Façade | VegasPete

My existence is a scandal

     Pete opened his eyes, and the first thing he saw was darkness. The scarlet curtain was drawn, and he couldn't see much, but he felt a warm body beside him. He turned his gaze in that direction and saw peaceful face of sleeping Macau, but Vegas was nowhere to be seen. Panic rose in his chest, and he sat up carefully, calming instantly as Vegas was sitting at his desk, typing on laptop. 

Pete signed, slipped out of bed, trying not to wake younger brother and walked to the office part, closing the soundproof glass door.

"Why aren't you sleeping?"

Vegas looked at him with tired eyes. Pete closed the distance between them and sat down at the desk.

"Can't sleep," Vegas said hoarsely. He spreads Pete's legs as he was sitting, and settled between his thighs, wrapping arms around Pete's waist. Pete stroked Vegas' hair lightly. A comfortable silence creeps between them, darkness surrounds them, and only the laptop lights up the room.

"I'm sorry that I'm not helping you." Said Vegas with guilt in voice.

"I'm former head bodyguard. I'm used to controlling the house." Pete grabbed lover's chin and made him look up. "However, I'm not used to people who think they don't need a break. Vegas, you can't work all the time." Pete looked at laptop suggestively "You're experiencing some post-traumatic reactions, Vegas. You're hyperactive and you want to isolate yourself. It's easier to take advantage of your fears and insecurities that way, because you think that asking for help is a sign of weakness. But I'm here for you. Macau is here for you, okay? If you feel like you have to do some activities, just tell me, wake me up if you need, but don't try to go through it on your own."

Vegas' eyes were so expressive, Pete almost couldn't handle intensity of it.

"I'm just... exhausted. I don't know what to do. Where do I even start?" Vegas touched Pete's cheek. "What if I make a mistake and ruin everything, as my father predicted?"

Pete chuckled "Actually, you'll make a lot of mistakes, because you're just a human being. We all making mistakes, what's important is to correct them." A tear ran down his cheek and Pete wiped it away." We won't judge you. We're here for you to support you and your decisions. Even the worst mistake, you can fix with little faith."

Vegas nodded, wrapped his arms tighter around Pete's waist, and buried face in lover's chest again. Sometimes he was stunned by the Pete's optimism.

"I couldn't sleep. When we went to bed, I slept for an hour, and woke up, because of nightmares. I've dreamt about my father... He shot you, and... I couldn't do anything."

He was looking with compassion at Vegas and checked the time on laptop.

"Three in the morning is great time to get tired. When you're exhausted, there's higher possibility that you won't be dreaming. Get up."

Vegas gave him a puzzled look as they left the room. The same stares gave them men, guarding house. At gym was two of them, but Pete quickly sent them away.

"For second I really thought you were talking about different ways to get tired, but I guess that's also fine" said Vegas, stretching. Pete laughed and nudged him.

"Shut up and do squats, pervert!"

For almost an hour they were running at machines, and also pulling themselves up to a pole to work out, trying to tire themselves out. Pete talked about his day and Vegas asked him questions to catch up current mansion situation.

"So you think that nerd Zee is a mole?"

Pete frowned "I'm not certain about it, but this guy gives me chills. He assesses the situation too carefully, he's looking around judgmentally. It's just weird."