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The first time 2D ended up with a concussion, he was a child who fell out of a tree. His hair turned blue and he developed chronic migraines and a pill dependency. It wasn’t even that bad a concussion, and served mostly as a way to get out of things he didn’t want to do, an impulse he grew out of. The migraines and pills he did not.
The second concussion is not at all his fault, and can be directly blamed on someone else. Some moron flew through the front window of the store he was working at, and the bumper of their car collided with 2D’s face, knocking him straight into a coma.
The third concussion is also Murdoc’s fault. The idiot thought it would be a good idea to do tricks in a parking lot with a comatose man in the back, and hit a pole, sending poor 2D flying through the windshield. This, conversely, wakes him up, and Murdoc sees something in this shell of a man, and decides to pick him up as a singer.
That turns out to be most of what 2D is good for, because it becomes quickly apparent to him that he is not who he once was. His brain is either foggy or sharp with pain but never completely coherent, and, to his benefit or his detriment, depending on who is arguing, Murdoc has access to a plethora of remedies in the form of illicit substances to make everything even foggier. Not that he’s complaining.
It takes him a long time to regain the dexterity and fine motor skills he’d lost, but once he has them down, muscle memory kicks in and he’s providing keys for their music. Keys and vocals, the only things he can really provide.
Thankfully, as neither Murdoc nor 2D knows how to play the drums, they find themselves a percussionist. Well, Murdoc finds him. 2D frankly doesn’t leave Kong Studios all that much, unless directly accompanying Murdoc. He wants to, he’d love to go to a club and maybe speak to some girls, but he can’t really navigate without help at this point. He can barely see, and Murdoc doesn’t like to go places with him much.
The man he somehow convinces to join them is named Russel, and he is very, very good at the drums. He doesn’t seem to like 2D very much, though. He gives him looks sometimes that 2D finds hard to really parse the meanings of, and will openly remark on how stupid he thinks 2D is. It’s a little disheartening to have both the people he lives with consistently mocking him for something he has no control over.
He calls him cruel names and laughs when Murdoc taunts him, but seems mildly impressed by his skill on the keyboard. He clearly has opinions on both of their substance abuse issues.
When 2D has to ask Russel what his name is multiple times, and jumps more than once at the sight of him in their living room, he receives rolled eyes and snippy, rude comments about how he should stop with the drugs as they’re destroying his brain. 2D goes quiet after that and does not speak to him anymore. He can understand his failing memory is frustrating to some people, but it is equally frustrating for him. He wishes he could remember these things, it just doesn’t work for him.
He knows that Paula is becoming frustrated with him as well. Every time he turns her down when she wants sex, no matter what the reason, she gets more and more disgruntled. She huffs and crosses her arms, and sometimes won’t talk to him for the rest of the night, and even into the morning. He wants to make her happy, he really does, but sometimes things are too hazy or too painful for him to participate with her. Or sometimes he’s just plain tired.
So it hurts when she goes and finds someone else to meet her needs, but he can understand it. He finds out through Russel, because even if he isn’t 2D’s biggest fan, he’s still a good man with strong principles. 2D takes it pretty well though, in his opinion. If Paula doesn’t want him anymore, then that’s ok. He can live with it.
They replace her with Noodle, who very conveniently shows up on their doorstep in a crate with a guitar. She’s good for being only ten. Really good, actually. Better than Paula was.
The best part about her, though, is that she doesn’t think 2D is stupid. She’s old enough to understand that there’s something a little off about him, and she sees when he isn’t able to hold himself together and cracks apart in his bed. She sees the way he takes too many different pills and senses the distaste from Russel. She’s a smart little thing, which is great because that is the biggest thing 2D lacks.
She’s there even when he knows she shouldn’t have to be. He doesn’t understand much but he knows little kids shouldn’t have to look over men twice their age. Especially not ones who really got themselves into the mess they’re stuck in. Sure, Murdoc hit him with the car, but 2D had a whole host of chemical dependencies before that, and he didn’t mind having them enough to stop.
Noodle seems to like caring for him, though. Enjoys curling up beside him while he shakes beneath his covers in a migraine driven haze. She likes to watch his movies and doesn’t mock him when he can’t bend over to tie his own shoes or trips over seemingly nothing. She doesn’t scoff and laugh when he can’t remember something simple.
She doesn’t even know what happened to make him like this, the story that Murdoc eventually told Russel, which turned his looks of annoyance and disdain to pity, she just assumes this is how 2D is and she doesn’t have a problem with it. He’s grateful for it.
After the first album they all kind of go their separate ways for a while. 2D works for his father who is glad to get him away from Murdoc, even if he can’t get him to break his unideal habits. 2D notices himself getting better, which is a miracle because no one ever expected he would. 3 major head injuries and a coma do not bode well in terms of future recovery, but he defied the odds once by waking up and he’s doing it again now by being able to remember things.
By the second album they’re all different. 2D has a much more functional memory, Russel has gotten rid of Del, and Noodle is a full teenager writing her own music. Murdoc is much the same, admittedly. They’re all older and a little wiser, and Murdoc publishes his book and 2D’s history of head injuries becomes common knowledge, which isn’t exactly something he wanted.
Everyone thinking he was a little slow, fine, they could ignore it easily enough because he’s good looking, excitable, and can sing, but when there’s tragedy attached it makes it harder for people to look past. When there’s a sad event tied to something which is extremely noticeable about you, people see it first. He doesn’t want to be treated differently.
He isn’t going to do anything about it, though, even when Noodle starts glancing at him a little weird when he has some sort of flare up of one of his many chronic issues. She starts watching Murdoc sideways, too, like she’s mad at him, which seems silly because 2D got over it a long time ago.
Barring the painful consequences, he likes who he has become. There are things he wishes he had, like a better memory, but he wouldn’t trade the life he’s been given even for that. He’s ok with it.