This fic was a gift for the delightful spiritbathbomb, a talented artist who resides on tumblr, and to whose page this story was first submitted.

The First Time

The first time Tien sees him, he walks into a wall.

They're outside the Budokai, and Tien is excited and confident and maybe just a tiny bit nervous, because he's an assassin, he's not used to demonstrating his capabilities in front of this many people, but he's not showing it because he's Crane School and he's better than that. So he's walking beside his master, cool and dignified, Chaotzu rather less cool and dignified next to him, casually watching the crowd-

And then there's a handsome young man in a blue suit of about Tien's age and height, and he's laughing with the people he's with and smiling bright as sunshine, and Tien doesn't realise he's got all three eyes focussed on him until he's rubbing his nose and the Crane Sen'nin is scolding him and saying to pay attention.

The next time he sees the young man, he's wearing an orange gi, with his school proudly displayed on it, front and back. He's a student of the Turtle Sen'nin, an enemy, boasting and brash and weak, and Tien hates him. Because, for a moment, he'd had… thoughts. Thoughts that have nothing to do with being an assassin or the best, thoughts that he doesn't even understand entirely because they're unformed, like he doesn't have the concepts to properly think them, but they're warm, warm and tempting. And right there and then Tien decides that he is going to break this young man, for turning his head, for distracting him.

The braggart, Yamcha, turns out to be better than Tien thought. He's actually a pretty skilled fighter, even knows how to manipulate ki. It's no fluke he's made it this far, no idle boast when he says he's good. It's no idle boast, but Tien is excellent, and it doesn't matter that he has to work for it a little harder than he'd expected, he still wins, no surprise.

What does surprise Tien is his final act of the match. Not that he breaks Yamcha's leg, far from it, but the manner in which he breaks it. Tien is a trained assassin – he knows how to break bones so that they shatter, splinter, cause death or cripple the victim permanently.

He does not do this to Yamcha. The break is neat and tidy. It will heal quickly, and cleanly. He does not cripple the Turtle student, and he does not know why.

He figures it out when he sees Yamcha again at the next Budokai. They're friends now, and Yamcha's face lights up in that sunshine smile of his when he sees Tien, Chaotzu, and Krillin. He's filled out a bit over the past three years and let his hair grow, and Tien's heart flips over in his chest when he sees him and oh, that's why, that's why he didn't cripple him back then. Absently he remembers that he's grown a bit, too, and his shoulders have gotten wider, and he wonders if Yamcha's noticed him as well, the way Tien's noticing Yamcha.

Then they come across Goku and Bulma and the others and Yamcha's at Bulma's side in an instant and they're kissing, and Tien's stomach clenches a little.

He breathes through his nose and sets the jealousy gently to the side. Yamcha's handsome – the scars he's gained somehow manage to add character to his face rather than detract from it – but Tien doesn't really know him. He knows he's a good person, but he doesn't really know him. This is just a crush – he'll get over it. Because like hell he's going to chase after someone who's already taken. He does hope he'll have an opportunity to get to know him better, though.

And the opportunity does arise, though it's slightly more cataclysmic than Tien would prefer. Nevertheless, he does get to know Yamcha while they train with the others on Kami's Lookout to save the world, as a person as well as a warrior. He's friendly, and confident, and laughs easily. His mouth is often faster than his mind, and he's impulsive, but he doesn't back down and he's got a warrior's heart, same as the rest of them. He's a good sparring partner, too – not as strong as Tien or Krillin, but wily, and very quick. He's earned the right to wear his hair like he does.

Because long hair on a warrior isn't just vanity, it's a boast – grab a person's hair and you control their head, control their head and you've halfway won. To wear your hair long and loose like Yamcha does… it's a declaration of skill, 'I can have my hair like this, because you'll never be able to use it against me.'

Tien chases that hair for months, but he only catches it once, and when he does, Yamcha goes absolutely limp against him. Tien's too shocked to move for a moment, and in that moment the ex-bandit springs back to life, twisting like a snake to kick Tien in the kidneys, and then he's several yards away, grinning in a ready position while Tien clutches what is sure to be a truly spectacular bruise.

Tien's thinking about that moment when he falls down after his Kikoho fails. Yeah, he's mostly thinking about Chaotzu and the fate of the Earth, but a little part of him remembers that moment on the Lookout, when he had Yamcha in his arms like that, and regrets that it didn't last just a little longer…

And that first time he dies, the first time he meets Lord Yemma, Yamcha is there, sitting on the edge of Yemma's desk next to Chaotzu, waiting for him, and the idiot has the gall to laugh when Chaotzu yells at Tien for being reckless, all casual ease and stupid flippy hair.

He's cut it all off the next time Tien sees him after they've both been resurrected, when they meet the strange future boy and Goku comes back, and it's so strange to see Yamcha with short hair again, especially when having it long had suited him so well…

They see each other many times over the next three years, meeting to spar, train, test each other, but it's different than it was at Kami's or King Kai's. Because Yamcha's been chasing Goku even longer than Tien has, trying to match or surpass him, and seeing the super saiyans… Yamcha's finally realised just how far he's been left in the dust, and a certain vibrancy has left him with this knowledge, making his smiles less bright, his movements less clever and spirited.

Not that the saiyans are the sole cause of the ex-bandit's depression - his already struggling relationship with Bulma has been rockier than ever lately. Yamcha admits to Tien one evening that he doesn't think they'll be together much longer.

"Why have you put up with her for so long?" Tien asks when he hears this, "She treats you terribly when you're with her."

Yamcha shrugs ruefully. "Ironically, we get along really well when we're not together as a couple, have a lot of fun. So we've always wound up going 'well, maybe this time we'll do it right' and giving 'us' another shot. But this time…" he puts his chin on his knees and sighs, "I think this is the last time we'll break up. I can't do this anymore. I just can't…"

And Tien can see how much it hurts his friend to admit this, what a huge piece of his life he's giving up by doing so, how much he wanted things to work, to make his dreams of family happen with Bulma. Tien sees this, and he changes the subject, and he quietly wonders if Bulma knows just what it is she's about to lose.

But it turns out it's not Bulma who should have been worried about what, about who she was going to lose – it was Chichi who should have worried, Chichi and Gohan and all of them.

It feels like the end of an era when Goku dies- no, like the end of everything. In some ways it is. The Z Warriors are disbanded, the Budokai doesn't go on anymore, the world is at peace, they've won. Tien flies away from the Lookout that last time with a bitter taste in his mouth. He'll come back if he's needed, if the world is in danger, but for now…

This final adventure has left him jumping at shadows, on high alert for an enemy that can hide its presence, appearing and disappearing too fast to be caught. He's wound tight for a battle he never got to fight, and being around the others… the thought hurts. So he says good-bye and leaves, fully intending to sever his ties to this chapter of his life and start a new one.

The universe, however, has different plans.

The first time Tien sees Yamcha after the Cell Games, it's a bit over a year later, and the idiot nearly gives Tien a heart attack.

Tien's making furrows in his newly-acquired field when suddenly there is a presence behind him. "Hey, Shinhan. So this is-"

The sentence is never finished.

Tien's still on a bit of a hair trigger from Cell, and he's been practicing with his four-armed technique a lot lately – he's much, much faster with it than he used to be. His extra arms shoot out of his back and grab the intruder, and he's got the other person pinned to the ground, dodonpa ready to fire, before he registers who exactly is looking up at him.

Yamcha blinks at Tien from the damp earth, then raises an eyebrow at him, drawling, "Well someone's tense."

Tien scrambles off of him hastily, face red. "The farm's supposed to help with that."

Yamcha sits up, shaking off his shirt. "That so? Never pegged you for a farmer." And he grins, and if it's not his old sunshine smile then at the very least it's a glimpse of dawn glimmering over the horizon. "You look good. You know, other than the whole almost murdering your old friend thing."

Tien goes a little redder. "Thanks. You too."

And he does. Yamcha's dressed casually, loose pants and a t-shirt, hair brushing his shoulders, and he looks… relaxed, less… less broken than he had last time Tien saw him, like he's been stumbling for a long time and has finally found his footing again. It's good to see.

"Yamcha!" Chaotzu flies over from where he's been working a different section of the field, "What are you doing here?"

"What, did you seriously expect me to listen to that melodramatic 'this is the last time we'll meet' crap Shinhan was spouting before you guys left last time?" Yamcha laughs, "Give me a break!"

He joins them in getting the field plowed after that, and Tien had half forgotten what a chatterbox the other man can be, it feels like he barely stops the entire time.

Then again, Tien's never been much of a talker himself. And the work does seem to go faster with Yamcha here, telling jokes and stories and drawing the two of them into conversation, and Tien has to admit, he's not sorry that he's been found.

It becomes a habit, an irregular pattern – Yamcha showing up to help at the farm or just hang out. He becomes one of the few people to actually see Tien with hair (because he'd been sick for a few weeks and just had not been up to tending the farm and keeping his head shaved (he just had not)), and is promptly sworn to absolute secrecy, because Tien does not like his hair, it's embarrassing and undignified and doesn't match his gi at all. And Yamcha can't keep a straight face as he gives it, but he does keep his word. Tien becomes privy to a few secrets as well, or at least things Yamcha doesn't talk about much. Like why Yamcha takes to farming so easily, and why sometimes he doesn't need to be told what to do before he starts to help.

Tien finds this out because he actually asks him about it one day, while they're taking a midday break and sitting in the shade of a nearby tree. Tien's leaning against it, and Chaotzu's draped over one branch with his limbs dangling on either side like a cat, and Yamcha's lying on his back in the grass, the bandanna he's been using to keep his hair out of his face now dipped in cold water and covering his eyes. He's quiet for a moment after Tien asks. Then, without sitting up, or even removing the bandanna, he speaks.

"Once, long ago, in another lifetime, I was a farmer's son."

"I thought you were a bandit," Chaotzu says from his tree limb, completely failing to read the mood.

Yamcha shrugs very slightly. "I was. A damn good one, too. Just… not always."

"What happened?" Tien asks quietly, wary of the response he'll get but not quite able to resist asking.

Yamcha shrugs again, more visibly this time. "Nothing particularly original. There were soldiers. A war. Or maybe just mercenaries and a battle. I don't know, I was pretty young. I had a family, then I didn't. There was a community, then there wasn't. It happens." He lifts a corner of the bandanna to reveal one eye and grins at Tien. "Like I said, nothing very original."

Tien swallows. "I'm sorry, I didn't-"

"Don't be," Yamcha puts the bandanna back, "I'm not upset."

"You never talk about it, though."

Yamcha lifts the bandanna again, looking genuinely puzzled this time. "Why should I? It happened a long time ago. I came to terms with it years ago – even managed to make peace with it."

"How?"

Yamcha smiles now, warm and far-off and content. "I died."

"What?!"

"'strue," Yamcha replaces the bandanna again, "After all… now I know Otherworld is real. And that one day, I'll see them again. So there's no need to worry. It's like Goku what said – not good-bye, just 'see you later.'"

Tien blinks. "That is… surprisingly deep."

Yamcha grins. "Don't tell anyone. You'll ruin my reputation of being a shallow, shallow puddle of a man."

Then he asks Tien about Crane School, and the conversation moves on, and Tien doesn't especially notice his heart beating a little faster; that happens when he returns to his house one day to discover someone else is already in it, and, from the smells wafting from the kitchen, they're making themselves at home.

Turns out that it's Yamcha in the kitchen (of course it is). He's got his hair pulled back in a high, messy ponytail, and he's standing at the stove wearing an apron, and when Tien and Chaotzu come in he turns to them with a huge sunshine smile. "Hey, you're just in time, it's nearly done! Go wash up, and it'll be ready when you are."

"I- what?" Tien gapes at him, and Yamcha laughs.

"Thought I'd drop by and surprise my favorite farmers with some supper – don't worry, I brought the supplies with me. Now go wash!" and he points an authoritative finger towards to bathroom, eyes sparkling with mischief and the invitation to share it… and there it is, that vibrancy that's been missing for years, that Tien had almost begun to think was the creation of a first-time crush…

It wasn't his imagination. And, while it might have been a crush back then… it's not now. Back then they were so young and full of themselves, and Yamcha was a handsome face who happened to catch his eye. But now… they've been through the wars together, rather literally, and they know each other so well…

Looking at that smile, at those eyes, that vibrancy… Tien realises that he's somehow managed to fall head over heads for one of his best friends without noticing.

Five minutes later he's banged his head hard enough against the bathroom mirror to crack it, because he's just realised that he has no freaking clue if Yamcha even likes guys, but if the tenacity with which he's attempted to get a girlfriend, in spite of his phobia, is any indication, the answer is probably a whopping 'no.'

#%$*.

Yamcha mocks him for breaking the mirror and Chaotzu warns him about seven years of bad luck, and Tien wonders how he's going to figure this one out and whether Yamcha's going to inadvertently kill him before he does, because the other man's gotten a lot more tactile over the years and suddenly Tien's really noticing it and it's really not helping.

And as it turns out, it's possible he should have been more worried about the mirror than Yamcha's sexuality, because at least seven years' worth of bad luck ends up arriving in the space of a few days and hoo boy, that must have been a doozy of a mirror for things to go this bad this fast, because…

Buu.

Such a simple, unassuming name.

Buu.

But it brings terror unlike any other.

Terror and perspective.

Because the Earth had been destroyed. They'd all been dead. He'd almost waited too long , almost let his fear of losing what he had overshadow a chance to get what he really wants.

So after it's all over, after the world is at peace (and in one piece), and everyone's reunited, and it's been a few days and everyone's finally coming down off of that adrenaline trip, and Yamcha's dropped by again to see how he's doing, Tien gathers up his courage and walks over to the other man, putting a hand on his shoulder.

Yamcha looks different. He's chopped off all his hair again (said he was 'in the mood for something different' (and then, with a wink, assured Tien that he fully planned on growing it back again)), and it's easier to see the passage of time on his face without it. The man's always had youthful features, but he's closer to forty than thirty now, both of them are, and it's beginning to show, just a little. He's not the boy Tien had a crush on anymore, he's the man he fell in love with, and this realization takes all his noble intentions, all the things he'd been planning to say, and throws them somewhere into the lower stratosphere, leaving Tien gaping and tongue-tied.

Yamcha watches him curiously, looks at his hand, waits a moment. "Um, Tien? Is there something you wanted to say to me?"

"I- uh-" Tien turns very, very red.

…maybe he should have practiced talking a bit more over the years instead of letting Yamcha carry the conversation all the time…

Yamcha watches him for another minute, then shakes his head and laughs. "Dammit, Shinhan, you're gonna make me do everything, aren't you?"

And he steps forward, puts both hands on Tien's shoulders, and kisses him.

Tien's brain kinda grinds to a halt, and doesn't start again until the kiss ends, at which point he gapes at Yamcha. "I- what? How long have you-?"

And Yamcha rolls his eyes, but his expression is more fond than exasperated. "I have been flirting with you for six years, Tien. And people say I'm slow on the uptake."

Then he kisses him again, only this time Tien's brain stays online enough to let him put his arms around Yamcha's waist, and it feels so good to finally hold him like this, and when Yamcha opens his mouth and starts licking and nipping at Tien's lips, he opens his mouth willingly to let him in, and it's strange, he hasn't really done this before, but it's also so, so good. Yamcha's mouth is hot and Tien's feeling warmer and warmer and somehow they make it to Tien's bedroom, and the thoughts are back, the warm, tempting thoughts he'd first had on a summer day, long, long ago, but he's not eighteen anymore and they're clearer now, and, best of all, he's not the only one having them.

It's a warm haze of a memory afterwards, made of glimpses, moments strung together like amber beads on a necklace. Yamcha's mouth on his neck, the other man casually sliding out of his clothes, comfortable in his own nudity in a way that makes Tien's mouth go dry, hands everywhere, dark eyes watching him and made darker with warmth and desire as Tien removes the last of his own clothes, together again, nothing in the way, exploring, tasting, Yamcha flushed and squirming, another kiss, fiercer, moving closer together, friction, oh kami friction, oh kami-

Afterwards Yamcha is draped on top of him, looking like he's going to start purring any minute now, in spite of the fact that he's fully human, and Tien can't really blame him, because he's got his arms around the other man and is in a rather similar state of mind.

"So… what happens now?" Tien eventually asks.

"Now, obviously, I keep you forever," Yamcha says comfortably, and Tien raises an eyebrow at that.

"You're going to keep me?"

Yamcha makes an annoyed sound and thumps a fist lightly on Tien's chest. "Yes. You acknowledged this thing, you're stuck with me, now quit complaining. 'cause if you ruin my afterglow, I swear, I will break your leg."

And… he can't help it, Tien laughs at that.

Yamcha wrinkles his nose at him. "Yeah, sure, keep it up, I might do it anyway. You do owe me from that one time, after all."

"I- that was years ago!"

"Mmm," Yamcha looks smug, "I am actually quite amazing at holding grudges. It just takes a lot to get me to hold one in the first place, so nobody notices."

Tien is silent for a moment. Then he laughs. "Bullshit. That is complete and utter bullshit."

Yamcha cracks one eye back open and smirks at him. "Handsome and smart. I definitely know how to pick 'em."

And, really, the only way to respond to that is to flip Yamcha onto his back and kiss him senseless, so Tien does.

When they eventually emerge, Chaotzu is sitting in the living room, waiting for them, and he is very industriously cleaning a shovel. He looks up when they enter, and for once his attention isn't automatically on Tien but on Yamcha.

"So," he says, giving the edge of the shovel a good swipe as he looks at the ex-bandit, "Just what exactly are your intentions towards Tien?"

Tien nearly dies. He manages not to show it on the outside, because Chaotzu is his best friend and they have literally known each other as long as they can remember, but the little man also has that look on his face, the one that says that he's not exactly sure why he needs to do what he's doing now, but that he does know it's important, so he's doing his best to take it seriously.

Yamcha just grins and slings an arm around Tien's shoulders. "Don't worry, Chaotzu, I'll be a good husband to him."

Tien nods, then starts, "Wait, what? Who says I'm the wife?"

"You're obviously the wife, Tien," Chaotzu rolls his eyes, "You've got the Ultimate Housewife Technique."

To which Tien protests that that is not the name of his four-armed technique, no matter how useful it is for doing chores around the house and he's told Chaotzu not to call it that and Yamcha laughs at them both and Tien glares at him and says that it's a good thing he's in love with Yamcha, it really is, at which point Yamcha stops laughing and stares at him, his eyes wide.

"You love me?"

Tien looks away (two-thirds of the way away), and blushes, because that was almost certainly too soon, but he answers honestly. "Yeah."

Yamcha swallows. "When did that happen?"

Tien offers a slight smile. "I've been falling for you for years." And he steps forward, hesitantly cups Yamcha's face with one hand. "You're an easy man to love."

And Yamcha closes his eyes and covers Tien's hand with one of his own, and he's smiling too, small and warm and content, like he's been waiting to hear this for a long time. "You're a little harder to love," he says quietly, "Sometimes I can't tell what you're thinking or how you feel, and it's confusing," he opens his eyes and his smile widens, "But you're worth it. Completely and utterly, you're worth it."

OoOoOoOoO

The first time Tien saw Yamcha, he walked into a wall. He was eighteen and full of himself and had no idea what the world held, or even what he himself was truly capable of – how far he would go, how much he would see and learn.

He's not eighteen anymore, and he's seen and done more than most people even dare to dream of. He's been to Otherworld, and fought demons and aliens. He's got a best friend who's definitely on the quirky side but who's always been there for him, and he's fallen hard for a man who returns his feelings utterly. He's grown up and found friends and family, his home and his place in the world.

But when one evening Tien and Chaotzu come in from working their fields and find Yamcha in the kitchen making supper, hair in a high, messy ponytail, standing at the stove again wearing an apron and his boxers and nothing else, and the ex-bandit looks over his shoulder with that sunshine smile and asks which Tien wants first, supper or desert… Tien still walks into a wall.

OoOoOoOoO

Most of my stories start with a question – the exact question varies from fic to fic, but generally it's some incarnation of 'what if' or 'how would this work/happen.' The question for this fic was 'how would Tien and Yamcha get together without breaking canon?' (because weaving headcanon and fanon into canon without actually changing the overall plot is one of my specialties). I should really know better than to ask these questions at this point, because the opening sentence of the story dropped into my mind, and I really liked it, and after that I really didn't have any choice but to write the thing.

The original kitchen scene in this story was inspired by one of spiritbathbomb's sketches, which I liked very much (because the fact that he's one of the top two cooks in the DBZ universe is one of my favorite bits of Yamcha trivia).