Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Mr. Sportacus loved his job as a second grade teacher. Truly, the kids were surprisingly a delight to work with, and he only had to dedicate himself to teaching one grade, so not many names needed remembering. He got the job on a recomendation from another school before moving to LazyTown, and the principal of this institution was quick to reach out and grasp at the offer of such an amazing teacher. He was welcomed in a warm and embracing environment, so settling in was a quick and easy process. While he wasn't the type to play favourites, he certainly appreciated a certain pair of students.

She was like a brightly shining star even in a strom, brilliant and brimming with energy. Her vibrant pink hair was barely ever still, either from running and jumping around or from being played with during class. She was eager to participate in whatever and she made sure that everyone could be included. Hell, she even got Stingy to share something on multiple occasions! Her name was Stephanie Rotten and such a blatant opposite to her sister, Rottenella Rotten.

Now, Rottenella was rather different, like the opposite pole on a magnet, but just as kind and sweet, just not very social. She likes to spend recess inside the classroom or staying close to her sister. For a second grader her reading levels are quite advanced, however she didn't always like to partake in arts & crafts. Her calm and collected demeanour also came in handy when someone was throwing a tantrum that Sportacus couldn't ease by himself.

They were the daughters of Robbie Rotten, a man who Sportacus hasn't had the pleasure of meeting yet.

But he could only imagine what he could be like, one daughter bright as ever, the other one a bit more reserved but just as bright, especially if Stephanie is helping her stay in the light. If Sportacus would have to assume, he'd say that the man is somewhere in the middle, strict and collected on the outside but the sweetest and most caring man at the same time. (If seeing how the man behaved with his daughters, that Sportacus had the rare pleasure of vitnessing during pick-up, was anything to go by.)

Another reason why he hadn't had the chance to have a one-to-one conversation with the man was because the girls were usually picked up by their babysitter, Trixie, and on rarer occasions by her flatmate, Pixel. Robbie can't always be here by pick-up since his job require him to be prepared to sudden overtime or schedule change (according to Rottenella.)

Sportacus shook his head to zone back into the present, where was he again? Right, in the classroom, making cards with the kids for the parents. Sportacus liked the idea of showing appreciation towards the parents for raising such a bunch of sweethearts, and he had a hunch that some parents would be brought to tears if their kid gave them a card that said something along the lines of 'You're the best mamma/pabbi!' (Except spelled horribly and with more drawings of hearts and even drowned in glitter.)

That's one thing he definitely respects about the parents, they love their kids unconditionally. And he was happy to see so many of his students coming from households with not many problems, that every day the kids were fed and dressed in proper clothes. He believed he owes them a huge amount of credit in making his teaching career rather enjoyable, hence the cards.

Sportacus felt a tug on the leg of his pants, he looked down to see a little boy with blonde hair and bright blue eyes staring back, Ziggy.

"Mr. Sportacus..?" Ziggy began, his tone uncertain and his overall behaviour suggested that he was shy and perhaps a little embarrassed. He held up a ripped card as tears swelled in his eyes. Sportacus felt his heart squeeze at the pitiful sight. He crouched down to be eye-to-eye with the little boy.

"What's wrong Ziggy?" He asked in a gentle tone as he placed a hand on Ziggy's shoulder. The boy sniffled a bit, not meeting Sportacus' eyes, looking down at his card instead. He took a big heaving breath, most likely trying to gather himself a bit before he lifted his head.

"I-I accidentally spilled water o-on my card, and it ripped!" The young boy cried, and the dam broke loose, big fat tears streaming down his face in a steady stream, one hand clinging onto the ripped card, the other grasping at Sportacus' forearm in distress. Sportacus cooed sadly, opening his arms, Ziggy immediately hugged the man. Sportacus gently hugged his student back, rubbing soothing circles on his back, after a few moments of calming the boy down, he looked in his eyes once again.

"It's okay Ziggy, I can help you make another one!" He offered, hoping to bring closure to the young boy over the unfortunate happenings with his card. The effect was immidiate, Ziggy's face lightening up.

"R-Really?" He asked, his voice full of hope as he relaxed at once.

"Yes, really! Let's go and make this card right away." Sportacus said enthusiastically and stood up, holding out a hand for Ziggy to take. The blonde headed little boy grasped his hand and they've made their way back to his desk, Sportacus pulled a chair close by and began helping his student. Giving him pointers and suggestions and used scissors to cut out what the boy requested. They were done in no time, the other one long fogotten. With a smile he got up and ruffled Ziggy's hair, walking around the class, seeing if anyone else needed help.

Sportacus came to a halt at Stephanie's table and crouched down, taking a look at her card. On the light pink paper was written: 'Your You're the best pabbi, luv Stephanie!' with a purple glitter pen, the first mistake being corrected by a pink gel pen, and the second one being half crossed out before it ended in a downwards stroke. He took a peek towards her seatmate's, also her sister's, card. Light purple paper with pink gel pen and the sentence written correctly. He chuckled, his moustache bouncing slightly with the movement,  as he put two and two together, Stephanie must've batted away her sister's help. He also took notice of both cards being litterd in hearts in both colours, although on Rottenella's cards there weren't as many as on Stephanie's.

"What wonderful cards! I'm sure your pabbi will adore them." He said enthusiastically, grabbing the attention of both girls. Stephanie flashed him a bright smile, before focusing back on addig some flowers on the card. Rotenella also shot him a shy smile, and he grinned back. Oh right, he nearly forgot!

"Who's coming to pick you girls up today?" He asked, mostly towards Rottenella as Stephanie was too engrossed in adding little hearts on the 'i's. Rottenella shrugged, before quietly answering her teacher.

"Pabbi's supposed to come and pick us up.." She said, trying to seem nonchalant, but Sportacus saw the smile she was trying to bite back. Afterall it was rare for them to be picked up by Robbie as the man was busy with work.

And Sportacus was just as happy with such news, perhaps he could finally have a conversation with the man! Or at least he hoped that Robbie had some time to spare him, Sportcaus would hate to keep the man away from work, especially in this economy! He thanked Rottenella for informing him about this and walked back to his desk, sitting down and watching over his class. He glanced down at his watch, eight more minutes and the parents will flod in the building. He leaned back and relaxed until the bell rang.

Sportacus smiled and praised them all for the work they've done, and dismissed them. Children were immediatly on their feet, throwing coloured pencils and pens in their bags, zipping them up and slinging them over their shoulders. With the cards they've made, held in their hands and their heads held high, they started to file out of the classroom, saying goodbye to Mr. Sportacus and meet their parents who were already waiting in front of the room. All Sportcaus could hear from the hallway was the cooing of parents and the giggles from the proud kids.

He let out a sigh as the last student left and closed the door, looking around and hoping to spot every discarded glue cap. What he spotted instead were the two girls, with their bags packed but still sitting in their seats and chatting. He approched them, confusion written over his face, he pulled a chair infront of them and sat down.

"What are you two still doing here?" He asked, he didn't mind, god no, he liked his students. But this scenerio seemed suspicious to him. The daughters of the man whom he wanted to talk to for who knows how long staying behind? He shook his head, no need to overthink anything right now. The thing he should focus on is keeping the girls safe until someone came to pick them up. "Is your pabbi going to be late?"

Stephanie shrugged with an all too calm smile on her face, even Rottenella was grinning. Something wasn't right, if the mischievous glints in their eyes was anything to go by. Before he could question them any further a knock was heard in the, almost, empty classroom. Sportacus didn't even have the time to get up before Robbie opened the door, with a distressed look on his face. He visibly relaxed when he saw his daughters and scolded his expression back to a neutral one when he noticed that Sportacus was also in the room. He cleared his throat before speaking.

"Is there a problem Mr. Sportacus?" The man in question shook his head.

"No, nothing at all, I asked the girls if you were going to be late for pick up." He explained himself, the words coming out slightly quicker than he would've preferred them to. Robbie nodded in understanding. Stephanie stood up and turned to look at her father.

"Pabbi! Can we stay for a little more and play?" She pleaded, looking at her father with the biggest puppy-dog eyes a seven year old child could muster up. To both men's surprise Rottenella joined in too, intertwining her hands and lifting it as one would do when praying. The prayer was directed towards their father about staying behind and playing.

For a second Sportacus thought that this could be a set-up, because this was going in a way too convenient direction. He quickly shook that thought away, surely two seven year olds couldn't plan anything like this out. They just wanted to stay behind and play, like any other child would.

Robbie was quick to cave in. (So Sportacus was right! This man couldn't resist his daughters.) However he looked uncertain.

"Girls, let's not hold Mr. Sportacus up.." He tried to reason, but Sportacus was quick to grab at the opportunity.

He shook his head in a no, waving his hands along.

"Oh it's quite alright! It's common for kids to stay behind, and I'm still here for around two more hours after classes so it's no problem for me to supervise them." The second grade teacher explained with a bright smile. He was not going to waste this chance if his luck was kind enough to provide him with one. Oh, but what if Robbie had work to get back to?! "But ehrm if you have work to get back to,-" he began and turned to the girls "-then you two should go with your pabbi! There's always a tomorrow to play away." He tried not to sound dissapointed.

Surprisingly Robbie also shook his head. "It's nothing like that, I took the day off so work isn't an issue." He said with a shrug. Stephanie eyed them both, unamused.

"So we can stay!" She insisted, Rottenella nodding along. Robbie loooked defeated.

"If Mr. Sportacus doesn't mind." Robbie said and looked over to the forementioned man. Sportacus just smiled reassuringly, he didn't mind, not a singular bit.

"Not at all, in fact I want you to stay." He said before he could stop himself, his face flushing up a bit once he realised. Stephanie and Rottenella grinned triumpathly, once again raising some fleeting suspicions in the back of Sportacus' mind. However the girls cheered and ran outside towards the playground in the garden before any of them could overthink anything. Sportacus cleared his throat.

"Uhm..would you care for some coffee?" He asked, trying to steer the attention away from his earlier admission. "You could go after the girls while I bring you one!" He further offered, pointing with his thumb towards the teacher cafeteria where they keep their cheap coffees and the borderline broken coffee machine. Robbie nodded, told him how he liked his coffee and thanked him before he made his way outside, towards the playground to keep an eye on his daughters.

Once Robbie was out of his line of sight, he bolted to the cafeteria, foolishly hiding behind the door. He didn't notice that the principal and vice-principal of the establishment were having a little lunch date, so he started muttering to himself as he got started on making two coffees. "Really Sportacus? 'I want you to stay'..?" He said to himself quietly, but not as quietly apparently, since he heard some snickering from behind him. He turned around to see his bosses, ignoring his own mental dilemma and politely greeted them.

"If you don't mind me asking, who did you want to stay oh so much?" Ms. Busybody asked, her red lips stretched in a smile as she eyed Sportacus up and down. Sportacus felt himself grow nervous at the teasing coming from his higher ups as he smiled awkwardly, and shook his head.

"Oh, it's just the father of Rottenella and Stephanie Rotten from my class, Robbie Rotten." He quickly explained, a bit more of a genuine smile gracing his features. He saw Mr. Meanswell smilling as well, his more out of kindness.

"And did he end up staying?" Mr. Meanswell asked. He liked Sportacus, the man hard-working but still made teaching a lot of fun, and the children liked his lessons. Especially when he threw in some acrobatic shows. That's how he teached them to count, along with him while doing push-ups, and the kids loved it! He was also intelligent but sensitive, one could easily compare the man to a golden retriever if they had to. What a delight to have him around!

"Yes actually! He's outside right now, watching over the girls and I'm bringing him some coffee." Sportacus said, emphasising his point by holding up the two cups, one without any sugar and some milk, the other one with three spoonfull of sugar and without any milk. Sportacus idily wondered how could the man stand the bitter taste of the black liquid without any milk, but then again Robbie did drink it with sugar while Sportacus couldn't.

"Well then don't let us keep you here." Bessie said, and after exchanging some polite goodbyes, Sportacus was on his way to the school yard. Two paper cups in his hands and a small smile on his face. Sure, there were some awkward moments already but this first meeting was going better than he anticipated! Soon enough he arrived outside and strode over to where he saw Robbie sitting on a bench and Stephanie being pushed on the swing by Rottenella.

As Sportacus came closer, he could see a gentle smile on Robbie's face, he noticed many more things that he hadn't until now. For examples Robbie's jawline was sharp, his face clean shaven, not like Sportacus' less pronounced facial structure and mustache. He also had bags under his eyes, probably from the stress of having to work such strange hours, maybe the lack of sleep too.. He was fairly pale, it made sense since the man worked in a garage all day so he didn't have a sun kissed skin like Sportacus did. He was also much taller than Sportacus, a full head taller! However he was lanky and didn't seem to have a lot of muscle on him (if being a teacher taught Sportacus anything, it's to not underestimate the strenght Robbie could have. Some kids are brutal man.) His hair was also the opposite of Sportacus' messy blonde hair, dark and neatly slicked back into a style that elevated the overall inteligent look the father possessed.

Sportacus came to a halt right next to Robbie and held out the coffee with a smile on his face. "Sorry that uh I took so long." He said and took a seat when Robbie waved a dismissive hand and thanked him. He sipped on his own coffee as he didn't really know how to start a conversation. Thankfully Robbie saved him from trying to make awkward small talk.

"Are my girls behaving well?" He asked as he turned to face Sportacus, curiosity seeping into his voice. Sportacus just smiled easily.

"Oh they're like angels! Stephanie gets along well with everyone and she makes sure that no one feels left out." He began cheerfully, he was truly happy to have such social students. He couldn't help but feel a little pride swell within him, these kids were all so amazing and he got to teach them! "And Rottenella's quite an inteligent kid, she can already read at a third grade level and she is great with summation!" He continued boasting, he was aware that he wasn't their father and all actual credit goes to Robbie but it felt nice to perhaps be a small cause. To his surprise Robbie snorted, did he say something wrong?

"Like angels, really? They're the spawns of Satan himself!" Robbie said while chuckling and gesturing towards his daughters. Sportacus gawked, finding that hard to believe, he could understand if he was talking about Stingy, he did have some issues after all, but Rottenella and Stephanie? "I'm happy to hear that they don't seem to be giving you a problem. But don't be fooled by Pinky's sparkles and glitter, she's a total gremlin." He said while grinning at Sportacus' dumbfounded expression.

"No way! She's always so sweet.." Sportacus protested, still trying to pick his jaw up from the floor. "And Rottenella, should I be scared of her calmness as well?" He joked, inwardly praying to any being up there that he didn't accidentally overstepped a line.

"You can never know what she's planning when she goes all quiet.." Robbie said a shiver running down his spine and grimacing in a way that made Sportacus believe that Robbie has fallen a victim to those plans plenty of times before. So Sportacus did have a right to feel suspicious about this whole scenario after all, he wasn't just overthinking it this time!

They continued chatting, even when their coffees were long time gone and the cups in the trash can, watching over Stephanie and Rottenella. The girls went from playing on the swings to sliding down the slides, to trying to do handstands and cartwheels and asking Sportacus for help on how to them correctly. Sportacus just shook his head fondly and promised them to teach them during P.E. the next day. Sadly Robbie had to take the girls home after just shy of an hour later.

"Thank you for the coffee again and for uh letting us stay for a while." Robbie said lamely, a small smile gracing his face. Sportacus smiled back and waved his hand dismissively.

"It's really nothing, I am the last teacher to leave anyways!" He explained easily. "I prefer to do my work in the school building instead of taking it home so.." He scratched the back of his head, twisting his fingers into his blonde curls that were peaking from under his hat.

They stood there in a comfortable silence for a moment before the spell was broken by Stephanie's pointed coughing. They looked at her and saw how she was raising an eyebrow, her gaze directed towards her father. She crossed her arms across her chest before she spoke. "Didn't you say we needed leave pabbi?" She asked in an impatient tone, even tapping her foot on the grass. Sportacus couldn't help but chuckle, especially at Robbie's overexaggerated offended reaction.

"So you don't want your pabbi to talk with friends?" Sportacus tried to ignore how his heart skipped a beat at that. Robbie was just saying that to entertain his daughters and not because he actually thought of Sportacus as a friend..

"But pabbi you don't have frineds.." Rottenella said in such a sure tone, paired with an innocent face, her eyebrows raised as if she was genuienly surprised at the possibility of her father having friends. Sportacus burst out laughing at that and missed how Robbie's face flushed when he heard the sound. After a short while his laughter died down to some measly giggles and they've all bid goodbyes and the small family went home.

And if Stephanie and Rottenella started scheming something, neither adults would know until it was too late.

Chapter Text

The next morning the sun was shining brightly and Sportacus was brimming with energy, he couldn't wait to start this day! His conversation with Robbie yesterday went fairly well and he couldn't deny wishing for another opportunity soon. Well, better to not get ahead of himself, he supposed, surely there'll be another time for some chatting. Sportacus admired Robbie's intelect, his witty remarks and Sportacus really wished that next time they could talk about more serious topics other than just his daughters' preformances at school.

Sportacus shook his head to focus back on the present, he was doing some boring adult work before starting his day of teaching. Yesterday he assigned his students to write a couple of sentences about someone who's their hero. Currently he was preoccupied with correcting the shape of the cursive letters on Ziggy's paper, the little boy wrote in a way that made the letter 'a' and 'o' look pretty similar. He also didn't close the top of the 'g' properly, making the letter much more like a 'y'. Sportacus reshaped the letters with his a red pen and wrote short notes for the boy to read when he recieved later on. He would never admit it but when he saw how his student wrote him as his hero, he cried as a proud smile stretched across his lips. These were the moments that made being a teacher worthy he supposed.

Soon enough he came across Stephanie and Rottenella's paper, he let them do the exercise together since he had a hunch that they were going to write about the same person. He was right of course and grinned when he saw Robbie's title of 'pabbi' appear multiple times. The letters were formed beautifully, Rottenella must've been the one to write the things Stephanie said down, it became obvious when he read 'Pabbi lets me put pink sparkly make up on him!'. He chuckled multiple times while reading through the small essay, correcting the mistakes and jotting down notes.

He finished up relatively quickly, still having 15 minutes before his very first class starts, so he used that time to stretch his muscles and think his teaching plan through. He already knew he wanted to take the kids outside for P.E., the weather was so nice, it'd be a waste not to play outside, he also promised the two little girls he'd teach them how to do a proper handstand and cartwheel. Before that he had three classes, a reading, arts & crafts and an english class, the kind of classes that were pretty easy to handle. He already had a brilliant idea for a nifty little craft, it would be a stationery holder, and the kids could decorate it in whatever way they liked.

The bell rang just as he finished stretching and a swarm of tired little students came into the classroom, settling into their seats as they chatted quietly. Sportacus cleared his throat, calling the attetion of his class onto him and he greeted them with a cheery 'good morning'. The lesson then began and the second graders took out their reading books and began readind by paragraphs as Sportacus called on students to read aloud. Stingy had done fairly well, handling his medium sized paragraph with grace, Ziggy stammered a couple of times throughout his smaller part and as usual Rottenella briezed through her sentences.

Time passed faster than Sportacus could register and the bell signalling the end of the class came out of the blue for him, he dismissed his students with a kind smile and searched for the scissors, glue sticks and the markers in his desk. Since he was a relatively organized man, he found them with ease and set them out on the kids' desks for later usage. Sportacus also quickly checked his blood-sugar, seeing that it was a little low, he decided to eat some apple slices he brought and made a mental note to check at least once during class too. He would hate for something bad to happen to him, in front of a group of kids who didn't have a clue how to help a person with diabetes, especially with his dietary restrictions, the most they could do is alert Mr. Meanswell or Ms. Busybody.

He came out of his trance when the bell rang again and his, now slightly more lively, class filed back in, taking their seats and their chatters slowly dying down. Sportacus explained what sort of project they were going to work on for that day's class, he assured them that it was okay if they couldn't finish it today after a slightly worried Ziggy asked him about it. Rottenella didn't wish to participate so Sportacus gave her the permission to read ahead in the book they've just read. That class too went very smoothly with just some minor hiccups, like Stingy taking a couple of scissors and claiming that he used them or another student, Finn breaking the glue stick. He walked around and marvelled at their handiwork, praising them as he went. After circling the class once, he made his way back to his desk and sat down to check on how his blood-sugar level was coming along. It was a little higher than he would like it to be but nothing to worry about, he would just add insulin in before his next meal if it didn't go down.

Once again the bell rang and the kids left the room after putting their half finished works on the table dedicated to this exact occasion. Sportacus went around and recollected the tools to put them back in the drawer, he spent the rest of the break reorganizing the drawer and got out his english book. He searched for a couple of exercises they could solve together and marked them down in his notebook. After a couple more minutes, with the students in their seats for the third time that day, the class began and he began calling on children to do the tasks. They did very well and Sportacus was once again proud of his students, so much so that he brought out his hidden stash of reward stickers and let them all chose one.

Stephanie chose a bright pink circle with 'good job!' written on it in sparkly golden letters, her sister picked out a smiley cat and put it next to her work. Stingy tried to pick more than just one and it took some convincing for him not to, because then other students won't be able to have one and that'd be unfair. Ziggy sticked 'well done!' in the style of a candy cane in his book and Sportacus chuckled a little, that boy really loved candy. Well as long as he was still eating vegetables and fruits, Sportacus supposed it would be okay to have a sweet treat in a while.

His heart squeezed as he remembered his mom's sugar cookies, it was such a pity he could no longer eat processed sugars. Technically he could digest them but they caused him rather bad stomachaches, so after a while, and with help from a dietary consultant, he decided to go on a diet where he couldn't eat processed sugars. But it wasn't such a bad thing, it was really great for his health and thankfully he could still keep his blood-sugar in check, he'd just eat fruits as they contained what he needed. And it wasn't like all sorts of sweets were off the table, if someone were to take the time to substitute the sugar for erythritol he could still eat home baked goods!

Sportacus made his way back to the desk, put away the stickers and gathered his clothes for the next class and told the students to do the same since for that day's P.E. class they were going to go outside to enjoy a whiff of fresh air after three classes inside. The children cheered an gathered the change of clothes along with their water bottles and some small snacks, since Sportacus always insisted on them having something to nibble on to recharge some energy, preferably fruits or veggies. As the bell rang he instructed the kids to change and wait for him by the main entrance to the school garden. He too went to the teacher's bathroom to quickly change and went back to his classroom to gather some things for himself too, some fruits and water. He also made sure to have his sensor and insulin close by in case he needed it, but usually he could tell when something was a wrong, after all he has been accustomed to handling it.

Sportacus made his way to the gates just as the bell rang and he found his students crowding there on either sides to leave an opening for him to let them out. That was one rule they had at this school, no children can be without professioral suppervision around the establishment. From the moment their legal guardian entrusts the child to the teachers to the moment that legal guardian is back to pick them up. Of course there are exceptions like in Stephanie and Rottenella's case, where they are picked up by Trixie and Pixel because Robbie has given them permission to do so and he also informed the principal of this decision. The two teenagers were actually really nice, they treated Sportacus with respect but didn't make him feel like an old geezer like some teenagers did, Trixie was a bit more mischievous while Pixel was really laid back but their number one priority was keeping the kids safe.

From the conversation he had with them he found out that Robbie employed them when he heard that they had some troubles paying for their apartment room, that was actually just two floors above Robbie's. They started talking after a while because they found out the three of them rode the same buses in the mornings and soon they became close and Robbie often welcomes them over for a dinner. Sportacus thinks it's a really sweet thing, to treat two misfortunate high schoolers as your own kids, and the two little girls also enjoy their company so they play around a lot. The paralels were easy to see, Trixie and Stephanie both being sarcastic and unserious most of the time, Stephanie was just a lot more pink and sparkly (Sportacus now understood where the nickname Pinky came from). While Pixel and Rottenella were both more intelectual and the teenage boy enjoyed teaching Rottenella about things he deemed appropriate for a seven year old to know, with Robbie's blessing to do so of course.

The cheer of the now free children broke him out of his trance and he jogged to catch up to them with a smile on his face as the early autumn breeze hit his face. Just as he predicted that morning, the weather was comfortably warm and the beaming sun wasn't obstructed by clouds, there was a slight air movement but in theory no one could catch a cold from it, but just in case he told the kids to bring a jacket if they felt cold. During these classes Sportacus would show off some neat flips and push-ups so it was no surprise that a line of expectant students were staring at him with hope in their little eyes. The teacher chuckled and pretended to only just be passing by them, even whistling to really sell it and dropped down into a split when small sighs of dissapointment left them. They giggled, cheered and clapped while asking him to show them more amazing tricks. 

And so began his little show, consisting of various front flips and back flips, increasingly harder push-ups and multiple handtands. He did a push-up with no legs and the students cheered so loudly he nearly toppled over and fell face first into the grass, nearly. Once he was pleasantly exhausted he instructed them to go play on their own now and brought out a net of different kind of balls. Some decided to take a soccer ball and form groups to play a match, others just went on the playground. Stephanie and Rottenella were quick to make him fufill on his promise from yesterday so he had no choice but to do so, but they weren't the only ones coming, Stingy and Ziggy was sticking around too. Apparently Stephanie boasted about it to Stingy so he wanted to come along too and Ziggy was just excited to be trained by his favourite teacher.

They barely managed to get the basics down before came an uproar of dissapointment from a chorus of upset children. Sportacus quickly went over to see what was wrong, telling his little group to practice on their own but be cautious about it. The soccer ball was stuck in the tree after a student kicked it higher than he wanted to, he apologized to his teacher and after reassuring everyone that things were going to be just fine, he began climbing the tree. He soon reached the branch from which he could safely reach the ball stuck in the leaves and smaller branches. He quickly retrieved it and began climbing down before he had an idea, seeing as the commotion caught the attention of the kids and they've swarmed the tree he decided to give them one last show and sat down on the branch, intertwined his legs around it and swung to be upside down.

A choorus of excited and amazed gasps came from his audience below, he called out the name of his student who kicked the ball into the tree and tossed it to him, Jake caught it and smile brightly. Sportacus decided to entertain the students a bit more, pretending to not understand how everyone is standing on the 'ceiling'. Some giggled at his anticts while some others, like Rottenella tried correcting him.

"I'm telling you Rottenella! You're all standing on the ceiling, how can you do that?" He marvelled, his eyes wide and face flushed as the blood began making it's way into his head. "We're not!" Said the little girl between giggles before another girl, Suzie, chimed in. "Mr. Sportacus you're the one hanging upside down!" The forementioned man just grinned and shook his head. "I have no idea what you're talking about, I'm right way up, you're the one upside down!" He pointed at them, his other hand clinging onto the branch and a bright smile still on his lips. He relished in the fact that he could easily get his class to crack a smile and make them laugh, overall just make their day a little better.

As fun as this was, he knew he'd have to get down soon, because all the blood in his head was making him dizzy, plus he needed to check his blood-sugar and perhaps eat too if needed. What sealed his decision of getting down was hearing Stephanie cheer out her father's name and take off toward the school fences, Rottenella right after her. From the corner of his eyes he could see a blur of pink and black standing still by the fence, suddenly he felt incredibly dizzy, he needed to get down. Sportacus began scrambling his way down, calling out to the children to keep clear of his landing spot, he decided against front flipping down from the branch as he was unsure he could land it safely with how dizzy he felt. Instead he opted to lowering himself down by his arms and just simply letting go once he aligned his feet with the ground, thankfully he didn't stumble.

Once on his feet he huffled and made his way over to his bag to gather it before walking to where two of his students stood with their father. Sportacus needed to check out the commotion either way, so he might as well try to sneak in a short conversation, if Robbie wouldn't mind of course. He saw the taller man holding a pink lunchbox and shaking his head, most likely fondly, perhaps annoyed, but still fondly.  Now as he was in earshot, he could hear Stephanie being scolded slightly, being called all sorts of hilarious names like 'glitter for brains' or 'little pink gremlin' and Sportacus couldn't resist the grin that made it's way onto his face. Obviously Robbie meant no harm with the playful jabs, and Stephanie didn't take it to heart either as she was just grinning and giggling with her sister.

Just as Sportacus arrived to them, Stephanie yanked the lunchbox from her father's hand and dragged Rottenella way too after bidding a short goodbye to her pabbi. To say that Robbie was perplexed would be an understatement and Sportacus bit his lips in order to not let a giggle slip by.

"For the record, she has never been that quick to brush me off. Usually it's a whole workout to get her off my back!" Robbie waved his hand around, as if to exaggerate his point, at that Sportacus did chuckle before a horrible thought hit him.

"I didn't scare her off, did I?" He asked, genuinenity seeping through his voice. He relaxed as he saw the black haired man shake his head no.

"God no, she usually never stops talking about you." Robbie said, an easy smile on his calm features, that made Sportacus' heart flutter a bit. "I thought she was being overdramatic when she said you're like a goofy super hero, but from what I just saw I'm starting to believe that she may have been right." While Robbie spoke Sportacus took out his sensor to check on his blood-sugar, not noticing the intrested gaze of the other. The words that Robbie had said were barely registering as he was busy with the sensor, he didn't like that he couldn't give Robbie his full attention but Sportacus deemed his health a bit more important than a conversation with a handsome man.

"Haha! Yeah she's probably ri-" Sportacus replied before the words hit him like a ton of bricks. Wait, Robbie saw?! He felt his face heat up a bit in embarrassment before he looked at Robbie with a semi-horrified expression on his face. "You saw a-all that?" He stuttered a bit. God, this was just great, he has made a fool of himself hasn't he? He took a deep breath, he seriously needed to stop overthinking things, it wasn't like Robbie meant any harm by watching him. But also goofy super hero? Well he didn't know wether feel offended or honoured that one of his students has thought of him that way. Robbie just nodded.

"I have been standing here since the beginning of the class, you must've just not noticed me. But the show was great." Robbie said  and winked at Sportacus (and Sportacus was totally not screaming inside at that). The shorter man felt his cheeks heat up from both the compliment and the ongoing embarrassment, he really hoped that his tanned complexion didn't make it too obvious. He chuckled awkwardly to blow off some steam before taking a second to recollect himself, thankfully he had a blood-sugar to check because he got distracted.

"Eheh..I'm happy you've enjoyed it?" Sportacus said, his tone uncertain. "Could you excuse me for a second?" He asked, more like declared before busying himself with his sensor, his sugar went down a bit, it was now between the avarage percentage so that was good. Once again he didn't notice the curiousity in the other man's eyes as he took a swing of his water bottle, the cold liquid calming him down.

"Is that device for diabetes?" Robbie asked suddenly, leaning on the school fence and Sportacus nodded. He was slightly surprised that the taller man knew what it was, since he did miss the teacher-parent meeting where he explained to the parents that he was diabetic. "Type one or two?" Robbie followed up with another question. This time Sportacus decided to give a verbal answer.

"I'm a type one diabetic, my mother also has diabetes so it's possible that I've inhereted the tendency and then it developed." The shorter man shrugged as he explained easily, he recalled his first ever doctor visit over this matter, he was a little scared but in the end he recieved a lollipop. Oh how he missed the days when he could still eat processed sugars.. Many years have passed since then, he got better at managing being a diabetic and he could no longer consume just any kind of sugar, as he has been put on a restrictive diet. Robbie nodded in understanding and the two stood in a comfortable silence for a few moments before Robbie let out a quiet chuckle. Sportacus arched an eyebrow in intreset.

"What's so funny?" He asked, the slight joy contagious as a grin grew on his face, he himself leaning back on the school fence, both of them facing the children and watching over them carefully. Robbie shook his head and smiled fondly as he watched his daughters.

"You're an amazing influence on these kids you know that right?" Robbie said out of nowhere and Sportacus' eyes widened. "You've got my girls eating vegetables without any bribery with candy!" The dark haired man said, the disbelief evident in his eyes as he looked into Sportacus' still wide ones. Sportacus broke out into a huge smile after a few more seconds, letting everything register, he was a good influence. "And my girls aren't the only ones who were rather inspired to be like you.." Robbie trailed off and smirked when Sportacus turned to him with a questioning look on his face, silently asking him to elaborate more.

"Mrs. Zweets that ever her son stopped eating as much candy and switched over to 'sportscandy', whatever that is.." Robbie's nose scrunched up in confused and Sportacus chuckled. It was surprising that his silly little term for fruits got picked up by Ziggy, it was a sweet little thing he supposed. If he had to guess, he was Ziggy's biggest role model (if the short little letter Ziggy wrote about him was anything by.) It filled Sportacus' heart swell with pride.

"It's what I use to refer to fruits." Sportacus explained, shrugging, a smile ever present on his lips. Robbie gave him a look that wordlessly read 'really?' and Sportacus giggled once again. "It's much more fun!" He reasoned as Robbie's gaze continued to scrutinize him, but the taller man was smiling too.

Their converstaion continued on like this, throwing in some light banter every once in a while. Sadly, around 10 minutes later Robbie had to leave as he had work to get back to and Sportacus had the whole second grade to take care of, he wasn't even supposed to be talking to Robbie right now. Thankfully Mr. Meanswell was a very overlooking man as long as the kids were safe and Sportacus had a very fast responsive system and reflexes, so this little conversation shouldn't be an issue. They bid their goodbyes, Stephanie and Rottenella coming over to say bye to their pabbi too before Robbie left. With that Sportacus went back to teaching the kids on how to do a proper hand-stand.

And if Sportacus was left on cloud 9 for the rest of day, well nobody would have to know.