The end comes in the form of a letter by the postman.
They're sitting side by side, the full moon peering over them in the clear. Noodle suggested opening the window to look at the stars but 2D couldn't see them. They'll buy a telescope later. For now, they'll take daytime cloud watching.
Noodle is particularly chatty tonight, he notices.
He thinks he knows why.
She had caught Murdoc and him fighting in the kitchen. He was lying on the ground, face bloody and clutching something against his chest with a vice while Murdoc sported a growing black eye. She had screamed then, causing Russel to boom outside, shaking the building when he threatens to come down. She's rushing down towards him when Murdoc sends one last vengeful kick, a gasp leaving 2D in a spat of blood, and leaves the room stomping in a huff, muttering angrily.
"Nothin' but gold diggers, I'm telling you – the 'ole fucking lo' of 'em."
A door slams shut in the distance, once again Russel is questioning, but Noodle calms him quickly. He lets go reluctantly, she'll meet up with him on the rooftop later, she promises; she needs to tend to 'D first.
His injuries this time around, to say the least, were thankfully minimal, or as minimal as one could get when compared to his other scuffles with the band's bassist.
She takes him to his bed, tucking him under his covers, an empty glass in her hand from when she had handed him pills. He eyes her face, the way she looks at the garbage strewn on the ground and chuckles, wheezing when his ribs begin to shout, squeezing horribly.
"'e'll clean my roo' later, yeah? May'ee Thursday. 'hat sounds li' a cleaning day – Thursday."
Noodle nods stiffly, frowning. He yawns, pills in effect, and smiles, patting her hand lazily.
"'e'll talk 'oon, not righ' now. I 'fink I'm fallin' asleep, wouldn't be 'ery good company to you then, snoring."
She snorts and his eyes close, drifting when he feels her on his forehead, gentle and faint.
She's droning on about the stars, something about constellations. She told him those were stars that made pictures and shapes in the sky. Like bears and a boat. 2D thinks he'd like to see a bear in a boat in the sky.
"There's another one called Orion, he's a hunter-,"
"Noodle."
He's pulling her in close, long arms surrounding her in gratitude. Her breath catches in her throat when he pulls away a second later, his eyes beaming in the twilight. They're huddled even closer now, their sides flushed, when he pulls a letter out of his pocket. Unfolding it quietly, smoothing out the edges. It's covering in stickers, she notes, messy handwriting crossing out mistakes and rewriting them on the side.
She cocks her had to the side, curious.
Fan mail doesn't come to them directly, Murdoc made sure of that when he made a PO Box months ago. Just the "official" stuff he said, none of that extra litter until they, he, felt like it.
Wordlessly 2D hands the envelope to her, gently coaxing her grip off his knee. She looks at him then, peering into his black depths, flushing when she sees the trust in them. Slowly, she opens the letter, a photo falling out, and pauses when blonde hair and shocking blue eyes appear, gleaming with mirth.
Noodle feels her heart quake, out of what, she isn't sure, but this, she knows.
He's mentioned her once, weeks ago.
His secret.