Welcome to Boxer & Rice

Gohan’s POV



I stood at the back of the group and watched with tears in my eyes as the one person that I’d grown to love and trust left us to go back to his timeline. Why did he have to leave? Why couldn’t he just accept his timeline as lost and stay with us? I couldn’t bear to watch much longer and Piccolo-San was looking at me as if he knew the only reason why I could be so choked up.

When the time machine disappeared I spun around and took off without a word to anyone else, and flew as if my life depended on it before they saw me cry. Vegeta wasn’t there, I’d noticed, maybe he was training, maybe it would be a good idea for me to go see him? No, I thought, maybe not. He’d been really weird after the defeat of cell, so I turned into the other direction and disappeared into the forest to be alone.

I found a tree with roots that were coming up out of the soil and sunk into them gracefully before I covered my face with my hands and let out the torrent of emotion that I’d been holding back. Why! The word echoed throughout my brain and I absentmindedly rubbed the mark he’d placed with his teeth on my bicep as I rubbed at my tears with my other hand.

I wasn’t sure how long I sat there but I knew when I wasn’t alone anymore, and I’d stopped crying at that point. My head snapped up to attention and I squinted into the darkness.

“Who’s there?” I called, and got to my feet, shakily getting into a fighting stance just in case it was a threat.

“It’s me.” The deep baritone voice of Piccolo-San came from somewhere to the left and I peered into the darkness of the forest as he came into the light. He had his arms folded across his chest and was looking at me knowingly.

“Piccolo-San,” I sighed, and relaxed against the trunk of the tree.

“You were intimate with him, weren’t you?” He said it as a statement and walked until he was standing a short distance from me, and I frowned.

“I don’t want to say.”

“Well, no one else was so emotional at his leaving, Gohan. I’m not here to judge you, considering my entire race is male.” I knew that, of course, but it still struck me as odd due to his choice of words. I sighed heavily and rubbed the back of my hair.

“I guess, ok? We…got close before he left. It was the best week I’ve ever had…” I said the last part quietly and looked away from him, a blush slowly rising to heat my face and neck. He sighed.

“We should really go see Vegeta, but since he’s being weird because Goku died, I don’t want to put you in that situation.” I looked up at my mentor.

“So…you don’t care that I was intimate with Trunks?”

“It’s not my place to judge what you do with your body, Gohan, I just hope that there aren’t any…lasting effects, considering your race is alien like mine.” He was hinting at something but I just couldn’t tell what it could be at the moment. I frowned at him but didn’t say anything since I wasn’t sure what he was getting at. I shivered as I realized how cold it actually was and he held out his hand to me to bring me closer to him.

“Just…don’t tell anyone, ok? I don’t want that drama right now.” He nodded and then took me back home, and I slipped in through my window quietly before slinking to bed. I gasped when I saw what was waiting for me on the bed; he’d left a shirt and even though it wasn’t him, it still held his scent.

I sunk to the bed and held it close to my face, and cried myself to sleep that night, and many nights after that.



It was several years later and I was nearing adulthood but still shy of it by a few months. I’d never quiet shaken the feeling of depression that had come after Trunks leaving and my father dying, but I put on a brave face for my little brother Goten and my mother. I wore my hair short now and dressed casually but no one saw the scratches on my arms due to my long sleeves.

Every day when I left the house, mom thought I was going to school but I really went up to the Lookout to train with Piccolo-San. I hadn’t seen Vegeta nor any of the other Z Senshi in nearly seven years, so imagine my surprise when I got to the Lookout and had barely touched down before I was being hailed by a raspy, slightly arousing voice from the Prince.

“You! Boy! Get over here!” I frowned and glared at Vegeta, still somewhat scared of him if I was completely honest with myself, but noticed Piccolo standing off to the side and behind him with his arms crossed. His face was impassive as ever but I could tell he was unamused.

“What do you want, Vegeta?” I said, reaching up to rub the mark on my arm that Trunks had left so long ago, and not realizing until Vegeta’s gaze switched to the action. He growled and if I’d had a tail it would have curled around my waist in fear.

“Don’t speak to me with such insolence, boy. I know you did something stupid.” I glanced at Piccolo with a slight frown and he shook his head. If it wasn’t him, how did…I nearly fell to my knees when Vegeta stepped to the side and the object of so many long years of pain stepped out from behind him, looking a lot older and more mature, but still him.

“Trunks?!” I choked out, and he held out his arms and I ran to him, not even caring about what it looked like. Our lips found each other out of their own volition and I cried into the kiss as his strong arms encircled my waist. He looked slightly different but his piercing blue eyes remained the same, and the way they roved over me still sent a shiver through my entire being.

“Can you not do that here, whelp?” Vegeta’s unamused grumble entered into the mix and I pulled back from the kiss to glare over at him.

“You wouldn’t be like that if you were seeing Bulma again after being apart for seven years.” Trunks was rubbing my back and it was sending chills through my body that were so intense my fingers were going numb.

“We need to talk, all of us. Get inside.” He said, and stalked into the many halls of the Lookout while Trunks and I followed holding hands, Piccolo coming behind us. Vegeta led us to the kitchen and he sat down at the table with his signature glare, but I felt that there was something else behind that look, I just wasn’t picking up on it. To be honest, I still thought I was dreaming, wrapped in Trunks’ scent like I was. An odd warmth was starting to spread through my body and my cheeks were showing it, though I didn’t know that at the time, and I gazed up at Trunks as if he were my own personal moon. He smiled at me and we both turned to Vegeta to hear what he had to say.

“The Namek, under penalty of impending death, told me that you and he marked each other. Do you have any idea how stupid that was? You could have died, being a beta male, and you,” he turned his gaze onto Trunks, “you could have died automatically being his alpha. You were both lucky the whelp didn’t go into heat while you’ve been gone, which is why I left to the other timeline some time ago to bring him back.” I narrowed my eyes at Piccolo and he raised his hands in the air. I couldn’t be mad at him though, not really, since his actions had brought about the return of the man I loved. Trunks turned to me.

“Father helped me defeat the androids, Gohan. I wanted to come back the moment I left but knew I had to save mankind. It took me longer than I expected and I always felt you close by, it was maddening.”

“That’s because you two mated without realizing it. You should have been brought to me the day he left,” Vegeta glared at me and I rolled my eyes.

“Fuck, sue me then. I didn’t know I had to report to you everytime I did anything you didn’t approve of.”

“Yes well, you surpassing me in might wasn’t something I approved of either but you’re just bound and determined to be like Kakarot, aren’t you?” he seethed, and glanced downwards at the table after he said it. I cocked my head to the side and watched him curiously, feeling a drop in his energy.

“Vegeta?” I asked, and he stood up.

“Nevermind that. You have a decision to make, since it’s dangerous to keep you apart from each other. Either you leave this timeline and go live with him, or his timeline gets destroyed so he can be with you.”

“What happens to this timeline?”

“Well since the Kami of this earth is buddies with Supreme Kai, nothing happens. But you need to make your decision quickly.” He crossed his arms over his chest and I bit my lip as I thought.

I couldn’t have millions of people destroyed because of my selfishness, but if I left…my mom, my little brother…I would never see Piccolo again…

“I…”

Trunks slipped his arm around my waist and I still felt like I was dreaming before I made up my mind.

“I’ll go with him, but I need to explain this to my mother. Come with me?” I looked up at Trunks and he nodded, a twinkle in his eyes as he got up to go with me. Vegeta rolled his eyes and huffed at us before conceding to the point.

“Hmph. Fine. But you don’t have much time. The longer he’s here, the greater the chance of his reality being destroyed.

I nodded at Vegeta and took Trunks by the hand before rushing downwards off the lookout. I was on cloud nine at this point and couldn’t believe what was happening. I looked over to the lavender haired male flying beside me and he offered a smile, and I could only blush. It was like I was eleven all over again, blushing like a lovesick idiot. Well, I technically was a lovesick idiot if I was honest with myself.

We arrived at my house in record time and I skidded to a halt still holding his hand before I crashed into the front door. I narrowly avoided doing so and blushed heavily when the door opened to admit my mother, staring out at us curiously.

“Gohan…Trunks? Is that you? Come in!” She stood aside and ushered us in, and it didn’t occur to me until after I saw the confused look on her face that I was still holding his hand. I didn’t let go though and we sat down at the table while she ushered about making tea.

“So Trunks, it’s been awhile since you’ve been here, is everything alright?”

“Well…yeah, sort of, I mean the androids have been destroyed, but there’s something else that’s come up and well…I don’t want you to hate me, ChiChi…” Mom sighed and glared at me.

“You’re supposed to be at school, young man, why aren’t you?”

“Because…” I trailed off and blushed, rubbing the back of my head like my father always used to. The moment of truth!

“Well?” She demanded as she set down the cups of tea and then took a seat across from us.

“Mom, I haven’t been going to school because my heart isn’t in it. I’ve been depressed for years, and I’ve been using the time to go up to the lookout to train with Piccolo-San. I-”

“Stop! I can’t hear this!” She squeezed her eyes shut tightly and I took a breath waiting for her beratement when Trunks took control of the situation.

“ChiChi, there is a way around all of this. I came back for Gohan, because I love him. He wanted to come and tell you before he left because there is enough room in the time machine if you wanted to come with us.” She snapped her head up and looked between me and him and I gave a half shrug, still blushing.

“Wait, do you mean…you are in a relationship?” I looked up at him and couldn’t hide the love in my gaze as I looked at him.

“He helped me get over dad’s death.” Mom sighed and looked down at her tea, and then looked out the window as a bird landed on the open windowsill.

“I guess it couldn’t be avoided, it was bound to happen someday, I just wasn’t ready for it to be so soon. Very well. I will round up Goten, give us an hour to pack and we’ll go. I can’t handle the thought of my baby going off to another timeline without me.” Trunks looked at me in confusion and I realized he didn’t know about Goten.

“Oh, Goten’s my little brother. Mom had him after dad died.”