Through the Screen novel Chapter 24

noah was surprised to be woken up by abel the next morning, who was frantically shaking noah's shoulders, attempting to pull a plain white shirt over his head in the process. noah just looked at him confused, rubbing his eyes with the back of his hand and raising his body up on his elbows, watching abel with squinted eyes and scrunched eyebrows.

"we slept in! get up, i need to get adrian ready for sch—"

"abel, it's a sunday," noah cut him off with a slightly amused expression, and noticed the way abel 's movements slowed down, the realisation sinking in as he slapped his forehead, groaning in frustration as he pulled off his pants and shirt, diving straight into bed, next to noah.

"get off, that is my side of the bed," noah stated, contradicting his statement by throwing the duvet over abel 's body to cover him, wrapping his arms around abel 's waist and pulling him closer.

"i don't care," abel mumbled, turning in his position to face noah, nuzzling his face into noah's bare chest and letting his arms drape across noah's hips.

"why did you get up in such a frenzy?" noah laughed slightly, voice still heavy from sleep as he ran his fingers through abel 's hair, and abel just let out a content sigh, shuffling closer to his husband.

"i forgot today was a sunday," abel shrugged, and noah just shook his head, tightening his grip on the younger boy, almost falling asleep again when he heard footsteps, and soon their room door was being swung open by a sleepy adrian.

"i just heard a lot of yelling," adrian scratched the back of his head, barely opening his eyes to look at his parents huddled up in the right corner of their huge bed.

"your papa freaked out because he forgot it was a sunday," noah rolled his eyes as adrian laughed quietly, taking the privilege to plop himself onto the empty left side of the bed.

"excuse me, you have your own room, kindly sleep over there,"

"your fault, you woke me up and now i'm not moving," adrian complained, already getting under the duvet, shifting a good amount away from his parents before letting his eyes fall shut.

"you can carry me if you want," adrian proposed, knowing that both of his parents are too lazy to be bothered to carry a thirteen year old across the hall, and he was proven right when noah just whined under his breath, turning to face away from adrian and kissing abel 's forehead, trying to fall back asleep.

"actually you know what, i want you to carry me, you have done that like only twice," adrian mumbled into the duvet, his brain kick starting because he woke up too early and noah just groaned, trying to block out his son's annoying voice.

"adrian it's seven am, just shut your mouth,"

"how rude of you," adrian pouted slightly, obediently giving in for just a few minutes before speaking up again.

"can i ask you a question dad?"

noah sighed frustratedly, opening his eyes slightly and turning his head to look at adrian who was sprawled all over the bed, laying on his stomach.

"what?"

"how do we have five hundred bones in our body?"

"we don't have five hundred bones in our body," noah rolled his eyes, slumping his head back onto the pillow and cuddling closer to abel who was fast asleep.

"but we do,"

"fine we do, but i don't know how," noah gave in, too spent to argue but then he felt a painful jab in his back.

"what the hell adrian!"

"you just said we don't have five hundred bones and you just agreed like that? how am i supposed to trust you?"

"don't trust me then, go to sleep,"

"but dad! this is an important que–"

"oh god, just google it for fuc–just google it," noah stuttered, cursing under his breath when adrian squinted his eyes at him.

"i don't have my phone right now," adrian reasoned, and noah just let out another groan before answering.

"use mine or papa's phone just, don't speak," noah commanded and adrian rolled over to retrieve the nearest phone, which turned out to be abel 's, his vision nearly blinding from endless notifications.

"uncle chris is like bombarding papa's phone," adrian announced and noah just shut his eyes, trying to avoid the statement.

"dad?" adrian called. noah ignored him.

"dad!" adrian yelled and that's when noah sat up in bed, annoyed by both interrupted sleep and chris.

"what?!" he yelled and adrian's mouth snapped close, eyes widening at the sudden change in noah's tone.

"can't you let me sleep for one day in the goddamned week! what do i do if he's bombarding abel 's phone? wake your papa up! not me, for jesus christ!" noah could visibly see the colour drain from adrian's face as he quietly got up, not saying anything but walking out of their room slamming the door after him.

abel was now awake as well, sleepily staring at noah and noah just buried his face in his hands, posture slackening when he realised what had happened.

his ill feelings towards chris were just magnifying into his personal life and he hated it. he just wanted abel to stay away from chris but that wasn't practical in any context.

maybe they were just friends and noah was overthinking, but all the consequences were leading him to believe a whole another story. the idea of abel cheating on him seemed vile and unacceptable and just something that he could never think of, but now chris had come along.

noah wasn't used to this, to ignorant behaviour and unanswered calls and missed outings and failed dinners. he wasn't used to abel spending majority of his time with someone other than noah, or to him coming home late at one in the morning with another man. he wasn't used to cuddling only once in two weeks or not making coffee for two people.

abel and him were already in a losing battle against their relationship, where time and financials and taking care of adrian took over. noah just thought that even if they were a part of a downhill marriage, maybe their friendship could make up for it but chris wasn't letting that happen. he was basically replacing noah in every way and noah had no idea what to feel other than insecurity and delusion, and no idea what to do other than jumping onto faulty conclusions.

noah was spiralling into this never ending feeling of jealousy, which just continues to stem out and grow unless and until someone pulls out the root.

and the root was chris.

and noah had no idea how to pull him out.