CHAPTER FIFTEEN.
can't stop staring at those ocean eyes.

━━━━━━━☆☆━━━━━━━

Since their discovery of the bunker, Sage and Murphy had taken advantage of the situation and soaked up all their luxuries such as television, food and especially the alcohol. But they were determined to leave. They had packed backpacks of enough supplies and dressed in clothes fit for the outdoor terrain. They were set to go until they discovered, they weren't going anywhere.

"It won't open." Murphy stated the obvious, his hands struggling against the steel door that wouldn't budge.

"What do you mean? Is there a button or something?" Sage asked, paranoia settling in her stomach at the thought of no escape. Her hands fumbled around the edges of the door, trying to find any sort of button or lever, simply anything.

"What the fuck?" Murphy shouted, finally slamming both palms against the door, surely leaving them red with pain.

"L-let's not freak out, there's got to be a way out." Sage breathed, trying her hardest to remain calm.

"Why won't it open? What the hell!" Murphy screeched again, his hands balling into fists as fury began to course through his veins. His voice raised and his face grew red. Sage had never seen him like this, not since the early days on the ground when he was being physically beat day after day. Sage didn't agree with his former behaviour but she had seen him in a light which she knew never deserved the suffering he faced.

"Hey, calm down. Maybe there's another exit, maybe we-"

      "Don't you get it Sage? We can't get out of here! We're not going to get out of here!" Murphy yelled, now releasing his anger on her. Sage took a step back.

     "Maybe we can. We're not getting out of here until you calm down." She spoke steadily, trying to place her palm on his shoulder only for him to shove it off.

     "No, we're not getting out of her at all." He rephrased angrily. Sage didn't know what to do. She didn't like seeing him like this.

      "But-"

    "God, are you always this optimistic?" He questioned. Sage's brows knitted into a line.

    "Hey! Yelling at me is going to get us nowhere, so shut the fuck up and help me look for another way out!" Sage fought back, raising her voice and taking a step toward the boy.

   Murphy's face softened for a second there before his jaw set tightly and he pushed past her and down the staircase.

   The boy muttered beneath his breath incoherently, Sage had no idea what he was saying by figured it was nothing good. Sage followed him with her eyes, her faith in him increasing until he plopped face first onto the couch, hopeless and in defeat.

      "What are you doing?" She asked, trudging to the back of the lounge and looking down at him.

      "Giving up. What does it look like?" He responded.

     "How are we supposed to get out of here if we can't find a way out." Sage questioned.

      "We don't." He remarked. He crossed his arms behind his head and personified a nonchalant attitude that bewildered the girl. He was angry only moments ago.

      "But, we're trapped. I know you want to get out of here so why won't you do anything?"

      "Because Sage, sometimes you know you can't do anything. And the best option is to simply give in to the inevitable." Murphy muttered. She didn't understand.

    "Don't you have any hope?" She asked, still looking down at the closed eyed boy.

      "Hope? Darling, I lost my hope a long time ago." He chuckled lowly. And that's when she realised, he was used to being trapped.

   Sage didn't know what to say, she could only stare at those sad blue eyes, swimming with misery and anguish. He had been through so much. So much pain, so much grief, so much more than any other members of the hundred whom had arrived on earth. All trapped inside those sad, ocean blue eyes.

   And so, the curly haired teen turned on her heel and strolled slowly into the kitchen, in search for something to drown her sorrow and irritation.

☆☆

Hours had passed before either of the pair spoke to one another. They weren't angry at each other, only frustrated with their imprisonment. Sage had nothing to say to the boy and as much as she wanted to help with his clearly tormented state, she had no idea how to handle that much trauma and yet she was going to try.

Murphy hadn't spoken to her either. He was too afraid to open his mouth in fear that he would shatter her hope simply through the sentences strung together by his often ill fashioned words.

The pair only resurfaced to one another when Sage stepped into the living room, finding only the boy's absence from his usual position on the sofa.

She was about to utter her first word in hours before she heard the faint sound of water dripping, similar to the sound of rainfall. Murphy was in the shower. Sage waltzed around the bench, brushing away some stray crumbs surely dropped by said boy.

She wasn't hungry surprisingly, for she had eaten quite a bit the night before, in hopes of filling up before their long gone journey which only happened to be crumbled within their palms at the hands of the steel door sealing their fate.

That reminded the teen, they needed to develop some kind of rationing among the food to ensure their supply. Who knew how long they were doomed to stay in that place? She decided it was necessary that they began to ration their food, they had eaten too much already and if they intended to survive down there, they were going to need to slow down.

Without even thinking, Sage strolled into the bathroom, ready to inform the boy of her new strategy, only to realise her mistake. She had walked straight into the bathroom while the boy showered, naked obviously. What was she thinking?

The girl almost sprinted from the room until her eyes traced over his silhouetted figure. Something about the past couple days led her to do what she did next. And in fact, she wasn't all that sure what made her do it, she only assumed that in the moment, all the feelings she had suppressed over the last weeks or so were rising to the surface.

Before she could question her actions, she slowly peeled off her clothing, piece after piece until she stood nude, with only the shower curtain standing between her and the equally undressed boy. Her hand made its way to the shower curtain before questioning her decision one last time if she was doing what she wanted. She was.

She pushed it open, slightly frightening the boy who frowned at her, confused. She stepped in as Murphy's eyes trailed up and down her body, taking it all in. She looked down shyly before meeting his eyes finding them playful yet full of desire.

"S-Sage what are you doing?" He asked, stepping back slightly as she walked closer, now standing beneath the water, allowing it to flow through her hair and over the several crevices of her body.

"If I'm being honest, I don't know. Something told me to do it." She explained, her neck heating up at the boy's gaze, awestruck by her water covered body.

"I hope this is okay." She muttered, shrugging slightly as her heart hammered inside her chest.

"Oh, this is more than okay." Murphy smirked, his hands snaking over her waist and pulling her closer, pressing their bodies together.

     "I'm sorry for yelling before." The boy uttered, his mouth hovering only centimetres away from her ear.

    "It's okay. I understand."

     "Let me make it up to you." He suggested, pausing between his words as he placed slow kisses down her neck and collarbone.

     "I can think of a way." She smiled cheekily, now looking the boy dead in the eye as his gaze finally lifted from her body.

He lifted the girl from beneath her thighs before pushing her against the wall coated in shower water feverishly, now yearning for the girl.

     "Oh, Noon, you never fail to amaze me." He smirked.

☆☆

"What game did you say this was?" Sage frowned.

They were sprawled out across the lounge, Sage's feet resting comfortably in the boy's lap while his head rested back upon the adjustable pillows.

"It's called Mario Kart and it's the only thing keeping me sane down here." Murphy explained, dead serious.

"Uh huh." Sage nodded. The room fell silent for a second.

"Who's Mario?"

         "Some Italian dude." He shrugged. Sage looked over at him quizzically.

         "And how does it work?" She questioned.

         "Well you pick these characters and then you have to race through these circuits with all these weird obstacles and then there's also this box with a question mark on it and-"

          "A box with a question mark?"

       "Yeah and you get like a prize, like sometimes it's a banana or a mushroom, then there's this fucking blue shell that makes me wanna kill myself I swear to God." Murphy explained, working himself up and genuinely angry by the time he started talking about this godforsaken 'blue shell'.

          "Right...." Sage nodded, she was still completely confused.

         "Alright look, let's just pick characters."

          Murphy pressed down on a few buttons on the white remote, changing the layout of the home screen so there was an array of character icons and names. Everything from Baby Peach to Bowser.

         "Ooh I like that one!" Sage exclaimed, pointing toward the television screen. "He's cute." Sage awed. Murphy's eyes trailed to the television screen finally, formerly preoccupied and tantalised by the girl and that onyx concoction swirling in her eyes. Dancing on the screen was a small being with a mushroom hat, flailing about as if he was trying to catch the attention of any players. Sage's giddy smile proved the small being on the screen was succeeding.

          "Well, pick one! I wanna play!" Sage egged on. Murphy wanted to, he was excited to play. But something was keeping him from looking away from her. He simply couldn't pull his eyes away from her, perched on the edge of her seat with such eagerness. Something clicked in him, he didn't know what. But he knew one thing. He would never let anything bad ever happen to her.

          "Why aren't you- What are you looking at?" Sage questioned. She adjusted her t-shirt, suddenly self conscious.

          "Nothing." Murphy said shaking his head, but unable to do the same to the smile gracing his lips.

          "I'll be Yoshi." Murphy decided, using his controller to select the small equally as excitable green dinosaur.

          "Sounds like Sushi." Sage muttered, chuckling to herself.

          "Shit! Now I want Sushi." Murphy sighed.

           "We'll have some after we play." Sage proposed, turning and smiling at the boy who nodded in agreement.

           "Yay!" Murphy cheered. He reminded Sage of a child some days.

            Sushi was just one of the newest discoveries of the couple, something beloved to both now. They had found rolls of the delicious goods resting in the fridge and soon discovered how to make their own with the ingredients. Whoever had lived in the bunker before the pair, obviously had a great taste in food. Especially because not only had the pair been introduced to Sushi but other cuisine such as Tacos and the revolutionary beverage known as 'Red Bull.'

          The moment Sage tasted Red Bull she knew it was extremely bad for her heath and yet she didn't care. In fact she only continued to drink said toxin, loving the taste.

          "So, which circuit do you want to do?" Murphy asked the girl.

           "Circuit?"

           "Yes, there's the star one, the mushroom one, the banana one."

           "Can we do all of them?" Sage asked, still not whisking that grin off her lips.

            "But of course." Murphy chuckled. He leant back onto the lounge and selected the first of the eight courses and began the game.

            The pair didn't know what came over them but as they abused their controllers, racing to achieve first place all of their worries and stresses seemed to fade. They didn't care that they were locked in, they didn't care that they needed a way out. They only cared about coming first place in some ancient video game.

             And it was the happiest Sage had been in a long time.

☆☆

             After their intense five hour long championship as the duo had decided to title it, both Sage and Murphy were exhausted and thus retired to the bedroom. There were four bedrooms in the bunker, all of which were complete with their own walk in wardrobe, packed to the brim with all sorts of clothing and an ensuite. Sage and Murphy had elected the one they would sleep in nights ago when they first arrived. They didn't discuss the inevitable,  they simply accepted it and slept in the same room, same bed, holding each other in refusal to let go.

           Murphy was sprawled out across the unmade bed, his body twisted within the sheets as he made himself as comfortable as possible. Sage on the other hand was stood in the bathroom, tidying up a few things before meeting Murphy's eyes in the mirror.

            "Come to bed, Sage." Murphy whined. Sage chuckled at his stretched position before strolling over. Murphy pulled himself up onto his knees in time for his girlfriend to lightly place a kiss on his forehead.

             "Are you tired?" She asked softly, combing through his freshly washed hair.

              "A bit." He responded, closing his eyes and indicating that the sensation was relaxing.

              "Let's get some sleep." The girl suggested, earning a nod from the boy.

              Walking around to her side of the bed, yes they had assigned sides of course, Sage let out a small yawn and rubbed her eyes, more than ready to fall into the embrace of the safe and pleasant bed sheets.

             And yet the bed itself wasn't the inviting aspect of Sage's nightlife. No, what had constantly performed as her one source of comfort and security throughout the past month or so was the boy slowly drifting off to sleep.

            She slipped into the bed sheets, immediately encased in plush serenity. She rolled over, facing the boy who was seated up against the bedhead and gazing down at her.

             "Goodnight Baby." She smiled warmly, her head resting against his side, almost in his lap as her hair spilling around her in a halo like shape.

             Just as the girl began to drift into a blissful subconscious, the boy's raspy voice interrupted, causing Sage to release an involuntary sigh.

           "What's this from?" Murphy's finger gently traced up arm, running along a scar given to the girl months ago and back at the dropship.

            "It's from the day you came back actually." She realised with a frown.

            "Yeah?"

            "Yeah."

             "I refused to let Raven take that bomb to the bridge so we went together, on the way, tripped and hit my head on some rocks, apparently I cut my arm on some nearby metal left over from the remains of the exodus ship." She explained. She didn't sound sorrowful nor upset. She was a little too nonchalant.

             "You went through a lot that day huh?"

             "What do you mean?"

               "I saw you when I first came back. You're part of the reason Bellamy didn't kill me, you helped me take care of all those sick kids and then you still planted the bomb on that bridge with your sister, saving literally everyone." Murphy elaborated, chuckling to himself as he realised something. The girl laying in his lap touched so many souls each day, saved so many lives and protected so many hearts. She was truly the kindest person he had ever laid eyes on and yet she still fell for the brutal and broken monster he was embarrassed to identify as himself. The world worked in such mysterious ways.

            "I was just-"

            "Being you. I know." He finished. He wore a smile so gentle, so harmonious.

            "How about we get some sleep yeah?"

            "Sounds good." She agreed, matching his perfectly worn beam.

author's note.

lololol okay i know how long it's been since I've updated I'm so sorryyyyy. but anyways here's another fluffy chapter with a lil something else ;) sksksks. i actually really love this chapter although it is unedited and a little choppy. i apologise for my shitty writing lmao. hope you enjoy!

— clovdy