Peanut Butter Banana Sandwiches

“Robbie, listen.”
“I’m not going to!”
“I’m just trying to-”
“LA LA LA!”
Sportacus threw his hands in the air in frustration and paced. He was trying to get Robbie to listen to him about being a better role model for Stephanie. He could already see the slipping influence he had over her decisions on whether to be good or not. It worried him, because he didn’t want to her to get into trouble.
It wasn’t fair that she stopped talking to him when he grounded her for playing pranks on people with Trixie. He was only trying to help.
Logically, it was Robbie’s fault. She was starting to imitate Robbie in odd ways, reading books more than playing outside, that arching eyebrow thing whenever she thought something was strange, and more worryingly, she was gaining a reputation for trouble, at school especially. Her grades were still good, but she was getting more and more introverted. Ms. Busybody was the only other adult besides Robbie that he talked to at all in the town, and she had told him that it was just a phase, and Stephanie was just being mildly rebellious because she was getting closer to being a teenager.
Her next statement about the teenage years making this stage seem like a bright sunny day in spring, did nothing to ease his worrying however.
So the next step was getting Robbie to help. Which he refused to do without a fight. Sportacus ground his teeth in frustration and smoothed out his mustache, a habit he had whenever he was getting stressed or thinking too hard. This was serious, and Robbie was being stubborn. He knew the man cared about Stephanie, maybe not in a fatherly sense or anything of that nature, but perhaps as a friend or older brother. He should be helping.
“Robbie, come on,” he started.
“Not listening!” Robbie interrupted, clamping hands over his ears and turning away. “I don’t have anything to do with whatever she’s done, so leave me out of it Sportakook!”
Sportacus lost it at that moment. He grabbed the man by the back of his vest and spun him around.
“Robbie, listen.”
A shiver went through Robbie and he looked down at the frowning face of an annoyed Sportacus. He swallowed nervously and let his hands drop from over his ears.
Sportacus cringed inwardly at the sudden response. Robbie was upset now, and that was never a good thing. He sighed, and reached out, grabbing hold of Robbie’s hand.
“Come on,” he said, and led a now-quiet Robbie over to the orange shag chair. He had Robbie sit in the chair, while he simply perched on a table cluttered with instruments that Robbie had left out.
“Look, it’s just…” he started, then started to run a hand through his hair, stopping to yank off the hat when it got in his way. “I need your help with Stephanie again.” He looked up, but Robbie was paying attention, though he looked wary. He felt something twinge regretfully inside him. He’d make it up to Robbie later.
“I think she’s… starting to try and imitate you. But it’s getting her in trouble Robbie, and I just want to help, but she won’t let me!” He ran a hand through his hair again, frustrated. “But I think she’ll listen to you.” He didn’t add that it made him feel less important to her. “And I just… I want her to be happy and safe, and she’s trying so hard not to be! Please, Robbie?”
Robbie shuddered at that pleading look in those glacier-blue eyes that pinned him. Of course he couldn’t say no. Not when saying no would totally destroy the man.
Plus, he was distracted by that damnable hair again.
“Yeah, yeah, whatever. I’ll… talk to her then.”
Sportacus instantly lightened, but he didn’t bound over and hug the breath out of Robbie this time. He just looked at him softly and smiled, thankful. Robbie avoided the gaze after a moment.
It was a million times better than any hug.

“What did you do to her?”
Sportacus blinked as Robbie came stalking over to him while Stephanie walked away from the bench where she and Robbie had been talking, to go hang out with her friends.
She had suddenly switched from calling it “playing” to “hanging out”. Sportacus, for the life of him, could not figure it out.
“Huh?”
“She’s got an edge on her now,” Robbie explained, looking vaguely disturbed about the whole ordeal. “She’s gotten tricky. She didn’t get it from me, if that’s what you’re thinking. But she definitely is trying to copy me. Frankly, it’s creepy.” Sportacus chuckled a little at the disturbed look on Robbie’s face.
“I told you,” he said. “You’re like her new role model.” He trailed off slightly at that, and his smile slipped a little. He was so used to her only liking him… it hurt a little. He shook it off quickly and grabbed Robbie’s hand.
“Come on, I want to show you something,” he said. Robbie followed, confused, but without much fuss. He complained when he had to climb the ladder up to the air ship, but he did it anyway.
Sportacus jumped in after Robbie, shutting the door with a verbal command.
“Well?” Robbie demanded, tapping a foot (after making sure there were no floor buttons anywhere near him). Sportacus smiled a little, and Robbie raised an eyebrow at the light blush on the elf’s face.
“You have to close your eyes first,” Sportacus said slyly. Robbie huffed and did so, saying that if it was a trick, there’d be hell to pay. Sportacus just laughed and made him promise not to peek.
After a moment, there was a tugging on the front of his vest.
“I need you to walk,” Sportacus explained. Robbie balked slightly. He didn’t like the idea of walking around blind, least of all in the air ship. He shifted uncertainly.
“You trust me?” Sportacus asked. Robbie nearly opened his eyes then, and a shudder went though him. Hearing the same words echoed back to him as the ones spoken on that night months ago now… he tried to keep himself under control. It probably meant nothing. He licked his lips in nervousness and nodded. He let Sportacus lead him across the room, and he heard a soft woosh before Sportacus instructed him to sit down. He did, carefully, and felt the mattress underneath him. He furrowed his eyebrows together.
“Sporta-”
He got interrupted by a pair of lips on his own, silencing him. He opened his eyes then, and saw Sportacus was leaning over him, giving him what was possibly the sweetest kiss of his lifetime. He exhaled slowly and let his eyes close again, returning the kiss slowly. After a minute or two, Sportacus finally leaned back and broke the kiss, feeling extremely content. He sat down next to Robbie before his knees could start wobbling.
“I wanted to thank you for talking to Stephanie,” he explained. Robbie watched as the other man fidgeted. “So I thought… maybe…” It was fascinating for Robbie, to watch the blush deepen on the elf’s face. “I could say how much I appreciated it by… doing what you did, before…”
Robbie’s eyes widened. Was that… an offer? He bit his lip. He didn’t want to ruin it.
“Don’t do it just because you want to thank me,” he muttered. Sportacus scooted closer and leaned against him.
“I’m not,” Sportacus said quietly. “I… I want to.” Robbie glanced at him, and felt warm all over at the almost shy look Sportacus was giving him.
“I…” Sportacus continued. “I want you to feel good too.”
Robbie felt blood rushing to both ends of his body and it left him feeling light-headed. He swayed slightly and Sportacus reached out to steady him. He stabilized after a bit, and Sportacus used that opportunity kiss him again. Robbie’s eyes slid closed as he relaxed into it, and Sportacus pushed forward slightly, gently pushing him back onto the bed. When his back hit the mattress, Robbie opened his eyes.
He’d have to help out more often with the little pink sprite, he thought dazedly as Sportacus began working on the buttons of his vest.