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.

Comments

[saiyan]

"Yes, but would you have gotten this far if you didn't have me testing it out for you?" Vegeta points out, though his tone is oddly professional and lacking the malice it out to have contained upon pointing out that he's essentially a glorified crash test dummy. "Who else do you know, besides the Namekian and that bumbling idiot, Kakarot, who could push your equipment to such extremes? One would be unwilling to assist and the other's harpy would have forbidden it."

[capsulecorp]

"You act as if you're doing me a favor." He kind of is in some ways but hell if she'll admit that. But Bulma is like Vegeta in that she loves a good challenge. The more he breaks her equipment the harder she works to build something that can stand up to him better. She may have brains more than brawn but she's still stubborn and competitive to the bone. Always wanting to be the best.

[saiyan]

Vegeta snorts, because he refuses to acknowledge whether he is or he isn't. They've already established that he finds her appealing — or, at least, in his mind he's made that much clear, but most people don't inform people that they find them fascinating enough to keep (hanging) around by declaring a sense of extraterrestrial possessiveness.

He tried. Kinda.

Touching his boots back to the ground, Vegeta stops hovering and moves to sit next to her on the floor.

"I take it you would protest were I to train around your repairs?"

[capsulecorp]

She pauses in her work to turn and look at him like he's insane (which she probably gives him this look often enough for him to recognize it at this point).

"Yes. I would protest. I'm not going to be fixing things while you're training and causing them to break down more. That would be counter productive."

And maybe it would be a little distracting too but she'll keep that thought to herself as she turns back to her work.

[saiyan]

It's true; he does indeed recognize it as her 'why so insane?' look. Granted, she's probably as familiar with his #confusion face as he is with this one. She baffles him enough on a daily basis for her to be well acquainted with look that speaks questions without the need to voice any of them.

He huffs irritably and reaches for one of her tools, a pair of needle-nosed pliers that he grabs by the pliers part instead of the handles.

"Then tell me how I can help make this go faster."

[capsulecorp]

It's true. She is used to his confused face. Just as much as he's probably used to her amusement over his confusion. She glances over to see what he grabbed, unable to hold back a laugh.

"Well for starters, you're holding the wrong end of those."

In all honestly him helping her might just slow her down as she'd need to explain to him how to use so many of the tools. Cultural differences can be a pain.

[saiyan]

Vegeta frowns, flipping the pliers over in his hand. He grabs a hold of the handles, one in each hand, and makes a show of opening and closing the pliers, watching intently as if the simple motion of the tool is the most fascinating thing he's seen in a long time — or maybe he just expects it to do something other than that.

"These are broken."

You don't even know what that is, Vegeta. Don't declare things you don't understand broke.

[capsulecorp]

"No they aren't. Give them to me." She waits for him to hand them over. When he does she shows how to use them to move some of the wires that are in tact so she can get to the ones that are damaged and fried.

"See? It has two purposes, it can move and onto things, but it can also cut them."

She hones in one of the damaged wires she's going to have to remove and replace and sides the pliers down so the wire gets towards the joint where they can be cut.

"Far from broken."

As much as she sometimes enjoys his confusion she does try to explain things to him when she can.

[saiyan]

"That's it? That's all they do?"

And just like that, he dismisses them. How simplistic the task they perform is takes away from the mystery and wonder of it all. Pinch, grab, cut... He could do that with his own two hands. He didn't need a tool for that. What a letdown.

"How do you expect to get anywhere with things that barely do anything at all?"

Vegeta picks a screwdriver out of her toolbox and drops it back in.

He is the most helpful assistant.

[capsulecorp]

"They don't barely do anything," She snaps in annoyance as she begins to carefully rewire the panel she's working on. "Besides, it's not about what they can do, it's about what I can do with them."

She is the genius after all. She likes to think if it came down to it she could be a pretty good McGuyver.

[saiyan]

Another snort, this time more indignant. "I can do what they do just as well—"

He reaches forward, grabs a handful of exposed wires, and yanks.

Power flickers inside the space ship turned gravity room before everything goes black.

Good job, moron.

[capsulecorp]

There's a moment of annoyed silence between them before Bulma speaks.

"Get out."

She has a flashlight in her tools so she can work to get the power back but clearly he is only creating more work for her.

"Go bother my mom for food or something until I get this done."

[saiyan]

"In case you hadn't noticed, since you were the one who built this faulty contraption—" Faulty? Vegeta, you're the one who busted the power. "The door doesn't open automatically. So unless you want me to blast my way out, which I can, there will be no getting out."

Even if he is hungry.

...great, now all he can think about is food. Curse this woman.

[capsulecorp]

"Fine. Then make yourself useful for once instead of breaking things more." She grabs the flashlight from her toolbox and turns it on and hands it to him.

"Hold this so I can see what I need to work on. Do you think you can handle that?"

Here she is going out of her way to help him and he's just breaking things more. Lovely.

[saiyan]

He grumbles in the dark that surrounds them, but takes it from her, pointing it at her face.

"I'm the Prince of all Saiyans. I think I can handle a flashlight."

Nevermind that he had no clue what a flashlight was up until about a month ago when her mother showed him how to use one. He insisted he didn't really need one, but she'd shoved one into his hands anyway, then proceeded to usher him out into the yard to help her find the cat. Really, he'd only helped to get the brainless woman to leave him alone.

[capsulecorp]

"I don't know, you were the one who just ripped out a bunch of wires without even knowing what they do or what would happen so I'm not so sure."

At least this he seems to know how to use. She doesn't how but instead she goes back to work. Now the first priority is getting the lights back on -- then she can work on the other parts.

[saiyan]

The flashlight's dropped to the ground as Vegeta moves in, dangerously close. His nose is very nearly brushing against the tip of her own, but Vegeta doesn't need the dim light the flashlight's currently projecting in the opposite direction to see her.

"Are you mocking me, woman?"

[capsulecorp]

Anyone else might be scared to have their personal space being invaded by the Saiyan prince but at this point she's sort of used to it. It's one of his go to intimidation moves, it seems like, getting uncomfortably close to try to get her to back down. Not that it ever works.

"And if I am?" She might not be able to see him very well in the dark thanks to him dropping the damn flashlight but she's holding her ground all the same.

"You should of asked me before started ripping things out without knowing what they did."

[saiyan]

Vegeta's hand lands on her throat. He pushes her onto her back and leans over her. This is the first time he's ever dared to lay a hand on her, let alone touch her. But although he shoved her back, his touch is almost gentle, contrasting against the harsh look on his face that she'd be able to see if the flashlight hadn't rolled away from them.

"I don't need an Earthling's permission."

[capsulecorp]

More than once people implied Bulma's being foolish letting Vegeta stay here. He's a killer. He's a monster. He could kill her and her whole family. How could she help someone like that? After what he's done? And yeah, he can be a real asshole but he's never hurt her. And it's not she thinks that means anything beyond her being useful to him (or she tries not to think that, anyway). And maybe she should be more scared than she is now as he's pushed her onto her back, hovering over her. His hand is on her threat but it isn't tight, there's no struggle to breath. Her heart beats wildly in her chest but it's not fear, not exactly.

"I wasn't talking about permission, idiot." Her voice is sharp, defiant to the end. Her own hand shoots out now, pressing against his chest. Not that she could actually shove him off or anything but if the thinks she's going to lie here passively while he tries to intimidate her he has another thing coming. "But you obviously have no idea what you're doing. You may be the Prince of all Saiyans, and you can do a lot I can't, it's true, but this is my expertise. I know how to fix your damn machine so you might think to ask me what would happen before you rip things out and make things worse for yourself, unless you like making it take longer to fix things."

[saiyan]

It's true. Vegeta could easily kill her. He could circle her throat with his fingers, and it would be over before she had time to comprehend what was happening.

But he won't. And he's beginning to suspect that she knows that, even if she seemed as baffled as he was by his proclamation of possessiveness days prior. She didn't understand what it meant, and Vegeta wasn't about to delve into why he gave so much of a damn about a weakling human who was only good for building and fixing things. Bulma was kept around because she was useful, yet it was very important that she was useful to him and only him.

His fingers and thumb splayed out against her collarbone, framing the base of her neck. The hands on his chest do nothing to move him, though he doesn't push against them so much as take them as a sign to keep his present distance. (If she protested or put up a fight, he'd withdraw, and he suspects she knows that, too. Damn her.)

"It wouldn't take so long to fix if you had given me proper instructions in the first place."

Things are never his fault — ever. Especially when they are.

[capsulecorp]

He won't kill her. She's figured that out a while ago. And maybe it's just that it's she's useful, but she thinks maybe it's more than that. The words he said the other day echo in her head. Saiyans don't get jealous, they get possessive. What exactly did that mean? She doesn't belong to him, or anyone else for that matter.

But she'd be lying if she said she didn't notice the way he got annoyed when she spent her time helping one of her friends instead of him.

Her breath hitches a little as his fingers spread against her collarbone. They aren't as callous as one would expect from someone who fights as much as he does. Maybe it's from those gloves he wears so much of the time. She doesn't even know why she's thinking about that, how surprisingly gentle his touch is. How it often is.

"And like I said, it would help if you asked first. I can hardly give you instructions when you just impulsively start doing things. I'm not psychic, I can't predict what you're going to do -- not even I'm that good."

[saiyan]

If called out on it, Vegeta would claim that he had to be careful. Humans were fragile creatures and if he weren't careful when handling them, they would break apart in his hands. But it's more than that, yet not something the Saiyan prince is willing to give much thought to — and not just because he lacks the proper foundation for building the blocks he needs to in order to repair the disconnect between his head, instincts, and heart.

Though the latter would at least explain why he's dipping into intimidation tactics as a form of flirting. Not that the bullheaded man realizes that's what he's essentially doing. He's never bothered to dance around any of the women he's taken as lovers in the past, and didn't stop to learn most of their names.

She'll never know that he calls her woman, because he enjoys how it riles her up, and not because he doesn't know her name. He knows it, and that in and of itself is important.

Vegeta leans in closer, his nose nearly bumping into hers. He snorts. "Perhaps you should make a psychic machine your next project."

[capsulecorp]

She snorts a little at that. "Not that I couldn't do it, mind you, but like I really want to know what's going on in that pscyho head of yours? No thank you. You could just try communicating like the rest of us. Might make things easier on the both of us."

Bulma can't claim the same ignorance to what's going on here. Him pressing her against the ground like this definitely crosses into different territory then when he normally tries to intimidate her. She could call him on it, but then he'd probably pull away completely. Whenever she presses too hard, she gets to close to something real that's what he does. He pulls away.

And she should be glad that he does. It's better that he does, isn't it? She shouldn't indulge...whatever this is. It's a bad idea. Never mind that when she and Yamcha broke up (again, those this time has felt much more permanent than before) he had more or less implied there was already something going on. As if he's one to talk about cheating.

"Do you think I don't see how you two look at one another? He's evil, Bulma. He's a killer. He's taking advantage of you. He's the reason I died, how can you care about him? Do you really think she gives a shit about anyone other than himself?"

The weird thing is? She does. There are only moments of it before he realizes it and pulls way, but there are moments all the same.

[saiyan]

It's rare that she lets him do all the pushing. Usually he pushes and she pushes back, often drifting dangerously close to territories Vegeta wants her nowhere near or refuses to go himself, but she isn't doing that this time. He's got his hand on her, is looming almost menacingly closer than he's ever gotten to her, yet she isn't pushing back.

Strange— and curious. It's enough to prevent him from retreating.

Vegeta's palm scoots higher again, this thumb brushing against the underside of her neck and then up to trace her jawline.

"I'm not like you or your moronic group of so-called saviors."