yuri fiddled with the top button of the crumpled white shirt that was laced with the scent of aftershave, vanilla and lemon. it reached down to just over his knees, and the sleeves swallowed his pale fingers, just as the blood-stand, acid-washed denims jacket that now lay among the disrupted sheets and beside victor nikiforov had done.
victor nikiforov was asleep; his chest was bare, and the grey light of the day that seeped in from the open bedroom windows illuminated him; his silver hair against the white pillow, the rise and fall of his chest, the curved of the bedsheets outlining his body.
and yuri allowed himself to smile, and to crawl back up onto the mattress and lie beside him, wearing nothing but victor nikiforov - the victor nikiforov's white shirt.
and yuri's soft skin still hummed with his soft touch; the feel of his chapped lips.
it took yuri a few moments to realise that his phone was ringing, from beneath his discarded jeans under the folds of bedsheets. he was careful not to wake victor, and instantly turned off the ringer.
"hello?"
"y-yuri?"
"phichit?" yuri sighed in relief that phichit was alright, before his chest tightened in a panic.
"what's wrong phichit? are you with him? has he hurt you? is leo alright? are you alright? what have the police said?"
"leo and i are both ok, yuri, don't worry," phichit said, and it sounded to yuri like he was sucking at his thumb again. yuri's tense body slackened, alerting him to the pain that the bruises painted across his torso were waiting to cause him, having been jolted away from sleep by the quick switch from panic to it's ok, yuri, they're both ok.
"are y-you alright yuri?" phichit gushed hurriedly at the sound of him wincing down the phone line. yuri felt so selfish; he knew that phichit worried about him, every since he'd seen celestino break down the bathroom door to unveil yuri floating in a bath of his own blood, spilling onto the cracks white floor tiles.
"yes, don't worry, i'm fine phichit. where are you both? you're sure that you're safe, yeah?"
"at the hospital."
yuri's heart picked up its pace in his chest.
"what? what happened? did he hurt you? fuck, i can't...i can't remember...fuck, phichit, what happened?"
"yuri," phichit started off, "he got arrested."
yuri felt his head start to swim; shock and the subdued comedown that was starting to make an appearance scattered his thoughts about the white bedsheets victor nikiforov lay under, clothes strewn beside him.
"a-arrested?" yuri echoed, unable to believe it what phichit chulanont had said down the phone line. phichit hummed in agreement, and leo murmured something from by his side.
"for trafficking or something. i don't really know. i don't really know what happened, yuri. it's so confusing. first celestino was hurting you, then there were all those blue lights...where are you, yuri?"
"i..." yuri looked over at victor and felt the traces of a smile clinging to his lips. "i-i'm alright, phichit, i swear. why are you at the hospital?"
"the policeman took us there," phichit mumbled, and yuri could hear the buzz of voices coming from down the end of line, and guessed that phichit was in the waiting room with leo. "he said that they needed o check us out for bad things, called stds or something. i don't really know what's happening, yuri."
yuri smiled sadly at the sound of the voice he knew so well being so confused and vulnerable.
"you call me when you get out of the hospital, ok?"
"they're gonna take us to some place to be looked after, yuri," phichit said quietly, sniffing. "they said that because leo's sixteen and i'm not eighteen yet that we can't look after ourselves and go to some care centre or something. i don't know, yuri, i don't want to go."
yuri scratched at the back of his head, and rubbed his face with his hands. with him being nineteen and now an adult, he wouldn't have to go with them.
"i'll come see you guys," yuri said, trying to put on a cheerful voice with all the strength he could manage. "i will."
"you promise?"
"swear it. i swear it, phichit."
"o-ok," phichit mumbled. "don't forget to take your pills, yuri."
yuri smiled, and sniffed hard. he didn't want to leave the boy he'd met in that ground-floor flat wearing a coat that was far too big for him and still smoking a cigarette, and he didn't want to leave leo, who was only sixteen and had been brought up on the streets.
he didn't want to think of either of them sitting in a crowded waiting room, with only a police officer for company; phichit sucking at his thumb, leo trying to get that one strand of tenacious hair out of his eyes.
"we gotta go, yuri," phichit said before yuri could find the words he wanted to say. "i-i'll call you later."
"you call me later," yuri echoed, brushing away tears from his eyes and provoking his bruises, but biting down on his split lip to prevent wincing. "you're both going to be ok, phichit, yeah?"
"y-yuri, w-wait - "
"what is it?" yuri got worried again; he sat down on the wide window sill in victor nikiforov's bedroom and shivered under the thin material of his shirt when his bare hands touched the cold glass.
"t-the policeman told me to tell you," phichit started off unsteadily, "th-that they wanna talk to you too...about celestino...soon as you can...they're really nice, yuri...they want to help us..."
yuri nodded to himself, biting at his nail. victor stirred under the bedsheets, and he could hear leo down the other end of the line asking phichit how yuri was.
"they are going to help us, phichit," yuri said quietly. "they have."
yuri looked over at the sleeping boy with silver hair and soft, chapped lips.
"we're safe now."
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quick filler chapter i'm writing the next one sORRY for lack of updates
also please go read my new fic robbers !! xx