A/N: This is a story I wrote some time ago and posted on AO3, I'm not sure why I didn't post it here but I didn't and now I am haha. This is just a quick one-shot I wrote, I made a few small changes from my original publishing but nothing major. At any rate I hope you enjoy it and be sure to let me know what you think.
Cheelai had woken up early that morning, that strange sense of waking up in an unfamiliar place hit her but quickly wore off as an odd sensation struck her. Something was off, not wrong, nothing dangerous or threatening, just off. She slowly rolled out of her bed and stood up, stretched and more felt more than she heard a series of satisfying pops in her back as she stretched. She let out a relieved sigh as she walked out the front door of her capsule home and allowed her eyes to dart around, hoping to figure out what was off.
Glancing around the cave that she, Lemo, and Broly now called home a small smile spread across her face. It wasn't the high life, not by any stretch, but it was nice, well…nice enough. Okay so it wasn't awesome and could be monotonous at times, but it was at least comfortable and the pressures were minimal. They owed most 9f their comfort to that Goku guy. Life was a great deal better than what it should have been, since he had popped in and dropped off food and some creature comforts, and things were no doubt exponentially better than the Frieza alternative.
However as she looked around now she noticed what seemed off. Lemo's window was black, still asleep, she thinks. Broly's window is dark as well but she now realizes she can't hear the normally thunderous and gravelly snoring of the the enormous saiyan. Walking over and casting a look through the window, inside she sees his room empty.
A small sense of worry began to form in the pit of her stomach. She knew full well there was nothing on this planet that could really hurt him, but it wasn't his physical well being she was concerned about. Broly was damaged, broken in a way that could not be remedied the same way his bodily wounds could.
Approaching the mouth of the cave she chanced a glance outside. It was still mostly dark out and the air was frigid and biting. But despite the less than welcoming atmosphere it looked to be safe enough, at least at the moment.
The wind bit into her skin as she walked past the threshold of the cave's mouth. She couldn't see terribly well in the cool gray light that filled the air in the moments before dawn but she was still able to make out the hulking and slouched figure of Broly as he sat atop a pillar to stone.
"Oh course he'd be up there," she grumbled as she made her way in his direction. When she came to the base she looked straight up and let out an exasperated sigh as she began to climb. She had found herself to be fairly competent at scaling the terrain of this planet over her relatively short time here, but that didn't mean she liked it. She climbed to the peak in a short order. Once she reached the top she hauled herself up onto the small plateau with a small huff.
"Hey there big guy, whatcha doin' up here?" she asked between gasps as she wiped the sweat from her brow her skin already starting to chill in the cool air.
"Watching," he said simply.
"Whatcha watchin'" she asked in a chipper tone as she sat down next to him and scanned the area. In response he simply pointed towards the horizon.
Cheelai looked out across the barren landscape and couldn't see what he was pointing at. It all looked the same to her. Nothing but desert, stone, and burrows.
"I don't see anything out there bud," she responded trying not to sound dismissive.
"Watch," was all he said in response.
So she did, she sat there in silence, her head moving back and forth, keeping her eyes trained on the horizon. She found herself starting to shiver in the cold air as her sweat from her climb began to sap the heat from her body. Glancing over, Broly seemed to be completely unperturbed by a lack of warmth. Without even really thinking about she scooted over closer to the giant in order steal some of his body heat.
Broly looked down at her with a slightly confused expression as she pressed herself against his side.
"What? I'm cold, and I'm out here without a coat because I was looking for you. So you owe me some body heat," she said very matter of factly, and in a playfully haughty tone, unable to stop herself from smirking.
Broly responded by unabashedly wrapping his arm around her and pulled her against him.
"Better?" he asked, seemingly completely unaware of the reaction it caused in her.
"Yeah…much," she mumbled, her face burning bright red.
They sat in silence for a moment, Cheelai still not sure what they were looking at. However right now she found she didn't really care at the moment. Her life had far too few quiet moments and she was going to enjoy it. She was pulled out of her revery when Broly pointed to the horizon again.
"Look," he whispered, the quiet yet borderline rapturous joy in voice was just barely detectable. Even now, with his father gone, he still seemed hesitant to express himself.
The sun had just broken the horizon, hues of red and gold broke across the sky. It was pretty, Cheelai would admit that, it didn't seem all that special however. Sure it had a few colors and shades that were not typical, but nothing too out of the ordinary. He must have watched the sun rise thousands of times, why did he seem so transfixed? Looking up at him she saw his eyes were locked on the rising sun, an almost childlike wonder shining in his eyes.
"Father couldn't stop the sunrise. It wasn't training but I could watch it all I wanted and he couldn't hurt it. He couldn't take the sunrise away from me," he said simply, his voice laced with sadness and the smallest hint of cheer and nostalgia. That's when it suddenly struck Cheelai why this mattered so much to him and a small sad smile spread across her face.
"Well, it is beautiful," she acquiesced, her voice soft and warm. She still didn't think it was all impressive, but it was lovely to look at and she understood its importance to Broly. Looking up into his face she noticed a very puzzled look on his face.
"Beautiful?" he asked as though he'd never heard the word before.
That's when it struck her, he HADN'T heard the word before. The innocent questioning tone of his voice sent a stabbing pain into her heart. It was moments like this that reminded her how desperately lonely his life was.
"Yeah, beautiful, pretty, you know something you like to look at, umm, I'm doing a good job here," she rambled before letting out an exasperated sigh, not sure how to better explain.
"Something I like to see?" He asked, sounding almost embarrassed.
"Maybe…yeah…yeah you could say that," she answered after a bit of hesitation thinking that wasn't quite right, but not too bad either.
"Does it make you feel warm…in here?" He asked as he moved his hand on his stomach. "Or maybe here?" He finished as he moved his hand over his heart, his tone still seeming confused.
"You could say that," she offered, thinking he might be getting the idea.
"Something that makes me …happy?" he asked, still sounding unsure.
"Uh, sure, that works," Cheelai responded, thinking maybe he was still a little off.
She felt Broly shift slightly and look down at her. She looked away from the sunrise and her gaze met his and she saw something that wasn't there before. Cheelai felt her heart hammer and skin burn as he gently stroked her cheek, and he spoke just one word.
"Beautiful."
