Burning Ice & Freezing Fire

Love?!

Love is a word Robbie doesn't really understand. Sure, he knows what it means and who's supposed to feel it and why. But it just appears so illogical and...fake to him... He can't remember ever hearing someone addressing these words at him. His parents? Nope. Definitely not! He laughs at the mere thought of this possibility. Anybody else? Negative.

No. Love has to either be a miracle, he has never experienced before or a terrible lie.
But...if it's the latter...then what is this strange feeling in his stomach that comes up each time Sportaflop saves him, holds him in his ridiculous strong arms or does even so much as smile at him with this nonsense-softness? He's not always hungry then...and absolutely not sick. So... What is it?
With a tortured sigh Robbie gets up from his chair and grabs the letter he wrote exactly three days ago and refused to send until now. He's been trying to get behind this secret for months already and finally came to the conclusion that there's only one person who might be able to help him find answers to his questions somehow. But since this realization burns almost worse than the empty feeling in his stomach due to his lack of food, because he's been busy thinking about his confusion in this subject and completely forgot to eat, he needed a few more days to actually force himself to send it...

What he did this just one minute ago.

And now, he is about to turn around and leave the place next to the mailbox when there's suddenly a hand on his shoulder. He winces and spins around only to look into a pair of bright blue eyes and feel this tickle in his stomach again.

"Hi, Robbie!" Sportacus gives him a bright smile.

That was a bad idea. He knew it.

"Er... Hi...Sportaflop... What...are you doing here?..."

The hero laughs "Well, you sent me a letter that you wanted to talk to me, didn't you?!"
"Uhm... Yes. No... I... Aren't you...busy or something?..."
"No."
"No...need for pushups or other nasty exercises or..."
"Robbie," interrupts Sportacus gently, his smile and eyes soft now "What is wrong? We haven't seen you in days out here and you don't look happy or healthy at all. Have you even slept at all?"
"Uhm... No... I've...been busy..." he shifts uneasily.

Bad idea. Really bad idea...

"That's not good. And you know that," the hero gives him a stern look before titling his head "So. How can I help that you finally get some rest?"
"...You...really wanna help...me?..."
"Well, of course!" Sportacus gives him a light, gentle pat on the shoulder "I always help everybody if I can! And you are aware of that, otherwise you would not have sent me that letter, asking for me to come down here."
"Right..." Robbie takes a deep breath in "Actually...it's...rather simple... Just answer me a few questions, will you?"
"Sure. What kind of questions?"
"About...the existence of...love..." he lowers his eyes, not wanting to meet the hero's at this moment. A pause. Then the hand is back, this time on his shoulder, and gently nudges him forward. Sportacus' voice is uncharacteristic serious "I guess, we should sit down for this. It might take a while to answer that kind of questions properly..."