Smile
Part Two
by Lethe
Chapter Twenty-Three: I Shall Never Let You Go
"Hi, Mom! How's it going?" said Shizuka cheerfully, holding the pay phone close to her ear.
"Shizuka? Is that you?"
"Yeah! I just called to tell you that I'm back in Domino, okay?"
"That's good. How…" She coughed. "How is Katsuya?"
"He's great!"
"That's… good to hear," said Shizuka's mother awkwardly. "How was your trip?"
"I had a lot of fun," said Shizuka enthusiastically. "Not to mention I could see everyone, which is always really cool! We played ping-pong, and Uno, and we went swimming…"
"It does sound like fun."
"And 'Tsuya and Seto were getting it on like crazy!" She giggled.
"…What?"
Shizuka blanched. …Oops.
"Um…"
---
"What's going on, Mom?" said Jonouchi confusedly, standing in the doorway.
"Sit," she said, gesturing at the seat across from her. Shizuka sat next to her. Her head was down and she wouldn't meet his gaze.
"Sis?"
"I'm sorry, Katsuya…" Shizuka mumbled.
Jonouchi sat. "Now, what's this all about?" he said seriously.
His mother gave him a stern look. "Shizuka has told me that you are in rather… intimate relations with someone. Naturally, as your mother, I am concerned."
"And?" said Jonouchi emotionlessly.
"She says that it's a male."
Jonouchi nodded. "Yep."
"You're… gay."
"Yep."
She ran a hand through her graying hair. "Well, you're certainly not making this any easier for me."
"What do you want to hear, Mom? 'No! It's a lie! Of course I'm straight, I just enjoy making out with other guys!'"
His mother's face reddened and she looked as though she would have slapped him had Shizuka not been there. "I won't have that tone, Katsuya."
"Sorry," he said insincerely.
She nodded, accepting the apology at face value. "How long have you two been… dating?"
"Uh…" Jonouchi thought. "Since… last fall."
"You never told me."
"I didn't see any reason to," said Jonouchi. "It's not like you and I are best buddies or anything."
"I'm your mother."
"You sure don't act like it!" he burst, pounding a fist on the table. Shizuka flinched. "Leaving me here with Dad and never writing to me except for a card on my birthday and maybe Christmas when I'm lucky, that doesn't seem like a loving motherly bond. It seems like an obligation to me," he spat, and his mother's expression went from crimson to ashen.
"Katsuya Jonouchi!"
"Yeah, that's my name. And the last name? That's my dad's. So don't go thinking I owe you anything."
"Katsuya..." said Shizuka in a small, stunned voice.
Jonouchi continued, his voice becoming more impassioned with each breath. This was a pain he had kept in for a long time, and it had finally surfaced. The first step toward healing or destruction? He didn't know, but at that point, he didn't care. "Look, Mom, my preferences are not and never were any of your business. You made that really clear when you took Shizuka, didn't you? Did you care what I felt then? Why do you care now? This isn't about me, it's about your reputation, right? What would your friends think if you had a gay son, is that it?"
"I would never-"
"You left me here all these years with barely a word, and when I finally got one, it was Shizuka telling me that she was going blind! Did you ever think to tell me? No!"
"That wasn't my-"
"I risked my own self, even my life – and I'm not exaggerating – to get that money for her operation! And what did you say to me?!"
"I thanked you, Katsuya! I was grateful!"
"You were grateful," he said, the words bitter on his tongue. "You still hadn't accepted me, though, had you? You didn't try to keep in contact even after that."
His mother was finally silent. Shizuka was crying. Jonouchi regretted it, but it was the price he had to pay for this new freedom.
"I'm sorry…" she said, and Jonouchi started. Something in her voice had gone, and she sounded empty now. Was this what he had wanted?
Yes.
No.
"It's all right," he said awkwardly. "So… I'll see you around, I guess."
She nodded, and Shizuka came to hug him.
"I can still come over, right?" she whispered into his ear.
"Of course, sis!" he said.
She smiled.
Jonouchi turned to leave.
And then he stopped.
"Hey… Mom?"
Her eyes flicked up to meet his, surprised. "What is it?"
"I remember you used to make some really great beef stew for dinner. Do you still?"
He knew he had said the right thing when she got up and hugged him tightly, tears trickling into his hair. And no more words were needed.