There's No Love In the Deathzone (BL)
Chapter 656: Side Story 2. Dance of Flame and Shadow - 15

Chapter 656: Side Story 2. Dance of Flame and Shadow - 15

"How much did you drink?" Agni asked while climbing the stairs to the Captain’s quarters. Ron, upper body swaying on his shoulder, pursed his lips and grumbled.

"’unno..."

"Idiot," Agni flicked the back of the scout’s head. "A scout needs to be aware of their surroundings."

Ron pursed his lips even more. He wasn’t that far gone and definitely still aware of his surroundings. But he did feel a bit loose and woozy--still! It was a celebration!

"I was," Ron grumbled and laid his head on the berserker’s warm shoulder. "They are friends and there’s you."

See? This uncle fetch him right away despite all the rejection the man gave him. Would he get this reaction if he wasn’t drunk? Ron doubted it.

"Haa..." Agni shook his head exasperatedly. "Why do you have to be so good with your mouth?"

Ron flinched slightly--it wasn’t palpable, fortunately, the way his heart jumped to his stomach. Did thus uncle realized what he was insinuating with that?

...probably not, huh? Esther did say Agni had no romance bone in his body, and that the man seemed to have low sexual drive. Damn--what an ordeal for a hot-blooded youth like Ron.

Ron pressed his lips to restrain the heat spreading all over his body--although...wasn’t he drunk? It didn’t matter then, since his face was already flushed anyway.

Ron cleared his throat and asked curiously. "W-why aren’t you drinking?"

"I have to watch over those people," Agni replied tiredly. "And this one is the perfect example of why."

He proceeded to smack the young esper’s butt, and Ron let out a high-pitched cute yelp that got him clasping his mouth and suspecting the berserker actually had drunk something. "Ouch!" he protested and hit the older man’s back. "Hmph--you’re just like Dad!"

That got Agni paused a little bit, before opening his bedroom door and entering it. He’d like to just throw the kid to his own dorm room, but a rookie stayed in a four-person room, and Agni didn’t want to suffer questioning look from the kid’s roommates.

So he threw the kid to his bed instead. Ron immediately kicked his shoes away and rolled to his stomach, as if he was ready to spend the night there. But what he did was grumble into the sheet. "Always taking care of others and forget about taking care of themselves..."

Agni rolled his eyes while filling a glass with filtered water. "I’m taking care of myself."

"Liar!" Ron turned his head so he could see the older man’s back. "If you take care of yourself, you won’t let yourself be confined here."

"I thought we were over this conversation already," Agni raised his brow as he walked back to the bed.

"No."

"No?" Agni chuckled and nudged the kid with his knee. "Drink."

Ron sluggishly got up and sat at the edge of the bed, taking the glass of water from the berserker’s head and gulping it quickly. It sobered him up a bit, but not enough to restraint his mind--not to mention his mouth.

"You--hicc--always tell me to get out, get out! You’re still young and--hicc--should see the world and whatever, but..." Ron jutted his lower lip and swung the empty glass in his hands, which was fortunately caught by the man he was whining about. "Didn’t you come here when you were just thirty?"

Agni placed the glass on the side table, far away from the kid’s reach. "I’ve seen enough."

"Really? The whole world?" Ron narrowed his eyes dubiously. It was the berserker who told him about being broke. "You have nowhere else you want to visit? To see?"

Agni pressed his lips. Naturally, someone who had to work in the military to pay their debt wouldn’t have enough resources to roam the world. He did get to scout every inch of the Federation in the five years being a part of Nolan’s special squad, however.

That was something, right?

"...some people spend their whole lives in one place. There’s no guarantee for me to be able to go all over the world even if--"

See? See?! You’re denying yourself! A liar!" Ron stomped his hands and feet and pointed at the berserker like a tantrum child. Almost reminded Agni of the first time Ron brought the kid over. "You can’t tell me what to do when you’re not doing what you want to do!"

"Idiot," Agni flicked the kid’s forehead. "I’m not here by choice."

"But you chose to...to replace me!"

Agni wasn’t sure whether Ron was really annoyed or just drunk, but the way he said everything with a frown and a pout made the berserker unable to snap back in exasperation. His heart softened, and he let out a quiet sigh.

"How could I let a kid get chained here forever?" he crouched in front of the sulking kid. "No, I don’t have a choice, but..." he reached out and stroked the flushed cheek in front of him. "You do."

Ron’s lips trembled slightly before he pressed them so tightly they almost disappeared. Agni chuckled and continued to stroke the side of the scout’s head, ruffling the brown hair.

"So don’t choose wrongly," he repeated what he had been telling the kid all this time. "Your father told me to prevent you from doing something foolish, so--"

Agni had to stop his mold preaching when the scout slid--or rather threw himself--to his lap, hugging his neck tightly. Agni caught the kid in reflex, blinking as he felt Ron’s face pressed onto his shoulder. "Hey--"

"Stupid. Idiot. Stodgy."

Agni smiled wryly. "That’s uncalled for."

"How could you say I have a choice?" Ron raised his face slightly to mutter.

"What are yo--"

"My only family had become one with the Deathzone’s ecosystem, and...you’re here," the scout continued to mutter in a crestfallen voice.

It wasn’t in the sneaky way he used to get a pass from Agni, but one filled with genuine vulnerability. The same voice he used when he cried in this very room. Agni frowned deeply as his heart, for some reason, feeling pain he shouldn’t be feeling.

"I don’t want to look away from my feelings..."

On his lap, clutching to him tightly as if he was the last precious thing in the world, Agni couldn’t bring himself to tell the kid to let go. Ron wasn’t crying, but his voice made Agni want to appease him like the last time.

But doing that would just escalate the kid’s feelings, wouldn’t it? That was wrong--Agni confinced himself while patting the younger’s head.

"Haa...you’re too young to have a long-lasting fee--"

"Shut up! This is why you’re an old man!"

Ron snapped and raised his head while pushing the berserker to the ground. Stradling the man’s torso and pressing the broad shoulder, Ron looked down at the flabbergasted berserker with a deep, exasperated frown.

"Ugh..."

"Why? Why won’t you just receive my advances?!" Ron grabbed the man’s shirt and shook him in frustration. "Shouldn’t you feel happy that a young person took a fancy to you? Huh? Why can’t you just be a lust demon and pounce on me when I let you?!"

Agni stared dumbfoundedly at the flushed squirrel on top of him. The brown eyes were framed with red and watery, but that tongue was as prickly as ever. Ron looked like a mess even from down there, and Agni couldn’t help but chuckle. "You’re really drunk, huh?"

"So what?! I’m an adult!"

Agni couldn’t even muster the willingness to get annoyed. What was the use of scolding a drunk kid? Well, this was still acceptable--as long as the kid did not start stripping him

Wait--he wouldn’t, would he?

For now, Agni thought about appeasing the spiky squirrel. "Alright, alright--you’re an adult," he said while patting the kid’s leg.

"So why can’t you just accept it, huh? Stop telling me to get out and just let me stay by your side!"

Agni sighed. "Ronan..."

Hicc

Agni stopped talking when Ron hiccul loudly with a strange expression on his face. The angry face disappeared, replaced by a stunned expression. The brown eyes stared at him unblinking, before the head lowered so Agni couldn’t see Ron’s face clearly.

"...name," the kid muttered quietly. "Call my name again."

Agni blinked at the soft request. It made him realize that he always called the younger man ’kid’ or ’brat’ instead of the name. Why, he thought. Was it to remind him how young the scout was?

"...Ronan."

The messy brown head shook strongly.

"Ron?"

Suddenly, the tensed body of the scout fell on top of him, like a doll with its string being cut loose. Agni was startled and thought the kid passed out or something, but when he touched the kid’s head to check, a soft mutter came out again, almost like a whisper. "You’re warm."

Ron laid his head on top of the berserker’s head. The heart beating steadily but strongly; alive and full of energy. Heat was spreading from that heart, and he wondered whether it was the berserker’s heart that was warm, or Agni’s. Or maybe it was just his body. Or both. Ron didn’t know--he fell asleep before he could find the answer.

Steady breathing flowed from the slumping body, and Agni laid his head back while cradling the younger man. He stared at the ceiling and exhaled slowly, feeling the weight on his chest.

"Ah...what should I do?"

It was getting harder and harder to get away.

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