Chapter Text
”Come on, Motoki. Please?” Rei insisted. She knew she was begging now, and she knew his answer wasn’t going to change, but she was getting desperate.
“I’m sorry, Rei. I really am,” he said. “As much as I love you and all, you know I can’t go with you and pretend to be your boyfriend in front of your family.”
“Why not?” she asked again, “no one will know.”
“Well, let’s see,” he crossed his arms. “One, I have a girlfriend. Two? Oh, I don’t know, doesn’t your family know that we’ve been friends for a long time? They’ll see through that right away.”
“I guess you’re right. But I need to do something, Toki! They keep trying to set me up with a bunch of losers and I can’t stand it anymore,” Rei groaned as she collapsed on the couch next to her best friend.
“I know, I know,” he smiled halfheartedly. Then he heard a loud noise coming from the kitchen and an idea clicked in his head. “Why don’t you ask Goten?” Motoki suggested, and Rei almost laughed at that.
“You’re kidding, right?”
“Oh, come on now,” he gave her a look. “He’s not that bad, just think about it,” he shrugged his shoulders. “He’s not a loser, he’s good looking, and I’m sure Goten is–“
“You’re sure I’m what?” Goten asked as he walked into his living room and leaned against the doorframe. The smirk on his face reminding Rei of the first time they met.
“Oh great, you’re here,” Motoki smiled, turning his attention to the raven haired girl sitting next to him. “Ask him, Rei.”
“Ask me what?” Goten turned his eyes to her and she just frantically shook her head.
“It’s nothing. Don’t worry abou–“
“Oh, please,” Motoki rolled his eyes and turned to his roommate. “She needs someone to go to this family thing so they stop trying to set her up with a bunch of people she can’t stand.”
“A fake boyfriend?” he furrowed his brows, and then turned his eyes to her once again. “Wait, YOU need a fake boyfriend?” he asked, mischief and disbelief in his eyes.
“I just need to show up with someone so they lay off for a while,” Rei admitted, prepping herself for the dismissal. Because why would anyone agree to partake in something so ridiculous?
“Why not ask me?” Goten asked as he crossed his arms and raised a single eyebrow. Something Rei found surprisingly attractive.
“Would you want to?” she barely managed to ask, shoving those foreign thoughts to the back of her head.
“Sure, it could be fun,” he smirked. “When and where?”
“Tonight,” she smiled halfheartedly. “My sister and her husband just got back from their vacation and she probably wants to brag about it and show off so she offered to have a family meal.”
Goten nodded. “Call her,” he said as a funky tune sounded from his pocket.
Rei furrowed her brows, not really sure what he was trying to say as he watched him pull out his phone.
“Call your sister and ask her if you can bring your boyfriend tonight,” he smirked as he answered the phone call. “Hello?” he said into the phone, winking at her and turning around to walk down the hallway to his room.
“See?” Motoki smiled. “Now call your sister,” he reminded her as she continued to stare at the spot where Goten had been standing. Clearly a little shocked that he had agreed to do that.
Rei pulled her phone from her purse and dialed the number, almost hoping her sister wouldn’t answer.
“Hey, Lil’ Sis!”
“Hi Usa, listen, about tonight’s dinner I–“
“No, Rei! Nah-huh. No way, you’re so not canceling on me again! I’ve planned everything out and–“
“I was hoping,” Rei spoke over her, “that it would be okay for me to bring along my boyfriend?”
“WHAT!?” her sister asked. “Since when do you have a boyfriend? And why in the hell is this the first time I’ve heard of him!? I need details. Right now!”
“Well,” Rei bit her lip, completely unsure what to say now, “we’ve only officially been together for a week, and you were on vacation so–“
“Oh my god, Rei! Where did you meet him? Is he cute?”
“Uh, well he’s one of Toki’s friends. He’s actua–“
“He’s friends with him? He must be super cute then!” her sister squealed. “Oh, I know! Send me a picture right now. Bye!” And with that, she hung up, leaving Rei to stare at her phone nervously.
“What happened?” Motoki asked.
“She wants me to send her a picture.” Rei took a deep breath, on the verge of freaking out.
“Oh, well go get one,” he shrugged like it was nothing and got up to go the kitchen. “You wanna eat something?”
“I’m fine, thanks,” she sighed, slightly blushing as she moved off the couch and down the hall. This time, she made sure she knocked on the door before opening it.
“Yeah?” Goten asked as he opened the door. “Oh, hey Rei. What’s up?” he leaned against the doorframe.
“My sister wants a picture as proof that you exist,” she said and Goten chuckled as he stepped back to let her in.
She tried her best to stay calm, but something about being in his room made her feel uneasy.
“Here,” he said, taking her phone from her hands and turning on the camera. He moved closer to her, wrapping an arm around her as the other held the phone. “If we take a picture together she’ll get a better vibe that we’re actually ‘together’. Smile now.”
Rei tried to do what she was told, but it just felt so fake and her face was showing it.
“You’re smiling like the people in those toothpaste ads. Come on, Rei, you can do better than that,” he teased. “Give me a beautiful smile.”
She turned her head slightly, about to tell him to forget about it when he leaned his lips to her cheek. It was a small, soft kiss and she couldn’t help but squeak and leap away from him.
Goten looked at the phone and smiled widely as he held it out for her to see. “Much better, see? Send that, she’ll definitely think we’re together when we show up tonight.”
Rei took her phone back and furrowed her brows when she noted the moment he captured. It was like the perfect split second before she panicked, a smile on her lips, his eyes shut as he leaned in to kiss her. They really did look like a couple. A happy couple at that. She sent the picture then, not risking looking up at him anymore. A message ding almost immediately and she smiled at it.
‘Wow, he’s hot!’
Rei snorted as she looked up at Goten, “she bought it.”
“Told you,” he smirked, raising an eyebrow again.
Rei nodded nervously, secretly agreeing with her sister’s opinion about him. “I guess I’ll see you tonight,” she said, slightly biting her lip.
“Looking forward to it,” he winked.
##########
Rei smoothed her form fitting red dress as she knocked on his door. She couldn’t believe she was doing this. No, scratch that. She couldn’t believe he actually agreed to do this.
But here she was, her long raven hair perfectly straightened, strappy black heels, skin tight halter dress with a bare back, standing outside her “boyfriend’s” door.
Goten opened the door and Rei felt her breath hitch at the sight of him. He worked at, and owned, a Mixed Martial Arts gym. He was always wearing gym clothes and sweats, but this… Rei ran her eyes greedily over the dark red button up shirt and black slacks. He looked nice. Really, really nice.
“Hey,” he said with a grin and Rei mentally slapped herself for gawking.
“Hi,” she managed, and he stepped out onto the hallway to leave.
“You two have fun,” Motoki teased from the kitchen.
“I’m sure we will,” Goten grinned, opening the front door for her. “After you, girlfriend.”
##########
The drive was awkward and silent. The kind where someone shifts uncomfortably and the other pretends they thought they heard them say something, leading to more awkwardness.
Rei tried to think of something to break the ice, but other than thoughts about how painfully hot he looked, she couldn’t think of anything. Finally, Goten sighed in the passenger seat.
“We need to work out details before we get there.”
Rei looked at him for a split second.
“How long we’ve been dating? When did we first go out? You know, the usual stuff.”
“Oh,” she mentally kicked herself for not thinking about that ahead of time. Of course they needed to have this all worked out. “Well, I told Usa we’ve been dating for a week,” she sighed. “It was the best I could come up with when she asked why I haven’t told her.”
“One week and I’m already meeting the family? Damn, that’s quick,” he shook his head. “That or you must really like me,” he grinned. “Alright, how about the first date thing? I’m thinking something like I finally got the courage to ask you out because I was tired of seeing you waste your time with those idiots. So, first date was typical movie and dinner scenario. How’s that work for you?”
“What movie?” she asked, making Goten chuckle.
“I don’t even remember. I was too focused on not saying anything stupid and ruin my chances with you.”
Rei rolled her eyes, but couldn’t help a small smile on her lips.
“Should we tell them how we actually first met?” he smiled mischievously.
“What? No! Of course not,” she breathed, making him laugh.
“It’s a great story, though. Great ice breaker too.”
“Oh yeah, my family will love to hear about that one time I open the bathroom door and saw your-you getting out of the shower,” she tried to correct herself, but the damage was already done. She could see his mischievous grin out of the corner of her eye. “Dear gods,” she sighed and almost jumped out of her skin when she felt a warm hand on her knee.
“Then I guess we could say it was love at first sight,” he said, turning his palm up and slightly tapping her leg with the back of his hand. “Hold my hand.”
“What?”
“Uh, isn’t that what couples do?” he teased. “If we don’t figure it out now we’ll look ridiculous walking up to the front door trying to fix our fingers. So, hold my hand.”
Rei simply couldn’t argue against that logic, so she did as she was told and she carefully laid her hand on top of his. She was expecting this simple contact to feel awkward, but it actually felt nice. Even comforting too.
“There,” Goten mumbled. “Perfect,” he added, keeping his hand under hers for the rest of the way.
##########
They finally pulled up in front of a big house. “We’re here,” Rei grumbled as she parked. She felt Goten’s hand squeeze hers before he let go and climbed out of the car. She took a deep breath then, but before she could completely draw in her steeling breath, Goten was opening her door. “Oh, what a gentleman,” she remarked, slightly surprised.
“Gotta treat my girlfriend right,” he winked, shutting the door and taking her hand with his once again.
They moved closer to the front door and Rei felt her panic rising. “You know what? This was a bad idea,” she said. “Let’s just go back… I can’t do this, Goten, I–“
“Rei,” Goten stopped them and carefully took her other hand, making her face him. “It’s going to be fine, you got nothing to worry about. I’m right here, I promise I’ll be by your side the whole time, okay? We,” he squeezed her hands gently, “are doing this together, and it’s gonna be fine.”
She felt him let go of her hands when she nodded, and swallowed hard when he knocked at the door.
“Rei!” Her sister flung open her front door, a big smile on her face. “I’m so happy you’re here,” she squealed, moving to give her sister a big hug. “Come on in you two. You must be my sister’s new boyfriend,” her smile widened, “it’s so nice to finally meet you!”
“It’s nice to meet you too,” he said with a charming smile. “Thank you for letting me join you tonight.”
“Well,” she said, Rei noticing the way her eyes roam over him as she let them in, “my little sister finally has a boyfriend, so that’s kind of a big deal, you know.”
“Usagi,” Rei rolled her eyes.
“Hey, Rei!” She turned around to see Trunks, her brother in law, smiling at her from the doors of the dining room. “How’s my favorite sister in law?”
“I heard that!” Minako appeared at his shoulder, and Rei smiled at her other sister.
“You never told me they were twins,” Goten said quietly, “that’s so cool.”
“Is that you, Rei?” a gorgeous woman with silver hair came from the dining room area, “my, my,” she focused her attention on Goten. “And who’s this handsome stranger?”
“Hello, Mom,” she smiled nervously, unable to stop herself from reaching for Goten’s hand. “This is Goten,” she said carefully, “my boyfriend.”
“Your what?” her father asked from the dining room.
“Dear gods, you finally got a man?” Minako squealed, carefully looking him up and down, “and a fine one too, sis”.
“Boyfriend?” Rei nodded at her mother, nervous as she watched Goten move forward to shake her father’s hand. “Why is this the first time he’s been mentioned to me?”
Rei bit the inside of her lip nervously. “Well–“
“I didn’t realize I was a secret until this morning,” Goten said quickly, “surely Rei couldn’t keep me all to herself for that long.”
“I wouldn’t blame her for that,” Minako giggled.
“And now you’re meeting all the family,” Usagi chuckled, ignoring her twin sister’s comment.
“I don’t mind,” Goten smiled, politely shaking Rei’s mom’s hand. Rei secretly admiring the way he didn’t seemed bothered by all the sudden attention. And once he was done shaking hands, she unconsciously moved to take his hand with hers once again. For the sake of keeping appearances, of course. Not because she felt that simple contact was calming her to no end, or because she didn’t like the way Minako kept eating him with her eyes. No, this was just to keep up the appearances.
“Enough of this then,” Usagi clapped her hands excitedly. “Why don’t we all return to the dining room? I’m sure we can interrogate Goten better over our delicious meal.”
Goten smiled at Rei calmly, and he placed a warm hand to the small of her back. A signal she took to lead the way. “How am I doing?” he asked in a soft whisper.
“You’re handling it perfectly,” Rei whispered back, “but I think my sisters are suspicious.”
“Don’t worry, we’ll fix that,” he whispered, sending shivers down her spine and she felt her cheeks flush.
They all sat at the table, Goten pulling out the chair for Rei. “I see chivalry isn’t dead after all,” said Rei’s mother, Serenity.
“Not the way I was raised,” Goten smiled as he took his own seat next to Rei, who immediately grabbed his hand under the table. Holding his hand suddenly felt like holding onto sanity in this nightmare she created, her family was soon going to pick this fake relationship apart. This was a bad idea, oh just what was she thinking!?
“How’s school, Rei?” Minako asked with a smile.
“Great, if everything goes right I will be holding my degree by the end of this semester.”
“That’s wonderful!” Usagi joined in.
“And you, Goten,” Rei’s father, spoke up, “are you in school too?”
Rei felt Goten’s fingers twitch in her own.
“No, sir, not anymore. I only attended college for 2 years but I had to come back home to help my father in his business.”
“What kind of business?”
“Mixed Martial Arts.”
“Oh, so you’re a trainer?” Rei cringed at the unimpressed tone.
“I’m also the owner of a gym. My father left me the business in his will.”
“I’m terribly sorry about your father,” Serenity cut in.
“How’d he die?” Rei shot a glare to her nosy sister Minako.
“He died in the cage,” Goten sighed.
“Your father was a fighter?” Trunks asked, suddenly interested in the conversation.
“Oh yeah,” Rei couldn’t help a small smile at the sight of Goten’s wistful one, “he was one of the best, he won a lot of fights but he never took care of himself. I changed the name of the gym to honor him.”
“What’s the name of the gym?” Trunks asked.
“Everyone knew him as Kakarot so,” Goten smiled and shrugged his shoulders.
“Damn, must be a hell of a gym,” Trunks nodded recognizing the name.
“It sure is,” Goten agreed, “and I take good care of what’s important to me.”
“Is my daughter that important?” Endymion asked.
“Yes, sir. Of course she is,” Goten said.
“And how many other ‘important’ girls have there been before her?”
“Endymion,” Serenity cut in.
“Father!” Rei whirled to him, horrified that he’d ask such a question. Goten’s hand moved from hers, resting on her thigh.
“It’s a father’s place to question what his daughter drags in to dinner.”
“Drags in?” Goten tried his best to smile, the gesture not quite making it to his eyes. “I assure you, sir that I was not dragged in by your daughter. I truly care about her and I fail to see how my past relationships are your concern.”
Rei looked to her father; things were definitely not going according to plan. No one had ever dared to speak back to him before; he was used to people carefully addressing him and doing whatever he wanted all the time. She worriedly looked for anger or rage, but found his face awkwardly and surprisingly neutral. To her relief, her sister’s personal chef finally appeared with fancy plates to serve dinner.
They started eating in silence, no one daring to say a word anymore.
“So,” Minako finally spoke after a moment of Endymion glaring over at Goten, who just ignored him for the rest of the evening, “how was your vacation, Usa?”
Rei groaned internally, this couldn’t be going any worse. Goten was too… he was too… he was definitely something.
He turned his eyes to her, leaning over and placing a delicate kiss to her earlobe. “We’re leaving right after dinner,” he whispered furiously as he pressed another soft kiss to her earlobe.
Rei nodded once, unable to do anything else but blush.
Usagi kept talking about the wonderful things they did while traveling, all the beautiful beaches they visited and the delicious food they ate. Stopping every now and then to let her husband speak.
Rei picked at her food inattentively, she really couldn’t bring herself to pay attention to anything but the soothing way Goten’s thumb kept caressing her upper thigh. She didn’t even try to stop him, mainly because she wasn’t even sure if he even realized he was doing it. And damned it if it didn’t felt good!
“So, Goten,” Trunks smiled over at him, “you play poker?”
“I sure do” Goten said, squeezing Rei’s knee, who immediately took his hand again.
“Really?” Trunks crossed his arms, “how good are you?”
“I’m pretty good.”
“We’ll have to see about that, I have a few friends that are pretty damn good.”
“It’s all in the face.”
“So you’re so well versed in lies then?” Rei felt Goten’s thumb twitch against hers at her father’s accusation.
“Only when it comes to games, sir,” he said as calmly as possible.
“Is that what Rei is too?”
“Endymion! Stop this right now,” Serenity warned him in a low voice.
“What? It’s a perfectly legitimate question,” he fired back as he locked eyes with Goten once again.
“Meeting your daughter is the best thing that’s happened to me in a long time, sir,” Goten said firmly. “She is a wonderful woman, kind, beautiful and incredibly smart. I believe she’s perfectly capable of realizing when and if someone dared to play a game with her. You might not agree with her decisions, but apparently I’m worthy in her eyes to be her boyfriend,” he paused for a second. “And I’ve had enough of being insulted by you. I come from a good family that raised me right, I don’t have all the money in the world but what I lack in funds I make up for in other ways.”
“You should understand I want my daughter to be well taken care of.”
Rei wanted to yell at her father, tell him to stop insulting her date. He didn’t deserve to be treated that way! He was going to be furious when all of this was over, he would definitely not want to talk to her ever again. Oh what was she thinking!? This was all very wrong.
“I could care less about any money your daughter has or will have,”Goten said shaking his head almost imperceptibly, getting up from his seat abruptly and turning his attention back to the others. “Thank you for having me over, but I’m afraid I lost my appetite. Rei, can you please drive me home?”
“Yeah, of course,” she got up glancing at her father. Goten put a hand on the small of her back again, leading her to the front door. He opened it and closed it silently behind them.
“Holy shit, your family is awful,” he breathed the words as they moved to her car, brushing a hand over his spiky hair in annoyance. “Rei,” he grabbed her hand and pulled her to him, making her look up into his eyes.
Rei felt her heart flutter as he leaned towards her. “I’m really sorry about all this,” she said, “and I’m sorry about my father, he–“ she was suddenly cut off in the best unexpected way possible. Goten pressed his lips to hers, carefully cupping her face and placing the other hand on her hip to pull her closer, and all Rei could do was stand there in absolute shock.
“Rei, Rei! You forgot your–“ Goten pulled away from her then, turning his head back quickly as Usagi came into view with Rei’s small clutch in hand. “Oh wow, sorry for interrupting the make out session on my driveway,” she giggled. “But you should wait until you get back home, if Daddy sees you two–“
“I don’t give a fuck about he says,” Goten grabbed the small purse and handed it back to Rei, moving to get into the car already. “Thanks for the lovely evening, Usagi. I’ll make sure to call Trunks about that poker game soon.” He got in the car and Rei moved around to the driver side.
“Rei?” Usagi called out softly, “maybe we can do a double date sometime? You know, without Daddy around.”
“Sure, maybe,” Rei smiled halfheartedly, knowing full well that wasn’t ever going to happen. She sighed as she sat down in the car, unsure about what to say or think. As bad as the night had gone, she still couldn’t get over the way he’d kiss her. Goten Son, the epitome of sexiness, had kissed her!
“Quite an evening, huh?” Goten turned to her. “You know what? I’m sorry, but I just had to get away from your dad before I punched him or something.”
“Yeah, honestly I don’t blame you,” she said softly. She really wanted to ask him about the kiss, was it part of the act? Was it real? Was she thinking too much into it? “My father tends to be very… let’s just say he’s over protective.”
“I guess I’m not one of the rich assholes he wants you to end up with,” he growled, and Rei looked at him for a moment while they stopped at a red light.
“My life isn’t up to him,” she said, and he looked over at her, a soft smile on his lips. “Thank you for agreeing to do this though.”
“I wasn’t expecting them to be like that,” Goten sighed.
“Well, that’s my family,” she shrugged her shoulders. “Goten? When.. when you kissed me, I–I mean that was.. that was part of the act, right? You knew Usa was coming out to give me my purse?” she tried to ask casually, as if she didn’t care.
“Yeah,” Goten said with a shrug, “just… you know, just being the perfect fake boyfriend.” They pulled up in front of his building not too long after that. “Thanks for a lovely evening,” he said turning to her, “but let’s not do that again.”
“Yeah,” Rei nodded. And she watched him climb out of her car and walk to the front door. Once he vanished inside, she drove home.
##########
As soon as she was back in her apartment, she went directly to the bathroom to start a bath. Surely that would help her forget about her terrible evening.
She undressed carefully, and tied her hair up in a messy bun.
“He kissed me,” she told her reflection, her hand instantly moving to her lips. Sure, they spent an awful evening with her family but he’d kiss her. Even if it was all a lie, nothing but for the sake of appearances… he’d kissed her. And she couldn’t deny how much she enjoyed his lips on hers. And maybe it was all in her mind, but he seemed so bummed about her father not liking him.
She heard her phone ding from her room, and she curiously went back to check it.
A message from an unknown number: ‘Hey, it’s Goten. I got your number from Motoki. I’m sorry about everything, I didn’t mean to ruin the night. I just couldn’t stand that your father was not only insulting me, but he was insulting you as well and that just wasn’t gonna fly, you know? And when we stormed out I assumed you’d forget your purse and someone would just bring it out so I just went with it to play it safe. I should say sorry about that too, I shouldn’t have done that. So yeah, I’m sorry.’
Rei smiled at the text, biting her lip as she tried to think about what to say. ‘Don’t worry about it. My family is crazy, and I’m honestly surprised you even send me a text after meeting them. You did caught me off guard with the kiss, but it worked perfectly for our story. Thank you again for helping me, and I’m really sorry for what happened.’
‘No problem.. Good night, Rei.’
It was a simple text but it made her smile. Maybe, just maybe, he didn’t hate her after everything that happened that night. ‘Good night, Goten’ she wrote, and then finally got in the bathtub to enjoy the warm water, her mind roaming over the day she unexpectedly met Goten in all his naked glory.