Chapter 2 – Obstacles
Mirai bolted upright from his sleep as the air-raid siren that had haunted his entire childhood screamed through the darkness around him.
"Gohan!?"
"What? Mirai?!" Groggy, and unable to see anything in the pitch black of the room, Gohan was more concerned about the edge in Mirai's voice than whatever the hell was going on now. Suddenly, the door to the barracks burst open and Roane switched on the lights, blinding them and starting to yell as the noise of the siren began to wind down.
"Attention!" he demanded, scowling at them already. Blinking in the sudden light, Gohan and Mirai both scrambled to the end of their beds and stood up straight as they'd been instructed to do for morning inspections. All this week, Roane had used a highly amplified alarm clock buzzer, sounding over the bases' PA system, to wake them up. He would then come in at 6am sharp to evaluate them. The siren was a new development, as was his immediate appearance afterward. As Roane looked them over critically, Gohan heard his watch beep an hourly chime. Wait a second, that couldn't be right...
"The enemy" Roane began, staring them down pointedly, "does not wait until you are well-rested to launch his offensive. Attacks can come at any time of the day or night" he lectured them. "Therefore, you have 2 minutes to be in uniform, starting now!" he barked, pressing the button on his stop watch.
Jumping to obey him in the limited time allowed, Mirai pushed everything else out of his mind but dressing as quickly as possible. It wasn't until he and Gohan were jogging through the darkness outside that he registered it was still the middle of the night. Though the adrenaline had certainly gotten him going to start, he immediately felt the tiredness still in his mind and muscles at realizing that fact. It was also in this moment that he remembered tomorrow was supposed to be their day off... Damn. He supposed this was Roane's way of making up for not being able to work them to the bone on that day. He picked up his pace as Roane's cart accelerated, making them break into a full run to keep up.
They were heading to a section of the base that he didn't remember seeing on the tour, but he could tell it was set up as some sort of obstacle course as they approached it. A tall, thick wall loomed as what he assumed was the beginning, since their commanding officer stopped directly next to it. Pulling out his bullhorn, Roane was kind enough to inform them that there was to be no flying on this course, as an explosion wracked the air to the right of them. The suddenness of the blast, along with being pelted by the dirt from it, caused them both to duck a bit and cover their heads instinctively.
"That was the starting bell, Sunshine!" Roane roared through the ensuing din. "Get your ass the fuck up that wall, Daisy!" They ran forward to climb the wall as the sounds of gunfire began competing with the renewal of the siren from earlier. A little over halfway up, another explosion sounded and the wall they were on shuddered, making Mirai lose his grip on it. He landed with a thud on the ground again, only to realize the entire thing was leaning rather precariously now... In fact, it wasn't leaning, it was falling. Rolling quickly to the side, Mirai looked on wide eyed as Gohan barely managed to make it out from under the falling wall as well. Before they had time to complete the thought of 'what the hell kind of obstacle course is this?', Roane was in their faces with the bullhorn again.
"The time's still ticking you lazy fucking assholes!" he yelled, kicking at them as they hastily stood and ran for the next obstacle. As they approached a massive spread of strung-tight barbed wire, which was suspended about a foot and a half off of what looked like a mud pit, Roane yelled the same word over and over at them.
"Crawl! Crawl! Crawl!"
With the height of the wire, Gohan knew 'traditional' crawling was out, and dropped down to his stomach, beginning to inch under it. The mud was indeed thick, making getting any traction in it extra difficult. Glancing over to see Mirai having a hard time as well, Gohan wondered if he'd have an easier time of it if he could dig in and push with his heels instead. Knowing it was a straight shot to the other side, he went ahead and rolled over on his back, accidentally brushing against a length of the barbed wire as he did so.
"FUCK!" he yelled as soon as the passing jolt of electricity would let him breath again. Mirai stopped, looking at him with concern.
"Are you ok? Gohan?" he asked, starting to reach for him.
"Don't touch the wire" Gohan replied, panting a bit as he tried to gather his wits again, and waving Mirai off to let him know he was alright. Flexing his hands and other muscles, he could assess that no actual damage had been done by the voltage, but damn if it hadn't hurt like a bitch.
"He electrified the barbed wire? Who the fuck is this guy?" Mirai said, frowning as he looked warily at the crisscross of pain waiting above them.
"I don't know, but I bet you he'll make us do it over if we're not fast enough" Gohan said as he began moving again.
"Fuck" Mirai concurred, picking up his pace as well.
When they finally made it out of the electrified mud pit, they came up to a field of tall, randomly positioned columns. Receiving no additional instructions from Roane this time, they gave each other a quick glance and then warily stepped forward. The columns were at least twice as tall as they were, and large enough in diameter that they couldn't have reached all the way around them if they were to hug one. They were spaced just close enough together to prevent a clear view to the end of the section, and Gohan had a bad feeling about the too easy look of this 'obstacle'. He was just waiting for them to start falling over on them, or exploding around them...something. After weaving through for about 15 feet, Gohan stepped around one to be met with a line of orange goo heading straight through the air for him. His reflexes were a bit off though, from having been electrocuted a few minutes ago. The sticky substance hit all along the right side of him, coating most of his arm and leg. It seemed some of the columns were rigged with an apparatus that couldn't be seen from the front, that shot the goo at them when they stepped around it. Gohan sighed, knowing he'd for sure be docked in some way for getting gooed.
"Gross" he heard Mirai's voice from a few columns away. Well, at least he hadn't been the only one to fail this section, he thought wryly to himself. Trying to catch up to Mirai's position, he kept up a more careful watch now, and made it close enough to see that his lover sported a long splash of orange that ran down the side of his left ear, all the way down his neck, arm, and side. They had both dodged a few more of the booby-trapped columns before Mirai turned to speak to him.
"Hey, is it just me, or is this stuff starting to itch?" he asked. Now that Gohan thought about it, it definitely was...in fact, it was kind of starting to burn.
"Yeah, I feel it too" he agreed, nodding his head and resisting the urge to scratch at the skin beneath the ooze. Mirai had stopped with his clean hand halfway up to his neck, as if to wipe it off, before realizing that would only serve to contaminate more of his skin. Just as he opened his mouth to respond, they heard a whirring noise behind them, and were only just in time to see one of the nozzles they had already cleared swiveling back toward them. Diving, they each made it behind a column in time to avoid it's spray, but were subsequently shot at by nozzles behind those as well.
"Ok, so, staying in one spot is bad" Mirai commented, instead of whatever he'd been about to say. They didn't dare tarry in the middle of the obstacle again after that, and managed to make it through the rest of the columns without getting oozed a second time. By the end of it though, the burn had intensified to the point where it was fairly distracting. Mirai found himself checking the sky for any sign of daylight as they came up to the next section, wondering how much longer this could go on, and if the burning was going to continue to get worse...
Gohan breathed a sigh of relief when they made it out, but he knew it wouldn't last long. Stretched out before them was a long, open field of freshly turned earth. He wouldn't have thought of it as an obstacle, and perhaps assumed they were done now, if he hadn't been able to see some sort of large scaffolding on the other side, and Roane's golf cart parked further down after that. All of a sudden the sirens and gunfire stopped, leaving his ears ringing in the silence. Then the floodlights of the base cut out as well, and it became nearly pitch black since the partly cloudy skies revealed very little starlight, and nothing of the moon. He heard a sigh beside him.
"This is really going to suck" Mirai said, matter-of-factly.
"Yeah, I'd put money on it" Gohan nodded.
"You don't think he'd put live mines in our path, do you?" Mirai paused, standing at the edge of the tilled ground, "That could really hurt if we don't have our ki up..."
"No, I don't think so, none of the stuff we've come up against so far has been at that degree of dangerousness, even the burn of this gooey stuff has leveled off" he pointed out. Just as he said the word 'off', both of them noticed the whirring sound behind them again. They tried to dodge the impending stream, but there was no cover out here. The nozzles adjusted to follow their motion, and they were hit with a wave of orange from behind, shot from multiple turrets at once.
Cursing, and taking the hint, both of them sprang forward, hoping they'd be able to clear the end of the field and whatever it contained before their backsides really began to burn. Heading in a random, zigzag pattern (since he figured a straight line would be beyond foolish), Gohan did his best to stay alert and focused on the terrain. His mind flashed with a brief moment of regret though, to think that Roane wouldn't mine the field, when he felt his foot depress something metal beneath the dirt. Instead of an explosion, thankfully, the soft click was followed by a loud hiss as a jet of fog shot out of the ground beneath him. Though he didn't breath any of it in, it still stung his eyes and made him cough as he stumbled out of the cloud. He gulped a few breaths of cleaner air upwind, looking around to find that Mirai had discovered the fields' secret as well. Gohan could see his silhouette on it's hands and knees a few yards back, apparently having been less successful in avoiding a lungful of the gas.
If it had been just the tears and coughing, he probably would have been fine; but it was the sneezing fit in addition to that which put him over the edge. Mirai tried to crawl away from the smoke as his diaphragm spasmed, unable to see anything through the burn of the tears; only to set off another of the hidden canisters. A mild layer of panic swept over him. He could barely get in a breath between the sneezes and coughs, let alone try to hold one in with the renewed presence of the smoke. As his mind reeled, he felt a pair of strong arms wrap around his waist, pulling him up and out of the noxious fog.
"I don't think it's a good idea to stop" Gohan's voice was in his ear as his arms moved to support him, "Can you stand? Here... Alright, let's go." With Mirai's arm over his shoulder, and holding onto him as best he could with the goo they were covered in, Gohan guided him along, not really expecting an answer through the hacking and sneezing. At least Mirai was able to move under his own power, though he would never have been able to see where he was going. Gohan began to question their ability to get through this thing even together when they set off another cloud 20 feet from the edge of the field. Forcing himself to break into a near run to clear it, he and Mirai finally stumbled onto the strip of solid earth between the field and the next obstacle, collapsing to the ground.
Almost immediately, Roane was there next to them, wearing a full faced gas mask and kicking at their feet. With a groan, Mirai rolled over and tried to stand up on his own. Now that they were clear of the gas, which was thankfully disbursing and being blown back towards the columns, Mirai's eyes and breathing were beginning to clear. Thank goodness for Saiyan genetics. He and Gohan got up, eying the strange network of scaffold-like bridges and ropes that were in front of them. No time like the present, Mirai thought as he sighed, just wanting this to be over with already.
After having helped Mirai up, Gohan was now nearly covered in the burning ooze. Thoughts of, "Just how were they going to get this stuff off themselves?" were starting to cross his mind. As he scaled the ladder up to the first platform, the burning at his back reached it's full potential. Looking down over the series of bridge ways, platforms, and ladders, he saw that the entire contraption was situated above a large pool of water. He almost wanted to dive into it straight off, in the hopes that the cool water would wash away some of the goo. Determined to do his best though, he headed out across the first bridge, avoiding with relative ease the hammer-like pendulums that swung out to knock him off.
When Mirai crossed out onto the other bridge, he was definitely expecting something to happen, just not for it to fall out from beneath him. With a springing jump, he made it to the next section of platform, only to be blasted in the face by a large jet of water. Staggered back a little too far, he fell off the edge of the platform after all, and landed in the water below with a large splash. Roane was at the edge of the water, yelling at him through his bullhorn again when he surfaced.
"Swim to the end, Private!" he pointed, indicating the far wall. Mirai swam a quick stroke to the end, taking a small amount of comfort in the fact that at least the goo had all sloughed away by the time he reached it. As he hauled himself out of the water, he realized his skin was still burning though. Turning around, he saw Gohan only a few strokes behind him in the water, having been knocked off as well. They stood there, soaking wet and feeling like they were on fire, just as the sun began to peek over the horizon. Surprisingly, Roane didn't berate them for their many slip ups, instead motioning them over to a stack of cardboard boxes behind his cart.
"Those clothes won't survive this, as much of the acidic slime as you let yourselves get hit with" he said in a matter of fact tone, "Strip out of them and throw them in that bucket there." Roane was opening one of the boxes as he spoke. Gohan and Mirai gave each other a quick glance as they obeyed, opting to leave their underwear on, as they had been when he pulled them out of bed earlier.
"This will probably be easiest if you two lay down" he said, pulling out a large plastic jug with each hand. They both somewhat hesitantly complied, unsure if the course was done or not, now...
"You might want to close your eyes and mouths" he advised them, and then began dumping the gallons of vinegar over their prone bodies. A collective sigh of relief rose from them, and Roane flipped the cap on a successive 4 more jugs with each hand, until they both were sated front and back. Squatting down between them as they lay on their stomachs in the pool of vinegar, Roane was looking off into the distance, perhaps even at the sunrise, as he spoke.
"You can't ever count on the enemy doing what you expect, what you know and have seen before. All you can count on is your own determination and the support of your teammates. I won't say you did well out there, because frankly both your times sucked, but I am impressed that you stuck together as much as possible, and didn't leave each other behind. And as a reward for that behavior, I'm going to allow you as long of a shower as you want, or rather as you are going to need, today" he smiled at his own generosity and then stood up, walking back to his cart. "Your day off starts right now boys, I suggest you make the most of it."
He had forgotten what simple heaven a long hot shower could be. It had taken Mirai three complete scrubbing-downs to banish the vinegar smell, and now he just stood under the stream of water, never wanting to leave it's soothing embrace.
"Hey"
Mirai's eyes and head snapped up as Gohan poked him in the shoulder.
"Though being able to fall asleep in the shower is impressive, it's probably not going to end well..." Gohan joked, yawning himself. With a reluctant nod, Mirai turned off the water and headed over to dry off. A clean set of clothes later and it was almost like it had never happened...almost. Gohan yawned again loudly as he pulled his shirt over his head.
"Honestly, I think I need a nap before anything else. We were up half the night you know" he commented with a sigh.
"Even breakfast?"
A half hour later, having finished dressing and making a quick trip to the mess hall, Gohan and Mirai walked lazily across the open spans to the barracks, their arms around each others waists. It was definitely agreed that a nap was the next order of business. Both of them falling into Gohan's cot, Mirai snuggled against him with a content sigh, having missed his warmth next to him at night. Roane had known from the very beginning that he and Gohan were lovers, of course, but the strict, no-nonsense attitude and environment they had asked him to create didn't exactly allow for much cuddling.
"Could you set your watch with an alarm?" he asked as Gohans' legs entwined with his, "I don't want to accidentally sleep all day out of exhaustion... I have plans for other things before this day is over."
"Sure, how about four hours then?" Gohan suggested, smiling.
"Four glorious hours in your arms it is..." Mirai said sleepily, his eyes already closed. Gohan chuckled, kissing his forehead once the alarm was set. His free hand stroked over the back of Mirai's hair, coming up short, but continuing down his neck and back anyway, like he would have before.
"I love you" he whispered, closing his eyes as well.
"Love you, too, Gohan... Thanks for coming back for me" Mirai responded as sleep pulled him under.
"Always."
After the decibel overload of being woken for a week with the P.A. system and then air raid siren, the beeping of Gohan's watch seemed almost delicate in comparison. It probably wouldn't have woken either of them at all if it hadn't been right next to Mirai's ear when it went off. Blinking slowly, he groaned when he realized he was awake now.
"Hey, Gohan" he pushed at his shoulder, "Time to get up, it's almost noon already." An unintelligible mumble answered him.
"What?"
"I said, how badly do you really care about clean clothes?" Gohan asked and complained at the same time.
"Hey, I'm the one who's supposed to be grumpy in the mornings" he joked, "Besides, it's not me, it's Roane who wants us properly 'in uniform' and all that." With a huff, Gohan threw his arm over Mirai, pulling him close and burying his head in the crook of his neck.
"But I was having a really good dream though" Gohan informed him, beginning to kiss at his neck, "You were there..."
Highly displeased with the necessity of pushing him away, Mirai gave a complaining sigh as he insisted, "Laundry first."
"Laundry? Now? There's plenty of time left" Gohan argued, moving up to capture Mirai's lips.
"I don't want to have to leave this bed again until morning comes, once we start that" Mirai answered gently, knowing Gohan would really prefer it that way as well. Gohan gave a large sigh, pulling back a bit so he could sit up.
"You and your 'logic'" he said, teasing him and wagging a finger in his face, "Fine, fine...but we're putting every load in at once. There's plenty of washing machines, and I don't want to be stuck there any longer than we have to."
"Deal" said Mirai, sitting up and stretching as well. Keeping a close eye on Mirai's backside as they gathered up their clothes, Gohan stopped him with an arm across the doorway before they exited the room.
"You know, maybe we really should wash all our clothes at once" he said with a wink, leaning in closer to him and running a finger under the seam of his shirt. "It really would be more efficient that way..."
"I doubt that Roane would approve of those types of activities taking place on his washing machines" Mirai grinned back, knowing exactly how horny Gohan was at this point.
"He specified no sex in the showers, he said nothing about any of the other buildings" Gohan argued half-seriously.
"Hey, I consider it a small miracle that we aren't scrubbing the latrines down with a toothbrush at this point, after how bad we did on his godawful course. I really don't want to provoke him" Mirai made sure Gohan was not being actually serious.
"Well, I'm still going to think about it...the entire time" Gohan grinned, freeing Mirai's path and holding the door open for him to pass. Mirai just chuckled and rolled his eyes as he walked by carrying his large sack of clothes. Unable to resist in his playful and horny mood, Gohan gave him a quick smack on the ass as he went by. Pausing, Mirai gave him a look that said, "Really?" over his shoulder; then morphed it into a semi-seductive wink and went back to walking away. With a groan of frustration, Gohan kicked the side of his laundry bag before picking it up and following.
When they reached the laundry room, they were surprised to see it was already in use. Mirai would have thought Roane would be set up with his own facility, but there he was sitting at a table on the far end of the room. Both a washer and dryer were running on the row next to him as he played solitaire. Seeing them come in, he nodded to them in a friendly manner, breaking the slight bit of tension. Nodding back, Gohan even raised his hand in a sort of "hi" like gesture before picking out his machines.
Once they had them all filled and running, Mirai and Gohan reached a sort of unspoken decision that it would be kind of rude to ignore Roane's presence. Ambling over toward the end of the room that held the tables, they didn't have to wait long for Roane to address them.
"You boys play cards?" he said once they came within a distance that wouldn't require shouting. All of those machines running at once did produce quite a bit of noise.
"We've played poker a time or two, but not for anything serious" Mirai said, venturing closer.
"Well, pull up a chair, I don't bite, guys" Roane smiled at their hesitation, shuffling the deck a few more times while they took seats. "Any particular version you're familiar with?" he asked them, setting the stack down in the middle of the table.
"That time we played with Krillin and Yamcha, I think they said it was called Texas Hold'em..." Gohan offered, Mirai nodding his support.
"Alright then, Texas Hold'em it is" Roane agreed, indicating one of them should cut the deck.
"What are we playing for?" Mirai asked, reaching over and cutting it for him.
"Hmm... Since money's useless on base here and we don't have any poker chips, we could just keep it friendly and play for fun. If you really want something to be on the line though, we could play for demerits" Roane suggested fairly seriously.
"Fun's fine" they both answered at once, making Roane snort with the abruptness of his laughter. They couldn't help but crack a grin themselves, and the three of them were still chuckling a little when Roane began dealing out the cards.
"Well, the offer stands if you boys decide you want to up the ante" Roane informed them while studying his cards. He wasn't exactly a pro at this, but he'd played his share of the game back when he was in active service. After refreshing their memories with a practice hand to run through the rules, they began to play for fun for real. Roane won the first few rounds in a row, but then Mirai began to win a few as well. While Gohan was looking at his hand for their fifth round, he was beginning to wonder how complicated it would be to come up with an equation to predict the cards.
"I guess poker's just not my thing" he said with a sigh as he lost again, "It's a good thing we aren't playing for anything." Keeping an eye on his watch, Gohan passed on the coming round when he saw that it was time to move their loads through the driers. Thankfully the base was originally set up to accommodate hundreds of people, so there were as many machines as they could ever want in the large room. Once everything was tumbling away, Gohan rejoined them, with a new strategy this time. Instead of trying to win, he paid almost no attention to the cards he held or that were dealt; he opted to focus on Mirai's leg underneath the table. Casually making sure of whose leg was who's as he pulled out his chair to sit down, he made certain his was brushing against Mirai's. When they had their cards, Gohan's eyes looked at them, but didn't see a thing. His awareness was centered on the feel of his foot rubbing it's way up Mirai's thigh. Out of his peripheral vision, he could see the man starting to blush, and smiled at the reaction he got.
Fortunately, Mirai thought to himself, Gohan's foot couldn't reach all the way up from the angle he was at, or he would have had a problem. Even with just the casual rubbing over his leg it was hard enough to keep himself in check. He supposed it was a good thing Roane was here, since he'd really not had any intention of having sex in the laundry room. At least it kept Gohan from talking, or rather rubbing, his way into them doing more. With a sigh, he half heartedly won the round they were playing. Then he noticed both of them were looking at him expectantly. Blushing, he realized they had been in the middle of a conversation, and he had no idea what the last thing they'd said was.
"Uh, what was that?" Mirai asked, trying to keep his face straight and not glare at Gohan for distracting him.
"Well, Private Son here covered for you when I asked exactly how old you guys are, but then I asked if you had any actual combat experience and he hesitated, then looked to you, and you dropped the ball" Roane informed him. He had his arms crossed over his chest and was leaning back in his chair, with a small and somehow knowing smile on his face. "If you boys would like to 'confer' with each other before answering that, I'll understand; just know that whatever you do choose to tell me will stay strictly between us." Now, to Roane, being the head of a massive corporation like Capsule, or the department head of an extensive program like Research and Development, didn't exactly scream 'ex mercenary', but in this day and age, you never really knew.
Mirai hadn't really thought about having to answer that particular question, but he knew his answer was going to have to have mostly truth to it. He and Gohan may have been out of shape, but there had been several times throughout the week where they had surprised Roane with their obvious knowledge in the area of combat.
"Well, I guess for now you could just say that we've both been thrown into more than a few of those types of situations. I grew up in a country that was at war, so when I came here, I kind of over compensated in the peacefulness and stopped keeping up with the things I had learned" Mirai admitted without really giving anything away. He knew that all the background information Bulma had fabricated for him years ago was purposefully vague, even if Roane did or already had done some digging on them. And Gohan's past was air tight, nothing to say he'd been involved in battles with aliens for the Earth's very survival since he was a small child.
"That's fine guys, I actually didn't mean to pry, I've just come to wonder about that over the past week or so" Roane backed off politely, dealing the next hand.
"No problem" Mirai answered, relieved he didn't continue to press the issue. Other than that embarrassing turned awkward moment, the rest of the time went by quickly. Roane was actually pretty easy to talk to, making jokes here and there, and actually listening when they were saying something. He hadn't expected him to be friendly, really, in their down time. Actually, he hadn't expected to see him at all in their down time, since this was technically his day off too. They were kind of out in the middle of nowhere though, so he guessed it did make sense for him to just stick around the base.
When the dryer's buzzers began going off in succession, Gohan grinned widely and practically sprang from his chair to get their clothes. Mirai couldn't help but laugh a little in his head about how cute Gohan was when he got this 'eager'. With an excuse about needing to put these away before they wrinkled already formulated in his mind, Gohan hustled Mirai out the door with their clean clothes, bidding Roane farewell.
As he nodded and waved them off, Roane still wondered about their rather obscure past. Since his own laundry was done as well, he left the building only a bit behind them, after gathering up his cards and hitting the lights. Watching them walk away, he briefly wondered what it might be like to have someone you could count on, but pushed the thought aside. Instead he began to run through the new schedule of training he would implement for the following weeks, now that he had a more accurate idea of what these guys were capable of. Even taking into account their tutelage under the Turtle Hermit, he had decided there was definitely more than met the eye with these two.
Even under his mother's watchful eye as a kid, Gohan didn't think he'd ever put his clothes away so neatly so quickly in his entire life. He even turned to help Mirai with his clothes after he was done, as the man was not moving nearly fast enough in his opinion. Mirai chuckled as Gohan practically snatched the shirt from his hands, moving with a speed he rarely displayed outside the battlefield. Once everything was in it's place he pulled Mirai into his arms, letting out a deep breath before kissing him gently.
"I half expected to be getting ravished right now" Mirai teased as Gohan slowly kissed his way down his neck.
"Just because I was in a hurry to get here, doesn't mean I don't plan on taking my time now that we are here" Gohan chided, biting tenderly at Mirai's exposed skin. He molded himself to his lover's body, pushing against him and moving Mirai backwards step by step until they were at the edge of his bed, kissing him all the while. Pushing him over playfully, Gohan grabbed the edge of the bed frame with a wink and pushed until it was situated directly against his own, giving them a larger area to sprawl out on. Mirai leaned up to meet him as Gohan knelt on the bed and their lips sealed together passionately.
The first clothing to go was their boots, with Mirai grumbling about the necessity of needing your hands to undo the laces. Once those and their socks fell to the floor though, the rest of undressing became a game of how much skin could remain touching as various articles of clothing slid off them.
"Missed you...missed this" Gohan mumbled huskily in Mirai's ear, taking full advantage of their now nude forms to rub against him sensually. Mirai moaned deliciously for him, sending a shiver down his spine with the degree of emotion it conveyed.
"I'm sure as we get used to training again, we'll have more energy at the end of the day" Mirai whispered hopefully in Gohan's ear as he shifted his hips so their erections rubbed together. A breathless gasp escaped Gohan at the sensitiveness of the contact, and he nodded in complete agreement. He continued the slow grind of their hips for a few moments, simply savoring the feel of Mirai's nakedness beneath him. Still wanting more though, Gohan directed him with his eyes and a few practiced caresses to roll over on his stomach. He loved how after all these years, they barely even had to speak to know what each other wanted.
This was the moment that the loss of Mirai's hair hit him the hardest, though he knew it was all for the best, and had been his decision. Kissing his way across those lovely tanned shoulders, there was nothing to sweep out of the way as he went. A shadow of regret flickered through Gohan's mind, but was quickly dismissed by the depth of his emotion, the way he cherished this man before him. Moving up to the back of Mirai's neck, he gathered a bite-full of flesh and pressed his teeth into it, just enough to leave a good mark on him, but not to draw blood. The loud exhale of Mirai's breath let Gohan know he'd hit the right note there. He could tell there'd be no opposition to the idea of him paying a little extra attention to his lover today, before they got down to business.
Releasing his mouths' grip on Mirai's skin, Gohan sat back and began massaging his shoulders, loosening his muscles and drawing more than a few contented sighs from him. As his hands moved lower and lower, Gohan noticed Mirai's noises were becoming more and more drawn out. Changing his position, he spread Mirai's legs so that he could fit between them. With a hand on either side of his hips, he pulled his lover's lower half into a kneeling position, kneading and spreading his round, firm ass. Gohan leaned down and placed a lingering kiss over the scar at the base of his spine, relishing the low whine that filled the air around them as he did so. Either of them could be made to cum from just enough attention paid to that particular spot, but that was not his goal today.
Moving his lips lower, Gohan made sure Mirai's cheeks were spread wide as he kissed his way down the valley between them. His tongue darted out only fleetingly to circle around his entrance before continuing downward. After making his way to the bulge of his balls below that, Gohan decided the little strip of flesh between the two had been entirely too neglected of late. He expertly scraped, skimmed and swept his lips and teeth on top of it until Mirai moaned his name into the sheets. Still warming him up though, he moved back to his love's entrance, marking a much slower and undulating circle around it this time. In keeping with his teasing rhythm, Gohan finally let his tongue lap directly over the sensitive opening, but didn't probe it yet.
Mirai's body shifted backward toward him in frustration, causing his face to be pressed more firmly against Mirai's ass. Gohan chuckled and gave him what he wanted, slipping his tongue past the tight ring of muscle in a gentle, exploring motion. He let his saliva coat and slicken the entire surrounding area as he delved repeatedly into that hot cavern, until Mirai's hips were rocking for him and his own erection longing to take over. Finally deciding that was enough, he stopped the movement of his tongue in favor of a different kind of commotion. Bearing down on his lover's opening with a much longer appendage now, Gohan slid inside him quite easily, exacting an startled groan from Mirai at the same time.
Giving a few slow, languid strokes in and out of him, Gohan moan himself at how incredible it was to be making love to him again after so long. Well, a week was long for them anyway... Plus this had been one of the longest weeks of their lives; it was entirely unfair, in both their opinions, and it needed to be made up for right now. Knowing his lover's body like the back of his own hand, Gohan pushed Mirai's hips down toward the bed a bit more, and leaned over him, changing the angle of his thrusts. He was rewarded by a series of low, inarticulate noises from Mirai as he penetrated him with more force and grazed over that certain special spot inside him.
Grabbing handfuls of the sheets, Mirai hung on as Gohan's pace increased steadily, making the frame of the bed smack against the wall of the barracks in an almost competing way with his own cries. His toes and legs tingled as Gohan worked between them, grunting and groaning in a guttural way that Mirai found unbelievably hot. On the edge of his pleasurable haze, Mirai felt a finger tracing over the teeth marks at the back of his neck. Then it moved off of the indentations and began following the curve of his spine downward. When it got halfway down his back, Mirai knew he was going to cum the instant it brushed over the scar of his tail. Anticipation continued to build as it traced closer and closer to it's goal, then stopped and instead circled the bundle of nerves made sensitive by their exploits.
"Gohan..." Mirai let himself whine and beg all at once, knowing the game Gohan played and that the pitch of voice he desired couldn't be faked. Approving of his love's plead with a breathless chuckle, Gohan flicked his fingers over the scar in rapid succession as Mirai screamed and began to cum quite forcefully beneath him. As he did, that tight heat Gohan was buried in contracted even more, sending him over the edge of an orgasm with ease. He collapsed on top of Mirai, waiting for his body to stop twitching with pleasure before he pulled out. Leaving a trail of cum over his ass when he did so, Gohan snuggled at Mirai's side, waiting for him to open his eyes so he could be the first thing he saw afterward.
When those lidded blue flames were finally unfurled, Gohan was granted a wide smile and a sigh of approval from their owner. Before they could drift off into another round of much needed sleep though, Gohan kissed his forehead and whispered undying love for him in his ear, meaning every word sincerely. Mirai rolled to his side so they could embrace more easily, and returned the sentiment wholeheartedly. With one last kiss and set of "I love you's" they were lulled to sleep by the warmth of each others arms, content in the knowledge that no matter what happened, some things would always remain the same.