The following morning when 2D went up to the living room he found Noodle sitting on the couch holding her old acoustic guitar. She was looking fondly over the instrument, the way she cradled it reminded him of a parent with their child. He hated Murdoc for allowing the robot to use that same guitar, for letting it look like Noodle; he really couldn't imagine how angry and betrayed she had to feel over this. He wondered if she was angry at him for allowing Murdoc to do all of this.

"You know I've missed this guitar almost as much as I've missed you guys." She said smiling a bit.

"I'm sorry"

She looked up at 2D seeming confused by his apology.

"Why are you sorry?"

"I let Mu'doc replace yew an' let 'im give t'at robot yer guitar."

Noodle patted the seat next to her on the couch signaling for the blue haired man to sit down. 2D sat down next to her, he kept his hands on his lap fumbling with his fingers nervously.

"You did nothing wrong 'D, its Murdoc's fault any of this happened. Don't blame yourself for something you can't control."

"I still could've done somethin' like we could 'ave really looked for yew more instead of jus' goin' on tour an' actin' like nothin' happened. I'm really sorry Noodle."

The guitarist wrapped her arms around the older man hugging him.

"It's alright, don't be sorry. You're still my big brother and I love you, don't beat yourself up over this."

She pulled back and smiled up at the older man; he tried to offer a smile in return but couldn't get himself to.

"Well looks like yew lot are comfortable."

They both turned to see Murdoc standing in the doorway looking agitated, his arms crossed over his chest.

2D scooted to the other side of the couch.

"Well I haven't seen 2D for a long time now, thanks to somebody." Noodle said smiling bitterly.

Murdoc snarled, he opened his mouth to say something but closed it again.

"Anyways I've been working on repairing Cyborg, she's almost done."

Noodle got up from the couch and went up to Murdoc.

"Are you joking, why are you fixing that….That thing?" She asked sounding repulsed.

The green skinned man smiled.

"Well darling yer t'e bastard who cut 'er head off."

"Mu'doc we don' need t'e stupid bot anymore." 2D said.

He could barely bring himself to look in the bass player's direction, he felt so disgusted by him.

"I still need a body guard, plus at least the robot didn't talk back to me like yew two."

"It's about time somebody talks back to you. I get it, you had a shit childhood and a shitty life and you're trying to act like you're past it, but do you have to act like this?"

Murdoc patted Noodle on the head.

"Luv I'm not acting"

He looked at 2D and for a second the look on his face shifted from smug to sort of sorry; he turned and left the room a moment later.

"I can't believe him" Noodle said shaking her head.

"It's gotten real bad, jus' keeps getting worse….I wish he'd get better, I don't mean normal; God I don' even t'ink I'd want Muds to be normal or anything but…."

"Like how he used to be?" Noodle asked helping the blue haired man with what he was trying to say.

2D gave a small smile and nodded in agreement with what she said.

"I miss it, I miss our home."

"Me too, but we can find a new home, and maybe when we have the money we can fix Kong."

"Yew've been through a lot, 'ow are yew still so positive?"

"I just am, though I really hate seeing you so sad. I've got a good idea of what's been going on, but I feel like I'm missing out on something."

2D looked away, he scratched at the back of his head.

"Er well….Muds would slaughter me if I told ya or anybody for t'at matter."

"Toochi he won't do a thing to you, I promise."

Noodle went back to the couch sitting down next to him. 2D could feel his heart beating faster at the thought of telling somebody what had been going on, at telling somebody he liked men, and telling somebody he was in love with a man who beat him shitless for years now, and everything. He knew she was like a sister to him, one of his closest friends, but he still felt ashamed of himself for all of this.

"It's okay"

"I-I'm….I'm in love with Mu'doc." He said it quickly then buried his face in his hands.

"Wow, I mean I know you've always been….I know you've always been close to him and even idolized him for awhile, but I didn't know that you loved him."

"Are yew mad at me?"

"No of course not, I'm just surprised that you're in love with him. Not completely surprised, but a little bit; does he know?"

2D placed his hands back on his lap.

"Yeah, he knows."

"How did he react?"

"He beat t'e hell outta me."

Noodle sighed.

"Sounds like what I'd expect, but it's still horrible."

"There's some other stuff too; before I told 'im how I feel we were kind of, er….We were kind of shagging, I don' even know 'ow it started…Like we had been fighting then we well y'know an' after that it just kept happening. I know it didn't mean anything to him, but I still kinda hoped an….Even after I tol' him 'ow I felt, we still kept doing it….He told me he was sorry 'bout everything, but he didn't care 'bout me or love me. Then before yew got 'ere he just kind of…I don't know wot happened, he just told me off completely."

Noodle placed her hand over 2D's.

"It's alright; maybe it's better now that you know."

"How?"

"Well when you didn't know it had to hurt like Hell, but now that you know that he doesn't care….Maybe you can get better and you can move on, not now but in the future."

2D nodded even if he didn't really understood or agree with what his friend was saying. He wanted Murdoc; he wanted to hear that the older man cared about him. When he had been younger it was enough that he cared about the older man with nothing positive in return, but now he wanted to feel something back.

"Please don' let him know I tol' yew all of this."

"I won't, I promise….Do yew t'ink there's a chance he might care about me?" The blue haired man asked hopefully.

"I don't know, I'm not saying either way. The way Murdoc acts lately it's hard to tell, maybe he does care and he's just scared of it. We both know what he's been through and how he is; it'd be hell to be him and care about another person. I'm not entirely sure that he knows how to."

"Yeah, thanks for listening to me. It's been so long since I've really gotten to talk to somebody, about anything."

"Anytime."