Bitter Medicine
Disclaimer: I do not own Galactik Football and I make no money from this fanfiction.
Indecisive-ays wanted 'something in which Rocket's Netherball-ish over Tia' and somehow it became a sequel to 'This Enemy of Mine.' I hope you enjoy, indecisive.
He never saw it coming. He'd grown too arrogant, too sure of himself, a weakness he'd always tried to steer well clear of. But that was the problem with winning all the time, it begins to seem impossible that you would ever lose, the failures of the distant past seeming more like bad dreams than memories.
It doesn't do to underestimate your opponent; it was his fault for doing exactly that, he's known D'jok long enough to know that he never just gives up. He wasn't not as stupid as he seemed most of the time.
And then there's that unpredictable streak that you have to watch out for. Because normally you could predict everything he was going to say down to the last word (especially when on one of his destiny rants) but once in blue moon, he'd do or say something completely out of the ordinary.
It all started that day he'd entered the Team Lounge and found D'jok there as if he had never left the Snow Kids for Team Paradisia, as if he had every right to be there.
Well, Rocket had to ignore his boldness. What he admired less was D'jok's arm draped, casually, around Tia's shoulder. Not to mention the fact that the two of them were in there, alone. He didn't want to jump to conclusions, he knew that not everyone was as unfaithful as he, but already several streams of thought were filtering through his brain, his instinct telling him to haul D'jok off somewhere and teach him a lesson he'd never forget (although perhaps he'd already had enough of those).
"Hi Rocket, D'jok just came by to hang out," she said, her voice sounding completely normal, there being no hint of guilt to mar its clear tones.
"Did he?" he said, raising an eyebrow. He knows that she'll attribute his tone to the rivalry there has always been between him and D'jok, or think that he's angry that D'jok left the team.
She was innocent of any wrongdoing, he was sure of that much at least.
"Yes, I did, actually. Tia's been telling me the most hilarious stories about what Micro-ice has been up to recently," he said, smugness running all the way through his voice, facial expression and posture.
Rocket doesn't think that D'jok pulled arrogance off quite as well as he does, there was always such a lack of subtly with D'jok that made his posturing irritating more than anything else. He doesn't just feel irritated now though, even though he knew that D'jok is no real threat to him, he still felt the urge to tell him to back the hell away from his girl.
"They weren't that funny," Tia said, modestly, despite the fact that her faced flushed with happiness at the compliment. Rocket's face, however, was flushed with an entirely different emotion; rage.
Sensing Rocket's death glare upon him, D'jok stood up, removing his arm from where it had lay resting.
"I've got to go now, I'll see you around," D'jok said, giving Tia a quick hug before he left, deliberately ignoring the Rocket glowering at him.
"It was nice of him to come by," Tia commented, after he had left, much to Rocket's concern.
"Why was he here anyway?" Rocket asked, trying to affect a neutral tone but not quite succeeding despite having years of practice at not revealing his emotions. It was just harder nowadays, especially when Tia was involved.
"I didn't know old friends needed a reason to visit," Tia said, pointedly.
Rocket hadn't known them to be particularly close friends in the first place.
Tia had noticed that she was receiving an increasing number of texts on her holo-phone from D'jok, each one becoming more and more 'friendly' than the last. He'd visited again, a couple of days later, when 'coincidentally' when she was the only one around.
She also happened to notice Rocket becoming increasingly irritated every time her holo-phone buzzed; he kept trying to read over her shoulder all the while maintaining a disinterested expression on his face.
It was all funny that she was finding it hard to keep her own face straight and not just burst into raucous laughter. Her boyfriend seemed to think that he was good at concealing his emotions from her, but she could read his face like a book. She was far better at this than him, she was far better at maintaining an aura of complete lack of awareness- specifically, pretending that she didn't know that D'jok was coming on to her or that Rocket was working himself into a fit of jealousy about it.
She could have set him straight, told him that she had no interest in D'jok beyond being friends and that she wasn't about to get taken advantage of by every man with ideas in his head (as Rocket evidently feared).
But she didn't. She liked seeing him squirm a little, it was only fair, he was getting a taste of his own medicine. It was good for him to know how she'd felt when he was allowing Lun-Zia to be all over him whilst seeming to be completely ignorant of it all. Complacency was bad for any relationship and she couldn't have him taking her for granted anymore, not after everything they'd been through.
From then on, D'jok upped his game- she received orange flowers from a supposedly 'anonymous admirer' although the card was written in D'jok's handwriting. The next day Rocket presented her with an even bigger bouquet of flowers, insisting that it wasn't for any special reason, just because he could. Almost every time she went out, she 'just happened' to bump into D'jok on the way there. Strangely enough, Rocket always seemed to be going that same way too. And she was receiving compliments from both boys by the bushel.
"I saw this and thought of you," D'jok was saying, handing Tia an obviously expensive bracelet.
"Oh, that's so nice of you," Tia was saying, before being interrupted by Rocket, placing himself between Tia and D'jok.
"I would back off if I were you," he yelled, pushing D'jok's shoulder for emphasis.
"Calm down, I was just-"
"Keep your hands off, Tia, she's mine," he said, forcefully, all the anger he had been suppressing finally releasing itself.
D'jok didn't say anything, just smirked. It occurred to him that this was what D'jok had wanted from him all along, to make him lose control, the control he had over him. A moment of understanding passed between them, silently communicated.
"Fine," D'jok said, shrugging.
"Fine," Rocket said, in return, grudgingly know that he'd have to release D'jok from their informal arrangement in order to protect that what was most precious to him.
D'jok walked off, knowing that he was free again. Although, he couldn't help but feel a twinge of disappointment that he hadn't managed to win Tia over after all (he'd always sort of had a crush on her), it was mostly overpowered by the relief that he felt- he felt powerful again, he hadn't felt that since Mei had left.
"Let's go back," Tia said, sweetly, taking Rocket's hand as they walked.
"So, you never would have?" Rocket asked, meekly, feeling put in his place.
"Never would have what? Gone off with D'jok? Not a chance, I just like it when you get jealous," she admitted, laughing.
"Oh, you are going to pay for that," he replied, flirtatiously.
"I don't doubt it."
Rocket smiled and for now this was enough.
That's it for this fic; I hoped you liked it! Also, it's my 100th fic; I can't believe it! Review please!