“You’ve gotta be fucking kidding me.”

Hunter sat near Ashley in his bedroom once again, finding himself completely stunned. This kid was insane. At this point, it had been two weeks since they’d been partnered up, with this Sunday now being their fourth or so at-home session. And apparently, Ashley had actually finished reading all the books he’d rented on the Industrial Revolution, cover to cover in that period. They were not flimsy, thin books. They were heavy, Steven King novel, stand-on-top-of-to-reach-a-high-shelf kind of big. Hunter just sat with his mouth practically agape, as the seemingly superhuman boy in front of him revealed that, nonchalantly.

“Dude, you didn’t have to read all that, so why the hell did you? Trying to show off or something?”

Ashley pushed up his glasses, unaffected. He’d already gotten used to Hunter’s attitude and penchant for sounding threatening, even if it wasn’t his intention in the moment. “I just wanted to test myself, I suppose. To see if I could complete them all within a certain time limit.”

With a scoff, that held an underlying layer of awe, the blond shuffled into a new position on his bed, pressing his back against the wall. “You really must be some kinda robot.”

Ashley frowned at that. Hunter raised an eyebrow.

“It’s not so substantial. There are people out there who could read this within one week.”

Hunter couldn’t believe what he was hearing. Ashley had managed to do all that, and yet was putting himself down for not being better. Seriously, insane.

“Why are you even in Thompson’s class, with all the dumbasses? Don’t they have Honors or whatever it’s called?”

Ashley shrugged, still apathetic. “They were all full. I didn’t have a choice.”

Hunter hummed in response. He took a swig of the cheap beer in his hand, observing, while Ashley opened his laptop to resume typing up the project’s written portions. He smirked, a mischievous thought popping up suddenly. “Hey, you sure you don’t want some? I promise you won’t regret it.”

Ashley squinted at Hunter from where he sat, disapprovingly, before returning his gaze to the computer screen. “I have already told you; I don’t drink. Stop trying to make me cave to peer pressure, you delinquent.” He clicked away on the keyboard as he spoke, not even looking up. Laser-focused, as always.

“Right, right. My bad.” The teen chuckled. He knew Ashley would immediately decline his offer, but gave it a shot, anyway. Within the two weeks they’d worked together, Hunter found that he enjoyed teasing the stoic boy whenever he could. That ranged from offering him drinks or cigarettes to see his reaction, to asking his opinion on the poster girls in his room, to pretending to not have completed any work when they did their daily progress check-ins.

It was an immature way to amuse himself, sure. His friends like Evan or Micah would sure as hell find it funny, too. But here, in this cluttered bedroom, during these tedious work sessions, Hunter was always the only one laughing.

No matter what, Ashley was a steel fortress, an immovable rock. Hunter could not remember one single instance where he full-on smiled, and there were definitely no laughs to be had from him, either.

He couldn’t help it. It was annoying as hell, but he wanted to know. What did this serious, unemotional guy named Ashley look like when he laughed?

He’d probably never find out.

“You’re so boring.” Hunter grumbled, although half-heartedly. He noticed that Ashley’s fingers seemed to hover over the keys for just a split second, as if he were in thought. Then, like clockwork, he continued typing in his quick yet elegant manner.

Steel fortress.

                                                                                      ****

 As the afternoon went on, the two boys found their work session interrupted by an unexpected knock at the front door. Ashley immediately sat up straight at the sound. Hunter kicked his legs over the side of his bed, confused.

“Are those your parents?” Ashley questioned. He had already been to Hunter’s house a few times, but he had never met Mike or Sarah. Hunter made sure of that by telling the other teen the exact time frame in which he could come over. He didn’t want, or need, to know how they would react to the oh-so-perfect Ashley.

“Nah. They’re out of town the next couple days.” Hunter answered as he rose from the bed and peeked out the window. A smile lit his face when he discovered who it was. “Fuck yeah!”

He dashed out of the bedroom with an energetic speed, the suddenness almost startling Ashley. Not knowing what else to do, the dark-haired boy followed, also curious about the guests. Hunter swung the door open to reveal two of his friends, Micah, and Cassie.

“Hey, guys, what’s up?” Hunter grinned. Ashley watched from afar, quietly. “Why didn’t you text me that you were coming over?”

As if he owned the place, Micah slid inside the house, and Cassie entered as well. “Dude, we did. You’re literally always on your phone; you didn’t see it?”

Hunter pressed his lips into a line. He was always on his phone. But today, it seemed like he hadn’t been for a few hours. How was that even possible?

Before he could think more about it, the blond saw Cassie’s full lips stretch into a smile. “Oh, hi!”

Both Hunter and Micah turned back to see Ashley standing in the background, still silent as a mouse. He seemed to hesitate for a second, but then gave a small nod as he approached the group. For some reason, Hunter felt a pang of something like nervousness shoot through his chest.

“Guess now we know why you didn’t answer us.” Cassie remarked with a hint of sass.

“Right, uh…guys, this is Ash. We’re working on that dumb history project Thompson came up with a while ago.” He said with a slight scoff. Ashley stepped forward.

“Hello. I’m Ashley.” The spectacled boy corrected.

Micah smirked a little, although he tried to hide it behind his hand. “Hey. I’m Micah.”

“Cassie.” The pink-haired girl added.

“Nice to meet you both.” Ashley almost bowed his head, politely. Micah and Cassie looked at each other for a second, after the motion.

Rocking back and forth on his heels, hands in his pockets, Micah let out a low whistle to break the silence that followed their introductions. “So, Hunter…wanna hang out? I downloaded ‘Chaos and Valor’ if you wanna log into my account and play.”

“Dude, is that even a question? Hell yeah, I wanna play.” Hunter beamed.

Hearing that, Cassie sucked her teeth. “Ugh, great. I thought we were gonna watch a movie or something. You guys never let me have a turn at games.”

“That’s ‘cuz you suck, Cass. Just do that less, and you’ll get a turn.” Micah quipped and Hunter laughed, as they started towards the living room. While the short girl began hitting her friends for being assholes, Ashley still stood in the background, watching silently.

                                                                                    ****

Hunter's eagerness bubbled as he grabbed the controller from Micah, already diving into the virtual world on the large TV screen. Cassie settled onto the couch, observing the game's fast-paced action with interest, despite her earlier complaints.

Ashley hesitated, hovering near the doorway, and feeling a touch of discomfort. He scratched his arm wordlessly, as the trio hollered in excitement.

Micah glanced back at Ashley, puzzled by his demeanor. “Hey, you play games, Ashley?”

Ashley shook his head. “Not really.”

The olive-toned boy furrowed his brow at him but then shrugged, returning his attention to the game. “Okay…suit yourself.”

Ashley eyed Hunter, who was completely absorbed in the game, his laughter mingling with Micah's commentary. Sensing the time slipping away, Ashley cleared his throat, trying to assert himself in the increasingly chaotic atmosphere.

“Hunter, maybe we should get back to the project. We've got a lot to cover,” Ashley suggested, trying to catch Hunter's attention.

The blond barely glanced his way, engrossed in the game. “Relax, Ash. We'll get to it later. Come on, why don’t you join?”

Micah nodded in agreement, gesturing for Ashley to take a seat. “Yeah, man. Lighten up. That project isn’t a big deal—it can wait.”

“I have to disagree, it’s a major portion of our final grade…” Ashley mumbled.

Cassie chimed in, flashing a grin at the introvert. “Aww, don't be such a buzzkill. Live a little!”

“Oh my God,” Hunter laughed. “That’s literally what I’m always thinking.”

Feeling increasingly out of place and unheard, Ashley faltered, unsure how to navigate this situation. With a faint sigh, he resigned himself to going back upstairs to the bedroom, preferring to progress on his half of the work, at least. He just hoped Hunter would notice and send his friends on their way soon. But he wasn’t getting his hopes up too high, seeing how the other became much rowdier with company. The total opposite of the boy who so openly sang to him before, with such a sincere voice.

If he was being honest, he really just wanted to leave.

As he ascended the stairs, Ashley could still hear the group cheering and howling away, although it was getting fainter with each step. But then, he caught something that made him stop in his tracks.

“Bro, what kind of loser rather do school shit than play video games?”

The harsh words came from Micah, someone Ashley met not an hour earlier. But then, Hunter laughed along in agreement.

Ashley decided to just keep walking.