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CHAPTER 16:
Insecurity

Havana took several confident strides into the room with red high heels that poked out from under her slithering green skirt tail.

Trunks immediately felt intimidated and defensive as he eyed Havana in her goat-horned chimera costume. She seemed eerily in character, and Trunks was not in a good mood.

Trunks skipped the formalities and went straight for the jugular.

"How did you get in?" Trunks scowled and channeled his energy as a rising anger, "There's security in this building. You should have had to call up from outside."

"Oh, hehe!" The demon gave a small giggle as she flicked her wrist and, "Some students opened the door for me." She then gave an impudent smack to her rump, and cackled, "They couldn't resist my charm."

Trunks grinded his teeth as he remembered the days when he also wasn't able to resist her.

"What are you doing here?" Trunks' voice was icy cold and calculated as he saw a snake in his den.

In answer, Havana looked as if she had achieved some kind of victory. She flashed Trunks a triumphant, manipulative smile that Goten had missed.

"I got a job down the street, right on the way. Goten told me you lived right nearby. Funny coincidenccce." Her tongue sustained the "s" sound as if purposeful. Her eyes remained pointed on Trunks, locked and fiery as if they were taunting him.

Trunks tried to hold his ground, but deep down he was frozen. He was incapacitated - locked in layers of ice that froze him in place and held him down.

He felt vulnerable. He felt caught. The dread that he felt sent waves of panic through his spine, knowing he had been found.

The enemy was in his home, and she was there to establish her dominance.

Trunks was able to read her smile. After her hard glance to Trunks, she did a glancing gesture to Goten, and then pierced Trunks' eyes again.

She made it clear through her look alone. She was keeping their secret from Goten as blackmail.

Havana said she couldn't stay - she had a change in her work schedule, but that "she'd be back."

The words made his blood run cold. He was terrified, and he didn't know how to say it. He didn't know how to go to.

Trunks knew that Havana came as a power play to Trunks. Thanks to Goten, she knew where they lived.

And she had been grinning to him. She was toying with him.

He had never felt so vulnerable in his life, knowing that Goten was so close to someone who evil, and Trunks was gagged.

Goten had no idea how all of this was affecting Trunks.

As Trunks realized the gravity of how caught he was, Trunks just froze and panicked. The box that he had buried under his mental ice was threatening to burst.

Before she left, Havana gave Trunks and Goten red candied apples as Hallow Night gifts.

She blew a sultry kiss to Goten, which made him blush, and then gave Trunks a preying wink.

"Bye, Mate 1 and Mate 2," her red lips mouthed the "m" in each word like she were puckering her lips for something more sexual. Goten blushed more.

She blew a kiss, "Have a.. ssssuper… night…

––––––––

After she left, Goten bit his lip and looked at Trunks with a noncommittal shrug.

Trunks' face was livid.

"What was that?!" Trunks was flushed in anger as he roughly pointed to the door, "Why was she here?!"

"I wanted to surprise you."

"What the fuck kind of surprise is she?!"

Goten nodded and shrugged with a gesture, "I had a question for her a little while back, ya know - slid in the DMs. Things just… well, I wanted to surprise you, I guess. Van's been working near the campus, and we're right along on her route to work."

"Why her?!" Trunks gestured again more strongly toward the door.

"Well, it's complicated." Goten looked to the side, struggling with his words.

"There's nothing complicated about it." Trunks stated firmly and with finality, "Don't invite her back."

"What?!" Goten was not expecting that, "Why?!" Goten was taken aback, and he scowled his brow, "You know my mom made up all that crap on the boat."

Trunks only hesitated for one moment before he instinctively went for an excuse to convince Goten to stop talking to Havana, "What about the way she acted all suss just before you broke it off with her?"

"I don't know what happened that night, Trunks. Everything was like some huge tailspin! I was so confused and pressured and honestly, I don't know what was normal or what. I just…" Goten looked down and shuffled his feet, "I just always felt like I gave up a good thing too quickly, because other people wanted me to do it, without me really thinking about it."

Trunks growled, now caring about Goten's reasons. With any other girl, maybe Trunks might have had some kind of sympathy, but he saw through Havana's guile.

Trunks tried to reason with Goten, leaning into the family card, "She could tear our families apart."

Goten groaned and said with a flair of sarcasm, "Oh come on."

"Don't 'OH COME ON' me! Don't keep secrets like her!" Trunks admonished.

Goten's voice started to rise, "What are you, my mom?!"

"You know she pisses our parents off!"

"They never gave her a chance!" Goten shouted.

"And I'm saying you shouldn't give her a second chance." Trunks was adamant.

"It's none of your business!" Goten shrieked at him.

"It is my business!" Trunks stomped, "I don't want her in my house!"

"It's not just your house!" Goten also stomped, "It's my place too!"

"Did you see the way she gave eyes to me?!" Trunks pointed again at the door and shouted with all his rage pulsing as he called out her true nature, "She was flirting with me!"

"Get over yourself, Trunks!" Goten spat, "Every girl flirts with you!"

"What?!" Trunks was flabbergasted at Goten's audacity, "Not like her!"

"I'm lucky to have any girl want me for me!" Goten raged. "You think I like being number TWO all the time?!"

Trunks' breath hitched. Those words stung.

"I'm SICK OF IT!" Goten stormed off, still carrying his candied apple. Then, he stopped at his door, and spun to seethe at Trunks.

"I can't believe you'd say things like that, Trunks!" Goten cried, "You know Havana's nice! She even gave us apples tonight!" Goten held up his candied gift.

Trunks felt triggered. His blood rushed and he felt a strain on his temple. He felt a spark in his fist. He wanted to punch something. He wanted to scream.

He kept himself collected. "Don't trust her just because she gave you an apple."

At the thought of an apple, Trunks remembered the first night that snake seduced him, and how she had given him that apple.

He remembered and felt all the pain. All the betrayal. All the grief.

"Give me a real reason why I can't trust her, Trunks!" Goten challenged, standing by the door, looking flustered, breathing heavily, and clearly trying to manage his anger.

"Because of all the shit from before!" Trunks was resolute as he walked toward Goten, "You can't date her!"

"I said give me a real reason why!" Goten spouted in growing anger, his eyes hard and filled with betrayal, "A real reason!"

"She-" Trunks stammered, not knowing how to tell him the truth, "Sh-she can't ride on Kinto'un!"

"Fuck you!" Goten shouted at the top of his lungs.

Trunks paused, eyes wide, as his heart stammered. He couldn't believe what he just heard.

"Now you just sound like my mom! " Goten shouted, and then stormed inside his room.

Trunks didn't know what to say. He had never fought with Goten before.

Trunks felt flustered, and didn't want to stop the conversation. As Goten grabbed the door, Trunks slammed his hand to it. He needed to get his desperate words in, "She's bad news, Goten! Don't talk to her again!"

"Yeah, fuck you." Goten slammed the door shut.

It clicked and locked.

Being locked out only made Trunks feel even more desperate.

"Delete her number!" Trunks shouted, and pounded at the door, "Get rid of her!"

Goten didn't respond, and Trunks stopped pounding, instead turning to rage into the kitchen.

All of his guilt hit him again like a bullet train. He realized all of the consequences of his mistakes made him unable to help his friend.

Trunks couldn't explain to Goten why he needed to stop seeing Havana, or else he'd risk coming out with the truth. And Trunks knew that if he came out with the truth, Goten would definitely never want to talk to him again.

From today alone, Trunks saw that Goten shut him out just because Trunks didn't like Havana and could not explain himself. It would be the end of their friendship if Goten asked Trunks why he slept with Havana. He still didn't even know why. He had no excuse other than to blame her for seducing him.

She stole his ability to speak up.

Havana stole so many things from him.

She seduced him and stole his pure heart. She stole away his ability to love himself or look at himself in the mirror without seeing a monster. She stole a piece of his soul after the miscarriage. At least she didn't steal the medical bill money…

At least he knew all the money he was directly wiring from his private bank account was going to the… the… the….

Trunks faltered in his thought, as he considered all the money he was wiring to Havana through a third-party money transfer app she had him download, Vanmo.

Was money going to the medical bill? Trunks wasn't sure. He knew it was at least going to her, and at the time he started paying it, he hadn't been in the mental space to question it…

… But, now that he saw Havana again, he remembered that his cash flow to her was almost up. He wondered if any of this might be about that…

Trunks had never had to think too deeply about red flags before. He wasn't very good at noticing them, since he never had to before. But this time, he was staring a red flag right in the face, and it loomed ahead so prominently, that it was actually a big, bold black pirate flag…

But Trunks just couldn't see the warning. Nobody ever really told him about what any of this could be, so it never crossed his mind.

All Trunks knew was that something felt wrong, and Trunks wanted out.

But no matter how much Trunks wanted out, if Goten wasn't also getting out, then Goten was going to drag Trunks right back into whatever this shit was that threatening to rope Trunks into a spiraling vicious cycle.

Trunks stumbled to the kitchen, feeling almost drunk with how his head was spinning and his body was reeling. He felt sick. He felt dirty. He felt like if he didn't do something, he, or even Goten could get stuck in more traps.

Trunks that Havana was thinking about her traps. He knew that Havana came just to make eyes with Trunks, and to establish her dominance.

Trunks tentatively sat at a high-top cocktail table covered with black linen, just staring down at the black cloth. He felt as dark as the table, with a grief as deep as a void.

It was so cold… he almost saw his breath.

The waves within him churned in an icy storm.

His body trembled as he felt trapped under an icy pond - isolated, and abandoned. His chest tremored as he gasped, as if he couldn't find the hole in the ice to come up and breathe.

He felt trapped, and tricked. He felt violated.

Goten had no idea how awful Havana made Trunks feel.

Trunks didn't know how to tell Goten about his pain.

Goten didn't know the truth. He would never have done this if he had known the truth.

But now it was done. And now Havana knew where Trunks lived. And whatever Goten was feeling, Trunks could see it now - Havana was pulling Goten's strings.

Trunks' eyes stayed wide as Trunks started to untangle the web and clear the points as if they were a map.

Trunks clearly saw what was happening.

Havana was never in it for Goten.

Havana was always fishing for Trunks, from the first moment she knew there was money there.

And now, it was clear that Goten might be getting back together with her again.

It didn't matter if he was intending to be just a friend or a boyfriend with her. Either way, it was a relationship - a string of influence, like a spider coming back to collect her prey.

Trunks saw it.

And he didn't know what to do. He didn't know how to tell Goten.

Trunks' phone rang - the caterers were outside.

He couldn't keep the caterers waiting. They needed to set up for the party in an hour.

All of the Havana drama would have to wait. The show must go on.

Like a good host, Trunks contained all of anguish and rage behind a charming, charismatic glass mask, as he gave a tour his place to the caterers and then began to manage his event team to help finish setting up for the best dorm party of the century.

Trunks channeled his mother as he managed the party setup, and kept his eyes on Goten's locked door.

––––––––

The party was massive and fun. It was filled with colors and lights and bubbles and foam. The air was filled with fog, strobe lights and lasers, and everyone had a great time.

Goten even emerged from his room shortly after the party started, looking fresh and reset, clearly having released his steam through some online video game.

Everyone in the dorm had heard about the party and wanted to check it out. All the kids in the adjoining dorms as well had gotten wind of an epic monster back.

The party quickly got so crowded that Trunks had to hire bouncers to have the student form a line to get in. At some point, the fire department ended up being notified because there were too many students dancing within the same space and it violated fire code. And then, after the authorities left, the music went right back up, and everyone partied harder than ever, passing dragonweed and alcohol.

It was epic, and memorable, and Trunks let himself go to party so hard that he even forgot all about his despair just hours before.

He found solace and comfort in the arms of a woman. Trunks vanished into his room with a girl who had pretty red hair, and the rest was just a little blurry. He distantly thought that he should check something - make sure to put something on to protect himself. A hazy girl kept showing up in his head as a reminder to stay responsible. He hated it, but he handled it.

And then it all became a drunken good time.

––––––––

On Saturday, November 1st, Age 787, the morning after Trunks' massive dorm party, Trunks awoke to a shuffling in his bed.

His eyes shot open as he became acutely aware of another presence next to his side, over crumbled sheets.

He glanced, feeling fear and confusion for a sharp moment.

It was a girl with red hair. He vaguely remembered red hair.

He looked down, and realized he was naked.

Then he saw she was naked.

It bounced back and forth in his head. He was naked. She was naked.

And then it dawned on him what it meant.

Feeling a flood of embarrassment and an even bigger wave of dread, Trunks had no idea who this girl was. He didn't know her face or her name.

This had never happened to him before. He heard about this stuff in movies, but didn't think it could be real.

Trunks stumbled out of the bed, trying to get a sense of his bearings. As he tried to stand, his head spun with vertigo, and he stumbled forward, trying to catch his balance. He over-leaned backward to counteract his forward momentum, and then crashed down on his rear with a loud - BOM!-

"Ouuu," Trunks held his head as he recovered on the floor, and leaned back against the bed frame.

Then he saw an empty condom wrapper by his left side, and let out a sigh of relief.

He rustled around to find his small trash can, which had been obscured by a costume mermaid tail, and at the bottom, found the used condom.

Trunks let out a breath he did not even realize he was holding. He hadn't realized how fast his heart had been racing. He felt he dodged a bullet.

At least some part of his life had been lucky.

––––––––

Trunks didn't want to be an asshole that just kicked out a girl he unintentionally slept with, so he decided he'd be a good guy and make some breakfast for everyone. He was sure Goten might need a hangover remedy as well.

Trunks tied a blue yukata around his waist. Its medium blue sheen made his hair appear a bit more purple in the sunlight.

Trunks stepped out of his room and silently closed the door. Then, he took a step forward into the living room, and before he took a second step, he froze.

The apartment was immaculate. The caterers and event planners had worked overnight to clean and restore the apartment back to normal, so that everything was reset by the morning.

Everything should have been normal.

Except, Trunks had company.

His mother, Bulma, was on the sofa.

Of course, Bulma found out about the party. Of course there were legal allegations being tossed at her about underage alcohol consumption and drugs on campus and inside a university dorm room.

She came to rage at Trunks about how foolish behavior and acting out like this could get him kicked out of school, and the only reason why the school was not pressing charges was because of yada yada yada, blah blah blah.

Blah blah ya ya yada blah blah, ptooey!

Trunks was in no mood to listen to her, and just stood there with a blank face as she lectured him. He just tuned her out like he normally did, and almost forget everything else on his mind.

But then the door opened behind Trunks.

With a slow creak, the red-headed girl poked her head out and said "Morning."

And the second that Bulma's eyes widened and realized that Trunks had a girl over, it unintentionally set off a VERY BIG bomb.

Bulma exploded in a temper which escalated everything into Trunks' most embarrassing moment - the morning his mother discovered his drunken one-night stand with a nameless girl.

Bulma immediately became invasive, threatening the girl, and needing "proof of birth control." Trunks' mom even charged into his room to ensure the condom was in the trash.

It was just so humiliating.

Then Bulma went the extra mile, and snatched the girl's purse as a "security" measure to "search for weapons," but it was obviously to find evidence of birth control pills, as her hand came out with a responsibly-used pack, and it was clear that she found exactly what she was looking for.

Trunks felt humiliated and violated on all fronts, and because he couldn't talk to anyone, he retreated in on himself.

The last thing on his mind were the events prior to the party the night before. Now he had to deal with his mother now picturing him as a playboy who targeted having one-night stands.

Trunks couldn't talk to his mom, and this was evidence why.

After the morning fiasco, after which the poor redhead fled the dorm apartment in tears, Trunks knew that he could never talk to his mom about a girl.

And there certainly was no way in hell that Trunks would ever bring up Havana.

He would just have to handle her himself.

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