Disclaimer: I do not own the characters that I so love to play God with, however, Sammy, in all her glory, does belong to me. And the 'in bed' isn't mine either, my pal Emiko invented it... I think.
AuthorNote: This story was written in light of the wonderful holiday; Easter. I personally believe that this holiday has been less commercially slaughtered compared to other religious holidays, however, this fic does not share any religious views because
a) religion is a touchy topic, and I'm not going to willfully bring it up in written fiction content, and b) I simply don't see any of our religions fitting very comfortably in the DragonBall world. Therefore, it takes on the lighter, and the most favourite aspect (especially to those sweet tooths) of Easter. Long live chocolate.
Fortune Cookies
"What on earth did you buy, Pan?" Trunks asked with a raised eyebrow, as the younger girl stepped to his side, her arms weighted down with numerous boxes and bags.
"Stuff," came the slightly muffled, typical no-detail young adult response. Trunks surveyed her for a moment, his arms folded, and head tilted to try and peer around the packages into her face.
"Stuff?"
"Yep," she replied, shifting the bags so that she could clear her line of vision, yet prevent any items from tumbling out.
"Do you want some help?"
"Sure," his offer was quickly received, and he found his arms packed with half of Pan's purchases.
"Seriously, Pan, what did you buy?" Trunks asked, once he regained his balance, and the two started a slow walk down the sidewalk.
"Stuff," she repeated, her eyes focused ahead, and he knew he wouldn't get anymore out of her. He smiled softly, but kept his eyes on her.
Pan's face itself was rather expressionless, but to Trunks, it held a million emotions. He had spent so much time with the girl for the past few years, that every movement and flicker on her face, he could pinpoint as meaning something. Her lips were curved into an almost non-existent curl upwards, which meant she was content. This, of coarse, made Trunks glad, because she was spending the afternoon with him, and it wouldn't be saying much to have her bored with their time together. Her eyes were slightly scrunched at the corners, indicating that she was thinking about something extensively, and because of the faint pink dashing her upper cheeks, Trunks had a mad desire to know what exactly she was thinking about.
Sensing she was being watched, Pan turned to look at him, her thoughtful expression dissolving, being replaced with an inherited grin.
"You like looking at me, Trunks? You waaa-nt me, don't'cha?"
"Don't you know it," he promptly replied. He knew she was teasing him. It was all supposed to be a game. It had been harmless flirting and joking when their friendship had begun a few years ago, but some where along the line, Trunks had forgotten that it was all supposed to be a game, and that none of it was real.
Trunks had forgotten that he was not supposed to fall for Pan.
She broadened her grin, and turned back to face in front of her. Trunks turned away as well, but kept a more discreet glance at her as he walked. Her hair was pulled back with an elastic, but a few strands had escaped its hold and curled around her chin, framing her face, and teasing her shoulders. Her bangs were swaying slightly to her step, and brushed lightly over the top of her arched eyebrows.
Her walk was confident and she managed to look completely composed, despite the numerous bags she held which threw off her appearance. She wore a light brown coat, protecting her from the early April rainy weather.
With an inward sigh, he dragged his stare away from his friend, and focused on the sidewalk in front of him. Trunks wanted his father to beat some sense into him for liking Pan more than just as a friend. But, at the same time, he also wanted to drop the bags he held and kiss her for all he was worth. And the two options were quite opposites. But what could he do? He was in love with a girl years younger than himself. He had gone over the options for himself a million times, but, walking beside her now, he began to re-list them in his mind.
One - simply ignore the attraction, and hope it would go away.
Two - date other girls so that the attraction would be forced away.
Three - tell someone who would get extremely angry and beat him up.
Four - tell someone who would get extremely angry and kill him.
Five - join a cult which forbids interaction with women.
Six - hang around Roshi and lose all thoughts about wanting women.
Seven - go live in a cave and become a hermit.
Eight - become a figure skater, forcing his sexual preferences to swing the other way.
Nine - become a lemming and jump over the side of a cliff.
Ten - beg Dende to solve his problem.
Eleven - lose all hygiene so Pan wouldn't want him anyway.
Twelve - consult a psychiatrist
Thirteen - be a guest on a talk show for helpless cases of love
Fourteen- confess feelings to Pan
Fifteen - hug Pan
Sixteen - date Pan
Seventeen - fling Pan over shoulder and -
Trunks didn't need to continue to know that while he had many options, he really didn't want to do any of them. He didn't want to love Pan, because it would destroy their friendship and make his life extremely complicated, but at the same time, he wanted to be the center of Pan's life and have her as his own forever.
It was extremely complicated. His thoughts came to a hault when Pan spoke beside him.
"What are you thinking about? You look so deep in thought," she said softly, her voice holding a curious tone, yet a welcoming touch, should he need to vent his heart to her. Trunks couldn't help but smile.
"You," he said. Many options, but for now, he would play it as their friendship was supposed to be played. Harmless teasing, except... it wasn't. It was eating him up inside.
"Oh? What about me? Nothing dirty I hope," she commented lightly.
"I choose not to answer that," he replied. Pan grinned.
"Oh!" she squealed, causing Trunks to stop at a halt and look over to see the cause of her outburst. Her eyes were focused on a small cart half-hidden in an alley. Pan was hopping lightly from foot to foot and pointing. With a knowing sigh, Trunks read the faded sign above the cart.
Wok's Chinese
Pan had dragged her eyes away from the food cart and was looking pleadingly up at him.
Eighteen - buy Pan Chinese take-out.
He shifted the bags to one hand, and fished out his wallet from his pocket with the other. Pan had already squealed again and was telling the aged man her order by the time Trunks joined her at the cart. He only half-listened as she reeled off numerous dishes, choosing to pay closer attention to her smile, and lightened eyes, rather than what she was actually saying. He paid without question, vaguely aware of Pan skipping off to the park across the street with the food and half of the bags she had been carrying.
Trunks bent down and picked up the ones she had left behind, turned to join her in the park, when the old man called him back.
"You forgot your fortune cookies," the man said with his homeland's accent. Trunks took the two cookies from the man with a nod. "And, Happy Easter to you, sir," he added.
"Happy Easter," Trunks replied, turning away again and walking across the street to where Pan was sitting on her coat on the ground. It hadn't rained all day, so the ground was fairly dry, and the weather wasn't too cool out, so that she was warm enough in her black sweater. Trunks sat down beside her, following her example and sitting on his coat, before placing the two cookies beside the arrangement of take-out she had already put out.
"Ooh, fortune cookies, I forgot about those," she muttered, her mouth already full of noodles. She immediately reached down for one, but Trunks grabbed her hand away.
"They're supposed to be for dessert," Trunks pointed out. Pan pouted, in a way only Pan ever could pout, her frowned bottom lip sticking out, her eyebrows fallen, with her head at a tilt. But just as quickly as the pout appeared, it disappeared into a grin as Pan rummaged through one of her bags and produced a good sized box. With a giggle, she pulled of the lid to reveal colour-wrapped chocolate, piled to the rim.
"This is dessert," she said lightly, then grabbed the cookie back from Trunks. She quickly broke the treat in half, and pulled the small slip of paper out from inside. She tilted her head to the side, as her dark eyes scanned the message, then laughed lightly.
"What?" Trunks asked, watching her carefully. She looked up at him, her bangs swinging at the quick movement.
"When I was a kid, and Goten was in his hormonic teen years, he told me to add 'in bed' to the end of your fortune. Some of them are really funny, this one doesn't work too well, though," she replied. Trunks grinned, completely un-surprised that Goten would think to do something like that.
"What does it say?" he asked. Pan turned her eyes back to the slip of paper and read slowly and clearly.
"If you dance with a grizzly bear, you had better let him lead... in bed," she said, pausing, then shrugging. "That one really doesn't work too well. Then again, that's a rather weird fortune, they usually are a little more... deep, I guess." Trunks nodded, and began to munch on a chicken ball.
The wind was only slightly blowing, causing the near-by pond to ripple. He turned his eyes towards the playground not far away and watched the children climbing over the brightly coloured equipment, while tired parents kept close watches on their chocolate-hyped sons and daughters. Trunks only took his watch off them, when he felt that some one was watching him.
Pan was staring at him, and because she wasn't chewing any new food, he deduced that she had been staring for some time.
"What?" he asked. She gave him a look to say it was obvious.
"Aren't you going to read your fortune?" she asked, pointing down at the remainder cookie. Trunks glanced at it, shrugged, and picked it up.
Nineteen - consult a fortune cookie.
Trunks broke the cookie in half easily, and pulled the slip out to read.
Follow the prompting of your heart
"Well?" Pan asked in an off voice.
"Follow the prompting of your heart," Trunks recited to her.
"In bed," she finished, an evil grin spreading on her face, "Tru-unks, I don't want to know about your sex life."
"And I want to know about yours?" he asked, "Honestly, I could have done without the mental image of you and a grizzly bear getting it on," he replied with a smile. Always teasing. This was tearing him apart. Pan smiled back.
Pan continued to eat the Chinese, but Trunks wasn't in the mood for it, and instead started eating the chocolate Pan had bought,
"Ooh," Pan murmured, turning to look in a bag. Trunks watched her warily, wondering if she had more sweets to share. She turned back with another box, this one lined with small holes, and a ribbon. She handed the box to him with a smile.
"For the man that has every chick drooling over him, I found one who's not. The lil' rebel," she explained, all the time grinning madly. Trunks raised an eyebrow in total confusion, pulled off the ribbon and opened the box. Inside was a small, fluffy, yellow bundle that seemed to be twitching. Trunks held the box closer to his eyes to get a better look.
Chirp, chirp
"You... got me a baby chicken?" he asked.
Chirp, chirp
"Yep. Happy Easter! It's name is Sammy. See, its all soft and cute, just like you,"
Chirp, chirp
"And it never shuts up... are you hinting at something?" he asked in amusement. Pan looked at him with mixed emotions.
"Don't you like it?" she asked rather timidly. His eyes were on hers. Dark and frightened, he simply could not do this anymore. No more jokes. No more teasing. Follow the prompting of your heart
"I love... it," he replied. The fear melted into a grin.
Follow the prompting of your heart
"It's the gift from my heart," she said, leaning closer to look at the baby chick. Follow the prompting of your heart
She was so close that her pony-tail was brushing against his cheek. She was patting the little Easter chick with a slender finger.
Follow the prompting of your heart
She turned to look at Trunks, her face inches from his own. She was blinking repeatedly, as if something was in her eyes. Her hands were shaking slightly. He reached out and placed his hands on her shoulders to steady her. She raised her chin to look at him, a million emotions flashing through her eyes.
"Trunks..."
Follow the prompting of your heart
Twenty - kiss Pan
It was soft and sweet, and over all to quickly. Pan quickly leaned away, and her hand flew to her lips, covering them as if they'd been intruded upon.
"Trunks..." she repeated. Trunks swallowed. His own hands seemed to be shaking.
"...That's the gift from my heart," he said quietly.
"Trunks..."
"Pan, please say something other than my name."
"... you taste like chocolate," she said softly, slowly taking her hand from her lips. Trunks swallowed again.
"What?" he asked, sure that he had mis-heard.
"Chocolate," she repeated. She leaned forward again so they were talking right to each other.
"... I was eating some..." he whispered, pointing to the chocolate box dumbly, "Pan, is that all you can-"
"I like chocolate," she said, a smile appearing on her lips, as she leant further forward, continuing what Trunks started.
The box with the chick tumbled onto the grass, where the little bird curled up, amidst chocolate wrappers, cartons half-full of Chinese food, and crumbs of fortune cookies. All quite forgotten.
End
EndNotes: And I wish I had a yellow Easter chick... we hatched some in grade two... it was fun. I can't get away from these guys. I'm in the process of actually writing the requested sequel to 'Dear Diary...', but desperately would like input for it. If you're one of those that have been hounding me, or you simply have an idea/suggestion/comment/thought etc., please, please, please, email me. Thank you all, Happy Easter, and be a dear - leave me a review.
-Angel Eevee
March 31 2002