Chapter one

-Trunks’ POV-

“Sure, why not?” I shrugged and began to follow the other two boys to the library.  We knew it would be deserted as it always was at this time of day.  It had actually been Gohan who had pointed this out to us, a quiet place to do homework without anyone being around to pry into private conversations.

Of course, Gohan didn’t go to Orange High anymore, but the same tricks still worked.  His little brother, Goten, did though.  My best friend… yeah, keep telling yourself that Trunks, maybe it will sink in one day, best friend, not boyfriend.  Yeah maybe, not likely, but maybe.  Anyway, mind back to homework. That’s where we were going, to the library to do homework before going home at the end of another day. 

Goten, as usual, was hyper, jumping and rushing ahead of Oob and me as if he was in some sort of rush.  I rolled my eyes and made a slight smile at Oob, who shrugged to confirm he wasn’t quite sure where Goten found all of his energy either.  The sable haired chibi was at least five steps ahead of us at all times, at this moment in time talking to no one in particular about something that had happened in science today, neither of us were listening.  We rounded the corner and entered the library; the large room completely deserted as usual, and picked a table at the back in one of the corners, the one that afforded us the most privacy.  Oob took out his exercise book, as did I as we both set about rummaging through notes and papers for homework sheets and information.  I noticed that Goten was just sitting there doing nothing but bobbing his head to some music no one else could hear.

“We’re here to do homework Goten, ne?” I asked as a way to make him get a move on, I didn’t want to have to wait for him when we were both done.

“I already did it Trunks, at lunch when you fell asleep on the grass outside and Oob went to see that girl,” this didn’t seem to mean anything to Goten but Oob suddenly became very engrossed in his studies so he didn’t have to answer any questions.

I sighed and set to work on my own studies.

-Goten’s POV-

It wasn’t like I had done it on purpose, who was I kidding, of course I had done it on purpose.  No homework meant nothing to do, and nothing to do meant my eyes were free to wander to whatever they wanted, namely Trunks.  Whilst my hands were busy screwing up tiny balls of paper my eyes were busy running their way over Trunks.  His lilac hair looked softer today than it usually did, I was sure, I couldn’t see his eyes because it fell in a curtain over his face because of the angle of his head.  I didn’t need to see them to imagine them though, ice blue and sharp, rimmed thickly with lilac lashes.  His slim hands busy scribbling answers to his homework papers, his back hunched slightly over the table.  I found my eyes wandering towards the back of his chair, towards his waist.  It had always intrigued me why it was that all of us other demi saiyans had been born with tails and Trunks hadn’t.  Sure, mine had been removed as had Gohan’s, but Trunks had never had one. 

 I saw him scratch his head, knew he would look up and looked away.  I didn’t want him to catch me staring.  I was a year younger than him at seventeen and he still seemed to see me as a kid, but still, it would have been quite difficult to explain why I had been staring at him so intently without actually telling the truth, and anyway, I didn’t want to lie to Trunks.  Tell him, a small voice at the back of my mind was saying, but what if he’s disgusted?  No, I began to flick the tiny spheres of paper that I had been making the whole time into the bin at the other side of the room.

-Trunks’ POV-

Goten seemed very quiet, which was strange for him.  It occurred to me that he was up to mischief, which, no doubt, we would get blamed for ultimately as no one seemed to be capable of shouting at Goten bar his mother.  I glanced up to check and saw him flicking small balls of paper at the bin across the room.  I would have said something but he never once missed his target, each tiny ball sinking nicely straight into the centre of the grey, steel bit-bin. 

He must have felt my eyes on him because he looked up and caught me staring.  I felt my cheeks go on fire, I must have gone a funny shade of scarlet, but Goten seemed to fail to notice, for which I was glad.

“Stuck Trunks?” he chirped, reaching out to take the sheet I had been working on.

“No,” I put my hand over the top of it, “just wondered what you were up to.”

“Up to?” Goten’s eyes widened enormously, “you don’t trust me Trunks-kun?”

I just shuck my head and ducked back to my work, I couldn’t look at him when he did that, eyes should not be able to get that large but his could and he was far too cute for my fragile state of mind when he did that.  Maybe I should just tell him, get it off my chest?  But if he hated me after, if he thought I was disgusting and was afraid to be around me again, that I couldn’t stand.  No, I would keep quiet, quiet was safe, frustrating maybe, but safe.

Besides, Goten was my best friend, you weren’t supposed to think of your best friend in that way, but I did, at night, in my dreams, dreams that made me wake with the proof of how much I wanted him, or sometimes even with sticky sheets.  Who was I kidding?  It wasn’t just in my dreams, I thought about him all the time, asleep or awake.  I already knew Goten inside and out, we had fused, been one mind, body and soul, but that wasn’t enough, it wasn’t the same as having him to hold and cuddle and kiss.  But still he was my best friend and that was it, these thoughts would have to stop.

-Goten’s POV-

Why had he blushed like that?  I couldn’t quite understand it, had he noticed me looking?  I couldn’t see how, I had been very careful, just like always.  He could have just been warm I suppose but it seemed more than that.  Well, if he had caught me out he hadn’t said anything so I was safe for a while.  A movement caught the corner of my eye as I pondered this and I slowly swivelled my head to see a girl walk in and towards us.  I recognised her as a girl from Trunks’ class, I was sure her name was Aurora, or something like that.  I watched her as she came over, smiling happily as she walked over to where Trunks was sitting.

She placed her fingers on his shoulder, trailing them lightly around the back of his neck and onto his other shoulder as she walked that way.  He stiffened and looked up a tolerant look on his face when he saw who it was.

“What do you want Aurora?” his tone suggested that this was not the first time this had happened.

“Nothing Trunks, just wondered what you were up to,” her voice soft but almost pleading as she began to gentle stroke the shoulder her fingers still lay on.

“I’m doing homework, nothing interesting, and then going home, where you should be now,” Trunks’ voice was bordering on annoyed, but she didn’t seem to notice, or care.

I felt annoyed, how dare she touch my Trunks like that, especially when he was so obviously not interested.  It wasn’t strange for me to think of him as my Trunks, I always had done, even before I had had these feelings for him.

I caught her eye as she looked around the rest of the table for the first time.  As she had walked around the other side of the table she had a perfect view of me, whereas Trunks had his back to me, perfect.  I held her gaze with mine, slowly narrowing my eyes and pulled my lips back from my teeth in a feral snarl, it didn’t need the sound to go with it, the expression was enough.  She immediately dropped her hand, looking shocked and afraid, and turned back to Trunks.

“Well if you’re busy…” she turned quickly and scampered from the room, Trunks watching her retreating back baffled.

-Trunks’ POV-

That was something that had never happened before, Aurora leaving without being forced to.  I didn’t get it.  Turning to Goten to see if he had any answers I thought I caught the remnants of a glare leaving his eyes but I must have been mistaken.  Goten glare?  Not likely, the only thing he could be nasty to is a monster from another galaxy come to take over or destroy the Earth, sounds far-fetched, but believe me you’d be surprised!

I shrugged and went back to finishing my homework, at this rate Oob would be done before me, and I had had less to do.  That spark of a glare seemed to plague me for a few minutes more, could Goten have possibly…?  But that was stupid, he did like to protect me as I did him, but I hardly needed protection from a teenage girl, however annoying she might be.

The only other explanation that came to mind was that he was jealous, which was stupid.  Sure Goten was my best friend, but that was it and he wasn’t the sort of friend to deny me other friends, he loved crowds, unlike me, probably the influence of his father and all the other Z fighters were as my influence obviously came from my father.  Enough contemplation Trunks, the homework won’t finish itself.