There's No Love In the Deathzone (BL)
Chapter 264 - 257. Thousand Words

Chapter 264: Chapter 257. Thousand Words

"He said we can take the day off," Bassena said, throwing Zein’s commlink to the couch before crawling back to the bed, kissing the guide’s nape.

"Good, I have no mood to get up today," Zein groaned against the pillow.

It was such a rare situation; Zein being lazy and opted to just lie in bed. But he was exhausted, and he felt like he had just gone through a dungeon marathon from the way his muscles protested.

And he hadn’t gotten any sleep for the past few days, so he was catching up on it.

Bassena watched the man lying on his stomach, sinking deeper into the mattress. Zein didn’t even bother to put on any clothes after Bassena cleaned him up last night, claiming that he was too lazy. Again, it was such a rare occasion for someone who was always adamant about covering his whole body. But it told him that the guide was getting more comfortable and more secure around him, and Bassena couldn’t be more thankful about that.

Also, it gave Bassena the full view of Zein’s naked back, painted with bitemarks and hickeys.

Tracing those marks that looked like a medal to him, Bassena grinned delightfully to himself. It didn’t matter even though Zein didn’t reply to his profession of love--Bassena knew it was still a hard concept for the guide--but knowing Zein felt jealous was...euphoric. He really couldn’t hold back much last night, and Zein’s sudden submission didn’t help his self-restraint.

"You know I can’t go anymore, don’t you?" Zein said as Bassena trailed kisses above all of those marks.

"I’m not trying to," the esper laughed, rubbing the guide’s arm gently.

Zein turned his head to look at the bright expression and mirthful gaze, not at all like the ferocious beast last night. Now, the man looked just like his usual adorable self, and this gap made Zein’s heart feel soft and warm. He reached out to stroke the slightly colored cheek with the back of his fingers, before pulling the esper for a light kiss.

"You said we can’t do it again..." the esper whined, and Zein flicked his forehead hard.

"Control yourself," he hissed for the sake of his groaning muscle. "Where’s my link?"

"Ugh--why do you need it again?" Bassena pursed his lips. Now that they had a day off, he wanted to spend the day fully with Zein without any disturbance, replacing the past few days when they couldn’t see each other.

Zein shifted around so he could lie on his back and dragged his body up to lean on the pile of pillows. "Don’t you want to see what my hometown looked like?"

That got Bassena scampering to the couch where he threw the commlink earlier. "Grab me some clothes while you’re at it."

Obediently, the esper came back with the black commlink and a pair of pajamas--clearly telling the guide that Bassena didn’t want him to go anywhere today. Not that Zein wanted to with his bones creaking and muscles screaming.

"Go through the video archive," he told the esper while putting on the pajamas he didn’t remember having--when did Bassena buy this for him? After Zein asked him to live together?

"There’s a video?" Bassena gasped, swiftly opening the archive. He didn’t even expect many pictures since it was Zein, but...video recording?

And there were even several of them?!

[Is this right?] he heard the melodious voice of the guide the moment he pressed play on the first recording. The camera panned out to a construction site, which told Bassena it was the orphanage.

[Yes, just press this one if you want to stop the recording] the bodyguard’s voice came next, but there was no more voices after that, except for the natural sounds of people’s activity.

And then the recording ended abruptly.

"Huh?"

"That one’s just a test," Zein told the esper as he took his position again after finishing wearing the brand new comfortable pajamas, half-lying against the pile of pillows. "It’s not like you want to look at an ongoing construction, right"

Bassena chuckled and pressed the next video. This time, he didn’t hear any more voice, just the sound of footsteps. The screen hovering in the air showed him a patch of dried field and a few contraptions. The field was surrounded by a low fence, just as tall as a small child.

"It’s the playground," Zein explained, which got Bassena to blink. Perhaps because it was still early morning and there was no kid running around the field to make it sensible. "It’s not like here, right?" the guide chuckled. "The adults just made something out of the stuff lying around."

There were a few swings made of boards and ropes hanging from steel beams, see-saws made of drums and planks, as well as a structure made of iron bars which was supposed to be a jungle gym or something. There were several others that Bassena had no idea what it was supposed to be.

"Did you play there too?" Bassena asked, laying his head on the guide’s chest.

"When there’s no one there," Zein replied with a nostalgic smile, making a note to tell Aida about improving this supposed-to-be playground. "I was quite small back then, so I can’t win against the gang of kids hogging the place."

Bassena peeked at the guide’s face, but he didn’t sense any bitterness there despite the seemingly unpleasant experience. But it was just a faraway childhood memory for Zein, and didn’t really affect him much when he was in his nice space with his esper in his arm.

So Bassena smiled and turned back to the screen. They played the next video, where Zein made a recording while walking through the streets he used to traverse. Of course, most of it was comparably new due to the rebuilding five years ago, but Zein showed several places, like the general store where he used to buy his daily necessities.

It was called ’store’, but it didn’t have shelves filled with goods, no. The goods were being kept in the back room securely, and people should ask the owner for the things they wanted to purchase. Sometimes though, there would be a ’sale’ when the owner put out the nearly expired product on display and sold it cheaper. Zein usually waited for those times to get a bargain, fighting with the other wives like vultures.

Zein also told him about the places that sell cooked food. "We eat there when we want to celebrate something," Zein said, and then added with a laugh. "But it’s not like it’s good or anything. The only good thing is that it’s a warm meal, and they use a bit more salt."

After that, Bassena listened to the guide’s explanation for other places, including a site that used to be Umbra’s headquarters. All the while, Bassena kept his silence, only sometimes peeking at Zein’s expression. Each time, he felt like his heart was crushed into bits.

Bassena had visited the slum a few times, and the red-zone was almost like that--only worse. The slum was poor, messy, and dirty. But at least, it still had better air and plantable soil. The red-zone, however, had all the bad things that the slum had, with the added bonus of an almost inhabitable environment.

He could barely imagine living there as an adult, but thinking about Zein living there since he was a baby, for more than two decades...it crushed him. Especially because Zein talked about the place in a nonchalant way, even letting out a nostalgic smile sometimes, as if it wasn’t one of the worst places to live in this land.

It was just...heartbreaking for him. He just wanted to wrap Zein in a blanket, embrace him in warmth, and shower him with happiness.

"Ah," Zein paused when they played the last recording. It was of a relatively new residential building. "This building is new, because the old one was very much destroyed," he started to explain, and then added dryly. "Our house used to be there."

Again, Bassena looked up at the guide, unconsciously tensing. He understood what Zein’s old house meant--it was where he lived with the twins, and it was where the twins met their demise.

"Zein--"

"I’m fine," Zein turned his head to face Bassena and told the esper with a smile on his lips, caressing the platinum strands strewn on his shoulder. "I have another home now,"

The blue eyes that looked at him were soft and gleaming in brilliance, so beautiful and stunning. Bassena had to wonder what kind of good deed had he done before to grant him this kind of blessing, to bask in this kind of strength and beauty.

Pressing his lips hard, Bassena shifted and buried his face in the guide’s chest, hugging the guide’s torso and curling like a child on the guide’s side. Zein raised his brow, but ended up laughing at the adorable display. He caressed the platinum hair and pressed his lips on the esper’s crown.

"Thank you," Bassena muttered, "for sharing it with me."

Zein leaned his head back on the pillow, still caressing the esper’s hair. Looking at the ceiling, he called out for the younger man softly. "Bas,"

"Mm?"

Zein stroked the esper’s nape, recalling the whisper of devotion he received last night. He couldn’t make any reply, not only because he was so dazed, but also because he never said it to anyone before. Just like the feeling of jealousy, he had no idea what exactly the feeling of ’love’ entailed. And speaking of it without understanding the word would just taint the meaning itself.

And he didn’t want to demean the meaning of that word for Bassena by speaking it lightly. That would be a disservice to the man who poured all his heart into saying those words.

That being said, he still wanted Bassena to know his feelings. "You know that you’re the most important person to me, don’t you?"

"Yeah," the esper replied without hesitation now. After all, why else would Zein ask Radia to smuggle him inside the Temple just because he felt jealous? Bassena stretches his lips in delight. "I know,"

Zein put his arms around the younger man’s shoulder--his esper, his lover. He whispered tenderly. "Good. You should never forget that."

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