Summary: Twelve things Broly experienced for the first time.
Sorry this took so long :(.
This Fragile World
Swimming -
Broly could not stop staring at Cheelai.
It was a wonder how she hadn't noticed, really. The amount of time he had spent with his eyes locked on her really ought to have alerted her to his attention already. Nonetheless, she continued on with whatever conversation she was having with the woman named Bulma, and the other earthlings that seemed just as gravitated towards her words.
It was almost funny, really. For all the talk Cheelai had said about not trusting "every saiyan on some remote planet", it did not take long for her mind to change. At least, when Kakarot, during one of their sparring matches, extended an invitation from Bulma to visit Earth on a more leisurely trip, she hadn't spoken of any objections. In fact, Cheelai had clearly been more excited than anything else, going on and on about all the aspects of "normal life" she could not wait for Broly to experience.
One of those things being swimming. In fact, the only reason they and a host of Kakarot's earthling friends were even here at all was because she had convinced Bulma that a "pool party" absolutely had to be included somewhere on their itinerary simply for this lesson.
Broly had only ever been vaguely aware that such a skill even existed. For that matter, he could not understand why Cheelai was seemingly so determined for him to master it. If ever he found himself sinking through water, he could always just fly out of it. It seemed like a very unnecessary skill for him to learn.
In any case, he wasn't learning anything right now. No, right now, he was only staring.
It was her outfit that seemed to have so thoroughly captivated his attention. The "bikini" as she called it. The ensemble was a tight fabric, split into two halves, and a deep purple—the color she had once told him was his favorite. The bottom half was held together by two sets of strings at her hips, and covered the majority of her backside, but not all of it. The top half looked as if it were probably even tighter, wrapped over the mounds of her chest and behind her neck in a way that seemed... precarious.
There was nothing covering her legs. There was nothing covering her arms. There was nothing covering the soft lines of her torso. Nothing but a layer of glistening droplets of water.
He had never seen so much of her skin before, he realized. He had seen her legs, of course, when she would lounge around in a pair of comfortable shorts, had seen her arms too. Nonetheless, he had never seen her... like this.
Dimly, he wondered if perhaps it was because she was a woman that she was so... intriguing.
It was an odd notion. Truthfully, when he had first met Cheelai, he didn't entirely understand what it was that made her "female", and it never seemed like it would be a good idea to ask her. His father had discussed the topic a few times, but given that Broly had no point of reference, many of the words he used didn't really mean anything to him.
Even after they had become friends, it still did not seem like a distinction that ought to be all that important to him. He could, for the most part, tell a difference between the sexes (a skill that had further developed as a side effect of the movies Lemo and Cheelai enjoyed watching with him). Beyond that, though, he didn't see why such differences mattered.
He was seeing those differences quite clearly now. He was seeing them, and having a very, very hard time looking away.
"Geez, man, could you stare any harder?"
Broly had dimly sensed the presence of another person sidling up to him, yet he still jumped at the voice. He peered down at the man, and after a moment of thought, recalled that his name was Yamcha. Other than the initial greeting that morning, they hadn't spoken yet. Given how all of Kakarot's other friends had practically formed a line to have a chance at talking with him, he was surprised it had taken the other man this long.
"What?"
"I'm just saying," Yamcha went on, a sly looking smile on his face, "If you were trying to be subtle, you missed the mark by a mile, pal."
It was then that Broly processed his words from before. "Is it wrong to stare?"
His father hadn't ever liked to be stared at. What was the point in looking if he had nothing to say, he would tell him. Maybe his father hadn't been unusual in feeling that way. Broly was still trying to mark the differences between mannerisms that were unique to his father, and mannerisms his father had because he actually experienced living amongst a society.
While he was admittedly never so... transfixed, it was not the first time he had stared at Cheelai, or Lemo for that matter. Their appearances were very interesting to him, so different from what he was used to seeing all his life. Even more so, it often times felt necessary that he kept his eyes on them. While it had been a good deal of time since he had first met them, it still sometimes felt like they were new entities, beings that would disappear if he looked away for too long.
Cheelai and Lemo had, at first, seemed admittedly a bit discomforted by the attention. They never told him to stop or said it was rude, though. He never thought it was something they were really bothered by.
Then again, he had never looked at her so intently before. He had never looked at her, and wondered about the other bits of her skin his eyes could not yet to see.
Yamcha, seeming to understand that Broly was not socially-trained enough to understand the camaraderie, looked distinctly as if he regretted starting the conversation.
"Well, yeah?" He seemed to think for a moment. "Well, maybe not so much if she's into it."
"'Into it'..." Broly echoed, unsure if he was understanding the concept. He probably wasn't.
"Yup," Yamcha said, popping the 'p' in a way that even Broly could tell was slightly awkward. Before the silence could drag on too long though, his eyes suddenly lit up, looking well and truly saved.
"Ah, there she is now. Good luck, buddy," Yamcha said, slapping him good-naturedly on the back before sliding away. Broly wondered what it was he needed to be lucky about.
Nonetheless, Cheelai was, indeed, coming over. His eyes locked back on her, watching the way her thighs cut through the shallow water, the way her hips swayed with each step, the way her smile lit up her whole face.
"It's time for your swimming lesson!" she said brightly as she pulled up beside him, though also in a tone that seemed to dare him to argue.
He hummed in response.
"Come on, we'll have to go deeper," she said, wrapping her hand around his wrist. She led him further into the pool, until the water was up to her shoulders. The coverage made her less... distracting, but made him more reluctant to let her go, lest she somehow slipped under. That she knew how to swim was quite irrelevant as far as his irrationality was concerned.
He asked, "What do I have to do?"
"Nothing for now. We can just start off with you floating on your back for now."
He hummed again. That sounded simple enough.
Suddenly, she leaned forward, so close that her front nearly brushed his. A playful smile came over her face, though the look in her eyes held something that felt almost akin to danger.
"Don't worry, I promise I won't let you sink," she said, finishing it with an impish wink.
He wasn't sure what, but something told him that he... might be in trouble.
TBC