Felix put his hands up and felt of his cheeks. Even through his work gloves, he could still feel that they were warm. He was burning up with the honey glows. He sighed.
He always tried to see the good in everyone, but he wasn't stupid. It crossed his mind more than once that Turbo could be lying about everything he'd said. But he sounded so genuine…Felix just couldn't get over the fact that Turbo was telling the truth.
Turbo had always been a smooth talker, but he was never one to flat-out lie. Was he manipulative? Yes. But a liar? Felix wanted to say no. That's how he'd been before, anyway. And he seemed to be much the same as he used to be.
…Didn't he?
The handyman was so deep in thought that he wasn't paying much attention to where he was walking. He collided with a blur of pink and brown and green.
The thing he'd run into wasn't a thing at all, but a person. Candlehead reeled backward, pinwheeling her arms in an attempt to regain reached out and grabbed her wrist, steadying her. Instead of being angry for nearly plowing her down, as Felix had expected, Candlehead giggled.
"Sorry," she said. "I was in la-la land, I guess."
"Me, too," Felix admitted. "I was thinking about…something."
"Your cheeks sure are red," she said. "Were you thinking about something, or someone?"
"Oh," he said, putting a hand up to his face. Definitely still warm. And he saw no sense in fibbing about it, so he decided to be truthful. "You got me. It's a someone."
"I knew it," Candlehead said, looking triumphant. "People only look that way when they're thinking about that special sweetie in their life." She sighed dreamily, getting a faraway look in her eye.
Felix couldn't help but laugh a little. He bet Turbo would love it if the handyman called him "sweetie."
Candlehead's face went from wistful to serious. She looked Felix hard in the eye. It was making him very uncomfortable, but he didn't want to look away; he was pretty certain that would be a rude thing to do. He strained a smile as she narrowed her eyes.
Her gaze went back to normal. Felix sighed inwardly. "Ah, I know the dealio now. You're having some trust issues with your sweetie, huh? That's definitely the 'trust issues' look. I've seen it loads of times."
"Well, not so much trust issues…" he said. How did he get looped into this conversation, again? "I just haven't seen h—this person for a really long time, and I don't know if they're the person I used to know anymore."
Candlehead nodded, the small flame atop her hat bobbing up and down. She crooked a finger and rested it on her chin. "Hmm…" Her candle grew brighter as her mouth spread into a grin. "I know! Back when you knew you knew this person, what was something the two of you had in common? Like, a similar interest, maybe?"
"Well, we did have the same taste in music," he said immediately. He didn't have to think about that for long. He had some trouble fighting back the overload of memories that came with the thought.
"Hey, that's a good one!" Candlehead said. "You just need to chill with em and listen to some of your favorite music together, like old times. Get the ol candle burning again between you two." She smiled proudly.
Felix pondered the thought. He seriously doubted there was any way he could sneak a tape deck and a bunch of dusty old tapes down into the dungeon with him. But…
"Y'know, that does give me an idea," he said. "How did you get to be such a relationship expert, anyway?"
"Hey," she said, putting her hands on her hips. "I may look like a little kid, but my game's been here since '97. I know these things."
Felix couldn't help but smile at her zeal. "You've definitely given me some good advice, I think."
"You just let me know how it goes with you and your sweetie," she said.
"Can do," Felix said.
Candlehead started walking off in the direction she was originally headed. "Later, Fix-it!" she waved.
"See you later, neighbor," he called.
Felix made his way toward the tram that would take him back to Game Central Station. Even though it was weird to have a deep conversation with Candlehead, of all people, it still gave him an idea. He needed to get home and do some digging around in his closet.
{*}
Turbo slipped out of his strawberry wafer bunk and crossed the cell to fetch his helmet. He shook the playing cards out of it and jammed it on his head. Putting his helmet on always made him feel better, whether he had any immediate need for it or not. His entire head felt scattered. He rubbed at his eyes in irritation.
"Okay. So." Turbo began to pace, thinking aloud. "Somebody came and visited me. That actually happened." He nodded to himself.
"And that somebody," he said, nervous laughter crawling up his throat and slipping through his lips, "was Felix. As in, the guy with the fancy hammer, Felix. As in, my old flame, Felix. That Felix.
But wait!" he cried, pacing even faster. "Why would he come and visit me all of a sudden?" He stopped.
"The Glitch must've talked him into it," he growled, slapping his fist into his palm. "They're probably trying to reopen my case, tack more years onto my sentence in this—this—chocolate covered hell. And that little brat knew the only person I'd ever confess that much candid information to was…"
He hung his head. He'd been so desperate for attention after being alone for so long, that he'd allowed himself to be tricked. And quite easily, he was ashamed to admit.
Turbo plopped to the ground, staring intently at the floor. "But would he…would he really do that, though? I don't think he'd have it in him to be so…"
"Do you always talk to yourself that much?"
His eyes widened at the very familiar voice. He scrambled over to the door, removing his helmet. He pushed it against the door and balanced himself atop it, peeking out the tiny window.
"Candlehead?" He raised an eyebrow.
She gasped at the sight of him. "I know I saw you at the trial and all, but I kinda—kinda forgot you looked like that."
He scowled. "You sayin I'm ugly?"
"Well, you could do a little something with your hair," she said, giggling.
Turbo reached a hand up and felt of his messy mohawk. He didn't have a mirror in there, but he was sure it wasn't very cute.
He rolled his eyes, but he couldn't help but smirk a little at the girl's comment. "What're you doing all the way down here, anyway?"
"I heard some juicy gossip I think you'd wanna know about!" she sang, her eyes twinkling.
Candlehead always was a blabbermouth. She couldn't keep a secret to save her life. In his King Candy days, she was always running to tell him all about the latest Sugar Rush drama. Old habits die hard, Turbo supposed.
"Go on," he said, trying to act indifferent. But truth be told, it'd be nice to hear some goings-on. With no connection to the outside world, it might be nice to hear a little something-something.
"Well, but first I've got a question for you," she said. "Did you happen to have somebody stop by your cell today? Y'know, to have a chat with you?"
"Yes," he said carefully. "Why?"
She grinned. "That person didn't happen to be…Fix-it Felix, Jr., did it?"
His mouth fell open a little bit. There were times when he really, honestly thought Candlehead could read minds. And this was one of said times. "How—how did you know that?"
She hopped up and down, clapping her hands together. "Eee, I knew it! You're Felix's sweetie!"
"His what?" he said flatly.
"Oh, don't act like you don't know," she said, flapping her hand at him. "He's crazy about you. I could see it in his eyes when I talked to him a little while ago."
Turbo tightened his grip on the windowsill. "Wait, how long ago did you talk to him?"
"Like an hour ago, maybe...I guess."
"But today, for sure?"
"For sure, for sure!" she nodded.
Turbo sucked his teeth. "I don't suppose he mentioned…" He pursed his lips, trying to think of a nonchalant way to pick for information.
"You?" Candlehead said, grinning smugly.
He bit the inside of his cheek to keep himself from laughing out of nervous habit. "Well, I mean—I guess I'd—did he?"
"Not by name," she admitted. "But I could tell he was talking about you."
Turbo knit his eyebrows together. This was confusing. But he knew from experience that most conversations with Candlehead were. "How?"
"He mentioned he hadn't seen a certain someone in a long time. And he was all worked up, cause he wasn't sure if he still knew this person anymore…or if this person had changed."
"He said that?" Turbo said, forgetting to conceal the sadness in his voice.
"Yeah," Candlehead said, "but y'know what I told him? I told him he should think of a similar interest you guys had, and go from there."
"Hey, we always did have the same weird taste in music," Turbo said thoughtfully.
"That's what he said!" Candlehead said. "He was talking about you." Her candle's flame grew brighter. "That is so sweet."
Turbo hoped he wasn't blushing in front of his former subject, but his cheeks sure felt warm.
He cleared his throat. "And what else did he say?"
"That's about it," she shrugged. "We didn't talk for long. We only started talking in the first place cause we ran into each other—literally into each other."
"So he just said…he didn't know about me anymore, huh?"
"Well, he didn't say you, but I know it was," she said. "But don't look all sad like that! I'm pretty sure he still likes you. Like, like-likes you."
Turbo didn't know he was looking sad. He made a conscious effort to shift his face into something more neutral-looking.
"Well, I guess it's good to know he doesn't absolutely hate me, at least," he confided. Why he was telling this to Candlehead, he didn't know. Probably because his choice of company was pretty slim pickings.
"And I'll let you know if I hear anything else," she said. "But I'd better go, I bet Wynchel and Duncan'll be back from their coffee break any minute now."
"They've been gone for an hour, but you're probably right."
Candlehead said her goodbyes and left, her little flame bobbing up and down as she walked. Turbo sank back down to the floor. Their little conversation had made him feel a little better, he guessed, but it opened up a whole new can of worms at the same time. He hopped down from his helmet and put it back on his head.
"Guess it's time to build another card castle," he sighed.
Author's Note: I only had 3 chapters typed up in advance, so now I'm up to the point where I need to write some more. Also, I'm still trying to figure out how to write Turbo's character. Forgive me if he seems out-of-character to you...he's kind of hard to nail down (for me, anyhow). I think he's part King Candy wacky, part malevolent, a little bit sweet...a mess. And hard to write. So, if he sounds out-of-character, I promise I'll work on it.
And my idea of Candlehead is that yeah, she's pretty ditzy, but she's not totally braindead like a lot of fics portray her. (But there's no wrong opinion, of course.) I think she'd be a really insightful character. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯