She is woken up by the bright sun shining through the window. It’s probably not that late, so if today was like any other day, she would go back to sleep.

But today isn’t just any other day. Unless you count celebrating your eighteenth birthday an everyday thing.

Vanellope yawns and stretches before smiling. She can smell breakfast from the kitchen; no doubt Ralph is making a special breakfast for her, just like he does every year.

After getting out of bed, Vanellope quickly changes into her casual attire (since she knows that she'll be going out at one point or another today) and then proceeds to bound into the kitchen. While she’s always very cheery and happy, it’s odd for her to be just that in the morning right after waking up.

"Look who finally decided to wake up!" Ralph says as she sits as the table.

"Sorry I don't like waking up before the sun even comes up like a certain stinkbrain I know." she exaggerates and sits down at the kitchen table.

"Keep up the attitude and I'll think twice about giving you your birthday present."

"What? No fair! You wouldn't not give me my birthday present."

"Try me."

Both try to keep up the angry demeanor, but can't help but laugh.

Ralph places Vanellope's breakfast in front of her, along with her birthday present. "Happy birthday, kiddo. Open it up."

Vanellope does just that, carelessly ripping the wrapping paper as she does so. The present is a picture frame with two slots for two different pictures; the first photo frame contains a picture of her and Ralph from back when Ralph had first adopted her. The second frame has a much more recent picture of the two, one that was taken only months ago. Vanellope grins broadly; her past birthday presents have been things like toys, video games, skateboards, stuff like that. While she loves those types of presents the most even as an eighteen year old, she loves this present just as much.

"Aaaw, I was so cute! And you were so... how do I put this nicely..." she trails off jokingly, shooting a smirk in his direction.

He raises an eyebrow, clearly unamused.

"I'm kidding, I'm kidding! Thanks, Ralphie. Really."

"You're welcome."

Once they almost finished their breakfast, Ralph brought up a different topic

"So," he begins, trying to sound casual. “I know that I told you I got the day off from work today, but—”

“But too many people are already out today so you have ta’ go to work.” Vanellope finishes. It’s not like this is the first time this has happened.

Her guardian sighs and nods. “I’m sorry, kiddo. I know how special today is for you.”

Vanellope shrugs. She’d be lying if she said that she isn’t at least a little disappointed, but she knows that she’ll see him after work. “It’s fine. I’ll just hang out at the café or something ‘til you get back. No biggie.” she shovels the last morsel of food on her plate into her mouth and then stands up. “I’m s'posed to head over there now, actually.” she slips on her shoes and gives Ralph a quick hug. She's about to leave when Ralph stops her.

"Wait a second," he says, "we need to talk first."

Oh, great...

"Look, Van. You're eighteen; from now on you're a legal adult. And that means that you can legally... do things. You can vote, live on your own..." he trails off.

Vanellope groans, knowing full well where this is going. "Ralph --"

"I just want you to know that now that you're an adult and can technically do whatever you want," he gives her a look, as if to say 'you can legally do whatever you want but don't', "I trust you and know that you'll do what's right."

Vanellope doesn't speak. She certainly hadn't been expecting him to say that. She thought it was going to be this whole talk on responsibility and such.

"Thanks, Ralphie. I promise, I'll be responsible." she gives him one last hug. "I'll see you later!"

There aren’t many people in the cafe, but Cass and Hiro aren’t any of them. She looks around and, surprisingly, sees her friends Taffyta (Tiffany) and Candlehead (Candace) sitting and talking with the ‘nerd gang’. It’s weird seeing her friends and Hiro’s friends talking. Hiro isn’t even with them.

Now that she thinks about it, why are they talking?

Before Vanellope can even walk over to them and question them, they spot her and erupt into a mix of 'hey’s, 'hi’s, and 'happy birthday’s. Her toothy grin returns to her face as she walks towards them.

“Thanks, guys,” she responds. “What’re you all talking about?”

Again, they all burst into a bunch of, 'nothing’s and 'it’s not important!’s. Save for Fred, who then says, “Oh, we’re talking about Hiro’s plans for— ow!”

Everyone except for Honey Lemon and Candlehead gives him a glare, and then he realizes that what they’re talking about is a secret. Whoops.

“Oh, right! We’re not talking about anything!” Fred says quickly, causing Vanellope to give him a strange look.

“Hiro’s plans for what?” she questions.

“For… for his, ah…” he is cut off by Honey.

“For his newest invention! Yeah, we saw the blueprints, but we don’t want him to find out. You know Hiro, wanting to keep his inventions private until they’re ready for the world to see!*”

“Yeah!” Fred agrees and everybody nods quickly to show that they agree as well.

“O-kaaaaay…” she decides to drop the topic and looks around the caféagain. “So, uh, where’s the brainiac?” she doesn’t need to explain who she’s talking about. “He told me to meet him here.”

Most of them shrug, but Gogo just chews on her strawberry flavored gum. “Does anyone ever know where he is?

“Touché.”

Vanellope pulls up a seat and joins them at the table. They talk for a few minutes before Vanellope’s vision is blocked and the words “Guess who.” are spoken.

Vanellope smirks, despite her conversation being interrupted. “Hm… Is it a know-it-all brainiac who graduated high school at thirteen, yet considering he's ten minutes late, he still seems unable to tell time despite being nineteen now?”

“Nope. And I can tell time, thank you very much. Try again.”

“Oh, oh, I know!” Fred suddenly exclaims from across the table. “Is it… a—”

“You can see him, genius.” Gogo interrupts. “And if anyone here can’t recognize his annoying voice by now, I’d be pretty surprised.”

“What, is it 'everybody pick on Hiro’ day or something?” Hiro asks and removes his hands. Vanellope looks up at him as he stands behind her chair.

“No, it’s an even special-er day.”

“Special-er?”

“Yeah, special-er. It’s so special that I had to make up a work to express how special it is.”

“Oh yeah? Then I guess it can’t be your birthday if that’s the case.” he teases.

Vanellope elbows him in the stomach which causes him to let out a yelp of pain.

“Okay, I take it back,” he manages to say.

Gogo rolls her eyes and interjects. “She didn’t even hit you that hard. Woman up.”

“Thanks for that, Gogo.” he mumbles and pulls up a chair next to Vanellope. “Alright, so, I know I told you that I had a very special day planned for you. -- And I did, really!”

Vanelloe raises an eyebrow. “But…?”

“…But I’m gonna have to cancel our plans.” he says quickly, wincing at what her reaction will be.

“You're kidding me right? Why?”

“Because I…” Hiro pauses. “…I, uh, have to… study for an exam!” he exclaims all of a sudden. “And everyone’s here because they said that they’ll help me study. I didn’t ask you since it’s your birthday and all, and who wants to study on their birthday?”

“You can hang out with us, though!” Candlehead exclaims as if on cue. Vanellope can’t quite put her finger on it, but everybody seems to be acting rather… tense. Nervous. Maybe even suspicious.

She glances around at the group, taking note of their nervous smiles and frantic nodding. What is going on?

“Why are you guys acting so weird?” she sighs. “Never mind, don’t answer that. Hiro,” she faces him. “can’t you just study tomorrow? You can’t just cancel right before we’re s'posed to go out! Especially on my birthday

"I know, I know, but this exam is really important and I haven’t studied for it at all. I’m really, really sorry, Vanny. I promise I’ll make it up to you.”

Vanellope huffs and tucks stray strands of hair behind her ear, unable to express how upset she is. First Ralph can’t get the day off from work, and now Hiro cancels his plans for her birthday? To study for a dumb test on something that he probably already knows about? It’s selfish, but this seems so unfair to Vanellope.

Whatever. She can’t do anything about it. Besides, Taffyta and and Candlehead said that they’ll hang out with her. Might as well make the best of her birthday without Ralph and Hiro. "You owe me, numbskull." she tells Hiro.

“C'mon, Van!” Candlehead interrupts joyously before Hiro can respond. Her and Taffyta waste no time and they practically pull her out of her seat before she has the chance to even say goodbye to everyone (and give her boyfriend one last annoyed glare. “We’ll still have fun!”

Then Vanellope is pulled out of the café as well, despite her protests. As soon as the door closes, Hiro springs out of his chair. He feels bad for disappointing her, but he knows that he’ll make it up to her with:

“Operation: Surprise Birthday Party is now a go. Let’s get started!”

“We’ve been walking for forever! If we can’t take the trolley, can you at least tell me where we’re going?!”

Taffyta doesn't seem to pick up on Vanellope's irritated attitude. If she did, though, she sure doesn't seemed bothered by it. Neither does Candlehead.

"We already told you," the blonde responds. "we're taking you shopping."

"Shopping where? And I don't even like shopping." she grumbles.

"You'll seeeeee!" Candlehead tells her in a sing-songy voice.

"I don't even have my wallet."

"It's your birthday so it's our treat. Duh." says Taffyta.

After a few more minutes of walking, they arrive to their destination. Vanellope cringes.

"Pink Lightening?** Isn't this store kinda..."

"Awesome?" Candlehead interjects.

"Magical?" Taffyta smirks.

"Pretty?"

"Amazing?"

Vanellope looks from the store back to her friends. "Expensive and girly."

"Yes and yes," Taffyta takes hold of both of her friends' hands and pulls them into the store with her. "And like I said, it's our treat, and you need to get a nice dress or two. Maybe some shirts or something, too."

The ravenette rolls her eyes. Of course Taffyta can afford coming to this place; her family is practically rich. Besides, this place just screams 'Taffyta'. The floors are sparkly, as are a majority of the clothes, and the walls are a cotton candy pink color. There's some jewelry, makeup, hair products, and a ton of clothes. Some of the clothes are frilly, some have lace, others are fluffy, and many are light pastel colors, if not pink. To top it all off, there's an overwhelming scent of fruity perfume in this place.

It's all so... girly.

Now Vanellope really wishes she could have hung out with Ralph or Hiro.

"Oh, look!" Taffyta's squeal pulls her from her thoughts. Taffyta is holding up a knee length dress that is various shades of pink. Below the bust are several layers of ruffles, each their own shade of pink. "This is perfect for you, Van!"

"Oh no," Vanellope shakes her head and crosses her arms. "nuh-uh. There is no way I'm gonna try on that pink piece of..."

"...crap."

Vanellope groans as she looks in the mirror. Candlehead and Taffyta had picked at least a dozen dresses --- each --- for Vanellope to try on, on top of skirts and shirts and even a couple pairs of shoes. She knew that her friends wouldn't shut up until she tried on all of them, so she thought might as well. Halfway through the pile of clothes, Vanellope stopped paying attention to what she put on, wanting this to just be over with. However, she took a quick glance in the mirror before showing the other girls her dress. And that was when she realized: Taffyta and Candlehead had slipped in that fluffly and ruffly pink dress from earlier that she hates. Seeing that she fell for it and is currently wearing said dress makes her face palm.

"You almost done, Van?" she hears Candlehead ask from the other side.

The annoyed birthday girl opens the door and stands there. "I hate you guys."

They suddenly erupt into cheers and squeals.

"I told you it's perfect!" Taffyta says.

"You have to get it!" Candlehead agrees.

Vanellope rolls her eyes. "I don't want this dress. You guys know that I hate pink. And frilly stuff. And this dress."

"Awww, c'mon, Vanny!" Candlehead pleads, sticking out her lower lip. "It's so pretty!"

"Don't gimme that look, Candles. It's not gonna work."

Taffyta, who had apparently walked off for a brief moment, holding another dress in her hand.

"What if I told you that it comes in mint green?"

As they finally walk out of Pink Lightening with a couple of bags that contain various articles of clothing, Vanellope pulls her phone from her pocket. According to Taffyta, they still have more stores to go to. She doesn't know where they're headed now, but hopefully it's not another store like the one they were just at.

She unlocks her phone and sends a text to Hiro.

text; to: My Hiro ❤ remember when i told you that you owe me?

After a minute or so of walking, she gets a reply.

text; FROM: My Hiro ❤ Yeah?

text; to: My Hiro ❤ then this is gonna sound like déjà vu. YOU OWE ME. DOUBLE.

text; FROM: My Hiro ❤ Any specific reason why?

text; to: My Hiro ❤ i'm shopping with tiffany and candace are taking me shopping. and i hate shopping. text; to: My Hiro ❤ are you almost done studying? :/ i wanna hang out at least a little bit today. 

Hiro glances down at his phone then back up at the café. 'Studying' isn't coming along too well.

So far, he's gotten some balloons tied up to chairs and tables gathered up in the middle of the café with a green table cloth. He has already hung up a few decorations as well, but not many, since he's been running back and forth.

Cass and Ralph (he actually did get the day off, but planned to come here and help set up for his adoptive daughter's surprise party) are in charge of the sweets; surprisingly, Ralph only two batches of cupcakes! Those had been minor set backs, but not really a surprise. Hiro has been trying to avoid Ralph at all costs, though; he's an intimidating guy and will protect Vanellope at all costs, even if it means keeping his eyes on Hiro at all times. It's nerve wracking.

The rest of Big Hero 6 have been helping as well. They've been helping with decorations and with setting up various things like music and even a piñata.

Even so, they're all still pretty behind. They've had some minor setbacks, such as forgetting to buy some of the decorations, forgetting to buy the paint for the banner, as well as running out of tape and tacks. If that isn't stressful enough, the music isn't working for some reason. And considering how bored Vanellope seems to be, they might be coming back soon. --- But they need more time.

He looks back down at his phone.

text; to: Schweetie :) 🍬 Not yet, but almost. I'll let you know when.

He then switches to a different contact.

text; to: Tiffany Things are taking longer than usual. Keep her busy for just a while longer. Take her to the video game store, she'd stay there for hours if she could. I'll tell you when we're ready.

Taffyta's phone buzzes, signifying that she has a text. She sees that it's from Hiro and reads it before forwarding the message to Candlehead. They exchange of confirmation before speaking.

"How about a trip to the video game store?" Candlehead asks in a cheery tone.

Immediately, Vanellope's eyes widen and the corners of her lips pull up and form a smile. "I say let's get a move on!"

"...You're kidding me, right?"

The ravenette gapes at the sign on the door of the video game store: Closed for renovations until further notice.

"You're telling me," she continues, "that we walked all the way across town to come here and find out that one of the best places in San Fransokyo is closed?!"

Candlehead bites her lower lip and Taffyta winces at their friends' outburst. They'd made Vanellope go into a few stores on the way there to kill some time and refused to take the trolley as well. Vanellope loves video games, so of course she'd been looking forward to coming here and getting a new game. Seems like all that walking was for nothing.

"That's it," Vanellope faces the two, arms crossed stubbornly. "we're going back to the café, on the trolley, whether Hiro's done studying or not. It's my birthday and I wanna do something that's actually fun."

After she turns around, Candlehead and Taffyta exchange panicked looks. They both know how stubborn Vanellope can be, so trying to change her mind is out of the question. Odd's are, Hiro's probably still setting up some thing for the party.

"What do we do?!" Candlehead whispers.

"Just stall her for as long as we can," the blonde responds as they follow Vanellope. "and I'll text Hiro."

Vanellope can hear their whispers but can't quite make out what they're saying. "What're you guys saying?"

"Nothing!" is their immediate, synchronized reply.

The ravenette looks suspiciously at them. Why do they keep acting so weird?

"What're you guys hiding from me?"

"Nothing!" they repeat.

"You guys stink at lying," Vanellope says, "let's just get back to the café."

Candlehead grabs her wrist to prevent her from walking away. "NO!"

"Why not?!"

"Because..." she looks at Taffyta for help.

Thankfully, she catches on. "...because we're having such an awesome time here and not at the café! So we don't need to go there! Isn't that right, Candles?"

"Y-Yeah! Exactly!"

Vanellope rolls her eyes. "And what if we do go to the café?"

No response.

She smirks. "Then we're gonna go find out. Let's go."

Taffyta stops herself from arguing with her stubborn friend any further. She takes out her phone and quickly sends a text to Hiro.

text; to: Hiro van knows that that we r hiding something and is going back 2 the cafe!! we will b there in 15mins!!!

As Hiro pushes the last tack holding up the birthday banner into place, he feels his phone vibrate in his pocket. Quickly, he steps off of the stool and takes a quick glance around. They still have to set up streamers and finish frosting the cake, but other than that, they're done. They did a good job at setting things up and fixing the speakers in the amount of time that they had, in his opinion.

He nods in satisfaction before pulling his phone out of his pocket and reading at the message.

Oh, great...

"They'll be here in fifteen minutes, guys!" Hiro announces, yelling loud enough so that everyone can (hopefully) hear him. Everyone starts moving around quicker, determined to finish setting up in time.

Except for Mochi, who seems much more interested in the unattended treats and streamers in the room.

After what seems like forever to Vanellope, they reach their stop and step off the trolley. She makes way for the Lucky Cat Café a few blocks down, but stops when Candlehead steps in front of her.

"Move it, Candlehead."

Candlehead frowns. "Say the magic word."

"The magic word."

Candlehead does not move.

Vanellope rolls her eyes. "Please."

"Please what?"

"Please move!"

"Okay!" she grins and steps to the side. Taffyta hits her arm in disapproval as Vanellope walks by her. "Really, Candles?"

"What? She said please!"

After adjusting the bags of clothes in her hands and rolling her eyes, she quickens her pace and steps in front of Vanellope.

The ravenette groans and rolls her hazel eyes for the umpteenth time. Now they're just being flat out annoying. "Now what?"

"We... still have more places to go to!"

"More places that I don't wanna go to?"

"Well... I mean..."

Vanellope rolls her eyes and pushes past Taffyta. "We're almost at the café already. We're going there, whether you guys want to or not."

Taffyta and Candlehead glance anxiously at each other as they get closer and closer the café. The window blinds are closed, denying anyone access of looking through that windows. They can only hope that everything is set up.

Five minutes. Hiro had been upstairs for five minutes. How did this happen in five minutes?!

Streamers have unstuck from the wall and now lay on the floor. Tables and chairs have been moved and knocked over, except for the ones in the middle of the room that are holding the food.

Well, they had been holding the food. Now the tables are holding smushed and ruined food. One of the tables has actually fallen down, resulting in food on the floor as well.

Next to the mess is Mochi and Baymax, part of the mess on them.

Hiro is frozen as he looks around the café. Cass stands behind him in horror at all of her ruined sweets, and Ralph stands beside them, mouth agape. If he weren't so shocked, he'd probably be furious. Wasabi and Gogo are in the corner, staring in shock with scrap streamers in their hands. They had watched the whole thing unfold, but couldn't do anything in time, for Fred had beat them to the task. He was unsuccessful, laying down in a mess of cake that he had slipped on after it'd fallen on the floor.

After taking in the scene before him, Hiro finds his voice. "What... happened?!"

Fred speaks up from his spot on the floor. "Mochi was runnin' around everywhere and Baymax was trying to catch him. Things kept knocking over so I tried to help but, heh..." he smiles sheepishly. "it obviously didn't work that well."

The door opens, and everyone looks up to see a frantic Honey Lemon. "They're almost here! They're--" she trails off as she sees the mess. Her hands cover her mouth in shock. "Oh my gosh! What... What happened?!"

"I just explained the story to everyone," Fred sighs. "but I'll explain it again. See, Mochi w--"

"Woah!"

Of course, Vanellope had entered the scene, Taffyta and Candlehead at her side. While they look absolutely horrified, Vanellope looks shocked, yet happy. She can see the colorful banner that reads 'Happy Birthday Vanellope' beyond the mess, as well as the birthday balloons and various colored streamers that happen to still be in tact.

It's a celebration. For her. It's obviously a mess, but... wait, why is it such a mess? This isn't the intended set up, right?

She doesn't question it, not yet at least. Instead everybody else in the room says a meek and embarrassed:

"Surpriiiise..."

"So, what you're saying is that you two," Vanellope points to Ralph and Hiro, "lied to me about being busy just so you all could throw me a surprise party?" she looks at Taffyta and Candlehead, "And that you guys purposefully dragged me around town all day so that everyone could pull it off?" they nod.

Everyone is sitting in the living room, some on the couch or chairs, others on pillows on the floor, with plates of pizza. They'd ordered pizza and ended up buying snacks and a cake to replace what had been ruined. It's disappointing that no one gets to eat Cass' delicious treats, but she promised to make another cake soon. Not many decorations survived, but they moved the ones that did upstairs.

"Yeeeah," Hiro speaks up from his spot next to Vanellope (which Ralph seems surprisingly calm about, though keeps an eye on them), "and you can kinda guess how it got ruined," his says, talking about the scene she'd walked in upon. "We're really sorry it ended up being such a disaster." Mochi sympathetically rubs against his legs, making him chuckle. "I think Mochi's sorry, too."

Vanellope swallows her bite of pizza and laughs. "Sorry for what? It wasn't intentional, and I still get to hang out with you guys. Honestly, the worst part of today was going shopping with Taffyta and Candlehead."

Everyone laughs, except for the girls of topic.

"Hey, it was pretty fun!" Taffyta argues.

"Trying on a bunch of dresses that looked like a sparkly, pink unicorn barfed on them isn't fun."

"C'mon, give us some credit, V!" Candlehead jokes.

"I am!" she laughs. "I'm giving all of you guys credit. This may not be what you guys planned, but eating pizza and cake and playing video games is a pretty fun way to spend my birthday, in my opinion. Really, thank you, guys."

Ralph shakes his head. He's grateful that she isn't one for extravagant things. "We'll keep that in mind for next year. Glad you're having a good birthday, kiddo."

"Y'know, since I'm eighteen now," Vanellope smirks, "I'm not a kid anymore, so 'kiddo' isn't an appropriate nickname."

Now Ralph smirks. "Would you prefer Baroness Booger Face?"

She shrugs. "Only if you're cool with Major Body Odor."

Laughter then fills the room.

"Alright," Fred speaks up once the laughter dies down. "who's ready to play some video games?!"

Of course, Vanellope blurts out. "Me! I call player one!" she looks at Hiro. "I am so beating you at Mario Kart.

Hiro smirks. "Bring it on, Schweetz."

Despite the group of people in the house being small, it eventually becomes stuffy and loud from all of the frustrated yelling that comes with playing video games with friends. Vanellope finds herself parting from the hectic party and taking a quick breather on the outside patio***. The crisp, cool night air feels nice as it blows through her face and hair. She leans against the railing and gazes up at the twinkling stars in the night sky above her. Overall, she's had an awesome birthday. She smiles to herself as she thinks about how lucky she is to have people who would do so much for her.

Speaking of people who would do so much for her, Hiro opens and closes the slide door to the patio and joins her. He stands next to her, hands behind his back.

She looks over at him with mixed look of curiosity and amusement. "Whachya got there?"

"Hm? You mean this?" he reveals the small box wrapped in birthday wrapping paper that he was holding behind his back. "It's just for a special person who's birthday is today. Their name also happens to start with a 'V'," he grins slyly. "Do you know anyone that goes by the name 'Victor'?"

After punching his shoulder, she grins and takes the present. “Dork.” With no hesitation, she rips the wrapping paper and opens the small box. Inside of it is, as cliché as it is, a heart shaped locket. After opening the locket, she sees that on one side is a miniature picture of them back when they were little, and on the opposite side is a fairly recent picture of the two.

It’s sweet and sentimental. Though Vanellope isn’t a big fan of jewelry, this necklace is certainly going to become part of her daily attire.

“It’s alright if you don’t like it,” Hiro quickly says from beside her. “but –”

“I love it.” for once, she doesn't mind all of the over sentimental presents she received for her birthday today.

He smiles. “You do?”

“I really do. You're such a sap. -- Here,” she says while grinning and hands him the necklace. “put it on for me?”

After gathering her long, thick raven hair in her hands and holding it up, Hiro does as requested and fastens the locket around her neck. She turns around and faces him then pulls him into a quick, sweet kiss.

After parting, Hiro smiles. “Happy birthday, Vanny.”

*Reference to the 'Hiro and Tadashi’ book.

**Pink Lightening is the name of Taffyta's kart in the movie.

***I know that there's probably no patio at the Hamadas', but for now just pretend that there is.

A/N: See what I did there with the presents? The two most important people in her life both gave her very sentimental, practically the same thing that shows how they've always been with her and always will be. Cheesy, I know, and it was actually unintentional (becauseIcouldn’tthinkofanythingelsesorry)! But I thought it was cute so I kept it.