Back Against the Wall
Disclaimer: I do not own Dragonball Z or any of its characters
Warning: Swearing, violence & male/male(hermaphrodite)
Piccolo/Mirai Gohan
A little bit of getting reacquainted. This story will have plenty of action, but it will have a lot of quiet moments. Such is life.
Chapter Two
Blue Jeans
Piccolo had fallen back asleep without meaning or wanting to, and had to face the same confusion and realisation routine when he woke up again. Groaning and blinking sleep from his eyes, he sat up in the small bed but this time he was itching for answers and, he noticed, just itchy. He wondered if it was the blanket, or the dust or maybe the constant irritation had finally manifested itself in physical form. He frowned as he heard small footsteps rapidly thudding through the hallway and towards his room. A second later, a mass of lilac hair was in his face, even in his mouth, as a little boy bundled on top of him.
"You're alive!"
Piccolo's dark eyes went wide and he shoved a hand in the boy's chest to keep him away. He looked to be about Gohan's age, his Gohan, though maybe a little older. Bright blue eyes shone with happiness as he beamed up at the confused Namek. This boy clearly knew him and Piccolo felt an unfamiliar and unwelcome pang of guilt at it, because he had no idea who this child was. Though he did feel the chi was unusually strong for a human, of any age.
"Trunks!" Bulma's piercing voice echoed through the hall as she came hunting for him. Piccolo saw the look of horror in the little boy's eyes as he scrambled down onto the floor and Piccolo heard him curse. "Oh shit!" It made the Namek chuckle. He was certain such language was going to get the gutsy little thing into trouble. Bulma marched in, face scrunched up in mock anger and immediately started to chastise the youngster.
"You know you're not supposed to be in here! Piccolo needs to rest!"
Trunks had the decency to look sheepish and looked at the floor with reddening cheeks. The Namek supposed that this must be Bulma's child, or perhaps a child they had found and taken in. Sentimental humans. She ushered Trunks out muttering a quiet sorry towards Piccolo and closed the door behind her. His long ears could hear her continue to chastise him whilst he repeatedly said sorry and he wondered if all human females were the same. Though he had only really come across two so far. He swung his legs over the bed, noticing that even though he was feeling better there was some odd bruising on his stomach and chest. The floor felt strange as he pushed his feet flat, unsteady at first, and he looked down. There was some kind of fabric grass like looking material covering the floor, only it was grey. Carpet, his mind advised somewhere from its recesses, and he scowled wondering if it had come from Nail.
The clothes Gohan had left made him frown in a comical way as he fingered the material, it was a little rough to the touch. There was little movement in them as he slid the pale blue jeans up his legs. They more or less fit though they were a touch short, which he thought bizarre since Gohan's clothes wouldn't fit at all and he idly wondered who they might belong to. He struggled with the button, his talons making it impossible to push the button through the hole which he figured it was meant to go through. He couldn't do it. Foiled by a weak human invention?
"For fuck's sake"
Someone knocked on the door, making Piccolo sigh in agitation before he sensed that it was Gohan. He looked at the door. A few seconds went by before he realised that the half saiyan was likely waiting for permission.
"Uh...Come in"
Gohan offered a half smile at the Namek as he entered and, laughed a little before closing the door behind him once he realised Piccolo was only half dressed.
"Oh sorry um…"
He watched as Piccolo continued to fiddle with the button and it dawned on Gohan then that the Namek had probably never worn anything but his gi before. He went over, standing in front of the taller man and moved Piccolo's hands away and easily pushed the button through the hole. He then looked at the flustered Namek as he pulled the zip up, making Piccolo jump. Gohan was completely unfazed, which made his companion look all the more reactive.
"They're not a bad fit"
Piccolo wondered if anything really bothered this Gohan, was it life experience, or was he jaded?
He responded quickly, trying to distract himself from his own embarrassment.
"Yeah, I was surprised. I haven't seen many seven foot humans"
Gohan laughed a little, but it was humorless.
"Actually, you're not quite seven feet. And they were Tien's"
That pang of guilt returned.
"Oh"
"It's okay, i'm sure the dead don't mind"
Piccolo picked up the other garments and slid the white t-shirt over his head. It was ridiculously tight and Gohan put a hand to his mouth to hide a smirk. The Namek quickly put on the white jumper over the top, and to his relief, it wasn't tight.
"Tien's as well?"
"Oh...no. It was my dad's, but it didn't fit him...too big"
It made Piccolo want to shrink inside the woollen material.
"Comfortable?"
"It's fine"
Gohan smirked, knowing full well that his mentor felt anything but. Piccolo looked down at his bare feet and realised that underneath the chair, Gohan had left some shoes, and some of those soft foot coverings he'd seen the humans wear. For some reason he wasn't sure about the shoes, or trainers, or whatever they were. Surely my stuff must be dry?
He must have been sporting a disconcerted look because Gohan seemed to read his mind.
"Bulma's running tests on your things, to see if she can figure out how you got here"
Piccolo growled a little and leaned down and put on the strange footwear. Gohan opened the door and beckoned the Namek to follow. As the half Saiyan walked, he heard Piccolo grumble something about human clothing and he smiled. How he had missed the surly Namek's grumbling, the perpetual impatience. He would have given him a gi if he had any in decent condition with chance of actually fitting. His friend shuffled quietly behind him and he wondered if the footwear didn't quite fit, in fact it probably didn't. He had no idea what shoe size Piccolo was and he was sure as hell Piccolo didn't either. He led them both into the kitchen and gestured for him to sit down on one of the wooden chairs. Piccolo just looked at it like it was an alien creature. Gohan grabbed a bottle of water out of the fridge and turned to realise his friend was still standing there. Of course, he'd forgotten how unsocialised the Namek had been. Had it really been more than 10 years?
Piccolo uncrossed his arms and accepted the bottle of water. Fatigue thrummed through his muscles as he did and took the proffered seat, sitting down gingerly. The chair wasn't really designed to support someone his height and he had to stretch his legs out and kind of shuffle forward and lean back at the same time. It was awkward. In fact, he had felt awkward, frustrated and little else since he had arrived. Maybe that was just how it is here. Gohan sat down himself with a beer and Piccolo only knew it was beer from the piercing smell, the bottle was unmarked. Gohan took a long swig before placing it down and licking his lips.
"How are you feeling?"
"Fine, all things considered"
He tapped against the water bottle, emerald fingertips getting damp from the condensation. For some reason it felt so cold. He cleared his throat, shifting in his chair and put the bottle on the table to stop from fiddling with it.
"Tell me about the androids. Are they aliens to this planet?"
It was the other man's turn to clear his throat and he took another sip of his beer. Piccolo noted that he wasn't wearing his gi, but a ruffled khaki green shirt and stone coloured trousers. To look covert, perhaps, like the Earth military, his mind flashed images of war. Gohan had dirt on his face.
"There's not much to say, we haven't really discovered that much about them. They are artificial beings. There's two, brother and sister we think. They appeared over ten years ago now. My dad...he was already dying from a heart virus when they arrived. They took us out pretty quickly, it was more of a slaughter than a fight"
He noticed Piccolo's fallen expression, discrete though it was.
"I mean, they all went out fighting. You...went out fighting. We just weren't a match for them. Soon it was just Bulma, Trunks and myself and we hid out. We were the only Z fighters, and anyone else who'd made it were relying on us to survive"
Gohan swallowed an unconscious lump and rubbed his head through his short hair.
"I mean, it quickly became apparent that we weren't going to win with brawn. We needed to think our way out of this, or at least that seemed like a good idea at the time. That was then, and now here we are still hiding and we haven't thought of a way out"
His wry laugh made Piccolo's chest tight. He thought of the little Gohan he knew and the man that was sitting here now. The man with a scar on his very adult, very serious face.
"Not for lack of trying, Bulma has done nothing but research since, and Trunks and I have looked everywhere for information or resources. It's just, we're always one step behind, and we've not caught up"
It looked to Piccolo that Gohan had already been out that morning, searching for whatever it is they're looking for. Piccolo didn't want any more water, his stomach felt strangely empty but he didn't want to fill it. He looked from the able back at the other man.
"I must be here for a reason, maybe it's to help you in some way"
Gohan smiled at that, not voicing his thoughts. I hope so, but you're power level isn't telling me anything I want to hear. He knew it would offend the sensitive Namek. Piccolo was also not voicing the words running through his own head, thoughts of this being a random accident, thoughts of being no help at all. Gohan gestured to the neglected bottle of water on the table with a rough hand.
"I wouldn't let that go to waste, fresh water isn't so easy to come by." He gestured to his beer.
Piccolo acknowledged the comment with a grunt and a belated feeling of...he didn't know the name of it. Pity, maybe. Like this situation didn't apply to him.
"So what do we do now?"
He was ready to fight, geared for action. He grinned, Gohan hadn't come across enthusiasm to fight the androids in...well, since before Vegeta died. It was sweet really, how naively Piccolo would rush into his own demise, again. He wasn't about to lose Piccolo a second time, not to the same evil, and he shook his head.
"Nothing, yet. We'll wait to see what Bulma comes up with"
With that, Piccolo stood up and sighed in relief to be out of the cramped position. Gohan joined him and the Namek could see how tall Gohan had grown. Taller than Goku, he noted.
"I'll go train then"
Piccolo walked towards the door, wondering how he was going to train in this ridiculously restrictive outfit. He tried not to think of how tired he felt, like there was some fatigue deep in his bones.
"You can't leave. Sorry, but there's a shield around the building to keep us hidden and...well, it's too dangerous. The androids are close"
He frowned at Gohan's statement, the smaller man had already left that morning, clearly. What was so different? He could keep his chi down. Gohan's wide brown eyes were not budging though.
"I'll meditate then and keep my energy level low"
Gohan shook his head, and his tone started to slip into something a bit more impatient.
"And go where? You'll be exposed out there. There's nothing but a broken city for miles, and you can't go much further than that without the risk of being discovered"
Piccolo crossed his arms. Gohan was being unreasonable, he could look after himself. At those chestnut eyes though, he relented, if only because he didn't want the other man to blow a fuse for no reason.
"Fine. I'll stay here"
The moment he said it the regret was immediate. The four walls felt like chains and he looked back at the hallway and decided, reluctantly, to return to the small room he had been given to meditate. He left the water on the table.
Gohan watched him leave with sad eyes. He hadn't meant to raise his voice at the other man, and knew Piccolo wasn't exactly easily frightened, but he was easily offended. There was something about the Namek that he couldn't put his finger on, a difference. His memory of Piccolo was vague these days, he of course treasured the memories of them training in the wilderness, going to Namek and bringing Piccolo back to life. Soon after is where it ended though, or there abouts, when his dad got sick and the androids arrived. Visions of his dad writhing and screaming in bed as the virus finally overwhelmed him flitted through his mind and he pushed them to one side. His mother had tried to stay strong, but her determined dark eyes became more and more hollow as they were picked off one by one, the same look he saw in Bulma's eyes when she realised she was one of the only ones left. His mother had died then.
And Piccolo died too. All of his friends had died, all people he loved.
He realised then; what he couldn't put his finger on. It wasn't that Piccolo was actually much different, he remembered that he was gruff, difficult and unreasonable but in Gohan's eyes he had been a hero, his hero. And of course he still thought those things but now, now he was seeing it through adult eyes. As a child he had been so in awe of the great green giant, he had accepted Piccolo just the way he was, flaws and all, like children do. Now he could clearly see how unsocialised and difficult Piccolo was, how he struggled with his emotions. He was a young man, biologically equivalent of something like twenty years old, Bulma had said, albeit one that 'didn't go to school or have any manners'. Gohan was nearly thirty years old now, and losing everyone and everything had made him feel a hundred. And now, here, was this surly Namekian who had so little life experience compared. The realisation actually made him laugh, before it made him feel weird.
Piccolo had tried to meditate sitting on the bed for a few hours, not having the energy to hover as normal. The effects of time travel, he supposed. It had taken a while to settle into a meditative state, there were no birds chirping, no waterfall crashing and no breeze rustling the leaves of the trees. His ears had instead honed in on what he presumed were the machines running the building's power, and the shield Gohan had mentioned. And the fridge, in the kitchen. Those things always made that noise and he hated it. His ears flickered as someone entered the room and he opened his eyes.
Gohan had left Piccolo alone to digest this new situation, but eventually, he had wanted to see him again. Having the other man's company here was too tempting to ignore. Bulma was mostly always working and Trunks was just a kid, a smart, fabulous young man but a kid nonetheless. He walked straight into Piccolo's room since the door had been left open and the Namek was sat on the bed with legs crossed, jeans probably pulled too tight for comfort. The jumper suited him at least, though he was certain the other man would claim otherwise. He opened his eyes and looked at Gohan expectantly. Gohan then realised, belatedly, that he had absolutely no real reason to be there.
"Uh...I thought you might like some company"
Piccolo frowned, not really understanding how Gohan had come to that conclusion. It sounded like some human weakness. It took him a moment to realise that it was Gohan who probably needed the company. He sighed and gestured to the chair. The half Saiyan gladly sat down, though he was too muscled to fit properly, Saiyans were just built to be bulky. Piccolo was somewhat glad for the interruption. His thoughts had been a jumbled mess, he didn't know how he was here, why or if it was even possible to return. He didn't know this world, he was trying to be patient but the information he had so far seemed inherently vague. This was Earth, the androids had killed everyone, the end. He felt helpless and unsure. These weren't feelings he enjoyed, it was like he had just hatched all over again. Maybe Gohan would tell him something useful this time.
"What's on your mind?"
Gohan sighed at the question.
"So many things. At the moment i'm wondering how long we can stay here. Trunks has made some human friends for once, they're at class now. There's only five kids in this area but one of the parents used to be a high school teacher. Can you believe it's the first time he's been to school? I mean, I know I didn't but by his age…"
Piccolo instantly regretted asking as he struggled to answer the question. He had never really regarded school as something important. Trunks having friends though, that did sound important, the little boy had likely had an incredibly unpleasant life so far. He sensed the young teenager elsewhere in the house and the Chi felt familiar, like the smell of roses in the rain, it reminded him of Gohan. He idly wondered if he might be Gohan's son.
"It sounds…" he had no idea how to finish that sentence so he just ignored the question. "How long have you been here?"
"Oh about three years now, which is pretty good going"
Piccolo nodded. He noticed again how dusty everything was.
"So how do you train?"
There it is. Gohan knew it would only be a matter of time before the subject of fighting came up. He was almost glad, so much like old times.
"We usually get our fill fighting the androids, that or if they're far enough out, which isn't that rare, we go the other way. We probably only train two or three times a week." Not every day like you, you martial arts obsessed oddball. Gohan thought fondly.
Piccolo wondered what he was going to do if training was a limited option. Not for the first time that day, Gohan seemed to see where his thoughts were going. Piccolo frowned, that sense the half Saiyan seemed to have was starting to become bothersome, more than it should have.
"We tend to research instead, through the media or old science journals, testing debris, designing new weapons. That and Trunks keeps us pretty busy"
Piccolo wasn't sure how he was going to fit in in this scenario.
"As for other things, well we read a lot. Trunks like his movies...and we spend time together, we don't know how long we've got, but for the moment we've got each other"
That was bittersweet. Gohan smiled, knowing Piccolo wouldn't know what to say. Comfort had not been the man's strong point, however, he was taken by surprise.
"No one knows when their time is up, at least you have a reason to make the most of it. Most people don't bother"
Piccolo offered a faint warmth in his eyes as he said it.
Gohan had forgotten how wise Piccolo could be, maybe that's why he was here, to be the voice of reason where there is none. The day was getting on, the air was cooling even further and the sun was already setting. Gohan looked at his watch and realised it was almost evening. He thought about dinner, but Trunks was spending the night with one of the kids at his class so at least there would only be one Saiyan to feed. Gohan did most of the cooking, though he did share the task with Bulma in theory, she was always busy with a project. She was a sly one when it came to dinner time. He idly wondered what Piccolo might eat, or if he had ever really eaten. With the lack of water around here though, it might be an idea to incorporate feeding the Namek into his routine as well. Piccolo was giving him a strange look.
"Sorry, I was just thinking"
Piccolo raised a brow.
"Well, don't hurt yourself"
Gohan looked incredulous before he laughed, genuinely. Did Piccolo just make a joke? The mirth on his face actually reached his eyes and the Namek couldn't help but feel better at the sight. The Gohan he knew had laughed every other moment. As they talked, Piccolo felt his thighs begin to ache and he rocked back on the bed and kicked his legs out from beneath him, stretching them. His feet almost touch Gohan's knees.
"You shouldn't have your shoes on the bed you know"
Piccolo just pulled a face that said, do I care?
"Doing the laundry is hard enough, don't make it worse. Unless, you'd like to do it?"
Piccolo scowled, predictably and Gohan laughed again. Through the indignation he did notice that Gohan was clearly relaxing and he bit back his urge to pound Gohan a new one for his cheek, because this was probably the first time in a long while he had laughed and had a little fun. He kicked the shoes off and one of them hit Gohan, deliberately.
Next time, he would kick Gohan in his smug face.
Bulma must have heard Gohan laughing and she entered the room with a smile on her face, something told Piccolo it indeed was a rare sound. Cerulean eyes looked at the reclining Namek, teal brow raising as she looked at his outfit and she bit her lip in a smirk at the sight of his socks. Reindeer were flying around his ankle. She placed a hand on her hip and winked at him.
"This isn't a bad look for you big guy!"
Piccolo's cheeks and ears instantly went purple and he scowled as they both started laughing. She was wearing a denim skirt and white shirt, but they were covered in black oil in places. It seemed Bulma hadn't changed much over the years, she had aged a little but she was still lively and pleasant looking, he supposed, for a human. And for a female. So not really then?
He furrowed his jade brows, that wasn't his own voice. Was that Nail again?
"Are you okay?"
The concern in Gohan's voice reminded him of Goku.
"Fine, just...out of sorts"
"I'll bet! You've come a long way, and it's not like you had a time machine to protect you!"
He looked at her then, expectantly.
"Uh...well, I figured you didn't. Don't worry, I've made some interesting discoveries! I'll tell you all about it over dinner!...There is dinner?" Red lips smiled sweetly at Gohan who rolled his eyes.
Piccolo groaned inside.
Until next time!
