@lazarus | video

[benhargreeves]

[ The video opens on Ben's face. He is looking particularly grim, filming in one of the rooms in the residential section. No greetings or build-up, he just cuts right to the chase, holding up a tiny device between forefinger and thumb. Visible is a tiny lens, and what looks like a small antennae to transmit. ]

PSA. There are surveillance cameras hidden in the lighting fixtures of the bedrooms. I found a creepy tunnel leading to a creepy lair where some fucking creep has been spying on us. Still trying to figure out who is behind it and what they want, but the feeds only show occupied rooms and no empty ones so it's not a coincidence, unfortunately.

[ Ben turns the frame to face the spot where the small camera had obviously been ripped out of an overhead light. From offscreen he says, voice clipped and angry: ]

Anyway. Wanted you guys to know. Hit me up if you need help ripping the suckers out. I'll post again when I know more.

Comments

[benhargreeves]

[ Ben considers for a long moment. A part of him wants to say yes, because it is his instinct to be private, to hide everything, from everyone, without question. But Peter hadn't hidden, from him. Ben had just given him those big speeches about relying on other people, not facing stuff alone. Wouldn't it make him a hypocrite, then, to make Peter leave the room, just because a few things on the footage might be a little embarrassing? ]

No, it's fine.

[ Then, as he's looking at the screen, jaw set, he admits: ]

Actually, I really don't wanna do this alone, so. You don't have to watch with me, if you wanna start coming up with some traps or whatever but. I'd appreciate if you stay in the room.

[ And he clicks the button to start the footage. He's tempted to poke at the settings, find a way to speed it up, get it over with. But then he remembers how brief that flash of a bulky figure coming in had been on Peter's footage. There might be more clues here he would miss if he tried to just race through. So he makes himself just watch, cycles of him sleeping and reading, Klaus coming in and 'borrowing' things from his closet, his desk. Ben shakes his head at that, mouth quirked to the side.

There are other, less pleasant things. They'd chosen to keep some footage of him having nightmares. The feed is silent, but him tossing around in his sleep, the way the door to Klaus's room opens and his sleepy head pokes in to check on Ben... suggests there was a certain amount of noisiness. Jaw set, Ben laces his fingers together tight in his lap, and keeps watching.

He doesn't see a figure coming in his room, like he'd seen with Peter's. But there are gaps in the footage where it cuts off abruptly. How many of those gaps are just cutting out boring down time, and how many are concealing potential incursions? ]

It keeps doing that. Do you see? When we're not in the room, sometimes the camera just zooms in on... like, our shit. Why the fuck would anyone care about my book or - or headphones?

[itsnotaonesie]

Oh, I'm gonna go all-out Home Alone on this place, don't you worry about it.

[There are gonna be so many booby traps up in here. But for now, Peter's going to do what Ben wants and stay in the room with him while the video plays. He pays less attention to Ben himself in the videos, since Peter's more focused on watching the background for weird sneak creepers. He does lean back in his chair and rub his chin in thought when it starts zooming in on stuff, and then Ben voices the same thing that he has on his mind.]

Yeah, I noticed that, it's weird. Like, they're not exactly important, but-- I dunno, there's gotta be some kind of significance behind it?

[benhargreeves]

Hmm. Gotta be. We should... check the items that have gotten close ups. Make sure they haven't been replaced with close replicas or... changed or bugged or who knows.

[ And he starts making a mental note of which objects the camera seems to linger on. ]

Small silver lining, yeah, but I'm definitely not getting a perv vibe off this. None of this stuff they kept is like, me getting dressed or undressed or coming back from the shower or whatever, so they're not, like... holding onto that sort of thing.

[ It hardly makes the rest of it that much better, but it's something, and Ben's at least relieved over that, because Peter's one thousand percent too young to need to be worrying about any shit like that.

Another few days pass in the footage, Ben reading books, Ben sleeping, Ben not sleeping when he ought to be sleeping, Ben laughing to himself as he reads some message on the device - probably one from Peter, honestly. He has to pause, after that moment, because the look on his own face in the video is so happy, so unguarded. So blissfully sure he was alone and unwatched.

Ben hangs his head for a second, rubbing at the back of his neck and taking a few slow breaths, trying to will away that crawling awful feeling. Before Peter can even worry he says: ]

I'm fine- I'm fine I just. Need a sec.

[ God, they really are going to have to kick the shit out of whoever is responsible for this. Ben's not going to feel comfortable anywhere until they do... ]

[itsnotaonesie]

[Peter makes a mental note to check every single thing in his room that isn't bolted down and have Poison do the same, just in case there's any significance to these weird close ups.]

I'm slightly less weirded out knowing this isn't just some pervert.

[But only slightly. And too late, Ben, Peter's been worried about you this whole time. He pauses the recording so that they don't miss anything and watches Ben for a moment before reaching over and giving his shoulder a squeeze.]

This is pretty rough, for both of us. You wanna take a break for a while?

[benhargreeves]

[ Ben almost says no, insists for a third time that he is fine, even though it would be obvious to the world's most insensitivie and idiotic stranger that he is not, much less his observant and sympathetic friend. He gives a shaky sigh and, relenting, nods his head. Yes. He can't stand here and lecture Peter about not working too hard and acting like it's all on his shoulders, if he's modeling the same relentless behavior.

It is that thought that tips the scales and gets Ben to say: ]

Yeah. A... a break would be good, actually.

[ The footage isn't going anywhere. It'll still be awful later, but he will hopefully be feeling a little more numb, by then. ]

[itsnotaonesie]

[Good because Peter would have absolutely called him out on his bullshit. Lovingly.]

Sounds good. We can pick this up later. I'm thinking lunch. Then a nap. Then another lunch. In fact, let's just pick this up tomorrow. I feel like I need to let my whole brain relax for a while.