Chapter Text
CRACKLE, BOOOOOOM!
The sudden explosion of a tree struck by lightning and blown from its roots nearby jolted Goten awake. It was an ungodly hour of the night.
He sat up panting and clutching crumpled sheets to his chest, with a bright sheen of sweat coating his bewildered expression. His unruly hair stuck out in every direction, so perfectly raven-colored that you could barely make out the outlines of it in the dim light beaming in from outside. After a few seconds of not knowing where the hell he even was, Goten finally closed his eyes for a brief moment and let out a tired sigh. He lazily opened them again to look out the window, which looked like something out of a fairy tale in that moment; the soft, blue glow of the night sky magnificently pouring in through the glass and painting his room. It looked eery.
“Nngshkr,” a husky voice groaned.
Goten’s eyes snapped wide open again and his gaze quickly jumped to the bundle of blankets and pillows on the floor that made a makeshift bed beside his own.
‘Trunks’ Goten thought to himself flatly. He had, in all seriousness, somehow forgotten about the sleeping prince curled up on his bedroom floor.
‘Crap, I still feel dizzy.’ The two boys had come back from a party a few hours ago, that of course, Trunks had convinced Goten to attend. Both of them had drank way too much, even for their body mass and half-Saiyan genes to have handled gracefully. Although Goten was sixteen and Trunks was seventeen, it was never hard for them to get their hands on booze at these parties. It was never hard for anyone to get shit-faced at these things; most of the parties Goten was dragged to were thrown by Trunks’ rich friends, and they owned limitless supplies of alcohol.
Trunks shifted his position a bit, startling Goten again for a second. Trunks’ sleeping positions were insane; he was spread out in such an inhuman way that his neck appeared as if it might break off at some point, and one leg was sticking out so sharply in the air that it might have already been broken. Goten blinked and suppressed a sleepy laugh under his breath. He caught a taste of something spicy while he did so. ‘Cinnamon? What was I even drinking?’
Goten laid back down on his pillow, and the memories of the earlier night hit him all at once.
Goten had been honest with his mom about the party Trunks was dragging him to from the start.
“‘Ten, there’s nothing wrong with lying once in a while. You’re too honest!” Trunks had scolded him. “Your fault for always forcing me to do stuff I don’t wanna do!” Goten retaliated. Trunks was miffed that his younger friend was only allowed to the party on the condition that they both return to Mount Paozu at no later than midnight, and that Trunks sleep over. Admittedly, Goten did feel guilty about putting a damper on his best friend’s plans, but the truth of the matter was that Trunks always got what he wanted when it came to Goten. All it took was a single pout from Trunks to convince him. Maybe that’s why Goten started off even bothering to deny his outlandish requests in the first place; if he agreed to Trunks’ ridiculous pleas right away, he would never get to see his adorable puppy dog face as he pleaded with Goten to agree to all his stupid ideas.
Trunks would delicately curtsy so that Goten would tower over him and be forced to look down at him. The way Trunks’ soft hair would then bounce as he tilted his chin upwards and pouted those full, pretty lips up at him. The way he would crinkle his annoyingly perfect eyebrows and blink dramatically before giving the final blow; he’d slowly start opening his eyes so that his eyelashes would flutter before revealing their cool, icy stare. They were an impossible hued blue; he could mesmerize a rock if he stared at it long enough.
B’Thump
There it was again. His heart pounding against his chest at the thought of just how damn beautiful Trunks was. Goten had always known his best friend was attractive; as kids, Goten loved reaching out to touch Trunks’ lavender hair when he wasn’t looking. He loved the way the silky strands felt against his fingers when he managed to sneak a touch. The way his chilling eyes almost looked angelic, even when Trunks was planning something demonic.
It goes without saying that Trunks grew up to be tenfold more attractive during his teenage years once he started developing more of Vegeta’s features; his chiseled chin and sculpted cheekbones, his more serious gaze. Goten had never cared too much about his own appearance; he knew he wasn’t exactly bad looking himself, and the hoards of both girls and boys who flocked around him could attest to that (not that he particularly enjoyed the attention).
The thought hidden deep in the back of his mind suddenly bubbled outward. He was in love with Trunks. Irrevocably, deafeningly in love with his best friend.
Goten had also known this since they were kids. He didn’t know what to call it back then, but from the moment both their forefingers perfectly connected and their bodies were fused into one another, everything changed. It felt like the galaxy had been scooped up in a ladle and poured over them when it happened, stars and planets and all. Goten and Trunks had become one person, and their fears and thoughts melted into one another. He felt whole, like nothing could ever hurt or tear them apart. Then when time ran out and their minds and bodies were pulled apart, the entire universe felt like it had collapsed on Goten’s small shoulders. It was then that he realized he would never be able to live without his best friend.
As the years came and went and they both grew older, Goten finally realized what it was he had been feeling for so long. It was love. It had always been love. Such a short, simple word- how could he not have realized it sooner?
“Go…” Trunks mumbled in his sleep. Goten quickly sat up again, hoping so badly that his name was what was going to tumble out of Trunks’ drunken sleep talk. “-geta. Ah ha ha…” Trunks trailed off before stifling the rest of his dumb chuckle with a snore.
‘Idiot’ Goten thought to himself as his eyes rolled into the back of his head. He let himself fall back onto his pillow and then scooped it up by resting his arms beneath it. He really wasn’t sleepy at all anymore, so he decided to just stare at his ceiling until the emptiness drove him nuts and he would have no choice but to pass out.
Watching the soft movement of the rain’s pitter-pattering shadows being reflected onto his ceiling, Goten continued to piece together a little more of what had happened at that dumb party. They had both arrived through the backyard; Trunks nonchalantly pushed open the small gates as if he owned the place. Ironically, it almost felt as if they had gone there on a date together; as soon as they had walked through the gates, they followed a small pathway made of cobblestone. It was narrow and uneven, but Trunks didn’t want Goten to feel as if he was going to be left behind, so he had thrown his arm around Goten’s neck. They both squeezed through the walkway as they meandered through the entanglement of trees and plants engulfing it. ‘Seriously, did we just walk into a jungle?’ Goten remembered thinking to himself, annoyed.
Well, he wasn’t really annoyed. The weight of Trunks’ arm on Goten’s body felt like it was burning through his shirt and onto his skin. And the little walk and garden itself looked kind of phenomenal. There were lanterns hidden up in some of the trees, and bright strings of lights swirled and draped all over the place. The whole experience felt like they were walking through a constellation.
“Trunks, you’re here! Ah- Goten, you too! Think fast!” Goten and Trunks swiftly reached out to grab the bottles of beer one of their classmates had flung at them. “Still don’t know how you guys do that,” the teen pouted. He was obsessed with how fast the two half-Saiyans’ reflexes were. Almost as soon as that happened, Trunks was surrounded by a small swarm of peers. Goten felt a small pang of jealousy in his heart; it was only natural that Trunks attracted so many people to him, everyone was desperate to know him and to be his friend. And, of course, to date him.
Trunks had started dating a year prior, at sixteen. It was only a matter of time before it happened; he had already been popular for years before that. Goten remembered dreading the day Trunks finally announced an interest in someone or that he had a girlfriend. In fact, it was suspicious how long it took, when everyone around them started dating at such young ages (his dad was twelve when he got engaged to his mom, for Kami’s sake!). Goten wondered why Trunks hesitated for so long; was he waiting for something? Perhaps, for someone? His answer came suddenly one day when Trunks angrily tore his game console off the floor and sent it flying out his window. “Holy shit, Trunks, Bulma is NOT going to buy you another one! That’s like the third one you’ve sent flying this month alone! It’s just a game…” Goten had begun to nervously yell at Trunks, when his lavender-haired friend stood up suddenly and pulled Goten to his feet with him by grabbing his wrists. Trunks had grabbed Goten’s wrists forcefully, but it didn’t hurt Goten physically- he was just as strong as he was. They just stood there for what felt like hours, but must have only been a few minutes. Trunks was shaking and looking down at his feet, trying to find the right words for what he wanted say to Goten with such ferocity.
“Hey, man, it-…i-it’s okay, really. I’ll tell your mom I’m the one who lost my temper this time, aha” Goten felt himself stumble through every word as he tried to comfort Trunks, all the while attempting to swallow the lump he felt forming in his own throat. Trunks still remained silent, looking at the floor and never once loosening his grip on either of Goten’s wrists. There was a tiny shrivel of hope hanging in the back of Goten’s mind that Trunks might actually be trying to confess he had feelings for him, but he just kept pushing it way back there. Finally, when the air around them started to feel so still and heavy that Goten was beginning to wonder if Vegeta had ordered Trunks room secretly be built into another gravity training room, Trunks’ threw his gaze up and locked eyes with Goten’s.
“I’m gay.”
Goten blinked twice with a wide-eyed expression and his jaw slightly drooped in shock. He was more more surprised by the intensity in which Trunks suddenly blurted out his revelation, than what the actual contents of it were. “O-oh. That’s cool.” Goten finally manage to choke out, his voice cracking a little. Trunks winced at his friend’s reaction and quickly croaked out, “Do you hate me?”
“What kind of stupid question is that?” Goten replied defensively. Trunks grimaced, still without looking away, and his eyes looked translucent as he squinted in what looked like shards of glass beginning to break through…tears. He was tearing up. Goten’s heart sank, realizing his best friend must have been agonizing over how to come out to him for years now. Goten wasn’t good with emotions. Not when they actually mattered, anyway. At one point everyone in his family had died when he was only seven, including himself; so now he tried to live life without thinking too much about the painful motions of it like words and feelings. He broke free from Trunks’ hypnotic trance and looked away from his chilling stare, biting his lips in a slight pout. Pouting had always been a bad habit of Goten’s since he was a child. He felt Trunks’ hands grow cold around his wrists in response.
Goten shut his eyes, still looking down, beginning to sweat. ‘Oh. I see now why this was so hard for Trunks,’ Goten thought to himself in a panic. ‘I could never hate you because I’m in love with you’ is what Goten wanted to blurt out.
“I like boys too, Trunks. Girls too, but boys more,” Goten finally quivered out instead, in a soft voice. Goten did like girls, he wasn’t lying, but it was hard to actually say that out loud since the only person he thought about romantically on this planet was standing right in front of him, and he was a boy. As soon as Goten had let that out, the air around them felt lighter and Trunks released his grip on Goten’s wrists. He had looked away before Goten managed to look back up to try and gauge his expression. ‘Uh…what just happened?’
“Let’s go get something to eat,” Trunks said in a broken voice, having now stepped out the door of his room and into the hallway, without looking back at Goten. That was the last time they spoke about that day, and Goten never did know what Trunks’ face looked like when he inadvertently came out to him as well.
End of chapter 1