Through the Screen novel Chapter 51

abel 's phone is buzzing loudly on the nightstand, not disturbing abel per say, but definitely causing chris to turn uncomfortably in his sleep, blindly patting the nightstand to find the source of disruption.

"hello?" his voice is heavy and laced with sleep, and he's sure that his words are barely comprehensible as he twists a few tufts of abel 's hair between his fingers.

"hey, i'm sorry to wake you up darling but i just can't find adrian's school sweater, do you have—" noah's voice is rushed as he quickly fries some eggs, his phone balanced between his cheek and shoulder, but before he an finish talking, a sleepy voice is interrupting him.

"hey man, sorry abel is sleeping right now, do you want me to wake him up?"

"chris?" noah can physically feel all the blood drain from his face, his fingers losing the grip he had around the handle of the pan, and he struggles to get out the words. "no, um, i-i'll manage don't disturb him," noah chokes out, dropping the pan on the kitchen counter and leaning helplessly against it, unsure of what to think of the situation. why did abel not tell him?

"alright, i'll tell him you called," chris is almost half asleep by the time noah replies.

"no! um, don't, it's fine, i'll call him later myself," chris just mumbles a small "okay," in response and waits for noah to hang the phone, before dropping the device back on the nightstand, and wrapping his arms tighter around abel.

an hour later abel was showered and dressed, sitting across from chris and digging relentlessly in his waffles, making sure not to spill any syrup on his crisp white shirt. chris had only woken up after their breakfast arrived, and so he was in his crumpled t-shirt from last night and a small stubble on his chin, all his hair pushed messily off his forehead.

"how are you feeling?" chris' broke the comfortable silence, resting his fork on the now empty plate and grabbing the mug of coffee, holding it between his palms to warm them up.

"a lot better actually," abel said with a mouthful, swallowing the bite and continuing to speak. "thanks for forcing me to sleep last night, i would probably be a mess if you hadn't," abel thanked him and chris just smiled at him lopsidedly, waving his hand dismissively as if to say it was okay.

it's eight thirty by the time abel is ready to leave, deciding to call noah before he does so. they haven't been communicating that well since abel got here and that makes him feel a little bit guilty. the meeting is still an hour away, and the conference hall is a good seven minute walk, so abel quickly grabs his laptop and a bunch of files, bidding chris a goodbye before dialling noah's number and pressing the device to his ear.