Should we be in love?

"So, what do you want to do now?" Bra asked when she and her best friend Pan finished their two hundredth helping of Bulma's dessert.

"How about we go spar in your dad's gravity room? Only this time let's jack it up another hundred." said Pan enthusiastically.

"Again?" Bra sighed. "You know, there's more to life than just fighting and training."

"I know, but fighting and training are the best parts of it." said Pan childishly.

"Come on. Let's take a break from that." Bra sighed.

"But we did finish having one." said Pan.

"That was lunch. I know! Let's give each other makeovers." Bra suggested.

"That's for girls." Pan snubbed.

"You are a girl. Come on, let's go." said Bra firmly, pulling Pan by the arm up to her room.

"But I hate makeovers! They're so girly!" Pan whined.

"Oh, cut it out! It'll be fun." Bra insisted. "Quit acting like a little boy and sit down." She pushing Pan down on a pillow in front of a mirror and got out a makeup kit. "Stole it from mom." She smirked. "If we're strong enough to fight with the adults, we should be able to use makeup like the adults do. None of that cheap strawberry scented chap stick posing as lipstick junk." Pan said nothing. Preferring the raggedy, boyish look herself, she didn't care much for girly things like make up in any way, shape or form.

"Hold still! If you don't like it, it'll wash right off." said Bra irritably, trying to apply some mascara. "Here. Just close your eyes. You can open them when it's over."

"Just a bit of lip gloss…" Bra muttered about an hour later. "And… done! Okay, you can open your eyes now." Pan did so, and could barely recognize the girl she saw in the mirror. Bra had really gone all-out, she had worked makeup magic on every inch of Pan's face, turning the tough-faced tomboy into a pretty little princess.

"It's really not me." Pan sighed. "I look like a girl."

"You are a girl." repeated Bra firmly, looking at Pan's reflection over her shoulder. "And I think this is actually a pretty refreshing look for you. It's nice to see you looking clean and pretty instead of boyish and raggedy."

"But I like boyish and raggedy." Pan whined. "Okay, if you're going to make me look like a girl, why don't I make you look like a boy!?" She said playfully, wrestling Bra onto the pillow, unbraided and ruffled her hair, and removed her makeup. "There. And that only took me like two minutes."

"Pan! I look like I was in a car accident!" Bra whined.

"No. you look like a boy. There's a difference." Pan corrected. "I could show you what it would look like if you were in a car accident, though..." She added, taking out a pair of scissors.

"Don't even think about it!" Bra snapped.

"I'm kidding!" Pan laughed, putting the scissors aside. "Alright, fine. I'll give you a makeover now. No boyishness this time, I swear." She added, seeing Bra's skeptical face.  

Pan was actually better at doing makeup than she wanted to admit. Within minutes, she had undone the damage she had done in making Bra 'look  boyish,' and then some.

"This sucks." She grumbled, wiping the lipstick off of Bra's lips and redoing it.

"This kind of thing requires a more gentle and careful touch." Said Bra, once Pan corrected her mistake.

"Yeah, well, I'm not really what you would call careful or gentle." Pan sighed, combing Bra's hair and putting it back in a ponytail. "And I don't see why being a girl means that I would have to be."

"I  think you spend too much time around your grandfather." Bra grinned.

"Nonsense. There's no such thing as spending too much time with grandpa Goku." said Pan defensively. "Besides, now that he's here to stay, why not? He's been gone for six years, remember? And that time we spent looking for the Black Stars wasn't exactly what I would call fun. Well, not all of it, but you know."

"I guess." Bra shrugged. "You're actually pretty good at this." She commented, admiring her reflection.

"Don't remind me." Pan grunted. "The one I really spend too much time around it mom. She makes me do this all the time."

"Is that why you hate looking girlish?" asked Bra, thinking she understood.

"Yeah, sort of." Pan shrugged. "I think you really should try a more boyish look now and then. You don't have to spend hours on end putting junk on your face just to look good, you know. It's nice to just wake up in the morning and just get breakfast and stuff, instead taking a shower for an hour and painting yourself up for another two."

"You don't shower in the morning?" Bra cringed.

"Not my point." said Pan. "My point is you need to chill out and not worry so much about things like appearance. Besides, the painted-up doll look doesn't suit you."

"I guess." Bra sighed. She stood up, but didn't notice that Pan was right behind her and bumped into her, making her fall on her back and she fell right on top of her, their opened mouths meeting. Their eyes went wide. Once again, they had kissed, and once again, they found questioning everything in their lives.

"We just kissed! Again!"

"Does the universe just want us to be together?"

"I don't know if we can be together."

"I've never even loved a boy before!"

"I don't know how a relationship between two girls is supposed to work!"

"I like her, but do I love her?"

"She's a girl, she's my friend, but is she my girlfriend?"

"We've known each other since before I can even remember. Is this right?"

"Would it hurt our friendship to be something more?"

"Is it even okay for two girls to be together?"

"What do I feel about her?"

"What do I feel about her?"

They separated lips, and a thin rope of saliva bridged between their
mouths. "Uh, Bra? I think it's time we finally discussed this." said Pan awkwardly. Bra nodded firmly. They both sat facing each other, red face to red face. A long pause ensued, the two girls' hearts beating very fast.

"Uh, so… how do we… go about doing this?" Bra asked, not even sure anymore what she was talking about.

"No idea." Pan mumbled. They tried not to look each other in the eye, looking this way and that, trying to think of what to say next. The only thing that came to either girls' mind was a single question, which they each asked aloud in unison.

"What do you think of me?" They each wore an identical expression of surprise at this question, dumbfounded that the one was thinking it the same time the other said it. They turned away from each other, even more red-faced than before, trying to consider this question.

"You're my… you're my best friend." Bra stuttered. "You always have been."

"I was thinking that too." said Pan nervously. "But I'm not entirely sure if that's the case anymore."

"What do you mean?" Bra asked.

"Well… look at us. We've kissed…" Pan paused and ticked the number of times off on her fingers. "Five times now, and we're still denying that there's still something else?"

"I'm not denying that there's something else between us. I'm just not really sure that it's love." said Bra.

"Well, what's so wrong about us being in love?" Pan asked. "As long as we're happy with our partner, does it really matter if it's a boy or a girl?"

"That's not my concern." Bra explained. "I'm concerned about what might happen if we do end up together. Both of our parents would be really made with us, especially my dad, and we may even end up… hating each other sooner or later. We might even end up breaking each other's hearts." Her eyes started to fill with tears. Pan put a comforting hand on her friend's shoulder.

"Hey, come on. Don't think like that." She said encouragingly. "It doesn't matter to me at all if we're lovers or not. To me, you'll always be my best friend." She gave her best friend a caring hug, which Bra returned.

"You realize now," said Bra. "That our lives together'll never be the same again, no matter what."

"I know that." Pan smiled. "But as long as we're friends forever, I don't care."  

"So what are we?" Bra asked.

"I just said. We're friends until the very end." Pan answered.

"You know what I mean." Bra smiled, wiping the tears from her eyes.

"Yeah. I just wanted to make sure you heard me." Pan smiled back.  

"If we do decide to be girlfriend and… girlfriend… would you be ready?" Bra asked. Pan considered this question. Then,

"Yeah, I think I would be." She answered. "And if something was to happen, and we did break our hearts, would you try as hard as you could to put them back together?" It was Bra's turn to consider this question. Finally,

"Yeah. Only if you would." She answered, to a nod from Pan.

"Then, do you love me?" Pan asked. Bra still didn't know how to answer. She didn't know herself. She cried and held Pan tightly.

"I don't know." She whimpered. "I don't know." Pan smiled hearteningly.

"Bra, you're such a crybaby." She said. "There's nothing to cry about. Not yet."

"Then… then do you love me?" Bra asked in a soggy voice. Pan smiled confidently
and looked Bra right in the eye and said,

"Yes." Bra sobbed even more, burying her face in Pan's chest.

"I'm sorry. I'm just… I'm just so happy." She sobbed.

"So am I." said Pan gently, embracing Bra passionately. Bra looked up at Pan, wiped the tears from her eyes, and put her hands on her shoulders.

"Then… then, I love you too." She said shakily, trying to sound as confident as Pan. "I am not perfect. I have a sensitive mind and I'm a crybaby, but would you accept me anyway? Would you care for me?" Pan wiped the tears from her friend's face.

"Yes."

And for the sixth time, Pan and Bra kissed, embraced tightly and passionately. Pan found herself tearing up as their kiss went on. When they finally separated, Bra was smiling.

"You really can be gentle." She giggled. Pan blushed a deeper shade of red, muttered,

"Oh, shut up." And kissed her again, much harder this time, undoing her ponytail. "You know, you look good with your hair down." Pan smiled when they broke apart again. Bra pulled Pan into yet another kiss, this time pressing her lips even harder and even using her tongue, practically crushing her bones as she embraced her tighter.

"You really can be rough." Pan giggled when their lips detached.

"Oh, shut up." Bra muttered, turning scarlet. "It's nice out. Why don't we go play outside or something?"

They sparred outside for hours, then, when they got tired, lay back together under the shade of a tree.

"You know, a few hours ago, this was all I wanted to do." Pan smiled. "Just fight and train, but now I think there's a new great thing in my life." She pecked Bra on the check. "And now all I want to do today is kiss."

"Then pucker up." Bra giggled. And until sundown, all they did was kiss. Too happy to move from where they sat, embraced in each other's arms, their tails intertwined.

"I love you, Bra."

"I love you too, Pan." They fell asleep at the base of the tree.

"Well, it's about time." Videl smiled, picking up Pan.

"Yeah. These two are just too cute together." Bulma agreed, picking up Bra.

"Gohan might act like he doesn't like it, but I know he's okay with it." said Videl in a low voice as they brought the sleeping girls into the house. "How do you think your prince will take this?"

"Vegeta might get furious, but there's nothing he can do about it." Bulma whispered. "He just can't say no to his little princess." The moms giggled softly as they put Pan and Bra in bed together.  Even though they were asleep, they held tails and snuggled together.

They muttered in their sleep,

"I love you, Pan."

"I love you, Bra."