She's My Collar

By: KKM

Disclaimer: I do not own the Gorillaz or any related characters/songs. Gorillaz are © Damon Albarn and Jamie Hewlett.

Last Time:

The man went limp and the singer shoved him off as he stood and dusted himself off. He glared down at the unconscious man and kicked him hard in the groin for good measure before spitting at him. "Fuckin' tosser," he snorted, then reached down to help his slightly unstable friend to her feet. He carefully cupper her face into his hands as he checked her over for any damage. Finding none, he sighed in relief before trying to help he walk.

"I'm sorrrrry," she whispered, still slightly afraid as she teetered beside him on her feet. She was having to lean very heavily against him in her current state.

"It's okay, Noods. I go' you," he promised, his face slightly bruised from the scuffle. "Let's just ge' the fuck outta' ere." He was still pretty hyped up on the adrenaline that had prompted him into action earlier and he didn't want to accidentally take his anger out on her. This had been so irresponsible of both of them! She should have known better to drink from someone else's shit and he should have been watching her better. Either way, he was going to have a nice long chat with her once whatever influence she was under wore off. He would make sure that something like this would never happen again.

Chapter 6: Let Me Out

2D was simply exhausted. When they'd gotten home from the club he had somehow managed to sneak himself and the nearly unconscious young guitarist into the house without waking his other two band mates. The stairs had been the worst because they were old and creaky. He could barely get the girl to move one foot in front of the other let alone go up while doing so. Once safely up the stairwell he'd dragged her into the closest room which had thankfully been hers. She'd been so out of it when he'd tucked her in that she didn't even try to latch onto him to force him to stay like she might have if she was more sober. Instead, she flopped into place lifelessly like a ragdoll. The first couple of hours had been nightmarish for the singer as he'd had to quiet her down several times as her drug-induced dreams caused her to call out and flip back and forth restlessly. But after a while, her body finally seemed spent as she remained still save for her light breathing and soft snores. Unfortunately, this left Stu to (for lack of a better term) stew.

For the remainder of the night he'd plopped himself into a large comfy chair he'd found next to a bookcase in her room. His arms were crossed and a deep frown was on his face as he watched over her diligently for any signs of distress. He just couldn't believe things had gotten so out of hand last night. Their little game had nearly caused Noodle to relive one of her worst fears if 2D had any inclination on what that man's intentions had been. And for what? Because they'd been trying so hard to piss each other off? It wasn't worth it at that price. Didn't she see that she was putting herself in danger acting so rash like this? He found it so frustrating he could barely think straight.

Morning came and went and still the guitarist still had not stirred. 2D had only left the room twice the entire time she'd been out. The first time was to relieve himself of his morning duties and the second had been to go to breakfast and explain to Russel that she wasn't feeling very good this morning. When the bigger man had asked him where he got his bruises, he simply laughed it off and said he'd been wrestling with Murdoc and it had gotten a little out of hand. It was a believable excuse considering the two did scuffle a lot and he knew the bassist wouldn't be awake for another few hours anyway so no one had been there to say otherwise. After he'd eaten a quick bite of toast, he'd left telling Russel he'd go check on her again. The drummer had merely waved him away and told him to give an update if anything else changed. Russel had been working himself to the bone lately reaching out to other artists to try and talk them into featuring on their new album, so he'd most likely be gone the remainder of the day otherwise he'd have went up to check on her himself.

Finally around noon, the blue haired man noticed the first signs of life coming from his beloved guitarist. "Shimtta," she groaned against her pillow, one of her hands slowly coming up to rub her sweaty forehead. "Watashi wa sakuya nani o shimashita," she practically whined to herself. She always seemed to revert back to her native tongue when she thought she was alone. 2D had always found this habit to be endearing, but today he was feeling a lot less charitable. He stood up and grabbed a glass of water from her nightstand and a couple of pills that he'd prepared earlier for her. She gasped in surprise when he bent down to gently guide her lips to the rim of the cup. She hadn't know he was there/ "T-Toochi?" she questioned tiredly between sips.

"Shhhh," he shushed her as he continued to gently take care of her. Once he was certain her throat wasn't too dry, he placed the pills in the palm of his hand and brushed them against her lips. "You'll feel betta'.'" He murmured, focusing all his attention on making her well and trying not to dwell on how soft her lips were against his fingertips. He brought the glass back up to her parched lips so that she could use the water to swallow them easier. Once he was sure she had, he put the glass back down and sighed.

"What happened?" She asked him, trying to sit up a little. As far as she could tell, she was still in last night's clothes but couldn't for the life of her remember coming home. She knew something bad must have happened by the very disappointed look the other man was currently giving her as he looked her over. She didn't need to know where his pupils were to get the gist of what he was thinking. His facial expression said it all. "I don't remember…" she trailed off, a look of concentration on her make-up smeared features. "I feel so… groggy."

"I'm sure yeh do, love," he said, finally looking away from her as he opted to gaze at her wall instead. "Tha' tends teh happen when ya' let yo'self get drugged by a maniac."

"W-what?" she gave him a stunned look. Had she really been drugged? And why the fuck was he being so nonchalant about it?

When he turned to look back at her she was surprised not only to see the disappointment remain, but also what could only be described as silent rage. His seemingly eyeless gaze seemed to amplify the emotion causing his face to look angrier than she'd ever seen before. "Don' play stupid, Noodle. I know yeh heard me. Tell me, was it worth it? Did you enjoy terrifyin' the fook outta' me while tha' wanker tried the ge' yeh? Never accept drinks from strangehs no matta' how pissed you are! Yeh could have gotten yo'self killed!"

By the end of his rant he was standing, pacing around her room with a grimace on his face. His voice had steadily grown loader with each word until he almost felt he was shouting. Meanwhile she too had moved to stand and even though she wobbled a little, it was easy to see that she was becoming just as angry as he was. "Is that what you think I was trying to do!? How dare you!" she screeched, pulling her crumpled skirt down a bit in an effort to try and cover herself before stomping up to him in all her Asian glory. "It was an accident! For fuck's sake, Stu, you weren't even giving me the time of the day!"

"Tha' doesn't mean you shoul' go whore it up to the nex' one who'll have it!" he practically hissed. The room became dead silent as her mouth dropped open in disbelief. She couldn't even form words she was so appalled. Her mouth kept opening and shutting like a fish out of water. A hint of guilt crossed his face and he looked down slightly ashamed of himself. He knew she wouldn't have gone that far. It wasn't like him to lose his composure like this, but she really had scared him to death. In the club when he hadn't been able to find her, he'd feared the worst. He'd already thought he'd been too late to protect her from whatever was about to happen. And then when he'd found her in that alleyway about to be slapped by that prick he'd completely lost it. He was finding himself becoming more and more derailed around her without any possible way to keep himself in check. "I shouldn't 'ave said that," he admitted in a low voice, his hands clenched in tight fists at his side as he tried to calm down.

"No, you shouldn't have," she said in an equally tight tone as she glared at him, nostrils flaring slightly. She made a little noise of displeasure before stalking across the room and slapping him soundly across the face. She stared intently at him as he made no move to defend himself. His pale cheek was already becoming red where she struck. Their eyes were locked sharing all of the anger, disappointment, frustration… and desire.

She wasn't sure who moved first but suddenly they were both diving toward each other engaging in a passionate lip lock. There was nothing sweet or soft about it as they took out all of their emotions on each other. His fingers were tugging harshly at her hair pulling her as close as he could while he smashed their lips together. She didn't care if she was hurting him as she clawed wildly at his shirt. It was only when she let out a primal moan did he realize what they were doing and he shoved her away. Just as quickly as it had begun it was over and they were left panting hard as they gazed incredulously at each other with swollen lips.

"Fuck!" 2D cursed, tangling his hands into his hair, wondering how he'd let her get to him again. He looked at her vulnerable state again before swiftly turning and leaving the room "I've gotta' get outta' here."

"Toochi, wait!" she tried, but he didn't listen. She jumped a little when she heard a door slam downstairs signaling he'd left the house. She fell to her knees in the middle of her room and cried. "What have I done?"

Back to Present:

"I'm not really sure where he went after that," Noodle admitted, looking very uncomfortable as she explained what had happened. That horrible feeling of exposure was creeping its way through her system. She knew their actions were disappointing them. She chanced a look at Russel before glancing down again and absently playing with a broken guitar pick that had been left on the table as she waited for a reaction from the two older men.

Russel sat across from her dumbfounded. How could they both have been so stupid? This story was turning into somewhat of a nightmare for the bigger man. He knew that Noodle had never been innocent, but recklessly partying at clubs? Getting drugged? And then there was 2D who had obviously had the best intentions and yet at the same time couldn't seem to control himself. How had he missed all of this? The worst part is that he'd actually been in the house during parts of her story. He should have noticed if they hadn't been acting right.

Beside him, Murdoc seemed to be lost in thought. His head was tilted to the side and his eyes were unfocused as her words ran through his mind. Something was sticking out as familiar to him, but he needed his memory jogged a bit, it seemed. "You said 2-Dents tol' you he ran inteh Maseo?" he asked, the name rolling off of his tongue. "Hmmmnnn, and e' was a bit roughed up from tha' fight, yeh say?"

"Yes, that's right," Noodle frowned, not really understanding what Murdoc was getting at. She watched as the man seemed to mull over the information a bit longer before he paused and a strange look of epiphany crossed over his features. She was about to ask him about it when he suddenly stood, causing both herself and Russ to jump a bit at the suddenness.

"I think imma bit tired," he excused himself, heading for the door. "Let's continue this little chat tomorrow, yeah?"

"Ummm, I guess…" she trailed off, looking back at Russel. But he looked just as confused as she was.

"Ta' then!" he exclaimed as he disappeared and the door snapped shut behind him.

"What on Earth was that about?" she muttered, a bemused look on her face.

"With Muds you can never really tell, baby-girl," Russel supplied with a shrug. He was fairly used to the older man's shenanigans so he really didn't think much of it. "He does have a point though, it is nearly midnight. Maybe we should come back to this tomorrow."

Noodle nodded as she watched him stand, but looked a bit hesitant. "Russel…" she whispered, fidgeting a little as she looked away with a frown. She looked a bit like a child would after getting admonished by a parent. She wasn't sure what he thought about what she'd told them and it made her uneasy.

"Noodle-girl," Russel sighed, moving so that he was standing in front of her. He reached out and placed a beefy hand on each one of her shoulders. "I'm tryin' really hard to understand all this. Like I said earlier, it's a lot to take in and I'm worried about you. But no matter what, you'll always be my little girl," he promised, looking down at her with a small smile of reassurance.

That seemed to be exactly what she needed to hear as she teared up and threw herself into his arms. "Otosan…" Though they sometimes barely acknowledged it, she'd always thought of Russel as her father-figure. When she'd been a lost little ten year old in an English-speaking world, he'd been the one to make sure that she was fed, comfortable, and had everything she needed. He had been the one she was most afraid of losing over this.

"It'll be okay. It might take a while for me to understand, but for you I will try," he promised, giving her a small squeeze of encouragement. "Let's get to bed, we'll worry about it tomorrow." She gave him a small sniffle, but nodded in agreement.

"I'm just worried because that's not even the worst of it," she said in a small voice, "What will you think of me then, Russel-sama?"

He frowned at the comment, but shook his head all the same. "I was young once too, Noodle. We all done stupid shit. Did you learn from it?" She nodded her head and he smiled, "then we can move on from there. Don't worry about it now. Just save it for tomorrow." With that he left her alone to her thoughts as he too exited the room.

"I may have learned my lesson, but how can I expect you to forgive me if I can't even forgive me?" she questioned to the empty room. Then she sighed and turned out the light.

A/N: This chapter was very tricky for me. When depicting 2D as angry I was trying to be as realistic as possible without going overboard. I know it seems harsh that he called her a whore, but think of how emotionally charged you might be in that situation? I'd like to think that his thoughts would be out of control like a hurricane. He was running on lack of sleep combined with over-thinking all the horrible things that may have happened and he'd been very irregular with his headache medication if you remember from the previous chapters. I just don't think it was too far-fetched a reaction. Like I said I want to make this as blunt and real feeling as I can. We'll have a much "lighter" chapter next where we find out what exactly Murdoc realized and what happened after 2D left the house. Some Murdoc and 2D bonding time!

Lucky you, I was sick from work today so I had time to do this chappy real quick.

Enjoy!