Chapter 3: Enginn Latur í Latabæ

Half an hour later, Sportacus was straining to keep his promise of staying still. He didn't want to fidget, because Robbie would snap at him, and when Robbie got angry he couldn't work. If he was mad, he couldn't fix this.

He found himself daydreaming, longing to be out in the sun and doing so many flips and jumps his arms would be sore. He wanted to play.

But he promised.

"Hey Robbie?" he finally spoke up, quietly.

"What," Robbie replied, only half listening.

"I was thinking…"

"Allow me to be surprised."

"Hey! Anyway… I was thinking… wouldn't it be nice to take a break?"

Here, Robbie turned his head and looked at the sports elf incredulously.

"Outside!" Sportacus said hurriedly. "Because… I mean, I can't sit still for very much longer…"

Robbie growled in irritation, and glanced at the machine on the table in front of him. It was nowhere near finished. But he was getting a headache, and a nap sounded nice…

"Besides!" Sportacus added, sensing the hesitation in Robbie. "You'd feel a lot better if you got out in the sunlight a little more often!"

Robbie swung around and glared at him venomously.

"Do you just not think when you talk? Is that it?" he hissed. Sportacus looked confused for a moment before it dawned on him, and he slapped a hand over his mouth.

"I'm sorry! I'll take it back!"

"Too late," Robbie said, looking resigned and sliding off the man's lap. "Come on."

Sportacus followed him closely back to the surface, and once the sun hit him, he smiled brightly and stretched.

"Oooh!" he stood on his toes, arms stretched up over his head. "I missed you, sun!" Robbie snorted at his attitude, but Sportacus couldn't help noticing the way the lines on the other man's face smoothed out slightly. He grinned and bounced on his feet.

"Come on!" he grabbed Robbie's uninjured hand and started pulling him. "I know a really great hill that's perfect for rolling down and-"

"I don't like rolling," Robbie said dully. It halted Sportacus immediately, and his face fell.

"Oh," he replied softly. Robbie glanced at him, and he thought he saw a flicker of regret or apology in the storm cloud colored eyes. He shook it off. "Well… I need to do something Robbie! I'll go crazy just sitting still all the time. And I can't exactly just strap you to my back and play with the kids."

Robbie frowned and started tapping his foot in thought. Sportacus found it odd that he was only now noticing all these amusing traits in the anti-hero.

Abruptly, his crystal came to life and beeped at him. He looked down at it, hoping desperately it wasn't one of the kids in trouble, because he didn't know how he was going to do any saving with not being able to be little more than arm's length away from Robbie.

He sighed in relief. Just the kitten again. He resumed pulling Robbie along.

"I have to go rescue the cat," he explained. Robbie huffed, but followed.

"Didn't you just save the fur ball this morning?"

"Yeah," he replied, looking up at the tree branches and smiling at the small kitten meowing there, curled up against the trunk. "But she's pretty adventurous. Just keeps trying for it." He glanced at the distance between himself, Robbie, and the tree branch. He could make it. Just barely.

"Stay… stay here." he told Robbie, and jumped straight up, grabbing the branch, securing kitten in hand, and dropping down again.

"Be more careful," he crooned at her, setting her down on the ground and stroking her back. Normally, she would walk off immediately, no doubt to get into some other kind of kitty trouble, but this time she purred and rubbed against his hand.

Robbie watched the display with a sneer. That is, until the elf's face lit up with the kitten's affection, and he looked for all the world like a little kid. At that point, something fluttered around in Robbie's chest, and he grabbed at it, thinking maybe he was having a heart attack or something equally dangerous. But it wasn't painful, and slowly he lowered his hand again and watched the elf play with the kitten on the ground. The little fur ball then veered toward Robbie, and rubbed against his legs. Well, his shoes. It was a small kitten after all. He blinked at it, unsure of what to do.

"She likes you Robbie!" Sportacus said without thinking, grinning up at the man. Robbie nearly grabbed his chest again. Stupid, stupid elf. No one liked Robbie Rotten. They tolerated him, but no one liked him.

It was too late. The words were already cemented into his brain, next to "Sportacus cares about me" and "Sportacus is my friend".

There was a subtext; "I have a friend."

He swallowed shakily and crouched down next to the kitten.

"I don't know why you like me, you noisy fur ball," he muttered to the oblivious kitten, one hand reaching out cautiously and petting her fur. He startled slightly. It was warm, and very soft. Softer than his favorite chair. He stroked her again, and she purred.

Sportacus watched the scene, his eyes glittering with mirth. If he had known he could get Robbie to come outside and do things like this, he would have made the man trust him a long time ago.

Granted, this current situation was dangerous. He couldn't save people like this. And so, it needed to be fixed.

But for the moment, it was the sweetest gift he'd ever gotten, to be able to watch the angry lonely man who lived underground be in the sunlight and petting kittens.

Robbie carefully picked up the kitten and stood back up.

"Who does the fur ball belong to anyway?"

"Not sure," Sportacus shrugged. "No one, I guess. No one ever seems to notice she's missing anyway." Robbie was looking at the purring kitten in his arms strangely.

"Hm," he finally said. "Alright then." Sportacus looked at him questioningly, but the taller man just ignored it and went on petting the kitten with one hand, while she was supported by his other arm and curled against his chest.

"I thought you wanted to move, Sportaflop."

Sportacus jerked out of his musing.

"Oh, yeah," he answered, and quickly did some stretches. He looked longingly at the walls, wanting to jump on them and do handstands.

For the first time, this connection felt like a leash.

A week. A whole damn week, stuck with a hyperactive toddler in a grown man's body. He thought he might pull his own hair out of his head in frustration.

Showering and sleeping together had been an exercise in self control. Self control to keep from jumping the elf, and self control to keep from strangling him.

It had been a week before Robbie's control broke.

"Stop asking already!" he snapped, nearly throwing the half-finished device at the annoying blue elf.

"No!" Sportacus snapped back. "Why won't you tell me? I already told you about my past, why can't you tell yours?"

"Because I don't want to!"

"That's not a reason!"

Robbie stood up suddenly, absolutely furious. A week. A solid week of his own mind tricking him. When Sportacus said sports candy tasted good, it did. When Sportacus said bed times helped you feel better, they did. When Sportacus said that not wanting to tell wasn't a reason to not tell, he was right.

"I DON'T CARE!" Robbie finally raged, towering over Sportacus, who held his ground defiantly. "I don't care if it's not a reason, I don't care if you tell me I eat disgusting healthy foods all day long, I don't care that you're bored, or lonely, or so god damn nosy that you can't stay out of my business! I don't care about anything, do you hear me?!"

Sportacus swayed, his brain rapidly absorbing what was said. Why did it hurt? What was…

Abruptly, Robbie roughly grabbed him and kissed him. After a moment, he let go and tried to fling himself as far away from him as possible, given the limits.

"There!" he snarled. "Can you hate me now? Is that enough? Stop caring about my past and about me! Understand?"

Sportacus breathed shallowly, his summer-sky blue eyes wide. His lips felt tingly, and the thought surfaced, in the back of his mind, "I want that to happen again."

He staggered backwards, ignoring the warning tension the action caused.

Wrong. It was all wrong.

Heroes and villains did not kiss. They didn't feel good about each other. The only thing between them, ever, was friendship, and that was only after the villain renounced his evil ways. Only then, and then only friendship.

He wasn't supposed to feel anything.

He shoved the thought, the feelings, back down deep. Swallowed nervously, and stood up straight, exuding confidence.

Heroes showed villains the errors of their ways. That's what was right.

"No," Sportacus said, suppressing the nervous tremor in his voice ruthlessly. "I can't hate you Robbie. I'm your friend, remember?"

Robbie screamed in pure fury… Sportacus thought he heard the notes of despair in it as well, and he stepped toward Robbie.

The lean man crumpled to the floor like a child having a tantrum. His mind was a mess. Shambles. What was the point in trying to provoke the man, when he wouldn't hate him? No point. A waste of energy. They were friends, and that was that.

He had no idea what to do now, and being in such a state was both confusing and terrifying.

Sportacus knelt beside him. He had to remember to stay unattached. That's what heroes did. You could have friends, as long as you were able to protect and comfort them, but anything else was unwise. Highly unwise. He had to remember to keep what little distance they had left.

"Robbie…" he said gently. "Why did you do that?"

He was surprised and mildly disturbed when the man started laughing hysterically.

"Are you sure you can't hate me? If you hate me after I tell you, I don't know what it will do to my brain," Robbie explained. Sportacus shifted uncertainly. The look on Robbie's face at that moment was closer to a mad genius than he was comfortable with seeing.

But heroes never hated anyone.

He shook his head, and Robbie grinned with all his teeth. Sportacus felt a chill crawl up his spine. Robbie was unstable.

"Tell me," Sportacus prompted, almost afraid of the answer. "I want to know why." Robbie suppressed another laugh.

"Because," he started. "I love you."

Sportacus felt very keenly where the world had dropped out from underneath him. Had he been standing, he wasn't sure he could remain on his feet.

"No idea why," Robbie went on, gesturing vaguely with his hand. "It could just be that you're attractive. Or maybe I'm one of those people who just is never satisfied, and falls in love with their opposite. It could be anything."

Sportacus felt like he was drowning.

Wrong.

All wrong.

Robbie swung his gaze to the sports elf's face and stared with more determination than Sportacus had ever seen on him.

"I don't care if you don't love me back," he continued. "I tried to get you to leave so I wouldn't have to deal with it. Out of sight, out of mind. Only you just couldn't stay away. So I thought, maybe if I convince him to leave on his own, he'd stay gone finally. I don't need anyone to save me. I don't need any friends. I don't want a lover. So, getting rid of you should have been easy, right?"

Sportacus couldn't answer. He felt like there was an impossibly heavy weight settling on his chest.

"But," Robbie kept going. "I still don't care. You can hate me if you want. But if you stay around here," he leaned in dangerously, and Sportacus found himself leaning back. "If you stay, I'm going to find a way to make you mine."

He stood up abruptly, dusting off his clothes. Sportacus was frozen in place.

"So, it comes down to two options," Robbie commented, sounding bored, or as if he were humoring the man in shock on his floor. "You can either explore the option of being with the 'town villain'," he sneered, sitting back down in his chair and swinging around to work on the device again.

"Or you can leave and never come back."

Sportacus didn't say a word.

Robbie continued to assemble the machine.

AN:

I told you he was dark. It gets better. (Whether "better" means lighter or darker, you can infer for yourselves). Sportacus has a huge problem in that he considers himself very much a hero, and holds himself to that. Everything is black and white, and he can't afford to be gray.

Robbie oddly enough reminds me of myself, in some ways. Not... the unbalanced dark part (though I have my days), but just his general "I don't trust anyone" attitude. In the episode "LazyTown's New Superhero", when Sportacus is helping him down off the billboard, it reminded me of myself as a little kid. "Come on Robbie, slide down." "No!" "It's fine, just slide down!" "Don't push me!" "I'm not pushing you!"

Yeah. That was totally me as a kid. Still is, in some ways... if anyone tries to push me, I just cling stubbornly and say to hell with the consequences. I'll move when I'm ready, damnit. So, yeah, Robbie reminds me a little of me, so I think perhaps this darker version of Robbie is coming out in my writing because the darker version of myself is peeking out at the moment.

Chapters might be slow in coming out, because last night it suddenly occured to me to write a novel. I had originally thought "Yay Novemeber novel!" but then read the requirements for it and went "hell no." So, I'm just going to write it on my own. I'm kind of excited. I won't divulge the plot here or anything, but it does have to do with an elf (no, not Sportacus, it's my own elf) and if I finish and publish it, I'll make sure to tell you guys about it at some point. And I'll still try and keep this going, it just might be slower than usual. Don't fret.

It's raining outside right now, and very peaceful. I feel like there might really be elves out there. Or imps, at the least. When I walk on the sidewalks, there's these imprints on the cement shaped like the fallen leaves, but it seems to me they're just the remnants of imp-dances late at night, when little imp tree spirits descend and dance like mad at night with their little leaf-shaped muddy feet.

I really want to visit Iceland someday.

Anyway, that's enough of me rambling. I'll put more of my little fantasies in my LJ. As it is, hope you guys enjoy this chapter, and thank you so much for the reviews. 7 already? Wow. I'm flattered guys.