Chapter 4

-Goten’s POV-

I couldn’t sleep; I’d been lying there for hours, my fingers gently stroking the soft fur at the end of my new tail thoughtfully.  I dared not open my eyes in case I started to stare at Trunks and I dared not move too much in case I woke him, but I couldn’t sleep.  It wasn’t that I didn’t want to, but my thoughts were whizzing round my head like their tails were on fire, ricocheting off the walls of my brain and keeping me awake with their insistence.  I kept wondering what would have happened if Bulma hadn’t walked in at that moment, if no one had disturbed us and my head had carried on it’s downward descent.  Would Trunks have pulled back, would he have kissed back?  Perhaps he would have slapped me, or thought it was all a big game.  Who knew, it didn’t matter now, it wouldn’t happen again, I couldn’t take that risk, I couldn’t let it.

Eventually, out of sheer boredom, I cracked an eyelid and glanced up towards the bed from my position on the mattress on the floor.  To my surprise Trunks was sat up, looking out of the window, his head was cocked slightly to one side making his hair hang in a silken curtain by the side of his face.  I hadn’t even heard him open the curtains again and wondered how long he had been sat like that. 

I decided it was all right to watch him whilst he looked out of the window, he couldn’t see me after all and so long as I stayed still he would never know.  Or so I thought.  He sighed suddenly, swinging his head round to look at me, staring through the dark, his gaze piercing mine directly without even a falter.

“Why don’t you come and join me, Goten?” he asked, his voice quiet to mirror the night.

I got up warily, joining him on the bed, wondering how he had known.  Did he know?  Had he figured out what I had been about to do before?

-Trunks’ POV-

I felt his eyes on my back, staring at me, thinking I didn’t know he was.  Had he been about to kiss me before?  Would he have if mom hadn’t come in?  But that was being stupid, of course he wouldn’t have.  I sighed, no point in wishing he would come and join me, might as well invite him to.  So I asked him to, listening as he rustled around under the duvet before appearing at my side with a slight grin and settling into a comfortable position.

He looked so innocent again, not capable of what I had thought him of after all.  My eyes were flicking between him and the world outside, wanting to watch him, pretending to watch the stars.

“What are you watching?” I heard him ponder aloud, “what are you doing up so late?”

“What are you doing up so late?” I snapped back, I hadn’t meant it to sound like that, but I had tried to cover my rising anxiety with my answer and it had come out nastily.

I felt him withdraw a little, cower away from me against the window sill, felt his eyes burning into the side of my head, wondering why I had just snapped at him when he hadn’t done anything.

“I’m sorry Chibi,” I was scolding myself internally, “I didn’t mean to snap, I have a lot of things on my mind at the moment…”

-Goten’s POV-

“You and me both,” I answered, before I could stop myself, then realised what I had just said.

I felt him shift next to me and glued my eyes to the largest star I could find in an effort not to look round at him.  Perhaps if I didn’t look at him he would just drop it, wouldn’t ask me to explain.  It was a nice try, but it didn’t work.

“Something the matter?” he asked, concern evident in his voice.

“Not really,” I tried to put on my most happy, carefree voice, and flashed him a wide grin.

“I know you,” he looked around at me, “you can tell me, I won’t tell anyone,” he placed his hand on my shoulder reassuringly, but he put it on the shoulder furthest away from himself and my traitorous body sank into him like he had meant to hug me. 

Once I was there I couldn’t just jump back up again, that would have given me away all too easily, so I had to pretend like it was nothing, like it was something that happened every day and was not out of the ordinary in the least, so I stayed there.  I felt him tense a little as my head lay against his shoulder and thought I had gone too far, given the whole thing away, but then he relaxed again, closing his arms around me protectively and settling his cheek against the top of my head.

I noticed he smelt vaguely of sandalwood, his shoulder warm against my cheek.  I willed myself to just stay there, to not move, not snuggle against him and betray myself. It was hard.  I just wanted to wrap my arms around his waist, look up at him, kiss the cheek that now lay against my head.  I wondered what he was thinking, if he even cared that we were sat like this, if it did anything to him at all.  I moved my head, pressing my cheek against his shoulder a little more and felt his arms tighten around my shoulders in response.  I became vaguely aware of my tail moving, but didn’t understand the significance of this until I felt it come into contact with his, winding the two together, traitorously coiling until both tails were wrapped as one in a swirl of lilac and brown.

I felt Trunks’ skin goose bump against my cheek and realised for the first time that he wasn’t wearing a top.  How this had escaped my notice before I wasn’t quite aware, it must have been something to do with the fact that I had been trying so hard not to notice him that I actually hadn’t noticed.  He shivered and I wrapped my arms around his waist, just to keep him warm, or so I told myself.

-Trunks’ POV-

I’d smelt the sweetness of his hair, something which I hadn’t been expecting and had put me on edge.  I didn’t know why I had even put my arm around his shoulders, it hadn’t been meant to happen, but he had accepted it like he just accepted everything else, he took everything in his stride and now I had to live with it without betraying my feelings.  His hair was satin-soft against my cheek and I was longing to run my fingers through it when I felt something begin to wrap itself around my tail.  It startled me for a second until I realised it was Goten’s tail.  At this realisation I felt a tremor run right through my body, goose bumps following and skittering their way across my skin.

I shivered at the sensation, the feeling of fur against fur making me have to struggle to not get aroused as our tails wound tighter.  Then I felt his arms snake round my waist, instantly making me aware of what an intimate position we had put ourselves in.  I doubted if Goten even noticed, he was so relaxed and comfortable as I felt him rub his cheek against my bare shoulder.  The feeling of skin against skin almost made me whimper and I wondered if he knew what he was doing to me or if it was all just an innocent move to get more comfortable.

“Chibi?”  I almost choked the word, feeling his arms tighten almost protectively around my waist, not allowing me to pull away even if I had wanted to.

“Yes Trunks?” he said the words so low they were almost a breath and I could feel the corner of his mouth move against my shoulder.  The combination of my name falling from those lips like that and the feel of his cheek moving gently against my skin when he spoke almost made me moan, and I wondered shakily how I was going to get out of this situation without giving myself away one way or the other.