Chiaotzu waited and waited for Malachi to wake, but he simply did not, even by the time it was noon and breakfast was cold. He made his way to the room and noticed that the other hadn't moved an inch since he'd checked on him a little earlier.
After Malachi had left Tien and Chiaotzu so abruptly last night, they were left stupefied for quite some time unable to figure out his obvious mood change. He'd barely eaten anything and had said even less. Chiaotzu didn't claim to know Malachi all that well, but even he could tell that something was off about him.
"Did something happen today?" Tien asked Chiaotzu with a raised eyebrow.
"Well…" Chiaotzu began thoughtfully, "I heard him on the phone earlier. Sounded like he was talking to Vegeta and then it sounded like he was talking to Bra."
"I see," Tien said returning to his meal.
Chiaotzu looked at him confused when he noticed the other seemed satisfied with his answer. "I don't get it—what happened?"
"Case and point why I choose not to deal with women, at least not like that. Situations become far more complicated than they need to be—it's not conducive to a sound mind and body. Obviously, something happened between those two. I was told she was carrying as well, probably not the most stable at the moment. If you think about," Tien said as he placed his fork down, "Neither one of them are."
"So…is there anything we can do about it?"
"Unless you've come up something—no. I'm sure whatever it is will soon pass."
Needless to say, there had been tons of leftover yesterday night and they were barely able to fit it into the refrigerator. Tien had all but shrugged when he asked how they might remedy the situation with Malachi. Now he found himself shaking Malachi vigorously to wakefulness. It was his last resort as time continue to pass. If there was one thing that Chiaotzu was sure about, Malachi needed to keep his strength up so he definitely should not be skipping meals.
Malachi was soon looking up at him through parted slits with furrowed eyebrows. "Wha…what?" he growled at him with a scratchy voice.
"Breakfast," Chiaotzu said pointing at the plate he'd placed on the table next to him, "Eat it. It's getting late. Then we gotta get your bandages changed."
Malachi slowly sat up in the bed, pushing the balls of his palms against his eyes. "I'll just tell them to make a house call. Walking over there each day? Ridiculous."
"I don't know if they do that kinda thing if it isn't an emergency," Chiaotzu said.
"If I pay them enough money, you'll be surprised at the kinds of things people are willing to do for you," he said with a grin though Chiaotzu did not find his comment amusing in the least. He looked to the plate now. "Overcooked as usual."
"Are you really gonna' keep saying that?" Chiaotzu asked with a frown.
"Yes. Maybe one day you'll actually do something about it. Sometimes it takes longer for hardheaded people to accept criticism."
"You're just full of good vibes today, huh."
"Oh, you have no idea," he said drily. "Now stop staring and give me some privacy—unless watching me eat is the highlight of your day."
Chiaotzu took this as his cue to leave as he turned to the exit. "Fine, but you better eat all of it," he said with a huff.
He only glanced back once to see Malachi's amused expression before leaving altogether. He knew he held little to no authority over Malachi, but he still felt compelled to order him around. It was hard not to. He seemed to insist on doing the wrong thing rather than the right thing. Chiaotzu wasn't afraid of him in the least for some reason. Though he wasn't a pleasant person, he never seemed like he would physically hurt him in any way. Only time would tell if his intuition was correct.
Chiaotzu sat down in the living room waiting for the other to appear from the back eventually. If not for getting his bandages changed, to see Lilith again or talk to Launch at the store. Or better yet, try some other random house to strike up conversation. Instead of Malachi appearing, however, there was a knock on the door that startled Chiaotzu out of his reverie. Cautiously, he floated over and peeped through the peephole to find a woman dressed in a nurse's uniform.
"Yes?" Chiaotzu called out.
"I'm here for Malachi. This is Nurse Jennifer from the hospital down the street," she said back.
Surprised though still dubious, Chiaotzu slowly opened the door. "Yeah, he's here. Let me show you to him."
"Oh, you're the kid that was with him last time," she said with a generous smile that set his mind at ease. "How is he doing? Has he been good?"
"He's doing fine, I guess. And I made sure he wasn't doing anything too extraneous."
"That's good to hear. I would hate to be doing all this work for nothing. We have a surprising number of stubborn patients these days—ever since that dojo opened. It's good that they're improving their overall health, but when things go awry treatment is like pulling teeth."
"Well, Tien definitely believes in doctors. If Malachi's giving you a hard time, let me know."
"It should be fine. Very rarely do people call for us to come to their home."
"He's down the hall, second door on the right," he informed the other.
Chiaotzu watched the cheerful woman make her way to her patient hoping Malachi would behave somewhat and that the visit would go smoothly. He supposed he didn't have too much to worry about. He'd been cordial enough on their first doctor's visit. He once again sat down in the living room silently wishing that he was at Tien's side again training. The nurse left in record time, but she seemed fine and had nothing but glowing reviews to give him on his way out. She'd be coming in regularly for the time being. Chiaotzu had to admit that such arrangements were convenient. As soon as she was gone, he heard Malachi call out for him and he was obligated to see what he wanted. Just in case it was something dire.
"I want you to go out and buy me some things," Malachi said upon seeing him.
Chiaotzu sighed exasperatedly. Now he really was feeling like a servant. Malachi handed him a credit card which took him by surprise. "You sure you want be handing me this?"
"Why not? I'll know exactly what you're buying—and if you decide to do something stupid with my money, well, you'd certainly like me a lot less than you do now."
For whatever reason, that particular threat seemed far scarier than any heated or annoyed look he'd given him in the past. "So what do you want?"
Malachi went down a small list of items: pens, speakers, a laptop, and a deck of playing cards. Chiaotzu wondered why he couldn't just go get them himself, but didn't dare ask him at this point. Maybe later when he was in a better mood.
Chiaotzu zipped out of the house and down the street before making a turn to arrive at the supermarket nearby. There he easily found the items on the list, paid for it with the swanky black credit card, and zipped back down the street with the items in a one-use capsule. He waited to hear some thanks from Malachi as he made it back in what he believed was record time, but he didn't even bother with such things. He just wanted to know that he'd gotten everything and sent him on his way. He'd been talking on his phone as well too, but from what he could tell, it had not been with Bra. It sounded more like business than anything else.
That was really all he'd heard from Malachi for a while. He never left the house and when Chiaotzu checked in on him before he started reheating the food, he was sound asleep and music was coming from the speakers though it wasn't loud enough to bleed through the walls. He shrugged at this—even if it seemed odd, at least he was actually doing the thing everyone had been telling him to do since he first got here. All it took was a depressing phone call from Bra.
Tien came in and Chiaotzu was once again happy to see him. Today he'd gotten a new student—a female. He didn't think she'd last long just like all the other women who'd briefly taken up his classes. Already, she performed at a level lower than even his other beginners. From Chiaotzu's experience, this was always the case though he wasn't entirely sure why.
Chiaotzu was setting the food out eventually before having to actually wake Malachi for dinner—it was an odd change of pace. Luckily, it didn't take much to rouse him. Just like yesterday, Malachi spoke little at the table though Tien tried to get more out of him. He ate little and then left them abruptly. Tien had simply let it happen yesterday, but Chiaotzu could tell from the look in his eyes that he was starting to get annoyed. Chiaotzu didn't want there to be an argument—he hated them with a passion—but things did seem to be leading up to it.
They finished and cleaned up, but instead of heading outside for some sparring, Tien stopped by Malachi's room. Chiaotzu stood to the side.
"Planning on starving yourself?" Tien asked forwardly.
Malachi had been scribbling away on his notepad again, but looked up when Tien spoke and then turned down the music.
"No—why do you ask?" he returned without any hesitance.
"Just tell me what's bothering you," Tien said, cutting to the chase in his usual fashion.
"Nothing for you to concern yourself with," he answered as his pen starting moving again.
"It's about Bra, isn't it?"
Then the pen stopped. His expression hardened when he looked at Tien again. "And if it is, I doubt you'd have any useful advice to give me."
"You write me off so quickly and you haven't even heard what I have to say."
"Well? I'm listening."
"You're here, away from everyone else in a town with no familiar faces. You can start anew and eliminate all other distractions from your life."
"Predictable," Malachi said after a moment. "Judging from how you keep your house—you've certainly 'eliminated all distractions'. I didn't expect good advice from a guy who's been stringing along that lady next door for many, many years it seems like. Now she lives alone and looks sad even when she manages to smile. And Chiaotzu enjoys kissing your ass too much to ever learn to lead a life of his own. No, neither of you could possibly have any sound advice. So if you excuse me, I will wallow in self-pity and despondency until such time that I'm strong enough to withstand what will likely be your brutal training."
Unperturbed at the other's digs, Tien replied. "In the state that you are—you will never be able to withstand my training even after you have recovered."
"We'll just have to see, won't we," Malachi said as he returned to his notepad, already continuing to write.
Chiaotzu could only guess that it was some sort of diary he was writing in, but Malachi didn't exactly seem the type to keep up that sort of thing. Tien watched him for a moment longer, but then the two of them were heading outdoors again for a spar. This time, however, things were a little different and Chiaotzu could tell immediately as he was actually able to land a blow on his partner. Tien was, in fact, quite distracted. He apologized and then ended their spar early. Obviously, he was not in the mood.
Chiaotzu wondered if Malachi's mood would affect them all.
After cramming down as much food as he could down his throat, though he didn't manage to empty his plate, and after another painful session of having his bandages changed, Malachi did nothing more than pull out his laptop and stay on the internet. Though the house itself didn't have it, using his phone as a conduit, it was no issue at all for him. Music was playing as well and he'd chosen a playlist which featured many Bobby Caldwell hits and plenty of other artists he could listen to on repeat.
He didn't want to think, he wanted to be utterly distracted by trivial things, by the problems of others, by pretty things, by ugly things—anything. This must have continued for hours though he hardly acknowledged the passage of time at this point.
"I love this song," Lilith's voice said.
He looked up at the sound of it and saw her standing in the doorway smiling gently at him.
"I've missed you. It's been a couple of days since you visited. Is everything alright?"
"I would have come to see you eventually. I've just had other things on my mind," he said.
She entered the room and boldly sat down on the side of the bed. "Like what?" she asked innocently.
Her eyes were alert and she seemed to genuinely want to know what was on his mind. The same woman who had told him that he was perfect and complimented him way too much. Her very presence made him feel better about himself in a way that he'd been unable to do for a while now. That was probably because he'd not told her everything about himself. If she knew…
"The woman who I was with decided it would be better if we parted ways."
Lilith looked at him with a shocked expression. "I can hardly imagine anyone saying something like that to you."
"With all due respect, you don't know me very well. I guess I can't really blame her—I'm not the same person I used to be."
"We all change, Malachi. That's just something that should be expected. Even now," she said with a smile, "You're certainly a bit different from when I first met you and it hasn't been very long."
"When I say change, it's bit more drastic than being in a different mood—"
"I know, silly. Surely, it had to be something serious. How long were you with her?" she inquired.
"Almost two years. It's the longest I've ever dated anyone. I wanted to marry her. I still do. But…knowing her she already has her eye on some other guy. It's hard to keep her attention for long. I never told her this, but I've ran into quite a few of her ex's—all of them kicked to the wayside. They were little more than accessories to her and once they were no longer interesting, she moved on to the next one. Just like me, it seems."
"To stay with someone for so long—you must have liked something about her."
Malachi smiled briefly and looked away from the other. "Eventually, I liked everything about her. And when I met her family—I adored them. I wanted to be part of that family even though I'd never seen myself part of anyone's family before. I don't expect that to ever happen again. The way she sounded on the phone—it sounded final. She expected something from me that I could not promise without it being a lie again."
"I'm sorry," Lilith said sadly. "Sometimes things don't work out like we plan it no matter what we do."
"Is that something you learned from experience?" he asked as he noticed her knowing look.
"Yes," she replied, "Many experiences. I do like it better when you smile," she said when he'd grinned at her reply.
"No need to flatter me so much. I hardly look presentable."
She reached over and pushed a curly strand of hair from his face. "If only you could see yourself how I see you—you'd never think that."
Malachi noticed that she'd leaned in a bit closer to him. He was close enough to see the dark brown of her irises and a smell that was a mix of paint and pencils, but it wasn't overpowering. Before he knew it, she'd closed the distance and her lips were pressed against his. He only let it go on for a moment before he was pushing her away.
"What are you doing?" he said with a sigh. "Is that the real reason you came?"
"Well, no," Lilith admitted, "But it seemed like you really needed it. Something tells me that you don't like to be alone for very long."
She was turned towards him and her hands were placed on the bed to leverage herself forward. She climbed onto the bed now, moving the laptop aside so that she could straddle his form.
"Geez, woman," he said.
"You can tell me to stop at any time," she said with a grin.
He didn't. He couldn't bring himself to do it as she drew closer to him and he allowed himself to fall into a kiss with her. He was already excited as she moved down his neck. Then he stopped her again as his mind started working again.
"Don't worry, I'm on birth control," she said as if reading his mind. "Seriously, I am. This is just…a one-time thing, alright."
"I suppose you haven't given me a reason to think you're lying."
She smiled at him and returned to her previous activities. "Tonight, will be all about you."
AN: I would have had this out sooner but Fanfiction has been acting funny on my end. But the wait is over.
SierraLarson: I'm working on it. Lol. Blonde Launch was far less intense in DBZ.