A/N: I've wanted to write this ever since I first saw the episode during the Cell saga, where the Sons are on a picnic with Krillin and Krillin asks when did Goku ever get a license. If you remember, Chi-Chi told Krillin about the failed test with Piccolo from the episode "Goku's Ordeal", but then adds that she made Goku take it again. Krillin asks how Goku passed the written test, and Chi-Chi proudly explains that she drilled him all night with the answers. It is so hard to picture Goku studying for a test, but here it goes.
He isn't getting off that easy. A promise is a promise, after all.
She lets him train and fight and warmly welcomes him home after each time he runs off to do so without bothering to tell her. She's allowing her son to train with him for the androids, provided that Gohan is required to study just as hard as he trains. She is allowing that green, kidnapping delinquent to stay at their home and train for the next three years, even though Goku never bothered to ask her if it's alright if he stays.
She only asked for one little thing in return, and if he thinks that first joke of a failed attempt fulfilled his promise, he is sadly mistaken.
"That's why I called the driving school again. The instructors graciously agreed to allow you to take the test again tomorrow, Goku." Chi-Chi smiles sweetly at her husband across the dinner table, who seizes chewing his usual overabundant mouthful of food to look at her in shock. He blinks at Chi-Chi in surprise before swallowing his food in one huge gulp.
Piccolo is already in bed in the guest room, as the family mealtimes seem to be something he makes a point to avoid. Chi-Chi doesn't mind that; it makes for one less mouth to feed and more opportunity to be with her family. Gohan has been quietly eating beside his parents and now raises his brow curiously at Chi-Chi's suggestion while Goku wipes his mouth with the back of his arm.
"But, Chi-Chi," Goku begins dubiously, "I don't really think I can pass that test. Part of it is written questions, y'know." A small smile eases across his relaxed expression, causing Chi-Chi to glare at him in warning. She knows to expect Goku to attempt to back out of the idea, which means she will have to be stern with him if she's going to get what she was promised.
"You can pass it and you will."
"Mom's right." Gohan offers with a wide, encouraging smile to Goku. "I'm sure if you try again and studdyyyy…" Gohan's speech slows to a slur as his smile melts into a guilty frown. With the way Goku's face goes out of joint at that word and Chi-Chi's eyes light excitedly, Gohan cringes as he thinks he has just mistakenly put his father in a bad position. Chi-Chi smiles triumphantly with her eyes set on Goku, who frowns worriedly back at her.
"That's right." Chi-Chi agrees with a smug smile, her eyes never leaving Goku. "We will study all night if we have to, until you are ready to pass that test." Goku's jaw drops, not a word uttering from his mouth as his eyes say it all. He is terrified. "Gohan, go upstairs and get ready for bed." Chi-Chi orders. She stands from the table, grabbing a few empty plates as she pushes in her chair. Gohan stands as well, dutifully taking his empty plate to the sink beside his mother.
"I'm going to bed now?" Gohan asks with a curious tilt of his head as Chi-Chi takes the plate from his hands with an affirming nod. "I don't have to study before bed tonight?" Gohan smiles cautiously as he asks. Chi-Chi drops the dishes in the water-filled sink and smiles at Gohan knowingly. Of course he is excited to get out of a night of studying. But she cannot instruct two people in one night, especially not with Goku as a pupil. Tonight, it's Goku's turn for a change.
"Not tonight. Go straight to bed, though." Chi-Chi adds strictly as she lowers her chin to meet her son's eyes. Gohan sighs in relief and smiles back at his mother appreciatively.
"Alright. Goodnight, Mom." Gohan says as he hugs his mother tightly. Chi-Chi wraps her arms around Gohan, appreciating the embrace before she turns back to the table to remove the rest of the dirty dishes from its surface. Chi-Chi smiles at Goku while he remains in his chair at the table full of empty plates, too frozen in shock to move.
"Goodnight, Dad." Gohan cheerily voices from beside Chi-Chi, before stepping up to Goku and temporarily disrupting him from his stupor with a hug. Goku blinks at the contact before smiling weakly back at Gohan's brilliant smile.
"G-goodnight…Gohan…" Goku says numbly.
"Goodnight, Gohan!" Chi-Chi yells exuberantly as Gohan makes his way up the stairs. Chi-Chi smiles as she returns to the sink with the dishes, humming as she works and spends a few quiet minutes to wash them before Goku's study session will begin.
"Chi-Chi…" Goku quietly interrupts her pleasant humming from behind her. Annoyed by Goku's protesting tone, Chi-Chi glowers towards the sink as she continues working.
"Goku! I know what you're going to say and I don't want to hear it!" Chi-Chi replies. "Nothing you can say will get you out of this, Mister!" Chi-Chi waits expectantly as she continues washing. After a long silence proves that Goku has no more objection, Chi-Chi smiles triumphantly as she finishes her chore, before spinning around to smile at her husband.
"Now. Let's ge-" Chi-Chi stops speaking, her mouth dropping in shock as she finishes turning to face the table, only to find it deserted. She growls with aggravation as she clenches her fists by her sides. "Goku!" Sometimes that man is such a child. She won't get angry, though. She needs him to come back to her if she is ever going to get him prepared for that test.
Chi-Chi takes a deep breath and exhales. Then she smirks to herself in realization. He has to face her sometime, and he'll probably realize that the longer it takes for him to come back, the more trouble he'll make for himself. Deciding to wait patiently, Chi-Chi heads to the bookshelf in the living room, retrieving the book on traffic laws and driving instruction she purchased before Goku's first attempt at getting licensed. Then she sits on the couch, pouring through the book and occasionally glancing at the door as she comfortably waits. It doesn't take long.
"Hey, Chi-Chi." Goku says warily as he reluctantly shuffles in through the front door, his head hanging shamefully as he is barely able to look at her.
"Are you ready now?"
"I guess so." Goku replies sadly as he sits beside Chi-Chi. Chi-Chi smiles encouragingly at her pitiful looking husband. After so many years of marriage, she still cannot understand how that man can be so excited about fighting inhumanly strong murderers, but so discouraged over something most people tackle without problem.
"Goku, this really means a lot to me." Chi-Chi assures Goku as she places the book in her lap and meets her husband's gaze with appreciation in her eyes. Goku's eyes rise from the book he was frowning at to meet Chi-Chi's eyes and smile weakly back at her. After a moment of silently absorbing the hopeful plea behind his wife's eyes, his smile grows warmer.
"Right. I'll try my best, Chi-Chi."
Try his best, he does. For the first few questions. But then he begins to lose interest. And that is when his mind begins wandering elsewhere.
"Goku! Pay attention!" Chi-Chi scolds as Goku's eyes drift curiously everywhere else around the room. Chi-Chi's tone is stern as she smiles encouragingly. "Now, what do you do at a stop sign?" Chi-Chi waits expectantly for her husband to give the answer which should be one of the easier ones. Goku stares at her for a minute before speaking.
"But what about Piccolo, Chi-Chi?" Chi-Chi's shoulders droop as she lowers her head and gazes back at her husband disbelievingly.
"What about Piccolo?"
"You asked us both to get our licenses. Doesn't he have to study with us, too?" Goku asks with a hopeful smile. Chi-Chi suppresses a growl she feels rising to her throat. Judging by the way the first driving test went, Goku is likely better off doing this on his own this time. Piccolo's influence doesn't seem very positive. And what that can possibly have to do with anything they are studying at the moment, she has no…
"Rrrrg!" Despite her best efforts not to, Chi-Chi growls as she shakes her head and glares at Goku, who scoots back on the couch in fear of her reaction. With considerable effort, Chi-Chi calms herself before she speaks again. "I don't want Piccolo to drive me places. I want you to drive me places, Goku. Now, what is the answer?"
"What answer?"
"The answer," Chi-Chi replies as she closes her eyes and takes a meditative breath, "to the stop sign question."
"Uh…" Goku says as he scratches his head and averts his gaze towards the ceiling. "Stop?"
"Yes!" Chi-Chi squeals happily as she nearly envelopes Goku in a tight hug, but her sudden movement and exclamation cause him to fearfully back out of her grasp and edge further off the couch. Goku smiles and eases back onto the couch cushion once he realizes Chi-Chi is pleased with his answer. "You come to a complete stop." She elaborates happily for clarification.
"Does this mean we're done now?"
"No!"
"Aww…" Goku pouts disappointedly. Chi-Chi rubs her forehead, which is beginning to pound painfully. She knows it is going to be a long night. She takes a deep breath before asking the next question.
"If you come to a four-way stop, which car has the right of way?"
"Oh. That's easy!" Goku exclaims with a wide smile. Chi-Chi blinks in pleased surprise. "The one that's turning right!" Chi-Chi falls over comically in disbelief. Then she jumps to her feet and glares at Goku.
"The one that stopped first!" She corrects with her fists clenched by her sides.
"Oh. Okay." Goku shrugs.
"Tell me what each color on a traffic signal means."
"What do you mean 'what they mean', Chi-Chi?" Goku questions skeptically, narrowing his eyes at Chi-Chi's confounded reaction as he crosses his arms. "One is yellow, one is green, and one is red." He explains with an indifferent shrug. Chi-Chi purses her lips while searching for a way to present the question to her husband so that he might produce a real answer.
"Yellow means slow, green means…" Chi-Chi raises her brows expectantly at Goku as she trails off and waits for him to finish, but he only stares back at her in anticipation of Chi-Chi answering the rest of the question. Chi-Chi huffs with frustration and when he continues to not answer, she exasperatedly yells, "Green means go and red means stop, you idiot!" Goku smiles back at her.
"Okay. I'll try to get that one right next time, Chi-Chi." Goku replies cheerily.
"Next question." Chi-Chi replies with a shake of her head. She is fighting with everything she has not to get aggravated by Goku's answers. She reminds herself that he is doing this for her, which makes continuing with her efforts considerably easier. "When do you need to use your headlights?"
"When…" Goku trails off with a long pause as his eyes avert to the hall, "I need to use the toilet."
"Toilet? Goku!" Chi-Chi blurts out of frustration, slapping her hands harshly into the open book in her lap. "You just went to the bathroom a few minutes ago. Just answer the question!"
"But I can't think when I need to go!"
"Hold it and tell me the answer or you'll be holding it all night!"
"I don't know, Chi-Chi!" Goku admits defeatedly.
"Goku," Chi-Chi sighs, "if you don't know the answer, just tell me." Chi-Chi smiles reassuringly at her husband's defeated expression as she places her hand over his on the couch comfortingly. "That's why we're studying tonight. So I can help you learn so you know this all for the test tomorrow." Chi-Chi smiles sweetly as she reaches that comforting hand to gently stroke Goku's cheek. "Go to the bathroom and we'll finish with the rest of the questions."
"I don't need to go to the bathroom." Goku replies bluntly, cocking his head in confusion. Chi-Chi glares at Goku, clenching her teeth with frustration.
"You just said-"
"Do you need to use the toilet, Chi-Chi?" Goku offers with a smile as he relaxes into the cushion and braces both hands casually behind his head. "I'll wait."
"No."
"Then what's the next question?" Goku asks, grinning from ear to ear.
Chi-Chi narrows her eyes suspiciously at her husband. He's smiling too much for someone that doesn't want to study. Chi-Chi nods slowly in realization. She knows her husband is uneducated and the concept of taking a written exam is new to him, but he isn't dumb. Chi-Chi knows Goku. Beneath the naïve, uneducated, kind hearted soul that she fell in love with, there is intelligence, which usually comes out when he's trying to get out of something, like right now.
"Chi-Chi? The next question?" Goku prompts with a raised brow as a look of concern crosses his face at Chi-Chi's prolonged, pensive silence.
Chi-Chi frowns sadly back at Goku. He is intentionally aggravating her and playing dumb so she'll give up on the idea of him passing that test. If he really wants to back out of getting a license, maybe he doesn't want to drive her around. Maybe he doesn't want to spend time with his wife. Maybe forcing him to do it is a bad idea. Maybe Goku doesn't want to do anything for Chi-Chi anymore. Chi-Chi feels tears welling in her eyes as she tries to turn away from Goku, but judging by the worried frown on his face she caught sight of before turning, it is too late. He already saw her tears.
"Chi-Chi?"
"You don't…have to take…the test, Goku." Chi-Chi admits sadly, a few sniffles escaping between her words.
"What did I do wrong?" Goku asks anxiously. That is the wrong question to ask after the stunt he's just been pulling. Chi-Chi feels her sadness instantly turn into fury as she spins around to face her husband, who cowers fearfully with wide-eyed worry at her telling expression.
"What did you do wrong? What did you do wrong?" Chi-Chi growls incredulously. Goku nods with a wary grimace on his face. "You don't want to spend any time with me!" Chi-Chi wails before Goku reaches a hesitant hand to pat her back in a weak attempt at soothing her.
"W-why would you say that, Chi-Chi? Of course I want to spend time with you." Goku says with a pleading smile as he lowers his head to look up to Chi-Chi's downcast gaze while she continues crying towards her lap.
"You don't, because…because…" Chi-Chi sniffles as she raises her head and wipes her tears away with the back of her index finger, "because you don't want to get your license."
"Oh." Goku replies with a guilty frown as he rubs the back of his head. "I don't really, but…"
"I knew it!" Chi-Chi replies as her tears begin to flow again.
"I mean I don't want to take that test!" Goku replies in a hurried attempt to cease Chi-Chi's tears. She raises her eyes to look at him attentively through her watery gaze. "But I do want to spend time with you. I want to spend more time with you, like we used to." Chi-Chi smiles hesitantly back at Goku's sweet, endearing confession. The look in his eyes is so sincere, and the thought of Goku desiring to spend more time together after all they've been through over the past years is enough to make her temporarily forget about how difficult Goku was being only moments ago.
"You do?"
"Yeah!" Chi-Chi sighs heavily at Goku's enthusiastic reply before smiling warmly at him.
"Then wouldn't it be nice if we could pack food and a blanket in the car, and take a drive to a nice place with Gohan to have a picnic and spend the day together as a family?" Goku nods with a small smile. "And wouldn't it be nice," Chi-Chi adds with another sigh as she leans into Goku, cuddling into the warmth of his chest as his arm hesitantly wraps lightly around her back, "if you could drive me into the city to go shopping every once in a while, and we could visit your friends by driving in our car?" Chi-Chi feels Goku shrug in answer as she continues leaning against him, her head tucked below his chin. Despite that dubious answer, she continues with the most important question. "Wouldn't it be nice to put a smile on your wife's face, because you did something for her to show how much you love her?" Chi-Chi makes a point to pull away from Goku so she can see his reaction to that question.
"Yeah. It would, Chi-Chi." Goku replies in a hushed tone with a heartfelt smile. He's not thinking about his stomach, or androids, or training in that moment. He is only thinking of her. Chi-Chi smiles back, a pleasant hum escaping her without her notice as she revels in having some real connection with her husband. "But isn't there something else I can do to show you how much I love you?" Goku asks with a hopeful, toothy grin.
"You are not getting out of taking that test, Goku!" Goku frowns in defeat before smiling appeasingly at Chi-Chi's stern visage.
"Alright. Let's finish studying." Goku relents before giving a determined nod to Chi-Chi. Chi-Chi smiles in relief as she resumes questioning Goku while he finally puts some real effort into learning the answers to the driving exam.
"Well, that's it." Chi-Chi says a few hours later as she closes the book and smiles at Goku optimistically. She can only hope all that studying will pay off tomorrow.
"Great." Goku huffs with blatant relief.
"Do you feel like you can pass?" Chi-Chi asks as her eyes widen and she meets Goku's gaze with concern. He smiles confidently back at her.
"Sure."
"I love you, Goku." Chi-Chi says as she leans forward and kisses her husband chastely on the lips. She suddenly feels the need to express that sentiment, because after that night of studying, she knows how much he loves her. Goku would have never studied for a test for anyone else, but he did it willingly, albeit with a little resistance, for Chi-Chi. Goku gazes back at Chi-Chi's loving gaze in surprise as she pulls away, before he leans forward and presses his lips fervently against hers again, expressing his affection for her through action rather than words. Chi-Chi can feel the emotion behind Goku's kiss. As Goku's hands land on her waist and caress up and down her sides, Chi-Chi kisses back and wraps her arms around his shoulders, letting her fingers thread through Goku's soft hair at the back of his neck as she sighs into their kiss. Goku pulls away with a devious smile when their passionate kiss finally ends.
"Gohan's asleep."
Chi-Chi feels her face flush with heat under Goku's lustful gaze and subtle suggestion. She can't help smiling in return as her heart flutters in her chest. Goku smiles triumphantly and abruptly stands from the couch, sweeping Chi-Chi bridal style into his arms in one smooth motion. Chi-Chi laughs giddily as she clutches her arms more tightly around Goku's neck.
"Goku!"
"Shhh, Chi-Chi." Goku whispers huskily as he makes his way towards the stairs, quietly carrying Chi-Chi towards their room. "You don't wanna wake him, do you?"
"No!" Chi-Chi giggles with a stubborn shake of her head as she leans into Goku's embrace, placing a light trail of kisses along his neck. There is no way she wants to ruin the opportunity they have tonight. She wants to bond with her husband through more than studying while they have the time alone together. Then they can fall asleep to wake the next morning and see how all their hard work paid off.
"Well?" Chi-Chi asks as she anxiously turns from the kitchen sink to face the sound of the opening front door. Gohan sits at the kitchen table, working on his homework. He turns his head curiously towards the door as he hears Chi-Chi's question. Goku stands in the frame of the open front door, his head lowered and hands in his pants pockets as he walks into the house. Chi-Chi cannot make out his expression through the black spikes of hair falling in front of his face, but his hanging head and slowly entering pace can only mean one thing.
Chi-Chi clutches a hand to her chest and frowns sadly as she notes Gohan frowning dejectedly at his father as well. She tries to find something consoling to say, but she feels too disappointed to say anything just yet. Maybe her hopes were too high, expecting Goku, who is such an unordinary husband, to accomplish such an ordinary task. Maybe she should be perfectly content with him just like he is. It isn't like riding on Nimbus with Goku isn't a thrilling experience…though they can't transport their groceries that way…and it attracts a lot of awkward attention in the city.
Chi-Chi's disappointed thoughts instantly cease as Goku raises his head, exposing his ear to ear grin as he pulls his right hand from his pocket with a set of keys jingling from his fingertips. Chi-Chi beams back at his proudly smiling face.
"Wanna go for a drive?" Goku asks as Chi-Chi squeals excitedly and clasps both hands together in front of her chest.
"You passed the test, Dad?" Gohan asks, standing with a huge smile to match his father's and clearly amazed by his father's accomplishment.
"Yeah!" Goku laughs light heartedly as he meets Gohan's eyes, and then shifts his gaze to look at Chi-Chi with a satisfied smile.
"How?" Gohan blurts out before clasping both hands over his mouth guiltily in realization of his rude question. Chi-Chi glares reprehensibly at Gohan for only a moment until Goku laughs loudly at Gohan's ashamedly blushing face, and then smiles at Chi-Chi.
"It wasn't easy, but I had a great teacher." Goku winks at Chi-Chi, who feels herself blushing at his compliment as Gohan looks at her and smiles with admiration.
"Race you to the car!" Gohan abruptly challenges as he zooms through the door, right past Goku, whose eyes widen in alarm.
"Hey!" Goku yells as he follows Gohan outside. "No fair! You had a head start!" Chi-Chi giggles at her family's playful spectacle as she closes the door and follows her son and husband outside, where Piccolo is already standing beside the car and silently observing the father and son with an amused expression.
A bubbly feeling of satisfaction rises to Chi-Chi's chest at the sight of her husband climbing into the driver's seat of a car. Now she can enjoy the simple pleasure of a car ride with her family, with her husband. Goku never ceases to amaze her. Maybe it wasn't such a bad idea, helping Goku re-test for his license. Not bad at all.