Vanellope was sound asleep in her princess 'sweet'. She laid on her stomach in her white and teal striped pajamas, while strands of hair fell over her face. Her pink bed comforter was halfway off the bed, covering only her legs. Yes, there were still some pink colors in the room from her princess days before Turbo—only some items though, like the couch set and bedside lamp. Taffyta was the one who convinced her to keep them like that. She said they served as 'accent colors'. Vanellope didn't mind, as long as her entire room wasn't pink. Hence, the rest were either white or cream.
While well away in dreamland, a sound came from her telephone. It took about 3 rings for the racer to finally wake up. She groaned as she slowly opened her eyes and prompted herself onto her elbows. Squinting in the dark, she took a few attempts to grab the phone and answer it.
"Hello?" Her half-asleep voice spoke. She wondered who was calling her so late in the night, or so early in the morning.
"Hiii Vanellope!"
The loud and high-pitched voice made the girl wince. She held the phone away from her a bit. "Candlehead?" She asked bringing it back to her ear.
Meanwhile at a red-velvet cupcake-shaped house that had pink icing and green sprinkles on the roof, a birthday cake-themed racer sat on her bed in her default clothes.
"Yeah, it's me," she responded. "Are...are you awake?" Her purple hard-candy telephone was secured in her both hands. It was on loudspeaker too.
"Nope," Vanellope told her sarcastically.
"Oh well, uh," Candlehead looked around her room. Her walls were dark red, being made up of red velvet cake just like the outside. There were pictures of herself with her friends hanging on the wall, as well as some fun candy art.
On her chocolate cake bed, her legs swung back and forth, sometimes hitting the furniture itself. It had a fluffy cotton candy pink blanket with purple sprinkles. Lots of candy plushies were at the head, along with 3 pillows: one teal, one brown, and the center one, pink.
"Can you call me back when you're awa-"
"I'm up Candlehead," Vanellope said sitting up straight in her bed now. She ran her hand through her long hair as she usually didn't have her ponytail when sleeping. "What's wrong?"
"Oh nothing!" the girl quickly said. "I just wanna know if...maybe..." she twirled one of her pigtails. "...wecanhaveasleepover?" She said the last part at a fast pace. Luckily, the vanilla racer caught it.
Vanellope looked at the alarm clock beside her bed lamp. "You know it's one in the morning right?"
"I know, I know," her friend said. "It can be a late sleepover? Or a half one? Or, or..."
There was definitely some nervousness detected over the phone. Perhaps this call was more than a sleepover request.
Vanellope blew a strand out of her face. "I'll be right over," she said, surprising Candlehead.
"Oh no! You don't have to! I can come over. I'm already dressed and everything, and I can bring over some snacks...and..." But she realized there was no sound from the other line. "Hello? Vannie?"
Suddenly, the doorbell rang, frightening the girl a bit.
"Oh hold on Vannie, someone's at the door," she said before making her way there with the phone.
Apparently, it was the president herself.
"Vanellope?" Candlehead asked, surprised at her quick travel.
The vanilla racer was also dressed in her default outfit. There was a green cereal box tucked under her arm.
"Yep, that's me," Vanellope said with a smile...and a yawn.
Candlehead stared at her. "How did you get here so fast?"
The former glitch 'glitched' inside her friend's house. "Teleport...remember?"
"Ohhhh," Candlehead replied before she was handed the cereal box.
"You like that don't you?"
The green-haired girl studied the item. Her eyes lit up as she saw the brand: Candy Rox. She squealed softly. It was one of her favorite snacks from the president's castle.
Satisfied with her response, Vanellope glitched into the kitchen. Candlehead quickly followed her and saw the girl take out a carton of milk from the chocolate-bar-like fridge. Vanellope then proceeded to get two green bowls from the also chocolate-bar cabinet.
"This is gonna be the best sleepover ever!" Candlehead yelled raising her hands...and accidentally dropping the cereal box.
Vanellope covered her ears. It was way too early for all this high-pitched yelling. "Half sleepover," she reminded her. After picking up the cereal box, she started pouring them into the bowls.
Candlehead watched as light-brown pebble-shaped cereal bits came out. "Right, half!" she responded.
The two racers sat on Candlehead's sponge-cake couch talking and laughing. Empty cereal bowls and pink spoons rested on the chocolate coffee table, with some bits of milk spilled onto it. Candlehead thought it was fun eating breakfast around two in the morning. And so did Vanellope.
Some more time had passed as Candlehead was telling one of her fun crazy dreams while Vanellope, still being tired, tried to stay awake to listen. As she watched her friend, she began losing attention to the girl's story. Instead, her mind wandered back to their call from before. She remembered how nervous Candlehead sounded over the phone. It was already a little weird to be having a sleepover this late, but then again, this was Candlehead she was talking about.
But Vanellope wouldn't have been concerned about her if it wasn't for that nervous tone before she came here.
"Candles?"
The birthday cake-themed racer stopped her story. "Yeah Vannie?" she asked. Her voice seemed much happier now.
The president chose her words carefully. "Don't get me wrong, this sleepover is fun and all but..." she paused a bit. "Why exactly did you want to have it?"
Candlehead looked at her blankly. "Well, uh..." there was that nervousness again, "I couldn't really sleep so...I wanted to have some fun!" she raised her arms again in excitement.
Vanellope arched an eyebrow. "You do know the other racers live closer to you than me right?"
"Yeah," Candlehead replied cluelessly.
"So why didn't you call one of them, or go to their place instead?" though Vanellope thought it was sweet for Candlehead to reach out to her despite living the furthest away.
The cake-themed racer thought for a bit, then realized what she meant. She really could have called at least Crumbelina, since she lived the closest. And it's not like Candlehead had trouble getting along with the other racers either. But she wanted her president friend with her.
Vanellope realized the girl was lost in thought. "Hello? Candlehead?" she waved in front of her face, a thing she always did when Candlehead gets distracted by her candle flame. She managed to get her back to reality.
"Huh? What?"
Vanellope chuckled. "What's the real reason you called me?"
Candlehead brought her hand up and began biting her fingernail. "Uh..." she looked around the room. "Well...just in case..."
"Just in case of what?" Vanellope asked perplexed.
Holding her own hands, the girl signed. "Just in case they..." she paused for a bit. "...come again."
The vanilla racer glanced to the side, then back at her. "Who, they?"
Candlehead looked away. She muttered something so softly that Vanellope couldn't hear. "What?" She asked going closer to her.
But her friend looked more nervous than how she sounded over the phone. Now Vanellope was getting worried. She placed a hand on her shoulder, which seemed to ease the tense racer a bit.
Taking a breath, Candlehead finally spoke up. "The...bugs..."
"Bugs?" This confused the president. Her mind then wandered to the bugs in Sugar Rush, which were only, cupcake spiders and glow-in-the-dark candyflies. The spiders were way too shy to even come out in the open. They stayed in their burrows in the forest so that shouldn't be bothering Candlehead. Plus, the girl isn't afraid of candyflies at all. There were times when she played with them, and even caught one and held it in her hands. So what other 'bugs' could she be so afraid of? Maybe something outside their game?
Vanellope's theorizing was interrupted.
"They were big and really...scary," Candlehead further explained.
Now the president knew what she was talking about; the Cybugs that took over Sugar Rush a few months ago. She wasn't surprised that Candlehead was worried. They were really frightening. Surprisingly, the rest of the racers moved on from that incident, especially since all the bugs died at the cola beacon. But maybe Candlehead was still concerned.
"Don't worry Candles," Vanellope comforted her in a soft tone. "They're all gone now."
"But what if some are still alive?" She looked her friend in the eyes. "What if Diet Cola Mountain didn't get them all? Or what if some survived? Or-"
"Candelhead," Vanellope positioned herself to directly face her.
"All the Cybugs got destroyed by the beacon. And remember what Sonic said, when you die outside your game, you don't regenerate," she reminded her. "None of those suckers survived that!"
Vanellope could still see some doubt in the girl's eyes. "But what if they did!"
The president bit her lip. She tried to come up with another reason for her friend not to be scared. "Well, the game did reset. And anything that doesn't belong in the game would have been deleted."
Candlehead thought about it "Are you sure?"
"What?" Vanellope said with a smirk. She leaned back on the couch's armrest. "You don't trust your own president?"
"No! No! Of course, I do!" Candlehead quickly said without realizing the joke. "That's why I called you."
Vanellope eye's widened.
"I know I could have just called someone else. And I do feel bad for making you come all this way." She placed her hands on her lap. "But, I feel better with you around."
The black-haired racer was taken aback. "Wait, really?" She asked trying to suppress her smile.
"Yeah," Candlehead said. "Even if the Cybugs were still around, I don't think I would be that scared anymore."
"Sooo, you're saying you feel...safe with me?" Vanellope asked.
The girl's candle lit up. "Yes! That's exactly it!"
A warmth grew inside of Vanellope. The president won't admit it out loud, but she secretly likes it when she is depended upon. And Candlehead feeling comfortable and safe with her made her heart swell a bit. Maybe it's in her code, being the ruler of the game and all. She couldn't help but laugh a little.
Candlehead got confused. "What's so funny?" she asked.
"Oh, no no!" Vanellope quickly said waving it off. "I'm just...happy you feel that way with me."
"Feel what way?" Candlehead asked cluelessly.
Vanellope's eyes furrowed. "Safe with me."
"Ohhhh!" Candlehead said, which caused Vanellope to fondly roll her eyes.
"So do you believe me when I say there's no more Cybugs in Sugar Rush?"
"Yep!" Candlehead beamed.
A smile emerged on Vanellope's face. "Okay good," she was relieved that she made her friend feel better. If there's anyone she doesn't want worrying, it would be her. Candlehead was very, very sensitive.
Vanellope then got up.
"Wait wait, don't go!" Candlehead exclaimed grabbing onto her hand, which caused the vanilla racer to fall back onto the couch.
But before Vanellope could talk, Candelhead continued.
"It's not that I still think Cybugs are around. I just...have been thinking about it all night and it would take a while for it to go away and I won't be able to sleep so you have to stay with me so I can sleep and-"
"Calm your candle," Vanellope cut her off. "I wasn't going to leave."
"You weren't?"
"I've only been here for an hour. If I leave now then it would be like, a quarter sleepover. Plus I understand if you're still scared of the Cybugs even though they're not here anymore."
"Really?" Candlehead asked perking up.
Vanellope fixed her sitting position on the couch. "Yeah. Honestly, I was a little worried about that too. But after a while, I just forgot about it."
Candelhead's eyes widened. "You were scared too?"
"Hey now, I wasn't scared," Vanellope said. "I was...just a little concer- oof,"
"Don't worry Vannie," Candelhead said, hugging her friend tightly. "I'll keep you safe! Just like you're doing with me!"
"Okay, okay, but don't burn me while ya at it," Vanellope said leaning away from the girl's lit candle.
"Oh sorry, sorry!" Candlehead let her go.
"No biggie, birthday girl." Vanellope got up again, only for the girl to pull her back down...again.
"I'm not leaving," she told her in a low tone somewhat getting tired of constantly being yanked back. "I'm just gonna get a drink."
"Oh...right," Candlehead let her friend go.
Vanellope chuckled and was finally able to make her way to the kitchen. However, she still felt eyes on her. When she looked back, Candlehead quickly looked away from her.
Vanellope rolled her eyes and smiled. "You want to come with me?"
"Yes!" Candlehead said, following her.
A/N: Hello everyone! It's been years but I am back with another story.
So just to explain my hiatus:
I do have several unreleased stories at the moment. I wrote them back when I was active. However, I didn't have the motivation to finish some or check some over. I have a few one-shots that are finished and just need editing, and also started some stories that would contain chapters.
I am trying to get back into writing again. However, I do not promise I will post regularly or continue to be active. I rather post good stories when I am in the writing zone instead of forcing myself to write and release fics of bad quality.
Thanks for understanding! And thank you for your patience if any of you have waited this long for me! I hope to post the rest of my unreleased WIR works in the future!