The sun was shining, and the sky was still blue as the Son and the Briefs Family with Uub walked onto the beach. The children helped their parents set up the beach equipment while Pan, Videl, the Ox King, and Uub slipped by them and dove into the water.

Chichi and Bulma sat down on the chairs, deciding to get some sun while Goku, Gohan, Vegeta, and Bulla decided to join their friends and family in the water. Goten was trying to decide if he should relax first and then go into the water accept that he had been sleeping on and off for most of the day.

'I still feel kind of weird though and aren't saiyans known to recover quickly from illness. There's no way I should be feeling sick unless I'm not sick.' He came out of his thoughts to a hand on his shoulder.

"You're definitely thinking too much," said Trunks. "You've been lazy all day. It's time to exercise your body."

Goten blushed as he thought of a different exercise he wanted to do with his best friend. 'No, no stop that Goten. You know you can't do anything.' The shot in his dream came to mind. If my mom finds out, she might kill me. It's best to just ignore my feelings and hope they go away.'

While he was still in deep thought he didn't notice Trunks had him over his shoulder, bringing him to the water. When Goten finally came out of his thoughts, he noticed he was now in his best friend's arms with the water around Trunks' ankles.

"Trunks! What are you up to?" he asked as Trunks smirked.

"You'll see." Trunks jumped up from the water, and they both went down under the water.

Under the water Goten saw Trunks' playful smile at him before letting him go and as Goten rose to the surface with Trunks, Goten shouted, "you jerk!"

"You needed to come back down to reality Goten. You've been too much in your head lately. I was just trying to help."

Goten let go of his frown and smiled. "Thanks Trunks."

"Now," Trunks smirked, "to have some fun."

"Yeah!" exclaimed Pan. "Water fight!"

After all the fun in the water, Trunks decided to sit out for while to get some sun while Chichi decided to join her friends and family in the water. Bulma smiled at the sight as she lowered her book and took her sunglasses off, facing her son.

"Trunks, we need to talk," she said.

"You sound serious about something, so what's going on mother?"

"Sweetie your father, sister, and I know about your feelings for Goten." She watched as her son tensed up, and there was fear in his eyes. "Trunks, it's ok. We're all behind you son."

"Even dad?"

"He's the one who knew first just by observing you with Goten."

"And he doesn't hate me?"

"Of course not Trunks he loves you."

"I wasn't planning on anyone knowing, but you promise Bulla, you and dad won't tell anyone."

"We promised that on the RV." She smiled. "Are you going to tell Goten?"

"No, he can never know about how I feel for him."

Bulma decided she had enough of sitting out in the sun as she walked into the water. She was troubled by how adamant Trunks was not to tell Goten how he feels about him. 'Maybe he wouldn't be able to handle the rejection; after all they've always been pretty close all their lives. It would just pain him to lose him as a best friend.'

She dove into the water and when she reached the surface, she smiled as she saw her daughter swimming along side her boyfriend Uub, kissing him occasionally on the lips as she laughed at something he said. 'Is it too much to ask for both my kids to be happy?' she thought to the sky.

As she felt strong arms around her, she smiled, feeling her mate's lips on her neck. "Vegeta, you know we can't do anything here."

"I disagree," as he turned his mate around and kissed her passionately on the lips while his hands rested on her hips.

Her arms went around his neck as she sighed into the kiss. Pulling away to breath, Bulma smiled. "I stand corrected."

"Woman what's wrong now?"

"Nothing's—She could tell by the look on his face saying he wasn't buying what she was saying. She sighed, "fine, our son," she looked around making sure no one else could hear them, "doesn't plan on ever telling Goten about his feelings. I'm just trying to figure out why."

"We can't get involved Bulma. He has to find his own way to the brat."

"Are you insane Vegeta? He finally finds someone we know is stable and a good person for him to be with, and you just want to let him be unhappy for the rest of his life, never pursuing his feelings for Goten."

"You won't have to worry about it. Their saiyan instincts will lead them to each other if in fact they are destined to be saiyan mates."

"Have I ever told you how much I love saiyans?"

Vegeta smiled. "Really, is their one in particular?"

"Oh I can think of one," she smiled as they connected lips once again.

"Are you two going to be making out all day?" asked Bulla," because we're all going out to eat."

After eating a meal fit for saiyans, Videl, Gohan, Pan and the Ox King decided to go back in the water, Bulma, Bulla, and Chichi went into town to buy some supplies as well as clothes, Vegeta decided to take a nap on the RV while Uub decided to use his girlfriend's laptop to contact his family in India, telling all about the road trip in a separate room from where Vegeta was sleeping, and Trunks and Goten were in the other RV.

Trunks was in the shower, rinsing off the water and sand all over his body. A sudden feeling came over him as he closed his eyes, imaging his best friend in the shower with him, holding him and touching in places not suitable for children to know about.

Once he opened his eyes and looked down, he knew he was in trouble as he blushed. 'Just great this has to happen now while by best friend is in the RV with me.' He sighed, 'just do it quickly and try not to make a sound no matter how much you want to.'

Trunks released as he sighed in pleasure but as he took a step forward, he tripped on the bar of soap he used a few minutes before, and fell down onto the shower floor, shooting his essences around the bathroom wall. "F**ck! Ow!"

A frantic knock sudden came to the door. "Trunks are you ok? I heard a crash."

"Yea—yeah I'm fine I just tripped on a bar a soap," he said as he stood up, wincing at the bruise forming on his back. "Damn it," he thought he muttered it under his breath until his friend spoke again.

"You don't sound ok Trunks, I'm coming in."

"No! Goten don't—

"Oh my kami," he said as he looked at the walls of the bathroom.

Trunks turned the water off, reached out his hand from the curtain to grab a towel, wrapped around him and came out with his face blushing as he closed the door. "Don't tell anyone about this Goten."

"I—I won't," he said as he laughed. "This is too embarrassing to tell. Why were you doing THAT in the bathroom?"

"None of your business."

"You're right it's not." He noticed the bruise on his best friend's back as he came closer to him. "Are you all right? That bruise looks pretty nasty." Curiosity was in his blood as he found himself touching the bruise with his hand.

"G—Goten." Trunks could feel a spark enter his body as his best friend touched the bruise with such tenderness and then he did something unexpected. He watched as his friend leaned down and kissed the bruise.

As Goten stood up, he smiled. "There, it should be better in no time." I'll clean the bathroom up for you. You should probably just steer clear of bars of soap." The raven-haired man laughed again.

"Ha, ha very funny Goten," Trunks said sarcastically. "But seriously thanks for not telling anybody about this. I'm sure I would never live this down."

"No problem Trunks and you're probably right about that."

When the bathroom door closed behind Trunks, Goten began to clean up the bathroom. He let out a breath he felt he had been holding ever since he walked in on the essence filled bathroom.

Goten couldn't help but stare at his friend's well built, wet body as it came out of the shower. 'Th—this isn't going to work. I feel my instincts inside me crying out for me to make him my mate.'

After making sure the bathroom was spotless, he walked out of the bathroom to see fully dressed Trunks relaxing on the couch watching the news on TV. Trunks turned around when he sensed his friend and smiled at his best friend.

"There's no evidence left of your escapade in the bathroom," he laughed.

"I have a feeling you're not going to let me live I down."

Goten sat beside him. "Gee, what was your first clue?"

"It should have been when you came bursting into the bathroom because you thought I wasn't ok."

"So? Now that this secret is just between us, can you at least tell me who you were thinking about?"

"No." He blushed.

"Why not?" he pouted.

"It's personal that's why."

"Says the guy who slept with many women. You weren't exactly private with that."

"It's hard to be when the media's always following me, and I'm not like that anymore. I am a private person believe it or not. I like to keep things to myself."

"I—I'm sorry Trunks," he said as Trunks smiled.

"Don't worry about it Goten. We haven't really seen much of each other since your dad defeated the shadow dragons and well I've been busy running Capsule Corporation and you've been busy with your now ex-girlfriend."

"I—wait are you pinning this all on me?"

"I'm only saying if you wanted to see me, you could have made it possible."

"My relationship with Valese wouldn't have stopped you from seeing me if you really wanted to."

"So what? We both didn't really want to see each other?"

"I think we grew apart when we grew up. Life pulled us in different directions."

"Yeah, but we promised when we were kids we promised we would always be together no matter what life brought our way."

"Trunks! We were kids, and life was less complicated then it is now."

"So why can't we pick up where we left off all those years ago?"

"Because things have changed. We're not the same people we were when we were kids."

"Ok, we can't pick up where we left off but we can start fresh. You're still my best friend Goten. I hope that hasn't changed."

"No," he smiled, "that's the one thing that hasn't changed."

"How do we start over?" Trunks said with a serious tone in his voice.

"Well," Goten smiled, "first you tell me who you were thinking about."

"No," Trunks laughed.

"Oh come on Trunks."

"I don't know why you want to know so badly?" Trunks smirked as Goten blushed.

"You know lets just forget about the whole thing."

"That's what I've been trying to do."

"I bet you have," Goten laughed as Trunks got him in a chokehold. "Hey!"

"You know the drill Goten," he smiled playfully, "say uncle."

"I—I won't surrender," he said as he tried to get out of the grip of his best friend.

While Goten was still struggling, Trunks was enjoying every minute of it until he felt himself trip over something with Goten landing on top of him.

"Oof," said Trunks, landing on his back where another bruise was forming where the first one was made.

Goten smiled innocently on his friend. "Now it's your turn to say uncle," he said as he started to tickle Trunks.

"G—Goten st—stop i—it," he said as he was laughing.

"All you have to do is say uncle and it's all over."

"Ne—never," he said as tears ran down his cheeks.

While Trunks was laughing hysterically, he became very aware that his young friend was straddling him as heat came to his cheeks.

"Uncle Goten, grandma says she wants to—oh my kami what are you doing to Trunks?" The two quickly got off each other and stood up.

"Just playing around like old times Pan," said Goten.

"Is that what you two were doing?" she smiled. "I think I should ask Papa."

"Wait Pan, no!" Trunks said as he followed her out of the RV.

Goten watched as Trunks chased after Pan onto the beach. As he was about to join them, his mother called out to him. He turned towards her to see her hanging outside the door of the other RV.

"Hey mom, what's going on?" he asked as she took him inside the RV.

"Well," she smiled, "Bulma, Bulla, and I just came back from town. You wouldn't believe how many pretty girls we saw. You should really go into town before we leave the beach and have some fun."

"Mom, I'm not really—

"Nonsense you need to get back out there Goten. You're a nice boy, and you deserve a nice girl to settle down with and have children." Bulma suddenly came bursting inside the RV, interrupting the mother son conversation. "Bulma, what's wrong?" she asked.

"Gohan and Trunks are fighting."

"Bulma their saiyans of course they're going to spar every once in a while."

"No, they're not sparing Chichi. They got into a argument with each other."

"Do you know what it's about?"

"No, but we should go and find out."

The two women left Goten in the RV. He finally let out the breath he had been keeping in ever since his mother started talking about the life she wanted for him. "I—I don't want it." He could feel his resolve slipping. His hair and eyes were changing, but he knew he had to hang on as he returned to his regular eye and hair color. 'As soon as we get back home, I'm moving out. I can't take it anymore.'

Wiping the tears away from his face, he sat down at the table and took a look outside the window to see his best friend and older brother being held back by their fathers. 'I wonder what happened to get them fighting like that.'

"Uncle Goten."

He turned to face his frantic niece as he got up and followed her outside. "Pan, what's wrong?"

"I—it's my fault. I told by Papa about what you and Trunks were doing in the RV and then he came up to Trunks, who was behind me. They just started to yell at each other."

"What exactly did you tell Gohan Trunks and I were doing?"

"Just wrestling around the floor."

"Why would he get so mad about that?"

"I don't know accept—

` "Accept?"

"Well you know when you were recovering from food sickness?" he nodded. "My Papa and Trunks were talking at the restaurant, and Trunks sounded really concerned about you. My Papa got suspicious about Trunks' concern, which he thinks is more than concern for you."

"Oh no," he rubbed his temples.

"You have to straighten the whole thing out before they kill each other."

"You're right Pan."

Goten walked over to his brother Gohan who was sitting a safe distance from Trunks. He was calming down with his father beside. "Hey dad, do you think I can talk to Gohan alone." Goku nodded and walked towards the RV.

"Gohan, what did you think you were doing?"

"Trunks has been a good friend to you Goten, but it's not smart to get more involved then that."

"What are you talking about? We were just messing around with each other like when we were kids. I don't have any feelings for Trunks passed friendship." It hurt so much to lie to himself, but he knew it would be for the best.

"Goten, I think Trunks does have deeper feelings for you passed friendship."

"And you decided to beat the crap out of each other because?"

"He said it was none of my business. What happens between you two are between you two."

"Trunks is right about that Gohan. His feelings are his business not yours, and you know what I'm an adult. I don't need my older brother defending me. I am more than capable of doing that myself." He sighed in frustration. "Kami I'm so sick of being babied all the time by you and by mom."

"I'm sorry Goten I didn't realize I was being so overbearing and what's been happening with you and mom?"

"I accept your apology just lay off of Trunks ok?"

"All right. So, what's going on with you and mom?"

"She's trying to get me married off with children, and I'm still getting over Valese."

"I can try and talk to her if you want to try and get her to back off the subject." He watched his younger brother smile.

"Thanks Gohan I'll really appreciate it."

"No problem." Goten let out a sigh of relief as Gohan disappeared into the RV.

"Hey." Goten turned to see his best friend Trunks, who looked kind of nervous.

"Trunks what happened?"

"Well I went after to Pan to make sure she wouldn't say anything to your brother because I knew he would take it the wrong way. I was too late and then we got into an argument about how I need to keep my hormones in check."

"Oh my kami he said that."

"I was surprised to and then he told me if I have any feelings for you passed friendship, that I shouldn't even think of pursuing you because apparently I'm an awesome best friend to you, but I would make a bad boyfriend for you."

"And what did you say?"

"I told him what happens between us is our business and not his. You know I think he's overprotective of you."

"Well he helped my mom raise me when my father was in other world."

"I guess I can understand that he's just looking out for you."

"He still had no right to start a fight with you Trunks, and I told him to back off of you."

"Thanks Goten." He smiled.

Goten just wanted to melt into a puddle right there on the spot. Trunks always had this way of making him feel all warm inside. "Sure," he smiled back at him.

"Hey Goten! Your mom said you two were going back into town tonight. She's waiting for you right now," said Bulla as she could tell this surprised Goten.

"What does she think she's doing?" he asked as he made his way to the RV.

Shouts could be heard between mother and son in one of the RVs, resulting with Goten walking out and running straight onto the sand and into the water to cool off. He swam and swam so hard his arms were beginning to hurt from the strain until he eventually dove into the water, swimming deeper and deeper until he couldn't see anything.

Closing his eyes, he tried to find peace in the darkness and he started to cry. It wasn't enough to shake the earth, but it was enough to hurt him inside. Holding his own body close with his arms, they weren't enough to comfort him.

Suddenly he heard a motion in the water. Opening his eyes, he saw Trunks underwater swimming towards him. When he got close enough to Goten, he took his best friend in his arms, holding him close.

Trunks could feel his friend shake in his arms, which only encouraged him to hold him tighter. 'It's going to be ok Goten. I won't let her hurt you again.'

Goten's eyes widened. 'Trunks, I can hear you in my head. How's that possible?'

'You know when we fused as kids?' He felt his friend nod against him. 'Well the technique bonded our mind so we can speak to each other using telepathy.'

'Wow! Cool.'

Trunks rolled his eyes. 'It's good to know your amazement of things hasn't changed.' He smiled.

They parted in the water and swam to the surface together. Once they breached the surface, they smiled at each other.

Trunks smirked. "So, you want to keep this secret between us?"

"Yeah, I can imagine that being fun."

"Come on we should probably get out of the water and get some sleep. We're leaving the beach tomorrow."

They stepped onto the sand to see the sky was dark and dinner was being prepared. Trunks began walking but noticed Goten wasn't walking with him, so he stopped and turned to his friend.

"Trunks."

"Yeah Goten."

"Do you have feelings for me beyond friendship?"

"I—

"Diner's ready," shouted Pan.

Trunks looked at his friend and decided his lie would be for the best. "No, your brother's just seeing things that aren't there."

"Well that's what I thought."

Goten could feel his heart breaking into a million pieces as Trunks walked away. He knew he wasn't going to pursue Trunks, but he really didn't think about how Trunks would feel about the whole situation. He didn't think about the rejection, and it hurt more than he could even describe.

Trunks walked away from his best friend, deeply hurt that he had lied to the one person he cared about the most in the world. 'It's for the best, but he's the one who asked me so is it possible he—he shook his head, 'no or else he would have told me if he felt anything fro me.' Somehow his thoughts didn't reassure him. 'What if he does? I just rejected him.' He turned around to see his friend behind him. "Hey Goten, are you in love with me?"

Goten stopped in his tracks. 'Did he say love?' He smiled. 'Yes I love you so much Trunks.' He turned around to his best fried and lied to him. "No, my brother's reading too much into it. You're my best friend." He felt his heart ache as he said those very words, but it was too dangerous to be with him. 'I'd have to fight, and I'm just not sure I have it in me.'

He felt Trunks' arm around his shoulder. "Good, now lets eat." Goten laughed as they made their way inside separate RVs.