The Trouble with Heartbreak
Disclaimer: I do not own Galactik Football and I make no money from this fanfiction.
This takes place in the 'Trouble with Love Potions' verse; set way before the events of that fic takes place. The other Shadows players mentioned are my OCs.
"Down it," Grilha ordered, passing them each a glass filled with a dark and suspicious looking liquid.
"What's in it?" Artegor asked, eying him with caution. They hadn't lived among them long but he still knew not to trust teammates bearing gifts- especially when those gifts came from their unscrupulous captain.
"It's a drink to celebrate the fact that you finally got the Smog," he smoothly replied, his face an uncharacteristic picture of innocence.
Now Artegor knew something was up- he was never usually that nice, he certainly hadn't welcomed them into the team with open arms. That and the fact that the other teammates were looking at them with anticipation- as if they knew something was going to go down- was only increasing his feeling of unease.
"Hmmmm…." Artegor managed to imbue the sound with a tone of disbelief.
"Oh come on Artegor," Aarch slurred, having drunk too much already. "Don't be a spoil-sport!"
Artegor sighed and Aarch knew he was weakening.
"Go on, let's down them together," he urged further.
Artegor knew he was going to regret this but as Aarch raised his glass he found himself doing the same. He looked into straight into Aarch's eyes as he gulped it down.
He felt nothing before dropping into a faint on the floor.
"Okay, you've had your laugh now," he said, accepting the hand up as he pulled himself off the floor- watching Aarch similarly being hoisted up.
"Do you feel any…different?" Kilmus asked, raising his eyebrows in a suggestive manner.
"Yeah, I have a splitting headache thanks to your little prank," Artegor replied, sourly, not really caring whether he offended them or not- he wasn't going to be cowed by them. "If you don't mind, I think I'll go to bed now."
"Wait," Aarch said, his voice dropping into a strange purring tone. "I'll come with you- there's room for two right?"
"W-what?" Artegor whirled around to look at Aarch; wondering whether he could have possibly have heard that correctly.
From the giggles of his teammates he felt certain that he had. Aarch just shrugged, in an arrogant sort of manner, giving him the smile- Artegor had seen that look on his face before, always before he ended up going home with some girl. In all that time, he had never seemed it aimed at him before, the full force of it was blinding.
The awareness that his fellow Shadow's players were surrounding him seemed to dim; it was like standing out in front of a car, the headlights on full blast, but being somehow unable to move- just waiting for impact.
"Let's go," Aarch said, breaking the moment, dragging him away by the hand. "See you later!"
The others said nothing in response to that but Artegor could practically hear their smirks.
He walked back to their room feeling dazed and confused. Was this really happening to him? He'd been waiting for this for so long and now it was finally happening it didn't feel real. He wondered whether he was still on the floor in their common room, passed under the influence of whatever he had been given.
Aarch pulled him into the room with a sharp movement, pressing him up against the wall.
"I can't believe I didn't notice how hot you were until now," Aarch said, shaking his head but smiling at the same time.
"I..er…" Artegor's inarticulate attempts at a sentence were soon cut off by Aarch grabbing him firmly by the collar and initiating a passionate lip lock. Artegor let himself get swept away in it for what seemed like the longest time.
"Wait," he said, breaking away, hating himself for it. "When exactly did you start 'noticing' me?"
"Just tonight but trust me, it's been like a revelation," Aarch said, leaning in to get down to kissing again but Artegor managed to brush him aside.
He just had this horrible sinking feeling in his gut- he'd known deep down from the start this couldn't be real- they'd done something to him, he just knew it. There'd never be any other reason that Aarch would pay the slightest amount of attention to him- he never had and he never would in any genuine context.
"I'm going to sleep," Artegor announced, turning away from him, not bearing to see the false look of lust in Aarch's eyes- it was the only way he could keep himself from giving into his advances however chemically induced they might be.
"Do you-" Aarch started, in the same tone he had been using for the past ten minutes.
"No," Artegor said, flatly- knowing it was a lie but one he had to tell. "I just want to go to sleep." He got into his bed and turned over so that he was staring at the wall.
"I'm not sure I understand…" Aarch's tone had turned a little more serious now. "You seemed into it a minute ago."
"You're right, Aarch," he said, wearily. "You don't understand."
"I like a challenge," Aarch replied, cheerily, before getting into his own bed and turning off the light. "Don't think I'll forget about this tomorrow."
Artegor knew he certainly wouldn't forget anything that had transpired that night.
The next morning he woke up to Aarch leering at him- so it hadn't all been a dream- and it hadn't worn off. A treacherous little voice in his mind started whisper that perhaps that meant it was real after all- but he quashed it and just tried to ignore anything that Aarch had to say the entire walk to the breakfast hall.
Oh course all eyes were on them as soon as they walked in. Artegor just glowered at them before taking his seat and getting on with eating his breakfast in peace- although he had no such luck of course- Aarch was trying to act all seductive eating a piece of fruit hovering around where Artegor was sitting, much to the amusement of their severely annoying teammates.
"Just sit down and eat your Hyrakan!" Artegor eventually snapped. "You're going to need the energy for training."
Aarch did as he was told, sitting down sulkily, not even attempting to eat the Hyrakan in any fashion that could be considered to seductive- the stuff was so foul that calling it an acquired taste would have been far too complimentary.
After swallowing a mouthful of the stuff, Aarch started to say something else, but fell off his chair midsentence.
"Aarch!" he shouted, running over to see what was wrong with him- he seemed to have passed out again.
Aarch opened his eyes slowly, looking around confusedly. "Is it morning already?"
"I guess the fun's over," Deska said to Grilha, not sounding all that put out.
"How did I get home after the party?" Aarch tilted his head to one side to try and muddle things out.
"Do you really not remember anything?" Artegor asked, trying hard to keep his tone entirely neutral.
"I remember drinking something…hey! You put something in there, didn't you?" He turned to face Grilha, who was doing a very poor job of maintaining a face of perfect innocence.
"You know, I put something in Artegor's drink too," Grilha said, finally admitting to it. "But he doesn't seem to be affected by it."
"Lucky him!" Aarch said, sounding fairly jovial despite what had just happened.
Somehow Artegor didn't feel lucky at all.
Artegor tried to avoid speaking to Aarch (or any of his other teammates) in the following hours, which was easy enough because practice was usually treated as a very serious affair with the Shadows.
Still, Aarch somehow managed to catch up with him after practice, despite all of Artegor's best efforts to avoid him.
"Hey, listen," Aarch said, sitting casually next to him. "The others filled me in on what happened- I don't remember, but I guess that must have been pretty alarming for me to start coming on to you. Sorry."
"It's fine it was just…whatever that stuff was that they gave you."
"A real life love potion apparently," Aarch filled in, grinning a little. "I'm going to have to get them back for this."
"Yes, I'm sure you will," Artegor said, vaguely, just feeling numb to the entire situation.
"So we're cool?" Aarch looked at him expectantly.
"Yes, of course," Artegor replied- he had no other choice but to say it.
"Great." Aarch got up but he didn't leave just yet. "Oh, and you never told me…"
Artegor blinked. "Told you what?"
"Well apparently the potion doesn't work on anyone who's already in love…so who is it? It's not Deska is it?"
"What?" Artegor was too flummoxed to even answer that question.
"I'll get it out of you one of these days; don't think I'm forgetting about this."
Then Aarch exited the room, leaving Artegor alone with his heartbreak.
Years Later…
He sat alone in the room, clutching the bottle that had just arrived in the post- genuine brewed love potion delivered fresh from the Shadow's Archipelago. This wasn't the first time he had taken it voluntarily but it had been a while- he'd given up using the stuff as a test years ago, when he'd given into that Smog-fuelled hatred, he'd tried to forget that he had ever loved Aarch.
But now he was cured of his Smog poisoning and Aarch had accepted him back as a friend- as assistant coach to the Snow Kids even- and the thought started to emerge back into his mind again.
So he walked out into the street and took a swig out of the bottle, collapsing in the soft snow- he'd forgotten about that rather unfortunate side effect.
When he woke, he was being nursed by Dame Simbai, who had happened to be passing by at that time.
She was attractive, age-appropriate, and good natured- but he felt nothing. It was still just Aarch there in his head.
"Are you okay, Artegor? You just fainted; I should take you back to the clinic and run some tests…"
"No," Artegor said, sharply. "It's just a little bit of low blood pressure, it happens occasionally. I'll just go home and rest."
He got up and scuttled back to his house before she could object. He locked the door behind him, still reeling from the unwanted knowledge that even after all this time he was still stuck.
He felt more lonely than ever in that moment.
That's it for this fic; I hope you enjoyed it. It feels kind of unfinished but on the other hand, I think when you have an unrequited love that doesn't go away there can't really be any resolution for the character involved. *Shrugs.* Please review; I love getting feedback!