Chapter 1: Strawberry
Robbie grumbled to himself and swung his large hammer, scattering mechanical bits everywhere. The idea had struck him, sometime earlier that week, for a new invention. One that could actually be useful.
Problem was, it involved the Littlizer 3000 AND his amnesia gate-thingy, the Memory Sucker 3000.
Robbie Rotten was not known for his patience. He was a genius, a super-genius even, but like most brilliant people, tended to frequently have eccentricities.
Such as a large mallet being his tool of choice.
And, usually, it worked out quite well. He could create a lot of intricate complicated things with his usual flair.
Unfortunately, disassembling the Littlizer 3000 was not one of those instances.
Sportacus paused what he was doing (which happened to be handstand pushups) when his crystal beeped and flashed at him. Jumping quickly to his feet, he felt out who needed him. The instant later, he was running full-out for the billboard.
Robbie Rotten was in trouble.
He nearly broke both entrances to the man's underground home in his haste to get there, but finally slid down the pipe, rolling expertly out of it and into Robbie's house. He stood up next to the orange chair, looking around frantically.
"Robbie?" he called out worriedly. His crystal was never wrong, though… it had stopped beeping. He jumped around, trying to locate the skinny man to no avail.
"Robbie? Are you here?" he called out again. This was bad. Where was he anyway? He knew he should have insisted Robbie get a house above ground and closer to the main town, he told him-
There was a whimpering sound from under the workbench.
Sportacus abruptly spun toward it. He couldn't see anyone over there… maybe Robbie got hurt and was underneath it, unconscious and whimpering in pain? He felt his heart speed up with fear, and he crept forward.
"Robbie? Is that you? Are you alright?"
He looked underneath the table and he swore his heart stopped.
A pair of wide gray eyes regarded him fearfully, and their owner curled up further in a bundle of very oversized clothes.
Purple and red striped clothes.
"R-Robbie?"
The child only whimpered in response, trying to scoot away from him. Sportacus automatically shoved his surprise and shock and worry into a corner of his mind, to be dealt with later.
"Oh, hey," he said softly. "It's alright. I'm not going to hurt you. What's your name?"
The little boy regarded him suspiciously, and Sportacus recognized the look immediately, and didn't even need to have the boy answer.
"Robbie," came the quiet reply. Sportacus smiled at him and sat on the floor.
"My name's Sportacus." he said. The young Robbie's face scrunched up in confusion.
"That's a weird name," he said. Sportacus laughed, and was relieved to see that Robbie smiled back slightly.
"Well, Robbie, why are you here?" Again, Robbie's face wrinkled with the effort of thought.
"I don't know…" he murmured, clearly trying to recall. His face abruptly clouded up with sadness. "I'm scared," he admitted, tears filling up in his eyes. Sportacus felt every fiber of his being telling him to scoop up the little Robbie and comfort him, but he knew better.
"It's alright," he said calmly. "I'll help you find out. Meanwhile, how about some ice cream?" He smiled at the way Robbie's face instantly lit up.
"Really?" he asked breathlessly. Sportacus nodded. No need to confuse the already confused and amnesiac Robbie by telling him it was actually going to be sugar-free ice cream.
"Come on, we need to get you some clothes first." he said, holding out his hand for Robbie to take. The boy did so, clutching his vest to him. The boy was so small that the tiny vest actually worked fairly well for covering him. Sportacus stood, and picked the boy up in his arms.
"Now, to find some clothes that'll fit you!"
Robbie pouted, picking at the outfit uncomfortably.
"These clothes are stupid," he blurted out. Ziggy frowned at the insult to his "normal" clothes that he never wore anyway. On Robbie, they were ridiculously huge, but as Ziggy was the youngest of all the kids in town, he had to do.
"Thanks again Ziggy," Sportacus said.
"No problem! But, who's the new kid? And why did he need new clothes?"
"Ah… I'm taking care of him until his parents come back. And he… got all muddy."
"Ohhhh," Ziggy said. He could relate. His clothes always got dirty from running around, after all.
"We have to be going now Ziggy, see you later!"
"Bye Sportacus! Bye new kid!"
Robbie was suspiciously quiet as Sportacus and him walked away from Ziggy's house and toward the area Sportacus had left his air ship. It worried the elf somewhat. Little kids didn't tend to be this quiet.
"Looking forward to that ice cream?" he asked, hoping to remind Robbie in case he had forgotten about the promise, and hopefully bring back the smile he had seen earlier.
But all he got was a thin weak smile and further silence.
"Ladder!" he called out, and Robbie squealed in surprise as the ladder unfurled and swung in front of them. His gray eyes regarded it with wonder, and as he followed it upwards, his eyes got wider.
"What… what's that?" he squeaked. Sportacus smiled.
"My air ship! It's where I live."
"Wow," Robbie breathed. Sportacus picked him up again and instructed him to hang on tight. Robbie wrapped his thin arms around the elf's neck, and Sportacus swiftly ascended up into the air ship, setting Robbie down on the floor as soon as the platform sealed up into the ship again. Robbie regarded everything with wide-eyed wonder.
"Sportacus, I can't figure out this problem and it's driving me crazy!" Sportacus looked to see Stephanie stepping out of her room, text book in hand. "Can you take me to Robbie's? It's a science question, and-" She stopped short, seeing they had a visitor.
"Who are you?" she asked, smiling in a friendly manner. Robbie shuffled his feet and remained silent, confused. These people apparently knew his name… they kept saying it, after all… was there someone else with his name around?
"Stephanie," Sportacus said. "This is Robbie." She blinked for a moment before laughing.
"That's good! Did you get that from Trixie?" she laughed. Sportacus chuckled nervously.
"No… that's really who it is… he doesn't seem to remember anything…"
She stopped laughing, realizing he was being serious.
"Wha… so that's… how?"
"I don't know. My crystal went off, and I found him like this in his house."
Robbie stomped one foot on the ground, frustrated. He had no idea what they were talking about.
"Ice cream!" he demanded. The blue man had promised! Stephanie looked down at him, and kneeled in front of him.
"You do have the same eyes…" she murmured. Seeing Robbie's face crunch up in preparation for a tantrum, she quickly diverted him. "So, what flavor ice cream do you like Robbie?" This instantly brightened him up, and he hummed in thought, tapping fingers to the side of his head. She tried to not giggle. It looked so much like the adult Robbie that it was uncanny. Sportacus, meanwhile, was at the table scribbling out a note to Pixel requesting help as soon as possible.
"Strawbewwy," Robbie said finally. Stephanie was a little confused at the sudden babyish slur of the word, but she just smiled at him and stood up, moving over to the food table and having the ship serve out a small dish of strawberry sugar-free ice cream. Apparently, Sportacus had taken a liking to the frozen treat (she and Robbie both secretly thought it was because the elf must have come from a cooler climate, as he always complained of the heat) and always had some stocked for desserts after dinner. She grabbed the spoon that popped out of the table and set it in the little dish.
"Here we go!" she chirped, carefully handing the bowl over to Robbie, who took it eagerly. "One strawberry ice cream!"
Robbie paused in mid-bite, confusion written again on his face.
"Strawbewwy," he corrected. Stephanie laughed a little.
"No, it's pronounced 'strawberry' Robbie!"
"Mmnn," Robbie spooned another mouthful of it into his mouth, apparently deciding the matter wasn't worth arguing over when there was a sweet treat to be consumed. "He always says I should say it 'strawbewwy'."
The pencil Sportacus was writing with snapped in half, and Stephanie turned her head to see what was wrong, but he was facing away from her. She gave his back a worried glance before turning back to Robbie.
"Well, I should know," she reasoned. "Everyone says my hair reminds them of strawberries!" Robbie eyed the mess of pink locks.
"Nu-uh," he asserted between bites of pink ice cream. "Strawbew-… strawbe-rr-ies are red. You're pink."
"Yeah," she replied. "But that's what other people say."
"They're stupid then," Robbie snorted.
"That's not nice Robbie," she chided. Robbie pouted and clutched his bowl tighter. Once the last spoonful was gone, he took to licking the inside of the bowl until Stephanie took it away.
"Hey!" he squeaked in protest, jumping up and down to try and get it back. She shook her head and placed the bowl in a cavity in the wall that sealed up again a moment later.
"Look at you," she said to the pouting boy. "Your face is all covered in ice cream now! We better get you cleaned up."
Robbie absolutely wailed at the prospect, and ran for Sportacus, hiding behind his legs.
"Dun wanna! Dun wanna clean up!"
Stephanie rolled her eyes, stepping into the bathroom and emerging again with a washcloth that was half dampened with warm water.
Sportacus looked down at the boy who was glaring defiantly at Stephanie while using his legs as a shield. He absently folded the letter to Pixel into an airplane while watching Stephanie manage to grab Robbie when he tried to bolt for the cover of the pilot seat, and scrub his face and hands with the washcloth with some difficulty, as he flailed stubbornly the entire time. She finally released him, huffing indignantly as he ran back for Sportacus and clung to his leg.
"There!" she said, brushing hair out of her eyes. "That wasn't so bad, was it?"
"It was horrible!" Robbie asserted from his place of safety, and stuck his tongue out at her. She rolled her eyes again and went into the bathroom again to put the washcloth in the appropriate bin. Sportacus stayed silent, watching Robbie's innate curiosity fire up the instant Stephanie was out of sight, and he started looking around in wonder, just itching to touch things.
Of all the things Sportacus noticed about this much younger Robbie, the childlike sparkle in his wide gray eyes was second to how abysmally thin the boy was. He was almost waif-like, all gangly limbs and sharp angles. Even elf children weren't that lean, he mused as he looked down at Robbie. Was he not eating right?
"Robbie?" he said finally. Robbie blinked and looked up at him, as if just remembering that he was there. "Hey. Was the ice cream good?" He smiled at the enthusiastic nod from the boy. Adult Robbie would have a fit about enjoying sugar-free anything, but apparently the younger Robbie was rather easy to please.
"That's good," he added. "What do you usually have to eat? Like, for breakfast or dinner?"
Robbie thought for awhile before managing to put together what he wanted to say.
"Stuff," he said slowly. "Umm… s'getti-ohs… san'wiches... oh! I get treats when I'm good!" Robbie glanced around, as if nervous about being found out, a sly grin on his face. "When I grow up," he whispered. "I'm gonna have all the treats I want!" Sportacus laughed a little at that, and Robbie smiled back up at him, obviously happy to have someone to confide in.
"Yep!" Robbie continued. "And I won't ever have to do special things for them! I'll just have them whenever!"
Sportacus grit his teeth so hard he thought they might crack. His mind scrambled for a response.
"Well," he started slowly, and saw Stephanie coming back into the main room. "Do you like sports candy?" Robbie brought his eyebrows together in a look of confusion so complete it was almost funny.
"Sports candy? What's that?"
"I'll show you!"
Here, was something he was good at. Finally.
AN:
Woo! I finally decided to post this. It's... it's not my best work, I'll admit, but I thought I'd share anyway. This is a sort of side-story in the Peanut Butter Banana Sandwiches universe thingy. I'm working on the proper sequel right now! Honey Butter Toast. Keep your eyes open.
Some things in this won't make a bit of sense unless you've read Peanut Butter Banana Sandwiches. So... you might wanna go back and read that if you haven't already.
This one is gonna have chapter titles based on ice cream toppings. Whee.
There's not a lot of SportaRobbie action in this, simply because... well, Robbie's not himself for the majority of this fic. But it is a SportaRobbie fic, because they are in a relationship, and Sportacus alludes to this a few times. AGAIN, you really need to have prior knowledge of PBBS to get it.
Also... if you guys want to read little snippets of other fics (including the proper sequel), it's posted on my LJ. It's listed on my profile. Yes, teenage Robbie shows up in this. Yes, he's a sulky moody angry little thing. He's adorable.
Enjoy!