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Videl thinks she's the first to know Goten's secret.
Gohan is out of town for a conference that weekend and she's manning the house by herself. Pan, being the ever active toddler she is, has finally tuckered herself out in her crib. For the first time in hours, the house is quiet.
Relaxing on the sofa, Videl is just about to place the baby monitor on the coffee table when she feels a familiar ki-energy near their door. She glances at her watch, noting that it was late for a visit, even from a family member who lived next door.
She's at the door before Goten gets a chance to knock, swinging it open to see the surprised face of her husband's younger brother. Just turning fifteen, Goten is beginning to show signs of maturing.
Not yet reaching the height of his brother or father, the youngest Son boy still has another growth spurt to go. However, he's already a bit taller than Videl, a situation that she's just getting comfortable with giving how small he was when they were first learning to fly together. His hair is still unruly, though no longer identical to his father's spiky locks. She knew Chichi demanded he at least keep the back short, giving the illusion of controlled chaos.
"Goten," she greets, leaning against the door with an arched brow and crossed arms. "What brings you here so late?"
"Can I...stay here for a while?" he asks, voice crackling with a mix of adolescent and hurt. "I know Pan's sleeping, but I promise to be quiet. I just don't want to go home right now."
His face is transparent, his eyes instantly giving away that he was troubled. By the way he's fidgeting, it's clear he was hoping his brother was home early.
Nodding, she hurries the boy into the warmth of the house. He follows, kicking his shoes off by the door as she grabs the monitor from the living room. They meet again in the kitchen, Goten hopping on the counter as a seat while she puts a kettle of water on the stove.
Their silence is comfortable, broken only when Goten asks if Videl needs help. She shoos him away, only giving him the baby monitor to hold.
"She's becoming sensitive to ki-energy now," she explains, pulling a box of tea from the cupboard. "The second Gohan comes home, no matter how deep in sleep she's in, she'll feel his energy and wake up all excited. He'll be just as excited too, leaving it me to wind them both down."
Videl looks at Goten, noticing the small smile but no laugh. Turning to stare at the kettle, she leans against on the counter.
"When I first found out I was pregnant with Pan, I was really nervous," Videl says, eyes on the stove. "We had just gotten married, as you know, and it all seemed very quick. I was so young when my mother passed, I hardly remember her. The closest idea I had to any kind of mother-figure was Chichi, and she made it look so easy. I kept it quiet for a while."
Her eyes dart at Goten at the mention of his mother, and sees no change in his face. She takes it as a sign he hasn't fought with Chichi.
Videl remembers that Goku is off on one of his training binges with Vegeta and briefly wonders if that's the source of his distraught when the kettle whistles. She kills the flame and lifts the pot off the stove. Pulling two mugs, she makes Goten's first, handing him the steaming cup.
"Extra sugar," she smiles, kindly. "Just how you like it."
"Thank you," he nods, taking the mug in his hand. He stares at its contents, not taking a sip. "How long did you keep it quiet? I know you told Gohan at Bulma's birthday, but…"
"A few weeks," she answers, taking a seat at the table across from Goten's perch on the counter. "I don't think I could've hid it much longer than that."
The silence washes over again like a wave. The small sounds of Pan's snoring echoed loudly from the monitor next to Goten's thigh.
"What was it like...keeping that secret?"
"Looking back, it was pretty silly. Everyone was ecstatic and I turned out to be a pretty good mom - at least for now." She winks playfully over her tea and Goten gives a half-smile. "I dunno if that will be the case when she gets older. I can tell Piccolo is chomping at the bit to start training her and she loves coming with me to the dojo. I give it a few years before she'll want to travel the galaxy and fight off evil to save the world like the rest of the family."
"Or she could want to be a radish farmer," Goten offers with a shrug and Videl laughs. The joke brings a levity to the kitchen and she notices his shoulders relax.
"I've never really had secrets before," he admits, taking the first sip of his tea. "Before Gohan moved out, I told him everything and he'd give me advice. He always knew what to say to make me feel better."
"He still does, you know."
"I know," Goten sighs, staring at the mug again. "It was just...easier when we shared a roof."
She nods because it's a uncomfortable truth. When Gohan and her first moved in together after their engagement, she couldn't understand why Goten seemed so upset.
Being an only child, she never had a sibling and it wasn't until Chichi explained that Goten and Gohan had shared a room his entire life that it made sense. Even though they were just moving to the house next door, by that comparison they might as well have moved to New Namek.
"Even if Gohan isn't around as much, you aren't alone. You got me and Pan," she offers, motioning around. "And of course, Trunks."
Goten flinches at the name.
There it is.
The silence a stretches on and Videl fights against her instinct to disrupt it. Eventually, Goten takes another sip of his tea.
"Videl, have you ever fought yourself over something?" he asks suddenly eyes still glued to the mug in his hands. "Like...like you know something feels right, but you don't know if it is right?"
"Right by whom?"
The boy shrugs. "I dunno anymore…"
Videl isn't the correct person to talk to when it came to hypothetical existential crises. Unlike Gohan, who is patient to fault, she's direct and blunt. She knows Goten is struggling, that much is clear. But she needs him to peel back his own layers.
"What's this all about?" she asks, eyes steady as he looks up from his hands. His eyes are heavy, she can tell he's been crying. "You can talk about it here."
He pauses and she fears she was too insensitive.
"It's...about another person," he starts and she's relieved that he's making an effort. "This person is...very important to me. They always have been, so that's not what I'm worried about. It's just that...how I see this person is changing and I don't know if it's fair for me to see them this way anymore."
He pauses to take a final drink of the tea. Videl fights the urge to continue to play detective and figure out who it is he's speaking about. To confirm her own assumption.
"But I can't not feel this way," Goten says, a faraway look in his eyes. "I was finally ready to tell them and everything got...complicated."
"Are you two still talking?"
Goten nods, placing his empty mug on the counter top. "I don't know what else I could've done. We've never kept secrets from each other and this seemed like the worse kind to keep."
Videl rests her head in her hand, letting him continue.
"I just wanted to tell him how I felt."
The slip up is easy and Goten barely notices it until it's out of his mouth. Now the name is obvious, sitting in between them like a deadweight.
It's about Trunks.
Videl isn't surprised, though, which actually is surprising. Looking back, it all seems so transparent and open. She wonders if this is the first time Goten had come to his brother asking for advice on his crush or if Gohan was the one who advised the confession.
But Goten's body language is closed again, and he pushes himself off the counter in one swift motion. "I-I should go. It's late and I'm sure you're tired."
Videl pushes her chair out from the table. "Goten, wait…"
"Tomorrow I can come over and help with Pan," he rambles, quickly cleaning his mug in the sink. "I'm sure she's doing a number on you without Gohan here to help…"
"Goten."
"And we don't need to mention this again," he adds, pushing a laugh that's painfully forced. It breaks her heart. "I've already embarrassed myself once today, yeah?"
"Goten."
He freezes at her tone, hands still trembling over the sink. Videl isn't one to raise her voice, but it's enough to get him to take a deep breath.
She turns him around by the shoulder and is met by his tearful expression. Just like his clothes that were always too big for his frame, he's carrying worries that were too large for his shoulders to bear.
Before she knows what she's doing, she's pulled him to her in an tight embrace that has his face smushed into her shoulder as his tears fall against her blouse. Videl rocks him softly as he let's everything go in a snotty, tearful sob, his fingers digging into her back as his stutters through what happened.
He wanted to tell Trunks his feelings, went to meet him at a coffee shop by Capsule Corp. Trunks was late, and when he finally came, he was excited. Not to see him, but because he had a date with some girl from his internship. A girl he seemed excited about. One he wanted Goten to meet. And all Goten could do was swallow down his heart, nod and tell Trunk he'd love to meet the person who made him so happy.
Videl holds Goten tighter. She remembers her own feelings for her best friend years earlier, and wanting nothing more than for someone she could trust to tell her it was going to be okay.
So that's what she does for Goten.