Cover image title: Familia Briefs, Artist: salvamakoto; DeviantArt
She bounced over to the front door giddily, huge smile barely suppressed. Bubbling with anticipation, she opened it.
"Oh," she stated flatly, disappointment clear. "Hey Goten."
"Ouch," he teased. "Don't look so happy to see me, Bulla." He was dressed in a dark suit, with the top button of his dress shirt left open, hair slick with product and smoothly pushed back. Evidently, he had plans.
Goten was already looking past her when she replied sheepishly. "Sorry." Her expression warmed. "I thought you were someone else." As he stepped past her and walked toward the kitchen, Bulla closed the door and said over her shoulder, "Trunks is in the shower, you can wait upstairs if you like."
"Sure," he responded as he headed up the stairs towards the Briefs' bedrooms.
"Who. Was. That?!" a nearby voice exclaimed.
"Just Goten," Bulla responded casually.
"Just Goten?" The voice grew louder as her excitement built. "I'm sorry, did we see the same person a moment ago? He's a freakin' stud!"
"Calm down, Madison," Bulla sighed, gazing upon her friend as she returned to the living area. "And can you keep your voice down? He's got pretty sharp hearing. The last thing he needs is more of an ego boost, trust me."
Bulla had to remind herself that Madison's candor was one of the reasons she considered her so dear in the first place. Too bad Pan couldn't join us, she considered remorsefully. In typical Pan fashion, she had decided on joining her father and Piccolo in some intergalactic travel at the last minute. Bulma was hoping to start negotiations with non-hostile alien societies for resource trading and Gohan was head of research and development. Vegeta was dragged along too as extra muscle in case things got a bit hairy.
"So who is this guy?" Madison asked at a more reasonable volume, blonde curly hair bouncing across her shoulders as she readjusted in her seat. "I can't believe you've never mentioned him before. You holding out on me Bulla?"
The aforemention heiress snorted as she drank the last of the beer she'd been nursing for the past half an hour. "Maddie!" she laughed. "It's nothing like that. Our families are close friends, and he and Trunks grew up together." She paused for a moment. "Now that you mention it, he hasn't been here in a while. He used to come around like every day. I guess he has other ways of spending his time now."
"Yeah, I bet," the blonde replied with a smirk.
Bulla threw a cushion at her friend, changing the subject. "I'm gonna grab another beer. Do you want one?"
"Sure. I want to loosen up a little before the guys get here."
"My thoughts exactly," Bulla murmured to herself as she headed through the living room archway and into the kitchen.
She squatted down to reach the bottom shelf of the refrigerator, lost in thought as she imagined all the ways the evening could go, only to have a deep voice catch her off guard.
"Wanna grab one for me while you're down there?"
"Oh my god!" She jumped back in surprise, noting that Goten had returned and was now was leaning against the closed half of the fridge. "What are you doing, creeping around like that that."
"Creeping around?" He raised an eyebrow. "Even a human would have heard me coming down the stairs. A human definitely would have noticed someone standing a foot away from them."
She rolled her eyes and handed Goten a coke.
"Nice try, Bulla," he chided. "You know what I meant."
She pulled her brows together, pretending to look confused.
"C'mon, princess. I can smell it on your breath."
Sheepishly, she pulled out a beer and handed it to the older hybrid. After popping the cap with his hand, he passed it back to her. Surprised, she thanked him quietly and passed him another for himself.
Both sipped from their bottles, quiet for a moment. Bulla was the first to break the silence. "Can you not tell Trunks about this? He's been pretty weird lately, especially since my parents have been away."
Still leaning with his back against the fridge, Goten rolled his head along the door to face her. "Yeah? Weird how."
"Oh you know, the classic overprotective brother..." she trailed off. "I'd rather not have another thing to argue about."
"Yeah, alright," he shrugged, returning the bottle to his mouth.
Mimicking Goten, Bulla leaned against the kitchen bench opposite the refrigerator, unsure what to say next.
"Earlier, when I came in here," he began. "You really didn't sense me?"
Here we go, she thought to herself. She'd heard enough about fighter's instincts and her Saiyan potential growing up, and she wasn't really in the mood to be shamed for her lack of ability right now, especially by someone who wasn't even family.
"Nope," she stated plainly.
"Seriously? How has Vegeta let you go on this long without such an essential life-skill?"
Bulla took a sip from her bottle. "I was never really into fighting the way you guys and Pan were when I was a kid. You know that."
"You're still a kid," he ribbed, grinning as he watched for her reaction.
She ignored his quip, opting to change the subject instead. "So big plans for you boys tonight?"
"Not really," Goten shrugged. "Trunks and I haven't caught up in a while, so I figured it's about time we have a bit of fun."
She decided not to ask any more questions. The fewer details she had about her brother's wilder side the better.
"What about you, Bulla?" He nodded at her outfit. "You look like you've got some plans yourself."
The teenager looked down at her own ensemble: a black tank top with a sheer black blouse over it, both of which were tucked into a red leather mini skirt. "Maddie and I are gonna have a few friends over, but that's pretty much it," she answered, tucking her long loose hair behind her ear. She cast a glance at her reflection in the refrigerator. Makeup's still behaving itself.
"Maddie's the one in the living room, right?" he grinned, running his fingers through his hair. "I heard her call me a stud."
Bulla burst out laughing suddenly, finally beginning to feel the effects of the alcohol loosening her up. "Don't worry Goten, she'd change her mind pretty quickly if she met you."
He chuckled her little jab before Bulla suddenly jumped up from her spot against the bench top. "Oh shit, I came in here to get us drinks and totally forgot. She must be wondering what's taking me so long."
After grabbing another beer from the fridge, she quickly skipped back through the archway to rejoin her friend, leaving Goten alone on a stool at the kitchen bench.
"Sorry about the hold up! Goten caught me sneaking drinks so I had to do some damage control."
Madison was sitting on one of the two-seater couches near the TV, feet up and folded beside her, smiling at her phone screen. "That's cool, I got kinda distracted anyway." Bulla passed her friend the bottle as she headed towards her own spot: a single nearby armchair.
"So, uh, when are these guys meant to show up?" the blonde asked, taking a sip.
"He said they'd be here around about this time," Bulla replied, glancing around the room nervously. "I was kinda hoping Trunks would be out of the house by now. I'm not really in the mood the deal with the awkwardness of my brother meeting my crush."
"God your brother is so hot," Maddie purred. "The things I would let him do to me..."
"Maddie please, can we not talk about this. It's weird."
"What's weird is that you apparently have an endless supply of Greek Gods walking through your place on a regular basis," her friend passionately countered. "I mean Jesus, your dad looks like he's fucking thirty years old. Your brother is perfection personified and his best friend is so hot I can practically see steam coming off his head right now. I seriously think I want to move in. Can your family adopt me?"
Bulla laughed at her friend's exaggerated view of her household, quietly forgiving her for being so awestruck. These are no normal earthlings, she acknowledged.
Suddenly, Madison's jaw dropped, her gaze fixated on something toward the kitchen. Bulla twisted around to see what caught her friend's attention so abruptly.
Speak of the devil.
Her brother had entered the kitchen with nothing but a towel around his waist and appeared to be talking to Goten while harshly rubbing his wet lavender locks. "Hey Bulla can you come in here for a sec," he called out as she took another sip of beer.
"Mhm," she responded, mid-gulp. She pushed herself off the armchair and handed her bottle to Madison.
"What's up?" she asked from the archway.
Trunks was currently standing between Bulla and the still seated Goten, continuing to scrub his strands. The dark-haired demi-Saiyan cleared his throat, catching Bulla's attention. When he tapped his nose and threw a glance at her brother, Bulla's eyes went wide and she quickly shuffled passed him. Hopefully this throws him off, she willed silently from Goten's flank. She leaned against the kitchen bench, trying to look casual.
"So we're heading out soon." Trunks' face contorted as he continued rubbing his scalp raw. "I just wanted to remind you that we'll probably be pretty late so if you don't feel like making anything, I've left some cash here on the bench top. Also, if anything happens, call me. I don't care what it is."
"Thanks, Trunks," she smiled softly. "And yeah I know. Don't worry, I'll be fine."
He looked up at her, apparently done. "I'm trusting you not to get too crazy tonight, alright? I'm taking to heart what you said the other day about not treating you like a kid anymore."
Bulla could see Goten observing her in the corner of her eye, feeling herself growing embarassed. Jeez, did he have to bring this up in front of company? She simply nodded, reasoning that keeping her mouth closed was probably the safest option right now.
"I'm gonna finish getting ready," he stated, turning around and heading for the stairs.
Goten chuckled as Bulla blew out a sigh of relief. "Close one," he said with a slight grin.
"Yeah." Her gaze was on the floor. "I'm actually really surprised he's letting me do this. I mean, with my parents away I didn't think he'd let me out of his sight. He really is trying. I hope I don't mess this up."
"Don't worry about it, you're a sensible girl," he reassured with a pat on the back. "He knows that. Otherwise, he wouldn't do this, right?"
The older halfling's words made her feel even worse. It was clear that neither her brother nor his best friend had any idea that she was planning on losing her virginity tonight.
Delayed author's note:
Please feel free to share any thoughts and constructive criticism. I'm not a writer, but this story had been floating around in my head for years, so I finally decided to put 'pen to paper' and tidy it up for others' enjoyment. As an avid reader of FF since I was an early teen, I thought it was about time I give back :) Similarly, I understand the heartbreak of reading unfinished and abandoned stories, so you can count on this one being completed. The aim is to get a new chapter out every week or less. Barring forgetfulness/incapacitation/death I'm confident that I'll stick to that!
Huge thank you to those that have already reviewed :) I was ecstatic to see a handful of reviews within the first 24hrs! What a great community.
Since I've never tried uploading a story to here before, I'm still working through the kinks of figuring out the backend (hence why this update is coming out 16 hours after the chapter's initial release, hah!)