Burning Ice & Freezing Fire

Rise?!

He hasn't felt this pleasantly warm in days.

And he feels surprisingly calm as well...

With a small yawn, Robbie blinks his eyes open and the first thing he sees is Sportacus' typical, happy, soft, cute smile, right in front of his face, and he can't help but return it instinctively. "Hey..." Sportacus' smile brightens even more and he very gently strokes Robbie's cheek with his thumb, his voice barely above a whisper "Good morning, Robbie. How are you feeling?"

The other shortly closes his eyes at the loving touch and murmurs "...Better... Much better..." he opens his eyes again and smiles at the hero "...Thanks to you..."

"I didn't...really do much..." admits Sportacus with a sad smile.

"Are you kidding?" Robbie manages to suppress an eye roll and nuzzles his cheek closer into the hand instead "You were there for me. The whole time. If I didn't know that you were protecting and watching over me I would've never managed to even fall asleep! ...By the way... For how long?"

"You slept through the day. The thunderstorm passed just a few hours ago and it's early in the morning..." Sportacus who until now has been playing absently with a longer strand of the black hair now starts to smile broadly again "In fact, you woke up with perfect timing!"

"...I...did?..."

"Yap!" the hero nods enthusiastically and straightens up from the ground where he has been crouching down next to the bed until now to be on eye level with the lying villain "I'd like to show you something! Do you...feel able to get up? I could carry you..."

Robbie smiles lightly and slowly starts to untangle himself from the blankets to sit up between the castle of pillows "...I know it sounds strange coming from me... But I guess a small walk will do me good..." he blushes a little "...Just...support me, please..."

"Of course!" Sportacus obviously is barely able to contain his happy excitement and offers the felf his hand at once. Robbie hesitates for just a few seconds before putting his own hand into it, blushing even more now. The hero carefully helps him to get up and out of the bed and puts one of the blankets around his shoulders again to keep him warm, before lightly putting his arm around the villain's waist to keep him steady. Robbie reflexively leans on the smaller man's shoulder as well, and feels another warmth spreading inside of him that definitely doesn't come from the fluffy blanket.

"Okay?" Sportacus smiles at him and very softly, soothingly squeezes his waist. Robbie nods once and relaxes noticeably. He knows that he can trust the elf and feeling him this close, their sides touching almost the whole time, is one of the best and most calming feelings in the world for him...

Very slowly, they walk over to the opposite end of the airship which is the cockpit with the huge windows. On their way Robbie becomes aware of several things he missed until now due to his constant fight against exhaustion, sickness and pain during the past one and a half days. The first thing is that they're both only wearing socks on their feet. Robbie in purple and Sportacus in white, and that the floor of the airship feels pleasantly warm, though, so he guesses that the hero got some sort of radiation system installed beneath it. The next thing he notices is that the lights are still turned on, but on a very low level, so it's not that bright anymore as the ship used to be all the time. And at the last thing he realizes as soon as they're close enough to the windows he winces slightly.

"It's all right," assures the hero quickly and strokes the felf's waist again "We're safe. I promise you, this airship won't ever crash just like that. And I'll land it again right away, but first I wanted to show you something..."

"...Couldn't you...have shown me that on the ground?..." murmurs Robbie lowly and reflexively tightens his grip on the hero's shoulder.

"No," Sportacus gives him a soothing smile and his eyes reflect a mesmerizing warmth "Trust me, Robbie. It's safe. And worth it! But...if you feel very uncomfortable, I can land right away again. Just say so. But remember, I wouldn't do anything that might endanger you..."

This statement actually relaxes the villain and he nods lightly "...Okay... We can stay..."

"Good," Sportacus smiles happily "Then we'll just have to wait a few more minutes. Lean on me more, if you like to. And don't be scared now... Lights off!"

The next moment they're surrounded by complete darkness again and the felf instinctively shifts a little closer to the hero.

A few minutes of silence pass.

They can sense and hear each other's even breathing and feel the warmth where their bodies are touching, and Robbie figures that this is already worth being up in the air...

But it gets better.

After a few minutes he suddenly notices a faint, red light starting to spread from the tip of the mountains ahead over the whole landscape.

The sunrise.

Robbie involuntarily holds his breath. He's seen multiple sunrises already of course (especially because of his unsteady sleep pattern) and he always liked them. But watching this natural phenomena from up here in the airship is something else, entirely!...

"...It's beautiful..." his voice is a awestruck whisper and he subconsciously presses his body even closer to the hero's.

"It is, isn't it?" whispers Sportacus back and starts stroking the felf's waist again "...I'm glad you like it..."

"I do! I love it! It's one of the most beautiful..." Robbie breaks up when he turns his head to look at the elf next to him. Sportacus faces him now, too, surprised by the unfinished sentence and they just stare into each other's eyes for long seconds.

"...It...truly is..." murmurs the hero absently, with his eyes still fixed on the villain. A small smile tugs at Robbie's lips and the next second he whispers barely audible "...I wish...I could kiss you now..."

Sportacus feels another wave of happiness washing through his body and he very gently turns the felf around so they're standing right in front of each other, his voice and smile soft "...Well... Technically, your mind barrier is gone again now... And I highly doubt that we'd make anything worse with it now... So..." his free hand comes up to rest on the other's still warm cheek and gently signals him to bow down a bit, before he slowly bows forward with closed eyes and very softly and lightly presses his own lips onto Robbie's.

For a split second the hero regrets that Robbie is missing the last part of the sunrise now like this, but this feeling soon vanishes and gets replaced by incredible joy when the felf starts to kiss back just as softly.

There will be more sunrises to come. And Sportacus hopes that they'll experience most of them together.

But Robbie was right.

They're by far not the only beautiful thing right now, anymore...