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CHAPTER 5:
Snake

On Monday, June 7th of Age 786, Trunks woke up early to finish the last parts of his car frame. The previous night, his torch had sputtered out, and he learned he needed to clean and maintain his welding tools so that he could move forward with finishing up his car hood.

By late morning, Trunks had worked up a sweat and a ton of black ash all over him, ranging from his orange-brown dino-leather work apron, to his cheeks around his goggle line, and a stroke of black through his sun-lightened hair on his right side.

It was just an ordinary summer late spring day. The weather for this time of year was just about perfect, with happy, puffy clouds that floated in the sky, a light breeze that brushed the tops of the palm trees, and the warming humidity of the approaching summer.

Trunks was feeling great.

It had been sixteen days - just a little over two weeks - since Trunks broke up with Mai, and all the events that followed. In just two weeks, Trunks felt like his life had completely changed.

Everything felt lumped now like a computer folder in his head that was organized as "Before Graduation" and "After Graduation." Trunks simply lumped his graduation weekend in with the "Before Graduation" category, and from there, everything felt transformative.

Now that Trunks was set to finish up his car frame today, his own car felt transformative. Everything was good.

Around three in the afternoon, as Trunks was working in the garage, he got a text from Goten:

Met a new girl u gotta meet. Cheerleading squad, dance team, BADMINTON.

At first, Trunks cringed with an awkward grin as he saw the capital letters, and recollected how lame it was that Goten was playing badminton, of all the most embarrassing sports, besides probably pickleball.

But then, Trunks honed in on the tone of Goten's text message. Something about it felt unusual, and different.

Goten never texted about a girl before. Not like that.

Trunks immediately knew that, whoever she was, this girl who caught Goten's eye must be something special.

Trunks texted Goten back two damning words:

Bring her!

–––––––

It was mid-afternoon, that same perfect day, when Goten arrived on his Nimbus Cloud, Kinto'un, toting a vibrant full-busted girl with big, dark hair.

She was riding behind Goten, piggy-back. As a laughing pair, they landed by the Capsule Corp garage as Goten swung her to her feet on the ground.

Prior to their arrival, Trunks had the house robots set up outdoor furniture for them to hang out by the garage as Trunks worked. Where the former bench had been by the exterior of the garage, there was now a yellow outdoor round table set up, with a matching yellow umbrella, three white metal chairs with wooden seats, two pitchers of fresh lemonade and iced water, and various snacks ranging from pretzels to chips and various nuts.

Trunks tried to be a fairly good host, especially since he was expecting them.

What he didn't expect, though, was the heartbeat pulse that rocked Trunks' core the moment he laid eyes on the beauty who was holding on to Goten's arm.

Her midnight-blue hair was big, lush and curled, and her large, dark eyes had eyelashes for days.

It was as if an aura emanated from her.

Her laughter lit the garage like sunlight and sparkles, and by sunset, she lit the room like a nightclub, with music and bubbles. She had a flair for lively music, and a passion for dancing. She was a whirlwind, and a standout unlike any girl Trunks had ever met.

"Hi," she smiled coyly as she first introduced herself to Trunks, "I'm Van."

It was short for Havana.

Trunks had to force his eyes from wandering down her body the first time he met her. He blushed and stammered, "I-I'm Trunks."

Contrary to Mai, who had been as lively as a bowl of porridge, Havana was a hot, spicy habanero.

Trunks never expected to meet her. He was completely unprepared for such a bombshell in his life.

Trunks had hoped nobody would point out his awkwardness around her, and thankfully nobody did. But Trunks did notice that his own Grandpa Brief also seemed flushed and awkward around her, and excused himself to give the teenagers their space when she and Goten stopped by to visit.

At the time, Havana introduced herself as an eighteen-year-old, new, foreign exchange student and former pirate. She had recently moved to West Capital from the Caribou Archipelago.

She had just joined Goten's high school class leading into his final year, and she was taking summer classes to make up for some credits due to a difference in her educational level from the Caribou region. While she was at school, she decided to join summer clubs and try to meet students ahead of the new class year in the fall.

And that's how she met Goten - at Badminton Club, where members met every weekday at the beach after summer school let out.

And since Goten met with the club at every practice, Goten started to bring her to Capsule Corporation after practice every single weekday.

After the first five days in a row, Trunks realized that the visits were going to be a regular thing that happened every single weekday afternoon.

At first, he viewed the frequency of Goten's visits with Havana as fairly irksome because Havana was such a distraction.

But… Trunks soon adapted to the cadence of their visits, and never complained. The truth was that he was secretly thrilled that he got more chances to see Havana.

The same could be said for Goten.

Goten had been using his opportunities to visit Trunks as an alibi to secretly spend more time with Havana after school. He found that his mother never questioned when he gave a truthful recounting of hanging out at Capsule Corp after club practice, especially after he updated her about the progress of Trunks' car.

One of Goten's biggest worries was how his mom, Chi Chi, was going to react once she found out about Goten seeing any girl. Similar to Trunks, Goten was paranoid about his mother finding out details about his life, and he was convinced that his mom didn't need to know about Havana or any other girls that Goten ever decided to fly around on Kinto'un.

His mom especially didn't need to know that Havana couldn't sit on Kinto'un.

The Son family's Flying Nimbus cloud, Kinto'un, would only let people ride it if they were pure of heart. But, upon giving it a try, Havana fell right through.

Trunks had been witness to it at the time. Trying to give her the benefit of the doubt, Trunks then proceeded with his own attempt at Kinto'un.

Trunks was able to sit on Kinto'un just fine.

The fact that Havana could not ride Kinto'un probably should have been the first red flag about her relationship with Goten, but Trunks disregarded it. After all, Havana was eighteen, and Trunks did not even think to judge.

Trunks only knew a handful of adults over eighteen who could even ride the cloud. The Sons stood out because every one of them was able to ride the cloud just fine.

The Sons were always known for the purity of their hearts. Despite all their strength and formidability, the Sons also had gentle and forgiving souls. From what Trunks gathered, it was in their nature…

… Though, it might also have been a bit because Goten's mother, Chi Chi, who could also ride the cloud, tended to overprotect her children.

Goten complained a lot about how his mother was obsessed with only surrounding him with good influences. And according to Goten, Chi Chi only judged good influences as being able to ride Kinto'un.

Even Videl, Gohan's wife, was still able to ride Kinto'un, despite her maiden name of Satan. It spoke volumes to the true and pure love that she and Gohan felt for each other.

However, Havana was not Videl; so, Trunks did not think to judge.

Havana's origin story was much rougher, and she had to leave her native islands to try to start a new, better life in West Capital City.

Havana had a challenging life growing up. She said that when she was a kid, she always wanted to be a pirate when she grew up. During her visits to Capsule Corp, she shared her many adventure stories from her beach and island life back in Caribou.

Trunks and Goten were fascinated by Havana's tales about her search for treasure among old wrecked ships among the Archipelago. She claimed she battled a few pirates for a certain "one piece" of treasure, and it fed their daydreams of battling for so much more.

All of her stories greatly intrigued both Trunks and Goten, who ate those adventure tales up like spicy tamarind candies.

They never asked about what weapons she used to battle the pirates, or to detail any of the fights she survived. Her body looked like she regularly worked out and that she could pack a punch.

She claimed her island background is what had driven her to join a beach sport. She was afraid of getting bruised or hit by a big ball, and despite how in-shape she was, she doubted her own strength for some reason, so she decided to try out the Badminton Club.

She chose the sport of badminton for the same reason why Goten had pursued it - because it didn't take much strength.

Badminton was best played with quick reactions and accuracy. It enabled Havana, who claimed to be weak despite her toned constitution, to be able to compete for serious points against secret-superhero players like Goten; and Goten could challenge himself to a social game without feeling he needed to hold back against normal humans like Havana.

Havana did more than just badminton, though. Havana claimed to also be in other clubs that met on the weekends; she said had just made it onto the Cheerleading Squad, and had qualified for the Dance Team.

Neither of the young men knew anything about those teams, so they neither questioned her about them, nor her schedules with them. There were never any red flags raised about how odd it was that she never seemed to meet up with those clubs.

Trunks instead thought it was amazing that she was in all those clubs, and thought it was no wonder that she was a good fit. After all, her body was a standout, and deserved the spotlight.

Havana appeared older and more mature than the rest of the seventeen and eighteen year olds in her class. She had a striking hourglass figure that was reminiscent of the kinds of models that made it into adult magazines. Even Trunks' Grandpa Brief, in private, made side comments about her "puff puff potential," which had a meaning that flew over Trunks' head at the time.

Despite her beauty, though, Havana complained about how hard it was to fit in.

Havana captured the eyes of all of the boys in her summer class, who were too shy, awkward, or stupid to approach her in a mature way. In addition, she received side-glances from the girls in her class who Havana complained "hated on" her. Havana claimed that the girls in her class were impossible to befriend, and even said mean things about her behind her back for no reason at all.

None of the girls' pettiness made any sense to Trunks and Goten, and both of their protective natures kicked in.

Havana cried about her struggles in school, and also how difficult it had been for her to adapt to such a new culture.

She also cried that she felt alone and lost, and that she wished she had "a hero" to save her and show her around.

Her words charmed like a lure.

She hooked in Goten, who solidly took it upon himself to step up and be her hero. He decided to spend time with her to help her adapt to the town. By the time Goten had even first arrived at Capsule Corp with Havana, he had already been showing her around for a week and a half.

And, by spending so much time with her, Goten unintentionally started to date her.

Then, it was completely Trunks' fault that Goten accidentally became her boyfriend.

Their titles became official on Wednesday, June 17th, just ten days after Goten started bringing Havana over. That was the day when Trunks' mom, Bulma, came to the garage to greet her.

Trunks knew his mom well, and understood the different "glass masks" that his mother wore around people. Bulma put on different "personas," depending on the situation.

At that time, Trunks knew that his mother had come to sniff out Havana's character as a potential threat. He saw that his mother was wearing her "politician face," with a plastic smile and a disarmingly charming vocal tone as she adopted Trunks' Grandma's persona, emitting fake "hoohoohoo"s as her feigned attempt to appear amiable while she measured up the porn-star looking woman in her courtyard.

Trunks put extra emphasis introducing Havana as "Goten's new girlfriend."

Then, as if to seal their official titles, Havana gave Goten a sweet peck on the cheek.

Bulma was disarmed by the gesture, and in reaction, she feigned her "extra-excited persona" to act out a squeal and congratulate Goten on landing such a "beautiful girl."

Feeling festive, his mother, in her eccentric extravagance, ordered a wedding-sized cake to be delivered in celebration, and had the house robots bring everyone cups of celebratory tea.

Then, Bulma then politely excused herself, and went about her business. And she never questioned Havana again.

Because Havana was with Goten, she slipped under Bulma's radar.

Bulma left all of them alone, and never outwardly expressed any doubt in the credibility of Havana's motivations. She did, however, tease Trunks and his Grandpa Brief over breakfast the next morning about how big Havana's butt was, and seemed amazed at how Goten landed such a knockout beauty.

At school, as soon as the "boyfriend/girlfriend" titles started, Havana immediately became clingy and needy with Goten at the Badminton Club.

For two weeks after the titles started, Havana started to isolate Goten by dominating all his time and showing jealousy when he talked with other girls. That could have been a red flag warning, but nobody thought to think of red flags at the time.

Trunks and Goten never questioned why it was so hard for Havana to make friends. They never questioned her personality, and how she tended to victimize herself. They never thought to look into any of the truth behind her words.

Instead, they were two teenage boys, innocent and pure hearted, both with dreams of being superheroes, who trusted each other implicitly, and who were both feeling lucky, in their own ways, to be in the presence of an Island Goddess.

Their routine was also easy to maintain. For five days per week, Goten continued to stop by the garage after badminton practice with his hot mamacita that looked like a porn star, but wasn't a porn star. Trunks would work on his car, Havana would play music, be lively, and talk about her adventures, and Goten would hang out and whenever the tone got quiet, he'd get ahead on some studying.

Goten studied a lot more than his family realized. He took breaks to play action games on his porta-game device, but that's only because he processed his thoughts through the physical energy channeled through his controller sticks.

In high school, Goten often came to Capsule Corporation just to study. He couldn't handle the stress of studying around his mother at home, and it was too loud now that Pan was stealing the show in the house. And, despite the fact that Trunks offered him all of his homework and test answers for each high school year, Goten never actually accepted them.

Goten was genuine, and good, and was using his free time with Trunks and Havana to actually get ahead on the textbooks for the following year.

He was innocent. He never noticed anything awry.

–––––––

From the very first day that she and Goten had arrived on the Capsule Corp grounds, Havana would talk while trying to help Trunks with his project. And as she talked, she would do things that would distract him.

She would bend over to hand tools to Trunks, purposely flashing her cleavage to him with knowing smiles that made him blush and start to stumble on his words.

Sometimes, Havana would Trunks throw a knowing smile, or a suggestive wink.

Trunks also noticed how Havana would stroke herself in certain areas that drew Trunks' eyes, while she gave him a look that enticed him, and he didn't understand why.

Goten never noticed how Havana had been signaling to Trunks. And Trunks, at the time, didn't understand what she was doing.

All he knew was that every time Goten and she would fly off, Trunks found himself more and more distracted by thoughts of Havana. All of those things she did kept replaying in Trunks' head.

Trunks always wanted to be "the good guy." He was the superhero. He fixed peoples' problems. He just wanted to be wanted, and appreciated.

That's all he ever wanted - for someone to want his mind.

And now, no longer a virgin, and as a healthy, virile teenage male, Trunks started to realize that he wanted someone to want his body.

Trunks was not mature or experienced enough to fight his thoughts and urges. Everything seemed so new to him, and he was experiencing excitement, joy, and new-learning-experience reactions to being around Havana. And because her visits were so frequent and consistent, even his biorhythm adapted to feeling excitement in the late afternoon of every day.

And, since he could not quell his hormones, Trunks started to think about Havana in ways that he knew he shouldn't.

He didn't want to think about her, but he couldn't stop it.

At first, his thoughts began as simple considerations about her well-being. He'd reflect on her adventure stories of fighting pirates, and projected himself and Goten in her shoes, wanting a taste of that kind of life.

And as the days passed, Trunks found himself wanting a taste of something more…

… He started to remember certain instances of her cleavage. And then… he'd start to remember how his body strangely reacted to the way she bent over while handing him tools.

Each time she visited, Trunks would start to daydream more about how Havana's body was truly something out of a magazine centerfold. Her hourglass shape was ungodly, and every time Trunks' eyes fell on her, he kept seeing the allure of her beautiful mane of bluish black hair. He kept thinking about how he wanted to run his fingers through it.

All Trunks wanted to do was just… touch her body, to see if it was real.

It was a unique draw for Trunks. He was unused to this feeling of wanting to touch anyone, especially someone he just met. But because Havana was with Goten, Trunks had let down his guard, and allowed himself to have those thoughts.

He never acted on them, though.

He was good.

––––––––

After three school weeks of them coming to visit every day, Trunks' head had started to get confused.

When he thought about Goten and Havana, the new, strange feelings manifested as sensual daydreams.

Trunks kept imagining Goten's hands on Havana as they flew on Kinto'un. Trunks then kept a mental image projecting his own hands on Havana in his daydreams, especially around all of her curvy regions.

His mind kept playing games with thoughts about what he wished her hands would do on his own neck and shoulders, and chest… and other areas.

Trunks had never felt this way about a woman before.

With Mai, Trunks had wanted attention and acknowledgement by peacocking and billowing his own sails around her. But when it came to Havana… Trunks felt like he was captivated on an odyssey, wanting to sail his whole fleet straight toward her Siren songs.

Now, three weeks in, Trunks came to realize that he wanted her.

He was so ashamed.

He knew it wasn't fair to Goten.

He held his crush in secret. He didn't want to affect Goten's happiness. He didn't want to do anything that could lead away from a happy life for Goten.

He would have to figure this out on his own. There was no way that he could talk to Goten about his attraction.

Havana was Goten' s girlfriend. Yet, seeing how Havana always held Goten as he flew her around on that cloud - Trunks wanted to be able to do that, too.

He didn't know what this feeling was inside him, but it kept growing, and becoming more complex.

–––––––

Trying to work out his emotions, and allowing himself to lean into his newfound trust with his Grandpa Brief, Trunks tried to seek advice from his Grandpa. However, it turned out to be a bust.

Instead of getting any clarity, he instead got a new nickname for Havana: "Van-chan."

To his Grandpa, a "Van-chan" was a "girl to bang" until Trunks found his "Pan-chan." It was a play on words based on his native accent, in which "Van" was pronounced as "Ban," and a "Ban-chan" translated to "Side Dish / Snack."

In his native language, the V/B was written as a "HA" with two dot streaks, and a P was a "HA" with a circular dot.

He wrote it out in the construction dust, on the worktable - Van-chan vs. Pan-chan:

バンちゃん

パンちゃん

Trunks was taught how to read Common in school, and at the time, thought everything that his Grandpa was saying and writing was gibberish and nonsense. And, it all looked the same to him. All of this meant nothing to him.

When it came to getting relationship advice from his Grandpa, Trunks got some weird linguistics lesson instead, and in the process learned just how perverted his Grandpa secretly was by alluding to Havana as some kind of "side dish / girl to bang."

Trunks was disillusioned, and frustrated. Trunks realized that this was an example of one of his Grandpa's trademark qualities; his Grandpa Brief indeed had issues with social cues, and in his efforts to "help" Trunks, he hadn't actually helped Trunks at all.

Trunks didn't care what he called Havana. She could be Van, Van-chan, or a Vandal, for all he cared.

He just knew that thoughts of Havana had slithered into his heart, and had left him feeling more and more confused.

And he couldn't talk to Goten.

And he didn't trust anyone else to understand him or keep his secret.

And he especially couldn't tell his mom.

It was the first time that Trunks was truly alone.

–––––––

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–Published on AO3: 1/8/24–
–Published on FFnet: 1/9/24–

A/N: As you can see, I put a lot of thought into Havana's name. Fun trivia: I began to develop the idea of Havana back in 2004, and even allude to her in my original publication of "Goku's Humored." The name was inspired by the movie "Dirty Dancing: Havana Nights" which also came out in 2004. Funnily enough, I never actually saw that movie. But I DID see a big potential from the very beginning for "Van" and "Pan" to have a bit of a twist to it, and I always wanted to pair Goten with another city-name girl, since Valese also went by Paris in GT.

I've been developing the nooks and crannies of the story in my head for 20 years. There are a lot of details to this, and we're maybe halfway done? Not even? I keep adding more words as I prepare each chapter, and the story is already written in completion on my laptop, so we'll see how many more words manifest to it... but expect the full story to be around 40,000+ words. We're on the precipice of the storm now. A hurricane is coming.

We've also caught up to where I've published so far on AO3, so from here on out the publications will be simul-posted.