gorysortofstory | OPEN SHIP WITH ME POST

For a genius Bulma sometimes engages in some questionable behavior. Like taunting a saiyan prince. Which is exactly what she's doing right now. Her grin only spreads wider.

"It's okay," She assures him in a placating sort of voice. "I won't tell anyone that you like me. Or that you might actually enjoy the company or someone other than yourself. I would hate to ruin your reputation."

His reputation of being a dick. Which he is most of the time. But sometimes, like right now, he's actually tolerable company. Not that anyone would ever believe her about that.

Edited 2015-01-12 06:48 (UTC)

He snorts. "Don't flatter yourself."

Yet he makes absolutely no move to leave the room, instead leaning back against the couch now that she's done tending to his wounds. Vegeta puts his hands behind his head, closing his eyes.

In all honesty, he didn't mind her. Much. And he actually enjoyed arguing with her and the challenge that she presented when it came to her tolerance for him. Most people couldn't stand (or dared) to be within four feet of him, yet she was brazen and foolish enough to get up close and personal without concern for her safety.

Without bothering to open his eyes, Vegeta removes an arm to gesture towards the television. "Bring something up on the screen."

Remotes and the fact that those screens were called TVs weren't something he'd grasped yet. Vegeta didn't watch TV, and the only reason he was demanding she put something on was so he could focus on something other than her and do something with his time that was less boring than nothing while she insisted he take it easy for one night.

He absolutely refused to put further thought towards why in the hell he was even bothering with complying.

Bulma lets it drop for now. She knows better than to push too hard with him -- unless they're actually arguing which is something different altogether. She actually kind of enjoys that he doesn't back down with her as easily as many of her friends do. He can be as stubborn as she is, if not more so. Sometimes, that's frustrating and a pain in her ass but other times? It's kind of refreshing.

Not that she would ever admit that out loud. Lest she give him ideas.

Instead she grabs the remote for the tv, flipping through the channels as she tries to find something suitable to watch. She pauses briefly on a baseball game but it reminds her too much of Yamcha so she keeps flipping through. There's a few nature shows she considers stopping on but finally she settles on some romantic comedy that was on.

Okay, so maybe sometimes she purposefully chose things just to see how he would respond to them. She can't help it. As a scientist watching an alien react to human culture for the first time was fascinating.

Asking Vegeta to make sense of The Holiday is like asking a frog to sprout wings and fly. He tries to ignore it, to let it become background noise to other thoughts plaguing his mind, but human forms of entertainment are constructed in such a way that it grabs your attention whether you want it to or not. And soon the mighty Prince of all Saiyans is leaning forward, closer to the television, as if the proximity will help him to unravel this romantic comedy's mystery.

"Why the hell would you give a stranger your house?" He asks of her, twisting and tilting his head to peer over his shoulder at her, genuinely baffled. "Is this a common custom that humans indulge in? Am I to expect a new set of weaklings to stay here while you and your family stay in their dwelling?"

Not that he would complain about her mother leaving, but Bulma and her father were quite useful. And tolerable.

She's not sure what's funnier -- that Vegeta is actually actively watching The Holiday or that he's trying to make sense of the plot. Either way, it's pretty amusing and she may of at some point started watching him watch the movie more than the movie itself. She's seen it before, after all.

"Because you wanted to get away from your life for a while, these women aren't giving one another their homes so much as just...borrowing them for a bit. Like a vacation."

At the second question she actually laughs a little before shaking her head. "No. We have too many valuable inventions here to risk someone else staying here and stealing any ideas me or my dad have been working on."

Vegeta's far more intelligent than most give him credit for. Just because he doesn't understand and can't really relate to human culture doesn't mean that he's not smart. He's a brilliant strategist and tactician, and is good at watching and waiting, even when he's impatiently doing so. Although it was done under Frieza's orders, Vegeta's assisted in the conquering and destruction of numerous worlds. There was more to taking over a planet than blowing things up. You had to get to know your enemy first, and that meant observing them.

As far as he was concerned, watching this movie was his attempt at further understanding an alien culture that he was fully immersed in. Might as well, since it was looking more and more like he'd be stuck on this Kami-forsaken rock for a while.

"Unlikely. I'd kill them before they managed to take anything."

"Careful, Vegeta," She warns in a playful sort of voice. "Comments like that might make me think you care."

Which anybody else might not ever believe if she suggested the idea but there are moments like this one where she would swear it sounds like he does. Okay, so maybe threatening violence isn't the preferred way of showing affection, but it seemed to be the language Vegeta spoke best. He would kill people before letting them steal her or her father's inventions. That's something right?

Besides, it was entertaining sometimes to watch him try to figure out human culture. Sometimes she handed him items just to see how he would react to them. His reaction to her eyelash curler could bring tears to her eyes if she thought about it too long. But somehow she thinks if she claimed entertainment value as a reason for allowing him to continue to live here the others might not understand.

They make the mistake of thinking Vegeta is just some brute. Bulma knows better. Sometimes she puts on war documentaries just to listen to his commentary on it -- he's smarter then people give him credit.

He snorts in response, neither confirming nor denying what he has no doubt she thinks she knows.

Even if he did care, she wouldn't understand and would likely take the human approach and read everything into it that it's not. Humans blurred the lines between respect and everything else they felt for one another far too often. They were a tangled mess of emotion, and while Vegeta did indeed have feelings of his own, he refused to allow himself to be ruled by them. That wasn't the Saiyan way and he hadn't survived for as long as he did by allowing his emotions to get in the way of what needed to be done.

Vegeta gave a damn about Bulma and her father insofar as he respected the positions they held: wealthy scientists, brilliant minds who came remarkably close to rivaling those who'd been in Frieza's employ — not that he'd tell her that. And Bulma herself was far too fascinating, too challenging to allow harm to come to her while he still found her useful and entertaining.

And not at all bad to look at, either, but it would be a cold day in hell before Vegeta told her he found her as attractive as she claimed she was.

She simply smirks a little at that snort, satisfied with his reaction as she settles into watch the movie. Unfortunately for Vegeta, Bulma is the type of person who makes commentary when she watches things -- she's never been particularly good at keeping quiet.

So when Jude Law ends up on Cameron Diaz' door step she lets out a dramatic sigh. "Sometimes I wish a handsome man would show up on my door step like that." It's an idle sort of comment and if she remembered who she was talking to she probably wouldn't of said it at all.

But too late now.

Of course, some would argue that Vegeta ending up living here was like getting a handsome man on her doorstep (her mother has certainly inferred as much before) but that's a can of worms she doesn't want to open. Back when she was dating Yamcha he would get almost weirdly jealous sometimes. As if there was something to be jealous about.

He's offended. He shouldn't be, has no reason to, but he is. That much is clear in the way he regards her, looking at her sharply from the corner of his eye like she just insulted his Saiyan ancestry and royal blood.

Vegeta's up and off the couch and near the door in less time than it takes for a human to blink. He's usually mindful and moves a lot slower than he's capable of, but irate as he is in this moment, he doesn't much care to.

...That was weird.

Most of time he mocks her for making idealistic or romantic comments like that but he doesn't usually tend to get angry. So why did he this time? Anyone else would probably just leave well enough alone and let him storm off.

But Bulma isn't anybody else. She's impulsive and probably too curious and nosey for her own good at times. She gets up and practically has to run to try to catch up with him.

"What the hell was that about?" She called out after him. She swears. She can never make any sense about this man.

He whirls on her, trapping her between the wall and the immovable pillar that is his own form. They're back to square one, back to how he originally had her cornered in her bedroom when he fussed at her over not prioritizing the Gravity Room over her other projects. Backing down was a mistake, especially if agreeing to relax would lead to her making such comments.

"Why don't you consult Graham?"

Graham being Jude Law's character. He has no idea who the hell Jude Law actually is, but he caught the character's name. And her comment.

....Is that what he's upset about? Suddenly he has her pinned against a wall again like he did earlier in her bedroom and once again she finds herself completely baffled by his behavior. Which honestly only makes her more determined to figure out what's going on.

"It was just a dumb comment about a movie. Why would it even bother you?"

Why would he care over who she migh express slight attraction to or not? Bulma's always been rather vocal about that kind of stuff -- and she knows he thinks that's vulgar or whatever but the way he's acting right now?

It's almost like he's jealous. And she's not sure what to do with that.

"It doesn't."

Liar. It does, otherwise he would still be sitting on the couch, demanding she bring him something to eat instead of getting too close for comfort so he can look her in the eye and properly glower.

And the worst part is knowing that she can tell that he's fibbing. She can't always read him, but when she does manage to see through his bullshit, it's with remarkable clarity.

"Yes it does. Otherwise you wouldn't have stormed off like that. If I didn't know any better I would think you were jealous."

Which is kind of a strange concept because sometimes it seems like Vegeta spends so much time focussed on training and fighting how could he have room for anything else and yet --

The way he has her cornered right now. The way he stormed off after her comment about someone else being attractive. The way he never gets Yamcha's name right --

Is it really that far fetched of an idea?

The way he tends to glower at the scarred man and his feline companion from the doorway of the Gravity Room...

Vegeta wouldn't call what he felt in this moment jealousy. There was nothing to be jealous of, no one short of Kakarot and that blasted Namekian who stood a chance of posing enough of a threat to even be considered threatening. He wasn't jealous or threatened— He was possessive.

At some point during his stay here, he'd become fiercely possessive of this dwelling and all things that occupied it, including her. Especially her. He may not do anything to acknowledge it, but she was the only one to reach out to him when everyone else he'd come into contact with on this miserable planet dismissed him as either too violent and/or not worth the trouble.

She made him her trouble, and has yet to back down from him.

He smirks.

"You flatter yourself, woman."

That's what he said earlier when she teased him about liking her. He never really corrects her or tells her she's wrong, he simply brushes it off. You're flattering yourself. Which maybe she is, maybe she is simply thinking she's more important to him than she really is but maybe she isn't.

He tolerates her more than just about anyone else. Sometimes she would even swear it seems like he seeks out her company -- even if maybe he's just looking for a good verbal sparring match. If he really didn't like her in some way he probably wouldn't listen to her at all. He's not the type to back down just because she's loud and stubborn. Her other friends sometimes just let her have her way because it's easier than fighting with her.

But not Vegeta.

She smirks a little in return.

"I'm not wrong, am I?"

"You study me." He calls he out on it, more aware of how she watches him at times than he lets on. "You want to know more about Saiyan culture? Here's something for your notes: Saiyans don't get jealous. We get possessive."

As if to drive the point home, Vegeta turns and directs a ki blast at the TV just as Jude Law's face comes on screen. The television didn't stand a chance.

She supposes it's only fair -- she calls him out on his shit fairly regularly, it's about time he called her out on hers. She does spend a lot of time observing him, trying to learn him about Saiyan culture. (and maybe just more about him in general but she's not as quick as to admit that).

Still, there's something in his words that irk her, causing her hackles to raise more than him blowing up her TV did.

"Possessive? So what, you think you have some weird claim over me? Is that it?"

He sighs heavily, irritably, pushing the air out through his nose instead of between clenched teeth.

"No." Yes, but also no. "Your human definition of the word doesn't do what it means in Saiyan terms justice. You're not that damned cat."

"Fine. Then what does it mean by Saiyan terms? Enlighten me." Because of course she's not going to let it simply drop at that.

She's also not going to mention that she sometimes leaves cat treats in the Gravity Chamber just so she can watch him deal with the cat.

Asking him to define that is comparable to asking him to talk about his feelings, something he goes out of his way to prevent people from realizing he has. It's a defense mechanism, a survivor's skill, something that's kept him alive far longer than the rest of his race. Vegeta's cold nature isn't the default for Saiyans, just the shape he molded himself into as a result of traumatic experiences at a young age and a desire to survive in the face of impossible odds.

And while he does trust Bulma to a degree — arguably, she's the only person he trusts, as how much he chooses to trust Kakarot depends on the day and situation — he's not yet at the point where he's willing to let walls he's held in place since childhood down. Especially not when he's barely voiced interest, let alone clear intent.

He snorts. "You wouldn't understand, even if I did."

"Sorry, but that isn't going to cut it."

Maybe other people would leave well enough alone. Vegeta doesn't want to talk about something? Fine. But he can't just go around destroying parts of her house and not at least give her something resembling an explanation for it. That's not going to work for her.

"You just destroyed my TV so the least you can do is help me understand why the hell you did that. You say it's not jealousy, it's some weird Saiyan form of possessiveness. Fine. Make me understand."

It's not just that she's stubborn -- but she's also a scientist. Trying to figure out how things work is what she does. She's not going to take "you wouldn't understand" as an acceptable answer.

"You turned a spaceship into a complex, high powered gravity room. Surely you can repair a damaged television."

Honestly. He's seen several of those infernal screens in various rooms throughout this house. There's even one in the room they've given him just down the hall. Were she so worried about the TV, she could take the one out of there.

Except he knows that it's not about the television. She's using his destruction of her property (as if he hasn't done that before, and didn't put his fist through her bedroom wall hours before) as an excuse to keep prodding at him. She's resourceful, he'll give her that. Frustratingly resourceful.

"If there's one thing I've learned about you since you invited me to your home," Vegeta dares to touch her, cupping the side of her face in his hand, "it's that nobody can make you do something. Not even me."

His hand falls away and he's heading down the hall to his room, abandoning his previous intentions of bolting out the door and flying off to wail on some mountain side where he'd no doubt attract the attention of the other Z Fighters. That was something he decided he didn't want to deal with.

"That isn't the point and you know it."

Of course she could repair it. She's been repairing things since she was a kid. There's little she can't fix, honestly. Not to mention her family is rich enough she could simply buy a new one.

It's not about what he destroyed but why he did it.

Her heart skips a beat in a way she doesn't entirely like. She'd almost say he complimented her. Which is as weird as the gentle touching is. And then he's heading back to his room and this time she simply lets him go. She's had enough of trying to make sense out of him tonight.

She has a hole in the wall of her room to attend to anyway.

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