A/N: This is a story request from BarbieGirl82. I tweaked their original plot summary just a little bit, but for the most part the idea was theirs!

If anyone else has any DBZ story ideas they want to send me, I find it kinda fun to write other people's ideas out, so send me PM with your idea and some plot points. If I like it, I may or may not write it- we'll see :) Hope you enjoy this one.

Chapter 1:

Recently, when the sun came in his window, Goten started waking up all the time, even though it was about 5 in the morning. Usually, he would just roll over and go back to sleep. He'd cover up his face with a pillow or with a blanket to block out the rays of light. Living on the mountain top just meant that the sun was out so early. He figured this would all be better once he moved out.

But, he had been saying to his parents that he was moving out for years now. Chichi would hint, not so subtly, that he should try getting a job so he could start his own life soon, have children, like his older brother Gohan did. Goten would weakly promise her he'd try.

And each time he would go stay at Capsule Corp in the big city to look for a job, but eventually, he would get bored, stop trying, and start missing home. Trunks would be too busy with work to entertain him and there was no point in staying there if he could just fly back and forth to see his girlfriend whenever he wanted.

His girlfriend…

Goten began to think, staring up at the ceiling of his childhood bedroom. His brain was concocting a game plan. Maybe there was a way to solve a couple of his problems at once.

He and Valese have been dating for months. He really did like her too. She was sweet and easy to talk to. According to Trunks, she was dumb, but Goten didn't think so. Maybe it was because she actually went to a real high school and college, and Chichi only had Goten study at home. Apparently, her college was "bad" while Gohan and Trunks went to "good" universities. Goten didn't know what that meant, seeing as he didn't go to college at all. Valese seemed smarter than him anyway, even if she was a little scatterbrained sometimes. She would tell him how to give tips at the restaurants they went out to. And she'd remind him to zip up his coat when it was cold outside. The kind of things Goten would never even think of. But maybe he helped her with things like that too.

Early in the morning, Goten started thinking… that maybe it wouldn't be such a bad idea if he moved out of the house and lived with Valese somewhere. Maybe in a suburban community halfway between Mount Paozu and the West City. They could get a little house, and then Goten wouldn't have to travel to see her or crash at the Briefs place. If he got his very own house, then maybe his mother wouldn't worry about his future or her future grandchildren so much. But, to ask Valese to live with him, buy a whole new house with him, he'd probably have to ask her to marry him.

Hmm, Goten thought, maybe…

Noises, cracks, and slams, came from the kitchen down the hall. Goten sat up. His head whipped to the door. He rubbed his eyes awake and shook his messy hair out of his face. There was no way his mom would be up this early. Or at the very least, she wouldn't be this nosey. That had to be his father.

Slipping his legs off of his bed and his feet into a pair of slippers, Goten got up and headed for the hallway.

"Oh!" A cheery voice gasped, Goten spotted the cleaver sized knife and watermelon in his father's hands, "Mornin' son! You're up early, huh?"

"Uh… yeah…" Goten's voice trailed. He found this whole situation a bit odd. "What are you doing dad?"

The Saiyan man, in his big sweatpants and no shirt, turned to place the fruit on the countertop. He pulled the knife back over his head. "I got hungry, so I came to get a before-breakfast snack." He slashed the knife down hard. On impact, the watermelon exploded, blowing little red chucks and black seeds everywhere.

Goku spun around to his son, guilty. Goten wiped a piece of watermelon off of his cheek. Both boys started to chuckle to themselves.

"Did you want some?" Goku asked, and Goten tossed the piece into his mouth. "Don't tell Chichi. Help me eat it all before she wakes up!" Goku rushed to pick up all the chunks off the counters and surfaces, then shoved them into his mouth.

Goten laughed, taking a seat at their table. He picked up a little piece of watermelon, kind of helping, as he watched his dad scramble around. "Hey, dad?"

"Yeah?" Goku kept cleaning and eating.

Goten spoke softly, a little bit nervous, "How did you know you were ready to marry mom?"

Goku paused for a second. Under his breath he laughed, then whipped around, leaning up against the counter. "I didn't." He propped his elbow up on the side of the fridge, and a sliver of watermelon flopped over in his hand. "I agreed to make Chichi my bride when I was younger, but I didn't know what that meant. She came back later to the World Martial Arts Tournament to yell at me for not following through."

"Oh, was that when you guys fought?"

Goku smiled, "Yup. She made it past the preliminaries and into the quarterfinals just to fight me. God, she was so angry. She was throwing kicks and punches like crazy! I didn't even know who she was then."

"Wait what?"

"We were just little kids when we met. I didn't recognize her all grown up! It's not my fault!" Goku defended himself all over again. Goten laughed at his father's stupidity. The light-hearted man sighed, "Anyway, she said she would tell me who she was if I beat her in our match."

"So you beat her?" Goten took a bite of watermelon from the table.

"I knocked her out of the ring," He smiled, "But I didn't even hit her!" Goku blinked down at his son, continuing the story, "Then, when she told me who she was, the Ox-King's daughter, and that I had made a promise to marry her, well, I figured that would be pretty scary. I mean I had to suddenly live with someone new?! And it was Chichi, she's not especially nice and calm." He rubbed the back of his head, thinking back on his past.

"But you did... marry her…" Goten was getting confused. Did his dad not even like his mom? They seemed to get along to him. Sure, she yelled at him a lot and her dad was a big idiot, but they were still together.

"Of course I did," Goku stated like it's obvious.

"Well, why?"

"Well," Goku's attention drifted up to the ceiling, "I guess it's because I kinda thought she was interesting… nobody else acted like her. You know, your mom, she… Well, I guess she gets mad pretty easily and she doesn't sugarcoat anything." Goten saw him roll his eyes and heard a hint of laughter in his voice, "She has screamed at me more times than I can count, but... " Goku's head turned down, he looked his son in the eyes. "I guess I just liked her."

Just then, Chichi entered the kitchen, half-asleep. Her eyes went wide when she spotted the mess in the kitchen. "Ah!" She shouted in shock, her eyebrows furrowed and she glared directly at her man-child of a husband. "...Goku!" She said in a growl.

Goku jumped up, throwing his arms out in an attempt to hide the watermelon mess, "Ah! Chichi!"

"What on Earth have you done?!"

"It's not that bad, Chichi, I promise… Go back to bed now, it'll all be clean when you wake up~" He started to walk closer to her, his hands out, approaching her with caution.

She powered up, "How can I sleep when you ruined my kitchen?!"

Sitting at the table, watching, Goten could help but admire his parents. His father was right. He did get screamed at by his mother all the time, for everything, but to be fair, he did a lot wrong. It was clear to Goten, but maybe not to everyone else, that his parents really did love each other. His mom would tell him stories about Goku for hours when he was younger before he actually got to meet his father. Goten knew she really cared about Goku, despite how much she showed it or not on an everyday basis.

He wondered if he loved Valese that much. He knew he liked spending time with her. He knew he liked to talk to her, go out with her, and kiss her. But was he ready to marry her? That felt like a mountain-sized step to him.

Maybe it was like his father said. Maybe you just never know when you're ready, but you have to take that step sometime.

Goten liked that answer, but he figured it would probably be safer to ask his older brother his opinion first. He knew his father was a bit clueless. It was just like Goku to forget about promising to marry somebody, but then follow through anyway.

"Hey Goten," Videl answered the door. She was wearing glasses and with just a peek into the house, Goten could see piles of books and papers everywhere. "If you're looking for Gohan, he just went to pick Pan up from school."

"Oh, okay," Goten walked into the house, as she held the door open for him. His sneakers bumped into a stack of large books, like dictionaries or encyclopedias, in the walkway. He stared down at them, then carefully stepped over.

"Sorry about the mess," Videl muttered.

"Are you guys working on something big?" Goten asked, looking back.

"Yeah…" Videl sounded a little embarrassed. She took off her glasses, "We thought we made a breakthrough last night but… It turned out that lead was a dead end."

"Oh," Goten felt bad, but he would not be any help in the science research department.

"Gohan's a little bummed out about it, so maybe you can try to cheer him up," she faintly smiled, before picking the books off of the ground. "If I knew you were coming over I would have cleaned up."

Goten ran over, he extended a hand out under the pile of huge books in her arms, "I can help!" He exclaimed.

Videl laughed, "It's alright, Goten, I can carry them. I'm actually pretty strong, I'll have you know." She pointed to the side with her shoulder. "But maybe you can pick up all the scattered papers, for me?"

"Uh…" He walked into that one, "Okay.

Now, as he waited for his brother to come back, Goten had the incredibly boring job of picking up random papers and shoving them into one heap. Videl went off into the other room, presumably to keep working.

Suddenly, a young, teenage girl came crashing into the house. Goten glanced behind him, but he didn't catch her. She was gone, up the stairs before he could even see her.

"Ha…" A voice took a big sigh out, shutting the front door behind him. Goten sat, kneeling on the dining room floor, looking over his shoulder. He stared across the room at his brother, who leaned up with his back against the door and his head in his hand. The nerdy science teacher looking man ran his hand through his dark brown hair. When he looked up and turned his head slightly, getting the strange feeling someone was looking at him, he finally noticed who came to visit.

"Goten?!" Gohan gasped.

"Hi," Goten placed his pile of papers down and began to stand up.

"What are you doing here?"

"Uh…" Goten walked over towards his older brother, "I just came to talk."

"Oh," Gohan nodded once, "It might not be the best time," He admitted, "Pan's kind of mad at me."

"Did she just come in?" Goten pointed up at the stairs.

"Yeah, probably." Gohan shrugged, "She's upset because I talked to her teacher. He was just completely wrong about the grade he gave her. She wrote a good paper, I checked it. She should have gotten an A. A B is totally unfair. So, I tried asking him why and he just refused to change her grade. He was completely unreasonable."

Goten chuckled to himself, giving his brother a tap on the chest, "You're more like mom than you thought."

"Hey! That's not true!"

Goten grinned, "Can we have dinner soon?"

Gohan's eyes bugged out, "You're just like dad!"

"Yeah," Goten stated, "I know." He started walking away, towards the kitchen.

Gohan rolled his eyes, following him.

A plate of chicken tenders and vegetables fell nicely ahead of Goten on the table. Gohan went back to get his dish of food, before speaking, "So, what did you want to talk about?"

"I just…" Goten searched around, making sure Videl wasn't in the room to hear him. He quietly whispered, "I wanted to ask why you got married?"

"Why did I get married?!" Gohan shrieked, dropping his plate out of his hand. It shakily landed a couple of inches down onto the table.

Goten grabbed his collar, "Shh…" He talked quickly to explain himself, "I've been thinking maybe I want to… ask Valese to move in with me- somewhere- but I don't know if I'm ready to get married yet."

"Oh!" Gohan sighed in relief and sat down. "And you don't want anyone else to know?"

"Well," Goten blushed a little, "Don't tell Videl. What if she warns Valese."

Gohan laughed, "She wouldn't, but, if you're really asking why I married her, it was simple. She was crazy about me, and I was crazy about her."

"Right…" Goten accepted that answer but found it kind of basic. All this talk of just 'loving' your partner was too confusing.

"I'd run it by mom though. I made that mistake and she was very angry when I told her Videl and I got engaged without coming to ask her first." Gohan thought, "Actually, maybe I did the right thing. Mom would have just said no." He ruffled up his hair, thinking back to Videl and Chichi fighting over him the first time they met.

Goten flopped on the table, "So that's it?" His eyes shut and his arms trailed around the edges of the table, "You just get married without even thinking about it. Dad just agreed and you proposed no problem?"

Gohan found that comment amusing, "You went to dad?"

"Yeah, he told me some boring story about how he and mom fought in the tournament and then got married after that."

"I don't have a less boring story for you, man," Gohan spooned vegetables into his mouth, but spoke anyway, "Videl chased me more than a few times, trying to figure out if I was the Great Saiyaman or the Golden Fighter or Warrior or whatever it was, or the guy who really beat Cell. She was obsessed with getting to the bottom of my identity."

"So, how'd you fall in love or whatever?"

"Goten," Gohan scolded, "You were there. I think she just realized that I'm a pretty nice guy. That I wasn't trying to hide from her, but I couldn't just come out and say her dad was a phony either. And, well, I guess I kinda realized that she wasn't really so crazy like that." He picked at his food. "If you're so worried about finding the right time and knowing if you're actually in love, you're gonna miss your chance. And you won't even notice how crazy that girl is about you."

"What?" Goten flipped his head up, he glared across the table at Gohan, "She's crazy about me?"

"I don't know, is she…?" Gohan coaxed his interest. Goten shoveled food into his mouth, then stood up out of his seat.

"She's not as psycho nuts as your wife or mom, that's for sure!" He shouted, a bit frustrated, but a bit playfully. Then he took off running out of the room and left their house.

A light little bit of laughter came from the study. Gohan got up and peeked into the room, "So, I'm crazy?" Videl asked.

"No…" Gohan held out his voice, exaggeratedly, "Not at all. He was talking about my other wife."

"Shut up," Videl hissed, a crack of a smile on her face. Gohan giggled and took a seat at his desk, next to her's. They were going to work for a little bit longer, but sooner or later, they'd tag-team taking care of their daughter. The plan was usually to send in Gohan first, but then Videl would come in later for backup. Regardless of how busy they were with work, Goten thought highly of his brother and his sister-in-law as parents.

Stomping out of their house, Goten yelled out, waving his arms violently around, "You're lucky you don't have to deal with this romance stuff, Piccolo! It's mind-boggling!"

Perched up in a tree, Piccolo made no comment. But, he agreed.

"Pan…" Piccolo muttered through the window attempting to comfort the upset teenaged girl.

A/N: Thanks for reading! Leave a comment, favorite, and follow! Let me know what you think about chapter 1. Another chapter to follow :)