There's No Love In the Deathzone (BL)
Chapter 640: Side Story 1. The Twilight Zone - 22

Chapter 640: Side Story 1. The Twilight Zone - 22

Bassena couldn’t hear them at first. After all, they were behind the recovery room that was designed to be soundproof.

But then, the door opened and before the nurse came out to call for him, he heard them already. Two sounds of cries overlap with each other. Like a bell, like a warning, it awoke every sense in Bassena’s body and before he knew it, he was already in front of the slightly open door, surprising the nurse.

"Sir Ish--oh, Gods!" the nurse took a step back and clutched her chest in surprise. Seeing a tense-faced esper with unblinking eyes was not healthy for anyone’s heart.

"Zein! My sons!"

But seeing the way that Esper couldn’t say anything but the name of his beloved, the nurse recovered quickly and smiled, realizing that one of the strongest humans in the whole continent was just like any others.

"Your husband is fine, the doctor is stitching him up," the nurse said while opening the door wider. "I thought you might want to see your sons first."

Of course Bassena wanted to! What kind of question was that?!

Despite his aggressive thought, however, Bassena nodded timidly and followed the nurse inside with wide eyes and a drumming heartbeat. Zein was still in the surgery room, so the recovery room was empty. He waited impatiently for a door to open and--

Oh, those voices. He finally heard those voices again. Two cries of different volumes and characters as if telling him they were different people. But of course they were different. Bassena could clearly feel two different sets of heartbeats, coming from two wriggling blankets that the nurses brought close to him.

And then he finally saw them. A pair of fists clutching the blanket strongly, and another pair clawing the air. Their small head wiggled as their mouth opened to let the world know that they were finally there.

For a while, the room was filled with their cries, as Bassena only stared there, staring at the pair of miracles letting out the most beautiful sound in the world. He felt like he was in a trance, wondering if it was the real world or if it was a trap inside a dungeon.

And then, came the question;

"Would you like to hold them, Sir?"

Bassena was startled "Huh? Uhh--oh..."

He looked down at the crying and wriggling babies; still pink and red and only wiped up slightly. So small, smaller than newborn babies he knew--although there wasn’t a lot. They looked so small and vulnerable, as if they would break the moment he touched them.

What if they break?

Bassena started to sweat. His hands, unconsciously reaching out, were trembling. "W-what...what if I drop them? What..."

The nurses looked at each other and smiled amusedly. Indeed, even the strongest esper was like any other new father.

"It’s okay, Sir. I know you’ve been to pre-natal courses diligently."

"And we’ll be here to watch."

"We’ll help you, so don’t worry."

Bassena swallowed, feeling stupid and clueless as the nurse moved his arm a certain way. It felt like all of those classes he attended with Zein were for naught. He didn’t even fumble this hard during his academy graduation exam.

"Here comes the older brother," the cheerful nurse moved the dark-haired baby--who still clutching the blanket tightly--and placed him in Bassena’s arm. This baby cried at a lower volume, and there was an interval between each cry as if he was trying to hold back before failing and crying again.

"Oh..." Bassena felt his lips tremble when the wriggling baby blinked slightly and magically started to calm down.

"Oh, look at him recognizing his father!" the nurse clapped in response, but all Bassena could do was stare at the pair of amber and sapphire beneath those half-open eyelids.

The delicately sharp face and that hair were definitely Zein’s. But that eye shape was his, and those eyes...those were their eyes.

"Would you like to hold the younger one?"

Bassena turned his head and in a daze, stared at the energetically wriggling baby that was still energetic even after being placed in his other arm. This one had his hair, pale and unruly, and a pair of ambers. But despite the difference in their hair color and their eyes, their face was definitely identical.

Truly, the gene of Alteroan Ishtera was not to be trifled with.

Bassena chuckled, and tears were dripping down his eyes until he choked on his cries. The anxiety he felt melted away with his tears, and as if taking turns, the babies stopped crying instead, clutching their father’s platinum hair as he kissed them softly.

"Thank you..." he whispered to his sons and to the opened door that brought forth his husband. "Thank you."

"Pfft--you’re crying already?" Zein chuckled when the first thing he saw in the recovery room was the wet, messy face of his husband. "Cute as always."

"Ugh..."

Bassena blinked at the nurse in a cry for help, and they took the wriggling baby from his arms while laughing. How could they not, when Bassena immediately ran to Zein and kissed the guide’s face all over?

"Are you okay? Are you in pain?" Bassena cupped the guide’s face, who was still slightly pale but God forbid him to look any less than beautiful.

"I’m still on painkiller, so it’s fine," Zein patted the esper’s cheek, wiping the tears away with his thumb. "Can I see my babies too?"

"Of course," the doctor, who came with the gurney, chuckled and gestured to the nurse. "Just a bit, however, since they still need a thorough cleanse and some dress-up," she winked. "Gotta look pretty for their first welcome party."

Zein pressed his lips since it was uncomfortable to laugh, but his boys came at the right time as a distraction. His upper bed was already raised so he could welcome them while half-sitting. Unlike Bassena, there was no fear or hesitation when he took both of them in his arms.

"Heh...what’s with my father’s gene?"

"Right?" Bassena laughed and stroked the baby’s cheek. "But I love it that they look like you."

"Hmm..." Zein narrowed his eyes at the babies and smirked. "I guess none of them have it."

"Have what?"

Zein looked at Bassena while slightly widening his eyes. "These," he curled his lips. "Setnath’s core."

"...huh? I thought you were already..."

"No, that’s just his power," Zein rubbed the babies’ temples with his thumbs. "His fragment is still inside, waiting to be reborn."

Bassena blinked. "Huh? But then..."

He paused; the implication of the unfinished sentence made his head go haywire. Zein, on the other hand, smirked teasingly.

"That means these two won’t be the last."

Bassena parted his lips, looking as stunned as the day they found out about Zein’s pregnancy.

"I’m not saying now," Zein chuckled while returning his babies to the nurses. They had fallen asleep while in his arms--what nice and obedient children.

The doctor shook her head. "Are you planning for another one just after getting out two?" she chuckled. "Just remember that you can only have more after two years, okay?"

Bassena woke up and coughed. Two years? Bassena hadn’t even mastered these twins!

* * *

"Whoaa...they almost erased your gene, Bas," Han Shin laughed when they were finally allowed to visit Zein and the babies. "If this one doesn’t have your hair, I would have thought Zein had gone through divine conception or something."

"Shut up--they have my eyes!"

"To be fair, Young Master looks exactly like Master Roan if he closes his eyes."

"That’s true! So it’s the mighty Ishtera gene then!"

Zein chuckled as the visitors and Bassena were surrounding the bassinet that the twins used. Both of them had fallen asleep, and it became more apparent how much they resembled Zein--which became the source of commotion.

"How are you feeling?" Radia asked, once again peeling an apple beside Zein’s bed.

"Shin already healed the incision, so we’re here for the babies, really," Zein shrugged. That and replenishing his blood.

"I heard you ask for the scar to be left out?"

Zein glanced at the smirking summoner. "I don’t have to tell you the reason, right?" he curled his lips. "It’s probably the same as you two."

Radia laughed and put a slice of apple in his mouth, the scarlet eyes watching the adults fawning over the sleeping babies.

"So, have you thought about it?" Zein asked the summoner lightly, snatching a piece of apple from the plate in Radia’s hand.

The summoner handed him the entire plate and leaned back on the chair. "Are you sure about it? We do not even plan to have any children at all."

"Is that a pre-requisite?" Zein tilted his head. "All we want is people who we know will take care of our children well."

"And you think we can?"

"You’ve been taking care of my husband," Zein shrugged. "For all I know, Joon had been taking care of Shin since day one."

"Well, that’s true..."

Radia chuckled and the sound tapered out into silence. All kinds of emotions played inside his eyes, but even as he thought hard in hesitation, he already knew where his heart leaning from the start. Looking at the twins, even from afar, only solidified it more.

"Sure, let’s do it," Radia nodded. "We’ll be your twins’ godparents."

"Oh, you’ve decided?" Han Joon returned from the bassinet gang and stroked the summoner’s cheek while smirking at Zein. "Do you know he’d been thinking about it seriously every day?"

"Oh, shut up."

Zein just laughed and leaned back against his pillow. He could easily picture it--wasn’t that why he and Bassena decided to ask Radia about becoming the twins’ guardian?

"Anyway, it doesn’t seem right that I still don’t know the names of my godchildren," Radia slapped his husband’s hand off, giving the man a side-eye.

"Ah, that’s..."

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