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Vegas looks down at his stomach once more. Four perfect marks that seem to be completely closed up. A soak probably wouldn't hurt. Plus with Wen Qing's magic, things have been healing faster.

"I'll soak."

So this was going to be weird. Kinn didn't want it to be weird, but here they were. He grabs one of the mid sized towels and dangles it for a moment in front of Vegas as he keeps behind. It wasn't like he had any qualms of his own about this, but he honestly didn't want to see another Theerapanyakul dick if he could help it.

"If you brace up against me with your back, there's less core strain." Again, he knew. Doesn't want to know, but he did. Once he got Vegas soaking, he could go putter out a bit and call in every once in a while to make certain the man hadn't sunk under the surface.

Please! As if Vegas wants Kinn looking at his junk! So, he happily takes the towel to cover himself.

"You could just take my elbow. I managed to get off the floor by myself; I think standing from a seat can't be that much harder."

But whatever. He'll take what help Kinn offers if it means getting to soak for a little bit.

He didn't know how mobile Vegas was. Once the towel was in its proper place, Kinn moved around and took hold of his cousin's elbow, bracing himself to give Vegas the leverage to get up. But have trust Vegas-Kinn has -1000 interest in your junk.

It's easier than he thought to get Vegas to soak in the tub. Once Vegas was settled, he chose to busy himself with the medical supplies to make certain he didn't need anything else. "Been sleeping okay?"

He's trying for small talk.

Getting into the tub wasn't hard. Between the state-of-the-art medical care he had in Bangkok and Wen Qing's cultivator magic here, he's actually healing very well and very quickly. Is there still some pain? Yes. Is there still some difficulty in moving? Sure. But he's been in bed for basically a month. He's out of shape and just walking can make him tired. But he's getting better with each passing day.

"It's getting better." Mostly it's been pain keeping him awake. He's getting used to the futons, and it's always easier now with Pete beside him. "Every day's a little better," he repeats. But he means it. He's being straight with Kinn in the interest of repairing the damage between them. Sighing as he sinks deeper into the hot water, he cants his head to peer over at his cousin.

"You okay?" Without Porsche here, he means.

Kinn hears the question and understands what isn't said. He looks away. "No. But that doesn't matter much since it isn't going to change." That took a lot to admit. He's drowning here and it's so easy to go back to what is familiar. Mafia was a security blanket. At least he knew how to organize and direct that. That was old hat and he knew exactly what to do. Surviving here without Porsche? He doesn't know how to do that.

"I will keep my family protected and as happy and satisfied for as long as we're stuck here. And I will accept my role in it, too."

"You don't have to do that, Kinn," Vegas uttered quietly. But he understood why. Oh, did he understand. When Pete left him, Vegas went hard back to his father. Back to everything he knew and understood from before Pete. He still won't admit that even if they'd succeeded in their little coups against the major family, he wouldn't have won his father's approval. That's the carrot Gun always dangled in front of him.

"Adapt or die, Vegas. That's what we learned first."

He didn't have another choice. Not here. So he would do what he felt was best to keep the family safe.

He knows that, too.

Part of him wished it could all just die with them. The fact that most, if not all, this generation of Theerapanyakul men are gay, if any of them ended up with kids could they possibly do any better than their own fathers did? Teaching them violence and vigilance alongside their ABCs.

Vegas sighed. He never realized how much he hated all this until his father was gone and there was no one left to impress.

"Adapt, being the key part of that. We don't have the money, the connections, the influence to build any sort of empire here. We don't even know enough about this place to try." He paused. "You should talk to Tay. He's not doing so great without Time."

"We will," he says solemnly, like he's making a promise. At the mention of Tay, Kinn scowls a bit.

"Would if he wasn't avoiding me."

Vegas just ignores it. What else could they really do here? Get normal jobs? How could the when mafia runs in their blood? Even Vegas knows way in the back of his mind that he can't get away from that.

"He practically lives next door. Go visit him."

"When Pete gets home or you get out of the water."

He wasn't leaving Vegas to drown in the tub. He also might avoid Tay for a bit in some childish stink and wander the grounds for a bit, trying to plan his next move.

"I didn't mean right now," Vegas stated flatly. Why were people acting so stupid just because he could barely walk a few days ago? Well, that's probably why.

"So what's your plan for now, if you have one?"

"Estate hunting," Kinn answers. "A place with enough room. And it has to have the ability to be protected."

Despite the fact he doesn't want to be here, he will do what he needs to in order to make certain the people in his care are safe.

Can you hear Vegas rolling his eyes?

"Okay, that's a goal. What's the plan to achieve it?"

"I did find a large sum of money at the wharf," Kinn pointed out, ignoring the near disaster of Vegas losing his eyes in the bath. "The trick now is to find a decent location. Which side of Nippon would be most beneficial to us? Where will our greatest connections be found. There seems to be plenty of opportunity at the docks, no surprise there."

"Luck," he pointed out in turn. "So we've basically got nothing but some cash you stumbled into and an idea. What about a legitimate business to cover up anything else you might want to get your hands in?"

Vegas was right. He had been working on a couple things and hadn't told anyone. "Sounds like you have some input to make, Vegas. What's cooking in that mind of yours?"

There were a dozen things they could do. Hell, they could even do a laundromat business liks in the United States roaring twenties. "Speak easy, perhaps?"

"You're really loving this old-timey shit, aren't you?" Vegas shakes his head silently to himself. "A bar, Kinn. I was thinking of a bar."

"When in Rome, Vegas."

A bar. "Because another bar is what this place needs." No one thought that the area was over-saturated with them. Then again, it was a cover, not an actual business enterprise. "What's the theme?"

"Don't you miss that bar Porsche used to work at?" Something like that would be fine. It didn't have to be some high-end luxury deal.

"IT'S NOT THE BAR I MISS!" Kinn's fist slammed down on the table, scattering some of the supplies and he gripped the edge of the table with both hands. It was a 'normal' conversation, wasn't it? They needed to talk shop in order to keep everyone here safe. But Vegas couldn't have an issue with it, could he? Of course not. He had Pete, his rock. And Kinn needed to keep it together.

"Sorry." He didn't bother turning to look at Vegas. "Go ahead with the bar. Do whatever you want with it. It's yours."

He couldn't handle it. Mentally, he was done.

Yeah, he kind of expected Kinn to explode at some point, but that was pretty tame.

He remembers very clearly how he felt when Pete left him, when he learned Pete went back to the main family, when he met Pete again in the alley behind Yok's. He was 100% willing to let Pete put a bullet into him and end all his suffering right then and there. He gets it: the soul-rending loneliness, the too-still nights, the weight of the morning after losing the one who truly sees you.

Was that a pang of sympathy Vegas felt? Was that even possible?

"Let it out," he said, almost insistent. "Go mope, be sad. You're not the only one here to do all the work." He has Vegas, who given an iota of power will stretch it to the max. He has Pete, probably one of the most competent bodyguards the Theerapanyakul family produced. He has Tay, who's also suffering a loss, but like Kinn, still trying to be useful. "I'm not gonna try to usurp you if you take some time to be a fucking human being."

Edited 2022-10-17 19:18 (UTC)

Two seconds later, and he did lose it. The supplies that stayed on the table were swept away as Kinn raged against the unfairness of it all. Did the fates think he deserved this? Did they think that Porsche deserved peace?

When he came to, he was sitting on the floor, feeling a little damp. The interior of the bathhouse was... okay, it wasn't immaculate, but it wasn't irreparable. He had made a mess of the place and here he was, crying. And his fucking cousin was still in the fucking bath.

If needed, Vegas prepared himself mentally to get up and restrain his cousin. But his tantrum didn't last long. At least not as long as Vegas would have expected. He gets it. He's volatile, too. Probably more than Kinn, but still... Now's not the time to compare who's more unhinged. Vegas merely stays in the tub, alert in case anything came flying his way or his cousin seemed to be on the verge of hurting himself.

No one's going to hear about this. Vegas might be a snoop, but this was something he wasn't even going to try to leverage to his benefit. Kinn's always been more human than him, anyway. But Kinn's also been hurt before and built stronger walls against it. How can he not feel empty after letting someone through those walls only to lose them?

Awkwardly, Vegas reached out a hand to his cousin.

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