Chapter 5

-Trunks’ POV-

What had I been about to say?  I didn’t really know.  The only thing I could think of was his soft lips, so close to mine yet so far away at the same time.  I couldn’t get my head around the sensations that were running through my body and realised if I didn’t think of something else fairly quickly those sensations were going to overpower my logical thought.

So I said the first think that came to my mind, “Are you going to answer my question, or not?”

He became confused I could feel by the way in which he shifted uncomfortably against me, he must have gotten so comfortable he had forgotten all about the reason I had wrapped my arms around him in the first place.  Or, at least, the excuse I had used to wrap my arms around him.

“What’s on your mind?”

-Goten’s POV-

I had forgotten about that question, the reason we where like this in the first place.  As soon as he reminded me of it I shifted uncomfortably.  How could I answer that?  I would give myself away immediately if I did.  But perhaps that was the best thing to do, tell him, get it out in the open.  He was asking for the truth, what if I just gave it?  He had asked so simply and if I just gave the answer just as simply, as if it was nothing, as if I wasn’t brooding on it, as if it hadn’t kept me awake all night and countless nights before.

What was I thinking!?  I couldn’t do that!  If I told him and he rejected me… but if I told him and he accepted it, if he didn’t mind, or even if he felt the same way… but I couldn’t take that risk.  If I told him and he was revolted, hated me for it, I couldn’t live knowing that.

I felt him lift his head so he could look down on me, waiting for an answer.  I had never refused to answer him anything before, he knew everything about me, we shared all our secrets with each other, never holding back, never keeping information to ourselves, but this, how could I tell him this?  And he was waiting for an answer, looking down on me expectantly, with all the trust of knowing I would tell him in a minute, knowing I couldn’t keep anything from him.  Only this time I was, this time I couldn’t tell him, couldn’t confide in him.

That knowledge suddenly overwhelmed me; I couldn’t stop the rush of emotion.  It took over my body so quickly I didn’t even see it coming, had no time to prepare for it.  It swept through my body and escaped my throat as a soft sob.  I felt myself grab at Trunks’ waist, my tail tightening around his and pressed my cheek into his shoulder, praying to Kami that he hadn’t noticed, even though I knew there was no way he could have missed it. 

-Trunks’ POV-

I felt Goten’s whole body tremble against mine, his tail and arms tighten where they were and, just as I was about to ask what had just happened I heard him sob quietly against my shoulder.  I couldn’t understand it, he had just been smiling up at me a minute before, flashing that cute grin that he always wore, now he was upset?  Had I inadvertently dug too deep by asking about what was on his mind?  But then we shared everything.  Not everything, a little voice in the back of my mind reminded me, he didn’t know one thing, and if I was keeping something from him then perhaps there was something I didn’t know.

I brought my hand to his cheek, tracing my fingertips along his cheekbone to try to quiet him.  I didn’t know what to do to comfort him because I didn’t know what the matter was, but I still had to try.  Laying aside my own feelings and yearnings for a while I pulled him into my lap and wrapped my arms around him.

His head never left my shoulder, just swivelled to accommodate the movement.  Our tails putting up a little protest because they were so tightly wound together until he loosed his a little so they didn’t pull.  I brought one hand up into his hair, laying my fingers amongst the silken strands, my thumb stroking the back of his head comfortingly.

“Goten, what’s wrong?” I could hear the concern in my voice and hoped he would put that down to our friendship, “If I said something to upset you, I’m sorry.  It’s alright.”

“Not you,” he sniffed.  I felt him shift in my arms to stare up at me and lifted my gaze to meet his.  His sable eyes smouldered up at me, full of tears and an emotion which looked like longing.  They were full of unshed tears, making them glisten and reflect the stars that still hung in the sky outside the window. “Trunks… we’re friends, right?”

I couldn’t believe he had asked that question.  I blinked back at him uncomprehendingly for a few moments before I answered, “Of course!  What would make you think otherwise?  Of course we’re friends Goten, we always will be.”

He nodded, his eyes sliding away from mine slowly.  Something flashed across them before he looked away entirely, but I must have misjudged it because it looked like disappointment to me.

-Goten’s POV-

Friends forever.  That was just it, I didn’t want us to be friends, I wanted us to be more than that, but the way Trunks said it left no doubt in my mind that that was how he saw us, friends.  Any thought I had had of telling him died the minute that sentence left his lips.  I looked away, trusting to the night to mask the disappointment that must have been evident in my eyes.  As I did so I felt his hand, which had been in my hair at the back of my head, shift position to my cheek, pulling my face back round so I was looking Trunks in the eye.

I stared back at him, surprised, wondering why he had just done that.  His ice-blue eyes were smouldering with an emotion, which looked, to me, like need.  I could have drowned in those eyes.  Although they were ice blue they weren’t cold, never had been.  At least not towards me, I had seen them turn cold in an instant when dealing with a pesky girl or irritating guy, but, when turned on me, they had always been warm and caring.  I loved Trunks’ eyes, and now I found myself openly staring into them with nowhere else to look because the owner of those intense eyes held my chin, gently but firmly. 

I felt my bottom lip quiver, a fission run all the way up my spine sparking little tremors where it ran.  I felt Trunks’ thumb move against my chin, tracing along my jawbone a little way and stopping in just the right position to tilt my head up towards his slightly.  The idea dawned on me that Trunks was about to kiss me.  Thoughts scurried over themselves in my brain to try to make sense of what I knew by instinct was about to happen.  But his lips didn’t descend and the time stretched on as I waited for what would happen next.  It occurred to me that maybe he was as scared as I was; perhaps he hadn’t guessed how I felt and didn’t quite know how to proceed. 

I could feel his warm breath fanning across my lips and cheeks, his gaze still holding mine, unwilling or unable to release my own eyes.  I purposefully tightened my tail around Trunks’, curling it in such a way to create the most friction between the two.  I felt a spark of pleasure reach out from the base and run up my spine, Trunks must have felt the same thing because he gasped suddenly, the pupils of his eyes dilating so the ring of blue became almost invisible. 

I touched my fingertips to his elbow, slowly running my hand up to his shoulder and resting my hand there, wondering if Trunks would pull away.  He didn’t, he didn’t even move, just kept my gaze steadily, his breath coming slightly quicker.  Encouraged, I shifted my grip to his neck, curling my fingers around his neck into the very bottom of his hair.  I used a little pressure there to pull his head down slightly towards mine, reaching up myself until our lips were almost touching.  Trunks didn’t pull away; I could see the question in his eyes, asking if this was what I wanted, asking if I was thinking the same thing he was.  We were so close I could feel the heat rolling off him, our breath mingling together, sharing air.

I leaned in a little further, our lips just touching, loosing my hold on the back of his neck a little so he could pull back if he wanted to.  My eyes slid shut in anticipation and, just as I was about to close the gap completely, there was a loud thud out in the hallway, as if someone had been thrown against a wall and a loud moan, which was obviously issued from my dad.  Trunks flew away from me, he didn’t go far, but he put distance between us, and in doing so, broke the spell that had been woven over us.  He looked away distractedly, pretending to be interested in what was unravelling in the hall, arching an eyebrow as Vegeta’s moans were added to those of my own father.

I sat in shock for a moment.  The reality of being left alone on the bed again taking my breath away.  Once I had regained my composure, after a few minutes, I also pretended to be interested in what was taking place outside the bedroom whilst I regained my thoughts and calmed my pounding heart.  I listened to my father moan, followed by another thud, and then heard Vegeta almost shriek my fathers name, and not his saiyan name either, but his earth name, Goku.

The realisation suddenly dawned on me.  I remembered Bulma’s words earlier when she had disturbed us, and put two and two together.  I suddenly understood what she had meant.  ‘Like father, like son,’ she had said, and now I knew what she meant.  It was obvious to any half-whit what was going on out in that hallway, and if it was between my father and Trunks’ that meant… so what Bulma had meant was that Trunks was gay, or bi-sexual at least, and she had seemed pretty sure of herself.

I almost whooped with joy, thanking Kami that the disturbance had been in the form of Vegeta and my father, even though I didn’t really want to visualise exactly what was going on out there.  I smiled to myself, my eyes coming to rest on the side of Trunks’ face; he was still pretending to be interested in Vegeta and father; now I had the courage I needed to actually do something about this.  I had wanted Trunks for so long but had never had the courage to even say anything about it, now I knew for certain, or as certain as I was ever going to be without putting it to the test, and it gave me added courage.  I was going to do this and be damned with the consequences; I’d had enough of waiting!