Through the Screen novel Chapter 3

"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.

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.