Disclaimer: See previous chapters.

I think Vegeta may be a little OOC in this…or maybe a lot OOC.

Chapter 6: Interruptions

Vegeta watched quietly from the second floor balcony as Bulma and Videl entered the living room and sank, side by side, onto the couch. He was surprised to see how shaken up they seemed. Had he been wrong? Had they run into Piccolo and Gohan? For a moment, he surprised himself by becoming seriously worried. Stupid humans…they were making him soft. Then the younger woman spoke in a quivering voice and not only dashed all concern from his mind, but actually made him snicker slightly.

"So…what do we do if he did hear us?"

Of course the baka human women would come up with something as stupid as that.

"Errr…" Bulma looked nervous, her eyes flicking around as though she expected an angry Namek or a vengeful demi-saiyan to jump them at any time, "Well…I guess it would let him know how Gohan felt…"

"But," Videl protested, leaning forward anxiously, "We came up with the plan so they would acknowledge their feelings naturally," Vegeta snorted at this. How was anything about match-making natural? "Forcing them to confront each other about it can't be good!"

"Well, it's better than Piccolo not knowing at all!" Bulma was still jerking her head around, searching for imaginary attackers. Great, a sudden case of paranoia. Just what Vegeta needed today, on top of being beaten by Kakarrot's brat, now his mate was going to be twitchy and skittish for at least a few days. "I mean, would you rather Gohan spend the rest of his life alone because the one he's got the hots for is oblivious?"

"Well…no," Videl ran her fingers through her hair, "But you've met Piccolo…this just seems like the sort of thing he needs to be introduced to…slowly…"

Bulma smiled slightly, "You know, I thought the same thing about Vegeta once upon a time."

Both the teen and the Saiyan Prince gaped at her. She chuckled, "Yeah, I know, he doesn't seem the type for romance at all, but the night that we, well…" her grin turned devious, "He jumped me."

Videl's mouth was hanging open. Vegeta fumed silently from his high perch. THAT was something that was supposed to stay between him and his wife!

"He…did?"

Bulma was still grinning, "Oh yeah. It was very surprising; I was under the impression that he couldn't stand me before it happened. Men can be very…unpredictable."

To Vegeta's horror, this produced a thoughtful look on Videl's face. She cupped her chin, staring out the window blankly as her wheels began to turn, "Maybe…Piccolo's the same way…I mean, he and Vegeta are a lot alike…"

Now the older woman had that mischievous spark in her eyes…the one that meant she was about to do something completely and utterly insane.

"I bet if he had a little…stimulus, Piccolo might…do what Vegeta did."

The teen cocked her head, "Stimulus? What do you mean?"

"Well-…"

"Enough," Vegeta snapped, dropping from his perch to land on the floor in front of the couch. Both women jumped and Videl actually gave a little squeak of fright. Bulma was the first to recover and she stood, her hands on her hips and her mouth pulled into a frown.

"Enough what?" she demanded, leaning forward. Vegeta grimaced; he hated it when his wife got right in his face like that.

"Enough of this match making stupidity, you stupid woman, leave those two alone!"

Videl was gaping again, stuttering the word, "Stupidity?" as though it were a difficult concept. Vegeta chose to ignore her, however, focused on the defiant look on Bulma's face.

"Match making stupidity?" she demanded, glowering at the Saiyan Prince, "How is it stupid, trying to help a good friend win the man of his dreams?" Her husband's eyebrow twitched.

"I'll tell you how it's stupid! The kid and the Namek are trying to fix their friendship right now and they don't need you two idiots pushing romance," he said the word as though it were diseased in multiple ways, "to make it even harder!"

"Fix their friendship?" Videl blurted out, blushing when Vegeta turned a severe look on her. Bulma was tapping her foot impatiently.

"What are you talking about? Fix their friendship? They're not fighting!"

"You know nothing, you imbecile!" he paused, breathing heavily through his nose. It would do Gohan no good if he lost control and started shouting. Bulma would continue her match making quest merely to spite him if he said something that pissed her off too badly. "No, they weren't fighting, but that doesn't mean there wasn't a problem!"

"Oh really? Well, Mr. Expert on Relationships, what was this problem then?"

Vegeta glared at the scorn he heard in his wife's voice. Then, instead of speaking aloud and saying something he knew would land him on the couch for a month or doom Gohan to the insolence of the wannabe cupids for the rest of his miserable life, he jabbed his finger in Videl's direction. Said girl's eyes nearly popped out of her head in her shock.

"Me? But I-!" she sputtered at the same moment Bulma exploded, "How dare you! You don't know that!"

"Listen you morons," Vegeta said in a slow, stupidity indulging voice. He was getting very fed up of their idiocy very fast, "When Gohan was wasting his time with you," he shot the girl a venomous look, "it really screwed with his relationship with the Namek. Now they need to fix it and you are going to let them do it!"

Both humans were gaping at him now. He glowered back at them, folding his arms over his chest in a very finalizing way.

"End of conversation," he spat, before stalking outside to get some air.

"Do you want to spar?"

The question hung awkwardly in the air between the demi-saiyan and his tall green companion as they stood side by side, gazing at Piccolo's favorite waterfall. The Namekian didn't bother looking at the younger man when he responded, his expression blank.

"Do you?"

Gohan ground his teeth slightly. That was just like Piccolo, to answer his nervous, uncertain question with one of his own. He had never been the type to make social interaction easy and the strain in their relationship wasn't helping any.

"Well…I guess it would help…" his response drew a quick, quizzical glance from his mentor. The teen blanched. The first acknowledgement by either of them that there was a problem with their friendship. That hadn't exactly been tactful.

"Help?" Piccolo's voice was thoughtful. He tilted his head back, his eyes half open as he seemed to consider Gohan's words, "You think so?"

"Er…" well, at least the Namek was being open with him. Sort of. "I dunno…I mean, it couldn't hurt, could it?"

"No," Piccolo's nose wrinkled slightly, "I suppose not."

And yet, with this determined, neither the Namek nor the demi-saiyan made any move to initiate battle. They simply stood there, regarding each other through their peripheral vision and monitoring each other's emotions. An uncomfortable silence took the small clearing; the only sound was that of the quietly roaring waterfall.

Gohan was the first to break, "So, ah, do we start now?"

Piccolo's black eyes glanced almost lazily at him, "If you want."

The demi-saiyan bit his lip. Why did his mentor have to make everything so damn complicated? Was it really that hard to say, "Yeah, let's spar."? They had been friends for years! They had been to hell and back together! How could some human girl, as remarkable as she was, change that?

Gohan's jaw set.

"Yes, I do want to," he responded in a low voice. Again, this drew a questioning stare from the taller man.

"Well, let's go then…" Piccolo set himself, his dark eyes calculating as he watched Gohan slide into a fighting stance.

For a moment, they were frozen like that, former master and former student, staring each other down…each of them looking for something in the other's eyes. The seconds stretched as they assessed each other, their expressions identical masks of emptiness, their eyes full of semi-hidden emotion.

And then the silence was broken by a loud, cheerful voice.

"Gohan! Piccolo! Why didn't you guys tell me you were gonna spar today?!"

A/N: Um…I'm sorry this took so long…and I'm sorry if it's not up to par. Yeah…hopefully the next one is faster and better.