There's No Love In the Deathzone (BL) novel Chapter 624

Chapter 624: Side Story 1. The Twilight Zone - 6

Bassena rarely cried.

He used to be a crybaby when his mother was still there to soothe him. He cried a lot during the hellish training period leading to his awakening. And then he stopped, because crying only made him beaten up even more.

After that, he never cried again. The emotions that used to trigger his tear glands shifted to anger instead, and that was how he became a wild beast that Han Joon and Radia needed to tame in the academy.

But he never cried again, even when everything felt so painful. He did not cry again even in front of his mother’s grave.

He did not cry again until he met Zein.

It was when he found out what happened to Zein during the kidnapping. And again, when Zein finally, for the first time, uttered that magic word; love. That he loved Bassena.

The tears came again when he heard the same word, in the same place, uttered with the same expression; serene and sincere.

It was like he reverted back to his childhood crybaby era. Strangely enough, Bassena did not feel embarrassed about it. It wasn’t cool, but Zein did not care about cool people anyway. If anything, in Bassena’s eyes, he could never be as cool as Zein himself.

Moreover...

"Pfft--what is this? Why are you crying?" Zein cusped the esper’s face and wiped the dripping tears with his long sleeve. The blue eyes softened and the pretty lips curled into an amused smile. "What a cutie..."

Zein liked how adorable Bassena was when he cried. Rather than the devilishly charming esper with a smile meant to seduce that used to fill the billboard, Zein preffered this messy hair and scrunched-up face wet with tears. The raw Bassena with no pretense and secured vulnerability.

With reddened eyes, Bassena buried his face on Zein’s lap, hugging the guide’s waist. "Gods...I am such a lucky bastard," he sighed, nuzzling the guide’s stomach. "I probably saved a civilization or something in my previous life to be rewarded with you now..."

Looking at the tousled platinum head on his lap, Zein tilted his head. "Bas..."

"Mm?"

"Why do you think I’m a reward for you?"

Bassena blinked and looked up. "Huh?"

Staring at the esper’s blank gaze, Zein frowned slightly. Something clicked in his head all of a sudden.

He realized that Bassena’s ongoing insecurity might stem from the fact that he rarely expressed how precious Bassena was to him. Their dynamic, unchanging, was an esper who persistently chased a guide he fell in love with. Everyone was probably seeing it similarly, and there was a sense as if Zein was the reluctant party that merely grew fond of Bassena.

Perhaps because Zein rarely showed it. Perhaps because people always called Bassena a ’lucky bastard’ because he managed to be ’accepted’ by Zein.

But Zein didn’t think he ’accepted’ Bassena. The only thing he accepted was his own feelings. Or rather, accepted the idea that it was okay for him to act on his feelings rather than burying them.

Holding the confused face in front of him, Zein asked amusedly. "Have you ever thought that...I am the lucky one to have you?"

"...huh?"

Look at that face. The thought had never even occurred in Bassena’s mind.

Zein let out a sigh. "You are such an idiot, Bassena Vaski."

"W-what?"

"No, Bassena Ishtera."

Zein clasped the surprised cheeks, squeezing them slightly and making the widened eyes become even rounder.

"For being persistent and staying with me, for giving me the guarantee I needed in life, and..." Zein smiled; blissfully, lovingly. "For making me realize that I want to keep living in this world where you’re on it."

The amber eyes, which had just started to dry, became moist again.

"You are the biggest reward I could ask for," Zein’s whisper sounded as if it was uttered through a megaphone in Bassena’s ears. "For everything I had to endure for the past three decades."

Gently, and filling it with affection, Zein leaned down to kiss the parted lips. He chuckled at the hiccup coming out of them, marveling at how cuter Bassena became even while nearing thirty. The esper’s cheeks were messy with more tears and red flusters, but Zein only felt affection toward such a sight, kissing the dripping tears and laughing at the saltiness.

"On that note, I told Reina I wanted to spend the day alone with you," Zein said as he pulled back, once Bassena had stopped shedding tears and the sky had darkened.

The esper raised his brows and, after taking a deep breath, exhaled slowly. "Phew..."

"What?"

Bassena looked down and asked in a serious tone. "Shall I slather myself in chocolate this time?"

"...you should have done that earlier," Zein muttered, lamenting inwardly about forgetting the ’chocolate day’ when he started groping the esper in the morning.

Bassena in chocolate...Zein was swallowing his saliva, but his back and legs scolded him harshly in the shower earlier.

Bassena smirked at the bobbing throat in front of him. "Why? You don’t have energy anymore?"

"Not with you," Radia chimed in and took a seat across Zein on the patio. "I gave you another contract before starting the operation, remember? The one included the Iron Brigade and House Ishtera."