#rancis

"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.