***
The pattering sound of rain on the window pulled Marron slowly from sleep and she rolled over, almost falling out of bed face first onto the floor. She looked blearily over her shoulder to see Trunks had for all intents and purposes taken over the bed as he sprawled out on his stomach. Crowding her over to the very edge until there was nowhere else to go but the floor. With some not so gentle nudges to the ribs he finally curled on his side letting her reclaim a narrow strip of the bed for herself. She propped her pillow up against the headboard and sat up now that she was awake. Folding her hands on her stomach she watched the early morning rain over her bent knees a moment before her gaze fell to her hands. Namely the diamond glittering on her finger and she raised her hand to look at it.
It was the first opportunity she'd had to really look at her ring. It had been dark in the restaurant, and on the roof when Trunks had given it to her the night before. The ring was breathtaking, sparkling even in the rainy gloom and she felt sort of giddy all over again that she was engaged to Trunks. Or was that queasy? As her stomach flopped around. She straightened her legs and slid her hands down over her flat abdomen. It still seemed hard to believe that she was going to have a baby. And a part Saiyajin baby at that. She wondered if that meant it would be different than a normal pregnancy...or if her baby would have a tail. She realized the people most likely to have these answers would be ChiChi, Videl, and Trunks' mother. She would be especially curious to know what Videl would have to say since Pan was a quarter Saiyajin like her child would be. Marron absently rubbed her belly as she wondered just how big she would get before her child would be born. How long would she still be able to play her guitar, or would she not even be able to perform at all. And what it all would mean to her musical career.
"My Maro-chan is frowning. Not a good sign." She heard Trunks say softly beside her. She looked over with a guilty smile.
"Just thinking." She told him.
"Hmmm...thinking." He mused aloud and scooted closer to her before reaching up to kiss her. He rested his head on her abdomen like a pillow as he lay on his side and looked up at her. "Thinking about what?" She shrugged as she ran her fingers through his hair. He closed his eyes briefly, enjoying having his hair played with. He turned his head and kissed the soft skin of her belly with a smile at the thought of his child inside of her.
"Thinking about the baby?" He asked. She nodded still playing with his hair. "You don't seem very happy about it." He said evenly.
"I am." She answered quickly. Trunks waited watching her.
"But?" He prompted when she didn't elaborate. She bit her lip a moment.
"It's all happening so fast Trunks. It seems like a dream or a fairy tale. Two months ago I hadn't seen you in years, now we're together, and engaged and the baby... It's just overwhelming. A month ago the biggest issue in my life was how was I going to tell my father I'm a musician, now I have to tell him I'm engaged and going to have a baby too. I just don't know what he'll say about it. He's not overly fond of your father you know." She said.
Trunks chuckled. "Nobody's overly fond of my father except for my mother."
"And what is your father going to say about you marrying me? What about your mother? And when are we going to tell everyone? And which should we tell first - your folks or mine? We haven't even decided when to get married. Although we probably shouldn't wait too long or I'll look like a big fat rhino in a wedding dress." Marron babbled nervously. Trunks reached up and pulled her down into his arms to lie nose to nose with him as he smiled.
"Slow down there missy. One thing at a time." He chided her, trying not to laugh. "Don't you worry about what my folks might say...they aren't marrying you. I am. Whenever you want to get married is fine with me. The sooner the better as far as I'm concerned." He said and kissed her.
"When do you think we should tell everyone?" She asked. Trunks purred softly at her as he let his lips linger near hers, the sound of which always melted her like butter.
"Well...thanks to those idiots last night everyone probably already knows. We should still go and tell our parents in person, especially about the baby, but I think all that can wait until tomorrow. Besides, I want my one day to laze around and have you all to myself." Trunks murmured with a grin and rubbed her nose with his. "My beautiful Maro-chan...my little mother."
"Hmmm, you say that now - but will you still be buttering me up with compliments when I look like a beached whale?" She asked dubiously.
"Of course. You will always be beautiful to me no matter what Marron...because I love you." He told her. She smiled at him as she felt her heart flutter. He was so sweet.
"So you're sure you're really happy about it then?" She asked hesitantly. Trunks put his hand on her belly, flat now but in the coming months it would swell with their growing child, and kissed her.
"Absolutely. I never thought I would be, or even really thought about it at all before you told me, but I really am. Somehow, I guess I never thought I'd have kids, probably because I hadn't ever met the right woman. Now that I have I can't wait to be a father... I want to do better." He finished in a quiet thoughtful voice.
"Better?"
"I want the chance to be a better father than I had. I never want our child to wonder for even one second if their father loves them." Trunks said quietly, his expression hard. Marron laid her hand on his cheek and kissed him softly.
"They never will Trunks. Because you're already a more caring and loving person than your father could ever be, and there's nothing wrong with that. You're a good man Trunks...even when you're being insufferable." She teased him. Trunks looked at her with a feigned expression of outrage.
"When am I EVER insufferable?" He demanded.
Marron giggled. "What? You want the list?" With a playful growl Trunks rolled on top of her, pinning her underneath him. His questing fingers going to her sides to tickle her as Marron shrieked with laughter.
"What was that about a list?" He challenged, tickling her until she could hardly breathe. He stopped well before he caused her any real discomfort and looked down on her fondly as she gasped for breath, tears trickling out of the corners of her eyes from laughing. He brushed the hair off her forehead gently as her giggles trailed off and she looked up at him. "I love you so much." He whispered.
Marron trembled slightly at the emotion in Trunks' voice. "I love you too Trunks." She replied. She reached up and put her hand on the back of his neck, pulling him down to her kiss. Giving herself up to the ever-present passion between them, as Trunks rolled with her so he was on the bottom. He was right, there would be time enough later to think about the future. As Marron let herself be carried away by Trunks' ardor she ignored the little nagging voice in the back of her mind. *What about my music...?*
***
"What about the band? She can't do this to me again!"
In a small apartment across town from Trunks and Marron's a very different conversation was going on. Shiro thwacked the picture in the paper of Trunks and Marron taken in the restaurant for emphasis as Aya looked at it. She was starting to be sorry she'd shown it to her new boyfriend. They had been having such a nice morning hanging out watching cartoons and cuddling. Now Shiro was pacing and agitated. She tucked a long strand of her curly green hair behind her ear and looked up at him.
"The article just says that Trunks possibly proposed to her Shiro, that's all. What is she 'doing' to you?" Aya questioned gently, but Shiro wasn't hearing her.
"This is gonna be just like last time...I know it." He muttered. Aya stood, tossing the paper aside and planted herself in the path of Shiro's pacing. When he stopped she put her hands on his shoulders.
"What's just like last time Shiro? You've never told me about what happened between you and Marron and your relationship." Aya said. Shiro's handsome aquiline features contorted a moment as he turned his face away. Aya didn't need him to tell her that whatever happened was still a sore spot with him, even if he and Marron had supposedly remained friends.
"It's not really something you want to tell a new girlfriend about Aya." Shiro told her. She squeezed his shoulders lightly and gave him an encouraging smile.
"Then tell a friend."
Shiro sat on his couch and ran a hand carelessly through his unruly hair, as Aya sat quietly beside him waiting.
"I met Marron half way through my junior year of college and the beginning of her sophomore one. I was in this band, a really crappy one too, and Marron answered the ad we had for a rhythm guitarist along with a bunch of guys. She was the only girl too." Shiro began haltingly, then with more confidence as he warmed to his story. "She was so green - you could tell she'd never performed in front of people before. She was nervous as all hell and made mistakes that made the other guys auditioning laugh at her, she almost looked like she was going to cry but she didn't, she just toughed it out. The more she played the more confident she got, and the more confident she got the better she played. I knew at that moment that I was in the presence of real talent. I wanted to give her the gig, but the other guys didn't want a pretty girl in the band that would piss off their girlfriends." Shiro said with a small laugh. Aya smiled in response.
"When the other guys in the band sent her packing I went after her, asked her if she wanted to go get something to eat with me. She did and we ended up spending about four hours together in this cruddy little diner on Royal Street just talking about music and stuff. I told her the other members of the band were idiots and I wanted to give her the job. And I remember she just smiled at me. I think that was the moment I fell in love with her. Beyond the fact that she's beautiful and talented, there's just something about her. You can't help but like her, you know?" Shiro said.
"I know what you mean. By the end of that first day she rehearsed with us I felt like I'd known her forever." Aya agreed.
"I asked for her number, asked her if she wanted to jam together or go out sometime. She gave me her number and I called her a couple of hours later to ask her out on a date. She was really shy back then, she'd never had a boyfriend before or even been around that many people. I guess she grew up way out in the boondocks or something. She was just so sweet it didn't even register to me that we'd gone out a month before I worked up the nerve to kiss her. And you just forgave her for the little things she did. Like we'd been dating for a few months before I found out that her folks didn't even know she was a music major. I'd let her keep her guitars and music stuff at my place. At the time I didn't even mind - it meant another opportunity to see her. It would come to bother me a lot later on that she kept that whole part of her life - music, me - separate from her family. But in the early days it didn't.
I'd quit the band that Marron had auditioned for because another band, a better band approached me. I was pretty hot shit back then in college, pretty well known. I told them I'd join if they took Marron too. They gave me some shit about carrying my girlfriend - like that rocker that made his wife the keyboardist in their band even though she couldn't play her way out of a paper sack - remember the one?" Shiro asked.
"I think so." Aya said.
"Anyway, they all shut up really fast when Marron went in there and blew them all away. I may have gotten her a foot in the door with them, but she definitely proved herself. That first band we were in together lasted about two months before it self-destructed. So Marron and I started our own. By then we were pretty serious, we'd been going out for about six months. I was crazy about her. I wanted her to move in with me and I about fell on my ass in shock when she said she would. We were really happy together for about a year, living together, writing music and playing. Then it started going bad." Shiro sighed. Aya reached out and touched his cheek softly.
"What happened?" She questioned. Shiro caught her hand and held it in his, studying it.
"I suppose it's my fault really. Marron never lied to me; she never pretended that what we had was any more than it was. We were a lot of firsts for each other though, you know? I was her first serious boyfriend, her first lover. And to me she was my first love, the first woman I was ever really head over heels in love with. I kept thinking that if I was her first lover then I should have been her first love too, but I wasn't. HE was always there even then. Trunks Briefs. I guess she'd had a crush on him when she was younger too - she said she was over it - but I could tell she was fooling herself. You could see it in the way her eyes would light up if she saw his picture in the paper, or if her Uncle mentioned him when she talked to him on the phone. It bugged the hell out of me. I admit it, I was totally jealous of a guy I'd never met and she hadn't seen in a couple of years. It was dumb of me and I had no reason to be jealous, even Marron kept saying I had no reason to feel the way I did. She said she cared about me and was happy with me and why wasn't that enough? But it wasn't and it made me do dumb things. I kept trying to make her prove something I know now she didn't have to. I kept giving her these ultimatums: 'If you really loved me you'd tell your folks about me' kind of stuff." Shiro told her thoughtfully.
"I made us both miserable. I'd graduated a couple of months before and I worked and supported us. Marron kept saying she'd get a job too to help pay the bills, but I was a jerk and told her no. Truth was I liked her needing me for at least something, since she sure didn't seem to need me emotionally. I was playing the martyr. We were in another band by then and really popular. The band was good too - almost as good as what we have now. We had a real chance at making it big if we'd really worked and committed ourselves. But Marron was in her senior year then and was really cranking out the credits so she could graduate early. She didn't want to commit to playing gigs every weekend and driving all over to play any chance we got with no notice. I think the strain of trying to make her folks happy, and make me happy was getting to her. Marron's one of those people that likes to see everyone happy you know. Well, I bullied her into playing when she should have been studying and working on her senior project. And I know I shouldn't have done it because she was really angry and resentful toward me about it. Scared the crap out of me too because for the first time I was like 'I could lose her'. I apologized later, but the damage was done. She and I were never the same. A couple of weeks later we actually got offered a recording deal, I was so happy - I mean this is what we'd worked so hard for right?"
Aya nodded in agreement.
"I told Marron about it expecting her to be as happy about it as I was. She wasn't, she was afraid of her folks finding out she was in a band. We had a huge fight about it, but Marron absolutely refused to record and go on tour with us. I told her that tore it, she had to pick - either she was in the band and with me or she wasn't. I threw down the gauntlet on our whole relationship based on the deal for the band...in or out, I told her. Me and the band or nothing..." Shiro trailed off, then chuckled ruefully. "Boy did that ever blow up in my face. She packed her stuff up that night and left. Eventually we talked and made up enough that we're still friends."
"What happened to the record deal?" Aya asked him softly. Shiro put his arm around her, pulling her against his side.
"Gone the minute Marron left the band. She was singing lead in that band, and she was the real talent. She always has been. I might have been a better musician than she was for about a month after we met before she left my sorry ass in the dust. She is the best musician I have ever worked with in my life Ai, no offense intended."
"None taken. I know she's good." Aya told him with a fading smile as she watched him relive he and Marron's relationship in his mind. "Are you still in love with her?" She asked neutrally. Shiro gave a crooked smile and kissed her forehead as he squeezed her shoulders.
"I asked myself that very same question a lot when she first started playing with us. I know there is a part of me that will always love her because she was my first love, but no. I'm not IN love with her anymore."
"Then what's the problem with her marrying Trunks?" Aya asked him.
"Maybe nothing, but I know Marron. He's more important to her than music is. And I'm afraid the first time he snaps his fingers she's gonna be gone. And we're so close Aya...so close to really making it this time. You've read the reviews of our last few shows, we're generating some real interest among the record companies and it's only a matter of time before we get a deal I can feel it." Shiro told her emphatically. "But if we do it'll probably be because of Marron."
"No it won't. Shiro...you're a better songwriter than you give yourself credit for. Marron's good, don't get me wrong - but don't sell yourself short." Aya told him. Shiro tipped her chin up and gave her a kiss.
"That's sweet of you to say Ai. I appreciate the sentiment, but Marron's the real deal. Can you imagine how good she'd be if she really applied herself?"
"Humph." Aya grunted noncommittally, still annoyed that Shiro seemed determined to underrate his own talent in comparison to Marron.
"I just...I just don't know if I could handle coming so close to making it again and then lose out because of Marron's priorities, that's all." Shiro said with a sigh, his shoulders slumping. Aya wrapped her arms around his waist, offering him comfort and support the only way she knew how.
"You don't know Shiro. It might not happen that way. Marron's been there for us so far. Maybe marrying Trunks will be a good thing for her. Maybe it will give her the confidence to say to hell with what her folks or anyone else thinks and she can really go for it with us." She said.
"Or she could dump us to become a housewife." Shiro commented dryly. "First the wig, and the calling her 'Kuri' nonsense and now this...she'll never change. Mark my words, she's gonna do it to me all over again."
Aya rested her head on his chest with a silent sigh. He seemed determined to expect the worst to happen no matter what she said.
*Oh Marron...I just hope for all our sakes you never have to choose between your love, and what you love to do.*
***
Author' Notes: There's three chapters in a row of this fic, and it may be on a short break while I work on TLO and Gohan's Legacy a bit. We'll see. Reviews and comments appreciated.
Jaa ne!
The pattering sound of rain on the window pulled Marron slowly from sleep and she rolled over, almost falling out of bed face first onto the floor. She looked blearily over her shoulder to see Trunks had for all intents and purposes taken over the bed as he sprawled out on his stomach. Crowding her over to the very edge until there was nowhere else to go but the floor. With some not so gentle nudges to the ribs he finally curled on his side letting her reclaim a narrow strip of the bed for herself. She propped her pillow up against the headboard and sat up now that she was awake. Folding her hands on her stomach she watched the early morning rain over her bent knees a moment before her gaze fell to her hands. Namely the diamond glittering on her finger and she raised her hand to look at it.
It was the first opportunity she'd had to really look at her ring. It had been dark in the restaurant, and on the roof when Trunks had given it to her the night before. The ring was breathtaking, sparkling even in the rainy gloom and she felt sort of giddy all over again that she was engaged to Trunks. Or was that queasy? As her stomach flopped around. She straightened her legs and slid her hands down over her flat abdomen. It still seemed hard to believe that she was going to have a baby. And a part Saiyajin baby at that. She wondered if that meant it would be different than a normal pregnancy...or if her baby would have a tail. She realized the people most likely to have these answers would be ChiChi, Videl, and Trunks' mother. She would be especially curious to know what Videl would have to say since Pan was a quarter Saiyajin like her child would be. Marron absently rubbed her belly as she wondered just how big she would get before her child would be born. How long would she still be able to play her guitar, or would she not even be able to perform at all. And what it all would mean to her musical career.
"My Maro-chan is frowning. Not a good sign." She heard Trunks say softly beside her. She looked over with a guilty smile.
"Just thinking." She told him.
"Hmmm...thinking." He mused aloud and scooted closer to her before reaching up to kiss her. He rested his head on her abdomen like a pillow as he lay on his side and looked up at her. "Thinking about what?" She shrugged as she ran her fingers through his hair. He closed his eyes briefly, enjoying having his hair played with. He turned his head and kissed the soft skin of her belly with a smile at the thought of his child inside of her.
"Thinking about the baby?" He asked. She nodded still playing with his hair. "You don't seem very happy about it." He said evenly.
"I am." She answered quickly. Trunks waited watching her.
"But?" He prompted when she didn't elaborate. She bit her lip a moment.
"It's all happening so fast Trunks. It seems like a dream or a fairy tale. Two months ago I hadn't seen you in years, now we're together, and engaged and the baby... It's just overwhelming. A month ago the biggest issue in my life was how was I going to tell my father I'm a musician, now I have to tell him I'm engaged and going to have a baby too. I just don't know what he'll say about it. He's not overly fond of your father you know." She said.
Trunks chuckled. "Nobody's overly fond of my father except for my mother."
"And what is your father going to say about you marrying me? What about your mother? And when are we going to tell everyone? And which should we tell first - your folks or mine? We haven't even decided when to get married. Although we probably shouldn't wait too long or I'll look like a big fat rhino in a wedding dress." Marron babbled nervously. Trunks reached up and pulled her down into his arms to lie nose to nose with him as he smiled.
"Slow down there missy. One thing at a time." He chided her, trying not to laugh. "Don't you worry about what my folks might say...they aren't marrying you. I am. Whenever you want to get married is fine with me. The sooner the better as far as I'm concerned." He said and kissed her.
"When do you think we should tell everyone?" She asked. Trunks purred softly at her as he let his lips linger near hers, the sound of which always melted her like butter.
"Well...thanks to those idiots last night everyone probably already knows. We should still go and tell our parents in person, especially about the baby, but I think all that can wait until tomorrow. Besides, I want my one day to laze around and have you all to myself." Trunks murmured with a grin and rubbed her nose with his. "My beautiful Maro-chan...my little mother."
"Hmmm, you say that now - but will you still be buttering me up with compliments when I look like a beached whale?" She asked dubiously.
"Of course. You will always be beautiful to me no matter what Marron...because I love you." He told her. She smiled at him as she felt her heart flutter. He was so sweet.
"So you're sure you're really happy about it then?" She asked hesitantly. Trunks put his hand on her belly, flat now but in the coming months it would swell with their growing child, and kissed her.
"Absolutely. I never thought I would be, or even really thought about it at all before you told me, but I really am. Somehow, I guess I never thought I'd have kids, probably because I hadn't ever met the right woman. Now that I have I can't wait to be a father... I want to do better." He finished in a quiet thoughtful voice.
"Better?"
"I want the chance to be a better father than I had. I never want our child to wonder for even one second if their father loves them." Trunks said quietly, his expression hard. Marron laid her hand on his cheek and kissed him softly.
"They never will Trunks. Because you're already a more caring and loving person than your father could ever be, and there's nothing wrong with that. You're a good man Trunks...even when you're being insufferable." She teased him. Trunks looked at her with a feigned expression of outrage.
"When am I EVER insufferable?" He demanded.
Marron giggled. "What? You want the list?" With a playful growl Trunks rolled on top of her, pinning her underneath him. His questing fingers going to her sides to tickle her as Marron shrieked with laughter.
"What was that about a list?" He challenged, tickling her until she could hardly breathe. He stopped well before he caused her any real discomfort and looked down on her fondly as she gasped for breath, tears trickling out of the corners of her eyes from laughing. He brushed the hair off her forehead gently as her giggles trailed off and she looked up at him. "I love you so much." He whispered.
Marron trembled slightly at the emotion in Trunks' voice. "I love you too Trunks." She replied. She reached up and put her hand on the back of his neck, pulling him down to her kiss. Giving herself up to the ever-present passion between them, as Trunks rolled with her so he was on the bottom. He was right, there would be time enough later to think about the future. As Marron let herself be carried away by Trunks' ardor she ignored the little nagging voice in the back of her mind. *What about my music...?*
***
"What about the band? She can't do this to me again!"
In a small apartment across town from Trunks and Marron's a very different conversation was going on. Shiro thwacked the picture in the paper of Trunks and Marron taken in the restaurant for emphasis as Aya looked at it. She was starting to be sorry she'd shown it to her new boyfriend. They had been having such a nice morning hanging out watching cartoons and cuddling. Now Shiro was pacing and agitated. She tucked a long strand of her curly green hair behind her ear and looked up at him.
"The article just says that Trunks possibly proposed to her Shiro, that's all. What is she 'doing' to you?" Aya questioned gently, but Shiro wasn't hearing her.
"This is gonna be just like last time...I know it." He muttered. Aya stood, tossing the paper aside and planted herself in the path of Shiro's pacing. When he stopped she put her hands on his shoulders.
"What's just like last time Shiro? You've never told me about what happened between you and Marron and your relationship." Aya said. Shiro's handsome aquiline features contorted a moment as he turned his face away. Aya didn't need him to tell her that whatever happened was still a sore spot with him, even if he and Marron had supposedly remained friends.
"It's not really something you want to tell a new girlfriend about Aya." Shiro told her. She squeezed his shoulders lightly and gave him an encouraging smile.
"Then tell a friend."
Shiro sat on his couch and ran a hand carelessly through his unruly hair, as Aya sat quietly beside him waiting.
"I met Marron half way through my junior year of college and the beginning of her sophomore one. I was in this band, a really crappy one too, and Marron answered the ad we had for a rhythm guitarist along with a bunch of guys. She was the only girl too." Shiro began haltingly, then with more confidence as he warmed to his story. "She was so green - you could tell she'd never performed in front of people before. She was nervous as all hell and made mistakes that made the other guys auditioning laugh at her, she almost looked like she was going to cry but she didn't, she just toughed it out. The more she played the more confident she got, and the more confident she got the better she played. I knew at that moment that I was in the presence of real talent. I wanted to give her the gig, but the other guys didn't want a pretty girl in the band that would piss off their girlfriends." Shiro said with a small laugh. Aya smiled in response.
"When the other guys in the band sent her packing I went after her, asked her if she wanted to go get something to eat with me. She did and we ended up spending about four hours together in this cruddy little diner on Royal Street just talking about music and stuff. I told her the other members of the band were idiots and I wanted to give her the job. And I remember she just smiled at me. I think that was the moment I fell in love with her. Beyond the fact that she's beautiful and talented, there's just something about her. You can't help but like her, you know?" Shiro said.
"I know what you mean. By the end of that first day she rehearsed with us I felt like I'd known her forever." Aya agreed.
"I asked for her number, asked her if she wanted to jam together or go out sometime. She gave me her number and I called her a couple of hours later to ask her out on a date. She was really shy back then, she'd never had a boyfriend before or even been around that many people. I guess she grew up way out in the boondocks or something. She was just so sweet it didn't even register to me that we'd gone out a month before I worked up the nerve to kiss her. And you just forgave her for the little things she did. Like we'd been dating for a few months before I found out that her folks didn't even know she was a music major. I'd let her keep her guitars and music stuff at my place. At the time I didn't even mind - it meant another opportunity to see her. It would come to bother me a lot later on that she kept that whole part of her life - music, me - separate from her family. But in the early days it didn't.
I'd quit the band that Marron had auditioned for because another band, a better band approached me. I was pretty hot shit back then in college, pretty well known. I told them I'd join if they took Marron too. They gave me some shit about carrying my girlfriend - like that rocker that made his wife the keyboardist in their band even though she couldn't play her way out of a paper sack - remember the one?" Shiro asked.
"I think so." Aya said.
"Anyway, they all shut up really fast when Marron went in there and blew them all away. I may have gotten her a foot in the door with them, but she definitely proved herself. That first band we were in together lasted about two months before it self-destructed. So Marron and I started our own. By then we were pretty serious, we'd been going out for about six months. I was crazy about her. I wanted her to move in with me and I about fell on my ass in shock when she said she would. We were really happy together for about a year, living together, writing music and playing. Then it started going bad." Shiro sighed. Aya reached out and touched his cheek softly.
"What happened?" She questioned. Shiro caught her hand and held it in his, studying it.
"I suppose it's my fault really. Marron never lied to me; she never pretended that what we had was any more than it was. We were a lot of firsts for each other though, you know? I was her first serious boyfriend, her first lover. And to me she was my first love, the first woman I was ever really head over heels in love with. I kept thinking that if I was her first lover then I should have been her first love too, but I wasn't. HE was always there even then. Trunks Briefs. I guess she'd had a crush on him when she was younger too - she said she was over it - but I could tell she was fooling herself. You could see it in the way her eyes would light up if she saw his picture in the paper, or if her Uncle mentioned him when she talked to him on the phone. It bugged the hell out of me. I admit it, I was totally jealous of a guy I'd never met and she hadn't seen in a couple of years. It was dumb of me and I had no reason to be jealous, even Marron kept saying I had no reason to feel the way I did. She said she cared about me and was happy with me and why wasn't that enough? But it wasn't and it made me do dumb things. I kept trying to make her prove something I know now she didn't have to. I kept giving her these ultimatums: 'If you really loved me you'd tell your folks about me' kind of stuff." Shiro told her thoughtfully.
"I made us both miserable. I'd graduated a couple of months before and I worked and supported us. Marron kept saying she'd get a job too to help pay the bills, but I was a jerk and told her no. Truth was I liked her needing me for at least something, since she sure didn't seem to need me emotionally. I was playing the martyr. We were in another band by then and really popular. The band was good too - almost as good as what we have now. We had a real chance at making it big if we'd really worked and committed ourselves. But Marron was in her senior year then and was really cranking out the credits so she could graduate early. She didn't want to commit to playing gigs every weekend and driving all over to play any chance we got with no notice. I think the strain of trying to make her folks happy, and make me happy was getting to her. Marron's one of those people that likes to see everyone happy you know. Well, I bullied her into playing when she should have been studying and working on her senior project. And I know I shouldn't have done it because she was really angry and resentful toward me about it. Scared the crap out of me too because for the first time I was like 'I could lose her'. I apologized later, but the damage was done. She and I were never the same. A couple of weeks later we actually got offered a recording deal, I was so happy - I mean this is what we'd worked so hard for right?"
Aya nodded in agreement.
"I told Marron about it expecting her to be as happy about it as I was. She wasn't, she was afraid of her folks finding out she was in a band. We had a huge fight about it, but Marron absolutely refused to record and go on tour with us. I told her that tore it, she had to pick - either she was in the band and with me or she wasn't. I threw down the gauntlet on our whole relationship based on the deal for the band...in or out, I told her. Me and the band or nothing..." Shiro trailed off, then chuckled ruefully. "Boy did that ever blow up in my face. She packed her stuff up that night and left. Eventually we talked and made up enough that we're still friends."
"What happened to the record deal?" Aya asked him softly. Shiro put his arm around her, pulling her against his side.
"Gone the minute Marron left the band. She was singing lead in that band, and she was the real talent. She always has been. I might have been a better musician than she was for about a month after we met before she left my sorry ass in the dust. She is the best musician I have ever worked with in my life Ai, no offense intended."
"None taken. I know she's good." Aya told him with a fading smile as she watched him relive he and Marron's relationship in his mind. "Are you still in love with her?" She asked neutrally. Shiro gave a crooked smile and kissed her forehead as he squeezed her shoulders.
"I asked myself that very same question a lot when she first started playing with us. I know there is a part of me that will always love her because she was my first love, but no. I'm not IN love with her anymore."
"Then what's the problem with her marrying Trunks?" Aya asked him.
"Maybe nothing, but I know Marron. He's more important to her than music is. And I'm afraid the first time he snaps his fingers she's gonna be gone. And we're so close Aya...so close to really making it this time. You've read the reviews of our last few shows, we're generating some real interest among the record companies and it's only a matter of time before we get a deal I can feel it." Shiro told her emphatically. "But if we do it'll probably be because of Marron."
"No it won't. Shiro...you're a better songwriter than you give yourself credit for. Marron's good, don't get me wrong - but don't sell yourself short." Aya told him. Shiro tipped her chin up and gave her a kiss.
"That's sweet of you to say Ai. I appreciate the sentiment, but Marron's the real deal. Can you imagine how good she'd be if she really applied herself?"
"Humph." Aya grunted noncommittally, still annoyed that Shiro seemed determined to underrate his own talent in comparison to Marron.
"I just...I just don't know if I could handle coming so close to making it again and then lose out because of Marron's priorities, that's all." Shiro said with a sigh, his shoulders slumping. Aya wrapped her arms around his waist, offering him comfort and support the only way she knew how.
"You don't know Shiro. It might not happen that way. Marron's been there for us so far. Maybe marrying Trunks will be a good thing for her. Maybe it will give her the confidence to say to hell with what her folks or anyone else thinks and she can really go for it with us." She said.
"Or she could dump us to become a housewife." Shiro commented dryly. "First the wig, and the calling her 'Kuri' nonsense and now this...she'll never change. Mark my words, she's gonna do it to me all over again."
Aya rested her head on his chest with a silent sigh. He seemed determined to expect the worst to happen no matter what she said.
*Oh Marron...I just hope for all our sakes you never have to choose between your love, and what you love to do.*
***
Author' Notes: There's three chapters in a row of this fic, and it may be on a short break while I work on TLO and Gohan's Legacy a bit. We'll see. Reviews and comments appreciated.
Jaa ne!