Disclaimer: I don't own the characters of Lazy Town. They belong to their respective company of the same name. I am just borrowing the characters for this fan fiction. I only own Readsmore and Lidenbrock, but the name of the latter is somewhat inspired by Jules Verne's character from Journey to the Center of the Earth. The fact he's from Iceland made me think of one of Jules Verne's books which is set partly in Iceland, Journey to the Center of the Earth and it got me thinking of an idea for a fic. Just where I'll go with this I'm not sure. But please comment if you like!
Behind the Crystal
Chapter 2
By Trynia Merin
"Seriously? But It's been years since I even shot a ball through a hoop!" she admitted, shaking her head and pushing her glasses up onto her forehead.
"Years?" the town hero suddenly blinked at her. "You're joking!"
"Um, Sportacus, she's our SCIENCE teacher," Trixie blinked up at him.
"As in reading behind a desk and quiet," Stingy chimed in. "She's MY science teacher!"
"So, there's no harm in a little exercise," Sportacus urged, striding towards her. She took a step back and chuckled nervously.
"But you're all so good and well..."
"We'll take it slow, don't you worry. Come on, it will be no trouble, I promise," Sportacus said as politely as he could. Stephanie and the others were glancing back and forth.
"I'll probably be stiff as a board, and I'm not exactly dressed to play anyhow," she said.
"When are we gonna play my game?" Stingy whined.
"You go on ahead, I'll find Ma'am here some gym shoes and she can join us! It's no problem," he turned to the kids. The teacher suddenly felt quite awkward, but as he tossed the ball Stephanie caught it, and turned to her friends.
"Seriously this is silly, I don't want to interrupt your fun!"
"Who says you're interrupting our fun Miss… miss…?" he said brightly. "They don't mind! If you've been teaching all day, this is the best time to get a bit of a workout in. Everyone should at least stretch and go for a light jog. Or maybe you prefer working out before…"
"I don't work out, sir," she blinked. "I um…"
"You don't? Then what type of excercize do you like?" he asked innocently enough. Rolling her eyes she didn't even think to know why the town hero thought it was a crisis that she didn't want to join in a child's game. The way his brow creased a bit beneath the brim of his cap showed Sportacus considered her lack of physical activity a matter worthy of superhero attention.
"I usually just take a brisk walk every day, for fifteen minutes," she said defensively, not exactly sure why she was feeling so annoyed, or if she was a bit nervous because she liked how well his costume seemed to fit.
"What size shoe do you wear?"
"Seven and a half," she said. "I'd just look like an idiot. I'm not into basketball."
Cupping his hands to his mouth he shouted up into the air, "Size seven and a half… Sneakers!"
Two objects dropped down and he launched himself up to catch them. When he landed he held a pair of white canvas sneakers in his grasp, then held them out to her. "Brand new, not used. It's no trouble at all."
"Why do I get the sense you're not going to give up on this," she said quickly.
"There's no need to be embarrassed Miss… ah… Lidenbrock was it?"
"Oh well, I guess I'll give it a shot," she sighed, realizing he was not going to give up, and she did not want to give a bad example to her students.
Just like a superhero, even an above average one, she had an image to maintain. Quickly she lifted a leg and reached down to her shoe, and Sportacus squatted, nodding she could lean down on his shoulder to pull off her work shoes. Under her hand, his spandex suit was warm, and she felt very self-conscious. Although the bouncing of the ball and the squeak of shoes on the court indicated the kids were occupied she felt as if someone was watching her change into the sneakers.
"You don't know when to quit, do you? I mean no offense, but don't you have something better to do then make sure the science teacher gets her twenty minutes of aerobics in?" she blinked at him, straightening up and brushing her skirt off.
"Well, not getting the proper excercize as an adult IS a crisis," Sportacus answered, his face serious as he folded his arms over his chest and fixed her in a stare. "If you don't have your health, it can be a disaster down the road, Miss Lidenbrock!"
"Okay you've got a point," she relented. "And my name's Gretchen. I mean since we ARE both adults and all there's no need to be so formal. Especially when I'm borrowing shoes for crying out loud."
"Come on… if it's been a while you might want to stretch first…" he urged cheerfully, holding out a hand to her. Not believing she was quite doing this she let him take it and lead her to the shade of a tree.
"Captain Nimrod never pushed his agenda on the schoolteachers. All he ever did was come and give archery lessons to us," she mumbled.
"You knew Captain Nimrod?" Sportacus asked, slowly bending one knee and angling his body to the side. She did the same, wincing as her stiff body refused to go down as far. Then she leaned over to touch her toes. To her annoyance, he could easily rest the flats of both hands on the ground while bending over.
"He was our town hero," she said.
"I knew him in hero training school," Sportacus laughed. "He was one of the teachers…."
"Seriously," Gretchen chuckled, then attempted to squat down and push her hands before her. She watched as Sportacus pressed both hands on either sides of his hips and scissored his legs in perfect splits.
"I can't do THAT wearing a skirt, and I can't do that anyhow, I'm too old," she muttered.
"Nobody's too old for excercize," Sportacus chided. He came out of the splits and then effortlessly climbed to his feet.
"True, I suppose I have let myself go. But don't expect me to go cart wheeling through the town because of this," she blinked up at him. He extended a hand to help her up, but she managed to stiffly stand up again.
"Feel better?"
"Not exactly," she answered. "After this I'll be lucky if I can walk."
"Then you REALLY need to work out," he tisked.
"Just when it would be convenient to have a cat run up a tree," she said. Sportacus eagerly motioned her towards the basketball court and she found herself following. Her eyes rested on the number 10 sewn on the back of his vest looking just like a sports jersey.
Even in Intellectual City, there was the hero Super Cerebellum. Who used his knowledge of technology to build many robots that would go about policing the city of any crime. Everyone was used to the notion of a 'town hero'. She just had not expected one in such a small place like Lazytown.
Not every hero played so readily with the inhabitants. Not that she was any expert on the subject, but Gretchen could not keep her eyes off the nimble footed elf. That hat was a dead giveaway, as was the quick light-footedness, and the strange gleam of the badge that glinted on the front of his chest, bearing the number ten. Most heroes had such a device. Something that would warn them when danger came.
"Aww just give it a few baskets," he said, glancing over his shoulder at her. The kids had sat on the edge of the cement, all huffing, and puffing except for Trixie and Stephanie who were still going strong. After the last slam-dunk, the ball whirled off out of Stephanie's control and into Sportacus' hand that snaked out.
"You can be on my team," Stephanie said.
"You mean you're gonna play, Miss Lidenbrock? Does this mean I get extra credit if I let you on my team?" Trixie asked.
"Nice try," Gretchen laughed nervously. Rolling her eyes, she let herself be pulled into the game with the students.
A half-hour later, Gretchen dropped onto the park bench. She huffed and puffed, sweat pouring down her face in small droplets. Her sweater hung to the side, and she had a few tendrils of dark hair dangling to the side. Stephanie plopped down next to her, pushing a water bottle into her hand.
"Here… you look like you could use this Ma'am!"
"Thank you…" huffed Gretchen, taking the bottle of water and cracking the cap with manicured fingers. "I… hope… I can get up tomorrow."
"You're such a good sport!" Stephanie laughed. "You didn't HAVE to join us…."
"Sportacus 10 insisted. He's not exactly someone you say no to," said Gretchen, wiping away sweat with the back of her hand. She had rolled up the sleeves of her blouse, and was thankful she had her hair pulled back. In her chest her heart hammered, and she could barely stop the flushing blood.
"Are you okay teach?" Trixie asked, grabbing a bottle of water from a cooler that had mysteriously arrived. Because of the number ten on its side and lid, Gretchen was sure it was from that airship hovering overhead. Other kids sat around, catching pieces of fruit the town hero was tossing them from a basket nearby.
"I'm dead," she mumbled, fanning herself. She swigged down half the bottle, and gasped for breath. "How can he NOT be sweating?"
"Well he DOES play every day after school," said Stephanie brightly. "Are you sure you're okay?"
"If I get you an apple will I get an extra ten points?" Trixie asked, grabbing up an apple and holding it out to the teacher.
"Let's just say I'll overlook the next time you throw a spitball at someone," Gretchen wearily smiled, and accepted the apple. While she would have preferred something else, it was better then nothing. With a crunch she tasted the tartness of it sliding over her palate, combining with the good wetness of the water she sipped.
"There you see, it was fun wasn't it?" an accented voice asked. Just before her Sportacus face bobbed into view. He crouched a bit before her, blue eyes twinkling merrily into her light coppery ones. Her dark brown hair was moist with sweat, and he gently handed her a white towel that had been hanging around her neck.
"I'll admit that. But that's the last time you twist my arm," she said, dabbing sweat from her face.
"You're always welcome to play anytime. A good bit of basketball never hurt anyone. Just perhaps someone out of shape," he lectured.
"You should consider teaching phys Ed at the school," she blinked at him. "Or would that interfere with your heroic duties."
Sportacus laughed at this, and she liked the sound of it. Something was infectious about his energy, and she still felt flushed. Was it because she was still pounding with blood or was it because she liked the pleasantness of his features? He was male, she was female. Yet, both were in positions of public scrutiny. For a hero to fraternize with a citizen carried certain caveats. She pushed the crazy thought from her mind and scolded herself to focus on remaining professional distance.
After all, what athletic muscle bound superhero, even a slightly above average one, would look twice at a bookworm? Especially an out of shapes one with a bit of generous weight around the waist, arms, and thighs? The formal tailored clothes hid her stomach and legs well, but she still knew the flab was there and she felt embarrassed by it.
"Are you all right, Miss Lidenbrock?" he asked. He was being formal for the benefits of the kids, she thought.
"I'm fine, Mr. Sportacus," she answered, emphasis on the mister. "Thank you for a rather invigorating time. I will definitely increase my exercise from now on…"
"That's good!" he laughed, standing up and beaming at her as if she had given him an A plus on a paper. "You see, it's not so hard to get back to being healthy as you might think!"
"So is your work here done?" she blinked. As if on cue his badge flashed and he glanced down with all the alarm a hero would when knowing someone needed his help.
"Someone's in trouble, excuse me kids, but I've got to go!" he said. "It was nice meeting you, Miss Lidenbrock! I hope you join us again!"
Soon his words vanished as he flipped head over hands and tumbled away. She found herself laughing at the typical gestures of a town hero, and dabbed more sweat away form her face. Smiling at the kids giving her strange looks, she stood up. "Remember you all still have homework to do!"
"Aw rats!" Ziggy snapped his fingers.
"Dang it," Trixie added.
"I suppose I have to go home and work on MY report after I eat my dinner," Stingy said.
"Bye!" everyone waved. Still panting, Miss Lidenbrock turned to Stephanie.
"Since we live close by Stephanie, perhaps you'd care to join me in walking home?" the teacher suggested. "It is getting late…."
"Sure. We're all safe with Sportacus around, but I'd love to see where you'd be living since we'll be neighbors. I'm sure Uncle will insist on baking you a cake and inviting you over," she said.