Work Text:
Nathan takes a deep breath in as he finishes the last verse for the night. The crowd starts cheering and flashing their tits and stuff but for some reason, Nathan didn't wanna go backstage and fuck some groupies. He was agitated. He didn't feel like talking to anyone. He was angry, but for no reason at all.
"Hey good job Nate'n! You really killed out there" it was Pickles, the drummer for the band. He was sweating because for the song he had to go really really apeshit on the drums.
Nathan doesn't respond with words, only with a grunt, then he started walking back to Mordbus without even acknowledging his other bandmates.
"Good job out there Nathan, the whole show sold out. Also go to sleep early today, because we have a board meeting to go to. It's very important for our advertising" It was his band manager, Charles. He could barely even recognize his voice. His head felt full, and not in a good way. Hes annoyed by every little thing around him. He has a pounding headache and he feels a bit overwhelmed. He responds only with a grunt again, and sits down.
He doesn't talk to anyone on Mordbus, but Pickles came and sat down next to him, so he was kinda forced to atleast acknowledge his being.
"Nate'n what's wrong? You seem a little,,,workrd up"
Nathan grunted again.
"Hey Nathan, whatchs up? You know, I think I absholutely killed out there with my awechome basch playing sckillchs" God dammit, it was Murderface. And he was being super god damn loud too. God this is fucking brutal.
Nathan covers his ears and closes his eyes really tightly shut. Suddenly as soon as Murderface came in being all loud, it got suddenly brighter on Mordbus too. It's like he was becoming sensitive to everything around him suddenly. Man this sucks. Why can't I just be normal. Why am I like this.
"Fine! Be a dick I don't care anymore, fucking Aschhole, alwaysch treating Poor Murderface like a piece of schit" Murderface walked away after
"Nate'n, you ok?" Pickles cautiously asked, he layed a hand on his shoulder
God dammit. Being touched sucks right now, take your God damn hand off my shoulder ugh.
Nathan shoves Pickles hand off his shoulder and places both hands on his head and starts rocking back and forth out of stress
Pickles hadn't really dealt with this kind of thing before, he's never even seen Nathan like this and he's known him for like, forever, he didn't know what to do about this.
"Uh oh god what do I do uh" Pickles was mumbling under his breath, but then he noticed Nathan seemed to be covering his ears. Maybe it was Loud?
Pickles had just tuned out the buzzing from the broken speakers in the Mordbus. God now that he notices it, yeah thats really really annoying.
Pickles gets up from beside Nathan and goes up to a Klokateer with headphones on. He was some sort of sound checker and needed them for the Concert, but he didn't need em anymore so he handed them over to Pickles
Pickles walks back over to Nathan. Sits down next to him, and taps his shoulder very carefully. Nathan was still covering his ears but timidly looks over at Pickles' direction
"Uh, here Nate'n...you seemed to be covering your ears, I hope these help" Pickles hands him the headphones and Nathan takes them and puts them on his head. Wow. Felt amazing. No more of that horrible buzzing from the speakers
Nathan started shaking his fists around, it really confused Pickles
"Uh,,did you hurt your hands? Do you need bandages?" Pickles asked
Nathan shakes his head no and continues to shake his fists around
"I've never seen you like this before dood, are you ok? Did something happen?"
Nathan stops shaking his fists and pulls a bag out from underneath the bus seat, it had a few of these fidget spinner thingies in there, and some other stuff he didn't really recognize. Nathan pulled out a bunch of pieces of paper on a binder ring and a Necklace that seemed to be made out of,,Silicone?
Nathan places the necklace around his neck and then puts it in his mouth. That's a cool Necklace, maybe it's flavored or something. Nathan flips to a piece of paper and hands it to Pickles
"Ooo fancy, what are these, laminated?" He takes some time to read the paper. It says "I am Autistic, and I am currently Non-Verbal, which means I am not able to talk. These cards will help me get out what I need to say"
"I didn't know you were Autistic Nathan" Pickles had always heard the word Autistic. It was mostly used around his public school as a negative word for people who were acting weird. And Murderface uses it sometimes as an insult against things he doesn't like.
Nathan nods and then places his hands on the muffs for the headphones. He just let's them rest there, he's still chewing on this Necklace and rocking back and forth.
Charles comes into the room of the Bus where Pickles and Nathan were sitting
"Nathan you seemed uneasy when I tried talking to you after the concert, are you having a Sensory Overload?" Charles came in and sat down next to Nathan
Huh? Whats these words mean. Man this is confusing.
Nathan nods and takes out a whiteboard and marker from the backpack under the seat
"Hi Charles" Pickles greets their band manager
"Hello Pickles, you did good on the drums today" Charles sends him a compliment
"Thank you Charles but uh, what does Autistic mean? I've heard the word a few times but I have no idea what it is" Pickles is very confused about all of this
"Oh. Well you see Pickles, Autism is a mental disability that alters the life of a person who has it. It makes things different, usually Autistic people are sensitive to sound and bright lights, but not every Autistic person is. And most Autistic people do this thing called stimming. It's repetitive movements, stimming calms the person down when they're distressed" Charles explains to him, tentively
Pickles looks over at Nathan rocking back and forth while shaking his hands. That seems repetitive, maybe it's stimming
"Is Nate'n stimming?" Pickles asks
"Yes, it looks to be like it" Charles inspects
"Shit man, Autism seems complicated, how do you know so much about it" Pickles is genuinely very curious
"Well you see Pickles, I am Autistic" Charles answers Pickles question
"Huh" Pickles pauses for a moment "Autism sounds pretty fucking Metal"