Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Son Gohan had thought his life was tough enough. The kind of training he’d undergone from an age most children were just getting out of pull-ups was astonishing. Watching his father die, twice. Taking on the impossible task of saving the Earth from utter destruction so many times he’d lost count. Being the one to save the day against a foe even his father couldn’t fully stand up to, even with a body broken by the abuses sustained from such a fight without any assistance from the wondrous Senzu beans. But then, he’d always managed to persevere. Call it being his father’s son, call it his berserker skill, call it luck... he always somehow came out on top.

And then his father decided to stay dead.

No matter how upset—even bitter, at times—he was, he couldn’t say he didn’t understand on some level. Son Goku was a fighter, yes, but a caring man above all. He could see how his father would think staying dead might actually keep the monsters at bay, even though he felt it a little misguided. If the nightmares they called foes already knew of the legendary Son Goku, him being dead would not stop them from challenging his friends, and especially would not stop them from going after his very own spawn.

Essentially, Gohan knew no matter if his father was dead there would always be a need for a great Son to take down those who meant their home planet harm, and now he had proven himself as the filler of Son Goku‘s great shoes.

In more than one way, it seemed.

The eleven—twelve? It was hard to know for sure anymore after the day/year spent in the hyperbolic time chamber—year-old couldn’t help the sting of tears in his eyes as he looked down at the baby placed gingerly in his arms, so small and looking so much like the man who’d sired them both. His mom said it was like using a time machine to go back and see a baby version of her husband, and Gohan couldn’t help but agree. They’d lost Son Goku for the last time it seemed, but had gained almost a carbon copy in the form of his second son, Son Goten.

Gohan couldn’t believe how small and fragile the baby was, even after Chi-Chi told him he was just as small when he was born. How could someone with a father like Goku, a brother like Gohan, and even a mother like Chi-Chi end up so...breakable? Gohan felt like even the slightest adjustment of his muscled arms the wrong way and he’d break the tiny boy.

The weight of the newborn might have been almost nothing, but the weight on Gohan‘s shoulders as he held the boy was immense.

Without their father there, Gohan knew he’d have to step up. He was the man of the family now, he felt he was old enough to take on the responsibility. But, at the same time, how could he possibly fill little Goten‘s need for a father? He was only eleven (twelve). Sure, he’d have his grandpa’s help, and of course Piccolo would be there for him, but this was his little brother, a child who would look up to him as a main male figure in his life. Gohan gulped, overwhelmed. He’d faced a lot and overcome a lot, but how would he do this without his father to help guide him? At least during the Saiyan invasion and his time on Namek he’d known his father was on his way to save the day. There was no Son Goku coming back to pick up the slack, not this time.

“Gohan, are you okay? Do you need help?” Chi-chi asked from her place in the hospital bed just a foot from where Gohan sat.

He composed himself before looking up to meet her comforting dark eyes. His mother had given birth not even a full two hours ago and she was fretting over him. He grinned a bit unevenly at her and replied, “Yeah, I’m fine. I just don’t want to hurt him.”

Chi-chi’s face dissolved into a content smile. “You won’t hurt him, not my gentle boy.” Gohan felt his cheeks heat up and his smile grow. Chi-chi’s own smile widened and she gestured to the bundle in his arms. “Anyway, half Saiyan babies are tough. You’d be surprised how much more they can withstand than a normal baby.”

Gohan gave her a questioning look and was about to ask her what she meant when he felt the baby in his arms squirm, and his senses tingle as Goten’s ki changed. Gohan looked back down at him just in time for a small hand to reach up and grab his nose, yanking hard enough to elicit a yelp out of the older Son boy.

Chi-chi giggled. “See? It’s like I told you. You Son boys are always tougher than you look.”

It was a few months before Gohan really realized how right his mom was. Half Saiyan babies were different than what he knew human babies to be. Goten started crawling after just a couple of months, having gained strength enough to hold his own head up after just a month. By the time the boy was a year old Gohan was chasing after him as he ran around, trying to keep him out of too much trouble.

“Is this normal?” he heard Piccolo ask his mother from where they stood a few feet away.

His mother sighed. “He’s developing quicker than Gohan did, but yes. I’ve been comparing everything with Bulma, and she said Trunks was about the same, as well.”

“Children are weird,” Piccolo grumbled.

Gohan grinned as he finally grabbed a hold of his brother before he could get too far into the tree line surrounding them. “Nice try, there, Goten. You’re not getting away from me any time soon.”

“I don’t know about that, kid,” Piccolo said. Gohan started back toward the house, approaching him and his mom standing in the grass just outside the door. “He might be faster than you before long if he keeps progressing so fast.”

“Well…” Gohan said thoughtfully, holding the kid out in front of his face. Goten giggled and reached his chubby hands forward but Gohan ducked back, not wanting the boy to yank anything important. “Hopefully that won’t be for a while.”

“Hmph.” Piccolo looked long and hard at the boy, clearly lost in thought.

Gohan shrugged, used to his master’s gruff solemnness, and sat the boy back down in the grass in front of him. “Okay, Goten. Go!”

The boy started running as fast as he could away from him, a wide cheeky grin on his face. Gohan stood back and watched him for a moment, letting him have his fun before going after him again. He had almost reached the tree line, Gohan ready to go get him, when he stopped and plopped down. Gohan walked up to see what had his attention and found him picking up a worm between his two fingers, squeezing the life out of the poor thing.

“Goten, no!” Gohan scolded, rushing to his side and prying his fingers apart to try to save the innocent bug. The worm fell to the ground, unmoving, and Gohan’s frustration flared. “Goten, you can’t be that rough with things! You killed that worm for no reason.”

Goten’s lower lip trembled out, chin wobbling, and before he knew it the boy was crying. Head tilted back, breath heaving, body shaking, full-blown sobbing. Chi-Chi moved forward, ready to intervene, but Piccolo put a hand gently on her arm, stopping her. At the confused look she sent him, he nodded towards the boys and said, “Let Gohan handle this. It’s good for him to learn.”

Chi-Chi looked ready to argue, probably about how she knew her boys enough to know what to do, but she relented, genuinely curious on how this would turn out.

Meanwhile, Gohan’s temper melted as he watched his baby brother wail, despondent over the raised voice directed towards him. He fought the urge to look back at his mother or Piccolo for help—he needed to figure things out for himself, he’d learned, and if they hadn’t come to help him yet, he didn’t want to admit defeat by running to them.

Gohan gently picked Goten up, but the younger of the two immediately started squirming, afraid of more reprimanding. Gohan didn’t want to force him to be held, afraid he might hurt him, so he just placed him in his lap.

“Goten, I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to yell at you,” he told him earnestly, the claws of guilt sinking into his heart. Goten sniffled,  seemingly calming down from Gohan’s calm words. His mouth pulled to the side as he wiped some of the tears off his brother’s face. “You just have to be gentle with things, is all. You’re going to be stronger than almost everyone on this planet soon enough, and you have to learn to hold back your strength so you don’t hurt innocent life.”

Goten nodded and mumbled a small “sowwy”, looking sheepishly up into his brother’s face. Gohan sighed and put a reassuring hand on the little boy’s back, guiding him gently into his chest and hugging him close. Goten promptly proceeded to rub his snotty nose on his shirt and Gohan grimaced but didn’t make a move to stop him, thinking it was his punishment for being too hard on the young boy over something as silly as a dead worm.

Chi-Chi sighed as she watched her baby cuddle up to her older baby, who was almost a teenager by now. Piccolo glanced at her out of the corner of his eye with a small smirk on his green face.

“He’s a good kid,” Piccolo told her. “He has the same sense of wrong and right as his father.”

Chi-Chi let out a watery huff of laughter. “Yeah, he sure does.”

A couple weeks after Gohan's thirteenth birthday (they’d decided on an age and were sticking to it, as per Chi-Chi), Bulma decided to pay them a visit. She came bearing birthday gifts—a phone that she designed herself with everyone’s numbers already pre-installed and a capsule-full of sweets that Chi-Chi normally wouldn’t allow—and a grumpy-looking Trunks, who only grunted when Gohan greeted him.

Bulma rolled her eyes at the three-year-old’s attitude. “He’s been a bit of a jerk, lately. He’s upset Vegeta won’t let him in the Gravity Room, I think.”

“Oh, he’s quite young to be going in there,” Chi-Chi said, trying to settle a hyper Goten.

“Yeah, that’s what I said,” Bulma huffed, letting the boy down. He immediately ran up to Gohan and shoved him hard in the shin. Gohan doubled over, the shove not enough to actually hurt him but it certainly didn’t feel good. Bulma jumped on him immediately. “Trunks, that wasn’t very nice! Say you’re sorry to poor Gohan.”

“Sowwy, Gohan,” the boy said, not looking a bit sorry. Before he could reply the boy took off in the other direction, heading straight towards the door.

Bulma caught his shoulders and stopped him. “Stop being such a little nightmare,” she grumbled at him, rolling her eyes. She looked up at Chi-Chi. “They’re both a little high-strung, why don’t we let them play together?”

Chi-Chi looked down at Goten, who wasn’t fighting half as hard as he could (he was making excellent progress in being gentle with everyone other than Gohan) but still being too much for her to fully hold on to, hesitating.

“Oh, it’ll be alright,” Bulma said with a dismissive wave of her hand. “I can pay for any damages and we have Gohan here to break them up if need be. They’ll be fine! And maybe out of our hair for a little while.”

“Mama! Down!” Goten demanded, moving to kick at his mother’s side.

“Goten, do not kick Mom,” Gohan warned, taking a step forward to apprehend the wayward child. He stopped, looked back at Gohan, and frowned.

“Okay, okay,” Chi-Chi rushed to say. “Here, go play with Trunks. But be gentle. Don’t be a bad boy.”

Goten laughed when she finally put him on the ground and rushed away from her, toward the box in the room designated for his toys. Bulma nodded to Trunks and said, “Go play with Goten, but you better be good or I’ll take your butt home and you’ll answer to your dad.”

Trunks nodded and followed the boy, and the two women gave each other a look Gohan couldn’t quite decipher.

“Well, let’s all sit and talk. Would you like something to drink? Tea, or water maybe?” Chi-Chi offered as the three of them migrated toward the sitting area.

Bulma fell back into a chair with a sigh and smiled at Chi-Chi. “Just some water would be fine, Chi-Chi, thanks.” Chi-Chi nodded and went to the kitchen, and Bulma turned to Gohan. “So, how’re you doing, kid? How was your birthday? Wow, I can’t believe you’re a teenager.”

“I’m good,” Gohan answered. “My birthday was fun. Mr. Piccolo came over and we sparred for a while. He brought me a book series about wizards that Dende thought I’d like, but I haven’t started it yet. Krillin brought me a gi that apparently used to be Dad’s, so that was nice. Yamcha gave me a signed baseball.”

“Of course he did," Bulma snorted. "Well, it sounds like you had a pretty good birthday, all things considered. How’s it been with a new brother?”

“It’s been okay,” Gohan said, rubbing the back of his head. “I never know if I’m doing good with him or not, though. Mom says I’m great but it’s just hard to know, you know?”

“Yeah, I feel the same with Trunks,” Bulma said. “I’m sure you’re great, though. You’ve always been such a sweet kid, and I’ve seen how you are with Goten. He’s lucky to have you.”

Gohan’s face flushed and he ducked his head. “Thanks, Bulma. I hope you’re right.”

Chi-Chi returned with the water and Bulma thanked her. Before they could continue talking, there was a yell from the other side of the room.

“Tunks, no!”

All three heads snapped toward the toddlers. Trunks was standing with a stuffed dog toy in his hand, while Goten was on the floor, looking up at Trunks with a deep frown marring his face.

“Trunks, did you—?” Bulma started, but was interrupted by Goten standing and pushing Trunks, who then fell himself.

“Son Goten!” Chi-Chi shrieked. Goten completely ignored her, watching as Trunks pushed himself back to his feet.

“Mom,” Gohan said, getting her attention. Her wild gaze met his and he shook his head, thinking fast. “Maybe they can learn to spar.”

Chi-Chi sputtered, at a complete loss of what to say, but Bulma spoke up in her stead. “That’s a great idea, Gohan! Maybe Trunks’ll stop being such a heathen if he has an equal to play with who can actually keep up.”

Chi-Chi looked about ready to fly off the handle but Gohan stood, not wanting to let this chance slip by them. “I promise I won’t let them turn violent. I’ll teach them how to play safe, and that this isn't real fighting. But I think Bulma’s right; I think it might do them both some good to have a playmate.”

Gohan approached the pair without waiting for his mother’s permission, hoping he could prove himself before she put a kibosh on the whole thing. He knelt down beside them and held his hands out in between them.

“Okay, guys, here’s the deal,” he started to explain, looking at each of them in turn. “You guys can play fight, but don’t actually hurt each other. Don’t use full force, don’t get mad. Just play. You can push, but don’t push down. You can hit, but don’t hit hard enough to hurt or leave a mark. Does that sound okay?”

Goten immediately nodded, looking excited. Trunks watched him for a moment before looking at Gohan, confused.

“Hit…without hurt?” he asked, face screwed up like the concept was outlandish.

Gohan chuckled to himself. He is Vegeta’s kid, after all. He stood and assumed a sparring position, showing them how to do it themselves. “Stand like me. Yeah, that’s it. Now,” he knelt back down and shoved each of them so gently they barely budged, “you can hit about as hard as I just shoved you. No harder. And don’t hit in the face. Be gentle with each other. You guys are friends, not enemies. Got it?”

They both nodded enthusiastically this time and Gohan backed away to sit with his mom again. She gave him a skeptical look but didn’t stop them or get after him so he took that as acceptance. “Okay, boys. Go ahead.”

“Just remember you will be in a lot of trouble if you hurt each other or break anything!” Chi-Chi told them, a stern look settled onto her face.

Gohan watched as the boys started slow, never having been told it was okay to hit anyone other than Vegeta or Gohan (or, on Gohan’s birthday, Piccolo; he let Goten go after him, but declared him too young for any real training and stopped it early, amusing Gohan). He couldn’t deny how odd it was to see a toddler version of the man from the future who’d fought beside him just a few years ago fight his little brother who looked just like a toddler version of his father. He wondered at how weird it must be for Bulma, too.

Eventually they got more comfortable, their hits becoming increasingly more focused. All of them were open-palmed half-slap-half-shoves, but they were something. Gohan focused on their energy to make sure neither got too upset. He was pleased that they'd apparently listened to his instruction and continued just having lighthearted fun instead of actually fighting.

It wasn’t long before the two young boys were too tuckered out to do more than weakly slap the other, and eventually Goten gave up and trudged over to the couch, crawling up into Chi-Chi’s lap and curling up.

“Sparring's fun,” he declared before shutting his eyes, his mom’s hand brushing through his spiky hair.

Trunks walked up to Bulma a moment later, reaching up towards her expectantly. “Mom, up.” Bulma raised her eyebrows at Gohan before picking the boy up, and Trunks nuzzled into her neck. “I like playing with Goten.”

“Wow,” she said, pleasantly surprised. “Gohan, you’re a miracle worker.”

“Yes, I think you may have started a beautiful friendship, son,” Chi-Chi agreed, reaching out and patting his cheek lovingly.

Gohan smiled humbly, feeling like maybe they were right. Maybe he was doing a pretty okay job at helping raise the next generation of Saiyan kids.

Chapter Text

It wasn’t really a surprise when Bulma sent out invitations for her and Vegeta’s wedding. After everything that happened during the Cell Games, everyone knew that Vegeta’s priorities shifted, if only slightly. Gohan knew that he had decided to stay for his son, the family he had (accidentally) built with Bulma, and that this was just the natural progression of that decision.

What did surprise him, though, was that Bulma had somehow convinced him to wear a regular tux and bowtie. Chi-Chi was rather shocked, herself.

“How in the world did you manage to pull that off?” she asked the bride, pointing to the man in question.

Bulma turned to look at what Chi-Chi was pointing to, and let out a little giggle when she saw her new husband fidgeting with his tie as he sat glaring at everyone in turn.

“Oh, I can be very persuasive,” she answered with a secretive smile.

Chi-Chi nervously cut her eyes towards Gohan, who was standing just beside her holding a sleepy Goten. Gohan only blinked at her, unsure of what her look meant, and she turned back to Bulma with a small smile.

“Well, isn’t that nice.”

Bulma glanced at them next, seemingly just realizing they were there. “Oh, and Gohan. Don’t you just look so handsome!”

Gohan hid his burning face behind his brother’s head on his shoulder. “Thank you. You look really pretty, Bulma.”

“I better after what I spent on all of this!” Bulma exclaimed with a wave to her poufy white dress. She leaned down to peer at the boy in his arms and an almost sad smile spread across her face. “Oh, and Goten. He looks just like a dapper little Goku.”

“Yes, only he’s easier to put into a button-down,” Chi-Chi agreed, a matching smile gracing her own lips.

Bulma reached a hand out and ran it through Goten’s messy hair. “I can’t believe he’s not here for this. I always thought we’d do everything important together. It’s just not the same without him here, being goofy and charming everyone with his cheeriness. My oldest friend, not even here for my wedding…it doesn’t feel real.”

Gohan felt his brows pull down as he saw tears gather in the bride’s big blue eyes. He suddenly felt too encumbered by his suit, too weighed down by the toddler in his arms, too sensitive for the bright lights and loud sounds in the room, too…everything. He tried to set Goten down but the boy only clung harder to him, grumbling unhappily at being disturbed. Gohan lost his patience all at once and practically flung his little hands off of him. He heard his mother ask him what he was doing but didn’t think he could answer so he just avoided her gaze and walked quickly away from her, toward the door he knew led outside.

Once outside in the grass of the Capsule Corp grounds, Gohan inhaled the cool evening air, trying to regain his composure.  He could feel his heart pounding against his ribcage, and was blindsided when he touched his face and found his cheek was wet. He started pacing, taking deep breaths, trying to find his equilibrium again. The same thought was cycling through his head he should be here, he should be here, he should be—

“What are you doing, boy?” a familiar gravelly voice called from behind him, and he hurriedly wiped at his face, not wanting anyone let alone Vegeta to see his tears. He was too late, it seemed. “Are you really out here crying? What kind of foolish child are you?”

“I’m not foolish,” Gohan snapped, though there was no real bite to his words. “Why do you care, anyway?”

He scoffed. “I don’t.” Gohan gave him a disbelieving look and he growled. “The woman told me I could not leave the party because I was expected to be there for her guests, but here’s one of her guests, running outside to throw a fit like a whiny brat.”

“I’m not a whiny brat!” Gohan yelled, feeling his energy spike but not really caring a bit.

Vegeta smirked, taking a step in his direction. “Oh, really? What are you, then? Because what I see is a sniveling teenager who caused a scene by leaving in the middle of a conversation.”

Gohan looked down and away from the Saiyan, feeling the fight go out of him. What was the point? He had a point, however harsh his words were.

“I’m assuming you are upset about the lack of your halfwit father at this function, yes?”

Gohan didn’t even bother replying, just slumped down until he was sitting in the grass, tuning out the voice that sounded so much like his mom in his head telling him to not get stains on his formal clothing.

“You are well within your rights to grieve the loss of your father,” he continued. Gohan, curious, raised his head to look at him again. He was looking away, arms crossed and scowl firmly in place. “No matter how I felt about the fool, Kakarot was an exemplary fighter and defender of this planet. In the end he made the ultimate sacrifice for not only the well-being of this mudball, but for you. There is great honor in that.”

Floored, Gohan—who had much practice in conversations like this—opened his mouth to thank him for his version of condolences, but Vegeta cut him off quick.

“I’m not just saying this for your benefit, boy,” he barked, meeting Gohan’s gaze properly for the first time. “You should acknowledge his sacrifice and move on with your life. Even a clown like Kakarot would not want you to waste the life he gave you by eternally mourning his death. Where is your Saiyan pride? It must be the weak human woman’s genes that prohibit you from fully embracing your far superior Saiyan genes…”

“Thank you, Vegeta,” Gohan said, interrupting the prince’s mumblings. Vegeta watched him with narrowed eyes as he stood, trying to rub the remnants of tear stains from his face. Surprisingly enough, Gohan’s heart felt lighter than it had in years, even with the Goku-sized hole at its core. “That actually helped a lot. You know, once you look past your bad temper, you’re not terrible at giving advice.”

The older man harrumphed and turned his nose up, but Gohan could’ve sworn he saw a hint of a flush at the tops of his cheeks. Gohan made to go back inside, but Vegeta stopped him with an arm barring his way.

“You haven’t been training, either, have you?” he asked, looking down his nose at him. Gohan resisted the urge to look away, trying to exude his own confidence as he shrugged and shook his head. He definitely didn’t miss the nearly minuscule grin on the man’s face as he snorted, though. “What a lousy excuse for a Saiyan.”

Gohan was in his room trying to study but getting too easily distracted. He remembered once, right before the Cell Games, when Krillin had asked him if he actually liked studying or if it was just something he did because he was afraid of his mother's wrath. Gohan had told him that he didn't love studying but that he did want to have a professional job in academics when he was older, and not just because of his mom. Krillin had given him a weird look—funnily enough, a look that seemed to say is this kid an alien or something?—but Bulma had smacked the back of her friend's bald head and told him fighting wasn't everything with her nose stuck high in the air. He had grinned and smiled politely, thankful that someone got it.

That was the thing with his father and the mass majority of his friends: fighting was life. When there was peace and no threat looming over their heads, they didn't seem to know quite what to do with themselves. Gohan didn't have that problem. He went right back to studying his hardest, way more than he wanted to, so much that sometimes he'd fall asleep slumped over on his desk and wake up with a brain feeling like mush and imprints from the book he was reading on his face. He knew how to work hard, and knew how to apply that work ethic to everything he did, not just fighting. 

But he had a feeling about Krillin. The man who was his father's best friend had also been one of his closest friends since he was four. He was a human, which was getting scarcer and scarcer in their group, but he wasn't like Yamcha, or even like Tien. He fought and liked to fight just like them, but Gohan recognized something in the short human that was also in him. Krillin had a soft heart. Not just in the way that he wanted a girlfriend so bad—he clearly wanted more. He might not know what he wanted to do outside of fighting and living with his old master, might not have found his true purpose, but Gohan could tell he had a craving for more than just training and defending the planet. 

Especially when he made that wish for Android 18. 

Gohan was pulled from his thoughts when he felt an energy approaching the house. At first he tensed, on alert for any potential threat that could be posed to him and his family. Then he smiled, recognizing the energy as Krillin’s. Huh, it’s like he knew I was thinking about him, Gohan thought, grinning to himself as he hopped up out of his chair, ready to greet his friend.

“Gohan, what’s going on?” Chi-Chi asked him from the stove where she stood making lunch, with Goten distracted by the TV a few feet away.

“Krillin’s coming!” he answered as he ran past her, not even half as fast as he could go as he didn't want to break anything in the house.

He burst out the front door but still couldn’t see the man whose energy he felt getting closer. So, he took a seat in the grass and focused on the sky until a dot finally came into view, growing larger. It only took a moment for Gohan to realize it wasn’t just Krillin, but another figure with him, closing in. He felt again for another person’s energy signature he might’ve missed, thinking maybe it was Master Roshi or Oolong, but didn’t feel a thing. Huh. That’s weird.

Gohan’s mouth fell open in utter shock when they finally got close enough for him to notice the extra figure had yellow-blonde hair. It wasn’t fear he felt in his heart when he saw Android 18 for the first time in years; no, it was complete incredulity.

When they both touched down in the grass, Gohan stood and waved to them. Krillin waved back, walking toward him with an uncertain looking Android 18 following behind. “Hey, Gohan! How’ve ya been?”

“Hey, Krillin! I’ve been good,” Gohan answered. He glanced at the female in his friend’s company and hesitated. “Um, hi, Android 18—”

“Just 18’s fine, thanks,” she replied in that cool voice he remembered, but there was a small smile pulling up one side of her mouth.

Krillin sheepishly rubbed the back of his neck. “I hope we’re not dropping in at a bad time or anything!” 

“No, I was just studying while Mom makes lunch and Goten watches those educational videos she’s been trying on him.” Gohan glanced at 18 again before continuing, “You guys can come in, if you want. I’m sure Mom won’t mind, and Goten’s sure to love the extra attention.”

“Well, thanks, Gohan!” Krillin said as he followed Gohan inside the home.

Goten was right inside the door as they walked in and immediately reached up toward his brother. “Gohan?”

Gohan picked the boy up and turned toward their visitors. “Goten, you remember Mr. Krillin, right? And this is his…” Gohan paused, not knowing how to introduce 18 in this situation. “…friend, Miss 18.”

“Hi, Mr. Krillin! Hi, Miss 18!” Goten greeted happily, giving them his biggest smile. “You want to spar with me?”

Krillin chuckled. “Maybe later, Goten. We actually came to talk to your mom and brother.”

Goten drooped in disappointment and promptly slid out of his brother’s grasp, walking back to his educational program like a zombie. Gohan ignored the four-year-old’s dramatics, and called out to his mother, “Krillin and 18 are here, Mom!”

Chi-Chi had been busy arranging her sons’ lunches at the kitchen counter, her back to the small group in her entryway, but at Gohan’s words she whipped around as if someone had told her one of her children had skipped his schoolwork to train all day. When she saw that his words were true, she gaped for a moment before remembering herself and rubbing her hands on the front of her clothing.

“Nice of you to tell us you were coming, Krillin,” she chided as if she hadn’t missed a beat. She went back to work putting the dishes laden with food onto the dining table. “I didn’t make extra, but if you can manage to snag a few scraps from these two Saiyan boys you’re welcome to them.”

“Oh, uh, thanks, Chi-Chi,” Krillin said, wringing his hands nervously. He followed Gohan to the table, and Gohan and Chi-Chi exchanged a pointed look when he pulled 18’s chair out for her.

“Goten,” Chi-Chi called, looking a bit more frazzled than usual but playing it off well, Gohan thought. “Time to eat! You can finish that video when you’re done with your lunch.”

Goten perked up at the mention of food and raced to the table, climbing up into his usual chair between Gohan and the chair that now occupied 18. He smiled at her and got a smile back before digging into the plate his mother sat before him more like a ravenous beast than a small child. Gohan followed his lead but much slower, trying to pay attention to the odd happenings around him.

“Can I get you two anything to drink? I can make some tea if you’d like, or water?” Chi-Chi offered, hovering behind Gohan’s chair.

“Water would be great,” 18 spoke up, tucking her hair behind her ear.

“Nothing for me, thanks,” Krillin added, not quite meeting anyone’s eyes.

Chi-Chi nodded and set out to getting a glass of water for 18, and the table descended into a thick silence. Gohan watched as Krillin fidgeted with the edge of his shirt and 18 smirked as she, too, watched his movements. After a moment Chi-Chi came back around the table and handed the glass of water to 18 before standing in between her sons and leveling an inquisitive look on Krillin.

“So, to what do we owe this visit?” she asked in a tone that seemed to say what did you do now?

“Well, uh…” Krillin started, but then hesitated, casting a sideways look at his companion. 18 rolled her eyes and gestured for him to get on with it. He nodded and took a deep breath in before taking her hand on the table and finally saying, “I just wanted to invite you all to our wedding.”

Gohan nearly choked on his rice. Chi-Chi snapped out of her shocked stupor when he coughed and patted him on the back a few good times. He waved off her efforts, drained half of his own glass of water, and was just about to ask how and when and what, but Goten beat him to it.

“A wedding?” he exclaimed, food momentarily forgotten. “Yay! Gohan, this means more cake and dancing!” He turned his attention back to Krillin and asked, “Wait, do I get to go?”

“Yes, but—” Krillin’s sentence didn’t stand a chance against Goten’s excitement.

“Is Trunks going too? Hehe this means we get to play some more real soon! When’s it going to be? Can it be tomorrow?”

Krillin looked wide-eyed at the boy and shook his head. “Wow. You really like food and fighting, huh?” Goten nodded enthusiastically and Krillin laughed. “We sure he isn’t just a clone of Goku or…?”

He trailed off when he directed his attention back to Gohan and Chi-Chi, who were both speechlessly staring at him as if he were the alien (or half-alien) in the situation. He sighed and ran a hand over his head, which Gohan now realized wasn’t completely bald and what in the world is going on here?

“Well, I’m sure you both have a lot of questions.” He gulped and Gohan wondered if he should get him a glass of water, after all. “To make a long story short, 18 and I have been seeing each other for a while now, and have decided to get married in a couple of weeks. Nothing fancy like Bulma’s big bash, just a small little ceremony and cookout. Bulma was actually nice enough to let us use the Capsule Corp grounds since it’s so last minute.”

Gohan beamed; partly because of being genuinely happy for his long-time friend, partly because he had been right about Krillin and 18 all those years ago! “Wow, congratulations, you g—”

“Is there something else you’d like to tell us?” Chi-Chi cut her son off, crossing her arms and looking between the couple.

“Wh-what do you mean, Chi—”

“Krillin, this is ridiculous,” 18 said, giving her fiancé an annoyed glare. “Yes, there’s something else. We’re having a baby. I’m about four months in currently.”

Chi-Chi let out an excited sound and clapped her hands together, immediately jumping into questions like when’s your due date and have you thought about names and other baby-related questions, and Gohan smiled and nodded along, but felt like he was watching the whole thing from outside his body. Because, while he watched his father’s best friend’s face morph from anxious embarrassment to pure joy, he realized something.

After everything he’d been through, after all of his hardships, Krillin had finally found what made him even happier than fighting. He’d found his purpose.

“Hey, Gohan?”

He shook off his thoughts and turned to his brother who was looking at him with big eyes filled with confusion. “Yeah, Goten?”

“Does this mean there’s going to be a new baby?”

Gohan smiled affectionately at his baby brother. “Yes, that’s what it means.”

Goten nodded, looking pleased with this development, before digging right back into his meal and completely ignoring his mother who had moved around to stand between him and 18 to keep talking more about wedding and baby plans.

Gohan went back to his lunch himself, but did catch Krillin’s eye for a split second. The giddy expression on his face was so open and sincere that Gohan felt his heart lift. He couldn’t help but hope that this was a sign for better things to come for all of them.

The day was hot and the water restless as Chi-Chi parked their car on the sand outside of Kame House. Gohan smiled contentedly at the familiar sight, a plethora of memories crashing down on him. He wondered if his dad was able to see what was going on down on their planet and hoped he could see his two sons at the place he called home for much of his childhood, the place he’d learned so much of his favorite skill. He knew the sight would fill him with pride.

“Can I play in the water, Mommy?” Goten asked as soon as he had two feet in the sand.

“That’s not what we’re here for, Goten,” Chi-Chi reminded him as she tugged his tunic more appropriately into place. He pouted his bottom lip out at her, but she ignored him and turned her attention to her older son. “Don’t forget to grab that box, please.”

Gohan nodded and picked the cardboard box up off the floor of the vehicle, careful not to jostle it too much. Chi-Chi checked their appearances one last time before taking Goten’s hand and heading towards the front door of the old pink house.

“Hello?” Chi-Chi called out as she pushed the door open.

“Hey, Chi-Chi,” a very tired Krillin greeted as he pulled the door open the rest of the way. He smiled weakly at the three of them. “Hey, guys. Come on in.”

“Should we be quiet?” Gohan whispered, not wanting to disturb the quietness of the space.

“No, you’re fine,” he told him. “We just got done feeding her so she’s wide awake.”

“We brought a box of things I thought you might want,” Chi-Chi said, pointing to the object in Gohan’s arms. “Where should we put it?”

“Oh, just anywhere’s fine, Gohan. Thanks, Chi-Chi, we appreciate it,” he said around a yawn.

Gohan sat the box against the wall, trying to make sure it was out of the way. He was about to ask how everyone was doing but was interrupted when an even more exhausted-looking 18 strolled into the room from the kitchen, carrying a blanket-wrapped bundle in her arms.

“Hello everyone,” she said with a small smile as she approached the group.

“Is that the baby?” Goten asked, standing on his tiptoes to try to get a better look.

“Yes, it is,” Chi-Chi answered, putting her hand on the top of his head. “Why don’t we all sit down for a while?”

They all wordlessly agreed and took seats on the couch except Krillin, who hovered by his wife and daughter. “Do you need anything, 18?”

“No, we’re good for now,” she assured him, then turned to Chi-Chi. “Would you like to hold her?”

“Of course!” she said, smiling widely. 18 carefully deposited the infant into her arms, Krillin holding his hands underneath to spot the exchange, and Chi-Chi cuddled the girl close to her face. “Oh my, if she isn’t just the cutest little baby girl!”

“She looks all wrinkly,” Goten commented, his nose scrunched up as he peered at the girl. “Is she supposed to be so small?”

“All babies are small like that, Goten,” Gohan told him as he watched his mother coo over the newborn. “You were about that size not that long ago.”

“Nuh-uh,” he argued back, crossing his arms. He frowned. “I’m a big boy.”

Gohan snorted but decided not to comment, focusing his attention on the small girl in his mother’s arms. “She looks a lot like you, Krillin.”

His cheeks brightened with his grin. “Yeah, but she has 18’s hair.”

“She’s just the sweetest little baby,” Chi-Chi said, rubbing the back of a finger along her cheek. “I always wondered what it’d be like to have a girl.”

“She’s been a real handful,” 18 spoke up, wiping her forehead with the back of her hand. “Any little noise and she’s up and crying.”

“Goten was like that for a while,” Chi-Chi said, shifting her attention to 18. “Of course, Goten screamed at almost everything for a while.”

“No, I didn’t!” Goten insisted, brow furrowing.

“Shh, Goten, not so loud around the baby,” Chi-Chi scolded, not even bothering to look in his direction. She smiled at Gohan. “Do you want to hold her?”

Gohan was about to answer when he caught Goten’s expression; the boy looked more than just agitated, he looked almost hurt. That’s when it all clicked for him; the boy was jealous. He was used to being the youngest, the baby in not only his family but the whole group, and now there was a new baby, stealing the attention he usually got. He tried to think of what his dad might do in a situation like this.

“Hey, Goten,” Gohan said, getting the boy’s attention. He looked at him with a bit of reluctance in his dark eyes, and Gohan was struck for a second at how much he looked like their father, sitting there looking grumpy. He swallowed past the emotion that lodged its way into his throat at the sight. “Do you want to help me hold the baby?”

He looked thoughtful for a moment before turning curious eyes onto the baby in question. “How would I do that?”

“Here.” Gohan grabbed the boy and placed him in his lap, bending his arms to show him how to hold a baby the right way. “You hold your arms like this, okay? You have to support the weight of her head because she can’t hold it up on her own, is that okay?”

“I guess,” he said, sounding uncertain.

Chi-Chi smiled lovingly at her sons as she gently placed the baby onto Goten’s lap, helping guide his hand to support her head. “There you go, Goten. You’re doing very good.”

“Really?” he asked, sounding slightly more confident. He looked back down at her.

“Hi, Marron,” Gohan murmured to the girl. Her eyes, similar to Krillin’s, blinked a few times before closing entirely.  

“Is she going to sleep?” Goten asked, staying rigid in Gohan’s arms.

“Maybe,” Gohan said, watching her little body expand with an inhale. “Babies sleep pretty much any time they aren’t eating.”

“Or screaming at the sound of the oven timer going off,” grumbled 18 from the other side of the couch.

There was a few minutes of silence as the two Son boys sat and watched Marron breath and sleep. It wasn’t long before Gohan could tell his brother was getting a little antsy sitting still for so long.

“Okay, I’m done,” he finally announced, looking up at Chi-Chi, who happily took the baby back and started talking to her in hushed tones.

“You did well, Goten,” Gohan told him earnestly, ruffling his hair and giving him a reassuring smile.

“Babies are boring,” he said, looking at Marron with an air of confusion.

The three adults laughed, and Krillin said, “I wish that’s what babies were.”

Goten moved his confused look onto Gohan, who shrugged.

“Babies are a lot more work than they seem.”

After about an hour of Chi-Chi fawning over the baby and then going over each and every item in the box they brought, she finally decided to leave the little family to themselves.

“Thank you for inviting us,” she said as Krillin held open the door for them to walk through. “A new baby is such a special time.”

“That it is,” he agreed absently, before yawning for what seemed like the twentieth time since they’d gotten there.

“You two get some sleep, and don’t be afraid to call me if you need anything,” Chi-Chi said before walking out, her boys not far behind.

“Thanks, Chi-Chi. Bye, guys.”

“Bye, Krillin!” Gohan said right before the door closed gently but firmly in his face.

“Hey, Mom?” Goten asked as Chi-Chi led them back to their car.

“Yes, Goten, you can go play in the water,” she said automatically. “But take off your shoes and roll your pant legs up, first.”

The boy ran off toward the water, completely forgoing her instructions, but she didn’t seem to notice as she smiled serenely at his ecstatic face. Gohan chased after him, catching him just before he reached the waves and rolling his pants up as he kicked off his shoes before letting the boy run wild to his heart’s content.

Chi-Chi came up beside him and put a hand on his shoulder. “You did well with him in there, Gohan. Thank you.”

“Of course, Mom,” he said as he watched Goten splash the water up, getting it all over his front. It didn’t seem that rolling up his pants made a bit of difference, but oh well. The boy looked so happy it didn’t bother either of them.

Chapter Text

Gohan loved going up to the Lookout. He loved feeling the wind on his face as he flew practically straight up toward the structure, loved the beautiful view once at the top, but most of all, he loved getting to visit his friends. Piccolo had taken to spending his time there, living beside Dende and Mr. Popo. It had been some time since he’d last been up to see them all, busy with his studies and helping his mom, so he was especially excited as he landed on the white squares that housed the Earth's Guardian.

“Gohan,” Piccolo said, waiting for his young student's landing on the edge of the giant circle. “I was not expecting you.”

He shrugged. “Mom said I had free time to do whatever I wanted and when I mentioned coming here she said she didn't mind so long as I was back by sundown.”

“Gohan!” Dende called as he made his way over, walking up behind Piccolo. “Wow, you’ve gotten taller.”

“I have?” he asked, looking down at his body. Had he?

“Now that you mention it, he does look bigger,” Piccolo commented, looking him up and down. “It hasn’t been that long since I saw you last. Did you just spring up over night?”

“I don’t know,” he said honestly. “Mom’s said I’m growing up but she’s always said that. I haven’t really noticed.”

“How old are you now?” Mr. Popo said as he meandered around the group, holding a watering can.

“I’m fifteen.”

“Ah,” Piccolo said, realization dawning on his face. “I remember now.”

“Remember what?” Gohan asked, looking back and forth between the two.

“Your father was on the Lookout training with Kami and me at your age,” Popo answered, stopping next to Piccolo and looking at him with appraising eyes. “His first growth spurt was at about the age you are now.”

“Really? I don’t feel any different.”

“You’re still young,” Piccolo intoned. “You still have a lot of growing left to do.”

“I recall how hard it hit Goku,” Mr. Popo continued. “It wasn’t long after his first growth spurt that he started asking questions.”

“Questions?” Gohan asked, confused. “What kind of questions?”

“Oh, do you mean about—” Dende started, but Piccolo cleared his throat and shook his head at his young successor.

“If he doesn’t know what questions we're talking about then we don’t need to tell him before he even has them.”

“I think we’re confusing the poor boy,” Mr. Popo said, his neutral expression unchanging as he looked at the teenager in question. “Just know that it is perfectly normal for you to be curious about your body at your age. Your father went through the same thing, as do humans of an age with you.”

“O…kay?” Gohan said, the conversation leaving him feeling a bit scatterbrained. He shook his head. “I’m lost.”

“That’s probably for the best,” Piccolo said, taking a step closer to him. “I’m going to go meditate for a while, would you like to join me?”

Gohan knew what that meant. Ever since fusing with Kami, Piccolo had gotten less demanding with his wants, but he still knew how to get Gohan to understand what he wanted. It was subtle, a way of doing it that almost made you believe it’d been your own desire to do what he was suggesting, but Gohan had figured him out pretty quickly. It didn’t mean he wasn’t right, though.

“Of course,” he said, still confused but willing to let it go in favor of spending time with his best friend.

It was a week before the curiosity eating at his mind became too much and he went to his mother looking for answers.

He approached her as she was putting some clean laundry on the drying line. “Mom?”

“Yes, Gohan?” she said, not taking her attention off of the task at hand.

“I had a question I was hoping you could help me with,” he hedged, unsure of how to go about asking something if he wasn’t even sure what he was talking about.

That gave her pause, and she turned her head to look at him. “What do you need help with?”

“Um…” he hesitated, looking down at his shoes. “When I went up to the Lookout last week, they were all talking about how much I’ve grown…”

“You have grown over this past year,” she said with a soft smile. “You’re growing into such a nice young man.”

“Thanks, Mom,” Gohan said, cheeks blazing as he kicked at some dirt with the toe of his shoe. It took him a moment before he remembered why he’d come out to talk to her in the first place. “That wasn’t all, though…”

She turned her attention to him fully, giving him a blank look. “What is it, Gohan?”

He took a deep breath and let it out slowly. “They said when Dad was my age, he was asking questions about his body…or something.”

Chi-Chi’s face went rigid as his words settled into the space between them. The silence stretched on far too long for comfort, and after what seemed like another week, Gohan cleared his throat.

“I just wasn’t sure what they meant, and it’s been bothering me. But it’s not a big deal, I can just—”

“No!” she shrieked, startling Gohan enough that he jumped back from her. She put a hand on his arm and seemed to settle herself a bit. “No, don’t do anything. I can…I can get you something that will answer your questions.”

And so, the next morning, Chi-Chi left the house on a mission, leaving her father to look after the boys.

“Just make sure they actually do their schoolwork; they know what they should be working on.  Goten is allowed to ask for help from you or Gohan but don’t let him get away with not doing the work himself. And don’t let Gohan spend all his time helping Goten, he has his own work to do. I should be back before lunch but just in case I’m not there’s some leftovers in the fridge that can tide them over if you don’t want to cook for them.”

“Alright, Chi-Chi,” the Ox King said genially. “I’m sure everything will be fine.”

Chi-Chi shot an unsettled look at Gohan—who, for his part, choked on his tongue as he made to ask her what was going on, somehow able to know that it was not good—before nodding one last time at her father and leaving without another word.

With that, Gohan went to the couch where he was set up to study that day so he was easily accessible to his little brother. He put his nose in his math workbook, hoping the tough algebra would distract him from how his mother was acting. It can’t be that bad, can it? Am I going to start having pain or something? Or is it just that I’ll be hungrier? But if it was only that, why would Piccolo and Mr. Popo be so secretive?

Goten only stopped him to ask a few questions about adding fractions and then proper grammar, seemingly having a good hold on the remainder of his studies. Gohan felt his heart swell with pride in the boy; he clearly had the same predisposition for learning that Gohan had. He wondered what his little brother wanted to be when he grew up and was about to ask him when their mother barged back into the house, clutching a canvas bag in her hand.

“Gohan,” she said once she closed the door behind her, eyes immediately landing on her eldest child. She glanced at Goten out of the corner of her eye and an uncomfortable frown pulled on the edges of her mouth. “Let’s go to your room.”

Gohan swallowed, that same foreboding feeling settling in the pit of his stomach. Maybe I should have just left it well enough alone, he thought to himself as she led him to his bedroom. I’m going to end up regretting even going to the Lookout.

“Okay,” Chi-Chi said on an exhale as she opened his door. “I brought you some educational materials to hopefully answer any questions you might have without you going and looking on your own, or hearing it from any of your father’s friends first.”

Gohan tilted his head questioningly but didn’t skip a beat in sitting down at his desk when she gestured toward it. She sat the bag at his feet, looking anywhere but at him. It was all just too weird.

“Mom? Are you okay? What’s going on?”

She finally looked him in the eye and her expression turned a little sad. She reached her hand out and ran it across his cheek until her fingers reached his hair. “I’m fine. You’re just growing up, and I’m not sure I’m equipped to handle it.”

“What?” Gohan asked, his confusion reaching a whole new level. “Of course you are. You’re my mom.”

“I think that’s part of the problem,” she whispered as if she were mostly talking to herself.

He opened his mouth to question her more but she sighed and let out a little huff of laughter.

“I had hoped your father would explain these things to you,” she said softly, her gaze far away. She shifted her focus and her eyes settled more fully on him. “But, who am I kidding? I explained a good bit of this to him, myself. But with you…it’s different. So, I’m sorry, but you’ll have to settle for some books I found at the library.”

“Okay,” he felt compelled to say, although at a complete loss of what she meant.

“…and, if you should have any further questions, you can ask me and I’ll try my best to answer them,” she continued, and Gohan was surprised to see her cheeks turn rosy as if she were blushing. Gohan could only really remember one other time when Chi-Chi had blushed in his presence; Goku had surprised her with her favorite flowers on their wedding anniversary during the three years they’d had to prepare for the Androids and had kissed her on the cheek while she made dinner, and her face had turned red when she saw that Gohan was watching them. It was a cherished memory he had of his parents, one that seemed starkly normal in comparison to how tumultuous that time (and most of his life, if he was honest) had been, and he kept it close to his heart.

He nodded, looking down and clenching his teeth to will away the tears that threatened to break free from his eyes. He felt her place a kiss on the crown of his head. “You’re a good boy, Gohan, and I trust you to treat this matter with dignity.”

And with that she left, closing the door behind her a bit rougher than she usually would. Gohan grinned at the reminder of his mother’s strength; sometimes he forgot that she was a fighter, too.

He dug into the bag and pulled out the first book he felt his hand touch; Your Changing Body and You: Puberty Explained. His brows knit together and he pulled out the other two books in the bag; A Teenager’s Guide to the Reproductive System and What Your Urges Mean: a Manual for Adolescent Boys.

He felt his eyes widen as he stared down at the materials before him. He knew enough of biology to know the overarching concept of how babies were made, but these were something else. He thumbed through the first one he’d taken out and stopped on a random page. An inexplicable squeak came from his throat at the picture printed on the page and he slammed the book shut, feeling like he’d done something wrong. But, no. His mother’s words rang through his head; I trust you to treat this matter with dignity.

Oh boy.

Gohan waited while Chi-Chi put Goten to bed for the night, nervously reading-and-rereading the same paragraph in his physics textbook without actually paying attention to one word of it. He had something to ask his mom, and he had a hunch it wouldn’t go over well. He just hoped Goten didn’t get woken up in the wake of the inevitable bombshell.

When he heard the door just across the hall from his own click shut, he was on his feet, listening at the door for his mother’s footsteps. Chi-Chi had quit seeing him off to bed at his insistence when he was ten and training for the Androids with his dad and Piccolo. For a while she’d still watched to make sure he brushed his teeth and washed his face before bed, but even that ended after a few weeks. Gohan, at the time, had felt so good about himself, gaining a sense of independence that he’d been craving since coming home from Namek (she’d been understandably clingy after getting him back from that excursion).

He opened his door when he was sure she was settled in the living room and crept out of it, feeling like he should be as quiet as possible. Maybe his mind saw it as a way to compensate for the unavoidable hysterics that were sure to come from his proposal.

Gohan paused in the hallway outside of the living room, smiling at the sight of his mom curled up on the couch, watching some over-dramatic soap opera and sipping at her nighttime tea. He felt a rush of affection at seeing his mom—usually so high-strung—fully relaxed and at ease. It made him wonder what this time was like when his father was around, after Gohan had been put to bed. He pushed the thought away quickly, though, knowing that if he fell down that hole he wouldn’t ask her, and would just keep pushing it off until he let the opportunity slip through his fingers.

He cleared his throat as he started walking towards the couch, catching her attention. “Oh, Gohan.” She muted the television. “I thought you’d be getting ready for bed.”

“I will,” he promised, not wanting her to think he was skimping out on his responsibilities. “I just wanted to talk to you first, is all.”

Her eyes narrowed slightly as he took a seat next to her. “What did you want to talk about?”

“It’s nothing bad,” he rushed out, knowing her mind jumped to the worst-case scenarios automatically. “I was just thinking about something and I wanted to get your opinion on it.”

“Okay,” she prompted, her fierce gaze unwavering.

“Well…” he trailed off for a second, trying to think of how to phrase his thoughts without it coming out as a slight towards her. “I’ve just been thinking about my schooling lately and how it fits in with my goals.”

He could see her lips twitch downward and his heart sagged into his lungs, already accepting defeat. But he pushed on, not letting her reaction completely discourage him since he hadn’t even gotten to the meat of what he wanted to discuss.

“As you know, I want to continue my schooling until such a time that I can start a career in academics,” he continued, knowing that this would appease her a bit.

She nodded for him to go on, looking relieved.

“And I’ve been thinking lately that maybe the best route to take for that specific goal would be to attend a high school.” He cringed back, readying for the blowup.

“Oh.”

He opened one eye to look at her, unable to completely identify her feelings from the one-word reply. She was staring at some point over his shoulder, looking lost in thought. He took that as a good sign and kept his pitch going.

“I promise I’m not doing this to get away from you, or to slack off, or anything other than furthering my education. I’ve put a lot of thought into this and—no offense, Mom—but there’s only so much you can help me with as I get into more advanced and in-depth subjects. And, to be honest, the only person I know who’s my own age is the Guardian of Earth and I really think it might be time for me to be around kids my own age and—”

“Gohan,” his mom interrupted him in an even voice.

He stumbled to a stop, chancing a look at her. She was looking at him with an expression on her face he could only describe as…calm?

And then she smiled. “I agree.”

“Wh-what?” he stammered, unprepared for this response.

“I agree with you, Gohan,” she repeated, her eyes soft. “I think it would be good for you, as well. I do think you’d be a little out of your element both in terms of your advanced knowledge and your being unused to the social dynamics, but as long as you take it seriously, I think it could only help you in the long run.”

Gohan’s face broke out into a huge grin. Yes! She’s on board, and I didn’t even have to spend all week trying to talk her into it!

“And maybe you’ll meet a nice girl,” she continued, on a roll. “A lot of people meet their future spouses in school, you know. And I know all the girls will fawn over you, my handsome young man. Oh! Maybe you’ll marry young like your father and me and give me grandchildren—”

“Okay, thanks, Mom! Goodnight!” Gohan exclaimed, cheeks aflame as he jumped off the couch and ran back to his room.

Chi-Chi grinned to herself and shrugged, unmuting her show and taking another sip of her tea.

Chapter Text

“When was the last time you were on the Flying Nimbus, Gohan?” Chi-Chi asked out of the blue one morning over breakfast.

“Uh…” Gohan paused to take a deep pull from his water, swallowing his mouthful so he could properly answer. “I think it was when Dad saved me from Nappa.”

“Wuz uh Fy-ing -imbuz?” Goten piped up, not bothering to swallow before speaking. “An’ uh Nappa?”

“Don’t speak with your mouth full, Goten!” Chi-Chi ordered, shooting a severe look at her youngest. He gulped down his food, an apologetic look on his face, and she nodded approvingly. “Flying Nimbus is a flying yellow cloud that your father got when he was a boy.”

“A flying yellow cloud?” Goten asked, looking thoughtful. “That sounds silly. How come I’ve never seen it?”

“To be honest, I kind of forgot about it,” Gohan said. “We didn’t have much of a need for it after I got stronger.”

“I was thinking,” Chi-Chi continued as if she hadn’t missed a beat, “maybe you could use it again?”

“Why?”

“Well, you’ll be going to school soon, and it isn’t close,” she said. At Gohan’s continued blank look, she sighed. “I thought it’d be a nice way of getting around quick without having to fly yourself.”

“That’s not a bad idea.” He shrugged. “I haven’t used it in so long I hadn’t really thought about it.”

“I want to see the flying cloud!” Goten said, clapping his hands.

“Finish your breakfast first,” Chi-Chi said. Goten returned to his food with renewed vigor.

After they were done eating, the boys went outside while their mother started on the high-volume of dishes piled up in the sink. Goten looked up to the sky, face contorted in concentration.

“Which cloud is the Flying Nimbus?” he asked, placing a hand over his eyes to see better. “I don’t see a yellow one anywhere.”

Gohan chuckled. “That’s because it’s not like real clouds; it’s magical. I think Dad said once that it flies around until you call it, or something like that. It doesn’t just hang around, waiting for us. But, if we call it, it should come.”

Goten took his attention off the sky and turned toward Gohan. “Oh. Call it then! I wanna see!”

“Okay.” Gohan took a deep breath. “Hey! Flying Nimbus!”

“I don’t see any—oh!” Goten shouted, pointing up to the sky.

The fluffy yellow cloud suddenly appeared high in the sky, arcing toward them. Gohan felt nostalgia grip at his heart as the cloud zoomed toward him, it’s subtle noise comforting to him after all these years.

“I’m glad that worked,” Gohan muttered to himself. It had been years since he’d seen it, after all.

“Wow, Gohan! It really is a flying cloud!” his little brother said, eyes filled with amazement. “How do you ride it?”

“You just jump on. Like this.” Gohan jumped up and couldn’t deny that he was a little relieved when he didn’t fall through. He had read those books his mother had brought him from the library and wasn’t sure if the cloud would count that as “impure”. Some of the pictures in those books were graphic.

“Ooh, that looks so cool!” the boy gushed, running to look at the other side. “Can I get on, too?”

“I don’t see why not,” he said with a grin, watching as his brother jumped in excitement before vaulting himself up on the cloud behind him. He giggled as he settled in. “Isn’t this fun? Dad told me that this was his main form of transportation for a lot of his childhood.”

“Our dad must’ve been so cool,” Goten commented, looking over the edge of the Nimbus as if he couldn’t believe it was actually holding them both aloft.

Gohan felt his smile slip a little but righted it quickly. “He was pretty cool.”

It took a lot of convincing on Gohan’s part for Chi-Chi to let him go to his school entrance exams by himself. She had argued—“you should let me drive you so that you can keep your concentration, Gohan!”—but in the end he’d won out, thanks in no small part to his grandfather readily agreeing with him—“Chi-Chi, I think Goten needs your help more than Gohan does.” Gohan was very grateful that he’d decided to visit that day.

So, after insisting one last time that he wouldn’t let this freedom interfere with his exam scores, he called for the Flying Nimbus and was off to Satan City. Gohan was happy his mother had reminded him of the cloud’s existence, able to sit back and zone out, watching as the trees and fields slowly turned to houses and buildings below him.

He touched down in a less populated area just outside the city he recognized as being just a few blocks from Orange Star High School. He glanced around, ensuring that no one around had noticed him, then started off at a slow pace in the direction of the school. He knew he’d be a little early but figured that was preferable to being late; if it got back to Chi-Chi that he’d been late to his admissions tests for school, she’d probably never let him out of her sight again.

A loud shout broke him out of his reverie and sent him running around the corner. There, just up the street, was a single police officer with only a handgun ducking down behind his car across the street from a duo wielding shotguns. It took a moment for Gohan to process what he was looking at: two armed robbers wearing masks with big bags stuffed full thrown over their shoulders, standing outside of a jewelry store that had several broken windows, and an officer facing them down, rapidly talking into the radio on his shoulder for backup. Gohan’s fists clenched and he could feel his temper flaring but kept himself in check enough to think it through. I can’t let people see me taking down these criminals. There’s no way I’d be able to go to normal school with everyone knowing what I can do. But I have to do something, there’s no way I can just let this go.

Then the shots started firing. The burglars started running in Gohan’s direction, bullets sailing toward the cop who was, thankfully, able to stay shielded and fire back. Gohan had only a split second to power up before the thieves were running right into him. He felt his energy surrounding him in pulsating waves as the men stopped and sneered at him.

“Would you look here, Chuck?” one said, elbowing his partner. “Looks like we got ourselves a hero.”

“No,” Gohan said, glaring at the man. “Not a hero. Just someone who won’t let you get away with such blatant wrongdoings.”

“Oh, yeah?” the other—Chuck, apparently his name was—mocked, turning his attention away from the officer. “And what are you gonna do about it, kid?”

That’s when it got a little more interesting. The first man lifted his gun, aiming it at Gohan. Gohan felt himself smirk. Boy are they going to get a shock. With reflexes cultivated after over ten years of training, the teenager grabbed the barrel of the gun and wrenched it upwards before the perp could pull the trigger. The gun broke right in two at the force, and both men gaped, looking suddenly horrified.

“Wh-what are you?” the now gun-less man cowered, shrinking back.

In answer, Gohan reached out faster than their eyes could track and grabbed the other gun, then broke it over his knee. He threw the two pieces over his shoulder. Chuck started to kick out at Gohan, but he caught his leg before he could even touch him. The man blanched.

“I would suggest you turn back around now,” Gohan told them. “I don’t want to hurt you but if you continue to be violent you will leave me no choice.”

Chuck’s accomplice was the first to start running, right back in the direction of the cop. Good; let him handle it from here now that they don’t have guns. Chuck himself followed not long after, grumbling under his breath as he went.

Gohan looked around and was bewildered by what had happened around him as he’d been too busy to pay attention. Not just were there more police officers but a whole crowd of civilians had gathered, murmuring amongst themselves as they watched what unfolded before them. He noticed that some were still staring at him, wide-eyed with fascination, but most were watching the cops cuff the men and apprehend their stolen goods. He took the opportunity to back away from the scene, then ran around the corner. He felt his energy settle and was relieved that he’d had the foresight to go Super Saiyan, hoping that it’d be enough to hide his identity.

As Gohan started back on his journey to Orange Star High School, once again focused on his exams, he missed the whisperings of a golden fighter that rippled through the bystanders.

Gohan’s first day of school had amounted to a lot of confusion on his part, but also a great deal of worry over Videl’s curiosity about the Golden Warrior, especially when he caught her following him. It was a natural thought to go see the smartest person he knew about a fix for his problem.

After leaping off Nimbus in front of Capsule Corp, he walked up and knocked on the front door.

“Who is it?” Bulma’s voice called from somewhere inside.

“It’s me, Gohan!” he replied, cupping his hand around his mouth to help it travel through the door.

“Oh, Gohan!” The door swung open revealing a smiling Bulma. Upon seeing Gohan, her mouth fell open. “Gohan? Jeez, I think you grew again!”

“Oh, really?” he said, rubbing the back of his neck. “It’s funny, I never notice that I’m growing until someone is shocked to see me.”

Bulma had a faraway look in her eyes as if suddenly remembering a fond memory, then shook her head and moved aside, waving her hand. “Come on in, Gohan! We’ll go have a seat on the couch and chat.”

Gohan followed her to the sitting area and took a seat at her insistence to make himself comfortable. She stood and stared at him for a while, long enough that Gohan was about to ask her if he had something on his face, but she seemed to snap out of it before he could get the words out. “So, can I get you anything? A drink or snack? It looks like you just came from school.”

“I don’t need anything, thanks,” he told her with a polite smile. “I just got out and came right here.”

“And how’s it going?” she asked as she grabbed a pack of cigarettes off the table, flipping the package open to grab one.

“It’s good.” He paused, trying to think of how to describe his time at Orange Star so far. “I like the classes well enough, and I’ve met some pretty nice people.”

“Uh-huh,” Bulma said, unconvinced, as she lit up her cigarette. “It’s okay to complain to me, Gohan. I know how high school can be.”

“It really isn’t bad!” he rushed to say, feeling a light blush blossom in his cheeks. “There’s this guy who keeps calling me a nerd but I’m pretty sure I am one so what’s the harm in that? And I kind of tried to play it cool during PE like you and Mom told me and ended up getting one of his fastballs to the face but it’s not like it hurt!”

“Well, as long as you don’t mind, I guess that’s okay. Just don’t let him get away with pushing you around, got it?” Gohan nodded vigorously, and she took a thoughtful pull off her cigarette. Then she smiled one of her secretive smiles and gave him a look up and down. “Has there been any girls who’ve taken notice of you?”

He felt his blush explode on his face. “There is a girl who’s been really friendly to me, her name is Erasa. She’s friends with the guy I told you about.” Bulma nodded, signaling him to go on. He swallowed. “Then there’s this other girl, Videl. That’s why I came to see you, Bul—”

“Oh, so you came to get girl advice!” she exclaimed, suddenly excited. “How exciting! Little Gohan’s in high school and asking about girls. I can’t believe it!” Gohan opened his mouth to negate her theory but she just kept on going right over him. “Don’t you worry, Gohan, the secret’s safe with me. Who knows how Chi-Chi’ll react when she finds out her little baby is actually crushing after a girl?”

“Bulma, that’s not what I was going to say,” Gohan asserted, wanting to stop that train of thought quick.

“Oh,” Bulma mumbled, clearly disappointed. She ashed her cigarette in the ash tray on the table between them. “Then what’s up?”

“Well, you see…” Gohan let out a little nervous giggle. “I’ve been kind of fighting crime in Satan City and I’ve been turning Super Saiyan because I thought that would keep people from knowing it’s me. But earlier today I fought off some bank robbers while wearing my school badge and this girl—Videl—is getting suspicious and following me around trying to catch me.”

Realization dawned on her face as she exhaled smoke. Gohan smiled, knowing he’d made the right decision in coming to ask Bulma for help.

As she got to work making him a disguise he’d gone and found Trunks and heard from Vegeta again how he shouldn’t be skimping on his training. Of course, he would say that; the Saiyan Prince who was training his seven-year-old in a gravity room even in peacetime. He brushed it off and followed Trunks up to his room, ready to play a game.

As Trunks set up a board of Chinese checkers for them on the floor, he gave the older boy a curious look.

“So, Gohan,” he started, putting the game pieces in their rightful places, “what’s normal school like?”

“It’s nice, I guess,” he said truthfully, still not sure if the day he’d had was anywhere near normal. “I have a locker and seven different classes to go to. I even have a physical education class, which I didn’t know was a thing until I registered.”

“Huh,” the lavender-haired boy said, placing the last blue piece on his side. “You go first.”

Gohan moved one of his green pieces up a space and gestured for Trunks to take his turn. As he made his move, he said, “Have you met anyone cool?”

“Yeah, there are some people I’ve talked to,” he told him as they continued going back and forth on the board. “I’m still new so I haven’t met a lot of people yet but everyone I’ve talked to so far is pretty nice.”

“Have you met any girls?” Trunks asked, jumping over one of Gohan’s pieces already.

Gohan blinked, taken aback both by the question and the younger boy’s obvious skill in this form of checkers. “Uh, yeah, a couple. Why do you ask?”

“No reason,” he muttered as he waited his turn. It was a few turns before he spoke again. “So you don’t have a girlfriend yet?”

“Wh-why would you think that?” Gohan spluttered, dumbfounded.

He let out a little laugh. “It’s just that I heard Dad talking about you letting your studies distract you from training like a true Saiyan should, and how he didn’t understand why you’d sacrifice even more of your time to go to a real school.” Trunks shrugged. “When Mom told him that learning was important too, he grumbled something about you just wanting to find a girlfriend.”

“That’s not why I’m going to school!” he said, embarrassed that so many people were caught up on that. “I’m going because Mom and I decided it would be better for my education.”

“Sure, Gohan,” Trunks said, eyes back on the gameboard like the conversation was boring him now. “It’s your turn.”

Trunks ended up handily beating him both times they played, and Gohan wasn’t entirely sure how he’d done it. He did, however, think that maybe him being flustered had something to do with it, and had a suspicion that the boy had distracted him on purpose.

He probably should’ve known better.

Chapter Text

Gohan couldn’t quite decipher what he was doing wrong. When he’d looked at himself in the mirror at Capsule Corp, he’d seen a respectable masked crimefighter in his crimefighting attire (he especially loved the helmet). But Trunks had acted like he didn’t like it, saying he no longer wanted a watch like Gohan’s, and Gohan hadn’t understood that. His mother had just done something great, a feat of technology only she could really pull off! Why wouldn’t he want one?

And then, of course, the first people he’d apprehended in his new outfit had laughed at him when he announced himself as the Great Saiyaman. He’d come up with it on the spot and had thought it so clever, a callout to who he was while still keeping his actual identity a secret from his peers at school. But they’d somehow thought his name and poses were funny. Sure, after he’d gotten annoyed and accidentally put cracks in the road, they’d changed their tune, bidding him goodbye while driving away safely, but he still wasn’t convinced that they’d meant it.

Then Chi-Chi had said he reminded her of his father for wearing the getup and he’d been even more lost. Dad never wore a costume, only his gi; what does he have to do with this? He could tell she wasn’t the biggest fan of him fighting crime in his free time anyway, and had been anticipating her being unhappy, but was unprepared for her comments about his age. What had that meant?

But Goten had loved his outfit and helped him as he practiced his Great Saiyaman introduction in the mirror. If he was going to do this whole masked hero thing, he wanted to do it right. And superheroes had to advertise what they were all about, right? He tried so many different ways of introducing himself as this new hero that he’d lost count of how many he’d nixed. Goten rooted him on the whole time, encouraging him in his pursuit of the perfect phrase, and he’d gone into the next day with renewed conviction in his persona.

At school that day, he’d overheard the kids in front of him in class talking about the new superhero with the bad outfit and a name like “mayo-man” and he’d felt his irritation skyrocket. Why was everyone acting so weird about his alter-ego? He thought maybe they just didn’t see the vision, didn’t get the whole picture; surely if they did they wouldn’t be so critical. Plus, he was fighting crime, what did it matter what he wore and called himself?

But something was different after he’d helped Videl save the bus-full of elderly sightseers and she’d given him an almost shy look (which, coming from her, was enough to catch Gohan’s attention in a way he’d never experienced before) and asked in a breathy tone who he was. He’d done his whole spiel, really sticking his poses, and she’d stared at him like she couldn’t believe he was there, and for some reason he felt confidence fill his chest, leaving him feeling warm and better about the Great Saiyaman than he had since he first saw the outfit.

Then he snapped out of his bewilderment and taken off back to school, knowing he didn’t have an excuse like her to be out of class for so long. On the fly back he thought it really was a good thing he’d practiced, and that he’d had Goten’s help.

So, he went on being the Great Saiyaman, and when anyone asked him who he was or what his intentions were, he’d recite his whole speech, and every time, they’d be left speechless. Whether that was in a good way or a bad way, he didn’t really care. He liked it, and he got across what he wanted to get across, and that was all that really mattered.

Videl’s reaction to it (and Goten thinking it was cool) was just the cherry on top.

Gohan was at his locker at the end of the day, exchanging the things he didn’t need from his bag with the things he did need from his locker. He’d, thankfully, had a pretty uneventful day; no school-ditching to stop bad guys, no blunders in PE class, nothing out of the ordinary. It was a day that he felt spectacularly normal, like any other teenager in high school, just doing his best.

As he closed his locker, Erasa appeared where its door had been, and he jumped.

She giggled pleasantly. “Sorry, Gohan! Didn’t mean to scare you there.”

“It’s alright,” he replied dismissively. “Can I help you with something?”

“Videl, Sharpner, and I are going to go grab milkshakes, and I wanted to see if you’d want to come with us,” she chirped, smiling brightly.

“Uh, I don’t know. I have a bit of a commute ahead of me, and my mom gets kind of weird if I’m not home on time.” Translation: she goes a little crazy if she doesn’t know where I am.

“Oh, come on, Gohan! It’ll be fun,” she said, sidling up closer to him. “I promise I won’t let Sharpner call you a dork.”

Gohan laughed half-heartedly. “That’s really not a problem, I—”

“Okay then, let’s go!” she said, grabbing his arm and pulling it so he’d follow her. He reluctantly did so, not seeing a polite way out of this. He just hoped his mom wouldn’t get too upset.

“Well look who decided to join us, Videl,” Sharpner commented when Erasa and Gohan walked up to them where they stood by the front doors.

“I’m surprised you want to come,” Videl said, giving him a narrow-eyed look. “I thought you’d be rushing home by now.”

Gohan glanced at the hand Erasa still had on his arm. “Erasa can be very persuasive, I suppose.” She winked at him and he felt his cheeks grow warm.

Sharpner snickered. “Erasa knows how to get what she wants, it’s her superpower.”

Gohan did everything he could to keep a straight face under Videl’s scrutiny. Eventually she turned her attention to the other two. “Let’s just go already.”

Videl led them to their destination, describing her last run-in with the Great Saiyaman as she did. Gohan felt like he was walking the block and a half toward the ice cream parlor on eggshells. It had only been a few days since he had helped her save those people from the burning building, and he didn’t know how much of what happened would be common knowledge amongst the public. He sighed in relief when they made it to the small ice cream place without any of them asking him any specific questions about the ordeal.

Once they were all seated in a booth, Erasa and Gohan on one side and Videl and Sharpner on the other, Erasa leaned her shoulder into his and asked, “So, what’re you gonna get, Gohan?”

“I’m not sure yet,” he said truthfully. He could probably order one of everything on the menu and it only be a snack for him. “What’s your favorite?”

“The chocolate malt is really good!” she said, putting her head in her hand. “Or the strawberry shake!”

“She’s dreaming,” Sharpner cut in with a scoff. “The peanut butter shake is the best. Great tasting and some protein; can’t beat it.”

“You guys are crazy,” Videl said, smirking at her friends. She turned her gaze onto Gohan. “They have the best vanilla milkshake you’ll ever have here.”

“That’s so boring, though!” Erasa argued.

“It might be boring to you, but it’s perfect for me,” Videl said, rolling her eyes.

“Hey, I like boring,” Gohan shrugged, a small smile on his face.

They all turned to look at him with matching unimpressed looks and Gohan giggled a little, not understanding what he’d said to warrant such a reaction. Thankfully, a waitress came up to take their orders and pulled everyone’s attention away from him. They all ordered—Gohan got the vanilla shake, of course—and started talking about their school assignments.

When the waitress returned with their shakes, she informed Videl that they were on the house for Mr. Satan’s daughter. She’d smiled and thanked her, then immediately turned eager eyes on Gohan.

“Go ahead, try it and tell me it isn’t the best vanilla shake you’ve ever had,” she dared him, a smirk pulling up one side of her mouth.

He faltered under her intense gaze for a moment before taking a gulp. The rich, sweet flavor spread across his tongue and he nodded, smiling as he met her eyes again. “I can say without a doubt that this is the best vanilla milkshake I’ve ever had.”

He left out the part about never having one before then. He didn’t think she’d appreciate that.

“Ha!” she barked at the other two. “I was right!”

“Yeah, whatever, Videl,” Erasa muttered, distracted by her own shake in front of her.

They fell into a sweets-driven silence as they enjoyed their shakes, and Gohan couldn’t help but feel like this was probably the most average day of his life since he was four. He happily downed his confection, so used to eating fast that it was gone the next minute.

“Would you look at who has an appetite,” Sharpner commented, sounding surprised. “How do you not have a killer brain freeze?”

“I don’t know,” Gohan said, trying to sound casual.

“Just more proof that I was right,” Videl spoke up, big periwinkle eyes twinkling with triumph. Gohan swallowed when she turned that look on him. “It is pretty impressive how you put that back, though.”

“Well, like you said, it was really good,” he chuckled nervously, rubbing the back of his head.

“And just look at him!” Erasa said, gesturing to his arm that was lifted. “A big guy like him is obviously going to be able to eat a lot fast. Sharpner’s almost done, too.”

Videl’s eyes turned inquisitive as she looked at him, and he stilled. Oh no, this isn’t going to be good.

“If you’re not a fighter then why are you so…” she paused, seemingly looking for the right word. “…muscular?”

He hurriedly tried to think of the right thing to say, deciding to just go with a simplified version of the truth. “My dad was a fighter, and so were his friends, and they trained me in martial arts growing up. It’s just not my passion like it is theirs, so I stopped.”

“Yeah, your passion is to be a dork, right?”  Sharpner joked with a grin.

“Sharpner!” Erasa exclaimed reproachfully, frowning at her friend.

“No, it’s okay.” Gohan was just thankful they weren’t talking about him fighting anymore. “I want to be a professor when I’m done with school, so he’s not wrong.”

“Seems like a waste to me,” Videl grumbled as she went back to her dessert.

“Oh, come on, Videl!” Erasa grabbed ahold of his upper arm again. “You know he’d still be handsome even if he wasn’t buff.”

Gohan’s face flamed and he looked down to his lap, not knowing what to say to that. He felt someone staring at him and looked up just in time to see Videl looking at him, face flushed a deep red, before she returned her focus onto her own shake. Gohan’s eyes widened; had she been embarrassed too?

It wasn’t long before they were all finished with their afterschool snack and were walking out, Videl yelling out a thank you to the employees as they stepped onto the sidewalk. She turned to their group and asked, “Does anyone want a ride?”

Both Erasa and Sharpner readily took her up on her offer, but Gohan shook his head. “No thank you.”

Videl’s eyes turned suspicious, a look he was so used to her giving him that he could probably draw it from memory. “You really don’t want me to give you a ride?”

“No, I’m good, thanks,” he repeated, hoping she just took no for an answer.

“How do you get home, Gohan?” she asked, taking a step closer to him. “You live all the way in the boonies, so I know you don’t just walk home, and I’ve never seen you with any sort of vehicle.”

He glanced at their companions and they were both watching the exchange, Erasa curious and Sharpner amused. He thought fast and raised his watch to his ear, acting like he could hear something coming out of it. “Oh, what’s that? I’m sorry, guys, but I gotta hightail it home. See you at school!”

He then ran around the corner, making sure not to go too fast but also fast enough to hopefully get away before they caught up with him. He made a quick escape by flying as fast as he could up to the top of the building next to him as he’d done to get away from her before, and he watched as she ran after him, only to look around wildly when she didn’t see him.

“Where’d he go?” Videl asked frantically.

“I’m telling you guys, he could tour with that disappearing act,” Sharpner said with a chuckle.

“How does he do that?”

“Let’s just get going, Videl,” Erasa said, putting a hand on her shoulder. “We’ve got homework to do, after all.”

Videl looked around one last time before giving in, going back in the direction of the school. Gohan made sure they were down the road a ways before hitting the red button on his watch and taking flight.

That may have been a little risky, but at least now he knew he enjoyed vanilla milkshakes.

Gohan touched down in front of his home a little while later, resigned about the earful he was sure to get from Chi-Chi. He didn’t think it’d be too bad, but she did have the propensity (a justifiably acquired one, after Gohan’s childhood) to get worried, and in turn protective, about her children if they were gone too long without her knowing if they were safe.

So, when he walked in the door and found a frazzled-looking Chi-Chi standing in the kitchen downing a glass of water, not even batting an eye when he walked in, his eyes widened. Maybe she’s so upset she doesn’t want to talk to me?

He decided to test that theory. “Um, hi, Mom. Sorry I’m late.”

She finished her glass of water and glanced at the time. “Oh, I hadn’t even noticed the time.” She turned to refill her glass at the sink before giving him her full attention. “I wasn’t watching the news, were you out fighting crime again?”

“No,” Gohan said, puzzled about her lax behavior. “I went to have milkshakes with some people I know from my classes.”

“That’s nice,” she said, pushing some hair out of her face. “I’m glad you’re making friends, dear.”

“Uh-huh,” he said absently, really taking in her appearance for the first time. She looked mostly the same, though her bun was messier than usual and there were some hairs falling out of it. Her clothes were what she usually wore too, but a little less crisp than he was used to. She didn’t look different, per se, just a little less put-together than normal. “Are you okay, Mom?”

“Yes, I’m fine.” She started drinking her second helping of water.

“What did you do today? Anything special?” He had a feeling he might be prying, but it was extremely rare to find Chi-Chi anything less than composed, except when she was yelling.

“Oh, you know, just helped Goten out today,” she said with a small smile.

“And where is he?”

“Taking a bath. That boy gets so dirty so quick…” she trailed off, bringing her glass to her lips again. “Anyway, I’m going to start dinner soon, so why don’t you go do your homework? I’ll call you in when it’s ready.”

Gohan went to his bedroom, took out his homework, sat at his desk, and got lost in thought. First, Erasa had thrown him for a loop when she’d snuck up on him and asked him to go with the gang for some milkshakes. Then, she’d embarrassed both him and Videl (still couldn’t fully wrap his head around that one). Of course, Videl had gotten suspicious and chased him down when he tried to leave, but he’d gotten away. And then he’d come home and his mother was acting weird, on top of everything else.

For it being an out-of-the-ordinary “normal” day for him, it sure was strange.

The sun had just begun its trajectory downward when Chi-Chi called him and Goten in for dinner. He sat down in his seat, Goten next to him, and Chi-Chi next to Goten, just like always. Goten ate voraciously, which was perfectly normal, and his mom was eating her own meal in the modest way she always did. So, nothing was out of place there.

“So, Goten, have a good day?” Gohan asked, wondering if the boy had done something to make their mother so frazzled earlier.

“Yep!” he said in between big bites of food.

“He learned a lot today, I think,” Chi-Chi agreed with an affectionate smile.

“Before you know it, I’m going to be just like you, Gohan!”

“Really?” Gohan was under the impression that his brother didn’t share the same scholarly aspirations as he did. “Well, keep it up, then.”

“I will!” he promised before digging back into his food.

“You two are both such smart and kind boys,” their mother said in her softest tone. “I just wish your father could be here to see you both. He’d be so proud.”

Gohan smiled, but it felt wrong, too sad to be a real smile. “Thanks, Mom.”

The rest of dinner reverted back to the normal sounds of eating and Gohan telling Chi-Chi and Goten about his day. He omitted a few things, like what Erasa had said about him being handsome and Videl chasing him, and she was genuinely happy for him that his day had gone so well, still not caring at all that he’d been late without her knowing why until he got home.

Oh, well. Maybe there were some things he’d just never figure out.

That night, he went to bed feeling like there was a bowling ball in his chest, not able to discern what emotion was so heavy in him. When he slept, he saw his dad again.

He ran up to him, hugged him, and told him he’d missed him. Goku had looked down into his eyes—just barely down, as Gohan had grown in the seven years he’d been gone—and said, “Who are you?”

Gohan was confused. “Dad, it’s me, Gohan!”

“I know that name, but you’re not my grandpa,” Goku said, eyebrows drawing down.

“What do you mean? I’m your son!”

Gohan felt despair swirl in his stomach when Goku frowned. It was the kind of expression he used to pull when an enemy had upset him with their words or actions.

“You’re a liar!” he shouted, powering up to Super Saiyan.

“Wh-what?”

Gohan was so shocked that he couldn’t even block the Kamehameha that his father directed right towards him. He blinked, and time seemed to slow as he focused his eyes back on his father. But, no; it wasn’t his father at all. Goku had become Super Perfect Cell, and Gohan was seventeen now and he hadn’t trained since he killed Cell the last time and he couldn’t stop the blast and—

“You imbecile! You don’t have a father! Your own arrogance took his life!”

Gohan felt tears on his cheeks as he faced his doom, bracing for the pain. The light hit him, overwhelmed him, and he began to scream—

He gasped and sat upright in bed. He took a few deep breaths, regaining cognizance. He wasn’t facing Cell at all; he was in his room, and his alarm was going off on the table beside him. He glanced over at the other bed in the room. Goten had asked to move from their mother’s room to his room not long before he started school and when Chi-Chi told him it was because he was going to miss his big brother while he was gone during the day, Gohan couldn’t say no. Thankfully, the boy was still asleep in his bed, his limbs spread out in every direction, his mouth hanging open as he snored. He hurriedly turned off the alarm, and put his face in his hands, trying to calm his thumping heart. His hands came away wet, and he sighed.

So much for the normalcy the day before had gifted him.

Chapter Text

It seemed as if Videl figuring out Gohan’s big secret was the key to unlock a domino effect of the total upheaval of his life. He was blackmailed into entering the Martial Arts Tournament, his father was coming back from the dead for the event, he was taken out of school so he could focus on training, he learned Goten—and Trunks, who was even stronger—could go Super Saiyan (and had been training with their mother, which was still one of the craziest things he’d ever heard), and to top it all off, when he tried to train with Goten to get in better shape for the Tournament, none other than Videl showed up, demanding the other thing she blackmailed him for: flying lessons.

Thankfully, it wasn’t long before she was up off the ground, but when he congratulated her and expected her to be on her way, she informed him that she wasn’t done yet. She had to know how to fly like Goten. And, even more perplexing (and sort of frustrating because he really needed to train), she got all weird about his comments about her hair. He had learned himself that shorter hair was more advantageous when fighting so he wasn’t sure why she took it so hard, or why she had blushed at first. Maybe she was embarrassed? He hoped he hadn’t hurt her feelings…until she showed up the next day, almost more determined if it were possible, hair short and eyes piercing.

That day Goten had shown off too much and let slip that their dad was coming back from the dead, and Gohan was exasperated. It was like the kid just wanted to keep Videl around forever. Sure, Gohan enjoyed her company—she was smart and persistent and tough, and rivaled even Chi-Chi in her feisty temper, and Gohan felt a strange sense of comfort in that—but he was completely neglecting his own training in favor of hers. He sometimes wished he could just come clean about all of it so he could get some training in with his brother while she practiced flying.

Goten agreed. “Why can’t we just tell her about us again? Then we could train while she’s here.”

Gohan struggled to find the words to accurately describe it to the boy. “It’s better that she doesn’t know about everything we can do, that no one outside of our group does. We don’t want people being afraid of us or hounding us like they do Mr. Satan.” He looked back up to where Videl was hovering, jaw set as she hovered higher than she had yet. “Besides, I eventually want to go back to school, and I want to fit in.”

“But she already knows about Great Saiyaman,” Goten said, looking up at the girl as well. “Won’t she just tell everybody?”

“That’s why she’s here. She said if I entered the Tournament and taught her to fly, she’d keep my secret for me.”

“Oh.” Goten turned a thoughtful gaze on his brother. “So, you’re not going to marry her?”

“Wha—no!” Gohan stammered, turning wide eyes on his brother. “Why does everyone keep saying that?”

The younger Son boy shrugged. “Well, Mom thought so, and she’s really smart. Also, Trunks said something about you finding a girlfriend the last time we played together.” The boy paused for a moment. “And…she kind of reminds me of Mommy, and I bet she was the best wife ever to Daddy.”

Gohan’s eyes softened as he remembered all of the loving looks shared between his parents when they had time to just be a normal(ish) family back before Cell. “Yeah, he really loved her—no, I am not marrying Videl!” he shouted, coming out of his nostalgia-induced stupor. “I’m too young for that anyway, Goten. Just drop it, please.”

“Okay.”

They both turned back to watch Videl, who was floundering a bit trying to propel herself forward in flight. He grinned—so it wasn’t just him who noticed the similarities in Videl and Chi-Chi’s tempers. He wasn’t sure how many similarities there were between the two; Gohan knew Chi-Chi had a nurturing and affectionate flipside to her fiery disposition but wasn’t sure if Videl had the same. Whenever she spoke of her father, she sounded either prideful and arrogant or vexed and exasperated, and the only thing she’d ever said about her mother in front of him was that she was gone. He wondered if there truly was a more warm and peaceful side to the girl who had blackmailed him.

“Whew,” Videl sighed as she landed on the ground just a few feet in front of him. “I don’t know how this kid makes it look so easy. Having a better hold on his energy aside, he’s six, and I’m almost seventeen!”

“I’m seven,” Goten corrected, thrusting his chin up and crossing his arms.

“Really, Videl, you’re doing great,” Gohan told her honestly. “For someone who’s never even heard of using your energy like this, you’re learning very quickly. Goten had a huge head start.” And was born with a higher power level than most humans could ever hope to achieve.

“Well, it’s still really weird. Not that flying itself isn’t weird. I’m pretty sure my dad would disown me if he found out I was actually trying to do this.”

“Hehe, well…” Gohan cleared his throat. “It’s starting to get a little dark out here, and I’m pretty sure Mom’s going to have dinner ready for us any minute now. You can stay if you want—”

“No, thanks,” Videl said with a grimace. “I feel like I made enough progress today, I think I’ll just come back tomorrow.”

“Okay!” Gohan said, hoping his tone was as jovial as he intended.

She turned and produced her Capsule, clicking the button on top and tossing it into the grass before her. She approached the door to her vehicle, then turned and smiled at Gohan. “I know I haven’t been acting very thankful for all that you’re doing for me, Gohan, but I am. Thank you for teaching me to fly.”

Gohan felt like he’d swallowed his tongue. “N-no problem, Videl! You’ve been a great student!”

Videl laughed softly at him as she climbed into the driver’s seat. She turned her head and waved at Goten when he called out a “bye, Miss Videl!” and as she started to hover off the ground, she winked at Gohan before flying away.

“Girls are weird,” Goten said as they watched her disappear.

“Girls are weird,” Gohan echoed, scratching the back of his head. What in the world just happened?

Chi-Chi wasn’t born yesterday. She was born almost forty years ago, in fact. And she wasn’t like the little girl from all those years ago who had thought that Goku was in love with her and wanted to marry her, even though he really just wanted food. No, she was more experienced now, specifically with Saiyans and their hybrid children. So, naturally, she could tell that there was something more to Gohan’s relationship with this Videl girl than just “friendship”. Maybe he didn’t even realize it himself yet, but she could tell.

The girl came over every day. They’d spend nearly all day together (which, admittedly, would bother Chi-Chi if not for the seven-year-old chaperone the two had in the form of Goten), eat lunch together, and say goodbye right before dinner, daily. Of course, after that first lunch, Gohan had asked Chi-Chi to pack their lunches. Chi-chi knew why, of course, but let it go all the same.

Because she knew something changed after that uncomfortable lunch they’d had. Before then, Gohan hadn’t even considered having a romantic relationship with the girl. He was just helping out a girl he knew from school before the Tournament, nothing else. But Chi-Chi had planted a seed in her son’s head, she knew. She had simply expressed joy at the idea of her firstborn marrying into money and asked when they would be getting married, and bam. Now it was in his head. Sure, he had denied it, said they weren’t getting married, but Chi-Chi had added a yet to the end of that statement.

Her whole life was her boys. Goku had been her whole world for a year before Gohan had been born, then they’d both been her whole world until Goku died the last time, and then Goten was born and then she had two sons her life revolved around. She knew more about them than they themselves knew. She knew Gohan was a sweet, smart boy, but had a slight sharp edge to his normally genial disposition that was not unlike her own, if a little less frequently displayed. She knew Goten looked and acted a lot like his father, but he was more easily embarrassed, and way more vocal about his wants and needs even outside of food, similar to her in that way. And, she knew that they were both like their dad in their obliviousness, their propensity to not see things until plainly written out for them (which, she suspected, was why Gohan had taken so much to his studies; he liked facts).

In the end, she knew her suggesting that Gohan and Videl would marry had changed how he viewed the girl, if only slightly. But now he was thinking about it, and perhaps so was she.

So, when a week into the whole Videl situation, the girl came into the house claiming she had to use the little girl’s room, Chi-Chi took her chance and pounced.

“So, Videl,” she said as the teenager in question walked out of the bathroom. Chi-Chi didn’t miss the way her hair was more smoothed out than when she went in. “Are you enjoying your time spent with Gohan?”

Videl looked a little taken aback, stopping mid-step to look at the older woman, but quickly regained her composure and turned her attention more fully onto Chi-Chi. “Uh, yeah, I guess. He’s helping me out a lot.”

“That’s nice,” she said with a nod. It’s now or never. “And do you intend to begin a relationship with him?”

“Not this again!” Videl exclaimed, rolling her eyes and placing her fists firmly on her hips. “I thought we’ve been over this multiple times—”

“We have,” Chi-Chi interrupted calmly, setting her teacup down on the table in front of her. “It’s just, well…I’m a mother after all, and a mother without her son’s father to help guide them, so I must shoulder even more than most. My Gohan is kind, as you’ve noticed, almost to a fault. He is also truly naïve about girls except me and a few family friends. He takes after his father in that way; he can’t tell really when a girl is flirting with him, and doesn’t know how teenage girls think. So, if you want to get closer to him—not too much closer, mind you—you have to make the first move. That’s what I did.”

Chi-Chi had spaced out, thinking fondly about the year Goku had been the World Martial Arts Tournament Champion, and the life they had built together immediately thereafter. She snapped out of it when the girl scoffed. “For the millionth time, I’m not trying to get closer to your son, ma’am. I’m just trying to learn more before Tournament. I can’t win against my dad, but I can definitely place pretty high.”

Chi-Chi barely contained her snort. Best not to burst that bubble, she thought; Gohan probably wouldn’t like that. “Whatever you say, dear. I’m merely putting it out there, just in case.”

The girl nodded curtly, and, obviously having enough of this conversation, turned on her heel and marched toward the door. Chi-Chi stopped her by speaking again; “This situation reminds me a lot of when Gohan’s father agreed to marry me. I’d entered the tournament and made it to the final rounds, all to go against him. I fought him, and he won of course; the only man who’s ever been anywhere close to his strength is his eldest son, and his youngest is getting close already as well. Anyway, to make a long story short, he asked me to marry him and we got married right after he won the whole thing.”

“That’s nothing like me and Gohan!” Videl argued, eyebrows drawn low over her eyes. “I’m not entering the tournament just to marry your son, and he’s not going to ask me to marry him! You must be crazy to keep suggesting it!”

“Sure,” Chi-Chi said with an innocent smile. She took a sip of her tea. “Just do be careful with his heart, or I’ll have to deal with you myself. And I wouldn’t underestimate me; I’m who trained Goten, after all.”

The teenager groaned despondently—a sound that became more of a growl by the end—and stormed out of the house. Chi-Chi smiled into her tea; she could be wrong about those two, but she didn’t think she was.

Gohan was ready when Videl showed up on the ninth day. She had made great strides the last couple of days and was flying around with very little trouble. So, he thought, it was time to step it up. It was time to start really challenging her (and hopefully getting her out of his hair sooner).

He’d hashed it out that morning with Goten over breakfast:

“We’re going to play a kind of game with her.”

Goten stopped shoveling food into his mouth and beamed. “Yay! I love games!”

“We’re going to have her try to catch us. I’ll run, because I don’t need help flying and it’s always nice to get a run in before the real training can start when she leaves, and I want you to fly so that you can practice it more, too. We’ll split up in the woods so it’s harder for her to find us and try to keep her from getting us. Hopefully she’ll be so worn out after that that she’ll leave early and we can have more training time.”

“Ooh, that does sound like fun!”

“Good.”

Later that day as she stepped out of her vehicle, Gohan didn’t even let her get a word out before diving into his plan for the day.

“So, you want to play an extreme version of tag meets hide-and-seek?” she asked when he was done explaining, arms crossed.

“Yeah!” Goten answered for Gohan, practically vibrating at his side. He’d been a little bored while Gohan helped Videl after he’d gotten the hang of flying and was visibly excited to get to do something fun.

 “Okay, why not?” she said with a shrug.

“Really? Just like that?” Gohan had been expecting a little questioning, maybe a little skepticism on her part. He had not been expecting almost immediate agreeance.

“Yeah, if you think it’ll help.” She smirked. “It’ll also be pretty satisfying when I take you down.”

Gohan laughed at that. “Well, great! We’ll get started in just a second.”

Videl nodded and started stretching, and Gohan knelt down next to Goten. “I know you’ll want to go as fast as you can, but you have to take it a little easy okay?”

He frowned. “What?”

“Videl’s not as fast as we are, so if we went all out she’d never catch us. But don’t go slow, because then she’ll catch us too fast and it’ll get boring. Just…take it a little easy, okay? We need to make it a good challenge without it being impossible. If we do a good job, she might even leave by lunchtime.”

The boy’s face fell in disappointment. “Okay, I guess.”

Soon they were all lined up in front of a tree line, and Gohan went over the rules. “Goten and I will go in opposite directions and you have to catch both of us for the round to be over. When you catch one of us, we’ll be out, and we have to come back here and wait for the other to be caught. Then, if you feel up to it, we can start another round.”

“Oh, I’ll feel up to it,” she promised with an almost sinister-looking smile on her face. She glanced to each boy in turn. “Don’t go easy on me, got it?”

“Of course not!” Gohan caught Goten’s eye and shook his head just slightly, hoping he’d get the message. He nodded almost imperceptibly back, and Gohan nodded to Videl. “Alright, I’ll count down from five.” Her face showed nothing but determination and Gohan took that as the go-ahead. “…four…three…two…one, go!”

He took off, noticing out of his peripheral as Goten took to the air and hit the tree line going a different way. He also noticed that Videl had chosen to go after the younger boy, and smiled to himself. She’s choosing to go after the easier target first, Gohan thought to himself, not bad.

It wasn’t long before he heard the sounds of his little brother giggling and Videl yelling at him to “stop bouncing around already!” He chuckled to himself as he sat on a low branch in a tree, tracking their energy levels. He was pleased that Goten had listened and understood what he’d asked him to do, and was also pleased that even though he could tell Goten wasn’t sacrificing much of his speed, Videl was keeping up pretty well. She sure is a fast learner.

Gohan had no idea how long this part actually lasted. It could’ve been as little as twenty minutes, or as much as ninety. He didn’t mind the wait, though; tracking them and listening to them taunting and teasing each other was keeping him entertained. Eventually, Goten’s folly ended up being underestimating his opponent—he hadn’t been expecting Videl to sneak in the shadows, waiting for him to slow down and look around for her when he noticed that she wasn’t right on his tail anymore.

“Oh, man!” he shouted dejectedly. “But that was fun!”

She laughed, loud and true. “Yeah, it was fun. Better luck next time, squirt.”

Now it was his turn. She’d seen what direction he bolted in at the beginning, and he felt her approaching him. He smirked as he jumped down from the tree and leaned against it, ready to have some of his own fun with her. When she flew towards him, she stopped a few feet away and hovered, looking at him with that familiarly suspicious look in her eyes.

“What are you doing?”

He shrugged. “Waiting for you to come and get me.”

She shot forward, but he was faster. He jumped to a tree nearby, and he saw her throw her hands out in front of her to stop from running into the trunk he’d just been up against. Her eyes darted around for a second before finding him to her right. “How on earth do you do that?”

“Practice,” he said, feeling his smirk widen.

She started toward him slowly. “It’s like you phased out and back in.”

“Oops.” He had meant to go fast, but not that fast. “Well, what’re you waiting for?”

She flew forward and he took off again, trying to keep from going too fast. He let her get right on his tail and then surge forward, baiting her into pushing herself harder. Every time he glanced over his shoulder, he’d see her with a steadily deepening scowl that could contend with even Vegeta’s signature expression. His smile grew.

“Gohan, stop messing with me!” she called out to him.

He slowed down again. “I don’t know what you’re talking about!” he insisted, turning his head to look at her.

She was a lot closer than he had thought she was, and he was completely caught off guard when she grabbed the back of his gi and wrenched it back. Being as unprepared as he was, his feet not being steadily planted on the ground, and her getting the best of him all culminated in her actually pulling Gohan off-balance, and he felt himself start to fall. She must’ve been unprepared, too, because as he was twisting around to put his hands out in front of him and catch his fall, he accidentally caged her between his arms and took her down with him.

They stared at each other, wide-eyed. She was on her back on the ground and he was hovering over her, hands braced on either side of her head. He could feel her breath tickling his nose and his mouth fell open when he truly realized how close they were. He wanted to move, wanted to back up and apologize profusely, but seemed frozen as she looked at him with those big blue eyes…

“Get off of me, you big oaf!” she bellowed suddenly, face scrunched up and face a deep crimson as she tried to wriggle away from him.

Gohan snapped to attention, immediately moving off of her to sat in the grass. She pushed herself up and didn’t even glance at him as she turned to run away so fast that the dirt beneath her feet kicked up behind her. It took him a moment before his brain caught up and he was rushing after her, reaching the clearing where Goten was standing. He was watching as Videl lifted off from the grass, not looking at either of them as she left.

“What happened?” Goten asked.

Gohan could feel his eyes on him but kept staring after the quickly departing vehicle. “I…I’m not sure.”

“Well, at least she’s leaving before lunch.”

“Yeah.” Gohan rubbed his hands on the front of his gi, feeling suddenly too hot. “Why don’t we go take a break for a while?”

Goten wordlessly agreed, somehow sensing that now was not the time to argue.

When Videl arrived the next day, she didn’t say a thing about what happened, and Gohan took her lead. When Goten started to ask her why she’d left in such a hurry the day before, Gohan had given him a stern look and suggested he show him his improvement in flight. He went right to it, as did Videl, and Gohan watched in amazement as she seemed to be right on par with the boy, all but forgetting the oddity that was the end of their short-lived game.

Chapter Text

It was the night before the World Martial Arts Tournament, the night before he would finally see his father again for the first time in over seven years, and he laid awake in bed, staring at the ceiling. He knew he was tired after a day full of last-minute training but couldn’t shut his mind off; it was overrun by thoughts of what the new day would bring.

Will he be happy to see us? Will he be shocked to see he has a second son? Will he be disappointed in my lack of training? What will he think about me going to regular school? How will he react to Krillin and 18? Will we have time after the Tournament to have one family meal all together? What will he say when he sees that Goten can go Super—

“Hey, Gohan?” He looked to the side to see that Goten was awake too and had turned to face him. “Are you awake?”

“Yeah.”

There was a beat of silence and the young boy’s expression turned pensive. “Will you tell me more about Dad?”

“He was the greatest fighter—”

“No,” Goten interrupted softly. “Everyone always talks about how he liked to fight and how he looked like me. I want to know more about him. What was he really like?”

Gohan heaved a great sigh and turned onto his side, staring into his father’s face on his little brother while he tried to think of the best way to describe such a monumentally important person.

“He was a great dad. Sure, he wasn’t around a lot, but he couldn’t help that. There were gaps in my childhood where he was either dead, recovering, or off training somewhere else. But when he was around, he was the best.” Gohan paused as happy memories flooded into his mind, nostalgia making his chest feel warm. “The year I got to spend in the Hyperbolic Time Chamber with him is probably one of the best times of my life. We trained, of course, but we talked and played and had fun too. He was goofy and endearing and loving and merciful. He absolutely loved animals and being outdoors. And us. He loved Mom and me, and would’ve done anything for us. Did do anything for us.”

He got a little choked up at the end, voice wavering. Goten had gone so quiet he thought maybe he’d gone to sleep and started to roll back onto his back, but stopped when the seven-year-old finally spoke up.

“I wish he was going to be here for more than just a day.”

“Me too.” Gohan smiled a little as he said, “But it’s very like him to choose the World Martial Arts Tournament for his one-day pass. He told me once that his Grandpa Gohan used his own one-day pass to fight against him, so maybe he’s hoping he can do the same with us.”

“Mm-hmm, I wanna show him how strong I am.”

“He’ll be very impressed with you,” Gohan told him.

“Do you really think so?” Goten asked with so much uncertainty in his voice that it made Gohan’s heart clinch.

“I really do,” he answered. “You’re the youngest Super Saiyan we know of, maybe even ever. He’ll be amazed by you.”

“But…” he hesitated and by the way his face was scrunched up Gohan could tell he was trying to get up the courage to say whatever was on the tip of his tongue. “…do you think he’ll like me? Like, more than just how strong I am?”

“Of course I do!” Gohan, in all his hurry to set his brother’s mind at ease, forgot to be quiet and immediately clamped his mouth shut so fast Goten giggled. When after a few moments of not hearing their mother yelling across the hall about it being way past bedtime, he continued, softer this time. “Goten, Dad’s going to love you for you. Regardless of whether you’re strong or not—I mean, he loved me, and I never wanted to fight like he did. He’ll see the same friendly little fighter the rest of us do and immediately love his youngest son. Besides,” Gohan reached out and nudged the blushing boy’s shoulder, “you’re too cool not to like. Even Vegeta acts like he can tolerate you way more than he ever did me!”

“I think that might just be because I fight with Trunks and that means we’re both out of his way,” Goten said, but couldn’t fight the satisfied smile off his face. “Are you excited to see him again?”

“I can’t wait.” Gohan felt like his immediate response paled in comparison to the huge ball of anticipation that was settled in his stomach, impeding his sleep. “It’s going to be so cool seeing his first reaction to you.”

“Mom says I look like him when she met him the first time. Do you think he might think I’m just a past him?”

Gohan was about to negate it, but after taking into consideration the whole Future Trunks thing and who their father was, he nodded. “He might.”

He’d, predictably, gotten a little misty-eyed when he’d seen his dad. He’d hugged him and it was like his heart could beat fully for the first time since before the Cell Games. Seeing Goten with him was more than a little heartwarming. Watching him interact with his old friends was like being back in time, only different. It was like a dream, a good one, and Gohan was happy that this one would last a full twenty-four hours.

And then Vegeta had to go and break the punch machine. He had to miss Goten’s fights, and field questions from Videl. But finally the officials righted the situation and, after getting yelled at by others waiting in line for trying to cut to the front (he hadn’t wanted to be rude but he felt like he had to be there for his brother), he got his turn and rushed to watch Goten fight Trunks in the final round, Videl right on his heels.

Goten and Trunks put on quite the show, and he knew he couldn’t have done nearly as well as they were at their age. Gohan already knew how powerful they were, but watching them together was really something. But then Goten went Super Saiyan and the whole thing went downhill from there. Not only did Goten lose in the end, but Videl (and the rest of the crowd) was completely astounded by what was happening. Especially when Trunks knocked Mr. Satan out of the ring.

Really, they were all lucky Trunks wasn’t really trying. If he’d actually hit Mr. Satan, Gohan was afraid to know what would’ve happened to the poor man.

Once Mr. Satan had played off his loss and left, Videl turned to Gohan with a self-satisfied smirk on her lips.

“Hmm. I guess I can get why your group left early, now.”

Gohan knew he wasn’t really fibbing when he replied, “Uh, yeah. Speaking of them, I have to go track them down, if you want to come with?”

“Why not,” she said with a shrug.

“Cool! They’ll probably be wherever the most food is…”

“Well, there’s those booths of junk food in the common area, or there’s a place in the area for fighters who pass the prelims that serves food. We only have twenty minutes before the drawing, though. Do you think they’d be eating with that little time left?”

 “There’s no doubt that’s where they’ll be,” Gohan assured her with a knowing smile. The only response she gave him was an odd look, and he took that as a good thing. “Would you lead the way? It seems like you have more experience with this than I do.”

She snorted and started off out of the stands, Gohan following not far behind. “Of course I have more experience. My dad became the world champ when I was ten. You weren’t born when your dad won, so there’s no way you would know your way around.”

“Yeah, but I have a feeling a lot’s changed since my dad won,” Gohan said. “From what I’ve heard it was a lot less of a show than it is now.”

“Well of course it’s a show!” Videl said, voice raised defensively. Gohan held his hands up submissively when she turned her severe gaze onto him. “They’re trying to pull in the fans, and clearly it works! It doesn’t hurt that my dad’s such a big star, either.”

“Hehe, yeah,” Gohan agreed, rubbing the back of his neck until she turned her eyes forward again. He bit back his sigh of relief and said, “I didn’t mean anything by that, I was just saying that I’m pretty sure my dad would get lost here now, too. It’s been almost twenty years, and it isn’t the same as he knew it.”

Videl was quiet a long moment, walking a step ahead of him, before glancing back at him out of the corner of her eye. “So, did your dad really propose to your mom after he knocked her out of the finals?”

“That’s what they told me.”

“That seems a little…” she trailed off, looking for all the world like she knew what she wanted to call it but didn’t want to say anything untoward.

“Cheesy?” When she nodded, looking thankful that he’d said it and not her, Gohan chuckled. “Mom’s a sucker for that kind of thing, and Dad—no matter how oblivious he is—has always somehow been able to charm her. Not everybody thinks so because they always see my mom getting after my dad so much, but they’re a really good couple.”

 “Huh.” The one-word sentence was said a bit bluntly, but not unkindly. Gohan looked at her curiously and after a moment she met his eye, looking—he couldn’t quite believe it—a little sheepish. “I don’t really know what that’s like. My mom passed away when I was a baby and my dad’s always been single since then.”

“Oh, I’m sorry,” Gohan said. He had to stop himself from suggesting she ask Baba if she could get her mother a one-day pass. “I should’ve realized your mother wasn’t around, with no woman ever being with Mr. Satan—”

“No, there are women,” she said with a sneer and a sharp glint in her eye. “He thinks he’s so sneaky, that I’ve never noticed, but he’s not good at being discreet, not that that’s any surprise.” Gohan couldn’t help the small chuckle that snuck past his lips, and Videl’s eyes softened as she regarded him again. “I think it’s nice that your parents have that kind of relationship.”

“They got lucky with each other, that’s for sure.”

The two fell into a comfortable silence as they walked along a wide path toward an archway guarded by two of the event officials. The more robust one of the two saw them approaching first and looked flustered as he stared at Videl.

“M-Miss Videl,” he stammered. “You have, of course, made it through preliminaries, so you may go ahead. But, you, sir—”

“He’s under the name Great Saiyaman, check the list,” she cut him off with a grin.

The man nodded once and dug out a folded paper. After looking it over a moment, he looked up at Gohan. “I’m sorry, sir. You have also made it through the preliminaries, so you may enter as well.”

“Thank you!” Gohan followed Videl’s lead into the closed off area. It didn’t look any different to him, except for the lack of people. He supposed that that was probably the point.

“The place I was telling you about is over here,” Videl told him, pointing toward a small structure not too far from them. “They serve some pretty delicious food.”

“They did,” Gohan said under his breath, knowing that between himself, his father, and Vegeta there wouldn’t be a lot left for anyone else.

“What was that?”

“Nothing.” He just hoped none of them would let anything important slip.

He shook his head; he knew that group way too well to think that his hope would turn out to be reality.

Gohan felt like he was on a roller coaster of fluctuating emotions as he watched Videl’s fight. She would be clearly winning, and the MC would start announcing the end of the fight, and then Spopovich would get back up, looking like nothing had even happened.

Then she’d broken his neck, but he’d gotten back up anyway. Gohan, up until then, had ignored the small voice in his head that was telling him something wasn’t right, but after witnessing the brute twist his head back around like it was nothing, he couldn’t possibly ignore the siren now in his head screaming at him, telling him something was definitely wrong. He tried not to give up hope, tried to believe that there was still a chance Videl could pull this off…but how could she have a chance against someone who could come back so easily from a broken neck?

His dad was right; Spopovich’s power wasn’t natural, and it meant that Videl was in serious trouble.

He tried to warn her off, but part of what made her Videl was her unstoppable stubbornness. He tried to reason with the thug torturing her, but of course that didn’t work. He watched, dumbstruck and seething, as Videl spat up blood and still got up just to be brutalized all over again.

Somewhere in him Gohan knew his father was right, he needed to control his anger, but it was hard to restrain himself when he watched someone he cared about get so mindlessly battered. He didn’t care who saw, didn’t care if everyone in that stadium knew who he was, he was going to put a stop to this malicious beating—

And then it stopped. A few words from his buddy and Spopovich kicked Videl out of the ring and finally ended his torment. Gohan’s anger never faded as he picked her up and threatened Spopovich, but hearing Krillin say Goku had gone for Senzu beans was enough to bring his temper to a simmer.

As he carried her toward the infirmary, he spoke to her in gentle tones; “It’s going to be okay, Videl. I’ve got you. You’ll be as good as new in no time. Dad shouldn’t take long…”

She whimpered and curled further into his chest, and his heart stuttered. “Gohan?”

“Shh. I’ve got you. You’re going to be okay.”

When he got to the infirmary, he started to explain what had happened but one of the two attendants there cut him off.

“I saw the whole thing, no need to explain. We’ve been waiting for her. Just set her on the bed here and we’ll get right to work.” He did as he was told and moved to the foot of the bed to watch as they started examining. The man looked at him curiously. “You don’t have to stay here; her father has been notified and will be here momentarily.”

“If it’s all the same to you, I’d like to stay until he gets here,” Gohan said, not taking his eyes off her. She was making tiny pained noises every time she breathed, cringing as the men inspected her wounds.

“If you’re sure,” one said a bit uneasily.

Gohan was just about to ask what he meant when the other spoke up. “It doesn’t seem like her injuries are as bad as they look. She took a beating but she’s a tough one.”

“Good.”

As he watched them get her set up to a monitor and get her cleaned up, a fierce mixture of searing anger and affectionate concern squeezed his heart in a death grip, vying for his attention first. He fought to keep his face neutral.

Then Mr. Satan arrived and Gohan was pleasant enough, assuring him that she would be fine. When Videl told him to beat Spopovich, he grinned and promised her he’d take care of him, happy that he could do this for her. A rush of warmth spread through him as she grinned at him, and he left before Mr. Satan could ask him any more questions. He needed to look for his dad.

…who still wasn’t back. He looked everywhere for him but for whatever reason he wasn’t there. Didn’t he know how dire the situation was? Krillin only made things worse by saying there might be no beans available, and had Gohan completely flustered when he accused him of being “lovestruck”.

That word caught him off guard a bit. As he walked back to check on Videl again he thought about it. Sure, he cared for her, but how could he not? He’d gotten to know her in school, and then spent almost two weeks with her teaching her how to fly. She was smart, and strong, and feisty, and knew exactly how to give Gohan a run for his money, which intrigued him. And, sure, he could admit to himself that she was cute, but wasn’t that just common knowledge? Everyone who knew her—whether that be personally or just knew of her—seemed to love her. She was something special, that was for sure. But did that mean, as Krillin had put it, he “had a thing” for her?

He didn’t get a chance to fully answer that before everything went sideways.

Chapter Text

When he’d woken up that morning, Gohan had breakfast with his mom and brother like always. They were excited, and Chi-Chi hadn’t even reprimanded Goten as he talked animatedly around his mouthfuls of food. Gohan laughed when Goten climbed the length of him to perch himself on his shoulders as they waited for Bulma to come pick them up, and he skipped onto the ship just to hear the boy giggle. He winced when his fingers took hold of his hair to keep him steady, but hadn’t said a word. They were all willing to let a lot of things slide that day, because it was sure to be one of the best any of them had ever had.

But of course it couldn’t be easy. His classmates now knew he was not only the Great Saiyaman but also the gold fighter, Videl figured out that he and his friends were really the people who took down Cell, but most importantly, his father’s one day pass was being spent fighting against some unknown terror. To say that Gohan was disappointed would be a grievous understatement. Sure, he got to fight with his dad by his side again like old times, and there was some nostalgia in that, but he’d wanted peace for his one day back. He felt that he, his mother, and Goten above all deserved that.

They were called away from the tournament by two freaks draining Gohan of his energy and talks of an evil wizard with an apparently unstoppable creation and a mission to destroy the Earth. He just wanted one stupid day to be a family again, was that too much to ask? (You’d figure being a close personal friend of the Guardian of Earth and King Kai would be enough to garner some favor, but clearly Gohan did not know the extent of the overseers of the universe, which was turning out to be a more complex system than he previously thought. Again, this day was almost too much to comprehend.)

To cement it as the weirdest day he’d ever had (which was saying a lot), two of his favorite people got turned to stone via the King of the Demon Realm’s spit. Gohan was usually a go-with-the-flow kind of guy, never being truly flummoxed by much, and yet…well, the day just kept getting stranger. It would’ve been almost comical, if it weren’t so soul-crushingly disheartening.

So, in his attempt to get back to the day they’d all been promised, he’d gone into the evil wizard’s ship. He’d fought Dabura. He wanted to take his built-up frustration out on someone, and who better than the Majin influenced Demon King?

But even that turned out bizarrely as he randomly walked out in the middle of their fight. When Vegeta chewed him out for being too soft (Gohan was losing count of how many variations of this rant he’d gotten from the Prince over the years), he fell into an even bigger pit of despair.

If he’d just taken care of Dabura, just gotten it over with like Vegeta said, could he have prevented the nightmare that was descending upon them?

Vegeta fell under Babidi’s control and took out thousands of people in the stands of the tournament just to provoke his father into a fight. The energy from their fight helped Majin Buu reach full power. Once out he was easily able to do away with Dabura as if he were a fly, and treated every attack Gohan and Supreme Kai used like they were little more than inconveniences. Gohan was having a hard time reconciling his scattered thoughts and emotions; the only thing that made sense to him was his heart telling him he had to take out this monster that threatened to destroy everyone and everything he loved. He charged at Buu, ready for this to be over, and—

As Gohan took the blast from Buu head-on, convinced that he was facing his doom at the hands of the childish pink blob, he wondered if he’d see his father in Other World and finally get the peaceful reunion he’d been hoping for.

It had to be heaven. Had to be.

He was a small boy with a tail and a slight fear of lightning. When a particularly big bolt flashed not far from his bedroom window, he threw off his covers and slid out of bed. Anytime he got frightened of bad weather he ran to his parents—Daddy was the strongest person in the world, and he would protect him from the threatening bolts while Mommy hugged him and spoke in soothing tones.

So, as fast as his feet could carry him, he rushed out of his room and across the hall. He paused at the door when he heard his daddy speaking lowly, wondering if he was afraid of the storm too. No, he thought, placing his hand on the doorknob, Daddy’s not afraid of anything. He’s the strongest.

He turned the knob and was met with the low lighting from the moon but couldn’t quite make out his mommy and daddy from the doorway. He was about to ask if he could sleep in their room when another flash shot through the sky, sending him into a panicked run full speed toward their bed. He flung his little body onto the blankets, the bed creaking underneath his weight flopping on top of it. His eyes adjusted better to the darkness of the room as he crawled up to the head of the bed where he noticed both his mommy and his daddy were sitting up, wide awake. He didn’t notice the pink tint to his mother’s cheeks or the slight hint of frustration in his father’s eyes as he began burrowing between them. He noticed nothing different about this specific picture at the time, except that maybe they both seemed too awake to have been woken up by him alone. Innocence was a special thing.

“Gohan? What’s wrong?” Mommy asked, already wrapping her comforting arm around him.

“Lightning,” was all he said, voice muffled by the blankets he was trying his best to disappear into.

“Oh, I hadn’t even realized it’d started storming…” she said, glancing at the window in their room.

“Can I sleep here?” he asked, looking up to meet her loving gaze.

She glanced over him toward his daddy. “I don’t know, sweetie, Daddy and I were—”

“It’s okay,” Daddy said, cutting her sentence off short. Gohan opened his mouth to remind him that interrupting was rude but stopped when he placed a large hand on his shoulder before speaking again. “He’s afraid. If it’ll make him feel better, he can sleep here.”

He pulled back the covers for Gohan and he hurried to climb under. As he settled in, another flash of lighting broke across the sky, just barely visible between the gap in the curtains, and he jumped before burying his face into his mother’s pillow.

He felt his mommy’s soft hand on the side of his face, gently prying him away. He looked up at her, bottom lip stuck out, and she opened her arms for him, smiling tenderly. He didn’t hesitate; he scooted closer to her and put his head on her shoulder, nuzzling closer as her arms enclosed him. “It’s okay, Gohan. The lightning can’t get you.”

“That’s not true,” his father said as he moved on the other side of the bed, trying to get comfortable. Gohan’s eyes squeezed shut and he gripped the sleeve of his mother’s nightgown in a fist. There was a beat of silence, then, “What? Lightning can hit a house, Chi-Chi.”

“Goku!” she whisper-yelled.

“But,” he continued, scooting closer to them both and ruffling Gohan’s hair, “I’m pretty sure you can’t really get hurt if lightning hits the house. Unless you’re holding something metal, or something.”

“I don’t know if that’s…” his mommy’s voice trailed off, and he opened an eye to look at her. She sighed. “He’s right, Gohan. Lightning could hit our house, but the chances of that are really small. The chances of you getting hurt by lightning hitting the house are even smaller.”

He nodded against her skin but didn’t make a move to release the death grip he held her clothing in. Daddy moved even closer, his bare chest making contact with Gohan’s pajama-clad back, and draped an arm over both of them. “It’s okay to be afraid of things, Gohan. I’m afraid of some stuff too.”

In any other circumstance, at any other time, Gohan would’ve jumped all over that statement and asked what in the world could’ve scared the strongest person ever, but wrapped up in an embrace from both of his parents had him sleepy already. He didn’t even notice the next bolt of lightning that struck down close enough to be seen out the crack of visible window.

He wasn’t fully asleep, however, when his parents started talking again in low voices.

“It looks like he’s asleep,” his daddy murmured, his breath warm against the back of Gohan’s head.

Mommy’s arms tightened around him a bit. “He was probably only asleep for a few hours before he woke up.”

“This kinda reminds me of when I was a boy. I slept next to Grandpa Gohan every night in that little house. Although, there was no pretty lady to comfort me back then.”

“Oh, Goku, shush. Your flattery won’t make me put him back in his room.”

“I’m just sayin’. This is nice. I don’t know how I used to sleep alone.”

“Probably all stretched out like you do anyway, just without pushing me to the very edge of the bed. I have a feeling between the two of you I’ll end up on the floor before morning comes.”

“Nah,” he said around a yawn. “I’m so comfy with you guys I don’t think I’ll do that tonight.”

“Uh-huh.”

Several hours later, Gohan awoke to a brighter room, the curtains drawn back more to reveal the morning sunshine. He was no longer cuddled up to his mother; instead he was on his back sprawled on her side of the bed with his father right next to him, sprawled out in a similar way. He sat up and looked around the room, scared that they’d pushed her out of bed like she’d said and she’d be mad, but she was nowhere to be seen. He thought about getting up and going to look for her but his daddy’s quiet snores were making him feel sleepy again, so he laid back down and stretched out, this time more fully pressed to his father’s side.

And Gohan knew…he wasn’t a three-year-old boy who only left Mount Paozu to occasionally accompany his mom when she shopped for groceries. He was nearly a fully grown adult, and he had surely died from Majin Buu’s blast. But if his version of heaven was just cycling through all his favorite memories…how could he possibly be upset?

Gohan was thankful to be alive, really he was, but on the Sacred World of the Kais he was separated from his loved ones for who knew how long. He was lonely, worried about how everyone was doing on Earth, and could only guess at what kind of havoc Babidi and Buu were wreaking, but at least he had something to do. He trained hard with the Z sword and was just starting to master it when his father showed up.

His mood lifted; maybe he was selfish to feel happy that his father’s one-day pass was over so he could join him on Supreme Kai’s world, but he couldn’t help it. Goku gave him an update on the situation on Earth, and even cheered him on as he trained. Gohan was starting to feel like maybe everything was going to be okay.

And then they’d broken the Z sword, and out popped the Kai version of Master Roshi.  

Gohan had been sitting in the same crisscrossed position for so long he felt like maybe he’d need Kibito’s help in getting feeling back in the lower half of his body, trying his best to be patient as the old perv “unleashed his latent powers”. It had to be close to twenty hours by now…

“So…” Elder Kai spoke up, looking up from his comic. “About this girl…”

“I thought I had to be silent and concentrate?” Gohan grumbled, feeling his back strain as he tried to stretch it.

“Well I don’t know about you, but I can multitask,” he said pointedly, narrowing his eyes to mere slits. “Now, this girl you and your father were discussing…”

Gohan frowned. “I already told you about Bulma. She’s a knockout, remember?”

“No, no, not that one.” He waggled his white eyebrows at him. “The one you wouldn’t let me within ten feet of.”

“Oh.” Gohan hadn’t known anyone had noticed that conversation.

“Yes. She must be a real looker for you to so brutally object to her merely being in my presence.”

“She’s not really any of your concern!” Gohan yelled, his patience slipping.

“Ooh, that pretty, huh?” Elder Kai giggled. “You got yourself a girl you're chasing after, eh?”

“I-I’m not…” he started to argue, then sighed. He glanced toward his dad, Supreme Kai, and Kibito, but they were all lounging under a tree talking. He was too exhausted to fight with the immature god before him. “I wouldn’t say I’m chasing after her, but she’s…great.”

“She’s your age?” Gohan nodded, and Elder Kai looked thoughtful. “She must be real perky…”

A growl sounded from deep in his chest and the kai’s eyes shot wide open (Gohan would be surprised himself at the Piccolo-esque sound coming from him, but at that moment he didn’t give it a second thought). “Enough! You shouldn’t be thinking about any of this anyway!”

“Hmph.” Elder Kai eyed him for a long moment, studying him. Gohan gritted his teeth, trying to tell himself that all of this would be worth it in the end. “You’re a lucky young man.”

Gohan’s eyebrows jumped up to his hairline. Really wasn’t expecting that one. “Um…thank you…?”

He nodded back, clearly satisfied with the calmer response. “To be young is a gift indeed, but to be young and infatuated with a cutie is what living is all about.”

Face on fire, Gohan looked down at his shoes. “She is a cutie…” he murmured, momentarily forgetting where he was and who he was talking to.

“Ah-ha!” He startled at the exclamation, and Elder Kai laughed freely at him. “I knew it! You don’t have to be so modest! Go on, tell me all about her! Is she skinny, or a little on the plump side? A plump woman is never a bad thing, it just gives ya more to squeeze, you know—”

“Please,” Gohan interrupted, jaw clenched. He had to try to steer this conversation in a different direction. “I’d like to concentrate now, and I can’t do that while I’m talking about her.”

Elder Kai leaned in a bit. “I get it.” Gohan almost thought he’d crawl out of his skin when the old kai winked at him, nodding toward where his hands were folded in his lap. “I’ll stop talking about it so you can concentrate.”

Gohan looked down, missing the meaning behind his words. What’s my lap got to do with—WHAT! “N-no, I wasn’t—”

“It’s alright,” Elder Kai said, eyes already turned back to his comic. “A pretty girl will do that to the best of us, rest assured. Nothing to be embarrassed about.”

He went to protest more, trying to push the thought of kai biology out of his head, but the sound died in his throat. He’s back to paying attention to his comics, I should take that and be grateful.

The implication stayed stuck in his head far longer than it should’ve, though. Gohan couldn’t help but wonder at what she was doing, and if she was safe. Please be safe, Videl.

Chapter Text

Gohan had never minded being the sidekick. He was always content to stand aside with Krillin and aid in any way he could. It wasn’t until Cell that he pictured himself as being anything other than a background character in their fights.

The first time he actively wanted to take the helm in a major battle was when he found out his little brother—and Trunks to boot—was the one trying to save the day. He would’ve given almost anything to take their place, to make it so such young boys didn’t have to be thrust into that enormously pressured circumstance. The fact that the old perv of a kai decided to prolong the whole powerup just to make it more dramatic was nearly enough to make him lose his mind.

In essence, he had no reservations about rushing in and taking over the fight against Super Buu. Especially when he found out the monster had killed practically all his friends, and his mother. He was used to his father being gone, but not his mom. Not Chi-Chi.

So beating the stuffing out of Buu felt pretty damn good. It felt almost right to take on the being responsible for so much devastation. Like he was meant to do this, to overpower such an evil being. And since they’d found Dende alive and well, and he had proof that they’d be able to bring everyone back, he didn't really worry about anything other than pulverizing the pink menace.

His confidence bloated in his chest, a veritable monster itself roaring for more.

But because Gohan was Gohan, it didn’t last long. Buu absorbed Gotenks. Buu absorbed Piccolo. He tried to stay optimistic, tried to keep the red-hot fire burning in his soul ablaze…

In the end, even with the aid of Dende, Tien, and his father miraculously coming back to life, he couldn’t stop Buu from absorbing him. For the second time while fighting this new enemy, he faced his inevitable demise.

Gohan was well and truly dead this time, he knew. He’d never been dead before, had never stood before King Yemma’s judgement, but he’d heard about it from his father and their friends. He recognized the long, winding pathway that led to what could only be the Check-In Station from their stories. He’d expected this, knew it was coming for him. What he hadn’t expected, though, was to be summoned up to the decision desk not long after he became conscious (especially considering the miles-long line) with three other wispy little spirits all at once.

“Ah, there you all are,” King Yemma’s voice rumbled as he peered over his desk at the gathered white wisps. “I’ve been monitoring the situation on Earth closely, you see. I saw everything that’s happened to you four. I think it’s about time to restore your bodies, don’t you?”

And then, in a flash, Gohan felt his feet hit the floor. He would’ve marveled extensively at that if not for the other three bodies now standing with him. Gohan zeroed in on one in particular, both relieved and troubled to see his little brother there. “Goten!”

The boy was standing right next to him, looking massively confused, a shining halo floating over his head. When he turned and saw Gohan, he whooped and jumped up to cling to him around his neck. Gohan chuckled as he wrapped his brother in a hug, looking over his shoulder at the other two haloed individuals standing before him. “Trunks! Piccolo! Oh man, I don’t know if I should be this happy to see you all here but I can’t help myself.”

“The bastard got you too, huh?” Piccolo asked gruffly, though there was a slight smile tugging on the corner of his mouth.

“I can’t believe it!” Trunks said, stomping his foot, a scowl he must’ve inherited from his father gracing his face. “He used the power boost from us to absorb you because he knew he’d never win otherwise! What a cheater!”

Gohan heard Goten sniffle against his shoulder and glanced at the boy. “Gohan…” he paused and brought the sleeve of his blue shirt up to wipe at his eyes. “You have a halo over your head. We’re dead, aren’t we?”

Gohan frowned, trying to think of the best way to handle such a delicate situation, but Yemma clearing his throat caught everyone's attention. “I’m sorry to cut the reunions short, but I must be quick. I’m sure you’ve noticed the quite substantial line I have to get through. I can give you a brief run-down of what’s happened, but that’s it.”

Piccolo harrumphed. “Majin Buu killed us when he absorbed us, didn’t he?”

“Not quite. Son Goku and the Saiyan Prince Vegeta were able to retrieve you from inside his body, unconscious but alive.”

“Vegeta?” Gohan and Piccolo said simultaneously. They glanced at each other, sending each other matching inquisitive looks, before Piccolo turned back to Yemma. “How is he back? And if not from being absorbed, how did we die?”

“Seeing as it was a special circumstance to try and save the universe, I gave him his body and sent him to Earth with Baba. What killed you all was Buu’s planet destroying blast.”

“Planet destroying?” Trunks asked, anger giving way to grief plain on his face. “So…everything’s just gone?”

“I’m afraid so. But there is hope yet, which is why I pushed you to the front of the line. Goku and Vegeta are currently fighting Buu on the World of the Kais. There is a plan to bring everything back with the dragon balls on Namek, as well.”

“The Namekian dragon balls! I almost forgot those existed,” Gohan muttered to himself.

“So, as you can see, I doubt you’ll be dead long,” Yemma continued, fixing them all with a penetrative stare. “As such I’m not going to send any of you to Heaven, or to King Kai.”

“I wanna go where Mommy is,” Goten spoke up, not raising his head from Gohan’s shoulder.

“Shh, Goten, let King Yemma speak.” Gohan gave the judge an apologetic smile. “I’m sorry, sir.”

Yemma raised a dark eyebrow in return, looking something like impressed. “It’s quite alright. Children always have the hardest time with these things.” He grabbed a book from in front of him and flipped it open. “I am going to send you four to a waiting room to bide your time before being wished back. It is unconventional to say the least, but unconventional is what seems to be required in the situations you Earthlings always get yourselves caught up in.”

“Thank you, King Yemma,” Gohan said, taking a step forward. “For what you’re doing for us, and for what you’ve done to help our loved ones over the years.”

The giant paused, studying Gohan with intense eyes. “You are very much like your father, Son Gohan,” he said after a while. “You not only look like him, but you seem to have his strength and tendency towards committing heroic deeds. Unlike him, however, you show a great deal of tact. I now see why he went on and on about you when he was here a few days ago and realized you were still alive.”

“Oh…uh, thank you, sir!” Gohan chuckled, face aflame. He tried not to think about how weird it was that he could blush while he was dead.

Yemma nodded, then gestured toward a smiling bespectacled man standing beside his desk. “I have arranged for a guide to show you to your room.” He shifted his gaze to Trunks. “And do not try snooping around.”

“Hey! I wasn’t going to—”

Piccolo grabbed the lavender-haired boy by the back of his collar. “I’ll keep an eye on him.”

“Hmph.” Yemma looked to the guide again. “Go on, then.”

“Right away,” the guide said, gesturing for them to follow. Gohan made to put Goten down but he only gripped his gi tighter, so he sighed and carried him over. Piccolo followed, keeping his hand on Trunks’s gi.

“Let me go! I wasn’t gonna try anything!” he argued, trying and failing to twist out of the Namek’s grasp.

“You can’t exactly blame me for being wary,” Piccolo grumbled. The boy huffed and crossed his arms but didn’t struggle anymore.

Gohan grinned at his friends’ antics and gripped his brother a little tighter. They were dead, but there was hope.

“Here you are,” the guide said, opening a door and gesturing them through.

The room was small and sparsely furnished, a square table with four chairs situated in a room with the same walls and flooring as the one King Yemma’s desk sat in. Gohan had an inkling that this was put together specifically for them but didn’t voice it.

“This is it?” Trunks scoffed as he entered the room, Piccolo’s hand no longer restraining him. “We just get a tiny room with some chairs?”

“This is more than fine, Trunks,” Gohan said, smiling at the guide. “Thank you for showing us here.”

“You’re welcome,” he said simply, then turned and left.

“This is going to be so boring!” Trunks complained, nudging the toe of his shoe against a chair leg. “We tried to save the universe and this is what we get when we die?”

“Stop whining,” Piccolo said from the corner of the room where he was leaning with his arms crossed. “We shouldn’t be here long.”

“I miss Mommy,” Goten whispered, wiping his face on Gohan’s clothes.

“I know,” he said, patting the boy on the back. “I do too.”

“Stop being a cry baby, Goten,” Trunks mumbled, rolling his eyes. “We’ve all lost people today but you’re the only one crying.”

“Hey—” Gohan started to defend his brother, but Piccolo cut him off.

“Enough squabbling!” he barked. Trunks looked ready to argue but Piccolo seemed to be in no mood. “We’ve all had losses during this fight. All three of you lost your mothers, and all three of you are dealing with it in different ways. Goten cries, Trunks gets irritable, and Gohan…well, Gohan has always been good at staying level, but he’s clearly sad too. There is no need to argue and insult each other.”

Trunks looked bashfully down at his shoes. “I’m sorry, Goten. I shouldn’t have called you a cry baby. I miss my Mommy, too.”

Goten wriggled and Gohan let him go. Once he had his feet back on the floor, he walked up to his friend and gave him a hug. “It’s okay. I don’t blame you. I’m sorry about your mom, and your grandparents.”

After a moment, Trunks returned the hug. “I’m sorry about your mom and your grandpa.”

Gohan took a seat, face crumpling. Now that the boys were feeling better, it was his turn to feel awful. “I’m sorry you guys have to deal with any of this. It’s my fault. I should’ve seen it coming.” He put his face in his hands, elbows planted on his knees. “I got too cocky and let him absorb you all. I was the stronger fighter, I had the upper hand, and I lost.”

“Don’t speak that way,” Piccolo growled. “You had no idea he could absorb people—”

“Yeah!” Goten agreed, tugging on one of his hands. Gohan let the boy pry his hand away from his face, not bothering to conceal his distraught expression. “You were great, big brother! You were super strong!”

“It was pretty awesome,” Trunks piped up, giving him a half smile. “Your energy level was crazy.”

“Do not beat yourself up,” Piccolo intoned from the corner, eyes still closed. After a moment an almost imperceptible smile crept onto his face and Gohan lifted his head to look at him with both eyes, confused. “You did a hell of a lot better than Gotenks. That kid was the definition of cocky.”

“Hey!” Goten and Trunks simultaneously yelled, offended. They both crossed their arms, and Trunks raised his nose high in the air the way he’d seen Bulma do a thousand times before. “Gotenks was awesome, you know he was. If we didn’t have that stupid half hour time limit we would’ve taken down that chewed up bubblegum ourselves. Right, Goten?”

“Right!” the younger boy echoed with a nod.

“You know,” Gohan said, turning thoughtful, “I never got to see regular Gotenks, only Super Saiyan three Gotenks. Who did he look more like?”

“We can show you!” Goten said excitedly, sharing a nod with Trunks. Then he paused. “Wait, do you think we can still do fusion while we’re dead?”

“We’re not going to find out!” Piccolo ordered, eyes now open and glaring at the boys. “This is no time for that. You all should be resting in case your fathers need your help.”

“Aw, man,” Trunks said, walking over to fall into a chair beside Gohan. “He has a point.”

Goten took the chair on the other side of Gohan. “Gotenks is really cool, though.”

“Well, yeah,” Gohan said as if it should be obvious, grinning at his brother. “He can go Super Saiyan three, of course he’s cool!”

The boys both beamed, clearly loving the praise. Piccolo snorted. “He was a pain. I wish he was a little more like Gohan and a whole lot less like Vegeta.”

“Pfft, you wish everyone was more like Gohan,” Trunks said with a smirk.

“Or Dende!” Goten offered. “He likes Dende, too.”

“Don’t let him fool you, you guys,” Gohan said, smiling warmly at his oldest friend, who was now looking at him with wide eyes. He leaned in, hiding his mouth behind his hand conspiratorially, and mock-whispered, “He acts like a tough guy, but really, he’s a big softie.”

“I am no such thing!” Gohan could swear he saw a hint of purple on his green cheeks.

Trunks snorted. “Uh-huh.”

“Don’t worry, Mr. Piccolo,” Goten said cheerily, big eyes innocent. “We won’t tell anyone.”

Piccolo groaned. “I thought dead people were supposed to be quiet.”

“Yeah, maybe if you aren’t dead too,” Trunks countered. “You’re dead with us so you just have to deal with it.”

“At least you have us,” Goten added. “Being here without friends would be scary.”

When Piccolo only stayed quiet, Gohan hummed. “You guys are right. Even Piccolo’d be lonely without us.”

He grunted in response, closing his eyes and turning his head away from them, and the boys fell into conversation about when they’d be able to fuse again to train more. And Gohan felt thankful that in his death he at least had good company. 

Chapter Text

Gohan had never been so overjoyed to hear someone yell at him in his life. Two someones, in fact. Seeing Chi-Chi and Videl alive and safe again was like a soothing balm to his rubbed-raw nerves.

Being up on the Lookout with everyone, embracing and comforting his mother and promising a wigging-out Videl that he’d explain everything to the best of his ability later, giving Bulma a quick half-hug and ruffling Marron’s hair, being told by Krillin and Yamcha that they were happy to see him back in fighting shape…it was all almost too much for his heart to bear.

But when they noticed Goku’s energy level increase and Piccolo jumped over the edge of the Lookout, Gohan called a quick “I’ll be back soon!” to everyone and promptly followed him. He knew Piccolo enough to know that he probably wanted to be alone, but he also knew how to be quiet.

As he jumped over the edge after him, he didn’t miss his mother’s protests but acted like he did.

“Son Gohan, you get back here! You’ve been gone—hey! Son Goten, don’t you dare! No, you boys—! Ugh, fine, just like your father, the both of you!”

Gohan smiled at Goten and Trunks as they caught up to him, and they smiled back. They’d probably get an earful about that later, and it seemed they all couldn’t wait for it.

Piccolo landed not long after on a cliff overlooking the wasteland that had been the site of their fight with Buu. They all felt the absence of energy at the same time, but Goten was the first to question it.

“Was that…?”

Gohan couldn’t help but gape at what he was sensing. When he asked Piccolo if he thought it was real and got a response in the affirmative, he had to stop himself from falling to his knees in relief. The boys danced and he looked toward the sky, genuinely and completely at peace for the first time since the whole thing started. The boys dancing and giggling beside him was like music to his ears.

After a while of revelry passed, Piccolo put a hand on his shoulder. “I think it’s time we go back. They’ll be returning soon, and I don’t think you guys want to miss it.”

“More like you don’t want to miss when Dende gets back,” Trunks accused, a mischievous spark in his eyes.

Piccolo fixed him with a cutting stare before taking off without another word. Goten joined Trunks in laughter. “Gohan’s right, he is a softie!”

“Oh, quite teasing the poor guy,” he told them, softly knuckling Goten’s chin. “I saw the way you both cuddled up to your mommies. Both of you are just as much of a softie as he is.”

Goten blushed and kicked some dirt around with his shoe while Trunks crossed his arms and grumbled beneath his breath. Gohan chuckled at them. “Race you to the top of the Lookout!”

And just like that they all were off, zooming toward the home of the Guardian. Gohan thought about holding back, letting one of them win, but knew better; with Gotenks now a thing, he couldn’t pull any punches around these overpowered kids.

He touched down on the white squares just a second before Trunks, Goten right behind him. Gohan opened his mouth to compliment them on how fast they were but Chi-Chi beat him to it, immediately hounding them for leaving and threatening to never let them out of her sight again. They wore matching penitent smiles through the whole thing.

Goten was in the process of pulling funny faces to try and make Chi-Chi smile (Gohan could tell that she was fighting one off the entire time) when they heard Dende’s voice greeting them. They turned to look and saw Dende, Vegeta, and Goku rounding a corner, and when Goku made eye contact with his family he called out a genial “hi!” himself.

Chi-Chi was the one who took off running first, but it didn’t take long before Goten beat them both out. The Son family reunion was sweet, Goku playing with Goten a while before hugging his wife and older son in turn. Gohan felt his heart soar in his chest when his father pulled back, looked him in the eye, and said, “I’m proud of you, son. I saw how tough of a fight you had after Buu absorbed Gotenks and Piccolo. You did a damn good job.”

Before Gohan could respond, he was derailed by Videl screaming at Mr. Satan’s new companion. Goku explained the whole good-Buu thing, and Gohan couldn’t help but find humor in the fact that they just kept collecting new friends with every huge fight they took on. Piccolo, Vegeta, 18, Buu…their group sure had a knack of turning bad guys good.

“I’ll give anyone a lift home who wants one!” Goku announced to everyone present, two fingers raised and tapping on his forehead. “Instant transmission style.”

Everyone who could fly declined. Vegeta took off first, and while Trunks lifted his mother, ready to follow his father, Bulma called out “we’re having a party to celebrate soon!” Yamcha left with Puar at the same time Krillin left with his little family, holding Marron to his chest and hand-in-hand with 18. Roshi and Oolong were the first to take Goku up on his offer, and they both hung onto his gi as they all disappeared.

Goten was talking excitedly with Chi-Chi about what they were having for dinner that night, but Gohan was distracted by Videl. She was standing looking uncomfortable as her father fussed over Buu, the puppy he’d brought with him barking and running around at their feet. As if able to sense his gaze on her, she turned her eyes onto him, and his cheeks flushed. She said something to Mr. Satan that Gohan couldn’t hear, but he didn’t miss the confused look he shot his daughter as she turned and walked away…right toward Gohan. He swallowed down some nerves that were clogging up his throat and moved to meet her halfway.

“So…” she said once they were standing face-to-face, just a foot away from each other. “Your dad just saved us all, didn’t he?”

“Uh…yeah.” Gohan knew she deserved a better answer than that, but between her strange colored eyes on him making his tongue feel too big for his mouth and not knowing where to start with the craziness they’d all experienced, he couldn’t come up with anything else.

She nodded and looked away, clearly unsettled. “And we all died and were brought back to life.”

That wasn’t a question, but Gohan answered it as if it were. “Yeah.” He hesitated, struggling with the guilt he felt in his gut, before biting the bullet. “Listen, Videl, I’m so sorry—”

“What on Earth are you sorry for?” she interrupted him, meeting his eyes again with a look of incredulity. When all he did was grimace in response, she sighed. “I would’ve died even if I didn’t know you, right? I would’ve been turned into some sort of food and eaten no matter if I was here with your weird group of friends or not. So what’s there to be sorry about?”

The look in her eye was so sincere, so soft despite her scolding tone, that it made his heart ache with self-deprecation. “Lying to you for so long.”

“Yeah, well…” She crossed her arms over her chest, eyes drifting down until they landed unfocussed on his chest. “I guess I can’t really blame you for that. Seeing everything firsthand, I know now that if you’d told me the truth earlier I would’ve laughed in your face and avoided you because I definitely would’ve thought you were mental.”

Just then, Goku magically reappeared a few feet away, a pleasant smile on his lips. “Okay, who’s next?”

Mr. Satan stepped forward. “If you wouldn’t mind, I’d like to go home now, and I’d really rather not fly for the foreseeable future.”

Goku chuckled. “Sure, buddy. Just put a hand on my shoulder and I’ll take you home in a flash.”

He did as he was instructed, grabbing Buu’s arm with his free hand, who held the now-panting puppy in his other hand. He looked expectantly at Videl. “Well, what’re you waiting for? Let’s go home already.”

Videl frowned at her father, not moving from her spot in front of Gohan. “Gohan’s going to take me home.”

“Wh-what?” Mr. Satan said, and Gohan balked.

“You’re taking me home so you can tell me everything I want to know,” she informed him, not taking her challenging gaze off of her father. “That’s okay, isn’t it, Dad?”

He glanced at Gohan, then at an amused Goku, before gulping. “I-I suppose so. Just…don’t stay out too late?”

“He won’t keep me too long, right, Gohan?” Videl looked back at him, and Gohan was positive in that moment that it would be near impossible to deny her anything when she looked at him with those big eyes.

“Of course!”

Mr. Satan looked uncertain, but Goku only laughed. “Aw, how sweet. Gohan’s gonna take his little girlfriend home!”

The champion let out a laugh that sounded more like a whimper and winced when Buu patted him on the back. “Cheer up Mr. Satan, you can cook me some yummy food when we get home!”

“Right,” he mumbled, looking crestfallen.

“Oh, stop your moping,” Chi-Chi said from where she stood with her father and youngest son, rolling her eyes. “My son’s a perfect gentleman, I made sure of that myself.”

He could only nod before they were gone. Chi-Chi huffed, “As if he wouldn’t be so lucky to have the actual winner of the Cell Games as a son-in-law.”

Gohan cringed at the wide-eyed look on Videl’s face. “Wait…you beat Cell? All by yourself?”

“…not entirely,” he said after a hesitation. “Some of the others distracted him while I dealt the final blow.”

He marveled at the impressed look on her face, amazed that he’d inspired it. She took his hand in hers and started walking toward the edge of the Lookout, and he followed in a daze.

“Bye, Gohan! Bye, Videl!” Goten called right before they left.

Videl waved back, and Gohan smiled a bit awkwardly. “Bye, everyone! I’ll see you all later.”

They stepped off into the sky at the same time, Gohan making sure to match pace with her so she didn’t have to exert herself too much. Once they were flying parallel to the ground, she spoke up. “So, where do you want to go to talk?”

He considered it only a second before saying, “I know a place.”

Gohan led her northeast, hoping the destination he had in mind wasn’t too far for her. She kept up well, though, and he found he enjoyed their comfortable silence as they flew together. He started slowing down when he saw the familiar jagged rock formations and plateaus. He touched down in the grass, Videl landing next to him.

“Why here?” she asked softly, looking around at the rough terrain.

“This is sort of where it all began,” he answered, taking in the land, feeling sentimental. “This is where Piccolo took me to train me when I was four.”

“Wow,” she said, her tone suggesting she had a lot of questions already.

He sat down, gesturing for her to sit beside him. When she did, he delved into the story, not sparing any details. She wanted to know it all, and he wanted her to know it all.

Gohan told her everything: being kidnapped by his previously unheard of uncle Raditz, his father dying the first time, Piccolo technically kidnapping him but actually becoming his friend, Vegeta and Nappa coming to Earth and the great battle that took the lives of many of his friends, going to Namek to try and bring them back but running into Vegeta and the tyrant who he served at the time, more of his friends dying while they were there, his father going Super Saiyan for the first time, coming home without him, having Freeza and his own father come to Earth but a mysterious stranger from the future saved them, training for the Androids, going into the Hyperbolic Time Chamber with his dad.

He fumbled for the first time when he got to Cell. She put a hand on his arm, comforting him in silence, and he took a deep breath and dove into the devastation he saw at the android’s hands. He struggled when he got to the Cell Games and came to a stop. After collecting himself and brushing some tears from his eyes, he told her about his tendency to go berserk and how it took Android 16 dying to force him into a rage big enough to overpower Cell, how his arrogance led to his father’s sacrifice, how Future Trunks died, and how he was the one to kill Cell for the final time.

She cried with him when he got to the part about his father staying dead, and how hard it was on his mother when she realized she was pregnant with no husband. But he cheerily told her about Goten’s birth and how everything descended into peacetime despite it all. He gave her a brief description of his life after, how he had nightmares but they were a rarer occurrence now, how so much changed within the group once everything settled down. She giggled when he told her about going through puberty, deciding to go to normal school, and what exactly was happening in his life while she was chasing him around trying to figure him out.

At last, he told her about what he went through while she was on the lookout, and how he hadn’t died when they all thought he had.

His cheeks had dried by the time he was done, and the sun was beginning to sink in the east. They sat together for a time, her hand covering his in his lap consolingly, and he found that it really did help him; it anchored him, helped him to not get lost in his past struggles. After a long tense silence, she squeezed his fingers. “Thank you for telling me.”

“You don’t need to thank me,” he whispered, not trusting his voice to go above that low register. “I wanted to tell you, and to be honest, it was nice getting it all off my chest with someone who won’t judge.”

She studied him for a minute before replying, “I’m happy I could do that for you. And I’m sorry you had to go through all of that, Gohan. It sounds like you’ve faced more death and trauma than anyone should have to in their life, much less before they’re even an adult.”

He shrugged. “I’m glad I’ve been able to help save the Earth and my friends and family.”

In lieu of responding, she scooted closer to him, her outer thigh touching his, and leaned over to wrap her arms around his waist. He sat without moving for probably too long, stunned silent staring at her, but she didn’t move. Eventually he returned the hug, heart thrashing wildly against his ribcage as he placed his hands on her back.

“Thank you,” she murmured into his chest. “For saving the Earth. For being so kind. For…I don’t know…for being you. You’re a fantastic guy, Son Gohan. I can see why all of your friends adore you so much.”

“I don’t know about that…” he said sheepishly, noticing how soft her hair looked.

She scoffed and pulled back just enough to give him a narrow-eyed look. “Then you’re blinder than a bat. The only people up on that Lookout who didn’t love you to pieces were my dad and Buu.”

He laughed, the absurdity of that sentence hitting him right in the funny bone, and after a while she laughed too, both of them letting go of each other at some point.

“So,” she said after their laughter died down. “What’s next for you?”

“I’m hoping to go back to school once everything is settled. I still want to be a scholar and to do that I have to finish school.”

“And what about fighting?”

“I think I’m done with that for a while. My dad’s back now anyway, and it’s never really been my favorite thing.” He thought for a moment before continuing, “Although, I still want to do the whole Great Saiyaman thing. It’s nice taking down average criminals who aren’t plotting to destroy the world.”

“I’ve been meaning to ask you about that…” The smirk she sent him made the hairs on the back of his neck stand on end. “Who made you that costume?”

“Bulma. Why?”

“Just wondering,” she said dismissively, pushing up to stand and wiping any debris from the back of her pants. “It’s getting pretty late, will you take me home? I don’t really know where we are.”

“Totally!” he said, hopping up to stand beside her. “It’s going to be a long flight, though, and flying here was already a good amount. Do you want me to carry you?”

The look on her face made Gohan want to backpedal; it was the scrunched-up face she made when she was about to yell at him for saying something stupid. He was just about to utter an apology but stopped short when her face melted into a smile. “Sure. Turn around so I can hop on your back.”

Gohan did as he was told, even though that wasn’t exactly what he’d meant. It is probably better this way, he thought as she placed her hands on his shoulders, this way our faces won’t be as close. She hopped up and he caught her behind the knees and…he realized his mistake immediately. Her breath was in his ear and it was distracting to say the least.

He audibly swallowed and turned his head. He wished he hadn’t. Their faces were now mere inches apart, and he cleared his throat before turning back around. “Hold on tight, and if I’m going too fast just tell me.”

She nodded her assent and he lifted off. Her arms tightened around his shoulders and he was back to trying to concentrate despite her breath tickling the hair around his ear.

He knew how to get to Satan City easily enough, and with him going at the pace he was able to go without slowing down for her, it wasn’t long before the outline of the city was visible.

“Woah,” she breathed, and goosebumps erupted all over him. “I guess this is how you got to school every morning.”

“Not at first. Before I started being the Great Saiyaman I used a flying cloud called the Flying Nimbus.”

He felt her shake her head. “Your life sounds like a drug-addled lucid dream.”

Gohan barked out a laugh. “You’re right, it does.”

As he neared the city she directed him toward her house, and when she ordered him to land he found himself in a massive front yard outside of an even more massive structure. He would’ve asked her if she was sure she led them to the right place and not some office building by mistake if not for the gigantic sign that read “SATAN” staring him in the face.

“Oh, don’t act so surprised,” she said as she walked toward the huge front door. “I know you’ve seen where Bulma lives.”

He trailed after her. “Yeah, but that’s Capsule Corp. That’s where she works, too. This is just your house.”

“There’s a dojo, so technically it’s where Dad works too,” she reasoned with a shrug.

“I guess…that makes sense.”

When they reached the door, she turned to face him and gave him a look that made his breath hitch.

“Thank you for taking me home,” she said lowly, looking up at him through her lashes. “And for humoring me at all. It means a lot.”

He rubbed the back of his head. “Yeah, of course. It was nice getting to spend time with you.”

“You, too.” She took a step closer to him. He resisted the urge to back up, feeling overheated. His face was hot, his palms felt clammy, and the intense look she pinned him with felt searing. “You know, I really missed you when I was up on the Lookout.”

“I missed you, too,” he confessed. “I kept worrying about if you were okay while Elder Kai was unleashing my hidden powers.”

“How are you even real?” she murmured, leaning in until her face as just a breadth away from his. He stood, frozen, as she moved in and placed a gentle kiss to his cheek. “Goodnight, Gohan.”

“G-goodnight, Videl,” he repeated, practically chocking on his words. She gave him a sly looking smile before retreating into the house, the door swinging shut with a clang behind her.

He stared at the empty space where she once was, dumbfounded. When he turned to leave, he brought a hand up to touch the skin her lips had touched and couldn’t help but wonder how she was even real.

Gohan laid awake that night, too energized to sleep. He and all of his friends and family were alive, his dad was back for good, Buu had been defeated, and Videl had kissed his cheek. How could one sleep after a day like that?

Apparently Goten couldn’t sleep, either. “Gohan?”

“Yeah?” he whispered back.

“Everything’s different now.”

Gohan’s eyebrows knit together at his slightly bleak tone. “Is that a bad thing?”

“No…” he sounded unsure, then sighed. “I swear I’m happy. I just feel…I don’t know, is it bad of me to feel weird now that Dad’s back?”

Gohan’s heart clenched at the boy’s admission. “No, I don’t think so. You never met him until just a few days ago, and now he’s here to stay. I can imagine that being a little weird for you.”

“I’m excited he’s back, and that I get to have a dad now.”

“But…?” Goten prompted.

“But…it’s different. He’s super nice and I like having him around, but I’ve never had a dad before. I had a you and a mom and a grandpa and that was it.”

He finally got what his brother meant; he wasn’t used to having a dad and didn’t know how to go about normal life with this new person in it. It was like having a character from a story you’d heard a million times suddenly move in with you. You felt like you knew him, felt like you knew his life, but you didn’t actually know him.

“It’ll become normal,” he assured Goten. “You’ll get to know him better. You’ll spar and fish and do things with him and it’ll be like he was always here soon enough.”

“Really?” he asked, sounding hopeful.

“I wouldn’t lie to you,” he promised. “I felt a little bit like that when you were born. I was used to it just being me and mom for so many months, and then all of a sudden there you were. It took me a while to get used to having you around, and now I can’t picture life without you.”

“Oh.” He fell silent for a few moments and Gohan could practically hear the gears turning in his head. “Okay. I feel better now.”

“Good.”

“I’m glad you’re my big brother, Gohan,” he said around a yawn. “You’re the best big brother in the world.”

Affection for his brother blossomed in his heart. “You’re the best little brother, Goten. Love you.”

“Love you, big brother.”

Gohan finally fell asleep minutes later with a content smile on his face and a full heart in his chest.

Chapter Text

Gohan was sitting at his desk going over the schoolwork he’d missed while training for the tournament when his mother came in without knocking, house phone to her ear and talking rapidly.

“—yes, I’m sure!” she exclaimed as she paused in the doorway. “I insist… No, there’s no way you can talk me out of it… Yes, well… Anyway, here he is.”

He tilted his head at her questioningly as she moved further into the room, holding the phone out. “It’s Videl!”

“Oh…” he took the proffered phone, not taking his gaze off his mother. She seemed to take the hint and backed out of the room, leaving the door cracked. He sighed, collecting his jumbled nerves, and put the phone to this ear. “Hello?”

“Finally,” Videl murmured, sounding relieved. “Thank goodness. Your mom wouldn’t pass the phone on until I promised I’d come for dinner tomorrow.”

“Sorry,” Gohan cringed, remembering the other meal his mom had invited her to. “You really don’t have to—”

“No!” she blurted. “No, it’s okay. I want to.”

He blinked. “Really?”

There was a beat of silence, then— “What, you don’t want me to?”

“Wh-no, of course I want you to!” he rushed to say, absently standing from his seat and starting to pace. “I just didn’t expect that you’d ever want to share a meal with my mom again.”

“Oh,” she said with a huff of laughter that only served to confuse Gohan further. “Yeah. Well, she seems to have warmed up to me more now that we’ve been through the whole we-thought-Buu-killed-you thing.”

He didn’t know what to say to that and his throat was closing up with not fully worked-through guilt, so all he did was hum in response.

“Anyway, I needed to call you and realized I don’t have your actual personal number so I had to look up your home phone at school. Wait, do you have your own phone?”

“Uh, y-yeah,” Gohan stuttered. Nobody’d ever asked him that before. “I forget I have it. Bulma gave it to me for my thirteenth birthday and it only has her, Roshi, Yamcha, and my house phone programmed into it.”

“I’ll have to put my number in it when I come over tomorrow. That’s not why I’m calling, though. I’m calling because everyone at school is freaking out.”

Gohan gulped. “Freaking out?”

“I’m Mr. Satan’s daughter and even I’ve never been hounded like this before. It’s spread that you’re Saiyaman and the Golden Warrior, and that we took off together after your fight. You wouldn’t believe the amount of people swarming me in the hallways trying to find out what’s going on with you, and it’s only my first day back after everything. I refused to tell them anything and told them all to screw off, but they’re persistent.”

He groaned and pressed a fisted hand to his forehead. “What am I going to do? I’ll never be able to get through school with everyone knowing everything.”

“Well, your friends are going to wish that everyone forgets Buu, right? Wouldn’t they also forget about you?”

“Maybe, but that won’t be for months.” He stopped pacing and leaned back against the wall next to the door. “If people find out I’m half alien I don’t think I’ll ever have a normal life at all. I’ll end up living in a wasteland like Piccolo or something—”

“Gohan,” she said in a voice that was the perfect mixture of gentle yet firm. He immediately snapped his mouth shut. “I’m not going to tell anyone. I would never do that to you. I haven’t even told Erasa, and she’s my best friend. Side note, she can’t shut up about how nice you look with blond hair.”

A blush sprang to his cheeks. “Thank you. I mean, not for the Erasa thing, because that’s…” He cleared his throat. “Just, thank you for not telling anyone anything. I’m sorry that you have to be pestered and keep my secrets.”

“I don’t mind, really. I mean, I don’t much care for people breathing down my neck but that’s not your fault. The only thing is, what are you going to do when you start back? I don’t think this is something people will just forget about after a couple weeks like usual.”

“I know,” he grumbled, sliding down the wall until he was seated on the floor, knees brought up to his chest. “I don’t know what I’ll do. I might be able to get away with people thinking the hair thing was a trick, but they all definitely know about the Great Saiyaman thing now.”

“They do,” she agreed, tone apologetic. “Sharpner asked me today if we had anything to do with Buu. I didn’t know what to say so I just punched him in the shoulder and walked away. He didn’t ask again.”

Gohan’s old friend despair was starting to swirl in his stomach and he tried to soothe it by rubbing a hand over it. It didn’t work.

Videl must’ve sensed his down mood. “Listen, Gohan, I’ve got your back. I won’t let these vultures ruin your life. I have an idea.”

“An idea?”

“Yeah.” His eyebrows drew together in confusion at the excitement now leaking into her voice. “I’ve been planning something for a little while and it’s a little crazy and might draw some more attention, but I think it might be enough to throw them off the Buu scent until the wish is made.”

“What? Videl—”

“Oh! I gotta go, my dad’s calling for me,” she said hurriedly, and Gohan heard rustling in the background on her end. “I’ll see you tomorrow!”

He opened his mouth but the call was disconnected before he could utter a single sound. What could she possibly be planning? He couldn’t help but smile at her tenacity.

Videl Satan was nothing if not resourceful. She wasn’t genius-level smart like Gohan, wasn’t super bubbly like Erasa, and wasn’t a charmer like her father (major eye roll), but she knew how to work with what she had. And at the moment, she had a lot on her mind.

Gohan had been slowly taking over her thoughts for so long that she couldn’t remember when it started. She thought maybe it started when she’d gotten so intrigued with the Great Saiyaman (Erasa had called it a crush, but Videl had constantly refuted it), but that wasn’t right. She couldn’t lie to herself; she’d been thinking about Gohan before she’d started chasing down his dorky alter-ego. She’d been partially fascinated with him from the second their teacher had said he’d aced every single entrance exam, and he was actually cute. It just wasn’t fair that someone could be so smart and so handsome at the same time, she’d thought. 

To know that he was not only so smart but also so thoughtful and kind and strong was like a death sentence to her heart. She’d felt herself starting to slip when she finally deduced once and for all that he was the Great Saiyaman, but she was a complete goner by the time he carried her to the infirmary at the tournament. 

And then she’d thought he’d died. That’s when she knew for sure.

It only got worse when he’d told her his whole life story. It was like getting a hit of a drug to her; she greedily drank in every detail of his life and couldn’t help but be completely enraptured by him.

So, was it really a surprise that she asked Gohan’s mother for Bulma’s phone number before asking to speak to Gohan, or that she plugged in the coordinates to Capsule Corp into her jetcopter just hours before she was set to attend dinner with his family—his newly intact family, which was somehow not the weirdest part of his life.

Once she saw the huge dome of the corporation-slash-home, she went in for a landing on the landing pad Bulma had specified was for her family’s personal usage. She was thankful to see that Bulma and Trunks were both standing there waiting for her, Trunks waving as she successfully landed her vehicle.

“Hey, Videl!” he called as she jumped out of her seat, re-capsulizing the whole thing and sticking it in her pocket.

“Hey, Trunks,” she replied as she walked over. She couldn’t help the blush that crept onto her cheeks when she glanced at Bulma and saw the knowing look the older woman was sending her.

“Why, hello, Videl,” she smirked. “I must say, it was quite a surprise when I got your call.”

Trunks gave her a quizzical look. “What? No it wasn’t.”

“Anyway,” she said with a roll of her eyes. Videl couldn’t help but feel like rubbing the back of her head when the blue-haired mother turned her attention back onto her. “Let’s get inside, shall we?”

Trunks ran ahead of them into the house, with Bulma leading Videl at a slower pace toward her lab.

“So, what exactly brought this on?” the older woman asked as she moved some papers around on her desk, searching for something.

“Yeah, are you Gohan’s girlfriend now?” Trunks added from where he bounced in Bulma’s desk chair.

“Um…no,” Videl answered, fighting the urge to look down at her feet as her cheeks caught fire yet again.

Bulma shot her a thoroughly unconvinced look, but Trunks was the one to speak up. “Then why would you want a costume like his?”

“No lip or no chair,” his mother warned with a sharp look, and the boy made a show of zipping his lips and spinning around. She looked back toward Videl. “You’re not official yet, huh?”

Videl only shook her head, avoiding eye contact by watching Trunks spin in the chair so fast she couldn’t even track him with her eyes.

“Well, maybe this’ll be just the incentive he needs,” Bulma intoned as she walked forward, studying Videl’s form up and down. “You want a suit just like his? Helmet and all?”

“Yeah, except…maybe with different colors?”

“I’ve got a few ideas that I’m sure will grab his attention,” she said with a wink, grabbing the girl’s hand and dragging her over to her desk.

Videl was surprised at how little time Bulma was able to turn some sketches on paper into a watch-like device that worked exactly the same as Gohan’s. When she pressed the indicated button and saw the whole outfit all together, a ridiculous smile spread wide across her face.

She’d never looked so silly or perfect in all her life.

Gohan had been a weird combination of nervous and excited all day. Chi-Chi had insisted on cleaning and preparing for the dinner since early that morning, and even told Gohan to take a break from his studies so he could go fishing with Goten and Goku to make sure they had enough food. Once they got home she ordered all of them to bathe while she got started on dinner, and when Gohan was cleaned up he started setting the table with Goten while Chi-Chi finished dinner and Goku helped his wife pile the copious amounts of food onto the middle of the table.

Just as the last plate was set there was a clear knock on the front door, and Gohan’s heart immediately kicked into overdrive. He stood and stared at the door, and only snapped out of it when his mother smacked him on the arm.

“Go answer it!” she ordered, giving him a look like he’d lost his mind.

“Sorry, I’m on it.” He stumbled only once on his way to the door, and completely ignored Goten and Goku’s snickering from behind him. When he finally threw the door open, it was like the wind was knocked out of him.

There stood Videl as he’d expected, but also not at all what he was expecting. He was used to her wearing her crimefighting-slash-training clothes, the big loose shirts that practically swallowed her whole. What he saw on his doorstep was anything but. She stood before him in a sky blue dress that hugged her chest and cinched in at the waist before fluttering out to a stop a few inches above her knees. He couldn’t help but notice how the color made her eyes seem even more vivid, and how the neckline happened to dip lower than anything he’d ever seen on her. He focused his gaze on her hair to avoid staring at the bare skin of her chest, heartbeat rushing in his ears.

“Um, hi, Videl,” he said, hoping his cheeks weren’t as pink as they felt.

“Hey, Gohan!” He noted how composed she sounded with resignation. Does she even realize…? He must’ve zoned out longer than he thought because she tapped him on the shoulder and said, “You okay, there?”

“Y-yeah, of course,” he stammered, finally looking into her eyes. He felt his knees weaken only slightly (a win, if you asked him) and did his best to smile normally at her. “You look nice.”

“Oh,” she said, looking down at herself and running a hand through her short hair. “Thank you. I’ve been looking for an excuse to wear this dress for a while.”

“It’s a nice one. The dress is…it’s a nice dress.” Gohan kind of wished the ground would open up and swallow him whole.

But she just giggled at his attempt at social activity. “Thanks. You gonna invite me in or am I supposed to eat out here?”

A half-hearted laugh fell from his lips as he moved aside, waving his hand for her to enter. “Please, come in. Mom’s got a whole spread ready for you.”

Videl looked like she was going to respond but Goten ran up to her, calling out, “Videl’s here! Hiya, Videl!”

“Hi, Goten,” she greeted, smiling softly down at the boy. “It’s nice to see you out of training gear for once.”

The boy blushed and looked down at his lavender and blue outfit. “Yeah. This is what Mom likes me to wear when I’m not fighting. She tried to put me in a dress shirt and pants but Dad talked her out of it.”

“Videl!” Goku hollered from the kitchen, attention diverted from Chi-Chi’s cooking. “It’s nice to see you! Just wait ‘til you get a taste of Chi-Chi’s cooking, you’re gonna love it!”

“She’s had my cooking, Goku,” Chi-Chi said, elbowing her husband. She turned an anticipatory smile onto Videl. “Well, don’t just stand by the door all night! Come, sit!”

Gohan shot her an uneasy look but she didn’t even glance in his direction before happily taking his mother’s orders and walking into the kitchen. “Is there anything I can do to help, Mrs. Son?”

“No, you’re the guest,” Chi-Chi waved off, but Gohan could tell she was impressed. “And you don’t need to call me that, Videl. I think we’re on first name basis.”

Gohan watched as they exchanged a smile, flabbergasted. He shook out of it when Videl turned to him again, an expectant look on her face. “Which chair is yours?”

“Oh!” He rushed to his seat, pulling out the one set up for her next to it. “Here, I set you a place next to me.”

“And me!” Goten added as he hopped up into his own chair on the other side of Videl’s, wiggling his butt in its seat. “I usually sit next to Gohan but he told me that you had to sit next to him so he moved me down a place.”

“He did, did he?” She turned those eyes on him, and Gohan let out a nervous giggle.

“Yeah, well…” Videl finally took her seat, and Gohan gratefully fell into his chair beside hers.

“Videl, you get first serving,” his mother told her, gesturing to the mountain of food placed between them. “And make sure you get all you want, because there likely won’t be any left after these boys get to it.”

“Yeah,” Goku laughed along, placing a hand on the seatback of his wife’s chair. “Sorry ‘bout that.”

“It’s fine,” Videl assured, taking a little bit of everything. “I’ve seen how Gohan eats, I can imagine how three of you might be hard to stop. It all smells wonderful.”

Chi-Chi thanked her and took her serving before giving the boys their greenlight to go after it. Dinner was a bigger success than he’d hoped for; Dad and Goten ate slower and engaged in polite small talk mostly without full mouths, Mom didn’t yell at any of them for misbehaving or embarrassing her once, and above all, Videl seemed to be enjoying herself. She seemed relaxed and comfortable, and kept shooting Gohan these little smiles that sent the butterflies in his stomach on a rampage.

When his mom started to pick up dishes, beginning the arduous task of cleaning up after a Saiyan-sized meal, she shot Gohan a pointed look, glancing at Videl. When he only gave her an eyebrow-drawn-in look in response, she sighed.

“Why don’t you kids go find something to do?” she prompted as she took their plates. “I’m sure there’s more fun things to do than sitting around while we clean.”

“I can help—” Videl started to offer, but Chi-Chi cut her off.

“Of course not! I already told you, you’re the guest. Goku and Goten have already told me they’d help, anyway. Isn’t that right?”

“Right!” Goten and his dad said in unison, hopping up to help her rid the table of dishes.

When all Gohan did was sit there, Chi-Chi cleared her throat at him as she took his glass. He looked at her and she nodded toward the girl sitting beside him, mouthing go on. Taking the hint, Gohan stood, scooting his chair out behind him so clumsily it almost fell over if his instincts weren’t so finely-tuned. He put his hand on the back of Videl’s chair and said, “Would you like to take a walk with me?”

She smiled and nodded, coming to a stand beside him. “That sounds lovely.”

Goku sent him a wink that he didn’t know what to do with so he just gestured for Videl to walk ahead, following in her wake and trying not to notice how nice she smelled. It’s like she was specially created to distract me.

Once outside, Videl turned to him with a grin. “It’s nice having your dad back, I bet.”

“Yeah,” he agreed with a smile as they began walking away from the house. “Sometimes I have to remind myself it’s not just a dream.”

She nodded and fidgeted with something on her wrist but moved it out of his sight behind her back before he could get a good look at it. “Dinner was delicious.”

“Mom’s always been a great cook.” He tubbed the back of his neck, trying to think of what to say. “It’s really nice having you over. I know it’s probably weird for you—”

“No, I like it,” she interrupted, looking down at her shoes. “I usually eat dinner with just Dad, and it’s always made by the cooks. It’s nice having a real family meal for once, you know?”

“It’s weird to think that out of the two of us I would have the more normal anything,” Gohan joked. He felt his heart do an impressive little flip when she laughed.

“Yeah, it seems neither of us have normal home lives.” She absently played with a piece of her hair. “It’s only gotten weirder since Buu’s been around, but Dad does cook now so I guess it’s gotten a little more normal too.”

“That’s probably the only normal thing about that whole situation,” Gohan chuckled. “I’ve seen and done a lot of crazy things but every part of the Buu stuff is just…something else.”

“You’re telling me,” she sighed. They were quiet as they continued their walk for a while before she spoke up again. “You know, that old perv Master Roshi touched my chest while we were up on the lookout.”

Gohan saw red. “He what!” A million different ways of teaching the geezer a lesson ran through his mind, but Videl only shrugged.

“It’s okay, though; I smacked him away so hard he was twitching on the floor for a while.”

His mouth fell open, and when she put a hand to her mouth to hide her laughter, Gohan couldn’t help but laugh with her. It seemed Videl had the same ferocity as Bulma and Chi-Chi when it came to the depraved old man, and Gohan found it all the more endearing.

“Anyway, I have a surprise for you, Gohan,” she said once their laughter died down.

The almost bashful smile on her face made him stop in his tracks, palms clamming up. “A surprise?” She nodded, not meeting his gaze. “What’d I do to get a surprise?”

“I’m pretty sure you’re the most deserving guy in the world.” She took her hands from behind her back and showed him her right wrist. “Does this look familiar?”

He studied it closely for a moment before he recognized it. “It looks like a thinner version of mine.”

“Mmhmm.” She moved her hand away and started fidgeting with the watch. Gohan’s eyes went wide when he saw the flashing around her, and before he knew it there stood Videl in a costume just like his. His jaw hit the dirt. “You like it?”

That may have been the craziest question he’d ever heard. Did he like it. In front of him was Videl Satan, the Videl Satan, in dark blue spandex underneath a belted teal blue tunic that matched his, an antennaed helmet on her head and a cape on her back. Gohan didn’t think he’d ever been so awestruck in his life.

“Wh-when—what?” His tongue had definitely gotten too big for his mouth.

She giggled at him, looking down and smoothing out the fabric over her thighs. “I had Bulma make it for me. I…well, I hoped that maybe the Great Saiyaman would like a partner?”

“You…did this for me?” he asked, reaching out to touch the flowy end of her tunic.

“Of course I did, silly.” He felt even further gobsmacked when he noticed her blushing. “I was thinking about talking to you about it anyway, but then I got to thinking that maybe it’d shift everyone’s attention from Buu to me so…”

His body was moving of its own volition when he thrust forward and scooped her up into a tight embrace, lifting her off the ground. “I can’t believe you did this for me. I-I love it, Videl.”

“Really?” she whispered, her soft breath in his ear making him shiver.

“How could I not?” He pulled back enough to look at her and saw that he was beaming in the reflection of her visor. “I can’t begin to explain how much this means to me. Thank you.”

“Don’t mention it. I think it’ll be fun.”

“It definitely will be.”

He stared at her for a while longer, circling her to get the full view, and they hatched out what exactly to call her. They finally landed on Great Saiyaman 2, not wanting to overdo it, and Gohan had to fight himself not to touch her constantly. She was a goddess, plain and simple, and for whatever reason she’d decided to hitch her wagon to his in the best way and help him out in the process, and he was…

He had no idea how he knew it, but he was totally, unbelievably, and completely in love.

What do I do now?

Chapter Text

“No!” Goten yelled, arms wrapped tightly around Gohan’s neck in a vicelike grip.

Goku winced apologetically at his older son before returning his attention to his attempts at prying Goten away. “Now, Goten—”

“NO! He can’t go! He can’t!”

Even while being near choked to death by his little brother, Gohan couldn’t help but be surprised at Goten’s outburst. It wasn’t like him at all. Goten had a phase when he was a baby where if he wasn’t eating he was screaming, but since then Gohan hadn’t seen him so much as raise his voice in anything other than excitement. Now, on Gohan’s way out of the house on the morning of his first day back to school, Goten had thrown an absolute fit to rival even Chi-Chi. He’d shot up out of his seat so fast that the untrained eye would’ve missed it completely and had attached himself to Gohan’s form before the older boy could even put his hand on the doorknob. Now, Gohan stood with the child clinging to his front, Goku trying to help him after having jumped out of his chair seconds after his son.

It was a nice reminder, Gohan thought, that however much Goten may have looked just like his father, he was part Chi-Chi, too.

“Chi-Chi, what should I do?” Goku called back to the kitchen.

Chi-Chi didn’t even bother to look away from the dishes she was busy washing. “Goku, you’re the strongest being in the world. If you can’t get your seven-year-old son off of your seventeen-year-old son, then I don’t think there’s anything anyone can do.”

“Well, I don’t want to hurt him…” he said, looking at his sons with a puzzled look on his face.

“I’m sorry, Goten,” Gohan said, taking his hands and starting to pull them off while their father put his hands around the boy’s middle. “I have to get to school.”

“You can’t!” He fought against the collective effort against him and started to kick in frustration, face going red as a tomato. “You have to stay!”

Gohan frowned, things slowly starting to click in his head. “It’s okay, Goten. I’m only going to school, and then I’ll be home.”

When Goku finally succeeded in taking ahold of Goten, the boy drooped and hung his head. “But what if you aren’t?”

“I will be. I’ll rush right home after school lets out, I promise—”

“No, I mean what if you don’t come home,” he corrected, still gazing down at the floor.

Goku and Gohan exchanged a concerned glance. Gohan felt his heart constrict painfully at the clearly distraught child. He’s afraid if I leave I’ll never come back.

“C’mon, buddy,” Goku muttered, adjusting his hold on Goten to look at his face. “Once Gohan leaves we can spar before you start your studies, how does that sound?”

“…good,” he mumbled, stubbornly still looking down.

“And we can spar together when I get home,” Gohan told him, trying to illicit a smile out of his little brother.

He finally looked up, reluctantly meeting Gohan’s gaze. “You promise?”

Gohan put a hand in the boy’s hair. “I promise.”

An uncertain smile graced his face. “Okay.”

Goku carried Goten outside with Gohan following, feeling a pit the size of Buu forming in his heart. He might feel better now but how can I possibly leave him when he’s so scared of me not coming back?

“Have a good day, Gohan!” Goku said, shooting him a pointed look and then glancing back to Goten.

He hesitated only a moment before taking the hint. “Will do! Bye Dad, bye Goten!”  

“Bye!” they called back in unison, both waving as Gohan started his flight.

His mind was a jumbled mess the whole way to school. Between the whole situation with Goten, everyone at school knowing his secret, and his desire for normalcy seemingly out of reach for another few months at least, it almost seemed like the whole regular school thing was more trouble than it was worth. Wouldn’t it be so much easier to go back to how things were before? Studying at the desk in his room, eating lunch with his family, helping Goten with his schoolwork and his mom with the heavy lifting?

He had almost convinced himself that going back home really would be the best for everyone, but as he touched down on the roof of Orange Star High School to find Videl waiting for him, beaming as he came into view, all thoughts of home vanished.

How could he possibly be homesick when going to school meant he got to spend time with the girl who’d been consuming his thoughts and feelings almost every waking hour at home?

Gohan’s first week of school had been a real doozy. Going in that first day, he hadn’t been sure what to expect. Videl had assured him that things were better now than they had been since she’d been around the week before to play interference and that the sudden appearance of Great Saiyaman 2 (she had decided to take it for a test run to apprehend some robbers without Gohan and it was now the main topic of conversation in Satan City) had definitely gotten the mass majority of attention off of the Buu situation, but it didn’t quell his nerves much.

What he got when he entered the building was better than he had expected, but still rather uncomfortable. The stares, the pointing, the forward questions…it was all a bit much. Videl took it in stride, of course; it seemed there wasn’t much she didn’t excel at. Gohan tried his best to follow her lead but knew he didn’t handle it with half the confident unaffectedness she did.

On Friday night after finishing dinner and chores, Goku and Gohan lounged on the couch watching some gameshow or other as Chi-Chi helped (micromanaged, really) Goten get cleaned up and ready for bed. It was quiet save for the low sounds of the TV until Goku broke the silence.

“So, how’s school going?” he asked, rolling his head in Gohan’s direction from where it laid on the back of the couch.

“Pretty good,” Gohan answered with a nod. “I thought it would be a lot more stressful with everyone knowing everything but Videl was able to deal with most of the craziness before I even started back so it’s not too bad.”

“That’s good.” His dad’s head turned back to the TV and Gohan returned his attention to the show too, thinking the conversation over. Only a few beats of silence stretched before Goku lifted his head and said, “So, have you proposed yet?”

Gohan nearly fell right off the couch. “What? No!”

“Why not?” Goku asked, looking a very Goku-esque mixture of amused and confused.

“Wh-why would I? She’s not even my girlfriend!”

“She’s not?” Now he looked really confused. “Are you sure? I was pretty sure she was your girlfriend…”

“Yeah, Dad, I think I would know if I had a girlfriend,” Gohan insisted, a blush threatening to catch him on fire burning its way across his face.

“Huh.” Goku scratched the back of his head. “Well, Chi-Chi wasn’t my girlfriend when we got engaged so I guess it isn’t that weird—”

“I’m not getting engaged!” Gohan blurted. “At least…not yet.”

His dad’s face was one of complete perplexity. “But Chi-Chi…” he trailed off, looking around the room as if the answer would be written somewhere high up on the walls. “You love her, don’t you?”

Gohan felt his heartrate pick up and fidgeted with his fingers. “I…I’m not sure. I think so? I mean, she’s great. She’s beautiful and kind and smart but also fierce and confident and strong and I really like being around her and spending time with her. Is that love?”

Now Goku sported a dopey grin. “It’s like you read my thoughts about your mom.”

A smile twitched its way onto Gohan’s face and he looked down at his lap, heart leaping into his throat. I was right. It must be love.

“I think she loves you,” Goku said, breaking his son out of his thoughts.

“Really? How do you know?”

“I don’t. But I think she does. The way she acted around you on the lookout, and then when she was over here for dinner, it was kind of like how Chi-Chi acted with me at the 23^rd World Martial Arts Tournament. Not the same, because we hadn’t even seen each other for years before then and you and Videl have been spending a lot of time together, but it’s easy to see that she doesn’t just want to be your friend.”

Gohan thought about his words. It was clear to even him that Videl was treating him as more than she treated her other friends, but that could easily be written off as a trauma-induced connection. Couldn’t it?

“If that’s true…then what do I do?”

Goku paused, clearly thinking it over. “I don’t know,” he admitted eventually. “Chi-Chi was the one to approach me. Maybe Videl will do that with you?”

“Maybe,” Gohan said, not feeling very confident in that idea. “But what should I do if I—”

“Dad!” Goten shrieked as he rushed down the hall, hair dripping and butt naked. “Gohan! Let’s go swimming!”

A fuming Chi-Chi appeared in the entrance to the hallway, eyes blazing. “Son Goten if you don’t get back here—!”

Goku flashed over to Goten before he could make it out the door, grabbing him up and throwing him over his shoulder. He shot his wife an apologetic smile. “Sorry, Chi. I didn’t think the extra scoop of ice cream would really do much.”

Chi-Chi’s face scrunched, looking to be on the verge of letting loose her whole arsenal of choice words reserved for such occasions, but then like a flame being snuffed out by the wind, her face fell into one of mostly weariness. She let out a sigh. “Well, you were the one who caused it, you’re the one who takes care of it. I’m going to go take a nice, long bath. Goodnight, sons.”

“Night, Mom,” Gohan answered. Goten was too busy wriggling in his father’s hold to return the sentiment. Gohan glanced at Goku and let out a laugh at the overwhelmed expression on his father’s face. “I’ll hold him down and you put some clothes on him. We might need to fight the energy out of him.”

“Thanks, son,” Goku said with a grin.

They spent the rest of the night wrangling the hyper child, and when Gohan finally fell into bed he felt no clearer on what to do about the feelings he held for the girl with the periwinkle-blue eyes.

The next morning Gohan awoke to a message waiting for him from Videl on his phone, requesting help with her math homework. Gohan checked in with Chi-Chi during breakfast to make sure he had the go-ahead to leave the house for a few hours and she agreed with a knowing smile on her face that Gohan chose to ignore.

About an hour later, Gohan was off to Videl’s house, backpack strapped across his chest and the mid-morning sun warming his back. When he approached Satan City, he landed in an alley between two buildings and continued on foot toward the Satan home. He didn’t think Mr. Satan would take too kindly to him just dropping in on his front lawn.

Thankfully, Videl was on the same page, waiting for him just inside the gate that enclosed the property. “Hey, Gohan,” she said as she pressed the button that made the gate swing open.

“Hey, Videl!”

After she was done closing the gate she led him to the front door, and Gohan felt his cheeks heat when he recalled what happened the last time they’d done this. Videl pulled him from his thoughts, “Thanks for coming so last minute. I thought I had it figured out but when I sat down to try and do the homework last night I was lost.”

“Of course! I’m happy to help,” he told her, shooting her a smile. She returned it as she pushed open the front door.

Gohan’s eyes widened at what he was met with on the other side. Gohan was used to Capsule Corp as his main reference point of grandiose living arrangements, but all of the furniture he’d seen there seemed abysmal compared to the opulence of Mr. Satan’s dwelling. A glittering golden chandelier here, a shiny white leather couch there, ornately carved wooden tables, flashy rugs, heavy velvet curtains…it was almost an assault on the senses.

Videl must’ve sensed his shock. “Yeah…Dad hires the most expensive interior designers and tells them to basically just go crazy. He says we need to ‘keep up appearances’ because of who we are. I think it’s a bunch of useless crap.”

“It’s…nice,” Gohan landed on; it wasn’t exactly a lie. “I’m just not used to it.”

“Neither am I,” she grumbled as she started toward the stairs. They ascended in comfortable silence, Gohan trailing behind her as she walked through the wide red-carpeted hall once upstairs. When she stopped in front of one of the many doors he’d seen in this hallway alone, she turned to him with a smile. “This is my room.”

Gohan had been expecting a similar opulence in Videl’s room that he’d seen from the rest of the house. That was not what he got. It was a large room, probably at least twice as big as the room he shared with Goten, and was well-furnished with what had to be high quality wooden furniture and an absolutely huge bed, but past that it looked like a pretty normal room. It was tidy but lived in with various neutral tones and some pinks thrown in, a bookshelf brimming with books and little figurines, a desk with a computer, a vanity with a mirror, a couple armchairs and a table, and a mass of pillows and a few stuffed animals piled on the bed.

All of a sudden, he was hit by how weirdly intimate it was to be in Videl’s bedroom.

“I never let them touch my room,” Videl said triumphantly, gesturing him into the room behind her. “I’d probably lose it if I ended up with an uncomfortable, hideous monstrosity like what’s downstairs.”

“I can imagine,” Gohan chuckled nervously, shuffling his way into her room.

“I figured we could work at the desk,” Videl explained as she dragged an armchair over to the desk. When she looked up and saw Gohan still standing awkwardly in the open doorway, she rolled her eyes at him. “Oh, come in already. It’s just a room. I’d set us up in the dining room but there’s too much of a chance of Buu wandering in demanding food and I really don’t want to be interrupted by that, do you?”

“No,” he agreed, reluctantly making his way further into the room and standing next to her desk. “Are you sure your dad’s okay with this…?”

“Pfft.” Videl plopped down in her desk chair. “He’ll be fine. I’ve studied up here with Sharpner and Erasa all the time.”

Gohan bit back his reply of that’s different when she shot him an impatient look, and fell into the armchair she pointed him to. He averted his eyes when she bent down to dig through her bookbag on the floor.

“Okay, so, calculus,” she said idly as she searched for the right materials. She let out an “aha!” when she found what she was looking for and reemerged from under the desk with her textbook, a notebook, and a pencil. Gohan could feel her eyes on him for a second before she huffed. “Anyway…we were on page three sixty, right?”

Gohan opened his own bag and produced his textbook. “Right. Questions one through fifty, show all your work.”

“Ugh, math’s the worst,” she lamented, leaning on her elbow and opening her book to the correct page.

“I like it.” When Videl paused her actions and shot him a dubious look, he cracked a smile. “What? I do! I like that there’s just one right answer and as long as you know what you’re doing it’s entirely possible to get a perfect score and have nothing to improve on.”

“Yeah, the ‘know what you’re doing’ part is the impossible part.” She narrowed her eyes. “I thought science was your favorite.”

“It is, but there’s a lot of math in science, too. It can be fun!”

She balked. “How on earth—never mind. Let’s just get started.”

“Okay,” he said with a nod, scooting forward in his chair to get a good look at her work so far. The page she’d turned to in her notebook was empty save for the page number and her name. He gave her a questioning look. “What do you need help with?”

She looked down at the page. “All of it.”

“All of it?”

“I haven’t really fully understood any of it for a few weeks now,” she admitted, meeting his eyes with a sheepish look.

“O…kay,” Gohan said with a nod, flipping back in his book a few chapters. “Let’s start with what you last remember understanding, then.”

She went into depth of the last concept she had a good grasp on, but even that was a little shaky. He got to work explaining the principles and pointing out info from the book he thought might help. He gave her a few practice problems and she handled them with relative ease so he moved on to the next section. As he did, he felt her lean closer to him to look at his book and he faltered when he noticed how close she’d gotten. Noticed how good she smelled, clean and flowery and subtle yet distinctive, and his skin erupted into goosebumps.

“Gohan?” she glanced back at him, and he was too busy trying to rein in his thoughts to notice the telling smile pulling at the corners of her mouth.

“Uh, yeah.” He forced his attention back to the textbook and continued flipping through. He didn’t think anything of it when Videl sagged back into her chair a bit, thinking she must’ve just noticed how close she’d been.

The next section was much shakier. She was completely lost, and Gohan had to break down every little piece to try to help her understand. He had her go through the questions from that week and redo them, and by her fifth attempt it finally clicked and she got it right.

“Yay!” she squealed, throwing her arms around his neck. “It makes so much more sense now!”

Gohan’s heart beat so hard against his ribcage he was afraid she’d feel it. “Th-that’s great!” He patted a hand on her back once before returning his hand to his lap, not wanting to weird her out by lingering too long. She probably has no idea.

She pulled back after a moment, a look on her face Gohan couldn’t decipher. He decided it was just her determination to learn shining through and turned back to the books, eager to help.

They continued on this way, with a few other minor little…instances. She giggled and bit her lip when he made a bad joke about not-so-simple arithmetic, placed her hand on his shoulder and leaned in again when he couldn’t find the page she was on, hugged him again more tightly when they finally got her all caught up, and when she got the first problem of the new homework right on the first try, she placed her hand on his thigh and grinned at him.

“Thank you so much, Gohan,” she murmured, and Gohan noticed how close she’d shifted toward him. He gulped and her smile widened. “You’re such a great teacher.”

He nodded and looked back at his own work, feeling the very definition of flustered. “I’m happy I could help.”

He heard her heave a sigh and then her hand was gone, and when he looked back in her direction she was already starting the next problem. His confusion mounted. What in the world is going on? Why is she acting so weird? Did I do something wrong?

“Here,” she said, breaking him from his thoughts and showing him her next problem. “Is this right?”

He looked it over and nodded. “It looks good to me. You’re catching on quick!”

“At least one of us is,” he heard her grumble, and was just about to ask her what that meant when he heard a loud knock on the open door across the room.

“Ahem!” Mr. Satan’s voice boomed into the room, causing Gohan to jump. He shifted away from Videl so he could look at the man in the doorway and saw a displeased look on his face. “And what do we have here?”

Gohan opened his mouth to answer but Videl beat him to it, tone dripping with frustration. “What’s it look like, Dad? We’re two teenagers sitting at a desk with math textbooks and our homework out in front of us. What could we possibly be doing?”

“Uh-huh, well…” he trailed off, eyeing the supplies out on her desk. “It’s lunchtime, why don’t you kids come have lunch?”

“Fine, we’ll be down in a second.” Mr. Satan left and Gohan turned his attention back onto Videl, surprised at the dejected hint to her voice.

“You did really well, Videl,” he told her earnestly, assuming she still wasn’t feeling confident in her comprehension. “I think you’ve earned a break. In fact, I don’t think you need my help anymore.”

“Great,” she said, and he was further flummoxed by her tone switching to sarcasm. She pushed to stand and gestured for him to do the same. “You may as well stay for lunch before rushing out.”

Gohan nodded, still not understanding what had happened with her here but willing to let it go. “Okay. Thank you.”

“Mmhmm.”

Lunch was awkward. Buu was the only one who said much of anything, and it was ninety percent just demands of “more! Buu want more food!” Mr. Satan stared at Gohan suspiciously through narrowed eyes the entire time, taking bites out of his food like it had wronged him in some way. Videl stayed silent and mostly just played with her food, all but ignoring everyone else. So, Gohan kept to himself, eating the portion given to him (which was easily triple Videl’s but still nowhere near what he was used to) and trying not to make eye contact with anyone for more than a second.

When Gohan was done, Videl stood and finally spoke again. “Do you want me to walk you out?” she asked, shooting her dad an annoyed look.

“Sure. Thank you for lunch, Mr. Satan.” He gathered his bag and followed her back toward the front door.

“Yeah,” was the mumbled response he received.

“Sorry about that, I know it wasn’t the most pleasant lunch,” she said as they stepped back out onto the front stoop.

“It’s okay. I’m sure it’s probably normal around here.”

She crossed her arms and looked out over the yard. “Thanks again for your help. I do feel better about it now.”

He smiled. “Good, I’m glad.”

“Well, I’m gonna get back in there before Dad comes out here making a scene over absolutely nothing again,” she griped, turning back to the door. “See you later.”

“Yeah.” Before he could say anything else, the door opened and closed in his face, leaving him alone and befuddled.

He reflected on the odd fluctuation in Videl’s mood over the course of their time spent together that day on his way home and came out of it almost more confused than he’d been when she left him on her doorstep, if that was possible. It also left him with a sinking feeling in his belly, like maybe his father was wrong. Maybe she didn’t really like him as anything other than a friend at all.

Later that night as Goten and Goku roughhoused on the floor where the couch that was now pushed against the wall usually sat and Gohan helped Chi-Chi clear the dishes from dinner, there was a loud and persistent knocking on the door. Gohan glanced at it—who could that be?—and rolled his eyes when his brother and father both called out “not it!”

He focused on the energy signature outside the door and his eyes widened, a plate falling through his fingers and landing with a thud on the kitchen table. “I’ll get it.”

“Thank you,” Chi-Chi said, and Gohan could only nod before rushing to the door.

What was Videl doing here unannounced this late?

When he swung the door open he was met with a rather grumpy-looking Videl, arms crossed and frown etched onto her face. “Gohan—!” she cut herself off, face scrunching up and looking for all the world like she was about to blow.

He tilted his head at her. “What’s wrong, Videl? Is everything okay? I wasn’t expecting you so—”

And then the world stopped. Or at least it did for Gohan.

His words were cut off short by Videl surging forward, grabbing his face between both her hands, and crashing her lips to his.

For a moment Gohan just stood unmoving, utterly stunned, eyes wide and mind about ten paces behind. His heart flipped and started racing almost painfully in his chest. Videl was kissing him. Actually kissing him; lips to lips, hands on his face, body just a hair’s breadth away from his…kissing him.

Just as Gohan was finally snapping out of his stupor, eyes drifting closed and lips tentatively parting under hers, she abruptly pulled back. Her face was flushed, eyes wide, expression one of disbelief. His face and lips felt cold, and he brought his fingers up to his mouth to try and make up for the aching absence he felt there now.

“Wh-what…” Gohan stuttered, skin feeling almost numb now after feeling so electrified just moments before.

“I…was frustrated,” Videl said, looking down at the ground. “I’m sorry if that was too forward I just…I was trying to send you signals all day and you just rebuffed every single one and…I mean, I don’t know if you have feelings for me so maybe I shouldn’t have done that but I was pretty sure you did and I just didn’t want to keep waiting and…I’m sorry.”

“Wait, what?” Gohan mumbled, mind still trying to play catchup. “You…have feelings for me?”

She let out a little huff of laughter and smiled up at him a bit shyly. “Of course I do, you goober. I don’t know how I could’ve been more obvious.”

“What?” he asked dumbly. It had to be a dream. Maybe a slightly early birthday present.

“I was trying to flirt with you all day. I must be really bad at it, or maybe you don’t feel the same—look, I’m sorry—”

This time Gohan took the initiative, or rather his body did, his brain still somewhere back in the kitchen. He slid his hand around the base of her head and leaned in until his lips brushed timidly against hers. When he felt her smile against his lips he pushed forward more, and again they were kissing. Gohan had never kissed anyone this way and had no idea what he was doing, but the slide of their lips together felt too good to be wrong. He had to force back a disappointed groan when Videl pulled back, but couldn’t help but return her giddy smile.

“What took you so long?” she whispered, face still only a few inches from his.

He shrugged. “I wasn’t sure if you felt the same way I did and I didn’t know what to do.”

She scoffed and playfully shoved his shoulder. “You know, for someone so smart you sure are dumb sometimes.”

“Yeah,” he readily agreed, wondering why they hadn’t been doing this for the past week, or even longer.

Videl’s eyes fell back down to his lips and it felt as if his blood had caught fire. They both moved forward at the same time, luck being the only thing keeping them from bouncing their heads off of each other’s. Their kiss lingered only a moment before Videl leaned back enough to look him in the eye.

“Does this mean you’re officially my boyfriend?”

“Yes, please,” he nodded, trying to swallow down his nerves.

She giggled at him and pecked him on the lips. “Good.”

Gohan hummed in response, touching his forehead to hers. He had the sudden urge to tell her he loved her, but talked himself out of it, terrified that she wouldn’t feel the same and he’d run her off. So, he just closed his eyes and enjoyed their blissful silence.

It didn’t last nearly long enough before an insistent ringing came from her pocket. She pulled back and checked her phone, rolling her eyes in exasperation. “That’s my dad. I told him I was returning a book you accidentally left at my house so he’s probably wondering where I am.”

“Oh.” Gohan moved away, broken somewhat out of his trance.

“I gotta go,” she said as she pocketed her phone. She paused a second before reaching up and planting one last good kiss on his lips. “Goodnight, boyfriend.”

Gohan’s lips pulled into a wide grin. “Goodnight, girlfriend. Be careful.”

She winked at him—his heart almost couldn’t handle any more of her—and walked a ways away from the house before taking out her capsule and throwing it into the grass. When her jet emerged she climbed in, waving to him as she lifted off. He waved back, head feeling like mush.

Videl’s my girlfriend.

When he went back inside, everyone stopped what they were doing to look at him inquiringly.

“Who was it, Gohan?” Goku asked from the floor, wrestling with Goten temporarily forgotten.

Gohan simply smiled. “It was my girlfriend, Videl.”

“Finally!” Chi-Chi exclaimed. “When’s the wedding?”

“Mom!”