Everybody Loves Vegeta Too!!!

Chapter 20

Marron slumped backwards against the door of her studio. "He's been alone in there for hours. What's he doing?"

"I'm not sure how Goku puts up with someone so mysterious." Android 18 wrapped her arm around Krillin and pressed her cheek against his cool head. It was only dawn, but the humid air already bearing down on them promised a heat wave later in the day. She smiled. "I'm surprised you're not in there with him, Marron."

"He told me I wasn't allowed."

"If he doesn't get out here soon, I'm going to eat his breakfast." Krillin used his chopsticks to pick at the large bowl of rice and natto in his hand. A fried egg dangled from his mouth. "I'm going to be ticked if we miss Piccolo's big day."

Marron gasped at the sudden pressure against her back. She jumped up and away from the opening basement door. Vegeta stepped outside clutching a large sketchbook. "Oh. I didn't know you were all waiting for me."

"We can't leave without your highness." 18 watched Krillin finish off Vegeta's breakfast. "Hope you're not hungry."

Vegeta's eyes darted back and forth. "I have a gift for you all."

Marron dashed to his side. "Really?" She latched onto his arm. "What is it?"

Struggling with Marron's added weight, Vegeta walked toward Krillin and 18. "I can't thank you enough for letting me stay here for the past year. I like to think of you all as part of my family now."

"D'aww," Krillin said, "Vegeta's gettin' all sappy on us!"

"Yes." Vegeta cleared his throat. "Over the past year I've been wondering how to express my gratitude. So I worked on this every night." He shoved the sketchbook into 18's hands.

She flipped through the pages. "Whoa. This is a manga."

Marron flew away from Vegeta to peer over her mother's shoulder. "Hey, there's Dad!"

Vegeta nodded toward 18. "It's an alternative telling of how you and Krillin met."

18 lifted her head. Her steely blue eyes bore into him. "Why did you make this?"

"I—" he cleared his throat again. Marron found all of his bashfulness this morning a tad strange. "I like how you and Krillin…um. I think the way you two interact issweet." He looked away and muttered, "I want a relationship like you two have."

"Damn." Krillin stared down at his empty bowl. "Now I feel bad I ate your breakfast, bro."

"Anyway," Vegeta said, raising his voice again, "It's about how a child from space named Marron travels to Earth and helps unite a man and a cyborg woman."

For the first time in her life, Marron witnessed her mother blush. She used the opportunity to snag the sketchbook away from 18's shaking hands. "I want to see what I look like!"

"It's not perfectly cleaned up," Vegeta said.

Marron ran her fingers over the lines of ink on the first page. The underdrawings were still visible. "I think you should publish this, Uncle."

"I'll let you read it first. I'm sure it needs improvements. It's the first comic I've drawn where people speak a human language, after all." His attention wandered away up toward the second story of the house. "Is it okay if I leave some of my things here until I get more space at Kakarot's house? There's no way my comic collection is going to fit there. Or all of my artwork."

"Sure!" Krillin said. He stole the sketchbook away from Marron. "Some of those comics are mine, anyway." He distracted himself with flipping through the pages of the manga. "Whoa, I look really cool in this panel!"