When Spring Came

Chapter 2: Setting The Stage

AN: Just gonna drop this in here real quick LOL hope you guys enjoy! :)

Marron's bed was more comfortable than she remembered, plush and warm. She was accustomed to her back being supported by a firm mattress, but she felt like she was floating. There was light flittering through the curtain, the light kissing Marron's closed lids. She scrunched her face, her heavy lids finding it impossible to open her eyes. Her head was ravaged by a headache and acute nausea, she was in a room she didn't recognize however what she did remember was she was very drunk the night before.

She held her hands to her head, groaning as she cursed silently. The sunlight in the room was absolutely unbearable. She always tells herself that she won't drink her feelings away, but she always ends up doing the same thing. If she were true to her word, she would have stopped ages ago. "Oh, you're up."

Marron's stomach sank, and she craned her head over to the source of the voice. There he was, in all his annoying glory. "Why…" she groaned as she threw her face back into her pillow.

"I'd say the same thing about you," he replied plainly, sitting down on the bed. "Now eat." Marron blinked, staring at the plate in the man's hand. She wouldn't lie, when she took a peek at the plat adorned with multiple fruits it definitely caught her attention. Had he gone out of his way to make this for her?

He noticed her wide-eyed gaze and cleared his throat to get the blonde's attention. "Don't flatter yourself…" Trunks warned, "I had the maids do this."

She rolled her eyes and popped a grape into her mouth. Trunks can be sweet…to an extent, but god forbid he admits it. "You had them do it?" Marron replied, a slight bit of cheekiness interlaced in her words, triggering the hybrid to respond with an eye roll.

"After the hell you put me through last night, I shouldn't have bothered," Trunks replied causing the blonde to pause and glance down at her dress, to find it has been replaced by an overly large shirt. Recollecting her thoughts, she recalled crying and drinking a lot, and that's when things began to get fuzzy. But her attempts to make sense of her situation confused the blonde completely.

She was in Trunks' room, wasn't she? The moody black sheets checked out, and an assortment of trinkets lying around his desk and dresser checked out. Some half-assembled, some not, regardless it was clutter. Why was she in Trunks' room? She remembered very vaguely speaking with Goten at the lounge when she was probably blasted.

Her face began to show hints of red. Did she…not speak with Goten? She looked back up to Trunks who was eyeing the blonde rather curiously at this point. Her initial, visceral reaction was to, of course, throw up. However, she held it in. "We didn't—?"

"God no!" Trunks exclaimed, his face contorted in disgust. "I don't sleep with drunk girls, one," Trunks began, "and two, you are not my type." That last part may have been a lie, however, he had appearances to keep up with! "The fact you even implied that is just…ew."

"Thank God…" Marron breathed in deeply, "no offense, but you aren't my type either." Trunks' eyes flicked up to meet with hers, how sure was she of that? How different were Goten and him, physically speaking? Marron couldn't believe the thought even popped into her head, Trunks is Trunks and Goten is Goten. "Why are you staring at me like that…" Marron noted, grabbing another grape and throwing it at him.

"Well…what is your type, if not me?" Trunks teased, "Or maybe it's Goten?"

Marron's face drained of color, feeling as though her stomach dropped 10 stories. "W-Wha–"

He cleared his throat, holding Marron's hands dramatically. "I've been in love with you since I was six years old," Trunks purred out, watching as the blonde's eyes were wide with shock…however Trunks' timing couldn't be poorer.

As Bulla was standing at the opened doorway, her mouth dropped in shock. "Oh…my…god…"

Before Marron could get off the bed, she watched as the teenager ran off, a fit of laughter following the sounds of her footsteps. Trunks did a double-take looking back at the doorway and then back at Marron, did Bulla just hear him say that? Marron smacked the side of his arm, pointing her finger directly in his face. "Look what you did, asshat."

"What…there is no way she didn't know that was fake, right?" Marron stared blankly at him. "Right?"

"Go," Marron pinched the bridge of her nose already hearing Bulla causing a commotion from her room.

But before Trunks could even step outside the room, Bulla had returned back holding the phone in her hand. "No Pan, I'm beings fucking serious right now," Bulla said, a bit too loudly for the hungover Marron to deal with. Bulla looked up from her phone and looked at Trunks and Marron, panic struck both of their faces. "So, when were you going to tell us?"

"What are you talking about, Bulla?" Trunks asked, his eyes flickering between his sister and the irate Marron. "I literally don't know what you are talking about," he said through his teeth as he heard Pan laughing at the other end of the line.

"Uncle Goten, come look at this!" The teen yelled on her end of the phone causing the color to drain from Marron's face. Trunks quickly took note of the panic written over the blonde, typically he would be pointing and laughing, however, he knew how Marron felt about Goten now…and this, was definitely not going to be easy to explain.

Marron's death glare drilled into Trunks and the fury bubbled within her chest. "Bulla, get out–"

"Ok, ok, so you will not believe what Bulla–" Pan began. "No no, it's Trunks."

Why did Trunks always ruin everything? He was an absolute thorn on her side, sabotaging her love life, either unknowingly or knowingly. "Are you–" Marron could hear Goten from Bulla's phone. "No…Trunks, are you and Marron–"

Marron could almost throw up, in fact, if she didn't get up and run to the bathroom…she just might. How on Earth was Trunks going to get them out of this, would he tell him everything? Trunks was his best friend after all, why wouldn't he? She was far too rattled by the entire situation to processing what was going on. She just woke up, and she felt like she was having some of the most severe whiplashes in the entirety of her twenty-six years on this green Earth.

Then, something unexpected happened. Trunks said the unthinkable. "Yes," Trunks said, feeling the bile bubble up in the pit of his throat.

What could have possibly possessed him to ever say that, not even Trunks knows? But off the top of his head, this was actually a favor for Marron…and a bit of revenge for having to deal with her drunken antics. It was a bit mean-spirited, sure…but there was something that took a hold of him at that moment. What has been said cannot be taken back.

"What?!" Marron screeched, her voice cracking from the sheer force. "Don't listen to him we are–!" Marron began, her sentence being cut short from the sudden urge to expel the contents from her stomach. She rushed into Trunks' bathroom before everything spilled out.

"Don't mind her she's still cranky from her hangover," Trunks cheerfully stated, hearing the wonderful noises of Marron lurching violently in the background.

"Ha!" Bulla yelled into the phone, "There you have it, Pan!"

"Dude…is this true?" Goten asked, his brow raised in curiosity. "I mean like– when, how?"

Trunks wanted to die, for a second time. His impulsivity got the best of him, but he had his reasoning…let's just see if Marron would hear him out. He did just blurt that out with absolutely no context for the unconsenting second party. "It's uh—" Trunks began, his eyes shifting, "It's a long story, I'll tell you guys later."

"Later?" Pan whined, "How did it happen though…we are dying to know."

"Yeah Trunks," Bulla whined as well, giving her older brother puppy-dog eyes as she held her phone beside her face to show Goten and Pan replicating the same face. "Please?" The trio said in unison.

"Look, Marron is not feeling well, how about I get back to you guys, ok?" Trunks said as the sound of Marron's dry heaving continued. What a lovely symphony to hear, but he dug his own grave, and he was expecting an earful. He smiled, pushing his sister out of the room and shutting the door directly in her face. Locking it and breathing in deeply pressing his back against the door.

He noticed the vomiting had ended, and now he had a new problem. Admittedly, he was scared of what the five-foot-two woman was going to do to him. And like a villain in a horror movie, the woman popped out of the bathroom, with a vengeance. "I'm going to fucking kill you Trunks Vegeta Briefs."

Trunks held his hands out in defense, his eyes wide in shock. "H-Hold on Marron!" He shouted, "calm down…"

"Calm down?" Marron squawked, her neck contorting in a twitching motion. "The fuck do you mean calm down?" She screamed, grabbing a hold of the man's shirt and pulling him down to her height. Though Marron is usually docile, when she is angry her baby-blue eyes were hard and cold. She must get it from her mother. "You better fix this shit…now…"

Trunks held the blonde's shoulders, pulling her off of him. "First of all, your breath smells like shit," Trunks began, "second of all, hear me out."

Marron pursed her lips as she backed off, the breath comment did make her a bit sensitive but it was Trunks and she wasn't going to bother to fight it. She sat at the foot of the bed, crossing her legs and folding her hands over her knee. "Talk."

Trunks could almost laugh at how ridiculous this woman was, but that was the least of his concerns. "I think we can mutually benefit from this, okay?" Trunks began, "For one, I could easily tell Goten you got shit-faced and confessed your feelings for him to me instead…and I'm sure that doesn't coincide with whatever telenovela drama that is conjured up in that head of yours–" Trunks continued.

Marron stared at Trunks, who was he to judge her silly fantasies. She's in love, it's only natural for her to create false scenarios in her head over how things should go. And that is why she comes up with such ridiculous schemes to confess her emotions at the ripe age of twenty-six. "but, I don't think that is going to end well for you since y'know, he's dating Valese…and he seems really serious about her."

"H-He is?" Marron stammered. Trunks was just a secondary source, how was he so sure he was serious about Valese?

"Yeah," Trunks sighed, "so rather than vying for him, why don't you just date me?"

Marron's face was blank, but not before she erupted into raucous laughter. It was one of those laughs that were ab workout-inducing, coming deep within the pits of her belly. "D-Date you?!" Marron wiped a tear her words caught between laughs.

Trunks was many things, he was bold, cocky, and arrogant…but what he wasn't was boyfriend material he was made from a prime cut of a rare breed of asshole, and Marron would never stoop so low as to date someone like him. Other girls may be into the smartass with good looks, but Marron never liked that. She wanted a prince charming, not a royal dick.

"I'm not half bad…" Trunks grumbled, folding his arms. "Besides I don't mean actually." No, he most definitely did not want to end up with someone like Marron, never mind how she was acting yesterday…it was a fluke. Besides, he could feel the vitriol from her right now.

"Then like fake it?" Marron asked, still wiping some tears from the fit of laughter. "Why would I do that?" Was she dense? Trunks definitely believed so.

"Well, have you tried…making Goten jealous?" Trunks asked, glancing down at Marron, approaching her slowly. Marron's gaze held in his, her eyes locked into his. "You know, you could probably show him what he's missing."

The thought hung around in Marron's mind a bit longer, Trunks thinking about making Goten jealous? That's new…she could have sworn he could just go to Goten and just tell him about her embarrassing antics last night. Something wasn't adding up, however. Trunks is not the kind do things without a reason, he was impulsive but that's just the Vegeta in him.

Personally, Marron would have done with someone else. Someone actually tolerable. "Okay, but why you?" Marron asked, "I could do this with any other guy, I don't see why I have to be damned to your side..."

"Dang Marron, you must be heartless, how many men will give you an offer like this with no strings attached?" Trunks asked a smirk on his lips. The blonde's face looked bewildered at his statement, what could he possibly mean by that. "I mean…if you have a line of suitors waiting go ahead but they will all want something from you..." he continued, "fortunately for you though, I literally do not feel an ounce of attraction towards you."

She thought about it, it could be a bit beneficial to not have to put up an act in front of another guy, and have him lead on…if the two parties were on the same page, that meant Marron didn't have live with actually being in a real relationship. But why was he doing this for her?

"Likewise," Marron replied, "but what's in it for you?"

"My mom wants to send me on blind dates, she says this space trip put me behind and I'm getting to old to be single…and we need an heir," Trunks sighed, "if we pretend until you can steal Goten from Valese, I can avoid the annoyances of blind dates and focus on Capsule corp."

A lightbulb flicked on in Marron's brain. "I see…" Marron pointed a finger at him, "so you want me to use you to make Goten jealous and use me so you could get out of blind dates."

"Precisely," Trunks snapped his fingers. He was glad the blonde was finally getting what he was trying to do. "You do that and we just 'break up' when we get what we want."

"And what if…" Marron began causing Trunks to interrupt.

"That won't happen but if it does, we will break up after a year," Trunks stated. For some reason, he felt confident this arrangement wouldn't prolong for that long. Oddly enough, Goten always had a case of little brother syndrome…despite not being his brother at all…he knew if he had something Goten always wanted it too. "So do we got a deal?"

To be fair, did she even have a chance to choose? He made Goten, Pan, and Bulla believe they were seeing each other already…what more damage could he possibly inflict. "Not like I have much of a choice…" Marron grumbled in her reply, "fine…I'll play along…"

"Okay, well," Trunks started, as he turned his back. "Get dressed, we'll talk about the details at lunch."

"In what, my dress?" Marron retorted, her voice sarcastic. All before Trunks dug through his pocket and flicked a capsule over to her. Marron's hands fumbled as she clumsily attempted to catch the small object.

"I had it ready for you when you finally got over the hangover…but it'll suffice for now," Trunks said, a sly grin as he held the doorknob to his room. "Meet me downstairs in ten."

"Ten?!" Marron shrieked but before she could argue the hybrid had high-tailed out of the bedroom leaving her with the capsule in her hand. She groaned tossing it on the floor to find a pop-up closet with a few selections. She glanced at it warily and groaned whilst she threw herself out of bed to begin getting dressed.

Meanwhile, Trunks quickly cleaned up, trying to come up with a route to get out of the house alongside Marron without the head of the household catching them, he took a moment to sense the ki signatures within the premises of Capsule Corp. No trace of his mother, but his father's ki was spiking erratically. He must be in the gravity chamber.

He sensed multiple footsteps from the descent of the staircase to find a still hungover Marron and an overly excitable Bulla following closely behind her. "So when did it happen, Marron?" Bulla's eyes were wide, an overly obnoxious grin spread on her face. "Was it before he went to space? Oh, you must have been so lonely!" Bulla said, placing the back of her hand on her forehead, almost as if she were pretending to faint.

"Will you quit bothering her, Bulla?" Trunks chided the younger hybrid, as his eyes turned to Marron clad in a pink floral skirt that split at the thigh, and a white cropped top. She was sporting white shades inside…making it clearly evident to Trunks that she was still not 100%. "Let's go, Marron," Trunks cocked his head towards the door, causing Bulla to freeze.

"Are you guys fighting?" Bulla asked, her eyes flickering between the two adults.

"What do you mean?" The two replied in unison, confusion visible on both of their faces.

"I mean…" Bulla began, stepping down from the stairs and looking up at Marron who has yet to complete her descent. "You call each other by your full name, no nicknames?" Bulla pouted, "I would have thought you would call him Trunksipoo or something–"

"That is ridiculo–" Marron interjected before Trunks cut in.

"No you're absolutely right," Trunks said as he made his way towards Marron, holding out his hand, "C'mon babe."

Marron could just feel the icky feeling swelter within her. "Oh yeah…" Marron said through her teeth, "I'm just not in a good mood."

They needed to sell it now that they committed to it. Marron closed her eyes. This was for her sake, to save herself the embarrassment of confessing to Goten while he had a girlfriend, it's for the best interest. Trunks is probably feeling just as put off as she by the ordeal. She's beginning to regret agreeing, though.

Marron daintily placed her hand into Trunks', and she wouldn't lie, she didn't expect him to interlock his hand in hers. The action felt too intimate, and instinctually she wanted to snake her hand off of his, but she remained still. "M'kay…" Trunks eyed down at her hand and back to her face, almost as if searching to see if she was okay. "Let's go," he said as he pulled her towards the door.

"Okay~" Bulla sang, "have fun you two, bring me some nephews," she teased with a wink causing Trunks and Marron to stare at the teenager with the most disgusted look on their faces could muster. "Did I…say something wrong?" Bulla paused, lowering her hand, her brow quirked suspiciously.

"...No," Marron responded awkwardly trying to shuffle behind Trunks, "let's get out of here…babe…"

"That was fucking horrible," Marron groaned as she laid her head back against the headrest of the passenger seat, watching Trunks as his arm gripped the steering wheel. "Is this how it's going to be because if so I'd like to rescind my agreement."

His arm was kind of…veiny? The black sleeves of his button-up were rolled up to his elbow, and she noticed deeper, newer scars along his forearm, some deeper than others. Were these from space? Trunks was a Saiyan so he could handle practically anything, but she thought he was just out looking for materials…did he have to fight weird aliens too?

"No," Trunks stated confidently. "But we need to figure out how to actually act convincingly," Trunks groaned, not even looking at Marron. "You almost gave us away," he pointed out. He could just feel the disgust from Marron, he knows he isn't nearly that unattractive that she is so opposed to his touch. Women would kill for his touch!

"Oh, I'm sorry," Marron began, a sarcastic tone interlaced into her voice. "I just don't want to hold hands with the guy who's always being a dickhead to me in specific," Marron snapped, her arms now folded over her chest. She reserved her right to hold a grudge, that wasn't part of the terms.

The car arrived at a red light, causing Trunks to turn over to Marron. Her lips were slightly agape as the wind nearly was knocked from her as he swooped in close to her face, his nose barely grazing against hers. "Get used to it princess," he responded almost breathily. The blonde's chest tightened, her hands gripping the hem of her skirt from the nerves.

Too close.

He smelled really good.

Marron snapped her head away, heat spread across her entire body. What was that thought that just popped into her head? She should have just spit in his eye while he was that close! She was going to pretend as if her body didn't just flush violently from the proximity. Though, in his proximity, she couldn't ignore the tingle that spread at the tips of her lips, almost as though her body was betraying her heart and mind. What would you expect with a perfectly angular face some could argue was chiseled by the gods, however not Marron– Never! His lips, framed with a natural soft pout, were perfectly kissable – but definitely not by her. No denying – he was a gorgeous man, it's only natural to react like that right?

Right?!

Trunks continued to drive, facing in direction of the road. His mind wracking around questioning his actions. Her shocked face was kinda cute, Trunks' smirked, he wasn't planning on finding an opportunity to tease her, but he could always do it just a little. She claims to not feel any attraction toward him, but she is also a prude…easily flustered by any proximity to the opposite sex. "We're almost there," Trunks stated, "We're going to have to brush up on your acting skills…"

"You–" Marron said before Trunks butt in once again.

"And, we need to agree on a backstory, yeah?" He asked, "what do you think…we could do something so unbelievably cheesy that they wouldn't be able to doubt it," he suggested as he pulled into the cafe.

"Well," Marron began looking over to Trunks, "what are we thinking?

Trunks parked the car, both of his hands gripping onto the wheel still. His eyes flicked upward, a thinking face. "What if we made it that we promised we'd start seeing each other when I came back from space," Trunks suggested. It wasn't a bad idea, in his mind, this could justify if Marron was seeing anyone in that meantime, and would explain the sudden shift.

But there was one small issue. "That couldn't work with my parents," Marron began, "don't you remember the last time we saw each other?" Marron asked as she unbuckled her seatbelt.

"No…" Trunks responded, a hand on the back of his head as he smiled sheepishly. "Did I do something?"

Marron glared at him. She didn't expect him to remember, but she remembered it vividly. She had prepared herself for one of her many failed attempts to confess her feelings to Goten. Trunks and Goten were sparring lightly and Marron had made the fatal mistake of wearing her hair down, she had been in the direct line of a ki blast that ricocheted off of Trunks' hand, burning a good chunk of her hair off on her left side.

"Remember my hair?" Marron bit out. Trunks winced immediately, the memory flooding back at a rageful blonde torpedoing directly towards him and knocking an unexpected blow directly in his stomach. "I was going to confess my feelings for Goten then too…"

Trunks awkwardly opened the door to his side, his eyes flicking from Marron to the floor. "You uh–" He began, "at least your hair is…nice now" She wanted to scream but held her tongue. The pair walked inside and were seated rather quickly. Marron flicked her sunglasses up, pushing the hair around her face up.

"So, let's talk," Marron stated plainly now staring directly at his eyes. Her intent is to dominate the conversation surrounding their faux-relationship. Something realistic to Marron and Trunks as individuals. "We have always bickered and fought over a lot I think your dad and my mom's rivalry will not be helping us here, especially if we announce we are 'dating'," Marron had made an emphasis to put quotations around the word dating.

"Yeah, well," Trunks began, propping an elbow on the table, a hand on his cheek, "I did forget about 18's rivalry with my dad…"

"I'd hardly call it a rivalry," Marron began as she looked down at the menu, "how about–"

"How about we use that as the reason we didn't announce it," Trunks' eyes lit up.

The blonde looked at Trunks, annoyance on her face. That was what she was going to say but something about the way Trunks continuously interrupted her annoyed her, almost like he didn't care to listen to her. "Y'know, it's rude to interrupt people mid-sentence."

Trunks blinked, had he been doing that? He didn't notice. He cleared his throat looking down at the menu as well. "Sorry…" he mumbled out.

"But I do agree, I think that would be a good reason to use," Marron continued, "we could justify the fact we are awful to each other to hide our love for each other."

Trunks clapped. "Genius, that is plain genius!" He exclaimed, "disgusting but genius!"

"But slight issue, my parents know I'm in love with Goten," Marron pointed out, "in fact most people in my life aside from family friends are aware."

"Are they?" Trunks sighed out exasperated, "off-topic but why haven't you told him?" A valid question from Trunks. It's been so many years of hiding her emotions from him, that she found it difficult to express them after such a long period of time without being embarrassed beyond repair.

Marron breathed in deeply, placing her hands on her cheeks. "You would think by now I'd tell him, right?" She asked, "It's always the wrong time, I mean…him introducing that girl was…a blow," Marron sighed, "you would think I'd be over it after all this time.

The sad look on her face was extremely telling, and something about it pulled Trunks in. However, he wasn't going to entertain the strange emotion whirring inside. "Well, whatever," Marron interjected, "I won't let it get me down!" Her voice laced in some unrecognizable fakeness, Trunks could tell she was hurt. "He always breaks up with these girls, it'll be three months tops."

"Definitely," Trunks nodded in agreement. "I think, we should just play it off like love-at-second sight."

"Second sight?" Marron asked, her eyebrow lifted at the suggestion "The hell does that mean."

"Well, distance makes the heart grow fonder, doesn't it?" Trunks added, "let's just say we decided to date, spur of the moment after seeing each other for the first time after the party."

Marron paused as if it were so easily possible to fall in love with someone who has tormented her through her teenage years. Yeah right! Who did he think he was some kind of irresistible charmer? "Oh yeah, that's definitely believable," Marron groaned, her hand on her chin. "Trunks Briefs and Marron Chestnut, dating after seeing each other for literally one second."

Trunks rolled his eyes. He wishes that it was a few seconds rather than the multiple hours he spent by her side as she wailed, and snaked her way out of his arms after rousing in her sleep to find more alcohol. He felt like he was on patrol and every time Marron would act even more embarrassingly than the time before. Clinging on to him, sobbing…until he finally was able to lock her in his room for his own peace of mind.

"Well, I was with you for a few hours…" Trunks recalled, a shudder going down his spine. "Did you know you are the absolute worst when you're drunk?"

"Oh please, I couldn't possibly be that bad," Marron scoffed, her lips pouted as she looked away from him.

A waitress appeared to take their orders. Marron took an overly sweet sugar bomb of an iced coffee, whilst Trunks ordered a bitter coffee, no sugar, no cream. As the waitress walked away, the blonde looked back at the lavender-haired man, scrolling through his phone. "Ew…you like your coffee bitter?"

"Yeah, and you like yours up the ass with sugar," Trunks responded not bothering to look up. "Not that I'm surprised, you always had a sweet tooth."

Marron blushed, with anger strewn across her face. "Yeah well–"

"Let's get back on track," Trunks interrupted, again. However he was justified this time around, as they haven't gotten much of anything done, "can we agree on how we started dating?"

Marron bit her lip, it was going to be impossible to convince her parents whether it was before the three-year trip or not, what was happening now, is to convince them she is over Goten, despite the fact that truly and deeply within…she was not. In fact, a part of her was so deeply saddened that he wouldn't know she was available, as she has always been. Not that Trunks and her were even trying to actually be serious with each other— she wouldn't even care if he was doing this to cover the fact he was dating some girl (or guy—he always struck her as the type).

"I guess the whole, we fell for each other before you left space will have to do" Marron sighed, as she watched the waitress bring both of the drinks and place them down on the table.

"Good, glad we agree," he said staring coldly into her eyes and taking a sip of the still piping hot coffee, "now we need to come up with rules."

"Ugh, more stuff?" Marron asked as she sipped the foamy iced drink.

"Yes, more stuff," Trunks stated plainly. "First off you'll agree for the first month of this arrangement to go on a fake date at least once a week," he stated, his arms crossing at his chest. She just noticed that his shirt was unbuttoned halfway, with his chest exposed ever so slightly. Had he no decency?

"Fine, but you're paying," Marron specified.

"Of course," Trunks replied, cocking his head to the side. "Why would I make my beautiful girlfriend pay." That didn't land with her. She stared blankly at him as he cleared his throat. "While we are at it we need to actually act like we are into each other."

"Okay," Marron responded. "But absolutely no kissing," she was firm on her wish. Trunks wouldn't dream of giving her anything of the sort, his lips were precious. Not that he could understand why the blonde was so morally opposed to that sort of thing.

Trunks paused for a moment, "I will need you to come to some events with me, too, for obvious reasons." He did have a company he was in charge of, it was only logical he would have to have a date and it would be absolutely necessary for Marron to tag along despite her wishes. "Are you still living on Kame Island?"

"...No," Marron sighed out, "I moved out not too long after getting my job."

"Woah, Marron Chestnut a working woman?" Trunks asked in shock, "Never would I dream of such a thing," Trunks joked, his hand placed against his cheek. "Where at?"

Marron crossed her legs, as she did her foot brushed against Trunks' leg, causing him to almost jolt out of his seat. "I work as a fashion illustrator for Opal Essence," Marron responded, "actually the piece I was wearing yesterday I helped design."

So that's why it looked so nice on her. Trunks wouldn't kid himself, had they not had their shared history and were distant strangers, he would have approached her much differently, the daintiness of her figure, and beautiful white, silky fabric brushed up against her smooth milky skin–

He paused, the tips of his ears burning. "Well, you're really talented!" Trunks exclaimed, trying to divert attention from the lightest hues of pink developing under his cheeks.

"Thanks, I know," Marron said with a smug grin, "it's why I got the job."

There it was, the same cocky nature that lit a fire at the pit of his stomach. He'd never met a woman with such an ostentatious ego, much like his. He didn't like it one bit. The worst part, Trunks believed, was how demure and docile she came off to the rest of their friends. He could vent all day about it, but no one ever saw what he saw.

"Well, yes, I figured that," Trunks replied flatly. "So where do you live now?"

"West city," Marron responded before taking a sip. "We're practically neighbors, Trunksipoo…"

"Don't call me that…" Trunks responded shuddering at the interaction he had with his sister prior. "Trunks or Babe is enough."

Marron rolled her eyes. He was so uptight about this, she understood this was almost like a transactional relationship but if this was his idea that was just thrust unto her, she should be able to tease and have fun with the circumstances. "Fine…" Marron grumbled, "why were you wondering?"

"Well, I got to know where you're at, don't I?" Trunks asked, as he pulled out his wallet, placing down some zeni. Marron glanced up at the man, as he held out his hand. "C'mon, I'll take you."

AN: Thoughts? Would love to hear them :-) I'm having a lot of fun with this dynamic they have going lol