Disclaimer: Wreck-It Ralph is the property of the Walt Disney Company.
Author's note: I couldn't help myself. Here's a short King Candy/older!Taffyta Christmas oneshot. Merry Christmas!
The amazing thing about snow is how silent it is. Rain, when that comes down in Sugar Rush, it's loud. It doesn't sprinkle lightly—it's designed to pour, to obscure roads and make driving hazardous.
But the snow comes in all forms. Up in the Frosty Mountains, wind whips it around, blizzards howl and make the roads nearly impassible. In the hills it piles and drifts and makes crashing fun when your kart slides into it, giving you a soft, powdery landing. And in the Strawberry Fields, where Taffyta's house is, the snow is currently falling gently, covering the fields that bloom white like snow in the spring and turn slowly red and pink with strawberry hard candy throughout Sugar Rush's programmed seasons. Snow is collecting on her white picket fence, piling on each fencepost like a little cap. Her garden is covered in a white blanket and everything outside looks blue and icy and cool and peaceful in the deepening twilight.
Taffyta wraps her arms around herself and watches snowflakes fall from the sky, exhaling with a puff of air to watch her breath form a cloud, an afterimage, there then gone. She shivers but doesn't go back inside, because this feels special—because it's Christmas Eve. And despite her world's programmed routine, there are some things that are random enough. This is one of them. Snow on Christmas Eve is special.
The front door opens, then shuts behind her, and she hears soft footsteps, their sound deadened by the falling snow.
This is another thing that all the programming in the world couldn't have predicted.
King Candy stops at her side and the two of them share a glance that's far warmer than the snow falling around them, and he says, "You must be cold."
"A little."
He smiles slightly. "It's making your cheeks even rosier."
Taffyta raises a hand to her face, but it just feels chilled, so she smirks and just says, "Oh?"
"Mm hm. It's quite fetching."
She leans into him a tiny bit, their arms touching, and feels a spark ignite, the same one that always does. Despite the cold, warmth spreads through her.
His arm slips around her waist and holds her tightly, and he turns his head so that his mouth is near her ear, his breath warm as he murmurs, "I defied your expectations and got a fire started in the fireplace."
With a smile, she says, "I knew you could do it."
"You said Sour Bill probably used to always do it for me."
"You said I was right."
"Well." His lips brush her ear in a soft kiss. "Give me some credit. I can figure things out."
Snow swirls around them as the wind kicks up, and Taffyta turns to face him. Snowflakes are in his hair and eyebrows, catching the cold gloaming light and sparkling with the glow from the house's windows. His arm stays looped around her waist and without consciously thinking about it, their hands find each other's. "I know you can," she says.
He twines cold fingers around hers, lifts her hand to his mouth and kisses her knuckles, his eyes locked on hers the whole time while snow falls silently around them. "Merry Christmas, my dear," he says.
She tightens her fingers around his and replies, "Merry Christmas." As she slides a hand onto his shoulder, she murmurs, "Thank you, by the way, for figuring out exactly what I wanted."
He smiles, his eyes glinting. A snowflake lands on her eyelashes and she blinks it away, and when the droplet of icy water clears, all she can see are his eyes, warm and brown. And despite the snow, she isn't cold at all anymore.
"Likewise," he says.
Taffyta could go on, could tell him that the only thing she ever really wanted was him. She could say that all the things in the world, the jewelry and racing gear and clothes, are great, but that nothing will ever mean as much to her as his love—and the fact that he lets her love him. And the fact that her perfect Christmas Eve is standing with him, the two of them holding each other, while snow falls around them and there's a warm fire burning to go back to when they get cold.
And that neither of them has to say any of this out loud, because she sees it in his eyes, she feels it in the way his fingers clasp her waist and her hand. She knows how much he loves her.
King Candy stands on his toes, leans forward, and kisses her forehead. His lips are warm despite the cold, and when he looks at her again, the glow from the windows illuminates his face in the dark night.
The wind gusts and she realizes he's gazing at her like she's the one giving off the glow, like she's the one that illuminates him. And the spark that he always ignites in her burns brighter, especially when he draws in a breath and leans forward again.
The warm fire will be waiting for them when they go inside. But for now, the snow is falling on Christmas Eve, and Taffyta and King Candy stand together, arms and fingers intertwined as they kiss.