There's No Love In the Deathzone (BL)
Chapter 658: Side Story 2. Dance of Flame and Shadow - 17

Chapter 658: Side Story 2. Dance of Flame and Shadow - 17

Safely, New Year had come to the Borderland.

Most importantly, the provisions came safely too. That means real meat and vegetables. That means new grounded coffee beans. And that means alcohol. Lots of it.

Agni loved alcohol as much as the next person, but he couldn’t bring himself to have them when he was the Captain. With alcohol around, it was a certainty that some fights would break out, and he had to be sober enough to resolve them.

Above everything else...

"Have you seen the kid?" Agni asked the people who got Ron drunk during the founding day while looking around.

He couldn’t see that messy brown hair that was still fluffy because he hadn’t been in the Borderland for a long time. He had circled the mess hall and visited places where people might gather, but he couldn’t find the kid at all after dinnertime.

"What--Ron? He’s not here?"

"No," Agni squinted his eyes at the people who already got tipsy. "I’m worried someone got him drunk again."

"So what if someone did?" they laughed. "You’re such a worrywart, Captain. Are you his babysitter or what?"

"Shut up and drink."

"Aye!"

Agni rolled his eyes and left the hall. Maybe the kid didn’t want to drink--which was good--so Agni walked out to check the group that only wanted to celebrate New Year’s Eve without getting drunk. They were gathering around the mess hall to have easy access to the special food, but still...there was no Ron.

Did he fall asleep after dinner? Agni considered going to the Esper dorm when a random guide passed his contemplating figure. "Captain, are you looking for Ron?"

Agni paused and turned toward the guide quickly. "Did you see him?"

"I saw someone going to the gate an hour ago, I think it was him."

Agni’s blood turned cold. "The gate?"

Immediately, he dashed toward the tall wall. His heart drummed in his chest as he looked for the personnel tasked with manning the gate that night. His head was a mess the whole time--why the gate?

Was the kid trying to go to the Deathzone again and chose the time when people were busy with celebration? Was him being calm and given up on understandong his father only a ruse to lower Agni’s guard?

No. Let’s not go there, Agni Khan. The berserker shook his head. If the kid wanted to leave during celebration, he would have done that during the Founding Day. A part of him scolded him for his constant rejection, which might drive the kid to the edge again, and Agni groaned.

Perhaps because his stress was so palpable in his face, the espers on gatekeepings duty chuckled and wordlessly pointed up to the top of the wall. There were several turrets along the wall, an emergency measure if they got overrun by beasts--which thankfully had only ever happened once about two centuries ago.

Agni did not waste time and climbed the wall to check the turrets one by one, and when he arrived at the third one--the one facing the closest line to the dark jungle--he finally let out a breath of relief.

"Haa..." he panted while gripping the wall for balance, staring at the startled Ron, who had been blankly staring at the Deathzone before he arrived. "What are you doing here?"

"Oh..." Ron pulled back from the railing and slid down to the floor, taking a seat with his back against the wall. "Just...wanna be alone."

Agni stared at the kid, who somehow looked a bit down. He wanted to go there and asked what happened, but the kid said he was there because he wanted to be alone, so Agni was confused and in a dilemma. "...should I go?"

"No!" Ron almost gasped and replied quickly, almost aggressively, before retreating back and gave a quick follow-up. "It’s just...we usually have family time during New Year..."

"Ah..."

Agni remembered then, how Nolan usually takes a day off during New Year. There was only one time he couldn’t, and that was when a dungeon break unfortunately occurred under another squad, and their team was being sent a support. Still, he would rush home once the job was over.

New Year, as it happened, was the only day off a man with a family could take without being disputed by the higher up except for an emergency--so even that shitty Major couldn’t do anything but let the man have his vacation during New Year.

But the last New Year’s Eve Ron had with his family was the year before that dungeon incident happened.

Fiddling with the edge of his coat, Ron asked quietly. "Can you...stay?"

"...sure."

Agni came over quietly and took a seat beside the scout. Ron had folded his legs and pulled his knees up, using them to prop his arms and laid his head. Agni felt weird seeing the kid become all sad and depressed after seeing the feisty and cheeky side all the time.

He was curious. He wanted to ask what the kid was thinking and feeling, but he sat there quietly, letting Ron decided for himself whether he would talk or not.

"I missed him," Ron said after a few minutes of silence between them. "I wished I could at least see him once more."

"I’m sorry..." was the only thing Agni could say.

Ron shook his head. "I know I had decided to not blame myself for not coming here sooner, but...I can’t help it tonight," he raised his head and looked up at the dark sky that offered no moon or star. "Last year...and the year before, I was in the tower."

Agni raised his brow. "On New Year’s Eve?"

"Yeah," Ron smiled dryly. "I don’t want to think too much while everyone’s celebrating. I didn’t want to pity myself, so I ran away to the Tower," he chuckled bitterly. "There’s no celebration inside the trial, and I could focus on climbing."

"That’s...admirable."

"So I couldn’t help but think that...if only I used that feeling to go to the Borderland instead, maybe..."

Ron stopped as his throat started to choke up, and he lowered his head again, tucking it between his knees.

"I’m sorry," Ron closed his eyes and bit his lips as hus eyes started to sting. "I promise it’s just tonight, so--"

"It’s fine," Agni reached out to pat the brown hair, frowning at the stinging sensation in his heart--but it wasn’t the time to worry about him. "No one tells you not to cry."

"Ugh--hicc..."

Ron sunk his head even more between his knees, clutching his legs, and made himself shrunk. He looked small and vulnerable and got Agni’s heart hurting almost as much as when Nolan died.

He took a deep breath and closed his eyes tightly in a mind battle before his hand moved and pulled the young esper toward him. "Come here."

Ron felt the warmth hitting one side of his body, and his defense crumbled completely. He turned his head and buried his face in the older’s shoulder, crying more than he did in the Captain’s bedroom that first time. At that time, he was both frustrated and sad, but this time...there was only sorrow he had buried for five years.

Agni sighed softly and hugged the kid’s shoulder tightly, stroking the frail-looking young esper who had been struggling with everything alone. It was especially brutal because he didn’t have to. There were so many what-ifs in his life that could turn everything around, and ut frustrated Agni to no end.

His heart was hurting from the sound of those soft sobs, muffled by his shirt. The thought of protecting Ron had always been there since the start, but the part where he was motivated by his promise to Nolan started to get blurred out by his own desire, whether he realized it or not.

Staring at the slightly shivering scout, Agni was tempted to reach out with his other hand when a loud explosive sound startled the both of them. It startled Ron enough to stop crying and looked around in caution.

"W-w-what? What is happening?"

Agni patted the younger man to calm him down and pointed at the sky, which got Ron to widen his eyes in surprise. "Fireworks?"

Colorful explosions littered the sky far down the south, in the direction of the Borderland Unit’s main headquarters, giving a burst of life in the otherwise gloomy environment.

"That’s the main headquarters," Agni told the younger man. "Seems like it’s midnight already."

"They have fireworks there?" Ron asked with widened eyes.

"Yeah...to remind us that we’re still human, I think," Agni chuckled cynically. "But our guys are more interested in the booze than the fireworks."

And to minimize the spread of infighting, Agni had strictly regulated that the alcohol shall not leave the mess hall, so everyone who wanted to drink had to stay there. At least, if someone got too drunk and initiate a fight, it would stay indoors--easier to handle. And so, the personnel were rarely found outside to watch the fireworks.

Not with the youngest one, however.

"It’s been a while since I saw fireworks," Ron looked at the blooming colors in the sky with sparkling eyes.

"Ah, right--you were in the Tower, after all."

Ron stared at the distant sky with wide eyes, without blinking, and since the fireworks were behind Agni, the berserker could see them in the younger’s round, clear eyes.

It was...fascinating, to say the least. Agni had never felt the fireworks were particularly pretty, but the one inside the younger man’s eyes were maybe...just maybe...

Agni groaned inwardly. Fuck--he shouldn’t have talked to that woman.

"Can I see them more clearly if I move there?" Ron stood up eagerly, abruptly, forgetting that there was a big berserker on his way.

In his effort to move quickly, Ron tripped on the berserker’s knee and topped forward in a daze. Startled, he gripped the broad shoulder for balance and Agni grabbed the scout’s waist to prevent the younger man from falling forward.

"Ugh--I’m sorr..."

The apology got stuck in Ron’s throat when his eyes were greeted by the view of the berserker’s full face in front of him. So close. Close enough that the only thing he could see was the man’s face.

And those dark eyes were looking at him blankly, as if stunned, with a little spark quietly blazing behind the dark pupils. A battle was happening inside Ron, of desire and rationality.

Should he make a move? It felt like the time to make a real move. But what if this uncle threw him out for real after this? What if he set even more boundaries between them? Not one Ron could easily jumped in, but as tall and thick as the Borderland’s wall.

Seconds passed, and the fireworks still exploding loudly in the sky. The distant light cast a colorful shadow on their face, and Ron could still feel the warm hand on his waist.

Oh, fuck it.

Ron steeled his heart and grasped the stubbled cheek, stealing a kiss under the exploding flowers.

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