Hey, an old friend makes an appearance in this chapter, which might be long, so bear with it. This chapter is dedicated to Joanna Myers. Birthdays are so fun when it's Dethklok, hahahahaha.
AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA
Nathan and the others were taking a break from practice, lounging around in the main room, playing video games, soaking in the hot tub, so on and so forth.
Himself, he was leaning back against the arm rest of one of the couches, resting his eyes and his voice.
"Hey, lookit dis," said Skwisgaar suddenly.
Nathan opened one eye and saw Skwisgaar pointing at the computer screen.
"Ah, I hate invites. Who's it from?" he growled.
The computer screen showed someone's myspace where the band was a prominent feature. There was an enormous birthday invite sent to him as a comment from Toki. Skwisgaar and Toki were the only ones in Dethklok with any such account. Myspace was for emos and pussies, in Nathan's opinion. Too much trouble.
"It says dat Toki's birthfkdays is tomorrows," said Skwisgaar.
"So what?" asked Murderface.
"So whats? I don'ts knows," said Skwisgaar.
"We'll have to get him a gift," growled Nathan. He wasn't really looking forward to it at all. Tomorrow was October 18, if he remembered looking at the calender this morning.
"We still has times to prepares," muttered Skwisgaar.
Nathan watched as the Swede checked the rest of his email, clicking out of Myspace.
"Hey, dere's one froms a persons named Hagebak. What's dos I do?" he asked.
"Open it, it's probably Nate," said Nathan. They had stopped calling her Flame, for what reason, no one knew. Now she was simply Nate, and he was Nathan. End of story. Indeed the return address of the email in question was Metalhead6656. It was hers.
"It says dat she has an ideas for Toki's partys and to see hers after practice todays. Crap. I'm lates," he muttered, and he shut the computer off.
Nathan got to his feet and took the Swede's empty seat, reading the email.
He wasn't an expert with computers or anything, but he knew enough. He clicked on Skwisgaar's contacts and found Naetasha's address, then clicked on details. He hadn't added many.
Suddenly, a chat box appeared on the task bar below, flashing orange. Intrigued, he clicked it. A messenger chat box appeared and the name at the top was Joanna. Her friend was trying to get to her.
He typed Helo.
(A/N: Again, messenger quptes will be identified as such, ex. """" you douche""""")
""""ello""""
Nathan made some sort of noise. Sounded like something someone would ssay to him in London.
"""it's Nathan. Nate aint here rite now."""""
There was a pause.
"""" oh, hi Nathan. I got those autographs in the mail today. Can't thank you enough.""""
"""mmm don't mention it"""""
He continued chatting about nothing with his girlfriend's best friend until the subject of birthdays came up. She mentioned something about Nate's birthday.
"""" When is her birthday?""""
There was a pause, longer this time.
"""" she didn't tell you??? it's tomorrow!"""""
She shared Toki's birthday? Why hadn't she told anyone??? Then again, there was a lot about herself she still hadn't told anybody.
""""Hey, gotta go, bi.""""" he typed, and he closed out of the chat box.
He stood up and stretched, then made his way towards her bedroom. Instead, he heard her voice coming from Skwisgaar's room. He opened the door without knocking and found them sitting on opposite ends of his flor-level bed, she looking a little uncomfortable. They were arguiing in hushed voices over something in some magezine.
"Hi Nathan," said Skwisgaar, flipping idly through pages.
"Hey," he replied, walking over to them. He didn't sit. He knew only too well who and what had happened in that bed. He wasn't about to sit on it. Naetasha, he saw, had decided to sit on a sweatshirt on the bed, creating a seperate layer between her butt and the bedspread.
"How come you didn't tell us it's your birthday tomorrow," he asked right out of the blue. To be honest with himself, he was a little stung she hadn't told him. Maybe she didn't want anyone to know for fear of more attention than she was used ot? She had admitted to being neglected a lot in the past.
As was expected, she blushed and muttered something about not needing any birthday party.
"What's It's your birfdays tomorrows too?" asked Skwisgaar disbelievingly.
"Yeah..." she muttered, clearly not wanting to go into it. "I'll be 21."
"Legally old enough to drink and you don't wanna at least get smashed?" Nathan asked, shocked. He had started drinking in high school and had never stopped.
She shrugged but didn't say anything, just continued to flip idly through her own magezine. It was full of guitars and other musical equipment. They were searching and debating over what to get Toki.
Nathan beckoned to Naetasha and she followed him out of the room. He closed Skwisgaar's door and thought of what to say.
"How come you don't want anyone to know anything about you?" he asked.
She glared at a random section of the floor and folded her arms. It was amazing how she could look her age one moment and look half her age at the next.
"When I was a kid, I had a lot of horrible birthdays. People used to tease me cause I was a year younger than everyone else. The more people know about me, the worse it is. They all know just how to irritate me and I don't like being picked on. It's why I learned to fight," she admitted, still refusing to look at him.
Was that all? Hell, he used beer for the same reason.
If it was her birthday tomorrow as well, he may as well plan something besides Toki's birthday. They shared one. It called for a lot of booze.
Booze they had. But what could he get for her that wouldn't embarass her or make her cry? Toki had told him in private that she wasn't used to getting gifts and she disliked jewelry and things. Exactly what they talked about in Norwegian remained a mystery to the others, but it was safe to assume it was a lot more indepth than anything anyone else ever talked about around Mordhaus. Toki probably knew more about her than he did.
He sighed and stared at the carpet.
Then it hit him. He could give her the blackest most brutal thing ever. A reunion with Joanna, who seemed to be her only true friend. But how to find out where she was and how to get hold of her? Then it hit him. How else did Nate get hold of her? The internet.
Marginally more cheerful, he kissed her cheek and walked towards Toki's bedroom.
"Come ins," he called when Nathan knocked.
He entered Toki's bedroom and was struck by the normalcy of it. Pictures of his parents hung on the wall, posters of rockets and star charts, a desk with normal stuff like a magnifying glass and a half complete model, pencil holders, ordinary stuff. It looked like a kid's bedroom.
"Oh, hey Nat'ans. It's my birthdays tomorrows, I sents Skwisgaar an invites over myspace," said the Nord.
"What do you know about Nate that we don't?" he asked, sitting on his bed. He was pretty sure that was safe.
Toki sat at his desk and now paused his modelmaking pursuits to face him.
"She tolds me nevers to tell anyones! She says it's top secrets," Toki refused.
Nathan growled and made a face. This was starting to annoy him. Was she really so afraid ofpity? What if they all promised not to give her an inch, then would she start talking?
"Thanks, Toki," said Nathan, and he left.
He plopped down in his own bedroom and grabbed his laptop, bringing up the messenger website Nate had used once before to speak with Joanna.
"""" Hi agen."""" he typed to her.
A pause.
"""" Which Nate is this""""
"""" Explosion,"""""" he typed.
A pause, then,
""" Ooooh, hi again,""""
Wasting no time (he didn't feel like talking to someone he didn't know, let alone a fan), he typed back.
""" Where do you live"""""
She took her time this time.
"""" Manchester England"""""
Oh, fuck. He would have to send the Hatredcopter to pick her up. It was the only thing they had that was fast enough.
""" Why."""
Nathan decided not to tell her. See how Nate's friends felt being left in the dark to wonder, he thought spitefully.
"""" Expect a hatredcopter sometime tomorrow""" he typed and he refused to write anythign more.
He logged out and closed out, setting his laptop on the floor beside him. He sighed and closed his eyes. He heard the door open but didn't move. It was when he felt a light weight shift his mattress that he knew it was Nate.
He heard her sigh lightly. When she didn't say anything, he opened his eyes a crack. She wasn't looking at him, rather, the floor. She was twisting her hands on her lap, wringing them nervously. The blue stone on the ring she always wore on her little finger reflected the dull light, flashing at him.
"I know you guys must be really annoyed with me. Not telling you anything about myself," she said finally.
"I don't wanna hear it," Nathan grumbled. It was true. He didn't really. She told Toki all this stuff but didn't tell him or the others. Did she not trust them? Did she not trust him???
He rolled over, facing her with his back and felt a gentle, almost tentative hand on his side where his chest met his side fat, forming a small barely visible roll. He needed to lose weight.
She seemed to decide against doing anything else.
"We're celebrating your birthday tomorrow with Toki," he grunted.
There was a pause.
"Fine."
He rolled back over to look at her reaction, and her hand slid over, staying in place, to land just below his chest. She took it back. He was surprised to see her looking ... wierd. Not angry, but not sad, either. Some mix of the two.
"Do you have to?" she asked.
"No, but I think the others, y'know. They might. Specially Toki. He likes you," Nathan admitted.
"I know. It's acgtually sort of wierd. No one liked me much even a year ago," she admitted, and this time she did look a bit sad. Even if she didn't tell anyone, her facial expression usually betrayed how she felt.
Nathan did something he very VERY rarely ever did with any girl. . He pulled her on top of him and just held her. Her weight felt comfortable and she was warm.
It was nice sometimes to just... feel wanted.
"SSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS
Hey, sorry, I needed to end it here, it was getting a bit too long. Next chappter up next! Uh... obviously... sorry. not thinking str8.