Pixel sighed as he and the other children, sans Stephanie, sat in the tree house. They were trying to plan a surprise party for the girl and they were doing pretty well save for one thing. The cake. Stephanie was the baker of the group but they couldn't ask her to make her own birthday cake and the baker was sick! What were they going to do? They couldn't ask Sportacus. As great as the man was he wouldn't really approve of a large sugary cake. Sport's candy was great and all but it didn't really belong at a birthday. They needed someone who knew how to make the perfect cake. Someone who knew sweets like the back of their hand. They needed…
"Robbie!" Ziggy's shout surprised the other children. Pixel nearly smacked himself. Why hadn't he thought of that? If anyone could make a perfect cake it would be Robbie Rotten. The man was in love with sugar! The children hurried down from the treehouse, running towards Robbie's house.
The sound of the group running was enough to wake Robbie from his post-cupcake nap and the man groaned. He was not in the mood for children. The banging on his hatch grew louder and louder as the children called to him and Robbie clenched his teeth. Why did they feel the need to bother him? The man threw open the hatch door, leveling a glare at each of the children until they stopped shouting. Trixie winced. They had gone a bit overboard with the yelling.
"We need your help!" Robbie raised and eyebrow and Trixie flushed. There was no need to shout.
"Oh?" Robbie watched as the kids suddenly began shuffling awkwardly and rolled his eyes. He looked towards Pixel, if anyone was going to act mature and tell him what was going on it would be the tech genius. Pixel straightened when eyes landed on him.
"We need you to bake a cake. For Stephanie's birthday party." Robbie nearly laughed. No wonder they had come to him and not Sportadork. The elf would probably suggest they have fruits and vegetables instead of cake and ice cream. The villain paused, wondering if he should reject the children outright. On one hand they were asking him to do work and Robbie was as lazy as one could get. On the other hand they were asking for sweets and no one knew sugar like Robbie, the added bonus that Sportacus would have to let the sugary meal be eaten while his precious sport's candy was ignored was the, well the icing on the cake.
"What flavors does she like?" The children sighed in relief as Stingy told Robbie what kinds of cakes and ice cream Stephanie liked. They had feared that they would have to do more to convince Robbie to make the cake but he had agreed easily. And now they could focus on making sure Stephanie had the best birthday party ever!
"Surprise!" Stephanie gasped in shock as her friends and family stood before her, smiling and laughing. There were streamers and a table full of presents and a banner with her name hanging from the ceiling! They had gone all out for her birthday and she was incredibly pleased.
"Happy Birthday, Stephanie." Stephanie found herself engulfed in a hug as each of her friends grabbed on to her. She could see her Uncle and Ms. Busybody and Sportacus over the heads of her friends, smiling at her and she smiled in return. This was the best birthday ever!
They played a few games and Stephanie managed to sneak open one of her presents before her Uncle herded her and her friends to the table for cake. She stared up at the magnificent mountain of pink and sugar. The cake was pink, with light pink icing and frosted strawberries circling her name written in elegant scrawl. After singing the birthday song and handing everyone, save Sportacus, a slice they each dug in. The cake was perfect! Strawberry and chocolate mixing together to create the best cake Stephanie had ever had.
"Tell the baker this is amazing! This cake came out perfect!" Stingy chuckled and Stephanie sent a confused look around the room. She didn't get what was so funny. Pixel cleared his throat, gathering her attention.
"The baker didn't make it. Robbie did." Stephanie blinked at him, waiting for Pixel to tell her he was joking. When he continued to stare at her Stephanie looked to the other faces in the room. Her friends nodded in agreement while she could see the surprise flash through the adult's face.
"Robbie?" Trixie nodded to her left before digging back into her cake.
"Yeah! And he did a really great job too!" Stephanie shook her head, trying to come back to reality. Robbie Rotten had done something nice? That was unheard of. Maybe it was some sort of evil plot? But if it was one of his schemes wouldn't he be here?
"Then why didn't he come to the party?" Ziggy spoke next, looking at Stephanie from across the table.
"He said he wasn't feeling well." Stephanie wondered if the man was actually sick or if he had lied to the others to avoid the party. Either way he wasn't here and she couldn't do anything about it now.
"Okay." They all went back to eating cake and soon after ran off to play a game of tag before it got dark. Stephanie pushed the thoughts of Robbie to the back of her mind, she would deal with it later.
Robbie sighed as he sat in his fluffy orange chair, a bowl of ice cream in his lap. Stephanie's party had been a few days ago and he had yet to come out of his lair. While he told himself that he had baked the cake to anger Sportacus he knew that wasn't the case. He had done something nice. For the pink pixie of all people. There was no denying it. He had baked her a birthday cake. There was nothing villainous about that at all. The man sighed dramatically, scooping another bit of ice cream into his mouth. He heard a knock on his hatch door and looked up in surprise.
Who would come to see him?
He opened the metal door, shocked to see the pink pixie standing there, a small bag in her hands. She smiled nervously.
"Hi Robbie." Robbie nodded dumbly, still surprised the girl was even there.
"Hello Pi-Stephanie." Stephanie grinned as the man corrected himself while trying to lean casually against his hatch door. His nervousness made her feel less awkward and she handed him the bag she'd brought.
"I brought you honey and tea. It always helps when I'm sick." Robbie nodded, completely forgetting that he was supposed to be sick. Still it was sweet of the girl to bring him something.
"Thank you." The smile that lit up her face warmed Robbie's heart.
"Thank you for that cake! It was gorgeous." Robbie smiled sweetly at the girl. As annoying as her energy and positivity could be he found he loved it when that adoring smile was directed towards him.
"I'm glad you liked it." They stood in silence for a moment, neither wanting to just leave. Finally Stephanie spoke.
"Robbie?" The man looked back at the pink girl, watching as she shuffled awkwardly.
"Hm?" Stephanie blushed, cursing her sudden shyness. Come on Steph! You're a big girl!
"Could you show me how to make cakes like that?" Robbie nearly melted, his mind already agreeing before his mouth could.
"Of course."