He buried his face where her neck met her shoulder, his breath heavy and humid against her flesh. His body was tense, yet loose enough to feel as if he were melting into her.

"Trunks." Mai whispered, shifting under him and further fanning her black hair over the pillow. She didn't need to whisper, because there was hardly anyone around who would hear them, if they hadn't heard them already.

He felt her fingers slide up his bare back and through through the edges of his scalp past his neck, gently combing the roots of his hair with her fingernails.

He felt like he died; she'd killed him, he decided. And it wasn't a bad way to go, after a day being spent in one another's company like a couple while basking in the celebration that was arguably the most prominent wedding in history since the Androids came.

His mother couldn't attend of course, which was a shame because he felt like this was more her sort of thing before the world went to hell, and being there under the globe lights of the evening reception in a nice dress that she hadn't worn in a while would've been just what she needed to feel like herself again.

Maybe for one evening, someday, she wouldn't have to feel like the world went to hell under her watch.

Mai was almost unrecognizable in a sleeveless powder blue dress, and when he saw her standing outside the reception area with a cigarette in hand and her dark eyes cast thoughtfully at the night sky while shifting her weight around in black heels awkwardly, he couldn't put off saying something any longer.

The two had shared a kiss one time, months earlier on his mother's estate when Mai had joined them for dinner one evening, and like a bad omen or a plague they avoided bringing it up since.

His breath leveled under her soothing touch, and with every inhale in his lungs he felt as if he were rising off of her body, lowered back down again only by an exhale. Mai always smelled of faint gunpowder and cigarettes, but underneath that her skin was sweet and soft under his touch, so much so that he wanted to take it all in under his lips and fingertips, so that he could make her a part of him, or he a part of her, and inhale her scent forever.

"Trunks."

Ah. It was so good to hear her say his name, and he wanted to say hers, since she was still wrapped in his arms completely and his mouth was so close to her ear that it shouldn't have been so hard, but coming down from the thrill of immense pleasure made him lazy and sloppy, and he resorted to pressing his lips to her shoulder instead.

He'd hadn't realized how soft and small she really was.

He tightened his hold on her, flinching as she trailed her other hand up his back, dragging it to his shoulder blade and leaving a trail of goosebumps in its wake.

"Trunks." Mai repeated slightly firmer than her previous tone, tapping him lightly to get his attention.

"Mm?"

"You're crushing me." She laughed. The sound was therapeutic.

"Oh. Sorry." He disentangled himself from her and rolled to the side as she took care to keep her hands on him, as if to assure him she still desired contact.

Mai had a certain look about her when she registered pleasant familiarity. Her eyes were warm when she smiled, showing little wrinkles in the outer corners of her eyes that made him happy to see, and to know that he was one of the people who made her expression light up this way.

So when he walked over to her at the reception, feeling sheepish from all their distant and odd interactions over the past several months, it felt good to have her look at him that way, even if she was exhaling smoke from a cigarette.

"I'm glad you came," She told him earnestly, "I wasn't sure you would make it."

Trunks tilted his head for a second, sliding his hands in his pockets and shaking his head at her usual gesture of silently inquiring if he wanted a drag- something she always did even though he'd never taken her up on it.

"Yeah, me too." He nodded to the twinkling lights draped around them as the music behind them picked up and upbeat rhythm. "It's nice to do something normal for a change, right?"

Mai smiled. "Guess so."

"It's okay." Mai reassured him, tilting her head into his hand when he reached for her face across the pillow from him to run his thumb along her jawline. He watched her eyes drift to the side in recollection until they snapped back on him as she was pulled back into the moment.

"So, that was nice." She said simply, a telltale smile hovering over his thumb.

"Mhm." He shifted so that he was closer again, because if he couldn't keep her pressed underneath him, then he wanted at least some sort of physical contact where her body was memorized by his for as long as possible.

Her eyes moved again. "Have you done that with anyone before?" She blurted, spilling the words out quickly like she were tearing off a bandaid.

Trunks shook his head, feeling heat in his cheeks. "No, why?"

He'd have been lying if he told her he'd never thought about it, but during his adolescence he'd never had a moment to truly have the intention of sleeping with anyone. And even if he had, what would it matter if he was here with her the way he was now?

"Oh." She bit her lip, looking back at him now. "It just... you seemed like you knew what you were doing."

A self conscious chuckle erupted from him, easing the tension and making her do the same. The lay like that for a moment, filling the silence with muted laughter, until he felt compelled to pull her even closer and kiss her again- with sincerity and simplicity.

The music fell into a mellow beat as Mai dropped the butt to the ground as a single glowing ember, smothering it with the toe of her shoe.

Trunks was feeling anxious, standing there and catching up with her, perhaps because he wasn't accustomed to these events or to seeing Mai dressed up this way.

So he did the only thing that made sense, taking her by the wrist and pulling her with him to the dance floor, a gesture she initially met with outrage, then bewilderment, followed by acceptance and surrender.

His mom had made sure that he had proper etiquette in all things when it came to interacting with women, a concept he'd often roll his eyes at her for when she'd coach him there in the living room, pretending to be his partner as she placed one of his hands on her waist and the other wrapped in her hand, to show him how to dance with"the right girl, should you ever find her."

He'd never tell his mother about this, he decided, because her guidance took away some of the guesswork and awkwardness of what was already a rather uncertain situation in the present as he led Mai by the hand amidst other couples and rested the opposite one on her waist, spinning her every now and then to make her smile, until it unexpectedly felt right to rest his forehead against hers.

He wanted something nice like this for he and Mai, he decided. A wedding. An event where people would come together and have a reason to dance and be happy, and his mother would feel like her old self again, or at least a skeleton of it.

"Trunks." Mai whispered his name for the first time that night. It might've been the buzz from the champagne, but he kissed her passionately against the wall of his quarters at the venue as she swayed slightly in giddiness, clutching both of her shoes that she had removed in one hand.

He parted from her, looking as her inquisitively and she stood with the shoes in her hand, visibly making a decisive call on where the evening would go when she dropped the shoes to the floor and grabbed him firmly by the lapels of his jacket and pulled him against her again.

Trunks' communicator buzzed. He ignored it, because Mai was squirming under his touch along her ribs and a familiar heat was building within him.

It stopped, and started again.

His brow furrowed, irritated. Who was calling him so late?

Mai broke their kiss, turning her head away from him and toward the pile at the side of the bed where he'd tossed his clothes in a single mound, with his slacks and belt on the top and jacket with a button up shirt on the bottom.

"I think you should get that." Mai spoke breathlessly, "It must be important if it's this late."

Trunk wanted to protest, to conjure an excuse to deny it, but Mai was right. He grunted and carefully moved over her to exit the bed, feeling a little bashful about the way her eyes were raking over his body from behind him.

He read his mother's number on the screen and pushed his hair back from his eyes, feeling his jaw clench in tension. It wasn't like her to call so late like this.

Mai rolled over on the bed for that she was facing him, propping her upper body up by her elbow and bringing a sheet to her chest. His expression had made her uneasy.

"Who is it?"

Trunks hit the answer button and watched as his mother's face, tired and gaunt-looking come upon the screen.

"Mom? What's wrong?"

"Trunks!" Bulma exclaimed, visibly relieved at the sight of him. "You're alright? Is everyone alright out there?"

He blinked at her, unsure of what to say. Mai remained silent from her position, her eyes falling dark in familiarity at the tone of his mother's voice.

"Yeah, what do you mean 'are we alright?' Something happen?"

His own words filled him with dread.

"Trunks." Bulma spoke wearily, "You need to come back here. There's been some... attacks."

His blood ran cold. "What do you mean? You need to be more specific." And with his teether clenched he added, "Is it the Androids? Are they back?"

His mother shook her head. "I-I don't think so. It's something else. I don't know what else to say right now, because for all I know our comms could be compromised."

He sank down against the wall on bent knees, pushing his head behind his head again and rubbed the back of his neck nervously.

"Trunks." Bulma spoke firmly, commanding her son to retain his attention on her words. "I need to you warn the others, tell them that if there's no underground shelter then they need to head for housing with lots of cover, like the old days. Immediately. Tell them to wait for further instruction. And I need you to come back here, it's not secure to talk at a distance like this."

She hung up, and his eyes trailing to the bed where Mai had already risen, pushing her hands over her temples and taking a slow breath.

"I'll warn the others," Mai told him decidedly, stumbling around the bed to retrieve her underwear and slid the garments on. "You should get going. It sounds pretty serious."

Trunks shook his head incredulously as he stood, unaware of his state of nudity until she walked to him with her dress, not zipped up, hung loosely about her shoulders from the back, picked up his pile of clothing and flung it at him.

"Get going?" Trunks balked irritably.

Mai reached behind herself and pulled the zipper up with several clumsy pulls.

He obeyed her reluctantly, though defiantly announcing, "I'm not leaving you here."

Mai shook her head at him, fiery and incredulous. "You have to. Who knows how much time we have?!"

Trunks fasted his belt and grabbed her roughly by the shoulder as she bolted for the door with her shoes in her hand.

"I'm not leaving you here. You're coming with me." He told her again, his voice cracking from the strain of emotion and with the angry look in her eye at his aggressive contact she looked ready to hit him.

"We don't have a choice." Mai told him firmly, "I'll meet you at Capsule Corp."

No, no, no. He'd seen numerous corpses in his life, some strange, some familiar. He wouldn't see her become a victim like that. He swallowed, momentarily mourning the glimpse of a future he had with her.

"I'll go with you." He attempted again, fully knowing her plan made more sense.

Mai shook her head. "I have some weapons in my room. And my vehicle. I'll be safe. And I'll see you at Capsule Corp."

Her vocal inflection at the last sentence told him that her decision was final, and he only buttoned his shirt halfway before he watched her run barefoot into the night from him, banging along every door and sounding every alarm along the way.

Bulma sighed for a moment, leaning backward in her desk chair and sitting still in the darkness of an early morning. If Trunks was safe, she expected him to be sleepy, groggy, pulled from the throes of sleep by her call.

But he wasn't any of those things. And she was no idiot, and she hadn't exactly become a mother by not keeping company at late hours such as this.

He was with Mai.

Tears welled in her eyes and she blinked them back furiously and she pieced the puzzle in her head the way she had for a million things, gadgets and social situations alike. She knew he was ga-ga for that girl, and the thought of him finding companionship with her, the way she had briefly with Vegeta all those years ago, well...

It would be so comforting. And after everything, he was her son and he deserved it. But now, thanks to this new asshole, whatever he was, it would all be taken from them.

She wrinkled her nose in disgust and frustration, and pulled a cigarette from the box in her top desk drawer, lighting it until it glowed red in the dark with her breath.

A/N: Goku Black and his timing, amiright? I recently rewatched the arc in Super and it made me think of how cruel it'd be to experience some sense of normalcy only to have it all go to chaos again (not to mention thinking Mai is dead for a while). These one shots are in no particular order, so anything posted after this will take place before and after this point chronologically, because I need to balance out the darker stuff with lightheartedness and fluff. Thanks for reading!