To Wear Armour in Times of Peace: Chapter 7
His head pounded as his ears detected voices nearby.
"No, bring me the paperwork!" A voice demanded.
"Ma'am, please, he's been through a lot and-" A man said.
"You don't know the half of it!" The first voice shrieked. She continued, "And it's none of your business anyway!"
"We're just concerned about his state of mind right now. A breakdown of this proportion could-"
"I'm his mother!" She yelled. "I know all about his mental health issues. Now bring me the damn paperwork or I will have all of you bastards fired!"
Gohan's dark eyes fluttered open as two figures entered the room. "Oh, Gohan, honey, how are you feeling?" The first voice inquired, instantly softening her tone.
He recognized the woman with blue hair as the first voice he had overheard.
"Where am I?" He asked, throat cracking from disuse. "What's going on, Mom?"
"You're in a-" Bulma froze. "Did… did you just call me Mom?"
The teenage boy wiped his eyes tiredly. The reality of the situation hit him all at once, and he nearly hopped out of bed. The second figure, a nurse, managed to hold him down in his weakened state. "You're going home, buddy, but I need to get you ready first, okay?"
He nodded weakly as she took out his IV. "What happened to Tao?" Gohan asked Bulma.
"Gohan, maybe now is not the right time-"
"What happened to Tao?" The boy repeated, fully awake.
The Capsule Corp. heiress sighed as the nurse left the room to fetch his paperwork. "You knocked him out. According to Vegeta, you went Super Saiyan 2 and you nearly killed him."
Seeing his dark eyes widen in fear, she quickly added, "But you didn't. Vegeta thinks you had another flashback, and… he got there just a few minutes after he sensed you passed out, but somebody had already called the police, and… Well, I couldn't let Vegeta kill anyone trying to break you out of the ambulance. So here we are."
The half-Saiyan nodded in understanding. He reached out his senses to see if Vegeta was nearby, but nearly had an aneurysm when he felt the congregated energies outside.
"Bulma," he asked, voice shaky. "Why are there so many people outside?"
"What, no, 'Mom?' Was that a one-time deal?" she joked. He gave her a serious look, and her face fell as she relented. "Everyone knows, Gohan. The cameras at the parade caught everything. Everyone saw your transformation drop when you passed out."
She sat on the edge of his bed. "But that's not all," she added carefully.
"What… it gets worse?" Gohan croaked. "How?"
"Based off your conversation with Tao, and based off of Hercule's reactions to everything that happened… everybody knows you were the one who really defeated Cell."
Despite the metaphorical weight of the situation before him, Gohan could've sworn he felt a literal load lift from his shoulders.
"I don't have to hide anymore," he babbled, blurting out the first thing that came to his mind.
"Gohan, honey-"
"No, Bulma, it's-!" He stopped as he realized he was shouting. Letting his voice fall to a whisper, "I think… I think I'm okay with it. I'm okay… with this."
Bulma reeled back in shock. "What?"
Her adopted son slowly nodded. "I think… I think this can help, Bulma. To be honest with the world…" he trailed off, eyes falling shut. "It'll force me to be honest with myself."
"Look, Gohan, you don't have to make any decisions right now," Bulma hastened. "We always have the Dragon Balls-"
"No," Gohan replied. "No, no, no. I will not abuse the-"
"Is this a bad time?"
The two Briefs looked over to see Erasa standing in the doorway. Her clothes had been obviously torn and dirtied, but she looked relatively unharmed.
Bulma looked torn as well, unsure if she wanted to leave the room or not. After all, Gohan might need her-
"No," Gohan stuttered. "It's alright."
He looked to his mother with a nervous grin, and she could see the faint blush decorating his pale skin. "Damn teenage boys," she cursed, shaking her head.
The two teens silently watched each other when the door closed behind a reluctant Bulma.
Alone with her crush, Erasa found herself taking a hesitant step toward Gohan. Then another. And another. Until suddenly she realized he had been speaking.
"-and I know this isn't what you signed up for," he said, teary eyes downcast. "But I'm sorry. I'm so sorry that I'm broken. And I understand if it's too much for you, because I don't expect you to-"
"Broken?" She interrupted, a hint of teasing entering her high voice. Gohan looked at her, not sure what she would say next. He braced himself for the verbal onslaught that never came.
"I think… Let me help you with that," she said, leaning down to press her lips against his, just as she wanted to earlier.
Gohan felt his eyes flutter closed as his mind traced her words back to their almost-kiss on the sidewalk. Eventually, his body realized, "No, this is really happening right now," and his mouth began to move against hers. His movements felt sloppy and uncoordinated, but he also felt… complete.
"Is this what it feels like to be wanted?" He wondered to himself. "Is this what it feels like to be loved by another, even when you can't love yourself?"
As the girl pulled herself from his face, Gohan realized he was panting. He was panting hard.
Erasa giggled. "I'm guessing that was your first kiss?"
Gohan nodded, not trusting himself to speak just yet. Why was he so breathless? Had Tao collapsed his lungs or something?
"Not bad," she said with a sly smile. "Maybe when you're feeling better we can do that some more."
She noticed his right hand hung limply off the side of the bed, almost out of sight. Feeling brave, she took his hand in hers.
And for the first time that he could remember, Gohan didn't flinch.
"You can do this," she told him. "I want to help you heal... and I know you can do it, Gohan. No more hiding."
He stared straight into her crystal blue eyes. "You're right... We can do this."
"I can do this," he told himself.
Goku and Chi-Chi stepped away from King Kai, and looked toward their youngest son. Despite not taking part in their telepathic conversation, Goten knew.
He looked off into the distance, and to no one in particular he replied happily, "Of course you can. You were the only one who thought you couldn't, Big Brother!"
The End.
