Summary: "Joey Wheeler, don't you dare walk away from me!" Joey centric, one shot.
Takes Place: A little after Serenity's eye operation was completed and she was recovering in the hospital.
Yu-Gi-Oh © the person who made it; I'm too lazy to look his name up right now. But, to satisfy everyone, I don't own it.
Walking Away © Vaisu
Walking Away
The air was tense, the dying sparks of a near-violent argument wafting through it, ready to strike like a match at the slightest hint of provocation. It was odd; he had once upon a time believed it impossible that the hospital, walls and tiles continuously in that shade of repeating white, could possibly hold such a suffocating wave of heat. The whistling of the air conditioners told him that it had nothing to do with lack of financial support. Maybe it was his boiling anger, or maybe it was just the razor sharp words he forced himself to swallow to the back of his throat.
"I came here to see Serenity, nothing more." he finally said, tone cool and just a bit strained. He didn't face the similarly blonde, adult figure standing not ten feet away from him. He wasn't sure he could.
"Have you taken into consideration that she might not want to see you? Though it's a bit too late." The other's voice was like venom: bitter, sinking into his blood and causing his heart to beat in irregular, erratic rates. He ignored the jab, and responded as if he was talking about the weather.
"Yeah, I took that into consideration. But have you considered what she really wants? Last I remember it's all about you, always has been." Suddenly, he gave a shrug, as if it didn't matter to him at all. "Know what? Don't answer that."
"Do not act high and mighty with me. You don't know what I've been through!" Another violent hiss, and it took all in Joey's strength to keep him from lashing out. He wasn't the one acting high and mighty. (What you've been through?! The world doesn't center around just you, you egotistical … UGH!) How he wished could say it. He wished, but he didn't. He wasn't like this person, he didn't pick at people's flaws and shove them in their face. That was something like Kaiba would do, and he was no Kaiba.
And I'm certainly no you. His mind added cruelly.
"I don't have to deal with this." he finally decided, turning away from his accuser. Brown eyes shined with distaste. "I've got better things to do," his accent rippled with annoyance, "so if you can, tell Serenity I'll see her tomorrow." And promptly, he walked away.
"Joey Wheeler, don't you dare walk away from me!" His hand paused on the knob of the door, stopping as if by instinct; it reminded him of the time he got caught taking cookies from the cookie jar. The cool metal soothed his burning hot hands, but it did nothing to soothe his mind. An ironic smile twisted on his lips and a quick glance was shot over his shoulder to the one person he hated to love.
"Why, ma? I'm only doing what you showed me to do a long time ago."
The blonde woman tensed, as if she had been slapped across the face. Eyes wide and body paralyzed in shock, her focus only on her son. Joey said not a word; he simply walked out the door without looking back. There was no apologies and there was no sorrow.
Though, I wonder sometimes… do you ever regret walking away, mom?