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6:02 PM
Noah had been at the house for exactly seven minutes when Shane witnessed the first incident.
“Max!” Noah called from the front hallway.
“I’M RIGHT HERE.”
Noah looked up from taking off his shoes.
“Oh.”
Max had, in fact, been standing less than three feet away the entire time.
Shane watched the exchange from the kitchen.
“They’re unbelievable.”
Ilya glanced over.
“Da.”
Noah finished removing his shoes and immediately wandered over to Max, naturally ending up pressed against his side like a magnet finding its pair.
Neither of them seemed to notice.
Alyssa certainly noticed.
“Good to see you two spent your whole twenty minutes apart today.”
“We did,” Max said.
“We literally had school.”
“Exactly.”
Alyssa rolled her eyes so hard Shane worried they’d get stuck.
Noah just smiled shyly.
Max bumped his shoulder against Noah’s.
And somehow they were already standing close enough to share body heat.
Shane sighed dramatically.
“I remember when our children were little.”
“You say this every time Noah comes over,” Alyssa informed him.
“Because every time Noah comes over they get worse.”
Max looked confused.
“Worse?”
“Attached.”
“Oh.”
Max glanced at Noah.
Then at Shane.
Then back at Noah.
Noah shrugged.
“I like being near you.”
Max’s ears immediately turned pink.
Shane put a hand over his heart.
“I’m going to pass away.”
6:47 PM
Dinner preparation should not have required two seventeen-year-old boys.
Yet somehow, there they were.
Max was cutting vegetables.
Noah was reading instructions from a recipe.
Neither task required physical contact.
Yet Noah’s hip remained firmly pressed against Max’s.
The entire time.
“You know,” Shane said carefully, “the kitchen is actually very large.”
Both boys looked up.
“What?”
“Nothing.”
Noah looked down.
Then took half a step away from Max.
Less than thirty seconds later he’d drifted right back.
Like a boomerang.
Ilya snorted.
“Is instinct.”
“Like migration?” Shane asked.
“Da.”
7:31 PM
After dinner, everyone migrated toward the living room.
Alyssa and Declan occupied one couch.
Shane and Ilya took another.
Avery sprawled across the floor.
Max and Noah somehow ended up sharing a single armchair.
A single armchair.
For two fully grown teenage boys.
Shane stared.
“There’s another chair.”
“We’re comfortable.”
“There is literally another chair.”
“We know.”
Noah was tucked against Max’s side with a blanket over both of them.
Neither appeared interested in changing the arrangement.
Avery looked up from her phone.
“They do this at hockey games too.”
“They do?”
“Yep.”
“How?”
“I don’t know.”
Declan nodded.
“They’re kind of like penguins.”
Noah laughed.
Max smiled at him.
And suddenly neither seemed aware anyone else existed.
“Definitely penguins,” Declan confirmed.
8:15 PM
Homework time somehow became together-homework time.
Shane walked past the dining room and stopped.
Max was working on chemistry.
Noah was writing an English essay.
Different subjects.
Different notebooks.
Different assignments.
Yet they had pushed their chairs together so closely that their shoulders touched.
Every few minutes one of them would quietly point something out.
Not because they needed help.
Just because they wanted to share.
“Listen to this sentence.”
Max immediately looked up.
Noah read it aloud.
Max nodded seriously.
“It’s good.”
Noah beamed.
Shane retreated before they noticed him.
In the hallway he found Ilya.
“What are they doing?”
“Homework.”
“Together.”
“Da.”
“They aren’t even taking same class.”
Ilya looked thoughtful.
“Maybe emotional support chemistry.”
9:02 PM
Noah announced he needed the bathroom.
Max stood up too.
Shane narrowed his eyes.
“Why are you standing?”
Max blinked.
“Bathroom.”
“You don’t share a bathroom trip.”
The boys exchanged a glance.
Then Noah said, very reasonably, “We’re brushing our teeth.”
“Oh.”
A pause.
“Still weird.”
“I know where bathroom is,” Noah informed him.
“Thank you.”
“No problem.”
Yet somehow they still disappeared down the hallway together.
Ilya started laughing so hard he nearly dropped his coffee.
10:11 PM
Movie night lasted approximately twenty minutes before Max and Noah fell asleep.
Not fully asleep.
Just sleepy.
Noah’s head rested on Max’s shoulder.
Max’s head rested against Noah’s.
A blanket covered both of them.
The movie continued playing.
Neither boy appeared remotely interested.
“They’re hibernating,” Avery whispered.
“They are not.”
“They absolutely are.”
Declan nodded.
“They’ve entered low-power mode.”
Noah, eyes still closed, muttered, “I can hear you.”
Everyone jumped.
Then Noah immediately fell asleep again.
The room erupted into laughter.
11:43 PM
Shane woke up thirsty.
The house was quiet.
He padded toward the kitchen.
As he passed the guest room, he noticed light beneath the door.
Curious, he knocked softly.
“Come in.”
Inside, Max and Noah sat cross-legged on the floor.
A guitar rested in Noah’s lap.
The room was lit only by a bedside lamp.
“Sorry,” Shane said. “Didn’t mean to interrupt.”
“No, it’s okay.”
Noah gently strummed a few notes.
Max sat beside him, watching with complete attention.
Not his phone.
Not the guitar.
Noah.
Just Noah.
Like he was the most interesting thing in the room.
Shane’s chest hurt.
Because that was exactly how Shane still looked at Ilya after all these years.
Max noticed him smiling.
“What?”
“Nothing.”
“You’re doing the dad thing.”
“What dad thing?”
“The emotional thing.”
Shane immediately left before either boy could witness the fact that he was, in fact, doing the emotional thing.
12:28 AM
When Shane finally went to bed, he found Ilya reading.
“How are boys?”
“Disgustingly adorable.”
Ilya smiled.
“Da.”
“They brush teeth together.”
“Da.”
“They do homework together.”
“Da.”
“They fit into one chair.”
“Da.”
“They went to bathroom together.”
“Da.”
Shane flopped dramatically onto the mattress.
“We created this.”
Ilya laughed.
“Not sure we can take credit.”
“We raised Max.”
“True.”
Shane smiled.
“They really love each other.”
The teasing disappeared from Ilya’s face.
“Da.”
For a moment they sat quietly.
Thinking about their son.
About Noah.
About the kind, gentle boy who had become part of their family without anyone really noticing when it happened.
Then Ilya closed his book.
“Is nice.”
Shane smiled.
“It is.”
And somewhere down the hall, Max and Noah were probably still sitting together, talking quietly about absolutely nothing.
Exactly where they wanted to be.