They of course had to tell Roane that they were bringing on an additional instructor for the remaining term. His eyes narrowed, but before he could say anything, Mirai assured him that Taka had been put under the same contract and requirements that he had. Even so, Roane remained skeptical.
"Look, we'll admit we definitely took what we thought would be your preference into consideration regarding who was hired" Mirai explained, "But the idea of lightening your load was already in our minds before we knew how serious you and Taka were. We didn't do this expecting any favors or special treatment from you either. If anything, it's only because we trust you to be strict and professional no matter what that we went ahead and offered it to him even though he's your boyfriend." Roane seemed to accept it more after Mirai made his little speech.
"So, nothing's changing with the routine, except that I won't be the only one enforcing it 24-7?" Roane still had the smallest hint of disbelief in his voice.
"Exactly. If we wanted you to be more lax, we'd just tell you we wanted to renegotiate your contract, not play games dancing around the issue" Gohan said very matter of factly. That seemed to settle it.
When Taka arrived "on base", Gohan and Mirai could tell from the way he was dressed (in uniform), the set of his shoulders, and the way he walked toward them, that he meant business and was ready to give them hell. Perfect. They both realized they were smiling and quickly wiped them off their faces, lest they give either of their instructors a reason to reprimand them. Taka and Roane both saluted each other, but exchanged no other greeting, and then turned to their charges.
"Today we'll be going through our normal routine, so Taka can orient himself with the basics of our little set up here. I'll debrief him while you boys are in the gravity chamber, and then we'll all go for a nice tour of the facilities together afterward" Roane informed them. As they made their way over to the building that housed the GR, Mirai wondered if sex would be involved in this 'debriefing', but didn't dare ask. He supposed if they did do anything like that, the smell would be a give away...not that he was in a position to say anything if they did.
That first day back was pretty standard, Gohan and Mirai were made to run around chasing the golf cart for the better part of the day while Taka was shown the base. Since they were so much more used to it now, it wasn't a huge amount of effort for them. The interesting part was at the end of the day, when Roane informed them that tomorrow they would be solely under Taka's direction. The blonde smiled and nodded, obviously they'd talked about it already, but Mirai didn't think he'd have had the guts to do something like that.
It was obvious that Roane was testing him. As a new instructor coming onto his camp, it seemed perfectly fitting, but as his lover... Well, Mirai did tell Roane that he trusted him to treat Taka just like any other instructor while they were on the clock. Both he and Gohan wondered though, if they had fully prepared Taka for this kind of treatment. Since they'd had an easier day than normal, the two of them were falling asleep in each other's arms, and had a chance to talk a little before nodding off.
They didn't take it as any indication that Roane's word would be breached, but they would definitely take advantage of any opportunity to snuggle that came along. It was obvious the real test would be tomorrow, and Mirai wondered if Taka's treatment of them wasn't up to par, whether Roane would step in right away, or let the day play out and then address Taka in private. Damn it, he just had too many thoughts about other people's relationships running through his head now. Burying his face in the pillow, he sighed to himself, drawing Gohan's attention.
"What's wrong babe?" he said, rubbing Mirai's back briefly.
"Nothing... It's just... Ugh, this is why I would never make a good matchmaker. I don't want to have other people's issues running through my head all the time."
Gohan smiled hearing that, and pulled Mirai's face out of the pillow so he could kiss him.
"Do you need me to distract you?" he asked. Mirai looked at him levelly, though he already had decided he wanted more than just a snuggle since they had the energy.
"Well, now that you mention it, you are pretty distracting..." he grinned back, and was easily made to forget about Roane and Taka for the rest of the night.
When the lights of their barracks flooded over them before the morning alarm had gone off, Gohan had the presence of mind (these days) to know that this was no mix up. Thank god they also knew better than to fall asleep without their boxers on for any reason...
"Atteeeeeeention!" a fairly familiar voice rang out, echoing off the empty space of the rest of the hall. Both Gohan and Mirai were flinging themselves out of bed already, having been woken by the lights, and having faster than normal reflexes. Roane looked slightly amused, standing behind Taka, to find them both in the same bed, but it was only because they knew how to read the little flash in his eyes, not that he would ever smile at them or anything. Right about now, Gohan was thinking that the 'supposed' ease of their simple run yesterday may have been a ruse.
Both of them were standing, backs straight and arms raised in salute, while Taka glared at them.
"Dress out!" Taka barked, and aside from letting the new command speed through his brain as he pieced together a tentative meaning, Gohan also marveled at how he could get his voice to hit just that right pitch to make the whole place seem filled with it. He didn't dare ask questions though, on Taka's first day, so he was going to go with the assumption that they were being ordered to get their clothes on a fast as humanly possible. Which was pretty fast for them, considering they weren't human.
Mirai noticed Roane's slightly raised eyebrow at the order, but he immediately began pulling on their normal camp uniform. That was what Gohan was doing too, he saw, and figured at least if they were wrong, they'd both get punished together. As soon as they were done, they stood back at attention, understanding this was going to be serious, and Taka looked them over with an appraising gaze.
"I'm just going to mention here, since it didn't come up somehow before, I haven't been using the same strict command system we had in the military with them" Roane said, staying back while Taka was inspecting them. Their blonde instructor looked briefly back to him, and then nodded.
"Well, I suppose getting into uniform isn't that far of a stretch from 'dress out', so I guess you boys aren't as dumb as a bag of hammers, congratulations" Taka said almost condescendingly. Now that brought a smile to Roane's face.
"We'll stick to normal lingo then, but I still expect your obedience to be immediate and swift, do I make myself clear?" Taka asked then, his manner somehow more offending to Gohan in the way he was speaking to them than Roane's proximity or volume had ever been when they first started.
"Yes Sir!" they both replied right away. And then the fun began.
"It has come to my attention that the Gravity Chamber hasn't been cleaned once since you two set foot on base, is that correct?" Taka mused at them, as if they had been assigned to clean their room and had purposefully 'forgotten' under the bed.
"Yes Sir!" they both answered, groaning internally. Then suddenly Taka swooped in and grabbed the back of Gohan's neck and shoved him down and towards the door at the same time.
"Get the fuck over to the supply room now. Are you waiting for a hand fucking written invitation?" the blonde seethed in his ear.
Roane stepped out of their way since he was partially blocking the door, and Mirai caught the tiniest swell of pride puffing up their sergeant's chest as they scrambled out it. He wasn't looking at them though, he was looking at Taka. This may have been a bad idea.
Gohan had never cleaned under heavy gravity before. It was obvious that it was getting increased on them as they went too, because after thirty minutes or so, the plastic bucket they'd been using to hold the soapy water flattened to the ground like it had suddenly melted. They weren't stupid enough to think that it was any reason for them to stop though. Gohan was determined to use and spread that puddle of water around as much as possible before making an issue or any request of their instructors regarding it. He supposed metal buckets would work ok, for a while, but even the weight machines in the other room of the chamber had their limits.
When there was finally nothing else to be done for it, Gohan raised to his knees and looked up to the ceiling briefly before getting to his feet and heading for the door. He would never presume to think that either of their instructors would fetch new supplies for them. He made it about halfway to the door when the room's Level I fire suppression system kicked in, drenching them head to toe as the sprinklers came to life. Gohan could take the hint. At least they hadn't triggered the powdery spray used for electrical fires... Gohan tried to keep a positive attitude as he got back on his hands and knees to continue scrubbing. He kind of expected the rain to stop after a few minutes, after there was enough water for them to keep cleaning with, but it didn't.
Gohan wasn't sure the floor would pass a bacteria test after being mostly just dosed with water as they scrubbed over it with their brushes, but he knew that wasn't the point. Just the sprinklers alone would have carried away most of the loose dirt that had accumulated, if this was really about cleaning. So Gohan let his mind wander just a little while the water dripped off of them in streams, and they scrubbed methodically. After a while though, his skin started getting pruney from the exposure, and his fingers became especially raw from gripping the brush. It had been probably an hour or so since they were turned on, before they finished.
Taka shut the water off, and stood in the now open doorway.
"Thank god we were able to find a way to hose you two down after the state we walked in on this morning" he tisked, and when Gohan bristled, he laughed.
"Get your sorry asses over to the other side and empty it out" he said with a chuckle, as if they weren't even worth yelling at, "That equipment isn't going to clean itself."
In the dark, Gohan and Mirai wiped down all of the exercise machines on the cement outside that were normally in the second room of the gravity chamber. Taka went from one to the other of them, inspecting their work with a flashlight that neither of them had access to for the cleaning itself. It resulted in a lot of re-done sections, though, Gohan was sure they'd have been made to do them all two or three times over with or without light to see by.
He tried not to, but Gohan found himself coming back to Taka's comment about hosing them down several times and stewing on it. It wasn't that he was offended by the implication that they had been dirty, because they actually hadn't showered. As he fought off a yawn, he realized it was because of the little inflection Taka had put on the word 'state', almost as if he were putting them down because of how they had gotten dirty... Or rather, implied that the dirty part was them waking up from the same bed. With it looking like dawn was no where near in sight, he tried to push his mind clear of that particular train of thought, because it was going to be a long day.
Once they finished their task, Taka set them to cleaning out the other room before the equipment was put back in it. As soon as the door slid closed behind them, they were immediately pelted with the spray of water this time. With a sigh, internally only of course (because you could never be sure just how much the cameras picked up), they got to work. By the time they finished with the second room, and were hauling equipment back into it, the first blush of light was beginning to grace the skies.
"Chow time boys, get your asses in line and over to the mess hall" Taka ordered them once everything was in place. They jogged over, obviously eager for this task.
"Easy boys, easy, you're not going to be eating dick, just breakfast" Taka somehow managed to make his barking tone sound like a snigger. Mirai slowed his pace as it was being indicated they should do, and rolled his eyes at the crudeness of the comment, since their instructors were behind them. Gohan's teeth clenched, but he said nothing. They weren't given any other orders between there and reaching the door of the hall, so Gohan went right in, holding the door for Mirai and then letting him go ahead of him. Instead of heading right for the table, he ducked over to the window and peeked through the blinds.
Taka was leaning against the golf cart, and Roane against him, and Roane obviously had more of his tongue inside Taka's mouth than not. Was Taka honestly trying to kid anyone?... Gohan frowned and hurried to the table to take his place, ignoring the raised eyebrow Mirai gave him. They didn't ever really talk during meals anymore, because of the time constraint. It had been weird while they were on vacation to think as they were sitting down in a restaurant that they didn't have to inhale the food in front of them as quickly as possible.
When the timer rang and they were heading back out, Mirai asked him, "Hey, does Roane eat anything while he's standing out there?"
"Just Taka's face for now" Gohan said, trying to make a joke of it, but he felt something ugly stirring in his chest at the thought that the man was somehow ridiculing them for being "gay" when he was himself too...
Gallons and gallons of white paint greeted them after breakfast.
"Frankly, I can't believe you were let to go away and on a vacation with your base left looking like this. Unacceptable." Taka stood only a few feet from them and dished out orders while they stayed at attention. Roane seemed to take the comment in stride, and so Gohan assumed it was just part of the bravado...maybe that's what this all was, and he was just getting worked up for nothing... Painting every building on the base for the rest of the day didn't sound completely horrible, though he knew his tired arms would definitely be feeling it after not too long. Then Taka stepped in close to him as they were going to retrieve the buckets, and said to him in a quiet tone,
"Now I know it's not painting your usual rainbows and heart shaped lollipops, but I'm fairly sure you two can still handle it, since it's all white."
"Thank you, sir" Gohan said in a flat tone, careful to keep all emotion out of his voice. He quickly finished gathering the things they needed and headed with Mirai over to the first building. Roane and Taka seemed content to watch them from a little distance, staying with the supplies in the shade on the golf cart. Gohan felt Mirai grab his arm as they were opening the cans, using this rare moment to speak a little more freely than normal.
"What's wrong?" he asked, able to feel Gohan's ki and that it was troubled, even if it wasn't showing on his face.
"It doesn't bother you? The comments?" Gohan asked back, a bit disbelievingly.
"That? It's just military trash talk" Mirai shrugged his shoulders as they poured the paint out into pans for the rollers.
"We're not actually in the military though" Gohan pointed out, rolling his implement in the paint a few times to get it ready. Mirai sighed, preparing his the same way and then beginning to apply the paint onto the side of the building in overlapping "V" patterns, to make sure it covered well.
"Why is it bothering you so much?" he asked quietly.
"It's just, they're supposed to be on our side, right? When it comes to that sort of thing" Gohan put the lids back on the half full cans and then turned to the wall.
"I don't know what to tell you" Mirai shrugged his shoulders and kept on painting.
Feeling a little surge of … something … Gohan took the paint and began applying it in a large arc in front of him, scowling at the wall, until Mirai looked over and saw him. He made a strange noise in the back of his throat.
"What, are you doing?"
"Nothing" Gohan muttered hastily, and began covering over it correctly with the "V" pattern. He didn't glance back behind them to see if Taka had noticed his little impromptu rainbow, and just kept working, taking deep breaths and focusing on clearing his mind. The paint fumes made it a little difficult though.
Roane had his arm over Taka's shoulders as they watched from the imaginary distance of the golf cart. After all, it wasn't like they couldn't still see it all from here.
"I'm impressed" Roane said softly, seeing Gohan's little act of defiance.
"Do you think he'll end up crying, or just try to take a swing at me?" Taka murmured, his hand partially covering his mouth to obscure his words from reaching the working men.
"Well, it's only the first day, I don't think it'll get quite that far... But since you haven't ever experienced extra gravity first hand, I'll warn you, if that man ever takes a swing at you, you better fucking duck."
They were mostly left to themselves until lunch, and Taka never said anything to him about his little rainbow stunt, if he saw it... Maybe he'd been too busy making out with his boyfriend behind them to notice. Gohan was just beginning to agree with Mirai and think he should try and let it all go, when Taka made a jab about the paint spatters they had here and there on their clothes looking decidedly like something else. His agitation was officially upgraded to upset now. Mirai didn't say anything about the continued irritated flavor to Gohan's ki. He thought Gohan was kind of blowing this out of proportion, but he wasn't going to tell him that.
After lunch they went right back to painting, and the large number of buildings on base, combined with the fact that Taka wanted them all done, not just the ones that they used all the time, meant they still had a long way to go. Roane and Taka moved the cart around throughout the day, following the shade and their progress from building to building. Gohan was having a hard time staying awake at this point. Taka must have woken them at like a minute after midnight once his day started, and Gohan vaguely wondered if he'd have them try to keep painting in the dark after the sun set. His arms ached like they were on fire, and his eyelids kept trying to slide downward of their own accord. Mirai didn't look to be in much better shape either.
Once they finished the building they had been working on when dusk hit, Taka called an end to the sprucing up. Probably because the permanence of painting was much more difficult to re-do if botched in the dark than simply wiping down an area again while cleaning. Gohan made a little mental note to be glad that they at least got to clean the gravity rooms this morning with the lights on. He was kind of grasping for straws at this point.
Then Taka did something that Gohan just couldn't ignore, couldn't bite down a reply to, wouldn't 'stay in line' for. He was shamelessly checking out Mirai's ass as they put the paint cans away, right in front of him, completely open about it and grinning like a madman. Taka even had the gall to wink at him once he noticed. Gohan glared back at him.
"No. That's where I draw the line. That's not ok" he said tersely, stopping what he was doing and going over to Taka.
"Really, is that so? Actually, you're right" Taka said, soaking up an eyeful of Mirai again as Gohan walked toward him, "It's not ok, it's much, much more than just, 'ok'..."
Gohan shook his head, his power raising in a small jump that caught Mirai's attention right around the same time their conversation did. As he saw the beginnings of it, all he could think to himself was, 'really, Gohan?'...
"Knock it off" Gohan's tone was no-nonsense.
"What? Oh come on, all fags are whores, everybody knows that. You don't mind sharing, right?" Taka's eyes had a conspiratory twinkle in them. Gohan's power started making the air around them crackle with energy, and Mirai stilled and watched him very, very carefully.
"Don't you dare. If you lay even a finger on him, I'll make you regret it" Gohan seethed, his voice getting louder as he spoke, becoming almost a yell. Taka didn't back away though.
"I think Mirai can probably fend for himself... Or do you just need the reassurance of your 'manhood' that you'd get from beating me up?" Taka asked, practically batting his eyes in challenge at him.
"What's wrong with you? It's not alright to treat us like this just because we're in a 'military style' of training. Hell, even if this is how they 'really do it' in the military, it's still not ok" Gohan was gesticulating with one arm, his whole body tense with anger.
"Do people normally ask for your permission before stereotyping you? What kind of fantasy world have you been living in? Since when do I have to care what you think?" Taka scoffed right back at him.
"You're supposed to be on our side, that's why" Gohan's voice was extremely frustrated.
"Why does me being 'on your side' as you say, sexually, I'm assuming, mean that I can't like making fun of fags?" Taka said matter of factly. Gohan was shaking his head in little side to side motions as Taka spoke those words, and he erupted at the end of it with a shout.
"Because it's not right! It's unfair!"
"You know, blind anger can get a man killed on the battlefield, whatever reason that started it" Taka's demeanor didn't really shift when he said it, he was still being cocky and condescending even though he was switching to 'the moral of the story' now. Gohan actually turned half away from him, making a noise in his throat that said Taka was being ridiculous. Mirai knew it was probably because anger was considered key for saiyans in battle, but Taka and Roane didn't have that information.
"You know, for someone who's used to taking a cock up the ass, you're sure not getting the point of this little exercise very easily..." Taka added, sighing as if Gohan was being dense, but getting his jab in at the same time.
"Fuck you, I'm not even the bottom" Gohan spat out at him, his fists balled at his sides.
"It's life's job to bend you over and fuck you, why would you be given an easy time about it?" Taka tried driving the point home again, but was still as crude as ever about it.
Mirai just stood there with a faint blush on his cheeks and a small frown on his face, not liking the way that just came out of Gohan's mouth, but not really feeling like he wanted to jump into the argument.
"You don't understand, you're just a human" Gohan turned the rest of the way and stormed off, heading for the barracks. All he knew right then was that he wasn't so worn out that he couldn't kill Taka with one punch.
"Hn... Roane was right to save you for last, you were a lot easier to break" Taka said to his retreating back, his voice dripping with derision. Gohan started to turn around, a crater opening beneath him in the ground from his power sky rocketing. Mirai didn't know exactly what it was that Gohan thought he was going to do, but Mirai flew in between him and Taka now that this just officially got out of hand.
From the righteous anger burning in Gohan's eyes, Mirai could tell he hadn't gotten through to him by just grabbing his shoulders. Mirai went super saiyan without another though, tightening his grip and dragging Gohan back to the barracks before he could do any real damage. That did get Gohan's attention. If he powered up all the way, Gohan could get out of the merely super saiyan hold that Mirai had on him right now, but he let himself be drug away. Mirai sat him down roughly on the bed, and Gohan gave a little huff of a pout.
Mirai slapped him, hard.
"First off, fuck you. And secondly, what the fuck was that about?" he asked, making sure to stay close and keep Gohan from being able to get away. Gohan rubbed his cheek and looked to the side while frowning. "They have no right to do that" he answered hotly, indicating the jabs and treatment for being gay, as if Mirai didn't already know that part of it. Coming to his own conclusion then, Mirai decided to address things in a different way.
"The rage we were shown as kids isn't some sort of last ditch back up plan, Gohan, you're not like that. You don't need to keep a little piece of it locked away just in case...what would Piccolo say if he saw what happened just now?" Mirai chided him. The power drained out of Gohan almost instantly when he heard that, his brow losing it's anger too.
"It's not like that, I don't do that. I'm fine on the battlefield, that's different."
"So far. But what if the next monster or creation or whatever thinks it's doing the universe a favor by wiping out anyone who doesn't fit into it's version of "right"? You know there's plenty of people here on our own planet who think that way about guys like us" Mirai added more gently, making Gohan fidget. "You can't just decide you don't want to deal with it because the only people who could've angered you about it so far have all been weaker than you."
Gohan sighed and put his head in his hands, and Mirai sat down next to him, putting an arm over his shoulders.
"I know it's not the exact definition Taka's using, but it's the one that's relevant... Don't let me be your weakness, Gohan, please" he whispered. Gohan leaned in without thinking and kissed him.
"It's so much better when the person you love is your strength. I know I'm just finding it out myself, but it's true, Gohan" Mirai said, no tears, just reassurance in his voice.
"How do you deal with it so easily, doesn't it make you mad? They have no right... I mean, I know nobody does, ever, but, I just, I wasn't expecting it from him..." Gohan ran his fingers through his own hair in frustration. Breathing in slowly, Mirai thought about it for a moment.
"Well, I guess I've just got a thicker skin for it...I mean, I was born with purple hair, Gohan. Even my freakin' eyelashes are purple, everyone's just kind of always assumed I was a little more "girly" than "normal"... Then it morphed into "gay" as I got older... I mean, it's understandable, really, I'm just too damn pretty" he added with a grin to soften the mood. Gohan smiled at that let Mirai hold him for a moment before trying to speak again.
"I guess I feel betrayed" he finally admitted.
"I know" Mirai murmured softly. "But do you feel betrayed when my dad does that kind of thing? I mean, getting on us for stuff he does too?"
"That's different, that's Vegeta" Gohan gave a grunting laugh.
"Don't cut him excuses because he's an alien. He's just as smart as any of us. He knows better, he just doesn't give a fuck" Mirai countered, making Gohan acknowledge it.
"No, it doesn't bother me... I guess, because I'm just used to it" Gohan sighed, having to admit that Mirai was right.
"Exactly. But you're such a hot, god damn hulking chunk of a man, that no one in their right mind has ever dared to tease you about being gay before" Mirai poked him in the chest to accentuate his point.
"Now you're getting me hot flustered instead of mad flustered" Gohan grinned sheepishly, his normal temperament shining through again.
"Hey, not my intention" Mirai said, pushing him away with a mock amount of effort. They settled down after the moment ended though, and then Mirai had one more issue to bring up.
"Is that 'I'm not the bottom' thing something we need to talk about too?" he asked quietly, looking at Gohan levelly with those intense blue eyes.
"Oh god, Mirai, no, you know I didn't mean it like that" Gohan's eyes widen a bit, and he put his arms around him again, hugging him close. Mirai nodded and let Gohan kiss his temple.
"It was just so out of character for you, it kind of startled me" Mirai said, looking at him out of the corner of his eye as they embraced.
"I was just angry at him, I didn't mean it" Gohan said in apology. "God, what does that even say about me that I assumed he was, and thought it would get back at him, make him upset?" he groaned. "You know I don't think about us that way, it doesn't mean anything if a person does or doesn't."
"They're doing the right thing then, aren't they?" Mirai wanted to hear him say it, that he understood the necessity of facing this issue. Gohan took a deep breath and angled his forehead to rest on Mirai's shoulder, closing his eyes.
"Yeah, I guess they are."
Soon after, Gohan and Mirai headed back out, kind of surprised that they hadn't been come after while in there. Pretty much immediately they were given demerits for the outburst and for running off. Neither Roane or Taka looked too upset though; it was all delivered very matter of factly. Gohan noticed to his further embarrassment that Taka's voice and demeanor are completely back to normal now.
Later, when he'd lived down some of his shame at losing his temper like that, he would try and remember to ask the blonde just how he had played him like a fiddle so well... Roane ended the 'session' there, even though apparently Taka had been counting his day as "24 hours" and he still technically had quite a few left... Gohan made a small guess, to himself, that it was due to the intensity of the subject matter, and the closeness to home with which it hit all of them.
"I'm sorry, Sir, for my outburst, it won't happen again" Gohan apologized sincerely, his cheeks coloring while they still stood 'at ease' in the aftermath.
"I'm sure it won't" Taka nodded to him, "But you're still going to be punished for this incident."
Gohan nodded once, curtly, because they'd already been assigned a 30 minute earlier wake up (again), and this time with no hot water for their showers for the duration of the two weeks.
"You're going to be given extra, aside from the group one, because of your specifically bad behavior" Taka informed him, looking him up and down for any sign of displeasure with that fact.
"Of course, Sir" Gohan said, accepting it readily.
"Do you think that's fair, for you to get more than him?" Taka asked, just out of curiosity, not going back into jerk-mode.
"It'd be more fair if he didn't get any" Gohan said, looking straight ahead, because truthfully, Mirai hadn't really done anything wrong.
"Welllll, he did still leave without my permission, even if it was to stop you from trying to kill me" Taka grinned at him, "And we can't just let those kinds of things slide... Anyway, starting tomorrow, it'll be your job to sweep up at the end of the day after we're done."
Sweeping? That didn't sound like much of a punishment to Gohan, being used to scrubbing and cleaning bathrooms etc. on his hands and knees.
"Sweep? Uh, what exactly do you want me to sweep, Sir?" Gohan asked for clarification, knowing they used a lot of different areas throughout the day. Taka raised an eyebrow at him.
"The base" he informed him, as if that had been an obvious implication of what he'd already said. Roane laughed, coming up and clapping Taka on the shoulder.
"You heard him" he grinned at Gohan, "Now, let's get to dinner, I'm starving, and I think we could all use a little smidgen of down time after the wonderful job Taka here did today." As they moved away, Roane slid his arm over Taka's shoulders, since he was kind of the perfect height for it after all, and beckoned Gohan and Mirai to follow them with a hitch of his head. They didn't normally all eat together, but Gohan was grateful for the untypical show of solidarity from their instructors, just for today.
"I can't take all the credit though, babe, since I was acting largely on information you had already gathered and just kind of augmenting it as I went" Taka made sure Roane didn't over-praise him while they mostly ignored the guys over dinner.
"Still though, I figured we'd see some cracks, I didn't think you'd actually get him to lose it on the first day" Roane looked at Taka admiringly as they conversed.
"Well, you still laid a lot of framework here beforehand, I just delivered the final blow" Taka pointed out, shoving Roane's shoulder with his own playfully.
"I didn't know that whole 'hypocrisy' thing would be such a kill shot" Roane continued talking about Gohan like he wasn't even there, to Mirai's amusement. The two of them remained largely silent on their side of the table, wisely.
"You did say he was one of those team-player, 'fairness and justice' types of guys" Taka switched to looking at Gohan just then, "And knowing how you guys acted with each other when you weren't on base helped too. I had a hunch that your confident exterior out in public was partly you daring anyone to say a word about you kissing the man you loved. So I figured you wouldn't expect it coming from me" Taka grinned. Gohan nodded as they ate, having the grace to blush, and Taka just chuckled and went back to his own plate.
"I do have a question though, on a slightly different subject" Roane spoke up, setting down his fork and addressing their underlings, "I think it's about time for the two of you to really come clean here" he said, propping his elbows on the table and folding his hands like he was not bargaining, "Just how much 'more than human' are you guys?" His gaze popped all the colorful, child-like balloon animals that were their illusion of secrecy with one glance, and Gohan knew there was no way of getting out of this now. Especially with that comment he'd made earlier about their instructors being 'just' humans...
"Oops?" Gohan said to Mirai, turning with his shoulders hunched kind of sheepishly.
"Double 'oops'" Mirai said, not looking phased, or pleased, and continuing to eat. "Well, get explaining buster" he said after a moment, not going to make it any easier for him. Gohan sighed and tried to keep it brief, since he was still tired from the day, and they didn't have all night.
After two or three days of their demerits schedule, Gohan found himself developing blisters from the sweeping even on his already calloused hands. The cement that ran from one building to the next, and over large swaths of open space, was a bit more of an undertaking than just tidying up the kitchen. Thankfully after the first day, it wasn't as bad, because there were no longer years, maybe decades, of accumulated dust and dirt and debris to be swept away. Mirai even offered, and did, massage his aching arms and back a little after that first time, though he was tired from his own day too.
Gohan knew he was the luckiest man alive, to have a lover as forgiving as Mirai.
It was a bit of a shock to them both though, when one day, Roane was supervising him sweeping and suddenly called Mirai over as he was walking back from the showers to the barracks. There was really no such thing as 'off the clock' here on base though, unless it was a contracted day off, so Mirai jogged over immediately.
"Yes, Sir?" he stood at attention, his hair still damp but he was fully clothed and all.
"Mirai, I'm going to have to ask a small, one time only favor from you, since lover boy here is taking so long to finish up his task" Roane said, dismissing Mirai's posture with a wave of his hand.
"Of course, Sir" Mirai answered, moving to stand at ease. He wasn't under the illusion that favors were anything other than orders coming from Roane's mouth.
"Stay here and supervise Gohan, make sure he doesn't slack off while I go take care of a few 'time sensitive' things" he indicated, no hint of a joke even peeking into his mannerisms. Mirai was at a loss for words.
"Thanks, I knew I could count on you" Roane said, slapping him on the arm and turning on his heel. As he strode away, both of them watched his back get smaller with a look of disbelief.
"Um..." Gohan heard Mirai kind of clear his throat, and turned to look at him instead.
"Shouldn't you be sweeping?" he said, as a reminder, still sounding a bit shocked himself. Gohan immediately bent back to his task, using the large push broom with a practiced skill by now. An almost embarrassed silence settled between them while Gohan worked, but somehow it seemed to lighten as he went along, instead of grow worse.
"Gohan" Mirai said his name to get his attention, and Gohan looked up right away, but kind of froze in position, not really sure what he was supposed to do...go over to him? Salute? Mirai didn't ask for any of those things though, instead he motioned downward with his head, indicating the portion of cement he'd just worked on.
"You missed a spot" he said softly, his eyes still kind, but waiting to see what the response would be. Gohan straightened and their eyes caught for a moment, then he looked back to the area Mirai had indicated. It's state of actual cleanliness, he knew, was irrelevant, as it was with pretty much everything on this base. He walked back to the beginning of the section to start again, and as he passed Mirai he paused, looking kind of down and away from him in deference, and said,
"Sorry... Sir" before proceeding. The shine he saw in Mirai's eyes as he got to it was worth the little extra humbling though. Any amount of anything, was always worth Mirai.
They only cuddled that night, and really, it was exactly what they both needed for right then. In the middle of them just staring into each other's eyes for a while, Mirai's suddenly widened a bit, and then he burst out laughing.
"What?" Gohan said, slightly confused.
"No, no, not you, I just... Suddenly I wondered why Roane would have done that, I mean, it didn't seem like he planned it at all... And then I realized, according to the schedule the two of them kind of worked out, his 'shift' would have ended like 20 minutes before that" Mirai prompted him, causing Gohan to raise an eyebrow.
"Well, he did say he had something time sensitive to do... Taka could fall into that category" Gohan smiled, humoring him.
"Yeah, but I mean," Mirai was trying to explain why he found it so funny as he continued to snicker, "Thinking about something time sensitive, I just suddenly pictured Taka laying there ready for him, with like ice cream melting on his chest while he waits" he burst into a fit of laughter again, and this time Gohan joined him. After their mirth died down a bit, Gohan chose a teasing tone to tell him,
"You know, I'm not so sure I'm ok with you fantasizing about our sergeants' sex lives..." he bumped their noses together without actually kissing him to add to the teasing atmosphere.
"Hey, you know there's only one man I ever really fantasize about" Mirai said, letting him tease, letting Gohan be Gohan. He waited for the dark haired man to kiss him like he wanted, looking from his lips up to his eyes and back again a few times while he did.
When Gohan kissed him, it was sweet, and full of understanding.