2D sat up on the bed, a cigarette dangling from the corner of his mouth. It wasn't his own bed, mind you, but Murdoc's. And yes, the Egyptian silk sheets were of as good a quality as ever. Under black light, though, that might not have been completely true. But the dumb sheets weren't the point.

It had been another... well, he didn't really know what to call this. It was too emotionless to be called anything related to love, but this had happened too much and too often to keep being called a one-night stand. It had been another something for the pair. Murdoc was fast asleep next to him, stretched out on the bed much like a cat, with his arms dangling from the side.

2D couldn't help but smile. For all the things he hated about Murdoc, he did have to admit that he was pretty cute when he was asleep.

He got out of the bed and stretched, his back popping as he did. Murdoc gave a grunt in his sleep and turned over, an arm reaching out to the stuffed rabbit he kept by his bed. 2D gazed at the clothing on the floor. Yes, he vividly remembered wearing those pants and that shirt yesterday... and having them pulled off. Ugh.

He tried to make himself hate Murdoc. But for all these somethings, all these awkward departures, he just couldn't do it.

There was something in his heart that always weighed down on him. Some feeling that kept him from turning Murdoc down, from hating him, from being unkind at all towards him. That feeling might just be love.

He gathered up his clothes and slipped them back on (it took a few tries for him to get the shirt both right-side out and forward), then took to the bathroom to check his appearance and, obviously, relieve himself.

He looked in the mirror first. Besides the sleepiness in his eyes, nothing had changed, though he certainly felt a bit different. He felt different about the world. And different about Murdoc, too...

Something had happened last night, and 2D couldn't tell what it was. It just started feeling different. The noise, the motion, the feeling, it just started feeling more real. More passionate. He saw Murdoc looking up at him, smiling, eyes half-closed, and his better judgement sprouted wings and flew away from him. But he couldn't be sure the smile was real... Murdoc had a new guy, gal, or person on his arm every other day. How could he be sure that he was any different? Was Murdoc in love with him? Or was he just another disposable toy to him?

Because, whether he liked it or not like it or not, Stuart's heart had decided to be in love with Murdoc. By the time he'd finished in the bathroom, Murdoc was sitting up in bed, a cigarette twirling in the corner of his mouth. Usually, 2D just awkwardly excused himself. But his mouth was having none of that today.

"Murdoc?"

Murdoc glanced over. "Dullard."

"Yeah, that's me..." He sat on the bed. "Um... how are you feeling...?" Maybe he really was a dullard. Of course Murdoc was angry about something, and maybe a little sore--

"... sad, mostly."

2D blinked. "... I beg your pardon?"

The green-tinted man fell back onto the bed. "Satan, Stuart, how many more times are we going to do this?"

"What do you mean?"

"This. Waking up in the morning and pretending nothing happened. Like you're doing right now by saying you don't know what I mean."

Stuart sighed. "I thought that was, uh... just the way it was with you."

"With most people. But... I don't know, you're... different. Do you even know what I mean?"

"... I-I know exactly what you mean." He looked down, flicking ash from his cigarette. "But... what are we gonna do about it?"

"Change it."

"How?"

Murdoc sat up, wrapping his lower half in blankets and pulling 2D down onto the bed by his hands. "What if we started right now? What if you just stayed for a while?"

And stay he did, laughing and talking the next few hours away with someone his brain told him to hate and his heart told him to love. As he finally got up for good (Noodle had been shouting for him for the past twenty minutes), Murdoc stopped him.

"Stu?"

"Yes?"

He pulled the bluenette into a kiss, so brief and soft that Stuart wasn't sure their lips had touched at all. "See you later?"

He found himself smiling. "Definitely." And he was out the door.