Yay! Chapter 8 is ready for you all :)! I'm getting really, really good at this updating thing. Not to mention how out of eight chapters I've written six in one sitting (meaning that I wrote six chapters in six sittings, not six in one. Holy hell, can you imagine?)

Without a doubt the next one will be here for you shortly. In the meantime enjoy yourselves some Truten. We're getting closer, people. Can you feel the tension already :)?

Now please read, review and enjoy!

The birds were adding insult to injury. Trunks held a hand to his temple as he stepped through the kitchen door, nursing a throbbing headache that was the result of one hell of a night. His head was swimming and he could feel his pulse beating by his eyes. The night before had been fun. The morning after was a bitch.

Trunks sat down on the bench behind his house and lit his first cigarette of the day. Two drags in he almost tossed it away; he hadn't yet brushed his teeth, nor had he drunk a glass of water. His mouth tasted like a small mammal had decayed in there. Still, the strong and pungent lure of nicotine was too great, so he continued to pull away at the deathstick, watching as the mid morning sun crept along the horizon.

He still had some cleaning up to do. Goten had offered to help him, bless his soul. They'd clear it all away in half an hour at best, should they find the energy necessary. With everything that had happened in the last twenty-four hours, Trunks wasn't so certain that he would be able to pull it off.

The boy sighed and flicked the butt of his cigarette into the bushes to his left. He grabbed the box of drawing supplies that he had brought along, taking out a notepad and a handful of different pencils. He began to sketch without thinking much. The view of his backyard was pretty great, especially when it came to drawing. After some time he had lined out the cages in which the animals stood, giraffes curling their long necks towards trees to feed on the leaves and elephants blowing gallons of water through their trunks to rinse themselves. He created the clouds by drawing them on sharply, then erasing them until nothing but a grey vapor remained.

A smile twitched at his lips. Perhaps Goten had been right. Maybe he did have a knack for this.

A good twenty minutes and another cigarette later, the sun had risen and was now obstructing his view of the scenery. It annoyed him, but it was also the reminder that he had needed; he still had people and a messy house to attend to. Even so he was content to have been productive. He blew the chippings of his eraser from the paper and took a critical look at what he had just concocted.

Nothing out of the ordinary. A skyline, whoop-dee-friggin'-doo. He thought of what Goten had told him, that no true artist is ever fully pleased with their work. If that was what made him an artist then he was the best of them. The lack of detail and depth made him want to tear it up. The only consolation that he could find was that he had managed to stay away from his recurring theme. No Beaker to be found this time.

Only that wasn't the truth. Trunks had to squint to make sure that he wasn't hallucinating; he had penned down that particular tidbit without realising he had done so. A little to the right of the drawing, where he had portrayed the petting zoo, Trunks had drawn a human figure, tall and lanky, with a head of hair that was impossible to not recognize.

It was just as a few weeks before. Trunks had then felt, for no clear reason at all, compelled to draw Goten. It hadn't been a question, nor had it registered in his mind as strange. It just was. And now Goten was featured in his art again, this time not playing his trusty guitar, but feeding the goats or the sheep or whatever the little four-legged creatures were supposed to represent.

His mind travelled back to the night before. Sadie had been good at peeling away the layers of this thoughts, to the point where it was almost terrifying. Maybe it was like she had said. Maybe he wasn't so interested in girls.

He was frowning at his drawing. Freaking great. Just what anyone wants to get for their eighteenth birthday: an existential crisis. Then again, if Sadie had been smart enough to help him specify his feelings, there was a chance that she could help him gain complete clarity. He'd have to ask her to hang out soon. It should be fun either way.

The backdoor opened and Goten walked outside. Trunks stuffed his notepad and pencils away before Goten had gotten a proper chance to rub the remainder of sleep from his eyes, so there wasn't a need for awkward explanations.

Goten too had a hand pressed to the side of his head. Not strange, considering how the two of them had annihilated most of the alcohol they could get their hands on.

"Morning," he said while stifling a yawn. Trunks waved at him in response.

Goten sat down on the bench beside him, keeping silent. It unnerved Trunks a little. He wanted to make conversation, but he was mortified at the idea of letting something slip. It was much, much too early to convey his suspicions to Goten, even if he was his best friend. Had it just been the sexuality thing, then fine. He would let that on before the weekend was over, he was sure. But he couldn't go around telling people that he might be harboring a crush on his best friend. That was a one way ticket to embarrassment.

"I cleaned up most of the stuff, by the way," Goten said as he stretched his arms above his head. "All you have to do now is run a rag over the table and you'll be done."

"Oh shit, really?" Trunks asked incredulously. "Thanks man, I appreciate it."

"Eh, I saw you were busy drawing, so I decided to let you be," Goten told him. Trunks's heart dropped into his stomach, but the nervosity evaporated like snow on a sunny day when Goten added "Don't worry, you don't have to show me this time. I know you hate it when I ask that."

Trunks gave an appreciative nod and went back to staring along the horizon. He really, really hoped that he was wrong about this infatuation of his. A part of him resisted admitting to it in every way. As if the confirmation would only suffice to make the thing itself worse. If he could say to himself that yes, he did have a crush on Goten, then his insides would begin to swarm like butterflies the very next time he laid eyes on him. It was madness, of course, but still.

To be fair, perhaps he should've caught on a lot sooner. This was one of the things that you learned in hindsight. Trunks had never questioned before how their friendship could be this natural, so incredibly easy to maintain. The gods of irony were laughing at him; of course there had to have been more to it. They were laughing even harder over the fact that said object of affection was in a grope-and-grind relationship with the hottest guy in school.

"So you enjoyed the party?" Trunks asked to puncture the quiet. He couldn't stand being alone with his thoughts much longer.

"Yeah, it was great," Goten said, a smile appearing on his face. "Something did happen though. I had meant to tell you yesterday, but it must have slipped my mind at some point."

Trunks raised his eyebrows. "Can I get a drumroll?"

"The only roll you can get is a roll of the eyes, smartass," Goten said, laughing. Then his face fell into something more serious. "Marron kissed me."

This wasn't so surprising; Jasper wasn't the kind of guy to let Marron know that the bet was off, and Marron was bold enough to try something like that in any situation, let alone with enough alcohol in her system.

"Shit man, and then what?" Trunks asked, desperate to know whether or not it had turned into a major fiasco.

"I had to tell her the truth, of course," Goten explained. "I told her that I'm not into girls. But not before I got into a fight with Jasper."

Trunks's eyebrows were in danger of disappearing into his hair. "You had a fight? The perfectly lovey-dovies?"

Goten nodded. "Uh-huh. As it turned out he had not even considered telling Marron that their stupid little bet was over with. She was crushed when I turned her down and when Jasper saw it he had the nerve to ask 'what was up with her'. So I yelled at him for a good five minutes before I made up with Marron."

Trunks did not want to admit to himself that hearing this pleased him to no end. The side of his brain that conjured up the great little defense mechanism called denial reasoned that it was because of Marron being 'put in her place', so to speak. Denial then told him that no, he hadn't been warming up to Marron at all the past few months. No, not even a little bit.

"So you guys are good now?" Trunks asked.

"I suppose, though I still don't know for sure what it is between us. I really hope that it's more than just superficial attraction."

"And you have every right to," Trunks said, swallowing the bile that wanted to come up along with the words. "Just try not to linger on it too much. That's bad for you, man."

Goten sighed and gave a nod. "I guess you're right. I'll have a talk with him soon."

Trunks lit his third cigarette of the day. As the smoke curled and contorted in his lungs, he fell back into his prior train of thought. Maybe it was best to tell Goten, sooner rather than later. If there was anyone who would understand, it was him.

"I also got kissed," he admitted, rolling his filter between his fingers. "Sadie kissed me after everyone went to bed."

Goten could be such a queen sometimes. When Trunks turned to him, Goten had his mouth open into a perfect oval shape. "Really?" he almost shouted. "You're kidding me."

"Nope," Trunks said. "It's all true."

"...And?"

"And what?"

"And are you guys... you know... involved now?" Goten asked, his dark eyes sparkling at the bit of gossip thrown his way. His face fell when Trunks shook his head.

"It's a bit of a hard story to tell, actually," Trunks said, thinking that he might get cold feet after all.

"Ah, come on," Goten almost whined. "You can tell me, no problem."

Trunks clacked his tongue, thinking hard. Eventually there was nothing left to do but cave in.

"Okay, I'll tell you, but this needs to stay between us for the time being. The only other person who knows is Sadie." Trunks took a final drag from his cigarette before tossing it away. "So Sadie kissed me when we were alone. At first I didn't mind and I kissed her back. All was good and well, until all of a sudden she takes my hands and puts them right... here." he placed his own hands just below his pectorals.

"Holy shit,' Goten breathed. "I knew she was frank, but that is something else."

Trunks nodded. "Anyway, just like that I don't know what the hell is going on anymore. I mean, Sadie is a really, really pretty girl, right?"

"Right."

"And any guy should be happy to get to touch her like that, right?"

"Uh-huh..."

"But when I got to thinking about it, I realized that I didn't feel anything. I didn't feel anything at all."

Goten's eyebrows lowered into a puzzled frown. "Sorry, but I don't really understand what you mean."

Trunks sighed. "Well, normally a guy should feel very happy to be able to do something like that, you know, all jolly below the belt. The only problem was that nothing happened. I felt nothing."

Goten held silent for a little while, then gave a slow nod of understanding. Instead of summarizing what he had just learned, he posed another question.

"So what would you say it means?"

"I'm not sure," Trunks admitted. "Sadie and I talked about it for a while. I can't say it for certain, but maybe I'm not... i-into girls." Speaking the words was much more difficult than just thinking them.

When he looked at Goten to await judgement, his friend was smiling at him.

"Well that could've been a lot worse," Goten said. "Okay, so you might be gay, who cares?"

"What the hell else could it have been?"

"I dunno, you seem like the kind of guy to dig girls wearing clown makeup. Or maybe you can only get your rocks off when girls who impersonate llama's during the do."

Trunks sent a glare his way, but ended up laughing. Once he had gotten his breathing under control he felt the need to ask. "But how will I know for sure, though?"

Goten shrugged. "You try out some stuff. Meet some new people, kiss some new lips. It's really easy to know. It might be confusing now, but there will come a moment where it is just as clear as day, and there will be no denying it. Until then you should just live life as it is."

Trunks looked at his feet, then up at Goten. "Damn, man, did anyone ever tell you that you are much too old and wise for your age?"

"No, but I'd love to hear it some more. By all means, please lather me up with your compliments."

"Okay. guys. We have a big issue on our hands."

Nanahara, the band's rhythm guitarist, had the most serious look on his face that Goten had ever seen. It was kind of discombobulating; Nanahara entered every room with a smile.

"Oh, please, do tell." The bass player, Nikki, a boy of only fourteen but a head taller than Goten, loved to pester Nanahara. Killing moods was one of his favourite pastimes.

"For the record, shit-for-brains," Nanahara bit. "As you guys may well know, we have our first gig next Friday."

Jasper nodded. "And?"

"And?!" Nanahara parroted. "In case you didn't notice, we still don't have a band name. Can you imagine what it will be like? 'And now for the next act... eh... these guys! Give it up'."

"So you're saying we need a name," Goten correctly pointed out.

"You're goddamn right, we need a name!" Nanahara shouted. "Or else we can just never come here again, if that's what you'd like." He gestured around the practice room and all the equipment in it.

"Oh Nana, please don't get you panties in a twist," Nikki said. "We'll figure something out. Anyone got any ideas?"

Silence.

"Well then," Goten broke through the quiet. "Any subjects that relate to us? Something that will help us along the way?"

Jasper twiddled a drumstick between his fingers, his face contorted in concentration. "Well we do play a lot of songs about heartbreak and sadness. Maybe we can build on that?"

"Good, that's something at least." Nanahara was now pacing up and down the room. "Damn, I need to give the guy at the Innocent a name to call out. If I don't he'll cancel us for sure."

"Okay, so we got heartbreak," Nikki said, raising a first finger. "And we play the blues. C'mon, it shouldn't be this hard."

Silence once more.

Goten racked his brains for any useful name that he could think of, but nothing came to him. After a while it became annoying, so he began to fiddle with Banshee's strings in order to seek out distraction. She was still plugged in, so she spewed random cords through the room, playing a march that had no discernable rhythm.

"Goten..."

E, C, G, D, E, C, G...

"Goten."

Heavy E, D, D, C,C, E...

"Goten!"

He was roughly pulled from his musings. "What!" he shouted in return. He gave Banshee one final strum, but this one proved to be too aggressive. Her heavy E-string snapped and flung into the air, wiggling and writhing as the tension was released from it.

Goten cursed and looked up, hoping to come eye to eye with whoever had the nerve to make him hurt his baby. Nanahara. Of course. He should've been able to guess.

"What?" Goten asked, this time a little less peeved.

"You're not helping."

"Well sorry that I can't pluck good ideas out of the air," Goten snapped. "Besides, I couldn't give less of a crap about a band name now. You made me break Banshee's string, so I have other prio-" The idea came to him so fast that it almost gave him a headache.

"I've got it," he murmured. "The name for the band. I've got it."

"And could you be so kind to share it with us?" Jasper asked. He still hadn't stopped twirling his drumstick.

"The Broken Heartstrings," Goten said. "It's blues, it's sad, the whole shebang."

Nanahara looked as if he might jump out of his skin. "That's it!" he smacked a fist into his palm. "Everyone agree?"

Jasper and Nikki nodded their consent.

"Good. I'll call the guy from Inno right away. Great rehearsal, guys. Let's hope we do even better next week,. If so, we'll crush that gig, just watch."

And with that rehearsals were over. Nikki and Nanahara were gone in a flash, but Jasper needed some more time to collect his things. Goten lingered behind. He still hadn't gotten around to having his talk with Jasper. He figured that he might as well do it now, or else he would procrastinate it until he got sick of it, or until it all blew up in his face.

He watched for a little while as Jasper stood bent over his drum kit to detach the cymbals and the kick pedal. Damn it, he would be giving up something great...

Over the past two weeks, ever since his talk with Trunks and ever since Marron had kissed him, Goten had been contemplating this issue very hard. After thinking it over again and again and again and again, he had been forced to admit to himself the very thing that he had feared.

He didn't have any feelings for Jasper other than rough attraction and friendship.

The little voice of reason that resided in the back of his head told him that the wise thing would be to break it off. There was no need to cling to something that didn't actually exist. In his heart it felt painful. So what if there hadn't been any real love between them? They still had their fair share of fun. Giving it up was a pity and there was no shame in admitting that.

"What's the matter?" Jasper startled the life out of him. Goten had been so lost in thought that he hadn't noticed that Jasper was done packing up. His soon-to-be ex-boyfriend was now standing behind him. It always gave Goten shivers when Jasper wrapped his arms around him, and even with a goal in mind, Goten could not do anything to stop Jasper from performing the action.

"It's... I..." Goten let a sigh escape him. "I think we need to talk."

"Uh, okay," Jasper said, letting go of him. Jasper sat down on the stool that would normally be placed behind his drum kit. "So, what gives?"

Goten had to inhale and exhale again before he could get the words over his lips. "I don't think we're working out, Jasper."

Jasper blinked at him, then dropped his eyes. He surprised Goten by smiling. "So do you want me to kick up a fit now?"

"Excuse me?"

"You know," Jasper said. "Should I get angry? Do you want me to break down into tears? Curse your name? Plead you not to do this?"

"...Sorry?"

Jasper gave a chuckle. "I think I understand. Or I try to, at least. I guess that you want to break things off because we haven't really been in a relationship all along."

Goten had to keep his jaw from dropping. "So you noticed it too?"

"Of course I did, why so surprised?" Jasper shrugged his shoulders. "To tell you the truth, I think I noticed it about a month ago already. We don't do any of the things boyfriends do, you know. We don't go on dates, we don't have long conversations until the dead of night. We don't talk about our future together."

"...Right," Goten said. "That's what I thought also. We're more... how should we call it..."

"Fuck buddies?"

"That's a very rough way of naming it, but yeah." Goten sat down beside Jasper and took his hand. "I mean, it has been a lot of fun and I don't regret any of it, but if I'm going to have a boyfriend, I want to have an actual relationship, not just someone to grope whenever I feel like it."

Jasper smiled at him. "I understand. I'm glad that you spoke up about it, I don't think I could've done it."

This raised a question on Goten's end. "But... but if you knew this for yourself, why didn't you do anything about it? I never noticed you felt the same until now."

Jasper shrugged again. "I dunno. Can you blame me for not wanting the fun to end?"

Goten had no reply ready for that. "...Fair enough."

"Right?" Jasper said. "Look. Goten, I consider you a great friend, an amazing bandmate and one hell of a way to pass the time. But just like you said, there's just no relationship here." He gestured between them for emphasis. "Still, I can't deny that I am really, really into you. Like a lot."

"That sounds about right, yeah."

"So I just couldn't cut it off like that," Jasper admitted. "I was still having too much fun. To tell you the truth, I don't want the fun to end right now either."

Goten felt some warmth rising to his cheeks. Surely he wasn't proposing...

"If it were up to me, we'd just let this go on until one of us does find the fulfillment they're looking for. There's really no need to stop any of this, except for the part where we are boyfriends."

Okay, so he was proposing that. Goten's face flared scarlet. "O-okay, right. Okay. Well then."

"Sorry," Jasper said, breaking into a fit of giggles. "I didn't mean to drop it on you like that. You can think about it if you want to, I don't mind, whatever you happen to decide."

But if that was the case then the choice was easy enough. He didn't even have to think about it. He kissed Jasper without a proper warning, but Jasper was prepared.

Screw conventional relationships. Friends with benefits could work out as well.

At least he hoped so; he would need to distance himself from Jasper a little bit more, take some time apart from each other. That might keep whatever was going on between them fresh and exciting. And if one of them did stumble into a new relationship, things would just have to end. Easy as that.

Just as Goten and Jasper were busy ripping clothes from bodies, on the other side of the city a doorbell rang. Trunks heard it from his room and hollered for either of his parents to open it; the person on the other side was quite insistent on being let in. When neither of them made their presences known -they were likely running amuck around the house and much too busy to hear the doorbell-, Trunks grumbled and went to open the door himself.

He didn't expect to see Sadie on the other side. The girl was almost jumping on her feet when Trunks came into frame. She looked like Sadie alright, that hyperactive creature that he came to know her as, not the sullen mess that she had been for a little while.

Her appearance expressed her happiness most of all. She had coloured her hair a very violent purple. It was nothing like his own, a soft violet kind of shade, but it was a dark hue with an almost black shine to it. She looked freaking amazing. Tiny twin braids ran from her forehead to the back of her head, which aided in holding together the ringlets that reached until halfway across her back.

"Hey, Sadie," Trunks said, still taken aback by the sudden appearance. "I thought you weren't supposed to come over until this weekend. Is everything alright?"

"I'm perfect, actually," she beamed. "No, I came over because I'm pretty sure that I can help you out. Like, with your problem, I mean. The one we talked about at the party."

"Oh, right, that." Trunks sighed and stepped aside. He didn't need to ask her if she wanted to come in, because she was halfway down the hall before he could close the front door.

"So have you given it any thought?" Sadie asked, grabbing Trunks by the wrist and marching up the stairs. Once having reached the first floor she began to barge along the length of the hall, checking for open doors or any sign that would tell her that she had just stumbled upon Trunks's bedroom.

"Uh, I have, a little bit," Trunks said, scared of this sudden enthusiasm. "Love the new hair, by the way."

"Thanks!" Sadie chimed. "And don't change the subject. I know you've been doing some thinking. I was talking about it with Goten just this afternoon. Anyway I came up with a way to help you. Goten said that it might not work, but I'm pretty sure it will. Those are some killer chandeliers, on a side note. Anyway, I think I see your room. Let's go, c'mon!"

She pulled him into his bedroom and threw the door shut behind her. Trunks was at a loss for words. Frankly, he didn't know what topic to start with. How his two friends deemed it fit to discuss his sexual preferences without him there was a pretty good subject, but he was also slightly terrified to find out what Sadie had in store for him. So he did what he was good at doing, keeping his mouth shut.

Sadie paced around the room once to take everything in. She halted for a minute at his gaming system, giving an appreciative whistle, then clapped her hands enthusiastically and turned to Trunks.

"Does your door have a lock?"

"I beg your pardon?"

"Can your bedroom door be locked?" Sadie asked again. When Trunks nodded she said "Good, cause we're going to need a bit of privacy."

Trunks gulped.

"Oh, don't worry," Sadie waved his concerns away while locking the door. "I'm not going to hurt you. I think."

"Well that's a comfort."

"Shut up and sit down." she gestured towards his bed. Trunks did as he was told and watched as Sadie slung her backpack off her shoulder. She fumbled inside and retrieved what looked like an ordinary dish towel. Trunks could only gape at her as she began to fold it up into a rectangle.

"What the hell are you planning on?" he asked, eyebrows high in the air.

"Shhhh... It's best to not ask questions," Sadie said. A grin broke out across her face and Trunks felt his stomach drop a good foot or two. She approached him with the dish towel held high. Trunks raised his hands, planning to defend himself, but Sadie came prepared. Before he had the time to blink she was holding a pair of scissors. She snipped them for emphasis. "Don't move, or the Saiyan gets it."

"You wouldn't."

Sadie snipped the scissors again. "Try me."

Trunks was forced to relent, but he did so with as much grumbling and cursing as his vocabulary allowed. He sat still like a good boy while Sadie blindfolded him. Only when she was sure that he couldn't see a single thing did she explain her motive.

"Okay, so I want to try a little experiment. Don't freak out. I'm going to tell you a story now and I want you to listen to me very, very closely. Do you think you can do that?"

"Uh, yeah, I guess so," Trunks said. "But I don't see what this has to do with me being gay or not."

"You will, in a minute," Sadie replied. He heard her shuffling around on his bed. "Oh, and also, some things might happen that will give you the idea that you are being sexually assaulted, but don't mind it."

"Come again?"

"Shhhhh..." Sadie placed a hand against his mouth to keep him quiet. "It's story time now."

Sadie cleared her throat. "Okay, so the first thing I want you to do is clear your mind. Don't think of anything but the sound of my voice and the words that I speak.

"Now I want you to use your imagination. Think of a woman. Make her the absolute prettiest, most drop dead bombshell that you can think of. Got her in mind? Good. Now just imagine her walking in front of you, wearing little but short shorts and a nice tube top two sizes too small. She's here in your room with you. She leans her palms onto the bed and she crawls on. She gets nice and close to you. You can feel her warm breath on your lips. She's waiting for a kiss, she wants nothing but to be with you. How does that make you feel?"

Trunks thought about this. Truth to be told, the idea didn't really appeal to him. He was able to conjure up the mental image that Sadie wanted him to, but it didn't rouse him in the least. He was about to tell her this when he felt a hand land onto his groin.

He started like he had been struck by a lighting bolt. He reached for the blindfold, but Sadie stopped him by grabbing him by his wrists.

"Take it easy, chill out," she told him. "Don't worry, it's fine."

"Like hell it is!" he sputtered. "It's not okay to grope me like that!"

"Hey, I warned you beforehand."

"You weren't this specific!"

"Maybe, but if I had been, I wouldn't have been able to gauge your reaction to my story, now wouldn't I?"

That silenced him for a bit, but his protests hadn't died away completely. "And what the hell was the point of feeling me up like that?"

He heard Sadie chuckle. "Well, now I know for a fact that you're not into girls. Nothing going on down there, I can tell you that much."

Trunks swore that she knew that he was rolling his eyes, because she began to laugh harder.

"So this is what you meant by sexually assaulting me."

"Like I said, I warned you."

"Okay, and now what?" Trunks asked. "I don't like girls, hurrah, such bliss. Girls are yucky, I think I get the point."

"Now it's time to change up the situation," Sadie chimed. Trunks had to swallow some of his nervosity at the sound of her cheerfulness. This wasn't going to be pretty.

"Okay, so instead of a totally hot girl in your room, can you imagine... Jasper being here?"

Trunks gave a miniscule nod.

"Okay. Now this might get a little weird, but bear with me. Just think of Jasper lying across your bed, no shirt on him. You can take away the pants if you prefer. He's just waiting for you to come and join him, you can see it in his devilish little smile. Can you picture it?"

Trunks swallowed hard. Very, very unwillingly, his groin gave a twitch.

"Did you know that Jasper has a tattoo?" Sadie asked. When Trunks shook his head, she added "And a nice one too. It's the title of a song by Etta James, in nice, curly, loopy letters. Can you guess where he has it?"

Trunks shook his head again.

"Just above his belly button," Sadie said. Trunks could hear the smirk in her voice. "So, do I need to feel you out again?"

Trunks felt her weight shift on his bed. He rose from it in a flash and he had undone the blindfold even before she got another chance to move. He was breathing hard, he realized. He tugged at the hem of his shirt, suddenly aware of how warm he was feeling.

"I'm going to take that as a 'no'," Sadie said. "Well there you have it."

"Have what?"

Sadie sighed and rose from the bed. She took the blindfold from Trunks's grasp and put it back into her backpack. "You're gay, my friend. Gay with a hunger for sweet, sexy drummers."

Trunks jumped to his defense. "No, no I'm not!"

So you're not gay?"

"Well... yeah, but..."

"But what?"

"I don't have a 'hunger for Jasper'," Trunks huffed. "He's good looking, but that's about it. Drummers are overrated."

A light went on behind Sadie's eyes. A smirk split her face open. "Okay, no drummers. I get it. But maybe, just maybe, you have a preference for guitarists?"

Trunks wanted to curse himself, curse the world, curse everything in existence. His face was lighting up like a forest fire. He couldn't help it; before he had the chance to hide it his cheeks were a deep scarlet.

"I-I, You... I," the only thing that left his lips was a confused stammer. How the hell did this afternoon turn out like this?

Sadie smiled at him again, though this time it was sincere. She stood in front of him to face him, raising his chin when he tried to look away.

"Trunks," Sadie said, making sure that he was hearing her. "It's nothing to be ashamed about. Really. I actually think it's kind of sweet."

He let out a sigh and dropped his shoulders. "I know, I know," he said. "And I'm not ashamed."

"Then what is it?"

"I don't know, hopelessness, maybe. You saw how I reacted when you talked about Jasper. Well Goten feels exactly the same way. The difference is that he actually has Jasper."

"Not for long, though," Sadie pointed out. "You know how he feels about that."

Trunks gave a sullen nod. "I want to show you something." He walked over to his box of drawing supplies, which he now kept next to his desk. He took out the notepad and flipped it open. He showed Sadie the first page and let the rest slide to his fingers to indicate that there was more.

Sadie looked through the drawings one by one. As the pages progressed her expression became more and more dumbfounded. Goten by the petting zoo. Goten feeding the ducks by the pond. Goten playing Banshee. Goten sitting against a tree during recess. Goten simply smiling at an invisible camera. There were dozens more.

When Sadie was done rifling through the pages she handed the notebook back. She looked as though she didn't know what to say.

"That bad, huh?" she eventually said.

"Uh-huh," Trunks replied. "That bad."

That lit a fire under her ass, it seemed. "Okay then. I guess I have a mission now."

"Sorry?"

"You heard me. I have a mission now. I will set you up with Goten, or I will die trying."

"Oh, Sadie, you don't h-"

"Oh yes I do. They don't call me Doctor Love for no reason."

"They don't call you Doctor Love at all."

"Shut up."

Trunks rolled his eyes. "You know what, fine. But just so you know, I refuse to credit you by that title."

"Fine, The Great Goddess of Matchmaking. Whatever floats your boat."

The first gig of the Broken Heartstrings had been a success. Not that it was a spectacle, with the only audience being Gohan, his mother, Trunks, Bulma, Sadie, and Neve, but it was a success nonetheless. Being on that stage, playing and singing his heart out, had taught Goten something he had already known deep inside for a very long time.

He was born to be on the stage.

Now, two weeks later, he was still glowing with happiness.

Gohan and Videl were over for dinner tonight and Videl wasted no time in questioning about his performance. She hadn't been able to make it because Pan had been sick in bed, but she had made up for it by asking him so many questions that he felt his tongue grow pimp from all the talking he had been doing. Gohan listened politely, having heard the story several times already. Chi-Chi did her very best to get Pan's attention, but the little girl was far too busy with clapping at every other sentence Goten spoke. He had a groupie now. Cool!

"You really should've seen him, Videl," Gohan said, gesturing at Goten with a fork full of pulled beef. "It was like he's been in the trade for seventy years already."

"Really?" Videl asked, taking small bites of her dinner while stealing glances at Pan, who was more interested in playing with her food than eating it. "And how is the rest of your band then? Are they nice?"

Goten nodded. "Oh yeah, totally. Nikki is even younger than I am, but he doesn't miss a beat. Nanahara says he's made to play rhythm, but I think I can goad him to play the lead a few times. Maybe we can switch it up a little sometime. And Jasper..."

He hadn't meant to fall silent, but Jasper was too much of a continuous presence in his mind. When the two of them had decided that it would be best of them to separate, but not really separate, Goten had believed that they would either drift apart or that they would go overboard. Neither of those things happened. Everything went exactly as he had planned it. The saw each other a little less, maybe once or twice a week instead of every single day. And they were learning to keep their hands to themselves, hard as it could be at times, and yes, pun intended.

If anything, Goten had worried that their changed chemistry would come forward in their music, but it hadn't. They had been absolutely in sync on stage, as if they had been doing the same thing for years. It had been perfection.

"Jasper is a little quirky sometimes," Goten eventually said. "But he's amazing." A smile split his face apart. Videl arched an eyebrow at him, and he smiled wider. She gave a little nod of understanding and returned the gesture.

Chi-Chi was absolutely oblivious. "Now that you mention him," she said. "It has been a while since I last saw him here. Did something happen between the two of you?"

Goten couldn't help himself. He began to laugh, but he was quickly halted by the bit of carrot that lodged itself in his throat. Gohan helped him by clapping him in the back. Even Pan helped in her way, jumping out of her chair and making sure that he wasn't suffocating.

After a while he could breathe again, but that did nothing to soothe his laughter. He was almost literally howling, putting his face on the tabletop and just letting it all out. Chi-Chi looked at him as if he were the world's greatest illusionist. This made him laugh even harder in turn.

"I feel like I'm missing something here..." Chi-Chi said. "Does anyone care to fill me in, please?"

This caused Videl and Gohan to chortle into their fists. Chi-Chi wouldn't have it.

"Seriously, I don't like this one bit. Someone tell me what is going on right now!"

This as the trigger that made all hell break loose. Gohan was laughing, Videl was laughing, Goten was still sucking in breath in large gulps. Tears were streaming from his eyes and his face was turning red. Pan, who had no idea what was happening either, was amused simply because her parents were, the little girl giggling and kicking her feet in glee.

Goten raised his head to meet Chi-Chi's eyes. He was still not done just yet, but he had managed to regain his composure enough to speak at least. Now there was no way out. He had to tell her.

Fuck it. She had to find out sooner or later.

"Well," Goten said, wiping the final tears away. "He was my boyfriend, and now he's not."

Chi-Chi blinked at him. Gohan chortled again and raised three fingers. Then two. Then one.

Chi-Chi shrieked. Loudly.

Thank you for reading! A review would be appreciated, so if you can find some spare time to leave me with your thoughts, that would be fantastic :)

Until the next one!