Author's Note:

This is kind of a filler chapter because I was avoiding writing certain scenes. But it's still a cute little chapter that keeps the plot moving forward.

Hope you enjoy!


Chapter 20: Toxic Waste and Apology Lattes

Vegeta groaned when his alarm went off the next morning. He slammed his hand on the snooze button and rolled over. His hand searched the spot next to him to find it empty. He lifted his head to see that the woman wasn't there. Which was odd because she was hardly ever awake before him. He got up and went to the bathroom. Still no Bulma. He was on the verge of panicking. He opened his bedroom door and quickly scanned the living room. She wasn't there either.

"Good morning," came a voice from the kitchen. "Why do you look like a mother who just lost her child at the mall?"

Vegeta's heart rate returned to normal at the sound of her voice and he relaxed his shoulders at having finally found his girlfriend. He made his way over to her, relief flooding through him. It looked like she was trying to cook. She had a big mixing bowl in her arms stirring some sort of sludge around. There was some Canadian bacon burning in a pan on the stove and the carton of eggs sat open on the counter. He stood before her and looked intensely into her eyes. She stopped mixing. He smirked at her. "I think your bacon is burning," he said, nodding his head towards the smoking pan.

She stared at him for a moment longer, dazzled by his enigmatic gaze. She came to her senses and jumped, running over to the stove. "Crap!" She flipped the bacon over and it was almost all black on one side. "Well, I hope you like your bacon extra crispy," she said testily. She turned the burner off and went to stand in front of the waffle iron. She slowly poured some of the clunky mixture from the big bowl into the appliance and shut the lid. She turned to see Vegeta standing there eyeing her dubiously. "What?"

He just smiled and shook his head.

Bulma folded her arms. "Are making fun of me?"

"I wouldn't dream of it," Vegeta replied seriously, his smirk making it come across as sarcastic.

"Humph!" Bulma turned her back to him.

Vegeta came up behind her, circling his arms around her waist and kissed her below the ear. Bulma's resolve threatened to melt. "May I ask why you're cooking at this hour?"

Bulma turned her head to see his face. He just smiled at her lovingly. She shrugged. "I don't know. I just woke up early and thought, since it would've been pointless to go back to bed, I'd make us some breakfast. I should've known it would've been a disaster..."

"Well, if I die eating your food, then at least you can patent how to weaponize waffles," he chuckled lightly in her ear. Bulma couldn't help her smile.

They sat at Vegeta's small kitchen table and stared down at the food on their plates. The bacon was burnt. The waffles were almost in pieces because Bulma had forgotten to grease the waffle iron. But the fruit looked edible. Bulma popped a strawberry into her mouth as Vegeta poured syrup on his waffles.

He looked up at her with comically large eyes. "Well, here goes nothing." He took a bite of the waffle and chewed slowly. His facial expression soon became one of disgust, but Bulma could tell he was trying his best to hide it.

"Oh! Just forget about it!" She stood up from the table and stomped into the living room, flopping down onto the couch. Vegeta took a couple swigs of his orange juice before joining her.

Bulma was wearing an old teeshirt of his and when she'd thrown herself onto the sofa, the shirt rose up her body. Vegeta stared at her shapely legs, soft tummy, and pink panties. He touched her leg and she brought her knees up, allowing him to sit down.

He couldn't help but chuckle at her dramatic display. "How can your mom cook so well, but you can't?" Vegeta questioned through his laughter.

Bulma sat up quickly. "Because whenever she'd tried to teach me, we'd always end up fighting because she would constantly tell me I was doing something wrong. Like how the hell can you stir something incorrectly? Come on!"

That only made Vegeta laugh harder. Her put his hand on the back of Bulma's head and pulled her to him in a side hug. "God, I love you, woman."

Bulma smiled and leaned into his chest. "And I love you," she said, giving him a squeeze around the middle. "Oh yeah," she mumbled. "Classes were canceled today. Some sort of staff meeting thing is going on."

Vegeta was a little relieved. But then he groaned, " I still have my shift at the coffee shop today."

Bulma looked up at him. "Want me to keep you company?"

Vegeta smiled. "Please."

Vegeta helped Bulma clean up the kitchen and dispose of the toxic waste. They lounged about until it was time for Vegeta to head to work. They took his motorcycle and opened the shop. Vegeta started setting everything up for business while Bulma sat in her favorite wing-backed arm chair. When she finally had gotten comfortable, her phone buzzed in her pocket.

'Hey B! What are you up to today?'

It was a message from Chi Chi in the group chat with Goku, and 18 and Krillin.

Bulma typed back a quick message. 'I'm just hanging out with Vegeta while he works.'

'Oh that sounds like fun! Can we come?' Goku asked.

'Yeah! We can all just hang out together. We don't do it enough' came Chi Chi's message.

'We'll see you guys there in five minutes.' 18 stated.

Well, I guess all our friends are coming over, Bulma thought. She was a little nervous to let Vegeta know. And by the time she had mounted the courage to go tell him, her friends came bustling through the door.

Vegeta looked up from behind the counter to see all of Bulma's annoying friends walk into the shop. He sent a glare toward his girlfriend, who just shrugged her shoulders as if she had no idea, but he knew better. "What do you all want?" he asked gruffly.

18 stared daggers at him. "We wanted to come hang out with our friend, Bulma."

"Hey 'Geta! Mind if we chill here a bit?" Leave it to Goku to relieve the tension.

"Whatever." Vegeta turned his back on the lot and continued wiping down the counters.

They all took seats around Bulma. She hadn't really hung out with them all at once since mini golf and she hadn't realized how much she'd missed them.

"How's it going, B? I see Vegeta still has a stick up his ass."

"18," Krillin whispered nervously, glancing at Vegeta. 18 just rolled her eyes.

"It's been good. Keeping busy. What about you guys?"

"Dealing with classes and our impending doom." Bulma laughed at Krillin's despairing tone.

"Yeah. Job hunting has been a bitch," 18 added. "Lucky for us though, me and Krillin both got hired at a health center as instructors. We're super excited. We start two weeks after graduation."

"That's awesome you guys!" Bulma beamed. She was happy for her friends. She didn't have to go through all the job searching stuff like the others. So it was nice to see them doing okay.

"Oh! And guess what!" Goku yelled. He turned his eyes on his girlfriend. "Chi Chi tell 'em!"

Chi Chi blushed. "I got a job working as a clerk for a senator."

"Congratulations!" They all cheered.

"That's really amazing, Cheech." 18 said.

Bulma looked at Goku and saw the love and adoration in his eyes as he stared at his girlfriend. She'd looked up to see Vegeta watching them with a scowl on his face. Her heart ached. Because she knew where his mind probably was. Here they were, all gushing about their futures and he wasn't sure if he had one.

Vegeta had caught Bulma staring at him. The look on her face made him almost angry. It wasn't pity, but sorrow. She knows me too well, he thought. Vegeta couldn't help but feel a little envious as he listened to the morons go on about their lives' after graduation. He was only looking ahead to the tournament and championship. Because his performance there was what determined his future. Not some piece of paper. He saw Bulma walking torward him as her friends kept up their excited chitchat.

"You okay?"

"I'm fine," he grunted.

"Vegeta-"

"I said I'm fine!" At his raised, the other four looked over at him.

Bulma just nodded her head and said, "okay," then walked back to her friends.

Vegeta let out a deep sigh, furious with himself for yelling at her.

"Hey, man!" Goku stepped up to the counter. "Can I get a vanilla bean Frappuccino, an iced americano, an iced pistachio latte, and a chia tea." As Vegeta was ringing up his order, Goku lowered his voice. "Vegeta, you've got to stop this." Vegeta's eyebrows shot up at Goku's conspiratorial tone. He never calls me by my full name... "Bulma is only trying to help. She sees how tormented you are by what's going on. She just wants to be there for you. Just like me and Raditz and Nappa. So let her." He handed over some cash and then returned to the group with a smile as if nothing happened.

Vegeta started after him. He never thought Kakarot could be this insightful. He kicked himself again. Having Kakarot of all people berate him was embarrassing. He went to go make the drinks, wanting to distract himself from his thoughts.

Vegeta carried over the tray of drinks to everybody. He sat it down on the small table in between them. He then handed Bulma a matcha latte. She looked up at him quizzically. "On the house," he mumbled sheepishly. He left abruptly to continue standing behind the counter.

Bulma wanted to cry. This is an apology latte. She looked up to see Goku smiling knowingly. He winked at her. She stared back in shock. She didn't think she'd ever seen Goku wink before.

They continued to mingle and catch up. The topic eventually turned to the tournament.

"Goku, are you excited for the tournament. It's only, what two- three weeks away now?"

"Yeah. The first Friday of next month is weigh-in. Then we'll know our brackets that following Friday. And then the first bouts start the next day."

"How's the lineup look?" 18 asked.

"Don't know yet," he shrugged. "We'll know more once our weight class is determined and we see the bracket breakdown."

"How about you, Vegeta?" Krillin asked. "You ready for the fights to start?"

Bulma was suddenly nervous, but Vegeta just shrugged. "Ready for it to be over." He caught the sad look in Bulma's eyes again.

"Well, I hope you both go really far," Chi Chi said cheerily.

"Me too!" Goku replied excitedly, sending a glance Vegeta's way.

"Don't worry. We will." Vegeta's eyes were intense.

A couple hours later, they were all hugging each other goodbye as Vegeta prepped for closing. The shop didn't stay open late on Fridays since the bars would be taking all the business as soon as five o'clock rolled around.

Bulma approached the counter after her friends shuffled out the door. "Hi," she said with a small smile.

Vegeta came around the counter and pulled her into a tight embrace. "Hi." He kissed the top of her head.

"Thank you for the apology latte," she murmured against his chest. "And I'm sorry I didn't tell you they were coming. They kinda just invited themselves."

"It's okay. At least the shop got some business today."

Bulma looked up into his handsome face. He brushed a stray hair behind her ear. "What?"

"I just love you," she said, burying her face in his neck. He held her tighter to him.

Vegeta locked up the shop and they got on his bike to head home. As they walked into Vegeta's apartment, Bulma stopped in the middle of the room. She turned to face him and her expression was contemplative.

"Bulma?"

She looked up at his worried face. She wanted to address something that had been nagging her all afternoon. "Aren't you worried?" she asked.

"About what?" He raised his brow in confusion.

"The tournament. You and Goku seem so sure..." she trailed off.

"Tsch. I know I'll make it to the finals. Especially if Frieza has anything to do with it."

Bulma gasped. "What do you mean?"

"The tournament will definitely be rigged by some aspect. King Cold would love nothing more for me to get to the final fight and lose. He wouldn't want me snuffed out of the competition before then."

Bulma looked at him dumbfounded. "You've known this all along?"

Vegeta just shrugged.

Bulma couldn't wrap her head around this new information. If the tournament was rigged, then surely they were going to lose. Her heart sank. Goku and Raditz... Vegeta... they were all going to get hurt. She shook her head. She just didn't understand how they were being so cavalier.

"Hey!" Vegeta almost shouted. He sounded angry. He walked forward and grabbed Bulma's shoulders. "Stop." She kept shaking her head. "I knew what I was getting myself into, Bulma. But it has to be done. So right now," he grabbed her chin and made her meet his eyes. Hers were glassy with tears. "Right now. We're going to get in the shower and then go to bed. Until the matches start, we're going to go on with our lives. School. Work. Friends. Us." His voice was calm but stern.

Bulma just stared into his dark eyes. There was so much determination there. The only worry from him seemed to stem from his worry for her. And she hated it. She didn't want to be the reason why Vegeta was hurting. So she decided she wouldn't be. She resolved to take Vegeta's and Goku's stance on this. She would no longer show Vegeta her fear. She would be strong for him. Because he needed her to be. "Okay," she whispered, nodding her head.


A/N: Anyone care to guess which drink order belongs to which character?

So I'm trying to write Goku as the insightful goofball. In this story, he's a pretty serious guy who hides behind his silly demeanor because he's always been the lovable dork.