Disclaimer: I do not own Galactik Football and I make no money from fanfiction.

Woodchippers

It had happened thanks to the storm.

If there hadn't been a storm, the door to Planet Akillian wouldn't have frozen in place and she could have gone inside without being noticed.

And of course if the storm hadn't broken suddenly, at that exact point in time, Tia wouldn't even have stopped at Planet Akillian in the first place. She would have gone on her merry way to the movie theatre to meet Rocket. The two of them would join a "Five-Scary-Movies-In-A-Row" marathon until late in the evening (or early in the morning), they would come out quite tipsy since everyone would be making out rather than watching the movies and they wouldn't –couldn't- even after all those years do that sorts of things in front of a crowd, so they would fill in the weird silence that would hover heavily between them in spite of the sloppy sounds of kissing filling the theatre by drinking and commenting on the scenes. They would trip a couple of times until they could finally reach to the Academy and if they hadn't gotten TDTF, they would make up for the awkward night before falling asleep.

But the permanent snowing of the past few days had suddenly intensified when Tia was walking down the street. As people began to run back to their houses Tia cursed her luck and mentally kicked herself for not being more careful. She had never developed the habit of paying attention to the weather reports, as was crucial to do on Akillian (but really whenever she went out she was accompanied by one of her friends who was native to the planet and provided her with the necessary information on what to wear and when to actually not go out) and she had ignored Thran's warning on the upcoming blizzard on behalf of Micro-Ice whining that that was bullocks, since it had merely been drizzling for at least three days and all that preparation for a snow storm the newscast people were getting them into was going to waste. Then Mark had stated Rocket was sure to warm her up if she needed anyway and she had thrown a pillow in his general direction before closing the door onto her teammates' laughter.

She clutched her beret tighter over her head and weighed her options as she blinked against the snowflakes hitting her face. She was too far from the Academy to go back and further away from the movie theatre to rush toward it. Rocket's house was on an entirely different direction and she would have to climb over a hill which would serve difficult with the way wind was blowing. She could call Rocket to come pick her up but she didn't want to get him out of his house at this weather. That new snowmobile he had made was far better than the old one and it actually could be closed over the top but there was no reason to risk it, especially since he had never tried it out in such weather before. Actually, it would be better if she called him and told him to stay at home –if he hadn't already left- but she had to find a place for herself first, he would come rushing out if he saw she was on the street.

With that in mind she looked around with more determination and her face lit up as she realized she was in fact at the corner of the street that led to Planet Akillian. Clutching her coat closer to herself and readjusting her scarf, she started walking towards it.

Back to the frozen door.

Tia pushed it harder and it suddenly swung forwards; allowing in a howl of wind, hauled by the now icy snowflakes and a very wet looking Snow Kids midfielder, causing the attention of the café's few occupants to focus on her.

Tia shuffled on her feet, took off her beret and shook off the snow from it.

"Hi Tia!" Mana-Ice shouted from behind the bar as she refilled a woman's drink and Tia released a sigh of relief as people turned back to their chattering. She hit her combat boots in quick succession on the doormat to rid them of snow and smiled as she walked towards her favourite barista.

She then realized Adium was the woman Mana-Ice had been serving and she was looking at her from under her thick bangs. Since she was already headed that way, good behaviour dictated that she should greet the older woman and make small talk, at least. Tia wasn't sure how to take on that, she had never had a conversation with the woman outside of the professional area, even though they had seen each other in some social gatherings like Norata and Keira's wedding. The woman always looked authoritative, prim and proper with that bun of hers (Mei had once commented it was a crime hair that uniquely coloured was constantly stuck within itself) and more often than not she would be sitting behind a desk watching her like a hawk and disagreeing with what she or her friends –or even their coach- had to say.

That brought to mind the last time she had spoken to her. Tia and the team had visited her in her office on Genesis to ask for the removal of Rocket's suspension. Adium had been strict then; the league's rules were clear and Rocket had disobeyed them. The fact that he had done so to save a life did not seem to alter her opinion. Tia had wanted to throw something –preferably heavy- to her head. But she was raised as a diplomat's daughter (damn!) so she had held her composure as not to hurt their cause.

But of course, as Adium had explained, it was not up to her to decide. And actually she had done whatever she could and with a little help from the Pirates, Rocket had been allowed back onto the team. Tia realized she had never actually thanked the woman for her help and decided to change that.

"Hello, Mana-Ice," she said as she sat down next to the league representative and took off her coat, "How are you Miss Adium?" she asked politely –in a way that acknowledged the woman's superior position and recent help but not lowering her own value and holding herself gracefully against former's general bossy attitude. Her mother would have been proud.

That thought made her grimace and she decided to drop that attitude immediately. If he had been there Rocket would have looked at her with amused twinkles in his eyes for he'd catch how acting in a way her mother would approve still made her cringe –even when it actually seemed proper to do so. He would then proceed to follow her around, calling her "Milady," and offering his arm to her every chance he got and insisting to carry her over the smallest puddles. He liked teasing her about her "high society behaviour" in the rare occasions that it showed its head. She had a suspicion he had a weird sexual fantasy about that; maybe he would ask her to wear a corset and act out some of those scenes from those period movies they saw. It could actually serve for an interesting night, she had done weirder things.

"I'm fine thank you, Tia," Adium smiled and took a sip from her drink, "Perfect as always, Mana," she nodded at the woman behind the bar, who grinned very much like Micro-Ice did when he scored a goal, then turned her attention back to the footballer beside her, "How are you?"

"I'm okay, too, thanks."

"What are you doing out here at this weather?" Mana-Ice asked, "How will you go back to the Academy?"

"I'm not sure actually," Tia said as she threw her coat to the stranded seat next to her and started removing her gloves, "I was going to the movies when the storm broke and now I'm too far to go anywhere else... Do you think the storm will take awhile to calm down?"

"If I know about Akillian and its storms," Mana-Ice said, "Yes. But you can stay here. My boss keeps the place open in such cases."

"Oh, okay," Tia frowned in thought, "I guess if it doesn't calm down I don't have much choice. Thanks for offering."

Mana waved her hand to assure her it was nothing.

"I'll be here, too, I can't risk driving," Adium said, as she put down her cocktail back on the bar, "Shouldn't you let Aarch know where you are though? He would be worried about you."

"Of course! Rocket!" Tia smacked her forehead and slid her sleeve upward on her arm to access her watch. She had started dialling on it when she caught the amused expressions of the two older women, "We were supposed to meet, so he would be the one getting worried when I don't show up... Rocket! Hi!"

"Tia! Thank goodness, you're not outside. Where are you?"

"I'm at Planet Akillian," she explained and cut off before he opened his mouth, "Don't you dare come out at this weather, Rocket. I'm safe here, Mana-Ice says the place will stay open and Miss Adium is here, too."

"But..." Rocket's little hologram didn't seem convinced.

"But what? I don't want to worry over how you'll make it to here, Rocket, seriously. There's no reason for you to leave your house."

"My new snowmobile is awesome, you know, it wouldn't be a problem. I can give a lift to Adium, too," he said, with the typical expression of a little boy bragging about his new toy truck.

"No need, Rocket," Adium added from Tia's left, rinsing her glass towards him playfully, "We're fine here. Don't worry; I'll take care of your girlfriend."

"Well... okay then. I'll let Aarch know. But do keep in..." Rocket's hologram suddenly disappeared and Tia blinked at her watch in confusion.

"Oh, it's the storm, it messes with the lines," Mana-Ice explained as she noticed the HoloTV had gone off, much to the disappointment of the other customers who had been watching a re-run of an old match between Lightnings and the Xenons. "I should check the generator; the electricity may get cut off too... Excuse me ladies." She skidded off to the back of the café in her usual confident walk.

"You won't be able to keep in touch, it seems," Adium said.

"Yeah."

"Are you hungry? Did you have dinner?"

"I did," Tia smiled, "I'm quite full."

"Let me order you a drink then," Adium smiled, "What would you like? Don't look confused, I did promise your boyfriend I'd take care of you, right?"

"Um... right, of course. I could go for hot chocolate now," Tia answered, timidly. She suddenly found it amusing that she was the one acting all too prim and proper whereas Adium was being friendly. Whose being a little stuck-in-the-mud now?

"Good choice, it'd warm you up, too. Rita!" she called to the other waitress, "One hot chocolate for the lady over here, please."

"Right away."

"The generator's fully charged," Mana returned, "If anything happens, it should keep the place warm until the morning. But it won't hold the lights up; I'll leave some candles on every table, just in case. Did you get anything, Tia? Oh, good, drink that, it'll warm you up. I'll have to close the bar when I'm leaving, then you won't be able to get warm drinks." She went to the other side of the bar and started shuffling in drawers for candles.

"So..." Adium turned towards her, "What movie were you going to see with Rocket?"

"It was a marathon of scary movies; I'm not sure which ones really."

"Oh, do they still do that?" Adium sounded surprised but pleased; Tia threw her a quizzical look so the auburn haired woman explained, "We used to go to one of those every few months when we were on the team."

"I think they recently re-started it," Tia said, as she cupped her mug and let her hands be warmed by the hotness the liquid in it provided. "The owner of the theatre says it's not as popular as it was before but that's nice, it's not packed either."

"Surely, you wouldn't like it crowded," Adium winked, "Tell me, do people still go there just to make out? That used to drive Artegor mad, he complained non-stop about how shallow it was. Then Aarch told him to stop whining and get a girlfriend and join in on the action, already."

Tia fidgeted in her seat. She wasn't certain how to take on her coach suggesting flirts to another coach made her feel. Not to mention, apparently Adium and Aarch had also been one of those couples and quite possibly she thought Rocket and her were going there for the same reason.

"Oh, sorry am I making you uncomfortable?" Adium actually grinned at her then, "I'll just skip back to Rocket then... how has he been since his suspension?" Her face was sincere and her tone was casual as she asked the question.

Tia raised her mug with both hands and took a moment to take a long sip, mulling over how much of Rocket's different behaviour she could share with Adium. She was acting friendly now but she was still the league representative, she could take action upon hearing his still ongoing nightmares, his outbursts or how he sometimes slipped into that cocky attitude of the King of the Sphere... He was not exactly the same, but Tia had not been naive enough to believe he would be. She had hoped, no doubt, that her first love would be back but believing in that was a different story, and maybe it required someone who was more faithful than her. She didn't say anything to Rocket, but she was certain he knew, too. She couldn't tell how he felt in response, though, was her distrust another reason for his outbursts, or was he secretly glad he wasn't leading her on on false ground this time? Quite possibly, it was both.

"He's doing better," she said cautiously, "Thank you for your help during all that, Miss Adium."

"He'll get even better," Adium said with a strong voice that made Tia almost believe in what she said, "It was a traumatising experience; it would be foolish to expect him to go back to normal in a heartbeat." She waved her hand while she took a sip of her drink, "And it was nothing, I didn't do anything more than what my job dictated."

Tia was saved from commenting on that by Mana-Ice returning with her jacket thrown over her arm:

"It's time to leave for me, ladies, any last minute orders from the bar?"

"Surely," Adium said, downing her drink at one go, "Give me one of those fine brandies of yours."

"Miss Adium if I didn't know better I'd think you were miserable for you are drinking so much," Mana-Ice quirked an eyebrow.

"Nonsense! I only had two small cocktails and you know it, Mana, and brandy will actually keep us warm, right Tia?"

"Uh..." Tia blinked, "It does keep people warm, yes." Wait, so she was drinking it with her?

"See? Now stop trying to steer away customers and give it to us, it's going to be a long night."

"Right away, m'am," Mana-Ice grinned and took out a bottle with two new glasses, "I'd watch out for the girl, though, Adium, league-representative or not, I don't think Aarch would approve of you inebriating his players."

"I can hold my liquor," Tia said, a little more defensively than needed perhaps. But since she had gotten drunk at his parents' wedding Rocket had been treating her exactly the same way, and it was kind of getting on her nerves. She added with a lot less hostile voice, "I won't drink much, anyway, Mana. I still have my hot chocolate."

"Of course, my dear, I'm just joking," Mana said absent-mindedly as she started to go through her bag, "Let's see... my wallets here, the keys are here, and that's my scarf! I'm all set to go."

"Will you be okay, Mana?"

"Hopefully, it's not far anyway. Hey, I would invite you, too, but my place is not exactly comfortable right now. Everything is packed in boxes, ready to be moved out to the new house tomorrow –that is if the truck drivers can make it through the snow. Ah, one last suggestion, go take that table by the HoloTV –it's the closest to the heater. Off I go, ladies, do behave!"

They waved her off with promises that they will and Adium stood up with the brandy bottle in her hand and winked at Tia:

"Whenever someone tells me that, I'm instantly filled with the desire to not to behave."

She stumbled towards the suggested table and Tia blinked once before following her.

The night was going nowhere as Tia's intended night, but it was fun nonetheless. The few people who were there were all regulars and seemingly all knew each other, as they soon managed to convince the younger waitress, Rita, who had stayed there to open up some more wine and beer. Adium was seemingly popular among them too, as with a few choice words she managed to start a singing-sparring contest between the three tables that were occupied. Up until the electricity actually went off, Rita –who had joined in to Adium and Tia's table for the sake of balancing the number against the other tables- even let them use the juke box but when it did she put on a stern face and closed down everything other than the heater as Mana-Ice had ordered. The cheer and laughter that filled the café left its place to silent chattering as people grew hazier and tired and the candles grew smaller as the storm took a more even pace outside the grand windows.

Even after Rita left to sit with her closer friends, chatting with Adium had not been as regrettable as Tia had first feared, either. Outside of her profession, Adium was fun and said profession gave them some common ground to kick the things off. She filled them glasses of brandies and told her stories about the height of the previous Akillian Team's fame and giggled over some information that could easily be counted as blackmail material concerning her old teammates.

"To this day Aarch still insists he wrote the song himself," Adium shook her head, "I can only give him credit for the weirdest cover of it. Are you still with me?"

"Yepp," Tia grinned lazily as she settled more into her seat, the alcohol was making her relax every minute, "Just imagining coach yelling 'SOMEBODY KILL ME PLEASE!' as a way to serenade a girl. He's pretty reserved usually... and I always thought he must've had better game..." she snorted, "And with Keira on guitar –that's something! How did they get her into that?"

"I believe she got them into it, actually," Adium giggled in turn, "She seemed to be having the most fun, either case. Artegor looked like he'd rather curl up and die, Norato was amused and Aarch was... well drunk and depressed as his choice of song indicates."

"Coach drunk... Nope. Can't imagine that."

"You guys have nothing over us," Adium said with a patronizing tone as she threw her arm over the headrest and crossed her legs, "We were in the midst of all the fun on Akillian back then –and there was so much happening, too! It was a great era of art and sports and young talented people and we would spend nights by the sea, just watching the stars or swimming and talking stuff like we could right all the bad in the universe... Especially after Keira started hanging with us –she knew everyone you needed to know, all those actors, intellectual people... they throw the best parties you know!"

"Yeah, we saw a bit of it at their wedding," Tia grinned, "Some real rock'n roll people they were. My dad was very impressed by some the political ideas."

"And Aarch..." a grin spread across the woman's face as she lay her head back and looked out the window, "He was always at the centre of attention, he was so much fun! I can't really blame myself for falling for him."

"He does sound like he was easy to fall for..." Tia agreed, thinking of the posters of young Aarch she had seen. And then the song Adium had mentioned he had yelled at her from under her balcony to get her to come back to him after a ridiculous fight over their favourite football players caused them to stop talking for two weeks got into her head again, "Still, how did he think yelling out 'I hope you fucking choke' would get you guys back together?" she burst into a fit of giggles.

"He's brilliant that way," Adium said quietly.

Tia giggled and looked at the woman, expecting to see her eyes shining with tears of laughter as had been their status quo for the past couple of hours. Instead Miss Adium was looking out into the storm with a hint of appreciation and sadness in her features. She stopped giggling and set up straighter.

"He's a charmer, you know," Adium went on with that quiet voice, "He always gets what he wants in the end –and he gets away with what he's done to get there, too."

"Isn't that actually awful?" Tia couldn't stop herself from commenting. That was the coach she adored and she actually didn't want to look at him in any other way than as her coach but things had gotten personal with Adium now, "That's something he can easily manipulate."

"Exactly," Adium looked at her then, "I always knew that –I was aware what I signed up for. I tricked myself into believing I could change him but look where it got me."

The way she said that made Tia instantly sober up.

She was familiar with that feeling she could see in Adium's eye. She herself had fallen for another charmer, after all. The fact was, apparently, Aarch had been at least vaguely aware of his effect on people, while Rocket was not. He had not been aware of her interest in him at the beginning. His shocked face in response to the first time she had kissed her danced before her eyes. It was clear he had not expected that. And he had not known what to do after that incidence either. She wondered whether it made him more or less dangerous than his uncle.

"Oh, it runs in the family, right?" Adium smiled, "Norato had a similar effect on Keira –he bound her to himself so quickly, she didn't even realize what she was getting into until it was too late. He loved her, too, of course so it did turn out okay. And Keira has that appeal to herself; she would turn heads wherever she went. Rocket was destined to inherit that trait from somewhere."

There was silence as Tia contemplated on that. She didn't know much about how Norata and Keira had gotten together in the first place other than it had involved some stalking on Norata's part for the upcoming actress and a marriage over night –Rocket had not been exactly curious about it, so he didn't have much to share.

Once when they were looking at a picture of them with Aarch in their younger days, Tia had blurted out to Rocket that she was grateful for his gene pool. Rocket had given her a quizzical look and she had had to explain (demonstrate) how he was lucky in that department –he had his father's tall and slender figure and cheekbones, his uncle's strong shoulders, his mother's impressive eyes and tanned skin that made him look like he spent his life surfing on a beach on an exotic planet rather than buried in snow... by the time she had finished Rocket had announced he was lucky in the girlfriend department, too, and was grateful for his genes at least for getting her to him. She hadn't told him that it was more about his natural charm.

Tia wandered how it never occurred to her actually how much Rocket had and could hurt her. Suddenly, she realized how many times she had gone after him –she had found his mother for him only for him to around and shout at her for that, she had kissed him and he had ignored her in return, all the fuss with Netherball was hurting her head to even think about... or maybe that was the brandy, she wasn't sure, but either way being with Rocket looked like putting her heart under a lot of risk all of a sudden. Given his close family's history on love affairs, who could guarantee that he just wouldn't decide to leave her for his career? Hadn't he already left her just to be able to keep on playing football?

A little voice in her head (which sounded suspiciously like Mei's romantic mode voice) started nagging about how he had also jumped after her to certain death without a second thought. Tia shook her head to shut it up, he had pulled the Netherball stuff after that, it was possible that he had had a change of heart when that incident cost him his football career. He had done it once; he could do it again. What would happen to her then? Would she be a lonely old woman, bossy and cold like Adium?

"I thought..." she cleared her throat to sound more nonchalant, "I mean; you and Aarch didn't get back together directly, so I thought you might have been over him."

This was an important question, she needed to know if there was a way to collect yourself up after such an experience and right now Adium was the only person who could give her an answer.

Adium gave a hearty laugh instead.

"So did I."

Tia looked over at her and the older woman could see the doubts written on her face like an open book.

"Oh, it's not that bad."

Tia raised a suspicious eyebrow, how could it not be bad? She had never been one to consider relationships before she met Rocket, and their relationship had always been... natural, was the word that came into her mind. She didn't have to make plans or play tricks to get him (she thought she probably couldn't if she had to, but who knew how she would have reacted if she had a rival for his affections?); he totally hadn't needed to chase after her or anything (oh, no, she had made it easy for him, too easy –she had thrown herself at him). After the initial awkwardness, they had loved exploring the new formed relationship between them, learning more together; the way they had learned how to play as a duo in the midfield. But just like their partnership on field, just like their initial friendship, despite the obstacles it had always been undisguised. Natural. And now she was facing the fact that the boy she had apparently fallen in love with could just walk out of her life and for good this time. Would that also feel natural then?

"Trust me, it's not," Adium smiled, "It's worth every second... I would've done all of it all over again if I had the chance. Going through things and learning with heartbreak is definitely better than a life spent with not living anything. And I'm certain you'd be back on your feet even if it came down to that."

Tia nodded mutely. She wasn't certain on what Adium was saying; she was picturing herself after a break up with Rocket. She would be upset, that much was for sure. For how long though? She decided then that it couldn't last more than a week. A week. And after that she had to be back to her normal self and never give a damn about him again. That sounded like a plan and apparently she needed to plan stuff, just letting things happen did not yield to healthy results... and she didn't have to be like Adium. She could become a director and shoot movies about sons of bitches that left their girlfriends to chase after a ball for the rest of their lives. Though that would result in the press making fun of her, it would be way too obvious they were about that idiotic, selfish, gorgeous, piece of a hunk, probably. Maybe she could get into flower business, that seemed to have a calming effect on people and she would be an old, pleasant neighbourhood lady... but that would actually remind her of him too much, and besides why the hell was she leaving football all of a sudden? She would get into a rival team and show that bastard who was boss! Rocket; ready yourself for another round of epic ass-kicking. Git.

"Besides," Adium noted with a grin on her face as her eyes followed something outside through the window, "As awful as they are for stealing our hearts and running away with them –there's one thing that makes up for it at the end..."

The door to the Planet Akillian swung inwards with a creak and the silhouette of a man dragged everyone's attention to himself.

"... they always come around."

Rocket shook his dreadlocks around as he pushed back the cap of his thick hoodie and fixed his gaze onto hers as he walked towards Tia with a smile on his face, removing his gloves on the way. He sat down beside her and his arm stretched around her shoulders and left a kiss onto her nose:

"The night was supposed to be ours, and I only left when the storm calmed down anyway," he explained before she could even ask any questions. His warm hand held hers and guided it to his lips to take a sip from her drink –his eyes filled with twinkles as they focused on her bewildered expression.

The moment she felt his presence all worry was out of the window for Tia –he was totally worth whatever risk she took. She had never been the one to plan and play tricks and she didn't need to start now. Natural was good, letting things sort themselves out was fine.

Rocket added his two cents in further proving her point (and living up to his family's reputation on stolen hearts) the next morning when they tripped their way into the Academy and onto his bed.

This. This has killed me. Dammit! And I'm not even so happy with a lot of things after months of coming and going back to this piece (constructive criticism?) but uh, I'm kind of sick of it at the moment. The idea was simple: get the ladies discuss their men. But Tia started thinking too much into everything (I'm probably under the influence of her clingy self in the third season now) and I had trouble trying to write down everything she mentioned. I suppose since she doesn't talk much, she thinks too much. And curses. A lot.

And in Turkish we have this great word that translates as a "heart stealer" but sounds way and when I looked it up, Urban Dictionary told me woodchipper was close so I blame it for the weird title.

Ta!