Through the Screen novel Chapter 82

"adri, don't you think you should go to bed now?" noah sulked, rolling his eyes as he watched his son shifting his body further so his head could lay down in abel 's lap, abel 's fingers running through the tangled mess in a fond action.

"what's your problem, i wanna spend time with my papa," adrian complained, and abel only giggled softly, pink splashing on his cheeks at all the attention. this was the last thing he thought would be happening when he took an impulsive decision to come back home on the first flight he could catch. he was expecting ignorance and cold glances, not lunch dates and shopping and an actual cake baked for him.

he still had a dab of blue icing smeared on his left cheek that he was unaware of, and neither noah, nor adrian made him aware of the fact. the reasons for both of them were different, where noah thought abel just looked adorable, adrian was hoping that the icing would leave an annoying blue mark on his papa's cheek when he finally realises that it's there.

"come on, he's my husband too you're not the only one who missed him," noah pouted, pushing his glasses up the bridge of his nose as he crossed his arms across his chest and adrian just squinted his eyes at noah before sighing in defeat, getting off abel 's lap and pressing his lips against abel 's cheek in an affectionate gesture.

"goodnight papa," adrian mumbled and abel ruffled his hair once again before kissing his forehead, and once adrian moved to walk to his own room, noah was calling out his name.

"oi! you brat, where is my goodnight?" noah furrowed his eyebrows and adrian simply stuck his tongue out at him, ignoring his father's words and walking back to his room.

"swear to god this child," noah muttered under his breath as abel giggled, for a moment forgetting how messed up the situation really was and simply relishing in the fact that they could be such a happy family.

the guilt in his chest was now burrowing all the way to his stomach, clawing uncomfortably at his insides and flushing his entire body in an uncomfortable heat that was causing his breathing to get shallower and more rapid with time, the heel of his palms digging into the soft material of the couch as he was trying to retain his grip back onto reality.