Work Text:
~*~*~
The first time Bryce kills someone on a mission, he vomits. The first time Reece does it, he grins and high-fives Ken, blood splatter still on his glasses. The first time Zane puts a bullet in someone, someone else puts too many bullets in him. The first time Ken kills someone to protect his client, he feels nothing, and then he feels disappointed that one shot was enough to do it. He kicks the bleeding body on his way out of the stuffed room and then spits on it for good measure. He gets told off by his manager later; the client likes her bodyguards polished and well-mannered.
"You're too impulsive," Emma frowns, and she sounds like Ken's father at family dinners. Would you sit still for once? Where are your manners? Don't use that language around your mother.
"Suck my dick," Ken says because, just like his useless dad, Emma won't do anything about it. He can see the annoyance, the anger on her face for a brief second, in how she purses her lips and in how she exhales through her nose harshly, but she won't strike back with her hands. Daddy never did it too.
"I can fire you," Emma threatens, but they both know Ken has more successful missions than most of their team.
It's a shitty team anyway; most are Bruces and Zanes, not made for what the job entails. They would happily babysit some rich kid or politician who only hires bodyguards to look more important for the rest of their lives. It's boring, and Ken hates boring. It makes his limbs restless, his mind spin in vicious circles, and his insides wound up tighter and tighter until they explode, and he does something stupid.
"Whatever," Ken says and smirks when Emma rolls her eyes.
Behind her back, Reece grins at Ken with childish glee. They both know they will get out of this stupid town as soon as they have two years on their resume.
"Just think of me," Emma says because she can never not have the last word, "when it gets you killed one day."
Bitch.
~*~*~
"The client requested someone your age, with great English and Thai knowledge," Diamond says, pushing identical black folders towards Ken and Reece. "Read and memorize this; you have an hour to decide. I do not need to remind you that this is all confidential."
He doesn't. Ken is a professional who knows how to keep his mouth shut. He picks up the folder and opens it, hoping for something good. He scans the paper and-
"Bangkok?" Reece whistles.
"Yes," Diamond answers. "You must move to Thailand. The client will cover all living expenses."
Ken frowns. Vegas Theerapanyakul is a rich kid going to a rich kid school, and his daddy thinks he needs bodyguard nannies, probably to make sure Vegas doesn't end up on some newspaper's cover snorting coke in a club. After four years of hard work, it feels like he's back in Emma's office. This is a demotion.
"Why?" Ken asks bitterly, tossing the folder hard enough to slide on the desk. Diamond catches it and puts it neatly on top of a pile of papers, aligning corners carefully.
"Ken," Diamond says, calm but steely, "do you know who Theerapanyakul family is?"
Next to him, Reece is staring at his folder like it's a lucky lottery ticket. "Ken, you dumbass, did you even read it?"
Ken looks at the paper. Oh.
~*~*~
The apartment they enter is bigger than Ken's parents' house. Their driver had given them the keys and told them that Nop, head of security for the Theerapanyakul family, would arrive soon. Ken is not dumb, he knows it's a test. There are probably cameras tracking their every move. So they enter the living room and sit down on the nearest sofa.
"The decor is a choice," Reece says, staring at a painting of something that might be a daemon clawing its way out of its own skin. Ken likes it. The weird wall art and small knickknacks on some of the bookshelves make the place more lived in. Wealthy people usually make their homes look like magazine covers, Vegas has not bothered to remove the messy stack of books from the coffee table, and there's an empty wine glass on the windowsill. A kid who likes to pretend to be an adult, then.
"Probably costs more than our yearly salary."
Reece snorts. Ken can feel Reece's leg shaking next to his in anticipation. After a nine-hour flight from Sydney, more sitting feels like a punishment, and Ken aches to go for a run.
Finally, after forty minutes of them discussing Vegas's taste in interior design and playing Genshin Impact on the phone, Nop shows up. Ken stands up from the sofa and waits, listening to the sounds of keys, a door handle, and then keys locking the door again.
"Hello," Nop says as he walks into the living room and tosses the keys into a tiny ceramic bowl.
Reece makes a sound, and Ken understands it. Nop is not wearing a suit that bodyguards usually wear, not even a classic white button-up or a black turtleneck. No, Nop's shirt is a silky palm leaf print piece, and Nop apparently doesn't use the first three buttons of it. There are silver rings and chains that look expensive. Furthermore, Nop looks barely twenty and not like someone who is a head of anything. But there is something about the way he moves through the living room that screams he yields power. He also has a gun casually resting on the waistband of his pants.
Ken bows his head. "Sir."
"Call me Nop," Nop says in English, sitting down on the chair across the sofa. He waves, indicating that Reece and Ken can sit down as well. "Ken and Reece, right?"
"Yes," Reece answers.
"Khun Vegas will be here tomorrow," Nop explains, swapping to Thai, "he lives here most weekdays while at school. You will be with him while he is here and at University. I'll show you your rooms. You guys hungry?"
Ken nods.
"Great," Nop grins, "I am starving. Pizza sounds good?"
Ken nods again. He can feel Reece relax next to him. Nop doesn't sound like an asshole he looks, so they might be just fine. Ken's used to working with assholes. He thinks that most people would even call him one, but as bodyguards, they have to work closely with the head of security, and life is a lot easier when a boss doesn't treat them like dirt.
Nop places an order on his phone, asks them what toppings they want, and makes a face when Reece mentions pineapples.
"Gross," he says, like a toddler offered mashed peas, and Ken laughs.
"He's right, bro."
Reece just rolls his eyes and tells them to shut up.
Nop shows them their rooms (they're sweet, with big beds, a closet and an attached shower each, rich people style, not what bodyguards usually would get, and Ken can tell that Vegas is old money) and walks them through the rest of Vegas's apartment, showing them the alarm system, another exit, and a hidden safe room behind a bookshelf in one of the guest rooms. He also tells them who is and isn't allowed in the apartment, the cleaning staff's schedule and other minor details. Ken prays that Reece memorizes everything because his brain cannot be arsed.
When the pizza arrives, Nop finds some soda in the fridge and gets glasses but doesn't bother with plates. Reece grins when he sees that one of the boxes has Hawaiian pizza in it. Ken notes that for a head of security of the whole family, Nop sure seems to know the ins and outs of this kitchen.
"So," Ken asks, once they settle around the kitchen table, "anything else we need to know about Khun Vegas?"
Nop grins. "He's a jerk."
"Aren't they all," Reece says, unbothered, "as long as he pays in time, right?"
Ken nods. Nop must be close to Vegas if he talks openly like that, where there might be cameras or listening devices. Maybe they are related, or perhaps they are fucking; Nop is too young to have earned his promotion traditionally. And Ken is not blind; Nop looks delicious, like a poison disguised as honey would.
"He shot his previous bodyguard," Nop continues. If that's supposed to shock Ken or Reece, it's not working.
"Probably deserv-" Ken stops mid-word. There is a sound of the doorlock turning. Ken is unarmed, so he takes the knife they used to cut up the pizza and steps towards the kitchen door. Reece is already next to him. "Someone is joining us?"
"Oh, it's okay," Nop says as a burly guy enters the apartment. He is also wearing a palm-printed shirt, albeit a plain cotton one, and Ken has a moment of imagining that this is their new work uniform: palm prints and tight jeans. And chains, the guy has a silver chain around his neck that catches the light when he turns towards them.
"Hello, Nop," Nop says.
"Khun Vegas," the burly guy bows. "I see you met your new bodyguards."
Vegas Theerapanyakul smiles and looks so pleased with himself that it's almost endearing. Reece, who had told Vegas to "shut the fuck up" about pineapples earlier, laughs.
Ken can tell the job won't be dull.
~*~*~
"Drink," Vegas says hours later, placing a liquor bottle on the coffee table.
They are back in the living room after the real Nop has again walked them through security details and given them their weapons and communication devices. Vegas had spent half the afternoon reading a book and then disappeared to his bedroom.
"Are we allowed to drink on the job?" Reece asks, but he is already opening the bottle.
"You do what I tell you," Vegas (Khun Vegas) says as he flops down on the chair. "I have questions."
Reece pauses, then looks at the glasses and the amount of drink in them, a proper amount for liquor, shrugging he pours more and fills them up.
Ken hates getting drunk, hangovers are a bitch to deal with, and it throws off his exercise regime, but apparently, Vegas does not trust them to answer honestly, so he picks up the glass and starts drinking. It's far from the weirdest first day at a job. It figures that a mafia boss's kid thrives on power plays.
Two hours later, the living room is spinning around Ken, and he wonders if the bodyguard that Vegas killed vomited on his living room's carpet. He's answered some questions about his background (nothing to hide), his shitty grades ("mommy and daddy don't believe in Adderall"), his previous jobs (walking a fine line with not spilling anyone's secrets, "sorry, it's confidential, Khun Vegas" and not getting shot in the face for that) and the civilian murder that got removed from his record (he tried to mug Reece with a knife and got what he deserved, "an eye for an eye, Khun").
Reece is lying on the sofa, his head in Ken's lap and grinning about nothing. Out of the two of them, Reece was always a more fun drunk. Vegas looks at Ken's fingers stroking Reece's hair and asks if they are fucking.
"Ew, no," Reece makes a face, "I am not gay."
Ken sees how Vegas freezes, knows what it means, and smoothes out the issue before it becomes something more.
"It's tragic," he says, "but leaves more dick for me."
"Awww, bro," Reece laughs, "if you were a chick, I'd fuck you."
"Cute," Vegas says sarcastically, but he looks a lot less likely to chop Reece's dick off. Ken might not have anything to do with it, but he likes its owner alive.
The rest of the evening is a blur.
~*~*~
The first time Ken shoots a guy, Vegas kicks the bleeding body and spits on it.
"Rest in pieces," he says, smiling at Ken.
Ken presses a hand on his bleeding arm to stop the blood and watches it stain his floral shirt. He was too slow to avoid the knife, and it annoys him. Stupid mistakes get people killed.
"Are you okay, Khun Vegas?" he asks, activating his earpiece. He tells Reece to bring the car now and keep his eyes open.
"Peachy," Vegas answers. "Good job."
Ken bows.
~*~*~
They find the small gang behind the attack on Vegas and kill every single one of them. Vegas throws them a party at his apartment, it's just Reece, Ken and Nop, but they drink champagne and eat pizza. Vegas blasts music on his sound system and smokes cigarettes, ignoring the ashes that fall on the carpet.
Ken is still buzzing from the adrenaline. He's a bit high from the painkillers he took for his stab wound, and he is pretty sure mixing them with champagne is not a good plan.
"To Ken," Vegas says, putting his champaign glass up in the air, "for being such a good boy."
Nop, who is at least ten years older than any of them, looks like a proud father would, and it makes something in Ken ache.
Reece cheers the loudest.
~*~*~
Reece dies two months later, protecting Vegas from another attack. The main family had done something to upset someone and said someone went after the minor family instead, deeming the target easier. Bangs and bullets echo in Vegas's apartment until the intruders are dead.
Ken holds Reece's hand for the few seconds he is still alive and cries shamelessly when Reece stops breathing. Vegas throws a bottle of red wine against the wall and curses in four different languages.
Two days later, Vegas takes Ken to a cell in his father's house and gives Ken a knife. The man who organized the attack is tied to a pillar, his face beaten and bleeding, a trademark of Nop's brass knuckles.
"An eye for an eye," Vegas says.
Ken thinks of Reece as he stabs the motherfucker in the eye. Vegas tells him to go slow and make it count, wraps his fingers around Ken's hand as he guides the knife down the man's face, and laughs when the man starts pleading for mercy.
~*~*~
"I have a very important job for you," Khun Vegas says three days later, after erasing Ken's existence from any records. "I think it's time you meet the main family."
Ken bows.