Compositional Break, part 3
By: Chocolate-chan

"Guys, it's time for dinner. Quit hiding in here." Hikaru came in and hugged Tsuki, tickling him in that way he couldn't fight, leaving him wriggling on Trunks' lap. "What are you doing, anyway? You up to something?"
"It's just story time," Trunks told his daughter with a smile, and plastered it on tightly. He knew they had to keep the peace on a day such as this, but he was nervous. He loved Goten's cooking... it would feel like they were a family again, with all the kids there, but still he was...... inexplicably nervous. He looked down at his son and was determined not to have the day ruined for him.
"Come on O-tou-san, I'm hungry!" Tsuki leapt to his feet and dragged his father out of the room for a good few hours of feasting and presents. Trunks followed him, but released his hand as the boy darted for his seat at the table. Goten kissed him on the top of his ragged head, beaming down at him. Tsukishiro was the man's constant source of joy... far more so than Trunks had been of late. Everyone settled around the table, every face familiar and beloved, and some of them were starting to worry. Goten sat and Tsukishiro's eyes found his father, the two of them gazing above everyone's heads at each other. The innocent smile dropped from the boy's face, and he started to wonder as well, Trunks was sure of that. After telling his story, Trunks was not in the mood for a Saiyan-sized feast, but he sat down anyway with a smile and Tsuki's concerns evaporated.
Trunks ate, but not well. He didn't want to look at his son to his right, for the child would easily see through his mask, and he simply couldn't bring himself to look at Goten, and spent a lot of time in silence as a result.
"You've barely eaten..." Goten's husky voice blessed his ears along with the lightest of touches to his forearm. Kami, it felt as though it had been forever since Goten touched him.... He's trying so hard, Trunks told himself. "Are you okay?"
"I'm fine, Goten." It came out brusquely, but not unkind. He didn't have the strength for unkind. But Goten still pulled away as though stung. Go-chan....

Ai opened the door when it knocked, passing through the front hall with a soda in hand. The woman pursed her lips when she saw it was a stranger. The man at the door appeared to be even younger than her youngest brother, maybe in his mid-twenties.
"Hello," Ai greeted him warmly. The man looked uncertain. He was dark of coloring but with pale green eyes, and they glanced over his shoulder before returning the greeting. "Is there something I can do for you?"
"Yes, uhm... does Son Goten live here?"
"He's my father," she said with a smile, and the man blinked and looked at her a little more closely. "Would you like me to go get him?"
"Take your time-" he urged, following her invitation to step inside. Ai gestured to a chair sitting against the wall. She paused on her way out and watched the man. He was obviously nervous about something. He was no one she'd seen before, which followed if he was uncertain of the place her father had been living in for the past twenty-five or so years.
"If you like, I shall endeavor to delay." She looked at him with some knowing in her face.
"Yes," he said, a nearly mortified smile on his face.
"Tou-chan," she said as she passed through the living room. "Someone to see you in the front hall when you have a minute." Goten was sitting with Tsuki on his lap, who was showing him all of his new things, and the other children clustered around him as they were wont to do. Goten commanded juvenile attention as usual, and they were all distracting him with their stories and hugs to his legs and attempts to share Tsuki's position in his lap.
"Alright-" and he was distracted again. Ai continued her journey through to the kitchen, and watched as Trunks set the phone into its cradle with a confused look tugging at his features.
"Trunks-san?" she paused. "Is something the matter?"
"Hum?" He hadn't appeared to have noticed her up until then. "Oh, nothing, just that my father's coming over soon for some weird reason. I'm not sure why- I mean, he has his own gravity room. No one uses ours."
Ai laughed slightly at the rueful grin on his face, knowing he wouldn't admit that to his father. "Maybe he's just a little lonely," she hazarded. "I mean, Bulma-san's been gone a while now..." she had known the sad look that had tugged at his features would come with her words. It was perhaps even sadder that Trunks had kept so much of his grief to himself. Goten had been there for him from the outset, and maybe if Trunks had been able to share, it could have lead to some sort of- What? Ai asked herself. She was amazed yet again at the sheer folly that people could engage in, the monumental pride of these demi-Saiyan warriors.
"Don't worry about it, Ai-chan." Trunks dropped a hand onto her head. "Feel free to come see him if you like; he'll be here in two or three weeks. He kind of likes you. You're quiet." The two chuckled for a moment.
People filtered out, the main hall in shadows, but all of them knew their way. They had either grown up there or spent enough time getting to know the two demi-Saiyans that they were familiar with the floor plan. Tsuki ran out with his nephew and the two set up shop on one of the steps, playing with the little model cars that the fifteen-year-old refused to outgrow. "Didja have a good birthday?" Yoshitsune asked, almost idly as he tested the traction of a model T.
"Bai Keisuke-kun!" Tsuki waved. "Yeah, I enjoyed it. I liked your present, domo." He grinned, and Yoshi shrugged in that way his grandfather had.
"I knew you needed one. But you've seemed kinda..." The boy paused, stilling his car as he glanced up at his uncle. "Jumpy, I guess, today. Wanna tell me what's wrong?"
"Nothing's wrong," Tsuki said. "Everything was perfect. Too perfect."
"What do you mean?" The older boy asked, both of them unaware that they were being listened to.
"Kami, Yoshi... you don't know what it's like!"
"Goten and Trunks," Yoshi mused to himself.
"Your grandparents. Show some respect." Tsuki had reigned himself in from his outburst. "Did you see them at dinner, the way they tried not to look at each other? They were trying not to fight, for me. I hate it."
"You hate that they didn't want to ruin your birthday?" Yoshi pressed, looking for his point.
"I hate the fact that they act like children with each other. They love each other and we all know it, but they fight over the stupidest things! And Papa... " Tsuki shook his head. "He's a Son alright. He won't say anything to Father. He doesn't want to make it worse.... but it hurts him. It's gotten worse and worse. Ever since... I dunno. But when I was little it was so rare. They've been together twenty-five years. Aren't you supposed to stop fighting after a certain point?"
"The fight is in the blood," Yoshi observed solemnly.
"You know that's not what I mean." The boy shoved one car lightly, dejectedly, along the step. "Father's so distant... it's all Papa can do not to show that he's hurt, but I know he is. I can't explain it. Father knows he's doing it, but when he tries to stop it... he fails. You know, no one sleeps in the master bedroom anymore?" Tsuki abandoned the tiny metal distraction and leaned his elbows over his arms.
"You're the only one that's around to see them all the time now," Yoshi replied.
"Father stays at work till really late. When he comes home he goes to the attic. Watches TV." The boy kicked his toe at a lower step glumly. "Falls asleep with it on."
"And O-jii-chan?"
"Sleeps in another room. That's where I go. He reads a lot, so I sit on the end of the bed and stuff... read sometimes too." The young demi-Saiyan knew that if anyone understood or had any clue, his nephew and close friend did. "It's just like... they lost something. A long time ago. Pretended everything was okay, but it wasn't... and now...." Inexplicably angry for some reason, the boy kicked violently at the step and snatched his cars up. "I'm goin' to my room."
Yoshi settled himself on the steps and propped his chin on his palms, knowing better than to go after the boy thus. He tilted his head in the quiet contemplation he was prone to when addressing a problem. He stared out the window, watched his uncles and aunts and cousins get into their cars, laughing and hugging and renewing phone numbers first. He wasn't sure what made him turn his head, but he caught the unwavering gaze of the man standing in the hall and blinked. "Hello."
"Uhm...." He grinned a bit. It was a familiar expression to the boy, who was trying very hard to place him.
"Have you been waiting long? Who let you in?" The boy dropped his arms into his lap as he half-turned.
"The woman... uhm... Goten's daughter?"
"Ba-chan," Yoshi nodded. "Who are you?"
"We haven't met."
"Wamme to go get somebody?" The man looked up from the family portrait he held in his hand. Over the years they had been gradually replaced. Some with Marron and a group of three chibis still remained, but many of them held the complete family as it was now. This was one of those, Yoshi knew from many years of passing it day after day.
The man held his silence, and his eyes peered up at the boy, almost a milky green, wearing a friendly half-smile when he spoke after a long consideration. "I didn't mean to eavesdrop. It doesn't sound like the kind of thing you'd wanna share with people outside the family, and all." He had an odd accent, Yoshi thought; one he was not personally familiar with.
"Too late now," The dark-eyed boy decided at last, "It's okay. Who are you?"
"Just someone who's wondering...." He adjusted the picture on the table back into place. "... If maybe I shouldn't put my problems on this family. They seem to have their own lives to deal with already." His face was solemn, and he brushed back his dark hair as he turned to the boy. "Maybe I shouldn't have come here."
"Noble sentiments, I must say...." the boy scratched his nose absently. "Very lacking in self confidence."
He grinned suddenly. "Just for you, kid.... I'll be back. Eventually."
"Ahh. Well... Ja, ne?" Yoshitsune rose to go raid the kitchen again, leaving the man to his own devices. He heard the front door close a few moments later.
Goten, having completely forgotten about him, wrapped up for the night and climbed the staircase, going to his new assumed bed. He was fairly sure Tsuki was already there waiting to read with him. The boy usually was. Goten often wondered why he never preferred to go see his father, but he had the tact, at least, not to ask.
He was startled when the bathroom door opened and Trunks nearly bowled him down. Goten found himself regaining balance on one still-damp forearm, pushing himself away far enough to stand on his own. Trunks smelled so good, water and something musky-sweet... Kami... when's the last time I made love to him? Goten caught those lovely blue eyes as they peered down into his. There was a trace of something there... something....
"You did a good job today," Trunks told him. Goten heart swelled with the praise, and broke apart at the stillness about his mate's features. "I've got a headache. I'm going upstairs."
Goten felt his chin drop and struggled to hold it upright. For a moment he wanted to grab him and insist that he stay, that they go to bed together, but even though he knew Trunks wouldn't refuse him, he merely nodded and whispered "'Kay. I'll... see you-" he shrugged. "Whenever."
Trunks paused for a moment, and looked at Goten- really looked at him, for the first time in a long time, and felt his heart twist at what he saw. Goten was beautiful; that undeniable fact had never changed. He looked like he was still in his late twenties, really, the effects of time barely touching him in comparison to the family they had raised. He also looked desolate, his dark eyes shining perhaps too brightly. Trunks hated the thought that he had made the man cry yet again, and the thought caused him to run away. He cleared his throat uneasily and laid a hand on Goten's arm, just a light brush, and headed down the hall for the second staircase.
Goten let out a soft sigh, just like every other night, and forced a smile across his features as he headed into the room where his offspring sat in his pajamas, beneath the covers, pulling the hem up to his chin. His eyes were oddly unreadable and so much like his father's that Goten nearly cried out. But Tsukishiro moved over for him in the bed and Goten climbed in despite the fact that he was dressed. He wrapped one strong arm about the boy, dragging his son's cold limbs against his warmer ones and wondering at how this part of their relationship had been the same since the boy could sit up on his own. And Kami, he seemed almost as young at that moment.
"Papa, you...." Tsuki snagged the hem of the blanket between his teeth, the nervous gesture seeming not quite fitting on him. He was like Trunks in that when he thought, the emotion fled from his face, and any of the gestures like biting fingernails and tapping fingers seemed out of place with his lifeless mask. "You love him a lot."
"Yeah..." Goten leaned back against the headboard and stared at the ceiling, his resolve faltering. He wanted his husband back so badly... "I do."
"It's amazing." The boy commented softly. For some reason, however, the man did not think he was referring to the capacity for love. No, it was most definitely something closer to home, but Goten couldn't catch a glimpse of the thoughts that went through his head. "And you showed it..." his too-blue eyes flickered upward to his face before meeting the far wall again. "Back then. Tell me more. I want to know."
"Well..." Goten frowned to himself. Maybe that was why Trunks seemed moodier than usual tonight. "Where were you?"
"Father had just decided that he would let you take the baby, in the hospital that time."
"Ahhh...."

"Goten-" Trunks' voice was a little strangled.
"I heard you gave in."
Goten saw his face crease in a miserable smile and moved over to him, one knee bending the mattress as he reached to encircle the warm figure of his beloved. He pressed a kiss to one temple, sighing softly at the familiar- and not so familiar- lines of his body as he pressed himself into the younger demi-Saiyan. Part of him objected to showing the man affection, but he ignored its strident voice.
"I just... I want you to be happy, Go-chan."
Trunks' sentiments were obviously genuine, but something about the way he said it, something uncertain and resigned, made Goten stop to wonder. Why had he changed his word? Was it really about Goten's desires in the matter?
The nurse was one he had seen there often enough, and she looked at them with big concerned eyes. "The doctors are coming to see you. They'll be here in a moment. We'll see how much we can do then."
Goten nodded once and turned back to Trunks. He looked so distracted it was hard to get a read on him. "Why did you change your mind?"
Trunks looked at him and past him, his lips barely moving as he answered. "I did some thinking."
He looked... smaller, somehow. Goten wondered if Trunks had only changed his mind so that he wouldn't be angry with him. Of course the thought had to come sooner or later. Trunks had saved so much time by delaying that Goten was sorely afraid. Something cold and remote in his eyes, something completely inturned, gave Goten the sudden urge to be away, to not touch him. He remembered his promise, all of a sudden.
"If you don't let me do this, the baby will probably die. And...... I don't know if I could forgive you for that." His exclamation afterward had been shock that he had said it aloud, shock that his innermost fears had been voiced; that maybe Trunks..... didn't care.
And now... it was hard to see him sitting there with his hands arranged in the covers, looking so spent and hopeless. It seemed that the worst case scenario had the oddest symmetry with reality. Trunks looked dead to the world. Goten started to pace the room slowly, for some reason the most ridiculous thoughts burying themselves in his skull.
Of course he cares. He loves his kids as much as I do. Goten felt a sudden crush of sympathy. Look at him... he's exhausted. "You feeling okay, Trunks?"
"I..." He licked his lips. "I'm fine. I just... I want this to be over now. I'm so tired of the.... pain." The last word was a whisper, dragged from the depths of his heart. Pain of all sorts, Goten supposed. Whose idea had it been to have a baby, anyway? It was mine, wasn't it? It was true that they had both wanted the baby, but if Trunks had never seen the look on his face that day-
A shiver passed through Trunks' body, wrapped up in his own thoughts as he was. His scent changed, and Goten was startled at the things he could smell radiating from the man. He was a little afraid, but still so resigned and hopeless that it gave Goten a headache.
The doctors put him through a complete examination, and at last sat with the two demi-Saiyans. The man who sat on the edge of the bed told them in no uncertain terms that the baby would die.
"No! I refuse to believe that!" Goten shouted, his mouth forming a hard line, and gripped Trunks' hand securely, as he challenged them. "There has to be something you can do. At least try, goddammit!"
The man was obviously trying very hard to be calming. "There is no way the baby can be transferred. The new environment will probably kill the baby as it tries to adjust. It's too weak to survive the move, even. And if this all keeps up in his body the way it's going, his immune system will probably try to target the baby. I'm sorry, but I'm giving it maybe three percent odds of survival."
Goten was blown into silence, something in his chest constricting painfully. "Trunks, do something." He turned back to face the man and was shocked.
Trunks' face had gone completely white, and he huffed softly for breath. "Increase his dosage," the doctor snapped. The nurse complied and injected something into some IV. "It's painkiller," The man added for Goten's benefit.
Even before it subsided, Goten could smell- feel- taste the defeat that settled over his form. Trunks had totally given up.

"What happened, Papa?" Tsuki looked up at him, his eyes blinking wide.
"The baby died, Tsukishiro."
"Maybe that's why it was so hard for Father to tell me about it." The boy's observation jangled against Goten's suddenly raw nerves. "But I thought the baby was me."
"You were next, little man. I was...." Goten huffed a soft breath as he tried to remember the time afterward without having tears show. "I was really upset about it. It was only a couple days later."
"You really thought he gave up," the boy reclined into his father's torso, his sigh reaching Goten's ears. "I don't think he woulda done that, Papa."
"You weren't there to guide us with your eternal wisdom, Moon-head. I think... it started to be different after a while, and it was hard for us to talk about it. One day your father came to me and began again, without me even knowing this time until it was too late to stop it. I would have said no."
"Would you? You didn't want another kid?" The boy looked up at him. Goten thought he saw the signs of sleep about him already. "So what did you say when you found out?"
"I was angry," he admitted. "It was very painful the first time, and I didn't want us to experience that again. We had a big fight over that one. I mean, I was really really hurt that he would do something like that, start taking the medication again without my consent. But I came back."
"You left him?"
Goten shook his head in annoyance. He almost had, that time, when he was in his parents' abandoned house, he had almost opted to stay there. "I came around. If I had a kid, then I had to be there. I came back for you, Tsuki." Goten held the boy close to him and dropped a kiss on the top of his head.
"So....." Tsuki took a long time before he resumed the thought, and his fingers dug into the blankets, pulling them up higher about them as he leaned into Goten. "You don't.... love Father anymore? You just came back for me?"
"I didn't say that," Goten corrected gently. "I came back because I had a responsibility to you. I came back to him also. I wouldn't still have to be married to him to fulfill my obligations to my son; I would love you regardless of my marital status. It's still a hard thing for us to go into. We don't talk about it to each other. And we never went into it with you, even though it probably would have been a good idea, for you to understand."
"But I don't understand, Papa," the young demi-Saiyan reclined his head against Goten's chest. "Why did you tell me all of this?" He took a breath in reflection. "You didn't have to tell me it all."
"If you had asked, and I were to tell you without further explanation that when your father was pregnant I didn't want you, would you have understood at all?" Goten brushed his hair back affectionately. "Could you have felt anything other than pain if you thought that I didn't want you? Maybe you would have wondered if I didn't want you now? I couldn't have you think that, because it's not true. I love you, kid. And you had to know what would have made me feel that way. It was important that you understand what had happened and how it affected our perceptions."
"Sou ka." The boy was silent for a long time, and Goten thought he had gone to sleep. "If everything I've heard is true.... this family has a bad history with kids."
"You are joking, right?"
Tsukishiro looked up at him, smiling and dismissing it for the time being. "Thank you for telling me, Papa."
"You needed to know eventually. You know... it's time for you to go to bed."
"I wanna stay here..." A fierce yawn ensued. "I love you too, Papa." His arms moved to encircle Goten's waist to avoid being put in his own bed, and dropped mid-reach with sleep.
Goten was touched as he always was by the quality of his child. He was different, this one... still so innocent and-
"We could have done so much better by you, my son. I'm so sick of seeing the pain in your face when you don't think I'm watching. I'm sick of this, being the only one here with you every day... something's gotta change."
Goten could not honestly say what had degenerated in his marriage over the years. The last few were worse by far than Tsuki's toddlerhood. But something needed to change now, or else... Goten wasn't sure he could go on with it, either way.
But something would be changed now. He looked down into the face of his son, wondering for a long moment about the future of this boy who so resembled him, wondering about the delightful creation of his love and himself. This, he realized, was exactly what he wanted when he had wanted a child of his own. That painful hope a person has for their children; the promise that's engraved in their young faces... Goten thought to himself and regretted some things, but rejoiced over others. There had been moments like this with his daughter and he treasured them as closely as he would this one. Somehow, there was a different feeling when you've created them yourself and a different feeling from when you've spent your life trying to overcome the fact that you haven't.
The moment ended, as such moments do, and Goten eased himself from his son's embrace, opening the closet to pull out some of his clothes and set them on the bed. He ventured into the master bedroom for the first time in many months, noting the dust that had settled, noting that the scent of himself and his husband had all but abandoned the room. He pulled a bag from somewhere deep in the closet, and thought about his son some more as he took some of the few things he wanted from the master bedroom. Much of what he needed he had already taken out, but there were a few things-
I feel so awful. I told him I loved his father and now I'm- But when the notion had occurred to the dark-haired man, it had felt so right. And now....
He carried the bag back and threw some things like a toothbrush into it, some money he kept in the nightstand, the clothes he had left on the foot of the bed, and everything softly so as not to wake his son. After a few minutes, he was done, and he looked around sadly. My last twenty-five years, just packed in a bag at the drop of a hat. The Son wondered if maybe he should leave a note. He left the room in thought, doing a last sweep through the rooms of his home while he considered carefully. Tsuki would be so much better off here... Trunks can support him, after all.. he needs to spend more time with him anyway. I hope to god he does. Or he'll answer to me.
It was incredible, whatever was driving him now. It made his hands shake, his jaw clench, it made him want to cry from uncertainty, love and fear and heartbreak. Something inside him had freed itself. And now that he was free and that piece of him was broken, he needed to be alone- to peruse the pieces, to reconstruct them in his mind, to see if he wanted to reconstruct them in his heart. Tsuki was the only thing that really kept him tied down to Capsule Corporation. He never saw his husband anymore, was relieved when the man left a room. He hated their fights, and he hated how he saw his son looking on, wide blue eyes wounded as Goten and Trunks struggled desperately to figure out what they really fought about.
Is this really it for us?

"Father."
The door to the attic pushed open slowly. Trunks, who had been half drowsing, sat up straight and turned the TV down.
"Tsukishiro? What is it? Is something wrong?" Trunks threw his legs over the side of the bed.
Now that he was here, the boy debated. Maybe he shouldn't say anything.... but he was scared. Papa was acting strange and Tsuki didn't know what to do about it. Obviously if the man had wanted his son to know what he was up to, he would have done it while the boy was awake. Tsuki had cracked one eye as Goten left the room that last time, and that was enough to send him to the stairway.
"I think you should come downstairs now."
It came out, odd and quiet, a whisper of sound. Trunks thought that his son resembled a little zombie, a sleepy spirit that clutched a blanket in fisted hands, something still in the boy's face. He looked deceptively fragile all of a sudden.
"Why?" Trunks stood above the boy, looking down at him intently. Tsuki looked more nervous with each step his father drew nearer. "Is something the matter?" The boy hardly ever dared the attic.
"Please," the boy whispered, pulling the blanket up to his chin and letting the end drag. "Papa..."
Trunks felt something in his chest grow a little tighter as the necessity arose to face Goten. He nodded at last and placed his hand on the boy's head, heading down the staircase quickly and quietly.
He could sense the younger demi-Saiyan in the kitchen. He moved to the doorway to look in. Goten was writing something on a piece of paper. He scribbled something out with a disgusted look and tried again. The pain and tight nervousness in his face made him look a good portion of his fifty-four years. Maybe forty at most. At last he gave up on the paper, and stood, tearing it quite methodically into tiny scraps which he brushed into the trash can. The move seemed to bring him a new measure of calm. Trunks now saw the bag he had packed sitting at his feet, and Goten moved to pick it up.
He's...? Something sent an adrenaline shock through Trunks' system, but the implications kept him frozen.
Goten turned then, and saw him. That mask of calm didn't waver. "I see you're awake."
"Goten, where are you going?" Trunks' eyes flicked from the bag up to his inflexible dark eyes.
"Out," he said shortly.
"For how long."
"I don't know. And I'm surprised you care."
Trunks looked up at him again from where his gaze had wandered away, his hand bracing himself on the doorframe as Goten delivered his last remarkable comment in an unremarkable tone. "Why?"
"I've been thinking tonight, Trunks. I think I should do it more often. Maybe I could have been gone by now."
"Explain." The word was blurted past his lips before he could stop himself, and Goten shook his head.
"I'm tired, Trunks. I'm tired of this. My life... hurts. And I'm tired of it."
Trunks looked at him, his heart jack-hammering in his chest, and waited for Goten to say something, to give him some clue how to act.
"You're not even going to stop me, are you. I wonder sometimes what would have happened sixteen years ago if you hadn't been pregnant." Goten's clip tone was unnatural to him, the warmth that defined his personality carefully sheltered. "Hnph."
"We've been together a long time, Goten."
"Yes we have. We're half Saiyan. We would be together a lot longer. The rest of our lives, we promised. Well, that's a really long time, Trunks. And if I can't look into my heart and feel any kind of hope or expectation, then it's time I made myself a life that includes a future."
"What are you saying?" Trunks was faintly horrified, but he pressed it down back behind his face. "Goten, you can't be serious in that you really want to... leave me."
"You're right. I don't." His eyes softened, just the slightest bit. "I just think that there's some things wrong when I never see you and I'm glad for that. I hate fighting with you, and it's so often... I know why you won't even come home for dinner, why you stay in that goddamned attic of yours. You don't even spend any time with your son, Trunks- he looks up to you so -"
"What do you want from me, Goten?" It broke in a bitter torrent before he even realized it would, before he realized it would come out as anger and callousness. "I'm not perfect, alright? If you had these concerns you should say something-"
"Bullshit, Trunks; don't jerk me around. You know what's going on here as well as I do!" Goten's voice rose to meet his in the battle that was so familiar after all these years. "If you wanted to be away from me for a while you should have at least told me... I could have given that to you, if that was what you needed! But you're shutting us out, and I hate it so much. I hate that my only life is my son, I hate that the rest of it was stolen from me before I even realized."
Trunks seethed silently during this. "You're crazy, Goten. What the hell is passing through your mind that makes you just up and start with this shit?"
"You remember how it was sixteen years ago, Trunks?" Goten tilted his head with his soft tone, eyes once again impenetrable. "How in love we were, how happy- we had five healthy kids who'd grown up quite wonderfully, grandchildren who looked up to us... the company didn't require your "constant attention"- hell, we even remembered what sex was!"
Trunks scowled nastily, confused.
"What happened to all that? What went wrong?" Goten looked at him in perplexity. "Telling my son some things brought back memories I'd been trying to push away, because I do remember that, and it hurts to think of that time, back then. I remember I told you...." Goten at last looked maybe a little guilty. "I told you I didn't know if I would forgive you for everything that happened then. I don't really blame you for it, but I guess I just never did."
There was really nothing Trunks could say to that. He clenched his fists under a wave of shame and anger.
"I have some things to think about, Trunks; on my own. It all just hit me at once and I realize I can't be near you now. I need some time to put my life back into some semblance of order in my own mind."
"Will you be back?" Trunks asked at last.
"I don't know."
Trunks had stared at the kitchen tile. He hadn't really expected that answer, but then again, he knew he should have. His eyes clashed with their complementing pools for a long moment before Goten hefted his bag again. "Take care of Tsukishiro. He's better off here. That means you'll have to actually be with him though, if you can manage that. Tell him I'm sorry, and I'll be in touch." Goten's familiar tread resounded on the kitchen floor, his steps moving through the hall. He pulled on his coat, and the door opened as Goten went out, closing with a resounding noise.
"Father!" Tsuki was in the room immediately, no doubt having listened to every word. "Father, he's gone!" The boy crashed into him, and Trunks caught him and held him to stand upright. Tsuki's arms wrapped around his waist, sobbing as he looked up at him. "You have to go after him!"
"Go after him?" Trunks asked, brow furrowed.
"You have to go get him," the young demi-Saiyan insisted. "He loves you! Please make him come back!" Tsuki sobbed. Trunks realized that the boy had never been without Goten in his life, that Goten was the more maternal type in his case, and that he had taken care of Tsuki for years..... years when Trunks had only noticed the boy slightly beyond the necessary. He loved him, yes, but...
"You don't understand, Tsuki. I can't... do that. He left. Bringing him back right now would be-"
"Liar!" The boy sometimes had all of the good and bad qualities of his parents, including what Trunks' temper and what little impatience Goten possessed. "You're scared, admit it! You're too afraid to go after him! You're giving up just like you did then!" Trunks wondered for a long moment what he was talking about. He had to wonder at Goten's story.
The boy's chest heaved, everything from his fists to his ragged dark locks quivering in anger. "You can't even bring yourself to love him anymore, can you? How can you give up on him?" Trunks was surprised that the gaze of the son was more accusing than that of his departed father. "You don't love Papa-" the boy broke down in bitter tears, glaring dark blue hatred at him. "You don't!"
Trunks reached a hand to him, to calm him, to reassure him. "Tsuki-"
"No!" He yanked his shoulder away from his father's grasp, taking off out of the kitchen, ignoring it when his shoulder banged into the door frame in his haste. "Don't speak to me!"
For a moment, Trunks was filled with pain, fear- he pressed his hands to his face, unable to believe that Goten had finally left him. When he looked back in his memories, Goten had almost always been there. It was frightening now for him to be gone, in a way it hadn't that first time. Something closer to his old feelings coursed through him and told him that his son was exactly right- he should go after Goten. He had to bring his lover back.
Then, as part of his consciousness watched in astonishment and cursed him for an unfeeling bastard, his panic and pain slowly drained away, flowing out of him as though they had never been there. He was a little more tired for the adrenaline rush, but other than that anyone would swear he was fine. But he couldn't stop shaking.
"Whatever happens happens," he told himself at last. "And if Goten doesn't come back then.... so be it."

To be continued?