Written for Chiccolo Week's AU Day!

"I'm actually begging you to come with me."

"Give me one good reason, Nail," Piccolo did not even bother looking up from his book. His roommate groaned and noisily flopped back on one of the chairs. "Don't you dare break that chair, I'm not buying another one."

"I'm not buying another one," Nail mocked him in a high-pitched, nasally voice. Piccolo opened his mouth to retort, but decided against it. He had roomed with Nail for three years now, and knew that this could last all night. "Seriously dude," Nail adjusted himself in the chair, making it squeak and creak. Couldn't he do anything quietly? "You should come to kickboxing with me. You know I need a workout buddy, and you're so good at getting in a schedule…" He heard Nail stand up again, and walk across the floor. Soon, Nail was leaning on his shoulders. He had long since ceased to read, and was, if he were being honest with himself, holding back a smile. "Plllllleeeeeaaaassssse, Pickles?"

"What have I told you about calling me 'Pickles,' Nail?" He managed a growl, but Nail always managed to get under his skin and bypass the walls he had erected around himself.

"Just agree to go to kickboxing with me, okay? I'll never call you 'Pickles' again. On my life." Piccolo sighed, letting his shoulders slump and his head fall into his arms on the desk. Nail slipped and ended up laying on him for a moment before recovering and straightening up.

"I'll hold you to it," Piccolo lied. Nail whooped and darted over to his dresser, wrenching open a drawer and rifling through his clothes…

"This...this is not what I expected," Piccolo muttered as he and Nail poked their heads into Studio One, where the kickboxing class Nail so-desired to attend was being held. For one thing, the gym looked more like a dance studio, and he supposed that the room may be shared by the school's dance team. But what really stood out was that room had a much greater mix of races and genders than he had been expecting. Wasn't kickboxing something that girls typically liked? He had very little experience with girls. Namekians were all one sex, after all, and even though gender was a bit of blurred line in their community, most other alien races seemed to have at least two sexes… But humans… well, humans seemed to take the concept of gender and sex to ridiculous levels.

"Did you think I would drag you to a class with all girls?" Nail whispered, "you know they scare me more than they scare you. No matter if they're human or saiyan or twi'lek, or kaleesh, or whatever else lives on this planet."

Piccolo snorted, and the two made their way towards the back of the room, where a series of cubbies stood against the wall. "Okay… So, let's hang near the back? We're really tall and - "

"Why are there so many people standing around in my studio? You know the rules! Move! Class starts in three minutes but until then, you're running!" Nail nearly jumped out of his skin, and Piccolo barely held in a startled movement of his own. Both namekians were caught in the stampede of students, and started jogging along with the rest of the pack.

"Who said that?" Piccolo, for all his height, could not find the source of the voice - the instructor, he assumed. Nail made a noise that he took to signify cluelessness, and kept running. A moment later, music blared to life in the small room. It was almost too loud, but his ears would adjust.

"Pick a spot!" that commanding voice was followed by the group of students scrabbling to find a spot on the floor. "Spread your arms, get personal space. PERSONAL SPACE ALL AROUND." Piccolo found himself boxed in at the front of the room, Nail directly behind him. Finally, he was able to locate the drill master in charge of this class. And his mouth nearly fell open. Standing in front of him was one of the smallest human women he had ever seen in his entire life. She barely reached his chest, but she was stacked; biceps, deltoids, triceps, trapeziuses, abs, obliques - Piccolo forcibly swallowed, and found his mouth far more damp than normal. Oh god. She placed her hands on her hips, and noticed her thighs and calves. Oh sweet Porunga. He was going to kill Nail for dragging him to this. Kill him. "Alright, Postboy, if you're already huffing and puffing then you might want to rethink my class. It only gets tougher, bucko." Piccolo gaped at her, and it took him a moment to figure out she was talking to him.

"I - I'm fine," he wheezed, and heard Nail snicker behind him. He wanted to punch him. She looked at him rather skeptically, and he found himself lost in her deep, chocolatey brown eyes. What the ever loving hell was happening? This girl had absolutely no business being this cute and this ripped at the same time. He did not think he had ever seen such a captivating pair of eyes, nor a perfect pair of lips. And that little button nose?

"Okay, so most of you know me from last semester, but I see some new faces. I'm Gyumao Chichi, and this Kick Your Ass Boxing. Since we havethe space, we're gonna use the bags and mats tonight. Buddy up!"

"So," Nail panted, leaning against Piccolo as he tugged on his street shoes, "want to come back for her other classes?" Piccolo grunted, but was already mentally calculating how much time he would spend with Gyumao Chichi if he attended each of her classes.

"I thought human women were supposed to be fragile?" he mused, "or was that apart of the whole fucked up structure of human society?"

Nail made a noncommittal noise, and Piccolo decided to err tolatter half of his statement. Humans were strangeafterall.

"Dude, you have to come with me."

"Piccolo," Nail stared up at him, "I have a sprained ankle. I cannot go to that class. I literally cannot." He had a point. But that didn't mean Piccolo was going to be okay with it. No-sir-ee. He was not okay with going to that class by himself.

"Who am I gonna have as a partner?"

"Then don't go." Nail adjusted the icepack on his ankle, why did he have to play rugby anyway? He was so damn gentle…

Piccolo grunted and picked up his gym bag, heading out the door. He was too busy trying to convince himself it was just about the routine to hear his roommate chuckle as the door swung shut behind him.

"No partner tonight?" Chichi asked, looking around the room while a sheepish and incredibly embarrassed Piccolo stood awkwardly next to her. "Where's your buddy, Postboy?"

"It's Piccolo," he mumbled, rubbing the back of his head and feeling his cheeks light up in an undignified purple color. It was only made worse when the tiny woman offered him a rare smile, and shook his hand.

"Alright Piccolo, looks like you're with me." She hoisted up a mat, squaring up and settling into a wide stance. "Well, go ahead! Hit me."

Hit her? Hit her?

"No offense but -"

"I SAID HIT ME."

Piccolo punched the mat squarely on the target, only using a fraction of his strength. The mat was suddenly shoved into his hands. "When I say, 'hit me' you hit me with all you've got, is that clear? Now, you seem to have gotten it into your skull that because I'm small, I'm weak." She somehow had backed him up to the mirrors lining the one wall. How was she getting in his face like this? She barely reached his chest! "So I guess I'll just have to show you how strong I am!" Piccolo held up the mat just in time to catch her punch, and had to take several steps back as she battered the unfortunate mat. He wondered if she had any other outlets for her anger. He had to stop himself from thinking about how he wanted to be an outlet for her… Seriously what was wrong with him?

"Believe that I can handle a punch now?" she asked, and once again, his stomach did flip flops at the sight of her smile. "Good, gimme the mat and let's see what you can do, Postboy." She winked, and Piccolo vowed that he was he was going to marry her one day.