A Thousand Bad Times (So What's Another Time to Me?) ~ A VegasPete AU

Chapter 18

    Vegas and Pete grabbed their bags and paid the driver. It felt weird sending him away, but they didn't know how long the hostage situation would take and Kinn had said he would send a helicopter to get them out when the time was right.

The cabin looked deserted, giving Pete a bad feeling in his gut.

"How should we do this?" Vegas asked.

"They should know to expect us, and although one of us should stay hidden while the other knocks on the door, any suspicious action from us may spell trouble for the boys. I can't let Chay get hurt."

Vegas nodded solemnly. Pete had been a little surprised, given his cheeky flirting earlier. He had been worried that Vegas hadn't been taking the situation seriously, but it was clear now that he knew the danger and he was worried for his little brother.

Vegas took the lead, expecting that Pete wouldn't like having his back turned to Vegas. They needed to work together, smoothly, for this to succeed.

Slowly reaching out a hand, Vegas knocked on the cabin door. When no one answered, he glanced at Pete, who stared back at him wide-eyed, and knocked again. Still, no answer.

He tried the knob and the door opened easily. Before Vegas could step inside, Pete was there, shoving him out of the way with a silent gesture. Pete looked carefully for a tripwire around the entrance to the cabin and was perplexed at finding a perfectly normal door. Still, he tucked Vegas in behind him as they entered the cabin. It was small, with a main area and a bedroom and bathroom off to the side.

"Pete? Vegas?" Came a garbled noise, followed by static and a beep. "Come in, Pete and Vegas, over."

Pete looked at Vegas, who shrugged, and moved to pick up the walkie-talkie on the small kitchen counter.

"This is Pete."

"Thank goodness!"

"Porsche, is that you?"

"Yep. Kinn is here, too. Say hi."

"Hi," Kinn repeated dutifully.

"What is going on?" Vegas demanded to know, wrapping his hand around Pete's to talk rather than just take the walkie-talkie from him.

"What's going on, is you two working your shit out," said Porsche.

"What about Macau?" Vegas asked, confused.

"Hia, we are fine!" Macau said through the static.

Pete sighed. He had a feeling his Yaai was behind this.

"Chay is fine, too," Porsche said, and Pete could hear Porchay say, "Sorry, Phi!" in the background to confirm it.

"What the fuck is going on?" Vegas mumbled as Pete pushed the button to talk. He released it, but before he could speak, they were interrupted again.

"We're going skiing, Hia," Macau said. "You and Pete need to talk and if you two can agree to put an end to this, a helicopter will come pick you up so you can join us."

Pete shoved the walkie-talkie into Vegas's hands and got up to peer out the window. They were in the middle of nowhere, surrounded by mountains on all sides. The snow was deep, and had been piling up on their journey. Even with the gear he packed, they would at least get frostbite before they made it to the nearest village.

While Pete weighed the risk of losing his extremities against spending time with Vegas, Vegas pulled out his phone.

"I'll just call another cab, and we can get out of here."

"Good plan. This whole thing isn't going to work."

"This?" Vegas asked, sounding offended.

"Yeah. This. You and me. In close proximity. Vegas, there's only one bed. We are not doing this."

Vegas peered into the bedroom. He could practically hear Tankhun's annoying suggestions in his head. One bed meant they would have to share. And from the looks of it, it wasn't a particularly large bed.

"How much time do we have?" Vegas asked the others.

Porsche made a sound like he was thinking before Kinn took over. "We plan on being here a week, so if you want to join us for hot chocolate, you better start talking."

We could do other things, too, Vegas thought.

"Roger that."

Without a moment's hesitation, Vegas tossed the hand-held aside and moved over to Pete, who had pulled out his phone and was trying to get a signal.

Vegas hip-checked Pete, throwing him off balance, and while Pete protested Vegas snatched the phone from him, hurrying for the door. Pete almost had him, but Vegas shoved him aside, running out of the cabin to get as far away as he could to buy time. Before Pete could catch up he watched, aghast, as Vegas threw both of their phones into the sweet unknown. They sailed for what felt like minutes before burying themself deep in the plush backdrop.

"What the fuck is wrong with you?" Pete screeched, running toward his best guess of where one of the phones fell.

He didn't get far before Vegas tackled him into the snow.

"Pete, stop!"

Pete twisted around and shoved the heel of his palm, hard, into Vegas's nose. If he wanted to, he could have broken Vegas's nose easily. He only wanted to give him a little nosebleed, luckily, and get him off of him.

Vegas didn't stop though, even as blood gushed down his chin and tinted the snow around them pink.

Pete tried another move, but Vegas was serious now. He twisted along with Pete, dodging his blows while manuevering Pete into a more submissive position beneath him.

"Get off me!"

"Just stop!" Vegas now had Pete pinned with his hands held by his wrists behind his back. "I'll let you up if you promise to go back inside. You're going to get frozen before you find the phones."

Pete grunted loudly. He wanted to argue, but he knew Vegas was right. "Why do you care what happens to me, anyway?" Pete tried. He bucked against Vegas before stilling. "Wait, are you hard right now?"

Vegas hissed as Pete brushed against him more solidly. "I care because I actually like you, Pete. And yes. A little. Not on purpose."

Pete pushed a little and Vegas eased up. Brushing the snow off of his jacket, Pete stood to catch his breath and look at Vegas. He was a mess, blood all over his chin, chest, and jacket. Pete had always wanted to make Vegas bleed, but here and now, confronted with the sight, he wasn't sure it made him happy.

"Go inside and get cleaned up. You need to change your clothes."

"Then can we talk?"

Pete closed his eyes and pinched the bridge of his sharp nose. "Fine."

Vegas smiled and reached out a hand to help Pete through the snow back to the cabin.