Dragon Ball/Z/GT Fan Fiction ❯ A Lesson In Humility ❯ Chapter Six ( Chapter 6 )

Thanks to Ember Maxximus & Meliza Mac for beta-reading! ~_^

A Lesson In Humility Written by gokusgirl

Chapter Six

Trunks folded his arms across his broad chest, his scowl deepening as he saw the obese plumber's disgusting ass crack in the back of his undersized pants as he knelt under the kitchen sink. It had only been two weeks since he moved into what he affectionately called his 'shithole of hell', and when he had begun to get ready for work this morning, the water simply didn't come on. Hours later, the plumber finally came to check the problem out, inspecting every pipe in the condominium to see if there was a possible blockage in the line. The plumber finally emerged from the under the countertop, pulling his pants up with a grunt as he slowly stood.

"What is it?" Trunks asked impatiently.

"Nothing wrong with the plumbing lines, Mr. Briefs…" The plumber spoke very slowly, in a rich southern drawl, as he flipped through his chart that gave him a concise overview of the condominium's prior repairs. "…but seeing that your hot water tank is broken due to a fail-safe mechanism that stops all water flow is damaged, we'll have to replace that."

"My hot water tank is broken?" Trunks said aloud in disbelief. "How can that be? When I looked over the contract, it specifically stated that you were supposed to fix that problem last year!"

"Well I was, until your mother told me to hold off on the repairs until she renewed the lease."

Trunks' lips tightened when he heard that and he walked off heatedly to the living room, picking the phone up and hitting the speed dial to the direct line to his mother's office.

"This is Briefs," Bulma said as she flipped through her semantics, her glasses nearly slipping off the bridge of her nose.

"Why didn't you get the hot water tank replaced last year?" Trunks said vehemently as he gritted his teeth.

Bulma sighed as she pushed her glasses up on her face. "Hello to you too, Trunks."

"I asked you a question," Trunks replied bitterly.

"Oh… I see… you speak to me when it's convenient for you? And you're an hour late for work!"

"Well I got up to take a shower this morning and my water wouldn't work! So I figure me being late is out of my control. Why didn't you fix the hot water tank last year?"

"Trunks… I left it undone until I renewed lease… I wasn't going to use the place anytime soon so I held the repairs off…"

"How convenient," Trunks scoffed sarcastically. "You held off repairs until you renewed the lease… well Mother you didn't renew the lease, I did."

"Well it looks like you have to pay for the repairs as well." Bulma said sharply. "Do everyone a favor today and stay at home… with docked pay."

"What??" Trunks said gripping the telephone tightly. "I can't afford being docked!"

"Well until you can improve your attitude… consider yourself on a vacation," Bulma replied dryly. "And if you ever call my direct line talking smart to me again, I'll make the drive downtown to slap the taste out of your mouth! You may hate me right now… but I am your Mother. Don't forget it!"

Before Trunks could respond he heard the loud click of the receiver being slammed down in his ear. Trunks gnashed his teeth in pure anger as he gripped the phone so tightly that it began to crack under his palm.

"Mr. Briefs?" The plumber called out to him as he walked into the living room. The plumber found him standing there with his back to him, his shoulders shaking furiously.

"How much?" Trunks ground out finally, his back still turned to the plumber.

"About 7,800 zenni… that's including labor." The plumber replied as he flipped through the chart. "And it's going to be another 60,000 zenni to have the contactor come by to replace the sheetrock near your fireplace."

Trunks whirled around quickly hearing that, his face paling with shock. "What do you mean about replacing the sheetrock near the fireplace?"

"Well the repair reports indicated that your mother found mold on the walls near the fireplace… and after my partner Bruce came by to assess the damage, he found that there was a considerable amount of mold behind the walls. She told him she would-"

"-have the repairs done when she renewed the lease," Trunks said faintly as he finished what the plumber was about to say. Trunks snatched the folder from the plumber and flipped through it briefly. "Is there anything else I should know about this dump?"

"Shouldn't be Mr. Briefs," The plumber replied with a tight smile. "Should I get to work on installing the new water heater?"

Trunks sighed and slapped the folder into the plumber's chest as he walked past him. "Sure, whatever." He appeared to be in a trance as he started to walk upstairs to the large master bedroom when he heard the plumber call out to him once more.

"And what about the mold sir?"

The irritable Demi-Saiyan stopped dead his tracks on the stairs and looked down at the plumber through narrowed blue eyes. "Do whatever you have to do, dammit." He turned swiftly and continued up, grumbling to himself as he walked into his bedroom. Once he closed the bedroom doors behind him, he looked around the lavish boudoir, all the while feeling an intense anger sweep into his chest uncontrollably. Flaring his ki wrathfully, Trunks bellowed aloud, "I HATE THIS FUCKING PLACE!"

"Thanks for letting me use your shower," Trunks said as he walked into Goten's spacious studio apartment. "I have repairmen all over my place."

"No problem," Goten said with a slight shrug as he closed the door behind him. Trunks quickly ran into his bathroom, and stripped down, poking his head out the bathroom door to observe Goten's empty, but neatly made bed. After his long hot shower, Trunks walked through the kitchen and looked around briefly.

"No company this morning?" Trunks said with a smirk. "I figured Gwen would be here."

"I broke it off with Gwen." Goten said never making eye contact with Trunks as he walked past him to grab a cup of coffee.

"Whatever for? She was one hot babe," Trunks said shaking his head. "She was getting on your nerves?"

"I just didn't want her anymore, that's all." Goten said with tinge of anger in his voice. "And that's old news… I haven't seen her in three weeks."

"So who's the flavor of the week then?" Trunks said folding his arms at his chest. "I know we both have been a bit busy to trade stories lately… what have you been up to?"

Goten didn't answer right away as he growled lowly in this throat for being asked. "There's nothing to tell. I've been busy getting the gallery ready for the art show in three weeks."

"And you haven't had any booty calls? I find that hard to believe," Trunks laughed.

"How many have you had then?" Goten said in smart-ass tone.

"It's been a slow month… only two. Not counting the Marron incident." Trunks said grabbing a cup from the cupboard.

"Well tell me about them," Goten said taking a sip from his cup.

"Uh-uh my friend… you don't get off the hook that easily… we were talking about you, not me."

"I've been with no one, okay? Are you satisfied?" Goten lashed out as he stood abruptly, throwing and probably breaking his favorite coffee cup into the sink.

"Uh…Goten?" Trunks said raising an eyebrow suspiciously at his friend. "Is there… something wrong? You want to talk about this?"

"There is nothing wrong, and no, I don't want to talk about it." Goten snapped, his back now to Trunks as he stood at the sink. He closed his eyes and took a deep breath before he spoke again. "…It's been a long week, that's all. I don't mean to be so irritable."

"Uh, sure man." Trunks said hastily as he walked over and slapped Goten on his back hard. Goten growled low in his throat again and slowly turned around. "Well, thanks for the shower and the java… I'm heading back to my place to see how the repairs are coming along."

Goten nodded and he walked Trunks to the door silently. Before Trunks walked out, he stopped and studied Goten's face carefully. He noticed his friend seemed agitated about something, but he reasoned that Goten needed his space. "I'm a phone call away if you want to talk."

Goten forced a small smile on his face as he nodded, thinking to himself, what does he want me to say… that his sister is giving me the biggest case of blue balls ever known to man? "I'm fine Trunks… I've just been under some pressure that last couple of days… I'll talk to you later."

Trunks smiled and walked out, and Goten closed his door with a relieved sigh. It was hard enough going through this celibacy thing, and the last thing he needed was Trunks getting involved in it right now. Staying focused these last couple of weeks had been hard for Goten, and the only thing that kept him sane throughout this entire ordeal was the heavenly reward he'd receive when it was all over.