Author Notes: Well I had part of this written and then my computer crashed and didn't recover all of it. Which is the worst bummer of all. So then I had to rethink and redo everything. Which sucked. A lot. Oh well. Keeping these two in character is so difficult, especially cause I didn't really fall in love with them as a couple until later on in the series.

So that's it then.

The timing is kinda hard to pin down, especially since I've never read the manga through all the way and I've only watched the Funimation Dub at this point in the story. Which means like what 130 days of Vegeta in Bulma's house before he takes the spaceship and travels around looking for Goku before Future Trunks' arrival...well anyway. Introduction during those 130 days I guess.

Pairing: Vegeta/Bulma

Words: 1377

Prompt: Introduction

~!~

"Hey homeboy...Unwind a little and see what life has to offer you...You're actually kinda cute." - Bulma, Dragonball Z, English (Funimation) Dub

~!~

Bulma sighed as she once again opened the fridge to find it emptied of all contents. Not only emptied but left with a mess of things scattered throughout the shelves, not to mention all the boxes and plastic containers littering the counters around the kitchen. She knew Saiyan appetites were insane with borderline offensive table manners – after all, she had traveled with Goku in the past and she felt sorry for all that Chi-Chi had to put up with...but this was beyond ridiculous!

"Oh, looks like someone was hungry," her mother said with her usual clueless glow.

Sighing again, Bulma shut the door to the fridge. "Yeah and rude as all hell about it, too."

Her mother didn't seem to notice the comment at all. "I'll have to tell the kitchen staff to increase the grocery budget."

Bulma rolled her eyes. "Already done, mother. Vegeta just prefers to sneak around the complex instead of joining us at actual meal times."

"Oh, so Vegeta's the hungry one," her mother chipped in happily, even as she started to move about the kitchen, cleaning the mess. "Well, you should invite him to breakfast sometime."

Another sigh. Damn but her mother could be slow sometimes. There was no doubt in her mind that her genius brain came from her father. Some days she even wondered what thin thread of DNA connected her to her airhead of a mother.

"Why should I even bother? He clearly just wants to be left alone."

"Oh, he's just shy, dear."

Bulma blinked. "Shy?"

How on earth could her mother believe such a thing about Vegeta? The man was a cold, ruthless warrior. Why, most of her friends hated him, unable to accept the fact that she had so willingly allowed the man into her home. After all, he had killed Yamcha, her boyfriend. Then again, once her jerk of a boyfriend was wished back life he had managed to gather a crew of girls clawing for his attention yet again. She still wasn't sure why she put up with him.

At least Vegeta kept to himself and didn't fawn over other girls...or any girl at all really. Trust a Saiyan to be so clueless when it came to flirting. Of course her flirts had all been an experiment to test the waters on how far she could tease him. Because, hell, if she could tease Vegeta and she didn't get blasted for it, then she could stand to live with him safely, right?

"Uh huh," her mother said to break her thoughts. "Poor boy broods all the time and watches everyone from a distance. That's the sign of someone who's shy, honey. He just doesn't know how to handle social interaction. It's great that you're trying to help him, dear."

"What?" Bulma blinked. "I'm not trying to help him. And he's not -"

She cut herself off and decided to think about it for a moment. Vegeta. Shy. Huh. Well, her mother was right about him staying away from social situations, but she'd never thought it was because of...well...there was that time before, too. Before she had invited him over with everyone else. He'd said an idea to help them wish back Goku, she'd complimented him, they'd met eyes, and he'd looked down almost immediately. She hadn't seen that side in a while, so she'd forgotten all about it.

Well, then. There it was – a new goal. Bring Vegeta out of his shell.

~!~

He was walking out of the kitchen, carton of juice in hand, when the woman cornered him in the hallway. Her presence caused a sense of discomfort that he chalked up to the fact that he was wearing nothing more than a pair of blue pants. After a few days and nights in this dwelling, he was beginning to grow accustomed to walking the halls at night without interruption, so donning the full Saiyan armor had quickly become pointless. Except her being here made him regret the decision.

When she pushed her face up into his, it was no wonder his eye twitched in response. And then of course she had to open her mouth. "Don't you have any decency at all?"

The statement alone turned off his initial response. All the phrases he had planned to snap at her suddenly disappeared at the single question. Who was this woman to speak to him about decency? When she walked around wearing such tight garments and showing so much skin even a Saiyan female would be ashamed... He made sure to keep his eyes on hers and refused to allow them to wander as they wanted. Surely it was some ploy on her part.

"No response, huh?" She went on, tilting her head but eyes caught on his, narrowing a little before a small smirk spread across her face. "What's wrong? Cat got your tongue?"

The phrase caught him off guard again. "What? Cat...?"

Because, honestly, what in the hell was she even talking about? What did a cat have to do with his tongue? What did any of this have to do with decency? This woman was impossible to understand; he still wasn't sure what had possessed her to invite him over to her place, as if he wasn't someone to be feared anymore. Well, then, he'd teach her just how -

A finger poked into his chest and he blinked, breaking contact with her eyes to stare down at the obtrusive touch. "It doesn't matter, I guess. You have some nerve, though."

He had some nerve? Once again, his words were impossible to pin down. Why did she keep doing that, saying things that didn't make any sense? She was the one who -

"I mean, honestly, if you're going to walk around late at night that's one thing," the woman continued, removing her finger and stepping back finally. "But can you at least have the decency to clean up after yourself if you decide to raid the kitchen?"

All the meaning of her past statements crashed into him all at once and his mouth opened without much thought. "Food? This is about food?"

Her blue eyes went to the carton of juice in his hand. "Well, yeah, at least it's about the mess you leave. What did you think this was about?"

Feeling his eye twitch, he shook his head and decided he'd had enough of this conversation. It had already spiraled way out of any semblance of understanding and getting his ground around this woman was going to be more difficult than it should be. His best response was to just push her to the side and walk back to the room he had chosen upon arrival.

To his annoyance, the woman continued to rant at him even as he walked past her and on down the hall. Her voice echoed in his mind, spouting such things as "clean up after yourself" "this isn't your precious palace" "I don't care if you are a prince" and of course a piercing shout complaining about his attitude for "ignoring her." He left it all behind him, hardly sparing her a glance as he left.

~!~

Bulma sighed as she once again opened the fridge to find it emptied of all contents. So much for that talk with Vegeta. Nothing seemed to phase him. He couldn't even -

She blinked at the sudden realization. There was something different this time. Sure, most of their food was gone, requiring yet another quick trip to the grocery store, but instead of scattered containers, torn plastic, or boxes spilled over the counter there was a clean surface. An organized pile of dishes and trash. Even the contents in the fridge seemed more orderly than what she recalled from before, empty or not.

Her mother walked in just as before like clockwork. "Oh, honey, what's that face for? Did Vegeta not listen to you as you hoped?"

With another blink, Bulma glanced around the room one last time, then felt a smile form on her face as she took in the fact that the stubborn Saiyan prince had actually taken her complaint to heart. "No, actually, I think I got through to him after all."

Collection Road Map - Next Up - Read "A Thousand Years(GoChi)" - Chapter 16