AU all human. Bulma and Vegeta are good friends and they constantly have deny to their friends that they have a crush on each other. Bulma even has a boyfriend for goodness sake! However when a horrible event happens, will feelings surface? Ratings for language, blood and smut.

Be kind, this is only my second submission! Hope you enjoy. Chapter 2 is currently being edited for uploading shortly.

The young man walked out from the adjoining bathroom into his bedroom. His bedroom was small but functional; had a double bed against the wall under the window, a bedside table, wardrobe and a chest of drawers. No decoration or homely feel about the place, but he didn't care. It did the job and that's all he needed.

He rubbed a towel through his short, black, spiky hair to dry it following his shower before he threw it over his shoulder back into the bathroom deciding that he'd pick it up later. He lifted a clean pair of boxer shorts from the top of his chest of drawers and slipped them up his strong muscular legs. After they snapped on his thin waist, he unwrapped the towel around him before throwing that into the bathroom to join it's partner. Pulling out some socks from the same drawer he walked over to his bed slipping them on his feet before grabbing his works jumpsuit that was already on the bed.

He sighed. He really didn't want to work late on a Friday night, but his boss had called saying they had more cars on site then they could deal with so needed his urgent help. The saving grace was they were going to pay him double for going in so he couldn't really complain. He slid his legs into the jumpsuit before pulling it up to his hips and tying it off. He never wore it up the full away; it got too hot under the hoods of cars too quickly. He kicked his work boots on that were next to the bed before standing and walking back to his chest of drawers to finish getting ready when there was a knock on his front door. Arching a thick eyebrow, he questioned himself who it could possibly be as he walked through the apartment to the door. He swung open the door to reveal a smiling young woman

"Vegeta!" She declared happily upon the sight of him.

"Bulma," He replied dryly with sarcasm tinting his words. Bulma was his very hot neighbour and good friend. Well she wasn't technically his neighbour she lived a few floors up with another friend, but they considered each other neighbours.

He glanced a look up and down at her black cocktail dress, with black high heels causing her long thin legs to be on show for the world, her make-up was done and on heavier than her 'day' make-up and her glorious blue hair was coiffed in what he could only assume was a few hours of preparation; he could safely assume she was on her way out. She was it. Anything a man wanted in a woman, she had it. She was intelligent, an heiress that was going to come into a lot of money, and drop dead gorgeous. In many horny moments he'd spent cursing the fact he was in her 'friend-zone'. Not that he didn't like being there, but she had womanly curves with generous breasts, a toned peachy behind, long legs, big blue eyes and a face that would make anybody's mouth drop; it was undeniable that he hadn't thought even just for a second about how hot she was.

"You are in your work clothes," She then noticed seeing his grey overalls on. "Oh no not again," She bemoaned, her shoulders dropping in anger. "You haven't been out with us in ages."

"There's a lot on at the garage, woman." He replied folding his large muscular arms over his chest leaning on the door frame.

Bulma puffed out air annoyed. She glanced at her friend standing in the pose she knew meant 'Nothing you can say will change my mind'; she'd seen it a few times. The folded arms, his ruggedly good-looking face was serious, his black eyebrows were furrowed over his night-black eyes, and his legs were shoulder width apart giving him more stature than his height allowed. He wasn't short, perhaps a few inches taller than her, but short for a guy. He had ultimate 'short-man syndrome'. He went to the GYM religiously making his muscles bulge, and anybody that even mentioned his height would be in for a tirade of abuse. His abuse was ugly, but Vegeta was definitely one attractive guy.

"Can't you take one night off?" She proceeded to try and convince him pressing her hands in a prayer position. Fruitless she knew but she always tried, perhaps this would be the one time he would give in.

"I probably could, but I won't," He shrugged allowing a malevolent smirk tug at his lips. He had a cruel sense of humour and could be incredibly rude, something that had caused very heated arguments between the two, but she could take it. They were both hot-heads, probably why they were such close friends and knew how to get into each other's heads with such ease that their arguments could get quite viscous. "Scarface will be there anyway." He added.

Scarface being the lovely name he referred to her boyfriend as. She chose to ignore the horrible words; he just didn't approve. Her boyfriend had sown his oats a few times in their relationship so she knew Vegeta's anger towards him was coming from a good place, and she didn't expect them be the best of friends anyway.

"So? Doesn't mean I don't want you there as well." Bulma pouted pressing her red painted lips together.

It was times like this he hated her. Did she know what she did to him with those words? Those words that alluded to so much more but he knew held nothing.

"Run along or I'll be late for work," He nodded her away. She stepped forward reaching up to his hair sorting out the central spike in his hair so it was straight. She had a very annoying habit of invading his personal space, something he didn't like and she knew he didn't which is probably why she did. But he'd found when she reached up to his hair, since she had to stand on tiptoes, he could get a good look at her cleavage. A bit sleazy but what she didn't know couldn't hurt her.

"Okay, I'll see you tomorrow," Bulma pressed a cheeky kiss on his cheek before walking away waving to him over her shoulder. He watched her behind sway before she turned down a corridor out of sight. He shut the door furiously and slammed his head against it. When will this stupid infatuation go? He growled into his mind. Remembering his preparation and trusting the fact she'd sorted his hair out anyway he decided just to leave. He grabbed his keys from the kitchen counter near the door then left.

It was a beautiful summer's night. The sun hadn't quite set yet and they had a few hours of light left before it disappeared. The considerable heat from earlier that day had calmed leaving a light chill in the air making it just right. The air wasn't exactly fresh, but she was in the middle of West City, what did she expect? Bulma skipped towards a car that was waiting for her. She pulled open the door and jumped into the passenger seat. "Not coming I take it," The driver turned her head to her.

"No, has to work." Bulma puffed out air again showing her friend her annoyance. Her friend was as dressed up as she. The whole gang had been looking forward to this night for an entire week and finally it was Friday so they were going to enjoy the hell out of this weekend.

"He works too much," A voice from the back of the car said. Bulma turned around to see her friend's boyfriend sat in the back. She smiled every time she saw them together. They were a new couple and she hadn't quite gotten over how they looked together. Her friend was tall, blonde, beautiful and did the 'rock-chick' look with ease, whereas her boyfriend was very short, bald and was a de-funked Buddhist; they looked odd together but they seemed to be incredibly into each other so didn't care.

"Nah, Vegeta can't work enough," Bulma laughed a little sliding some of her hair behind her ear.

"Who does that remind me of?" Her friend smiled from the driver's seat raising an eyebrow at her.

"Is that an insinuation 18?" She asked back sarcastically. "Just because I like my work, doesn't mean I work too much."

"Right, okay." 18 rolled her eyes before finding a spot in the traffic and pulling out onto the main road.

"Anyway Krillin, Vegeta doesn't really like going out anyway unless getting laid in the equation." Bulma spoke to the guy in the back.

"With how he looks, you would figure that was every weekend," Krillin shrugged, when both girls turned to look at him oddly. "What? It's not weird for a guy to be able to see another guy is attractive to the female population. That time me and him went for a drink, he was practically beating them off with a stick. He came back from the bar with at least 3 numbers and you and I both know that Vegeta would never go up to a girl to chat them up first." Krillin explained.

"When did you and him go out for a drink?" Bulma questioned.

"That time where he told me if I hurt 18 he'd break both my kneecaps," Krillin replied in all seriousness.

Just before 18's twin brother died he'd asked Vegeta to look out for her, some best friend's code, which Vegeta had taken with a great respect. Vegeta took pride in anything he did and being asked that by his best friend meant he would do anything to honour it. Perhaps at times it had annoyed 18 especially when guys had been scared away, but she knew he was doing it because he cared about her, even though he did anything he could to deny he did. They had formed a strong relationship where she saw him as an older brother she never had.

"I know this is the part when we should say 'Oh Vegeta would never touch you, it's only words' but he absolutely would." 18 laughed.

"He probably wouldn't stop at the kneecaps either," Bulma added then laughed at the fact Krillin's face had paled considerably. 18 and Krillin had been together for a couple of months so Vegeta had thawed in his attitude to Krillin and tolerated him, even engaged in conversations with him which meant that he actually quite liked him. "So getting drunk tonight 18?"

"As you might be able to tell, I'm actually driving tonight," Her friend replied as she drove through the city towards their usual bar.

"Ah come on, Vegeta will come and pick us up if you drink too much. Please," Bulma begged since she was up for drinking and hated being the only one doing so.

"I'll see about it." 18 waved it off.

There was something comforting about going to a bar that was their usual. It was situated pretty much in the centre of their part of the city. They lived in the part of town where young professionals lived so had lots of bars, clubs and restaurants, it suited them all down to the ground.

18, Bulma and Krillin all walked into the bar smiling at the bouncer who waved them through. They walked in and the bar was already quite busy. Bulma followed 18 towards the bar scanning the various wooden tables and booths for their friends. After a few moments she saw her boyfriend giving her a wave. She waved back to let him know she'd seen them before turning back to 18 who was now standing at the bar. "Can I have a rum and coke?" 18 shouted to the barman, since the chatter and the background music was rather loud.

"And a vodka Red Bull." Bulma added. 18 turned to look at her wondering why she was suddenly ordering Bulma a drink. "You owe me a drink from last time, and I paid your side of the water bill this month," She explained and 18 sighed knowing she was right.

The two drinks were placed on the bar in front of them, and 18 handed over some coins to pay them. "I've seen them already," Bulma told 18 seeing she was looking for their friends. 18 handed Bulma her drink taking her own then walked over to the corner booth to see the rest of their group waiting for them. Bulma slid in next to her boyfriend, kissing him on the lips as she sat down.

"Hi," He smiled at her. He had a such a sweet smile and puppy dog brown eyes she could never say no to. He was growing his brown hair long again so it looked rather messy, something she'd told him time and again not to do, but he thought it looked 'cool'. He was handsome but the large scar on his cheek unfortunately didn't really add to his looks, but it added a certain amount of danger; she had a thing for bad boys.

"Hi," Bulma smiled back inserting herself next to him in the space he was creating by leaning his arm around the back of the seat. "Hi guys," She then smiled to her other friends sitting at the table as they shuffled around to make room for Krillin and 18.

"Hey B," The beaming scruffy haired male grinned at her. She had to smile back. He was her oldest and best friend. His grandfather lived next door to her parents so she used to see him at weekends and summers, before he moved in permanently when his parents divorced. He was the nicest person in the world and considered everybody his friend, but he considered Vegeta his best friend. "Where's the V-Man?"

"He's working tonight," 18 answered.

"Oh," He pouted. He was like an adorable overgrown child.

"I'm sure you'll see him tomorrow Goku," The small women said who was sat next to him.

"But Chi-Chi, I wanted him to come out tonight." He pouted further. His young girlfriend rolled her eyes. Sometimes Bulma had thought she deserved a medal. Any romantic gestures had to be planned by her, she had to ask him out, she had to be the first person to kiss him. Since Goku acted like such a child he didn't really understand women so Chi-Chi had to hand guide him in everything they did. It was lucky for Goku that she loved him as deeply as he loved her. They were very sweet and had been going out for many years and would without doubt be together forever.

"Well he's out fixing the cars of the nation." Bulma told him and he looked disheartened.

"But he hasn't been out with us in ages," He further protested.

"Oh no it's such a travesty," Bulma heard her boyfriend muttered under his breath as he took a sip of his drink.

"Don't start Yamcha," She hissed at him. She was sick of the mutterings under his breath, the rolls of his eyes and the talking he did behind Vegeta's back. He was scared of him so never said it to his face but would happily do it behind his back; she hated his cowardice and him badmouthing her closest friend. Vegeta at least had a reason to hate Yamcha, it was not the same the other way around.

"What? I don't like guys over my girlfriend shoot me," Yamcha protested.

"This again? Vegeta doesn't have a crush on me," Bulma lied to a point. She knew Vegeta gave her 'the look' every now and then but then again she gave him the same look. He was her image of the perfect man; muscles, beautiful eyes, short hair, bronzed skin and a face of male model of course she was going to give him that look. But her and Vegeta? She barely could consider the idea, it was just... strange. "He doesn't have a crush on me does he 18?" She asked her friend for confirmation. 18 stayed silent for a bit with a face like she wasn't going to disagree.

"Well..." 18 started.

"What?" Bulma asked quickly.

"He's never said anything but I don't know, I just get the feeling he does."

"You see? 'He's never said anything'. Therefore you cannot prove anything. You know as well as I do that you can't tell what he's feeling especially in that department." She defended strongly.

"Why are you getting bent out of shape for? It's only a theory." 18 raised her arms in surrender.

"Because... well..." Bulma stuttered. She didn't have a reason. She was just protective over Vegeta for some reason; always had been.

It seemed odd that she considered him her closest friend since she lived with 18 and Goku was her best friend, but it seemed Vegeta understood her a little better than anybody else. Plus he was a great listener. He acted as though he was bored and didn't care but he would sit and listen giving his advice, granted most of it was violence or 'dump the Scarface bastard then' but he was still there. He didn't really share anything from his side but he was intensely private.

She'd first met him 9 years ago. He'd fixed her very first car for her and even then he intrigued her. A good-looking guy that seemed to prefer to be quiet, watching others then interact. She'd been drawn into that. Her high school years weren't happy ones and she'd been the outcast, preferring her own company then that of others, and she could see that in him. They had that... understanding. He could read her better then anybody she knew, even her own mother.

"So what if he does have a crush on you? It's not like he'd act on it." Chi-Chi asked Bulma.

"Because it's Vegeta."

"Exactly, which means we'll probably never know." Smiled Krillin but she simply frowned. Why did him having a crush on her make her feel so weird? It made her stomach contort and made her feel nervous.

"Or maybe its because you know he does but you can't act on it," Yamcha snidely said and Bulma slid away before turning to him.

"So now you are accusing me of liking Vegeta? Christ Yamcha why don't you just accuse me of sleeping with him as well, I mean he does only live downstairs," She replied sarcastically. When he didn't reply quickly enough she spoke again. "Oh my god, you think I have don't you? You are so fucking paranoid Yamcha and I'm not even the ones that's cheated in our relationship!" She spat anger full rage now.

"How many times? I'm sorry, it was one drunken night. It wasn't even me it was the drink," Yamcha protested.

"It was your dick in her pussy Yamcha, so therefore it was you not the drink."

"I never even said I thought you did, you are putting words in my mouth." Yamcha took a sip of his drink with a smile on his face like he was playing innocent. Growling she folded her arms she angled her body language away from him. He rolled his eyes but decided to say nothing. After a few drinks she'd be all over him.

The night progressed. They had intended to move on from the bar to others or perhaps even a club to go dancing however it seemed the alcohol had run freely and too quickly for the group and they couldn't be bothered to move. The large circular booth they were sat in was endlessly comfortable for 6 tipsy young adults.

"Bulma, your clone has just walk in," Krillin pointed towards the door. Bulma looked in the direction he pointed when a familiar face walked in.

"Does she just follow my life?" Bulma hissed. It was a girl that had made her life hell. She had made herself her doppelgänger then went about trying to ruin her life. She even flirted with Yamcha all of the time, something he always played up to. When Bulma had first met Yamcha he was scared of girls and when she started going out with him she tidied him up a bit, gave him a sense of fashion and suddenly the girls flocked around him like seagulls on a chip. When the girls came around him he got confident and had changed into the skirt chasing man he was today. She hated his wondering eye and it made her feel so worthless but she knew he loved her.

"Who is it?" Yamcha asked not able to see from here he is.

"Marron." Bulma muttered.

"Oh," Yamcha nodded before necking the rest of his pint. "Anybody else want a drink?" He asked jumping to his feet. They all declined since they had just got a round. He shrugged and jumped over the booth and ran into the crowded bar.

Bulma seethed in her seat as her friends sat in silence wondering if they had just witnessed that. He couldn't have been more obvious if he tried. She was shaking she was so incredibly angry. Sometimes he made her heart break. Then she felt all of their eyes on her, awaiting her next move. All she wanted was their eyes off her, to be away from them, away from him. Why did she have to love him? Why did her heart have to love him when he broke it so many times?

"Hello?" Bulma heard; she looked up to see that Goku was now on the phone. His finger in his ear squinting to hear the person on the other end. "Hey Raditz!" He replied, Raditz being his older brother who happened to work at the same garage Vegeta did. "I can't hear you, Vegeta's been what?" Goku shouted slightly louder. "Oh my God, is he alright?" Goku then asked in shock. "You know where? Okay, thanks, yeah I'm going right now, see you there, bye." Goku said hanging up the phone, standing on his feet instantly grabbing his jacket.

"Goku is everything alright?" 18 asked seeing his face was serious and his face never lost his childlike grin.

"Vegeta's been hit by a car."