Art by the great lildaemonium who is a great illustrator that will (hopefully) help me throughout the story.

With the biggest of grins that he could not contain, 2d bounced along his way to the haunted staircase. He was in an amazing mood. Yesterday night turned out very fun for both him and Murdoc, and from the moment he woke up today, 2d just knew that this was going to be a great day. He just had that feeling in his gut.

He was really excited to see all of his fellow band members at lunch, and surprise Russel and Noodle with his real identity after school. All this lying was just too much for poor innocent 2d. As he got nearer to the haunted staircase, 2d noticed Russel and Noodle, walking in the opposite direction.

"Hey guys!" He chirped, catching their attention. They all stopped to engage in the conversation, but despite 2d's positivity Russel and Noodle both seemed to be in a bad mood. "What's up? Are you going to the canteen today?" He asked in secret hopes that he could spend his entire lunch break all alone with Murdoc.

"Yeah, you're coming with us." Russel stated, massaging his knuckles, which looked quite sore. 2d titled his head to the side in confusion, this question almost sounded like a statement...

"Uh, no thank you..." He hesitantly replied, becoming more weary rather than carelessly happy. "I'll go join Mudz at the staircase."

"Don't bother, he won't be there." Russel quickly spoke, confusing 2d even more, who looked at Noodle for an explanation, but she just looked down.

"What... What do you mean..?" 2d felt a slight strain in his heart as a mild panic settled in. He told himself to calm down though, since this always happened whenever a mild inconvenience occurred.

"Forget him, he's an asshole anyway." Just then, 2d noticed anger in Russel's eyes, and immediately took a weary step back.

"What are you on about? Where's Murdoc??" Now Noodle could see fear in 2d's eyes, and she felt uncomfortable with knowing that they were the ones who caused this, since this was one of the rare occasions 2d was willing to speak to them out of his own free will.

"Touchie, don't worry." She spoke up, establishing eye contact with the frightened boy. 2d clung onto the straps of his backpack, looking like he's ready to run away at any given second. "Murdoc not a threat anymore." She smiled lightly, worried about 2d.

"A-A-Any-Anymore..???" 2d stammered, worst case scenarios running through his head.

"2d chill." Russel intervened, which further scared 2d and made him flinch. 2d's heart was racing as he stared at the two, wide eyed. "We made sure Murdoc won't bother you anymor-."

"What did you do?!" 2d burst out, louder than he intended to. The other two glanced at each other, they were convinced that 2d was only reacting like that because he was scared of Murdoc taking his anger out on him because of their actions.

"One punch, and Murdoc was sent right into the medical room." Russel smirked, proudly lifting his fist which he was massaging before. 2d's heart stopped, pure terror rushing throughout his entire body like a lightning bolt. So many emotions were running through him in that single second; fear, concern, shock, terror, betrayal, and disbelief.

"What the fuck is wrong with you?!" 2d yelled, shocking both Russel and Noodle, before pushing past them and dashing straight for the medical room.

"2d?!" The two called after him, but it was no use. "Shit. Why'd he react like that?"

"What if Murdoc hurts him??" Noodle voiced her concern, looking up at Russel.

"I... I don't know, Noodz, but..." Russel sharply inhaled through his teeth. "I think following him won't make the situation better. Maybe Murdoc will just tell him to fuck off?" He hoped.

"It's our fault..." Noodle looked down.

"No, it's Murdoc's fault. 2d's going to be fine." Noodle looked up. "Probably."

-

2d ran like he never had, in school, before, only stopping once by the haunted staircase to see if it was really true that Murdoc wasn't there. With his heart breaking, 2d looked at the empty spot beside the stairs. Within seconds he stared running again, pure worry on his face as he pushed past a few students, until he burst through the door of the medical room, startling the people inside.

"Oh!" The nurse smiled. "Look who it is!" She observed as 2d pulled himself together and tried to regain his breath from running. 2d immediately locked eyes with Murdoc, who was grumpily sitting on one of the beds, holding an ice pack to his nose. "Look how the tables have turned; this time it's 2d coming in to check up on Murdoc."

"Mudz, are you alright?" 2d quickly approached Murdoc, yet not too hastily as he didn't want to get punched for asking stupid questions. Normally Murdoc wouldn't do that, but this time he was pissed.

"I'm fine." Murdoc's voice sounded dead serious, sending shivers down 2d's spine and stopping him in his tracks.

"It's just a broken nose." As the nurse spoke, Murdoc moved his coat and bag, which were sprawled out on the bed beside him, to make space for 2d. He pat that space, and within seconds 2d was already by his side. The nurse secretly smiled at this.

"Does it hurt a lot?" 2d asked, in a very caring manner, as Murdoc put an arm around his back to hold him.

"Hurts like a bitch." From his tone of voice, it was clear that Murdoc didn't want to talk about this. "The nurse said that it's going to heal in three weeks." Murdoc said, lifting the ice pack off of his nose to show 2d what happened.

"Oh no..." 2d gasped at the sight. Murdoc's nose was red and swollen, and looked very painful. "I'm sorry..."

"For what?" Murdoc looked at 2d before switching the hand he was holding the ice pack with.

"For not being there." 2d quickly took the opportunity and grabbed the other hand, warming and caressing it in his own two hands. Murdoc's hand felt very cold from the ice.

"And what would you have done if you had been there?" Murdoc almost laughed. "Fought for me?"

"I would've been your knight in shining armour!" 2d chirped, and they both laughed a bit. Although this wasn't how 2d imagined spending his lunch break with Murdoc, it was still nice. Once lunch was over, 2d gave Murdoc a gentle kiss on the forehead and set out to lesson, since Murdoc was staying in the medical room. The nurse said that he was free to go home, but Murdoc decided to wait that extra hour or two to go home with 2d.

-

2d exhaled a deep breath, pushing past all the other kids who wanted to get out of school. He hoped that no one would accidentally bump into Murdoc and hurt his nose, but while stuck in thought, he himself bumped into Russel.

"Hey 2d." Russel smiled, stopping the boy, Noodle beside him. This time they both seemed to be in better moods, but 2d was the one reluctant to smile back, since he knew about their involvement with Murdoc's broken nose. "Wanna hung out with us today after school?" Russel decided to continue speaking since 2d wasn't replying.

"N-No thanks..." 2d looked away. "I'm going home." There was barely any emotion in his voice, and it was really obvious that he wasn't in the mood.

"Oh, come on." Russel tightly grabbed 2d around the shoulders and pulled him towards himself, making him gasp. "Don't be such a party pooper." Noodle giggled at his choice of words.

"I'm. Not." 2d croaked as he tried to struggle out of Russel's grip. One of his hands was completely immobilised. "I just want to go home!"

"Aren't you lonely?" Russel asked. "Look, we know that Murdoc's made your life real miserable, but it doesn't have to stay that way."

"We're your friends now!" Noodle cheered along, making 2d visibly frown.

"Aren't you happy?" Russel looked at him in confusion. "You'll finally be safe from-"

"I don't want to be safe from Murdoc." 2d rudely interrupted. The other two didn't know what to reply, and, frankly, they didn't get the chance to because 2d was suddenly yanked out of Russel's grip by non other than Murdoc.

"How about you leave him the fuck alone, huh?" Murdoc's deep, stern voice made 2d relax; he was safe now that Murdoc was protecting him.

"How about you do?" Russel bit back. "We're just trying to be friends with him.

"He's got me, he doesn't need anyone else." Murdoc glared at the two before sharply pulling at 2d's arm and leading him towards the exit. "Let's go 2d."

"Wait!" The other two quickly run after them. "Where are you taking him?" Russel asked.

"He's coming with us today!" Noodle added, doing her best to keep up with Murdoc's speed walk with her shorter legs.

"Like hell he is." Murdoc growled, squeezing 2d's hand in his own. "Piss off." The four walked through the exit of the school.

"Hey, you can't just take him!!" Russel yelled after Murdoc.

"I can, and I am. Besides, if you haven't already noticed, 2d hates violence. So good job on trying to befriend him right after attacking me. Yeah, I'm sure he'd love to hang around you." Murdoc mocked the two in a sarcastic voice.

"But you're an asshole...!" Russel huffed in frustration.

"Yeah, but I'm also his best and only friend. So gang up on me again and you'll never see this sweet angelic face of his ever again." Murdoc didn't even bother to turn around as he spoke the words.

Russel stopped, observing the two walk away, and slumped his shoulders down in defeat. Noodle stopped right after him, looking at him questioningly.

"It's hopeless Noodle. Murdoc's right; 2d's his possession and he's loving it. We can't win him over by fighting. We've got to go the long way round and gain his trust, and then show him we're better than Murdoc."

"Will it work?" Noodle asked, glancing at the two who were walking away, still hand in hand.

"I don't know, Noodle, but this is really unhealthy for 2d and we've got to help him go back to living a normal teen life. Not being a fucking pet to a sadistic cunt."

-

Meanwhile, Murdoc tossed 2d in the direction of the car. 2d stumbled a bit, but soon regained his balance.

"The keys." Murdoc growled, still not in the best of moods, making 2d's heart almost stop, but he knew better than to argue in moments like these.

"O-Ok..." 2d reached out a wobbly hand with the keys in Murdoc's direction, who just snatched them out of his hand.

"Satan, stop being such a bloody wuss! I'm not going to fucking kill ya!" Murdoc grumbled as he walked over to the drivers side and got in. 2d hesitantly followed, taking his time to make sure his seat belt was properly buckled. Murdoc observed this, pissed off. "You don't even know how much I wanna hurt ya right now..." He mumbled.

"Huh?" 2d snapped his head towards him, seeing Murdoc glaring at him. "H-Hurt me?"

"Yeah, take my anger out on you." Murdoc tried to take a breath to calm down. "You're just so easy to hurt." 2d gulped.

"W-Well... if it makes you feel better..." 2d looked down.

"Gosh, you're such a fucking pushover." Within seconds, Murdoc grabbed a handful of blue hair and painfully pulled it over himself, so that 2d was being faced with the drivers side window. Surprisingly, the seatbelt didn't do anything to try to stop this. Before 2d had any time to think about what was going on, he felt a set of sharp teeth sinking into the flesh of his neck. He shrieked, but Murdoc's jaws only tightened.

"Ah! Murdoc!" It felt like Murdoc was about to chew part of his neck off. "Shit!" And then, after a few more extremely painful seconds, Murdoc let go. 2d immediately flinched back, grasping his neck. "Fuck, that hurt!"

"Yeah, no shit Sherlock." Murdoc rolled his eyes. "It was supposed to. Now come here and kiss me, you wiener." 2d raised his eyebrow at the peculiar choice of wording, but nonetheless leaned in to carefully peck Murdoc on the lips. "Yeah that's right." Murdoc said after 2d moved away. "You do what I tell you to, learn your fucking place." 2d was confused by this. He watched as Murdoc started the car, and tucked one of his knees into his chest, still facing Murdoc. He kept his other leg on the ground to steady himself.

"But I do know my place... it's just Russel and Noodle who don't take you seriously."

"Oh look! The scaredy cat decided to grace us by talking while I'm driving. Thank the heavens." Murdoc stated sarcastically, making 2d frown. "And no, they do take me seriously, because the only reason Russel managed to hit me was because he did so while I was looking down to talk to Noodle, and then I gave them a single pissed look and they went running."

"So what happened...?" 2d wearily asked, noticing that Murdoc took a different turn and was in fact driving them in the opposite direction of his house.

"So apparently they found out that I nearly killed you and they've heard the rumour that I fucked Paula in the toilets. So they were pissed and said that they're taking you away from me, like they're some fucking care home for abused kids, and quit the band."

"They did??" 2d's eyes widened.

"Yeah, those assholes." Murdoc grumbled. "But it was really weird because when they were stating the reasons for it, they made it sound like me almost killing you, and making your ex cheat were of equal importance."

"So Russel broke your nose..." 2d looked at Murdoc in a worried way.

"Eh, he just got lucky because I wasn't looking, is all." Murdoc looked so cool in that moment, almost completely unphased about his injuries. 2d admired that; if it was him that got hit he'd still be crying and sitting on Murdoc's lap. "I'll get him back tomorrow."

"No don't." 2d quickly spoke up, causing Murdoc to send a questioning glance his way. "I don't want you to get hurt anymore..." Murdoc sighed, and didn't reply. 2d took this chance to slip his phone out and google what to do in case of a broken nose.

"So it says here-" 2d begun reading. "hold an ice pack, or frozen peas, wrapped in a tea towel on your nose for up to 15 minutes, several times a day-."

"Where am I going to get frozen peas from now?" Murdoc made a face.

"I dunno, a store? Your house? My house? Anyway, it says you can take paracetamol or ibuprofen to relieve the pain and treat nosebleeds by sitting or standing upright and leaning forward – if possible, pinch your nose above the nostrils for up to 15 minutes, and
keep your head upright when lying in bed by adding more pillows – this will help to reduce swelling-"

"2d stoooooop." Murdoc almost wailed. "Breathe! There were like no full stops in that sentence you just said. Read like a normal human being, I'm begging you! You sound like a robot or a failed rapper!" 2d made a face.

"I'm just trying to help." He stated.

"I know, 2d, I know, but don't recite the entire damn website to me!"

"Fine..." 2d huffed. "So it says here-"

"No, don't continue reading!" Murdoc would've banged his head on the steering wheel out of despair if it wasn't for the fact that he was driving. "I don't want to hear it, just summarise the points. Please."

"Fiiiiine." 2d looked down at his phone, reading the text over in his head before speaking again. "Ok so; don't straighten your nose yourself, don't wear glasses when it's swollen, don't pick or blow your nose until it's healed, don't exercise for two weeks, and don't get hit in the face for six weeks... basically."

"Thank you." Murdoc sighed. "That was so much better. Now, why are you telling me this?"

"Because I'm worried about you!" 2d exclaimed, making Murdoc sigh again. No one spoke for a while.

"2d, y'know how you said not to do exercise for two weeks?" Murdoc asked.

"Yeah?" 2d looked over at him curiously.

"You know I'm still going to fuck you, right?"

"You shouldn't." 2d replied, but he wasn't putting up much resistance.

"Well I will." The rest of the journey went by relatively quietly, until they reached their destination...

Hey there! Here's the queen of procrastination! So this took really long, and my early New Years resolution is to update more often.

Shi- I forgot to mention that I had a dream that 2d looked like this and wore an eyepatch