Trunks didn't know why he agreed to this. Lapis was currently in his room, shifting through his CD case.

"How did this happen again? Oh yeah, I stupidly agreed to tutor Lapis. What was I thinking?"

It was at the end their shared chemistry class when Lapis came up to him. As the other students began leaving, Trunks felt someone tap him on the shoulder. He was surprised to find Lapis looking at him. He had a sheepish look on his face and was twirling a strand of hair with his other hand. Trunks glanced at his deft fingers.

"Hey Trunks? I need to talk to you."

Trunks raised an eyebrow. "I'm not falling for another one of your pranks, Lapis."

Lapis gave him a small laugh and pulled the hair strands behind his right ear. He was wearing red studs today. "Don't worry, I'm not gonna pester you. I just- Well I was wondering if you could help me out."

Trunks doubted that Lapis wasn't up to something. It was unusual for Lapis and Trunks to be congenial with each other. Everyone in the school saw them as enemies just because their parents were the best scientists in the world, so there was an unspoken rivalry between them ever since the beginning of high school. Lapis would jeer at him and Trunks would send him glares. That was their weekly ritual. Maybe Lapis was feeling bored and cooked up a new scheme for today.

Trunks scoffed. "That's surprising. Are you actually admitting to being bad at something, Lapis?"

Lapis rolled his eyes. "Listen, I'm trying to call a truce here. Besides, everyone is gone, so you can stop pretending to hate me."

Trunks' eyes widened. "What? But I thought… we hated each other equally?"

They stared at each other with confused looks for a moment before Lapis cut the silence with a chuckle.

"Come on Trunks, we never had a real reason to hate each other and you know it. This dumb rivalry schtick is just an act."

Trunks gaped at him. "I mean, I wasn't really acting. I kind of just projected my disgust of Gero onto Lapis and assumed he was a bad person, too. But If I had been wrong… then Lapis is right. This is dumb."

"O-okay? I guess we can call a truce. But what is it that you wanted, anyway?"

Lapis smiled at his compliance. "Well, it's no secret that you're the smartest guy in class- and if I don't raise my own grades up I'm dead so, I was wondering…" Lapis crossed his arms and a bashful look crossed his face. "Um, do you think you could tutor me? I promise I'll make it up to you."

It took a while for Trunks to process what he said, especially when he noticed how Lapis' cheeks seemed flushed today.

He shook his head and snapped out of it. "Wait a second. You want me to tutor you? I've never really done that before. And don't you hate, um, learning in general?"

"Hey now. I'm not asking you to make into some genius. I was thinking we could just work on stuff together and you can tell me when I mess up. Plus, in the meantime, we can decide if we hate each other for real." Lapis gave him a sheepish grin. "Wouldn't it be funny if it turned out we could be friends?"

"I guess you have a point," agreed Trunks.

He rubbed his chin in thought. "I didn't know Lapis could be so sincere. If this is a ruse, it would probably be his cruelest joke yet. Gaining my trust so I'd let my guard down for something diabolical." His eyes trailed off as he listed the worst outcomes of getting close to Lapis. "Upside is, Lapis turns out to be a decent guy. Is it worth it?"

He gazed back at Lapis. He looked nervous, like he cared about how this would turn out. Lapis always looked confident and cheeky. If he was acting, he would get a trophy for an honest performance. Trunks did have it in him to say no and not feel guilty, but the potential of not keeping eyes on the back of his head daily would be nice.

Trunks sighed in defeat. "I guess I would be a good influence on you, huh? Ok," he shrugged, "I give in. What times do you want me to help you?"

Seeing the passing looks of shock and relief on Lapis, Trunks couldn't help but smile.

So, here they were, in Trunks' room on a Friday afternoon. Lapis arrived in his own car as to be "sneaky" about their session. Trunks' mother, Bulma, was surprised to see him but welcoming nonetheless. She brought them tea and said she was happy to see Trunks being such a good classmate. He felt embarrassed and quickly excused themselves to his room. Now he wishes they had chosen literally any other room. Lapis had no problem touching all his things before he sat on his bed with a haul of comics.

Lapis flipped through them, amused. "You actually read these? Should've taken you for a closet geek."

Trunks pinched his brow. "Yeah, when I was a kid. Hey why couldn't we meet at your house again?"

Lapis groaned in response. "Because, if my warden saw us together I'd be toast. He hates your family's guts and would toss you out in a heartbeat, and as much as I'd like to piss him off, I need your smarts to get me through this sucky class."

"Chemistry isn't- it doesn't suck that bad." Trunks thought about what he said. "But… Hey, why did you call your dad a warden?"

Lapis stopped flipping pages and stared at page with a frown. "He's not my dad. My sister and I were adopted." He sighed and tossed the comic beside him. "We should start on the homework."

While Trunks was relieved that Lapis became focused, he still felt curious about his situation at home. Dr. Gero wasn't the most ethical scientist, and likely not the best father, either.

Lapis glanced at him nervously. "Don't worry about it, at least my adopted mom is nice. Though I can't bring my own friends over without them hitting on her."

Trunks remembered seeing her once. She looked younger than Gero, although still tall and mature. He recalled how she had helped herself to a lot of desert at that awards ceremony while his mother sighed and lamented over her impossible figure with such a diet.

"She does seem nice. My mom can be a little jealous of her, but I know she admires her work."

Lapis sighed. "No more parent talk." He grabbed a pencil and notebook from his backpack and pushed himself against the bedframe. "What page are we supposed to read, anyway?"

"Please, help yourself to my bed why don't you." Trunks grabbed the textbook on his desk. "At least take your shoes off first, jeez."

While Trunks gave him a boring speech over elements, Lapis wondered how there always seemed to be at least two strands of hair in his face at any moment. He had never spent this long being so close to Trunks, either. Whenever he was caught staring at school, he would focus on those deep blue eyes and make a crude comment or gesture. Anytime he got up in his face- it was always after gym- he'd get a waft of his fresh shampoo and remaining sweat. It'd be hard to concentrate on teasing him that close, so he'd make short mocks while holding onto his eyes like an anchor.

"Does he actually like this stuff? He's such a dork." Lapis smiled and watched Trunks twirl his pen. His eyes trailed to his callous hand and to his biceps flexing with every movement. Lapis bit his lip. "GOD Such a fucking… god damn dork."

He couldn't believe Trunks agreed to this, although this whole scheme had been his sister's idea. Her ideas were usually better than his, after all. She knew Lapis needed help in class, and she was tired of his bullshit charade, so what better way to mend grades and hearts than this.

"Lazuli, when I get home I am going to give you like... half my weed. At the most."

"Lapis?"

Lapis shot up and realized he had lowered his eyes. "Oh sorry, I started to doze off. How can you get any of this?"

Trunks sighed. "So you didn't hear anything I said? Look, you don't have to memorize all the names, just the properties, okay?"

Lapis nodded. "Right, only there's like, fifty elements."

"A hundred and eighteen."

"What the fuck?"

"Only ninety-four of them occur on Earth, though. So we only have to know those."

Lapis shook his head. "Did your mom put a chart over your crib when you were a baby? You're literally the only person in class who gets this."

"Probably. To be honest, I'm not that great at every subject. I guess I just picked things up growing around scientists and professors."

"Maybe I was adopted too late, then, because this is like a whole other language to me."

"Huh. If it's that bad, then you really do need my help." Trunks smirked at him. "You're pretty smart, though. You realized it would be better to suck up to me than be a pest."

Lapis laughed, "Hey, let's get one thing straight, I don't suck up to anyone."

If his sister were here, she'd no doubt contradict him with an annoying remark. "'More like, there's only one thing you'd consider sucking…' Or say, 'you're not,' after hearing the word 'straight.' Damn it. She's hilarious."

Trunks chuckled at him, "Okay, okay." He inched closer and gestured at the page. If Lapis were to bend down just a little their foreheads would be touching. "Here, you can look my side notes to get the gist of the chapter and when you're done we can go over the whole thing."

Lapis nodded. "K…" His gaze paused on Trunks' face before falling to the page in front of him. He was thankful that Trunks pulled away to grab his tea. Since he wasn't teasing him he was able to see his features up close for once. Seeing those lips head on was way too tempting. Lapis pulled the book onto his lap as he felt warmth envelop him.

He just had to fall hopelessly in love with his designated rival. Lapis would have loved to have someone to pick on up till graduation. If only they weren't the most goddamn attractive person in the entire school.

As Lapis read through the notes, Trunks stared at his tea.

"Earlier… wasn't Lapis looking at me kinda…?" He peeked over at him. Lapis had a soft redness in his cheeks. "I'm sure it's nothing…"

Trunks searched through his memories and realized that Lapis has never really dated anyone. Only flirted and lead girls on, including girls Trunks would be dating at the time. Lapis would always give them the cold shoulder once they started asking more of him. Trunks thought it was his way off saying that he was better than him. That he could have anyone he wanted. But then, why not date any of them?

Trunks glimpsed at Lapis' hair falling over his face. "Why do I care who he's dating anyways?"

When they finished their assignment, Lapis jumped off Trunks' bed and head over to his videogame collection.

"Now that we're done with that, next teamwork exercise is Mario Kart." Lapis turned and waved the infamous game in his hands.

Trunks stretched and sighed. "Of course. I knew you were after Mario Kart all along."

Lapis smiled in the not-innocent innocent way possible. "I can't help wanting to be better than you at something."

Trunks laughed. "There's that evil I've been waiting for."

When he set up the game they moved to the couch and rekindled their rivalry through gaming. Trunks raced mostly as Link while Lapis switched constantly between Waluigi and Luigi. Their races became so intense that their shoulders bumped constantly on the turns. Whenever Lapis' winning streak was broken he switched to King Boo.

"Why King Boo?" asked Trunks.

Lapis turned to face him and with a straight look said, "Psychological warfare."

"Huh?"

"The enemy is too distracted by his ahego face to focus on the road."

"WHAT?!"

Trunks collapsed to the ground and realized he couldn't breathe because he was laughing too hard. Lapis clutched his stomach and was suffering as well.

"Wha-what the hell? Gross!"

"Come on, there's rule 34 of him and you know it."

"What! How do you know what that is?"

"How do you?"

The two laughed helplessly until a knock was heard at the door. When it opened they saw Trunks' mother beaming at them.

She giggled when she spotted Trunks on the ground. "Having fun in here you two?"

Trunks calmed himself down and sat up. They were having fun, weren't they? Who would've thought.

"Yeah, did you need something, mom?"

"Well, I just wondering if Lapis would be joining us for dinner?"

Lapis looked up. "Dinner? I don't know… is it really ok?"

Bulma placed her hands on her hips. "Well of course! What kind of hosts would we be if we didn't keep our guest's needs full? And you're so thin- I insist! A boy your age needs to be well fed."

Lapis shifted into a look of awkwardness. Trunks glimpsed between them and said, "Come on mom, he looks fine to me. I mean, physically…"

Lapis averted his gaze and fiddled with his shirt hemming. "I guess I could eat."

Bulma clapped her hands. "Great! Dinner will-"

"Actually," Trunks interjected, "I was thinking we could just order a pizza?"

"Oh? I see how it is. I guess it would be awkward to have dinner with your mother on the first date, right?"

Trunks suddenly felt extremely hot. "WHA- Huh?" He stood up. "WE- we aren't..." He shot at glance at Lapis, who suddenly turned red. Trunks imagined he looked the same.

Bulma chuckled and turned around to leave. She sent them a wink a said, "I'm just kidding you two! Jeez, boys are so sensitive!"

When the door shut, Trunks and Lapis fell into silence. Trunks scratched the back of his head and glanced at him sheepishly.

"So um… do you like pizza?"

Lapis smiled nervously. "Do I look like a moron? Of course- who doesn't like pizza?"

Trunks smiled back and reached for his phone. Thank goodness Lapis was still annoying.

When the pizza arrived, the two got comfortable on the couch as a movie played on the tv. Lapis tried to focus on the screen instead of his foot resting against Trunks' leg. He wondered how he'd react if he lifted his lower legs and rested across his lap. And then his forelegs- "Nope that would just be sitting in his lap." Lapis couldn't help himself. The time he saw Trunks he was in denial of his feelings for a whole semester. Then he saw Trunks' bare chest in the locker room and has been fantasizing ever since. "Why the hell did his muscles have to be so chiseled and glistening from sweat god dam it?!"

Lapis' eyes trailed down Trunks' arms again but then noticed his watch. Suddenly, he exclaimed and jumped off the couch. "Shit! It's that late already?"

Trunks looked at the time. "Oh yeah, wow. Good morning, I guess."

Lapis grabbed his things and shoved them into his bag. "I don't really care for curfews, but no one really knows I came over. Maybe I should just skip town and change my name."

Trunks got up. "Hey that's a bit too drastic." He shuffled over and helped Lapis pack. "If your life is ever in danger, you could just hide here."

Lapis laughed sarcastically. "Does that mean you trust me now?"

Trunks smiled hopefully. "I guess. I, um, I had fun spending time with you. And we aren't exactly acquaintances, so I guess that makes us… friends?"

"Disgusting. The very word."

They shared a laugh and Lapis felt lighter, like he was made of air. Trunks handed him his pencil and their fingers lingered when they touched.

Lapis looked away and zipped up his bag. "So, do you wanna shock the school by walking in on Monday with our arms linked like best friends?"

"Ha! That would break the internet. Maybe we could make it subtler."

"Good, so I can still flip you the bird in the halls?"

"I can't picture it any other way."

A/N

/This was meant to be a one-shot but it looks like I might have to add a bit more chapters. I'm usually bad at slow burns so I'm surprised to even write this much damn/