Trunks rushed outside, car keys in hand, briefcase in the other with his suit jacket askew as he hurried to put it on.
The alarm clock didn’t go off and he and Gohan woke up later than normal and they were both about to be late for work.
Gohan looked much the same as Trunks did as he struggled with the keys to his own car, finally managing to unlock it without snapping the key and getting inside without knocking his door against Trunks’s. Cursing, he started up the engine and rolled down the power windows.
“Did you want me to pick up the food tonight?” He called since Trunks was now in his own car and another window separated them.
“What?” Trunks asked, putting the window down and leaning over so he could hear.
“What?” He asked again.
“Did you want me to get the food?” Gohan asked.
“Oh, yeah sure, that would be great.” Trunks said, getting back to turning on his car and glancing at Gohan out of the corner of his eye.
Gohan nodded. “Okay, see you at five.” He called, pulling out of their driveway before speeding off with a wave.
Trunks finally managed to get his car started and he was already out of the driveway when he was suddenly struck with the thought.
Did he and Gohan kiss each other goodbye? Or say they loved each other?
Trunks shook his head and decided not to worry about it at that particular moment. Of course they had, it was their morning ritual. A force of habit by now.
**”Hey Trunks, going to work now.”
“Me too.”
“Okay, give me a kiss.”
“Love you,”
“Love you too.”
“See ya.”**
That was how it always went. So, putting the car back into drive, Trunks took off for work.
***
Four and a half hours later, during his half hour lunch, the topic was back on Trunks’s mind and he couldn’t put it away.
Searching through his memories, he knew that he and Gohan in fact did not tell each other they loved each other or kiss each other goodbye.
Normally something like that wouldn’t affect him but he noticed it happening more and more all the time.
Trunks smiled fondly as he remembered when he and Gohan first got together nearly two years earlier. It was nothing but dates, wonderful butterflies in his stomach, laughing and hot sex. But lately, to Trunks’s dismay, they were going out on dates less and less, he couldn’t remember the last time he got the feeling of butterflies in his stomach, and the last time he and Gohan had, had sex was nearly a full month ago.
Trunks looked down at the picture of him and Gohan on his desk, the two of them were just standing there in the park, holding hands and smiling for the camera.
Trunks tried to smile back at it but found that he couldn’t.
What was wrong with him? Was he falling out of love with Gohan? Was Gohan falling out of love with him? When had the passion in their relationship start to dwindle? When had the bed become Gohan’s reading place instead of where they made love?
Trunks’s face turned green. His relationship was in trouble, he just knew it.
***
When Trunks did finally return home, early to make time to prepare, he used all the cooking skills he had to whip up a wonderful meal for two.
Steak and baked potatoes.
It was all he knew how to make but when he brought out two unused candlesticks and placed them in their standing holder, he was sure it wouldn’t matter.
Within the next few seconds, and right on time, he could hear Gohan’s car coming into the parking lot. Grinning, he lit the candles and stood proudly over his work. Even more proud that he didn’t need any help with it.
Trunks hurried to the kitchen window to see the outside, and he felt his heart stop as he stared at the two buckets of KFC in Gohan’s hands in horror. “Oh shit.” He cursed. He’d forgotten Gohan was getting the food.
Not wanting to look like an idiot, Trunks quickly blew out the candles and put them away, waving away the whisps of smoke they left behind. And he was even quicker when he picked up their plates and forks before throwing off the table cloth, returning the plates and throwing the cloth into one of the drawers. Never mind if it was the right one of not.
“Trunks! I’m home!” Gohan called, kicking off his shoes and turning towards the kitchen, stopping when he saw Trunks and the table.
“What’s all this?” He asked.
Trunks, feeling stupid, scratched the back of his head. “Uh… surprise?” He said before groaning. “I forgot you were picking up the food today.”
Gohan chuckled and kissed him quickly before pulling away.
“I can just stick these in the fridge and we can reheat them tomorrow if you like.” Said Gohan, motioning with a nod of his head at the chicken he held.
Trunks smiled weakly at him and agreed to the plan, still feeling as if the effect was lost.
At least Gohan seemed pleased. “I can’t believe you actually cooked dinner.” He grinned. “It’s really nice to eat something home cooked. The day after tomorrow I’m going to make something for you.” He said, stretching his back. “I’m beat.”
Trunks flinched but made sure Gohan didn’t see it. That was definitely not what he wanted to hear at all.
***
Trunks still held out a small spark of hope though. Earlier that day he rented a movie for them to watch. Not a porn since that wasn’t what he was going for with his earlier *romantic* theme. But definitely something sexy.
Trunks turned out the lights and cuddled up to Gohan as much as he could but he didn’t seem to be getting any kind of reaction out of him. The guy at the video store guaranteed him that the movie he picked would definitely grab Gohan’s attention.
After he was about halfway through the movie, and sick of being ignored, Trunks turned his head to look up at Gohan’s face, set on making the first move himself.
To his shock, Gohan didn’t seem to be even paying any attention to the show.
Trunks shook him a bit. “Gohan?”
Gohan blinked at looked back down at him. “Hmm?” He asked.
“Are you watching?” He asked.
Gohan looked at the TV as though he was seeing it for the first time. “Oh! Sorry Trunks, I guess I spaced out for a bit there. I was just thinking over the questions I put in my exams.”
Trunks sighed and clicked off the TV. “You wanna go to bed? I’m kinda tired and don’t feel like watching alone.” He said.
Gohan gave him a sad look. “I’m sorry Trunks, I’ll watch it with you tomorrow, okay?” He asked, and Trunks put up another weak smile.
“Sounds great.”
***
For not the first time, Trunks found himself beside Gohan in bed while the older man read a book. Occasionally adjusting his glasses and turning a page under the light of the lamp.
Trunks flipped through a magazine of his own while impatiently waiting for Gohan to finish.
When Gohan did finally take off his glasses and put his book aside, it was barely ten o’clock.
Trunks quickly tossed his magazine away but before he could do anything, Gohan had turned out his bedside lamp and turned over, intending to sleep.
Trunks clenched a shaking fist and squeezed his eyes shut. There was no way in hell he was giving up that easy!
Releasing his hand from his fist, Trunks completely calmed himself before sliding silkily over to Gohan’s side of the bed. Wrapping his arms around Gohan’s body while planting sensual kisses on his neck.
At first Trunks thought he was having an effect on him but then he got shrugged off.
“Mmmm, not tonight babe, I’m too tired.” Said Gohan sleepily.
Trunks slid his hand up and down Gohan’s side not letting the comment get to him. “C’mon Gohan, we haven’t done this in a while.” He said, nipping at his neck.
Gohan groaned again. “Please, not tonight, Trunks. I have to wake up at five thirty tomorrow.” He said, blindly taking Trunks’s hand to get him to stop, giving it a gentle squeeze before letting go.
Trunks looked down at Gohan in the dark, sliding back to his own side of the bed in defeat and staring up at the ceiling. He had an early schedule as well so he wasn’t angry with Gohan… just disappointed.
Was this it? Was this his proof that he’d been searching for? Did he and Gohan really not love each other anymore?
Trunks waited until he heard Gohan’s breathing even out before he slipped out of bed and quietly padded out of the room. He didn’t want to disturb Gohan so he made his way downstairs and into the living room. Turning on the light before plopping himself down on the couch to think.
Where did they go wrong? What changed between them? Was he just getting too old? Was that it? Did Gohan no longer find him attractive?
Trunks mentally went over his age in his head. He was still twenty nine but in less then two months he would be turning thirty, forty one days to be exact.
Trunks shivered. Ugh. Thirty. He really didn’t need to think about that on top of this.
Trunks leaned back in his seat and felt his bottom lip tremble. Gohan was going to leave him soon, he just knew it. Things weren’t the same anymore. They were falling out of love and it was only a matter of time before Gohan saw it just as he did and left him.
Unable to stop himself, Trunks put his face in his hands to quietly sob.
He just didn’t know what to do! There had to be something more! What did he not try? There had to be something he could do to make Gohan love him again. There just had to be!
Trunks didn’t know how long he was sitting there for but before he knew it he was snapped out of his miserable thoughts by a voice.
“Trunks? What’s the matter?”
Trunks gasped and opened his eyes, only to see Gohan kneeling before him, a look of concern on his face as he wiped the tears from his cheeks. “Why are you crying?” He asked.
Trunks sniffled. “You were supposed to be sleeping.” He said.
Gohan shook his head. “You know I can’t sleep unless you’re next to me. What’s wrong babe, why are you crying?”
Trunks sniffled again. “We don’t love each other anymore!” He wailed.
“What?” Gohan asked in shock before hugging him tight. “Of course we do! I mean… I love you, do you love me?” He asked.
“Y-yeah,” Replied Trunks shakily while burying himself in Gohan’s chest.
Gohan rubbed his back and kissed the top of his head. “What would make you think we don’t love each other?” He asked.
Trunks wiped away the few remaining tears from his eyes. “Just the little things, I mean, we don’t even act the same as we did when we got together. We forgot to tell each other we loved each other this morning, and the last time we had sex was a month ago.” Trunks sniffed. “We don’t love each other!”
“Oh, babe, of course, we do. We’re just cooling off. That’s all.” Gohan said, trying not to grin at Trunks’s worry.
“We’re what?” Trunks asked, and this time Gohan did allow himself to grin.
It was easy for him to forget that Trunks had never been in a relationship for as long as he’d been with Gohan. Therefore, he was unaware of this stage.
“We’re cooling off. It means we got comfortable with each other, it doesn’t mean we don’t love each other. It happens.”
“To everybody?”
Gohan nodded. “To everybody. But I do love you. Do you remember when you went away on that business trip three months ago?”
Trunks nodded. “I was gone for a week.”
“Exactly, and I couldn’t sleep a wink because you weren’t there beside me.”
Trunks wanted to laugh. “I couldn’t either.” He admitted.
“You see?” Gohan asked. “We’ve settled down but we still love each other. I noticed that we didn’t say it this morning either and I worried about it all day. But then you didn’t seem to notice when I came home so I didn’t say anything.”
Trunks wrapped his arms around Gohan’s back and kissed him. So relieved, like the weight of an elephant had been removed from his chest. All that worry and it was all for nothing.
When they finished, Gohan was the first to speak. “We can still make love if you like.” He said.
Trunks bit his bottom lip and shook his head. “No. I don’t mean to be a pain in the ass but after that it would just seem kinda…” He paused, searching for the right words.
“Kind of like an obligation?” Gohan asked.
Trunks nodded. “Yeah.”
Gohan quickly kissed him again. “I still need you next to me though. Come to bed?” He asked.
Trunks smiled for him. “Sure.” He said and Gohan led him back upstairs. The both of them climbing back under the covers while Gohan cuddled and kissed him until they fell asleep.
***
Two days later, Trunks was walking down the hallway towards his home office, flipping through a booklet of graph sheets until he felt himself being grabbed from behind and forcefully pulled into the bedroom. Gohan was on his mouth so fast he wasn’t sure what hit him.
Trunks dropped the booklet in his hands to be forgotten on the carpet and soon enough they were both rolling around on the floor moaning, the bed (a full six and a half feet away) was too far for them to make it.
Trunks was happy to learn that day, that just because passion can dwindle, doesn’t mean it dies.
