Author Notes: Don't ask me what culture the high school / world is based on. Really, I don't know. I'm kind of making it up as I go; this isn't as well thought out or well planned as most of my other things; because sometimes we just need those stories that are purely inspiration seat-of-your-pants style, right? Right. Well. I can say I have my home town American influence and so many high school anime influences. So. Eh.
Thank you for all your kind reviews. I've always been hesitant to do a dragon ball high school story, and I never felt all that comfortable with the idea of Goku in high school after the disaster that was Dragon Ball Evolution. (Gosh, I have such an urge to make a reference to that though; such an urge.)
Pairing: Goku x Chi-Chi
Words: 1,186
AU Setting: High School
~!~ Just Another High School Romance ~!~
~!~ Part 2: I Adored You ~!~
His table manners were atrocious. She sat next to him at the table and tried to focus on her own meal, which proved to be rather difficult as Goku tore into his. How many rolls could he actually stuff in his face at once? Now she saw why he'd bought so much. He wasn't planning to save it for later; no, he was going to eat it all now. How did he keep his muscular build with such eating habits? He must spend a lot of time working out after school.
She didn't realize she was staring until another voice broke through the noise. "Guess this is your first time seeing him eat, huh?"
With a startled blink, she turned to face a short bald headed boy who sat across the red picnic table from them. He looked familiar, but she couldn't seem to recall his name. So she frowned in awkward silence as she watched him settle on the bench and pull out a cap. When he put the hat on, her eyes widened at the name she could read on the rim, remembering and feeling bad for forgetting.
Before she could comment, his hand shot across the table as he grinned. "Krillin, by the way. I'm guessing you're the girl who was helping him study."
She nodded and shook his hand politely. "Yeah. My name's Chi-Chi."
"So," Krillin settled back to poke at his own food. "Did it work?"
This time, Goku was the one to speak before she could comment. "Ah ans'red all o' 'em."
Chi-Chi felt her face blush for some reason. As if Goku's bad table manners were a direct reflection on her. Which didn't make sense. She had nothing to do with the way he ate. She'd only been around to tutor him. Though she hoped she'd get to stay around longer, whether or not he still needed help after today.
"Uh, Goku, buddy," Krillin said into the awkward silence. "Has anyone ever told you not to talk with your mouth full?"
"Hm?" Goku hummed and then took a moment to swallow his food. "Oh, sorry. I was saying I answered all the questions."
"Well, that's a good start, I guess," Krillin said. "How do you think you did on them?"
Goku shrugged. "I think I answered right."
Krillin sighed. "Guess we won't know for sure until you get the test back."
While the boys discussed Goku's test, Chi-Chi tried to turn her focus to her own food. Bringing a stuffed bread roll up to her mouth, she took a bite and tried to keep her eyes from wandering as they had been wont to do this whole time. Tried. And was unsuccessful.
Sitting so close to Goku, she couldn't help but feel his warmth. He seemed to radiate at a higher temperature than anyone else she knew, and when the chill breezes whispered around her skirt, she couldn't help but slide a little closer to him. When their legs touched, he stopped his words to his friend and glanced down at her. Chi-Chi made sure to dig into her lunch and keep her head down, even though she could feel his eyes no doubt staring at her red face.
Thankfully, he didn't say anything and he didn't move away, either, for which she was doubly grateful. When Goku's attention went back to Krillin, she lifted her gaze to him once more. His thick muscular arms barely seemed to fit in the school issued white button down shirt and black uniform jacket, which probably explained why he kept the jacket off whenever he could get away with it – and why the first few buttons of his shirt were never fastened. Chi-Chi felt her face flush again when she realized she was staring.
Quickly, she lifted her gaze away from the skin of his exposed chest. His eyes. Focus on his eyes. Dark and warm and inviting and always so happy no matter the situation. Or confused, she amended. He did tend to look lost a lot when she was explaining certain mathematical concepts. Or the sleepy boredom he expressed when she tried lecturing him about historical events or grammatical corrections in the foreign languages they had to take. Or even the new look he had given her earlier when he'd been caught holding her hand. That one was happy, but it was different, too…
Her breath caught in her throat when Goku turned that very look on her, the one where his eyes seemed to be expressing so much at once that they just - "How about it, Chi-Chi? You wanna come, too?"
She blinked several times, as she fell back into the real world and then realized she'd missed an important part of the conversation. "Oh, uhm, come to what?"
"The tournament!" Goku's face lifted into a big smile and she knew his exclamation was from excitement and not because he was in any way upset at her for not paying attention. "Krillin's fighting in it, and Yamcha is, too. Do you know Yamcha? He's usually hanging around Bulma and Vegeta, but – oh, I wonder if Vegeta is gonna enter this time. I hope not. I've been wanting to fight him for a while, but I can't enter right now."
Chi-Chi blinked as she tried to follow all his ramblings. "You...can't enter until your grades go up, right?"
"Right," Goku said, his eyes dropping into a sadness that she could only describe as the look of a puppy sitting outside watching through a glass door as all its human friends enjoyed themselves on the inside. "Grandpa got really mad when he found out I was failing so many subjects. Said I spent too much time training and not enough time studying. I guess he has a point, but it still sucks."
From across the table, Krillin piped up. "At least you can still go watch the fights."
"Yeah," Goku said, his eyes brightening a little as he glanced from his buddy back to Chi-Chi. "You'll come watch with me, right? It'll really suck to be stuck on the sidelines with just Bulma."
Chi-Chi bit the inside of her cheek as Goku searched her face for an answer. How was she supposed to tell him – well - "Yeah. I'll be there."
"Great!" His smile lit the whole area around them and she couldn't decide if her purposefully vague answer had been a good idea or not. "It'll be a lot easier to sit and watch if you're there, too."
Oh, did he even realize the things he said? The words seemed to come to him so easily, making her heart flutter in her chest. She wanted to smile and laugh along with him. In fact, she almost did, but one thing sat in the back of her mind. Something she should tell him. He needed to know. But he looked so happy now. How could she…
Chi-Chi sighed. Oh, she was going to be at the martial arts tournament they were discussing. There was no doubt about that. After all, she was already set to be one of the participants.
