A/N: So, when I first started this story years ago I had the characters with their Saiyan abilities, and as the story progressed I pulled away from it because I wanted it to be more realistic. Sorry for the discrepancy. When I took that year or two off from writing I forgot about some things when I started continuing it again.

Also, thank you to whomever posted the FYI comment about the ratings issue. I moved the rating of this story to Mature for the language and sexual themes, and I may have to go back and edit some certain chapters to kick it down from the MA level. I'd just like to say, I have always loved this site because it was a place where people were able to share their creativity and love of certain shows and books with others who shared the same interest and I think it's dumb that we are being restricted on what we can share. Why not throw a MA rating on here then? This is the internet, I'm sure there are far worse things for people to see than some nicely written sexual descriptions.

Lastly, I know this chapter's short but I needed a bridge between last chapter and the next chapter so here it is :)

:*: Closet Case :*:

Pan's eyelids eased open to strings of her black hair clouding her vision. She rolled to her back and raised her arms for a morning stretch, a stretch ending with an eager smile as she sat up and stared at her reflection above Trunks' dark wood dresser. She wasn't smiling because of yet another erotic dream she had endured due to her hormones. It was November first, meaning she was another month closer to her one and only returning home.

With her growling stomach, and probably growling fetus, announcing their hunger, she scooted herself to her feet and carried herself to the kitchen, pausing at the entrance of the living room when she identified Bra on the couch and Ryo asleep on the floor. Assuming Goten was home as well, she decided to cook enough to feed the herd.

As she scooped a serving of food onto a plate for herself, her best friend, who still managed to look like a knockout with her messy hair and tired eyes, greeted her as she joined her in the kitchen.

"Good morning, Pan. Smells good." She rubbed her hands together while peering at the eggs and different sides awaiting to be eaten.

"Help yourself. Did you guys have fun last night?" She seated herself at the table and began to eat, her stomach demanded it.

Bra followed with her steaming plate of food. "I worked until closing so I missed the majority of the party. I went around two to check on everybody and see if anybody needed a ride home. Ryo was absolutely smashed. He could barely walk, so I made him throw up." Pan chuckled while Bra thought back to the events that occurred the preceding night. "It was funny though. Ryo told Goten he was hot."

"Wow. He must have drank a lot." Pan was glad that Bra and Ryo had decided to remain just friends. They seemed very comfortable around each other, but that was it. It just looked off to Pan to see them holding hands or kissing.

"G'morning." Goten yawned as he dragged his feet across the tile in his white tee and dark pajama pants.

"Good morning. How was your night?" Pan inquired.

He cleared his throat while he stabbed at the food on the stove to scoop it onto his plate. "It was fine." After assessing that it was only the two girls at the table, he decided it was safe to join them.

"How are you feeling, Goten? You weren't looking too great yourself last night." Bra took a bite of her food, observing his body language for any signs of abnormalities.

"Feeling a little groggy, but nothing a good meal and a shower won't fix."

"I thought I heard voices." The girls stifled their laughter as Ryo entered the kitchen, his hair in absolute disarray.

"Jesus Christ, Ryo, you look awful." Bra pointed out.

He grabbed the seat next to Goten and seated himself. "I feel awful."

Bra's eyes adverted to the movement beside Ryo as Goten's chair scraped a couple of inches away from the man beside him. Goten was feeling uncomfortable? Angry? Whatever had happened last night had rolled over to this morning, and she was going to find out what was getting under his skin one way or another.

After breakfast, Bra and the hungover Ryo returned to the dorms. After they both showered, she joined him in his room, since Takashi was with Marron in her room, and tried to pry out anything he could remember.

While sitting on the floor with her back leaning against his bed, she filed her nails and clipped her cuticles, preparing them for fresh coat of baby blue paint. Ryo climbed onto his bed, laying his spinning head against his pillow.

"What do you remember?"

He shuffled through the blur of faces in his mind, trying to make sense of it all. "Well, after arriving, I had shots, beer pong, shots, danced, shots, then it gets blurry."

She growled with impatience. "Come on, Ryo. Think!"

"Is there something specific you're curious about?" He asked, not pleased with her tone. "Oh are you wondering if Goten was flirting with anybody last night? Well, he danced with a few girls, that cheer captain was his beer pong partner, but that's just about all that I..."

Her ears twitched as his voice trailed off. She spun around to face him. "And what?"

"I remember him being upset with me. I was taking pictures with some girls and he was standing in front of me... Hmmm what happened after that?"

"Do you remember why he was upset?" She pushed.

He furrowed his eyebrows in deep thought. "You."

"Me?" She repeated.

"Something that had to do with you... He was mad that I was talking to other females. Accusing me of cheating on you, something along those lines."

"So that's why he was upset at the party? Because you were flirting with other girls?" She sounded disappointed, as she was. "Hm I thought it was something much bigger than that."

"I'm not done yet." She was all ears again. "He pulled me outside, that's when things get really hazy. I don't recall what was discussed, but I remember my eyes opening, and he looked so... afraid, then furious. Then he walked back inside. Now if I can just figure out what we were talking about..."

Bra exhaled in frustration. "Ryo, your memory sucks."

Monday after school, Bra left her chemistry class to head back to the residential side of campus. While walking through the landscaped campus, she saw the art building to her left. Goten's design class was just on the opposite side of the building. Rerouting her destination, she made a left and planned out a mischievous plan, a little thing she liked to call reverse psychology. She would make Goten think she knew what was wrong and make him spill his guts to her.

With a gentle tug on the door, she peered inside to make sure she had the right room, and to see if he was even there. As she had hoped, he was sitting near the front of the empty classroom, reading a textbook. She used her fingertips to guide the door shut, then slipped into the row of desks behind him and took a seat.

"Boo."

Startled, he jumped and threw his attention behind him. "Jesus, creeper, what the hell are you doing?"

"Just came to chat." She tried to maintain a serious tone to really sell this reverse psychology tactic.

"Is everything okay?" He inquired. The last time she came to visit she told him about the fight she had with her mother. And by the looks of it she didn't have happy news to share with him now either.

"Yeah, well no, actually. Look, about that Halloween party, Ryo told me everything..."

She watched his face grow from concern to bewilderment. His eyes widened, he looked pale, and his respirations grew shallow. She continued to stare at him, waiting for him to initiate the conversation. Whatever it was, it must have been pretty bad.

"He's a dumbass drunk, I don't know why he's opening his big mouth to everybody." Anger. "He's lucky I didn't knock his ass out. If he's... gay, that's fine but god dammit why would he pull me and you into it?"

It was Bra's turn to reflect his former crazed look. "Ryo's g-gay?" She muttered.

"What else do you call it when a man kisses another man, Bra?" He questioned sarcastically.

"He kissed you?"

Goten was silent, his angered expression twisting into confusion. "Wait, I thought you said he told you?"

She sucked her lips inward, trying to fight the grin curving at her lips. The laugh caught in her throat, soon erupting from her mouth. "Ryo kissed you? So that's why you were acting so hysterical!" She laughed once more.

Goten wasn't finding this humorous whatsoever. "Bra, you like him, don't you? Weren't you two dating or something?"

"Not anymore. We're better off as friends. Obviously. Wow. So that explains why we didn't work out..."

"You really know how to pick'em, Bra." He shook his head, his anger and shame softening on the topic.

She peered up at him, a soft smile gracing her red lips as she gazed into his troubled eyes she had grown so fond of. "I'll get it right one of these days."

She didn't confirm the shocking news she had received with Ryo. She wanted him to tell her on his time. When he felt ready. Who knows? Maybe he wasn't even gay. Maybe he just had a gay moment. Girls had plenty of those, especially with alcohol in the mix. Did guys have gay moments too? Instead, she observed him in the weeks that passed. Tested him. Looked through magazines with him, asking what he liked about this or that girl. He was very specific, too specific. He knows his colors, brands, types of apparel. Guys shouldn't know the difference between stilettos and pumps, he did. Perhaps she already had the answer she had been pondering without him coming straight out and saying it.

One thing that didn't make sense is why he kissed her. Was he bisexual? Or maybe trying to prove something to himself? Maybe he just pitied her, trying to help her out of her Goten-spell. She laid there on the rooftop of the Emerald dorm building beside him and his shaggy hair, wondering what was going through his mind.

"Ryo? You remember our first kiss?"

He snorted a laugh. "Random. Yeah, of course. Why?"

"That's what I wanted to ask you. Why did you kiss me? And be honest."

He took a long breath, thinking. "I've never met someone like you. You're so determined. And so beautiful, yet vulnerable. I hated seeing the way you looked so... defeated around Goten. I wanted to make you feel better about yourself. You deserve someone who doesn't make you doubt yourself. I failed, but I think if we keep it up, Goten will drown in jealousy and finally admit his feelings for you."

Bra's weak smile fainted. "He knows we're not an item anymore. I told him."

"What'd you do that for? I feel like we were finally getting somewhere."

"Some people are better off just as friends. Like me and you. Besides, that kiss you planted on him at the Halloween party didn't help our case much." She smirked slyly, watching him shoot into a sitting position.

"I... I kissed him? Holy shit I kissed him... I thought it was a dream, but it was real?"

She sat up as well. "One hundred percent real. That's why he's so cautious around you. Funny really."

"Does he think I'm gay?"

She hesitated. "Well, what is he supposed to think?"

"Do you think I'm gay?"

More hesitation.

"Look, it's not like you pushed me in the closet or anything like that. It started in high school. My teammates from Tokyo high found out my senior year after a bitter spat between me and one of the other teammates. We had experimented, sexually. He didn't like it, that or he was too embarrassed to embrace it. He spread lies and rumors about me. By the time the Tokyo tournament came around, I quit. They were harassing me and threatening me, I had no choice. Those guys that showed up to our first game, he was one of them. The nerve... So, that's my secret."

Bra was silent while she went over everything he had just said. "You know the funniest thing about this whole situation?"

"What's that?"

"You kissed Goten before me."

xXxXxXx

It was the night before Thanksgiving as Pan, Goten, and Bra sat gathered in the silent living room with the only sound of chips crunching from Pan's stress-reducing snacking habit. They were trying to figure out how to break the news to her parents.

"It's useless. I might as well just hobble in and let them see me then and there. There is no getting around it."

"I'll go in first, sit them in the living room, warm them up, then you come in and announce it."

"Sounds more appropriate than walking in and shocking them into a myocardial infarction." Bra agreed with Goten.

Pan scowled. "I hate this."

"Where are you going?" Bra asked worriedly as she watched her struggled to her feet.

"To the bathroom. We pregnant people do that a lot."

The room grew silent as the chip crunching ceased with Pan's absence.

"What're your plans for tomorrow?" Goten asked, wondering if she was going to celebrate with her family. Usually their families celebrated together, but from what his brother had told him, the Briefs weren't coming this year. He didn't ask why.

"Dad's taking mom on a vacation. He's worried about her, says she needs time away from that town, away from work. They're leaving tomorrow morning."

"Doesn't answer my question. What are you going to do?"

Bra shrugged. "I'll probably take myself out to eat. Give Trunks a call, wish him a happy holiday."

"Bra, you know you're always welcome to come over. Come with us, I know you don't want to miss out on the inevitable drama."

She grinned. "I thought you'd never ask."