Noble Adonis: Glory of Chaos (BL - boy x boy)

Chapter 41: Phobia

Chapter 41:

The pair walked through the grove of trees to reveal a small, private clearing. To Shion's relief, he didn't find any mass murderer or stalker waiting for them behind the large trees. Instead, to his sheer delight, he found himself surrounded by much more pleasant scenery. Next to him, even Orion had to stop in his tracks for a few moments. Orion turned to face Shion with surprise written across his face. He grinned when he noticed a curious, wondrous expression on Shion's face. He felt like taking a picture of that exact moment, but if he did, he'd disturb Shion's moment of admiration. He continued staring at Shion's face until he saw Shion's eyes shift to himself.

"It's beautiful," Shion smiled happily.

Shion took a few steps into the clearing to surround himself in numerous fireflies flying in all directions around him. The scene, shrouded in darkness with the only existing light coming from the fireflies, gave Shion an ethereal appearance. Orion felt the need to touch Shion to make sure Shion was still real, but realizing that their relationship had digressed, and he was no longer in the right situation or relationship to be able to freely touch Shion, he held his hand back, and kept to watching from the side.

As beautiful as the fireflies were, one had to consider that some people were not such a fan of bugs. Shion was one such person. Although he looked like a heavenly being standing in the middle of hundreds of bioluminescent bugs, the second they so much as brushed against him, Shion was just about jumping out of his skin. Standing in the middle, where he had voluntarily situated himself to maximise the beauty of the situation, Shion now realized that he was stranded in what felt like an expansive reigon of bugs. Fireflies were only beautiful at night when one failed to see their anthropodic exterior. Up close, within ten centimetres, even without light, from the natural luminence of the bugs themselves, one could witness the true appearance of the firefly. A true appearance that quite scare Shion.

Orion was watching the scene with interest when he saw Shion begin panicking. Shion's flailing arms and bizzare expression were almost enough to advise Orion of Shion's troubles.

"Why're you waving your arms like a mad man?" Orion asked.

Shion felt like crying, but had no tears. His pride as a man really wouldn't let him admit that he was scared of a tiny, harmless creature like a firefly.

"...I'm dancing," Shion replied with instant regret.

Scepticism cross Orion's face as he watched Shion continue his so-called dance that belonged more in a horror movie than it did in such scenery.

"You sure?" Orion reiterated.

Shion hesitantly nodded. He could already see the awkwardness of hid body movements as he tried to avoid contact with the bugs altogether. As he nodded, he felt a feather-like touch land on his shoulder. Turning his head ninety degrees, Shion went head to head with two beady eyes less than a tenth of the size of his own. Even with its small stature, the firefly was a terrifiying creature to behold when face to face with one. Only mere milliseconds had passed when Shion practically jumped three feet into the air and charged straight for Orion.

Orion watched Shion charge towards him, and contemplated side stepping, but behind him was a series of rocks and pebbles that would be painful to land on. So, Orion had no choice but to take the brunt of the impact. Heading straight for Orion, Shion hurtled straight into Orion's solar plexus. The force of the blow winded Orion as Shion charged head first into the body's weak point. The force sent the pair stumbling back a few metres until they landed on the solid body of a tree. All nearby fireflies scattered in different directions. Had the two been calm enough to observe the situation, they would have seen a curtain of light parting ways for them the way a crowd parted for the bride and groom.