Yamcha groaned in frustration against his pillow when he heard the muffled crying emanating from the next room over. Goddammit, not again… It felt like he'd just gotten back to sleep! He could feel Piccolo let out a small sigh against the back of his neck, having been woken up by the same commotion.

"Our son's awake…" he grumbled out groggily.

"Before sunrise, he's your son," Yamcha retorted, having been just awake enough to reply with a joke. It seemed to work for its intended purpose, pulling a small chuckle from his husband.

"You're not going to 'Lion King' your way out of this one. I took care of him last time. It's your turn."

Yamcha gave a reluctant whine, but eventually pulled himself from his bed and from Piccolo's warm embrace. He shuffled his way out into the hall, letting out a big yawn as he scratched his head through his messy hair. He almost didn't want to open his eyes, wanting to stay as asleep as he could so he could just go back to bed after he was done, but he eventually forced himself to keep them open. After all, as tired as he was, he didn't want to risk falling asleep while taking care of Yuri.

"Alright, kiddo, what is it this time?" he mumbled mostly to himself as he walked into the small nursery. He took half a step in before stopping dead in his tracks, taking notice of the unfamiliar figure already standing in the room. All he could make out in the near darkness was a tall black stain that would have rivaled Piccolo in height, and he noted that something bright seemed to be floating above its head. It stood next to Yuri's crib and almost seemed to be staring down at the wailing infant. Yamcha only had enough time to draw in a sharp gasp of surprise before the thing disappeared faster than he could blink.

Yamcha looked around frantically for where the apparition might have gone to, but he saw nothing, and he sensed nothing. What the hell was that? And what was it doing in Yuri's room? That thought brought him back to the present, and he rushed over to the infant's crib. Yuri continued his soft crying, but he didn't seem hurt or scared at all. In fact, judging from the way he gummed at his fingers, he seemed to simply be hungry.

Yamcha forced himself to try to calm down, though his heart continued to pound away in his chest. Had he just been seeing things? He supposed he was still half asleep when he walked in, and it was very dark… And honestly, what was the alternative? That the house was suddenly haunted or something like that? Why would something like that be happening now? And why did it seem interested in Yuri?

He tried to shake the thought from his head. That was just ridiculous… He couldn't let himself get superstitious now. He did his best to try to forget what he'd just seen, reaching down to lift Yuri gently into his arms. The infant's crying died down a bit once he was being held by his father, but he still let out little whines that threatened a return of his previous wailing. Yamcha rocked him gently in one arm as he knelt to open the small mini fridge in the corner, retrieving a small bottle of formula. He used his ki to heat it up almost instantly. It had only been a couple of weeks since Yuri was born, but he was getting used to that little trick Piccolo showed him. It sure beat waiting for it to heat up on the stove, and he'd gotten good enough already to hit the right temperature almost every time. Even so, he held the bottle against his cheek to ensure it wasn't too hot before offering it to his son.

Yuri sank into immediate silence the second the bottle was in his mouth, settling himself comfortably against his father's chest. Yamcha let out a sigh of relief at that, sitting himself down into the armchair that had been set up next to the crib. Even as he fed his son, he couldn't get what he'd seen out of his mind. Surely it was just a hallucination, a product of his sleep-deprived mind. It was nothing to worry about, right? Even so, as he stared down at Yuri's momentarily contented face, he knew that he wouldn't be able to sleep if he left the infant alone for the rest of the night.


When Piccolo awoke in the morning, he was somewhat surprised to find that his husband had never returned to bed after tending to their son. He furrowed his brow. That was strange… He hadn't heard Yuri crying at all for the rest of the night. He'd have surely woken up to that, and if he couldn't hear something, then Yamcha wouldn't be able to pick up on it either. He got out of bed and quickly materialized his day clothes over his body before making his way out into the hall.

Once he entered the nursery, Piccolo couldn't help but let out a small sigh of relief. Yamcha was sitting there in the armchair next to the crib, fast asleep but with Yuri held securely in his arms. The infant was wide awake for the moment, and the instant he saw his birthfather he reached out inarticulately with his tiny hands, babbling wordlessly up at him and staring at him expectantly with eager eyes. Piccolo let a soft smile cross his lips, and he bent down to pick the child up as he clearly wanted.

The second he began to lift the child from his husband's grasp, however, Yamcha awoke with a start and pulled Yuri against his chest protectively. Piccolo was a bit taken aback by this reaction. After all, this wasn't the first time he'd caught Yamcha in here asleep after tending to their child in the night, and all those other times he'd been able to take Yuri from his arms without eliciting so much as a twitch from his exhausted husband. Had something happened last night?

"Hey, it's alright. It's just me…" Piccolo assured softly, resting a hand on his partner's shoulder. Yamcha seemed to relax at that, the tension leaving his body with a heavy sigh of relief. The Namekian warrior picked up on his partner's strange behavior at once, furrowing his brow in concern. "Is everything alright? Did something happen?"

"N-no, everything's fine!" Yamcha replied instinctively, flashing his husband a cocky grin. For a brief moment, he considered telling Piccolo what he saw the previous night. He quickly decided against it, still trying to convince himself that it was simply a vision of his sleep-addled mind. There was no need to worry Piccolo over something that he was convinced was all in his head. The Namekian seemed to accept his reply, though whether he believed it or not was anyone's guess.

"Alright, well… Dr. Briefs is expecting us in a few hours. You'd better go get dressed."

Yamcha seemed confused at first upon hearing this. Was that today? He knew they were going to take Yuri to get checked out by Dr. Briefs, but he hadn't realized that it had come up so soon. At that point, he left his paranoid fears to the wayside, passing Yuri off to the child's birthfather so he could go get himself properly dressed.


As the pair of them made their way up the walkway towards Capsule Corp.'s main building, Yamcha found himself amused at Yuri's reaction to the world around him. This was the first time he'd ever really been out of the house, and the infant was staring at everything around him with wide, curious eyes. As interested as he seemed to be, Yuri's hands grasped almost fearfully at the cloth of Piccolo's shirt, clinging to his birthfather for comfort in this strange new world he found himself in.

As they entered the building, they were somewhat less than surprised to find Bulma waiting in the lobby to greet the two new parents. The instant she saw the infant held in Piccolo's arms, her face lit up with excitement and she rushed over to get a better look.

"Aww, he's adorable! You named him Yuri, right? Nice to finally meet you, li'l guy!" she greeted the infant with a grin. Yuri merely stared at her for a long moment as though she were some strange otherworldly creature. Then, he turned away and promptly buried his face against Piccolo's chest, presumably trying to hide from her. Bulma couldn't help but let out an amused giggle in response.

"He's a shy one, huh? That's alright. I'm sure he'll get used to everyone in time. Speaking of which…"

At that point, both Yamcha and Piccolo grew suspicious of the sly smirk that spread across her lips.

"You didn't…" Yamcha groaned out, his shoulders drooping slightly. Bulma replied with a mischievous grin.

"Oh, come on! Everyone wanted to meet him anyway, so why not make an event of it? What better way to greet the little fella than a zeroth birthday party!"

The two men let out an exasperated sigh practically in unison. Of course. How could they have expected anything else? 'Any reason for a party' was practically Bulma's life motto, at least in recent years.

"Bulma, we're supposed to be meeting your father so he can examine Yuri. We're not here to fool around," Piccolo replied sternly, though the blue-haired scientist merely dismissed his argument with a wave of her hand.

"Oh, please. It's not like you're here 'cause he's sick or anything. My dad's curiosity can wait a bit, and I somehow doubt you've got any other plans for the day."

Before either of them could argue, Bulma grabbed hold of Piccolo's wrist and proceeded to drag him towards the atrium of the building. Yamcha could see his husband's grasp on their son tighten in response, as though afraid he would drop him. His preoccupation with keeping Yuri safe meant that he couldn't exactly resist the woman's insistent tugging. Yamcha himself could do little more than follow along behind.

As promised, everyone was indeed gathered in the garden-like atrium of the building. The instant Piccolo was dragged to the center of the room, most everyone gathered around to have a look at the newest addition to the group. The Namekian merely sighed in resignation, accepting the situation that had been thrust upon him. As each of the others came up to have a look at the newborn, Yuri reacted much as he had with Bulma; he hid his face away against his birthfather's chest and occasionally let out an unhappy whine whenever the bombardment of attention started to become too much for them. The only exception was Dende, who he'd met already shortly after his birth, but he was still a tiny bit apprehensive around anyone but his parents.

Everyone soon backed off once they realized that they were upsetting the child, and much to both of the parents' relief, he calmed down after that… at least until Chi Chi walked close by. For some reason, Yuri seemed to perk up instantly once she came near, turning to look her way when he wouldn't dare make eye contact with anyone before. He reached out a hand towards her, letting out a stream of meaningless baby babble as though he wanted something from her.

"Huh?" Chi Chi mumbled out, stopping in her tracks and turning to stare up at where the infant still rested in Piccolo's arms. Both Yamcha and Piccolo were equally confused by their son's sudden shift in temperament towards someone who was essentially a stranger. Once the woman turned fully to face the infant, what he was going after became obvious, though no less confusing than before. Yuri let out a tiny squeal, leaning over and making grabby hands at the one-year-old held in Chi Chi's arms.

"What the…" Yamcha mumbled out, furrowing his brows in confusion. "He's okay with Goten? Is it because their close to the same age?"

"I dunno…" Chi Chi replied, equally perplexed. "He didn't react this way to Trunks, and he's not too much older…"

"I think I might know what it is."

At that point, everyone's attention turned to Dende. The child guardian shrunk back a bit under the sudden scrutiny, not used to being the center of attention. Still, he carried on with his explanation.

"Piccolo, you babysat for Goten a lot when you were still carrying your egg, right?"

"Y-yeah, but we also watched Trunks whenever we had Goten over, and Yuri seems just as afraid of him as everyone else…"

"Yeah, but Trunks is older. You didn't have to carry him around all the time because he knew how to walk already. Goten's still too young for that, though. You had to carry him around near your chest when you watched him, very close to where your egg was growing."

Piccolo seemed to catch on to what the younger Namekian was saying at that point, staring down at the two babies with a look of sudden realization. Yamcha, however, was still very confused.

"But… what does that have to do with anything? He was still hardly an egg at that point…"

"It's because the first sense Namekian babies develop before their born is the ability to sense ki," Dende continued. "Even while their inside their birthparent, they can feel whatever ki surrounds them. While they're in that early stage of development, they form a close bond to the ki that are around them all the time. That's why they're normally closest to their birthparent after they hatch, with their father following at a very close second. You must have had Goten over so often, and held him close long enough, that Yuri started to form a bond with him as well. He might even think he's his brother."

"No kidding…" Chi Chi replied, somewhat intrigued by this new information. She then looked down to her youngest son with a soft smile. "Hear that, sweetie? Sounds like you've already made a new friend!"

Goten, for his part, looked utterly confused. He merely stared up at the younger infant with his head cocked curiously to one side, chewing idly at his tiny fingers. Saiyans clearly weren't born with the same ki-sensing ability as Namekians, as the youngest of the Son family clearly had no idea who this strange green child was who was reaching for him and babbling at him. About at the point where Yuri was growing frustrated enough by the lack of response to start threatening tears, Chi Chi grew intrigued enough to lift Goten up to be within arm's length of the newborn. Yuri's inarticulate movements resulted in him baping the half Saiyan lightly on the cheek a few times, which only seemed to confuse Goten further. Goten reached out a hand presumably to return the favor, but Yuri somehow managed to grasp the other infant's fingers, at which point he bounced happily in his birthfather's arms and resumed his excited babbling. Finally, a smile spread across Goten's face, and he replied with a delighted giggle.

Fast friends, indeed.