Stole a Babylon 5 title this time, and more Reboot refs abound… also look for a line from a very old Star Trek novel. Maybe I’ll think up of something on my own one of these days... heh heh.

by Alhazred

alhazred@cdp.adelphia.net

Dear... little blue book thing,

Gohan comes up to me today and says "hey Bro, why doncha start keeping a journal? I started one myself this week."

Oh great, my older brother’s been writing down the entire soap opera. Well, I guess that’s a bit harsh... I’m more weirded out by the fact that someone could read the thing and be told in detail about how Gohan happened to be in the right place at the absolute worst possible time... not that Dad needs to. If I could draw a straight line to save my life, I’d draw the look on his face when Trunks and I walked in the night he dropped by for a visit.

But yeah, I’m gay, no sense hiding it anymore. I won’t bother writing down the whole week’s events over again. Gohan’s already done that, and knowing that makes me completely unwilling to do the same.

So sue me, I’m lazy.

All that out of the way, I figured maybe I could talk about something Gohan didn’t document very well. Oh, he’s not vague, I just didn’t tell him everything about this.

I’m going to tell you about Vegeta... and how that little adventure inadvertently played an... interesting part in Trunks and I getting together much later.

Yep, Vegeta... Panny told my big brother I’d had a crush on Vegeta years ago. I’d needled Gohan about it (you’d think he’d be needling me,) but... it was a little more serious then I let on. For me, anyway. At the very least, this can come in handy if I ever want to write my memoirs.

Me and Trunks have been together for a year... he told me I’m the only guy he’s ever been attracted to... and I guess that’s flattering. It’s certainly good enough for me.

But as for me, I’ve been swinging on the other side of the fence since I was sixteen.

I feel lucky in that I got a grip on this rather easily. Yeah, I denied it for awhile, then I got sick of that and figured, what the hell, it’s not like I have to stand up and announce it to the world, might as well accept it.

I suppose it’ll always be a bit weird, being different, but I never found it to be heavy emotional baggage. I don’t think Trunks had many problems either... Hell, he was less afraid of our parents finding out then I was (he thought Vegeta would kill us as much as I would... I was more afraid he’d be even angrier to know his son bottomed to one of Kakarott’s children. Gohan thought I was joking about that...)

Anyway, back to the point. I can remember during spring break that year... Vegeta asked me if I’d like to train with him. Gohan and Videl were running out of town, and Dad was still around, but he’d gotten the job of watching lil’ Panny this time. Trunks and Bulma were off running errands, so that left me as the only viable sparring partner.

We used his gravity room for it... and, well, that was when it hit me. My first crush... had to be on Vegeta of all people.

It happened while we trained. It was like running into several walls of brick (or maybe he'd gotten a punch on me.) I think it was that devilish smile he wore when he knew he had the upper hand in a fight. He suddenly seemed to be a lot more then my best friend's father all of a sudden...

I lost that bout. Of course, it's not like I could stand up to Vegeta anyway, but I was paying way too much attention to him and not enough... to him. I couldn't help it. In the span of five seconds I'd fallen head over heels for Vegeta. The killer smile, that I'm-better-then-you posture of his, strong as hell and he was nice to look at too... I guess you could say everything about him suddenly mesmerized me.

And then, as I left, it suddenly hit me; I was madly in love with Vegeta. I'd never given the whole romance thing much thought aside from an occasional girlfriend, and obviously nothing ever came of any of that. The fact that I couldn't get my mind off Vegeta made me realize girls had never held an appeal at all, really... and yet Vegeta did.

So... yeah, that was my moment of personal revelation, as absurd as it is. All I could think about for a few days was how I was... gay. It's not often one looks back on their whole life trying to figure out when something so... abstract happened. It's a sobering experience.

No, of course I didn't figure out why I'm what I am. Although I entertained the idea that Mom made me afraid of all women, heh heh. Like I said before, it didn't take me horribly long to accept this. Once I did, the first thing I thought of doing was telling Trunks.

And then I realized that would be a very bad idea. I mean, sure, if I could just say "I'm gay" it wouldn't be horribly bad, I had no reason to think he's turn his back on me for it. But no, noooo nonono, I was not going up to Trunks and telling him I had a thing for his father.

The problem with this whole situation, you see, was quite simple; having a crush on Vegeta pretty much made me obsessed with Vegeta. I'd find an excuse here or there to train with him more often just to revel in the fact that he'd be paying attention to little ol' me, I would even spy on him when he abandoned the gravity room for outdoors training.

Of course, there was the little problem that Vegeta was straight, had a family and probably wouldn't be caught dead in a relationship with anyone fathered by his biggest rival...

Anyway, I'm not really going to get into the specifics about this... sufficient to say Vegeta was the object of my desire for a few months (oh what, like I'm gonna talk about some late night Vegeta fantasy and then have Pan find this thing? You just know she would...)

One of the larger points in this whole thing came a few months after this. Bulma, more precisely, Capsule Corporation, were throwing a martial arts exhibition tournament. She was charging ludicrous amounts o money for it to be televised, intent on donating the proceeds to charity (apparently, Vegeta had gotten stuck in traffic and blew up a rather large bridge in frustration...)

Of course, when Bulma asked if I'd put on a show, I told her I would if she set me up against her husband...

~~~

"I don’t know what inspired this, Kid, but I hope you’re ready to hurt."

I loved it when he talked like that. For someone who’d think it pretty damn sexy a few years later that Trunks was a lot more shy in bed then out of it, Vegeta’s I’m-the-boss tone was enchanting.

The fight would be pretty interesting… Gohan and Goku had torn up a good few blocks, Videl and her father... hadn’t, but it was still a good brawl. I had to give Bulma credit; she was a genius for getting the more... destructive fights set up in condemned areas.

Vegeta dived at me and swung a punch. The fight was on, but he was being slow; I ducked right under his fist and planted mine in his gut, then spun around and roundhoused him in the head. For a second, Vegeta tumbled... then he caught himself easily and stood, smiling as if nothing had happened.

The phrase ‘sexy bitch’ had often entered my thoughts to describe Vegeta back then, but at the moment, he was a little bastard for toying with me. Pissed off, I dashed toward him, and he promptly sent me flying with an energy blast. I couldn’t stop myself and I promptly slammed hard into the side of a building, leaving quite a bit of an indentation.

Looking down, I saw the street here had partially collapsed under itself; I let myself drop, feigning pain, to the bottom of it. From here, Vegeta couldn’t see me.

As I’d hoped, he started walking toward me. I waited for a few seconds, straining to hear his steps, to tell exactly where he was... step, step... one more step, and I transformed right there, shot up, and blasted him back.

I could see the surprise on his face... in the instant before my attack hit him. I used a beam blast where he had whacked me with a pulse before, and I kept it going until he slammed even harder into another wall, actually going through it.

I moved fast. From my vantage point I could see him stride out with that walk of his, looking around for me with a scowl on his face. It wouldn’t take long for him to pinpoint my energy more exactly, but the next time he turned away, I acted.

He turned to where I was flying at him a second before I was in striking distance. That was now out of the picture; if I was gonna get any shots in, I would have to be... creative.

So instead of throwing an attack, I kept going and got him in a grapple. Lemmie tell you, I was in Heaven right there, my arm wrapped around his, he’d caught my other hand and our fingers laced... I thought I would pass out. But that wouldn’t have been a very good fight now, would it?

Grapple achieved, I pressed it. We skidded across the old road, tearing it up in seconds with debris flying behind me as we kept going. He looked me right in the eyes and smiled, adoring the challenge I was giving him. He still hadn’t transformed.

I felt my face form a snarl, and I could feel myself not wanting to give the man an inch... looking back, I think I wanted to prove myself to him... here he was smiling at me like he couldn’t lose, and I’d be damned if I’d let him keep that thought.

I was quite intent on ramming him through a rapidly approaching building, but he went Super-Saiyan and skidded us to a halt; I couldn’t shove anymore, he was putting up too much resistance.

Then he snap-kicked me in the chest. I went flying, not of my own free will mind you, right into a populated area. I distinctly remember glass shattering as I went through someone’s front window and then out the back one... hope they weren’t home. Vegeta was close behind. As soon as I was out in the open again, I felt a punch across my face and then I as going down.

Vegeta, it seemed, was mocking me with my own tactic. "Express elevator ta Hell, Boy!"

I tried to stop us, but the simple fact of the matter was that Vegeta’s a lot stronger then I am. I felt myself slam through ground, down underneath... to somewhere, I didn’t really have time to look, I’d say it was the sewer but it wasn’t wet...

Enough of this, I thought. If I couldn’t stop Vegeta, I decided I’d turn him around. Literally. I spun us around so he was below me as we hit the floor and borrowed down sideways, then I forced him back up.

Now in the air again, I kicked him down at an angle; in seconds, he’d landed and made one helluva skid mark in the road. Spectators were even starting to gather... the object of my affection pulled himself to his feet and shook the cobwebs out of his head while I went in low to grab him again. Unfortunately for me, he’d gotten wise to that trick and promptly slammed his fist into my midsection as I sped toward him.

That fucking hurt, let me tell you. I careened away out of control and thudded onto pavement a noticeable distance away. A few seconds later, Vegeta dropped down next to me and hit me again, and again I was too shocked from the blow to catch myself in the air. In fact, he’d hit me so hard that I landed almost exactly where the whole thing had started.

And before I knew it, Vegeta landed behind me and, taking my own idea of unusual tactics, grabbed me in a sleeper hold.

"Time for a nap, Boy!"

Didn't take me long to pass out. Wasn't that bad, though, I mean, at least I could say Vegeta had his arms around me for a couple minutes...

~~~

If you asked "could you possibly love Vegeta more?" after that fight, I'd say... yep. Yeah, I know it's all completely insane... but then, show me a first crush that isn't insane and I'll show you a cheesy romance novel with a plot.

Not long after, there was a full moon. I knew Vegeta would train outside that night, he always did when the moon was full... maybe he missed his tail that much. Of course, I was there to watch, power level down of course. This time, he stood on a medium sized cliff next to a waterfall while he went through his routine. I hid in the trees below him, it was one helluva view... he was even more entrancing silhouetted against the moon.

I just watched him for an hour or so, not moving an inch on the fear he'd catch me. That was, of course, the risk of doing this, he'd probably kill me if he caught me stalking him.

I was soon to experience this first hand. You see, after he'd finished, he stood there for a moment, and started talking to himself. Very loudly.

"Well... whatever am I going to do, it seems I'm being," then, in a second flat, he went Super Saiyan and sent a rather large energy attack right at me, "watched."

I was caught totally off guard. The blast slammed me head on and hurt like hell, to say nothing of how I felt when I went flying backwards and knocked over a few trees. Being sprawled on my back on the rather cold ground, it took me a few seconds to register everything. First thing that came to mind was that Vegeta had caught me.

Second thought was 'oh, shit.'

Third thought was 'goddamnit, there's a tree on my face.'

So I pushed the offending foliage off of me and tried to sit up. Unfortunately, Vegeta had long been standing behind me by the time I did so. I didn't know this until his hand wrapped around the back of my neck and lifted me into the moonlight. I swear I felt him raise an eyebrow when he got a good look.

"I don't even want to know what you're doing here, brat. Whatever it is, I don't think I have the stomach for it."

I think I kinda hung there and said something like "uhhhhhh..."

I prayed he really didn't want to know. It's not like he wouldn't be able to beat it outta me. But then I realized he might get suspicious if I didn't come up with some believable excuse... fortunately, his hand being at the back of my neck and all, he wasn't cutting off my air flow.

"I was just uhh... I just wanted a better grip on your fighting style so I could beat you next time, eh heh heh."

He tossed me down, at least being polite enough to not do so with such force that I couldn't land on my feat. "Right. And I have my tail, it's just invisible."

I was terrified. Of course, I'd brought this on myself, I could have just stayed home, gotten some sleep, but nooooo...

I didn't turn to face him, all he needed to see was my face contorted with fright to know something was up. Death by Vegeta didn't seem like a good way to go... I heard him let out one of those sighs I'd grown to love. Looking back, I can imagine him rolling his eyes, leaning on a tree, and crossing his arms.

He just sounded like he was trying to decide something... a lesser of two evils. I didn't pick up on this until much later in the conversation.

"Huh. I suppose I might as well stop playing stupid. Would you, Brat, care to tell me why you've been following me for the past few weeks?"

If I'd ever wanted to just vanish from sight, it was right then. I was caught completely off guard by that, I had no idea he knew I’d been watching him every time he trained outside...

"You know what I think, Brat? I think you're stalking me."

Could he be anymore dead on? Once again, if I got anything out of my mouth, it was along the lines of "uhhh…"

"So, what, are you a fag or something, Boy?"

HELL-oh! I must've put off serious vibes after I heard THAT one, I don't remember how I reacted… but however I looked, it must've tipped him off.

I DO remember seeing Vegeta raise an eyebrow out of the corner of my eye... "Heh heh, you are, aren't you?"

Well, at least it was out now. Not that I could do anything but mumble "I... well..." in response. I suppose it was a good thing Vegeta did most of the talking...

"Well. This explains a lot." He chuckled. One of us found the whole thing extremely hilarious, it seemed. "I don't know what's frightens me more, Boy, the fact that I never put two and two together when you started spying on me in the first place, or the idea that of all the straight-chasing homosexuals in the world, I get stuck being followed by Kakarott's idiot offspring."

I still couldn't get a whole sentence out of my mouth. I was, I recall, completely terrified of what he was going to do about... me, now that he knew. I mean, this is Vegeta I'm talking about here.

"You know Brat, I should beat you within an inch of your life for stalking me all the time and being selfish enough to lust after a married man," I figured I was dead right there, "but then, I just finished training and I need sleep to the point of passing out on the ground right here, so I'll give you a smack-down's worth of free advice: get me out of your head and move on with life."

He turned to leave. I certainly didn't expect to get out of that without a lot of pain. But there was still another issue, as far as I was concerned. I finally found my voice before he flew away. "Uh, Vegeta, you won't... tell anyone I'm... will you?"

Even with his back turned, it looked like he'd just pulled a mother of a faceflop. "Oh, right Goten, I'm going to tell everyone, especially considering they'd all immediately ask how I know."

Well, that made sense at least. I pondered that as he flew away...

~~~

So that was that. I took Vegeta’s advice and I moved on with my life... in truth I’ll never forget falling in love with him (I refuse to use the word infatuation.) Gimmie a break, the guy was the first person I fell head over heels for, I doubt you’ve forgotten your first crush. Okay, so you’re a book and you’ve never had one, but if you did...

Well, the story would end right there, except for one thing. Trunks. You see, my... experience with Vegeta had a rather large part in how me n’Trunks got together. I know, I know... that doesn’t make much sense if my whole predicament with the Saiyan Prince was so long ago and I’ve only been with Trunks for a year, but... it’s simpler (and slightly more painful) then it sounds.

I did a good job of keeping my little secret... for the most part. I guess I should tell you I’d never been really attracted to Trunks before... sure, he was as good on the eyes as his father (even better, considering he was around my age to boot) but that was all I saw when I looked at him... until a year ago, give or take a couple months. Dad was gone by then, of course...

We were training out where most of us usually do... Gohan and I use the place more then I do with Trunks, but there’s really no reason. It’s one helluva miracle that the field is still relatively undamaged to this day. We’d ended up just sitting around on that sizable rock. Gohan found me sitting on it when he came to talk to me about Trunks... and he’d found me trying to calm Trunks down at it after Bulma went on her tirade.

I’m starting to think everything revolves around this rock... nah, everything revolves around Pan. None of this woulda happened without lil Panny… I still dunno whether to kill her or kiss her for that.

Eventually, Trunks asked me for a favor. He wanted help getting out of a date...

"I dunno what the hell made me say yes..."

"Is she one of your usual stalkers?"

He blushed. He always tried to be modest around me... I don’t think he ever liked having women drool over him anyway. Not that I ever questioned his sexuality, but he always seemed to take it like an invasion of privacy.

I, on the other hand, had managed to avoid the same thing, usually by wearing clothes that were out of fashion on purpose. You’d be surprised how easy you can think up ways to avoid the ladies when you’re not interested in them.

"Nah, she’s... nice, just... not my type. She kinda swoons a lot..."

I tried to think of how I could help him... every time I did this I made sure he knew that he owed me in a big way, and you’d better believe, little book, that I always collected. Couldn’t think of anything easily this time...

"So how’s your love life goin, Goten?"

"Say what?"

I regretted saying that as soon as I had opened my mouth. I think the surprise in my voice was what prompted him to continue. He never asked me if I was dating someone or whatever... it was the one thing I refused to do, you see. I absolutely refused to date the opposite sex to keep an image more then once in a great while; I like my dignity.

Trunks never really asked, so I never really had to worry about it... but I had just given away the fact that I was now worried about it.

"It’s not that hard a question, Goten..."

"Err... eh heh... it’s... pretty non-existent."

He couldn’t leave it at that. "Really? Don’t even have an eye on anyone?"

"Nah, haven’t for a long time…" I had to resist the reflex to slam my hands over my mouth when I said that. I think my eyes bulged out quite a bit though... what the hell was I on that I let that slip?

"Really? Define ‘long time,’" he just had to ask, of course. He was fast approaching my secret... and strangely, I almost wanted to tell him anyway. Every now and then I would start feeling guilty about keeping a secret like that from him... I trusted him, I really did, and I had no reason to believe he’d hate me for being gay...

I was scared of what he would think when I told him who’d made me admit it to myself (it’s not like I’d be able to avoid it, after all.)

"A few years," I answered, trying not to sound shrewd.

"Geez, sounds like it was your first crush or something."

"It was not!" There I went again. I was digging my own grave something fierce here. The very fear that told me to shut up was making me act just a tad irrationally.

Trunks blinked at me a bit. "Well, I guess I’m onto something. So Goten’s only had one crush in his life, huh? Who was it?"

"No one," I shot back, facing away from him. I prayed, I prayed he’d give it up...

"So it was someone I know, then... who was it?"

"Trunks!"

"You know I’m not leaving you alone until you tell me," he must’ve been smiling for that one.

"Guess you’ll be following me around a lot, then."

Beat that, I thought. He shoved me off the rock and hopped down himself.

"Maybe I’ll just beat it outta ya," he punched the air a couple of times.

"Anytime, anywhere," I shot back.

He chuckled and threw a rather fake punch at me. I sidestepped it and tried to kick him in the head, maybe knock some sense into him. Apparently, he was expecting that, because he grabbed my ankle and didn’t give it up.

"Hey, leggo!" I tried to hop backwards, but he held fast.

"Nah, I’m gonna try something."

He yanked hard on my leg and I went down on my back. Before I could stand, he was wrapping my legs around his in an incredibly bizarre fashion; I had no idea what he was doing.

"Now let’s see if this works." He threw himself into a sitting position, and at that same time, I cried out. "Huh, guess it does."

I think I tried to ask what the hell he was doing, but I just ended up screaming through clenched teeth. Felt like my legs would snap in two every time he started putting more pressure on me.

"Learned it watching American pro wrestling," he said. "Called the Figure-4, I think..."

American wrestling can be as fake as it wants to be, but let me tell you, this fucking hurt. "Funny," I yelled at him. I couldn’t pull myself free, so I transformed and tried to do it. He did the same; matched to my power level, he held tight.

"C’mon Goten, spill it. Who was she?"

Trunks held himself steady where he was now... it wasn’t like he wanted to break my legs, but he made damn sure it still hurt like a bitch.

For awhile, I liked to tell myself it was the pain that made me answer... but really, I wanted an excuse to tell him. I know that’s what it was... I could’ve held out for hours for all the pressure he was exerting. But like this...I could blame it on him if he had a problem with it. So I cried out, finally, "fine, you wanna know? It was your father!"

He... chuckled. "Aww, c’mon Goten, you gotta do better then that. At least try to be serious..."

He didn’t believe me. He sat there and he didn’t believe me. That pissed me off. I go through all of this emotional trouble, worrying what he’d do if I told him, and when I finally do, he doesn’t believe me. You wanna know how pissed off I was?

I went level-2 right there.

His face turned into shock for that second. I yelled back, "Bastard, I am being serious!"

And I kicked him off of me so hard he would have went flying... if the rock wasn’t two feet behind him. He smashed into it and spread a webbed crack on it.

I stood up and turned away, powering down at some point or another... I could see Trunks out of the corner of my eye, just sitting there for awhile, staring at me, his jaw on the ground. Finally, he dragged himself to his feet...

"You... you’re serious?"

The shock had, apparently, turned Trunks into more of a blockhead then my father, my brother and myself combined. I think I was still a bit pissed off... and now that I’d actually done the deed, as it were, I was suddenly thinking it was a bad idea to have given up... "No really, you think?"

I couldn’t tell you exactly why I didn’t fly away... I didn’t know then and I don’t really know now... but I guess it was all for the best, since the whole thing wouldn’t drag out.

Of course, it was a somewhat painful decision, because he lunged and decked me right there. I knew he’d done it on complete reflex, well, maybe delayed reflex... I couldn’t really blame him. Despite now being sprawled out on the ground, I just didn’t have it in me to get angry...

"G-Goten... I’m..."

"Shut up Trunks." He did. That came out more vile then I’d wanted it to. "Forget about it... something less to worry about if you do."

He sat back down on the ground, still completely shell-shocked. I just laid there for a bit, staring up at the sky.

Finally... "Are... are you... you’re..."

He’d just put me down with a mean right hook and now he was worried about offending me... at least he tries. "You can say it, Trunks... it’s not a four letter word."

"You’re... gay?"

I chuckled. "Yep."

"Goten."

"Yeah?"

"My father?"

"Guy’s got a great body." I’d be using that line again.

"Maybe I shouldn’t have asked..."

"Betcha never imagined this when you got out of bed this morning," I laughed.

"Oh, what, that my best friend used to lust over my father, happens all the time," he leaned back against the rock. "'Used to...' would be correct, right?"

"Yep. I got over it..." not that I was gonna tell him how, "I don’t really think about it anymore."

"No wonder you’ve never had a date... heh heh, and I always thought you were shy. I should probably shut my mouth, but... damn Goten, how the hell did you fall for my father?"

I sat up, not really looking at him. I couldn’t, really, not answering this... "I dunno... do you know why you had your first crush? I just took a look at him one day and thought ‘wow, he’s perfect for me.’ Great personality, works out, handsome..."

"God, I’m not having this conversation," I saw him dropping his face into his hands and rubbing his eyes, and I could swear I heard him mumble something like "personality, yeah right..."

"Heh heh, you asked."

"Yeah, guess I did."

He shuffled over and sat down next to me. "Well, I guess I don’t have to ask why you never told me..."

"Yeah," I answered. "Coming out’s hard enough, but your father, heh heh..."

"That is kinda funny now that I think about it... gross as hell, but it’s funny."

"Coulda been worse, I could’ve obsessed over you for awhile."

He made a face at that... I was glad I had enough sense to sound completely unserious.

"Hah, what? I’m not condescending enough for you?"

"Nah, your father, on the other hand, was just condescending enough. You’ve just got the looks."

I wished I hadn’t said that last part as soon as it came out of my mouth. I wasn’t being serious, of course, but... well, it wasn’t the most tasteful thing I coulda said...

"I’ll take that as a compliment."

"Well," I chuckled, rubbing at my jaw, "Better then taking it as an insult."

"...sorry about that."

"Don’t worry about it. I’d have done the same..."

"No, you wouldn’t have."

This was turning into an interesting conversation, alright. "And what makes you say that?"

"Because you’re better with your anger then I am. I know you, Goten."

I dunno what inspired my reply, but... "you didn’t know I’m a fag."

"I used to suspect it..."

Say what! That was a surprise... I let him go on. "You’re not good at hiding it when you’re checking someone out, you know. Well, you hide it from them, but you kinda ignore everyone else..."

Whoops. I resolved to work on that. "Why didn’t you say anything?"

"Wasn’t any of my business... I figured it was my imagination anyway. Besides, you never seemed lonely or anything..."

He put a hand on my shoulder... probably more for his comfort then my own, I think the shock kind of dictated that he needed more support at the moment then me. And I didn’t answer that right away... I had been lonely for that kind of company, off and on since I’d gotten over Vegeta... but I’d never really dwelt on it. It wasn’t worth losing sleep over. "Sometimes."

I dunno what the hell got into him (neither did he, at the time,) but he nudged me to face him and... kissed me. Yep. If I’d dropped a bomb on him before, he’d just plunked an atomic bomb in my lap. Or more precisely, in my mou- ...eh heh, never mind that, I’m trying to keep this G-rated after all... okay, maybe PG... so... yep, that went on for a good minute. We pulled away, tried to breathe, and blinked at each other for a few seconds.

Screw it, I figured. Might as well say something. "Well, that was unexpected."

I didn’t say it was going to be original... Trunks answered, "you’re telling me. I dunno, I... guess I felt bad."

I know this kinda looks like it's leading to... something, but not yet, not really. Trunks tried to put his thoughts into better words... he still felt bad for smashing my jaw, and I think... he kinda blamed himself for me being alone for so long, considering how much we'd hang out together and I kept my secret so well he never got past suspecting.

He felt like he was holding me back, I guess.

Why he found it necessary to give me the best kiss of my life as an apology, I credit that to acting on reflex rather then thinking...

...okay, so the last time he did that, his fist was in my face, but, well... look, this is my story, if ya don't believe me, why are you reading it? Come to think of it, why are you reading my journal in the first place? Put this thing down!

Ahem. Let's move on then!

~~-

A few weeks passed after that. October came, and with it, more emotional hurdles from yours truly. You see, every now and then I'd think about that night. Trunks and I never said anything about it, but... I found myself wishing something more had come from it.

Fortunately I didn't obsess over him like I did with his father, but, well, it's even harder to explain... I guess you could say I'd turned right around and fallen for Trunks, now (times like these I'm glad I'm not bi... the way this is going I'd probably have a thing for Bulma in the near future.)

"Trunks... I'm not entirely sure red's my color." I scratched my head. This coat was... not something I'd be caught dead in. Trunks spit his drink out when he turned and looked at what I was talking about.

"Oops, gave you the wrong one," he slipped the band off of his wrist. I hit the button on mine (prompting that... thing to vanish in favor of my normal clothes) and tossed it to him. Bulma had made the bands for us; they were just like my brother's Great Saiyaman costume.

Only difference was, we were too lazy to go out shopping for Halloween costumes for the party, heh heh. Bulma threw a costume party at Capsule Corporation every two years (as opposed to some other foreign holiday on the odd years. Who knows why she always comes back to Halloween,) and we were invited.

It was, in fact, a charity ball; everyone from around town was allowed in and the entrance fees went to some good cause or another, although Bulma usually dropped in a large wad of cash herself afterward.

Armed with the correct band (and now paranoid that after that coat, the only thing worse could be my brother's costume) I pressed the button. Now I was decked out in black, with a pair of sunglasses on, and my head felt... different.

"Look in the mirror."

I did. Then I screamed. I was suddenly blond, my locks (what was left of them) spiked like I'd gotten a buzz cut and gone Super-Saiyan. "Wha? Huh?"

"Mom's latest breakthrough, the thing even changes your hair." Trunks pressed the button on his... there was that awful jacket again, but better on him then me. His hair went completely white... at least he still had his hair. I hadn't noticed it on myself, but there was also a sword on his back. Reminded me of everyone's old Mirai Trunks stories.

We hadn't even gone inside yet when that same woman I'd helped him get out of a date with a month before screeched up on the most insane motorcycle you've ever seen and almost ran us down parking.

Trunks had a rather eloquent response to her. "Whoa, slow down babe!"

Great, two minutes there and he sounded like someone had spiked the punch already.

Bulma threw a great bash. She made great costumes, too. Vegeta had his own little costume band; he had no shirt, his skin was painted green, his hair was long and white, his pants were leather, he had a big red flag on his shoulder, and vampire fangs in his mouth.

He didn't look happy about it. I think Bulma expected that and purposely made his costume something nasty. I decided it would be in my best interest to avoid him.

Anyway, it was one hell of a party. I don't want to get into it, because I took advantage of the fact that my mother wasn't around and nabbed some of Bulma's... special punch. (Gohan said he wouldn't tell. I was glad Pan didn't come, let me tell you.) Vegeta made it, apparently. But, considering I was buzzed and borderline plastered for awhile, no, I am so not writing about anything I did. I'm not even sure if that was really the Lambada I was doing with some blonde chick...

The party was still going strong when I'd returned to a normal state of thinking. Trunks and I took a break from the dance floor and talked for a bit. Neither of us were even approaching tired, so we decided we'd go for a spar after we left...

And then something amusing happened. There was this guy, I think he was supposed to be a Griffin or some other bizarre sort of bird... he was wayyyy more then buzzed. Apparently, he'd brought his own alcohol. The problem was that he didn't know when enough was enough and he was starting to insultingly hit on everything female that came near the refreshment table.

Vegeta was trying to avoid some people who apparently recognized his costume and were madly trying to talk his ear off about it, so Bulma asked us if we could… take care of it.

She had to know there'd be some property damage as a result, but considering the first thing she did was jog off to get her camera after getting a "sure thing" from us, I think she wouldn't have it any other way.

So we looked at the guy for awhile, trying out figure out what to do. Then he got an idea.

"Goten, look at the wall right next to him."

"So?"

"There's a window."

I didn't get it. Trunks, realizing this, explained further and illustrated with sweeping hand motions. "Window at the wall. Bird at the wall. Bird through the window."

I said something to the extent of "ohhhh" and nodded, both of us grinning like idiots at the sheer absurdity of what we were about to do.

Trunks volunteered to distract the guy while I opened the window, considering he was about two feet in front of it and he'd wonder why I couldn't just open another one if I wanted fresh air.

As I did this, the conversation proved to be quite expected. Trunks told Bird Boy to behave himself, Bird Boy told Trunks to go do something with himself I am not repeating before saying he didn't think Trunks would be able to make him. (I pity these non-Ki fighters...)

And Trunks breaks out with, and I swear he said this, "flock off feather-face, or ya can stick around and find out the hard way!"

I think everyone in hearing distance dropped dead.

I can't believe I'm actually writing this down, good grief Trunks, did you have to be so... lame? He looked around for a bit as if saying, "what?"

The Bird Boy told him off again, Trunks kicked him through the window, and there was a distinct flash as Bulma took a picture.

I think the ensuing laughter was audible for miles around. I'm also pleased to say the laughter grew when I leaned out the window and very loudly started singing "I believe I can flyyyyyyy..."

Bulma promised us we'd get prints.

After a bit more partying, we decided to take off. I didn't feel quite safe trying to fly after a rare experience with alcohol (especially Vegeta's alcohol,) so Trunks and I decided we'd spar out behind the CC building.

And then, five seconds after I threw the first punch... he came at me with his freaking sword, an insane gleam in his eye.

"Bastard, wanna play it rough, eh?" I commented at some point. Then I threw dirt in his eyes and kicked him into the wall (the wall would later need remodeling.) He recovered faster then I thought he would and slashed at me with his sword, but I could tell it wouldn’t hit me and just stood still, giving my best cocky look.

"Got something in your eye?" I smiled.

He just smiled back. Then my glasses spit in half right across the middle. "Hey, don't fuck with the eye ware," I laughed, tossing the now ruined accessory away.

I lunged for him, but he sidestepped me. Rather then running into the wall, however, I ran up it, flipped backwards before he realized I wasn't going to be stopping, and kicked him into it again.

We hit each other back and forth for a few minutes, and then, finally, tired from that and the hours of partying in the most ridiculous costumes known to man, I sat down against the wall, he leaned on it.

Now, you'll remember, little book, that I told you before I didn't obsess over Trunks like I did Vegeta. However, one thought at the back of my mind was that I didn't want to get into that again, and maybe if I let this sit, that just might be the result.

So I figured, okay, I might as well tell Trunks I've had a thing for him for a few weeks now. It worked with Vegeta. Not that I actually told Vegeta anything, but getting it off my chest got him off my mind.

"Hey Trunks."

"Yeah?"

"I gotta tell you something."

"Oh no..."

Trunks knew a foreboding sense of doom when he felt one, heh heh. "What's that supposed to mean?"

He chuckled, "after last month, I'm not sure I should stick around when you say things like that..."

"Can't argue with that logic... hey, wait a minute, aren't we forgetting that you wanted to know in the first place?"

"Oh my... did I forget that..." he grinned.

"Anyway... about that..."

"See, I knew it," he proudly exclaimed. "You think about it a lot, don't you?"

That was a surprise. "Yeah. Do you?"

"Sometimes," he scratched his head. "I... didn't mean to give you the wrong idea, then... but I was kinda too brain fried to think of anything rational to do..."

"It's not your fault." Chances were that tipped him off that this was about him after all, it was better then 'Trunks, I'm madly in love with you' at least. I was glad I was sitting down... if I ever have the courage to look him in the eye when I talk about something this drastic, it'll be a miracle. "Well, okay, so it's your fault for being a good kisser, I just wanted to say it before I started dwelling on it..."

He laughed. "You know you're insane, Goten. First you fall for my father, then for me after telling me about it."

A wicked grin on my face, I answered, "you're a very good kisser."

He plopped down next to me. "You wanna know what occurs to me when I think about it?"

And he thought I foreshadowed things... "Heh heh, I have a feeling you'll tell me anyway."

He took a deep breath. "I think at the very least, you're more mature then any of the women I've ever met, I think we've known each other so long I can almost say you're pretty much my type anyway, except for the obvious," by this time, mind you, I started to think he might be taking this somewhere. I guess I was proven right when he took my hand in his. "And I figure, what the hell, you never know until you try."

I laced my fingers with his... for a second, I remembered when Vegeta and I had done that during our fight. I decided I liked this better. "You know... if this doesn't work, it'll be pretty weird afterwards."

"Not really. You'll be over me after realizing what an asshole I am."

We laughed for a minute... and then neither of us could think of anything to say. 'Where do we do from here' seemed like it would ruin the moment (damn Gohan's hopeless romantic self, he's contagious, I tell you.) I leaned into him. I wanted to return the favor for that kiss a month before.

...and I was about a second away from doing so when he facevaulted in a HOLY SHIT! fashion. A second after that, he threw me to my feet and against the wall, bounded up, hit the button on his band to get his costume back, had his sword at my throat, and lamely announced, "hah, no where to... er, go now, huh?"

"What the hell-" then I saw Gohan walk around the corner out of the corner of my eye. "Oh... uh, ya got me Trunks."

I wouldn't win an award for that performance. I turned my head. "Oh... hi Gohan!"

"Hey guys, Bulma sent me to check up on ya... I figured you'd be sparring..." I swear he looked at Trunks' sword and muttered something akin to 'déjà vu.' Trunks let me up, and Gohan kept talking. "So... wassup?"

"Nothing," we both shouted, way too fast.

My brother scratched his head and said, "are you sure?"

"Yes!"

We had to stop talking at the same time... thankfully, Gohan just said "eh, okay," and left us in peace.

Talk about leaving us in an awkward moment... Trunks turned a bit red. "Eh heh... where were we?"

Still quite intent on paying him back for a month ago, I pulled him close and finally, kissed him. And he returned the favor. We just hung around there and made out for like an hour... (No, you pervert, we did not drop to the ground and have sex right there! Sheesh. Ever hear of waiting for the right time? This is not to say we were completely innocent. Mom was wondering why I was wearing a turtleneck for a week afterwards...)

~~~

Well, that was a year ago, and Trunks and I have been together since. He came to the conclusion that he's bi, Bulma would find this out the hard way. Vegeta experienced the single most embarrassing moment of his life when Pan told the world I'd had a crush on him long ago. Mom is... not quite able to process the idea of me & Trunks yet, but she lives, Gohan at least tries to be supportive...

And Dad... oy, Dad got his day off from death a couple nights ago, about five minutes before Trunks and I walked in. We’d been sparring. And we also tried to keep our distance from him while explaining why we were holding hands. If he was close enough to smell what else we were doing on us, it probably would've blown his mind...

What? Waiting isn't the same as never, you know!

P.S.: I'm not entirely sure I want to write this down, but... well, later that night, Trunks and I ended up a bit bored. Gohan had gone to bed in anticipation of the next day while Dad had gone off to surprise Mom after playing with Pan for a bit.

To be blatant, neither of us felt like going home yet (Mom may have been rational again but she sure as hell wasn't back to normal and Trunks was going through one mother of an awkward time with Bulma.)

So we flipped on the TV and he ended up lying on the couch with his head in my lap. (Get your mind out of the damn gutter!) I was ruffling his hair when Pan hopped by, getting ready for bed. She looked at us and pointed.

"Hee hee hee, that reminds me of the story Grandpa Goku just told me about him & Bulma!"

Oh good GOD. I remember that story... Dad told me about his... pillow incident with Bulma when he gave me the Birds & Bees talk... Trunks looked up at me, curiosity twinkling in his eyes. "What was that all about?"

"Eh, umm." Well what do you expect me to say to that? "Don't ask. Just get comfortable, don't move anymore, and don't ask."

~~~

Trunks, Goten and Vegeta are cosplaying as Dante Sparda from Devil May Cry, Albert Wesker from Biohazard – Code: Veronica, and Lord Kain from Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver, respectively.