Disclaimer: I do not own DragonBall Z or any of its characters.

Author's Notes: This is a rewrite of an old Trunks/Goten story of mine. I hope you enjoy it and if you are interested in reading the original you can find it at my website under the title "High School Desires"

Crush

By: Nova Starlight

1st Period: I Wish I Could Be As Invisible As You Make Me Feel…

It was the end of another long and boring day at school and Goten sat at his desk slowly waiting for the hands of the clock to move those last precious centimeters and release him. This was the worst part of the day, trapped in his chair, restless and waiting for the freedom outside of this stuffy classroom. After the school bell chimed his time was most often spent with his best friend Trunks. They would work on homework, have dinner, at each other's houses, and were for the most part inseparable. The only thing that ever effected this routine was if Trunks had a girlfriend; which at the moment, he did.

When Trunks had a girlfriend, Goten could not help but feel invisible. He would be at home alone…working on his homework alone…and wondering where Trunks was, and what he was doing at that moment. Thankfully for him, Trunks's relationships never lasted long and were always ended by Trunks himself. This meant that he never had to spend any of his time with his friend consoling him over some girl; when it was over for Trunks, it was over, and the girl was never a topic of conversation. Goten knew he should chastise him for his ruthlessness, but he never had the heart.

He looked over at Trunks, sitting at his own desk on the other side of the room. He was in the row closest to the window and seemed to be staring out at the cloudy sky, paying no attention to the clock on the wall. He wondered what Trunks was thinking about as he stared out the window. He could not stop himself from considering if he were thinking about his current girlfriend, Kyoko. Trunks had been dating Kyoko for almost a month now, which meant either that he would be bored with her soon or that she was the one who had finally managed to catch him for good.

He smiled derisively to himself as he thought about it. Trunks had dated most of the attractive girls in the school at one point or another and none of them had made it more than a month. You would think a reputation like that would make him someone that all the girls would stay away from, but it seemed to have the exact opposite effect. The girls saw him as a challenge, wanting to be the one he would fall in love with. This led to some strange reactions when they broke up, ranging from inconsolable tears to bitter anger that they had not been able to conquer him.

When the bell finally rang, Goten reached his arms above his head and stretched as the rest of his classmates scrambled to grab their books and papers. As he stood, he noticed that Trunks was standing beside the door and was watching him as he gathered his things. When he approached him, he simply smiled and started to walk past him into the hallway, but Trunks stopped him with a hand on his arm. "Wait for me, we'll work on homework at my house."

It was on the tip of his tongue to ask about Kyoko, to ask if he had already dumped her but instead he just walked down the hall to his locker. As he grabbed his bag and the books he would need for that evening's work he was excited. He had barely spent any time with Trunks in the last few weeks and to be honest he had begun to worry himself that Trunks might have been serious about this particular girl. As he finished and put the lock back on his locker he decided to go looking for Trunks. As he approached he could see Trunks and Kyoko standing there talking. "Damn," he thought to himself. "Trunks must be breaking up with her right now." He knew he should walk away and give them some privacy but he felt as if his feet were rooted to the ground.

He watched as Kyoko moved forward to kiss Trunks and he quickly moved his head to the side to avoid it. "I need to talk to you," he said sternly. She looked surprised at first and then her face become a portrait of knowing sadness. His tone of voice did not allow for discussion or argument as he continued, "I want to break up." Then he turned away from her and opened his locker to gather his books. At that moment he seemed to finally sense that Goten was standing there and his gaze rose to look him in the eyes. Goten could not describe the strange look on his face; he was smiling, it seemed almost sadistic.

When Trunks turned back, he seemed surprised that she was still standing there. There was the evidence of single tear that traced down her cheek, that triggered a response of pity and what seemed to be a look of disgust from Trunks. However, Goten's pity for her did not last long. As Trunks faced her she reared back her hand and slapped Trunks with all of her might. It was a slap he could have easily avoided, but he allowed it to connect and then sighed as she ran down the hallway. Goten saw that Trunks was looking at him again and his head fell. He felt embarrassed for having been witness to all of this, but Trunks seemed ignorant of his discomfort.

At Capsule Corp. Trunks attitude was drastically different. He had a gentle smile on his face as he rushed through the door kicking off his shoes and pulling Goten up the stairs to his room. Goten felt at ease and it never ceased to amaze him how quickly Kyoko and everyone else was forgotten when he was with Trunks. When they made it into Trunks's bedroom he sat down on the bed and began to pull books from his bag. Trunks sat down beside him on the bed and groaned, "Oh come on Goten, we just got out of school, its too early to start on homework."

This relaxed atmosphere made Goten feel bolder, more playful, the same way they had been as kids. He smiled and tackled Trunks back onto the bed. "Fine," he said. "What do you want to do?" His smile faltered a little as he realized just how husky his voice had become as he had asked that question. "Oh shit," he thought to himself. "Had Trunks noticed?" He quickly sought to defuse the tension by grabbing a nearby pillow and playfully hitting Trunks with it. Trunks smiled up at him and brought his arm up between them and used it to flip Goten back onto the bed. As Trunks then pinned him down to the bed, Goten could feel his heart pounding in his ears. "Oh, God, he could begin to feel the stirring in his body and tried to fight it. "Damn, he needed to relax, that last thing he needed was for Trunks to notice his reaction." Though he was embarrassed and excited by his body's response, his eyes met Trunks and stayed there; unable to look away.

After what seemed like an hour of silence but was just a matter of seconds, Trunks laughed and moved off of him. "Come on, I guess we better get this homework out of the way before my Mom comes up here and rips us a new one." Goten was a little relived that Trunks had not seemed to notice the tension and discomfort. They laid beside each other on their stomachs and worked on their homework in silence. The next few hours were torture for Goten and it was next to impossible to concentrate because as they laid there beside each other their thighs and shoulders would occasionally brush up against each other. He found that every time it happened, it felt like a little shock was running through his body.

He actually felt a little relieved when Bulma came up and sent him home. He needed some air and a moment to think. He took to the skies and could not stop thinking back on the events of the day. Though there had been nothing particularly out of the ordinary that had happened that day, he still felt a little uneasy. "Its probably just from seeing Trunks dump his girlfriend like that," he tried to tell himself. As Trunks's friend he always seemed to get caught up in his relationships; the girls would always come to him and ask him what they had done wrong. One time there had even been a girl that had pursued Goten in an effort to make Trunks jealous. Of course, it had not worked because Goten had absolutely no interest in her, or any other girl for that matter. For as long as he could remember, he had been in love with Trunks, and for as long as he could remember he had been to scared to ever let him know.

He sighed and mused to himself, how long would he be able to keep this up. How long would he be able to stay close to Trunks and handle the pain of it never being enough? He and Trunks were close now, because they were in high school but what would happen next year when it was time for Trunks to go off to college? Goten knew better than anybody that he was not really college material and even if he made it in, how would he afford it? The whole thing was just pointless, Trunks's life was all planned out for him; prestigious school, run Capsule Corp., continue the Briefs legacy. Every step along that road would force them farther and farther apart. Maybe, he should just start distancing himself now, maybe not.

He barely noticed as he nearly flew into a mountainside, and he barely managed to avoid it in time. He could not stop the nervous laugh that bubbled up his throat. Damn, thinking like this while flying was going to get him killed. He tried to put it all out of his mind as he continued home and when he landed he could hear the playful bickering from both his house and his brother's. He smiled and thought to himself, "I need to cheer up, even if Trunks and I grow apart I have my family right?"

Once in his room, he collapsed onto his bed and yawned. He could not believe how tired he was, maybe his brain was just exhausted from over thinking and over examining everything when it came to Trunks. He turned onto his side and pulled one of his pillows under his head. When he opened his eyes and looked at the bedside table, his gaze fell on a framed picture of himself and Trunks. It had been taken at the beach the previous summer and it was one of his favorite pictures.

In the photo, you could see that his eyes were not focused ahead but instead were staring over at Trunks. Trunks was smiling brightly and the sunglasses perched on his perfect nose had slipped so that you could see his bright blue eyes over the rims. His arm had been wrapped around Goten and though he had felt awkward at the time, he wished now he could have relaxed and enjoyed that moment of closeness while it lasted. Of course, his focus traveled to the one part of the picture that he despised, the group of girls that you could see in the background. Each of the girls were wearing skimpy bikinis and trying to catch Trunks's attention all day, they had harassed the pair almost endlessly. By the time the sun was beginning to set and he was ready to tell them off Trunks had invited two of them to have dinner with them.

It was interesting to think back on that evening now. It was the first time he had truly admitted to himself that he was in love with Trunks. The girl who ended up being stuck with him, spent the whole time staring at Trunks but he was not jealous, because he could scarcely look away himself. As the pairs had split up, the girl he had been talking with excused herself and Goten had been left there sitting alone on the beach. He had watched the waves for what had seemed like hours before deciding to go and find Trunks. He walked along the beach until he saw Trunks and that girl, lying in the sand, underneath the moonlight. He could have interrupted them, but he was frozen for a moment.

Finally, he seemed to realize that he was simply standing there dumbfounded and turned to leave. He went back to where Trunks had parked his mom's car and sat there on the hood. It was the first time since he was a child that he had cried. It was at that exact moment that he realized that his attachment to Trunks was not normal friendship, even lifelong friends. He was so jealous of the girl in his arms that he could not see straight, could not think rationally. Plain and simple, he had fallen in love with his best friend. As the memories flooded back he could feel the familiar stinging of hot tears in his eyes.

He guessed it was useless to think that he could put Trunks out of his mind, so easily. He contemplated what Trunks's reaction would be if he told him any of this, or all of it, would he be repulsed? flattered? He tried to tell himself that it was pointless to even consider it. Trunks like girls, lots of girls. He seemed to have a new one chasing after him at all times, there was absolutely no way that he would ever return Goten's feelings. Despite knowing all of this, Goten also could not deny that if he kept this up he was going to explode and confess without intending to confess. Maybe, there was something he could do to alleviate all of this pent up tension.

…

The next morning he was waiting for Trunks by his locker. He was a nervous wreck but he knew it was too late to back out now. He had gotten up early that morning and rummaged through everything he owned. He had decided that he wanted Trunks to come to school and see him standing there, looking hot. He was wearing a simple white t-shirt but it was form fitting and complimented the faded blue jeans he had picked out to wear. He had even persuaded his mother to cut his hair and he could only hope for a favorable reaction. He sighed and leaned back against the wall as he began to hear the voices of other students coming down the hallway. He was so lost in thoughts that he did not even noticed Trunks approaching him until he was only a few feet away.

"Hey Goten," he had called out. His voice sounded a little strange but he seemed to be in his usual good mood. Goten perked up quickly and moved away from the wall. He started to raise his hand and wave back, but he stopped himself. The object of this little exercise was to seem cool and sexy, not over eager and desperate. He simply smiled softly and waited for Trunks to reach him. As he waited, he took in what Trunks was wearing that day. He had on a black tank top and denim jacket over a pair of black pants. It was a look he had started after seeing pictures of a future version of himself in some of his mom's photo albums.

Goten tried for nonchalance as he asked, "What's up?" but his voice came out husky.

Trunks did not seem to even notice and simply replied, "Nothing, just wanted to know if you were free today after school?"

"You have something in mind?" Goten asked, still not able to control the breathy quality that had come to his voice.

"Yeah, I was thinking maybe we should do a little training; I feel pretty rusty."

"Damn," Goten thought to himself. "Going out into the middle of nowhere and getting all worked up in a physical fight with the object of my pubescent desires. Oh, this was not a good idea." He hesitated for a moment and wondered what excuse he could give to get out of this one. Trunks had stopped walking and stood there waiting for his response.

Goten was saved from answering when another classmate named Ryoki approached them. "Hey, Goten can I speak to you for a second."

He knew what Ryoki wanted to speak with him about, because he had been asking since the beginning of high school. Ryoki was the captain of the soccer team and after seeing Goten playing soccer in P.E. had been after him to join the team. Normally, he would quickly make some excuse to avoid him, but for the moment Trunks was the bigger threat. "Yeah, sure," he replied. Then without saying anything to Trunks, followed Ryoki down the hallway. He had been too scared to turn around and look back, but if he had he would have seen the look of complete shock on Trunks's face.

…

Ryoki led Goten to the student council office and motioned for him to have a seat. "I must admit, I am surprised that you came here with me," he began. "You have avoided me pretty successfully for two years now."

"Well, maybe I am giving you one last chance to plead your case, not that it is going to work," he snapped back. He was surprised himself at the bitterness that came into his voice.

Ryoki seemed a little caught off guard by it as well and his tone softened as he continued, "I guess it just seems a little odd to me that you are not involved in any school sports, clubs, or activities; even though I can tell that you are athletic. I mean your friend that Briefs guy, I guess he has girls to keep him occupied , but what do you do with your free time?"

He did not seem to be trying to insult him, but Goten barely held back his urge to punch this guy in the face. Who did he think he was casting judgments on him and on Trunks.

"What business is it of yours?" he demanded.

"I apologize," he insisted. "I do not want you to get defensive. I just meant that maybe it might be good for you to have something else to focus on. Besides, extracurricular activities look good on college applications."

Goten flashed him a sarcastic smile and asked, "So, what if I told you I decided to join the art club then?"

Ryoki was not mad, he simply laughed and said, "Well, then I want your first original."

Goten could not help but smile and laugh at the whole situation. Ryoki seemed to be genuinely concerned. He had always considered whether he should work to put some distance between himself and Trunks, maybe this was a way he could do it. If he had practices and games, he would not be available for Trunks at his beck and call. He looked up at Ryoki and asked, "So, when is practice?"

To Be Continued...

Author's Notes: Just wanted to point out, in case anyone is curious, all the chapter titles for this work are going to be lines from Fall Out Boy songs. Hope everyone will review and leave feedback, its been nearly four years since I wrote a Trunks & Goten story and I am excited to get the response.