Through the Screen

Chapter 80

"should i wear my blue jersey or is it too cold for that?" adrian holds up a jacket as he stares at both his

parents sitting across from each other on the dining, both their hands curled around separate cups of

what looks like coffee.

"i think that's fine," noah cocks his head to the side. "what time do we have to leave?" he adds and

adrian's eyes drift to the wall clock, before his eyes widen.

"i have to be there in twenty minutes! i'll just put on my shoes, can you drive me right now?" adrian

looks over to noah anxiously. he doesn't want to run late into class and have multiple pair of eyes on

him, their mouths silently moving to talk about the guy who is so unpunctual. he already gets a lot of © 2024 Nôv/el/Dram/a.Org.

shit at school, the last thing he wants is to people at his football class to talk about him too.

"yeah, of course, go get ready," noah gulps down the scalding coffee in one go and gets off his chair,

pulling his jeans up his hips and carding a hand through his hair to make the slightly greasy mess to

stay off his forehead.

abel watches quietly, his mouth touching the rim of his cup but not sipping as he stares at noah, his soft

lips humming an unknown song and his feet carrying him down the hall to get his shoes. abel has this

constant anxiety bubbling in his stomach, not even the warmth of coffee is helpful, the liquid that could

calm him down once it slides down his throat is today of no use.

nothing is willing to comfort him, and he believes it's because he doesn't deserve it. from adrian's smile

to noah's hugs and now the brown liquid swirling in his cup—nothing can retain the comfort back into

his body. he is restless and anxious and his heart is refusing to glue the pieces together. it's constantly

breaking, piece by piece, vein by vein, and his chest is physically hurting with guilt.

he knows if he's away from noah for even a second he will lose the slight grip on himself and break

down in the worse way possible. he could do things that would not only hurt him but his family as well,

and the thought of what he could do to himself to deal with his haywire emotions scares him.

when noah returns and sits down on the chair again, bending over to put on his shoes, abel puts the

untouched cup of coffee back on the table and gulps inaudibly before opening his mouth to speak.

"noah?" his voice is croaky. he hasn't spoken a single sentence ever since he collapsed in noah's

arms, and the blue eyed boy turns his head to the side to look at him.

"yeah?" his voice sounds so peaceful, so normal, so unaffected. abel doesn't want noah to lose it

completely when he tells him what he has done.

"c-can i come along?" abel bites the inside of his cheek, waiting for noah's response and noah only

smiles at him acutely, soft crinkles making an appearance next to his eyes and abel wants to capture

the smile because he feels like this would be the last time he'll be able to make noah smile like that.

"of course baby, i thought you'd want to rest for a while though? you know, jet lag and stuff," noah

rambles, and abel 's broken heart skips a beat just at the endearing word. he knows noah won't be

calling him that any longer.

"no, i want to be with you," abel blurts and watches the way pink splashes on noah's cheeks and he

licks his lips as if he's thinking of a way to respond. "i mean, i-i have missed you, so," abel tries to make

it better but there's no point, and so he stops in the middle of his sentence and sits there with a bruising

blush on his face.

"dad i'm ready!" adrian yells as he walks out of his room, dressed in his coaching attire and noah nods

at him, getting off the chair once again and grabbing his keys. adrian slips his bag over his shoulder

and moves to the door, leaving abel and noah alone once again and noah offers abel his hand to get

up.

abel looks up, his cheeks still flushed, his eyes travelling to noah's open hand and then towards his

face, noah's eyebrows raised in question and a little smile on his face.

"come on," noah beckons him and abel sighs, gripping his hand and getting up as well, but before he

can make his way towards the door, noah is pulling him to his chest, his arm wrapping around abel 's

waist to pull their bodies together.

"p-noah, adrian is getting—" and abel can't complete his sentence because noah is pushing the small

of his back against the dining table and pressing their lips together fervently, mouths moving with

emotion and abel can feel his heart scattering further and coming together all at once, his fingers

gripping the back of noah's shirt desperately. when noah breaks their kiss and rests their foreheads

together, abel runs his hand through the front of noah's hair to push it further away from his forehead

and noah presses another kiss against his lips.

"i've missed you too, so much,"