Prompt 2: Longing/Secret
A/N: This is an excerpt from Scattered Pictures, written from Goku's point of view. Even if you've never read Scattered Pictures, you should be able to read and follow this, though there are minor details that relate to earlier parts of the story. I've talked about doing a mirror fic for Scattered Pictures, and seeing that this prompt played perfectly into this scenario, I figured I could at least write one scene. For those of you unfamiliar with the story, Scattered Pictures is a divorce A/U taking place in the real world, about Goku and Chi-Chi, written completely from Chi-Chi's perspective. Here, you're getting a taste of what was going through Goku's head at the time of this scene (chapter 14 in Scattered Pictures).
When he walked into Bulma and Vegeta's engagement party, Goku's eyes widened at the scene taking place in the massive room. Initially, he was taken aback by the amount of people already gathered there. Rubbing his head, Goku realized he'd used up a lot of time while getting his tie straight as well as his nerves before leaving for the party. It appeared he'd lost track of time, arriving later than he thought as everyone was already comfortably engaged in conversation. The room was dimly lit with a long, dressed and set table in the center and many surrounding figures chatting in small groups while servers weaved between them with trays of delicious smelling appetizers.
When one server passed him particularly closely, Goku took an appreciative sniff of the savory, spiced aroma wafting from that steaming tray. Maybe he could grab a bite before anyone noticed he'd arrived. But as he turned to follow that scent, a sight caught his eye which stole the air from his lungs. Just past the server's shoulder, Goku could see that she was there, talking in a clustered group, dressed in a long black dress, with her hair and makeup all done-up and the creamy skin of her pale thigh exposed through her dress's high slit. His mouth went dry when the mere sight of her brought back memories from the night before. Instantaneous images passed through his mind of those pinned-up black tresses of hers cascading over the curves of her bare shoulders, of her pouty painted lips parting just enough for him to see a peek of her tongue jutting out, of her toned, powerful hips gyrating on top of him. Shaking his head, Goku inhaled sharply and turned away. He needed to stop looking at Chi-Chi. Last night's memories were too vivid. Instead, while he stood in the entryway, he looked at Krillin talking to Piccolo and listened to Bulma berate some poor, flustered server.
"Goku!"
Goku's eyes met Krillin's before darting, against his will, back to Chi-Chi. He wanted to call out to her when he noticed she was looking his way, but at the same time, he didn't. She made it clear when she left in the morning that she wanted him to keep it a secret, what they'd done the night before. He didn't know why they had to keep it to themselves, but he realized she probably wouldn't like him calling out to his ex-wife across a sea of friends looking for his attention. In an attempt to ease his discomfort, Goku gave a terse tug to the hem of his constrictive vest. He felt tightness in his throat as he forced himself to ignore Chi-Chi and instead smile at his friends.
"Lookin' sharp!" Krillin shouted. "Where have you been? We've been waiting for you!"
"All right!" Bulma called over the crowd. "Now that we're all here, let's take our seats. Everyone, find your place setting!"
With a wave of his hand and a widening of his smile, Goku greeted Krillin and his other happy greeters. Then he led them towards the table while taking curious glances around the room. Now that he was taking a moment to absorb it, the party setting really was impressive, beyond the symphony of delectable smells from the feast that was waiting for them. Bulma had really outdone herself, but then again, she was always good with that sort of thing. With his eyes set on the fancy, yet empty plates, Goku approached a seat.
"Here you are, Goku!"
Dr. Brief's call made Goku blink in surprise as Krillin and Piccolo drifted from him to make their way around to the other side of the table. Vegeta was already seated at the head, waiting impatiently for dinner to begin. Goku was with him on that unspoken sentiment. He was starving. Maybe next time he'd have to make a point to be on time to an event like this, if only for an earlier mealtime.
Grabbing the back of the empty seat offered by Dr. Brief, Goku turned a smile on Vegeta. "Hey, Vegeta! I'm sitting next to you!"
Without meeting Goku's gaze, Vegeta scoffed. "Don't assume that means anything. I didn't choose the seating arrangements."
As he sat in the cushy, heavy chair, Goku smiled. Of course Bulma was behind all of the planning for the anniversary party. Even if Vegeta didn't like where he was seated, Goku could bet he didn't have a say in the matter. He opened his mouth to address Vegeta again, but before he could say anything, Piccolo was already taking Vegeta's attention. With a shrug, Goku turned his attention to looking around at the faces surrounding him at the table. While Vegeta and Dr. Brief were on either side of him, across from him sat Piccolo, Krillin and Yamcha.
There were also two pretty young women, one a redhead and the other a blonde, on that opposite side of the table, who seemed to know each other as they giggled and whispered and occasionally shot weird looks in Goku's direction. Goku was pretty sure he'd never met them before, so he couldn't figure out why they kept looking his way. No one else in his vicinity, aside from Yamcha and maybe Vegeta, seemed to notice the women's attention towards him. Yamcha seemed to like them, but Vegeta seemed annoyed by their behavior. Maybe those two acted strange all the time. Or maybe Vegeta seemed annoyed because he was just being himself. It was hard to tell with Vegeta sometimes. With a shake of his head, Goku leaned forward to glance down his side of the table.
Beside Dr. Brief was Bulma's sister's friend (a weird, scrawny looking guy), then Master Roshi, and then some bushy-haired, loud guy Goku had never seen before who must've known Chi-Chi, judging by the way he kept talking and laughing with her while the women at Chi-Chi's end of the table ogled some pictures on Eighteen's phone.
Briefly tuning in to the boring topic of Vegeta and Piccolo's conversation, Goku wished dinner would start, or at least that he could change places with the loud guy talking to Chi-Chi while he waited. Yet he knew if he was down there, he would only screw up their secret. If he could be that close to Chi-Chi when they hadn't even talked about the incident yet, Goku knew he wouldn't be able to keep his mouth shut about all the questions he had for her, at least not in a way that Bulma or Eighteen wouldn't catch on somehow. But he still wanted to be closer to Chi-Chi. He could look. That wouldn't get him into trouble. Feeling an overwhelming urge to look her direction, Goku took a sidelong glance down the length of the table.
When his eyes shot in Chi-Chi's direction, Goku was surprised to find that Chi-Chi was already looking directly at him. Maybe he wasn't that surprised, because somehow he felt it; it had been an invisible force nagging him to look at her. And he was glad he did. Locking eyes with those dark, beautiful eyes of hers made Goku feel as if a weight was lifted from him. Her shoulders visibly tensed as she clutched her utensils in her hands and her jaw fell, but the softness of her gaze was what captured Goku's attention. The longing he was feeling was quelled, if only a little, when he saw the same emotion in her eyes.
When the server who was hovering over Bulma moved to Chi-Chi's side, Goku watched Chi-Chi jump and finally break their eye contact to look up at the server. As she spoke, Goku listened for her voice, but he couldn't hear her over the chatter of his friends' banter carrying on loudly at his end of the table. They were probably going to wonder why he wasn't participating if he didn't take his attention from Chi-Chi soon. But maybe they wouldn't think too deeply about where his attention lied. His friends usually didn't look too deeply into his behaviors, which was a blessing on a night like this.
From the far end of the table, Goku caught Bulma's curious eyes on him, only for a second before ultimately deciding he needed to converse with his friends. If anyone was going to become suspicious of him and Chi-Chi, it was probably going to be Bulma. Reaching a trembling hand towards his full, bubbling champagne glass on the table, Goku took a sip and nodded to agree with the most recent remark Yamcha had made.
"Ah, this all looks splendid," the new voice drew Goku to glance sideways over the rim of his glass at that loud guy, "doesn't it, Chi-Chi?"
Chi-Chi said something and smiled brilliantly. She smiled at that man, the way Goku had been hoping she would smile at him again.
"I'm afraid so." The stranger replied to Chi-Chi.
Chi-Chi continued talking to that other man, between fits of giggles. At that musical sound, Goku felt something clench in his chest. That giggle of hers felt special, like something that was reserved for Goku and their children. But Chi-Chi was no longer his. After last night, Goku was hoping that would change. Maybe it still could. He scoffed to himself, realizing these thoughts were ridiculous. This secret and the distance between them were messing with his head.
With a gulp, Goku raised his champagne glass to his lips and tilted his head back, downing the liquid until the glass was empty. Then he forced his gaze to Krillin's smiling face, before contributing to the boisterous conversation by sharing a detail he remembered from the funny incident Krillin was relaying. It wasn't the first time he'd heard this story or relived it, so it was easy to jump right in and have everyone laughing.
Just as he was beginning to relax, the laughter and conversation ceased as everyone looked towards the other end of the table. Goku frowned, wondering why everyone had stopped, until he followed his friend's gazes down the length of the table to find Bulma on her feet, lifting her champagne glass. Apparently she had announced something, but he hadn't heard her.
"First, I want to thank you all for coming tonight. I wanted to…"
Goku blinked as he tried to absorb Bulma's speech, but her words became vague murmurs in his head as her words lost his attention. His focus wasn't on Bulma. It was on the beautiful woman sitting next to her, fuming into her lap as if something bad had happened. Maybe Goku made her angry somehow. He wondered if he'd inadvertently given away their secret. He hoped not. Not when he was just beginning to think they might have a chance to fix things between them. Making Chi-Chi angry now would ruin whatever little chance he had.
"Yeah...that's our Bulma!"
Yamcha's slurred outburst made Goku jump in his chair and look in the direction of his friend's flushed, scarred face across the table, but fortunately no one seemed to notice that Goku was off in another world. Quickly, to avoid punishment from any number of people here who would be furious with him for ignoring Bulma's wordy speech, Goku turned his gaze back to Bulma.
"Marriage," Bulma sighed, eyeing the rising golden bubbles in the fluted glass in her hand, "is about more than being happy together. It's about staying committed to each other, even when you're unhappy. Even when you want to strangle the other person, you have to remember that this is the person you love, and he loves you."
Goku smiled to himself, recalling that Chi-Chi once felt that way about him. He was sure there were plenty of times she wanted to strangle him, but if Bulma could put up with Vegeta, Goku was sure Chi-Chi could put up with him again. If she couldn't, he was willing to do what he had to in order to make it easier on her.
With a playful smile on her face, Bulma continued. "At the end of the day, I wouldn't want to live without Vegeta. And I know he'd be devastated without yours truly."
When Bulma pressed a hand against her bare collarbone, Goku joined in laughter with his friends, setting his eyes on Vegeta's closed eyes and blushing face. Goku figured that Bulma and Vegeta fit together so well because in each other, they found the only person each of them could love more than themselves. In spite of how much his married friends butted heads, Goku wasn't surprised to see a genuine smile briefly cross Vegeta's face after that remark.
"When I decided to have this dinner," Bulma said, "I didn't care that this wasn't a ten year anniversary or some landmark we all consider relevant, because every year that you survive a marriage is relevant. Every year is worth celebrating. And…" Bulma raised her glass, her eyes watering as they locked on Vegeta, "I would celebrate one year, three years, five years, nine years all again if I could, because every one was a year I spent with you, Vegeta. Happy Anniversary."
"Cheers! Cheers!" The high-pitched trills of glasses clinking together filled the room as Goku raised his glass and toasted with his friends.
Vegeta's eyes shot open. "Now, let's eat!"
Goku laughed in agreement. Maybe the real reason Vegeta seemed happy was because he was anticipating the end of Bulma's speech and the coming of dinner. If that was the case, Goku couldn't agree with him more. And as Vegeta reached for his silverware, Goku quickly grasped his, feeling the need to dive into his food before Vegeta got started.
Goku licked his lips, his mouth watering as he looked at the steaming grilled fish, potatoes, seasoned green beans and aromatic herb nestled on the edge of the plate set in front of him by the server making his way around the table. As the band in the next room started playing background music to accompany their meal, Goku took his first large, scrumptious bite. Chewing and savoring his food, he looked in Chi-Chi's direction. She seemed to be hesitant to eat as she poked her fork around her plate, though it looked like she had the same delicious meal he had. Maybe something was wrong with hers. Or maybe their secret was getting to her, too. Knowing Chi-Chi, worries like that could make her lose her appetite. Whatever the reason, Goku didn't like seeing a frown on her pretty face.
When Chi-Chi's eyes suddenly and unexpectedly darted towards him, Goku hurriedly looked away. Goku figured whatever had her angry or worried must've had something to do with him doing something wrong. Maybe he shouldn't pay her so much attention tonight, even if he wanted to. Grasping the refilled glass of champagne in front of him, Goku took another effervescent gulp of the carbonated liquid. His second glass was already empty. He didn't drink often or care for the taste of this stuff too much, but he wasn't going to worry about pacing himself tonight. He would need the distraction because keeping secrets and having to avoid Chi-Chi while at a stuffy, formal party was no fun. Especially when the secret he was keeping was a beautiful incident that he didn't want kept secret anymore. He wanted to have his wife back, and he wanted everyone to know it.