01: Chapter 01
You know, people say that once in a lifetime is a chance that you should take, I’m now not so sure. A lot of stuff has happened. I mean, it does, you know? Changes, differences, new realities. I thought the android reality was enough, but seeing you there, ignoring me, gazing idly out of the windows, as if I was just a figment of pure desire… That hurt… I wanted to prove to you I was real, that I wasn’t just a lie to your emotions, I’m not his, I’m yours…
***
Trunks sighed deeply. His breath vaporizing into the frozen night air. His mind filled with acidic thoughts. Gohan-chan had been less than sociable or maybe it was less at tentative, no, it was all of these things. What a jerk. Playing the fool. Why? What had he done to deserve Gohan’s ill treatment? It wasn’t fair.
Trunks reached down and pulled his jacket from the bedpost. The sun stung his violet eyes as a beam of pulsating sunlight streamed through the break in the curtains.
//It’s not as if it was my fault. Gohan just picked a wrong time to play parent.//
Trunks dragged his feet doggedly as he swayed with fatigue down the hallway to the dining room of his capsule home. Yawning lazily, he staggered into the kitchen and switched on the kettle, at this time of morning, coffee was a great privilege! Bulma choked slightly on her toast as Trunks bowed his head under the tap and let the icy water flow down his cheeks.
“Trunks, if you’re going to wash, at least have a shower, didn’t I teach you manners enough as a child?” Bulma spat ruthlessly. Trunks’s eyes were red and bloodshot. Tear stains haunted his fine features until the cool liquid washed his sorrow down the drain, much with his emotions. Bulma’s face creased as he sniffled childishly, much as he had done as a little boy after falling over and grazing his knees, trying hard not to cry in case his father got angry for his weakness.
”Trunks? What’s wrong with you? You’ve been acting so distant recently.” Mother's instinct, Bulma could feel Trunks’s mental injuries.
“Mom, I’m fine. I’m going to work now.” Trunks pulled on his blazer jacket with a little trouble and effort, swaying slightly as his vision failed him. Fumbling for the door, he knocked over a vase, ignoring the shattered pieces of porcelain. Bulma leaped up from her chair to inspect the damage her son had done in his mind’s absence. Just as she called out to him to return to the scene of his crime, the door slammed shut, the door handle falling off with the vibrations.
***
Goten tapped his fingers rapidly on the table, drumming endlessly, waiting for something. His copper eyes fixed on a photograph that sat in front of him on the desk. This wasn’t fair. Trunks had gotten so upset the evening before.
//Maybe I was… too direct with him? Man, he’s my best friend. I shouldn’t have been so blunt. He must hate me.//
Goten gripped the handle of his mug and slurped at his luke-warm tea. It had been sitting there idly on his desk for nearly half an hour.
“…Trunks… I’m sorry.” Goten sighed shallowly, regretting the previous evening. Getting drunk with Trunks hadn’t really been his intention but one drink led to another, and before you knew it, they were smashed mindless. Trunks had drunk before, but not quite this heavily, and as for poor Goten, this was his first time ever. The hangover was lingering. Endless ringing shrilled in Goten’s ears as his head pounded with each drum of his fingertip.
Impatiently, he rose from his chair and began to pace the floor. Left. Right. Left. Right. Left. Rig… He paused mid-step. Hastily, he began to run to the door way as the bell sounded and alerted him.
“Trunks!!” He yelled anticipating his friend. No. Not Trunks.
“I’m here for the boy. Where is he?” Vegeta’s gruff voice burned in Goten’s ears.
“He, he’s not here Vegeta-sama. He’s at work, of course, it’s Tuesday.” Goten pointed to his wrist watch, almost as if to muse Vegeta. Vegeta grunted and snarled in reply,
“The boy’s not at work, he’s done another disappearing act, and it’s funny, because all the sources of trouble my family have ever had, lead back to Kakorott’s spawn!! So, where is my son, you ungrateful brat!”
Goten staggered back slightly, stunned by the sudden raising of Vegeta’s voice.
“Vegeta-sama, please, calm down. I said he’s not here, and he’s not!” Goten had never raised his voice to Vegeta before, He shocked himself as Vegeta swayed back slightly and huffed angrily in his defeat.
“When I find him, I can assure you I’ll be back here to ask you what the hell went on last night. But right now, I have better things to be doing than spitting at the child of Goku.” Those final words stung Goten’s pride as the car door slammed shut and Vegeta drove off. Shaking his head in denial and regret, he paced slowly back up to his room, and lay on his bed staring vacantly at the ceiling.
//Trunks. I’m sorry. Please, I didn’t mean to say it to you. I know about you and Gohan but I didn’t mean to… Please, don’t leave me.//
