Through the Screen

Chapter 4

"noah?" abel pushes open the door of their apartment, his voice soft, and barely overpowering the loud

television in the living room. he sighs, knowing noah has probably fallen asleep on the recliner again,

and he takes off his shoes and coat before quietly making his way to the blasting chatter coming from

the tv.

just as he thought, noah's back was resting comfortably against their recliner, the tv remote balanced

carelessly on his thigh and his pink lips were parted ever so slightly, dark hair fawning all over his

forehead.

abel just smiled at the older boy, his heart sinking a little at the fact that he has upset noah again by

coming home late, but he shook the thought out of his head, walking over to his husband and placing a

chaste kiss against his forehead, his fingers brushing the dark locks away from his eyes.

noah's eyes fluttered slightly at the gesture and he leaned a bit into abel 's touch before abel retreated,

standing back and watching as noah rubbed his eyes, a soft yawn escaping his lips.

"abel?" his voice was groggy, and abel wanted nothing more than to smooth out his hair and lay down

in bed with him, helping him fall asleep again.

"hey," abel replied, biting his lip and waiting for noah's reaction. usually, noah would just give him a

disappointed look and not make proper conversation with him but today noah just sighed, murmuring a

soft "hi".

"i'm sorry fo-" abel began apologising but was cut off when noah stood up, stretching his arms behind

his head and leaned forward to press his lips against abel 's cheek.

"it's okay, it doesn't matter," noah squeezed his shoulder reassuringly, giving abel a lazy smile that did

not meet his eyes, and pushed past the taller boy to get to their bedroom, going over to the right side of

the bed and slipping under the duvet.

"you're not mad at me, are you?" abel asked cautiously, unbuttoning his shirt and placing it on the

dresser, and noah just shook his head, turning over to face away from abel. Text property © Nôvel(D)ra/ma.Org.

to be honest, noah was tired now.

he had started accepting the fact that getting mad at abel every three days for breaking his promises

would get them nowhere, and just distance them further. they barely spent time together anyway, and

when they did, noah did not want them to fight.

of course, it would take time to transition his intolerance into acceptance. he would have to ignore the

fact that abel barely has a meal with his family, or the fact that he has completely stopped answering

noah's calls when he's at work. he will have to accept the fact that abel is busier now, he has much

better things to do rather than fooling around with noah, and that they are growing up.

abel is not eighteen anymore.

noah lets out a shaky breath when the mattress dips next to him and abel 's arms wrap around his

waist, abel 's lips placing a soft kiss against the back of his neck and he really wants to turn over and

pull abel closer to him, he really does, but he is just afraid of rejection.

he remembers that one time when he tried shuffling closer to abel in his sleep, abel had simply pushed

him away, stating that it was too hot to cuddle and that he wanted some space.

noah hasn't made the first move to cuddle abel since then. and it doesn’t have to be that dramatic but

now it has been so long that making the first move feels like the most unnatural thing in the world.

abel can feel it, the way noah's pale body goes rigid as he wraps his arms around the older boy and he

feels like he's been stabbed right in the chest.

it hurts slightly too much that they can't sleep together like they used to and abel knows for a fact that it

has been a good three weeks since they have slept like this.

"are you okay?" he murmurs in noah's hair and noah lets out a deep breath, leaning slightly into abel 's

grip before nodding his head unconvincingly.

"yeah, everything's fine," noah is clearly lying and after four years of knowing him, abel can confirm the

fact.

"okay," abel doesn't point it out though, he just loosens his grip on noah, and kisses his cheek once

before shifting back to his original spot.

"good night," abel 's voice is hoarse and noah turns to look at him, his chest hurting at the sight of abel

going back to the edge of the bed.

noah just looks at him with a small frown on his face, quickly recovering and offering abel a half hearted

smile.

"yeah," noah turns back around. "good night," and then he shuts the lamp off.