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Pete isn’t exactly sure how it happened but right now, he is following Tay into a nail salon. The place is brightly lit and decorated with crystals on every possible surface. The air smells strongly of cinnamon and disinfectant.
Tay is dressed up in a pair of tight-fitting leather pants and a white dress shirt with dramatic sleeves. There are pearls sewn onto the collar of his shirt. Pete, who had been told of their apparent plans approximately twenty minutes ago when the other had shown up at his doorsteps, feels rather underdressed in his simple t-shirt and jeans.
The other man greets the woman behind the front desk by kissing both of her cheeks. Then he compliments her earrings and asks how her girlfriend is doing. They chat about the women’s upcoming anniversary plans before the woman eventually takes notice of Pete hovering in the background.
“Oh darling, you brought a friend?” She asks and smiles.
“This is Pete,” Tay says with a wave of his hand and the woman nods knowingly.
“Well, I think Lia is free in just a moment and I can take care of Pete,” she says, getting up from her seat.
“Oh no, I’m not–,” Pete starts but Tay says, “Thank you, Alyssa.”
The other beckons him to follow along and he does just that. His time with Tankhun taught him to pick his battles carefully. And this is a battle he knows he will never win. Tay, despite his quiet image, is a force to be reckoned with. Especially now that he has left Time. It feels like the other has finally found his shelf confidence again after years of making himself smaller in order to not step on Time’s toes.
It was never Pete’s place to say, he was only a bodyguard mere weeks ago, but he never liked Time. He always thought the other deserved better. Tay has always been the smarter, richer, and prettier one.
They follow the corridor and enter the last room. Tay greets the woman in this room much the same he did Alyssa by the front desk, with a kiss on both of her cheeks. He sits down and asks for a cup of tea.
"Well sit down, Pete," the other says when he notices him still standing by the door.
Pete does, dumbfounded. He is very much out of his depth. It’s not like he doesn’t know this place. No. He has come here before, multiple times actually. He has stood in that corner of the room and waited while Tay got his nails done and chatted with Kinn. He was never part of the conversation. They barely even acknowledged his existence.
"So, how are you doing?"
It takes Pete longer than he wants to admit to realize that Tay is speaking to him.
"Uh..." he replies smartly.
The other looks at him expectantly.
"Good?" It sounds like a question even to his own ears.
Still, Tay giggles and turns to look at the bottles of nail polish in front of him. He can’t make up his mind between two identical looking light blue shades.
Pete wants to ask why he is here but he doesn’t. He can guess. Kinn promised to be a friend to the both of them after Tay and Time broke up. But Kinn doesn’t know how to not choose a side.
Tay is lonely.
Pete gets it, in a way. He loves his friends but they are on different sides now. They might promise him it doesn't matter. But that's the thing, it does matter. When the side you are on is about your whole life, it does matter.
He wants to ask about Tankhun. About Porsche. Arm and Pol. He doesn't. He isn't sure if he wants to know. He isn't sure if Tay would even know. It doesn’t seem like the other spends much of his time at the Main Family building these days.
The thing he doesn’t understand is, why did the other man come to him? Is there truly no one else in his life he could turn to?
“What color do you want?” The woman, Alyssa, asks him.
Pete turns to look at his own hands, almost startled to notice them resting on the table in front of him. Alyssa has a nail file in one hand and with the other she motions towards the colorful bottles.
He doesn’t really want anything done to his nails but no one asked him. But that’s when he sees the bottle of red nail polish. It’s the same shade as one of Vegas’ shirts, the one he likes the best. He points at it and the woman picks it up, saying how it’s one of her favorites too; such deep shade, almost like blood.
Blood. The word makes him think about Vegas once more, this time with worry. The other had attended a business meeting today and Pete knows how business tends to go in the world they live in. It gets bloody awfully fast.
"You should pick some glitter too," Tay says and Pete turns to stare at the endless collection of sparkle and charms to choose from.
“I don’t really know about this kind of thing. You choose,” he answers.
Tay’s whole face lights up with such a joy, one that Pete has never seen on his face. Lia tells him to be careful with his own nails as he looks through all the charms with a careful eye.
“Maybe stars?” The other man asks, turning to look at him and continuing; “just a few, so they aren’t too flashy.”
Thinking of how happy the other had looked just a moment ago Pete finds himself saying; “pick as many as you want.”
(Later, to his own surprise, he does not end up regretting that decision. He actually really likes the carefully designed galaxy in his nails Tay and the women came up with.)
“So, when is the wedding dear?” Lia asks, not looking up from Tay’s nails.
“Huh?” Is all Pete manages to come up with.
The woman laughs before saying; “don’t be shy, Tay has told a lot about you. Besides, there is no secret in all of Thailand that we don’t know of.”
“She is right. And everyone knows of the wedding of the century,” Alyssa agrees cheerily.
Pete thinks of Kinn and Porsche who will be getting married in weeks of time. Vegas had been furious that the two of them were going to get married first. He had promised the other that their wedding would be bigger and better. Wedding of the century, Vegas had said too before kissing him.
“Uh, we haven’t chosen a date yet,” he says when the women look at him expectantly.
“You must invite us, Pete,” Lia says and laughs, clearly half joking when Tay says; “oh, he will. I’m sure half of Thailand will be there. What you should ask for is a good seat.”
“I will tell Vegas to do so,” Pete promises as the door suddenly opens.
“You will tell me to do what?” Vegas asks, stepping into the room.
Click, click, click, goes his cane as he walks to them. The man is dressed up in the same dark red suit he was wearing when he left the house in the morning but now there is a suspicious looking dark stain on his sleeve.
"Vegas!" Tay sounds delighted. "You should have joined us earlier."
Pete is slightly confused. Before the other man didn't seem to care at all about Vegas nor the Minor Family for that matter but after breaking up with Time, the two of them seem to have become close friends.
"I had business to attend to," Vegas says with a smirk that tells you everything you need to know about what kind of business he had.
Tay pouts and to which the other promises; “maybe next time.”
The man leans down to kiss Pete on the lips. Then he settles to sit on the armrest of his chair. He moves automatically to curl his hand around the other's waist to steady him but Alyssa clicks her tongue disapprovingly. Oh, he almost forgot. His nails. He places his hands in their original places in front of him.
“Be careful my dear, you almost ruined an hour of work,” despite her words, she is smiling.
“You might not know but only our Tay can walk in without an appointment. We are fully booked months in advance, you are lucky to have him as a friend,” Lia points out, regarding carefully one of Tay’s nails which she is placing a diamond that just might be a real one.
“Please, you just love the gossip,” Tay giggles, waving his free hand dismissively.
“Of don’t be coy darling, you know you always have the best gossip. That’s why we love you,” Alyssa answers with a soft smile.
“Oh, Vegas, you don’t have to pay. I will take care of it,” Tay says, examining his finished nails, despite the fact that he is not carrying a bag of any kind and his tight-fitting pants leave absolutely no question whether he has anything in their pockets. (He doesn’t.)
Vegas ignores the other and just fishes out his wallet from his own pocket. He takes out the card that was given to him after it turned out that Porsche isn’t exactly capable of handling all of the business aspects of leading the Minor Family. Pete knows, he was there when Kinn had called the other and had begrudgingly asked for his help.
“Don’t worry,” Vegas says as he swipes his card through the card reader. “I will file it as a business expense.”
That makes Tay giggle. Pete finds his own lips curving upwards into a smile as well.
“Oh, it is a pleasure to do business with you Khun Vegas,” Lia says as she prints out the receipt.
“Likewise,” Vegas agrees with a theatrical bow that should seem mocking but it’s nothing but genuine. It makes the women giggle.
The man leans on his cane and offers his free hand to Pete, which he accepts easily. Though under Tay’s and the women’s watchful eyes, it brings a blush to his cheeks. After so many years of fading into the background, he is yet to get used to being seen.
“Oh,” Alyssa coos, “so the devil is a gentleman.”
Vegas laughs easily, “One of my only redeeming qualities, I am afraid.”
Pete rolls his eyes but despite that he finds himself smiling once more. The other has always been good at what he does, like he was born to be in a mafia – which to be fair, he was. But now that Gun Theerapanyakul is finally dead and buried, Vegas is flourishing.
The man is as brutal, or maybe even more brutal than he was before. Sometimes even cruel in the way he works efficiently. But he plays his role well, leans into the drama and if people love something it is a good show.
That’s something Gun nor the Main Family for that matter never seem to have learned, Pete thinks. People will always choose someone who they think they can understand over someone they fear or someone who tries to buy their loyalty.
Pete watches as Vegas gives the women his business card, just in case. They promise once more to invite them to the wedding.
As they leave, Alyssa holds the door open for them and says it’s because she doesn’t want Pete or Tay to break their nails before they even leave the salon. He appreciates that as he knows Vegas with his cane and Pete hanging off of his other arm wouldn’t have been able to do so. Even though the other has made his peace with having to use the cane, he still gets frustrated when unable to do simple things like opening a door.
“Well,” Vegas says, turning to look at Tay, “Care to join us for a dinner?”
The driver is already opening the car door for them and Tay slides into the backseat without a word. The other is smiling but there is something almost wicked in the way his eyes sparkle.
Over dinner, Pete finds out that Vegas and Tay have a business deal of their own. Vegas is helping Time rid of his measly wealth. Turns out that the other had truly had enough of the other man and his cheating and lying ways and decided to teach him a lesson.
In exchange, Tay shares a few of Kinn’s secrets.
“So,” Vegas says, over the rim of his wine glass. “What have you two been up to today?”
“Not that much, Pete is awfully boring when he is just fretting over you," Tay answers while looking through the menu.
“Hey,” Pete exclaims. “I don’t fret.”
“You do,” the both of them answer at the same time.
Vegas has his arm draped over his shoulders and the other pulls him just a slightly closer, so that their thighs are pressed together. The man kisses him on the cheek. Then he kisses his jaw and leaves a trail of half-bites, half-kisses up and down his neck.
“You know I can take care of myself,” the other murmurs to his ear.
Then the man bites down on Pete’s earlobe and he unwillingly lets out a groan. That makes Vegas chuckle slightly and turn back to his own menu.
“If you two can’t keep your hands to yourselves I am going to walk out of this restaurant and get into the car and go home,” Tay says. He looks at them both for a moment, blinking innocently, before saying; “Remember that we took your car here.”
It’s not much of a threat really, they can always call someone else to come to pick them up if it comes to that. Pete is also unsure if their driver would actually even go anywhere without Vegas inside the vehicle. Or at least, if he wasn’t personally instructed to do so by Vegas.
It’s nearly a miracle that the man can keep the car on the road when he shakes uncontrollably whenever Vegas is even remotely near him. That may be something Pete should bring up; looking for a new driver. Simply for safety reasons. The man might be loyal but he also might be… well, better suited for another kind of job. A job that keeps him very, very far away from Vegas.
“I promise, we will be on our best behavior,” Pete promises when Vegas stays pointedly very quiet.
The waiter comes to take their orders. It’s a young boy who gets all flustered and mixes up all of his words when Tay asks if the shrimps in the dish died painlessly. He says he gets stomach ache if the poor things had suffered.
Pete has to bite his tongue to stop himself from laughing. Even after all these years of knowing the other man, he isn’t sure If the other is being serious or not.
After the boy leaves, Vegas takes a long sip of his wine before asking; “so, how is my dear cousin doing?”
Tay takes a sip of his own wine and smiles again that soft smile of his with something dangerous glinting in his eyes.
“Oh, truly dreadful! His and Porsche’s wedding venue had been accidentally double booked and their wedding cake order has mysteriously been changed twice. I’m afraid to know what happens to their suits.”
Vegas clinks his glass against Tay’s and simply laughs.
Pete on the other hand fears that their own wedding is going to be a lot bigger headache than he originally anticipated. He groans but can’t hold his own laughter for long either.