Chapter Text
Chapter 12:
As they flew over the ocean, 18 knew she made the right choice choosing shorts, but she also gasped in response to Krillin announcing his newly devised plan for where they were going, “An amusement park?!”
“Sure!” He spread his arms out wide, “It’s summer, it’s the middle of the day, what better way to spend it-- especially on the West Coast!” He sped up, racing ahead, as 18 quickly kept pace with him.
“I guess so.”
They dropped down a ways away from their destination, a cheesy amusement park a bit more like a boardwalk with rides.
“I’m thinking that we can get tickets for a ride or two, but then we can just play games and get food-- the rides are kinda for kids,” Laid out his ideas of their date and 18 nodded along, accepting them without thinking that much. She was much more overwhelmed by all the people in crowds.
“Is it a holiday?” 18 asked.
“No, but it’s Saturday…” Krillin turned, skillfully taking her hand at the same time and pulling her in tighter. “Didn’t you work today?!”
She shifted her eyes down at him, “Yeah…?”
“So, no one talked about what day it is? The date? Anything?”
18 muffled a laugh, “I don’t really talk to people.”
That caused Krillin to giggle, “I’m not surprised.” He squeezed her hand as they got closer and closer to the rides. He raised his voice so she could hear him, “Do you like...working?”
“Uh…” 18 thought on that question for a second, picturing the orders her manager made her write down even though she could remember them perfectly without even trying and the customers that pissed her off, but she got disciplined later for being rude to, “Not really.”
With another laugh, Krillin reminded her, “You can quit… whenever you want.”
She waved that off, “Yeah, yeah.” 18 locked onto the ticket stand, then searched around for how many tickets a ride would cost. She noticed there were different amounts of tickets required for different rides. “Which rides?”
“Huh?”
“The amusement park?! What rides did you want to go on?” She was getting a little aggravated.
Krillin was still pretty chill, they hadn’t even entered the actual amusement park area yet. “I dunno, let’s walk around, see what looks fun-- Sound good?”
“No! Some rides cost more tickets than others, so we need to choose before we get tickets!” 18 stopped in her tracks, letting go and insisting suddenly that they make a solid plan.
“Huh?” Krillin jumped up and to the side, looking past the fence and gate, “You can see that far? I thought my eyesight was good…”
18 sighed. She went easy on him, realizing that he wasn’t ‘gifted’ the same enhanced eyesight she was. “Okay, whatever.”
Krillin waited a moment, then heard her out, “No…” He said easily, “What are the ticket prices? Let's figure it out.”
18 took his hand back.
“It looks like some rides are like 4 or 5 tickets, but those are for babies! And then, the other rides are either 6, 7, or 8 tickets. There’s like deals on the ticket booth-- you can look at them…” Her voice trailed off as she took a step forward. Seemingly out of nowhere, she started to feel a little nervous. Maybe it was talking so much. Maybe it was being out in public. Maybe it was the fact they were officially a couple now, but 18 started to panic.
“Hey! Step up and test your strength! You think you have what it takes to ring the bell?!” Krillin heard a carnival-like voice cry over the crowd. He whipped his head around to find where it was coming from. One of those tall strongman games with a hammer and a bell stood up ahead and across the street from them.
“Let’s do that!” Krillin screamed excitedly, “Wouldn’t that be fun?”
Before 18 could really answer, he was pulling her over with him. She really didn’t need Krillin to prove his strength, obviously, he could break this whole game with one finger, or just a blast of air. But… Seeing Krillin’s eagerness, she wondered if maybe he needed to prove himself.
Krillin jogged up to the carnival man and exclaimed, while letting his hand fall out of 18’s, “I’ll try it!”
18 stumbled behind but waited to watch him.
“How much?” Krillin asked, stepping up.
The carnival man sized him up, but lowered himself to say “1200 yen.”
Krillin grinned. He hoped this man and anyone in the crowd watching thought this was easy money. He reached into his pocket and handed the carnival worker his money.
“Okay, you only get one hit. Got it?”
“Yup!” Krillin took the large hammer from the man.
“Don’t hurt yourself okay? I don’t think this has any insurance.”
18 couldn’t stand that cheeky grin on his face. What was he going to do? She wondered, Is he going to destroy the whole thing? She nervously looked at the people around her.
“Why didn’t you show off?!” 18 questioned as she and Krillin walked away.
Krillin shrugged, humbly, “I don’t need to… You and I could both hit the top easily.”
“I know but…” 18 was so confused, and a little disappointed if she was being honest, “Why did you only go like ¾ths of the way up?!” 18 was watching him waiting for the bell to ring and for everyone watching to be surprised. They still were impressed Krillin got that high in the test of strength, but 18 knew he could do much better.
Krillin laughed, “First of all,” He spun around in front of her to explain himself, “It’s impressive I have that kind of control over my strength, right? And second, the prize for hitting the bell sucked! I don’t want to carry around a giant stuffed animal!”
“Oh,” she lightly swung the bag of popcorn they had won instead.
“Plus…” Krillin pointed at the bag, “That’s flavored, it’s gonna taste great!”
18 rolled her eyes.
She couldn’t believe he didn’t show off with such an easy opportunity and when it really seemed like he was going. Did he run up to that game all excited, just to get an okay score? What for?
He did turn back to her and smile when he had hit and it only went part of the way up. It was a big, goofy grin to the point he was almost snickering. The worker sounded mildly surprised and gave Krillin the popcorn bag as a prize.
He had rushed over to her, laughing and smiling. Looking like a fool and a goofball. “How’d I do?” He handed her the popcorn over a small metal fence. 18 didn’t answer, and instead stood there confused and blinking.
“That was pretty good, Little man.” She heard another man’s voice say as Krillin had gone around to exit through the gate of the fence.
“Thanks,” Krillin’s voice replied, cheerily.
When he got back over to her, he had taken her hand. She was then guided away by him, all while still being utterly lost.
“Let's eat it now!” Krillin suggested and searched for somewhere to sit. “There’s a bench!” He pointed and pulled on her arm.
“You’re so weird.”
Krillin laughed as 18 said it, “Yeah, yeah…” he glanced back at her, “Maybe I don’t want the whole world to know I’m freakishly strong either.”
She yanked back on his arm, well really she just held him back but with enough strength to cause him to yell out, “Ouch!” He stumbled back as people walked by them.
18 squatted down a bit, puckered up, and planted a kiss on his lips. Only a quick one, as the crowds around them made it hard to stay in one place for so long.
As she pulled her head back, Krillin stared at her shifting, almost ashamed or embarrassed eyes.
“Wha…?” He muttered.
18 bit the inside her lip and clicked her tongue. She grabbed her elbow, bringing her arm across her body and letting go of the man before her. After a split second of hesitating and sending her eyes to stare up at the sky, she admitted, “It’s been too long.”
Suddenly Krillin cheered up, a happy smirk growing on his face. “I agree…”
So, after deciding to forego the rides once they sat down at the bench and ate popcorn for all of a couple of minutes, 18 and Krillin left the crowded amusement park area. They flew back through the sky, holding hands, but also getting closer than that. Sometimes 18 would slip under Krillin’s arm, but other times, he would fall under her, causing her to place a hand on his back.
“I’m sorry I got a job. I can quit it if you want.”
18 whispered close to his ear then let her flight speed slow down, in order to back away.
“No!” Krillin yelled back over the wind blowing past them, “You can do whatever you want. I’m sorry for freaking out!”
“Don’t be,” she shook her head, she knew he was worried about her. Even though he knows she can handle herself… Krillin must have been considering her past.
She came back to him, arms around him, gripping at his chest.
“Okay,” Krillin said, tilting his head up and back. “So we’re good now?”
18 didn’t really answer that, but instead asked, “Where are we going?”
“Hm…” Krillin wondered, just audibly to 18. He looked around the water below, searching. “I want to find land so we can—“
“Do it again?” She attempted to complete his slow sentence.
“Heh.” He stared forward at the glistening ocean. “Would you want to? We don’t have to,” Krillin followed his approach with instant backtracking, “We could just kiss or just hang out and talk if that's what you want to do.”
18 rested her head on the back of his shoulder blade, drifting back a bit. Krillin supported the weight of her on his back easily, as 18 began to put in less and less effort. She closed her eyes and took him in.
He’s adorable…
She wrapped her arms around him tighter.
Krillin laughed, cupping his hands around her hands, “Is that a yes?”
“Yes.”
He chuckled again, in amusement of her. “‘It’s been too long?” He quoted her, “You’re kinda desperate aren’t you 18?”
No response, but he could still feel her on his back. Her legs began to dangle off his sides, he could see them coming down when he looked back at where they had flown from.
“Don’t worry, I'm way past desperate! So it’s okay! I've been asking for a girlfriend for years.”
He rubbed his fingers along the back of her hand.
“Horny. Not desperate,” she clarified, eyes slowly opening to stare out at the gorgeous blue sky, full of soft white clouds.
“Oh, sorry,” he joked, then teased, “Do I turn you on?”
“Sadly. Sometimes.”
Krillin grinned, but she couldn’t see, pressed up on top of him.
“Turn right. There’s land over there.” 18 dropped off of his back and took off flying in a different direction.
Krillin was able to take her direction, turn, and catch up.
She started flying down towards the ground of a small, seemingly empty island.
“Maybe it’s a sandbar!” Krillin cried down at her, but she either didn’t hear him or ignored that comment.
She touched down on the sand followed behind by Krillin, who wasn’t phased very much by the bomb of his last statement. Rather, he stopped short before reaching the ground on the other side of 18 and leaned in to kiss her.
She grabbed his shoulders and pulled him in, opening her lips a bit and slipping her tongue through his. Kissing him so passionately, 18 hardly even noticed that she was lifting Krillin up and supporting most of his weight.
He took his mouth away, breaking off their kiss but proudly chuckling. “Whoa!” He exclaimed, letting himself fall into her arms and slowly coming back to the ground. “It’s still hard for me to believe!”
“What?” She stared down at him, his face and body so close to her.
“That you like me.”
18 rolled her eyes, “When will you stop with that?”
“Sorry…” he smiled at her, showing his teeth. He just couldn’t get over how into him she was. She would kiss him out of nowhere and admitting her turned her on really boosted his ego. “Hey, you want to go in the water?”
She blinked.
“Like skinny dipping?”
“Well…” Krillin thought about it, “It is still daytime, but I guess. You can keep your underwear and stuff on if you want to, obviously, we didn’t bring bathing suits.”
“Yeah…”
“And it’ll dry off when we fly back.”
With a shrug, 18 agreed, albeit half-heartedly. But maybe playing around and cuddling in the ocean would speed things up. And she wanted to get something going.
Without hesitation, she crossed her arms and pulled off her shirt from the bottom up. Krillin followed along, not really watching her, but instead ripping his shirt off and then his pants too.
Both down to the underwear, Krillin and 18 got into the water. He ran and dived into a wave, while 18 stepped in and slowly went deeper.
He flashed a smile back at her. “Feels good right?”
“Yeah…” She didn’t totally think so but agreed along with him. 18 ran her hand through the water. It was nice she wasn’t totally mechanical and she could still go into the ocean without short-circuiting. When she walked in she wasn’t exactly certain nothing would happen. At the very least she was glad neither of them got electrocuted.
“Hey-!” Krillin cried back when 18 splashed him playfully. “We are not starting that!” He said jokingly seriously.
She raised her eyebrows. “Fine.”
Krillin swam back to her, “I’m just saying we can skip the whole silly flirting bit.”
18 chuckled once, “Okay."
She grabbed him by the wrist and pulled him in. If he wanted to get going, she wasn't afraid to start things. After all, she was desperate too.