The Nature of Moonlight

Chapter 3

Something was wrong with Goku.

The man did show up to breakfast the next morning in the royal chambers, taking a seat across from him. He didn't meet his eye the entire time, or anyone's eye, really. Even when the King asked him questions, or the crown princess, Goku didn't look right at them. He did lift his head, yes. He did talk back. He was interactive, in that regard. He wasn't quiet. He wasn't tipping anyone off to any sort of potential problems he was facing. On the outside, in his actions, and his words, he seemed relatively fine.

Vegeta knew better though. The tell-tale signs were everywhere. The very faint, very fine dark circles around Goku's eyes. The slightly paler skin. The roll in his shoulders. The neck tilting slightly down, rather than slightly up. The utter wrongness in his smile, in his laugh. For the first time, Vegeta saw in Goku what he accused of him of possessing: the ability to bullshit.

When he started to get to know Goku in the beginning of their relationship, he couldn't believe a Saiyan like this actually existed. His impulsivity was normal for a Saiyan, as was his battle lust and addiction to power. That was fine. But the naivety. His cluelessness. It was why he called him a 'clown' so often, because of how wholly foolish he acted. How could any Saiyan be this innocent? This all had to be a pretense for something. What, he didn't know. But over time, he learned that no, this was Goku. This was truly him. He really was that innocent. The man didn't know what he said sometimes, how he acted like other times, always believed in the good of everyone, even if someone was trying to actively kill him and everyone he loved. When Goku said "I'm sorry," or "I'm here for you," or "I believe in you," he actually meant it, and it drove Vegeta crazy. It took him a long, long time to not only wrap his mind around it, but also accept it. To this day, Vegeta didn't know when that actually happened, when he finally accepted Goku for being... all of this, but he was grateful for it.

And now, here Goku was, proving the old Vegeta to be right.

He wanted to pull Goku to the side, stop him from leaving the chambers for the ambuwa gumisou, especially when he caught the twins grinning at each other from ear-to-ear. But Goku dismissed himself to go change before Vegeta could say a word in edgewise. Of course the twins attempted to dismiss themselves soon after, but the King made them stay behind, clearly under some sort of pretense—to prepare for the festivities later this evening, another religious celebration. For that, Vegeta was thankful beyond words. The last thing Goku needed was another humiliation.

Vegeta prepared to excuse himself from any potential plans the King might have prepared for the day. The man had commanded his attention ever since their excursion to the yokuthensai. He had been grateful for the multiple distractions, albeit unknown to the family of royals. All the exploration of the bazaar brought so many memories for him that it filled Vegeta's heart and mind and he had to share it all with the royals to see if there were any links he could compare and any gaps he could fill. And they did. Once they returned to the castle, Vegeta and the King and the crown princess talked for hours, comparing notes, telling stories, sharing thoughts, contemplating what could've happened and what might've been. It all culminated in the evening of a lifetime, honoring the great Soli with a dance he hadn't attempted since his last days on Planet Vegeta—a dance he only performed once in public before, with perfection and grace, in time with his mother, Queen Cassava. The memories nearly overwhelmed him then, especially when the King presented to him those precious gifts he wore even now to breakfast, and probably for the rest of his trip. For the King to have procured him a royal red cape and a stone that was an utter replica of his own father's, nothing he could've said would've conveyed his utter shock and deep gratitude. Luckily, the King knew and understood well.

But today, the King had to come second. The last twenty-four hours distracted Vegeta well from what happened their first day on the planet, especially when he had to retire to the same bedroom with Goku—and then the fallout from all of that. No, Vegeta didn't need to remember anything about that whatsoever.