You're Fireproof, I Wish I Was That Way [closed]

[capsulecorp]

It's been a few days since he destroyed her television. Which is fine. Whatever. She bought a new, got it installed, fine. She's gotten the hole in her wall fixed too. She even managed to get his precious Gravity Chamber fixed which means she can get him out of her hair for a little bit. Which is good. It gives her time to work on other projects in her labs. She does have a business to run, after all.

The problem is he keeps creeping into her thoughts when she doesn't want him to. How weirdly jealous he had behaved that night. Sorry. Not jealous, possessive. Whatever the hell that meant. Half the time it seemed like he couldn't even stand her but he thought he had some weird claim over her?

It's not that she's never entertained the idea before but it's a bad idea for a lot of reasons not least of all him having an ego that almost rivaled her own.

She decides it's time for a break, exiting her lab to go outside to smoke a cigarette. He always bitched too much when she smoked in the house. Something about the smell offending his sensitive Saiyan sense of smell.

She taps the cigarette to let some of the ash fall. Really, that was almost reason enough to do it, sometimes.

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[saiyan]

Vegeta scoffs at her, but as his thumb lands on her lower lip, he asks, "Do you want me to stop?"

He doesn't realize it. Even as he asks for her permission to continue whatever this is and refuses to relinquish his touch, he has no idea.

[capsulecorp]

"If I wanted you to stop you would know it."

If Bulma objected she would have made that very clear. Sure, she couldn't actually fight him off but it wouldn't stop her from trying or throwing a fit. The fact that she isn't fighting him off probably speaks volumes that she doesn't even realize herself.

[saiyan]

She can't see it, but Vegeta's smirking. And when his hand moves away and his mouth lands on the curve of her neck, he chuckles hotly against her skin, as if amused by her stubborn posturing.

He's playing with her, like a predator toying with his prey, and she's allowing it. For now.

[capsulecorp]

The chuckle catches her off guard a little and she huffs in response, her cheeks puffing out a little as she does so. She realizes she should probably try to get him off of her and go back to work and not continue with this weird flirtation they've slipped into. That would be the smart course of action here.

But for a genius she doesn't always the smartest choices. So instead she simply asks:

"What's so funny?"

[saiyan]

Vegeta drags his mouth up to her ear. "Your foolishness."

[capsulecorp]

As his eyesight is sharper than hers he might be able to make out the slight flush of her cheeks as his mouth brushes against her ear.

"How am I being foolish?"

She has an idea, it's not exactly smart to be allowing...whatever this to continue but she's curious to what he might say.

[saiyan]

Oh yes, his eyes catch on to that blush that dusts across her cheeks. He brushes his lips against the apple of one, curious to see if her skin felt as warm as it looked.

Vegeta draws back, but only slightly; just enough to hover near her face.

"This isn't a game you want to play."

[capsulecorp]

He can probably sense the way her pulse is racing -- not because she's afraid -- he's had plenty of chance to hurt her in the past and he never as -- but entirely different reasons. Her chin lifts as she states in a defiant fashion.

"Who says any of this is a game to me?"

But isn't it? In a lot of ways their interactions have almost devolved into a weird form of flirtation chicken that usually ends when one of them (often her) pushes the other too far?

[saiyan]

Vegeta takes hold of her hands, bringing them up and pinning them on either side of her head.

"It should be."

He's not a fool. He knows -- or at least, he thinks he does -- how human mating rituals work. He's sat through enough of her romantic comedies to understand that these sort of encounters are expected to have happy endings. With him, there are no happy endings and she'd be a downright fool for expecting it to result in anything resembling happy.

He was a walking disaster and/or danger zone on any given day, would likely perish with great honor in a battle worthy of his death. Romance, especially this world's definition of it, wasn't something he had time for.

[capsulecorp]

It's not like she expects a happy ending out of him -- or much of anything really. Even though they had broken up a lot over the years she's really only been involved with Yamcha -- and that didn't exactly end well. So she's not rushing to find herself another long term relationship. But she's only human. She gets lonely sometimes and she'd be lying if she said she wasn't attracted to Vegeta -- as much as logically she knows that's a bad idea. There's no way this story has any sort of good ending.

And yet she doesn't fight to get free, even as he pins her hands above her head. She knows he could easily overpower her if she struggled -- but she also if she struggled he would let her go. Most people would think she's crazy to trust Vegeta in any capacity or give him that much credit but she does.

She is, however, going to call him out on being hypocritical. "You can act like I'm being some foolish girl all you want but it's not like I'm the only one who's flirted with -- whatever the hell this is. He is, after all, the one who pinned her down like this to begin with. Who started touching her and invading her space. He can act like she's being foolish but if she is than isn't he being the exact same thing?

[saiyan]

Vegeta narrows his gaze, and while his hands don't tighten on her wrists, his touch is noticeably tense.

"I am not flirting with you."

[capsulecorp]

She raises a brow at him as if to say seriously?

"Then what would you call it? Is this one of those differences in Saiyan terms again? Like the weird possessive thing?"

[saiyan]

"Intent."

And then he's gone. One moment he's leaning over her, fingers encircling her wrists-- then he's gone, as if he blinked out of existence. Vegeta doesn't normally move at 'inhuman' speeds while around Bulma and her parents, but she caught him off guard and now that he no longer seems to have the upper hand, he's backed off.

To the other side of the room, and not just to kick the flashlight back over to her.

[capsulecorp]

It's so weird how he's there one moment and gone the next. Not that she isn't used to the phenomenon -- Goku's pulled it on her a million times -- but Vegeta doesn't tend to do it around her as much. Even when he wants to get away from her. If he's that eager to escape at the moment she's almost impressed he didn't just blow a hole in the door and leave.

She pulls herself off the ground, brushing off her clothes as she does so. The flashlight rolls back over to her and she turns to...whatever part of the room he's in now. She's not totally certain.

"You know, I asked you to hold it before because I could work faster that way." A small smirk spreads across her lips as she continues. "Of course, if you want me to take my time getting it fixed I can do that..."

Okay, so maybe she's baiting him a little to try to ease over whatever awkwardness might be lingering in the air. Since they are still stuck in here together.

[saiyan]

Speaking of lingering in the air... Vegeta kicks off the ground to do just that. Arms crossed, eyes closed, he hmphs at her noncommittally from where he's hovering a few feet in the air.

[capsulecorp]

The hmph along with the light from the flashlight is enough for her to be able to see where he is. She smiles a little too cheerfully before handing it to him.

"Thank you."

[saiyan]

Vegeta obliges -- begrudgingly. He holds the flashing light out so it's shining down on what she's working on from where he's hovering in the air above her.

"Make it quick. I don't have all day."

As if the Androids were coming in a few hours, not a few years.

[capsulecorp]

"Right. I would hate to take you away from you busy schedule of training, training and more training."

She at least doesn't point out that he had been the one keeping her from working only moments earlier. She does have some common sense, after all.

It's not long until the lights and the electricity in the room flicker back on. That's a first step, at least.

[saiyan]

Vegeta snorts. "So, it seems you are worth something after all."

He's taunting her -- deliberately. The prince has no idea what he was doing back there, and refuses to label it as anything more than clear intent and indulged curiosity, and it's easier to fall back on insults than it is to leave the floor open to questions he doesn't have answers to.

[capsulecorp]

Bulma huffs in annoyance at his words before turning her head to glare at him. She's as proud as he is when it comes to her intelligence and her ability to fix things.

"I happen to be good for lots of things, it's not my fault you failed to realize it."

It's better this way, probably. Better that they snipe and insult one another than indulge,,,whatever had been going on back there. She doesn't have any clue what he means when he says his actions are just possession or intent an she has a feeling neither does he. It makes the whole situation a pretty bad idea.