Disclaimer: I do not own. I never will own. So sad, isn't it?

Title: Simplicity

Summary: During a conversation at the waterfall, Gohan puts Piccolo in an awkward position. Piccolo-Gohan Father-Son Fluff.

Yeah, this is another one of those Gohan: Daddy won't come home! Mr. Piccolo, be my daddy!" fics. Hopefully I put a sort of new spin on it…



-Begin-

The boy was on the verge of one of his one sided heart to hearts.

All of the tell tale signs were there. When he had first arrived this morning, his eyes had been downcast, his mouth pulled into the tiniest of frowns. While we had sparred, his technique had been off; his tiny fists, which had grown remarkably accurate since our trip to Namek, had missed me a dozen times to one. And now, as I hovered above the water and he sat facing me on that slippery gray rock of his, his face had fallen to a new low. I sighed. Perhaps it was better to pull it out of him instead of waiting for the dam to break.

"Spit it out, kid, you've been moping since you got here."

He jumped and looked up at me with those damn eyes of his. They were already swimming with tears and he hadn't even started to talk yet. I had a feeling this was going to be a ridiculously large flood of emotion over something trivial like that damn dragon of his or some stupid bunny that got killed by a bear.

"Well, are you gonna tell me or not?" I demanded a little more harshly than I had intended. Damn kid and his damn emotions…always had a bad effect on me.

His bottom lip began to tremble. I groaned.

"Out with it, Gohan," I said, softly this time.

"Mr. Piccolo…" He began with a sniffle, "I had a bad dream last night."

A bad dream? Was he joking? Honestly, the boy had faced the likes of Raditz, Nappa, Vegeta, and Freiza…what kind of dream could possibly scare him into tears now?

I told him as much in a low growl. Instantly I knew it had been stupid to voice that particular opinion. As soon as the words left my mouth he began to sob.

"Mr. Piccolo, it wasn't about any of them!" He wailed, looking up at me with such enormous hurt I felt like crying myself.

"Gohan…I didn't mean that, okay? What…" This was ridiculous. I wasn't good with emotions; Gohan KNEW that, perhaps better than anybody. He should have gone to Krillin with his stupid bad dreams. "What was the dream about?" I finally managed to bite out the words, sick with myself for letting the simple act of comforting a friend be so hard.

He sniffed again, managing to regain some slight amount of control over himself, before saying in a shaky voice, "I…I don't know."

I almost snapped at him again in frustration. So now he wasn't going to tell me, after that little display of theatrics?!

Somehow I managed to get a hold of my temper before I said something that I would REALLY regret. The boy before me, hunched over so his tears would fall into his lap, seemed to be calming slightly too. At least his crying fit seemed to slowing.

Now I just had to be careful not to start another.

"Gohan?"

At first, he didn't look at me. His shoulders had finally stopped shaking completely, but I knew that the tears were probably still trickling out of his eyes. When he did lift his head, my suspicions were confirmed by the two mini waterfalls, mirroring the grander one beside us, still following their shiny trails down his cheeks. I struggled to put a kind expression on my face before I spoke.

"Gohan, I'm sorry I said that. Really. You can tell me what the dream was about. I promise I won't get mad again."

To me, my words sounded sincere. But then, I was a half crazy former demon, not an eight year old boy. But, judging by the look of mild shock that had appeared under his tears, he heard the same thing I did. He swallowed hard.

"I…it was…"

This time it wasn't fear of my temper that stopped him, but his own insecurities. Whatever this dream had been about, it was affecting him worse than anything I'd ever seen from him before. I actually held my breath as I waited for him to speak.

"Mr. Piccolo…it was about my dad."

My stomach dropped several inches. Goku? Suddenly I didn't want to hear the rest of it. Not because I didn't want to help him, but because I already knew. Hearing out loud would only make it worse.

But when Gohan began to speak again, I made no move to stop him.

"I was in space…it was weird, I didn't need a helmet to breathe and I was just kind of floating there…I was alone for a really long time. It was really scary, I thought I was gonna get stuck there…" He paused to sniff enormously, "I didn't know what to do…but then…"

He trailed off, staring firmly into his lap.

"But then I saw my daddy's space ship. I tried to chase it, but I couldn't move. So then I yelled at him, to try to get him to help me…but he just…Mr. Piccolo, he just looked at me and then flew away! He didn't want to save me! He didn't want me! He doesn't love me!"

That last sentence almost made me physically sick. For a moment, all I could do was float there, staring down at his unruly black hair. Then, slowly, I reached out my hand and placed it on his head.

"Don't be stupid," I muttered, "of course your father loves you."

"Then why won't he come home, Mr. Piccolo?!"

I just shook my head under his suddenly fierce gaze, "I can't answer that any better than you can, kid."

He looked away for a moment, frowning. Then, his dark eyes turned back on me and he spoke in a low, suddenly calm voice.

"I didn't tell you the ending of the dream, Mr. Piccolo."

"Then tell me now," I murmured, not bothering to remove my hand from his hair.

"Someone came and saved me."

My stomach jumped suddenly from my intestines to my throat.

"Who?"

"You."

I nodded slowly, not taking my eyes off his. Suddenly it wasn't so hard anymore, to show emotion. It was actually rather simple. He gazed up at me with that familiar affection, the love I had come to rely on.

I smiled.

-Fin-

Was that really stupid? I don't know, I just felt like writing it because it seems like Piccolo is always there for Gohan and Goku is always not…its nothing against Goku, he's actually my third favorite character, after these two of course, but it just seems like Piccolo would be a better father to Gohan. Maybe I'm analyzing this too much.

Whatever…so um, read and review! Please? And I don't care if you're brutally honest…that's what I want. Just don't be too mean, kay?