Welcome to Boxer & Rice

Mirai Trunks stood against the wall watching the people that had come to be his family as they enjoyed the peaceful holiday spirit. It was his first real Christmas since before the androids had attacked his home. After that, things had always been strained, even holidays like Christmas had felt tense as everybody’s minds were more focused on problems than peace. Everyone seemed to be enjoying themselves, drinking eggnog, eating cookies, and singing horribly off key. Well, everyone except Gohan. It seemed that his girlfriend had decided to dump him only a few days before in order to go out with another boy who had more money than brains and wasn’t as shy as the young demi-saiyan. So Gohan had spent most of the party out on the porch, watching the snow as he nursed a cup of heavily spiked apple cider.

Though Trunks wasn’t exactly the partying type, he was certainly not sitting out the festivities. He’d danced with his mother and little Marron. He’d joined Krillin, Goten, and chibi Trunks in an off key rendition of Frosty the Snowman. He’d even taken a few sips of the gut rotting swill that his father had brewed up for the holidays that currently had Yamcha dead asleep in a corner and Goku hiccuping every other breath. He pushed off the wall and went to the food table where he snagged a few cookies away from searching chibi fingers and grabbed two more cups of cider before he managed to slip out onto the porch. Gohan turned at the burst of noise from the house upon Trunks’s exit.

“Hey, can I join you? I brought cookies.” Trunks held up the plate of colorful Christmas cookies and smiled softly at the young man who was currently not feeling the holiday spirit.

“It’s a little cold out.” Gohan replied as he ran a hand through his hair, knocking small white snowflakes from the black strands.

“I think I can stand a little cold to spend time with a friend.” Trunks smiled again as he sat the plate of cookies down next to Gohan and joined him in staring out into the night. The colored lights strung up on the house cast a colorful rainbow onto the otherwise blank white field, bordered by trees that surrounded the house. Trunks handed Gohan a fresh cup of warm apple cider.

“Thanks.” Gohan said, taking the offered cup. He didn’t have to say so but Trunks knew that his simple thank you was expressing appreciation for more than just the cup of cider.

“You know, this is my first real Christmas in ages. I’d almost forgotten what it was like.” Trunks said wistfully as he caught a few snowflakes in his outstretched palm.

“It’s nice that everybody’s here.”

“It’d be better if you were here Gohan.” Trunks said glancing over at the young man who was so much his mentor and yet a completely different person.

Gohan let his head fall as he stared into his cup. “I’m sorry. It’s just, I really thought it was love and then just like that she’s gone. I…I could have married her.” Gohan said softly.

Gohan looked up again at the warm hand on his back. “It’s all right Gohan. Nobody’s asking you to forget her. I just think that you should enjoy what you have right now. We should be celebrating this time together with our friends and family, not dwelling on the past.” A shadow crossed his features for a second, but was swiftly washed away in the glint of flashing red and green lights.

“You’re right.” Gohan looked out at the cold snow and then turned to look in at the inviting house with its warmth and laughter. “I’m being a real drag aren’t I?”

“Maybe,” Trunks grinned, “but we can fix that.

Gohan blinked as a snowball hit him in the face. His mouth opened in surprise before he brushed the snow from his face and retaliated. Trunks leaped from the porch onto the ground below and threw another snowball up at Gohan. The teen collected a handful of snow from the porch rail and threw it down at the purple haired prince. Trunks dodged and looked up.

“You’ll have to do better than that Son.” He taunted lightly.

“Oh yeah? Take this Briefs!”

Trunks grunted in surprise as Gohan managed to knock down the snow from the roof, which began sliding towards him like a small avalanche. The future prince was powdered in white by the falling flurries. He sputtered and wiped cold flakes from his eyelashes. He spotted movement off to his right and dived, tackling Gohan into the snow. The two wrestled around trying to shove the other further into the cold white. Trunks was sitting atop Gohan shoving snowballs into his shirt when the younger demi-saiyan laughingly surrendered.

“Ok! Ok! I give up!” Gohan cried putting his hands over his head.

Trunks sat back and laughed. Gohan sat up, looking around at where they’d ended up. They were a few yards away from the house under a large tree. Up in the branches, hanging just over their heads hung a big ball of mistletoe. He looked at Trunks who was shaking the snow from his clothes.

“Hey Trunks.”

“Yes Gohan?”

“Look up.”

As requested, Trunks looked up. Gohan quickly leaned forward and pressed a hesitant kiss upon his lips. Trunks froze, taken by surprise by Gohan’s actions. Gohan swiftly pulled back and stood up. He was about to walk away when Trunks grabbed his arm. A frightened expression crossed Gohan’s face before he was drawn into Trunks’s arms. He looked up just as Trunks leaned down to kiss him more firmly, cold lips moving softly across his own. Gohan drew in a sharp breath but didn’t pull away. Instead he leaned into Trunks, allowing him to deepen the kiss so they could both taste apple cider and gingerbread in the other’s mouth.

Slowly they drew apart, Trunks letting a hand brush some damp hair from Gohan’s red cheek. Gohan buried his cold face in Trunks’ sweater, just soaking in his warmth. “Thank you.” He said softly.

“My pleasure,” Trunks replied as he lifted Gohan’s face for another quick kiss.

“Aniki and Gohan are kissing!”

The pair broke apart swiftly as they looked up to find chibi Trunks and Goten standing on the porch staring at them.

“K-I-S-S-I-N-G!” Goten sang out. He and chibi Trunks turned to each other and grinned. They placed their hands over their mouths before leaning in for an exaggerated stage kiss.

“Smoochie smoochie!” Chibi Trunks giggled, as the pair broke apart.

The elder Trunks turned to Gohan, who was turning many interesting shades of pink. “Should we get them?”

Gohan nodded. “We should.”

Quickly the two older demi-saiyans flew at the mischievous chibis with large snowballs. The rest of the night was spent throwing snowballs and stealing more kisses under the mistletoe.