VegasPete : Trading Faces

4. Making Friends

Pete felt like he was drowning in Vegas' life. Everything was overwhelming and he barely got time for himself. The moments when he would finally collapse on the large bed at the end of the day, were the most joyful. They were short lived, but in those fleeting moments, he felt somewhat relaxed.

Everyday was more or less the same. He was either in meetings, or cooped up in Vegas' office, fighting his way through a never ending pile of paperwork.

Truth is, he was lonely.

Back at the main family house there were always people around. Here, there was nothing, he had an act to put on, he couldn't be friendly. Most of Vegas' guards didn't speak to him anyway. They served him, but otherwise kept out of his way.

He missed his friends, just having someone, anyone, to talk to to take his mind off everything.

Vegas didn't have any friends, or if he did they never contacted him. Pete had no one to talk to besides Vegas, and he was almost certain that Vegas didn't like his company, so he tried not to bother him if he could help it.

The closest thing Pete had to a friend he could vent his struggles to, was the hedgehog Vegas had neglected to mention.

He had discovered the creature in Vegas' office, and assumed he had to look after it. Strangely, Vegas still hadn't told Pete about his spiky friend.

Originally he thought that Vegas probably had other things on his mind and he would eventually say "make sure you feed the hedgehog, if he dies, I'll kill you" but that day had yet to come.

Considering he kept it in a bird cage for some unfathomable reason, it didn't surprise him that Vegas had forgotten about its existence. He wondered how long it would be until one day Vegas randomly exclaimed "oh shit my hedgehog" in the middle of a conversation.

In the meantime, Pete was quietly tending to Khun Spikes. He had no idea what it was actually called, but he liked the name he had given it. He found caring for the animal strangely therapeutic, a much needed respite from the stresses of the day job he had been lumbered with.

The first time he tried to pick him up to change his bedding, he got pricked. After some quick research on hedgehog care, he found the correct way to handle him and now Khun spikes would sit quite comfortably in his hands, looking up at him cutely.

Pete had already bought him a new cage, a nice spacious enclosure that took up a whole table in the corner of Vegas' office. He had tubes he could hide in, and a little wheel he liked to run on and plenty of comfortable bedding.

When Pete was stressed he would talk to him, just quietly venting his struggles so he could get it off his chest. He knew it was pathetic, and probably not healthy, that his best friend at the moment, was a hedgehog, but that was how isolated he felt in the minor family house.

He was constantly on edge around everyone there. He always had to have his guard up whenever he was outside of the safe confines of Vegas' rooms, it was exhausting. Khun Spikes was the only one he could be himself around.

Aside from his new spiky friend, there was only one person that Pete felt almost comfortable around, and that was Macau.

He could tell the two brothers had a close relationship, but that meant he was the one who posed the most danger to Pete's cover.

Which unfortunately meant the only person Pete felt like he could become friends with, was also the one person he couldn't get too close to. But he also couldn't stay too far away, which made for a rather stressful relationship.

Before all this happened, Pete had met Macau a couple of times when he came to the main family house in the past.

However Khun and Macau weren't exactly fond of each other, so he tried to keep Khun away from him whenever he could. This meant he didn't know Macau particularly well, although he seemed like a good kid.