There's No Love In the Deathzone (BL)
Chapter 231 - 224. Night of Sparkling Lights (2)

Chapter 231: Chapter 224. Night of Sparkling Lights (2)

"I don’t think I can take all of this by myself," Zein frowned at the complexity of the suit he had to were tonight--the one Rein made for him.

Hell, he didn’t even know how to put those on.

To be fair, the suit itself was nothing complicated. Just a normal three-piece; black, a minimalist cut, and silver buttons. Everything was made to his size in perfection. A small pattern was embroidered with black metallic thread along the hem and the lapel, which would only be visible through keen eyes and light placement.

What stressed him out was the...what did they call it? Garter? Those things used to keep the shirt and socks in place or whatever. He had thought wearing a suit would be like wearing any other clothes, but it actually akin to putting on armor.

Bassena, who was kneeling in front of him to help put on the garter for his socks, chuckled in response. He looked up and said with a grin. "Who says you’ll take them off by yourself?"

Zein looked down, staring at the man who was already looking prim and proper and dashing as always. "You’re tempting me to ditch this whole party."

"Why, you want to spend the night in bed, instead?"

"Doesn’t have to be a bed," Zein grasped the freshly shaven jaw and tilted his head. "I’m never picky about places,"

Where the hell did this side of him hide before? Bassena often asked this question after they entered this relationship. Had Zein always been this kind of person? Was the man just forcing himself to hold back because he didn’t want to be in a relationship before?

It was almost dizzying how Zein kept making these unexpected advances. Bassena felt like he wouldn’t last a minute if it was Zein chasing him.

Staring at the curling blue eyes, Bassena leaned forward and kissed the exposed inner thigh. There was a scar there, that always made Zein twitch if he touch it. This time, he received a harsh pull on his hair, and a delightful gasp.

But they were about to be late, so he couldn’t do more.

"You can fuck me later, but Radia will scold us if we’re late," Bassena smirked as he pulled back and fastened the shirt garter around the fair thigh.

"Haa..." Zein chuckled and let the esper dress him thoroughly.

Mortix also sent a new mask for him; one with better filtering quality and more resistant material, because the old one had some micro scratches and nicks in it from dungeon diving.

So even with the mask on, he came to the banquet looking all dashing, finally fitting in with the overall appearance of the Trinity members. Even though he still wore black, because it wasn’t uniform, he didn’t appear as stiff. Rina also took time to style the black hair so his eyes could be seen clearer; the brilliance of it soften his edge, like a pair of beautiful sapphires.

The journalist had a field day in every Trinity’s appearance at a party, since they always come wearing designer and looking as charming as the celebrity image that they upheld. Anything pleasing to the eye would guarantee a click, even the candid one.

"How much do you think I can get from selling this image?" Rina whispered to the girls, showing the two pictures he had taken before they left the hotel earlier. One of them was a selfie she took with Zein before she styled the guide’s hair, and the other one was Zein sitting on the couch in his full glory and beauty; neat, unmasked, and he was looking at Bassena so he had this soft look on his face.

"I think you can get a lot just selling it to Sir Vaski alone," Alice commented.

"And safer too," Dheera nodded in agreement. "Unless you want Sir Vaski to hunt you down from letting the world see Captain’s face."

Rina chuckled at the girls’ serious answer while Nadine shook her head. "Rather than Sir Vaski, Captain would probably get angry first, wouldn’t he?" Nadine said, and then added in a lower tone. "And then he’d refuse to guide you ever again."

The esper gasped and clutched her commlink to cover the image on the screen. "That’s scarier than being hunted by Commander!" she looked around, checking if anyone might take a glimpse earlier. But they were hiding in the corner of the venue so they wouldn’t be bothered by photographers and journalists anymore, so it was safe. "Phew--but where are they?"

"Sir Vaski and his assistant were having an interview about yesterday’s event, and the Guildmaster brought Sir Ishtera to meet the royals," Rina’s manager told them immediately.

Dheera pressed her lips when she heard the manager call Zein that. "It still feels weird hearing that name," she whispered.

"He still prefers to be called ’Zein’, so it’s okay," Alice patted the young guide. "We don’t need to play honorific with him, he doesn’t like that."

"Well, I’m glad I can still just call him ’Captain’," the girl giggled, and then leaned forward as if she wanted to have a secret conversation. "Anyway, did you receive Chief Han’s message?"

"I did, but how should we do that?" Rina tilted her head. "I don’t think there’s any shop opened that early."

"You can leave that to me," Nadine said. "I know some people. I’ll need some help, though," she turned to look at Alice, who raised her thumb easily.

Dheera tapped on her chin and asked again. "Should we tell Sir Vaski about this?" she looked at the banquet floor. "He might have a plan on his own, you know..."

"Hmm...I think it’s fine as long as we left them alone tonight," Rina replied with a smirk, before straightening her back and putting on a sweet smile. "Are you done, Zein?"

Dheera almost stumbled on her chair, thinking that her Captain might hear their conversation. But when she turned around, Zein didn’t seem to have his attention on their table at all.

"Radia ditched me, so I ran away from the second floor," he said, frowning as he looked around. "Get me somewhere safe."

Rina laughed at how the guide would dauntlessly dove into dungeons and dangers, but got terrified getting chased by civilians. "Let’s get to the rooftop now before it gets too crowded. I think people will start heading up now."

Zein didn’t care as long as he could run away from the journalists. He thought he had mastered the art of scaring people with his gaze, but he underestimated the wits and guts of those news chasers. Or was it because he didn’t wear something intimidating today? It was exhausting enough following Radia to talk to those ’royals’, even when he merely stood there and said one or two sentences. And apparently, having Jock following him around did nothing to deter those people. He constantly got the flashback of getting swarmed by those civilians in front of the convenience store, and got shivers down his spine.

He followed the girls while typing a message to Bassena, telling the esper he was going to head to the rooftop. As he stepped into the garden-like space, the fireworks were actually starting. Not in the building, but from someplace else. It seemed that a lot of places launched their own fireworks on New Year’s Eve.

It was still about half an hour before midnight, but small fireworks had been launched already. Climbing to the sky with a whistling sound before exploding in colorful sparks. Dheera pulled on Alice’s hand and ran to the railing, while Nadine shook her head and Rina followed with a laugh, before joining the two girls to watch the fireworks with the other people already on the rooftop.

Zein, however, found himself just standing there, looking at the sky by himself. The colorful sparks reflected in his eyes as his body went frozen.

Ever since the incident, ever since he left the red-zone, Zein had stopped celebrating the New Year. He took a night shift when the others took their break and partied, using the time to be alone and thinking about the people who usually spend this time with him.

The laughing sound of mischievous boys, bickering for more attention from him. Quiet whispering as they prepared some kind of ’feast’, even if it was just the slab of meat they bought after saving their allowance. Candies--he would remember those candies they waited long to enjoy.

Now, Zein also remembered one of the twins’ whispering conversations as they huddled around a book. It was more of a tabloid, actually, an old thing they salvage from the ’charity’ pile. There, in the section where it was full of photographs, there were lots of beautiful pictures of New Year celebrations in other zones. Parties, fireworks, happy faces. He had heard they were whispering about the firework, wondering how it was made, wondering if they could see it one day.

But they would immediately close their mouth and talk about something else. Zein knew the boys didn’t want to burden him. They were worried Zein would think they felt ungrateful by having silly thoughts.

Without realizing it, Zein had been clutching his necklace for a long time, since the first colorful burst painted the night with sparkling light. He wondered if they saw this, those naughty boys. He wondered if they would laugh and giggle at the sky like Dheera did right now.

If he closed his eyes, he felt like he could see them. They had always been cheerful and energetic, so they might even jump in excitement. They would grab his sleeve and drag him to the railing, blabbering excitedly. They would point out every single shape and color even though they knew Zein could see them too.

Zein opened his eyes, feeling weird. It was heavy, the memory and the regret that would never be erased. But rather than wanting to avoid it, he wanted his eyes to capture every single one of those fireworks; every shape, every size, every color. Everything that would excite the boys.

Because they lived through him now. He brought their soul with him. So he needed to see much more, experience a lot more.

Living his life.

Looking at the bright, colorful sky, Zein chuckled, letting go of the necklace. Letting the twins see the night sky with him.

The crowd started to become more excited as a countdown began. He could hear Dheera and Rina screaming loudly among the crowd, and soon, as the count reached zero, the night turned into a day for a few seconds, as the sound of countless fireworks exploding reverberated around them, and people screamed in festivities.

As the flowers bloom in the sky, Zein felt sturdy arms around his waist, enveloping his torso. A warm chest pressed against his back, and warm breath grazed his nape. A soft, soft voice whispered in his ear.

"Happy birthday,"

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