Disclaimer: I don't own the rights to Dragonball Z or any of its characters.
Also see initial disclaimers.
Enjoy!
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Whee, college. It's everything I imagined and more. I've made some friends, made some memories, my classes rock, and we're only a week into it. I eat in the cafeteria because if you live in the dorms they require you to get a meal plan. But hey, I'm not complaining; among campus cafeterias it could be worse. Unfortunately most of the friends I've made don't really have meal plans; they're second-year students and up and many have their own apartments. I hope next year I can have my own apartment. I know that's silly to say because I wanted to live in the dorm in the first place, but really, it would be nice to have my own place. Besides it sucking that in the dorms I have to share with a roommate, Yamato isn't really the nicest guy. All he does when he's in the room is lie on his bed with his eyes closed listening to his iPod. What a weirdo. That's not what college should be about. If I were to get a roommate, that would be fine, too, as long as I get my own room.
Speaking of food (a while back, anyway), I should go ahead and go to the cafeteria before it closes, I guess.
I make my way to the cafeteria down the long path from my dorm. When I arrive, I hand my card to the cafeteria worker who swipes it and allows me access. It's kind of interesting that I've picked up all of this routine so quickly. The first day I had to fumble around with my wallet and find my ID card, and the first couple of times, I forgot that I was supposed to present it. Now it's immediately at hand.
I get myself a hamburger and some "potato wedges," and take a seat at an empty table in the middle of the right half of the cafeteria, facing the window. About halfway through my hamburger, I catch the sight a familiar green-haired girl, and a familiar purple-haired asshole. It was Trunks and umm... man, I'm bad with names. I kinda want to say "hey," but at the same time I don't feel like dealing with Trunks again. Wait, he's going to get more food... now's my chance!
As soon as Trunks leaves and is out of sight, I casually walk over. I catch full view of her face and ask, "Hey...aren't you Pan's friend?"
"Yeah! You're her uncle Goten, right?"
"That's right!"
"Wow, funny running into you."
"Yeah, well, tell Pan I said h...," I begin, walking away.
"Goten?" a male's voice behind me interrupts. I turn around and see... who else?
"Oh, hey, Trunks," I say, with a notable lack of enthusiasm in my tone.
"Hey! Great to see ya. Oh, did you meet my sister, Bra?"
Bra... that's it. How could I forget.
"She's uh, friends with my niece."
"Your niece? How old are you?"
"Oh, I'm 18. It's my older brother's daughter, and she's 15." Why am I talking to him?
"Ah, all right. Well, sit down! Eat with us!"
"Um, well..."
"Come on!"
"All right, sure, I'll just get my food."
I walk back over to my tray. Why am I doing this? I was invited. I'm just being nice. But does he deserve for me to be nice to him? You know, he didn't really do anything too bad. I think most of it's probably just what Pan said getting to me. I should just lay back and if he's cool, then hey, he's cool. I mean people seem to like him. He can't be too bad. And Pan hangs out with his sister. I don't know. I'll stop thinking about it and just enjoy a dinner with them.
I bring my food over and Trunks turns from his conversation with Bra and says in an almost-too-loud, welcoming voice, "There you are, we pulled up a chair for ya."
"Thanks," I reply, taking a seat.
Trunks continues, "So, anyway, I told her that I would just go out and get some ice cream and that I would be back in a second." His sister nods. "And she's like 'NO, you'll stay with me right now or else we're over.' And so I just said, 'We're over,' and left without looking back."
His sister nods again, looking kind of uncomfortable, and, after a short pause, says, "Well, she really shouldn't have been so controlling, I guess."
"Seriously," Trunks responds firmly. "So, Goten, how's it going?"
"Um, I'm fine."
"That's good, how are classes?"
"They're... fine."
"What are you taking? What's your major?"
"I'm taking just a bunch of core classes, but I'm a history major."
"History, that's ... interesting." I can tell you really think so, Trunks.
"What about you?"
"Business." You have room to criticize other majors, Trunks. Urg, stop being so critical, Goten.
"That's ... interesting," I respond, in the exact same tone.
"Ha, not really. But I have to study it because I'm the heir to Capsule Corp."
"You're... you're what?"
"Heir to Capsule Corporation."
"The Capsule Corporation?"
"Yes, the Capsule Corporation," Trunks laughs.
He shakes it off like it's no big deal. Half the stuff I own is made by CC. And one day he'll be head of the entire thing? I'm sitting here having dinner with the guy who's going to be the head of CC? It blows my mind.
"That's... that's really cool."
"Ha, you think so?"
"Yeah, wow."
Trunks continues to laugh. "Well, I'm glad you think so." Bra begins to chuckle as well. I guess they're used to it.
Trunks's laughter subsides, and he proposes that we leave and go to his dorm. Bra is quick to support the idea, and so Trunks looks to me.
I look to the ground. I don't want to lie. I'll just go. It'll be like I'm being an asshole if I say no.
"...Sure, I'll go."
"Great! Then let's get the hell outta here."
We walk toward Trunks's (much nicer) dorm-- suite, really. The common room has two couches and a chair, a television, and a DVD player.
"This is nice," I comment.
Trunks says, "Eh, it'll do."
Bra takes a seat on the couch across from the television, and Trunks in his own chair. I can't decide whether to sit next to Bra or on the unoccupied couch, but decide on "next to Bra." I can have a better view of the television that way anyway. And the couches are nicely sized; it's not like I'm crowding her.
Trunks pushes play on the remote that seemed to materialize from thin air, and we watch television for a little while. There isn't much on, and most of the time is spent talking.
Somehow in the last fifteen minutes or so, conversation has come considerably more naturally among these two. This has been a good night so far. I'm thinking this to myself when the murmur of general conversation between Trunks and Bra breaks.
"Well, I oughta be heading home," Bra says.
"Yeah, it's getting pretty late," Trunks agrees. "You ready, Goten?"
"Yeah."
"Want me to give you a ride?" Trunks asks. "It's no trouble, I'm taking Bra home anyway."
"... Sure," I say with a smile after slight hesitation. I'm still kind of apprehensive about him, but he seems like a nice enough guy.
"All right, let's go!"
We arrive at the Capsule Corporation building first. I look up in awe before turning to Trunks. "This is where you live!"
"Yep, me, Mom, Dad, and Bra."
I look back up. "Wow," I respond, with genuine astonishment.
I don't see him, but it feels like Trunks rolls his eyes. "You want to come in?"
"Yeah!"
"Come on."
Trunks, Bra, and I all walk into the building. The first room is fairly small, but then the doors in front of me open and a room bigger than at least two of my houses is revealed. I slowly look around the enormous room, taking it all in.
"All right, Goten, let's go."
"Okay..." I say, finishing my lingering glance.
We climb back into Trunks's car. "Which dorm do you live in, Goten?"
"Washi House."
"Oh, really? I lived there freshman year."
"Oh, that's cool," I respond, shortly before noticing Trunks's smile, smiling myself and then both of us saying in unison, "No, it isn't!"
"Washi House sucked," Trunks laughs, as I return the sentiment.
We carry on talking for the rest of the car ride until we arrive at the dorm.
Trunks then turns to me and asks, "Hey, what are you doing Friday night?"
"Um... nothing to my knowledge."
"You wanna go to this party? I hear it's gonna be pretty good."
"Yeah! Totally."
"Great, see you Friday, around 9 then."
"If not before!" I respond with a smile, getting out of the car.
"Ha, yeah! All right, see you 'round, Goten."
"'Night!" I say, closing the door and walking up the steps to my dorm room. Yamato isn't there and so, after turning on the lights, I let out a loud, happy sigh and fling myself onto my bed carelessly.
See you Friday, Trunks.
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It's Friday night, and it's 9:14 PM. Where the fuck is Trunks? Did he forget about me? The phone rings.
"Hello?"
"Goten! What's up?" Trunks says happily.
"Oh, not much. Waitin' for you to call."
"You ready?"
"Yep, been ready."
"All right, I'll come and pick you up in about ... ten minutes."
"All right, see you then," I say.
"Bye." I close my phone.
I sit back on my bed. Yamato's not here. I wonder what he's doing on a Friday night, being sociable. Not too important, I suppose. At 9:20, I get up and walk downstairs. At 9:31, Trunks finally pulls up.
"Hey! What's up?" Trunks says in the exact same tone of voice he said over the phone.
"Same as seventeen minutes ago," I laugh. He doesn't need to know that's accurate.
"Haha, all right then. I'm picking up a couple of other friends, too, if you don't mind."
"'Course not, the more the merrier!" The more the merrier? Where'd I learn to talk like that?
"Cool, cool."
We arrive at the party with three more of Trunks's friends, who take their places in some of the various groups of three or four scattered throughout the house at the party. I follow Trunks into the kitchen.
"You want something, Goten?"
"Uh, ... sure." He doesn't need to know I've never had alcohol before.
"What do you like?" Well, maybe he does.
"Umm... what's good?"
"You've never drunk before, have you?" He can read me like a book.
"Heh, nope."
"We'll start you off on girl drinks. Have a strawberry daiquiri," he says mixing daiquiri mix with a bottle that simply has a piece of notebook paper taped to it with "RUM" written on it in black sharpie.
After mixing the drink he pours me some and himself some. I sip it, "Ha, it tastes like an Icee. But it burns!"
"Yeah, you'll get used to that," Trunks replies.
I take another sip. It's like someone is taking rubbing alcohol and applying it to my tonsils with a Brillo pad.
"Who wants shots?" screams a voice coming from the living room.
I hear many "I do"'s and "me!"'s coming from the same room, as Trunks and I walk in.
Trunks reaches his hand out and grabs a shot glass full of a clear liquid.
"You want one, Goten?"
"Umm... I don't know..."
"Oh, come on. Tell ya what, we'll split one."
"... Okay."
Trunks downs half the glass quickly, followed by a brisk head shake, and then hands the glass to me.
I follow suit. This is way worse than the daiquiri (which I'm still holding in my left hand). How do people drink for fun? I'm thinking this to myself as I see Trunks grabbing another one and downing it in one gulp. I shrug my shoulders and take another tiny sip from my strawberry daiquiri. I notice Trunks has finished his.
It continues like this all night. I eventually finish mydrink and am about a quarter of the way into my second while Trunks drinks a bit moreand morequickly. He sits to my right on the couch as the party happens around us. Trunks's face has reddened a bit at this point, I notice. This is the heir to CC, I'm thinking to myself as he sharply turns his head around and says, "I'm gonna go out and get some air. Wanna come with?"
"Sure," I say, with almost an undertone of responsibility for watching over him as he's drunk.
We walk out under the midnight sky to his car. He lies back on the hood, and I do the same to his right.
"This is a good party," he starts.
"Yeah, it's all right," I respond without breaking my gaze upward.
He sits up, "Hey Goten?"
"Yeah?" I say, moving my eyes but keeping my head stationary.
"We should live together next year."
I bolt upward. "What?"
"We should totally live together next year. Get an apartment. It'd be great."
We practically just met. And he's inviting me to live with him? That's kind of a big step. But I do want to live in an apartment next year, if not next semester. The dorm life is not for me. The sharing a room thing is not for me. Damn. But of all the people I've met since I've come to college, I guess Trunks would be the best to room with. He's so cool. I bet he has a bunch of great Capsule Corp stuff, too. And if he doesn't he can swipe it, heh.
But I don't need to be thinking about this kind of stuff. He's drunk. He doesn't know what he's saying. By tomorrow, I wouldn't be surprised if he didn't remember mentioning this at all.
"Sure, Trunks, we should."
"Good," he says, lying back onto the hood of his car and looking up at the sky.
"Good," I reply in a whisper, and rest my head on my left hand, looking at Trunks.
After a short burst of silence, I break it by lifting myself and asking, "So, should we get back to the party?"
"Just... give me two more minutes, all right?"
"... All right," I say softly, leaning back into the same position.
Trunks's eyes eventually trail to meet mine and I quickly break the gaze, pretending to casually observe my surroundings. I sigh.
"All right, let's go," Trunks says as he gets up.
We return to the party briefly, but in the few minutes we've been outside, the party has died down considerably.
"You wanna just go, Goten?"
"Yeah."
"All right."
"Are... are you all right to drive?"
"Yeah, I'm fine."
"You sure?"
"Yes. Trust me, I've done it a million times before."
This sounds like a don't-drink-and-drive commercial. But he's my only ride.
"All right."
Sure enough, nothing to worry about. He hadn't had anything for like an hour and I think the air did him good. He drives me home very calmly, and I breathe a small sigh of relief when we reach the front of Washi House.
"Have a good night, Goten."
"You too."
I go up to my room, turn on the light, and see once again that Yamato is not there, and it appears he was not there in the time I was gone. I turn off the light and jump into my bed, looking up at what I can see of the ceiling from the light coming from the streetlight across the street that seeps through the venetian blinds we have in our room.
Trunks. Trunks and me. Living together. Just met.Best friends.
I drift into sleep.
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