Vegeta tossed and turned in his sheets, his skin hot and sticky in the summer evening air. He was frustrated. In more ways than one.

The Earthling was possessing his mind. No matter how much he tried to shove her image down, she kept coming back.

She was driving him crazy. She was the cause of constant irritation: always arguing with him, casting snide remarks his way.

And now….

He couldn't hide it, not from himself. He felt an attraction towards her. A primal one. He wasn't sure when it happened exactly, or how, but he was pulled towards her.

He imagined himself behind her once more, taking his hands to her enchanting blue hair, forcefully pulling her head back to reveal her creamy white neck. He could feel himself bite and suck on her flesh. He bent her over her desk, hoisting her lab coat up to her waist to reveal nothing underneath-

Vegeta groaned to himself, twisting his fists into the sheets.

This wouldn't do.

He abruptly launched himself out of bed towards the bathroom. He obviously wasn't getting any sleep like this. He hoped a shower would soothe his thoughts, and he roughly turned the temperature knob to cold. He refused to give into his base needs. He would simply use his willpower to drive the lust down. He was stronger than his animalistic urges.

The cold water poured over his head, causing him to shudder momentarily before he steeled himself. He wouldn't give in.

Not to himself, and certainly not to her.

—

After drying himself, he took the time to slide on a pair of clean underwear and exercise shorts. Might as well use the time lost to train.

Vegeta flipped back the temporary sheet that someone had hung from his doorway, making his way down the hall. It was late; at least past 1 am. He was sure he wouldn't be bothered if he went to scrounge up some food.

Which was why he was extremely surprised to see a light on in the kitchen when he pushed the swinging door open.

Oh gods.

Why didn't he sense for ki before leaving his room?

He started to turn on the balls of his feet when Bulma jumped back, dropping a metal spoon to the floor with a loud tink tink.

"Kami above! You scared the shit out of me," she admonished, putting her hand over her chest to calm her heart rate.

She was holding a small tub of the dessert he had learned was ice cream, but that's not what got his attention.

Her hair was tied up again, loose and wild. She appeared to be wearing only an oversized T-shirt, her pale left shoulder peeking out at him. The garment was loose, but very short. It appeared that if she moved much at all, she would reveal…a lot.

He felt himself getting flushed. "What are you doing in here?"

She scoffed at him, bending over to grab her spoon from the floor. He had to turn himself away when he saw a hint of her cleavage from beneath her sleepshirt.

"This is my house, Vegeta, or did you forget? If I want a snack in the middle of the night, I'll have one."

He slowly turned back towards her, eyebrow raised. She was standing with her arms crossed now. Good.

"Woman, I don't care what you gorge yourself on or when. I just need some food."

She rolled her eyes, placing her ice cream back in the freezer. "You know, you're really something else, Vegeta." She brandished her spoon at him. "You could at least apologize for creeping up, half-naked, on a defenseless woman in the middle of the night!"

He grit his teeth. Was she implying that he was less than honorable?!

"Creeping up?!" was all he could think to say.

"Yeah!" she took a step towards him, continuing to wield her little spoon as if it were a deadly weapon. "Creeping up! You know, like what a creep would do!"

He scoffed. "And half-naked? Speak for yourself."

Bulma blushed, eyes flicking down to her choice of sleeping attire, then back up to him. She recrossed her arms across her chest, but kept her spoon pointed his way. "See! Creep."

"I don't have time for this, woman." He side-stepped her, avoiding her eye and her weapon. He opened the refrigerator, looking for some form of meat. He didn't see much available. He checked the freezer, not seeing much there, either.

The woman was suddenly behind him, at his shoulder. "Stay away from my ice cream!"

Vegeta felt a vein in his temple pulse. "I don't want your-" he stopped himself, then smirked, seizing her ice cream as if it were the plunder of war. It was cold and a little damp, the cardboard container soft from being out in the warm kitchen for so long.

He turned to her, dangling her treat in front of her face. "This ice cream?"

Bulma was visibly fuming. "Don't. You. Dare." She punctuated each word with a flourish of her battle spoon.

He smirked, casually gazing at the container. "Cookie Dough. Huh. Ice cream wasn't enough, they had to add…cookies to it?"

"Seriously, that's my snack! Don't even think about it!" Her face was getting red with frustration. It was cute.

He continued reading. He let a low whistle release from his lips. "I was under the impression that calories were the value of food…this seems to have an awful lot of them…"

Bulma threw her spoon into the sink in a rage, sending it ricocheting into some empty dishes with a loud clamor. She has surprising accuracy, considering that she didn't take her eyes off of him. "I've been exercising," she growled.

He laughed. "You spend 90 percent of your day in a lab doing who knows what, since you're not working on my bots. Are you really exercising in there?"

She let out a frustrated grumble and lunged for her ice cream. He easily lifted it above her head with a chuckle.

"Vegeta, you can't let it get too melty!" she whined, standing on her tiptoes. She hopped up in an attempt to reclaim her ice cream. While he wasn't much taller than her, he easily kept it out of her grasp.

"Well, it appears to be the only sustenance available..."

She stopped, narrowing her eyes. "I will murder you if you eat that."

He raised an eyebrow at her, incredulous. "You?" He let out a hearty laugh.

She jabbed his bare chest with a finger. "Don't underestimate me."

The Saiyan stared at her for probably longer than was proper. She was so worked up. Her hair was falling from its place on her head, and her big blue eyes were absolutely fiery. Her cheeks were flushed. She truly looked determined to fight.

"Well, I certainly wouldn't want to be murdered by a…" he took a moment to look her up and down. She somehow grew even more red. "...scientist." He made a show of delicately depositing the ice cream back in the freezer.

Bulma seemed to calm down a bit, tucking some loose hair behind her ear.

"Well, since there's nothing for me here, I'll be in the gravity chamber," he told her, turning to leave.

"W-wait." He faced her again as she was taking a deep breath. She opened the freezer, digging her arm deep inside. His eyes meandered to her long legs while she rifled out a box. "This is good for if you're really hungry." She opened up the cardboard container and pulled out two frozen…tubes? wrapped in plastic.

"That's food?"

She nodded, unwrapping the mystery meal and putting it on a plate. "They're called Sizzlin' Sockets. They're not amazing, but it's got meat and carbs, and it'll take 5 minutes to cook." She placed the plate in the microwave, punching a 5, 0, 0 onto the number pad and hitting enter. The microwave started humming, the illuminated plate spinning inside.

They both stood there awkwardly, watching the microwave and waiting for the 5 minutes to pass. Vegeta tried not to let his eyes wander back to her legs, which was proving to be difficult. He could practically see her ass-

"Sit down," she ordered. He begrudgingly sat at the small kitchen table. He pointedly stared at the microwave when she opened the refrigerator and bent over to grab a bottle of water. She placed it in front of him.

She wandered back towards the microwave and casually leaned against the counter. "I still don't know what to think about you, Vegeta."

His head swiveled over to her. "What?"

She shook her head to herself, reaching up to her hair and pulling the tie out, letting her blue locks tumble down to her shoulders. He swallowed, suddenly grateful to be sitting with a table between them. "I just…I can't tell if you're really the asshole you pretend to be."

Vegeta forced his face to remain neutral. "I can assure you, I am not pretending to be anything."

She shrugged, tossing some hair over her shoulder. "I'm not convinced."

"Tch. I am not here for your opinion, woman. I am here to train to become a legendary Super Saiyan."

BEEP. Bulma popped open the microwave with the push of a button, then brought the plate over to him. He kept his eyes on the plate, avoiding her chest that seemed to be begging him to look.

"They'll be kind of hot on the outside. The bread pocket is usually hot like lava, but sometimes the inside is still cold. We're not technologically advanced enough to figure out this mystery," she said with a small smirk. Was that a joke?

He took a couple bites, determining that these Sizzling Sockets were indeed mediocre, but would suffice.

She was watching him. He was unsure what to say. He chewed up another bite and swallowed. She was still staring at him… "Thank you."

She gave him a soft smile. He didn't like that his heart was racing.

"Have a good night, Vegeta." She left him alone in the kitchen.

His mouth suddenly felt very dry, and it wasn't because of the Sizzlin' Socket.