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He hadn't really put any thought behind his attack- even going to help his friends had been a last moment decision. His hand had been closer to Hybis’ stupid hat than to his gun, it was the fastest way to distract their enemy and rescue the baby. But the moment the hat hits Degesu, he hears both Panzy and Shin gasp with surprise.
He pays them no mind as he reaches for his gun, thinking it's just his friends being surprised he actually came, but for some reason, his friends make no attempt to attack Degesu or rescue the kid, instead, they just stare at him as if he had gained a second head. Panzy's cheeks have even gone red.
“N-no way…” She slowly brings her hands up till she covers her mouth. “Glorio, you…”
Next to her, Shin quickly turns around to look at Degesu and then the hat, which now rests on the floor, and when he looks at Glorio again, he seems almost horrified. “WITH MY BROTHER!?? Glorio… Why didn't you tell us?!”
Despite having a more collected expression, it's clear Piccolo is shocked by whatever he has done as well. On the other hand, Vegeta and Goku just look at him, confused by the behaviour of their friends; with the almighty power of facial expressions, he attempts to convey his question of “what in the world are they talking about” without uttering a single word. Unfortunately for him, the saiyans only shrug
“Huh, I didn't know he was your type.” Says Hybis, unhelpfully.
Just as he is about to ask what that even means, Degesu lifts himself up from the floor until he's sitting. He still holds the baby in his arm, but makes no effort to attempt to pick up the weapon he dropped; instead, all he does is bring his hand to touch his cheeks, which coincidentally, are turning red. The glind’s eyes are focused on Glorio and his mouth opens and closes as if trying to speak, but he's unable to say anything.
His head slightly leans to the side as he averts his eyes, and a dumb smile begins to form in his face.
“I- I ACCEPT!” He exclaims with excitement, and that just confuses Glorio even more, especially when his friends all cheer.
All he knows is that, after that, everyone started to speak with such volume he couldn't even figure what it was they were discussing. They were all so tense just a few seconds ago, that he now doubts they were truly fighting to begin with, so all he can do is stare as Degesu hands the baby to Panzy.
And now that they leave to find the final Tamagami, he has been forced to carry a tied up Degesu in his arms. (“We understand that you two have something, and I'm happy for you! But we still need to do something since…well, you know, he was threatening Dende!” That was all Panzy said to him as the others placed the glind into his arms..)
The group makes their way to the final Tamagami, but he can only focus on the man in his arms who nervously looks at their surroundings. Could he be worried about the king retaliating against him?
Degesu's ears are still red.
—-
Since the very first time he and King Gomah had watched the group from the outside world after their arrival in the Demon Realm, his attention had been grabbed by the Majin that was following them. At first it truly had been mere curiosity, but one time when the king had left him watching over the screens as he went to attend to some business, he saw the man fighting against Goku. He never figured what the reason was, all he knew was that the power the man held had impressed him.
Sure, the majin ended up losing against Goku, but that did nothing to calm the fast beatings of his heart.
To say he was content with the idea of losing the opportunity to become the next king of the Demon World would be a lie, but maybe another chance would eventually come to him- no, he is SURE it will come along. Something about the man makes him believe that as long as he stays by his side, the opportunity will appear; and with his proposal, being together was something he didn't even have to worry about.
Speaking of, he hadn't expected at all for him to share his feelings. Has Glorio seen him somewhere before? Or could it truly be love at first sight?
It doesn't matter if the Saiyans are stronger than Glorio, his attention still belongs only to him. He sits next to the girl who holds the baby as they watch the others fight against the King. (Huh, perhaps receiving the eye before starting his plan would have been a better idea. Especially with how much he paid that Majin.)
At that moment, a blast reaches Glorio and sends him straight into a pillar. His back hits the rock and he falls into the ground.
“Glorio!” Calls out the girl, Panzy, who stands next to him. Despite the distance, they can clearly see that the majin is unable to stand up; Panzy takes a bug out from her pocket and begins to fly towards Glorio, and with his limbs still tied up, he follows her.
The act of flying itself in his current condition isn't exactly hard, the issue comes with the falling debris and lost blasts that are in their way. They are almost there, when a blast sends Panzy away.
“Catch!” Is all she says before throwing the bug towards him. And with both hands tied up, all Degesu can do is catch the bug with his mouth.
Once he finally reaches Glorio, he finds him half conscious- there's no way he can eat the bug on his own. It's fine, the man has already proposed so this was going to happen one way or another. So what if the only way to feed him the damn bug is with his mouth? It's too close to being a kiss and he has to admit it saddens him that their first kiss isn't in a more romantic moment, but this will do. AND TECHNICALLY IT ISN'T EVEN A KISS KISS, RIGHT? IT DOESN'T COUNT.
Still, he closes his eyes. Then he realises that's probably dumb because otherwise how will he know if Glorio had managed to swallow the bug?
After a few seconds, the man opens his eyes and stares at him. Doesn't take long for him to rejoin the fight…he really is something.
—-
Thanks to Goku (and surprisingly Kuu too), Gomah had finally been defeated. He won't lie and say he doesn't feel bad for betraying Arinsu like that, but he can't find any trace of regret for what he has done- how could he, when his friends smile at him like that?
Not too far away from them, he can see both Shin and Piccolo looking at a now trapped Gomah and Degesu. Dr Arinsu is there too, the distance won't allow him to hear just what they are discussing, but Panzy seems to have a better hearing than him, since she lets out a horrified shriek before running towards the woman. Out of worry, he walks towards them as well.
“Please don't do it!” Says the girl as she grabs the cape of the scientist. “He's Glorio's fiancé! There must be another way!”
Huh?
He stops walking and stares with eyes wide open. It seems that the statement has also shocked Arinsu, who quickly turns her head towards Glorio and looks at him with surprise. “Why didn't you tell me you were dating my brother?”
‘Because I wasn't’ is what he wants to tell her, but he's too shocked to even say anything. Before he can recover himself, he hears Neva laugh.
“We can always make him do some community service, after all, he willingly gave Dende back to his friends.” The namekian turns to look at Dende. “As long as the kid is fine with it.”
Dende just looks at them before shrugging. If Glorio could read his mind, he would find out that the god doesn't care- he just wants to go back to the temple and continue his duties, don't involve him in your relationship problems, thank you.
Arinsu sighs. “It's decided then.”
With that, Degesu smiles and begins jumping like a fish out of water till he reaches Glorio (did he forget how to fly?). He feels a headache incoming.
(Despite clearly calling Degesu his fiancé, Panzy doesn't mention it again. So he discards it as the girl just saying whatever came to her mind first to get the man free. Did they become friends while the others fought Gomah?
Soon, he forgets that such thing was even said.)
—-
Some time had passed since the defeat of Gomah and Kuu’s coronation. Degesu had been set free not too long after and surprisingly, had kept a position in the palace; while he was no longer the advisor of the king, he had been given a few management tasks to watch over. (Neva had spoken in his favour, mentioning that he had done a good job taking care of them back when Gomah was the king, and since no one else wanted to do them, no one complained when they became Degesu's problem.)
After Degesu had been set free, he had noticed that the glind would not leave his side whenever he visited the palace. At the beginning it had been…weird, none of them would say anything and an awkward silence would take over; but as the days went by, he grew used to the company of the other. Sometimes Degesu would complain about his work, and he would happily listen to him.
Getting close to Degesu had been easy, something he hadn't expected given the way they had met.
Every so often, Panzy and her father would invite him to their palace. The girl wasn't exactly a fan of baking as inventing was more in her lane, but she would still force him to bake desserts with her whenever he visited; surprisingly, their results were decent.
One time, he had brought Degesu some cake they had made. The glind had immediately asked him to bring him more next time, and who was he to deny him?
At Panzy’s insistence, he started to bring Degesu with him every other day. It had made him happy to see the two getting along.
Would it be weird to say that he doesn't want to go back to the days before meeting Degesu? Sure, he knows that it isn't just the glind who changed his life, but also all the other friends he made along the way, but…there is something different about him. It's not that he's better than the others, but the way he feels about him is not the same way he feels about the rest.
Each interaction makes his heart beat faster and he can't quite explain why. As they walk through together, Degesu will hold his arm, almost pushing it against his chest; or as they sit together, he will hold his arm and softly caress it. He can still feel his touch hours after they have parted ways.
And if he dreams about Degesu, who cares? Not him.
(He wonders if Degesu has left his ambitions behind, but the hunger in his eyes makes his resolve clear; despite everything, even willingly giving Dende back, he still desires power. It's strange, how alluring his ambitions are; it should make him cautious, but all it does is pull him in.)
It's not like he's an idiot, now he knows damn well what the fast beatings of his heart mean. Really, there's nothing stopping him from trying to find out if Degesu feels the same, but he is not exactly willing to give up whatever weird bond he has formed with the other. But there has to be something, right? There's no way the other man doesn't know what he's doing to him.
His suspicions are confirmed one evening in Degesu's chambers. His head resting on Degesu's lap as the other brushes his hair, but despite the warmth of the moment, he knows that's not what Degesu is worried about- something else is in his mind.
In a way, he had always expected for the man to tell him about his ambitions, to tell him that he hadn't given up. Degesu says as much, but what he had failed to predict was his inclusion in such a dream.
And when Degesu holds his head and asks what he would do for him, “everything” is what he answers.
He stands up, caging the other between himself and the couch, Degesu's hands still holding his face.The glind closes his eyes and parts his lips, so Glorio dives in.
It's not an intense kiss and doesn't reach even half of his desires, but it's enough to communicate the feelings boiling in their hearts.
Recently though, he would hear people whisper whenever he and Degesu passed by. Even more weird were the ones asking about a wedding, but before he could even question them about who was even getting married, Degesu would excuse him and quickly take him away from them. Perhaps he was as confused as Glorio.
Still, the questions would never stop and it made him wonder just why they were acting so weird. And it wasn't just people he didn't know, his friends had been acting just as weird; Arinsu would smile whenever he was with Degesu, even Neva would chuckle whenever the two walked by… Could they have found out about him and Degesu? (It's not like they had defined their relationship yet, but still.)
Too lost in his thoughts, he fails to notice that Kuu has entered the hall as well. The guy greets him with a smile and runs towards him with his hands extended to the sides.
“Glorio! I was looking for you!” Says Kuu, his usually relaxed face turns serious, not to the point it is something to worry but enough to know that this is important. “Well, I wanted to ask about you and Degesu.”
“Huh? Is there a problem?” The only thing he can think of would be Degesu's charges, but those had been solved long ago. “...am I not supposed to interact with him?”
“No! If anything it would be bad for you to not be with him.” Exclaims the Majin as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.
“And why's that?” He has no clue where the new king wants to go with this.
“Well, you know… you two are getting married after all. But I'm starting to wonder if you were aware of it! Back when your friend told Ms Arinsu, you looked even more surprised than her! Yeah! Just like that!”
It takes him a moment to recollect his thoughts, expecting Kuu to say it's a joke. “Where did you even get that idea?”
Kuu leans his head to the side, as if questioning him. “Huh? You really didn't know?”
“Know what? Everyone keeps acting and saying weird stuff ever since we fought him. All I did was attack him.”
“You attacked him?” Asks the king, and his eyes widen just enough as if he had realized something. “How? What did you do?”
“Well…Hybis was wearing a weird hat, so I grabbed it and hit him with it.”
“Ah.”
Okay now why the hell is Kuu looking at him like that?
“...You really don't know?” He finally says. “Well, in the First World and some places in the Second, there's a tradition of giving a hat to someone to propose.”
He has no clue how he has worked here so long without hearing that even once, perhaps he can blame it on all his work. Is this why Degesu has been glued to his side ever since that day?
No, it's not just that, that's exactly why his friends reacted that way when he went to their rescue; that also explains why Goku and Vegeta didn't react- they weren't from the Demon Realm to begin with.
Him and Degesu getting married…
“Ah, I see, it was an accident! Well, if you want, your great King Kuu will help you tell Degesu about it! I'm sure he will agree to cancel the engagement.
But when he thinks about his fiance, he really can't find the willpower to end the engagement.
