Love Is Blind
By: Yukira King
Disclaimer: I don't own DBZ or its characters
"Can you believe summer has come at last?" Erasa said in her usual over bubbly fashion. She couldn't keep her eyes on the teacher lecturing them at the front of the room. Not that this was anything new. The poor girl could never keep her focus on one thing for very long. She was taking the time to talk animatedly to her friends instead.
"Erasa!" Videl hissed at her blonde best friend. Unlike Erasa, the raven-haired girl needed to pay attention to these last minute lectures. Being called out of class as often as she was, Videl couldn't afford any more distractions. She'd actually called the chief of the Satan City police force to tell him that unless the crime was taking place out of school hours, he was on his own until exams were done. Of course, she had to make sure that news didn't leak out. If it did, there would be a lot of crimes taking place over the course of the next week or so. Especially since Saiyaman was otherwise engaged as well. In fact, he was sitting two seats down from her, also scribbling down notes. Only, he wasn't as far behind as her. Actually, he was ahead of the entire class. But he still couldn't leave. Not with so few classes left. People might start to catch on.
"C'mon !" Erasa argued. "You can't tell me you're not excited too."
"Actually," Saiyaman, known as Gohan while out of his ridiculous costume, interrupted, leaving Videl a chance to pay attention to the teacher. She shot him a grateful glance, and continued to furiously take notes. "There's still two weeks until school ends, Erasa. So there's no need to be over excited yet."
"Son Gohan!"
"Y-yes?" Gohan stuttered, looking at the teacher who'd stopped mid lecture.
"Since you're so set on talking, why don't you read the next part of the text book aloud for the class?"
"Yes, sir," Gohan said dejectedly. Why was it that he was the only one ever caught talking? He grabbed his textbook, and grudgingly walked down to the front of the classroom to where the teacher motioned him to stand.
Sighing, Gohan quickly turned to the assigned page. Reading the title, he could barely suppress a groan. He should have known. With only two weeks left, they had to cram as much review on all of their covered topics in as they could. And it should have been clear to Gohan which topic they'd been reading about today.
Of course, had he been paying attention rather than day dreaming about a certain raven-haired, blue-eye, crime fighting friend of his, he wouldn't have been caught so off guard. But he couldn't help it. It had been months since the whole Majin Buu fiasco and nothing had really changed between them, much to his dismay. If only he could just muster up enough courage to ask her to take that step beyond friendship with him.
Give him a terror, bent on universal takeover, and he's up to the challenge. But give him a teenage girl that he can't help but be attracted to, then he's helpless.
It's funny how things work sometimes.
"Hercule's Mighty Defeat of Cell," Gohan read out, risking a glance at the object of his affections. She glanced up at him, and shared a knowing smile. His smile grew in response to hers, and he momentarily forgot why he was standing in front of the class. That is, until the teacher rather gruffly cleared his throat.
"Get on with it, Son."
"Er—right!" Gohan said, blushing slightly, having been caught staring.
"That day, at the Cell Games, the sun was shining, not a cloud in the endless blue sky. It would seem that nature had predicted the Game's outcome, and was at ease, knowing that Planet Earth would conquer the threat."
Gohan had to bite back a laugh. He distinctly remembered a few clouds, as well as a rather chilling wind. But he supposed that didn't sound nearly as poetic. He shook his head to clear it of such thoughts, and continued to read.
"The world watched as Cell stood in the centre of his tournament ring, waiting for the contestants to arrive. Hercule Satan was the first to arrive, saving his energy, by simply arriving in a car. The monster, Cell, was clearly intimidated by being in the presence of such gr—great p-p—"
The words were rather difficult to make out now. Gohan passed it off as a side effect of his embarrassment, and simply moved the book further from his face with each new sentence.
"Great power, since he refused to so much as look at the strongest fighter under the heavens. The only words that passed between the two, were spoken by our very own Satan—and those were only early declarations of victory. Not long after Hercule's victory announcement, the first of many mysterious fighters appeared. Unlike our hero, this man did not appear as confident, but rather looked to be jealous of our hero's might, showing this by glaring enviously at Hercule. His lack of confidence was determined by his quick dismissal of the camera crew. Are you kidding me?"
The thought of Vegeta being envious of anyone or anything, least of all Hercule Satan, was just too unbelievable for Gohan. This was something so obscure, that even Videl could be found laughing in the back row.
"Is something wrong, Mr. Son?"
Once again, Gohan found his teacher looking at him disapprovingly. If he didn't get his act together, his mother would be getting a call for sure. It didn't much help that Gohan was fighting a migraine either.
"N-no sir," Gohan muttered, pushing the book back as far as his arms could managed. Had he looked up, he'd have seen Videl sending him a very curious and worried glance. Something was wrong.
"The next mysterious fighter came through the air, much like the last one. He was enormous, but what was strange about him, was that he managed to drive Cell into a conversation—a feat which until then was deemed impossible. Shortly afterwards, several more of these mysterious fighters decided to make their entrance. Among these, was a three-eyed man who was rumoured to be Tien Shinhan—the 22nd Strongest Under the Heavens winner—along with three students of the acclaimed Turtle Hermit, Master Roshi. Of the remaining three, there was a rather large, green man—who is believed to have been the demon Kind Piccolo, though he was killed by one Son Goku eleven years prior to the event—as well as two young fighters. One was clearly a young man having just recently entered adulthood, while the other was child who couldn't have possibly reached his teenage years yet."
Well, they're right, I was only eleven at the time, Gohan thought to himself, squinting when the words tried to blur into one another.
"Um...little is known of these fighters, and though they deserve our respect, not much information is needed about them."
Gee way to show your appreciation.
"Hercule's prize students came last, finishing off the Earth's line of defence. With Hercule present, the camera crew were safe at such close range...?" Gohan read unbelievingly. It was getting rather difficult to tell word from word. One again, blaming this on his migraine, Gohan looked up to the clock on the wall. Only five more minutes!
Okay, Gohan. You can do this. You were there for Kami's sake. You should be able to recount the events easy enough. Who cares that you can barely see much more black smudges! Why is that anyway? I've been getting migraines much more frequently lately...
Snap out of it! You've got some reading to do.
With a shake of his head, Gohan struggled to continue reading their lesson. "Hercule's students each took a swing at Cell, but neither was able to get close due to...due to..."
Crap! Okay, what comes next? Just make something up!
"The sheer power emanating from the monster's form? Or is it talking about tricks? Um... Anyway, neither was successful, and then Hercule decided to interrupt the next challenger... the leader of the mysterious fighters...the blonde fighter in the Turtle Hermit's colours. Hercule claimed that it was pointless for all of the others to be there, and he stepped into the ring. And um... Cell let him close, and Hercule unleashed a barrage of weak attacks, trying to intimidate Cell..."
He thought they were strong but there's no need to tell the class that. Hercule couldn't even intimidate Goten.
"And with a flick of his wrist, Cell launched Hercule into the side of a nearby cliff, allowing for the um... leader... of the mysterious fighters to step up to the challenge."
"Mr. Son, I asked you to read the chapter, not provide your own opinion on the matter," the teacher started to say. But thankfully for Gohan, the bell sounded, and he was free to go. He slowly climbed the stairs leading to his seat in the back, to get his bag and lunch, sighing as he went. Why was it that he always got migraines in school? And studying at home gave them to him as well... Maybe it had something to do with studies? Then he could tell his mother that it was bad for his health, and she'd stop forcing knowledge down his throat? Probably not, but it was worth a try...
"Hey, Gohan," Erasa said bubbly as ever. "You're lecture was much more interesting than the chapter in the book. I could actually pay attention for once." She giggled and stuck her tongue out in a playful way. Gohan sighed. If she only knew the truth then...
"Yeah, it was interesting," Sharpener agreed. "But he was like practically slamming the Champ. I mean, so what if he got thrown into a cliff. He got his footing wrong. You make it sound like it wasn't an accident. With the way he talks about your dad, Videl, it's a wonder you stay friends with him."
"Everyone is entitled to their own opinion, Sharpener," Videl said coldly. "I happen to agree with Gohan. So shut up."
Sharpener and Erasa were stunned. Did the champ's daughter just say she didn't believe him? Maybe Gohan wasn't such a good influence after all.
"Hey, Gohan," Videl said, in a much softer voice. "Are you all right? You looked like you were in pain down there."
"Just a migraine. And the words kept smudging together... which is why the end of the lecture wasn't following the book too well," Gohan admitted, unable to withstand any information from her when she looked at him like that. With her soft blue eyes full of concern for him.
"You couldn't see? That's odd. You usually have great vision," Videl said. It was true. He could shoot a ball of energy and have it hit its target a mile away. But he couldn't see a textbook? Odd indeed.
"Maybe he needs glasses," Erasa suggested happily. "You'd look cute in glasses you know."
"I can't need glasses," Gohan protested.
"Why not?"
"Because—" I'm a Saiyan. He almost said it aloud. That would have been awkward. There was a reason he didn't want people knowing. Only a few people would be able to handle it. And he didn't think these two could.
"Gohan, what about your mom," Videl pointed out. It went without saying. Mom is human. Not Saiyan. I could get it from my human blood...
"What, does his mom have glasses?" Sharpener asked, confused by Videl's cryptic, yet offhanded comment.
"No," Videl said smiling.
"But," Gohan tried to protest, but was unable to come up with anything. "They'll all laugh at me."
"Who," Erasa said. "I think you'll be cuter with them."
"Dad's friends," Gohan said, forgetting she wouldn't know who they were. Had they not wished for the population's memories to be wiped clean of anything involving Majin Buu, she might. But since they had, she was lost.
But, his mind was a little preoccupied.
"Why, Gohan?" Videl asked, confused by his answer.
"A Saiyan warrior, with glasses," he muttered humourlessly. He could see it now. Vegeta and Trunks showing slight emotion by laughing at his misfortunate genetic side-effect. Goku and Goten would think he looked funny, but probably wouldn't be laughing a mocking laugh like the others. Piccolo wouldn't laugh, but he'd think it. His mother would be in hysterics, about her 'poor baby,' while Bulma would just smile. But it was Krillin and Yamcha he was most worried about. They'd always been known to mock him.
"Wow, Gohan," Sharpener whistled. "I knew you were a nerd, but I didn't know you role-played too. Talk about ultra-nerd."
"Talk about ridiculous," Gohan murmured, dismissing Sharpener's comment.
"Gohan, you're not just a Saiyan warrior," Videl chastised. "You're also practically a genius, a slight momma's boy, and a human."
"He's a momma's boy?" Sharpener gasped with a laugh.
"If you had my mother, you wouldn't be laughing," Gohan said. Videl's comment had pulled him out of his funk.
"So, I say, we talk this over with Chi-Chi," Videl said, smiling. "It's probably her fault anyway. What with all the studying she makes you do."
"Probably," Gohan sighed, but he agreed. They'd talk to his mother first. Then they'd figure out what he needed to do about his problem.
It only took forty-five minutes for Videl and Gohan to fly back to his house. Videl could have gone faster, but Gohan was a tad frightened at the coming confrontation, and refused to move any faster than he was.
"Hi, Chi-Chi," Videl called loudly, as she landed. She laughed when Gohan's face paled. He was hoping for some preparation time. But apparently, Videl was in a hurry.
"Videl? Oh, you're here! I was beginning to think that you'd had enough of us," Chi-Chi said smiling brightly at the girl. She knew Gohan had a thing for her. Of course, being his mother—and with the track record she held—she wasn't going to tell him this. It might shake what little confidence he held. "Gohan, why do you look so pale?"
"He's having trouble seeing," Videl said, after waiting a minute. Gohan apparently wasn't going to speak, so she took the opportunity to do it for him. This needed to be done.
"Gohan? Is this true?" Surely her baby didn't have any seeing problems. Sure, her father wore glasses... and that was in Gohan's blood...
"Yeah," Gohan admitted after a while. "It is."
"Well, I guess we'll have to find out what's wrong," his mother said, tears in her eyes. Where did she go wrong? He was her perfect little baby...
"Yeah," Gohan said again, rocking nervously back on his heels. "So..."
"You're mom's going to have to call an optometrist," Videl explained.
"Okay..." Gohan said, looking to his mom. "Do we have one of those?"
"Uh... no," Chi-Chi said, shaking her head. "But we can find one."
"Let me call mine," Videl said. "They have a family thing, where you can recommend others to go there. Of course, you're not actually family... but I'm a Satan, so they'll probably make an exception."
"Or, you could just go and get married to Gohan," Goku said, making his presence known.
"Dad!" Gohan cried, his face turning bright red in an instant.
"Goku!" Chi-Chi scolded, at the same time. She watched with interest as Videl turned her head, her face—like Gohan's—bright red.
"What? It made sense to me," Goku said laughing and scratching the back of his head.
"Can you show me to your phone?" Videl said, changing the subject quickly.
"Sure thing, dear," Chi-Chi said, giving Goku one last disapproving glare before showing Videl into the house.
Goku smiled once they were gone, and turned to his son. "So, you can't see, huh?"
"I can see," Gohan protested. "Just not clearly within four feet of my person..."
"Okay..." Goku said, his playful smile still on his face. "So, you can't see Videl's face?"
"Not clearly," Gohan said sadly, before realizing what his father was doing.
"But you want to," Goku said smirking. The smirk looked out of place on his face.
"Quiet," Gohan hissed.
"You do," Goku laughed. But then his face turned serious. "Why don't you tell her?"
"That I can't really see her face? Maybe because I won't be able to see the fist she aims at my face!" Gohan argued.
"You liked her longer than this vision problem has been going on," Goku said slyly. "You know that. What I don't get is where you got this aversion to confrontation you've seemed to develop."
"What do you mean?"
"You're mother decided she was going to marry me the first day she saw me. She even made me promise. Of course, I thought it was a food at the time. But she was persistent. She even planned on beating me in the tournament when I forgot to marry her. But she gave up on that because she found out I thought it was a food. Then, after seeing her disappointment, I asked her to marry me. Simple as that. No hesitation. In either your mother or me," Goku explained.
"Well, maybe, I grew up knowing I'm not normal, with a very overprotective mother, causing me to develop a pathological fear of confrontation?" Gohan suggested. Goku shrugged his shoulders, and decided to hunt down Goten, when the door opened revealing the two women.
Gohan gulped as his father took off.
"So?"
"So, they were bending over backwards to try and please me. They usually close at five, but they've decided to take your appointment then, since I asked and all," Videl said with a bright smile. "Let's go. We can't be late. They're already staying past hours to accommodate us."
"Okay," Gohan sighed. "Is mom coming?"
"No, Gohan. You two have fun, I've got to make dinner," Chi-Chi said giving him a wink while Videl's back was turned.
Gohan flushed, but took off towards Satan City for the second time that day.
"Hello, Miss Satan. It's so nice to see you again. Ah, this must be your friend. Come in, come in. You'll need to fill out this paperwork, and then we can see you in the back," a very excited man said. He was wearing some gaudy glasses, but they suited his face.
"Yes, sir," Gohan sighed. How was he supposed to fill out the papers if he couldn't see them? That was why he was there!
After suffering through the embarrassment of having Videl read and fill out the paperwork, he finally got taken to the back.
While he was there, Videl took the opportunity to look through the different styles of frames. He needed something that would suit him. And knowing him like she did, he would pick something horrid, to match his overly nerdy school clothes. She couldn't allow that. Especially when Chi-Chi wasn't here to pick them out for him. She took mental notes on which styles would suit him, which wouldn't, and which ones would accentuate his features. She was hoping he'd pick from the third category.
It was an hour before Gohan and the man emerged. The man was as cheerful as ever, however, Gohan didn't look too pleased.
"I need glasses," he muttered, disappointed.
"Yes he does! Now, we have plenty of frames here to choose from, feel free to browse," he said, waving his hand in the direction of the frames.
"Oh, joy," Gohan said sardonically.
"Gohan, think on the bright side!" Videl chastised. "Erasa's right you know. You could look cute in glasses. You just have to pick the right ones."
Gohan fought back his blush. Suddenly—at hearing her words of encouragement—he was feeling braver than he normally was in her presence. Maybe the talk with his father had had a positive outcome.
"Why don't you pick them out?"
"Me?" she asked in disbelief. Why?
"Yeah, I wouldn't know what to look for, anyway," Gohan said, losing some of his newfound courage.
"That's true. Plus, you can't really see right now, so you wouldn't even know what they looked like," Videl said, accepting that reasoning. She smiled. At least the glasses would be from that third category. She picked out four frames, and made him model them for her. After twenty minutes of constantly switching the pair, she decided on a pair of black frames. They weren't too thick, as to make them look gaudy, but they weren't too think either. They weren't huge, but accentuated his hair and eyes perfectly. All in all, she was proud of her decision.
"These are them," she said. He let out a sigh of relief before smiling at her.
"Ah, you've decided? Excellent," the man said. His cheerful facade was waning quickly. He was tired, and had been at work all day. The only good part of this was that Videl had agreed to take a picture with him, and give him an autograph for his wife. "With only this pair to work on, it shouldn't take longer than an hour. There are magazines out front if you get bored."
"Like I could read them anyway," Gohan muttered to himself. An hour's wait, with just Videl. He could handle that. Couldn't he?
"Gohan, why did you really make me pick them out?" Videl said suddenly. Their earlier conversation coming back to her.
"I told you why," Gohan said. "I wouldn't know what to look for. Besides, you'd be looking at them a lot more than I would."
"So it doesn't have anything to do with what Erasa said?"
"No, not what Erasa said," he said honestly. It was what she had agreed with after the fact.
"Okay," Videl said contentedly. Videl stood, and started punching the air. If she was going to wait an hour, she was going to make the best of it.
Gohan on the other hand, sat on the floor, and cleared his mind. His body started hovering, as he began meditating. While he was training his mind, the time flew by. Videl was the first to notice the man was waiting for them. She kicked at Gohan, who promptly fell out of his meditative state.
"Your frames are done," he said in a rather bored voice. He took Gohan to the counter where they discussed the price and payment. After a final ten minutes, he handed Gohan his glasses, and fitted them to his face, then promptly sent the two teenagers on their way. He didn't even give Gohan the chance to look into the mirror.
Not that Gohan really cared. He just wanted to be sure that they looked good on him. Or that a certain raven-haired crime-fighter would think so.
"So, what do you think?" he said, looking at her for the first time since they left the building. He was shocked at what he saw. Her face was perfectly clear. He could see the azure eyes looking at him appraisingly, he could see the way her hair fell down just past her ears—as it had started growing out since the tournament. The corners of her lips twitched, fighting off a smile. Her eyebrows furrowed when he'd been staring too long. But he saw all of it. She wasn't just a blurred face with black hair and blue eyes any longer. He could see her. And he really liked what he saw. She was even more beautiful than he remembered. He hadn't seen her this clearly since a couple weeks after they'd both been wished back from the dead.
"What are you looking at?" she asked, starting to get self-conscious.
"You," Gohan answered honestly. "I haven't seen you this clearly for awhile."
"You could have said something before, Gohan!" Videl gasped, shocked by his admission.
"But I didn't think it was as bad as it was," Gohan argued. "I thought I was seeing you pretty clearly... I was wrong."
"So, what do you think?" she asked, playfully repeating his earlier question.
"I'll answer your question when you answer mine," he said stubbornly.
"Why do you want to know?"
"Well, I kind of wanted to look good," Gohan said without thinking.
"Really?" she asked sceptically. "You could start by switching up your school clothes."
"Yeah, but they cover up my muscle, and I don't care what the people at school think," Gohan protested.
"Then why do you care?"
"Well, I—Videl, I want to look good... for you," Gohan finally forced himself to say.
"Wow... Huh, well... Um... Why didn't you say so earlier?"
"Because—wait, Videl, let me finish?" Gohan said finally.
"Go ahead," Videl said.
"I—Videl I love you," Gohan said pushing himself passed all of his previous nervousness.
"Okay. That's huge," Videl said.
"I've known since you died," Gohan admitted, feeling it come more freely now. "But it must have been from before then, it just kind of kicked me into gear."
He waited patiently for Videl to say something. Anything. He was afraid she wouldn't accept him in that way.
After what seemed like an eternity, a small smile found its way onto her beautiful face. "I kind of love you too, Gohan," she said quietly, turning to face him.
His lips pulled into a grin. She felt the same. And as the two leaned in for their first kiss, he couldn't care less about the teasing and mocking he knew was coming. These glasses allowed him to clearly see the most beautiful girl in the world; the girl that loves him just as he does her.