There's No Love In the Deathzone (BL)-Chapter 464 - 457. First Kiss

"Is it really alright?" Dheera whispered.

"I don’t know, I feel like I’m going to dirty this place," Leehan shook his head.

As they whispered among themselves, neither Dheera nor Leehan was aware of a figure walking toward them from behind, who, without hesitation, pushed the two unsuspecting guides into sparkling clear water.

"Stop wasting time and just get in!" Zhan laughed before jumping into the lake himself.

Dheera and Leehan shrieked before they felt the water hit their body. They fell to the shallow part of the lake, however, so there was no danger. The two guides surfaced quickly, sucking in air to their surprised lung, and were about to shout in protest when they were once again hit by water. Blankly, they stared at the perpetrator who just disappeared under the water and surfaced not long after, laughing.

"What are you doing just standing still? Let’s go there! There!" Zhan pointed at the waterfall and snatched the two guides in his arms, holding them like a sack.

Dheera and Leehan blinked repeatedly in confusion, before laughing and making a swimming motion despite being solely moved by the Spearman carrying them.

"Pfft--so much for worrying about dirtying the place," Bassena snorted as he watched the lower lake become some kind of a waterpark.

After Zhan and the two guides enter the water, the others follow--although in less harsh manners. The support magicians were just leisurely floating around in their makeshift swimming tube made of some fabric and their magic, while Gus and Naoya were doing some kind of wall-climbing race on the cliff supporting the waterfall.

None of them had brought any swimsuits or things to play with, of course, but somehow, they still found something to have fun with in this small paradise inside the Deathzone.

How fascinating, Zein thought, watching Zhan play with his kids fondly. He sat leisurely on the lakeside, with one leg dangling on the water and another bent to his chest, leaning back on his arms.

Fourteen months ago, he also sat like this in that exact spot. But the man he watched at that time was sitting beside him instead, observing his face.

"What?" Zein asked without turning, already feeling the amber gaze on his profile.

"It’s just...you have this nostalgic look on your face."

Zein chuckled, tilting his head to glance at the esper. "It does feel nostalgic," Zein said.

"Why?" Bassena arched his brow and smirked. "Because you saw me naked for the first time?"

"Whaaat?" the reply came from the lake, not far in front of them as the two guides waddled toward Zein, before they stopped after hearing the scandalous thing. "So you’ve been seducing Captain from back then, Commander?"

"What are you talking about?" Bassena scoffed. "I’ve been trying to seduce him from day one."

Zein chuckled as he recalled the first time they met again, when he still hadn’t realized who Bassena was. Since he didn’t remember the event at the cave back then, he thought Bassena was just another obnoxious esper who weirdly acted like a stalker.

Wait...Bassena did technically investigate his background and tracked where he was, so...

"Yeah, you stalker," Zein flicked the esper’s forehead with a smirk.

Bassena chuckled without any regret--after all, how else could he find Zein if he didn’t look for him? The guide would just be rotting forever in this place if no one nudged him out. frёeωebɳovel.com

"But why are you naked, Commander? Pervert much?" Dheera asked daringly with a giggle, although she also held onto Zein’s leg to make sure she was safe from any repercussions.

"I was drenched in Specter’s blood...liquid...whatever," Bassena grimaced. "I had to wash myself thoroughly--it was Zein who suddenly came when I was cleaning myself."

Dheera gasped and covered her mouth, turning to look at the nonchalant guide. "It’s a public place, and he was proudly showing off," Zein shrugged calmly.

Bassena chuckled and asked again. "So? What exactly made you feel nostalgic, then?"

"Hmm..." Zein looked up and his lips stretched into a gentle smile. "This is where we had our first kiss."

"Oh-ho?" Dheera covered her mouth again, taking up more and more information to be shared with the other guides once they arrived.

She would make sure to include the part where the Bassena Vaski was suddenly blushing with a stunned look across his face, or the part where their Captain let out a melodious sound of soft laughter and patted the esper’s cheek fondly.

Almost looking like a painting, actually. Too bad she left her commlink up there with the rest of her stuff, or she would have snapped a picture or two.

But of course, someone would always be eager to prevent this nice view from taking place for too long. "No flirting in front of me!" Han Shin shoved himself between Zein and Bassena, pushing the couple away from each other.

"The fuck?" Bassena scowled, but Han Shin scowled deeper.

"How could you?! I am here away from my fiancee and you have the heart to frolic in front of my broken heart?!"

Bassena scoffed. "That’s hardly my business."

"You!" the healer glared at Bassena, before turning to the other side. "Zein!"

"What?" the guide replied innocently, definitely had no intention of keeping the journey safe for the singles and the long-distance lovers.

Gasping at how much this guide had changed from the last time they were here, Han Shin looked for help from another source. His eyes fell on the Borderland’s scout that had been sunbathing--well, shardbathing?--on a boulder at the lakeside. "Ron, say something!"

The scout raised his head slightly and gave a confused remark. "Say what? Mine is waiting next door, just outside the jungle."

Zein and Bassena just chuckled as not only Han Shin, but also the two guides and the support magicians who secretly listened above their swimming tubes, blinking fast while digesting the information.

Han Shin gasped. "Who?"

"What, you don’t know?" Bassena smirked.

Dheera looked at Bassena and Ron back and forth, before a lightbulb switched on in her head and she clapped her hands. "The big berserker Uncle!"

Han Shin gasped louder, and Zein pressed his lips hearing a full-grown adult call his former Captain an ’Uncle’--so did Ron. It was enough to make the scout sit up as his shoulder was shaking in a stifled laugh. "Uncle, you say..." he bit his lips to hold his laughter. "Oh, well...I guess he’s indeed about twice your age."

"How did I not know about this until now?" Han Shin clasped his cheeks in disappointment at himself.

"It’s not like we’ve been actively showing it...I think?" Ron tilted his head.

"That’s right!" Han Shin nodded and turned toward Zein and Bassena again. "You should take note of that!"

Bassena scoffed, and Ron laughed at the healer’s words. "It can’t be helped, Shin. They’re still in their honeymoon period," the scout shook his head. "Just wait until it passed the ten-year mark."

"Whoaa...you’ve been in a relationship for that long?" Han Shin widened his eyes.

"Hmm..." Ron looked up as he made some calculations. After ten years, he also had stopped counting the passage of time. "Around thirteen years, I think?" he muttered. Six of those were spent while he was working on the higher zones before coming back to the Borderland, but Ron refused to take them out of the equation.

"Whoa..."

Zein tapped on the healer’s head and chuckled. "What are you getting amazed for? Aren’t you also in a long relationship already? Didn’t you say you’ve been together with Reina since your academy days?"

"Well, that’s true but...that’s true, isn’t it?" Han Shin grinned in a late realization.

"Hmm..." Zein tilted his head to look at the healer. "Is that why you looked more like friends than lovers with her?" he chuckled.

"Oh!" Han Shin clapped his hand, as if finally received a revelation. Right; couples just either became like friends or like enemies after a few years had passed. They knew their partner so well at that point that they became so at ease with each other feelings, or knew that there was no longer any spark.

But Bassena disagreed.

"I don’t think I’ll stop getting crazy about you even after ten years," the esper said to Zein.

"You say that now," Han Shin scoffed.

"No, I know!" Bassena insisted.

"All of us think like that at first," Ron smirked. "Then, let’s see if you can still say that in ten years."

Zein felt a bit stunned at those words and let out an almost reflexive chuckle. "Ten years later, huh?" he looked up and closed his eyes. "Ten years..." he repeated. "So we’ll all still see each other in ten years, won’t we?"

"Of course," Bassena replied with a voice that was as firm as his hold on the guide’s waist. "Without a doubt."

"Right," for once, Han Shin did not destroy the nice atmosphere. "We’ll be hanging out in this place again in ten years. By that time..." he looked up, just like Zein, staring at the enclosed dome. "By that time, there will be a blue sky up there."

"I’ll be busy traveling around the world, but...we’ll make time," Ron added lightheartedly with a shrug, eliciting laughter from the avid listeners on the lake.

Zein felt his lips stretched and leaned back against a warm shoulder, basking in the blissful optimism amidst the sound of waterfall and laughter.