The Bond

Noah [2]

The name kept ringing in his head; Noah Carter? Who's he? Why was that name written in Ennard's first design sketch? Should he ask his father? What if William got angry because he took one of the blueprints without telling him first? Or should he ask his father's best friend? However, he didn't want to disturb Henry's life for now. Did Ennard have any information about this in his system? Should he ask Ennard himself? But he didn't want to disturb Ennard's rest time.

Too many questions, his head felt like it was going to explode, he didn't know where to look for answers to all his confusion. Especially with what Glitchtrap said yesterday. Was there something strange about Ennard? What did Glitchtrap mean?

Michael pinched the bridge of his nose tiredly and exhaled heavily, not knowing what he should do. He pulled out the drawer to look at the blueprint again, he studied it for a moment, trying to think again. Several minutes passed, he still hadn't found an answer and Michael gave up. This was too confusing, he put the paper back in the drawer and left the room, heading to the living room. The last time he knew, Ennard was relaxing there (after he forced him to take medicine).

He raised his eyebrows in surprise to find the living room empty, where had his husband gone? Michael heard a slight commotion outside the house, so he went to the front door and opened it.

The first thing that greeted him was a snowball thrown right at his face.

Laughter was heard, he wiped his face in annoyance. "Hey!" Michael protested in exasperation, but he only found Ennard and Elizabeth still laughing at him while Chris giggled briefly before continuing to finish his snowman on the north side of the front lawn.

He picked up a lump of snow on the ground and shaped it into a ball, while his younger sister did the same—they both threw snowballs together and at least he dodged this time, only to be hit by the shoulder. But the snowball hit Elizabeth in the face and made the little girl fall backwards; Luckily the surface of the snow was still soft so it didn't hurt too much when Elizabeth fell. Then he made another snowball and threw it at Ennard, in which Ennard easily blocked the snowball with wires.

"You're cheating using your cables for cover!" Michael protested, Elizabeth supported his protest and nodded in agreement. "But I'll let it slide."

"What—why!?" Now Elizabeth was the one protesting.

"Ennard is sick, so," Michael replied casually while shrugging his shoulders.

Ennard snorted. "I'm no longer sick." He picked up a wad of snowballs and threw them at Michael—in his face again, Ennard chuckled softly. He saw how Michael was back to making snowballs again and prepared to throw them. When Michael aimed at him, he immediately ducked; the sound of someone's gasp along with a grunt behind him made them turn their heads.

William removed his snow-stained glasses in irritation, they were all silent for a few moments waiting for the man's reaction. William looked back at them, and without waiting William threw a snowball back at Ennard.

At least it sparked a snowball fight (Chris just watched from the sidelines as he built his fourth snowman).

Until for dozens of minutes of them having fun, Glitchtrap opened the door and told them to come in—sometimes they really thought that Glitchtrap was acting like a real mature, someone who was old enough to control everything in their house and pay attention to everyone without exception. He was like a surrogate parent, but considering he was William's boyfriend, he might eventually become their real stepparent in the future. They won't protest anyway, no issues so far with Glitchtrap.

He had quite a bit of fun today with his family, something that was impossible for him in the past, he had in the present. Michael often smiled and couldn't stop even though Ennard looked at him strangely. He was sure the rest of his family thought the same thing. Then he suddenly remembered the name on the back of the blueprint again, causing him to quickly go to the study table in the room and pull open a drawer, looking back at the paper intently.