CHAPTER 452: HISTORY

"You lied," Ollie pouted, arms crossed as he glared up at Kyle like a kitten trying to look menacing.

"I did not," Kyle said, his smile far too calm. Dangerous.

"You said no tutoring!"

"I didn’t lie," The adjutant said with a straight face. "This isn’t tutoring."

"Then what is this?! Why are you telling me about the Battle of—of—what, even is the Battle of Thirteen Knives and One Drunken Goose?!"

"What Drunken Goose? It’s Drunken Guard. And you misunderstood," Kyle said smoothly. "I’m not tutoring. I’m simply giving familial introductions."

"...Huh?"

"I’m just saying," he drawled, eyes glinting, "if I’m planning to make you Oliver Nox, wouldn’t it be better to tell you about the family this early on?"

Ollie combusted.

His heart tried to launch itself out of his chest. He panicked, squeaked, and slammed both hands over Kyle’s mouth in a frenzied scramble for survival.

He even conjured a spiritual barrier.

A barrier.

Something he had never managed before.

Never. Until now.

And all because this giant had dared to say it—

Oliver Nox.

Oliver Nox.

Oliver freaking Nox.

His knees gave a warning shake.

"Wh-who said that?!" Ollie gasped, trembling like a leaf in a wind tunnel. "Aren’t we—aren’t we friends?! Friends, I say!"

"Of course we’re friends," Kyle said once the blonde’s hands slipped off in his panic. "Even boyfriends have the word ’friend’ in it."

Ollie looked like he was going to pass out. His eyes went wide, his mouth opened in a silent scream, and his brain flickered mid-sentence.

"B-boyfriends?! H-how’s that even possible?!"

Kyle tilted his head innocently. "What do you mean? Didn’t you tell me to dump you before?"

The stunned mechanic froze.

"Last I checked, I never agreed. So technically, we’ve been boyfriends for a while now."

Ollie, in all his glory, sputtered.

He remembered. He remembered that cursed conversation. The panic. The misfire. The sudden discovery of who this guy really was.

"You—you—!" he gasped.

"You remember now?"

Ollie didn’t know where to look—anywhere but at this shameless man before him, who was somehow both devilishly handsome and also terrifyingly sincere.

But then Kyle’s smile softened. "It’s fine. We can pause being boyfriends and just go back to being friends first. After all...You have taken me off Brotherhood. That’s a promotion."

He winked.

Ollie almost fainted again.

Kyle added, voice low and warm, "We can just resume being boyfriends once you’re ready to acknowledge it."

Ollie made a strangled noise that didn’t exist in human vocabulary.

"And you can release your spiritual barrier now," Kyle continued, "I’ve put mine over it. Keeping yours might drain you—it’s your first time, right?"

"Oh."

Ollie blinked, lagging behind by three emotional stations. "Wha—oh."

He slowly dropped the barrier, only now realizing he’d kept it up for that long.

"!!!"

"I—I actually did it?" Ollie gasped.

Kyle nodded. "Yup. Next time, we can practice thinning it out so you don’t run out of steam. Apparently, you just need to get a confession to trigger it."

"Kyle!"

The blue-haired menace chuckled right into Ollie’s palms as they flew back to his face to shut him up

"How are you able to say that with a straight face?!"

The giant gently removed the hands and placed them on his shoulders, eyes not leaving Ollie’s. "Because I know what I want. And I’ve learned I have to be honest to get anywhere. If I don’t tell you, won’t we both just end up single forever?"

"Why would I end up s-single?! I—I’m c-cute too!" Ollie cried, completely red now.

"Too, huh?" Kyle said, tone positively smug at this unexpected progress.

"Of course you are. But don’t expect me to just stand still while you look for cute girls while telling me I can’t have a sweetheart!"

Ollie’s face ignited. His thoughts immediately fled to "The Contract."

"Why would I let you have one when I can’t do the same?" Kyle teased, leaning just a little closer.

"You—!" Ollie pointed, flailing. "Maybe you’re just confused! What if—what if I’m just a very, very special friend! And then one day you’d wake up and say it’s a mistake, that ’it’s not you, it’s me!?’"

Kyle blinked. "That’s awfully specific. Did you see that happen somewhere?"

"...Yes," Ollie muttered. "Several times!"

"I see..."

"So how do you know it’s not just because we’re super close?! Like super duper close?!"

Kyle looked at the shorty before him. There were many ways, frankly, but some would likely terrorize this guy’s little heart. So he settled for something light.

"Hmm. Ollie, I could kiss you right now."

Ollie gasped and slapped his hands over his own mouth.

"I mean," the adjutant continued wickedly, "I won’t. Not here. I think you’d be angry if I did."

"Why would you do that?!" Ollie screeched, muffled by his own hands.

"Because I want to," Kyle said softly, gaze not leaving him. "Really want to."

"And I noticed...You covered your mouth," Kyle mused. "I didn’t say where I’d kiss you. Friends go for cheeks. Relatives go for foreheads."

"Then why," he leaned just a little closer, "did you cover your lips?"

Ollie nearly self-destructed. He wanted to cover his entire face. Maybe even move to a cave.

"I—I—!" he tried, but his brain had clocked out.

Kyle didn’t push. "Don’t worry," he said kindly, brushing a strand of hair behind Ollie’s ear. "I won’t do anything until you’re ready. Not until you’re okay with it."

"!!!"

"Why would I be okay with it?!" He said in indignation, his hair antenna standing up in alert.

"Well, if anything, I think that you’re all right studying now. So if that’s the case, who’s to say that you won’t be alright to kiss next time?" The ends of his lips turned up, and Ollie felt his spine weaken until he realized that studying was great.

Ollie let out a pathetic, choked noise that was somewhere between a thank you and a scream.

"I-I’m going to study now!" he declared suddenly. "I am a responsible student! Very! Fully focused! Mentally fortified!"

"Yeah, you are. What a responsible student." Kyle said as he tucked in a lock of stray hair from Ollie’s face that got the blonde’s blood pressure pumping.

"BROTHER!" Ollie screeched. "I’m getting tutoring from my brother!"

Desperation had arrived.

"I’ll remove the barrier now," Kyle said, completely unbothered. "You can sit here. I’ll be quiet. No funny business. Just snacks."

"N-no! You’re a distraction!"

"Me? Never," Kyle replied innocently. "I’ll just be silent moral support. Also, the stools have no backrest. I can support yours."

Ollie hesitated. The stools did suck.

"You...you have to behave!" he said, still panting from emotional exertion.

"I swear on my honor," Kyle said solemnly. "And I told you already—I don’t bite."

Liar.

He looked like he wanted to bite.

But Ollie had already agreed in his heart. He slumped back down on him, utterly exhausted and redder than a cursed fruit.

"I’m going to study," he mumbled, attempting to move so he’s facing the makeshift table.

"Sure," Kyle said cheerfully, taking out the barrier that had kept them relatively safe. "You just focus on memorizing history while I comfort you."

Ollie was seriously thinking that this was the face of a liar. But what to do when the liar’s face looks like that?

He shook his head. He was going to study! He was going to fill himself with information, history, and possible relatives.

NO!

NOOOO!

Who wants to be a Nox?!

They had way too much history to learn and remember!