Hey everyone, welcome to my first fic on this site!

This is a coming of age/acceptance story in which Gohan learns who he is, away from the influences of both of his parents. Many of the cliche components in a 'Gohan goes to school' fic will not be included (e.g. Saiyaman, Videl being a nun when it comes to boys). No endgame pairing has been decided yet, but I do have a slight idea of what I want to happen.

Hope you all enjoy :D

Disclaimer: I don't own Dragon Ball, Dragon Ball Z, Dragon Ball GT, Dragon Ball Super, or any of its characters.

Warning: This is a slashfic, so if it's not your cup of tea, turn back now ;)

–DBZ–DBZ–DBZ–DBZ–DBZ–

'Crap, crap, crap! Of course I'm late!'

Gohan dashed through the halls of Orange Star High School as fast as humanly possible, trying to not push his speed as he ran to the general office. Despite leaving early, he didn't enter the school until 20 minutes after classes commenced. He had even stayed at Capsule Corp. the night before so that he wouldn't have to fly as far to school.

All his carefully laid plans had been foiled by the stupidity of others, as he had stopped two bank robberies and a mugging on his way. 'Why can't things just go my way for one stupid day.'

As he entered the main office, Gohan let out a sigh of relief at it being empty except for the receptionist. The lack of line allowed the half-Saiyan to collect his timetable without delay and head towards his classroom. As he approached the door to his class, Gohan felt his new phone vibrate in its pocket.

Good luck on your first day! Have fun :D – Bulma

Gohan chuckled under his breath as he quickly typed out a reply. It was because of her in the first place that he had a phone that new, there was no way his Mother would have condoned spending the amount of money it had cost. Bulma had explained the ins and outs of how mobile phones worked, showing Gohan how to text, call people and download apps. She had even set him up with a 'Facebook'. 'Whatever that even is. I don't need it anyway.'

Tucking his phone back into his pocket as he knocked on the door, Gohan held his breath in anticipation. His Mother had sent him to a real high school so that he could receive the proper secondary education credentials before going off to college, but that wasn't Gohan's reason for wanting to go to school. From his time spent watching TV shows on his laptop (also given to him by Bulma), Gohan knew that his life wasn't what most would call normal. He lacked any real friends his age, no one to 'hang out' with, or go to parties with. The closest person he had to being his own friend, without being associated primarily with his Father, was Piccolo.

He needed to branch out, to have his own stories to tell. And most of all, he needed to get away from the ever-constant setting of Mount Paozu. Studying and training day after day was interesting for only so long before his mind began to wander. And from his binging of various TV shows while pretending to study (because, yes, he still IS a teenager), Gohan could only feel envy for a life he didn't have. One that he wanted to have.

It was only as he entered the classroom that Gohan began to realise that he may be in over his head. The room was huge, set up as a lecture theatre with row upon row of students all looking directly at him. Clearing his throat nervously, Gohan turned to the teacher.

"Um, hi. I'm Gohan? I'm new here." Real smooth, Gohan.

The professor smiled widely as his eyes perked in recognition. "Ah yes, of course!" Turning to face the class, the teacher continued. "This young man here is Gohan. He's just transferred, so be nice to him. He also scored very high on the entrance exams, so you could all learn a lot from him."

Gohan cringed as he heard mutterings of him being a 'nerd' come from the class. He knew enough about social dynamics that being a nerd was not a good thing.

"If you'll just take a seat up the back there, Mr. Son." The teacher gestured as he turned back to the white board. "Erasa, could you raise your hand?"

In response, a short haired blonde waved excitedly from the back row. Taking it as a cue to move, Gohan made his way through the aisle, trying not to draw any more attention to himself as he went. As he took his seat, he awkwardly shot the blonde girl next to him a grin.

"Hey, Gohan right? I'm Erasa. Nice to meet ya!"

"Umm, hey. Nice to meet you too" Gohan replied as he bit his lip. Erasa's enthusiasm was practically pouring out of her as she greeted him. 'I want two of whatever the hell she's on.'

Erasa had continued to talk, not even bothering to see if Gohan was listening. "-so nice to have a new kid here! It gets so boring listening to the teachers drone on day after day. It's good to have a new face once and a while. Oh, by the way, this is Videl, and that's Sharpner over on her other side."

Sitting on the other side of Erasa was a raven haired girl, who nodded to him before going back to listening to what the teacher was saying. The blonde-haired male next to her, apparently named Sharpner, had his head down as he attempted to discretely tape away on his phone.

Once again, Erasa demanded his attention as she continued to chat away for the next several minutes. She ever so slightly leant over towards him as she talked, blinking every few seconds. Contrary to what most people thought, Gohan wasn't a complete idiot. He knew that she was flirting with him. And Erasa was a very attractive girl. A beautiful face highlighted with perfect levels of make-up, accompanied by a toned body with the right amount of curves made for a very good looking individual. Yet Gohan felt nothing.

'Well, guess that settles it then.'

–DBZ–DBZ–DBZ–DBZ–DBZ–

As she listened to the teacher drone on about what was to be expected from his class this year, Videl couldn't help but take notice in Erasa's conversation with the new kid. Well, to call it a conversation would be a stretch, as the new kid (Gonad? Gohan?) looked like he wanted to be anywhere but there right now.

Did he not realise that Erasa was really showing interest in him? 'Maybe he just wants to be able to listen to the teacher without seeming rude.'

Videl subtly assessed the new kid from her spot. If she was being honest, she could see why Erasa was taking such an interest. The guy was really good looking, having a chiselled jawline accompanied with deep black eyes. 'He dresses like a bit of a hipster, I guess.' The guy was wearing a button-up shirt, with jeans rolled partway up his calves. In Videl's opinion, he dressed better than half the guys in their class.

"-Videl? Earth to Videl?" Erasa waved a hand in front of her face, startling her out of her thoughts. Videl tried to act unbothered, but by the look on the blonde's face, she knew she'd been caught ogling the new kid. To Videl's relief, the man in question had gone back to listening to what the teacher was saying.

"I was asking what your plans were after school today?"

Videl blushed as she muttered back an answer. She really needed to pick up her act.

–DBZ–DBZ–DBZ–DBZ–DBZ–

Gohan only half listened to what the teacher was saying, instead choosing to eavesdrop on what Erasa and the other girl were talking about. Looking past the two girls, Gohan focused on the man with long blonde hair. Sharpner, apparently. Judging by his physique, the man worked out at the very least. Gohan could appreciate the time it took to get a body as nice as what Sharpner had.

"Seriously, Sharp? Can you just try and keep it in your pants for one class and not go on Tinder?!"

Tinder? The name was familiar to Gohan from when Bulma had been explaining the apps he could get on his phone. The woman had winked cheekily at him as she jokingly suggested he could get a girlfriend on it. Gohan had immediately written the dating app off as something he wouldn't be interested in. 'So people just go on this thing during the day? Seems a bit weird.'

Sharpner just chuckled as he put his phone face down on his desk. "Hey, there's never a bad time to be on the lookout. Am I right, man?" With a jolt, Gohan realised that Sharpner was looking at him, obviously looking for backup.

The half-Saiyan laughed nervously in response, trying to appear as calm and relaxed as the blonde. "I feel ya dude." Sharpner grinned at Gohan's approval, reaching over the two girls to hold his fist out.

"You seem like a cool guy" the blonde continued as he bumped his fist to Gohan's. "I'm Sharpner."

"Gohan." Good to know that Gohan didn't completely screw up the first real interaction he'd had with a guy his age. Sharpner went back to his phone, tapping away as the two girls scoffed and returned to talking to one another. Discretely glancing over at the other man, Gohan could see that Sharpner was no longer on the dating site, and was instead playing some sort of game.

"So, Gohan?" The half-Saiyan's attention was drawn to Erasa once again, as the blonde turned to face him. "Where abouts are you from?" The other girl, whose name Gohan had already forgotten, was now also paying attention.

"Well I've been home-schooled my entire life, because I live out in Mt. Paozu. But I'm staying with family out in West City at the moment." Gohan had made the decision earlier that it would be too complicated to explain how he was able to make the commute every day from Mt. Paozu to Satan City, so as far as everyone else was aware, he was staying with the Briefs.

Erasa's eyes widened comically. "Oh, wow! That's ages away. No wonder you're staying with other people during the week." The ring of a bell jolted them all out of their conversation, realising that home room was over. As the students around him began to get up and wander out the door, Gohan pulled out his map of the school, trying to determine where his locker was located.

"Looking for your locker?" Gohan turned to find the raven haired girl shuffling past behind his chair. Noticing that Erasa and Sharpner had already begun to walk towards the door, Gohan returned his attention back to the girl.

"Ah, yeah, actually. Apparently I'm B324."

The girl gave a shy smile in response. "Just come with me. I'm B348, so we'll go past yours on the way to mine." Sighing in relief, Gohan nodded and gathered his belongings. Following the girl out of the room, he saw the two blondes begin to walk in the opposite direction to them down the corridor. Both Sharpner and Erasa turned to wave, which he returned before stopping abruptly. 'Idiot. They were waving to their friend, not you.'

Falling into a steady pace alongside the girl, Gohan decided to acknowledge the elephant in the room. "Um, sorry, but I forgot your name. Erasa was saying everything at once and it kind of got lost in the moment."

The girl laughed, but eyed him with a strange look in her eyes. "She tends to do that. I'm Videl. Videl Satan." Gohan noticed the hesitation in her voice as she told him her name.

Wait.

"Is that Satan as in, you know? Mr. Satan? Satan City?"

Videl almost looked resigned as she nodded. "Yeah, that's me. Mr. Satan's my father." The way in which she confirmed his question seemed more like an admission of guilt. 'I suppose I would be sad too, if I had that oaf as my dad.'

"Oh, that's cool." Gohan tried to keep his voice as neutral as possible, so as to not let his disdain show. It evidently worked, as Videl almost seemed to brighten up at his lukewarm response. She suddenly stopped, pointing to the locker near them, which Gohan could see to be B324.

"Here we are. What do you have next, by the way?"

Gohan looked down at his timetable before replying. "AP biology, in room T16. You?"

Videl's mouth formed a small 'O' as she processed his reply. "Wow, our teacher was right when he said you were smart. I've got calculus now, but I can point you in the direction of your room." Videl hesitated before continuing. "Hey, ah, do you want to join us for lunch? Not me specifically, Erasa and Sharpner too. I just figured that you wouldn't know anyone else is all."

Gohan noticed a slight blush on her cheeks as she waited for him to respond. "Yeah, actually. That would be great. You're right, I haven't met anyone else so far."

"Great! I'll see you then." Without further ado, Videl turned and began to walk away with a shy wave over her shoulder. Gohan smiled to himself as he went to open his locker. 'Maybe it won't be so hard to make friends.'

It was only as he closed his locker that he realised that Videl had forgotten to give him directions to his class. 'Crapbaskets.'

–DBZ–DBZ–DBZ–DBZ–DBZ–

"So, apparently Gohan's sitting with us?"

Videl looked up from her sandwich as Sharpner let his lunch tray fall onto the table, Erasa a few metres behind him. Finishing her mouthful, Videl looked up at Sharpner.

"Yeah, he is. Problem?"

The blonde held up his hands in surrender as he sat down. "No, no. The guy seemed cool, I guess. I'm just wondering is all."

Erasa giggled as she sat down next to Sharpner, opposite from Videl. "I don't mind at all. He's such a cutie. Did you see the way his butt looked in those jeans?!" Videl rolled her eyes at the blonde, but inwardly was agreeing with her. In all honesty, Videl had found the new kid to be extremely good looking. It wasn't until he had stood up after class to walk alongside her that she had realised how tall and muscular Gohan was. His broad shoulders and narrow waist had left Videl more than a little flustered by the end of their conversation, which she hated. She didn't like showing any weakness, especially not to someone she barely knew. 'Get a hold of yourself, Vi. You don't want to turn into Erasa 2.0.'

"Um, hey guys. Is that offer still open, Videl?"

Looking up, Videl was startled to find the target of her thoughts standing right next to her. 'Kami, he is beautiful.' Her alarm must have shown on her face, as Gohan's own face dropped. Videl quickly backtracked, letting a small smile grace her face instead.

"Of course, Gohan!" She shuffled across slightly, allowing the teen enough room to sit next to her. "How was AP biology?"

Gohan grimaced slightly as he placed his tray down before himself. "Eh, it was okay. The teacher was kinda boring."

Sharpner chuckled from across the table. "You got that right. Number one reason I didn't do a science subject this year. The teachers suck." Videl watched Gohan's lips turn up slightly as he listened to Sharpner chat away. He seemed shy, Videl noticed, as he tentatively replied to whatever the blonde asked. 'You would be too if you had never been to school before. He probably doesn't have many friends his age.'

"So Gohan" Erasa spoke up, distracting Videl from her musings. "What kind of stuff do you do out near Mt. Paozu? There wouldn't be many other people there, right?"

Gohan smiled his cheery smile that sent butterflies through Videl's insides. "Yeah, there's no one else around for about 10 miles in any direction, so it can get pretty lonely. But I like to explore the area, and I play out in the fields with my little brother."

"You look like you work out, though" Sharpner replied between mouthfuls of food.

Videl noticed the teen blush in response to the complement. 'He's probably not used to getting complements about stuff like that.'

"Um, yeah. I usually train a bit in the evenings, after I'm done with my schoolwork for the day."

Sharpner shot Gohan a smirk. "You should hit up the gym with me sometime. It'd be cool to have a buddy to work out with that's not one of those football idiots." He pointed over to the table where most of the football team sat, laughing and joking around in the most arrogant way possible.

"Yeah, I would like that." Gohan smiled shyly in response to the blonde.

'Aw, he's so cute when he gets all shy' Videl mused internally before scolding herself. 'Stop it Vi. It's his first day here for Kami's sake.'

"You've been so quiet today, Vi. What's up?" Erasa questioned. Videl became rigid as she realised she had been staring at Gohan. Playing it off a daydreaming, she yawned before turning to face her friend.

"It's nothing, really. Just thinking about stuff."

Erasa nodded, eyes thoughtful. "Still training for the World Martial Arts Tournament?"

Videl nodded in confirmation as her mind wandered again, this time towards her training regime. For a while now, her father had refused to train with her, and so she had been forced to create a program by herself.

"Hey Gohan" Erasa broke the flow of conversation, obviously growing bored with the topic. "What's your last name? I'll add you on Facebook." She paused for a second, doubt showing on her face. "You have a Facebook, right?"

Gohan grinned sheepishly at her. "Um, yeah. I just got one last week actually. My Godmother bought me a phone and everything, and showed me how to use all that kind of stuff." He chuckled as he pulled his phone out of his pocket. "Oh, my last name's Son, by the way. Gohan Son."

Along with Erasa, Videl to pulled out her phone, quickly searching Gohan on Facebook. Seeing his picture of himself and with someone who was obviously his younger brother, Videl smiled. 'His brother's so cute! They look so similar, too.'

"I get what you mean about only getting an account recently, man. You've got like eight friends" Sharpner mused from his seat, before his eyes widened. "Wait, wait, wait. You're friends with Yamcha the Bandit?! How the hell do you know him?" Videl looked up in surprise, tapping on the list of Gohan's friends to confirm Sharpner's claim. Sure enough, Yamcha was listed as one of Gohan's eight Facebook friends, right along with…

"And you're friends with Bulma Brief?! This has gotta be some kind of joke, right?"

"Yeah, I'm friends with both of them." Gohan blushed again at the attention. "Bulma is the godmother who got me the phone and stuff. And Yamcha was her ex, and is still good friends with her. Bulma, Yamcha and my Dad were all really close growing up."

'Well there you go. The weird mountain boy has connections.'

Erasa gasped in response. "Oh my god! I can't believe you know Bulma Brief! Even Videl hasn't met her."

"Damn, dude! I was gonna joke about your lack of friends, but now I can't. Guess they say quality over quantity, right?" Sharpner grinned at Gohan, before looking down at his phone and groaning. "Shit! I've gotta go talk to Coach Wade about training this year." The blonde stood, but paused as he eyed Gohan up and down. "You wanna come, Gohan? You look like you've got the body type to be a decent boxer."

Videl watched as Gohan balked slightly at the attention, before shaking his head. "Nah, boxing isn't really my thing, sorry. But the receptionist mentioned I should talk to Coach Wade about my gym uniform. I was gonna wait till actual, gym class, but I can go now if you want?"

Sharpner grinned hugely at the other male. "Awesome! I can try and convince you to give boxing a try on the way. See ya Erasa, Videl." He turned to wave at the two girls, Gohan following suit.

"Yeah, good bye. Thanks for letting me sit with you guys today."

Videl smiled at him. "No problem Gohan. We'll see you in gym class, right?"

Gohan nodded as Erasa also waved goodbye, before turning to follow Sharpner out of the cafeteria. It wasn't until Erasa sighed longingly that Videl realised she had too been watching Gohan's waist as he walked out of the room.

"He's perfect" Erasa muttered absentmindedly.

–DBZ–DBZ–DBZ–DBZ–DBZ–

Gohan lay in bed that night, feeling Goten's ki level out as he fell asleep, while mulling over his first day. As much as he was scared to admit it to himself, his first day of school had been near perfect. From his point of view, he had made three good friends in Sharpner, Videl and Erasa, and had found the school work so easy that he apparently didn't need to worry about his grades any time soon.

Gym class had gone over better than he'd hoped, as he'd managed to conceal his powers without coming off as a weakling, something that the Saiyan in him didn't want to appear as. Coach Wade had even suggested he think about joining a sports team.

His three new friends had been great to hang out with as well. Videl was kind but fierce, not at all like he imagined a child of Hercule Satan to be. With time, Gohan figured she could become a really loyal friend. Erasa was really sweet as well, and her enthusiasm was infectious. 'I only wish she'd stop with the flirting. It's hard to be friends with her when I can practically feel her desire.'

Finally, Sharpner had turned out be the biggest surprise of them all. One of Gohan's biggest fears leading into today had been how to act around other guys his age. The blonde had turned every stereotype of the popular jock on its head, making Gohan wonder if the TV shows he'd seen with the arrogant, bullying jock were even accurate to begin with. Sharpner had been funny and accommodating towards Gohan, and genuinely seemed like he wanted them to be friends. 'It doesn't hurt that he's easy on the eyes as well' Gohan thought before shaking his head. 'Fuck, don't think about your friends like that.'

If he was being honest, Gohan hadn't thought too much into his sexuality in the past. In his mind, he had never thought of girls in the way he knew he should, but it hadn't seemed to affect him. The lack of contact with anyone his age had desensitised him to the depth of the issue. But now with high school, different expectations would be placed on him. Would his friends expect him to start dating, to get a girlfriend?

Gohan let his mind wander as he listened to Goten's breathes from the next room. His world had suddenly become more complicated in the last 24 hours than it had been since the Cell Games. Granted, Gohan would take struggling with social dynamics over fighting for his life any day, but it was still a challenge. Still, he felt as if for the first time in seven years, he was living again.