Disclaimer: I don't own Dragonball Z.
Vegeta
Year 755
He stares at the holograph before him, the miniature of the nameless planet suspended in the centre of the room. Bulma's delicate hands lift to cup it and set it spinning on its orbit, its single moon drifting lazily around it.
"It's as perfect as we're going to get," she says, meeting his gaze through the hologram. "The climate is reasonable, the gravity is perfect – "
"For a Human," he interrupts with a sneer.
"Yes, for a Human," she continues with a roll of her eyes, "and I am a Human, and I am very valuable to you, so you don't want me to be squashed to a pulp under ridiculous gravity levels. Moving on – it has breathable atmosphere – "
"How wonderful."
" – aand it has a wide variety of edible animals so you Saiyans can go hunting and eat all the raw meat you want," she adds with a raised brow that conveys her thoughts on the matter. "The most important thing is that it hasn't been claimed by anyone – it's not near any of the major empires, it only has the designated number that all charted planets are assigned, and as far as the most recent reports are concerned, it's uninhabited."
He doesn't bother to point out that the most recent probe report is dated from before even Nappa was born. It is the most promising planet they have found to date, and he is as eager as everyone else to get off this fucking ship. Four standard months without reprieve from Nappa and Raditz's combined stupidity is far too long for anyone.
"We have to get off of this ship, Vegeta. I'm going insane here."
"You already are," he tells her, a smirk tugging at his lips. She rolls her eyes but does not reply as she usually would with some witty remark, and as she turns her back to switch the holograph off he notices the tense set to her shoulders. Her displeasure bothers him more than it should.
"Set the course for it," he says, and the sigh of relief she breathes seems to lighten something in his own chest.
"Thank fucking Kami," she mutters under her breath. He watches as her fingers fly over the ship controls, her piloting skills on par with his own. He supposes it shouldn't be surprising; the woman is a mastertech after all, and he has seen the way she seems to breathe life into inanimate objects. Wire and metal become living things under her hands. While he has basic training in mechanical engineering – enough to perform patchy repairs on dodgy ships – she turns it into an art form. She has designed him training equipment that will push him further than any other training ever could; a belt that alters the gravity felt by the person wearing it.
"You'll finally be able to test the gravity gear," she says, echoing his thoughts as if she read his mind. She meets his gaze and in it he sees a reverence that makes him uncomfortable; he has become her beacon of hope for defeating Frieza. The air is heavy with all that sits between them; sexual tension layered thick on top of the pressure of survival and success. They have already dodged multiple attacks from Frieza's empire, and they both know this nameless planet will not keep them safe for long.
But she stares at him as if he will protect her forever, her blue eyes bright in her pale face, her entire body leaning forward in invitation, and part of him wants nothing more than to close the distance between them and fuck her hard against the console, consequences be damned.
He's smarter than that.
"I'll tell the men we've found a planet," he says, thankful for an excuse to leave the room.