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Friends	By : ladyvegeets Category: Dragon Ball Z > AU - Alternate Universe Views: 2134 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 0
Disclaimer: Disclaimer: Obviously I don’t own DBZ or the characters - they belong to Akira Toriyama, Funimation and Toei Animation as far as I know. No profit is being made from this fic.

Chapter List
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Friends - an AU Vegebul Highschool Fanfic by LadyVegeets
Ch.09 - Roommates

When her eyes fluttered open a couple hours later, Bulma saw Vegeta was looking at her. He quickly looked away but too late, she’d caught him staring. Bulma rubbed her eyes and sat up stiffly. “How do you feel?” she asked.
“Fine,” he replied unhelpfully, his voice hoarse, his eyes trained on the ceiling.
Bulma’s lips thinned, feeling anger welling up inside. She knew what ‘fine’ meant to Vegeta - it meant whatever he wanted it to mean, so long as it stopped questions being asked of him. She was sick of it, sick of his bravado and evasiveness.
“Why?” she asked, her voice full of hurt and accusation. “You knew this would happen, didn’t you? Why did you stay with me if you knew you were going to be punished? Why didn’t you tell me?”
Vegeta’s jaw clenched, his brow furrowing into a frown. “It was my choice.”
Bulma felt her lip quiver but she couldn’t say if it was from tears or rage. “It shouldn’t have ever been a choice! If I had known this would happen, I never would have asked you stay.”
“It’s fine, Bulma. I knew what I was getting myself into.”
“But I didn’t!” Bulma sobbed angrily. “I never wanted you to get hurt because of me, not for something so stupid as cuddling in bed!”
“It’s not stupid.”
“It is!”
“Not to me.”
“Well it is to me!” Bulma spat back. Vegeta flinched, his eyes drifting away, and Bulma realized what she had said. She lowered her gaze. “That’s… that’s not what I meant.”
“Bulma,” Vegeta cut in, his voice unusually calm. He paused, flexing his right hand, then forced himself to continue. “No one has ever asked me to stay because they wanted me there.” He looked her, his dark gaze pinning her. “Not anyone. Ever.”
Bulma stared at him, her eyes filling with tears, speechless.
“It wasn’t stupid,” he repeated. “I knew the consequence. And yes, I’d do it again.”
Bulma flung herself at him, wrapping her arms around his neck. She sobbed against his collarbone, pouring out her fear and guilt and relief. Vegeta let her cry against him, remaining stoic through her tears.
Suddenly he stiffened, grabbing her arm. “Alright, get off me,” he said, his voice terse.
Bulma reluctantly let him go, wiping her eyes. She saw he was looking past her, and turned around to see what had caught his attention. In the doorway stood her friends, staring at the two of them awkwardly, stunned. Goku laughed, embarrassed, Chi-Chi’s eyes were huge, the other guys just looked uncomfortable. Yamcha was the most shocked, standing rigid, speechless at the sight of Bulma and Vegeta together. “What are you guys doing here?” Bulma asked, just as surprised to see them.
“Coach told us Vegeta was here,” Tien said flatly, explaining. “Goku suggested we come pay a visit, seeing as Vegeta’s on the team and all.”
Goku laughed nervously, rubbing the back of his neck. “You’re here too, huh, Bulma?”
Yamcha turned around sharply and left, unable to handle the situation. They all stood there awkwardly, none of them saying anything.
Chi-Chi finally cleared her throat. “Well? The card?”
Goku startled, grinning bashfully. “Oh yeah, right. Uh, we signed a get well card for you, haha.” He offered it to Vegeta.
Vegeta looked at the colorful card, frowning. “What the hell am I suppose to do with that?”
“Vegeta!” Bulma scolded.
He glared at her. Bulma glared back. The others exchanged surprised looks at Bulma and Vegeta’s familiarity.
“Tch,” Vegeta finally relented, breaking his stare-off with Bulma. He snatched the card from Goku’s hand. “Thanks. You can leave now.”
“Yep, I’d say we’ve worn out our welcome,” Krillin quipped from the doorway.
“Thanks for coming, guys,” Bulma said, knowing the situation was awkward but she was appreciative of her friends support nonetheless. They certainly didn’t have to come.
“Bulma, a word?” Chi-Chi stressed. Bulma winced but nodded. She left the room with her friends and walked down the hall a little way until they were out of Vegeta’s earshot.
“Bulma, are you crazy? Vegeta?” Krillin asked, incredulous. “He’s a psychopath!”
“He is not!” Bulma huffed, her temper flying.
“Psychopath might be going a bit far,” Tien amended. “But he doesn’t exactly have a great reputation.”
“Most of those rumors about him are over embellished,” Bulma protested. “Look, I don’t expect you guys to understand, but if you can’t trust him, at least trust me. I think someone’s hurting Vegeta and I need to try and keep him safe.”
“Perhaps he deserves it,” Krillin grumbled under his breath.
“Perhaps you deserve my heel up your ass!” Bulma shouted at him, and Krillin backed away, raising his hands in supplication.
“Alright, Bulma, we trust you, of course we do,” Goku said, putting a hand on Bulma’s shoulder and giving her a friendly smile. “Just tell us what you need and we’ll do what we can to make it happen.”
Bulma pressed her fingernails into her palms to keep from crying again, touched by Goku’s support. She nodded bravely. “Thanks, Goku. And… tell Yamcha, I’m sorry. I guess…” she said, knowing she didn’t really owe Yamcha an apology, but she still felt a little guilty. It probably seemed to Yamcha that she’d moved on from him awfully quickly.
The group left, leaving Bulma and Chi-Chi alone. Her friend had been quiet through most of the exchange. Chi-Chi gave her an intense look. “So all this time we’ve been chatting about your ‘crush’, you’ve been talking about Vegeta?”
Bulma gave her friend an embarrassed look. “Yeah.”
Chi-Chi sighed. “I wish you could have let me known what was going on.”
Bulma fidgeted. “I didn’t even really know what was going on. I still don’t.”
Chi-Chi came up and hugged her friend. Bulma hugged her back tightly, appreciative of the support.
“Don’t try and handle it all by yourself, okay?” Chi-Chi told her. “We know you’re a genius, that doesn’t mean you can’t use help.” She let her friend go with a last squeeze.
“Thanks, Chi-Chi, that means a lot,” Bulma said genuinely.
Chi-Chi arched her brow, folding her arms. “But for the record, you have the worst taste in men. Are you even sure Vegeta’s housebroken?”
Bulma laughed. “Doubtful. But that’s part of the appeal.”
“Uh-huh,” Chi-Chi said dubiously.
“Like you can talk,” Bulma countered. “You’re lucky if you can drag Goku away from a buffet or a fight.”
Chi-Chi smirked. “Lucky for me, I’m good at providing him with both.”
They both laughed. Then silence fell upon them, and worry crept up on Bulma’s brow as reality settled upon her once more, her thoughts drifting to Vegeta and his troubled situation.
Chi-Chi gave her a sympathetic look. “If anyone can save him, you can,” she offered.
“Yeah,” Bulma replied, but she wasn’t so confident.

~___X___~___X___~___X___~___X___~___X___~___X___~___X___~___X___~___X___~___X___~

Bulma made sure Vegeta was well fed and entertained in hospital, fetching him copious amounts of food and finding a board-game they could play, one handed for Vegeta’s sake, to pass the time. Bulma was puzzling over her next move on the chess board, her and Vegeta’s game having come to a stale mate, when Vegeta suddenly broke the silence.
“Sir!”
Bulma looked up and saw an impressive man in the doorway. The man was tall and powerful looking - not just physically strong, but confident, the military uniform he wore with all the stars and badges certainly adding to the perception. What was most striking though was his resemblance to Vegeta; there was no denying a familial bond here.
“Vegeta, I see you have company,” the man said in a deep, smooth voice. He had his military cap tucked under his arm, and he entered the hospital room as if he owned the place. His gaze was piercing and he held out a hand to Bulma. “I’m Vegeta’s father, Lieutenant General Vegeta Saiyan.”
Bulma shook his hand, her eyes wide, intimidated. “Bulma Briefs… You’re also ‘Vegeta’?”
Mr. Saiyan smiled. “Yes, although to tell you the truth, my given name is ‘King’; obnoxious, isn’t it? ‘Vegeta’ is my middle name, but it’s what I go by. Can you imagine the comments I got as a child, having ‘King’ as my name?” His eyes twinkled as he spoke to her.
Bulma laughed politely. Mr. Saiyan squeezed her hand then let it go.
“I must thank you kindly for taking care of my son. I’m relieved to know he wasn’t locked up here all by himself,” Mr. Saiyan said, his eyes drifting over to Vegeta. Bulma’s gaze followed. Vegeta’s expression was a lot more guarded than it had been a minute ago, his posture tense. He said nothing.
Bulma felt obliged to break the silence if only to be civil. “Vegeta is a good friend, and my partner in advanced skills,” she explained, feeling awkward. What was with the tension in the room?
Mr. Saiyan nodded, the only one who appeared at ease. He glanced at the chess board between them. “Ah, chess, is it? Good luck there, Miss Briefs. I’m surprised you’ve withstood so long. Vegeta is usually so quick to destroy his opponents. He’s a cunning strategist; get’s that from me,” Mr. Saiyan winked at Bulma.
Bulma didn’t know whether to laugh or not. There was something both endearing and terrifying about Vegeta’s father.
Mr. Saiyan smiled benignly at Vegeta. “You know, she won’t learn if you keep going easy on her.”
Vegeta grimaced, scowling. “I’m not,” he said, his tone frustrated.
Mr. Saiyan arched a brow, looking surprised. He glanced at the chess board again, taking in all the pieces and the defense Bulma had put in place against Vegeta’s attack. He looked back at Bulma with renewed interest. “Well… Miss Briefs, do you have plans after graduating? We can always use more bright women in the military to bolster our Science, Research and Development team.”
“I don’t think so,” a cheery voice interrupted from the door. Dr. Briefs walked in with an amiable smile. “Bulma will be too busy taking over Capsule Corporation to join the military.”
“Papa,” Bulma greeted with relief, relaxing. She always felt at ease around her father.
“Hello kids,” Dr. Briefs greeted them with a friendly smile. “I hope you don’t mind, Vegeta, but I’ve come to steal your father away for a moment.”
“Right, yes,” Mr. Saiyan said without hesitation, appearing to know what Dr. Briefs was talking about. Vegeta’s eyes widened with surprise. He glanced at his father then at Dr. Briefs, puzzled, but he wasn’t given an explanation as the two older men left the room to converse.
“What the…” Vegeta said, clearly confused. He looked at Bulma. “What was that about?”
“I um… called my father earlier,” Bulma told him, her voice hesitant. She was suddenly nervous about telling Vegeta her part in trying to rescue him from his home life. “I was worried about your… situation.”
Vegeta scowled at her. He reached out, grabbing her arm tightly. “Bulma… What did you do?” he asked, his voice tight, his eyes intense.
Bulma swallowed, looking down at the bed. “I asked my dad if he could help you in some way… to get away from all the beatings you’ve been taking…”
Vegeta was staring at her as if she’d turned lime green. “You did what?” Vegeta glanced at the door his father had left through, then glared back at her. “What exactly did you tell him?”
“Vegeta, you’re hurting my arm,” Bulma winced as Vegeta’s fingers clenched her arm painfully.
Vegeta loosened his grip, but not by much. “What the hell did you say? Who told you to interfere in my life?”
Bulma glared back at him, upset and hurt. “I don’t need to be told to interfere when someone is being abused, especially when it’s someone I care about. Do you even see how badly you’re hurt right now? Do you know how messed up your situation is? It’s not normal, Vegeta. Home should be a safe place, not a place you fear.”
“I told you I’m fine!” he shouted at her.
“You could be hurt worse next time!” She shouted back. “You could sustain a permanent injury. You could die!”
“Tch, how weak do you think I am?”
“Not weak enough,” she replied, and that seemed to stump him because he had no instant reply. Bulma drew herself up. “You’re too damn stubborn and prideful to ask for help, so I’m tired of waiting for you to ask and I’m just going to give it to you.”
“You don’t know what you’re talking about. You don’t know my situation,” Vegeta snapped back at her, shaking her arm for emphasis. “Do you know what you’ve done? Your goddamn meddling could fuck over my father’s career. What’s more, it could fuck over your father’s too if he gets the attention of the wrong goddamn people. You should have kept your stupid nose out of our business.”
“Stupid?” Bulma huffed, trying to hide her dread at Vegeta’s threats about her father’s work. “Maybe if you told me what was going on once in a while, my ‘meddling’ wouldn’t be so troublesome.”
“I told you I don’t need you rescuing me.”
“Oh really? What even happened to you, Vegeta? You were trying to go to school with a broken arm, on the verge of collapsing, beaten to hell…”
Vegeta let go of her arm, looking away. “It’s nothing. Don’t worry about it.”
“Vegeta! This wasn’t even the first time. That day on the roof, you were cryi-”
“Get out,” he snapped at her coldly, his eyes burning with rage. “I can’t stand to listen to your goddamn screeching for another second.”
Bulma tried not to let it show how much his words struck her. She got off his bed and stormed out of his room. She went and sat on a bench down the hall, and as the shock of their argument wore off, she started to cry silent tears of frustration.
A long while later, their fathers returned. Dr. Briefs wore his usual jovial smile, but Mr. Saiyan’s expression was much harder to read. The lieutenant general returned to his son’s room, leaving Dr. Briefs to sit by his daughter on the bench.
“Good news, sweetheart,” Dr. Briefs told her. “Vegeta will be staying with us for the foreseeable future.”
Bulma sat upright, her eyes wide. “What? Really?”
Dr. Briefs smiled and nodded.
Bulma hugged her father, overcome with emotions. “Thank you, Papa, thank you so much!” Dr. Briefs patted her back gently. “How did you manage that?”
Dr. Briefs pulled back to wink at her. “Never you mind the details. The lieutenant general and I came to an arrangement. No child protection services necessary. All anyone needs to know is that we’ll be sponsoring Vegeta’s education and development from now on.”
Bulma stared at her father in awe. “Papa, you’re amazing.”
Dr. Briefs chuckled.
They remained sitting for a few more minutes, Bulma processing the news, elated. But her smile of relief and joy quickly faded as she remembered her argument with Vegeta. How would Vegeta receive the news? “Is Mr. Saiyan telling Vegeta?” Bulma asked her father quietly.
Dr. Briefs hummed in confirmation.
Bulma sighed, nervous. Her father glanced at her, then patted her knee. “Well, that should be long enough. Shall we go see our new house guest?”
Bulma felt her mouth go dry. She followed a step behind her father, anxiety dragging at her heels. As they approached Vegeta’s room and glanced in, they saw Mr. Saiyan speaking to his son. The older Vegeta had a hand on his son’s uninjured shoulder, talking too softly for Bulma to hear their conversation. But Vegeta’s hand was fisted, his face stormy. Bulma sunk back further behind her father’s lab coat.
Mr. Saiyan spotted them and turned, smiling at the Briefs. “Dr. Briefs, Miss Bulma. Vegeta will be delighted to stay with you. I’ll get his things from the Cold’s and have them brought to your house right away.”
“The Cold’s?” Bulma asked, unable to keep her big mouth shut.
Mr. Saiyan looked at her, bemused. “You didn’t know? My work keeps me away from home, so Vegeta has been living with an acquaintance and his family.”
Bulma looked at Vegeta, but he was glaring off to the side, his face still dark and angry. Bulma looked down.
“It’ll be nice to have another man under the roof,” Dr. Briefs chuckled. “With one wife and two daughters, Vegeta will be a welcome relief.”
“You’ve another daughter?” Mr. Saiyan asked.
“Yes, Tights. But she’s already flown the coop.”
“They grow up so fast.”
“That they do!”
The two men chuckled and exchanged a few more pleasantries before Mr. Saiyan made his excuses, shook hands and left. Dr. Briefs went to find a doctor to see if Vegeta could be dismissed. Bulma was left standing uncomfortably in the room, glancing at Vegeta. Vegeta didn’t look at her, staying silent.
Dr. Briefs eventually returned and they took Vegeta to his new home. It was the most painfully awkward car trip of her life.

~___X___~___X___~___X___~___X___~___X___~___X___~___X___~___X___~___X___~___X___~

Vegeta didn’t come out of his room except when it was absolutely necessary. After returning from the hospital, he was given a day off school to recover and adjust to his new surroundings. Bulma still had to go to school and face a barrage of questions about Vegeta from her friends; Yamcha was conspicuously absent.
When she came home, Vegeta was still in his room and had been there all day according to Mrs. Briefs. His room was at the end of the hall from Bulma’s. Feeling as though she needed to break the tension, Bulma grabbed a plate of dinner and took it to Vegeta’s room. She knocked, and after a while Vegeta opened his door. He glared at her.
“Um, dinner,” she said, offering the plate with a hopeful smile.
Vegeta glanced at the food, then snatched the plate from her hands. He slammed the door in Bulma’s face, and that was the last she saw of him. No playful arguments, no TV or tickling or sharing food together. No kissing… She cried herself to sleep that night, devastated that she’d ruined what they’d had.
The next morning Vegeta had already left for school before she’d even had breakfast. She knew Vegeta was mad at her, avoiding her, but Bulma didn’t know what to do. She was confident it was in his best interests to be living with her family, but her heart was breaking into a thousand pieces daily that he hated her so much for her ‘help’.
Now that he was living with the Briefs, Vegeta had his own allowance to buy lunch if he so wished. When Bulma went to the roof at lunch time, Vegeta wasn’t to be found. Returning to the cafeteria she saw him eating at a table with a large tray of food he’d purchased from the cafeteria. He had the whole table to himself. No one would sit near him, the whole school still terrified of him.
Bulma snorted at everyone’s cowardice. She bought some food for herself and defiantly walked past everyone including her friends to sit down opposite Vegeta at his table. He glanced up at her, scowled, and then returned his attention to his food. Bulma let out a silent breath. He hadn’t told her to fuck off, so that was a good sign, right?
But he didn’t speak to her or acknowledge her any further during lunch. He ate his food quickly and when he was done, abruptly got up and left her by herself. Bulma lowered her head, shielding her face behind her blue tresses, trying to hide her pain. Her friends soon joined her.
“Guess he isn’t adjusting well?” Chi-Chi asked her sympathetically.
Bulma sighed, pushing her food around on her tray and fighting back tears.
That evening Vegeta came out of his room only to use the gym and bathroom. When Bulma again took his dinner up to him, she held on tightly to the plate when he tried to grab it. “You know, you could come eat with us instead of staying up here like some recluse,” she lectured.
Vegeta just glared at her. He gave the food a hard tug and pulled it out of her hands before shutting the door. Bulma glared at the door before banging on it with her palm. “Why are you being like this?!” she screamed at him, emotions welling up inside of her. When he didn’t reply, she stormed back to her room, slamming her door shut.
Later, when she’d calmed down, she sent Vegeta a text message. You don’t have to forgive me. Please, just talk to me? [Sad face]
She never got a reply back.

~___X___~___X___~___X___~___X___~___X___~___X___~___X___~___X___~___X___~___X___~

The next couple of days were on rinse and repeat. Vegeta continued to give her the cold shoulder and stay out of her way as much as possible. Bulma continued to share his table at lunch, but he’d only eat in silence and then quickly leave. Goku, Chi-Chi and the others started to sit with Bulma, talking and eating as if their silent, surly companion weren’t there, so that when Vegeta left, Bulma wouldn’t be left alone. It was a nice gesture, but their cheery chatter only highlighted how broken her and Vegeta’s relationship was.
Later that week Bulma was making her way to school, dragging her feet, unable to muster up the enthusiasm to pick up her pace. Her life was miserable. She couldn’t get Vegeta to do more than glare at her for 3 seconds when he accepted his food at night, and it was driving her nuts. She was losing sleep, torn between being furious and depressed, unsure if she wanted to cry against his shoulder, beat him up, or make out with him until they both couldn’t breathe, his powerful arms running all over her body the way they had for one brief, magical evening.
Bulma was so lost in her thoughts that she at first didn’t see the dark tinted car following her. It moved slowly along the street, a couple dozen feet back. When she began to suspect it was following her, Bulma started to pick up the pace. The car did too.
Bulma jogged the rest of the way to school. When she entered the school gates and looked around the street, the car was gone. “I’m losing my mind,” she said to herself. It must have been a coincidence.
When school started, she forgot all about the incident, lost again in her misery about her nonexistent relationship with Vegeta.

~___X___~___X___~___X___~___X___~___X___~___X___~___X___~___X___~___X___~___X___~

AN:

Some of you might be interested to know that I don’t actually just write these chapters and then instantly throw them up online. I actually started this story a couple months ago in my free time and am currently on the first draft of chapter 24 as I type this. I go back later and edit/polish up earlier chapters to post, which can take a while, so I’m trying to give myself a buffer. I often need to rewrite chapters too, which can be frustrating and slow going. Anyway, that’s why I can say that although this chapter might be heartbreaking, I think you guys are really gonna love the next one, at least, I do, haha.

As always, I’d love to know what you all think, and I’ll try to reply to all of you as I can! :)
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