Disclaimer: I Do Not Own DragonBall Z or Any Of Its Characters

Crush

By: Nova Starlight

2nd Period: I Wanna Scream "I Love You" from The Top of My Lungs, but I'm Afraid Someone Else Will Hear Me.

When Goten had returned to the class room from his meeting with Ryoki, he wondered if Trunks was curious about the meeting. He had hoped that when he would look over, he would catch Trunks looking back at him, but it never happened. Every time that he glanced over, Trunk was looking out the window or seemingly absorbed in his book. He sighed and felt the weight of his disappointment on his shoulders. What had he expected….really? It had been stupid of him to think that if he showed up at school in some tighter clothing that anyone, much less Trunks, was going to take any special notice. He found himself trying to let it go but as all of these thoughts and doubts ran through his mind, he found himself chewing his lip in frustration.

At that moment, the usually ambivalent Trunks was watching Goten intently. He had noticed that Goten kept looking over at him, and every time he had managed to look away in time. He would catch the slight flash of movement as he was preparing to turn and look back, and he would look away. He was not sure why Goten had kept looking over, or why he now seemed so upset. He noticed that Goten was chewing at his lip, appearing frustrated. He had been acting very strangely today. For example, he had shown up to school today in those tight clothes with his hair cut. Was he trying to impress some girl? Was there someone Goten was after? The thought shocked him, but why was he so surprised? He and Goten were average high school boys, he himself had been on hundreds of dates. So, why did it shock him to think that Goten might be interested in someone?

He shook his head and he had gotten off his original focus. This could not just be about some girl, Goten had taken off with that damn Ryoki, after all. It did not make any sense, he had been avoiding him since freshman year. Why in the world would he agree to talk to Ryoki, he had to have known it would just be about joining the soccer team. Maybe, the girl Goten was interested in liked soccer players. Damn, it all came back to a girl. He wondered what this girl was like, that Goten was so hung up on. He looked over again, taking in Goten's new look.

Just yesterday, Goten had long spiky hair, had worn a baggy t-shirt over jeans and sneakers. Now, he saw him with his short hair cut, styled and spiked upward. His shirt was tight and showed off the outlines of his well muscled body. He had almost not recognized him this morning when he had seen him standing beside his locker. He had noticed a bit of a hitch in his voice as he had greeted him, one that thankfully had gone unnoticed by Goten. He peeked over at him now and saw that he was scribbling away in his notebook and chewing at his lip.

He could not have explained it to anyone, especially himself, but at that moment he found his focus intently fixed on Goten's mouth. Goten's perfect white teeth, chewing anxiously at his lip. Every few seconds he paused, and his tongue slipped through his lips and moved smoothly over where his teeth had been grinding. He caught the movement in Goten's face and managed to look away just in time. He could feel color flooding in to his face. He gasped as he felt the heat in his face and in his body. Inadvertently, his body had been reacting to the image of those lips, tongue, and teeth in ways it should not have been reacting. Damn, what the hell was wrong with him? He looked back over at Goten and this time their eyes met. He turned his head back quickly and out of the corner of his eye, he could see that Goten looked upset.

…

By the time, lunchtime had rolled around, Trunks was anxious to speak with Goten. Though everyone was aware of Trunks given his reputation with girls and his family's status, he had decided from the first day of high school that he would only sit at a table with Goten. When people came up to the pair to chat, they had never been invited to sit down. When they took their seats, he had expected Goten to be his usual cheerful self, but he was strangely quiet. He looked a million miles away, he wondered what he could be thinking about. "Hey Goten," he called out, waving his hand in front of his face.

He snapped out of it with a start and then had a goofy smile on his face.

"Sorry was I zoning out? he asked.

"Yeah," he replied with a smile of his own. "Since, you did not answer me this morning, I was wondering if you wanted to come over after school today to do a little training?" It had seemed to be a light topic of conversation to him, but he saw a look of panic cross Goten's face.

"I can't," he replied. "Ryoki convinced me to join the soccer team, and there is practice today."

He was not sure exactly what came over him at that moment, but he was angry. "Why in the world would you participate in something as stupid as school sports?" The look on Goten's face made him want to take back to words but he did not, he could not stop himself. "You already know you are faster and stronger than all these pathetic weaklings, what in the world could you get out of it?"

In that second, Goten got defensive. "Wow, you really sound like your dad," he commented snidely. From the look on his face after he said it, it looked like Goten had wanted to take back his comment too. Instead the silence hung heavy between them and would have remained if not for the approach of a girl. Trunks had noticed her walking towards their table. Her name was Miki and to be honest she was sort of the female version of Trunks. She was a girl who chewed up high school boys hearts and spit them out. Despite her status as the hottest girl in school, Trunks had never taken any special interest in her. She flipped her long hair and walked right up to their table and took the seat next to Trunks.

At this moment, he would usually have made some rude comment that would get rid of whoever had just taken a seat at their table, but he needed a distraction. "Why Miki, to what do I owe the honor of your presence?" he asked with a flirtatious smile.

"Well, I just happened to hear that you are single, and I thought maybe you and I should get together some time," she responded with a perfect smile, and subtle batting of her thick eyelashes. He was not surprised by her question, if anything it seemed an inevitability that someday they would date.

"Well, I happen to be free this evening, do you have any plans?" he asked. As Miki was answering, his attention was drawn to Goten. He had quickly stood and walked towards the cafeteria doors, leaving his tray untouched on the table.

Goten had managed to make it to the men's room before he felt the tears in his eyes. He quickly hurried into the stall and sat there with his head in his hands. From the moment Miki had taken a seat at their table he had felt invisible He had expected for Trunks to get rid of her, but instead he had responded to her, even asked her out. He knew it was silly to expect that Trunks would choose him over a girl, guys did not do stuff like that. This pain was necessary, he needed to get some distance from Trunks, so he would not keep getting hurt like this. He wiped at his eyes and left the stall to check his appearance in the mirror. He did not walk back out in to the hallway until he was confident that no one could tell he had been crying. He considered going back in to the cafeteria since there was nearly twenty minutes left in lunch period, but he did not want to watch Trunks and Miki flirting anymore.

As he made his way back to the classroom, he stopped and peeked into the gymnasium. It was a freshman P.E. class and they were kicking soccer balls into a net. He saw Ryoki standing by one of the freshman, it looked like he was giving him directions. The kid looked small and confused standing next to him. He could not keep himself from smiling and he quietly walked into the gym to watch. After a few minutes, he noticed that Ryoki was looking back at him with a beaming smile on his face. He could feel himself blushing, had he been staring? He heard the bell ring and rushed out towards his classroom.

When he walked in late, he hung his head as the teacher lectured him. When he took his seat he sighed and picked up his book. He wanted to look over at Trunks, but he resisted the urge. For all he knew, he was lost in fantasies about him and Miki and everything they would be doing together after school. He suddenly felt a piece of paper hit him in the side of his head and then land on his desk. It was a note, he looked over at Trunks and he was looking right back at him. He opened the folded paper and read,

Hey Goten,

Is there something up with you? You have been acting weird. Why did you take off at lunch? Are you jealous or something? I mean if you want a girl I'm sure I could hook you up with someone.

Goten was furious, he crumpled up the note and tossed it into the nearby wastebasket. He looked over at Trunks and met his eyes letting the anger that he felt show. If Trunks was so blind that he thought this was about jealousy, then they definitely needed some distance from each other. Not only was he now even more sure that joining the soccer team had been a good idea, he was thinking of ways he could put more distance between them. Well, Trunks had made it obvious that their lunch table was no longer an exclusive thing, maybe he should find somewhere else to sit. He did not speak to Trunks, or pass him any notes for the rest of the day. He tried not to think about it.

At the end of the day after he had gathered his books, he had found himself heading down the hallway towards Trunks's locker. He stopped suddenly and turned around towards the practice field. What would be the point of seeing Trunks before he left, he had no idea what to say to him. He might as well just go to soccer practice and then he could go home alone and do his homework. When he arrived on the field, Ryoki seemed to be waiting for him. "I guessed you would not have proper practice clothes with you, since you just joined this morning," he commented with a smile. In his hand he held out what looked like a extra set of gym clothes.

"Do you just have an extra set of gym clothes lying around?" Goten asked.

"I have been trying to convince you to join the team for three years," he replied. "I figured eventually, they would be used by somebody."

Goten did not really know what to say. He knew better than anyone that Ryoki had been pursuing him relentlessly for the past few years about joining the team. So, why did the way he said that make him feel kind of special; like he was the only one that Ryoki had been pursuing? "That couldn't be the case," he thought. "Could it?" He quickly took the offered clothes and went in to the locker room to change.

During practice, Goten was starting to think that joining the soccer team might not have been the best idea. From the moment he had stepped on to the field he had dealt with some ribbing and snide comments from people who had been on the team since freshman year. He also had to deal with controlling his power and fighting his urge to whiz across the field and maneuver the ball away from every player. The better he played, the more relaxed and friendly the other players seemed to be. He barely noticed how it had almost become as if he were playing against himself on the field until he felt someone's gaze on him and looked up to see Ryoki watching him with surprise on his face. He looked quickly at the goal he had been ready to kick the ball towards and aimed his kick too far to the left.

When he missed that goal the other players seemed to comfort him. Telling him that everyone makes mistakes and that they were so glad he was part of the team. He tried shrug all of it off, but every time he looked up, Ryoki seemed to be staring at him. After practice he had taken his time changing. One by one all of the other players left and only he and Ryoki remained. "So, I guess you were right about me having a talent for soccer," Goten started nervously. "Except for that last goal."

"I think you could have easily made that goal," Ryoki responded coolly. "In fact, I think if I had not been watching you, you could have kicked that ball on to a bullseye in the dead center of the goal zone."

"What are you talking about?" He continued, trying to laugh off his serious comments. "Its just beginners luck," he insisted.

Ryoki approached him until they were only inches apart. "You do not have to be ashamed of being talented," he admonished. "Is that how it is with you and Trunks, does he always expect you to be second to him?"

His nervous laughter and attempts to joke his way out of the situation, disappeared in a flash. His defenses were up, "What the hell are you saying?" he demanded. His anger was seething and he could feel his energy spiking. As soon as he noticed this, he tried to calm himself.

Ryoki seemed genuinely apologetic, but still insistent as he continued, "I'm sorry, you just seem like you follow that Trunks guy like his shadow, I figured it was something he made you do."

"You think I'm so pathetic, I would just submit to him and follow him around like that?" he confronted and grabbed his shirt. Every impulse in his brain made him want to punch Ryoki, but he just stood there with a handful of his shirt in his hands.

"Not pathetic…more like lovesick," he asserted.

Goten's hands instantly released their grip on Ryoki's shirt. He knew that his eyes were probably wide open with shock and his mouth hung open. He was instantly in a panic, if it were that obvious to a complete stranger that he was in love with Trunks, did Trunks know the truth already? He could feel the adrenaline and panic hit him with full force and his frozen limbs instantly were moving, as he ran out of the locker room and as soon as he was out of sight, took to the skies.

…

Trunks was in his car, waiting by the school building. After school, he had stood by his locker hoping Goten would come to him, but after about twenty minutes he was left standing in an empty hallway. He guessed Goten was still mad at him over the damn note. He had put in that bit about being jealous as a joke, but it looked like Goten thought he was serious. He sighed and made his way towards the parking lot and when he reached his car, Miki was waiting. "So, where are we off to?" she asked sweetly. Damn, he had completely forgotten about making plans with her. He smiled quickly and suggested they go out for a cup of coffee.

At the coffee shop, Miki had thankfully done all of the talking and seemed to neither require nor desire much input from him. He found himself barely listening to her as he wondered what Goten was doing. What was with him? He had never thought about Goten while he was out on a date. Besides, he was just at a boring soccer practice, controlling his power, and kicking around a ball with a bunch of sweaty gross guys. He would have gotten more of a work out if he had come back to Capsule Corp. for training. He remembered the previous evening how they had been horsing around on his bed, when Goten had him pinned. His concentration when he realized Miki had asked him a question.

"Um…I'm sorry," he apologized. "What did you say?"

Miki did not seem bothered by repeating herself. "I asked you if you would like to go out on Saturday?"

"Sure," he replied without thinking. Afterwards, he wondered why he had agreed. He was bored just sitting here having coffee with her, a longer date would be worse. He looked at his watch and said, "I'm sorry to cut this short but I need to get home for dinner."

"Oh no problem," she insisted. "I should probably be heading home myself."

He should have offered to drive her home, but he did not really want to. Luckily, she continued by saying, "My place is just a few blocks from here, so I guess I'll see you at school." He had nodded and watched her leave. With a sigh he downed the remaining contents of his cup and decided to head home, hopefully Goten would show up after practice.

Hours passed, and he never showed up. When it was time for dinner, Trunks had begun to feel a little depressed. He and Goten had not had a fight for as long as he could remember, it surprised him that something as trivial as a little note could infuriate Goten that much. He had thought their friendship should have been stronger than that. He picked up the phone in his room, a dozen times but he never dialed the Son's number. When his mother called him downstairs to join his family for dinner, he had not really felt hungry. As he sat there at the table, he was so preoccupied with his thoughts that he was simply pushing his food around on his plate more than he was actually eating.

"May I be excused?" he asked after about ten minutes. His parents had been feeding Bra and looked up at his question.

"Of course," Bulma replied.

And with that he walked back upstairs to his room. He wondered if Goten would be speaking to him tomorrow. Maybe, he should just wait for him by his locker and apologize. Goten had never been one to hold a grudge, surely if he just said he was sorry this whole thing would blow over.

To Be Continued…

Author's Notes:

For anyone who is interested, I have been considering some other Trunks & Goten rewrites (3 stories I deleted from FFN a long time ago and have not been able to locate anywhere on the net) Would love to get some feedback on the idea.