An Archive of Our Own, a project of the Organization for Transformative Works
Pete is at the main family mansion.
Visiting his friends. Visiting his former bosses.
Not that it was uncommon, Pete usually went out at least once a week to - in his own words - ‘catch up with them’.
Sometimes, Vegas resents him for it.
For instance, Vegas would use other words. I go there to listen to them telling me to leave you, and when they finally convince me I won’t come back.
Much more realistic - Vegas thinks.
He knows.
Knows about Porsche telling Pete that Vegas is an evil man and he shouldn’t be with him. As if he and Kinn are superior to them. Knows about Tankhun literally begging Pete on his knees to leave Vegas. Knows about Kinn’s pitiful promises, telling Pete that the main family will always welcome him home. Knows about the two other bodyguards asking Pete if it’s really what he wants.
He knows all too well.
And then there’s Pete. His love, his everything, his partner, his most precious possession. He smiles, and doesn’t say anything. He listens to them, never says a thing. The good old main family’s pet: The invisible Pete.
At least that’s what Vegas thinks happens. Because Pete never told him about any of those conversations. It’s there, nevertheless. There, under Pete’s skin when he gets home, and it’s there the morning after. It’s there, wanting to crawl out, when Vegas asks him if everything’s alright. He sees it in the flicker of Pete’s eyes, the burning flame of wanting to escape. Of wanting to believe everything that filthy family is telling him, because who is Vegas, really?
No one. Nothing. Compared to everything Pete had before him. He had a life. A good one. A better one. Vegas took it away. Made him suffer, made him bleed, made him worry with a false sense of love. He stayed because he didn’t know where to go. He didn’t stay because it was where he wanted to be.
Vegas knows this. It’s deeply inserted in his veins, tattooed on his skin. It’s what keeps him alive. Of course he knows it. He also knows once Pete believes any of them, he’ll be long gone before Vegas could sink to his knees to beg him not to leave once again. He would do it, because he is a selfish man.
No matter how much these thoughts make him miserable, at least he is here. Pete is here, in his bed at night, in the kitchen in the morning and in his life - for now. He doesn’t want to lose this. He just feels like it’s temporary.
Pete will leave. That much is certain.
When?
It might be tonight.
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Full one-shot on AO3!
