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Everyone had their highs and lows, even the great Tommy Vercetti. When he was at his worst it was truly awful, to look at him, to be in the same room with him, just, overall, a terrible experience on both parts. Business partners would take a break from setting up meetings with Vercetti. His gang members, friends, even Mercedes, would try their best to avoid him at that time of the year.
But there was one special person who couldn’t get away even if they wanted to (and they would never want that). Ken Rosenberg, Vercetti’s most loyal acquaintance, a ruthless lawyer, a friend, a business partner, an equal, and — as some people suspected — a lover.
Today was “Harwood butcher’s” anniversary, as some called it. The most dreadful twenty-four hours in every year.
It was past midnight when Ken heard a loud bang from upstairs. A surprise it was, indeed, that the noise was louder than the pouring rain outside the mansion. It couldn’t possibly be a gang’s member doing — they were all out that night, Ken was the only person supervising everything with wide open eyes and a loaded gun in his hand.
He decided to check up on Tommy, who had been acting strange the day before. It was… weird. If any other person behaved like Tommy yesterday, like being happy and calm at the same time, it would be normal. When it was Tommy though — oh, no, no. When Vercetti was happy, he made everyone else's day better, too. He would go all the way — buy Mercedes a fancy jewelry, ask every gang member if their family was healthy and doing good, spend quality time with Ken by, for instance, getting a day off and going out to do something fun, just the two of them. As to when he was calm, everyone who knew him was walking on their tip toes. The man could do unspeakable things in that state, being as unpredictable as ever.
Ken went upstairs checking the master bedroom where Tommy slept the most. No one was there, so it either meant Diaz’s ghost had returned to the world of living to torment them or–
“Tommy!” he gasped in realization.
He heard the sounds of the garage door opening and closing. Without thinking he ran downstairs.
The night’s breeze hit him in the face as he ran outside. He saw Tommy getting to his Banshee. By jumping down the stairs, he managed to catch up. He slammed his hands on the car’s hood. Ken wasn’t going to let his partner slip out! Not without an explanation.
Tommy looked puzzled but waited for him to get into the car on the passenger's seat. Ken immediately searched all the glove boxes near him. There was always a chance Tommy would hide something that would give off his plan. Not this time though. Ken put on a seatbelt with a sigh.
“Where are we going?” Ken huffed. Running down so many stairs hadn’t been his work-out plan. Actually, he had seriously neglected the gym…. Now, he thought, he should get back to it while being partners with Tommy.
“The beach,” he said, driving like a skid artist.
Oh yeah, something is definitely wrong, Ken thought.
The seatbelt was barely holding Ken in place. Tommy kept making sharp turns at almost every intersection, not slowing down one bit. Thankfully, the ride wasn’t long. Tommy abandoned the car in a random spot on the grass. He left the car in a hurry, leaving Ken with the task of closing the door after him.
Thanks to the neon lights on the other side of the street, he was able to not trip on anything while chasing after Tommy, who was already miles ahead of him.
“Wait, why do you need a gun?” Ken caught up with him, already feeling sand getting into his shoes.
It was kinda stupid question, he realized after he had said it. Tommy always had a gun on him. Many people wanted him dead, so he needed protection. The question was, why the hell he was holding a gun on the beach at two in the morning?
“Because–” He reloaded it, and Ken realized he was heading towards the lighthouse at the end of the beach. “Because, I need to hurt somebody, and for sure it’s not gonna be you, Ken.”
“Oh, so now you’re off to killing innocent animals?” Ken asked, gesturing wildly, as he tried to keep up with Tommy, whose speedy pace, fuelled by the murderous intent, was hard to keep up with.
“Animals?” The whispered question gave Ken shivers. His friend laughed and shook his head. “Hell, I’m gonna kill a man tonight, Ken.”
Ken stopped at once. “You’re really getting a kick out of it, aren’t you?”
Tommy turned to him so suddenly that Ken almost took a step back. He resisted though. He was stronger than everyone thought of him.
“I’ve never said I enjoy killin’ them,” Tommy said calmly, taking more steps towards Ken, only stopped when the lawyer took a deep breath and spoke again.
“But you sure erase them from existence quite often, Tommy.” Ken looked him hard in the eyes.
Ken had the thought that maybe, maybe this time he had crossed a line, and Tommy was going to hurt him. He saw out of the corner of his eye that Tommy’s hand trembled, the grip on his gun strong.
They heard someone humming under their breath. There was a person walking along the sea. Tommy’s eyes flashed with something extreme, almost primitive, animalistic. He turned in a blink of an eye, lifting the gun, totally forgetting about their argument.
Ken was faster and jumped in front of him.
Tommy let out a frustrated growl. “Don’t be a hero, pal!”
He tried to push him away, obviously trying to get to the drunk and oblivious stranger, who was loudly humming to himself now.
“Tommy, for fuck’s sake, don’t even think about it!” Ken held on to the man, knowing that the moment he would end on the sand the drunk guy would join him but with a bullet in his head. For sure, he wasn’t going to let his friend do that just so he could get rid of his bad mood.
“Too late, already did!” Tommy gasped out with struggle after Ken smacked him hard in the shoulder in hope he would drop the gun. Then, he actually had the nerve to yell at him for the first time after half a year. “I’m a lunatic, you moron! You should have known better!”
Ken swore under his breath and pushed at Tommy with all his strength. Tommy grabbed him at the last moment as Ken was about to fall to the ground. Next, they were both lying on the ground. It was a disaster after that. They kicked and punched, and their clothes tore here and there, which was even worse to Ken, who was wearing a brand new suit.
Finally, Ken managed to pin Tommy down with his legs, and with a swift motion he tore the gun from his grip. He smirked as he tossed the gun far to the ocean. It was a dick move, true, but the only available for him at the moment.
Tommy looked at him, then at the ocean.
“You’re lucky I can’t swim,” he said. “But it’s not the end, sweetheart.”
The sudden endearment took Ken’s attention away from Tommy’s next move. Tommy slid a knife out of his pocket and showed it to Ken.
“Put that down!” Ken caught Tommy’s wrist in a tight grip, looking at the knife, which was coming closer to his face by the instant.
“Make me.” Tommy smirked and started wiggling off, trying to push Ken away from himself.
“Why do you need to act this way! It makes no sense!” Ken yelled before Tommy put the knife to Ken’s throat, at which Ken shivered with anger. He pushed at it out of spite, feeling the cold metal against his skin. He smiled, when Tommy backed out. “Can’t you just deal with it? Like, without using violence?!”
“Blame my mother! I do!” He stuck the knife in the sand in one swift motion. In a second, he sat, holding Ken by his legs, not letting him go.
Ken thought that he didn’t mind getting hurt if it would help Tommy. The man tried to kiss him, but was stopped by Ken’s hand on his mouth. He wouldn’t let his friend use him this way, though.
“Want to talk about this?” Tommy snickered and let him go.
Ken sat next to him. While waiting for an answer, he fiddled with his fingers, trying to get the sand from under his nails. How annoying, he thought.
Tommy got back to his lying position, this time with hands under his head. He stared at the sky in complete silence, so Ken looked up too.
The night was pretty. The moon and its reflected light shone on them and the ocean. It would be almost romantic, if not for the reason they had got here.
“You wanna know about me? Wanna understand me better?” Tommy spoke so quietly that at first Ken thought he imagined it. “There’s nothing you can do to give me fifteen years of my life back.”
Tommy’s eyes were closed, so the only thing indicating what he really thought was the tone of his voice, which was… depressing. Even Ken didn’t expect him to feel this sad over his past.
“That’s right… but instead I can give you an amazing fifteen years from now on, if you just let me, Tommy,” he said, trying to sound optimistic, which was kinda hard, when he himself didn’t feel so.
Tommy seemed to ignore what he had just said, already lost in his own thoughts.
“I never dated, never finished my education, never went on vacation with friends, I didn’t even have friends outside the Forelli’s who turned out to be vicious beasts that would stab you in the back at any moment!” The last few words he spoke with venom. The memories were still fresh for Tommy it seemed. As far as Ken knew, even after three years Tommy still hadn’t fully healed from them.
“But still! You can do all these things now! You have many years ahead of you! I can arrange everything you want, vacation, outing with Mercedes and her friends, you could take weekend classes at the uni, private lessons and all, and more.” Ken tried to reason with him, show him that he still had many opportunities to fulfill all of his needs.
Tommy opened his eyes and looked at him with curiosity. “You didn’t mention anything about dating. Why is that, Ken?”
“Do you want me to ask you to go to the prom with me?” Ken asked and Tommy actually, genuinely laughed at that, which was a miracle in his mental state. “Come on.”
Ken stood up and helped Tommy get on his feet. They went for a walk, further to the beach, but in the opposite direction from the lighthouse. Waves were crashing a little louder now, after the wind had gotten stronger. Not enough to annoy but enough to lightly play with their hair, as they walked slowly, almost arm to arm.
“Sonny took my youth away, and not even his death meant anything. I didn’t find happiness again nor did I feel young again because of another murder,” he confessed, looking into the distance.
Ken stayed silent, letting his friend vent to him, getting rid of intrusive thoughts that had been getting to his head for the past days, months? Or even years, he wasn’t sure.
“It all comes to nothing, Ken,” Tommy sighed, looking tired as ever. “I feel like I’ll always be behind people ‘cause of the prison.” He rubbed at his eyes, and sighed again, this time in frustration. “It wasn't a kind place to be as a teenager. It fucked me up.”
Gently, Ken took Tommy’s hand in his, to make sure Tommy didn’t feel lonely. Vercetti had a bad habit of clenching his own fists so hard he would have bruises from his nails.
“You at least have your education and accomplishments ‘cause of the years of hard work you’ve put in. I can only thank violence, be it physical or mental, and people’s fear of me for the things I have now,” he said with a bitter smile on his face. “Maybe the term ‘butcher’ isn’t all that wrong. I am, after all, good at killing people who don’t agree or listen to me. Maybe Sonny was right, I don’t deserve anything better than that.”
Ken stopped and intertwined his fingers with Tommy’s as he spoke. “Do you even hear yourself? The Tommy I know would’ve never ever agreed with something a dead person had said years ago!”
His friend looked at him. Ken was happy that finally some of his words were getting to his head. “And you do realize I cheated in some exams, right? I’m not a geek nor a perfect example of a mentally healthy person, and you know that, Tommy. So, try not to be so hard on yourself, you just need more time to accept and forget what had happened in the past in order to live in peace.”
Tommy smiled, actually smiled at him. Ken’s heart almost melted at his change of mood. “You’re still doing an amazing job as a lawyer, though. I’m really proud of all the work you have been putting in so far, especially that you already have many problems of your own. Thank you, Ken.”
“Nah, we need to take care of each other, right?” The lawyer squeezed his hand harder, at which Tommy nodded and hugged him on the spur of the moment.
Instead of murder, there came an agreement. They would be there for each other, as long as one needed another.