Chapter Two: No Pain, No Gain
I don't own Lazy Town. See Author's Note at the end.
The hero had yet to figure out what he was. On one hand the villain was glad he hadn't. The elf would want to try even harder to be friends with him. On the other hand it had been long enough that the damn elf should have figured it out. He was always looking through some of the smaller glamours he wore, crashing through the simple wards on his home with ease and always breaking his deals.
Robbie flopped into his chair and sighed before wiggling in the seat.
That was something else that was annoying him. Lately his back had been bothering him. Not a lot, almost like a mild sunburn. It didn't feel like a normal pain either. Over the years he had thrown his back out and pulled muscles when doing heavy machine work and it didn't feel anything like that. It was around the center of his upper back and so far wasn't a big deal.
But it was starting to hurt more than it had in the past week.
Grumbling he got out of the chair and unbuttoned his vest, throwing it over the back of his chair before tugging his shirt off and pitching it to the side. He clapped and the mirror lowered from the ceiling, stopping just short of hitting him. Turning his head he looked at his back.
"Well shit."
There were raised bumps on his back. Two of them, between his shoulder blades and spine. The skin on the bumps was red, just like a sunburn but there was no peeling skin or oozing liquid. It was hard when he twisted around and poked it with a finger. He had a guess to what it was and his stomach dropped at the thought of such a thing growing from his back.
"Why the hell is this happening now? Some sort of late puberty, or because Sportanoodle is here and there's more magic in the air?" Sitting back in his chair he thought about it before finally falling asleep.
Maybe ignoring it wasn't the best plan. As the weeks went by it started to hurt more and more. The bumps got bigger and bigger until they were over five inches long. He had started walking around shirtless in his lair and sleeping on his stomach to keep pressure off of them. He hardly left his home and even when he had to for food or parts it was a quick trip under a heavy glamour so he wasn't bothered.
He wasn't really shocked when Sportacus finally fell into his lair, just barely missing landing on him.
"Robbie! We haven't seen you in awhile and I was getting worried and what is wrong with your back?" The hero had flipped over the chair so he was standing in front of Robbie, a frown on his face.
"What's it look like Sportadork?" he sneered at the man, propping his chin up on his hand so he could better look at the elf's reaction.
"Honestly? It looks, well, it looks like you're growing wings. But that can't be right, you're human."
Robbie couldn't help but laugh at the elf. It was loud and harsh. The sound echoed in the cave-like home. It was the longest Sportacus had ever seen the man laugh at something. When the villain finally got ahold of himself he wiped moisture away from his eyes before looking the elf square in the face.
"Does it look like I'm human right now? Or how about all the times I'm only discovered when something falls off my disguise? What about the times the kids walk past me but I'm right there? How about when I'm in one spot and suddenly in another? Face it Elf, you're not the only myth in town. You're just too bad at magic to figure out." Sportacus frowned as Robbie belittled him, the villain's eyes slowly turning a purple color as magic leaked into them. He could feel the pull of it in the air, something sickly sweet like the sugar Robbie loved to eat.
"Are you...part something?"
The villain propped himself up high enough to slow clap, "Give the hero a prize. Yes, I'm part something else. Care to guess what or do I need to spell it out for you?"
"Fae. There weren't many fairies around my home but there were a few when I was growing up that got their wings." Sportacus was sitting on the floor now, eye level with the villain.
"Goodie. Any reason someone half-fae would be growing them now when they're so far into their life?" It was a retort dripping with sarcasm, he wasn't expecting the hero to smooth out the end of his mustache and think.
"The Fae are normally born with their wings. If they grow any later in life it's during puberty when they are about...somewhere between 30 and 40 years old. For Fae that's very young. Maybe because you're half Fae it still needed the same number of years but since you age like a human it's happening now." He paused for a moment and the stood up and loomed over the villain with a frown on his face. "I can take away the pain but it looks like they're about to come out. It might be better to go ahead and help them along."
Robbie sighed and buried his head in the top of his chair, waving a hand around. "Let me guess. It will involve cutting them out."
"There's not really another way. Do you want me to?" there was an unspoken 'Do you trust me' in his words. If Robbie didn't want him there then Sportacus would leave, even if it wasn't the best for the other man.
"There's no other way, is there?" He sat up and walked over to the kitchen, ignoring the squawking noise of the hero as he retrieved a knife. He looked over the blade, touching it to his hand before handing it over to the hero. "Here, it's not iron. I'm getting a bowl and towel, I'm assuming there's going to be blood." The villain didn't wait on the hero to answer, instead strolling through his home and getting the things before handing them to Sportacus and laying back down in the chair.
"Well if you're doing it be quick."
"It will hurt, are you ready?"
"Ready as I'll ever be. Get to it Sportacus."
He must be nervous if he was using the hero's real name. "Ok. I'll cut them both and then clean them, alright?" Sportacus didn't wait for an answer, instead placing a hand beside the first bump and and placing the knife to the skin before pressing down and pulling it through the flesh.
Robbie let out a scream, muffled by the chair's fabric as Sportacus cleanly cut through the first bump and then the next, taking less than two minutes to finish the job.
"Ok, they're free. I'm going to clean around them first and then uncurl them. The worst is over." The water felt wonderful against Robbie's skin and he wondered if Sportacus was mixing healing magic in with the liquid. It didn't take away all of the pain but it lessened it.
What was odd was feeling the hero gently touch the new wings. They were sensitive and he shivered as Sportacus worked at unfurling them. He kept his face buried in the chair, not wanting to look and see the new appendages sprouting from his back.
"There. You shouldn't move for awhile, they need time to dry. They aren't big enough to fly with, but I don't know exactly how Fae fly to begin with. Maybe you can!"
"Yeah, because being high in the air is something I like. Leave me Sportakook, I want a nap." He could hear Sportacus moving around his home; the sound of water going down a drain and the knife being set on the counter.
"I'll be back tomorrow to check on you. Resting is probably best for you right now. I'll have the children play something quiet; pleasant dreams Robbie." There was the sound of the hero going up the tube and soon there was silence in the lair.
Author's Note: I wasn't expecting to add more to this. Then I read "My Other Half" by HappyKonny on AO3 and that went out the window. I love what they are writing and can't wait to see how it ends but I also really love a snarky Robbie and when I was reading their's a lot of Robbie's little monologues here just popped into my head. There will be another chapter at least to this.