Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

“You sure you don’t want me to go with you?” Mary Meanswell asks her daughter one last time while helping her pack her things. 

“Mom, I'm twenty-one years old.” Stephanie Meanswell says with a sigh. “I think I’m more than capable of traveling by myself. Plus, you know you and Uncle Milford haven't spoken to one another in years." 

"Because he makes it seem like your father and I stopped you from visiting LazyTown."

"Well, it has been eight years since my last visit."

"You've also been busy with school, dance school - not to mention college."

"I'm well aware." Stephanie zips up her suitcase, adding, "But I miss visiting there. I miss Uncle Milford; I miss my old friends...I miss-" She pauses, mind fliting to a certain above-average superhero. God, she missed him. 

"Yes, well, your father and I were hoping that after not getting a chance to spend time with you last year during summer break, we could this year. You did run off on that sudden road trip last year too."

"Mom, don't start, okay? I don't want to fight with you."

"I'm not fighting, sweetheart. It's your choice, not ours."

Mary exits on that note, leaving Stephanie alone with her thoughts. She turns her focus back to packing for the three-month trip to LazyTown, grabbing another suitcase from her closet. Something catches her eye as she turns - a book lying dormant on the top shelf. Curious, she reaches up on her tippy-toes and pulls it down, a wave of nostalgia hitting her once she takes a second look at it. A pink diary. Her old pink diary. She opens it up, the first page documenting the first time she arrived in LazyTown, over ten years ago. She had been so excited that day; the thought of endless adventures that awaited her once she showed up there never left her brain as she left the train.  

It hadn't started like she thought it would, with everyone there wanting to be lazy instead of being active and going outside, which bothered her. Then she met some of her oldest friends - Trixie, Pixel, Stingy, and Ziggy. Not to mention Bessie Busybody and Robbie Rotten. And Sportacus. Her diary entry was filled with excited scribbles mentioning the moment she first met the superhero. 

She flips through the pages, finding a few pictures of her and her friends, her and her uncle, some with Bessie, even one of Robbie. It wasn't until she lands on a picture taken of her and Sportacus did a twinge of sadness tug at her heart. Unlike her other friends back in LazyTown, she hadn't spoken to Sportacus since the day she left eight years ago. Her fingers trace the photo before she eventually closes the diary and decides to bring it with her. 

At least for old-time's sake. 

-----

Sitting on the train, Stephanie listened to music and played games on her phone to pass the time, but eventually got bored of that and pulled out a book to read. A few hours passed, then finally, the train came to a stop at the station. She stands, grabbing her suitcases and purse. She exits the train, looking for her uncle. She finds him a few seconds later, standing near a bench as he looks around. He hadn't changed much from the last time she saw him, maybe a few more wrinkles here and there, but that was about it. "Uncle Milford!" 

He glances over, smiling brightly when he spots her hurrying over, bags dropping to her feet as she pulls him into a tight hug. "Oh, my dear, Stephanie. It's so good to see you again. You've grown so much since the last time I saw you."

"It has been eight years, Uncle." She giggles, "I'm an adult now."

Whereas her uncle hadn't changed much over the past eight years, Stephanie had. While she still had her eye-catching pink hair, it had lightened a bit over the years. No longer a bob, her hair was now long and went past her shoulders, which she had pulled into a ponytail during the long train ride. The old pink cheerleader dress had also been switched out for a pair of jeans and t-shirt, as her style choices had changed as she grew out of the pink phase. 

"I can't wait to see all my old friends again." She says after they finished hugging, bending to pick up her smaller bags.

"Here, let me help you with your suitcases."

"Thanks. I hope there's enough space for all my stuff in my old room."

"Oh, yes. Though I hope you don't mind that Bessie and I have changed it over the years."

"Just as long as it's no longer yellow and pink - I'll be happy."

They share a laugh while loading her luggage into the trunk of his car. During the short drive to LazyTown, they made idle chit-chat about what Stephanie's been up to, how school's been going, if she still sings and dances, etc. In return, she asks her uncle about how his life's been going; congratulating him again on his wedding to Bessie, before asking about everyone else in LazyTown. They discussed Trixie and how she was doing very well but busy with classes at LazyTown University; how Pixel was doing well with his studies at a different college, Stingy was busy studying abroad, and Ziggy being the youngest of the group, was doing well in high school. 

Once they reached a pause in their conversation, Stephanie felt her mind drifting to one person in particular - Sportacus. "So, how's Sportacus?"

"Oh, he's doing good. He's helping the mayor over in GreedyTown with some issues the town is having."

"He's not in LazyTown?" Her hopes of seeing him were cut short when she hears this, but she quickly covers it with a sigh. 

"Not right now, but I'm sure he'll be back tonight."

They rode in silence for the rest of the drive, with Stephanie gazing out the window occasionally at familiar buildings and new ones. They finally reach the central part of town and with a beaming smile, Stephanie hops out of the car. "I can't believe I'm back here. This is amazing." 

"I'll get your luggage; why don't you head inside?"

"Oh, Uncle, you don't have to do that. I can help."

"Oh, it's no trouble, dear."

She watches as her uncle tries to juggle removing all three suitcases from the car, noting how silly he looked, before turning and walking over to the front door of her uncle's house, hand reaching for the doorknob. She swings the door open, hand flipping the lights on. The room lit up, and all of Stephanie's old friends jumped out, shouting,  "Welcome home, Stephanie!"

Her eyes widen as she glances around. Bessie, Trixie, Pixel, and Ziggy were in the center of the room; balloons hung from the ceiling, with a 'welcome home' banner on the wall. "This is a surprise." She chuckles as one by one, everyone starts hurrying over to pull her into a tight hug. Bessie was first, excitedly talking a mile a minute about almost everything under the sun, invoking Trixie to cut in; eyes rolling as she greets her best friend. 

"Oh, Pinky, I've missed you!"

"I've missed you too!" 

Pixel was the next to pull her into a hug, adding, "We'll have to go get dinner and catch up."

"Oh, most definitely." Ziggy was the last to hug her, a silly grin on his face as he steps in front of her. "Ziggy! Look how tall you are!"

"Hi, Stephanie!" 

Once she had hugged and greeted everyone, Milford returns with all her luggage, nearly tripping over his own two feet at the door. "Here, let me help you, Uncle."

Pixel hurries over to help as well, grabbing one of her three suitcases. "Geez, what is it with you and Trixie packing so much stuff?"

"Hey! I am gonna be here for three months, thank you."

"Yeah, and Trixie packs this much when she visits me for a week."

Stephanie smiles. Pixel and Trixie had been dating since high school, something that took her by surprise when Trixie called her up and told her about their relationship years ago. She was glad to see that their long-distance relationship hadn't split them up and that they were still going strong. "I'm excited to see my old room."

The three make their way down the hall, and Stephanie pushes the door open, revealing the inside of the bedroom. She glimpses around her old room, finding that the walls were no longer a bright yellow, but instead had been painted a light blue. The decor had changed as well, no longer covered in pink. Everything had been updated in time for her arrival, and in a way, it almost resembled her dorm room, but at least here she got the entire room to herself.  

"I hope you don't mind the changes we've made." 

"Oh, Uncle, it's perfect. I love it."

-----

After spending a few hours catching up with her friends, Stephanie smiled and bid them all goodnight, watching as they left her uncle's house and retired back to their own homes. She was feeling pretty tired herself, so she said goodnight to her uncle and Bessie, and made her way back to her room, closing the door behind her. The daunting task of unpacking all of her things was present as she unzipped one of her suitcases, taking out a few of her shirts and pants to hang in the closet.

She spent the next forty-five minutes unpacking everything she brought with her, making sure nothing was too crammed or wrinkled in her dresser and closet. Then she put away all of her toiletries in the bathroom, sighing in relief once everything was organized and tucked away neatly. She tosses her now empty luggage into the closet as well, closing it shut behind her. 

She re-enters the bathroom, a set of pajamas in hand as she changes into them and starts her nightly routine of removing her makeup, washing her face, brushing her teeth, etc. Once that was done, she flips the bathroom light off and heads for the window to close the curtains. She starts to move the curtains shut, pausing halfway when maybe almost on instinct, Stephanie's eyes flick upward to the starry sky, finding the familiar blue airship floating up above LazyTown.

Her heart warmed at the sight, figuring that he must've returned from GreedyTown sometime tonight.

With a smile, she tugs the curtains shut and climbs into bed, the thought of finally getting to reunite with Sportacus after eight long years being the only thing on her mind.

Chapter Text

5:05 A.M.

Sportacus smiles as he jumps out of his bed, landing gracefully on his feet in front of it. "Apple." He calls out, catching the flying fruit with ease. After a long and tiring night in GreedyTown, nothing was better than waking up to a breathtaking sunrise. He munches on the apple while sitting in front of the airship's window, glancing down at LazyTown. 

Being in GreedyTown yesterday made him appreciate LazyTown that much more with its simplicity and peacefulness.

And it didn’t hurt that the residents of LazyTown were more pleasant and easier to deal with, including a very certain one. He'd been surprised when Mayor Meanswell had told him Stephanie was returning for the summer, being that she hadn't visited in eight years. Eight years. He couldn't believe it'd been that long since the last time he saw her.

She had to be twenty-one now. He wondered if she still liked to sing and dance or if she still enjoyed playing sports. Of course, he was sure he’ll get a chance to ask her all of his questions later today once he saw her. 

~~~~

It was just a little past ten when Stephanie woke up and wandered into the kitchen where her uncle and Bessie were eating breakfast together. 

“Oh, Stephanie, how did you sleep?”

”Great, thank you. Breakfast looks great, Aunt Bessie.” 

“Help yourself, dear. I wasn’t sure what you still liked to eat, so I just made a little of everything.” 

She glimpses at the breakfast spread. Bacon, eggs, pancakes, and a wide variety of fruit sat on the dining table. "You didn't have to go to the trouble, Aunt Bessie. A simple bowl of cereal is fine by me." 

"Oh, it was no trouble, dear. I love to cook for your uncle, and now I get to cook for you."

Stephanie sits down with a smile, filling her plate with the assortment of breakfast food. "I wish I could've been here for the wedding."

"Oh, that reminds me. I'll have to show you our wedding album. We didn't get to it last night." 

"I would love to see it. Mom only showed me one photo years ago; that was it."

At the mention of her mother, Milford frowns and sets his fork down. "How are your parents doing?"

"Good. Dad got a promotion at work, so he's busy as always. I haven't spent much time with them since I started college. Mom thought I would spend summer break there, but I told her that nothing was stopping me from staying in LazyTown for the summer."

"Lord knows she kept you away long enough," Bessie mutters, earning her a stern look from Milford.

She wasn't oblivious to the sudden tension in the room, so with a sigh, Stephanie swiftly changes the subject away from her parents. "I can't wait for my party tonight."

Grateful for the distraction, Milford nods with a smile. "Yes. It'll be terrific."

"I've even prepared a speech," Bessie adds, never noticing the cringe look on Stephanie's face. 

"I'm sure everyone at the party will be thrilled to listen to every word you wrote. Speaking of, are we expecting Robbie Rotten to appear tonight? You guys never mentioned him last night when we talked about how everyone was doing."

"If that man even thinks of crashing this party, he'll regret it. Thankfully Sportacus will be there to stop him in case he tries anything."

"I hope his trip in GreedyTown went well. That mayor can be such a pain."

"Well, Milford, what do you expect? That town is nothing like ours; they need his help lately more than we do."

That captures Stephanie's attention. She looks up from her plate, confusion evident as she listens to their conversation. "What do you mean?"

"Well, dear, I'm sure you've noticed that this town isn't exactly riddled with crime. Unlike GreedyTown, or any other town for that matter."

"Well, yeah, sure, but everyone still needs Sportacus. He's watched over this town for years."

"Of course, dear. No one's questioning that." 

The rest of the breakfast was eaten in silence after that, and once everything was cleaned and put away, Stephanie excused herself back to her room to get ready for the day.

~~~~~~

"Excited for your party tonight?" 

Stephanie shrugs a little as she and Trixie skim through the clothing racks at the store. "I guess."

"You guess? What happened to your never-ending enthusiasm, hmm?"

"It ceased to exist once I turned seventeen."

"Angsty Stephanie." Trixie makes a face as she imagines the very thought, smiling as she adds, "I'd pay to see that."

She rolls her eyes and chooses to focus on the task at hand - picking out a dress for tonight. She glimpses at a low-cut navy blue dress, plucking it from the rack to get a better view of it. It was a pretty dress though a little more revealing than what she usually wore. Trixie voices her approval with a low whistle, encouraging her friend to try the dress on as she leads her to the dressing room. 

She sighs and heads into one of the stalls, carefully sliding the dress on. She stepped back out to where Trixie was waiting, blushing when the brunette whistled again. “Look at you.” 

“You don’t think it’s too…”

”Too what?” 

“Too much?”

“Steph, it looks fantastic on you!” Trixie exclaims, adding, “You’ll be the belle of the ball.” 

I don’t know.” She eyes herself in the mirror. The dress hit above the knee, along with a deep v-neckline. 

“What don’t you like about it?”

Her mother’s voice was in the back of her head as she stared at herself. 'You’re going to wear that? No, no, no, that’s far too risqué for any daughter of mine.'

Maybe that was the reason why she simply nods and spins to face Trixie. "What the hell. I'll get it."

"Atta girl." 

Ten minutes later, the ladies were heading back to the main part of town, talking excitedly about this and that as they walked. It wasn't until they reached the sports field that a whooshing noise was heard, making them pause. Stephanie felt the slightest flutter of her heart as she caught a glimpse of blue.

He lands gracefully as he jumps from the ladder, eyes widening as he turns to face them. It was almost as if he couldn’t believe his own eyes. The one person he hadn’t seen in over eight years was standing before him - now a beautiful young woman. 

Sportacus first spotted her through his telescope while keeping an eye on the town from his airship, nearly dropping it when he first caught a glimpse of her. 

He had to know for sure if it was really her, so he climbed down his ladder to check for himself. And he was right. She was really here; she had finally returned.

“Sportacus!” She exclaims, smiling brightly as she hurries over to him. 

“Stephanie!” He says just as she throws her arms around his neck and pulls him into a tight hug. They stood like that for a good few seconds until she pulls back. 

“It’s so good to see you!” 

“It’s been so long.” 

They say at the same time, laughing as he gestures for her to go first. “I’ve missed you so much. How have you been?” 

“Pretty good. And you? How have you been doing at college?” 

“Great. Everything’s been really great.”

”That’s great.” 

Trixie makes a face at their polite idle chitchat and steps forward to edge it along a little bit. “And now we have her here with us for the summer.” 

“Yes, your uncle must be delighted.” 

“We all are,” Trixie interjects again. 

“Of course.” He stammers out. “I heard about the welcome home party your uncle is throwing for you tonight.” 

“You’ll be there, right?” 

“You can count on it.” 

Stephanie smiles, one of the biggest smiles Trixie has ever seen on her face since she first returned yesterday. 

“Good.”

“Well, I’ll see you both tonight.” And with a smile, Sportacus did a backflip over the sports field and left. 

“Oh yeah, this summer is sure to be fun,” Trixie says after a good few seconds of watching Stephanie stare wistfully at his retreating form. 

“What?” 

“Oh, come on, Pinky, don’t play dumb with me. Look at you. You look like a lovestruck puppy.” 

“I do not.” 

“Ooh, and you’re getting defensive. Tell me something - are you finally going to admit your feelings for him?” 

She wasn’t done playing dumb as she quirked a brow and asks, “Who?” 

“Sportacus.” 

“We’re friends, that's all.” 

Trixie gives the typical ‘I’m not buying that’ look and adds, “Right.” 

Even if Stephanie did have feelings for him, that didn’t mean Sportacus felt the same way about her. She was sure he didn’t. “Come on, let’s go get some lunch.” 

At least it would take her mind off of everything for a little while. 

Chapter Text

Party preparations were underway as Stephanie, Bessie, and others gathered at the mayor’s house to finalize details for the party. Trixie was in charge of the drinks, specifically the punch. “Hey, do you mind if I spike this?”

Bessie gasps, eyes narrowing at the thought. “Don’t you dare.”

“We are of age to drink now, Bessie.”

“You’re twenty. Nice try, Trixie.” The older woman says with a grin and tosses the unruly brunette a banner. “Do me a favor and go help Ziggy with decorations please.” 

She mock salutes her and heads outside, leaving Bessie and Stephanie to finish making the food and drinks for tonight.

Once everything was ready, Stephanie headed for her bedroom a few hours later to get herself ready for the party. The new dress she bought earlier hung on the back of her closet door and she smiles while staring at it. 

Time for a fun summer…

She enters her bathroom and begins to get ready. Once she was showered and finished blow-drying her hair, she began her makeup routine and took the extra time to perfect it. Once that was done, she plugged in her straightener and while she waited for it to come to temperature, she checked her phone, answering a few texts from friends. 

It took another 45 minutes to style her hair perfectly, but once it was done, she steps out of the bathroom and reaches for the dress. She slips it on, glimpsing at herself in the mirror. She wasn’t a vain woman, in fact she was quite modest when it came to herself, but in this moment, even Stephanie couldn’t deny she looked pretty. 

The dress was a good choice. “Aunt Bessie?” She calls out, “Can you help me zip up my dress?” 

“Sure.” Bessie says after a few minutes and enters her bedroom, stopping halfway when she sees her. Her lips quirk into a smile as she adds, “You look so beautiful.” 

“So do you. That dress is gorgeous.” 

Bessie thanks her and helps zip up the dress. “Your uncle is helping me bring the food and drinks outside, I believe Ziggy’s out there too.” 

“Cool. I’ll meet you all out there in a few minutes.”

”Sounds good.” Once Bessie left, she takes another long glance at herself and with a smile, she grabs her phone and sends a quick text to ask Trixie if she was almost ready. The brunette responds with a yes and a party face emoji. 

Stephanie giggles and heads for the door. 

~~~~~~

Stephanie steps outside, staring in awe at all the decorations set up. There was balloons, a welcome home banner, plenty of food and drinks, along with other decorations and even a spot for a stereo.

”Aunt Bessie, this is incredible.” 

“All for you, sweetheart.” 

Her uncle joins them a few seconds later, carrying a few more party items. “Wow, look at you.” He says after looking over at her, adding, “You look so grown up.”

”Because I am, uncle. Remember? I’m twenty-one.” She says with a chuckle.

“You’re still not getting alcohol at this party.” Bessie interjects with a stern look and she nods in return. 

“Of course not, Aunt Bessie.” They talk for a minute or two, being interrupted by Ziggy, who after seeing Stephanie in her new dress, nearly trips as he makes his way over to them. “Hi, Ziggy.” 

“H-hi, Stephanie.” He stutters, blushing brightly as he tries not to stare too deeply at her and risk looking like a fool. “You look really pretty.” 

“Aww, thanks, Ziggy. I like your suit.” 

“You do?” 

“Of course.” To Ziggy, hearing Stephanie say something like that to him, it was like winning the jackpot, whereas for her, she was just trying to be nice.

Thankfully, Trixie and Pixel arrived just in the nick of time to save Ziggy from doing or saying something stupid. “Hey guys.”

Stephanie turns to greet her friends, grinning as she says, “Hey. Look at you two.” Their outfits matched perfectly, with Pixel’s purple button down shirt matching Trixie’s purple lace dress. 

“Us? Look at you! Aren’t you glad I encouraged you to buy that dress?”

”I sure am. Hey, we should take a selfie of all four of us and send it to Stingy.” 

“And let him know how annoyed we are that he isn’t here with us? Sure let’s do it.” 

They laugh and Stephanie calls over her uncle to take the picture of them. After a few minutes of explaining how to take a photo on her phone, her uncle finally gets the hang of it and snaps a few pictures of the friends goofing around before handing the phone back to his niece. 

It was then that more LazyTown residents were arriving, some Stephanie vaguely knew, others were strangers. 

“I better start the music.” Pixel says and makes his way over to the small area where two stereos sat. 

“Play something good!” Trixie calls out after her boyfriend, “I wanna dance!” 

It wasn’t long before Pixel came through and a pop song started to blast through the speakers and Trixie all but drags Stephanie to dance. Bessie makes a face of disapproval while talking to a family that recently arrived to the party. 

The couple brought their son Brian with them, a nice young man who was going to LazyTown University alongside Trixie, which was one of the reasons why Bessie told the couple to bring him, seeing as how he was Stephanie’s age and Bessie assumed the group of friends would welcome Brian to hang with them. 

Of course, Stephanie and Trixie were already dancing to the music Pixel was currently blaring through the speakers. 

More people arrived, but still no sign of Sportacus. Noticing her friend’s telltale frown, Trixie adds, “He’ll be here.” 

“What if he gets busy helping someone and can’t make it?” 

“Trust me, he’ll be here.” She repeats, “C’mon, let’s go get a drink.” 

Bessie, having seen the ladies approaching the food and drinks, suggests that Brian should go join them and introduce himself to Stephanie. 

His parents agree with this and nearly push their son to start walking. So with a sigh, Brian nods and walks over to greet Stephanie and Trixie. Now even though Brian was a total nerd, he wasn’t clueless to the fact that both ladies were pretty. 

He knew Trixie somewhat and that she was dating Pixel, the guy DJ’ing the party tonight, but he was curious to find out if Stephanie was seeing anyone. 

“Are you sure I can’t spike the punch just a teensy-tiny bit?”

”I wish, but you and I both know that Bessie will find out.”  

“Please, she should try getting wasted once in her life. It’d probably help her.” 

Stephanie laughs. “True.” 

Trixie was the first to notice Brian Cooper standing behind Stephanie with a small smile. She didn’t know him well, but she did know this guy was a huge nerd. “Uh, hi?” 

Stephanie‘s brows furrow and she turns to find out who her friend was talking to.

She was surprised to discover it was a guy that looked to be around their age, with dark brown hair and eyes to match. He looked very prim and proper. “Hi, I’m Brian.” 

“Stephanie.” She introduces herself and shakes his hand with a soft smile of her own. 

“Your aunt wanted me to introduce myself to you.” He explains, and now it all made sense. 

“Mmm. So, do you live here in LazyTown or…?” 

“Yeah. I study at LazyTown University. With your friend.” He adds with a nod directed at Trixie who surprisingly managed to sneak off during their conversation to request a song for Pixel to play. 

“Oh, that’s cool. So what’s your major?”

“Business mostly. My dad plans on me joining the family business after college. What about you?” 

“I plan on opening a dance studio once I graduate college.” 

“Really?” He was impressed, “I take it you’re a pretty fantastic dancer then.”

”Well I don’t know about fantastic but I am fairly decent at it.”

Stephanie takes a sip of her drink, hesitating as she glances at all the food Bessie set out. Seeing this, Brian adds, “Everything looks amazing, but how do you choose what to eat?”

”Right? Like do you choose a cupcake or go the healthy route and pick the vegetables?”

“I’m partial to vegetables.” 

She would recognize that accent anywhere. Her lips curl into a smile and she whirls to find Sportacus standing there, a goofy grin on his face. ”You made it!” 

“I told you I would.” 

Brian is long forgotten as all of Stephanie’s attention turns to Sportacus as she leads him away from the food and drinks. She never notices the frown on Brian’s face, but then again, she also never notices how Sportacus’ gaze glimpses down her body. 

“You look lovely.” He says suddenly, and she felt herself blush at his unexpected compliment. Most of the time if someone else said something similar to that, she would usually brush it off and not really take it to heart, but with Sportacus, she believed it. 

“Thank you.” She ignores the looks she was getting from Trixie, and instead focuses on the man in front of her. The man who was always at the forefront of her mind. They run into her uncle and despite desperately wanting to have some time alone with the superhero, she simply leaves them to talk and seeks out her friends.

”How’s it going, Pinky?”

“Well, he told me that I looked lovely.”

“Hmm, well it’s not as great as beautiful or gorgeous, but it’s better than nice.” 

Pixel gives them an amused look while he sips his drink. “What’s wrong with nice?” 

“Nice is what you tell your grandma when she asks you if you like the clothes she got for you, babe.”

“It’s not like I was expecting him to tell me that I looked hot or something, but I mean come on, I did make an effort here.” 

Trixie smirks, “I knew it! This little getup was all for him!” 

Stephanie quickly tries to cover her slip-up, blushing again as she tries to explain and get herself out of this mess. “No! I just, y’know, was hoping-“ 

She’s saved from trying to explain herself by Ziggy of all people, who taps her on the shoulder and asks if she wants to dance. She nods and follows behind him to where a few other people were dancing too.

They dance through three songs before Trixie, ever the schemer, forms a plan and interrupts the mayor and Sportacus’ conversation by telling the superhero that her pink-haired friend would love to share a dance with him before the night was over. 

The look on his face was cute, it really was, and it further proved Trixie’s point.

The next part of the scheme was to get Pixel to play a slow song, which was the easy part of the scheme. Now she just needed to get Ziggy away from Pinky. 

She grabs a drink and hurries over to her friends when she notices that Sportacus was heading over to them too. The slow song starts to play, and she watches as Stephanie awkwardly stands there with Ziggy, who almost looked excited about the change of music pace. 

She made a mental reminder to ask Pixel about that later. 

“Uhh…” Stephanie starts to say, clearly not sure how to explain to Ziggy that she wasn’t so sure about a slow dance together. Luckily, Sportacus had reached them in time and Trixie watches as Pinky smiles up at him. “Hi.” 

“Hi. Care to dance?” 

A look of relief, and maybe a dash of something else flickers across her face, and she sheepishly takes his hand with a nod. “I’d love to.” 

Her arms wrap around his neck while he 
places his around her waist. He still kept a respectable distance between them while they swayed to the song. “This is different.” He says after a long pause. 

“What do you mean?” 

“We’ve never danced like this before. It was always more…” He couldn’t seem to find the right words, so she finishes it for him by saying… 

“…Upbeat?” 

“That, and a lot more movement.” 

“True. But you are the one who wanted to dance to this.” 

His brows furrow. “I thought you wanted to dance with me?”  

Also true, but out loud she asks, “When did I say that?” 

“Trixie told me that you wanted to share a dance with me before the night was over.”

Of course. “Oh she did?”

His grip loosens, “I’m sorry, did you not want to dance? I shouldn’t have assumed that you wanted to, I just thought-“ He pauses mid-sentence, “Nevermind.” 

“I love dancing with you.” Stephanie blurts this out of the blue, and she blushes for the third time tonight. “I, um, I always had so much fun dancing with you.” 

“Really?” 

“Yeah. Every time you dipped me, it was so much fun.” 

Their eyes lock after she says this, and she felt herself getting lost in those icy blue eyes. She knew she wasn’t imagining the way he was staring at her, not this time. 

He clears his throat and seems to remember where they were, and that her uncle was literally twenty feet away watching them dance. “Yeah.” 

“Can we do it now?” 

“What?” 

He looked a little panicked by what she was asking, and she gives him a confused expression. “You should dip me like you used to. It’d be fun.” 

Oh. He mentally cringes at himself for overthinking that, and nods. “Right. Of course.” He waits until the song reaches a good note to dip her, and once it does, his grip tightens and his hand moves up to her upper back as he starts to dip her.

Partygoers had turned to stare at them, some smiling, some watching in awe. Trixie, however, was grinning like an idiot, happy that her little plan had worked perfectly.

The song ends and Sportacus pulls Stephanie back up into a standing position, quickly noticing quite a few people at the party watching them. Including the mayor. “Was that fun?” 

“Yes.” They share a smile before her uncle calls Sportacus’ name and he regretfully tells her he better go. She nods and watches him walk over to where her uncle and Bessie were talking to an older couple. 

“Quite the show.” Trixie mutters when Stephanie takes a break to get a drink and have a quick snack. 

“I know what you did, Trix.” 

“What did I do?” 

“You told him that I wanted to dance with him.” 

“Was I wrong?” 

“No.” Stephanie starts, ignoring her friend’s knowing smirk, “But I could’ve asked him myself, thank you.” 

“We both know you’re too chicken to do that.” 

“I am not!” 

Okay, maybe she was a tiny bit of a chicken when it came to that. 

But she never would admit it out loud. 

~~~~~
An hour later, and the party was slowly winding down as some of the partygoers had started to leave. Stephanie was in the middle of a conversation with Bessie and a few other people when she notices that her uncle had disappeared inside the house and that Sportacus was now talking to some random couple she never met before. 

She took her chance and excuses herself from the crowd, hurrying over to where Sportacus was. He smiles when he sees her. “Enjoying your party?” 

“Yes, it’s terrific.”

”Good.” 

The couple both give her a curt nod and it was then did she turn to him and ask, “Can we talk?” 

He looked a little confused but he still nods and says goodbye to the couple as he starts to lead her away from the party and toward the house, but she stops him and asks if they could take a walk through the town. 

He agrees and follows behind her, neither one noticing that they were being watched closely. 

Once they were away from the party, Stephanie seems to relax and she takes a deep breath. “You okay?” 

He looked concerned as they walked and she gives a quick nod. “Yeah.” 

“I like your dress by the way.” He says with the smallest of smiles, adding, “It looks very grownup.” 

“Is that necessarily a bad thing?” 

“It’s a big change from the pink ones you used to wear.” 

He wasn’t exactly answering the question she noticed. “I grew out of those.”

“What else have you grown out of?” 

 “Oh, plenty of things. I’ve changed a lot over the years.” 

He spares a glance at her. She had changed since the last time he saw her eight years ago. She still had that unmistakable pink hair he’d recognize anywhere, though it was longer now. But there was something different about her.

She seemed more… mature. Granted, she was twenty-one now and no longer the giddy girl in pink who was happy to play sports and build treehouses all day. He was sure her hobbies nowadays were vastly different from then.

They pass by the sports field and he gets a sense of nostalgia. “Do you still like sports? Like soccer and basketball?” 

He asks this after a long period of silence and she turns to look at him. “Sure. I don’t get a lot of time to play anymore so my typical exercise usually consists of running every morning.” 

“Maybe I can join you sometime?” 

“For sure.” Stephanie smiles, “Though I think you’ll be surprised to find that I can keep up with you now.” 

“Is that so? Well you’ll just have to prove that to me one morning.” 

“You’re on. How about tomorrow?” 

His smile fades slightly as he explains, “I unfortunately can’t tomorrow. I have to work in GreedyTown and prepare for this speech I have to make there.” 

”My uncle and Bessie were telling me about that yesterday. Is everything okay out there?”

“Crime rate has increased dramatically since this new mayor took office and he’s trying to find a solution to the problems the town is facing but nothing’s working so far.” 

“A slightly-above-average superhero is a good start.” 

His smile returns after she says that and he stops walking. She quirks a brow, curious to know why he suddenly stopped, when out of nowhere, Sportacus hops up on the sports field wall and positions himself into a handstand. 

Stephanie’s eyes widen in amazement at his show of physical strength and she applauds him for it with a smile, “It’s good to know that you haven’t changed since I’ve been gone.” 

“My airship’s changed.” He jokes and backflips off the wall, landing in front of her with a grin, “It’s got some new abilities.”

”Oh yeah? Like what?” 

“You’ll just have to come up and see for yourself.” 

As soon as it was out of his mouth, it dawned on him how it sounded and how she might take it as him trying to flirt with her and now he was worrying that he made things awkward between them. ”If you want.” He quickly offers, and she giggles. 

“I would love to, Sportacus.” 

Her phone rings shortly after she says this, and she apologizes before answering her phone. “Hey, Trixie. I went for a walk with Sportacus.” There’s a pause, and he watches in amusement as a blush creeps across her cheeks at what ever it was that Trixie said to her “Trixie! I’m hanging up. Yes, we’ll be back soon. Bye.” 

“You better get back to your party before Bessie notices.” He says with a small smile and she nods in agreement.

“I surely wouldn’t wanna miss her speech.” 

“Of course not.” 

They share a laugh as they head back to Stephanie’s welcome home party. 

Chapter Text

The morning after her welcome home party, Stephanie woke up around seven to go for her morning run, even waking up before her uncle and Bessie. She heads outside and puts her earbuds in before doing a few stretches.

She selects her music and slides her phone into the pocket of her leggings and starts her daily run. It was a bright and sunny morning, so it wasn’t that surprising that quite a few residents were out and about this early as well. 

She waves to a few as she runs by, smiling as she continues down the street. She makes it past the sports field when she stops for a minute, feeling as if she was being watched. She glances around, finding that no one was there. 

She shrugs it off and resumes her run, never noticing the shadow of someone hiding behind the tree. 

~~~
Stephanie ran for a good hour before returning back to her uncle’s house. Out of curiosity, she found herself looking up at the blue sky for the familiar airship. 

It wasn’t there, much to her dismay. He had to be in GreedyTown already. She sighs and enters the house, finding her uncle and Bessie drinking coffee. They both greet her with warm smiles and Bessie even offers to get her some coffee. 

She declines in favor of going to take a shower to get cleaned up for the day. She checks her phone before she does, discovering a new text from Stingy.

‘The party looked like fun! Wish I could have been there with you guys.’

 She texts him back with a smile and sets her phone down as she walks to the bathroom. After her shower, Stephanie towel dries her hair while she picks out outfit for the day. She settles on a pair of shorts and a pink tank top, figuring that it was already hot outside and there was no way she was wearing jeans. 

She puts on some makeup and decides to put her hair up in a ponytail once it was dry. Once she was done getting ready, she heads back into the kitchen and pours herself a cup of coffee. Bessie was already serving breakfast by the time Stephanie sits down. 

“So, did you have a good time last night at your party, dear?” 

“I sure did. It was great getting to spend some time with everyone.” 

“Everyone sure seemed to have a good time. Thank goodness Robbie didn’t make an appearance.” Bessie mutters and Stephanie chuckles to herself.

“That’s quite shocking that he didn’t.”

”Yes, it seems he’s learned to keep to himself.” 

Stephanie swallows a forkful of eggs, surprisingly thinking about Robbie and how strange it was that he stayed away last night from her party. Course, if her uncle and Bessie knew she was actually worried about Robbie Rotten, they’d probably think she was going insane.

Still, a small part of her was curious to know what exactly he’s been up to since she left eight years ago. 

Maybe she’d go pay him a visit. 

~~~
Never in a million years did he ever expect that pink haired nuisance to return to LazyTown after all this time and yet… there she was… eight years later and still annoying the hell out of him. 

Robbie Rotten scoffs when he first spots her passing by the sports field wall, waving and smiling to a few people as she goes by, and, God, could she get any more irritating? He assumed her sweet little attitude would have ceased to exist after she left LazyTown but clearly not.

”Perfect.” He groans out when she makes her way toward his home… err lair… whatever. What the hell could she possibly want? 

He was a little taken aback by how much she’s changed over the past eight years at first. She looked more… mature in a way that he never would’ve imagined. 

Her familiar pink hair was slightly lighter now and she had since gotten rid of that pink gaudy cheerleader dress she wore back in the day. She also seemed to have gotten taller over the years too. 

Before him now was a beautiful young woman, annoying yes, but still beaut- what the hell was he doing? Robbie mentally slaps himself over that and focuses his attention back on finding out why Pinky was outside his door.

”Robbie?” A feminine voice calls out, and it takes the man in question a good long minute to realize it was Pinky talking to him through his periscope. 

“What do you want?” He barks back, hoping to scare her off like he used to be able to do. 

“Don’t you wanna come outside and talk to me face to face?” 

“Not particularly.”

”Come on, Robbie, haven’t you missed me?” She sounded amused, and he almost wanted to throw up at the idea. 

“Let me think… have I missed the loud and obnoxious sports, the singing, the dancing… hmm… nope! Now goodbye!”

”I asked if you missed me.” 

“Not one bit.” 

She laughs, shrugging off his rudeness as typical Robbie Rotten behavior. “Aww, I missed you.” 

His brows quirk at this. “You did?” 

“Yeah. Life wasn’t the same without your silly disguises and failed schemes to force Sportacus out of LazyTown.” 

At the mention of the blue kangaroo, Robbie rolls his eyes with a long sigh. “Maybe he’ll stay in GreedyTown for good this time.” 

“I hope not.” 

“Of course you do. LazyTown wouldn’t be the same without your precious Sportakook.” 

Stephanie grins at the periscope. “You got that right.” 

“Is there some reason as to why you’re still here bugging me?” 

“I’ve missed bugging you, Robbie. It’s so much fun.” 

“You’re going to make this summer very annoying for me, aren’t you?”

”Oh, you can count on it.” She says in a singsong voice and waves before finally leaving him alone with his thoughts. 

The singing was sure to return. 

Dancing too. 

Sports were a sure bet. 

Robbie winces and falls into his comfy chair. “Oh yeah, this’ll be annoying for sure.” 

~~~
A few hours later, and Stephanie found herself back near the sports field with Ziggy, playing a game of soccer before Pixel and Trixie joined them. 

“Hey guys. Wanna join us?” 

“We actually were coming to invite you two for lunch.” 

“Sounds great.” Stephanie says and looks over at Ziggy, “We’ll finish this soccer match later.” 

“But you already won.” 

“Yeah, but you get a rematch.” 

Trixie watches as Stephanie pats Ziggy on his arm and he blushes profusely from the contact. It was almost how Pinky got with Sportacus at times when they talked. 

She glances at Pixel, nodding at Ziggy’s reaction to Stephanie’s close proximity. He shrugs, not really sensing a problem with it. Hell, he had a crush on Stephanie too back in the day. 

“You guys ready to go get lunch?” 

“Yes, let’s go.” Stephanie says and it was then did they all hear a whooshing noise before Sportacus landed in front of them with a smile.

“Hi guys!”

They all chorus a greeting to the superhero. “I thought you were in GreedyTown?” 

“I have to go back tonight but right now I’ve got some free time.” 

Trixie smirks as a new idea pops into her mind and she runs with it. “Would you like to join us for lunch, Sportacus?”

”Oh, erm, I wouldn’t want to intrude.” 

“What? You’re our friend. You could never intrude on us.” Stephanie says with a warm smile and the two share a sweet moment. Well, until Ziggy breaks it to ask if they could leave now. 

Trixie rolls her eyes in annoyance and gives her friend a pointed look. “Let’s go.” 

They settled on LazyTown’s diner for lunch, a new place that opened a few years ago. They get a booth table and Trixie was sure to get Stephanie to sit next to Sportacus in the booth. The only problem? Ziggy. He made sure to take the spot right beside Stephanie, leaving an awkward pause over the group as Sportacus slides in on the other side of the booth across from Stephanie.

Trixie sits beside him, followed by Pixel who was well aware of his girlfriend’s annoyance at Ziggy. A waitress stops by their table and takes everyone’s drink order before taking off again. While they waited, Stephanie glimpses at the menu, curious to know what Sportacus would order. 

Probably something with vegetables or fruit she figured. “Hey, Trix, they got those turkey burgers that you like.” Pixel says and Stephanie smiles at the small little details that Pixel knew about Trixie.

She was happy for her friends. She just wished she could find the same happiness too. “You okay?” Ziggy asks her and she nods.

“Yeah.” Sportacus was staring at her now too and she felt a flush creeping up her neck. “Everything sounds so good.” 

“The food here is amazing.” Ziggy adds.

”Really? Well, what do you recommend to eat?” 

“I like their cheeseburger and fries. It’s so good.” 

Stephanie nods with a grin and closes her menu. “You’ve convinced me.” 

The waitress returns with their drinks and takes everyone’s order. Once she was gone again, Stephanie looks across the table at Sportacus, finding that he was already staring back at her. He smiles slightly, but she could tell it didn’t quite reach his eyes. 

Was it GreedyTown? Maybe the speech he had to give was stressing him out more than he would like to admit. “Are you okay?”

He nods. “Of course. I’m just thinking about GreedyTown and my speech.”

“Did you finish writing it?”

“Most of it is written. I’ve got to finish it before tonight though.” 

“I could help you.” She offers, “If you want. Plus you could show me all of your airship’s new abilities.” 

Trixie smirks to herself. Pinky was being rather bold this go around with asking if she could join him up in his airship. ‘To help him write a speech.’ Sure, because that’s the only reason why she wanted to join him up there. 

“Well, you are a good writer.” He seemed to be considering taking her up on her offer. “And you could listen to my speech and let me know if it sounds okay.” 

“I’m sure it’s already great.” 

“Well, I don’t know about that. Maybe I should ask Bessie for her input on it.” They all laugh at the memory of Bessie’s love of long speeches. 

“I think my input will be more helpful.” 

“Very true.” Sportacus nods, “Okay. How about we go work on it after lunch?” 

Stephanie practically beams at him. “That works for me.” 

Trixie catches her gaze and grins at her in approval of her bold move.

In return, Stephanie quirks a brow and turns her attention back to her drink. 

~~~
After lunch, the friends separated to go do their own thing. Ziggy went home while Trixie and Pixel went to go do some grocery shopping for the week. 

Before they left, Trixie pulled Stephanie to the side to talk. “Well well well, Pinky, I didn’t think you had it in you.” 

“Had what?” 

“The nerve to join Sportacus in his airship.” 

“I’m helping him write his speech.” 

“Mm-hmm. You’re telling me that you’re not planning on anything else happening up there with him?”

”Trixie!” She shushes her with wide eyes, “He’s literally ten feet away!” 

“Please just tell him how you feel already.” 

“Don’t you have shopping to do?” 

“Yes I do. Have fun, babe. We’ll talk later.” 

Once they left, Sportacus smiles at her and asks if she was ready to go with him up into the airship. She nods and watches as he calls out for the ladder, which quickly falls down in front of them.

He gestures for her to climb up first, and she takes a deep breath before grabbing the lowest rung of the ladder and carefully starts to make her way up toward the airship. Sportacus quickly follows behind her and once they both reach the platform, he commands for it to take them up inside the airship.

Once they were inside, she glances around in awe. She’d only been up here once or twice before and it never ceased to amaze her how cool the airship was.

He walks over to a white table and it was then did she remember why he brought her up here to begin with. His speech. She watches as he grabs a piece of paper and a pen. “As I said, most of it is done.”

He steps over to where she stood and hands the paper over to her. Their hands touch and she’s caught off guard by the sudden warmth that jolted through her. 

She busies herself with reading what he had wrote. It was easier than having to explain to him why she was trying to avoid making eye contact with him. “It’s great so far, Sportacus.” 

“You really think so?” She was acutely aware of his presence behind her as he stepped around the airship, stopping to take the paper back. He reaches over her to grab it, something that nearly makes her jump. “Are you okay?”

His closeness was distracting as her stomach fluttered. “Never been better.”

”May I have the paper back?” 

“I thought you wanted my help?” 

His lips were so close, they were all she could think about while her heart hammered inside her chest. “I do want it.” 

He was staring at her lips now and once his eyes drift back up to hers, she was taken by surprise of the unadulterated passion staring back at her. No hiding, no pretending she was imagining it, it was all right in front of her. 

“Sportacus.” It came out as a breathy sigh and before she could even react, the superhero had taken a step back and was trying to avoid looking at her. 

“We should work on the speech, yeah?”

She was flabbergasted. What the hell just happened? “Sportacus, I-“

”I think I should focus touching on the crime rate issue that’s troubling them.”

Okay, she guessed he was choosing to ignore what almost transpired between them a few seconds ago. “Right.” 

She runs a hand through her pink hair with a sigh and tries to ignore her feelings as she steps over to him. 

~~~~
A few hours later, Stephanie found herself sitting on a bench near the sports field. She was waiting for Sportacus to get back from the meeting in GreedyTown. It was already after nine when she checks her watch again.

It took an hour to get from GreedyTown to LazyTown so when she looks up and finds that his airship was just returning, she assumed he wouldn’t want to talk this late when he needed some sleep.

So when the airship stops in the air and the ladder drops from below it, she was expecting to see him climb down and greet her… but he doesn’t. She peers up at it for a good long minute, not sure whether or not to climb up herself. 

It was a silent invitation after all, wasn’t it? He was waiting for her to climb up and greet him. So after a few more seconds of trying to decide if she should or shouldn’t, she chooses to take a walk on the wild side and reaches for the lowest rung of the ladder and begins to climb up. 

She reaches the top and hops onto the platform. She’d seen him do this plenty of times before, so she calls for the platform to take her inside the airship. 

She did find it a little strange that he hadn’t been there to greet her, but all questions cease to matter when she spots him standing near his fruit table.

“Hey, is everything alright? How did the meeting go?” 

Sportacus looked anxious and riled up, a rare sight for sure. “Terrible. The residents were understandably angry over the high crime rate, but what the mayor suggested to fix it is insane. And it doesn’t even matter how I feel, not one bit.” 

“What do you mean?” 

“I’ve been recruited to GreedyTown. For good.” 

“What? They can’t order you to do that.”

”Your uncle agreed. My contract here in LazyTown is finished. I leave tomorrow.”

”No, this is crazy. You can’t leave! I just got back here! The summer is starting!”

”It’s done. There’s nothing I can do to stop it.” 

“This is crazy.” She repeats to herself.

 “I’m going to miss you the most.” 

She was vaguely aware that he was slowly moving toward her. Blue eyes darker than ever before and she felt her face flush under his intense stare.

“I don’t know about that.” 

“I do. Because it’s true.” 

He stops just shy of a few feet away from her and she was sure he could hear the rapid beat of her heart as he lifts a hand and cups her cheek with a smile. 

She leans into his touch as her gaze drops to his lips, those lips she was so desperate to kiss. “Kiss me.” 

He smirks at her bold command and simply complies with the request. Finally, his lips find hers in a heated kiss. She felt breathless, this was all she had ever wanted for so long. Now it was finally happening…

”Stephanie… Stephanie.” 

A hand shaking her shoulder is the first thing that wakes her up as she groggily lifts her head from the bench and looks up to find the man of her dreams staring at her with an amused smile. 

Shit. She fell asleep on the bench! And was woken up from a steamy dream no less by the man who was starring in it.

”Sportacus.” She says awkwardly and tries to calm her racing heart. 

“Hi. You were mumbling in your sleep about me. Bad dream?” 

Her face flushes at the memory. “Not exactly. How did the meeting go in GreedyTown?” 

“As well as it could I suppose. I have to go back there next week.” 

“Oh.” She stifles a yawn and he smiles.

“It’s late. Let me walk you home.” 

Instead of arguing, she nods and stands from the bench, choosing to ignore her dream. 

At least for now…

Chapter Text

Dear Diary, 

It’s been one whole week since I returned to LazyTown. Things have been going well so far. I’m having a great time catching up with all of my friends and Uncle Milford. It’s almost as if no time has passed at all. 

…Except it has. Some things have changed here. I’ve changed too. Being back here after all this time is almost too surreal but in a good way. I can’t wait to see what the summer will bring for all of us. 

Stephanie closes her diary with a sigh and places it on the bedside table. 

~~~

“You guys wanna go see a movie later?” Ziggy asks Pixel and Trixie later that day while the three were hanging out at Pixel‘s house. 

Trixie lifts her head from the couch and shrugs. “Is anything good even playing?”

”Yeah! That new superhero movie is playing at the theater tonight.” 

“Oh yeah, I heard that it’s pretty good.” Pixel chimes in from where he sat with his laptop and Trixie all but throws a pillow at her boyfriend. 

“I’ve got a better idea - let’s throw a party for Pinky.” 

“We already did.” Ziggy argues and Trixie actually throws a pillow at her friend. 

“I mean a real party, doofus. Like with alcohol, dancing and the best part? No mayor or Bessie watching over us.” 

“It would be fun.” 

“Stephanie might not like that.” 

Trixie snorts at Ziggy’s comment. “Right because she doesn’t like to party. Good one, Wonder Boy.”

Before Ziggy could think of a comeback, they all hear a knock on the door and then Stephanie pokes her head inside the house with a smile. “Hey guys.” 

“Pinky! We were just talking about you.”

She quirks a brow while closing the door. “Yeah? Hope all good things.” 

“Very good. We’re throwing you a party tonight.” 

“I just had a welcome home party last weekend.” She says and sits down on the couch beside Trixie. 

“A real party. Y’know, with alcohol and no Bessie to supervise us.” 

“I was actually thinking we should go camping this weekend. It’d be so fun.” 

“Camping? Don’t you remember what happened last time we tried to go camping? A freak wind storm happened.”

”Robbie also interfered.” 

“That too.” 

Stephanie rolls her eyes, “Okay, fine but it’s not like history will repeat itself. It’s not as if Robbie can disguise himself as a scout’s master this time.” 

“You hope.” Trixie jokes, adding, “Fine, Pinky, we’ll all go camping. Tomorrow. But tonight we have that party.”

”Great. We’ll leave tomorrow afternoon and come back sometime Monday.” 

“Now that that’s all settled, let’s go shopping for the party tonight.” Trixie says and stands from the couch, invoking her friends to follow behind her. 

~~~
“So,” Trixie starts to say while she and Stephanie walk through one of the aisles of the grocery store, “I never got to ask you how it went up in Sportacus’ airship last week.” 

“We finished his speech.” 

“And?” 

“And then I went home. Nothing happened.” 

“You’re telling me that you were all alone with him up in his airship and you still didn’t make a move? You had the perfect chance, Pinky.” 

She quirks a brow while grabbing a bag of ice, “We did have this sort of moment where it seemed as if he was going to make a move… but then he pulled back.”

”What kind of moment are we talking here?” 

“For a second I thought he was gonna kiss me. Like I said, then he pulled away and acted as if nothing happened.”

“Well next time you’re having a moment and you feel like he’s gonna kiss you, why don’t you take the next step and kiss him first? Just an idea, babe.” 

Pixel and Ziggy rejoin them shortly after that so Trixie drops the subject for the time being, something Stephanie was grateful for. 

~~~
Hours later, and the party Pixel and Trixie were throwing at his house was going off without a hitch. Everyone was having a blast dancing to the music Pixel shuffled through while having plenty to drink. 

Stephanie sips the drink Trixie handed to her a little bit ago while brushing past the crowd of partygoers to meet up with her friends near the couch. 

Once she found Ziggy, she smiles and takes the spot beside him on the couch, bumping his shoulder with her own. He looked slightly out of place at this party, seeing as how he was the only person who wasn’t drinking or dancing. 

“Having fun?” She has to yell for him to hear her over the loud music and he shrugs nonchalantly. 

“Sure.” 

“Why aren’t you dancing?” 

“No one asked me to.” 

The answer has her frowning. “Oh, Ziggy, why didn’t you just ask someone? I’ll dance with you!” 

Before he could even react, Stephanie was tugging him off the couch and pulling him with her to the dance floor.

She was a little off-kilter thanks to the decent amount of liquor coursing through her veins but that wasn’t stopping her from showing off her dance skills. 

“You’re still the best I know at dancing.”

She laughs softly at his compliment, finding that hard to believe, seeing as how she was stumbling terribly on her feet. “You’re still the sweetest person I know.” 

“Really?” He twirls her around with a grin and she giggles. “I could say the same about you, Steph.” 

They dance together through three songs before some random guy cuts in and asks if he could borrow her for a dance. Ziggy quirks a brow at him but was surprised when Stephanie nods and slips away from Ziggy and toward this guy. 

He looked like a knockoff Sportacus with his chiseled muscles and perfectly sculpted features, it was no surprise he caught her attention.

Ziggy frowns and watches in disbelief as she dances with this guy a short distance away from him. Their dance was more…intense than how she danced with him. 

The bold and flirtatious way she moved to the music coupled with how this guy roamed his hands all over her body was enough to make Ziggy roll his eyes and look across the room to find his other friends. Pixel and Trixie were dancing too, so that left them out. 

He felt out of place here. So with a sigh, he pushes past the dancing crowd and reaches the door that led outside to the backyard and leaves the party. 

~~
It was five past midnight when the crystal on Sportacus’ chest began to go off, giving the telltale signal that someone was in trouble. It never usually went off this late anymore so with in a matter of seconds, he jumps out of his bed and commands the door to open. 

He calls for his ladder and climbs down, landing with a whoosh as he glances around the mostly quiet town. Once he turns toward and starts for the sports field, he spots a flicker of familiar pink hair and breathes a sigh of relief. 

“Stephanie?” 

She pauses when she hears him calling her name and then glances at him over the wall with a goofy grin. “Sportacus!”

“Hi, what are you doing out here so late?” 

She stumbles slightly with a giggle, “I could ask you the same thing, mister.”

”My crystal beeped.” He explains with a confused frown, “Have you been drinking?” 

Her slurred speech, the stumbling, it all made sense now. “Shhh! Don’t tell anyone. Specially my uncle. And Sportacus. He’ll be disappointed in me.”

“I am Sportacus.” 

“I could tell.” 

He regards her with an amused smile and grabs her arm gently as they walk away from the sports field. “Come on. I’ll take you home.” 

He leads her down the street and toward the mayor’s house. “You’re real nice, you know that?” 

“Well thank you, Stephanie. So are you.”

”And cute.” She suddenly blurts out, and there was zero sign of her being taken aback or embarrassed by her comment. Being drunk seemed to make her more bold than when sober. “Very cute.” 

He tries to ignore that last part in favor of making sure she didn’t trip and fall over her own two feet. “Uhh, right.” 

“You are, you know.” She continues, adding, “I’ve always thought so. But I didn’t realize that until I was a little bit older. Trixie knew though. She always teases me ‘bout you.” 

“Is that so?” 

“Mmm-hmm. She just wants me to admit that all I want to do is fu-“

”Stephanie!” He exclaims out of sheer shock, knowing damn well what she was about to say to him. 

“I do, you know. All those muscles and the tight outfit, it’s hard not to feel that way about him.” 

She was back to being unaware that the person she was with was the same one who she was currently expressing her feelings for. Thankfully, they had reached her uncle’s house and she could get some sleep. “Do you have your keys?” 

“Yes… maybe?” 

She fumbles through her pockets then her purse, finally pulling out a set of keys with a grin. “Ta-da!” 

“Good. Get some sleep, okay?” 

“Yes, sir.” She mock salutes with a giggle and slides the key into the lock. He waits until he knew she was safely inside the house before returning to his airship. 

~~

”Tell me again why we have to go on this camping trip?” Trixie whines as she helps Stephanie and Pixel pack their bags into the trunk of his car. The brunette was hungover and annoyed by the early afternoon wake-up call. 

“Because it’ll be fun.” 

“That’s not a good reason.” 

“Maybe someone should’ve gotten to bed earlier than what she did.” 

“Maybe someone will be sleeping alone tonight.” She snarks at her boyfriend which Pixel simply ignores with a grin. 

They finish packing the car and waited for Ziggy to meet up with them with his luggage for the trip. While they waited, they spent the time looking at photos and videos from the party last night. 

“Speaking of which, where’d you get off to after the party ended?” Pixel asks Stephanie a few seconds later and she pauses. 

It all flooded back to her a few hours ago when she woke with a headache, still wearing the dress she had on at the party and makeup smeared on her face. 

She eventually recalled running into Sportacus late after the party, which brought back the memory of admitting that she found him attractive and almost admitting that she wanted to sleep with him. 

“Oh God.” She groans then, and her friends glance at her in confusion. “Thank God we’re leaving for a few days.” 

“Why, what’d you do?” 

“I drunkenly told our favorite superhero how cute he is last night.” 

Trixie stifles a laugh at her confession. “Ooh, that’s good. At least he knows how you feel about him now.” 

“I don’t think I can handle the awkwardness that’s sure to come from this. How can I look him in the eyes when he now knows I find him attractive?” 

“Relax, Steph, it’s not that big of a deal.”

”Right, yeah. For you guys it’s not a big deal but for me - it totally is.” 

“Hey guys, ready to go?” Ziggy greets them with a wave and it was then did the three friends look up at him, discovering that he wasn’t alone. Sportacus stood behind him with a bright smile as he greeted the friends. 

“Going camping?” He asks, gesturing to the car. 

“We sure are.” Pixel answers since Stephanie was currently trying to avoid eye contact with the superhero out of embarrassment over last night. 

“That sounds fun.” 

“Wanna come along?” Trixie blurts out and Stephanie shoots her a quick glance. “You do love camping, don’t you?” 

“I do.” 

“Great, then join us.” 

There’s a long pause, mostly because he was trying to catch Stephanie’s gaze. He was confused as to why she was trying to avoid him. If he did come along for the trip, maybe they could get a chance to catch up and talk like they used to.

So with that in mind, Sportacus nods and says, “Okay, sounds great. I’ll meet you all there at the lake.” 

…How was she going to avoid the awkward conversation that was sure to come now?

Chapter Text

LazyTown Lake was about an hour away from the town, leaving plenty of time for the group of friends to chat and listen to music as they enjoyed the scenery the drive offered.

They sang along to the catchy pop song Trixie selected to play ten minutes into the drive, which had them all laughing at how out of tune they sounded. 

“Remember when we started a band?” Pixel says with a chuckle. 

“Oh gosh, we really set our expectations high for that, didn’t we? Though I have to say, we weren’t too bad.” 

“At least Sportacus rocked those drums.”

At the mention of him, Stephanie sighs and leans against the seat. Pixel eyes her through the rear view mirror, feeling bad for his longtime friend with how hard she was trying to conceal her feelings for the above average superhero. 

He had experience dealing with those feelings himself for Trixie before they got together. “Pick a song, Steph.” He says to change the subject, noticing the grateful smile she directs at him. 

Thank God for Pixel. 

~~
Once they reached the campsite, the group of friends got busy setting up their tents and sleeping bags, while Ziggy and Trixie went off in search of firewood for the night. 

Sportacus was in the process of helping Pixel setup his and Trixie’s tent since he was having trouble keeping the tent up. He was kneeling with furrowed brows as he staked the tent into the ground with a hammer. “There, perfect.” 

“Thanks, man.” Pixel fist bumps him with a smile and slides inside the tent to get his and Trixie’s sleeping bags ready. 

Stephanie watches their natural interaction with a scowl. It seemed like everyone else had this close bond with the superhero that she just didn’t. Maybe her being gone for so long had damaged their once close friendship. Now things felt weird between them. There was this awkwardness hanging over them every time they talked or spent time together.

“Need some help, Stephanie?” 

His voice sounded closer than before, and she glances over her shoulder to find that she’d been right. He was now behind her, hammer still in hand as he gestures to her pitiful looking tent. 

Wanting to be independent, and to a lesser degree, wanting to show that she was more than capable of setting up her tent all by herself without his help, she shrugs off his offer nonchalantly. 

“I think I got it, thanks.” 

He wasn’t oblivious to the sudden change of attitude. “Okay, just let me know if you want me to help you stake it to the ground.” 

“Sportacus, I said I got it, okay?” 

He raises his hands in defense with a soft smile and turns to busy himself with unloading the rest of their things around the campsite. He grew accustomed to sour moods thanks to Trixie over the years, so Stephanie’s wasn’t too different from that. 

It was less than five minutes later that a loud and angry huff was heard coming from Stephanie as the tent once again flopped to the ground. He glimpses at her discreetly, lest she find him watching her and snap at him over it.

He spotted the issue right away. One of the poles wasn’t matched up to the tent correctly, which was causing it to collapse in a heap on the ground. 

She tries to string it back up, effectively making it harder for herself as it falls apart again. “Piece of shi-“

”Stephanie.” He says her name, interrupting her angry comment to the tent as he steps over to her. “Let me help you.” 

Instead of arguing, she simply nods with a sigh, “Be my guest.” 

He gets to work fixing the problem with her tent and within five minutes, the tent was set up and good to go. She was watching in disbelief as he finishes hammering the last peg into the ground and then stands with a grin. “There you go.” 

He brushes past her to start working on his own tent, smiling to himself as he does. 

~~
It was past five when they gathered around the campfire Sportacus mainly built by himself with rocks and the wood Trixie and Ziggy found earlier. He had a metal grate settled over the burning fire, and on top of that was their dinner.

Stephanie had prepared chicken and vegetable skewers for everyone, which was currently being cooked. She sips her water while blankly staring at the fire, feeling eyes on her. She looks up to find Sportacus staring back at her with an unreadable expression. 

“What?” 

“Nothing.” 

After dinner, Ziggy wanted to make s’mores, and not wanting to disappoint him, Stephanie chuckles and pulls out a bag of marshmallows, chucking it to him. “I forgot chocolate and graham crackers, but we can roast marshmallows.”

They gather four sticks to roast the marshmallows on, and once it got a perfect golden brown, Stephanie pulls the stick away from the fire and carefully slides the hot marshmallow into her mouth. 

She catches Sportacus’ gaze watching her rather intently during that, and she felt a flush creep up her neck. “Want another one, Steph?” 

“Sure.” She removes one from the bag and pierces it on the stick. 

“You always get it so perfect.” Ziggy says with a slight whine as he puts his stick over the fire. 

“It takes skill.” 

The stick slips from his hand after she says this, invoking Sportacus to leap over and grab the sticky twig from falling down into the fire below, causing his fingers to become sticky from the gooey marshmallow. “Thanks, Sportacus.” 

“You’re welcome, Ziggy.” He mutters and tries to wipe the stickiness off his fingers to no avail. “I’ll be back, I’m going to go wash this off in the lake.” 

Shortly after he left, Trixie directs a pointed look at Stephanie who ignores it. “Okay, what’s going on? Why are you acting pissed at him?” 

“I’m not.” She argues. 

“You did kind of snap at him over the tent earlier.” Pixel adds with a shrug. 

“Okay, fine, I’ll go apologize.” She says with a sigh and stands from the log to follow after Sportacus to the lake. She finds him a few minutes later, washing his fingers in the water to remove the marshmallow from his hand. “Sportacus?” 

He glances at her with a soft smile. “Hi.”

”Hi.” She fiddles with her hands as she walks closer to where he knelt by the lake. “I wanted to come and apologize for earlier.” 

“You don’t have to apologize, Stephanie.”

”Yes I do. I shouldn’t have treated you like I did. You were just trying to help.”

“I know you didn’t mean it.” He stands, and she took stock of just how tall he was compared to her. “It’s okay.” 

“I also wanted to apologize for last night.” 

Recognition flickers across his face briefly as he thinks to what she was referring to. ”Oh. Yes well, if that’s why you’ve been trying to avoid me, you don’t have to worry.” 

“Really?” 

“It was clear you had too much to drink.”

”What? No, I don’t care about that. I was referring to what I said to you.” 

“Oh that. Well, to be honest, I’m quite flattered that you find me,” He pauses to search for the right word she used last night to describe him, “Cute is the word that I believe you used?” 

She winces at herself, groaning as she walks toward the lake, “So you do remember.” 

“I wasn’t the one who was drunk.” He says with a chuckle. “Listen, I am flattered, I meant it.” 

Stephanie keeps her back to him, not wanting to see the pity in his eyes. “This is so not how I wanted this to go.”

”Stephanie.” He tugs her arm gently, spinning her around to face him, “There’s nothing wrong with what you said. I’m not mad at you or anything.” 

“I made things awkward between us.” 

“What? No you didn’t.” 

“Then why are things weird all of a sudden whenever we talk or hang out? It’s been like this since I got back.”

His expression turns to one of guilt as he drops his hand from her arm. “I figured you wanted some time to get back into the swing of things. You have been gone for a long while.” 

“It’s not just that. It’s like there’s this distance between us that wasn’t here before.” 

There’s a long moment of silence as they stare at one another, neither sure how to approach the situation. For Sportacus, he partly had been giving her some space to reacquaint herself with the town and to spend time with her friends. 

The other reason he was keeping to himself was because after the day in his airship, the day he realized he wanted to kiss her, it took him by surprise and left him feeling guilty for thinking about her that way.

He was her friend, someone who she trusted and looked at as only the superhero she used to sing and dance with. Nothing more. But when she admitted, granted drunkenly, that she found him attractive and had for a long time now, he couldn’t lie that a flicker of hope crossed his mind. 

“Okay, how about we try to eliminate this distance between us and go back to the way we were before, sound good?” 

“Definitely.” She agrees with a smile and to start it, she crosses the physical distance between them and laughs. 

“We should get back to the campfire.” 

“Let’s go.” 

~~
“This is definitely better than the last time we went camping.” Stephanie says the next night to Sportacus while they sat on a log near the fire he got going a few hours earlier that night. 

Trixie and Pixel had disappeared from the campsite over an hour ago, right along with Ziggy who went for a walk in the woods, giving them some time alone to catch up like Sportacus had been hoping for.

”No strange wind storm here.” 

“Or Robbie.” At the mention of the goofy villain, he shakes his head with a smile at the memory. “I actually saw him last week.” She adds, making his brows furrow. 

“You saw Robbie Rotten? Where?” 

“At his bunker. He was still charming as always.” 

“He isn’t around like he used to be. He keeps to himself mostly nowadays.” 

Stephanie tilts her head, confused as to why that was. “That’s unusual for him.” 

“Once you left, it seemed Robbie felt as if he no longer had to scheme or disguise himself in those wacky costumes.” 

“Why’s that?” 

It was clear the mayor hadn’t told his niece exactly how the town felt different after she left for good, and because of that, how her friends for a long period of time didn’t want to play sports or spend time in the treehouse they all built together. 

It was almost like LazyTown had gone back to how it was before Stephanie had arrived years ago. He understood why they were upset and why they didn’t exactly want to play sports and act as if their friend hadn’t left them for good. 

He himself found it difficult to visit everyone after she left, knowing that she was no longer there to cheerfully greet him with her unmatched enthusiasm. 

It took a long while to get used to the empty void she left behind. For a moment, Sportacus even considered the possibility of leaving the town too. It just wasn’t the same without her, seeing as how she was the one who brought him to LazyTown to begin with. 

But after a few days, he ultimately decided that the town needed him more so he stayed. Though he wasn’t ready to admit all of this to her now, lest she feel guilty over not returning sooner. 

So with a sigh, he chooses to say, “You’ll have to ask him.” 

He grows quiet after that as he turns his gaze toward the blazing fire. It crackled and popped as the orange flames danced across their faces. She took a long look at him, eyes drinking in the sight. It was like no time had passed for him. He still looked the same as the day she first met him. 

“I can feel you thinking.” He says wryly. 

“How come you haven’t changed?” 

The question catches him off guard. “Sure I have,” He turns to stare at her again with a smile, “You just haven’t been here long enough to notice.” 

“Oh, I’ve noticed you plenty.” 

“I noticed.” His voice was low. “Tell me, what caught your attention this time? Was it my outfit or perhaps my chiseled muscles?” 

He was teasing her now, foot nudging hers with a grin. “Oh, real funny. I was drunk, you know.” 

“So you mean you don’t admire my chiseled muscles?” 

Instead of denying it, yeah right like she even could, she leans a little closer to him on the log with a smirk. “Countless times.” 

He mutters something along the lines of ‘oh really’ and closes the few remaining inches between them as he slides further toward her on the log. He seemed to be trying to call her bluff but to his pleasant surprise, she didn’t budge. 

Their eyes locked as the fire crackled, and they sat like that for a few long seconds. Maybe Trixie was right, maybe she needed to make the first move when it came to him. 

Make her feelings known. 

Stephanie starts to say his name, being stopped by his lips crashing against her own. It takes her brain a second to process what was happening but once it does, she leans in and kisses him back. 

It was over as quick as it started but it was enough to leave her wanting more as she chased his mouth. “Sportacus.” She whispers before he was pulling her back to him with a smile. 

~~
Kissing her was something he never expected to happen on this camping trip. But it was almost as if all of their interactions since that day in his airship had been building to this point in time here by the fire. 

He wanted to kiss her then, had seen the same want in her eyes that mirrored his own, but he resisted the temptation and tried to fight his feelings as best as he could. 

But he couldn’t no longer. 

The first touch of her lips had sent a bolt of lightning through him. Her lips were as soft as he imagined them to be, with just the slightest hint of sweetness from her vanilla-strawberry scented chapstick she used earlier, and god, could he get used to this.

A distant voice in the back of his head was advising against that, seeing as how he was so close to losing all control from just one kiss with her. He was the town’s superhero after all. He had a responsibility to protect each and every person in LazyTown. They all relied upon him to keep them safe and if he messed all of that up by becoming unfocused by his feelings, he would never forgive himself. 

But he was getting ahead of himself here. One little kiss wouldn’t cause too much trouble, would it? One kiss that was becoming increasingly passionate by the second. 

He felt as if his skin was burning with need for this wonderfully beautiful and unique woman sitting beside him. He wanted her, there was no denying it. His fingers delve into her long pink hair, tugging lightly on the silky strands. 

The soft moan she releases invokes him to do it again, curious to discover all the other little sweet spots on her body.

It wasn’t until a piece of wood pops in the middle of the fire does Stephanie jump with a gasp, making him chuckle. “Jumpy, are we?” 

She looks at him with a sheepish smile. 
“Maybe I am.” 

He tucks a lone strand of hair behind her ear with a smile of his own. “About that kiss.” 

“I hope you’re about to say you don’t regret it and that you want to do it again. Because I do, so very much so.” 

Well that’s all he needed to hear before leaning forward and capturing her lips once again. They were playing a dangerous game here. It wouldn’t be long before their friends returned and stumbled upon them like this. 

But that wasn’t stopping him from running his hands down her back to her waist, distracting her while his lips found her neck. His fingers drifted lower, lower until he reached the apex of her thighs and the resulting sigh from her was enough encouragement for him to continue… but he pauses when he hears a noise from inside the woods not too far from the campsite.

They spring apart when more shuffling is heard and then the unmistakeable sound of footsteps approaching the fire. Ziggy was returning to the campsite, unaware of what he almost interrupted a few seconds ago.

”Oh, hey guys.”

Stephanie slides down the log to create some distance between her and Sportacus, discreetly glaring at Ziggy for his oblivious intrusion. 

So close, yet so far. 

~~
Monday morning they were all packed and ready to leave the lake and head back to LazyTown. It was a nice trip, but the part stuck on Stephanie’s mind was last night by the fire with Sportacus before Ziggy interrupted them. 

The way he kissed her, the way he touched her, there was no more denial or uncertainty with how he felt about her. 

It was obvious he felt those same feelings she felt about him, and if only Ziggy hadn’t interrupted them… well she figured that would be left to her imagination. 

“Everything’s ready to go, guys.” Sportacus says to them with a smile and hands over the last bag to Pixel to put in the trunk of his car. 

He moves to stand behind Stephanie, and after last night, she couldn’t help the thoughts racing through her mind as he smiles down at her. The possibilities were endless once they returned home. 

She tried not to look too hopeful when Ziggy asks Sportacus what he was doing later and the superhero answered with a simple, “I’ll be in my airship all night. Unless someone needs me.”

Later that night, once they returned from the lake and they all went their separate ways, Stephanie was in her room putting her clothes away and answering a few texts from friends when she hears a loud whooshing noise and looks up from her phone to see a familiar blue piece of paper fly through her open window and land on her bed. 

She hurries to grab and read it, a smile tugging at her lips once she does. 

‘ Dear Stephanie, 

Would you care to join me for a late night walk? 

10’

She felt a flicker of excitement as she walks over to the window and saw Sportacus waiting for her near the sports field with an inviting smile and wave as he leans against the wall. 

She quietly sneaks out of the window, having plenty of experience doing so at her parents house over the years. 

Once she reaches him, she stops just a few inches shy from touching and quirks a brow. “I’d love to join you.” He nods and starts to lead her away from the sports field until she stops him with a hand on his arm. “Up there.” She adds and points up to his airship. 

He hesitates slightly. “I would love nothing more than to do that, but… I am a gentleman as you know.” 

She frowns as it became clear that he wasn’t about to have a one night stand with her tonight. “I’m well aware.” 

“I want to do this right, I’d like to take you out to dinner and then we can go back to my airship and… talk.” 

“Just talk?” Her hopefulness returned, and he chuckles. 

“We’ll see how the night goes. So what do you say? Want to have dinner with me tomorrow night?” 

“I’d say it‘s a date, Sportacus.” 

Chapter Text

“Which one?” Stephanie holds up two dresses for Trixie to choose from. One was a white conservative dress with flowers on it that looked like her mother had picked out for her, while the second one was a sexy backless black dress that hit above the knee and hugged her curves perfectly. 

“If you don’t wear the backless one, I’m stealing it from you.”

”Backless black dress it is.”

“Can I just tell you that I never expected this to ever happen. You’re going on a date with Sportacus!” 

Stephanie chuckles and hangs the dress on her closet door to keep it from getting wrinkled. “You and me both.” 

“It’s about time though.” 

“I just hope my uncle and Bessie don’t find out. You know how they’ll react.” 

“You think they’d have a problem with you going on a date with a superhero?” 

“A superhero who I’ve known for years? 
Possibly. My uncle can be overprotective at times.” 

“So what do they think you’re doing tonight?”

”Having dinner with you and Pixel.”

Trixie nods. “Got it.” She watches as she stares at herself in the mirror for a moment. 

“Hair up or down?” 

“Down. It’ll give him something to pull.”

”Trixie!” 

~~
 It was a little past six when, thankfully, Milford and Bessie were heading to the movies and then having dinner afterwards, so they wouldn’t be home. 

“Have fun, dear. We’ll be back late.” 

So will I, she thinks to herself with a smile and says goodbye to her uncle and Bessie before shutting the door and hurrying back to her bedroom to finish getting ready before Sportacus arrived.

Ten minutes later, a knock on the front door was heard as Stephanie races to answer it while slipping her heels on.

She turns the knob and opens the door, pausing when her eyes drift down his body. The superhero suit was still on, but he did bring her flowers. “Hi.” 

He seemed to be distracted by her dress, seeing as how it took him a long second to respond to her. “H-hi.” 

Score one for the dress. “Are those for me?” 

His brows furrow and she gestures to the bouquet in his left hand. “Oh, yes. Of course. Here you go.” 

She accepts the flowers with a thanks and steps further into the kitchen to find a vase to put them in. “So where are you taking me?” 

His intense focus on her was enough to make her wanna offer the suggestion of just skipping dinner altogether and getting right down to their talk up in his airship. 

“Uhh, the steakhouse. They have… great food to try.” 

“I’m eager to do it with you.” 

“What?” He stammers out nervously. 

“I’m eager to try their food.” She explains while grabbing her purse. 

“Right. Shall we go?” 

“Lead the way.” 

~~
The steakhouse was mildly crowded with guests ranging from families to couples looking to share a lovely meal. So when Stephanie and Sportacus entered the restaurant, all eyes turned to them. 

He was the well known superhero of the town after all, people were going to be curious to know why they were having dinner together. They got a table near the back away from prying eyes before the waitress took their drink order and left. 

“So,” He starts to say, looking as nervous as a cat in a room full of rocking chairs. 

“Sportacus, relax. This doesn’t have to be so nerve wracking for you.” 

“Who said I was nervous?” 

She quirks a brow at his thumb twiddling and he quickly stops. “Look, it’s okay. I get it. Going on a date with you was something I never expected to happen when I decided to come back here for the summer, but here we are and I’m very happy about that.” 

“You are?” 

“Over the moon ecstatic.” 

A soft smile overtook his face as he stares at her. “Me too.” 

“Good, so take a deep breath and relax. You’re on a date with me, not some random stranger. Talk to me like you normally would if we were around other people or even my uncle.” 

At the mention of Milford, he sighs and his smile fades. “If your uncle found out that I took you on a date, he wouldn’t be happy.” 

“I’m an adult, he knows that.” 

“Still, he and Bessie will have something to say.” 

“Well, good thing they’re at the movies. They’re not going to find out.” 

The waitress returns with their drinks and takes their food order before taking off again. “I don’t want to upset them.” 

Stephanie takes a sip of her wine, then reaches over and grabs his hand, squeezing it softly. “Why don’t we talk about something else. Like how is GreedyTown doing?” 

“Crime rate is still high, but things have calmed down somewhat. I have to return next week for another meeting.” 

“I hope things get better for the town.” 

“Me too.” 

There’s a pause for a few seconds, being interrupted by someone clearing their throat and then saying, “Excuse me.” They both look over to find a young mother standing next to their table with her son who looked overly excited. 

“We saw you come in earlier and, well, we just wanted to come over and meet you.” She says to Sportacus with a large smile. “You’re my son’s idol.” 

“Oh, well, thank you.” Sportacus says and turns to the boy who reminded him a lot of Ziggy when he was that age. “What’s your name?” 

“Andy.” The boy states proudly with a toothy grin. 

“Well, Andy, it’s nice to meet you and your mother.” He smiles and shakes his hand, then the mother’s. 

“We didn’t mean to intrude on your date, but Andy was just so excited when we saw you.” 

“No need to apologize, I’m always happy to meet the residents of LazyTown.” 

Stephanie watches as the lady blushes after that and sips her wine. “As am I.” She says to the woman with a nod, almost as if to say, ‘Hi, sitting right here,’ and the lady barely manages a fake smile at her. 

“Hi, I’m Tiffany.” 

“Stephanie.” 

Sensing the change in tone, Sportacus clears his throat and begins to say, “Well, it was very nice to meet you both, but I think our dinner will be out soon.” It was a polite way of asking them to leave and at least the lady got the hint.

”Oh yes, sorry. Nice to meet you too. Come on, Andy, let’s go.” Once they left and went back to their own table, Stephanie starts to giggle quietly. 

“Care to share with the rest of the class, Miss Meanswell?” 

His voice was teasing and she looks at him with a wide grin. “Didn’t you notice how that lady was staring at you?” 

“No. In what way was she staring at me?” 

“Come on, Sportacus, you’re not that oblivious to how good-looking you are.” 

Recognition flickers on his face and he nods slightly. “Oh, that. Well, do you think she was admiring my tight suit - or my chiseled muscles?” 

She tosses her napkin at him and he grabs it with ease, chuckling. 

~~
After dinner, they exited the steakhouse and began to walk toward Milford’s house, neither noticing that pictures were being taken of them from a distance. 

The shots weren’t exactly incriminating but the implication was clear - the town’s fantastic superhero and mayor’s niece were on a date. 

Another picture was snapped as the person in disguise watches Stephanie disappear into her uncle’s house while Sportacus calls out for his ladder and it flys down beside him.

He climbs up shortly afterwards, looking back at the mayor’s house with a smile before he reaches the top rung and disappears inside his airship. He kept the ladder down though. 

The person shuffles behind the bush and then snaps a few more pictures of Stephanie who was now exiting the house a few minutes later and heading to the waiting ladder. 

This looked a bit more promising. 

She takes the ladder one rung at a time, reaching the top where Sportacus was standing on the platform waiting for her with a smile as they headed up inside the airship and disappeared out of sight from the person with the camera. 

~~
”I never got to tell you earlier,” He starts to say once they were inside the airship and turns to her, “You look beautiful.” 

“Thank you.” Stephanie felt a blush creeping up her neck from his intense gaze. “I wasn’t sure about this dress.” 

Sportacus’ eyes drift lower. “It’s lovely.” 

“You never did get to showing me all of the airship’s new abilities, you know.” Stephanie quickly changes the subject and steps over to the fruit bar. 

“I can show you a lot of things.” 

“Is that a fact?” 

“Yes it is.” 

They lock eyes over the table, and it was made quite clear neither one had any real intentions of discussing new abilities the airship had. “Last time I was up here, we didn’t have much time for that.” 

Ah, yes, the last time she was here. The day it struck him just how much he wanted her when they almost kissed while discussing his speech. 

“There’s plenty of time tonight.” Once it was out of his mouth, Sportacus winces at how that could be taken. Last thing he wanted was for her to be thinking that he was referring to something else. 

The amused grin she had on her face was enough to tell him that she didn’t mind one bit. “Really? You’re certain of that?” 

“Oh yeah.” 

“Hmm, I don’t know.” Her eyes drift down his snug suit with a sly smirk, “I need a lot of time to… discover all new things, you know.” 

His body felt warm all over from her heated stare as his fingers clenched around the table in an effort to keep himself from reaching for her. She knew what she was doing to him, she had to. 

Stephanie quirks a brow at his tense posture and innocently asks, “Are you okay? You look a little… warm.” 

She closes the gap between them and steps around the extended table to his side, hand reaching out to brush against his forehead. The touch set his skin on fire, more so than what it already was.

“Stephanie.” He breathes out. 

She couldn’t resist messing with him just a little, curious to see how far he would stay in control before his emotions took over and he gave in to his desire. 

“You do feel warm, perhaps you’d like to lie down?” 

She watches as his gaze flickers over to where his bed conveniently lies a few feet away from where they stood, clearly wrestling with himself on whether or not he should take her up on the offer.

Her hand was still on him, he silently noticed, leaving a burning trail from his neck all the way down to his muscular chest. She’s staring at him expectantly for an answer and he stood there like a statue, not sure which one to give. 

If they did this, if they, no, if he crossed that line there was no going back from it. If the mayor found out, his contract in LazyTown would be terminated, no doubt about it, no matter if his niece was a grown woman and capable of making her own decisions. 

“I’ll take that as a no.” Stephanie sighs a little dejectedly and takes a step back, hand dropping from his chest. 

“I didn’t say that.” 

“You didn’t say anything.” 

“Stephanie.” 

“Sportacus.” She replies in mock tone and it was his turn to sigh. “Look, either you want this or you don’t. It’s fine if you don’t, I’m an adult, okay, I can take the rejection. But, please, just get it over with before I make a fool of myself.” 

He blinks at her. Confusing that to be his silent confirmation that she’d been right, she frowns and turns to walk toward the door. 

He catches up to her within seconds after coming to the realization that he didn’t want her to leave, not just yet. “Stephanie.”

She stares up at him with an unreadable expression. “I want this.” Is all he says before pulling her in for a kiss. 

It was everything she had ever wanted and more as he tugs her closer and deepens their kiss, tongue sweeping into her mouth with a groan. It was nothing like the other night by the campfire, this time they had no worries that someone would overhear or discover them. 

She breaks their kiss to double check that this was truly what he wanted, but once their eyes lock and she sees the passion staring back at her, she had zero doubts. 

She pulls him down for another kiss. Their shoes and his vest come off shortly after as she leads him backwards to his waiting bed. Her fingers were already tugging his fitted shirt up off his muscular chest once the back of his legs hit the front of his bed and he lands on top of it with an “Oomph.”

She finishes taking the shirt off with a smile, still not quite believing this was happening after countless nights of dreams that started out similar to this very moment right now. 

He leans back up, arms grabbing her waist. “Are you sure you want this?”

The question was a role reversal and she nods with a soft smile. “Yes.” 

He reaches behind her, tugging the zipper to her dress down and pulling the straps off her shoulders. It slowly slides down her body, landing in a heap on the floor around her feet. 

His eyes drink in the sight of her. The first thing that catches his attention is the black lace that clung to her curves. 

The lace falls beneath his fingers as he toys with the edge of her panties. His eyes drift back up to find her staring at him with a smile. “Expecting pink?” 

“Something like that.” 

It was her turn to be curious as her hand lifts up and removes the hat and goggles from his head. The dark curls he kept hidden out of view wasn’t what caught her attention at first… it was the pointy ears he always kept tucked away under his hat. 

“I always wondered if what Robbie called you held any truth. What was it again?”

“The blue elf. Only I think he meant for it to be an insult but it never worked. But only a few people know about me being an elf. Now including you.” 

She seemed to be mesmerized by his ears. They were getting a little off track here, so with a fond smile he stands from his bed and unbuckles his belt. 

Her eyes finally drift away from his ears down to the movement of his hands. 

“Your secret is safe…” Her voice trails off as he slowly starts to take his pants off, eyes darkening. “…With me.”  

“I sure hope so.” He jokes and pulls her against his hard chest, peppering kisses all along her neck. He finds a sensitive spot just below her ear, her soft moan sounding like music to him. 

They land on his bed together, spending the first night of many to come in his airship all night long. 

Chapter Text

The morning after wasn’t nearly as awkward as Stephanie thought it would be. She expected Sportacus to be silent and reserved as the reality of last night kicked in along with doubt and guilt. 

But he wasn’t. 

She stirs in her sleep, tangled in his blanket as she lifts her head. She blinks once then twice, sleepily rubbing at her eyes. Sportacus was already awake and out of bed, munching on an apple. 

He flashes a smile once he sees that she was no longer asleep. “Good morning.” 

“Morning.” 

“Want an apple?” 

It was probably the first time she’d been asked that the morning after and she chuckles at him. “Thanks, but no.” 

A stretch of silence falls over them. She slides the blanket off of her bare legs, hand brushing through her messy hair. 

“So, about last night.” 

“You’re going to say how wonderful it was, right?” 

He chuckles to himself, kneeling on the bed with a grin to kiss her. “It was nice.” 

Now she looked a little offended. “Just nice? Not mind-blowing? Fantastic? Everything you ever wanted?” 

He attempts to kiss her again, being foiled by every turn of her head. She was deliberately dodging his lips with a sly smirk… until he playfully pushes her back into his bed. “What’s wrong with nice?” 

She recalled Trixie’s answer to Pixel asking the exact question at her party and goes a different route with her own response. “Nice is nice. Like a nice glass of lemonade, not the word you use to describe a night of sex.”

“Well, if it’s any consolation, I enjoyed myself immensely last night with you.” 

He nips at her bottom lip. “Yeah?” 

“Mm-hm. It was terrific.” 

He was occupying himself with trailing kisses down her neck to her collarbone, fingers dipping between her thighs as she sighs in content. If only every morning could start like this. 

—

“Stephanie, dear, have you seen my phone?” Bessie asks her a few days later, finding the younger woman munching on some fruit in the kitchen. 

“Sorry, Aunt Bessie, but I haven’t.”

”Silly question. You’ve hardly been home these past few nights anyway.” 

“I’ll call it.” She says and grabs her own phone, selecting Bessie’s contact. The phone starts to ring loudly in one of the pantry cupboards and Stephanie quirks a brow at the bizarre spot. 

“That’s right, I set it down last night and forgot to pick it up.” Bessie pockets her phone with a sigh, turning to her with a shrug. “Speaking of last night, where did you spend the evening?” 

“At Pixel’s with him and Trixie.” It was getting so easy to lie about her whereabouts lately, she noticed. 

“You’ll be here tonight, right? Your uncle and I are throwing a little party.” 

“Tonight? But I-“

“I think you can spend one night away from Pixel and Trixie, Stephanie.” 

She nods to herself with a sigh. “Okay.”

”Oh, and if you see Sportacus before I do, can you please tell him he’s invited too, okay?” 

“He’ll be here tonight?” 

“Of course. Why wouldn’t he be?” 

Stephanie shrugs nonchalantly. “I’ll be back later.”

”Where are you going now?” 

“Outside.” 

—

Ziggy was out in the sports field playing a game of basketball with Sportacus when Stephanie stumbles upon them, chuckling to herself at the sight. Ziggy had gotten taller over the years but was still shorter than Sportacus, leaving this awkward need to prove that he was better at sports now.

”Hey guys.” 

“Hi, Steph. Wanna play?” 

“Mmm, I think I’ll sit back and watch.” She makes a show of hopping on top of the sports field wall with a grin. 

Ziggy, feeling a boost of confidence, grabs the ball and swooshes it into the net with a quick shot. Stephanie cheers him on rather enthusiastically. 

“Nice, Ziggy!” 

“Why thank you.” 

“Think you can beat that, Sportacus?” Her voice was teasing as the hero turns to stare at her with an amused smile. 

“I can sure try.” He discreetly winks at her before, in a flash, he sends the ball flying into the net with a whoosh. Ziggy chases after it while the ball bounces, worrying that he suddenly entered a competition for real with the hero.

“You sure are fast.” Ziggy mutters more to himself than his friends, but they both still hear him nonetheless. 

“Most things require me to be fast.” Sportacus answers with a chuckle. 

“Not everything.” Stephanie pipes in, giggling at the look on the hero’s face. 

Ziggy stares at them in confusion, clearly unaware of what they were truly talking about. But if he wasn’t mistaken, it was almost as if the two were flirting. 

“Are we complaining?” He was slowly approaching her, eyes playful as he places both hands on the wall she sat on. 

“Never. I’ll take you fast or slow.” 

His blue eyes widen ever so slightly at her bold comment. He hoped Ziggy was not paying mind to their interaction too much. Or at all. “Stephanie.”

“I can even show you later, if you want.” She said it above a whisper this time, and the hero in blue shifts awkwardly on his feet. 

“Oh, I want.” 

“You’ll have to wait though. My uncle and Bessie are throwing this party and we both are invited.”

”Tonight?” He looked disappointed and she pats his shoulder. 

“Only for a little bit.” 

“Uhh, guys, can we get back to playing basketball?” Ziggy interrupts them and bounces the ball. 

“I’ll leave you boys to it. I gotta go pick out a new dress for tonight’s party.” She hops off the wall, purposefully brushing against Sportacus with a sly smirk. 

“See you tonight.” 

“You can count on it.” 

—

The mayoral party Milford and Bessie were throwing started a little after six, and mostly everyone had arrived by now.

Almost everyone. 

Sportacus was nowhere to be found yet, and it was after the third check around the room to see if the hero had arrived, Stephanie sighs and grabs a drink. 

Her uncle and Bessie were schmoozing 
an older couple that looked like they belonged in GreedyTown rather than here, but whatever. To each their own. 

The party was filled with older couples and other politicians from other towns that left Stephanie feeling rather bored and lonely, having zero interest in discussing politics or the weather. 

It wasn’t until she felt a strong hand on her back did she turn around to find the one man she’d been waiting for. “Thank God you’re here.” 

“I missed you too.” Sportacus jokes, glancing around the party with a smile.

“Please get me the hell out of here.”

“I would love nothing more, but I just got here and Bessie would get suspicious.”

She sighs in frustration. “Fine. But you’re mine in one hour.”  

He raises a brow in amusement but nods and leads her through the crowd to find her uncle and Bessie. They were still talking to the couple when Sportacus and Stephanie appeared beside them. 

“Oh, there you are, dear.” Milford says and introduces his niece to the couple. “And this is our town hero Sportacus.” 

He gestures to the man in blue, and the couple both smile and nod. “You’ve helped out a lot in GreedyTown.” The man says and shakes the hero’s hand.

”Thank you, sir. Happy to help.” 

“Well, GreedyTown could use all the help it can get. Thankfully the mayor finally realizes that.” 

“Surprised he’s still in office.” Bessie says and the couple chuckle in agreement. 

Stephanie sighs softly and slips away from that conversation, finishing off her drink in under five minutes. It wasn’t until it got to be past seven-thirty did Sportacus slip past the partygoers to find her by herself, staring at her phone. 

“Why are you by yourself?” 

She looks up at him, shrugging. “My date got sidetracked discussing GreedyTown.”

”Well I’m sure he’s very sorry. And if you let him, he’ll happily make it up to you.”

“He’s got a deal.” 

He smiles fondly and takes her hand, swiftly leading her away from the crowd and toward her uncle and Bessie. They both looked curious as the two stepped over to the older couple. “Great party, mayor, Bessie.” 

“You’re leaving so soon?” 

“Yes, I’m sorry but I need my sleep.” 

“Superheroes need sleep too, dear.” Milford pipes in, giving the hero a nod, “Thank you for stopping by, Sportacus.”

“No problem, mayor. See you both tomorrow.” He bids goodbye to the couple and then turns to Stephanie with a smile. “I’ll see you tomorrow as well.” 

“Bright and early.” 

She watches him disappear out of view and waits a few minutes before telling her uncle that she was leaving too to go catch a movie with Trixie and Pixel. 

He nods and tells her to have fun before entering a conversation with another couple. 

Once outside, Stephanie finds Sportacus waiting for her by his ladder, a smile on his face as she approaches him. “Fun party, eh?” 

“Tons.” 

He had one hand on a rung, the other on his hip as he watches her. “How’d you get out of staying?” He asks her, and she gestures to Pixel’s house in the distance.

”Going to a movie with Trixie and Pixel.”

”Hmm.” 

“Are we just going to stand here or are you going to keep that promise of making it up to me?” 

He quirks a brow at that. “Actually, I was more interested in what you said earlier at the sports field. What was it again? Oh, yes, how you can take me fast or slow? And how you offered to show me?”

“Offer still stands.” 

“Ladies first.” He says rather eagerly and she chuckles, reaching for one of the ladder’s rungs and begins to climb up. 

He follows after her, and once they were on the platform, he orders for it to take them inside the airship out of sight. 

Again, neither noticed that they were being photographed. Robbie steps out from the shadows with a smirk. This was too good to be true. He finally caught that blue kangaroo and Pinky red handed and it made him extremely happy. 

He couldn’t wait to show this to the mayor. Sportakook was done, that was for sure. 

—

Milford was busy going over paperwork in his office the next morning when the intercom buzzes and Bessie’s voice is heard as she tells her husband that he had a visitor. Robbie Rotten. 

“Send him in.” The mayor replies. 

“Morning, mayor!” Robbie was oddly cheerful as he entered the office with a large grin, orange envelope in hand.

“Mr. Rotten, what can I do for you?” 

“It’s actually what I can do for you, mayor. Or though I guess what I hope you will do after I show you this will really be for me but still. Here.” He thrusts the envelope toward Milford, watching as the mayor stares at it with a grimace.  

“What is this?” 

“Open and find out.” 

Milford sighs and opens the envelope with slight confusion. At least a dozen of photos tumble out on to his desk as he shakes the orange envelope. He looks at Robbie with narrowed eyes. “You’ve been taking photos of my niece and Sportacus? Why?” 

“Take a closer look at the pictures.” 

Milford glimpses at the various photos, which included different shots of the hero and his niece out at the sports field, one at night getting dinner together, but it wasn’t until he stared at the last few pictures… one that photographed Stephanie climbing up Sportacus’ ladder and into his airship, did his eyes narrow. 

“Pretty peculiar, isn’t it? Why would Pinky- I mean Stephanie be visiting him that late at night? For the past few nights too.” 

It wasn’t long before the mayor was buzzing the intercom and requesting that Bessie join them in his office. She enters the room a few seconds later, curious as to why Robbie was still here and why her husband wanted her to join them. 

“What’s going on?” 

“Take a look at these photos.” Milford says and Bessie raises a brow as she stares at one of the pictures. 

“What is this? You’ve been stalking Stephanie and Sportacus?” 

“Well, when you put it like that.” Robbie argues, ignoring the glare he receives from the woman. 

“Robbie here is implying that Stephanie and Sportacus have been spending their nights together up in his airship.” 

“Stephanie has been with Pixel and Trixie for movie nights and such.” 

“The proof is in the photos.” Robbie purposefully picks up one of the pictures and flings it in Bessie’s face. “Sportakook brought your precious niece up to his airship last night and the night before that and the night before that and so on and so forth.” 

“What you’re implying is far from the truth, Robbie. And you know what, I think it’s time we got to the bottom of this. I’m calling Stephanie right now.” 

—

Stephanie was returning from a run around LazyTown when her phone rang and she saw that it was Bessie calling her. “Hey, Aunt Bessie.” 

“Stephanie, can you stop over at your uncle’s office? We need to talk.” 

“Is everything okay?” 

“Please just hurry. Oh, and bring Sportacus with you.” 

Stephanie was slightly puzzled by the cryptic phone call but still she followed with Bessie’s request and left her uncle’s house, finding Sportacus in the middle of a rather elaborate workout near the sports field. She calls out his name, and he glances at her with a smile. 

“Hi. How was your run?” 

“Good. My uncle and Bessie want to see us at his office right away.” 

He flips into a standing position, a flicker of confusion on his face. “Why?” 

“She didn’t say.” 

Doubt rose in his mind as he followed Stephanie toward town hall and they entered the mayor’s office, finding Bessie, Milford and Robbie Rotten of all people standing near his desk with too bright of a smile on his face when he saw the two enter.

“Uncle, what’s going on?” 

“Where were you last night after the party, Stephanie?” 

“I was at-“

”I would think about that answer for a good long second, Pinky.” Robbie says with a sly grin. 

“Why is he here?” She asks, looking to her uncle and Bessie for an explanation. 

“Robbie brought something to my attention. Something that took me by surprise.” The mayor gestures to the photos splayed out on his desk, invoking Stephanie and Sportacus to stare at the pictures in question. 

She stifles a gasp at some of the photos. “You’ve been following us?” 

“I may have been out and about with my camera around the same time you two just happened to be sneaking around.” 

“You had no right to spy on us, Robbie.” The hero says after a minute of silence and sets the photos down with a glare. 

“How was I to know you and Pinky would be sneaking up to your airship late at night and I would catch you.” 

“It’s not what you’re making it out to be, Robbie.” 

“Really? Then what exactly were you and she doing up there all night? Knitting?” 

The mayor and Bessie seemed to be curious to hear that answer themselves and Stephanie shares a look with the hero before asking, “Do you have proof that I stayed all night with him?” 

Robbie’s smirk drops as he quickly tries to argue with that. “Well no but it’s pretty obvious that you did.” 

“How? You don’t have a photo of me leaving his airship in the morning.” 

“That doesn’t matter.” The villain sputters out, pointing at the photos as he adds, “Why were you up there to begin with, hmm?” 

“And why did you lie and tell us you were spending all these nights with Pixel and Trixie when you weren’t?” 

Stephanie mentally winces at that. “I’m not lying about that. The night Robbie spied on us at the restaurant was the night Trixie and Pixel decided to go on a date, so I asked Sportacus if he wanted to grab dinner and we did. End of story.”

”And you joined him in his airship after dinner because?” Her uncle questions, looking to her for an explanation that made sense. 

“My speech,” Sportacus interjects with the answer to his question and all eyes turn to the hero. “I asked Stephanie if she would look over my speech for GreedyTown, and that’s all that happened in my airship. Nothing else.”

”What about the other nights?” 

The villain was persistent but so was the hero, as he simply says, “The other night she stopped by for some advice about her workout routine, and last night I had something to give her.” 

“Oh, I bet you did.” 

“She asked to borrow my baseball bat for a game she and Ziggy were going to play today, thank you.” 

Milford seemed to be relieved to hear that and with a soft sigh, he nods and says, “Well, if that’s all, Mr. Rotten.” 

“What!? If that’s all!? Are you really that trusting of Sportakook and your cheerleader niece that you seriously buy their bogus stories?” 

“Do you have proof that they’re lying?” 

Robbie glares at him. “No I don’t.” 

“Well then I have no choice but to believe my niece and Sportacus over you, Robbie. No offense but you do have a tendency to lie and exaggerate things at times.” 

“Oh, whatever. At least when I lie I’m honest about it. I admit when I lie, but I guess that can’t be said about you, can it, Sportaflip? What ever happened to your motto about honesty being the best policy, hmm? I guess when it comes to you and Pinky here it doesn’t really apply to you two.” 

“Of course it does.” 

Robbie laughs humorlessly at that. “Oh? Well apparently it doesn’t. And here I thought lying was beneath you, but then again… I guess lying isn’t the only thing that’s been beneath you lately.” 

“Watch your mouth.” 

“Ooh, touchy subject, eh?” He glimpses at Pinky and grins, “Does his anger make it better for you?” 

“Get. Out. Now.” Sportacus’ eyes were narrowed as he points to the door and all but forces the villain to leave. 

Once outside, Robbie snarls to himself and angrily makes his way back to his bunker, hand reaching for the phone to call the one person he knew would find this newly discovered information very interesting. 

GreedyTown’s villain. 

Chapter Text

It’d been raining most of the day, with most of the town’s residents staying inside to keep warm and dry. 

The above average hero was doing the same up in his airship… though he had a guest to keep him company. 

Stephanie had surprised him when she appeared outside in the rain and he let down his ladder for her to climb up and get out of the storm. It was a risky move with her uncle and Bessie’s recent suspicion that something more was going on between the two friends. 

But once inside his airship, he gave her a towel to dry off with. “You’re freezing.”

”I should probably get out of these wet clothes.” She gave a sly smirk, reaching down to unbutton her soaked blouse. 

Sportacus watched as her nimble fingers popped open the bottom three buttons, revealing a lace tank top underneath. 

“And here I thought you stopped by to chat.” He jokes as she tosses the wet shirt to the floor and steps closer to him.  

“I have other plans for your mouth.” 

His eyes widen at her boldness, even as she pushes him backwards on to his bed. 

“Oh?” She drags the tank top off her chest, the wet garment getting tossed aside next to her blouse. The pretty blue lace she wore caught his attention as he traced the outline with a finger. “Is this for me?” 

“If you want it to be, sure.” 

His head bends to kiss the newly exposed skin, teeth grazing her pulse point. “I want.” He murmurs against her neck, pulling her down on top of him. 

His lips find hers once again as she straddled his hips, humming softly. Her hands slid down his chest, hips rolling against the bulge straining against his pants. 

“Stephanie.” He groans and arcs beneath her, hands gripping her waist. He flips them in a flash and rolls on top of her with a grin as she gasps in surprise. 

His lips were hot and insistent as he kisses her, hand cupping her cheek as her legs part on their own accord. Her hips buck against him, moaning at every teasing touch of his hard bulge. 

“I missed you last night.” He mutters against her neck, lips ghosting over her bare shoulder. 

“I missed you too.” She gasps out when he bites down on her skin, “God, did I miss you.” 

“Was dinner fun?” 

He was trailing sloppy kisses down her throat to her chest as he asks this, his mouth open and hot as he reaches the valley between her breasts. 

“It was… oh, it was okay.” 

His mouth continues downward, kissing her stomach with a soft smile as she moans and rolls her hips. “Just okay?”

He reaches the top of her skirt, brow quirking at the fabric. It was raining and cold outside, yet here she was wearing a short little lace thing. “I think you did come here wearing this getup for me.” 

She lifts her head, blushing at the sight of his hands on her bare thighs. “And what if I did?” 

“I’d have to condemn you for wearing such an outfit like this. It’s far too short and not enough fabric for such weather.”

Despite his rough and serious tone, his gaze was attentive and hot on her as his fingers trail down her long legs and back up to her thighs. “I like it.” She retorts and urges his hands up further, resisting the urge to rub against him like a cat.

”So you don’t want it off then?” Her eyes snap up to find him grinning at her, fingers stalling.  

“Which? My skirt or my panties?” 

His gaze falters at that. “Funny.” 

“I wasn’t trying to be.” She leans up and reaches for his pants, tugging at the clasp keeping them up on his hips.

“In a hurry, are we?” 

Instead of denying it, Stephanie urges him closer and unclasps his vest, careful not to damage the crystal attached to it. 

He removes his shirt and tosses it aside, watching as her dark eyes glimpse over his body with an unwavering want. Her hands find his hard chest as his land on her short skirt, fingers slowly moving it down her hips and off her long legs. 

Sportacus leans down to kiss her, happy for the distraction… at least for the time being. 

—

Milford was busy going over paperwork when his office phone rang. Usually the calls went through Bessie first then were passed over to him, but this time it went right to him. 

He reaches for the phone and answers the call with a standard, “Mayor Meanswell.”  

“Hello there, mayor.” 

The voice sounded unfamiliar but not one to be rude, the mayor continues to talk to the man on the other end. “What can I help you with?” 

“This is about your superhero.” 

“Sportacus? What about him?” 

“Are you aware of his secret relationship with your niece?” 

The mayor’s eyes narrow at that. “Who is this?” Was it Robbie disguising himself to provoke him? Or someone else? 

“A friend of a friend who’s been ignored far too long. Just how clueless are you?” 

“Clueless about what?” 

“Your niece and that fantastic superhero you all admire have been lying to your face all this time, mayor.”

”Nice try, Robbie.” 

“Mr. Rotten only tried to inform you of your hero’s relationship with your dear niece. I’m calling to tell you he was right.” 

“Who is this?” The mayor repeats, only to hear a low chuckle in response.

”You really aren’t aware of how often they’re sneaking around right under your nose. Well, let me tell you this, mayor, look out your window and you’ll happen to see your precious niece leaving the airship.” 

He stands from his chair with a sigh and glances out his open window, eyes widening at the sight of Stephanie leaving the airship and climbing down the ladder while Sportacus waves at her from the platform. 

The hero was slipping his shirt back on, clearly having had it off. The mayor stares coldly at them, trying like hell to not think the worst but it was hard not to while watching with his own eyes just how much of a fool he had been. 

He believed their lies. 

He takes a deep breath before returning to his chair and picking the phone up. “What do you want?” There was clearly some demand to this phone call, there had to be. 

“I want you to break those two up. I want you to force your hero to end things. And if you don’t, well, it’ll be quite the scandal when everyone in your small town and nearby ones too discover that your niece is hooking up with your town’s superhero.” 

“I cannot force him to-“ 

“Do it, Meanswell, or else.” 

—

Less than an hour later, Sportacus was arriving to the mayor’s office after being asked to stop by for a brief chat. He greets him with a smile and asks what he needed to speak with him about. 

What the mayor said next took him by surprise. “How long have you been sleeping with my niece?” 

“What? I’m sorry, I don’t understand.” 

“Oh, sure you do. She left your airship earlier today, about an hour ago to be exact.” 

The hero keeps a calm expression as he tries to explain that it wasn’t what it looked like. But the mayor wasn’t having it. “Please, just let me explain what-“

”You lied to me. You stood there in that same spot just a few days ago and told me that Robbie’s claims were false, that nothing was going on between you and Stephanie. Now I find out that’s not true.” 

“We should have told you, I know. But we didn’t know how you would react.” 

“How am I supposed to react? Am I supposed to be jumping for joy? Well, it really doesn’t matter because we have bigger fish to fry. It seems Robbie has gotten the last laugh on us and called in one of his villain buddies to force my hand. He told this guy about your relationship with my niece.” 

“Why would he do that?” 

“Because I wouldn’t take him seriously. But the joke’s on me now as this guy is taking Robbie seriously and is threatening to reveal this information to the residents of LazyTown and nearby towns in order to force me to resign as mayor if I don’t do as he says.” 

Sportacus was becoming more and more angry as he took in what the mayor was telling him. “What does he want you to do?” 

“…End things with Stephanie.” 

“I’m sorry?” 

“Let me clarify - he wants me to force you to end things with her.” 

“Why? I don’t understand what this person gains from forcing you to do something like this.” 

The mayor shrugs, “He’s a friend of Robbie’s. That’s all we need to know.” 

“I cannot do what you ask of me, mayor. I can’t break her heart like that.” 

“You have no choice. I am ordering you to end what ever it is between you and Stephanie tonight.” 

“All due respect, mayor, but I-“ 

“Either end it yourself, Sportacus, or I’ll do it for you.” 

—

It was five past seven when Stephanie exits her uncle’s house after receiving a letter from Sportacus asking for her to meet him by the sports field to talk.

She spots him waiting by the wall with a frown on his face, hands by his side as she approaches him and asks him if everything was okay. He shakes his head and answers with a simple, “No.” 

“What’s wrong?” 

“This has to end.” 

She was so taken aback by that, it had her asking him to repeat himself just so she could make sure she heard him right.

When he does, she still couldn’t believe it. “What are you referring to?”

”Us.”

“Us? Why are you suddenly saying this? Out of nowhere?” 

“Because we both know this can’t continue.”

Stephanie felt a flicker of anger begin to emerge as she tried to comprehend why he was bringing this up now. Especially since this morning when everything was more than fine between them. They were happy. “You don’t mean that.” 

“But I do. This never should have started in the first place. I never should have allowed myself to get caught up in my feelings for you.” 

“So you’re ending things? Just like that?”

Sportacus winces at her cold tone but knew that it was for the best. He had a duty as the hero to protect everyone and the mayor needed him to do that now more than ever. 

So even though it pained him to do so, he had to make this believable so that she would accept this breakup and not have any doubts that something fishy was going on. 

“I can’t believe you. How long were you planning on breaking things off? Was it before or after we slept together?” 

“That was never why I- that was never my intention, you have to believe me.” 

“I don’t have to believe shit from you! Out of everyone I know, I never would have imagined that you would do something so hurtful to me. That you would break my heart and try to act as if I should have expected it eventually.” 

She was close to tears as she slowly turns and takes a few steps back, ignoring his attempt to apologize. 

“It really is for the best. For all of us.” 

“Keep telling yourself that. But okay, you want this to be over - fine. You got it. But tell me one thing, at least for my sanity. Did you ever really care about me?” 

The hero nods softly, wanting nothing more than to take her in his arms and confess the truth about why he was really breaking things off with her. But he knew he couldn’t. Not anytime soon. 

So with a long sigh, he watches as she wipes away her silent tears and begins to walk away from him. “I’m sorry.” 

“Yeah well so am I.” 

—

Somewhere in GreedyTown, all alone in his lair, Ian Blackwood was smiling to himself as he watched that blue kangaroo break up with his pink cheerleader of a girlfriend. 

The first part of his plan was complete. 

Onto the next. 

Chapter Text

It was a rather gloomy morning, seemingly mirroring Stephanie’s mood as she lied on the couch, sniffling quietly to herself as she brushed away the tears. 

She’d been laying there all morning, simply ignoring the effort Bessie and her uncle made to try and get her to feel better but it was rather pointless as she just didn’t want to talk about it. 

Trixie text a couple of times, as did Pixel and Ziggy, but she ignored them too. It wasn’t that she was upset with them, it was just hard to try and act as if her heart hadn’t just got broken by the hero they all knew and loved. 

So she stayed on the couch, trying like hell to stop crying but she just couldn’t. It wasn’t the first breakup she had to endure, but it sure felt like the hardest.

He was her longtime friend, the one person she could trust and rely on for support and guidance no matter what.

And now she didn’t have him.

That thought alone made her heart hurt even worse.  

She stayed in that same spot for another hour until the doorbell rang and she looks up. She stands, knowing that she eventually had to move on with her life. She unlocks the door and it swings open to reveal a concerned looking Trixie. “Pinky, what the hell, don’t you answer your phone anymore?” 

“I was-“ It didn’t take long for the tears to return as she takes a deep breath.

“Steph, what’s wrong?” Trixie asks and shuts the door, following her best friend into the living room as she sits on the couch again. 

“I-I can’t believe him.” 

“Who?” 

“If I tell you what’s going on, you have to promise me that you won’t repeat it to Pixel or Ziggy or anyone else, okay?”

”Of course, I promise. Now why are you so upset?” 

“Sportacus.” 

“What? What about him?” She’d just seen the above-average hero earlier that morning saving a kitten from the rain and he certainly didn’t look upset or broken down. 

Stephanie hoped she could get through telling Trixie the story without breaking down and bawling her eyes out. “He and I had gotten together.” 

Trixie’s eyes widen at that. “So that night you went on a date… that’s when you two got together?” 

“Yeah. And we kept it a secret up until now. But now it doesn’t matter because he ended things with me the other night. It was so sudden and out of nowhere.” 

“Why did he break it off?” 

“I don’t know. He wouldn’t explain or tell me anything. He just said it was over and then he left. Leaving me feeling like an idiot for trusting that he and I would stay together and nothing would ever change that.” 

She wipes at her eyes, trying hard not to cry again. Trixie was fuming beside her, annoyed at the hero for his behavior. “How could he do this to you?”

“I don’t know. All I do know is that this really hurts, Trix. I thought he really cared about me. I thought I meant more to him than that.”  

Trixie sighs and pulls her friend into a tight hug, cursing out Sportacus in her head as Stephanie silently cried into her shoulder. 

—

“How’s Stephanie doing?” Pixel asks his girlfriend later that day while they waited for their lunch at the diner. 

“Terrible. I’m really worried about her.”

“What’s going on? Why is she avoiding everyone?” 

Trixie recalls her best friend telling her to not repeat what she told her to anyone, including Pixel. So with a sigh, she leans back in the seat and shrugs. “She wouldn’t say.” 

“Maybe we should ask Sportacus. He always looks out for her.” 

“No! I mean, I’m sure he has other things to worry about.” She quickly adds, seeing the curious look Pixel gives her.

”Yeah, but he and Stephanie are close.”

”I doubt that she wants to bother him with this, babe.” 

Their food arrived shortly after that, and Trixie happily used it as a distraction. 

-

It was after lunch when Trixie returned to the mayor’s house to find Stephanie in the same exact spot she was in when the brunette left earlier. “How long have you been lying there?” 

“Since you left.” 

“Steph.” Trixie sighs out, watching as her friend pulls herself into a sitting position and wipes at her eyes. “You’ve gotta get up and stop crying.” 

“I know, okay? It’s just hard.” 

“I get it, I do. But eventually, it won’t be so hard anymore and you’ll feel better.” 

“How can I continue to spend the rest of summer break here without feeling like this?” 

“Oh, well that’s easy. You’re coming with your amazing friends to spend a week at Stingy’s parents beach house tomorrow.”

Stephanie’s eyes widen. “What?” 

“Stingy called us earlier and said that he was able to come back for a visit and suggested that we all stay at his parents beach house with him. It’s about two hours away from LazyTown.” 

“That sounds exactly what I need.” 

“Yes! Good, glad you’re on board. So, get a grip on the crying and go start packing. We leave tomorrow afternoon.” 

Maybe this trip was what she needed to get her feeling better and to get her mind off of a certain above-average hero.

—

Pixel’s car was all packed and ready to roll as the group of friends gathered outside of the mayor’s house as they said goodbye to Mayor Meanswell and Bessie. 

“Be careful, dears.” Bessie says while hugging Stephanie. 

“We will, Aunt Bessie. Bye, Uncle.” 

“Goodbye, dear. Have fun.” He gives her a hug then pulls Bessie into his side.

”Alright, let’s go guys.”

They all start to enter Pixel’s car, being stopped by a familiar accented voice. 

Stephanie takes a deep breath, eyes shutting as she tries to keep her composure. Beside her, Trixie’s eyes narrow at the hero. 

“Going on a trip?” He inquires with a smile, trying to keep a friendly attitude, lest anyone wonder why things felt strange between the friends now. 

“Yeah.” Pixel says when it became clear that Stephanie nor Trixie were going to utter one word to the man. “Stingy was able to visit and invited us to come stay at his parents beach house for the week.”

”That’s great! Sounds like a fun time.” 

“Oh, it will be. Plenty of sun, drinking and partying, that’s for sure.” Trixie adds with a pointed glare. 

“Okay. Well, have fun guys.” He says, noticing that Stephanie was ignoring him and he sighs at that. “See you when you get back.” 

And then he backflipped away, leaving an awkward pause over the friends. Finally, Pixel breaks it by asking if everyone was ready to leave. 

They left a few minutes later, the mood lifting as they drove further and further away. 

-

It took exactly two hours to reach the beach house, but once they finally pulled up into the driveway, they all excitedly jumped out of Pixel’s car to greet Stingy, who was waiting for his friends on the deck. “Stingy!” 

They all yell at the same time and hurry over to him. “Hey guys! Long time no see.” 

They all hug and greet him, and once that was done, he gestures to the beach house and invites his friends inside. It was a pristine and spectacular view as they walked inside and were greeted by a large kitchen and dining room. 

“Holy shit, how long have you been hiding this from us?” Trixie asks in awe, and Stingy chuckles. 

“My parents recently purchased it a few years ago.”

“This is incredible, Stingy.”

“Isn’t it? There’s two bedrooms downstairs and a bathroom. Upstairs has three bedrooms and two bathrooms, so you guys can pick and choose where you wanna stay.” 

While Ziggy hurried upstairs to choose a bedroom, followed by Pixel and Trixie, Stephanie stayed in the kitchen with Stingy, smiling at her friend. “It’s really good to see you.” 

“Right back at you, Steph.” He says with a fond smile and nudges her foot with his own. “How’ve you been?” 

“Lately? A whole slew of emotions.” 

“Wanna talk about it?” 

For the first time in a long time, she did. 

Maybe it was because Stingy hadn’t been around or because she hadn’t spoken to him in for so long, but it made her want to open up and talk. “Later?” 

“For sure.” 

They share another smile before Trixie comes looking for them and nearly pulls Stephanie to come check out the place.

Later that night, the friends were all hanging outside around a bonfire, mostly catching up with Stingy and telling him everything that’s been going on lately.

“Shots!” Trixie announces as she returns to the friends with a bottle of vodka tucked under her arm as she tried to juggle that and five shot glasses.

“Careful with those glasses, they’re-“

”Lemme guess… yours?”

“Well, I was gonna say they’re my parents, but yeah that too.” 

The friends laugh as Trixie passes out the shot glasses. Ziggy looked a little apprehensive at first but quickly covered it with a cough.

“Cheers!” The gang knocks back the first shot of vodka, the sound of Ziggy coughing breaking the silence.

“Oof, that’s strong.”

By the time the second and third shots were thrown back, the friends were all more relaxed and Stingy got up to play some music through the outside speaker.

An upbeat song began to play and it wasn’t long before the gang was up and dancing to the beat. Trixie watched on as Stephanie laughed and smiled. It was a hell of a lot better than watching her cry her heart out. 

—

It was past one in the morning by the time Ziggy stumbled into the house and went to fall asleep in his bedroom. Pixel and Trixie, along with Stephanie and Stingy had stayed outside by the fire. 

“This week is going to be awesome.” Pixel says, throwing his arm around Trixie’s shoulder. 

“Totally. Oh, and my father is allowing us to take out his boat but we have to be very careful with it.” 

“Have I mentioned lately how glad I am that you were able to come for a visit?” Trixie says and Stingy laughs. 

“I think so, Trix.” 

Stephanie was silent as she stared at the fire, the orange glow dancing across her face as the memory of the last time she was next to a fire crept into her head. 

She didn’t want to think about him, not now, not when she was actually having a good time away from her heartbreak.

”Steph? Hello? Earth to Stephanie?” 

She breaks from her thoughts, eyes turning to find her friends staring back at her in concern. “Sorry, what?” 

“What’s got you so lost in your mind?” 

She shares a look with Trixie, who nods in encouragement for her to open up and talk about it. 

“You guys can’t repeat what I’m about to tell, okay?” They all nodded, and so she continued. “Sportacus and I… we sort of had gotten together.” 

Stingy damn near falls out of his chair as he gasps. Pixel looked surprised but as he glances at Trixie, he saw that she did not. “You and he…?”

”Yep. Up until the other night when he ended things out of the blue.”

”Wait - so that’s why you’ve been so…distant and sad lately?” Pixel asks, and she nods with a sigh. He turns to Trixie, adding, “You knew?”  

The brunette sips her drink, nodding.“She told me yesterday.”

”I didn’t want to tell anyone, but I had to. I had to let it out or else I’m pretty sure I would’ve lost it.” 

“Why did Sportacus break things off?” 

“No clue.” Stephanie shrugs, “He just left without giving an explanation.”

”That’s not like him.” Stingy says, confused by the hero’s odd behavior.

“Yeah, he’s not exactly the type of guy to just hit it and quit it.” Pixel adds, invoking the ladies to stare at him with raised brows. 

“So eloquently said, babe.” Trixie snarks and the group of friends laugh. 

“But he does have a point.” Stingy says after a long pause, “Sportacus would never do something that would cause you pain.” 

“But that’s exactly what he’s doing.” Trixie argues, “And he’s acting as if everything is just fine.” 

“Look,” Stephanie starts, “Let’s just push aside my complicated life and have fun this week, okay? I don’t want to spend this beach trip thinking about him.” 

They all nod in agreement. 

If only her head would be in agreement with that. 

—

The next couple of days were filled with plenty of sun, drinking and most of all… fun. They took out Stingy’s dad’s boat one afternoon and went swimming, running into another group of friends who were also on vacation and invited them to come join them out at a bar that night. 

Which they did, minus Ziggy. 

That night Stephanie ran into Brian, the guy she met the night of her welcome home party. She was a little surprised to see him out and about at the same bar, but chalked it up to him being on vacation too. 

“Brian?” 

He looked happy as he greets her. “Stephanie, hey.” 

“Surprised to see you here.”

”Some of my friends wanted to come. It’s not too far from GreedyTown.” 

“I thought you were from LazyTown?” 

“My parents and I moved there after I graduated high school but we’re originally from GreedyTown.” 

After that, the two new friends got to know each other over far too many drinks and loud music. She saw him the entire rest of their vacation and after they were ready to leave, Brian asks a question - “Can I take you to dinner sometime?” 

Despite her heartbreak, she nods. “Yeah.” 

Best way to get over someone was to get under someone new, right? Or at least that’s what Trixie would say. 

Chapter Text

GreedyTown was silent for the first time in a long while. It was rare and odd, leaving the residents on edge as they nervously awaited for the next crime wave. 

Mayor Sorensen saw no need to put a curfew on the town, in fact, he saw the low number of crimes committed recently as a sign that the town was on the way back to normal. 

With big thanks to Sportacus. 

The above-average hero was being thanked yet again by the mayor that afternoon for stopping by to check on the town. “Everything’s fine here.”

”Well, appearances can be deceiving.” 

“Not here,” Mayor Sorensen says with a grin and shakes the hero’s hand. 

“Okay, well, I guess I’ll be heading back to LazyTown if you don’t need me for anything else.” 

“Go ahead. Thanks again.” 

So with a curt nod and smile, the hero made his way outside and called for his ladder. He climbed up and headed inside the airship, spending the next hour flying back to the peaceful and calm LazyTown.

He returned shortly after three in the afternoon, climbing down just in time to find Stephanie and that guy Brian leaving the diner and walking toward the sports field. 

He felt a twinge of jealousy as Brian grabbed her hand and brought it up to his lips to kiss it. The two seemed to be inseparable lately with Brian following her around like a puppy on a leash.

“Oh, hi.” Brian is the first to say when he spots the hero standing by his ladder. 

Stephanie tries to fake a smile, but it was obvious she wasn’t happy. Her hand slips out from Brian’s grasp as she takes a step back from him. 

“Hi. How’s it going?” 

“Good. We just got some lunch and now we’re going for a walk.” 

Stephanie stayed quiet, avoiding the hero’s gaze as she stared at the ground. “Oh, well have fun.” 

“We plan on it.” Brian smiles, too large of one, and reaches for her hand again. 

She regretfully takes his hand and turns to walk away with him, sighing to herself.

Sportacus watches them leave, feeling as if something was off there. She didn’t look happy one bit with Brian, in fact, she almost looked uncomfortable. He didn’t know much about this Brian, only that she met him during the vacation she and the rest of the friends took. 

So without hesitation, the hero quickly backflips over the wall and stops the two from getting further away. Brian looked shocked at the sight, dropping his hand from Stephanie’s as she steps away from him. 

“I’m sorry to interrupt your walk, but I just remembered that the mayor needs to see you, Stephanie.” 

“What?” Brian exclaims. 

“Sorry, but it’s important.” Is all he says before grabbing her arm gently as he starts to lead her away from a fuming Brian. 

“What’s going on?” She was more than confused, and it increased tenfold as the hero pulled her over to the ladder. 

“Well, I maybe sort of… lied?” 

Her brow raises at that. “Sort of?”

”Okay, so I may have lied about your uncle needing to speak to you, but in my defense, you didn’t exactly seem thrilled to be with Brian.” 

“Are you serious? You are so unbelievable right now.”

”I am? Why are you forcing yourself to be happy with this guy when you’re very clearly not?” 

Her eyes narrow at the hero. “Who said I wasn’t happy? Maybe it only looks that way to you because that’s how you want it to be. You want me to be unhappy with Brian so you can feel better about ending things with me.” 

“What? I would never do something like that.” 

“I used to think you would never do a lot of things but I was wrong about that too.” 

Her tone was spiteful and he knew she was upset with him over everything that had happened between them but that was not going to stop him from taking care and protecting her like he always did. 

And with recent threats to himself, he felt the need to keep an eye on her even more so than before. So with a sigh, he grabs her arm and gently pulls her with him toward her uncle’s house. But she wasn’t making it easy on the hero. 

She digs her heels in, refusing to go any further as she levels a glare at him. “I’m not leaving until you give me a damn good reason why I should.” 

He starts to explain when out of nowhere, a gunshot rings out and he quickly pushes her to the ground, using his body as a shield to protect her from the rain of bullets whirling past them. 

He could hear people screaming and crying as they ran for cover, the noise of gunfire stopping after a few seconds then the sound of tires squealing has Sportacus checking to make sure the coast was clear before standing to his feet and pulling a shell shocked Stephanie up beside him. 

Her face was pale and breathing shallow as he asks her if she was okay. He gives her a once over, checking to make sure she hadn’t been injured. “Stephanie?” 

Milford, having been alerted to the incident, was quickly hurrying over to the hero and his niece, worry evident as he asks what happened. Sportacus informs the mayor of what just occurred and tells him that he was going after the attackers. 

“What?! Are you sure that’s a good idea? Let me contact the police, okay?” 

“I think I have a good idea who was behind this incident.” 

“Who?” 

—
“Ian Blackwood.” Sportacus explains to the group of friends, the mayor and Bessie less than a half hour later after the attempted attack on the hero. 

They all stood in the mayor’s office, watching on intently as the hero explained in detail how he came to know the villain of GreedyTown over the past few months. It all started last year when Sportacus had been requested by Mayor Sorensen to help out with the town’s troublesome crime problems. 

He informed the hero of the crime wave and that it all started when Blackwood recruited a group of people to join him in taking control of GreedyTown and stripping Sorensen of his power. 

They believed in the crazy things Blackwood told them and therefore began to extract their revenge on the town by committing crimes, mainly robberies and such. 

It wasn’t until just recently did the mayor and Sportacus, along with the police, finally catch a break and busted a group of Blackwood’s men in the middle of a botched robbery of a gun shop, getting a chance to put a stop to Blackwood and his gang of thieves. 

They charged all four men and only one agreed to cooperate and speak up about how the villain had put the plot in place and ordered the men to rob the gun shop for his future plans. 

The man explained then how Blackwood was going off the deep end and raving like a madman every single night about the hero and how he was going to ruin everything the villain had set in motion. 

Sportacus was the main focus for the villain and his sight was set solely on him for revenge. He vowed to end the hero once and for all. 

“So you think the gunfire from earlier, that it was this Blackwood keeping true to his word?” Milford asks after a long stretch of silence that settled over the group after the hero finished explaining what has been happening in GreedyTown lately. 

“More than likely.” 

“Just because you shut down his plan to take over GreedyTown?” Pixel interjects, curiosity growing. 

“That’s what put me on his radar, yes. But I worry that you all will be dragged into this situation now because of me.”

He said ‘all’, but his gaze was solely on a rather quiet Stephanie as she kept her eyes locked on a spot on the floor by her feet. She could’ve very well been the intended target of the gunfire, not him.

The thought chilled him to the bone, but he knew it was a real possibility. 

“So these creeps are coming after us now?” Trixie asks with a look of concern, adding, “Thanks to you?” She was still pissed at the hero for how he broke her best friend’s heart and this wasn’t helping things much. 

“I’m mostly worried about Stephanie’s safety.” It was blurted out by Sportacus and the woman in question lifts her head in shock. Why was she being singled out? 

“Me? Why?” 

Their eyes lock after she asks that, and the events of the past few weeks came to both of their minds. It was made quite clear that their recent relationship was the main reason why Blackwood would even consider going after her, to get back at the hero. 

“Because Robbie gave him some rather certain pictures of you and I.” 

The mayor and Bessie knew what the hero was referring to, as did Stephanie, but the rest of the group were left in the dark as they tried to make sense of what that meant. 

“Why would he - nevermind. It’s Robbie. Of course he would know this guy.” 

“He claims he hadn’t realized Blackwood was that obsessed with revenge.” 

“So he went ahead and showed him pictures of us becoming closer?”

Trixie, Pixel and Ziggy all looked surprised and confused as they heard this. The mayor and Bessie shuffle awkwardly on their feet as the energy in the building suddenly shifts. 

Sportacus nods slightly. “He was upset when your uncle didn’t believe him about us and so he decided to tell someone who would listen - Blackwood. He sent copies of the photos to him and went on to explain how he wished to get rid of me too.” 

“And shortly after that, I got a call from someone threatening to reveal this information to the public not only here but in GreedyTown as well.” Milford says quietly and finds his niece’s eyes turn to stare at him in confusion. 

“I don’t understand.” 

“They threatened to escalate things by using those photos of you and Sportacus to force me to step down from my position as mayor, which now means that this Blackwood had something to do with that phone call.” 

Stephanie was beyond confused as she tries to process everything that was going on. “He was going to force you to step down from being the mayor?” 

“If I didn’t force Sportacus to break things off with you, dear.” 

Confusion turns to shock then eventually anger as Stephanie lets that little tidbit of truth seep into her mind. The confession had her reeling as she wobbles on her feet. “Wh-what?” 

“I forced him to end what ever it was that was happening between you two lately in favor of me not losing my role as mayor.” 

“I agreed to put a stop to our relationship only because of that.” Sportacus adds with a sad smile, and it was enough to have her taking a step back, sighing softly. “I’m so sorry for having you think otherwise.” 

Two weeks of heartbreak and confusion. 

Two whole damn weeks. 

“Oh my God.” She gasps out, her emotions getting the better of her as Trixie reaches out to comfort her. Right, her friends were here to witness this as well. Trixie and Pixel already knew of the short term relationship between her and the hero, but Ziggy did not. 

He looked shocked as he listened to all of this. 

“Listen, maybe we should give Stephanie and Sportacus some time alone, yeah?” Bessie says after a few seconds and then leads everyone toward the door, catching the thankful look the hero gives her. She winks at him and quickly shuts the door once they were all outside. 

Once alone, Stephanie tries to keep her composure as best as she could without raising her voice or doing something reckless. “You should have told me.” She finally says after a minute, eyes locking on a random piece of paper on the desk.

 Sportacus nods to himself. “You’re right. But there’s a chance that if I had, Blackwood would’ve found out and went forward with his plans to hurt me.” 

“How would he have found out?” 

“Because he has spies everywhere. He’s recruited people to come here to LazyTown and dig up information for him.” 

It sounded like something straight out of an old spy movie, but instead of bringing up that little fact, she spins on her heels and finds that he was inches away from her.  

“I thought you meant what you said that night.” 

“I had to make it believable.” He admits with a frown. “But I never meant what came out of my mouth.” 

“I thought you didn’t-“ She pauses, eyes flicking to her feet. 

“Didn’t what?” 

“Doesn’t matter. So, what do we do now to stop Blackwood?” 

“We?” 

“I want to help you take him down.” 

—

Brian was panicking. He watched on as a large car with tinted windows rolled up into LazyTown and fired six shots at the superhero. But what had bothered him the most was how close Stephanie had come to being hurt by Blackwood. 

The sad thing was that he really cared for her… but it was clear she didn’t feel the same about him. That was made quite obvious by the phone call he had received from the pink haired woman who explained that she was ending things with him. 

He’d been crushed as he tried to make her change her mind but it was over and he had to accept it. But he couldn’t. 

He flew into a fit of rage as he yelled and anything he could get his hands on, he threw across the room. “Fuck this.” He growls and slams his door open, taking his car keys from the table as he heads outside to his car. 

He had only one place to go - Blackwood. 

He had worked for the villain previously and knew that he hated the hero just as much as he did. Blackwood had a plan and he wanted in on it. 

—

It was past seven when Stephanie had returned to her uncle’s house. She was getting ready to read a book when her phone began to ring. It was Brian calling her and with a sigh, she picks it up and asks what he needed. 

He explains that he needed to see her right away, “Just to talk,” he had said, and after feeling a tad bit guilty for how she ended things, she agrees. 

He arrived fifteen minutes later, smiling and joking as they drove around until they reached GreedyTown. Her anxiety kicked in as he pulled into a dirt road path following alongside the woods. 

“Brian?” She questions the odd place to have a conversation but followed him out of the car once he exited it and began to walk further into the desolate and dark woods. 

She had no reason not to trust him. So as Brian turns and begins to mutter about how he felt and how he truly loved her, things began to feel off. 

“Brian, I am sorry for hurting you, but I just can’t continue to date you.” 

“Because of your hero?” 

She slowly takes a step back as he looks at her, his expression hardening. “N-no.”

”You love him, don’t you?” 

“Course she does!” A new voice yells as four other men come into view. They all wore masks painted a dark red with antlers, something that looked right out of a horror movie. 

She was being cornered by them as they all moved toward her. “Brian?” 

“You should have just loved me.” 

He reaches out and tries to grab her, invoking a harsh yell from Stephanie as she attempts to run away. She’s quickly restrained by one of the masked men, his tight grasp keeping her in place as he chuckles. “Where’s your hero now?” 

Her brain screamed for Sportacus to help as Brian and the rest of the men began to gather around her. 

—

Meanwhile, up in his airship, Sportacus was getting ready for bed at his typical time when his crystal came to life and began to beep and flash. In the midst of the colorful blur, he could make out a familiar flash of pink hair. 

“Stephanie is in trouble.” 

Concerned about her, he quickly races into action and orders his airship to follow the directions he gives it. He didn’t know why, but GreedyTown made the most obvious choice. 

Once he arrives just outside of the dark woods, the hero hops out of his airship and hurries in the direction his crystal was taking him to. It guides him to a clearing up ahead that was surrounded by trees and a riverbed. 

There he finds something he never had expected to - Stephanie lying face down in the water. Her clothes were torn and tattered, her face and body covered in blood and bruises. “Oh my God.” 

He hurries to her, discovering that she was unconscious and barely breathing. 

He examines her for injuries and finds that most of the blood had come from a cut on the back of her head. “I’m getting you out of here.” He tells her though it was oddly pointless. 

He cradles her in his arms as he stands and carries her back to his airship. He carefully climbs up the ladder and brings her inside, placing her gently on his bed.

He commands the airship to bring them to the nearest hospital, which just so happened to be outside of GreedyTown.

He didn’t know what happened to her, but he did know that he would make sure that her attacker would pay for hurting her.  

No one was going to get away with this. 

Chapter Text

The hospital was a blur as Sportacus rushes through the sliding glass doors and practically yells at the nurse sitting at the front desk that they needed a doctor. 

“Sir, please calm down.” She says with a frown but it was clear that he wasn’t about to calm down until he saw a doctor. 

“Please, my friend needs a doctor.” He pleads with the nurse. The hospital wasn’t as busy like other ones so she nods and quickly hurries to get them a doctor as fast as she could. 

She returned less than a minute later with an older-looking man with graying hair. He looked concerned as he glimpses at the limp and silent Stephanie lying in the hero’s arms. 

“I’m Doctor Henderson.” He introduces himself before telling the nurse to wheel over a gurney and helps the hero gently move her body onto it. The loss of his touch has Stephanie’s eyes flicking up to find the doctor and nurse wheeling her away to a private exam room. 

Sportacus starts to follow, being stopped by the same nurse explaining that he could not join them because he wasn’t family. He almost wanted to laugh at that. She was more like family to him than anyone and when she needed him most he couldn’t be there for her because he wasn’t on her next of kin list.

But he knew someone who was. 

He returns to the nurses station and asks to use their phone to make a call to the mayor. A few seconds later and he was bracing himself for a conversation he never wanted to have to make. 

Bessie picks up on the third ring, curious to know why the hero was calling her phone so late when he cuts her off and explains that she and the mayor needed to meet him at the hospital right away.

”It’s Stephanie.” He breathes out with a sigh and he could hear Bessie’s stifled gasp as she wakes Milford up and starts to explain what was happening. He hangs up with the couple a few minutes later and begins to make his way toward the waiting room. 

A half hour later, the mayor and Bessie were entering the hospital and found the hero in blue anxiously awaiting to hear from Doctor Henderson about how Stephanie was doing and how severe her injuries were. 

“Sportacus.” 

He lifts his head at the sound of his name being spoken and looks over at the couple who had become such good friends with him over the years. 

“How is she?” Bessie asks with a look of concern and tries her best to comfort her husband who was close to panicking over this whole situation. 

“I don’t know, they wouldn’t tell me anything because I’m not her family.” 

Milford offers an apologetic nod to the hero. “I’ll speak to the nurse and see how she’s doing.” 

Once he left, Bessie stares at Sportacus with a sigh. He looked scared and anxious, a rare sight to witness as the hero usually never let anything scare him. “How are you doing?” 

His brows furrow at the question. “Me? I am not the one lying in a hospital bed. Stephanie is.” 

“Yes, but I can see this is tearing you apart too.” 

“Of course it is! I wasn’t there to help her! To protect her from whoever hurt her.” 

“You rescued her, Sportacus. That’s all that matters to anyone.” 

Milford returns to them shortly after that, explaining that Stephanie was awake and for the most part - okay. She had a concussion and two broken ribs, along with a fractured ankle. He was thankful when Doctor Henderson informed him that there was no signs of sexual assault.

”Thank goodness.” Bessie mutters when the mayor reaffirms this with his wife and the hero. 

“He said we can see her now but that she is very tired and needs her rest.”

The three make their way to Stephanie’s hospital room, finding that a nurse was inside with her when they arrive to see her. Stephanie herself was propped up in the bed, looking tired and sore as she listens to the nurse explaining something. 

She had bruises and cuts on her arms and legs, along with a few on her face. Milford and Bessie were the first to enter her room, offering friendly smiles to the nurse before stepping over to Stephanie to give her a gentle hug. 

Sportacus stood in the doorway, not sure if he should enter. She looked slightly better than earlier when they first arrived, but the sight of her bruised and bloody was permanently etched into his mind every time he closed his eyes. 

“How are you feeling, dear?” 

“Sore. Doctor Henderson says I have to stay overnight so they can monitor my lungs.” 

Bessie stifles a tearful gasp, but it was obvious how upset she was over this. The mayor reaches for her hand and it gives it a lovingly squeeze, hoping to comfort her but even he was having difficultly keeping his emotions in check.

Stephanie was like a daughter to him, always had been, even when his sister up and decided to keep her away for years.

He was grateful for the time he had gotten to spend with his niece over these past few weeks and all he hoped was that she knew how much he loved her. 

So with a heavy sigh, Milford looks over and finds that Sportacus was still hovering in the doorway. He gestures for the hero to enter and watches as he does, nodding at him in encouragement. 

Stephanie glances up at him when he makes his presence known. Tears spring to her eyes then when she notices the look of guilt and sadness in his blue ones. 

Bessie and the mayor decide to give them a minute alone and make a hasty exit a few minutes later after the nurse, leaving the two in an awkward silence. Sportacus shifts on his feet, unsure whether he should come closer or not. 

“You saved me.” Stephanie says eventually, finding a random thread in the blanket on her bed to pull on. 

“I’m just glad I found you.” He couldn’t dare think about what might have happened if he hadn’t. 

“I’m sorry.” 

It was out of nowhere, invoking the hero to tilt his head in confusion. “What? Honey, you have nothing to be sorry about.” The term of endearment just slipped past his lips but she didn’t seem to mind or even really notice. 

“I never should’ve went with him.” 

“With who?” 

“Brian.” 

He hadn’t yet asked who had been responsible for her attack, but he did have his suspicions, so hearing her confirm that Brian, someone from GreedyTown, was involved in this incident made his blood run cold. 

It also made his anger rise as he thought about her being attacked by someone she figured she could trust. 

He was sure to make him pay. 

—

Stephanie was in the hospital. 

Stephanie was hurt. 

She could’ve died. 

The last thought was driving him into a fit of rage as he stormed toward his intended target - Robbie Rotten. 

Sportacus pushes past the billboard and lifts the lid to the entrance of the bunker, quickly dropping down inside it. 

The villain in question had been asleep in his favorite comfy chair when the hero popped in for a visit, scaring Robbie as he wakes and finds the other man looming over him. 

“What the- what are you doing here!?” 

“Tell Blackwood he made a big mistake.”

Robbie quirks a brow, clearly confused as he stands from his chair. “What?” 

“Were you in on it? Huh? Did you help them do this?” 

The hero was advancing toward him with a harsh glare, taking Robbie by surprise. Never had he seen him look so upset before. Never had the villain worried that he would actually use violence against him until this very moment. 

“Sportakook, I have no clue what you’re talking about.” 

“Stephanie was attacked tonight.” 

A chill went through his body when he hears this. “Wh-what? Why?” 

“You know why. Blackwood did this to get to me. He hurt her to exact his revenge against me.” 

“Is she okay? She isn’t…?” He couldn’t even finish that sentence, it hurt too badly. 

“She’ll be at the hospital overnight.” 

“And you’re sure that Blackwood did this? No other person could be a suspect?”

”She met this guy from GreedyTown a few weeks back on vacation and they began dating. She told me tonight that she had broken things off with him and after that, he called her earlier today and asked if they could meet to just talk. She agreed and when she met up with him just outside of GreedyTown, he and a group of Blackwood’s buddies jumped her.” 

“And this guy’s name?” 

“Brian Cooper.” 

—

When the hero returned to the hospital, he found Stephanie talking to a sheriff alongside her uncle and Bessie. The man looked familiar and it took the hero a few seconds before he realized that this sheriff was from GreedyTown. 

“Now you said that this Brian Cooper had brought you to the woods outside of GreedyTown?” 

“Yeah.” 

“How do you know him?” 

Her gaze flicks to Sportacus who stood by the door before saying, “He and I dated briefly.” 

“Okay. Did you break things off?” 

“A few days ago.” 

“Could this have been a jealous act of revenge?” 

Revenge. The word has the hero sighing to himself as he knew damn well that was exactly how she got mixed up in all of this. It was his fault. 

“I don’t know.” 

She did though. But the hero could tell that she didn’t trust telling this to him. Not yet anyway. He was from GreedyTown after all. 

Once the sheriff took off, the mayor and Bessie followed behind a few minutes later after telling their niece goodnight and to rest, they exit the room. 

Sportacus had not planned on staying but as he turns to leave, she calls out his name and out of instinct really, he goes still and glances back. “Yes?” 

“Can you stay here with me?” 

She sounded so defenseless and calm at the same time, invoking the hero to nod and close the door. He settles into the plastic chair by her hospital bed, taking her hand in his with a smile. 

“You don’t want to be alone tonight?” 

She shakes her head nimbly. It was understandable after everything she’d been through tonight. “You know, I don’t think I have ever been as terrified as I had been tonight in those woods.” 

There had been one only other time that came even remotely close to the fear she felt tonight - the day years ago when the wall collapsed on the hero after Robbie’s failed attempt to force him out of town. She waited seconds for any movement, her bated breath slowly returning to normal as the wall lifted up to reveal the hero pushing it off of him. 

“I know what you mean.” He’d been pretty terrified himself. 

“I kept thinking about how I could have died. They could have killed me.” 

He shushes her gently, fingers rubbing the back of her hand. “It’s okay.” 

She was discharged the next morning, the mayor and Bessie returning to bring her home. If they knew the hero stayed the night, they kept it to themselves as they enter the room and hand over a change of clothes for Stephanie to take. 

She thanks them and disappears into the bathroom. The mayor and Bessie turn to Sportacus with frowns as they explain that Brian Cooper can’t be found. His house and dorm room were searched but nothing came of it. 

“How can he just disappear?”  

“His parents claim that they had no clue the awful things their son had been up to. As for the other men involved, they haven’t been able to find them either.”  

“Oh terrific, so she has to be on alert while her attackers go free.” 

“What?” 

All three turn to find Stephanie by the bathroom door, bag clenched tightly in hand as her eyes widen. “They can’t find Brian?” 

“Not yet.” 

—

Once they returned to the mayor’s house, Stephanie headed for her room to rest, her ribs hurting like hell but she ignored it as she climbed into her bed and ran a hand through her hair. 

She woke several hours later to a dark room, yawning as she pushes the blankets away and gently tries to move out of bed. She quietly walks into the hall and peers down it, finding that her uncle and Bessie had already gone to bed. It’d been past nine, and she had been taken aback by how long she’d been out for. 

She tip-toes into the kitchen, opening the cupboard to grab a glass. She pours herself a glass of water and then goes back to her room, pausing when she sees Sportacus on top of the couch, trying to rest, but it clearly had been uncomfortable for the hero. 

“Hey.” She whispers, hand rubbing his arm. 

He glances up at her, confusion evident on his face as he moves off the couch and asks if she needed anything. 

There’s plenty of answers she could give, but she chooses on, “Did my uncle ask you to stay here?” 

“He’s concerned for you and Bessie.” 

“Because of my attackers?” 

His gaze falters, but he nods after a moment. “Yes. They can’t find them.”  

The thought left her nervous and upset, her fears getting the better of her as she asks him if he could come back to her bedroom. 

“Stephanie.” 

“Please?”  

He could never tell her no, so he takes a deep breath and follows her down the hall to her room, careful not to disturb the mayor or Bessie. It’d be awkward if they found him sneaking into her bedroom. More than awkward. 

“I know you’re scared.” 

“Of course I am. I haven’t been this anxious in forever. What happens if Brian or one of his friends come here to finish the job?” 

“That isn’t going to happen. Not if I am here to protect you.” 

That invokes a soft smile from her as she hops onto her bed. “Can you stay here for a few minutes? I can’t be alone.” 

The hero knew better than to argue, and so he nods and goes to sit down in the chair near her vanity table. But as she calls his name, he glances over and quickly realizes that she intended for him to share her bed. 

“That’s not a good idea.” 

“I’m too tired for any of that.” She jokes. 

He gives in eventually, quietly removing his hat and goggles before climbing into bed beside her. 

If not for nothing, he knew she’d be protected. 

She drifts off to sleep rather fast in his arms, but for the hero - he kept himself up by keeping his eyes on the door, his guard on high alert for any possible danger. 

Hours after he came to bed, he glances down at her in his arms and presses a kiss to her forehead. “I love you.” 

He knew she didn’t hear him, but he needed to tell her anyway. 

Chapter Text

It’s past ten when Stephanie enters the kitchen and finds nothing but a brewing coffee machine and a note on the fridge informing her that her uncle and Bessie had to take care of a problem at town hall and wouldn’t be back for a few hours. 

She couldn’t deny her curiosity had been piqued by the note, especially with recent threats to herself. But not interested in that, she carefully moves on to the couch and turns the tv on, flipping through the channels until a knock on the door has her getting up rather quickly, hoping to find the above-average superhero there but instead is greeted by her friends pulling her into a group hug. 

“Guys, jeez, I did just get out of the hospital,” she jokes. 

“Oh my god, are you okay?” Trixie is the first to ask as they follow their injured friend into her uncle’s house.  

“As good as I can be after almost being killed.”

“How did this happen?” Pixel asks.

“You remember that guy Sportacus told us about?”

“That Ian Blackwood guy?”

“Yeah, and apparently Brian, my former boyfriend, got involved in his evil plans. He’s the one behind my attack.”

Trixie’s eyes narrow at that, her rage growing at a fast pace as she imagines her best friend being hurt and in pain and it being caused by Brian? That pissed her off even more.

“Is that why everyone’s gathering at town hall?” Ziggy chimes in to ask, his question confusing Stephanie as she peeks outside at her uncle’s office.

“What do you mean by everyone?”

“Your uncle, Bessie, Sportacus, oh and about a dozen police officers.”

Her expression turns to one of concern as her eyes flick over to Pixel for clarity. “What is going on?”

“I overheard that they’re all planning on going to GreedyTown to arrest Ian Blackwood. I didn’t realize it’s about you being attacked.” 

“They didn’t tell me anything about that.” She hesitates before making a decision to go find the hero in blue, her hands reaching out for her phone.

“Woah, hang on a minute, Steph,” Pixel interjects, hand grabbing her arm to hold her in place. “You can’t just go over there guns blazing. Calm down and take a breather, okay?”

“Pixel, no. I am calm, okay? But I’m not about to let everyone treat me as if I’m going to fall apart at any given moment.”

“That’s fair,” Trixie adds.

“Babe, come on,” Pixel counters, glancing between his friend and girlfriend with pleading eyes. “Don’t encourage her.”

“She’s got a point, Pixel, you can’t deny that.”

“Do you know more than you’re willing to tell us?” Stephanie asks him, eyes narrowing.

“Of course not! Not really,” he mutters, “Not anything truly important.”

“Oh you definitely do,” Trixie retorts, arms crossing as they both turn to glare at him.

“Just drop it, guys.”

“That’s not going to happen. Just tell us, tell me, what’s going down, Pixel.” 

—

“You cannot do this,” Stephanie blurts out the first moment she enters the mayor’s office and finds the hero gearing up for the trip to GreedyTown. He had on a bulletproof vest and a pistol attached to his hip. Beside him, the officer that questioned her at the hospital after her attack.

“You need to be resting, dear,” her uncle’s voice greets her first.

Her glare flicks to him next, brow raising as she examines the evidence compiled on his desk. “I’m fine, uncle, trust me please I need you to understand that I can handle this.”

“It’s not that, dear, it’s just that we are trying to protect you,” Bessie chimes in, hand reaching for hers.

“I don’t need you guys to protect me,” she argues, adding, “I just need to know exactly how you all expect this plan to not fail.”

“Because it’s a good plan,” the officer from the other night jumps in to explain but Stephanie ignores him in favor of glancing at Sportacus, finding that he avoided her gaze.

“Do you really believe that?” Her question is directed at the hero this time, and Sportacus glances over at her.

“Yes.”

“And if you’re wrong?”

His gaze falters, fingers clenching against his hip. “This has to work.”

“But if it doesn’t?” She challenges him, finding that he drops his cool and calm facade and gives her his full attention.

“Can I talk to you? Alone?” He asks, and one glance around the office gave everyone the impression that they better leave or else. Once the office was empty besides the two of them, Sportacus takes a deep breath and brushes against the desk. “Are you okay?”

“It isn’t about me. This is about you and this insane idea you have to take this guy down. Have you even taken the time to think this through? You could get hurt doing this. Have you thought about that?” 

“The only thing I have thought about is how you got hurt because of me.” He moves forward, hand reaching out for her own. “I have no choice but to do this.”

“And if you get hurt?”

“Nothing is going to happen to me. I promise you that.” 

Stephanie nods, eyes tearing up as she tries to believe that everything’ll be fine. “I’m holding you to that.”

“Once this is all over and I can assure that everyone is safe, do you think that we can talk?”

“I think that’ll be nice.” 

—

GreedyTown had a different feeling to it once they arrived. Officer Henderson, the one from the other night from the hospital, alerts everyone that they found two of Blackwell’s goons hiding out in a hotel room. They revealed that the villain had plans to make a run for it after he finishes his first plan - kill the mayor and ruin the town.

“That can’t happen.” The hero in blue tells him, following behind the officers as they head for the mayor’s office. Before they can even reach the doorknob, a gunshot rings out, followed by another and another as they all take cover behind vehicles and trees.

“Shit, shit!” Officer Henderson yells as one of his officers is hit by one of the bullets zooming through the air. Hearing this, Sportacus ducks and rushes over to the injured man, helping to pull him behind a car.

A voice calls out then, a dark rumble of chuckles that catches the attention of everyone. “Did you really think this could end up in your favor, you blue idiot?” That voice. No, it couldn’t be. He’s dead.

Sportacus exits from behind the vehicle and glares over at the villain. The man he believed to be dead hovered behind his own protective gear, a group of men beside him, all had guns at the ready. “It’s you.”

“Oh, you do remember me, eh?” Enzo, or Ian as he chose to go by now he guessed asks him that, a big grin on his face.

“They told me you died.”

“Disappointed?”

The hero in blue shakes his head at him, “You’ve done all of this just because of me?”

“Don’t inflate your ego too much, elf.”

“You hurt my friend just to get back at me?”

Ian barks out a chuckle, “Your friend. You mean that pink cheerleader you call a girlfriend? Does she know that her perfect hero ruined my life years ago? That you’re to blame for her being attacked? Does she even know the real you?”

“You can’t keep blaming me for your problems, Enzo.”

His dark eyes flash red at him, “That’s not my name! It’s Ian!” During this exchange, Officer Henderson had managed to get the upper hand on Ian unbeknownst to the villain. A gunshot rings out, piercing Ian’s thigh as he yells out in pain and drops to the ground. They quickly take charge and arrest Ian and his gang of goons. 

Thank god that’s over but there’s too many questions unanswered for the hero to allow him any peace. 

—

Two weeks later and it seemed that everything had gone back to normal for LazyTown. Stephanie was even celebrating her 22nd birthday with her uncle and friends at his house, music blaring as they get ready for the party.

“This is gonna be fantastic,” Trixie says as she and Stephanie carry plastic cups and plates outside to the table.

“I know, finally everything is going in our favor.”

“Bout damn time.”

They return inside, finding Bessie and the mayor tying up balloons and banners. “Guys need help?”

“Oh, no dear, we’re just finishing up then I’ll fire up the grill.”

Stephanie nods. Across the room, Ziggy and Pixel were busy handling the presents for her and putting them in a pile to take outside. Stingy enters the house, a giant birthday cake in his hands as he carries it to the kitchen.

“Here, let me help you,” she tells him, helping to put the cake down on the counter.

“Thanks, Steph. Oh, happy birthday!” He exclaims, pulling her in for a hug.

“Thanks! I’m glad you could be here to celebrate with us.”

“Me too. Where’s Sportacus?”

“Right here,” the hero announces as he enters the house through the back door.

Stephanie beams up at him, “Right on time. Wanna help put up balloons?”

“Eh, sure,” he says and grabs a balloon, happy to help even if it’s just to put up birthday decorations. “If you need me for anything else…”

“Yes, actually I could use your help,” Milford says, gesturing to outside and begins to lead the hero toward the back patio where the grill is.

“Is everything okay?”

“Oh yes, I just needed to talk to you.”

“About?”

“My niece.” Out of instinct, Sportacus glances back at Stephanie.

“Oh.”

“It’s nothing bad, I promise. I just need to be assured that you’re not going to hurt her.”

“I would never do that, mayor. I hope you believe me.”

“I know you never meant to say those things to her during the problems that you faced with Ian but… that did break her heart and I need to make sure that’ll never happen again.”

“I don’t want to ever hurt her again. I,” he pauses, unsure if he even needed to say it. “I care for her.”

“I know. Maybe it’s time you told her that.” 

—

A few hours after the party started, Stephanie took a break away from everyone and made her way to the front deck, bracing against the railing.

She’s alone for a few minutes before she hears footsteps and glances up to find that Sportacus had appeared outside too. “There you are,” he says and mimics her position of leaning against the railing.

“Were you looking for me?”

“Well when the birthday girl disappears from her own party, I naturally become concerned.” They both knew the real reason for him being concerned about being unable to find her.

“Yeah, I needed a minute to myself.”

“Oh, I can leave if you want.”

“No,” she blurts out rather quickly, “If you don’t mind, I think I’d like to have that talk now.”

“Oh, um, okay.”

“Relax, I’m not going to bite,” she jokes, “I get that this isn’t easy. I mean, after everything that took place during this entire evil villain takeover plot, I can understand you not being ready to…” she trails off.

“I am ready,” he admits, maybe even taking himself by surprise. “I couldn’t ever forgive myself if you were to get hurt again. This time alone nearly killed me.”

“I know you never meant to hurt me. Ian made you end things, I know that now.”

“I never thought things could get that…”

“Chaotic?” She finishes for him, adding, “Maybe we can start over? As friends?”

His blue eyes flick to his booted feet, unable to mask his disappointment from her knowing gaze.

“Oh. Of course,” he replies, eyes still downcast.

“Sportacus?” She reaches out, hand grabbing his, “Unless you want us to be more?” Her own expression was one of hope as she moves forward and tells him, “I’ve been meaning to tell you about my transfer here to Lazy University for my final year of college.” “

“What? Stephanie, that’s fantastic! But are you sure this is truly what you want?”

“Getting to be back here has taught me that being able to be here with you and my uncle and friends is everything to me. I don’t ever want to be away from you guys ever again.”

“I feel that about you too.”

“Good. And us being friends…?”

The hero takes a deep breath before answering her question, finally telling her, “If being friends is what you need from me, then that’s what I’ll be for you.”

Stephanie chuckles then, yanking him closer, “I don’t need you to be my friend.”

“But I thought-“

She cuts him off by pulling him down for a kiss, their lips meeting for the first time in almost a month. Once they pull apart, she says, “I love you.”

“I love you too.” Sportacus breathes out, hands clenching around her hips. They both finally got the happy ending they deserved and neither could be more happier than right now.