Oswald yawned when they go back to the apartment, the sound of his mother snoring from her room filtered quietly into the living room. Oswald quietly kicked off his shoes and padded towards his bedroom.
Murphy also removed his shoes, setting them neatly aside, before heading tiredly toward his designated place on the couch.
Oswald looked over at Murphy and shook his head. "Well, come on." He said nodding his head towards the bedroom. He moved towards a drawer nearby and pulled out a small tool box. He pulled a screwdriver out of the box and put the box back in the drawer before heading back to his room.
Murphy looked back at Oswald in surprise for a moment, before a huge smile lit up his face, and he followed quickly after Oswald. "What's the screwdriver for?" he asked in a low voice, not wanting to wake up Gertrud.
Once inside, Oswald moved to one of his dressers and pulled a small package out. It was a small slide latch lock. "I was going to install it back when you first came in but … Since you weren't staying in here I didn't see a point." He said popping open the case and shutting his door. He quietly started screwing the lock into place. It took some time to get all six screws in, but finally it was on the door. He slid it in and out a few times making sure it worked, before he left it locked.
"But you've taken away the thrill of risk," Murphy said jokingly, his brief smirk fading before he said more seriously: "You could have installed it to keep me out," he said quietly. "When you weren't talking to me, I mean." But he hadn't. As untrusting as Oswald was, and as angry as he'd been, he still hadn't.
"Why?" Oswald asked. "Had you been planning on doing anything to me?" Oswald asked suspiciously, though he knew Murphy wouldn't have. He'd have too much to lose. Not just him, though he didn't consider himself much to lose, but he had a roof over his head which Oswald could easily take away from him.
"Not much," said Murphy nonchalantly. "Just waking you up at some ungodly hour to convince you to be an accomplice to murder … And also maybe poking you." He sighed. "But I don't understand. You made it clear you didn't trust me anymore, you didn't want me in here, you didn't want to deal with me if you could avoid it … but you kept the lock in a drawer instead of using it to make sure I wouldn't bother you. Why?"
"I didn't trust you, but you're not stupid Murphy. I know that." He said crawling into bed. "I still don't trust you, you haven't really given me a reason to. But I'll forgive you." He said quietly.
Murphy looked down at Oswald, a mixture of conflicting emotions in his eyes. He was grateful for Oswald's forgiveness. After all, wasn't that the goal he'd been working toward relentlessly for five weeks? Shouldn't he be satisfied with that? But… it hurt that he was still so far away from earning Oswald's trust. And he still didn't think Oswald understood how much he meant to him, or that he would ever mean quite as much to Oswald.
"Thank you," he said softly, climbing into bed next to Oswald. "For forgiving me. I… guess I can't really expect your trust for awhile. Especially since I didn't completely give you mine either." He paused, then said: "From now on, if you ever have any questions about my past, or who I was, I'll answer them. No more secrets." Oswald already knew enough to incriminate him anyway… and despite how angry he'd been, he had still kept his secret.
Oswald yawned as he turned over in bed, not cuddling up next to Murphy as had been habit back before all this had happened. He allowed Murphy back into his bed, which he hadn't even planned on doing. Besides ... He was still a bit pissy about being woken up at two in the damn morning.
Murphy couldn't help feeling a little upset as Oswald turned away from him, not cuddling up to him as he had before. He knew there was only so much he could expect right now, but he wanted so badly to just hold him, to feel that physical reassurance that things could be alright between them again. What if Oswald never felt completely safe with him again? What if he never learned to trust him? What if… He needed to stop thinking like this. At least he was in the bed again. Giving him another chance probably wasn't easy for Oswald. But… even so, Murphy didn't really feel forgiven. He closed his eyes to sleep, but kept opening them again to check that Oswald was still there, that he hadn't just dreamed it all. It was a long while before Murphy finally drifted off into an uneasy sleep.
The rattle of the door knob woke Oswald the next morning.
"Oswald?" He heard his mother's worried voice. "Oswald open this door! Why do you do these things? Oswald!" Oswald smacked Murphy in the arm to wake him up.
"Get under the bed." He hissed, already moving towards the door.
"Wh-what?" Murphy mumbled, blinking awake. Then, hearing Gertrud's voice at the door, Oswald's words started to register in his brain. He scrambled out of the covers, dove for the floor, and crawled quickly under the bed.
Oswald undid the lock and opened the door, standing in the way of the view of the room.
Gertrud looked nearly beside herself with worry. "Oswald, what are you hiding in here from your own mother that you need a lock for? Don't you know that is dangerous? What if you hurt yourself or were sick and I couldn't get in to help you because of this," she gestured at the door. "This thing?"
"Mother, I'm a grown man. I need my privacy. It wouldn't be any different than if I lived alone. You keep walking in here without knocking first. What if I had a someone over?"
"If you had someone over!?" the small woman erupted with anger. She exploded into an animated tirade in German before finally calming down just enough to yell at him in English. "It is not appropriate for you to be 'having someone over' in your bedroom with you behind a locked door! Who would you be having over that you would need privacy from your own mother! I will not have you bringing home one of those devious little hussies!"
She craned her neck around the doorframe, looking past Oswald to as if to see if he had some foul temptress stashed away in his bedroom. But she saw no such horrible apparition, nor could she detect any hint of cheap perfume in the air. Her precious boy was still safe from their whorish clutches for now. She clasped both of his shoulders, looking her son sternly in the eye. "You must not let any of these hussies fool you with their wicked words or their big-city ways," she said. "They are all the same; all they want is to get you rifling through their demon-purses, and all you will find in there are sin and diseases."
Under the bed, Murphy had to clamp a hand over his own mouth and hold his breath to keep from laughing out loud.
"Mother, there is no hussy." He said stepping away from the door and letting her in. If he kept barring her way in she would grow more suspicious. "But I'm an adult now, Mother. You can't keep treating me like a child forever. What if I meet someone I like? I mean you and dad were younger than me when you had Jason and you weren't even married." He said sitting on the bed. "What if I find someone I love who ... Who loves me back?"
Gertrud sighed, and went to sit down on the bed next to Oswald. Under the bed, Murphy went very still, hardly daring to breathe, listening intently.
"My dear son," Gertrud said, patting the side of Oswald's face. "The way that your father and I did things … it was not the right way. If you find real love, you can wait, because they are not going anywhere. Of course you deserve to be loved, but …" But who could care about him more than she did? Who could possibly deserve her perfect son enough to take him away from her? "But I do not want to see you get hurt. There are so many people out there who care for nothing but themselves, who will use the word 'love' only to use people." She shook her head. "How can you know who to trust?"
"I ..." Oswald paused. "I don't know. I want to trust hi-" Oswald paused. "Them ... I know they care about me ... But recently ..." Oswald wanted to talk to his mom about this, but Murphy was under the bed and ... Well his mother just wouldn't understand. There was no way she'd accept him being gay. She was so ... Old-fashioned in her beliefs.
Under the bed, Murphy listened anxiously. So Oswald believed that he cared about him, at least. That was a start. Was it really eavesdropping if the person talking knew you were there, and had told you to hide under the bed in the first place? Maybe not, he reflected, but it was still extremely awkward.
"What happened recently?" Gertrud said softly. "You know you can tell your mother anything."
Oswald smiled at his mother. "It's nothing." He said putting on the fake smile he'd grown used to over the years. "It's just ... A bit of drama. Silly misunderstanding really."
"Well," Gertrud smiled sadly and patted him on the knee. "You don't need all this drama and nonsense. Just be careful; don't let anyone go toying with your emotions and breaking your heart. No girl is worth that."
Oswald laughed quietly. "Of course you're right mother. No girl is worth that." He said. Though he knew there was a man who was.
Murphy felt a big, stupid grin spread across his face. Oswald had specified 'no girl.' Given, his mother had also said that, but … Oswald didn't have to word it that way. And he knew Murphy was listening … He was probably reading too much into it, getting his hopes up over a gendered noun. But he'd been starved for signs of affection lately, and right now he'd take whatever scraps he could get.
Gertrud kissed her son and stood up. "I will let you know when breakfast is ready." She paused at the door. "That young man, Murphy," she said, looking a little concerned. "I didn't hear him come in last night, and I didn't see him in the livingroom. Do you know if he is coming back?" She knew that Oswald had been angry with Murphy lately, but he was such a nice boy, and her Oswald had such a hard time making friends.
"He was here last night. I'm sure he just went out for a bit." He said following her to the door.
"Well, I suppose that's alright then," she said, shaking her head. "I worry about you two out there so late in this city. You really should stick together. It's safer." Having said her piece, she left the room and headed toward the kitchen.
Murphy remained quiet under the bed, waiting for Oswald to tell him it was safe to come out.
Oswald shook his head as he locked the door again and crawled back into bed. "Come out." He said his voice muffled against the pillow.
Murphy pulled himself out from under the bed. He climbed up onto the bed and sat there for a moment, looking down at Oswald, before he finally spoke. "So," he said, with a very serious look on his face. "Demon-purses."
Oswald grabbed onto Murphy's pillow, drawing his arm back and swinging it at Murphy, the pillow hitting Murphy in the back and head with a loud thump.
Murphy fell over on the bed laughing uncontrollably, covering his mouth again so that the sound wouldn't carry. He picked up the pillow that had hit him and threw it back at Oswald. After he'd regained his composure, he sat up again, and said with a smirk: "So, this mysterious girl who's been causing all this drama… Should I be jealous?"
"You're the girl, Murphy. Damn woman ..." He said throwing the pillow back at him again and getting up to get dressed before his mother came to get him again. "How are we going to get you out of here without her being suspicious?"
Murphy frowned in thought as he also got dressed. "You're right… I'd really rather not have to hide under the bed indefinitely." He looked around, thinking aloud. "And there's no window here, so that's out... Do you think you'd be able to distract your mother for a few minutes and I could slip out?"
"Easily. Just don't step on the floor board right in front of the door. The one in between the door frame. It creaks." Oswald said slipping out of the room and leaving the door open a crack so she wouldn't hear the door click open.
Oswald went into the bathroom. "Mother! Could you come here please?"
"Just a moment, Oswald, I'm coming," Gertrud called from the kitchen before quickly making her way into the bathroom. "What is it? Are you feeling alright?"
"I'm fine mother, but I can't seem to find the boxes of Kleenex. You know me, nose is always running." He said with a shrug of his shoulders.
"Poor dear," said Gertrud, patting her son's shoulder affectionately. "I think the Kleenex boxes are in my room. Let me go get one..." She headed out toward her bedroom, at the other end of the apartment.
As soon as Gertrud had gone into her bedroom, Murphy quietly pushed the door open the rest of the way and stepped carefully over the floor board that Oswald had warned him about, before quietly moving toward the front door. Murphy opened and closed the front door, walking back into the apartment as if he'd just returned.
"There they are," said Gertrud, emerging from her room to hand Oswald a box of tissues. She turned toward the front door as Murphy closed it behind him and smiled. "Murphy, we were just about to have breakfast, if you would like to join us."
"Thanks, I'd love to," Murphy said brightly, giving no indication that he'd been hiding under Oswald's bed moments before.