Hercule stepped from his car, straightening his shoulders, and lifting his head up tall. He looked around, his clear blue eyes not missing anything, from the eagles flying over the arena, to the lowly newscaster bowing at his feet in loud, raucous worship. He looked into the camera lens, and gave it his haughty glare, confidant that millions of men and women swooned at his glance, seeming to pierce their souls with his sharp ocean deep eyes. Taking a deep breath, he stretched his body, cracking his bones, and warming his muscles. Pushing his cape behind his so that it had the maximum capacity to billow behind him, he stood with his hands on his hips, sizing up his opponent. He knew that he’d win this fight hands down.
“What a doofus.” Trunks said, pushing his lavender bangs from his eyes.
“Who’s that?” Goku asked, scratching his head.
“Oh, that’s Hercule! He’s the heavyweight champion of the world or something” Yamcha said, shrugging.
“He doesn’t look like he’s that big to me… I mean, King Kai has to at least weigh twice as much.”
Krillin sighed. “No, Goku, it means that he won a fighting contest, kind of like the martial arts tournaments that used to be held.”
“You mean I missed the tournament!?” Goku said, looking horrified. This caused Krillin to fall over, Vegeta to curse loudly in Vegetian, Yamcha and Tien to sweat drop, and Piccolo to roll his eyes.
“What?”
Trunks grabbed Gohan’s wrist. “This might take awhile. Come on over to that rock with me. We can talk in private over there.”
“Ok,” Gohan said, running after the older boy to a large rock overlooking the valley. “Well, Trunks, what did you want to talk about?”
Trunks looked out over the glen, barely noticing Hercule harassing Cell, who by this point, the Z fighters were cheering him on to pound flat so they finally fight… except for Goku. He was still hung up over missing a fighting tournament.
“I’m nervous.”
“Oh, well, that’s ok! Actually, I’m kind of nervous, too,” he said with a laugh, bringing a hand up behind his head. Trunks smiled a little.
“Gohan, I… I miss the you in my timeline.”
“Huh?”
“In my world, you were older than me, and you taught me everything I knew… I became a Super Saiyan for the first time the day you died.”
Gohan blinked, and waited for the older boy to continue.
“I… I just missed you so much after you died…”
“Well, Trunks, Don’t worry! I won’t die this time!” he said with a laugh. This time, however, it was a bit forced.
“Gohan, it’ll be all right. If we die, there are always the Dragon Balls.”
“True, if there’s someone left alive to use them.”
“We can’t think like that.” Trunks smiled a little, putting an arm around Gohan’s shoulders.
“Yeah, we can’t, or else we’ve already lost.”
Both boys laughed at that. Too young to be men, but having seen too much to be boys, they sat together, watching Hercule, a white beacon, prance around Cell, who looked like he wanted to cry in frustration, at least from where they were sitting.
“I actually feel sorry for Cell!” Gohan said, giggling uncontrollably.
At that remark, they both sobered up. They sat there in a long moment of silence.
“This was the best thing I’ve ever done while I waited for a fight.” Gohan said, a speculative tone in his voice.”
Trunks smiled again.
“Really?”
“Really.”
Another moment passed by quickly, and Trunks leaned down slowly, his face getting closer to Gohan’s. Reaching down, his lips caught the other boy’s in a tender kiss. They sat there on the rock, and finally, no distraction got between them, there was no more waiting.
Their kiss was something worth waiting for.
