A/N: Merry Christmas! It's Christmas Eve where I live, so I thought I'd finish this up and post it for all of ya wonderful readers! Less angst in this one, more fluff. Please R&R, and I love all of you! All of you are my baes! Ziggy's mom I kind of based off myself a little bit. Heheh. I plan to add her into more fanfictions, so yes. Robbie's backstory here might be a little confusing, but reading my other fanfictions would probably help. Thanks y'all, much love!
Sportacus sighed sadly and looked at the gaggle of children in front of him, all frowning in a circle in the snow.
"Sportacus, what do we do?" Stephanie asked dishearteningly, and Sportacus faked a smile for them.
"Well... we could visit Robbie and tell him how the investigation is going!" he said. Stephanie managed a small grin.
"I'd have to ask my mom first," Ziggy commented.
"Yea... I don't think my mom would let me visit a criminal," Trixie stated. Stephanie sighed.
"He's not a criminal!" she scolded, and then she added, "We do have to ask the adults though."
"I'll meet you guys there!" Sportacus said, springing up on his feet. Then he waved goodbye and back-flipped away.
Sportacus ran through the door of town hall, and down the hallway to where the jail cell was. "Robbie?" he called. He heard a small sound, and he stopped moving for a moment. It was a tiny whimper. Sportacus's heart dropped into his stomach. "Robbie?" The whimpering stopped. Sportacus slowly walked down the hall and peeked into the cell. Behind the bars Robbie was curled up in the corner with his knees to his chest and wide eyes. When he saw Sportacus he quickly jumped up and stood up against the wall, feigning casualty.
"Oh hey, Sportadork," he mumbled, and then he fiercely swiped tears off his face and grunted in anger and exhaustion. "What do you want?" he added in an irritated way. Sportacus's gaze was filled with compassion and hurt.
"Robbie… I'm sorry… I know it wasn't you, but Sheriff Payne just doesn't…" Sportacus sighed, and then he walked up to the bars and looked through at Robbie. "Robbie… c'mere," he said, reaching through the bars toward Robbie. Robbie tensed.
"Why?" he asked.
"Just come here."
"What are you doing?" Robbie asked, taking a step closer. Sportacus leaned forward into the bars and grabbed Robbie's arm, and then he pulled Robbie to the bars and embraced him as best as he could. Robbie tried to pull away but Sportacus was much stronger. "Wh… Why..?" was all he could say.
"Do you feel better?" Sportacus asked innocently.
"Why…?" Robbie mumbled again.
"Stephanie says hugs make everything feel better," Sportacus answered simply.
"Oh… but I'm in jail."
"We're going to get you out. There's no way Brian could keep you in here with the evidence that he has, it's nothing," Sportacus whispered kindly. Robbie unconsciously rested his head on the bars and sighed.
"I don't feel any better," he whimpered miserably, and he was horrified as a single tear slid down his cheek silently. Sportacus pulled away and cupped Robbie's face in his hands, wiping away the tear. Robbie's heart jumped up in his throat and he couldn't breathe for a moment, and he couldn't move either. If he could've, he might've pushed Sportacus away.
"Robbie, please don't be sad. It's Christmas! I know you're… in jail… but you don't have to be sad! We could…" he stopped as an idea dawned on him. "I'll be right back, Robbie!" he exclaimed, and then he rushed out of town hall.
After two full minutes, Robbie could move again. He turned his head to the hallway and looked at the door on the other end. The door Sportacus had just run through. He sighed miserably and waddled back to his corner in the jail cell. He sat down and pulled his knees to his chest, and wrapped his arms around them, resting his head on his legs. He found that sticking his thumb in his mouth made him even smaller, so he did that too. He didn't cry this time, he just thought, and when he heard footsteps approaching, he didn't move.
"Well, well, well, alone and in jail on Christmas eve? That's pretty sad. It's better than being at your house with your dad though, am I right?" the sheriff's voice echoed through the small cell. Sheriff Payne had been a police man in Lazy Town for a long time, and he knew about a lot of things that Robbie never told anyone, especially things about his dad. Robbie curled tighter in his corner. Tears pushed at the back of his eyelids, but he didn't open them. The sheriff leaned on the bars and snickered down at Robbie. "I remember that one Christmas when your neighbors called the police station and reported a series of loud noises from your house. That was your first Christmas in Lazy Town, wasn't it? You and your dad moved around so much. And Sportacus's dad, Number Nine, didn't even…" Robbie covered his ears and focused on his breathing. He didn't want to think about these things right now, he thought about them enough when he was alone in his evil villainy lair of evil and depression. Suddenly the sheriff's blurred voice was joined by another voice. Robbie opened his eyes and uncovered his ears. It was Sportacus, glaring at a very uncomfortable Sheriff Payne.
"Why would you say that?" Sportacus said. The sheriff refused to make eye contact with Sportacus.
"Well, you see, I- uh… Robbie, he…" the sheriff stuttered. Sportacus looked hurt and confused.
"It's not true, is it?" he asked.
"Um… yes, but I…" the sheriff suddenly looked at his watch and mumbled something before sprinting out the door. Sportacus looked at Robbie and Robbie realized that Sportacus was on the verge of tears. Robbie curled up even tighter into his corner.
"Robbie, I didn't know, I…" Sportacus stopped as a tear slid down his face. He buried his face in his hands for a moment before he looked back up at Robbie and forced a smile. "Um… so… I didn't want you to be alone this Christmas so I thought I would… well, why don't we wait and see?" he said as happily as he manage, and then he sat down in front of the bars and poked his face through as far as he could. He reached his arms through the bars again. "Why are you so far, Robbie? Come here," he said. Robbie looked at him for a moment. Sportacus wiggled his outstretched fingers and leaned into the bars even more. Robbie sighed and crawled over the bars, sitting directly in front of Sportacus, and looking him in the eye, blue to gray and gray to blue. Sportacus noticed for the first time the unique color of Robbie's eyes, but there was something more behind them. They had a lonely, sad look behind them. Sportacus had, until now, only seen anger in those eyes, but he saw something different now. He saw a man who was alone and hurt. When Sportacus was a child, his mother had always told him that bullies only bully if they're unhappy and don't like themselves. He remembered his innocent child-self asking why anyone wouldn't like themselves. He wasn't sure now why Robbie wouldn't like himself, he was talented and not bad looking. Sportacus had learned today that Robbie hadn't had a good past, but Robbie had risen above that. Sportacus wondered if he himself would've been able to go on after something like that. Suddenly he realized he had been silently staring into Robbie's eyes for about 2 full minutes, and Robbie didn't look the least bit uncomfortable. He looked lost in his thoughts as well. A noise outside brought him back to reality and he looked at the door in time to see almost the whole town walking down the hallway holding various Christmas decorations which they began to place all around the room.
"What's this?" he asked, his eyes wide. Sportacus smiled and stood up.
"Since we couldn't bring you to Christmas, we brought Christmas to you!" he chirped. Robbie's jaw dropped.
"But everyone… why? Why are you all being so nice to me?" he asked, and then added, "After everything that I've done?"
"We weren't going to let you spent Christmas alone, Robbie!" Stephanie said happily, walking up to the bars. He looked up and saw the whole town staring at him with smiles on their faces. No one thought he stole anything, or that he was an actual villain, but he didn't care anymore. The mayor was there, with Ms. Busybody, and the children were there too, along with their parents and Sportacus himself.
"You're part of our town, Robbie! We don't want you to be all alone when you didn't even do anything," Sportacus said. Robbie looked around at everyone and after a moment of silence, he began to cry. He said something that made absolutely no sense and probably wasn't even English and then he leaned against the bars and held his head in his hands. Sportacus wrapped an arm around Robbie as best he could with the bars in the way as Stephanie noticed a previously unnoticed decoration.
"I'm such a jerk!" Robbie shouted. "I'm sorry! I'm sorry everybody, I just… agh! I'm such a jerk!"
"Robbie, you never actually did anything… you know… evil. Just… mischievous," Sportacus comforted him as well as he could. Robbie's sobs faded away as Stephanie tapped Sportacus on the shoulder. She whispered something in his ear and pointed up. He looked up and his eyes widened. There, above his and Robbie's heads, was an innocent piece of mistletoe hanging peacefully from the roof. "Who… who put that there?" he said after a moment. Ziggy's mom raised her hand and smiled.
"Guilty," she said. Sportacus looked at Robbie who was still staring at the offending botanical monster on the roof.
"We can't break tradition, Robbie," he said. Robbie looked down at him, his eyes wide.
"Uh… Are… Why… mmmm," he mumbled something quietly. Sportacus looked up at the taller man and leaned forward. Robbie didn't move. Someone giggled behind him and he heard Ziggy's mom very clearly say, "Doooo iiiiiiittt Sportacuuuuuusssss." Before Sportacus could react Robbie suddenly reached through the bar, turned Sportacus to face him, leaned down and firmly planted his lips on Sportacus's. Sportacus gasped with surprise, but it was a pleasant surprise. The sound behind him was lost in the passion and intensity of Robbie's love, and Sportacus's eyes slid closed as he leaned into Robbie and returned the kiss. The only sound that registered in his brain was Robbie's breathing and Ziggy's mom cheering something. Robbie broke away and looked Sportacus in the eye. His face was as red as a tomato and his eyes were wide.
"Y'all see that! I'm practically a matchmaker! They were meant to be together!" Ziggy's mom shouted. Sportacus turned around shyly as she started clapping and hooting. Soon the whole town was clapping for no apparent reason as the sheriff walked back in. They were happy for Sportacus and Robbie. Stephanie's heart fluttered as she watched the town's hero find his true love, like in all of the fairy tales she read.
"Wh… what? What's going on in here?!" he shouted. Sportacus turned to face him and if looks could kill the sheriff would've been dead. Sportacus loved Robbie, and the sheriff had hurt Robbie. He'd never let anyone hurt Robbie again.
"True love is going on in here!" Ziggy's mom exclaimed, bouncing up and down.
"Sportacus found his soul mate! Just like Cinderella!" Stephanie added.
"What are you all doing!? Have you gone insane! That's Robbie Rotten, the town villain! He's not a friggin' Prince Charming!" Sheriff Payne shouted, jogging towards the jail cell. Sportacus stepped in his way and glared at the sheriff.
"Who are you to judge what kind of person Robbie is?" he asked calmly. The sheriff backed up. Sportacus was much stronger than him physically and probably mentally too.
"I'm the sheriff and if I think that Robbie is a dangerous criminal, then that…" he trailed off as he saw the look on Sportacus's face. He mumbled something quietly and then swiftly turned around and left the room.
"My last name isn't Rotten," Robbie muttered behind him. Everyone turned around to face Robbie who was looking down at his feet. "It's Ruzicka," he said. Sportacus skipped to the bars and gave Robbie something that was kind of like a hug but with large metal bars in the way.
"Merry Christmas, Robbie," he said.
"Merry Christmas," Robbie answered, looking up at all of the people gathered around in this one tiny room.
"Bessie didn't plan this wonderful celebration for nothing, let's party!" someone said, and then Christmas music began playing on Stephanie's small pink radio.
Robbie spent this Christmas Eve in a cold, empty jail cell, but it was the best Christmas party he had ever been to. The next day he was released and he and Sportacus had a wonderful Christmas with hot cocoa, presents and more mistletoe.
A/N: Thanks for reading! I love all of you! Fluff fluff fluff explosions!
