A/N: I don't own DBZ or the characters, that honour belongs to Akira Toriyama. I use British English spelling. Please R and R!
Bulma and Vegeta had an unspoken agreement not to talk about their night-time activities during the day. In fact, when they saw each other in daylight hours they made a point of throwing insults at each other, especially if someone else was in listening distance.
Bulma didn't have a problem with it - if anything, it made the meals and movies they shared seem special. Although the idea of sharing something 'special' with a murderous alien prince was a little worrying. Or should have been. But somehow wasn't... Bulma decided not to analyse that one too closely. Either way, not talking about food and movie club wasn't the problem. The problem was that she had a date tonight. And if the date went well... there'd be no food and movie with Vegeta. But how in Kami's name was she going to let him know? And would he even care?
Bulma chewed on the end of her pen. Yes, he would care, even if he didn't show it. He might not admit it, and probably wouldn't even if Frieza himself was torturing him, but Vegeta was lonely - just as lonely as her. Probably more, since he literally had no one else. No family, no friends, not even a planet to call his own. He had to be lonely. Bulma couldn't stand the idea of being that alone. She'd go mad. Vegeta might be used to being alone but he was still a... well, not a human, but a person. With feelings, deep, deep down. Somewhere. Maybe.
Bulma sighed and threw her pen on her desk. They often crossed paths at lunch. He rarely missed a meal if her mother was cooking. Despite being a perfectly adequate cook himself, he hadn't let that on to her mother and she wasn't about to spill his secret less he stop cooking for her at night. Yes, that was it. She'd mention it at lunch.
"I have a date tonight," Bulma blurted out. She closed her eyes as she felt her cheeks burn up. Kami, that was so subtle. She heard Vegeta pause in his eating beside her, but kept her gaze forward.
"Oh sweetie, that's great news!" Bulma's mother clapped her hands together. "Who's the lucky guy... is it Vegeta?"
"What?" Bulma and Vegeta cried in unison.
"Don't be ridiculous," Vegeta said, growling under his breath.
"No Mother, where on earth did you get that idea from? It's with a friend of Kelly's. We've met a few times for drinks with friends and he asked me out." Bulma snuck a glance at Vegeta, who was staring intently at his food while taking large bites that took ages to chew. "It isn't serious, but I haven't been out since Yamcha and I broke up. It might be fun, so uh... don't wait up." She looked at Vegeta as she said the last part, but he didn't show any sign of listening.
"I'm sure it will be dear. Where are you going?"
Bulma and her mother spent the next few minutes talking about the date, until even Bulma started to feel excited about it. It would be fun. And it wasn't like Vegeta would ever take her on a date. Not that she wanted him to. Definitely not. She couldn't even picture it in her mind. Where would he take her? Off planet to conquer an alien race for the evening? Kami, why was she even thinking about that? No, she was going on this date and she was having a fun night out. No apocalypse, no boy from the future, no androids... and definitely no Saiyans.
Vegeta didn't want to admit it in front of Bulma and her mother, but he didn't actually know what a date was. As he did a warm up of push ups in two hundred times Earth's gravity, he pondered exactly what she'd meant. He gathered that a date was some kind of courting ritual, but what exactly did it involve? Was it a special ceremony, or some kind of dance? Or was it just a euphemism for sex? The woman used to go on dates with Yamcha, and he knew they also had sex, because she would often come home with his scent all over her.
Vegeta gagged at the thought, and rolled over to start his sit ups. She'd told him not to wait up, but he had no intention of changing his routine. What was he supposed to do instead? Sleep? Vegeta scoffed at the thought. But if Bulma came home smelling of a random guy, Vegeta would... he would... do nothing. Vegeta paused his sit ups and lay on the floor of the GR. Yes, he wouldn't do anything because he didn't care what Bulma did, because he didn't care about her. Didn't he?
Four hours later, which had been spent training and most definitely not thinking about a particular blue-haired woman having sex with a faceless stranger, and Vegeta was ready to take his workout up to the next level.
Trembling from the effort, sweat dripping off his hands and onto the console, Vegeta pressed the button the increase the gravity from two hundred and fifty, to three hundred. The GR whirred and Vegeta began to feel the effect of the added gravity buckle his knees. And then the lights went out and the gravity fell to zero, making Vegeta fall over from the change.
"What the..." Vegeta scrambled to his feet and peered at the console. He tried tapping the gravity button again, but nothing happened. Swearing under his breath in three different alien languages, Vegeta stomped his way to Bulma's lab.
"Woman!" He shouted as he entered. "The damn gravity room is broken again. I need you to..." He trailed off as he realised that despite sensing her ki, he couldn't see her. "Bulma?"
"I'm here... oh shit, ouch!" Bulma crawled out from under her desk, rubbing her head. "Found them!" She said, triumphantly holding up a pair of red heels.
Vegeta pressed his lips together to avoid gaping at her. Bulma was wearing a short, red dress that hugged her curves. She'd done her hair in a cloud of curls and painted her face. A date had to mean sex, Vegeta decided.
"I need you to fix the GR," Vegeta tried again, clearing his throat so he didn't sound like a croaky teenage human.
"Not today!" Bulma said, sitting on her office chair to pull on her shoes. "I have a date, remember?"
Vegeta looked her up and down and raised an eyebrow. "And that is what one wears on a date?"
Bulma stood up and smoothed her dress. "If one wants to have a good time," she said with a wink. "See you later, Vegeta!" She walked out of the room with a backwards wave of her hand that left Vegeta reeling.
"What am I supposed to do now?" He grumbled. He sat in her office chair and spun around like he'd seen her do hundreds of times before. The whiteboard had a new mathematical equation on it, unsolved again. It was a complicated problem, with lots of variables the conflicted with one another. Bulma didn't seem to have an obvious use for it that would improve the GR or anything else to do with his training, so Vegeta really shouldn't bother...
Vegeta's fingers itched. He slowly reached for a pen and paper, tapping the desk with the pen several times before giving in and leaning towards to whiteboard to take a closer look. At least it was something to do.
A/N: Another one done! I have ideas for the next two chapters, so expect them up in the next day or two. Thank you for all of your reviews so far - they are motivating me to keep writing so please keep them coming!
