Of Alley Ways and Illegal Doings
Summary: {One-shot} Hiro couldn't believe it. Some pansy dancers were taking over botfighting territory. And then he winds up in jail with their APPARENTLY under-aged leader because APPARENTLY, even dancing can be illegal...
A/N: NOT ENTIRELY ORIGINAL! This is inspired off of hanaekaptr and ToaAerrow's Big Hero Glitch (it does slightly reference Vanellope's possible super suit). I actually asked hanaekaptr if it was okay (sorry ToaArerrow, I'd contacted hanaekaptr, another FF author, and about three of my YT peoples. I was done by then) and she (he?) said I could as long as I put up some disclaimers that credited them. (Also, I don't own BH6 or WiR). But this isn't some fan-idea-for-next-chapter-thing. THIS IS A STORY ALL ON ITS OWN.
They weren't giving up. They just weren't.
Hiro didn't understand it. These dancers had just decided to come and make claimed botfighting grounds their tournament arena. How stupid was that? They were dancers for heavens sake. Why didn't they just take up a stage in some theatre?
"Because Magnet Barbie Player, most places don't like shady dancers." This was said by a curvy (hey, she was a dancer. Hiro could say that), raven-haired female whose said hair was littered in candy.
There was nothing dark about her (except for maybe her hair. But even that was dyed in rainbow colors). In fact, everything about her group was colorful and shiny— like candy. What were shady dancers anyway? Their opponents for the night looked shadier than her group did, and they were called the Dragons (1) (although, to be fair, her group was called Sugar Rush).
While that group was on topic, they had a chick that had scared them off enough to be able to get their equipment set up. Even Big Yama looked put off by these people. They were dancers! They giggled and moved their bodies and listened to music. Once the song for Sugar Rush came on, Hiro was ready to jump in and slap all of them.
He hated Pussycat Dolls (2).
But a lanky dude with a mediocre robot in his hand pushed Hiro back.
"Don't mess with shady dancers, man." He looked over Hiro for a moment before adding, "You're old enough to appreciate it anyway."
In that moment, Hiro couldn't have hated the dancers more. Why? This was waaaay more trouble than it was worth. These dancers were taking up his time that would be better spent on working on his inventions or sleeping. Hiro didn't want to wait until these people finished, and there were witnesses there on the spot, watching the dancers and suffocating Hiro. This was not cool.
But Hiro couldn't help but watch Sugar Rush's performance. The group was made up of 6 people, each gender making up half of the group. They were dancing to a mash-up of "When I Grow Up" by both Pussycat Dolls and Mayday Parade. They used articulate moves and Hiro couldn't help but think that their reflexes would make superheroes jealous (cough, cough).
The Dragons went up and a new song played. Hiro looked over to see Sugar Rush taking a break, sweating like it was summer in Japafornia. Hiro's will to talk them out returned with less ambition. The leader caught Hiro looking and winked. Hiro grit his teeth and looked away. This was ridiculous. Before, he could change his mind, Hiro decided to confront her.
"This is botfighting territory!" Hiro complained. He had to contain a cringe at how weak he sounded.
"Yeah, you've said so before Magnet Barbie Player."
Hiro spoke through grit teeth, "That's not my name."
"Oh yeah? Known by something else among your Barbie Doll players?" said the candy-haired leader. The strawberry blonde snickered behind her and the boys in the group were beginning to pay some smug attention.
Hiro's ego kicked up and he retorted, "Yeah. The kid that graduated high school at 13."
"Ooo, Brainiac. Well I'm known as the Candy Princess and I don't really care if this is your "spot" to play dolls." Candy Princess swung back her hair and took a sip out of her water bottle. "We'll be out of your way by tomorrow."
By then, Hiro wanted to use his "doll" to pull her hair out. He would have too, if it weren't for some sirens and lights of some authorities Hiro was too well acquainted with.
Hiro couldn't believe it. He was 17, not yet old enough to be treated as an adult in the legal system. And guess who happened to be the ONLY member of her group to be under 18. And they were in the same cell because apparently even dancing was illegal.
Un. Believable.
As it turned out "Candy Princess's" real name was Vanellope (for some reason, that rang a bell). He could see why she used a nickname. She had some seriously wack parents. (Actually, he guessed all dancers had wack parents; one of the guys in Sugar Rush was legally named "Swizzle" and the leader of the Dragons had "Hiccup" on his birth certificate).
Hiro sat and watched as, for the first time, Vanellope's cool had turned to panic as she paced the cell. She was mumbling something about her uncle and turning 18. Watching at her shoes made him dizzy, but it was either that or her face because her mid section was exposed and the rest of her body was an obvious no (he refused to believe that looking at her was entirely out of the question). He liked her shoes though. They were a nice color, at least.
While Hiro's mind was at peace, he eventually watched Vanellope's lack of previously-spoken-emotion enough to speak up.
"Gee, Ms. Shady Dancer's never been to jail before?" Hiro taunted.
Vanellope snorted.
"Yeah. I usually escape. I see you've never really figured out how to do that."
Hiro shrugged.
"No. Not until I learned to drive a motorcycle anyway."
He didn't know why he said it. It wasn't like he was trying to impress her. He just... well, Hiro didn't know. But could see he caught her attention.
"Lucky. Uncle Ralph would die before seeing me on one of those," Vanellope said, barely pausing before continuing to pace again.
"Uncle Ralph won't let me do anything! No going to meets, no dancing, no competitions, no cropped shirts, no boyfriends..." Hiro watched as Vanellope ranted on. "I mean, I get it. I really do. You find out your niece has been left abandoned because her parents overdosed and, automatically, you're worried about your niece's sanity, but she was 2! She didn't remember anything. It's not like suicidal thoughts are genetic. They're not, I looked it up. And its not like any of the things I like to do are even related to that!"
While Vanellope and talking, he could see the strawberry blonde dancer with hair cropped to her shoulders (Laffy Taffy or something. Like he said; wacked up parents) sighing and twirling her finger around her ear.
After Vanellope had finished, she sat down on a bench on the wall to Hiro's right and looked at Hiro, dumbfounded.
"What?" Hiro asked, raising an eyebrow.
"How much of that did you hear?"
"Um, how much was I supposed to hear?" Hiro looked down at his shoes. He despised this girl, but, despite her original calmness (he'd say "usual calmness", but he didn't really know this girl), she was coming undone and was beginning to make Hiro uncomfortable with how much information she was giving him.
"As much as you listened."
Hiro snorted, "How descriptive. I heard all of it."
Vanellope cringed.
"I had a feeling... Um, sorry, I guess." Vanellope pulled up her feet and decided to lie down on her bench. "So, uh, Hiro. How long do you think this'll last?"
Hiro shrugged.
"Um... until my Aunt Cass picks me up I guess..."
"No, I meant the peace," Vanellope used her hands to indicate a smooth surface... or... something.
"I'm not following you." Hiro said looking at Vanellope quizzically, although, from her position, she couldn't see it.
Vanellope sighed. "Never Mind."
Tadashi ended up bailing out Hiro, but not before he was able to witness a giant of a man grabbing Vanellope out by her shoulder, the girl now in a mint green hoodie, and was using a rubber band to tame her hair. Maybe it was the size of her presumed Uncle Ralph, but Hiro could swear she looked nearly a full head smaller when walking out of the police station. It wasn't like she'd been wearing heals or anything, she just looked... smaller. But when she caught Hiro's gaze, he once again caught her inner Candy Princess as she winked.
Hiro thought about what Vanellope on the car ride home. No, not that way. It was about what she'd said. Not about the peace thing either (although that still perplexed him). No, he was thinking about the overdosed parents thing and her unusual name: Vanellope Von Schweetz. He knew he'd heard it somewhere before. When he got home, he tried his best to dodge his brother and aunt's lectures of disapproval. He instead looked her up. He was looking into a few articles, but they were mostly of the adult Von Schweetz's double suicides.
Tadashi walked into their once-shared bedroom (they were older now, and Tadashi had moved out. It wasn't like he was entirely gone though; no one could stay from Hiro that long).
"If Aunt Cass eats the entire shop, it's you're— Hey, what are you looking at?"
Hiro scanned the screen for inappropriate information that was popping up, after all, despite his best attempts, he was reading about overdose. But there wasn't anything. Tadashi walked up to the screen and squinted, looking into the search box.
"What do you want to know about Vanellope Von Schweetz?" Tadashi asked quizzically.
Hiro shrugged.
"She's kinda the reason I was in jail today," Hiro checked his watch, "Uh, yesterday. And I was kinda the reason she was in jail toda— eh, yesterday. For the first time..."
"You put someone in jail for the first time!?" Tadashi massaged his temples, "Hiro!"
"Not like that!" Hiro snapped, "And she was asking for it. She was in an illegal dancing gig— did you know even dancing could be illegal? — and she just took up botfighting grounds! And it wasn't like I got her in on purpose; I just kind of distracted her until the police came! And— wait a minute, what do you know about her?"
Tadashi laughed. It was his first year out of collage and still he was helping his brother with things like keeping track of freshman (3).
"Vanellope Von Schweetz is one of the ten accepted into SFIT, idiot," Tadashi knocked the side of Hiro's head, "You should know that."
Hiro's eyes widened. He was remembering very clearly now, but he didn't want to believe it.
"WHAT?!" Hiro yelped, "How'd she even get in?"
Tadashi, picking up some boxes he'd left behind because it wouldn't fit into the moving truck (well, better now than never, right?) didn't even look up.
"She's majoring in engineering." Yeah, Hiro knew that. "I think she made a racecar..." Hiro knew that too. "Anyways, she's been working on some high tech that have to do with a lot of physics. She's been emailing you for quite a while Hiro. Eventually, I just went on and replied to the stuff for you. Don't worry, I told her I wasn't you..."
Tadashi probably went on, but Hiro was too busy banging his head on his desk. Stupid, stupid, stupid. How could he have forgotten? How could she have even gotten in? Right, with the racecar. Loves engineering.
And dancing, apparently.
Hiro took a deep breath. It was fine; he was getting his master's degree and she wouldn't be in any of his classes. Although, she would be in the office. Everyday. Working on whatever she was working on.
Tadashi looked up.
"Is she really that bad?"
"YES!" Hiro arms flew out and he slumped into his chair, "She's horrible! A huge, human vessel of horrible. I mean, she's petite, but... you get my point!"
There was a beat of silence before Tadashi coughed, and then burst into laughing fits.
"What's so funny?!" Hiro spun in his chair to face his older brother.
"J-just, everything. Macho superhero boy is afraid of the alley-way dancing girl going to SFIT for engineering!" Tadashi wiped a tear out of his eye.
Hiro clenched his hands into fists.
"I-I'm not afraid of her. She's just... angering. That has nothing to do with-with fear."
"Whatever you say, little bro." Tadashi took his boxes and, setting them on his knee so that he had a free hand, ruffled his brother's hair, "Use that big brain of yours and figure it out (4)."
Hiro went to work on "figuring it out". He didn't watch his brother go (despite his pride, it still hurt to watch). Hiro had the perfect plan; change her major. He would either make it so she had one hell of a time getting back, or so that she would just stay put. When Hiro hacked into the list of names, major, guardians, and other things, he found Vanellope's name. It would have been easy from there, but something else caught his eye.
She had a full scholarship.
Hiro's brow crinkled. Okay, minor delay. He could change that too, but then he was her guardian's name "Ralph W. Yuckle". Hiro could have been looking at the unfortunate last name, but he wasn't. Instead, there was a little voice in his head saying, "he doesn't even have the same last name". Hiro gulped and, like a blur, erased all evidence...
That he'd been there.
Hiro ran his hands through his hair and looked at his home screen.
She wouldn't be so bad.
A/N: (1) Another popular AU in the HTTYD section is, you guessed it, a dancing AU.
(2) This is a real song, however, I made up the mash up. Pussycats Dolls and Mayday Parade did sing the song, but not together and no one has done so yet (cough, cough, totally going to try it).
(3) I imagined Hiro like one of those ah, sorority leaders (reason for the "ah" was because I knew I was going to butcher the name). But not a very good one. XD
(4) ... pretty self explanatory. Guess I should put a disclaimer on that too. * staple, staple * done.
Alright, about Tadashi... I saved him. (I mean not me, personally, but you get the point). The reason why Hiro became a super hero along with Tadashi's classmates/ workmates/ friends but not Tadashi is because Tadashi had been kidnapped and Prof. Call-something or other (the only name that comes to mind in the Hero's Duty chick.) to get Hiro's microbots after Hiro sold them to Kraytech (I think that's how it's spelled) in a time in need. In other words, there was no fire. And I made that up like... 30 seconds ago.
So... yeah... and then the imagination goes places (we're back to the one-shot). I made this a one-shot because this isn't totally original, therefore, it would be wrong to create a multi-chapter. Read the top if you feel like you've seen something like this before (because you have).
Bye!
~ Sam