Reviews :
ThoreLB : I unfortunately don't put a ton of emphasis on the race, as a whole - just who wins. I'm really no good at writing racing scenes, it's just not something I have the energy for, unfortunately, though I do what I can to make the before and after fun/funny/exciting :)
Snake557 : I do too! Thank you :)
Burgie : Woohoo! Yes, their little vacation is exactly what they need to bring it all home, for sure.
Song Listened To :
I Remember by Betty Who
*Chapter 15*
Feeling more alive than she had in months, Vanellope bounced into her's and Ralph's sunny abode and clacked their large front door shut. She whirled around, bit her bottom lip in eager anticipation and flung her light, adorable shawl to her's and Ralph's now tidy coat rack, inside their airy mud room. Excited to now marinate in the good news and events that were upon her, as well as Ralph, she took her pony tail down, thrusted her shoes off and was eager to melt this lazy day away with her best friend. Hoping the good news, as well as her sunny, good attitude would rub off of Ralph, she allowed her purple coding to consume her being in the form of a skillful bounce of glitch hopping down their main entry way corridor. With a calm, electric hum of said few bounces, amidst their glossy wooden floor, she skid her bare feet to the ground and cutely erupted into their main room and large, open kitchen area; Ralph stood at the kitchen island, though he wildly flinched at her sudden presence.
"... User, you scared the shit out of me," Ralph hissed with the trail of a chuckle, he clutched his bare chest, it was obvious he was in the process of getting changed after showering, due to his wet hair, lazy grey sweats and lack of a t-shirt.
"Ralph, I have the CRAZIEST news," Vanellope urged with a wide grin, though as she rounded the island and got a solid eye-full of Ralph's figure, she scuffed her bare feet to a stop and firmly cocked an eyebrow in stunned delight. Ralph gave her a furrowed look, froze in his movement to grapple his clean t-shirt, which was tidily rested on one of their larger dining room chairs, he finally came to a full stop and sagged his larger hands to his sides, his hefty knuckles nearly kissed the ground underneath him, though he finally rested his hands on his hips and dully noted the gap of Vanellope's silence. He lazily gestured his finger, gave her a cute little smirk and side-eyed her in suspicious grinning. Vanellope choked a noise, shook her head and began to tidy her bangs in a flustered kind of way, "I-I... I-I was just in Turbotime, and-"
"My eyes are up here," Ralph only teased, his tone read pure irritation, though the adorable little look on his face read fresh, intimate delight, something Vanellope now felt as if she was letting get away from her.
"S-Sorry, I just... Wow, you look great," Vanellope chuffed in a dorky fashion as she gestured to Ralph's figure; free of any previous over-pudginess he had, he looked to be bulking up, and although he always would be a huge dude, no matter what, his stomach looked tightened, pecks and biceps were more taut, his skin glistened with the fresh shower he had just taken, and though Vanellope was certain she had something important to say, she scoffed a shaky giggle, held her forehead and fluttered her eyes in a dorky grin of sweet, bashful confusion, "Sorry, you were saying?"
"... Uh, YOU were saying," Ralph now choked a happy laugh and gave her a wildly confused look of head-shaking encouragement, "Y'okay? You came bursting in here like you had the best news ever to tell, but then somehow are acting as if you've never seen me without a shirt on. You gunna be good?"
"I'm fine, I just... You look great," Vanellope chimed sweetly with a nod, she inhaled a shaky breath and urgently looked off; she furrowed her brows in confusion towards herself. She felt a weird bout of bashfulness crawl over her, simply as if her and Ralph were back at square one, and it was in this shy thinking did she cutely shoot Ralph a look. Surprised to even do so, she caught eyes with Ralph just in time to see his eyes subtly drag down her body and turn to reach for his shirt. Vanellope felt her heart wildly flutter, she continued to recoil with the confusion, though somehow her heart was screaming at her not to be confused, and that this was all entirely normal, par for the course, definitely stuff she shouldn't be a stranger to. She finally shifted on her feet, crossed her arms and felt a revitalized lift come upon the two as Ralph's figure shook a warm chuckle, at her expense. As he slipped on one of his favorite black t-shirts, it draped his handsome figure in such a way that now was due to driving Vanellope up the nearest wall. She crossed her arms tighter and wondered if that was enough to get her heart to shut up, "I-I was just in Turbotime, and... Turbo challenged Zed and I to a race next Saturday."
"Whoa, what?" Ralph wondered with a wide grin, he gave her a furrowed, narrowed look and shook his head in a show of vibrant warmth, he looked absolutely kissed with renewal, "Oh, you're gunna win, hands down."
Vanellope had opened her mouth to loudly carry on, though she easily fumbled over her own words and shut her mouth in a zip of prickled, delighted surprise. She raised her eyebrows, softened her aura and sagged her arms out of the tight cross she had, thus releasing her thudding heart from the proverbial prison she had had it in. Vanellope peered hard into Ralph's eyes, he stood a handful of feet away from her, though he inhaled a deep breath, ran his big fingers through his thick, damp hair and gave her a loving little smile. It was clear their heavy talk, from the night prior, had begun to chip away at the hurt Ralph had been drowning underneath. Vanellope narrowed her gaze, peaked her cute, toothy grin from her pink lips and just barely shook her head in a dollop of stunned confusion.
"Y-You..." Vanellope huffed in the trail of a cute giggle, to which Ralph easily volleyed her the same furrowed look.
"What, you think you're gunna lose?" Ralph garbled, he blew a raspberry and waggled his hand, "Look, I love Zed to death, but the guy doesn't have a game day to practice. Love Turbo and all, but he's only had a week of training. You? You, my Queen..."
Vanellope sagged her shoulders and allowed her aimless gaze to soak to the sunkissed flooring to Ralph's right, the gap between their island counter and the other bend of counters in their kitchen, she wondered if she had stepped into an alternate universe. Everything she had so diligently been praying for, manifesting, dutifully working at was now all splayed out before her in the lovely kiss of rewards, it was nearly as if she didn't even need to win said detrimental race, nor to lay her head at Vidrix's most luxurious resort, she sagged her eyes into Ralph's, once more, and gave him a defeated little look of full, smiling humility. She knew she had gotten lucky, landing someone like Ralph, and though the stormy rain clouds they had been trudging through seemed to be never-ending, she felt her heart flutter at the sheer sight of silver-lined clouds giving the ultimate promise of eternal sunshine, tight on the horizon.
"You're gunna win," Ralph grumbled in full conclusion, he bobbed a nod and crossed his big arms, simply as if he had no idea how he could think on anything different. Before Vanellope could likely carry on with any other exciting notions, he softened and gave her a warm look of anticipation, "Is it going to be in Turbotime? Or...? I want to make sure I get a good seat, or... Whatever that looks like."
"I don't think it matters, I... I feel as if I've already won," Vanellope blurt a shaky giggle and tucked her hair behind her ears, she shyly looked down to her feet and felt the weirdest wave of butterflies plow into the core of her soul, a force so powerful, she nearly felt her knees begin to shake.
"What do you mean?" Ralph wondered, though he tenderly flinched as his phone vibrated once. He cocked an eyebrow and peered down to it, to which he carried on in mumbling warmth, "Oh, it's Rancis."
"I-I don't know, I just... I'm really glad we had that talk last night," Vanellope breathed in airy delight, and it was here did she feel as if her heart was now jolting lightyears ahead of her true intentions, the desire to sag into Ralph's arms, once and for all, and complete a deed they were becoming strangers to, she shook her head and felt her heart begin to thud harder the second Ralph's warm, honey-brown eyes sagged into hers, his presence began to cautiously push into her bubble as he ignored his phone for the time being. Vanellope pierced her eyes into Ralph's with purpose and felt the words roll out of her mouth, simply as if she had absolutely no control, "I-I meant what I said, Ralph..."
"What's that?" Ralph lightly wondered, though he eased her a small, shy smile and reached one of his hands out, so to tenderly hold her tiny one in his; upon receiving her warm grip, he firmly furrowed his brow in a pang of grinning confusion and eagerly took note that she was shaking, "...What's going on? Are you okay?"
"I'm great," Vanellope breathed a shaky giggle and gripped the base of Ralph's thumb, a routine they had fallen into due to her not being able to properly hold his hand.
"A-Are you talking about..." Ralph pressed cautiously, how desperately he wanted to guess just what she was getting at, and though he had a hot inkling as to just what her insinuation was, he narrowed his gaze, side-eyed her in a suspended show of wanting to guess but making clear to her that he was shyly uncertain; she breathed a giggle and gripped his hand as her eyes aimlessly glossed Ralph's broad chest.
"I-It's... Nothing, I'm about to get WAY ahead of myself," Vanellope's voice trembled, she swallowed hard and looked off in smiling irritation towards herself, she began to fan her face with her free hand as she urgently looked about the sprawl of their airy, lovely, sunny living room, "Is it hot in here, to you?"
"It's getting there," Ralph grumbled with her insinuation, he blurt a chuckle and shook his head, and although he, too, began to feel the air between them grow thick with impending intimacy they had been secretly desperate for, Ralph wondered if filling the awkward gap, in conversing, would help the two along, "You remember when Tessa and Zed built this house for us? We were in the code room getting it all set up?"
"Yeah, I remember," Vanellope cooed curiously, she felt the heat of impending intimacy lift off of her and be replaced with a fresh breeze of dainty confusion, she welcomed the gap, though still peered into Ralph's eyes in such a way that nearly formed heart shaped twinkly lights in her eyes, with the bounce of reflected sunlight.
"You... Remember how they told us to add a spare room because they figured you could use it as your art studio?" Ralph continued, to which Vanellope felt realization hit her between the eyes, and said airy lift of confusion was now replaced with a squeeze of returned butterflies due to suffocating her. Ralph cocked an eyebrow and gave her a knowing look of certain doom, "And you avoided said spare room for some reason and made your art station in the basement?"
"Yeah," Vanellope huffed with a shaky giggle as she looked down to their still conjoined hand holding, though she raised her eyebrows in a dollop of romantic delight as Ralph so gently tucked his finger under chin and made her look up into his love-filled eyes.
"... I'm STARTING to think that said spare room was added because they were hoping we'd utilize it for other purposes," Ralph stated lowly, he narrowed his gaze and allowed his voice to dribble to that of grumbly, warm delight, as if this was information he was playfully perturbed by.
"... Like what?" Vanellope wondered, her voice lofted in airy warmth, she gave Ralph the same look of knowing cuteness, and though she was well aware of the direction Ralph was taking this, she was desperate to hear it all from the man himself.
"I don't know, a storage room, a sitting room," Ralph grumbled as he shrugged and allowed his warm gaze to gloss the kitchen island, though he finally hooked his eyes to Vanellope's with a twinkle of purpose and somehow set stillness upon the place, as if Sugar Rush was a spinning top, only to come to a lovely twirl of a molasses sag in space, an enchanting little moment held in time just for Ralph and his bride. He softened his gaze and peaked her a gentle, curious smile as he quietly pressed on, "A nursery?"
Vanellope held her breath, raised her eyebrows and was now entirely certain she was dreaming, or having an out of body experience, to say the least. Before she could rush Ralph and assure him that she'd like to eagerly pick option three, she flinched as Ralph scoffed a gentle laugh, rubbed the back of his head, shyly looked off and continued on.
"Now, I'm not saying we should rush in there and paint the room and go shopping for cribs or anything, right this second, but..." Ralph lulled his eyes closed in sweet defeat before he gave Vanellope a loving, assured little smile, "What you said, last night, was really healing for me. You gave me hope... Sure, we should take it slow, but... I don't know. You really got me thinking, dreaming. I'd love to put another mini version of us in that room."
Vanellope scoffed a surprised little airy laugh, looked off and bit her lip in the urge to squee. Bursting at the seams, sure she was dreaming, she did everything she could to hide the widest, most obnoxious grin. Her hazel eyes dart about the place in a rile of cute, mature decision making they were coming upon, and it was in this instance did she finally allow her eyes to fully soak into Ralph's, the urge to kiss him was overwhelming, she shook her head and breathed a giggle as she fluttered her eyes in hot confusion.
"... I-I had more good news to tell you but I've forgotten what it was because this freaking takes the cake," Vanellope rushed through shaky giggling, to which Ralph grinned, a wide grin he was unsure was even something he could produce, any longer, until this point.
"Look, can we just... Get back to how we used to be?" Ralph wondered tenderly, he shook his head and, although the words were flowing out of him like honey, he seemed as if he was mildly struggling, "I... I miss you. I've BEEN missing you. And... I'm sorry it's taken me until now to get off my ass and do anything about it, but, I feel as though I have to earn you back. I want to find normality, again. Can we make that a thing?"
"I would love nothing more," Vanellope sighed, she furrowed her brow and somehow frowned into the aimless gaze she had on Ralph's chest, "I know I haven't made your life any easier, either, Ralph... I'm sorry for always nagging you and-"
"No, no more of it, I want a fresh start," Ralph skillfully interrupted, to which Vanellope sagged her shoulders and heaved a long sigh, though before she could continue complaining, Ralph shook his head and tucked his free hand and pointer finger underneath Vanellope's chin, once more, "No, don't argue me, I know it's a pastime you're quite fond of, but I'm putting my foot down."
Vanellope allowed a wide grin to grace her cheeks, though before she could even begin thinking about setting up a proper game plan, telling Ralph her wonderful good news about their stay in Vidrix, Ralph leaned down and cutely placed a firm, warm kiss to Vanellope's mouth. She raised her eyebrows in a prickle of surprise and fluttered her eyes closed, though as they parted with a light smack, Ralph hovered a few inches from her lips and long blinked in mild, prickled confusion, and although kissing and romance was something they were absolutely not strangers to, somehow the time gap had made the both of them reel in cute confusion, as if this was apart of another round of firsts they were enduring all over again. Vanellope huffed a cute giggle on his mouth and so gently rested her hand to Ralph's forearm.
"I mean, I'll keep arguing if you're going to retaliate like THIS," Vanellope quietly blurt on his face, to which he grinned in soft knowing and felt the universe bevel the two into a mold of urgent, needy perfection.
"No need," Ralph huffed, and like a floodgate the two were tiptoeing near, Ralph's energy switched from baited wait to a wall of urgent certainty Vanellope was silently desperate for.
With the smush of a soft collision, Ralph inhaled a deep breath through his nose as the two met in a whirlwind of a romantic kiss, and with said wave of energy Ralph had suddenly set upon the place, his large hands and arms so gently began to creep about Vanellope's much tinier body, waist and back. Eager to fill in all the gaps of lost time, Vanellope suddenly grappled the collar of Ralph's fresh t-shirt and yanked him to her in a rising fervor of exploding neediness. Vanellope raised her eyebrows high in surprise as the two stirred, the kiss of the century, the writhe of a push and pull the two set upon each other, she was absolutely sure the room was now spinning. In the gentle gape of a brief part, the two tilted into a deeper, more passionate press of their kiss and silently assured each other that subtleties were a thing of the past. Vanellope inhaled a deep, shaky breath and hummed a sigh of relief as her arms quickly draped about Ralph's thick, broad neck, and though she knew she shouldn't be surprise, she felt her core surge and jolt with delight the second Ralph's massive, strong embrace scooped her up in a tight yank into his broad chest and body.
Like bolts of lightning doing absolutely everything they could to crash onto the same exact point on the planet, the two eagerly eased in and out of the gape of their passionate kiss that was well on its way to turning into something much heavier than a simple make-out session. Vanellope's tender voice hummed Ralph a shaky noise through their kissing, to which her knees went weak as he returned the favor with his usual grumble of cute understanding, she mildly collapsed against Ralph's strong figure and heavily draped her hands down the broad of his becoming-sculpted chest. Due to the wistful collapse, Ralph smiled on Vanellope's kiss and was eager to support her against him, his large hands firmly crawled all over her back and then some, she nearly gasped as she finally did what she could to break their passionate kiss and halt anything from escalating beyond this moment of heat. She fluttered her eyes as she panted on Ralph's mouth, and although she was certain Ralph was going to hover with her, she flinched in surprise the second Ralph heaved a shaky chuckle and ducked for the nook of her neck. She bugged her eyes in delirious surprise as he hungrily began to taste the side of her throat, just underneath her ear.
"Ralph," Vanellope sighed through the trail of a shaky giggle as she firmly held the back of his head, though she flinched in hot surprise as her phone suddenly began to ring. Her eyes urgently dart to her phone, sat next to her on the kitchen island, though she tightly furrowed her eyebrows and took note that Rancis was calling her. She gasped a small noise as Ralph suddenly began to suck on the fragile skin on her neck, and though she wanted to beg Ralph to quit whilst she answered Rancis's call, she squeezed her eyes shut and haphazardly answered Rancis's call, knowing full well he never just flippantly called her for nothing. The call went live, to which she raised her eyebrows and tried to act normal through Ralph's continued romantic pursuits, "Hey, Ranc, what's up?"
"Hey, you uh... You home?" Rancis cutely wondered, to which Vanellope lulled her eyes closed and grit her teeth in a grimace of cute, painfully pleasured delight.
"Yeah, I'm home," Vanellope chirped, she huffed a shaky little stifled noise as Ralph breathed a silent chuckle on her neck and continued to let her have it, alongside a firmer lug of her body into his.
"Is Ralph there? I'm trying to get ahold of him," Rancis mumbled shyly, "I just need to know when we're meeting up, I have to kind of sync our outing with Callum's feeding schedule."
"Oh, yeah he's home he's in the-SHOWER!" Vanellope suddenly shrieked as Ralph gave her neck a solid hickey, he scrunched his shoulders and did everything he could not to erupt in cute, giddy laughter. Vanellope huffed a shaky noise, wormed out of Ralph's embrace and urgently peered down to her phone, on the island, "Sorry! Sorry, I-I... I stubbed my toe."
"...You okay?" Rancis choked a laugh, Vanellope heaved a shaky breath and did everything she could to tidy her long hair.
"I'm fine, I-I'll... I'll go get Ralph right now, I'm sorry, friend," Vanellope urged in a caring tone, she shot Ralph a playful, blushing glower and swat at his chest, "I'll have Ralph call you right now."
"It's all good, I just figured I'd see what was up before I had to unfortunately cancel," Rancis stated with warmth, though Vanellope shook her head and smiled.
"No, not at all, he'll call you," Vanellope assured lovingly, and as the two said their casual goodbyes, Vanellope ended their call and glowered up at Ralph in blushing renewal, "Yeah, THANKS for that, by the way."
"You loved it," Ralph cheesed, he crowned a dorky grin that Vanellope hadn't seen in ages; Ralph reached for his phone and began tabbing to Rancis's contact information.
"You and Rancis have plans?" Vanellope swallowed hard, did what she could to catch her breath and gently rubbed her neck; upon touching her throat, she could feel the pulse in her jugular go absolutely nuts.
"Yeah, he's taking Callum to the park to give Taffyta a break, he invited me to join him," Ralph bobbed a nod, he look totally renewed; he snapped his fingers and gave Vanellope a sweet smile, "Oh! I also have plans with Koko tonight."
"Big day," Vanellope muttered, her knees trembled, she desperately tried to compose herself, "Y'get a make out session, guy time, nephew time AND daughter time."
"Maybe later I'll get wife time," Ralph grumbled slyly, he shot Vanellope a cheeky look and began calling Rancis on speaker; Vanellope raised her eyebrows in hot surprise, huffed a shaky noise of playful detest and was due to giving Ralph a cheeky show of defiance, though Rancis answered Ralph's call, to which Ralph grinned and lulled his eyes closed, "Hey, Ranc, sorry about that... I'll be right over, tell Taffyta I'm sorry."
"No, no, man, it's fine, I just have to head out now or else Callum will have a melt down," Rancis mumbled cutely, Callum could be heard in the background en route to said meltdown.
"Yeah, go ahead and meet me at the teleport hub, I'll be there in two minutes," Ralph assured kindly with a nod, and as both men stated their casual, momentary goodbyes, Ralph hung up the call and gave Vanellope a happy smile, "Alright, I'm headed out. Hopefully you have plans too? Gotta sport that new hickey, where'd you get it?"
"... I WONDER?" Vanellope urged in full irritation, though it was entirely clear that she was enjoyng the hell out of their familiar banter, a full swathe of love she had been desperate for, and now that it was right in her grasp, she grinned and was sure that Ralph could cover her whole neck in hickeys and she wouldn't complain, "Wh-when will you be home?"
"I'll be with Rancis for an hour or two, and then I'm meeting up with Koko at around six," Ralph grunted as he head towards their front door, he shot her a cute smile and pointed to her in a knowing way, "Think you can hold out while I'm gone?"
"Ralph," Vanellope huffed with a shaky, uncertain, overwhelmed and absolutely delirious grin.
"I'll be back in a bit," Ralph stated with the swing of their massive door, he peered to her in a soft, suave show of pure, glowing warmth, he knew, full well, just what he had done to her and just what kind of a state he was leaving her in. He waved a little and began to sag out the front door as he called to her, "I love you."
"I love you, too," Vanellope returned with a bashful smile, though as Ralph sagged their front door closed with a clack, and was gone for good, Vanellope raised her eyebrows in the rush of emotion that hit her head on, and as she sagged her palm to her forehead, she bulged her eyes and looked about her still home as if to be floored that any of what just happened had taken place.
