WiR: Excuses :) (One-Shot)

(F.Y.I: I decided every few chapters or so of my bigger stories (like WiR: Dog AU :) ), I'm going to write one-shots or short stories in between. I just don't want anyone to think I'm abandoning my other, larger stories lol )

(In regards to this story, I've read several fan fiction stories were Vanellope has a nightmare and needs Ralph to comfort her. I love those types of stories, so I was inspired and decided to make one of my own - with my spin on it. (Also, I kinda picture the arcade is closed for a few days for whatever reason and Vanellope getting to spend the nights it is close in Ralph's extra bedroom- that's kinda the setting for this one-shot.) Hope all enjoy! :D )

She laid in bed, staring blankly up at the ceiling once again. The shadows outside dance through the window and all throughout the room. The little girl watched them as she listened to the 8-bit crickets sing their chorus from outside the window, seeming to not have any clue what late it was.

Is it time yet? she wondered eagerly to herself. She rolled over for the billionth time, eyeing the glow-in-the-dark analog clock that hung crookedly on the wall.

1:57. In the morning.

Growling, she rolled back over, shoving her face down into her pillow. She pulled the blankets up closer around her and tried to distract herself by... counting candy sheep, she decided.

One sheep, two sheep...five sheep, was that the number she was on?...

After what felt like counting an estimated gazillion and a half sheep later, the little glitch yawned and peeked up at the clock again.

1:58.

Now, Vanellope always considered herself a very patient kid. Being a bullied, hated glitch prohibited to race kinda forced her to be. And more recently, being a president of an entire game caused her to somewhat perfect her patience skills, she felt, having to deal with all the weighty responsibilities that came with it and all.

Yes, Vanellope was indeed patient...

...Unless she was at Ralph's house. Spending the night. And was trying to force herself to stay awake until her 'time window' finally came.

"Butt fudge!" the kid mumbled angrily to herself at realizing what time it was. "Will 2 o'clock ever come?!"

Closing her eyes tight, the little glitch buried her head back into her pillow. This time, though, she was no longer content in passing the time by counting sugar animals. They had proved to only make her more sleepy, which defeated the whole 'force-myself-to-stay-awake' thing.

After what felt like a decade and a half later, 2 o'clock finally rolled around. But as hard as it was, Vanellope decided she'd make herself go ahead and wait until 2:15 or so, for extra measures.

Which felt like torture for the eagerly waiting glitch.

Yawning once again, even bigger than the last one, the candy kid stretched slightly, feeling her eyelids getting heavier and heavier. It was some hard work staying up so late just to cuddle close to your best friend...

Yes, Vanellope was patient. But some things were just harder to be patient for- or stay awake for, for that matter...

...All she wanted was to cuddle close to him, snoring away in the next room. Was that so much to ask for?...

There was something about being close to him that made her feel- safe, was it? Loved, maybe? She honestly didn't know -or ever cared to admit, at least.

All Vanellope knew was that being cuddled in Ralph's arms at night always made her go to sleep way easier.

The first time she had discovered this, which had been many days back, it was for a real reason. She had had a horrible nightmare about losing Ralph to the killer Turbo Cy-Bug and she woke up crying, practically in hysterics. She knew immediately she wouldn't be able to go back to sleep without knowing Ralph was ok.

So, the child quickly ran crying into Ralph's room and begged him to let her stay and sleep in his bed with him until morning came.

Ralph, despite being more than half asleep, still felt a strong sense of pity for the girl. He quickly complied by reaching his large hand over the side of his bed and nudging Vanellope, who quickly and tearfully grabbed his hand.

After he pulled her up on the bed, Ralph cuddled her close to him, softly calming her down by repeatedly whispering to her that they BOTH were ok, were safe and that they'd never, ever be apart.

And, with the comforting snuggle and loving, calm words, Vanellope went right back to sleep then, but more soundly this time as she cuddled close to her best friend...

In fact, that was the best sleep she had ever had...the sound of his loud snoring and the comforting heartbeat harmonized together to form the greatest lullaby the young child had ever heard.

Although it was a sweet, loving gesture on Ralph's part, it unfortunately made Vanellope kind of dependant on it after that, expected of it, even. In fact, she had even planned all day to come into his room that next night after that.

But that night, she didn't have a nightmare... so she figured she'd have to concoct some kind of excuse to make Ralph pity her again and allow her to sleep in his bed.

Thus, she then came into his room soon after she had initially laid because her room "was too dark and scary" to fall asleep. At first, Ralph didn't to even hear her. But when he finally did, he simply (and sleepily) told her to go back to her own bed; he'd fix it in the morning. But with her constant and annoying pleading, he finally caved and begrudgingly allowed her up on the bed.

The next day, though, Ralph got her a bright night light to plug into right by her bed. He hoped it would fix the 'problem'. And it did...

Until Vanellope complained to him late that night that her bed was "uncomfortable and hard to sleep in." Ralph fell for that two night in a row before he figured out that it was going to be 'chronic problem' for her. So he had Felix come over and 'fix' the bed that next day, although upon the initial inspection the handyman claimed there was no problem to begin with.

When the child still complained early that same night about it bothering her and tried to once more sleep in the same bed as Ralph, Vanellope was told to go sleep on the couch by a very grumpy Ralph.

The child huffed but had complied and went back to bed. It was then that, instead of going to sleep, Vanellope's mind wondered.

She quickly realized that it wasn't just always Ralph let her sleep with him...

Her mind thought back to the past few nights and to the times at night he had let her sleep with him and when he hadn't. Being as smart as she was, Vanellope quickly figured out a pattern- and was even able to narrow it down into a time frame.

2-3 in the morning. Two o'clock to three o'clock was her time frame, her 'time window', as she called it, to use her excuses on Ralph- no earlier, no later, she decided. He was the deepest in sleep, the most 'out of it', and most likely give in and allow her to sleep in his bed within that small period of time than at any other time period through the night.

The smart child decided to test out her theory that same night. Around 2 in the morning, Vanellope slipped in Ralph's room with a new excuse...that her bed had "too many crumbs in it." Falling for her trap once more and seeming to prove her theory 'true', Ralph gave in and let her sleep with him- although in the morning he made the rule of no eating in bed.

That next night Vanellope was happy she had figured out her time frame- but then realized that she running out of believable, pity-worthy excuses...

So much so that when she complained to Ralph at 230 in the morning that she "felt so sick" she could "vomit violently everywhere", the disturbed wrecker just quickly sent Vanellope to the couch- even though it was during the time window.

After taking her to the castle doctor the next morning only to find she was 'miraculous healed', only then did Ralph became suspicious of the little glitch and all the complaints she had so late at night.

That evening, the concerned giant made sure that Vanellope was snuggled in her crumb-free, perfectly fixed bed, that her nightlight was plugged in, that she had no forehead temperature and made sure she had no other possible problems. The wrecker then practically begged the child to stay in her own bed before he went to bed himself- and she listened.

Vanellope didn't want to overly upset or bug Ralph, or worse- annoy him so much that he'd make her sleep in Sugar Rush... and never again at his house.

On that same night, then, the little girl decided quickly then it'd be best to skip a couple of nights of her excuses and to sleep in her own bed for a few nights in a row.

But that decision was quickly regretted... and had made for a long, dreadful, miserable night for the little girl.

Vanellope found out quickly that she didn't like sleeping without Ralph by her side now- in fact, she hated it.

Her heart ached for some reason without Ralph and his comfort... without his gentle, mighty hands holding her, without his kind, soothing words calming her down, without the sound of his slightly obnoxious snore, without the feeling of his strong, steady heartbeat and it's symphony...

It all felt too much like how everything was before she had ever met him- many a sleepless night, her heart in pain at being by herself.

Completely and utterly all alone.

And because of that ache, Vanellope found that she was up all night- but only not by choice or force.

After being completely exhausted all day, Vanellope quickly took back her decision of sleeping on her own...

And now she here she was, forcing herself to stay awake tonight...by choice...

Vanellope felt her eyes open wide suddenly. Oh, sweet mother of monkey milk- she hadn't fallen asleep, had she? In a complete panic, she eyed the clock quickly.

2:15 in the morning. Perfect.

Without a second glance, Vanellope felt a quiet squeal escape her throat as she quickly got up and made her way into Ralph's room. Silently slipping into his room, she was reminded yet again of darker it was without a nightlight than her self-claimed room was.

Sniffling loudly, Vanellope prepared herself to sound as sad and scared as possible as she tiptoed over to the side of the large bed her best friend was sleeping on.

"Ralph?" she called out to the lump on the bed softly, then paused when she heard the lump shift in his bed. "Ralph?" she echoed a little louder.

Ralph stopped snoring with a sharp inhale and groaned softly.

"What, kid?" he mumbled after a minute.

Her eyes almost filled with fake tears, Vanellope opened her mouth... and suddenly found no words coming out.

She was to complain that she had a nightmare again... but she figured Ralph would make her tell him what the nightmare was about- and the exhausted child was far too tired to make up one at this point...

Changing her mind quickly, Vanellope was about to complain that her night light had... suddenly and unexplainably broken. Yeah, that sounded good... but then she quickly decided that wouldn't work because he-

"What, kid?" Ralph repeated, his voice sharper than before, sounding slightly more annoyed- and more alert.

In an ever-growing panic, Vanellope thought as hard as she could, scanning her mind for a good excuse, slowing trying to weed through each one she could come up with.

She may be smart, but she was not so good at thinking on her little toes.

Lose, pointy spring in the mattress? She pondered desperately. No, Ralph would've felt that as he was tucking me in. Creepy noise outside? No, he'd just get up and check, and upon realizing there's nothing out there, he would just tell me to go back to-

"Vanellope, what?! Can't you see I'm sleepin' here?!" Ralph interrupted her grasp for excuses and lies with a low, threatening growl.

In a panic, Vanellope realized she needed to act fast. Ralph was slowly waking up, and would soon make her go back to her bed if she couldn't think fast enough.

She subconsciously knew, too, that the time window would be closing soon- or was it?

In utter despair, the child eyed the digital clock that was on Ralph's nightstand. She realized in horror only then that she had somehow fallen asleep at some point because she had read her stupid, analog clock wrong.

It was actually 3:10. In the morning. Just a smudge past her time window.

Butt Fudge.

Vanellope sighed shakily, filling with defeat and panic. She knew she now faced a decision: name off some random excuse- just to be turned down, more than likely; or retreat back to her own room before Ralph woke up anymore ...but no, she just couldn't bear to go through another sleepless night.

Completely and utterly alone.

That's when it hit her like a ton of sugar-coated go-karts, becoming crystal clear in her mind.

Vanellope just needed to tell Ralph the painfully clear truth, afraid of his response or not.

With a true sense of sadness in her voice, the candy kid pushed away all the excuses and her fake bravado to call out to Ralph softly.

"I'm- I'm sorry I woke you up, Ralph," she choked out. "Nothing's wrong, I'm fine. I just...I just..."

"What?" Ralph hissed a third time, his voice clearly showing his grumpiness and irritation.

"...I just...don't want to be alone." Vanellope's tiny sad voice, despite being so soft, still filled the pitch black room and the void between the silence.

In pain, she knew. Any second, her best friend would send her back to her own room, her own bed. To be alone.

She mentally prepared herself for his growl, to spend the night sleepless, wake and alone.

All alone. As the rejected child had been all those years, anyway.

Instead, Vanellope was shocked to here silence...which she couldn't decide was a good or bad thing.

Then, after a few moments to holding a breath she didn't even realize she was, Vanellope found the silence quickly turned into the sound of a loud, defeated, over-exaggeratedly drawn out sigh.

After what sounded like a slight shift, Vanellope felt a gentle nudge on her arm suddenly in the dark.

Since she couldn't see, the child jumped at the touch from whatever it was and then even quickly disregarded it as just her imagination.

But it, whatever it was, nudged her again after a second, only a little stronger this time...and somehow even more inviting.

In growing hope, Vanellope gently reached out to touched whatever it was in front of her...and was shocked to feel just what it was.

No...was it really...

Ralph's large hand?

"Well, are ya gonna get up here or not, kid?" the owner of the hand suddenly voiced out, breaking her stunned silence.

Her eyes widening, Vanellope could literally feel her aching heart mending ever so slightly as she quickly grabbed his massive hand and allowed it to carry her up and onto the huge bed.

The child quickly crawled over to were the wrecker still laid on his side, already hearing his calming, constant heartbeat. One of his large, gentle arms was lazily held up, falsely begrudgingly ready to have the little glitch cuddle closer to him.

Her heart racing slightly in happiness, Vanellope quickly snuggled close to him, nuzzling her head against his chin right before she sandwiched herself between in her favorite spot in the whole world: the snug little spot on Ralph's neck, right in between the top his giant shoulder and the bottom of his face. It seemed to be perfectly shaped to fit her tiny body- and was right where she belonged.

After pulling her blanket close up around her and after she wiggled around to get comfortable, Ralph gently laid his hand to rest on Vanellope, his large arm holding her, cradling her ever so slightly.

Smiling, the little glitch turned on her side and scooted up a bit so she could lay her head on the side of his face...and although it was only for a brief moment, she could've sworn she felt Ralph smile himself slightly as she did.

"Thanks, Stink Brain," Vanellope, closing her eyes contently, whispered ever so softly to Ralph, bearly being heard as she winded her tiny hand subconsciously through his hair.

Ralph just huffed slightly in reply...but couldn't help but pull the little girl a little closer to him.

Was all this the most ideal situation for him to have this kid sleep with him practically every night? Not even close. Most comfortable, even? Not by a long shot.

But the gentle giant was just about willing to do anything to make the little glitch -his little glitch- feel safe, completely loved and cared about.. and he was her hero, after all, right?

It was his goal to assure Vanellope that she would never, ever feel completely and utterly alone ever again.

And if being cuddled close to him at night now did the trick for her, then Ralph could manage. Happily, even.

In his arms, Vanellope, protectively nestled in the safest place in her little world she could think of, sighed softly.

She did immediately feel safe, and knew, without a shadow of a doubt, that she was loved and cared about.

And what is more, the child that she'd never be alone again as she cuddled a bit closer to Stink Brain -her Stink Brain.

The candy president and her larger-than-life wrecker, snuggled close together, could feel themselves quickly slipping peacefully into a deep sleep of wild adventurous dreams. And before they knew it, both were snoring like the bunch of diaper babies they were until morning came.

And all without having to count any candy sheep.