Before The Sun Sets (ManxMan)

Episode 1

1. In the morning

Mornings in the Grey household was always grand. Adam would wake up bright and early by five in the morning, he'd wake Jhoni up first, then George and afterwards Bella. He'd make sure George had his bath properly and help Bella too. While George and Bella shower, he'd lay down their clothes on the bed and let them decide what shoes they wanted to wear for the day.

Adam arranged the plates of pancakes on the table and beside each plate was a tall glass of orange juice. He makes sure their lunches were packed and adds a twenty dollar bill to each paper bag of food. Jhoni comes down first and select his plate of food.

"Morning."

Adam smiles brightly at his son. "Morning, J. How was your night?"

"Good." Jhoni replies. He looks away from his pancake and focused on Adam. Even though Adam tried to hide it, Jhoni could see how tired he was. Underneath his eyes were small dark bags and his nose, as well as his cheeks were pink. A tell-tale sign - Jhoni had picked up on-shows how tired Adam was.

"What time did you go to bed?" Jhoni asks, intently staring at Adam who just shrugs and walks to the fridge. Adam pats underneath his eyes with the hand not holding the refrigerator door. He doesn't know how Jhoni always knows everything.

"Immediately after I left your room. Why?" Adam asks, not moving away from the fridge.

"So it wasn't you watching 2 broke girls last night?" Jhoni asks and it was so sudden that it made Adam turn around and stare at his son with shock.

"You were awake?"

"I wanted to know what time dad would get home." Jhoni replies, shrugging his shoulder in a nonchalant manner. "Is he still upstairs?"

"He came back late, so I wanted him to sleep in a little."

"He's just going to yell at you for not waking him up on time. You always do this. Do you like it when he screams at you and looks seconds away from hitting you?"

"That is no way to speak of your father Jhoni Reign Grey. He brought you into this w-"

"No, you brought me into this world, papa." Jhoni says, quietly. It's been so long since Adam heard his little boy call him papa. Hearing it now was causing a surge of tears to come forward. "The moment he hits you, we are gone. Promise me, dad."

Adam blinks repeatedly. "Jhoni..."

"Promise me, papa. We need you. I, George, Bella and Ian need you. Strong you and not a beaten up you. The moment he hits you, we are gone."

Adam walks around the table and hugs Jhoni, his hand pressing Jhoni's head to his chest. "I promise you. The moment he does, we are gone."

Truthfully, Adam doesn't think it would ever come to that but he has promised his eldest, the first fruit of his womb. With perfect timing, George and Bella walk into the kitchen. They stare at Jhoni and Adam like they were growing extra head and it almost barked out a laugh from Adam. Jhoni has been angry at Adam for so long that George has lost count. The last time George and Bella had seen their older brother hug Adam was Jhoni's sixteenth birthday, four months ago.

Adam pulls back and makes his way to George and Bella. He presses a kiss to their foreheads and to their cheek.

"Morning, Papa." Bella sings, smiling so wide at Adam that her cheeks were red.

"Morning too, Papa."

"My darling, why don't you take a seat and enjoy breakfast." Adam says, leaning down to press another kiss to their hair.

George takes his seat beside Jhoni and dug into his breakfast. Adam assists Bella into cutting her pancakes into small pieces. Adam quickly glances at the time and sags a little in relief when he sees it's just ten past seven. By the time his kids would be done with their food, their school bus would be right outside.

"I'm getting your backpacks." Adam tells his kids who just nod and continue eating. He takes the stairs by twos and goes into Bella's room first. He makes sure all her books were inside, after her was George's room and he also makes sure George's extra pair of glasses were in the bag before going to Jhoni's room. He checks the bag for books and the small compartment in front for pens and pencil.

He quickly goes back down the stairs and into the kitchen. He zips open their bags and places their respective lunch bags into it. Jhoni was the first to finish and he dumps the plate in the sink, Bella was the next and with little struggle she also dumps her plate in the sink. George was the last to finish and immediately he places his plate in the sink, a loud horn was heard outside. The bus was here.

"Okay, have a nice day! Pay attention in class! Love you!" Adam yells as his children pick up their bags.

"Yeah, okay."

"Love you too, papa." George yells back.

Immediately he hears the sound of the door being shut, Adam lets out a really loud yawn. His kids chatter was giving him strength but now that the house was empty, his fatigue has come back with full force but first things first. Ian.

Adam walks up the stairs again, silently wishing he was living in a bungalow instead of the two storey beauty he was living in. He was almost at the top when Jensen comes out of the room already dressed for work. He had a charcoal neatly pressed suit on and the tie was left hanging. It made Adam smile because no matter how many times Adam teaches Jensen or helps him knot the tie, Jensen never learnt.

"Morning, love." Jensen greets Adam. His smile was bright and it wasn't something Adam was expecting this morning. He'd take a pleasant Jensen any day than a yelling one. So he's quite satisfied.

"Morning, Jen. How was your night?" Adam asks as he reaches out for Jensen's tie. His hands move with expertise as he knots it perfectly and pushes it up to hold the collar of his husband's shirt.

"Amazing. You are always so warm and cuddly in the middle of the night." Jensen says, reaching up to cup Adam's face. "You look beautiful this morning."

Adam's cheeks and nose turn a rosy pink. He playfully slaps Jensen's chest and tries to move away but Jensen grabs him by the waist and pulls him closer. "Jensen, flattery will get you nowhere. You've already married me, remember?"

Jensen laugh at that and Adam feels a pang in his heart. It's been a while since he has heard his husband laugh like this in a while and he wonders what happened last night? What changed? He stares at his husband intently but the answer isn't on his face.

"Flattery will get me everywhere, love. Just because we're married doesn't mean I can't continue to tell you how beautiful you are, how soft your skin is, how bright your eyes are in the morning, almost as if you've got stars in them, how your li-"

Adam laughs. "You are a crazy person, Jen."

Jensen leans down and closes the distance between his and Adam's lips. Pulling his husband close by the waist as he kisses him so hard, Adam's toes curl. With his hand resting on Jensen's chest, Adam kisses back with everything he's got. It's been a long time since he has felt his husband's touch and it feels like his skin was on fire.

They pull apart after a few minutes, a thin line of saliva between their lips. Adam bites his bottom lip and looks up at his husband from beneath his lashes. Jensen reaches up and tugs down bottom lip.

"Beautiful."

Adam chuckles. "You're quite handsome too, Jensen Anthony Grey."

Jensen was about to reply when they're both interrupted by Ian's loud cry. Adam looks away from Jensen to the direction of Ian's door. He looks back and Jensen and smiles at him.

"Looks like someone just woke up. Want to say hello before going?" Adam asks his husband.

Jensen doesn't think it over, he doesn't even move towards the direction of Ian's room. Instead there was a look on his face that Adam couldn't place. "I can't. I'm already late because someone didn't wake me up." Jensen sneers. His reaction so far from what Adam was expecting that Adam shrinks back a little. He stares at Jensen and tries to understand what caused the change in attitude.

"Jensen, I'm not in the mood for your s**t this morning. Take your cranky ass downstairs if you're angry, there are some pancakes in the kitchen." Adam spits before he could stop himself. He was too tired to feel submissive this morning and he's so tired for Jensen's mood swings. Adam is the carrier between the two of them, he should be the one with mood swings. So who does Jensen think he is? "By the way, George has a science competition coming up soon and you promised to help him with his pinhole camera." Adam adds.

"I'm busy, Adam. I don't have time to play with kids."

Adam stares at Jensen. "You do know, they are your children. Your sperm? Oh who am I kidding? Go on off to work. Enjoy your day."

With that Adam walks away from his husband. He shuts Ian's door immediately he walks into the door and makes a beeline straight for the bed. His little boy was standing and holding onto the crib with his small hands, his large green eyes looking at Adam like he was betrayed. His nose were already red and his cheeks had a light pink tint. It's a habit he got from Adam.

"Morning, darling."

"Papa..." Ian says in greeting, reaching up to grab the hand Adam had on the top of the crib. Adam laughs and lifts his little boy from the bed. He uses the opportunity to pat Ian's diapers to see if he made a mess.

"Let's get you ready for the day. We're going to have lots of fun with me today. We're going to get groceries, dance and do laundry, sing till our throats hurt and you, little, Ian are going to shake that booty that I gave you." Adam cheers as he walks towards Ian's bathroom. He quickly stripped Ian of his clothes as the little boy babbled with excitement. Getting Ian ready for the day took a lot more than twenty minutes and by the time Ian was fully dressed and ready to eat, Adam was soaked to his bone. Bathing for Ian has always been a tricky thing.

"Come on, bubba. It's time for food." Adam sings. He doesn't pick Ian up this time but allowed him to walk till they got to the stairs. The entire house was silent and the heaviness of it weighed Adam down. He picks up Ian and goes down the stairs, then turned to the kitchen. He places Ian in his high chair and looked through the fridge for his little boy's food. He wanted to give Ian something light but a bit heavy, something Ian likes and won't spit it out or throw up.

He grabs the box of mashed potatoes from the cabinet above his head and flicks on the kettle. He grabs as small bowl and waits for the water to heat up. Ian just sits on his chairs and babbles to his father, the occasional papa leaving his mouth. Ian looked so much like Adam. They had the same dark hair, same pointy nose and lips. But like all of the Grey children, he took Jensen's green eyes.

He is snapped out of it by the feel of his phone vibrating in his pocket. Adam thinks for a minutes, this is the closest I've had something near my crotch. He laughs at his self in pity as he pulls the phone out of his pocket and picks the call. He smiles when he sees it's his best-friend calling.

"Sara. You've finally called." Adam sings, his smile big and bright.

The kettle goes off. Adam puts the call on speaker as he goes about making Ian's food.

"You're saying it like I abandoned you. We spoke a day ago, remember? I called you to complain about the fake Michael Kors bag I saw." Sara defends herself and Adam couldn't call bull because it was true. His friend has almost burst into tears as she told him about the black bag she had seen.

"How are you, Sara? Are you eating well? You aren't sick are you?" Adam asks just as he places Ian's food in front of him. He waves the spoon in front of Ian's face and the boy took it into his mouth without protest.

"I am not Jensen. Adam, we are not married. I will live my life how I want to. But to answer your question, yes I am eating well. The other night I had a date and he took me to that new restaurant on 14th street and we had Lobster." Sara says and Adam could feel her roll her eyes through the phone.

"Did you just roll your eyes at me? Tell me you didn't just roll your eyes at me." Adam says as he feeds Ian another bite of mashed potato. "Ian, say hi to your aunt."

"Hi..." Ian parrots back and looks at Adam with big eyes as if he was expecting a reward for being a good boy. Adam smiles at his son and presses a kiss to his nose.

"Hi my wonderful boy. I bet you're all big now, Ian."

"He is. He's starting to look more like me now." Adam says as he lets Ian take a sip of water from his cup.

"All of your kids look like you, well except George, he looks more like Jensen." Sara says. "Speaking of Jensen, how are you guys? Still lovey-dovey as usual?"

Adam pauses at that. Lovey-dovey. It's been a long time since Adam and Jensen were lovey-dovey. He doesn't even remember the last time they held hands or the last time Jensen had made love to him. He doesn't even remember the last time he got flowers from his husband, heck, he doesn't even remember the last time Jensen came home at dinner time, not by one am when every one of his children had fallen asleep.

"Adam? You there? Is something wrong?" Sara asked, worry laced in her tone.

Is something truly wrong? Adam asks himself. He's not stupid. He has seen something and heard whispering. Adam is not stupid. Something was truly wrong and Adam doesn't know how to fix it. Was it his fault? Maybe it was something he did or said absentmindedly, he doesn't know. He just wants his husband back. The husband that used to send flowers home to him every day, the husband who liked to read him corny poems and say cheesy things, the husband who would cuddle with him and reminisce about anything and everything.

"Adam? Should I come over? Is something the matter?"

"Sara." Adam says. He takes a deep breath to push back the tears that were threatening to fall. "I think I have lost him."

"Adam. What do you mean?" this time Sara sounded frantic and Adam could hear the sounds of something scratching glass and he knows Sara has grabbed her keys from the glass bowl next to her door.

"I have lost Jensen, Sara. He's not the same man I married. I just feel like we're roommates now. He just leaves every day and comes back late every time. He doesn't spend time with his children and they all miss him and I just don't know what to do anymore, Sara."

"I'm on my way. We'll talk about it when I get there, alright. Just take care of Ian until I get there." Sara says, her voice soft and Adam just nods. Ian was done with his food and done with his water. So Adam just lifts him off the chair and takes him to the sitting room. He flicks on the television and changes it to Baby Tv to keep Ian entertained.