The harsh fluorescent lighting of the grocery shop made 2D's head throb, and he pressed a palm to his forehead in a useless attempt to stave off the inevitable headache that was sure to come. He didn't like shopping much, not unless he had a list with him. It was all too overwhelming otherwise. There were so many different things to pick from, it was impossible to decide. And what if he made the wrong choice? Last time he came home with the wrong sort of coffee and Murdoc near about kicked a new hole in his head.

Luckily (or not) Murdoc tagged along, with grouchy mumbles of "nothin' better to do" and "bleedin' waste of a Saturday night" spat under his breath. Of course 2D did not object, and at any rate now he could leave the list writing for another day. That was always stressful too, going about asking everyone what they wanted, having to hunt down things he never even knew existed. Like the time Noodle asked for a bok choy. Sure, with proper preparation it was delicious. But 2D didn't know if he could handle another two hour witch hunt for something he didn't even know was a vegetable.

"Right then," said Murdoc, shoving the stray grocery cart from the parking lot at 2D (neither of them could find a quarter), "You push that, 'n stay close. I'm not bloody losing you in the store."

"I don't get lost!"

"Sure, sure," chuckled Murdoc, "And I'm a bleedin' bishop. Keep your trap shut, I'm not in the mood for stupidity."

Canned and Packaged Goods was always the first hit. Lazily, Murdoc surveyed the soups and plucked two Cream of Mushroom with knobby fingers.

2D groaned. "Oh c'mon, pick another!"

Murdoc tossed the cans in the cart with a clunk of finality, not even glancing at 2D.

"No one likes mushroom but you!"

Turning quickly, Murdoc glowered at 2D, hard enough to make him recoil. He was grateful for the metal cart between himself and the short tempered man.

"Don't like it, don't fuckin' eat it. Simple as that," he growled, tossing in one more for good measure. "An' I don't need to be reminding you who makes the money 'round here, do I?"

"We all do! I work just as much as you-AAH!"

Murdoc threw a can at him. Hard enough to hurt, it bounced off 2D's boney chest and into the trolley. An elderly lady at the end of the aisle turned her head and gave Murdoc a nasty look. He grinned at her with his tongue between his teeth, enough to ward her off in disgust. Murdoc chuckled.

"Stupid ol' bag."

Great, thought 2D dully as he rubbed the spot the can hit. It still stung, deep as his bones, and now his headache was worse. Maybe he ought to have gone alone after all. Warily, he trotted to catch up with Murdoc, who already moved to the boxed macaroni.

2D waited for Murdoc to pick a sort, but one of the brightly advertised boxes caught his eye. "Ooh, can we get the Spiderman ones?"

Murdoc raised his brows and snorted. "What're you, ten? Yeah, yeah, whatever." He waved a hand dismissively, and 2D happily scooped a few boxes into his arms. Quick, easy, and cheap, mac and cheese wound up being most meals. Sometimes 2D found himself getting sick of the powdery cheese and chewy macaroni bits, but it always tasted better when it came in fun shapes.

In the Breakfast aisle there was a young blonde woman looking at oatmeal. Murdoc sidled up to her immediately. At a distance 2D couldn't made out what Murdoc said, but he sure heard the sharp slap it earned him. Prowling back, Murdoc was in an even worse mood.

"Stupid slag, didn't even know who I was, outrageous…"

2D shrugged. "Maybe she never heard of Gorillaz before?"

Murdoc glared at him, but a store attendant was stocking jams nearby, so 2D was spared another bruise. If they got kicked out of this grocery store too, they'd be taxiing for food. Rather, he took his aggression out by angrily tossing peanut butter into the cart.

Distracted by the vast selection of breakfast cereals, 2D was oblivious to most of Murdoc's passive-aggressive destruction. He struggled between the chocolate puffs and frosted flakes.

"Hey Murdoc, which d'you think Noodle would like?" He held up a box in each hand.

Rolling his eyes, Murdoc snarled, "Put 'em both back, you trying to make her a diabetic?" He snatched the boxes and shoved them in random spots, picking out something made up of plain brown squares instead.

"Aw, she won't like that."

"Shaddup."

They skipped over Condiments and Spices straight into International Foods. 2D picked out the soy sauce Noodle liked, remembering it by the purple and green labeling. Along with a box of rice and several packets of taco seasoning (Russel used it on fried ground beef), 2D found the weird Japanese soda Noodle liked so much, and took a blue bottle as a treat. Make up for the boring cereal. Yeah, he didn't want Noodle to get sick from too much sugar, but she's a kid. Got to have some fun, right?

It was funny watching Murdoc caught in the tug-of-war between maple bacon and regular bacon. One was mouth-wateringly delicious, the perfect hangover food, but the other was on sale.

"Ah, what the hell." He tossed the maple bacon at 2D, slightly gentler than before. "You only live once, amiright?"

2D wrinkled his nose, but didn't say anything. Mornings after a night of drinks Murdoc would always fry up a greasy heap of the stuff, and the smell would fill the entire house, making 2D sick. He hated it, but Murdoc loved it, so it stayed.

Milk, bread, all the necessities always wound up in the trolley when Murdoc did the shop. 2D was glad, he would get so caught up trying to remember the strange things that he'd forget everything else. Sure, he had a bit of a temper, but Murdoc got things done. And he did them right. Something 2D still struggled with.

Whistling to himself, 2D was looking at the colorful yogurts when the same blonde that slapped Murdoc edged next to him, pretending to look at cheese.

"Hi, uh, I was wondering, do you know were the crisps are?" Her voice was high and girlish, and she smiled broadly even when she talked.

2D scratched his blue hair slowly, messing it further. "Well, I dunno about that, you should ask one of the people in the red vests. Maybe aisle seven."

Her smile brightened twenty watts, and 2D noticed a smudge of lipstick on her front tooth. "Do you mind showing me?"

The question confused 2D. "It's right there," he said, pointing over her head to the large number hanging from the ceiling.

The girl's smile dropped. "Oh. Thanks." She stalked away rather angrily, leaving 2D slightly confused. Over from the eggs, Murdoc shot daggers at 2D and stormed over.

"Fuckin' pretty boy, I swear." His hand curled into a fist, but Murdoc held it shaking at his side, grinding his teeth and staring bloody murder at 2D. 2D winced.

"What did I do?"

"You were talkin' that broad up, yeah? Think you can get any girl you want, is that it?"

"No," said 2D slowly, cautiously, "She wanted to know where the crisps were."

Murdoc's lip curled unpleasantly. He grabbed the end of the shopping trolley and jammed it forward, right into the soft of 2D's stomach. "So fuckin' ignorant, I swear…"

Doubled over, 2D gasped for air and rubbed the sore spots, one on his stomach and the other at his temples, pacifying the growing migraine. He shut his eyes tightly, the ugly glowing lights penetrating his skull. Headache medicine, that was another thing to get. Avoiding Murdoc, 2D slipped away to the pharmacy section and piled bottle after bottle of brightly coloured tablets into the cart. Russel joked that half of 2D's diet consisted of pills and syrups, and Murdoc would laugh hard, saying it was funny because it was true. Well, so what. He got headaches, bad ones. Russel and Murdoc just didn't understand. Sometimes Noodle would see him rubbing his temples, and she'd fetch him one of the bottles. Usually he needed four or five (different pills, not bottles) to really dent the pain, but the sentiment was nice. He always made a big show of swallowing it for her, sticking his tongue out with a lengthy 'aaaahhh' so she could nod approvingly. Sometimes his throat got sore from the repetitive swallowing, so he added throat lozenges too. Made a mental note to start taking pills with water more often.

He bumped into Murdoc at the checkout, the latter clutching various Rock 'n' Roll magazines to the front of his unwashed shirt. Murdoc always did this, he'd flip through them and compare whatever band was represented to Gorillaz, usually proclaiming superiority. Setting the heaping pile down, he stared at the pill bottles rattling and rolling about in the trolley.

"Aw you don't need all those."

"I do! I do, I get very severe headaches, you know that."

"I do." Murdoc flicked 2D's forehead with a toothy smirk. "Let's load up and get out of this shitter."

2D wound the plastic bags in his fists while Murdoc flirted with the cashier. A homely brunette with a thin ponytail, she seemed much more receptive to Murdoc's dime-a-dozen pickup lines. While she giggled and battered her lashes, Murdoc effectively slipped two lighters into his back pocket.

He twirled one proudly between his fingers once they had left the store. "See that 2D? Use the ol' noggin once in a while and it'll save you a couple bucks."

"You stole that." 2D felt angry about the whole thing. "She was a nice girl and you stole from her."

"From the corporations, 2 Dent, you thoughtless wonder. That girl in there doesn't sell them lighters, some fat bastard in a suit does. It's his money I'm pocketing, not hers." Murdoc grinned toothily, placing a cigarette between his teeth and lighting it with the stolen lighter. "Ciggy?"

2D slumped his shoulders in defeat, both arms weighed down by the heavy grocery haul. Murdoc, of course, carried nothing. "Yeah, alright then."

Murdoc pulled out a thin cigarette and placed it between 2D's lips, amused by the fact he couldn't do it himself. With a flick the flame sparked, and 2D inhaled acrid nicotine into his lungs. He carefully rolled the cig to the edge of his mouth, inhaling and puffing on separate sides as to not accidentally blow it out.

"That girl, you really think all she was after was crisps?"

"Er, yeah. I think she might've left her glasses at home or something, they were right there."

Chuckling, Murdoc held his cig in his fingers and exhaled extravagantly. "You astound me, 2D. You absolutely astound me."

"You really think Noodle'll like the cereal?"

"Oh yeah."

"Sure?"

"Positive."

"Okay, good." With Murdoc's reassurance, 2D felt better. The handles of the plastic bags cut painfully into his hands, distracting from his head. And the night air was cool and crisp. It would be a nice walk home.

I wrote this because honestly, I crave to know more about how these guys live their everyday lives. I get that they're rock stars, but c'mon, we want to know the little details too, right?

Thanks for reading!