Chapter 7: Stethoscope Sign

"Did you check the database?" Dr. Cialdini crossed his arms, his white coat clean and pressed, the lines on his sleeves crisp.

"Not yet, I didn't have time." Yuuri avoided his program director's eyes.

"Always search the database," Celestino raised one bushy eyebrow.

Yuuri nodded as he shifted in his black dress shoes that still needed some time to be broken into. The database contained records of prescriptions with potential for addiction and abuse and when the patient filled them.

"What about stethoscope sign?"

"What's that?" Yuuri blushed, his shoulders slumped, he couldn't tell if his program director was about to get angry or just messing with him.

Celestino's sharp blue eyes gleamed with amusement.

With his big hairy hand he patted Yuuri on the back and led the way, "I'll show you."

Georgi, Yuuri's current senior resident, snorted and suppressed his silent laughter.

Celestino slowed his pace outside of the patient's open door on purpose.

The patient drank his ginger ale through a straw while watching TV without any sign of distress. He turned his head all of a sudden the team approached, clutched his stomach and doubled over, his face twisting in agony.

Celestino and Georgi exchanged a dead fish-eyed look.

"Good morning, my name is Dr. Cialdini, and this is the team," Celestino approached the bedside where the patient writhed, rocking the bed.

"Please doc, I'm in pain," he clutched his stomach and squeezed a few tears out of the corner of his eyes.

"I can see that," Celestino continues, "the good news is the results of the CT scan the emergency department did of your belly came back without any alarming findings."

The patient continued to roll back and forth the hospital bed, "I need something for pain now. I am allergic to aspirin, acetaminophen, ibuprofen...the only thing that helps is that medication they gave to me in the downstairs...it starts with a D-...Dilau-...something."

"Your CT showed you are very constipated," Celestino remained calm, "which is the most common side effect of taking pain killers such as Dilaudid. Let's work on that, your stomach pain will get better once we get things moving."

"Please, only morphine helps. I won't ask the nurse to page you, I promise, 4 miligrams..." another bead of tear fell from his eyes.

"As I said before, morphine makes the constipation problem worse as well," Celestino pulled the stethoscope off from around his neck, "can I examine your abdomen, so we can come up with a plan?"

The patient nodded. As soon as Celestino's hand made contact with his skin he cried out in pain.

"It hurts here?" Celestino moved his hand to a different spot, hardly even touching the patient's abdomen.

"Ow, it hurts all over," his face twisted, "my pain is 20 out of 10."

"Sorry, I won't push on your belly anymore, I am going to listen instead," the drum of Celestino's stethoscope rested on the upper right quadrant.

The patient held his breath, wincing.

Then suddenly Celestino pushed down with his stethoscope.

Three full seconds passed and the patient realized he had blown his cover, he flipped the switched to full blown wailing a little too late.

Yuuri realized that's what Celestino meant by "positive stethoscope sign".

"Dr. Katsuki will come and see you later." Celestino's blue stethoscope returned to coiling around his neck like a snake, "I hope you feel better, let's try some medication to treat the constipation."

Then the patient started screamed, "Get out, you are all the worst doctors I have ever seen!" He hissed, "You are not treating my pain and I will call the hospital administrators and file a complaint! I am calling patient advocate! My pain is not adequately treated. Get the fuck out!"

Celestino turned around as the troupe of residents and medical students followed him out of the room.


"Fuck," Yuuri muttered under his breath after scrolling through the database of controlled the substance: five prescribers, seven pharmacies, and over one hundred and fifty tabs of painkillers for the past month. I should have known. His insides twisted uncomfortably. The patient was a drug seeker. It was that obvious. That was a rookie mistake. I don't think those prescribers checked the database either. He ripped another corner of his sandwich with his teeth almost in a savage manner, kicking himself inside.

"Let me guess, drug seeker?" Victor pulled a chair that creaked with every slight moment and sat on the next computer. His elbow brushed past Yuuri's by accident.

Yuuri didn't move, "Yea," He sighed, he bit his sandwich again then chased it down with more coffee, "I have a family meeting to go to for another patient with terminal cancer about end of life care. I have to review one more time his month long hospital course, yet here I am getting paged every ten minutes from the drug seeker requesting for IV morphine with Benadryl." His groaned.

"It gets better, when you are the senior resident and not carrying the pager anymore," Victor chuckled, his chin rested on his palm. Despite everything that happened in his personal life, Victor's still carried that serene expression.

"Thanks, only seven more months, that's real comforting." How could he appear so unfazed and not jaded amidst all this? Sometimes I don't feel like a doctor anymore, but a slave, secretary, and social worker and a tiny cog in the somewhat rusty machinery that carried on with or without me.

Yuuri made a sarcastic face.

Victor laughed, his silvery locks quivered, "I am only showing you bright side."

"It's sad you know," Yuuri rolled his shoulders back and stretched his arms. His back cracked from sitting in the same position for too long, "people whose lives becomes consumed by their addiction to opioids, including faking it to try to get more. This patient had no insight that he has an issue with addition."

"As they teach us in med school, the stages of change," Victor leaned back into his chair, "the first step to changing being acknowledging that you have a problem."

Yuuri shook his head, as his pager twitched again. He dialed the nurse's phone number for the fifteenth time, "got it, I'll be right there."

"AMA?" Victor raised an eyebrow, without any hint of suprise.

"Yea," Yuuri deleted the page, without out needing to look down, folded his patient list containing checkboxes and left the chair for the first time in two hours. AMA stood for leaving Against Medical Advice. Yuuri pulled out the AMA form from the drawer for the drug seeking patient to sign.


Eleven pm on Thursday night, Yuuri showered, washed away the fatigue from another day at the hospital, his towel still covering his hair as a few drops of water trickled down the bridge of his nose. The comfort of his bed inviting, he loved the sense of hope Thursdays brought along.

He looked forward to the weekend, when Victor wanted to meet at Cosmos for coffee, then maybe they would walk along the boardwalk by the beach afterwards. He missed the warmth of Victor's hands interlaced with his own. Not knowing when, the goodbye kisses became a routine. The way Victor leaned on him, the casual affection touches lasted longer.

Yuuri wrapped his arms around himself. He wanted more. Of course he did. But given everything that happened to Victor over the past year, he kept his own desires in reins. He promised Victor to meet him where he was.

Then the Ping from his phone distracted him.

Come over.

That was all Victor's text said.

Heat rushing to his cheeks, and his own pulsating heartbeats in his ears. He ran into the bathroom and splashed cold water on his face.


Still panting a little, he didn't have the patience to wait for the elevator. Before he rang the doorbell, he slowed down because he didn't want to appear desperate. He clutched to the front of his black coat while catching his breaths.

With a click, followed by what seemed like eternity, the lock gave way.

Yuuri took one step forwards.

Victor didn't say anything, he cupped Yuuri's face with his hands and sealed his lips with his own.

He tasted like mint, Yuuri's eyes widened, uncertain for a moment that this was real. His chest was pressed against Victor's. Through Victor's soft grey sweater, Yuuri could feel the vibrations of Victor's thumping heart beneath his palm.

Their kisses deepened, Makkachin curled up with her eyes shut on her cushion next to the TV stand. The door to Lukas' bedroom opened a crack, revealing darkness inside.

Yuuri kissed him back with the same intensity.

Without their lips parting, Victor led him into his bedroom. Yuuri's hand landed on the dresser, knocking over a pile of medical journals as Victor pressed his body against his. Victor laughed as the glossy pages fluttered to the ground — the only mess amidst Victor's impeccable apartment.

Victor's tongue entered his mouth, as he lifted Yuuri up until he sat on top of the dresser.

Victor's breaths accelerate against his cheeks, he whispered during the briefest moment when their lips parted, "I want you."

"I have been waiting," Yuuri bit Victor's bottom lip, "for you to say that." His back pressed against the mirror, he slid his hands under Victor's soft sweater, his touch light. His right hand lifted a corner revealing a sliver of skin, "can I?"

His silver hair mussed, he nodded as he leaned in, his breaths hot against Yuuri's neck as he surrendered.

Yuuri's legs straddled around his hips as slowly he lifted Victor's top over his head landing on the glossy journals in a soft grey rumple. Yuuri ran his hands down Victor's neck, then over his sculpted chest. Victor's nipples tented from the excitement and from Yuuri's touch.

Yuuri completely forgotten about the fatigue from being an intern. I wish time would stop.

The second button on Yuuri's collared blue shirt came undone under Victor's slender fingers. Then the third and fourth, the fifth one came off and rolled under the darkness beneath the dresser.

Then the door shook, followed by a soft bark, Makkachin woke up, she must have noticed Yuuri's scent and couldn't contain her excitement.

"Sorry Makka," Victor's eyebrows slanted downwards, "we are," Yuuri kissed his cupid's bow, he couldn't control the groan escaping his throat from the sensualness of that moment, "busy -"

Makkachin whined and the sound of her body gliding down against the door followed.

Yuuri chuckled into the nape of Victor's neck, "how much of what we are doing do you think she understands?"

"That's such an romantic thing to say," Victor snorted before throwing his head back, unable to contain his laughter. He wrapped his arms around Yuuri's waist, picked him up and lowered him onto the bed. He peeled Yuuri's dress shirt, now missing a button, from his chest, "hang on."

His dresser drawer opened and closed before he returned. Victor kneeled as he ripped the condom wrapper open with his teeth, "is it okay if I -"

Did he really have to ask? "Yes-" Yuuri's heart at his throat as Victor fingered at his belt first, then his zipper.

As Victor's warm lips closed in around him, Yuuri's back arched, as he gripped the white sheets with one hand, and with the other he clasped his mouth to muffle the sound beyond his control from escaping, all of his nerve endings lit on fire. A few of Victor hair brushed past Yuuri's inner thigh as Victor moved up and down.

Victor looked up from his long silvery lashes, he sped up, reading Yuuri's every reactions. As soon as Yuuri came close to finishing, he slowed down, drawing out these moments of pleasure.

Time, became irrelevant.

With flushed face, and panting a little, Yuuri propped himself up on his elbows, "Victor," his dark hair fell over his eyes, "can I see you?"

Victor stood up as Yuuri swung his legs over the edge of the bed. He nodded as he tilted Yuuri's chin up for another kiss while tugged at the string at his waist.

Suddenly, with one strong arm, Yuuri lifted him this time and laid him onto his back.

Victor, caught off guard from Yuuri's gesture of boldness, inhaled sharply, "you never fail to surprise me."

Yuuri's full warm weight now on top of him, his bare skin flushed, pressed against him, Victor's control escaped him.

The way Victor looked unraveling from his confident self, unraveling little by little drove Yuuri over the edge. His one hand curled around him, while their lips never parted. His other hand travelled past Victor's waist.

"Have you done this before?" Yuuri's fingers lingered over a certain place making his intentions explicit.

Victor blushed, his glance sideways, "maybe only a few times back in college."

Uncertainty looked good on him, Yuuri couldn't rip his eyes away from Victor's flushed cheeks and his trembling lips.

"Yuuri, I want you to -" before Victor finished his sentence. Yuuri stroked the side of his face.

"Let's go slow," Yuuri kissed the tip of his nose.

"Okay," Victor flashed him a shy smile meant for him alone, "I trust you."

Yuuri nodded. His hand closed around the small blue tube next to them and squeezed its contents onto his fingers, "you sure you want this?"

"Yea," Victor wrapped wrapped his arms around Yuuri and straddled Yuuri's hips with his legs, he nestled his face into the groove of Yuuri's neck.

Slowly Yuuri slid one finger in as Victor squeezed his eyes shut. He dug his heel into Yuuri's calf, his breaths interrupted. Yuuri adjusted the speed as he observed Victor's reaction from within his arms.

Victor's body shuddered with pleasure as he clawed at Yuuri's back, "more." Victor's voice muffled, his breaths hot against Yuuri's cheeks.

Yuuri slid in another finger, moving slow at first. Yuuri's other hand closed around Victor once more. The spring of the bed undulated underneath them, "that's far enough, we'll continue from here next time." Yuuri kissed his cheek, "I don't want to hurt you, especially for our first time."

Victor didn't protest, instead pleasure rippled through his body.

Then he left warm ribbons between them as the rest of the world faded, became irrelevant, as if they were the only ones in the entire universe.

Yuuri let go shortly thereafter.

Victor looked up at him and smiled. His smile used to be fake and pasted onto his face. But now, that smile contained a hint of shyness, meant for Yuuri alone.

Waiting for his breaths to return to evenness, Yuuri glanced at the clock on the wall. One thirty a.m., which meant, three and half hours of sleep before another day as an intern begun. Yuuri flipped over onto his back and and curled up next to Victor.

"I know you are tired, and yes, I know it was selfish of me," Victor ran his fingers through Yuuri's hair.

"Shh, selfish yes," Yuuri teased him, "I'm glad you have insight, the first step to change is to acknowledge that you have a problem."

"Hey!"

Yuuri let out a care free laugh, "but it's my favorite kind of selfish." His index finger tapped the tip of Victor's nose.

Victor made a face.

They laid tangled in each other, not wanting to let go. As much as they loved Thursdays, they both needed to see patients in a few hours.

Then Yuuri sighed, "you are going to have to lend me a shirt for walking back," he didn't have the energy to search for his missing button or to fix it. He sat up and tied a knot on the condom.

Right before Yuuri stood up, Victor grabbed his wrist, "stay."

Yuuri's heart fluttered, happiness buzzing and whirling through his veins.

"I'll lend you a toothbrush and a shirt," Victor flashed a mischievous smile.


Victor woke up on his own at the crack of dawn by reflex, cursing residency fucking with his biological clock in silence. The side of bed Yuuri slept on still warm. He rubbed his eyes, Yuuri's scent lingered, he buried his face into Yuuri's pillow.

The aroma of real breakfast wafted from the kitchen as he opened the door.

"Good morning," Yuuri flicked his wrist and flipped the omelette without needing a spatula.

"Yuuri, you didn't have to," Victor couldn't wipe the grin on his face. He ate cereal and occasion an energy bar on his way out in the morning. But most of the time, breakfast meant black coffee.

"You know how it is, it's impossible to sleep in as a resident, even if I try."

"I know, right?" Victor wrapped one arm around his shoulder and the other encircled his waist from behind him, he caught himself blushing, "hey Yuuri."

Yuuri turned off the stove.

"I was wondering," Victor kissed his neck, and buried his face into Yuuri's shoulders.

"Yes?"

"Will you be my boyfriend?"


That's NOT your shirt you are wearing...

Phichit's text suspicious.

Nope, it's not.

Yuuri texted his best friend back, grinning like an idiot but he didn't care.

It's my boyfriend's.

He typed that, then deleted it.

Phichit, you little shit. He decided to torture his best friend who loved gossip more than anything for a little longer. He must be dying right now seeing that I am typing but he's getting nothing.

Yuuri?! You have a lot of explaining to do.

Getting paged, ttyl

Yuuri emptied his second cup of coffee and returned to typing his progress notes.

He caught himself unable to control his smile.


Author's Note:

It's been a while!

I haven't forgotten about this story. This story will end next year in June, as I am portraying Yuuri at different points of his intern year in real time. He is about 5 months in at this point.

The background behind this chapter:

Prescription opioid (painkiller) abuse is an epidemic & tens of thousands of people overdose and die each year. There is a push for weaning off the controlled potentially addictive medications & finding alternative managements for chronic pain...However, it's not always easy explaining that to patients, rationalizing to them the harms of the medications that previously kept their pain at bay outweighing the benefits.

Everything here is fictional of course, so please don't take it too seriously. I wanted to share the underbelly & the darker, grittier side of the medical world. The intention is not making fun of patients.

I hope you enjoyed the dynamic between those two!

-A


re: reviews:

KisunaFuji: thanks's so much for your kind words, I hope you enjoy this one too.

MissMJS: it's been a while! Hope you'll read this one! I wanted to focus on finishing Demon Song, so this story is in the background for a while. I am working on another fantasy AU set in the same universe as DS, but in a different lifetime, where Otabek and Yuri are the main characters. The summary, I have to say, took more time to write than the first chapter lol.