Hide and Seek

"Trunks-"

SPLASH. SPOOLSH.

"Sweetie-"

SLOSH. SPOOSH.

"TRUNKS! Stop it!"

A giggle escaped from the lavender haired five year old's mouth while he completely ignored his mother's demand and kept splashing about in the ceramic blue bathtub she had gotten built for him in his bathroom connected to his spacious bedroom. History had told his parents to never leave their son in charge of washing himself for the simple fact that whenever he got into a tub; he tried to get as much water as possible on the floor. Bulma would only hope that when he got older, he'd stop.

But at the moment, he wasn't.

Bulma, with her sleeves rolled up to her elbows, the front of her shirt damp, stood up stiffly and marched out leaving the little boy flailing his limbs happily and squealing.

She stalked to her bedroom, threw the door open so that it smashed into the wall and flicked the light up. The commotion of her entrance stirred her flame haired husband who was, surprisingly, already in bed. He rolled over, sat up and stared at her in annoyance.

Her eyebrows rose. "You're sleeping? Now?" It was a rare sight to see him in bed before either her or Trunks.

Vegeta glanced lazily at the clock. "It's midnight."

She just stared at him until he confessed, "I blew a hole in that blasted machinery again." Then he laid back down and pulled the covers over himself. Bulma smirked; knowing there had been a logical, Vegeta-like reason for his sudden appearance and snatched the covers off of him.

"Your son needs a bath."

He blinked up at her for a beat. "So wash him."

Bulma pointed stiff armed at their bedroom door. "No, you wash him. He won't sit still for a minute and I want to smack him! Oh jeez, did that sound horrible?"

"Not at all." Vegeta snatched the covers back. "Smack him around for all I care. It'll toughen him up."

She sighed. "I'm not hitting my little boy." She folded her arms across her chest and glared down at him. "But I'm tired of dealing with him. It's the same thing every night. It's your turn. He won't listen to me."

"What makes you think the brat will listen to me?" He asked tiredly, staring up at her through slitted eyes. Although he knew it could be fatal to ignore the woman when she fumed and ranted about their son, he couldn't help but lock his eyes on her chest. Her shirt was wet and clinging to her skin which only exposed her pale breast through the thin fabric.

"VEGETA! My face is up here!"

He tore his gaze away from her body and reluctantly met her flashing blue eyes. Suddenly, the covers were snatched off again.

"Now, like I was saying, he'll listen to you because you're his father and he looks up to you. Now GO!"

Knowing he wouldn't get to sleep until his son was taken care of, he got up grumbling and stomped out of the bedroom in only his boxers, leaving his wife beaming.

Trunks was still sitting in the tub when Vegeta entered, making airplane sounds and playing with his toys floating on top of the water. He looked down and grimaced at all the liquid that had been splattered on the floor, wetting the mat.

"Boy."

The child froze instantly and turned to give his father a wide eyed look, as if he couldn't believe what he was seeing. He blinked, cocked his head to the side and then broke out in a grin. "DAD!"

Vegeta' face softened for a moment before he frowned. "You've been giving your mother a hard time." Not a question, a statement.

But Trunks only blinked as if he had no idea who his mother was and instantly, his five year old attention span failed him and he went back to playing with his toys and splashing water about.

His father growled. "Stop making a mess!" He instructed sternly before walking over and leaning down in front of the tub. He was surprised when a slab of water hit his face and rolled down to his chin.

His son only laughed at the display but never ceased moving his arms.

Vegeta wiped if off angrily and narrowed his eyes. Someone needed a lesson in discipline. Luckily, his dad was far too tired to teach him one now. He grabbed the boy by his head, who only laughed, and lifted him out, unplugging the drain so the water could disappear down it. In his opinion, the boy was clean. Or, he looked clean at least.

After helping him into his pajamas and making sure he brushed his teeth, Vegeta dropped him onto the bed and watched him roll around on it.

"Go to bed." He instructed before turning to walk out.

Trunks stopped and looked up. "But dad, I'm not tired."

"Go to bed anyway." He flicked the light off and started down the hallway to his room. But suddenly, something flashed into view and Vegeta furrowed his eyebrows and came to a halt, looking down at his son in his pajamas, beaming back up at him. The short man turned around, measured the distance from his standing point to his son's bedroom, guessed that it had taken Trunks only a mere few seconds to appear and although he was irritated at his disobedience, he was fairly impressed at his speed.

"You wanna train dad!?"

Now who in there right mind ever sound this event coming? How ironic was it that Trunks wanted to train but Vegeta would rather have been asleep. But don't get him wrong, he would have easily dragged his son into the GR but it was off limits until someone repaired it.

"No. Go. To. Bed."

Trunks was obviously baffled that his father turned down the offer and tried again. "Wanna play a game!?"

"Boy, it is midnight! If you don't go to bed, I'll knock you unconscious and throw you in your room!" And he was quite capable of doing such a deed.

But the threat only excited the little boy who, in Vegeta's opinion, was way more hyper than he usually was. The little half Saiyan's feet were pumping, his arms were shaking and his mouth was open in a wide grin. For a second, Vegeta almost raised his hand and knocked him out as he had said but then stopped and a smirk graced his features.

"Fine. Lets play a game."

Trunks' eyes lit up.

"Hide and seek." The man remembered vaguely that his wife had taught their son and Goku's son, Goten, this a while ago. To Vegeta, it was a hilariously easily and useless game but it would help him out tonight. "You hide and I'll seek. Now remember Trunks, be deadly silent. You wouldn't want to give your position away to your enemy."

The boy nodded vigorously and was gone in a flash, zipping down the banister and taking off somewhere below. Vegeta's smirk faded and he pinpointed his son's whereabouts instantly; He was hiding under the sink.

But instead of going after him, Vegeta went into his bedroom, noticed that the lights were off and that Bulma was already in bed, slid into his side and closed his eyes.

Bulma stirred beside him and yawned, coming awake. "Have a hard time with him?"

Vegeta smirked in the dark. "Not at all."

An hour later, down in the kitchen, squeezed under the sink between pipes and cleaning products, Trunks thought with a devilish grin,

Man I must be hiding good because dad STILL can't find me.

Thanks for reading. ^_^