It's All Over: The Aftermath
Disclaimer: I do not own Galactik Football and I make no money from this fanfiction.
Indecisive-ays requested a continuation (and had quite a lot of input into the plot of this chapter), so yeah, this is for you, indecisive! Not sure if this was what you wanted though…
Warning: A little bit of bad language in this chapter. Also, there may be some out-of-character-ness.
"It's over."
He had no right to ask why, there were so many things that could have done it, but he wanted to know.
"But why?"
"Because I know about him, you bastard, I know all about you and him." Tia's tears were more furious than sad now.
It was a cliché to think that he didn't mean to hurt her. But it was true, regardless. But there wasn't really anything he could have said, it was all true and he couldn't stand to lie to her and do even more harm.
So he'd let her go and that was that.
6 months later…
It was strange to think about it, but from that moment on, things did get better- slowly. Everyone knew that he and Tia had broken up, although the details of it were kept strictly secret. In a way, it was sort of a relief- not to be a part of the 'perfect couple' anymore and to be always trying to keep up that image. Although, it was somewhat tiresome having numerous teenage girls come up to him and start ranting at him about how he never should have let Tia go. And he had felt guilty, he still did, but it was nowhere near as bad as knowing that he was living a lie everyday. The guilt has also started to lessen, once he had seen that Tia had moved on and was seeing someone new.
In a way, her finding out was a blessing for him. He'd never been able to choose, so the choice had to be made for him. And it felt right, with Sinedd he didn't have to be restrained anymore, he didn't have to try and be more moral than he was like he felt he had to with Tia.
But if Rocket thought that the past would never come back to haunt him, then he was dead wrong…
Sharkey had spent the last 6 months trying to piece it together (between finding other, more pressing, scoops of course), ever since he found the pieces of the disk in the rubbish dispenser outside Aarch Academy. Let no-one say that the man –well Cyclops- wasn't committed to his work. It had been hard going, the disk had been effectively shredded, but after much cost and effort he'd managed to reassemble them and now he was ready to view whatever it was that was on the disk- he just hoped that there would be something juicy on there and that all the effort hadn't been for nothing…
Slotting the disk into his video player, he pressed play, anxiously awaiting whatever footage he might have unearthed.
As he started to watch it, and comprehend exactly what it was that he saw before him, his eyes opened very wide. He just couldn't believe it! It was…well…it was a sex tape featuring Tia and Rocket! This was the story of the century! The fact that they had broken up just made it even more sensational and there was also the fact that Tia and Rocket were considered amongst the more sweet and innocent of the players in the GF league. Yes, Sharkey could just feel it; his career was going to be made for life on the back of this.
Without any thought to how either Tia or Rocket might feel about it, he prepared to show the footage on his late-night show to make sure that everyone in the Galaxy saw his amazing discovery.
It was fairly late when Rocket got the call, tiredly he answered it, surprised to see his Dad calling him at that hour.
"Dad? What is it?" he asked, rubbing his eyes to indicate he was exhausted and that he didn't want to have a long conversation- not that Norata specialised in long conversations, in fact, he was usually painfully direct.
"Son…" Norata started, unsure of how to start. "Have you seen the recent episode of 'The Sharkey Show'?"
Rocket frowned, why was his father asking about that? And why was his tone somewhere between disapproving and pitying?
"Wait…you watch 'The Sharkey Show'?" Rocket asked, laughing to cover for his awkwardness, his father had always professed to be firmly against the watching of trashy television.
"I'm guessing that's a no," Norata said, sighing. "I'm not sure how to tell you this but…well maybe you should just watch a repeat and see for yourself…"
He hastily hung up before Rocket could say anything more, and it Rocket hadn't known better, he could have sworn that Norata was embarrassed. A sudden thought came to him- had they found out about his and Sinedd's relationship and put it on holo-tv? He'd been so careful to avoid the press finding out, but he couldn't necessarily say the same for Sinedd.
The repeat was on an hour after and Rocket stayed up to watch it, the alarm he was feeling meaning that he suddenly wasn't tired anymore.
He only had to wait a few minutes after the opening credits to find out what had got his father so flustered and it was so much worse that he had feared. Some how that little runt had managed to get hold of a video of him and Tia…well…'doing it'. Rocket didn't even remember using a holo-camera to record anything like that; he was convinced that it must have been faked. Nevertheless, people throughout the Galaxy had seen it, including his father and probably his mother and all his teammates too. He'd never been so embarrassed in his entire life. He wanted to crawl under a rock and never come out again. How was he supposed to face anyone? Not to mention how Tia must have been feeling- these things were always considered worse for girls for some unfair reason. He desperately wanted to do something, to strangle that Cyclops for instance, but he knew there was nothing he could do- people could never unsee what they had seen.
Since Norata's call he'd received several other phone calls from people that he knew- Aarch had been sympathetic (the same thing had nearly happened to him on numerous occasions), Mei was angry on Tia's behalf and Micro-ice clearly found the whole thing pretty amusing.
The next day he went over to see Sinedd, they had already planned to meet up and he knew that Sinedd would be pissed off if he didn't turn up. He just hoped that he hadn't seen last night's show.
When he entered Sinedd's hotel room and saw Sinedd watching the show, a look of possessive concentration on his face, he knew that he had no such luck.
"Sinedd, don't watch that!" he exclaimed, highly aware of how awkward and irregular this situation.
"You never do that with me!" Sinedd complained vocally, gesturing to the screen.
"Sinedd, I don't mean to be funny, but that's physically impossible for two males…"
"I didn't mean that! I'm not stupid. I just meant…" he cut off, unwilling to admit he had actually been referring to the gentle manner in which Rocket was treating Tia in clip, a sharp contrast to the rough encounters they shared. How could he tell him that he secretly wished that Rocket would show him a little bit of tenderness now and again? He felt like such a girl for even thinking it. He didn't want Rocket to get the wrong idea, usually he liked Rocket being tough and uncompromising- like the Rocket he'd awakened with Netherball, but occasionally he just wanted to see some sign that Rocket actually cared about him.
"Meant what?" Rocket asked, gesturing wildly, this whole thing was making him crazy.
"Nothing, nothing," Sinedd replied, defensively, grabbing Rocket's arm for no reason other than to be possessive. Even after they had broken up, it still seemed like Tia had a hold on Rocket, a hold that should have been all Sinedd's.
"I know this isn't ideal, but I'm sure it'll all die down eventually and everyone will forget about it," Rocket said, trying to reassure himself more than Sinedd at this point. "I'm going to try and track down that blasted paparazzo now, I'll see you later."
Sinedd rolled his eyes as he watched Rocket walk out of the door, he knew there was nothing Rocket could do now, although it might be that Sharkey was about to see a little of Rocket's dark side- the thought was kind of funny.
"I know you faked the tape," Rocket snarled, having hauled Sharkey up against the wall, holding him up by the collar of the cyclops' shirt.
"No…no…I'm a genuine reporter, I only give the people the truth…"
"What a hero!" Rocket said, sarcastically, narrowing his eyes at him.
"I got it from the rubbish, that's dumped outside Aarch Academy, 6 months ago…it was all broken up…I couldn't pass up a story like this, come on!"
Rocket dropped him, more concerned by his claim that the video was real, he swiftly exited- he and Tia were going to have to talk about this. It was inevitable that they'd need to have a conversation about it but he knew this was going to be awkward, hence his not looking forward to it.
He went round to her parent's place, hoping that they were out and it was just Tia in the house.
Of course, he had no such luck. Perhaps this was karmic payback for his sins.
"Rocket," Tia's mother greeted Rocket, her face and tone of voice colder than Akillian. "First you break my daughter's heart and now this. Have you come round to do even more damage?"
Rocket looked down, ashamedly, he'd never really seen eye to eye with Tia's parents in the first place and now they had even more reasons not to like him.
"I need to see Tia; we're in this mess together."
She just stood there, not budging, being naturally sceptical about his motives.
"Let him in," he heard Tia's voice coming from behind her mother. Eventually, she grudgingly stepped aside to let Rocket see a, rather weary-looking Tia.
They went into the living room, it no longer feeling right to go into Tia's room.
"What are we going to do?" Rocket said, asking the obvious after a few moments of awkward silence.
"I don't know," Tia replied, quietly. "I can't believe he got hold of the tape."
"I didn't even know there was a tape to get a hold of!" Rocket exclaimed.
"Well it wasn't on purpose! Remember the day before I ended it? I wanted to interview you, but we got caught up in other things and the video camera got left on. I found the footage later and destroyed it- but it looks like it wasn't as destroyed as I thought."
"Why didn't you tell me?"
"Because I was more concerned about your affair with Sinedd!"
"I'm sorry," he said, for what felt like the hundredth time.
"I know, but that's not what's important right now."
"But there's nothing we can do about that! Except maybe sue him but that doesn't make people's memories go away," he said, frustrated.
"My parents are already working on the lawsuit."
"How are you, really?" he asked, partially because he was feeling guilty, but mostly just because he missed talking to her- she had become his best friend over the years and it was hard not to have her around anymore.
"Apart from the whole sex tape business? Fine. I'm going on a date with a Pirate on Saturday; he understands the need to hide from the press. How's Sinedd?"
"Sinedd…is…Sinedd," Rocket shrugged, lamely, knowing no other way to describe what his relationship was like.
"Well, don't take him for granted."
Rocket nodded. "I hope one day we can be friends again," he said, on impulse.
"I hope so too, just not right now," Tia replied, smiling weakly.
"Bye," Rocket said, before leaving and going back to Sinedd's. Along the way he received several raunchy comments from members of the public, along with several wolf-whistles. He hoped that eventually the harassment would die down.
When he got in, Sinedd was watching 'the Sharkey Show' yet again.
"Turn that off!" Rocket said, desperate to try and break Sinedd out of his sour mood. "Let's go out somewhere, where the press won't find us, instead."
"Why don't you go out with Tia, that's where you were today, wasn't it?"
Rocket remembered Tia's advice and decided to go with it. "Because you're my boyfriend."
It was the first time either of them had actually used such a word, he just hoped it wouldn't put Sinedd off even further.
Sinedd rolled his eyes and pretended to scoff, but inside he was smiling. "I hope you're not getting soft, but let's go."
A few hours later…
Things were going well with Sinedd, they were back to normal anyways, Rocket could just feel that everything was going to go well from now on and that everything would all just settle down soon…
Little did he know that Sharkey had followed him both to and from Sinedd's hotel and was putting the finishing touches on the script for his next show about the new scandalous gay couple of Galactik Football!
Yeah, so that's it…no idea as to the quality of this but yeah…Review please!
