2D tripped over his feet on the way to the car. He was tired and cold and had just finished a 3-hour interview with an especially rude Murdoc. He stumbled into the passenger seat and rubbed at the spot of his arm Murdoc had punched. It was already starting to turn ten shades of purple and blue.
Murdoc's car smelled like cigarettes, and it gave him a headache because he hadn't brought any. Murdoc slid in beside him and started the car quietly, not going out of his way to ignore 2D but not quite looking at him either.
The car blocked out the sounds of the city and left the silence between them. It was thick and 2D wasn't about to wade through it.
Instead he kept to himself and watched streetlights flash across Murdoc's unreadable features. His eyelids grew heavy and before he knew it his head was resting against the door of the car and Murdoc's face was disappearing from his vision.
He blinked awake to Murdoc shaking him gently. "C'mon." it was still dark and he felt disoriented. The car was off but they weren't at home.
Murdoc's hand hesitated at the small of 2D's back as he helped him out of the car. He pulled it away though and ran it through his hair. 2D followed him across an empty parking lot and into a little store with lights that hurt his head and made him squint.
It was even colder in here, and the girl working at the register looked as tired as 2D felt. He looked to Murdoc in confusion and the demon grabbed his wrist impatiently and led him to a tall counter. He pressed his nose against the glass. Oh. It was ice cream, tubs of swirly colours and little labels with flavours he'd never heard of. Murdoc managed a soft smile that spoke for itself. Sorry.
2D watched the girl scoop ice cream and swayed a little. 2D picked strawberry; he whined until Murdoc had settled on a single scoop of vanilla for himself. He could tell by the roll of his eyes and the curve of his lip that Murdoc was back to being Murdoc and not the gaudy act he wore for the public's eye.
He felt like a little kid while he waited for Murdoc to pay, but he decided he didn't really mind. The ice cream made his whole mouth cold, a kind of cold that travelled through his body and made him shiver. But Murdoc's warm hand found his on their walk back to the car and 2D decided that he didn't really mind any of this.
A/N: inspired by a prompt I saw on tumblr, I'll try to find the URL again and source it