Disclaimer: I don't own DBZ or the characters

So, I was given this idea by a friend a long time ago regarding a possibility of why the arrogant, prideful Prince Vegeta, had worm/bug issues in the last season and where that disgust could have arisen from. Having worked somewhere dealing with dead animal carcasses, I can honestly say I now share these sentiments. Now, I will warn, that this is not for the faint of heart. Fair warning, if you hate bugs and insects of any kind, especially flies…yeah, just click that back arrow unless you're in the mood to be grossed out. I did warn you.

However, it is Halloween, so I figured this would be the perfect time for this :D Happy Halloweeeeen! :[ LOL!

It was meant to be a harmless practical joke, but it turned into a fiasco. Trunks hadn't expected his father to find it as amusing as he did, but he didn't expect him to snap either. He also didn't expect the rest of his afternoon to consist of heavy training in the GR. He was definitely aching by the time his father was done with him, but he still didn't understand what he had done so wrong in his meaningless prank.

Vegeta knew he was in for an earful the second he felt Bulma's ki outside of the spherical room. He didn't want to explain himself to her, though as his mate she had a right to know. In the past, Bulma had always let him keep his past to himself. When he awoke from nightmares, sometimes ready to strangle her, she allowed him to stay silent and voice however much or little he was willing to share. It made it easier for him to open up, to not be judged, but things changed when Trunks was born and after the incident with Majin Buu. Now wouldn't be an exception.

After Trunks was born, Bulma had wanted more information on his childhood. At times, her questions overwhelmed him and left him harping on thoughts of his past more than he desired. His childhood hadn't been pleasant. Frieza had made sure of that. His whole childhood, not to mention his teenaged years and part of his adulthood, had been with that tyrant. His memories held more power over him than he cared to admit, and now one of his fears had returned full swing. Another hard knock resounded in the GR. Growling, Vegeta powered it down making it safe for Bulma to enter. He refused to move from his spot to let her in.

As soon as the simulator was off, Bulma rushed in, hands on her hips. "Our son is hold up in his room and is refusing to come out," she said with an accusatory tone. "Mind telling me why, on the first day I take charge at the company, I come home to a battlefield in the kitchen and why Trunks is so afraid you're going to hurt him?"

It struck Vegeta, the way she worded it, but she would have never seen the hurt flicker in his eyes as he faced the gravity controls. Since the insanity with Majin Buu, he had been on edge. Yes, the members of their small family were happy to have each other back, but both Bulma and Trunks had been wary of him. In the past, he would have relished in the feeling of having someone fear him and his power, fear what he would do in a given moment, but not his family. It was one of the many reasons he had been off brooding in the GR before breakfast, and most likely the reason for his son's seemingly harmless prank.

"What did the boy tell you?" Vegeta asked calmly, not hinting towards his inner turmoil. He figured he should start with what she knew before he explained anything.

Bulma's eyes narrowed slightly, but she humored him. "I came home and found the house too quiet for comfort," she started, "and I found the kitchen in shambles. I went looking for both you and Trunks and found the door to his room closed." Vegeta nodded, knowing that Trunks keeping his door shut was an unusual occurrence. Even when he was making trouble, planning and plotting, his door was always open.

"When I called for him, he told me to go away. I tried to open the door, and it was locked. I kept asking him what happened and he finally said he played some prank on you thinking it would loosen you up since the day you knocked him out…his words, not mine. He may be a kid, but he's noticed like I have the distance you've put between yourself and us. He was trying to get your attention, but apparently you overreacted and threw him into harsh training. You promised you wouldn't be that aggressive with him!"

He had promised that, a very long time ago, when Trunks was a small child ready to be trained. Vegeta had never trained with him the way he had been trained under the PTO. It was probably why the boy had fooled around so much in his fight with Buu. His training had gotten slightly more forceful after that encounter, but Vegeta had been more than aggressive with his son that day.

"I did overreact," he reluctantly admitted, "but the prank wasn't as 'harmless' as you or the boy thinks."

Vegeta turned to face her then, and she saw the intensity of his hardened stare. It reminded her of how he looked back when he had started staying with her through the night, how he looked when he dwelled on his past or woke up from nightmares. "What happened?" she questioned softly, all anger and judgment gone from her voice.

Vegeta didn't like talking about his past, so finding the words to bring it up was even more difficult. "Did...did he tell you what the prank was?" Bulma nodded. "What did he say?"

"He said he put worms in your pasta salad."

Vegeta cringed as she voiced it, but covered it up well. Worms, insects, maggots...they brought back memories of the life he led before, the life he led as a planet purger. They disgusted him.

In the past, Vegeta had been one to destroy things he despised. Planet Arlia was an example of his distaste for the insect population. Now, though, after he had fused with that idiot, Kakarot, his old fear and disgust were a little more challenging to ignore. When they had run into those worms inside Buu, Vegeta had really though he was going to vomit. It was nothing like Kakarot's inane fear of needles, but something much worse and more disturbing to him, something the innocent, Earth-raised Saiyan would never understand.

"I'm sure you know what happens to a dead organism when it is left to the elements," he began stoically, "degradation and decay. When on purges that took longer than a few days, we did not have the tome to...'clean up' right away." Bulma remained silent as he continued in fear he might stop there and leave her with more questions than answers. "The bodies began their cycle of degradation as Nappa, Raditz, and I finished our mission. By the time we finished, it was always the same scene, a smelly corpse being feasted upon by maggots and surrounded by flies. The sight of them alone always disgusted me.

"There were times, when we were slightly ahead of schedule, that we needed rest. Sometimes the pods were too far away for us to call, and we had to destroy all of the buildings as instructed. The only place to rest was among the dead and rubble." He shivered slightly as he remembered the second most horrid sensation he could remember. "Just thinking about it brings me back to the feeling of maggots crawling on my skin."

Bulma made a face, grossed out by the revelation. She knew the feeling after having a spider crawl on her once. What he husband was telling her made her feel sick to her stomach. Still, what their son had done was definitely harmless. The fear Vegeta had was irrational. "Still, it's not like he put the worm on you or anything. You just saw it."

"But I didn't see it," he explained making Bulma pale. "After I took the first bite...I felt it. That too was not an unfamiliar sensation. Need I continue?"

"S-Sure," Bula stuttered, not sure if she wanted to hear anymore. She had come this far, though, so she was willing to hear the rest of his tale.

"In the past, that feeling always made me want to vomit, but I had to get over it quick or else, when our provisions ran out, I would have starved, and Frieza would have learned of my disgust and would have used it against me some way. I needed to train myself to be indifferent from feeling those disgusting pests crawling down my throat.

"Since the fusion with that fool, Kakarot, my reactions to those disgusting pests have changed. I used to be able to hide it, to not react and stomach it. I even eliminated a planet of insects, and Nappa didn't think anything of it. We could have collected it for Frieza, but the last thing I needed was to touch those bugs. Because I experienced Kakarot's idiotic fear of needles, I can no longer take the feeling of something crawling on my skin or in my mouth. I punished the boy the only way I could assure I would never have to feel that foulness by his hand again. He was never in any real danger."

Bulma was at a loss for words as her husband relived his past. She placed a hand on his shoulder. "Instead of using your fists as your means of communication, you should use your words. Try talking to him and explaining what he did wrong. I have a better understanding now because you told me what the problem was, but Trunks is much younger and even more confused by your actions."

Vegeta nodded slightly, but said nothing more. Bulma saw his downtrodden and pensive expression. She had always been able to see through him, but he was right in saying the fusion with Goku had opened a small door into seeing his emotions. "I'll talk to him first. Are there any other irrational fears I should know about?"

The Saiyan prince pondered this for a moment before saying, "Snakes. I fought a boa on this planet before and it reminded me of Frieza's tail before it was incinerated." Vegeta couldn't help but remember fighting the tyrant on Namek and how his tail had coiled around his neck, crushing his windpipe. He had never been so humiliated than when his former master viciously beat him in front of the other fighters leaving him no chance to fight back. Thankfully, Bulma didn't ask him to elaborate. He refused to lower his pride any more than he already had that day.

She flashed him a small, understanding smile. "I'll take care of it, Vegeta."

He watched her leave the GR and, once he was alone, reset the gravity level to resume his training. He refused to let anything, even a conversation with his woman, prevent him from doing so. He would continue to fight to get stronger, stronger than he ever was before.

Trunks was still hold up in his room which made it easier for Bulma to find him. It was obvious he was still upset from earlier as he was still on his bed holding his knees to his chest while glaring at a spot on the covers. Bulma smiled sadly as she sat next to her son and pulled him close to her.

"Is dad still mad?" Trunks murmured against his mother's chest.

She stroked his lavender hair and sighed. "He was never really mad, Trunks."

Trunks pulled away and looked at her like she was crazy. "So he dragged me to the GR because he was in a good mood?"

"No, sweetie," Bulma chuckled. "Do you remember the time I needed you to kill that big, ugly spider?"

"Yeah?" the child answered questioningly. "You were so freaked out."

Bulma grimaced remembering just how freaked out she had been. She hadn't wanted to compare what Vegeta was going through to her silly fear, but she didn't know how to convey it to her young son. She certainly didn't think he was old enough to hear and understand his father's aversion. "Everyone has something that bothers them like that," Bulma explained softly. "You just happened to find your father's."

Realization crossed Trunks' features, and he frowned. "But dad isn't afraid of anything," the child replied. "He said that himself."

She half-smiled at her son's words. For his entire life, Vegeta had been saying he wasn't afraid of anything, but she had seen the truth many times before. She knew he feared losing them, and now she was privy to the irrational fears associated with his past. "It's a long story, Trunks," Bulma explained. "Maybe he'll tell you when you're older, but for now just avoid it. You know your father. This is a sensitive subject for him."

Trunks nodded and then grew serious. "Um, is it safe now?"

His mother nodded and said, "Yes, but just give your father some time. He was very rattled."

Bulma decided to leave Trunks alone with the information as she went to go clean up the kitchen. She knew it would be a while before Vegeta left the GR and Trunks needed to process that information. One thing was certain, though. Both she and her son had learned something about Vegeta that he would have never let anyone know for the sake of his pride. He let them in. She smiled fondly at the thought.

He really has changed.

Later, Vegeta entered the kitchen after working out some more. It had been quite a long time since he dedicated the entire day to training, but it had been very good stress relief. Surprisingly, talking had been as well, but he would never tell his wife that or she would try to get him to open up more. There were parts about that life he would rather keep buried. His family didn't need to know everything about his past.

"D-Dad?"

Vegeta looked to the doorway to see his son looking back at him with wide eyes. He seemed a little nervous, though Vegeta couldn't blame him. He had overreacted earlier; he had admitted such to Bulma earlier. "Boy, you are a Saiyan prince," he told him. "Speak confidently. No stammering like a babbling human, understand?"

Trunks's expression turned to one of mirth as he chuckled at his dad's joke. The older prince smirked at his son, one of the few things in his life he was truly proud of.

"So we're good?" Trunks asked, though it sounded like he already knew the answer.

A nod was his answer, though Trunks sensed a heaviness in the air. He realized that his mother was right. He didn't understand irrational fears well, but he knew it was serious. He moved quicker than Vegeta anticipated and shocked his father by giving him a very forceful hug. "I love you dad," the little boy told him, "and I won't prank you again. Promise."

Vegeta knelt down in front of his son and held him at arm's length. Nothing else needed to be said between father and son in that moment. Without telling his son anything, they seemed to have an understanding.

At least he no longer had to worry about those blasted worms again.