Mercy

Yuri looked around while sitting across from Victor in their private booth and still couldn't believe it. "Y-You brought me to this fancy place?"

'And a limo no less? Who are you trying to impress?'

"Whatever you do, don't gawk," Victor teased, reading a menu.

Yuri rapidly blinked and looked down at the table. "Sorry..."

Victor shrugged. "Yes, well, it's been quite -er- awhile, no? I'd figure I'd at least humor us a little." He looked up with a start. "Waiter!" He flagged. "I'll have a bottle of this please," he quickly pointed to the menu.

The attendant nodded. "Very good, sir, I'll be back."

"A-A bottle?" Yuri stammered, digging his fingers into the plush, velvet seats.

Victor shrugged as he fixed his tie. "Can't order just shots. This isn't some hole in the wall so relax."

"O-Oh…that's fair…" Yuri's voice trailed off just as he turned his head and looked out the window. Past the crystal clear pane which nearly made up an entire wall of the restaurant, he saw couples were walking by on the streets while cars whizzed past under the night sky.

To Victor, Yuri was gorgeous as ever in that suit. Time didn't pass for them, sure, but still.

'Yet, I have no claim…no right to be beside him.' Victor frowned. 'But would be worse to have him gone," The Russian thought. 'Without him knowing…'

Nikiforov strummed the table. "Can I ask what you're thinking about?"

Yuri turned his head away from the window, but pretended to take interest in the short menus on the table as well as the fancy salt and pepper shakers. "Um…so Phichit told me…what you do…" Yuri shrugged. "Well…more so hinted…"

Victor rested his head in his hand, his elbow on the table. "Is that so? Mila then, I assume...I wonder what she was thinking..."

"Not much?" Yuri replied before clapping a hand over his mouth, looking down.

'I've got to get a damn grip!'

"O-Ouch," Victor chuckled but sighed in digress. "Hmm, well…I guess…the next question is, what do you think? Now that you know?"

The Japanese idly spun his still- wrapped silverware on the table. "Truthfully? Was I going to ever going to know?" Yuri looked up for a second. "Before our vows?"

Victor's shoulders fell a little. "You have Vadim to thank if you're curious."

Yuri kept spinning but frowned. "Yes well, blame your father all you want, but he wasn't the one who-"

The waiter by then returned.

Yuri held his lip. '-was in that cell…'

"Your vodka, gentlemen. Shall I pour the first?"

Nikiforov only gave a nod. The two of them sat in silence as the waiter did his job.

When the waiter had left they both had a shot glass while the bottle was left in ice on a stand beside their table.

Victor raised his glass. "Happy Birthday," he announced quietly before he shot it back and swallowed.

Yuri felt he'd sputter if he had taken his too. "Y-You brought me here for that?"

"Too? Da. It's been awhile, like I said." Victor shrugged.

Yuri sat there in silence as Victor refilled.

"You forgot, didn't you? Chris had a feeling you had."

"N-Not exactly…considering…" Yuri looked at his drink and mimicked Victor without taking another thought.

'Not much reason to celebrate…'

Blue eyes dimmed as Victor frowned. "Yes…I understand," he nodded, "but, again, I figured I'd at least try." He then sat up a little straighter with a start. "Ah. Swallow quickly."

"Hack -cough- jeez…I can't believe I f-forgot it burns." Yuri swore he was red in the face. "I was almost afraid to consume it there for -cough- a second."

Victor facepalmed. "That was from a two-thousand-dollar bottle and you're saying it burns?"

Yuri hammered his chest. "Hey, -cough- I sometimes find pepper -cough- too much, remem -wait- two-!"

Nikiforov placed a finger on Yuri's lips. "Yes, that much. Now can we at least try a little harder to enjoy it?"

The doctor watched that slender finger left his lips for a moment before he straightened up. "Y-Yes, sorry I," he stuttered as he shook his head. "I didn't handle that one very well."

The waiter stopped by with a complimentary basket of butter rolls and a relish platter and left without much of a word.

Yuri leaned sideways and took some bread. "So…it's always been?"

Victor gave a puzzled look at first and then nodded. "And I know it wasn't smooth of me to keep you in the dark. I mean, you told me your family's line of work, but you were raised into that life," he pointed out. "My father thought it would be smart to have the whole thing fall on my lap one day." The silver pakhan looked at his folded hands on the table. "I-I didn't know how to break it to you…"

Yuri's eyes were saucer-wide for a moment before he swallowed, wiping his hands off with the napkin before reaching for the vodka while sighing in aggravation. "Do you have any clue how much pain we could've prevented if you had just-!" He hissed as to not disturb the others.

'Just tell me. Speak to me.' The doctor could remember those words like yesterday.

"I broke spectacularly," Nikiforov grimaced, staring at the glass across from him as Yuri refilled it. "I replay that dreadful day all the time…as though I'm outside looking in."

Yuri's shoulders fell a bit. 'How often do you think I do?' He then cleared his throat and kicked his next shot back.

Victor set down his glass and took a dill pickle off the platter.

Yuri, meanwhile, and swallowed and cleared his throat. "A-After I left…these thoughts started to…um…fester…." His voice trailed off as he watched the shot glass turn around and around on the table between his fingers.

"What thoughts?" Nikiforov ventured.

"Were we really in love?" Yuri rose his shoulders up and pinched his eyes shut, unable to ask looking Victor in the eye who had about dropped his drink.

"W-What?"

Yuri fidgeted in his seat, opened his eyes, but kept his head low. "Y-You kept me…you…well," he looked side to side with his eyes, "you know, and…was that all we were?"

'I don't just love Yuri for sex!' Victor recalled his statement to his father immediately.

"I guess…we had some issues," the Russian admitted.

"Kind of hard to love when you only see the other so rarely," Yuri figured softly.

Victor raised his glass to the tilted bottle in his hand. "That's unfair, you know…"

Yuri winced and meekly looked up, but only to refill his glass in turn. "I know…but one can't help reflect on it considering."

Victor nodded in digress, letting out a sigh. "Well I'd toast to erasing the past and starting over, but I have a feeling that's more of a wish."

Yuri nodded as he set the bottle back in the ice. "Y-Yeah…"

Victor shot back his drink and swallowed.

Yuri had done the same.

Two glasses set. Two pairs of eyes met by chance.

Suddenly the noise in the room seemingly quieted. Time stood still in their little space, in their little corner of the world.

"But still?" Victor dared to ask.

Yuri nodded, unable to look away anymore. "But still."

'We had something,' Yuri admitted to himself.

'Is it still there?' Nikiforov hoped as he slid his hand across but a little. "I…want you to know…"

Yuri saw Victor's hand move forward discreetly from the corner of his eye, but didn't have the heart to retract his hand around his shot glass.

Victor leaned forward. "…that I am terri-"

Bacrash-bacrash-bacrash-bang!

It had started from the far end of the long wall-window. Bullets tore through the middle of the pane, injuring anybody that was in the crossfire.

To Victor, he considered himself lucky enough to see it was a car that drove past with a couple of machine guns as he got down to the floor to take cover.

'At least I can tell Chris later...those men are dead meat for interrupting my evening.'

When the sudden blitz of the drive-by was finished, leaving the window-wall utterly in ruin, the restaurant was in an uproar, smoky from knocked over table candles, full of frightened and mortified people who aimed to flee the scene if they could. There in the chaos, Victor looked up, over his right shoulder to see Yuri's eyes were rolled back into his head as his temple had been shot into from the side.

Victor scrambled from the floor and propped Yuri up immediately.

'Dear Eternal! Yuri, wake up!' He patted the Japanese's cheek as he plucked bits of glass off of Yuri's body. 'You know I'd shout for you if that wouldn't draw attention! Wake up! Please!'

As though someone was pushing the bullet out from the inside, the piece of metal exited Yuri's skull and eventually dropped into Victor's awaiting hand.

Victor placed the bullet into his pocket. 'Yep. Those individuals are dead.'

A manager in heels rushed over. "A-Are you all right?!"

"Oh, I don't know, please help!" Victor feigned distress as he threw his arms around her and turned her body away from Yuri in order to distract her from the doctor's healing.

She patted his back. "There, there, the police are coming."

Yuri blinked, looking at the ceiling, and blinked once more before he turned his head to see Victor looking at him while in a woman's arms.

'W-Why do you look like you're going to cry?' Yuri furrowed his brow, confused, and open his mouth about to say something.

Victor raised a finger to his lips to signal Yuri to hush.

'Pretend.' Yuri read his lips and proceeded to do just that, holding his head as though he were merely knocked out temporarily.

Victor let the woman go. "Oh thank heavens," he exaggerated. "Miss, we're good, thanks!"

In a daze to what happened the woman nodded and proceeded to see if others needed help.

-Bam!-

"Is bringing me back here to the study really necessary? After all that, we should call it a night, no?" Yuri asked. "I'll take my arm back now too."

Victor let Yuri go but firmly sat Yuri down on the couch. "Stay." He commanded as he briskly walked towards his desk.

Yuri folded his arms and stood up defiantly. "You're barking orders again."

"It's what I do, all right?" Victor replied, walking around his desk. "Can't live forever and be the same." He pounded a couple of phone keys. "So spare me a little understanding," he whispered as the phone rang, "and stay."

"Y'ello?" It was Chris who yawned as he answered.

"Get in here. Get Georgi too. I don't care if you're half naked in . I have an assignment."

"You're not killing someone!" Yuri cried.

"Er...boss?"

"Get in here."

-Click-

"On it!" Chris was out the door first.

"I'll start the hunt tonight!" Georgi declared.

-Slam!-

"W-Well that was quick," Yuri remarked in awe fifteen minutes later, unable to do a damn thing in the end. "Are you sure your 'investigation' will be fruitful this time of night?" Yuri placed his hands on his hips as he sighed. "Because I give up."

Victor started to come back around from behind his desk. "Eight minutes."

Yuri spun around "W-What?"

"You stormed off back then."

"Are you?" Yuri rapidly blinked before he frowned. "You've got to be kidding…"

"I told you before," Victor continued to walk forward. "I want you."

Yuri walked backwards, towards the wall opposite from the desk. "H-How can you possibly still be so insistent? Haven't you been listening to me?"

Victor kept moving forward. "Yeah, well, then you got shot."

"O-Oh…" But Yuri kept moving back, however he couldn't look away from Victor either.

"Even if it was for a snippet of time. I never want to see death on your face that again so let me protect you."

"S-Sometimes I feel I only need protection from you." Yuri felt his back reach the wall. "W-What is with you cornering me?"

Nikiforov placed his hands on either side of Yuri's shoulders, pressing his large hands on the wall. "I…uh, guess it's to…ensure you don't run? I'm sick of seeing your back."

Yuri huffed through his nose. "Drama queen…"

Victor rolled his eyes. "Yeah, yeah… Look. Hate me, throw your fists at me for another hundred years if you must, but I'd rather have you do this here than across the sea where I can't feel you."

"You..." Yuri's wide eyes dimmed, "are a masochist," he deadpanned.

"Nn~ you know what I mean..." Nikiforov whined.

Yuri dry laugh. "Yeah, yeah...Dear Eternal this is messed up.

Victor rested his forehead on Yuri's, "Just…mercy…please…" and gently placed his hands on Yuri's shoulders.

Yuri's eyes dimmed further under his long lashes brought closer together. "V..."

"Three hundred years…" Victor sighed, placing his head onto Yuri's shoulder. "Hate me tomorrow...just not right now..."

'If you ever loved me….is that it?' Yuri sensed as he felt Victor's large hands slide down the sides of his arms. "Vi..." But he held his lip as he looked at his silver head of hair.

Tick, tok tic…

Yuri eventually sighed and raised his chin to look up to the ceiling. "So…here I thought we wanted closure…but now it seems you want a truce." He wondered aloud, partially seeking to confirm. "After all this time…after flipping my world upside down you want me to hang up my heart and just let you do what you want?"

"No…" Victor shook his head, brushing his locks by Yuri's cheek. "I need a truce. I ache. I needed you to come home." With wet eyes, Victor lifted his head, lowering his hands down to brush along the tops of Yuri's. "I need you," he lifted those tan hands up, "to stay…please…" and finished with taking Yuri's hands into his own.

'If you ever loved me.' The notion wrapped around Yuri's heart now, too, and squeezed.

Mercy please. It was written all over Victor's face.

Yuri nibbled his bottom lip and looked away for a moment. "You…you're a piece of work…dragging me around…expecting me to drop it…"

"I can't argue with you there…"

Yuri returned to look into those blue depths. "I know we aren't saints. Everyone keeps saying that, but…but you…"

Victor tilted his head. "But still?"

"Yeah, it still hurts," the doctor sighed. "I just-"

It was sudden. But it was gentle and light.

Victor recoiled from his impulse, knitting his brow. "Sorry I…"

Yuri gave his ex-lover an even gaze, passing the tip of his tongue between his pressed lips. He was a little surprised with himself he wasn't upset. Instead the brief kiss had sent a pleasant tingle down his spine. He hadn't expected that and, yet, his heart fluttered all the same.

"V-Vic-"

A long finger over his lips hushed him before chilly lips pressed lightly, innocently, against his tan cheek as if to test if this was okay.

'Stupid, Victor. You already crossed that line when you kissed me in the car.'

But Yuri remained still.

"Please…" Victor whispered in Yuri's ear, brushing the black hair with the tips of his fingers, "mercy…please…"

Another gentle kiss, this time Yuri pressed back if only a little.

'I'm being swept away…but…'

One had turned into two, then three. Each one Yuri could feel he was being coaxed out of his shell out a bit more.

'You loved him deeply once.' Yuri recalled Phichit's words as he slowly brought his hands up to hold onto the lapels of Victor's jacket. 'I did.'

The doctor's heart squeezed as the kisses deepened ever slightly with each passing one.

'But this still isn't right…' Yuri argued with himself.

"Please..." Victor whispered between their lips, wrapping his arms around the smaller frame protectively about the waist.

'Choose to stay or move on...'

Victor pulled back to rest his forehead on Yuri's once again. "I miss you…everything…our lives come in endless supply, but…"

'Yuri's laugh, humor, kindness, everything that makes him...'

"I had royally screwed up. I know…but I need you…" Victor lifted his head. Yuri shook his head. "You hurt me…and mother..."

'Where am I supposed to put all my resentment?'

Victor drew Yuri closer in their embrace. "Please…I am terribly sorry…"

But Yuri shook his head. "Do you know what you even did?" The doctor asked, starting to tremble. "You took her away from me on top of already hurting me in unimaginable ways…" Yuri looked at his ex straight in the eyes. "You forcibly took love from me…"

Victor's shoulders fell. "What kind of apology can possibly make memories go away?"

Yuri shook his head. "You know there isn't one."

Victor dropped his hands to his sides. "If I can't be by your side, your forgiveness is the closure I need before you leave," Victor admitted before his blue eyes melted. "I hope you can grant me at least that one day."

"If I forgive you, I will not be considered weak or seduced," Yuri finalized. "It will be my choice."

"I understa-" Victor's soft voice hitched in pain.

Yuri tilted his head. "What is it?"

Victor stepped back. "Frankly I need doctor if anything at the moment."

"H-Huh? W-Wait. What are you doing?"

Victor started to unbutton his shirt. "Get your mind out of the gutter." Victor left his shirt on but revealed his torso.

Unaffected by the blood and drama unlike last time, Yuri gasped at the revealed sight now made clear and ran a hand down Victor's chest and stomach, lightly touching the raised lines. "These scars…how in the world…" he shook his head, "don't tell me you did this to yourself?"

'Though we don't sustain injuries otherwise.'

"Between the self-loathing guilt and the craze of our heats, some things don't heal." Victor confessed. "I, uh, quite literally bear the backfire of my actions…some of my nerves acted up just now…"

'How many years did he hold the urges back? What kind of torture must that have been?'

"Baka…" Yuri whispered. "To be suffering this much..."

Victor remained silent.

Yuri raised up his hands and frame Victor's face. "What is wrong with you?"

Victor rested his hands on Yuri's hips. "I'm broken," he finally confessed. A single truth he couldn't avoid anymore. "Vadim strove to break me, to fit a mold that he wanted…but in turn I broke us," he choked out as tears threatened to fall. "I-I should've been st-strong- a-and I-"

Yuri pulled his silver head back into the crook of his neck and held on tight, smelling the familiar fresh scent of pine of mint as he wrapped his other arm around Victor's neck. 'Dear Eternal…help us…I don't know what to do.'

Thank you for reading!