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Yuu gritted their teeth, trying to ignore the throbbing pain in their ribs and concentrate on their work. The effort was futile, the pain too distracting for them to think past it.
"You can always ask us for help."
Their friends' words echoed in their head, and they reached out, grabbing their phone with trembling fingers. Opening their contacts, they tapped on the first person who could help them, but glancing at the time made them hesitate. Was it already three A.M.?
Did always extend to this late at night?
They turned their phone off and set it to the side with a sigh, sure that Trey wouldn't want them bothering him this late, especially for something that wasn't an emergency.
It was fine. They didn't need painkillers that badly.
They didn't matter anyway, did they?
Another stab of pain flowing through their ribs like a fire made them reconsider.
If Trey got upset with them, they could always apologize later.
Before they could second-guess themselves, they turned their phone back on and pushed the call button on Trey's contact.
One ring. Then another.
The call was picked up.
"Yuu?" Trey's voice was thick with sleep and they felt fear course through their veins at the idea that this had been a mistake.
"Trey," they choked out, pain making tears well up in their eyes.
"Are you okay? Do you need anything?" He suddenly sounded much more awake for some reason.
"I..." They bit their lip anxiously.
"What is it?"
"I'm really sorry to bother you, but do you know where I can get painkillers?" They blurted out.
Silence.
Apologies spilled out of their mouth before Trey cut them off.
"I'll be at Ramshackle in fifteen minutes."
"W-what?"
"I'm coming over to Ramshackle in a few minutes. Do you need anything other than painkillers?"
"Y-you don't have to-"
"Yuu," Trey cut them off gently. "I know that I don't have to do this. I want to do this. Now, do you need anything else?"
"I- I'm fine..."
"I'm leaving Heartslabyul now, do you want me to stay on call with you?"
"I don't want to be a bother."
"You could never be a bother to me," Trey promised. "You can always come to me if you need help."
"...could you stay on call with me?"
"Of course."
"Thanks."
"Do you want to talk about it, or would you rather me distract me?"
"I..." They stared at their scarred hands. "I don't think I can talk about it yet."
"Okay, that's fine. Do you mind me just rambling about what I've been up to?"
"I think I'd like that."
"Alright so..." He began rambling about how he caught Ace and Deuce trying to break one of the Queen's Rules because they were about to be late for curfew. The rule in question, Rule #648, stated that one must brush their teeth twice over after eating turkey.
"And I kept asking them to open their mouths for me to check as a force of habit," he concluded.
Yuu giggled at his story, a hiss of pain slipping from between their teeth at the sudden movement.
"Yuu? Are you okay?"
"Ow."
"What happened?"
"Laughing may not be a good idea with broken ribs," they commented absently.
"Shoot, sorry about that," he apologized quickly.
"No, it's fine."
"I'm at Ramshackle now."
They started to push themselves to their feet, biting back a groan of pain as pain spiked through their ribs. Tears of pain slipped from their eyes which were squeezed shut.
"...Yuu?"
A broken whimper tore itself from their throat at the pain, black spots dancing in their vision.
Trey cursed as their phone dropped to the ground. He glanced around, climbing through the nearest broken window. Coughing at the dust that lifted into the air, he raced to Yuu's room to find them curled up on the ground, arms wrapped around their torso.
He dropped to his knees beside them, taking their hands into his grip. His fingers brushed across their knuckles as he began to speak to them gently.
"Yuu. If you can, listen to me okay?"
He received a small nod in response.
"Focus on the feeling of my hands. Try to focus on something other than the pain."
"Hurts," they gasped out, panting.
"You're going to be okay. Concentrate on my voice."
Whispering a steady stream of reassurances into their ear, he gently squeezed their hands, hoping to provide as much comfort to them as possible.
After a while, they opened their eyes, and he saw that their irises had faded to white with pain.
"Feeling better?"
"Y-yeah. Sorry about that."
He shook his head. "Don't be." Reaching into his schoolbag, he pulled out some painkillers and a bottle of water. "Here."
"Th-thank you."
The tension in their shoulders slowly drained as the painkiller began to set in. A sigh of relief slipped out of their mouth and their eyes shifted to a mix of gold and light pink.
"Sorry again about waking you up this late..."
"Yuu," the tone of his voice made them lift their gaze from the floor to make eye contact with him. "I promise you, no matter what time of the day, no matter where I am, no matter how trivial, you can always ask me for help."
They stared at him with wide, acid-green eyes, before throwing themselves at him, wrapping scarred arms around his body.
"Thank you. For everything you've done for me."
His arms snaked around their body, being careful to not agitate their injuries anymore. "Always."