Chapter Text
"Am I even a challenge for you anymore..."
He heard it—although barely—from the mouth of his sparring partner during a brief moment of rest before they would undoubtedly go back to exchanging fists. Glancing over at the sound, he could tell almost immediately that it wasn't meant to be spoken out loud. The expression—the way his face scrunched and presented a snarl over apparently gritted teeth—gave away his dismay at himself and though he had heard him, he couldn't bring himself to address his question.
It wasn't to save the man his pride or anything, because Goku never really did curb his tongue in that respect. If he stopped goading him, then the man wouldn't push himself so hard; at least, that was how Goku saw it. Without being faced with falling behind constantly, he'd be so much less fun—in spite all of his anger. No, he pretended not to hear him clearly, because it was apparent that he hadn't meant to say it and if he knew one thing about Vegeta, it was that he valued his private thoughts. Though, it could be argued that the words breached the realm of private once they'd passed through his lips; but the balancing act with Vegeta was a very delicate one.
One that most people didn't realize Goku was so good at teetering on.
"You say somethin', Vegeta?" He offered, once he realized that Vegeta had caught his glance in response to his mumbling.
"No, Kakarot." He lied, face relaxing just a bit, but for the furrowed brows that were just a part of his face in general. More than once, Goku debated on just poking a finger between his eyes to see if he could unscrunch the irritated muscles of his face. But truthfully, that would make it much worse and it was highly probable that Vegeta with a softer face would be terrifying.
"Huh, okay. I was just lost in thought then. My bad," he grinned widely, noting the flicker of something that passed the other man's face—recognizing the incoming quip that he had just opened to door for.
"You tend to find your way back expectedly quickly."
While the insults he received would make anyone else take up the defense, Goku just found they made him smile wider. He couldn't deny that he was a simple person. He always has been and would probably always be. His interests were very specific and rarely left him with room for other things. Fortunately, his interests did overlap with the other Saiyan's and that was really all he cared about. That Vegeta liked to trash-talk him was more proof for him that he at least benefited from their usual routine. Otherwise, he wouldn't have bothered to stay near someone who earned his ire so much.
He was just simple, not necessarily stupid. He wasn't going to be writing any books like Gohan, but he was capable enough in what he did do. Pushing himself—and wanting to fight things stronger than him—seemed to fill some yearning void for something. He suspected Vegeta felt that too. He'd never ask, though, because he wouldn't know how to word that without ending up sounding weird about it. 'I like sparring with you, because it gives me purpose', would go over about as well as a heart attack. Simple, not stupid.
The way the man spoke to him, never really did give him a sense that Vegeta thought he was stupid...well, maybe a little, but mostly, he knew Vegeta viewed him as childish. He understood that, because he knew was childish; Chi Chi said so too, so it must be true.
Reading Vegeta was more of a refined art than someone as simple as him could really ever explain, which worked out well for him; as he would never try to explain it to begin with. Vegeta was just Vegeta and with that, came way too much thinking. Whis had said that Vegeta spent too much time thinking and Goku not nearly enough. He wasn’t wrong and Goku grinned a little to mask that he was watching Vegeta’s expression very carefully and reading the way his aura pulsed a little with distress at himself. Well, maybe not distress exactly, but frustration.
“It’s hard ta really get myself going, when you’re holdin’ back, ya know,” Goku smirked slightly, knowing the buttons to push as if he was adapted specifically to play the instrument that was Vegeta’s ego. Without even needing to feel for it, he could just detect the battle spirit flare up again at his prodding.
“Look who’s talking, Kakarot, you’re playing around like a kid who doesn’t take anything seriously,” Vegeta’s nose curled in a snarl so familiar to Goku, that he honestly suspected he knew it better than his wife’s face.
“Hey, c’mon, that doesn’t mean I’m not serious. Can’t help it if I’m havin’ fun. Since you gotta be stubborn about it, I gotta have fun for the both of us, right? Besides, you hit too hard if we get really serious,” he pouted at him, but knew with almost perfect predictability that Vegeta would snap a him for being so carefree about it. One day, Vegeta would figure out that he was being played a little bit...or maybe he already knew and just didn’t care.
“We’re here to train, goddamnit! Not play around! If you want to play around, then go back to your sons, I’m here for the purpose of improvement, not amusing your bottomless idiocy!”
It was clear that Vegeta’s irritation was stemming from his strangely present feeling of inadequacy that Goku never could quite understand. He pushed himself to insane levels so often that any headway that Goku made, was immediately followed on. He was both really happy when Vegeta managed to bridge any gaps and impressed in his own way. This imaginary massive difference between them was really all in the shorter man’s head. He’d never tell him that, though. That would risk damaging the dynamic they had—which Vegeta would think was stupid, but Vegeta was the only person who could keep pace with him.
Even Vegeta was aware of that, judging by how pissed he tended to get if he saw any hint of Goku losing against anyone else. Even Bulma commented once to him that Vegeta spent more time with him than he even did with her, which didn’t really seem all that weird to him—given that he didn’t see Chi Chi as much as he saw Vegeta. Bulma had a phrase for that, but he forgot it not long after.
Seeing Vegeta get so angry did the exact opposite of what he assumed Vegeta hoped it would. His excited grin usually served to infuriate him more, but he couldn’t help it. He wouldn’t give Vegeta enough time to let that nagging—and frankly, unwarranted—inferiority complex peek in and make him question himself again. He didn’t like that trait on Vegeta at all, even though he knew it was ever present. He’d felt it like a bit of a lingering echo after their fusion came undone and from then got the impression that it never did go away. Maybe that was the trouble with being so smart, it came with baggage that Goku somehow lacked—despite being intelligent in his own ways.
“Alright, I’ll stop messin’ around, but that means you can’t go easy on me anymore,” he smacked his fists together, getting himself wound up before he got himself in a defensive battle position. A certain kind of joy bubbled up in him when he saw Vegeta immediately take up his own battle stance; nothing really did quite compare to the feeling of an impending face-off.
“I wouldn’t pass up an opportunity to knock you around, Kakarot,” Vegeta’s heated response pushed back the silly question that Goku had supposedly never heard. A temporary moment of frustration could be overturned with delicately practiced goading. He’d take a little pride in his power to turn him around so quickly, if he wasn’t just happy to have him back and throwing punches, instead of agonizing over imaginary woes.
“I’m ready for you, Vegeta,” he cheered loudly, letting a little of his excitement fire up in his aura. The renewed vigor that had Vegeta coming at him like a bullet forced him to bound back with ferocity that no one else could really get out of him.
‘Don’t worry ‘bout it, Vegeta, you still are,’ he answered silently to the question he feigned ignorance about.