CHAPTER SIX ~



Goten rolled over and looked at the clock at the side of his bed. 

7:48am, late by Son Family standards. 

Even though it was Sunday, his parents were probally already up for at least an hour by now, a gene not inherited by their youngest son. His idea of a weekend was more like sleeping in until noon and watching television in bed all day, even thought it never happened.

"Did you plan on getting up today or should I serve you breakfast in bed?" Chi Chi questioned loudly in his doorway, hands on her hips and impatiently tapping her foot.

"No, no..." he yawned out, still half asleep, but Chi Chi was not a woman of patience. "Mom, wait! I'm getting up! I'm getting up!" he pleaded as his mother started to yank him out of his bed by the arm. Chi Chi might have only been a house wife, but when she wanted something done, it damn well got done right then! No questions.



Goten blankly sat at his kitchen table across from his father, already on his fourth or fifth bowl of cereal. Food just wasn't what he wanted to see right now, even though his stomach was rumbeling like a truck. He couldn't stop thinking about Trunks and what happened the night before in that field - His best friend kissed him! On the lips! DELIBERATELY! Did he miss something? Did he lead him on somehow by accident without knowing it? And does Trunks like him? Like that?! Has he... *always* liked guys? Goten swallowed hard.

'There's no way he actually meant it! We're friends!  But what if he...'

Goten put his hands over his eyes and rubbed hard on his face. 

'What the hell is going on?'

"Are you ok, Goten?" his father asked, stopping mid-chew, looking at his youngest beat himself up at the breakfast table. "Goten! Hey!" He reached out and grabbed on to his wrist. He got his attention, but it was clearly not in the same room as his son.

Goten snapped out of it. "Yea. Yea, I'm okay..." he quickly nodded, realizing that he must look like he's loosing his mind. After all, he did fall asleep in his clothes which were still smeared and stained with Trunks' blood, not that wearing blood stained clothes at the kitchen table is out of the ordnary when three Saiyans were once living in the house.

He needed to get out of the house and talk to him. 

Now. 

Goten put his hands on the table and casually started to get up out of his chair. "I don't think I'm really that hungry. I'm just going..."

"I don't think so, mister!" Chi Chi yelled, pushing him back down into his seat. "You're not going anywhere before you eat your breakfast!" Goten looked over to Goku for a signal that it was alright to just leave, but saw him quietly chuckeling to himself and already digging back into his food. It was clear who wore the pants in HIS family! He had lived in that house long enough to reconize that no-bullshit tone in his mother's voice and reluctantly reached for the sugar as he started shoveling it into his coffee. It would have to wait for now, or at least until after breakfast.




BACK AT CAPSULE CORPERATION -

*BEEP* *BEEP* *BEEP* *BEEP* *BE..* 

Trunks slammed his hand down on his alarm clock, still face down in his pillow. His alarm was still set for 8:00am from yesterday when he was supposed to spar with Goten. 

'Amazing how your life can change in 24 hours.' 

He sat up in his bed, every bone in his body ached like it had been broken a thousand times over. His face didn't feel much better. He rolled over and put his feet on the floor, slowly standing up to be careful of his ribs, still tender and sore, before making his way down the hall. He gave a quick peek into his sister's room - Bra wasn't in her crib and he couldn't hear his mother running around downstairs like on every other Sunday morning, leading him to believe he was probably left by himself. Unless his father was home. 

"Oh, God. Please don't be home today."

He made his way down to the kitchen. A small note was attached to the refridgerator. He read his mother's scribbled handwriting:

TRUNKS,
I WILL BE OUT WITH YOUR SISTER UNTIL 3:00. THERE'S 
FOOD PREPARED IN THE 'FRIDGE. HERE'S $20, YOU CAN 
GO OUT FOR LUNCH WITH GOTEN IF YOU WANT. I LOVE YOU!
MOM





Trunks stared at Goten's name on the note. What was he going to say to him? There was no way to just forget about it ever happening and pretend everything was okay again. It was hard enough hidding it before, and now... now Goten knew the truth. Trunks dragged his feet into the living room and sank down into the cushions of the couch.

He valued their friendship too much to let it be thrown away. He was going to have to lie. Tell him that he didn't know what he was doing. He was confused and upset, and... things... just sort of happened. He had to at least try. Goten wouldn't want to come within ten miles of him if he knew how strong he felt about him and how many times he wanted to curl up next to him in his bed when he slept over his house. He didn't know that his heart broke everytime he'd flirt with some brainless girl in front of him, some girl who didn't know anything about what it felt like to fuse, or why he was so much stronger than everyone else at school, or why he had a tiny scar at the base of his spine.

Even worse, Goten didn't know how turned on he was getting lately everytime the younger boy took his shirt off when they sparred, or how many times he'd be making out with a girl while imagining it was Goten he was kissing instead. Nevermind how many nights he fell asleep thinking about him only to wake up from... well it didn't matter now. Goten was most likely already disgusted with him at this point, and would probably run in the other direction if he came anywhere near him. 

He was so lost in his thoughts of how he was going to convince Goten that their...no, HIS kiss was a accident, Trunks didn't hear the footsteps walking into the room from behind him. The low rumble of Vegeta's voice jumped his heart. 

"Your mother went out shopping. Did you eat breakfast?" he said, sounding like he was forced to pretend like he cared. Trunks pushed himself up straight and hugged his knees into his chest, feeling more embarassed and nervous than anything else. He couldn't look at him and turned his head away so that he was facing out towards the window. 

Vegeta walked to the couch and saw his son visibly cringe at the very presence of him being in the same room. Unfolding his arms, he knelt down one knee in front of him. 

"Son..." he paused, looking at how bruised his body was - puffy cuts and scrapes over his face and arms, a bandage on his shoulder that had blood spotted through the gauze. Vegeta tried to soften his harsh rasp. "Trunks, you are my only son. I've seen you grow up your entire life, yet... I really don't know who you are." 

Trunks felt every part of him tense up into a knot. Breathing became harder to control. Vegeta never gave a shit about who he was or how he made him feel. Why didn't he just leave him alone, ignore him like every other day of his life? Why was he doing this? Had he found a new way to tourture him? To rip his heart into pieces for fun? Was he trying to make him cry just so he could laugh at how weak and worthless he was?

"It's been hard... for me to realize this, but..." Vegeta shifted his weight, searching for the right words to say to him before taking a deep breath. "I don't know how to be your father, Trunks. I don't know how to treat you... not like you deserve. You didn't grow up a Saiyan. You grew up a human, with all these feelings, and... emotions. Like your mother. And I don't have any idea what it's like to be you. I just, tried to push you and raise you like a Saiyan boy. It's all I know and I..." he stopped, reaching out to put his hand on the boy's head, feeling him shudder under his touch. "I forgot to raise you as my son, Trunks. I... I'm sorry. This isn't what I had intended to happen to you." 

Trunks put his head down across his arms around his knees, pursing his lips together, trying to stop from shaking. He could feel his chest tightening up. Vegeta took his hand off his head and stood up where he was. 

"Stand up, son." He reached out his hand. 

Trunks looked up at his father with glazed eyes but didn't move. The two starred at each other for what seemed like hours, a suffocating tension between them. Gradually, releasing his arms from around his knees, he got to his feet without any of his father's help, giving Vegeta the first full look at the damage he had done to his body. Lately, Vegeta hadn't even looked at his son long enough to realize how mature and strong he had become for his age, his frame reminding him more and more of the mirai boy that came to aid them to fight the androids so long ago. He reached around and put his hand on the back of his head and pulled his son into his arms for only the second time in his life. 

Trunks couldn't let it go. It was torture. His shut his eyes, his body still completely tense with his arms flexed at his sides, forcing himself to keep it all inside. Not letting himself loose it. Crushing every feeling down so deep and so hard it actually hurt. He wasn't going to cry, not now. 

Vegeta could feel the muscles on his back, rock hard and frightened to the unfamiliar sensation of being hugged, especially by him. He could sense how uncomfortable he was just by his touch, just like the last time they were in this situation. 

"Trunks, my son, I care very much for you. And I do want you to know, I AM...very proud of you. I've always been." The awkwardness in his voice was starting to dissolve, replaced by genuine affection. 

Trunks bit down hard on his bottom lip, his face feeling like it was going to shatter. The moment he wanted more than anything his whole life, what he always wanted to hear his father say to him, all those years of neglect and abuse, throwing him away and pushing him aside... forgetting about him and breaking his heart over and over... 

"I LOVE YOU, DAD!" he cried, throwing his arms around his father, clinging on as tight as he could. Vegeta felt his heart melt, holding on strong to his fifteen-year-old son with all of the attention and love he never gave him and should have, feeling warm tears starting to soak through his shirt. Trunks was trembeling to such a degree it almost made him think he was hurting him, until he remembered the woman mentioning something once about 'tears of joy'. It had never even occured to him that his son had needed this so badly.

"I want to... try to be your father. I promise, I WILL try," he said gently without any anger left in his voice. He pulled away to look at his son, his bright, blue eyes swollen and wet. "You're a Saiyan Prince, Trunks. Did you know that? You would have been the heir to the throne had there still been one, and... you've made me very proud." 

Trunks tensed his shoulders, inhaling a deep breath as he listened to those seemingly foreign words directed towards him. He looked up in amazement, now at almost eye level with his father, as a real smile appeared on his face. Not a smirk, but a real smile.

He wiped the tears from his own cheeks and bravely smiled back. Trunks got what he wanted as Vegeta was finally accepting his son after a lifetime of ignoring him and forgetting to be a father at all. He finally had a father that loved him back, something he had never experienced before that moment. He wanted to run out and tell everyone, everyone that knew his life and how much this meant to him. But the only person he knew would understand, the one person he wanted to tell the most, probably never wanted to speak to him again. 

He had to see him. He had to undo the damage, whatever it took. He couldn't have Goten missing from his life, the other half of who he was in every sense of his being. Trunks knew the hard truth about his feelings and knew he was facing only one option to keep them together.



He just had to see Goten... ~