Murdoc gave a small roll of his eyes at Russel's continued comments, deciding to just let it go for now as he leaned back against the wall beside them. His attention focused back on the two hybrids on the couch, his lips forming a small smile at the sight. It seemed to him that 2D had relaxed at least a little bit around the young girl, though even then he still had that tense air around him. He watched a moment later as Russel made his way over to the couch to sit beside Noodle, a slight bit of interest in his voice when he asked what they were watching only to be bombarded with Noodle's babbling right after.
With a soft hum Murdoc shifted himself from his spot, making his way over to join the small group on the couch. He sat down against the arm rest beside 2D, not wanting to crowd him on the couch only to be somewhat surprised when the kitten was quick to nuzzle up to his side. He caught the slight grin Russel sent his way though he played it off with a small roll of his eyes, his hand moving to thread through the younger boys hair in response, hoping that that would have calmed him down if even just a little bit.
"So, what were your plans for the day?" Russel hummed, raising an eyebrow as his attention turned to Murdoc.
"Well, originally we were going to go shopping, get D some new clothes."
"Mm Yeah he'll probably need them. Needs some color in his life, your clothes make you both look dead." Russel teased only for his laugher to cut off at the look the kitten had given him.
"His clothes are fine." The kitten snipped back, his eyebrows furrowed in a slight glare at the older man.
"D, hey, it's fine. It was only a joke." Murdoc coped, his hand moving to rub against the younger's back gently.
"I don't care..." 2D mumbled, his head turning to nuzzle into Murdocs chest lightly, not liking the attention on him.
"Sorry little guy, didn't mean no harm by it. If you're happy then it's all good. Just figured you'd be a little brighter with some color." Russel shrugged, followed by a quick repeat of the word color by Noodle.
"You would look nice in some color, maybe blue to match your hair."
"You think so?" 2D perked up almost instantly at that, his head tilting to look up at Murdoc.
"Of course I've got an eye for fashion." Murdoc nodded, a slight bit of pride in his tone.
"Sure you do. Anyway, you said you guys were going to go shopping?" Russel switched the topic, a slight hum slipping out.
"That was the plan, long as D wanted to go. You feel like tagging along?"
"Mm...well I was planning on bringing Noodle over to Del's later tonight, but I'm sure he wouldn't mind a rain check. We can come."
Murdoc smiled a little bit at that, giving a small nod of his head at the older man as his hand slipped from 2D's back to his hair again, brushing gently through it to untangle the knots he'd forgotten to brush out earlier in the morning. The four of them sat there for a little while longer, letting 2D and Noodle get used to the others presence, along with giving the boy enough time to get comfortable with Russel again, the small spat seeming to draw a hard line for 2D when it came to the elder man.
When it was decided it was time for them to head out Murdoc ushered the kitten from the couch, giving his back a light nudge towards the bedroom to find a shirt that would fit him over the sweater, knowing he'd probably die from heatstroke or something if he'd gone out in that. He'd already gotten himself ready before the other two came over for the day so really all he did in the mean time was slip his shoes on. He watched with slight interest as the kitten made his way out of his room, having found the only shirt with a slight bit of color that the elder owned to pull on and Murdoc couldn't help himself from thinking that at least that was pretty cute. Probably the cutest thing the boy'd done since he'd been staying at house.
He decided not to comment on it for the time being, not wanting to embarrass the boy since he already saw how shy he got just from the little bit of attention earlier. Instead he let his attention turn back to the eldest in the room, letting him usher the other three out as he stepped to Russel's car, taking the passengers seat before instructing 2D to sit in the back with Noodle, wanting them to bond a little bit despite the age difference between the two. The car ride went in relative smoothness, no one spoke too much though the silence wasn't as heavy as it could have been.
"I want to listen to music!" Called noodle from the back seat, a bright grin on her face when Russel reached to switch the radio on.
"Sure, sure. 2D, since it's your first time with the two of us, why don't you pick the music."Russel spoke up.
"I um...I d-don't want to pick something um..weird.." He mumbled, shifting awkwardly in his spot.
"Come now, You can't pick anything weird. What do you like D?" Murdoc spoke up, his eyes focusing on the kitten, noticing how he seemed to perk up when Murdoc called for him.
"I like The Human League, can we listen to them?" The kitten tilted his head.
"Old pick, but sure." Murdoc nodded slightly, letting Russel switch the radio to the aux cord to plug his phone into it.
The rest of the ride to the mall was filled with relative silence, aside from the light singing coming from 2D in the back seat, though no one seemed to mind it too much, Murdoc especially since he'd already gotten a little show of it the night before. It wasn't until they got to the mall that they finally stopped the music in favor of getting out of the car, another soft smile tugging at Murdocs lips when the kitten nuzzled into his side almost instantly.
The four made their way into the mall with little hesitation after that, Murdoc slinging an arm around 2D's shoulders to help ease his nerves slightly as they followed right behind Russel and Noodles lead. It didn't take them long to be looking around at all the near by stores, Noddle being the one who wanted to stop at what seemed to be every game shop they passed. Russel gave a small nod of his head at that, mentioning to Murdoc that he'd take her toy shopping for now so he and 2D were free to go clothes shopping for the time being. Deciding they'd meet up later in the day for lunch they parted ways with happy goodbyes.
"So, D, what's your style?" Murdoc hummed, glancing through the store windows.
"M-my style?" He mumbled out, furrowing his eyebrows.
"Yeah, like, what do you like to wear?"
"Um...I like comfortable clothes. Stuff like.. shorts and sweaters, jeans are nice too sometimes." He nodded a bit. "I never really got to pick my things before."
"No shit huh?" Murdoc raised an eyebrow. "Well then, you're in for a treat. Todays all you, we're gonna pick what you like."
"Really? All about me?" The kitten grinned, his tail flicking behind him in excitement as he looked back up at Murdoc.
"You've got a nice pair of ears, you can hear." Murdoc teased, nodding as he turned to look back at the stores. "Now, where are we starting lead the way."
2D nodded slightly, his posture relaxing as one of his hands slipped to grab Murdocs arm, holding him close as he lead the way down one of the long halls of the mall. He paused occasionally to glance around though it wasn't until they reached a particularly small shop, the walls lined with decorative shirts and comfortable looking shorts. Murdoc couldn't help the little chuckle as he let himself be tugged inside by the younger boy, his attention turning to look over the wall of shirt designs they had mounted up.
"See any that catch your eye?" He smiled, turning to glance back at the younger.
"Um...I like some of the alien ones. But that's cause I like aliens." 2D mumbled, a slight bit of hesitation in his voice.
"Well lets see if we can find something in your size to try on, yeah?"
Murdoc nodded at his own words, his eyes turning to the small pile in front of him as he pulled a few different shirts from the stack, pretty positive the boy would fit in a small though he wanted to give him a couple options. He helped 2D with picking out a few other shirts, figuring it'd probably be good for him to get shirts out of the way first and match the pants to them later on. Once they'd gotten a few picked out he ushered 2D back towards the dressing rooms, letting him pick the one he wanted before giving him space.
2D popped his head out every so often, wanting to show Murdoc the shirts he'd ended up really liking, the enthusiasm in his voice caused another smile to tug at his lips. He gave a small nod of his head with each one, reassuring him it was fine, that whatever he picked out would be alright and that he wouldn't need to worry about the price. Once they'd figured out the shirts the boy wanted they got them stacked back up and made their way to the register, 2D still bundled in the alien shirt he chose, wanting to wear it out.
Their journey didn't end there though, it wasn't until a few stores down that they stopped again, this time in search of pants for the hybrid. This ended up being much easier for the two then they'd planned, a few pairs of jeans here, a pair or two of shorts there, and a couple pairs of underwear just so he wouldn't have to go digging through Murdoc's privacy for something to wear after a shower.
They'd only split up for a second, Murdoc remembered. 2D had wanted to throw away the tags that had been on his shirt since they'd bought it and Murdoc figured he could take a quick minute to himself to sit and relax, gather himself before lunch as he didn't usually go out and stay out this long unless there was a party involved. Soon enough the 30 seconds it should have taken the kitten to be back turned into a minute, which turned into five, and then ten. Murdocs attention was up when the first minute passed, his eyes searching but not too worried, though when it started to get later and later he was quick to spring from his spot, his head darting around as he called out for the kitten. When they boy didn't come right at his call he pulled his phone out, dialing Russels number almost instantly.
"Russ, no time, have you seen 2D?"
"What are you talking about? News flash, he's supposed to be with you."
"He's… gone, I don't know what happened. I took my eyes off for a minute and he disappeared!" Murdoc shook his head quickly as he hurried down the hall, looking for the familiar mop of blue hair.
"Oh my god, okay, I'll keep an eye out. Don't panic he couldn't have gone far, he's not a baby." Russel tried to ease his nerves.
"He's got… he needs help Russ, he can't just be out on his own. He's like a baby."
"Right, sorry. I'll be there soon, if I find him I'll call you. Just don't panic or it could get worse."
"Yeah...yeah you're right I just… Yeah okay right I'm gonna keep looking. I'll call you if this is just a false alarm."
"Sounds good." Russel hummed through the phone before hanging up.