Disclaimer: I Do Not Own DBZ or any of its Characters

Crush

By: Nova Starlight

5th Period: Maybe He Won't Find Out What I Know, You Were The Last Good Thing About This Part of Town.

The room was lit by the moon, and Trunks suddenly felt the warmth of another's body pressed into his back. As arms wrapped around him, he could feel himself reacting. His eyes traveled downward and noticed that the arms wrapped around him were not those of a girl, but of a muscular boy. Then he heard the soft whisper by his ear, "I love you." He turned to face the owner of that gentle, husky, voice. Goten's dark eyes stared back into his own with a smile. There were no words between them, just an embrace. Their faces drawing closer and closer to each other. He felt eager with anticipation for their kiss. When their lips finally touched he could feel the heat surging through them both. The groan that rumbled through his throat was unlike any noise he had ever made before. It was almost primal in its intensity.

Suddenly, the heat rushed through him at the first touch of Goten's hand on his hard cock. He knew he something about this was wrong, but it felt so good. His hand did not seem tentative, just began stroking him in earnest. His head fell back and he moaned. Just as he could feel the rhythm of Goten stroking him increasing in tempo, he was pulled from his dream.

Trunks bolted up in bed, covered in sweat. The air was cool on his skin and he found himself breathing heavily as he became more and more awake. With a deep breath, he ran his fingers through his hair and looked over to see Goten sleeping beside him, seeming at peace. He chuckled to himself and pushed aside the blankets. He just needed to go to the bathroom and splash some water on his face, put that crazy dream out of his head. As his weight shifted, he suddenly became aware of his body's response to his dream. He was rock hard, from dreaming about Goten?

His first response was to panic, but he took deep breaths, trying to calm himself. It was just a dream, his horny teenage body was just working overtime. He could not stop himself from looking back at Goten and heat flooded his face. He looked away and sighed. He could just imagine what the response from Goten would be if he woke up and realized. He thought back to when they had been kids, sleeping at each other's houses. Back in those days, it had not been uncommon for one of their mothers to come in the room in the morning to wake them up for breakfast and find them wrapped around each other. The thought of Goten wrapped around him, maybe kissing him, sent a rush of energy through his body and down to his groin. The response surprised him, he stood up quickly and made his way to his bathroom.

As he splashed water on his face, it did nothing to dull his longing. He looked at his face in the mirror with disgust, what the Hell was wrong with him? He and Goten had been friends since they were babies, he had never thought about him this way before. Besides, he liked girls right? He closed his eyes and waited for the images of all the girls he had been with before, or even those fantasy images from magazines, to come parading into his mind; but it did not happen. Instead he found himself thinking back to how Goten had smiled at him this afternoon. When he had watched Goten in the classroom and had not been able to stop staring at his mouth. It was then that he felt his desire intensify. His eyes were wide again and the expression on his face was one of shock. He moved away from the mirror and resigned himself to what he would have to do if he planned on getting any sleep tonight.

Back in the bedroom, Goten was having dreams of his own. He was standing in the hallway of the school. There was no one there, except Trunks. Before he could stop himself he could hear the words escape his lips, "I love you." He closed his eyes, afraid to open them and see the reaction, then he heard his laugh.

"Are you insane?" Trunks asked, still laughing. "What the Hell are you saying? We are both guys!" Then the laughter stopped and his eyes grew cold. "You disgust me."

Goten's eyes flew open and he noticed that he was alone in the bed. He could hear the water running in the bedroom and breathed a sigh of relief. It had only been a nightmare. He tried to close his eyes and go back to sleep, but he could not seem to stop remembering the dream he had just awoken from. This was ridiculous it had only been a nightmare. "Yeah," he thought. "But, it could easily become reality if Trunks discovered his true feelings." He rolled over and tried to fluff his pillow. He forced himself to close his eyes and attempt to tune everything out and get back to sleep.

A few minutes later, when Trunks returned to the bed, he was no closer to sleep. He kept his eyes closed and his breathing even. He could only hope that Trunks believed he was asleep. He did not think he could handle it if Trunks wanted to talk right now. He was warring between vulnerability and defensiveness. With every breath he waited for Trunks to say something, but the silence lingered. He finally allowed himself to open one eyes slightly and peek over at Trunks lying beside him. His eyes were closed and he seemed completely at peace. Goten envied him that peace. With a deep breath, he closed his eyes once more and tried to get back to sleep.

When Goten awoke to the incessant beeping of an alarm, he reached out to hit the snooze button. Instead, his hand brushed against Trunks' sleeping face. "Oh yeah," he though to himself. "I spent the night at Trunks' place last night." He quickly located the alarm clock and turned it off before it could wake up Trunks. Despite his nightmare the night before and the anxiety it brought on, he could not help but admire just how beautiful Trunks was in the early morning sunlight. He did not even realize the way he had been staring until suddenly Trunks' blue eyes were gazing back at him. "Good Morning," he began awkwardly.

"Good Morning," Trunks parroted back with a smile.

…

The school day began like many other before. Goten was surprised that for the first time this week there was no sign of Ryoki. He also did not see any sign of Miki which he had to admit made his morning. Trunks seemed bright and cheerful that morning, though he also appeared to be looking around a lot during their morning classes. Who was he looking for, Miki?

At lunch, they were seated at their table when Goten's cheery mood began to sour. Miki walked into the cafeteria and began to wave as she noticed Trunks. Suddenly, he was put off from his food and nudged his tray across the table. He watched as Trunks waved back at her and she came over to join them. It was all happening again, he was getting jealous and upset when he had no right. He knew that he should sit there and stick it out, but he could already feel the tightening pain in his chest.

Trunks, could see the discomfort in Goten's expression though he attributed it to the wrong cause. He wanted to say something, encourage Goten to make a move for Miki. As the thought crossed his mind, he could feel his emotions rising. He did not understand why he felt this way. Goten was his friend, if he had the hots for Miki he should help him. So, why did it feel like someone had just

Of course, Miki was not paying any attention to Goten. She had already launched into her one-sided discussion of how she had overslept and considered just staying home from school, but then she finally decided she would come. Goten had pushed his tray away and it looked like he was going to leave the table. "Hey Goten, where are you going?" he asked quickly.

Goten simply looked back at him with an unreadable expression. It was almost as if he had not thought Trunks was paying any attention. "Well…I….uh," he fumbled with his words for a few moments before they heard the sound of a chair being pulled from the table and both their eyes turned to see Ryoki taking the seat next to Goten.

"Hey Goten," Ryoki said with a smile. "You weren't coming to look for me were you?"

Goten's face seemed to soften and the way that he smiled at Ryoki was like a punch to his gut. He still did not understand this new attachment between the two of them that had been developing over the past few days. Goten had seemed so defensive about the whole situation and resistant to his questioning. His anger and frustration rose quickly and before he could stop himself he was glaring at Ryoki and demanding, "Who the hell invited you?"

Goten and Miki turned to stare at him as if he had grown a second head, but Ryoki only smiled at him, a frustrating little smirk. It was a smirk that he knew well and had seen often in his youth. So, this punk was taunting him? But why would he be so smug? He felt Goten's gaze on him and turned to face him. The look on his face was one of confusion mixed with surprise.

"What's your problem?" Goten asked.

Trunks knew that the look on his face was probably more shocked than it should be. What was Goten doing sticking up for this little brat soccer captain. "I just asked him who invited him," he retorted. "It is a logical question."

Goten sighed and turned back to Ryoki. "I invited him," he snapped back. "The same way you invited Miki."

Miki had recovered and seemed intent on trying to change the subject. She was introducing herself to Ryoki, who did not seem the least impressed. Trunks just sat there staring down at his tray and trying to contain his anger. The anger was coursing through him at the sight of Ryoki sitting there beside Goten, but it did not make sense to him.

"So, Ryoki what brings you into the cafeteria today?" Trunks asked casually. "Don't you usually have somewhere else to be?"

Ryoki turned back to him and flashed a brilliant smile. "I just thought I would come in and have lunch with my new best friend Goten," he rejoined.

Trunks saw red before his eyes. He had never wanted to launch himself across a table to smack the smile off of someone's face before, but now it was all he could think about. He tried to ignore him and focus on talking to Miki and Goten, but every time he turned to say something to Goten, he found him absorbed in his conversation with Ryoki.

He was never more glad to hear the bell signaling the end of the lunch period. He grabbed Goten's arm and practically pulled him from the cafeteria to their next class. It was weird for him because he knew that he was acting strange but he was unable to stop himself. Nothing had changed, but for some reason he felt more …protective …of Goten. Could this all because of that strange dream he had the night before?

During their next class, Trunks had half expected Goten to confront him about the way he had acted a lunch, but he never brought it up. He just sat there quietly reading his textbook and looked to be completely absorbed. Trunks once again found that he could barely take his eyes off of him. He took in his handsome face, dark eyes; he had never noticed just how beautiful Goten's eyes were. Suddenly, he realized the track his mind was on and looked away.

Goten's mind was replaying the entire lunch period over and over again. He had been upset when Trunks had allowed Miki to sit with them again, but seeing Ryoki had put it out of his mind. He had been so thankful that he had shown up to talk to him, because if he had to sit there and listen to that girl prattle on and on to Trunks he would have probably snapped. However, what he had not expected was Trunks reaction to Ryoki's presence. He had seemed upset that he had dared to intrude, but it did not make any sense. If Trunks had allowed Miki to come over and sit with them, why would he be so mad over Ryoki? He glanced over at Trunks and saw that he looked like he was deep in thought.

Trunks spent the last few hours of the day wondering what to do after school let out. It was Friday and he could get Goten to go out with him that evening and see a movie. He could not remember the last time the two of them had actually gone somewhere together. He always had dates that wanted to go see movies, so when he was with Goten they usually sat around one another's houses. Now, he wanted to take Goten out for a movie, maybe grab a bite to eat first. A nagging thought told him that it sounded a lot like a date, but he shook it off.

When the last bell rang and he followed Goten to his locker, he was angry to see Ryoki there waiting. "Don't you have anything better to do, than hang out in front of lockers all day?" Trunks asked bitterly. He could see Goten's surprised expression at his words, but he did not care.

"Oh, I just wanted to walk to practice with Goten," he commented casually. "I figured Goten could use the company because it looks like you are going to be busy." He was staring pointedly behind him and when Trunks turned to look, he saw Miki standing there. When he turned back Ryoki was already speaking to Goten as he opened his locker and Trunks once again felt the uncontrollable urge to hit him. He gave his own little smirk and walked up to Goten and pushed Ryoki aside with just enough force.

"Hey Goten, how about I stick around for practice? Maybe we could go do something afterwards?" As he posed his question his self satisfied smirk became a brilliant and charming smile.

As Goten saw that smile, he could feel his heart start pounding. How did anyone resist this, man or woman? "Uh…well…" he began, and then he remembered their conversation the evening before. Trunks was going to ask Miki out. Give it a few days and he would have a new girlfriend to focus on, he would once again be forgotten in favor of a girl. His expression hardened and he continued, "No, that's not necessary. You should go home and not wait around." Then with a look at Ryoki he turned and walked away. Trunks was left staring dumbfounded at Goten's retreating form, and the secretive little smirk that Ryoki gave him over his shoulder as he followed.

Miki had tried to convince him to go for coffee, but he had begged off. He had debated whether he should head down to the field and watch the practice, or just wait for him until they were finished. In the end, he ended up sitting in the grass, a good distance from the field, watching Goten. He was graceful as he moved smoothly across the field with the ball. With every goal, the other players were there to pat him on the back. It seemed that Ryoki especially was always by his side, smiling.

…

When practice was over, he watched as the players exited the field and headed to the locker room. As the minutes passed more and more people left the room, he continued to wait for Goten. After twenty minutes, it seemed everyone had left except Goten and Ryoki. What was going on in there?

Inside the locker room, Ryoki had been about to leave, when Goten had lightly grabbed his arm. The look in his eyes was one of pleading, and Ryoki had to admit that it was hard to resist it. Once they were alone, he approached him. "Is everything all right?" Goten's head was turned away from him. He reached out and touched his face, guiding it to face his own. It was then that he saw that Goten's eyes were brimming with tears. "Hey, what happened?" His voice became soothing and he quickly pulled Goten into an embrace. "It's all right. Tell me what happened."

"I was over at Trunks' place last night," Goten explained. "He told me that he wants to date Miki." Ryoki watched as he moved away and sat down on the nearby bench. "I mean I knew that already I guess, but it was different hearing him actually say it out loud." The last he had spoken more to himself, but he addressed Ryoki directly now. "What do I do? I don't know if I can keep this up much longer?"

It was a pain that Ryoki understood well. He felt the same when he saw the doting looks that Goten gave to Trunks. He knew firsthand the perils of falling in love with someone who did not return your feelings, but maybe their situations did not need to be so hopeless. Ryoki was in love with Goten, and Goten was in love with a straight boy who would never like other guys. Could he be enough for him? "I know a solution, but I am not sure you will like it."

"What is it?" Goten inquired with a hopeful note in his voice.

"You could go on a date with me," Ryoki suggested. Goten instantly looked as if he were going to refuse, so he pressed on. "Look at it this way, you said that Trunks has had lots of girlfriends and been on lots of dates right?" Goten nodded. "So, have you ever had a girlfriend? Or gone on a date?" Goten simply shook his head. "Well…maybe you should have that experience for yourself. Let me take you out on a date."

Goten looked into Ryoki's eager face and knew that he should refuse. He did not care about Ryoki the same way he did Trunks, or did he? Trunks had always been there for him before, but then why was Ryoki the one he had run to when he needed help? Would it be so bad to be with Ryoki? He sighed and then gave a small smile. "Okay." Ryoki seemed a little surprised by his answer, but did not question it.

"I promise, you won't regret this," he stated confidence, and Goten hoped he was right.

To Be Continued…

Author's Notes: I apologize for how long it has taken to post this chapter, hope to be posting the next installment next weekend.