Yes! It's not a dream, chapter 3 has finally arrived! I'm so sorry for the long wait, many thing have happened that made it impossible to update before. But now, here it is! I tried really hard to get characters into their actual personalities so the story would feel more natural. I hope I achieved that goal. Please, enjoy!

Chapter 3

Let Me Tell You Something

Piccolo was flying as fast as possible behind Gohan; his heart was pounding so fast he could barely breathe and despite the wind surrounding his body, he felt he was sweating. He secretly expected not to catch Gohan though.

After what felt like forever, he noticed that Gohan stopped a few miles ahead of him. He got there quickly, and found him facing directly at him.

"Gohan"

"Piccolo I… I'm sorry"

"You don't have to…"

"No, I am sorry, and you need to know why" Gohan's face was blushing violently as he got closer and closer. Piccolo did not move.

As Gohan nearly touched his face with his own, Piccolo could feel his smell like the last time they hugged; Gohan had a particular smell, so sweet and yet so intense that drove him mad whenever they got closer. Piccolo felt how his will was breaking with every inch the kid stole from them, and how hopeless he became when Gohan placed a hand on his green face, and then the other, and then…

He couldn't resist it, Gohan was going too slow. The distance between them disappeared when Piccolo placed his lips on Gohan's, his hands wandering fast through the young saiyan's body and hair, finally allowing himself to quench the thirst that he had felt for three long months, ever since the last kiss they shared. Gohan was lost in the moment also; that flavor, that fresh water flavor that he missed so much, so bad…

As they felt each other's tongues it occurred to Gohan that his decision of dating Videl was so wrong; he belonged to Piccolo's arms, to his taste, to his will. He shivered and moaned to every single touch, to every movement the namekian made. He needed more.

Finally moving away, both gasping, they felt relieved as well as guilty. They couldn't look at each other this time, but merely recovered some air looking away.

"Gohan, what did you expect to happen out of this?"

"Just the thing that actually happened. I wanted to kiss you so bad"

Piccolo turned to face him. That kid… no, that young man before him was trying to tell him something, to tell him how much he needed him, and that he had felt more than friendship for many years. Piccolo himself had felt that also, but he convinced himself that Gohan was better off without knowing his true feelings, and more recently, he was sure that Gohan would be happier with a woman rather than with him. Now, he wasn't so sure.

They landed. Inside the forest, they stared at each other for a while before Gohan spoke.

"Piccolo sama" he mumbled.

"Piccolo sama" a little voice echoed in Piccolo's mind. There was once a boy who repeated those very same words for him, many years ago. "Piccolo sama, do you think my dad is ok? I mean, I know he is dead but still…"

Piccolo turned to see the thirteen years old boy next to him, meditated for a moment, and then answered in a gentle voice "Your father is the strongest man that has ever existed. Wherever he is, you can be sure he is fine… as long as he gets to train of course. Don't trouble yourself with those thoughts kid"

"You are probably right" Gohan smiled at him. "Thank you Piccolo sama". As usual, Gohan finished his sentence with a long hug. Piccolo didn't like those long hugs at first, but he got used to them as years passed by. Now, he actually liked that contact with the kid.

"Piccolo sama I…"

Another voice echoed in Piccolo's head again, this time not so long ago, back at the moment when the last battle was over, with Goku back in life again, and with a teenager Gohan calling his name.

"Piccolo sama, I was wondering…" Gohan began, hesitating.

"Yes kid?"

"You know… they told me… no, forget it, it's nothing" Gohan had turned his head in a different direction, just for Piccolo not to see his blushing face.

"You should not bring up subjects you are not willing to discuss kid"

"I know… well… they told me that… you reacted quite badly when they told you I was dead… I mean I wasn't dead but of course you didn't know that at the time…"

Piccolo held his breath for a second. After a careful thought, he finally answered "That was because I care about you, but you already know that"

"Yes I know… it's just… I mean, how much?"

"How much what?" Gohan began walking in front of Piccolo, calculating his words.

"How much do you care about me?"

Without looking at Gohan directly, Piccolo took a deep breath and spoke "I'll do whatever is necessary to keep you safe, to spare you pain… even losing my own life would mean nothing to me if I can keep you alive and happy"

Piccolo noticed late the implications of his words. After the first impression that they produced on them both, he continued "but you know that already"

"Yeah… of course" answered Gohan nervously. Nothing else was said until it was time to depart, Piccolo towards the Kami temple and Gohan home. They exchanged a friendly hug and parted.

"Piccolo sama, I…"

"Stop right there" spoke Piccolo, and his voice echoed with such pain that Gohan couldn't say another word. "I can't let you do this Gohan. We don't belong to each other. This was a mistake"

"A mistake?" asked Gohan hesitating.

"Gohan, I've known you since you are a very young child, I've seen you… I can't let you ruin your life… I've been like a second fa…"

"No! NO!" yelled Gohan "you shut up! This is not bad, this is not wrong! The only thing that is wrong is you trying to… why are you doing this? Shut up… Don't you see? I've been in love with you probably since we fought Cell! That's why I always wore your uniform instead of my father's, and is also the 'why' to spend so much time with you… why can't you understand?"

Piccolo froze. What was he suppose to do? What was he suppose to say? Gohan would refuse to listen…

"Gohan, you must understand, what do you want to get from this? Your parents will never approve our relationship, and neither will our friends…"

"Wait what?" Gohan was carefully thinking on everything that Piccolo just said to him, and found something that tasted a bit like hope in between his words "What did you say?"

"That you have to understand why we can't be together"

"No no, the other thing" Gohan moved closer to Piccolo, almost cornering him against a tree "You said… they would never approve… 'our relationship?'"

"Well… I suppose I might have said something like that…"

"You actually said that! Oh Kami! You actually believe there is something between us! You want to be with me!"

"Gohan you are missing the point!"

"This is the point! Don't you see? We've been in love of each other for Kami knows how long! It's time for us to be together"

"And how do you suppose that is going to happen?"

"We could leave, far away! Off to some place where we could be truly together, maybe to Namekusei!"

"Gohan stop this madness!"

Gohan remained still for a moment. He was smiling now, pretty aware that Piccolo had lost this battle.

"I am not going to stop"

Piccolo took a deep breath. He knew he had screw things up already, so he tried to think of a better solution.

"You came to me today with yet another purpose. What was it?"

"What?" Gohan thought hard before he could remember "Oh right! It's Goten's birthday! But don't change the subject, you must know, I'm not giving up on this!"

"Fine!" Piccolo, turned around. Secretly, deep in the caves of his heart, he was smiling as well. Though the severe look on his face might have shown otherwise, he desired to stay next to Gohan forever. He sighed, and then spoke again. "Let's go to the party. Let us not talk about it anymore…"

"But…!"

"Hush that!" he spoke so severely that Gohan remained still more than necessary. "Don't say anything to anybody about this, and stay away from me the whole time. I'll be waiting for you at the kami tower tomorrow morning, at dawn. And we will talk some more then…"

Gohan felt a warm feeling crossing trough his chest; before he could say anything else, he just nodded and Piccolo began his way to Goku's house, flying through the sky, wondering about his next move. He was scared, so scared. Was this really a good idea? What was he going to say to Gohan? The kid would not leave the subject behind so easily.

Gohan on the other hand, was radiant. He knew he had to hide his feelings for the time being, but was now sure that it would be a small price to pay for what would come. Hopefully, Piccolo would agree to move with him to another planet, another system, far away…

Far, far away…

Did you like it? Please leave a review! I hope you enjoy it. Next chapter will come as soon as possible. Thank you for reading!