Interlude 2.6

It was getting late in the day by the time Joel finally let Joshua enter the kitchen. Joshua was not stupid. He knew something was up—no matter how big the pocket dimension was, it was hard to keep secrets when eleven people shared a communal living space. Still, nothing could have prepared him for—

“SURPRISE!”

He’d expected something. He hadn’t expected this.

Everyone was gathered around the kitchen table except for Ilia, who still had yet to wake. Colorful streamers hung from the ceiling and walls (which was weird, because how exactly did you hang streamers from glass?), and there were three bunches of balloons—one for each corner of the room. Confetti rained from the ceiling, courtesy of Peter, and Lian was playing “Happy Birthday” in the background. It was the most alive the kitchen had felt since the group’s return from Dimension X. Even the walls of the dimension seemed brighter, as if the place itself were acknowledging Joshua’s birthday.

“Shit,” Joshua breathed. Joel elbowed him in the gut. “Um, thank you?” Joshua looked around, eyes wide with uncertainty. He wasn’t one to fidget, but he found himself running his thumbs over the knuckles of his ruined gloves, if only to have something else to focus on.

“You really didn’t have to do all this,” Joshua muttered.

“Sure we did!” Lian said firmly. “It might be late, but you deserve a birthday party all the same.”

Joshua gripped Joel’s hand harder than he meant to at that. He’d never had a birthday party—not one like this, anyway—and it made sense, really. In childhood, he hadn’t been given anything nice. In adulthood, he hadn’t done much to deserve anything nice.

Joel led Joshua deeper into the kitchen and guided him to a chair at the head of the table. Joshua thought he could hear his brother snickering, but he was too surprised and overwhelmed to do more than glare. As Joshua sat, Juli stepped forward.

“Soooo, pigeon man,” they said, a mischievous smile on their face. “When are ya gonna stop looking like someone punched you in the gut?”

“I—” Joshua scowled. At least Juli’s comment allowed him to settle into familiar group dynamics—it was comforting in a way. “I’ll punch you in the gut if you’re not careful.” There was no heat behind the comment, and from the smirk on Juli’s face, they clearly knew it.

“Ooo, punch me in the gut!” Peter said with a grin. “I’ve always wanted to know what it feels like to get punched by a pigeon.”

“You stop that!” Dani chided, punching Peter in the shoulder. “It’s his birthday.”

“No it’s not,” Joshua muttered. The words came almost automatically, and as soon as Joshua said them he regretted it—everyone had put too much effort into this surprise for Joshua to ruin it. Luckily, no one seemed to hear him in all the excitement.

“That’s enough of that,” Lian said, clapping their hands together. They turned to Joshua with a sunny smile. “Presents first, or cake?”

“There’s cake?” Joshua said weakly. At Lian’s happy nod, Joshua felt his throat choking up. Only two days earlier, Lian had admitted to doing the unthinkable, and Joshua had practically shut Lian out—and to think that the whole time, Lian had been planning something like this. Joshua felt miserable. Maybe he’d do something nice for Lian later, to make it up to them.

“Let’s do presents first,” Karyme suggested, her voice gentle. Of all of them, she seemed the quickest to pick up on the fact that Joshua was too overwhelmed to choose—and of course she would have noticed, what with her power.

“The presents are over here!” Lian chimed in. They pointed to a stack of wrapped boxes in the corner of the dining room. “Which one do you want?”

“Hm.” Joshua rose from his seat and walked over to the stack of presents—it was easier than having to carry each one to the table. After a little contemplation, Joshua just picked up the gift that was closest to him: a shiny silver gift bag with green tissue paper. The gift was from Morgan according to the label, and as soon as Joshua saw the shape of the gift, he knew what it was: a bag of the fanciest coffee beans Joshua had ever had the pleasure of holding.

“You said you wanted coffee,” Morgan muttered. “So I got you coffee.”

“Oh.” Joshua turned over the bag to look at the specific details, and the words spilled out of his mouth before he could stop them. “Holy shit. How did you afford this?” At that, Morgan gave a mischievous smile.

“Oh, you know,” Morgan said sweetly. There was a dangerous undercurrent to her tone, and Joshua decided he was not going to unpack that here and now. Instead, he reached for the next gift—a small box from Dani—and carefully peeled off the wrapping paper. As Joshua took off the lid of the box, his eyes widened in surprise.

A pair of gloves, almost identical to the ones he was wearing right now: black, fingerless, with steel caps over the knuckles.

His current gloves had been ruined in the last month by fight after fight—Dimension X, specifically, had done a number on them—so Joshua was thrilled to have a replacement. He grinned as he met Dani’s eyes.

“Thanks, Dani. These are great.” He lifted the gloves out of the box. “Dare I ask where you found military-grade gloves?”

“Stole ‘em,” Dani said off-handedly. “It was in no way a dangerous undertaking.” Joshua snorted. Somehow he doubted that. Somehow, though, that just made the gift all the more charming.

Joshua reached for the next gift—a bag from both Karyme and Rae. The bag contained three things: a coffee mug, a small velvet bag, and a book. The mug was emblazoned with a d20 logo on it and the words “literally god” on the side—a reference to the fact that Joshua acted as dungeon master for a couple of Dungeons and Dragons games in his spare time. Similarly, the book was the latest adventure guide for DnD. Joshua flipped through a couple of pages in awe. These things tended to be expensive. Last, Joshua tipped over the velvet bag, and a set of forest green marbled dice fell into his outstretched palm.

“Thank you, both of you,” Joshua said earnestly, slipping the dice back into the bag. “I really appreciate it.”

“Of course,” Karyme said kindly. “Rae’s a massive nerd, too, so he was able to pick stuff out relatively easily.” Rae shot Karyme a dirty look. Karyme giggled in reply.

“You know, you should DM a one-shot for us!” Joel suggested. “Since we’re stuck here anyway.”

“That would be nice,” Rae agreed. “If you wanted to, of course.” Joshua shrugged at the suggestion. It would be nice to have something to do other than poring over information on the Soul Stealers. He’d consider it, at least.

Joshua reached for the next box—apparently from Peter. This one was messily wrapped, and from the shape he could tell that it was a book. Joshua was almost a little nervous as he unwrapped the book—and then, as he read the cover, he let out an exasperated sigh.

“Anger management workbook for men,” Joshua deadpanned, looking Peter in the eye. “You little shit.” He was struck by the urge to punch Peter, but as he stared at the cover of the book, he realized that punching Peter would just be proving that he needed the book in the first place. Dammit.

Joshua sighed again and put the book aside. He’d deal with that later. For now, he took the next box—from Juli—in his hands. The silver spotted wrapping paper crackled in his hands as he ripped it away from the cardboard box. As soon as he got the box open, everyone started to laugh—and it was no wonder, really. Inside the box was a small stuffed pigeon plush.

Joshua gave Juli a withering look.

“Wait, wait, wait, before you get mad at me, there’s something else in there,” Juli said quickly. “I just saw the pigeon plushie on sale and couldn’t resist. But I’d never just give you a joke gift.”

“Mmhm.” Joshua did his best to sound unamused as he pulled an envelope out of the box. Inside was a birthday card with a long, sappy message—Joshua decided to read that later, in private—and a gift card for a local music store.

“Joel told me you like music stuff, but I don’t know shit about instruments and accessories and all that, so I figured the best thing was just to give you the money,” Juli said sheepishly.

Joshua nodded in thanks. “That makes sense.” He looked sourly at the pigeon plush. “Well, most of it makes sense.”

There were only two gifts remaining in the pile: one from Lian, and one from Auster. Joshua opted to open Lian’s first. As he opened the neatly wrapped box, a gasp escaped his lips.

A jacket. Olive green, with four pockets across the front and the number 99 stitched across the left shoulder. White faux-fur padded the sleeves and the collar. The jacket was identical in every way to the one he’d shed in the prison after getting shot.

“Thanks,” Joshua said weakly, his throat choked with emotion. His watery gaze met Lian’s shining blue eyes. “I—thank you.”

“Of course!” Lian said cheerfully. “I know your favorite jacket got ruined on the prison break mission, so I got Haku to make you a new one. Back before… you know.”

Joshua let out a huff. Of course this had been the work of one of the immortals. He couldn’t even be mad about it, though. He’d missed having his trusty jacket.

Joshua swallowed as he looked at the last box. He wasn’t sure he could take any more kindness for today. It wasn’t like he had a choice, though, not with Joel practically bouncing at his side. Joshua grabbed the wrapped shoe box—labeled “from Auster and Joel”—and carefully removed the lid. He was so shocked by the contents that he almost dropped the box.

Inside were a pair of the most beautiful boots Joshua had ever seen. They were similar to the ones he was currently wearing, but less worn down by time, with darker leather and fancier laces. Even the heels were to Joshua’s liking. Tears pricked at the corners of Joshua’s eyes.

“Aus, you really shouldn’t have,” Joshua breathed, looking up at his childhood friend.

“Oh. Um. It was Joel’s idea,” Auster said awkwardly.

“It was not!” Joel retorted. “I mean, it was partly my idea, but you had the same kind of idea. I just helped with the specifics!”

“They’re beautiful either way,” Joshua said earnestly.

“You haven’t even seen the best part!” Joel said excitedly, pointing to a small area slightly above the heels. Joshua inhaled sharply. Sewn into the leather was a small, winged number nine. “I know nine is your favorite number, and I wanted to put something special.”

“Joel…” Joshua pulled his brother into a hug, which was a little awkward because both of them were sitting on the floor, but they made it work. “Thank you.”

At that moment, Lian emerged from the kitchen carrying a two-layered red velvet cake. The cake was beautifully decorated, with icing neatly piped around the edges. The message on top of the cake read “Happy Birthday, Joshua” in chocolate letters, and nestled in the corner, away from the candles was an intricately sculpted chocolate hawk.

“Cake time!” Juli cheered. “Oh, I can light the candles, if that’s okay?” For a second, Joshua thought Juli was just going to use their own flames, and a chill ran down his spine—but then Juli pulled out a lighter and got to work.

There were no light switches in the pocket dimension, but the ethereal glow from the walls seemed to dim as Joshua took a seat at the head of the table, in front of the cake. And then, the group began to sing with Lian in the lead. A light flush colored Joshua’s cheeks. He felt out of place, sitting at the center of so much positive attention.

“Make a wish!” Joel reminded him. Joshua stared blankly at the candles. He wasn’t quite sure what to wish for, but… Joshua looked at the candlelit faces all around him, and his focus zeroed in on Joel—sunny, smiling Joel. Joshua made a wish.

After that, Lian started handing out slices of cake, and everything fell into a blur of activity around Joshua. He was vaguely aware of someone placing the chocolate hawk on his plate alongside a big slice of red velvet cake and a dollop of extra icing. Joshua was too overwhelmed to really process it all until Auster elbowed him from the next seat over.

“You okay?” Auster asked.

Joshua looked around the room—at Peter, shoving Dani’s face into a slice of cake as Juli recorded; at Karyme rushing to get paper towels to clean up the mess; at Rae and Lian chatting in the corner; at Morgan, being questioned by a very excited Joel.

“Yeah,” Joshua said quietly. “Yeah, I guess I am.” A rare smile crossed Auster’s face, and Joshua found himself matching the expression. It was weird to think about, but this felt more like a home than any apartment Joshua had lived in.

Joshua picked up the chocolate hawk from his plate and turned it over in his hands. No one had told him who the hawk was from, but Joshua knew, somehow. A part of him still hated Kai—for giving Joshua powers; for martyring himself night after night in Dimension X; for disappearing like this. That was the one that hurt the most.

Joshua swallowed. He would never admit it, but he wished that Kai had been at this party to give him a proper gift and help bake the cake and make some of his favorite foods and—Joshua missed Kai, somehow, despite only knowing the immortal for the better part of five days.

With a sigh, Joshua slipped the chocolate hawk onto his plate. He could unpack those emotions later. For now, it was time to enjoy some cake.

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