When Gohan slowly returned from his dreams, he was very comfortable. Very comfortable indeed… Even though he had (apparently) kicked off the blanket, the mattress provided him with a luxurious peace he had never accomplished in his own bed. Or any other, for that matter.
Still halfway along dreamland, the next of his senses that awakened was his sense of smell. Anticipating a yawn, he inhaled a mysterious tincture of scents. It was almost like… hot cocoa, baked buns, roast chicken, broccoli soup (which for some strange reason he recognised as such, though he'd never encountered such a food before), and something else, mixing all of it together to a divine blend.
With the yawn, his ears opened to the sounds around him, peaceful as they were. Besides his own breathing, he was subdued by two steady drums, beating in the same rhythm.
However, in his mouth was a lingering taste of sausage and grey tea, and this perplexed near-wake Gohan.
In his dream, he had in fact eaten a grand English Breakfast, including the mentioned sausage and grey tea. How could he still taste it now, after awakening?
Clearly, he was still half-asleep, and the effects of the dream hadn't expired just yet.
Gohan fought to remember the rest of his dream. As he remembered it, he had chased Videl across the room with a lust he could only describe as saiyan. But that wasn't right, was it?
He was lying in bed, after all.
Slowly it hit him he didn't fall asleep in bed.
The realisation was quickly followed by another, telling him mattresses didn't breathe.
Soon after he understood that this breathing mattress had a heartbeat, too.
His eyes shot open, to be greeted by a close-up of Videl sleeping.
Finally his sense of logic awakened as well.
He hadn't been dreaming.
He was lying on top of Videl.
She was going to kill him when she woke up.
Carefully he pried himself loose from a cuddle only artificial teddybears and saiyans could withstand, and forcefully diverted his attention from the sleeping angel to his stomach.
It was roaring.
Was breakfast due yet?
His stomach roared again.
Over due.
As weird a combination as it was, he devoured the food scattered a few feet away. It included among other things hot cocoa, baked buns, roast chicken, and broccoli soup. The last turned out to contain cheese, as well, and tasted surprisingly nice for something mainly consisting of water and vegetables.
He was just dumping the dirty dishes in the sink with the others when a loud noise alerted him.
On instinct alone, he ran to the origin of the noise, aiming only to stop it so that Videl wouldn't wake up.
Within seconds he was in a closed off bedroom answering Videl's phone.
"Uh," Gohan attempted to say, but he wasn't able to finish the sound before he was interrupted.
"VIDEL, PUMPKIN! WHERE ARE YOU? WHY DIDN'T YOU COME HOME? TELL ME YOU'RE ALRIGHT!" a very concerned Hercule Satan shouted into his receiver.
In reflex Gohan held it as far away as possible. His sensitive saiyan ears now had a distinct buzz in them.
Of course, Gohan couldn't know the correct answer was: 'Would I be able to answer the phone if I wasn't?' So he couldn't be blamed for his fiasco. Not really.
"Whoa, Mr. Satan!" he said exasperated, "Don't worry, Videl is fine! We just –"
Gohan's second mistake was probably the use of the word 'we'. It made him an accomplice. To Hercule, it made even him guilty.
"YOU'RE NOT VIDEL!" Hercule screamed in panic, "WHAT HAVE YOU DONE TO MY BABY? VIDEL! VIDEL, CAN YOU HEAR ME? VIDEL!"
"Mr. Satan, be quiet!" Gohan tried to overrule the world's 'most strongest man who defeated Cell', "She will if you don't quiet down a bit! She's sleeping!"
Third mistake: define 'sleeping'.
"WHAT? YOU DRUGGED MY BABY GIRL?"
"No! No of course not, you idiot!" Gohan shot back.
Ouch. Mistake number four: calling the world's 'most strongest man who defeated Cell' an 'idiot'. Somehow, men who bear the title of world's 'most strongest man' don't like to be insulted for their often-present lack of brain-cells.
"She's in the other room!" he quickly talked over it.
Five mistakes and counting. The phrase 'she went to the other room' would have had more success.
For a moment, the cell-phone didn't scream at him for anything. Around a quarter of a light-year away, Hercule was trying to figure out to which mistake he was supposed to respond. Then it hit him that Gohan had made a sixth mistake.
"YOU STOLE HER PHONE!" he shouted at Gohan.
Gohan, who couldn't figure out how Hercule had come to that conclusion, made another mistake. He gave Hercule time to explain. In Hercule-world, that meant he didn't deny it right away because it was true.
"SHE ALWAYS KEEPS HER PHONE IN HER SHORTS! YOU STOLE HER PHONE!"
Then Hercule gasped.
Mistake eight: not taking the chance to interrupt and deny it anyway.
"YOU STOLE HER CLOTHES!"
"I did WHAT?"
Ninth mistake: still not denying anything.
"YOU STOLE HER CLOTHES, YOU SICK PERVERT!"
"Now listen here, mister!" Gohan barked at the hysteric father, "I did NOT steal ANYONE'S clothes! I don't know how your brain works, but the thought never would have even OCCURRED to me! Videl is in the other room, safe and well, just a little sick, all right? Which ALSO isn't my fault, but Bulma's! Now if you'll just CALM DOWN and SHUT UP, we'll have all the more time to figure out a way to get the hell out of this mess!"
Finally, the phone ran out of comebacks.
… In fact, that was quite good.
It's just that…
"Hang on…" Hercule said carefully, finally giving his vocal chords a rest, "What mess?"
Gohan sighed.
"We're kind of stuck here, but we're doing everything we can to get back as soon as possible."
Nice! Actually, there might be a future for Gohan yet!
"Stuck? What do you mean, stuck?" Hercule asked, getting a bit worked up again.
For a moment, Gohan considered telling Hercule about being stuck in outer space. Wisely, he passed the thought.
"That doesn't matter right now, what would really help is if you'd come up with a story to tell people, like school etcetera. We might be gone for more than a few weeks."
"Right, that can be arranged…" Hercule said. Then something hit him.
"WEEKS? I'M NOT LEAVING MY PUMPKIN ALONE WITH A BOY FOR WEEKS!"
Finally, something snapped inside Gohan.
"THEN YOU SHOULD BE GLAD I LIED, IT COULD VERY WELL END UP TO BE A YEAR!" he yelled back.
"WHAT? ARE YOU THREATENING ME, YOU DISGUSTING LITTLE PUNK? I DON'T CARE WHAT YOU SAY, I'M ORGANIZING A SEARCH PARTY, AND IF I DON'T FIND HER BY TONIGHT, I'LL TELL MY PEOPLE TO SHOOT YOU ON SIGHT!"
There was a strange crackle, but Gohan ignored it.
"LET THEM TRY!" Gohan roared back, knowing full well that he could bounce a bullet off his chest if he concentrated his ki, "I'LL BE WAITING FOR THEM! TELL THEM TO TAKE A RIGHT AT THE NEXT STAR! AND FOR THE RECORD, IF I WANTED TO TAKE ADVANTAGE OF HER, ALL I NEED TO DO IS ASK! THAT'S RIGHT, YOUR PRECIOUS LITTLE DAUGHTER IS SWOONING OVER ME LIKE ONE OF YOUR IDIOTIC FAN GIRLS! I WAS GONNA BE A GENTLEMAN AND WAIT FOR THAT BLOODY DRUG TO WEAR OFF, BUT IF YOU KEEP IT UP I MIGHT NOT BE SO POLITE! SO BACK OFF!"
Panting just a little, Gohan glared at the phone, effectively keeping it from yelling back.
From behind him he heard a giggle.
Feeling caught, he spun around to see Videl leaning in the porch.
"Shame he didn't hear any of that," she remarked.
Gohan ignored her words.
Did she even know… how sexy she was standing there?
For a split second, his reason appeared and bravely attempted to tame his Saiyan side. After that split second, it crashed to the floor, its head aching.
Again Videl giggled.
"I can hear the wrong-number-tune over here," she said, winking.
That got more of a response. Gohan glared at the phone. Now that she mentioned it… it was sounding a mocking tune. And, come to think of it, it had been doing so ever since Hercule last spoke.
"You know," Videl said more seriously this time, "You should let your Saiyan side out more. It's incredibly sexy!"
At that, she stalked off, leaving Gohan struggling to regain his sense of speech.
Finally, he reached a conclusion on what to say. Apparently, though Videl had plenty of cash for a phone with immense range, it didn't reach far beyond the solar system.
"So much for calling Bulma," he said, tossing away the now useless cell-phone.