Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Goten’s smile was, in a word, glorious .

Like a brilliant sunset that left the sky dancing in purples and pinks Trunks found himself suddenly awe-struck by his radiance.
The first born son of Vegeta had no idea how he had never noticed it before but Goten was… beautiful!

A lump had suddenly grown in his stomach, the breath in his lungs caught in his chest, and Trunks was suddenly terrified of the emotions and thoughts that had suddenly manifested in his heart and head.

What was this?

He didn’t quite know…

All Trunks did know was that when Goten’s soft chestnut brown eyes blinked up at him his heart tried to jump up and out of his throat.
He felt a warmth in his spine that tingled all the way to the base of his skull.

Shit, shit, shit!

This was serious! This wasn’t just after-training adrenaline. Trunks stared this straight on dead in the face realizing one terrifying fact at a time. He found Goten attractive, he had for a while now, he— he had fallen in love with his best friend!

Trunks didn’t know what was more terrifying. The fact that the boy he’d spent nearly every waking moment with for 16 years was suddenly the most beautiful thing in the known universes to him, or the punch to the gut feeling of not knowing if the feeling would be mutual.

What if Goten didn’t think of him the same way?? What if Goten didn’t think about guys that way— at all!

Trunks was unaware at just how these thoughts were playing out physically on his features until Goten’s hand landed on his shoulder.

Trunks flinched as Goten stirred him from deep within his thoughts. With a sharp inhale Trunks focused his crystal blue eyes on the young man standing in front of him. The soft curve of his lean, muscular arm... where it connected to a strong shoulder and a broad-chested body. His torso covered by the distinct orange and blue training suit his father wore time and time again.
It suited Goten. It suited his body, his skin, his— everything.

“Hey... you okay?” Goten asked, his voice pleasant even when worried about his buddy.

“Y-yeah sorry.” Trunks stammered before clearing his throat. “J-Just thinking.”

“Alright...” Goten said with a small laugh.

The way his lips curled into the laugh had Trunks suddenly swooning again.
He curled his hand into a fist to try and distract himself.

Too bright.
Too pure.

“You went sorta pale there for a second and I was worried.” Goten finished as he removed his hand from Trunks’ shoulder. The weight and warmth of it instantly missed.

“Yeah sorry...” Trunks offered the empty apology. It wasn’t what he wanted to say. It wasn’t what he needed to say but fear kept that door shut and locked at the moment however. “— a lot to think about right now.”

“About the tournament?” Goten pressed, hoping to get Trunks to talk about what was obviously bothering him.
“N-not exactly.” Trunks admitted as a deep blush spread across his face.

Now he looked like the sunset... purples and pinks mixing against his pale skin.

“Okay... I’ll drop it.” Goten said with a small laugh, he could tell when his best friend didn’t want to talk about something.

“Maybe— maybe later.” Trunks stammered then felt his face flush hot again.

No! Not later! Not ever! Trunks!! What if he doesn’t feel the same way? What if it makes it weird?! What if he never wants to talk to you ever again?!!?

He internally yelled at himself.
The anxiety and fear was getting to be too much for him and he felt as though he were going to vomit.

“Well.. I’m gonna hit the showers.” Goten said as he thumbed over his shoulder.
Bulma had showers and sleeping quarters installed at the gravity chamber center so exhausted Z-Fighters had a place to rest and recuperate during extensive training sessions.
His father, Vegeta, probably used them more than anyone, with Trunks and Goten coming in at a close second or third. It allowed them to stay close to home, but still let them train in more optimal conditions than earth usually had to offer.

“Okay.” Trunks answered, “I-uh, I’m going home I think. I’ve got—homework.” He lied.
Trunks didn’t have homework.
He didn’t have anything.
Before this revelation he had planned on suggesting they sleep here and get up early to train again tomorrow.

“Oh.” Goten responded sounding disappointed. The change in his voice made Trunks feel like Majin Buu had sat on his chest, flattening all the air out of his lungs.
“I thought—“ Goten then shook his head, a smile spreading brightly across his face again. “That’s alright.”

“N-No what were you going to say?” Trunks pressed feeling suddenly desperate for what Goten was going to finish that sentence with.

“It’s not a big deal, Trunks!” He laughed. “I just thought we were going to bunk here tonight then train again tomorrow is all.”

Trunks blanched then pretended to look at his watch. “I—I guess I could put that assignment off— one more night.”

No assignment, no homework.... stop lying Trunks!

That voice in his head sounded less like himself and more like Vegeta. That startled Trunks to say the least… but in an odd way emboldened the young half-Saiyan.

Right, no more lies.

He would have to talk to Goten.

Trunks gulped back a wave of nausea and fear at the next thought...

Tonight. He would talk to him tonight.

Chapter Text

A single stream of light poured into the sleeping area from an overhead skylight, a beam of moonlight casted obtuse shadows over the futon both boys lay across. Trunks lay silently on his back as he stared up through the same skylight, his hands folded neatly over his chest.

He had been too afraid to say anything during dinner and was kicking himself for being a coward.

He could hear Goten breathe opposite him, a soft snore catching in the back of his throat as he slept soundly. Trunks parted his lips as he took in a short breath then turned his head to look over at Goten. He stifled a laugh almost immediately when he saw the state of the other young man. He was sprawled spread-eagle on the futon, already disheveled hair sticking up in places and sticking to his face in others. With a smirk Trunks looked back up to the ceiling then sighed.

There was never going to be a better time than now to tell Goten how he felt. They were safe, alone…

With renewed vigor he sighed through his nose and gave a self-encouraging nod before rolling over. “Hey—Goten.” He whispered, nudging Goten’s shoulder.

“Hhhmmnnnggg? What?” Goten responded blearily, his eyes barely open as he was woken from his sleep. “What’s wrong?”

Trunks shook his head, dismissing that anything was wrong.

This is it… don’t be a coward, Trunks.

Trunks moistened his lips with his tongue. His whole mouth suddenly felt like a desert—dry, extremely dry and useless.

Clearing his throat a bit he rolled to his back and tried to act nonchalant.

“So like—you ever thought about how your mom and dad met each other?” He asked, raising a lavender eyebrow before risking a peek over at Goten again.

He looked completely confused and half-asleep. “Uh---Not really.” He answered truthfully.

Trunks felt the heat instantly rise in his cheeks.

Shit… I was hoping he’d say yes.

“Oh—well—I sorta do.” Trunks admitted sheepishly

“You woke me up—to talk about your parents?” Goten asked through a loud, open-mouthed yawn.

“No!” trunks answered quickly, eyes darting back over to the other boy. “I mean—no… not really.”

This is a disaster… a shit show!

Goten seemed to wake up a bit more as he sat up and ran a hand through his messy hair. The simple motion dislodged the stuck-on hair from his cheek. “What’s wrong Trunks…? You’re acting weird.”

Trunks swallowed hard, the lump in his throat refusing to be dislodged. “Look Goten I have to tell you something.” He started, feeling like he was chipping away at a dam. It felt dangerous, but also necessary.

“Okay.” Goten yawned, digging at his eye with his knuckles.

“Do you promise not to--- be mad at me?” Trunks asked, a futile, child-like question that he felt instantly stupid for asking. However, Goten seemed to wake up more and pay attention as soon as he’d asked it.

“What’s wrong man?” Goten asked again, feeling a little worried that Trunks had somehow gotten himself in trouble. “You in some sort of trouble?”

“No I—ugh…” Trunks covered his face in his hands, groaning loudly as he felt the claws of anxiety try to tear their way out of his stomach. “I—I think—“ he peeked through his fingers at a very awake Goten, his soft hazelnut hair and his concerned round eyes too much for him and he cracked.

Tunks felt the tears sting at his eyes and he bit down furiously on his bottom lip as his face turned blood-red.

“Dude…!? What’s wrong?!” Goten asked, now very concerned for his best friend.”You’re starting to freak me out!”

“I--I’m-- I mean I think--” Trunks stammered uncontrollably as a few of the dammed up tears broke free and rolled down his face. “I--I think I love you.”

I love you. There! He’d said it. Now everything was going to be better now, right?!

“Y-You what?” Goten stammered, sitting back on the bed a bit, eyebrows raised in surprised.

Wrong! Shit… now everything was worse!

“I-- I think I knew for a long time… I just didn’t know what I was feeling.” Trunks tried to continue but could only choke on a single sob. “Fuck, I’m sorry.” he used the sleeve of his shirt to wipe his eyes futilely. “Shit…” he choked, embarrassed he was crying and terrified because he’d just admitted to his best friend of almost 16 years that he loved him.

Goten sat in abject silence, watching as Trunks lost his composure. He was speechless, dumbfounded in fact… he had no idea what to do or say.

Goten’s silence only made Trunks’ suffering worse. Every anxious thought in his head screamed at him that he’d done something wrong… that he’d ruined everything.

With a strangled sounding noise Trunks removed himself from the futon and made for the door.

“Hey.” Goten called after him but got no answer. He jumped to his feet, stumbled a bit over the wadded blankets and pillows, then followed after Trunks before he could leave. “Hey!” he grasped Trunks’ wrist gently. “Dude… wait…”

Trunks halted where he stood, head down to hide the ugly sobbing mess he’d been reduced to out of shame.

“Just wait….” Goten sighed. Trunks sniffled loudly, as the tears rolling off his chin dripped onto the marble floor of the Gravity Room’s sleeping area. Goten sighed, his shoulders slumping forward it broke his heart to watch his best friend hurt like this and he wanted more than anything to understand.
“Hey… come on...don’t…” Goten sighed and pulled Trunks in for a tight hug, “It’s okay man… it’s ok!”

Trunks gripped the back of Goten’s shirt in his fists as he hugged him back. Goten held onto him tightly, mind still swimming with confusion.

“Truth be told-- I sort of already knew.” Goten said after a long silence between the two of them. He had waited until Trunks’ sobbing had quieted and his breathing regulated back to a normal pace. “You’ve been staring.”

Trunks could feel the heat rise in his face again as he was held by his best friend. He squeezed his eyes shut and gripped his shirt tighter. “Sorry…” he breathed, “That must have been so creepy.”

Goten laughed softly and shook his head. “Nah… it’s fine.” he was glad Trunks was at least talking to him. Maybe they could figure this out. “I think I also knew cause, I kinda… like you too.”

Trunks’s head jerked up. HIs forehead furrowed deep as he tried to read Goten’s expression. “Really?” He asked in disbelief. Goten only offered him a wide smile. The kind that made his eyes squint almost entirely closed and Trunks felt like he could cry again just from its sheer myrth.

“Yeah!” Goten replied before bonking his forehead against Trunks’ and leaving it there to rest. “I just didn’t know--”

“--what it was?” Trunks finished and Goten nodded. “Yeah, exactly…”

“Can-- we still be friends?” Trunks asked, the anxious question had been eating through his stomach.

“Best friends.” Goten answered back instantaneously.

Chapter Text

Love isn’t  like what you see in movies, Trunks figured that out almost instantly.

After he’d confessed his feelings for Goten they’d both simply gone back to sleep.

Love is exhausting! Thought Trunks as he slipped back in bed, his head aching from the outburst and strained tears.

When he woke up in the morning it was still dark, the skylight spattered with rain showed the dark skies above them had opened up and a storm was raging outside.
All was calm inside however. Both boys laying in a sleepy stupor on soft futons too lazy to move as the rain pounded on the roof of the chamber.

“Hey Trunks.” Goten said after a long silence.

“Yeah?” Trunks answered as he rolled his head to the side to look in Goten’s direction.

“You wanna train today?” He asked, eyes still gazing up at the skylight above them.

Trunks rolled his head back to look up as well, falling silent.

“No-- not really.” he admitted after a while.

“Me neither…”

The futon was like the gravity chamber, pulling Goten down into it and making it impossible for him to leave. “Mom says this sort of weather is good for staying inside and being lazy.” Trunks said with a small smirk as he tucked his arm under his head, “Of course-- dad says the opposite.” Trunks scoffed then shook his head.

“Your dad is--”

“--An asshole?”

“I was going to say intense .” Goten corrected, his cheeks flushing pink. “Does he like-- ever smile?”

“Sometimes.” Trunks responded, thinking over all the times he’d seen his father smile. There weren’t many, and they were almost always maniacal.

He had caught him smiling at Bulla once. It was when his mom was on a business trip and it was just the three of them. It was late, they were watching one of Bulla’s TV shows when she’d fallen asleep. Trunks had looked over just in time to see his father kiss her on the forehead and he could have sworn  he saw him smile.
Trunks wondered if he ever looked at him that way… he doubted it.  

Goten shivered a bit and sighed, jolting Trunks for his daydream. “You cold?” He asked, sitting upright.

“I mean… a little yeah… It’s ok tho.” Goten pulled at the comforter a bit in an attempt to get warmer.

“I’ll get us something hot, wait a sec.” Trunks reached for his phone and within a few moments one of the Capsule Corp personal service robots was entering with piping hot chocolates for the both of them.

“T H I S   S T O R M  W I L L   L A S T   F O R   Q U I T E   A   W H I L E   M A S T E R  T R U N K S.” the robot said awkwardly, “S H A L L   I   R A I S E  T H E   L I G H T S   T O  C O M P E N S A T E   F O R   L A C K   O F   S U N L I G H T?”

“No, that’s ok, thanks. That’s all Ratchet. You are dismissed” Trunks shook his head as the robot left the room through the small access hatch it had entered through. Turning back to his friend he handed the drink to Goten after he’d sat up.
“It’s not much but… it’s warm.”

“Are you kidding? This is great!” Goten exclaimed as he sipped gingerly at the hot liquid, trying not to scald himself. “I always forget all this is technically yours. ” Goten marveled as he looked up at the building around them. The building, the technology, the clothes, the food… they had everything.

“My grand-dad and mom work really hard to make sure Capsule Corp stays relevant… she says your dad really helped.”

“ My dad?” Goten asked with a curious arch to his eyebrow.

“Yeah-- she says once he started looking for the dragon balls too she discovered ways to use and develop technology in new ways she and my grand-dad never thought to before.”

“Wow, I never thought of it like that… your mom is really smart.”

“Yeah--” Trunks agreed, he idolized her. He may have wanted to be as strong as his dad, but deep down he also wanted to be as brilliant as Bulma. Who else was going to take over Capsule Corp when she was gone? Bulla?

Tipping the mug to his lips he gave it some thought. His sister was still pretty little but-- she was pretty smart for her age… and strong .

“You’re-- pretty smart too.” Goten added and Trunks felt his cheeks flush.

“Shut up.” Trunks said with a small laugh.

Goten looked distraught that his best friend would deny what, to him, was so obvious. “But you are, Trunks!” he insisted, setting his mug down in his lap. “You work really hard, you’re strong, and you get really good grades! I wish I was that smart… maybe then my mom wouldn’t yell at me so much.” He grumbled the last part into his mug

Trunks laughed, “You wanna talk about intense! ” he teased, he could think of nobody he feared more than Chichi. He’d been on the bad side of Chichi a few times when he’d help Goten sneak out to train and he would rather not have to deal with that again ever. “Your mom--”

“--hey, leave her out of this.” Goten said suddenly defensive. Trunks felt a lump grow instantly in his throat as he looked over at Goten who had gone red in the face. “She’s had to do so much by herself--”

“Oh! No no no, Goten… I didn’t mean… I’m sorry!” Trunks set a hand on Goten’s shoulder. “I’m sorry.”

Goten closed his eyes, “It’s okay… I’m sorry I got mad. Mom’s just always having to deal with stuff-- I know she’s intense but she really is just looking out for me and dad… and Gohan.” he finished his cocoa and set the mug down beside Trunks’. “She’s a good mom.”

“Yeah-- I can see that.” Trunks admitted with a smile as he watched Goten’s reaction. “I’m sorry I said anything... “

Goten nodded then rubbed his nose with the back of his hand a bit before he let out a loud single laugh. “She can be scary sometimes though.”
Trunks only nodded in agreement, Chichi could absolutely be terrifying.

Goten flopped onto his back against the futon mattress with a loud sigh, “I wish we could just do this all the time.” he admitted and Trunks looked over with renewed curiosity.

“Really?”

“I mean-- yeah! We hang out all the time but we don’t really talk … it’s-- it’s cool.” Goten shrugged

“Yeah.” Trunks agreed, “It is cool…” He leaned down again, taking up the space beside Goten.

They lay side by side, shoulders pressed together as they looked up and out the skylight again.

All was quiet except for the constant rain and the steady, inhale and exhale of both boys.

“Goten?”

“Yeah?”

“Can I kiss you?”

Chapter Text

Trunks waited for what felt like ages for Goten to respond. He was too afraid to look over at him, worried that he’d pressed his luck a bit too far.
He heard Goten take a deep breath in through his nose before his weight shifted and Trunks was forced to look. 

When Trunks did turn his head he saw Goten now laying on his side, his head resting on his folded arm. “Trunks…” Goten said quietly, the other young man looking up at him through a curtain of his lavender hair. 

“--yeah?” Trunks asked, voice mostly breath. 

Goten didn’t answer, instead he leaned down and brushed his lips gently against Trunks’. 

It was different than Trunks had expected. When he had seen people kissing on TV it always looked intense, dramatic, and there was always music playing. Goten’s lips were soft, a little wet, and he found himself tilting his head to press back into them. 

This kiss was soft, deliberate, and incredibly special-- and it scared him. 

When Trunks pulled away with a sharp inhale through his nose Goten snapped back in fear that he’d done something wrong.

“Sorry!” Goten blurted, hand going to his mouth.  

Trunks stared up at his best friend, breathlessly trying to search for the right words to calm Goten’s fears. When no words came to him he simply shook his head, took Goten firmly by the arm, and pulled him back down beside him. 

“Shut up.” Trunks rasped before he leaned in and kissed him again. 

Lips part, a flick of the tongue, a hesitation then acceptance. 

This kiss was deeper, hungry , and both young found themselves wrapped in each other’s arms. 

Goten held a fistful of Trunks’ hair while Trunks gripped the back of Goten’s shirt. 

The rain beat against the skylight, thunder cracking as lightning streaked across the sky.

The passage of time is tricky when you’re with someone you love. Time seemed to steamroll ahead while the two of them seemed blissfully unaware. 

They lay side by side, shoulder to shoulder, again-- panting softly as they finally allowed themselves a chance to breathe. 

“Maybe---” Trunks said through deliberate breaths. “--Maybe we should take this slow.” 

Goten nodded, it was a wise decision. After all, when he’d hit puberty his mom had told him that he’d start having these feelings-- that it was smart to wait until you were old enough to understand them fully before you acted on them.

“Do we tell anybody?” Goten asked, looking over at Trunks, suddenly worried. 

“Do you want to?” Trunks asked in response, wondering if Goten was comfortable with people knowing just yet. 

“I mean…” Goten began as he caught his breath. “...Gohan told everybody when he started dating Videl.” 

“Do you-- want to date me? ” Trunks pressed further, wondering if Goten was alluding to something or not. 

Goten only laughed, which caused Trunks to go a bit red in the face. 

“Ah, don’t look like that.” Goten laughed again, “I just think it’s funny cause-- we’ve spent almost every day together since we were kids!” he stifled his laughter, though it was still clearly in his voice. “Can we just-- stay the way we are now? I don’t have to go on dates to know I like you.”  

“So-- you wanna-- be boyfriends?” Trunks raised a flirtatious eyebrow at Goten who only rolled his eyes and punched him in the shoulder. 

“Aren’t we already?” Goten smirked. 

“Yeah--- I guess we are.” Trunks pulled him in for another kiss.