The Bond

Ch 87 - Bonus

[Current Timeline]

=o^o=

"Look what I found in the old shed."

Noah looked back and found Michael chuckling while handing a piece of paper to him, Elizabeth got off the chair to approach him and looked at the paper. "What's this?"

"Old sketch of my body support." Michael pulled up a chair beside his husband and giggled.

"That trash?" Noah frowned and glanced at the paper carefully, while Elizabeth beside him tiptoed to see it. "You really didn't know how to make them back then," he snorted, passing the paper in his hand to Elizabeth.

"What is this?" Elizabeth asked curiously, before protesting that her father had suddenly come and took the paper.

William raised an eyebrow. "Why is this ... so messy and completely disorderly?" The bridge of his nose scrunched up as if he was disgusted. "There are a lot of mistakes, almost everything. It's trash."

"I know," Michael responded nonchalantly and laughed again. "I fixed it again after we got married. I remember I was really serious about doing it, before I liked Ennard of course. He always made fun of me, but in the end he was the one who insisted on finishing it. Didn't we have a fight back then?"

Noah seems to choke on his coffee, he completely forgot about the argument. "You shoved me against a bookcase, knocked my head against a chair, and punched me, and Lucy was on your side! It's so annoying."

Once again Michael laughed heartily.

Elizabeth looked at her brother with a frown. "Damn, Mike, you were abusing Noah."

"What—no." Michael smacked Elizabeth on the back of the head.

"You abused me! Papa!"

"You—brat!" The eldest Afton pulled his younger sister's cheeks in exasperation. But he immediately took off the pinch as soon as his stepfather came in confused. "Papa! Nothing happened, really!"

Vincent was skeptical, then stared at the grimacing Elizabeth. "What are you talking about?"

William gave the paper to Vincent. "Michael's old sketch for his body support," he told Vincent who was looking at the paper. "But considering that Michael was self-taught, I wasn't surprised his first blueprint was all messed up." The man patted his firstborn on the shoulder briefly then went to boil some water.

"He's a quick learner," Noah said after that, pulling Michael into a seat again before Michael chased after Elizabeth who stuck her tongue out at him. "The first Illusion disc was completed in a short time. Pretty impressive."

Michael looked at the blond man with a twinkle in his eye. "You just complimented me!"

Realizing what he said, Noah's face turned red. "No—I didn't mean it like that!" he exclaimed in embarrassment. "That's pretty impressive because you're an idiot! You still are now."

"It's still a compliment."

Noah brought his book up to cover his face.

Shortly after Michael suppressed his laughter, he drank Noah's coffee for a while. "I remember after that we came back home again without Lucy," he said. "Then—" His forehead furrowed, he stopped what he was saying quickly and pursed his lips, his eyes darting sideways.

"Then?" Elizabeth tilted her head curiously.

"Nothing ... well," Michael rubbed the back of his neck briefly, "we were being chased by scientists again."

For the second times Noah choked on his coffee.

Michael realized that and widened his grin, the blush on Noah's cheeks getting thicker as Noah shook his head quickly at him. "Don't—don't remind me—don't tell them!"

"What happened? Tell me!" The middle Afton tugged at Michael's arm excitedly.

"Michael, please no, that's embarrassing."

William smiled interestedly. "What happened when you guys were being chased? Seeing Noah's reaction, it seems like an interesting thing, and I can use it as blackmail against this brat."

"William you bastard."

"Not something very interesting." Michael ignored Noah even though he enjoyed Noah who was now covering his face with both hands, he could even see his husband's ears turning red too. "It's just that it was the moment Ennard finally admitted he liked me." Michael giggled, Elizabeth looked impressed.

Noah grumbled. "Ugh, I hate you."

"You said different thing this morning."

"Shut it!"

That day Michael never stopped teasing his husband about it.