Dragon Ball/Z/GT Fan Fiction ❯ Falling Away With You ❯ Chapter 5 ( Chapter 5 )
[ Y - Young Adult: Not suitable for readers under 16 ]
By: Froglady15 
Anime/Manga: Dragon Ball/Z/GT Fan Fiction | Genre(s): Romance | Type: Continuation | Uploaded On: 07.17.2016 | Pages: 15 | Words: 9.8K | Visits: 303 | Status: Work In Progress
Anime/Manga: Dragon Ball/Z/GT Fan Fiction | Genre(s): Romance | Type: Continuation | Uploaded On: 07.17.2016 | Pages: 15 | Words: 9.8K | Visits: 303 | Status: Work In Progress
Disclaimer: I don't own anything. Just my Husband,
laptop, my 3 dogs and a very overactive imagination… Dragon
Ball Z and any songs mentioned in this fic DO NOT belong to me. I'm
just borrowing them for my own twisted amusement.
Chapter 5
The following few weeks had gone well for everyone. Vegeta had begun training Trunks the very next day as he said he would and they trained every morning, early before breakfast and for a little while in the afternoon. Vegeta was very strict with Trunks. Training was to be taken seriously and he had to be on time for their training. If he wasn’t, Vegeta sent him back into the house and he would have to wait until the afternoon. Trunks was late twice and never again. He valued the training and instruction from his father. Vegta’s other rule was that Trunks not discuss the nature of their training with anyone except for Bulma if she asked. To anyone else, Vegeta instructed Trunks that they were not to know.
In the mornings they would start with meditation and katas. Trunks followed and did everything to mirror and imitate his father as best as possible. Vegeta thought the katas were an excellent place to start. They were good for Trunks balance, taught him proper posture and form and required concentration.
In the afternoons Vegeta started on teaching Trunks to fly. Not surprisingly, he had caught onto that fairly quickly and within a few weeks they were flying over short distances together, slowly building up endurance.
The months seemed to fly by and soon Trunks’ fourth birthday came and went. Vegeta had even shown up for a little while, much to Bulma’s happiness.
She had invited him, assuming he would not show up at all; after all, he never attended any of the Capsule Corporation events or anything else she ever invited him to that involved more than just her and her parents being in attendance. So she was thrilled he had shown up and actually stayed for a bit.
It hadn’t been a huge party, but it had been enough kids that Trunks had had a great time. Goten and Chi-Chi had even gotten Trunks a custom made gi identical to the one Goku always wore, only it was a dark teal green instead of orange. Trunks loved it, but Vegeta wasn’t crazy about the idea of his son running around in a “clown suit”. Bulma thought the gesture was sweet and thought it was hilarious that he absolutely loved it so much he wouldn’t wear anything else for an entire week despite his father’s hinting at him to change into something else.
It was with those optimistic thoughts in mind that Bulma decided she wanted to invite Vegeta to the upcoming Capsule Corporation party this coming weekend. She wasn’t sure if he would come or not, but she wanted to ask him anyway.
“I know you don’t like formal functions or anything but we’re having our quarterly staff party this weekend,” she said to him on one of their evenings spent watching tv together. It was slowly becoming a regular occurrence that Bulma began to look forward to. Sometimes they would discuss Trunks and his training and sometimes, depending on how tired Bulma was, they would just sit together in companionable silence and watch whichever program they chose. All week she had been wanting to ask him to come and so tonight she decided to bite the bullet and go for it. “It would be kind of cool if you came. There’s going to be tons of food and-”
“You want me to come to supervise the boy during the festivities,” he cut her off in a dry tone.
“No, actually,” she replied. “There’s going to be a kid’s area and we have volunteers from within the company to watch the kids. There’s going to be games and things there to keep them occupied so the parents can let loose and have some fun.”
“Then why are you asking me to come?” he asked.
“I don’t know, I thought it would be nice if you came. It’s not a big deal,” she shrugged, hoping to come off as though she didn’t care if he came or not. In actuality though, she really hoped that he did. They were slowly falling into a normal routine and she wanted to include him in other aspects of her life that didn’t only involve Trunks. She wanted him to feel like he was a part of her life and she wanted him in both hers and Trunks’ life equally. “Just something to do. You don't have to come, I just thought I’d let you know so if you were interested, you know you’re more than welcome to come. Or you can just enjoy the peace and quiet since the main house will be off limits to guests. I’m sure mom will leave a ton of food for you and you can avoid the whole thing if you want.”
“Hmmmn,” he grunted, preferring the second option. A night with the house completely to himself sounded very appealing.
“Alright,” she nodded awkwardly, not saying anything else on the matter so as to not make him feel uncomfortable. She was learning that the best approach with Vegeta seemed to be to let him come around on his own. Make a suggestion a few days in advance and not mention it again. Maybe he would do it, maybe he wouldn’t but at least she felt good in letting him know about these things so that he knew he was included, even if he didn’t want to be. It was his choice to make but at least he could make the choice.
He had made so much progress in such a short time. He was still reclusive, but at least he didn’t keep himself confined to his bedroom only coming out once a week to eat. If this was as good as it was going to get, she’d take it. He was present in Trunks’ life and they could be civil to each other and enjoy each other’s company as friends. That alone was more than she would have ever hoped or expected from him. While she was dying for something more to happen between them, she also didn’t want to ruin anything by putting any pressure on him.
She knew that if he was going to decide to want something more than what was the current situation, she needed to be patient and make him think that it was his idea. I’m not going anywhere, she sighed to herself. She would wait for him. He was worth it.
-0-0-0-
The day of the Capsule Corporation party came. Bulma made sure she had the most gorgeous cocktail dress. It was dark, royal blue and looked strapless with a sweetheart neckline, but had a chiffon sheer piece of fabric that started under her bust line and fastened around her neck, covering her cleavage but leaving her shoulders exposed. Beneath her bust where the chiffon started was a delicate rhinestone bow pin and the dress was tight around her waist before flowing out in a slight A line at her hips. There were two layers of the skirt portion, making it look delicate and light. It fell to just above her knee. It was a modest dress but it looked simply gorgeous on her. She paired it off with a pair of silver rhinestone stiletto heels, showing off her long, shapely legs.
Bulma was excited about this party. She hadn’t had a relaxing weekend where she could let loose in so long she couldn’t even remember when she had the last time. They had arranged the party the same weekend as the long weekend and closed down early on Friday afternoon. They were closed Saturday for everyone to prepare and come early and Sunday was always closed anyway but Monday was closed too for the long weekend so there was plenty of time for everyone to recover if they indulged a little too much, as was usually the case at these huge Capsule Corporation parties. They all worked hard, which was why they threw at least four big bashes a year for their employees with unlimited food and alcohol for everyone. It was always a great time.
Bulma was looking forward to it and she was very curious to see if Vegeta would at least make an appearance. She hoped he did. She would never admit it, but she had taken great pains to make sure she looked nothing short of stunning just for him and even made sure to have some of his most favourite meals available at the buffet table.
It was eleven o’clock in the morning and the party was set to start at noon. Bulma was ready nice and early so that she could help her mother with any last minute preparations.
She closed her bedroom door and went to check on Trunks and make sure he was ready. She knocked on his door. “Trunks, are you ready?”
“I’m not going,” he replied on the other side of the door.
Bulma frowned and opened up his bedroom door where he was sitting on his bed playing video games and still in his pyjamas. “What do you mean you aren’t going?” she asked him. “There’s going to be tons of kids your own age to play with. You had fun last time, and some of them even came to your birthday party.”
“Ya but I don’t want to,” he shrugged.
“Why not?”
Trunks shrugged again in response.
“Uhm, excuse me,” she snipped at him, standing in front of his tv. “This,” she said, mimicking his shrug, “Is not an answer. Now get dressed, I promised your grandmother we would help her finish up.”
“But I don’t want to,” he whined.
“Tough luck, pal. Guess what? There’s lots of times we have to do things we don’t want to do. That’s life, get used to it.”
“But dad isn’t going and you don’t make him do things when he doesn't want to do them.” he argued.
Ahh, so that’s what this is about, she thought to herself. “Your father is a grown man and can decide things for himself. You, on the other hand aren’t. So until then, you do exactly as I say.”
“Dad doesn’t treat me like a little kid,” he said.
Bulma groaned out loud. It was true, Vegeta didn’t treat Trunks like a little boy, he treated him as an equal. It was good because Trunks was very well spoken and quite mature for his age, but sometimes it concerned her that it was forcing him to grow up quicker than he needed to.
“Besides, I don't feel like hanging around a bunch of kids,” he whined.
“I have news for you, you are a kid,”
“Yea but I’d rather stay here and maybe do something with dad in a bit,”
That was nice, she thought to herself, glad that he wanted to spend time with his father but she would be damned if she would allow her son to mimic his father’s anti-social personality! “Well, you can spend time with your father tomorrow and every day this week. Now get dressed!” she said, shutting his tv off.
“Hey! I was playing that!” he shouted in outrage.
“And now you aren’t,” she said. “Get dressed! You can hook it up and play all your games with the other kids.”
“I don’t want to!”
“Too bad!”
“What the hell is going on in here?” Vegeta bellowed. He was still in his pyjama pants and Bulma was shocked he had still been sleeping. For the last few months he had been getting up early to meditate.
“Mom is trying to make me go to this stupid thing,” Trunks whined.
“It isn't stupid!”
“Enough!” Vegeta growled. He looked at her briefly, noting to himself how nice she looked before shooting his son a dirty look for disrupting his sleep. “Woman, you go and help your mother, I will deal with the boy,”
“He’s going, Vegeta,” she said firmly. “I don’t care what you decide to do, but he’s going so don’t-”
“I will handle it,” he cut her off, remembering their discussion from a while back about being consistent with the boy. In all honesty he could care less if Trunks wanted to stay or not but he knew these gatherings were important to Bulma for whatever reason. She and her parents always made a point of inviting him and he never went but he knew the Briefs family put a lot of effort and energy into these things. He himself had no intention of going today either but if the woman wanted the boy to go, he would make him go. Besides, he was looking forward to a nice, peaceful day on his own with no disruptions. That was why he was still in bed. He didn’t know what he was going to do today but that was alright. He would make it up as he went along. So long as he was left alone for most of the day, he would be happy.
Bulma looked at Vegeta in surprise, not expecting help or support in this matter. Vegeta never came to any of the functions so why would he take her side in this? She was going to point that out but then decided to leave it be and give him a chance. So far things between them in the co-parenting department had been going really well. Maybe he would surprise her and take her side on this. She nodded and left Trunks’ bedroom and went to go find her mother.
“Can I just stay here and spend the day with you, dad?” Trunks asked after Bulma left.
“No, you will attend this function and that is final,” he shook his head.
“But why?” he whined.
“Do not whine,” he said sharply to him. “You are going because it is important to your mother that you be there,”
“But you’re not going,” Trunks pointed out.
Vegeta sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose in aggravation. Sometimes this whole parenting thing was more trouble than it was worth and he didn’t understand why he stuck around to even bother with it. “No, I am not, but that does not excuse you from going.”
“Why not?”
“Because it doesn’t!” he snipped, knowing full well that wasn’t a good enough reason; or it was not a reason Trunks could understand. “If you go, I will take you to the park tomorrow,”
“Tomorrow is Sunday, I always go to the park on Sundays with mom anyway,” Trunks sighed in a bored tone, indicating that the incentive wasn’t quite good enough.
“Alright, I will make a compromise with you. I will go to this damned thing if you do. You must behave yourself. If you do, I will take you to the park every afternoon this week,” he growled begrudgingly, regretting the offer the moment it came out of his mouth.
“Really? You will?” Trunks lit up.
“Hmmn,” he nodded, already regretting his offer. What was he doing making propositions and negotiations with a four-year-old? Was this what his life had become, he wondered glumly.
“Okay! I’ll go!” Trunks said, jumping off his bed and racing to his dresser to get dressed.
Vegeta slinked off, back to his bedroom and shut the door. He growled as he made his way to his ensuite bathroom to shower. At least there would be plenty of food there, he reasoned to himself. Now that he was up, he was feeling hungry. He would make sure Trunks went, would have a meal and then leave. He had promised Trunks that he would go, not that he would stay.
-0-0-0-
Bulma was already greeting guests who had decided to arrive early. Fortunately her mother, being the super multi tasker she was, had everything all ready to go and hadn’t needed any help.
She was going to check on the kids place to make sure Trunks had made it but was caught up talking with one of the board members for the last few minutes.
Bulma had managed to give Chi-Chi a quick call before people had started showing up and had asked if she would bring Goten over to play with Trunks for the day. Then at least he would have someone if he didn’t want to hang out with the other kids. The other woman had agreed, much to Bulma’s relief. She had offered to let Goten spend the night with Trunks and then bring him back sometime tomorrow afternoon, depending on the severity of her hang over.
She excused herself finally when someone with a kid showed up, and made a point of insisting on showing them to the kids area just so she could check and see if Trunks was there yet. If he wasn’t, she was going to be giving both him and his father an earful.
They walked into the kids area and she was relieved to see Trunks playing video games already with the only other kid there.
“Everything okay in here, sweetie?” she asked.
“Ya,” Trunks replied, not taking his eyes off the screen.
“Remember to let everyone else have a turn on your game,”
“I will,”
“That’s a good boy, Trunks,” Bulma smiled at him. “Goten is on his way over too, by the way, and he’s going to spend the night.”
“Alright!” Trunks jumped, still not taking his eyes off the screen.
By this time, the other little boy was at the tv watching Trunks and the other boy play the game.
“I think they’re going to be just fine,” the girl who was supervising the kids said to her with a smile.
“You’re right, Thank you for watching them,” Bulma agreed, heading back to where everyone was arriving.
-0-0-0-
After taking his time in the shower, Vegeta went to his closet to find something to wear since he assumed that training shorts and flight suit spandex would be an unacceptable choice of attire for this thing and he wanted to be as unnoticed as possible.
He scanned through the section of clothing that Mrs. Briefs had bought for him when he had first arrived on this planet. None of it appealed to him and none of it looked comfortable. He found a pair of dark navy blue denim jeans and tossed them on his bed behind him before going through the shirts. He didn’t mind the loose dress shirts, so long as they weren’t pink or didn’t have floral patterns all over them, which was what seemed to dominate his closet, much to his irritation. He settled on a black, long sleeved, fitted dress shirt.
Vegeta quickly dressed and gave himself a once over in the mirror. He wasn’t sure if he looked acceptable for this function or not but then decided he didn’t care. As he looked at himself, he wondered if he should leave the dress shirt tucked in or leave it out? The fit of the shirt clung to him nicely, flattering his exceptional physique so he didn’t think it looked bad if he left it out, though he was still unsure. Bulma was dressed quite formal so he wasn’t sure if this was suitable.
Once again, he reminded himself that he did not care and exited his room in a huff. So much for peace and quiet and solitude for the day. He passed Trunks’ room and was satisfied to notice that the boy was gone and it looked like he had taken his game console with him, based on the mess of cords all over the floor. He shook his head. The boy had obviously gotten his lack of organizational skills from his mother.
He made his way over to the other side of the compound and snuck in through one of the rear entrances, wanting to avoid being seen or worse, be forced to carry on mundane conversation with people he did not know or care about.
-0-0-0-
“There you are,” she heard from behind her.
“Oh, hey,” she replied as she turned around, her smile faltering somewhat when she knew who it was. She knew she was being silly in her hopes that Vegeta just might show up but she found herself scanning the room constantly in hopes of seeing him lurking in a corner on his own, away from everyone else. She’d known who was behind her wasn’t Vegeta as soon as she'd heard his voice, but it was as though the wishful thinking in her heart was so single minded that she’d still hoped it was him when she turned around and so she was still slightly disappointed. “You made it.”
“Oh course I did! I wouldn’t miss it for the world!” Derek said. “You want a drink?” he asked her.
“Sure, actually. I haven’t had one yet,” she nodded. “I’ll come with you.”
Bulma followed him to the minibar where the drinks were being served and asked for a glass of white wine for herself. Derek asked for a beer.
“You look amazing, by the way,” he said to her once they had their drinks in hand and had migrated to a less crowded area of the room.
“Thank you,” smiled, still scanning the room for Vegeta.
“If I didn’t know any better, I’d go out on a limb and say you put in the extra effort for someone,” he teased.
Bulma looked at him suddenly and felt her face go warm. Technically she had done herself up a bit more than necessary, but it was for Vegeta. Was it that obvious? She had seen Vegeta earlier when she was arguing with Trunks. Had he thought she had gone and made herself up just for him and now decided to not show up because he thought she was pathetic?
“I was teasing you,” Derek chuckled at the look of embarrassment on her face. “You don’t have time for all that silly stuff I thought,”
“You’re right, I don’t.” she agreed, catching herself. “Besides, I don’t have anyone to dress up for,”
“Wow! That kind of hurts,” he teased, putting his hand on his heart.
“I thought you said you didn’t have feelings?” she jokingly reminded him, referring to a conversation they’d had about a week or so ago, when she turned him down for a date again and had mentioned that she didn’t want to keep hurting his feelings by continually saying no and he had countered that it was impossible for her to hurt his feelings because he had none, which was why he did well in sales. She had laughed almost until she cried because it made her think of Vegeta. Now there was someone who if he had any feelings, only had maybe one. Derek was a complete polar opposite to Vegeta, it was hilarious actually.
They were so different that she found herself actually considering giving the poor guy a chance and go out with him. Maybe he was the one? He didn’t have a shady bad boy past from what she could tell. He wasn’t a project like both Yamcha and Vegeta had been to her. If she wanted to get to know Derek better, all she had to do was reciprocate his interest. On the other hand, that made things almost too easy and Bulma liked a challenge. Right and look where that got you. You’re a 36 year old single mother.
Since she still wasn’t sure what to do, she had fun teasing and flirting with him in the meantime. She liked being chased. It made her feel good that at least someone was interested in her.
“I have one feeling. And you just hurt it,” he said.
“Oh, so you have one.”
“I do,” he nodded.
“My apologies,” she laughed. “I didn’t realize you even had one.”
“You are heartless, you know that?”
“I have a reputation to uphold,” she shrugged. “Being heartless is the only way anyone takes me seriously.”
“Nah..”
Bulma snorted at him and enjoyed her wine. Truthfully, she enjoyed his company and their banter. Sure there wasn’t the same intensity behind it as when she and Vegeta used to engage in their witty games of verbal dialogue but she liked that she could joke and tease him with her sarcastic streak and he would come back with something equally as obnoxious usually.
Bulma and Derek spent their time visiting and mingling with fellow staff members and it didn’t take long before everything was in full swing.
0-0-0
Vegeta had taken his time making it to the gathering and when he’d made it he left after a few minutes having reminded himself why he avoided these things like the plague. Having to hang out with a bunch of people he had no interest in knowing and answering stupid questions about who he was and why no one ever saw him around at the office compound. Who cared? Security at Capsule Corporation was paramount. They wouldn’t let just any random person show up to an event like this so obviously he was entitled to be here; not that they could keep him out if he really wanted to be there, he thought with a smirk. He wasn’t in the auditorium one minute and he had been swarmed by several women. All interested in wanting to know who he was. What was with these humans and feeling the need to talk to some random person they didn’t know?
He didn’t do that.
He wasn’t even sure what to tell them when asked. He didn’t feel like it was any of anyone’s business who he was and what his relation to the Brief’s family and Capsule Corporation was. He didn’t know if the woman wanted people to know who he was and that he was her son's father. It wasn’t something they’d ever discussed. He knew she was very open about it around the Z warriors; she’d never hid Trunks’ paternity from any of them but those were her close friends. These people were all beneath her and her family; they worked for them so did that mean she kept her private life off limits to them? He did not know. If they were his subjects, he would have kept his personal life private and on a need to know basis. In which case he felt that none of these people needed to know or were entitled to know and so he kept his responses very vague.
Unfortunately, his aloof demeanour did nothing to discourage the gaggle of woman wanting to talk to him and find out who he was. After a few minutes of that nonsense, he excused himself and went to make sure Trunks was still where he was supposed to be.
He was there. Playing games with Kakarott’s youngest brat and dressed in that god awful clown suit they’d gotten him for his birthday so they were dressed nearly identical.
“Hey dad!” Trunks greeted him, dropping his controller on the ground and running up to him. “Can we show everyone how we fly?” he asked in a loud whisper, trying to be discreet.
“No, boy,” he said quietly. “We are not to discuss our training or demonstrate it to others. I have told you this,”
“Ya but Goten said his brother taught him to fly too,” Trunks whispered to him hoarsely. “He doesn’t believe me that you taught me to fly too or that you can fly like Gohan can.”
Vegeta sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose. “That may be, but I told you that you are to never discuss our training with anyone. That includes Kakarott’s… that includes Goten.”
Trunks sighed in disappointment. “Alright,”
Vegeta then felt a little bad for snapping at him like that; he could understand his son’s competitive nature and wanting to prove to the other boy that he was just as capable if not more so. “I tell you what, you boys keep it to yourself today and the next time he’s over I will show you both and he can train with us.”
“Really?”
“Really. But only if you both do not tell anyone else here about it,” he negotiated. “It is no one’s business.”
“Okay!” Trunks said cheerfully, running a finger across his lips like he was zipping his mouth shut. “Mmm mmph mm,” he mumbled before unzipping his lips. “Mom says Goten is spending the night. Can he train with us tomorrow morning then?”
Vegeta sighed in annoyance. Now he had to live up to that promise. When he’d said that, he had assumed it would be weeks or months even between now and the next time Goten came over and Trunks would forget all about it by then. “Yes, fine. Whatever,” he growled quietly.
“Alright. It’s our secret!” Trunks said and turned to skip back to the other kids.
Vegeta shook his head and turned to leave. He was going to go back to the main compound to get away from the noise and the crowd but he was hungry. And he knew that the food would have been served by now and maybe people would be too drunk by this point to even notice him slip in and out for a quick meal. So he headed back inside.
As predicted, a good number of the people in attendance were intoxicated and paid him no notice. Some were eating, almost all of them were drinking. Some were dancing and most just mingling randomly about the large hall.
Vegeta scanned the room, looking for Bulma but he couldn’t see her. He could sense her energy, but there were too many people there for him to be able to pick her out of the crowd.
He quietly circled the perimeter of the room. Ignoring everyone as he went, carefully looking through the crowd for the one person he actually didn’t mind knowing that he was here. Which puzzled him.
He had made a point of making sure Trunks knew he had come, but that was because of the agreement they had made. He had made that arrangement with the boy, not his mother. However for some reason he wanted her to know that he had put forth the effort to be here.
He saw Bulma’s parents and kept going. He didn’t want the older woman to draw attention to him.
Finally he saw her.
She was visiting with a male and two other females. He hadn’t taken a good look at her earlier, but he remembered that she’d looked simply stunning. He discreetly looked at her appreciatively from afar, leaning against the wall with his arms crossed. Thankfully no one else seemed to notice him. He preferred that.
He watched her as she conversed. She did look exceptional today. He noticed that the male standing by her was hovering rather closely to her and he wondered if she as aware of it or not. If she was, she didn’t seem to mind. He was included in the conversation and she was deferring to him as well and so he wondered if he was the reason she looked so nice for this event? Come to think of it, he’d been noticing her putting forth extra effort into her appearance for work in the last few weeks. Was this the reason, he wondered.
He internally shrugged, telling himself that he really didn’t care. If she was interested in another, then it meant that things between them wouldn’t become complicated again. He was content with things remaining exactly as they were between them.
He watched her carefully for a while and determined that she wasn’t overly aware of the other male hovering. He was clearly interested in her but she was either ignoring it or was oblivious to it. Either way, he found it amusing to observe until he noticed her scanning the room for about the third time, unsuccessfully noticing him until now.
They locked eyes for a long moment and he could tell that she was genuinely surprised to see him there.
0-0-0
Bulma was having a decent time. Derek was hilarious as usual and she was visiting with some of her lab buddies she hadn’t seen since she had started in the sales department. Still, she kept discreetly looking along the walls in hopes of seeing Vegeta there even though she would have bet half her fortune that he would not show up at all.
As she was looking again, not paying attention to the conversation around her, her eyes suddenly met with a pair of the blackest eyes she’d ever seen. Oh my god, she thought to herself, blinking a few times and doing a double take. There was Vegeta, standing against the far back wall dressed in dark jeans and black fitted shirt with the first few top buttons undone, so you only got a hint that he was very well built beneath his clothes. Bulma always found him appealing but seeing him dressed in normal clothes the way he was, she couldn’t remember seeing him look sexier than he did right then.
She excused herself from her friends and made a beeline for him.
“Hey! You came!” she exclaimed, smiling at him, genuinely glad he was there.
“Hmmmn,” he grunted, feeling very uncomfortable now because people were looking at them. “I had little choice,”
“Why? Did mum not leave you food to eat?” she asked. “I’m so sorry-”
“I negotiated with the boy that if he came, I would come,” he deadpanned. Somehow admitting it out loud to her made him feel even more embarrassed than he already was by doing this.
“You what?” she snorted in amusement. “That’s hilarious, Vegeta.”
“Hmmmn,” he grunted.
She had to refrain from giggling at him, as she could see that he wasn't nearly as amused as she was. “Well, I’m glad you came, no matter what the reason. Do you want me to grab you a drink? And there’s plenty of food too.”
“No drink,” he said. “I will stay long enough for a meal however.”
“Okay,” she nodded. “I haven’t eaten yet either so I’ll go with you so you don’t have to sit alone.”
Truthfully, he would have rather she left him on his own so that he would not be noticed or bothered.
She went with him and they both loaded up their plates with everything they wanted; Vegeta, helping himself to two plates.
“You wanna get out of here?” she asked him.
He looked at her in surprise a moment. “Is that not poor etiquette on your part?”
Bulma waved a hand in dismissal and made a funny noise. “Who cares,” she snorted. “My parents are still here and half the people here are already half cut so I doubt anyone will notice if I step out for a bit. Even if they do, so what?”
He smirked at her. He was certain that the guy who he had observed hanging around her earlier would notice her absence, if he hadn’t already.
Bulma smiled and snagged a bottle of unopened red wine with a twist off lid instead of a cork and looped her arm through his and pulled him behind her, sneaking out of the crowded hall. Instead of going outside, she went up a staircase and they booked it up the stairs quickly until they made it to the roof.
Bulma opened the door and then after making sure there was no one else up there hanging out, she locked the door so no one else would come up.
“I could have flown us up here,” he said to her.
“You have two loaded plates, how would you have possibly flown us both up here?”
Vegeta shrugged and walked over to around the middle of the roof and sat on the ground to start eating.
Bulma stood there a moment. She should have thought this through a little bit better. It wasn’t exactly clean up there and she didn’t want to get her dress dirty but she relented and put her plate on the ground and pulled her skirt up a bit so that she could just sit on her knees and not ruin her dress.
“So?” she started between mouthfuls. “What exactly was the deal you made with Trunks?”
Vegeta rolled his eyes. “That if he went without a fuss that I would go too since his objection to not going was only on the premise that I was not going.”
“I keep telling you how much he looks up to you and you keep thinking it’s no big deal,” she shrugged. “You still didn’t have to come though,”
“I told the boy I would so I did,” he replied. “If he found out otherwise, then he would think that I am a liar and my word then means nothing to him. Which do you think is worse?”
“You’re right,” she agreed. “I never thought of it that way. Well thanks for backing me up on that and thanks for being here. I know how much you hate these things. It means a lot to me that you came, even if it was just to hold up your end of your bargain with Trunks and have some food. I’m glad you’re here.”
Vegeta didn’t say anything for a moment and reached for the wine bottle sitting between them and opening it. “You did not bring any glasses,”
Bulma shrugged and took the wine bottle from him and took a swig from it and handed it back to him. “Who needs glasses?”
“Classy,” he snorted at her but took his own sip from the bottle. “Not only did I talk myself into coming here but I condemned myself to having to go to the park every day this week and train with both Trunks and Kakarott’s brat tomorrow morning.”
“You didn’t!” she exclaimed with a giggle.
He simply frowned and nodded.
“That’ll be fun,” she commented. “Goten is hilarious. He reminds me of Goku; not just the way he looks but his mannerisms and everything. He’s like a mini carbon copy.”
“Which explains why he is so dense,” Vegeta deadpanned. “They should have named him Young Plank.”
“Awe come on, Vegeta, he’s just a little kid,”
“Trunks was not nearly as dim witted as he was at that age or ever,” Vegeta pointed out.
“True, but remember, I am a genius,” she pointed out haughtily. “Intelligence runs in my family so it only stands to reason that any child of mine would be super smart.”
Vegeta gave her a look that indicated that he was not impressed.
They both finished off their lunch while sharing the bottle of wine and enjoying light conversation about nothing in particular for quite a while.
“Well, I’d better be getting back,” she announced. “Do you wanna come back down? There’s dancing.”
“No,” he answered. He had come, had stayed and now he was leaving.
“Awe, come on. Please Vegeta?”
“No, I do not dance.” he said firmly, taking the empty bottle of wine and placing it on the other side of him.
“Awe, I’ll teach you, Vegeta,” she insisted. “It’s fun!”
“I never said I could not dance,” he clarified. I said I do not dance,”
Bulma huffed in disappointment. As always, Vegeta always found a way to dampen the mood whenever things were going well. “Fine,” she sighed.
Vegeta watched her as she stood up abruptly, swaying slightly and began to head to the door. He frowned as he watched her attempt to keep her balance on those shoes of hers and decided that there was no way she would be able to venture down those stairs in those shoes. Her legs had obviously fallen asleep from the way she had been sitting on them for the last hour or so they had been up there.
He stood up and quickly scooped her up into his arms and leapt off the roof, landing near the back entrance he had come where no one would notice them.
“Hey, give me some warning if you’re going to do that!” she whined, wrapping her arms around his neck, trying to catch her balance.
Vegeta placed his hands on her hips without thinking. It was more of a natural reflex to help her regain her equilibrium again.
“You look so hot,” she said, looking intently at him, lingering longer than she needed to.
“You’re inebriated,” he replied, gently pushing her away from him.
“I am not,” she huffed in offense. She wasn’t and it annoyed her that he’d said that or even thought that she might be. She almost wished in that moment that she was a bit on the tipsy side. If she had been, she’d have had the courage to throw all caution and good sense out the window and kiss him and if he rejected her then she could simply excuse her actions and blame the alcohol; but she wasn’t drunk. Not even a little. She was standing close enough to him still that she could kiss him if she wanted to, but she chickened out. “You do look really good today in normal clothes. I’m serious.”
“Hmmmn,” he grunted and left.
Bulma watched him leave and refrained from saying anything else and headed back to the party. She was just content that he’d shown up for a little bit. That alone was a huge step land something she had not expected.
“There you are,” Derek greeted her as she was grabbing another glass of wine. “I was wondering where you’d gone,”
“Oh, nowhere,” she brushed off. “I needed to talk to my son’s father about something quick is all.”
“Is he here?” he asked in interest, looking around.
“He was,” she shrugged. “He’s gone now. He just came for a quick bite to eat and discuss something with regards to Trunks.”
“Sorry I missed him,” Derek said.
“No, you aren’t,” she chuckled. “He hates things like this. He just came to eat and I had an issue with Trunks this morning and left him to figure it out. He was letting me know how that went. We just went outside and had lunch up on the roof where it was quiet is all,”
“Sounds romantic,”
“Yeah, right,” she sorted. “Vegeta hasn’t a romantic bone in his body.” she said, still feeling a bit disappointed that he bailed already and didn’t want to dance with her which she knew was stupid on her part because that was so not Vegeta. It was out of character for him to show up in the first place, she reminded herself.
He picked up on the slight tone of bitterness in her voice. “Want to dance?” he asked her cheerfully.
“I’d love to,” she smiled, placing her drink down and taking his hand as he lead her out onto the dancefloor where there were quite a few people dancing already.
They danced and hung out together for the rest of the get together and had a great time and it wasn’t long before she forgot all about Vegeta and just focused her attentions on Derek and having a great time.
-0-0-0-
The few weeks following the big Capsule Corporation party went by quickly.
Bulma wasn’t sure why, but she noticed that Vegeta was more relaxed and open about spending time with both her and Trunks together.
For the last three Sundays in a row, the three of them had gone to the park together for the afternoon as a family and Bulma couldn’t remember the last time she’d had enjoyed her days off! Usually she’d found herself anticipating them just so she could sleep in and relax but now she had found herself looking forward to the three of them spending time together almost as though they were a normal family.
Things from there were also progressing slowly, but nicely between them. Recently she could have sworn he was flirting with her, but she wasn’t sure. Vegeta was so vague and subtle when he did flirt with her that sometimes she didn’t realize that he had been until later on when she was thinking about it on her own.
She was starting to feel more and more comfortable with him as the days and weeks went by; however this limbo they seemed to be caught in was beginning to frustrate her. Especially since at work, Derrek was becoming more forward and she was finding herself more and more tempted to go out with him since Vegeta seemed disinterested in anything else.
She liked Derek, but she wanted Vegeta. However other than the odd teasing or flirtatious comment, Vegeta never made the move to instigate anything further so she was terribly confused as to whether or not she should or shouldn’t try to open that door with him. What if it ruined all of the progress that they had made together? She didn’t want that, but she didn’t want to keep hoping and waiting for something more if it wasn’t possible. She needed to move on with her life one way or another.
Bulma had plagued herself with these thoughts for the last two weeks before finally decided that she needed to know one way or another if she and Vegeta were going to have a chance at something more than being good friends and co parents to their son.
The problem was, she had no idea how to approach him on it or let him know how she felt.
Bulma knew she couldn’t strut around in her cutest outfits and act like a ditz around him like she normally would; that sort of thing wouldn’t work on him.
Every evening they spent together she had told herself that she would do something to instigate something more with him and every night she chickened out.
Tonight was no exception.
They’d been having a few drinks and snacks watching one of their favourite tv shows. She had been extra tired this evening and had obviously dozed off she realized as she noticed she was laying down but her head was in Vegeta’s lap and one of his hands was on her head, lightly stroking her hair.
She lay there a moment, completely still, wondering how long she had been laying there and how long she had been asleep. Had she fallen asleep on his shoulder?
The last she remembered, she had been sitting next to him, closer than necessary. She had been trying to find a way to instigate a meaningful conversation with him and must have fallen asleep at some point.
She turned awkwardly in his lap, laying on her back so she could look up at him, deciding that maybe this was the right moment; if there was ever going to be a right moment. This was it.
She reached up and touched the side of his face lightly, debating on whether she should kiss him or not; she sure wanted to but she didn’t want to push him away. They had made so much progress that she didn’t want to do anything to ruin it.
They had somehow over the last year evolved into good friends and companions. It was nice and it was so much more than she ever expected from him. If things stayed like this, she knew she would be somewhat content because things between them were peaceful and it was so good for Trunks to have his father in his life. But there was the selfish part of her that wanted more. If there was the possibility of something more developing between them, she didn’t want to not explore it.
For as many times as she had told herself and everyone who would listen that she was done with Vegeta on a romantic standpoint and was only keeping the peace with him so that Trunks could have him in his life, she knew it wasn’t true. She had never completely closed that door and she knew she would never get over him completely. Vegeta had rocked her world quite literally and even if she did someday move on and find someone to share her life with, she knew that a part of her heart would always belong to Vegeta.
Vegeta looked at her and noted that she seemed to be contemplating something. He also noticed a shift in her scent. As the minutes ticked by it was becoming slightly stronger and he recognized it immediately as the scent of her arousal and suddenly he had no idea what to do.
His gut and his head were both telling him to go. His heart and other anatomy however was urging him to stay and pursue this. He knew she wanted him and that all he needed to do was kiss her or offer some sort of encouragement along those lines and she would give herself to him for the night. The thought was appealing and he felt his lower half beginning to stir in anticipation at the thought of having her again after all these years.
And what of tomorrow, he asked himself. He knew if he opened that door now and took pleasure in her company that she would expect more from him; much more than what he felt he could give her.
He was still very much attracted to her and he wanted her very much in the same way he had the last time they had gone down this road together and while yes, he had been more than satisfied with that arrangement it had inevitably soured and they now had a child as a result. Did he want to repeat that whole thing? No, came the answer immediately. He didn’t. He didn’t mind spending time with her and the brat and living here wasn’t the worst but he didn’t want the hassle and complications he knew would arise if they crossed that line again and added physical intimacy into the equation.
Yet things between them were comfortable and easy. Would adding that physical aspect actually complicate it or would it enrich the current relationship that they had managed to cultivate? He wasn’t sure what the best course of action was.
Vegeta suddenly began to feel claustrophobic and trapped. He needed time to think about what it was he wanted. Did he want her in that way or was it best to simply leave things exactly like they were? How did he tell her what he was feeling without offending her?
As the moment dragged on and Bulma contemplated what to do, she decided to take the safe road and do nothing. What if they hooked up and both of them regretted it in the morning? What would happen to their current relationship? Would it be ruined?
Bulma knew that if they were intimate tonight that try as she may to not look into it more than what it was, if he then left and treated her with distain as he had last time, it would destroy her.
As she looked at him and noticed the slight confusion clouding his features, she wondered if he was thinking the same thing she was. His expression was soft, he didn’t look angry but his eyes were guarded and she wished so badly that he would let her in and tell her what he wanted. Was he as afraid of this as she was?
“It’s getting late,” she sighed, getting up to leave. Her mind, body and heart screaming at her to just kiss him and see where the night would take them from there and worry about all the possible implications and consequences tomorrow. Yea because that's what you did last time and that didn’t turn out bad at all, she chastised herself. I can’t do friends with benefits. Maybe I could with Yamcha or Derek even, but not with him.
Vegeta simply nodded in agreement, feeling partially relieved that she was the one to make the decision because he was very much leaning towards the screw the consequences category and have her here and now while the opportunity was open.
He stood up next to her as she shut the TV off and was surprised when she suddenly threw her arms around his neck and hugged him for a moment. “I’m so glad you are here with us, Vegeta,” she said softly before letting him go.
Vegeta didn’t return the embrace but took her hand as she turned from him to leave the room.
Surprised, she turned back to him. Was this it, she asked herself hopefully. Does he want to take things further?
He winced inwardly at the hopeful look on her face and knew he was possibly making a huge mistake where she was concerned.
“I do not mind your company,” he said cautiously. “But that is all I can give you. Anything else just complicates things.”
Bulma tried to not show her disappointment. But we could be so good together! She wanted to shout at him. Instead she simply nodded and swallowed the lump she felt suddenly in her throat. “Things are really good right now,” she admitted.
He could see how hard she was trying not to let him see how disappointed she was and a part of him admired that.
“Well, I should get to bed,” she said, looking away from him. It was true, she did; but she also needed to put some distance between them. She had just embarrassed herself and she needed to be alone.
I should have known I was just breaking my own heart by getting my stupid hopes up, she vented as she walked out of the room as quickly as she could, not saying anything else to him.
This was it, she decided. She was done hoping and trying for something more to happen between them. It upset her, but she decided to let things be and leave it at that. She would never embarrass herself in front of him like that again.
-0-0-0-
Chapter 5
The following few weeks had gone well for everyone. Vegeta had begun training Trunks the very next day as he said he would and they trained every morning, early before breakfast and for a little while in the afternoon. Vegeta was very strict with Trunks. Training was to be taken seriously and he had to be on time for their training. If he wasn’t, Vegeta sent him back into the house and he would have to wait until the afternoon. Trunks was late twice and never again. He valued the training and instruction from his father. Vegta’s other rule was that Trunks not discuss the nature of their training with anyone except for Bulma if she asked. To anyone else, Vegeta instructed Trunks that they were not to know.
In the mornings they would start with meditation and katas. Trunks followed and did everything to mirror and imitate his father as best as possible. Vegeta thought the katas were an excellent place to start. They were good for Trunks balance, taught him proper posture and form and required concentration.
In the afternoons Vegeta started on teaching Trunks to fly. Not surprisingly, he had caught onto that fairly quickly and within a few weeks they were flying over short distances together, slowly building up endurance.
The months seemed to fly by and soon Trunks’ fourth birthday came and went. Vegeta had even shown up for a little while, much to Bulma’s happiness.
She had invited him, assuming he would not show up at all; after all, he never attended any of the Capsule Corporation events or anything else she ever invited him to that involved more than just her and her parents being in attendance. So she was thrilled he had shown up and actually stayed for a bit.
It hadn’t been a huge party, but it had been enough kids that Trunks had had a great time. Goten and Chi-Chi had even gotten Trunks a custom made gi identical to the one Goku always wore, only it was a dark teal green instead of orange. Trunks loved it, but Vegeta wasn’t crazy about the idea of his son running around in a “clown suit”. Bulma thought the gesture was sweet and thought it was hilarious that he absolutely loved it so much he wouldn’t wear anything else for an entire week despite his father’s hinting at him to change into something else.
It was with those optimistic thoughts in mind that Bulma decided she wanted to invite Vegeta to the upcoming Capsule Corporation party this coming weekend. She wasn’t sure if he would come or not, but she wanted to ask him anyway.
“I know you don’t like formal functions or anything but we’re having our quarterly staff party this weekend,” she said to him on one of their evenings spent watching tv together. It was slowly becoming a regular occurrence that Bulma began to look forward to. Sometimes they would discuss Trunks and his training and sometimes, depending on how tired Bulma was, they would just sit together in companionable silence and watch whichever program they chose. All week she had been wanting to ask him to come and so tonight she decided to bite the bullet and go for it. “It would be kind of cool if you came. There’s going to be tons of food and-”
“You want me to come to supervise the boy during the festivities,” he cut her off in a dry tone.
“No, actually,” she replied. “There’s going to be a kid’s area and we have volunteers from within the company to watch the kids. There’s going to be games and things there to keep them occupied so the parents can let loose and have some fun.”
“Then why are you asking me to come?” he asked.
“I don’t know, I thought it would be nice if you came. It’s not a big deal,” she shrugged, hoping to come off as though she didn’t care if he came or not. In actuality though, she really hoped that he did. They were slowly falling into a normal routine and she wanted to include him in other aspects of her life that didn’t only involve Trunks. She wanted him to feel like he was a part of her life and she wanted him in both hers and Trunks’ life equally. “Just something to do. You don't have to come, I just thought I’d let you know so if you were interested, you know you’re more than welcome to come. Or you can just enjoy the peace and quiet since the main house will be off limits to guests. I’m sure mom will leave a ton of food for you and you can avoid the whole thing if you want.”
“Hmmmn,” he grunted, preferring the second option. A night with the house completely to himself sounded very appealing.
“Alright,” she nodded awkwardly, not saying anything else on the matter so as to not make him feel uncomfortable. She was learning that the best approach with Vegeta seemed to be to let him come around on his own. Make a suggestion a few days in advance and not mention it again. Maybe he would do it, maybe he wouldn’t but at least she felt good in letting him know about these things so that he knew he was included, even if he didn’t want to be. It was his choice to make but at least he could make the choice.
He had made so much progress in such a short time. He was still reclusive, but at least he didn’t keep himself confined to his bedroom only coming out once a week to eat. If this was as good as it was going to get, she’d take it. He was present in Trunks’ life and they could be civil to each other and enjoy each other’s company as friends. That alone was more than she would have ever hoped or expected from him. While she was dying for something more to happen between them, she also didn’t want to ruin anything by putting any pressure on him.
She knew that if he was going to decide to want something more than what was the current situation, she needed to be patient and make him think that it was his idea. I’m not going anywhere, she sighed to herself. She would wait for him. He was worth it.
-0-0-0-
The day of the Capsule Corporation party came. Bulma made sure she had the most gorgeous cocktail dress. It was dark, royal blue and looked strapless with a sweetheart neckline, but had a chiffon sheer piece of fabric that started under her bust line and fastened around her neck, covering her cleavage but leaving her shoulders exposed. Beneath her bust where the chiffon started was a delicate rhinestone bow pin and the dress was tight around her waist before flowing out in a slight A line at her hips. There were two layers of the skirt portion, making it look delicate and light. It fell to just above her knee. It was a modest dress but it looked simply gorgeous on her. She paired it off with a pair of silver rhinestone stiletto heels, showing off her long, shapely legs.
Bulma was excited about this party. She hadn’t had a relaxing weekend where she could let loose in so long she couldn’t even remember when she had the last time. They had arranged the party the same weekend as the long weekend and closed down early on Friday afternoon. They were closed Saturday for everyone to prepare and come early and Sunday was always closed anyway but Monday was closed too for the long weekend so there was plenty of time for everyone to recover if they indulged a little too much, as was usually the case at these huge Capsule Corporation parties. They all worked hard, which was why they threw at least four big bashes a year for their employees with unlimited food and alcohol for everyone. It was always a great time.
Bulma was looking forward to it and she was very curious to see if Vegeta would at least make an appearance. She hoped he did. She would never admit it, but she had taken great pains to make sure she looked nothing short of stunning just for him and even made sure to have some of his most favourite meals available at the buffet table.
It was eleven o’clock in the morning and the party was set to start at noon. Bulma was ready nice and early so that she could help her mother with any last minute preparations.
She closed her bedroom door and went to check on Trunks and make sure he was ready. She knocked on his door. “Trunks, are you ready?”
“I’m not going,” he replied on the other side of the door.
Bulma frowned and opened up his bedroom door where he was sitting on his bed playing video games and still in his pyjamas. “What do you mean you aren’t going?” she asked him. “There’s going to be tons of kids your own age to play with. You had fun last time, and some of them even came to your birthday party.”
“Ya but I don’t want to,” he shrugged.
“Why not?”
Trunks shrugged again in response.
“Uhm, excuse me,” she snipped at him, standing in front of his tv. “This,” she said, mimicking his shrug, “Is not an answer. Now get dressed, I promised your grandmother we would help her finish up.”
“But I don’t want to,” he whined.
“Tough luck, pal. Guess what? There’s lots of times we have to do things we don’t want to do. That’s life, get used to it.”
“But dad isn’t going and you don’t make him do things when he doesn't want to do them.” he argued.
Ahh, so that’s what this is about, she thought to herself. “Your father is a grown man and can decide things for himself. You, on the other hand aren’t. So until then, you do exactly as I say.”
“Dad doesn’t treat me like a little kid,” he said.
Bulma groaned out loud. It was true, Vegeta didn’t treat Trunks like a little boy, he treated him as an equal. It was good because Trunks was very well spoken and quite mature for his age, but sometimes it concerned her that it was forcing him to grow up quicker than he needed to.
“Besides, I don't feel like hanging around a bunch of kids,” he whined.
“I have news for you, you are a kid,”
“Yea but I’d rather stay here and maybe do something with dad in a bit,”
That was nice, she thought to herself, glad that he wanted to spend time with his father but she would be damned if she would allow her son to mimic his father’s anti-social personality! “Well, you can spend time with your father tomorrow and every day this week. Now get dressed!” she said, shutting his tv off.
“Hey! I was playing that!” he shouted in outrage.
“And now you aren’t,” she said. “Get dressed! You can hook it up and play all your games with the other kids.”
“I don’t want to!”
“Too bad!”
“What the hell is going on in here?” Vegeta bellowed. He was still in his pyjama pants and Bulma was shocked he had still been sleeping. For the last few months he had been getting up early to meditate.
“Mom is trying to make me go to this stupid thing,” Trunks whined.
“It isn't stupid!”
“Enough!” Vegeta growled. He looked at her briefly, noting to himself how nice she looked before shooting his son a dirty look for disrupting his sleep. “Woman, you go and help your mother, I will deal with the boy,”
“He’s going, Vegeta,” she said firmly. “I don’t care what you decide to do, but he’s going so don’t-”
“I will handle it,” he cut her off, remembering their discussion from a while back about being consistent with the boy. In all honesty he could care less if Trunks wanted to stay or not but he knew these gatherings were important to Bulma for whatever reason. She and her parents always made a point of inviting him and he never went but he knew the Briefs family put a lot of effort and energy into these things. He himself had no intention of going today either but if the woman wanted the boy to go, he would make him go. Besides, he was looking forward to a nice, peaceful day on his own with no disruptions. That was why he was still in bed. He didn’t know what he was going to do today but that was alright. He would make it up as he went along. So long as he was left alone for most of the day, he would be happy.
Bulma looked at Vegeta in surprise, not expecting help or support in this matter. Vegeta never came to any of the functions so why would he take her side in this? She was going to point that out but then decided to leave it be and give him a chance. So far things between them in the co-parenting department had been going really well. Maybe he would surprise her and take her side on this. She nodded and left Trunks’ bedroom and went to go find her mother.
“Can I just stay here and spend the day with you, dad?” Trunks asked after Bulma left.
“No, you will attend this function and that is final,” he shook his head.
“But why?” he whined.
“Do not whine,” he said sharply to him. “You are going because it is important to your mother that you be there,”
“But you’re not going,” Trunks pointed out.
Vegeta sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose in aggravation. Sometimes this whole parenting thing was more trouble than it was worth and he didn’t understand why he stuck around to even bother with it. “No, I am not, but that does not excuse you from going.”
“Why not?”
“Because it doesn’t!” he snipped, knowing full well that wasn’t a good enough reason; or it was not a reason Trunks could understand. “If you go, I will take you to the park tomorrow,”
“Tomorrow is Sunday, I always go to the park on Sundays with mom anyway,” Trunks sighed in a bored tone, indicating that the incentive wasn’t quite good enough.
“Alright, I will make a compromise with you. I will go to this damned thing if you do. You must behave yourself. If you do, I will take you to the park every afternoon this week,” he growled begrudgingly, regretting the offer the moment it came out of his mouth.
“Really? You will?” Trunks lit up.
“Hmmn,” he nodded, already regretting his offer. What was he doing making propositions and negotiations with a four-year-old? Was this what his life had become, he wondered glumly.
“Okay! I’ll go!” Trunks said, jumping off his bed and racing to his dresser to get dressed.
Vegeta slinked off, back to his bedroom and shut the door. He growled as he made his way to his ensuite bathroom to shower. At least there would be plenty of food there, he reasoned to himself. Now that he was up, he was feeling hungry. He would make sure Trunks went, would have a meal and then leave. He had promised Trunks that he would go, not that he would stay.
-0-0-0-
Bulma was already greeting guests who had decided to arrive early. Fortunately her mother, being the super multi tasker she was, had everything all ready to go and hadn’t needed any help.
She was going to check on the kids place to make sure Trunks had made it but was caught up talking with one of the board members for the last few minutes.
Bulma had managed to give Chi-Chi a quick call before people had started showing up and had asked if she would bring Goten over to play with Trunks for the day. Then at least he would have someone if he didn’t want to hang out with the other kids. The other woman had agreed, much to Bulma’s relief. She had offered to let Goten spend the night with Trunks and then bring him back sometime tomorrow afternoon, depending on the severity of her hang over.
She excused herself finally when someone with a kid showed up, and made a point of insisting on showing them to the kids area just so she could check and see if Trunks was there yet. If he wasn’t, she was going to be giving both him and his father an earful.
They walked into the kids area and she was relieved to see Trunks playing video games already with the only other kid there.
“Everything okay in here, sweetie?” she asked.
“Ya,” Trunks replied, not taking his eyes off the screen.
“Remember to let everyone else have a turn on your game,”
“I will,”
“That’s a good boy, Trunks,” Bulma smiled at him. “Goten is on his way over too, by the way, and he’s going to spend the night.”
“Alright!” Trunks jumped, still not taking his eyes off the screen.
By this time, the other little boy was at the tv watching Trunks and the other boy play the game.
“I think they’re going to be just fine,” the girl who was supervising the kids said to her with a smile.
“You’re right, Thank you for watching them,” Bulma agreed, heading back to where everyone was arriving.
-0-0-0-
After taking his time in the shower, Vegeta went to his closet to find something to wear since he assumed that training shorts and flight suit spandex would be an unacceptable choice of attire for this thing and he wanted to be as unnoticed as possible.
He scanned through the section of clothing that Mrs. Briefs had bought for him when he had first arrived on this planet. None of it appealed to him and none of it looked comfortable. He found a pair of dark navy blue denim jeans and tossed them on his bed behind him before going through the shirts. He didn’t mind the loose dress shirts, so long as they weren’t pink or didn’t have floral patterns all over them, which was what seemed to dominate his closet, much to his irritation. He settled on a black, long sleeved, fitted dress shirt.
Vegeta quickly dressed and gave himself a once over in the mirror. He wasn’t sure if he looked acceptable for this function or not but then decided he didn’t care. As he looked at himself, he wondered if he should leave the dress shirt tucked in or leave it out? The fit of the shirt clung to him nicely, flattering his exceptional physique so he didn’t think it looked bad if he left it out, though he was still unsure. Bulma was dressed quite formal so he wasn’t sure if this was suitable.
Once again, he reminded himself that he did not care and exited his room in a huff. So much for peace and quiet and solitude for the day. He passed Trunks’ room and was satisfied to notice that the boy was gone and it looked like he had taken his game console with him, based on the mess of cords all over the floor. He shook his head. The boy had obviously gotten his lack of organizational skills from his mother.
He made his way over to the other side of the compound and snuck in through one of the rear entrances, wanting to avoid being seen or worse, be forced to carry on mundane conversation with people he did not know or care about.
-0-0-0-
“There you are,” she heard from behind her.
“Oh, hey,” she replied as she turned around, her smile faltering somewhat when she knew who it was. She knew she was being silly in her hopes that Vegeta just might show up but she found herself scanning the room constantly in hopes of seeing him lurking in a corner on his own, away from everyone else. She’d known who was behind her wasn’t Vegeta as soon as she'd heard his voice, but it was as though the wishful thinking in her heart was so single minded that she’d still hoped it was him when she turned around and so she was still slightly disappointed. “You made it.”
“Oh course I did! I wouldn’t miss it for the world!” Derek said. “You want a drink?” he asked her.
“Sure, actually. I haven’t had one yet,” she nodded. “I’ll come with you.”
Bulma followed him to the minibar where the drinks were being served and asked for a glass of white wine for herself. Derek asked for a beer.
“You look amazing, by the way,” he said to her once they had their drinks in hand and had migrated to a less crowded area of the room.
“Thank you,” smiled, still scanning the room for Vegeta.
“If I didn’t know any better, I’d go out on a limb and say you put in the extra effort for someone,” he teased.
Bulma looked at him suddenly and felt her face go warm. Technically she had done herself up a bit more than necessary, but it was for Vegeta. Was it that obvious? She had seen Vegeta earlier when she was arguing with Trunks. Had he thought she had gone and made herself up just for him and now decided to not show up because he thought she was pathetic?
“I was teasing you,” Derek chuckled at the look of embarrassment on her face. “You don’t have time for all that silly stuff I thought,”
“You’re right, I don’t.” she agreed, catching herself. “Besides, I don’t have anyone to dress up for,”
“Wow! That kind of hurts,” he teased, putting his hand on his heart.
“I thought you said you didn’t have feelings?” she jokingly reminded him, referring to a conversation they’d had about a week or so ago, when she turned him down for a date again and had mentioned that she didn’t want to keep hurting his feelings by continually saying no and he had countered that it was impossible for her to hurt his feelings because he had none, which was why he did well in sales. She had laughed almost until she cried because it made her think of Vegeta. Now there was someone who if he had any feelings, only had maybe one. Derek was a complete polar opposite to Vegeta, it was hilarious actually.
They were so different that she found herself actually considering giving the poor guy a chance and go out with him. Maybe he was the one? He didn’t have a shady bad boy past from what she could tell. He wasn’t a project like both Yamcha and Vegeta had been to her. If she wanted to get to know Derek better, all she had to do was reciprocate his interest. On the other hand, that made things almost too easy and Bulma liked a challenge. Right and look where that got you. You’re a 36 year old single mother.
Since she still wasn’t sure what to do, she had fun teasing and flirting with him in the meantime. She liked being chased. It made her feel good that at least someone was interested in her.
“I have one feeling. And you just hurt it,” he said.
“Oh, so you have one.”
“I do,” he nodded.
“My apologies,” she laughed. “I didn’t realize you even had one.”
“You are heartless, you know that?”
“I have a reputation to uphold,” she shrugged. “Being heartless is the only way anyone takes me seriously.”
“Nah..”
Bulma snorted at him and enjoyed her wine. Truthfully, she enjoyed his company and their banter. Sure there wasn’t the same intensity behind it as when she and Vegeta used to engage in their witty games of verbal dialogue but she liked that she could joke and tease him with her sarcastic streak and he would come back with something equally as obnoxious usually.
Bulma and Derek spent their time visiting and mingling with fellow staff members and it didn’t take long before everything was in full swing.
0-0-0
Vegeta had taken his time making it to the gathering and when he’d made it he left after a few minutes having reminded himself why he avoided these things like the plague. Having to hang out with a bunch of people he had no interest in knowing and answering stupid questions about who he was and why no one ever saw him around at the office compound. Who cared? Security at Capsule Corporation was paramount. They wouldn’t let just any random person show up to an event like this so obviously he was entitled to be here; not that they could keep him out if he really wanted to be there, he thought with a smirk. He wasn’t in the auditorium one minute and he had been swarmed by several women. All interested in wanting to know who he was. What was with these humans and feeling the need to talk to some random person they didn’t know?
He didn’t do that.
He wasn’t even sure what to tell them when asked. He didn’t feel like it was any of anyone’s business who he was and what his relation to the Brief’s family and Capsule Corporation was. He didn’t know if the woman wanted people to know who he was and that he was her son's father. It wasn’t something they’d ever discussed. He knew she was very open about it around the Z warriors; she’d never hid Trunks’ paternity from any of them but those were her close friends. These people were all beneath her and her family; they worked for them so did that mean she kept her private life off limits to them? He did not know. If they were his subjects, he would have kept his personal life private and on a need to know basis. In which case he felt that none of these people needed to know or were entitled to know and so he kept his responses very vague.
Unfortunately, his aloof demeanour did nothing to discourage the gaggle of woman wanting to talk to him and find out who he was. After a few minutes of that nonsense, he excused himself and went to make sure Trunks was still where he was supposed to be.
He was there. Playing games with Kakarott’s youngest brat and dressed in that god awful clown suit they’d gotten him for his birthday so they were dressed nearly identical.
“Hey dad!” Trunks greeted him, dropping his controller on the ground and running up to him. “Can we show everyone how we fly?” he asked in a loud whisper, trying to be discreet.
“No, boy,” he said quietly. “We are not to discuss our training or demonstrate it to others. I have told you this,”
“Ya but Goten said his brother taught him to fly too,” Trunks whispered to him hoarsely. “He doesn’t believe me that you taught me to fly too or that you can fly like Gohan can.”
Vegeta sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose. “That may be, but I told you that you are to never discuss our training with anyone. That includes Kakarott’s… that includes Goten.”
Trunks sighed in disappointment. “Alright,”
Vegeta then felt a little bad for snapping at him like that; he could understand his son’s competitive nature and wanting to prove to the other boy that he was just as capable if not more so. “I tell you what, you boys keep it to yourself today and the next time he’s over I will show you both and he can train with us.”
“Really?”
“Really. But only if you both do not tell anyone else here about it,” he negotiated. “It is no one’s business.”
“Okay!” Trunks said cheerfully, running a finger across his lips like he was zipping his mouth shut. “Mmm mmph mm,” he mumbled before unzipping his lips. “Mom says Goten is spending the night. Can he train with us tomorrow morning then?”
Vegeta sighed in annoyance. Now he had to live up to that promise. When he’d said that, he had assumed it would be weeks or months even between now and the next time Goten came over and Trunks would forget all about it by then. “Yes, fine. Whatever,” he growled quietly.
“Alright. It’s our secret!” Trunks said and turned to skip back to the other kids.
Vegeta shook his head and turned to leave. He was going to go back to the main compound to get away from the noise and the crowd but he was hungry. And he knew that the food would have been served by now and maybe people would be too drunk by this point to even notice him slip in and out for a quick meal. So he headed back inside.
As predicted, a good number of the people in attendance were intoxicated and paid him no notice. Some were eating, almost all of them were drinking. Some were dancing and most just mingling randomly about the large hall.
Vegeta scanned the room, looking for Bulma but he couldn’t see her. He could sense her energy, but there were too many people there for him to be able to pick her out of the crowd.
He quietly circled the perimeter of the room. Ignoring everyone as he went, carefully looking through the crowd for the one person he actually didn’t mind knowing that he was here. Which puzzled him.
He had made a point of making sure Trunks knew he had come, but that was because of the agreement they had made. He had made that arrangement with the boy, not his mother. However for some reason he wanted her to know that he had put forth the effort to be here.
He saw Bulma’s parents and kept going. He didn’t want the older woman to draw attention to him.
Finally he saw her.
She was visiting with a male and two other females. He hadn’t taken a good look at her earlier, but he remembered that she’d looked simply stunning. He discreetly looked at her appreciatively from afar, leaning against the wall with his arms crossed. Thankfully no one else seemed to notice him. He preferred that.
He watched her as she conversed. She did look exceptional today. He noticed that the male standing by her was hovering rather closely to her and he wondered if she as aware of it or not. If she was, she didn’t seem to mind. He was included in the conversation and she was deferring to him as well and so he wondered if he was the reason she looked so nice for this event? Come to think of it, he’d been noticing her putting forth extra effort into her appearance for work in the last few weeks. Was this the reason, he wondered.
He internally shrugged, telling himself that he really didn’t care. If she was interested in another, then it meant that things between them wouldn’t become complicated again. He was content with things remaining exactly as they were between them.
He watched her carefully for a while and determined that she wasn’t overly aware of the other male hovering. He was clearly interested in her but she was either ignoring it or was oblivious to it. Either way, he found it amusing to observe until he noticed her scanning the room for about the third time, unsuccessfully noticing him until now.
They locked eyes for a long moment and he could tell that she was genuinely surprised to see him there.
0-0-0
Bulma was having a decent time. Derek was hilarious as usual and she was visiting with some of her lab buddies she hadn’t seen since she had started in the sales department. Still, she kept discreetly looking along the walls in hopes of seeing Vegeta there even though she would have bet half her fortune that he would not show up at all.
As she was looking again, not paying attention to the conversation around her, her eyes suddenly met with a pair of the blackest eyes she’d ever seen. Oh my god, she thought to herself, blinking a few times and doing a double take. There was Vegeta, standing against the far back wall dressed in dark jeans and black fitted shirt with the first few top buttons undone, so you only got a hint that he was very well built beneath his clothes. Bulma always found him appealing but seeing him dressed in normal clothes the way he was, she couldn’t remember seeing him look sexier than he did right then.
She excused herself from her friends and made a beeline for him.
“Hey! You came!” she exclaimed, smiling at him, genuinely glad he was there.
“Hmmmn,” he grunted, feeling very uncomfortable now because people were looking at them. “I had little choice,”
“Why? Did mum not leave you food to eat?” she asked. “I’m so sorry-”
“I negotiated with the boy that if he came, I would come,” he deadpanned. Somehow admitting it out loud to her made him feel even more embarrassed than he already was by doing this.
“You what?” she snorted in amusement. “That’s hilarious, Vegeta.”
“Hmmmn,” he grunted.
She had to refrain from giggling at him, as she could see that he wasn't nearly as amused as she was. “Well, I’m glad you came, no matter what the reason. Do you want me to grab you a drink? And there’s plenty of food too.”
“No drink,” he said. “I will stay long enough for a meal however.”
“Okay,” she nodded. “I haven’t eaten yet either so I’ll go with you so you don’t have to sit alone.”
Truthfully, he would have rather she left him on his own so that he would not be noticed or bothered.
She went with him and they both loaded up their plates with everything they wanted; Vegeta, helping himself to two plates.
“You wanna get out of here?” she asked him.
He looked at her in surprise a moment. “Is that not poor etiquette on your part?”
Bulma waved a hand in dismissal and made a funny noise. “Who cares,” she snorted. “My parents are still here and half the people here are already half cut so I doubt anyone will notice if I step out for a bit. Even if they do, so what?”
He smirked at her. He was certain that the guy who he had observed hanging around her earlier would notice her absence, if he hadn’t already.
Bulma smiled and snagged a bottle of unopened red wine with a twist off lid instead of a cork and looped her arm through his and pulled him behind her, sneaking out of the crowded hall. Instead of going outside, she went up a staircase and they booked it up the stairs quickly until they made it to the roof.
Bulma opened the door and then after making sure there was no one else up there hanging out, she locked the door so no one else would come up.
“I could have flown us up here,” he said to her.
“You have two loaded plates, how would you have possibly flown us both up here?”
Vegeta shrugged and walked over to around the middle of the roof and sat on the ground to start eating.
Bulma stood there a moment. She should have thought this through a little bit better. It wasn’t exactly clean up there and she didn’t want to get her dress dirty but she relented and put her plate on the ground and pulled her skirt up a bit so that she could just sit on her knees and not ruin her dress.
“So?” she started between mouthfuls. “What exactly was the deal you made with Trunks?”
Vegeta rolled his eyes. “That if he went without a fuss that I would go too since his objection to not going was only on the premise that I was not going.”
“I keep telling you how much he looks up to you and you keep thinking it’s no big deal,” she shrugged. “You still didn’t have to come though,”
“I told the boy I would so I did,” he replied. “If he found out otherwise, then he would think that I am a liar and my word then means nothing to him. Which do you think is worse?”
“You’re right,” she agreed. “I never thought of it that way. Well thanks for backing me up on that and thanks for being here. I know how much you hate these things. It means a lot to me that you came, even if it was just to hold up your end of your bargain with Trunks and have some food. I’m glad you’re here.”
Vegeta didn’t say anything for a moment and reached for the wine bottle sitting between them and opening it. “You did not bring any glasses,”
Bulma shrugged and took the wine bottle from him and took a swig from it and handed it back to him. “Who needs glasses?”
“Classy,” he snorted at her but took his own sip from the bottle. “Not only did I talk myself into coming here but I condemned myself to having to go to the park every day this week and train with both Trunks and Kakarott’s brat tomorrow morning.”
“You didn’t!” she exclaimed with a giggle.
He simply frowned and nodded.
“That’ll be fun,” she commented. “Goten is hilarious. He reminds me of Goku; not just the way he looks but his mannerisms and everything. He’s like a mini carbon copy.”
“Which explains why he is so dense,” Vegeta deadpanned. “They should have named him Young Plank.”
“Awe come on, Vegeta, he’s just a little kid,”
“Trunks was not nearly as dim witted as he was at that age or ever,” Vegeta pointed out.
“True, but remember, I am a genius,” she pointed out haughtily. “Intelligence runs in my family so it only stands to reason that any child of mine would be super smart.”
Vegeta gave her a look that indicated that he was not impressed.
They both finished off their lunch while sharing the bottle of wine and enjoying light conversation about nothing in particular for quite a while.
“Well, I’d better be getting back,” she announced. “Do you wanna come back down? There’s dancing.”
“No,” he answered. He had come, had stayed and now he was leaving.
“Awe, come on. Please Vegeta?”
“No, I do not dance.” he said firmly, taking the empty bottle of wine and placing it on the other side of him.
“Awe, I’ll teach you, Vegeta,” she insisted. “It’s fun!”
“I never said I could not dance,” he clarified. I said I do not dance,”
Bulma huffed in disappointment. As always, Vegeta always found a way to dampen the mood whenever things were going well. “Fine,” she sighed.
Vegeta watched her as she stood up abruptly, swaying slightly and began to head to the door. He frowned as he watched her attempt to keep her balance on those shoes of hers and decided that there was no way she would be able to venture down those stairs in those shoes. Her legs had obviously fallen asleep from the way she had been sitting on them for the last hour or so they had been up there.
He stood up and quickly scooped her up into his arms and leapt off the roof, landing near the back entrance he had come where no one would notice them.
“Hey, give me some warning if you’re going to do that!” she whined, wrapping her arms around his neck, trying to catch her balance.
Vegeta placed his hands on her hips without thinking. It was more of a natural reflex to help her regain her equilibrium again.
“You look so hot,” she said, looking intently at him, lingering longer than she needed to.
“You’re inebriated,” he replied, gently pushing her away from him.
“I am not,” she huffed in offense. She wasn’t and it annoyed her that he’d said that or even thought that she might be. She almost wished in that moment that she was a bit on the tipsy side. If she had been, she’d have had the courage to throw all caution and good sense out the window and kiss him and if he rejected her then she could simply excuse her actions and blame the alcohol; but she wasn’t drunk. Not even a little. She was standing close enough to him still that she could kiss him if she wanted to, but she chickened out. “You do look really good today in normal clothes. I’m serious.”
“Hmmmn,” he grunted and left.
Bulma watched him leave and refrained from saying anything else and headed back to the party. She was just content that he’d shown up for a little bit. That alone was a huge step land something she had not expected.
“There you are,” Derek greeted her as she was grabbing another glass of wine. “I was wondering where you’d gone,”
“Oh, nowhere,” she brushed off. “I needed to talk to my son’s father about something quick is all.”
“Is he here?” he asked in interest, looking around.
“He was,” she shrugged. “He’s gone now. He just came for a quick bite to eat and discuss something with regards to Trunks.”
“Sorry I missed him,” Derek said.
“No, you aren’t,” she chuckled. “He hates things like this. He just came to eat and I had an issue with Trunks this morning and left him to figure it out. He was letting me know how that went. We just went outside and had lunch up on the roof where it was quiet is all,”
“Sounds romantic,”
“Yeah, right,” she sorted. “Vegeta hasn’t a romantic bone in his body.” she said, still feeling a bit disappointed that he bailed already and didn’t want to dance with her which she knew was stupid on her part because that was so not Vegeta. It was out of character for him to show up in the first place, she reminded herself.
He picked up on the slight tone of bitterness in her voice. “Want to dance?” he asked her cheerfully.
“I’d love to,” she smiled, placing her drink down and taking his hand as he lead her out onto the dancefloor where there were quite a few people dancing already.
They danced and hung out together for the rest of the get together and had a great time and it wasn’t long before she forgot all about Vegeta and just focused her attentions on Derek and having a great time.
-0-0-0-
The few weeks following the big Capsule Corporation party went by quickly.
Bulma wasn’t sure why, but she noticed that Vegeta was more relaxed and open about spending time with both her and Trunks together.
For the last three Sundays in a row, the three of them had gone to the park together for the afternoon as a family and Bulma couldn’t remember the last time she’d had enjoyed her days off! Usually she’d found herself anticipating them just so she could sleep in and relax but now she had found herself looking forward to the three of them spending time together almost as though they were a normal family.
Things from there were also progressing slowly, but nicely between them. Recently she could have sworn he was flirting with her, but she wasn’t sure. Vegeta was so vague and subtle when he did flirt with her that sometimes she didn’t realize that he had been until later on when she was thinking about it on her own.
She was starting to feel more and more comfortable with him as the days and weeks went by; however this limbo they seemed to be caught in was beginning to frustrate her. Especially since at work, Derrek was becoming more forward and she was finding herself more and more tempted to go out with him since Vegeta seemed disinterested in anything else.
She liked Derek, but she wanted Vegeta. However other than the odd teasing or flirtatious comment, Vegeta never made the move to instigate anything further so she was terribly confused as to whether or not she should or shouldn’t try to open that door with him. What if it ruined all of the progress that they had made together? She didn’t want that, but she didn’t want to keep hoping and waiting for something more if it wasn’t possible. She needed to move on with her life one way or another.
Bulma had plagued herself with these thoughts for the last two weeks before finally decided that she needed to know one way or another if she and Vegeta were going to have a chance at something more than being good friends and co parents to their son.
The problem was, she had no idea how to approach him on it or let him know how she felt.
Bulma knew she couldn’t strut around in her cutest outfits and act like a ditz around him like she normally would; that sort of thing wouldn’t work on him.
Every evening they spent together she had told herself that she would do something to instigate something more with him and every night she chickened out.
Tonight was no exception.
They’d been having a few drinks and snacks watching one of their favourite tv shows. She had been extra tired this evening and had obviously dozed off she realized as she noticed she was laying down but her head was in Vegeta’s lap and one of his hands was on her head, lightly stroking her hair.
She lay there a moment, completely still, wondering how long she had been laying there and how long she had been asleep. Had she fallen asleep on his shoulder?
The last she remembered, she had been sitting next to him, closer than necessary. She had been trying to find a way to instigate a meaningful conversation with him and must have fallen asleep at some point.
She turned awkwardly in his lap, laying on her back so she could look up at him, deciding that maybe this was the right moment; if there was ever going to be a right moment. This was it.
She reached up and touched the side of his face lightly, debating on whether she should kiss him or not; she sure wanted to but she didn’t want to push him away. They had made so much progress that she didn’t want to do anything to ruin it.
They had somehow over the last year evolved into good friends and companions. It was nice and it was so much more than she ever expected from him. If things stayed like this, she knew she would be somewhat content because things between them were peaceful and it was so good for Trunks to have his father in his life. But there was the selfish part of her that wanted more. If there was the possibility of something more developing between them, she didn’t want to not explore it.
For as many times as she had told herself and everyone who would listen that she was done with Vegeta on a romantic standpoint and was only keeping the peace with him so that Trunks could have him in his life, she knew it wasn’t true. She had never completely closed that door and she knew she would never get over him completely. Vegeta had rocked her world quite literally and even if she did someday move on and find someone to share her life with, she knew that a part of her heart would always belong to Vegeta.
Vegeta looked at her and noted that she seemed to be contemplating something. He also noticed a shift in her scent. As the minutes ticked by it was becoming slightly stronger and he recognized it immediately as the scent of her arousal and suddenly he had no idea what to do.
His gut and his head were both telling him to go. His heart and other anatomy however was urging him to stay and pursue this. He knew she wanted him and that all he needed to do was kiss her or offer some sort of encouragement along those lines and she would give herself to him for the night. The thought was appealing and he felt his lower half beginning to stir in anticipation at the thought of having her again after all these years.
And what of tomorrow, he asked himself. He knew if he opened that door now and took pleasure in her company that she would expect more from him; much more than what he felt he could give her.
He was still very much attracted to her and he wanted her very much in the same way he had the last time they had gone down this road together and while yes, he had been more than satisfied with that arrangement it had inevitably soured and they now had a child as a result. Did he want to repeat that whole thing? No, came the answer immediately. He didn’t. He didn’t mind spending time with her and the brat and living here wasn’t the worst but he didn’t want the hassle and complications he knew would arise if they crossed that line again and added physical intimacy into the equation.
Yet things between them were comfortable and easy. Would adding that physical aspect actually complicate it or would it enrich the current relationship that they had managed to cultivate? He wasn’t sure what the best course of action was.
Vegeta suddenly began to feel claustrophobic and trapped. He needed time to think about what it was he wanted. Did he want her in that way or was it best to simply leave things exactly like they were? How did he tell her what he was feeling without offending her?
As the moment dragged on and Bulma contemplated what to do, she decided to take the safe road and do nothing. What if they hooked up and both of them regretted it in the morning? What would happen to their current relationship? Would it be ruined?
Bulma knew that if they were intimate tonight that try as she may to not look into it more than what it was, if he then left and treated her with distain as he had last time, it would destroy her.
As she looked at him and noticed the slight confusion clouding his features, she wondered if he was thinking the same thing she was. His expression was soft, he didn’t look angry but his eyes were guarded and she wished so badly that he would let her in and tell her what he wanted. Was he as afraid of this as she was?
“It’s getting late,” she sighed, getting up to leave. Her mind, body and heart screaming at her to just kiss him and see where the night would take them from there and worry about all the possible implications and consequences tomorrow. Yea because that's what you did last time and that didn’t turn out bad at all, she chastised herself. I can’t do friends with benefits. Maybe I could with Yamcha or Derek even, but not with him.
Vegeta simply nodded in agreement, feeling partially relieved that she was the one to make the decision because he was very much leaning towards the screw the consequences category and have her here and now while the opportunity was open.
He stood up next to her as she shut the TV off and was surprised when she suddenly threw her arms around his neck and hugged him for a moment. “I’m so glad you are here with us, Vegeta,” she said softly before letting him go.
Vegeta didn’t return the embrace but took her hand as she turned from him to leave the room.
Surprised, she turned back to him. Was this it, she asked herself hopefully. Does he want to take things further?
He winced inwardly at the hopeful look on her face and knew he was possibly making a huge mistake where she was concerned.
“I do not mind your company,” he said cautiously. “But that is all I can give you. Anything else just complicates things.”
Bulma tried to not show her disappointment. But we could be so good together! She wanted to shout at him. Instead she simply nodded and swallowed the lump she felt suddenly in her throat. “Things are really good right now,” she admitted.
He could see how hard she was trying not to let him see how disappointed she was and a part of him admired that.
“Well, I should get to bed,” she said, looking away from him. It was true, she did; but she also needed to put some distance between them. She had just embarrassed herself and she needed to be alone.
I should have known I was just breaking my own heart by getting my stupid hopes up, she vented as she walked out of the room as quickly as she could, not saying anything else to him.
This was it, she decided. She was done hoping and trying for something more to happen between them. It upset her, but she decided to let things be and leave it at that. She would never embarrass herself in front of him like that again.
-0-0-0-