The closest he'd ever come to emotional clarity or singularity after the "El Mañana" incident was when he was holding hands with Noodle. In Phases one and two, it wasn't an odd occurrence for the guitarist and vocalist to be seen with their hands clasped as they realised that the two of them had a special bond that, while not necessarily romantic or sexual, marked them as soulmates.
But on May 23, 2015, as they held hands on a boardwalk in Brighton- a two hour drive from their flat in London- they felt an emotional connection they had never experienced, a connection that could be likened to waking up after sleeping in the warm, chaste embrace of your favorite person in the world, a sensation that both of them had experienced since reuniting on Plastic Beach.
At first, they were a bit startled, after all, it had been awhile since they were close to anyone, much less each other, but after a moment, Noodle accepted it. She smiled sweetly at her companion, eyes bright behind her violet fringe then stood on her toes to kiss him on both of his flushed cheeks and the tip of his nose.
"You okay?" she whispered, face still close to his.
"Mhm, yeah, brilliant! But are we...?
"I believe so. Are.. are you okay with that?"
2D responded by awkwardly but sweetly brushing the bangs from her eyes then kissing her on the forehead. He pulled her into a lanky embrace and buried his nose in her hair.
"If it, uh, means I'm closer to you, then I'm more than okay. I'm, like, perfect!"
Noodle laughed into his chest, a rare enough occasion as it was after "El Mañana", but was also holding back a tear or two of joy which was an oddity as the tough-as-nails guitarist never cried, never.
She moved her head a bit so her chin was on his chest and her clear green eyes were staring into his endless black ones.
"Happy birthday, Two-Chi."
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A week after his birthday trip to the boardwalk, 2D stumbled into the bedroom, looking half-dead and fully distraught.
Assuming he had a migraine, Noodle jumped up from their bed, thus dropping the book she was reading and practically ran towards the bathroom to get some of his pills only to be stopped by a gentle shake of his head.
"What's going on?" she asked gently as she led him to the bed to sit.
"I-I- where's my iPad?"
His companion gave him a quizzical look, but grabbed his iPad for him anyway. As he typed in passwords and located a website, Noodle pulled him into her arms gently so that his neck was in the crook of her arm
"Here."
He handed her the iPad, and Noodle winced as she saw the cover photo; her kissing 2D's cheek on the boardwalk. A quick scan of the article revealed words such as "pervert" and 'jailbait", causing her to emit a tired sigh.
Since Phase Two when she released the "Rockit" video, both she and 2D had been accused of being in some sort of incestuous relationship when in reality, even if they had any romantic interest towards each other, incest wouldn't have been applicable.
Even though Noodle had learned to give a certain "fuck you" attitude towards the press, she knew 2D hated when Gorillaz got negative press, especially her.
"Oh, Stu," she whispered stroking his hair and kissing him gently behind the ear. "You know, not to worry about what those fools say, yes?"
She felt him shrug then move so that his face was buried into her stomach, and after a moment, his shoulders started shaking and she felt tears seeping through her shirt on to her abdomen.
"You shouldn't read those sort of websites.. They're all garbage," she murmured gently.
2D was quiet for a moment, and Noodle laid back so that they were both reclining, his head still on her abdomen.
"Th-they said I'm too old for you," he said through a sob, breaking the silence.
"But you're n-"
"And that I'm manipulating you and I must have hurt you or taken advantage of you when you were little," he interrupted with a whimper.
"Two-Chi, you know you didn-"
"No! Noodle, no! They're right! I mean I never laid a finger on you, and I never will, but I'm still taking advantage of your emotions. You're younger and I shouldn't-"
"Shut the fuck up, right now. They're idiots, and they're wrong. If I even thought you were hurting or manipulating me, I would beat your skinny ass. And I wouldn't end up doing that because I think I know you well enough that you wouldn't hurt me. And I know my tone might seem sort of joking, but I have one last thing to say: I don't give a fuck. Not about what they say about me, not about what they think of me, the only thing I care about is you. How what those assholes say affect you is the only thing that matters to me. Make sense?"
2D took his face out of his stomach and looked up at her, still crying, his eyes white-most likely from the stress- and rimmed with red. "N-Noodle, I try not to care, and I know you don't but I am bad because- because I love you, Noods. You're my life, and I need you and I missed you and, God, I love you, and maybe it's wrong for a man my age to feel the way I do about you, but I still do I and- and.."
As sobs continued to wrack the frail man's body and his declaration of love became more and more hysterical and frenzied, Noodle held him close to her chest and pressed her lips to the crown of his head.
"Ssh, it's okay, I love you too, it's okay.." she murmured sweetly, lovingly, knowing that allowing him to cry might be the only way for him to retain his sanity.
After thirty minutes of sweet nothings from Noodle and weeping from the frazzled vocalist, both noises subsided and a comfortable silence with occasional snores from either one of the musicians filled the room.
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When 2D woke up at midnight, he realised three things; he had just waken up from a nightmare, he felt a migraine coming on, and he was wrapped in all the blankets on their bed.
With a glance at Noodle, he realised that she was shivering in her sleep slightly, which he knew annoyed her as she hated when he stole the blankets with his "disproportionately long pasta arms".
He gently covered her with the mass of blankets he possessed, then held her chest close to his face, listening to her steady, slow heartbeat as a method to thwart his oncoming migraine.
And as he found himself falling back asleep, he realised that there would always be room for her in his little world, his personal bubble, his cocoon.
