Work Text:
Kame house was quiet and calm, the sounds of the ocean lapping at shore just audible through the walls. Master Roshi was sitting on the couch, a bottle of beer in one hand and the television remote in the other as he surfed channels without interest. In the kitchen, Oolong stood on top of Turtle, trying to reach the magazines piled up at the top of the refrigerator. Due to Oolong’s small stature, even with the boost given by Turtle, he was only able to reach the bottom of the pile but pulled anyway, bringing him tumbling to the ground with a yell of surprise and a rain of magazines raining on top of Turtle, one opening up and covering the poor terrapin’s face. “Hey, pig! Keep it down will ya!” Looking to the kitchen from the couch, Roshi caught sight of the magazines strewn across the tile floor and Turtle trying to shake one off his nose, “Ah I see, keeping all the goods to yourself, eh?”
Oolong’s face became sheepish as he looked up from the swimsuit magazine he had already begun reading, and he grinned nervously, “W-well you were watching TV and I didn’t want to bother you so, uh…”
Quick as a flash, Roshi snatched the book from Oolong’s hands, a small piece of paper falling out of the pages as he did. Both of them watched it fall to the ground, and it landed face up to show a picture of three young men sitting around a table with drinks in hand and wide grins across their faces. Dropping the book, Roshi sat down and picked up the picture, laughing as he looked at it. Turtle, having flung the magazine from his face, crawled over and looked over the old man’s shoulder, “Who’s that, Roshi?”
“It’s me, Gohan and Shen from back in the day!” Still chuckling, Roshi lifted up his glasses and wiped a happy tear from his eye, “way back, even before I met you! And way before Goku showed up too.”
Oolong came up on the other side of Roshi, looking at the old black and white photograph, “Where were you guys? Looks kind of like West City.”
“Well it wasn’t such a big city back in the day,” Roshi smiled, fondly recollecting the day the picture was taken. “We were just havin’ a drink by the beach, when this cute little photographer came by and asked us to take a photo for an ad or something of the like.” With a heavy sigh, Roshi looked down up the magazine he put on the counter just before, “It was supposed to be an ad in that, but she wound up not liking us,” the old man chuckled, “I asked her to give me the photo at my place, and she wasn’t too fond of that idea.”
“Oh I can’t see why, you’re such a charmer,” Oolong teased, earning a light elbow in the gut from the old master, “see?” Rubbing his belly, Oolong stood back up and plucked the catalog from the counter and opened it up again, “Maybe there is an ad, I’ll just look through here and -”
The clatter of the door cut off the pigman’s sentence and Goku hurried into the living room, looking around, “Hey, you guys seen Goten? Chichi told me to watch him but we started training and he flew off.”
None of the three housemates seemed fazed by the sudden entrance, “upstairs,” they said in chorus. Goten had come through before, claiming to be playing hide-and-seek with his father. With a little wave and laugh before jogging up the stairs. After a few moments, Goku came tiptoeing back, Goten held up to his chest with one hand, the child fast asleep and holding his arms around his father’s neck.
“Thank you,” Goku whispered, tiptoeing to the door and wincing at each creak the old wooden floorboard gave.
“Hey, wait a second there,” Roshi got himself up off of the floor and walked over to Goku, holding out the photo for the younger man to take. With a confused expression, Goku took the picture and looked at it with a still wondering expression, “Y’don’t have many pictures of your grandpa, do you?”
Realizing who was in the picture, Goku’s eyes widened and he gave a hasty bow of respect to his master, “Thank you sir!” The movement and the volume of Goku’s voice caused Goten to stir, prompting his father to stand up straight again and slide the picture carefully into a pocket on the inside of his gi, “Really, thanks, i-it means a lot.”
“Eh don’t worry about it,” Roshi patted Goku’s shoulder as he walked his apprentice to the door, “now hurry home before Chichi kills you for letting your son run off, y’hear?”
“Yes sir!” The response, again, was energetic and made Goten move again, causing Goku to suck air between his front teeth. Giving the inhabitants of Kame house a wave before raising his free hand to his forehead and performing the Instant Transmission to return home.
“Hey Roshi, wasn’t that the only copy of that picture?” Oolong’s question was replied with by a sound of confirmation from Roshi, who stood looking at the sky from the door, “Why’d you give it up so quickly?”
“I got the memory in my head,” Roshi explained, the sun glinting off of his dark sunglasses, “I don’t need a picture. Goku didn’t get to know Gohan that long, he needs that more than me.” Thinking for a moment, Roshi looked over his shoulder at his two friends, “I’ll be back in a bit, I’m gonna head out for a while.”
****************
Walking down the sandy beach, Roshi looked fairly out of place among the much taller and younger people surrounding him. After a few minutes of maneuvering through the crowd, Roshi found what he was looking for and stood in front of a small podium with a young man behind it, “Table for one.”
“Right this way, sir,” Following behind the host, Roshi found himself at a small bar in overlooking the beach. Sitting down, Roshi looked up and admired the colors streaking the sky from the sunset, “Can I get you anything to drink?”
“One beer, whichever you think is best.” The man bowed his head respectfully before walking off, leaving Roshi to look out at the beach by himself.
Several minutes passed before the waiter returned, placing an already opened bottle of beer in front of the old man, “This was the first drink my father gave me when I turned 21, I hope you like it.”
Looking at the label, Roshi saw a picture of a woman in a two-piece swimsuit, matching the one on the cover of the magazine Oolong had grabbed earlier. “Your daddy’s got good taste,” Roshi chuckled, taking a sip of the drink as the waiter walked off to attend to other guests. Left alone again, the elderly master smiled at the scene laying before him, the dimming sunlight glinting off of his shades and the multicolored sky dimly reflected in the lenses.