A/N: I'm having a really hard time coming up with titles now. So... if they're starting to only marginally make sense, then so be it.

Chapter 22: Skin

It's been a little over a week since Ralph and Vanellope had decided they were officially dating. As predicted, nothing had actually changed much, at least if you were looking at Ralph. By all outwards appearance he was completely blasé about the whole thing. Almost to the point of ignoring just about everything Vanellope chose to do. Until they were behind closed doors anyway. Behind closed doors he let a few reactions show through.

Vanellope, however, was an entirely different matter. If you didn't know them very well, just looking at the two wouldn't give much away. Because really, their behavior had led everyone to the conclusion they were dating before. But Vanellope's expression was just a bit sweeter, perhaps. It was also considerably more focused on Ralph. Ralph was the first one to notice that change.

Vanellope looked at him a lot. Vanellope looked at him quite a lot and rather intently. It made Ralph incredibly nervous. It was a type of nerves he could ignore while they were out in public, because he was sure it wouldn't got any further than that. But when they were alone it tended to give Ralph the shivers something fierce. He just knew that this gaze was leading somewhere. If he had any idea what it would manifest as he probably wouldn't be so nervous.

It wasn't until they were at Tapper's, of all things, that he started getting some sort of hint.

Nothing in particular was happening, they were just sitting at one of the bars, when Vanellope started to touch him. Nothing weird or invasive, just putting her hand over his skin. She started with his left hand.

"What are you doing?" Ralph asked when she picked his hand up off the bar and started... feeling it up.

"Touching you." Vanellope answered succinctly.

"Why?" Ralph asked.

"Seeing if you're as interesting to touch as you are to look at." Vanellope answered. She sounded quite distracted.

Well... what were you supposed to say to that? Ralph couldn't think of anything. There didn't seem to be a correct response. The only thing that Ralph could really think was that maybe this wasn't something that should be done in public. He guessed that as long as she stayed within certain lines...

Felix and Calhoun sat down at the bar next to them.

"Hi Ralph." Felix said cheerfully.

"Hi Felix." Ralph said, still distracted. Calhoun noticed what was going on immediately.

"What's she doing?" Calhoun asked.

"Ummm..." Ralph thought. "I'm still not completely sure." He answered finally. Vanellope was slowly making her way up his arm. She'd only gotten to just below his elbow so far. He certainly hoped she intended to stop when she got to his sleeve.

"Just... exploring." Vanellope said, supposedly to explain her actions.

"Exploring..." Calhoun asked.

"Ralph." Vanellope answered.

There was a pause where everyone took that in. Then Calhoun smirked at Ralph, who turned pink.

"Not like that!" Ralph insisted.

Calhoun just snickered as she picked up her root beer to take a drink. Ralph wisely didn't say anything.

Vanellope did stop when she got to his sleeve... sort of. She'd pushed it up a bit, brushing her fingertips over his shoulder just a bit. But she'd stopped at that. She'd been so thorough about it, carefully going over every inch. It really seemed like she'd been looking for something.

"Finished?" Ralph couldn't help but ask, somewhat amused.

When Vanellope had finished she'd draped her hands around his forearm. She looked a little flushed.

"Umm...yeah." She said after a minute.

Ralph could tell this was a something that would come up again later.

+++[Days later at Sugar Rush...]+++

It was Sugar Rush's anniversary. It was 17 today.
Vanellope had enlisted Ralph and Felix to help with the decorations the night before, since Sugar Rush's anniversary just happened to fall on a Monday, when the arcade was closed. Vanellope was planning a rave, she said. Ralph had declined to comment. He really didn't want to participate in anything that could be classified as a 'rave', but he didn't want to disappoint Vanellope by not being there either.

Vanellope had had an alternative motive for asking Ralph to help decorate. She actually hadn't wanted Felix there at all, he'd just invited himself along because he was so naturally 'helpful'. He'd only been mildly annoying. Vanellope had plenty of castle staff that would've gladly done all of this stuff. What'd she really want? To watch Ralph work. She had this idea that it'd be amazingly awesome to see him actually use his muscles. He had so many of them, they really should be put to some use.

"Even if it's just eye candy." Vanellope thought happily. She couldn't find much that actually worked him, to be honest, because he was too strong for that. But he was tall, so she could make him stretch and attach things to high up places. So while the muscles didn't strain, they did move.

There was a quirk about Ralph's outfit that Vanellope noticed after a bit, and was trying to exploit whenever possible. His plaid shirt was ragged at the bottom, just like it was around the sleeves. This made it just a little short. Not enough to make a difference when he was just standing there, or crouched down or anything. But when he had to raise his arms, or stretch up more than normal... there was a tiny little patch of skin exposed on the left, where his overalls hung down a little lower due to lack of strap. Vanellope was completely obsessed with it.

It probably wasn't healthy. Quite a lot of her motivation for that night hadn't been all that healthy. The pleasure of ordering Ralph around, just watching him move around being unreasonably strong, and now catching multiple glimpses of a patch of skin he didn't know he was exposing. She was so bad.

It'd been kind of late when they had finally finished. She'd really wanted Ralph to stay over. Not for anything serious, but she would've liked some time alone with him, after all that distraction. She had to wonder if Ralph hadn't sensed something though, because he'd been rather insistent on leaving.

So now it was the day after. Between Ralph and Felix the great hall of the castle, where she intended to hold the party, was looking really good. Banners and streamers and the stage that Felix built. A few bands were coming in from DDR. Plus Vanellope was thinking about karaoke, that would be fun. The food was already set out, provided by Kitty's Kitchen, Tapper's, and of course Sugar Rush. Now all that Vanellope had to do, really, was to wait for people to show up.

A/N: I wasn't GOING to stop it there... but I needed a place to cut it off so that I could start up the anniversary party at a good point. I've told you guys before that I do absolutely no planning or editing on this thing, right?

Review Response:

jeh-nee - You always make me feel so great about my writing skills. Because you DO get it right even when I keep thinking that there is no way what I'm writing makes any sense. You make it seem like I've put a lot more thought into it then I really ever do, though.

trent - I know it seems like filler... But I think it's important to put in those little bits of 'what are people thinking/feeling about this'. Though I do sometimes use them just to organize my thoughts on what I want to happen next.
Which leads to...
ZePuKa - I don't know that it's even a matter of reading their minds. It's more about finding out how I want them to feel about something, and then making it seem like it would be what that character would think through justification. And if I can't justify it then I change it... which changes where the story is going entirely. Which is why I almost never know what's going to happen next. This fanfic is starting to get a little out of hand to be honest.