(A/N: I just had this random little one-shot idea in my head. The setting is just a few days after the events in the WiR movie. Hope all enjoy! :D)
Vanellope scribbled and drew. Sketched and colored. Marked and penciled. Erased and, of course, wiped away all those annoying little pieces of the eraser left over.
After a few dozen minutes, the child repositioned herself from laying on the hard candy ground into a sitting up position. After stretching her aching back, she paused for a moment to examine her work- and found her herself scratching her head in slight frustration.
This masterpiece needed something... but just what Vanellope couldn't quite pinpoint yet.
Giving up in trying to find the answer on her own, the candy kid abandoned her half-finished picture and ventured off to her open floor balcony...her new balcony. In her new castle.
Placing her hands on the pink-and-white railing and taking in an accelerating deep breath, Vanellope's eyes landed on the serene and complex landscape of Sugar Rush. Large cake mountains and hills surrounded her castle, sprinkled with fine powdered sugar. Fields upon fields of lollipops trees could be seen growing before them, right before her grandiose perch. And just near the outskirts of where the game of Sugar Rush ended, the candy sun was shining down right on top of the Koolaid Blue Lagoon, reflecting off of the small capped waves perfectly.
But Vanellope didn't take the time to take in the breathtaking land of her game from the balcony for long, as she had for the past few days of taking up residence in the castle.
Her large eyes landed on one thing- or what was the remains of one thing.
And instantly, the child smiled happily with a perfect idea of inspiration hitting her like a wild unicandycorn.
Racing back to her drawing in the middle of her bedroom floor, Vanellope squealed in amusement and excitement.
She now knew just what her shack-warming picture needed.
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Bonk, Bonk, Bonk! B-Bonk, Bonk! As loud as she possibly could, Vanellope knocked on the wooden door and bounced on her heels, holding her present in her hands. She wiggled with nervousness and anticipation as she waited not-so-patiently on the steps of her newish best friend's house.
Her mind wandered briefly back to how she had first met said best friend...To how just a few days ago, he had been a mere obnoxiously large brute of a hobo -who desperately needed a bath and a toothbrush.
But now, even only with it being a few days since that first chance encounter...
Wreck-It Ralph, said hobo, had quickly become Vanellope's confident, her playmate, her game jumping hobo of a friend.
The two of them were now almost inseparable best friends, closer at being from two different games than most characters were at being from the same game.
Some days, the child admitted she needed Ralph as a protective father figure, patiently helping her get adjusted to her new royal position in her game. Others times, he proved to be more like a silly big brother to the little glitch, sharing jokes about Sour Bill from her game, or Gene from his.
But most of the time, Vanellope could tell, Ralph was going to be just simply her best friend. Her Stink Brain.
And she just knew her hand-made picture to him would make them that much closer.
BONK, BONK, BONK! The child knocked again, somehow managing to be even louder than before.
As she tried to wait, Vanellope peered around her friend's game, watching as one of the 8-bit fireflies as it danced around her. It apparently was attracted to the soft, warm light coming from the shack's window- as she herself was.
His new shack really is homey, Vanellope thought fondly as she glowed in happiness. Even for a guy that smells like farts.
After a split second more of no one answering the door, though, Vanellope was about to knock loudly again- when she heard a low, gruff voice ring out right inside the other side of the door.
"Who is it?" the voice asked- although it was almost clear it's owner knew exactly who it was knocking so rapidly at their door.
"Uh...It's ah-Mario!" Vanellope tried to say in her best Italian accent, although her subtle giggling made doing so difficult. "I'mma here with-ah the Pizza-ah!"
The voice on the other side let out a small chuckle. "But I didn't any pizza. You must've gotten the wrong address there, Mario."
Vanellope covered her month to hold back another giggle threatening to escape. "No, no, this is-ah the right home! And the pizzza I have-ah is on-ah the house!"
"Wait...my pizza in on the house?" the voice crowed ridiculously. "How'd the heck did it get up there?!"
"Uh...My ah-karta hit a strange little speed bump coming into-ah the game-ah."
"That 'little speed bump' didn't so happen to be Gene, was it?" The voice joked. "'Cause, if so, considered that extra extra points for ya back in Mario Kart."
In pure amusement at the mental picture of a pancake-shaped Gene, Vanellope finally couldn't hold back her laughter anymore. She started laughing so hard she started to snort loudly and very un-president like.
Just as she was making a conscious effect to not to vurp all over the place, the large, 9-and-a-half-feet tall door was thrown open- and a man just as big appeared in the doorway.
"Hey! You're not Mario!" the owner of the voice exclaimed, now in full view as he rushed out the door to scoop up the little girl and gently tickle her. "Mamma Mia!"
"Ralph, s-stop!" Vanellope choked out, laughing uncontrollably as her best friend began to gently tickle her chin and her sides. "I'm going to vurp on you if you don't!"
All too quickly, Ralph quickly complied then, placing her gently back on the ground and smiled.
"Fine," he told her as he ruffled her hair. "But you owe me a pizza, Fart Breath."
Vanellope just smiled up at him happily. Suddenly remembering her picture, which she had dropped in all the tickling, the child quickly grabbed it before Ralph ever noticed it.
"Oh, I've got something way better than a pizza for ya, Stink Brain," she told him slyly, shoving the picture behind her back to hide it as she glitched just inside to his doorway. "I've got a new shack-warming gift for ya!"
Placing his huge hands on his hips, Ralph, however, seemed unsure. He raised an eyebrow at her, not moving after her.
"It's not a candy spider, is it?" he asked cautiously.
"Nope- although that's a good idea!" Vanellope laughed.
"A candy lamp?"
"Wha- No!"
"Darn...I really wanted one of those... Is it anything candy?"
"Well, shut your yapper and c'mon! I'll show you what it is if you just move your molasses already!" Vanellope finally whined as she waved to him to follow her inside.
Ralph rolled his eyes, but smiled as he finally mosied after her into his house. "Ok, but it better be pretty cool to be better than pizza."
As he trailed after her into his little shack, Ralph couldn't help but smile widely- something he so often did these past few days, and found each day he was doing more and more.
He was shocked that not only didn't he have an actual place to call home now -no longer in the dump- but he even had a friend -no, a best friend, in fact- to come and visit and hang out with him in it.
The gentle giant thought for a second about how it'd been only a few days since he had first met this kid...and just how annoying she was to him. But now...although she was still annoying to him at times, he couldn't be closer to anyone else.
He knew (and love) how Vanellope was real- he could joke freely with her, and they could tease each other freely, mock each freely, never really fearing of hurting the other's feelings. And even more so did Ralph love the fact that all within a few days of first meeting, he knew that they were going to be close as family.
Up until a few days ago, Ralph only ever worried about himself...but now he found something to worry far more about. Ralph knew he'd now fight till the death of him for Vanellope, never allowing her to get hurt or to be scared or lonely...like she was just a few days ago.
Sure, that kid was like a little sister to him to joke with sometimes, like a daughter to protect at others, a listening buddy she'd need to rant to still at other times- all at which he happily accepted.
But most of the time, Vanellope von Schweetz was just Ralph's annoy, impish best friend, his Fart Feathers- as he happily knew she would now forever be.
Once inside, Vanellope excitedly jumped around in Ralph's living room, right by his new favorite easy chair. She nearly knocked over his new side table and new box TV in doing so, both which thankfully he caught in one swift grab of each of his large hands.
"Jeez, kid," Ralph smirked as he placed his new home items back down and as he watched her glitch happily in excitement by his feet. "What'cha do- eat half your sugar game before coming over here?"
"Shut up and come sit down, my royal chump!" the little girl responded quickly, earning a head shake from Ralph, but his willful obedience quickly after.
The large man had bearly even finished flopping down in the chair and got comfortable when Vanellope glitched onto his lap.
"Now...close your eyes," she told him as she smirked in his face, still hiding her precious picture behind her back.
In pure annoyance, Ralph huffed half-heartily, rolling his head back animatedly.
"Vanellope, really?" he whined. "Just show me-"
"Shush and close 'em! Now!" The child stubbornly hissed back, leaning her arm on the bridge of his stomach and pointed at him threateningly with one tiny finger.
Ralph eyed her wearily, but knew there was no point in arguing with her. He shot her a look before finally shutting his eyes slowly.
Hearing a slight shuffling sound and feeling the child leaning on him shift, he then heard Vanellope squeak: "Alright, Admiral Underpants! Open up!"
In slight hesitation, Ralph peeked open one eye and then quickly the other, unable to focus on the paper Vanellope was now holding up right before his nose.
"Ta-Da!" she squealed as she held her drawing excessively too close to his face. "I made a picture!"
Feeling a playful smile tugging at his lip, Ralph gently grabbed her tiny hand with two contrastingly large fingers and his thumb and pulled it and the picture back so he could see the creation better.
His eyes more able to focus, Ralph first gazed at a very childish drawing of both him and the picture's artist, happily holding hands -his hand huge, her hand so small- and smiling widely and happily.
At the adorable left side of the picture, Ralph couldn't help but finally allow another smile to surface on his face.
"Aww, kid," he began, "it's so cu...
"ooooooh...te?" Ralph quickly found himself trailing off, however- right as his eyes danced over to the right side of the picture. He subconsciously felt his eyes grow double in size suddenly at the... interesting side of the drawing, to say the least.
Right beside the innocence drawing of the two on them, the paper also contained a large structure of sorts -Diet Cola Mountain perhaps? The top of it had been scribbled over, showing that it had just finish erupting.
But right before it...was a horrible jumble of pink -ahem, salmon- , purple, and cream, with a few streaks of red and white in places. This part of the drawing appeared to be some type of creature- a horror, headless, exploding monster... something right out of a nightmare.
"What in the world is, uh...that, kid?" Ralph asked nervously as he pointed to the creation, slightly afraid of her answer.
"Oh, that's an exploded Turbo who was partially destroyed by Diet Cola Mountain," Vanellope simply told him, smiling her wide, innocent smile. "I thought it'd be a nice feature."
She excitedly smiled and pointed to a loose head that was down by Ralph's feet in the drawing, a small detail Ralph hadn't even noticed.
"Oh! And that's Turdbutt's loose head down there! See?" Vanellope chirped happily.
His eye twitching, Ralph felt his stomach lurch as he forced himself to smile back at her before he continued to stare horrified at the gruesome right side of the picture.
"Y-yeah, kid, hehe...I see it," he choked out, wishing she really hadn't pointed such a disturbing thing out to him.
Vanellope just smiled proudly in return, oblivious to her friend's cringing.
"And I figured it'd look more realistic if his nasty, NOT-so-Turbo-Tastic blood was plastered all over your side, too," the child gestured to what Ralph had thought was just red icing all over his side on the cute-yet-now-disturbing picture. " 'Cause, you know, he was destroyed by the Diet Cola Mountain beacon and all."
Ralph forced his lunch to stay down as he looked with wide eyes away from her drawing. "O-oh...uh, interesting detail, kid."
She smirked at him as turned her drawing towards herself to admire it, a look of childish pride written on her face.
"Ah...This is, like, my greatest drawing ever!" She boasted as she leaned even more on his stomach. "I worked on it practically all day! I didn't end up on the Roster race last night for today- stupid Taffyta cut me off right before I won," she explained with a teasing eye roll. "So, since I wasn't racing, I drew this picture instead!"
"Y-yeah, it's...um, one of a kind, for sure, kiddo," Ralph could only answer. "It's, uh...nice."
As he was silently contemplating how he could burn the unsightly picture without its artist knowing it, Vanellope suddenly sheepishly turned to look at him square on the eye.
"And you get to keep it, Ralph."
In surprised, Ralph forced himself, not to gawk in horror, but to smile at her- although he wasn't so successful in hiding his clear pain and hesitancy...and clarity.
No...this horribly descriptive picture wasn't really his...shack-warming gift she had been talking about, was it?
Shaking his head slightly, Ralph gulped silently and briefly closed his eyes, trying to come up with a way to delicately answer her.
If this picture was of anything else -literally anything else- than the lunch- unsettling drawing it was, Ralph would've been happy to take it, and would in a heartbeat...But this...this was going to cause him some nightmares for sure.
Even more than the ones he already had from the whole King Candy/Turbo incident in the first place.
"Oh no, kid...," Ralph quickly decided to say, trying to not sound so desperate as he rubbed the back of his neck nervously. "You worked so hard on this, er...masterpiece here, hehe...and you need to keep it. And take it home. With you. And store it in a nice, unseen place. Really."
In her place in his lap, Vanellope cocked her head up him before her hazel eyes filled with confusion.
"But- but I made it for you, as a shack-warming gift, Stink Brain," she began to say to him softly, her eyes slowly glossed over with ...
A look of feeling rejected and in pain.
Seeing that look in her eyes...and feeling it being all too familiar...Ralph gulped, feeling incredibly guilty at inadvertently hurting her feelings- seriously hurting her feeling...
Just as he had done...when he destroyed her kart they had made together...
"Oh, I-I didn't know you made it for me," he quickly told her, refusing to allow the heartbroken image of her face that day to fill his mind- or allow it to happen again. "That was really nice...for you, Burger Face," he joked out, gently stroking her hair to try to ease that unsettling look in her eyes and to lighten her mood.
To his relief, Vanellope's concerned face softened at his words and touch, melting into a smile and an accepting eye roll.
"Yes, it was nice. But don't be expecting any more nice things from this president anytime soon," she joked back as she gently punched his arm.
"I won't be," Ralph laughed out. "Unless it's pizza."
The child's face lit up in happiness and she now wore an ear-to-ear smile that mirrored Ralph's...right before going dark again.
"But you do like my picture...don't you?" She blushed out quietly, pushing her bangs shyly behind her ear as she waited eagerly for his answer.
Although weary about telling her the truth, Ralph was surprised to see that this was one of the rare times that the playful, lighthearted child was being actually serious, not joking and not wanting him to joke in return.
He gulped again, eyeing her nervously- oh, how could he ever have the heart to tell her that her picture gave him the absolute creeps?
But that look in her hazel, expressive eyes pained him...she looked so scared of being rejected, even by someone as close to her and loved by her as Ralph was.
The wrecker sighed...and eyed back at the, er... interesting drawing.
Ok, so minus Turbo's mutilated, loose head by his feet...the creature's blood spattered all over the place...and, of course, the drawing of a massacred King Candy/Turbo itself... The picture wasn't actually half bad, Ralph forced himself to reason.
Vanellope really wanted him -needed him, almost- to love it...so love it he would- even if it was forced love.
"I...I love it, kid," Ralph finally confirmed -more to himself than to her- as he fixated solely on the cute drawing of him and her on the paper...definitely the highlight of the drawing.
Satisfied and elated with his answer, Vanellope allowed a squeal escape her lips as she bounced happily on Ralph's lap before turning to smirk at him, all traces of sadness or fear now gone from her face.
"Good! You better love it, pal! 'Cause you're getting a free piece of art from one amazing artist!" She laughed out, right before glitching to the ground. As an idea hit her, she then batted her large eyes pleadingly up at him.
"Can we hang my drawing up on your new fridge, Stink Brain? Please??!" Vanellope begged, sticking out her bottom lip as far as it could go. "It'll be the perfect first piece of art for it!"
Gulping, Ralph winced at the idea. Did he really want...that on his fridge?
But despite his horror due to that reality, Ralph just couldn't say no to that face of hers...or to risk hurting her feelings again.
"O-of course, kiddo," he told her as he shakily shook up. "Let's go hang it up."
As Vanellope skipped into his kitchen with pure happiness, Ralph silently lumbered behind. He stared blankly at his fridge right before Vanellope glitched up to his shoulder.
With Ralph being close enough to the fridge, she grabbed four of the small magnets (a housewarming gift from almost all the Nicelanders) that were in random places on the front his fridge.
Asking Ralph to hold out his hand, Vanellope walked easily to the end of it and placed her 'beautiful' creation somewhere the middle of the fridge door. She then put a magnet in each corner of the picture to hold it up nicely and to even provide a frame of sorts.
"There!" the child exclaimed as she placed her hands on her hips and stood back on Ralph's hand to examine her work.
The small magnets held securely the picture in place...causing Ralph to get an idea then.
"Uh, we're going to need more magnets than that to, um, hold it up, kid...very securely, at least," he told her, trying to sound as convincing as possible.
Still holding his best friend in one hand, with the other Ralph plucked off all the magnets off his fridge, which thankfully was plenty.
"Let's put one here...and here...and here...," he mumbled as he placed magnets 'inadvertently' right on Turbo's headless body...and loose head...and everything else he was trying to mentally unsee in the picture.
Finally, all that left showing of the child's drawing was that of her and Ralph, holding hands peacefully- now just surrounded by various magnets.
"Now I have no fear of it falling off!" Ralph chirped, hoping Vanellope wouldn't notice he'd nearly covered up everything on her drawing.
But Vanellope didn't seem to care one bit. She just smiled and glitched back to his shoulder to admire it, now very securely on the fridge. The child sat down comfortably on his shoulder in happiness- only to suddenly stand straight up again in rapt attention.
"Oh wait! I was so busy drawing the realistic blood on your side, I forgot to sign the drawing!" she squawked in horror.
Glitching off his shoulder, Vanellope darted back to the living room to find a pen, causing Ralph to laugh.
"Good thing- we can't let a rare piece of art like this go anonymous, can we?" He joked out as he heard her searching through drawers and cubbies.
Seconds later, the child returned with a huge pen, custom made to fit Ralph's massive hand, nearly the size of Vanellope whole hand. She could only be thankful it was fairly light.
Scooting some the magnets out of the way on the paper, Vanellope made room so she could write her name in a blank spot. Grinning, Ralph knelt down behind her as she began to write her name in beautiful, neat curvise.
"V-A-N..."
"Wait, wait, wait," Ralph interrupted her as she began to spell her name out loud as she wrote it. "I thought your name was Mario!"
Vanellope paused in her writing and just giggled. "Well, my artist name is 'President Vanellope', ga-doi!"
Ralph scoffed and pulled on her ponytail gently. "No, it should be 'Princess Booger Face'."
"It's 'President Vanellope!'" The child snipped. "Now, zip it so I can get my concentration back."
"You need concentration just to write your own name?"
"Oh, shut up! At least I can write in cursive- unlike some people!"
"Hey, I can't help it that I wasn't programmed with that 'valuable' skill!"
"Whatever. Now shut UP so I can finish signing my creation!"
"Ok, as you wish...Royal Princess Booger Face."
"For the last time, Major Body Odor, it's President V-A-N-E-
But Ralph had already begun tickling the child again before she could finish her backbiting and spelling.
"Ralph, stop!" Vanellope wheezed out, giggling hysterically as he reached over and gently tickled under her chin- which he was unfortunately and quickly learning was her greatest tickling spot. "Or I'll mess up my picture!"
"Pff," Ralph answered, undeterred by her threat. "It's already a mess!" he told her...only half joking.
"Quit it, stab your eyeballs with your sausage pen!" Vanellope finally laughed out...only half joking.
Getting the point, Ralph quickly stopped his tickling and poked a large finger at one of her sides one last time with an emphasis towards her art.
"Fine, fine, finish your precious cursive writing, Miss Fancy Artist Pants," he told her with a playful eye roll, "but afterward we're going to go get a pizza, got that?"
Giggling, Vanellope turned to smile impishly at him. "Deal."
When she finally finished, Vanellope glitched up to one of Ralph's shoulder again and sat back down to appreciate her now finally complete work.
"Now it's perfect, Fart Feathers!" Ralph fondly exclaimed - and found that he genuinely really believed it.
That picture -hidden guts and gore and all- really was just perfect...just like their little friendship was. It was odd and strange and bizarre- but he wouldn't want it any other way.
Now, Ralph truly loved his newest, cutest shack-warming gift- and the child who made it even more...
Even if both the picture AND his best friend made him want to lose his lunch at times.
The wreckor placed his colossal hands on his hips and smiled fondly at his present on his fridge, leading to Vanellope feeling all bubbly inside.
The little glitch knew that there was no doubt about it- her and her honestly-now-no-longer-a-hobo friend could never be closer.
She was happy and content that they both now were accepted by others and that they both had a place to call home to share in adventures together.
But mostly, Vanellope was just happy she had made her picture for him...and that her Stink Brain truly loved it.
The two of them were silent for a moment, both admiring the art- and trying to imagine how their lives could be any better now that they had each other.
Vanellope finally broke the silence by sighing softly and leaning her head -or, whole body, rather- tiredly up against Ralph's head.
"I'm glad you like it so much, Stink Brain."
As Ralph peered at his precious little girl leaning on him, then back at the now-once-again adorable and perfect drawing, he felt his smile grow even bigger.
"Of course I do...Now let's go get our pizza-ah, Princess Booger Face-ah."