Chapter Text
Yev was incredibly stressed. He had a test and three assignments due next week that he was nowhere near ready for or done with; his mom and dad were fighting over something dumb again, but did unite for an hour in order to ground Yev for sneaking out with Riley again; and most of his spare time was now dedicated to work or school, so he didn’t have time for anything fun. And he most definitely didn't have time for any drama.
Just as he was thinking over all he had to do, Emma approached him as he was leaving school. She had a black eye and she was crying. Even though they didn’t hook up since he got with Yev, Yev still cared about Emma of course, and if she got hurt, he would kill anyone who did it. He was protective over people like that. Ian always said it was a Milkovich thing before smiling at his dad.
‘Emma, what the fuck happened?’ Yev gasped, lightly stroking around the bruise and wincing. ‘Who did this to you?’
‘I didn’t want to say anything, Yev…I know how much you like him,’ Emma sniffed, looking positively miserable.
Yev frowned. ‘Em, there’s no one I could like enough to make what they did to you acceptable. C’mon, tell me, who did this?’
‘Riley,’ Emma said, eyes tearing up. ‘It was Riley.’
Yev had never had a panic attack before, but if this is what they felt like, he now understood Riley going almost catatonic during them. Everything felt like it was on edge and he thought he might pass out or throw up. His skin prickled and chilled, and his heart pounded harshly in his chest.
‘He’s awful to me, Yev. Always telling me I’ll never have you again, and I always tell him I know that, but he just keeps saying it. So today I told him to leave me alone and he told me to leave you alone, and I said that I’d talk to whoever I want, and…he hit me. I’m sorry, Yev, I really didn’t want to say anything.’ Emma’s voice was fading to a panic-inducing buzz, every word like a tightening around his throat.
‘I…’
Yev knew it was horrible to not believe a victim of violence, and so he decided he would never do that, but he still hesitated despite that. This was Riley — the same boy who stroked his cheek when he kissed him, the same boy who always demanded they snuggle up when it got cold, the same boy who cried when they watched The Notebook. But, still, if Emma said that she had been assaulted, even if it was his boyfriend, he had the responsibility to believe her and help her first, ask questions later.
‘C’mon, Emma, let’s go get some ice for that eye, alright?’
That night, Yev headed to the Gallagher house with purpose. After hearing some of the things Emma’s been saying, he believes her. Riley does get awfully jealous and angry sometimes, and he could see him getting out of control. Hitting a girl doesn’t seem like something Riley would do, but if he didn’t do it, why would Emma have said that? Emma’s given him no reason to doubt her before, so why wouldn’t he believe her now?
He barged in, seeing Ian there bandaging up Riley’s hand. He frowned at the scraping on his fist, panic seeping in as it became all the more obvious that this had really happened. Riley had hit a girl. Debbie, Frannie, Liam, and Fiona were also all sitting around, chatting away like nothing was wrong. Riley even looked up at his entrance and smiled warmly.
‘Hey!’
When Yev only clenched his jaw, scowling at Riley, his smile dropped and everyone looked over at the young Milkovich boy, taking in his apparent rage. Yev continued glaring at Riley and asked, ‘Did you tell anyone how you got that hurt hand, Gallagher?’
‘Gallagher?’ Ian mouthed, frowning to himself.
Riley frowned in confusion. ‘Yeah…I got it when I got in a fight with a mugger on the way home? What’s the matter with you, Yev?’
‘You’re a fucking liar, Riley!’ Yev snapped. ‘Emma told me what you did!’
Fiona stood then, scowling at Yev. ‘Hey! He’s been through enough tonight, alright? Back off, Yev.’
‘What exactly did I do?’ Riley exclaimed, already in fight mode and standing up.
‘You hit her!’ When no one responded, Yev continued, ‘Yeah, I saw her black eye! No matter how jealous you are; you can’t go around hitting people!’
‘I never hit her!’ Riley yelled. ‘That bitch is always trying to put shit in your head, Yev; I can’t believe you’d listen to her!’
‘Well, it’s pretty convenient that Emma comes crying to me with a black eye on the same day you have bruised knuckles.’
‘Emma never said anything about it to me,’ Frannie chimed in. ‘She’s been acting weird lately, maybe something else is going on with her, but she feels like she has to blame it on Riley?’
‘You’re not believing your best friend?’ Yev asked in disbelief.
‘You’re not believing your boyfriend?’ Frannie countered.
‘I can’t believe you’d listen to her over me,’ Riley cried. ‘Get the fuck out, Yev!’
‘No, you’re apologising to her!’ Yev snapped. ‘She’s scared.’
‘Get the fuck out!’ Riley’s eyes were tearing up now, and Yev found his determination and sureness was crumbling. ‘We’re done!’
‘Riley—’
‘He said to get out, Yev,’ Liam said quietly, shooting the young Milkovich a glare.
‘C’mon,’ Ian said and stood, grabbing Yev’s skinny arm and dragging him out of the house. ‘We’re going, and we can talk about all this at home.’
As they walked home, and Ian tried to get Yev to talk about all of it, he couldn’t help but worry that he had made a huge mistake.
It had been a few days since Riley broke up with him, and Yev didn’t know what to do. He hadn’t returned any of Emma’s calls, not quite sure what to say to her, and he hadn’t tried to contact Riley either, not sure what to say to him either. He still wasn’t sure who to believe, and every time he just wanted to go and make up with Riley, he felt incredibly guilty about it. If Riley had done the things Emma accused him of, Yev shouldn’t want to talk to him ever again.
Either way, he missed his boyfriend and he was moping as his dads often helpfully pointed out. It was Saturday morning when there was a knock at the door. No one else was home, so he sighed and climbed out of bed to go and answer the door. He blinked in shock when he saw Emma, black eye faded down to a yellow hue, smiling up at him.
‘Hey, Yev,’ she said shyly. ‘Just came by to see how you were doing?’
‘Uh…come in, I guess.’ Yev moved out the way and Emma went to sit on the couch. Shutting the door behind her, he said, ‘I should be asking you how you are.’
‘No, I’m fine. Riley hasn’t bothered me since you guys broke up…’
Yev unintentionally flinched at that before taking a seat next to her. ‘Yeah, well…that’s good.’
Emma beamed, shuffling closer to him. ‘Yeah…I’m…really touched that you would break up with Riley for what he did to me. I didn’t know that I mattered so much to you.’
Yev only shrugged helplessly, not really wanting to tell her that Riley had broken up with him. Plus, she seemed to be getting closer and closer, and it was making Yev uncomfortable. Not because Emma wasn’t attractive, because she was, obviously, but he still felt like it was a betrayal to Riley, even if it didn’t make any sense. He shouldn’t care about Riley after what he did.
‘I knew, though, that all it would take was you and Riley breaking up for you to see how much you care about me,’ Emma murmured before leaning in and kissing him.
A red flag went up in Yev’s mind and he shoved her away as gently as possible. ‘What are you doing?’
‘Yev, come on, there’s no need to be shy.’ Emma laughed. ‘Riley’s not a problem for either of us anymore. He’s out of the equation, just like we wanted.’
‘I didn’t want Riley out of the equation,’ Yev admitted, still feeling somewhat guilty for feeling this way. ‘I love Riley.’
‘But I told you he hit me!’ Emma cried out, standing. ‘God, what more do you need? I’m beautiful, vulnerable, and available! All you needed was Riley gone, and I did that for you!’
Yev scowled. ‘What do you mean?’
Emma snorted, clearly getting angry. ‘Like that fucking twig of a boy could hit me that hard.’
‘Are you saying you lied?’ Yev seethed, standing up as well.
Emma’s eyes widened as she realised what she did. ‘Well, I—’
‘Get out, Emma.’ When Emma didn’t move, Yev yelled, ‘Get the fuck out, you manipulative bitch!’
And, with that, Emma hurried out of the house. And Yev, realising what he had done, sat down on the couch and buried his head in his hands. He’d really fucked up this time.