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:

"Yeah, I guess," he replied, looking somewhere between confused and glum. Yes he wanted everything to work out, but he also didn't want to die. Living had become something he was rather impartial to after all and since they'd been back from Plastic Beach all those years ago he'd done very well to stay out of the way of any forms of bodily harm.

"Look, I love you and I want them to see that," she soothed him. "Don't you love me?"

"O'course," he said quickly, his dark eyes looking slightly offended by the question. "You know I do."

"Then what's the problem?" she asked him before leaning in for a lingering kiss. He opened his mouth slowly as he felt her tongue tickling to taste him. He was slightly dazed when she leaned back with a mischievous smile. "We'll do it when we get back to England. Just leave everything to me."

Chapter 18: Circle of Friendz

2D's eyes were narrowed in concentration as he very careful shouldered open the front door with two glasses of fresh orange juice sloshing around in his oversized hands. Very carefully he somehow managed to squeeze about halfway through when the door smacked him in the face causing him to sputter. Surprisingly, he didn't drop the beverages so he gave a loud sigh of relief and turned his head to the side before quickly jerking his body through. He nearly tripped over his own rather large clumsy feet before he straightened with a proud grin as he admired his handy work. Half of each wasn't a bad save in his opinion.

"Hello," a rather annoyed voice commanded his attention causing him to look up blankly. "Excuse me. Yes, you there. Help me with all of these bags, would you?"

A rather tall and intimidating woman with plum colored skin was standing on the front porch having just lugged some of her equipment up the small wooden stairs. She was as beautiful as she was terrifying with her distinct high cheekbones and artfully cut flat top. She was wearing a rather loud looking black and yellow pantsuit with shoulder pads that came to an abrupt point. Between carrying her things and her wardrobe, she must have been slightly put out because her forehead sparkled with a small sheen of sweat.

"Well?" she tsked, standing at her full height with her arms crossed. "You gonna stand all day lika' bump onna log or are ya' gonna help me?" she asked, hints of her Jamaican accent cutting through as she grew more agitated.

2D looked from her to the drinks in both of his hands and then back again. "Um, well I wooooould help, bu' meh hands'r full," he said with an apologetic shrug of his shoulders, a small and nervous looking smile tugging at his lips.

"You're kidding…" she stared back in disbelief, but when he didn't make any further move to help her she threw her arms up in frustration realizing that he wasn't kidding in the slightest. "Unbelievable. I finally get convinced to come all the way over here and you can't- Oh, for heaven's sake just put the glasses down!"

"Bu' then how's Noodle supposed teh ge' 'er drink?" he asked innocently, obviously no realizing how already visibly upset she was by the whole thing.

Luckily he was saved from certain demise when Russ opened the front door behind him with a pleasant smile on his face. "Grace! 'Bout time you got here, sista'!" he greeted jovially, sidestepping his gangly friend to offer a friendly hug to their guest. She graciously returned it with a much softer look on her face.

"Ah, Russ the pleasure it all mine," then her turned and arched a concerned brow in the direction of the singer. "No thanks to him, though," she added with a snort.

"Who, him?" Russel asked, grabbing the majority of her things as he began to make his way back to the door again. "2D's harmless, just a bit slow is all," he said good-naturedly. "Isn't that right, 'D?"

"Hm, wot?" 2D blinked, looking a bit confused. His mind was still preoccupied on his need to protect the orange juice. Russel's laugh boomed heartily as he shook his head and went back inside.

"Well, at least you're not as bad as Murdoc I suppose," Grace muttered, stalking past him. One of her pointy shoulder pads accidentally grazed his shoulder, nearly making him knock over the juice again but he'd somehow managed to balance on one leg with his eyes narrowed at the sloshing liquid.

"Pleasure teh meet you, Miss Jones!" he called after her as she disappeared through the door. When he thought it was safe to move again, he let out a sigh of relief and walked down the wooden steps of the porch and curved around to the side of the house with a bit of a bounce in his step. "Oi, Noods, I go' us some juice!"

Noodle was stretched out in one of two lawn chairs that had been set up at the side of the old house. She was wearing a black and red striped bikini with red horn-rimmed sunglasses and a big black sun hat to keep her scalp from sun-burning. When she heard her lover's voice she sat up a little bit and tilted her sunglasses down a little so she could see him better. "I can see that," she laughed, her green eyes twinkling in amusement as she took in his appearance.

He was wearing more of the orange juice now than he was protecting; wet spots were all over his pants and shirt. The bruising was finally going down on his face from the week before when they'd told Russ and Murdoc and were now just barely noticeable. His happy-go-lucky nature had returned and his smiles were constantly infectious as of late. She could tell that he was a lot happier than he'd been in a while now that they didn't have to hide anything from their best friends.

"Thanks Toochi," she said gratefully as she took the glass he offered her. Then she watched as he plopped down into his own lawn chair with a cheerful sigh before taking a big gulp of his drink. "You took so long, I nearly thought you'd forgotten," she admitted, enjoying her own. The cool liquid running down her throat felt wonderful in contrast to such a hot day.

"Nah, I'd neva' forget 'bout you," he said sweetly, giving her a flirtly wink that made her blush a little. "Actually, I jus' ran inta' Grace Jones. I dun fink she cared fo' me much tho'. She asked fer me ta' help're carry some stuff but me hands were full. Right scary tha' was," he added absently, now having the time to think back at how furious he'd made her. Then he shook it off with another laugh. "S'pose tha' means Muds'll want us soon fo' the recordin'."

"Most likely," she agreed with a nod before standing and stretching a bit, unintentionally giving him a rather nice view of her toned body. He forgot all about the orange juice as his eyes remained glued to her barely clad form. Finally she looked down at him through hooded eyes and he nearly gulped at the sight. "Guess we better get ready then, huh?" she asked, her voice slightly husky before she smirked and started to walk away, effectively breaking the trance she held over him.

"Hey wait!" he called after her, jumping up and running to catch up with her.

"Have you been practicing your lines?" she asked as they entered the house and began to trek up the steps that led to their respective bedrooms.

"Oh yeah," he promised with a slightly mischievous glint in his dark eyes. "Ol' Muds is gonna 'ave a right fit when 'e sees it."

"That good, huh?" she asked with an impressed look in his direction as she opened her door before turning back to him and lifting up to wrap her arms around his tall shoulders.

"Mhmn," he hummed back absently as he quickly returned the favor, pulling her flush against him before bending down to reward her with a sweet kiss. He could feel her smiling against his lips, making his heart skip a beat as he thought about how perfect they were together. Finally he allowed her to pull away as they shared a warm look with each other.

Somewhere downstairs they could hear the Satanist calling for them to hurry the fuck up.

"Well, our glorious leader has summoned us," Noodle rolled her eyes with a wry grin. "I better get dressed. You should change too, Toochi."

He looked down at his splotchy clothes and sweat dropped before running his hand through his hair in embarrassment. "Noticed tha' didja?" he chuckled before watching as she gave him a cheeky wave and disappeared into her room. The last thing he saw before the door closed was a weird looking potted plant on a table near her door that looked strangely like… He shuddered and walked away deciding not to dwell on it.

A short time later had the whole band in the recording studio. They had decided to record the main vocals first as they had pre-recoded a demo of the background music earlier in the day. 2D and Grace Jones were in a special sound absorbent room that was designed to magnify their voices. They each had different types of microphones situated in front of them. The one in front of Grace was designed to make her voice echo with power while his was of the more normal variety. The rest of the band was looking into the room through a glass window.

Noodle couldn't help but notice that Stu looked a bit more jittery than normal. He kept swaying on the balls of his feet and playing with his mic in an almost antsy fashion. Grace Jones simply looked bored. Every now and then she'd glare at the little window giving the impression that if she could, she'd be as far away as possible from their 'loveable' green leader. Murdoc was only egging this behavior on as he caught her eye and blue her a rather flamboyant kiss before giving one of his gravely chuckles that showed his discolored pointy teeth.

Finally, when they were all ready Murdoc pressed a button that acted as an intercom. "Alrigh' let's begin!"

On cue the string music began to slice through the room with just as much charge as the title promised.

"I am da' ghooost!" Grace began before following it up with a haunting cackle. "Provocative" she laughed, "Das what I want!" As she finished her line, 2D suddenly gave her a goofy grin causing her to tilt her head curiously. But as he began to sing, it became clear what his game plan was.

A Cha-Chaa'ga!

Everythin' is supposed ta' get in,

I jus' dun' know where Imma gettin' frooooom-uh.

A Cha-chaa'ga!

What is tha' cause of it an',

Well, in tha' case how do ya' know s'in yer owwwwn-uh.

A Cha-Chaa'ga"

As he was singing he was acting out each lyric with a rather provocative dance as if he'd taken the lyrics to heart. In fact, when he let out a playful grunt at the end of each line he would jerk his head to the side and shake his hips. He was getting so into it, that by the time it was Grace's turn to go she was giving him a rather appraising look as an amused smile began to form on her lips.

"Okay," she gave a soft laugh into the microphone, "Yeah, okay."

By the end of the song, they were both so into it, that they'd nearly forgotten that they Were recording as 2D continued to tease them all with his flippant vocals and Grace acted as the powerhouse that brought the electrifying song full-circle.

When they came to a stop and looked toward the others expectantly, they were met with three completely different yet equally shocked faces. Murdoc's mouth was open a little as his eyebrows kept twitching as if he wasn't sure if he should be furious or kiss them, Russel's jaw was dropped in shock and his eyebrows had nearly risen so high it was a wonder that they were still attached to his face, and Noodle was gazing at her blue haired singer with such a molten look of lust that he almost wondered if she was about to kidnap him and have her way.

"W-well," 2D started, his cheeks now fairly rosy as he wrenched his eyes away from Noodle and looked anxiously at the others. "Wot you think?"

"I think," Murdoc started as he opened the door to let them into their sound booth, "That of you keep tha' shit up there won't be a dry pair o' panties in the place if these two're anythin' to go by." He smirked as his lewd comment had the desired affect and two very irritated women smacked him at the same time making him chuckle.

"Russel, I think I'll be taking my payment now," Grace growled as the big man backed away to give her some room with a grimace on her face.

"Wot payment? I thou-" the greasy-haired bassist never got to finish his sentence as a very strong knee connected with his balls hard causing him to topple over and roll around on the ground with a pained yelp.

"Ah, that felt good," Grace smirked, popping her neck lightly before heading out of the room. "I'll see you guys upstairs. I was promised one of these famous Hobbs dinners I've heard so much about."

"You all right, man?" Russel asked, leaning over Murdoc's trembling form. He sighed and helped the older man roll over on his back, but them was slightly disturbed at the pained grin on their leader's face. "What the fuck, dude? You actually liked that? You go' some problems," he said in disgust as he took a step back and watched in morbid fascination as the older man picked himself up and dusted himself off with wobbly legs.

"Think we c'n get 'er teh do tha' again before the night's up?" Murdoc joked, his long tongue dangling lazily from his mouth.

"Whatever, I'm stayin' out of yo' cracker-ass games this time. Don' come complainin' to me when yo' ass winds up back in the pokey again."

"The pokey?" Murdoc asked in amusement. "Is tha' wot you yanks call it? Even I think tha's a bit fucked up."

"It is what it is. I don't make up that shit," Russ said with a shrug, now also grinning as he turned toward the good. "Alright, y'all. Let's go have some brisket!"

"Yessss, think wit your stomach Laaards. Le' teh carbs guide you." Murdoc snickered only to be flipped off as the bigger man made his exit. Then he turned his mismatched eyes to the couple who'd been silently watching in amusement. "Well? Wha' the fuck're you lot still doin' down here? You heard the man, let's eat!"

"Holy shit," 2D muttered as they watched him exit without so much as a punch. "I can' believe it. I got away with it!"

As Noodle giggled conspiringly with him she suddenly had the realization that they really did have the best friends. In that moment of banter she released they'd finally been accepted. They were finally free.

With that in mind they went hand in hand up to the kitchen to enjoy some dinner with their loved ones.

A/N:Ever since I saw the live 2D/Murdoc interview I've wanted to include the Grace Jones story in a fanfic. It was just so funny and I can completely imagine why she'd be frustrated by such a silly excuse as "my hands are full with orange juice." It made me laugh.

The whole kicking Muds in the dick thing is apparently one of Murdoc's fetishes. There was an Instagram interview where it was mentioned that it was Murdoc's dream to get kicked in the crotch by her so I decided to be a good little fan and grant his wish, lol.

The last reference was something that I'm not sure everyone caught. 2D saw something in Noodle's room that disturbed him. This is actually a tip off to Cyborg Noodle. Repeatedly over the past year it has been insinuated on Gorillaz's twitter page that Cyborg Noodle's head is all that remains and it is being used as Noodle's favorite flower pot.

I know that I didn't get many reviews for that last chapter so I wanted to add an explanation. I originally wanted their secret date to be at an arcade, but then I ran into several fanfics where that same exact scenario occurred so I'd wanted to do something completely different that I'd never seen before. I'm still happy with it and I'm not going to change it, so oh well I guessms.

Next up is the epilogue! I'm so saaaaad! I love writing this story.