He woke up to find Trunks peering down at him with a confused frown on his lips.

"Huh? Trunks?"

"Oh, good. You're awake, dad. I was worried when father brought you in here."

Groggily, the man tried to sit up. But he immediately regretted it, seeing how a splintering ache suddenly tore through the left side of his neck,neck all the way to his left shoulder, making him groan out in pain and clutch at the area.

"What happened?" He questioned the boy, looking him in the eyes even as pain threatened to consume his every thought.

The last thing he could remember was having witnessed yet another argument between Vegeta and Bulma. They had been arguing over saiyan culture and how Bulma did not appreciate not having been told about a saiyan's predisposition to having more than one mate. This had all started, of course, because Trunks was now insisting on wanting to call him 'dad' instead of anything with less personal ties.

"I don't know." The boy answered honestly, moving so he was beside Yamcha so he could help him sit up. "Father carried you in here... Mom didn't look happy..."

Even at four years old, Trunks was a strong kid. So Yamcha didn't feel too bad over accepting his help to actually be able to sit up. Then, once he was upright, he looked around himself to find that he was inside of the boy's room. There was a pillow on the floor and he guessed someone had put it underneath his head at some point while he'd been unconscious.

He frowned softly at the boy's words, taking note of his tone. Trunks had been happy and bubbly when he had arrived at the Briefs' home. Now, though, he looked sad and downcast.

"Hey, buddy, what's wrong?" He asked Trunks, turning his body so he could put a hand on the boy's shoulder.

He winced when pain shot up his shoulder, but he ignored it and finished his motion. Then, once his hand was firmly on Trunks' shoulder, he smiled softly, "Come on, you can tell me anything. You know that, right?"

"Yeah..."

Trunks didn't look happy.

Dammit.

This was exactly what Yamcha wanted to avoid with the whole 'dad' situation.

Just like Vegeta had stated before, Trunks was a smart kid. He wasn't as thick headed as many of the children Yamcha had come across in his years. And he was extremely good at being able to read a situation, even though couldn't understand it completely.

If he had seen his father carrying an unconscious Yamcha while his mother was angry behind them... Well, it would take someone that was unbearably thickheaded and ignorant to not be able to understand that something was wrong... It would take a Goku to not be able to understand. And, even then, Yamcha highly doubted his ignorant friend would remain completely oblivious to something being off.

"Did I do something wrong?" Trunks blurted out after a few seconds of sad silence, looking directly into Yamcha's eyes. His baby blues were filled with confusion, worry, and fear. And Yamcha's heart squeezed unbearably. "You guys were fighting because of me, right?"

"Oh, Trunks, no..." Yamcha breathed out, but soon stopped himself.

He couldn't lie to the kid. Not only would he feel guilty over it, but he'd also get caught by Trunks immediately. He was extremely good at catching lies. And Yamcha was pretty bad at keeping his cool when it came to lying to him.

The man took a moment to capture all of his thoughts. Then he pulled Trunks towards him so he could hug him. Trunks moved towards him without any hesitation, slowly wrapping his arms around the human's neck as the man's own arms wrapped around him. Yamcha had to stop himself from wincing when Trunks tightened his arms a bit too much around his neck and forced even more pain to shoot through his whole left side.

"We weren't arguing, Trunks. I can promise you that." Well, he hadn't been arguing. "We were just talking a few things out. Adults sometimes can't understand one another, so we have to talk some issues out. But talking doesn't mean that we're angry at each other or that we're arguing."

"Like what?"

"Huh?"

"Talking about what?" The boy pressed, catching Yamcha completely off guard. He had not expected that to be his question. He had expected more questions concerning the oddities of adults- which was usually what Trunks chose to be curious about whenever the topic came up. "Like when are you finally going to come live with us?"

Yamcha blanched.

Oh boy...

"What?"

The boy pulled away from the hug and looked at him with a slightly annoyed frown on his lips... Yamcha took a moment to notice that, if he were to cross his arms over his chest, he'd look almost exactly like Vegeta. "You're my dad. I love you."

"I love you too, Trunks, but-"

"Mom and father love you too! So why can't you live with us here? Why do you always have to leave?" His voice raised just enough to make his displeasure with the situation clear. And Yamcha was left wordless.

What was he supposed to tell the kid?

The truth.

"Trunks," He sighed, smiling softly, "I'm not really supposed to be living with you. I've got my own place and my own life. I love you very much and you're an extremely important part of my life, but I'm not-"

"But you're my dad!"

"Trunks-"

The door into Trunks' room opened at that point, making both males momentarily forget what they were talking about to see the newcomer. In the doorway stood both of Trunks' parents, Bulma looking rather worried, even as Vegeta kept that perpetually angered look on his face.

"Hey, Yamcha. I see you're awake."

Yamcha blinked at how suddenly awkward she sounded and nodded dumbly. "Uh... Yeah... Hey, just why was I unconscious?"

Both adults looked away at that point. And Yamcha began to understand what had happened.

"Vegeta kind of freaked out... Sorry about that, Yamcha. He's got a bad habit of knocking people out whenever something doesn't go his way." Bulma looked completely apologetic as she said this, all the while Vegeta made a point of looking at anywhere that wasn't in Yamcha's direction.

For some reason, it did not surprise Yamcha at all to find out that Vegeta reacted violently after he admitted to wanting some guy as a secondary mate, aside from Bulma. But taking it out on him was not nice. He got it, he was a weakling that had no need to know about some of Vegeta's deepest secrets. But he didn't have to knock a guy out!

"Is dad finally going to live with us?" Trunks challenged almost immediately, making Yamcha gasp and stare at him in shock. "He should be here with us. It's not fair that he's not here all the time!"

Bulma glanced over at Vegeta, as if looking for reassurance. And the man nodded at her, even though he didn't say a single thing.

Yamcha breathed out a sigh of relief.

It was good that Bulma would be the one to explain the whole situation to her son. He didn't think he could handle breaking the kid's heart. He was too much of a softy to ever want to cause him any harm.

"You're right, Trunks. It isn't fair. But we can't decide for him."

Yes, exactly, Bulma... Wait, no, that wasn't right! How was any of this not fair? It was what was supposed to be normal! Fair and normal weren't mutually exclusive all the time, but, in this case, they were!

Yamcha felt his stomach begin to drop.

"We'd love for Yamcha to live here with us." The woman continued; just like Yamcha's stomach continued to fall from its proper place. "But he's a grown man that can make his own decisions. Although, if he wanted to live with us," Now Bulma turned her eyes to him, suddenly looking so vulnerable that Yamcha was transported to decades ago, when they had first fallen in love. "We'd be happy to have him here with us."

Oh, his stomach just met his feet.

For a second, one could hear a pin fall in the room. Yamcha stared at Bulma in unapologetic shock.

Had she said what he had thought he heard her say? Because there was no way Bulma Briefs had just invited her ex-boyfriend to live in the same home as her son and husband. It just didn't make any sense. Nor did it fall into her character. They were good friends now, yes, but that didn't mean they didn't have years' worth of baggage trailing behind them.

"Yay! Finally! Did you hear that, dad? You can come live with us! We'll finally be a family!"

He should put his foot down.

Yamcha was a man that had his own life to live. He had a successful baseball career that constantly pulled him away from his apartment. He had Puar to take care of. He had a pretty nifty apartment on the good side of town. He had his own set of responsibilities to take care of that he just couldn't put down because Trunks wanted to indulge in fantasy he couldn't even understand.

Although... One of his biggest responsibilities was Trunks himself. He wasn't the boy's father, no matter what he wanted to believe. But he had invested a whole lot of time and love into how he was raised. Bulma took a lot of his advice when it came to their son. So, in essence, he had been yet another parent Trunks had been fortunate enough to have.

Kami help him... His greatest responsibility was Trunks.

He wanted to tell the boy that he wasn't about to let everything go just to move in with him.

But then Trunks jumped onto him, making him shout out in pain and fall backwards. But Trunks just laughed and cheered, already beginning to babble about all of the good things they would do once he had finished moving in.

A sleepover in his room was the first thing they had to do. The second thing would be cooking a huge batch of cookies so they could eat until they were sick. And on and on the list went.

Yamcha never stood a chance against the boy.

He didn't break his contract with the apartment's owner. Instead he kept on renting it, just so Puar could have the place for herself away from the Briefs family (she was still rather wary of Vegeta) and he could have a safe haven to run to in case Vegeta tried to kill him while he was in his temporary new household. He also didn't move any great objects- like his whole wardrobe or most of his valuable trinkets- because he highly doubted Trunks' phase of calling him 'dad' would end in a little bit; they just had to indulge it for a while.

He did, though, pack a big enough suitcase with clothes and supplies so Trunks would think that he had moved all of his important belongings into his home, rather than kept them outside. That way he wouldn't ask him the one question Yamcha didn't want to answer: "Are you planning on leaving again?"

Vegeta was kind enough to carry the suitcase all the way from his apartment to his temporary home on the day he 'moved in'. Yamcha was sure that Bulma had put him up to it because there was no way in hell Vegeta would ever do anything nice for him because he wanted to. Still, forced or not, it had been nice to not have to carry the heavy thing the whole trip. He was strong and still fit enough to make the trip with added weight, but that didn't mean he wanted to do such a thing.

When they arrived at Capsule Corp, Trunks grabbed him by the hand and pulled him into the house; he didn't even wait for his father to land behind Yamcha. He forced the human to follow him into the living room, where Bulma waited for them with a large bowl of popcorn and all of the boy's favorite movies.

That day was one spent watching all of the movies and indulging Trunks' every wish. They were mostly child movies that would bore other people. Yamcha was entertained though, and Trunks kept the adults paying attention by asking countless questions of the movie. If they didn't have an answer, he'd ask them if they liked the movie. And because no one wanted to deal with a saddened child, the adults tried their best to stay invested in the movies.

Midway through the second movie they watched, Vegeta appeared with a couple of boxes of pizza for them to eat. He no longer had Yamcha's suitcase with him and the man merely chalked that up to him having left it in the guest room he'd most probably be staying in for the next week or so.

He was sure that Trunks 'dad' phase would not last more than two weeks. Eventually, he'd grow tired of wanting to enforce having Yamcha around when he noticed that he wasn't all that great an addition to his home. It might take a bit of time, but Yamcha was nothing if not patient when it came to the boy. Yes, he didn't have much patience for other people or other situations. But he cared so much about Trunks that he was willing to put himself through hell and back- waiting for the end of this phase didn't really seem like that bad of a thing. Besides, he got to loaf around Capsule Corp for a bit.

Vegeta sat down with a huff on the large couch they were already on, passed one pizza box over to Bulma, and began to eat from the rest. So Yamcha found himself sandwiched between the saiyan and his wife, all the while Trunks had made himself comfortable on the floor in front of them.

As the hours passed, so did Trunks position. He started off seated on the floor. Eventually, he wound up laying on his stomach, one arm tucked beneath his chin while the other allowed him to grab at the popcorn poised in the bowl in front of him. By the second movie, he'd sat up once more. Then, by the third, he somehow found his way onto Yamcha's lap. First he was sitting, but he eventually fell asleep and laid down over the laps of the three adults in the room.

Yamcha found it to be incredibly endearing. Vegeta didn't say anything against it, so he guessed the man didn't really mind it that much. And Bulma merely cooed over the fact that her son could be so damned adorable.

"Alright. I think that's enough movies for us." Yamcha announced by the time the credits began to roll on the movie, turning to look down at the child splayed over them. "Bedtime."

Trunks was roused from his slumber to halfheartedly protest over having to sleep. But he moved into a more comfortable position for Yamcha to grab him and lift him up. So Yamcha stood up, adjusted Trunks so he wasn't going to fall, made sure to keep his grip tight, and began to make his way towards the boy's bedroom. He'd done this so many times before that it felt normal- he was actually at ease when bedtime came and he had tuck Trunks in for the night.

When they reached his room, Yamcha pulled the covers off of the bed, laid Trunks down, and tucked him right back up with the blanket and comforter. Luckily, he'd already been dressed in his pajamas when he had arrived and he had run around barefoot for the last half of the day, after Yamcha had taken off his own shoes during the second movie.

"Goodnight, Trunks." He laid a gentle hand over the boy's forehead for a moment, then turned to leave.

He wasn't allowed to, though, because a smaller, warmer, hand suddenly grabbed onto his own. He turned around to look back at Trunks in surprise, only to find him blinking sleepily over at him.

"You... You'll be'ere in mornin'?" He barely slurred out, making Yamcha's heart warm immensely.

"Yeah. I will be."

Even through his sleepy haze, Trunks was able to smile brightly over at him. Even though the brightness of said smile was bogged down by how tired he looked.

"An'... An' you'll show me fightin'uff?"

Yamcha wasn't sure if Vegeta would want his precious son to learn fighting styles that he undoubtedly thought were below him. But Trunks was sleepy right now; he probably wouldn't even remember this conversation.

"Sure thing, kiddo. Now go to sleep."

As if Yamcha had uttered out an actual spell, Trunks yawned loudly, turned onto his side, and promptly fell asleep.

For a couple of seconds, Yamcha stood there, watching Trunks sleep. A pang of 'you could be mine' hit him momentarily, managing to annoy him for feeling such a thing. He'd already made his peace with having lost his chance with Bulma- he didn't need to feel like this whenever he looked at Trunks. Besides, Trunks loved him enough to complicate their lives. He was almost Yamcha's son. And that was good enough for him.

Yamcha decided to stop by the guest room to fetch some pajamas before he went to bathe and prepare for his own slumber. So he crossed the long hallway, towards the last door to the left, and opened it. He had fully expected to see his luggage thrown haphazardly over the room. He had even been prepared to find his clothes strewn all around after Vegeta had decided to not take any care of the suitcase.

He did not find either of these scenarios. Instead, he found absolutely nothing inside the guest room that had to do with him. It simply held the customary bed, drawers, and nightstand. But there was nothing of his.

Weird.

The man decided to head back into the living room to ask Bulma just what had happened with his stuff. She most probably knew and Vegeta most probably wouldn't want to answer him. Besides, Vegeta would most probably already be back in the gravity room, training his ass off.

Yamcha was surprised to find Vegeta still in the living room with Bulma. They were conversing quietly, as if they didn't want to be overheard, but Vegeta suddenly stopped.

He must have heard Yamcha walk up.

"Uh, hey, guys. Trunks is sleeping, so you don't have to worry about him for tonight." He informed them, suddenly feeling extremely awkward as he shuffled his feet and they continued to stare at him. "Where's my stuff? It's not in the guest room."

"Why would it be there?" Vegeta suddenly blurted out, making Yamcha look at him quizzically.

"Why wouldn't it be there?"

Bulma sighed, shook her head, and frowned over at Vegeta. "You didn't talk to him."

"Of course I didn't. This is not a matter up for discussion."

She looked absolutely scandalized. "Vegeta! You can't force somebody to do stuff like this!"

"Of course I can. He is so terrified of me he'd never say no." The saiyan remarked, half-proud, half-condescending. He crossed his arms over his chest and smirked softly, "Besides, why would anyone ever say no to me?"

Yamcha had absolutely no idea what was going on in front of him. Yet again. That happened a lot when it came to these two, he noticed.

Bulma stared at her husband for a couple more seconds before she threw her hands up in dismay, scoffed in disbelief, and finally turned to Yamcha in irritation. "Yamcha."

"Yeah?"

She froze for a second, eyes going wide, then glared over at her husband. "You're not going to make me do this, are you?"

Yamcha felt the need to take a step back. He wasn't sure what was going on. But he was very much aware that Vegeta could kill him with a look. So he wasn't particularly eager to be around him if Bulma managed to piss him off because of whatever thing it was that they were arguing about now.

The saiyan shrugged and smirked almost predatorily. "My strategy is fool-proof, woman. If we take him now, he could never possibly say no. Besides," Suddenly, Vegeta turned to Yamcha with an almost hungry look in his eyes, making the human take yet another step back and lose some of the color on his skin. "You cannot tell me you wouldn't want to see just how far we can push until he breaks."

Yamcha didn't like that look in Vegeta's eyes.

It was the kind of look he'd get whenever he and Bulma would leave on their long dates. It was the kind of look that let Yamcha know that he'd need to stay the night with Trunks because his parents would be up to activities that weren't appropriate for children. It was the kind of look that Vegeta would only ever get when it came to Bulma.

So... If it was supposed to be for Bulma... Just why in the world was he looking at him like that now?

"I need to have a serious conversation with you about what constitutes as rape again, don't I?" Bulma sighed with a disappointed shake of her head. But she soon turned to Yamcha, a determined strength clear in her eyes. "Yamcha; what do you know about saiyan mates?"

The man wracked his brain for information for a while. He knew that Bulma and Vegeta were mates because that's what Vegeta would call her whenever he was feeling extremely possessive. He also knew, because of Vegeta a couple of days ago, that it was normal for saiyan warriors to have more than just one mate. Aside from that, though, he knew nothing.

"Less than you." He eventually decided on, which made Bulma nod.

"Okay. That's not a lot." She deemed, but soon stood up and walked towards him. Yamcha suddenly felt extremely small, even though the woman was shorter than her. "I won't sugar coat this, Yamcha: Vegeta wants you as his second mate."

Yamcha blinked at the woman.

Then he blinked at the saiyan.

Then he pointed at himself, "Me?"

She looked legitimately taken aback by his confusion. "Yes.. Who else would it be?"

Yamcha shrugged softly and admitted, "I just thought Vegeta was talking about someone else when he said that he 'wanted him' as a mate, y'know? Why would he ever want me?"

Vegeta was beside him in a flash, heavy hand holding onto his neck in a tight grip that didn't hurt, but assured him he would not be able to escape. "Are you questioning my judgements, weakling?"

Yamcha stared wide eyed and fearful at the shorter man, stuttering over what he could answer. Luckily, Bulma came in to save him by smacking Vegeta upside the head and pointing an angered finger directly at his eyes.

"Stop that! How can you expect Yamcha to be your mate if you're constantly belittling and threatening him?"

Vegeta's grip on his neck didn't loosen. But a sick smirk did ooze onto his lips, sharp fangs glinting almost threateningly in the light. "Have you not figured it out, woman? He's a masochist."

Heat began to rush into his face at the promises of danger that began to flash in Vegeta's eyes. But Yamcha was able to look away from the man for long enough to notice Bulma's own face become reddened.

He'd known the woman long enough to know which blush was which. And this wasn't a blush that was purely born from awkward embarrassment.

Kami help him... He was surrounded by crazy people.

"Bulma..." He cleared his throat uncomfortably, suddenly becoming incredibly aware of the pressure on his neck. "Are you alright with what you two are thinking about? Like... With what that would imply for us?"

She collected herself in a second. And she smiled softly, "I never stopped loving you, Yamcha. We didn't work out before. But we were idiots." She breathed out, looking away from them both to admit, "Seeing how you are with Trunks made me notice something: I love you more than just a friend. You are so great."

The woman stepped forward with this, her hand coming up to Yamcha's cheek to stroke his scars gingerly.

There was an extremely clear difference between Bulma and Vegeta's touch. The saiyan's touch was hot and burned like fire. It constricted around him, threatening to destroy everything that he was. But Bulma's was gentle and warm, promising to pick up the pieces after Vegeta was done with him.

He had never stopped loving Bulma. But he had accepted that he would never be able to love her as more than a friend ever again. He had lost to Vegeta and he wasn't too proud to stop himself from admitting that.

"Between you two, Trunks would have a complete experience." She murmured, "What do you say, Yamcha? Join us?"

His mind refused to work for a couple of seconds.

The hand on his neck tightened minutely, making him gasp suddenly and close his eyes.

He nodded and prepared himself for some kind of violent act on Vegeta's part.

Imagine his surprise when, instead of a fist or kick, he found a pair of lips connecting with his own.

Quickly, he opened his eyes to find Bulma kissing him. He didn't move, still much too shocked with what he was seeing to properly react.

Once Bulma had finished up, Vegeta pulled him into a forceful kiss that was mostly teeth and pain. Yet again, there was a pretty huge difference between Bulma and Vegeta's kiss.

Once the saiyan was done with him, Yamcha stood frozen, breathless, and mostly dazed.

After a couple of seconds, he was able to form proper thought. And, after that, he was able to ask one simple question. Which he regretted as soon as Vegeta answered. "So... Can I get my stuff now? I kinda wanna bathe..."

"There's no need for your clothes, human."

Bulma giggled softly as Yamcha suddenly found himself thrown over Vegeta's shoulder, much too stunned to properly try and stop the movement.

Yamcha found himself carried around the Briefs' home as if he were a sack of potatoes instead of an actual human being.

"Don't worry about your stuff, Yamcha. It's already been added to our room." Bulma called from behind them, making Yamcha glance over in confusion.

Our room?

He paled.

Oh...

Oh!

Well... It seemed that the only person that hadn't been prepared for this development had been him.

Yamcha sighed as he heard Vegeta kick his bedroom door open, suddenly extremely aware of what he had just agreed to.

Well... At least Trunks would be seeing more of him now.

..~..~..

And that is the final chapter!

I hope you all liked this miniature ride! Please review and tell me what you thought.

Also, check out Goten Wants two Dads too if you like the idea of polyamorous relationships in the DBZ world- which will be a sort of sequel to this story. It deals with Tien, Chi Chi, and Goku having to deal with Goku coming back to life after Tien managed to build a life with the Son family without Goku in the picture.

Remember, review!