There's No Love In the Deathzone (BL)
Chapter 642: Side Story 2. Dance of Flame and Shadow - 1

Chapter 642: Side Story 2. Dance of Flame and Shadow - 1

"Ngh--"

Ron gasped and bit his lip after, clawing at the broad shoulder of the man looming over him. His back arched uncomfortably from the big intrusion inside his ass, and the rough thrusting really didn’t help.

"Ah, fuck--wait!" he grabbed the red hair that had turned brighter after the war against the fallen deity. "Are we really doing it here?"

Agni pulled his head back from the scout’s neck and looked at the younger man incredulously. "I’m inside you already..."

"We’re in a car!"

"But who will protest, anyway?" Agni tilted his head and smirked. "We’re in the middle of nowhere."

Ugh--it was true, of course. For some reason, the Redridge plains had stayed as a hard, empty land. Perhaps such a place was also needed for the environment--who knows? But roads had been made for the Far East’s development, and a highway was under construction. And while Agni, who never cared about common roads, drove their semi-truck through the uncharted land, Ron wanted to argue that aircraft could still fly above them.

Not that they would care about a single rocking car in the middle of empty plains.

Still--

"Fuck, my back!" Ron hit the berserker’s side. "It’s hard on my back like this!"

"Heh--acting like an old man," Agni grasped the scout’s nape and waist, shifting their position to the side so Ron’s back laid somewhat comfortably across the back seat. "Shouldn’t I be the old man, here?"

Yeah, shouldn’t you?! Ron wanted to shout the same thing, but what came out was a sharp moan as the berserker mercilessly pulled his waist while thrusting forward.

Why? How? How the hell was this man, who was pushing middle age, still brimming with so much stamina? If anything, now that he didn’t have to use his energy to lead the Borderland Unit, he had nowhere to pour that energy to but his husband.

Ron used to think he had an advantage of youth, but it was useless in front of a berserker’s blazing life force.

"Why aren’t you focusing?" Agni grasped the scout’s lower face, slipping his thumb between gasping lips. "You’re used to having a hard time taking me in, but now you can afford to think about something else, huh?"

"Hah!" Ron snorted, which was a bad decision because his stomach tightened, and fuck--it was still so big even after all this time. "Wouldn’t it be weirder if I--ugh--still haven’t gotten used to--aah!"

Agni chuckled as he pulled the scout toward him and the loud sound of their hitting flesh echoed inside the cramped space. "That means I can go harder, right?"

"That’s not-- nghh!"

The sound of moans and laughter filled the car, along with wet flesh hitting each other. As if forgetting his protest about them being in the car, Ron was letting out loud groans that ended up in a scream during his release. The back seat of their new car, a gift from Radia Mallarc, was decorated with vicious scratching marks, but Ron couldn’t afford to care as he lay there breathless.

The car was Agni’s gift, so it could be turned into a tatters for all he cared.

When Agni pulled him up for a kiss, Ron received it for three seconds before smacking the side of the berserker’s head. "I’m not doing it again."

"Oh, come on~"

"You try getting pounded in a cramped space!" Ron snarled, getting off the berserker’s lap to open the car’s window. He took out a box of cigarettes from the floor and lit one. "Car is not made for sex, you bear!"

"I chose this one because I thought it would be big enough for that, though..." Agni pursed his lips, and when Ron looked at him incredulously, he added with no shame. "Do you know that Zein did it in a helicopter?"

"Do you know that you’re twice Bassena’s size?"

"Oh, come on! It’s such a long way to the nearest city," the berserker whined.

Ron rolled his eyes, wondering if this man was really in his late forties. "And who was the one who said we should have a road trip with a car instead of using Mortix’s portal to Rexon? Huh?"

Agni jutted his lower lip in silent protest and Ron had to bite his cigarette to prevent himself from laughing. Ah, fuck--why was it so hard to be pissed at this man? Was it because he was the one who fell first? Indeed, the one who chased was always the one who lost.

Ron sighed inwardly and pressed the butt of his short cigarette on a portable ashtray. Apparently, his husband saw it as an opportunity to pull him to the back seat again. "I said I can’t do it again, you bastard!"

Agni laughed at the scout’s hissing remark, but still pulled the younger man to him nonetheless. Ron sighed and leaned against the berserker’s bare chest, scalding as always. He just lit another stick and shared it with the childish old man.

"You change so much, but also stay the same," Agni chuckled.

Ron frowned at the remark that came out of nowhere. "How does that even work?"

"It just does," Agni shrugged, smirking at the scout’s raised brow.

Leaning back against the door, Agni threw his head past the open window, staring at the bright early summer sky. Even after four months, he still couldn’t get used to it. His world had been filled with black and grey for almost two decades, and this bright world felt strange to him. And just like how he had forgotten what the world outside the borderland was like, he forgot how to live a life in this changed world.

If it wasn’t for Ron...

Yeah, if it wasn’t for this kid, he would probably just stay; joining the sea border unit instead of roaming the world with a new car because he had no idea what to do with his life.

Although if Ron heard him calling the scout ’kid’, there might be no sex for a month.

"Which one do you prefer?"

Agni almost flinched when he heard the scout’s voice. "Huh?"

Ron glanced at the berserker and put the cigarette between his lips. "Me changing or staying the same?"

"Hmm..." Agni took a long drag and leaned back again, closing his eyes as he let the smoke swirl in his lungs. Hmm...somehow, it felt inappropriate to pollute the air now that it wasn’t the stifling, miasma-riddled environment. Perhaps they should stop altogether.

"Hey," Ron elbowed his ribs, and Agni almost choked on the smoke.

The scout was startled and swiftly grabbed a bottle of water from the front seat for Agni, who continued to laugh between coughing and wheezing. Damn--now he felt like an old man for real.

Looking at the younger man who was busy wiping water off his chest, Agni smiled and brushed the brown hair away from the scout’s eyes. "I don’t think we’re at the stage where that kind of thing matters anymore, don’t you think?"

Ron raised his head and arched his brow. "What do you mean?"

"Things like how we fell in love or how we changed during the course of our relationship...I can’t really remember them--not because it’s not important, just..." he added swiftly when Ron’s eyes narrowed dangerously. "Whether you change or stay the same, you are still you. The parts that I like and I don’t like, they are still you, and I come to love it as a whole, so everything just blended seamlessly," he patted and rubbed the scout’s upper arms, grinning. "At this point, however you turn out to be, even in the future, I don’t think it will matter to me."

"Huh..." Ron tilted his head. From his expression, however, it seemed like Agni dodged a bullet. The scout threw the shirt he had been using to wipe Agni’s chest and smirked. "It’s rare for you to articulate your feelings for me."

"That’s because I’m not good at speaking," the berserker shrugged.

Ron chuckled and grabbed a random shirt from the back to put on. "Well, you’re right--but also wrong."

"Oh?"

"How I fell in love, and how we came together," the brown eyes glanced at the berserker. "I remember everything."

Agni blinked as he watched Ron get dressed in the cramped space and move to the front seat. Belatedly, he replied with a dumbfounded expression. "...isn’t that because you have a better memory than me?"

"Oh, shut up!"

* * *

Perhaps because they had been spending such a long time in the borderland, they forgot that traveling across the Federation with a car in the summer was its own kind of fight. Unfortunately, once they started, they couldn’t stop--because there was no way Agni would leave their new car somewhere.

And so, after a lot of miles and a lot of fight, they arrived in Rexon.

"Should be enough time for Zein’s wedding," Agni smirked proudly at his own tenacity of driving half the length of the Federation on his own.

Ron could only shake his head in exasperation, feeling exhausted just from becoming a passenger. No matter how tired he was, however, he didn’t think it would be more exhausting than visiting the building in front of them. The bold, rigid name sign that greeted them at the front only gave him a nauseating memory.

Military Administrative Office.

"I can go by myself," Agni patted the scout’s head. "I can get your father’s file since I’m technically the son-in-law."

"That’s..."

Ron frowned, feeling stupid and pathetic. It had been what...twenty years? But he still felt dizzy when he saw that sign.

The scalding palm stroked his cheek, and a pair of warm lips touched his. "I’m telling you to rest inside the car since you look tired. Get the aircon on--can’t have you fainting so close to Zein’s big day or he’ll skin me."

Before he knew it, he was shoved back inside the car with the cooler blasting, and Agni had already walked inside the building. As he watched the big, sturdy back walk away, Ron sighed and leaned against his seat.

Ahh...even to this day, that old man doesn’t change.

Steady, strong, and protective in his own way. It was annoying that he still treated Ron like a kid sometimes, but...it felt nice too.

Feeling the comfortable cool air, Ron closed his eyes and almost fell asleep when the driver’s door opened and Agni slipped inside after throwing two files onto Ron’s lap.

"Clear," the berserker exhaled harshly. "There’s no need to come here anymore after this."

Ron held the files and skimmed over them. Wasn’t it cruel and annoying to have someone come over to take their own letter of innocence? After years of being treated like criminals, they had to fetch the letter stating their name was clean and they were no longer under punishment by themselves. There wasn’t even an apology. Bitch.

Ron would have thrown a hand if he wasn’t so traumatized by this place, which had rejected his and his mother’s plea twenty years ago.

Phew...

But Agni was finally free, and that was the only thing that mattered. He took a deep breath and looked at the files again. Well, it was too late already, but his father’s name was also cleared.

"If it comes down to it..." Ron muttered while patting the name on the top files. "The one who connected us was this guy, wasn’t it?"

Nolan Hertz.

An old colleague.

A father.

A single tune that opened the dance between their flame and shadow.