Through the Screen

Chapter 109: Epilogue Part 1

"do i look okay?" noah asks quietly, smoothing his hands over the navy blue shirt and studying his hair

cautiously in the mirror. he had gotten rid of the fringe sometime last year and for now he was enjoying

the shortened sides and the mass of hair pushed right off his forehead in a messy quiff. he looks over

at adrian for reassurance and the sixteen year old just gives him a toothy smile and sticks two thumbs

out to show his approval.

"i think you should wear your glasses instead of contacts," he suggests. "you haven't been wearing

contacts anyway so why are you wearing them today?"

"i'm meeting my husband after three years, the least i could do is look attractive," noah jokes. abel

wasn't a touchy subject in the household anymore, he was just a reminder of how much noah has

grown as a person.

"no, the least you could do is be yourself, so lose the contacts good sir," adrian tips his head

sarcastically and noah rolls his eyes at him fondly. he can't put his love for adrian in words, the pride

noah has for him is something that makes his chest swell and his breathing easier. the first month of

abel leaving was probably the hardest for him, too many days spent inside just crying, too many days

where he missed school, too many failed classes, too many calls from concerned teachers, too much

crying and breaking and loss of appetite. but he's been handling himself well now.

he's the captain of his school's junior football team, he's acing all his subjects, every wednesday after

school he goes by the orphanage and plays games with the children and he often accompanies his

grandmother in making several monstrosities in the kitchen. he's discovered a new passion for cooking

and a hefty bookshelf in his room is filled with recipe books and cooking show dvd's. there have been

times and times again when he has surprised noah by creating dishes he can't even pronounce, and

needless to say noah is glad to see him make progress and find his interests.

noah's mother and father have been living with him since the past two years, he wasn't in a very good

state of mind when they moved in. he had gone to work for approximately fifty days in the entire year,

and he had spent more than two weeks in the hospital because he was just throwing up too much. his

appetite was lost and so was his will to do anything but stay in bed and sulk, and to this day, he still

feels guilty for putting adrian through all of that.

he had turned to alcohol as well, getting drunk just so he isn't left alone with his thoughts, too many

emotional breakdowns to pay attention to anything but his broken heart. two months after his addiction,

adrian had finally confronted him, sitting in noah's bedroom and crying his eyes out and telling him to

pick himself up. he remembers how adrian had yelled at him, he was younger then, his high pitched

voice yelling concerns and throwing several cards of therapists he'd been looking up. that was the time

he had decided that he had done enough damage and he needed to fix himself, if not for anyone else

then for adrian.

he had been seeing a therapist every two weeks now for the past year, and things were a lot better. no

longer were honey curls with matching eyes haunting his sleep and the reminder of abel was lot more

gentle on his slowly healing heart. he had been on a few dates this year, neither of them could compare

to what he had with abel but at least the pain in his chest had died down significantly enough so he

doesn't feel like crying every time he sees a married couple.

"papa's calling," adrian informs him, and noah snaps back to where he is standing in front on the mirror,

his thick black rimmed glasses now shielding his eyes. he feels his heart race in his chest, after a long

time it's not out of panic and frustration and anger. it's just because he has missed abel terribly over

these years and he has restrained himself enough to not hear his voice or look at him or know how he

is doing.

the last image noah has of him is a heartbreaking one, where abel 's voice was merely above a

whisper, his face was a ghostly pale colour splashed with purple bags and red bitten lips, and his pretty

brown eyes were nothing but just shells that lacked any sort of emotion. he knows abel has been in

contact with adrian and his own mother but he couldn't bring himself to actually know how he is doing

without noah.

"yeah he's getting ready,"

"stop cussing,"

"someone's eager,"

"woah, slow down mister,"

noah giggles slightly at the casual tone of adrian's voice, it makes him unnecessarily happy that adrian

is on good terms with abel after whatever happened. he knows that they have been meeting frequently,

and adrian has spent a lot of late nights chatting to his father but the reminder makes noah smile

nonetheless.

he feels it now, the heat in his cheeks, the warmth in his chest, the shakiness of his hands—he's been

anticipating seeing abel again for a quite a while now. they have texted each other a bit, nothing too

personal or invasive, just small talk asking how each of them are doing and setting the timings of their

friendly reunion or 'date' as adrian calls it.

"he just called you lester dude," adrian laughs and noah can't stop himself from joining in, his hands

flying up to cover his mouth so he can muffle the noise.

"even after three years he doesn't fail to offend me," noah rolls his eyes and adrian gives him a warm

smile, getting up from the bed and pushing noah out of the door.

"come on, hurry up, don't be late for your date," he reaches up to fix the strand of hair that had fallen

across noah's forehead, before grabbing his shoulders and leading him out the door again. adrian is so

much taller than he was earlier, he's almost over noah's shoulders.

"it's not a date," noah grumbled, straightening out the collar of his shirt and pressing a kiss to adrian's Content bel0ngs to Nôvel(D)r/a/ma.Org.

forehead before leaving.

"go get your man!" adrian yells once he shuts the door and noah can't help but roll his eyes, gripping

his car keys tightly between his fingers before making his way down the stairs.