A/N: Ok! I'm back minna-san! Sorry for the long wait (it wasn't that bad, was it?) But I had more personal issues...grr...my life really seems to suck sometimes, but I couldn't let it keep meh down! /smiles/ Thank you ALL SO MUCH for all of the lovely reviews! Omg, I'm gonna go crazy if you all keep giving me so much praise and showing me how many of ya actually read this!!! I wrote a short one-shot (titled Plus One, if any of ya want to check it out, it's a short Truten...I think it turned out...ok.... lol) while on vacation to Cedar Point (roller coaster capital of the US!) The vacation was pretty good, could've been better, but still, the coasters were AWESOME! One I went on was freakin' 420 ft. high!!!! And you were shot 90 degrees straight up at 120 mph!!!! ahem.....Yeah, but on with the fic now! First a quick question though, how many of you read these notes? I know a couple of you do for sure....but I'm just curious /smiles/ Now, our feature presentation! lol
This One Thing
Last Time:
"Are you ready, chibi?" I ask, trying to make sure that he was ok with going to the dance. Memories of the conversation we had earlier swim in my mind.
"Yeah, Trunks-kun. I am. 'Cause I know that you'll be right there beside me." I look over at him and I'm greeted with a content smile and his sparkling onyx eyes. I smile back and pull out of the garage. Yeah, we're gonna be together. Nothing will separate us. Ever. Because I love you too much, I need you too much for anything to ever tear you away from me.
Same here, Trunks-kun. Same here.
Chapter 8: The Dance- Opening
Here we are. The school. The dance. Or, as I'm beginning to look at it, possible heaven or hell. It's as if right now we're both tip-toeing across the edge of a knife. Which is slowly becoming sharper, sharp as a razor blade. The danger increasing with every step, every inch closer we come to our destination. And we, being the love-blinded fools that we are, have decided to end with the tip-toeing and just race forward, not entirely thinking about the consequences. Bringing about the end of the delicate balancing act, which we've endured for the past day or so. The closure of our internal conflict over whether to be so-called 'normal', or actual be normal, our normal. Hmm..not making much sense to you? Sorry about that, I guess I'm not exactly the best at describing stuff, especially when I barely understand half of what's going on in mind myself. But what I'm saying is exactly what's coming to my mind first, therefore it's exactly how I feel right now, or at least how I perceive that I'm feeling. I perceive this event, which some might consider tiny, as something more than that. We were being so careful not to let anyone know our true feelings for so long, even the one that we held those feelings for, and now we're about to let it out. We were so careful, but soon all of that's not gonna matter.
It scares me.
But at the same time, things like this make my heart speed up. Makes it beat that little bit faster every second. Like when I'm in the middle of a battle. Sure, I haven't fought anyone in years, at least not truly fought someone in years. But I still have the memory of the fear I felt facing Buu. Of the sense of knowing I was about to go up against something so much larger, so much stronger than myself. The feeling of having to defeat something that seems unbeatable, all for the ones I've loved. And now I'm in that position again. Only this time it's not a monster, and I'm not fighting for the ones I love. It's my peers, my fellow students, and I'm fighting for the ONE I love. And it is situations like this that make my heart beat harder. Makes it beat for a reason.
I unconsciously bring a hand up to my chest, letting it rest there, feeling the steady, yet fast, rhythmic beating. Feel it pounding in my rib cage, as my footsteps echo across the pavement of the school parking lot. As we reach the door, I notice my hand has dropped from its position on my chest and I've grasped Goten's hand tightly. I gently tighten my grip a little more, looking for some assurance, which I get in a small squeeze back. I take in a deep breath, in a futile attempt to calm my nerves. I take a quick glance at my love, and the look of determination on his features is enough to give me the needed strength to push open the doors.
I find this funny really. I always look upon myself as needing to support Goten. Not really looking upon him as a child, just as the one I need to protect, y'know? But here we are, probably one of the hardest times we've gone through so far, and he's the one that's giving me support. Not that I mind it, I have no idea what I'd do without him. It's just...it's the opposite of how I thought it would be. I sigh, realizing I'm getting off on my own little thought process again.
I hear the dim beat of the music from down the hallway, which is littered with teens waiting for their friends or others to arrive. I brace myself mentally, and physically to, I feel my muscles tighten a little bit. For what, I don't know. But there's bound to be something. Rejection. Confusion. Ridicule. And Hate. I don't really know.
I'm feeling rather self-conscious walking in through the doors. For a second, I'm almost tempted to go back into 'hide-everything' mode, and my grip on Goten's hand loosens. However, before I could release his hand, he tightens his own grip, and I look over at him. He's looking up at me, and his eyes are filled with mixed emotions. I can tell he's confused over what I was about to do. He's wondering if I really hate him or something, and this was one big joke, or if something else is wrong. I realize now that even though he's supporting me, and giving me reassurances left and right, that doesn't mean he isn't human. In other words, he's just as susceptible as I to these feelings. He's worried about me, about what's gonna happen, and I was just about to let him go. True, it was only his hand, but that could have been interpreted as leaving him alone to deal with stuff by himself. I mentally smack myself, and try to smile reassuringly to him. I gaze into his eyes, and the confusion disappears, to be replaced with love and hope. Granted, he's still nervous, but I guess all that he needed was to know that I'd always be here. He could have just asked me mentally, but I can tell that it meant more when I realized it myself.
With that thought I turn and continue my evaluation of the hall. No one seems to have noticed us walk in yet, or at least they haven't noticed our linked hands. I let out a sigh, whether of relief or anxiety, I have no clue. I thought my emotions were messed up when we drove here, I guess that I had no clue what messed-up was then.
- So far it seems that no one has noticed us, - I hear Goten think to me.
-Yeah. Maybe I was wrong, maybe I was overreacting, ne?- I question back to him, however, knowing very well that I was more than likely justified in my fears.
-Well, if you're wrong than so am I. Cause I'm nervous as hell right now.- His voice actually cracked during that thought. I let go of his hand, only to quickly wrap it around his shoulder, in what I hope is a comforting semi-embrace. We walk up to the teacher sitting behind a desk just outside of the gym. She looks up, her green eyes assessing us through her red spectacles.
After a moment, she asks, "Tickets?" And I pull out my wallet form my back pocket, and slip out two green colored tickets and hand them to her, replacing my wallet afterwards. She glances to the tickets, just long enough to assure herself that they're valid, and then hands them back to me. I simple shove them into my pocket with my free hand, my left one never leaving Goten's shoulder. She nods to us, giving us leave to enter the dance, and so I guide Goten to the open Gym doors. I hear her say something, but just barely, meaning that there's no way on Chikyuu(1) that any normal person could have heard her.
A small smile makes its way onto my lips as I hear her whisper, "I hope they don't let anyone here ruin their night." I have no clue who the teacher was, but I hope I have her next year, she seems nice. I make note of that thought, simply because I want to, and return my attention to what's going on around me. We're now stepping thorough the doors, and the heavy beat of the song they're playing is pulsing through me. I don't recognize the song, but then again, I'm not a huge fan of most music, I generally stick to new rock.
"So what do you want to do now?" I hear Goten say at my side. It seems to me that he would have been more comfortable thinking it to me, but being the intelligent person he is, he realized it might seem odd to some people if we stand here and don't talk at all. I smirk a little at that thought and then answer him, "I have no clue. I skipped out on the homecoming dances the last two years, because I had no one to go with, and so I haven't officially been to any high school dances."
"Me neither," he responds, laughing at our predicament. "Maybe we should just go get something to drink, I'm kinda thirsty anyway, and I don't feel like dancing."
"Sounds good to me," I say as I drop my arm from his shoulder and back to his hand and begin to walk towards the food table that is stationed a few yards to the left. We approach the table and I notice some of my friends form my home room standing around the cups of pop at the end. I look at them, then to Goten. "Would you mind going and saying 'hi'?" I ask.
"Not at all. That is, if you think they won't mind, y'know," he tells me, shrugging.
I grin, "They won't mind!" At least that's what I have to tell myself. "Let's go!" I half-drag him over to them, having not given him enough time to begin walking on his own. And so we approach our first encounter thus far, not counting the teacher at the desk. I just hope that I hadn't lied when I told him they wouldn't care.
The first of them to spot me is Alexei. "Hey Trunks! How ya doing? I was wondering if you'd show!" He claps me on the back, with a big grin on his face. His happiness seems to be contagious and I can't control the grin forming on my face, and with a glance at Goten I realize he can't either.
"Yeah," begins Stan, another of my friends, "Did you find someone to go with?"I feel the heat rising to my cheeks slightly, and nod in reply. I lower my gaze to the floor to hide my blush, and I hear Stan speak to Goten, "And how 'bout you? Did you ever ask that person out that you were telling me about a couple days ago?" I look up at this, just in time to spot Stan's knowing smirk and see Goten acquire a red tinge to his cheeks.
-Umm...I kinda talked to him about my....crush...on you... He's really good friend of mine, and I had to talk to someone! And, well, you just weren't the best choice in my mind at the time....-
I can sense the feeling of regret in his voice, as if he's afraid he did wrong. I want to try to console him, but I'll have to do it quickly, before someone notices the fact that we're standing here and...spacing out, for lack of a better phrase. -Don't be sorry, I'm happy you found someone to talk to. And at least now you know you can talk to me if you ever want to.- I squeeze his hand to emphasize my thoughts, and I sense his feelings going back to 'normal'. He gives a shaky smile to Stan, and with a burst of inspiration, he lifts our joined hands up, so that they can see them clearly. So that they can tell, without a doubt, that we're together.
Well, I guess that means that it's the 'moment of truth'. Will they except us? Or will they suddenly decide to go against everything they've ever told me, and turn their backs on us? I know, I just know, that it's just my worries speaking there, but in my position, you can't help but worry, ne? And so, when I meet Alexei's eyes, and when Goten meets the eyes of one of the other guys, neither of us can stop the echoing -What?- from bouncing between our minds. Because what met us in those pairs of eyes was disconcerting. It shouldn't have been, but as I said just earlier, my mind was all screwed over with the worry and frustration gnawing at the back of my mind; however, I know that I've explained my mental situation enough times by now, and don't have to go through everything again.
By now you must be sitting there, waiting for me to finally get to the point. Asking what I found in the blue depths of his eyes, ne? I'll tell you in a few simple words.
Acceptance.
Understanding.
Complete friendship, as if nothing had changed, but yet everything at all.
(1) Chikyuu- I found that this is what Toriyama (creator of DBZ) calls the world the characters live in. It's similar to Earth, but has several differences, such as the talking animals and the existance of dinosaurs. I could've put Earth in this spot, but Trunks wouldn't know what 'Earth' was....plus I like 'Chikyuu' better!
A/N: So, what d'you think? I'm pretty proud of how this one turned out, and the fact that I finally got off meh lazy ass and wrote it..../grins/ Anywho, PLEASE REVIEW! I absolutely love all the reviews I'm getting! They totally amaze me, each and every one of them! I had no clue how many people would like this when I started, and it's all of you guys that keep me writing this! Considering, I haven't even looked at the DBZ section on this site for ages...heheh.... And that's all I have to say /waves/ Hope ya enjoyed this chapter and I'll work hard to get the next one out quicker!
