Map of
DragonBall(⁂)Retro
Legend:
[ ! ] Has *very* important related events to current story
[ - ] Has events related to current story
[ x ] Not yet published
[ .. ] In progress
[ o ] Complete
CHRONOLOGY:
"Don't Smell The Rozealeas" [ o ]
"Look At the Dark (Mirare Obscura)" [ x ]
"Eyes Only For You" [ o ][ ! ]
"What Didn't Really Happen" [ .. ][ - ]
"Truer Than Love" {YOU ARE HERE}
"God Smitten" [ o ]
"Valentine Scramble" [ .. ]
"Foreshock" [ x ]
"Upside-Down Inside-Out" [ x ]
Note: As with all my stories: Headcanons Abound (which is kind of a given by now). This story is part of my Dragon Ball Retro-verse. All stories within it can be read independently of each other, but you will definitely understand a lot of things better if you read the stories that are chronologically relevant first. (You might want to read "Eyes Only For You" before this (if you haven't already) because it will shed better light on the events that are about to take place here.)
This is a belated offering for Piccolo-san's hatchday of 2016 (May 9th), and an advance offering as well, for Gohan-kun's birthday (which based on my headcanon date is) also this month. Cheers!
Warnings: Fluff, Angst, Smut, Lime, Lemon, Canon Overhaul, Post-Cell Saga, GohanxPiccolo-centric Universe, Ignores Most of Post-Cell Saga, Majin Buu Saga Doesn't Exist, GT Doesn't Exist, Super Doesn't Exist, Interspecies Romance, Interspecies Sex, Namekian Social Culture & Behaviour Dissected, Birthdays & Hatchdays, Love Confessions, First Kiss(?), Defloration(?), Graphic Sex, Implied Underage Violence, Canon Male-Hermaphroditic Piccolo, Uke Piccolo, NSFW, 飯Ｐ 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 #10:
"Truer Than Love"
(Part of my "A Bed of Tulips" series)
Gohan and Piccolo spend their birthdays together for the first time.
My dearest Piccolo-sama,
I cherish our friendship more than anything in the world.
I need you, to know. Simply because you are my dearest and most treasured friend. You deserve to know…
Piccolo-san no koto, aishiteiru. (I love you, Piccolo-san.)
More than a friend, more than my own life , and I daresay, even more than the world.
Love always,
Gohan
—Excerpts from a letter written by 14-year-old Son Gohan Jr (Age 771, May)
Age 763, May. Sometime during the peaceful interlude that came after Freeza's defeat; in that elusive transition between spring and summer…
Son Gohan Jr just turned six years old. And as the humble party of three at the Son Household came to an end, he quietly snuck out to meet someone…
-x-
"'Happy Birthday', is what I believe you Earthfolk say."
A gift-wrapped package "poof"-ed out of nowhere and landed on the soft grass with a hefty thud. Gohan's eyes grew wide with unbridled excitement. But it wasn't because of the gift…
Magic was something that never failed to captivate him; that was something that only Piccolo could do. No matter how strong Saiyajins were or how much they trained, they could never move objects with their minds – let alone make things appear out of thin air the way his Namek friend did.
Laughing, Gohan pounced on Piccolo who had been levitating in his usual lotus posture and hooked his arms around that strong neck. Purple-tinged green cheeks were nuzzled against and kissed. A few of those kisses unintentionally strayed and landed on the corner of shiny mauve-stained green lips. Piccolo's cheeks tinted a shade darker, though he said nothing.
"*Doumo arigatou gozaimasu, Piccolo-san!" Gohan chirped, hopping down from his perch on the Namek's lap to sit on the ground and inspect his "magical" gift, the giggles unbroken.
The Earth-born Namek wanted to laugh too, as unreservedly as his little friend. He settled for a smile instead. Even if for the life of him, the heat blossoming in his chest felt like it was going to melt him whole…
He never expected the boy to get so worked up over something so trivial. But then again, Earthlings did tend to get excited over the silliest things. He remembered the first thing he saw the day he emerged from his egg…
A family of three, celebrating with cake and presents for their offspring.
He didn't know why he found the sight so vexing then, that he barged in and terrorized the humans as he saw fit.
Gohan had already been given cake, food, and presents earlier that day courtesy of his mother and grandfather in one of those so-called "parties" that Earth's inhabitants were so fond of – that much Piccolo knew. Since he couldn't conjure edible things yet, food wasn't an option. The gift he had prepared was the only thing he was confident enough to go with.
The boy often came to see him mid-afternoon, several hours before the sun began to set. He would excuse himself from the lunch table, saying he needed to study and that he didn't wish to be disturbed. It wasn't exactly a lie. He would, in fact, be studying; just not in his room for the most part… In the woods or by the waterfall, that's where he would usually be. Simply put: wherever Piccolo was situated meditating for that day.
Chi-chi would always be too busy cleaning up, washing so many dishes and doing other household tasks– that it would be nightfall by the time she completed all of her chores…
As long as Gohan was back in time for dinner, his absences (often) went unnoticed.
Gohan was opening his present very carefully now with almost heart-stopping precision. Piccolo's ears twitched in boy simply ripped the wrappers off his gifts earlier at his party… Why was he being so meticulous now?
"Why don't you just rip it open?" Piccolo finally blurted out.
"Oh no," Gohan muttered, still transfixed on the task of unwrapping his present with as little injury to the simple brown paper as possible. It wasn't taped up like conventional gift-wrapped presents of Earth but folded magically in on itself in such an intricately seamless way that it impeccably concealed the object within; it was like unwrapping a puzzle.
"If you like the wrapper that much, I can easily make you one that's still perfectly intact," Piccolo offered, doing his best to mask his impatience. It was the first time he actually gave this human ritual of 'present-giving' serious thought and he was very anxious to see how it was going to be received.
Gohan looked up from the almost entirely unwrapped present, a big smile on his face, cheeks flushed pink. "I want to keep this wrapper as a memento! Piccolo-san's gift is special and…" The young demi-Saiyajin trailed off as his trembling fingers finally extracted his prize from the nest of creased paper and brought it up to eye level…
It was a parchment-bound sheaf, clearly a tome—a manuscript of some sort—with unfamiliar writing not of any language he knew (well, not until recently). A buzzing energy sparked through his fingers where the aged material touched him; heart pattering like a furious barrage of raindrops within the confines of his chest from simply being in contact with it. He forgot to breathe for some subdued seconds, unable to pry his eyes from the object as it continuously magnetized him…
Finally, he looked up to find his mentor's expectant face—which quickly turned to worry when their eyes met.
"Gohan?"
"Hai…?" Gohan gasped, not realizing right away that his cheeks were wet and his vision blurry on the edges.
"What's wrong?" Piccolo's normally composed tone was riddled with concern.
"T-this is… a book about… about Nameks… isn't it? This is… very important to you…" Gohan murmured, voice quaking.
Piccolo tried to dismiss the fuss over it, confused by the boy's reaction. Gohan seemed to like his gift but… He wanted to be sure…
Dropping to the ground, he got on one knee and faced the boy. "Do you like it?"
"I love it! I'm so happy!" The little halfbreed had already reattached himself to Piccolo's midsection for another brief but emphatic embrace. "*Hontou ni arigatou gozaimasu, Piccolo-san!"
"Well," Piccolo huffed, secretly pleased. "You're always asking me so many questions about Nameks! That should be able to answer you better than I ever could; keep you preoccupied for a while and grant me a decent amount of undisrupted meditation!"
Gohan chuckled as Piccolo gave him an impish grin with the jest.
He brought the book to his chest and hugged it tightly. The tears kept coming even if he didn't understand exactly why he was so moved. It was as though his soul understood the weight of the treasure entrusted to him even if his mind has yet to gain the wisdom required to fathom it. Somehow, he just knew…
Piccolo had just given him something so precious—a piece of his physical soul!
More fits of irrepressible sobs and laughter gripped his tiny frame. His heart was bursting from so much happiness and gratitude – he wanted to repay Piccolo somehow—make him happy too!
"Ne, *Piccolo-ojisan, when is your birthday?"
"I do not have one."
"That's impossible! Everyone who's ever lived has a birthday. When were you born?"
"I did not think it important a detail to remember what exact date it was when I hatched from that egg… All I know is that it was ten years ago."
"Ten years ago?" Gohan cried, jumping to his feet. "I thought you were as old as my father! You're just a kid like me!"
A vein twitched in Piccolo's temple, not particularly flattered by the use of the word "kid"; but he bit back a growl of annoyance and stated as grown-up-esque as he could muster:
"I aged myself."
"I see… That sounds fun! I wish I could do that too…"
"I only did it because I had no choice. It's not as fun as you might think."
"Then, why don't you reverse the process?"
"It's not that simple."
"But Piccolo-san's magic is uhh-mazing! I'm sure there is nothing you can't do if you really put your mind to it!"
Piccolo fixed the raven-haired boy with a scrutinizing stare. The child's acuteness of mind and pureness of heart never failed to surprise him. Sometimes Gohan seemed to know more about him than he did himself. While he felt that his friend's exaltation for him was often out of proportion, he had grown accustomed to being showered with the boy's praises—even allowed himself to be flattered every now and then.
"Retrogression spells can be easily accomplished, if only for a limited period of time."
Gohan's eyes twinkled as a small pouch appeared and landed on his lap.
"Transfiguration type magic is one of the most complicated. Which is why I use magic bean pots to experiment first. I cast a spell on a pot filled with seeds that automatically reverse magic after a given time. When the seeds have soaked up the magic, they will mature. I can then ingest it to safely check if the spell works before actually casting it."
"Wow…!"
"I've tried aggrandisement, transmogrification, reconfiguration, transmutation, and several others…"
All the while Gohan was excitedly rummaging through the different coloured beans. "Hey! This one looks like a senzu!" he declared, holding up a sickly-green coloured bean.
"That is a senzu."
"Oh." Gohan dug inside the pouch once more and fished out a shiny cobalt blue bean.
"That's for permutation, look for the red-brick coloured one."
When Gohan had found it (though he was very curious as to what all the other coloured beans did), he slipped it into his pocket and beamed up brightly at his green friend whose lips tugged upward at one corner in response.
"Use that wisely. Don't use it until you have amply aged, otherwise you will be reverted to infancy."
Gohan gave a spry nod. "I'm really happy that we're almost the same age, Piccolo-san! That means we can be special friends!"
"Special friends…?"
"Yes. We're already bestest friends, now we can be bestest special friends!"
Piccolo's brows furrowed, not quite comprehending.
"You need to have a birthday too, Piccolo-san! How about sharing mine? That way we can always celebrate it together!" Gohan looked thrilled at the prospect but then after some consideration added, "Though since you're older than me by four years, maybe your birthday should come earlier! A day, no—maybe two weeks apart? Yeah! That way, we can look forward to celebrating our birthdays at the same time, twice!"
"I really don't think that will be necessary…"
"It's settled then! Starting next year we'll celebrate your birthday before mine! But for now, let's celebrate your birthday today too!"
"It really is of no consequence to me…"
"It is to me!" Gohan insisted as he dug into his knapsack and proffered a book about insects. "I wasn't able to prepare anything for you since I didn't know… But this is my very first and most favourite book. I want you to have it, Piccolo-san!"
It's true that in all ten years of his existence, Piccolo has never been given anything out of goodwill, let alone friendship…
And so, even if he was doing his best to act like the grown-up that he prided himself to be, he didn't know why as he took what was to be his very first present from his bestest special friend– he was feeling a most peculiar twinge in his heart that he couldn't yet describe.
"Happy Birthday, Piccolo-san!"
End of Prologue.
Continued in Part 1: " First Date & Flower Beds" …
Notes:
*Doumo(/Hontou ni) arigatou gozaimasu – Thank you very much.
*Piccolo-ojisan – In this context, means "mister" not "uncle". Gohan drops this later after learning his real age.
(ORIGINALLY FIRST POSTED IN MY OLD FFNET/X-POSTED ON AO3: 2016-05-17)