Disclaimer: I am far too lazy to come up with quite a complex series such as Dragon ball Z. I don't own it, nor do I wish I owned it, because that sounds like a lot of work…

Summary: 14 drabbles about Goten and Trunks' Valentine's Day.

Word count: 3410

Rated M for language, eventual sexual scenes, etc.

Our First Valentine's Day

Drabble #10- Doves (revised)

"Alright now smile big—big smile!"

Trunks swore that if he heard this man tell him to 'smile big' again, he would personally stab him in the neck.

"No, no, bigger smile, Mr. Brief! Oui, oui, magnifique!"

Well, he'd like to stab him in the neck, but that wasn't exactly socially acceptable, so he should probably refrain. It didn't hurt to dream, though.

"No, no, no, Mr. Brief!" Trunks' brow twitched at the familiar American voice doing a horrible job at trying to mimic a French one. "bigger smile!"

'Don't fucking test me, Tyrese, I'll stab you too.'

Erana rolled her eyes and tugged harshly on one of Tyrese's braids as punishment, but the purpose was defeated considering the fact that she was giggling as well.

Trunks, over the past two years, had formed quite the friendship with Tyrese, even despite no longer being roommates. Likewise, Goten and Erana seemed to hit it off, perfectly setting the field for double dates and the like—which they went on quite often. The two Americans, however, were not used to the wondrous privileges that having a rich and foreign friend provided, and thus were eager to assimilate themselves into whatever it was that the Japanese duo were engaging in—especially involving their wedding. Today they had practically begged to tag along to their magazine photoshoot, and Trunks saw no reason to deny his friends.

'Well I might have, had I known they were going to be annoying pricks,' Trunks scowled at the amused couple. He was quickly drawn back to the camera by the photographer, however, and had to try very hard to hold back an irritated growl.

'Just do what this French dick says and smile. The sooner they get a good picture, the sooner I can go home and watch 'Love and Hip Hop'.'

Moments later he was surprised when the flash of the multiple cameras finally stopped their blinding assault. As he was blinking his vision back, he only just barely overheard the declaration of a break, and thusly allowed his body to deflate in relief. He exhaustedly dropped his head into his hands, careful not to ruin his 'windswept' hairstyle.

Trunks hated photoshoots.

It was a beautiful day, though. The sun was not directly over him but was bright enough that he could still feel it. The flower garden that had been chosen for the photoshoot was beautiful as well: the air was sweet with the tulips, and magnolias, and daisies, and chrysanthemums that littered the area in bunches and clusters—the water droplets on the petals sparkling just rightly in the sunlight. Also, there were doves, which he supposed were to add to the setting. They had only taken a few sets of photos while holding one of the birds. Other than that, the birds were pretty much roaming freely, apparently in hopes to make the scene more "natural".

Yes, the atmosphere was beautiful, but what was even better was that there was no homework; no meeting to rush too; no painfully sleepless night ahead of him for the rest of February. Aside from the cameras and his sore cheeks, he's the most at peace he's been in months.

Goten seemed to be enjoying himself, at least. Man-made as it may be, Goten was naturally at home in the nature-inspired setting. He, on contrast, had been excited to do the photoshoot, his body thrumming with excitement the entire flight over. Trunks supposed he could relate—he had been childishly excited for his first photoshoot (a stupid article for a scientific magazine, no less), but after a while it got quite old and tiring.

After a several moments of silence, Trunks looked over to the younger man sitting next to him on the grass with the intent to start conversation. He stops however, because he's met with a glare. The hostile expression is not aimed at him however, and following the gaze, he's met with another glare, only this one from warm brown eyes. Trunks could have sworn he saw lightning spark between their locked gazes, and it appeared that he was the only one who was noticing the non-verbal but just as violent showdown.

And of course, Goten just had to stick his tongue out, prompting an eye roll and a click of the tongue from Cayon.

Trunks held back an eye roll of his own, his mind flashing back to the tirade Goten had gone into about how annoyed he was that Cayon had to be there, and vice versa when he had spoken to the blond-brunet before the cameras were set up.

Trunks was surrounded by children.

"Hey," he said in an effort to get Goten's attention off of the other male. These two would never get along, but at this point, Trunks couldn't care less. As long as they weren't actively trying to kill each other, they could feel however they damn well pleased about one another.

Goten looked over, stretching his arms over his head. "What are they doing? Why did they stop taking pictures?"

"We're on a break."

Fuck this break—Trunks just wanted to go home. They had been here for nearly two hours now, and most of the time had been spent getting their makeup done, styling their hair, and carefully selecting their wardrobe. The actual picture-taking wasn't so bad, if it wasn't for the constant repositioning and endless reminders to fucking smile.

Trunks peered his eyes up at the photographer, who was fiddling around with his camera. The man wasn't really a dick he supposed, just annoying. It was more that the situation itself was a dick. Honestly, didn't people have more interesting things to do than look at his face on a magazine cover?

He supposed he should be grateful though. The target audience were, of course, the Japanese, and yet the photoshoot was taking place in Louisiana. Not exactly a quick flight from their little apartment, but close enough that he wouldn't die from exhaustion. He had an essay to revise and submit, but that was the last of the homework (and then he could watch 'Love and Hip Hop'). Once the essay was done and submitted, he would have no more schoolwork to complete before they left on their honeymoon.

'Don't think about the wedding. You get weird every time you think about it.'

Even though the whole point of the photoshoot was their wedding. The public just needed to have adorable, love-filled photos of their favorite homosexual couple before they were married.

He said that he wouldn't think about that though, so he stopped.

"I'm so bored," Goten groaned after a few moments.

"That sounds like a personal problem," Trunks responded.

Goten groaned again and rolled onto his back, throwing his arm over his eyes to protect them from the brightness of the sky.

Trunks rolled his eyes. "Goten, you can't take a nap in the middle of a photoshoot."

Goten was so still that Trunks wouldn't be surprised if he was already asleep. Trunks rolled his eyes again but figured that Goten should be fine. The hairdressers did not even attempt to style the Son's painfully spiky locks and thus they could not be ruined, and as long as he didn't move around, his clothes shouldn't wrinkle.

Trunks couldn't possibly sleep on the grass (he would be too wary of bugs crawling on him, yuck). Goten, however, looked quite peaceful, though Trunks supposed that was what happened when you were raised in the forest all your life.

Trunks turns away and watches the scene before him. Amidst the photographers and assistants bustling about he can see Cayon somehow flirting with both Erana and Tyrese at the same time, much to girl's amusement and the boy's discomfort.

Cayon would never change, that was for sure. Not that Trunks would want him any other way.

His entertainment is cut off however as he feels his ears twitch at the unmistakable sound of flapping wings. Turning his head, he was met with the sight of a pure white dove fluttering towards them and making no signs of stopping.

Trunks felt the inklings of panic, but the bird was already flying past his face as if he wasn't even there. It was much more interested in Goten, it seemed, seeing as how it came to land right on his chest.

Trunks stared, and then stared some more, completely shocked as the bird settled itself more comfortably on his humanoid perch, Goten still completely undisturbed. Moments passed by and neither did the bird open up its wings and fly away nor Goten show any signs of awakening. It took a while, but finally Trunks concluded that he was not, in fact, hallucinating but was simply witnessing what was clearly a miracle of the universe.

He gave a silent laugh. Goten seemed to love pointing out how deep of a sleeper Trunks was, and yet hadn't even stirred to having a creature treat him as a landing pad.

Maybe the bird would poop on him, that would certainly be disturbing.

Quite amused but politely cautious, he slowly—so as not to disturb the scene—laid onto his side next to his lover, careful to keep his face from touching the grass with his folded hands. Settled and comfortable, he contented himself with studying the other.

Goten was just as handsome asleep as he was awake. It was a shame that his impossibly black eyes were hidden, but every other feature more than enough made up for it. Any of the baby fat he had retained as a teen had completely faded away, leaving a man who looked so much like his father and brother that they all might as well be triplets. His lips looked soft, and his skin seemed even paler from the sun and subtle makeup. Not that Trunks didn't already know these things. He's long since memorized every detail of his beloved.

So, he trails his eyes down to the bird. It isn't completely white, he notices. Along his feathers are brown splotches, and along the back of its neck is a black stripe.

Even though they weren't much more than white pigeons, Trunks liked doves. He even liked this one, as imperfect as it was. Doves were symbols of peace, and love, and purity. Just looking at it now all Trunks could think of was beautiful, quiet innocence.

It reminded him of Goten in some ways. Not the quietness of course, but the love definitely, and the innocence, and even the purity. Crude as Goten could be, he was undoubtedly pure of heart—way more than Trunks would ever be, that was for sure.

Pure, innocent, and full of love. That was Goten, alright, and always would be. Even at his worst, he would always be pure.

It was a fact because he'd seen Goten at his worst—his true worst. His absolute worst had been the day he'd lost his mother, though Trunks didn't allow himself to think about that day much. That had been a very bad day for everyone, and thus was banished from all their minds.

So, then what was the second worst? Well, he supposed he already knew the answer to that. He figured, if he had to pick, that it was that day so long ago. The day they had spent in the forest, both of them grimy and raw with emotion. Not nearly as severe as his true worst, but painful all the same.

"You mean everything to me!"

He could hear his own voice—shaky with tears and frustration—ringing so clearly in his head that he might as well have said those words yesterday, when in reality it had been over two years. Despite how well he could remember it, it still felt like much longer ago. He'd been such a child back then—a child who loved but was too new and too scared to show it. His insecurities had been so bad back then, but he supposed for good reason. The person he loved the most was under the impression that he didn't care about him at all. What other conclusion could he draw that he was just a bad lover? He's certain that Goten doesn't feel that way anymore—Trunks likes to think that he's improved since then—but it definitely was a hard funk to pull himself out of.

Looking back, it baffles him how silly it was—their entire relationship nearly thrown away over a drunken misunderstanding. It had been so stupid, but almost so devastating real. It was for that reason that, as embarrassing as his behavior that day had been, he did not regret those words he has said in his true and utter perturbation. He remembers the panic he felt, the raw desperation to make Goten understand. He had been so scared, so scared that he'd lose this.

He could have lost this.

Or who knows, maybe they would have worked something out eventually—maybe in a less dramatic and less emotion-driven way. The camping trip aside, they couldn't avoid each other forever. Once their hurt feelings were allowed to simmer, who knows how easy it could have been for them to realize the very big error in their situation and properly fix the problem...

Not that Trunks really cared either way. Regardless of how it happened, everything had worked out and that was all that mattered. Sure, their relationship had been a bit rocky afterwards, but they were together, and Goten knew the truth of the feelings he was too afraid to express.

That was another reason Trunks didn't regret his words—they were not lies. It had been true then and was true now. Goten was everything to him. Goten had always been everything to him.

The realization of his thoughts hit him so hard that he gasped, catching the dove's attention for a moment, before it went back to resting. It seemed such a strange thing to be surprised over—after all, he's always known how much Goten has meant to him.

But that was the whole point, and somehow it had taken Trunks so long to see it! Goten meant everything to him—no, they meant everything to each other. Over the years, that fact had more than enough made itself abundantly clear. They lived together. They cuddled. They went on dates. They fought. They kissed. They were best friends. With all of their hearts they loved each other and weren't afraid to say so.

So, what was changing from this wedding that made Trunks so nervous? Was their relationship the past three years any less valid than it would be for the rest of their lives? Did two pretty rings and a piece of paper suddenly turn their relationship into something more meaningful; something more real?

No, it didn't. Aside from legally binding them together, their marriage didn't really do much at all. They would love each other just as much as they did the day before the wedding as they would the day after. No document could change that.

So why was he so shaken up over it? Was it the prospect of children that marriage seemed to open up? He won't deny that he hadn't even thought about kids until he started to think about the wedding. However, while the thought of them still made him uncomfortable, he was smart enough to know that children were not synonymous with marriage. While it would be more socially acceptable, they didn't need to be married to have children. Given his status, married or not they could have them within the next few months just as easily as they could fifteen years from now. Kids were not the problem.

What was it then? Was it simply the thought of giving himself to Goten forever? To bind the two of them together as one?

But... he'd already done that. Disregarding the fact that they could literally fuse themselves as one person, they had always been two halves of the same whole. There was nothing on this Earth that could make him believe that a paper binding them as one was more powerful than the personal connection that had been there even before they had begun to love each other in this way. They didn't need to be married to prove the depth of their devotion; they would always be just as committed to each other, ceremony or no.

So then why did they do it? Why would Goten propose to him in the first place? He had to have thought of things in the same way Trunks was doing right now, so what was the point?

But the answer was obvious.

The point was that it was a promise. It was the most important promise of all.

Goten loved him. He loved him so much that he wanted to stand up in front of a room full of people and pledge it. He wanted his promise to stay with, care for, and always love Trunks to be heard—and he wanted to hear it back. It was important to Goten, so very seriously important.

It was important to Trunks too. It had always been important to Trunks, only now he knew why, and had no reason to be afraid of it anymore.

It wasn't a promise that they were making out of obligation. It was a promise based on choice. A choice to let others witness the tenderness of their attachment; a choice to have it in writing; a choice to wear jewels that would symbolize it forever. That was why they were getting married.

Who cared if they were moving too fast? Who cared if they were young and only just understanding what it truly meant to be an adult? Who cared if it wasn't 'normal'? It didn't matter. It didn't fucking matter.

It was a choice that Trunks wanted to make and make it he would. They would make it together.

He wanted to marry Goten, and for the first time, he means that with no shadow of a doubt. He wants to say his vows—loudly so Goten will hear the words and never forget. He wants to promise Goten that he will love him forever, even if he already knows. He wanted to slide the ring made by the two of them onto his finger so that he will always remember.

He wants to marry Goten.

He can't wait to marry Goten.

'Seriously? It took me two years and a pigeon to figure this out?'

To be completely honest, he was an idiot who didn't deserve the loving, and innocent, and pure person that Goten was.

But Trunks was selfish, and faulty, and oh so loving too and would hold onto him as tightly as he could—forever if need be.

Trunks blew air out a bit roughly from his nose, prompting Goten to open his eyes and tilt his head to the side until their gazes met, confirming that he hadn't been asleep at all. Those black eyes were calm, but there was something else there—something rather beautiful. It was like his eyes were looking at his whole world.

Trunks wondered if the same thing was reflecting in his own eyes.

'I love him. I love him. He's mine. He will always be mine.'

The shift of Trunks' body disturbed the dove, prompting it to fly away as he pressed his lips against his fiancé's, and he wondered if the kiss they would soon share on the altar would be as sweet.

XXX

Their kiss had been used as the cover for the magazine.

The dove and its outstretched wings covered the corner of the frame and half of Goten's face, but not in an obnoxious way. Their eyes were closed and aside from lying on the grass they weren't in any special position. The sun didn't shine down on them in any type of appealing ways, and Trunks' windswept hair was clearly mussed unintentionally, but nothing could overshadow the genuine love in the photo that only the most skilled of photographers could ever capture.

He wonders idly how they even managed to take the picture at such an angle without him noticing and was more than a bit annoyed that they had taken such an intimate moment and used it for something as superficial as a magazine cover, but he couldn't deny that it was a damn good picture.

End