a/n: i like me some cyborg. :B

Silicide
one-shot.
pairing - none...really. a bit of 2D x Android, i suppose. ha.
summary - 2D enjoys a night of freedom with the cyborg down at the pier.
disclaimer - many thanks to j-weasel and damon for their creations.

2D was getting sick of hearing his own voice.

Even now, as he sits locked in his tiny underwater room, he can hear the strains of 'To Binge' from somewhere up above. He can picture Murdoc sitting in his enormous leather chair in the study, plastic horn-rimmed glasses on his wonky nose, sitting four inches from his computer screen tweeting about God knows what. He's got Plastic Beach on infinite loop playing around the island, blasting from every carefully-situated speaker.

He mouths along with the words as he tumbles out of bed, sliding his feet into a pair of threadbare carpet slippers he'd found washed up on the beach last week. It was a Saturday, according to the horrific Whale-of-the-Month club calendar Murdoc had thought to pin up on the back of 2D's door. And Saturday means one thing. One glorious thing.

The door is open.

A jack-o-lantern grin lights his face as he swings the door open, and the Android looks up from her Teen Vogue magazine. She is sitting cross-legged in front of the lift, her rifle across her lap, obviously waiting for him. "Good morning, fuckface," she says cheerfully, grinning in a perfect imitation of the real Noodle's beatific smile. Even her voice is dead-on.

"Er...I'm 2D. Not...fuckface. That's rather rude, innit?" He scratches at his unwashed blue hair, squinting at her against the bright fluorescent hallway light.

"Please direct any complaints towards Murdoc."

"Oh, I will," 2D mumbles, following the android into the lift. The short ride is especially awkward, as she keeps her gun pressed firmly against the flesh under his jawbone. She seems quieter than usual, if that's possible, peering sideways at the singer through her thick bangs. Her eyes flash bottle-green in the flickering light.

"Follow me, 2D," she says gaily, sauntering ahead of him into Murdoc's study, where every curtain is drawn. The man is, as 2D predicted, sitting with his nose squashed against the screen of his sleek laptop, squinting hard as he taps at the buttons with two fingers. He hardly looks up as 2D flops onto the couch across from him, peering at his bandmate with a scowl. "Nice t'see you too, Muds."

"Shut yer face, half-wit, I'm writing an electro-mailer-thing to EMI telling them to print posters of the nudes I sent them last week. I'm running out of rum money." His voice is hardly more than a croak, and his eyes are bloodshot, though 2D can't tell if he's high or simply overtired. Probably a bit of both.

2D sighs loudly, causing Murdoc to slam his laptop closed and snarl at the singer. "Look. I'm quite busy today doing all of this press. I haven't shut my eyes in nine days. Go find something to do. Christ, it's like being in a sodding nursery..."

He fumbles for the bottle of Malibu rum in front of him, sloshing more into his mouth as he punches buttons on his waterlogged Blackberry. 2D stares at the frantic bassist for a long moment before pushing himself out of his chair and grabbing the cyborg by her forearm. She nearly tears his arm off in response, slamming his face into the doorframe with excessive force.

"What are you doing, 2D?"

"I was thinking we'd go down to the...ow, goddammit, android, I better not be bleeding...to the pier. I've never been."

"Oh." She smiles again- 2D is really beginning to hate that smile- and releases him. "I will go change out of my work clothes."

He watches her vanish into the elevator and tends to his bloodied nose. He calls her a bitch to her retreating back, though the words feel wrong coming out of his mouth, especially aimed at her. He looks back at Murdoc to distract himself: the bassist had given up on his electronics and was stretched across the moth-eaten purple velvet couch, smoking a cigarette leisurely.

"Wanna come along, Murdoc? There's games...and...there's...games..." 2D squints at him, not really expecting a response.

"Sounds absolutely thrilling," comes the scathingly sarcastic response, and he flashes his anything-but-dapper shark-toothed grin. 2D recoils. "I think I'll pass."

"You're no fun anymore, Muds," 2D says, though there is really no heart in his words. Murdoc sighs and lights another cigarette, passing the fresh one to his singer who sucks in the smoke greedily.

"Was I ever any fun?" Suddenly he looks old and tired under the harsh lighting, and 2D's desire to escape this situation increases tenfold.

The Noodle-bot reappears at exactly the right moment, wearing her uniform hotpants and a Sub-Division t-shirt that is cut to expose her stomach. As usual, she looks completely inappropriate, and completely unlike Noodle. 2D wants to say something, but can't figure out exactly what.

"Time to go."

She replaces the empty bottle of rum in Murdoc's hand, kisses his cheek sweetly, and propels 2D out of the study and down to the beach. He marvels at the fact that it's already well past dusk; where had time gone?

He picks his way over the plastic, following the android, as he has no idea where he's going. He's been outside once before, on a day when Murdoc was feeling particularly miserable. Murdoc. Hatred swells in his chest at the thought of his former idol, locked in a dark room in his great big manor.

Who was really imprisoned?

"Y'think Murdoc's gonna die soon?" 2D asks as they shuffle down the pier, and the android looks sharply at him.

"No. He is as healthy as he can be."

2D mumbles something along the lines of 'bullshit' but the android has already tuned him out, fishing a roll of tickets from somewhere in her impossibly tiny outfit. She grasps his hand and suddenly she's his Noodle again, never mind the outfit or the setting or Stuart, stop thinking, just stop thinking right now and then he's wishing for a pill or two. Or ten.

She shrieks with pre-programmed excitement and drags him to the first booth, a cheerful-looking balloon-popping game. Curiously the booth is unmanned, and as 2D looks about he realizes that every booth is unmanned. It is completely deserted, though really, why wouldn't it be? Murdoc's plastic palace was hardly a place for harboring carnies.

He misses every balloon and she doesn't miss a single one, and chooses her own prize when they're out of darts: an oversized stuffed jellyfish, which she hands to 2D to hold for her as she bolts to the next game and the next.

They haven't said a word to each other. It's killing him.

"I wish you were here, Noodle," he says quietly as she lines up a shot in the Plastic Beach Sweepstakes Shooting Gallery. She eyes him over her shoulder before shrugging and pulling the trigger, sending a bullet cleanly through one of the targets.

"I am here."

"Well…you're not…nevermind. Forget it. Are those real bullets or—"

"Please explain yourself."

"You're not…her." He regrets his words instantly, as she looks hurt by his clumsy words.

"I am trying very hard, Stuart Pot," she says quietly, and his shoulders sag. He's picking at the exposed stuffing of the jellyfish in his arms, and she looks at him for a long moment before turning back to the game. "I know what I am. You do not need to remind me of my purpose."

"Sorry. I'm sorry." But he doesn't mean it, and they both know this.

After another hour they are happy again, sitting on the edge of the pier surrounded by the android's winnings. In her lap sits a fish bowl, where a strangely hued piranha circles slowly. She swings her legs and looked out over the dark water, her fingers dancing over the lip of the fish bowl. 2D watches her, still picking at the jellyfish.

"We should be heading back. Murdoc will be going to bed soon and I—" she pauses suddenly, and looks down at her lap. "I need to…assist him."

"Noodle would have been blushing when she said that," 2D mumbles. "She was always blushing."

The android looks sideways at him, but remains silent. She stands, gathering her prizes under one arm and balancing the fishbowl in the other. 2D grabs the rest, following suit. They retrace their steps in complete silence, and 2D casts one last look at the pier.

"Wait."

He missed it before; a tiny thing, really, tucked away behind a rundown cotton candy stand.

Bumper cars.

"Let's play bumper cars!" He seizes her wrist and they run for it, and a genuine grin is splitting his face. The android is smiling, too, though it's impossible to tell what's causing it. She leaves her prizes in a pile, clambering over the rusted-shut gate. "Here, pick a car, I'll start it up…"

Gears groaning, the ride starts, and the lights flick on one-by-one. 2D leaps into a blue car and folds his long legs beneath him, glowing with joy. He's remembering the good days in Crawley, chatting up pretty girls as they giggled and shrieked around the track. He stomps on the gas and the car lurches forward, gathering speed as it jolts towards the android's yellow car.

She laughing as she stomps on the gas pedal as well, gliding forward head-on into 2D's car. They both shriek as they collide, careening left and right. 2D is so happy he feels as if he might burst, with the stale Plastic Beach air whistling through his ears and blowing hair in his face. The lights, the music; it's like home again. All he has to do is close his eyes—

Another intense jolt as the android rams into the side of his car, glancing off of the front of the bumper. She waves at him, waggling her fingers as she passes him by.

Like all good things, the ride ends, and 2D stumbles off, trying to remember how to use his legs. She hooks her arm through his as they head back towards the enormous house: 2D, to return to his underwater prison, and the cyborg, to slip between the sheets of Murdoc's bed. She watches her newfound friend's face as they wade through the pink plastic, and he watches the ground. He's still got a ghost of a smile on his lips, and she realizes that this is the first time she's seen him smile. It's a pretty smile, she decides. Inviting, never mind the missing teeth.

They pause on the deck outside and the android looks down at the fishbowl in her hands. She's not sure what to do next, but he looks as if he's expecting something. Really, he's thinking the same thing she is.

A moment of hesitation and she rises onto her tip-toes, ghosting her lips across his in something that is hardly a kiss.

He blinks.

And then she's gone.