Title: Something Real
Rating: M ( R ) – turn your shower to cold, people. It's gonna get hot in here.
Disclaimer: Neener-neener-neeeeeeeeeeeener! XD
Spoilers: No such thing in AU fics.

Summary: OneShot. This new kiss was nothing like any of the others. GhVi, lime.

Gohan et al are approximately twenty-five/thirty in this. A snippet from a larger story/plot idea, but not necessarily related. Same basic setting as the "Catch Me If You Can" series, though I wouldn't hold me to any of the little details from that.

NC-17 version posted on my DeviantArt account. Please see my profile for a link or search for "megaminoeien."

Gohan had been kissed three "real" times in his entire life. The first, and possibly most embarrassing experience, had been a "graduation gift" from Bulma when he was eighteen. She had been very drunk, he had been very cornered, and the entire thing had ended with a wet, sloppy, somewhat off-target meeting of the mouths. When his dad's oldest friend had pulled away, she'd giggled at him and said, "There. Now go get laid in college." Thankfully, everyone involved had had the good sense not to tell Vegeta, who was still only listed as "frenemie" on most of the Z warriors Christmas card lists and would probably have taken the situation personally.

The second time had been in his college library with his "study buddy," Bipsy. Gohan had been right in the middle of explaining some of the finer points of prophase and anaphase when, quite suddenly, Bipsy had been out of her chair and in his lap with her lips acting as a stopper for the knowledge that had been pouring out of him. And it hadn't ended there, oh no...It might have even gone further into "indecent exposure" territory if her boyfriend hadn't been conveniently browsing the stacks behind them for a book. In the end, the guy waltzed out and reclaimed what was his, leaving Gohan with the embarrassment of having nearly lost his virginity in a public area. Later, he'd learned from another source that Bipsy had been trying to woo him into writing a paper for her intro Biology class and that had somewhat ruined the magic.

The third, and perhaps most damaging time, had been that surprise ambush by Erasa a couple months ago. Upon learning that Gohan was a twenty-something virgin with a convenient lack of girlfriend candidates, the bubbly blonde had pounced (both literally and figuratively) on the chance to "make him a man." In hindsight, Gohan should have known better than to invite his secret crush's best friend up to his apartment to see his collection of science fiction memorabilia, but he'd learned only later that this sudden interest in mint-in-box action figures had been a pretext for what Erasa had really wanted. The evening had ended when Videl, heralding his panicked "help me" call during a contrived bathroom break, had shown up to collect Erasa and take her away. Gohan wasn't sure if he was more thankful that Videl had come to his rescue, or humiliated that she might have gotten the wrong idea about him and his apartment full of nerd toys, his distinct lack of spine in the face of a pretty girl, and/or his motive for inviting Erasa up to his bedroom in the first place.

If his current, ongoing experience was anything to judge by, though, Videl didn't seem to mind as much as he'd feared.

This new kiss was nothing like any of the others. It wasn't off-kilter, or sloppy, or overbearing; it was slow, soft and sweet. Every time he would lean in a little more to deepen the connection, his partner would make a little sound that made it seem like he tasted good. When she introduced her tongue into the mix, he was pretty sure that his flavor hypothesis was correct. He tangled his fingers in the long tresses at the base of her neck and angled her face for better access; she responded by flinging one of her legs across his lap and scooching closer.

The best part of all, however, was that he'd been wanting to do this for almost a year already, practically since he'd moved to Satan City after grad school. Working next to a tough female cop every day as her token nerd didn't do much for his male ego, but at least he didn't have to admire from afar. When she'd decided to investigate him for the Saiyaman thing, he'd gotten a little more up-close-and-personal than he could handle, but it all worked out because right here, right now, he was kissing Videl Satan.

Almost as if sensing the virginal, nerdy, pathetic turn of his thoughts, Videl chose that exact moment to pull her lips back. With his eyes still closed behind his thick prescription lenses, Gohan couldn't see her expression, but he was betting it wasn't favorable.

He allowed his eyelids to tentatively lift when her body, likewise, moved away and put distance between them. As he'd suspected, the formation of Videl's features indicated a hesitance or – worse – regret.

"Gohan...," she began, her front teeth nibbling an anxious groove in her bottom lip. "I...I'm sorry..." With her eyes diverted from his face, she finished, "I shouldn't have lunged at you like that."

"It's – ," Gohan paused, coughed the little squeak out of his throat, and tried again. "It's fine. B-Better than fine, even. I mean...I wanted you, too. The kiss!" The last words came out as more of a squeal than anything. "The kiss, I mean."

Videl's gaze skated away from his own and fixated on a deep scratch carved into the surface of his coffee table. Her bottle of warming beer sat next to it, sans coaster, and beads of condensation dripped into the ugly groove. "I know, that's the problem."

"Problem?" Gohan parroted back. He could feel his eyebrows drawing together above his glasses as an undefinable feeling of discomfort settled in. What had he done wrong? Had he misinterpreted her signals? He'd thought that the implication had been pretty obvious when her lips had found his in the near-dark.

Videl squirmed against her couch cushion and swiveled around so that her bare feet were planted firmly on the floor again. Her posture became stiff and formal, more like what it had been when they'd first met, and her eyes were still pointedly looking in any direction but his. "I...we...can't. We can't do this."

What? No!

Gohan, now far more comfortable in his partner's personal space than he'd ever allowed himself to be before, tucked one of his legs beneath him and inched toward her. The battered old couch squealed and creaked beneath him as he brought himself closer to Videl. "Why not?"

Videl withdrew further into her shell of formality by draping one leg across the other, allowing it to bend more comfortably at the knee and dangle in the empty space on the opposite side. She was closed for business and she wanted him to know it. "You know why not."

"Because of that rule thing at work?" Gohan was incredulous. He had never been much of a rule-breaker, himself, but he found it difficult to adhere to a regulation that denied him something he wanted so badly. He never stepped out of line, never asked for anything from the citizens of Satan City, but he felt that they all owed him this. Or maybe that was just his self-serving rationale. Who cared?

"That 'rule thing,'" she snipped, flitting her eyes – now hard and cold as chunks of blue ice – to his face for an instant before withdrawing them again. "Is important. If law enforcement personnel went around screwing each other all the time, we'd all be right back where we started five years ago. Do you want to live in a city where the only justice is the kind you can buy?"

Gohan groaned, harsh and angry, as he leaned back and away from Videl. He was in love with the chastity police. "You can't be serious. The slippery slope is a logical fallacy for a reason! Telling people that they can't go out just because they both work for the police department – which I technically don't, by the way – "

"You work at an independent lab that works for the police, so you're still an agent of – "

"Whatever!" Gohan snatched the conversation back to his side, frowning testily at his would-be paramour. "The point is, refusing to get involved with one another isn't going to stop corruption from happening."

"Really? How long do you think it will be before cops and lab techs start bending rules for the people they're sleeping with? It's not that hard to fudge test results, as I'm sure you already know," Videl countered, her face finally turned back to Gohan. Her eyes were formed into the chilly glare that he (and his alter ego) knew so well. "What if a cop just needs a little help with his case and then woos a lab tech into giving him what he wants? Innocent people could wind up in jail or – worse – guilty ones could go free just because two supposed 'professionals' can't keep it in their pants!"

Gohan flinched a little when her voice broke into a yell. She was determined to convince him – and maybe herself, too – that the feelings they had been suppressing for so long were simply not allowed. He didn't think that would make them go away, as he'd told her before, but she was determined to compartmentalize them somewhere that neither of them could breach.

"That won't happen," Gohan assured her, keeping his voice steady and low. He was angry, too, but escalating their argument into something wild wouldn't help either of them. "Responsible adults will know how to handle themselves."

"It will happen because it has already," Videl reminded him, her voice still loud and grating to his ears. Her legs were now uncrossed, her arms wide and braced against the couch, and she was leaning toward him as if her proximity would be enough to convince him. Sometimes it did, but in this case it hurt her argument more than helped it. The top three buttons of her blouse were undone and the gap created between them exposed a crease of cleavage that he was desperate to explore.

Gohan forced himself to refocus on Videl's face. "What do you mean?"

"I mean," she said, speaking more softly now. "That I've been...slacking lately. About Saiyaman."

Oh. Oh.

Gohan coughed a little into his fist and glanced away. Why did she have to bring that up? "That's...different," he decided after giving himself a moment to ponder. "Saiyaman isn't hurting anyone. If anything, he's doing his best to help the police."

"He's still a vigilante and it's my job to catch him," Videl reminded him, drawing her features into the stern "cop face" he found so endearing. It had scared him witless once upon a time, but after becoming more familiar with his partner's moods over the past year he could recognize macho bluster when he saw it. She was no more serious about catching Saiyaman than she was about opening one of his collectibles to make him talk.

"And you feel bad about giving up?" he guessed.

Videl shook her head from side to side in the negative fashion. "No, I feel bad about letting my personal feelings get in the way of my responsibilities. If I were more detached, I would have solved the case already and Saiyaman, whoever he is," – she fixated him with a pointed look to punctuate her thought – "would be in jail by now."

Gohan could feel a smirk itching at his lips. "You think so, huh?"

"I know it," Videl replied, her own wry smile spreading, centimeter by centimeter, across her cheeks.

Oh, she would pay for that.

"Maybe...," Gohan began, his muscles slouching into a more relaxed state as the mood shifted in his favor. He reached out and rested his open palm against the nearest of Videl's knees. "Maybe he wants you to catch him."

"Gohan..."

"Maybe," Gohan continued, bowing his head so that his nose brushed against her temple. She shivered a little when he nuzzled her there. "he's right under your nose."

Videl, almost predictably, pulled away from him with a sigh. She muttered, "Or maybe I'm under his..."

Gohan wouldn't allow her to retreat. They had been dodging and weaving and pushing each other for a long time already. It was too late to pretend they were anything but "in love." "Videl-san, I would confess to you right now if I thought you wanted me to, but I know you don't. You would have to take me in if I did that."

Videl didn't say anything in response, but she didn't really have to. She'd already thwarted a couple of attempts to burden her with his secret in the past and Gohan had stopped trying to be honest about it. If she wanted plausible denial, then he would give her that instead.

"And I don't think that makes you a bad person. I know you wouldn't hesitate to arrest me if you thought I was actually harming people or being a nuisance, even if you do...like me," – he was careful to avoid the other L-word for fear of scaring her off completely – "and you've never gone out of your way to keep the other cops from trying to catch me, so isn't that enough? And you know I would never ask you to fix evidence or lose paperwork for me, so you can't hide behind that, either."

Videl's bangs were fluttering with every word that passed from his lips into her consciousness. Her eyes were cleverly hidden beneath them where he couldn't see, but he didn't really need to look into her periwinkle depths to know her thoughts. She was still struggling, but her strength was failing. "What...What about the rule? We could both lose our jobs."

Gohan placed a soft, non-threatening kiss to her temple before bringing his argument to its logical conclusion; "I can ask for a transfer out of forensics. Do research instead."

"You love fieldwork!" Videl protested, pushing back far enough to look up at him. Her frown was both angry and hopeful at the same time, somehow. "And you're the best CSI we've got."

"There are lots of neat opportunities in Capsule Corp," Gohan reassured her. He leaned down so that his lips were brushing lightly over hers with every word he spoke. "And I've got...other exciting hobbies to bring down criminals. Plus, I hate going to court."

"Mmhmm...," was all Videl said to that, her eyes listlessly falling closed against the uppermost curves of her cheeks. Gohan could feel her breaths coming out in short, sharp bursts against his face and he imagined her pulse was jumping at an erratic tempo, as well. His definitely was.

With slow, cautious fingers, he brushed against her cheek. She sucked in a breath and held it there as the tentative stroking continued. Was she waiting for something?

Gohan didn't know, for sure, but he took a leap of faith and brought their lips together. When she exhaled in a rush, he knew he'd hypothesized correctly.

The hand he'd held against her face so gently slid slowly up the slope of her jawline and buried itself in the hair at the nape of her neck, right where it had left off before she had interrupted them. Gohan used it to direct her head to where he wanted it, tilted a little more sharply to the right, and pressed his tongue against the plush barrier of her lips. They opened for him without hesitation and Gohan took this as a good sign that they were back on track.

It wasn't really like him to take the initiative in their encounters, – he could name more than a few times that Videl had forcefully taken charge of a situation and bent him to her will – but it seemed like the natural thing to do now. His tongue dove into the cavern of her mouth and mingled with hers in a way that was more instinctual than intentional. He stroked the insides of her cheeks, the roof of her mouth and the crests of her molars with his exploring appendage and was rewarded with a beautiful moan for his efforts.

He was so involved, so enraptured by the rhythm of their slow tango, that he missed the moment in which Videl had fisted both hands in the front of his shirt and grabbed hold of the reins (so to speak). He only realized what his inattention had wrought when their lips broke apart and he was thrust backwards onto the cushions, a frustrated groan escaping his throat. Was it really over this time?

The thought had barely skittered across his mind when reassurance in the form of Videl crawling forward to straddle him quieted his lingering trepidation. She flung one leg forward, then the other, and braced them on either side of his hips before her backside came to rest directly on top of his desperate erection. He moaned again, this time with reckless need.

He reached up to drag Videl down again, to reassert his dominance over her tongue, but she swatted his hands away petulantly. Her own fingers rose up to unfasten the buttons that held her blouse closed, moving from one down to the next, then the next until all of them were wrenched free of their bindings. These same fingers, dextrous and quick, slipped beneath the hem of her garment at the shoulders and pulled the white cotton off and away from her body. They also flung it out of sight somewhere behind the couch.

Okay, this could be better.

Beneath her exterior layer, apparently, was another shirt, which was frustrating. It was better than the blouse because it was sleeveless and allowed for a generous view of cleavage, but Gohan knew that it was still keeping things from him. This time, he dodged her hands and slid his own beneath the hem of her tank top, up her stomach and cupped the generous bosom – which was covered by yet another layer of fabric; how many clothes did she wear every day? – that hid so shyly from his view. Videl arched her back and hissed as his thumb skipped across one of her covered nipples.

Videl allowed him to continue his massage as her fingers scrambled to unhook the buttons on his shirt next. They seemed to be giving her trouble, though, and she snarled at them as if she expected they would bend to her will with enough coercion. The buttons, mockingly, refused to yield and Gohan was tempted to laugh at her expense (though he didn't dare).

Clearly out of patience with the buttons, Videl reached down further to the waistband of his pants – Gohan's penis twitched in response to her proximity – and pulled the hem of his shirt free just enough so that she could slide her fingers underneath. She dug her nails into the fabric and, with a mighty jerk and a sharp rip, forced the garment to yield its bounty to her.

"V-Videl!" Gohan stammered, her frenzy in undressing him causing practically every nerve in his body to burn with anticipation for whatever she was going to do with him now. He rather hoped that the pants would come off next.

Videl didn't respond in a verbal way, but pressed her hands flat against his pectorals and began to knead like a cat with a scratching post. He hissed as her fingernails dug into his skin and raised long red streaks as they scaled down his torso. "Aah...aaah," he groaned between panting breaths. All of those nerves that she had sent aflame with her rough display of dominance against his shirt blazed hotter with every stroke of her barbed fingertips.

Gohan knew, in the back of his lust-crazed mind, that he had to be gentle in return. Videl was strong for a human, but his Saiyan strength would be enough to kill her accidentally if he let his passion take full control. He forced his lungs to take in a slow breath, exhale it, and then draw in another one as his own hands continued to fondle her breasts beneath her shirt. It was times like these that he wished he were simply a normal man with normal power so that he could ravish his lover in the wild abandon his body urged.

Videl, at least, could be dominating enough for the both of them. It wasn't long before scraping long trails of ecstasy across his torso ceased to be fulfilling and she went scrambling for more. She bent over him, her long, black hair loose from its usual low ponytail and draping around them like a privacy curtain, and forced his mouth open with her own before plundering it with her tongue. Gohan willingly allowed this and distended his jaw to give her as much access as she wanted.

They remained fastened at the lips for several minutes as their hands, independent of any forethought or intention, roamed each others bodies wildly. Gohan could feel Videl's nails digging into his chest, his abdominals, his arms, his khaki-covered leg and even a few other places he didn't consciously recognize before they were skittering off to someplace new. His, in return, found her breasts, her stomach, her hips and her backside, only softly scraping against her with the pads of his fingers. Finally, they came to rest on her lower back and, with the smallest amount of force he could muster, pulled her torso flush against his. He could feel their hearts beating against one another once they had made contact.

Perhaps feeling the same way he did, Videl let loose a loud groan – practically a shout – down his throat. He imagined that he had swallowed it and it was now reverberating around in his chest cavity, echoing off of each of his ribs and sinking deep into his organs. Or maybe that was just the searing heat burning between them.

His hands, more daring now than ever before, skimmed up the slopes of her back as their warring mouths remained occupied. The hem of her shirt was coming up with them and her skin was being exposed, inch by inch, to his anxious fingertips. Eventually, with the muted blue fabric bunched up around her ribcage, they came into contact with something else. Something that felt frustratingly like a barrier.

Gohan wrenched his lips away and sucked in deep breaths of air. Videl, unperturbed by his sudden lack of participation in their lip-lock, sought solace in the crook of his neck where he could feel her teeth nipping and tugging at the skin just beneath his ear. It felt so amazing that he almost let himself sink into the numbing haze of lust again, but he forced his mind to focus on something that would likely bring him greater rewards.

He inclined his head just enough to peek over Videl's bare shoulder. His fingers were fumbling with the clasp of her bra – white, plain and completely uninteresting except for the bounty that it held – but he simply couldn't get his fingers to perform the necessary dexterity required for the task. Each time he tried, the delicate little hooks would slip from his bumbling fingers and the strap would snap back into place against Videl's skin. Maybe she wouldn't mind if he just ripped it.

Before he could formulate any destructive plans against the bra, Videl's arms were extended behind her back and her fingers had replaced his on the clasp. With a fluid, practiced motion, the hooks released and she returned her attention back to scraping and nipping at his skin. She did all of this without pausing in her venture with her lips.

"Th-Thank you," he said before realizing how stupid that sounded. He wasn't exactly an expert, but cable television shows (the kind his mother wouldn't allow him to watch before he had left home) all seemed to agree that the usual social niceties were usually undesirable during sex. He felt like a dweeb.

"You're," Videl paused to lap her tongue at his Adam's apple. "Welcome." Her mouth was moving lower down his throat and to his chest. That was enough reassurance for Gohan.

While she was busy leaving love bites along his upper torso, the demi-Saiyan genius returned his hands to the front of her body and slipped them underneath the layers of her top. When his palms found smooth, plush flesh underneath his breath hitched in his lungs. Oh, it was so much better now.

"Gohan," Videl whispered, her voice desperate and hot against the shell of his ear, as his fingers explored the newly available territory. Her nipples were stiff and erect, so he massaged them between his fingertips. "Gohan."

"Mmm," was his reply as he arched his neck upwards and found her neck with his lips. He placed soft kisses there at first, then hungrier ones, and then allowed his teeth to work their way into the pattern. He nipped and sucked and listened to her squeal with every intention of letting her suffer for awhile longer. He was sure she wouldn't mind.

"Gohan!" Or maybe she did. Removing one of her hands from his abdomen, Videl reached up and fisted it in the hair at the back of his head. She jerked hard and forced it back into the couch cushion. From his new position, Gohan could easily observe the way Videl's features writhed and reddened. Gods, he only wanted her more now.

She relinquished his hair and levied her torso into an upright position, back to where they'd started. Seconds later, she had divested herself of her top and her bra, leaving her bare in the warm light cast by the lamp on his end table. He stared openly as her breasts heaved back and forth with each breath she struggled to inhale.

"Let's...," she began, seeming to consider her words carefully. "Go to bed."

Author's Notes: Well, that was...um...wasn't it? Lolz. Though this setting is similar/practically the same as that in "Catch Me If You Can," it doesn't follow the same timeline so PLEASE don't point out inconsistencies. I wrote the bulk of this before even the concept of CMIYC entered my mind, so it follows different rules/scenarios.

As mentioned above, the full lemon version of this story can ONLY be found on my DeviantArt account, so please don't expect to see it here. Much as I think the rules against NC-17 material are stupid, I won't be violating them for fear of ruining the good thing I've got going on ffnet. Please visit my profile for the link to the whole enchilada.

Un beta'd. Be kind.

. ( . Ms Videl Son . ) .

– Who's your daddy? GohanVidel.