#markeen

like they got together when mark wasn't sure of his identity yet, maybe he didn't even know what being transgender WAS yet, so at the time they both like women and that's all they really know.

mark is sooooo soppy puppy-dog in love with maureen, and when he comes out to her at first with his new name and cuts his hair off and starts thinking about hormones, she tries so hard to be supportive - she IS supportive, she's his biggest support through all of this and he loves her even more for it - but in the end, she starts feeling guilty because she realizes she's just not attracted to him anymore now that she sees him as a man.

she loves him, but she just... can't, and so she leaves. after four years of nothing but solidarity and compassion.

he's completely heartbroken, and for years afterward he still goes through periods where he tries to convince himself that maybe it could work, maybe if she gave it another chance, maybe if he grew his hair out or stopped taking hormones or let her call him by his deadname, MAYBE she'd...

the first time he tries throwing himself at her like this after their breakup, drunk and crying and offering up his deadname like a sacrifice, she makes up her couch for him and in the morning gives him an earful, tears in her eyes.

it's not fair to him. it's not fair to her. he has to move on because she already has, and she'll always love him, she'll always be close by. it's okay, mark.