A/N: I don't own Gorillaz.
Noodle huffed, head bowed over her guitar strings as she tried to ignore the throbbing in her head, the scratching in her throat and the uncomfortable heat. She knew that she was sick, and that she should probably tell someone, but she liked to play the music that they were creating, and she wasn't even sure how she could tell her bandmates what was wrong; she still didn't know enough English, and trying to explain to them was too difficult to contemplate. She was struggling to concentrate on the song they were playing, and finding it difficult to move her fingers across her guitar strings with her usual fluidity and dexterity. It was as if they were covered in golden syrup, pulled and slowed down by the viscous, sickly sweet almost liquid.
The thought made her stomach churn and Noodle squirmed, hunching down further over her guitar, teeth grinding against each other as she clenched her jaw together against the stomach acid that was rising up her throat.
Her fingers stumbled, losing the rhythm of the song they were playing- and in all honesty, Noodle couldn't even remember the name of the piece that they were working on- and before anyone could say anything she had yanked her guitar up and away from her body, thrusting it into a surprised 2D's hands before slipping from her stool and rushing from the room, hand clamped over her mouth. Noodle could hear her bandmates calling her name as she sprinted down the corridor, barreling into the bathroom just in time to crouch in front of the toilet and empty the contents of her stomach into the bowl. She wasn't sure how long she was there before she felt a heavy hand gently rub her back, and another smooth the hair away from her face. She jumped when she first felt the contact, body hypersensitive, but didn't jerk away.
Eventually, Noodle was curled up against Russel's chest, his hands still rubbing her back and stroking her hair as she shivered uncontrollably. 2D was hovering nearby, wanting to help but not entirely sure what he could do. Russel ignored him, mind racing through all the things that his mum would do for him when he was sick. He looked down at the shivering mess of a girl in his arms, and shifted.
"C'mon, you need to be in bed. Do you want a shower first? Make you feel a little less gross?" he asked gently. Noodle thought about it for a moment, picking through the words, and then nodded. "Alright then. Dee will get you some pyjamas, okay? You wait here, I'm gonna get it ready for you." He gently sat her back on the floor and stood up, wincing as his back cracked in several places. 2D had already scurried off, relieved that he finally had a task, and Russel moved over to the shower, turning various knobs until it was a decent temperature. By this point 2D had sidled back into the room, clutching a pair of worn pyjamas that had, at one point, been his, but had (along with most of his other old clothes) been donated to Noodle when Mrs Potts had first found out that the young girl was not only living with her son, but that she had no clothes other than the ones that Noodle had been wearing when she had first jumped out of the crate. 2D wasn't even sure why his mother had still kept all of his own clothes but hadn't questioned it, and although Noodle's wardrobe had grown considerably since those first early days, for some reason they had never bothered to replace the pyjamas.
2D placed the clothing on the rail by the towel, and he and Russel waited outside whilst Noodle had her shower, both of them leaning against opposite sides of the corridor.
"Where's Murdoc?" Russel asked after a while, breaking the silence that had settled in the corridor. 2D shrugged.
"Dunno. He said… said there's no point to having more band practice today? Something like that, right after you left. Disappeared after that." 2D scratched his chin idly. "She's pretty sick isn't she?"
"Yeah. Poor girl," Russel sighed. 2D hummed in agreement.
"She looked a bit strange this morning," he commented, before straightening up as the bathroom door opened and Noodle appeared, steam curling around her ankles. "D'you want to go to sleep now?" he asked, and Noodle nodded. 2D held his hand out and the younger girl slipped her hand into his, letting 2D semi-drag her along to her room, Russel trailing along behind them.
Soon they got back to Noodle's room, and she huddled into her bed, dragging the covers up and around her body. Both Russel and 2D flitted around, making sure that she was comfortable and warm but not too warm, that there was a bin by her bed in case she threw up again, and that the light was dim enough to sleep, but that it wasn't completely pitch black. Noodle watched them through half lidded eyes, and soon enough both 2D and Russel were stood by the door, ready to leave her in peace.
"We'll come and check on you, but if you need us we'll be in the kitchen," Russel said softly, still hovering in the doorway. Noodle nodded, hearing his voice but not attempting to follow his sentence, and rolled over. "Get better soon baby," was all she heard before the door closed with a click and she was finally able to drift off to sleep.
Noodle woke with a start, heart racing and head pounding. Her throat felt as if it had been scraped raw, and she kicked off the many blankets she had layered overself before she had gone to sleep, suddenly unbearably hot. Noodle couldn't remember exactly what had woken her up, but she wished that she hadn't. The wind was howling around Kong, louder than normal, and rain lashed at her windows. The light from her nightlight, normally a source of comfort, was casting odd shadows through the room and various objects that Noodle couldn't quite pinpoint loomed at her through the gloom. Noodle whimpered as her fevered brain turned the objects into horrifying monsters, and she pushed back against the headboard, eyes fixed on what was normally her blue chair but seemed have become a mysterious, imposing figure.
There was a flash of lightning, followed by a loud clap of thunder, and Noodle scrambled out of bed, tripping on her blankets in the process and falling to the floor with a loud thump. Eyes watering as she banged her knee hard on the floor, Noodle got to her feet clumsily and, snagging one of the blankets of her bed, fled the room.
It wasn't much better outside of her room. Whilst it was brighter, the fluorescent lighting was making Noodle's head spin as she wandered through the empty hallways with no clear direction of where she was going. Somewhere in her muddled haze, Noodle intended to find Russel, who would know what she needed to feel better, or 2D, who gave the best hugs, or even Murdoc, who would probably grunt at her but let her stay with him and at least be company. Unfortunately, she had no idea where they were and Kong was a maze at the best of times, let alone when she was ill and running a bad fever.
After what felt like hours of stumbling around on her own (but what was, in reality, thirty minutes), Noodle was ready to give up completely. She had ended up sitting on the floor because her legs felt like jelly and she was still shivering, despite her blanket and the fact that she felt hot and sticky in her sweaty pyjamas, and all Noodle wanted to do was curl up and cry because everything hur-
"Noodle?" Noodle looked up, and 2D's concerned face swam into focus. "You alright?"
"Toochee," Noodle croaked, reaching out for him, and he pulled her into his arms. Noodle immediately burrowed into him, closing her eyes.
"Why aren't you in bed?" he asked softly, looking down at Noodle's spiky hair.
"'S not right. There's a… a…" Noodle trailed off and 2D waited patiently while she found the right word. "A 'grr'," she eventually said, giving up when the word didn't come to her, and she screwed her fingers up into an imitation of claws. 2D frowned.
"A 'grr'? Do you mean monster?"
"Yes," she replied, although she wasn't sure. "Stay with you?" Noodle asked hopefully, peeking up at 2D through her fringe. 2D smiled softly back.
"Of course you can. Let's go find Russel." He scooped her up, rearranging her so he was giving her a piggyback (because although Noodle was small, she wasn't small enough for 2D to be able to carry her in his arms like Russel could), and he set off in the direction of the living room. Noodle rested her chin on his shoulder as he walked, only half listening to whatever film 2D was talking about.
By the time they reached the living room, Noodle had almost drifted off to sleep again, rousing only slightly when she was pulled off of 2D's back and settled on to the sofa, her blanket arranged over her.
"Better?" asked 2D, and Noodle looked at him and then at Russel, who was watching her from over the top of his coffee.
"Better," she replied, before succumbing to the demands of her tired body and drifting to sleep completely.
A/N: It's my personal headcannon that when Noodle came to Kong, 2-D's mum ended up donating loads of old clothes to Noodle before she was able to actually get some of her own. It'll turn out I am wildly inaccurate but there we go.
Sorry for there not being much (any) Murdoc in this chapter, for any Murdoc fans reading this. I don't know, to me he seems the sort of person who would mysteriously disappear as soon as someone is sick.
Also, I wish I could write my coursework in the amount of time it took me to write this...
