mofi | duplicity

Pandora is oblivious to the impact of that one little question. For all the benefits telepathy gives her, she's not really all that socially savvy. She's not even sure if he means a Raven she's talked to. She thinks there might have been one in passing, but this place was large and she was mostly ignorant of the interactions outside of the small number of people she interacted with.

So when she's says - "That's good", she means it. If Murphy is going to be kind and he's going to make sure that his submissive is comfortable with the process, then it's good. There is a measure of safety in being contracted, and she firmly believes that if one has to choice to go with someone safe, they should seize the opportunity.

Otherwise-

"That possessive pronoun isn't being used correctly." This isn't so much a decree from the top as the way she's noticed things work. "He's not mine. I'm his. Possession travels one way." She picks up the plate, stepping over to the microwave to warm up the cookies. As long as he doesn't stop her, going about the domestic things is soothing. "And- well, no. I mean-"

How does she explain it succinctly? "He was right that I wasn't going to be able to ... hold my resolve to say no." Then, a little quieter. "I said yes in the end."

[ jack is not usually the one with shitty interpersonal skills. usually because he's being a manipulative fuck with the people he's talking to, in order to make sure they're fond of him by the end of the conversation. so what about the people he likes too much to lie to?

welp, they get jack as he is. jack, the selfish, bitter, terrified little asshole that he is. again, murphy's paying the price for jack having his head stuck up his own ass.

while jack's been stopping by to see murphy in the hospital every single day since the attack, but he'd missed yesterday, and he'd felt like a fucking jackass for ditching him. clearly, duplicity has been softening him, because jack can only stand the one day of it before he's back in the chair next to murphy's hospital bed. thankfully, he was asleep when jack came in, and he took a moment to look over him. it's been a couple weeks since the attack, and the lighter bruises are clearing up, less black and deep purple around murphy's throat, more a vague yellow and pink. he still looks so goddamn broken, and jack's glad he came when none of the others were around, because it starts to choke him up, and his pale ass skin has never done him any favors in hiding when he gets teary.

jack waits in the chair next to the bed, not climbing into it with him this time, but he weaves his fingers between murphy's and pillows the side of his head on their forearms, pressed side by side. maybe it's the motion that wakes him up, or the touch, or maybe murphy was awake the whole damn time and jack was too busy hating himself to notice, but when his eyes blink open, jack watches him from where he is for a still handful of seconds. ]

I'm sorry. [ he murmurs, voice with an embarrassing, but barely there kind of squeak to it. things he doesn't care about anymore when it comes to murphy. ] I can't lose you.

[ and he can't lose bucky, either. he has no fucking clue how to do this. ]

[ He's flattered by the nine, but he still wants a ten. The only way Bellamy thinks he can change that score is by letting Murphy feel his cock inside him - but not tonight.

(He will get a ten from Murphy, though. He's making that into a goal.)

He's actually surprised Murphy is the first to go under the waistband out of the two of them, humming out a pleased sound. He mirrors Murphy's actions by taking hold of his friend's cock as well, pulling it out of his underwear so it's lined up alongside his own, handled by Murphy. It's kind of a beautiful sight, their pricks side by side in each other's safe hands. ]

I wanted to make this about you... [ He hadn't planned on letting Murphy touch him, but now it's becoming a joint effort. ] We can still make this about you. You don't have to give me anything back...

[ But his eyes say he doesn't want Murphy's hand to go anywhere except along the length of him. ]

Sometimes she looks at him as though he is speaking in a foreign language. It worries him because maybe he actually did say something stupid. The expressions on her face are always hard to decipher which makes it worse.

Murphy raises a brow, gives her a questioning look. "You're his," he doesn't sound convinced at all. "That's not how that works." It's something he doesn't want to point out but he does so anyway. "You can bullshit anyone else but I'm the best at bullshitting so try again."

His gaze follows her, watching her slip into this domestic role so naturally. "He forced you." Murphy can feel his blood boiling, anger rising to the surface. "Where the hell does he live?"

That was exactly how it worked, to her experience. Gilgamesh could be generous. She had a warm place to sleep. She wasn't struggling to feed herself. She was also fairly sure that if she tried to make a mutual claim, to restrict his movements in any way, she'd be well-educated on it being exactly how that worked.

That is to say, possession only traveled on way.

She really didn't have to be a telepath to realize that he was angry, but she is and the heat of it is scalding. Uncomfortable, and alarming. She turns to look at him, angling herself automatically so that she's not against the counter. The second surge of panic leaves her lips numb and her fingers cold.

Murphy directing that anger at Gilgamesh would be the worst possible choice. That's a 'Murphy dead and Pandora explaining why' situation. That's so not good.

"No." The word trembles. "No, I said yes." Eventually. Irrelevant. In that moment, she decides redirecting his anger is the best option. "Are you so lacking in troubles now, that you've decided to go dig into someone else's?"

Usually, in most cases, Murphy is the plan first and react later sort, but over the years that's slowly worn away. The breakup with Emori damaged a lot of him, especially his psyche.

"Did you want to say yes? Did you say no and he pushed you until you said yes? Because who have got to be some kind of warped to think you willingly signed that contract." He just keeps digging and digging, sticking his nose into things that doesn't pertain to him.

He cares, though. Murphy's not sure why he cares so much. This need to protect her. Unknowingly, it's something that he needs. He wants to be good at something. He was useless up in space. He wasn't an engineer or a scientist. Hell, Murphy isn't that great of a speller. All he did was watch everyone work and make stupid jokes.

Murphy watched everyone help and he slowly drifted into the background.

He did nothing to get them back down onto the ground.

"So you are in trouble."

Gosh. He really wasn't going to let go of it. She gapes at him a moment.

Anything she says is going to just escalate the situation. She's a terrible liar to begin with, but he's busy stripping her of all the comforting not-quite-lies she'd told herself.

She doesn't know what to say. She doesn't quite understand how they'd gotten to this point or how to get out of it. All she knows is that if he confronts Gilgamesh, that's it. Event horizon.

"Leave it alone." She wants it to be an order but it's more of a pleas. " I don't see why you're so- so interested. It doesn't matter. I- I did this to myself so don't waste your time-" There has to be a right string of words to get him off the subject, right? Right?

Pandora is crumbling and all Murphy wants to do is catch the pieces and hope he can put her back together. He's pushing this for a reason even he can't understand why just yet.

"I can't," he whispers. "And I won't." Maybe it's because Murphy could see himself when he looks at her. Blaming herself for the situation she found herself tangled in. He blamed himself, too. Almost thought he may have been asking for what had been done to him.

There was a moment where Emori blamed him.

"Listen," his voice goes soft. "If you need help just tell me. I don't know what I can do but I want to help. It's not a waste of time. I don't want some asshole taking advantage of you." He takes the plate from her hands, sets it onto the counter because tea and cookies were the last things on his mind now.

"You're here so you must trust me. Even if it's just a little bit."

There's a fine tremble to her hands. Really, it's too much emotion to keep to herself and she's fighting to squash it. Strong emotions were dangerous. Even as she reminds herself of that, she can feel her eyes prickle. Her vision swims as she tries to blink and then hold her eyes wide. Crying would be counter productive.

What would Magda do?

She really wishes she could ask.

"I don't," she says, keeping her gaze on the counter because it was safer than looking up at him. "I don't. Everyone speaks so prettily around here in the moment, but as soon as they decide they want something, they're all the same."

[ Murphy is sleeping when Jack comes into the room. He’s been going to sleep with a little help with whatever concoction of drugs that are slowly dripping into his I.V. It hasn’t put him into a deep sleep, just enough to stop panicking at the thought of Bucky, or whoever that was, coming back and finish the job. A horrifying thought because who at this hospital had the strength to fight off a super soldier?

The drugs help, Murphy sleeps, but it’s a dreamless sleep. It’s just a calm blackness that swallows him whole. Instinctually, even as he wakes, Murphy squeezes the hand that is holding is. He makes a sound, something of a gravelly hum.

He sucks in a breath of air through his nose and slowly expells it right out with a soft sigh. As his vision focuses, Murphy recognizes the face and the voice that owns the face. His expression remains flat, an unyielding impassiveness as Murphy stares at Jack. A lot has happened in a very short amount of time and the weight of it has Murphy nearly choking beneath it.

Murphy hasn’t said anything yet, the seconds feel likes minutes and minutes feel like hours. A clockless moment later, Murphy slips his hand from Jack’s and uses his elbows to prop himself up a little. And, for the sake of not looking more like a weak ass bitch, holds in his wince. ]

I can’t be around him.

[ Murphy knows what he's doing, partly, when he gave Bellamy a nine. Now it's something to work for, pulling a ten out of Murphy. The smirk on Murphy's face is unwavering.

Bellamy isn't the only was surprised at such a bold move, Murphy is the one to grab a bare, fleshy and hard cock first; it even surprises himself. ]

Who said this isn't about me anymore[ , Murphy whispers, voice low and crackly. Gently Murphy squeezes Bellamy at his shaft, letting him know that his hand isn't going to go anywhere anytime soon. He's watching Bellamy, looks right back at him into his brown eyes. They're a warm brown when Murphy's this close to Bellamy because, from far away, they look almost look like charcoals. ]

I want to do this [ , Murphy says as he gives Bellamy a slow stroke down length of his cock. ]

[ his hand slips free, and a little piece of jack's heart breaks. murphy's in so much pain, and he's so goddamn terrified, and jack has steamrolled right over it in his own panicked, selfish need to protect someone else once murphy wasn't in immediate danger of death or dismemberment. more than that, someone who didn't even want protecting. and someone he'd failed just as well as he did murphy, regardless.

so, for nothing, essentially. he made murphy feel like shit for absolutely nothing.

watching him now, jack can't blame him for the distance, for pulling away, for any of it. jack was supposed to have his back, and he didn't. enough he ended up here to begin with. ]

I know.

[ honestly, jack's just glad his face isn't setting murphy off. while there's plenty of difference between him and barnes, you can't ignore what's identical beneath it. ]

I would never ask you to be.

[ They're clones, Murphy knows this but Jack has softer features. His face is smooth, not weathered away. Jack's hair is short and usually combed. And those soft blue eyes, they look so sad and desperate now.

His anger flickers for a moment. Murphy's hurt but he can't tell what is hurting more, his body or the pang of pain on his heart. But he can't, he's already looking pathetic, vulnerable and weak. Murphy needs to keep some of his dignity, whatever that is left in any case. ]

Why are you here, then [ , Murphy asks, his voice already going wet. He leans back, rests his head against the pillow so he can look up at the ceiling. The sting of his eyes, tears can't roll down his cheek if he's laying like this.

Maybe gravity won't be a bitch to him right now. ]

Murphy?
murphy where are you?
I'm so fucked rn.

raven
whats going on
they just hauled my ass out of work

where are u
are u okay?

They're rounding people up. People like me. I got out of the shop, and I'm behind it in an alley, but I just watched them go after a man with a white stripe down his neck like me.

rounding people up?
what the fuck

what is this bullshit
we did the fucking contract

give me ur location and ill get u
when did ur stripe change?
fuck ill get a scarf

I don't know where they are taking them to. I have no where to go.

A couple hours ago.

[And he'll get a ping shortly after where her location is.]

just lay low
im coming

ur going to hide the stripe
and well go back to our place and figure this shit out
it makes no sense
wth was the contract for if this was going to happen?

[ Murphy's trying to find the quickest route without having to deal with anyone. ]

I don't fucking know, but I'm not going with them, Murphy.

[Please hurry. She is genuinely freaked out that she's going to get kidnapped and possibly experimented on.]

ur not going with them
theyre not going to take you
ill kill someone before that happens

[ He's moving as fast as he can, dipping in and out of alleys. Murphy knows where she works and gets there within the next few minutes. His chest is burning, nostrils flared as he sucks in air. ]

[ Slowly, Murphy moves into the alley directly behind her work ]. Raven [ , he whispers. His eyes dart around, trying to see where she would be hiding. ]

[She hears someone coming and is hoping that it's Murphy, but she can't take the chance that it is. Staying to her hiding place behind a dumpster, she waits until the person starts down the alley. Hearing her name, she peers out for a moment before coming around the corner.]

It's me. I'm here, [And she's quickly looking around him, waiting to see if anyone else comes down the street behind him. Not that he would intentionally bring them. She's just being cautious.]

Shit. [ Murphy lets out a breath, an audible sigh, relieved to see that Raven is here and not taken. ] For a second I thought -- [ He shakes his head, doesn't even want to think about it.

Quickly Murphy shoots a look over his shoulder, hoping to God that no one decided to follow him. He doesn't immediately see anyone and directs his attention back to Raven. ] Here, I had to steal this because I can't buy shit either. [ And tosses her a scarf. It's one of those infinity types, where you can easily just wrap it around your neck without the worry of it slipping off. ] Shit always ends with us having shit around our necks.

Never got the chance to thank you.
For what you did. For helping me.
I didn't deserve it and you could've taken it out on me, but you didn't, so.
Thank you.
You're a good guy.
I owe you 2.

[ The timing feels odd to him but Murphy isn't going to think too deeply on it. ]

took u long enough
it was the good thing to do
and jack wouldve disowned me

[ Murphy didn't do it for Jack. Murphy didn't even do it for himself. Murphy just wanted to do something good despite their last confrontation. ]

youre welcome i guess
you feel better now?

duplicity | inbox

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a couple days after their argument, tbh, bc he wouldn't have kept this up for long

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