summary: Rancis tries to make Vanellope look more tidy.
ao3 link
story below. enjoy!
The junkyard was quiet, just how Rancis liked it. The racers' karts didn't require any spare parts from here, though, since their vehicles had their own default coding. If any of them were damaged, the game itself would fix it on the spot. A useful feature, too, as they sometimes get wrecked from crashes in races.
The Kit-Kart was already perfect as is, but Rancis liked making sure it looked its best. Unfortunately, the game didn't clean their karts, so the racers took it upon themselves to maintain their appearance. They would do it at the speedway, several minutes before the arcade opened and the Random Roster Race. Rancis, on the other hand, didn't want to be around so much noise. His way of preparing mentally is to be somewhere quiet with his thoughts—reviewing tactics that would benefit his skills. Plus, cleaning his kart gave him a sound mind, getting him calm before the race.
After going over one more spot on his kart, he stepped back to admire his work. The benefit of it being dark brown was that it looked clean almost all the time. What usually messes up a kart was chocolate mud and caramel puddles. They matched and blended in well with his kart's colour—an observation his friends pointed out. It was hard for them to tell when his kart wasn't clean, but having it for years (and being programmed as its default owner), Rancis would know when it was covered in mud and when it wasn't. And he always wants a clean kart.
Finally satisfied with the job—which took almost an hour—Rancis decided it was time to start heading to the track. There was still a lot of time before the roster race, so he could cruise over there.
After placing the towel at the back of the seat, a shout of his name reached his ears.
"Hey, Rancy!"
As he turned toward the source, blue pixels appeared in front of him for a moment before disappearing, revealing the president.
Rancis' eyes lit up. "Oh, hey Vanellope!" He gave her a small wave.
"Getting ready for the triple R?" she asked, which he knew she meant the Random Roster Race.
He nodded. "Just finished cleaning her up." He gave his kart a little pat.
"Nice." Vanellope couldn't help but glance at the Kit-Kart. "Though she wasn't really dirty after the last race," she commented, tilting her head.
"She was," said Rancis, frustratingly. The others told him the same thing before he left the track after the arcade closed.
Vanellope giggled. "Okay, okay." She gestured with her hands to calm him down. "Anyways, I'm heading down, right now."
Rancis became surprised, "So early?"
"Yeah. Weird, I know," Vanellope chuckled. She was always known for arriving right on time to races.
"You left before this happened, but..." Glancing away, Vanellope's hands became submerged in her sweater's pocket. "Swizz and Gloyd wanted to see if they could throw their coins into the cup for the roster race, without the launch thingy."
As Vanellope spoke, there was something about her that Rancis started noticing. Her face had a bit of chocolate on it, just a few smears on her cheeks and sides. Being somewhat of a perfectionist, it started to draw his attention away from his friend's story.
"So they were practicing with Mentos, and one of them hit the side of that big cup, bounced off some things, and went straight into the Jumbotron," finished Vanellope, shooting her hand up diagonally to demonstrate. "The screen has a huge crack now. So, I have to go get Mr. Felix to fix it for me before the race. I would have done it right after, but...president duties called me."
"Yeah..." Rancis responded, missing out her last few sentences. “How did you get that?" He pointed to his cheeks to show where he was talking about.
Vanellope touched her face, feeling the remains of chocolate on it. "Oh, I was driving through Cocoa Trail and..." She rubbed off a bit from one cheek. "...I guess the rain got the road all muddy."
But Vanellope didn't notice Rancis kept observing her some more. He found that her sweater was also covered in chocolate stains. His lips thinned in thought.
"You're...not going like that, are you?" His finger pointed at her, moving up and down.
Vanellope looked down at her sweater, seeing the chocolate there too. But she waved her hand.
"Ahh, it's no big deal." She brushed off the issue with a smile. "Welp, see ya at the race-"
"Wait," Vanellope paused at his command before teleporting away. "You have to clean up first. A president shouldn't be looking...untidy." He glanced up and down at her.
"It's not that bad, Rance," said Vanellope casually. "Plus, who cares how I look?"
"I do."
Vanellope couldn't find a response for that. She just watched him head for his kart and take out something. He then returned with a small, clean orange rag in his hand.
"May I?"
A loud sigh came from Vanellope. "Fluggs, I have no time for that." She gestured at the rag.
"I'll be quick," he assured, walking up to her.
But before Vanellope could protest, Rancis began wiping her face. His complete focus drowned out the complaints from his friend as he worked on getting each chocolate smear out entirely.
Vanellope could only reluctantly stand there and let him tidy her up. She moved her head a bit sometimes to get away, but that only made him cup one side of her face to keep it still. She folded her arms in annoyance.
It was only for a short time anyway, and Rancis finally took away the rag to reveal a clean face before him. He got that same satisfaction when he finished cleaning his kart earlier. But it wasn't the only thing he felt. Staring at Vanellope for long enough made him get a good look at her. Her features were starting to make his heart race, and he couldn't seem to pull his eyes away from her beautiful brown ones.
She's so pretty.
"Are ya done yet?" questioned the impatient racer, oblivious to his feelings.
That was a cue for Rancis to return to reality. He cleared his throat and stepped back, heat rising in his cheeks.
"Y-yeah." He replied, rubbing his neck embarrassingly.
"Good!" Vanellope beamed. "Once again, I'll see you at the ra-"
"Vanellope, wait!"
"Now what?" She groaned, finding her wrist in his grasp.
Rancis almost felt bad for keeping her back, but he didn't want his president friend to look so unpresentable. She's the ruler of Sugar Rush, and should always look her best.
"Let me just clean your clothes too." Rancis received a glare. "It'll be quick, promise."
"Raaance." Vanellope tried to get out of his grip. "The Jumbotron is crying out for me."
Rancis stepped closer again. "I just wanna get rid of the chocolate on your sweater." He began bringing the rag to it.
"If you bring that thing within mere inches of me, I will hug you," she told him sternly.
Hearing those words made him suddenly back away. He even let go of her wrist as well. If she hugged him, she would get chocolate on him, too. And he hated getting dirty.
After laughing proudly at her success, Vanellope quickly zipped away from him before he did anything else. The junkyard was in a sort of pit with many old kart parts surrounding an empty centre. It was the same place Vanellope had built her first-ever kart: the Likkity Split.
But looking back was a mistake the vanilla racer made. From her position on higher ground, she saw Rancis there, still with the rag in his hand, looking up at her. For some reason, she got a slight guilty feeling. Did she upset him? Was what she thought. He did look content cleaning her up earlier. Vanellope groaned again. That was a weakness she discovered after becoming president: she liked seeing her fellow racers happy.
Rancis, on the other hand, got confused as to why she didn't go yet. He already accepted that her face being clean was enough, though it still bugged him that her sweater had those stains.
But Vanellope once again turned into blue sparks, teleporting down the slope and back to him. He looked at her for a while, giving her a perplexed expression. Vanellope avoided eye contact before gesturing to her sweater, signaling for him to finish what he started. And just as she expected, Rancis became delighted at her permission. Seeing him like that, she swore her heart missed a beat.
As Rancis removed the stains with his rag, he spoke up, "I wouldn’t have to do this if you cleaned up before, y'know." His voice was soft and low since he was close to her.
"You didn't have to do this at all," Vanellope's tone reflected his own. Though she watched him, his eyes were focused on her sweater. She somewhat admired how he looked while concentrating. His eyebrows were slightly furrowed over his narrowed eyes. He bit his lip gently and kept tilting his head slightly at angles to get a better look at her clothes.
"Ya could have just let me go out there in a mess," she kidded.
Rancis paused for a second to look at her. His eyes were soft as he spoke, "You're my friend. I wouldn't let that happen."
His statement made Vanellope feel fuzzy. She watched him go back to her sweater. It seemed like he was almost finished.
"Okay," Rancis then stepped back, looking at a now cleaned-up president. She appeared as her usual everyday self, but in his view, she was shining as if someone had polished a first-place cup.
His eyes sparkled in wonder. "You look nice," he complimented gently.
Vanellope arched an eyebrow as her eyes shifted. "Uh...thanks, I guess?" With a confused look, she tucked a hair strand behind her ear.
Rancis' eyes were glued on her for a while. But doing so made him realize another fault in her clothes. Her drawstrings were uneven, and he wasn't going to let that slide.
"Um..." he thought out loud, walking to her again. This time, Vanellope didn't stop him. Safe to say she briefly forgot about the Jumbotron needing repairs.
Pulling the drawstrings slowly, Rancis tried his best to make them the same length.
"Now, I'm done," he announced, taking his hands away from her. But out of nowhere, he found himself in the president's embrace. Her arms were wrapped around his neck, leaving his to automatically go around her waist.
"Wh-what's this for?" he queried with a chuckle—and a fast-beating heart.
"I said I'd hug you if that rag touches me, didn't I?" She tightened her grip slightly. "And...it's also a...thank you...for uh...cleaning me up."
Rancis blushed at her gratitude. "Don't mention it," he replied to her. "But...don't you have to go-"
"Right!" Vanellope immediately let Rancis go, making him lose his balance slightly. "You're lucky I'm president. And that I have a say on when the race starts, no matter the time." With her hands on her hips, she tried to glare at him, but Rancis' mind was still distracted from the surprise hug.
"Uh-huh," he said with a dopey smile.
"So for the third time," she started dramatically. "I'll see you at the race?"
Rancis nodded. "See you, Vanellope." He waved absent-mindedly.
"And don't say, WAIT, again."
"I won't."
For a moment, Vanellope watched her friend suspiciously as she slowly walked away. But seeing he wasn't going to say anything, she smiled, waved goodbye as well, and teleported off.
When she left, Rancis recalled the embrace again. The orange in his cheeks got more vibrant, and a smile played on his lips just thinking about it. He clenched his rag, wondering if Vanellope would let him tidy her up again in the future.
summary: being known to cry a lot, Candlehead tries to stop it as best as she can.
ao3 link
story below. enjoy!
It pained her more than it should have. She knew races were unpredictable. Things like this sometimes happened. But she couldn't find the strength in her to not cry about it. She worked so hard to be in the upper ranks, only for it to be completely taken away from her within a second.
Candlehead hated crying.
She cried for almost anything. When her candlelight goes out, big or small mishaps throughout the day, or even sometimes after races, especially when things don't go her way during them. In the previous one, she was happily in the top positions. But while thinking she was going to finish successfully, she found herself covered in a big ice cream scoop. The weight popped the wheels right off her kart, making her come to a complete stop. By the time she recovered, she was dead last, with the race being nearly over.
No matter how much it hurt, she didn't want to cry. She couldn't. A real racer won't start waterworks when a race was against his or her favour.
Currently, everyone was waiting for another quarter alert after finishing a race in the speedway. They stayed near their karts, ready to hop in at the sound of the announcement.
Candlehead, instead, decided to step away from her Ice Screamer for a while. Being in it reminded her of that unfortunate occurrence. She planned to sit on the short flight of pink stairs near the stands to wait for the next race.
As she headed in the direction, she kept her eyes on the bright, sparkly caramel ground. She bit her lip in hopes it would help restrain the tears while wrapping her arms around her stomach to stop the aching from the race. Despite that, some manage to seep through her eyes slightly.
Fully focused on concealing her sadness, she hadn't noticed she was walking right towards the president. She accidentally bumped into her back, bringing her back to reality.
Vanellope stumbled forward a bit and turned to see who it was. "Hey! It's my favourite cake girl!" she beamed.
Candlehead immediately rubbed her eyes, trying to get rid of the loose tears.
"H-hi Vannie." She mustered up a smile and spoke in her usual high voice. Her hands subconsciously went behind her back, as if she were hiding something. But she received a strange look.
"You alright?" questioned Vanellope as her eyebrows furrowed with concern. "You look like you've been crying."
How could she know? She wiped away all her tears, didn't she?
"N-no!" Candlehead denied, shaking her head frantically. Her face morphed into fear of Vanellope knowing. "I-I don't cry." Her voice croaked.
Vanellope, now arching an eyebrow, stepped closer to Candlehead. Examining her face, she could see that the white part of her eye now had a red tint, and her tear-stained cheeks failed to cover up the lie.
Candlehead had no clue what Vanellope was doing, but it made her feel uneasy. As she stepped back, Vanellope took it as an indication she was prying too closely.
Still not taking her eyes off her, Vanellope crossed her arms. "You know, I've actually never seen you cry,” she commented with a thoughtful look.
Cry. For whatever reason, that word never failed to trigger Candlehead's tears. No wonder she hates it so much. If someone asked whether she had cried or was going to, her eyes would feel wet, with a burning sensation.
With closed fists, she shut her eyes tight, managing to deny her tears access to the world.
Vanellope could see she was preoccupied and easily figured out her tactic. But she continued.
"I heard from the others that you cry a lot." Vanellope saw her shoulders tense up for a moment. "But I never saw you do it."
Finally opening her eyes, Candlehead saw a faint smile on Vanellope. She felt her face warm up from the embarrassment that people were talking about her crying. It was true. She was even called a crybaby when King Candy was around—back then, apart from being mean to Vanellope, the racers weren't particularly nice to each other. Because of that, she always tried her best to either not cry at all or go somewhere private to shed her tears.
"I don't any..." She had to take a pause as her heart pounded in her chest—another warning she felt when she was about to cry. "...anymore."
Her voice was so soft and somewhat muffled that Vanellope had to lean in to hear. "Huh?"
"I-I said I don't anymore!" exclaimed Candlehead, with frustration lingering in her tone. Seeing Vanellope's startled reaction made her regret it immediately.
"S-sorry," she stammered out while holding her head down. Great. Now she felt bad. And when she does, she would cry. I always cry. She shut her eyes again and covered them with her hands.
But unexpectedly, Candlehead felt another pair of hands on either side of her cheek, cupping her face. When she removed hers, her head was lifted up a bit as her green eyes stared into brown ones.
"Listen, Candles," she heard Vanellope say in a low and slightly firm tone. "Promise me that, if ya ever gonna cry, do it in front of me." She didn't like seeing her friend upset, but would hate it if she were without Vanellope knowing.
Her words made Candlehead's eyes water again.
Vanellope then let go and returned to her regular old self. "And that's a request from your president." She placed her hands on her hips and puffed out her chest. "So you better keep it," she ended, pointing her finger at her friend with a stern look. But she was just jokingly putting on her president act.
Candlehead was dumbfounded for a second with glistened eyes. She then immediately wiped her face from the tear stains.
"Y-yes Vanellope," she seriously said, failing to see that her friend was teasing her.
Vanellope couldn't help but roll her eyes, not before giving Candlehead a fond look. Though all the racers were programmed to be the same age, Vanellope always deemed Candlehead as the youngest. Perhaps because of her being a bit slow to grasp concepts, or maybe her clumsiness, too. Ditzy was what a certain pumpkin racer would call her. But Vanellope saw her more like an innocent type—one who sees the world as only rainbows and sunshine. And because of that, it gave her the urge to be more protective of her.
A sniff sound reached her ears. Candlehead finally cried, knowing Vanellope wouldn't get angry or make fun of her for it. Just a few rolled down her cheeks; not as bad as she expected, thankfully. She avoided eye contact with Vanellope for a while, but refused to wipe away her tears. At least what the president said got to her.
"Wanna hug?" Vanellope would question the reason behind her friend's distress later. Right now, she wanted to make sure Candlehead was comfortable letting out any emotions around her.
Candlehead returned her sight to Vanellope, who had her arms open—an invitation for a hug. More tears built up in her eyes as she nodded sheepishly. She slowly walked towards the president and accepted her embrace
summary: Vanellope and Rancis have a talk after finishing the RV1.
ao3 link
story below! enjoy!
"You're naming it RV1?" questioned Vanellope. She was leaning on one side of the new kart she and the peanut-butter racer built.
Rancis nodded. In his hands, he held a green icing pack he used to write the last bit of the kart's name. The two racers were in the kart factory, where finished karts came out. After they built Rancis' vehicle from scratch, Vanellope suggested this place to paint and decorate it because it had all the necessary tools.
"You know RVs are...slow...right?" she reminded him, still not understanding his answer.
"Oh, no, no. It's not RV as in RV," Rancis corrected her. "It stands for...Rancis and Vanellope." He gestured to both of them.
Vanellope was a bit surprised. "You named your kart after us?" And our initials spell out RV? That's kinda lame. She thought.
Looking away shyly, Rancis replied, "Yeah".
"But it's...your kart. Why am I there?" Vanellope jokingly asked.
Rancis thought for a moment. "I...want to remember that we built it together," he said with a shrug. A chuckle reached his ears.
"You think you'd forget getting chocolate all over you after chasing that crazy engine block?" teased Vanellope. "Or when we were at Cereal Box Canyon to get a steering wheel, and you nearly fell into the milk..."
"Okay, Vanellope." Rancis stopped her, tired of her bringing up those incidents for a while now.
The giggling racer couldn't contain her laughter. "It was funny." She walked over to him, ignoring his glare. "C'mon, you got the honor of your president saving you from falling in there." She nudged him, making him blush slightly.
But as Vanellope thought of his reason behind the name, it reminded her of the time she and Ralph built a kart together. They, too, decided to mark their names on it.
"Anyways, it's your kart. You do whatever," she told him casually. Though deep down, she was touched by the gesture.
"But why add the 1? Are we gonna make another kart? Start a kart-making business in the future?" jested Vanellope, but she didn't earn a smile from Rancis.
"Maybe." The boy didn't seem like he thought of her question properly, as if something else was on his mind. He then headed back to the shelf to return the icing. But when he turned around, Vanellope teleported right in front of him, making him yelp.
"Whatcha thinking about?" Vanellope placed her hands in her pockets, sensing he was in thought.
Rancis watched her for a while, almost forgetting to respond. "Oh...uh..nothing important..." His eyes glanced away.
"...I still wanna hear it, ya know."
Meeting her eyes again, Rancis bit his lip before speaking.
"I..." he began with hesitation. "...I'm just...surprised you helped me..."
Vanellope arched an eyebrow. "Surprised? What? No one helped ya catch a wild engine block before?" she kidded.
"Not only that," he replied, laughing a bit. "I mean, helping me...with the race."
"Win the race," Vanellope corrected him. "And...why ya surprised?"
"Because," began Rancis. "Aren't racers supposed to compete against each other? It's not usual for them to...help each other."
Vanellope played with her sweater's drawstring. "Yeah, as racers, we compete. But as friends, we help each other."
"Really?" Rancis' eyes widened a bit. He never thought of the racers providing any assistance, given that their purpose from their coding was to just compete. "Taffyta and the others never do that."
Vanellope gave him an unimpressed look. With a heavy sigh, she spoke, "You need new friends, my guy." She placed a hand on his shoulder. "Luckily for you, I'm right here," she said confidently.
Rancis swore his heart missed a beat. "We're...friends?"
The girl rolled her eyes. "Yes, Rance," she responded with a bit of frustration. "You think I gave you that nickname for no reason?" she teased, walking back to the kart.
Heat built up in Rancis' cheeks. None of his so-called friends did anything this nice for him. Usually, he just talks with them. But they, especially Taffyta, had been making fun of him lately for being the only racer without a win.
His eyes then fell on Vanellope while she examined his kart. She was the only one who showed kindness despite him not being a good racer. It made him feel fuzzy.
Vanellope felt his eyes on her. After she looked at him, her lips thinned along with her eyes shifting, feeling slightly embarrassed by the staring. "What?"
Rancis snapped out of his thoughts. "Oh, nothing..." he laughed nervously with a blush.
After a shrug, Vanellope shifted her gaze back towards the kart until Rancis called her name.
"Mmh?" she answered without eye contact.
"Don't you have...president stuff...to do?" queried Rancis. He had just remembered she was the ruler of Sugar Rush. Since she spent time helping him build his kart, he wondered if it was preventing her from completing her duties. "I don't want to keep you from that."
The president herself watched him for a bit and then giggled. "This is president stuff," she told him, but seeing Rancis' confusion, she sighed before explaining.
"Helping my subjects, like yourself, is part of being president, doi!"
"Oh...right," said Rancis, feeling a bit silly. "But, how about...the other things you have to do?" He rubbed behind his neck.
"You don't need to worry about that," Vanellope assured him. "Worry about how cool your kart looks!" She gestured to his vehicle.
Blue eyes glanced at it. "Yeah, it is," he responded with less enthusiasm. Of course, he loved the appearance of the kart, but he still felt like he was burdening his friend with this task.
Realizing he wasn't convinced yet, Vanellope called him over.
"Hey, seriously. Don't worry about what I have to do. I wanted to help you," she said as he arrived next to her.
Rancis looked at his shoes sadly. "You know, I'm not really that much of a good racer. I never won a cup, remember?"
"We're doing this so you can win a cup, aren't we?" Vanellope reminded him.
"Yeah, but," continued the sad racer. "Now that I think about it, did it make sense to build a new kart when the problem was probably me?"
Vanellope softened her eyes. "Rance, you are a good racer," she complimented. "Tell you what, after here, we'll do some training to get you better. Sounds good?" She saw his eyes meet hers again.
"You'd do that?"
"Of course," responded Vanellope. "That's what presidents do!"
Though he was surprised, Rancis couldn't resist the smile forming on his face. Not only did he gain a new kart, but he's also getting driving lessons from the best racer in Sugar Rush.
"And honestly, I can't wait to see the look on Taffyta's face when you absolutely destroy her on the track," admitted Vanellope in a menacing tone.
Rancis chuckled. "You really don't have to do this, you know," he said, looking at her with admiration.
"I want to," Vanellope told him. "And I'm the president, so you can't fight me on that."
"Plus, I claimed you as my friend, remember. So you're entitled to a long trail of me doing nice things for you." She winked at him.
Her words made the boy's heart flutter. He wondered if he should even still be friends with the others after how nice Vanellope had been treating him.
"You really wanna be friends, huh?" he asked. He still had trouble wrapping his mind around the best racer wanting to be friends with the worst one.
"Well, I really like you. So, ya."
For a moment, Rancis became stunned by her response. The expression made Vanellope giggle.
"Now that that's out of the way, we only have about an hour before the roster race." She placed a finger on her chin, coming up with a plan for their training for the race. "So, maybe we should practice in JellyBean Valley, since it's the closest."
As Vanellope was thinking out loud, she had no idea how her casual response earlier affected Rancis. She came to realize that the other racers weren't exactly friendly to him, so she wanted to show what a real friend should be. But she may have been too successful at it.
"The big JellyBeans could work as obstacles to practice turning," she continued, having her hands mimic the action. "Oh! And to help with reflexes to-"
Suddenly, she felt Rancis plant a soft kiss on her cheek.
"Thanks, Vanellope," he said. “For everything.” He then found his hands behind his back, becoming timid. "And...I like you too."
Vanellope stared at him in shock for a while, hands still holding her invisible wheel. But then, she felt her code buzzing, an indication that she was about to start glitching.
"U-Uh...g-great," she said nervously with a thumbs up. For some reason, she felt knots forming in her stomach. Talking also became difficult as she glitched.
"W-would...have been a-awkward...if...if i-it was a...one-sided...th-thing- oh c'mon!" Vanellope quickly turned away from him and attempted to calm down her glitch. Sure, having glitch powers was cool, but it can sometimes get triggered if her emotions become overwhelming.
Luckily, she returned to normal and then faced Rancis again. The racers have seen her glitch like that before, so he didn't point it out as he was used to it.
But something about his expression got her giddy inside. His blue eyes seemed glued to her while giving her a gentle smile. It made Vanellope nervous again.
She quickly cleared her throat.
"Alright, butterfingers. Ready to do some training?" she asked, hoping he would willingly forget the embarrassing glitching mess she was.
Rancis simply nodded. Right now, he had a race to train for. He then glanced at his kart’s name.
This is why I put RV1 on the kart. So I can remember the day you helped me...and became my friend too.
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