(Goten)
Goten had been planning a summer of reading comics, spending time doing drawing streams with Inka, and just enjoying the freedom from schoolwork. Maybe slacking on the training with Trunks a bit, as much as they could get away without igniting the ire of their fathers. (Goten wondered if Trunks would be willing to switch up the schedule to have just one sparring session and the other two be more dancing stuff? Trunks seemed to be pretty into the more hip hop style?) All until they met up with the gang for WaterWorld in a few weeks time.
Of course then Goku had to go and decide that he was going to go spend years, years, training some random kid on the other side of the planet. Hearing this made Goten want to do several things, chief amongst them yell loudly in an uninhabited canyon for a few hours.
The most infuriating part was Goten didn't know why he was so surprised, it was exactly like Goku to do something like this. Goten knew that his father loved him and the rest of his family, knew it with a certainty deep in his bones. But Goten also knew he had a shitty way of showing that love. Goku needed to be nagged by ChiChi constantly to remember to do his chores, even the ones he liked doing! It was as if something wasn't directly in front of him, he was liable to forget about it and do whatever he wanted to instead. Out of sight, out of mind.
And he knew it wasn't fair to think it, but sometimes Goku's forgetfulness would make Goten wonder if he even cared about anything that wasn't his primary motivation for absolutely everything, fighting. Not like he spent the first seven years of Goten's life fighting against other dead guys in the afterlife. Oh yeah, that wound was still very much there and while mostly healed over by time and getting to know just who his father was as a person, the scar tissue was still pretty raw.
The only thing that had kept him from being jealous of Trunks for having his dad around while they were growing up was the front row seat to how bad Vegeta had been at it. Sure he had been physically present but emotionally he might have well been a distant star.
Goten didn't understand why he and Trunks had to have such rotten luck when it came to fathers. Well that wasn't true, Goten knew one of the big reasons why their luck was so shit. Because their dads weren't human and apparently parenting didn't come naturally. It was something they had to learn.
If Goten ever had any kids, which was a pretty big if considering at this point it would probably necessitate adopting, he promised himself he would be a father more like Gohan or Piccolo. The people he'd looked up to when he'd been a boy when his dad had existed as an ever-present ghost instead of a flesh-and-blood person.
That wasn't to say that things hadn't changed over the years. If anything Goten should probably be more jealous of Pan and Bulla, they were the ones who got the full benefits of everyone having learned how to parent, but it wasn't their fault they had been born on the right side of the learning curve.
That night in the planetarium with Vegeta had been the first time he'd ever really heard much about Saiyans besides what he'd picked up over the years from the context of it being what everyone blamed for their fathers' obsession with fighting. Or Goten and Trunks's own incredible strength. He sometimes forgot just how different being a Saiyan really was. The night had given Goten a lot to think about.
Goten had flown home with Pan the next morning and was greeted by an annoyed Piccolo, who was unhappy about his weekly day with Pan being cut into, and quickly absconded with her off to wherever he had planned to take her for the day while Videl and Gohan were busy. Yeah, Pan was spoiled for attention.
Goten started on his chores and finished them at top speed so he could just collapse on his bed and try to mull over what he wanted to do next. He was tired from the night of no sleep, and was certainly going to be feeling it soon, but he also couldn't ignore that rush in him that wanted to do something. More than that, his mind was a mess of thoughts running roughshod over each other. He wanted to take in everything that happened yesterday, needed to really think about it, and there was only one way he was going to really do that.
He went for his drawing supplies, he didn't feel like messing with his drawing tablet, with it's too precise ability to refine his drawings with that precious undo button. No he wanted something that felt more holistic, so he grabbed for his charcoal supplies and threw himself on his bed. The second his pencil touched the paper it was already sketching away and it took a little before his brain caught up with what he was drawing. It was a picture of Vegeta, or a version of him that Goten had never thought about existing before the past 24 hours.
A young Vegeta in silhouette looking up at the stars on a planet, one that Goten had no idea what it actually looked liked and let his brain fill in the gaps, but that wasn't the important part of the drawing, it was the stars. He'd tried to memorize how they'd looked last night and did his best to recreate them now. And as he did it he let his mind wander, digesting all of the stories Vegeta had shared and trying to reconcile the boy in his drawing with the man he knew.
It wasn't until he looked over at his clock later that he'd realized he'd spent hours working on the first sketch then multiple others till he got something he was actually happy with, the shadows and silhouettes capturing the feeling of contemplation he wanted, the stars finally looking as they should. Fuck, he teased Trunks sometimes about his workshop frenzies but Goten could get into ones just as bad if circumstances permitted it. He yawned and realized just how exhausted he was and after setting aside his drawing supplies collapsed into some much needed rest.
When he woke up it was to the smell of his mom cooking dinner and his stomach reminding him he'd skipped lunch. After dinner he checked his laptop for the first time in two days and saw a litany of messages from his friends, but over 47 from Trunks, oh boy. He clicked Trunks's first and saw an entirely one-sided conversation Trunks had been having since noon, where he announced that they were leaving in two days for a "camping adventure" for the weeks until their trip to WaterWorld. The reason for the trip? A Dragon Ball hunt.
He kept using the words camping as if that word alone would entice Goten into the plan, which just made Goten roll his eyes. He knew that Trunks's definition of "camping" was very different from his own.
See, Goten actually liked the wilderness. He liked pitching a tent in a forest and being days away from electricity and the indoors. He'd done a kiddie version of it with Gohan when they were younger and in the surrounding areas of Mount Paozu, but he'd gone out on some pretty extreme camping adventures with both him and Goku in the past couple of years. Where they flew to a remote and wild location with only a backpack of essentials on them. Where they actually had to go hunting for their food, and it took some pretty big animals to be able to feed them.
But Trunks? He was a spoiled boy from one of the biggest metropolises on Earth, who wouldn't dream of leaving without a full capsule case with food and necessities like some mechanical project to tinker on, not to mention a selection of vehicles and a capsule house, all with AC and deluxe sound system. Which, yeah was nice and all but it was hardly what Goten would consider camping. God he'd probably insist on bringing his "girlfriend" along with them, because gods forbid he went a day or two without feeling up the damn bike.
If Goten didn't know Trunks as well as he did, he might feel cause to be jealous of the hoverbike, but it was because he knew Trunks he knew nothing was meant by it, beyond some weird mechanic's obsession and borderline fetish.
Goten loved Trunks, he really did, but he also kind of hated him. Hated his stupid arrogance, hated how he always pushed to get his way, hated that he never smiled but instead smirked. And he hated how Trunks knew exactly what to say and what buttons to press to get Goten excited for this trip. Even when Goten knew exactly just what the compromised way the word "camping" was being used, he was still excited by the idea. He'd start packing in the morning.
Goten arrived at noon at Capsule Corp with a packed backpack two days later, not quite knowing what to expect with the road trip send off, but it sure wasn't Trunks in full tilt sulking diva mode while arguing with Bulma in the main living room. Marron's presence was also a surprise, her attention fixed to her phone looking like she'd rather be anywhere that didn't involve listening to this fight.
But the tide of battle turned with Goten's arrival and he soon found himself with the full attention of both mother and son as they sought to get him on their side. Trunks was, of course, the first to strike, "Ten, you won't believe what my mom is making us do."
Bulma had her hands on her hips,"Oh stop it Trunks, if you want to borrow the Dragon Radar you have to agree to my terms, and that means taking Marron with you on your little expedition." Before turning to Goten and explaining in a calmer voice, "Krillin already arranged with me to watch Marron while he and No 18 are away and she wants to go along on the trip with you boys."
Goten glanced over to Marron who was rolling her eyes but took the prompting, "My parents are going on a couple's cruise together and I think a Dragon Ball hunt sounds more fun than being bored in West City and babysitting Bulla. Besides if we're already summoning Shenron, I got a wish I'd like granted. There's three wishes and three of us so it works out."
"But she's just a kid!" Trunks groaned. "And she can't fly!"
Bulma was not having it, "Trunks you are too old to be throwing a childish hissy fit."
"Mom, please. I'm an adult, if anything it's an adult hissy fit."
"Besides, I can fly," Marron protested. "I mean, nowhere near as fast as you Saiyans, sure, but still. Besides, I thought this was a road trip where you were planning on taking a car and stuff."
Goten suddenly realized that the final decision was going to come down to his choice. Bulma wouldn't be able to argue against the combined agreement of both of them, but at the same time if he insisted Trunks would inevitably relent. He could see where Trunks was coming from, Marron was still only 13 and the vibe of the trip would definitely be different if she was there. But Goten also had a pretty good suspicion that the real reason Trunks was protesting so much was that he saw plans of a particularly unwholesome variety were getting foiled. Then again being stuck with only Trunks for company for several weeks sounded like it would get tiring quickly and the more people on the trip the merrier, right? "I say Marron can come with us."
"Ten!" Trunks yelped as if he'd been struck in the back in an ultimate betrayal.
"Hah! Hear that Trunks, you were overruled," Marron jabbed while Bulma flashed the victory sign at her son. Goten signed at their antagonizing, though at the same time the resulting pout from Trunks was pretty amusing.
"Ugh, I don't even have any hovercars that seat more than two! What am I supposed to do with a whole trip?" Trunks whined loudly.
Bulma rolled her eyes, "You can borrow some of my capsules, I'm sure you can find something sporty enough for your tastes. Here let me see what you're taking and if you need any anything in addition."
Oh, that was a decent bribe and might have been what Trunks had been aiming for as he perked up at that. Goten had spent years on the receiving end of long diatribes from Trunks about how overprotective Bulma was about her vehicles, rants that seemed rather prophetic later on when Trunks was even more protective of his prized "Baby" and "Side Chick".
They walked over to the table where amongst Bulma's piles of paperwork and half-finished parts she had her own oversized capsule case, and the two started to enthusiastically consult on the merits of the two dozen or so capsules each contained within.
Marron shot Goten a sidelong look and she knew exactly what she was thinking, it was a frankly ridiculous amount of capsules for any one individual to have in their possession, and Goten knew that this was far from the only case either of them owned. Being the family that invented and produced them might have been an explanation but it wasn't exactly an excuse for how inundated with the devices as they were.
"Trunks wants the trip to be about a month, you got enough stuff packed?" Goten asked Marron.
"Yeah, I have a suitcase with clothes and a backpack with everything else, and I'm sure we'll find places where we can stop and do laundry on the trip." Marron gave another look at the Briefs, "That's assuming Trunks doesn't bring along a laundromat in his case."
Goten laughed, "Yeah, I packed up just a bag of essentials but knowing Trunks, I doubt we'll be packing light."
They talked some more for a bit, mostly about school and what subjects Marron was going to be starting when she started her last year of middle school after the summer, before Trunks walked over with a victorious grin and clutching one bright pink capsule in particular.
"What your mom give you?" Marron asked.
"Come outside and see for yourself."
It turned out to be a sporty convertible hovercar of the same near reddish pink as the capsule, Goten knew enough about cars to tell was probably some heavily modified luxury model, though the finer details were lost on him.
"Her name is Cerise, and it isn't being released on the open market for another two years, of course it won't be nearly as awesome as this one, Mom got her hands on a prototype and has been letting me help with the modifications."
"Neat," Marron said, "does it have enough space in the storage for my bags? Doesn't look like it"
"Who needs space when we have capsules," Trunks tossed an empty capsule to Marron, he was pulling out a map from his own backpack so he missed Marron's mocking as she silently mouthed his words. Goten stifled a laugh and instead walked over to where the map was spread out over the car's hood while Trunks had started to fiddle with the radar.
"We know what the road map of this trip is gonna look like yet?"
"Nope. Mom wouldn't give me the radar till today, I need to figure out where all the balls are first."
Goten looked down at the map, "Well we at least know we're going to want to be finishing up near Yahhoi at the start of July, we're meeting some friends for a long stay at WaterWorld that's in that area. "
"Huh, but that's nearly a whole month from now," Marron said then waved off the glare Trunks shot her before he went back to messing with the radar and started to mark the paper. "Hey, I'm not criticizing, I'm just curious, surely we could gather them in half that time. What's with the slow pace?"
Trunks rolled his eyes, "Sure we could do it a lot faster if we wanted to, hell if Goten and I flew at top speed we could probably gather them in a day or two. But that's not the point! I don't want to spend all day in the road, I want to take time to explore the places we're going to visit, taking it slow and having fun is the point."
Goten was impressed, "Huh, you put a lot of thought into this."
"Of course, I want this to be the most awesome trip possible, even with the tagalong."
Marron stuck her tongue out at him but Trunks didn't see it as his attention was back to the map. Soon all three of them were gathered around the finished map and examining the locations of the seven bright orange dots.
"Oh hey there's one all the way out west near Korin's place," Marron said. "That's not that far from Yahhoi at all, that can be the last one."
"So we'll start heading northeast and get those balls first before we move south and westward to finish up at Yahhoi," Trunks announced. Goten was happy to have an actual plan for the trip in place, even if they weren't planning on following the itinerary exactly and more playing it by ear.
After a bit more running around to make sure they had everything they wanted to take with them, they set off soon after. Marron had to share the backseat with a bag filled with snacks and declared herself "snack dealer" whose duties included passing out snacks and refusing to do so unless she was called by her proper title.
Most of the first few hours of driving were taken up by a mildly contentious, but mostly friendly, debate about music tastes, and trying to work out a schedule over who got to control the stereo that everyone could agree with. Goten and Trunks's taste in music diverged the most, Trunks preferring stuff with "interesting" sounds, techno rhythms, and classic rock while Goten liked stuff folky with arty lyrics and more milder tempos. Marron's taste seemed to be anything with enough of a pop beat behind it, and her music was voted the least objectionable.
Since they only set out in the afternoon they only got a few hours of driving in before sunset, but they had made some decent progress before they decided to set up camp in an uninhabited region about 30 km north of Parsley City. Goten wanted a chance to stretch his legs and get some energy out and Marron had gotten tired of Trunks's cryptic answers to her asking about what accommodations he had brought.
His artful dodging of the question was answered when he threw a capsule and a domed capsule house appeared that large enough to be considered a regular house for a normal person. "Some camp." Marron said dryly. "I guess I should have realized we were glamping."
The inside was an open living room and kitchen setup which took up half of the dome, in the middle of the room was a small hallway that lead directly across to the bathroom, and presumably any bedrooms.
Goten went to check out the kitchen first, noting that the fridge and freezer where both well stocked. "Grandma and I did a big grocery run yesterday," Trunks said as he started unpacking his luggage from one of the capsules. "I figured if we started to run low on anything we can always stop by a store at some point."
"Makes sense." Goten agreed and turned his attention to examining the attached pantry, already running through possible ideas of meals to make. It'd be interesting having a kitchen mostly to himself without his mother's constant hovering. It wasn't that he didn't like helping her, he really loved it in fact, but she was always watching to make sure he did things right on the first try. Never gave him the room to try doing things a different way or to lean by trial and error, it would be a nice change of pace to be given the room to make some mistakes.
"Look there's even two bedrooms," Marron called out from down the hall, before she walked back into the main room, "You guys can take one and I'll be in the other, just keep the sex contained to your room and give me a heads up."
"What!" Goten, well it was best described as yelped. Trunks, the lucky bastard, managed to sound much more in control when he responded, "What makes you think that we'd be having sex?"
"Because you're teenage boys and are dating?" Marron said, and Goten hated that she seemed confused by their response more than anything else. "I mean it's not like I care if you guys are or are not, I'm just saying I would want to know when to blast music so I don't have to hear anything."
"Who told you we were dating?" Goten demanded, an edge of hysteria in his voice. Trying to work through who could h
"No one? I just, wait-" She looked between them both as if waiting to be let in on a joke, "I'm sorry, was I not supposed to know? I promise I won't tell anyone if that's what you're worried about?" It was her honest bewilderment that made everything worse.
Goten exchanged a panicked glance with Trunks, trying to work out what their response should be. Thankfully Trunks took the lead, "Okay so maybe we've been keeping it a secret, and no one knows about it."
"Huh, that's- are you sure?" Marron held up her hands in surrender under the might of their combined glares at that. "Hey! I'm just surprised is all, why do you guys feel you need to be so secretive? It's not like your parents are going to be somewhat understanding? I mean they're certainly not homophobic or anything, what with your Dads and all. Oh, wait, are you not telling them because it's weird weird that your dads are also like together?
"No!" Yes, but that wasn't the whole reason. Goten was now hiding his face in his hands. Hhe never wanted to be having this conversation with anyone, but especially not in the here and now.
"We just don't want anyone to know yet, because, because people will make it weird and stuff." Goten stammered out, well aware that he was probably blushing with embarrassment.
Marron rolled her eyes. "Okay whatever, you do you Goten, or do Trunks, I really don't care so long as I don't have to hear it or see it. I'll make you guys a deal, I won't tell anyone anything you guys do on this trip, so long as anything beyond kissing and hand holding stays out of a public space. Deal?"
"That's-" Goten began but was cut off by Trunks responding. "Deal."
Goten looked over at Trunks, and could see his brain whirring and trying to work out how to turn this situation to his advantage, probably excited by realizing that Marron's presence wouldn't stifle some of his plans for the summer. Which, okay, Goten didn't know what to do with, so he turned back to Marron.
"How did you know?" Because that was the most important question to figure out.
Marron shrugged. "I dunno, guess I was just assuming. Might have also been partly because of your guys's ki?"
"Huh?" That was such an unexpected answer that Goten was completely thrown by it.
"Your ki," Marron said, "both of yours is always reacting, and when you're standing near each other it bleeds into each other's a bit. I've only seen it happen before when couples were being, like, really close. I happened to notice a while back that your guys' does it like all the time, so I just figured?"
"I didn't know that happened." Goten had never heard of someone reading someone's relationship status in their ki before.
"I mean it's not like it's super obvious, unless you're really tuned in to ki and were looking for it I doubt you'd notice," Marron shrugged. "I'm just really sensitive to reading ki, I think?"
Well that was somewhat reassuring, no one else had ever mentioned anything like that before so it probably hadn't been noticed by anyone else. Now that they were aware it was a thing they wouldn't be caught off-guard in the future by someone else picking up the same cues.
But now something else was bothering Goten. "Marron, what did you mean when you said Trunks and I could," he couldn't bring himself to say and found himself tripping over his own words, "I mean of course we won't, I wouldn't want to make you uncomfortable or anything like that."
Marron rolled her eyes, "It's fine Goten, I'm well aware about the existence of sex, I'm not a kid. And like I've said already, it's fine if you and Trunks want to hook up so long as you keep it in the privacy of your own room and let me know when to play music. And keep your porn in there too, please."
Goten was sure his face was turning beet red. "That's not- I don't read-"
Marron shrugged, "Oh. Well I do."
"You're 13! You're way too young!"
"I'm just reading it, what's the harm in that? it's educational."
At his glare, she continued. "Also, I hate to be the one to break it to you, but I grew up at Kame House. I was aware of the existence of porn for years. I mean Roshi kept his magazines locked in his room, because otherwise Dad would get really angry, but I was like, vaguely aware of all that junk."
"Well that's just irresponsible."
"Eh? My parents didn't see the point in sheltering me or lying to me, they always said if I ever had any questions about stuff I could go to them."
"You're still too young." Goten grumped, feeling like an old man at the age of seventeen.
That night Goten got to experience the novelty of actually sharing a bed with Trunks for the first time in years, they hadn't done it since they were kids. Even when he spent the nights over at Capsule Corp they were always careful enough for him to slip back into the guest room that was all but officially his, lest they get discovered in the morning. Besides Goten always woke up much earlier than Trunks and it was nice not having to worry about waking him up in the morning.
Though maybe that wasn't as big a problem as Goten believed because come the next morning when he was trying to finally rouse Trunks, he was finding it exceedingly difficult. Goten had to resort to violently shaking him to finally get some response from him. "Trunks, come on wake up, it's 8 AM, the sun and I have been up for hours, time to get out of bed."
"Ten no, it's too early, let me sleep in, come on, it's summer vacation," Trunks mumbled out a litany of excuses and buried himself further under the covers.
"Well I want to get a spar in before it gets too hot, so wake up already."
Trunks moved so that his head was now hiding under his pillow and his responses became less comprehensible and more a series of loud noises of pure guttural protest.
Goten sighed and pulled out one of his trump cards. "I'll suck you off after."
Trunks's noises abruptly stopped before starting up again, still no more intelligible though were clearly much less adverse and more intrigued. Taking it as a promising sign Goten continued, "Did you get a good look at the shower in the bathroom? It's pretty big, I bet we'll both fit in it if we try."
Trunks unearthed his face from beneath the pillow, "Why do I have to be a part of the workout, can't you just go train by yourself and I join you in the shower after?"
"No deal, if you're not helping me work up a sweat you don't get to be there when I wash it off."
"Oh, I'll help you work up a sweat and it won't be through training," Trunks was trying for a seductive look, but it was completely ruined by the fact he still sounded half-asleep and his ridiculous bedhead.
"Come on Trunks, training is more fun with you. Will you please get up." Goten pleaded with that tiny tremor in his voice, which paired with making his eyes as big as possible, was another one of his guaranteed argument winners.
"Ugh, fine, fine. I'm getting up, just give me a little."
Taking his win, Goten walked out back to see Marron had finished her breakfast and was poking at the sketchbook he'd left on the table. She looked up when he came into the room, "I heard you coming inside this morning, where these what you were working on?"
"Yeah," Goten said feeling a little embarrassed,"they're all reference stuff for some future landscape projects. I was up early anyways and wanted to do capture some of the local scenery while we're out here."
"The drawings are interesting, the details are all really simple, but it looks like you were focusing on the natural ki lines of the Earth, with the trees and stuff?"
"Oh you recognized them?" That didn't always happen, not everyone Goten showed his work to could sense ki well enough to pick up on what he was going for. He was pretty sure Inka was convinced he was a bit of a new-age nut. "Yeah, they're to go with the photos I was taking, you know you can't really capture ki readings in photography. I mean, sure, if we're throwing around big attacks, you can get those beams and balls of light, but not the natural amounts you have with regular living creatures. So if I want to take reference photos for projects later I have to improvise in the moment. I have to do it in the early morning if I want to get the ki of the plant life before they switch over to their day cycle where they're taking in energy instead of giving it off."
"Huh, that's really neat. Do you have any finished drawings where you captured ki in them?"
"Yeah, I think I have some of it with me." Goten went over to the coffee table where he'd left his tablet to charge after some reading last night. It had been a birthday present from Trunks a few years back, it had a super high definition display and a giant memory storage bank. Trunks had assembled the tablet himself, and had been really excited about the hologram projector it had on it, but those files always took up way to much space which could be better used for some art apps if Goten felt the itch to do some digital work on the go, but mostly it was used to house his giant library of comic files and art reference pictures.
He pulled up one of his project folders and was showing Marron some old work when Trunks eventually staggered out into the room, going straight for the coffee maker like a zombie possessed, before grabbing two of his special protein drinks from the fridge and taking a seat at the table and starting on the first of the bottled drinks.
Goten was very familiar with said drinks, Trunks wouldn't shut up about them for the past year. Trunks had decided that the extra time in bed was a better use of his time in the mornings than eating breakfast, probably inspired by Stapular's constant preaching about how skipping the meal helped him focus, but mostly just out of laziness.
But unlike their human friend, Trunks's biology simply wouldn't let him maintain a morning fast that long, his body needed the calories. So his solution had been to work with his mother to develop the drinks to have in place of an actual meal. Highly caloric and packed with protein, a single one would probably last a full day for an average person. They also had the texture and taste of thick chalky milk. Goten had tried one at Trunks's instance and was not eager to repeat the experience.
Marron reached over and took the one Trunks wasn't chugging and sniffed it before wrinkling her nose, "Appetizing."
"They taste as good as they look." Goten added as Trunks finished the first one with a grimace.
"Then why is he drinking them?" Why indeed.
"I don't eat solids before noon, what am I, a savage?" Trunks retorted and started to inhale his coffee.
"No, you're a highly refined genetically enhanced being with a history of impeccable breeding." Marron responded.
"Don't you forget it."
"Oh, I guess it's too early for sarcasm," Marron sounded more chagrined than Goten had ever heard her before. "My bad."
Trunks ignored her comment. "I need like 10,000 calories a day, and I need to get them in somehow."
Goten sighed, "You know you could just eat food, like people have done since time immemorial."
"Yeah but then I'm wasting time cooking and all that junk, it's easier just to do this. It's called biohacking."
Goten resisted the urge to roll his eyes, "Biohacking is just your dumb term made up for people who are too lazy to just cook food like a normal people."
"Do you know how much time it would take to cook and eat a regular breakfast for myself?"
"Yes. Because I do it. I like actual food and not your engineered liquid substance. Look, I even made breakfast for Marron."
"By the way, GochisÅsama, Goten. Thank you for making me an omelette even when you were already making five for yourself."
"You're welcome, Marron." Goten turned back to Trunks who was still nursing his coffee and hadn't started on the second drink, "Come on Trunks. I want to get a morning spar in before we can move out for the day."
Trunks sighed and rolled his eyes dramatically, "Oh what sins did I commit in a past life to deserve being stuck with an early riser for a sparring partner?" He asked his coffee mug as if it held the answers.
"I'm sure you did plenty," Marron said cheerfully. "You can ask King Yenma to see your record book."
"Well I guess that's something to look forward to doing next time I die."
Twenty minutes later and he and Trunks were finally outside getting warmed up. Goten looked up from his stretches to see Marron dragging a chair outside with her laptop under her other arm.
"You going to watch?" Goten called out to her, unsure what to think. He wasn't used to their sparring having an audience, but then again Marron was a lot better than someone like Vegeta with his judgmental glares.
"Sure, why not? So long as you guys don't mind it. I'm not going to be paying full attention, but sparring makes for nice background noise while I read."
"You say that like you're used to it? Parents do it a lot?" Trunks asked as he finished his leg pulls.
"Yeah, sometimes." Marron said. "Though it's more a workout for my Dad than my Mom, she really just does it for the sake of it."
"Ha, your mom is a workout machine," Trunks taunted. Goten thought about adding a reassurance that coming from Trunks the comment should be taken more of a compliment than an insult, but Marron got the spirit of it. "I guess she is," she laughed.
And then, finally, they were able to start actually getting into the swing of sparring, the warmup throws exchanged and the blows picking up speed. They weren't in a gravity room so it was more about working on a test of speed than of pure strength. Moving as fast as they were, it would have been impossible to track by the naked eye and could only be followed if one was tracking them by their ki.
Goten was able to start to lose himself in the flow, where he was more movement than thought, not having to think about anything. Goten loved that he never had to worry about holding back whenever he was fighting with Trunks, he could handle anything that Goten wanted to dish out. Didn't have to be mindful of a strength disparity, no he could just cut loose and throw himself headlong into the fight at full force.
Even if Trunks won more of their fights than he lost, it usually came down to him not being stronger but more liable to and simply better at cheating than Goten. Which didn't even rankle Goten that much anymore, not when most of the stakes for their fights were stuff like winner got first dibs at attention the next time they were getting intimate.
Goten knew he was lucky.
He'd seen the friendly sparring Gohan and Videl did, where Videl was giving it her all and Gohan was focusing more on holding back than anything else. Or back when he was a kid and his mom had been training Goten himself in the basics of martial arts, she had to always keep reminding him to pull his punches. Then when Goku had come back and Goten got to be on the other side of the equation, when he was the one throwing everything into hitting an impossible target that easily took every blow.
But it wasn't like that with Trunks, Goten didn't have to worry about being delicate with like his mom, but also wasn't being condescended to like with his dad. No, he didn't have to hold back with Trunks because they could both give it their all without worrying about the consequences, they were both hardy enough to take a serious beating and bounce back after even stronger than they were before.
Why was that so reassuring to him? The not having to ever worry, because it was fine, it was safe, it was Trunks. It was perfect, a truth that flowed through them as much as the blood coursed through their veins.
And then of course as the sparring session started to wind down, something else began to wind up. Their fighting became more close quarters and they were grappling more than was strictly necessary, the rush of combat bleeding away into an entirely different rush but one that was just as familiar to Goten.
Then Trunks went for a spectacularly dirty move, and grabbed Goten's dick.
"Oi Ten, I think you're letting yourself get distracted," Trunks teased and the next touch was a lot gentler and slower but still had that strength behind it. "I think that means the win belongs to me."
"You know not every hardon I have is an open invitation for you," Goten retorted, not sure if he was lying more to Trunks or himself with those words.
"I don't know, I mean I'm the cause of it, I think it belongs to me," Trunks smirked, and then he was moving his hand and Goten couldn't help but roll his hips into his grip instead of trying to resist. All the while Trunks continued talking with that casual confidence that did things to Goten, "I'm pretty confident you aren't getting hard sparring with anyone else. And it's only right for me to claim my prize, come on Ten, let me finish what I started."
"Meet me in the shower," Goten groaned out, letting Trunks talk him into it like he always did.
Like he'd done every time before, ever since that first sparring session after they'd both stepped out the other side of puberty.
Puberty had come roaring loud and hard for the both of them.
Goten had had a miserable several weeks where he was exhausted all day and couldn't sleep at night because his mind was racing, and everything was driving him crazy. It had seemed like in less than a month he'd shot up a foot and a half and his body completely changed over night. He had to get a new bed, new clothes, and he kept hitting his head on doorways now. He was famished constantly and for the first time was eating more than Goku or Gohan. He'd been so miserable that his mother had even taken pity on him and let him turn in all his schoolwork remotely as he didn't even think he could really manage flying to meet the homeschooling instructor he normally saw once every week.
Of course, this also meant he was too tired to even consider flying to Capsule Corp so he and Trunks had had to resort to instant messaging and calling to keep in touch. Their mutual distaste for video calls had ensured that Goten was not prepared for what awaited him when Trunks showed up on day once the pains and nerves had begun to die down.
There'd been a knock at his window followed by, "Hey Goten, it's me. Please tell me you didn't grow a tail and have been neglecting to mention it? Dad said it was possible if unlikely and now I'm terrified one's going to suddenly appear."
"No tail for me." Goten reassured as he opened it up and let his best friend into his room, and was shocked to see who stepped through his window. Trunks was taller for sure, but also his entire face had changed, cheeks less full of baby fat, leaving a much more refined look in their place. Goten didn't know what to make of it, it was so different than what he was used to seeing it felt downright surreal, but surely he'd adjust?
Trunks seemed as struck by seeing Goten as Goten was him. "Wow, uh, you really might want to think about getting a haircut Chibi. Well Chibi no longer, I guess."
"Huh?" Goten asked stupidly, still trying to process the sharpness of Trunks's cheekbones.
"You look," and here Trunks paused to brush one of Goten's locks of hair out of his face and Goten was now paying all sorts of attention to the touch, "a lot like Goku right now."
Suddenly the weird looks he'd been getting the past few days from his mom and Gohan, and that surprised double take Goku had given him, were beginning to make a lot more sense.
"Oh wow, meet me in the bathroom with a pair of scissors? Like right now, please?"
Trunks laughed and his voice was deeper now, "Yeah, a new haircut sounds like a good idea, might as well do it now, already gonna have to get used to a bunch of other new things," then he paused and gave Goten another look. "Wait, are you taller than me, Chibi?"
"Maybe?" Goten said, taking another look at their eyeline himself, "Last time I measured I was at 175 cm, assuming I haven't gained any more in the past two days, and I don't think I have."
"That's what, 5'9? So you got two inches on me. Oh man, this is bullshit, I'm a year older and now you're the tall one? Puberty fucking sucks."
Goten laughed at the pout on Trunks's face, "Hah, yeah isn't it kinda weird that this happened for us at the same time? I mean you are a year older."
Trunks threw his arms up, "I don't know, from what little Dad said he made it seem like puberty might be a bit different for us than regular Earthlings? I think my mom called yours and they talked about it or something, because a week ago I got some offhand comment from Dad about synchronization of agemates and fuck all else, which doesn't actually explain anything and leaves me with more questions, but the fact that Dad's not surprised means something? I think?"
"I hate that we have to play divine the Saiyan stuff from your Dad."
"Ugh, tell me about it. I'm sure Gohan's been a much better help for you."
"I mean yeah he's answered some of the questions I had, but he's as much of a wreck hearing them as I am asking them, so I haven't exactly asked about much."
"God you guys are such a family of socially awkward nerds, no wonder you're all a bunch of mountain recluses." Trunks was giving Goten's hair a thoughtful and calculating look. "Well come on, let's go figure out what parts of your hair to chop off."
And Goten had really and truly thought at that moment that they'd reached the limit for all the surprises that the changes had brought. He'd been completely unprepared for the revelations that hit him when they'd flown off to spar later. They'd gone to one of the usual spots a good ways away from the house to not disturb anyone with the noise or possibly even stray energy blasts.
It started like so many times before, though much slower and more clumsy as they were both readjusting to different centers of gravity and figuring out just how long their new limbs could reach.
But the real change didn't hit until the tail end of the fight. Trunks had managed to pin Goten, a semi-frequent occurrence sure, but the second Goten looked into Trunks's gloating face he had a completely different reaction than the many times before.
The rush of arousal filled the air, and it was like someone had turned up the color saturation on a moment from grayscale to painfully bright at once. Judging by how quickly Trunks had frozen and loosened his grip, Goten hadn't been the only one to feel the surprise. (Trunks would later compare it, in a long rambling analogy of which the general gist, was completing a circuit that was live for the first time.) And Goten knew that if he was smart he could have seized the moment to turn it to his advantage, move a limb sharp enough to break Trunks's hold, but he didn't, because he found he didn't want to.
The weird thing was how not weird it was. It should have been, right? Should have been something bigger deal, should have been something huge and monumental, a moment that forever changed things, and of course endlessly more embarrassing. But it wasn't.
"Come on, Goten, it's fine, don't make this weird. It's just us."
And here is the thing about Trunks and Goten, yeah Trunks is the one who leads, he's the one who gets them into trouble, he's the instigator and the bad influence. And oh Goten bickers and argues with him, but that's fun, that's normal. But the truth of it all was Goten can't be talked into doing anything he really, truly, doesn't want to do, and if he keeps letting Trunks talk him into getting into trouble it was because he just made trouble sound like so much fun.
So Goten leaned into his touch, into the rush and the surge of blood in his ears and that weird electric current between them. Let's Trunks slip his hand under the band on his gi and grab his growing erection and Goten moving to return the favor.
It's just Trunks. It's not like it's a big deal or anything. Not like this is anything momentous. Certainly not something he'd just realized he'd been thinking about for a while in half finished thoughts that he'd never put together in just the right way to reveal the whole picture. It was just Trunks.
So the first time Goten ever had sex with someone else, and it was an exchange of messy handjobs outside in a field during the middle of the day that left them with filthy clothes.
He didn't know then that it would become such a regular and entrenched part of him and Trunks from then on. All of their spars now had that extra tinge of sensuality, making it an impossibility to not smell, to not know when the other was enjoying the fighting a little too much.
But at the end of it, what was really different? They were still just what they had always been, best friends and everything that came with it. So what if their fights ended differently now, it didn't mean anything had changed. This was just an extension of what they've always been.
They never needed labels and terms. Because that would make things weird, there was no need.
Goten knew Trunks was his best friend, that was absolute, so what's wrong with staying with that? Sure they were a lot more than that, but that was never going to change was it? So it was better to keep using that term and not any of the scary new ones that could maybe apply.
Now, two years later they'd done a lot more since, but there was still something about the thrum in Goten's blood after a sparring match that excited him.
"Hey what did I say!" Marron yelled at them, her gaze steadily fixed on her laptop and Goten bet it was on purpose.
"Don't worry, we're going inside, we need to shower now. You might want to start up your music though." Trunks called over to her. Marron's only response was to do just that.
Turns out that the stall was big enough for the both of them, but only just barely, and it was a tight fit. The shower only ended after they suddenly found they'd depleted all the hot water. Goten made good on his promise and more, leaving the shower sore in places he wasn't before but it was a good familiar ache. Maybe a lifetime of love for martial arts, or just his stupid, stupid biology, that had warped his senses because he always enjoyed the comfortable pain of sore muscles, it made him feel accomplished and satiated.
So did seeing the bite marks and bruising on Trunks's neck, free from the worry of having to keep them hidden under their clothing from prying eyes Goten might have gotten a little carried away, but Trunks certainly hadn't seemed to mind. They earned themselves a snarky comment or two from Marron when they were dressed and ready to start preparing for the day's drive.
The route to the first Dragon Ball was taking them through more uninhabited areas so Goten had Marron help him whip up some lunch to put in a separate capsule while Trunks was working on establishing a rotation of fuel cells between Cerise and the other cars he brought to give them enough time to recharge before the next usage.
Trunks reassured them that he had at least one car that would run on gasoline if it came to it, but hovercars always worked much better on fuel cells and Goten stopped listening and started humming appreciatively when Trunks started to get into why this was the case. Marron did not yet know the trick to tolerating Trunks's rambles and was looking lost at his words. She didn't know that Trunks rambled about tech because he had a torrent of thoughts that were racing each other to be the first out of his mouth and that while spoken they weren't exactly trying to be heard by an outside listener.
It wasn't until they'd been driving for a bit that Marron hit pause after the last song finished up and asked, "Okay, question for you both, if you guys are sparring like that three times a week, why was Goku on your case back at the Budokai about training more?"
Goten wasn't going to question how Marron had overheard and instead ran his hand over his face before replying, "Mainly because I'm a terrible training partner for him. Not just because of the strength disparity, even if I went Super and he stayed in base, it's still terrible to try to keep up with him. But mainly because it's absolutely no fun for me. I mean I love fighting when it's with Trunks, but otherwise? I mean it's okay I guess. Dad's mostly upset I'm not more into it."
Trunks agreed, "Dad doesn't even really try to train with me at all, probably knows that's a lost cause and just end up being frustrated. It's better for everyone if it's him giving up the Gravity Chamber for me and Goten thrice a week, which is a baseline 'satisfactory' amount to him. He only barely tolerates us giving up one of the sessions of sparring for dancing, and that's only because we crank up the gravity for it. The things I do for Goten."
Goten elbowed him, "Oh stop acting like I'm forcing you into it, I know you have fun."
Goten glanced back and saw that Marron had lit up, "Oh dancing, that does sound like fun. I know that my parents like doing salsa dancing in the city sometimes, Mom says the people who have the most fun doing it are the ones who have the right partner for it."
That was the thing wasn't it? It was always about having the right partner, and when Goten was with Trunks, he was never more certain that they were meant for each other. He just wished he had an idea of what they were meant for and what it meant for them.