Robbie awoke abruptly and jolted up, seeing a view of cloudy pre-sunset sky against the wacky architecture of Lazytown. "Wha- what happened? How come I'm HERE?" A sparkling voice laughed from behind him. "You fell out of a treehouse window and fainted when you fell into my arms, as far as I know." Robbie whipped around, his eyes wide. "Sportacute-I MEAN UM UH- SPORTAKOOK?!" He buried his face in his hands to hide the returning blush, and nearly fell off the bench they were on. Sportacus laid a hand on Robbie's shoulder to steady him. "Don't go falling places again," he remarked, "although, yes, I will always be there to catch you. Anyway, what's got you so flustered, Robbie? And why did you call me...Sporta-cute?" He hesitated to repeat the last word, a nearly-hopeful twinkle shining in his eye. Robbie screeched inhumanly. "SORRY I UH I DIDN'T MEAN IT UM AHAHA IT WAS AN ACCIDENT I'M CLUMSY WHEN IT COMES TO WORDS HAHAHA-wait, did you say Robbie? You saw past my disguise?!" Sportaflop's expression seemed to dim. "oh, you didn't mean it?...okay..." he said in a small voice. He laughed it off, his energy and charm re-brightening. "And yes, Robbie! You know I always do!" (The emotional tension of the situation was absolutely infuriating.) "On a side note," he added, trying to save the conversation, "I really like what you've done with Rottenella's outfit. You're such a talented designer!" Robbie's blush refused to leave his face. Sportacus started blushing too, but out of anxiety, tried to find a quick way to escape the situation. He made a beeping noise. "Oh that must be my crystal!" Promptly, he jumped up off the bench. "Gee! I'd better go! Bye Robbie!" He smiled at Robbie, patted him on the shoulder, and did a cartwheeling backflip that was more spastic than usual, careening over the wall. Once he was out of sight, Robbie positively melted. He slunk down onto the floor, and released a shriek resembling that of a fangirl's squeal. "I fell out of a treehouse..! INTO, SPORTAFLOP'S, ARMS?!" He released another strangled squeal. "And then he SMILED at me, and I FAINTED?! And I called him SPORTACUTE. OUT LOUD." His next marvelous noise was (yet again) definitely not human; it was an amalgamation of excitement and embarrassment. A realization stumbled into his brain. "Waitwaitwaitwaitwait he was actually SAD when I said I didn't mean it, which could ONLY MEAN THAT HE-!"
"He called me Sportacute?! And he said he didn't mean it but then he was blushing really hard?!" Sportaflop confessed to the stark white walls of his airship; he was flipping all over the place with twice as much energy as usual. At this point, he knew he was blushing too. "But now I feel REALLY BAD because I just- FAKED my crystal beeping to escape the situation because I was going to burst with glee any second! I don't think I'm supposed to do that, and I REALLY don't wanna lie to my friend...! What do I do?! How do I solve this! How do I tell him how I feel?! He looked at his clock and realized it was 8:00 at night. "OH MY GOODNESS! I didn't realize it was getting this late! I really have to go to bed! He did his nighttime routine at lightning speed and snuggled up into his bed. To his dismay, his mind raced and kept him awake. He couldn't stop thinking about Robbie, and having had no previous romantic experience, he had no idea what it could possibly mean. Deep into the night, he tossed and turned, wavering in and out of dreams and consciousness. After his long, sleepless night, the sun bounced into the sky; Sportaboi hadn't ever noticed how weirdly abrupt the change seemed, because he was never awake for it. He groaned; instead of smiling and flipping out of bed, he stretched and groggily hit the floor. "Wow, I'm only this tired during my sugar meltdowns," he commented, "insomnia really isn't my thing. I wonder why Robbie kept me up...?" He walked (WALKED!) over to his pantry, touching its opening button with a lethargic step. Every kind of sportscandy was on the wall; the sight filled Sportacus with glee, and some of his energy returned. One bite of an apple had him back to his normal flippty-floppity self. He exuberantly made himself breakfast (today, it was freshly-squeezed pineapple juice, prepared with overly too many aerobic stunts. Again.) Once he finished, his crystal flashed and beeped. "Someone's in trouble!" His guilt about yesterday momentarily returned, but he shook it off and steered his airship down to the town.
A rogue rocket careened out from behind the billboard at the edge of town, sparking and smoking. Haphazardly holding onto it was Robbie Rotten. Sportaboi noticed how his lanky silhouette looked against the shapes of the clouds, and started blushing slightly at the sweetness and hilarity of the situation. It took almost too long to realize that Robbie was propelling straight toward him. "DOOR!" he screamed, signaling it to open. He veered the blimp to the side, and with pure cartoon-logic luck, the rocket shot right through the opening. It fizzled out, landing with a THUNK on the floor. Sportabro helped Robbie to his feet. "Stupid...rocket science..!" he mumbled resentfully. Sportacus just shook his head and grinned. "I'm going to guess it's another failed invention, then?" he inquired. Robbie nodded groggily, his eyelids threatening to drop, which sparked Sporp's concern. "You really need to sleep, did you really stay up all night?" he gently chided. "No wonder the rocket didn't go as planned; that's dangerous, Robbie." Crossing his arms, the villain pouted before agreeing reluctantly. Sportaflop briefly considered taking him back down to his lair, but seeing how the poor man was stumbling around dead on his feet made him decide otherwise. He softly commanded, "Bed." It folded out from the wall, slightly startling Robbie. Sportasweet put a protective arm around his shoulders, leading him towards the safe haven of much-needed rest. He was nearly asleep before he'd even fully reached it. "You've gotta stop staying up late just so you can scheme against me, silly," Sportaboi recommended while tucking him in. Robbie groaned a little in protest, but was too tired to argue. Sportabro sighed to himself, exiting the airship to go patrol the town.(and restock his sportscandy, because his apples had ran out again.) As he was climbing down the ladder, he took another look at Robbie, in the rarity of a peaceful rest. "What is it with you and passing out in my arms?" he questioned, half-joking. Still, he couldn't ignore that he was blushing profusely at asking that out loud.
It wasn't a blue-gray periscope watching Sportacus for once. It was a pair of neon pink binoculars. Seeing that Robbie wasn't with him sparked her curiosity. She reached for her purse, pulling out her fuzzy heart diary and unclasping it. "Dear Diary: I noticed something REALLY weird this morning. Robbie Rotten soared out of his lair on a broken rocket, straight up to Sportacus' airship. That's awfully strange, because now Sportacus just came down from his airship and Robbie wasn't with him! What happened? I have to investigate and see what's going on." She quickly shut it, a determined expression on her face. She crouched behind a wall, listening for flippy-woosh noises. Once they quieted down, she dashed out from her hiding spot. "It's not really wrong to go in Sportacus' airship when he's not there," she convinced herself. "After all, I'm only trying to help!" She climbed the ladder carefully, but still shuddered and clung to it when it swayed in the wind. Based on past experience, she knew that the blue kangaroo would be stuck starstruck in the produce aisle for at least an hour, so she had adequate time. Once she reached the airship, she noticed immediately that something was amiss- Sportaflop's bed was down. Normally, it'd go back up; Stephanie knew how the airship worked, since she'd gotten tours on multiple occasions. She shook off the happy nostalgic thoughts and focused back on her mission. Sloooowly, slooooowly, she crept over to the bed. A snoring figure lay in it, and she could tell exactly who it was from the gelled pompadour hairstyle. "Robbie Rotten?!" she whisper-shouted, nearly forgetting to lower her voice. His expression scrunched, and he stirred a bit. Stephanie was mortified at having woken up. But still, why was he here in the first place? It was a close match, but her curiosity won over her. She stayed by the edge of the bed as Robbie woke up. "S...spor...b...sporta..baby..." he mumbled, resuming his slumber. Stephanie's eyes nearly popped out of her head; she could NOT believe it- what had she just heard?! A devilish grin infected her face. She snuck back to the exit, a plan already forming in her mind. She had to tell her friends about Robbie's crush. If it was solely up to them to get the two together, then she'd make it happen.
"WHAT?! Are you serious!?"Stingy caterwauled, taken aback. Stephanie nodded vigorously; Pixel was smug, looking at a chart on his computer. "There WAS a 79% chance that Robbie would end up falling in love with him," he commented. Trixie punched the air and hissed, "Yes! Finally!" Ziggy was a little confused about the subject of love, but went with the flow anyway. Rottenella smiled, enjoying being a part of the group even after they'd figured out who she was. "I solemnly swear to not let any parts of this plan slip to Father," she promised; "after all, I'm my own person, and it would be extraordinarily fun to keep a secret." The others giggled, and they all sat around their treehouse in a circle. "Today is the launch of Project G.R.A.S.S.-" Stephanie stated matter-of-factly, "-Get Robbie and Sportacus Super-gay!" Stingy interjected. "Wouldn't that be GRASSG?" "Compound words," Stephanie retorted, which seemed to satisfy him. She launched into a passionate rant about all the evidence they could utilize to bring them together; Pixel being a thoughtful scribe, Trixie drawing out a battle plan map, Ziggy enjoying candy, Stingy absorbed in the story so the knowledge could be HIS, and Rottenella sitting with an expression more broodingly evil than Robbie's could ever be. They sat discussing their plan, absorbed so much in their thoughts, that when Sportacus popped his head up through the trapdoor and greeted them, they all nearly jumped out of their skin. "HI, Sportacus!" Trixie said gleefully, a bead of sweat dribbling down her forehead as she tried to quickly change the subject. "How's it going?" he inquired innocently, having no idea what was actually happening. The kids all replied with slightly differing responses of "Good." Noticing the little things like he always did, Stingy suddenly piped up. "Wow, that's a lot of sportscandy, Sportacus; you should really go back to your ship and put it all up!" The others nodded approvingly, trying desperately to telepathically convince him. He looked down at the copius bags strewn on his arms; he was carrying about 20 at once with no problem. "That's a good idea! And wait!" He paled. "I have to go back there to check on-!" He paused when he saw the wide eyes of the kids. "Check on the...mechanics!" he said slowly, laughing nervously. "I'd hate for it to sputter out in the sky. Gotta go, bye kids!" He didn't flip away, to make sure that his precious fruit didn't get bruised. The kids waited until he was surely gone before resuming their conversation. "Why didn't he want to tell us Robbie was up there?" Ziggy asked. Steph giddily squealed, "Because I think he has a crush on Robbie too!" Trixie was slightly skeptical. "Does Sportacus even know what romantic feelings are?" she teased lightly. "Well, sure;" Rottenella added, "he likely just doesn't know how to identify them within himself." Stingy eagerly chimed in, "Which will make it even cuter when they actually fall in love!" They had a picnic in the treehouse, deviously making their matchmaking plan together all day- they even wrote another flash-mob song about it.
Meanwhile, Sportaboi returned to his ship, relieved to find that his unexpected guest was still comfy. He smiled while setting down his grocery bags and extracting his pantry-counter. He tried to QUIETLY juggle them and backflip-toss them into their slots, but it still caught the ear of the dreaming insomniac. "Hhnnnghh...dun go a..away…" he grumbled, fidgeting in his sleep. His brow furrowed and he held the pillow, whimpering slightly. Sporpaborp's heart melted. He held back from flipping when he approached him (he had to be careful not to make a sound.) Robbie was obviously having a bad dream, and Sportasweet desperately wanted to comfort him. On an emotional whim, he gingerly interlaced his fingers with Robbie's. His sleepy face eased, and he faded back into serenity, his grip tightening. A tiny smile creeped onto his face. It was hard to notice, but it was there, and it was genuine. Sportacute's eyes widened like dinner plates, brimming with moist tears. "Heroes don't cry," he thought to himself, but the sight of Robbie's peaceful face sent him over the edge. He kneeled next to the bed, a couple of happy tears spilling onto his and Robbie's linked hands. "H..heroes don't c-c-cry..." he laughed under his breath, his heart bursting.
Heroes don't fall in love with villains, either, but that wouldn't stop them.