This chapter was edited 3/31/15

:*: I Don't Want Things to Change :*:

"I'm home-" The young male stopped in his tracks as he stared curiously at his roommate whom was staring blankly into the abyss. "Trunks?"

The daydreaming man blinked his eyes and turned to face his friend. "Oh, hey Goten. When did you get back?"

Goten chuckled lightly. "Just now. What are you thinking so hard about?" He joined him at the kitchen table and rummaged through the sales ads that were scattered about.

"Nothing. Where did you go?"

"I had to run some errands, then I went to visit Pan." He glanced up discretely to gauge his reaction.

"Oh. How is she?" He asked as casually as he could.

"She's doing better. She hasn't had a fever today so she might be released soon. I got those pictures developed from your birthday party."

Trunks rolled his eyes. "Since it was Brody taking the pictures they're probably just boobs and drunk girls making out."

Goten laughed. "True. I haven't had a chance to look at them yet... Hm..." He looked around for a second as if looking for them. "I must have left them in the car..."

"I'm going to go out for an hour or so." Trunks stood from the table and fished around for his keys.

"Where are you going?"

He finally found them on the counter and headed towards the front door. "To town. See you tonight."

xXxXxXx

"Hello, how may I help you?" The older brunette woman glanced up at the male with a beaming smile.

"I'm here to see Pan Son." He ran his fingers through his lavender hair as his heart seemed to skip a beat at the mention of her name. He waited anxiously as the woman typed on her computer and made a couple of odd noises in her slightly wrinkled throat.

"She already has two visitors, dear. However, you are welcome to wait in the private lobby in the 31-R department."

"Thanks." He brushed his hand across the counter as he made his way to the elevator. She already has two visitors? He slapped his head dumbly. Duh, her parents.

For the next fifteen minutes, he occupied himself by flipping through the pictures in the Living Rich magazine. It wasn't as if he was actually paying attention to what he was looking at. His mind was contemplating heavily on what he was going to say to her. He hadn't seen or spoken to her since she was admitted into the hospital, which was exactly three days.

Once he was fed up with the magazine, he tossed it onto a table alongside the sofa and looked over the side curiously when he heard a jingle along with the crash of the papers. There on the floor was a purse along with a set of car keys. It must belong to Pan's visitors since this is her private waiting room.

As his hand reached out for the purse, he heard a door open along with footsteps. He returned to his sitting position and stared at the empty doorway. Soon after, two figures emerged, one whom had his arm around the others shoulders. Once the male caught sight of Trunks, he removed his arm and stuck both hands into his pockets.

Trunks slowly stood to his feet as the female gathered her purse and keys and smirked at the male who leaned against the wall in the doorway. "Long time no see, Kain."

The blonde simply sneered at his words. "Nice of you to finally visit her. What took you so long? Another date with Marron?"

Trunks was slightly taken aback by his words. How does he know anything about me and her? Pan's not the gossip type, especially about her own problems...

His guilty expression was the only response Kain needed.

Goten said that she didn't want him to visit her, so he was right to grant her her space, except that now he was doing the opposite.

"Let's go Ruka." Kain called the female whom was still fumbling with her purse, then headed down the corridor towards the exit.

Once Trunks was a mere inch away from Pan's door, he glanced behind him and saw Kain take the females hand in his own as they turned the corner. Good ridden. He lightly knocked on the door twice and pushed it open. His heart seemed to beat faster and faster with each passing moment.

And finally, their eyes locked. "Hi." He said with a sigh.

Her mouth opened but nothing came out. So many emotions ran through her at that moment. She felt her chest pounding faster as he came closer and sat in the chair at the bed side. "What are you doing here?" The words barely escaped her lips.

He shrugged. "One of my best friends is in the hospital. I can't not visit them. How're you holding up?" His heart began to retain its normal rate as the tension in the room slowly decreased. The last thing he wanted to do was make Pan uncomfortable, especially when she was in this condition.

"Pretty good." She slightly smiled, but let it disappear as she waited for the bombshell to ensue. She wasn't sure what to expect, but she knew he would bring up Saturday night. "I got lots of flowers and stuff from people at school." She gestured to the far end of the room that looked like a child's gift shop, crowded with teddy bears, ribbon, flowers, and other gifts.

A laugh escaped his throat at the sight. "Somebody sure is popular. Did Kain and his girlfriend buy you something?" His attention was suddenly drawn to her troubled expression.

"You mean that girl that was with him? They're not dating, they're just friends."

"But..." Trunks thought back a moment. He knew he saw his arm wrapped around her and they were holding hands when they left. "Are you sure?"

She rolled her eyes. "Why would he ask me to the Christmas Ball in front of her if they were dating?"

His eyes widened. "He asked you..?"

She steered her eyes away from his gaze. "Yes, he is my date to the ball this year."

"Oh. Well that's great. That's one less thing for you to worry about." He said in a cheerful tone. "Let's hope he's not like your date last year, that guy was... unique."

They laughed as they recalled the tall, tan, and handsome exchange student who danced by combining every dance move from the disco era to the nineties. "He was living proof that you can't be smart, good-looking, and a great dancer."

"I wouldn't be so sure about that. I seem to excel in all three areas." He bragged jokingly. They laughed together once again.

"Have you found a date yet?" It seemed like a normal question to ask, but she began to regret asking.

"No, it kind of slipped my mind."

"Goten says Marron doesn't have a date. Perhaps you should ask her." She averted her eyes from his at the sudden damper in the mood. His expression suddenly filled with hurt and confusion.

"Pan... Why would you say that?" He almost whispered.

"It was just a suggestion..." She stared at her hands in her lap. "She's a nice girl. Smart, attractive-"

"Pan, I don't like Marron that way."

He slightly jumped as she slammed her hand on the bedside table and held up a picture in front of his eyes. "Sure looks like it to me." Her chest heaved up and down as the anger and bitterness swelled up within her.

His jaw dropped and his eyes expanded at the picture she held. Him and Marron leaning against that rail in the middle of a deep kiss. His hands were on her lower back and hers were dug into his hair. "Wh-where did you get this?" He murmured.

"It doesn't matter where I got them." She tossed the picture at him along with several others. They were all of him and Marron either kissing or in each others arms. Pan folded her arms tightly across her chest and stared at the ceiling, trying to hide the tears that threatened to spill from her dark eyes.

Trunks stared at the ground where the tossed photos were scattered. His arms stiffly clung to the arms of the chair as thoughts raced through his mind. How did these get here? Who took them? He then thought back to the conversation he and his good old trustworthy buddy had earlier that day. "Goten..." He growled to himself through clenched teeth. After several seconds, he finally gathered the courage to look up at Pan. Her head was turned away. "Pan... I don't know what to say... It was just a one time thing, really." He slowly leaned forward and put his right hand on the side of her bed. He began to ease it towards her folded arms but stopped when she shifted her arms away.

"Please go. I need to take my pills." She placed a finger on the red call button on the side of her bed.

Trunks slowly stood from his chair and exhaled. Things just seemed to get worse each time they met. Once realizing she wasn't going to look at him, he hesitantly placed his hand on her shoulder and ducked down to gently place a kiss to the top of her head. She didn't pull away, nor did she reciprocate any kind of farewell gesture.

She felt the cool trail of yet another tear as she heard his footsteps distance from her room.

xXxXxXx

"Aw, come on Goten. Trunks isn't here, we're all alone." The brunette purred as she massaged his bare chest and laid light kisses along his neck. Goten remained laying there with one arm laid lazily on her back and his phone in the other hand. When she figured he wouldn't take his focus off his cell, she gave up and straddled his thighs and pinned her hands on either side of him. The tips of her wavy brown hair tickled his face as she spoke. "Goten, we haven't had sex in three weeks. I don't know why you're holding out on me, but please tell me so we can get this problem solved and we'll both be happy."

Goten exhaled in defeat and allowed her to get off of him so he could sit up. "The first week was your fault, you were sick." She nodded engagingly. "We haven't been alone any other time."

"But we are now." She stuck out her bottom lip and pouted.

Usually, any little thing she did would turn him on, but now he had other things on his mind. "I'm sorry Val, I'm just worried about a friend of mine and I don't know how to help her."

"Well Goten, you could've told me that! It's a girl eh? Well luckily her and I already have something in common. So, what's the problem, maybe I can help." She scooted beside him as he put an arm around her shoulders. He hadn't even thought that his girlfriend would be able to help him out with this, but she was right. She's a woman, maybe she can understand Bra better than he in this department.

"Remember Roy Stevens?"

"Ugh, how could anybody not remember him. Continue."

"She's been seeing him for... I don't know how long but the other night she went to his house and she missed curfew, which is not like her at all. She was really... irritable over the phone and very defensive when I asked questions. I want to save her before she gets too involved with him."

Valese nodded and put a finger to her chin as she thought up a remedy to this problem. "Maybe her and I should have a talk. I'm sure she'll be convinced if she talks to one of Roy's ex-girlfriends."

xXxXxXx

Pan clenched the blanket on both sides of her body as she watched him leave the room. I'm Sorry Trunks. After seeing the crushing defeat in his eyes, she regretted everything she had said, but what else was she supposed to think? Kain said he found those pictures in the waiting room that afternoon. She almost gagged as they went through them together. He knew who Marron was from school, but she filled him in and said Marron and Trunks liked each other. She was yelling at him on Saturday night because he was moving too fast on Marron, or so she said. He seemed to buy her story.

And now here she was. Alone once again with a heart filled with regret and confusion.

Pan Son had her share of boyfriends, but never any long term relationships. When things began to get serious, she simply broke it off so neither would get attached to each other. They would always go through an odd phase but once it passed they were friends once again.

She discovered that she only dated jocks, they were the only guys with the balls to ask her out. Her longest relationship was three months, and the closest she got to losing her virginity. That night was the night before her and Trunks had their first kiss.

In a drunken state, she poured her heart out to him, detailing how Kira carried her to his bed and tried to sweet talk his way into her pants. She stopped talking when she saw the fury in his eyes. He told her that she deserved better and how great of a girl she really was, then it happened. He was so gentle yet so passionate, no doubt the best kiss she had ever had.

The weeks passed and their friendship seemed to be slowly growing into something more.

During one of their sleepovers, Marron felt the need to ask, "Pan, I've been watching you and Trunks these past few days, what's going on?" Her wicked smile made her blush wildly.

Bra was also very interested in the conversation. "There's nothing between me and her brother. I don't like him like that so calm down."

Marron sighed in disappointment. "Really? But all the signs are there... You don't even like him one teensy bit?"

She rolled her eyes. "No, he's just my friend and my best friend's brother."

Ever since that embarrassing interrogation, she separated herself from him more and more. She liked the friendship that they had, and the last thing she wanted to do was to ruin it. Eventually, he began to date Ami, and she finally felt like their friendship returned to normal again.

But still, she felt butterflies every time he was around.

She fought these feelings down for so long, trying to convince herself that she did not like him, but she seemed to just be hurting him along the way. She wanted him to move on, yet she didn't. Saturday night definitely proved that. He was trying to move on with Marron and she couldn't take it, so she led him on to believe that she wanted him to herself.

"Pan, you're so stupid!" She mumbled as she slapped her hand to her face. Then the idea that she did want him to herself began to nag at her. She frowned at this. She couldn't figure it out, but the thought of being with him scared her a great deal. Perhaps it was the probability that if they had a bitter break up, things would never be the same.

I don't want things to change.

xXxXxXx