Burning Ice & Freezing Fire

Bad Luck!?

"...So... You two also were neither playing nor practicing when I arrived, right?..." Stephanie is sitting on the bed between her two friends and looks from one to the other.

Robbie who has just finished his muesli and now reaches out to put the empty bowl back on the tray shakes his head "No. I thought you were Nine. Stupid of me, yeah. I should've recognized your voice just as quick as Sportacus did, but...I guess the fear to get found by him simply made me terrified... And the only thing I could think about at this moment was to somehow try to protect our town hero at least..." his eyes move from the girl to his boyfriend who has just explained everything to Stephanie, including both of their childhoods and pasts, leading to the problem today, and his heart grows heavy.

The elf is still busy taking small bites of the apple, chewing slowly while his eyes are fixed on the fruit, giving away his sadness and desperation.

Robbie knows what is going on in his head right now.

He's thinking about the felf's strange attempt to let all this appear as if Sportacus had nothing to do with hiding him, and just found him, himself, to let Nine believe the elf wanted to fulfill his duty and hand the 'threat' over after all...

But although the hero is aware of the reason for his boyfriend's actions...he still doesn't know why he did it.

Like... Didn't they promise each other to hold together, to stand up and at least try to prove that Nine and the elders' point of view about stereotyping felves is wrong in case they get caught without any other plan?

And though, Robbie just would've sacrificed himself for his boyfriend, if this was actually Nine who found their hideout...

Sportacus knows he shouldn't be surprised about this.

And he isn't.

But knowing that... Even getting a proof like this...it hurts him.

It hurts, because Robbie must've thought that Sportacus would actually play along with his act and extradite him, just to save himself...

It hurts, because...if it actually had been Nine standing in that door...Sportacus would have had no idea what to do and how to save his friend...

And Robbie can read all this in his eyes when Sportacus finally senses his gaze, looks up and they just stare at each other for a few seconds...

"So you tried to pick up the act that you two are enemies instead of friends?"

"Hm?" the villain blinks in confusion and turns back to the girl again "...Yeah... Exactly..."

"Oh well, you should think of something else then," she shakes her head and chuckles.

"What? Why?"

"Because whoever sees you two together will never believe that you're enemies!" the girl laughs and shrugs "During all these years, Sportacus and you never acted like enemies. It was obviously just a game for you as well. And most importantly, you won't convince anybody that you're actually a bad guy, Robbie."

"Nine already believes this," the felf smiles sadly "That is the problem after all..."

"...No..." murmurs Sportacus suddenly lowly at this.

"No?" both, Stephanie and Robbie tilt their head.

"No," the hero slowly shakes his head "Nine doesn't actually believe you're bad... He wants to believe it... He wants revenge... He wants to see you suffer... And this job is the perfect excuse for him to achieve all of these goals..." the hero is aware that these are hard words, but he finally understood that Stephanie is old enough to understand all this correctly. Robbie lowers his eyes, looking down at his hands. The pink girl furrows her brows "But what did Robbie do to make him this angry? His pranks as a kid can't possibly have been that bad!"

"No, you're right. It's not Robbie's fault. His only 'mistake' was to be different than the others..." Sportacus' eyes move and lock with his boyfriend's "Nine didn't accept that. He doesn't believe in encouraging kids to move around, play and eat healthy. He believes in forcing them to follow his instructions. And Robbie...was the only one brave enough to stand up against him. I've met Nine just a few times personally, but I realized right away that he's a guy who hates nothing more than not being fully respected. That's why he hates Robbie. Because they are enemies since the very first day... And that Robbie is a felf only plays right into Nine's hands now..."

Robbie's nose starts to wiggle slightly. He knows just too well why his friend is so explicit about this now "...That doesn't change anything about the fact that you're in trouble now because of me. Or...because of what you did for me..." his eyes shortly move to the hero's new, but barely seeable injury and he swallows hard.

"Well... That's what Sportacus always does. I mean...by saving people he almost always gets in trouble, himself..." Stephanie folds her arms and smirks at the villain "So there's nothing special about this situation now. Stop feeling bad about it. The only difference is that it's just a little more complicated than usually... But therefore, we'll all work together this time and help Sportacus!" she jumps up from the bed and takes a firm stand right in front of Robbie, with her hands on her hips "Don't worry, Robbie! We won't let anybody take you away from us! Ever!" her smirk broadens a little "...Especially not from Sportacus!..."

Both men blush deeply at this and once more, Sportacus thinks this looks absolutely gorgeous on the felf's still far too pale face...

Stephanie smiles. She feels happy for her two friends, although she really doesn't understand why everything has to be so difficult for them now... But then again, everybody in LazyTown knows that Robbie's middle name is Bad Luck...

It simply becomes harder and harder to say goodbye to Robbie...

Sportacus feels strangely empty.

He doesn't even muster the will to do his usual flips while he's making his way to the airship. Invisible once again of course.

The look in the felf's eyes was heartbreaking, and not only because he's still worried about the, by the light magical loss last night, still slightly weakened hero...

Sportacus sighs mutely.

Being apart from his boyfriend simply feels unnatural to him. Especially in times like this when he needs to support him more than ever. But it just isn't possible. He has to go back to his home in case Nine is watching it or even gets the idea to want to talk to him again...

And he's already late.

They slept long, out of exhaustion, and telling the whole story to Stephanie during breakfast also took some time...

He smiles at this. He actually wasn't too surprised that the child took the news about the town hero being an elf and the town villain being a felf like any other news. Her only remark on Robbie's question whether she already knew this or why else she was so calm was the gentle reminder that they even have trolls in the close neighborhood... About which the felf truly had to laugh softly...

The hero sighs lowly and his thoughts drift off, to Robbie again...

The felf is so strong and yet so incredible vulnerable... Sportacus' protector instinct has always been strong, but when it comes to Robbie...even this appears to come to a new level. He's never before had the urge to just hold and shield somebody the whole time. If necessary until the end of their life... He'd do anything for him. Yes, even leave LazyTown forever, if that was his wish.

But, only if the felf would be safe! Not...in a situation like now...

But Robbie doesn't want that.

On the contrary.

He doesn't want to get saved.

He wants to...

Sportacus' thought breaks up when his airship comes in sight.

An ice cold shiver runs down his spine...