Disc: I don’t own DBZ, I’m no making money off of this.

WARNING. WARNING. Danger Will Robinson! This ‘fic contains Shounen-ai! If you’ve never heard of it before, if means you have this one character, and this other character, and they’re in a romantic relationship, and they’re both males.

One more thing; this is a journal entry, so remember things like run on sentences are supposed to be there :P

Insanity

By Alhazred

Dear Journal,

Videl suggested I write this. Okay, so she suggested I start keeping a journal two months ago. What can I say, I’m lazy, eh heh heh. Though, really, I suppose it’s because this is really the first time anything truly noteworthy has happened since then, and Pan isn’t exactly old enough to understand it very well yet (I think,) so at the very least, she can read this one day, look back and understand what was so insane about certain... events that culminated in my little brother, her uncle on top of it, being beaten within an inch of his life yesterday.

...the situation wasn’t quite as bad as that makes it sound. No really, it wasn’t, not that I knew it then. But I’m jumping ahead of myself, lemmie rewind a bit. I suppose I’ll try to remember what everyone was saying word for word, but no guarantees, got it?

A few days ago... it was another day, one of those days where you just want to relax. Well, okay, so the day was mostly over and twilight had settled, but still. You know how it goes in the summer. School’s out, nothing to do, all that good stuff. Two whole months of spending time with Pan, sparring with Vegeta or Goten, kicking back, relaxing, getting the wife to do the same... not to say that Videl’s idea of relaxing isn’t bad, heh heh heh.

That is, of course, assuming everyone got through the last few days alive. Ah yes... this summer has brought about plenty of insanity and it isn’t even half over yet. Like I said, it all started a few days ago...

I’d just trained with Vegeta for a bit; he always comes to me when Trunks isn’t around, often times mumbling about how I will "have to do with Kakarott gone." Dad’s been gone for awhile now, of course. I don’t think Vegeta actually misses him any more then the rest of us, just that he misses their rivalry. He certainly hands my tail to me whenever we train (or he would, if I still had a tail) but what can I say? He keeps himself in better fighting condition then I do.

So I’d just sparred with Vegeta a bit, and I was heading to Mom’s house. Videl and I were house sitting; Mom and Bulma had decided they were going to take some Woman Time and get away from life for a couple weeks. Well, actually Bulma had business for Capsule Corp to take care of, but when ChiChi told her she was going in the same direction for her own Get The Hell Away From Life vacation, they joined up after Bulma’s business was done. I could just imagine them let loose window shopping on another unsuspecting community...

Vegeta was in heaven; all the uninterrupted training he wanted. Goten and Trunks were spending their summer as high schoolers often do; that is, they were never home. Hence, Videl and I ended up switching between our home and Mom’s place; I think she was afraid Goten would throw a party or something...

So like I said, I was heading to Mom’s. I was keeping my power level down so I could get some peace and quiet, though I didn’t sense anyone else around anyway. Bulma’d gave me a book by an American author I’d never read before, and I found it shockingly engrossing. It was the little obsession that had taken its chunk of my free time recently.

It was a long book, eh heh heh. So I plopped down and started reading anew, letting myself be engrossed... and then I heard a sound from the ceiling. I brushed it off and went back to reading, just a creaky board or something. Then it came again not long after, a bit lower. Maybe the place needed a bit of work... or maybe...

Nah. My mind had gone into the gutter, but nahhh, if someone was doing that up there, I’d be hearing a lot more thumping and a bunch of moaning...

...

Oh good grief was that a moan? Yeeeep. I tried to read again, but once you realize someone is being a bit too loud while, ah, dancing horizontally, it gets distracting. Humans are just wired that way I guess, eh heh heh. Well, okay, so I’m only half-human, but that’s beside the point.

Eventually I just put the book down and flipped the TV on, volume low, of course, so as not to alert the lovebirds to a new presence in the house. Of course, the occasional noise was still coming through. Being a typical male, my curiosity started to get the better of me and I really wanted to know who was up there. Logically, Goten would be one of them, considering it was his room, but then I didn’t feel any Kis... maybe he was keeping it hidden so no one would notice he was home.

Oh well, I wasn’t going to just go barge in on them, I had some tact… okay, fine. I admit it. I kinda wished someone would moan a little louder so I could make out a voice. Come to think of it, whoever was up there didn’t sound very frantic.

The hopeless romantic in me thought it was sweet Goten would treat his first lover to a special time (at least, considering his age, I HOPED he hadn’t ‘gone around the block’ or anything already; Mom would KILL him.) Then I got red in the face thinking of Videl. Oh yes, our Honeymoon had something special, yes indeedy.

Truthfully, I think I was being such a pervert because I was a bit jealous of whoever was up there. What with Pan growing up and all the two of us hadn’t had much time for each other in a long while. Heck, Videl was with Pan while I stayed with the house for a couple hours at that moment, we were all gonna have dinner there later on in the evening.

They planned to come down later, actually. Be that as it were, the noises had stopped. A pair of feint voices reached my ears, not enough through the ceiling to make out, probably classic pillow talk.

But curiosity was going to kill the cat. I got up and started creeping up the stairs. I just wasn’t in the mood to resist temptation, I suppose. Maybe I’d just find out if it really WAS Goten and get some dirt on him, heh heh. Although it was tempting to actually barge in, just to see the effects, I decided against that. Like I said, Dear Journal, I have some tact.

Up the stairs, I took the usual light steps down the hall one does when not wanting to be heard. Goten’s door was slightly ajar, and I could still just hear them inside. Closer, I realized one of them was definitely Goten, he was talking a bit louder then his friend.

And considering I’ve already invaded my poor brother’s privacy enough as it is (who was I kidding, Mom would kill ME if she knew what a bad little man I was being today, eh heh heh,) I won’t repeat what I heard, but, well, let’s just say the aforementioned hopeless romantic part of me again thought an "awww, how sweet" of the situation.

So enough of that, yes. I got to the door, leaned over so my entire self wouldn’t be visible through the crack (if I could see in, they could see out of they bothered looking, after all) and peeked in.

And then I had a heart attack. Or at least, it felt like something I could kinda describe as a heart attack. I think my eyes bugged out and my jaw hit the floor for a few seconds too, but the numbing effect the scene had on me was a bit too powerful to tell. Somehow I did manage to make a fist and bite down on my knuckles before I yelped and I kept myself reasonably steady, enough not to stumble and be heard...

Nah, I didn’t stumble till I hit the stairs, but I caught myself. Finally, my rational mind managed to return. I went outside and, still keeping my power level down so they wouldn’t notice me, sat out on the lawn. I even brought my book so I could fake reading if they came out; there was still enough light for it.

Oy... I am so red in the face as I write this. Looking back, it kinda amuses me, but it wasn’t amusing then. At the time, it was downright insane. Yep, Goten was in his room all right. The noises I heard were what indeed I thought they were. I was certainly glad I held onto some of my manners and not barge in just for the sake of being an ass... Trunks and Goten would have immediately shot back, "it’s not what it looks like!" Considering they happened to be kissing when I looked in, I don’t think that would have held...

Yep, Trunks and Goten. Goten and Trunks. Goten n’ Trunks... my little brother and Vegeta’s son were, from what I could see, lovers.

I just hoped they’d get dressed before Videl n’ Pan came down...

~~~

Whoo boy. Well, Dear Journal, as you can imagine, I read no words at all and tried to think. I think, if I remember, and I care not to remember this one, that one of the first thoughts that crossed my mind was "great, my little brother’s a fag." I hated myself for that one as soon as I thought it. Gay or not, he was still my brother. I know I sound like a cliched bit of political correctness, but then it wouldn’t be any less cliché if I barged in and kicked his ass for it instead, would it? Hah, gotcha there.

So. Goten and Trunks were... together. That thought processed, I had to wonder if either of them really are gay; you know how it can go: guy not sure of his sexuality, has best friend that’s kinda curious himself, they try it out... okay, so I don’t speak from personal experience here, but work with me, I wasn’t totally in my right mind when I was thinking all this.

So the next thing that came to mind; what in the name of ShenLong do I do about it? The first thing that came to mind seemed like a good idea; nothing. Do nothing. Nothing is good. After all, this isn’t a problem, I don’t have to worry about it not going away if I ignore it. If they wanna be... that close, it’s their business, right? It’s not like it’ll kill anybody.

Unless... Vegeta doesn’t take it well. But he certainly won’t find out from me. Nope, I’m just gonna forget about it and act normally.

Not long after I went outside, I felt my bro and Trunks when they stopped hiding their power levels. I guess they were afraid one of us would fly by and try to drop in on them, so to speak. From the power spikes, I guessed they flew off a little in the opposite direction and trained for awhile. I took the time their concentration was diverted to stop hiding my own Ki. It must’ve been a short spar, because it hadn’t taken them long to come back. Videl flew up from the other direction with Pan on her back at the same time; I guess she didn’t feel like driving, eh heh heh.

So there was that. Videl invited Goten and Trunks to stay for dinner (ordinarily invited would be a bit incorrect, considering Goten lived there, after all, but like I said, summer days = kids only come home to sleep.) Videl, however, had no intention of cooking for five people, and it wasn’t really a night that felt right for a good ol’ fashioned home cooked meal, so we settled on ordering pizza. Not that anyone minded in the first place.

So we sat and shoveled our faces (Videl was smart enough to order like five or six, considering the four Saiyans at the table.) We all pretty much talked about nothing.

Much to my chagrin, I found there was a little more then ‘nothing’ on my mind. Despite my earlier resolve to ignore the implications of what I’d seen earlier, it became impossible. I mean, it’s not like I could just forget it, you know? But it was more then that.

Now that I knew Trunks and Goten were hiding something, and for that matter, what they were hiding, I could see the signs every time I looked at them. The way they sat just closer together then most would consider comfortable, stole glances at each other and shared quick, almost unnoticeable smiles.

The more I noticed these things, the more I realized I couldn’t deny I knew about them, and the more I realized that, the more I thought about it. As time went on, I started feeling more... awkward, I guess you could say, around both of them. I didn’t realize it then, but I’d even avoided making eye contact with Goten whenever I could. I guess I naturally felt a little more apprehensive around him, considering we’re related.

Videl got a call from her Dad not long after we were done. He dislocated a shoulder. Oy, poor Hercule... be that as it were, he asked her if she could teach his classes for the next day. I don’t mean to imply Hercule’s an ass for getting his daughter to work for him on one of her days off, he may... get into things that are way over his head sometimes, but he means well. Anyway, he only teaches a couple of martial arts classes a day anyway, and Videl didn’t mind, but it meant she found a sudden reason to go to bed early. Pan’s bedtime was coming up as well, so Goten, Trunks and I plopped down in the living room and watched a movie. More specifically, we watched a movie on the international channel from the US called American Psycho.

I felt like I could cut the irony with a knife, let me tell you, eh heh heh.

I sat in the chair; left the couch for them. I just couldn’t make myself feel like nothing was wrong... and I still noticed them sitting closer together. On a whim, I pretended to fall asleep, but I cracked an eye open and caught ‘em snuggling through the reflection in the TV, Gotcha there guys. For the life of me I dunno why I needed to do that, but oh well. We all go a little mad sometimes... wish I could remember who said that!

Movie ended, and we decided to call it a night. Goten invited Trunks to sleep over (go figure.) I was so not going in Goten’s room, let me tell you. I couldn’t shake the image of Trunks not sleeping on the floor tonight...

All of that aside, I was still gonna get some sleep, so I did all the usual nightly things one does and crawled into bed with Videl. Gotta love Mom for putting a double bed in the guestroom. I’d feel weird sleeping in hers.

She was still awake herself. I can’t believe I’m actually writing down what my wife and I talked about in bed, but ah well... you’re my journal, after all.

Of course, something from earlier was on my mind, before I happened to know the specifics of what my brother was doing while I was sitting in the living room.

"Hey Videl... you ever notice we don’t spend a lot of time together anymore?"

She chuckled. "Heh heh, it’s called being parents, Gohan."

"I know, yeah, but... it’s kinda easy to say it instead of feeling it. I dunno, I just kinda thought about it today." That, of course, was a big fat LIE, if I pulled that from nowhere then Videl was Queen of England. "I mean, it’s been what, six months since we’ve... you know."

"Gohan!" she said, her tone so playful it should’ve been feared. "Are you sexually frustrated?"

She said big words with such over exaggeration that it was easy to tell when she thought something was funny. I, on the other hand... "Hey! I didn’t say that!"

"Poor Gohan," she teased. "Maybe tomorrow night, when I don’t need sleep, we can fix that."

I turned so red at that I was insurmountably happy that it was dark. Be that as it were, I eventually drifted off to sleep.

~~~

Ahh yes, the next morning came. I loved not having an alarm clock jar me awake earlier then I should be getting up. Videl was long gone, of course, as she had something to do. I think I snoozed a bit more before I hopped out of bed and showered. Dressed and ready for a day of nothing, I went downstairs to make coffee. Halfway down, I decided I wanted tea instead; more caffeine.

I sat down and watched the morning news, tea in hand. Goten had left a note that he and Trunks were heading off for the day as a formality, not that I worried about them. No, worry was farthest from my mind when I thought about them for the time being, but I resolved to take care of that later, assuming it even needed taken care of. I think I was still trying to convince myself I could ignore it forever.

So after a while, Pan gets up. "Hi Daddy!"

I smiled at her. "Mornin Panny. Wassup?"

I picked her up and sat her on my lap, I don’t think I’ll ever tire of holding her, I dread the day she gets to old for it.

"Ohh, not much, what are we gonna do today?"

"Pan, I have absolutely no idea. We’ll think of something as we go along, k?"

"Okay Daddy!" she chirped. At that, she scrambled off me and grabbed the remote, switching to the International channel. They showed one of those weird American shows called Mystery Science Theatre on Saturday mornings. One morning Pan asked me to watch it with her. I didn’t know what scared me more; the fact that there was a show devoted to making fun of bad movies or the fact that Pan understood some of the more... mature jokes.

But oh well, it wasn’t like it was bad enough to corrupt her or anything. I fixed us up a quick breakfast, (I know it’s shocking, but we really did start off light on the food on the weekends for some reason) which we promptly proceeded to eat on the couch. Mom would never know of this, for if she did, the house and surrounding acres of land would be destroyed in the following blast.

So anyway, we started eating. Mystery Science Theatre was actually kinda funny now that I thought about it. I bit into a piece of toast as a commercial came on. Now that her show was off for an annoying few minutes of advertisements, Pan turned to me to say something.

"Hey Daddy, can I ask you a question?"

"Mmm, o’course you can honey," I mumbled through my charred bread. And then she asked.

"Is Uncle Goten gay?"

I choked on my toast. And I mean I choked on my toast. I gulped half a glass of tea to wash it down, and I choked more on that. All the while, Pan was patting me on the back, the poor girl probably thinking her Dad chose the worst possible time to become unable to speak.

"Well?"

When I could breath again I tried to think. Okay, first things first; my eight year old daughter is asking about something she is wayyyyyyy too young for! Parental crisis of BIBLICAL PROPORTIONS here! Second, how did she know? Did she walk in on them or something? I didn’t think they’d... do anything last night, Goten’s room was right between Pan’s (my old room) and the guest room, after all!

I decided to play it cool. Although Pan, being clever like all little girls, probably picked up that something bugged me when I didn’t answer right away. Nevertheless, I took a deep breath and...

"What makes you ask that, Pan?"

"Wellllll," she started, "I had a bad dream last night and I was gonna go ask you n’ Mommy if I could sleep with you, but it was kinda dark so I went into Goten’s room by accident, and he n’ Trunks were both cuddling like you and Mommy usually do."

I thought about that for a second. Me n’ Videl cuddling meant us on our sides, Videl at my back with her arm around my waist. Pan had certainly seen it enough running in to wake us up for days when we were planning things. Oh boy. How do you answer that?

"Well, um... I dunno Pan, you see, uhhh… it’s kinda like, well..." I wasn’t doing good.

Pan, being, well, Pan, decided to try a different approach. "Does he love Trunks like you love Mommy?"

I must note, it was completely ridiculous how casual Pan was. Okay, so she’s only eight and didn’t consider it a big deal, simply an idle curiosity, but it made me think; what was the big deal? I also thought about the actual question... did my brother love Trunks? I remembered thinking about the whole thing the day before and I couldn’t come to a conclusion, but now that I thought about... I caught sight of them kissing right after they’d slept together, there was the way they behaved around each other, and they held each other in bed even if they couldn’t fool around... it was a harshly logical way of looking at an emotion, but...

"You know, I think he just might..."

I suppose any sane father would have said that it was something she was too young to understand and shouldn’t ask about, but I figured, what the hell. If she cared so little that it could wait until a commercial...

~~~

So, that was that I guess. I flew Pan over to visit Bra that day. Bra had completely slipped my mind the day before; it turned out Vegeta still had one interruption from training after all. He told me over the phone he’d be happy to have Pan come over and give Bra something to distract her with. Funny, he wasn’t fooling me; I could actually hear a touch of humor in his voice (just a touch.) He does it every now and then, like he wants the world to be certain that he does love his family.

With Pan at her friend’s place and Videl subbing for her Dad, the only errand I had was a bit of grocery shopping to stock our own house. This, while not something I felt a desire to avoid, was completely uneventful and I am therefore not going to waste pages with this particular trip, eh heh heh.

That done, I went flying around a bit and did some more thinking. Considering where the last bout of thinking led me, this very well could have lead to disaster.

This time, I reasoned that while "it" itself was not a problem, ignoring "it" was making a problem. So that was settled; I couldn’t ignore it any more. I wasn’t going to spend the rest of my life unable to look my brother in the face just because his presence made an awkward moment. If I wasn’t going to ignore it, that meant I had to confront it. This, basically, meant going up Goten and saying "hey Goten, I saw you in bed with Trunks yesterday!"

This wasn’t going to be fun. But I would live. I hunted around for Goten and sensed him around where he and I usually spar, near Mom’s house. He was sitting on a big rock, alone. I wondered where Trunks was, but a look at my watch told me it was around the time he trained with his father for a little while.

He looked up when he sensed me approaching; apparently he was zoning out a bit, he should have felt me sooner. I couldn’t help but wonder if he was thinking about Trunks. I landed on the ground and leaned with one hand on the rock, making sure to face the sun so I had an excuse to pull a pair of sunglasses out of my pocket and put them on. I still couldn’t look Goten in the face... and I wasn’t about to let him see it.

"Heya Bro, what’s up?" I said.

"Aww, not much, you know how it is," Goten hopped down and leaned against the rock himself. "Care to spar a bit, Gohan?"

"Ahhh, maybe later Bro," answered. He blinked at me, I think it was the first time I’d ever turned down a good training bout. "I kinda wanted to just talk."

"Sure, whaddaya wanna talk about?"

It suddenly occurred to me, right then, that I had no idea how to go about this. I mean, it’s not like I’d ever done this before, you know? So, Dear Journal, I decided to kind of lead into it...

"Let’s talk about Trunks."

Goten’s expression changed ever, ever so slightly, I think he suspected where I was going and was hoping he was completely wrong. He chuckled at me like I was acting weird.

"What about Trunks?"

I decided to go for broke right then before I lost my nerve. My eyes were focusing on anything but him underneath my glasses. "Like what you and Trunks do when you think no one’s watching."

Smooth, Gohan. Real smooth. Thankfully, my voice wasn’t the most commanding at that moment and I think Goten realized I was really struggling for words here. Be that as it were, I got the point across. He looked down at the ground and took a deep breath.

"Something tells me you know what we do already, Gohan."

"Yeah." I stepped closer to him a little, and he...

...he backed away. I took my glasses off. Funny, I could look him in the eyes now... but he couldn’t look at me. I took a larger step to him, he didn’t bother trying to keep the gap between us the same, but he was still backing away, looking at the ground, his hands clenched into nervous fists.

"Goten."

"...yeah?"

"I don’t care."

"...you don’t?"

He stopped and looked at me when he said that. For all the troubles, I felt like an idiot for not doing this sooner. I put my arms out and hugged him; he downright grabbed me in a bear hug.

"Thank you."

He sounded more relieved then I was.

"Goten, you’re my brother. And quite frankly, you’re still my brother no matter who you sleep with."

He said something into my shoulder that I couldn’t quite make out. We let go of each other. "Hmm?"

"I said I love him, I wouldn’t... you know, if I didn’t."

"Good," I slapped him on the back. "Having morals is a good thing, Bro. Mom’ll just go Thermonuclear instead of Supernova then."

He kinda deadpanned, eh heh heh. I guess he avoided considering what Mom would think when/if she found out.

I looked at my watch. "Hey Goten, I gotta go pick up Pan. Why doncha go home? If you wanna talk later..."

"Yeah, maybe I’ll do that... thanks Gohan."

We both flew off in separate directions.

~~~

"Hey Vegeta. Did Pan behave herself?"

"Of course she did. Do you think I wouldn’t say if she hadn’t?"

I scratched my head. "Nah, I think you’d just go ahead and kill her," I joked. That brought a dark grin to Vegeta’s lips. One just had to know what kind of jokes to crack at him, really. Then he floored me.

"I need a favor."

I almost keeled over and died. Vegeta was asking me for a favor? Woooooooow...

"Sure, what can I do for ya?"

"I must speak with your brother. Could you tell him to meet me here?"

"Sure, I... guess... so..."

I trailed off, I could feel the color drain from my face. The only possible reason he could have for actually wanting Goten to come to him was...

I tried to play ignorant. It wasn’t hard, since I could just pretend my stupefied reaction was because of him actually asking for something.

"And could you let Pan stay a bit longer? I have a bit of work to do and she keeps Bra out of trouble."

"...sure, why not."

Vegeta turned to go deeper into his house, but on his way, he said something back to me. "And Gohan, if he won’t come, tell him he’d better if he ever wants to see my son again."

...well, this was bad.

~~~

Needless to say, Dear Journal, I flew my ass back to Mom’s house. I could feel Trunks and Goten inside, and I really hoped Goten had told his lover that I’d found them out, otherwise Trunks was going to get that shock and then the shock of his father somehow knowing.

He had told Trunks, it turned out. I found them sitting in the kitchen, holding hands. As if the past couple of days hadn’t given me enough Ulcers, Trunks beat me to telling him his father knew. I thought they looked a bit morose when I walked in... oh well. Trunks was the first person Vegeta told, evidently just before he made his request of me.

Apparently, there was an argument.

Goten was going to go.

Trunks didn’t want him to; he had a feeling his father was going to get... violent.

Goten beat Trunks to the logic; what were they going to do, tell Vegeta to go to Hell? But Trunks wasn’t letting him go alone, and neither was I. Goten asked Trunks to leave us alone for a minute, he wanted to have a word with me.

"Gohan, I need you to do something for me."

"What?"

"Let me handle Vegeta on my own."

I wanted to argue with him, but I thought better of it. I nodded my consent.

"And don’t let Trunks do anything stupid, either. Okay? Hold him back if it gets that bad. Promise me."

"I promise," I relented, though the optimist in me was saying it wouldn’t get that bad anyway; what was Vegeta going to do, attack him? We left to find out.

~~~

Goten had, you’ll remember from two paragraphs ago, made me promise I wouldn’t interfere. I admired him, in a way... I never had the courage to stand up to Vegeta like he was going to do, and never got another chance to try, thankfully. But then Goten never knew the Vegeta that tried to kill us all. No, not Majin Vegeta, Majin Vegeta was a thing unwillingly forced to the surface. He’d never admit it, but I don’t think Vegeta keeps his dark feelings in check because he feels obligated to, I think he does because it’s worth being good for his family.

A family he didn’t have so long ago. Truth be told, a little bit of the fear Vegeta inspired in me back then, when I was a kid, still hangs around in the back of my mind; I suppose I can’t help it.

But I promised Goten I’d let this be his fight, though I prayed it wouldn’t be a literal fight. Vegeta met Goten on the front lawn with Trunks and I watching from a safe distance.

And I immediately wished I hadn’t told Goten I’d do anything. Vegeta’s power was up enough to be noticeable, and he may have been dressed in the usual clothes of earth, but above that he wore his armor.

His Saiyan armor.

Well, so much for prayers.

Goten held his ground; I doubt he was stupid enough to not know what Vegeta was looking for. The problem was that Vegeta is just out of Goten’s league. I hated to admit my bro was stepping in over his head, but there was no denying it. If they were to spar, Goten’d get his fair share of good hits in, but in the end, Vegeta would beat him. If they were to fight, which looked to be what was about to happen, well, Goten would still get those hits in, but in the end...

...Vegeta would tear him limb from limb.

And our dear Saiyan Prince didn’t look at all like he wouldn’t. But he raised a finger and pointed at my bro... it reminded me of when Majin Vegeta confronted Dad after Babidi had send us back to the world martial arts tournament. Then he started talking...

"Alright, you low-born, pitiful excuse for a clown..."

I couldn’t believe my ears at that one. I never tried to understand why Vegeta held onto his royal bloodline; maybe it was all he had left of his birthplace. But he’d never tried to hold it over any of us (barring the Babidi incident, which wasn’t really his fault, even if he let himself get possessed, but then that’s a whole ‘nother story.) he wasn’t stopping at an insult.

"This is how it works. If I am to consent to your relationship with my son, you fight me right here, right now. If you win, I’ll step aside; if you give up or don’t accept my challenge, you won’t lay a hand on my son again, I will ensure it. If you don’t win and you don’t yield, I will kill you for putting your filthy commoner hands on him!"

Goten took a fighting stance without saying a word. He would fight the Devil himself for Trunks, and I think Trunks was his own reason for accepting Vegeta’s challenge, not pleasing Vegeta. His father’s acceptance always meant a lot to Trunks. I think Vegeta chuckled, but Trunks finally spoke up.

"This is bad... very bad..."

"Trunks, don’t. I know you want to jump in between them right now, but..." I tried to tell him. I don’t think I sounded convincing. I wanted to jump between them myself. But I promised Goten... and I didn’t believe for a minute that Vegeta would really...

Trunks, on the other hand... there was real fear on his face when he said "Gohan, this is absurd! He... he doesn’t have to do this... and if my father says he’s going to kill him, he means it!"

"Goten wants to do this, Trunks. He’s doing it for you as well as himself... let him try."

I think Trunks was on the verge of tears right then. He knew just as well as I did that my brother wouldn’t be able to beat Vegeta, barring huge amounts of luck.

But he tried. They started throwing punches and kicks back and forth, Goten clearly the aggressor for the moment. I started to worry that my brother was attacking with his rage, not thinking. If he got sloppy, he wouldn’t get those hits in at all.

But I underestimated him. The first blow struck was his fist on Vegeta’s face. And then a knee into his gut. Vegeta looked surprised.

But nothing more then surprised. I watched while Goten threw another punch into his opponent’s face, and Vegeta ducked under, returning the favor. Goten almost managed to dodge his fist… almost. My brother got knocked back, and he tried to attack again, but Vegeta would have none of it. And I had to watch... Goten took a kick to the chest; he stumbled back, not so quick to go on the attack anymore.

And Vegeta just laughed. "Is that the best you can do, clown?" he said.

Goten was pissed, that much I could tell. But Vegeta was going to start the fight anew. He tossed out some Ki blasts, Goten dodged most of them, but one winged his face and knocked him off balance. Vegeta ran to deck him.

My brother had guts. Instead of running or trying to guard, he dropped under Vegeta’s swing and grabbed him for a throw. Except Vegeta had good enough reflexes to reverse it and roll Goten under him. Before my brother knew it he was in an old fashioned headlock. I didn’t want to guess how hard Vegeta was squeezing, but he was certainly cutting off circulation, and Goten was trying desperately to inhale a breath. My brother went Super-Saiyan right there with Vegeta clinging to him, and Vegeta did the same, his increased power letting him keep his death grip. But Vegeta, evidently, wasn’t going to make it that simple.

"What’s the matter, clown? If my son were smart he’d have treated you worse then this in bed!"

Trunks’ power was spiking... it was kind of hard to miss, him being right next to me and all. His fists were clenched tight, his entire body was tense, and his face a mix of anger against his father and concern for his lover. He was about five seconds away from transforming and rushing to knock Vegeta away. The… comment Vegeta made had set him off.

"Trunks, don’t!"

"Gohan, how can you..." he trailed off... he trusted me on this... for now. I was, I must admit, a bit surprised, but Trunks actually calmed down a bit (just a bit mind you, eh heh heh.) We both turned back to the fight.

Goten had a hand clamped on Vegeta’s forearm, trying to pull it away from his neck. It looked like Vegeta was slightly losing his grip, but Goten had a bit of ways to go... and then Vegeta crossed a line I didn’t think he’d touch.

"What’s the matter, you little faggot?" he yelled at my brother. "Don’t have the strength to fight for what you want? Don’t you realize you’re such a lower class then my son that you’ll never have him? Never deserve anything even remotely close to him?! That’s all you are, a low class nothing! Love my son?! You should be licking his boots!"

Well, that did it. I could see on Goten’s face that he’d felt that more then any of the physical blows. Never mind that I wanted to kill Vegeta myself for that one. Trunks transformed right then, and I pushed him to face me. I grabbed his shoulders and tried to shake sense into him, though from the look in his eyes I thought he’d deck me to get to his lover. How’d he think I felt? Goten’s my brother for cryin’ out loud.

"Trunks, if you run out there now, you’ll embarrass him, and you’ll just make your father angrier. Trust me... I’ve been right where you are. I know how you feel. You think I don’t wanna run out there and kick your father’s ass for humiliating my brother like this?"

Goten was being humiliated. But my brother wasn’t about to take it anymore. He went level-2 in Vegeta’s grip, and before his opponent could do the same, Goten threw him off and into the air. Goten was up faster then Vegeta could right himself, completely shrugging off the fact that he’d been in a choke hold for the past two minutes and preparing an attack. I couldn’t hear him say it, he was speaking through clenched teeth and pure, unadulterated anger, but I’d recognize the hand motions he was going through anywhere.

Just as Vegeta managed to power up to level-2, Goten launched an insane Kamehameha at him. For a second, I thought back to when I killed Cell... Goten looked that pissed off.

And Vegeta never saw it coming. Our dear Prince was slammed silly, the best he could do was stop himself from flying miles away with the beam, but he couldn’t keep to the air and he dropped like a stone as soon as Goten was finished.

But it would take more then that to finish Vegeta. A lot more. He landed on his feet and wiped the blood from his mouth, a grin on his face. I hadn’t noticed it before, but Goten was already bleeding himself, and now they were back to square one, simply powered up now.

But Vegeta didn’t wait for Goten to come to him this time. He rushed my brother, and forced him on the defensive, but Goten couldn’t hold him back forever. Vegeta just kept attacking, and my bro’s defenses failed him eventually. Vegeta slammed an ungodly amount of punches home on his face, with a bunch of Ki blasts to follow. Bruised and bloodied, Goten somehow managed to get behind him and sent a punch to Vegeta on the back of his head, sending his enemy stumbling and giving him an opening.

But Goten wasn’t fast enough to take advantage of it; Vegeta recovered too quickly, laced his fingers and slammed my brother right in the chin. Goten went airborne and Vegeta followed, quick to send a hammerblow into his gut and knock him back to the ground.

Goten had trouble getting back up, which didn’t bode well for him, but he stood nonetheless. Vegeta was ready for more. He walked toward Gohan, smiling.

"You know, you vaguely remind me of Kakarott in battle, but then, as much as I hate to admit it, Kakarott could beat me if he really wanted."

Goten stood his ground and didn’t answer back. Vegeta went on.

"You, on the other hand, can do nothing of the sort. I told you, you didn’t deserve my son, why don’t you give up now and at least keep your worthless life?"

Goten shot out a simple, "No."

Vegeta chuckled. Trunks was shaking, he was so terrified of what his father was going to do. So was I; neither of us could pull our gaze away from them, though. Vegeta looked like a Jackal ready to strike.

"Hmmph, maybe you’re more like your father then you realized. Is stubbornness engraved into your head, Son Goten? You’re worse then your father in that!"

Goten was breathing heavily, his posture was slightly hunched, his fists were raised, waiting for Vegeta’s next attack. But his reply was very, very simple. "That’s how much I love him."

"Good," Vegeta grinned. "You can think about that in the afterlife!"

Our dear Prince shot a Ki blast at Goten’s face. My brother dodged it and took to the air, firing a bunch of them at Vegeta, blast after blast, as fast as he could get them out of his hands. Vegeta jumped around on the ground and dodged most of them. He couldn’t just shrug off the few that hit him, but they weren’t stopping him either. When Goten stopped, so did Vegeta... for a few seconds.

"This has been fun, boy, but I tire of you."

Vegeta started powering up more. Bands of energy flew off of him and tore into the ground in some places. Goten looked down at him, unsure of what he was doing, but it certainly looked bad. He tried throwing a Ki blast as Vegeta continued to gather energy and smiled at him from the ground, but Vegeta completely ignored it even after it hit him.

I hadn’t picked up on what Vegeta was doing either.

But Trunks had. He stumbled, almost fell over, and shouted. "No, no, nonononononononono! Father, stop! You’re going to kill him!"

I don’t know if Vegeta heard him or not, but he didn’t stop, and Goten still stood his ground. But he wasn’t going to let Vegeta finish whatever he was doing without a fight. This time, I could hear Goten as he set up his own offensive.

"Kaaaa... meeee... haaaa... meeee... HAHHHHHH!"

Vegeta grinned the wicked, evil grin of the victorious. "Heh heh, nice try. FINAL FLASH!"

Their attacks met in the exact center between them, and it stayed like that for what felt like an eternity.

But Trunks was right; Vegeta was going to kill him. "Vegeta, stop!" I yelled. Goten was hanging on, but from what I could see...

And I was right. Eventually, Goten’s Kamehameha failed, and he found himself on the business end of Vegeta’s finishing move.

I couldn’t breath. Trunks fell over. We just stayed there, completely catatonic while the smoke cleared. (There wasn’t much, considering Goten had been in the air and that was where Vegeta aimed.)

Finally, we nearly died of relief; Goten was alive. He was on the ground, on one knee and barely managing that, struggling to breathe. His clothes were torn, he had gashes and bruises everywhere, but he was alive. I realized, quite abruptly, that it was next to impossible that he survived that, not that I was complaining, mind you, after all, he was alive.

...for now. Vegeta stalked over to him, a chuckle escaping his mouth. Funny, he didn’t seem to care that his attack didn’t have the desire effect. I think, Dear Journal, it’s probably worth noting that by now I wouldn’t have cared if helping my brother broke my promise or not... except for the insults Vegeta had thrown out earlier. Goten was hanging on desperately to his pride... and as morbid as it is, I knew he’d rather let me let Vegeta kill him then lose that.

Promise or not, this was my breaking point. I powered up, and I planned on giving Vegeta a taste of his own medicine... but he sensed my power rising and he wasn’t an idiot, so he turned his attention to me.

"You will not interfere," he boomed, and before I knew it, an absurdly large Ki blast, the biggest he could do without a delay, was coming at me.

Trunks dived at me and knocked us out of the way.

Goten still couldn’t stand when Vegeta reached him. He tried, but Vegeta kicked him across the face, sending him all the way down. He tried again to stand. Vegeta planted a foot into his side.

I could just hear a very sickening crack, and Goten cried out. I knew Trunks could hear it too; I could see him stiffen.

"That’s what a broken rib feels like, boy. I suggest you give up if you don’t want to feel even worse."

I could just hear Goten spit out a feint, defiant "no."

Vegeta kicked him again. "There’s two."

But he didn’t encourage Goten to quit again. He slid his boot under his back and forced him into a sitting position (I didn’t want to think what his latest injuries felt like when Vegeta did that) and crouched behind him. Vegeta’s back was to us, and he grabbed Goten around the neck again, but a bit differently this time... and it was almost like he was making sure we couldn’t see Goten very well.

Trunks shot up and rushed his father.

But he was too late. Vegeta snapped his arms. Goten jerked in his grip. He let my brother drop from his hold, his hair now it’s normal black. And if he wasn’t a Super-Saiyan anymore...

Vegeta stood, powered down, walked a few feet away, and pulled off his damaged armor as we rushed to my brother. I was going to rip Vegeta’s head off...

…but Goten was alive.

Vegeta hadn’t snapped his neck... he’d conked him on the head, but he’d made it look like he was killing him for some reason. I think that’s what Goten even thought; my brother looked like a rag doll, and on top of it, he probably thought he’d never open his eyes again when he closed them

"Goten, Goten!" Trunks shook him on the shoulder, trying to wake him up. He stirred after a few seconds. And then Vegeta tossed his armor to the ground and came back.

"I’m not finished with him yet."

He saw the look on my face.

"Alright, fine," he rolled his eyes. "I was bluffing. Are you happy now? You are as dense as your father, Gohan. As for you."

He wrapped a forceful hand around Goten’s head and pulled him up to his knees, downright forcing him to bow to his feet. Goten hissed and grabbed his side, he probably felt like... well, I’ll skip the clever adjective.

I still tried to keep my promise again (despite technically breaking it earlier, eh heh heh.) although, considering what Vegeta had just said, revelation was sinking into my brain... the more I thought about it, the more it seemed like it Vegeta was playing a game this whole time. Why else would he miss his finishing move?

"You, Goten, are not someone I would immediately choose to be with my son, that should be obvious. Contrary to what you may have assumed, I could care less that my son is sleeping with another man. Being Kakarott’s kid, that’s where the problem comes from, heh heh heh. I won’t have some weakling fathered by someone born a weakling like he was be a companion for my son. But you’re willing to fight for him, you’re willing to die for him, you’re willing to be humiliated yourself if it’s the price to pay to have him."

For a moment, Vegeta’s hand loosened and... call me crazy, but if I hadn’t seen the whole thing before that I could have sword he was cradling my brother’s head lovingly. "And for that, I give you my approval."

He finally let go of my rather shocked brother and reached into his pocket, coming out with a little something and he promptly dropped in front of Goten.

It was a Senzu bean.

~~~

Whew, so that’s how it was. What a story, eh Journal? So now Trunks and Goten are a bit more in the open. I told Videl the whole thing last night. Got no sleep. But not because of that, mind you, eh heh heh.

So yeah. But I gotta go, cause now comes the fun part. Goten told me he and Trunks were going to break down and tell their mothers when they got back and settled in today.

I need to build a bomb shelter.

PS: I just remembered, after I gave Goten the Senzu bean, I caught up with Vegeta. Curiosity killed the cat, you know. I asked him how he found out.

"Bra told me."

Trunks heard him. "Bra told you?! How did Bra find out!"

"Pan told her," Vegeta answered.

I didn’t even need toast to choke. It occurred to me I never DID mention to Pan that she should keep certain things to herself...

~~~