Between the Devil & the Deep Blue Sea

Egg On

Murdoc returned after 10 minutes.

"Hey Dents."

"Oh... welcome back. What did you leave for-"

"It's not important. I did grab bandages for your arms though. Let's patch you up like a mummy."

Murdoc carefully and neatly wraps the bandages around my arms. He's oddly gentle, and seems like he knows what he's doing.

"There. Better?"

"I guess so... where did you learn that?"

"Practice. I used to have to wrap up my own arms all the time back in the day. When I was... home."

He looks like he's about to cry. Of course this was a trigger. Me and my dumb mouth. I can't exactly help him like this. I never learned how. I chose to pull him closer to me so he could lean on me to cry. He's always a completely different person when he lets his emotions free. I used to only think he'd be able to get like this when he was drunk, but I learned that he's just generally good at suppressing his emotions until they burst.

"Hey... it's okay. You're here. I'm here. That's all that matters. Nobody's forcing you to do or be anything that you're not."

He leans into me more, and I realize that Murdoc is far stronger than I am. I'm practically about to fall, but I have to hold myself together if I want him to get better.

"Everything you do..." Great, he's mumbling nonsense again. "So soft... why did I ever think..." I hardly ever listen to his poorly worded sentences."I'm so rough... and awful..." I sometimes pretend like I know what he's talking about so that he'll get out of his funk. "2D... do you understand?"

"Yeah, I think so, Mudz." This is only the 14th time you've said that same argument. "But I disagree. I think that you're better like that."

"But that's exactly why... wait, Dent's do you really think that?" He sits up extremely quickly. Guess he's back to normal.

"That's a new response. Oh right... you're not drunk this time. Murdoc I'm gonna be honest, I sort of just indulge you when you get like that. I've heard that line of dialogue so many times that my response is sort of second nature. I only ever get fragments of sentences."

"Oh... I see... how often do I say that when I'm drunk?"

"You've said it enough times that I know how the next few minutes of my life were gonna go if that conversation continued. I wrote that one down, actually. Back when I was trying to piece the things together." I shuffle through my bedside drawer and grab out the notebook. "Here. It's the bookmarked page."

I watch as he turns to the page and reads through the dialogue written, and the few in betweens that I had etched in. He appears to be amazed by my accuracy and by his own words.

"S-so just now. That's how the conversation would have gone if I hadn't snapped back so soon?"

"Yep. That's pretty standard." I say, clearly not interested in the conversation.

We sat in silence for a couple of minutes. The silence made my brain wander off to strange places. Stitched together memories and dreams, causing an odd fantasy in my mind of Murdoc acting in ways that he never would. Of us doing things that we never would. I tried to shake away the thoughts. I think to myself, I just miss getting action from women, trying to justify my own mind. It isn't like I'd actually want Murdoc and I to do any of that, I continue to lie to myself. But it's no use.

I start thinking over every kind or neutral action Murdoc has done for me. All the times he said love at the end of sentences. All the times he came to my room to take care of his drunk ass. Every time he complimented my outfit. Clearly, Murdoc thinks highly of me, at least, higher than I think of myself. Murdoc is so hard to pinpoint. He somehow has a superiority complex and an inferiority complex, he is so chaotic and yet so organized, he's got his head in the stars yet his body is being pulled down to the core. He's an enigma. And I want to be a part of it. I know that that dream is impossible.

Just then, Russel and Noodle walk straight through the curtains. Guess they figured it wasn't important for them to knock.

"Hello Toochie ...and Doc! Russel has... words!" Noodle said excitedly, yet with a slight amount of precaution. She's getting better at english, but I can tell she still feels more comfortable with Japanese.

"Yeah, guess it's better that both of you are here. I'm going to visit family tomorrow. I'll be there for a week. I bought a second ticket, because originally me and a friend were gonna go, but they can't. So instead, I was planning on taking Noodle. Can you cracker asses handle yourselves while we are gone?"

"Yeah, yeah, Russ we'll be fine." Murdoc replies, seeming barely paying attention to what Russel was implying.

"I wasn't asking for your sake. 'D, will you be okay? We'll be gone for 10 days."

"Russel, why wouldn't I be okay?" I see Russel eyeing Murdoc. "Oh. Listen, I'll be fine. But if I'm having any trouble I'll call your mom's house phone, alright?"

Russel lets out a sigh. "I'll take your word for it."

They begin to leave. First Russel leaves, then Noodle picks herself up and begins to exit as well. As she gets to the doorframe she turns to face us and says "Have fun, Toochie.~"

I get very flustered. Was I that obvious that Noodle noticed? Or maybe she's just messing with me. I hear her giggling down the hall. She's mischievous, I'll give her that. A few more moments pass, before I finally settle from my freak out. Murdoc turns to me.

"What were they talking about, Dents?"

"Uhh, you and I are gonna be alone at the house for the next 10 days, starting tomorrow. Though I guess 4 of those days we'll be in Hell." I rub the back of my head awkwardly. Then I say, "Wow, that's really convenient timing."

"Yes it is. Thank you, Satan, for making this easy." He looks like he's contemplating what to say from there. "So... 2D... What do you want to do the rest of that time?" He's giving me this odd look, and I don't know how to describe it, but it makes me uncomfortable.

"I don't know. Why, did you have anything in mind?" I say, fidgeting a lot. Questioning Murdoc always makes me nervous.

"I did actually have a few ideas." His voice is lower, calmer, and flatter. I don't know what he's trying to do, but he's sort of got these seductive undertones. They might be in my imagination, but either way it's working.

"L-like what?" I cover my face that is burning hot. If Murdoc hasn't picked up on how flustered I am, he's an idiot. And even if he has, I doubt he'll acknowledge it anyway.

"Well it's no fun if it isn't a surprise, now is it? Just be ready for it when the time arrives." Murdoc's doing the voice on purpose now. There's no way that's just in my brain. Someone just kill me. Now.

Murdoc exits the room, and I'm barely showing my face until he's gone. I swear he winked at me on his way out. Ugh, he is such a tease. He probably isn't even planning anything like what's in my head. I hate my empty brain for even falling for his charms in the first place. Murdoc would probably be so full of himself if I told him what I was thinking. If it wasn't obvious enough with how flustered I got.

I lay there, thinking of a way to get myself out of this mess. 10 days alone with Murdoc. Except, this time it isn't him that I'm afraid of. It's me.

A/N:

Ayyyy yo, what's up! It's been about 3 days apparently. Damn, time flies. Anyhow, I'm done this garbage. Nah, I'm bugging, I actually enjoyed making this chapter. Adding a new kind of tension was fun. Who knew that Murdoc was such a flirtatious person? (Said no one ever.)

Anyways, I am high on sugar (And yes, I mean sugar. I legit had 2 bags of share sized candy.) I'll probably crash in like 2 seconds, so I'm gonna bounce before that happens.