Days passed and Corey fell ill. Sores dotted his body and his ribs were visible under the pale skin marred red with sunburn. Too afraid to leave the den, too afraid to stab Vaas in the throat when he did eventually come to pass out in a drugged haze, he remained there. His master rarely remembered to feed him or bring him water so he'd taken to hoarding anything he got in a corner before hunger took the better of him and he binged on the various overripe fruits and packs of junk food. He slept little and was plagued with a hacking cough, which only served to enrage Vaas and earned him a kick to the ribs every time the pirate heard it.
One night Corey passed out, his eyes fluttering closed as he slipped into a darkness that relieved him of his agony. A couple of times he wavered into consciousness, the ground coming into view as he felt himself being carried roughly like a sack of food, but the image was soon gone, and when he awoke, his head near split in two with pain.
"You've lost two days." Vaas murmured from the mattresses. The televisions blared silently, causing the shadows of the pirate's face to flicker eerily. Corey rose to sitting, his limbs shaking. "You should be really feeling it right now, eh, hermano?" He found himself surrounded by bottles of water, one of which he unscrewed and gulped down furiously without permission. Vaas seemed unperturbed aside from an empty can chucked at the boy's head as though to gently remind him of his manners. Corey took the hint and gestured at a nearby orange.
"Please?" he croaked, his voice cracking from lack of use. Vaas shrugged.
"Be my guest." He dismissed, waving a hand. He waited until Corey's hand was closed around the fruit, then clapped his hands, making the boy drop it in fright. A grin split Vaas' scarred face. "I'm just fuckin' with ya, amigo." The older man shook his head, chuckling. "No wonder you wound up here, you fuckin' pussy."
Corey was paying little attention at this point, back up against the wall, hungry fingers splitting the orange open and scrabbling at the edible fruit inside. "Ay, I'm talking to you." Vaas threw another can. This time his target ducked just in time and the sour beer spilled out onto the floor. Vaas was deadly quiet for a moment, causing Corey to pause and look up from eating. He barely had time to register what was happening before his owner had him by the throat and up against a wall. "Maybe I didn't make myself clear enough the first time, bitch." He snarled. "I own you. You wouldn't exist if it weren't for me. You didn't exist before me. If you were to cease to fuckin' exist, and I were to remain, it'd make no difference to my world- and if I were to die, and you remain, you'd have nothing. Do you hear me? Nothing!" He screamed in the boy's face. "You will take everything I give you. You will thank me. And believe me hermano, by this time soon? You won't want to live without it." Vaas tossed Corey aside, causing him to fall painfully on his clumsily bandaged sores. By the time he'd recovered from the way his head knocked against the wall, Vaas was gone, and he was alone once more.
It was several hours before Vaas deigned to return, dawn just a few more away. He stumbled in, blinking and kicking over a ring of bottles. Corey awoke with a start and scrambled away from the noise, at which the returning pirate simply grunted as he collapsed on the mattresses after stripping off his wifebeater. After a while the pirate simply stared at the ceiling, willing the shapes and visions and loud noises in his head to cease. He turned his head slightly and watched Corey with wide, baleful eyes, their icy blue a contrast to his tanned skin and dark hair. They stayed there a little while, staring at each other.
A shaky smile quirked at one side of Vaas' mouth, and he reached out a hand, making a small curling motion with his fingers, bloodied and dirty. "Come here, Menino." He murmured. Corey hesitated for a moment, but not too much to invoke his owner's wrath. Slowly he struggled to his feet, scrawny legs quivering as he took a few cautious, barefooted steps and stood over Vaas, who clicked his tongue and pulled him down into sitting by the wrist. He didn't let go for a little while, keeping that iron grip around the skinny limb, before reaching up with fingers shaking almost as much as Corey's were and brushing them against the soft skin of the boy's cheek. Corey froze, eyes widening in shock. "Shh, shhh. Don't you dare fucking move." Vaas murmured, his breathing becoming laboured. Corey's pale face coloured slightly with embarrassment, but he tried to do as he was told. Vaas' thumb brushed along the line of the blush, and the older man's breath caught in his throat as he waited in some dazed mockery of patience for Corey to stop fidgeting awkwardly. "Shhh. I'm not going to tell you again, Menino." That phrase again. It sent a jolt through Corey, starting at his abdomen and crackling up like sparks. Slowly, his muscles relaxed, and he leaned into the contact, eyes drooping shut a little.
A closed fist slammed into Corey's face and sent him crashing to the ground. He had barely enough time to throw his arms up in defence before another smashed against his ribcage, cracking one and bruising several more. He caught a glimpse of Vaas's face in between the strikes, wide-eyed, snarling... terrified. His blue eyes were manic with a cold, gut wrenching fear.
Corey waited it out. He waited until Vaas stopped, breathing as though he'd run a mile, bare chest heaving. Slowly he got to his feet from his position straddling Corey's skinny little body, towering over him. He burst out laughing and kicked at his victim roughly. "Got you for a moment there didn't I, you little faggot?" He stepped over Corey and went back to bed, throwing himself down roughly onto his mattress, still cackling roughly. "Stupid slut." He turned over and faced away from Corey, who, with a dead, blank look in his green eyes, crawled back to his corner and curled against the wall, staring at it until dawn illuminated the filth of the room.