I've never done this before, I don't own anything I just wanted to see what would happen if i messed with it, i do plan to add subsequent chapters, I don't know how romantic it will end up being, neither do you that's why we read on, no? (:
If you don't like it, that's cool, if you could tell me why not that would be cool too. If you do like it, alright, well great, thanks.
Goten picked up the opened letter again and glanced over the words he'd already read a thousand times. 'Dear Mr Son,' It began, 'Thankyou for rectifying your balance.'
Goten moved around his apartment restlessly, he wasn't sure whether he was glad his roommate was out or not. He sat on his sofa upright, until this became uncomfortable, at which point he lay down, until this became uncomfortable, shortly after he found himself upside-down with his head lolling off the seat. It was a while before he noticed he'd been turning 360s on the couch.
He sat up, stood up, sighed.
Study worries, money worries, it was all getting a bit grown up for Son Goten as he gazed out of his apartment window. It wasn't as if the bill didn't need paying, he admitted to himself, and it also wasn't as if he would have been able to pay it, not the way the shifts in work had been.
That didn't stop it making him feel uncomfortable, though.
He turned from the window and glanced around, the place wasn't bad… it could have been worse, and would have been if he'd gotten his way. It also certainly would have been better if Trunks had been allowed to help as much as he wanted to, but Son Goten didn't want to be helped. He'd been tired of living in the shadow of his rich and handsome best friend, of his intelligent and strong big brother, of his universe saving father… Goten didn't want hand-outs, he just wanted a sliver of independence, and a sliver was certainly all he was going to get if this recent development was anything to go by. The thought sent a jolt of rage through him, and he looked down to find the letter singed and slightly smoking in his hand. His lack of control only annoyed him further and he scrunched the paper and launched it across the room, as if the letter itself had dared to doubt his capability of supporting himself through university.
He headed back towards to sofa before changing his mind and simply pacing the floor. No, he thought, it really didn't take Gohan or Bulma to figure out who'd been taking it upon themselves to meet Goten's deadlines. It had Briefs Trunks written all over it.
The thought of it made Goten feel a number of things, he supposed he should have been grateful, and he would have been, if it didn't undermine everything he was trying to achieve. What it did instead was make him feel patronised, untrusted, and checked up on.
There were other things though; more subtle and less explicable changes to their friendship before he'd started university which Goten was altogether struggling to reconcile. The two had been best friends all their lives, they shared a bond Goten was pretty sure no two other people on the planet could claim to know; they had been one entity, shared one mind. Trunks was Goten's best friend, and while he was a fundamentally good person and had certainly grown up, he was also kind of spoilt, and kind of an ass - he couldn't help it.
So this gives rise to the paradox with which Goten now found himself struggling, suddenly he had gone from having the kind of best friend who trips you around corners and gives you dead arms, to the kind of best friend who wants to use his new CEO wages to buy you a penthouse. For your birthday, you manage to convince him, as thankful as you are, you can't drive to campus in a Lambourghini it'll look bizarre. A car really isn't necessary you said, you just want to fit in and be a normal student you said, and you now have an Audi parked outside your student accommodation that you're really not sure how to explain to your flatmates.
These were just two examples of his recent behaviour, and Goten was careful not to sound ungrateful each time his friend offered something lavish, he knew it was meant as a nice gesture, and of course it was. In the same token, by no means was he complaining that the dead arm thing was over, maybe it was indeed just time to grow up. It was just… Trunks' replacement gestures were exponentially more valuable and seemed to be increasing each time.
Maybe Goten was just being suspicious when there was really no need, he reasoned. Why couldn't a best friend just buy another best friend expensive items, if they had the expendable income to do so?
It was just, well, why?
His kneejerk reaction is that Trunks was feeling guilty, 'But for what?' Goten wondered. He searched his mind for anything he may have failed to pick up on the last couple of times they hung out, before getting kind of irritated 'Anything you you're trying to compensate for with a 6 figure value car is something I'm definitely going to be really pissed off about' He thought.
But there was another trail of enquiry his brain kept almost trying to avoid, Goten hesitated at the thought, maybe this was being ultimately stupid, but… why wasn't Trunks buying for a girl? I mean they were always falling all over him. Not that Goten was putting himself down, he didn't do badly, but Trunks was kinda famous and quite a bit rich. And one present, well sure, that's friendship. But Cars? Apartments? Paying his bills? An insane thought crossed Goten's mind; 'Am i-am I being kept?'
He almost laughed out loud and snapped out of his reverie, but there was a deep feeling of unease left in the pit of his stomach. Realising he'd become stationary in thought, he resumed pacing again at this newest possibility. He glanced at the clock; 4.50PM. His mind whirred and ran away with infinite possibility; he decided he could take it no longer. Steeling himself, he approached the window and hauled it open, making sure as best he could no one was about to get an eyeful, he blasted through in the direction of capsule corp, wondering if a certain youthful president might give something away under scrutiny.
