Bulma snored loudly. She hadn't used the bucket, which was impressive, but she'd completely drained the water bottle. Vegeta had already woken, changed and fed his youngest and sent the oldest off to school. Neither task was hard to do, and even though he wouldn't admit it, child wrangling wasn't a bother.
He even mussed up Trunks' hair with a fond smile. Didn't flinch when the boy said "Love you, dad!" as he flew away.
Years ago, he would have never allowed himself to show such weakness, but fourteen years of human marriage had changed him. To cope, he fantasized about blowing up the world sometimes. He reminded himself how easy it would be just throw a ki blast at the floor.
After saving his wife and children first.
And his rival. And his children. Possibly his spouse, solely on the fact that she must be some sort of mad woman to marry Kakarot, and he secretly admired that.
Yeah, he was soft.
He sighed and left his wife to recover, not before touching her face adoringly. He couldn't help himself. His mate was a fierce woman and he admired her so much.
Was that love?
Bulla woke up from her mid morning nap with a grating cry before he could mull over his feelings. Bulma groaned and turned over, putting her head under her pillow.
Time to be a parent. He picked Bulla up by the leg and she stopped crying, latching into his arm and climbing up to his shoulder. She'd picked that up instinctively, and he was both proud at how quickly she was learning and sickened at how cute she was.
"Alright. What do you want." Vegeta asked, finally relenting and holding her before her weak muscles gave out.
"Ba!" She said, reaching towards the mini fridge by her crib.
"Of course." Vegeta said, bending over and taking out the bottle of formula, pressing the button so it warmed itself to perfection. His wife was a fucking genius. Soon Bulla was chugging away.
Vegeta took the time to get his own breakfast, burping his child as he fussed around the kitchen. After he ate, he picked up the phone and dialled his mother in law. "Your grandchild is fed. Come pick her up." He said when she answered.
"Oh, I can't today, I'm getting my nails done, and then I'm going-"
He hung up, dialling the old man. "Is my gravity room fixed?"
"Sorry, Vegeta, I haven't had a chance to-"
Fuck. "Get onto it!" Vegeta yelled into the phone and nearly threw it, but Bulma had told him he could only have one phone replacement a month.
"Ba!" Bulla said, and then finally burped.
"That's right." Vegeta muttered, and then sensed Kakarot's ki coming closer. Hn. That worked with his current predicament, but what to do with the child?
Opening the sliding door to the balcony, he stepped out just as his rival touched down.
"Hey Vegeta! Oh, hey Bulla!" Goku said, leaning down to greet her. Bulla squealed with delight, holding her hands out to be held by the taller man.
"Oh, for fuck's sake. Here." Vegeta looked heavenwards and thrust the child upon Goku.
"Babysitting today?" Goku pointed out the obvious, and Vegeta turned back inside to get her belongings, "Doesn't Bulma or Mrs. Briefs usually watch Bulla at this time?"
"Both women are indisposed." Vegeta said, finding the dreaded 'diaper bag with harness' and filling it with supplies, "The child will have to observe."
"Heh, guess we'll have to be careful." Goku teased, letting Bulla climb onto his head.
Vegeta zipped the bag up so fast it nearly broke, turning to the other Saiyan. "If you're insinuating that you're going to hold back on me-"
"Of course not!" Goku waved his hands, wincing as Bulla tugged on his hair.
Vegeta paused, watching Bulla interact with Kakarot. The corners of his mouth threatened to twitch and he felt a sort of... complex emotion, one he only felt when he watched Bulma and his children in those soft, quiet moments... The scene was...
"Vegeta? Are you okay?"
Gods, he still had a crush on the stupid idiot, and now he was thinking about how cute he looked as he played with his kid. "Shut up." He said, mostly to his brain, suppressing the thoughts.
"Give me the child. We're taking a transport, because she isn't ready for flight yet." He said, strapping the harness to himself and holding his arm out for his daughter.
Goku picked Bulla up gently with one hand and handed her back, "Pan can fly." He said, with a proud smile, "Maybe Bulla can too!"
"Your granddaughter can fly as fast as a mosquito. We can outrun jet planes. I am not subjecting my infant to those conditions just yet." Vegeta grumbled as he strapped Bulla to his chest, an act she did not want to cooperate with. "Besides, she can fly. She's my daughter."
Bulla was slapping at Vegeta's hands and started crying as she was practically swaddled, and Goku frowned in sympathy. "Oh! Is Bulma okay?" He asked, remembering their conversation, "...are you and Bulma okay?"
Vegeta bristled at the topic, shooting Goku a glare, "Did you purposefully wait for me to put myself in a literal vulnerable position to ask that?"
"No, it's just that you said Bulma was indisposed-"
"Ugh, do you know how loud you two are?" A freshly showered Android 18 came into the lounge, wearing a pink dress and carrying her heels in one hand.
Goku and Vegeta were both equally confused as to why the blonde cyborg had joined them, and why she was in this condition. "What the fuck are you doing here?" Vegeta said, covering Bulla's eyes.
"I was drinking with your wife, you colossal asshole." 18 said with a growl, heading over to the sink and drinking from the faucet.
Vegeta looked to Goku who shrugged. He supposed it made sense, Bulma hadn't had the chance to tell him about her date.
"Did you want a ride home?" Goku offered, "Flying after drinking is probably not a good idea, and we are taking a capsule thing."
"What?" Vegeta got instantly defensive, feeling like 18 was encroaching on... their pre-spar commute?
"Oh man, yes please. Can we go through a drive through? I need breakfast. And a coffee." 18 said, wiping her chin.
Goku looked to Vegeta and grinned, "I could eat!"
Vegeta couldn't believe this, "No! I just ate! And we're dropping you off at the nearest bus station!" He said through clenched teeth, trying not to upset his daughter further.
"And let me go home alone? Looking like this?" 18 gestured to herself.
"Woman, I have seen you destroy literal cities." Vegeta rubbed the bridge of his nose, close to losing his shit, "Fucking, fine! Anything else anyone want to say while my daughter's position prevents me from killing them?"
Goku said nothing, but you could tell he wanted to.
"I threw up in your shower." 18 supplied, not very helpfully.
Goku let out a snort of laughter and Vegeta gave him a look that could definitely kill. "Come on. It'll be fun. And 18 can tell us all about her night." Goku said, putting his hand on Vegeta's shoulder.
Vegeta slapped his hand away, "Kakarot, you can just teleport her home."
"Yeah, then I'll throw up again."
Vegeta looked to the android, "I'm sorry, that sounds like a you problem."
"Aw, come on..."
And that's how Vegeta found himself ordering a second breakfast and listening to 18 wax poetic about his wife.
"I kinda wish she was my wife. You're pretty lucky." 18 said, hanging over the back of the passenger side chair so she could make her order.
"You can't have her." Vegeta grumbled, wiping his hand over his face, the other hand threatening to break the steering wheel. Might as well use this opportunity to learn more about his wife. "So why did she call you? If her date went so horribly, why didn't she come home?" He asked, looking over at Kakarot briefly, who was completely enthralled in 18's story.
"I'm her friend, aren't I? Who else is she going to call? Chi-Chi?"
"Naw, we were sleeping at that time." Goku supplied.
"See?"
"No, you're... fucking... missing the point. Why did she stay out? Did she want to meet another man?" Vegeta sighed as he pulled over after paying the bill.
"No..?" 18 sat back in her seat, and seemed to think over the question before continuing, "She was dressed up, and she didn't wanna waste all that effort on nothing. She wanted to have fun."
"Getting trashed, doing karaoke and coming home before sunrise is your idea of fun?" Vegeta turned around in his seat and stared at her. Bulla was asleep in the car seat next to the android.
"Well, almost. Coulda robbed a bank or something." 18 said with a smirk, and rolled her window down to accept her black coffee.
Goku's eyes lit up with interest, "Aw, the Great Saiyaman coulda come 'n' stopped ya!"
"Right?"
The fast food workers brought out a few dozen paper bags and started loading it into the capsule car. Ugh, finally. Time to drop 18 off so they could finally spar.
Krillin was waiting for them, but was suprised to see his wife with Vegeta and Goku in a capsule car. "Oh! Hi! I didn't expect you to drop her off... like this..." He said, as 18 practically tumbled out of the side of the transport.
"It's okay. I've had coffee." 18 stage-whispered, and took Krillin's hand to steady herself.
Vegeta didn't want to stick around, starting the car again. "Bye! See you soon!" Goku called out the window as they flew off.
"Huh... That was weird." Krillin said, watching the yellow ship fly off.
"They're totally going to bone." 18 declared, swaying, and promptly threw up on the sidewalk.