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"Are you really sure this is a good idea?" Robbie Rotten asked, mere steps away from the Holiday party that awaited him. He was clad in a warm purple and red scarf and toque, protecting him from the snow that had begun to fall around him.
"Of course!" Sportacus immediately responded, not at all phased by the cold weather. He didn't complain at all about having to walk alongside Robbie, which rather surprised the taller man -- he'd never seen Sportacus actually walk like a normal person before. Though, Robbie mused, he supposed that Sportacus wasn't really a normal person, anyway.
"The kids are excited to see you," Sportacus continued, ready to knock on the door in front of them. "You'll have a great time, you'll see." He gave a reassuring, bright smile, and knocked on the door three times.
Robbie sighed irritably and brushed some of the snow off of his shoulder. It had seemed like a good idea before he was standing here -- free sweets, a home that must be a thousand times warmer than his own? The mere idea was practically heaven to Robbie, and so he'd accepted the offer, though somewhat reluctantly.
Now that he was there, standing at the mayor's door, he wasn't so sure about this whole idea. He thought about running, but immediately scrapped the idea -- Sportacus would surely catch up to him in no time, and then he'd have just run for no reason.
His thoughts were brought to an abrupt halt when the door was opened by the pink-haired girl -- er, Stephanie -- with an excited exclamation of "Sportacus!" Robbie was almost upset by being ignored before she added, "And Robbie! You came!" He was surprised at her apparent acceptance of him, but didn't have much time to react before she was pulling the two men through the door.
-
Robbie looked at the table of snacks somewhat dejectedly. Every variety of food on the table had some sort of health benefit -- he supposed this was to be expected, but that didn't make him any more inclined to eat anything in front of him. However, as he'd been dragged from his home before being able to dig into the cake he'd saved, he was quite hungry...
Reluctantly, Robbie took the first thing closest to him, which happened to be a chocolate covered strawberry. He had to admit, the children had done a decent job at decorating them -- he did not, however, stop to admire it before he popped it into his mouth.
It wasn't until his fourth strawberry that he acknowledged a certain sport elf staring at him, arms crossed.
"I'm not sure what you're looking at, Sportaflop," Robbie said, food still in his mouth. "Can't I eat in peace?"
"Sorry!" Sportacus immediately said, uncrossing his arms and stepping closer to Robbie. He had a small smile on his face. "It's just that I've never seen you eat sportscandy before!"
Robbie swallowed his mouthful before responding in a mumble, "It's not like I had much of a choice. I did it for the chocolate, anyway." He's looking anywhere but at Sportacus, crossing his arms to avoid from reaching for another piece of the (admittedly tasty) fruit.
"But Robbie, don't you see!" Sportacus exclaimed excitedly, grasping Robbie's arm while the taller man pretended he wasn't affected by it. "If you just start eating sportscandy, you can get accustomed to it!" To Robbie, this was highly unlikely, but he couldn't find any sarcastic retort to throw at the elf in that moment. He was definitely not too busy getting distracted by his bright blue eyes. Or his muscles. Or the way his hand was still very much present on his upper arm. Or--
"Hey, look!" A voice snapped Robbie out of his thoughts. He was not at all disappointed when the hand on his arm disappeared, or when Sportacus stepped slightly away from him in surprise. If anything, he was pleased. Yes. Completely pleased.
Stephanie kept speaking. "Sportacus and Robbie are under the mistletoe!" She pointed above their heads, a smug smile on her face as though she'd planned this from the beginning. The other kids began to speak up, whispering excitedly to each other as they glanced at the two men.
Robbie and Sportacus looked up at the same time to discover that there was, indeed, a sprig of mistletoe hanging above where they were standing. Their eyes met, and they blushed before looking away.
Stephanie was resolute, however. "You guys have to kiss now! It's tradition," she explained matter-of-factly, crossing her arms and looking at them expectantly.
Robbie sputtered indignantly, trying to come up with a good reason as to why he and Sportacus shouldn't kiss. His mind seemed to be short-circuiting, however, and he couldn't think of a single reason why they shouldn't follow the tradition. (He would never admit that a large part of him wanted to kiss Sportacus.)
Sportacus seemed to ponder their situation for a moment before shrugging and turning towards Robbie. "It is a tradition..." he said, pink blush still painting his cheeks. "What's the harm?"
At this, Robbie blanched. Sportacus wanted to go through with this. Robbie's heart began to beat more quickly, and he felt all of his muscles sort of... seize up.
Evidently, Sportacus took this as a sign that Robbie did not want to partake in this particular tradition. He immediately began stammering out apologies, while the rest of the party watched in amusement.
"Or-- or we don't have to! If you don't want to, I mean! Th-that's not to say I don't want to, because I very much would like to-- as long as you're not uncomfortable with--"
Robbie cut off Sportacus with a kiss, effectively silencing his babbling. The elf seemed to physically melt, placing his hands on Robbie's waist as his surprise wore off. There was still a hint of strawberry juice on Robbie's lips, the remaining chocolate making Sportacus somewhat dozy, but it wasn't enough to push him into a meltdown. He felt as though he were floating.
It was a brief kiss, slightly awkward due to both men's inexperience, but when they pulled away there was a spark of warmth in each of them that hadn't been there before. The moment seemed to last for hours, the fire crackling across the room while Robbie and Sportacus enjoyed their close proximity.
It took Robbie a few moments to get back to his senses, but when he did, his eyes snapped to the quiet audience in front of them. He took his hands off of Sportacus's upper arms -- when did those get there? -- and crossed them in front of his chest.
"Well," he snapped, somewhat breathless, the blush on his cheeks taking away from his attempts at intimidation. "Are you brats happy now?!" he asked, and the kids simply laughed. The tenseness in Robbie's shoulders let up a little at this, glad that they weren't about to make fun of him.
A warm hand on his shoulder made Robbie look up. Sportacus was smiling at him, a twinkle in his blue eyes. Robbie smiled back, ever so slightly, trying to ignore the butterflies in his stomach.
Stephanie looked at the two men in front of her fondly. She shook her head, making sure not to tell either of them that they could've simply kissed the other's cheek.