A/N: Another finished prompt for the collection. I hope you guys are enjoying reading these as much as I am enjoying writing them! For this one the prompt was a classic K/18 trope; "Krillin asking 18 why she stays with him when she could do so much better." So some real self-doubty, anxiety filled stuff, but I think I managed to do it in a way that was still quite happy to read. Let me know what you think!
~D.B
THE STRANGER
"Is this seat taken?"
"Yes. Go away."
The bluntness of her rejection should have been more than enough to get 18's disinterest across, but the newcomer to her party of one was either to stupid, or to stubborn to take the hint. He continued to linger around her table, shuffling from one foot to the other, preparing to make his move. "I think you were saving it for me," he said as he slipped down into the empty seat. "It would be a crime for a pretty little thing like you to ever eat a meal alone."
"Hmmm." 18 placed the menu she had been reading down on the table and pushed her sunglasses up her face to rest on top of her head, revealing the bluest pair of eyes you have ever seen. She smiled sweetly at the stranger sitting opposite her, leaned in a little closer to him and said "No, the real crime will be what I do to you if you don't get up and walk away right this second."
"Aww, come on." The stranger was persistent. "Don't be like that." He pulled his wallet from his pocket, making sure that 18 saw that it was bursting with cash. "This one's on me. What's your name, sweetheart?"
"Leave. Now." Patience was not something that 18 had a lot of, and right now she was quickly running out. "I don't want to make a scene in front of all these people."
They were sitting at a busy sidewalk café which looked out onto a sun soaked beach, surrounded by people laughing and talking amongst themselves. 18 didn't particularly want to ruin all of their lunches, but she would if this moron didn't take her advice and scram. "Why are you still here?"
The stranger licked his lips greedily and moved in closer, "I love it when a girl plays hard to get."
"Is everything okay here?"
"Everything is perfectly fine, Krillin," 18 turned to greet the aforementioned man, who was holding a tall bottle of water in one hand and two drinking glasses and some cutlery in the other. She smiled warmly at him. "He just wanted to know if this seat was free. I let him know that it wasn't." she swivelled back to the stranger, and locked her dangerous gaze intently on him, "and so he was leaving."
The stranger looked back and forth between Krillin and 18. A look of bewilderment crept across his face as he slowly put two and two together, and he leapt up from the table. "Are you kidding me?" he shouted, attracting the attention of several nearby tables. "You're with him?!" he flung his arm in Krillin's direction, not even bothering to look at him.
18 didn't even flinch. "So?" she asked, crossing her arms over her chest and leaning back in her chair. She stared the stranger dead in the eyes, "What of it?"
"Bah," admitting defeat, the stranger threw his hands in the air in frustration and turned to leave, but not before stopping to deliver a final cruel blow to his opponent. "This world is a fucked up place, you know. When someone like you," he jabbed Krillin in the chest, "can land someone like her."
It was many hours later, well after dark, when Krillin found himself sitting out on the roof of the Kame House, under a blanket of glittering stars. The words of the stranger from the café echoed through his head on constant repeat. 'How could someone like you land someone like her?' It was a thought he had had on his own too many times before, but he had always managed to push it to the back of his mind, writing it off as paranoia. After today though, he knew there was no more denying the truth.
Behind him, he heard a shuffling as 18 pushed open their bedroom window and climbed through, joining him out in the cool night. He'd been avoiding her all afternoon, avoiding what he knew had to come next. He wasn't ready yet.
"Is everything alright?" 18 asked as she settled down beside Krillin on the roof. It was colder out here than she had anticipated and her skin quickly puckered with goosebumps. "You haven't been yourself all afternoon."
The fact that he didn't respond right away was reason enough to cause 18 alarm, but she held steady and waited while he stared out into the inky black ocean and sorted out his thoughts, she had all night.
Eventually Krillin sighed and turned to face her. "Why are you here?" he asked, the heaviness in his voice let 18 know this was a real question and not some kind of a cruel, ill-conceived joke. "Why are you with me?"
The heavy sombreness in the air threw 18, she had no idea where this menacing doubt of Krillin's had come from or how she was supposed to respond to it. "I don't understand," she replied truthfully, everything between them had seemed great until now. "What are you talking about?"
"I mean, why me? Why, when you could have your pick of literally any guy on this planet, are you here with me?"
"Krillin…"
"Is it because you feel like you owe me? For not using that remote? Or using a wish on you? Because I didn't do any of that to try and make you feel guilty or obligated, and if that is the reason, then you shouldn't be here."
18 shook her head in utter bemusement, hoping that the pain she was feeling in her heart wasn't showing on her face. "What has gotten into you today? Where is this coming from?"
"I just…" Krillin's shoulders slumped, as though he had already admitted defeat. Once his next words left his lips that was it, there would be no going back. "I don't want you to waste your life here with me. I see the way guys throw themselves at you every time we are on the mainland, they're always tall and rich and handsome. You deserve the kind of life someone like that could give you, 18. You shouldn't be stuck here with a reject like me. I can't offer you anything."
"Oh…" everything quickly fell into place and 18 understood what was going on. "Is this about the café?" she asked. Honestly, she had already forgotten about that moron. The second he was out of her sight, he may as well have ceased existing.
"Of course it is!" Krillin retorted, "and every other time we are anywhere other than this island! We both know that everyone is thinking what that guy said! You have to have seen the looks people give us?!"
There was a long moment of thick silence between them as both of their brains worked frantically to process this unexpected twist in their relationship. "I just want you to be happy," Krillin eventually mumbled, pulling his knee's up to his chest and burying his face in them.
"Are you breaking up with me, then?' 18 asked, her voice was cool and level and completely devoid of emotion. She had gone into defence mode and let her android brain take control over her human emotions.
"What?! No!" Genuine surprise covered Krillin's face as he turned to look at 18 again. "I'm letting you know it's ok to break up with me."
"Okay then," 18 stood up and took the few short steps to the edge of the roof. A tidal wave of nausea rolled through Krillin as he tried to prepare himself for what was about to happen. "I'm going to bed."
"Wait!" Krillin yelped. 18 stopped and turned back towards him, hovering in the air just beyond the roof. She did not look impressed. "What?" he asked.
18 shook her head and looked away, "It's freezing out here, Krillin, and you are acting insane. I'm going to bed. When you are finished with whatever this," she gestured wildly at him "is, you are more than welcome to join me."
"So you're not breaking up with me?" Krillin asked so meekly that 18's almost didn't hear it.
"No," she sighed, and stepped back onto the roof. Her panic was starting to subside and slowly she could feel her human brain taking back power, giving her the ability to express her emotions once more. "Krillin, if I didn't want to be with you, I wouldn't be with you." She said softly. "It's that simple. There is no sense of obligation here, I promise you."
The wind picked up suddenly, blowing in a cold breeze straight off the ocean, Krillin shuddered as the chill cut straight through to his core. "I'm not good enough for you, 18. You deserve someone who is as perfect as you are."
"And you think morons who try and hit on people despite their repeated requests not to, or people who would judge someone on nothing more than a passing glance are perfect?"
Krillin opened his mouth to respond, but his mind came up blank. He had no answer for 18's impenetrable logic. Instead, he ended up shrugging sheepishly.
"I chose exactly who I wanted, Krillin. And believe me, if I ever decide I don't want you anymore, I'm not some passive wallflower who will stay because I'd feel sorry for you."
Krillin chuckled, it was brutally honest, but 18's strange pep talk was exactly what he needed to hear. Already, he could feel an enormous weight lifting off of his shoulders.
"I'm here because everything I want is here, okay. You make me happy and all that other lovey dovey stuff."
Verbally expressing her affection wasn't something that 18 did all that often, and especially not in tense situations like this, but Krillin understood what she was saying. She loved him. Despite the fact that he was sometimes a total head case who let his anxiety run away with him. "I'm sorry," he said and looked up at 18 with a slightly embarrassed grin.
"It's okay," she replied. 18 couldn't be mad at Krillin, she of all people understood what it was like to be at the mercy of emotions that you didn't understand. The only reason she had come as far as she had was because of Krillin's unwavering love and guidance, and while she hated to see him upset, it felt oddly satisfying to now have their roles reversed, and for her to be the one to provide him with comfort and support.
"C'mon, let's go inside and forget this ever happened." 18 dropped back through their bedroom window into the warmth of the Kame House. Krillin sat for just a moment longer, looking up at the stars. 18 was right of course, she was smart and strong and more than capable of making her own decisions, and for whatever reason, she he had chosen him, and for that, Krillin was the luckiest guy in the world.
A/N: Another prompt done! This is number 4 of I think about 12 or 13 in this current block I have, and then I will be back to working on Behind Enemy Lines again. I hope you liked this, I'd love to hear your thoughts on it in a review. If you'd like to follow my writing adventures, you can follow my tumblr by heading to the page listed in my bio!
Until next time,
Big Love,
D.B
