Goten checked his phone for what felt like the millionth time. No missed calls or text messages. It had been a week, and Bura hadn't responded to him once.

Goten's gaze flicked to the frost-covered window. The sun was setting, painting the sky a deep coral. He tossed his phone on the nightstand before grudgingly heaving himself out of bed. Slowly he made his way into the adjoining bathroom, the sink was cluttered with a variety of Bura's cosmetics that he simultaneously hated because it was messy but loved because they were hers.

Kami he fucking missed her.

So much so he could hardly stomach being in his own house without her. It was as much her home as it was his. Everywhere he turned, there were little reminders of her presence, keeping him acutely, painfully aware of her absence.

The stack of documents she'd left on the coffee table. Her fluffy pink slippers were still neatly tucked away with his in the entryway.

They'd enjoyed six blissful months together and now they were back to this? If he had just told her how he felt, how he truly felt…

He turned the tap, splashing cool water onto his face and rubbing the sleep from his eyes.

He caught sight of his reflection as he reached for a towel to dry his face. There were dark circles under his eyes, and his hair needed a good washing, as did the rest of him.

"You don't have to explain anything to me Goten, I'm not your girlfriend, I'm not your wife and I frankly don't care at all who you kiss."

"…We were just fucking around anyway."

The way she'd looked at him that day was burned into his mind.

Her cheeks were pink from the cold. Her words had been so angry and flippant, but her eyes, they hadn't held even a hint of venom. No, they'd been lined with pain and betrayal. The memory of it gutted him.

She hadn't meant those things she'd said. He knew it deep down. She felt every bit as much for him as he did for her.

He was a fool for not seeing it sooner.

He'd felt it in her touch, in her embrace, in how she'd lit up every time their gazes met. Hell, he'd felt it in every blow they exchanged in a heated spar.

At first, he thought giving her space would allow Bura time to calm down enough to hear him out.

He was an idiot.

He should have stopped her from leaving. He should have made her listen to him.

What the fuck was he doing?

Moping around, waiting for her to let him in again?

She had too much pride for that. And as far as she was concerned, he had wounded that pride. And if he continued to sit around waiting for her to give him another chance, he would be waiting forever.

Wallowing in his misery wouldn't help him win Bura back.

If he wanted her, he would have to fight for her.

If she wouldn't answer his calls, fine, he would show up at her front door. And he wouldn't leave until she heard what he had to say.

Mind made up, Goten quickly showered off the weeks' worth of grime and got dressed. His hair was still slightly damp as he deftly laced up his boots, pulled on his jacket and stepped out his front door.

The sight that greeted him on his front steps stopped him dead in his tracks.

"Trunks?"

If it weren't for his inhuman sense of smell, he wouldn't have recognized his best friend.

Trunks stood on his top step, shoulders straight, hands curled into fists at his sides, his face covered in scruff; his lavender hair strongly resembling an old mop. He wasn't even wearing a jacket, just a black henley and jeans.

Before Goten could say another word, the other hybrid reared his fist back, cracking him right across the jaw. The blow landed so hard that his head jerked to the side and for a moment; he saw stars. Not unlike the last time they'd seen each other. But the Briefs Heir was stone cold sober this time. The blow rang in his ears, and the taste of copper bloomed across his tongue.

And in that moment, Goten realized.

Trunks knew. He knew everything, and he was pissed.

That was the only plausible explanation for the anger permeating the surrounding air.

Goten had always known Trunks would be angry when he found out, but he hadn't expected the sharp, barely contained fury now simmering in his piercing blue eyes. He was utterly still but for the muscle ticking in his jaw.

When Trunks finally spoke, though, his words came out oddly calm, measured.

"I'm feeling pretty stupid right now. I thought we were friends… No, actually, I thought we were more like brothers. I've always thought that above anyone else, you would always have my back. I trusted you. So much that I didn't see what was right in front of my face. The way you acted the night I left. Hell, the way you've been acting since you moved into my house, your silence, the distance you oh-so-carefully put between us. I thought maybe you were just depressed over your dingbat ex-girlfriend. Boy, was I wrong. It's all so clear now it's embarrassing. There was nothing I wouldn't do for you, and you stabbed me in the back."

The lavender haired halfing continued to stare him down, his narrowed eyes simmering with nothing short of absolute loathing.

Trunks took a step forward, his nostrils flaring, "so tell me, how long did it take for you to make your move after I left?"

The question landed between them like an anvil.

What could he possibly say? 'I don't know.'? 'It just happened.'? Neither of those were true. Not really.

Trunks' hand twitched at his side and the dark-haired hybrid braced himself for the next punch to land. He waited for a beat, and then another. But to his shock, it never came.

"A week? A Day? An hour? Humor me, I'm curious."

Goten dropped his hands at his sides and said nothing.

Maybe he would have some semblance of remorse if what he felt for the Saiyan Princess was purely physical.

But he knew now with absolute clarity that wasn't the case at all.

He loved her.

There was no other way to describe it.

Goten knew it in his body and in his spirit, and he wouldn't apologize for it. He hadn't planned on loving her. He hadn't had a choice in the matter. And now he couldn't remember what it was like not loving her. Before her, he'd been aimlessly drifting through life, never certain of who he should be and where he belonged or if he was making the right choices. But with her, none of that seemed to matter. It was hard to worry about tomorrow or the next day or even the next minute when he was too busy reveling in her every breath, laugh, and smile.

"I asked you a question."

"It doesn't matter. It's done." It was the truth. And despite the anger rolling off his friend in waves, it felt good to finally speak it. Like a weight had at last been lifted off of his shoulders.

"Oh, it matters to me," Trunks snarled. "Do you have anything to say for yourself at all?"

"I am sorry, not about being with her... but for lying to you." It was the only thing he could say.

"Well, that makes it all better, doesn't it? You're a piece of fucking work, you know that? I don't even recognize you. I can't bring myself to be mad at her, but you… There's no coming back from this for you and me. You see that, don't you?"

Goten's heart clenched in his chest. Trunks was his best friend. His first friend. But he couldn't, wouldn't, walk away from Bura. It would destroy him. The week they'd spent apart felt like an eternity. After everything that had happened between them, he couldn't imagine his life without her now.

If she was willing to give him a chance, a real chance; he would take it. He would spend the rest of his life convincing her he was the one for her and he was all in.

"I can't change what's happened. I wouldn't even if I could. I love her, and I'm pretty sure she loves me too, and if she does, you're going to have to find a way to be okay with that."

Something twisted in the lavender-haired saiyan's expression; as if Goten's words had caused him genuine physical pain.

"If you're done hitting me, I have somewhere to be. We can talk about this when you've had some time to process things." Goten moved to side-step the other hybrid, when Trunks lunged forward, sending them both toppling down the porch steps, knocking the wind out of him. Goten thrashed as Trunks wrestled him to the snow-covered ground.

"I am far from done hitting you." Trunks grit out, his teeth bared in his fury as he landed punch after jaw-cracking punch, over and over. Goten was vaguely aware of warm, wet liquid spilling across his face.

Goten caught Trunks' fist in his own; halting its momentum just long enough to head butt him square in the face, momentarily stunning the lavender-haired hybrid and shoving him away.

Goten quickly rolled away and regained his feet. Trunks mirrored the action, wiping a streak of blood away from beneath his nose. "Trunks, I don't want to fight with you, but I'm not gonna sit back and be your punching bag while you work out your tantrum, either. Back. Off."

Goten's words didn't seem to register as Trunks lunged for him with renewed fury, unleashing a volley of relentless kicks and punches. Goten moved on pure instinct, narrowly dodging each blow his friend lobbed his way. While Goten was the larger of the pair, Trunks had always been swifter, a fact he was adeptly using to his advantage.

"Fight back." Trunks snarled, unleashing a beacon of luminous violet Ki. Goten leapt into the sky, narrowly avoiding it.

The stream of ki blasted into a copse of trees, felling them like a line of dominoes.

The air shifted and then flashes of violet burst out around him, the resulting shockwaves sending him plummeting to the hard, unforgiving earth.

Trunks' body slammed into his mid-section with the force of a semi, knocking the breath from him once more and he felt a distinct crack. Trunks drew his fist back and Goten's eyes barely registered a flash of blue as the weight of the other half-saiyan was abruptly hauled off of him.