Taming Chaos // J.M // The 100

Chapter 104

Taking the tunnels is a straight shot out of eye-view from ALIE's subordinates, meaning no surprise parties waiting for them until their eventual exit.

"What have we got left?" Harley asks, rummaging through his backpack. He comes to a stop with Pike and Indra in tow to check inventory, in which Ethan spares them what he has left in his bag. 

"Got some rations and medical supplies in there." He says with a nod, before continuing on with Murphy. It isn't until they're a healthy distance ahead that he grabs his wrist and pulls them to a stop.

There's a certain weight that falls off his shoulders when they're touching. Even in the cold of the tunnel, he feels warmth.

Ethan splays his fingers out across discolored skin, taking note of every mark. More bravely, he grazes his hand up Murphy's wrist, to his forearm and smiles furtively at the goosebumps that follow.

It's just them, this tunnel, and the quiet.

Murphy's adam apple bobs. His eyes never settle, flicking from Ethan's face to his hand. When it snakes up to his inner elbow and grazes the lashes Titus gifted him, he exhales shakily, giving in.

Dead serious, Ethan tells him, "This sucked." This as in everything. Them getting separated, again, for the second. . . Or third. . ? For the we-stopped-counting time.

He shakes Ethan's hand off, and interlocks their fingers. "Better late than never though, right?" Murphy ducks his head and stares at their hands, trying to recover by offering his other arm. "Wanna tie us together so we can't run away?" He smiles playfully.

The smirk falls when Ethan takes him by the chin and moves his head as he pleases, side to side, back and forth. The bruises, the cuts, the bags under his eyes. Ethan wants to know what happened.

Murphy cuts him off just as he opens his mouth, and laughs a little, "Don't worry, he's dead already."

Smiling wide, Ethan shakes his head.

Eyes are drawn to the action, half-lidded and gleaming. But Murphy's gaze falters and drops to a half-crescent mark hiding beneath the collar of Ethan's shirt.

Lips dipped in a frown, he reaches out, placing his hand at the junction between Ethan's shoulder and neck. He feels him shiver under his palm.

Murphy continues, even if all he wants to do now is keep tracing Ethan's neck and draw out a few more rebellious reactions. He sneaks his pinkie under the grey shirt and draws it an inch away, revealing his collarbone and the one too many healing burns that occupy his skin. 

"It's a long story," Ethan clears his throat.

Murphy exhales through his nose, "You can say that again." His narrowed eyes dart over his shoulder and land on Pike. "I'm gonna take a wild guess and say it has something to do with him."

Ethan can feel the heat seeping from the man across from him. He bites down on his inner cheek when he thinks of a response. "Pike had people, guards from farm station, on a little side mission. They were torturing grounders for info."

"And you were. . ."

"Wearing grounder gear, yeah. S'pose it's karma for stealing it in the first place."

"No." Murphy frowns. "If that's true, it would've been me there. It was my idea."

Twisting his tongue against the back of his teeth, Ethan shakes his head, "Look, let's just put the blame on the man of the hour." He throws an arm up in Pike's general direction.

Standing there next to good people like he didn't cause most of the carnage around them.

With a bob of his head, "I guess I can't be surprised the coalition fell apart." Murphy shifts his weight to his opposite foot, "It was always violence first with him, wasn't it?"