(Author's note: I don't own Gorillaz, do I? *checks*
...nope. Or Pirates of the Caribbean, for that matter, which is more then likely a blessing to you all.)

It was a relatively calm day on Plastic Beach—which means that no one had been seriously injured yet.

Murdoc thought that this was going to change quite soon if he had to continue looking for his rum. The already foul-mooded bass player was exhausted, which only made his mood worse. He muttered curses under his breath as he opened every drawer and looked in every cranny. 2D and Noodle happened to walk into the recording studio when Murdoc was in the middle of tearing the dashboards apart. Understandably, 2D was rather taken aback.

"WOT ARE YA DOIN' MURDOC! THA'S IMPORTANT STU-"

He quickly stepped back and raised an arm in front of Noodle and another in front of his face as Murdoc stalked towards them.

"Where...is...my...RUM?"

2D blinked rapidly, processing the question in his mind a few times until he came to a definitive answer.

"...wot?"

Noodle came up with a better, if nonverbal response by pointing to the kitchen, then miming opening the fridge.

"Already LOOKED." Murdoc growled, emphasis on the last word as he got down on his knees and crawled around to search for his liquor. Noodle wisely grabbed 2D's wrist to drag him out of the situation quickly before Murdoc got violent, but they weren't fast enough to get away before Murdoc's head swung over in their direction. "Faceache...did you. Take. My. Rum?"

2D backed up quickly, and Noodle still held tight to his wrist in case they had to run.

"N-No, Muds, I wouldn' do that! I don' even like the stuff!" Murdoc made a grab for 2D's shirt collar, but Noodle had already taken off with skinny singer in tow, leaving Murdoc cussing up a storm as he chased after them.

"COME BACK 'ERE YA BLOODY THIEF!" Murdoc, however, was in much worse shape then Noodle, and was winded and even more exhausted than before after only two minutes of chasing. He collapsed in the middle of the hallway panting, vague swears coming out of his mouth every breath. After a while, he sat up, grinding his teeth. Faceache HAD to have taken his rum—who else! Noods didn't drink—at least, not to his knowledge. Murdoc put his chin on his palm, thinking of a way to catch 2D in the act. He pulled his elbow backwards to balance himself standing up, but hit his hand on the vent behind him, and was about to begin swearing again when he stopped, knelt down and shook the vent cover off. An evil grin spread across his face, and he let loose a slightly sinister laugh.

2D was sitting on the couch, staring uninterestedly at the blank television set, as if waiting for it to turn itself on for him. He didn't notice that someone was observing him closely above.

Murdoc had been crawling around in the ventilation system, trying to find 2D but without avail. He had finally discovered the singer where he was now...and it had to have been at least two hours since then. In that time, 2D had accomplished staring at the screen, scratching his stomach, staring at the screen, eating a dirty sucker and staring at the screen. Murdoc was bored out of his mind, but determined that he would confirm 2D as the culprit. 2D began picking at his nose absently, flicking what he found at the coffee table. Murdoc growled—that was his coffee table! What right did that stupid git have to be flinging his snot all over creation? 2D looked up, confused as to why the vent was growling, and Murdoc scooted backwards quickly to make sure he didn't see him. When he looked back, Noodle had joined 2D on the couch, mask obscuring half of her face—as was usual nowadays. "Wozzat, Noods?" 2D asked curiously. She must have spoken. Noodle had been re-learning how to speak for the past few days, and while her actual speech sounded fine, everyone had to be completely silent for when she spoke for a chance of hearing her. 2D was leaning his head close to Noodle's to listen closely. When he pulled back he shrugged, and when he spoke he sounded like he was trying to appear nonchalant. "Why should I care if he's missin' his rum? 'S not my problem."

Git, Murdoc thought.

Noodle leaned over to 2D again and said something else.

"'S awright, Noods, he won' find out. It's almost done, tho', ya wanna see?" The two band members got up and began to head out, and a furious bass player followed them in the vents. Faceache DID take his rum! And now he was about to finish it! Murdoc began thinking of various, increasingly painful ways he was doing to torture 2D later as he crept along the airways. He reached the hallway around the same time as 2D and Noodle, with Noodle nodding and pointing the opposite way 2D was going. "Gonna get yours, then?" Noodle replied with a nod and went to the exit, presumably to her room. So! Noodle had taken some of his rum too! He knew she wasn't exactly on...GOOD terms with him at the moment, but she wouldn't take his precious rum, would she?

Since he couldn't follow Noodle to her room throught the vents, he continued with 2D. The singer went down the hallway and opened a door with the words "2D's Room" plastered on. Murdoc quickly followed, and peering down into the room.
It was dimly lit with a messy bed to the side, bits of trash here and there strewn around the floor. The familiar clown mask hung next to the bed, along with an odd picture. Murdoc squinted, trying to make out what it was, and was quite taken aback when he realized what it was. It was a crude drawing of the band by what looked like children's crayons—probably because it was. He recognized it as a drawing Noodle had done in the first year she lived with them, and 2D had kept it with him all this time. Murdoc couldn't decide whether this was creepy or not. He didn't see any rum bottles, but he guessed they were probably underneath the bed or something.

2D walked in and began to pull things out from under the garbage piles. Murdoc watched with anticipation, cruelly excited for when he had evidence of the stolen rum.

What 2D had been looking for, however, appeared to be a photo album. He opened the book carefully, and Murdoc saw himself looking back in the pages, with a much younger smirk. Next to his freeze-framed self, 2D was reaching for the camera as if he wanted a turn using it, and Russel was in the background looking unimpressed. The present 2D gave a slightly disturbed chuckle. "M-Maybe...this'll help everythin'..."

The door opened again, and 2D looked behind him. Noodle walked in, holding more photos. 2D nodded and turned to blank pages to place them in the holders. Once placed, 2D shoved the album underneath the trash again. The singer smiled.

"Don' worry, Noods. Everythin'll be back to normal if we remind ol' Muds how it was before...before all this 'appened...it'll...be fine, right? Right, Noodle?" Noodle didn't answer, which 2D took as a yes. "Yeah...it'll be back to normal...or somefink...somefink better then this. We can all laugh together, like before." Noodle frowned, and left the room without an answer once more. 2D followed, a skip in his step.

Murdoc had listened silently to this, unsure of how to react.

"Bloody idiot...stupid...git," he said noncommittally, scratching his head.

He began shuffling out, looking for the exit.

"Jus' tell us where ya are, Muds!" 2D pleaded.

"IF I KNEW WHERE I WAS I'D BE OUT OF THIS SODDING TUNNEL!"

Murdoc was lost in the airways and as the sun went down, 2D and Noodle had been frantically searching for exitways for him to find, but to no avail. "'ow'd you get in there, anyways?" 2D asked confusedly.

"DOESN'T MATTER, STUPID! JUS' GET ME OUT!"

The ceiling was suddenly pulled off by Russel, who had been listening to Murdoc's distress with amusement. "Shut your face and stop screaming like a little girl. I'mma gonna get you out." He began shaking some of the walls and a loud THUNK and a curse was heard. "Found him." Russel shook the wall the noise was coming from, and out of the exit popped out a disgruntled, furious Satanist.

"THERE WASN'T ANY OTHER WAY TO GET ME OUT OTHER THEN SHAKIN' ME LIKE A RAGDOLL? BE MORE CAREFUL WITH ME! AND WHERE THE BLOODY IS MY RUM?"

Noodle facepalmed, 2D sighed, but Russel merely smirked and produced a case of rum bottles on his palm. Murdoc's mouth opened and closed a few times in shock and rage, but he quickly recovered and began jumping towards the out-of-reach rum, swearing up a storm and generally just looking like an idiot. Russel only raised his hand a little bit higher, entertained by the raging, hopping bassist. "What's the magic word, Muds?"

"GIVE! ME! MY! RUM!"

"Nope, that's not it. Try again."

"...PLEASE! GIVE! IT! TO! ME!"

"Sure, but only after you say it one more time—and in a dress."

Noodle grinned at Murdoc's frustration and obscenity filled angrish, and 2D was leaning on the wall, laughing til tears came out of his blacked-out eyes.

Maybe they could laugh together even now.

(Forgive me if this was heavy even for a funny chapter. "You got angst in my comedy!" "You got comedy in my angst!"

Reviews are loved like Muds loves rum (just without the stalking). )