Chapter Text
Mai had noticed his awkward silence as they ate breakfast. He even refused to look at her for very long. She was worried that sleeping in his bed had made things weird between the two of them. But she couldn’t see why he would be so awkward about it. They had just slept. Period. Nothing else had happened between the two. So why does he act like they had committed such a horrible sin?
Or was she blowing this out of proportion? Was she being selfish thinking that his awkwardness was because of her? It could very easily be his own nerves getting to him. That happened a lot recently, and it upset her to see him like that. He was a ball of emotions. He had witnessed terrible, horrible things, so it came to no surprise to her that he was affected by what he had been through. When she really thought about it, all she wanted to do was wrap him up in a hug and never let go of him.
She furrowed her brows and reached for her glass of orange juice, taking a rather small sip. His silence made her nervous, and the acidic drink wasn’t helping when it came to settling her stomach. She wanted to say something, but what? What could she say to him that wouldn’t make things even more awkward? She hated small talk, but that’s all she could think of to say. She’d take anything if it meant coxing out some words from him.
“How’d you sleep?” She spoke up and sat down her glass, picking back up her fork to continue eating the eggs Bulma had made the two this morning. He had barely touched his. He had barely even eaten dinner last night. It worried her. She knew how hungry he must have been, so why didn’t he eat? “You slept for a rather long time. You really needed a good night sleep, huh?”
She felt stupid talking as superficially to him as she did. They had been through so much together yet she still hadn’t been able to crack the code of getting him to talk when he didn’t want to. He seemed so calm on the surface, but she could practically feel the uneasiness radiate off of him. And she didn’t need to be able to sense Ki to know that much.
“Hm? Oh. I slept fine. You?” Trunks answered her question with the bare minimum. God, she hated these moods of his. Was it because they were around “his” family? He had acted like this ever since they’d gotten here. The only time he had really let her in was when he was sure none of them were around to hear. Like last night when he went to the bathroom.
Or when she had gone into his room to sleep.
She was starting to regret ever going in there. She had a bad feeling that she was the cause of his behavior. Was it what she asked? Was it because she woke up earlier and just left him? Was it her fault?
“I slept okay. Not the best sleep, but enough to keep me going.” Mai smiled at him and took a bite of the eggs. She shifted her gaze away from him towards the TV in the dining room area. A news report on some sort of sports team was playing, but she wasn’t really paying much attention as she stared blankly at it. She never really liked sports if she were completely honest.
“Are you okay?”
His voice had broke her concentration on the images on the screen. She turned her head towards him and blinked. She grinned a little and nodded her head. “Yeah. I’m fine. Why do you ask?”
“You were kinda staring off.” She watched as Trunks made a face of concern, a slight tilt in his head. “Do you have something on your mind?”
‘Why won’t you talk to me?’
‘Is something wrong?’
‘You seem stressed. Wanna talk about it?’
‘Was it something I did?’
These were all thoughts that flooded her head at once. He was giving her an opportunity to ask the questions she wanted to know. But the words got caught in her throat. She took a breath and sat down her silverware, propping her head up with her hand with her elbow against the table. “Not really. I guess I’m just...apprehensive about this new timeline thing.” It was a lie. But a lie that was believable enough for Trunks to not push further. Or at least she hoped it was believable enough.
Trunks nodded at her and looked down at his untouched food. “Yeah. I get that.” Relief washed over her when he didn’t press for any more information. She reached over and placed her hand on top of his.
“As long as we have each other, right?” She grinned and gave his larger hand a squeeze before slipping it away from him. She was afraid to let her touches linger for too long. She still wasn’t sure if she had caused his mood to be so sour. She didn’t want to keep upsetting him if she had. Why couldn’t she just ask him what’s wrong instead of sitting here doing nothing?
Mai stood up when she finished the last bite of her eggs, gathering up her dishes. Even though Bulma said not to worry about cleaning up, Mai felt like she’d be rude if she didn’t at least put her plate in the sink. After Mai stood there for a second while leaning against the counter, staring down at the nearly empty sink.
She jumped when she felt a hand against her shoulder. She looked back and saw a pair of blue eyes that were enough to make her grin.
“Do you wanna maybe talk about it?” Of course, he’s offer her reassurance. That was just the kind of guy he was. Even though he didn’t talk about his own problems often, he always made sure Mai knew he was there for her whenever she needed it.
She was lucky to have him in her life. The past few years before hadn’t been the best year of her life in all honesty. After running around with Pilaf and Shu for so long, she had gotten bored and lonely. They had been good fun, but she didn’t need that kind of entertainment anymore. She had left a little after Black had showed up. She still blamed herself for not being there to protect them. Yet she knew it was for the best for her survival in the long run. If she had stayed, there was no doubt she would have disappeared with them.
“Mai?”
She had been staring off again. She hadn’t even noticed.
“Oh! Sorry!” She quickly apologized and turned her body to face him. She leaned up against the counter, crossing her arms as she shrugged a shoulder. “I just...I don’t know. I can’t really talk about this. I don’t even know how I feel.” She spoke softly and looked down at the ground.
“...Well, maybe I can help you figure that out?” Trunks spoke in an equally soft and gentle tone. She felt both of his hands move to be placed onto her shoulders. She was sometimes surprised by how gentle he could be. Especially after witnessing the fight between him and the monstrosity that was Zamasu.
“Not right now. It’s almost time to leave.” Mai said and looked up at him. She had only ever seen such concern on his face when she or his mother had gotten hurt. His brows were furrowed, but his expression remained soft. Just looking at his face like that was enough for her heartbeat to accelerate. God, why did he have to be so sweet all the time?
“You two doing okay?” Bulma’s voice had startled her. Trunks’ hands had immediately dropped back down to his sides, and she felt a little disappointing that he didn’t keep them there. She understood why he’d do it. This Bulma would assume they were together when they weren’t. Their Bulma would have just brushed it off without saying anything. Whether she was thinking those things or not was a mystery to Mai. “Beerus and Whis are here, so you two should go finish getting ready.”