Title: Walking Away
Fandom: X-men
Pairing: Pryde/Wisdom
Rating: PG-13
Prompt: 003 Ends
Summary: Pete's thoughts while he's packing. Angst, angst, angst.
She's been gone forever. Logically, he knows that it's only been a few weeks, but, in his mind, it feels like forever.
Things have been different lately. She's been pushing him away. Snapping at him, defending the Tin Man, criticising his team relations, and generally arguing with him as much as humanly possible.
She wants him gone. This much he knows. He's been in enough relationships, even with as few of them as he's been in, to know when he's overstayed his welcome. For fuck's sake, the Terminator looked at him after breakfast this morning, and there was goddamn pity in his eyes. Pity. From him.
That was the last straw. He can't take this anymore. He will not stand idly by and watch as Pryde pushes further and further until everything disintigrates into fighting and dischord and neither of them can remember what used to be good about them. He doesn't think he can stand that.
He's no coward, though. He's not going to sneak away in the middle of the night without giving her half a chance to give her side. He's going to wait until she comes back and tell her why. They're not going to work. They're too different. She needs a good man, and Pete thought, vainly, that he could be one. He can't. He never could, but, apparently, it's starting to get to her. She's starting to resent having to defend him all the time. The age difference, his smoking, his drinking, his inability to play well with others. She's tired of apologizing for him. And to be honest, so is he.
No, Pete Wisdom is not, contrary to popular opinion, an idiot. He is going to leave while this still has some good memories left in it. He is going to leave even if it hurts like nothing has ever hurt before, because he really does love her, and he didn't think he'd ever have it as good as it used to be with her.