Vegeta crossed his arms and glared at the the scene before him. This was all Kakarot's fault. Why did he have to answer the boy honestly when he asked what the best birthday party he had was? Though in all fairness he really couldn't have predicted Steven's reaction. He didn't understand why the boy got so upset. It didn't really matter to the three of them that they never had a birthday party. Or at least for the prince, not since he was four, but that was besides the point. It never felt particularly important to any of them so long as they knew roughly how old they were, and Rose always showed how much she cared for them and how important the three were to her on a regular basis. Plus, Goku was the only one who actually enjoyed social events for anything more than food, and even he thought this was a bit much.

"Steven, as nice as this is, you really don't have to do this," the taller saiyan currently wearing the party crown interjected, "I get enough cake and festive foods at other parties and stuff, and I don't need any gifts. I don't even think it's any of our birthdays anyway so there's no point in celebrating now."

"That's ok. consider this a make up birthday for all the ones you missed!" Steven said as he pulled out two small battery operated cars. "Let's start off with kazoo racers! You guys remember how my dad gets me up early on my birthday so I can ride around in these. It's a lot of fun! Come on, I'll show you!"

Goku scratched the back of his head awkwardly as he looked down at the tiny cars while Steven struggled to climb inside one. The two other warriors gave each other confused looks. "Steven, I don't think I'll be able to fit in that," Goku said in concern, "Especially considering you're even having trouble getting inside it."

"Maybe Vegeta could fit in one though…." Piccolo said with a smirk.

"Hey!" the shorter Saiyan snapped.

"What? Oh…" Steven said, realisation dawning on him and he frowned, "I-I guess you're right…" Steven looked down sadly.

"Hey! Don't feel down!" Goku said trying to make him feel better, "I'm sure it would have been super fun! We'd just need something bigger, like segways!" Then a thoughtful look came to the Saiyan's face. "Actually, I've always wanted to try running around on a segway scooter…." he noted, bringing a finger to his chin.

"What Goku's trying to say is, how about we try something else for now?" Piccolo said.

Steven smiled. "Yeah!" he said. Maybe things would get better if they did something else.

…

Things were not going well at all. Steven had tried a lot of things, cake, water balloons, even piñatas, but nothing seemed to end well. Vegeta and Goku got competitive with the water balloons and turned a simple game into a battle field and caused some serious property damage, the cake (which was meant for piccolo) turned into a bust when Steven remembered that the green alien didn't eat, and as for the Piñata….well it ended up as a smoking pile of ash with Goku mourning over it for the candy that had been inside.

Steven only had one last option left...hopefully it would work. After all, who doesn't like jokes? Steven now stood in clown gear before the three very confused warriors. Vegeta was now the one wearing the birthday crown. I his arms were crossed over his chest and he wore a very annoyed expression.

"Steven is the wig really necessary?" Piccolo asked.

"Yeah, I'm a clown! I'm supposed to wear it. It's funny!" He said, "Now check this out! I've got some killer jokes for you!" Steven pulled out a sheet before reading aloud, " Why did Piccolo throw a stick of butter out the window?" He asked. The warriors didn't respond and just gave him blank looks. "To see a butterfly!" he finished. No one laughed. Not even Goku. Steven frowned. Time to bring out the big guns.

Steven grabbed a pie off the prop table. "Ok, since you guys didn't like that one, how about some pie instead?" he said.

Goku perked up. "Oh boy, what flavor?" He asked.

Steven smiled. "You'll have to find out when I get it to you!" He said as he walked towards them. "Whoops!" he said, purposely tripping over. Before he could slam the pie in his face, however, Goku caught him.

"That was a close one!" he said, "you really need to watch your step. You almost-" Before Goku could say another word, Steven slammed the pie in his own face, causing the Saiyan to gasp. "Steven!" Goku cried, "Why did you do that? You wasted a perfectly good pie!"

Steven frowned. "Guys, calm down. It's supposed to be funny! You thought so, right Piccolo?" he said turning to the green warrior.

The Namekian looked away and shrugged. "Not really…" he said.

"What?" Steven said.

"That's it. I'm out of here," Vegeta said getting up.

"Vegeta! Wait! Why are you leaving, I still have more stuff for you guys!" Steven cried.

"I'm not going to watch my pupil make a fool of himself. If you need me, I'll be at the temple," he said before flying up.

Piccolo sighed before getting up too. "Thanks for trying, kid, but we're just not into all this kiddie stuff. You can enjoy it if you like, but we're all a little too old for it," he said, "Come on, Goku. Let's head back to the temple and clean up." Goku turned to the boy and gave an appologetic shrug before taking off as well with piccolo, leaving the boy behind.

….

An hour or so later, the three warriors were still picking up the aftermath of Steven's attempt at birthday parties. "I don't get how the kid managed to create such a disaster with these decorations in such a short time," Vegeta muttered.

"What I don't get is why you're still wearing that crown," Piccolo countered.

It was true, the shorter saiyan still had the plastic crown sitting on his head and the red cape wrapped around him. Vegeta glared at him. "I'm a prince. You have no right to question me for wearing it," he retorted.

"Hey, is that Lion?" Goku questioned as he held a hand up to his forehead and squinted his eyes. The two other aliens turned to see what he was looking at. As the big cat got closer, they noticed he was carrying something, but what they didn't know…..that is until lion dumped it in front of them.

They stared in shock and confusion at the elderly form that lay before them. "Who is that?!" Goku questioned.

"I think it's Steven!" Piccolo stated in shock.

"What? That's impossible!" Vegeta responded, "...Isn't it?"

"Hey guys…" The elderly form wheezed in a familiar voice.

The three all took a step back. "I-it is Steven!" Goku cried. He then knelt down next to him, looking at the elderly boy with worry as he gripped his shoulders as gently as possible. "What happened? Who did this too you?!" he pleaded. Before Steven could say anything, he glowed pink and aged even further. Goku jumped back in surprise.

"That glow! It's his gem powers!" Piccolo exclaimed, "They're messing with his age some how!"

"We made him feel bad about his age…" Goku realised with deep guilt, "And now his aging's all crazy because of it! This is terrible! Can he age himself to death?!"

"No!" Vegeta snapped, trying to keep his panic under control, "He's not going to age himself to death. That's-" He was suddenly cut off by Steven having another sudden age spurt. Vegeta's eyes widened in horror before turning back to Goku. "...That's not going to happen because we're going to fix it!" he finished.

Piccolo nodded. "Steven, what can we do? What do you need?" he questioned.

"My birthday suit might help…" he offered weakly. Vegeta immediately ripped off the cape and crown and threw them on the boy. It did nothing.

"Grrr….Why isn't it working?!" Vegeta demanded, pulling on his hair, "You said this is what you needed right?!"

"I'm sorry guys…" Steven said, "We had a good run, but I guess this suit is all out of Birthday magic." He smiled weakly at them, before aging again. Piccolo and Vegeta both froze.

Goku jumped back before getting an idea. "More birthdays!" He shouted before running off. He came back with one of the tiny cars. "Look Steven! A tiny car!" he cried presenting it. That only made things worse. He bit his lip before running off again and coming back with a pie. "Look Steven! I'm wasting pie!" he exclaimed, forcing a smile, before, slamming it into Piccolo's face.

The namekian screamed in pain as the tin fell away. "YOU GOT IT INTO MY EYES!" he cried, clutching his face, "What the hell is wrong with you?!"

"Sorry!" Goku said trying to help the green alien, "I was just trying too…" It was then that he noticed Steven had aged again. He looked desperately to the other Saiyan. "Vegeta, what are we going to do?" he cried, tears starting to form. The prince didn't respond. His eyes were closed, with a scowl on his face. His fists were clenched and his arms were shaking as he slowly approached Steven and gently picked him up by the shoulders. Piccolo and Goku looked to him with hopeful confusion..before Vegeta started to violently shake him.

"Snap out of it!" he demanded as he shook him, "Stop getting older! Change back you little-"

"VEGETA STOP!" the two other aliens shouted before forcing the prince to drop him.

"I-I thought…" he muttered, hopelessness crossing his face as he watched the boy age again, "I thought I could scare him back to normal…"

The three looked down fearfully and hopelessly at the decrepitly old body of their young ward. Tears formed in their eyes as they watched him slowly take his last breaths. They felt trapped: stuck in a corner with no way out. Vegeta especially felt that way. And because of that, he did the only thing he knew how to do in such a situation.

He growled and balled his hands into fists before slamming one into Goku's face and knocking him over. "This is all your fault!" he cried, angry tears streaming down his face, "If you hadn't told him you never had a birthday party, this never would have happened!"

"What?! Hey! At least I was trying to make him feel better about it!" The taller Saiyan retorted, picking himself up.

"Don't try to shove the blame on us! You were the one who said he was making a fool of himself!" Piccolo argued.

"SHUT UP, YOU OVERGROWN SLUG! LIKE YOU SAID MUCH BETTER," Vegeta responded, preparing to fire a ki blast at him. He was interrupted, however, by Steven.

"Would you guys, just please," he tried to shout as his gem activated, turning him back into an adult, "Control yourselves?!" The Z warriors stopped and stared staring at him in shock. Steven shrunk under their gazes. "Ugh, oh no," he muttered before transforming into a teenager, "Oh, I'm sorry, I shouldn't have yelled." he blushed before continuing. "But I can't stand to see you freaking out like this!" he cried before aging back into an adult.

They all blinked in surpise. "Wha-?" Goku uttered.

"Steven's changing!" Vegeta exclaimed in shock.

"His age is fluctuating!" Piccolo exclaimed, "I think his gem is reacting to his state of mind."

"Steven!" Goku cried, "Stop! Feeling! Old!"

Steven looked at them in confusion as he transformed into teen. "But I wasted your time…" he muttered. He then transformed back into old man. "We all have such little ti-ime…" he noted somberly.

"STEVEN NO!" they all cried at once, throwing their hands up.

"Stop doubting yourself!" Goku pleaded, "Just be yourself! Sweet and considerate and enthusiastic!"

Steve. transformed back into teen. "You really think I'm all those things?" he whispered.

"Yes!"Vegeta responded.

"Why else would you throw us all those parties?" Piccolo added.

"Oh my gosh, you're right!" He cried as he shrunk back to his old self, "I am pretty great."

Joy filled Goku's eyes as both Piccolo and Vegeta breathed sighs of relief. "Steven!" Goku cried as he scooped the boy up in a bone crushing hug, "We're so glad you're ok!"

"You're...crushing...me!" he gasped as the tall Saiyan continued to squeeze him.

Vegeta ran a hand down his face and Piccolo's shoulders slumped under an invisible weight. "Thank Kami that's over," Vegeta sighed.

"Yeah...This kid is going to be the death of us," Piccolo stated. Vegeta nodded in agreement.

Well this chapter was a long time coming. Sorry I took so long. I had a lot of trouble with the z warrior's reactions to steven's sudden aging. I hope it turned out well. Anyways, have a nice day.