Warnings/Tags: Angst, Drama,Canon Gohan x Piccolo Moments Dissected, Canonverse Reimagined, The Gohan x Piccolo Angle, Incorporated Headcanons, Retroverse Compliant, Interspecies Friendship, Interspecies Romance, From Enemies To Friends… To Lovers(?), Anachronical Retelling, Non-Chronological Chapter Order,Japanese Terms, Story #60, 飯Ｐ,Ｐ飯,ズッ友,腐向け

Disclaimer: Dragon Ball/Z/GT/Xenoverse/Super/etc. belong to their respective owners. I own nothing except this derivative fanwork which I do not profit from.

Story #60:

"For All of Ever"

"Ne, Piccolo-san…"

"Mn."

"We're friends aren't we?"

"…"

"Ne?"

"No."

-x-

"Uhm, Piccolo-san? How about today, are we—"

"No."

"…"

"Go to sleep."

"H- hai…"

-x-

It was always the same question. Over and over again. The boy did not seem to get tired of asking. Every day, before all the stars have climbed into their places in the cloudless night sky. Piccolo's answer would always be the same:

No.

After this short exchange, the boy would always lapse into silence. The ridiculous ritual only annoyed Piccolo more each time. But then, there were nights when the boy refrained from asking that very same repetitive question and instead of relief, he didn't understand why he felt disappointed. It's not as though he intended to change his answer.

One night, the boy asked something somewhat different.

"Why not?"

The slightest knitting of his brow was the only indication that Piccolo was caught off guard.

"Why not what?"

"Why aren't we friends?"

Piccolo could have indulged the boy and recited all the caustic items from the comprehensive list he had compiled in his mind, but he picked the one right on top. The one which summed up their relationship in one simple un-sugar-coated sentence:

"Because I am only letting you live now so that I that can kill your father later."

The four-year-old pondered this for some moments, before giving an equally stark reply.

"Again? But you've already killed my father, haven't you?"

Piccolo was taken aback. Not only by how kindly those words were uttered but more so by how the child already knew that particular detail. He has never cared to mention it; he knew the boy would find out eventually. Telling him that his father was dead was enough because that's all he needed to know for the time being. Did he manage to figure that out on his own? If so, the brat was keener than he thought.

"It's okay, Piccolo-san. I forgive you."

"…"

"I know you just did what you had to do. You didn't really mean it. Just like the way you always say we're not friends. You don't really mean that, right? You're only saying that because you feel that you don't have a choice. Sometimes, when my parents tell me to do things, I feel the same way too."

A vein had begun throbbing in Piccolo's temple but he refused to give the boy the satisfaction of seeing how much his audacity was aggravating him, yet again.

"I didn't need your forgiveness!" was the only crisp retort he deigned to give.

"I know," the boy chimed in cheerily, not sounding the least bit dissuaded. "But I forgive you all the same."

Piccolo's teeth clenched harder.

"I know you don't really mean it too when you say that you want to kill my father again. You already killed him once so doing it again would be kind of pointless, wouldn't it? Besides, what would you gain by killing my father all over again? Would you be more satisfied after killing him twice?"

Already, Piccolo was starting to feel rigid in his meditation. He was past his limit allotted for pointless conversations for one day. He testily ordered the boy to 'shut up and go to sleep and stop asking stupid questions!'.

"B-but…" the boy meekly persisted as he sunk into an incumbent position. "I just wanted to know, that's all… You already killed my father, so why can't we be friends? You don't really mean that, right?"

This again.

Piccolo honestly couldn't decide what to be irritated about more. That fact that this boy was even more persistent tonight than usual; being almost as stupid as his naïve father to think that he could be friends with a demon's spawn like him… Or that he wasn't even the least bit disturbed by the fact that he was technically his kidnapper and his father's murderer. Of all creatures on Kamisama's green earth, he is the last one the boy should want to associate with! This kid was weird in the head.

His train of thought was curtailed when he made the mistake of opening his eyes and accidentally catching the boy's big brown eyes fixated at him, watching him intently.

Piccolo reeled in what was left of his patience, closed his eyes again and attempted to resume meditating. "Go to sleep, *gaki."

"Hai…"

Why does this brat always sound so dejected just because I refuse to be his "friend"? This peculiar little mystery was really starting to ruffle Piccolo's feathers

"Ne, Piccolo-san…?"

Oh, for crying out loud! What the blazing inferno is it this time?

"I really want to sleep but you see—"

"You have a long day of training tomorrow, don't think for one second that I'll go easy on you! If you still have so much energy left, then maybe going ten times harder on you from now on will amend that!"

"I- I'm sorry… It's j-just that… it's c-c-cold tonight, Piccolo-san. C-c-colder than usual…" the boy said in a tiny voice, teeth chattering.

Piccolo opened an eye.

Indeed, the kid was shivering badly, all curled in on himself in a foetal position.

"Deal with it."

And somehow, Piccolo's voice sounded much colder than the image of the shivering boy, even to his own ears.

"A-aren't you c-cold, P-Piccolo-san?"

"No! And for the last time—!"

But in the next moment, the sensation of tiny, chilled palms flat against his cheeks jerked his eyes open and caused a gasp to catch in his throat.

"It's true! You're not cold! You're so warm!"

Piccolo was too shocked that he couldn't move away nor speak for some seconds as the boy continued to touch his face. He must be losing his edge if this little urchin had managed to sneak up on him so easily. The boy can move fast when he wanted to. So, why the hell doesn't this stupid brat use his speed during training and instead he wastes it on petty nonsense such as this?!

"I told you to sleep!" he thundered, roughly shoving the boy away.

Gohan's small form was thrown back and he smashed into the adjacent rock headfirst.

"*Ittettette… *Hidoi yo, Piccolo-san! That hurt…"

"Apparently, not enough. You're still talking."

"Can you please share some of your warmth? Or make me a blanket?" When Piccolo only glowered at him he shrunk, but still tried appealing one last time in a timid mumble, "Will you at least… sing me to sleep to help me forget the cold?"

Piccolo's balled fist rose up menacingly. "Don't make me knock you out, *gaki."

Gohan retreated to his corner, lips quivering and shoulders heaving. He finally obeyed, lying down and curling into himself as he closed his eyes. Quiet sniffles and sobs floated up in the silence of the night. It was evident that the child was trying his best to be as inaudible as possible, but it was pointless. To Piccolo's ears the pitiful sounds were deafening.

"G-Goodnight… P-Piccolo-san."

The boy wiped his tears and nose, before shutting his eyes tighter and beginning to sing very softly. His voice a mere shaky breath that sent steam clouds rising in the frozen air surrounding them but eventually- painstakingly, the child finally fell asleep.

Piccolo ventured a look and felt a stab of guilt upon seeing the frozen tear trails down the boy's cheeks.

Oh, for fucking Kamisama's sake!

He refused to create anything more than only the very basic necessities to aid in the boy's training! He was supposed to be teaching the spoiled brat to toughen up and he didn't understand why it seemed to be getting harder and harder to resist the annoying little kid's entreaties.

Piccolo has never shared body heat before but he dropped from his levitation soundlessly to sit cross-legged behind the kid's hunched form and tried to focus on radiating his internal poikilothermic warmth outwards. After some moments, he was finally starting to slip into a tranquil state himself, lulled by the quietude of the deepening evening, when he felt sudden movement, and once again, he was startled out of his repose by his charge, whose eyes were half open.

"I was right," A smile grew on the boy's lips. "You really are a nice person even if you don't want to show it."

Piccolo was on the verge of smacking him as a huge tidal wave of embarrassment flooded his being, but for the second time, the boy moved too fast.

In a fraction of a second—just as fast it would take one to blink—the boy was already sitting on his lap, hugging him around the waist.

"Arigatou, Piccolo-san! I'm so glad we're friends!" he declared, followed by a sleepy yawn.

"We are not—" …friends! the infuriated Namek meant to yell back but was halted by the sight of the boy already fast asleep, fitted snugly in the valley between his furled legs as a pea would to a pod, little fingers locked on securely to his obi. The child's cheeks were already regaining its rosiness and he looked so much more peaceful in his slumber now that he was in his newfound position on Piccolo's lap; a position he had cheated the fearsome devil king's son Piccolo Daimaoh Jr of.

Piccolo stared aghast. He knew he should hit the boy – kick him and beat him for his persistent insolence in defying him; but for some reason… he didn't.

Instead, he found himself doing something that went against everything he ever knew and understood…

His hands tentatively reached down and, ever so subtly, gave in to stroking the boy's hair and gently caressing his cheek; making sure his fingers were giving off enough warmth to melt away the frozen tear tracks. He tensed as Gohan snuggled into him more, the corners of his dainty lips nudging upward in contentment, and his breathing falling into a soft relaxed pace.

Piccolo didn't know how or why, but somehow the sight of Gohan happy made him feel warm in a place inside of him that he didn't know could be. The child's steady rhythmic heartbeat seemed to serve a pacemaker to his own, as he heard his own heart skip and speed up and shift- until it fell in perfect unison with the boy's. It was a sound so novel and yet akin to him that it both thrilled and calmed him, and before long, he too became engulfed in a peaceful meditation state; all prior feelings of resentment and restlessness slowly but surely dissolved by that sweet melodious symphony, that from that moment on, remained as constant as the beating of a waterfall.

End.

Notes:

*gaki - Decided to keep this because while it denotes the same kind of condescension as the (drab) English equivalent: "kid" or "brat", it also heavily implies that the child is "naughty" or "mischievous" etc. (not just spoiled i.e. "brat"), and in Japanese is often used with some level of fond annoyance. In Japanese it means: 'brat', 'urchin', 'little devil'. This is actually something of a pet name the original Piccolo used on Gohan when he was still young.

*Ittettette… – From 'itai' which is equivalent to 'ouch' only said in emphatic succession. But if I typed 'owowowow', well, it just doesn't have the same effect I wanted.

*Hidoi yo – Something like "that was really mean", but the Japanese term isn't meant to come off as accusatory as it does in English. It's more like a (gentle) complain in Japanese than anything… This is also one of the things original Gohan often said (so cutely) to Piccolo.