He wandered into the house, grumbling about baka onna and how he was going to be damned if he found anything useful to do on this planet that would make time pass by faster. Even though he had lived for quite a while on Earth, and even though it felt more like a home to him than Vegeta-sei did, he still thought it useless. But the idea of finding a hobby wasn't the only reason why he was pissed off. He was rather ticked off that Bulma didn't pay any attention to him when he tried to reason with her that it wasn't his fault that the Gravity Chamber went loopy. He hated being blamed for something he didn't do. Well, he did blast the main controls, but if he didn't, he would've become flatter than Mrs Brief's flapjacks!
Speaking of flapjacks, he thought with a grin as he entered the kitchen and set to work. Rummaging through the cupboards, he gathered everything he would need and began to make flapjacks. Yes, this is where the reader starts staring with goggle eyes and jaw scraping against the ground, only to shut it and question, "Hang on? Vegeta can…*cough, sputter, sputter* cook??!!"
Yes, Vegeta can cook. After the divorce, Bulma had begun to spend more and more time dating 'cute' guys and less time at Capsule Corp. He knew he could always get Mrs Briefs to cook him something to eat, but she wasn't always around either. She was either in the garden busy with her flowers or visiting some of her equally air-headed friends. He couldn't hold it against either of them, as he knew they had their own lives and he had his. So he took it upon himself to learn how to cook. At first, he wasn't as successful as he would have liked to be, but it didn't dash his hopes at all. Because he was just a hotheaded prince, it only fueled his determination and he continued to try and make the perfect meal, one that would satisfy his hunger and appease his taste. After many months, that day finally came. He was very pleased with himself, and celebrated by making something really special.
Hmm…I can cook, he thought as he poured the batter into the pan. Didn't the onna once make a remark that cooking is like a hobby? I mean, I do like to experiment with taste and food, but do I really want to make it a 'hobby'? He tossed the idea about as he rolled his eyes to the top of his head in thought. But he decided against it, shaking his head in disapproval. Rather not. I only cook food to eat and gain nutrition. And the only reason I try and make it tasty is because…well…it tastes good. No, he wanted to have an actual hobby. If he was going to do something, it must be what he describes the word 'hobby' to actually be; useless fun. Useless, in that it's not used for anything or of use to anyone. But fun as well.
But what in the hell could he do that is useless, but fun? Training wasn't useless, as he and Goku had saved Earth countless times because of their consistent training, even though it was fun. And cooking wasn't useless either, but it was fun too.
Dammit! He cursed as he turned his first flapjack over. What the hell else can I do?!
"Ohayo papa!" Vegeta turned his head slightly to see Trunks come walking into the kitchen, holding a wad of blank paper and a pencil bag. Behind him was his 'Goku's clone' tail.
"Ohayo gozaimasu, Vegeta-san!" greeted Goten. He just nodded. It wasn't within him to actually greet back, but he was polite nonetheless. Trunks and Goten acknowledged this and went to sit at the table.
"So, what did Mr Verf say we have to do for this art project?" asked Trunks as he sat down and pulled out the different shaded pencils.
"He said we had to draw and everyday action, like your mom fixing stuff or your dad training." He said as he shuffled through his papers.
"What have you done so far?"
"Not much," he admitted. "I've tried to draw my mom washing the dishes but I made her look like a gargoyle rather than a ningen."
I'd say that's the most accurate drawing, then. Vegeta thought with a smirk. Trunks laughed out loud as Goten showed him the deranged portrait.
"What did she say when she saw this?" Goten flustered.
"She hasn't seen it yet, and thank Kami-sama! She'd ground me for life if she saw this!" Trunks tittered and Vegeta silently smirked.
Nearly every day now, Goten would come over to Capsule Corp not to play, but to do homework with Trunks. And they always seemed to choose the moment when Vegeta was in the kitchen to do their work. Not he minded. He actually felt rather at ease with Goten's bird's chatter and Trunks's sarcastic remarks when doing the homework. They didn't really know that he always listened in on their conversation, but there wasn't anything big and secretive to tell anyways.
"What have you drawn, huh Trunks?"
"I've tried to draw my grandma watering the flowers, but I made her head a little too big…it's not funny!!" he yelled when Goten started to giggle at the picture he drew. "I've also tried to draw my papa…but…he's got too much muscles!" Vegeta's eyes widened in surprise at this.
"Hai so desu!" agreed Goten. "I've tried drawing my dad too…but I can't!"
"Well, to be perfectly honest, I'd say you've got it easier than me."
"How'd ya figure?"
"Simple, your dad is big and has got huge muscles, right?"
"Uh-huh." Agreed Goten as he nodded his head.
"My papa, on the other hand, is smaller but his figure is more compact."
"Compact?"
"Oh, come on!" whined Trunks. "Don't tell me you haven't compared your dad to mine! I mean, remember that day at the beach? My papa was standing right next to yours…it was so easy to see it then."
"Umm…hai." Goten said as he nodded his head, thinking back to that day. "Hai, I remember. Yeah, you're right. But they both have got very narrow waists, and very broad shoulders, and very tight butts…"
"Ahem." They both looked up from their work to Vegeta, who was looking at them with his eyebrows raised. "You're not the only ones in the kitchen at the moment." He said. Goten blushed a deep scarlet and Trunks tried to hide the pink tinge on his cheeks.
"Uhh…gomen nasai, Vegeta-san." Goten apologized, face still scarlet.
"Umm…maybe we should go and look for something to draw…" Trunks muttered.
"H-hai." Agreed Goten and they both rushed out of the kitchen as quickly as possible.
Vegeta sniggered as he rolled his eyes. He wasn't upset with them for talking about his body shape; there was nothing really bad about it. He only stopped them because they happened to include Goku into the picture and his thoughts and imagination went for a little joy ride. His cheeks turned a slight rose as he glared down at his twentieth flapjack.
Nan desu ka? He questioned himself. What is it that is making me think about that third class baka twenty-four seven? Often, when someone only mentioned the name 'Goku', his thoughts instantly turned to him and Kakarot, alone. Most of the time he stopped himself there before his imagination ran away with him, but on lonely nights, he let himself be carried away. It was actually quite fun to see what his mind could think of, even though at times he blushed at the thought of their naked bodies entwined with each other, indulging in every hedonistic impulse their bodies desired.
He shook his head, trying to clear it from the sudden turn of thoughts.
Baka ouji! He cursed himself. One minute I'm thinking about a hobby and the next thing I know… he stopped abruptly as his eyes wandered over the table where Trunks and Goten were previously working. No one would really consider Vegeta to be the curious type, but he was. He only didn't show it because he didn't want it to break his bastard composure.
But because no one else was in the kitchen, he let it get the better of him. He picked up his plate of flapjacks, along with the golden syrup and the cinnamon, and sat at the table. Gingerly, he picked up one of Goten's drawings. The person in this portrait looked like some sort of vile hag, a witch that somehow materialized itself from the pages of Macbeth and onto his paper. But on closer inspection, he saw it was none other than Chichi. He smirked.
I don't know why that brat is complaining. It's the most realistic drawing I've ever seen. He put it down and picked up another drawing, one that looked something like Gohan. Okay…I can see now why he was complaining. The actual picture of Gohan wasn't bad at all, but the shading was downright awful! Vegeta couldn't decide whether he looked like he had a skin rash or had just come out of a slaughterhouse. He inspected Trunks's portraits and found they were just as bad. The one of Bunny made him giggle a little, and Bulma's portrait made him laugh out loud. She looked like she should be omitted to an insane asylum with her crossed eyes and messed up hair.
Maybe I should keep this one. He thought, contemplating on whether he should pocket it or not.
Just then, Mr Brief's black neko came walking into the kitchen.
"Meow?" it asked Vegeta as it looked up at him. He glared down at it.
"Iie, go away. I saw Bunny give you your breakfast already. This is mine!" it may have looked strange, the Saiyan no Ouji talking to a neko, but he knew better. That neko already proved to have the same amount of intelligence, if not more, of a ningen, so to him, it was like talking to Trunks. The neko gave another mew but he just shook his head. Giving up, it walked away from him and went to have a little catnap on the rug by the backdoor. Vegeta resumed eating his breakfast and looking at the very strange drawings his son and Goku's son had drawn.
By the time he had finished eating, he was deep in wonder whether Trunks got his drawing genes from his mother or him. He knew Bulma could do sketches, but those were only of blueprints and stuff she used for her work. Silently, he wondered if he, himself, could draw at all. He had never tried, and suddenly the idea of drawing portraits became interesting. Curiously, he took a sheet of paper and a pencil from Trunks's side of the table. He scoped out the kitchen for something interesting to draw when his gaze fell upon the neko.
The neko was lying curled in a ball with one paw over its nose. The sun was shining through the window and on its back, casting a dark shadow to one side. Vegeta glanced down nervously at the paper, wondering if the final picture would come out well or worse than Trunks and Goten's.
"Baka ouji," he muttered to himself. "It's just a picture…"
From there on, Vegeta totally lost himself. He became completely deaf and cold to the world surrounding him, focusing only on the neko and the paper. The only sounds he could hear was the faint scratching of lead as it moved across the paper. The only things he could see were the neko, the sunbeam and the shadow.
After about two hours, Vegeta pulled back to take a look at his picture. But he never got to look at his final result, as at that moment, he heard Trunks and Goten come walking back into the kitchen. Not wanting them to see that he was looking at their work, he quickly got up, plate in hand, as though he had just finished his breakfast and was going to wash up. But because they were deep in conversation, they didn't notice Vegeta at all.
"Dammit," cursed Trunks. "There's nothing that we can draw!"
"I know," agreed Goten. "It's too hard to draw because of either the complicated structure or the shading."
"Saa, we've scouted around…"
"Nani? What do you mean? We were playing in the gardens…"
"And scouting around." Trunks quickly said. He wanted it to sound like he was the only one working.
"Iie, we weren't."
"Saa, you weren't…but I was."
"Iie, you weren't…"
"Was too."
"Was not."
"Was too!"
"Was not!"
"Was too!!"
"Was not!!"
"Do you two brats mind?" Vegeta questioned, glancing over his shoulder as his washed the dishes. Goten blushed embarrassedly and Trunks just huffed and crossed his arms.
"Well, maybe we should just gather our stuff and go upstairs." Suggested Goten. "We still have our Japanese Orals to do." Trunks nodded his agreement as he walked over to his side of the table and picked up his pencils and paper. He frowned a bit when he found he was one pencil less than before.
"Hey, Goten."
"Hai."
"Have you got my other pencil?"
"Iie."
"…shit."
Goten was gathering up his stuff as well when something caught his attention. There was another piece of paper sitting right next to his side and, curiously, he picked it up.
Immediately, his eyes went wide.
"T-T-Trunks!" he gasped.
"Nan desu ka?" he asked in a bored tone.
"C'mere and take a look at this!" Trunks gingerly put his things done and stalked coolly over to Goten. But that cool exterior was soon broken when he saw the picture.
"Good Kami-sama!!" he gaped. "Did you do this, Goten?" he asked. Goten shook his head, eyes still fixed on the paper.
"Iie, I can't draw nearly this good!" he said. "What about you?"
"Nani?"
"Did you draw this?"
"Baka! I just asked you if you drew it!"
"Demo, I didn't."
"Neither did I." They both stared at the portrait of the neko.
"It's a mystery." Goten said after a lengthy silence, only filled with the sound of the noises outside and the clinking of crockery and cutlery as Vegeta continued to wash his dishes. Trunks and Goten first glanced at each other before they eyed Vegeta. Inside their heads, they were wondering if it was really him. After all, he was the only one in the kitchen when they last left. And he was the only one there when they came back.
"Hey, papa," Vegeta froze suddenly, almost confirming their suspicions.
"Hn." He asked, keeping his head facing away from them as he was trying to hide the pink blush that had crept up on his face.
"Did anyone else come in here after we left?"
"Iie, no one." It was then that he realised he just made things worse for himself and had to contain himself from banging his head on one of the dishes he was holding in his hand. Goten smiled mischievously.
"Saaaaaa…" he crooned sweetly, a sign to Vegeta that they knew. "No one else was in here?"
"I…iie."
"Soooo…that means that…"
"IIE!" he said as he spun around to face them. "I most certainly did not draw that picture of the neko!"
"Then how do you know what it is?" questioned Goten. Vegeta's blush deepened a bit when he realised he was digging his own grave.
"I…I just saw it on the table. That's all." Vegeta didn't know why he was getting so defensive over a mere picture, but he wasn't going to back down now.
"Papa," Trunks said slowly. "I'm thinking that you did draw this."
"Hn," he scowled at them. "And what proof do you have that I did this?" Trunks paused only for a moment as he struggled to prevent himself from smiling.
"My pencil is still behind your ear."
Vegeta blinked once. He blinked twice. Slowly, he reached up to his right ear and felt with a wet hand. Sure enough, there was a pencil lodged behind his ear. He slowly took it out and held it out in front of him, blushing a deep rose. He had been caught out.
"Vegeta-san," breathed Goten. "Did you…did you really draw this of Mr Brief's neko?" Vegeta blinked a couple of times before scowling at him, then turning his head away in a sign of defeat. The pinkish tinge still hadn't disappeared from his cheeks. "Umm…Vegeta-san?" No reply. "May I please have this picture." On hearing this, Trunks flipped.
"Nani?! What do you mean, 'may you have it'?! My papa drew it, so it's mine!" he reached to grab it from Goten, but he pulled it from him just in time.
"No ways! Just because your dad drew it doesn't automatically make it yours! And besides, I asked first!"
"Hai, but he didn't say you could have it!"
"But you didn't ask, so he didn't say you could either!" Trunks glowered as he tried to grab the page from Goten.
"Give it here, it's mine!"
"Iie! I asked first!" Trunks paused for a moment as he scowled at his friend.
"And what exactly are you going to do with it, hmm baka?" he sneered. Goten narrowed his eyes at him and fixed him with a dirty look.
"Simple, I'm gonna frame it and put it up on my wall." He said in an equally sneering tone.
"But it's mine!" he yelled as he leapt at Goten, trying to grab the page.
"Fuck off, Trunks!"
"You fuck off!!"
Vegeta watched, eyes wide with surprise that the two brats, the 'forever and ever best friends' duo, were fighting over his drawing.
It can't be that good… he thought. Then he noticed they were pulling at each other clothing and using foul language that would make Chichi faint. "Hey!" he roared as he moved to separate the two. "Enough!" They broke away as soon as Vegeta yelled 'enough' and gazed at him with wide eyes. Silence filled the kitchen as he glared at them. "Has it occurred to you two that maybe I want to keep my own picture?" Trunks and Goten blinked a couple of times before looking guiltily at the floor.
"Ah…hai." Goten muttered as he gave Vegeta the picture back. "Gomen nasai, Vegeta-san."
"Hn." He snorted as he took the picture from Goten. Not looking at the picture, he cocked his eyebrows. "Besides, why are you fighting over it?"
"Nani?" they both gave him 'deer caught in headlights' look.
"It's not like it's a brilliant picture or anything…"
"Nani??!!" they yelped, giving him the 'you sure as shit can't be serious!' look. He blushed a bit, but frowned it away.
"All I did was sit and draw. It's not like I planned it out…" he stopped abruptly when he saw the incredulous looks they were giving him. "Nani? Why are you looking at me like that?"
"Great Kami-sama," gasped Goten. "Vegeta is the Saiyan Michelangelo."
"Dare?"
"Iie, he's not!" snorted Trunks. "My papa's the Saiyan Super Realism painter!" he declared proudly. Vegeta frowned, as he had no clue in hell what they were talking about.
"Hora, hora," called Goten. "Vegeta-san, could you perhaps draw a picture in our sketchbook?" Trunks's eyes widened with delight.
"Hai, papa!" he squealed. "Onegai?" Vegeta looked at them for a second, turning the thought over in his head for a few moments.
"Nande?" he asked. "Why do you want me to draw you pictures?"
"Because the neko one is really good!" gushed Goten. "It looks so real!!"
"The term is surreal, baka."
"I meant 'so real', you moron!"
"Okay, fine." He sighed; getting a little tired with their argument. "If I draw one picture in your sketchbooks, what will you give me in return?" Goten and Trunks's smiles were wiped off their faces when he asked that.
"Nani? What do you mean?" asked Goten. "What do you want from us?" Vegeta smirked at them.
"I only want that picture that you drew of Chichi, Goten." He crooned. "I think that looks very much like her." Goten blushed ink red as he gazed down at the floor; highly embarrassed that Vegeta actually saw it.
"Uhh…okay."
"And all I want from you, Trunks," he said, shifting his gaze to his lavender haired son. "Is to irritate the fucking daylights out of your mother so that she fixes my Gravity Chamber faster." Trunks's face scrunched up in a pained way.
"Mom's gonna ground me…"
"I'm your father, I can un-ground you." He reasoned. Trunks tossed the idea in his head for a bit before nodding his agreement. "Good." He smirked at the two of them.
"So…can we bring our books down now?" Vegeta stared at Goten for a few seconds before rolling his eyes and sighing exasperatedly.
"Hai, you can."
"Yesss!!" they hissed as they gave each other a high five.
Vegeta watched them as they ran up to Trunks's room, wondering if his picture really was that good. He was answered when he looked down at the paper in his hand. He may have drawn it with pencil, but it looked very real.
Like those old photographs that onna keeps shoving in my face, he thought. He smiled. I think I have found my hobby. It was true, art wasn't exactly useful to anyone…but it was fun. He had found a hobby. And best of all, he was getting Trunks to annoy Bulma and Goten to give him the picture of Chichi in exchange for one drawing each. Tsk, maybe I should've asked Goten pictures of his father naked in exchange. Immediately, he blushed a deep scarlet and proceeded to bang his head against the fridge.