Red Roses2: Disclaimer: I don't own Dragonball Z.
Never Talk About Dad At School
Erasa stood up and waved Gohan over to their lunch table. "Hey cutie! Come sit over here!"
Gohan blinked and, keeping his head down, walked over to the only three people he had really interacted with since he first stepped into the classroom. Videl still glared at him, and Sharpner seemed determined to put a damper on his day. He wondered why Sharpner didn't seem to like him. The blond reminded him of Vegeta a little.
"So, brains, think you have enough food there?" Sharpner said as Gohan dug out the container he brought from home. Gohan blinked, wondering how he should answer that question.
"Well, no, actually. I usually eat more than this, but I couldn't find a larger container that would've fit in my bag." Gohan said truthfully, not realizing how strange that sounded until the three pure-bred humans looked at him weird. Turning red, Gohan shrunk into his chair.
"Leave him alone, Sharpner. It's good for a boy to have a good appetite." Erasa said, taking a bite out of her rice ball.
Sharpner laughed. "You sound like you're his mom!"
"No, Mom swears my brother and I are eating us out of house and home." Gohan said; he couldn't help it. He opened the container. Videl spat out the food that was in her mouth.
"What is that?" Videl demanded, pointing at Gohan's food.
Gohan blinked down at it. "Uh, dinosaur meat?" Videl looked up at him, looking completely disturbed.
"How did you get it?"
"Um . . . . Can we talk about something else?"
Sharpner and Videl had identical looks on their faces. Gohan looked down, trying to avoid their stares.
"So, Gohan, you have a little brother?" Erasa asked.
"Uh, yeah. His name's Goten."
"How old is he?"
"Seven."
"Aw, I bet he's really cute!"
Gohan smiled, glad that someone wasn't thinking he was abnormal.
"Yeah. He looks just like Dad."
"Who is your dad?"
"Uh . . . . Well . . . . He's a martial artist."
"Is that so?" Videl said, narrowing her eyes at him again. Gohan gulped.
"Bet Mr. Satan could beat him, no problem," Sharpner said. The three humans all blinked in surprise as Gohan's hands balled into fists. It was the only indicator that Sharpner had hit a nerve, because Gohan suddenly looked perfectly happy aside from that.
"What's his name?" Videl asked, keeping an eye on Gohan's fists.
"Goku Son."
"Never heard of him."
"Well, it has been a while since he was in a tournament. The last one he was in was before my parents got married."
"Whoa, that's a long time. So, what's he do? Run a dojo?" Sharpner said.
Gohan shook his head. "He doesn't really have a job. Mom, Goten, and I are mostly living off of Grampa's money and whatever I'm paid to baby-sit my brother's friend, Trunks."
Gohan winced as they all looked shocked at that. It wasn't that strange, was it?
"What?" Videl said.
"You're living off baby-sitting money!?" Erasa gasped.
"It's not that big a deal," Gohan said, looking like he'd rather merge with his chair.
"Doesn't your mom have a job?" Videl asked. Gohan shook his head.
"She doesn't have enough time to, with all the cooking, cleaning and teaching Goten she does."
"But why doesn't your dad have a job?" Sharpner asked. Videl tensed as Gohan's fists tightened.
"He's not really around anymore," Gohan said, not a drop of pain or anger in his voice.
"What do you mean?" Erasa said.
"I mean I haven't seen him in seven years."
All three of the humans stared at Gohan in shock.
"What?"
Gohan sighed and took a bite out of his dino-meat.
"What do you mean? What happened?"
Gohan swallowed. "He just decided that he wasn't coming back."
"But don't you know why?" Sharpner asked. Gohan shrugged.
"I guess he just got bored with life here." Gohan said, taking another bite of food. The table was horribly quiet as Gohan finished the meal in his container. Gohan got to open his water bottle before anyone said anything else.
"Do you still hear from him?" Erasa asked.
"No. Not really." Gohan answered, putting the bottle to his lips. As an after thought, he added, "He probably doesn't even know he has a second son." Instead of looking at his classmates' faces, Gohan looked up at the ceiling. Is that true, Dad? Do you really not know that Goten exists? Or can you see from up there?
"Wait, you're that seven-year-old's only male role model?" Videl said, anger bubbling up in her. Who would just leave his kid to help raise his other kid? That was worse than her dad.
"Well, there's Trunks's dad, but other than Vegeta, that is kind of true, I guess. But he does hear a lot of stories about Dad, so maybe not."
"How can you talk about this so calmly!?" Videl burst out. Gohan blinked at her, surprised by her outburst.
"How else am I supposed to talk about it? It's just how Dad is." Gohan then smiled. "Besides, there's no point in being mad at him. Even if I was, once he came back, I'd probably forget all about being mad because whenever he's around, it's like everything's going to be okay even if Cell comes back and terrorizes the Earth again." Sharpner, Videl, and Erasa all blinked in surprise at that. Gohan looked up to the ceiling again. "You forget all your worries 'cause you know he'll take care of it."
The bell rang, breaking their conservation to an abrupt halt.
Red Roses2: Okay. Vote: 1) leave where it is, 2) make a second installment where Videl, Sharpner, and Erasa meet Goku, or 3) make a second installment where those three meet Goten and Chichi and get their outlook on Goku's fathering skills.