Series: Dragon Ball Z
Category: General/Romance
Rating: PG
Pairing: Piccolo/Nail, implied Gohan/Piccolo
Warning: Shounen ai
Author's Note: Namek slash. Not a pairing that I particularly like, but I once read a good fic about them and I wanted to give the pairing a shot, too. This is one of those fics that I started, forgot about and remembered again.
Disclaimer: Dragon Ball Z belongs to Akira Toriyama. If otherwise, it would have had way too much sap.
Archive: Abstract Reasoning.
Summary: Piccolo loses his only friend left.

To Know Someone

"So", Piccolo stated with the usual coldness of his tone, pitch black eyes closed as he was swallowed in a deep, inner converstation. "You're leaving too?"

Yeah. A reply, spoken out with soft, gentle voice, sounded so tired that it almost caused something to ache within Piccolo's heart. Surprisingly, it let out a bitter chuckle. It's not that any of us is going to live forever, my man. Your time will come too, some day.

"Whatever", the other Namek growled, not pleased with the way his fusion partner called him 'his man'.

Silence fell. And for the first time in his life, Piccolo found it uncomfortable.

"You wanna unfuse?" he asked, trying not to sound that he actually cared.

Hiding one's feelings completely never worked, naturally. Especially if you've been one with someone for five hundred years. I thought you'd never ask, the voice remarked cheerfully, sounding actually happy. It's been a while since I've breathed with my own lungs.

* * *

Nail's face was flawless, ever young. Just as Piccolo's was.. mostly, at least. But the other Namek seemed to be unaffected by all the years that had passed since they had become one person, as if he hadn't aged ever since the day his own self had partly ceased to exist.

Piccolo found it strange to look into eyes that were nearly identical with his, reminded of the way the mirror reflects one's image. The only exception between the black pools of his own eyes and Nail's dark orbs was that there was warmth in Nail's soft gaze, not harshness and frost that were always present in Piccolo's eyes. He had been born that way, as an emotionless monster. Monster who had never loved, if you didn't count in a little boy who had once thought of him as a father.

Or a young man who had been the only one to ever desire him.

Sensing the familiar feeling of longing, Piccolo quickly pushed the bittersweet thoughts aside and concertrated on the other Namek, who had been glaring at him with thoughtful, serious expression.

Piccolo was definitely surprised when Nail suddenly smiled, then laughed.

"What?" he barked, frustration in his voice. Nail just kept grinning to him like an idiot, shaking his head and staring at him straight into the eyes playfully. "Is there something on my face?" he then asked, resisting the urge to smack the other Namek on the cheek. For Dende's sake, he was dying! Just what the hell was so funny about that?

"It's nothing.." The laughter stopped, finally, only the smile remained. "I'm just happy."

"For what?" Piccolo was loosing his patience. Seemed like Nail had learned nothing but rude manners during the time he had observed the Earth and it's people through Piccolo's eyes. Or then he had just become a human.

His anger was suddenly wiped away when Nail's happy eyes turned serious, like the death that had been lurking for both of them for the longtest time. A green hand, slightly more delicate than Piccolo's own one, reached out for his face, touching. Warrior froze as he felt the coolness of Nail's skin, sharpness of his long, white nails.

The other warrior still had this mysterious smile playing on his lips, but his eyes were serious, just as the death that was slowly approaching him. His fingertips brushed along the curve of Piccolo's cheek, grazing the smooth, jade green skin. "For you being with me", Nail finally answered.

Piccolo was more than a little startled about his companion's confession. He had never.. ever.. imagined that any other person than Gohan would actually enjoy his company, be glad over the fact that he was there, reachable. Especially when the feeling was purely, completely genuine, like Nail's was, Piccolo could tell it from the look of the Namek's dark eyes.

He wasn't sure how to deal with that feeling. Least of all in a situation like this.. //Why didn't you say anything?//

He grabbed Nail's wrist, intending to pull the intruding fingers and their gentle touches away, but he couldn't move. Nail just stared at him in silence, waiting for his reply.

"..I thought you thought I was boring", he whispered, immediately having the powerful urge to strangle himself. Since when had he been so weak? Nail chuckled at his wry comment, his hollow smile gaining a bit of meaning.

"I didn't say that you weren't", he commented, laughing softly as Piccolo scowled, familiar sneer bringing wrinkles upon his otherwise smooth face. Resisting the tight grip of other warrior's hand, Nail placed his hand firmly on Piccolo's cheek, caressing. He didn't miss the fair amount of confusion that flashed in other's onyx eyes. "But it doesn't mean that it wasn't fun to have you there." Grin. "As my entertaiment."

"Fuck you."

Another grin flashed. As usual, Piccolo didn't respond to it in any way. Nail sighed at that, shaking his jade head at his long-time companion. With smile remaining on his narrow lips.

Silence spread out between them, but neither really minded.. after all, all Namekseijin were quiet by nature, content with sweet harmony of wordlessness. And with them having spent an entire lifetime together, speech was no longer needed between them.

After some time, Piccolo noticed that Nail hadn't removed his hand from his face. The emerald-coloured warrior was staring at him with disgusting tenderness in his eyes, tenderness that could be.. he pulled away from the touch, his gaze dropping on the ground, but it didn't even take a second for Nail's fingers to return, this time to his chin, lifting his face up.

"We've been together for an eternity", Nail whispered. His hold was frail, and Piccolo was powerful enough to blast the other man into an oblivion even without the strength he had once been given, but he was unable to do a thing. "For an eternity, I've been listening to your inner rants, shared both your joys and sorrows, and I've never run away when you needed someone."

"It's not that you were able to.."

"You know it wouldn't have made a difference."

Both of Nail's hands were now on his face, and it was then when he noticed how weak his long-time companion had become, how Nail had to struggle to keep his former host still. However, Nail's breath was still warm, still lively. "He loved you with all of his heart", Nail continued. "I won't deny that. But he was never the only one."

The air around them was breathless. So was he a touch later.

* * *

The concept of love at first sight is so ridicilous that the one who made it up must have been either completely retarded or brain dead. It was also one of the few things about love Gohan agreed with me.

Then he told me what love is.

Love is knowing someone so thoroughly that you no longer need any words, no meaningful gazes to know what the other is thinking, feeling, when you know the answer before the question is even phrased. There was probably something more than that, but I've already forgotten all the rest of it. I don't even know if I said that answer-question thing in the right place.

He told me that no matter what would become of the relationship between Videl and him, I would always be the one closest to his heart. He sealed that with a kiss on my lips, and few months later I watched him make the same exact promise to a blue-eyed woman I couldn't hate no matter how much I wanted to, knowing I would never feel his touch again. It was until they both died before I realized that he had kept his promise after all. To both of us.

Sons were always known for having hearts too large for their own good.

Nail was exactly the same. Proving that he wasn't completely hopeless, he never showed it openly, but love for the life itself that has characterized him through all this time I've known him was always there, pulsing with strength no Saiya-jin could match. Although that aspect was something that irritated me endlessly both about Sons and Nail, it was always one of the reasons I loved them for.

I never told Gohan that. And I hope that Nail won't forget, because if he does, he will get a fist in a face instead of a kiss when we meet again.

9. April 2003