Chapter Text
The problem, you decide, is that Goku is a soft-hearted fool, and the Prince of All Saiyans is a manipulative bastard. His Highness prefers to think of this as being pragmatic, but who cares what he prefers? He's been a begrudging part of your team for basically no time at all, and he's already succeeded in pissing off everyone but Goku.
Goku sighs beside you, taking in the sprawling, windswept vista. Your vantage point on top of the hill is purely strategic but, in another time, the softly rolling Namekian plains peppered with gangling trees would have been breathtaking - as it is, the threat of Frieza hangs heavy over the three of you, dampening the beauty of your surroundings. Goku turns an appraising eye on the other Saiyan that makes up your fighting trio. You're all that's left of the original force mustered to defeat Frieza - you and Goku, plus one bad-tempered, royal pain in the ass.
Rather predictably, Vegeta's arms are crossed and he's busy glaring into the middle distance, refusing to acknowledge either of you. Goku's sigh is almost imperceptible - if you didn't know him so well, you'd tell him to give the entire ‘extending an olive branch to the guy who literally just tried to kill us' thing a rest, just this once. Prince Vegeta clearly isn't interested in accepting olive branches, or even in speaking to either of you. But it's Goku, so of course he bulls on and offers anyway.
"You have a part in the plan too, if that's okay with you. I was hoping we could join forces and work together against those guys. How does that sound?" Goku asks, keeping his voice carefully neutral as he addresses the prickly Prince.
Vegeta huffs, perpetually irritated. "Yeah, why not?" As if he is doing you a favor, deigning to lend his expertise when a refusal at this point would be tantamount to a death sentence for all of you. You frown - something about his words in insincere, as if he's already written you two off as a bad job, but Goku looks satisfied, so you say nothing.
"Well, I guess it's now or never." Goku glances your way and you give him a small nod. None of you relish what is about to happen - the timing of this showdown with Frieza is particularly poor, and you're all more than a little beat up after your earlier run in with the Ginyu force.
"And I'm right behind you." You hear Vegeta drawl as you turn to follow Goku. And he is - for a moment, until out of the corner of your eye, you note the shift in his weight to his back foot, the balance of his wide shoulders turning, almost as if -
"Hey.” You spin to face him and pin him with a glare. “You wouldn't be thinking of leaving us, would you?”
Uncertainty flits across his sharp features, frustration at being caught out evident in the arrogant exhale from the aristocratic nose and the sudden tightness in his angular jaw.
"Tch. Wouldn't dream of it." He snaps, but barely concealed rage simmers just below the surface of the flippant retort. You grin to yourself, not bothering to hide your amusement from him. You, at least, had been expecting this - Goku is just too damn trusting.
"Good. Because if, hypothetically, someone did run away from a battle that they believed to be lost, one might - also in a completely hypothetical sense - assume that that someone was… scared.” You cock an eyebrow at him and he bares his teeth back at you, canines shining and lethal and inhuman in a way that makes unwelcome heat bloom in your gut. You don't like him and you sure as hell don't trust him, but Gods does he have a mouth on him, and with the fighting prowess to back it up. It's not a winning combination for anything other than raw, visceral attraction, the kind that makes your blood thump and your nerves stand on end and which will almost certainly end up with him using it to his advantage and you dead, should you be so stupid as to pursue it - so you push the thoughts away, angry with yourself for allowing them in the first place, and refocus on the task at hand.
Except he apparently isn't going to let you have the last word and instead shoots a glare your way, the look on his arrogant face telling you that he'd very much like to settle this whole thing with fists rather than words.
"Mind what you say, or someone might assume you were implying that a Saiyan Prince has the capacity for fear." He retorts, his voice taking on the haughty air of royalty speaking to a subject that they considered to be the equivalent of dung on the heel of their boot.
Fury sparks bright in your chest, and you volley a glare of your own back at him.
"Mind your actions then, Your Highness, or I may do more than imply."
You can't help it - even when attempting to hold yourself apart from the sniping remarks, the words just tumble out, unbidden. You're usually tactful to a fault, but something about this man opens the floodgates on your temper, and the words just gush out. A guttural snarl rips from his throat, and he takes a step towards you, clearly done talking. You brace, eagerly anticipating physical retaliation as you feel his ki spike.
"Guys!" Goku interjects, his voice sharp with warning.
You both turn reluctantly, each not letting the other out of your peripheral vision, anger and mistrust sizzling electric in the air between you. Goku looks between you, beseeching.
"C'mon, you two. We've got bigger problems than each other, right now. If he wants to run from the fight, let him." He deadpans, picking up on your tactic quick enough for someone usually so oblivious. If Vegeta decides to run, you and Goku will die, no question - so keeping him here is of tantamount importance, even if the way you're shaming the overly prideful man into it feels underhanded as hell.
You toss another smug smirk towards the Saiyan Prince, but he’s refusing to meet your eye again, instead studying the towering form of Freiza's ship in the distance, the corner of his mouth turned down in his signature, nearly indiscernible, scowl. You edge closer, out of earshot of Goku, unwilling to not have the last word.
“Where's your damn loyalty, Saiyan?” You hiss, and watch him flinch with no little amount of satisfaction. Vegeta turns and bares his straight, white teeth at you again, the violent intent of the gesture underpinned by the feral gleam in his dark eyes.
“The problem with your question,” he rumbles, eyes flicking across your features and down your form so quickly that you can almost convince yourself that you're imagining it, “is that hungry dogs aren't loyal. Especially once they've been kicked.”
And with that, he turns and follows Goku into the fray.