Friends with "that Niccals kid" | Gorillaz High school AU

I'm sorry

Murdoc's POV

TUESDAY

I awaken to the sound of Ace yelling 'Merdok', he's gotten better at speaking. I rub my forehead, trying to soothe the headache I have, immediately opening one of Stuart's half full water bottles that have sat on the bedside table for months now. It tastes surprisingly refreshing.

"Merdok, I'm Hunghy" He says

"HungRy, baby, you gotta Roll youR Rs" I comment.

We go to the kitchen and I make Acey a sandwich, pursuing my ironic coffee and cigs diet whilst listening to some System of a Down. I go to school after considering skipping a disturbing amount of times and go along with my day, trying to pretend nothing ever happened.

At lunch Russel comes up to me.

"Hey man, y'alright?"

"Yeah, uhm, thanks for helping me, I guess"

"Anytime" he smiles "Is Ace okay?"

"Yeah, happy as usual" I stretch "I guess I was just upset about the whole travel thing, I'm just glad nothing happened"

"Me too, buddy, me too"

Stuart calls me once realising we have lunch.

"Hey Mudz, everything alright?"

"Hi honey" I say as the girls become shocked and start giggling "Sorry for yesterday, for the record nothing serious happened"

"We'll see, just don't let this happen again"

"...Fine, guess I earned it"

Stuart's POV

I immediately feel a burning in my heart, why couldn't I bring myself to groan out an apology? I know he's the one who got drunk, but damn it, this wouldn't've happened if I'd just discussed everything rationally that day.

Morty comes into my room.

"Hey, uh, I got some stuff" he puts emphasis on the 'stuff' word "Wanna go to the shed?"

We go back to the shed as I tell him all my problems, Murdoc's alcohol incident, my separation anxiety, how I love him and yet can't even take his confession.

"Dude, sounds like to me that you kinda blew everything up. I mean, he cares about you, right?"

"Yeah..."

"He loves you and you love him, right?"

"Yeah"

"You want to be his boyfriend?"

"Yeah!"

"Then what stopped you?"

"...I guess... I kinda... blew everything out of proportion, creating a huge, overwhelming mess of a situation... simply because I made a big deal about the trip and everything... Truth be told I didn't want to have a relationship that I spend the first week of on vacation without him, it just seemed assholish, but needless to say I made up for it in assholishness"

"So? Just apologize and get together. I mean, he forgave you, you forgave him, stop overthinking things, okay?"

"Alright... I'll try... Thanks Mort"

"DAMN IT MY NAME IS NOT MORT"

"Okaysorry"

As the sun soon sets and my bed is made, I get ready for sleep, but whilst falling asleep, all I could think of was Murdoc, I just hope he's okay, because right now the only thing I can do is hope.

WEDNESDAY

At noon my mother says we're going on a walking tour through some forest. I was just about to call Murdoc, when mum takes my phone away.

"Hey, I need that!" I exclaim

"You kids and your technology, Morty almost started crying when your uncle took his phone away" mum sighs "You kids can have them back once we get home"

I groan but comply.

The walking tour's rules were pretty loose, the path wasn't dangerous and even if you were outside of the leader's field of vision they'd just yell for you and wait on you to arrive. Morty suddenly pulls me back.

"Don't go so fast, if we stay behind we can, y'know, smoke some 'fresh air'"

I get a cigarette and think of Murdoc, the thought of him waiting for me to come back and set things straight just breaks me. I get buried in thought's until

"Uh, dude?" Morty asks "Everything okay?"

"It's all my fault" I break

"Oh come on, don't say tha-"

"Everything, my fault" I grab my scalp, barely even noticing the ash falling in my hair.

"Stuart, you came all the way to London for not only your audition, but also to vacation and relax, so relax, deal with the shit once we can actually do anything about it" Morty complains

"...Fine"

I try to enjoy the view, see lots of beautiful landscape and momentarily forget about everything. As soon as we get home I immediately call Murdoc.

"Listen, Murdoc, I-"

"Aight shut up man" he says, laughingly, to someone "Hey honey, everything okay?"

"Is... uh is someone with you"

"Only Russ, is it chill if we have a sleepover?"

"Alright, sure, but uhm, I'm not on speaker, am I?"

"Uhh, no, why?"

"I just wanted to say, I'm so proud of you, and I'm so sorry, and I feel shitty for not discussing anything with you, no explanations, no nothing, I've been a horrible person, and if I called you the moment we arrived, kept my cool when you confessed and just generally hadn't been an asshole, everything would be okay" I sigh "I guess, I just, um, didn't want a relationship that I spend the first week of in a different part of country"

Silence.

"Well, it's a fact that you COULD have started with that last sentence that day, but y'know, whatever happened, happened. I still love you, and in retrospect I feel like it's only appropriate that I also forgive you"

"...Thank you... I love you too, Murdoc"

I hear two distant voices, likely belonging to Russ and Del, start cheering.

"Well, I'm glad we talked it out, no more arguing, yeah?" Murdoc continues "Once we actually start this damn relationship, my number one boundary is that you communicate with me, alright? I don't think I'm asking for much"

"Anything you want, I promise" I cry into the microphone

"Thank you, now go out there and destroy all the competition, yeah?"

"Alright, have fun, tell Russ and Del that I can clearly hear them giggling in the background and that I said hi"

"Will do" he laughs