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The water was very clear. Vegeta wriggled his toes, and small puffs of white dust rose up. Glittering sparks joined the water, and settled on top of his feet. He looked up when he heard someone approaching.
“Vegeta.” A hand on his shoulder.
Kakarott.
Vegeta put his arm around the other man’s waist. His fingers curled over a naked hip.
He looked down at himself, and noted the dark hue of his skin. It had altered, turned into a golden brown. It struck him that it was a transformation, a subtle one, a testament that once again, the world had shifted. He had changed, just by allowing the intrusion of the sun.
The sea was a luminous blue.
It bothered him sometimes, that his life was as meaningless as the pattern of stars in the sky. He had fathered children, and watched them grow up. Rocks had crumbled under his boots, and he had fed an infant – his daughter – with a bottle. He had watched a woman become old, and knelt by her grave.
Once he had worn glows all the time, but now he didn’t. It meant nothing, except that he didn’t wear his gloves anymore.
Vegeta looked at the taller man. Gave him a hint of a smile. And Kakarott grinned, beamed with bright eyes.
Things kept changing.
He let go of Kakarott, giving him a light pat. He started to walk back to the shore. The sand was soft under his feet, and he sat down, just by the edge of the water. Pulled one knee up against his body and wrapped his arms around it. A flock of birds crowed overhead.
Kakarott sank down beside him, and they sat in silence for awhile. Vegeta looked out over the sea. He could feel the gaze of the other man resting on him. Waiting for him to say something. Or not. Maybe he was just sitting beside him. Kakarott never did ask him for more then he wanted to give.
“Kakarott…?” Vegeta leaned his chin on his arm.
“Yes?”
“What would you say is the shape of the world?” He frowned. Wondered what he was attempting to do.
“That’s an easy question.” There was a smile in his voice.
“How so?” Vegeta looked at him, eyebrows raised.
“The world is round. Like a circle.”
Ah. “I didn’t mean the actual shape of the planet. I meant… everything.”
“I know. And it is all a circle.” He brought his fingers together, forming a circle. Held it close to Vegeta, like an offer.
Vegeta pushed the hands away. “You’re wrong. The world is criss-crossy, like so many twigs in a pile.”
To illustrate, he drew a line in the wet sand. Another line crossed it, and another. Deep furrows followed his fingertip, and sand shattered in a small frenzy.
Kakarott caught his wrist. “Vegeta…”
“What?” Vegeta looked away, and gave a slight shrug. Leaning forward, he rinsed the sand off his hand. Flicked some water at Kakarott.
“Oh, nothing. Except…” Kakarott dipped his own fingers. A scatter of drops hit Vegeta in the face. “Except I don’t think I’m wrong…” He moved closer, his eyes locked with Vegeta’s.
Vegeta wiped at the drops on his face. The film of moisture on his skin was almost cool as it evaporated in the warm air. The sun was blinding in its intensity. He licked his lips and tasted salt.
The kiss was light like a breath. A weightless touch. Vegeta closed his eyes as the sun was blocked from his view.
“Hm.” The other man pulled away, and Vegeta made a small motion to follow. Kakarott reached out, and traced a line from Vegeta’s lips down to his chest. Fingers glided over his muscles, over his stomach and back to his chest, forming a tingling circle.
“A circle, Vegeta.” The words was a whisper. Kakarott looked at him, such care in his eyes.
Placing a hand behind the other man’s neck, Vegeta pulled him closer. Lips met with soft compliance, and Vegeta leaned forward, drinking the kiss like water. His hands sank into thick hair, and he soothed it out, combing it, until he could run his fingers through it without feeling them snag.
Kakarott was humming a tune. A few notes formed in his throat, randomly composed, it seemed. His hands was on Vegeta’s back, stroking and kneading. Holding him close.
Vegeta moved his hand to Kakarott’s cheek, feeling his jaw work, feeling a flush against his fingers. He tilted his head to the side, taking a raspy breath. The air they shared was burning his tongue. Their chests pressed together and tightened when Kakarott squeezed him closer with some force.
Vegeta ran his lips down a muscular neck, sucking on damp skin. His arms around the taller man’s shoulders. Kakarott’s fingers moved down his side and tightened on his thigh. He gasped. Nails slid, and he tasted the salt at the back of his throat.
“Vegeta…”
“Mmh.” His hand glided down Kakarott’s arm, and gripped his hand. His eyes never leaving Kakarott’s, he lifted the hand to his mouth, and licked the palm. He let his tongue dip into the space between the fingers, and nibbled at the base of the thumb. A kiss on the wrist, feeling the pulse under his lips.
He leaned his face against the other man’s chest. Bringing the hand down, he felt the fingers close around him. His lips met Kakarott’s, mouth open, the air heavy with moisture. His tongue gliding, unthinking, yet without hesitation, in a thick, measured dance. It felt like he was floating. It felt like he was touching everything. He held everything. Tighter. He felt liquid trickling down the edge of his mouth. And Kakarott was stroking him, his hand steady like a heartbeat.
Climbing higher, higher…
Almost painful, it was, to follow his body over the peak. The air was ripped from his lungs, and heat ran down his spine. It was letting go of something. It was yielding.
He recognized the bravery in that.
He leaned against Kakarott. His eyes were half shut, and his limbs heavy. At the same time he felt energized. He felt like he had just woken up from a good night’s sleep.
Kakarott made a small sound. Vegeta felt the other man’s breathing against his lips.
“Kakarott?” He placed his arms around his back, pulling him closer.
“Yeah?” Kakarott held unto his shoulders, and his fingers tightened, loosened, and tightened again, as if he had little control of his grip.
“Lean back.”
Instantly, he was obeyed. Kakarott let his head loll back, and his arms fell down his sides. Vegeta found himself holding the weight of Kakarott’s upper body, lifting him in his arms. A slow smile grazed his lips. He traced his tongue over Kakarott’s collar bone, dipping into the hollow by his throat.
Kakarott laughed. It was a happy laugh, a sound filled with gladness.
Vegeta lowered him to his back. Smiled at what he was doing: laying Kakarott down carefully, as if he could break, as if he were some fragile thing. His fingers glided over Kakarott’s front, tracing a nipple. His thumb pressed down in a rough caress. For a moment he did nothing but feel the life, the presence that they both were sharing.
He took a slow breath. “I’m going to suck you off now, if that is alright with you.”
And Kakarott laughed again.
His hand on the taller man’s midsection, as if reluctant to break the contact between them, Vegeta moved to kneel between his legs. He stroked Kakarott’s hips, light touches that made the other man squirm. Glancing up at him, Vegeta closed his fingers around his length. He lowered his head, and heard Kakarott sigh.
The sand was reflecting the sun, and it looked like Kakarott was lying on a sea of light. Vegeta wrapped his arm around Kakarott’s thigh, as his calf pressed to his back. He pulled away and pulled back – mouth and jaws, slick and full. His teeth concealed behind his lips. His nose bruised against sweaty skin, smelling warmth.
Kakarott was moving in the light, raising and falling like a wave. Vegeta met him, accepting, and pulling him closer. Felt Kakarott’s hands on the back of his head, and heard him moan, with his legs around his shoulders.
“V-Vegeta.”
Some words, something he had heard once, rushed through his mind.
To have the power… but do no harm.
It surfaced, and was gone.
One last pull. His fingers squeezed, and he felt a thud against his lips. He lifted his mouth, glancing up. To see his face. And to look at him, when the wave passed. To see him fall down in the sand, shielding his eyes.
Vegeta climbed on top of him, and laid down eye to eye, mouth to mouth. Kakarott’s hand closed around his neck. They were laughing. Smirking and panting into each other faces like a pair of fools.
“It is right, you know,” Kakarott said, a wide grin on his face.
“What is?”
“Everything. The world… Us.”
Vegeta pulled away a little. “If you say ‘meant to be’ I will punch you.”
“It’s meant to be.” Still grinning, Kakarott pretended to cower in mock fright.
Vegeta glared. He didn’t move, he just waited, until Kakarott looked at him again. His voice was cold as he spoke. “Don’t be ridiculous. Meant by who?”
No answer. It was humbling, in a way, to see his face fall. To see the smile disappear, and something like doubt fill his eyes.
“Kakarott?”
“I…”
Vegeta kissed him. Quick kisses over his mouth, his cheek, and his chin, until he could feel the smile come back. He kissed his nose, with a smacking noise, and Kakarott laughed.
“Aw, shoot, Vegeta.”
”What?”
”Oh… nothing.”
Nothing. Or something. Something that made Vegeta smile too. He laid down, his head on Kakarott’s chest, feeling it shake with silent laughter. He placed his hand on the other man’s shoulder, and closed his eyes.
Something. Not a great, all-encompassing circle, but almost as incomprehensible.
Vegeta felt a hand stroke along his back, and fingers tangled into his hair.
Who needed meaning anyway?
After all, at the place where two twigs crossed each other… they formed a small circle of their own.