CHAPTER 13:
Naked Truth

"Ow!" Pan shouted as the thread painfully smacked her back. "Be more gentle!"

"I can't help it," Trunks struggled behind her, "I can't get my fingers around the stupid knot."

Pan groaned and sighed deeply, "If you're pulling it, the knot will just get tighter!"

"Well, I'm trying to snap the string!" Trunks' hands pushed and prodded at her back.

"It's not working! You're just making it harder!" Pan felt anguished. This was getting nowhere.

"What if I try to rip the whole dress again, to pull it apart? The other strings aren't as big as this one."

"No!" Pan sighed loudly, "You've already tried that and then started complaining about lasagna."

"I need lasagna."

"We've been over this. There's no lasagna."

It was almost comical at this point. The minute Trunks became the blubbering baby, all he could talk about was how he was going to "die from hunger," and that if the cold gave him frostbite, that he'd "eat his own limb."

And then it started to escalate from there, until Trunks finally revealed the source of his tantrum - a stupid lasagna that he had apparently been daydreaming about for hours. He never even made a lasagna before, throughout their entire trip.

"I'm so hungry…" Trunks whined under his breath.

Pan was so over it. "Then focus on the string so that we can get out of here."

Pan would have been more amused that he sounded just like her Grandpa, but then her thoughts went right back to how Trunks embarrassed her earlier that night, and her Grandpa was an accomplice to the whole thing! Stupid Bullhead Trunks and Grandpa were rubbing off on each other. And now they both were reduced to man-babies when their stomachs called.

Pan could feel Trunks pulling at her back as he exclaimed, "Why won't it snap?!"

It was clear Trunks was not familiar with what he was doing.

Pan realized with widening eyes, "Have you ever worked with a knot before?!"

"No."

The thought was ridiculous to Pan. Trunks could build a whole spaceship but he couldn't undo a knot.

"Haven't you ever untied your shoes?" Pan asked.

"No, they've always been velcro!"

Pan threw her head back and groaned, "You serious?! You gotta stop trying to pull it! You gotta massage the knot out."

Trunks' tone was mournful, "I can't even reach the strings to pull from inside the knot!"

Pan groaned. Trunks wasn't learning! "Stop trying to pull it!"

Trunks pulled. "I have to pull it!"

"Stop it!"

Trunks yanked the string, and it WHACKED against Pan.

"OW!" Pan wailed, and then angrily jabbed her elbow back into Trunks' chest.

"Ouch! I give up! I can't do this!"

She wailed more in frustration, "Trunks, you're impossible!"

"I need help," Trunks whined.

Pan brought her hands to her face. "I can't help you."

Trunks' tone turned hopeful, "Can't I just use my teeth for this?"

"NO!" Pan spun her face to the side to yell at him from her peripheral vision, "Gross! I don't want your teeth on my back!"

"Maybe I can try it on just one? Just to see if it works?!"

"NO!"

It had been a long time already, and the air had only gotten colder. They had counteracted it by bundling the dry blankets around themselves. At this point, they had moved over to the "bed," which was warmer and more comfortable than the bench. It absorbed a lot of the wetness from Pan's dress, and acted as an insulation for them as they sat cross-legged and bundled as Trunks worked.

Trunks was wrapped in a blanket, and Pan was wrapped in all the rest of the dry blankets, with just her back exposed, as she held onto them as a massive damp bundle, as they continued to absorb the water from her dress.

Pan sighed and ran her fingers through her hair in frustration. It wet, and cold, and uncomfortable. She wished she had just kept it up in a bun throughout the day. She had deeply considered it as part of her wedding outfit, but her hair was too short for the bun to look tidy. She had used all kinds of bobby pins to try to keep her hair up, but unfortunately she had taken all of those pins out. One of them would have been handy right now.

"I'm going in," Trunks stated with finality. "I have to at least see."

Pan was confused. "What do you mean going in?! Wha- Aaaah!?"

A thousand tingles ran up and down her spine at once as she realized that Trunks fully intended to use his mouth. He moved into her personal bubble as he leaned forward into her back. Her eyes went wide as she felt Trunks' wet hair on her exposed skin, and her face steamed in a blush as it became apparent that his mouth was against her back.

Pan managed, "W-What are you doing?!"

As if a swarm of butterflies had taken flight within the confines of her chest, she felt her body erupt in flutters of emotions and a rush of warm self-awareness as her cheeks flushed like reds on a canvas that betrayed her vulnerability and lack of composure.

"Aaaah!"

Pan didn't like this feeling. She couldn't control anything, and she couldn't get away. She also kept feeling Trunks against her, and it was making her body feel all kinds of weird feelings.

And now he was biting at her back like a desperate savage, and she felt his upper lip on her skin as he pulled and tried to chew with his teeth.

In a panic of emotions, she buried her face in her blankets and screamed from how she just wanted to die from embarrassment. Trunks had officially devolved into an ape over this. This was the worst. The worst, the worst, the worst!

SNAP!

Pan suddenly felt she was able to breathe better as one of the restraints on her back finally gave way. She sensed Trunks' hair leave her back as he sat straight and gave a victorious hoot.

Trunks hooted, "Yeah! It worked!"

"Oh no. " Pan realized he was going to try that same method for the rest of her back. "How many are left?!"

Trunks' tone was amused. "Don't think about it. Let's keep going."

"NO!" Pan sensed Trunks leaning back in and with a sharp squeal, she reacted by jerking upward, and the back of her head slammed into Trunk's nose.

Trunks reeled back, "Owww!"

Pan turned her head and saw from the corner of her eye that Trunks was tending to his nose.

"Try to at least remove the knots like normal!" Pan's blood was pumping like a raging tempest.

"Gods, Pan, your head is like a truck!"

Pan spat, "Serves you right for biting at my back!"

"But it worked!"

"It's the worst!"

"Augh!" Trunks flung his arms up, "Everything is the worst for you." He lowered his hands and went back to using his fingers. "Well, at least I got the first string done; I have something I can work with to find where the next knot is."

"What, you can't tell?! It's where the round bundle of thread is."

"Yeah," Trunks shrugged, "but it's all braided and twisted, so I can't actually tell what I can untie. And there's not enough light. Can I please just go back to biting again?"

"NO!" Pan's cheeked flushed as she immediately became flustered. "That's a last resort."

Trunks went back to grumbling as he attempted to use his fingers again to pry and prod at her back.

Pan wet her mouth a bit as she tried to remember Trunks' dress, "It should be easier after the first one. The middle threads don't have as many knots to them."

"It's still going to take a while," Trunks reminded her.

"At least you're not biting me."

Trunks chuckled behind her, and Pan felt his fingers try to work their way through another upper-middle back knot. Every time she felt his fingers brush her back, she felt her body continue to do its butterfly dance as twirls of sensation resumed their tingles up and down her spine.

She kept wanting his hands to go elsewhere. There were other parts of her back that wanted to be touched. She kept thinking of what his hands could do if they moved to her shoulders, and if his lips went to her neck…

…And then she'd catch herself in that daydream and internally smack herself, because Trunks was just plain awful, and was so mean to her.

But he did save her life.

Every time she coughed up a strangely diluted mucus from her lungs, she could taste the grassy-tasting mineral water. It was clear that liquid had gone down the "wrong pipe" in her system, but she refused to acknowledge it. To address the water in her lungs would mean she'd need to recognize Trunks as her hero, and she did not want to fill his head with even more puffiness. He had a big enough ego as it was, and any additional attention she gave to him just fed the troll.

And that troll just happened to be naked - albeit wrapped in a blanket, but otherwise naked right up against her.

Pan felt like she was going to lose her mind. She needed to get her attention off of his fingers, and to prevent his mouth from going up against her back again.

She thought perhaps small talk might help, since she could maybe learn something about him in the process… if he was willing to talk.

Throughout their trip, Pan learned that Trunks had a very sly way of dodging answers. He was very good at deflection with roundabout responses that led people to forget the question they originally asked. Even now, seven and a half months into their trip, Pan still barely knew much about him at all. But then again, Pan wasn't completely sure what she even wanted to know.

Either way, she knew him well enough to realize that he would never volunteer information if she didn't specifically ask for it.

SNAP! Another knot came undone.

"YEAH!" Trunks did a classic hoot of accomplishment, before his fingers continued to work, now ever so slightly lower on Pan's back.

It was progress. He was getting better, even though he was practically a lost cause.

Pan brought her face up from the blankets and stared at the cave wall as Trunks worked, trying to think of an interesting or relevant topic.

"Have you ever…" Pan hesitated, "... done something like this before?"

"What? Untie a string like this?" Trunks' fingers continued to work against her back.

"No, I mean," Pan sucked in her lips, trying to figure out how to word her question, "Be naked but… not be - you know - sexual."

"Yeah, sure."

Trunks' response was so fast that Pan was slightly surprised by his casual tone. She also noticed that Trunks' mood seemed to be unaffected by her question, which was already a good start. Trunks could be very unpredictable.

Pan felt her courage rise a bit as she pushed for him to reveal more information.

"Like… how?" Pan pressed.

Trunks' fingers stopped. Pan wasn't sure what that meant. She was feeling a little insecure about her question, too, but she feigned confidence by holding her ground and waiting for his answer.

"Well," Trunks started, and his fingers began to work again, "I can think of a few examples." His voice went quiet for a moment as his hands prodded her back, "Hot springs; bathing…" he paused as if deciding whether to continue, then said, "... my job in college…"

Pan's ears picked up the information before her brain could register it, and she stuttered, "Wait, what?! Your job in college?!" Pan was immediately intrigued. "Wait…" Her eyes widened, "Did you do porn?!"

"What?!" Trunks' hands stopped. "NO!" Trunks laughed against her, "No, I've never done porn!" Trunks' body vibrated the bed as he continued to laugh. "You asked me for a non-sexual example."

Pan's eyes were wide, "What was your job, then?!"

"Well," Trunks collected himself and his fingers went back to their task, "Now that you set it up as porn, I'm self-conscious about telling you."

"You do realize that you need to tell me now, right?"

"I don't need to tell you anything," Trunks huffed, "And mom never knew about my job. If I do tell you, I don't want this information getting out to her."

"What?" Pan perked up, feeling a sense of excitement. "Wait…" Pan's heart beat faster at the realization, "... you're going to tell me a secret?"

"It's not necessarily a secret," Trunks clarified. "But just don't tell my mom. Deal?"

Pan's heart was racing. "Deal!"

In her excitement, Pan felt the tingles that were on her back suddenly envelop all of her body. Kinetic energy fluttered throughout her, and her whole body buzzed in anticipation. Trunks willing to open up to her, and he was about to tell her something juicy!

"So…" Trunks started, "Starting my first year of college, I was about nineteen years old." He cleared his throat as his hands worked against her back. "When I first got there, I didn't know too many people. Goten was a year under me, still in high school, and I was a bit of a wild stallion at the university, all on my own."

"Yeah…?" Pan turned her head to try to watch Trunks, but her neck couldn't extend all the way. She could see him from her peripheral vision, and could tell that he had a faint blush on his cheeks as he spoke.

"During orientation week, I saw a flyer on the student message board," Trunks continued, "calling for figure drawing models in the art department."

"Figure drawing?" Pan scrunched her nose, trying to process it.

Trunks just watched his hands as he worked, "I thought it'd be an interesting way to meet people, and I mean, I had the body for it. It also gave some good petty cash too, that I could spend off the books without my mom knowing."

"Wait… you modeled?!"

"Well, not professionally." Trunks looked up. "It was just every Wednesday night, for the figure drawing students. Oh, and sometimes on Sundays for the graduate class."

"S-so what did you do as a figure drawing model?!"

"Well, I basically held epic poses for a couple hours at a time in the center of a drawing circle. You know, classic Roman stuff and Greek statues, but with even better poses."

"While naked?"

"Uh," Trunks laughed slightly under his breath, "yeah."

Pan couldn't contain herself. With wide eyes, she shifted and turned the top of her body to look straight at Trunks. He seemed surprised and sat back. She stared at him with her mouth ajar. "Why?"

"Uh," Trunks' face turned bashful and he raised his right hand to scratch the back of his damp hair, "Well it gave an awesome core workout. Certain poses really built up my stamina as well, especially when I flexed my muscles for hours."

Pan's eyes searched his, "And nobody got the wrong idea from it?!"

"Well, I wouldn't say nobody. I met a few people, I guess… but overall, everyone was professional about it. We were all adults." Trunks brought his hands to Pan's shoulders to turn her back around. "Besides, it gave me some confidence that if I dropped out of school, I'd still be able to model my body for a living." He chuckled slightly.

"Or just be a professional model," Pan mused as she again looked at the wall.

"Yeah, well…" Trunks tugged at a particular string, "I gravitated to figure modeling because the drawings rarely focused on my fa- AHA! GOT IT!"

Another string that made a small POP as the knot came undone and the fabric came loose.

Pan didn't even register in her mind that Trunks had succeeded in another knot. All of her thoughts swam around the last sentence that he almost finished, yet left hanging.

"Do you not like drawings of your face?" Pan inquired, genuinely curious.

Trunks' hands stopped for a second. It was only for a breath, but Pan could tell she hit the wrong button.

"They're fine," he absently responded. His tone was slightly more curt. It was evident that he wanted to shut down or change the topic.

Pan wasn't sure what went wrong. He was completely open to her one moment, and then her last question shut his mood down. She needed to pivot if she didn't want him to start guarding his personal information again. It seemed safe enough to keep the subject on his college job.

She asked tentatively, "Why did you keep your job a secret from your mom?"

Trunks paused for a moment again, as if considering if he wanted to answer. But then Pan felt him relax against her and continue to work at her knots, "Because she may have viewed the drawings of me as a threat to the company image. She might have viewed it as porn, because well… that's how she thinks."

"Really?"

"Besides," Trunks tugged at the string, "I got paid in cash, which was my main motivator."

"But… why would it even matter to get paid in cash?" Pan tilted her head as she tried to think, "You must have had your trust fund money?"

"All the trust fund money was trackable. Cash is king for keeping things off the rec- AHA!"

SNAP! Trunks hooted triumphantly as Pan's back became much more exposed.

"I'm getting better at this!" Trunks' tone was jubilant, "We're halfway done!"

"What? Only HALF?" Pan moaned and pulled at her hair on either side of her face.

"Whatever, I'm getting faster, okay?!" Trunk's tone was jestful, "I feel I could be a sailor at this point!"

"Yeah, a model sailor."

"I know you're just saying that, but I'm now considering it as a career option." Trunks teased.

"Only if you lose your clothes while dancing," Pan teased back.

Trunks broke out into a heavy laugh, "What, as a chippendale?!"

"I don't know what that is, but it sounds like someone would want to draw it," Pan snickered.

Trunks' hands relaxed as he doubled over in laughter against her back. "Hahahaha, I shouldn't have told you about that job, hahahaha!"

"Well I definitely learned something about you." Pan mused.

"It's literally the one job that almost nobody knows about." Trunks chortled.

Pan stopped for a minute as cogs moved in her head. Her eyes widened as she processed another realization. "Wait… did Uncle Goten know?"

"Maybe." Trunks' tone was lighthearted. Pan then heard Trunks make an amused hum that indicated he had a grin plastered all over his face. But instead of a response, there was a lingering silence as Trunks' fingers worked.

Pan's cheeks and neck glowed with her blush as she tried to not picture her uncle also doing the figure drawing modeling. She didn't even want to ask. She already knew, and she knew Trunks knew that she figured it out about Goten, too.

Pan licked her lips and sucked in her cheeks. "And now I know why you don't care about being naked around me."

"Well," Trunks' tone became more jovial, "I have more examples of non-sexual nudity - AHA!"

The next string snapped. Pan's back was almost fully exposed.

Pan noticed that as Trunks became more adept at untying the knots, Trunks' hands were getting more comfortable prodding her skin directly as he worked his fingers under the knotted fabric. At this point, the tingles along her spine had diminished, and instead his strokes incurred a tickling sensation, and Pan had to bite back a reaction to his touch.

She kept picturing him doing statuesque poses while naked, and the thought kept her cheeks flushed.

"So then there's also streaking. I did that once after Orange Star won the baseball championship - a bunch of people ran onto the field when we won, and then we all ran out of the stadium and through the streets."

"Really?!" Pan brought her hands to her face, "I can't believe you did that!"

Trunks' hands continued to work and tug at her lower back.

"And then there's skinny dipping!" Trunks laughed as Pan felt him pull at another knot. "Have you ever done that before?"

"No, never." Pan shook her head in her hands.

"Well," Trunks gave a chuckle, then -" SNAP! Pan's final string came undone on her back, and she felt her dress open outward like a flower.

"AHA!" Trunks jumped back, standing on his feet and flung his blanket to the side. "Prepare for your first time!"

"Wh- WHAT?" Pan spun to look at him, but he was already gone.

She barely caught a blur of his figure as Trunks did a backflip, and landed as cannonball into the pool. The splash was large and created a wave that rocked the pool.

"Oh hell no," Pan realized what Trunks meant by "skinny dipping," and began to shimmy off her dress as she squirmed and flexed to get the soggy deadweight off of her. As she finally brought it past her hips, she was clever , and grabbed a red blanket to wrap around herself. She tied a nice solid knot in it.

Pan watched as Trunks' head emerged from the water, and he flicked his hair back like some kind of slow-motion movie scene. He treaded water as he watched her shuffle toward the pool with her red blanket securely around her body.

Pan sat down at the edge and very slowly and carefully began to lower her feet into the water, making sure nothing got exposed beyond her blanket. Even if it did, though, she was feeling secure in her modesty since she refused to take off her underclothes.

"Hey, you're not even naked!" Trunks called out while splashing the water around him, "That's cheating!"

"Pfft, only if you snitch on me," Pan quipped as she lowered herself into the pool, with her blanket fully in the water to shield her too.

"I might not have to," Trunk teased, "The Mystic gods are watching us!"

Pan rolled her eyes at his completely unfounded point, "Like they'd even care. I haven't seen you get any blessings yet for your dick hanging out."

Trunks burst into laughter in the water, "I already got that blessing!"

"Ahh! Pervert!" Pan's cheeks flushed as she splashed a spray of water toward Trunks' head.

Her splashing action made her blanket come unraveled, and then she proceeded to shriek quickly as she used one hand to gather the blanket and hold the waterlogged fabric against her body as she treaded water.

"Come on, you set me up for that one." Trunks grinned as he also treaded water.

She woefully began to swim around Trunks, trying to make her way over to the other side, and she inwardly groaned when she saw that he started to follow right behind her, like a codependent duckling.

"Don't follow me!" Pan wailed as she kicked her way forward and tried to swim with one hand.

"I'm going the same way!" Trunks grinned as he absolutely followed her.

Pan barked, "Don't be so close!"

"Don't be so slow!" Trunks caught up to her side, and suddenly Pan felt like he was now showing her up. And that thought spurred something in her.

"I'll leave you in my wake!" Pan swam faster.

"Except your blanket is a drag!" Trunks also swam faster.

"I'LL BEAT YOU!" Pan exclaimed as her heart pounded in her chest, and then she burst herself forward to swim at full power through the pool, using her legs to kick with her power level of all 30 million.

The splash in Trunks' face was like a torrential waterfall that caught him by surprise and he screamed a confused gargle with a face-full of water spray as Pan jetted forward through the water, and SLAMMED her hand triumphantly against the far edge first.

The force of Pan's ki rocked the entire pool with its impact. A giant backwave of shock sucked Pan back in a riptide to the center of the pool, where she also collided with Trunks, and they both shouted as the water rose. As a massive wave, it crashed both of them over the edge of the far side of the pool.

The water receded, revealing both of them sprawled out on the platform. Trunks was facing upward, and Pan was facefaulted down.

The cavern resonated with Trunks' immediate guttural laughter as he laughed upward to the planet that was straight overhead. "Hahahahahaha!" He rolled and saw Pan, and then continued to laugh harder, "Hahahahaha!"

The red blanket was floating freely in the center of the pool. Pan was now just in her bra and underwear, facing the cavern floor. She groaned in embarrassment, afraid to sit up.

"How did you DO that?!" Trunks was amazed as his body shook in his laughter, "Why can YOU use your ki in here?!"

"Stooopppp," Pan groaned, not listening to him.

Trunks sat up and grinned devilishly down to her backside, "Where's your blanket?!"

"Stoooppppp. You're going to look at meeeee," Pan moaned in a mournful wail to the cavern floor.

"Oh come on, Pan," Trunks snickered as he stood up, "It's not like you have any boobs."

And then time stopped. And it immediately became evident that Trunks just said THE WRONG THING.

As time began to move again, Pan shot up in a mad rage, spouting, "ASSHOLE!"

"Wha- !" Trunks didn't even have time to register a thought, before Pan twisted for a spin-kick, and her foot collided with his gut, knocking the wind from him. "OOF!"

The force of Pan's kick distorted Trunks into a soccer ball as she launched him up and backward. He silently screamed in surprise as he whooshed back in a blur, and flew straight through the lightning portal.

And then he was gone. Pan was the only one left in the cavern.

Gods, it felt good to be free from him. Trunks was a lot.

For a minute, Pan celebrated her victory by doing her own hoots toward the night sky. She also took her time looking through the red baskets by the portal, and joyfully discovered that one was filled with white towels.

Triumphant, Pan took a towel and wrapped it around herself, and then wrapped a second towel around her head of hair. She was now quite comfortable , and she muttered to herself in amusement, "Naked, my butt!"

Then, armed with her towels, she confidently marched through the electric curtains.

Her body went straight through...

… Everything else - her bra, panties, and the towels - all fell to the ground behind her.

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–A: 11/29/23–

–F: 7/23/24–