"Launch really seems to be in the dumps," said Oolong, brushing himself off. "I sure am glad that we took all her guns away."
Everybody nodded in agreement.
"Hey, Tien, maybe you should talk to her." said Krillin. "You're probably the only person that she would listen to right now. Figure out what's wrong and try to make her feel better."
"Yeah," said Oolong, smirking. "A couple of good smooches should make her feel a lot better."
Bulma punched him.
"No, I don't think that I would make her feel any better," Tien said. "I think that Bulma should go talk to her. She's a girl, after all."
"Thank you very much for noticing," Bulma said with a glare. "But I agree with Krillin. You should talk to her." she gave him a glance that said, So, you can take on big monsters that can kill you with one punch, but you can't talk to a girl that you've known for a year? Wow, you're pathetic.
Tien swallowed hard, gritting his teeth. He got up and slowly made his way up the stairs. When he got to the top he turned left, down the girls' hallway. When he reached Launch's door, he knocked. While he waited for Launch to respond, he had half a mind to turn on his heels and run, but Launch opened the door before he could. Except, it wasn't Launch, at least, not the Launch he was expecting.
"Oh, hello, Tien." said not-so-Launch. "Did you come to get your socks back?"
Tien couldn't talk.
"One second," she disappeared for a moment and came back with Tien's socks. "Here you go! Thank you!"
She handed the socks to Tien then shut the door in his face.
Tien was too stunned to move for a second. He didn't know what to do. Run, like he had almost done to begin with, or knock again.
Mustering up all the strength that he had, he painstakingly raised his fist and knocked.
Launch opened the door, a confused expression on her face. "Hello again! Did I give you the wrong socks?"
Tien hesitated for a moment, took a deep breath, then pushed by her. He looked around her room and spotted a vase of flowers on her dresser.
"What are you doing, Tien?" asked dark-haired-Launch.
Tien felt like he was going to be sick. Not believing what he was doing, he pick up one of the flowers and turned back to face her.
"This flower smells great," Tien said, taking a sniff. "Why don't you smell it?"
Launch shook her head violently. "If I do, I'll sneeze and become a monster!"
"Don't talk about her like that!" Tien shouted. He grabbed Launch's right shoulder and put the flower close to her nose. Launch struggled, but she was no match for Tien's muscular arms. Tien tickled the end of her nose with one of the flower's petals. Launch sneezed, and her black hair instantly turned to blonde, her blue eyes to green.
Although she wouldn't want to admit it, Launch had always imagined and daydreamed about what it would be like to wake up to Tien's face, but not like this. She struggled against his strong hands, but he had gotten hold of both of her shoulders.
"Can't we just talk this out?" Tien asked, not letting go of Launch's shoulders. He tried to press down the feeling that he got from touching Launch's skin and focus on the more pressing issue.
Launch's green eyes showed a mix of fury and sadness "I already know what you're going to say: 'Leave me alone, creep. I only like martial arts, not stupid transforming bipolar girls.' I get it, I wont bother you anymore."
Tien was taken so aback that his grip on Launch's shoulders slackened. Launch broke lose, turning around, hiding her face from Tien.
Tien's heart sunk through the floor. What had he done to make Launch think that? Was it his shyness? How he didn't know what to say or do around her? He couldn't bear the thought that he was the cause of Launch being upset.
He had to do something. He had to prove it to her…
Tien did the gutsiest thing that he could possibly do. It took more courage than when he tried the Evil Containment Wave on King Piccolo. But for that he had plenty of time to prepare. For this, he had to gather up all his courage in an extremely short amount of time. This wasn't like martial arts, you couldn't train for it, you couldn't say that you would get it right tomorrow. For this, you had to just do it, or die.
Tien grabbed Launch's arm, spun her around, pulled her close, and kissed her.
All thoughts abruptly left them. All of their worries had gone, and they didn't seem to be coming back. The only thing that mattered was that they were finally each other's, and now nothing could possibly get in their way.
"Does this clear it up for you?" Tien whispered in Launch's ear.
Launch hugged Tien tightly. She had never been so happy in all her life. She whispered the only thing that mattered to her. "Tien."
A light tremor ran through Tien's body. He shook his head disbelievingly. "I can stand tall and strong against monsters like Piccolo, but against you I'm completely defenseless."
"As it should be." Launch laughed.
Tien wrapped his arms around Launch and didn't let go.