I had mentioned doing a Gorillaz fanfic series, so here I am carrying out that promise. Although on the expense that I have not updated Halcyon Days in Arkham in like forever. Forgive me for that. Hopefully, with this newfound inspiration I may or may not continue it. Hehehe sorry.
This series is in fact inspired by vinnie2757 and his story Gorillaz Snapshots. Give that a read if this one doesn't suit you.
Be warned, though, some of my writing style is influenced by him, and I hope no one thinks its a form of plagiarism or something like that. This story will be kept in complete essence of my mind and only from my mind.
The timeline I will be writing in is of course in the current album, Phase 4 since I noticed not much write in that timeline. So, a challenge hehehe.
Lastly, I own none of the characters. All of them belong to Damon Albarn and Jamie Hewlett. Geniuses, really.
Chapter 1: Fixer Upper: Because some things can be forgiven, but never forgotten.
It's late in the night, the band is fast asleep and the house is what you would expect in any results of Murdoc Niccals stepping up and doing something on his own because anyone otherwise would be far too incompetent.
He'd argued though, that the only reason he did it himself was because the production team behind their comeback album was on a tight budget. Arguments about the music video for their latest single and talks about a future TV series had the Satanist in full cuss storms, protesting that he be given at least a sum to repair the Spirit House where they will now be staying.
"Well fuck that shit!" He had growled, throwing a few punches here and there that landed on a few unfortunate souls while guards (although their's) tried to restrain him. "I'd rather be thrown back at Wobble Street if ye' gonna make us stay in a house we can"t even afford to rennovate!"
"Wobble Street made no difference, man." Russle calmly chided in, leaning ever-so-tiredly on his his chair, mostly because of Murdoc. "Not to mention all of our shit getting thrown around the place for some reason."
The band has never had reputation for picking up after themselves, clean-wise. Every place they'd ever been always ended up in disastrous messes one way or the other. The fact that the drummer brought it up, makes Murdoc laugh and by extension, sober enough to stop raving around.
"Funny you mentioning that, lards. Ain't ever seen you clean nothing-" Russel eye-balling him in that far too familiar cuts Murdoc off.
Him and his band had only been reunited for at least a couple weeks. And although Russel had gone back to his normal size, it didn't change the fact that his arms were still as thick as Murdoc's ego. So he forgets that last thought and comes up with another, saying he'll do the repairs on the house himself.
And so he did. Which brings us to 2D exiting his (would be room if Murdoc ever finishes plastering the drywall and fixing the floarboards) room and wobbling his way down the stairs. They keep the light on at this part of the house. Mainly because when they switched up the fusebox, they had no idea where the switch of the light was located and hadn't bothered to looking for it until Murdoc finished his handiwork.
So it's been on ever since. It helps now, as 2D navigates his feet on the steps, easily avoiding wood chips, soda cans and beer caps despite his sleep haze.
His first instinct as he reaches the bottom, is to head for the kitchen and snack on the first thing he sees. Russel had managed to clean out the fridge and get all of that bad food, rotten cake, and singing pizza out. But a sound alerts him. Sounds really, a grunt and an exhale and then another grunt and some muttering.
He thinks its Murdoc, because if it's not him, then it's always Murdoc. But that didn"t seem likely as Murdoc hadn't been able to 'socialize' ever since starting his repair project on the house. And Russel, for a fact, has been avoiding suchg things for the simple reason that he still wasn't used to being norm-sized.
So 2D follows the sound, brings him to the living room and finds Noodle.
He's thankful because she wasn't doing what he thought Murdoc and Russle (and himself) would be doing in association to the sounds he hears. It doesn't fail to make him blush in embarrassment now, guilt-stricken that he would even think of their guitarist performing such acts that would usually be expected of a certain green-skinned, bassist. Though, being preoccupied as she was prevented Noodle from seeing the older man altogether.
She was facing her punching bag, knees bent, stance low, and fists flying faster than 2D's eyes could follow. Her side is to him, and given the time he's known her-which is a long time-she would've seen him come in without turning her head.
As she lands several more blows on the bag, it is then that 2D notices two bottles of Scotch on the small coffee table on the side. And if the redness of her cheeks and ears and somewhat stumbly footing were anything to go by, 2D can only assume that both bottles were emptied. By her.
"Hello there, luv."
She doesn't hear him, and with that voice, he didn"t expect her to either. So with a slight cough, and a little more volume this time, he tries again. "You seem to be up prettt late, Noods. Wat'cha doin there?"
Her punches halt to a stop and she shifts her torso so she was looking at him, but stil facing the bag. Her eyes are closed to slits, just like they used to during her kid years. When she realizes who"s there, a goofy grin fills her face and her thick accent escapes into the room.
"Toochie-kun!" It's pitchy and hoarse at the same time that 2D cringes a little, but he stills himself when he sees just how red her face is now that she's looking at him. "I didn't-uh... See you..der... Why uhmm... Why're you up?"
He watches as she draws one lazy hand toward the bag in a strength-less punch, and her upper body leans against it as if to balance herself. "Are you aw'right, Noods? You seem er.." He picks on his nails, uncomfortable with the word 'drunk' and Noodle together. "You seem out of sorts... Is summfink wrong?"
She grins again and pushes herself off the bag. "I'm fine, Toochie.. Noodaru is fine... See I'm throwing my punches..." As if to prove that, she hits the bag with one hard fist. Then she brings out the other, keeping the bag swaying. "See? I'm fine. I fight hard, eh. Like I did when those helicopters came around."
2D blinks. A car honks outside in the distance, the house groans, and a wooden board creaks somewhere. Then it registers to him that she is in fact, referring to her flying windmill. Feel Good Inc. And that terrible thing that happened in between.
"Why're ye thinking about that now, luv? I thought we was okay about that now."
It doesn't occur to 2D that Noodle has no faith in those words. Despite being drunk, she still understands that their good-natured singer doesn't fully grasp the meaning in her words, and could therefore, only do the same with his.
Still, even as she tries to let it slide, her intoxicated state disagrees and lets her mind speak out again.
"Haha! Yeah it was okay!" She laughs and punches the bag again. "Like it was okay when those bullets came raining down on me while i floated away from you and the others. Like it was okay when I disappeared and everyone thought I died so Murdoc replaced me with a homicidal robot! Like it was okay when all that shit happened because of Murdoc, and i thought I would never see any of you again!"
The speed and slurs in which she spoke made it nearly impossible for 2D to understand, not even half of what she said. He could make out bullets, died, robot, shit and Murdoc here and there. And he easily understands what she's trying to say.
And when she understands it too, her punches weaken along with her balance. She slips on her feet and she forces herself to hang on to the punching bag to keep her upright. But even as she does this, her legs sink to the floor and in instant, she bursts out crying.
Immediately, 2D is by her side by the time she's on the floor.
"Aw, luv it's aw'right. It"s aw'right." He croons, taking both of her bandaged hands in his and placing a comforting hand behind her.
"It's not all right, Toochie. It's not." She says with a despondent shake of her head.
"Eyy, of course it is." 2D brushes a finger across her disheveled bangs as he leans h
is forehead to her. "Yer just a lil' tipsy from the Scotch, yeah? It's just that alcohol talking, you know? Like with Murdoc when he gets drunk."
She sniffles and it tears him up inside. Noodle's was a face he never wanted to see crying. And even though she was a grown woman now, he knows better than anyone that the girl in front of him was still that adorable, little Asian kid that popped out of that Fedex box so many years ago.
"Murdoc." Noodle grumbles in distaste. "It was his fault."
2D nods. That was something all of them could agree on, even Murdoc himself. "Yeah. Most of the time, it is, isn't it? It's in his nature I guess. Murdoc is just Murdoc."
Noodle giggles sweetly. But more tears spill out of her eyes, and she stubbornly protests on. "Everyone almost died. I almost died, Russ-kun almost died, and even you-I thought that whale had eaten you."
He pats her back as he says, "Naw.. If anything I ate the whale. Hahah!"
His attempt at a joke fails to make her laugh again, so instead, he pulls her into a hug. He immediately senses her discomfort. After all, she was a twenty-something woman now. It was obvious-among other things-that she would be reluctant in accepting such open gestures of compassion from her bandmates like they used to when she was a child.
But this was 2D. The man who could never hate, and you could never hate. The only man she knew that still loved Murdoc (because Russel's ship had sailed that dock) despite all the fuck-ups he'd done in the past, present, and most likely future. The only man who would always see her in that small, monkey tricycle and helmet.
2D leans back against the covered sofa, letting Noodle lie on his lap and half his stomach. Her tears were far from over, so 2D strokes her hair and hums a few disconnected notes. As much as what she's said, she doesn't want to talk. He knows. Talking would just make her cry more, and he doesn't want that. So he lets the silence take over for a while.
For a while, 2D sits there, comforting the crying girl. A long moment passes, and he figures she's gone to sleep. But when he makes a movement to pick her up, she grabs his hand. Her crying had stopped. "Toochie."
He sits back again. "Yeah, what is it, luv?"
"Do you ever regret anything? With us? With what happened? With Murdoc?"
2D hums at the idea. "No, course not."
His answer was quick, almost thoughtess and it catches her off guard. "Not even the bad parts?""
"The bad parts were a pain the arse of course. But we're Gorillaz. Things always work out on their own, you know? No matter how bad things get screwed up, something always manages to fix it right."
Noodle sighs and digs her fingers into the hem of 2D's pajamas. "I wish i had your brain."
Now 2D laughs, and he pets Noodle's hair like it belonged to the world's cutest Corgi. Noodle was more than that though. "Ye can't wish for that, luv. If we both had the same brain, then ye wouldn't be our Noodle. And we can"t be Gorillaz without our Noodle."
She looks up at him through her tear-stained eyes. "You had Cyborg Noodle and you were still Gorillaz."
For a moment, he thought she was gonna cry again. But what he said next halted all of her tears. "Cy would never have your brains even if she tried."
She beams up at him then, a real smile. He smiles back down at her too, toothless and all, before giving her a kiss on the temple.
"It'll be aw'right now, Noods." 2D coaxes, eyes getting heavy as he leaned his head back. "Everything's gonna be aw'right now."
"How can you be so sure?" She asks, sleep dawning on her as well.
"Because..." 2D's eyes half-close and if he was seeing right, he swore he could see that damned pizza through the doorway, winking at him.
"It"s what we've done all our lives." And the two bandmates drift off together.
The 3 hours that took me was absolutely worth it! Whoo! I didn't think the first chapter wouls go so well. Hahahha!
Like I said, this entire series will revolve around Phase 4, beacuse I think it's cool to look into how the band would be interacting with one another now after everything that happened since Plastic Beach. Though, I guess from time to time there will be flashbacks and mentions from other phases. Like this one here.
Seriously, though the guys have some stuff they need to talk about. That way no oned goes on outbursts when they get intoxicated. LOVE YA NOODLE!.
I hope you all enjoyed!