Note: This is supposed to be the English version of my Japanese story: "赤い糸のキッシングブース". Supposedly. But it mutated into something else entirely. More notes at the end.

Warnings: Shounen-ai, Shoujo-ai, Alternate Reality, Fluff Without Plot (FWP), Crack, Gothic Romance, Interspecies Romance, Normal High School (No Powers), Kissing, Love at First Sight, Inspired by Amazing FanArt!

Credits & Dedication: A big thank you to Sheep-san from Pixiv! For sharing the GohanxPiccolo love, for the inspiration for this story, and for granting me permission to use her lovely illustrations! ︎Full illustrations & links to her page can be found in the original post of this story on AO3. Cheers!

Disclaimer: Dragon Ball/Z/GT/Xenoverse/Super/etc.belong to their respective owners. This story, however, is my derivative brainchild, created for my personal pleasure & sublimation. I own nothing except this derivative fanwork which I do not profit from.

Story #80:

The Red-Strung Kissing Booth of Fate
(English Version)

There is a story of a kissing booth with mysterious powers to bring destined lovers together, no matter where or who they were. They say that within its dome-like, shabby tent walls was a portal where all the red strings of fated lovers converged. You need only step inside, for whoever is tied to the other end of your fabled "red string of fate" to be pulled towards you.

It all began as harmless campus folklore fabricated to boost funds raised during school festivals. But one incident in a school called Orange Star High transformed it into not only an urban legend but questionably, a true-to-life story of love.

It was just another school festival one summer like all other summer school festivals. Booths of all shapes and sizes were set up and appetizing aromas of street food and popular snacks wafted from all directions enticing customers to indulge in the festive array. All in all, the usual run-of-the-mill merry atmosphere as far as school festivals went. Except of course, for one very special attraction that sucked in curious uninitiated souls surer than quicksand. The queen of all festival booths, the controversial, Kissing Booth of Fate.

As rumour would have it, you simply needed to pay the token fee, step inside and get kissed. And presto! By some miraculous work of unknown forces beyond, just like that, you will find love or love would find you; whichever came first. It was a tall order. Perhaps too tall for a shabby old tent with ordinary –if not exceptionally charming- students manning it and giving out chaste kisses. After years of claim to such fame and failing to deliver, the idea slowly began to lose its novelty and the booth was patronized more for fun and tradition than anything. Of course, the lure of getting a kiss from a pretty girl (or boy) had its own timeless appeal in itself, so the Kissing Booth weathered festival after another managing fairly well.

But not everyone was a disbeliever. At least, not Erasa, the student in charge of the said booth that year. She was happy with the turnout and even happier to give out kisses. But more than anything, she was secretly pleased that on her watch, the booth was going to be used for good; it would live up to its reputation. Erasa wasn't only naturally blonde and beautiful but fastidiously helpful, especially when it came to matters of the heart. She took joy in seeing people find love; and when they couldn't, she sometimes even went out of her way to help them find it. Such was the case that day.

She had a special project, one that was more important than the unofficial school tradition of topping the previous festival's Kissing Booth profits. A project which involved playing cupid to two of her friends…

The first of whom was a boy named Gohan. He was, what many considered, the ideal boyfriend; sweet, smart, boyishly handsome, and an obsessive-compulsive level of ingrained propriety. At least, he would have been perfect boyfriend material, if he were actually interested in girls. Somewhat socially awkward and completely oblivious to how attractive he actually was, he also had a reputation for being quite the idiosyncratic; not even the "head in the clouds" kind but more of the "head floating out there in outer space" variety. Where normal boys his age fantasized about women and well- fellow humans in general, Gohan fantasized about aliens and extraterrestrials, even going as far as believing that he had alien blood himself. Many were understanding -or desperate- enough to overlook that side of him; nobody is perfect, after all.

Friend number two is a feisty girl named Videl. She was, compared to Gohan, fairly normal. As normal as only daughters of filthy wealthy families can be. Typically used to having things her way and never taking "no" for an answer. Losing to others and respecting boundaries were not in her repertoire either. In fact, she was somewhat a specialist when it came to crossing lines, invading privacy, and impinging on personal space. Which was probably befitting, since she had her mind set on becoming a law enforcer. Still, what she lacked in finesse, she made up for with brains and a lot of beauty, and this guaranteed her fair share of understanding and desperate admirers.

In Erasa's mind, two of her favourite friends who fell under the category of single, available,and quirkywas the definition of a perfect match waiting to happen. She was determined to be the one to make it happen. And she was convinced that all she needed for it was a magical Kissing Booth and a failsafe plan. A plan that went something like:

During the booth's dead hours, she would ask Gohan to "watch" the booth for her while she took a short "retouch and washroom break". Then, with the help of her boyfriend Sharpner who was supposed to get Videl inside the booth's tent afterwards, and with her ensuring that Gohan did not leave before that happened, everything would fall into place. Since Gohan and Videl didn't personally know each other yet and had no idea that they were both friends with Erasa, they wouldn't suspect that it was a set-up. Being caught inside a Kissing Booth alone together, what else was there to be done, but kiss? After the kiss, they would fall in love and start dating, and it would be a mission accomplished! The whole scenario played out in such high definition clarity in her mind that Erasa was very optimistic of what to her was the only possible outcome.

On the fated day, it looked like everything was conspiring along with her. The peachy weather, the barren state of Gohan's Extraterrestrial Paraphernalia Booth which gave him no excuse not to leave it for a few minutes. Even Videl who had taken it upon herself to patrol the festival grounds for litterers and delinquents to be detained in her Detention Booth was going to be no problem roping in. All Sharpner had to do was tell her that a felon was trying to steal kisses without paying the fee and she'd be upon the Kissing Booth like a plague.

Unless a UFO decided to crash land on their school grounds or an unexpected alien invasion were to suddenly take place, nothing could have upset Erasa's well-laid plan at all. Well, nothing… except fate. And as fate would have it, right after Erasa stepped out and Gohan was shoved into the Kissing Booth in her place, both aforementioned highly unlikely events choose that very moment to occur…

Just as Sharpner was about to take off to find Videl, a seven-foot tall green-skinned being in a pristine white mantle who seemingly appeared out of nowhere was standing imperiously before of him.

"I wish to speak with your leader."

"M-m-m-my leader?!" Sharpner squeaked as his knees gave out and he was reduced to a trembling mess on the floor. Shaking hands reached out to pull open the flap of the Kissing Booth's tent door. "I-i-i-inside!"

And that's how Gohan suddenly found himself face to face with the said seven-foot tall green-skinned being. There was no doubt in his mind that he was seeing an extraterrestrial (an actual, living, breathing, alien creature!), although he and his mind weren't quite sure yet if what they were seeing was actually real or imaginary.

A normal person's reaction would have been to run away screaming (or in Sharpner's case, snivelling whilst wetting his pants), but Gohan, while definitely shocked, wasn't even afraid as much as he was spellbound. Consequently, this threw the said being and his own alien mind for a loop. He was used to everyone running away screaming or cowering in fear at the sight of him, not gaping at him in awe. He wondered if this was some kind of psychological warfare tactic their leader used.

The being, whose name was Piccolo, was on his spaceship heading back to his home planet, when his antennae picked up an energy reading unlike anything he's ever sensed before. Bored anyway, he thought he'd land and investigate, and hopefully, have some fun. He enjoyed terrorizing inhabitants from neighbouring planets and getting a good fight out of them from time to time. Other than that, his other hobbies were actually relatively more tame, like meditating and annoying his elders just for the heck of it.

'What is this place?'

The being had spoken inside his head! It was an alien language, but amazingly, Gohan understood it as though it were his native tongue.

'E-Earth…?' Gohan replied unsure if that piece of information was necessary but thought to mention it anyway. 'You're… in, uh, our… school festival's Kissing Booth…?'

Piccolo took a moment to take in his surroundings but could gather nothing from it; the place and walls were bare. 'A "Kissing Booth"? What exactly is that?'

'Uuhh… Well… it's, err, a place where you, uhm… get kissed…'

'Hm. "Get kissed"…? What's that? Is that important?'

Gohan found himself unable to close his gaping mouth. 'Uhm, well, it depends… on your objective… I guess?'

'Ah. My objective. Yes, of course!' Piccolo grinned all of a sudden, quite deviously; treating Gohan to a nice display of his perfect razor-sharp canines. 'I'm here for conquest!'

Again, that would have been any normal person's cue to do the usual running and screaming routine, pants-wetting, or even the least embarrassing option of simply fainting. But again, Gohan didn't do any of that. Instead, he swallowed hard as he felt his nose threaten to have a bloody eruption; incredibly turned on by the fangs and intimidating talk and all…

'Uh, okay, sure! Heh!'The boy mentally drawled, smiling stupid and half-delirious. 'Conquer away!'

'That's it?' Piccolo blinked, once again, thrown off course. Surely, it couldn't be this easy? He was honestly looking forward to a little bit more of fear and excitement, and a whole lot more of action. Others usually pulled out all the stops after he delivered his 'conquest' line. Apparently, they did things differently on this planet… This leader was a tricky one.

'Why not claim your kiss as well?' Gohan bit his lip, cheeks burning and entire body heating up along with it. 'Since you are, you know, already in a Kissing Booth anyway. It's as good a place to start a conquest as any.'

'I don't know what that is… this "kiss" you speak of.' Piccolo narrowed his eyes in suspicion. 'Is that, some sort of challenge?'

Gohan was already inching closer, a sultry, somewhat hungry look in his heavily lidded brown eyes. 'It can be… If you want it to be.'

Before Piccolo realized it, his back was against the wall and Gohan was pressed against him. His neck was suddenly enclosed in surprisingly strong arms, fingers stroking his nape, and his lips captured within the boy's own…

He didn't understand the sudden tumultuous feeling in his gut or why he couldn't keep his eyes open. There was fear and there was excitement: and definitely a lot of action... But for reasons entirely different from what he expected; reasons he couldn't put a name on just yet. Trying to get a handle on the situation proved futile as his mind seemed paralyzed, sinking deeper and deeper into the lull of inundating sensations, leaving his body helpless to this strange ritual that was being performed on him.

By the time Gohan pulled away panting and flushed, Piccolo felt weak and dazed, even more expended of energy than he usually felt after regular rigorous hand-to-hand combat. He didn't ask questions, but somehow he knew. He had just lost a round of this new and formidable kind of battle.Interesting.

Piccolo smirked at the cunning creature who had just pulled one over him, getting a shy smile in return. Not one to back down so easily, he roughly pulled the Earthling back towards him, crashing their lips together, determined to win this round, growling low as he felt Gohan respond with equal ferocity.

In all his life, Piccolo prided himself as never having lost a battle, even once.

Somehow…

This time…

He didn't mind losing at all.

The End(?)
Epilogue Ahead…