Heaven Works On Borrowed Time

NEW DOG

A video titled NEW DOG appears on the channel shortly after HABIT leaves with his camera. The video is everything that Vinny didn't want cut together; a chaotic mess of clips edited together relatively well, considering HABIT's meagre skills.

He watches it, naturally. The comments are all concerning but he can't think about it when the content, he knows, will be horrible.

It starts with the clip of the first time Vinny saw Evan like this. The jangle of the collar echoing, edited to be louder than it was in actuality. A close up of the collar being clipped onto Evan's neck. Then Vinny finding the bag of food, Evan following behind him on all fours, the footage appearing to be from a hidden camera in the corner of the room. Vinny's outburst, Evan whimpering, then cutting to Vinny pouring kibble- a chronological retelling of Vinny's nightmare, NEW DOG puts it all into stark detail. Vinny's outright lie to the camera as Evan sits by his lap, clear evidence that things did in fact happen.

The next clip is longer; two sets of footage are put side by side, one of Vinny standing in one room and one of the hallway. In Vinny's hand is a toy, the small bone Evan enjoys more than any other, and he throws it. Evan runs after it, returning- a game of fetch. A man and his not-quite-dog, playing a game that both of them enjoy more than they really ought to. This footage stretches, ending with Vinny crouching and holding Evan's face in his hands, saying some stupid shit like you're a good boy, good boy. A man talking to his dog.

The footage after that is more contextless clips. Evan, eating from the bowl; Vinny, hosing Evan off outside in the small, closed-in yard they're allowed to access; Vinny lying in bed for days, too depressed to do anything real even as Evan noses him, drops toys in front of him, and whines at him. Vinny, clipping a leash to the collar around Evan's neck and leading him outside.

As expected the video culminates with the footage of the late night. Evan crawling into the bed beside Vinny. Vinny crying, sobbing quietly as he holds Evan's face, then kissing him. Evan squirming and growling, pushing him away, going into the corner. It's all shot from a camera in the corner, showing Vinny's fuck-up, his loss of control in objective detail.

Vinny can't help but go down and read the comments. Everything from is evan okay? to this some kinky shit, but the fact that there are so many of them is the part that makes Vinny sick. So many different people saw this, saw how both of them are so broken and forever altered.

Vinny's so absorbed in the comments, then rewatching the video to make sure he knows exactly what everyone else saw, that he doesn't hear the quiet footsteps coming up to him before Evan crawls up onto the couch beside him. The video plays yet, and Evan gets too close to Vinny to see it better. The qualms he had with Vinny after Vinny's mistake are apparently gone.

Whatever intelligence is left behind Evan's eyes recognizes the danger of having this online. Having the fact that he's been treated like a dog, acted like a dog, is a dog everywhere, a click away from every fan's thoughts; it's not a good thing. Even a dog could realize it.

Evan almost forms a word. Vinny wants to believe that, he hopes it dearly, but... he doesn't quite manage. It's more of nrruhh than anything else, the frustrated noise of an animal. The frustration of the animal manifests suddenly in a loud bark, then him slamming the side of his head into Vinny's chest.

"Ow, Evan- look, it's fine. They've seen weirder." He thinks it's a weak comfort, but Evan stares at him with dark eyes, then whines softly. Nosing Vinny's shoulder softly, he sits still as Vinny shuts the laptop. He only moves closer, laying his head and shoulders down in Vinny's lap, when Vinny says Evan, here.

It's weird how Vinny has become used to this. Evan, emoting in such a viscerally wrong way, lying on his lap like a dog who doesn't know he's too big to do this anymore. Vinny, enjoying running his hand down his dog's (his friend's) back, enjoying the endless devotion and joy that he can get just from throwing a toy across the house.

The routine used to sicken Vinny, but he saw from the video how he became used to it. He began playing along, and now genuinely wants to. He enjoys having a pet, even if he isn't quite used to the fact that it's Evan, it's Evan's body and his mind kept lashed back to something of pure joy and instinct. It's Evan that curls up near him at night and Evan that crouches by the food bowl. It's Evan who relies so fully on Vinny now that he can't even feed or wash himself anymore.

Of course, he still hates that HABIT has managed to push them both into this situation. Vinny, the owner, Evan, the dog. HABIT controlling them both from afar. Vinny is fairly convinced that HABIT's still watching them- after all, NEW DOG showed camera angles that wouldn't be possible with Vinny's camera.

He hates it, but he doesn't hate this. The quiet moments when Evan's acting a lap dog and listening to Vinny talk. The quiet moments when Vinny can run his hand down Evan's broad back and pretend he's a normal guy with a normal dog and a normal life. If anything, HABIT gave him a good thing- sure, it's horrifying when Vinny actually thinks about it, but he's recently learned from Evan the perks of blissful ignorance.

Such blissful ignorance that Evan seems to forget what he just saw on the computer. Undoubtedly he doesn't even understand what the computer is- he simply stands when he's tired of laying on Vinny, on fours as always, and trots to the back door. On the way he picks up something in his mouth. A ball, maybe, but Vinny doesn't really care.

This part, Vinny always is worried about. The door sometimes doesn't open and Evan becomes agitated, or it does open and they can never trust what's out there. They can never trust that they won't be attacked.

Luckily, this time the door opens to 'their' backyard. It's a field that stretches as far as the eyes can see, but when they tried to keep walking and leave they didn't seem to go anywhere, the house always staying in the same place. The size of it does allow Evan to run, expend some of his new boundless, joyful energy.

Evan drops the ball at Vinny's feet. The sharp teeth he has now are fully visible when he 'smiles', his jaw hanging open. It's only now that Vinny realizes that HABIT changed more than Evan's teeth; his tongue is flat, lolling from his mouth in exactly the way a dog's would. It's likely he couldn't even enunciate any words if he did want to speak.

Concerned as he is about this development, Vinny still picks up the ball and throws it. As typical Evan bolts after it; he's become used to the awkward loping of his human body in this type of run, and is almost scarily fast.

A game of fetch. Again and again, Vinny knows HABIT sees all of this. Vinny winds up having more fun than he thinks he should, even now. It's nice to have a pet he can just have fun with. Evan, running back and forth, doing that dog thing where he won't let go of the ball until Vinny asks several times, Vinny eventually dropping the ball and getting down to wrestle Evan.

It makes him think of how they used to joke around. When they were much younger, just little kids wrestling on the living room floor. Invariably Evan would win. He was always stronger, even though he was always smaller, and would sit on Vinny's chest and laugh at him.

It's different now. Evan's panting, sometimes barking- actually barking, Vinny won't ever get used to that sound coming from his friend- sometimes whining. Vinny knows enough about how dogs act to know that Evan's still having fun with this. He never does manage to overpower Vinny. This, he suspects, is because Evan doesn't want to hurt Vinny.

Eventually Evan tires of the playing. Finally, he pushes Vinny over, flopping onto his chest and making that quiet urf sound that Vinny thinks indicates contentment. The grass is cool on their skin, the sun's heat is broken up by a few clouds, and HABIT isn't bothering them.

Vinny looks down at Evan, threading his fingers through the long, messy hair that Evan has. It feels so normal, right now. Laying with his friend outside like they used to, staring up at the sky.

If it weren't for the fact that Evan can't talk, this would be perfect. As is though it's simply Vinny talking to - at? - his friend, his pet. He doesn't talk about anything important, really. He just talks, the subject floating from editing videos to their time as kids, even to more personal things. How he feels. He knows logically that Evan can't understand him. He knows, logically, that Evan's little snuffles and urfs aren't truly in reply to what he's saying. It still makes him happy that his life is so close to being normal.