May 7th, AA 001

Author's Note: For those wondering what the heck happened to book three of this fanfic the thing is that it was taking me forever to finish it because I didn't really want to write it. The reason is that I had aready written twenty-five chapters that span only a short space in the timeline. Coming up with another ten or so chapters seemed tedious to me.

The good news is that after this side story and one more there will be a book three that begins six years after the end of book two (AA 007). That will give me enough new material to come up with a good story.

A Night to Remember

When Goten came downstairs to meet Trunks his mother was there instead. She took one look at his outfit (a red and black dress shirt, brand-new jeans, and black dress shoes was *real* slutty in her opinion) and pulled him to the quiet formal living room.

"It's time that we had a little talk," she said while taking a seat. "Just say no, Goten-chan."

He blinked. "What are you talking about?"

"You don't have to do anything you don't really want to do so that you can fit in. Kami only knows what kinds of diseases he has from his loose moral ethics."

"Trunks isn't "morally loose"!" he exclaimed, extremely pissed off at her words. "You have no right to talk about him that way!"

"I don't want you to catch something and die!" She began to cry but it had no effect on her son.

"I love you Kaasan but I also love Trunks. I can't sit here and let you say that he'll give me some kind of deadly viral disease." He left the room to find more pleasant company.

Trunks was coming inside the house just as he returned to the main hall bearing a bouquet of fragrant red roses. "These are for you. Are you ready to go?"

Goten smiled and sniffed at the flowers. "Thanks, Trunks, they're g-g-" He sniffed, eyes suddenly wattering. Sneezing violently, he handed the flowers back to the other man. "-great."

"You're allergic to roses," he sighed and placed them on a table. "I'm so sorry, I didn't know."

"Neither did I so no harm done." Goten wasn't going to let a bad flower incident ruin his date. Besides, once they were at least three feet away from him he was fine. "Aren't our dinner reservations at nine?"

"Hai, let's go."

Trunks was driving his convertible, (he always drove his convertible when he wanted to look cool) and they made their way to the restaurant at a reasonable pace. Trunks was so concentrated on the road (he didn't want to add a car accident to their current list of first date mishaps) that he didn't notice the gathering rain clouds. When Goten felt a drop of moisture on his bare arm he asked him to let the top up.

He pushed the button on the dashboard and it made a faint whirring noise as it came up about two inches. Then it stopped completely. Trunks jabbed at the button repeatedly but nothing happened.

Goten sighed as the clouds burst and swimming pools of water poured down onto both of them. "Somehow, I knew that this was going to happen."

They arrived at the Italian restaurant soaking wet and irritated. It had stopped raining almost immediately, only lasting long enough to get them damp down to their underwear. Both flared their ki, causing the water droplets to evaporate, and went inside feeling a lot better about things.

"I think that was the end of the bad things," Trunks said as the waiter showed them to a table. As soon as the words had left his mouth they had to be seated in the smoking section.

"Buona sera," the waiter said in a cordial manner that made both men instantly like him. "I am Antonio, your waiter for this evening." He handed them menus. "We have a special on stuffed chicken parmigiana this evening. It's breaded chicken filled with cheese and garlic topped by tomato sauce."

"Sounds good," Goten said. "Bring me a ceasar salad, one bowl of minestrone soup, and a pizza with pepperoni, Italian sausage, and mushrooms to start. I don't want to fill up on appetizers." The waiter wrote it down with a shocked look on his face.

"And you, signore?" he said to Trunks. "What would you have?"

"Sicilian scampy, minestrone soup, pasta e fagioli, and bruschetta caprese." He smiled and placed his menu onto the table. "Can we also have a pitcher of peach sangria? Thanks."

Goten was a little surprised at his knowlege of wine. "Someone had to have told you about what was good here. Who was it?"

"Busted!" he laughed. "It was Gohan. He's come here more than once with scientist type people for business dinners."

They talked about many different things, ranging from popular music to future plans. The restaurant had begun to fill up and soon the thick smoke from cigars and cigarettes was wafting over them. Goten went to coughing and wiping the tears from his eyes.

"You see? This is why non-smokers *never* sit in the smoking section," he said while downing a glass of the wine Antonio had placed on the table a little while ago. It did little to ease the stinging in the back of his throat.

"Excuse me, Antonio!" Trunks waved the man over. "We need another table. Has one been vacated in the non-smoking section yet?"

"Sì, signore. I will show you to your new table."

It was near the back of the room, coincidentally situated between a family of five and two very loud talking young women. Their conversation came to an abrupt halt as they took seats and all wondered what the heck was going to happen *this* time.

"He's so cute!" The brunette gushed to her friend, the blond. "The purple-haired one is a real hottie."

"Miranda, they're both hot!" Then they started to giggle, making both Trunks and Goten a little afraid.

"They sound like they're plotting something evil," Goten whispered with a sideways look at the two girls.

Trunks nodded and then laughed. "Boy aren't they going to be disappointed to discover that we're together."

"Gentlemen your dinner is served," Antonio said with a smile. He parked the cart loaded with thier meal next to the table and was about to depart when Trunks asked if he could stay and talk for a minute. The young man agreed.

"Are you really from Italy?" Goten asked between bites.

"Oh no, this accent I just use on the job." He dropped it and an accent emerged that was a lot more southern than Europe. "I'm really Australian."

About half-way through the meal Goten caught the waiter staring at his almost boyfriend. It wasn't an innocent, "you're interesting to look at" type of stare either. It was the "horny predator" type and it pissed him off.

After the meal was over and the bill had yet to be paid, the waiter pressed a slip of paper into Trunks' hand and said something that made him blush. Goten was just about close to grabbing Antonio by the neck and shaking him like a rag doll. Trunks caught his hands and looked at him until he calmed down.

"You shouldn't be jealous, dear one," he said with a smile. "No one else can even begin to compare with you."

Goten felt a dopey smile come over his face and just as they were leaning forward for their first kiss the two loud chicks from the next table interrupted.

"HOW COME ALL THE CUTE ONES ARE GAY?!"

***

They left the restuarant feeling a lot more happier than they had went in. Holding hands as they walked through the parking lot, Goten was practically floating with love for his boy.

"I was thinking about something, Trunks-chan," he said with a more than a little nervousness. Goten had no idea how the other man would take his next question. "How about we cement our relationship?"

Trunks stopped in mid-step and turned wide eyes to the taller demi-saiya-jin. "C-c-cement?"

A single nod. "Hai. I want to spend the rest of my life with you."

"After one date you want to tie the knot?" He still couldn't believe it.

"I would have wanted to do it even if we had never gone on a single date." He dropped down to one knee and pulled a small box from his pocket. "Trunks, will you be my lifemate?"

Instead of answering verbally Trunks just laughed. After it had gone on for a few seconds, Goten's courage was beginning to falter. Trunks wiped at his eyes and dropped down to join the other man on the pavement.

"I'm sorry, but it's just so funny!" Just when Goten was either going to burst into tears or get mad he pulled his own ring box from his pocket. "Goten, will *you* be my lifemate?"

No answers were needed. They embraced and the small audience of full restaurant-diners they had acquired began to clap. Soon the hugging turned into kissing, the kissing into groping, the groping into.... something a little too indecent for public. Several straight males covered their eyes and those of their children while the women all looked on, admiring the muscular glory that was Trunks and Goten. Just when the people thought that they were about to get naked and sweaty right there in the parking lot, a cop pulled to a stop by the curb and yelled, "Get a room!"

Goten pulled away first, blushing when he caught sight of all the voyeurs. "I'm going to save myself for the honeymoon, Trunks."

"But we don't even know when the damn wedding's going to be!" Trunks was beginning to whine at being denied.

He couldn't stand to see the look on his face. "Screw it, let's go home and get naked."

"YAY!" Then he snickered. "Now all that soundproofing papa and kaasan had installed is finally really going to come in handy for some people other than them."

"Do you think having sex with girls count as in who can wear white in our gay wedding?"

They both looked at each other for a moment in silence. "You would look quite sexy in black, Goten."

"So would you, Trunks, so would you."

 

How was my tiny little side story? Next up on The New Age Empire: Goten & Trunks' wedding! Will it be the event of the millennium or everyone's worst nightmare?