Hi!
Nor here!
This story came up while writing down some recipes… even if cooking is something I never look forward to, unfortunately we human beings need food… and have taste as a sense. So, if we need to eat… at least I try to eat something that tastes good. Oh Dende… how I wished my man wasn't the despicable cook he is.
So here it goes… my attempt to make a 'short' wannabe romantic story, partial based on a true story… --;
Special thanks to okusama +bows in appreciation+ my beta… and Frederica, for moral support!
Thank you both, you've been super-hyper-great. +bows again+.
Oh, and "all text in italic" are their thoughts.
Our homeland, no matter how far we are from it, has always something that draws us back.
Gohan was flying over the green fields where he was raised, the fresh and pure air hitting his face, touching his hair.
No matter if he lived in the city, the countryside was where he liked to be. So many memories from this place... some bad but definitely mostly good.
"I wonder why I don't come here more often" He thought, but instantly he remembered he lived in the city, his life was in the city AND… Videl was in the city, her life was in the city also… they were together, a decision like that would have to be taken wisely and together, it would be very selfish of him to drag her along with him… besides, living in the city wasn't that bad.
He sighted the small white spot in the middle of the green… the river on its right. His home, no … his parents' house. The building was improved a while ago, courtesy of Bulma. Goten was complaining for a while, the boy wanted to have a room for himself, and Chichi wouldn't allow Goten to change anything in the room they shared, so… they made a room for the pre-teen boy, leaving the old brother's room the way it was when Gohan left the place.
Gohan felt sorry for the boy… no matter how many times Gohan said it was okay for him to stick a poster on the wall, to change the desk, to change the TV so he could play console while laying down on the bed… Chichi always came into the picture, complaining that the room wasn't like that… and put everything back the way it was… Gohan even assisted a couple of times.
According to Videl, Chichi was crossing her fingers for him to go back home. ChiChi had made sure not to change anything in his room, so all his memories would flashback into his mind, and he would turn all mushy and sensitive and then want to go there, and sleep in his bed, etc etc. Maybe Videl had a point, that room always brought him nice memories, his bed… and, his mother was always against him moving out. The only time she didn't complain was when he went to college and got a free room on the dorms with the scholarship.
He landed, right in front of the house, alongside some logs by the kitchen door… some perfectly cut, others where a bit irregular… Goten must have cut them.
Gohan went in by the kitchen door, it wasn't lunch time yet, so Chichi should be in kitchen preparing lunch… at least he expected her to be in kitchen… it would help him a lot… during the flight he thought on ways to ask his mother for a favor… a kind of embarrassing favor.
KNOCK KNOCK
The call of "Coming!" came almost instantly. Some pan taps were heard. Chichi appeared at the door, cleaning her hands on a cloth that was attached to her apron tie.
Gohan smiled widely at his mother, it has been a couple of weeks since the last time they had seen each other. He missed her.
"Gohan! Sweetie, it's so good to see you… what brings you here?" Chichi returned to the oven to prevent food from burning.
Gohan entered. "Not much Mom, I just felt like visiting."
"Really?" Chichi eyed her son. "Liar, is anything wrong? Where is Videl?"
Gohan sighed… after all those years; he still couldn't fool his mother. "Well, Videl went to her father's place."
"Oh dear… you separated? Are you coming back home? What and HOW did it happen?"
"Mom, Mom… quiet down! We are still together… she's just visiting her father." Gohan shook his hands at his mother, she was so wrong! "We're fine, she kinda missed her pool or gym… whatever she said. I think she just missed her dad and is too proud to admit it." Gohan approached the sink and turned to watch his mother cooking but not wanting to interfere.
"So… you really are just visiting us. I thought for a second that you were coming back home. Your room is still waiting for you, the way you left it. Your room misses you Gohan." Chichi opened one of the pans and smelled the hot steam that came from it. "Hmmm…. You're staying for lunch right?"
"Of course!" Gohan grinned. "How could I not have lunch here… I miss your cooking mom." Gohan pecked Chichi's cheek.
Chichi closed her eyes, appreciating the boy's action. Gohan was a momma's boy, no matter if he didn't live there anymore; he was still attached to his mom.
"You've been feeding yourself well, right? I know Videl knows how to cook, but I know she can't beat me." Chichi boasted.
"No one can beat you mom… you know that. Stop bragging, Videl's food is great too."
"So you don't miss me… you just miss my food." Chichi faked a hurt expression.
Gohan smiled, understanding that his mother was messing with him.
"You know… I kind of have a favor to ask you." Gohan headed to the kitchen table, sitting on a chair.
"Ah-ha! I knew there was something more! So? What do you need? Money, laundry done? Tutoring? Anything?"
"NO NO… nothing like that! It's just a small favor… What are dad and Goten doing?"
"Oh, they're out in the woods… catching bugs probably, you can't imagine the monstrosities Goten brings home… he collects bugs, can you imagine?"
Gohan smiled, thoughts of him playing and teaching Goten stuff about bugs coming to his mind. "He was always fond of bugs, no wonder… and now, with a room for himself he gets to get it full of bugs."
"Bugs aren't pets… he's not allowed to bring them inside. He collects pictures of them. Who knows, probably he's going to be a nice and prestigious biology teacher, or something like that."
Gohan shook his head… that was his mother, no doubt.
"So… How have you been doing? How's school, you haven't been spending too much time on that part-time job of yours, you know school is your priority."
"Yes mom, I haven't forgotten that. School is okay, we just need to hand over a project that we've been working for a while and then we're done for the year." Gohan stood up and went to one of the cabinets, grabbed some forks and knives, and started setting the table.
"You're working on a project together? How come… aren't you on separate courses?" Chichi kept looking and mixing the food with a wooden spoon(1).
"I already told you that we have some subjects together. Isn't grandpa coming?" Gohan asked as he set table for four.
"Oh, not today. He said that he had some errands to do in the village, that he would only join us for dinner. I'm kinda worried about daddy, he hasn't been feeling well lately, but still, he refuses to come and live with us." Chichi sighed.
"You know how grandpa is… he's stubborn, as most of old people. He doesn't want to be a burden." Gohan took some dishes… just like old times, when he used to set the table to help his mom. "At least Goten gets to play with dad… and doesn't help as much as I did on the chores. I hated them when I was his age."
"But I don't like him living there, alone in the mountain." Chichi turned off the oven and looked at the clock. "They should be coming in a minute, I told them not to be late or the food won't taste as good as it should. Now tell me, what do you need." Chichi took off her apron and put it on the hanger, next to the fridge.
"Well… it's really not that important. It's just that… "
"Lemme guess… you need advice." Chichi interrupted, her eyes shinning proudly, her boy had come to her for advice instead of coming to Videl. "Are you sure everything is okay with you and Videl?"
Gohan simply nodded. "We are fine mom… we just kind of had an argument… and I… I think she is right, and I wanna make it up for her." Gohan started playing with a napkin, not eyeing Chichi.
"Eh Eh… I was right, they are mad at each other. I can read Gohan like a book" Chichi thought, a slight grin appeared in the corner of her mouth.
"Er… mom?"
"Oh… yes, please keep going." Chichi awakened from her thoughts.
"It wasn't really an argument; it's just that she hinted me about something that has been happening for a while. Something that she doesn't appreciate and I want to change it, so she can be happier. And you're the only person that can help me."
"Am I just imagining things, or is my son just asking me advice on how to improve is sex life." "Now tell me son, do you need my help because I'm a woman… are you having problems with er… er… with that subject?" "I'm such a good and understanding mother. Gohan is lucky I'm such a comprehensive person."
"That subject? What do you mean with… oh…" Shock hit Gohan's expression as lighting on a metal pole. "OH MY… NO MOM! Nothing like that!"
"Dear Dende… what is she thinking"
"Basically this is what happened..." Gohan related to his mother the event that happened a couple of days before.
FLASHBACK
West Capitol City, late afternoon – almost nighttime.
Inside the car in the middle of the traffic jam.
"Whooooahhh… I'm starving!" Gohan yawned, raising both arms above his head, not completely, the car's top impeded him to do so. "What's for dinner tonight?" Gohan asked, cleaning a tear that formed in the corner of his eye due to the yawn.
"Urghh…" Videl growled silently, her hands clutching to the driver's wheel a bit more tightly than usual.
"Videl? Is anything wrong?" Gohan turned his look to Videl when he heard the growl.
"Hell yeah!" Videl made use of the car's horn, and beeped all over the place… her horn couldn't be heard much, because everybody else was 'horning' too. "MOVE IT, DAMN!"
They were caught in a traffic jam; a usual thing at that time of the day, since everybody was leaving the capitol, another workday over.
"Rough day, babe?" Gohan stretched his legs as much as he could. It definitely was going to be a long trip back home.
"Rough day? ROUGH DAY? Wanna know how my day was? Let me tell you. First, we woke up late, we were late for college, which wasn't much of a problem to you because you didn't have your first class in the morning. I missed an important class and now I have to beg for notes from some bastard geek. At lunch, cafeteria ran out of tuna salads which wasn't a problem because you felt like having a steak-on-a-bun… Work, I don't know about you, but I worked my ass off today, and now, I'm driving because I want to get home as soon as possible and it would take ages if you were on the wheel, AND we're stuck in traffic because YOU had to forget the air jet capsule at home." Videl snapped, said it all fast but made sure that Gohan got it all.
"I already said I'm sorry about that." Gohan went to change the radio station. "Oh, you like this song." Gohan increased the radio volume, and his hand got slapped immediately. The small hand that smacked his then pressed the ON/OFF button. Gohan simply looked at her.
"No radio… my head hurts and I've period cramps."
"Oh… now that explains her bad mood." Gohan almost sighed in relief, so an explanation was found.
"And don't blame this on PMS." Videl blurted as if she read Gohan's thoughts. "I've had a shitty day and there you are, all chilled and happy and YOU HAVE THE NERVE to ask me what's for dinner… now listen babe, I hope you starve tonight because I'm not gonna cook for you. ARGHH! What the hell do you think I am, YOUR SLAVE!"
"Now that was scary." Gohan pressed his hand against his forehead. "Okay, okay, I get it… so what do you want for dinner?"
"AH! Now that's something I'm looking forward to, your cooking… let me guess, omelet? Burgers? Oh no… noodles or some defrosted shit. I'm sick of it! I only get to eat proper food or when I cook it or when we go to your mom's place."
Now that sure caught Gohan by surprise. "I guess I'm sorry… I didn't know that was how you felt." The young man looked away from her face, only to face his knees. "You know I don't know how to cook."
"Neither did I and guess what I did… I LEARNED!"
"I'm sorry Vi, really."
"And stop saying you're sorry because I know you aren't. I mean look at us! We're living together for almost a year and you're already treating me like a freaking domestic wife! You know, I swore to myself that I'd never be ordered around by a man and one year passes and you're already being all sexist on me… 'oh honey, what's for dinner', 'babe, I feel like having pork chops'. Guess what Gohan? I'm sick of it, and I'm not your mother!" Videl beeped again.
"Woah! Now wait a second, I'm not sexist, I don't order you around and I know you're not my mother. If you ever felt that way I'm sorry, I really didn't mean to." Gohan was facing her. They already had had some arguments, but about the 'cooking' subject this was the first.
Videl sighed, lowered her head in a beaten way then turned to him, there was no point in 'horning' nor looking at the road, the traffic was so jammed the line wouldn't budge.
"Oh Gohan… I'm sorry to snap at you like this, guess I just had to take it all out of my system." Videl laid one hand on Gohan's knee, the other one stayed slightly rested on the driving wheel.
Gohan held her hand with both his hands, caressing it in a warming way. "I wonder why you didn't tell me that you felt that way for so long… I thought we both made a deal whenever we didn't agree with anything, we would tell each other right away."
"I know, I know." Videl took off her hand from Gohan's to change the gear shift, the car at her front had moved forward a couple of meters. "It was really a shitty day and I guess I'm overreacting a bit, you're not that bad really… sorry if I called you sexist."
"Nah… I guess you're right too, not about the sexist part though. How can I make it up to you?" Gohan smiled, Videl showed him a shy smile.
"What about we order a pizza, that would be great." Videl made a desperate face.
Gohan nodded.
END OF FLASHBACK
Back to Chichi and Goku's place
"I really thought it over, and I think she is right... I do want to make it up for her and I don't want her to feel like a cooking object."
"How times change. I guess it's what you call evolution… in my time we were raised and taught that we should cook, and be a good housewife to please husbands."
"Exactly mom… in your time."
"Young man, are you calling me old… just to make sure, I didn't agree much to those ideals either. The idea of living to please my husband wasn't very appealing and I did want it to be different… now look at me, I spend my days on the kitchen cooking and the greatest adventure I had was sticking up with your father and raise you."
"You said it right." Gohan laughed soflty. "That sure was a great adventure."
"Videl is lucky and she doesn't know how lucky she is… at least she has you to help her around." ChiChi turned off the power on the stove and turned to look at the kitchen clock.
"Why don't you make dad help you out then, why don't you do something that you like… it's not like you ran out of time or anything."
"But I like this… I don't know why I'm complaining." Chichi untied her apron and put it on its proper place.
"So mom… will you help me?"
"Sure Gohan… I'll teach you how to cook. Who knows, one day you'll be living in the country again, and you'll be the one to cook for me while I play with my grandkids."
"Only the future will tell…"
"Make it a long future… first you need to have a steady job and your life established, but you should really visit more often."
"Sure mom."
Noise was heard from the outside, two bodies, one taller than the other were chatting happily.
Several days later
A 'click' was heard, a key twisted, and the door opened.
"Gohan?" Videl asked when she entered the house, it was nighttime already and the lights weren't turned on. Darkness reigned over the small apartment.
"Weird… I was pretty sure he was home. What the… what is this smell, is Chichi here?" Videl took off her shoes at the entrance and turned the lights on. "What the…"
There it was, their small round table in the living room… instead of being full of books and paper sheets, was set in a very fancy way… fancy dishes for special occasions that were never used, fancy foot-glasses that had already been used occasionally, cutlery in their proper position… it looked like a restaurant table. "What the…"
"Gohan?" Videl asked again, a bit louder this time.
"I'm in the bathroom! I'm almost done!" Gohan's voice was heard behind the door.
"I knew he was home." "Why did you turn off the lights?"
"Economizing energy!"
"Okay…" Videl put her bag on the small table in front of the living room couch, since she couldn't just put the bag on the 'restaurant table'.
"Wait! Don't go to the kitchen." Gohan said out loud, still in the bathroom.
Videl who was about to approach the kitchen, was even more curious after Gohan's request… she didn't enter the kitchen, but she did look. What she saw cracked her up, not because it was funny but because it was a complete mess. She was sure that she wouldn't be the one who's going to clean it up.
"I hope you have a nice excuse for the mess in the kitchen."
"I told you not to go there…" Gohan came out of the bathroom, approached Videl and pecked her lips, a usual routine. "Now why don't you go and sit on the couch for a second?"
Videl just stood there, Gohan went inside the kitchen, put on a dirty apron and opened one of the pans. He smelled the vapor and looked back at Videl.
"What are you looking at… go to the couch. You look like you've seen a ghost." Gohan smelled the vapor again and with a wooden spoon took a taste.
"I can't believe you're actually cooking food." Videl said still incredulous and entering the kitchen, side by side with Gohan she inspected what was inside the not so small pan.
"See… not burger, nor noodles, nor that instant food crap." Gohan beamed proudly and smiled.
"Are you sure you did all this… I mean, your mom didn't come here on purpose to cook dinner, did she? I hope you aren't taking your mom's credits." Videl twitched her nose, a habit whenever she was suspicious of anything. Gohan laughed.
"Nope… mom didn't come here, you can tell by the mess in the kitchen. So, Erasa finally got her puppy?" Gohan put the wooden spoon on a board on the stove's side, cleaned his hands on the apron and paid full attention to Videl.
"Yeah… she chose a female similar to Bee, a bit more darker though."
"Nice, Bee finally got a girlfriend… poor dog…it took long enough." Gohan pushed Videl gently out of the kitchen.
"He'll be a pedophile dog." They both laughed. "Hey, shouldn't you turn off the stove… otherwise it will burn."
"I know… here sit." Gohan pushed one of the chairs, Videl sat, he accommodated her to the table.
"Where did you get these yellow napkins(2)? I've been looking for them all over town."
Gohan didn't respond, just smiled and went back to the kitchen.
It didn't take long until he returned, a large bowl in each hand.
Videl moved the plates a bit so the bowls would fit on the table.
"There, I hope you like it. Seafood curry with steamed rice. Made by chef-Son. I hope you have a huge appetite, I made too much. "
Videl laughed at chef-son's remark. "It smells really good, it would be a crime if it tasted bad. But tell me, why this all of a sudden?"
"Well… remember that time you snapped at me in the car?" Gohan started serving the plates.
"Oh Gohan, come on… I said not to worry about it, really I was being stupid."
"No… you were right. From now on, chef-Satan's duties will be shared with chef-Son… not bad, eh?" Gohan blinked one eye at her.
"Oh… now I get it! All those visits to your parents, I did get suspicious why you didn't want me to come over with you. Goten didn't need help with school and the bugs project. You liar, I should have guessed." Videl hit her forehead with the palm of her hand "Stupid."
"Well… it's more like a half truth, Goten did need help with the bugs. You have to see the kid's collection."
"Erasa wanting me to help her choose her puppy was a plan too… she already chose her dog, that's why she didn't want to look at the other animal shelters. Any other thing I should know?" Videl asked while Gohan finished serving the plates.
"You know what day is today?" He looked at her.
"Er… Saturday, why?"
"No… think." Gohan put a plate with nice and hot curry at Videl's front.
"Cut the crap, what is so important about today?"
"It's been one year since we moved in together, remember?"
"Oh yeah! How could I forget it! Oh Gohan, I'm sorry. I just didn't give it much thought lately, you know that freaking project..." Videl raised herself from her chair and went to Gohan's side. She kissed him. "Thank you so much… How can I ever repay you."
"I've got a couple ideas how… later" Gohan gave her a naughty smirk. "But if you helped me clean the kitchen, that would be really nice."
And from then on, Burgers and Defrosted food were only eaten whenever they both were too lazy or too tired to cook.
A/N:
This is it… I hope you like it. +sighs+
One day I'll be able to write something, anything thrilling or exciting.
Anyway, I do snap at my guy, and if he reads this (I hope not), be sure to get the hint! Learn how to cook dammit… I'm tired of burgers +Dreams about her mother-in-law's cooking+
1 - wooden spoon – They don't sell wooden spoons here anywhere… they replaced it with plastic spoons shaped like 'wooden spoons' I WANT A NEW WOODEN SPOON… I don't care if it's not hygienic or not.
2 - yellow napkins – My living room has a yellow curtain, and once I had to make a 'fancy dinner' and almost killed myself to find yellow napkins to make the table look even more great…
Why curry?
Because Japanese love curry.
Because I love curry, and my curry never tastes like my mother-in-law's.
Why seafood?
Because chicken curry is the kind of curry I eat the most, and seafood curry is only made on special occasions.
Funny Fact:
On the day I typed this fic (I had it on a writing book), I had burgers for lunch and most probably will have burgers for dinner… +looks at her sleeping man+… BASTARD