Videl licked her lips and read the thick stack of papers before her.
****
It was that dream, the sweet, common one: the sky, the plain, and Piccolo. For some reason the imaginary world of night always returned to this… The stars, like a billion shimmering diamonds were arranged just so in the sky, and the moonlight shimmered off Piccolo's sweat-tinged back. An impossible dream it was, the way the wind rustled by so soundlessly, the way Piccolo advanced, like a predator stalking a victim.
He was that victim.
Step back, a puzzled look. "Pikoro-san, daijobu ka…? Why are you frowning so?"
"Human, so human," Piccolo murmured, as he reached out with one finger, curling a lock of ebony air about the extended digit. "You're so, so very human…"
The finger that moved down possessively, tracing Gohan's cheekbone and then down his throat, pausing at the bulge of Adam's apple where the flutter of life stirred. "My little human…"
Gohan felt the frown disappear as his lips met Piccolo's and the world melted away.
****
He woke up panting with disbelief, but the world was normal. His little sibling, Goten, was asleep next to him, sprawled out on top of the tangled covers, snoring softly. Trunks, too, was there asleep, his legs crossing Goten's sideways- he always rolled, Gohan noted with dry humor. Yes, the world was fine. But this dream? It was frightening, disgusting- but no, not really disgusting. More like…enjoyable, but slightly… disturbing, yes, that was the world. It was a disturbing dream because of how perfect it was.
The thought of kissing Piccolo was nothing new to Gohan. He had been shoving it down within himself for the last year and a half, trying desperately to ignore the emotions that came to him so naturally. After all, what could possibly be more stupid than to fall in love with your best friend?
Nothing he could think of.
Still, Gohan reflected as he moved to the window and opened the shutters, Piccolo had been acting different lately. Could that be the cause of this dream? It was strange, how his thoughts swiftly returned to his mentor, how he visited more and more often, now, leaving his room so late at night and flying to Piccolo's valley… His mentor no longer lived there, but somehow, whenever Gohan needed a nighttime escape from his troubles, the namekusei-jin would appear, ready. Understanding. And the hungry look that filled his eyes sometimes, just sometimes, didn't seem sated after a long round of sparring.
Gohan groaned softly and rested his head in his hands, elbows on the windowsill. 'Baka. That's the sort of thing you have to stop thinking- It's impossible, impossible. You're leading yourself on.'
The moon was rising over the hills and woods of the Son holding, dripping into every crack and cranny of the landscape. Gohan watched it flood the windowsill and slip over into a dazzling pool at the foot of his futon, watched it for an hour as it made it's way unstoppably towards Trunks' face and paused there, highlighting the delicate, childish features that eerily echoed Vegeta's own anger-filled visage.
Fine, fine. Gohan was fighting a loosing battle with himself as he always did on such nights- nothing would sate his mind except a journey to see Piccolo. And it would end, as it always did, with him feeling even more lonely than before, feeling more keenly the lack of thick arms wrapped around him.
He stood and reached for his coat. After all, that was what he really wanted. He really wanted to be crushed and held and kissed by someone so massive, so graceful. He wanted to feel the contours of another broad expanse of muscle against his chest, wanted to see Piccolo's face gentle, wanted to show his mentor what pleasure could be… 'Mom'll kill me if I give in,' he sighed. Chi-chi would never understand. In fact, she seemed far too eager to have Gohan married in the first place- she constantly asked about his female friends…since the Tenkaichi Budoukai mere months ago, she had begun obsessing over Videl, a young woman Gohan had taught the use of ki to.
Videl. A problem. Gohan paused as he buttoned up his coat, thinking. She was pretty, he supposed, and he was dating her. It was mainly a show for his mother to grant her at least some happiness, but it was impossible for Gohan to picture his life with her. 'I should stop leading her on, I should…'
He wouldn't stop, though. He needed the security she provided too much for that.
"Gohan-san?" A soft voice, curious and sleepy. Gohan looked down, surprised to see Trunks awake and sitting on the rumpled remains of his neatly made futon, wiping the sleep out of one eye with a balled fist. "Where are you going?"
"Out to see Piccolo."
A yawn. "Goten says you do that lots."
"I do."
"Why?"
What was a safe answer? Whatever he said would be a lie… Unless, of course… "He's my best friend, just like Goten is yours. I enjoy his company."
"Ne….why don't you stay with me? We c'n spar…" Trunks half-whispered, already shoving Goten's arms out of the way and snuggling back down into his futon.
"No, no, you go to sleep now, Trunks. Oyasumi, oyasumi…"
Gohan slipped out of the window without a sound.
*****
It had recently rained here, the grass was dewy and cool between Gohan's toes, as he stood silently on a bluff overlooking the valley wearing his pajamas and his long, fleece-lined jacked. The cool, damp wind blew wisps of cloud across the full moon as Gohan scanned the length of the cleft in the earth, searching for a tell-tale white cape.
There. Gohan spotted it and was there in a moment, standing next to the crumpled fabric.
What he saw was something he would never forget.
Piccolo was there, yes, but he was…was….asleep? Gohan blinked. Not once could he ever remembered coming across Piccolo as vulnerable as he was now, his face drawn into a slight, disapproving frown as he slumbered beneath the stars. The cape was pillowing his head, his antennae limp and flipped up above his brows in a manner that made Gohan want to reach out and brush them aside just for the hell of it. Broad, burly shoulders beneath the indigo-black gi, a thrilling glimpse of tender pink underbelly just barely visible where his belt had come slightly undone…
Gohan reached out towards the sulking lips and brushed a finger across their expanse, just one gentle caress that slipped out of his control.
The next second, he was flat on his back in the damp grass, one thick green hand lodged around his throat, the other pinning his arms to the dirt. Choking in surprise, he flailed, staring terrified up into a pair of furious, onyx orbs.
For mere seconds there was no recognition- the hands around his throat were cold and hard as stone, the face above him a cruel mask, but then-
"Gohan?" A bewildered gaze filled Piccolo's expression and he loosened his grip of Gohan's throat, though he kept him flat to the ground. The saiya-jin boy wheezed a few breaths and grinned sheepishly up at his mentor.
"Ohayo, Pikoro-san…"
Piccolo frowned again, and now that he could breath, Gohan became acutely aware of their position-…
'Stupid, stupid!' Gohan turned his head to the side and tried to concentrate on the cool grass tickling his cheek rather than the feel of Piccolo's knees framing his hips.
"What are you doing here?" Disapproval, tough and relentless, filled his tone. This Gohan had expected, but still, he flinched.
Managing a weak smile, Gohan muttered an answer. "I…I wanted to spar, and you were sleeping…and I just…" Just what? Just wanted to kiss you? Yes, that was it, I wanted to kiss you, Piccolo, but I didn't. I just touched your lips with a fingertip, who would have thought you would notice?
"So human," Piccolo sighed in annoyance. That was his phrase back then, he always called Gohan a human under his breath, when he thought the boy couldn't hear him. Sometimes it was an insult, sometimes it almost seemed affectionate, but it always made Gohan think.
"Don't say it like it's a bad thing, Pikoro-san," he smiled genuinely, praying that Piccolo would move quickly. He couldn't trust his own actions if they sat like this much longer.
"Who says it isn't?"
"I do…" deep breaths, Gohan, deep breaths! Don't think about his weight, his chest, his arms, his beautiful, beautiful eyes… "Humans are special, we can do so many things. I am human, I'm proud of it. I have a mind that can solve problems, a pride in myself, and a desire to protect this planet. Besides, humans have such a capacity for love…"
He trailed away, as Piccolo raised a brow as Gohan wriggled his arms out from the lock Piccolo had put him in. Control was slipping, he had to move, had to get away… Piccolo sat back slightly, his body closer to Gohan's….oh, hell. There was no getting out of this, was there?
"Love."
"Yeah…after all, only a human would manage this…" Quickly, Gohan pressed a finger against Piccolo's lips once more, smirking at his mentor's disconcerted expression. For a moment, something had flickered in those obsidian orbs, something that gave Gohan an unexplainable certainty that his suddenly-necessary plan would be successful. "Or this…"
He replaced the fingertip with his lips, brushing them lightly across the namkusei-jin's mouth. It was soft, innocent, sweet, and when he pulled away, Piccolo was staring at him with a hard, questioning gaze.
"Gohan," Piccolo half-growled his knuckles white where they clenched the other man's skin, "Why did you do that?"
"To show you what humanity is, stupid." Smile innocently, pray no rejection will come. Ignore the look on his face that harbors disgust, ignore the words-
"And namekusei-jin are quite different, Gohan." Quite suddenly, lips on his once more, cool and soft and pure-tasting. Piccolo's mouth, Piccolo's lips that made Gohan go limp, his spine liquefying in a few swift seconds. He opened his mouth to speak, but it only provided an outlet for a much more intense sort of touch- tongue to tongue, his back in the grass, his arms around Piccolo's neck, rubbing the tender flesh at the nape of his neck. Oh, yes. Don't question it. This was what he had always wanted…
Their hips brushed close, and Gohan moaned softly as Piccolo pulled away, standing up and pacing a few steps into the darkness in one fluid motion, as if the kiss had never occurred. "Pikoro…" Gohan shivered there in the grass despite his thick jacket. What had just happened? Was it truly what he thought, or had that been one sweet dream, like the first kiss this evening?
He was going to speak. Gohan felt the words rise to the surface in his mentor before he actually saw the verdant lips move. "So very human." Who, Gohan, or did Piccolo mean himself? "I have waited for a very long time, Gohan."
Gohan's mouth was suddenly very dry. Everything had changed, now, and it would never be the same.
"Fortunately I am a patient person."
Thank God.
****
It was that dream, the sweet, common one: the sky, the plain, and Piccolo. For some reason the imaginary world of night always returned to this… The stars, like a billion shimmering diamonds were arranged just so in the sky, and the moonlight shimmered off Piccolo's sweat-tinged back. An impossible dream it was, the way the wind rustled by so soundlessly, the way Piccolo advanced, like a predator stalking a victim.
He was that victim.
Step back, a puzzled look. "Pikoro-san, daijobu ka…? Why are you frowning so?"
"Human, so human," Piccolo murmured, as he reached out with one finger, curling a lock of ebony air about the extended digit. "You're so, so very human…"
The finger that moved down possessively, tracing Gohan's cheekbone and then down his throat, pausing at the bulge of Adam's apple where the flutter of life stirred. "My little human…"
Gohan felt the frown disappear as his lips met Piccolo's and the world melted away.
****
He woke up panting with disbelief, but the world was normal. His little sibling, Goten, was asleep next to him, sprawled out on top of the tangled covers, snoring softly. Trunks, too, was there asleep, his legs crossing Goten's sideways- he always rolled, Gohan noted with dry humor. Yes, the world was fine. But this dream? It was frightening, disgusting- but no, not really disgusting. More like…enjoyable, but slightly… disturbing, yes, that was the world. It was a disturbing dream because of how perfect it was.
The thought of kissing Piccolo was nothing new to Gohan. He had been shoving it down within himself for the last year and a half, trying desperately to ignore the emotions that came to him so naturally. After all, what could possibly be more stupid than to fall in love with your best friend?
Nothing he could think of.
Still, Gohan reflected as he moved to the window and opened the shutters, Piccolo had been acting different lately. Could that be the cause of this dream? It was strange, how his thoughts swiftly returned to his mentor, how he visited more and more often, now, leaving his room so late at night and flying to Piccolo's valley… His mentor no longer lived there, but somehow, whenever Gohan needed a nighttime escape from his troubles, the namekusei-jin would appear, ready. Understanding. And the hungry look that filled his eyes sometimes, just sometimes, didn't seem sated after a long round of sparring.
Gohan groaned softly and rested his head in his hands, elbows on the windowsill. 'Baka. That's the sort of thing you have to stop thinking- It's impossible, impossible. You're leading yourself on.'
The moon was rising over the hills and woods of the Son holding, dripping into every crack and cranny of the landscape. Gohan watched it flood the windowsill and slip over into a dazzling pool at the foot of his futon, watched it for an hour as it made it's way unstoppably towards Trunks' face and paused there, highlighting the delicate, childish features that eerily echoed Vegeta's own anger-filled visage.
Fine, fine. Gohan was fighting a loosing battle with himself as he always did on such nights- nothing would sate his mind except a journey to see Piccolo. And it would end, as it always did, with him feeling even more lonely than before, feeling more keenly the lack of thick arms wrapped around him.
He stood and reached for his coat. After all, that was what he really wanted. He really wanted to be crushed and held and kissed by someone so massive, so graceful. He wanted to feel the contours of another broad expanse of muscle against his chest, wanted to see Piccolo's face gentle, wanted to show his mentor what pleasure could be… 'Mom'll kill me if I give in,' he sighed. Chi-chi would never understand. In fact, she seemed far too eager to have Gohan married in the first place- she constantly asked about his female friends…since the Tenkaichi Budoukai mere months ago, she had begun obsessing over Videl, a young woman Gohan had taught the use of ki to.
Videl. A problem. Gohan paused as he buttoned up his coat, thinking. She was pretty, he supposed, and he was dating her. It was mainly a show for his mother to grant her at least some happiness, but it was impossible for Gohan to picture his life with her. 'I should stop leading her on, I should…'
He wouldn't stop, though. He needed the security she provided too much for that.
"Gohan-san?" A soft voice, curious and sleepy. Gohan looked down, surprised to see Trunks awake and sitting on the rumpled remains of his neatly made futon, wiping the sleep out of one eye with a balled fist. "Where are you going?"
"Out to see Piccolo."
A yawn. "Goten says you do that lots."
"I do."
"Why?"
What was a safe answer? Whatever he said would be a lie… Unless, of course… "He's my best friend, just like Goten is yours. I enjoy his company."
"Ne….why don't you stay with me? We c'n spar…" Trunks half-whispered, already shoving Goten's arms out of the way and snuggling back down into his futon.
"No, no, you go to sleep now, Trunks. Oyasumi, oyasumi…"
Gohan slipped out of the window without a sound.
*****
It had recently rained here, the grass was dewy and cool between Gohan's toes, as he stood silently on a bluff overlooking the valley wearing his pajamas and his long, fleece-lined jacked. The cool, damp wind blew wisps of cloud across the full moon as Gohan scanned the length of the cleft in the earth, searching for a tell-tale white cape.
There. Gohan spotted it and was there in a moment, standing next to the crumpled fabric.
What he saw was something he would never forget.
Piccolo was there, yes, but he was…was….asleep? Gohan blinked. Not once could he ever remembered coming across Piccolo as vulnerable as he was now, his face drawn into a slight, disapproving frown as he slumbered beneath the stars. The cape was pillowing his head, his antennae limp and flipped up above his brows in a manner that made Gohan want to reach out and brush them aside just for the hell of it. Broad, burly shoulders beneath the indigo-black gi, a thrilling glimpse of tender pink underbelly just barely visible where his belt had come slightly undone…
Gohan reached out towards the sulking lips and brushed a finger across their expanse, just one gentle caress that slipped out of his control.
The next second, he was flat on his back in the damp grass, one thick green hand lodged around his throat, the other pinning his arms to the dirt. Choking in surprise, he flailed, staring terrified up into a pair of furious, onyx orbs.
For mere seconds there was no recognition- the hands around his throat were cold and hard as stone, the face above him a cruel mask, but then-
"Gohan?" A bewildered gaze filled Piccolo's expression and he loosened his grip of Gohan's throat, though he kept him flat to the ground. The saiya-jin boy wheezed a few breaths and grinned sheepishly up at his mentor.
"Ohayo, Pikoro-san…"
Piccolo frowned again, and now that he could breath, Gohan became acutely aware of their position-…
'Stupid, stupid!' Gohan turned his head to the side and tried to concentrate on the cool grass tickling his cheek rather than the feel of Piccolo's knees framing his hips.
"What are you doing here?" Disapproval, tough and relentless, filled his tone. This Gohan had expected, but still, he flinched.
Managing a weak smile, Gohan muttered an answer. "I…I wanted to spar, and you were sleeping…and I just…" Just what? Just wanted to kiss you? Yes, that was it, I wanted to kiss you, Piccolo, but I didn't. I just touched your lips with a fingertip, who would have thought you would notice?
"So human," Piccolo sighed in annoyance. That was his phrase back then, he always called Gohan a human under his breath, when he thought the boy couldn't hear him. Sometimes it was an insult, sometimes it almost seemed affectionate, but it always made Gohan think.
"Don't say it like it's a bad thing, Pikoro-san," he smiled genuinely, praying that Piccolo would move quickly. He couldn't trust his own actions if they sat like this much longer.
"Who says it isn't?"
"I do…" deep breaths, Gohan, deep breaths! Don't think about his weight, his chest, his arms, his beautiful, beautiful eyes… "Humans are special, we can do so many things. I am human, I'm proud of it. I have a mind that can solve problems, a pride in myself, and a desire to protect this planet. Besides, humans have such a capacity for love…"
He trailed away, as Piccolo raised a brow as Gohan wriggled his arms out from the lock Piccolo had put him in. Control was slipping, he had to move, had to get away… Piccolo sat back slightly, his body closer to Gohan's….oh, hell. There was no getting out of this, was there?
"Love."
"Yeah…after all, only a human would manage this…" Quickly, Gohan pressed a finger against Piccolo's lips once more, smirking at his mentor's disconcerted expression. For a moment, something had flickered in those obsidian orbs, something that gave Gohan an unexplainable certainty that his suddenly-necessary plan would be successful. "Or this…"
He replaced the fingertip with his lips, brushing them lightly across the namkusei-jin's mouth. It was soft, innocent, sweet, and when he pulled away, Piccolo was staring at him with a hard, questioning gaze.
"Gohan," Piccolo half-growled his knuckles white where they clenched the other man's skin, "Why did you do that?"
"To show you what humanity is, stupid." Smile innocently, pray no rejection will come. Ignore the look on his face that harbors disgust, ignore the words-
"And namekusei-jin are quite different, Gohan." Quite suddenly, lips on his once more, cool and soft and pure-tasting. Piccolo's mouth, Piccolo's lips that made Gohan go limp, his spine liquefying in a few swift seconds. He opened his mouth to speak, but it only provided an outlet for a much more intense sort of touch- tongue to tongue, his back in the grass, his arms around Piccolo's neck, rubbing the tender flesh at the nape of his neck. Oh, yes. Don't question it. This was what he had always wanted…
Their hips brushed close, and Gohan moaned softly as Piccolo pulled away, standing up and pacing a few steps into the darkness in one fluid motion, as if the kiss had never occurred. "Pikoro…" Gohan shivered there in the grass despite his thick jacket. What had just happened? Was it truly what he thought, or had that been one sweet dream, like the first kiss this evening?
He was going to speak. Gohan felt the words rise to the surface in his mentor before he actually saw the verdant lips move. "So very human." Who, Gohan, or did Piccolo mean himself? "I have waited for a very long time, Gohan."
Gohan's mouth was suddenly very dry. Everything had changed, now, and it would never be the same.
"Fortunately I am a patient person."
Thank God.
