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Chapter 40: The Secret Between Them
publish date:
2026-10-15 00:27:54
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Falling For My Father's Best Friend Chapter 41: Walking on Eggshells
POV: Noel (Third Person)Benjamin was frying eggs when Noel came down the next morning, humming to himself, clearly delighted to be standing in his own kitchen again."Sit," Benjamin said. "I'm making enough for three. Gabriel's coming by later, so I figured I'd practice.""Don't make them dry," Noel said, sliding onto a stool. "He'll defend them anyway, but..."He stopped. The rest of the sentence was already formed, a joke about Gabriel's eggs and the argument they'd had over them more than once, an argument that belonged to a kitchen on the other side of town."But what?" Benjamin asked, glancing back."Just don't overcook them," Noel said. "I like them soft.""Soft it is."Benjamin turned back to the pan, and nothing in his face had changed. Noel picked up his coffee and held on to it a little too hard. He had not lied. He had only swapped one sentence for another. But the swap had cost him something, a small flash of effort he could feel in his shoulders, and the day had barely s
Falling For My Father's Best Friend Chapter 40: The Secret Between Them
POV: NoelBenjamin's car pulled into the driveway a little after noon, and Noel was at the front door before the engine had finished cutting off.His father climbed out looking rumpled and tired and entirely pleased with himself, a garment bag over one arm and a suitcase that had clearly lost an argument with the airline dragging behind him."There he is," Benjamin said, dropping everything on the porch to pull Noel into a hug. "Let me look at you. Still in one piece.""Gabriel kept me fed. Mostly.""Mostly?" Benjamin laughed and clapped him on the back. "Help me with this bag and I'll tell you about the hotel that lost my reservation twice."Noel carried the suitcase inside, and Benjamin talked the whole way through the hallway and into the kitchen. The hotel. The opposing counsel who had apparently brought his own chair to every meeting. The flight home that had been delayed so long he'd eaten dinner at the gate. Noel laughed in the right places, and a lot of the laughter was real.
Falling For My Father's Best Friend Chapter 39: Before He Comes Home
POV: Third PersonBenjamin's voice on the phone sounded lighter than it had in weeks."Good news," he said. "Case is finally wrapping up. I should be home in a few days.""That's great, Dad." Noel meant it, the relief in Benjamin's voice easy to catch and reflect back. "Glad you're almost done.""You surviving over there? Gabriel treating you alright?""I'm perfectly fine. You'll see for yourself soon enough.""Good. Can't wait to be home." Benjamin's voice carried real warmth, and Noel felt a small pang of guilt threading through his own happiness, everything he wasn't saying folded quietly beneath the ordinary conversation.They said their goodbyes, and Noel set the phone down, staring at nothing for a moment.◊◊Gabriel found him like that a minute later. "What happened?""My dad's coming home. A few days."Gabriel went quiet, something careful settling over his expression. Noel knew him well enough now to read it, the small shift that meant Gabriel was processing something he didn
Falling For My Father's Best Friend Chapter 38: A Rhythm of Their Own
POV: Third PersonIt wasn't an accident anymore.That was the thing Noel kept noticing, the days after their conversation in the kitchen. The tension still built the same way, in glances across the table, in the careful attention Gabriel paid him through the ordinary parts of the evening. But now, before anything happened, Gabriel checked in. Plainly, without making it feel like paperwork."You still good with this?" Gabriel asked one evening, close enough that Noel could feel the question in his chest as much as hear it."Yeah.""You'd tell me if that changed.""I would." Noel meant it, and something in him settled just from saying it out loud, from knowing exactly where they both stood before anything else happened.◊◊He found, over the following days, that the certainty of it mattered more than he expected.Gabriel established small, simple expectations before their private time together, nothing elaborate, just enough that Noel knew the shape of what was coming. There was somethi
Falling For My Father's Best Friend Chapter 37: More Like Himself
POV: Third PersonNoel woke up thinking about it before he'd even fully opened his eyes.Not the specifics, exactly. Just the shape of it, the strange, unfamiliar relief he'd felt letting Gabriel take the lead, and how little sense that still made against everything he knew about himself. He'd spent years clawing back control whenever someone tried to take it. And yet last night, handing it over had felt like breathing out after holding his breath too long.He lay there turning it over until the quiet got uncomfortable, until avoiding it felt like exactly the kind of dishonesty they'd promised each other they wouldn't do.So he got up, found Gabriel in the kitchen, and decided he was just going to say it.◊◊"Can I ask you something," Noel said, sitting across from Gabriel at the table, coffee cooling between his hands."Of course.""Last night." Noel looked at the mug instead of at him. "It felt different than I expected. Not bad different. Just... different from what I always though
Falling For My Father's Best Friend Chapter 36: The First Surrender
POV: Third PersonThe evening started like most of theirs did lately, nothing planned, nothing deliberate, just the two of them in the kitchen after dinner, Noel drying dishes while Gabriel put away the last of what they'd cooked."You missed a spot," Gabriel said, nodding at the pan still in Noel's hands."I did not.""You absolutely did."Noel held it up to the light, inspecting it with exaggerated seriousness. "This is slander."Gabriel huffed something close to a laugh and reached past him for the cabinet, close enough that his arm brushed Noel's shoulder, close enough that neither of them moved to correct the distance once it closed.◊◊It kept happening like that, small moments where the space between them shrank without either of them announcing it. Gabriel reached for a towel on the counter behind Noel, and instead of stepping back to let him through, Noel just shifted slightly, letting Gabriel's hand settle briefly against his hip to guide him a step to the side."Here," Gabr
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