Son Family Week

Gohan Day (5/8)

Prompt: Animals

Author Notes: This might be a little strange. And kinda silly. Viewpoint of a toddler. Heh.

Characters: Gohan

Words: 816

Time Setting: Between DB and Z

Title: Nighttime Comfort

~!~

Gohan stood at the door to his parent's bedroom. One arm holding a stuffed monkey close to his side, his other arm raised to knock at the door. Except he didn't knock.

It was nighttime, but Mommy and Daddy were still awake in their room. He could hear them. Low, murmuring voices. The creak of the bed.

Gohan dropped his hand and sat down on the floor, tail curling into his lap. He held his stuffed animal close to his chest, burying his face in the soft bedtime friend. After having a scary dream, he wanted to curl up with his parents, but they were busy right now. And he knew the rules about interrupting them at night.

Mommy and Daddy were wrestling. Now wasn't a good time. He'd have to find comfort on his own.

Sniffing back little tears, Gohan eventually got up from the floor and dragged his feet (and his little monkey friend) to the kitchen. Whenever he was feeling bad, Mommy would always get him a small bowl of ice cream from the freezer. That might make him feel better.

With new purpose in his steps, Gohan walked to the freezer. Still clinging to his stuffed monkey, he tried to tug the freezer door open with his free hand. The resistance he faced brought tears to his eyes. He set the monkey down on the floor, then reached for the freezer door handle once more.

This time with both hands. He tugged and tugged and finally managed to open the freezer. Cold air instantly hit his face and he almost whined. But then he saw the ice cream jug and he smiled instead.

"Ice cream, ice cream," Gohan sang as he walked over to slide the dessert onto the table. "Time to eat. Ice cream."

He climbed up on his chair, finding balance as he stood on top and reached for the ice cream jug. Taking the top off, Gohan stared at the white vanilla dessert before him and realized he had forgotten something.

(He had long forgotten the nightmare that had caused him to wake up at this point. Instead he was focused on each minor problem that came his way).

He needed a spoon.

With a determined huff, Gohan jumped from the chair and rushed to the kitchen drawers. He used to be a little too short to see into the drawer, but now he could open it and search for the correct utensil without a problem. Small fingers gripped into a spoon handle and Gohan's face lit up in triumph at being able to find just the right size for him.

He stepped back toward the table. Only to look toward the fridge where his monkey friend was laying on the floor all alone. Beady dark eyes seemed to be staring at him, as if upset at being forgotten by his friend.

"Sorry, Monkey," Gohan said, rushing to pick up the stuffed animal. "You want ice cream, too?"

Nodding his head as if hearing an answer, Gohan moved his stuffed monkey friend to the table. Climbing onto his chair again, he tossed the monkey up to sit next to the ice cream jug. He even made sure to position the animal's hands so it looked like the monkey was holding the ice cream.

Then, he picked up his spoon and prepared to dig in, only to stop at a sudden thought.

"Oh! What if Dragon wants some?"

Or Lion. Or Parrot. Or Rabbit.

He had a whole jungle worth of stuffed animals. Even if the monkey was his favorite, it wouldn't be right to leave the others out. They might be sad.

Setting the spoon down, Gohan raced back to his room. He tried to carry all of his little animal friends all at once, but there were too many and his arms were too small. So it took him a couple trips of running back and forth from the kitchen to his room.

Eventually, he had them all gathered. A chill was in the room, but surrounded by all his stuffed animal friends, Gohan felt satisfied enough to not notice. With everyone here and happy, he finally dug into the ice cream and put the spoon to his mouth, humming at the soft, cool taste on his tongue.

At some point, Gohan knew he fell asleep. He had a vague memory of his daddy lifting him up into his arm and of his mommy wiping his face clean. It felt like a dream. Light laughter. A kiss to his cheek. A kiss to the top of his head. And then nice warmth as he cuddled with his monkey friend under the covers of his bed.

After his late night ice cream adventure and a vague awareness of comfort from his parents, Gohan proceeded to enjoy a warm, happy, and satisfied sleep no longer interrupted by anymore scary nightmares.