Reviews :
Snake557 : Aw yay! Thank you!
Burgie : It definitely was extremely overdue. I'm glad you guys enjoyed it so much :)
Lyssdoodle : AW LOL. He is a good papa.
Song Listened To :
The Fog by Adam Young
*Chapter 18*
Bare feet upon cold tiles, Ralph's figure lazily moseyed from the palace's teleportation hub and into the dim, quiet atmosphere. Nearly midnight, Ralph was absolutely positive no one would be awake, though the more he rounded the dim bend, all beautifully lined with grey ground lights, he narrowed his gaze and could hear tender, serious chatter in the palace's gorgeous dining hall. Having left behind his favorite Sugar Rush chocolate drops in the palace's massive, communal refrigerator and freezer, he figured he'd slip into the dining hall and slip out without disturbing the seemingly small group that was already present. Wearing lazy black sweats and no shirt, Ralph had left his and Vanellope's sleepy love nest just for this midnight treat, though he'd be lying to himself if he said it wasn't due to not being able to go to sleep. Upon rounding the corner, his honey-brown eyes fixated on the cozy group at the large, marble-tiled kitchen island.
In a single beam of an overhead, golden light, Arcade's Users sat snug at the island together amidst the powered down, dim, grey surroundings of the dining hall. Ace, Libby, Beaux, Mara and Lash were suspended in conversation, and although it was serious and quiet, their group radiated a calm, easy aura of love, of familial belonging. Each being dressed down for the night, it was clear Lash was the one heading this conversation in the rounds of seeming as if they were about to start winding down to a close. His masculine hands so tenderly gestured outwards, his deep voice spoke in sprinkled, raspy maturity, all four pairs of eyes held tight to Lash's calm and wise disposition, a new, relaxed skin he had grown into very nicely. Although a rambunctious creature, a deviously sly and cunning guy in his own right, the love and peace in his golden, glowing eyes was entirely palpable. Now feeling as if he was certain he'd be roped into the User's conversation, Ralph did everything he could to so quietly sneak to the fridge, even though he knew he'd be seen. Like clockwork, everyone cutely tossed their kind gazes to Ralph, across the gap, and though Lash continued on with his sentence, he huffed a small little breath in the few-seconds of a break and allowed his cheeky smile to widen in Ralph's direction.
"Imma tell on you," Lash cooed cutely to Ralph as he grabbed his half-eaten bag of chocolate drops from the freezer, he sheepishly gave all five beings, across the way, a cheeky little smile and felt their lovely group, sat in the golden glow of the overhead light, nearly beg him to approach.
"You'd have to wake Vanellope up for that," Ralph mumbled with a smirk, and though he took a step away to insinuate that he was kindly not going to stick around, Lash tilted his body-language towards Ralph and tilted his head up in soft inquiry as Ralph daintily continued on, "Pretty sure you'd be the loser, in that situation."
"Did she tell you the big news?" Lash cued with kind smiles; Ace, Libby, Beaux and Mara's eyes all lit up with remembrance as they tossed knowing gazes to each other.
"The race?" Ralph wondered cutely, he bobbed a nod and smiled down to his feet, "Yeah, she told me. I'm super excited."
"She's gunna win," Lash hissed secretly, to which Ace firmly rolled his eyes and rubbed his face in agitation.
"Dude, I'm serious, my dad is going to kill you," Ace grumbled, to which Mara and Beaux erupted in soft laughter.
"I've put my money on her, as well," Ralph bobbed a nod, and though he was previously en-route to leaving, Lash gently gestured his hand in a motion of silently asking Ralph to come closer and join the five at the island.
"You two doing okay?" Lash cautiously questioned, the lovely smile from his face never wavered, and as Ralph approached the island and stood a few feet from Lash, with Ace, Libby and Beaux sitting on the other side of the island, Mara cutely wormed her way closer to her great grand father and allowed her lovely, icy eyes to twinkle in dewy, pleading delight. Ralph warmly opened his larger arm to his kin and ushered her in to a warm side-hug of an embrace as Lash sweetly eyed him and carried on, "She tell you all about Vidrix, yet?"
"No? I-I mean she mentioned wanting a getaway, but," Ralph trailed, to which his lovely eyes finally caught with Mara's down the stretch of his bare chest, she was still gripped into his warm, snuggly side-hug.
"Papa, can I have some chocolate drops?" Mara hissed in a kind little whisper of girly plea, to which Ralph grunted a happy chuckle and offered the gape of the opened bag in her direction.
"Only cause you're so cute," Ralph grumbled in clearly playful irritation, though Ace raised his finger and gave Ralph an equally as cute smile.
"Can I?" Ace chimed delicately, to which Ralph kept his eyes tight to the top of Mara's head and smiled.
"No," Ralph huffed, the group erupted into soft laughter as Mara delicately took the bag from Ralph's massive hands and gave her father a little sneer of girly cheek.
"How do you ask?" Mara pressed, to which Ace cocked an eyebrow and gave her a look of authoritative, smiling challenge.
"Now?" Ace quietly barked, to which Libby covered her face and continued to laugh, alongside Beaux and Lash.
"I'm kidding, yes, you guys can have some," Ralph ushered sweetly, he rubbed Mara's upper back, heaved a hefty sigh and allowed his aimless gaze to peer down to the glossy marble island they all gathered at. Although sleepy and eager to get back to his and Vanellope's cozy home, he narrowed his gaze and knew it'd be a futile effort to try and get to sleep. He finally dragged his eyes to Lash's and frowned a little, "Is it weird that I'd be nervous for said getaway?"
"Nervous? Why?" Lash questioned, he crossed his arms and shook his head, "Y'guys can relax and do whatever, worry free. I've already reserved the resort, for you two, by the way. I don't know if Vanellope told you, or not."
"... What?" Ralph bugged his eyes and huffed a happy, surprised laugh, "You did NOT have to do that, wow..."
"Yeah I did," Lash bobbed a nod and lulled his eyes closed in conclusory cuteness, "You guys are incredibly important to, well... Everyone. We want you two to get back on the same page, to have a fresh restart. I can tell you're feeling better."
"You look better too, papa," Beaux's deep voice sincerely chimed as he bobbed a nod, "Dad and grandpa Zed have really been hard on you, huh."
"So much so," Ralph grumbled as he eyed Ace, and though Ace beamed a humble smile and looked down to his hands on the island counter, Libby warmly rubbed Ace's upper back and ushered him a sweet little notion of silent love in his ear, "I'm appreciative. That's huge, Lash, seriously... Thank you."
"You're very welcome," Lash nodded, and as Mara finally sagged out of Ralph's bigger presence, she eased into Lash's arms now and handed her father the bigger bag of frozen chocolate drops. Lash warmly welcomed Mara into the scoop of his side hug, this time, he pushed a few little kisses to the top of Mara's head before he smiled up into Ralph's eyes and narrowed his gaze in cheeky cuteness, "Well... Whether she wins or loses the race, I think Turbo, Zed and Vanellope will all be winners, that night, anyhow."
"The swap to win them all," Libby mumbled cutely as she rubbed her eye, it was clear the User-clan was getting sleepy.
"That's what has me so nervous," Ralph uttered shakily as he rested his much bigger hands on the island's counter, he frowned and aimlessly peered into his opened palms, "I... I think Vanellope and I are now in this no-swapping pact, until the race. I went on a little ice-cream date with Koko, earlier this evening, and when I came home, Vanellope was like already in bed and prepared for sleep. I really thought tonight we'd finally swap codes, but... She's kind of keeping me at bay, and I feel weird about it."
"Midnight is way past your bedtime, anyhow, papa," Ace mumbled cutely as he eyed his grandfather, "You having a hard time sleeping?"
"I am," Ralph grumbled sorrowfully.
"Y'have a hard convo with Koko?" Lash questioned sneakily, and though Ralph peered his dewy eyes tight to Lash's he furrowed his brow and wondered just how heightened his intuition had gotten due to adding User powers to his coding, and with such a sneaky little side-eye of full understanding, Lash scoffed a little laugh and aimlessly looked down to the top of Mara's head, which was now nearly tucked underneath his chin as he continued to lovingly hold her in his arms, "I see, so... This is a two-for. Not only is Vanellope now stringing you along until the big race, until your guys getaway, but your hard convo with Koko has you still feeling unresolved."
"I'm not so much feeling unresolved, I guess... I kind of bared-all to her, tonight," Ralph grumbled nervously, "I mean... It's a really hard thing to talk about, but I was able to spend some really good, quality time with her. I think it's just... The newness of healing. It's... Vulnerable. I hate it."
"No one likes to feel like they're floating in outer space, I get it," Lash bobbed a nod, he heaved a long, heavy sigh and rubbed Mara's cute, little shoulder, "I felt the same way after Mara and I officially swapped. It was a whole new level of understanding, a whole molt from my old ways, the first few days after we had shared coding, I felt irritable and weird. Not because of her, but..."
"I understand what you're saying, I felt the same way after swapping with Ace," Libby cutely assured with a nod, "I had endured so much crap, in my past, that adding that fresh new element of healing was really weird and uncomfortable. It just feels as if a fresh scab is now trying to do what it can to heal, and... It's just raw, you want to protect yourself."
"You surely must've unpacked baggage, and now your coding is confused because said baggage, it had been carrying around, is now unpacked and neatly put away," Lash assured with a chuckle as his delightfully creepy, golden gaze hooked tight into Ralph's, "What you're feeling is perfectly normal. Sleep will help, but... If you're having a hard time falling asleep, I can align your coding, real quick, to send you on your way, if you'd like."
"N-No, I... That..." Ralph suddenly put up walls, a front of hands-up attitude that had all pairs of eyes now frozen in glistening confusion towards the apprehension, though as Ralph peered to his family, he felt nothing but a desire to shift to normality radiate off of every individual before him. Although it was clear they likely didn't adhere to the vibe Ralph was now giving off, they still held in suspended wait and allowed Ralph to his feelings, something that made him halt construction on said walls he was due to erecting around his heart. He nervously staggered a few words forward and bashfully rubbed the back of his head, "I-I... Don't really want my coding exposed, like that."
"Well... If it brings you any form of comfort, it's not a peak into your thoughts unless you give consent in the moment of it," Lash assured with a small nod, to which Mara and Ace equally bobbed nods, to further aid Lash's words. Ralph glanced between all three individuals in shy awareness, as if to silently prove that he could be swayed, "It's a give and take. Surely you've experienced this whilst exterior swapping, you understand what it means to have someone else's coding politely knocking on yours."
"It's very similar to an exterior swap, except... It's aided with unclogging drains and shifting priorities in your coding," Ace's deep voice cutely explained.
"All amped with User-goodness," Beaux sweetly concluded with a waggle of his fingers, proudly showing off the kiss of golden coding on his finger-pads; the group cutely chuckled, though Ralph heaved a shaky sigh and looked off.
"I-I... I guess... You can just see what's up, but," Ralph staggered shyly, and with his words, Mara gently stepped out of Lash's grip and wormed her way around the island, so to join Ace, Libby and Beaux. Ralph's now nervous eyes glossed the group in a bout of stage-fright, "Y-You're not gunna be able to unearth anything embarrassing, are you?"
"No, but would it make you feel better if I cued my core coding and showed you what a mess I've become lately?" Lash mumbled cutely, "I haven't had Turbo align me in a few days, and I know my stressors are all out of whack."
"... Th-that would help, yeah," Ralph uttered shyly, to which Lash inhaled a deep breath and opened his right palm; with the flare of his and Mara's beautiful, juicy, coral-colored coding on his hand, he sagged the glitch-burn into the stressor over his heart and allowed all of his stressors to shine through.
"Alright, so... What do you guys see?" Lash questioned to the group of four Users now on the other side of the island; with Ace in diligent training underneath Turbo and Lash, which also included Tessa, Ace narrowed his gaze and assessed Lash's stressors. Of the ones brightly flared were the ones on his jugular, the one on the crown of his head and the ones on his hip bones. Lash blurt a laugh and shook his head, "I can see my crown stressor nearly burning a hole through the atmosphere."
"Yeah, for User's sakes, any brighter and you'd be able to tell the future," Ace choked a laugh, to which everyone grinned.
"Your throat stressors," Libby cutely chimed.
"The ones on your hips," Mara muttered, she crossed her arms and gave Lash a mildly irritated look of coyness, to which Ace cocked an eyebrow and shook his head.
"No, no, if it has to do with anything sexual, I don't want to hear it," Ace rushed in hot irritation.
"I second that," Beaux muttered.
"Third," Lash sarcastically blurt, to which the group sagged from cute irritation to an eruption of soft laughter; Mara rolled her eyes and looked off, "It's nothing bad. I just have been too tired to swap, lately, and Ms. Thing isn't too thrilled."
"I wouldn't be either, I get cranky after day five," Libby grunted with a sassy smile in Ace's direction, to which he shot Ralph a dull look of full, smiling irritation; the group was now becoming unglued with laughter.
"Alright, see?" Lash mumbled cutely as he gestured to himself, "So... The ones on my hips are flared because I've got pent up energy. This can be sexual or not, it really depends on the circumstance. In this situation, as awkward as it is to talk about in front of Mara's WHOLE family, it's swap related. I told you I'd embarrass myself first, for you, so... There."
"Talk about the other ones," Mara barked in hot irritation as she shyly rubbed her temples and shook her head with a giggle.
"My throat stressors are flared likely because I've been arguing with Throttle a lot, lately," Lash mumbled, he rubbed the brightly glowing stressor on his forehead and huffed a chuckle of cuteness as he nearly went cross-eyed to look at it, "This one is flared likely because... I'm well aware of the issues brought upon me, I'm my own undoing. This stressor deals with foresight, something I have but am not adhering or listening to."
"Also known as, everything happening to you is your fault," Beaux choked a hard laugh as him and Lash caught eyes in a brotherly swathe of pure, teasing goodness; the group erupted in laughter once more.
"Alright... Your alignment can't possibly be any worse or more embarrassing than mine," Lash assured with an exhausted smile and a sag of his masculine shoulders, and as his stressors gently dimmed to disappearance, Lash allowed his palm to crawl with his and Mara's beautiful coding, once more, "Y'want me to help you out?"
Ralph remained in suspended nervousness as him and Lash held eyes. With the curious swing of everyone else's eyes so cautiously easing back and forth between Whiplash and Ralph, Ralph sagged his larger bare shoulders and shyly glanced about the group in a final drag of breaking eye contact with Lash. Upon the break, he revisited in a further show of soft hesitation, though as he finally inhaled a shaky breath and bobbed a nod, he wondered just what the heck Lash would unearth in front of his own kids. Lash smiled in warm humility at Ralph's gentle nod, and as he cued the coding on his own palm, a delicious splay of coral coding that so easily swarmed Lash's skin, he cocked an eyebrow and gave Ralph a knowing little smirk.
"It's nothing too extremely personal, I just need some form of verbal consent, moving forward," Lash mumbled gently, "This is not much deeper of a dig than a regular exterior swap, I just want to make sure you're aware that this train can stop whenever you want it to."
"You have my permission, it's... It's alright," Ralph stated in warm defeat, and though he wanted to somehow look dejected, after decades of not doing much to actively seek help from others, he felt his veins do an amped little dance as Lash's incredible User coding so warmly meshed with Ralph's equally as ancient mainframe.
With a flicker of revived light, solid, hefty honeycombs strangely appeared underneath Ralph's skin. A glorious splay of his and Vanellope's iridescent purples and cyans of coding, though they were a mixture of old and new coding types, somehow Ralph's stressors remained as big, blocky honeycombs. Ralph winced and honed his eyes tight to Lash's disposition and did whatever he could to get a solid reading on him, though much to everyone's surprise, Lash raised his eyebrows in stun, held his chin with his hand, crossed his other arm over his chest and looked almost pleased at the results showing up on Ralph. Ralph furrowed his brow, dart his eyes between Ace, Mara and now Lash, and very quickly felt confidence come back to him.
"Well?" Ralph huffed in a tone that began to read mild impatience.
"Well, I was expecting a LOT worse, if I'm being honest," Lash stated with a warm smile as he motioned to the stressors that were glowing, "You seem to be doing solid work for yourself without even realizing it. All of your stressors are glowing, though some of them are a LOT fainter than others. Like here... The stressors on your temples are bright, as well as your heart stressor, but really everything else is dimmed."
"... Odd combination," Ace mumbled as he furrowed his brow in brooding concern and eyed Lash with intent, "I mean, right?"
"Yeah, it IS an odd combination... Flared temple stressors indicate that something exciting or dangerous is taking place, and your coding is doing everything it can to sort of record this moment in time, visually, so you'll remember it," Lash rattled as he waggled his hand, "It deals with hindsight, maybe looking out for obstacles in the future so you don't make mistakes, OR... Something wonderful has happened and you don't want to visually forget it. A happy time you can revisit when things get rough. Did anything great happen recently?"
"W-Well... I-I had a wonderful morning with Vanellope, and then an equally as good afternoon with Rancis," Ralph listed confidently, "All topped with... An ice cream date with Koko. We... Discussed a LOT."
"Okay, that makes sense why your heart stressor is so flared," Lash bobbed a nod, "You did a ton of very fun and happy things with the people you love, you likely cleared the air with Koko and got a ton resolved. Your coding is doing everything it can to take in these moments and secure them for later. Though this sounds like it'd be a good thing, it's tipped too far into the spectrum of nervous reliance."
"What do you mean?" Ralph worried, the group looked on and eagerly hooked to Lash's words, clearly Turbo's incredible teaching that had so diligently rubbed off on Lash, wise words he was floored to have on his side.
"Well, it means... Your coding has gone through some really bad days, recently, and now that there are GOOD things happening, your coding is nervously recording every single second because it's scared it won't get happier times, after this, anytime soon," Lash gently listed as his golden eyes hooked tight to Ralph's, though with as much care as he could, he motioned Ralph to bend down so he could properly conduct the physical aspect of the alignment. On cue, Ralph gently pulled up a nearby bar stool, sat down on it and leaned forward a little so Lash had easy access to his chore. With ease, Lash pushed his left first two fingers into the right side of Ralph's jugular, and his right first two fingers into the left side of Ralph's temple. Ralph flinched as Lash easily ushered in his own coding to Ralph's much bigger mainframe, his voice tenderly carried on in both boys close proximity, "This, obviously, isn't a healthy mindset... You and I both know that any of our familial relationships have their ups and downs, though nothing good or bad is forever permanent. You need to rely on that thinking, instead of leaving your coding in a fight or flight, like it is now."
"I-I just... Have been through so much crap, that any good days that come my way feel rare, like I need to hold on to them," Ralph staggered nervously, he lulled his eyes closed due to beginning to feel dizzy; the upped amount of power, now coursing through Ralph, had him resting his left arm on the island next to him, so to remain stabilized while Lash kept connected to him, via their coding. Ralph shakily continued on, "H-How can I know good times will present themselves again, soon? I'm so scared of long stretches of, well... Sorrow, or... Nothing."
"You've endured trauma, you had a very long stretch of time where you were without your family," Lash mumbled sorrowfully, he slowly opened his golden eyes and aimlessly gazed down at Ralph's broad collar, "As... Much as I hate to say it, it was entirely my fault. I really don't think I ever gave you an apology, for everything, knowing what I know now. Ralph, I'm really sorry I did all of that to you. I caused this for you... And I'm really sorry it's hindering the relationships around you."
Ralph softly popped his eyes open and peered into Lash's eyes as they hovered close. All this time, Ralph never could quite figure out the source to all of his hurt, though having it all blatantly splayed out in front of him, with one swift sentence of humble love, had Ralph nearly reeling. He held his breath and kept his gaze tight into Lash's, their code stream flood with the tightest embrace of apology, of forgiveness, of a slate officially wiped clean, and with such a release, Ralph visibly looked as if a huge weight had lifted off of him. He sagged his shoulders, exhaled an easy sigh, bobbed a gentle nod and looked as if his skin was kissed with renewal. Lash eased a gentle smile and shook his head a little.
"I'm glad you talked through your issues with Koko, I can see your guys ice cream date and lantern festival event went well," Lash eased in a dreamy, hushed stated of tenderness as he so cutely sifted through Ralph's recent memories, "I want you to move forward with Vanellope, to really enjoy your guys time together, after the race... And, whether she wins or not, I know the healing, to come, will make both of you winners. She really didn't tell you about your upcoming stay in Vidrix?"
"No, she hadn't," Ralph breathed in relieved delight, he shook his head and narrowed his gaze, "I-I think she was going to, but... I interrupted her."
"Via make-out session," Lash muttered with a smirk, to which Ralph stiffened a little as Ace, Libby, Beaux and Mara erupted into soft laughter of understanding. Ralph finally rolled his eyes and tried to control his smiling as everyone cooed him notions of love. Lash's chuckling persisted as he carried on, "Well, your stay in Vidrix should set you two up for success. All-inclusive, no worries, just you two."
"Seriously, that was incredibly generous of you," Ralph huffed shakily with a smile, to which Lash bobbed a nod and gave him a cute, humble look of delight, "How much do we owe you?
"You owe me aligned coding and nothing more," Lash rattled with a laugh, to which Ralph sagged and looked off in defeat, though Lash's hands remained tight to Ralph's stressor points, "Do me a favor... Think more on your day, today. Will that into tomorrow, and the next day, and the next. Convince yourself that it'll all come back again, because, well... It genuinely will."
Ralph bobbed a nod and lulled his eyes closed, though as Lash's persistent warmth continued to rush through all of Ralph's trembling, nervous coding, Ralph could feel Lash's soul seemingly giving his the hugest embrace he could afford, a sag of apology and humility he had never felt from one of his mortal enemies, a being in which Ralph had been trying to destroy since Vanellope was her downgraded self. Ralph huffed a shaky breath and now was concentrating on not crying, though Lash's gentle voice pressed on, making it hard to keep every one of Ralph's emotions under control.
"Move forward with the knowledge that you have, knowing that none of what happened was your fault. It was mine, and... I own that, entirely. I'm the reason you have had a hard time bonding with Koko, I'm the reason yours and Vanellope's relationship had hit a bump in the road, but..." Lash trailed and heaved a confident sigh, he smiled into Ralph's eyes and gave him a knowing little smirk as he shyly continued, "Move forward knowing that this Saturday, she'll be a winner, no matter what. Move forward with your plans to utilize that spare bedroom. Move forward knowing that everything is finally healed, okay? Give yourself permission. It's yours, Ralph."
"... Spare bedroom?" Libby tenderly and cutely inquired as everyone's faces slowly illuminated with grinning, glowing understanding, and as Lash gently removed himself from Ralph's figure, he smiled at his handiwork and could see all of Ralph's stressors glowing a dim, easy purple, all at the same intensity.
"Yeah, I... Don't think we're ready for a fourth baby right this second, but we've been discussing it," Ralph mumbled cutely, the group quietly erupted with excited, sweet notions full of love and anticipation.
"This is a perfect starting point," Lash assured with a loving smile, he put his hands on his hips and admired his own handiwork, having gained more confidence every single time he aligned someone that wasn't his brothers or Mara. Ralph heaved a satisfied sigh as both boys caught eyes, Lash narrowed his gaze and cheekily carried on, "Though, I'm sure you're going to want your vacation to include a trillion firewalls."
"Yes, please," Ralph grunted with a small laugh that the group cued to.
"Aww, you don't want Vanellope to have a victory loading bar?" Libby chimed sweetly, her cute accent allowed for the ebb and flow of further sweetness.
"Not this time, but..." Ralph looked off for a moment before he kindly revisited Lash's proud gaze, "Soon."
