All characters here belong to either Disney or Nintendo. Enjoy!
"C'mon Ox-Butt, move those molasses! We gotta hurry!"
"Hey, hey, hey, slow down, will ya kid? We'll get there in time!"
"Doi, that's what everybody who shows up late say."
Woo boy, that girl needed to learn how to pace herself. Quite frankly, at the speed she was running at, she nearly put her own kart to shame.
Ralph had to pause for a few moments to catch his breath. Even without glitching, the new longer legs gave Vanellope more than enough speed to play catch-up easily—much to the wrecker's displeasure and chagrin.
His little girl had truly grown thanks to that upgrade Litwak gave Sugar Rush a year ago. Once barely able to reach past Ralph's knee, she now stood tall enough to reach her arms around the man's waist.
'Now look at her.' Ralph sighed forlornly, his smile waning a little at Vanellope's receding figure. He looked out a nearby store window, the outside view of the store's game doing nothing to rid him of the sudden wave of nostalgia.
In honesty, the bad guy missed his daughter-figure's formerly short stature. At least back then he could pick the little squirt up and toss her high into the air like a hand-tossed pizza. This new height of hers, on the other hand, made him feel as if she'd grown up too fast, even though he knew Vanellope was already an aged soul to begin with, even before the upgrade.
Familiar laughter rang in his ears, inciting the wrecker to shoot his gaze to the distant CD rack where Vanellope could be seen ogling and admiring the numerous music selections like Gene would Mary's pies.
Ralph smiled with warmth, shaking his head as he walked to the nearby indoor café and sat down in a chair, which managed to hold his weight surprisingly well.
'Maybe I'm just over-thinkin' this. She's still the same bratty president that loves takin' shots at me. She's just taller, is all...and more mature...and more bound to attract boys.'
Ralph's smile and shoulders both drooped at the end of that thought, the giant pressing a hand to his forehead. So much for comfort in thought.
'Ugh, I really need something sweet right now.'
Bingo! There was her target: R.E.M: Automatic for the People.
She'd had her eye on that CD for a while; unfortunately it wasn't available the last time she and Ralph visited the store, so seeing the last copy of it still in stock felt like nothing short of a miracle to the racer.
Without hesitation, she grabbed her desire off of the rack and was just about to find Ralph so she could get back home as soon possible to listen to the workings of Michael Stipe and his fellow musicians.
"Hey, I was supposed to grab that!"
Vanellope started at the gruff complaint then jerked her head around at the familiarly baritone tone full of irritation. Her face twisted into a smirk instantly.
Bowser Jr.—or B.J. as Vanellope and the other younger characters preferred to call him.
Like the racer, he too received an upgrade that changed his age and body. His voice, once as squeaky as that of a rubber-duck, rumbled nearly as much as his father's. Despite being a head shorter than the original Bowser, B.J. towered high enough that Vanellope had to crane her head back to look him in the face.
And yet even with his new older body, the Koopa Prince still remained as self-entitled and haughty as ever. That fact made him just as fun to tease and taunt as before, if not more.
"Sorry buddy," Vanellope said in a falsely sweet tone as she tossed the CD in the air and expertly caught it. "But I believe I saw this little baby first."
"No way, Schweetz," B.J. fiercely retorted. "You know the rules: finder's keepers, loser's weepers. It's a first-come first-serve basis, and since I got here first, I win!"
Vanellope begged to differ. She rolled her eyes at the arrogant Koopa. "Tch, yeah right, if you got here first, then you should've grabbed it before I did. Ga-doi."
What else could B.J. do besides roll his own eyes next? "It's not my fault if being big-boned makes me slow."
'Nice try.' The Sugar Rush President stuffed the CD under her arm as she began to make her way to the cashier near the distant café. "Uh-huh, keep telling yourself that, Shell-for-Brains. Now if you'll excuse me, I've got a purchase to make."
As she walked away, she expected B.J. to huff away or bark some annoying comment meant to tick her off enough to the point of turning back around and slapping him.
Such was not the case.
"You would've gotten it either way," stated a soft, low voice that couldn't possibly belong to the heir to the Koopa Kingdom.
With no idea why, Vanellope found herself turning halfway, looking over her shoulder to catch the remorse and guilt that shone strongly in the red irises of B.J.'s large eyes.
"What?"
Hefty shoulders drooped at the soft disbelieving tone. B.J.'s lips deepened their frown. Only difference was that sadness replaced frustration. The Koopa Prince finally met his eyes with the Sugar Rush President's.
"Remember your birthday? Three days from now...?"
Vanellope nodded with a suspicious gaze, unsure where the Koopa meant to take this conversation.
Back when she was a glitch, the mere idea of celebrating her birthday sounded foreign to her as it only meant the day she became Sugar Rush's designated freakshow. This stigma persisted even after the memory reset.
Fortunately Ralph, Felix, and Calhoun, along with help from the apologetic Sugar Racers and other characters, quickly changed her mind. Still, even though Vanellope no longer minded celebrating her birthday, she still didn't make as much of a big deal out of it as most characters would simply because a part of her felt that birthdays merely celebrate life, something a person should celebrate every day instead of just once a year.
Only when she caught sight of B.J.'s bashful face did his question finally click in her head. With wide eyes, she stared at the CD in her hand then up at the towering reptile that refused to look her in the eye.
"You mean...you were..."
Still looking away, B.J. nodded with a blushing grimace.
Now was Vanellope's turn to blush. "Oh...My bad..."
To her surprise, B.J. shrugged his shoulders instead of haughtily denying doing something so mushy or girly like she would've expected him to. "Eh, ya already got it so why bother?"
Then he walked off. That was all.
Yet that one action was enough to send the president's brain into a tizzy the likes of which she'd never known. Seriously, did he even know what he could do to her sometimes?
'Hang on. Did I really just think that?'
Repressing a blush, Vanellope blinked hard to refocus on the retreating Koopa.
"Wait sec, that's it? No fighting, no pouting...You're just gonna let me have it?"
Bowser Jr. never conceded so easily. Was she still dealing with the same guy who threw a temper tantrum over a game of checkers last month?
B.J. merely looked back at the stunned racer and shrugged again, his face unnaturally blasé and calm. "Your birthday's comin' up, ain't it? So I gotta be extra nice to ya until it blows over. At least that's what my Poppa told me about getting a girl a gift."
It took a few seconds for the teen Koopa to finally register his words. Vanellope's faint blush served as a nice hint as well. B.J.'s face heated up faster than a kettle over a campfire! The instant he started talking, his tongue struggled to keep from tripping over itself.
"Guh—I mean...Not that we're, ya know...like that! I'm just sayin, you're my friend who's a girl—NO! I mean you're my friend and I should be nice to ya so you can have a nice birthday party!"
He didn't get an immediate answer from Vanellope. Not a favorable sign.
Though calmer now that he'd gotten the truth off his chest, the Koopa Prince rubbed his arm sheepishly and tore his gaze away from Vanellope again. Maybe it was time for him to blow out of this place before he dug himself any further into the rut of embarrassment he'd inadvertently created. Besides, he still needed to find a suitable enough gift for—
"Here."
At the young woman's extended hand, no words emerged at first. B.J. only looked back and forth from Vanellope to the CD in her hands, as if trying to figure out some possible ulterior motive. He wasn't too far off the mark.
"But—"
"No buts, Turtle-Butt," the racer retorted with the soft index finger of her free hand placed on the teen villain's huge snout, "You paid in blood, sweat, and tears to get this CD for me, so I'm gonna do ya a favor. And don't worry. When you give it to me for real, I'll act uber-duper surprised, 'kay?"
With nothing else to argue against her, B.J. had no other choice than to reluctantly take the CD after all. "Uh...sure, I guess."
All of a sudden, Vanellope's face neared B.J.'s, making the Koopa freeze in place and blanch. Were his hormone-driven dreams about to come true? Because something about this young woman's face...
Bowser Jr. knew for a while that Vanellope had a crush on him. In fact, he'd be lying if he said he didn't feel the same way about her.
Four months ago, Bowser Jr. was in Sugar Rush, showing off his racing skills to the lady racers after the Random Roster Race in an attempt to look suave. In his mind, he figured he deserved to show off now that he'd gotten a more grown-up body.
Unfortunately, he forgot to see where he was driving and almost ended up falling off the edge of the road and into a nest of licorice vipers, one of the many species added into Sugar Rush as part of the upgrade.
He'd been downright blessed that Vanellope had been practicing nearby at the time. She used her own kart to slam him back onto the road in the nick of time.
But the feelings didn't start until after she saved him.
When she touched his shoulder in her effort to cheer him up, Bowser Jr. swore he'd never been more bowled over in his life when he looked up into those beautiful iridescent eyes. The white sunlight positively radiated around Vanellope that day, giving her the appearance of an angel smiling down on him—well okay, smirking down on him but the effect turned out the same.
The Prince of the Koopas fell for the former Princess of Sugar Rush hard. And if Vanellope had in mind what B.J. hoped she had in mind, then there'd be no regrets whatsoever on the teen villain's end.
Just as long as Ralph didn't find out, of course.
Speaking of the wrecker, he smirked at a certain young woman as she and her "friend" made their way towards his table.
"You sure took your sweet time."
"Geez, what are you: my mother?" Vanellope nonchalantly shot back, pulling out a chair and sitting down. She crossed her arms and leaned them on the tabletop. "Relax Stinkbrain. I was just talkin' to a friend."
Ralph pursed his lips pensively. Being Vanellope's father-figure, he knew better than to pry...but could he really be blamed for being concerned about his little girl's well-being?
Once he caught sight of Bowser Jr., who sat down next to Vanny, however, his worries amounted to nothing. With a warm cheery grin that showed the gap in his front teeth, Ralph nodded to the younger villain.
"Oh hey, B.J..."
He was greeted with an oddly meek wave, much to his confusion.
"Uh...h-hi, Mr. Wreck-It..."
"Hey now, what have I told ya millions of times already? We're friends here. Just call me Ralph."
B.J. flinched as if he'd just been yelled at instead but recovered quickly enough and risked a brief and shy grin. Ralph raised an eyebrow at the boy's abnormal behavior.
'Is he okay? He's lookin' a little pale.'
Thankfully for B.J., Ralph wasn't the only one to notice his out-of-sorts conduct.
"So Stinkbrain, find any ladies ya like?"
Thank Programmers Ralph hadn't gotten his smoothie yet at this point. He would've surely choked on it.
"W-WHAT?!" the wrecker exclaimed, attracting the attention of most of the people in the café and the store, "Kid, if I haven't told you once, I've told ya a thousand times: I don't need a lady in my life—period!"
Vanellope merely eyed him as if she was a living lie-detector test with him as the guilty criminal. Deep inside, she flooded with pure relief. 'Phew, that oughta save Tantrum the Second some face...and in more ways than one, too.'
On the other hand, the racer had to admit, now that she'd brought the topic up, the fact that Ralph—sweet, humble, and loving Ralph—still had no love interest saddened and angered her at the same time. She knew for a fact that the big lug had tried (seriously honestly and constantly tried) to find a woman in his life, but no matter what there always ended up being some deal-breaker that left the wrecker heartbroken.
Ralph had had so many break-ups over the years that even Vanellope sometimes wondered whether hooking her best friend/dad up was a lost cause.
"Maybe that's a good thing."
Ralph went agape at the source of the voice. Vanellope followed suit.
"Huh?"
"Huh?"
B.J. had just spoken. Scratch that—B.J. had just spoken and his eyes were focused solely and intently on Ralph, his gaze as fierce and resolute as that of his father's during gameplay...except something about the Koopa Prince's gaze seemed...purer...even more than the golden shine of Fix-It Felix's hammer.
"I know how ya feel, Ralph. Sure it feels fun ta be a bachelor—or bachelorette in Van's case—but sometimes I think about the sort of person I'd wanna fall in love with. Would she be pretty? Would she be brave? Would she be smart? Would she be badass? Would she—"
A brief cough under Vanellope's breath signaled him to get to the point. The racer liked the indirect compliments the young Koopa was subtly tossing her way, but Ralph was more important.
"Uh anyway, if you ever do find that special someone, then hey man, awesome! And if not, well, it's not the end of the world. You still got a ton of other things to be thankful, people that love you. I mean romances are gonna come and go, but family and friends last a lifetime if you have the right people."
No one spoke for a while.
Just as B.J. began to wonder whether he laid the advice on a bit thick, Ralph suddenly started laughing with mirth, his massive shoulders shaking. "Ha, ha, ha, you know what, B.J.? You're absolutely right! I should be thankful for the love I already got in my life!"
He tousled Vanellope's hair for emphasis, the racer swatting his hands away playfully. Watching this heartwarming scene, B.J. smiled proudly at the fact that he managed to help one of his role models feel better.
'Who knows? Maybe he won't be hard on me after all when I ask him—'
"Say Stinkbrain, there's a rave at DDR tonight. B.J. and I were thinkin' about goin'. Wanna come with?"
Contrary to popular belief, most of the adult characters of Litwak's Arcade were major party animals. Wreck-It Ralph was no exception. Heck, even a handful of the Nicelanders were regular sights at bashes like the ones at DRR.
Ralph stroked his chin with a pensive face, mulling over Vanellope's suggestion. "Well, I don't know. We all have to get up early tomorrow for work...and since tomorrow is the first day of spring, you know what that means in Niceland."
Both wrecker and racer cringed with groans of horror at the thought of the major cleaning overhaul Gene, one of the Nicelanders, would undertake. Anyone unfortunate enough to be in his warpath (i.e. pretty much everyone in the game) would end up getting dragged into his crusade for cleanliness.
One elbow on the table, Vanellope put her chin in her hand and tapped its index finger against her cheek in deep thought. She really did want Ralph to come with. He'd really become a great dance partner over the years, despite of what the wrecker would say otherwise about his dancing skills.
"The two of you can still go if you want. I'm not gonna stop ya. As long as you don't do anything stupid or stay up late, it's fine by me."
A light of hope sparked in B.J.'s eyes. He didn't even try to hide his excited toothy grin. "So it's okay if it's just me and Vanellope?"
Ralph shrugged his shoulders. "Sure, it's not like you guys are dating."
A fruit smoothie never came at a more convenient time because the moment Ralph overheard a worker at the counter call out his name and turned around in response, he just missed the glaring blushes on both Vanellope and Bowser Jr.'s faces.
The two teens caught each other's expressions out of their peripherals and smiled at each other bashfully, Vanellope looking away while fiddling with the licorice laces of her hoodie and B.J. rubbing the back of his head with a faint chuckle.
"Thanks by the way," the Koopa whispered low enough for only Vanellope to hear, the young woman's guardian having gone from the table.
"Don't mention it. You looked like ya needed some slack."
B.J. shook his head, his smile softer and more sincere. "I mean what you did for me at the CD rack. Why did you do it anyway?"
"You were taking too long to say something so I thought why not." Ouch, she had him there. B.J. would've looked away in shame if Vanellope hadn't kept his attention by placing her left hand on his back, mindful of the spiky shell that adorned it.
"I didn't...freak you out, did I?" 'I swear I freaked him out. I know I freaked him out. Man I'm such a basketcase!'
B.J. winked with a sly and naughty grin. That action only made his lips stick out in Vanny's mind even more as the Koopa Prince gingerly removed the racer's hand before Ralph or anyone else could see.
"Just know this: that rave will be nothin' compared to you."
"Hey guys?" They shot their views back to Ralph, who'd just gotten his smoothie and had his back to the front exit. "I'm headin' back home. I'm gonna call you at nine-thirty to make sure you guys get back home, 'kay?"
Vanellope nodded with a two-fingered salute, the wrecker returning it with his free hand before turning around and walking out the double doors. She looked back to the subject of her affections with a teasing grin.
B.J. huffed under his breath and gently took Vanellope's chin in his clawed hand, matching her smirk for smirk. "So...shall we?"
The Koopa prince received a peck on the snout, just like before. He did not protest. Neither of them was ready for anything deeper than that.
That was okay. They had all the time in the world to get to that point.
'Until then...' Vanellope patted the young villain's cheek, savoring the soothing warmth of his rough skin.
"We shall."