Under the Old Light Pole
It was late on a Sunday night, early in February. The air was a kind of cold that chilled your bones as the villain huffed. He tried, at first to grip the sole light pole on the street.
"That SportaFLOP thought HE could stop ME, Robbie Rotten? with a little grease? Ha! I'll show that do-gooder REAL elbow grease and set a trap for the ENTIRE TOWN! That'll teach THEM for watching sports on a Sunday!" He grimaced. Sports! on the laziest day of the week! Superbowl schmuperbowl, the villain didn't care if it was the Olympics, one did not disrupt the sanctity of rest with that dreadful active business! With a dialogue fitting only the most cartoonish of men, Robbie set to work- pushing and groaning as he tried, and then failed, to topple over the light pole.
"I see, you're playing hard to get are you?" He uttered menacingly. "Fine fine I guess I will JUST have to dismantle you the old fashioned way" It was that chain of events that found him clutching the lamp for dear life. He was almost certain he was going to become the Billboard Guy for real this time when the sound of rap reached his ears. Ice blue eyes widened comically when they landed on a strange and beautiful face across the street. Inexplicably, this stranger had set up a booth on the back of the town dump truck and was hard at work curating the most disruptive and provocative playlist he had ever heard. At almost midnight! At once two conflicting thoughts ran through his head. Why hadn't HE thought of that?
and more confusingly How had he not noticed a townie as good looking as him, and why did that cute little smile set his heart racing as they danced away to a rhythm of their own design? It took only that moment for Robbie to fall- both physically and metaphorically- with a startled yelp. "Oh hey there be careful!" The world's most perfect voice reached his ears immediately as he was greeted not with the sight of his arch nemesis coming to an obnoxious and unwanted rescue, but the very welcome sight of this emerald clad newcomer racing to his side. The thought of their undivided attention hit him with a strange sense of giddiness and pride harder than his impact with the ground. The reason was something the villain would unpack later, or preferably never. "They grease those after 8 where I come from. You gotta be real careful with your grip."
The advice came with an outstretched hand. Robbie almost refused, but something about the way the pretty DJ flashed him an inviting smile melted aaaall the bravado away and with a nervous swallow, he took the beguiling stranger's offer. "I-I uh- ... Thank you." He replied curtly as he accepted their help. His legs nearly turned to jelly at the lightning that shot down his spine and filled his stomach with butterflies as his palm met theirs. It had all the qualities he somehow never knew he loved, a perfect fit in his. "Go birds. This your first win?" The tone in their voice was laced with something lighthearted, like a joke only they knew the punchline to. Normally it would have put him on edge but there was something friendly about this perfect stranger that turned his nerves to molten goo. They weren't here to lecture him for his rotten plan. For whatever reason, they didn't question him at all and the thought made his heart flutter.
"Yeah I uh I- uh yeah it is" He flashed them a nervous smile and the fact that their hands still connected seemed to be lost on them both as the DJ stood there with that blasted smile. A smile meant for him. "Well that makes two of us then, congratulations!... for probably the first time in both our lives" The casual way they rolled their eyes nearly took his breath away. The newcomer swung their joined hands playfully as they continued. "You know, climbing these is a Superbowl tradition back home" "Oh- oh really?" His heart fluttered as he slipped his hand out of theirs. "And what kind of tradition is that?" "An Emerald City tradition" The DJ folded their arms behind their back and the villain couldn't help but think about how adorable they looked as they swayed. "City of Brotherly Love reeeeally knows how to party" The look in their glittering eyes under the soft warmth of the lamp light both captivated him and spoke of a certain mischief. By the end of the night, the villain found himself and his new best friend chanting the lyrics of his new favorite song through the street, waking the town up one house at a time as they carted off their surprisingly easily won prize- one disconnected lamp lost he fully intended to use as a road block later. Apparently that was Emerald City tradition too.