Welcome to DBZ Love Garden
~ Where Saiyan Hearts Thrive ~
Truth and its Consequences
by Peekapika
More by this Writer
Summary: Sometimes what happens in Vegas, does not stay in Vegas.
Chapter 01
Gohan began floating to consciousness curled up in a nest of warmth and salty skin. Though old habits die hard, the trauma of his recent divorce was fresh enough to immediately rule out it being Videl wrapped around him… Fresh as in finalized yesterday. At the memory of it he was mortified all over again even in his only semi-aware state. There had even been camera crews waiting for them when they exited the court house! With Videl’s father being who he was, he had braced himself to see a few headlines in the tabloids, but he had never expected to be blinking stupidly at the camera on the evening news. The rush of blood to his face was beginning to make his head pound. God, how much did he drink last night? He decided the best course of action was to keep his eyes closed a little longer, and snuggle into that lovely warmth while he still could. His subconscious was trying to hold onto the bliss of ignorance as long as possible, but the larger part of Gohan had always been responsibility. He must have really been putting them away last night to have ended up like this; debating subconsciously (with himself) over weather or not to feel guilty about not wanting to wake up yet… Fuck it, now he was awake.
Opening his eyes could wait a moment though, right? Unfortunately, his sense of smell won out before any visual input was needed. Under the reek of alcohol and the stench of stale cigarette smoke, there was an all too familiar vanilla undertone mixed with the smell of sex that was tickling his nose. Gohan’s eyelids went from sleep-of-the-dead to wide as saucers in 3.6 nanoseconds. There was a mop of very not-pink hair (it’s lavender goddammit!) cradled against his arm. Fuck. FUCK. Oh God… This was not happening! Never before in his life had Gohan wished that there would be a stripper or whore of some kind found in his bed upon further inspection… Then they could at least laugh this off and he would good-naturedly beat Trunks to a bloody pulp for it later… No such luck – the rest of the bed was empty. Goddammit! If his mind started swearing any louder, it was going to become an audible noise soon. What the hell had he let himself do?!?
A groan came from those lavender locks as Gohan started to pull back, but he automatically stilled at the noise, afraid to wake him for some reason… What else can you do but freeze up completely when you wake up and find yourself naked, next to a man that is simultaneously your brother’s best friend, your FUCKING BOSS, and oh, yeah, the only son of the vindictive bastard known as the Prince of all Saiyans? Crying might be an option too come to think of it…
Trunks blinked slowly as movement pulled him from his blissful slumber. It was no secret among their friends and family that a Saiyan could drink an entire crew of sailors under the table due to their incredible physical fortitude and insane metabolism. Trunks had personally tested it himself with the trial-and-error method known as “college.” But he knew that Gohan had never been a big drinker and guessed he could probably count the number of times he’d even consumed alcohol on one hand… His lack of a built-up tolerance had become evident as the night progressed, and Trunks actually tried a few times to get him to slow down after all, but grief and alcohol rarely respond with reason to other drunks.
Staring into the pain and anger that filled those tear-glazed eyes last night, Trunks had made a decision. Gohan already had too many “voices of reason” inside his head. If this was going to be the one time that he ever didn’t do “that-which-was-expected-of-him”, then he would be there with him to share the blame afterward. Gohan would need someone to turn to and say “WTF, why did you let me do that?” in the morning, he was sure. He knew because he used to ease Goten’s conscience much the same way, though not so much lately, now that he’d finally married that Valese chick.
At the time, he had planned on holding this night of drunken rabble-rousing over Gohan’s head for the indefinite future; maybe referencing it in a Christmas card every few years or so, just to keep the memory alive… He had not expected this to happen. He had thought he had better control than that, even while drunk, right? Right? He had to have been pretty fucking sloshed to black out though, that rarely ever happened to him… Damn.
And then there was the look of complete horror on Gohan’s face; that told him immediately that if he wanted his friendship with Gohan to have any chance of surviving this, then Trunks would need to be as repulsed by it as he was. No big deal really, he had grown up with Vegeta for fucks’ sake, he certainly knew how to put on a convincing show while his heart crumbled. He vaguely wondered if he would have nightmares about the look currently being directed at him as he tried to plaster a similar one over his own features.
The ringing of the phone on the bedside table sliced hotly through the freeze of time surrounding them. Gohan picked it up without thinking.
“Hello?”
“Greetings, this is an automated courtesy call. Check out ends in one hour. If check out is not completed by that time, an additional night's stay will automatically be debited to the account on file. Thank you for choosing The Bellagio. Press 1 to repeat this message…” Gohan hung up the phone when it began telling him to “oprima el numero cuatro por espanol”.
“Apparently we only have an hour ’til check out” he said matter-of-factly.
“I could hear it too, don’t worry about that right now” Trunks replied calmly. He really didn’t remember everything that had happened last night. It would help him in his current endeavor of not letting on that he had actually still been the tiniest bit self-aware the first time Gohan had kissed him. He remembered leaving whatever casino they had been in shortly after that, but not much else. Apparently there was a lot else that was missing…
“Why am I covered in glitter?” Gohan muttered with a frown at his arm as he put down the receiver. The stuff seemed to be falling from his hair…
Trunks couldn’t help it, the words were out of his mouth before he had a chance to think about it.
“Well, I don’t remember exactly what happened either, but at least we can be pretty sure from the way my ass is killing me that you were on top.”
Trunks was also pretty sure that a person’s brain needed a constant flow of blood to it, but it didn’t look like Gohan’s could possibly be getting that with his color draining so fast. Crap. Gohan slowly blinked a few times, as if trying to sweep reality away with his eyelashes, then stuttered a little before giving up and just saying what was on his mind.
“Fuck.”
Aaaaaaaaand, playtime was over, ladies and gentlemen. Trunks sighed, letting the smirk that had started to form fall. Just once it would have been nice if his automatic reaction to everything wasn’t to make light of it. He should really work on that… He ran a hand through his hair, sweeping it back out of his face. Gohan’s hand on his arm stopped him half way through the motion though, and it slid down to Trunks’ own hand as he pulled it toward him. Disbelieving fingers traced the band of brilliant metal that circled the younger man’s digit, making Trunks’ eyes widen in shock at the discovery.
It was like a train wreck, Trunks was physically incapable of turning away. He watched in slow motion as Gohan pulled the hand he had been leaning on out from under the edge of his pillow. It was almost worse than he had imagined. Almost, because even in slow motion, he hadn’t really had time to process what he thought he was going to see.
Gohan wasn’t wearing a wedding band, he was wearing the ring Trunks had been given when he graduated 'summa cum laude' with three different majors last year. Trunks wasn’t a 'jewelry' kind of guy, and he had to take it off every time he sparred with his dad (for fear it would be destroyed), but his mom loved seeing him wear it since she had one exactly like it at his age. Hers had accidentally been melted beyond recognition in a lab experiment long ago; she had actually been lucky to walk away from that at all – he wasn’t sure if he and Gohan would be able to say the same…
Again, Trunks’ brain let his mouth say the first thing that came to it.
“Fuck.”
It seemed appropriate this time.
