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Bulma Briefs should have known better. She was a genius scientist with 2 PhDs, who was (usually) selfish enough to avoid life-threatening danger whilst managing to keep up with her far stronger friends. She told herself it was the adrenaline that comes from almost-dying at the hands of an evil alien overlord. She also told herself that she’d known if she did not open her doors to Vegeta and the Namekians, no one else would. It was better to keep your enemies close, after all. Who knows what Vegeta would have done if he’d been let loose on Earth.She told herself these things, because she one hundred percent chose to ignore the way her body had reacted when she finally got a good look at Vegeta, away from the fighting and Namek and all of that drama. She was not going to acknowledge that he was a uniquely handsome man, nor would she admit that his alien nature made her curious in a way no Human male had ever done before.The fact that he had the greatest ass she’d ever seen had nothing to do with the way she called out to him, made an inappropriately-timed joke about how sexy she was, and offered him a place to stay at her house.She was just being generous; taking a leaf out of Son Goku’s book and offering a second chance to a man most would call a monster.There was definitely nothing else going on.
. . .
“The Namekians seem happy enough in the atrium,” she said as she stopped in the hallway, smiling. The Saiyan stared back at her, somehow managing to infuse his look with distaste and boredom at the same time. She pursed her lips and stepped back, gesturing down the hall. “I messaged ahead and had the bots set up a guest room for you. It’s the third door on the right. After you.”That made Vegeta smirk, his expression almost cruel. “Is that your tactic to make you feel safe? Walk behind me so you can spot an attack?”“No!” she shot back, a little too quickly. Her heart rate needed to calm the fuck down before she started to sweat. She ground her teeth. “It’s simple manners on this planet,” she said. “Don’t you have manners in space?”A grunt was all she got in reply, but thankfully he did start walking down the hall. She followed behind him, and definitely did not look at his ass in that black spandex.
. . .
The Human woman was a strange one. At times she appeared afraid of him, and then she did something like step entirely into his personal space, her body brushing against his as she played around with the tablet device she’d placed in his hands.“If you want to turn on the TV, you can from here,” she was saying, bathering away about nothing important. He wasn’t going to use the primitive technology here. He was going to train and get stronger, wait for Kakarot to be wished back, and then kill him. Then he was going to wait for the dragonballs to renew, kill anyone else in his way, and have his wish. It was simple.“I’ve translated the text on this device into the language — well, writing system, but you know what I mean — that was used on Raditz’ scouter, so I assume you can read this?” One long nail tapped at the glass screen, and he focused in on the words. It said ‘CC-Net: Messages’.“I can read it.”“Good. If you click here, you can message me. You can add other contacts too, but… Anyway. If you need anything, just type a message here. The keyboard is here. Send button here, and it will come to me. You seem like a smart guy; I’m sure you’ll figure out the rest.”She was teasing him, he was sure of it from the tone in her voice. Careful, Human, he thought, but held his tongue.“Anything else?” she asked, a hopeful smile on her face.“Get out.”He almost laughed at the way her face fell.
. . .
She was having a terrible night’s sleep; it was 1AM and she’d barely slept an hour. She knew it was the psychological trauma of Namek catching up with her, that it would pass, and that she had plenty of time before the next quarter’s new designs and upgrades were due. Despite all of this, the restlessness bothered her. She was exhausted. She wanted to sleep more than anything.She was debating whether it was worth getting up to go raid her mother’s supply of prescription meds — codeine might knock her out enough — when her phone dinged with the familiar sound of a notification. She’d muted most conversations, so she reached for her phone with a certain amount of trepidation. “He can’t be —” she muttered.He was. She stared at the screen, stunned. She hadn’t expected Vegeta to use the feature.
vegeta
You said if I needed anything you would acquire it
“Shit.” Her hands hovered over the keyboard, unsure. “Oh fuck, he’ll see that I’ve read it,” she muttered to herself. “Should have disabled that feature,” she grumbled as she began to type.
vegeta
You said if I needed anything you would acquire it
2 things. First: that's not exactly what I said. Secondly: within reason. I’m rich, but I’m not Shenron.
She waited. It was almost tortuous. She’d never been so nervous to receive a reply before. There was something so strange about messaging with an alien. Goku was an alien too, but Vegeta was on another level.When he started typing she threw her sheets off of her, her body suddenly overheating in the bed.
vegeta
You said if I needed anything you would acquire it
2 things. First: that's not exactly what I said. Secondly: within reason. I’m rich, but I’m not Shenron.
vegeta
You said if I needed anything you would acquire it
2 things. First: that's not exactly what I said. Secondly: within reason. I’m rich, but I’m not Shenron.
A ship. I need to go into space. Time is of the essence.
“Shit.”
vegeta
You said if I needed anything you would acquire it
2 things. First: that's not exactly what I said. Secondly: within reason. I’m rich, but I’m not Shenron.
A ship. I need to go into space. Time is of the essence.
I understand this must be difficult to be stuck here right now, but it’s going to take time to get another ship running
vegeta
You said if I needed anything you would acquire it
2 things. First: that's not exactly what I said. Secondly: within reason. I’m rich, but I’m not Shenron.
A ship. I need to go into space. Time is of the essence.
I understand this must be difficult to be stuck here right now, but it’s going to take time to get another ship running
vegeta
You said if I needed anything you would acquire it
2 things. First: that's not exactly what I said. Secondly: within reason. I’m rich, but I’m not Shenron.
A ship. I need to go into space. Time is of the essence.
I understand this must be difficult to be stuck here right now, but it’s going to take time to get another ship running
Frieza’s men are still out there. Do you want them to find you here first?
She sighed. It was an empty threat; if Frieza’s men did somehow make it to Earth, it would be no different if Vegeta was here than if he fought them in space.Unless, of course, he simply stole one of those ships and left them all to die at the hands of Frieza’s men. She didn’t have much faith that Piccolo and Gohan could take them all out.
vegeta
You said if I needed anything you would acquire it
2 things. First: that's not exactly what I said. Secondly: within reason. I’m rich, but I’m not Shenron.
A ship. I need to go into space. Time is of the essence.
I understand this must be difficult to be stuck here right now, but it’s going to take time to get another ship running
Frieza’s men are still out there. Do you want them to find you here first?
I’ll see what I can do.
She didn’t get a reply after that, and she didn’t get any more sleep, either.
----- CHAPTER BREAK -----
old man Roshi
I heard you invited Vegeta to stay under your roof
old man Roshi
I heard you invited Vegeta to stay under your roof
Wow. News travels fast these days.
old man Roshi
I heard you invited Vegeta to stay under your roof
Wow. News travels fast these days.
Just take care of yourself. Alien men might not fall for your double d’s
old man Roshi
I heard you invited Vegeta to stay under your roof
Wow. News travels fast these days.
Just take care of yourself. Alien men might not fall for your double d’s
Ugh. You are such a fucking creep.
. . .
chi chi
Gohan says you took good care of him.
She briefly wondered whether to mention Gohan’s heroics on Namek, and thought better of it. Chi Chi didn’t need to know quite how much danger they’d been in.
chi chi
Gohan says you took good care of him.
He’s such a cool kid. Didn’t have any problems with him at all.
chi chi
Gohan says you took good care of him.
He’s such a cool kid. Didn’t have any problems with him at all.
He mentioned you taught him about the theory of special relativity. I was wondering if you have any books Gohan could borrow?
“Jeez,” Bulma muttered, shaking her head. “The kid’s young, give him a break!” On her phone she typed out a different message.
chi chi
Gohan says you took good care of him.
He’s such a cool kid. Didn’t have any problems with him at all.
He mentioned you taught him about the theory of special relativity. I was wondering if you have any books Gohan could borrow?
Send him over today and I’ll give him a capsule loaded with them.
At least that would give Gohan a chance to visit his little Namekian friend.She wondered if Gohan had mentioned to Chi Chi about Vegeta staying at her place.
chi chi
Gohan says you took good care of him.
He’s such a cool kid. Didn’t have any problems with him at all.
He mentioned you taught him about the theory of special relativity. I was wondering if you have any books Gohan could borrow?
Send him over today and I’ll give him a capsule loaded with them.
He’s on his way.
Bulma smiled. She guessed not.
----- CHAPTER BREAK -----
Vegeta
Why was the Namekian here?
You mean the 100 Namekians living in the atrium? They’ve been here the whole time.
Don’t be facetious. You know the Namekian I mean.
No, I really don’t. You’ll have to describe him for me. Wait, was he green?
Bulma snorted, staring at her phone as she watched the dots continue to shift on the screen. She set the phone down on her desk next to her laptop and pushed her chair backwards with a yawn, stretching and feeling her joints creak. She’d been looking at schematics for the ship all evening, after already working for most of the day on her regular prototypes, and now it was late. In fact, it was well past what would be considered a healthy bedtime, but she was young enough to not worry about her health other than things that had an impact on her physical beauty.“Come on,” she muttered, picking up her phone again. Vegeta still hadn’t replied. The dots disappeared, and she wondered if he’d given up on finding a witty answer.
Vegeta
Why was the Namekian here?
You mean the 100 Namekians living in the atrium? They’ve been here the whole time.
Don’t be facetious. You know the Namekian I mean.
No, I really don’t. You’ll have to describe him for me. Wait, was he green?
She shook her head, standing and carrying her phone with her. “Just think of something to say already,” she muttered, shrugging out of her lab coat and leaving it hanging just inside the door. She opted to take the elevator, feeling too lazy to take the two flights of stairs up to the wing she called home.She checked her phone again on the way up — there was nothing new, and she grinned. “Guess I won,” she muttered as she stepped out of the elevator. “Won what?”She jumped, her free hand landing straight on her heart. “Fuck, Vegeta, you scared the shit out of me!”Vegeta’s eyes darted to below her waist, his face less than impressed. “I hope that’s an Earthling idiom, and you did not just shit your pants.”“What? — Yeah, it’s an idiom,” she replied, her heart still racing and her face flaming, because… “Why aren’t you wearing a shirt?” she blurted, the words tumbling out before she could stop them. Something about Vegeta had her feeling like she was on the back foot all the time (fear, her mind reminded her, it’s fear because he could kill you at any point).Vegeta frowned and stared at her, waiting a beat too long to speak. “My only armour has a blast hole through the centre of it. It’s not really functional any more.”“Oh.” She took another look at his clothes. He was still in the same spandex pants he’d arrived in days earlier. “I gave you a wardrobe.”“It’s inadequate for training.”Now it was her turn to stare. Her heart had recovered from the fright, and there was no way she was going to offer to make him clothes on top of all the work she was putting into the ship. She made a show of shrugging and flipping her hair. “I guess you’ll just have to train naked, then.”She heard more than saw him gasp in shock as she stepped around him. “Goodnight!” she called. “Oh, and Piccolo was here because Gohan was here, and I’m guessing if you didn’t know that already you need to practice your ki sensing a little more. See ya!”She high-tailed out of there, knowing she'd pushed her luck enough with the grumpy Saiyan.
----- CHAPTER BREAK -----
Krillin
Hey, is it okay if I stop by this afternoon? I’m gonna be in town anyway
Sure. You wanna stay for dinner? My Mom is cooking.
Definitely. Beats the microwave meals at Kame House
I thought Roshi was a decent cook?
He is. It’s Oolongs week to ‘cook’. That’s the problem
Oh. I’ll tell Mom to make extra and send you home with enough for leftovers.
Thanks Bulma
Bulma had been in the lab all day, and was so engrossed in her work on durable fabrics that she lost track of time until Krillin knocked on the door nervously. “Uh, your Mom said I’d find you down here.”“Oh! Hey! Sorry!” She switched off the machine she’d been working with and removed her safety glasses. “I wasn’t keeping an eye on the clock. Have you been here long?”Krillin grinned sheepishly. “A while. But I bumped into your Dad and he said you were in the lab, so I went and hung out with the Namekians for a while. It was good to catch up with Dende.”“Okay, well that’s good. Did you need me to fix anything while you’re here, or am I safe to put the lab coat away?”“I don’t need anything. I just came to see you, and how things are getting on with you-know-who.”“Vegeta?” She hung up her lab coat and they took the stairs, their voices echoing in the open space. “He’s fine. I don’t think he’s here right now.”“Yeah, he’s not. He’s out East - I can sense him training. He’s been going there every day since he got here.”“I guess he’s a creature of habit,” Bulma mused. “He kind of strikes me as that. I think he might be a little OCD. Every time I go into his room everything is folded in neat piles and tucked away.”Krillin laughed. “That’s not OCD, that’s just being tidy, which is the opposite of you.”“Hey,” she folded her arms, trailing Krillin into the kitchen. All of her friends had long grown accustomed to helping themselves when at her house, and she stood back as Krillin grabbed to glasses and filled them with soda. “I call it ‘organised chaos’, okay,” she continued. “I like things messy.”“Including empty food wrappers and cans on the floor. I didn’t think one person could make so much mess until I spent a month with you on a spaceship.”“Look, I don’t have time for cleaning. I have bots to do that sort of work.”She took her drink from Krillin and led him out onto the balcony, taking a seat on the outdoor furniture and setting her drink down on the small table there. Krillin sat beside her, sighing and closing his eyes. They sat like that, in companionable silence, for a while, until Krillin eventually spoke up.“So how are things here with Vegeta? Has he given you any trouble?”“No.” She took a sip from her drink. “I’m serious. He’s really kept to himself. He’s been no trouble at all. He messages me at weird times, but that’s the worst of it.”Krillin spluttered, choking on his drink. “He messages you?”“Yeah. I gave him a tablet. I loaded it with entertainment and stuff and changed the language settings to the same as in Raditz’ scouter so he could actually read it, and I hooked it up to the local network and told him to message me if he needed anything. And he messaged me that night and asked me to build him a spaceship so he can go and stop the rest of Frieza's army.”“Holy shit.”“Yeah. I guess it’s kinda weird. Anyway, he doesn’t message that often. It really was just about the ship, and then he wanted to know why Piccolo was here one time.” The sun hung low in the sky now, and she had to squint to look at Krillin. “He’s got surprisingly good grammar. I think he’s actually a pretty smart guy.”“Does he have money? He’s asking you for stuff, but I guess he could just buy things himself?”That was something she hadn’t considered before. “I mean, probably out in space he does have money; I have no idea. But here, how would he? I could give him some, but I’d worry that would piss him off. He’d probably take offence.”Krillin nodded. “He’s a proud guy. Man, you should have heard him on Namek when he died. That was raw. Besides, maybe it’s not a good idea to encourage him to go into the city.”Bulma nodded. “He’d probably kill someone, and lead photographers back here to my house. Yeah, unless he asks for it, I don’t think I’m going to offer money. It’s not like he’s staying here permanently. Once he’s got a ship, we might never see him again.” The thought left her feeling a little empty. Such a shame…
She finished off the last of her soda, taking a big sigh. “Going back to what you said,” she started. “Gohan started to tell me about how Vegeta died, but I shut the conversation down because he’s just a kid and he shouldn’t have to relive that sort of shit. I feel bad Gohan got caught up in that in the first place. That kid’s going to have issues when he grows up with all the things he’s witnessed.”“Yep.”“So what did Vegeta say when he died?”Krillin squirmed uncomfortably in his seat. “I feel bad —”“Oh come on! Tell me!” Bulma demanded, and then sat rapt by what she heard.
----- CHAPTER BREAK -----
Vegeta walked into the room that he’d been designated, and immediately knew the woman had been there. Her scent lingered through the house, but was always stronger when she has snooped around, which she seemed to do often. In the two months since he first came to this compound, she must have entered his living quarters at least a dozen times while he was away.On the centre of his bed was one of her capsules — an interesting piece of technology, and one that would fetch a hefty sum if he bothered to try selling it when he returned to space. Earthlings were so wrapped up in their own little planet that she’d likely never know if he did do such a thing.He picked up the tablet she’d gifted him. There was a notification from her.
Bulma
Hey, I looked into the expandable technology in your clothes, and I've made some spandex for you to wear. I've left this capsule on your bed. Open it up and your new training gear is inside.
He hadn’t asked her to do this. He’d mentioned his frustrations regarding Earth clothing once, and here she had supposedly produced him clothing that would suit him.He didn’t know what to think about that. Earthlings were unique in their generosity, their culture so far from all he had experienced under Frieza. Briefly, he wondered if Saiyan culture had included an element of generosity he was too young to absorb. He swept the thought aside as quickly as it appeared. Thinking about that aspect of his past was something he did not have the energy for at this point in time.Instead he examined the capsule, opened it up, and pulled out the spandex she’d mentioned. It looked like an exact replica of his own. It stretched just as it should. It was perfect.Bulma yawned and checked her phone.
Vegeta
Hey, I looked into the expandable technology in your clothes, and I've made some spandex for you to wear. I've left this capsule on your bed. Open it up and your new training gear is inside.
Read 8:48 PM
She hadn’t expected him to reply, but still…She sighed, curled under the blankets on her bed, and ordered the lights out.
----- CHAPTER BREAK -----
Bulma stepped back and shaded her eyes with one hand, examining the progress her father had made on the new spaceship, Capsule 3.“It’s looking good, Dad!” she called, peering through the door. “Well, the outside is, at least,” she muttered, looking at the bare interiors.“Tell that to Vegeta!” her father yelled back. She could only just see his legs, poking out through a cavity in the wall. “He keeps glaring at me every time I pass him in the halls!”Bulma grinned. “That’s just his face!” Still, she shook her head and stepped back, snapping a quick picture of the ship on her phone.There was a message waiting for him when he finally made his way to bed in the middle of the night.
Bulma
The ship is coming along. I give it another week, and it will be ready for a test flight.
He thought about replying for the briefest of moments, before snorting and placing the tablet back on the table beside the bed. One more week, and then he’d be free of this miserable place. He'd been playing nice with the locals for long enough. It was time he got back to what he did best.He lay back against the soft pillows, settling into the comfiest bed he’d ever had, and dreamed of murder.