Lucy chapter 4
Vegeta wakes up at the crack of dawn, this is something he does often, you don't become the strongest in the universe by sleeping in. But today he would not be going straight to training, today he has preparations to make. He refuses to be made a fool of again. He leaves Bulma asleep in bed and sneaks to the computer. He doesn't usually use the computer at all, technology is not generally his thing, he knows how to use it he just doesn't ever see the need for it, until now.
He sits on the black, leather swivel chair, it's actually quite comfortable, and checks behind himself to make sure neither Bulma or Trunks have snuck in behind him. The coast is clear, the whole house is silent, it's safe.
Vegeta starts up the machine up and reluctantly Google's 'romantic dates'. This is so humiliating, it wouldn't be so bad but he knows Lucy is watching this, probably laughing herself silly. A list of fun activities pops up on the screen. God there are thousands of ideas on here. At least he can be sure he will always have something to do. Fruit picking, painting classes, museums, theatre, karaoke bar, play twister, butterfly farm.
Vegeta stops reading, a small smile on his face, a butterfly farm sounds interesting. He knows Goku has a weird affinity with animals and he would really enjoy watching all the pretty colours flitting around. He clicks the link and finds he is in luck. The website is quite detailed, with a map of the farm. That's exactly what he needed. he runs his eyes over the map, memorising every detail. He needs to know every little hiding place, every nook and cranny, so that if he feels the need to cry or any other embarrassing thing that might happen he will know where to hide until it passes. He needs to make sure they have food, Goku won't enjoy himself if there is no food involved. Luckily the farm has a quaint little café that serves vegetables which are all grown on the premises, Goku will love that. And the place is only an hour's flight away, well, looks like their second date has been decided, and whatever happens it can't be as bad as yesterdays, surely.
Vegeta closes the computer down and picks up his phone.
*Morning Kakarot x* he types, then hesitates, is it too soon to send a kiss, will it creep him out? He thinks it's probably is too much, but he decides to send it anyway, I mean he is already dead, what's the worst that can happen? He's supposed to be upping my game after all, he may as well go all out, fuck it. He quickly adds a second kiss and hits send.
Goku's reply comes through almost instantly, almost as though he was waiting for Vegeta's massage. He would never admit it but that is exactly what he was doing. He was beginning to wonder if Vegeta had forgotten about him, he grinned as he typed back, poking his tongue out the side of his mouth and concentrating hard on spelling the words correctly. He noticed the two kisses that Vegeta sent and paused, that seemed a bit strange, Vegeta had never sent kisses before, should he send them back? No, it must have been auto-correct, there is no way Vegeta would sent them on purpose.
*Hey, Vegeta. Should I come pick you up? Xx? Lol, autocorrect, right?* Goku sends back, hoping he sounds unfazed by the obviously accidental kisses and that he wasn't silently praying that Vegeta deliberately sent them.
Vegeta gets butterflies in his belly as he reads Goku's reply, must be another stupid side effect. So, Goku assumed that the kisses were a mistake, Vegeta will not rectify it.
*No, come find me in an hour* He texts back mysteriously.
*Where are we going? * Goku asks feeling eager.
*It's a surprise, wear bright colours.*
*Ohhh interesting, okay see you soon, I can't wait * Goku texts back and rushes to his closet to find his brightest t-shirt, or should he just wear his bright orange training uniform. He sits down and tries to make a decision. He can never remember it being so difficult to pick an outfit before.
"He seems eager dunn he?" Lucy muses from beside Vegeta, peering over his shoulder to read the messages. She didn't even make him jump this time, he was kind of expecting her.
"Yes, he does. And who can blame him?" Vegeta purrs checking himself out in the reflection in the window,
"I must admit for a dead guy I'm looking pretty hot". He declares flexing and turning from left to right.
"Damn right ya are. Ya seem eager an' all, that's kinda surprising. I expected it to take much longer before ya started liking 'im." Lucy muses, smiling.
"What do you mean? I don't like him at all, I'm just playing the game." Vegeta shrugs of her silly comment.
"Whatever ya say hun, so do ya think you'll kiss 'im today?"
"Fuck no, I will never kiss him, that's disgusting," He answer with a grimace as he gets himself ready to leave.
"Well how ya gonna get 'im to love ya if ya don't never kiss 'im?"
"I DON'T KNOW, AND I DON'T CARE!" Vegeta shouts, then lowers his voice, suddenly remembering that the rest of the house is still fast asleep.
"I won't be kissing Kakarot, EVER, so you can get that idea out of your head right now."
"Oh, spoil sport, I was well looking forward to that bit, maybe later ay? Oi am I allowed to watch?" Vegeta simply shakes his head at her incredulously, sighing before pulling on his shoes and leaving the house. There is no point in trying to argue with Lucy, the woman is a bumbling idiot.
"If you don't have blue roses I'm going to explode with rage," Vegeta yells, startling the small woman behind the counter of the sixth florist he has visited this morning.
"Oh! Erm… Yes sir… I have a few left," She stutters, taking Vegeta by surprise, he was fully prepared for her to tell him she had none, like every other crappy florist in this shit hole of a town.
"Well, can I buy them?" He snaps rudely. The girl stays totally professional, not reacting to his bluntness at all.
"Certainly sir, although I only have five left." She explains, leaving the counter and moving toward a huge collection or roses in the far corner. Vegeta frowns.
"I need more than that, why is it so difficult to get hold of blue roses?" He mutters, it was meant as a rhetorical question but the girl answers anyway.
"It's because they aren't natural, white flowers must be dyed through the stem to achieve such a striking colour," She holds a flower up, the deep blue reflecting in her hazel eyes. She spins it between her fingers making the rose dance like a ballerina. Vegeta doesn't really like flowers but even he must admit, this one is very beautiful. She continues to talk, almost to herself it appears she has forgotten her angry customer even there.
"They don't bother to dye many of them. Blue is not a popular colour of rose you see, people tend to go for red as they symbolise love and romance. Personally, I prefer the blue, it's beautiful and unique."
"What does the blue rose symbolise?" He asks, curious. She smiles up at him.
"A blue rose is mysterious, it symbolises the unattainable and immortality. The giver of a blue rose is enigmatic, no one really knows him. Was there a particular reason you wanted blue roses, sir?" She has a knowing and quite unsettling stare.
"I want the person I give them to to think of me when they look at them. Blue is sort of 'my colour'," He tries to explain, feeling like a total dork. She nods and looks thoughtful. Her eyes fall onto the gold wedding band on his ring finger.
"So… This person. Does she have 'a colour'?"
"Yes! Actually, he does. His colour is orange. What does an orange rose mean?" He is getting quite engrossed in this flower meaning stuff, it's very interesting.
"Ah! Orange roses are so beautiful, don't you think?" She asks reaching for the bright bloom, the same shade as Goku's training gi, perfect.
"These are the symbol of desire, enthusiasm and passion. Orange combines red and yellow. Love and friendship. So maybe give them to a friend, that you hope to be more."
"That is exactly what I need, I'll take ten orange, all five blue and finally, what do you have that will attract butterflies?"
"I have this Buddleja davidii, more commonly known as butterfly bush. It mostly comes in purple but I have some here that's so dark it's nearly black, kinda looks like your hair," She holds up a black flame shaped cluster of flowers, she is right it does look a bit like Vegeta's spiky hair.
She arranges the flowers into a bouquet, they look very striking, and they smell sweet too. He just hopes Goku appreciates all the trouble he has gone to.
"Are we putting a card in there?" She asks, holding up a small orange card.
"I can write it for you in gold calligraphy, if you like," She offers, he thinks for a moment.
"Just put 'for Kakarot, I hope I give you butterflies'".
Vegeta stands, feeling somewhat nervous for reasons he doesn't understand, outside the huge glass structure waiting for Goku. The farm is basically just a giant greenhouse. It looks like a boring pile of crap to the prince but he's sure Goku will adore it, and that's what matters. He can already make out the brightly coloured insects flitting around inside the building. He waits impatiently with his stupidly huge bunch of roses in my hand. Ten minutes late, as usual, Goku finally materialises, the smile on his face is heart-warming when he sees where he is, making it almost impossible for Vegeta to be cross with him for his tardiness.
"Wow Vegeta, how did you come up with this idea? Are those for me?" He yells when he is handed the huge bouquet.
"What do you think? I'm hardly gonna buy such stuff for myself, am I? I got them so that the butterflies come to you," The older Saiyan snaps, then feels cross with himself for being a dick again. If there is any chance of getting Goku to like him he must stop being a dick.
"Thank you, that's really thoughtful," He says softly, smiling at Vegeta as he takes the flowers from him and sniffs them. He notices the card and lifts it from between the blooms. He reads it aloud and his eyebrows raise slightly. He looks at his friend with a strange, questioning expression.
"Shall we?" Vegeta asks gesturing to the entrance.
Inside the butterfly farm is humid and smells funny, Vegeta is hating every second of this, he is doing a great job of pretending to have fun though. He would never have made any effort to pretend before, but he can see that this date is going well as far as Goku is concerned and doesn't want to ruin it. Goku is having a wonderful time. The flowers really do give him butterflies, the small creatures flock around him and he giggles. Even Vegeta has to laugh a little when one of them landed on his nose, he stays perfectly still and goes all cross eyes, he looks even more of a fool than usual. Along the paths are signs giving information about each and every butterfly in here, Goku asks Vegeta to read them all out to him as his reading is not too good, he listens intently as he is told the name and origin of each one, it even tells you what they eat. Vegeta learns a few facts himself as he reads, he didn't know, for example that some butterflies are as big as birds. The Queen Alexandra birdwing is the largest known butterfly, and they have two of them here, Goku wants more than anything to find one and take a selfie with it, but Vegeta is not too keen on the idea, the picture looks like a disgusting worm with wings. He silently hopes they don't find one.
The date is going exceptionally well, so far, Vegeta has experienced no side effects at all, actually he feels great, better than he felt when he was alive even. He just hopes it stays that way. They eat in the small café and the prince was totally right, Goku does love it, the kitchen staff struggle to keep up with the amount of food he eats but they just about manage it.
Both Saiyan's are in high spirits, neither can deny they are enjoying themselves, and each other. Before today Vegeta wasn't really a fan of butterflies, but watching Goku rush around and smile, having a great time is fun to watch. He is so endearing, almost… Cute. Vegeta must keep a check on himself to make sure he doesn't get caught smiling, he has a grumpy image to uphold.
"Vegeta, look," Goku whispers grabbing Vegeta's elbow, destroying his train of thought, and pointing at a nearby plant. Sitting right near the top, flapping its majestic turquoise wings is the Queen Alexandra birdwing butterfly, she is quite beautiful.
"Do you think we can tempt it down?" The prince asks. Goku looks around sneakily, checking that no one is watching, before stealthily floating up to where the creature is. Vegeta sighs and crosses his arms, they are never supposed to fly in public, they could get seen then people would know they aren't human. Goku gets very close and the insect is obviously startled, it flies away at top speed, heading straight for Vegeta's face. He tries his best not to panic, he really does, but the thought of the worm like animal landing on his face makes him feel sick, he hates worms. Ever so gently he wafts the thing away. His hand collides with the bug with staggering force and it slams into the ground and moves no more.
"Hey," A voice calls out, Goku has landed back at his side and has a horrified expression on his sweet little face as he looks down at the dead and broken thing on the ground. A couple of the workers at the farm are running over, also looking upset and angry.
"Vegeta, why did you do that?" Goku asks in the saddest little whisper, tears forming at the sides of his wide eyes.
"I didn't mean to, it was aiming at my face," Vegeta explains, feeling terrible.
"For God's sake Vegeta you killed it," He scolds, lifting the small broken body up in the palms of his hands.
"I've called the police, put her down," A member of staff calls over looking like she might cry when she sees the dead body of one of her very rare butterflies.
"Kakarot, get me out of here please," Vegeta mutters, placing a hand on his shoulder. It appears that is becoming the catchphrase of the end of their dates. He I. T.'s the two men back to Capsule Corp.
"I can't believe you did that Vegeta, do you think Bulma can fix her?" He asks hopefully.
"No, Bulma is an amazing scientist, but she can't bring things back from the dead Kakarot, and anyway where would we tell Bulma we found it?"
"She doesn't know where we went today?" He asks a little awkwardly.
"No, I didn't tell her," Vegeta admits, feeling a little embarrassed about keeping secrets from his wife. Goku smiles a tiny little smile, like he is thinking something, is he figuring out that his friend is trying to woo him, that he wants more than friendship?
"I didn't tell Chichi either," He finally answers, "Let's at least give it a proper burial," He says sadly looking back to the bug in his hands.
"A burial?... For an insect?" Vegeta looks confused.
"Yes, we can't just leave it on the ground. You don't have to stay if you don't want to," Goku sounds upset. Vegeta sighs, he can't have Goku upset.
"Of course I'll stay Kakarot," He says, placing a comforting hand on his arm. He stays for the whole thing, and even says a few words. It pays off because Goku is not angry with him anymore.
"Hey, I've got to get home, Chichi will wonder where I am but, can we hang out again tomorrow? Like if you ain't busy, you know" He asks.
"Of course, Kakarot, I'd like that."