hey everybody! thanks for sticking with me this far! i'm sorry for updating so slowly. i've got a bit of writer's block and with school coming up, i'm probably going to be super busy, so don't expect the stories to come quickly. again, i really appreciate your support! thank you! xoxo

It had been an hour and a half.

Murdoc had gone to his room, feeling extremely guilty. Russel tried to talk to Noodle, but she wouldn't let him in her room.

2D, who had been watching a movie on his laptop, got up and knocked on the girl's door. Expecting the worst, he cringed, waiting for the screams to commence. But they didn't.

"Come in," said a weary-sounding voice.

2D opened the door and was greeted by a depressing love ballad about heartbreak turned up to full volume.

"Noodle?"

"I'm here," a large pile of blankets spoke.

He carefully lifted up each blanket layer until he finally saw a small tear-stained face.

"Can I tell you what happened?"

She shook her head and sniffled.

"I have to explain, love."

"There's nothing to explain," she said, wiping her eyes with the back of her hand. A streak of black went from the corner of her eye to the middle of her cheek. Only a date like this one would be special enough for Noodle to put on makeup.

2D sighed. "Yes, there is." He rubbed the mascara from her face with a tissue and threw it over his shoulder. "Robbie didn't have a family emergency. Murdoc lied."

"Really?" Ah, the sarcasm started young in this one.

"He also lied about some other things. He mighta sorta said stuff about you that made Robbie freak out and spill the beans about why he was really here."

"What do you mean 'why he was really here'?"

"Noods, he... was only here 'cause you're famous. He just wanted to see us perform. For free, I might add."

The girl looked down at her nest of blankets. "And what did Murdoc say about me?"

"Er... that you had a lot of boyfriends and you collected stamps and you got drunk and puked all over the crowd at the Madison Square Garden."

"That was him!" she said tearfully. "And how could he even think I had boyfriends? Robbie was my first."

2D paused. "Wait. Your first what?"

"Boyfriend." She sniffed again. "What did you think I meant?"

"Nothing."

"Pervert."

"Noodle! I'm just concerned about you." (Noodle scoffed at that.) "Uh, and if you and someone decide to, you know... make sure you have protection, okay?"

"You're a dirty pig, you know that? As if I would have sex with Robbie."

"Sorry. But how would I know? Maybe you had a good shag or two in that guitar shop."

Noodle shoved him, nearly toppling him off of the bed. "No way. And ew?" She buried herself back under the covers.

2D peeked inside her fort. "Looks pretty cozy in there."

"Mm-hm. It is."

"Do you mind if I-" he dove into the pile of pillows and blankets.

Noodle squealed, pushing him away with her hand. 2D laughed. "So are you okay?"

"I'm okay."

"Okay." He winked and kissed her on the forehead. "I'm gonna go talk to Murdoc."

"2D?"

"Yeah, love?"

"Thanks."

"No problem."

/

Next was going to be slightly harder. Not only did 2D have to make Murdoc apologize to their little girl, but he also had to talk to him about... things.

He stood by Murdoc's door. His fingers twitched with nervous energy. This wasn't going to be pretty. Almost immediately after knocking, the door opened. The bassist looked up at 2D.

"I knew you'd be around soon." He gestured for him to come in. "Want anything? Tea? I can make some cookies if you'd like."

"She's listening to Taylor Swift on repeat under like, three thousand layers of blankets," 2D said, irritated by his sarcastic demeanor. "Don't act like everything's okay, arsehole."

"So she's displaying normal symptoms of heartbreak," he said. "This is bad because?"

"She shouldn't be heartbroken at all," 2D snapped. "She should be out having fun and meeting people, like a young person should."

"And whose fault is that," Murdoc said, but not as a question.

"Yours!" He scowled at him. "If you hadn't said all those bloody stupid things, she would be fine!"

"I think you're forgetting something," Murdoc said nastily. "Robbie dear was using her to see us perform. If it hadn't been for me, our girl would've been in a one-sided relationship with someone who didn't even care about her. And do I get any thanks? No."

"You still need to say sorry," 2D said. "She's pretty angry with you."

"Angry. Huh. She does know I saved her, right?"

"She's barely an adult! Don't expect so much from her. Jesus. Robbie was her first boyfriend. This was really special to her."

Murdoc knew it, too. He felt terrible for ruining Noodle's first relationship, but the only thing left to do was fix things up between them. "All right. I'll apologize." He moved to go, but 2D stopped him.

"Uh, can we talk?"

Murdoc nearly had a heart attack. "Er... what about?"

"Well... I know you don't want to talk about this, but I think we need closure or something, because it's all I've been thinking about lately, and, um..."

Shit. He knew where this was going.

"Yeah, yeah, I know."

"So we can talk about it?"

"Talk about what?"

Us... and you know, when we had-"

"Keep your fucking voice down," Murdoc hissed, clamping his hand over 2D's mouth. "You want Russ or somebody to hear us?"

2D shook his head the best he could with a hand covering his mouth.

Murdoc removed his hand and locked the door. "Fine. Talk."

He blinked. "Uh, I thought we needed like, closure or somefink... I don't know..."

Murdoc softened. Of course he needed closure. He had just made the poor boy have sex with him. Twice. But to anyone else, Murdoc thought, that would be a gift.

"I guess I'm jus' confused is all," 2D continued nervously. "I mean, the first time we did it, you told me never to speak of it. And then you go on and do again."

Murdoc on the outside looked calm and collected, but on the inside he was sweating up a storm and wondering how the hell he was going to explain this. "The first time, we were both there, alright? We hadn't had sex in months and we only had each other. So I guess that gives us an excuse for the first time. As for the second, like you told me, I was completely and utterly drunk and I didn't know what I was doing. My question, 2D, is why did you let me do it the second time?"

The blue-haired boy twiddled his thumbs, a red blush creeping up his neck. "O-oh, I, um, I don't know, really..."

Murdoc stared at him up close. "God," he finally said. "You really are a fag, aren't you?"

"What? No! No, I'm not a fag."

"You enjoyed it the first time. Enough to let me do it to you again. You weren't drunk at all though, -were you Stuart?- so that means you agreed to it all on your own."

"You did it too," 2D stammered.

"Yeah, but one, I was drunk, and two, I wasn't the one taking it.'

"So that fact that you're in back makes it okay?"

"You could say that."

"That's stupid."

"Your point?"

"Nothing. I guess we're good, huh?"

"Well, now you've got an explanation. So yeah. We're good."

"Okay. Oh, and you should go talk to Noodle. Like, right now."

"I'm going, I'm going," he grumbled. "Would you think getting an ice cream sundae would make it better?"

"I'm not hungry, but thanks-"

"I meant for Noodle, you idiot."

"Oh. Right."