Summary: He thought Ashe was just a stuck-up fun-hater who wanted to boss him around in the name of school rules.
The truth of the matter is, in Yuri's opinion, much worse.
AU is based on Kaze to Ki no Uta, I've had this plotbunny for the ship for a long time and I finally get to write something for it.
It's way past curfew when Yuri gets back, and if he hadn't blown the dorm monitor last week in exchange for him looking the other way he'd be fucked worse than Jacques had done him tonight. His ass hurts like hell, Jacques is one of those idiots who thinks cream rinse is a substitute for lubricant and he also gets violent when he thinks he's not getting what he paid for.
He got the money, though, so his mother will survive for another week. Gwendal's last letter said she was finally able to eat again and had stopped coughing, but that was like putting a band-aid over a severed finger.
He takes a moment to breathe before he saunters into his and Ashe's dorm room, trying not to look like he's been punched, slapped, and flung bodily over a desk before getting reamed within an inch of his life. He foolishly hopes Ashe will have gone to bed by now sparing him the usual-
"Do you have any idea what time it is?"
So much for that. Yuri shrugs as he takes off his jacket and tie, hanging them carelessly on the coat hook. Ashe frowns, making a show of straightening them up.
"You're lucky Aelfric hasn't caught you yet," he goes on. "You know how he is about the rules."
"Don't have to worry about him." The rest of Yuri's clothes hit the floor, Ashe scrambling to pick them up. "Calm your tits, okay? I was out, some of us have a life outside of training and schoolwork."
"You were with him again, weren't you?" Ashe doesn't like Jacques for some reason, always frowning at him even when Jacques is nothing but decent to him. "Yuri, you're bleeding!" He lights the lamp, his sharp green gaze a fine-tooth comb over Yuri's body. "You're covered in bruises, what did he do to you?!"
"Nothing more than the usual. Why're you making such a big deal of this anyway, I thought you were all for sexual freedom and that junk," Yuri says. He's seen the books Ashe reads, hears him talking about saucy subjects with his clique of friends.
"Because this isn't sexual freedom! You're selling your body to people who just see you as a thing to abuse however they want!" Ashe is already getting out his first aid kit, dabbing at his cuts, getting a cold damp towel for the bruises. "This is why I said you have to find a better way to make money, no amount can be worth all this!"
The first time Ashe lectured him about his whoring, Yuri just thought he was being a stuck-up priss who cared way too much about whether people followed the rules. Yuri still clings to that explanation, because thinking about anything else leads him to a conclusion he doesn't want to face.
"I've been doing it since I was a kid, I've had grown men be way worse than Jacques." Ashe goes still, face turning pale as he drops the towel. Slowly, he turns towards the wall and slams his fist into it with such intensity it's a wonder he doesn't dent the paneling.
"Okay, that's it, you're not doing this anymore! I'm going straight to the headmaster with this, and he's going to put a stop to Jacques and all the others taking advantage of you!" he shouts. "And don't give me that guff about you choosing to give yourself to them, they're hurting you!"
"But it is my choice," Yuri snaps. "I've gotta do something to make money for my mother, and thanks to Aelfric being a lonely simp I can get in and out of here as late as I want without any trouble." Ashe's brow furrows, his fist tightens, and for a second Yuri expects to be slapped across the face.
Instead, there's a flicker of sadness in his angry gaze, and Yuri's stomach sinks. There it is, the truth of the matter, and he can't escape it.
You idiot. You're so smart, can't you see it isn't worth it?
He's still and quiet as Ashe finishes with his first aid, takes a clean nightshirt from the clothes press, and produces a napkin-wrapped bundle from under his bed. He opens it to reveal a sandwich, a sliced apple, and a berry tart.
"Get dressed," he says quietly, "and eat this. You didn't eat nearly enough at dinner tonight." Yuri rolls his eyes, swallowing against the lump threatening to form in his throat.
"What are you, my mother?"
"No. But if she were here, she would be telling you the same thing." Bullshit, you've never met my mother, you don't know anything about her, but the words stick in his throat. After all, he's never actually told his mother how he earns his money, and he never will.
He tugs the nightshirt over his head, sits down on the bed, and slowly begins to eat the food Ashe places before him. Ashe watches him like a hawk the entire time, his gaze sharp with concern.
Why do you waste your time with me? Before you came here, everyone else just let me come and go as I pleased. Who cares what happens to trash like me anyway?
He knows the food is good because Ashe helped make it, but he barely tastes it.