Well, here's my sort of entry for the Boundverse Rori Contest. I say sort of because it's nowhere near finished, like at all. Also, I needed to get it out quick so it hasn't been beta'd. Ignore the typos and stuff. They'll hopefully be gone next chapter :)

Anyways, this is going to be my rewrite of Robbie's life pretty much. It's going to be a little AU, but still fairly faithful to the show. A fair amount of the story will be set pre Hollywood Arts, so it will double as an origin story for how the gang came tother, too. All of the major events of the series will take place (eventually) though. I'm not totally set on the endgame pairings, but yeah, it's safe to say we'll be seeing RobbiexEveryone in some form or another. Enough gibbering, here's the fic.

"The road outside my house is paved with good intentions

Hired a construction crew, because it's hell on the engine"

- Hum Hallelujah by Fall Out Boy

Robbie Shapiro has always been that sad, and sort of lonely kid. As long as he can remember, he's been an island unto himself. He guesses that's why his test scores are so high. If there's a space inside of your head meant for friendship, then Robbie's is surely filled with unnecessary words like recalcitrant. That's a person with an uncooperative attitude towards authority, by the way. Robbie had stumbled across it during his brief attempt at being rebellious in the spring of 2005. That's not really relevant though, just a precursor to an evening where for the first time, Robbie doesn't really feel so sad and lonely.

It's summer now, and the night's air is just beginning to burn a little. As usual, eleven year old Robbie Shapiro is holed up in his room. His entire body rattles in alarm when his mom tramples her way across his room and blots out the television. He's kind of stunned that she's up here. He barely sees her unless there's a function for him to attend. Words that Robbie's not really listening to spill from her lips, and he laments the possibility of having visit with his parent's friends again. By the time Robbie pulls himself back out of his thoughts, his Mom is already telling him how much trust is being put in him tonight. Furrowing his brows, Robbie's able to piece together a few scraps of information, from the rest of what his mom says. Apparently he's going to be babysitting the daughter of a new couple his parents are friends with. With that realization, Robbie wonders why he's the only one in the room that thinks leaving an eleven year old in charge of an entire household for a night is a horrible idea. Naturally though, Robbie's mom mistakes his puzzled silence for acceptance and rushes through the door again a few scant moments later.

Robbie's lies on his bed and tries to watch the rest of Drake & Josh when a shadow from the doorway falls over him. Feeling his throat tighten, Robbie slowly removes his gaze from the television. Surely enough the hairs on the back of Robbie's neck are standing on end because beneath the doorframe is a girl that's somewhere close to his age. Strands of her chestnut hair swim around her high cheekbones, while the rest remains in messy curls on her shoulders. Robbie wonders what she could possibly be doing almost standing in his room. Sure she's wearing glasses just like his, but he doubts that she's short on friends. Maybe their parents are all just very strict or something, he theorizes. As Robbie continues to stare, mostly in befuddlement as to why he's the one she's being hosted by, the girl shifts uncertainly.

"Uh hi…Robbie. You're Robbie, right? My mom said your name was Robbie, but she's not so good with names. I hope you're not offended by me calling you Robbie if that's wrong…anyway I'm Vic-Tori, call me Tori. My friends call me Tori. Well, Mom and Dad do, at least…" The girl squawks, blundering her way into a spiel comprised of just barely coherent words. Eyebrows perking, Robbie watches the girl, Tori actually, as she wrings her hands fretfully. There's a teetering smile on her lips, and it occurs to Robbie that maybe Tori's a little more like him then just the glasses.

Eyeing her feeble smile, Robbie hesitantly peels himself away from his bed and slowly lopes over to where Tori is standing. Standing face to fa – er, neck actually, Robbie's a little dismayed to realize that Tori still sort of towers over him when he stands. Not really sure of what else to do, Robbie throws his hand between himself and his guest in greeting. Robbie's seen his father do it enough times that he's at least 47% sure that it's the right thing to do. That percentage flies into the high seventy's when the edges of Tori's lips twitch upwards, and she grabs his hand enthusiastically. It's sort of a nice feeling, actually.

"Robbie, I'm Robbie." Robbie says, smiling a little bit as he absently cradles his arm. It feels as though some of the tendons or muscles In his upper arm may have frayed under the strain of Tori's enthusiastic greeting. Her eyes flicker down, and the smile on his face mutates into something that's more sheepish then anything. Robbie's not that great with reading signs, or picking up on body language, but this he notices. An inexplicable feeling of remorse comes over Robbie, and words start dripping through his lips.

"Uh, so I'm watching Drake and Josh if you-"

No sooner have the words left Robbie's lips and a flash of chestnut hair is tearing past him. Blinking with a start, Robbie spirals around in the direction Tori's just flown. His eyes end up landing a spot that he'd only just been occupying. There perched on his bed, in his favourite spot, watching his favourite show is a girl that Robbie's only just met. Twisting his lips in contemplation, Robbie briefly considers allowing Tori to have his place. But then something odd happens, Tori looks over and realizes she's taken over Robbie's spot. Instead of laughing with glee like a normal person, the girl actually moves over. Behind his glasses, Robbie's eyes widen into saucers, the shock of it all bringing a sudden stop to the thoughts usually rampaging through his brain. After a short delay, Robbie swallows his incredulity at somebody being nice to him and not very gracefully slides onto his bed beside Tori.

It's less awkward than he'd been expecting.

Tori practically swoons every time Drake comes onto the screen. Robbie doesn't know why, but something prickles in his throat with each passing occurrence of this. Maybe he's actually allergic to girls, he theorises. During the advertisements, Tori enthusiastically tells him she's never missed an episode, and forgetting that she might be toxic to his health, Robbie's kind of impressed. Even he's missed one or two episodes since the show began to air in January since this parents insist on dragging him to their work functions and occasional dinner dates. Robbie mentions this to Tori, who casually alludes to her parents not taking her on their anywhere really. Robbie's sure she must possess some kind of girl stealth. How else could she evade the horrible family outings he endures? He wonders if maybe she'd like play ninja sometime. Already Robbie's decided that he'd much rather be a ninja with Tori than a prop in a ballroom for his parents.

Drake and Josh ends, and shockingly enough, Tori doesn't immediately flitter downstairs. She actually turns to Robbie and wonders out loud about what they're going to do for the rest of the night. Robbie's still grinning stupidly at the prospect of somebody actually wanting to spend time with him when his mother bursts through the door again at 7:03pm. She then makes some sounds about a pizza arriving in an hour, before scampering off again to do whatever it is that parents do on a Friday night.

Freakishly enough, the doorbell rings and it's three minutes past 8 O'clock. Robbie scrambles down the stairs and pays the delivery boy – er, man. He's a rather unsightly look gentleman, Robbie thinks. All crooked teeth and three day old stubble. He's punctual enough and hands Robbie the pizza without much of a fuss though, so Robbie guesses the guy isn't so bad. Clutching their pizza tightly, Robbie turns back to Tori. She's leaning heavily against the kitchen counter, already armed with not one but two plates. Robbie maybe swoons a little because of that. He guesses this is what have a friend must be like. It feels pretty good.

"You know, I hope our parents stay friends." Tori says a while later, looking thoughtful as she pulls her third slice of pizza onto her plate. Well, she's trying to look thoughtful at least. There's a long string of cheese hanging from her more and it's kind of maybe destroying the effect a little bit.

"How come?" Robbie blurts out, still struggling with his urge to laugh at the cheese on Tori's face. Tori squeaks, and then she's furrowing her brow in his direction like the answer should have been obvious. Robbie just stares at her and suddenly feels very stupid about the whole thing.

"So I can come here." Tori says, rolling her eyes as a grin splashes across her lips. Robbie feels his throat tighten up, but returns the gesture anyway. Tori's still smiling at him like he's not weird, and that's weird. Robbie guesses she just really likes the décor or something.

"Oh. Well, you have cheese on your face." Robbie notes absentmindedly, still drifting from thought to thought. Across the table, Tori cocks her head just far enough that strands of her brown hair lightly splay across her face. Things stay still for a moment, and then Tori's left eye twitches. Robbie's thoughts swing to a sudden halt with that. He can make out a dark bolt in Tori's eyes, the tell tale sign of a panic attack. Robbie's experienced enough of them first hand to see them coming a mile away.

"Not again!" Tori wails right on cue, swiping frantically at her mouth. She screws her eyes shut, and those high cheekbones stain red with embarrassment. Robbie's jaw swings open, but the reassuring words he wants to say get strangled in his throat. Tori squawks and flails around for a little while longer, but then she's collapsing back into her seat with a sort of exhausted chuckle. Robbie watches as the blush faces from Tori's face with a final casual shrug, and then it's like nothing has even happened. Robbie feels oddly reassured. Maybe Tori and him can struggle through the most basic of social situations together while the rest of the world breezes past them. Robbie's contemplated worse fates.

In that moment, Robbie decides that he too would like it very much if Tori's parents would continue to be friends with his parents.

A couple of weeks fly past and Robbie thinks it's safe to say that his friends are indeed good friends with Tori's parents. They're such good friends in fact, that Robbie sometimes wonders if they've forgotten that they're also parents. The worst part though, is that he doesn't even miss them. Robbie guesses it shows just how strained their relationship was that a strange brown haired girl can render his parents basically obsolete in less than a month. Robbie mentions his to Tori one night, and instead of looking grossed out like she should, all she does is smile. They also talk about Tori's parents, but she seems less concerned by her them and more content with Robbie's company. The whole thing is a little baffling sure, but Robbie's doesn't even think that he minds exchanging his mom and dad for Tori anyway.

Well Tori and his minder.

A minder, not a babysitter his mom had emphasized. Robbie wonders if she's developed a fear of the term babysitter in the wake of him and Tori redecorating the living room. It had happened shortly after Robbie and Tori had decided drinking an entire bottle of Mountain Dew in one sitting was a good idea. Robbie's mom had come home to cheese on the ceiling, and the morning after she'd hired his minder. Despite the intimidating title, Robbie doesn't think his minder is so bad. His name is Alfonz, and he speaks with an accent that's almost as thick as his moustache. Apart from cooking dinner and occasionally commandeering the television to shout at football matches, Alfonz generally keeps to himself if something isn't getting broken. It's an easy truce, and Robbie can't help but think his parents are even less relevant now. He only lets that thought take hold briefly before feeling guilty, though. Absent or not, they're still his mom and dad.

It's a Friday afternoon now, and like clockwork Tori's parents burst through the door with their youngest daughter in tow. Tori's told him about a sister, but Robbie's never met her. He assumes Tori's parents pawn her off on some other family whenever they leave Tori with him. As Tori's parent's dash off upstairs in search of Robbie's mom and dad, he notices something is wrong with Tori. She's slouching, and barely moving a muscle. Usually she'd have dragged him to the back yard by now squealing happily about the week's events. Watching as his friend lurches a little bit pathetically across the room, Robbie comes to the conclusion that a sad Tori is not the right kind of Tori.

"What's wrong?" He asks innocently, completely unaware of the Pandora's box he's opening with those fateful words. Probably for the first time since Robbie's met her, there isn't a smile playing at Tori's lips, or at least on the horizon. It's all so unfamiliar, and Robbie really doesn't know what to do. Tears begin to slide down Tori's cheeks and her shoulders rattle haphazardly. With that, Robbie feels the shards of something digging into the bottom of his chest. Scratching lightly at his collarbone, Robbie wonders what's broken inside of him.

Robbie being Robbie, remains silent as Tori whimpers lightly. Her lip quivers feebly, and Robbie feels something coil around his throat. This girl, the only one that's ever so much as talked to him, is falling apart. As he rakes his mind for a solution, Robbie stumbles over the memory of his new Drake & Josh DVD coming in the mail yesterday. Hesitantly, Robbie wraps his fingers around Tori's hand and begins the unexpectedly arduous task of extricating Tori from her place near the doorway. Cheeks stained red the entire time, Robbie struggles valiantly up the stairs with Tori in tow. Robbie wonders if he's this heavy usually when Tori is dragging him places. Momentarily impressed by her strength, Robbie wonders if he should voice this thought. Glancing over his shoulder and seeing that Tori's still crying, Robbie thinks that maybe it's not a good idea. He's seen his dad get yelled at enough times to know mentioning how heavy a girl is to her face is a terrible idea at the best of times.

"Why are you crying? We can watch this if you tell me. It's new – I got it off the Internet. I don't even – well we haven't seen it so it hasn't even been on TV yet!" Robbie dashes across his room, drags his DVD into his clutches, and almost bludgeons Tori with his words all in on movement. Ordinarily Robbie'd be feeling fairly impressed with himself for not stumbling over his feet. Right now though, it seems somehow not very important. Tori forces a smile at his words, but it's an unhappy twist of her lips that doesn't exactly allay Robbie's fears. Doubts begin to creep into his head. Maybe Tori's realized how lame he is, that there are better places to waste away a Friday. Clutching his DVD tighter, Robbie wonders if maybe -

"My hair is ruined." Tori states miserably, breaking Robbie from his thoughts. To emphasize the point, she lifts a few scattered locks where her hair has almost been cropped out of existence. Squinting a little bit, Robbie pushes his glasses higher onto his nose and cranes his neck. It looks a little bit like Tori has gotten into a fight with a pair of hedge clippers. He purses his lips and pauses to feel bad for her. Tori's told him before that her hair is the only thing she really likes about himself, ignoring Robbie's best attempts to mention all of the things he likes about her with a bashful laugh.

"So. Uh, what happened? Is that what I should be – um. You don't have to answer that." Robbie asks, suddenly staring intently at floor as random nonsense spews through his lips and pads out the silence. Feeling a prickling at the back of his neck, Robbie slowly raising his gaze and finds that Tori is looking at him. She's still whimpering a little bit, but Robbie could swear he sees a flicker of the girl he usually meets on Friday nights hidden deep in her eyes.

After several broken exhales, Tori forces the tale of her tarnished locks through her lips. She's been taking a dancing class at her school as an extra curricular because her mom had tossed her into it with the promise that it would improve her confidence and coordination. When Tori pauses, Robbie wants to tell her that she doesn't need any improvements, but the streak of yellow up his spine holds his tongue at bay. While Robbie's cursing his cowardice, Tori goes on to recall an incident from Thursday's practice which had lead to this current situation. Apparently she'd annoyed the wrong classmate and had ended up with several slices of cheese flat ironed into her hair. Robbie scrunches up his face and wonders what kind of person would do that. He also contemplates whether Tori had been a slaughterhouse owner or maybe a milk baron in a previous life. Dairy and Tori do not mix well.

"…and Mom said they didn't have time to get it fixed up properly right now, so I'm stuck like this for the moment." Tori concludes disconsolately, looking as though it's the end of the world. When another tear rolls down Tori's face, Robbie wants to tell her she's still the prettiest girl he knows, inside and out, lopsided hair and all. The fact that Tori's probably the only girl Robbie actually knows seems irrelevant. When he goes to speak, all that jumps from his lips is a jumbled series of syllables though.

"You don't have cooties." Robbie blurts out loudly, catching Tori off guard. She blinks once, then twice. The miserable expression lifts from Tori's face, and her nose crinkles in a way that Robbie's more than familiar with. He's seen that very same expression every time he's tried to explain his math homework to Tori. It's confusion, pure and simple confusion.

"Uh, what?" Tori asks, quirking her head slightly to the side. What's left of her hair spills onto her shoulder, and Robbie thinks he prefers confusion to misery.

"Cooties. You're uh, not - other girls have them. I don't think you do. You're like way too nice, you have pretty eyes, er and it doesn't matter if your hair is wonky. I still think that er, it's nice too. I mean, well I don't mean that it's nice as in it talks to me like the rest of you – Well, your mouth really, I…Turtle shells." Robbie babbles, finishing with a frustrated exclamation. How is it that a simple word could lead him into such an incomprehensible babble. Talking to Tori is supposed to be easy, well it is easy, maybe too easy. Robbie just feels ridiculous that whenever he talks about how he feels, his tongue begins to trip.

"Robbie Shapiro, are you saying you like me?" Tori queries, leaning forwards slightly and dragging out the word for emphasis. There's a sly look on her face, and all of the thoughts skittering around inside of Robbie's head come to an almost comically abrupt halt.

"Of course I like you. You're my best friend." Robbie replies in wonder, lips pushing upwards reassuringly. He wonders if his words had been that jumbled up. He'd tried very painfully to make it clear that Tori is his best friend. Maybe she has a hearing problem of some sort, or a vocabulary deficiency, he theorizes. Robbie's probably a bit too space out, because he barely notices when the grin on Tori's lips flickers.

"Yeah, best friends." Tori says, socking Robbie in the arm a little too enthusiastically. Robbie's not terribly sure about what to do next, he wonders about whether or not he should go and put the DVD in. Maybe he should go and prepare some popcorn, maybe – his body takes over. While Robbie's mind is preoccupied, his arms lurch upwards and expand outwards in offering. When they're almost fully extended, Robbie's mind re-engages and his eyes widen in horror. Expecting Tori to flinch, or say something about boys being gross, Robbie tries to drop his arms.

Except he can't.

Tori's already lurched forward, so Robbie's hands wind up striking Tori in the collarbone. It's not the perfect hug, not even slightly. Robbie's too small and uncoordinated to really do anything about that. Even still, he feels happy and kind of lucky. Other than her collarbone, Tori's soft and warm. Kind of like a life sized teddy bear, or that ratty Cuddle Me Cathy doll she sometimes brings with her.

"Feel better?" Robbie asks, the words scratching against his throat. Nervously, he waits for Tori to say something, anything. She doesn't though, not for a while, and Robbie feels like he's going to burst. When Tori finally moves, it's only to glance furtively over his shoulder. For a brief, horrifying moment, Robbie thinks she's going to leap through his open window. But then there's the flash of a smile and the sound of Tori clomping towards his bed.

"I will once we're watching this." Tori says hanging over the edge of Robbie's bed, collecting his Drake & Josh DVD from the ground in what could loosely be termed a barrell roll. From the slight crinkle in her nose, Robbie wonders if maybe Tori's already on the road to recovery.

With a slight shrug, Robbie prys the DVD from Tori's outstretched hand and strides towards the television. Bending at the waist, Robbie pushes the DVD into the player that's a new addition to his room. It's another present from his parents, and Robbie guess it's a substitute for their absence. A frown blooms on the edge of Robbie's lips at the thought of his absentee mom and dad. He's all set to start feeling sorry for himself until he turns around. Propped up on her elbows, Tori's looking at Robbie expectantly and patting the empty space of his favourite side of the bed. At the sight of Tori's improved mood, Robbie finds those depressing thoughts are further away than usual.

Robbie climbs onto the bed and stays there until after the sun rises again.

When the Summer Holidays limp into their last week, Robbie's parents have grown even more scarce than usual. In his less rational moments, Robbie wonders if maybe they're scared of the way the trees leaves are turning to rust. The rest of the time, he's got his hands full with Tori Vega. By the time the last Friday of their break comes around, Tori's practically become a part of the furniture in the Shapiro house hold. Robbie thinks she's a lovely addition to the houses drab décor, even with her new haircut. He's not so sure Alfonz shares a similar opinion, though. Robbie finds that his so called minder seems to sink into the shadows whenever Tori is around, which is often. Robbie suspects that maybe Alfonz is holding a grudge from the first time he'd met Tori. It was quite remarkable really, within three minutes of them being in the same room together, a bowl of cream cheese had wound up on Alfonz's head. Memories of that cream cheese though, that's what make Robbie's current situation so…well, so depressing.

Alfonz doesn't even like Tori, and yet ten days ago she'd managed to talk him into going along with what Robbie's come to regard one of the worst ideas ever. Fresh off a rare visit from her grandparents, Tori had darted through the front door clasping an ancient looking book that she'd claimed was her grandmother's cookbook. All bright eyes and even brighter smiles, Tori had coerced Alfonz into cooking every recipe from its pages in alphabetical order. Peering down at the green cube in front of him, Robbie thinks Tori's supposed cookbook might actually be some kind of medieval grimorie. Possibly one meant to inflict a slow, painful death on ones enemies.

"So…what's this?" Robbie asks, nodding at his plate, while simultaneously trying to avoid looking directly into the suspicious looking green cube sitting atop it. It's kind of tempting to jab the murky substance with his fork, but being the cautious boy that he is, Robbie is also a little afraid that his meal might leap up and attack him.

"Uh…Asparagus and Tuna Risotto." Tori replies, picking up the dusty tome that given birth to this latest abomination and scanning over it's contents. When Tori's sad eyes meet his, Robbie plasters a smile to his lips. He's fairly sure that she's aware of just how terrible this little experiment is turning out. Picking up his fork, Robbie hesitantly pokes his dinner. It doesn't attack him, so he prods it again. He's not really sure how long he's been jabbing his dinner when the lilting sound of Tori's giggling rolls through the air. Tori stifles it with a squeak when Robbie looks at her, and he feel sort of bad. Maybe he had been glaring.

"So uh, my parents left me some emergency money, and I'm fairly sure that this is an emergency. Pizza, my treat?" Robbie blurts out, trying in vein to keep a lid on his disdain for Asparagus and Tuna Risotto while simultaneously soothing his ruffled friend. Tori hums to herself, and prods at her own dinner in consideration. When it wobbles dangerously, she recoils in horror and drops her fork.
"Please." Tori squeaks fearfully, hands clasped close to her chest. A smile perches on Robbie's lips, and he gleefully steps in the direction of the phone. While he's ordering their meal, Tori ambles past him with their plates cradled against her waist. She smiles gratefully, and Robbie doesn't think he's ever been happier to make a phone call. It's not even because Tori's just put what had been their dinner in the trash. Honestly, that's not the only reason. Honestly.

No more than fifteen minutes later, Robbie finds himself parked behind another large pizza with Tori Vega at his side. Watching her struggle to pull a particularly tenacious slice away from its brothers, Robbie finds that he's not at all sick of eating pizza with her, even if his stomach kind of is.

Tori demolishes three slices, and then decides that hide and seek might be a good idea. Robbie doesn't have the heart to tell her that they're probably too old to play, and he's sort of queasy. Tori looks way too excited about the prospect of playing, her eyes are shimmering with delight, and her lips are twitching upwards happily. Robbie doesn't have the heart to deny himself that sight either.

That shimmer and that twitch, they're the reasons that Robbie finds himself sitting beneath the kitchen sink with a funny feeling in his stomach for the next forty five minutes and thirty six seconds. When Tori finally drags the cupboards open, Robbie just tumbles onto the floor in relief. He's so happy to be free that he doesn't even bother to check which direction Tori is sprinting off in.

Shortly afterwards, Robbie realises this gaffe and buries his head in his hands with great despair. Technically it would be cheating, but Robbie tells himself Tori was the one who went running off before he could start counting. Not that it matters anymore Robbie thinks, pushing the less than relevant thought aside and lurching to his feet.

After a rather fruitless fifteen minutes of searching, Robbie comes to three conclusions. One, Tori's exceedingly good at Hide and Seek. Two, it's going to be a very, very long night spent looking for the stray Vega. Three, it's not the worst thing he could be doing with his night. Loping through the halls, Robbie finds himself smiling just a little bit. The lights are off, but the shadows don't seem so dark tonight for some reason.

Well, one chapter down, about three billion to go. If you've got requests or ideas then now is probably the time to make them. Also, saying you like this and think it should continue would be pretty cool, ya know.