Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

It was a seemingly average day in LazyTown. Ziggy, Pixel, Trixie, and Stingy were all hanging out at the park. They had all silently been wondering what the fifth member of their group had been up to, when out of the corner of their eyes she ran up to meet them.

“Tomorrow’s Valentine’s Day!” Stephanie shouted with a huge grin on her face.

“Yeah…?” Pixel replied, raising an eyebrow.

Trixie kicked a nearby rock. “Who cares about Valentine’s Day?”

“Are you telling me you guys don’t want to celebrate?” Said Stephanie, looking noticeably deflated.

Ziggy stopped licking his lollipop. “Wait, I’m confused. I thought Valentine’s day was for like, grownups and couples to say how much they love each other.”

“Exactly. Why would we care about that?” Stingy said, straightening his vest. “Adults making kissy faces… nothing in it for me.”

Stephanie let out a small chuckle. “Well that’s not the way I celebrate Valentine’s Day. I mean sure, it is mostly for adults who love each other romantically, but it can also be about how much you love all your friends, like, I love all of you guys!”

“Okay, but how do we do that?” Said Pixel.

“Lot’s of ways! You can give your friends cards, or candy, but usually we have a Valentine’s party where everyone hangs out! I already asked Uncle Milford and he said we can hold the party at town hall. Would you guys want to come?” Stephanie beamed expectantly.

“People giving me Valentine’s gifts? I’m in.” Stingy said.

Trixie seemed to be thinking it over for a while. Finally she let out of sigh and smiled. “Of course I’ll be there Pinkie.”

“Me too!” Chimed in Pixel.

“D-did you say there was going to be candy?” Ziggy asked, seemingly a bit embarrassed that that was the one thing on his mind.

Stephanie smiled and shook her head. “Yes, Ziggy, there will be candy. Chocolate is really popular on Valentine’s Day.”

“Wow…” Ziggy sighed happily. “B-but wait, are you going to invite Sportacus? He can’t eat chocolate!”

“Don’t worry, I’m not going to give any chocolate to Sportacus! There will be plenty of sports candy to eat as well.” Stephanie said.

Ziggy balled his hands into fists triumphantly. “Alright! I’m going too!”

Stephanie clapped her hands together. “Great! I’ll see you all at town hall tomorrow at two o’clock! Now I just have to go and invite Sportacus!” She waved the group goodbye as she headed off towards the mailbox.

Grabbing a piece a paper, she wrote out her letter to Sportacus and pulled the lever to send it off. She watched it sail off into the air before sitting down at a nearby bench. Taking out her diary, Stephanie began to cross names off a list. “Trixie… check. Pixel… check. Stingy… check. Ziggy… check. Now I just have to wait for Sportacus.”

After a few minutes, Sportacus descended from his ladder and flipped his way over to the bench Stephanie was sitting at. “Hi Stephanie! I got your letter, what was it you wanted to ask me?”

Stephanie hopped up from the bench in an attempt the make the height difference between the two less drastic. “Hi Sportacus! I guess first I wanted to ask if you knew what Valentine’s day was?”

“Valentine’s Day… that’s that holiday about love, right?” Sportacus said, placing his hand on his chin.

“Yeah! So tomorrow I’m having a Valentine’s Day party to celebrate how much I love my friends! Do you want to come?” Stephanie bounced up and down on the balls of her feet.

Sportacus grinned and put his hand on her shoulder. “That’s a great idea Stephanie. Of course I’ll come! What time is the party?”

“Tomorrow at two! It’ll be at the town hall.”

“Alright, I can’t wait! See you tomorrow Stephanie!” Sportacus gave a thumbs up before running off.

Stephanie waved him goodbye as his back flipped his way out of the scene. She gave a relieved sigh and crossed out another name in her diary. “Now I just need to ask…” Looking around, Stephanie spotted a familiar periscope. “Aha!” As soon as she spoke, it began to quickly descend into the ground. “Oh no you don’t!”

Quickly running to the where periscope was, Stephanie slid down and grabbed the pipe before it could disappear into the earth completely. She tried to pull it back up but it struggled against her. “Let! Go!” Robbie Rotten’s voice called from below.

“No! I have something! I want to ask you!” She spoke through clenched teeth, still desperately trying to lift the periscope back up. Finally the tug of war seemed to stop as the periscope lifted itself back up above ground.

“Fine! But make it quick.” He grumbled.

Stephanie stood back up and took a deep breath. “Thank you Robbie.” She said, giving a cheesy grin. “I wanted to invite you to my Valentine’s Day party tomorrow!”

Robbie instinctively pulled his face away from the viewfinder in shock. Shaking his head, he regained his composure and went back to looking at Stephanie. “Me? At a Valentine’s Day party? ...Why?” He meant it more as ‘why would you invite me’ but the bitter tone in his voice made it come across as more of a ‘why should I bother’.

Stephanie frowned. “Because Valentine’s Day is about letting my friends know how much I love them so I want all my friends to be there. And that includes you!”

Now Robbie was really stunned silent. Of course that brat had acted like they were friends before but to come out and say it was so sweet it was almost sickening. He was excited to go to the party, really, but he didn’t know how to reply. What if he sounded too eager? Would she change her mind? All he knew was that he needed to hurry up and say something, anything, think!

However Stephanie, with only the eyeballs of the periscope to stare at, took Robbie’s silence as a sign of disapproval. “There’ll be free chocolate…!” She sang in an attempt to appeal to him.

“I-I’ll go!”  He replied, a little too quickly. “For the uh… the chocolate.”

She raised an eyebrow curiously but continued smiling. “Okay Robbie. I’ll see you at town hall tomorrow at two o'clock sharp!” Satisfied, Stephanie skipped away, crossing the final name off in her diary.

Down in his lair, Robbie finally stepped away from the periscope. “Two o’clock?” He muttered. “...That’s so early!”

Chapter Text

It was now officially Valentine’s Day in LazyTown and one look inside town hall made that obvious. There were two tables, one small and one large, each covered in a white tablecloth that was patterned with pink hearts. The smaller table had various snacks laid out, from apples to chocolates, while the larger table was surrounded by several chairs. Heart shaped balloons in various colors sat in the corners of the room. Stephanie was standing on a ladder and hanging up the finishing touch, a banner of paper hearts attached to a string.

Stephanie hopped off the ladder and took a step back. “Uncle Milford, does the banner look crooked to you?”

“It looks wonderful Stephanie, everyone will love it.” Mayor Meanswell said, and picked up the ladder.

“Thanks Uncle Milford. Oh- Be careful!” Stephanie called out as Mayor Meanswell began to lose his balance carrying the heavy ladder.

Steadying himself, he disappeared out of the room and Miss Busybody appeared in his place. She put a large bowl down on the table with the other snacks. “These decorations are simple adorable dear! Well done.”

“Thanks!” Stephanie said. She leaned over to try to get a look inside the bowl that Miss Busybody just brought. “What’s in there?”

“Oh, these?” She said, and picked up a small heart shaped piece of candy out of the bowl. “They’re sweethearts! You know, those little candies with the messages on them? I thought they’d be perfect for your little get together!”

Stephanie walked over and grabbed a piece for herself. It read ‘kiss me’. “Uhh, yeah. Perfect.” She threw the piece of candy in her mouth and ate it. Chalky.

Mayor Meanswell returned with glasses of water that he sat on the larger table. “I think It’s almost time for the guests to arrive, isn’t it?” He pondered.

As if on cue, a knock was heard at the door. Stephanie grinned at Milford then hurried over to answer it. “Sportacus! Come on in!”

Sportacus bowed his head slightly and stepped inside. “Thanks Stephanie! I’m not too early am I? I didn’t want to keep anybody waiting.”

“You’re right on time. I’m sure everyone else will get here soon!” Stephanie said.

Sportacus walked around the room, admiring all the hard work Stephanie must have put into getting everything ready. After a few minutes, someone else could be heard at the door.

Stephanie opened the door. “Hi Stingy! Glad you could make it.”

“Of course! And I assume my car will be safe outside during the party?” He said, peering behind him.

“Yes Stingy, It’ll be fine. Now come inside.” He did so, letting Stephanie shut the door.

Another minute or two passed by before someone else arrived. Ready and waiting, Stephanie swung the door open.

“Hi Stephanie!” Ziggy said excitedly.

“Hi Ziggy, come on in!” She replied. Stephanie pointed to the smaller table in the room. “The snacks are over there.”

Ziggy smiled and ran off. “Thanks Stephanie!”

Before she could even shut the door this time, another guest appeared. “Wait, don’t shut the door yet!” Pixel yelled, jogging up to the door way. “Sorry, I was in the middle of a game and almost lost track of time! I’m not late am I?”

Stephanie picked up a glass of water. “Not at all. Glad you could make it Pixel. Here.” She said, handing him the glass.

Pixel took a big sip before setting it down. “Thanks.”

Another couple of minutes passed and everyone settled in. Finally, another knock was heard at the door. “Trixie! Hi, come inside!”

Trixie nodded and followed Stephanie. “Nice decorations Pinkie.”

“Thanks! I worked all morning on it.” Trixie gave her a thumbs up before walking off. Stephanie went over all the guests in her head. The only one left is…

A single, solitary knock was heard on the other side of the door. Stephanie smiled and opened it, ready to greet Robbie. Surprisingly it seemed that Robbie didn’t dress up for the occasion, but someone with an observant eye would notice that his usual cufflinks were in fact replaced with small heart shaped ones. “Hi Robbie!”

“Hello.” He replied awkwardly. His posture was terrible and he was slightly shuffling in place like he wasn’t sure if we was allowed inside or not.

Stephanie gave a sympathetic look and grabbed his hand, dragging him inside. “I’m so glad you’re here, we're gonna have tons of fun! Everybody will get to hang out together and relax, and there are plenty of snacks to choose from! There are chocolates, marshmallows, pretzels, and sweethearts-” Stephanie looked over at the snack tabled and realized the bowl of sweethearts was missing. She looked around and finally spotted it in Stingy’s arms. “Stingy! Put those back!”

Stingy jumped back in surprise “B-but they say ‘Be Mine’ on them! It’s only right that I take them!” Stephanie pouted angrily. “Fine, fine.” He said, and placed them back on the table. “I’ll just take the ones that are left when the party's over…”

Stephanie simply shook her head and let go of Robbie’s hand. “Well, I’m sure you’ll find something to enjoy. Thank you for coming Robbie!”

“S-sure.” He replied.

Stephanie skipped away to talk to the other guests, leaving Robbie alone at the snack table. He stood there nervously for a few moments before finally at least leaning against the wall he was near. He thought that if anything, it would make him appear more relaxed and less like he was screaming internally.

Ziggy bounced up to him. “Hi Robbie!”

Robbie simply waved at him in response. Frankly it was less of a wave and more of a strange gesture where he immediately put his hand up then back down. Oh well.

“Are… you having fun?” Ziggy asked.

Robbie opened his mouth but before he could answer a bright pink paper airplane hit the side of his head. “Sorry Robbie!” Trixie yelled from across the room.

“...Peachy.”

Not really knowing what else to say, Ziggy smiled at him and trailed off, leaving Robbie alone once more.

He stood there. Waiting. Quietly he began tapping his fingers on the table. How long had he been there, he wondered? Ten minutes? Fifteen? Had a single minute even gone by at all? Maybe he should talk to somebody, why’d he even come if he was just going to stand there like a decoration?

Absentmindedly, Robbie grabbed a snack off the snack table and began eating. Out of the corner of his eye he noticed Sportacus staring at him. Swallowing quickly, he turned to see that he was looking at him with a big dorky grin on his face. “What are you looking at?” He sputtered.

“Oh, sorry Robbie! I just think that’s the first time I’ve ever seen you willingly eat sports candy!” Sportacus said. He took a few steps closer to Robbie so they weren’t talking from across the room.

Robbie thought for a moment. Sports candy? Did he really just eats sports candy? He was so nervous he really didn’t even think about what he had grabbed but it sure didn’t taste like sports candy. Suddenly he realized what he actually just ate. “I-It was a chocolate covered strawberry! Don’t look so smug.”

Sportacus just kept smiling. “A strawberry is still sports candy, chocolate covered or not.”

“Yeah well, I couldn’t even taste it.” Robbie mumbled, shifting his body away from Sportacus’s general direction.

Sportacus noticeably softened in response. “Sorry Robbie, I hope I don’t sound like I’m teasing you! I’m just glad to know that you’re willing to eat healthier things if you can make them appeal more towards your personal preferences.”

“It was a single strawberry Sportakook! Don’t go over-analyzing.” Robbie slinked away from the snack table.

Having overheard the conversation Stephanie walked up to Sportacus’s side. He looked at her and sighed. “Baby steps.”

Chapter Text

“Ahem!” Stephanie cleared her throat loudly. “Can everyone sit around the table please? I have Valentine’s cards I want to pass out!”

Everyone shuffled into place. The table was a long rectangular one, and somehow Sportacus and Robbie ended up on opposite ends. It was hard not to make eye contact. Stephanie circled the table, passing out a card to each person. “One for you… and one for you…” She said as she handed over each one. Stephanie sat down next to Trixie once they were all handed out.

The cards didn’t say much, a line or two next to an admittedly well done drawing of the card recipient, given Stephanie's age. Sportacus’s read ‘Let’s be friends forever!’ while Trixie’s said ‘You’re special to me!’ and Robbie’s simply said ‘You’re sweet!’. As everyone read their cards murmurs of thank you’s to Stephanie filled the room. She smiled politely.

“This is so sweet dear.” Miss Busybody spoke up. “You know, you should really cherish this cutesy kids Valentine’s Day while you can!”

“Oh yes, once your older Valentine’s Day becomes much more complicated.” Mayor Meanswell laughed nervously, glancing over at Bessie. “You have to worry a-about having a boyfriend or a girlfriend… so much more!” Bessie rolled her eyes.

Stingy groaned. “Ugh I don’t even want to think about that.”

“Yeah, and I don’t think dating is something I can just read about online! There would be nobody to help us with it, it’d be so confusing!” Pixel chimed in.

Ziggy scooted up in his seat. “Oh! Oh! I know who could help us! Sportacus, you’ve had a girlfriend before, right?”

All eyes turned to Sportacus, catching him very much off guard. He had mentally begun to zone out a bit at the mention of dating so everyone caught him just idly staring at Stephanie’s card for him. He took a second to collect himself before eventually answering, “Actually Ziggy, I haven’t.”

“Well have you ever had a boyfriend before?” Stephanie asked.

Sportacus was actually ready to answer this time but before he could even start he was interrupted by the sound of Ziggy giggling. “Stephanie, don’t be silly! Sportacus is a boy, he can’t have a boyfriend.”

Sportacus was about to try once more in vain to speak up, but this time Stephanie, looking noticeably taken aback, started talking instead. “So? My parents told me that people can be gay and that means a boy can date a boy or a girl can date a girl. It isn’t something to laugh about.”

An awkward hush fell over the group. Trixie peaked her head up and just stared at Stephanie. Robbie tried to look away nonchalantly. Bessie and Milford shared a glance.

“I’d never heard about being gay before!” Ziggy finally said. “...I guess it really doesn’t matter if a boy dates another boy, huh?”

It was like the room let out a sigh of relief. “Oh I’m so proud of your parents for raising you so well Stephanie! You know when we were your age, most people didn’t support that kind of thing.”

Stephanie wrinkled her nose a bit at how he phrased that but was glad to have his support nonetheless. “I just don’t get it. People shouldn’t be mean to someone because of who they like!”

At last Sportacus was able to get a word in. “I agree Stephanie. But to answer your question, no, I haven’t had a boyfriend either.”

“So you’ve never dated anybody? ” Pixel asked.

Sportacus shook his head. “Never.”

“Someone as good looking as you never dating anyone? It should be a crime!” Bessie said, probably only half joking. “Is there any particular reason you've stayed single?”

“Ah.. I wouldn't say there's a reason. It's just something I never really gave much of a thought too.” Sportacus shrugged. “Besides, it would be hard for me to date someone and be there for all of you, right guys?”

Trixie scoffed. “I guess.” She turned her gaze to Robbie. “How about you, Robbie? Have you ever had a boyfriend or a girlfriend?”

“I have.” Was all he answered, not even bothering to turn his head to look at anyone at the table.

“And?” Stephanie teased this time.

Robbie finally rested his elbows on the table and looked at Stephanie. “And what? You want stories? I was in a relationship, then it ended. Then I was in another relationship, and then that one ended. Repeat that a few times. The end.” He smiled smugly, as if the fact that he answered in a condescending manner meant that he said something cool and not something actually kind of sad.

Stephanie narrowed her eyes. "Okay Robbie." She got up out of her chair and scooted it back into the table. “That's enough talking for now. I think it’s about time we have some real fun! Come on everybody, on your feet!”

Everyone in the room stood up as well. Stephanie attempted to push large table near one of the walls, and Sportacus stepped in to help her actually push it. “Alright I think it’s time we…” She pushed a button on the stereo that had been sitting out. “Dance!”

Soon the room was filled with everyone jumping and singing along to the music, for the most part. Sportacus wasn’t actually dancing. What he was doing could probably be generously described as doing acrobatic stunts to the beat of the music. Robbie on the other hand was actually dancing, but it was so stiff and awkward that it didn’t match the rhythm in the slightest. The fact that he had to keep pausing for a breath of a sip of water didn’t do much to help either.

Everyone was doing their thing and having fun for a while. Eventually, Trixie scooted over to Stephanie and tapped her on the shoulder. “That was pretty cool of you earlier!” She somewhat shouted, as the music was very loud.

“What?” Stephanie replied.

Trixie rolled her eyes and pulled her to a quieter part of the room. “I said you were pretty cool earlier!” Stephanie smiled at her but looked confused. “Y’know, about the uh… the whole gay thing?”

“Oh!” Stephanie said. “Really? I was worried I was a little too harsh about it. I just didn’t want Ziggy to think stuff like that, you know?”

Trixie slapped her on the back, almost a little too hard in Stephanie’s opinion. “Nah, he didn’t take in a mean way! You should always stick up for stuff like that.”

Stephanie smiled brightly. “Well thanks Trixie!”

“Don’t mention it.” Trixie waved her hand dismissively. “Now let’s get back to dancing!”

After a while the party finally seemed to die down. Everyone eventually left one by one but not without a big hug and thank you from Stephanie. Once all the guests and had left she grabbed a broom and began sweeping up the floor. “I think the party went great, don’t you?”

Mayor Meanswell started folding up the tablecloth on the table. “I think it was just wonderful Stephanie! What a great idea this was. The cards especially, that was very kind.”

“Thanks Uncle Milford.” She said, and continued sweeping.

Elsewhere, Trixie was quietly walking herself back home. She pulled the card that she haphazardly shoved in her pocket earlier and stared at it. ‘You’re special to me!’ She read those words over and over again as if rereading them a third or fourth time would somehow change it’s meaning. Why was it bothering her so much? Friends are special to each other, that’s all.

Trixie shook her head and put the card back in her pocket. She was sure it was nothing.

Chapter Text

It was not nothing. Not at all. It had been a little over a week since the Valentine’s Day party and Trixie felt like she was being eaten alive. Stephanie asked her if something was wrong the other day. That just made her feel even worse.

She couldn’t keep going like this, that she knew for sure. Trixie needed someone to talk to, and fast. But who? Sportacus always came to mind first when she needed help, but he had no experience in the relationship department. Miss Busybody or Mayor Meanswell? No way. The relationship between those two was such a… well, a confusing mess. Trixie didn’t think she could trust any advice they would give. Bringing it up to the other kids was absolutely out of the question. Really, the answer was obvious. She knew it was going to be hard, but what else could she do?

Robbie was awoken with a start. Loud rhythmic metallic banging echoed throughout his lair, shaking it slightly with each thud. From up above, Trixie was at his lair entrance, kicking the pipe that lead inside over and over.

“ROB! BIE! WAKE! UP!” She enunciated with each kick.

Robbie scrambled out of the orange lounge chair that he was previously sleeping in and scurried up the entrance. “What do you want!?” He asked, exasperated.

Trixie stopped kicking and smiled back at Robbie. “Need your help with somethin’.”

“What.” He replied flatly.

Trixie rubbed the back of her head “...Relationship advice?”

Robbie looked her up and down. “You’re like eight. Goodbye.” He began to shut the lid to the pipe.

“Wait, wait, wait, wait!” She said frantically. Robbie paused. “Come on, you gotta help me! ...Please?”

“I ‘gotta’ huh? And why should I?” Robbie pushed the the lid away and let it swing open.

Trixie bit her lip and tried to come up with something good to say. She really should have thought this through ahead of time. “Because… ” Robbie raised an eyebrow. “Okay, honestly? You’re like the only one here who’s been in a real relationship! I don’t know who else to ask.”

Robbie leaned over the pipe. “Oh yeah? And what if I don’t?”

“Then… then I’ll keep kicking and screaming out here and never let you sleep ever again!” Trixie stomped her foot on the ground for added effect.

“Nice try kid, I barely get any sleep already.” Trixie deflated, at a loss for any more ideas. Robbie started descending back down the pipe and waved for her. “Come on, let’s make this quick.”

Trixie perked up and followed Robbie down inside the lair.

Once they were out of the pipe and into the lair proper, Trixie begun to spin around slowly, looking over the area. “I still don’t get how you live in a place like this.”

“Little piece of advice, don’t insult the home of the person you’re trying to get advice from.” Robbie put his hands on his hips. “Now tell me, which of those little brats do you have a crush on?”

Trixie took a deep breath and closed her eyes. “...Stephanie.”

“Stephanie.” Robbie repeated automatically, not really sure what else to say. “...Why don’t you sit down?”

Apprehensively, Trixie tried to settle in to Robbie’s orange lounge chair. The chair however was much too big and she was much too small and she sort of just ended up sinking into the middle. It wasn’t comfortable in the slightest, and if anything just made her feel more on edge. “Now what makes you say that?” Robbie said. She tried analyzing his face or tone of voice for any sign of approval or disapproval but she really couldn’t tell what he was feeling.

“Well I never really thought about it before you know? We were just friends. But she always kind of made me… jealous? I guess? Like she was so ridiculously perfect at everything! It was so frustrating sometimes I didn’t even want to hang out with her!”

Robbie held out his hand, looking greatly amused. “Let me stop you right there girly. If that’s what you think a crush is then I’ve got a crush on Sportacus.”

Trixie face burned with embarrassment. “Well I don’t know maybe you do!?  Ugh, don’t interrupt me!” Robbie rolled his eyes and motioned for her to keep going. “Anyway-!” She huffed. “I never really thought any of that stuff meant that I liked her. I mean the idea that I could like her didn’t even cross my mind, not until the Valentine’s Day party that is…”

“Are you telling me that was the first time you ever heard of the concept of being gay?” Robbie said.

“No! Jeez. I just never thought hard about it before! Like, being gay was something that other people were and it couldn’t apply to me. I don’t know. But I guess hearing Stephanie describe it everything just kind of, clicked into place?” Trixie shifted awkwardly in her seat. “Look all I know is, since that day I haven’t been able to stop wondering if I’m gay and if Stephanie might be gay too and… and I really like the idea of hanging out with her alone and holding hands or something. ” She squeaked out those last words so fast it was hard for Robbie to comprehend them.

Trixie let out a sigh and shifted in the lounge chair again, this time bringing her knees up to her chest. “So! You’re apparently the town dating expert. Help me.”

Robbie leaned against one of his machines. “That’s a cute story and all kid but what part of it do you need help with exactly?”

“All of it! Everything! I’m having a crisis over here!” Trixie thought for a moment. “Okay I guess first of all, do you think I’m gay? I think I might be but what if I’m wrong? Maybe every girl thinks stuff like this and I just don’t know!” She ran her hand up her face. “I guess what I’m asking is… how do you know you’re gay?”

Robbie stroked his chin and tried thinking through his next response carefully. “Well it wasn’t that hard. I eventually just realized that I liked the idea of being with men better than being with women. Of course I wasn’t a literal child when I figured it out but I assume the same general principle would apply to your situation as well.”

Trixie stared at him bug-eyed before eventually blurting out, “YOU’RE GAY!?”

Robbie looked back at her equally surprised. “You… you just asked me how I knew that I was gay, of course I’m gay!”

“I was asking more in a general sense, like, how does anyone know they’re gay!? How did you expect me to know that you’re gay!?” Trixie shouted, her face flushed red. She huffed, trying to calm herself down. “Sorry, sorry, I really didn’t know. But, I’m glad that you are. Kinda makes me feel a lot more comfortable talking you about this…”

“...Well. Good.” Robbie said. “Anyway. What this sounds like to me is that as far as I can tell you probably like girls. But you know you can like boys and girls right? It’s called being bi. Really though, don’t worry about picking a label or anything like that because in the end all the matters is your… feelings.” He spoke that last word as if it was vomit in the back of his throat. “And let me emphasize again, you are a child and your identity can change later in life so seriously, relax.”

Trixie actually felt touched at his genuine effort but tried not to let it convey on her face. She’s no sap after all. “Okay. Now how do I ask out Stephanie?”

“Umm, well, in order to do that you would… I don’t know exactly. I’ve never asked someone out before.” Robbie scratched the back of his neck. “But you’re always hanging around her with all those other brats right? So just… ask her to hang out without everyone else for once. See what happens.”

“That’s it? That’s just a play date, that doesn’t help me to know if she’s gay or not.” Trixie said.

Robbie thought for a moment. “Once you two are alone together I would probably just tell her that you think you’re gay. Given how… sweet she is and given her reaction at the party, she’s not going to react badly. After that just, I don’t know, talk about how you feel with her and see how it goes.”

Trixie narrowed her eyes. “Just see how it goes? No offense but your advice kind of stinks.”

“Its general advice, I can’t give you a play by play. There’s nothing here for me to just magically predict how your date’s gonna go and tell you the perfect thing to say!” He said, wiggling his fingers on the word ‘magically’ for emphasis.

“Okay, okay.” She said, and hopped out of the orange lounge chair. “But after I ask her out, can I come back here and have you do my makeup before my date?”

Robbie stopped leaning against his machine. “Seriously how many times do I need to remind that you’re like eight years old? You don’t need makeup!”

“Fine then, I’ll just ask Miss Busybody to do it for me and I’ll go out with pink eye shadow and bright red lipstick!” Trixie smiled mischievously.

“You-!” He sputtered. That girl was too clever. “I will paint your nails and give you mascara but that is it.”

She just giggled and headed towards the pipe leading out of the lair. “Thank you Robbie~” She sang, her voice dripping with insincerity. “Now wish me luck!” Robbie gave her a smile that was equally insincere and shook his head. She crossed her arms. “I said wish me luck!”

Robbie rolled his eyes. “Good luck you little brat.”

With that, Trixie smiled brightly and headed out.

Chapter Text

The next day Stephanie was laying down on her bed, scribbling away in her diary. Trixie had been acting strange lately and Stephanie was starting to get worried. Maybe she should ask Sportacus for help, he always seemed to know the right thing to do.

Stephanie sat her diary down just as she heard someone knocking at her door. She walked over and answered it, her eyes shining as she saw who it was. “Hey Trixie! What’s up?”

“Haha, nothing much!” Trixie replied, making finger-guns with both hands.

Stephanie chuckled. She was relieved to see that Trixie wasn’t avoiding her but couldn’t help but notice that she was acting funny. “What are you doing?”

Trixie began to blush and quickly put her hands behind her back. Stop being so nervous Trixie, it was just a normal conversation! “Oh just, messing around! ...Anyway, I wanted to ask you something!”

“Sure, what is it?” Stephanie said.

“Well I was just thinking that whenever we hang out it’s always as a group, you know? Every time we play together it’s like Ziggy, Pixel, and Stingy’s gotta be there too! So I was just wondering… maybe just the two of us could hang out for once? With nobody else?” Trixie smiled nervously.

Stephanie crossed her arms and cocked her head to the side. “Huh, I guess I really don’t get a chance to hang out with you guys one on one! That sounds like a great idea Trixie, what did you want to do together?”

Trixie’s eyes went wide. Shoot. How did this happen? She really just went up to her and asked to hang out without spending a single second thinking about what they would actually do together? She needs to say something! “We could go… to… the… woods?” She winced as the words left her mouth.

Stephanie however, didn’t even seem to notice. “Like go for a walk through the woods together? Sure, that sounds fun!”

“Yeah! Yeah, a walk!” Trixie said, almost a little too excitedly. “A-and maybe we can stop for a picnic along the way!”

Stephanie clapped her hands together. “That sounds perfect! I know just what to make for it. When did you want to do this?”

Trixie faltered again. She was so wrapped up in the fact that Stephanie accepted she forgot that she didn’t plan a single part of this through. “How about… on Sunday? For lunch?”

“Alright. Meet me back here at my house on Sunday then and then we can start walking together!” Stephanie said.

Trixie gave a thumbs up and started walking away. “You got it Pinkie!” She called out. Stephanie waved goodbye and shut the door.

As Trixie walked away she slapped both of her cheeks, still hot from embarrassment. She took a deep breath before pumping her fist into the air triumphantly. “Nailed it!”

Chapter Text

On Sunday morning, Robbie heard two loud knocks from up above his lair. This time he was at least awake to hear them, having not been able to sleep the entirety of the night before. “Who is it?” He called out. It was obvious who it probably was but better safe than sorry.

“It’s Trixie!” Trixie shouted from above.

Robbie paused. Trixie? Was that the loud girl’s name? To be honest he really didn’t know, but her voice sounded the same so he figured it must be her. “Come in!”

Trixie climbed down the pipe and ran up to Robbie, giddy with excitement.

“So you managed to ask her out, huh?” Robbie said, walking off towards some supplies.

Trixie bounced up and down. “Sure did! And now it’s makeover time!”

Robbie wheeled over a steel blue tool chest and scooted two matching stools up against each side of it. He didn’t exactly have anything in the way of an actual table in his lair, but the top of the tool chest was flat and a good height so he figured it would work well enough. “Sit.” He commanded.

Trixie did so, and watched as Robbie dug through a drawer before returning with a metal case that he carried by the handle. Robbie placed the case on top of the tool chest with a loud thud and unlatched the front. Opening it up revealed several rows of nail polish bottles, Trixie swore there was at least fifty in there, each in a different color. Robbie sat down in the the stool across from her and began to pick up an orange bottle of nail polish out of the case.

“Hey, I want red nails!” Trixie whined.

Robbie just continued pulling the orange bottle out and sat in on top of the chest. “Your pants, sleeves, and shoes are already red. Your nails are going to be orange.”

Trixie leaned over to look into the case of polishes. “But red’s my favorite color!”

“Yes, anyone with eyeballs can see that. The orange is for contrast.” Robbie said sternly.

“Wha- contrast? I don’t care about that! They’re my nails so I should get to pick the color!” Trixie grabbed a bottle of red nail polish and placed it beside the orange one.

Robbie grabbed the bottle she just pulled out. “You know I don’t have to do this for you, right?” Trixie glared at him angrily. “How about this…” He picked up the orange bottle of nail polish, now holding a bottle in each hand. “Red on one nail, orange on the other nail, alternating.”

Trixie smiled, satisfied. “Okay!”

“Good. Now lay your hands flat on the table.” Trixie put her hands down on the tool chest that he called a table. Robbie unscrewed the red nail polish and was about to begin painting until he actually looked back at her hands. “Do you… do you bite your nails?”

“Uhh. Maybe? Sometimes.” Trixie said, now looking at her own nails self consciously. “I don’t know, I get bored.”

Robbie started painting her first nail red. “Looks like more than ‘sometimes’ to me. Why don’t you try chewing gum or something when you get bored?”

“I can’t chew gum all the time, that’s bad for you!” Trixie said.

Robbie skipped two nails over and started painting that one red as well. “Yeah? So’s biting your nails. And try not to squirm so much while you talk or this polish is going to get all over your fingers.”

The two stayed quiet after that and after every other nail was red, Robbie switched over to the orange. Eventually Trixie started getting restless and tried starting the conversation back up. “So…” She said, this time trying to be careful not to move her hands when she spoke. “How many boyfriends have you had?”

Robbie grinned. “Why do you care?”

“I was just curious. Nobody ever like, gets to actually talk to you much.” She said, still staring down at her nails.

“Three.” He paused. “...Maybe four.”

Trixie looked up at him. “Maybe four?”

“It was complicated.” Was all he replied.

“How come you’re not dating anybody now?” She asked.

Robbie dipped the nail polish brush in the bottle. “Because right now there’s nobody here for me to date.”

Trixie snorted, causing Robbie to have to pull his hand back to avoid messing up her nails. “Too bad Sportacus is your nemesis huh? Is that why you’re so grumpy all the time? Because you don’t have a boyfriend!?”

Robbie waiting her to stop laughing and put her hands back down. “I thought I told you not to move.” He hissed. Trixie giggled a little more under her breath.

After painting her last pinkie orange, Robbie scooted out of his chair, walked over to one of the various machines in his lair and opened the hatch in front. “Put your hands in here.”

Trixie stared at the machine. “What, why?”

Robbie rolled his eyes. “It’ll dry your nails in two seconds, come on.”

Apprehensively she walked over and placed her hands on the metal rack inside the machine. Robbie pressed a button and the machine lit up, causing her hands to tingle slightly before the lights went back off again. “See? Dry.”

Trixie poked her nails and was impressed to see that they had in fact dried completely. “Wow… you have a machine just for drying your nails?”

“I’m far too lazy to have to sit and wait for them to dry by themselves.” Robbie said. “Now sit back down, I still need to do your eyelashes.”

Trixie once again sat down on the stool and Robbie grabbed a tube of mascara that was already sitting out. He walked up to Trixie, grabbing her chin and tilting it up so he would have a better angle. Trixie, now feeling uncomfortable at staring up at Robbie’s face, shut her eyes.

“Unless you want mascara all over the top of your cheeks you better open your eyes back up kid.” Robbie said, taking the mascara brush out of the tube.

Trixie opened her eyes but as soon as the brush got close to her eyelashes she reflexively shut them again. “Sorry! It’s hard…”

Robbie sighed. “Try crossing your eyes.”

Trixie looked at him like he didn’t know what he was talking about but tried crossing her eyes anyway. Surprisingly, this time Robbie was able to start applying the mascara without her flinching.

Eventually Robbie was able to get both eyelashes and Robbie put the mascara away. “All done!” He said proudly.

Trixie blinked, glad to not have to go cross eyed anymore, and hopped of the stool. “Can I look in a mirror?”

“What, you don’t trust me?” He asked sarcastically, and pulled down a mirror that was attached to the ceiling. “I did perfect.”

Trixie stared at her reflection. “You can barely tell I’m even wearing any mascara all.”

“That’s the idea. Subtlety.” Robbie said, pushing the mirror back up with a flourish. “You may go now.”

Trixie waved her hand. “Yeah, yeah, I’m going.”

She was just about to start climbing out of the lair when Robbie suddenly called out again. “Hey kid!” Trixie turned around just in time to see him tossing something to her. “Catch!” Robbie didn’t manage to throw it that far so she had to lean forward quite a bit to grab it. What she caught was the orange nail polish that Robbie had been painting her nails with earlier. “Keep it, if your nails are painted you’re less likely to bite them.”

Trixie smiled at him, genuinely touched at the gesture. “I thought I told you I prefer red.” She said, the tone of her voice making it clear that she didn’t actually care about the color at all.

“Guess you’ll have to get used to it.” He shrugged, looking back at her with his own smile that was a mix of sincerity and smugness. “Now hurry up, you don’t want to be late for your little kiddie date.”

Trixie stuck the nail polish in her pocket, gave Robbie a final wave goodbye then headed out. It was time to go to Stephanie’s.

Chapter Text

Stephanie answered the door. “Hi Trixie! Ready for our picnic?” She said, picnic basket already in hand.

“Yep! Let’s go!” Trixie said, probably sounding a little too excited. She stepped out of the way of the door so Stephanie could walk out and the two began walking.

“So was there a specific place in the woods that you wanted us to have the picnic at? Because if you don’t I think I know a good clearing that would be perfect!”

Trixie smiled nervously. How does she keep manage to not think through every single action? At least Stephanie somehow always seems to bail her out. “We can go to the clearing then! I really didn’t have anything in mind.”

Stephanie took a few quick steps to get ahead of Trixie. “Alright, just follow my lead!” She held her hand out to Trixie. Trixie froze before finally reaching out and grabbing her hand. Stephanie looked at her with surprise as soon as she did. “You painted your nails?”

Trixie wanted to pull her hand away but it was too late, their hands were locked together. “Oh yeah… do you like them?”

Stephanie smiled. “They look really nice! Now come on, let’s get going!”

The two walked hand in hand, side by side out of LazyTown and into the woods. Trixie had to keep reminding herself that this was not a date. Not yet at least. They are just holding hands as friends. Later they will eat a picnic as friends. Stephanie sees her as just a friend.

Eventually Stephanie started humming something and swinging the arm that she was holding Trixie’s hand with back and forth as they walked.

Trixie smirked. “What do you think you’re doing Pinkie?”

“Enjoying the peacefulness of the outdoors.” She said, still swinging their arms.

“What’s that supposed to mean?” Trixie said.

Stephanie turned her head to look at Trixie. “Well usually when I’m out here it’s always with everyone else. And it’s fun as a group, but with everyone together there’s not really a lot of quiet moments. Having it be just you and me out here is kind of nice!”

Trixie felt her face heating up. “I-I like it to! ...We should do it more often.”

Stephanie let go of Trixie’s hand and ran forward. “This is the spot I was thinking of!” She stopped and turned around to face Trixie again. “What do you think, good place for a picnic?”

“Looks good to me!” Trixie said. She walked over to where Stephanie was. Stephanie sat her picnic basket on the ground and opened it up, pulling out a blue and yellow gingham picnic blanket. Stephanie took one end and Trixie took the other and they both laid it out over the grass and sat down.

“So…” Stephanie said, pulling plates out of the basket and setting them in front of each other. “I was really excited to make this when you mentioned a picnic, but I know I didn't ask you what you wanted, so I hope this is okay…” She then pulled out two neatly wrapped squares and unwrapped them, revealing two grilled cheese sandwiches. “Uncle Milford helped me make them! I also brought some tomato soup in a thermos because it’s kind of chilly outside, and some blue berries and grapes for something sweet!”

Trixie looked down at the grilled cheese sandwich. She was actually started to get a little mad. It was that mad, jealous feeling again where she couldn’t believe just how absolutely perfect Stephanie was. She tried to push those feelings aside for now, it would ruin the mood. “Are you kidding? This is way more than okay. I can’t believe you made these yourself!”

“Thanks Trixie! It was actually a lot of fun to make them. I think I really like cooking.” Stephanie handed her a thermos full of tomato soup. “Here, let’s start eating.”

Trixie scarfed down her sandwich quickly, both out of nervousness and eagerness to bring up her feelings as soon as she was done eating. She idly snacked on blueberries, staring at Stephanie and waiting for the best possible time to speak up.

“...Why are you looking at me like that?” Stephanie asked, wiping the crumbs off of her lips. Shoot. This wasn’t how it was supposed to go.

Maybe she wasn’t doomed yet. If she rolled with it, it might work out. “I just had something on my mind.”

Stephanie sat her last bit of grilled cheese sandwich left down on her plate. “Do you want to talk about it?”

Trixie bit her lip. “Yeah, I'm just…” Stephanie just kept looking at her with a concerned look in her eye that only made Trixie feel more nervous. “A little scared.”

“I don’t want you to say anything that you don’t want to Trixie.” Stephanie leaned forward and placed her hand on top of Trixie’s. “But no matter what it is I’ll always be ready to listen.”

Trixie would bet money that in that moment her face was as red as the tomato soup they were drinking. Nevertheless she had decided that it was now or never. She looked Stephanie dead in the face and hoped that adrenaline would carry her through this before she could back out. “Pinkie… Stephanie, I think I’m gay.”

Stephanie looked back at her with clear surprise on her face before it eventually softened. “Really? I’m proud of you for telling me Trix-”

Quickly, afraid she was going to lose her nerve if she waited another second, Trixie gripped Stephanie’s hand tightly and blurted out, “And I really like you! ”

Seconds felt like hours. Dread started to creep up and Trixie and she began pulling her hand away. But in that same moment, Stephanie reached out and grabbed it right back, this time lacing their fingers together. “Thank you for telling me Trixie.”

Trixie couldn’t meet her gaze. “I know you don’t like me but it was bugging me so... there. Whatever.”

“Well…” Stephanie smiled nervously. “I might like you!”

“Huh?” Said Trixie.

Stephanie gripped Trixie’s hand tighter. “I mean, I never thought about it before… how did you know that you liked me?

Trixie felt like she was melting. “Well, I, I always felt different around you then I did the boys, like nervous and flustered and stuff. And really like holding hands with you and don’t want to hold hands with anyone else...”

“Trixie?” Stephanie asked after a long moment of contemplation. Trixie finally looked at her in the eyes again. “I think In that case… I like you too.”

Stephanie began to blush and Trixie just stared at her frozen before a smile grew on her face. Then her smile kept growing. Soon Trixie just found herself giggling, then laughing, then laughing so hard there were tears in her eyes. Her face was bright red but at that moment she could not care less.

“Trixie? Trixie come on, you have to say something to me!” Stephanie said, now giggling a bit herself. The laughter was contagious.

“Sorry, I’m just! So glad!” She said in between laughs. Trixie took a deep breath to calm herself down and wiped the tears out of her eyes with her hand that wasn’t still being held by Stephanie. Pulling her hand away she realized that in doing so she had smudged her mascara all over her eye. “Ah, shoot!” She yelled.

Stephanie looked at her confused. “You’re wearing mascara?”

Trixie was so happy at this point that she didn’t even care anymore. “I wanted to look nice for our date!”

“Y-you can’t call this a date!” Now it was Stephanie’s turn to flush bright red. “You haven’t asked me out yet!”

Trixie scooped up Stephanie’s hands into her own. “Pinkie, will you go on a date with me?” It sounded sweet but saying something so genuine with mascara rubbed against half her cheek made Stephanie start giggling.

“Nope! It’s too late, we’re already on one!” Stephanie teased.

“Fine, let’s finish this one then!” Trixie dropped Stephanie’s hands. She then picked up a large handful of grapes and proceeded to shove all of them in her mouth at once.

Stephanie was laughing so hard her sides hurt. “Fine! Let’s!” She picked her thermos of tomato soup and took a sip. “Hey, my soup’s cold now! This is all your fault, your confession took too long!” She playfully shoved trixie.

Trixie coughed, trying to force down the mouthful of grapes. “Stop, stop you’re gonna make me choke!”

Now they were just shoving each other back and forth, laughing loudly. “Serves you right for not telling me this was a date! I would have worn makeup too!” Trixie let Stephanie push her over and she was now just laying on the picnic blanket and laughing so hard she was hiccuping.

“Somebody help, my girlfriend is bullying me!” Trixie wheezed.

Stephanie stopped laughing. “Girlfriend?”

Trixie sat up. “I… I mean-”

“How dare you call your girlfriend a bully!” Stephanie said, and pushed Trixie right back over.

This time Trixie dragged Stephanie down with her, and two laid side by side on the picnic blanket, pushing each other playfully and giggling and teasing. Neither Stephanie nor Trixie had ever experienced a first date before this one, but they couldn’t imagine anything better than this.

Chapter Text

“We’re really telling everyone?” Stephanie asked to Trixie who was dragging her by the hand. It had been an entire day since the two shared their first date and Trixie hadn’t managed to calm down once since then.

“Yes! They’re gonna be so jealous of me!” Trixie said, marching forwards.

Stephanie tried digging her heels into the pavement but it didn’t slow them down in the slightest. “Oh yeah? Why are they gonna be jealous of you?"

“Uh, because you’re amazing and they’re all gonna be jealous that they don’t have a girlfriend as perfect as you, duh!” Said Trixie.

Stephanie started to blush a little. “The only thing they’re going to think is that you’re a big softie!”

Trixie stopped walking. “Wha- I am not a softie!” Stephanie leaned forwards and kissed her on the cheek, causing Trixie to jump. “T-THAT’S CHEATING!”

Stephanie chucked. “Come on, we're right next to Pixel’s house. We can tell him first.”

“Okay… let me do the talking.” The two walked up to Pixel’s front door, stood side by side and rang the doorbell.

Pixel opened the door and smiled at them. “Oh hi guys! What’s up?”

Trixie was practically bouncing up and down. “Guess what!?”

“What?” Pixel replied.

Trixie scooped her arm around Stephanie’s waist and yanked her closer. “We’re dating!”

“Really? Wow, congratulations!” Pixel said happily. “Wait… Is that why you were acting so weird this last week Trixie? Because you had a crush on Stephanie?”

Trixie crossed her arms defensively. “I was not acting weird!”

“You kinda were…” Stephanie chimed in.

“Ugh whatever, let’s just go tell Ziggy!” Trixie said.

Pixel reached his hand out to her. “Wait, I’m sorry! I wasn’t trying to make fun of you. It’s really cool that you two are dating.”

Stephanie smiled at him. “Thanks Pixel. That means a lot.”

Trixie rubbed the back of her neck, feeling a little sheepish at her outburst. “Yeah… thanks. But were on a mission to go tell everyone in LazyTown right now so we need to get moving!”

“Everyone, huh? Good luck you two!”

“Thanks again Pixel, bye!” Stephanie waved as the two made their way down the street. The next stop was Ziggy’s house. Trixie knocked on the door.

Ziggy perked up cheerfully upon seeing his two friends. “Hi Trixie! Hi Stephanie! What are you two doing here?”

Stephanie gave Trixie a look to insinuate that she wanted to talk first. “Hi Ziggy. Trixie and I had something we wanted to tell you.”

“What is it?” Ziggy asked.

“Well…” Stephanie placed her hand on Trixie’s shoulder. “Trixie and I are dating now!”

Ziggy’s face glowed with excitement. “Really!? That’s so cool! This is like that thing you talked about at the party before right?” Suddenly Ziggy seemed to realize something and his smile faded into a frown. “But wait, if you two are dating… does that mean you’re gonna stop hanging out with all of us?” He asked sadly.

Trixie looked confused. “What? No, of course not!”

“Ziggy, just because we're dating now doesn’t mean we’re going to stop being friends with all of you! Trixie and I might spend some more time to ourselves now but we’ll always find time to be with everyone.” Stephanie said gently.

Ziggy looked relieved. “Oh thank goodness! In that case, I hope you two have lots of fun being together!”

Trixie rubbed the top of his head playfully. “Thanks Ziggy! Now we gotta go tell everyone else, okay?”

“Okay, bye!” Ziggy said.

Stephanie turned and wave. “Bye Ziggy! Thanks for your support!”

Once again the two started heading off to the next house. “Oh man I can’t wait for Stingy’s reaction! Let me handle this one, it’s gonna be hilarious.”

Stephanie rolled her eyes at her and walked up to Stingy’s front door and began to knock. He opened the door and looked at them curious. “Hello Stephanie. Hello Trixie. Do you need something?”

“Hey Stingy, I’ve got something that you don’t!” Trixie shouted with a sinister grin on her face.

Stingy went wide eyed and began to frantically look around Trixie. “What!? No, no, it’s mine, what is it!? You’ve got to tell me!”

Trixie grabbed Stephanie’s hand and held it up in the air triumphantly. “It’s Stephanie!”

“No fair, gimme-” As realization sunk in all of the emotion drained off of Stingy’s face. "Oh.” He sighed. “Don’t tease me like that Trixie, you can’t own another person. If you’re dating she wouldn’t be yours. At the most you would be each others. ”

Trixie dropped Stephanie’s hand. “Okay, wow. First of all I’m impressed that you figured out that my joke meant that we were dating, and second of all, I just told you we were dating and that’s all you’ve got to say?”

“Sorry. I am happy to hear that you two are together. I mean it is a little weird thinking two of my best friends are dating each other, but I’ll get used to it." Stingy said.

Stephanie smiled nervously. “Don’t worry, I think it’s going to be a little weird for us too.”

“Yeah yeah, thank you for the support and all that.” Trixie waved her hand. “Now if you excuse us, there are more people we gotta brag to!”

Stingy rolled his eyes. “Try not to turn it into a joke next time. Good luck.” He said, smiling.

The two stepped away from Stingy’s house. They made it all the way to the park before Stephanie held out her hand in from of Trixie, stopping her. “Trixie… who did you plan on telling next?”

“Well there’s still Mayor Meanswell and Miss Busybody, but I figured would want to tell your uncle yourself and honestly I really don’t care if Miss Busybody knows. So now I figured it was time to tell Sportacus!”

Stephanie rubbed her arm. “Okay, but if Sportacus is going to find out that we’re dating, can I-”

Suddenly a voice called out from behind her. “So you two twerps are dating, huh? Well congratulations to the pint sized power couple.”

Stephanie whipped her head around. “Robbie Rotten!” She yelled, practically automatically. Stephanie actually began to panic a little. She knew Robbie wasn’t a bad guy and he didn’t react bad at the party, but what would he do now that he knows she’s dating Trixie? Should she be worried? Should she try to deny it? It was a terrible thought and she didn’t want to distrust Robbie but this was all so new to her she didn’t know what to think.

Trixie could obviously tell something bad was going on inside Stephanie’s head so she gently placed her hands on her shoulders. “Pinkie, relax. He already knows.”

“He… huh?” Was all Stephanie could manage to say.

“You didn’t tell her?” Robbie asked, putting his hands on his hips. “Taking credit for all my hard work… you should be ashamed of yourself.”

Stephanie’s head rotated back and forth between Robbie and Trixie. “Tell me what?” She asked, incredibly confused.

“I asked Robbie to help me out with my feelings towards you. He gave me a lot of advice and honestly I probably wouldn’t have asked you out if it wasn’t for him.” Trixie said, feeling a little embarrassed.

“You’re forgetting the part where you forced me to do your makeup.”

Trixie crossed her arms. “Yeah, well, your mascara sucked anyway! When I rubbed my eye it got all over my face!”

“Of course it did, you’re not supposed to touch it!” Robbie said, gesturing dramatically.

“Well how was I supposed to know!? I never wear makeup!” Trixie shouted back.

Stephanie finally snapped out of her trance. “Wait, wait, hold on. Robbie, you really did all that for her?”

“More like I was forced to.” Stephanie smiled at him and Robbie gestured dismissively. “Not like I care, the more you two are on your little dates, the less you will all be in a loud group playing.”

Robbie began walking away. “Wait, wait, wait!” Trixie said quickly. He stopped and looked back at her. “Can I tell her that you’re…?”

Robbie looked amused. “Knock yourself out kid. At this point I don’t care who knows.” He sauntered off.

“Tell me that he’s what?” Stephanie asked.

Trixie glanced around to make sure nobody could overhear. “Robbie’s gay.”

Stephanie’s eyes lit up brightly. “Really!?” Trixie nodded happily. “Wow! And he gave you advice and everything… that’s so sweet of him!”

“I know right!? And all it took was for me to make fun of him a little… what a softie.” Trixie chuckled.

“In that case, we’re going to have to do something nice to thank him for all he’s done for us. We’ll have to think of something.” Stephanie said.

Trixie started thinking. “Maybe after we tell Sportacus, we can ask if he has any ideas?”

“Yeah, that might work…” Stephanie said. “But actually Trixie, is it okay if I tell Sportacus by myself?”

“Oh! Yeah, sure. Totally understandable.” Trixie said.

Stephanie let out a sigh of relief. “Thanks Trixie. If you want you can like, stand off to the side when I tell him though.”

Trixie patted her on the back. “Alright! Whatever you want.”

“If you're sure... you can you sit over by that bench if you want? I’m going to send him a letter and wait by the mailbox.” Stephanie said. Trixie gave her a thumbs up and ran over to the bench.

Stephanie walked over to the mailbox and pulled out a piece of paper. On it, she wrote ‘Dear Sportacus, Can you come down? There’s something important I wanted to tell you. Love, Stephanie’. With a deep breath she dropped the letter down the chute and pulled the lever on the mailbox.

Chapter Text

After a few minutes of waiting, Stephanie could see Sportacus descending from his ladder.

“Hi Stephanie!” Sportacus said, practically radiating with positivity. “What did you want to tell me?”

Stephanie wrung her hands together nervously. “Hi Sportacus. I guess it’s not that important… I mean it’s important to me but it’s probably not that big of a deal and-”

Sportacus placed a hand on her shoulder. “Stephanie, if it’s important to you, then it’s important to me. What is it?”

Stephanie bit her lip. She stood there for quite some time, with only Sportacus’s grip on her shoulder grounding her from spacing out completely. “I’m gay.” She said eventually.

After a moment, Sportacus kneeled down on one knee and looked up at Stephanie. “Stephanie that is important. It must have taken a lot of courage for you to tell me and I’m incredibly honored that you trust me enough to let me know.” Sportacus gave her a fatherly smile. “I’m so proud of you, and I support you one hundred percent.”

“Thanks Sportacus.” Stephanie said. She could feel her eyes start to water. “But there’s something else.”

“Whatever it is, you can tell me.” Sportacus said.

Stephanie looked down at her feet. “Well, uh. Trixie and I are dating now.”

Sportacus actually looked a bit puzzled for a moment. “You are?” Stephanie looked back up at him. “I mean I’m very glad to hear that and I think you two will be very happy together! My only worry is that dating is a very mature thing. I don’t want you two to try to rush into being grown up. Childhood is a precious time and I want you two to cherish it.”

Stephanie actually laughed a little, both to relieve the tension she was feeling and also because Sportacus always looked like a cute puppy dog when he was worried. “I know… Trixie and I aren’t trying to hurry and grow up or anything. Honestly I think I prefer it if nothing really changes between us? Now we just… we hang out alone together more and kiss each other on the cheek and stuff.” Stephanie smiled awkwardly. Saying stuff like that to Sportacus felt a little embarrassing.

Sportacus stood back up. “Alright. I trust you two and wish you the best. Is Trixie around here? I’d like to talk to her too.”

“Yeah one second.” Stephanie turned to where Trixie was waiting at the bench and gestured to her. “Trixie! You can come out now!

Trixie hurriedly walked over and Sportacus gave her a confused glance. “Did you… overhear us?” He asked her.

“Yeah… sorry.” Trixie said.

“That’s okay. If anything it means that I don’t have to repeat myself. You know I’ll always be there for you two right? I may not have any personal experience in dating, but if you two ever need any help, don’t be afraid to ask me. Okay?” They both gave him a heartfelt smile and nod. “Good, now give me a hug.”

Sportacus kneeled down again and Trixie and Stephanie both wrapped their arms around him. Sportacus hugged them back, squeezing them gently. After a moment they all finally broke apart. “Actually Sportacus…” Trixie said. “Since you’ve never dated anyone before I asked Robbie for advice and he really helped me out a lot.”

“Really?” He said actually sort of sarcastically. Honestly the idea of Robbie doing that didn’t surprise him all the much. “Well then I suppose we ought to thank him.”

“We wanted to do something nice for him to say thanks but we couldn’t think of anything. Do you have any ideas Sportacus?” Stephanie asked.

Sportacus tapped his chin. “Let me think… usually when someone does something nice for you, you get them a gift! Maybe we can think of something that Robbie really wants?”

Stephanie giggled. “You mean cake? Or a nap?”

“I think he get’s plenty of those.” Sportacus said. “No, the best gifts are the ones you don’t even realize you want. It’s something that the other person was only able to get you because they paid attention to what you really  wanted!”

Everyone kind of paused for a moment, thinking ideas over. Trixie thought about the conversations she had with Robbie over the past few days. Maybe there was something there… some hint about something he might really like… wait. Maybe? No… but what if?

“I think I have an idea…” Trixie said slowly. “But It’s going to have to be a surprise.”

Sportacus smiled. “Alright, well let me know if you need any help.”

Stephanie nodded her head. “Of course Sportacus. And thank you again for everything you said today!”

“Yeah, thanks.” Trixie said, still kind of lost in thought.

“No problem. Have fun you two!” Sportacus said brightly. He gave them a quick wave and then flipped away to go catch his airship.

Once Stephanie and Trixie were alone again, Stephanie spoke up. “So what’s this surprise you had in mind for Robbie?”

Trixie looked around from side to side. “Let’s go back to your place. We can talk about it there.”

Stephanie seemed a bit confused, but led the way back to her house and into her room. “Alright, we’re here. Now what did you want to do for Robbie and why is it such a big secret?” Stephanie asked, sitting herself down on her bed.

“It’s a secret because I don’t know If I’m right or not. But if I am… oh boy Pinkie, this will be like, probably the greatest thing we’ll ever accomplish.” Trixie said.

Stephanie gave her a confused smile. “Okay, now I really gotta know.”

Trixie put her hands together. “I think Robbie has a crush on Sportacus. And I think we should try to get them together.”

“...Wait, what?” Stephanie asked, dumbfounded. “You think Robbie Rotten has a crush on Sportacus?”

Trixie looked at her nervously. “I know, I know. But you’ve got to trust me on this. It’s just like what Sportacus was saying about not knowing what you really want. Based on the relationship junk I talked about him with, I think he totally likes Sportacus and just doesn’t realize it! Or he does realize it, but he doesn’t want to admit it to himself or something.”

“I mean I guess that’s possible… but how can you be so sure?” Stephanie asked.

“Okay well mainly I think the way I was feeling about you is probably how he’s feeling about Sportacus.” Trixie said. Stephanie gave her a funny look. “What I mean is, for a while I really, really liked you but I didn’t even think there was a chance we could be together so I was really frustrated. And you were always so cool and I didn’t know what to do and that just made me even more frustrated! It was honestly so annoying I didn’t even want to be around you sometimes!”

Stephanie placed her hand on Trixie’s shoulder. “I can't believe you felt that way Trixie. I'm sorry, I wish I had known. But… are you really suggesting that the reason Robbie is constantly trying to get Sportacus to leave town is because deep down he’s mad that he can’t date him?”

“Maybe!” Trixie said, throwing her hands up into the air. “I don’t know for sure, but like, wouldn’t that make a ton of sense?”

Stephanie thought for a moment. “I can’t believe it, but honestly it would. Still, even if that’s true, how could the two of us possibly get them together? Sportacus has never dated anybody in his life, we don’t even know if he likes anyone romantically, let alone guys!”

“True, true.” Trixie said, rubbing her chin. “Guess I’ll have to do some spying… maybe Pixel can hack into something for information...”

Stephanie laughed and pushed her on the shoulder. “Trixie! No spying on Sportacus! How about I go and actually confirm that Robbie even has a crush on him first? For all you know maybe he just wants to be really good friends with him.”

Trixie sighed. “What? Come on, he totally does. How would you even confirm it anyway?”

“...I think I can come up with something, but it’s going to be a bit convoluted.”

Chapter Text

It was a few days later and time for Stephanie to put her plan into motion. Well she wouldn’t call it a plan exactly. Stephanie thought that it might give her some insight into how Robbie’s feeling, and if it didn’t, then there would be no harm done. Either way it would be fun, really. The first step was to make sure that Robbie was asleep on one of the benches around town. That way she could rope him into her scheme before he had a chance to be down in his lair and putting on a disguise. Stephanie confirmed that he was fast asleep on a park bench. It was go time.

Sportacus walked up Stephanie, Pixel, Trixie, Ziggy and Stingy, who were all grouped up around the park. They all seemed to be putting something together, “Hi everybody! What are you making?”

“Set pieces for my play.” Stingy said.

“Our play.” Corrected Pixel.

“You’re putting on a play?” Sportacus asked.

Stephanie put down the paintbrush she was using. “Yeah, want to join us Sportacus? We need someone to play the knight.”

Sportacus put his hands on his hips. “Well I don’t know if I’m that great of an actor, but sure, anything for guys! What’s the play about?”

“It’s about dragon that loses her babies! The momma dragon steals the prince of the kingdom and won’t give him back until she gets her baby dragons back. So the knight finds the baby dragons and has to try to train them while at the same time trying to go and rescue the prince!” Trixie said.

“It’s less of a play and more of a set up to have fun with. We’re going to make most of it up as we go along.” Said Stephanie.

Sportacus smiled. “That sounds like fun to me. Who will all of you be playing?”

“We’re all gonna be the baby dragons!” Ziggy said excitedly, and began to stomp around.

“Wait, Stephanie! We don’t have anyone to play the prince!” Trixie said, pretending to sound genuine.

Stephanie feigned surprise. “You’re right Trixie! I guess I’ll have to go and find someone!” She ran off before Sportacus could question her.

Robbie was fast asleep on his bench and Stephanie did her best to quietly tiptoe up to him. She gave him a gently poke on the cheek and he dramatically flailed and flopped off of the bench onto the ground.

“WHO, WHAT, HUH!? “ Robbie yelled, scrambling onto his feet.

Stephanie took a few steps back to give him room to… breathe. “Sorry Robbie! It’s just me.”

Robbie paused, looked at Stephanie, then sighed and hunched over like a child. “You know I was just trying to enjoy a nice, peaceful, relaxing nap, alone. "

“I know, that’s why I woke you!” Stephanie said, holding her hands behind her back.

Robbie rubbed his temples. “You woke me because I was trying to nap?”

“What I mean is, all of us were planning on playing in the soccer field over here. And you know, soccer is really, really noisy! I just thought that I should wake you so you could go nap somewhere else.” Stephanie said. She hoped that she was good at acting.

“I thought you were supposed to be the nice once.” Robbie said bluntly. “How about instead of waking me up and forcing me to nap somewhere else, you play your game somewhere else?”

Stephanie tried not to smile as went along with the script she had in her head. “Well we don’t have to play soccer. What we really wanted to do was put on a play! It would be nice and quiet too.” She tried to give him her best puppy dog eyes. “The only problem is we need one more person for our play! It’s such a small role too, they would just have to dress up like a prince and sit around until the very end of the play. Why, they could probably spend the entire play napping if they wanted to!” Stephanie sighed dramatically. “But oh well, I guess we’ll just play soccer…”

Robbie’s eyes lit up. What if he played the part of this so called prince? Then the little brats would have their quiet play, and meanwhile he could just stay and nap! It was genius idea, and one that had come up with all by himself!

Stephanie started walking away, looking dejected. “Hey, wait!” Robbie called out. While she was facing away from him, she started to grin. He totally took the bait.

Stephanie turned around and made herself look innocent. “Yes?”

“That uh, prince character you mentioned. You don’t suppose that I could play him, do you?” Robbie asked. He too was trying to make himself look innocent, still thinking he was the one fooling Stephanie with his master scheme.

“Of course you can Robbie! Come on, let’s get you into a costume!” Stephanie grabbed him by the hand and started yanking him away before he had any time to protest.

A few minutes passed and everything was almost ready to go. Trixie ran over to Sportacus. She was already all dressed up little cardboard wings and red face paint to make her look like a dragon. “Hey Sportacus, did you want to wear a costume too?”

“No thanks Trixie, I think I’m fine with just the sword.” Sportacus said, patting the foam sword that was against his waist. Wearing a suit of armor is not something he wanted to do a second time.

“Hey Sportacus! And Trixie! Want to come see the prince?” Stephanie called out from behind the backstage area they had set up. Trixie and Sportacus both headed over.

Sportacus walked through the curtain of the backstage and saw a man in a regal prince costume. The costume was as stereotypically prince-y as they come, down to sash across torso to the shoulder pieces. The main part of his suit however was actually a deep purple. The man himself was was… well, Sportacus knew it was obviously Robbie. But he always knew that. The disguises that he wore never seemed to fool Sportacus, but he always thought it would be more fun if he just played along. This time however it seemed to have put him in an awkward scenario. Did Stephanie know that was Robbie? He was wearing a fake mustache after all, and that had been enough the fool them before.

“Doesn’t Robbie look great Sportacus?” Stephanie said.

Sportacus let out a mental sigh of relief, glad that she actually did know it was Robbie this time. “Yes he does!” Sportacus said. “It’s very nice of you to play with us today Robbie.”

Robbie started fiddling with his costume. “Yes well… any excuse for a nap.”

“Trixie, why don’t you and I help get Robbie all ready to go?” Stephanie said coyly.

Trixie gave her a knowing look. “Great idea! Come on Robbie…”

Stephanie and Trixie walked away with Robbie, leaving Sportacus backstage with Pixel, Stingy, and Ziggy. Sportacus knew those two were up to something, he just didn’t know what.

Robbie was presented in front of a painted backdrop of a dragon that was around his height. Beneath it, there were a bunch of pillow and fake treasures scattered around. “So this is where you’re going to be until the end of the play!” Stephanie said.

“And just how does this play end exactly?” Robbie asked, tapping one of the pillows with his shoe.

Stephanie turned to Trixie and gave her a wink, then turned back to Robbie. “Oh, that’s the best part! The final scene has the knight rescuing the prince, carrying him away in his arms, and ending with a kiss!”

“...Who did you say was playing the knight?” Robbie asked, looking terribly confused.

“Why, Sportacus of course!” Stephanie was feeling giddy inside, while Robbie looked like his brain had just malfunctioned. Time to push it a little further. “That’s not a problem is it? I mean, Sportacus has held you in his arms before.” Robbie’s entire body seemed to flinch and he was standing as straight as a board. Just one more. “And kissing Sportacus isn’t that big of a deal right? I mean, we’re only following the story.” Stephanie then glanced at Trixie, who nodded her head in response and walked off.

Robbie appeared completely frozen. He seemed like he wanted to start saying something but all that came out was gibberish. Apparently realizing that words were failing him, Robbie began shuffling his hands around, as if in an attempt to use charades to convey what he was trying to say. “Does it have to be… on the lips?” Robbie finally said, wincing as he did so. Stephanie could see visible beads of sweat falling down his face.

Stephanie smiled innocently. “Of course it does silly, that’s how all fairy tales end! I mean, unless you don’t want to…”

Robbie started sputtering. “I mean- I don’t- It’s just- If I-”

Just then Trixie reappeared, this time with Sportacus. As soon as Robbie saw him, he jumped like a frightened cat. “Is everything okay Robbie?” Sportacus asked, looking at him with concern.

“Y-yes I just-” Robbie’s fake mustache started falling off and he clasped his hand over his mouth. Everyone seemed to pause. Sportacus cocked his head to the side, having no idea what exactly was going on. Robbie dropped his hand, letting the mustache fall the ground, and Stephanie swore she could see redness creeping up on his cheeks. “I-I’m too tired for this! I’ll nap at home!”

Robbie walked off in a huff before anyone could say anything. “...Should I go after him?” Sportacus finally asked.

“No, that’s okay. We can just put on a play about a knight that raises five baby dragons.” Trixie said.

Sportacus stared at Robbie as he walked away, still worried about him, before eventually shrugging. Everyone went on to put on their play together. Even without following the original story, it still ended up being a lot of fun, and Robbie never reappeared in a disguise to try and ruin it. Not bad for a silly little idea that Stephanie had come up with, she figured.

Once the fun times were over Stephanie pulled Trixie to the side. “Okay I'm convinced, Robbie totally likes him.” She whispered. “What's your plan for getting them together?”

Trixie grinned mischievously. “I’m glad you asked.”

Chapter Text

A couple more days passed by since then. Trixie and Stephanie both now agreed that Robbie Rotten was absolutely crushing hard on Sportacus, whether he knew it himself or not. The plan now was to try and get Robbie and Sportacus in a scenario where romance would happen naturally. Stephanie made sure to set a ground rule of trying not to force anything, she just wanted to give the two a little push.

This led them to Trixie’s idea, a romantic lunch, because hey, it worked for her. It was easy enough to get the other kids to play along with them. After all, the idea of setting up a little ‘restaurant’ in the middle of LazyTown sounded genuinely fun. There was a little kitchen like area where a bunch of ingredients were, and two sets of tables and chairs ready for someone to sit at. Stephanie already invited Milford and Bessie, and they were already sitting down at one of the tables, and Stingy served them two glasses of water. Finally, Stephanie sent Ziggy off to go invite Sportacus as she had to stay behind and start baking. Trixie on the other hand, headed off to get Robbie.

Trixie ran all the way over to Robbie’s lair and knocked on the pipe. After a moment, Robbie appeared. “I don’t remember telling you that you could come back and bother me whenever you wanted.” He said.

“Yeah yeah, I know, but I have a good reason this time!” Trixie said, a little out of breath from the run over. Robbie raised an eyebrow. “How does free dessert sound?”

Robbie looked her up and down suspiciously. “...Why?”

“Umm, to thank you for helping me before, duh.” Trixie said.

“What kind of dessert?” He asked, still unconvinced.

Trixie smiled. “How’s apple pie sound?”

Robbie paused to think about it. He certainly did love pie, and even with apples being a sports candy, usually apple pie is chock full of enough cinnamon and sugar he could barely tell. “Fine.” He said, and crawled out of the pipe.

Trixie and Robbie walked all the way back to where the makeshift restaurant was set up. At one of the two tables, Sportacus was already sitting down, tapping his foot gently. Robbie looked around confused. “What… is this exactly?” Robbie asked.

“It’s our little restaurant! I’ll be your waitress today.” Trixie said.

Out of the corner of his eye Robbie saw Pixel and Stephanie mixing some kind of ingredients, and Stingy bringing out some sort of cake for Milford and Bessie to eat. One thing he didn’t see was an empty table. “Well where am I supposed to eat?”

“Sorry, we couldn’t find enough tables. Sportacus, is it okay if Robbie sits across from you?”

Sportacus bobbed his head up. He had begun to zone about a bit, getting a little anxious from sitting still and doing nothing. “Of course Trixie! The more the merrier.”

Trixie pulled out the chair across from Sportacus. “Here you go Robbie.” Robbie glanced around, as if to confirm there was nowhere else to sit, then sunk into the chair. “Can I get you two some drinks while you wait?”

“I’ll have water.” Sportacus said.

“Do you have any soda?” Robbie asked.

Trixie looked back at Stingy, and he shook his head. “Uh no. But we do have milk?” She said.

Robbie hunched over in his chair, placing his elbows on the table. “Fine, just make sure it’s whole milk.”

Trixie nodded and walked away to get their drinks. She quickly returned and put them on the table. “Your food will be out shortly.” She said, and ran off to the kitchen area.

Robbie picked up his glass a milk, sniffed it, and wrinkled his nose before taking a sip. He put the glass back down on the table. “Only two tables…” He muttered. “I’d rather sit on the floor.”

Sportacus gave him a lopsided smile. “Come on Robbie, one meal near each other isn’t so bad. Think of it as a nice break from always eating alone.”

“It’s not eating around other people in general that’s the problem Sportadip, it’s the fact that I’m going to have to sit here and stare at you eat some ridiculously healthy junk while I try and enjoy my dessert.” Robbie said.

“I’m not going to judge you for eating dessert, Robbie.” Sportacus said gently. Robbie rolled his eyes and rested his hand on his face. “And actually I don’t even know what I’m going to be eating! Stephanie said it was a surprise.”

Robbie glanced around. “Putting together an entire restaurant just for fun… those brats have way too much free time.”

Sportacus frowned a bit. “But it’s impressive, isn’t it? Think about much you’re able to accomplish in your free time. All of your inventions and schemes… that’s how you express your creativity, and this is how they express theirs.”

Robbie sat up in his chair. “I don’t scheme to express my creativity,  Sporty.”

“Well, either way, I think the kids find it kind of inspiring.” Sportacus said with a smile.

“What?” Robbie asked flatly.

Sportacus chuckled a bit. “Then again, what do I know…”

Before Robbie could say anything else, Trixie reappeared carrying a plate in each hand. Each plate held a slice of… something. Robbie thought it was an apple pie at first but he wasn’t completely sure. The shell of it looked bumpy and weird, almost like a granola bar, and the apple filling wasn't even cooked. Trixie sat one plate in front of Sportacus, and the other in front of Robbie. “Here you go, two slices of apple pie!”

Robbie stared down at his plate, unsure of what he was looking at exactly. Sportacus looked equally confused. “...Did you forget to put it in the oven?” Robbie asked, poking the slice with his fork.

“It’s a raw apple pie. No baking required.” Trixie said. “The shell is made up of ground up walnuts, dates, and coconut, and the filling is made of raw apple slices with a bit of cinnamon! So not only is it perfectly safe and healthy for you to eat Sportacus, but Robbie, it should be sweet enough for you to enjoy too!”

Robbie continued to stare at the slice. His mind didn’t seem to be able to process the idea of a healthy pie. “...There is no way I am eating this.”

“I thought you might say that.” Trixie said. She then pulled out a can of whip cream and proceeded to spray a dollop on top of Robbie’s slice of pie, and then set the can down on the table. “Stephanie made it special for you two. Enjoy!” Trixie said before running off.

Sportacus picked up part of the pie with his fork and examined it. “Wow, Stephanie put all this effort into making something both of us would like? I've never even had pie before!” He put the piece in his mouth and ate it.

“Yeah, well, it was a waste of effort. She could have just made me an actual apple pie and set an apple aside for you and I think we’d both be happier.” Robbie said. Sportcaus just shrugged with a smile and took another bite of his pie.

Robbie looked around, as if he was trying to find a way to escape from the situation. Seeing none, he hunched back over and picked up a piece of the pie with his fork. Slowly, apprehensively, he stuck the piece of in his mouth and swallowed.

“Well?” Sportacus asked, looking at him expectantly.

Robbie put down his fork. “It wasn’t… horrible.” That was a lie and both of them knew it, it was actually pretty good. Robbie proceeded to try and finish his pie as quickly as possible, silently hoping that as soon as he was done he could run back to the safety of his lair. Sportacus finished his slice soon after and just stared at Robbie with a giddy smile on his face.

“...Why are you looking at me like that?” Robbie said, now feeling much more uncomfortable.

Sportacus was resting his face on his hands. “You know, if you liked that pie, think of what else you might like! We could probably tailor so many healthy foods to your liking by making sure they’re sweet enough for you. This could open a whole new world of possibilities!”

Robbie stared straight at Sportacus dead in the face, picked up the can of whip cream that was sitting on the table, and sprayed cream directly into his mouth. He then gulped it down and got out of his chair, mumbling, “My compliments to the chef.” before disappearing. Sportacus just blinked, absolutely dumbfounded.

Stephanie walked up to the table. “...Did he like the pie?” She asked.

“I think so.” Sportacus said, still trying to process what had just happened. “And I really liked it too, Stephanie. You did a great job.”

Stephanie smiled. “Thanks Sportacus! Pixel was helping me make it. We found a recipe online.”

“I see. And was there a reason you chose a recipe that seemed to suit both Robbie and I perfectly?”

“Oh, did it?” Stephanie said, trying not to sound nervous. Was Sportacus onto her? “I just remembered how Robbie ate a strawberry back at the Valentine’s Day party and wanted to see if he could other healthy stuff like you do!”

Sportacus got out of his chair. “Well that was very thoughtful of you Stephanie, and I think it worked out well.” He leaned in a little closer to her. “But I’m pretty sure there are more tables you could've used at stage.”

Stephanie started panicking internally. “There are? Haha, my bad…!” Sportacus cocked his head. “I should go help everyone clean up now!”

Sportacus shook his head as Stephanie walked off. There was definitely something strange going on here.

Chapter Text

Trixie pulled Stephanie aside and made sure nobody could hear her. “What was that about, is Sportacus onto us?”

“No, I think we’re okay.” Stephanie said.

“That’s good at least.” Trixie said. “Too bad this restaurant idea was a total bust.”

“I wouldn’t call it a total bust. But come on, we have to help everyone clean up now.” Stephanie said. Trixie nodded and they regrouped with Stingy, Pixel, and Ziggy and started picking up dishes.

Stephanie waved Sportacus, Uncle Milford, and Miss Busybody goodbye and picked up the tables and carried them off. When she returned, it seemed like almost everything was ready and put away. She was just about to head off with Trixie to form their next plan when Pixel loudly cleared his throat behind her.

“Where do you think you’re going?” Pixel asked, placing his hands on his hips.

Stephanie looked around confused. “...Home?”

“Without an explanation?” Stingy said this time.

“What are you guys talking about…?” Stephanie asked.

Stingy looked almost disappointed in her. “You. And Trixie. You’re planning something, what is it?”

“Yeah, why have you two been acting so weird?” Ziggy said innocently.

Stephanie smiled nervous and her eyes darted to Trixie for help. “I-I don’t…”

Trixie stepped in. “Okay, so we’re trying to-” Stephanie, in a frenzy, started waving her hands to try and signal Trixie to shut up. “Oh come on Pinkie, they can probably help us!”

“Help you with what?” Pixel asked.

Stephanie sighed covered her face with hands. “We’re trying to hook up Robbie and Sportacus.” There was a moment of silence. Pixel just squinted his eyes and stared at her in disbelief. Ziggy looked around at everyone’s faces as if this was some sort of joke he wasn’t getting.

Stingy crossed his arms. “...Why?”

“Because you guys, Robbie is totally in love with him! We’re trying to help!” Trixie shouted, gesturing dramatically.

“He is!?” Ziggy asked.

Stephanie was dying from embarrassment at this point. “I mean… we’re pretty sure.”

“Don’t get me wrong, I believe you.” Stingy said. “But still, why try to get them together? Why should we care who Robbie likes, and what makes you think Sportacus would want to date him?”

“Well we’re trying to get them together because we kinda owe Robbie a favor for him helping me with asking Stephanie out…” Trixie said, her voice trailing off at the end.

Stephanie picked up where she left off. “As for if Sportacus would be happy, truthfully we don’t know. But I like to think that I know him pretty well and I think he would?” Stephanie said, feeling a little unsure of herself.

“Hey, if Robbie and Sportacus are dating each other, that means that Robbie wouldn’t try to kick Sportacus out of town anymore, right? Everyone would be happy!” Ziggy said.

Pixel seemed to be mentally going over his options. “Alright. I’m in.”

“You’ll help us!?” Trixie said excitedly.

“If you two are really sure that Robbie likes Sportacus… then yeah, I’ll help.” Pixel said.

“Me too! I wanna help!” Ziggy said, bouncing up and down.

Stingy smiled. “I suppose I will too. So what’s your plan?”

Stephanie rubbed her arm. “That’s the thing… this restaurant idea was our only plan. Now we don’t know what to do.”

“Well since you two had your plans, why don’t the three of us each come up with a plan of our own and try those out?” Pixel said.

“Sounds fair to me.” Trixie said.

Stingy and Ziggy nodded in agreement, and then parted was to finish cleaning up before returning home.

A few days later everyone regrouped and shared their various ideas. Ziggy volunteered to go first. He had Sportacus and Robbie, along with everyone else, write down a secret they were keeping on a piece of paper anonymously and turn them into a bag. Afterwards, he read every single piece of paper out loud without anyone knowing who wrote what. The plan was that since they didn’t know their papers were going to be read out loud, Robbie or Sportacus might write down their feelings. This however did not work out in the slightest because all Robbie wrote down was that despite it being an exercise he really likes dancing, and for some reason Sportacus's deep dark secret was that he doesn’t own pajamas.

A day or so after that Pixel wanted to have his try at it. He agreed that Robbie probably did like Sportacus, so his method of attack was to make sure that Sportacus liked Robbie back. He thought that since Sportacus is saving Robbie all the time, maybe if Robbie saved Sportacus for a change, it might make him might fall in love with him! So Pixel got to work making a machine that ‘accidentally’ managed to trap Sportacus. Pixel acted like he had no idea how to turn the machine off, and ran to Robbie for help, seeing as he was good with technology. Robbie refused to help at first but Pixel, but he tried to butter him up by telling Robbie how great and smart he is and how he’s the only one who could possibly do it. That seemed to convince him, so Robbie cut a few wires on the back of the machine, shutting it down and releasing Sportacus. Sportacus thanked Robbie of course, and Robbie said something along the lines of it simply being child’s play before wandering off. Nobody could decide if Pixel’s plan had succeeded or not.

Finally, it was Stingy’s turn. After going over what with wrong with the previous attempts, Stingy decided that the the only thing that would probably work would be to ask directly. Of course just straight up asking would be suspicious and a far too blunt, so he invited everyone along for a game of truth or dare. Unfortunately every single time it was Sportacus’s turn he would only ever pick dare. And while it was amusing to see Sportacus do things like eat a flower, which he strangely didn’t seem to mind being dared to do, it didn’t provide them with any useful information. Luckily Robbie’s turn came around and he picked truth, so Stingy was able to ask if he had a crush on anyone. His response however was, “How old do you think I am, five? I don’t get crushes.”

At this point, everyone had seemed to have lost hope of this ever working out. The team regrouped by the treehouse to talk it over.

“Why don’t we send Robbie a letter from Sportacus asking him out, and Sportacus a letter from Robbie asking him out, and then they’ll meet up for a date!” Ziggy suggested.

Trixie shook her head. “Uh-uh that’s going too far. We can’t be too pushy about this.”

“I agree that that’s going too far but the chance that those two will get together without our direct involvement is very small!” Pixel said.

“They’re going to catch onto us sooner or later…” Said Stingy.

Ziggy looked sad. “Maybe it’s better if we just give up.”

“No, we can’t give up!” Trixie shouted. “At this point it’s been too long since Robbie helped me for me to just go and thank him now. This is my one way of thanking him anymore, if I don’t do this, I’d feel like a big jerk!”

“I understand…” Stingy said. “Maybe we should all go home and try thinking it over some more.”

Everyone silently nodded and Stingy, Pixel, and Ziggy started parting ways, leaving only Stephanie and Trixie behind. Stephanie had stayed quiet during the entire conversation, just staring down at her feet. “Want me to walk you home Pinkie?” Trixie asked.

Stephanie took a deep breath and looked up. “No, that’s okay. I think I’m going to stay here and write everything down in my diary.”

Trixie smiled but was still a little worried about her. “Alright. Let me know if you needed anything.”

“I will. Bye Trixie.” Stephanie said. Trixie waved goodbye, leaving Stephanie alone under the treehouse. She sat down on the grass, her back leaning up against the trunk of the tree, and pulled out her diary. She scribbled down everything that happened today, then started flipping through previous pages. This ridiculous idea had now been going on for a little over a week, and she was starting to feel silly for wasting so much time on it. She sighed and tucked away her diary, then climbed up into the treehouse to just lay down and think everything over.

Meanwhile, Robbie Rotten was absolutely, one hundred percent onto those brats. Well, more like fifty percent. He knew for sure that those five... what were their names again? Stimpy, Biggy, Pickle, Tricky, and he was pretty sure the pink one was Stephanie. Either way, he was knew for sure those five were planning something. He first noticed them whispering to each other and other times they would look at Robbie with this weird expression on their faces, almost like they were expecting something from him. He didn’t really suspect much until that Stinky kid asked him if he had a crush on anyone. Who asks something like that? Clearly it was some sort of prank or practical joke. Too bad Robbie was too smart for their little tricks! He wasn’t going to be caught with his pants down, he was going to spy on those brats and figure out just what exactly was going on!

Robbie brilliantly disguised himself as a bush and crept his way through LazyTown, hopefully he could catch those kids in the middle of their plot. Sadly after sneaking around for a bit, the only brat he managed to find was Stephanie. All she was doing was writing something down in her diary! That wasn’t going to help Robbie at all. He watched as Stephanie climbed up into the treehouse. Great, now he couldn’t even see her.

Robbie was just about ready to turn around and go home when he suddenly noticed something out of the corner of his eye. While Stephanie had been climbing up the ladder to the treehouse, she must not have noticed that her diary slipped out of her purse. So there Robbie sat, staring at this pink diary that was lying on the grass, pages wide open for the world to see. Robbie crawled out of his costume and carefully snuck over and picked up the diary.

It was almost too easy, Robbie thought, as he flipped to today’s entry.

Chapter Text

Robbie could have never imagined his plan would work out so well! Now he didn’t even have to eavesdrop, the diary should have their entire plan written out as clear as day! Once he was on today’s entry and began to read.

“Today didn’t go so good. I’m starting to feel a little bad about the whole thing. Trixie doesn’t want us to give up, but I’m starting to worry that we’ve been wrong about Robbie from the beginning. Maybe someone will have a better idea tomorrow.”

Robbie was confused. What could they have ‘wrong’ about him? Still, he was a little glad that it seemed like Stephanie didn’t want to do their plan. Maybe that little goody-two-shoes will teach them that it’s rude to tease people. Robbie flipped back a few more pages to see if he could find some context.

“I had the best day ever! I thought Trixie and I we’re just going to have a simple picnic together, but it turned out to be-”

Whoops, that’s too far back. Robbie checked a couple pages ahead.

“Trixie’s restaurant idea didn’t turn out so well. I was almost ready to give up hope until Pixel, Ziggy, and Stingy came to talk to us! I guess we were being pretty suspicious, because they asked what we were up to. But we told them and now they’re going to help us! I have a good feeling about this.”

Robbie squinted at the pages. Whatever this idea was, it seemed that Stephanie and… okay the page said Trixie, were the ones who came up with it! So when he was invited out for a nice slice of apple pie as a thank you, it was really a trap? Well Robbie was certainly glad he left as soon as he did back then, if there was apparently a trap set up that ‘didn’t work out’ for those two. He still needed more clues, so Robbie tried flipping ahead to when he agreed to that silly game of truth or dare, that seemed like the most obvious.

“Stingy tried out his idea today but it didn’t work. Sportacus just kept picking dare so we couldn’t ask him who is crush was. When we asked Robbie, he just said he doesn’t get crushes. It seems like not even a direct approach will help get those two together.”

Wait, what? What did that mean, ‘get those two together’? That’s not… that’s not why they asked him if he had a crush on anyone, was it? No, Robbie was sure he was just misinterpreting it, I mean, he had to be, right? He should try a different page, that should explain everything.

“Today Trixie and I told everyone that we’re dating! Well, except for Robbie because he apparently already knew! Robbie helped out Trixie a lot, so now we want to do something nice for him as thanks. Trixie said that she thinks Robbie has a crush on Sportacus, and that we should try to get them to date each other. It sounds like a good idea, but I want to make sure that Robbie has a crush on Sportacus first.”

Robbie slammed the diary shut. They thought that he had crush on Sportacus ? He had no clue where they possibly got that idea from. I mean, the idea of him liking Sportacus was downright laughable… right? Robbie shook his head. That wasn’t what was important right now! What really mattered is that apparently that cutesy couple had not only decided to stick their noses into his personal life, and decide that they knew what was best for him! And not only that, they got their entire group of friends involved! Robbie felt mad and embarrassed, but mostly just mad. He wasn’t going to stand for this. Robbie climbed up the ladder to confront Stephanie.

Stephanie was lying down in the treehouse, just staring up at the ceiling. As soon as he heard footsteps up the latter, she sat up. “Robbie Rotten!” She yelled.

“Don’t you ‘Robbie Rotten’ me punk! You’ve got some nerve!” Robbie yelled right back. He tossed the diary at her, and it slid across the floor of the treehouse.

Stephanie looked at the diary, and her face turned from confusion to sheer panic as the realization hit her. “Y-you read my diary!?”

“I did! Because I wanted to know why you and your little posse have been bothering me for the past week!” Robbie said.

“T-that’s an invasion of privacy!” Stephanie stammered.

Robbie scowled. “You know what else is an invasion of privacy? Butting in on somebody’s love life by deciding who somebody likes and then trying to force them to hook up!”

Stephanie looked like she had just been punched in the gut. “We… we weren’t trying to force you two! We knew that you would be happier with him so we tried to give you and Sportacus a push in the right direction! I’m sorry Robbie, we were just trying to help.”

“I don’t remember asking for your help.” Robbie hissed.

Robbie, deciding that he had said enough, started descending down the latter out of the treehouse. “Robbie, wait!” Stephanie called out. Robbie however was leaving in such a huff that he didn’t even notice that the ladder had started to topple over.

Sportacus was up in his airship when he was interrupted by the beeping of his crystal. “Someone’s in trouble!” He proclaimed, and went off to the rescue.

The ladder that Robbie was on started to tip backwards. Robbie clung to it tightly, and Stephanie tried in vain to reach out and grab it. Luckily, Sportacus appeared and grabbed Robbie in time before he hit the ground. He also kicked the ladder backwards, so it laid back in place. Sportacus looked down at Robbie, whom he was holding in his arms bridal-style. “Are you alright?” He asked.

“No I am most certainly not alright!” Robbie said as Sportacus put him down. Robbie straightened out his vest in a huff. “Maybe you should try teaching that pink poodle of yours to mind her own business!”

Robbie started marching away, but Sportacus grabbed him by the wrist. “What are you talking about, what happened?”

“If you really want to know, ask her.” Robbie said, and pointed up to the treehouse. “I’m not in the mood for talking. Goodbye.” He said, and shook his wrist free of Sportacus’s grasp before finally walking away.

Sportacus felt confused, worried, and upset all at the same time as he watched Robbie leave. He turned to the treehouse. “Stephanie? Can you come down?” He called out.

Stephanie slowly climbed out of the treehouse and walked over to Sportacus. He could see the tears welling up in her eyes. “Stephanie, what’s wrong?”

“I’m sorry Sportacus, I really messed up…” She said.

Sportacus kneeled down and looked up at her reassuringly. “Hey, hey look at me. It’s okay, just tell me what happened.”

Stephanie just stood there for a while before finding the courage to speak. “Robbie read my diary a-and he found out that we were trying to help get you to… date each other.” Stephanie said. She was so embarrassed and upset at this point that she didn’t even notice she was crying.

Sportacus, of course, was taken aback from hearing what Stephanie was trying to do, but he just wiped the tear off of her cheek and nodded his head once to let her know to keep going.

“So after he read it he got mad at me for butting in on his love life and started yelling!” Stephanie was crying more heavily now and her breathing was getting a bit raspy. “I-I know we shouldn’t have now, I just- I just thought that you two would be happy together! We weren’t trying to push you or anything I swear!” She broke down and wrapped her arms around Sportacus, squeezing him tightly. “I’m sorry Sportacus, please don’t be mad!”

Sportacus rubbed her back and gave Stephanie her time to cry. When she finally pulled away, Sportacus placed his hand on her cheek. “I’m not mad Stephanie. Just take a deep breath, okay? Relax.” Stephanie did so, and soon she wasn’t crying anymore. Sportacus wiped the remainder of her tears off of her face. “There, isn’t that better?” Stephanie nodded her head. “I guess my first question is… why do you want Robbie and I to date each other?” Sportacus asked.

Stephanie bit her lip. “Well… Robbie has a really obvious crush on you so we just wanted to… do him a favor.”

“I don’t know about a really obvious crush, Stephanie.” He chuckled a little bit to help relieve the tension. “But listen, what’s important is if we ever did want to date, that would be for us and us alone to decide. Do you understand?”

“Yeah.” Stephanie said, feeling extremely guilty.

Sportacus stood up. “Good. And I’m not mad at you because I know you only had good intentions. But sometimes you need to realize that even if you didn’t mean to do something bad, it can still end up hurting someone’s feelings, and you need to apologize. However, Robbie also shouldn’t have read your diary in the first place, and he needs to apologize to you.”

“...Should I go to apologize to Robbie right now?” Stephanie asked.

“No, not now. If Trixie, Ziggy, Pixel, and Stingy all really helped you with this, then I think the five of you should all say sorry to him together. For now, I think I should go talk to Robbie and help calm him down.” Sportacus gave Stephanie a fatherly smile. “Are you going to be okay if I leave you alone?”

Stephanie finally smiled again. “Yeah, thank you Sportacus. I should go tell the others about what happened.”

“Sounds good to me. I’ll see you later Stephanie.” Sportacus said.

“...See you later.” Stephanie said. She watched as he ran and backflipped away towards the direction of Robbie’s lair.

Chapter Text

Sportacus was able to catch up to Robbie fast enough that he hadn’t even entered his lair yet. Having heard him approaching, without even turning around Robbie said “I thought I told you I wasn’t in the mood for talking.”

Sportacus stopped. “I know… so can I do the talking?” Robbie didn’t respond and Sportacus figured that was as going to be the closest thing to a ‘yes’ as he was going to get, so he kept going. “I’m sorry about what happened.”

Robbie turned to face him. “Oh yeah? Why are you sorry?” He said bitterly.

“Honestly I knew the kids were planning something. I actually just thought they were trying to get us to be friends…! It seemed harmless at the time but I still should have said something to them instead of assuming everything was fine. Maybe if I asked them about it, it wouldn’t have ended up like this.” Sportacus made sure to keep his voice level and steady.

Robbie actually laughed a bit, but his laugh was dry and empty and conveyed zero amusement. “Of course… I think the kids are trying to pull a prank on me and you think they're trying to make us be besties.”

Sportacus looked a little concerned. “You thought the kids wanted to prank you?”

“What else would I think? I saw brats giving me weird looks and asking me weird questions and whispering weird things to each other! When is that ever the sign of something good?” Robbie said.

“Robbie, the kids would never…” Sportacus tried to reach a hand out to Robbie but he pulled away. “Are you mad at them?”

Robbie sighed. “I’m a villain, being mad is my default state, Sportacrud. But I guess if I had to sum up my feelings for this whole mess then well,” he crossed his arms and looked away. “Mostly I’m just embarrassed.”

“Embarrassed?” Sportacus asked.

“A child looks at me, decides ‘Oh, he looks lonely and pathetic and probably can’t get a boyfriend on his own! We’ll have to get one for him!’ So yes, I’m a little embarrassed!” Robbie yelled.

Sportacus looked at him sympathetically. “Nobody thinks you’re sad or pathetic, Robbie. I know it didn’t come across that way but deep down the kids really just wanted to help you like they help each other. You’re their friend.”

Robbie was just glancing away, not even acknowledging a thing that Sportacus was saying. “I don’t even understand how they thought I liked you of all people.”

“I don’t know either.” Sportacus laughed drily. “All Stephanie said was that you had a pretty obvious crush.”

Robbie rolled his eyes. “Yeah, to them maybe. They probably just heard I was gay and assumed I liked the only other guy in town.”

That was actually the first time Sportacus heard that Robbie was gay. It didn’t really change anything, but It did put Stephanie’s stance on Robbie’s feelings into perspective. “I wouldn’t say-”

“I mean, you? Really? We’re nemeses, we don’t date!” Robbie said.

Sportacus shuffled awkwardly. “If you do consider us nemesis then the idea does sound silly, but I-”

“Besides, you’d be a terrible boyfriend!” Robbie laughed bitterly, still staring off into the distance. Guilt burned in his throat as he said those words, but at this point being mean was his best defense mechanism.

Sportacus crossed his arms. “Excuse me?”

Robbie’s mouth continued before his conscious could tell him to stop. “Just think about it! You’re always off with those little kids. Any date would be a nightmare, halfway through you’d have to backflip away because oh no, your crystal’s going beep beep beep because a toddler stubbed his toe!”

“Now hold on a second. The children are a large part of my life because I have plenty of time for them. If I was dating someone, of course I would find the time for my partner.” Sportacus said, suddenly feeling very defensive.

“So? You have absolutely no experience. Never dated, never kissed, nothing.” Robbie mocked. Why hasn’t he shut up yet? This isn’t how he wanted this conversation to go at all.

“I… I have kissed before!” Sportacus said.

For the first time in a while Robbie turned to look Sportacus in the eye. “On the cheek doesn’t count, Sportadweeb.”

Sportacus could feel his face start to burn with embarrassment. “Well, I might be a good kisser if I tried…”

“Prove it.” Robbie said, before his better judgement could stop him. Why did he say that? What was he thinking? 

Sportacus stared blankly. “How?” He knew how of course, but Robbie didn’t really want him to kiss him, right? I mean, he was mocking Sportacus just a second ago! He could ask Robbie if he wanted him to kiss him, but Sportacus was afraid he would make just make Robbie more embarrassed. He stayed quiet and hoped that Robbie would explain what he meant more directly.

Robbie meanwhile felt like he was on a gameshow and just lost the jackpot. Was Sportacus really that oblivious? There’s no way he was going to ask him to kiss him. It would be humiliating! Why couldn’t he had just been able to read between the lines? Well, it's not like Robbie actually wanted Sportacus to kiss him or anything, don't be ridiculous.

Either way, the moment passed and Robbie changed the subject. “Nevermind… you can tell Stephanie I’m not mad at her by the way.”

Sportacus seemed a little confused to suddenly change subject, but was happy to hear Robbie call Stephanie by her actual name for once. “I’m glad, but you should really tell her that in person. You do owe her an apology for reading her diary after all.”

“I wouldn’t have read her silly little diary if her and her gang weren’t plotting against me.” Robbie said.

“Robbie, I know you were worried about what the children were doing, but snooping isn’t the way to go about it. If you have a problem with someone, you should always ask them about it directly. Trying to dance around the issue only makes things worse and can lead to miscommunications and jumping to conclusions.”

“Save the moral of the day for the kids, Sportadork.” Robbie rubbed his temples. “I suppose I’ll apologize… but I deserve an apology too!”

Sportacus nodded his head. “Yes you do. Since the sun is starting to set, we can all meet up tomorrow morning and work everything out, okay?”

“...How early?” Robbie said, wincing at the thought.

Sportacus smiled. “Nine AM should be good!”

Robbie groaned. “Fine, whatever. Are we done here?”

“I guess so.” Sportacus said. For some reason he felt this aching in his chest, like he had something more to say. “...You’re not mad at me, are you?”

Robbie sighed dramatically. “No Sportacus, I’m not mad at you. Now go away.”

Sportacus started walking backwards away from his lair. With a smile, he chuckled and asked, “No crush then?”

“I said go away!” Robbie hissed.

Sportacus smiled and held his hands up defensively. “Alright Robbie. Have a good night.” He turned around and backflipped away.

Robbie stood there for what felt like ages after Sportacus left. He felt like he had just woken up from a nightmare. It was a phrase that Robbie had considered a lot, and was often grossly exaggerated, but he was without a doubt certain that this day, more than any other, was the absolute worst day in Robbie Rotten’s life.

For Sportacus, it was probably the most confusing day in his life. He had never had a crush on someone before. Well, he was pretty sure anyway. Crushes mean liking someone romantically, didn’t it? Romance was rather foreign to him. That’s not to say that he didn’t know what it’s like to find someone attractive. There have been people of all genders that Sportacus had found to be rather pleasing to look at. And the rare occasion when Robbie would genuinely smile at him made him feel that way too. But to have a crush, to have the feeling deep inside of wanting to pursue a meaningful, supportive, romantic relationship, that he had no clue about.

Sportacus couldn’t seem to get his mind off the subject by the time he got back to his airship. Did he have a crush on Robbie? Is that why he felt so defensive when Robbie started saying that he would be a bad boyfriend? Is that also the reason why he assumed that Robbie wanted him to kiss him? Because Robbie obviously would have no reason for wanting Sportacus to kiss him, he made his feelings very clear. Or… Sportacus realized that he didn’t. Robbie didn’t actually deny having a crush on him, did he? No, that doesn’t matter. Robbie at the very least implied it.

Sportacus was probably just reading too deep into things.

Chapter Text

Tomorrow morning came soon after. Sportacus had barely managed to convince Robbie to come out at what he called a ‘forsaken hour’ but he eventually came along. Together they met up with the kids already at the playground. Stephanie had explained what happened yesterday to the rest of them, and they all looked like they were feeling pretty guilty. Everyone just kind of looked away from each other, nobody wanting to speak up.

“Stephanie, why don’t you go first?” Sportacus offered.

Stephanie took a deep breath. “Okay. Robbie, I’m really sorry for what all of us did. I mean, I’m sorry for what I did. It was none of my business and you had every right to be mad at me.”

“I’m sorry for starting this whole mess in the first place.” Trixie said.

Ziggy gripped the bottom of his shirt. “I just wanted to do something nice. I’m sorry for not even thinking that you wouldn’t be happy with it.”

“I personally want to apologize for asking about the crush thing. I wasn’t trying to make fun of you but I can see why you took it that way…” Stingy said.

“I’m sorry for making a machine to trap you just for the sake of this scheme Sportacus!” Pixel blurted out.

Sportacus looked at him confused. “What?”

Pixel looked around nervously. “I-I mean, I’m sorry. To both of you. In general.”

“Yeah, this apology goes to you too Sportacus. We all feel really bad about the whole thing and we swear, we’ll never do it again.” Stephanie said.

Robbie did look genuinely touched, if not a bit uncomfortable, to have everyone apologizing and being nice to him. “Well. I'm glad.” Robbie finally replied. Sportacus looked at him and quietly cleared his throat. “And I… forgive you all?” He said, not quite sure what Sportacus was getting at. Sportacus then gave Robbie a look and nudged his head towards Stephanie. Robbie just looked at him confused.

“Robbie, don’t you have something else you want to say to Stephanie in particular?” Sportacus said.

Robbie finally realized what he meant and felt embarrassed. “Yes I suppose that I umm, I’m sorry too. For the uh, diary thing. And the yelling thing.”

Stephanie smiled. “I forgive you.”

“...Thank you. Can I go now?” Robbie said.

Trixie stepped forward. “Wait, I have something I want to ask first!”

“What?” Robbie asked.

“This whole thing started because I wanted to do something nice for you since you helped me way back when. But since it didn’t work out, is it too late for me to do something else for you? Is there anything that you want?” Trixie asked.

Robbie started thinking. What did he want exactly? Frankly, he wanted to use his time machine to go back before any of this happened, or maybe his memory eraser to make everyone forget about it. Those aren’t the sort of things you can request from a child though. “I want you to promise me that if you ever have a friend that you assume has a crush someone again, do not do what you did for me.”

Trixie smiled mischievously. “Why Robbie, did you just imply that we’re friends?”

“I asked for a promise, not sass.” Robbie said.

Trixie held up her hands. “I promise!”

“Congratulations, I now feel officially thanked for me giving you advice.” Robbie turned to Sportacus. “Now can I leave?”

Sportacus chuckled. “Yes, you may go. However I’m going to stay and talk to the kids.”

Robbie waved and started walking away. “Knock yourself out!”

Sportacus was now left in the playground with only Stephanie, Trixie, Pixel, Stingy, and Ziggy. Ziggy was the first to speak up. “Sportacus, are you sure Robbie’s not mad?”

“I think he’s fine now. The subject of love and relationships is embarrassing for most people, so I think the whole thing just got him a bit overwhelmed. Things will probably go back to the way things were in a few days, but it might be a good idea to try to be a bit more gentle towards him.” Sportacus said.

Stephanie nodded. “We’ll be sure to.”

Stingy sighed. “I just feel so awful about the whole thing now! It’s like his feelings were just things that I wanted to play with. I never even thought Robbie might get angry about it.”

“I still can’t believe we were wrong about Robbie having a crush! All of my data seemed to point him liking you! What a disaster…” Pixel said.

Sportacus smiled awkwardly. “If I’m being entirely honest, I don’t think you’re actually wrong about that.”

“You think he likes you too!?” Trixie said, suddenly very excited.

“I… well, yes. That’s not really important though.” He paused. “...Out of curiosity, how does one know they have a crush on someone?”

Ziggy shrugged. “Beats me!”

Pixel and Stingy exchanged a quick glance at each other. “Don’t ask us.” Pixel said.

Stephanie playfully nudged Trixie with her elbow. Trixie looked embarrassed. “Uhh well. You see someone and you think they’re really really great and you just really really wanna hang out a lot and be alone together and stuff.”

“...Why are you asking, Sportacus?” Stephanie said, crossing her arms and looking at him suspiciously.

Sportacus gave a pained smile. “I just wanted to be sure. I’m afraid I might have made this whole situation worse than it already is.”

“What do you mean?” Stingy asked.

“Crushes are an involuntary thing, yes?” Sportacus asked.

Stephanie thought for a moment. “Uhh, yeah. I think so. I don’t remember deciding to like Trixie or anything.”

Sportacus nodded his head. “Exactly. So I think that Robbie does like me, but it’s not by his choice. Despite his feelings, I don’t think he’d ever want to pursue an actual relationship with me.”

Trixie jumped up. “But-!”

“If i’m wrong, then I’ll be happy to date him.” Sportacus said.

Everyone’s eyes went wide. Trixie just stood there with her mouth still hanging open. Ziggy was the first to speak up. “Really!?”

“So you have a crush on Robbie too?” Pixel said.

Sportacus chuckled a bit. “Maybe? I think so. It’s not something I’ve really dealt with before.” He dusted off his hands. “Alright! Well I’m glad you all apologized. I’m sure things will go back to the way they were before soon enough.”

“Wait, what do you mean things will just go back to they way they were? You’re not going to tell Robbie that you like him?” Stephanie said.

“No I’m not.” Sportacus said plainly.

Stephanie threw her hands up in the air. “Why not!?”

Sportacus took a deep breath. “It’s complicated, Stephanie. Robbie has made it clear to me that at the very least, the idea of the two of us together makes him uncomfortable. Telling him how I feel won’t accomplish anything. I’m choosing to respect his boundaries.” Stephanie opened her mouth but Sportacus raised his hand. “Like I said, if one day Robbie changes his mind and tells me that he does want to be with me, then I’ll happily tell him i feel the same.”

“So what, that’s it!? You’re telling me that instead of directly confronting this awkward situation between you two, you’re going to ignore it? Instead of telling him how you feel you’re just going to sit around and wait for him to say something!?” Stephanie huffed angrily.

Trixie reached her hand out to her. “Stephanie-”

“And this isn’t me trying to match make again or anything, all I’m asking is that you tell him how you feel. That’s it, just let him know. I mean, what if what you assume is Robbie being uncomfortable, is Robbie actually being shy and scared to tell you about his feelings! If that’s the case, you two will be in an endless loop of hoping the other person speaks up!” Stephanie sighed. Everyone was staring at her. “You can’t just guess how he feels. You need to talk to him Sportacus.”

Sportacus stood there, thinking everything over. He blinked, and with a smile he kneeled down to look Stephanie in the eye. “You know Stephanie, I think you’re smarter than me.”

“That’s impossible.” Stephanie smiled. “...So will you please talk to him?”

Sportacus nodded. “I’ll talk to him. Another day though, okay? I think Robbie wants to be left alone for a while.”

Stingy rolled his eyes. “That sounds like an excuse to me.”

Sportacus stood back up. “It is not!”

“Telling him eventually is at least better than not telling him at all.” Trixie said.

Pixel laughed. “Well, whenever you tell him, I wish you good luck Sportacus!”

“Yeah! You’ll do great.” Ziggy said.

“Alright, alright. That’s enough.” Sportacus said. “I’ll let you all know what happens after I tell him.” He turned around and picked up a basketball that was lying on the ground. “Now, who wants to play a game?”

Chapter Text

Four days after that conversation, Stephanie was getting impatient. She walked up to Sportacus and put her hands on her hips. “Have you talked to Robbie yet?”

Sportacus bounced on the balls of his feet. “Ah, no. Not yet.”

“Why not?” Stephanie replied.

“I haven’t seen Robbie these past few days! I think he wants to spend some time alone at his house.” Sportacus said.

Stephanie wasn't buying it. “So why don’t you just go visit him there?”

“No… I’d hate to disturb him.” Sportacus said, rubbing the back of his neck.

Stephanie grinned. “Sounds to me like you’re nervous.”

Sportacus gasped. “I am not!”

Just then, Stephanie saw something moving out of the corner of her eye. Turning her head, she saw Robbie’s signature periscope scanning the area. “Still think Robbie wants alone time, huh?”

“What do you mean?” Sportacus asked.

Stephanie flung out her arm and dramatically gestured to the periscope. Sportacus squinted. “I don’t get it.”

“Oh just wait right here.” Stephanie said with a sigh. She crept up to the periscope, making sure she was on the side Robbie wasn’t looking out of, and wrapped her hands tightly around the pipe before he had a chance to pull it down. She scooted around and looked straight into the periscope's eyes. “Hiya Robbie!”

“Go. Away.” Robbie whispered from down below.

Stephanie smiled. “I’m sorry, did you want be left alone?”

Robbie tried to pull down the periscope but Stephanie’s grip held it in place. “Yes I did. So let go!”

“What are you doing snooping around then?” Stephanie replied.

“I was just-” Robbie sighed. “Just tell me what you want kid.”

Stephanie let go of the periscope. “I want you to come up here! Sportacus has something he wants to tell you.”

“He can tell it to me down here if it’s that important.” Robbie said.

“Robbie, please trust me just this once. After everything that’s happened, I’m trying to make it up for you. Can you please just come out?” Stephanie said sincerely.

There was a long pause before the periscope suddenly dropped down. After that, Stephanie heard the sound of approaching footsteps and turned around. Robbie had decided to come out of hiding after all. “Oh hey there Robbie! Where did you come from?” She asked innocently.

“...You just asked me to come here, what are you-” That was all Robbie managed to say before Sportacus walked over.

“Hi Robbie, it’s good to see you!”

Robbie tried to keep talking but he was interrupted by the sound of Stephanie clapping her hands together. “Silly me! I just remembered that Trixie wanted to hang out today! Welp, see you two later!” She said, and ran off.

Sportacus shook his head and smiled. “She’s a really smart kid, you know.”

“Almost devious, I'd say.” Robbie muttered.

“She helped me realize what a hypocrite I was being.” Sportacus said wistfully.

Robbie raised an eyebrow. “You? A hypocrite? Now this I gotta hear.”

Sportacus chuckled a bit. “Well, just the other day I was telling you that you should discuss problems directly instead of skirting around the issue. But then I went ahead and did the exact same thing!” Robbie was confused but stayed silent. “You see… I wasn’t going to tell you this at first but Stephanie convinced me otherwise.”

Sportacus looked Robbie in the eyes and Robbie held his breath. “Robbie,” he said gently. “I have a crush on you.”

For some reason Robbie decided to respond by bursting out laughing. “I know.” Sportacus just said while he laughed. “It’s silly, but it isn’t good to keep secrets so I wanted to tell you.”

Robbie gripped Sportacus’s wrist as he calmed himself down and stopped laughing. Why was he laughing anyway? Why does no interaction with Sportacus ever seem to play out like he wanted it to? “No, it’s- ugh, I’m a terrible person just hold on.” He straightened himself up and took a deep breath. “It’s just- we’re grown men, can we please stop using the word crush!?”

“Alright then. I love you Robbie.” Sportacus said without missing a beat.

Robbie felt his insides flip upside down. It was like his mind rejected the first confession and only now did the weight of Sportacus’s words truly sink in. “You… no you don’t.”

“I do!” Sportacus said. “I mean, I think so. It’s kind of funny, if I never found out about what the kids were trying to do, I doubt I would have realized it myself.”

“Seriously, this isn’t funny.” Robbie said.

Sportacus felt hurt. “I’m not joking Robbie. I know this is probably uncomfortable for you, that’s why I didn’t want to tell you in the first place, but I’m completely serious.”

Robbie’s brain has practically stopped functioning and was comprehending Sportacus’s words at a snail's pace. “You didn’t want to tell me… because it would have made me uncomfortable?” He said slowly, trying to make sense of everything.

“Yes you… made it clear to me that you didn’t like the idea of us dating the last time we spoke so I’m sorry to bring it up again. I know it’s something you would rather not talk about.” Sportacus said.

Robbie buried his face in his hands and let out a long, pained groan. How did everything manage to backfire this badly!?

Sportacus gently touched his shoulder. “Robbie? I’m sorry, I just came here to tell you and that was it! I’ll never bring it up again.”

“You- you- you-” Robbie threw his arms up into the air. “You literal child! You really don’t get anything, do you!? But then again, how could you!? It’s all my fault, isn’t it? I mean sure, you’re a fool, but I’m- I’m an even bigger fool!”

All Sportacus could think to do was shake his head. “I don’t understand what you’re talking about.”

Robbie forcefully gripped Sportacus by the shoulders. “How have you not realized that I’m a jerk when it comes to these things!? I don’t actually dislike the idea of dating you! I pretended I did because I’m a miserable excuse of a person who can’t deal with emotions!”

Sportacus’s eyes widened and his entire face turned bright red. “Robbie, do you-”

“Love you?” Robbie shouted. “Yes! Okay? I love you! Did you really need me to spell it out for you? Have I not been humiliated enough yet? Get it through your thick skull Sporty, everyone else in LazyTown seems to have realized it!”

“No I mean… I already know that.” Sportacus said awkwardly.

Robbie stared blankly. “...You what?”

Sportacus scratched at his face. “I managed to figure out that you had liked me Robbie it’s just… I thought you only involuntarily liked me or something. Like, you didn’t ever actually want to be with me? Despite your feelings?”

Robbie turned to the tree that was next to them and started smacking his forehead against it repeatedly. “R-Robbie, stop that, you’ll hurt yourself!” Sportacus said.

“Nothing can be more painful than this conversation.” Robbie said. After hitting his head a few more times, he stopped.

“I’m sorry Robbie. I guess I’m still just so new to all of… this.” Sportacus said, making a vague gesture between the two of them.

Robbie rubbed his forehead. “Obviously.”

“But it sounds to me like I was wrong in assuming that you didn’t want to date me, so-” Sportacus said, taking Robbie by the hand. “Will you allow me honor of proving to you that I won’t be a bad boyfriend?”

Robbie turned away, his face burning with embarrassment. “You still haven’t even proven to me that you’re a good kisser.”

Sportacus chuckled. “May I kiss you then?”

“...If you want.” Robbie muttered, still not looking at him.

Sportacus gently placed his hand on Robbie’s cheek and turned his head towards him. They stared into each other’s eyes for a moment, before Sportacus leaned in and kissed him. It was awkward and uncoordinated, their noses bumping slightly as their lips met. It lasted only the briefest of moments, but when Sportacus pulled away Robbie looked like he was in a daze.

Sportacus smiled nervously. “...Well?”

“I think you could use a little more practice.” Robbie said, before pulling Sportacus into a second kiss. This one was a rougher, longer, more passionate. As they broke apart Sportacus couldn’t help but giggle like a child. “What, what is it?”

“We are going to hear so many I told you so’s.” Sportacus said.

Robbie sighed. “We deserve it.”

Chapter Text

“I have the perfect idea!” Sportacus said to Robbie. “What if I run up to the kids and I act all worried and say that you stole something very important from me! And when the ask what it is I’ll say you stole my heart!”

Robbie groaned. “First of all, no. We are absolutely not doing that. In fact that’s probably the worst thing I’ve ever heard, ever. Second of all, we are going with my idea, got it? It’ll be way funnier.”

“Are you sure? I think it might be a little mean.” Sportacus said.

“After all those punks have put us through, they can handle a little teasing.” Robbie said. “What, why are you smiling like that?"

Sportacus blushed. “Oh, sorry! It’s just… nice hearing you say ‘us’, that’s all.”

Robbie shoved him. “Will you just go already!?”

“Okay, okay! I’ll head over right now. Be ready to jump in when it’s your cue!” Sportacus gave Robbie a quick peck on the cheek before running and backflipping away. Robbie sputtered a string of incoherent nonsense in response.

Ziggy, Stephanie, Pixel, Stingy, and Trixie were all together at the park playing kickball. As soon as Sportacus approached, they all stopped and turned to him.

“Hi guys! How are you today?” Sportacus said, waving to them.

“...We’re good. How about you?” Stingy said.

Sportacus smiled. “Oh I’m doing great! Are you guys playing kickball?”

“We were…” Pixel said slowly.

Sportacus put his hands on his hips. “Is something the matter?”

“Did you uh, get a chance to talk to anyone earlier today?” Trixie said.

“Hmm… did I? Oh, that’s right! I talked to Robbie earlier.” Sportacus said innocently.

Ziggy tilted his head. “So did you tell him?”

“Tell him what?” Sportacus replied.

Stephanie couldn’t take this anymore. “Sportacus! Did you tell Robbie you had a crush on him or not!?”

Suddenly Robbie popped up from behind the wall. “What!” He shouted. “Sportacus, you have a crush on me!?” His delivery was ridiculously hammy and overly dramatic, putting way too much emphasis on every other syllable.

Sportacus spun around to look at Robbie and feigned surprise. “Robbie! It’s not what you think!”

“The town hero, having a crush on his nemesis? How embarrassing! ” Robbie said with several over the top poses. The children just stared at the two in awe and horror. “And you kids!” Robbie said, making them all jump. “You should be ashamed of yourselves!”

“B-but I-” Stephanie stuttered.

Robbie gestured dramatically. “I thought you said you would do no more matchmaking!? And yet here you all are, gossiping about Sportacus and his little crush!”

Sportacus put his hand to his chest. “Robbie, I am sorry for all of this. Is there anything I can do to make it right?”

“I don’t anything could ever make this right!” Robbie cried. He then made a face like he suddenly thought of something. “Well, maybe one thing.”

“Whatever it is, I’ll do it!” Sportacus declared.

Robbie grinned wickedly. “Kiss me then! Kiss the town villain you are so hopelessly crushing on in front of all the kids! It will be humiliating!”

Sportacus took a deep breath. “If I must!” He pulled Robbie down into a kiss. All the kids stared in disbelief as it seemed to go on forever. Finally they pulled apart, before the two suddenly burst out laughing.

Everyone else felt like their brains had just malfunctioned. It was as if the last five minutes was some bizarre hallucination. Stephanie was the first one to seemed to have snapped out of shock enough to say something. “I… WHAT!?”

Robbie could not stop cackling. Sportacus was able to stop eventually and catch his breath. “Sorry you guys… we just wanted to have some fun.”

“You should have seen! The looks on your faces!” Robbie said between laughs.

Pixel shook his head. “Can someone please explain what just happened!?”

Robbie finally stopped laughing and slapped his arm around Sportacus’s shoulder. “You dunces, of course he told me! It was a prank!” He looked at Sportacus. “And might I add, your acting needs some serious work.”

“Are you sure? Because the kids looked pretty convinced to me.” Sportacus said.

“Wait you… Sportacus you told him you liked him!?” Stephanie shouted.

Sportacus smiled brightly. “I did!”

“So you two are…?” Stingy said.

Robbie rolled his eyes. “Dating? Obviously.”

“You- you tricked us! I can’t believe it! That was so, so… surprisingly sinister!” Trixie said proudly.

“Yeah well you all deserved it!” Robbie said. “I don’t want to hear a single one of you chumps running around saying ‘I told you so, I told you so!’”

Stephanie giggled. “Alright Robbie, we promise.”

Ziggy stared in amazement. “Does this mean you two are gonna get along now!? No more fighting or trying to kick Sportacus out of town?”

Sportacus turned to Robbie and grinned. “Yes, do tell us Robbie, will you still try to get me to leave town?”

“Why of course I will Sportacus! Just because we’re dating doesn’t mean you making everyone in town active doesn’t annoy me! I’ll just make sure your trips out of town aren’t permanent, that’s all.” Robbie replied teasingly.

Trixie looked grossed out. “Man, this going to take some serious getting used to.”

Robbie leaned over to Trixie. “What’s the matter? Afraid you and Pinkie aren’t the cutest couple in LazyTown anymore?”

“Ick! No way, Stephanie and I are way cuter than you two!” Trixie yelled.

Sportacus smiled awkwardly. “I suppose this means we’ll have to go on a… double date?”

Stephanie shook her head in disgust. “Ugh, no I would never! That would be so weird, you two are basically like my-” Stephanie suddenly realized what she was saying and stopped herself.

“Your…?” Sportacus continued, genuinely confused.

“N-nothing!” Stephanie blurted out.

Robbie seemed to have realized what she meant. “Whoa whoa whoa, I am nobody’s father here kid!”

Stephanie turned bright red. “I NEVER SAID THAT!”

Sportacus looked at her sympathetically, “Stephanie, It’s okay-”

Ziggy gasped loudly “Wait a minute… you two are totally the town dads now!”

Robbie held up his hands. “No! No no no no no! We are not doing this, this is not a thing!”

“Are you sure? I mean, both of you are always hanging out with us, playing with us, trying to teach us things...!” Stingy teased.

Pixel grinned. “Yeah… Sportacus tries to teach us to be active and healthy, while Robbie tries to teach us to be lazy! They’re just like real parents trying to teach their kids right and wrong!”

“Wha- how is me trying to get you all to do nothing fatherly!?” Robbie yelled.

“It’s not, but you know what is fatherly? Giving me advice about relationships and doing my makeup.” Trixie said smugly.

Robbie covered his ears with his hands. “I refuse to listen to this!”

Ziggy waved his fist in the air. “Town dads! Town dads! Town dads!” He chanted.

Sportacus just smiled with embarrassment, patting the increasingly flustered Robbie on the shoulder.

“I AM DISOWNING EVERY SINGLE ONE OF YOU!” Robbie shouted.

Stephanie smiled. “It’s okay Robbie, you don’t have to be our dad for us to like you.” She hugged him tightly. Sportacus decided to hug him as well, and soon everyone had joined in to envelope Robbie in a tight group hug.

“What did I do to deserve this?” Robbie wined.

Sportacus leaned his head on his shoulder. “Well Robbie, you don’t have to be my boyfriend.”

“...Alright I deserve this.” Robbie muttered. In response, Sportacus turned and kissed Robbie. All the kids pulled away from the hug.

Stingy recoiled in disgust “Ugh, gross!”

“Really? Right now?” Pixel exclaimed.

Robbie broke apart the kiss and looked at the children with a smug grin. “I don’t remember telling you you could speak to your father that way."

Stephanie smiled brightly and playfully shoved Robbie. “Robbie!”

Sportacus wrapped his arm around Robbie’s waist. “Alright, alright, that’s enough everyone! I think Robbie and I need some time to get used to all of this.”

“Wait, I’m not done yet.” Robbie said. “In fact, If I really am your father, than I have decided to ground all of you! Forever! Nobody leaves their rooms ever again!” The kids just laughed.

“Great idea Robbie! And you know what else happens when you’re grounded? No dessert!” Sportacus said.

Robbie sighed. “Okay fine nobody’s grounded.”

Despite how long it might take, everyone was pretty sure they could get used this.

Chapter Text

“Wait, you two have never even gone on a date!?” Stephanie exclaimed.

Sportacus smiled bashfully. “No… not really.”

Stephanie threw her hands up. “Sportacus, it’s been an entire week since you’ve been dating! You need to go on a proper date with him!”

“Seriously, she’s right.” Trixie said.

“I would but I wouldn’t even know what to do for a date! What we do together?” Sportacus said.

Trixie shrugged. “Well, there’s always picnics.”

“Open it!” Pixel said excitedly.

Stephanie looked at the box suspiciously. “Okay but… why the sudden gift? It’s not my birthday or anything.”

“It was just an idea I had that I wanted to try. Now come on, open it!” Pixel said.

Stephanie carefully lifted the lid off of the box and pulled out the gift inside. “Pixel, a new diary!? Thank you so much!”

Pixel grinned. “It’s an electronic, password-protected diary! No more Robbie Rotten’s snooping in ever again.”

“Well, I don’t think he’ll ever do that again but…” Stephanie leaned over and hugged him. “Thank you Pixel, I love it.”

“Why hello there Ziggy! It’s a splendid day, isn’t it? But, uhh… what are you doing in my office?” Mayor Meanswell asked.

Ziggy was shifting through a filing cabinet. “I’m trying to find a list of all the laws here?”

Milford scratched his head “Hmm, I don’t think there’s a list, but maybe I can help you. Is there a particular law you’re curious about?”

“Is gay marriage legal in LazyTown?” Ziggy asked.

“Now why do you want to know something like that?” Milford asked with a chuckle.

“I’ve heard that in some places it’s not legal, so I wanted to see if it was legal here!” Ziggy said.

Mayor Meanswell stopped and thought about it. “Well, I actually don’t remember the last time anyone was married here in LazyTown, so I don’t know what rules we do have about that sort of thing!” He smiled. “I guess I’ll say that if it wasn’t before, it’s legal now!”

“Oh, Sportacus! Just the man I was looking for!” Bessie called out as Sportacus ran past.

Sportacus stopped and smiled. “Hello Miss Busybody! Did you need something?”

“Not me dear, it’s more like what you need.” She said. Sportacus cocked his head to the side. “Well, just the other day I remembered that you had mentioned that you’ve never dated anybody before! So I thought you might like me to set up an online dating profile for you! It’s all very hip and modern you know.”

Sportacus laughed. “I appreciate the thought, but that won’t be necessary.”

“Hey Robbie, have you ever thrown a party before?” Trixie asked.

Robbie raised an eyebrow. “No. Why would I?”

Trixie smiled “I was just thinking about how for me this whole thing started at the Valentine’s Day party. Think about how different next years Valentine’s Day party is going to be now that we’re both dating people!”

Robbie smirked. “Yeah, and what exactly does that have to do with me throwing a party?”

“Well, what if you throw next year’s Valentine’s Day party! It’d be super cool! I mean, with all your disguise-y costume stuff, and how overly dramatic you are, you could probably throw the best parties ever!”

“I’ll have you know I am the perfect level of dramatic!” Robbie said, feeling flustered. “...I’ll think about it. Ask me again next year.”

“Happy one month anniversary!” Trixie yelled, grabbing Stephanie from behind and pulling her into a hug.

Stephanie yelped. “Trixie! Where did you come from?”

Trixie grinned. “I wanted to surprise you!”

“Is it really our one month anniversary already? You kept track of that?” Stephanie said.

“Of course I did!” Trixie said.

Stephanie felt guilty. “Oh… well I didn’t. I’m sorry Trixie.”

Trixie gave her a kiss on the cheek. “Don’t worry about it Pinkie, any day is special with you, anniversary or not.”

“First Stephanie and Trixie, now Sportacus and Robbie. I mean, I’m happy for them of course! But all this romance everyone it’s just so, so-!” Stingy sighed.

“What, what’s the big deal?” Pixel said.

Stingy huffed. “It’s not fair! Why do they get to have all the lovey dovey fun! I want that! It should be mine!”

Pixel chuckled. “Sorry buddy, but that’s not something you can just get on your own.”

“I know, I know, just leave me here to pout.” Stingy said. Pixel patted him on the shoulder and walked away. “Then again…” Stingy said to himself as he watched him leave. “If this is the one thing I have to share with someone, it might not be so bad.”

“So Stephanie explained to me that ‘play’ idea she had a while ago.” Sportacus said. “And I was wondering, do you think you’d ever want to put on the play for real?”

Robbie shook his head. “Uh uh, that wasn’t a real play, that was a trap from the start!”

“Oh come on Robbie!” Sportacus pouted. “I’ve wanted to get more practice at carrying you anyway!” He bent down and scooped up Robbie in his arms.

“Yes yes, you’re very strong. But you don’t need a put on a play just for an excuse to hold me.” Robbie looked down at Sportacus’s hands. “...Why are your nails orange?”

Sportacus smiled brightly. “Trixie painted them!”

Mayor Meanwell knocked softly on Stephanie’s bedroom door. “Come in!” Stephanie called out. He entered the room and saw Stephanie sitting on her bed and writing in her new diary.

“Stephanie dear, do you have a moment? There was something I wanted to ask you about.” Milford asked.

“Of course Uncle Milford!” Stephanie replied.

Stephanie scooted over on and patted the spot next to her. Milford sat down on the bed. “I couldn’t help but notice that you’ve seemed so much happier lately! And well I know they say to never look a gift horse in the mouth, but I can’t help but be curious. Did something happen?”

“You mean besides getting together with Trixie?” Stephanie said with a giggle.

“Yes, yes, I already know all about that. I mean more recently.” Milford said.

Stephanie grinned playfully. “Well… Sportacus and Robbie are dating each other now!”

“Really?” Mayor Meanswell said in surprise. “Oh my! Well no wonder you’re so happy! I bet things must be a lot easier now that those two are getting along.”

“Yeah…” Stephanie said. “It feels like so much has changed in such a short period of time! So many things I’ve learned about myself and others here… it’s kind of amazing.”

“Sound to me like things have changed for the better.” Milford said.

Stephanie held her diary close to her chest and smiled. “Absolutely.”

The End