Work Text:
Noodle giggled to herself quietly, making her way toward Russel’s room with a hand full of whipped cream. She turned the door handle with her free hand and silently tip-toed to where the drummer slept, his snores obnoxiously loud. Putting a hand over her mouth to keep the laughter in, she took a deep breath, counted to three in her head, and smacked the sleeping percussionist in the face. The whipped cream splatted across his cheek and nose, some even getting on the floor. Russel jolted awake, a hilariously girly screech escaping from him. Noodle couldn’t hold back her laughter as it burst from her lips. “Ohayogozaimasu!” she yelled triumphantly. Russel wiped some of the sweet substance off of his face, his eyes meeting the small girl’s. “Noodle!” he yelled. She laughed again and ran out of the room at full speed. Russel fell back on his bed with an irritated groan. He dabbed his finger into the whipped cream on his cheek, licking it off and shaking his head. He just couldn’t help the smile breaking out on his face.
The mischievous girl continued giggling as she went back to the kitchen to fetch something to prank another one of her band mates. She rummaged through the cabinets, finding some icing and sprinkles that had yet to be opened. “Ah-hah!” she exclaimed as she jumped up on the counter, skillfully receiving the treasure she sought. She jumped down, swiftly making her way to 2D’s room. Her smile was so big it almost reached her ears. “Yoshi,” she muttered to herself as she quietly cracked open the door. 2D slept on his back, his hair messy across his pillow, and his breathing soft, almost silent. The Japanese girl opened up the icing and stuck her finger in it. She gently ran it down the side of the singer’s face, then the other side. Before she could get the sprinkles opened, 2D yawned and blinked his eyes awake. “Noodle?” he asked as he sat up. “Uh oh,” she muttered before taking a handful of the sprinkles and tossing them at 2D’s face. He gasped at the unexpectedness of the sugary bits hitting his cheeks, but then he realized they were sticking to him. When he reached his hand up to his cheeks, he realized there was icing there. “Oh, c’mon, Noodle!” he laughed. He had to admit, her pranks were always creative. Icing and sprinkles! Who could’ve guessed? Noodle laughed and hugged him, careful to avoid spilling the icing.
Stuart couldn’t resist taking a bit of the icing on his finger and smearing it on the girl’s tiny nose. She laughed even harder. “Nii-chan!” she cried through her laughter, and he laughed along with her. “That was a good one. You should use it on Muds, yeah?” Stu suggested. She nodded in agreement, her laughter devolving back into small giggles. She grabbed the icing and sprinkles and began her journey to Murdoc’s room, leaving 2D to clean the mess off of his face. Humming a suspenseful tune, the hyper child snuck around like a ninja on a mission, though the icing on her nose kept her from looking the part. She grinned that huge grin of hers, her teeth shining as she reached up to turn the doorknob to Murdoc’s room. The door creaked open a little, but the man didn’t even stir. Noodle took a little more of the icing on her finger, walking up to where Murdoc lay. She hummed her little suspense tune very quietly as she stealthily climbed up on his bed. She almost got her hand to his cheek when he suddenly stopped her by gently grasping her wrist. She gasped, “Ah-!” Murdoc smirked. “Gotcha, little twerp,” he muttered. Noodle drew her hand back. “Nice try, but you’ll never prank me,” he boasted. Noodle paused for a moment, but slowly started to giggled again. “What? What’s so funny?” the bassist asked in confusion. Noodle quickly smeared some of the icing on his nose before he could stop her again. “Oi-!” but, it was too late for Murdoc Niccals. Noodle laughed as maniacally as a little girl could. Murdoc just groaned, giving up the fight.
The mini ninja's fake, maniacal laughter turned into more genuine giggles when Murdoc snatched the icing and put it on her cheeks. Noodle collapsed next to him on the bed in a fit of childish laughter. He shook his head. The noise was contagious, and he chuckled along with her. 2D slowly cracked the door, smiling wide at the scene unfolding before him. He opened the noisy door a bit more to make his presence known. “Toochi!” Noodle exclaimed, jumping up with a huge smile stretching across her cheeks. The bassist looked over to see the blue haired boy walking into his room in a cautious manner, but he was still smiling as he spotted the bit of icing on his nose. Chuckling, he gave Noodle a mischievous smile. He appeared to be hiding something behind his back. Edging closer, the singer quickly reached his hands out to the two dorks on the bed. He tossed some sprinkles onto their faces and cackled. “Oh, you’ll pay for that, faceache!” Murdoc laughed before pulling the poor boy down onto the bed with him and the little girl that was being almost tortured with how hard she was laughing. 2D suffered the same fate as Murdoc tickled his ribs and sent him into a laughing fit, the small girl joining in. They all cackled for a while, but eventually calmed down into a quieter state. Stuart was lying comfortably on Murdoc’s chest while Noodle fell back, her head resting on Murdoc’s shoulder. A cough at the door caught their attention immediately, but they all relaxed when they saw Russel smirking with crossed arms. “Well, aren’t you all just a happy little family?” he teased. Murdoc groaned at being caught goofing around with his mates, but 2d laughed nervously, still not moving off of the other man’s chest. Noodle bounced up again, waving at Russel with her huge smile. The percussionist chuckled and made his way over, sitting next to her where there was enough space.
The child gave him a small hug before flopping backward onto a pillow next to her father figure. Stu glanced up at Murdoc to see if he was going to get shoved off of him anytime soon, but the older man just stayed the way he was, unmoving other than his steady breathing and the small smiles he would give to the happy little kid next to him. What could he say? Her smiles always were contagious. They all stayed like that for a little while, thinking how the band really was almost like a little family of sorts. Though, Murdoc would never admit it, he cared for his band mates, and as his mind wandered about in the dim room full of the happy aura, he moved a hand up to run his fingers through Stuart’s hair. The skinny boy flinched a little before relaxing completely on top of him. Noodle stretched her legs out across Russel’s, and the drummer smiled as he gently tapped her on the knee in a playful manner. She giggled and twitched her foot. It wasn’t long before the small girl had leaned her head completely on Murdoc’s shoulder, her small body going into a limp state as she slept peacefully in the company of her little family. Stu’s own head rested on Murdoc’s opposite shoulder, turned slightly so that his lips just barely grazed the darker skin of the other man’s neck and his slowing breaths tickled the area. The bassist smiled, letting his arm move to wrap around the sleeping vocalist’s back.
“You do a good job of takin’ care of ‘em, Muds. They care about you, and they know you care about them too,” Russel said quietly to keep from disturbing the sleeping band members. Murdoc looked over at hearing this. “Just don’t keep yourself from showing them you really mean it every once in a while.” He smiled a little as he said this, glancing at Noodle’s happy little face, then at 2D’s peaceful, sleeping form as he unconsciously held onto Murdoc’s shoulders. Murdoc rolled his eyes and muttered a, “yeah, yeah,” before Russel got up and left the room. When the door closed completely and the hip hop genius was out of site, Murdoc tightened his arm around Noodle ever so slightly. He kissed his singer’s messy mop of blue hair and used the rest of his morning to snooze with the people he cared about, even if he never really did admit it; his family.
