There's No Love In the Deathzone (BL)
Chapter 289 - 281. Leisure

Chapter 289: Chapter 281. Leisure

Bassena was, in fact, could not forget about the fact that Zein had called Han Joon ’hot’.

"It’s such a long time ago," Zein explained, turning around from the patio of their hotel room. He wanted to have a nice leisure time watching the fishing on the pond of their private suite’s mini garden, but that had to be delayed, it seemed.

He approached the slightly sulking esper who was pretending to keenly read the alcoholic drink catalog. How funny--the man didn’t even like drinking that much.

"You still think he’s hot," the amber eyes narrowed.

"Well, you do too," Zein smirked, tilting Bassena’s chin toward him. "You’re the one who told me you don’t have much confidence contending with his looks."

"Uhh...well, I mean..."

Bassena pressed his lips, and Zein had to hold himself from laughing. Oh, he knew. He knew that a magician did not need to have a great physique or muscular body. The only reason Bassena developed a habit of training his body despite being an elemental magician was solely because of Han Joon.

Because he used to follow the older man around and wished he could be like Han Joon. It became his habit to train his body, and once Zein saw how the soldier looked when he was in the academy, Zein knew Bassena was copying the man down to the hairstyle. His whole detached persona in public was the remnant of his habit during his teen years that he built by copying Han Joon.

It was actually one of the reasons why Han Shin was always annoyed at Bassena despite them being best friends. Because the healer did not want someone else to claim his hyung as their older brother.

Of course, they didn’t look alike now; what with Bassena developing his own personality and Han Joom becoming a soldier. But the trace of that habit from his childhood still remained; including his submission to the older man.

"He’s...cool..." Bassena admitted reluctantly.

Even now, when he was already one of the strongest, and successfully taking down his abusive ’family’, Bassena still saw the soldier as his mentor; with respect and reverence. Probably a little bit of fear, the same kind he had toward Radia. It was the kind of respect and fear someone would have toward their caretakers, and Zein thought it was endearing.

"Yeah, exactly," Zein smiled and rubbed the esper’s lips. "He’s cool, not at all cute."

Slowly, Bassena shifted his gaze from the drink catalog, and Zein gave the younger man a soft, sweet kiss. "I’ve told you that you’re the only one for me, Bas. Besides..."

Zein paused and after two seconds, closed his mouth again. Haa...he wished he could just tell Bassena about Radia and Joon’s relationship, so his easily jealous boyfriend could stop feeling insecure.

But it wasn’t his secret to tell, so...

"What?" Bassena asked, fiddling with the guide’s fingers that suddenly stopped caressing his cheek.

"No," Zein shook his head, but added to avoid suspicion. "It’s just something he said during the auction, that probably had something to do with why he’s been off the radar."

"What thing?" Bassena frowned, straightening his back and finally looking more worried than jealous.

"I don’t know, some personal mission or something," Zein shrugged. Telling the esper this much shouldn’t be a problem, right? "Anyway, that’s the only reason why I asked Shin about him."

Bassena pursed his lips for a little while longer, before nodding adorably. "Okay..."

Zein laughed softly and pulled the lapel of the robe-like outfit that the esper wore; a traditional garb of some sort that the hotel provided. "This looks nice on you, I can see your chest more," he smirked, stroking the glistening bronze chest.

Bassena leaned back on his arms, prompting the lapel to slide slightly and exposing more of his sturdy chest. "You can always just ask you know," he smirked, enjoying the lusty gaze inside the blue eyes. "It’s a good choice to stay here, right?"

"Yeah," the guide replied absentmindedly, focusing more on undoing the robe’s sash.

But yes, it was a nice hotel, very different from all the modern luxury in high-rise buildings that they usually used. It was a traditional inn that had been upgraded with modern convenience, but still preserved the ancient look.

It was even designated as a cultural asset, because the main foundation of the building came from the Old Era before the apocalypse. All the additional construction designs used the model of the Old Era’s traditional houses and palaces they found in the old archive that was saved from apocalyptic destruction.

That kind of preservation was what greeted Zein in this green-zone. Unlike the metropolis that was Althrea and Rexon, Shiroin did not have the spread of skyscrapers over their land. It was a heaven for cultural assets, where much of the leftover buildings from the age before the apocalypse were still preserved through all these years. A lot of the building itself naturally became museums, and the cityscape was designed to match these central pieces.

This meant, that even though they were still applying modern technology and facilities, the aesthetic of the whole region was being matched to that of a calm, traditional vibe. There was not many personal transportation device here, and the tallest building was a five-level ancient castle tower which was used as a watchtower during the apocalypse, and had become a museum now.

Perhaps that was why, but the air in Shiroin was almost as good as the safe-zone. It felt calmer and quieter despite the region being a tourist attraction.

Which was also why Zein and Bassena had to he careful to not draw any attention. They had to drive in an inconspicuous car, picking a quiet hour to check in, and ended up spending their whole time inside the room before attending the wedding.

Not that Zein had any problem with that. The hotel was nice enough, almost like a resort, and so different than anything that Zein had a lot of fun time just looking around the room.

It had a different kind of flooring, and the partition between the room consisted of sliding doors. Their suite came with a mini garden that reminded Zein of his first outing with Radia, inside that calm pavilion above the pond. There was a pond here too, a small one, with red and white fish swimming around. He could hear the sound of running water, and it gave a sense of tranquility as he sat on the patio and looked up at the sky.

The place was also equipped with a private outdoor bath resembling a hot spring, and Zein felt like he didn’t want to go home as he lay there surrounded by comforting warm water that the employee said had health properties.

"Bless Abel to have his wedding here..." Zein muttered as he closed his eyes, feeling Bassena pull him up a little bit so he wouldn’t accidentally slide into the water and drown.

Of course, the wedding itself wasn’t in this particular ultra-expensive inn. It was in a hall somewhere, and Abel had rented another inn close to that hall for those he invited from Trinity--mainly the guides and the espers he was close with. He couldn’t invite a lot, because the guild was at full speed of preparing for the reclamation project, so Zein and Bassena came not only as friends, but also as the guild’s main representatives.

Due to how high-profile they were, however, Zein and Bassena couldn’t stay in the same place with the others, because once the media sniffed their presence, those hunting dogs would follow them everywhere for news, including to the wedding venue. It would be uncomfortable for Abel and his family then.

And that was why they ended up in a different inn on the opposite side of the city--which was fine, since Zein could experience this blissful facility.

"It’s indeed a shame that we can’t go out to take a look," Bassena laid his head on the guide’s shoulder, pressing his face on the pulsating mark in that fair nape. "Strolling through the cultural center seems fun,"

Zein hummed, leaning back against the esper’s chest. It indeed sounded like a fun date, casually walking through rows of traditional housing, and reading about the historical background behind each site and building. He would like to climb the watchtower and imagine being in that era of chaos and fear.

He wanted to know if it would be similar to the feeling of watching the Deathzone from the sentry box of the borderland, only with more horror. After all, people had no idea what they had to face back in the day, and not many people had awakened to their power.

In that case, he felt like he would gain a better resolve, seeing that they had more advantages than those people who had to start from nothing, not even enough information about the enemies. Surely, they could do better with all the preparation they had made this far.

"We can do that after the wedding, right?" Zein drummed on the esper’s arm around his waist in contemplation. They just didn’t want to drag a bunch of reporters to Abel’s wedding and steal his thunder, but after that, Zein reckoned it should be fine even if they made an appearance in public. "Just a bit before we continue to Eiyuta."

"Yeah, let’s do that," Bassena pressed his lips on the guide’s neck. Zein probably did not realize it himself, but there was a slight tremble in his voice, an anxiety that Bassena had learned to notice.

"It’s fine," Bassena whispered. "We’ll find them. We’ll go to the guide center if we have to, and if we still can’t find anything, we’ll try again the next time we’re free."

Bassena heard soft laughter and felt Zein leaning even more to his chest. A calloused hand stroked his wet hair, caressing his cheek. The blue eyes glanced at him, and a smile graced the guide’s beautiful face; soft, vulnerable, and only for Bassena.

"I adore you so much, do you know that?"

Bassena smiled, leaning down to kiss the sweet lips. For Zein, those words were as good as a confession already, and Bassena couldn’t be more satisfied right now.

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