The Bigger Man

Vanellope was quiet for a new record of over thirty minutes while they walked back to Diet Cola Mountain. That was Ralph's indication that she was deeply wounded on the inside. Now it seemed to click in his mind why she chose such an inhospitable place to live in. Away from society in a secluded space where no one would push her around.

Or punch her. Or twist her poor arms.

It was like looking in a mirror.

Except that there was one major difference that had Ralph questioning everything he knew so far about Sugar Rush and Vanellope's condition. She didn't seem like she was meant to be the outcast in this game. As far as Ralph was concerned, there were no bad guys that existed here. Just a lot of mean-spirited children and a territorial monarch.

And Ralph could recognize whenever someone was coded to be a villain. It was like a natural instinct that came with being one, himself. He didn't sense any of that within her. If anything, he felt as though something had to have happened to her status to bring her down to this level of bottom-feeder.

He wanted to ask her about it, but for whatever reason, his question just swarmed in his head. It was as if he was too worried about turning her against him just by bringing up a sensitive topic.

Once they passed the open layer of the mountain, Ralph carefully placed the engine down and rolled his shoulders. They were becoming sore.

Vanellope flopped on her back against the ground and stared up at the underside of the cave. The lanterns placed on each empty corner of the cave lightened up the entire space and made it look even brighter than the outside in daylight. If not for the fact that there was a boiling hot springs nearby, it would have been an ideal place to camp.

She sighed and spoke in a very dreamy voice.

"When I win the race, I'm going to treat Taffyta exactly like she treats me." She decided. "No, way worse. I'm going to give her the payback she deserves for making me feel like dirt for so long."

Ralph laid down beside her with his arms stretched out. "Yeah, show her who's boss, kid."

"If I saw her out on the track dying, I wouldn't help her. I'd just sit there and laugh my head off."

"You could step on her hands." Ralph suggested.

Vanellope lit up. "Yeah, yeah! I'll break her hands like she almost broke mine. I'll bite and twist her arms. And then I'll spit in her face."

Ralph sighed as he thought about a similar scenario but with his own archrival, instead. "That sure would be great."

"And then I would rub my winnings in her face. I'll show her that's she's not all that and that a glitch was able to beat her perfect racing record in one go."

"Damage her kart, too. Then she'll have to go through the trouble of getting a new one."

Vanellope relished in the fantasy. "Good idea, Chumbo. You're full of wisdom."

The big man grinned.

Felix, on the other hand, was listening with disapproval in his heart. He wasn't the type of person who believed arguments could have been settled with violence. Regardless of how bad the situation had become.

"That's not a good thing to want, Vanellope." He said. "If you two had a talk and you told her how you felt, I bet she'd listen to you."

Vanellope sat up. "What? Felix, did it look like they were the kind of people to want to sit down and have talks?"

"Yeah, come on, Felix. You saw what those defective kids did to her."

The handyman leered at Ralph.

"Don't encourage her, Ralph! I know what they did was wrong, but there are better ways to handle these situations. You don't have to sink down to their level. You can be better than them."

Vanellope wasn't thrilled about Felix's suggestion and instead of feeling hurt from the racers, she felt hurt from his words.

"Have you ever had somebody destroy something you worked really hard on? Or push you in the mud? Or force you to live in a dump like a homeless person?" Her face was red and her tone was sharp.

Felix took a step back. "No, but that doesn't mean you have to-"

"Then," She cut him off. "You don't get to tell me what I should and shouldn't feel. It's not just the other racers that I have to worry about." She shuddered. "King Candy keeps his tabs on me all the time. I can't leave my home without worrying about him catching me and doing those... things to me. You don't know what it's like being a glitch, so don't tell me to not hate all of them! Don't tell me not to give them what they deserve!"

"Kid..." Ralph began as he sat up.

Vanellope spun towards him. "Are you going to tell me to be friendly, too? To just hug it out and sing Kumbaya?"

Ralph shook his head. "No, I get it. I know exactly how you feel."

"Oh, yeah?" Vanellope softened her tone. "How so?"

"Because I'm the bad guy from my game."

Vanellope's eyes glazed over his entire form, like she wasn't sure if he was telling her the truth.

"You're not a bad guy, Ralph. You're a big and strong man. You probably carry everyone else in your whole game."

Ralph chuckled. "Not even close, kid. I wreck the building that Felix and the other tenants live in every single day. My whole goal is to kill him so he doesn't fix all the damage I do."

"Oh," Vanellope looked down at the floor.

"And I live in a dump." Ralph continued. "And when I say 'dump', I don't mean a shabby place. I mean an actual dump. I've got nothing else but my bricks. All the people in my game don't want anything to do with me."

She stood up and walked by his side. "Is that why you game-jumped?"

Ralph nodded. "That medal was going to be the winning ticket I took home to show everyone else that I'm more than just a bad guy. So they would stop leaving me out of celebrations. So that they would stop running away whenever I tried to talked to them. I was tired of being treated like a villain, and I set out to become a hero."

"Well, that's a pretty bold move." Vanellope said. "Color me impressed."

"Thanks, kid. And don't be too hard on Felix. He may have it good, but he's got his own things to face every day."

Ralph turned his head to look back at the handyman, who walked out of the conversation and towards the other side of the mountain. He was facing away from both of them and staring at the peanut brittle wall.

Vanellope was also looking at him. "I didn't mean to snap, I was just mad at them for doing this to me."

"It's okay, he understands. He's a lot tougher than you think, too."

Vanellope looked up at the taller man and when he saw into her eyes, he noticed that there were tiny sparks within them. Her smile was wide and her cheeks were red. He'd seen only one other person have that look of pure admiration before for all of Ralph's words and actions.

"You know," she said. "You're okay, Ralph."

"Thanks, kid." He looked back to where Felix was sitting. "I better go check on him."

Vanellope hopped up and made her way towards her little room. "Yeah, check up on your lover. Wrap him up in your big arms."

The wrecker almost lost his nerve when she said the "L" word.

...

Felix never felt so ashamed to be the hero of his game than he did today. He was always proud and satisfied with the things he'd done in his digital life. It was a pleasure to help others and to have them share their gratitude with him in return.

But now it seemed like a curse. He couldn't have related his situation to Ralph's, and now Vanellope seemed to resent him for his lack of support. Maybe he really was ignorant of other people's suffering.

It wasn't as if he was trying to be. He really did want to understand their positions. And he hoped that Ralph didn't fault him for being unable to see things from the wrecker's perspective.

Thirty years was plenty of time for Ralph to have built an undying hatred of the handyman and his natural goodness. It wouldn't have surprised him if Ralph did secretly loathe him.

"Hey," Ralph's smooth, deep voice caught his attention. "Listen, she didn't mean what she said. She's just been through a lot."

"I..." Felix wasn't sure what the correct response was. "I guess I understand, as much as I can being who I am."

Ralph wasn't expecting that kind of answer. He came over and sat down next to the handyman.

"How are you holding up?" Ralph asked.

Felix was looking down at his legs, his palm against the warm ground of the mountain. The truth of the matter was that he felt like he hadn't contributed much to this trip. Ralph was the one who achieved the medal, helped Vanellope reach for the crucial part of every go-kart, and saved her from the bullies while Felix was too stunned to speak. And what had he done?

He helped them heal their wounds a bit faster. But that was hardly something when comparing it to all the things Ralph had accomplished. Why did Felix come on this trip, again? To make sure Ralph didn't make a mess out of this situation after he'd already broken the primary rule of being a video game characer?

And Felix hadn't done much of that, either. He took his hammer in his hands and thought about how spoiled he truly was. Ralph was out here earning his success and the actual title of "hero" while Felix was just given it the moment his code appeared in the arcade database.

Felix couldn't even protect himself from those creatures. If it had just been him in Hero's Duty, he wouldn't have lasted more than five seconds.

He was feeling useless and talking down about himself in his head, but he gave Ralph as much of a reassuring smile as he could and said, "I'm fine."

Ralph frowned.

"You sure?"

It seemed that the big man could sense when Felix was being dishonest, or when he was facing his inner conflicts on his own. It meant that Felix could no longer keep things to himself, which was comforting because it meant he wouldn't have to experience those things alone.

But it was also scary to think that those thoughts were no longer safe in his head.

"Can I ask you a question?" Felix said.

"'Course."

He paused for a second.

"Did you ever hate me, Ralph?"

The taller man wasn't sure what he was implying when he asked.

"I don't think so. How could I hate you?"

Felix turned his body to face Ralph. "You don't have to sugarcoat anything. I won't get mad at you."

It felt like an impossibility for anyone to hate him, but that's because Ralph wasn't just "anyone". He was Felix's opponent and everything that Ralph wanted in life, Felix already had. In the beginning when the wrecker was still in his default villain mode, he might have hated Felix on principle.

And as Ralph had the opportunities to explore the arcade and built his character around his experiences, he dropped those feelings. Because, as a person who was constantly belittled for something he couldn't have helped, he felt it wasn't right.

Ralph never felt such animosity towards Felix, but if he said "no", then Felix might have taken that as him withholding the truth.

"I'm jealous of you." Ralph admitted. "But I don't hate you. I feel the complete opposite of hate towards you. And I have for a long time."

"You didn't feel the same way Vanellope does towards me?"

"You mean, did I want to hurt you like how you've hurt me?"

Felix nodded.

Ralph shook his head. "It's not you whose hurt me, Felix. You've done the least to make me feel bad about myself."

"But that's the problem!" Felix wrapped his arms around himself. "I've done the least around here. I didn't do anything to stop those guys from hurting you and I didn't stand up for you when Gene was giving you a hard time. I feel so... impractical. I can't seem to do anything meaningful."

Ralph blinked. "You're not just talking about the stuff with Gene and the Nicelanders, are you?"

The handyman exhaled through his nostrils and gave a small nod. "You could have done all of this without me. I can't be a big strong wall to protect you, Ralph. I'm a squishy marshmallow who cracks under pressure! I couldn't even defend Vanellope because I was too afraid of what those children could have done to me."

"Felix..."

The little man stood up and started pacing nervously. "And when we were in Hero's Duty, I was scared out of my wits to even move by myself. I had to have you carry me to get to the top of that tower. And... and... if you didn't catch me when I fell off that tree, I would've been a goner!"

"Felix." Ralph got up.

"I didn't realize how useless I actually was until now! And I know this thinking isn't progressive of me, but I can't help but feel like I'm not going to do anything super, or... or as worthy of a medal as you are, Ralph!"

"Felix."

"What...?"

The big man gently picked him up and held him in his giant palms.

"You're not useless." Ralph declared strongly and held the handyman close to him. Felix gently gripped Ralph's wrists and stared into his brown eyes. "You've been a bigger help to me than you think. You've been a comfort to me and you helped me stay motivated. You made me believe there was potential in me. And... you cared about me when no one else would."

The little handyman's big eyes were enlarged.

"I... I did?"

"Yes." Ralph lowered his eyes. "I can't describe how bad I've felt about myself, and how long I've been wallowing in self-pity. This whole day has been... great. And I only have you to thank for that."

And Ralph didn't pay any mind to how close he was holding Felix to himself until Felix slipped his hand underneath Ralph's arm and cupped his cheek like he did earlier that day. The wrecker's cheek burned where his hand touched. There was no need for any more words on either of their parts. He could feel his heart accelerating in speed underneath his broad chest.

And then Felix leaned in.

"Ralph..."

Without a care in the world at who was watching, or who could have possibly interrupted them, Ralph and Felix's lips connected for the second time. Felix grabbed onto the intact suspender on Ralph's overalls and pulled him even closer. His other hand wrapped around the big man's neck.

They pulled apart briefly, both panting and hoping that when they opened their eyes, they wouldn't have been in a dream sequence. That everything that had happened to them up until now was real.

And once they realized it was, Ralph pulled his handyman hero close to him again for another display of affection. He could feel Felix's tongue grazing over his lower lip, causing a chill to travel up his spine.

...

Off to the side, Vanellope had attempted to check up on those two after they'd gone strangely quiet. And the scene she was presented with made her burst into a fit of giggles that she had to suppress with her hands.

"I knew it!"

AN: Oh lawd, it's happenin'! Can't tell you how much I've been awaiting this and how eager I was to jump on the chance to write it. :3