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"Stefan, dear, what time did you say Colin was going to be here?"
Stefan sighed internally before tearing his eyes away from the yellowing page of his beaten up copy of Bandersnatch. He shut the book slowly, reluctantly, thumb keeping his place before regarding his mother with a roll of his eyes.
"Half two, Mum, I did tell you. He'll probably be late, mind."
Stefan's mother hummed, almost disbelieving, before turning away from Stefan to rinse her flour covered hands in the sink. Stefan could see her face reflected in the kitchen window, small smile gracing her face and he frowned slightly, allowing Bandersnatch to fall closed with a note of finality. His mother turned around at this, raising her eyebrows at the fact that it was the first time Stefan had emerged from behind his book all day.
"Don't be like that, Stefan, I'm sure he's a lovely boy. Now, get changed, please - You've been in those pyjamas all day."
Scoffing, Stefan rose from his chair, allowing it to screech painfully against the tiles in the way he knew his mother hated. She ignored him in favour of peering inside the oven to nurse the cookies she'd insisted on baking and the boy rolled his eyes once again before embarking upstairs.
On his way up, Stefan tried to recall the last time he'd ever heard the word's 'nice' and 'Colin' used in the same sentence. At the pairing of his own name and Colin's by his professor, a chorus of pitiful chuckles could be heard and Stefan could still feel, his desk partner, Kitty's hand slap him firmly on the square of his back.
"Good luck with that one", she'd mumbled, tangerine hair tickling Stefan's cheek, "I've heard he's a right prick."
Colin's face was the picture of stony defiance when Stefan had dared to peek over. Momentarily, they'd caught eyes, and Colin jutted his chin in challenge, causing Stefan to turn away so fast he practically contracted whiplash. It was then and there that he decided: he really fucking hated Colin Ritman.
Now, it had hardly been a rash decision. In fact, Stefan had spent most of lunch time that day considering whether Colin really was a 'prick', as Kitty had so delicately put it, or whether he might have just been having a bad day. Or bad week. Or whatever. After all, he and Colin had never shared more than a few words with each other (with the exception of that one time when Stefan had gone to the bike sheds to pick up his BMX and Colin had been sat smoking the remnants of a blunt and, at the look of shock on Stefan's face, had promptly told him to 'fuck off'. Stefan decided not to count that one, though, with the means of making it a fair test) so it was hardly fair to judge from the stories he'd heard from around school. No, Stefan wasn't dumb enough to believe everything he heard. Instead, from his prime spot, alone at the back of the cafeteria, Stefan decided to judge Colin based on his behaviour in his natural habitat.
Naturally, Colin gravitated to the type of boys who wore Hawaiian shirts "ironically" and thought that a quick spritz of Lynx: Africa was enough to mask the stench of weed. They sat, a whole herd of them, at the opposite end of the canteen and Stefan studied closely, Colin's shock of blonde hair making him easily identifiable from within the crowd. He sat on the edge of the table, as if there'd been no chairs left and he was the one left to pull a spare up, scribbling furiously on a piece of paper in front of him. Occasionally, somebody would rouse him and he'd break concentration for long enough to give a grunt of acknowledgement before returning to work, frown etched permanently across his bold features.
Stefan swallowed thickly, finally succumbing to a sense of empathy as he eyed his copy of Bandersnatch. Though, unlike him, Colin was surrounded by countless people, he seemed very much alone. Yet, when Colin eventually looked up, catching Stefan's eyes with a cruel sneer, he wondered if perhaps the boy had done it to himself.
After all, at least Stefan was alone by choice.
---
It was the doorbell that shook Stefan from his pondering, brash and abrasive, and he pulled his jeans on clumsily, hands still tugging at the fly as he stumbled downstairs. His mother eyed him with wariness and Stefan scanned his shirt self consciously for stains but saw none and reasoned that she was probably just stressed.
It wouldn't be surprising considering he hadn't brought anybody home since he began coding Bandersnatch, a good six months ago.
With a final disapproving glance, Stefan's mother arranged her face into a welcoming smile and undid the latch on the door. It groaned on it's hinges as it swung open to reveal Colin Ritman, hands crammed into jeans that hung low on his hips and trainers scuffing uselessly against the porch floor. His mother seemed taken aback for a minute but she recovered well, barely even twitching as Colin stepped inside, treading mud all over the hallways carpet. It was an impressive feat, Stefan thought, considering she'd only hoovered up two hours prior.
"Colin, isn't it? Wow, how lovely to meet you!"
Colin looked up from undoing his shoe laces, slipping them off his feet before holding out his hand in greeting. Stefan's mother met him in the middle, her hand feeble in Colin's strong grasp and blush creeping over her cheeks as he shook her hand firmly.
"You too, Mrs Butler. Thank you for having me over."
Quite frankly, Stefan blanched, the unfamiliar sight of a smile taking over Colin's features enough to leave him ogling. He was dressed in a pressed white shirt, blue blazer donned on top and an impressive collection of pin badges attached to his left breast pocket. The only thing missing was a fucking bow tie, Stefan thought, a far cry from his usual school attire of some variation of graphic tshirt beneath a lurid red shirt.
Stefan was aware he was staring, but his mother emphasised so, clearing her throat and digging her fingers into the small of Stefan's back.
"Right well, I won't keep you boys long - Stefan tells me you have a lot to do." She was addressing Colin now, who smiled easily. "Feel free to come down for drinks when you need to."
Distantly, Stefan thought he heard another round of "thank-you"s but he was too far up the stairs to even register. The only clear thing was the sound of Colin's footsteps now behind him, harsh and uncaring like Stefan was used to. They still hadn't spoken a word to eachother and Stefan was painfully aware of the fact, but he was unable to get a gauge on the other boy's mood.
Seriously, Mrs fucking Butler? Even the gas man who'd come round last week had called her Carol.
Once safely in his bedroom, Stefan finally allowed himself to set eyes on Colin, who slumped casually against the bed in the middle of the room as if he'd been here hundreds of times prior. It made Stefan's throat go dry, the sight of Colin's long legs stretched out on top of his bed sheets, head propped up against the wooden headboard.
Distracting enough even, that Stefan didn't notice the blunt between Colin's fingers until he was already lighting it, metallic click of his lighter too loud for the small bedroom.
"For fuck sake", Stefan scrabbled to open the window, leaning uncomfortably over the bed and by default, Colin, as he undid the latch, "at least sit closer to the window."
From beneath him, Colin smirked but obeyed, shuffling over until he was almost dangling off the edge of the bed, hand extended closer to the window so that the smoke could escape. Stefan hesitated before perching awkwardly at the foot of the bed, legs curled up beneath him to make way for Colin's sprawling form.
"Bit of a prude, is she?"
Stefan frowned, momentarily confused before Colin gestured downwards to the living room where Stefan's mother was no doubt sitting, The Brady Bunch reruns playing as background noise to accompany her gossip magazines.
Stefan scowled now, his eyebrows furrowed, and met Colin's gaze defiantly, chin raised.
"No, fuck off. Besides, you were licking her arse two minutes ago from what I can recall."
Colin laughed despite himself, smoke curling from his mouth; the sound was foreign to Stefan, something abrupt and honest, and it made him fidget, hands folded in his lap. For a moment longer, neither of them spoke, the sounds of Colin's deep exhales the only audible thing before he piped up again.
"Yeah, well. Seems like she wants you to be happy. Wouldn't wanna ruin that, would I?"
There was a quiet honesty to Colin's words, something that made Stefan shudder, but he refused to be won over that easily. Instead, he reached behind himself, unzipping his school backpack to retrieve a mound of papers which he dumped on the duvet in front of him. Colin eyed them dubiously before dropping the remnants of his blunt into a dirty cup on Stefan's night stand and pulling himself into a seated position, legs hanging from the edge of the bed.
"Fuck that." Colin spoke decisively as he stood up, knees clicking in protest and trousers hanging so low that they could barely be considered on his hips anymore. "I need a drink."
Stefan sighed quietly to himself, the squeak of the stairs beneath Colin's feet audible from his bedroom. Despite his best efforts, the open window had no effect on the extent of the smell that now inhabited his room and Stefan sprayed some Lynx uselessly, hands wafting in the air as if it would make a difference. Eventually, he retired, taking the cup from his nightstand and shoving it carelessly on top of his wardrobe, a spot he hoped his mother would be too short to reach. Then, with the intention of asking Colin whether they were ever going to start, let alone finish, this fucking project, Stefan too ascended the stairs.
It was the sound of voices that stopped him in his tracks, ear pressed shamelessly to the kitchen door as he strained to interpret the conversation behind it.
"-for him to have friends." Stefan's mother finished, the clacking of mugs and the whistle of the kettle masking some of her words.
"I mean, Stefan and I, we're not uh- I wouldn't say we're friends." came a deep voiced reply, unmistakably Colin, and Stefan scoffed quietly to himself. Of course they weren't fucking friends.
"No?" pressed his mother, her voice light as it had been when she'd quizzed Stefan about his first girlfriend, or when she'd broken the news that their cat had been run over by a lorry. "That's a shame. You seem like the type to get along with one another. Both into computers and that bander-thingy. Beats me."
Colin had laughed quietly at this, his voice nearly lost between the sound of chairs being pulled from beneath the table as Stefan could only assume they both sat down at the table.
"No." Colin confirmed after a moment, voice quiet as it was the few times Stefan had heard him speak at school. "No, I, uh- he's very clever. I heard about him coding Bandersnatch. I'm not sure I could match that."
It was meant to be a joke, judging by the weak tremble of a laugh in Colin's voice, but instead it sounded sad, pitiful almost. Without realising, Stefan had allowed his eyes to drift close but, at this, he opened them, pushing open the door the rest of the way and arranging his features into a look of impassiveness.
Whether he realised it or not, Colin immediately coloured a startling shade of red and looked down into his mug, refusing to meet Stefan's eyes as he approached, occupying the only remaining seat.
"Ah, Stefan, good." His mother jumped up immediately, her back turned as she retrieved another mug. "I just brewed some tea."
With his mother distracted, Stefan dared to meet Colin's eyes, this time with him wearing a smirk.
"Clever, eh?" Stefan mumbled, nudging his foot gently against Colin's under the table. The other boy rolled his eyes, seeming to colour even further as he refused to match Stefan's gaze.
"Yeah, well, don't take it to heart. Just being polite, wasn't I?"
Stefan hummed, disbelieving, and shifted to cradle his chin in his hands, head tilted as he studied Colin further. He seemed to hide behind those wide rimmed glasses, Stefan noticed, the glare of the glass acting as a shield to hide any emotion in his eyes. Yet now, in the dim light of Stefan's kitchen, he was exposed, cheeks still rosy and gaze downturned in embarrassment. Small freckles littered his cheeks, something else that was new to Stefan, and brought a certain softness to those bold features, leaving Stefan feeling lightheaded.
Only did Colin look up as Stefan's mother returned to the table, setting a third mug of tea down on it and smiling, having obviously caught on to their interaction.
"Noted." replied Stefan, hands wrapping around the warmth of the mug, and Colin allowed himself to laugh, shoulders shaking with a sort of easiness.
Stefan filed that away, along with everything else, and lifted the mug to his lips.