Love
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style='font-family:Arial;color:white'>“Hey, Trunks?”
style='font-family:Arial;color:white'>Little sisters really were annoying.
style='font-family:Arial;color:white'>“Trunks?”
style='font-family:Arial;color:white'>Really.
The grownups acted like she was so special but seriously—
style='font-family:Arial;color:white'>“Trunks!”
style='font-family:Arial;color:white'>“What?!”
He looked at her. That was what
she had wanted, of course. He shouldn’t
have fallen for it. She was sitting on
the arm of a wingback chair on the other side of his mother’s office, her
piercing blue gaze locked onto him. Oh…
what had he gotten himself into? Maybe
if I ignore her she’ll go away… he
shoved his nose further into his book.
style='font-family:Arial;color:white'>Not likely.
style='font-family:Arial;color:white'>“What sort of presents does Santa
bring?” Good lord.style="mso-spacerun: yes"> By the time Trunks had been her age he’d
know perfectly well that there was no such thing as Santa Claus.style="mso-spacerun: yes"> Perhaps Mom was indulging her a bit—she was
the baby, after all. Whatever.
style='font-family:Arial;color:white'>“Whatever present you want.”style="mso-spacerun: yes"> Simple.
Simple. She’ll go away….
style='font-family:Arial;color:white'>“Like what?”
style='font-family:Arial;color:white'>“I don’t know, toys.”style="mso-spacerun: yes"> She’ll go away…
style='font-family:Arial;color:white'>“Do I have to talk to him?”
style='font-family:Arial;color:white'>“Go write him a letter.style="mso-spacerun: yes"> In your room. Away from me.” Go away…
style='font-family:Arial;color:white'>“Can I ask him about Mommy and Daddy?”
style='font-family:Arial;color:white'>Sigh.
Spoiled, manipulative little…
style='font-family:Arial;color:white'>“What about Mommy and Daddy?” he humored
her patiently. Go away…
style='font-family:Arial;color:white'>“Well…”
she looked down at her shiny pink shoes.
style='font-family:Arial;color:white'>“Spit it out, kid, I ain’t got all
day!” Whoa. He was hanging around Goten’s house way too much.
style='font-family:Arial;color:white'>“I want to ask Santa to make Mommy and
Daddy love each other.”
style='font-family:Arial;color:white'>What?
style='font-family:Arial;color:white'>“What?”
Now he actually turned around to face her.
style='font-family:Arial;color:white'>“You heard me!” Damn precocious five year olds.
style='font-family:Arial;color:white'>Sigh.
style='font-family:Arial;color:white'>“Our Mommy and Daddy aren’t like the ones
on TV—or in stories—or the other kids’ at school’s mommies and daddies—or
Goten’s mommy and daddy!”
style='font-family:Arial;color:white'>“So?”
style='font-family:Arial;color:white'>“Mr. Goku and Miss Chichi love each
other. They’re nice to each other and
they like each other.”
style='font-family:Arial;color:white'>What the Hell could he possibly say to
that??
style='font-family:Arial;color:white'>“Like you and Goten like each other!style="mso-spacerun: yes"> You know!”
style='font-family:Arial;color:white'>Oh. Shit. Oh. Shit. Oh. Shit.
style='font-family:Arial;color:white'>“What do you mean, how me and Goten like
each other?”
style='font-family:Arial;color:white'>“You know. I saw you kissing—“
style='font-family:Arial;color:white'>“Okay!”
Trunks got up. Couldn’t take
this anymore. What an embarrassing
conversation—“What makes you think Mom and Dad don’t like each other?”
style='font-family:Arial;color:white'>“They don’t! They fight sometimes, they yell at each other, and they don’t do
things together.”
style='font-family:Arial;color:white'>“Look.”
Trunks sat down, facing her.
Looking her right in the eye, like Mom had said.style="mso-spacerun: yes"> What it was about facing her on her eyelevel
that made her understand better, he didn’t know. But Mom said it worked on him when he was a kid too, so might as
well give it a shot. “Our Mom and Dad
are different than other people’s moms and dads.”
style='font-family:Arial;color:white'>“Why do we have Mommy’s last name, but
everybody else gets their daddy’s last name?”
style='font-family:Arial;color:white'>Goddammit!
style='font-family:Arial;color:white'>“Because we were born out of
wedlock. Do you know what that means?”
“No.”
style='font-family:Arial;color:white'>“That means that when we were born, our
Mom and Dad weren’t married. Like how
Goku and Chichi are married.”
style='font-family:Arial;color:white'>“Are you and Goten married?”
style='font-family:Arial;color:white'>…
style='font-family:Arial;color:white'>“No.”
style='font-family:Arial;color:white'>“Why not?”
style='font-family:Arial;color:white'>“Because it’s not legal.style="mso-spacerun: yes"> Boys and boys can’t get married; only boys
and girls.”
style='font-family:Arial;color:white'>“But you love Goten, don’t you?”style="mso-spacerun: yes"> Wide blue eyes. The color matched his own perfectly, but they were shaped like
Mom’s—
style='font-family:Arial;color:white'>“Yes.”
Trunks sighed in defeat. He
seemed to be doing that a lot. “I love
Goten very much. But Goten and I are
both boys, and two boys can’t get married.
It’s illegal.”
style='font-family:Arial;color:white'>“Well, that’s not fair.”
style='font-family:Arial;color:white'>Suddenly Trunks liked his baby sister a
lot more.
style='font-family:Arial;color:white'>“No, it’s not.” He said.style="mso-spacerun: yes"> “Now.
Listen to me.”
style='font-family:Arial;color:white'>She was listening.
style='font-family:Arial;color:white'>“Our Mommy and Daddy love each other very
much. But they don’t like for other
people to know.”
style='font-family:Arial;color:white'>“Why not?” her head tilted to the side, curiosity giving her voice a strange
lilt. Odd how he’d never paid that much
attention to her.
style='font-family:Arial;color:white'>“Because Mommy and Daddy are very, very
silly.” He said. Which was true.
style='font-family:Arial;color:white'>“Oh.”
style='font-family:Arial;color:white'>“Yes.
But, if you’re sneaky enough to catch me and Goten kissing—“
style='font-family:Arial;color:white'>“That wasn’t kissing.style="mso-spacerun: yes"> That was making out.”style="mso-spacerun: yes"> She corrected him. How… wait—
style='font-family:Arial;color:white'>“What??”
style='font-family:Arial;color:white'>“Saw it on TV.”
style='font-family:Arial;color:white'>“We’re gonna have a talk with Mommy about
the TV.”
style='font-family:Arial;color:white'>“Okay.”
style='font-family:Arial;color:white'>“So anyhow. If you can sneak up on me and Goten, why can’t you catch Mommy
and Daddy kissing? They do it all the
time, when the think people aren’t watching.”
style='font-family:Arial;color:white'>Her head tilted the other way.style="mso-spacerun: yes"> She seemed to be formulating a plan—style="mso-spacerun: yes"> “New project for me!” She hopped excitedly
off the chair. “Better go get
started.” And she hopped out the door.
style='font-family:Arial;color:white'>And for the first time since she’d been
born, Trunks actually felt like a big brother.
Creepy! He shook it off
and turned back to his book.
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