Dragon Ball Z: Dynasty – Prince Vegeta's Struggles with "Friendship"
Written by: Feraligreater328
Overseen by: StevenBodner and SparkerLightning
Chapter 16: The Afterparty
On the Capsule Corp grounds...
And thus, the foolishness began and Vegeta knew he was not due a peaceful sleep this evening. The various fools were galivanting around the Capsule Corps grounds, drunken and reveling. Vegeta groaned and leaned back in his chair, observing them.
Krillin was surrounded by his friends: Kakarot, Tien, Yamcha, Chiaotzu, the Lecher, and Android 17 had all become dangerously inebriated and were horsing around with various stupid displays of their martial arts.
Android 18 was lost in a mire of her new, fellow wives. Chi-Chi and Bulma were both front and center, lavishing her with attention and Raditz's woman was coming in hot with even newer and more potent liquors for them to enjoy.
All of the children had been ushered inside to spend the evening in the care of Panchy, Dr. Briefs, that Ox fellow, Android 16, and Gohan.
So here was Vegeta, feeling out of place and uncomfortable in all of this. The Prince had never been a social butterfly. He hated gatherings like this. But he knew that Bulma would be pissy if he just sulked back to their house when he was supposed to be "enjoying himself".
Vegeta growled under his breath and looked down at the sleeve of his suit, a suit that Bulma had paid a lot of money to have made for him. He saw the stain of red lipstick on the cuff from where the Android had kissed him on the head. That stain filled him with concern and annoyed anger.
Why had she done that?!
It couldn't be because she had those sorts of feelings for him. She was happily married to her weakling husband and Vegeta was happily married to his Bulma. It's it wasn't as if 18 was his mother, so why would she does such a thing?!
Vegeta sneered. But then a cold bottle was placed on the table in front of him. He turned and was met by the smiling visage of Gine. Gine chuckled. "Vegeta. It's been too long. I wish you wouldn't be such a stranger~ You're always welcome at my house, ya know~?"
The Prince jerked his head away, glaring towards the grill where Piccolo stood in attention. Yajirobe was whining at the Namekian. "Hurry up! I'm hungry!"
Piccolo slapped Yajirobe in the back of the head. "DO NOT! Interrupt the Grill Master!"
Vegeta crossed his arms over his chest. Gine sighed. "I swear. Kakarot is the only one of my kids who wants to have fun these days..."
As she took a drink, Vegeta turned to her. "Speaking of...where the hell is Raditz?"
Gine set her bottle down. "Investor's meeting. He's really starting to shift the business upward since Bardock left. He insists that he couldn't cancel it or reschedule it, but..."
Gine's face went sullen. It was clear that she was just as lost on how to deal with her oldest son's pain as everyone else was. Vegeta snorted. He briefly thought about Raditz' issues, but then he quickly pushed those thoughts away. That was never a good mental rabbit hole to jump down, in his experience.
Seeing that Vegeta wasn't going to drink it, Gine popped the cap on his beer and started on it as well. "So...I was looking at your sleeve..."
Vegeta tensed up. Gine smirked. "...Bulma isn't wearing red lipstick tonight. So, who could have made that stain~?"
Vegeta was instantly defensive. "What the hell are you implying?!"
Gine sighed. "So defensive..."
She shook her head. "I'll be clear with you. I'm not implying that you've gone and cheated on your wife. I know you wouldn't. I'm just teasing because...I think this is all sweet~"
Vegeta snarled. "What's sweet?! What the hell are you talking about?!"
Gine sighed again and took a swig. "You, Vegeta. I think you and what you did today are sweet. Going out of your way to be there for 18. Her being grateful enough that she'd plant a smooch on your forehead..."
Quickly, Vegeta started wiping at his forehead again, assuming he missed a spot. Gine chuckled. "It's just nice to see, especially remembering you on Namek. You and 18 my really have a lot of trust in each other~"
Vegeta gritted his teeth. "Don't comment on things you don't understand!"
Gine smiled. "Vegeta...all I'm trying to say is that I think it's sweet that you and 18 are -~"
And that single word at the end of that sentence made Vegeta's ears burn.