Dragon Ball/Z/GT Fan Fiction ❯ Compromise ❯ Chapter 6 ( Chapter 6 )
[ T - Teen: Not suitable for readers under 13 ]
Chapter Six
[Goten]
“Come on, Goten!” I hear Gohan yelling at me as I wince slightly, sitting up. I know I should have been able to avoid that last punch easily, if I hadn't been thinking about Trunks. But, it's been so hard to concentrate lately. Well, more like ever since I kissed him…then he kissed me…then I lost track of who was kissing who. This was, however, over a week ago and it's not like we haven't seen each other since. Which actually may be adding to the problem…
“Goten, what is going on with you?” Gohan is now standing next to me, his arms crossed over his chest and his head tilted slight to the side, a lot like what our dad does when he's confused by something.
“Nothing,” I say quietly, standing up and brushing the dirt off my pants and shirt.
“I wouldn't say that it's nothing, I mean come on Goten, you should have been able to avoid that with no problem, I wasn't exactly sneaking up on you,” he sounds annoyed with me, and I know why, “You've been like this all week, there has to be something that's going on in that head of yours.”
We stare at one another for a long moment before he finally asks, “Does this have something to do with mom and Divinia?”
“No,” I answer automatically, then as his eyebrow rises questioningly I add, “only sort of. But listen Gohan…”
He starts talking, not listening, “Goten, if you don't want to marry that woman, then you shouldn't let mom make you. Don't let her bully you into marrying some rich princess that you have nothing in common with just because she thinks it's a good idea.”
After he's finished I nod slowly, “Gohan, don't worry about that. I've decided I'm not going to marry Divinia, and I will find some way to break the news to mom.”
Gohan lets out a long breath, “so, is that what's been causing you to be so distracted while training? Trying to figure out how to let mom down gently?”
I give a little shrug for my answer before rolling my shoulder to work out a stiff muscle from that last fall. “That was part of it, I guess,” I say distractedly.
“Part of it?” Gohan asks, a hint of suspicion in his voice, “What else is going on that's causing you to be so distracted?”
I close my eyes, realizing I should have just said yes and been done with the whole topic.
[Trunks]
“Trunks!” Susan's voice, along with the sharp snap of her fingers causes me to concentrate on her once again. “Jeeze, boy, you've been total space cadet for a week at least. You dreaming about some boy, or what?”
I chuckle, she knows me so well. “Come on Susan, am I really the type to get completely lost in thought about some guy?”
One thin eyebrow arches delicately upward, “Some guy, no. A specific guy you might have it bad for? That, I wouldn't put past you. So spill, who is he?” her hands move around as she talks, they usually do. She leans towards me, adding before I can start to talk, “He must be somethin' because I haven't seen you get this bad ever.”
I roll my eyes and lean back in the chair, tossing a celery stick into my mouth. She frowns at me as I chew in silence. “You're being evasive,” she finally points out, pulling the veggies on the table closer to herself. “Come on, Trunks. I'm your best friend, you tell me everything! What fun are you if we can't even talk about whatever crush you have going on.”
Reaching across the table and grabbing another celery stick, I put a thoughtful expression on my face for her benefit. She's not buying it and her expression tells me so. “Fine,” is say, setting the food down on a napkin. Her smile widens as she leans in conspiratorially, she can be so overdramatic sometimes.
[Goten]
“It's noting, Gohan, really,” I tell him again, avoiding his kick aimed for my side. We've been sparring for about an hour since he knocked me to the ground last time, all the while he's been constantly asking me about `what the reason is'.
“Come on, I'm your brother. I can help, I do know a thing or two,” he pushes, moving out of the way of my blast.
I decide to ignore him, dropping back down to Earth. “Let's find some food, I'm starving.” Gohan lands beside me, setting his hand on the back of my head like he and my dad used to do when I was little. It's a little weird now since I'm about the same height as him.
“You're not going to get off that easy,” he says, messy up my hair. As he drops his hand, he stares up at the sky, walking in silence for a moment. I wonder what he's thanking about, if he's still trying to figure what's been causing me to be so distracted. “Well,” he finally says, still looking up, “if mom and Davinia are part of the problem, does that mean you found someone you're actually interested in?”
I look in his direction briefly, wondering what I should say in response. Trunks and I haven't really discussed it, and I don't know what anyone's response would be. But I don't want to flat out lie to my brother, something about that just seems wrong even if it would cause less trouble that way. Instead I choose to say nothing, I figure this'll cause less damage.
“It is, isn't it? That's the reason you've been lost in thought, mooning over someone,” he's grinning, probably proud of himself for solving the mystery or something. “Who is she? Come on, Goten, spill.”
I find myself biting my bottom lip and force myself to stop. I try to figure out what harm could come of telling him. He's Gohan, after all…and if anyone would be understanding about it, with out being all goofy like dad, it would probably be him. Biting my bottom lip again, despite myself, I finally decide that it couldn't hurt, at least not much…and Trunks will understand, I know he will. It's not like he told me not to tell anyone.
I stop walking, looking over at him slightly again. It takes a moment, but he stops walking too, realizing I'm no longer moving. “What?” he asks, turning around to look at me.
“I'm not interested in a girl,” I say, sort of avoiding the question. I may have decided to tell him, but I still feel sort of uncomfortable about it. What if he doesn't react how I think it will?
“Huh?” he says, looking confused. I don't blame him…I'm acting kind of strange and I know it.
“It's not a girl I'm interested in,” I say, rewording my response slightly.
“It's not a girl?” he repeats back to me questioningly, “As in you're interested in someone that's not a girl? Like…what? A guy?”
I watch him carefully as he works through it. I knew he'd be able to, he's pretty good a figuring things out, a lot smarter than me when it comes to that stuff. And this way I don't actually have to tell him, at least not in so many words.
He's looking at me again, waiting for my response. All I do is nod to let him know that he's right. I keep watching him, waiting for what his reaction is going to be. All he does is give a little nod and smile before asking, “Alright, so who is he?”
I smile, my nervousness lessening, “Well, it's all kind of weird,” I start off. “I mean, I wasn't really expecting it, and it sort of just happened…you know, it was surprising at first but then it just sort of worked itself out and now…”
I'm surprised when he interrupts me, “It's Trunks, isn't it?”
“What?” I say, not sure I've heard him right. I mean, I didn't think we'd been that obvious.
“It's Trunks, right?” he asks again. “I mean, I kind of thought something might happen, or have happened, between you two with how close you were as kids. Right up until high school. When you two drifted apart I thought I might be wrong. But I wasn't, was I?'
I stare at him for a moment, my mind going over what he's just said. Since we were kids? Had those feelings really been there since we were kids? Deciding to think about that later I pull my attention back to Gohan. “Yeah, it's Trunks,” I mumble slightly; a slight warmth across my cheeks telling me I'm blushing slightly. How did my brother know about my feelings so long before I did?
[Trunks]
Giving another sigh I pick my piece of celery back up before telling her, “He was my best friend since before I can really remember. We grew up together, we fought together,” I give a little chuckle, “We've even become the same person several times, but that's totally a different story. We did a lot together as kids, and then we lost touch. You know, there was peace, for the most part, and we stopped needing to fight, so slowly we stopped hanging out, we stopped going on adventures. We…or I at least, got caught up with school and those who went there with me.”
“So you've been thinking about him now? What you lost or whatever?” she asked, “Because, Trunks, I have to tell you, that's a bit cliché.”
I let out a small snort, “No, a couple weeks ago we…ran into each other again. It prompted my mom to throw this get-together…”
“Oh,” she says, grinning at me, “repressed emotions resurfacing after all those years. That may explain why you've never had an actual relationship, opting only for sex. Your subconscious has kept you from moving on, always waiting for the one you let get away,” She taps the side of my head as she talks to extenuate her point.
Pulling back from her touch I take her hand and set it on the table, “Stop psychoanalyzing me, Susan.”
“I'm not, I'm just saying, it makes sense. Psychology aside, Trunks, it really could explain why you only ever engage in casual sex,” her tone is more serious, “So, are you going to do something about it?”
I shrug, “he beat me to it. At the gathering he kissed me.”
“Aaaand?” she prompts when I don't continue right away.
“Aaaand,” I mimicked, “I kissed him back, what do you think? It's been going well, I guess. I just feel totally off balance with the whole thing. Seriously Susan, he's my childhood best friend that I haven't seen for eight years. Plus, I have no experience with relationships in general.”
“Shit, Trunks, leave it to you to over think it!” she exclaimed, snagging the uneaten celery stick from my grasp before I could wave it around anymore. “You like him, you actually like him enough to care, and he, as far as you can tell, likes you. So go with it, stop over-analyzing, realize it's a good thing, and, damn it, don't do anything to fuck it up!”
“That last part is the one I'm worried about,” I pointed out, stealing back the celery stick from where she's placed it in the plastic container and popping it into my mouth.
“Yes, but my point,” she said, glaring at me while I chew up the celery, “Is that by over thinking it, you're more likely to do just that. So I'm telling you, as your current best friend, to stop.”
“Alright, I hear you, and I'll try. But I think it's easier said…than…” before I can finish a news report on the TV in the cafeteria catches my attention and I motion for her to stay quiet as I watch. The news anchor is talking about explosions caused by some unknown being in the middle of a nearby city. My guess is that's it's more of the aliens from before. “Susan, I have to go,” I say as I pull my phone out, heading for the door.
“But Trunks,” she says after me, “What about Statistics?”
I look back at her over my shoulder, “tell him I'm sick.” With that I step outside and hold the phone up to my ear hoping Goten will answer.
[Goten]
“You and Trunks,” my brother muses as we near the house, “after this long, how interesting.”
I'm glad when I hear my phone ring. Digging it out of my pants pocket I take a look at the display. The name there is `Trunks'.
“Who's that?” Gohan asks, but I ignore him, not wanting to deal with any comments he might make and answering it instead.
“Hey,” I say into the receiver, but before anything else has the chance to come out I hear Trunks saying something about an explosion and needing to meet him. “What?” I ask, “Slow down, what explosion?”
“There's been an explosion,” he tells me, “Get your dad and brother, from the looks of it on the TV they're stronger than the last ones.” There's a pause then he adds, “While your at it, have you dad teleport over and get my father too. He can get there faster than I can. I'll meet you there.” With that he hangs up, no time for any questions, not now that they're actually hurting people.
“Goten, what is it?” I hear Gohan ask.
“That was Trunks, there's more aliens, in a city this time. We need to get dad and Vegeta so we can meet him there."
With no mare than a nod from Gohan we both take off as fast as we can, this time more than just scenery at stake if we're slow.