Chapter Text
Nervous excitement filled the airship as Sportacus paced back and forth. His pacing looked more like a series of flips and twirls to and fro across the length of the floor, but for Sportacus, it was definitely pacing. Tonight was the LazyTown Christmas party and he was starting to worry.
A few weeks earlier he had offered to help Bessie and the mayor put up holiday decorations across the town. He was busy setting up a string of lights through the sports park when Stephanie and her friends had come up to invite him to the upcoming festivities. They had all come up from behind and gathered around a picnic table in a giant huddle, catching the hero by surprise. Someone threw a large blanket over the table that hung down to the ground.
“We wanted the table to be warm!” Ziggy had quickly explained when Sportacus asked about it. “It’s getting cold outside!”
A couple of the other children had nodded in awkward agreement.
The hero had just shaken his head in amusement, figuring the blanket was probably part of whatever game they might have been playing while he was occupied. Sportacus was never very good with games of pretend, but it always warmed his heart to see them making up characters and stories. Even moreso when Robbie would join in using one of his wonderful disguises.
“It is getting colder out,” he had agreed, looking up to the sky and briefly wondering if it might snow soon. “I am glad to see you’ve all bundled up for the weather.”
It was at that point Stephanie had jumped into the conversation. “You’ll come to the Christmas party, won’t you, Sportacus? It won’t be a real party without you!”
He had laughed at that given a fond, affirmative nod. “Of course I will! I can’t wait!”
“We’re going to do a Secret Santa for the party, too.” That had been her cue to pull out what looked like a fishbowl filled with folded pieces of paper. “You’ll be part of it, too, right?”
“Of course,” Sportacus had replied before plunging his hand into the bowl.
He fished around for a moment before deciding on a well-buried bit of paper. He pulled it out and smiled at the excited gaggle of children before carefully unfolding the little white strip and reading the name written upon it.
Robbie Rotten
Sportacus felt his heart drop into his stomach in an instant, kicked out of his chest to make room for the swarm of butterflies that had suddenly returned in spite of it being the dead of winter. Of all the people in town, Sportacus had picked Robbie’s name.
“Hi, Robbie!”
Sportacus had startled only briefly before he quickly refolded the strip of paper and jumped to his feet. He tucked the lot away under a bracer in fear of it being seen. The villain, who had been walking nearby on some apparent errand, hadn’t seemed to notice the hero’s nerves in the slightest. Thank heavens.
The tall man glanced over at the group and scowled at the sound of the child’s call, narrowing his eyes in suspicion.
“What do you want?”
Stephanie had hurried back to the other side of the table at that point, earning a raised eyebrow from the town villain. To the adults’ surprise, she rushed forward only a second later holding the fishbowl above her head.
“Robbie! We’re doing a Secret Santa for our Christmas Party! Y-you’ll be part of it…right?” she had asked, suddenly looking worried.
Sportacus swallowed. Robbie eyed the child for a moment before glancing briefly in the hero’s direction and sending Sportacus’ heart a flutter all over again. The hero had wrung his hands for a nervous moment before speaking up.
“You’ll come to the party, won’t you, Robbie?” he asked in a voice that had been a little weaker than intended.
Sportacus recalled how the villain’s face contorted at the sound of his voice. A conflicted mess of gnashed teeth, furrowed brow, and an adorably twitching nose. Stephanie just stood there and held the bowl up to him in an eternal display of hope.
“M-maybe,” Robbie grumbled reluctantly. “Only if the food’s good.”
“I’ll make a big cake, just for you! I promise!” Stephanie had assured him.
He twitched his nose again and, to Sportacus’ relief, dipped his hand into the fishbowl of names. “W-we’ll see.”
He pulled a slip of paper out of the bowl and waved Stephanie away. Without looking at what was written on the paper, Robbie had tucked the ticket into his vest pocket and turned away from the group without another word.
Satisfied with the villain’s response, Stephanie squealed and ran back to her friends. Instead of engaging Sportacus in further conversation or asking him to play a game as he had expected, the children instead swarmed the picnic table, dragged the blanket off, and gathered round to ball it up before hurrying away together.
“Bye, Sportacus! See you at the party!” Ziggy had called over his shoulder as the group disappeared.
Well, that had been strange.
Sportacus had gone back to stringing the town’s holiday lights after that, though he hadn’t been entirely present as he did so. He simply hadn’t been able to get the villain’s reaction to the invitation out of his mind. The whole thing had made Sportacus a little nervous, he would eventually admit, but Robbie hadn’t said no, per say. And he did take a Secret Santa slip. That was encouraging.
It also brought about his current conundrum.
Sportacus glanced over to his bed where a familiar red-and-green costume was spread out and waiting for him. He had taken it out often since receiving it the month prior. Robbie had made it for him, presumably to wear sometime during the holiday season…but when? Where? He had barely seen the villain since the hero’s little Halloween escapade, and Sportacus couldn’t figure out what that meant. If it meant anything. Maybe Robbie had just been busy…maybe he had decided that no, he didn’t want to be friends with Sportacus, much less anything more than that. Maybe there was no real reason at all and the hero was overthinking the whole thing.
Sportacus hadn’t known what to do with the beautiful handmade Christmas elf costume until Stephanie’s invitation. He knew it was the perfect opportunity to wear the outfit, but he was anxious about that idea. Until recently, Sportacus had thought there was nothing in this world that could truly scare him. But, oh, how the potential rejection of a one Robbie Rotten had proven that to be a lie. Would Robbie even be at the party to see him wear it?
“Of course he will be there,” Sportacus reasoned with himself. He stopped his pacing. “He took a name for the gift exchange...” He wondered whose name the villain had pulled from the bowl.
The hero sighed and let his eyes wander over to the carefully wrapped box sitting on his pantry table. He had been elated to find purple wrapping paper for it, complete with a variety of snowmen speckled throughout. Finding an orange bow on clearance from the fall season had been the perfect addition to his gift’s presentation. Now Sportacus just had to hope that Robbie liked what was inside. He had worked hard on it over the past few weeks…even before he knew that the kids had planned a Secret Santa exchange at all.
The hero glanced out his expansive window, taking note of the sun’s position in the sky. “Almost time for the party,” he said to himself.
Time to get ready.
He backflipped over to his bed, looking over the outfit one more time. Red shirt with green collar and cuffs with beautifully intricate designs embroidered in white; green pants and matching cap, and sturdy, traditional brown for the boots and belt, which was complete with an attachment for his crystal. It was flawless. And, as he soon figured out after a quick wardrobe change, a perfect fit as well. Robbie truly was a master of his craft, wasn’t he?
“Mirror!”
Sportacus took in a deep breath as he the mirror descended from the ceiling. He looked himself over, making sure everything was in place. If he didn’t know any better, he might very well believe he was looking at one of Santa’s elves from the North Pole. He couldn’t help but laugh.
“Robbie truly is the Master of Disguise,” he snickered to himself. “He can even make me fool myself!”
The hero dismissed the mirror and took up his Secret Santa gift from the table. He was ready. Sportacus called for the door of his ship to open and leapt outside. The cool, crisp air of winter raced by him as he plummeted to the ground. A short rotation and landing later, there he was: a Christmas elf standing in a LazyTown winter wonderland.
Snow had fallen the night before, leaving the town under a beautiful blanket of white. It was lovely, and the perfect way to get Sportacus into the holiday spirit. He jogged to the city hall, eager to see what fun the children had set up for the event. Sportacus walked up the hall steps. He felt a little silly having the urge to knock tickling the back of his mind and did his best to suppress it as he opened the door to go inside.
The entire main room was decorated; it had streamers, lights, balloons, and a big, beautiful tree near the entranceway. Beneath it sat a pile of presents from what looked to be nearly everyone in town, each of them waiting to be picked up by their mystery recipient later in the evening.
“I hope Robbie likes you,” Sportacus whispered to the small purple box as he set his gift among the others.
“Sportacus!”
‘Guys, Spotracus is here!”
The hero looked up to see the brilliant faces of his young friends racing toward him.
“Wow!” Ziggy cried. “You look like one of Santa’s elves!”
He laughed. “That’s because I am…at least for tonight.” He pushed out his chest and placed his fists on his hips. “Tonight, I am Merri Mint the Christmas elf!”
The children all exploded into a torrent of giggles and amusement.
“Does that mean you can put in a good word with Santa for us?” Trixie teased.
The hero shrugged nonchalantly, though he couldn’t stop himself from grinning at the girl. “I suppose so…but that would mean I do have to report any mischief-making, as well,” Sportacus reminded her with a look.
“Spoilsport,” the little trickster mumbled in embarrassment, though she did flash him a small smile.
“Do you want any sportscandy?” Ziggy asked around the candy cane sticking out of his mouth. He pointed to a long buffet table on the other side of the room. “We’ve got tons!”
Stephanie nodded. “Yeah, and Uncle Milford and I made some sugar-free Christmas cookies, too, if you want some!”
“That was very thoughtful, Staphanie. Thank you.”
The pink-clad child blushed. She grabbed his hand and started to pull the hero over toward the table. “Come on. You need to see the ice sculpture Ms. Busybody bought for the party before it melts! It’s a partridge in a pear tree!”
“It’s my ice sculpture!” Stingy protested, though his cries were thoroughly ignored by the other children.
The hero let himself be lead toward the display, taking a quick survey of the party and, more importantly, its guests. LazyTown wasn’t a very big place, but it certainly seemed like the majority of residents were in attendance. Except for one. Every flash of purple caught the hero’s eye, and every glance was a disappointment.
“—and look,” the girl at his side continued. “We were able to put real pears around the whole base, like they all fell from the tree!”
“That was my idea!”
“No it wasn’t!”
Sportacus forced a smile, nodding as the children continued to talk about the party décor and who was responsible for what, particularly when it came to Stingy’s contributions to the conversation. But he was only half listening. Sportacus was too busy wondering about the whereabouts of the town’s handsome villain.