THE NEW YEARS DEBACLE

CHAPTER 6

11:41 pm, Capsule Corp.

Uub finally stopped for a rest in the kitchen, snatching a glass of punch of the table and gulping it down. He'd been avoiding Vegeta for the last hour and a half. He thought he'd slowed Vegeta down when that drainpipe hit him on the head, but Vegeta was back on his feet in no time and searching for Uub high and low.

Uub just wanted to go home, but not before he told Bura the real story and cleared his name. Otherwise he could never show his face around his friends again.

As Uub pondered away, he wandered over to the kitchen window to watch the workmen set up the fireworks. It was about twenty minutes until midnight and Uub couldn't wait. This year's pyrotechnics show was going to be a good one.

As Uub drew near the window, he misjudged the distance between himself and the cupboards and stubbed his tow. "Ow!" He cried, dropping his drink. Unfortunately, as the plastic cup fell, it dumped its contents all over Uub's groin.

"Just great," Uub grumbled. He was having the worst luck today. He grabbed some paper towel and started rubbing the sweet liquid off of his pants vigorously. He just hoped no one saw him; it was bad enough that Bura thought he was a pervert, but if she thought he was capable of wetting himself too, he'd never hear the end of it.

Bura was fuming as she stomped down the stairs after search the topmost floors of her house for Uub. She'd thrown on a small black dress to replace her ruined one as she hunted around the Capsule Corp. compound for that Peeping Tom. It would be a perfect way to top of her evening, beating the crap out of that pervert, Uub.

Continuing her search, Bura walked into the dimly lit kitchen, asking people along the way if they'd seen any dark skinned boys with bad haircuts. Upon entering the kitchen, Bura paused when she spotted someone hunched over by the window with their back to her. She recognised the form immediately; it was Uub. She cracked her knuckles in anticipation.

As she came forward, she was forced to pause and do a double take. It was Uub all right, and he was . . . touching himself!

Bura whimpered in disgust and started backing away. Uub was jerking off in her kitchen! She could see him rubbing his groin in the light from the window. Then he moaned. Bura couldn't tell if it was a moan of frustration or pleasure, either way, she felt sick.

"Oh . . ." Bura groaned in disgust. Uub heard her and glanced over his shoulder at her.

"Oh, no. Uh . . . Bura! This isn't what you think . . .!" Uub began.

"Uub, you need help. Really. But I'm going to be nice and give you a minute's head start before I send my father in here to beat the crap out of you." Bura said with as much courage as she could muster.

"Bura!" He kept his back to her, embarrassed about something.

"Stop thinking about me while you do that!" Bura cried and fled the room.

Uub gave up. There was no changing her mind now and Vegeta would surely kill him. His best chance at survival was to get the heck out of there. He threw the bunch of paper towels in his hand down and left the house through a backdoor before he was discovered.

Bura, on the other hand, was so distressed that she ran straight up to her bedroom and double locked the door. She tore off her dress and got into bed. She didn't care about New Years anymore; she just wanted to be alone.

Goten slumped down onto a couch. The truth about his girlfriend had hit him like a ton of bricks. She was cheating. Most likely with several men, Sven included, because he'd heard her with a man who wasn't Sven and he'd seen how attached Bura was to her Pen Pal when Bura introduced them.

He glanced at his watch. 11:46 pm. About fifteen minutes until New Years. Goten was so depressed that he was ending his year like this, at his cheating girlfriend's party, on a couch, all alone.

It was then that Sven spotted him amidst the crowd and walked over. He helped himself to a seat next to Goten. "You look like you're seen better days, yes?" Sven asked.

Goten just glared at him. "Leave me alone, Sven." Sven eyed him in curiosity.

"You don't like me very much, do you?" Sven asked.

"Look, Sven, I know all about you and Bura so just. . ." Goten began.

"Me and Bura?" Sven asked.

"Yes, I've seen you flirting with one another. I've seen the way she looks at you. And I got a fortune cookie, which said . . . uh, nothing." Goten said.

Sven looked confused. "Goten, I do not know what you're saying. Bura and I are old friends . . ."

"Yeah right."

Sven sighed, he'd hoped he could have told Goten what he was about to say at a better time, but it looked like he had no choice but to say it now. . .

"Goten . . . I'm gay." Sven watched as Goten's eyes widened considerably. "That's what was trying to tell you before but you left before I could finish."

Goten never looked so relieved. "Really!? That's great!" Goten cried. Goten could stop himself from jumping up and giving Sven a big hug out of sheer happiness. Goten paused when he realised what he was doing. He was hugging a gay man in a crowded room. Goten quickly let go of Sven before anyone say him, but Sven kept on hugging him. "Um . . . I'm letting go, why aren't you?" Goten asked quietly.

"Aren't you gay too?" Sven drew back and asked in all seriousness.

Goten looked shocked. "NO!" He yelled his answer, causing a few heads to turn.

Sven waited until all attention was off of them before saying, "I just thought that you must swing that way since you haven't made a move you your 'girlfriend' yet."

"Made a move?" Goten asked absently.

"You two are virgins, yes?" Sven asked.

Goten blushed. "Alright, alright, keep it down." He glanced around nervously.

"One of the reasons I come to your country is because all the young men are horny, yes? I'm looking for a boyfriend you see." Sven explained. "I couldn't understand why you, a young man, had not had sex with your girlfriend yet. I concluded that you were gay."

"Well, I'm not," Goten assured him. He sifted a hand through his hair in weariness. "I don't know. I guess I'm just scared to take our relationship to that level, you know? Maybe I'm afraid of commitment."

"Bura isn't cheating on you Goten. She can't be. She loves you too much," Sven commented. "And I think she's ready for the commitment. Don't you love her to?"

"Of course!" Goten said quickly. "I just . . . don't want to get hurt." And Goten suddenly realised why he was afraid to move on with his relationship with Bura and why he was paranoid about her cheating on him. He was afraid of getting hurt. He was afraid of Bura hurting him. He snapped back to reality when he felt Sven's hand on his shoulder.

"I think, when it comes to love, you've got to take the good with the bad, or it may not be real love at all, " Sven said wisely. "And if you never try something because you are afraid, you may never know what you are missing out on, yes? I don't think Bura would ever try to hurt you."

"Are you sure?" Goten asked meekly, staring at the floor.

"I also think that you should be discussing your love life with your girlfriend, not on a couch with a gay guy," Sven smiled.

Goten smiled at him. He took one last glance at his watch and saw that it was 11:51 pm. "You know, you're actually a very smart and interesting man, Sven."

"What can I say?" Sven joked as he leaned back on the couch, his hands laced behind his head. "I'm a Swede."

Bura was just beginning to drift off to sleep when she rolled over and felt something in her queen-size bed. It was soft and warm like someone's flesh. Bura gasped. Someone, most likely Uub, had snuck into her room and gotten into bed with her. This was going to far!

Who ever it was, moaned sleepily and shifted onto their side with their back facing Bura.

Wide awake now, Bura shifted in her bed and reached over towards her nightstand, being careful not to scare the person into a frenzy where they might start choking her to death or smothering her with a pillow. Feeling her way through the various items on the tabletop, she wrapped her fingers around the ceramic stand, which was her lamp. She raised it over her head in order to bring it down on the intruder's head that was sleeping soundly on the pillow beside her's. She flexed her arms, perfected her grip and prepared to make the final strike.