It was strange to Robbie to hear how naturally and comfortably Sportacus read the books. He wasn't reciting them, but whenever he explained what some idiom meant, the Icelandic rolled off his tongue easily. His English was excellent, but it didn't feel as natural as this. The man wondered if he missed being able to speak his native tongue.

Thankfully, the elf was patient enough to not laugh at Robbie's awkward attempts at pronouncing various things. Sometimes he'd correct Robbie gently, and whenever Robbie got something correct without prompting the elf's eyes sparkled.

This was probably taking more time than Sportacus reading the books on his own. It may even be a bit longer than when Robbie was just translating on his own, though more accurate.

"Nothing in that one," the light elf said bitterly when they finished the first book. Robbie stared at it, now closed, shocked that they had gotten through an entire book. He then looked up at Sportacus, bitter was not a tone he was used to from the local hero. Sportacus looked… defeated. Robbie remembered a time when he would have been overjoyed to see this, but now it caused him to feel a pain in his chest.

"It's alright," Robbie told him quietly.

The elf smiled sadly at him, "I don't know if we're going to find the answer to this, it just upsets me."

"Why?"

"What do you mean?"

Robbie rubbed his neck, looking away from the elf, "I want to know because I'm a curious person. I want to know how things work. I don't know why you care."

There was no answer to that. After a moment Sportacus said, "I guess we should take a break before trying the next one." He stood up and took a few steps, leaning against a tree. His posture was slumped, and Robbie couldn't figure out why.

After Sportacus had stood up, Robbie realized exactly how close the two had ended up. For more than half of that book, the two had been sitting right next to each other. The man's cheeks heated up, and he curled his legs up to himself and rested his forehead against his knees. Even physically, he hadn't been that close to someone else for so long in a very long time. What had happened to his defenses? Why was his guard down?

"Robbie, are you alright?" Sportacus called. He had turned around to say something, and saw the state the man was in. Without looking up or moving otherwise, Robbie gave the elf a thumbs-up.

This did nothing to convince him.

Quietly Sportacus walked over to him and asked, as gently as he could, "Did something happen?"

Robbie shook his head, wishing the damn elf would just leave him alone. He brought his head up but refused to look at Sportacus. "I just need…" he couldn't think of how to explain it.

"Anything," the elf told him gently.

Robbie groaned, throwing his head back and placing his hands on his face. Sportacus leaned back instinctively at that, shocked. "Don't say that!" Robbie moaned and, without thinking, added, "I don't want to trust you." He curled back into himself after this, silently cursing that he'd said that.

Sportacus sat back sadly, "Why not?"

Robbie looked up at Sportacus, his face contorted into a furious glare. The elf smiled gently at him. The man looked away, "Why do you want me to?"

Sportacus scratched his cheek nervously, "Because… I want to get to know you better."

They both sat in what would have been silence if not for the sound of the forest. Robbie squeezed his eyes closed and the elf wished that he knew what to do. The man was clearly in pain, but he had no idea how to fix it. Some hero.

"I don't want to get hurt." It was a whisper so soft that Sportacus had almost missed it. He thanked whatever deities would listen that he hadn't, certain that Robbie would never repeat this.

The elf leaned slightly closer to Robbie, but not too close to try and avoid upsetting him. "Robbie, please look at me," he asked quietly, the man opened his eyes and looked at the elf from the corners of them. That would do. "I will never hurt you."

The eyes shut again. Nervously, the elf placed a hand on Robbie's shoulder. The man flinched at it.

"I am so sorry, Robbie."

That got a reaction. The man looked up in confusion, his head and torso turning so he could see the elf. "What for?"

"For all the time I've been in Lazytown," he answered, "that I never helped you. I failed to be the hero you needed."

Robbie shook his head, covering his face with his hand. "Doesn't matter," he said, his voice thick, "I never wanted your help."

"I still should have offered it."

"Why are you saying this?" Robbie asked, hand still covering his face.

Sportacus sighed, "Because you deserve it. You deserved better."

Robbie wiped his hand across his face, trying to remove any evidence of tears, before letting it fall to his side. He brought his other hand up to his shoulder and placed it over the hand that was still there. The elf smiled at him. He stared at the ground in front of him.

"Why do you care so much about finding out why dark and light magic doesn't mix?" he asked again.

"Does it matter?" Robbie shot a glare at him, and Sportacus bit his lip. "I guess… I care because… I don't like the idea that any part of us is hardwired to be wrong."

"It's not hardwired to be wrong, it just doesn't agree," Robbie pointed out nervously.

The elf smiled sadly at him, "I know, but I mean…" he took a deep breath and sighed, looking down, "It's like we're hardwired to be wrong for each other."

"What?"

Sportacus looked up with a slightly strained smile and took his hand back, "Don't think anything of it."

Robbie shook his head and started fidgeting with his hands, "Please tell me?" The elf laughed nervously, running his hand through his hair and looking away. Robbie watched this as his stomach squirmed and his brain tried to come up with other reasons the elf could be acting like this, "Do you not trust me?"

"I want to," Sportacus said quietly, "But I don't want to get hurt either."

"Could telling me hurt you?" he asked, the elf nodded. Robbie swallowed nervously and shifted so he was sitting next to Sportacus, placing his arm around the elf's shoulders. Sportacus looked up at him questioningly.

"I can't say I wouldn't hurt you, you're right not to trust me, but I'm sorry that you can't," Robbie said quietly, looking away.

"It's alright," the elf said, "I'm just glad you trust me as much as you do." Robbie looked over at Sportacus to see a wistful smile on his face, the elf was looking up at the leaves again. With a sigh he leaned his head against Robbie's shoulder, causing the man's face to heat up again and quickly turn away, "Thank you for coming today."

"Why did you want me to?" Robbie asked quietly.

The elf sighed and straightened back up, looking at Robbie with a sad smile, "Lately… I've been wanting to spend more time with you, this was the only thing I knew you'd be interested in doing."

Robbie laughed nervously. He was starting to get an idea of what was going on and he was frightened of the thought that it might be true almost as much as that it might not. "Why do you want to spend time with me?"

The elf looked away again, "If I tell you, will you stop?"

"I don't think so," he said quietly. There were a few painful moments of silence as Sportacus tried to decide if that was enough and Robbie tried to process what was happening.

"I like you, Robbie," Sportacus said quietly, turning back to look at the man whose face heated up at the way the elf had said his name. Sportacus smiled at that.

"What kind of like?" Robbie asked nervously.

The elf bit his lip for a moment, "Well, the kind of like… that makes me want to hold you and kiss you and make sure nothing hurts you again."

Robbie's eyes widened slightly before he turned away and squeezed his eyes closed again, "You're not lying?"

Sportacus sighed, turning slightly and reaching over a hand to gently turn Robbie's face back towards me. The man opened his eyes nervously. "Never." The elf swallowed, "Do you like me?"

"I don't want to get hurt," Robbie said in reply, "I… can't believe that you do."

The elf rested his head against Robbie's shoulder again, "I don't know how to convince you."

Tensely, Robbie moved his arm from the elf's shoulders, causing a moment of panic for Sportacus, but he only did just enough that he could start playing with the elf's hair. The elf blushed but sighed happily at that. He wanted to ask what prompted Robbie to start doing this, but didn't want to risk him stopping.

"Be patient with me," Robbie said quietly.

Sportacus smiled, "Happily."

"What about what other people will think?"

"I don't know," the elf said sadly, "I know you don't want to stop being seen as a villain, this wouldn't help your image."

Robbie looked at him in surprise, "I'm more worried about your image!"

Sportacus looked up at him with a gentle smile, "Don't worry about me. It'll be alright."

The man shook his head with a sigh, "I wish I could be as confident about that as you are."

"You just need to have faith in people," the hero told him. Robbie didn't answer that. It was the last thing he wanted to have. Having faith just in the do-gooder elf was making him want to lock himself in his room and never come out again. Faith in the town that had made him an outcast? No thank you.

Robbie took a deep breath and cautiously rested his head against the elf's. Sportacus responded by looking one of his arm's around the man's waist, causing him to tense up for a moment before hesitantly relaxing into it.

"Do you still want to find out why our magic disagrees?" Robbie asked him quietly.

"As long as you do," Sportacus replied, "I enjoyed going over the book with you."

"So did I."

"Do you want to start on another one?"

"Actually," Robbie said quietly, "I'd rather just stay like this for awhile."