Chapter Text
Vegas usually never took pictures on his phone. There were a few selfies of Pete, Macau, and Venice. They took those in a restaurant thinking it was funny when he had left his phone alone for 5 minutes. Vegas didn't delete them. In fact on a stressful day, he often found himself swiping through those pictures and quietly smiling.
There was one more picture on his phone. He took this on one of Pete's and his trips to the farmer's market.
It was a warm summer day and Pete insisted that Vegas went to the farmer's market with him. Vegas didn't enjoy crowded places much. Especially during this heat, but he would make an exception for Pete. Always. Pete would take hours perusing the stalls for fresh fruits, vegetables, and spices. He said it was therapeutic for him. Vegas never really understood but he didn't care as long as it made Pete happy.
Another reason why Pete loved the farmer's market was that the lady who sold jams and jelly brought her cats with her. Pete loved cats but they couldn't have one as a pet because Venice was allergic. So, he would come to this lady's stall every week and spend some time with her cats. He believed they could recognize him at this point. Though Vegas had rolled his eyes at Pete's brilliant deduction, he also started to think it was true. Because as soon as those cats saw Pete they would walk toward him and rub themselves against Pete's legs.
That day Pete was saying hello to his cats (or as he would like to call them: God-children) and Vegas stood at a distance. It was a typical interaction—one which he had seen many times before. But for some reason when Vegas looked at Pete's smiling face while the sunlight illuminated it, he felt a twist in his chest. It almost engulfed him. It was at that moment he realized that this man in front of him was probably the reason why he was still alive. He was the reason why Vegas still had people who loved him. He was the reason why life was worth living even after everything that had happened. This man–the love of his life–had made that empty mansion a home, had given Vegas a family, had given him love–so much love–even when he didn't deserve it. Vegas had collected all of his broken pieces with sharp edges and had offered them to this man–his Pete–and Pete had taken them and loved all of them individually and all together. How lucky could someone be to have a person like that?
After that brief moment of realization passed, Vegas blinked away his tears, took his phone out, and took this picture to seal this moment–this realization forever.
