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Goku got sloppy. Vegeta wouldn’t have gotten the upper hand otherwise. In the blur of their sparring, Goku had only lost track of Vegeta for a moment—but that was all it took.

Suddenly, he was pinned. He felt the cliff-face digging into his back, a sudden, tingling heat clamped across his wrists, his waist, his legs—Goku managed to turn his neck, and his eyes widened when he saw that he had been trapped by golden ki-rings. He hadn’t seen the technique used since Vegeta had been in his Majin form—Goku hadn't realized it was something Vegeta even knew how to do in his base state.

“Know your terrain, Kakarot,” Vegeta taunted, appearing suddenly a few feet from Goku. “If you had been paying attention instead of relying on brute strength, you wouldn’t be trapped against a cliff right now.”

Goku pulled his wrist against one of the restraints, trying to pull himself free, but suddenly the ring became stronger, more solid—he saw Vegeta holding his arm out, palm lifted forward like he was channeling the ki from a distance, feeding the rings with more energy.

“Yeah, well,” Goku said, heat rising to his cheeks as he struggled against the rings. “I guess—I’m not as good a tactician as you are—”

Vegeta laughed. “Very true.” He watched with a half-lidded, smirking amusement as Goku tried again to free himself, pulling his arm harder against one of the restraints, but then Goku felt it suddenly tighten. He turned his face to look at Vegeta in disbelief, and immediately felt another ring snap into place around his throat, trapping his neck in place.

“Tch,” Vegeta said, hovering closer to him. “Still not paying attention, I see. The more you struggle, the harder I make it to break them. I can strengthen and tighten them at will.”

Goku felt the ring around his neck begin to shrink almost imperceptibly, like a warm fist against his throat—as it coiled tighter, he could almost hear the low thrum of the ki in his ears.

“How—” Goku swallowed, the ring making it just difficult enough to speak. “How did you learn this?”

“Self-taught,” Vegeta said, still smirking. “I’ve been perfecting the technique in my spare time. Quite a bit stronger than it was last time, isn’t it?

“Yeah,” Goku said, his voice a strangled gasp against the mounting pressure against his throat. Somehow, the more he struggled, the more he felt his body begin to betray him unexpectedly. He could feel a strange need pooling in the pit of his stomach, then pulsing up his spine until it spread, tingling across his skin until he was burning with it. Goku felt suddenly weak in his restraints, like Vegeta had dealt him a finishing blow without even touching him.

Vegeta leaned in closer still, until Goku could feel his breath on his skin, sending another tremor through Goku’s body.

“If you ask nicely,” Vegeta said, his voice dipping into a low growl that made Goku’s hairs stand on end, “I could teach you how.”

Vegeta was so close that Goku half-expected to be backhanded across the cheek, just like the last time Vegeta had trapped him in this position. Part of him almost wanted that—anything to be touched, to relieve the desperate heat that fell somewhere between bloodlust and something else entirely—like he wanted to fight, and he wanted Vegeta to make him lose.

His pulse surged, sweat prickling on his brow, and Goku quickly realized his body was beginning to betray him in a far more obvious, embarrassing way.

Goku hoped Vegeta hadn’t noticed, but he caught the way Vegeta’s eyes flicked downward once, then widened in shock before he recoiled.

“Kakarot—” he spluttered. “What the fuck—are you hard right now?”

“Uh,” was about all Goku could manage to say.

The ki-rings flickered, then vanished altogether as Vegeta backed away, and Goku slumped forward, catching himself in the air before he could tumble down the cliffside.

“I’m—sorry?” he said, rubbing his neck where the ki-ring had coiled around his throat.

“Never mind,” Vegeta hissed, pointedly looking away from Goku’s face, or any other part of him. “I think we’ll end this particular spar here for today—”

“What?” Goku said. “But—we were just getting started—”

“Kakarot, I am not fucking fighting you when you have a raging erection—”

“It is not raging,” Goku protested, and the burning in his cheeks intensified when he heard how ridiculous he sounded. “Just—just give me a sec, I’ll—”

Vegeta was already turning away. “I'm leaving.”

“Vegeta—”

But Vegeta had already started flying away, not looking back as he raced toward the horizon. And Goku was left hovering in place, still sweating, and still stubbornly, uncomfortably hard.

He had no clue how this had even happened.





X





Over the next few days, Goku returned repeatedly to their usual sparring spot—but Vegeta, on the other hand, didn’t. At first Goku didn’t think anything of it—sometimes Vegeta had other things to do, or preferred his solitary gravity training—but by the time a full week had passed, Vegeta had still failed to make a single appearance. Goku made a show of deliberately flaring his ki each time he Instant Transmitted to the wasteland—Vegeta couldn’t pretend to not notice he was there, waiting—but still he refused to show.

At first Goku felt insulted, but the sting of rejection was mixed with a strange sense of relief. After all, what if they fought and Goku reacted like that again? Fighting got him excited, sure—sometimes to the point where it left him restless for hours—but never like that.

So Goku kept to himself—tried to focus his mind on other things. He spent some time hunting, and tending to his fields. Eventually that wore thin, and the itch to fight returned, just as it always did—there was no suppressing his Saiyan tendencies. Not for long.

It shouldn’t have bothered him. He could have trained alone, or gone to King Kai’s planet, or tracked down any of his other friends—but he didn’t. His mind kept stubbornly coming back to Vegeta.

Vegeta, and the feeling of his ki pinning Goku into place—

Goku didn’t know how much more he could take of this.

After a week without training, and of Vegeta seemingly ignoring him, a ridiculous idea occurred to him, and he acted on it before he could think better of it. If he could just get Vegeta to talk to him—if he could only corner him for a moment, and clear this whole thing up, and maybe everything could go back to normal.

It was still dark when Goku Transmitted to Capsule Corp, early enough in the morning that everyone was still asleep. But Goku knew that Vegeta was an early riser—he suspected he wouldn’t have to wait long, hiding in the gravity room, before Vegeta showed up for his first workout of the day. Goku had known Vegeta long enough to know that Vegeta was a creature of habit—over the years, he had become familiar with Vegeta’s routines.

He also knew how much Vegeta hated to have his routine interrupted, and the longer Goku hid in the darkness of the gravity room, the more foolish he started to feel. He began to pace the floor, trying to keep his ki low as his stomach knotted up. What would Vegeta say when he found him here? Vegeta never invited Goku into the gravity simulator—this was his personal space, where he came to get away from everyone else—Goku included

This was a bad idea. Vegeta was going to lose it, for sure—

By the time the chamber’s entrance finally hissed open, Goku was already contemplating Transmitting himself home. Maybe he still could, before Vegeta murdered him. But he felt stuck in place, his breath hitching as Vegeta stepped inside, feeling utterly stilled by Vegeta’s signature glare.

But his gaze, Goku noted, was heatless—there was no anger, no wrath. Just a sort of vague annoyance, and maybe—curiosity?

“Vegeta—” Goku finally managed to say, but his throat had gone so dry that the name came out as a croak.

The door hissed shut behind Vegeta, who stood before Goku wearing nothing but a set of tight-fitting training shorts and a curled up towel draped over his shoulders.

“Just going to invite yourself into my Gravity Room, I see,” Vegeta quipped, one eyebrow rising toward his hairline. “Awfully bold of you, especially considering how we parted ways during our last spar.”

Goku watched Vegeta brush past as he moved toward the room’s main console. Goku found himself desperately trying to look anywhere but at the receding form of Vegeta’s back, heat rising to his cheeks every time he looked directly at Vegeta.

“You’ve been ignoring me for a week, Vegeta,” Goku blurted. “We—we have to fight.”

“We can’t fight,” Vegeta said flatly as he pulled his towel off his shoulders, and tapped something into the room’s main console.

Goku frowned, shifting uneasily where he stood, like it hurt him to stand still.

“Why not?” he asked, immediately embarrassed at the whining pitch of his voice.

“Because you’re in no condition to,” Vegeta said tersely, and as if punctuating his words, the gravity in the room suddenly intensified. Goku was caught off guard, only managing to brace himself at the last moment before his knees buckled—but just as he caught his balance, Vegeta had whirled upon him in a flurry of hard, fast hits. Goku failed to block or dodge a single one—he felt Vegeta’s fist connect with his jaw, his ribcage, then a hard kick to the side sent him spinning to the floor.

“You see?” Vegeta spat, as Goku groaned on the floor, his back flattened to the tiles in the high gravity. “I’m not fighting you when you’re like this. You’re clumsy, and unfocused. And I can smell the desperation on you from here.”

“You—you just caught me off guard for a sec, is all,” Goku mumbled, reddening beneath Vegeta’s judgmental scowl.

Vegeta huffed a noise of exasperation and turned away, moving back toward the console. “No, you were never on guard to begin with.”

Goku heard Vegeta tap again at the terminal, and just as suddenly as the gravity had turned on, it plunged again to baseline. The tension vanished in Goku’s joints and tendons, and he pulled himself up into a sitting position on the floor.

“Okay, I’ll admit it—you’re right,” Goku said, rubbing the back of his neck as he avoided looking directly at Vegeta. “I am unfocused. I’ve been feeling off-kilter for days.” He chewed at his bottom lip. “But you’re the only person strong enough to help me get my edge back. Come on, Vegeta, you’ve gotta help—”

“I can help,” Vegeta said, turning to face Goku again. He took a position leaning against the console, crossing his arms over his chest as his scowl deepened. “But I’m not sure I want to. I’m not sure you even realize the sort of help you need.”

“Please?” Goku said. “Come on, Vegeta—who else are you gonna spar with—”

Vegeta interrupted him by letting out a sharp, exasperated breath.

“Oh, fine,” Vegeta finally conceded. “It would be cruel to deny you in this state, literally begging at my feet.”

“I am not begging—” Goku said defensively, and immediately pulled himself up to standing positiong. “Just—come on, just a quick warm-up fight, anything—”

“I’m not fighting you again until we get this out of your system—work out this absurd fetish of yours before it gets out of hand. I don’t want to spar with you and risk you getting hard every time I so much as trap you in a fucking headlock.”

Goku’s eyebrows raised. “...Fetish?”

“Truthfully, it’s not so uncommon among Saiyans,” Vegeta mused, tapping a finger against his lips as if suddenly deep in thought. “It’s not unusual for pain and defeat to become inherently associated with pleasure. You must be familiar with that particular, exquisite ache that comes after a particularly brutal thrashing—when you know you’re about to become something even stronger than before.” Vegeta licked his lips, a smirk cracking his thoughtful expression. “Sometimes, certain instinctual wires get crossed—pain becomes tangled up with… other sources of pleasure.”

Goku furrowed his brow. He wasn’t quite sure if he was following what Vegeta was trying to explain.

“That’s not—I don’t think pain has anything to do with his.” Goku remembered the sensation of ki tightening around his neck—it hadn’t been painful, not exactly. It had felt like something else entirely. There had been something more, in the way Vegeta loomed over him, grinning as Goku writhed, struggling for breath—

Goku nearly shivered at the memory alone.

“Powerlessness, then,” Vegeta suggested. “Other side of the same coin.”

Goku shrugged, feeling his face flushing again. “I guess—maybe.”

“I can help you work through this,” Vegeta said. “But you’re going to have to be honest with me. And yourself.”

Goku reached behind his head to rub at the back of his neck, trying to ease the prickling heat rising up his spine. “Well, okay. Sure. I don’t see what’s so hard about that.”

Vegeta uncrossed his arms and nodded.

“Perfect. Then take off your clothes, Kakarot.”

“W-what?” Goku spluttered. “I can’t just—you really want me to just—”

“If you want my help, then you’re going to follow my lead,” Vegeta growled, and advanced upon Goku until he found himself backed against the wall of the gravity chamber. “If you want me stop, at any moment, then tell me so—and you’ll leave here immediately.” Vegeta rose one hand, a surge of ki suddenly bursting from the flat of his palm and coiling into a ring against Goku’s throat, trapping his neck against the wall. Vegeta leaned in closer, his voice dropping as he went on, and Goku barely managed a sharp gasp against the sudden restraint trapping his throat. “But if you want me to keep going—you’re going to have to tell me so.”

“O-okay,” Goku said hoarsely, his hands reaching up reflexively to grip at the ki-ring slowly tightening around his neck.

But Vegeta was quick to grab him by the wrists, pulling his hands away.

“So tell me, then,” Vegeta said, his breath hot against Goku’s ear. “Do you want me to keep going, or not?”

Goku shivered, his skin already burning in anticipation just like it had a week ago, when Vegeta had pinned him against the cliff-face.

“Yes.”

“Good,” Vegeta said, and moved Goku’s wrists to either side of his head, pinning them in place with more ki-restraints. Goku immediately felt weaker, as if the ki-rings were somehow draining his energy—but that wasn’t possible. Even Vegeta couldn’t have worked out a technique like that.

Powerlessness.That was the word Vegeta had used—that was what was affecting Goku now. What he had been craving all along, apparently. He wondered if it had been at the source of his other, more obvious motivations this whole time—if his relentless need to find more and more powerful opponents was all just some convoluted way to find someone willing to bring him to the brink of vulnerability, and beyond.

Someone, maybe, like Vegeta.

Goku tried not to think about it. Thankfully, his focus was quickly drawn elsewhere—to the feeling of Vegeta’s hands at his waist, untying his belt, pulling open the folds of his gi to leave him exposed. The ki-rings constricted, almost too subtly to notice, but Goku still found himself squirming against the pressure, and surprised to find himself wishing they were even tighter.

But Vegeta was slow in his torment. He dragged his palms against the flat of Goku’s abdomen and his ribcage, his hands leaving trails of searing heat in their wake. Goku couldn’t remember the last time he had seen Vegeta without his ever-present gloves, but Goku was thankful for their absence now—every touch of Vegeta’s fingers felt hot against Goku’s skin, every scrape of Vegeta’s hands coincided by a subtle weakening or tightening of Goku’s ki-restraints. The steady throb of ki against his throat and wrists—the unpredictable cycling between choking and breath—soon left Goku gasping, only to be silenced just as quickly by Vegeta’s mouth.

The ki-ring around Goku’s neck constricted hard and tight as Vegeta’s tongue slid past Goku's lips, muffling the strangled noises that formed in the base of Goku’s throat. Vegeta’s kiss betrayed no softness—his mouth devoured Goku’s with the same heat and intensity as the tightly coiled ring around Goku’s neck, his teeth dragging against Goku’s lips when he finally pulled away.

Goku sagged in his restraints, weak at the loss. “Vegeta—”

But Goku’s plea was cut short when he felt Vegeta’s hand move to between Goku’s legs, palming him through the material of Goku’s gi. He sucked in a breath at the sensation, and hung helplessly in his restraints as his legs threatened to give out beneath him—he was already hard, but the friction of Vegeta’s hand left him aching, and he tried to grind himself harder against Vegeta’s touch for some measure of relief.

But Vegeta’s hand ceased its ministrations, and Goku uttered a harsh noise of complaint.

“Vegeta—” But he was cut off again, this time by the ki-ring squeezing tight against his throat.

Vegeta smirked.

“You’re making this too easy,” he growled. “Just listen to you, whimpering already.”

Heat crawled up Goku’s neck, and spread across his cheeks. “I’m—I’m not whimpering—” he struggled to choke against the restraint.

Vegeta’s smirk darkened. “Then you will be.”

All three ki-rings clenched simultaneously, hard enough to bruise this time, and Goku’s gasps were smothered as Vegeta’s hand worked its way past the loose waistband of his gi, his fingers wrapping around Goku’s cock almost as tightly as the ki. Goku’s hips bucked reflexively into Vegeta’s grip, eager for the sudden respite of skin against skin—Goku bit his lip, his mouth salivating at the feeling even as he struggled for breath.

“Do you like that?” Vegeta hissed, working Goku’s length with a tormenting slowness, earning stifled noises from Goku’s mouth as his thumb rubbed cruelly across Goku’s tip.

The ki-ring around Goku's neck loosened, then squeezed, the pattern repeating in a steady pulse until Goku’s vision seemed to swim and spark to blackness, a heady dizziness beginning to overtake him.

“Y-yeah,” Goku managed to choke out when the ring loosened enough to free his airway.

“Good,” Vegeta said, and his hand around Goku loosened, only to be replaced by something else—a new ki-ring, this one wrapped hot and tight around the base of Goku’s cock.

Vegeta pulled away, and Goku tugged weakly at his restraints only to feel them suddenly vanish from his wrists entirely. And then Vegeta’s fingers had hooked under the ring around his neck, pulling Goku forward and releasing him from the wall.

The room seemed to blur around Goku as Vegeta spun him around, hand still grasping the back of the ki-collar clamped around Goku’s throat. Goku was still reeling when he felt Vegeta’s breath against the back of his neck, his voice a low growl in Goku's ear.

“On the floor,” Vegeta hissed as he pulled the top of Goku’s gi off entirely, discarding it to the floor. “I want you on your hands and knees.”

Goku did as he was told, almost instinctually, too lightheaded to even think of questioning Vegeta’s command. He lowered himself to his knees and palms as ordered, only to feel the ki-collar tightening as Vegeta pushed him further downward.

“On your elbows.”

Goku adjusted himself until his forearms were flat on the ground, and then felt Vegeta leaning over him, forcing his wrists to cross one another, clasping them in place with ki-cuffs that trapped Goku’s arms against the ground.

Goku shifted uncomfortably, his dick aching painfully with each moment it went ignored—and the cock ring wasn’t helping matters. A shudder passed through Goku’s body as Vegeta went to work pulling off Goku’s boots, and then the bottoms of his gi—with his ki-collar still slightly loosened, a few pained noises managed to escape Goku’s throat as he writhed on the floor.

“Please, Vegeta,” he whined, glancing over his shoulder to see what was taking Vegeta so long.

In the corner of his vision, Goku saw that Vegeta had moved away, and was rifling around for something back at the room’s main console.

“Please what?” Vegeta said coolly.

Goku groaned as he let his forehead come to rest on the floor, listening as Vegeta’s footsteps returned in his direction.

“I asked you a question, Kakarot,” Vegeta said, and suddenly Goku felt Vegeta kneeling behind him, his hands clasping Goku’s calves, slightly nudging Goku’s legs apart. “Please what?”

“Touch me,” Goku blurted, tugging at his wrist restraints as he tried to pull himself closer to Vegeta.

Vegeta rewarded his efforts by binding his legs to the floor with a another set of ki-rings, these ones clamped around his calves, and tightened Goku’s other restraints until they were biting painfully into his skin. Goku hissed at the feeling, relishing it, and the feeling of Vegeta’s hands suddenly grasping at his waist only intensified it.

“Tell me, Kakarot,” Vegeta said, and Goku felt Vegeta leaning into him then, pressing hard against the place where Goku’s legs separated for him—and Goku realized with a shiver that Vegeta’s shorts were gone. “How long have you wanted someone to touch you like this?”

Vegeta’s words brought Goku back to their spar in the wasteland: he remembered how he had felt restless and unmoored for the entire time he had waited for Vegeta—every time he had thought of him—working himself into a fever that had lasted for days—a fever that was only just breaking now.

But it had been longer than that, hadn’t it? This need hadn’t just sprung up from the darkness, fully-formed—it had been simmering below the surface all along, coiled and aching, for far more spars than he could count.

“I don’t know,” Goku admitted, his voice raw as he shook his head.

“Longer than you’re willing to admit, if I had to guess,” Vegeta said, and Goku could almost hear the smirk in his voice even though he couldn’t see Vegeta’s face. Vegeta chuckled behind him, and Goku felt Vegeta begin to drag one of his hands down the length of Goku’s spine. Goku's skin thrummed where Vegeta touched him, like a static spark that wouldn’t stop, and Goku realized it was Vegeta’s ki pulsing the length of his spine. Goku writhed at Vegeta’s touch, arching his back as Vegeta’s fingers teased electricity into his nerves, unable to reconcile the pain of the ki burning into him with the strange pleasure that came with it.

“Oh—that’s—” Goku was too breathless to put the feeling into words, and he squeezed his eyes shut as he threw his head back. Vegeta’s opposite hand immediately latched onto the back of the ki-collar around Goku’s neck, and he pulled back hard until it dug into Goku’s throat.

“I had a feeling you’d enjoy this,” Vegeta hissed, the burn of the ki intensifying down Goku’s spine as Vegeta choked him. “And you claimed it wasn’t pain you were interested in.”

Vegeta’s hand pulled away from Goku’s back, and before Goku could react, Vegeta had wrapped his fist around Goku’s cock again. A smothered groan escaped Goku’s lips as Vegeta began to pump his length, and Goku felt himself melting into the rhythm of Vegeta’s hand only to be shocked again—the same, sparking ki that had flickered through his spine a moment ago lanced through the base of his cock, pulsing from ring to tip with an intensity that made Goku cry out, his voice smothered to a dull yelp by his collar. Vegeta stroked faster with each pained cry that Goku made, pulling harder against the neck collar until Goku felt himself becoming lightheaded again, eyes and mouth watering as he wordlessly begged for relief. He bucked into Vegeta’s fist, his cock starting to leak between Vegeta’s fingertips, and that seemed to be the result Vegeta was looking for—gradually, his grip on Goku loosened, his pace slowing before finally letting ago.

“V-Vegeta—” Goku struggled to choke against the pressure of his collar. A moment passed, and Goku heard a sound like a bottle top being flicked open—and with Vegeta’s hand still pulling firmly against his collar, Goku couldn’t even look over his shoulder to see what Vegeta was doing.

He realized immediately when he felt Vegeta’s hand between his legs, fingers wet as he rubbed something slick against Goku’s opening. Goku gasped as Vegeta felt him, teasing him open, and just as Goku attempted to grind against Vegeta’s hand, Vegeta pulled away.

"Vegeta,” Goku begged, twisting and pulling at the cuffs that chained him to floor, only to feel Vegeta’s hand suddenly clasp his hip, and pull him back sharply.

“These ki-rings must be too loose for you to be squirming like this,” Vegeta growled, sinking his grip harder into Goku’s skin, his cock grinding against Goku as he leaned over him. “If I’m going to fuck you properly, I’m going to have you exactly where I want you.”

And then Vegeta released him, only to grab Goku instead by the hair. With a punishing grip, he harshly pulled Goku’s head back, holding Goku in place like that as his cock finally plunged into Goku’s ready, aching heat.

Goku struggled to cry out as Vegeta slid inside of him, but Vegeta was yanking hard on his hair as his other hand pulled back on Goku’s collar, strangling Goku into submission. Vegeta’s thrusts were slow at first, and each movement of his hips was punctuated by a sharper pull on Goku’s hair and collar that would have left Goku moaning and begging if only he could find the breath for it.

Goku was becoming lightheaded again by the time Vegeta’s cock finally filled him to the hilt, and then suddenly he could feel Vegeta’s grip starting to loosen—Vegeta let out a shuddering groan of his own, and for a moment Goku feared that Vegeta’s control was slipping—gods, not now, not when he was so close—

Goku arched his back, whimpering as he tried to force himself down harder on Vegeta’s dick, and it seemed like that small act of defiance was all it took—snarling, Vegeta tightened his grip on Goku’s collar as he thrust back in, his other hand fisting so tight in Goku’s hair that Goku’s neck ached as it was forced back.

It hurt, and Goku nearly wept at the relief of it.

Vegeta set a harsh pace, his snarls giving way to breathless panting as he fucked Goku. Goku’s skin burned hot all over, slicked with sweat as Vegeta pounded into him, his eyes rolling as the creeping blackness threatened to overtake him again. But then Vegeta’s grip would loosen, just enough to let Goku gasp down another, drowning breath—just enough to keep him going as Vegeta choked him again—squeezing, releasing, squeezing—

Goku’s cock throbbed from base to tip, and he felt himself clenching tight around Vegeta as his vision began to blur—he felt like he could lose consciousness at any moment—

Instead, he came—still choking, eyes streaming, his entire body shaking as he spurted onto the floor, and even the tight coil of the ki-collar wasn’t enough to silence the howling cry that escaped his throat.

The last, agonizing pulses of orgasm were still wracking Goku when he felt Vegeta finally release his grip on him, and Goku gasped down mouthfuls of air that left his lungs burning. Vegeta’s thrusts became faster as he leaned over Goku’s body, his stomach flush with Goku’s back as he forced Goku against the floor, his breath hitching as he neared his own completion. It wasn’t long—soon he was snarling again, his teeth scraping against Goku’s shoulder as he finished deep inside Goku, rutting into him hard as he gave into his own release.

Goku lay gasping on the floor for several long moments before he finally felt Vegeta’s weight lift from him, every ring of of ki bondage vanishing entirely as Vegeta pulled away from him. Goku rolled onto his back, still panting, every muscle limp as he sank against the floor. Every part of him ached, but for the first time in days—his mind felt clear. Like he could finally feel himself sliding back into focus.

Goku closed his eyes, his chest heaving.

“That’s… better,” he said, his voice scraping hoarsely in his throat.

“Good,” Vegeta growled, and Goku opened his eyes to find Vegeta sitting at his side, leaning over him. Vegeta’s hand felt along Goku’s chest, sliding up to settle against the base of Goku’s throat—for a moment, Goku thought he was about to start choking him again—but instead he felt Vegeta’s touch become soft, his thumb delicately massaging the raw band of bruised skin that his ki-collar had left behind.

Goku weakly rose a hand and clasped Vegeta’s wrist, stilling him mid-stroke. But Vegeta didn’t pull away.

“So,” Goku said, grinning as his breath slowly began to steady. “Can we fight now?”

Vegeta leveled an exasperated glare at him, and now Goku was sure he could feel Vegeta’s grip tightening against his throat.

“Gods, Kakarot—you really are fucking insatiable, aren’t you?”

“What can I say,” Goku chuckled, and before Vegeta could react, Goku used his grip on Vegeta’s wrist to throw him off-balance, and flipped him onto his back. “I’m a guy with simple needs.”

Vegeta growled beneath him, his fist clenching firm against Goku’s neck now. “Not quite so simple, it would seem.”

“Come on—you said you’d help me get back to fighting again,” Goku reminded him.

“I’m not fighting you without any clothes on, Kakarot—”

“Don’t really see how that matters,” Goku mused. “Tell you what—if you beat me, I'll let you put your shorts back on.”

Vegeta rolled his eyes. “Oh, fuck you, Kakarot.”

Goku grinned. “Actually, we just finished that part.”

That was all it took to get Goku the reaction he was looking for—with a guttural noise, Vegeta’s arm swung out from beneath Goku, hooking him in the jaw hard enough to knock Goku on his back again.

“Great,” Goku laughed from the floor. “So it’s a fight, then?”

But Vegeta was already on his feet, assuming his battle stance.

“Just remember that you asked for this, Kakarot—and don’t think I have any intention of going easy on you.”

Goku licked his lips, already feeling his blood roiling for a thrashing—of the conventional sort, this time.

“Of course, Vegeta,” he said, his grin widening. “Wouldn’t have it any other way.”