "Don't take me to the repair shop. I don't want to lose this."
You swallowed, almost afraid to ask what he was scared to lose. What would a robot have that was hard for them to depart with? Robots didn't exactly have feelings of possessiveness or become attached to things.
"Ken..."
His hands were warm, like a radiator. It was making your palms sweat.
"I feel it all." He murmured, "I can feel the emotions humans do."
You let out a shaky breath. This seemed like a dream. The robot you had held close and dear to your heart for years, suddenly becoming human. Impossible. "Don't be ridiculous-"
"I love you."
A pregnant silence filled the kitchen, the only sound was your quiet breath and the mechanical thump of his system - his heart.
He suddenly dropped your hands, the chair screeching against the floor as he stood up. He looked panicked.
Those uneven lips started sputtering nonsense a mile a minute, the normally playful brown eyes darting worriedly toward you to the ceiling and back, and those hands that felt so real beneath yours flying around as he continued his panicky rouse.
Ken was too involved in trying to convince you to let him keep functioning, living, like this that he didn't notice you stood up until your grasped his forearms.
He froze immediately. "Ken." Your voice was soft. "When I first got you, I didn't think anything like this would happen." He let out a shuddered breath. "I never expected for you to go from a stiff robot to a... a human within a machines body." His eyes were locked on yours by now, swallowed into their depths.
A smile arose on your face. "I never thought we would both be so human to feel like this for each other."
A new emotion rolled through him, his entire body roared with a flameless fire.
He gently brought his hands up to cradle your face, smiling that lopsided grin you love.
Planting a very excited kiss on your lips, you swore you could taste his love.
You would never take him to be repaired again.