By the time 2D got back to his room, Kevin was gone. That was okay. He wasn't the mood that much anymore. He looked around for another moment, and began picking up the clothes he'd left on the floor. He threw them in the corner with everything else, then flopped down onto his pillow.
So, what now? He couldn't go back to the club. He had no time. And he couldn't sleep. Sleep seemed nearly impossible. Especially now, with no warmth by his side, no arms around his body. Nothing to keep him distracted.
He turned over and dug his face into the pillow. There goes his night.
Practice didn't go very well the next morning.
Murdoc tried to focus, but his eyes kept wandering to 2D. His eyes were baggy, and he was paler than the white walls of the room. He looked like he'd just woke up from a bad dream. His notes sounded lost, hollow. He wanted more than anything to throw something at him, tell him to snap out of it. Scream, yell, tell him to get over that stupid fucking creep who had the nerve to be there when Murdoc was. In 2D's room, pulling on his pants, flying out of there like the kid was nothing. Motherfucker.
A string of curses flew from his lips as he hit another bad chord. Noodle and Russell looked at each other warily. Sighing, he turned to them and glared. 2D yawned, rubbing the sleep from his eyes.
"What the Hell is wrong with you, Shit-head?" 2D looked at him warily.
"I'm singin' the notes you told me to, Muds…"
That was another thing. That pleading, begging, nervous attitude had become dulled. Very dulled. Almost nonexistent.
"Well?" He growled, characteristically gloomy. "Start it over. And, Brainache, sing it right this time, if you can fuckin' manage."
Instead of his usual vocal response, 2D nodded numbly. Murdoc decided he couldn't dwell on this any longer. Thinking about it would kill him.
The lights were dim, and the club smelled of smoke and sweat. One of the sweetest scents in the whole damn world right then. He couldn't believe he'd gotten out this time. He thought Noodle would've stopped him at the door from the way she'd chewed him out the night before. But, he didn't want to think about Noodle. He scanned the bar, looking for anyone he could sink his teeth into.
The bartender, a good-looking man in his mid-twenties, approached. "You want anything?"
"Just a Dap, for now." 2D smiled softly, still scanning the club. Nobody single at the bar, but the dance-floor seemed an ocean of bodies, swaying to the rhythm of the music. He watched them, a little wary about stepping into the mix. He liked to loosen up with a buzz before he trolled the floor. Too many people at once.
The bartender handed him the beer, and he took a long swig. The bitter taste slid down his throat, and he tried to ignore the way the bartender looked at him. He began scanning the floor for a face. Then, he saw him.
Tall, lanky, with fire-red hair and dark eyes that could've killed him. Too-tight club-gear, and he was swimming through that ocean of a dance floor, straight for him. His stomach flip-flopped, and God help him, he couldn't catch his breath. The way the man was looking at him… Like he knew exactly what he wanted…
Just the way he always dreamed…
He blinked for a second, and took another swig of beer to catch his breath. The man was coming toward him, finally cutting through the dance floor and stepping past the last dancing couple. When he reached the bar, 2D took him in. Beautifully dark, nearly radiating the appeal he tried to fight daily. Fire-red hair, obviously dyed, and dark brown eyes. Skin that remained pale, even in the club's dark lighting. And 2D knew, tonight it was his. Every day, he tried to stay far from that darkness, that sweet, seductive beauty that Murdoc held. Now, here it was, sitting next to him, his for the taking. A good duplicate, anyway.
He had to stay cool. Keep his head straight. He took another sip of beer, and found his eyes. They turned his inhibitions to dust.
"You waiting for someone?" He started conversation, setting his beer back on the bar.
"No." He said after a moment. "You?"
"Depends…" He let it trail off slowly, teasingly. This caught the man's attention. "Will you keep me waiting?"
The door to the Hellhole-Bar 2D had led him to closed on his heels, and Murdoc glared through the wood. He hated places like this, didn't usually go unless his sex drive was on a last resort. But, tonight, he would find out what the damn Tusspot was up to if he had to beat it out of him. The thought should've made him feel better than it did.
The combination of darkness and strobe-lighting blurred the figures on the dance-floor into what looked like moving gel. Murdoc passed it by, not in the mood. Searching the place with a careful eye, he noticed several things. It smelled of pot and liquor, the dance floor was mostly male, and 2D was at the bar. Not alone.
The man beside him made his stomach of steel churn like a meat-grinder.
Cheap. That was the first thing that came to mind. The man was a cheap, lousy imitation. And 2D… he was falling for it with all his worth. Almost like he wanted to fall for it. The clothes, the hair, the smirk on the man's ugly pockmarked face. All of it was fake. The worst kind of fake. And he knew what the man was trying to look like. He knew who the man was trying to be.
It sickened him.
He was coming on strong. Not really trying to be smooth anymore. And 2D's eyes sized him up, taking him in, accepting him like a treasured gift. There was something wrong with this. Something wrong with 2D. He wasn't acting the same. He was acting…
2D leaned in, a hand on the man's thigh, and whispered something in his ear. The man, the fake, smirked and laughed easily. His laughed slowed to a sigh as the blue-haired boy's hand trailed up his thigh, dipping between his legs for a second, then sweeping back up.
… Different.
The fake leaned in, said something low, probably an invitation. When 2D grinned, Murdoc was frozen to the spot. He could only watch as Stu knocked back the last of his beer, and took the phony's hand, leading him quickly out the back way. The strobe-lights bounced off the door as it closed behind them.
He moved quickly, unsure of what he would say, but sure he had to say it. He got in his car and drove straight back to Kong, passing is Winnebago and slamming the door to Tusspot's room behind him.
He would wait.