Blind Passion
Disclaimer: I do not own Galactik Football and I make no money from this fanfiction.
Follow up to the fics 'All His Life' and 'Winds of Change', inspired that a comment from indecisive-ays 'what are you trying to do get Thran to be interested in you instead?'
Characterisation note: I gave Thran a bit of a Madonna-whore complex, it seemed to make sense in the context of the previous fics.
Again, like the last fic, this is slightly farfetched.
Time had passed, surprisingly quickly, the incident nothing but a distant memory that felt more like a hallucination than something that had actually happened. Everything had returned to the natural order of things; Rocket had eventually ceased with his snide comments, Tia had stopped blushing every time she saw Thran, and Thran had gone back to watching cautiously from a distance. Rocket and Tia seemed as solid as they ever had.
So why had Thran received a mysterious note, from Rocket, summoning him to his room? He had a strange sense of déjà vu, although for all he knew it could be perfectly innocent; Rocket had been on his best behaviour recently, he probably just wanted to talk strategy or something.
Still, he couldn't help but feel anxious; he didn't put anything past Rocket.
He arrived, trying not to appear as nervous he felt, waiting for Rocket to answer the door- bracing himself for whatever might be to come.
This time, Rocket didn't even bother to pretend to be surprised, instead he was smirking- a facial expression, that on him, was always liable to provoke dread in Thran.
He gestured him in and so Thran stepped tentatively into the room, not sure what he would find.
He had a look around- the room was empty- no sign of Tia anywhere. That was something at least, Thran allowed himself to hope that this really might be all about football and not a repeat performance of the last time he had been in Rocket's room.
"Is there something I should be working on for the next match?" he said, in the hope of steering the conversation down the safe route.
Rocket waved the question away. He walked over and sat down on his bed.
"That's not what you're here for, you must know that," Rocket said, fixing him with an intense stare.
Thran said nothing in return, so Rocket carried on talking regardless.
"Sit down," he said, patting space on the bed beside him- the tone was pleasant, chummy even, but it was clear that it was an order- it was not a suggestion.
Thran scurried over and sat down, feeling like a mouse being toyed with by a powerful creature, a lion perhaps.
"You're a virgin, aren't you?" Rocket said, in the same tone, as if it were nothing- had Thran been drinking, he would have spat it out. Worse still, it wasn't really a question; he was just confirming something that he already knew.
He didn't give an answer; he knew that Rocket wasn't expecting one.
"Waiting for Tia? You're wasting your time; she'd never stray when she has me to satisfy her," Rocket continued, as if he had gotten an answer.
"I know, she's not that kind of girl," Thran snapped, rushing to her defence. Even he had the opportunity, he could never touch Tia, she was far to pure for that- nothing he had seen that unforgettable night had changed that opinion, that had been all down to Rocket, he'd forced her into it. Yes, Tia was pure, but Rocket was something else entirely.
Rocket shook his head at Thran's naïve, idealised view of her- a view he'd shared once, before he'd learnt that there was something dark lying inside even the most seemingly innocent. Netherball taught him that.
Rocket leaned over. "What kind of guy am I?"
Before he even gave Thran the chance to come up with an answer, he pressed his lips forcefully to Thran's own, taking no notice of the fact that Thran wasn't exactly responsive.
"You…you're…wrong…what about Tia?" Thran spluttered, more upset about Rocket's betrayal of Tia than about the fact it had been with him.
"What about her?" Rocket said, flippantly, as if she were a completely irrelevant concern.
"She doesn't deserve this," Thran stated, firmly, this was something he was sure of, something he could answer Rocket with.
Rocket got in close again, uncomfortably close; Thran could feel Rocket's breath on the skin of his neck. "You do realise that this is the closest you'll ever get to her."
He could see Thran wavering, even if Thran himself was not aware of it. He'd become persuasive; doing things he shouldn't had become a pastime of his and the only thing better than that, was persuading other people to do things that they shouldn't with him. He loved watching people battle internally with themselves, torn between what they knew was right, and what he was offering.
It made him feel all the better for being free of such constraints as conscience and concern for others.
At least that was what he liked to believe- truth was, he had been trying again, repressing everything, pushing every nasty thought to the bottom of his mind, acting like the role model- the Coach's golden boy, Tia's perfect boyfriend.
So now he had to do something bad, as compensation for having to pretend, and who better to pick on than someone even more caught up in playing the role of nice guy that he?
He kissed Thran again, deeper this time, more passionately- not that he was really attracted to Thran; it's the idea of it all that he gets off on. And for Thran there's the compulsion to know, the compulsion to investigate, what it was that had made Rocket so warped, so twisted.
"Tia would be devastated if she found out," Thran said, even as Rocket was removing his shirt.
"It's not all about Tia; you have your own needs, don't you?" Rocket replied, mockingly. Seeing that this was the entirely wrong stratagem to take, he added something, almost like an afterthought. "She'd be so upset that she'd probably break-up with me for good, she'd be out of my clutches, she'd be safe"
Thran inhaled sharply, afraid that what Rocket said made a lot of sense- he'd be doing it for Tia, as much as she might grow to hate him (the thought was still painful), he'd be making a sacrifice for her. It was somewhat logical, and Thran would like to believe he was ruled by logic rather than lust.
So, he pushed all his remaining doubts aside and gave into Rocket's advances.
The next day…
"I suppose you're going to run off and tell her then?" Rocket said, lounging on the bed, watching Thran get dressed. He didn't even sound worried.
"Yes," Thran replied, that- after all, had been the entire point of his encounter, it was the only thing he could do to stop the guilt eating him alive, it was the only way he could break Rocket's hold over himself, over Tia.
He walked stiffly out of the room, going back to his own to compose himself before the confession.
"Where have you been?" Ahito asked. "I don't think you were here at all last night."
Thran visibly shuddered at the question.
"I was working on a project, I got lost track of time," he lied, weakly, there was no point telling Ahito the truth, it would only confuse him.
Knowing that he had to act, had to escape the claustrophobic cage of fear that he could feel forming around him, he went left the room, abruptly, walking down the hallway to Tia's room.
He knocked on the door, forcing himself to do if before he chickened out- this had all been for her, he had to remember that, everything was for her.
"Tia…" he started, this one word feeling like an effort to speak.
"What's the matter?" she asked, clearly concerned.
"I…I…did something…" he started, stopping abruptly as he became aware of Rocket in the line of his peripheral vision. He stopped and turned his head, sharply to look at him; he was standing there, just outside his own door, looking as if butter wouldn't melt in his mouth.
Tia also spotted Rocket's presence, giving him a little wave, a smile on her face.
Rocket smiled and waved back, giving a perfect performance as ever.
"Do you want to come inside and talk to me?" Tia asked, turning her attention back to Thran.
"No, it's nothing, honestly," he managed to get out, before scuttling away. He just couldn't bring himself to destroy Tia's happiness, no matter how false it was.
If he had looked back he would have seen Rocket smirking, because he'd known all along that Thran wouldn't be able to tell her- that he couldn't stand to give up even the slimmest chance that Tia might someday see that Thran was the good guy, the guy for her.
But that would never happen; he'd taken the truth of Thran's character and made it a mask, he was no better than him now.
And Tia would remain his, forever.
Ermm…yeah, I'm not sure whether this is any good at all. Also, I wanted there to be a sense that neither Thran nor Rocket really knows Tia and they both treat her more as an object than as a real person- for Thran she's this symbol of everything good and innocent, and for Rocket, she's a prize possession, they're both in the wrong here- I'm not sure how well this came across, but oh well. Review please!
