Through the Screen

"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.

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

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

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

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

"yeah he's getting ready,"

"stop cussing,"

"someone's eager,"

"woah, slow down mister,"

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