Chapter 04
“Daddy…?”
Goku groaned and, still asleep, shifted only slightly at his youngest son’s call. Goten inched closer to his father, taking very small steps, dragging his baby blue blanket behind him. He twisted the soft material between his fingers, nervous. He had never been completely comfortable around his father since that one night when he witnessed him raping his brother. At the time he had no knowledge of what was being done to his only sibling, and even now he still was not so sure, but he knew that his father was hurting Gohan. Hurting him in a way that his brother could not handle.
Once Goten was only mere inches from Goku, he stopped, not sure if he should call out to him again or not. He pulled his blanket tighter to him and chewed his bottom lip. His brother was nowhere in the house. Goten knew where Gohan was; he had searched for his ki moments ago. He wanted to go see him, to see how he was. He had been in his room when Goku had come home last night, and he had heard his brother’s broken pleas. He had heard the harsh blows delivered by their own father. But he stayed in his room. He always did. He had to. Gohan had made him promise.
“Daddy…?” he tried again, hesitantly. He really did want to see Gohan, but Goku didn’t like either of them leaving without him knowing.
Goku groaned again, this time pushing himself onto his elbows. With a grunt he squeezed his eyes tightly together and brought one hand up to hold his head. Moments later, he opened his eyes, grimacing at the light flowing through the windows. He blinked rapidly and glanced around him, his eyes finally settling on Goten.
“Goten…what are you doing up?”
“It’s eight o’clock in the morning. I’m hungry,” he said. He mentioned nothing about his brother’s absence, not sure if Goku would be upset.
“Yeah. Morning…breakfast. Right. What do you want?”
Goten shrugged. Even though Goku would go back to his normal self in the morning, the young halfling was still hesitant to become relaxed.
“Well, how about some cereal? You know I’m not a real good cook,” Goku said, his trademark grin in place.
“Okay.” A grin of his own was beginning to form on Goten’s face. Goku’s cheer was always contagious.
“Hey…where’s Gohan?”
***
Gohan cracked open one eye, then the other, awakening to bright sunlight streaming through Trunks’ balcony window. He breathed in and exhaled quietly, turning slowly in his bed, still wary of his wounds. His dark eyebrows furrowed when he noticed he was alone. The warmth that surrounded him when he fell asleep was no longer there. He frowned, feeling so empty without it.
The door to the bathroom opened and Gohan glanced up. Trunks walked out of the bathroom fully dressed, his hair still slightly damp from his shower. The ebony haired teen pushed himself up, leaning back against the headboard.
“Oh, Gohan, you’re up,” Trunks said with a gentle smile. “How do you feel?”
“Better.”
“That’s good. I think mom has some senzu beans somewhere in the house. Here,” he said taking a shirt out of his drawer and tossing it to him. “Are you hungry?”
“Yeah.” After pulling on the loose fitting shirt, Gohan swung his feet over the side of the bed, significantly perking up at the mention of food. Trunks moved over to him in case he needed any help walking down to the kitchen.
“We’ll go get your brother after breakfast, okay?”
Gohan nodded as he leaned onto Trunks, not really needing the support, but enjoying the feel of Trunks’ body against his. Once in the kitchen Trunks helped Gohan to sit in a chair, then seated himself next to him. Bulma, Vegeta, and Chibi Trunks were already there, Bulma at the stove cooking, and Chibi and Vegeta at the table.
“Gohan? What are you doing here? And what happened to your face?” Chibi asked bluntly.
“Uhh…I fell?”
He and Mirai Trunks winced visibly at the obvious lie, glancing at each other with nervous expressions on their faces. The others stared at Gohan, clearly not believing him. Bulma opened her mouth to question him about his pathetic fabrication, but Vegeta spoke first.
“Don’t bother. If the demon spawn doesn’t want us to know, then we should respect his privacy.”
Everyone blinked at Vegeta, surprised that he would defend Gohan so willingly. Vegeta continued reading the newspaper as if nothing out of the ordinary had transpired.
“Well, you’re feeling all right, aren’t you?” Bulma asked as she walked over to the table, setting down a couple of plates in front of him. He nodded and thanked her, picking up his chopsticks and starting for his food. Before he took a bite, his childhood teachings suddenly activated, so he waited for everyone else to be served first.
They ate in relative silence, except for the occasional comment from Bulma, and the short response from whomever she was speaking to. As the small robots scurried back and forth from the sink to the table with dirty dishes, the doorbell rang. Mirai Trunks rose from his chair and walked to the door to answer it.
“Hey Trunks!” Goku said happily as the door opened.
Trunks’ eyes widened considerably, and he found himself struggling to keep his rage only a distant spark in the back of his head. He clenched his teeth momentarily, then sighed quietly. “Hey Goku,” he said evenly, his voice showing none of his ire.
Goku stared at the lavender haired man in front of him curiously. He had felt Trunks’ ki fluctuate for a brief moment, as though he were stifling anger. “Can we come in?”
“…Sure.”
Goku walked in with Goten trailing behind him. Trunks narrowed his eyes, boring his gaze into Goku’s back. He sighed again, forcing himself to become calmer.
“Gohan’s here, right?” Goku stated, rather than asked. “Is he okay? He just kinda left and didn’t say anything.”
Trunks found himself growling deeply in his throat. “What do you mean, ‘Is he okay?’!?”
“Hey dad,” Gohan said, appearing in the hallway, forced cheer lacing his words.
“Gohan! There you are!” Goku said with a grin. His smile suddenly melted into concern. “What happened to your cheek?”
“Nothing. Rough spar with Vegeta.”
“This morning?”
“Uh, yeah.”
“Oh. Is that why you left? To spar?”
Gohan nodded, not meeting his father’s eyes. Goku scratched the back of his neck. “Well, you’re okay, right?”
“Yeah, I’m fine. Trunks said he’d get me a senzu bean.”
“That’s good. You think ‘Geta would like to spar again?”
Gohan shrugged, and Goku patted his eldest son on the shoulder, walking to the kitchen to find the Saiya-jin prince. Goten floated to Gohan’s eye level and reached out to wrap his arms around his brother’s neck. Gohan returned the embrace, smiling weakly. The seven-year-old boy kissed Gohan on the cheek without the bruise, then levitated towards where he felt Chibi Trunks’ ki signature.
Once Mirai Trunks and Gohan had the hallway to themselves, Trunks closed the distance between them. “What was that?!”
“What?” Gohan asked innocently.
“Gohan…why is Goku acting like that? Like nothing happened?”
“He doesn’t remember… He never does.”
“And you never tell him?”
“No… I…I don’t know. I just can’t…”
“Well, maybe if you told him, he would stop.”
“Maybe… I guess…I’m sorry…” Gohan said, dropping his head. He raked his calloused fingers through raven hair, sniffing to restrain those damned tears that kept threatening to fall.
“Gohan…you don’t have to apologize… It’s not your fault, okay?” Trunks said, pulling Gohan into his arms, hoping to offer comfort to the distressed teen. Gohan nodded against his chest, and wrapped his arms around the taller man.
“I feel really stupid, you know. Crying so much in front of you.”
Trunks smiled. “If you knew how many times I cried in front of you back in my time, then you wouldn’t feel so bad.”
“Really?”
“Yeah.”
“Thanks… It really means a lot to me, Trunks.”
Trunks’ eyes softened and a contented smile tugged his lips upward. He tightened his grip on Gohan slightly and leaned his cheek on his sable spikes.
“What are you guys, dating or something?!” Chibi exclaimed as he peeked his head around a corner. “Get a room!”
Trunks and Gohan pulled apart, embarrassed grins on each of their faces. A faint blush tinted both of their cheeks.
“Uh, yeah, I think the senzu beans are in mom’s room…”
