Murphamy Debate AU
"Okay, okay, everybody calm down, we've still got one more debate to see who wins." Kane called above the uproar, everyone cheering for Harper as she sat down, a bested Jasper next to her. "Now, your next topic is; All parents should be required to attend parenting classes before having a child. Murphy for, Bellamy against."
Murphy smirked as he walked past, Kane's quiet, "God help us," not going unnoticed. He knew he and Bellamy were notorious for their shouting matches. He also knew that there was no way Bellamy was beating him this time. He'd won last time, but he wasn't going to get that lucky today. Not with their teams' scores tied and Raven staring him down, daring him to lose from the back row. Not today. He was going to win.
"Ready?" Kane asked when they'd reached the front. Bellamy nodded, this was his favorite part of class. Free For All Fridays. The only rules were no shouting, no swearing, and no personal attacks. Other than that, they had from the time Kane called out the topic until he said 'go' to come up with an argument. Bellamy was great at this game, the only person in the room capable of matching him was Murphy and the little shit knew it, too. Every match ended in shouting, rules be damned and Bellamy was certain by now that Murphy hated him, why else would he go out of his way to terrorize him so often? It was a shame, too, because Murphy was nearly the definition of Bellamy's type, not that he'd ever let onto that. It would only give Murphy something to gloat about and there was no way in hell Bellamy was going to let him gloat over anything.
"You ready, Bell?" Murphy smirked at him and Bellamy felt his stomach flip. He hated that damn smirk.
"Whenever you are." Bellamy shrugged, taking his place behind his podium. They weren't really supposed to leave them, considering that had resulted in a few fist fights in prior years, not from either of them, surprisingly, but still, the rule remained unchanged.
"Remember. No swearing. No shouting. No personal attacks. Physical fighting will result in suspension. Winner is decided by the class. Go!" Kane called and quickly retreated behind his desk.
Murphy began, "All parents should have to attend parenting classes before having a child because it would help them be more well-equipped to deal with children, thus potentially lowering the amount of abuse cases and child deaths due to incompetent parenting. I'm not really sure how you plan to fight this, there's really no downside to it."
"Except that it's classist." Bellamy countered. "What about those who couldn't afford the classes? What about those who don't have proper transportation to and from the classes? What about them?"
"The government should pay for all of it. However, that being said, if you can't afford education for yourself, how can you hope to provide it for your child?" Murphy asked, meeting Bellamy's glare.
Murphy was baiting him and Bellamy knew it. They both came from the same neighborhood, and they knew it. So much for no personal attacks. "Most schools offer assistance programs, Murphy, but that's not the point. Fine, the government pays for it. Let's just ignore the blatant classism that's going to be found in the quality of the education provided. Wealthier neighborhoods will have better classes and the poorer ones, the ones that have statistically shown to produce more teen pregnancies, which is also do to classism, mind you, and therefore the ones that need the classes the most, would have poorer quality education. Why bother?"
"Because something is still better than nothing. Imagine for a second that you're the child of a single parent, one of those in the neighborhoods you just described, and your parent isn't capable of raising you on their own because they don't know how, they were never taught. What's going to happen to that child, then, Bellamy?"
"Murphy-"
Don't make it personal. Right. "I'll tell you. That child is going to be smacked around a bit, or a lot, depending on the parent's mood. They'll end up neglected and abused. That parent is going to struggle and the child is going to suffer for it. However, parenting classes, ones tailored not just for both parents, but single ones as well, could have stopped that."
"There's no proof that it would." Bellamy pointed out, not wanting to follow this argument any further but not willing to let it go, either. They both had god point and neither solution would work out, not that their debates inside a public school basement classroom full off old computer equipment and broken canvases would change anything in the real world.
Murphy growled, "There's no proof that it wouldn't, either!"
"So that's your argument? It might help?"
"And yours is that it might not!" Murphy exclaimed. "If parents had access to parenting classes, and they were mandatory, then how many fewer children would be abused or neglected?"
"There are several reasons for abuse and neglect, Murphy-" Bellamy started but Murphy cut him off.
"Most of which boil down to bad parenting skills. Don't test me, Bellamy, I know." He hissed.
Bellamy threw his hands up. This wasn't the fucking point. They were off track. It wasn't supposed to get personal, but it always did. Just like they were supposed to start shouting, and yet, here they were. "I know you know! And you know that I know that this is classist bullshit!"
"Classist or not, if it would stop at least one case of child abuse, is it not worth it?"
"Of course it would be, but that isn't the point!"
"Isn't it? That's literally my point, Bellamy!" They had lost the argument had completely by now, only shouting at each other because neither one of them was willing to give in.
The students watched them in amusement as they began to hurl insults at each other, Kane massaging his temples at his desk, wondering if he should step in or just let them fight it out. Was it really worth potentially losing a limb?
"You stupid fucking prick! Do you understand anything? It's classist and ablist and it's complete bullshit to make parents have to take a class just to have children!"
"No, it's fucking not, jackass! You have to take a class to teach children, you have to take a class to perform surgery, you have to take a class to do literally anything else, why should parenting be any fucking different?" Murphy shouted, clenching his teeth.
Bellamy rolled his eyes, "So we're comparing raising a child to performing surgery now, are we? Okay, that's logical."
"You stupid fuck-"
"Enough!" Kane bellowed, glaring at them. "Out of my classroom!"
"Kane-" Bellamy began but Kane silenced him with a look.
"Out. Now. And don't come back until you can debate without turning it into a bloodsport! It's ridiculous, you two. Every day!"
"He starts it." Murphy mumbled, walking to his desk and grabbing his bag.
"I do not!" Bellamy objected, ready to argue again. He didn't know what it was about Murphy, but the kid made his blood boil. He had to be doing it on purpose.
"Stop it, both of you! Get out of my damn classroom!"
"Language, Mr. Kane." Murphy tsked sarcastically.
"Hall, Murphy!"
Murphy snorted but did as he was told, leaving the classroom, Bellamy right behind him. Once the door had closed behind them he leaned against the wall, letting his bag drop to the floor and laughed.
"What the fuck is so funny? Do you realize you just got us kicked out of class? An important class at that, Murphy! I need that class for my scholarship and I swear to god if you make me lose it-"
"Chill, Bell. Kane's not going to kick us out permanently. He loves us too much, we make class more interesting." Murphy reasoned with a shrug.
"Are you serious?" Bellamy gave him an incredulous look. Murphy couldn't seriously believe that.
"Look, if you're honestly worried, then let's do as he said. Work it out."
Bellamy snorted and shook his head, "That's not going to fucking happen. I'd rather have to sit through four hours of Jaha's lectures."
"You're so cute when you're being a stubborn ass." Murphy muttered under his breath. If only Bellamy wasn't such a prick, too. They could easily work this out, Murphy was sure of it, but only if Bellamy was willing to.
Bellamy looked at him, his eyebrows knit together in confusion, sure he hadn't heard correctly, "What?"
"Nothing." Murphy dismissed it, waving his hand. "Are we going to work this out or not?"
"No." Bellamy told him, ending the discussion. There was no way he could work things out with John Murphy. He paced the hall, refusing to look at Murphy, who was watching him intently. Bellamy could feel his eyes on him and he hated it. He wanted Murphy to stop looking at him, to stop being around him, to just take his Bellamy Blake hating ass elsewhere so Bellamy wouldn't have to be taunted by how much Murphy hated him and how lame his crush was.
The silence didn't last long, Bellamy eventually getting tired of the sound of his shoes hitting the floor and he asked, "Why are you in Kane's class, anyway?"
"You aren't the only one who needs extracurriculars for their scholarship, you know." Murphy explained, shrugging. "It was either Kane's class or a second art class, and debate looks better on transcripts."
Bellamy stopped and stared at him for a moment before nodding, "You know, I always figured it was just because you liked to argue."
"Not really." Murphy could argue, but he wouldn't say he enjoyed it, not usually.
"But you're so good at it." Bellamy didn't understand why Murphy would do something he didn't like. There were other things besides art and debate, he could have chosen any of them instead.
Murphy laughed, shaking his head. He was terrible when it came to arguments, most of the time preferring to use his fists to get his point across instead. "Only when it's you. I like getting you pissed off."
Bellamy's face fell and he looked at Murphy in disgust, "What the hell is wrong with you?" Murphy did all of this just to antagonize him? He really hated him so much that he was willing to join a club he didn't even like just to piss him off?
"Dunno. I like it."
Bellamy couldn't believe what he was hearing. He crossed the floor and grabbed a hold of Murphy's shirt, pulling him up to eye level, "You mean to tell me you spend an hour twice a week doing some shitty club you don't even enjoy just to piss me off? You put my scholarship in jeoprady just because you think it's fucking funny to piss me off? Why the fuck would you do that?"
Murphy swallowed hard, a little worried Bellamy was going to kick his ass, a little turn on by the thought. "It's hot, " He admitted.
Hot. It was hot. Bellamy stared at Murphy, not quite understanding. "Hot as in-"
"As in I really fucking like it." Murphy told him, nodding. "You get all alpha male jackass when you're pissed. You look like you want to pin me against a wall, kinda like now. I dunno, it's hot."
"Oh." Bellamy nodded, Murphy's meaning sinking in. So this wasn't about him hating Bellamy, it was about Murphy liking him? That was, well, it was a pleasant turn of events but it didn't change the fact that Murphy was a royal pain in his ass.
"Yeah." Murphy licked his lips, looking at Bellamy's mouth before meeting his eyes again, "Are you gonna-"
Bellamy smirked and leaned in, his lips just barely touching Murphy's. "You know you're a fucking asshole, right?" His breath hot on Murphy's face, making him scowl, unhappy with the teasing. "A real fucking jerk."
"I know. I like it. You do, too, apparently."
"I do." Bellamy agreed, not making any attempt to actually kiss Murphy, only serving to frustrate the younger further.
Tired of the teasing, Murphy growled and closed the distance himself, his hands gripping Bellamy's jacket and pulling him closer, Murphy's back against the wall. He kissed Bellamy hard, like it was another argument he was determined to win and Bellamy kissed him back, all rough bites and teeth, not that Murphy had expected any different.
He nipped at Murphy's bottom lip and ran his tongue over it, pulling away as soon as Murphy tried to deepen it, pointedly nodding towards the classroom that was probably due to let out any minute. He stood there for a moment, smirking down at Murphy, figuring that getting kicked out of class wasn't the worst thing that could have happened to him today. "So, I guess that means you don't hate me, then?"
Murphy laughed and shook his head, "The opposite, actually. I don't think I've ever wanted someone to pin me against a wall more."
Bellamy smiled, if that was what Murphy wanted he was more than happy to oblige. "Don't suppose you'd want to go out with me sometime, then?"
Murphy shrugged as the bell rang, grabbing his bag and falling into stride beside Bellamy, "Well, I wouldn't argue against it."
"You know this changes nothing, right? I'm still going to kick your ass at debate."
"As far as I'm concerned you can do whatever you want to my ass." Murphy joked. "You're not going to beat me, though. Like, never."
"We'll see about that, jerkass."