A/N: Well here we go! Down into the first attempt of making a chapter that doesn't have Lucy in it, just the four main characters of Wreck-It Ralph. I hope this turns out well. Reviews are helpful and help me become a better writer.

Disclaimer: Disney owns the rights to Wreck-It Ralph and the characters within. My Ocs and Oc games are all owned by me, that's all.

The Magical Bond Between Two Hearts

Chapter 5: The Little Trinket

It was very late when Vanellope, Calhoun and Felix arrived back at Fix-It-Felix Jr. As soon as the train stopped at the station, Vanellope took off running to find Ralph. The rest of the time they were at the party, Vanellope was expecting Ralph to come back after he suddenly took off. But when the party was over and everyone starting to leave, she began to worry that Ralph had run into some trouble.

"Don't worry Vanellope." Felix had reassured her, "Probably Ralph was too tired to come back. He's probably back home sleeping it off."

Vanellope however was not sure if that was what exactly happened. She had to talk to him before the arcade opened. She had to know if the stinkbrain was okay.

That was the only thing that she could think about as she raced around the game to find him. Finally she stopped over by East Niceland, a section built after Ralph's game jumping adventure; and it was also where he and the Q*Bert gang were residing to this day. She walked over to Ralph's little shack, not an impressive building but Ralph said that it would suit him just fine. Vanellope jumped up to the nearest window of his house and looked in.

"Not here...where could he be?"

She was now getting very worried seeing that Ralph was not in fact sleeping inside his house.

Then she heard someone give a big, loud yawn. As she turned around, a big smile came across her little face. She raced towards the huge pile of bricks, the dump, which was where Ralph's original home was when just one year ago he was nothing more than a bad guy to everyone.

"RALPH!" Vanellope shouted happily as she made her way up the mountain of bricks to his big hulk body. He was apparently sitting there, seeming to be looking out towards something. When Vanellope finally reached him (which did not take long at all), she took a good look as her friend.

"I knew there was something wrong with him." she silently grumbled.

And she was right. When Vanellope glanced at Ralph, she notice that he wasn't his usual self. It was as if he was in a trance. There was a small smile across his face, and as Vanellope looked closer she noticed that his cheeks were a bright red.

"Hey! Are you in there?! Come on, WAKE UP!" she yelled.

Just slightly, Ralph gave a surprised jump. He blinked once, then gave another big yawn. He slowly looked down at Vanellope, blinking again a second time.

"Hey kid." he replied dazzlingly.

Vanellope frowned and gave him a stern look. "Are you okay? You seem kinda... off."

For a moment Ralph looked at her as if he didn't know what she was talking about.

"I'm fine kid." he responded after a minute went by, "I'm just...thinking about some things."

This time it was Vanellope's turn to stare at him like she didn't know what he was talking about.

"Ralph, there you are!" came the chipper voice of Felix as he finally made his way towards the two of them.

"You really got to fix up this mess, Wreck-It! It gets harder and harder to get up here."

Calhoun was just behind Felix, apparently not impressed that she had to use some strength to get up here.

"Hey Felix, Calhoun." was all Ralph could say as they finally caught up to them.

Vanellope exchanged a confused glance with the Fix-It's seeing if they knew what was going on. Unfortunately, they did not know either.

"This is rather strange." Felix whispered to Calhoun, "I've never seen him like this before."

"Well, I may not know what happened to him after he left, but something is on his mind." Calhoun whispered back, "I think we should find out."

Vanellope waited no more as she jumped up onto Ralph's big shoulder.

"So...where were you exactly?" she asked him, "We've been worried that you got into some trouble. Well...I was worried." she twiddled the strings on her hoodie as she said this.

"I know..." Ralph nodded, "...I...well the truth is..."

The smile on Ralph grew bigger. Vanellope gasped. Now she understood.

"The truth is... what?" Felix asked.

Vanellope turned to him and smiled.

"He met someone."

0 - 0 - 0 - 0

"So, are you going to tell us about her?" Felix asked politely, but with great expectation.

"C'mon Knuckles! Tell us!" Vanellope urged on.

Ralph, who was sitting down on an oversized chair in his own house, sighed and stood up. His friends found him earlier sitting on top of his tree stump on the brick pile, thinking about the events that transpired that night. He was embarrassed when Vanellope knew what was going on just by the expression on his face. I must have looked pretty dumb if Vanellope found out that quick.

"You guys had better not make fun of me if I tell you." he replied sternly.

"Oh don't worry, we won't." Vanellope responded, the smile on her face growing bigger.

Ralph frowned back at her. He knew that she wouldn't keep a promise well.

"Okay, I...met a girl and...she's, um...different." he began nervously.

"Different, how?" Vanellope asked urging.

"Give Ralph some time Vanellope. It's hard enough for him to explain this, even to us." Felix told her as polite as he could.

Ralph in his own mind always appreciated Felix's help. Its his nature to be nice, he's a good guy.

"Go on Ralph." Calhoun said gruffly, for even Ralph could tell she was impatient as well as Vanellope was. But Vanellope was way too excited than Calhoun.

"Anyway um, she's different than the rest of the girls I've been introduced too." he narrowed his eyes at Vanellope, giving her a rugged look. Her smug just grew wider, making the knot he had in his stomach worse. I knew this was a bad idea.

"Its as if...she's sort of childlike. I've never seen a grown girl that had the traits of a child before." he continued, "When I told her that I was a bad guy-"

"You TOLD HER?" all three of them gasped at once.

Ralph was caught by surprise, not suspecting a reaction like that when in fact they told him to try. "Well, yeah I did."

"You goofball!" Vanellope exclaimed as she suddenly jumped onto Ralph's arm, "You really are clueless!"

"What's that supposed to mean?!" Ralph retorted.

Her smug smile grew so much that her cheeks seemed to have turned red. Felix gave a small chuckle.

"What she means Ralph, is that you've surprised us with that sudden courage. Jiminy! I'm all dazzled now!" Felix trembled excitingly.

"Telling a girl that you're a bad guy and not backing out, that takes some guts." Calhoun remarked, a hint of impression in her voice.

For a moment Ralph just stood there looking at his friends; Vanellope on his arm, and the Fix-It's sitting there impressed at what he had just told them.

"Sooo..." Vanellope had now crawled up to Ralph's shoulder, "Are you going to go on a date with this girl soon?"

A chill went through Ralph's neck when he heard the word date. Suddenly he felt the blood in his cheeks boil up again.

"Sweet mother of marshmallows! You already have!" Vanellope exclaimed smugly.

She grabbed onto his sleeve and in a quick motion, squeezed onto Ralph's neck.

"Hey! C'mon Vanellope, let go!" Ralph fidgeted, but Vanellope wouldn't let go of him.

"RALPH HAS GOT A DATE!" Vanellope playfully shouted.

The blood in his cheeks now were uncontrollable, and Ralph found himself turn very red in embarrassment. It was a bad idea from the start, I knew I should have stayed quiet.

"Alright, kid. That's enough of the excited gleefulness." Calhoun implied, "Ralph...you don't have to tell us everything."

"Yeah pal." Felix chimed in, "You just met her. And here we are making it more awkward by asking you these uncomfortable questions." Felix stood up and walked over to him, then patted his giant hand.

"You must be exhausted from this adventure you had." Felix asked him after a minute passed.

Ralph nodded silently. He looked at Vanellope to see that the mockery and smugness in her face had softened, realizing that she knew that Felix was right.

"Well," Felix sighed heading for the door, "I guess it's time for us to say good night then."

"Yep." Calhoun agreed, "I'm beat."

Ralph gave a little smile as he watched them go. He gave them a wave goodbye as the Fix-It's left his shack. As he watched them go, he suddenly gave a loud yawn. "They're right. I'm really exhausted."

And with that yawn, he felt Vanellope slowly jump off of his shoulder, landing on the floor with a tap. She looked up at him with her big, hazel eyes and smiled.

"G'night then stinkbrain." she said softly.

She turned to walk away. He knew then that she was giving him the look of a "sleepover."

"Hey kid, listen..."

She immediately turned around, and by the look on her face she knew what he was going to say.

"SLEEPOVER!" she cried out happily as she starting bouncing around the room.

Ralph couldn't help but smile as his little friend happily jumped from every wall of his one floor shack.

"I knew you didn't want me to go, lover boy!" she exclaimed after finally settling down.

He felt himself turn red again. "Okay, okay. Enough with this conversation already." he told her, "I just want to get some sleep before the arcade opens, alright?"

"You got it, chief!" Vanellope replied tiringly. She gave out a huge yawn. "Aw, man! Now you've got me yawning!"

Ralph laughed at her, then suddenly he gave another great big yawn. Stretching his big arms, he made his way to his bed. His eyes were groggy with sleep as he plopped down on his bed that wasn't quite big enough for him. His feet were dangling from the end of the bed, but he did not care. Before he drifted off to sleep however, he felt the little figure of Vanellope curl up on his chest under his big hand.

"G'night Ralphie. I'm glad that you met someone." she whispered as she snuggled down on Ralph's huge chest. Slowly Ralph curled his hand around Vanellope, pushing her closely against him. At last, tired as he was, he drifted off to a deep sleep.

While he was in his slumber though, a vivid dream came to his mind. At first he couldn't make out anything other than a blinding, golden light. However as he got closer to the light, he could make out a small, silhouetted figure in the distance. The blinding light had gotten brighter, so he had to shield his eyes with one of his hands just to see.

Who could that be...?

A realization came to his mind as he gasped in awe.

The figure that he beheld in the light was a girl.

0 - 0 - 0 - 0

"Alright Ralph. We need to straighten some things out."

"Why are we doing this kid?" Ralph protested.

"Because you've never been on a date before silly!" Vanellope replied, "Besides you don't even know her well enough yet."

"So? That doesn't mean that this is necessary!" he shouted restraining the anger in his voice.

She gave him a serious frown. Ralph returned it with a scowl. Ever since the previous night, his mind was on the date that was at hand after the arcade closed. He couldn't as much as really concentrate on his job that day, letting Felix win most of the games. After the arcade had closed Ralph was received with showers of praise and questions from the Nicelanders, who apparently found out from Felix before the day started.

But that wasn't the thing that was bothering him that day though. Instead he was bothered about how he would face the girl Lucy that night. He knew that he couldn't mess it up, yet in his mind something probed in his mind that reassured him.

That everything would work out fine.

As Vanellope stared him down though, he began to have second thoughts to the thought that probed at him.

"UGH! FINE KID, YOU WIN!" he sighed, "But this had better help me!"

"Ah, don't worry about that, it will." a smug came across her face.

"Oh no. This cannot be good." he uttered to himself.

"If you would follow me." she ordered, skipping away delightedly.

Ralph gave a huge sigh and proceeded right behind her, keeping his distance. He knew then that Vanellope was going to do something that would embarrass him in front of his new friend. I hope that it is not one of those ridiculous outfits that she once gave me for that party at Tapper's. Ralph shuddered to think about that one night at Tapper's where the kid made him wear one of the most embarrassing outfits he had ever worn. An itchy, dark green sweater that she had knitted herself for that occasion. Everyone there couldn't stop laughing at him, and he had not been there for more than five minutes before he had to leave with his head reddened with anger and embarrassment.

"Alright Ralph, wait here I'll be right back." Vanellope said stopping him at the East Niceland entrance.

She ran off, leaving Ralph with a hanging question on his lips: "How am I going to get out of this?"

After what seemed like hours, she came zipping back to him, her little hands behind her back. Seeing her like this reminded Ralph of the gift Vanellope gave him a year ago when she was a glitch. She had made a heart-shaped cookie that bared the words You're My Hero on it. It was the most precious gift that Vanellope had given to him. Ralph touched the same cookie necklace that was hanging around his neck, a warm feeling welling up inside him as he remembered that day from a year ago when he had meet the little pipsqueak who had stolen the medal he had gotten from Hero's Duty.

"I'm back!" cried Vanellope as she scurried up to his feet.

"Welcome back." Ralph replied sarcastically.

She shook her head showing a warm smile, "Okay Ralph, I'm going to give you something that will help on that date. First close your eyes."

Ralph did as he was told and shut his eyes. Though he couldn't see anything but black, he suddenly felt something warmer than he had felt strike him. That's strange... This warm unknown feeling suddenly grew stronger. Then...Ralph had the strangest thought.

This feeling...it feels...good. Really good, like nothing I've felt. But...what is it?

"Okay! Open your eyes!"

Ralph's eyes flickered open, and as quickly as it had come, the warm feeling suddenly went away. He trained his thoughts to the matter at hand. His first thought was to look down at his apparel. Nothing had changed, he saw was his plaid, orange shirt and red overalls. Good, no itchy sweater.

The next thought he had was to look at what was apparently put into his huge hand. Ralph opened up his hand. Inside his hand was what looked like a hair clip badly made. He recognized that what he held in his hand was a hair pin that he had made himself. The clip itself was made out of the broken stemware that he had found one day in the dump (thinking that Mary had thrown it out because it was too old. He had to carefully polished it with his big wrecker hands, knowing of course having wrecker hands were not for making things, but for breaking them. A flower with a few missing petals lay on the outside of the clip, even though Ralph did not know what kind it was. All he knew was he had found it one day as he was walking along the Nicelander Apartment Building. He found it lying out of place on the sidewalk and thought it best if he took care of it.

Now as he was standing there, stupefied by the trinket in his hands, he had wondered how Vanellope had come by it. He kept it an absolute secret from everyone, even Felix didn't know about his little project.

"Where did you get this from?" he asked Vanellope after recovering from being stupefied by the gift.

"I found it." was all she said.

"How did you find this?" he asked, feeling a temper coming on. A bad one at that.

"It was out on the table in your house when I woke up. I didn't want you to find out about it until now."

"Kid, that was something that I wanted to keep secret!" Ralph replied trying to control his bubbling temper that was now rising.

He saw her face had turned from a happy to a sad look.

"Oh, I...I'm sorry." she stammered, "I thought that it would make a nice present."

"For what?" he asked.

Vanellope did not say anything. She kept her eyes glued down to her little feet. Ralph took in a breath calming himself, then let out a huge sigh.

"Look, I appreciate your help." he warmly comforted, "But I think...I think that I can do this. I don't know, I'm just..." he paused realizing he was raising his voice. He took in another breath, "...I'm really nervous. I've never done something like this before."

"Well, then it's time to learn." she said softly.

Ralph looked down at her to see that she was again smiling, but not a smug smile. It was a smile of understanding and encouragement. He returned a warm grin back at her.

"What are you waiting for then? GO ON! Go to your date. She's waiting for you."

For the first time this evening he realized that it was late.

"OH GEEZ!" he exclaimed and quickly turned and ran towards the small station towards the Niceland Apartment.

"I'LL SEE YOU LATER KID!" he shouted over his shoulder.

"YOU BETTER NOT FORGET OUR USUAL SUNDAY HANGOUT TOMORROW!" Vanellope shouted back.

"I WON'T! I ALWAYS MAKE IT DON'T I?! he replied.

As Vanellope smiled and waved goodbye, Ralph put the trinket in his hand into one of his shirt pockets, and climbed onto the little train. His feet dangling upward and sitting hunched in, the train slowly pulled out of the station into the dark tunnel ahead.

"Ralph," he said to himself, "you're one brave bad guy. Here goes nothing."

A/N: And time for a celebration for another chapter done! As for the next chapter...let's just say that this Valentine's Day there will be more fluff, character meetings, and a really awesome date that involves racing karts! See you next chapter!