Author's Note: Happy Valentine's Day! This story isn't anything big. It just came to me when I saw all the decorations around my school today. For some reason, I got to thinking about Noodle's first Valentine's Day at Kong Studios, and . . . this story was born. Happy reading! ;)-AMX
Ten-year-old Noodle's Hello Kitty alarm clock began to beep as it struck 5:00, but she immediately hit the snooze button and turned the clock off. She didn't need it. She had been too excited to sleep. The little Japanese girl was ecstatic. It was time to put her plan into action.
It had all started a couple of days ago. 2D had told Noodle of a very special day that was coming up later in the week. From what Noodle was able to comprehend of the lanky singer's speech (which, admittedly, wasn't a lot), the special day was called "Valentine's Day," and you celebrated it by giving little presents to the people you loved.
After 2D had talked to her, Noodle was intrigued by the special day. So she went to her computer and looked up everything she could about Valentine's Day. From what she could find, one of the most common Valentine's Day presents was a card. Preferably, a card shaped like a heart.
The days before the "special day," Noodle had taken to her room, painstakingly creating four Valentine's Day heart cards: two red ones for Russel and Del, a pink one for 2D, and a red-black one for Murdoc. After coloring each card, she carefully added lace and glitter to each heart. Then, on the back of each card, Noodle wrote the same message in a ten-year-old's scrawl (this took her the longest, since she was still learning how to write in English):
HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY!
XOXOXO
Love, Noodle
Thankfully, Noodle was able to finish all four Valentine's Day cards. She was quite proud of her work. Now the only problem was how to surprise her band mates with her presents. Her solution was simple: wake up really early and sneak them the cards while they were sleeping. Since Russel's room was closest to hers, she would deliver his and Del's cards first.
---
Noodle very carefully opened the door to the big Brooklyn drummer's room, holding her four presents close to her chest. She cautiously peeked in and saw a huge mass in the big bed, snoring loudly. Russel. Giving a small smile, the little girl tiptoed into the dark room, over to the nightstand next to Russel's bed. But just as she was about to place the cards on the nightstand . . .
"Noodle?"
Noodle gave a small jump and whirled around, staring at the big, blue phantom floating behind her.
"Shh!" Noodle whispered, putting a finger to her lips.
Del looked at the little girl curiously. "Why you up this early, girl?" he asked.
"Shh!" Noodle whispered again, this time a little more fiercely. She then went back to her work. She gently placed Russel's Valentine on the nightstand where he would see it. Then she turned around and held Del's Valentine out to him.
Del stared at the card for a few seconds, then questioningly took it. As he read the back of it, he smiled.
"Oh . . . " he whispered. "A'ight, I got ya. I'll keep my mouth shut. Good luck deliverin' the rest of those."
Noodle smiled in approval, gave a slight bow to Del, then quietly tiptoed out of the room.
Del stared at the card in his ghostly hand. "'Cause I've had practice. I've already been keeping my mouth shut about something for you, girl . . . "
---
Noodle decided to use the stairs instead of the lift to get to the carpark. The lift was noisy enough for someone to hear it anywhere in the studio. Despite living in Kong for months now, nobody could figure out how to turn off that annoying "It's coming up. . .it's Dare!" banter that played whenever someone used the lift.
When she finally got to the carpark, she went down the second set of stairs until she got to the door leading to 2D's room. 2D's card would probably be easier to deliver. Noodle knew the singer took a good amount of painkillers every night to help him sleep. A car could crash in the carpark and 2D wouldn't wake up (a proven fact because Murdoc had demonstrated it numerous times).
Noodle carefully opened the door to the pretty boy singer's room. She smiled at the skinny blue-haired man buried under his covers. As expected, 2D didn't even stir as Noodle tiptoed up next to his bed. Noodle smiled as she got ready to set 2D's Valentine on his chest. For some reason, she had worked the hardest on his . . .
Noodle quietly placed the card on 2D's chest. However, as she stared at the singer, she noticed that he seemed to be a little too quiet. Just to be sure, Noodle picked the card back up and placed it over 2D's open mouth. She smiled as an exhale from 2D caused the card to fly up and flutter back onto his chest.
"He's cute when he sleeps . . . " Noodle thought as she exited her friend's room.
---
Now for the tricky part of Noodle's plan: sneaking into a forbidden zone without being detected. The forbidden zone? Murdoc's Winnebago.
There was a reason Noodle had saved Murdoc's Valentine for last. Delivering his card would mean having to go inside the Winnebago, into his bedroom, and leaving it on his bed, because she knew he'd never see it otherwise. There was also the possibility that Murdoc wouldn't like the card. But Noodle knew that couldn't happen. She had thought long and hard on how to do Murdoc's. At first the card had been plain bright red. But then Noodle thought Murdoc might not like red, so she went over it with black to make it look darker. He had to like it now.
Luckily for Noodle, the door to the Winnebago was open wide enough for her to sneak in. It seemed that Murdoc had been doing a lot of partying the night before, because the inside reeked of cigarettes and alcohol. The smell was so intense, poor Noodle had to hold her breath.
The fact that Murdoc had been drinking led to some conflict. There was no telling what Murdoc's mood would be when he was drunk. If someone disturbed him while he was having a hangover, there was the risk of him lashing out at you. And it didn't matter who it was.
Noodle delicately tiptoed through the haze to the back room, where Murdoc's very shifty body was buried somewhere in his bed. His pillow was lying on the floor, probably shoved off the bed during a thrashing spell. Being extra careful so not to disturb the bass player, Noodle crept up to the bed. But just as she was about to place Murdoc's card on his sheets . . .
Murdoc's mismatched eyes snapped open.
Noodle jumped in fear and dropped to the floor, crawling over to the wall and huddling in the shadows. What would Murdoc do?
Thankfully, Murdoc's eyes drooped shut as quickly as they had flown open. One of his arms snaked out from under the sheets and flopped over the side of the bed, feeling around for something.
"Uh . . . where me bloody pillow at?" a slurred mumble came from the bassist.
Noodle looked at the pillow, which was inches away from her feet. She cautiously picked it up and held it out so Murdoc could grab it.
"Thank yeh . . . " Murdoc mumbled, putting the pillow back under his head.
Noodle held in a sigh of relief as she placed the card near Murdoc's head, then scurried as quietly as she could out of the hazy Winnebago. It was only when she got back to the door leading to the stairwell did she dare exhale.
When she knew she was safe, Noodle giggled quietly to herself and excitedly hopped up and down. She had done it! And nobody had suspected a thing! She giggled all the way back to her room, resetting her alarm clock to a more suitable time when she got back into her bed. As she closed her eyes to get at least a few hours of sleep, she couldn't help but think about her friends' reactions when they found her cards . . .
---
A few hours later, Noodle slowly opened her eyes again. She looked at her clock. 8:00 A.M. But as she slowly moved her feet, she felt them kick something. Confused, the little Japanese girl sat up. . .and got a surprise of her own.
On the foot of her bed was a pure white Teddy bear with big black eyes, holding a big red heart. The girl gave a squeal of delight, crawled across her bed, and hugged the bear as she began jumping up and down. She was so excited, she almost didn't notice the envelope that fell off the cute little bear.
Noodle stopped jumping and looked at the envelope. She then sat down again and opened the envelope. Inside it was a card with a flurry of pink and red hearts decorating the front of it. Then Noodle opened the card and read the message inside of it. It wasn't much, but it was enough to give the little Axe Princess a big smile and almost brought her to the point of tears.
HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY, NOODLE!
XOXOXO
Love 2D, Murdoc, Russel, and Del