Peanut Butter Banana Sandwiches

Master of Disguise


Robbie was nearly knocked over when Sportacus slammed the brakes on the air ship, and the entire thing floated to an abrupt stop. He heard the machinery in the engines squeal in protest, and for a moment he feared Sportacus was damaging it, but he didn’t have time to say so before Sportacus leapt up from the chair and moved faster than Robbie had ever seen him go towards the door. He called for the Sky Chaser, and leapt off the edge and out of view.
Robbie remained sprawled out on the floor, wondering what in the world was going on. And wondering what it meant when the crystal on the elf’s chest flashed so fast.


She tore her arm away from the man and darted out of the alley again, taking off at a run against the crowds of people, and despite the aching in her body. Why was everything going crazy? Tears sprang to her eyes. She started sobbing, even as her shoes smacked against the pavement at a regular rhythm. She couldn’t see where she was going, and it didn’t matter.
Why was everything going wrong?
She felt the hotness in her eyes spill over, the tightness in her lungs. She remembered things, little things, as she ran, and it made her heart hurt more.
I want to see Ziggy grow up.
I want Pixel to finally notice girls exist outside of video games.
I want to see Stingy when he gives someone something without trying to take it back.
I want to be Robbie’s pixie! I want to see him eat an apple!
I want to hug Sportacus and I want to grow up and bring home a boyfriend like in the movies and have Sportacus intimidate him!
“SPORTACUS!” she half screamed, half sobbed. “ROBBIE! PLEASE!” She sobbed loudly then, and dropped to her knees. She was exhausted. Physically, mentally, emotionally spent. She cried louder. It was on the outskirts of a park, behind a stand of trees. Her tights had holes ripped in them, her hair was in disarray. She lost her headband.
She didn’t care anymore. She just cried.
She jumped and nearly screamed when something grabbed her. Her eyes snapped open, and she sucked in a breath so fast that it left her coughing. She struggled weakly, but the blur of white blue and black… was…
“S-Sportacus?” she mewled. He hugged her harder, until she thought she might be crushed. She sobbed again, and threw her arms around him.
“Sportacus!” she cried, burying her face in his shoulder. She couldn’t talk anymore after that, and just clung to him as hard as she could, crying. She was crying too hard to feel the tremors of emotion go through her savior as he tried to not cry, and failed.
Sportacus felt his heart stretch painfully. She was okay, she was okay…
The thought kept echoing in his head, and only now did he allow the visions of what might have been rush through his mind, and only now that she was safe in his arms did he let himself go. He curled around her and held onto her like she would melt away if he didn’t. He only realized at that moment how small she was, even though she had been growing recently. Robbie loved pointing out that a little girl would be taller than him in no time.
He laughed shortly, and it sounded more like a choked sob than anything.
“I wanna go home,” Stephanie finally sniffled, feeling utterly exhausted and exposed. Sportacus didn’t say a word, just picked her up bridal style, waited for her to settle in his arms and curl against him, and he walked.

Robbie halted his pacing across the floor when the platform lowered, then raised, carrying Sportacus who in turn was carrying Stephanie. He looked at her with wide apprehensive eyes. She spotted him and her eyes immediately watered. Sportacus put her on her feet after the platform sealed itself back onto the ship. She ran straight to Robbie and threw her arms around him, almost knocking him over.
“I’m sorry!” she said, and she kept repeating it over and over. Sportacus leaned against the wall and closed his eyes. He didn’t think he’d ever felt more tired.
Robbie held her as she babbled, absorbing what he could from her rambling, crying speech. Sportacus was in no condition to put together the pieces. It had probably taken everything out of the sports elf just to get her back. Robbie was checking her over as she clung to him and just spilled out all of her fears on the spot, spilled out everything that had happened and every thought she had during the whole experience. Normally he would have been irritated at all the pointless noise. But he was listening around her feelings and concentrating on the content, while he ran a hand through her hair. No bumps, no wounds. Dirty hair and no headband, but uninjured. No wounds on her arms, and she had scraped knees. But she seemed okay. Scared out of her mind, but okay. He sighed slightly in relief.
“And one of them said I had a baby-face, and my hair was nice, and that’d I’d ‘sell high’, but I didn’t understand, and after that they went into the store-”
Robbie stopped listening. His entire body turned to stone.
Sell high.
He felt sick, and swayed on his feet.
Sportacus noticed the look immediately. He hadn’t seen it in months. But there it was again, and on top of worrying about Stephanie, he realized Robbie needed saved too. The to-do list in his head was growing, but Find Stephanie had been crossed off at least. But the opened space was left unfinished. ____ Robbie.
Even while he was holding Stephanie, Robbie was looking through things again, with that glazed look.
Sportacus pushed off the wall and made his way over to the pair. Robbie looked at him as he got close, with a hollow expression. Sportacus sucked in a breath.
The sheer emptiness of that look allowed him, in an instant, to see straight through the storm-cloud gray eyes and it shot him straight through to the level he only glimpsed before. A child-Robbie, curled up and all alone, pleading with nothingness.
‘Please. Please, save me.’
If he hadn’t been so utterly exhausted, he would have cried again. It was the same look Stephanie gave him when she had turned around that day, being led back into a house where people hurt her. It was the same look. He moved closer still, enveloping the both of them in a hug, and moving them over to the other side of the air ship.
“Bed,” he said softly, and it wooshed into place. Stephanie was about to fall asleep on the spot, so he took her from Robbie and lifted her onto the bed. He took off her shoes and she laid down, fighting to keep her eyes open, even though the pillow smelled so nice, like laundry and Sportacus. He put the cover over her securely.
“Thanks daddy,” she whispered sleepily, and finally fell into the deep slumber of the truly weary. He stopped for a moment and regarded her carefully. ‘Daddy’?… He straightened up, resolving to deal with it later. It got shuffled to the middle of his to-do list. He turned to Robbie.
The man had used the time to slam down every defense he possessed. The eyes weren’t hollow anymore. They were solid stone wall. Sportacus felt something inside of him twinge regretfully. He wished one of his powers was the ability to go into the past. He would fix everything. Everyone would be happy.
Especially Robbie.
He motioned silently for the man to follow him, and he quietly ordered the door to open. He stepped out onto the platform and, thankfully, Robbie followed.
He didn’t like this place from the instant he had smelled the air. It wasn’t clear or clean in the least. Sportacus felt an automatic aversion to it the instant he had opened the door when he felt Stephanie. He looked at Robbie, and Robbie was staring through him.
“What did that mean?” he said. Robbie blinked and slowly focused again.
“What?”
“What she was saying about the conversation between the people who took her,” he clarified, trying his hardest to keep his voice even. “When they said she’d sell high. What did that mean?” Robbie’s eyes slid back to their unfocused state and the taller man shrugged.
“Nothing you’d want to know about, Sportaflop.”
Sportacus grit his teeth. He was backsliding then. They were back at nicknames.
“It has to do with Stephanie,” he said. Best not to say out loud what he was thinking; “It has to do with you too.”
“It has to do with what happened to her,” he repeated. “So I want to know. And you know what it means. So tell me.”
He knew he was pushing the man. But he had to. Robbie’s eyes shifted down to the city below them. There was a long stretch of silence.
“They were going to sell her to someone, obviously,” Robbie finally said, not looking up.
“For what?” Sportacus demanded. “Like, in a sweat shop or something?” There was another long pause, and Robbie was looking at his hands.
“She’s a cute girl, you know,” he started slowly. He opened his mouth to say more, but stopped. He examined his hands again. Sportacus bristled, getting frustrated.
“What does that have to do with anything?” Robbie looked up, and blinked at him.
“You really are an innocent,” he muttered, tilting his head.
“Spit it out Robbie!”
“Sex.”
There was a long, long pause.
“Happy now, sports elf? I said it.”
Sportacus swallowed, closed his eyes briefly.
“How do you know that Robbie?” he asked softly.
Another pause.
“None of your damn business,” came the hissed reply. Sportacus opened his eyes. Robbie had retreated back into the doorway, and his shoulders were stiff with tension. Sportacus suddenly felt very, very tired. He didn’t want to fight with Robbie right now. He just wanted to get back to Lazy Town.
“Okay,” he said quietly, and moved past Robbie over to the piloting chair. Robbie let him.
Sportacus climbed into the chair and took the air ship back to Lazy Town.
Robbie leaned against the closed door, and slowly slid down it, coming to rest with his head on his knees, curled on the floor.