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It was a common occurrence for Russel Hobbs to find himself angry on behalf of 2-D. It was a much less common occurrence, at least these past few years, for him to be angry with 2-D.
He knew it would be difficult for the singer to adjust to their....relationship. And he knew he was trying. But sometimes just trying wasn't enough. 2-D had spent nearly 20 years as a single man who hit on and slept with anyone and everyone he found attractive enough(and some he didn't), and that was a hard habit to break.
Granted, he hadn't actually slept with anyone else since they started dating. Russel would give him that much credit. But he had heavily flirted with a girl at the bar that night, and Russel was right there, and yes, he had the right to be fucking pissed about it.
It hadn't gone any further than flirting, but Russel had confronted his boyfriend about it when they returned home nonetheless. But they were both drunk, and 2-D almost cried, and that was the end of it for the night. They went to their separate rooms, not seeing one another until morning(really it was afternoon, but it was the closest thing to morning they got in this house).
But Murdoc had caused a ruckus at the table, and Noodle had instigated him further, and, well, they really hadn't had the chance to talk it out just yet.
Now it was late in the evening, and Russel hadn't seen 2-D nearly all day.
They would definitely need to talk about this, that was certain. But he would rather wait until he was cooled down a bit. The last thing he wanted to do was snap at 2-D. He'd had enough people snap at him throughout his life, and Russel didn't really want to add to that count.
For now he figured it was best they spend the day apart. 2-D probably needed to cool down a little bit too. He was clearly shaken up by the whole thing, and Russel was sure he felt guilty about it(he hoped so, assumed so).
So, Russel sat at the kitchen table, at 7pm, sipping coffee out of the chipped #1 Mom mug Noodle had gotten him for Father's Day as a joke who knows how many years ago. He knew he a right mess, but anger and jealousy will do that to a person. He felt like he was glaring holes into the wall.
He barely heard the shuffle when someone else entered the kitchen, only noticing Noodle when she pulled out a chair and sat across from him. She was clad only in a tank top and a pair of underwear, and Russel made a mental note to tell her not to dress so indecent. But he probably shouldn't even bother, she had likely picked up the habit from Murdoc, and, if they were being fair, she had just as much right to wander around the house half naked as he did, she was an adult now. At least she would be much less traumatizing to any house guests they happened to have over.
Without a word she slowly reached over and pulled Russel's coffee cup towards her before taking a sip, scrunching up her nose at the taste. Too sweet, probably. Noodle liked her coffee black. She sighed and pushed it back, resting her chin in her hand, eyes drooping lazily.
"Did you two have a fight?"
Ah, Noodle, the peacemaker. She was always so perceptive as a child, even more so now as an adult.
"Somethin' like that."
"He told me about it. I thought I'd ask you, too."
"What'd he say, exactly?"
"He said he flirted with a girl at the bar and you got mad. Which is completely understandable, obviously. He should tell you himself, but he is sorry. He cried in my arms for three hours. I believe he thinks you hate him now." Noodle straightened her posture, clasping her hands in front of her as she spoke.
"I'd never." Russel tightened his grip on his coffee cup. He felt bad, but he was still mad. He could still be mad about this, right?
"You should talk to him."
"Just tryin' to cool down a little, first."
Noodle nodded, glancing towards the stairs. "I suppose I should check on him again. He said he was going to take a bath a little while ago." Her eyebrows furrowed. "His behavior was..worrying."
"Worrying?"
"Yes." Noodle made eye contact with him, and Russel understood what she meant by the look alone. He found his own eyebrows furrowing in concern as she slid out of her chair and headed upstairs.
It couldn't have been more than a few minutes before he heard Noodle's voice calling for him, rather loudly, from the bathroom.
He didn't even remember going up the stairs, but somehow he was suddenly standing in the doorway.
"He didn't answer when I knocked so I picked the lock." Noodle was kneeling beside the bathtub, one arm around the shoulders of a barely conscious 2-D, who appeared to be in a daze, the other braced on the side of the tub. She looked strangely calm, like she had dealt with this exact situation many times before, and Russel's heart broke when he thought about how many times she had.
Russel found himself also kneeling beside the tub in a heartbeat.
He gently slapped his boyfriend's cheek. "'D, wake up. It's time to get out."
"No, 's cold...." 2-D's head lolled to the side and his eyes fluttered closed.
"I don't care, you need to get out."
2-D let out a long whine. "Noo...'m too..cold..." He bit his lip and cracked open his eyes just a sliver.
Russel dipped his hand into the bath water. It was ice cold, like it'd been sitting there for a while.
"The water is cold. If you get out you won't be cold."
"No..." 2-D's eyes closed again and his teeth began to chatter as he brought up his arms around himself.
Russel sighed. "Noodle, get a towel." Noodle scurried to the other side of the bathroom as Russel replaced her arm with his, sliding his other arm under the water to hook it under 2-D's knees.
"C'mon, baby," Russel grunted, lifting his boyfriend out of the bath. 2-D was pretty light, but his loose grip on consciousness and the fact he was being lifted up out of the water made him feel a bit too much like dead weight, which was an extremely unsettling thought. Also, he was struggling.
"No!!" 2-D shoved weakly against Russel's arm, trying to get him to drop him, probably.
Noodle wrapped two towels around him after Russel got him out of the tub. Then she disappeared for a moment, coming back seemingly seconds later with a small space heater that she plugged in and set on the floor.
Russel sunk down to the floor himself, still holding the other man in his arms.
2-D curled up in Russel's lap, twisting his fingers into his now damp shirt. He was still shivering, so Russel held him tighter and scooted a bit closer to the heater.
"Shhh, it's okay, I gotcha..." He rubbed his hand up and down 2-D's arm, trying his best to warm him up.
"Should I call someone?" Noodle piped up from the doorway, concern contorting her features.
Russel sighed. It was always a tough decision. "No, it's not bad enough this time. He'll be a'ight."
She nodded solemnly, briefly stepping over to give 2-D a kiss on the forehead before slipping out of the room.
Russel looked back down at the man in his arms. He wasn't shivering, now. "God, 'D, why you keep scaring us like that, man?"
2-D's head fell onto Russel's shoulder, his fingers still twisting in his shirt. "M' sorry, Russ...." The few teeth he had left in the front worried his bottom lip. "I-I...didn't mean ta..." He let out a tired exhale.
"We'll talk about it in the mornin', kay, baby?" Russel ran a hand through his boyfriend's still slightly wet hair. "We need to get you in bed."
Coffee be damned. There was no way he was leaving 2-D's side tonight, early as it was. He'd potentially glue himself to the other man's side if it meant he could get him through this.
They would talk about all of this in the morning.
Morning turned out to be about 2am, shortly after 2-D vomited at least his entire body weight's worth into the toilet.
It seemed to sober him up a bit, well, at least as much as 2-D can be sobered up on any given day.
2-D barely took the time to brush his teeth before he had thrust himself into Russel's arms, sobbing violently. He was a bit hard to understand in this state, but Russel was pretty sure he heard the words 'sorry', 'so stupid', and 'idiot' in there several times each.
He himself was silent, petting 2-D's head as he cried.
He waited for a while before he spoke, allowing him to let it all out.
"Neither of us handled this very well, did we?" It was their first fight as a couple, and it could have gone a lot smoother. Good to note, for the future.
"No..." 2-D mumbled against his chest.
"I shouldn't have yelled at you or ignored you, and you shouldn't have done...whatever it is you did last night." Russel pushed on 2-D's shoulders a bit, forcing him to lean back from his chest. "Look at me." He tried to look his boyfriend in the eye, but 2-D turned his head slightly, averting his gaze. "You can't keep doin' that shit every time you got a problem. Do you know how scary it is? Every time I think I'm gonna lose ya. I can't handle it. Scares me, scares Noodle, hell, I think even Muds gets scared for ya. We all love you. I love you. Do you know how many times I've thought I was gonna lose you?"
2-D slowly shook his head, finally looking at Russel again.
"Too fuckin' many."
"M' sorry."
"I'm not gonna say 'It's okay', 'cause it's not, but I forgive you. And I forgive you for the girl in the bar. Just don't pull that shit again, you hear me?"
2-D nodded again.
"You're a taken man now, remember that."
"S' hard for me to remember things sometimes, Russ." 2-D grabbed Russel's hand and fiddled with his fingers, staring down at it as he spoke. "Like, what ta do and not ta do and....stuff. Been a long time." He glanced back up at Russel, looking him in the eyes again. "But I'm trying!"
"You need to try as hard as you can, okay?"
2-D nodded. "Right."
"For me?"
A small smile crept onto 2-D's face. "Yeah."
Russel pulled 2-D a bit closer to him, in some semblance of a hug, and pet his hair again.
His boyfriend glanced up at him with a pout.
"What?"
"Russ, tha's no fair..."
"What?"
"Can't pet yer hair..." He glanced up at Russel's bald head, and Russ found himself laughing for the first time since yesterday.
So starting a relationship with 2-D brought its problems. Any relationship would bring its problems. But Russel knew they could work through them together, and make happy memories every step of the way. And that was plenty, that was enough.