Heaven Works On Borrowed Time

Catharsis

Evan doesn't sleep in Vinny's room for the first time in what must be weeks. He sleeps on the sheetless bed in his bedroom; the pile of blankets is torn apart, most of the quilts winding up on the human bed. Vinny checks on him before he goes to sleep too- Evan's curled on his side and breathing steadily. His hands are curled in front of him, the stumped fingers twitching.

Evan's fine. Evan's safe. If he wakes up as a dog, then Vinny can deal with it; he hopes dearly that Evan wakes up as Evan. As much as he enjoyed his dog, he enjoys Evan more. They can talk, they can play together in ways that don't involve the soft toys strewn about the house, they can do anything.

Vinny goes to sleep relaxed, calm. He wakes the same way until he sees a camera sitting on his side table. Purple tape sticks a note to it. Leaning in to read it, he sees HABIT's same scrawl. Vinny, it says, the ink spread through the paper, good job with your dog! Here's a gift :D

Full circle. HABIT used his camera against him and now wants him to use it against Evan, against himself. Vinny has that same itch, the urge- he has to film, doesn't he? The camera is there, it works. He should film.

He does. He walks throughout the house, filming aimlessly, until Evan comes walking - walking - out of his bedroom. Today he's wearing a slightly too small shirt and his jeans, again; he stares at the camera suspiciously. His lips curl into a snarl for a few moments before he speaks. Rough from sleep, dark with anger. "What did HABIT upload?"

Vinny won't show him. He won't, he can't- not when Evan was exposed to the entire internet. A dog, just a dog. Always a dog. Evan might remember being treated like that but he doesn't know what it looked like, so starkly shown. All of it summed up into two videos showing how Vinny just went along with it and how Evan suffered.

Vinny's hesitation has Evan storming forward. One strong hand pushes him into the wall, the other wrapping around his wrist and closing so hard Vinny swears he can feel his bone giving under the pressure. "Tell me." A dark growl. It doesn't sound human, not with how the two syllables come out too low for Evan's regular voice and too sharp for a human's voice. Those few teeth are bared in an enraged snarl; those eyes are narrowed in suspicion.

"Two videos- Ev, please- two videos. One's called, uh, NEW DOG. It's just a bunch of clips of, of dog you. Me feeding you and playing with you and walking you and, the kiss, stuff like that. A bunch of clips from cameras in the walls. I couldn't find them- Evan- please, let go." Vinny pleads. The words slide from his lips, jumbled. Evan's blunt fingers are wrapped right around his arm and he's sure he'll bruise if Evan doesn't just break it.

Evan growls. A genuine growl, no trace of humanity in it; his eyes are growing darker and darker every second. "Two." His voice isn't human. It sounds like a dog trying to mimic him. The dog roiling under Evan's skin, the beast, comes out in how he leans closer, a force of nature pressing Vinny into the wall and nearly breaking his wrist.

"The other one was- was DENTIST. Just, just video of me tearing your teeth out. Not even edited or cut up- Evan, Evan. Please. We can make, make another video. Explain it or- or just," His hand is going numb. The portion of arm that Evan's holding is agonizing, but he daren't move and risk Evan snapping it.

Evan's eyes hide animal rage, a man trapped for too long now free and seeing the shit of the earth. His hand stays around Vinny's wrist before he lets go. A jerk of his head indicates that they should go to the living room. "Video." Is all he says, voice dark but no longer a growl. His walk is more of a prowl; Vinny sees the animal. Evan's frustrated, angry, but he sits on the couch as Vinny sets up the camera anyway.

The video starts with both of them, silent. Vinny is sitting up straight and not quite looking at the camera, expression sad and eyes soft like a doe's. He lifts one hand to run through his hair, the other kept clenched in his lap. Evan is slouched, looking at his mutilated hands. His shoulders are squared while he licks his lips with his flat tongue.