Slick- Something that is smooth or slippery
AN: When I heard the word "slick" my first thought was the slang term for a smooth-talker… and how Joey is certainly not that. So it's not as overt as the last few, but "slick" did inspire how Joey acts in this chapter.
People were still yelling, even as Yugi heaved onto the roof and Joey fluttered around his smaller friend with obvious concern. All of their friends had rushed forward, asking questions and demanding answers, one (Joey would bet nearly anything that it was Tristan) even touched one of Joey's wings.
It wasn't that it was painful or awkward, just that Joey hadn't let anyone touch his wings in years, so he was vastly unused to the idea and feeling of some weirdo (aka his best friend besides Yugi) stroking his feathers!
"Will all a' ya shut up!" He yelled, almost screeching the words in surprise from the lingering feeling of someone touching his wings.
The silence was immediate and deafening. Everyone crowding around the two stepped back a pace, besides Anzu who had taken up station beside Yugi and was attempting to get his mind to stop swirling, and then simply stared. They all still looked almost ready to burst, their questions unanswered and threatening to spill over any moment. Even Anzu, distracted as she was by offering Yugi a piece of gum to chase away the taste of puke, couldn't help but to glance intermittently towards the pure white wings sprouting from the back of the teen most accepted was merely a thug. The only one who didn't look like that was Kaiba himself, who was rooted in precisely the same spot he had been when Yugi fell off of the roof with the same slight tilt to his eyebrows that gave him away as surprised underneath the blank mask he always wore.
"Stop starin' silently at me ya creeps," Joey hissed, shoulders hunching up much like a dog's hackles would raise.
After a moment to process his conflicting demands, they kept staring silently anyway. After they had stopped asking questions it seemed as if their mouths had been sealed by their own surprise, unable to open even as they desperately searched for answers. Joey stared back at them all as if they were wild animals, his wings flexing open and closed in a nervous tick.
Finally, Tristan was the one who broke the silence. Taking a step towards his old friend and putting a hand once more on the blond's wing- Joey's shoulders were up to his ears now and his wings immediately stopped moving but he didn't seem to notice- he said, "since when have you had these?"
Nearly everyone on the roof fought back a groan at the obvious question, but Tristan was really in too much of a shock from the revelation that his childhood friend was a Wight to think of anything more pressing.
"Wadda ya mean 'since when'd I have dese'? Dey're wings Tristan, they don't just pop outta ya back one day! I was born with 'em!" Joey responded condescendingly, yanking his wings back to himself as closely as possible. Still, they were huge, they had to be to support the weight of a human, and the tips of the feathers dragged the ground.
Yugi was getting to his feet now, and Joey saw that as a perfect distraction.
"Look, Yuug's gettin' up! How're ya doin' bud?" Joey asked loudly, stepping behind Yugi and attempting to draw all attention to his smaller friend.
In the moment everyone looked at Yugi, the wings suddenly disappeared almost was if they had never been there.
"Woah, how'd you do that?" Yugi asked, the first to look at his blond friend. Joey blinked back almost innocently.
"Do what?"
No one was fooled.