Marron remembered the first time she noticed her picture was in one of those gossip magazines. Trunks had taken her to the beach and she bounced around in the water in a red and white polka dot bikini as her boyfriend of a year at the time tried to dunk her. She'd come up sputtering for air, punch him on the shoulder with a laugh, and he'd return fire with a series of kisses. Later that week, Marron had gone to the grocery store, saw her grinning face assaulted by love pecks from her sopping wet, 8-pack-abs beau and thought 'damn, that's a great shot of us.' Flattered further by the cashier as it was scanned and purchased, she framed the cover and swooned for a good month.
No one could say she wasn't completely and utterly smitten with the lavender haired man. He was her best friend, confidant, and closest ally for most of her childhood and adult life. She was lucky to have the attention of someone so affectionate and sincere, a model sweetheart for years that even when they took a break and got back together, she tended to look the other way when he strayed for outsider comfort. It didn't matter if he was breathtakingly gorgeous or dripping in wealth, catching the twinkling eye of every goldigging woman in all of West City. She knew he loved her and that he would come back time and again anyway.
Like the other side to a coin, they had been inseparable and she was as certain as the sun would rise that nothing could tear them apart.
Up until someone she thought she trusted showed up six months ago.
"Trunks…" She moaned lightly, her legs wide and twitching. The scent of cherry-flavored lube lingered on the air. Her hip pressed into Trunks' half hard erection clothed by a pair of boxers as his fingers went deep, his thumb rubbing circles into her more sensitive area with a rapid motion.
Marron adored this side to him. Who wouldn't? If she were left on a desert island with three things it would be the family portrait of her mom and dad, her favorite book (although that changed as frequently as the weather), and a silicon cast of Trunks' dick. The damn phallus fit her like a perfect glove that it would probably be the first thing on her list if she had to name priority. The only downside was she didn't know how to use it as well as he did and he did.
So it was easy to notice distraction and distance over affection. She had been noticing his inattention for a while.
Marron pinched her brows as his ministrations began to lose its delicacy. "Trunks, ow." She observed his gaze appeared lost, his hands still kneading her mechanically.
After three months since Goten abruptly moved out, there was some semblance of peace. She believed everything would go back to normal. To the way it was before he upended their lives.
During the transition, Marron had attempted to comfort Trunks out of the gloom that festered away in the apartment and, although Trunks claimed he accepted Goten's departure, she couldn't help feeling at a loss for sympathetic words when he was melancholy. After all, the other man had disappeared from their group because of her.
She drew her knees together as an indication of her discomfort only to see his face turned away from her, his gaze detached and wandering. His fingers continued their rough handling between her thighs that, even with the usage of lubricant, his mind was elsewhere.
The mood completely ruined, Marron pulled his arm out of her crotch with a grunt. "Trunks, stop."
It was as if a light switch flicked on in his mind. He snapped his gaze back as if he'd been caught red-handed. "What? I'm sorry. Are you okay?"
"Yea, I'm fine. I'm pretty sore. I told you already I can't go rough right now." She said peevishly.
Trunks let out a guilty sigh as he rolled over onto his back, his arms behind his head. "I was caught up in the moment…" he began before abandoning it as she gave a dubious look.
"No, you were spacing out. Again."
"I just…" He let the end of his thought trail off like his gaze that meandered to the far wall.
As he chewed the inside of his cheek, Marron got out of bed, flustered. She wiped off her wet thighs with a towel off the floor while donning a silk yellow robe, tying it roughly before crossing her arms across her chest fully expecting the fight that was to come next. She really put up with a lot of Trunks' habits that would drive even the sanest woman away solely because she loved him.
In hindsight, she should have seen the signs. It was difficult though when the signs were carefully hidden behind an innocent, aloof smile and staunchly devoted to the both of them.
The day that changed everything began rather ordinarily. Goten and Marron had hung out on a lazy Saturday, playing cards and watching chick flicks while Trunks was working.
Inevitably, the light conversation veered to the absentee of the group and, as Goten felt safe regaling her with silly anecdotes, Marron became fixated on addressing a suspicion of hers for weeks, months, maybe years. The awkward discussion with Bulma the week prior and the excessively friendly manner when Goten was with her ever since the 'boy's trip' only made the stray thread of doubt that much easier to identify, grasp, and pull. Unwilling to keep it bottled up anymore, she delivered the clincher of conversation killers and prayed her suspicions were unjustified.
"Did you fuck my boyfriend?" she said rather bluntly. The words came out with such a casual tone but so intended, it was like an unnoticed paper cut that finally showed blood when looked upon with keen perception. She wasn't stupid. Apparently, they both thought she was and could hide it.
Goten blanched and carried about the same facial expression as he did when Buu grinned deviously while turning his Mom into an egg. And squished her under his boot.
"What?" he stammered, realizing the relaxed atmosphere had just dropped into hostile territory.
"Did you fuck my boyfriend?" she repeated, even and enunciated. She knew the next words out of his mouth would be the truth. Son's didn't lie.
Finally, he nodded heavily as if his skull was made of lead. "But we didn't… didn't... have sex." He stated, making a point, as if to lessen the sting from the wound left by the knife he stabbed her in the back with.
"Just other things."
"Yes." He admitted while chewing on the inside of his cheek, his face turning beet red.
"Since when?" She didn't really want to know. Had to know. But didn't want to.
Under his breath, a soft murmur slid out. He averted his gaze as well. "...camping trip."
Surprise, surprise. "And before that?"
Feeling rather empowered that the truth was out in the open and she could breathe a little easier knowing all her hunches had been valid, she wanted to squeeze this man for all he was able to give. If she was going to hurt, so was he.
Goten had gone red all the way to his ears, his hands clenched in his lap. For a small minuscule but oh, so savory moment, Marron experienced a tiny bit of euphoria. She had one of the strongest men on the planet at her mercy.
"Kissed…" He disclosed, almost as if it pained him. "you were first dating…" He muttered.
She tried not to flinch as she swallowed her feelings.
Without much else to say, she calmly requested he move out immediately. He stood, agreed and apologized. She tried to feel nothing.
Before he left, he turned. "I didn't… I didn't want…" He fumbled pitifully.
"What? For me to find out?"
"To hurt you." It came out as a whisper and she bit her tongue, knowing she was losing a close, dear, devoted friend.
"You knew it would." Her voice cracked under the pressure.
"I'm so sorry, Mar. I mean it."
"You knew he was mine." Maybe there was something to salvage. Maybe. "Are you sorry enough to stop?" She nearly begged. Please, just say you'll stop.
His face construed as he stared at the floor. She knew his answer. He eventually shook his head.
In the space of a day, the remains of their third musketeer had been expunged from the premises. It pained her to see a cherished brother leave on such bad terms but she had hoped the pieces of her relationship with Trunks would mend eventually. She wanted things to return to the way they were before Goten ever set foot in their lives. In hindsight, she realized Trunks was in too deep now.
"It's… work. I'm just… distracted." He justified, rising from bed and wrapping his arms around her waist, planting small kisses along her collarbone like little apologies.
"During our intimate time." She pointed out, unconvinced.
"No. I mean, I was thinking about you. And work. And other things. I'll be better. I prom-"
"You weren't thinking about me." She said hushed. Her shoulders slumped as a dull ache entered her chest. Slow cognizance dawned and she closed her eyes, feeling the heaviness of the burden.
Maybe it was being love blind. Or maybe they always had problems and it took someone else to bring it forth. Whatever the reason, when she looked in Trunks' eyes, all she could see now was him.
"What? Yes, I was. Marron…" He gently held her face in his hands and for the first time, she looked at him with clarity. It was over.
Marron scoffed lightly, broke their contact and began to redress herself with the discarded clothing strewn across the floor. "I'm not gonna sit here and pretend… I can't keep trying with you when you're stressed or busy or-"
"Wait, I have time for you. I want to be with you. Don't go." He panicked.
As she packed various toiletries from the bathroom and loose jewelry off the bedside dresser into a pink and white duffel, she shook her head in exasperation. "Honey, I think we need some time. A small break. A couple days." She had tried to make it sound less final.
"Babe, don't leave." His voice raised an octave, seemingly aware that this time didn't feel like the other times.
Ignoring him, she put on her shoes and tied her blond hair back into a messy ponytail. "I'm going home for a little bit. I just need to thin-"
He held her forearms with purpose, stilling her movement as his wide eyes darting from her face to the closet.
"Wait there. Please." he stammered. She took in the frantic way he got on his own clothing then raced into the closet where he proceeded to pull things out in a disorganized manner.
For an instant, she stopped. For an instant, she heard him and wanted to take it all back, wanted to stay. He was her first everything and had treated her better than most anyone. She would always consider Trunks one of her closest friends. In time, maybe they could still be.
In haste, he nearly tripped over himself getting back to her. "Here."
He held out his hand and opened a red velvet box. In it lay an obnoxiously large diamond ring winking at her as the facets of the stone shimmering under the bedroom light.
"Holy shit…" She gasped, bringing her hand to her mouth. "Trunks…"
She considered if she was making a terrible mistake while staring at that hunk of polished rock that probably cost more than 100 kame house islands. Her face grew warm as the corners of her eyes began to well with indecision.
"I don't want you to leave. Ever." He put it delicately in her shaking hand. "I know things have been tough lately. But I know I want you. For the rest of my life. I was saving it for a better time. I want to marry you, Marron." He chuckled bashfully.
As she stared at the white gold ring in her palm, she traveled in her mind's eye to a future in a white dress that billowed in the breeze as she glided down a white linen aisle adorned in fresh flowers within a large gardened venue. She'd float euphorically to a gilded flowered archway, all her friends and family present, her dear sensitive father crying. At the end was her mate, her friend, his blue eyes pinched from the adoring grin he couldn't shake off as he waited for her. And for the briefest moment, she felt so immensely, so deservedly, so blissfully happy.
He was a good man. The perfect man. Her knight in shining armor who was unequivocally handsome, successful, smart, funny, and loving. The full package.
The shadow of another, she realized, loomed larger and she couldn't shake the feeling that there'd always be a granule of doubt that would never leave. She'd never be truly happy if he had some secrets he couldn't let go of. How quickly he was open to rekindling what was lost to time solidified that. No matter how close Trunks was with her, he would always be closer.
They both deserved full lives. Just not with each other.
Her eyes shut tight as droplets fell down her cheeks.
"I hope those are happy tears." He brushed her blond fringe from her forehead and held her chin gingerly.
She choked back a sob as she looked up, blue eyes swimming, her face in anguish.
With a fervent shake of her head, Marron closed the lid of the box. "No. I can't. I can't do this anymore."
"What? Why?" He asked bewildered.
She would break him. She would be breaking her own heart in the process. They would both be better for it, she reasoned as she took a slow, steady breath in.
"I love you-" She began in a choked sob.
"I love you."
"- differently than you love me." She finished. He blinked in trying to comprehend her meaning. "I love you completely, wholly. You don't love me with your whole heart."
"That's not true."
"Yes, it is. Baby… I know." She confessed as delicately as she could.
"Know what?" He questioned, cautious and wary. The visible blanch and quickened breath showed her he was alert to her every word now. He wasn't going to be as forthcoming as the other man.
"I know who truly has your heart. It's not me. And I'm okay with that. Can you tell me, honestly, you're not waiting for something else?" Someone, she meant, and he gathered her meaning right away, the creases of his brow flattening in alarm. Of course he wouldn't divulge the truth so readily.
Appearing almost fearful, he took her hands in his in a light squeeze. "Mar, I want to be with you. We work. We've been friends for as long as I can remember. You're the best thing I've ever had." He said urgently. As much as he tried to state his case, all she could hear was desperation.
"We work because I've learned how to ignore it. We keep each other happy with me not asking questions and you doing what most women dream their boyfriends would do for them. You overcompensate to hide the truth. We were together, just you and me, for three years. But in the last 6 months, we have fallen apart. You love someone else. I now know you always have. I can't compete with that." His jaw clenched and pulsed as her words cut to the bone.
"I want to be with you." He muttered, his eyelashes shiny with moisture.
"You only want to be with me because, for some reason, you can't be with them," she said carefully. "Until you want to talk about why that is, I won't pry."
"I want. To be. With. You." He enunciated firmly. "Can you just think about it? We can work this out, Mar. This doesn't have to be over." He sniffled.
"I have. For a long time. I will love you 'til the day I die." The pain in her chest tightened like a vice. "I wish I was who you truly wanted."
To spare him her pain, she held back the full extent of the emotions bubbling under the surface, packed a bag as he stared in helpless disbelief. She told him she'd be at her parent's house for a little bit while she figured some things out. It was best for the both of them if they had some space.
Marron kept her word until she reached her childhood home and threw herself in a graceless heap on her small bed of faded pink flowers and purple sheets and sobbed. She hadn't cried so hard in her life, the dolls and posters from her youth beaming at her, a timeless homage to better times like the ones she and her two best guy pals used to have before the complications of relationships inevitably took over their innocence. She didn't regret dating, or falling in love with Trunks and, in fact, she hoped he'd find what he was looking for, hold him in his hands, kiss him without guilt, love this man as she loved him.
Yet, deep down, she hoped he'd hurt a little. Wanted him to understand just how much it broke someone to give all of yourself in every sense of the word to then have it be not enough. She hoped he'd feel it as she did. She just hadn't expected it to be as soon as it was.