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He had his wish, what he had been struggling to get for years! Finally, after all the failed schemes and all the attempts, he had what he wanted. Sportaflop was gone—or at least he was leaving. The blue flipity flopity elf had ran the villain dry on ideas, so it ended up that nobody needed help. Though Spotacus was fond of the town, he had to move on—it was his job to move from town to town to save people, and since things were calm in Lazy Town, there was no more saving to do.
The children were upset, to know that they might never see Sportacus again, and the adults did their best to comfort their cries of sorrow and pleas for the man to stay. Still, with a bright smile Sportacus leaned down to their heights, the bright blue eyes meeting each of their eyes, gently telling them, “Don’t worry kids, if you keep me here,” he pointed to his own chest, right where his heart was, “If you keep me in your hearts, I will never be gone.” The kids let out a few more cries, starting to calm down—finding comfort in the words of the man.
Each child took turns hugging the elf before stepping back, allowing Sportacus to raise a hand, calling out, “Ladder!” before the long-roped ladder fell from the sky, landing only a few feet away from the ground, “Good-bye kids,” He gave them a final signature Sportacus salute, before grabbing onto a higher step of the ladder, “Be good and remember, eat healthy and always play!”
As he ascended the children continued their good-byes, watching him disappear into a blur of blue.
In the distance the red and purple clad man with his blue undershirt and slicked back jet black hair watches the same scene, a grin on his face, “Good-bye Sportakook,” he waved his fingers as the elf jumped off the ladder to the platform, “Do like the rest of the nine heroes and NEVER COME BACK!” The villain leaned forward as he yelled out the words, causing his lanky body to fall over the edge of the platform that lead down to his lair. He landed face first, getting a mouth full of fresh green grass.
“Bleh!” He spitted out the blades of green, shaking his head, “Disgusting!” Before standing up to dust himself off, he watched as the airship begins to pick up speed, vanishing behind the soft fluffy clouds. A few brushes of his vest and pants and he was up on his feet, a devilish smile on his face, “Now that Sportakook is gone, I can finally get back to the important things:” He grips the inside edge of his vest, letting out a happy laugh, “Being lazy!”
With another triumphant laugh, he whips around, hitting his knee against the cold metal, “Ow, ow…” He lifted the leg, running his hand over the injured area, “I…” he tenderly let the leg back down, keeping most of the weight off it, “I meant do that,” he nodded to himself and softly climbs on the metal surface, “of course.”
He hummed to reassure himself about the joy he was feeling—to ignore the pang of emptiness sinking into his gut—as he pried open the hatch before diving in feet first, disappearing into the darkness.
In all truthfulness, there was an aching in his heart and stomach, knowing that he wouldn’t have a reason to make wild plots to try to force Sportafloof out of the town. He was gone by choice, and now the villain was without his hero to bother and torment—as much of tormenting that Robbie could do to the cheerful elf. He was never going to be able to get enough guts to speak his mind, to speak his feeling—unable to admit the fluttering feeling in his chest when he was so close to the elf. It was a lost moment that would haunt his mind forever.
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It had been almost a year since the blue elf had left, and despite the lack of him not giving the kids “sports candy” and having them do certain exercises, the kids continued to play their games. Stephanie and Trixie would spend most of the day laughing and coming up with new dances to do, Ziggy switched between each candy and sports candy from day to day, watching and sometimes helping the two girls. Pixel created new unique inventions, even giving the genius villain Robbie Rotten a run for his money on the inventions. Of course, as always, Stingy would try to claim all the things the other kids would do, usually getting a laugh from them and a response along the lines of “Stingy, it’s not yours.”
But, through the whole year, there was somebody absent: Robbie Rotten. Since the departure of Sportacus, the sighting of the lanky man was a rare occasion. A few times Stephanie convinced Pixel—and sometimes the other kids—to go look for the man.
They search high and low each day, only to come up empty handed. Sometimes they would go to where they thought would be one of the secret entrances to the passageways beneath the town, only to find it missing or locked tight. With the failed attempts, the other kids gave up.
After time, everyone started to lose interest in what Robbie Rotten was doing, and some even seemed to forget who he was. What was a villain without a hero to fight?
The only one not to give up was Stephanie. The pink hair girl continued to look, searching for any clue or sight.
Finally, her efforts paid off.
It was a late afternoon, after the other kids had gone home to brush their teeth and head to bed. After being able to convince her uncle to let her stay up a bit longer, she waited until he was settled down before sneaking out.
And now she was outside, her eyes scanning around the town as she wandered, hoping to see any sign of the villain. It was then she saw the stripped suited man slink between the trees, a sight that would usually unnerve her, but this time it raises her heart.
“Robbie!” Stephanie called out, only ending up to startle the man. He jerked up in surprise, hitting his head against one of the lower branches.
Squatting down, Robbie rubbed his head where it collided with the limb, before his eyes went wide, turning to the pink girl. When their eyes met, he let out a gasp before making a bee-line out of the vicinity.
“Wait!” She reached out an arm, before running after the villain.
It was never too hard to catch up to Robbie—mostly since he really didn’t try to run, but that night he seemed a bit faster. He could be quick for such a lazy man when he didn’t want to be confronted.
Stephanie halted, now at the outskirts of the town. She gasped as she watched the man vanish behind a large billboard. Was this where he hid? She tilted her head, taking steps closer to the large sign.
Upon closer inspection, she noticed the outline of a door, something odd when it came to a sign. Gently, she pushed the door open, stepping through onto the cold metal surface. The hatch to the hideout was still open, probably only for a few more seconds.
Going on instinct, she quickly jumped over the rim of the short metal silo into the gaping hole. As she fell through deeper into the pipes leading underground, she felt the air rush past her, sweeping against her hair, clothing and skin.
“Stupid, stupid, stupid!” Robbie cursed to himself, slamming his fist against the table.
He winces in pain, before lifting the hand to cradle it in his non-throbbing hand. His perfect plan of sneaking out at night was ruined! That little pink-haired girl caught him, and soon enough he expected the whole brigade to come and scold him for whatever they thought he would be planning.
The lanky man sneered to himself, bobbing his head side to side, imitating the kids’ voices in an exaggerated tone, “’Robbie Rotten! What are you up to now?’” he changed the voice to sound like Ziggy, “’Yeah, what rotten tricks are you up to this time?’”
Then he mimicked Stephanie, “We’re too smart to fall for your tricks anymore!’” And then Pixel, “’Go back to your lair, nobody wants you up here!”
Without thinking he mimicked another voice, one he hadn’t heard for so long, “’Robbie, are you alright?’” When he spoke in the voice, he lost all words. His thoughts dropped the bitter distaste growing in his mouth, replaced with a choking held back sob. Damn it, he was thinking about him again.
Robbie cursed at himself again, the sneer coming back, “Don’t think about that!” He slapped himself in the face, before letting out a whimper, “Ouch…”
He turned to sluggishly stumble to the fuzzy orange chair when a sound caught his attention, something that sounded like… a scream? It was hard to tell if it was a scream of joy, or of fear, but it was close, and getting louder by the second.
Before a chance to react, it hit Robbie—literally. The pink blur shot out of the large pipe, flying into him. They both crashed to the ground, the tall man sandwiched between the blue marbled ground and the intruder, “Get off me!” He demanded as he pushed the person off.
Standing up, his gray-blue eyes met the form of the pink girl, “You!” He didn’t know if his voice raised with anger or surprise, “What are you doing down here? How did you get down here?”
“I’m sorry,” She averted her gaze, not meeting the harsh glare of the adult, “I was worried. None of us have seen you in such a long time, so I wanted to check and see if you were okay.”
“You?” Robbie leaned down, still staring down the girl, “You were worried about me?” His voice sounded harsh, but there was a hint of something else, as if he was surprised at the statement, “And why would you be worried about little ol’ Robbie Rotten, hmmm?” A hand was placed over his heart area, fingers trapping the golden chain that was fitted with his vest.
He continued to be leaned over, waiting for her eyes to meet his, “Is it because you want to poke at me and try to foil my plans?”
A snort came out of him before he stood to his full height, “Well don’t expect it. I have no reason to plan anything.”
Robbie threw his hands up into the air, turning his back to the girl as he sauntered to his fuzzy chair, “No reason to trick people, just staying down here in my lair,” he shot a venomous glare over his shoulder, “No reason for visitors, and no reason to stop being lazy.”
After finishing his words, he collapsed onto the chair, head cupped in one of his hands. Despite his efforts, the sob he had previously held back came out again, coming out as a strange, almost chocking sound, “Go away.”
Stephanie turned to face him, hands on her hips, “I’m not leaving,” She stated boldly, stepping towards the chair, “You’re upset and when a friend is sad, I can’t leave them without cheering them up.”
“Friend?” Robbie sneered at the word, crossing his arms over his chest tightly, “And why would you,” he put an emphasis on ‘you,’ “Be friends with me,” another emphasis on the last word, “The villain of Lazy Town?”
“Villains don’t need friends,” Robbie stated in a matter of fact, letting out a huff, “And since I’m a villain I don’t need…” His voice failed him, another sob slipping out. He covered his mouth with a hand, feeling the tears starting to form in the corners of his eyes.
He did this to himself every day: hold back the tears, bury the sadness and the loneliness. He was Robbie Rotten, Villain Number One! He didn’t need friends or company, or that stupid blue elf to give him motivation to make plans to try to kick him out of town! He didn’t need anything but himself and the solitude of his fortress. And cake, he needed cake.
The girl wasn’t convinced. A frown formed on her face, continuing her approach towards the man, “Everyone needs friends Robbie, even you.” She stopped at the front of the chair, looking down at the villain, “Villain or not, you need friends, and that’s why I’m here.”
It wasn’t hard to miss the sadness that hid behind the eyes of the man. He was deeply hurting and it made her hurt to know he was feeling that way. She reached out, taking one of his hands into her smaller hands, “Please,” Stephanie waited until his eyes met hers, “Tell me what’s wrong and I’ll do what I can to help you.”
Silence fell over the large expansive room save for the humming and clicking of the various machines and gadgets inside the lair. In those silent moments, the two stared at each other, older eyes meeting the bright eyes of the child. Innocence, something the man never knew.
Then, it all came spewing out, the tears falling from his eyes and rolling down his cheeks. He became a mess of tears and sobs, burying his face into his hands, prying the one away from the girl’s small hands, “You think it’s easy?” He sobbed, between the ugly sniffs, he spoke, muffled by his own hands, “that it’s so easy to make friends?”
The eyes shot up, glaring at the girl, “It’s not!” He stood up suddenly, his sorrow flipping to anger, “Just try going through your life where everyone hates you,” he took a step forward as she took one back, “As everyone looks at you like you are nothing but dirt! That they are too good for you, and all you are is…” It died back down to sorrow, his voice dropping to a whisper, “Rotten…”
He turned his back continuing to mumble—more to himself than to Stephanie, “And find that the only person who seemed to care about your existence flies away in his little balloon to a better life, to find more friends and be happy. Happy without me…”
Her eyes grew wide, hearing the words finally come out of the villain. He was lonely, afraid and hurt, and they never saw it. Were all his acts a want for attention, a desperate attempt to get the attention of others in the only way he knew how? And instead of getting the hint, they just saw it as him being tricky and trying to ruin their day.
“Robbie…” Stephanie’s voice dropped from her usual happy tone, her eyebrows lowered in sadness, “I’m so sorry… I never got it…” She felt the looming weight of guilt, “I didn’t know you just wanted attention, to be part of the group,” her words paused, thinking back to all the times, “And the only one who tried to be nice was… Sportacus.”
Her mind began to work, putting pieces together, “He cared for you when nobody else would. He needs to come back, to help cheer you up!” She nearly bounced into the air when the idea hit her, “Have him come back even if it’s for a bit.”
The man snorted, tightly hugging himself, “Too late for any of it now.”
His shoulders drooped, his back slouched, “Sportacus is gone and he won’t be coming back.” There was a heavy sorrow in his stance and voice, an emptiness left in his heart, “And you would think I’d be happy about it.”
Robbie turned around, the tears starting to come again, “But I’m not!” He whined, raising his hands to his chest level, curling his fingers in, “I’m far from happy! I’m sad, and lonely! I want him back,” his voice turned to a pout. Before he could stop himself, his blurted, “I loved that damn blue kangaroo!”
“You,” Stephanie blinked, surprised by the words, “You loved Sportacus?” She stood confused for a few moments longer, working to process the new information. She was focused enough that she failed to notice the change in the villain’s look.
He marched over to her, before picking up the small girl, surprisingly without any problems.
Stephanie gave out a noise of protest, struggling in his hold, “Put me down! I want to help!” Her pleas were ignored, before the man put her into a small tube shaped holder, closing the clear door.
Robbie stomped over to a small panel full of buttons and levers, before pressing a few, “Enjoy the ride,” there was no hint of sincerity in his voice, before pulling the final lever.
The sound of rushing air filled her ears as she began to move upward—slowly at first and then sucked up as if a giant vacuum collected her up. As she ascended she could faintly hear Robbie’s voice call, “And don’t come back!”
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Days had passed, and there was no word or even sighting of Robbie once again.
Stephanie was quiet, her usual chipper mood broken down to her responding to her friends’ cheerful conversations with “hmmm’s” and “uh-hu’s.”
She had made a silent pact with the villain to herself one night.
Stephanie hated seeing anybody sad, including the villain of Lazy Town—he was her friend even if he denied it with all his being. She would do something to cheer him up, and an idea formed on just how to do that.
For a whole week, each day she would write the same letter, put it into the tube, and send it high into the sky, in hopes he would get it.
One day, she got a response…
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There was silence in the lair, the gray-blue eyes staring up at the ceiling, listening to the deafening silence. His hands were cupped over his ears, mumbling things to himself to comfort his growing paranoia and loneliness. He wasn’t sure how much longer he could stand this without going crazy, turning back to those more wicked times to silence the voices of the past.
Then, a bang startled him from his own mind, making him lean back. The chair leaned back with him, causing it to topple over onto the floor. He fell back, hitting his head, luckily, against the plush surface of the chair, eyes closed tightly to try to banish away the throbbing that hit him.
When the banging died away, he listened for anything, something that would help tell what was causing the noise.
Nothing, until footsteps approached him, soft but echoing against the marbled surface of his lair.
As soon as they started, the footsteps stopped, a looming presence over the villain. An instinctual response came out, Robbie let out a heavily annoyed sigh as reached up with a hand, “Leave me alone, and get out of my…” his hand brushed against something thin that was long and felt like hair.
His hand felt around a bit more, before feeling the curvature of the face, the soft cap over the person’s head, and those goggles. He let his hand rest on the jawline of the person, wondering if it was all a dream.
“Robbie?” The voice called out, a hand grabbing the one away from his body, “Robbie, are you okay?” That voice, those words, giving him that warm feeling inside his chest. Happiness, something he didn’t feel often.
“Sporaik… Spotacus?” He corrected himself, slowly opening his eyes. There to greet him was the smiling face of that dorkish elf, smiling down at him, “I’m dreaming, aren’t I?”
“This isn’t a dream Robbie,” Sportacus gave a friendly laugh before grabbing the man’s other arm, hoisting him up onto his feet in one quick swoop, “Stephanie sent me mail, saying that you were really down, and that I could help. She also mentioned something else…”
Did that brat tell him? Robbie narrowed his eyes a bit, a mix of anger and complete worry in his gaze, “What did she tell you?”
“She told me about something you felt,” Sportacus sounded unsure at first, “She explained the feeling to me, and,” the elf hesitated, itching the back of his head, bouncing in place for a moment, “I don’t quite understand it myself still.”
The blue eyes avoided Robbi’s gaze, “She asked me about these feelings, but I don’t know,” Robbie could see the ears twitch beneath the cap, the frustration apparent on the elf’s face, “I don’t understand the feelings I have, and Stephanie was good and helped me out. She said it’s like being best friends, that you are close and do things together.”
Sportacus nodded to himself before raising his gaze to Robbie, “I had to come back, knowing that you were feeling down and that I could help you!” He took a step closer to Robbie, the lanky man flinching a bit—expecting something that was going to either be physically painful or emotionally crushing.
Instead, the elf went up onto his tippy toes and leaned in. Their lips met, soft against each other, gentle as they meshed together. Sportacus inched closer to Robbie, placing his hands gently on the narrow hips.
The surprise was quick to wear off, the hands of the villain resting against the firm pectorals of the hero.
For moments, they kept that way, time moving slowly—which they didn’t mind at all.
Finally, they parted the kiss, a blissful smile slipping onto Robbie’s face. He stood there, dazed by the events.
He shook his head, cleared his throat and adjusted the red and purple striped vest, “I didn’t know you felt that way Sportadork.” He wasn’t even sure Sportacus knew any other emotion that happiness and fitness—if that was even an emotion.
“I’m not sure what this ‘love’ means,” Sportacus nearly pouted, not liking having a problem such as his own confusion that he couldn’t solve on his own, “I can’t solve this problem and it frustrates me.”
Robbie let out a laugh, a genuine laugh, placing a hand on Sportacus’ check, “Then let me help with that problem. I am the Master of Disguise, but I’m also a master of emotions. I will help you,” he added quickly, “But don’t get too used to it, I am a villain so I have a reputation to uphold.”
The grin brightened into a dorkish smile of Sportacus, pulling Robbie into an encompassing and tight hug, “Thank you Robbie. I’m glad we can be best friends!” He let out, continuing to smile up at Robbie, “What’s first on learning this ‘love?’”
The lanky man let out another laugh, shaking his head, “You know kissing and hugging,” he pretended to tap his chin in thought, “Then that means the next step is, cuddling.” He felt happy for once in a long time, and almost awkward for it. He knew he had those strange feelings for the hero, the one man he thought he would never get. But here he was, Sportaflip in his lair, not to try to stop him from doing something devious—he was in there, looking at him with affection and love. That was a look he would never forget, and never want to see leave the elf’s eyes.
Robbie had never been one to believe in soul mates, or that people were destined to be together, hell if he didn’t have a grip on magic himself and experienced it, he would have though love was even more ridiculous that magic being real.
He always thought that love was never a thing for him, because he was a villain—and villains didn’t get happy endings.
Seemed he was going to break that rule.
“Cuddling?” Sportacus’ question interrupted Robbie’s thoughts, turning to see the elf with his head titled to the side, “What’s that?”
Oh, he had his work cut out for him, but he’d do his darnedest to teach Sportadork the meaning of love, to the level he knew of it at least. Robbie held out an arm, presenting the large fuzzy chair, “Sit,” was all he said before he himself sat down.
Sportacus plopped down next to him, the two barely fitting on the chair without squishing against each other.
Robbie began to instruct the athletic elf, having him move closer to the center and turn his body towards him. He grabbed the muscular arms and put them around his thin shoulders, before wrapping his arms around the lower torso of the other. He wiggled himself closer to Sportacus, pulling his legs up so they were on the main body of the chair, resting them gently over the other pair of legs. Once they were situated, Robbie laid his head down on the closest shoulder of Sportacus’, letting out a contempt sigh, “And that’s how you cuddle.” The elf smiled a bit, for once standing still without bouncing around or trying to flip the whole thing with him.
“This is really nice,” He smiled, not feeling uncomfortable, in fact the complete opposite: he was standing still, yes—which was usually uncomfortable for him, but here he felt beyond comfortable, warm in the embrace of his best friend, or was it called ‘lover’ now? Either way, he wanted it to last, “We need to do this more and longer.” He concluded that he didn’t want it to end.
“You can actually sit still for that long?” Robbie moved his head to look the elf in the eyes, amusement glinting in his own eyes, “That’s surprising,” then he hummed, “But I’m glad. That means more time with you.” He rested his head against Sportacus’ shoulder, sighing once again, “And that is fine with me.”
“Me too,” Sportacus agreed, the smile still lingering on his face, “and I’m glad to be back, with you.” He missed Lazy Town: the kids, the town itself, and he knew that he missed Robbie. They were hero and villain, pitted against each other every day, yet they developed this strange feeling for each other.
Perhaps the stories told were right: there always had to be a villain for every hero, and a hero for every villain—yet they didn’t expect it to end with the villain and hero falling for each other. It was all part of the fact Sportacus wasn’t a super hero and Robbie wasn’t an average villain: they were both slightly above average, a perfect fit for each other.