Murdoc was angry.
Not specifically at anyone, just everything. Did he need a reason? Anyone within fist-swinging distance or within earshot, he wanted to take their skull in his boney hands and crush it. Snarling curses to himself, he marched down the damp sidewalk as the moon hung sullenly above him, almost nonexistent behind the gray clouds as it hid from his fury.
"Stupid Geep, cost more an' 's fecking worth!"
He slammed his fist into a street sign and, crying out at the pain, his eyes crewing up as he shook out his reddening hand. A small child ran down the street towards the bass player, shouting to another child on the other side of the street. Carefree, happy… But as the child passed Murdoc, he accidentally stopped to stare at the black-haired man towering above him. He was staring at his mismatched eyes—something one should never do, even on a good day.
"Wot're YOU looking at!"
The boy gasped sharply and sprinted back down the back-streets of Essex for his life. Murdoc scoffed in satisfaction and strutted down the street, spreading his bad mood.
CRASH!
Muds heard it as soon as he opened the doors to the studio.
"Face AAAAAAAAACHE!"
2D stood over the broken heap of a guitar amp, wringing his hands in worry—not for breaking the amplifier, but for the punishment that would follow.
"I-I didn' mean ta do it Muh-doc! I-I swear!"
"Shove it!"
He pushed the singer aside and stormed down to the open studio, where he was unwittingly greeted by fist-load of flying, sugar-laden cereal right to the face.
"Wot th' fu—"
Noodle sat on the floor, looking innocent, holding a box of Cocoa Puffs.
"Oh, sorry Murdocu-san. I was looking for the surprise inside!" she said in a soft voice. She had learned to speak a little bit of English the past month or so.
"And did ya find it?" he asked sarcastically, trying his best to cool-down around the ax-princess, rubbing his temples in tiny circles.
"No, I have the feeling… there is not one in here," she said happily, turning the box upside down and shaking it to show was empty.
"What a shame," he grumbled. Noodle smiled at him and began doing the puzzle on the back of the box. She enjoyed the little toys that came inside the boxes, even as they got steadily cheaper and cheaper looking.
In fact, when Murdoc was forced to go grocery shopping when the band was still brand new, the ten-year-old girl would jabber at him in Japanese until he let her come with him. When they'd get there, she would jabber something again.
"Kiite!"
"Wot do ya want?" he'd ask in annoyance.
She would point to a cart and then to him again and again until he got the idea.
"You wanna ride in the cart?"
The Japanese girl would nod.
"Zettaini sou desu!"
Grudgingly, he would pick her up and put her in the little seat in the front. She'd smile as they went down the aisles and as Murdoc put random things in the cart. And when he'd pass the cereal, Noodle's slanted eyes opened wide at the colorful boxes. She would look at each one intently until she saw one that got her full attention.
"Kokumotsu!" she would shout, pointing at the box. "Kokumotsu!"
"Wha-what the hell?" he would ask in confusion, then look at what she pointed at. Muds would pick it up.
"This?" he'd ask in disgust, sickened by the amount of sugar on those things.
"Hai! Hai! Hai! Hai! Ha-"
"Alrigh'! Alrigh'!"
He would hand the box to her to keep her happy, and she would hug it like it was some sort of stuffed animal. After he'd paid for the food, and they got back to the Pontiac, Noodle would settle down in the back seat and hold her box, waiting until they got home to open it.
Muds would always sit on the couch, watching TV late at night, and the Japanese girl would come in with her opened box, chewing on the hard cereal loudly. She would sit down beside him without a word, watching the news or whatever along with him. He'd glance at her and at the dry cereal she was so happily eating. Noodle would look down at it, then hold-out the box to him at arm's length. He looked a little confused, but then took a little handful out of the box and popped a few bites into his mouth. The girl looked happy and turned back to the TV. That's how it went from then-on.
After a while, Murdoc got her to actually put them in bowls and eat them with milk. It didn't matter when they were going to the store either, it could be nine o'clock at night, when the girl should have been going to bed. But somehow she always knew when he was going to the grocery store. And it didn't matter how late it was when they got back, she would get the cereal, along with some help from him when they ate it in bowls, and sat on the couch. Eating the sugary puffs and watching TV.
Muds grew to like the little girl, and always seemed a little different around her. He watched his mouth a little more, getting creative with his insults to 2D, and never, not once, hit the girl or threatened her. But of course, being the person he was, he wasn't going to admit that, not to anyone.
Murdoc, feeling himself calm down, sat in the chair behind him and put his feet up on the desk, sighing. It had been a long day. Between the Geep breaking down, again, and the irritation the mechanics gave him, his headache was growing into the kind 2D suffered with every day. He'd have to nick a pill from him…
He looked over at Noodle, still stumped on the maze, and let-out a deep breath, closing his eyes, trying to forget everything that had happened the past few hours.
Until he felt a tug on his sleeve.
"Murdocu-san?"
"Eh? What Noodle-luv?"
"I did find the prize! It was stuck on the bottom."
She held-out a really cheesy-looking plastic ring with a gaudy, fake diamond on it in her small hand.
"Well what do ya know," he hummed, leaning his head back to rest on the table behind him and closing his eyes again.
Another tug on his sleeve.
"Eh?"
"I would like you to have it Murdocu-san," Noodle said with a bright smile.
"You sure?" She had a whole collection of those cereal prizes in her room.
"Mm-hm."
Murdoc reached out and picked-up the little ring. Noodle sat down with the box on her lap, happy as could be, like she always was. The bass player slipped the ring onto his little finger, suppressing a small smile inside of him.
"Hey Noods."
"Hai?"
"Wanna go watch some TV?"