Through the Screen

chapter 1

abel looked at the gold band on his ring finger, his watery brown eyes attempting to lessen the weight of the emptiness of his and noah's vows. the ring may be three years old, but it still reflects a sliver of bronze light on abel 's right cheek. the visual of it is almost innocent.

he pulled the white duvet up to his chest, turning his head slightly to look over at his husband, who was laying in the far corner of the bed, his naked back turned towards abel.

and even though abel wished noah would crawl back over to him and wrap his arms around abel 's frame in a tight grip and draw delicate patterns on his chest, the idea seemed too overrated now, too fake, and too pretentious.

he sighed, slipping further into the gradually growing warmth of their bed, shifting his body and trying to get as comfortable as he once was when noah used to hold him.

things just weren't the same anymore.

and it's not like abel was complaining because things had been like that since the past year and a half, and honestly, he was getting used to all the little things that had switched over time.

he was getting used to sleeping on the left side of the bed, and he was used to eat lunch alone in his suffocating work place.

smiles and repeat conversations and discussions

meaningless kisses that were devoid of passion or love, and he was used to having five minute showers alone, without any pair of arms

nothing in particular and he was used to noah's

he still wasn't complaining. he just missed their relationship when they were younger, when they weren't tied in the bland bond of marriage or had a family to manage or a son to drive to football classes every

be having separate meals and half a minute phone calls. he didn't think that their working hours would be so impossibly different that when he came back home late at night, he would find noah asleep on

bed. two hours later, noah would stay on his laptop, drafting emails or carelessly scrolling through his work documents and abel would just

day but now noah just presses a kiss to

longer makes love to him frequently, and whenever they do

to him the next morning. noah doesn't pull him to his chest and noah doesn't clean him up with a wet rag. noah just places a meaningless kiss to abel 's cheek

problem is that

he doesn't love noah or anything but he kind of fails to show it, and the

insecure, even after three years of marriage and he doesn't want to to be too clingy, doesn't

to pull abel into his lap when he returns from work and says that