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As promised, Vegas was waiting outside the site of the bar within an hour. Now that he has this, he needs to work on getting his own transportation. Having to rely on the trains sucks. They're so crowded!

When he sees his blond friend, Vegas waves and walks him into the place. Thankfully it's in good repair. It's a long, somewhat narrow space with exposed brick on one wall and wood paneling on the other. Definitely giving off dive bar vibes.

"I'm thinking we just clean it up a little, install the bar over here and some seating along this wall. I want the ceiling to be pretty, though. Sort of a centerpiece."

"You can do that with some really pretty lighting."

Walking around it, he gazed at everything in awe. Sure it was rough right now but he knew once they cleaned up the place it was going to be amazing. Already he was starting to get ideas.

"Oh I bet if we find the right kind of glass you can get nice mood lighting for the bar too!"

"I'm not tryna make the place too fancy, but I thought if we keep the walls as they are, a little bling on the ceiling would be a nice touch. The place my family used to go had like... two small chandeliers and these glass fixtures hanging from the ceiling."

The lighting at Yok's really did wonders for the place. Vegas wanted to try to emulate that feeling in what was obviously a neighborhood dive bar.

"I wanna put an art piece on the wall to surprise Pete." He'll hate it, Vegas is sure, but it'll still be worth it to see his expression even if Pete convinces him to change out.

"You can still have it a lot like this and add some color. Color will make it a really magical place people want to go to."

He wasn't just speaking from personal experience too. He'd managed to take part of a class at university before he'd gone on the run. After that it had been excessive amounts of reading and practicing on his own art.

"What art piece do you want to do?"

"I was thinking like... magenta or a soft purple." Not red, his preferred color. It's a little too harsh for the vibe he wants to create. "Do you think that would work?"

Vegas flashed him a shit-eating grin and gestured to a broad expanse of wall. "I want Pete's face on this wall!"

"That'll be really pretty. Especially if you throw some blue in there. It'll be like a fantasy." Which he loved so much already. And the exposed bricks and wood were the perfect tone for it. All nice and cool to go with the cool lighting.

Riley blinked and then burst into giggles so hard that he had to support himself on the wall for a second. "Like a big portrait? Or a mural of a bunch of his faces?"

"A mural!" A collage with Pete's face all over it would be wonderful and a little hilarious. But Vegas figured it would be nice for him to look at while he's working the bar.

Riley ended up giggling even more at Vegas' enthusiasm. "Pete's gonna hate it."

But Riley was totally going to do it anyway. From what he'd seen of these too so far Pete would always hate that wall but he'd live with it since it made Vegas so happy. They were a super cute couple that way.

"If he hates it too much, I can have it changed," he conceded. "But don't tell Pete that! I want him to think it's a forever fixture." And he's like it to be a forever fixture. He waved Riley over to a seat so they could sit down and work out some more of the details of the decor.

"Ready to start drawing?"

"I will do my best!" After all, he couldn't lie and he still wasn't the best at twisting truths just yet. But he sure would for Vegas' silly plan.

Trotting over to a seat, he got out his book then flipped to a clean page. "I'm ready! Start talking and I'll start drawing!"

"I think, for the ceiling, I want um... glass baubles that are round but flat... Circles, not spheres, does that make sense?"

"Kind of free floating from the ceiling like they're dangling like this? Or more like they're a reflective surface like this..." He did a quick couple of sketches on the next page so that way he could give Vegas the chance to correct the idea in advance before he just included it.

Vegas watched him draw, pointing to the idea he liked best. "Dangling. Maybe half the length of the chandeliers? There should be two, I think since this room is long."

Nodding, he went back to the room sketch to give two marks to where the chandeliers would be. Then it was back to the previous page so he could cross out one of the ideas for the glass circles. "For the chandeliers do you want them to be crystal ones to catch more lighting? Kind of like this?"

He drew one out roughly, which even rough still looked quality, and turned it to face him. A chandelier strung with crystal beading.

"Yes!" Riley really had a good sense of the aesthetic Vegas wanted for this place. He was pretty impressed! But the guy's an artist so that's sort of in his wheelhouse, isn't it? "I want the ceiling to sparkle and shine."

"Crystal will be good for that. The glass circles will naturally rotate a little with air flow of the people moving. So that'll hit the crystals and make even more sparkle and light for you." Going back to the main page, he started to add the fixtures that Vegas wanted. Then he did some quick sketches for what the lights would look like with the sparkles. It wasn't in motion but it helped to give a general idea.

Riley bobbed his head back and forth a couple times then smiled. "How do you like it so far?"

Vegas leaned closer, squinting a little as he inspected the page. It was really amazing to see his vision coming to life. Somehow Riley just seemed to intuitively know exactly what Vegas wanted to see for this space. A grin spread across his face and he nodded, pleased with what Riley's crafted.

"I love it."

He did a very vague representation of the mural on one wall. Just so they'd have an idea of where it would be. Tapping his lip, he considered for a moment then focused more on the bar area. "So for the bar you want it to be like most places where all the bottles of what you serve are on display on the wall right? Do you want any other details for it?"

Riley paused then smiled and looked over at him. "Maybe mirrors behind the bottles so Pete's mural gets reflected there?"

It's so cool how Riley's able to make his ideas take shape on the page. He's got a real talent for this! Vegas should suggest him to Kinn when it comes time to decorate their place.

He nodded at the question. The bar area should look pretty much like a typical bar. The long counter, the hightop seating, the booze all out on display. "Oh, yeah, I like the mirror idea. We'll need some kind of lighting in the shelving, too. You know, to make the bottles look sharp."

Riley thought about what kind of lighting would be available here for a second. They could probably use some basic bulbs and then use mirrors to bounce the light. Maybe colored glass even. On the other page, he started to sketch that out so that way he'd be able to explain it better.

"What if there were bulbs under shelves. Then when we use colored glass they'll reflect a more diffused light. Kind of like...this?" He turned the page to him to show him what he was thinking.

Vegas watched as Riley's idea took shape on the page. He hummed and nodded. That would definitely suit the vibe he wanted for this place.

"That looks good," he stated. then he grinned and nudged Riley's shoulder. "Don't let me forget to pay your fee once we start making money."

Riley laughed at that and bowed his head a bit. Quietly, he started to sketch out more of how the bar would look as a whole, pausing only for a second when it all caught up with him.

"You know, I always wanted to have a job that would either involve art or books. For awhile I gave up on the dream because I was on the run. It feels really good to kind of live that dream again here with you." He looked over at Vegas with a smile. "Thanks."

A soft smile came over his face and he reached over to pat Riley's shoulder. "You're welcome. Though, it should be me thanking you for doing all this for me."

"It's thanks enough that you picked me. Seriously." He smiled at him then looked down at his picture again. "You guys really believe in me and it feels good. When I'm with you guys I feel like myself and it's pretty great honestly."

That was something he could understand. Vegas was rarely himself. More like a parody of himself. He tried so hard to be what everyone expected him to be and lost himself in the process. Until Pete saw him. Saw him and accepted him, good, bad, and ugly.

"You've got talent, Riley. And you're capable of taking care of yourself. If something happens and you can't, you know we've got your back."

approx. one hour later...

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