Authors note:

Hope everyone had an amazing Christmas and New Years! For the New Year I have a new chapter for you guys (with some good ol' B/V fluff) :)

Just wanted to say a suuuuuper thank you to Trixie-chan and for leaving reviews as well as everyone who gave my story a fav/follow. You guys make me smile like crazy :)

This is my first fan-fiction and I'm suuuuuper appreciative of every review you guys leave! It really makes me feel happy that I found the courage to post my story!

Thanks guys and I hope you enjoy this one!

Chapter 24

Vegeta walked the palace corridors, in one of the best moods he had been in a long time. Everything was finally working out for him. He had Bulma by his side, he was going to be crowned King in a few days time and he no longer had a swarm of annoying female saiyans surrounding him at every waking moment.

It felt too good to be true.

He felt himself smirking as he thought of his recent progress with Bulma. It felt so natural for the two of them to evolve their relationship into something more. She was perfect for him and he for her. She made him feel like he could achieve anything with her at his side.

There was no awkwardness between the two of them as he had experienced with every other female he had tried to get involved with. Their conversation just flowed, she teased him and he teased her back. Their physical encounters just escalated from their interactions, and he enjoyed every moment of it.

He was definitely getting soft.

But whatever.

Fingering the ring case in his pocket, he contemplated his next move. Currently Bulma and him were officially together, after he had declared his love for her in her rooms all those nights ago. Often times he would think back to that moment and would still marvel at his behaviour. It was most unlike him to say those three words to Bulma.

But whenever he was with her, his mind would always follow its own path. She made him do some crazy things that woman.

Similar to what he was about to do now.

He had done some research on Earth customs. Bulma had been away from Earth since she was 5 years old, however he knew that she still held some of it's ridiculous customs close to her heart. From the time she had accepted his offer to pretend to be his fake mate, he felt like he owed it to her. He wanted to do something for her that would show her that he cared even though he didn't show it all the time.

He'd sneaked into the labs when it was empty late one night and did some research on Earth mating customs. He found out that the equivalent of Earth's mating ceremony was called "marriage" and was symbolised by the male presenting the female with a ring.

It seemed easy enough.

He found some pictures of the male doing some ridiculous poses of getting down on one knee and presenting the female with a ring. It was definitely a weird custom, but he found some videos and it looked like female earthlings went bat shit crazy over that stuff.

Watching the videos, his memory had triggered to a time when Bulma and him were kids and she made mention of this "marriage".

Flashback 15 years ago

Bulma and Vegeta were sitting on the grass in the gardens cross-legged opposite each other, a pile of chocolate, cakes and sweets lying in a heap between them.

They had taken a visit to Bulma's mom in the kitchens to get a snack. Bulma's mom, being Bulma's mom, had just finished baking some cakes and had given them a whole basket of treats for them to enjoy.

Bulma had suggested that they take all the treats to the palace gardens so they could have a picnic. Vegeta didn't know what this "picnic" was but decided to play along as long as he got his food.

So they both carried as many baskets as their small arms could carry and made their way to the palace gardens. Bulma insisted placing a picnic mat on the grass, so it could be an "official picnic".

Plopping themselves on the mat, they emptied the baskets between them so they could enjoy their treats.

Vegeta relieved that they had finally done everything the blue-haired girl wanted for her "picnic", started loading his plate with as many cakes his little arms could reach.

"So Vegeta, you're a prince" Bulma said between bites of her own much smaller slice of cake.

"Well done girl for stating the obvious" Vegeta grunted out between bites of food.

"Jeez stop being mean, I'm just trying to have a conversation" she huffed out, her little brows creasing her face angrily.

"That's what you get for making me wait to have my food"

"Fine then. I'm just going to say what I was going to say anyways" Bulma said stubbornly pointing her nose up in the air.

"Saw that one coming" Vegeta murmured behind his napkin

"Since you're a prince, does that mean you're going to marry a princess?" she said reaching for a chocolate covered biscuit.

"What's 'marry'?" Vegeta said looking at her curiously.

"How do you not know what marriage is? Every prince is supposed to marry a princess!" Bulma said looking personally offended by his ignorance.

"Stupid girl. We don't do that dumb stuff on Vegetasei. We're the best planet the Intergalactic Union has ever seen" Vegeta said proudly puffing out his little chest.

"Okay I'll pretend like that's important" Bulma said continuing her speech regardless of what Vegeta had said. "Marriage is when two people love each other very much. They get married and the man gives a ring to the woman and then they can have babies and stuff" she said excitedly bouncing on the picnic mat.

"Oh you mean mating" Vegeta said stuffing another piece of cake in his mouth.

"No I mean marriage" she huffed out. "I can't wait till I can get married! Then I can have an amazing wedding and wear a pretty dress and my husband will be the most handsome man ever" Bulma said her excitement escalating.

"There are more important things than mating, girl. Like becoming the strongest saiyan this planet has ever seen."

"Uggggh boys are so dumb" Bulma said rolling her eyes. "Also leave some cake for me Vegeta, you ate most of it already!"

"Not my fault you eat so slow" Vegeta said purposefully taking some more cake at her words. "Also you do know that us 'dumb boys' will one day become your handsome husband."

Bulma spluttered at his reasoning, picking up a biscuit and throwing it at him knowing he had her beaten at his logic.

"Yeah, but it definitely won't be you!"

Vegeta smirked, picked up the biscuit from the grass and threw it back at her.

"Stupid Vegeta" Bulma huffed out dodging the biscuit so the chocolate didn't mess her dress.

Vegeta's smirk just deepened at her lame comeback.

End flashback

From their interactions, Vegeta had an inkling that this marriage was something important to Bulma. Upon thinking of it further, he remembered a number of other times Bulma had mentioned it to him in their childhood, always insisting that one day she would have the "best wedding ever".

As they started to grow older, she mentioned it a lot fewer times to Vegeta, however he still had a feeling that it was something she was looking forward to.

Oh well he was just going to wing it and see what happened.

Bulma was waiting in the palace gardens standing on the grass that was over-looking the pond. Vegeta had told her to meet him here at lunch time. It was a random spot for a meet up, so she was a bit curious as to what he wanted to discuss with her. Why couldn't he just tell her in the labs or at the dinner table when they would normally catch up?

Oh well, Vegeta would always be Vegeta.

Looking into the flowing water of the pond, Bulma felt herself get lost in her thoughts. The rippling water reminded her of the first time she had met Vegeta here in these palace gardens all those years ago. Smiling to herself she remembered how Vegeta had thrown her into the pond and they proceeded to water fight with each other.

That was the start of her friendship with Vegeta that literally changed her life.

From that moment on, Vegeta was always there for her. He was there when she needed someone to play with, someone to talk to and someone to lean on. He was the first person she went to after Yamcha violated her. He was the only person she could trust fully and she knew she would do anything to support him back.

Honestly she couldn't imagine what her life on Vegetasei would have been like without him.

Vegeta was a constant. He was always there. That was why when his situation with finding a mate had come about, it just felt wrong to Bulma.

It didn't feel right that she would one day lose him to someone else. To someone else who would be able to stand by his side.

Hearing some footsteps approaching from the grass behind her, she turned around and spotted Vegeta approaching her with his one hand in the pocket of his spandex pants looking deep in thought.

Watching him curiously, it looked like he hadn't recognised her standing by the pool.

"I wonder what's on his mind" Bulma thought still watching him approach her.

"Hey Vegeta" Bulma waved at him.

Vegeta raised his head with a start as if only noticing her when she called out to him. His onyx eyes dazed, suddenly focussed on her blue ones.

Bulma raised an eyebrow at his unusual behaviour. It was not like Vegeta to be so out of it.

He nodded at her, walking the last few meters separating them to stand next to her by the pond. He stood looking over the rippling water of the pond, his hand still in his pocket.

Bulma turned to also stare out into the water's surface, eying him curiously from next to her. They just stood there for a few minutes, both enjoying the silence and slight splashing noises of the pond in front of them.

"So what's up Veg-head?" Bulma started trying to make conversation.

Vegeta let out a deep breath, sighing softly. "Do you remember this was the first place we met?" his deep voice rumbling in the stillness around them.

"Of course, I remember. This is the first place I met the Prince who pushed me into a freezing cold pond" Bulma replied smiling slightly recalling the memories she was just thinking about a few minutes ago.

She spotted Vegeta smirking at her words. "More like this is the first place you got shown how to treat your superiors"

"Uggggh still as pig-headed as ever I see. And if I remember correctly, I won that water fight we had" Bulma said hitting slightly on his bicep.

"Hmmmmmm" Vegeta said his hand scratching his chin in thought. "I'm pretty sure I won that one woman."

"Pfffft as if. You've never won anything against me Vegeta" Bulma said sticking her nose in the air.

"Ah I beg to differ woman. For one thing, I won that water fight"

Bulma smiled shaking her head at his stubbornness. "So how can I help you Vegeta?" she said at him. "Why did you ask me to meet you here of all places?"

At her words, Vegeta turned away from the pond to face her. Tilting his head to the side slightly, examining her.

Feeling strange at his examination of her, she hit him again slightly on his arm. "What? Why are you looking at me like that?"

"It's weird woman. Your wording just now" he said still studying her

"What? What do you mean?" she said genuinely confused about what he was referring to.

"The first thing you said. You said how can you help me" he said softly. "You're always doing that. Asking how you can help me"

At his words Bulma blushed slightly. "Oh. I didn't think much of it. It's just natural for me now" she said shrugging it off.

"No one else says that to me"

Bulma looked up at him, her blue eyes meeting his onyx ones.

"Are you okay Vegeta?" she said concerned as to why he was behaving so strangely.

At her words, Bulma saw Vegeta's eyes soften and a slight smile pull on his lips. She had never seen that expression on his face before, but it made butterflies spring to her chest.

Suddenly Vegeta moved back from her and Bulma saw him still eying her with that soft look on his face.

"Bulma. I have a question for you" he said in his deep voice

For some reason, Bulma felt the butterflies in her chest multiply in size at the tone of his voice.

Vegeta put his hand in his pocket pulling out a velvet case. Suddenly he dropped down in one knee in front of her, opening up the case in his hand and revealing a sparking diamond ring.

"Bulma, will you marry me?"

Vegeta felt his heart leap into his throat as he said those words to Bulma. For some reason, he felt his nerves escalate as it came close to the moment for him to propose.

When he had researched this strange earthling custom, he thought it would be easy. Get down on one knee, present the ring to the woman, easy.

But no. His pulse was going so fast he thought he was going to turn super saiyan right there.

As he looked up into her eyes, he was alarmed to see tears filling them as she brought her hands to her mouth.

"Oh Vegeta" she choked out, the tears spilling from her eyes.

"Oh no I fucked up" Vegeta thought in a panic.

"Yes! Yes! A thousand times yes!" she choked out as she threw her arms around his neck.

Vegeta getting a full force of Bulma as she launched herself at him, fell backwards onto the grass with Bulma on top of him.

"Alright woman, stop your shrieking" Vegeta grumbled out as he tried to control Bulma screaming happily on top of him.

"Oh Vegeta! I didn't even know you knew about marriage!" she cried out happily.

"I didn't. I looked it up on your lab computers"

At his words, Bulma choked out another fresh round of tears as she buried her face into his chest, curling her hands into the shirt material on his chest.

"Damn woman. Why are you crying?" Vegeta said utterly confused by her reaction. Was she happy or sad? He honestly had no idea at this point.

"Because...because...you're just...just..." she hiccupped trying to get her emotions under control. "You're...just so...that's actually the best thing anyone has ever done for me"

Vegeta huffed at her. "Well you deserve it woman, for everything you're putting up with for me"

Bulma gave one final chocked sob and raised herself slightly to meet his eyes.

Vegeta met her teary eyes. "Also I believe this belongs to you now".

He dislodged the ring box that got squished between them and pulled out the ring from inside. Taking her left hand from his chest, he slid the ring gently onto her ring finger.

"And now you're mine on Vegetasei and on Earth" he smirked at her.

Bulma just stared in shock at the ring and with no prior warning, moved suddenly to crash her lips onto his. Vegeta not expecting her reaction, took a moment to respond. Realising what was happening, he wrapped one arm around her waist and the other to tangle in her blue locks angling her head to better meet his welcoming mouth.

He opened his mouth to Bulma's desperate kisses, feeling her moan into him at the feel of their tongues finally meeting. He explored her mouth with his tongue, relishing the taste of everything that was only Bulma.

Feeling the need for more contact, Bulma still on top of Vegeta, moved her arms to thread into Vegeta's hair. Her ring caught on one of the strands of Vegeta's spiky hair, the pull of hair surprising Vegeta and causing a shiver to shoot down him.

Bulma broke slightly for some air, her mouth still hovering a few millimetres above his.

"Looks like I'll have to get used to this ring" she mumbled to him, her lips brushing his as she spoke.

"Looks like I will have to as well" he smirked leaning up slightly to give her a peck on her lips.

Giggling at him, Bulma leant down to rest her head on his chest. "Kami Vegeta, I never thought we would ever land up like this"

"Hmmm me neither" Vegeta said his hand still in her hair, massaging her scalp gently.

"Imagine if I knew all those years ago, that one day the arrogant little prince I met would become my husband" Bulma smiled against his chest.

"I think you would have died of happiness"

"Uggggh that arrogance never disappeared" Bulma smiled hitting his chest lightly.

"I'm still the Prince of all Saiyans, woman. What would you expect?" he smirked. Bulma felt his chest inflate in pride at his words.

"Well that's about to change soon. You're going to have to get used to annoying people with a new title" Bulma said, tracing patterns on his chest.

"King of all Saiyans" she whispered out

"It has a good ring to it" Vegeta responded. "But I'm not the only one who will have to get used to a new title, my Queen".

Bulma shivered at his words and felt heat shoot straight through her.

"My Queen" she whispered back. "It has a good ring to it" she said repeating his earlier words.

"Of course it does. Because you're mine and I am yours" he said bringing his arm tighter around her waist.

I wouldn't have it any other way Bulma thought snuggling into his chest.

Authors note:

Awwwwww got to love the fluff! There's more to come including the long-awaited crowning ceremony :)