Chapter 11: A Matter of Fact

Seto set his cell phone down on the bedside table, relieved that the phone call with his brother went better than expected. He felt like he could finally relax… or relax as best he could while sharing a room with Joey Wheeler. Seto tried to ignore his disdain for Joey by taking up his water and putting it to his mouth.

"So I guess the phone call went well, then? It seemed like it went well."

Seto stopped drinking and glared at Joey, "Can we have a rule for the next however long they keep us here? Can the rule be that you don't talk to me anymore? I appreciate you bringing me into the hospital and not telling my brother about what happened but I'd just like to enjoy some peace and quiet."

There was a knock on the door and both Seto and Joey turned their heads to see who it was.

"You can come in," Joey said, blatantly breaking the no talking rule. Joey was hopeful that it was one of the pretty nurses coming in to take his temperature or check his pulse. His smirk disappeared when a familiar redhead walked in. It was his little sister, Serenity, looking more cross than he had seen her in a while. Joey gulped, anticipating the worst as she stomped over to his side of the bed, her eyes only glancing at Seto for half a second as she passed.

Joey worked up a smile before speaking, "Hey sis, I know what it looks like, but you don't need to worry because I'm oka—"

Smack!

Joey's head twisted after Serenity smacked him clear across the face. Seto sat up in his hospital bed as the situation became interesting to him. Joey yelped in pain, rubbing his cheek profusely.

"Serenity, are you crazy?! Do you not see all of these bandages on my face? I'm trying to heal, crazy lady!"

"I can't believe you got into another bar fight! Were the cops called this time? Is Kaiba going to sue you for this?!" Serenity turned around towards Seto and gave him a wave, "Hi Kaiba."

"Hey," Seto said, slightly disappointed as it appeared that Serenity was done smacking Joey around.

Serenity turned her attention back to Joey and putting her hands on her hips, "How could you be so stupid as to get drunk and pick a fight with the richest guy in Domino City?!"

"You need to calm down—I wasn't drunk last night. The cops weren't called either and I can assure you that Kaiba isn't planning on suing me," Joey tilted his head so his eyes could meet with Seto's, "Are you going to sue me?"

"Not worth my time," Seto replied, picking up his phone and returning to his work emails. He had a sense of where this conversation was going and his interest disappeared. Seto didn't need to listen in while Serenity scolded Joey.

"See? Geez Serenity, I was hoping you'd be more worried for my well-being, not give me a bunch of crap."

Serenity rolled her eyes before saying, "Joey, I give you crap because I am concerned for you. It doesn't help that I have to worry about your safety as well as your stupidity."

"I'm your big brother! You can't call me stupid," Joey demanded, crossing his arms.

The sour look on Serenity's face melted away as concern took over. Serenity unexpectedly leaned forward and brought Joey into a hug. Joey, although surprised, wrapped his arms around his sister and returned the hug. Joey smiled because, despite the craziness of the last 24 hours, at least he knew he could rely on his sister.

"You are my big brother… and that's why it scares me every time I get calls about you being in the hospital. It makes me worried sick!"

Serenity broke away from the hug and Joey looked down, feeling guilty. He couldn't even recall the amount of times Serenity had seen him like this in the hospital and many of those times had been from drinking. He purposely didn't keep track because of how embarrassed he felt about his drinking and the trouble it got him in. Joey shrugged, searching for the words to say next.

"I know… I'm really sorry about that. I don't mean to worry you."

"Then can you make someone else your emergency contact? I can't afford to keep taking the train down to Domino from college every time you decide to beat Seto Kaiba up."

Joey laughed and then winced from pain. His body was still sore from last night's brawl. Serenity pulled a chair over to Joey's bedside and sat down. Serenity tucked her long hair behind her ear before reaching out and grabbing hold of Joey's hand. Joey smiled and turned his head—recognizing how beautiful she was and wondering how he was supposed to be a good brother and not murder every boy that tried to date her.

"You're not dating any boys, right?" Joey asked, unable to think of anything other than the blood of anyone that would try and hold her hand within a ten mile radius.

"Joey, I thought we agreed that we should never talk about me and dating. What was it that you used to say? It made your fists antsy?" Joey smiled and gave Serenity's hand a little squeeze. Her brown eyes could warm Joey's heart, no matter how badly he felt. It was possibly her smile—reflective of her positivity overall—that Joey liked the most about his sister. As long as Serenity thought there was good in Joey, Joey felt like there was still a chance he could be a good person.

"Yeah, who am I kidding? If you told me you were dating someone, I'd probably have to serve a longer jail time than Kaiba did," Joey chuckled.

"Well, speaking of dating, have you talked to Mai recently?" Joey's smile disappeared and his hand retracted from Serenity's.

"Why? I mean, no. But also, why do you ask? Have you talked to her recently?"

Seto diverted his attention away from his work emails over to the siblings talking a couple feet away, "Are you guys talking about Mai as in Mai Valentine?"

"Of course, the only Mai I know. Has Joey not told you about their break up?" Serenity asked, turning to Seto.

"They actually dated? But why would she waste her time with him?" Seto said with surprise and a hint of disgust. Although Mai had never proven to be a threat against Seto in the dueling arena, he had assumed she had higher standards than that of a third-rate duelist like Joey. Seto suddenly felt pity for Mai.

"I'm ending this conversation right now. The last thing I need is either of your opinions on my dating life. Do both of you understand?"

Serenity opened her mouth but said nothing. She got up from Joey's bedside and walked over to the other side of the room to the window. Serenity held up her arm in the light that was casting down from above and then turned her gaze towards the window itself. The hospital room was overlooking a playground of the school that was located across the street. There were only a handful of kids in sight, catching Serenity's attention for a moment.

She spotted a pair of children on the jungle gym—a boy and a girl—and her eyes focused on them. They were giggling as they climbed all over the jungle gym, their eyes constantly watching one another. Serenity wondered if they were siblings, purely by the way they were interacting and the fact that they were only playing with one another. Serenity thought about how she and Joey had once been that small and used to spend all their time together too. They didn't hang out with anyone else except with each other… that was until their parents got divorced. Her memories with Joey were limited following the divorce, since each sibling lived in a different household. Serenity never forgave her parents for separating her and Joey as children but there wasn't a lot that could be done now. She wasn't a kid anymore and she couldn't go back in time and create those memories she would never have with her brother.

Serenity turned around when she heard the TV turn on. Joey had the remote in his hand and pride all over his face. 'He must've just figured out how to use the remote,' Serenity thought to herself and chuckled quietly. Joey began flipping through the channels while Seto was swiping his thumb along his smart phone. She assumed Seto was going through work emails judging by the serious look on his face.

She turned away from the boys and looked down at the mini sink in the corner by the window. Serenity cocked her head to the side when she found two small, plastic boxes, stacked one on top of the other, by the faucet. She picked them up and held one in each of her hands. With a little shake, she heard the sound of cards shuffling from inside. Serenity smiled—they were deck boxes. She took less than a second to figure out which deck box belonged to who, considering one had a picture of Blue-Eyes on it and the other was incredibly worn out and old.

"Joey, you still carry your Duel Monsters cards with you?" Serenity asked and both Seto and Joey looked up. She held up the deck boxes so that the boys could see and their eyes grew big.

"Where did you find those?" Seto demanded to know.

"Calm down, I didn't take them from you," Serenity said, tossing Seto's over to him. Seto leaned over the side of his bed and caught it, "I just found them over here."

Seto quickly opened up the box to inspect his cards while Serenity walked over and handed Joey his. Joey did the same—opening the box and shuffling through the cards to make sure everything was accounted for. Joey was happy to find that all of his cards were as he had left them, closing the box shortly after.

"I thought you didn't play anymore, Joey," Serenity asked, not letting Joey's attention go back to the TV.

"Well, sure, I don't play anymore, but that doesn't mean I don't keep my cards on me at all times. You never know when you might run into a Rare Hunter again in this city," Joey turned to Seto, "Am I right, Kaiba?"

"The Rare Hunters disappeared after my Battle City tournament. They knew better than to mess with my city," Seto said sternly, still shuffling through his cards. He examined each card carefully as he was concerned that some may have been damaged from within the deck box by the way Serenity threw the deck over to him. He was relieved to see that all of the cards remained to be in pristine condition.

When Seto looked up from his cards, he saw that Serenity was intently looking at him.

"You don't get out much, do you?" Serenity asked.

"I beg your pardon?"

"I can tell by the way you just spent a good five minutes checking to make sure I didn't damage any of your cards. Oh, and by the way, when was the last time you even used your cards? You haven't dueled with anyone in years… have you?"

Seto furrowed his brow and responded with "What gives you the right to question me? What difference does it make to you whether I 'get out much'?"

Serenity walked over and snagged the remote from Joey's hand. She turned off the TV and was able to get Joey's attention as a result. The two men looked at her with annoyance and she rolled her eyes at their glares.

"I think you guys should hang out. I'm not suggesting that you guys have to be friends or anything but it's clear to me that neither of you have anything else going on. Maybe it would do you both some good to do something that didn't involve getting thrown in jail or the hospital."

"I'd rather kill myself," Seto replied.

"Same," Joey added.

"What if you guys didn't do it for yourselves? Why don't you do it for me or for Mokuba? Sometimes I can't sleep because I'm too busy worrying about you, Joey, and Kaiba, I'm sure Mokuba feels the same way. You guys can't seem to keep yourselves out of trouble without me or Mokuba around. So for our sakes, just hang out and see what happens."

Seto and Joey turned and looked at each other for a moment. As much as they felt revolted by the idea, Serenity wasn't wrong about them not really having anything else going on. It was hard for them to imagine, however, seeing hanging out as a true remedy of the situation.

Joey turned back to Serenity and raised his hand, requesting permission to speak.

"Yes, Joey?" Serenity asked, not sure as to why he felt the need to raise his hand.

"What if I took up a hobby like knitting? I would be less likely to blow my brains out doing that than I would spending time with Seto Kaiba."

"And I would like to add that all the money in the world couldn't get me to take up dog-sitting, Wheeler," Seto remarked.

Serenity huffed and tossed the remote to Joey. She then reached down beside the chair she was sitting in and grabbed her purse. She slung the purse over her shoulder and gave Joey one last stern look.

"Listen Joey, I can't make my life about rescuing you. If knitting would keep you out of the hospital then that would be great. But I think both of you bozos need to find something better to do than beat each other up. The fact of the matter is; everyone else has left Domino City. If you guys can't entertain each other, then all I can ask is to stop calling me and Mokuba when you guys get into trouble."

With that, Serenity stormed out of the room and slammed the door shut as she exited. Seto went back to looking at his phone, not impacted by what Serenity said. Seto considered the fact that Serenity was probably just annoyed because Joey was an annoying person to be related to. Seto couldn't possibly imagine that the burden she felt worrying about Joey was the same worry Mokuba felt towards him. Seto lowered his phone, remembering the phone call he had with Mokuba only an hour earlier.

Joey was very torn up about the way the conversation ended with Serenity but he didn't have the courage to go after her to apologize. It also didn't help that he wasn't in the best physical condition to chase after her so he thought it best to let Serenity cool off. Part of him also didn't want to admit that perhaps what his sister said was true.

Joey threw his head back onto his pillow and stared up at the ceiling. His eyes became fixated on the florescent lights overhead and wished that looking at them long enough could blind him. If Joey was blind, he at least wouldn't have to watch himself make a mess of his own life. His mind continued to wander; contemplating whether Serenity was serious about no longer rushing to the rescue when he got into trouble and if that was true… what would happen next?

-YGO-

A/N: Happy Sunday everyone! Today is a special day because tomorrow marks one year since I posted the first chapter of this story and returned to the world of fanfiction after a two-year hiatus. The past 12 months have been a wild ride and I want to thank everyone who has reviewed, favorited, and followed this story. It's been encouraging and has also warmed my heart. The biggest shout-out has to go to Rena Redhead for being the catalyst for posting this story as well as my number one supporter. I appreciate having her as a beta reader and my dearest friend of over ten years. If you haven't read her story "Defying Destiny," you don't know what you're missing. It's fantastic! In any case, I hope everyone had a great weekend and that you enjoyed this chapter. See you next month!