Chapter Text
The room had been nothing endearing nor intriguing. It was about the size of Everett’s room back at the manor, however now it was split between two inhibitors, making it half smaller. Two single beds were positioned at the back wall near the centre as grand, prestigious white wooden frames encased a set of considerably sized windows. Enlightening the room in pleasant natural light. To the right hand side was an unyielding polished oak desk with a matching chair to match. At the side had been two identical bookshelves,(if either of the two boys had any books or belongings to stack there) central to the desk another set of windows hung. They had been quite lucky to get a corner room, as Everett assumed not all rooms had two sets of upscaled windows. Opposite the desk was a plain dresser and wardrobe with a heavy wooden door at the far corner. He assumed that it was the bathroom. Everett looked up and noticed that the ceiling was in a dome like shape, and a variety of hand painted religious imagery were symmetrically plotted atop him. Roscoe hadn’t lied when he previously announced that Jesus was always watching. On the centre of the dome like ceiling hung a splendid chandelier which had a dozen anachronistic light bulbs, which Everett suspected hardly worked judging by the state of them.
‘’It’s so big.’’ the other boy suddenly spoke out; a definite accent accentuated his words, perhaps somewhere from South-West Europe. Perhaps Italy? Or maybe Spain? The sudden remark startled Everett, his mask of impassivity gently dropped. He quickly gathered his condescending demeanour back up and briskly replied;
‘’My room back at the manor is bigger, this miniscule box is hardly the size of my pantry.’’ he defensively crossed his arms and stared up ahead as he returned.
‘’Hm. You must live in a pretty big house, no?’’ the other boy inquired, Everett could feel his gaze piercing him, frankly he didn’t enjoy being gawked at. Hence why he spent a ridiculously long time locked up at his house.
‘’Big enough.’’ a hostile response left his lips, as neither did he like being interrogated by a mere stranger as he whipped his head around making eye contact with the tanned boy; a glare evident in Everett’s fine features.
‘’Hey, I was just trying to spark up a conversation, don’t get snappy with me.’’ in an unobtrusive manner which indicated he hadn’t really cared that Everett was being short-tempered. He lazily stretched his arms and walked over to the left bed closest to the bathroom door where he ungracefully flopped down. ‘’What’d you say your name was again?’’ the boy laying on the bed with his palms behind his head questioned.
‘’I didn’t.’’ Everett spun around and began to fiddle with the top button of his silk shirt, twisting the small black polished button left and right. ‘’Everett.’’ he stated after a brief pause.
‘’Huh, Everest? Like the mountain?’’ the boy gave a look of disbelief as his eyebrows shot up.
‘’Eve RETT !’’ the other boy growled out with disbelief, ‘’No, not the bloody mountain, you insolent fool.’’ Everett scoffed, not sure if he was genuinely this deaf or simply just unfathomably stupid.
‘’Everest sounds better, so I’ll call you that.’’ the other boy teased with a friendly smirk, it was pleasant teasing. It wasn’t like Roscoe's patronising jeer or his Mothers hostile comments. The smirk tugged the left side of his face; revealing an uneven set of canines and central incisors. Everett could see at the side a pair of metal retainers peeking out of his canines. He scoffed again as he massaged his temples. The boy had evidently not been paid much attention while growing up, judging how his parents hadn’t made an effort to get him braces earlier on to save him the embarrassment of wearing that silly wire now!
‘’What is your name then?’’ Everett shot out, impatiently waiting to return the mocking favour.
‘’Niccolo.’’ his smirk broadened into a smile as the entire retainer peeked out now, displaying just how utterly disarranged his top teeth were. Everett narrowed his eyes as his brain conjured an unholy amount of insults and jeers to throw at the boy, who sat perked up on the bed nodding his head with his raised eyebrows, prodding Everett to give in and annoy him back.
‘’I have conjured up an immense amount of jeers and taunts about your name, however I shall be the bigger person and refrain from escalating the situation any further.’’ Everett quirked an eyebrow at Niccolo and crossed his arms defensively. Niccolo sat there as his eyes darted up and down Everett with that same exasperating smirk plastered on his exasperating face.
Niccolo raised his palms in defeat as he announced, ‘’okay, I’ve come to terms that I’ve won this argument then.’’
‘’No you have not won anything! This was never an argument to begin with.’’ Everett grabbed a lungful of air as he couldn’t believe his own ears what he was going to say next.
‘’Nick The Dick!’’ he exclaimed, as it was the worst one that popped into his brain. Because frankly, Everett feverishly scavenged his brain for an insult that either didn't come or didn’t rhyme properly. So therefore, he had lied about making an immaculate amount of insults. Livid mortification rushed to his face, at disbelief at his own words. Everett simply refused to make eye contact as visible embarrassment tugged at his gut. He hadn’t ever acted in such a deplorable manner before, losing his grace or running a filthy mouth around.
Just as Everett had been rethinking his choices in life, a booming laugh ruptured through the room. Niccolo was giggling and suppressing laughs as he barely spoke out through all the giggling, ‘’why are you so ashamed over that? It– Ha, it was so bad it made it funny. Your face cracked me up.’’ he continued to laugh that contagious laugh of his as Everett spun around his back to Niccolo as he suppressed a smile himself which was tugging at the corners of his lips.
‘’You nobles are some weird people, with your manners and superiority, but I suppose you’re bearable.’’ Niccolo chuckled out as he had finally calmed down. ‘’You can call me Nick if you want, most people do anyway.’’
‘’Thank you very much for your cordial courtesy, however I’m afraid I’ll refrain from even uttering your name.’’ Everett gave a smile as he eloquently placed himself down on the desk chair, which really dug on his tailbone.
‘’Qualcuno è un po’ arrabbiato’’ Niccolo mumbled out in a jejune manner, rolling his eyes. Everett’s suspicions had been confirmed; the man was Italian! He made a mental note to praise his splendid intuition.
‘’à peine.’’ Everett retaliated as he hissed out his words in an unamused fashion, his eyes so narrowed by now he probably looked foolish as if, trying to decipher a particularly bewildering maths question.
Niccolo raised his eyebrows in acknowledgement. Clearly started by the foreign comeback. ‘’You’re French?’’ he leaned back on his palms against the darkwood polished headboard. Clearly intrigued.
‘’Bred and raised in an English household, however it is mandatory for me to know at least three languages fluently. French is my second language as most of our sponsors and company upholding relatives live in France. You could say that I have French lineage.’’ he sighed in a monotone. He was perked up on the desk chair, arms resting on the desk; head in hands inspecting for any blemishes on his perfect digits and forearms.
‘’Hm. Interesting.’’ Niccolo acknowledged again.
Everett supposed his roommate wasn’t as infuriating once he had settled down with the snippy comments and the ‘get to know’ teasing. One of them had to ease the mood in the air. Afterall, if Everett had been paired with some self righteous boy much like himself, then he might as well have been living with a ghost. At least with this primate he made somewhat of an effort to keep friendly and on even waters. He would soon find out that Everett Leland was much more unpredictable than what was deemed normal.
꧁༺ ❖❖༻꧂
A large portion of the bright breezy morning was spent ventilating the room, by stretching the obsolete windows as far as they could stretch. Sorting and shuffling belongings around; bed sheets being slotted against pillows and duvets, arranging and folding clothes as they bickered on how much space they should each have. Everett had brought an absurd amount of clothing; almost as if he was going to fashion school or non-stop galas! Whereas, Niccolo had hardly brought any official clothing, a large chunk of it was hoodies, t-shirts, coats, jeans, trainers, sweaters and God knows what more. Everett vigorously barked and argued that he should have more space as he had more clothes, however Niccolo simply mimicked his tone and nagged that it would just have to remain in his leather suitcase. No way in God's name was he having silk and satin in a suitcase for more than six hours which had already passed. The fool probably hardly knew how many instructions Everett had to keep a track of so his silk doesn’t get ruined. At last they agreed to keep clothes of less importance in their suitcases while they hung up their necessities. Everett certainly wasn’t pleased, however it was better than not having any clothes hung up at all.
They had found a valuable job for the shelfs, which were at the sides of the wooden desk. Everett had stacked an impressive amount of literature books and exercise books for the upcoming semester. It had been readily organised and spectacularly aligned. Whereas Niccolo had stashed all his trainers on the bottom end, shoved all his worksheets and books on the two top ones; the paper had been scrunched and disarrayed,(which made Everett’s eye twitch involuntarily as he observed the boy compress and shove books one on top of the other.) he could almost swear that at the corner of his eye he had seen Niccolo shuffle a questionable magazine onto the shelf; however he wasn’t sure and neither did he fancy asking him. The boy had looked restless enough, just trying to shuffle it out of his suitcase. Right after, they bickered some more as to why shoes should not be placed on a shelf which had been clearly designated for books. Everett takes every thought back of saying how his roommate wasn't all bad. The boy had been an utter nightmare. Peculiarly enough, to Everett’s complete astonishment Niccolo got a particularly heavy looking leather bag and toppled over a dismantled record player onto his navy blue and white bed sheets. Everett’s jaw fell unhinged as he gawked at the tanned boy opposite him, who worked feverishly to mantle it back onto life.
‘’Why in God’s name have you just got a record player in your bag lounging about?’’ Everett finally stuttered out as he was still in evident shock, he masked it by giving a quaint cough. It hadn’t been an astounding record player by any means, in fact it had been a tatty old thing that Everett hardly believed worked! Certainly it hadn’t been a Thorens TD160; if anything he considered it to be Thorens long lost abandoned third cousin, or something of the sort.
‘’Well you see, a record player is used to play music and there’s no music in this building, no? So I got myself a record player, you should be thanking me, if anything.’’ Niccolo spoke sarcastically like it had been a very obvious answer. ‘’I don’t understand how someone could live without music.’’ he added plaintively at the end.
‘’You see, no normal person I've interacted with just had a dismantled record player in their bag, do you even have any gramophone records with you?.’’ Everett shot out at last.
‘’Of course I do, what kind of a silly question is that? Why bring a record player if you’ve no vinyls.’’ He answered more of a statement than a question. Niccolo had successfully managed to assemble the record player back into its original state with his little toolbox he had brought along; he whipped his head around as he obviously analysed the room for something. The vinyls.
‘’Prepare for the best musical experience of your life.’’ Niccolo warned as a cheeky grin tugged on the corners of his full lips. Everett assumed that he had brought about fifty different gramophone records. He got down to eye level and gently placed the tonearm onto the engraved plate. A quick static noise played before the tonearm picked up the finely engraved lines.
A synth-pop style song started playing. Something about west end girls; Everett hadn’t been entirely sure. However, he was sure that his so-called ‘best musical experience’ couldn’t be quite classed as the ‘best’. In Fact he considered it to be the worst one in his fifteen years of living.
Niccolo gazed up at him with encouraging hazel eyes, which upon closer investigation Everett saw that they were mainly an amber brown with a deep forest green centred around the pupil. Oddly enough, Everett lost his trail of thought. He didn’t know why his brain had simply gone blank. It took a few seconds of consecutive eye contact as the other boy prompted him by raising his eyebrows and nodding his head. Everett suddenly managed to rake his brain enough to realise what the other boy had been implying.
‘’This is the worst musical experience that I've experienced.’’ he blankly announced, without giving the song so much as a second chance.
Niccolo rolled his eyes as he signed in an over exaggeration. ‘’I knew you nobles were goods for nothing, I mean, how do you not like Pet Shop Boys?’’ Niccolo genuinely looked appalled.
‘’Who–? Whatever, it frankly does not matter. You should try listening to some classics. Perhaps, piano sonata no.14 by Beethoven, more commonly known as Moonlight Sonata; or maybe The Four Seasons by Vivaldi.’’ Everett quirked an eyebrow and encouraged Niccolo to get a sense of actual good music.
Niccolo’s face was scrunched up in utter disbelief as he finally spoke, ‘’Who the fucks Vivaldi?’’ as his lashes fluttered in a befuddled manner. He was kneeling by his bed opposite Everett, record player at eye level as he cranked his neck upwards to gaze up at Everett.
‘’I beg your pardon. Language! Don’t utter such vulgarities, and neither make it a common practice.‘’ Everett puffed out in a state of incredulity. ‘’God, how do you not know Vivaldi? He's literally Italian.‘’ He chimed in once again after a brief pause of silence.
Niccolo studied his features for a few seconds which Everett felt like it had been hours. Loose dark curls fell lawlessly down Niccolo’s forehead obscuring his eyebrows as he analysed Everett's eyes. His lips slightly parted in the centre revealing that God awful metal wire! Everett had a clear view of the boy’s face now. He noticed how a light scar from his nose to his left cheek had turned into a mere blemish. He could now notice how Niccolo had light freckles atop his hooked nose as a few acne scars were surely on their way to fade.
‘’Stop staring at me, you mutt.’’ Everett scoffed, as he steadily turned around and started sauntering around the room. He stopped before the window closest to the desk and began to ponder on when they’d be getting dinner, or seeing his sister. He was beginning to miss her company dearly.
A disconcerting silence lapped around the room; almost awkward. Everett sat perked up on the rigid chair head in his left hand as he longingly gazed out into the grand nurtured greenery that stood proud before him. He began to gingerly twist around to see what his roommate had been up to when their front door flew wide open. Evidently propelled by a rather big force, which caused Everett to slightly tense up in clear shock.
Not a second later Everett’s cousin, who had an over-abundance of flesh strutted inside, as other male voices laughed out and cackled in the near distance. You could hear other doors being banged open as ineligible shouts and talking faded into the background.
‘’I beg your pardon, but what are you doing knocking the door down?’’ Everett seethed annoyance evidently engraved in his scowling features as he raised his eyebrows. It had been quite a bad habit of his, his mother always scolded him, claiming that he would get premature wrinkles if he didn’t stop.
‘’Have you not heard?’’ he boasted as a humorous grin distorted his face in an unpleasant manner. A bulky digit flew to the left-hand side of his chest. Everett squinted a good lot before finally noticing that the sunlight reflected a small silver badge that read ‘PREFECT’, it was almost impossible to tell with the amount of ludicrous Gucci print obscuring all detail in front of Everett.
‘’You’re a prefect?’’ Everett questioned once more as he very slowly nodded his head up and down in acknowledgement.
‘’Good then, you can read after all.’’ his cousin whipped his chin upwards as he tugged on his jacket gloating. ‘’Whatever, I'll tell you all about it later, since you’re so eager to know. For now all the prefects have been told to collect you sheeps in a herd and shoo you off to the Main Hall.’’ With that, he sauntered out the room whistling to himself in a self pleased fashion.
‘’Friend of yours?’’ Niccolo inquired, as he straightened up his clothes.
‘’Hardly.’’ Everett retorted in his usual frigid way. ‘’I met him this morning.’’