It was always there, this shift in the way things were. It started out small, too small to notice or deem important, and grew slowly, an inconspicuous flower unfurling one petal at a time.
It was decided that a cleaning person should come to Kong Studios, weekly, to keep living conditions at least slightly above abysmal. Russell placed himself in charge of the hiring process and found Maria, who started coming in every Monday and Friday morning.
Noodle was taken aback when she first saw her. Chocolate brown curls and grey strands wrapped into a low bun, almond-colored skin weathered from sun and time. Warm, twinkly eyes framed by small wrinkles. She wasn't necessarily a beauty, but the strange and unfamiliar kindness that radiated quietly from her made her seem like one of the most beautiful women Noodle had ever seen.
They did not interact much. Maria was quiet to begin with, and Noodle felt weirdly shy around her. On the way out, Noodle would come across her vacuuming the carpet or cleaning the windows. Maria would look up and smile, the little wrinkles and creases around her eyes deepening.
"Good morning," she'd say, a hint of an accent in her voice.
"Good morning," Noodle would reply, and with a shy smile made her way past her.
Interactions almost never went further than these greetings.
2D and Russell took a quick liking to her. When Maria was around, Noodle would hear from her room the sound of the woman's voice and laughter mingling with theirs. Noodle would walk by the kitchen and see from the corner of her eye one of the men chatting amiably with Maria, asking her questions, answering hers. When Noodle was witness to these encounters she'd feel a vague, fleeting sense of shame over her own inability to go any further than a polite hello when she saw Maria. It didn't bother the guitarist too much, but in moments of downtime Noodle sometimes wondered why she felt so self-conscious and stiff around her.
Murdoc didn't meet her until around the fourth week.
Noodle was on the couch watching TV, conscious of Maria in the kitchen nearby, cleaning the counter tops. Noodle couldn't remember why or how Murdoc was up (and sober) that particular Friday morning, but he was. She listened to the sound of his lumbering footsteps as he made his way to the kitchen, realized she was holding her breath in a state of suspense.
Murdoc said something Noodle couldn't quite make out, Maria responded.
Noodle cursed herself for being so weird and nosy about this, but muted the TV anyway to better hear the two.
"...not from 'round here, are you? Where are you from?" Murdoc's voice purred.
"Ecuador, señor."
"Ecua-bLOODY 'ELL, love, don't call me sir, that makes me feel so...como un viejo."
Maria laughed, surprised at his switch to Spanish and amused by the way it sounded under his thick British accent.
"Yeh can coll me the sexiest man tha's ever wolked this planet, the greatest bassist who ha' ever rocked this world, or, er, uh... Murdoc. You're free to take your pick."
"Okay, ah...Murdoc, then." She said something that Noodle missed but that drew out a sincere chuckle from the bassist.
"Murdoc, digame, ¿habla español?"
"Well, love, the name of my bass guitar is El Diablo, heghehh,"
He cleared his throat and carried on in careful but surprisingly steady Spanish. "Yo aprendí un poco cuando estaba en México…."
Noodle turned the TV volume back up and shifted her attention away from the two.
Noodle noticed that Murdoc was up early more often than usual. Looking back now, she realized how stupid it was of her to not notice that these deviations from his regular schedule only happened on Mondays and Fridays.
Regardless, Noodle did not make that latter observation, so as she went about her morning she didn't think much when she'd see him sitting on the counter in the kitchen, talking to Maria while she washed dishes or swept. She didn't notice that the over-the-top flirtatious tone in his voice had trickled away, leaving behind a voice that was excited, sincere, like a boy telling someone about a good day at school.
Passing by the kitchen she'd hear snatches of conversation.
"Awlright, Maria, teach me some Ecuadorian slang. Don't hold back neither, give me some of theh real nasty bits."
"Hm, well.."
"Murdoc tell me something…"
"Anything."
"Bueno, m-maybe I should ask 2D but I feel...I don't want to offend, pero... qué pasa con sus ojos?" What's wrong with his eyes?
"...Uh..heh."
"My da' woz a real idiot I'll tell ya that...didn't do much with his putrid drunk ass 'n' I'm bloody sure he's still jus' wastin' space with his miserable ehxistence."
"...I'm..I'm sorry. My father was...similar."
"Yeah?"
"He drank a lot…and was angry. Angry about everything..."
Noodle noticed that with each visit, their conversations got longer, their voices more hushed. It didn't occur to her to stop and wonder why. She noticed that the bassist sometimes seemed more distracted at practice. 2D would make a mistake or say something foolish and reflexively flinch, bracing himself for Murdoc's wrath. More often than not, it never came; the bassist continued his riffs in time, but his eyes wandered in some far away place.
Noodle noticed that Murdoc began to walk Maria out of the studios when she was done cleaning. He'd help Maria into her jacket, a ritual they both took their time with, as though cherishing the close proximity between their bodies.
It was not a drastic transformation; Murdoc Niccals was still Murdoc Niccals. Crude, crass, grotesque Mudz with a twisted sense of humor and an ego the size of the moon. Murdoc was still Murdoc but...but with something extra. While pouring tea into her mug one afternoon, Noodle stole a glance at the bassist, draped on the couch, boredly scrolling on his phone in his underwear. The same, but... now a new aura of peaceful secrecy hugged his skin...or something.
"Er, Noodle?"
"Oh! Uh, yeah, Murdoc?"
"Yer cup overfloweth."
"Huh?" Noodle looked down at her mug and...tea puddle. "shIT-"
She hurriedly snatched up some paper towels to clean up the mess. Murdoc barked out a dry cackle.
"Wot's distracting ya, love? In need of a heart-to-heart with yer uncle Mudzy?"
"No...no. Everything's cool, I just zoned out is all. Thanks."