candy peeps

Candlehead hated crying.

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.

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

"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.