A/N - Here's the delayed chapter - that's for your patience, folks! No warnings this time - except the usual swears now and then.

Chapter 10 – The Gumball

Upon exiting the vault they found the court was awash with various persons; cooks, maids, butlers and guards. Candy peeked from behind the velvet drapes and smiled giving Turbo a little squeeze around the middle, "We'll take the warp gate to my room. It's my own little secret passage to my quarters. He helped Turbo walk to the opposite side of his thrown where a dark archway stood, they entered it and within a split second they appeared from behind the pink drapes in his room. The King moved both of them to the bed and turned so that that backs landed on the plush pink and white covers.

Turbo groaned, his head pounding as he winced with his eyes tight shut, but through gritted teeth he bared it. The warp trip to Candy's room made the racer's head spin; he cringed with his free hand on his temple. Still it was better than climbing all those damned steps. Back on the bed he gave out a relieved sigh, all the movement had made his head pound again, but it seemed things were settling back down. How long this would last was uncertain, but for now that was the furthest worry from his mind.

Laying beside the racer, his eyes gazing lovely at him, Candy smiled at him, "Th'sour Bill gave you that to wear?"

"It was the least frilly thing you had," said Turbo with a slight grin. He still felt weak from before, but his depression had slipped away, "he did offer another pair, but it was pink. Ha like I'd wear pink!"

"Mmmmm... the shirts good on you bit leggings? No...You're far too chubby to pull it off."

Turbo's grin widened, "You can talk. That outfit looks tighter on you then it does on me! You need to lay off the sweets, princess." Not a single one of his words was meant to harm, not like before.

"Cheeky beggar!" chuckled the King.

With a smile, Turbo moved over to hold Candy against him, needing the close contact to mend his shattered and fragile state. Arms wrapped around the King's middle he rested his head on the King's chest listening to the sweet monarch's heartbeat. As the racer cuddled up to the King and rested his head on his chest Candy coiled an arm around Turbo's shoulder. He gave a sigh and gazed up at the dark pink curtains hanging round the four poster frame of the bed. He felt calm and relaxed for the first time in a long time, turbo and he were together and nothing, absolutely nothing was going to break them apart.

As they lay there, each content in the other's company, the racer eventually murmured, "So why are you're people rushing about the castle?"

At his lover's question, Candy held his breath before slowly letting it out; he hesitated but decided that there shouldn't be any more secrets between them, "They are preparing for the gumball."

"The gumball, what's that?"

"Well," began Candy gently, "Before My game was released the programmers had given another to rule alongside me, a daughter...a week before being shipped here they decided to freeze her coding and locked it away," his voice wavered and he stopped himself from bursting into tears, "We bonded before they took her away and I had arranged this ball for her, a sort of coming of age party. She was meant to be a royal racer...a special unlockable racer." He sighed and turned his head to press his cheek against Turbo's head "Every year I put on this event in remembrance to her," he sighed and placed a hand over his eyes, "Vanellope."

As the King explained about his daughter, the racer felt his heart hurting in sympathy with his lover's pain, "I'm sorry," he said gently, "that must have been horrible." He recognised the name, "You were dreaming about her, weren't you?"

"I did, itsth alwaysth the same dream...we're getting ready for the party and we open the door and she starts falling...I can't catch her then I wake up."

Turbo paused before continuing, "Do you know why they locked - I mean, why they didn't put her in the final game?"

Candy pressed his lips on top of Turbo's mass of messy raven hair; he uncoiled his arm from him and pushed off the bed to stand "No... There are a couple of theories but we don't know why exactly. I think they thought we had enough characters and since they already had a king- why did they need another royal?" He shook his head, but smiled, "enough about that, her day is tomorrow. I hope everyone has received their invites," he clapped his hands together excitedly and giggled with his lips pressed together, his voice was higher and with it his camp side grew "Oh I can't wait! I th'sent everyone in the arcade one so hopefully it will be a big party with oodles of food drink and dancing," the king began twirling round with his arms held as if with a partner, he did several laps of his bedroom before coming to a stop in front of the mirror and began to remove Turbo's suit "will your brother'th come?"

The racer watched his lover rise from the bed. Despite feeling sad about his daughter King Candy didn't lose his charm for long and was soon prancing around the room in anticipation for the ball.
At the question about ten twin's attendance, Turbo put both hands behind his head, "Set probably will, but Jet... it's hard to say. He's never turned down a party invite before - I guess if everyone's going he might too."
For a moment the pale racer pondered and then he went rigid. His eyes went to the heavens and he put both hands over his face, "Oh shit... I completely forgot about Turbo-time." His voice was less panicky than before. If Jet had told the King to come back to Sugar Rush then his brother obviously had a backup plan for Turbo's absence.
"I better get back," he said and he rose, stumbling a little. "Um... can I have my clothes back, please?" he looked down at what he was wearing, "How the hell do you cope wearing this stuff. These leggings chafe like crazy!"

Removing the rest of his lover's clothing from himself, he smiled and tossed him his racing suit, "No I can't see leggings catching on in turbo time love."

Candy reached for a red robe and threw it on before doing it up with a gold belt. He walked over to Turbo and lent up against one of the bed posts, his cheek pressed gently against it with both hands clutching round the girth of the wood "Ah I've been wearing it for years'th so I'm used to such – tight, restrictive clothes," he smiled, half closing his eyes with a lustful little smile, "do have normal clothes too ya know." He eyed Turbo up and down as the racer he dressed frantically, "Meet me at Tappers later for a drink - My treat -or are you gonna be busy?"

"You planning another little game in the men's room?" Turbo smiled.

"Only if you want to," Candy purred in reply, looking at Turbo with big innocent eyes.

"I'm joking," said Turbo, "Banging in a toilet cubicle is uncomfortable ... and a slip hazard."

Candy giggled, "Oh you!" he sniggered, "But what about my other little offer, hmm?"

Turbo didn't have to think about it long, "Sure, a drink sounds nice. Seven, okay for you?"

"Sounds perfect, dear."

Once Turbo had dressed he took the King's hands into his own, holding them tight, "I'm sorry how things turned out." He closed his eyes and pressed his forehead to Candy's, "If I can find a way that we can be that close together again..." he didn't finish his sentence, "Well. You know."

"Yesth, I do," said Candy, giving Turbo a gentle peck on the forehead.
With a smile the racer nuzzled him, "I'll see you later, princess," and he gave the Candy one last Kiss before he scooped up his helmet and left the room.

Things in Turbotime seemed quiet when Turbo drove up to the race track. At least they were until he got out at the garages and was greeted by an unexpected character.
"Oh hello Turbo!" called a familiar voice, "Boy, aren't you a sight for sore eyes!"
Turbo spun around and at once his mouth fell open at the man stood in front of him wearing a copy of his racing suit, "Felix?!" he shouted in surprise.
Felix ran over and hugged Turbo, at which the pale racer went rigid, "Jiminy! Turbo, it's so good to see you! It's been ages!"
Turbo shoved the handyman off, "What the heck are you doing here, fix-it?"
"Filling in for you!" said another, all too familiar, voice; which turned out to be Jet with Set in toe. "Luckily for you Felix – fix it Jr was offline for its warranty check up. Felix here was the only character we could make look like you – You are really a lucky son of a bitch, considering what you've put us all through!"
Thinking back to what Candy said, it was obvious his brothers knew the truth... all of it. "How'd he get my car then?" said Turbo.
"You're not the only one who can fiddle with codes, little brother. Not that I like to, but desperate times... Relax," he said with a smile to Turbo's drop jawed expression, "we'll remove the duplicate later."
"Oh my land, Turbo!" cried Felix, "You haven't been using the master key again have you?"
A pair of yellow eyes flared angrily, "None of your business!"
"Play nice, Turbo," cooed Jet, he lowered his voice, "we wouldn't want your little secret getting out would we?"
"No we wouldn't" said Turbo, "just like you're own little secret, Jet."
"Well I've got something on both of you and no one has anything on me!" said Set loudly with a smirk.
"Shut up, Set!" barked both Jet and Turbo together.
Jet smirked at his little brother, but not in the funny way, "Felix drives better then you do, might consider making the replacement permanent."
The pale racer's cheeks flushed red, "how can you tell? Yoshi the fricking dinosaur could race better then you!"
"Oh I'm flattered at the complement, Jet," said Felix, quickly entering the conversation before it got into a fight, "but Ralph and the nicelanders' will be expecting me back. Hey, you going to the Sugar Rush Gumball tomorrow? Everyone in the arcade is invited!"
"The what?" said Jet looking at Felix with a frown, then a smile crossed his face, a deviant smile, "Oh sure, Felix. We wouldn't miss it."
"Great, we'll see you there!... Oh, I'll just go change out of this and head on back home then."
After Felix had gone, Jet cornered Turbo before he could escape to the house, "So the faggot's having a little party?" said Jet. "Wonder who that's for, hmm?"
"Not me, if that's what you're thinking."
"Why not? Aren't you his little code buddy?"
That confirmed it; Candy must have told them everything when he was exposed as an imposter.
"Not anymore," said Turbo with a half sigh.
"So you did break it off," said Jet and for once his voice radiated sympathy.
"No, Candy did."
Both the twins shared a look with each other.
"It's a long story..." Turbo hesitated and then he said, "Jet, I've got to ask you something. You know more about the codes then I do... is it... is it possible to change a characters code?"
"Well duh," said Jet his tone radiating superiority, "Little brother, if a code can be accessed it can be changed," his expression grew suspicious, "why, what are you up to?"
Over the next thirty minutes Turbo explained his plan to his twins. This was a strangely brotherly moment for the three of them, never before had they sought to console one another before. Jet sat back and listened to everything Turbo said, not once did he interrupt, not even to insult his brother as he usually did.
"So that's it," said Turbo.
"You're being very honest," said Jet, "What changed?"
"You can answer that yourself. Now tell me is it doable?"
"Without messing up your code?" said Jet, "I don't know... but I know someone who will. Come on, and after this Turbo I don't want to hear any crap about how I don't do anything for you..."

The king decided he might as well show his face around the castle before the gumball, he smiled to himself as he dressed in his cream shirt and purple sweet wrapper jacket; Turbo was on his mind very much like a teen dreaming about their first crush. Pulling his tie tight he repositioned his crown atop his head before spinning on his heels and out the door. Immediately two tall beautiful ladies descended upon him thrusting various foods and drink under his nose.

"Your majesty, What do you think of these?"

Candy took it and nibbled the corner before pulling a face and tossing it flamboyantly over his shoulder, "No no no! Th'strawberry not peach! Ever year its'th the th'same thing! C'mon people!"

The other woman nervously offered a sparkling drink, "Pink champagne, sire?" the king made an 'oooh' face as he took the flute and sipped it, his face lit up and he nodded, "Yesth yesth! Perfect, two hundred cases if you will."
The woman dropped back and ran off to prepare.

Hours passed; the king looked at his pocket watch and gasped "7.45?! Oh my great gummybears! Turbo will be pissed!" he ran for the door and off he sped to Tappers. At game central the King coughed to clear his throat and straightened his clothing before stepping through into the pub. He clambered upon an empty stool and grinned at Tapper.

The moustached man greeted candy warmly "Ay! Nice ta see ya again your highness, mixed fruit pop and a bag of skittles?"

Candy nodded only to begin to crane his neck to look for Turbo.

"I don't like this, Turbo," said Jet with actual worry in his voice.
"Too bad, I'm going through with it."
"And if it screws up?" Jet insisted, "You'll take Turbo-time down with it!"
"If you can duplicate a car you can duplicate a racer."
Jet stammered in horror, "You... figures you'd put yourself first..."
"I'm doing this for him!" shouted Turbo, glaring at Jet, his eyes insanely bright.
At this the twins again shared a look, they did that a lot. Jet sighed and looked back to Surge, "Will this even work?"
"In theory," said Surge dryly, "We tried the same with you, Jet. But by then it was too late as you know... but, given this is his actual code and not some virus then it is possible. But there will always be a risk."
"Fuck the risk," said Turbo, "I'm not living in fear of turning into an emotionless zombie every time I get too close to Candy." He tied the tether, a length of rubber piping, around his middle and faced the opening to the Turbo-time code stream, located just behind the garages in a small hut out back.
"Just don't mess up anyone else's code in there," said Jet.
"Jet..." said Turbo.
"What?"
"You're an asshole..."
Jet huffed, "What else is new?"
Turbo sent his brother a sly little smile, "...Thanks," and he jumped into the stream before the twin could reply.
Turbo-time's code stream was a lot simpler then Sugar rush, but that made sense given their game was made about twenty years earlier. He found the character codes near the back of the stream. The twin's code was easy to spot, especially Jets. Within the blue stands was a few flecks of red code with thick black strands binding them, pulsating red. Set's code was linked to Jets by a single stand, given the fact they were twins this made sense. The virus it bound itself to him only, sparing Set the same fate.
But enough of that; Turbo wasn't here to sightsee or dwell in old memories. As he swam towards his own code he spotted a trailing length of data missing the block of code it was originally attached to; his heart sank at the thought of what that strange was once connected to and he grew more determined.
Clicking open his own code stream, he set to work using what Jet had told him. His brother had refused to do any coding himself; Turbo couldn't blame him. Twenty minutes later and it was done. Just like that.
But did it work?
A sharp tug on the tether and he was reeled back in.
"So, did it work?" said Jet.
Surge took a look over Turbo; he made one of his faces which could mean either good or bad news.
"Well?" insisted Jet.
"I have no idea," said Surge flatly.
"I don't feel any different," stated Turbo.
"You wouldn't," said Surge, but he didn't divulge any other information.
"Then how can we tell?" said Set.
Jet paused and then his face grew determined. He took a step forward and slapped Turbo across the face.
"Ow, Jet, What the fuck?!" shouted Turbo, rubbing his cheek, "You son of a fucking hoar!"
"He sounds the same," mused Jet.
As the racer went to kick Jet, a passing thought stopped him, "Wait, what's the time?"
"Quarter past eight," said Surge in his deadpan voice.
"Oh shit, I'm meant to be meeting Candy!"
Jet was once again stunned, "You planned a date? Right after you've messed with your code?"
"Perfect time to test my work," said Turbo with a cheeky smile as he dashed towards the train station, leaving the twins with a frown on their faces and Surge... well nothing fazed the surge protector.
"He didn't even deny it was a date," said Set.
Jet rolled his eyes, "Turbo..." he groaned.