Vegaspete One-shots

1) To Kill To Love

To Kill To Love (6337)

PS: IT'S SNOWING I AM SO HAPPY

Warning:
A graphic description of a character's death. (no one dies)
Self-neglect

It's been four months since that awful night when Vegas ended up in the hospital, hooked up to a ventilator. His skin had gone so pale he almost looked like a ghost, and his lips were dry and cracked, with all the life drained out of him. Pete had been left alone in that giant, empty hospital room the Theerapanyakun family owned, waiting for him to wake up.

Three months have passed since Vegas finally woke up and saw Pete there—waiting, never leaving his side. Vegas was so happy, over the moon really, but still, he tried to give Pete an out one last time. Pete, of course, turned him down, staying right where he belonged.

Two months since Vegas's beloved uncle, the one who murdered his father, was finally dead for good. Poisoned. No one cared enough to find out who did it. Kinn was the one who told Vegas about the death and funeral, but that was it. A week later, Porsche came by and returned Vegas's family ring. "I never asked for this," Porsche had said, shrugging. "Too many responsibilities." Vegas couldn't help but appreciate him for that.

One month since Vegas got out of the hospital and was officially cleared to get back to work. Mafia life was always dangerous, but this time at least, he had Pete by his side to make it more bearable, to remind him why it was all worth it.

Since then, life has been as peaceful as it gets in the mafia world. Vegas found a new routine—waking up early just so he could watch Pete sleep.

He'd map out Pete's face with his eyes, tracing his features and fighting the urge to kiss the spot where Pete's dimples would show up when he smiled. Spoiler alert: he always lost that fight. Pete would wake up to find Vegas smiling down at him, and he'd grin right back, dimples and all. And every single time, Vegas would wonder if he really deserved that kind of happiness.

Their mornings were filled with Macau's teasing, Pete's giggles, and Vegas trying not to smile too much. After breakfast, everyone went off to their own jobs. Macau was at university now, and Pete had become head of security alongside Nop, training up new recruits while Vegas handled Minor Family business.

Evenings were spent together—dinners, movie nights, lazy hangouts at the Minor Family compound. It was simple, but they had a good thing going. For once, they were all... happy. Vegas was finally at peace, Macau was thriving, and Pete?

Pete was glowing. He hadn't stopped smiling for weeks, those dimples always on display.

That was until everything went sideways with the Italians.

A deal went bad, and they retaliated by stealing weapons from one of the Theerapanyakun warehouses. It wasn't a huge loss, but it hurt the Main Family's pride, and no one has more pride than Kinn. His solution? A joint mission—both families working together to hit back at the Italians by taking down one of their warehouses in Thailand.

Everyone knew it was a suicide mission, but somehow, Kinn convinced Vegas to go along with it.

Pete had tried to talk Vegas out of it, just like Porsche tried with Kinn, but neither of them could change their minds.

And as if things weren't bad enough, Pete had a nasty fall down the massive staircase at the Minor Family compound, breaking two ribs and cracking three more. He also hit his head hard enough to get a nasty wound. That meant Pete wasn't going to be able to go with Vegas on the mission.

It wasn't that Pete didn't trust Vegas—he did. It's just that Pete didn't trust the Main Family to watch his back. Even though things were better between the families now, Pete couldn't forget how close he came to losing Vegas because of one of the Main Family's bodyguards. And while they might pretend to be civil, Pete knew that if something went wrong during the mission, they wouldn't risk much to save Vegas.