Through the Screen novel Chapter 7

"oh so someone is actually cooking today," adrian commented sarcastically, bumping his hip into abel 's and abel just ruffled his hair fondly, turning his attention back to the stir fry.

"shut up," abel rolled his eyes, watching as adrian filled up a glass of water, sipping on it while leaning against the counter. "how's the preparation for math going?"

"good, i had a few problems but i asked dad," adrian shrugged. "who struggled by the way," he added and abel chuckled, shaking his head, his stomach still twisting at what happened earlier today.

noah hadn't spoken to him since then. not even agreeing to help abel in making dinner, saying that he had a few important emails to draft.

"what are you making?" the younger boy peeked into the fry pan, and abel leaned forward to kiss the top of his head.

"mexican," abel replied and adrian just nodded appreciatively before walking out of the kitchen.

noah was sat in the living room, his fingers almost cramped from the amount of unnecessary emails that he had drafted for the sole reason that he didn't want to be around abel. at least not for a while.

he knew things would go back to normal very soon, because either they will be too consumed in their own work to notice or they will simply grow out of it, past the point of actually caring.

it's not like it was the first time they had a argument like this anyway.

it was normal and reoccurring, so noah rested his mind for a while, stretching his fingers and making his way to the kitchen to get himself a cup of tea.

he quietly walked past abel, not bothering to ask him what he was making as he poured a cup of water in the automatic kettle, waiting for the water to heat up while his fingers drummed aimlessly on the slab.

"what are you doing?" abel 's voice was soft, trying to break the tension but he did not tear his eyes away from the stove, biting his lip as he waited for noah to reply.

noah nodded, taking abel 's place as abel crouched down and opened the third cabinet, blindly patting the shelves to find noah a mug. he succeeded after a few seconds, pulling it out to examine the utensil, but his jaw dropped once it was in sight.

the mug he got noah for christmas. all those years ago.

he could feel his cheeks flush as he quickly fumbled to get it inside again, but of course he was too late. noah had already noticed.

"hey! you found one, thank–" his eyes widened once he noticed the object in abel 's hands and abel just looked up at him, his cheeks pink and lip caught between his teeth, before he got up from his crouching state and placed the mug in noah's hands bashfully.

"here," he squeaked and noah couldn't help but blush, turning the nostalgic gift in his hand, an embarrassed smile finding it's way to his lips.

"um, t-thanks,"