Octavia had met a guy. On Tinder. Octavia had met a guy on Tinder. And, needless to say, Bellamy did not approve of his baby sister dating a man who was even older than he was and who had muscles enough to rival Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson.

And, needless to say, it did not make matters any better that it turned out she had already been dating him for an entire month before she decided that maybe she'd better go ahead and tell her brother. Bellamy was pissed. He wanted to forbid her from seeing him, but he had never really been able to prevent Octavia from doing what she wanted to do, so he was at an infuriating dead-end.

"I have to meet him," he told her immediately after so belatedly learning of his existence.

"Of course, yeah, I know." Octavia's tone was softer than usual, clearly aware that she was treading on dangerous ground.

So he met him. And damn it, he was nice and chivalrous and suspiciously perfect. Bellamy hated him with a burning passion. But nothing he said, nothing he did, could stop his and Octavia's so-called love. It was a nightmare. Truly.

Then she said words that Bellamy had wished to never hear; words that he feared would haunt him for an eternity.

"Hey, Bell, I'm going to spend Christmas Eve with Lincoln, 'kay?"

"What? No, O, I have to work Christmas day, you know that. Christmas Eve was supposed to be..."

"I know, but Lincoln is spending Christmas day with his family and I just really want to have a day to celebrate with him."

"But you don't care about celebrating with me anymore?"

And thus he had discovered that his sister was all grown up. He wanted to spend the day locked in his bedroom sobbing, he really did. So he texted Murphy.

Wednesday, December 12

8:36 AM: Christmas Eve

9:00 AM: K. Time?

9:01 AM: 2?

9:02 AM: B there. C U then.

9:02 AM: Sweet. C U

And then he left for work.

Octavia was still hanging around the house when Murphy turned up on their porch. She had plans with Lincoln in a few hours, but until then she had seemingly decided to grace her brother with her presence. Neither she nor Murphy seemed surprised to see the other. In fact, when Octavia answered the door and found Murphy standing outside with a small gift bag in one hand and tinted Tupperware in the other, she just smiled at him and motioned for him to come inside.

Murphy smiled back at her before his eyes surveyed the living room, clearly searching for Bellamy. Once he found him, his smile grew. Or maybe that was just wishful thinking. Either way, Bellamy waved at him and stepped forward to relieve him of the Tupperware and bag.

"Did you get me a present, Murphy?" he questioned, his voice pitched with a note of playful teasing.

"Don't expect much. You know I'm broke as shit."

"It's the thought that counts."

Octavia followed the pair of them into the dining room and gazed longingly at the Tupperware in Bellamy's hands. "Are those cookies?"

"Yeah."

"I know that Lincoln's taking me out to a fancy restaurant tonight and I should really save my appetite, but god, Bellamy, hurry up and crack open that Tupperware and give me a damn cookie."

Bellamy chuckled as he set it down on the table and did just that. Of course, once the Tupperware was open and the soft, gooey chocolate wonders were unveiled, Bellamy couldn't help himself either.

Octavia wound up eating more than just the one and Bellamy lost count after his sixth. Murphy simply took a seat and watched the two of them, looking highly amused by their sudden voraciousness. Finally Bellamy sealed the remaining cookies back up and sat down next to him. Octavia, on the other hand, opted for sitting on top of the table, which was a bit unsanitary in his opinion, but Murphy seemed as though he couldn't've cared less.

"Hey, Merry Christmas Eve, Murph," Bellamy whispered, leaning in near to Murphy's ear, his breath so close that a few strands of Murphy's hair shifted with its force.

"You too, Bell."

Octavia was staring down at them with an odd expression on her face and a question in her eyes. Bellamy felt uncomfortable beneath her scrutiny and shifted away from Murphy until her features softened back up. He resented her for a moment for robbing him of that lovely proximity, though.

A vibration reverberated through the wood of the table and Octavia reached into her back pocket to retrieve her phone, her eyes lighting up the second that the screen did. "Lincoln's waiting outside, he wants to meet up earlier so that we can spend more time together." She pressed her phone against her chest like the lovesick school-girl that she had regretfully become, and glanced over at Bellamy with big eyes and an expectant gaze.

"Yeah, sure. Go ahead, I guess..."

She smiled at him and gleefully hopped off the table top. "Okay. Love you, big bro. Bye, Murphy. Have fun, you two!" she called as she rushed out of the room and fled the house, the door banging shut in her wake.

Bellamy sighed as he slowly rose to his feet and shook his head at Murphy like the put-out parent that he so frequently felt he was. "Who's Lincoln?" Murphy asked, following Bellamy's example and coming to his feet.

"Her boyfriend. Her boyfriend that she met online who's just way too old for her."

Murphy tried and failed to stifle a grin. "How old?"

"I don't even know, older than me, Murphy. Older than me."

Murphy's eyes widened and his grin grew. "Shit, well, then he must just be fucking ancient."

Bellamy laughed and rolled his shoulders back, releasing stress that he hadn't even realized he was holding in them. Octavia would be fine, Lincoln was a good guy. Maybe if he repeated it in his head often enough it would become a comforting mantra of peace and tranquility. One could hope.

But at the moment he wasn't really all that worried about Octavia, anyway. His brain was full to the brim with Murphy. Just like it always was when they were in the same room. Hell, just like it usually was even when they weren't in the same room.

"Actually, how old are you?" Murphy was suddenly asking, tugging Bellamy's attention back onto the boy that was standing right in front of him rather than his unsteady emotions surrounding said boy.

"Twenty-four."

"Ugh."

"Ugh?"

"You're six years older than me."

"Your point?"

"I have no idea what my point is."

"Thought not."

Then they were grinning at each other and Bellamy's fingers were itching to find themselves knotted up in those loose brown locks again. Six years. And, Murphy was barely legal. Then again, that didn't seem to be much of a deterrent for Lincoln, so Bellamy wondered why he was getting so caught up in it. No. It wasn't that. It was so much more than that. It was the danger of losing their friendship. The fact that the sorry odds stated that Murphy was very probably straight as a board and would want nothing to do with him in that way. The thought was far from pleasing, but there was nothing that he could do about it.

"So. What...what are we going to do all day?" Murphy seemed vaguely uneasy and Bellamy hurriedly set a hand down on his shoulder, grabbing the gift bag off of the table as he shoved him back towards the living room.

"First, presents!"

"Thought you were twenty-four, not four. Santa stopping by later? You excited?"

"Oh, shut up, Murphy," Bellamy lightheartedly growled as he shoved his hand against Murphy's chest, causing him to tumble back onto the loveseat and stare up at him with startled eyes. He carefully set the gift bag on one of the armrests before he quickly slipped away to open the coat closet in the corner of the room and reached down to snag the poorly wrapped box within. He then sat down next to Murphy, resting the present on his own lap for a moment before he plopped it down onto Murphy's. He picked up the bag from the armrest next to him and gazed down at it curiously. He didn't give a shit what was inside of it, the fact that it existed at all, that Murphy was giving him something, anything, was enough to send a spark of happiness straight through to his heart.

Murphy was eyeing him uncertainly, holding the box close to his stomach with one hand and rubbing at his nose with the other. "You should go first, because I really want you to stop looking at that thing like you're actually dumb enough to think that there's something decent inside of it."

Bellamy grinned at him and ripped the sides of the bag apart, breaking through the staple holding them together. He reached down inside of it and burst out laughing. Quite frankly, he was speechless. Because the only thing he could think to say, the only words that sprung to his mind at that very moment were that he loved this boy so damn much. Just so unbearably much. His fingers curled around the tiny object in his hand and uncurled several times before he had finally composed himself enough to say, "If you don't think that this is something decent, then fuck you, Murphy, 'cause it's amazing." And then Murphy burst out laughing too, and they both couldn't quite manage to breathe properly. It was a keychain. A keychain with the words "World's Greatest Chauffer" written on it in bold red type. Bellamy had no clue where Murphy had found it, all he knew was that it was perfect. A tiny memento of the fact that there was someone like Murphy in his life. "Thank you for this."

Murphy finally managed to pull himself together and he nodded his head and mumbled, "Yeah, sure," before he ripped apart the green wrapping paper covering the box in his lap. Bellamy could see it in his eyes the second that it dawned on him what it was and their gazes met with identically crooked grins as Murphy affectionately caressed the cover with his hand. "Thank you, Bellamy." Naturally, it was a cookbook. A really great one at that. Supposedly. Bellamy had searched the web and done his research. Probably far more research than was strictly necessary for the purchase of a cookbook, but he hadn't wanted to accidentally buy Murphy something subpar or shitty. That simply wouldn't do.

It was hard for Bellamy to sit still while Murphy was flicking through the pages of the book and looking down at it so very lovingly. It occurred to him that it was likely the first gift that anyone had given him in far too lengthy of a time. Nope. Bellamy definitely couldn't sit still with that thought occupying his headspace, so he rushed to his feet and mumbled something about popcorn before he retreated into the kitchen.

When he returned with a giant bowl of over-buttered popcorn in his hands and sat back down on the loveseat, Murphy was still skimming through the recipes. Bellamy smiled at him, before he realized that the remote was on the television stand and he had to stand back up to retrieve it. When he once again took his seat, Murphy set the book aside, kicked his feet up onto the couch, and rested his back against him like he was a pillow. It was close enough to cuddling, that Bellamy's hands shook as he pressed the button to turn the TV on. "What do you want to watch?" he questioned, trying extremely hard to keep his voice from shaking, as well.

"Don't care. Whatever."

"What a helpful suggestion."

Murphy just laughed and they somehow wound up watching I Am Legend. It didn't seem very festive to Bellamy, but Murphy seemed to enjoy it, and really that was all that mattered. After that it was only four o'clock and Bellamy was too stuffed full of popcorn and cookies to even consider getting up to do something else. Besides, Murphy's head had come down to rest atop his shoulder sometime around the death of the onscreen dog, and there was no way he was going to voluntarily put a stop to that. So they started watching Breaking Bad. Even though Bellamy had already watched it while it was airing. Murphy hadn't seen it yet, and really that was all that mattered.

They got through the first couple of episodes before Murphy had to go to the bathroom. Bellamy's shoulder felt numb and empty while he was gone. When he returned it was almost six and as he sat back down on the sofa, his body once again stretching back to rest against Bellamy's, Bellamy heard the question, "You want to stay here tonight?" lazily slip out from between his own lips.

Murphy nodded against Bellamy's shoulder and whispered, "Sure, why not?"

Bellamy really had to piss now too, but now that Murphy was all settled down again and agreeing to stay the night, he resigned that his bladder was just going to have to suck it up. Somehow he found the nerve to snake his arm around Murphy's abdomen. Neither of them mentioned the fact that they were now far too close for comfort, and Bellamy pushed play. Four more meth-filled episodes passed by in a blink and then Murphy's eyes fluttered closed and Bellamy paused the show once more. He slowly rested his head down on Murphy's and allowed his own eyes to shut. He knew that he wasn't going to fall asleep, he wasn't even vaguely tired, as it was only eight-ish, his bladder was churning, and Murphy's weight was starting to make the left-half of his body tingle with prickles of pain. But Murphy was sleeping on him, with their heads stacked like dishware and Bellamy's arm flung around his waist. This was a holiday. A holiday of eating nothing but junk food and binge-watching television. A holiday where his sister had ditched him in favor of running off with her boyfriend. A perfect holiday, which he wouldn't alter a bit, even if given the chance to.

Eventually, though, he really was teetering dangerously on the verge of peeing himself. "Murphy," he whispered, gently combing his fingers through his hair like he had been longing to do all day.

Murphy's eyes quickly battered open and he hurriedly jerked away from Bellamy, his cheeks taking on a hue of red. "Shit, did I fall asleep?"

Bellamy smiled reassuringly at him as he bobbed his head up and down. "Yeah."

"Sorry..."

"It's fine, Murph. You looked really peaceful, I'm sorry I had to wake you, but I really need to use the bathroom."

Murphy smiled back at him as he watched him stand up, stretch his locked-up joints, and leave the room.

When he returned to the living room, Murphy was lying back on the loveseat with his eyes closed and his breaths falling rhythmically. Bellamy had to smother a laugh behind his hand as he quietly crept back over to the coat closet and fetched a blanket from it. Tucking Murphy in was a priceless experience, really. He allowed himself to linger above his sleeping form for a moment, smiling down at him in a way that he hoped reflected fondness rather than yearning. Then, he made his way upstairs and tried his best to get a decent night of sleep, even as his mind wouldn't allow him to stop obsessing over the fact that Murphy was just right downstairs.

He had work, so he got up early. Not early enough, though, apparently. He sneaked down the stairs hoping that he would find Murphy still asleep on the couch, but instead he found him sitting at the dining table looking a little bit lost.

"Morning, Murphy."

"Mornin'...By the way, Octavia did come home last night, in case you were wondering."

"I was wondering actually. What time?"

"Dunno. I was half-asleep and just heard her creep in and run past me, so probably pretty late."

Bellamy scowled which earned him a very unsympathetic grin from Murphy. "I officially give up," he mumbled, strolling into the kitchen and untying the bagged loaf of bread he kept by the toaster. "Toast?"

"Yeah, sure." Murphy drummed his fingers against the wooden table top as Bellamy placed two slices of bread in the slots of the toaster. "What do you give up on?"

"Octavia. It's like...I don't know, I just feel like I woke up one day and suddenly she was a full-blown adult who doesn't need or want me anymore. I think she's planning to dorm for college, so she'll probably be gone in a couple months."

"But then you can focus on yourself and stop having to be all pseudo-parent-like, sounds sweet to me."

"Spoken like an only child."

Murphy snickered and the toast burst up with a slightly startling springing sound. Bellamy started the buttering process just as it occurred to him that he was kicking his day off with more larded-up empty carbs. Oh well. He carted the plates over to the table and plopped one in front of Murphy before he sat down next to him. The air suddenly felt heavy around them and they both chewed slowly as quietly contemplative expressions froze over their features. "You're right, Bell. I don't know shit about siblings, but if it helps at all...I promise that I'm not going anywhere."

Bellamy smiled at him and dropped the last bite of toast back onto his plate before he reached his hand up to ruffle it through Murphy's soft hair. "It helps a lot."

Inexplicably, the well-intentioned gesture caused Murphy to frown and squirm uncomfortably. Bellamy awkwardly dropped his hand down onto his lap, mildly perplexed, wholly disheartened.

"I'm not...like some weird charity case that you're trying to use to fill the hole in you that Octavia's leaving, though, am I?" Murphy's voice was rough and low, laced with anxiety and not-so-subtle vulnerability.

Bellamy hurriedly shook his head, grabbing Murphy's arm and keeping his fingers wrapped loosely around it as he firmly stated, "My sister and you are in entirely different categories. I need both of you. Even if O doesn't leave for college, that wouldn't change the fact that now that I know you, Murphy, I can't imagine my life without you in it. I mean, I've been there done that, and now there's no going back."

Murphy didn't say anything for a moment, he just sat there, unblinking, with the corners of his soft pink lips perpetually on the rise. "What category am I in?" His voice was lilted again, smooth, mocking, and free of nagging insecurities.

"Assholes."

"Naturally."

Bellamy stood up and swept their dishes off of the table, turning his back to Murphy as he fled towards the kitchen, his heart in his throat. "Everyone needs an asshole in their life."

"Well, duh. Otherwise they wouldn't be able to shit and then they'd die of constipation."

"Can't have that."

"Seems like it'd be a pretty painful way to go."

Bellamy left the dishes in the sink because the dishwasher was full to bursting and he was in too much of a rush to be bothered. "You want me to drop you off on my way to work?" he asked as he turned back around to face Murphy. He received a nod so he hurriedly slipped his shoes on and herded the teen out the door.

It was routine by this point. Murphy sitting shotgun in his Honda, staring out the window, and him gripping the steering wheel a bit too tightly as he tried to pretend like he didn't savor every block between his house and North Commons.

"So what are you doing after you graduate, anyway, Murphy?"

"Oh, you know, probably going to a top-ranked university, getting my doctorate, and then opening my own practice."

Bellamy rolled his eyes and tried to stifle the laughter that came through despite him. "Yeah, that's about what I expected."

Murphy glanced away from the window to shoot him a grin. "I don't even know if I'm going to graduate."

Bellamy stopped laughing instantly as he gave the steering wheel a squeeze. "You have to. Make me proud, Murph."

Murphy chuckled and breathlessly whispered, "Do my best, pop. Nah, but assuming that I do graduate, I'll probably try to use my diploma to get a marginally less shitty job, fingers crossed, and...Yeah, that's about the extent of it."

"You need to move."

"Because you're sick of me?"

"Exactly. I want at least two state-lines between us."

"But then you'd die of constipation."

"Ah, yeah, that's right. Guess you'll have to stay pretty close, after all. Dammit."

They reached North Commons then and Bellamy reluctantly parked the car, twisting over in his seat as he tried to think of the right words for them to part on this time around. He opened his mouth but immediately snapped it closed again as Murphy leaned forward in his seat and pointed up at the balcony above them. "That's my new neighbor."

Bellamy followed his finger to find a fucking gorgeous woman. Honestly, her beauty was ridiculous and it pissed him off so much that he had to grit his teeth as he forced out the words, "You have a new neighbor?"

Murphy didn't seem to notice his barely contained fury as he nodded his head and smiled infuriatingly. "Yeah. You think it's bad that I live here? Look at her. I'm kind of worried, actually."

Bellamy's eyebrows scrunched together and he wrinkled his nose with thinly veiled disgust. "She'll be fine," he mumbled. "After all, you'll look after her won't you?" He tried his best to keep his voice from coming out too venomous, but he wasn't sure that he succeeded.

"Obviously. I'm chivalrous as all hell."

"Clearly."

Murphy smiled at him for a moment more before he tugged the door open and said, "Oh, and by the way, Merry Christmas, Bellamy."

For a moment, as his lips formed the words, "Merry Christmas, Murphy," Bellamy was able to block out the girl's existence entirely, but once the car door slammed shut and he watched Murphy grin as he hurriedly bounded up the stairs towards her, he forgot how to breathe. He should have pulled away right then, but instead he stayed parked there for a second more and watched the girl smile back at Murphy and hand him the cigarette that she had been puffing on. Maybe he just liked to make himself suffer.