gorysortofstory | OPEN SHIP WITH ME POST

She doesn't even like him half the time. More than half the time. They argue constantly -- whether it's over him breaking the gravity chamber again or eating the last of the food in the fridge without telling anyone. He's selfish and ungrateful -- and about as stubborn as she is.

She works about as much as he trains, trying to come up with anything she can to help -- even if it's just increasing the equipment they can train with. When the androids come she won't be able to fight physically -- but that's never stopped her from finding other ways to help.

Besides, if she throws herself into her work she doesn't think about how lonely she is. Her friends are almost all busy training and Yamacha -- well that fell apart as she supposed it was always supposed to. For better or for worse, these days she sees Vegeta more than anyone else besides her parents.

This fight started like many of theirs did. He had broken the chamber again -- and he was far too hurt to continue training. So she was doing the only thing she could -- refusing to fix it until he at least took a couple of days to rest and recuperate. To say he took that badly is probably an understatement. His fist hits against the wall near her, creating a sizable hole in the process.

Most people would be scared -- Bulma is just pissed off.

"What do you think you're doing -- now I'm going to have to fix that wall on top of everything else -- do you really think I have nothing better to do than fix the things you destroy?"

Edited 2014-10-08 05:02 (UTC)

She's not afraid of him. She's not afraid of him and it pisses him off to no end. He is the Prince of Saiyans, the last remaining member of a superior race! (Kakarot and his halfling son don't count for anything as far as he's concerned.) He could tear her apart with his bare hands, blast her to smitherines with a mere flick of his pinky. Yet she stands unwavering, even as he smashes his fist through her bedroom wall, just narrowly missing her face.

Most people would be intimidated by such an act, would take back their unreasonable demands for him to get out after he followed them into rooms he wasn't 'allowed' to go in.

Not her. Not this infuriating Earth woman who doesn't even do herself the decency of quivering in his presence.

Vegeta wasn't sure whether he hated or admired her courage — if it could even be called that. Foolishness was more like it. And one day, that brazen attitude of hers was going to get a powerless weakling like her killed. If she didn't get back to work in the chamber, it was going to be at the hands of those androids.

He snorts in response to that. "You could always join your mother in front of the television set, but seeing as you lack her complacence—" He leans in closer. "Fix the chamber. The wall can wait."

She refuses to be quiver, to shake with fear. Sure, he could rip her limb from limb. He could rip her heart from her chest if he wanted to but he's not going to. And you know why? Because he needs her. Because if he kills her who's going to fix that dumb chamber of his? Who's going to build him more training equipment? Robots to spar with? Like it or not, he'd be screwed without her.

And in general Bulma doesn't tend to have the good sense to be scared even when she probably should be. Like right now. No. She's too annoyed and pissed off at his selfish, stupid behavior to be scared right now.

Besides, Goku is one of her oldest friends, he has to know if he hurt her, Goku would kill him. And then he would never be able to surpass him, or kill the androids, etc, etc, whatever. Point is sure, he could kill her, but he's not going to.

So she doesn't need to be scared.

Her arms cross of her chest as he leans in closer, a stance of resistance. "I told you already -- it's not happening today. You need to rest."

Why she cares whether he kills himself from all that training he does is beyond her. Still, it's hard to forget the worry she had felt after the explosion -- when she thought maybe he had died. And he's clearly incapable of taking care of himself. So she's just going to have to do it for him.

In a show of force, Vegeta pushes his fist in harder, deeper into the wall. His fingers tangle in the various wires concealed between her room and whatever's on the other side, the lights flickering briefly in response.

He smirks, laughs that short, arrogant laugh of his. "Super Saiyans don't need to rest."

Says the man who isn't yet a Super Saiyan. How Kakarot and that purple-headed teenager managed to beat him to the punch, he'll never know, but he's not having any of it! He will be a Super Saiyan, one that surpasses both Kakarot and that future brat in power and excellence, by the time those androids arrive. Like it or not, she was going to help him do it.

Her expression darkens as the lights flicker for a moment. Great, if he messes with the wiring that's just one more thing for her to fix. Lovely. He's such a pain in the ass. Anybody else would of thrown him out by now.

Sometimes she wonders why she hasn't. Other than the whole yes they need all the help they can get when the androids get here reason. Still.

Her arms uncross and she points a finger at him, lightly hitting his chest. "Yeah, but you're not a Super Saiyan yet. Which means you need rest." Another risky move, but as stated before, she isn't afraid of him.

She'd help him, she usually does, but it's not going to be completely on his terms. It just isn't.

His gaze drops to where her finger is poking him in the chest. Is she... Is she touching him? His head snaps back up, a strange sort of bewildered expression on his face.

She's touching him.

People don't touch him. Not unless they want to lose that hand or have their arms ripped right out of the socket. (Possibly both; very likely both.) Yet she does so without cause for concern.

With a snarl, the hand that's not embedded in a wall comes up, wrapping a calloused hand around the offending wrist. He jerks her hand away, pinning it next to her head.

"Hands to yourself, woman."

Vegeta realizes, however, that she knows what he's known all along: He needs her intact if he's going to make any headway with that damnable chamber. But hell if he's going to let her know it. She's useful for the time being. That's it. No sense in announcing it when he'll have no need for her once the androids arrive.

Edited 2014-10-08 06:05 (UTC)

"Like you're one to talk. It's not like you care about my personal space, why should I care about yours?"

She's just saying Vegeta -- it's hardly fair to get annoyed about her touching you when you've followed her into her bedroom and cornered her next to a wall where your fist is currently imbedded.

Still, her pulse jumps just a little as those calloused fingers wrap around her wrist -- not out of fear but something else. There's always a bit of a rush going head to head with him like this -- probably because she has the safety of knowing he wouldn't actually hurt her. Not right now. When he still needs her.

Which is why his grip on her wrist is surprisingly slack, not at all holding her tight. It's perhaps an even greater demonstration of his control that some of his more remarkable feats of strength and power when he's being so careful and gentle in spite of his harsh words.

Still, he leans in even closer, always one to rise to a challenge, regardless of whether a challenge has actually been issued or not. He's the challenger who starts running a race his unwitting competitor never entered.

"You're right; I don't."

It's funny, people often act like Vegeta is a loose canon, a slave to his rage and impulse and yet all she can think of in this moment is how control he has to be be exercising. With the slightest pressure he could easily shatter her wrist, or yank it clear off her arm -- but instead the touch is almost gentle.

It's such a strange contradiction to the harsh words being exchange between them.

She hadn't been consciously challenging him -- and yet he rises to it all the same, leaning in even closer now. There's hardly any space between them.

"Of course I'm right. You don't respect anything."

"I respect my ancestry and the legacy of great Saiyan race."

Were she to mention Frieza, he's likely to rip those wires clean out of the wall. That was a hot button. It made Vegeta's blood boil to think about what that visitor from the future did, how he'd been robbed of his right to take that tyrant down once and for all — again. First Kakarot, then that purple-haired dolt...

He doesn't know it yet, but he'll change his tune soon enough once he learns the boy's actually his son, but that's information Vegeta hasn't been made privy to, yet. Goku (and Piccolo, thanks to that blasted Namekian hearing of his) knew that his name was Trunks and that he was the son of both Vegeta and Bulma, but as of right now, the half-Saiyan's parents are blissfully unaware of anything occurring between them. They have no idea that Goku is just waiting for that part to come full circle, no idea that Frieza was properly put in his place once and for all by a member of the Saiyan royal family.

And without any of that knowledge, all Vegeta can be is angry. Angry about everything, because being angry is easier than being anything else. Anger gives rise to power deep within him, and he knows how to wield it better than he knows how to do anything else.

Perhaps it's also his inability to do anything but be angry and fight that has him so frustrated with her suggestion that he rest. Vegeta's life has never been at rest. He's been going and going and going for as far back as he can remember. Resting simply part of his programming.

Even someone as hotheaded and rash as Bulma realizes there are lines you shouldn't cross. As much as she does enjoy fighting with him -- probably more than she should --- there would be no joy o be found in taunting him about that.

In all honesty there are times where she almost feels bad for Vegeta. She can't even begin to fathom how lonely he must feel -- the last of his own species. Sure, there's Goku but Goku doesn't even see himself as a Saiyan. She can't even imagine what that's like. Maybe that's why she never throws him out despite what a royal pain in her ass he tends to be day in and day out.

She relents, just a little, her expression softening as she lingered on that thought for a moment. "Look, I'll fix it tomorrow, but for tonight you're taking it easy."

A compromise. A few days of rest would be better but she knows that's probably a pipe dream. At least a night off will do his body some good. He's clearly incapable of taking care of himself so she'll just have to do it for him.

A compromise.

Vegeta didn't do compromises, but he could see no other way to get her to repair the damage the chamber. He could knock a planet out of orbit around its sun if he so desired, but there was no getting this woman to budge. Thus, he did the only thing he could do.

He relents a bit himself, meeting her halfway as she so desires. (If called on it later in front of others — especially Kakarot or that annoying one who had a habit of dying that kept hanging out around here; Yamyam? Yamaha? — he'd vehemently deny it.)

The wall creaks as he with draws his hand, palm flattening out against the wall beside her head instead of being buried within it. He eases her wrist down slowly, guiding it in a semi-circle down the wall until it's hanging at her side, but doesn't yet let go, still hovering near. Very near.

"Fine."

And then he's letting her go and disappearing out the door in the direction of the kitchen.

Get ready, Bulma. Taking it easy with a Saiyan involves eating someone out of house and home. Hope your mother went grocery shopping.

She blinks a little in surprise, as if stunned by his answer, her heart still beating a little faster than usual when he finally lets her go.

She won. Okay, it's a compromise but still, he relented and agreed to it and she's going to take that as a victory. A victory that was accompanied with a hole in her wall but a victory all the same.

She smirks broadly to herself, feeling more than a little smug. Maybe that's not the appropriate response but hey not just anyone can get the almighty prince of all saiyans to agree to terms other than his own.

So she ends up making her way out to the kitchen -- not to eat but to grab herself a beer from the fridge. She's definitely earned herself a victory drink.

It's a good thing Vegeta isn't interested in the alcohol supply, otherwise the beer and those prized bottles of aged wine would've been drained by now. His only interest is in the food, which is why he's currently eating an uncooked ham as casually as a child eats a bag of chips.

Some people sit down with popcorn to watch television. Others do so with a whole smoked pork.

Bulma spent a good amount of her teen years around Goku and yet she's still alarmed by seeing things like someone eating a raw ham all by themselves. She grabs a beer from the fridge and opens it before making her way over towards him.

"You could of gotten my mom to cook that for you, you know."

But not her. Don't let Bulma cook.

If she cooked for him, Vegeta would eat it. Of course, he would excuse the act as never being one to let food go to waste when there were peasants starving on impoverished planets, but in reality he was far too polite to decline a meal from someone who was kind enough to open their home to him. Vegeta didn't acknowledge that kindness often and wouldn't be caught dead so much as uttering the word, but he was aware of it. He was aware of how unpopular he was, how much Kakarot and his band of miserable misfits distrusted him, and how anxious it made that low-level human she insisted on pairing herself off with to have him here.

It can't be easy, having him as an unwanted guest who did nothing but damage her house and destroy her and her father's upgrades to the chamber, but they didn't seem to show it. That sort of resilience to adversity was admirable, especially in this hot-headed woman who went against the grain of everything he was brought up to believe about those of the opposing gender.

"Why?"

Honest question. He could eat it raw or cooked, it didn't matter much to him. Food was food, especially after years under Frieza's thumb where food of any kind could quickly become scarce — especially in a room full of starving Saiyans.

Vegeta was even polite enough to remove the half devoured turkey leg from his mouth when he questioned her comment. Politeness may not be something most would associate with Vegeta (in fact, he was willing to be the mere notion would have those who 'knew' him doubling over in amusement), but in spite of his supposedly fiendish ways, he was still a prince. A prince who was brought up to carry himself as regally as he was ruthless before the planet he was supposed to one day rule was destroyed.

Letting Vegeta live here is many things, but easy is hardly one of them. Back when she and Yamacha were still seeing one another he gave her a hard time constantly for letting the saiyan prince live here. But if they were going to defeat the androids they would need Vegeta's help. And beyond that?

Well honestly she felt kind of bad for Vegeta. It has to be lonely, being the last of his own kind. Sure, there's Goku but he doesn't really see himself as a saiyan. She can't imagine how alone he must feel sometimes. So if she can give a place to stay, that's something right? A reminder that he isn't alone -- though he probably doesn't care either way.

"Eating raw pork or ham can be dangerous -- you have a much higher rate of getting sick from it." She pauses as she considers something for a moment, tilting her head. "Though I suppose with a Saiyan immune system that might not be as much of a concern for you."

His only comment, which doubles as confirmation, is an indignant snort right before he takes another bite of the raw turkey leg he's currently in the process of devouring — but he's doing so slowly. Eating at a 'human' pace wasn't what Saiyans normally did, and he'd never seen Kakarot bother to do so, but unlike that low level son of a grunt, Vegeta was a prince. He didn't always show it, but he had manners and he knew how to use them, he was just highly selective about where and when he chose to use them.

There were scorch marks on the side of her house from the damage the chamber sustained this morning, debris lying all over the yard, a hole in her bedroom wall from where he'd lashed out at her... The least he could do was chew with his mouth closed and eat like something other than the barbarian most believed him to be.

It's a little impressive, honestly, how eloquently he eats it. She's seen Goku eat a million times -- she knows how voracious a saiyan appetite can be but Vegeta takes his time. There's an elogance to it, almost.

Her friends would laugh at her if she ever mentioned it. Which is why she tends to keep these sort of observations to herself.

"Don't hold back on account of me," She drawls dryly, breaking the silence that had built between them (almost all too comfortably, honestly).

Another snort, muffled by the food in his mouth. He waits until he's swallowed to tell her, "I'm not," in an almost offended tone, as if she's just wrongly accused him of murder.

The truth, however, is that he is. He's taking his time and not talking with his mouthful out of respect for this infuriating, weak human female that's chosen to perch herself at his side like she's worthy of being in his presence.

He doesn't know which is more frustrating: the fact that she does it, or that he allows it like she's earned the right to sit next to the Prince of all Saiyans in spite of being a weakling human.

"Of course you aren't."

Except she knows that he is. Why he is, she couldn't say. Maybe he finally realized that a genius such as herself deserved a little respect, whether she was human or not.

...Probably not, but a girl can dream, can't she?

Besides, if he voiced those thoughts she would tell him this is her home and she'll sit wherever she damn well pleases.

"You give yourself far too much credit."

And then, as if to prove that he was still as much of a brute under those layers of royal etiquette he was showing her — did she even realize how important it was that he was actually behaving himself around her? — Vegeta snatches the beer bottle out of her hand. He takes a drink of himself, not seeming to care that she drank out of it first, and puts it back in her hand.

"Humans. You're such an arrogant species."

"You say that like I'm just any human," She says rather flippantly, frowning a little at the way he had just taken her drink like that. Rude, Vegeta.

Rude.

"But I'm not. I'm a genius. And this is my home so if anybody deserves some special treatment, it would be me." She snorts a little, taking another drink from her beer, seemingly having gotten over him drinking from it.

"Besides, you're the most arrogant person I know." She pauses. "Sorry. Saiyan."

"Oh, and Kakarot isn't arrogant? He overestimates himself more often than not." Begrudgingly, Vegeta fails to acknowledge the fact that Goku tends to succeed, even when he fails. "When he speaks, he speaks in terms of maybe. He gets lucky. I, on the other hand, speak in terms of absolute certainty. I will become a Super Saiyan."

He takes another bite of the pork, chewing it just as slowly, just as human-like as before in spite of his ire.

"Once you fix the chamber, of course." (Once he stops bleeding on her couch, too.)

Edited (forgot what he was eating, oops) 2014-12-29 04:05 (UTC)

"I never said you wouldn't." Maybe some people believed he wouldn't but honestly? Bulma things that kind of determination tends to have results. It might not be easy, but he'll do it. Not that she says any of that out loud. It's not like he's looking for her to believe in him.

"Of course." There's a beat and then. "You know it's going to be a bitch to get these stains out of the couch."

you love me

it's true, i do

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