Chapter Text
When Chay woke up, he expected to be alone in the bed, but Kim was still there, still having one arm wrapped around him while doing something on his phone.
“Did you even get some sleep, P’Kim?” Chay muttered, hoping Kim didn’t spend the night just hugging him instead of sleeping.
“I did,” Kim assured him with a small smile on his face. He wasn’t about to say that he slept better than usual. Surely it had to be just because of the quite stressful day he had which must have exhausted him a lot and not because of Chay cuddling with him. “How are you feeling?” Kim asked and moved a strand of hair from Chay’s eyes.
“Ehm… I’ve been better?” Chay said honestly, feeling the pain of his body was slowly but surely waking up as well.
“I’ll get you the painkillers. Then you can either stay here or you can lay down on the sofa but you will be resting, ok?” Kim said while carefully unhugging Chay and getting out of the bed.
“The whole day?” Chay frowned.
“The whole time you’ll be here,” Kim shook his head, not leaving a room for debate about that.
“I can’t spend like three days laying in a bed,” Chay shook his head in refusion, ignoring the tone of Kim’s voice that usually worked like a charm when Kim wanted to make people do as he says.
“But that’s exactly what you’re going to do,” Kim said firmly, but still gently, and went to his bathroom to get Chay the painkillers. He came back with a pill and a glass of water.
“Take this. I am going to make some breakfast.”
“You don’t have to…”
“If you are not feeling up to leaving the bed then I will bring it here,” Kim said, ignoring Chay’s attempts to protest.
“I can. Leave the bed I mean. I think I’d prefer to be on the sofa anyway,” Chay said, not wanting to spend the whole day in Kim’s bedroom all alone.
Kim nodded and helped Chay to get safely down the stairs.
Once Chay and Kim were downstairs, Kim told Chay he can go wash up if he wants to while Kim will bring the pillows and a blanket for Chay to be comfortable on the sofa.
When Chay came back from the bathroom he saw that Kim turned the sofa in the most cozy looking place Chay could imagine.
“Come on, lay down and rest,” Kim said when he noticed Chay returned from the bathroom.
Chay smiled a bit and went to do as Kim said.
“P’Kim…” Chay started while watching Kim making breakfast.
“Uh-huh?” Kim asked while focusing on cooking.
“Your brother… the one who would hurt a fly if he had to… what exactly can he do when he’ll come back?” Chay switched between playing with the hem of the blanket and looking at Kim’s back.
“He will send you back home and make sure you will stay there,” Kim said without a hesitation and then looked over his shoulder at Chay. “But I can’t promise you that he will do anything about the debt,” Kim added, correctly guessing what Chay was thinking about.
Chay looked down in disappointment but nodded a bit in understanding.
“But… maybe he could work something out… our family owns quite a lot of businesses around the town so maybe he could find your brother some better paid job to make it easier to pay off the debt,” Kim shrugged.
“Businesses?” Chay asked, obviously not very happy that Porsche would have to work for Kim's family, considering what kind of family it was.
“Bars… Casinos… places like that. Your brother is a barman, right? So I am sure we would find something for him to do.”
“And… will Vegas and Pete still be in charge of taking care of…” Chay started quietly.
“No. That is something I will personally make sure. But I really doubt Kinn would allow them to be handling it after this anyway,” Kim said seriously which made Chay relaxed visibly upon hearing that. It didn’t matter that there was still quite a lot of money to pay back, when he and Porsche don’t have to pay it back to Vegas and Pete then things are going to be alright. Or, well, maybe not alright but definitely better than now, right? It could hardly be worse anyway.
Kim brought the breakfast and put it on the coffee table so Chay could remain on the sofa.
“It’s very good,” Chay said after the first bite and Kim nodded as a silent thank you while eating.
After the breakfast Kim made sure Chay had anything and everything he needed and that he moved as little as possible.
Chay was just nodding off when a sound of opening the front door made him look towards the entrance hall. Kim was in his office, he said he just needed to quickly do something and then he’ll come back to the living room soon. Kim was in his office but someone was trying to open the front door? No, not trying, someone did open the front door.
Chay's breathing got faster and faster as he heard soft footsteps getting closer.
Chay let out a breath of relief when he saw a familiar face.
“Oh, hey… how are you doing?” Big asked, clearly surprised by the state Chay was in. Kim told him what happened but hearing it and seeing Chay black and blue in person were two different things so it did catch Big by surprise.
Chay shrugged, not sure what to tell the other man. He assumed that since Big was able to get into Kim's apartment on his own, he was someone Chay could trust, but he still wasn't sure what he was allowed to tell him.
“Chay? Do you need something?” Kim called from his office when he heard someone talking.
“No. But your boyfriend is here!” Chay shouted back, biting his cheek as an almost identical expression of shock and disbelief that had appeared on Kim's face yesterday now showed up on Big's as well.
“What?” Kim asked, confused, as he came closer and the next moment walked out of his office and looked at Big. “I told you that we’re just…” Kim started while gesturing between himself and Big, who quickly hid his expression of shock and put on an amused smirk when he saw an opportunity to mess with his best friend.
“What? Just friends? After all we’ve been through? Come on, Kim… don’t kid yourself,” Big smirked flirtatiously and winked at Kim who had no idea what to say to that which made Chay trying really hard not to laugh, mainly because his side and ribs didn’t like the tremor very much.
“Get in, I’ll be there in a moment,” Kim looked at Big and pointed towards his office, feeling like it might be better for Big and Chay to not be in the same room.
As Big walked away obediently, he gave Chay a friendly wink, which the younger one responded to with a giggle.
“I hope you enjoyed meeting him because this was the last time you ever saw him,” Kim looked at Chay.
“Am I getting another death threat?” Big called from the office and Chay had to try not to laugh again when Kim frowned in the direction in his office before he just rolled his eyes and followed his friend there. Before he left he turned to Chay and asked him if he didn't need anything, but Chay assured him that he was fine.
Chay was curious about what Kim and Big were talking about but he knew he was in no state to be able to quietly sneak up to the door to hear the two talking so he just stayed in his comfy, cozy makeshift bed.
*
“So how did it go? Did he get the money?” Kim asked the second he closed the door.
“Yes. Porsche cashed out quite a handsome amount of money. More than just a well earned amount. I really hope we’ll manage to help him with the debt soon… I don’t know how long he will be able to keep going like that…”
“What do you mean?” Kim frowned.
“He keeps getting in one fight after another to get more money to keep Chay safe.”
“Then make sure he’ll not get himself killed,” Kim told Big, who just snorted.
“You wouldn’t be saying that if you’d met him. Porsche’s stubborn as fuck,” Big explained when Kim raised his eyebrows in a silent question.
"Keep an eye on him. Say anything you need to keep him safe and more importantly alive. Tell him you know whoever is betting that much money on him and that that someone won't stop as long as he keeps winning or whatever you think will work."
“I’ll do my best. What about Kinn? Anything new?”
“He will finish his business and return to Thailand soon,” Kim hoped he was right. He is trying to speed up Kinn’s return as much as possible. But there always can be unexpected problems which Kinn would be forced to deal with.
“Is he really sure that a phone call wouldn’t be enough to help Chay?”
“If he’s not around, Vegas and Pete are outnumbered. He can tell them to let Chay go but they might end up killing him and just call it an accident. Kinn needs to show up in person for them to not dare to do anything but let Chay go back home.”
“You’re right,” Big agreed.
“Did you get another burner phone?”
“I did,” Big nodded and reached into his pocket to give Kim the phone. “Make sure to tell Chay to think twice before sharing too much with Porsche,” he added, correctly figuring out why had Kim asked for a back up burner phone.
“He’s smarter than you think,” Kim muttered while checking the battery of the disposable phone. Almost full, good.
“I bet he is,” Big smirked, feeling like Kim is getting way too invested in the whole thing.
Kim looked up at Big, a strand of his hair falling into his eyes. “Aren’t you supposed to be on your way to… do literally anything but being anywhere near here?” he asked, not liking what Big’s tone and the smug smirk were suggesting.
“Sure… let me know if you or Chay need anything,” Big grinned even more before going to say goodbye to Chay on his way out of the apartment.
*
Kim spent the rest of Chay's stay making sure the boy got as much peace and quiet as possible and, most importantly, that he had everything he needed, if Kim was able to provide it.
Everything seemed to be going well during the few days. Suspiciously well. Almost perfect. Worryingly well. Chay rested, was fed by Kim and could talk to Porsche as much as he wanted. He warned Porsche that he might soon get his old phone back, the one with the bug that Vegas and Pete had planted there, and that they couldn't talk about the conversations they'd had because if Vegas or Pete found out about it, the doctor who had kept lending Chay his phone would get in trouble for it. Porsche understood and assured Chay that he wouldn't make a mistake or say anything suspicious.
Everything went well until the moment when the third day of Chay's stay was coming to an end and Chay, out of the blue, realized that he would soon have to return to Vegas' house. That he had to be with Pete again soon. And that's when his carefully constructed castle in the clouds came crashing down on him with the force of a natural disaster.
While being pampered by Kim, who really did anything he could to make Chay happy, Chay almost forgot, or maybe just brought himself to ignore the fact that he would inevitably have to return to his own personal hell on Earth.
Chay was sure that he wouldn’t survive that again. None of that. Neither Pete's uncontrollable mood swings, which had recently ended not only in spitefulness but in physical violence towards Chay, nor any form of intimacy with Vegas or Pete. Just thinking about it made him feel sick.
How could he pretend now that he knew how cruel they could be? How could he persuade his body to do anything when his mind absolutely refused? How could he go back to that hell house when it was so much safer with Kim. And why on earth did his one and only protective barrier from Pete want to send him back to insecurity?
“Chay… everything will be ok, just…” Kim felt helpless. Terribly, terribly helpless. How the hell did other people deal with such feelings on a regular basis? One would have to go crazy.
“No, let me stay here,” Chay swallowed while desperately clenching Kim's shirt. He wasn’t crying just yet, but there were tears already building behind his eyes. Kim hated to see Chay like that, really hated it.
“Please… just keep me here. Just tell Pete something… I don’t know what but… just let me stay here,” Chay stepped closer to Kim. He would do anything to convince Kim to let him stay. Absolutely anything. Deep down, he knew that something in him would ultimately be destroyed if he had to go back. If he survived at all.
“Chay, I can’t. But I…”
“I promise you will not have to take care of me anymore. You will not even notice I am here, P’Kim. Just… please…” Chay begged urgently.
Kim didn’t mind taking care of Chay in the slightest and he wouldn’t mind continuing in doing so. It was just that he couldn’t. He had to follow the fucking plan.
“Actually… I can be useful… and… and…if you’ll let me stay I can… we can…” Chay didn’t even have to say aloud what he was thinking, Kim knew anyway. Chay's brain clung to the only thing he had had to offer. His body.
Kim knew what Chay was suggesting but he moved back a second too late because Chay was already sinking down on his knees and reaching for Kim’s belt.
“Chay, no!” Kim immediately stopped Chay and crouched down in front of him, still holding his hands to keep them in a safe distance from his crotch.
“I can make you feel good… really good… please,” Chay sobbed, in an obviously last frantic attempt to make Kim change his mind.
“We are not doing that, Chay,” Kim said firmly, but tried to make his voice sound gentle. Chay flinched as if Kim shouted at him anyway.
Chay began to cry and beg even harder. Kim didn’t even think about if it's a good idea or not and pulled Chay in a hug, hoping Chay would give up on trying to trade his body for being allowed to stay at Kim’s place a bit longer.
Kim couldn't deny that he liked Chay a lot, well, maybe a little more than a lot, but he knew that there was no way he was going to let it go too far. At least not in the situation they were currently in. And not in any other situation they would find themselves in over the next few weeks. Maybe never. Some things might have been destined to remain unexplored.
“Kinn will be back soon. You won't be there much longer, but if I try to persuade Pete to let you stay, he might get suspicious,” Kim muttered against Chay’s ear while running his hand up and down his back when it seemed like Chay got through the worst wave of crying, so Kim felt like he could try to reason with the boy.
“But he can’t get in here,” Chay whined while hiding his face in the crook of Kim's neck, referring to the door to Kim’s apartment. “No one can get in here. It’s safe. I need…”
“But he can get to your brother,” Kim whispered, hating to use that against Chay.
Chay wailed and started to cry again, knowing that Kim was right. Maybe Chay would be safe here but Porsche was still out there. Chay was sure that even if Kim would bring Porsche in and let him stay as well, Pete would sooner or later manage to get to them anyway. They for sure couldn’t be hiding in Kim’s apartment forever, could they? And even if. Pete seemed crazy and lunatic enough to blow up half the building if he put his mind to it. With the help of Vegas, they would even make it into Kim's Fort Knox.
“I make sure that Porsche will have enough money to never be late with the payment again so Pete will have absolutely no reason to hurt you, ok?” Kim pulled back a bit to take a proper look at Chay.
It broke his heart to see how devastated and shattered Chay looked. While Chay was with him, Kim had managed to keep his spirits up. He liked to see Chay happy and laughing. Now he could hardly bear to see the tears in the boy's eyes.
“Just hold on a bit longer, Chay. Porsche will keep paying on time and in a week or two Kinn will be back and then you’ll be going back home, ok?” Kim gently wiped the tears from Chay's face, only for new ones to follow immediately afterwards.
“Two weeks?” Chay shook his head, shocked and in denial, as if by disagreeing he could make Kinn come back sooner.
“I am so sorry, angel,” Kim whispered, genuinely seeming to feel bad for the bad news. “He ran into some issues but… don’t worry he’ll be back soon,” Kim sounded as if he wanted to convince himself of this too.
“But…”
“I'll keep telling Vegas to send you here, don't worry,” Kim promised. “They won't deny me that."
Chay sniffled softly and finally nodded. It was comforting to know that he would still be able to get to Kim's apartment. This was almost funny, because before Chay had been terrified to even go near Kim's apartment, but now the fact that he would be spending a couple hours a day there was almost reassuring to Chay.
"But you have to keep pretending that you don't want to come here, okay?" Kim reminded him and Chay nodded again while nervously biting his lower lip.
*
When Chay entered the house everything seemed almost too quiet. There were some bodyguards here and there, minding their own business, but no sign of Vegas or Pete so Chay cautiously headed in the direction of his room.
When Chay opened the door his heart almost stopped as he saw Pete sitting on his bed.
“Hello, pet,” that bastard smiled and stood up.
Chay swallowed nervously. He wanted to run away, but his body seemed to be frozen with fear.
“Well… You don’t look so good, but I still expected it to be worse,” Pete noted while seeing Chay’s eyes that were still a bit red and swollen from his crying earlier.
“Did you have fun with Kim?” Pete tilted his head to the side while walking towards Chay who didn’t know what he should answer nor what he should make his body do.
“I guess it was more Kim who had fun, right?” A cruel chuckle followed the words. Chay was quite glad Pete kept talking since that saved Chay from having to answer.
“I thought you’d get a few more bruises… “ Pete muttered while placing a hand on the wall, next to Chay’s head. “But Kim always had been more into his little mind games I guess…” he added and raised his other hand to gently stroke Chay’s cheek before he grabbed his chin forcefully.
“Did you learn your lesson?” Pete asked and Chay quickly nodded, as much as he could.
“I… I am sorry for running away,” Chay said when Pete raised his eyebrows in a silent question.
“Good…” Pete let go of Chay’s chin and patted his cheek before he stepped back. “We’ll have to catch up later. I have some work to do now,” On his way to the door he added. “We’ll let you know when Kim will want to see you again. I am sure his fun with you isn’t over yet, pet.”
“I... I thought that… please don’t…” Chay started, trying to convincingly panic upon hearing that.
“Oh, pet… did you really think Kim was done with you?” Pete laughed and looked at Chay who felt tears in his eyes while nodding. Luckily recently, tearing up was not an issue when Chay was around Pete, so he used that to his advantage.
“Come on… me and Vegas can’t be that selfish to keep you just to ourselves, can we?” Pete smirked, satisfied with seeing more tears in Chay’s eyes and left the room.
Chay let out a breath of relief, caused both by Pete being gone and by the fact Pete seemed to believe that Chay hates even the idea of going back to Kim’s apartment.
Chay noticed his backpack on his bed, so he went there and took out his cell phone. The battery was dead, as he hadn't touched it for almost three days.
While his phone was still charging, he called Porsche, who, like the star he is, convincingly pretended that this was the first time he and Chay had spoken since the incident.
After they finished talking, Chay had the phone fully charged and went to change. Kim gave him back the clothes he was wearing when he ran away so it wouldn't look suspicious, and although they were cleaner now that Kim had thrown them in the washing machine with his own clothes, Chay still felt like the blood, his blood, was on them, so he wanted to take them off and preferably never put them on again.
Just as he was about to take off his shirt, someone burst into the room, causing Chay to jump up in a panic, thinking Pete had come back. Fortunately, it wasn't Pete.
Before Chay knew what was happening, he was being pulled in a hug.
“We were so fucking worried,” Arm said and hugged Chay tighter, making the boy whimper when both Arm and Pol were crushing him into their embraces.
“Shit… fuck… sorry,” They immediately let go of Chay and stepped back.
“Are you alright? Where are you hurt?” Arm was pushing Chay towards the bed to use it as a makeshift examination table.
“I… it’s ok. I am fine,” Chay tried to convince him but didn’t protest when Pol pulled his shirt up to see his torso.
“Shit,” Pol said when he saw the ugly bruises.
“Lay down, we’re going to take a look at how bad it is,” Arm placed his hand on Chay’s shoulder, pushed him down softly and began to examine his ribs and stomach.
“Pete… he said that you were with Kim this whole time… is it true?” Pol asked carefully, as if hoping for Chay to deny it but when Chay just nodded Pol and Arm fell into exchanging concerned looks.
Chay wasn’t surprised that Pete told them about it. Arm and Pol probably had asked where he was and Pete had been more than happy to tell them that Chay was in the hands of someone who’ll make the boy’s life a little bit more painful. At least that was what Pete believed.
“Chay, you need to tell us what happened. We need to know what he did to you,” Arm insisted.
“Nothing.”
“Chay we will not tell anyone. He will not find out what you told us, but we have to make sure he didn’t do any permanent damage,” Pol said.
“N… nothing really. No permanent damage,” Chay assured them. He really couldn’t come up with anything he could tell them. He obviously couldn’t tell them the truth since they would probably not even believe him. Oh, Kim? Yeah, he just kept feeding me snacks, ridiculously expensive but delicious food while forcing me to rest 24/7. There was no way in hell anyone would believe Chay if he would say that aloud.
Arm and Pol looked at each other again. “Ok… get up, then,” Arm said and Pol began to gently help Chay on his feet.
“W… what? Where…” Chay asked, a bit confused. Not worried at all, he knew he could trust the two so he knew they would never hurt him.
“We’re going to do an overall body checkup,” Arm said.
“Do what now?”
“You can’t tell us what happened while you were with Kim? Fine. Then I am going to run every possible and impossible test there is to make sure you are alright.”
Chay couldn’t help but smile, really touched by the care.
“And don’t even think of trying to protest. He’s the doctor, he knows better,” Pol said when he saw Chay was about to say that this wouldn’t be necessary.
“You bet I do.”
After Arm was done with all the tests he could think of, it was almost dinner time and Chay was told to join Vegas and Pete at the dining room.
When Chay entered the room his two keepers were already there. Vegas examined Chay, running his eyes over the boy's body, taking in the bruises that weren’t hidden under the clothes but said nothing at all. What was Chay expecting him to say anyway? To apologize? To assure Chay that it will not happen again? No, Chay knew that Vegas didn’t care about him enough to really feel any of those things.
Vegas might not be really interested in hurting Chay himself but he will not stop Pete from doing so. He had absolutely no intention to ruin his beloved deranged husband’s fun. Not when all Pete wants to do is to hurt some teenage boy who’s in their house because his family owes Vegas' family money.
“Hello pet,” Pete greeted him with a smile but Chay really couldn’t be fooled by Pete’s smiles, no matter how convincing they seemed to be. Not anymore. Now Chay saw the spark in Pete’s eyes, a dangerous spark that was there all the time. Chay had no idea how he didn’t see it before but now he knew better so he knew no matter how nice and convincing Pete’s smile is Chay can’t let that lure him in a fake sense of security.
“Come on, sit down and eat up… you’re going to need to regain your strength after the mess you got yourself in,” Pete said. “I don’t suppose Kim was really wasting too much food on you, was he?” His face faked a concerned frown. Chay knew that it was just a mask, just pretending but now he understood why he was so easily fooled by Pete before. Pete’s false concern was very convincing.
Chay sat down and put some food on his plate ignoring that Pete clearly blamed what happened solely on Chay. Because of course it was Chay’s fault, right? Kim had been of course wasting more than just his food on Chay. But Pete and Vegas could never find out. That was Chay's secret and his ray of hope in this dark place.
*
Kim sat at the kitchen island, poking at his dinner with little interest. He barely registered the taste, actually, he barely remembered what he had even ordered. The apartment felt different. Too quiet. Too still.
Chay had only been here for a few days, yet Kim had already grown used to the background noise of his presence. Now, without him, the silence settled in like an unwelcome guest.
Kim exhaled, his gaze drifting toward the sofa. The same sofa Chay had all but claimed as his own, where he would lounge comfortably, legs tucked beneath him, absently munching on Kim’s overpriced snacks.
Now, it looked empty.
And for some reason, that bothered Kim more than it should.