Free Web NovelChapter 44: The Snake Who Chooses Not To Hiss
Adrien stands alone in the ruined room long after Niko leaves. The silence feels wrong. Oppressive. Like the house itself is holding its breath.
His pulse still hasn’t settled. Every word Niko had spoken kept replaying in his head.
’A certain deal’
’You would’ve been involved’
’Just hope it isn’t what I think it is’
He knows that Niko definitely knows something, but the worst part is that Adrien can’t tell what exactly he knows.
With anyone else, he could manage this uncertainty, but with Niko, uncertainty is a death sentence. That yellow-eyed bastard won’t hesitate to break him.
Adrien drags both hands down his face, feeling the sting of his knuckles. Blood stains his fingertips, but he barely notices.
His thoughts spiral relentlessly, each one adding to his rising paranoia.
Had Niko figured it out?
Did Masamune talk?
Is Orion involved somehow?
The idea makes his stomach twist. Because Orion knowing is terrifying. And because Orion had somehow recruited someone almost as terrifying as him too. Niko.
And, despite everything—despite all logic—Adrien had started to feel relaxed in his captivity, which is nothing less than dangerous.
His relaxation was dangerous. His relaxation can get people killed.
Anna is dead.
The thought strikes him again. His chest tightens so violently, he almost doubles over. For one horrible second, he thinks he might actually cry again.
Then a knock sounds against the open doorway.
Adrien straightens immediately, every muscle in his body tense. His gaze snaps towards the entrance and freezes in place like a deer caught in headlights.
Orion stands there.
Adrien can instinctively tell that he isn’t looking at the reckless, unstable version. This Orion looks infuriatingly normal. As normal as he can get.
His dark hair is neatly pushed back, with dark eyes void of manic energy. He’s wearing a black button-up shirt with the sleeves rolled up to his elbows.
He’s completely clear-headed. Completely unaware that Adrien’s entire world is currently collapsing. Or is he?
Orion’s eyes drift over the destruction. He sees the broken furniture, the shattered glass, and the overturned mattress.
He sees the blood staining the ground and Adrien’s knuckles.
His expression doesn’t change. "Well, you’re upset."
Adrien stares back blankly. "What gave it away?"
"The room."
"How insightful."
"Why? Thank you."
Adrien almost throws another lamp at him. Unfortunately, there aren’t any other lamps left.
Orion steps carefully over broken glass, his attention remaining fixed on Adrien. Not the room or the damage to it— just Adrien.
Which somehow makes everything worse.
"What do you want?" Adrien asks, eyeing him like a prowling tiger.
"I came to ask you something."
Adrien’s stomach drops instantly. Niko’s words echo through his skull.
’A deal’
’Masamune...’
’Hope it isn’t what I think it is’
Orion seems oblivious to the quickening of Adrien’s heartbeat.
"I’ve been thinking..." he starts, which is not reassuring in the least. "We haven’t actually spoken properly."
Adrien blinks. "What?"
"We keep getting interrupted."
"You kidnapped me."
Orion tilts his head slightly. "Yes, I did that."
"You keep threatening me." Adrien levels him with a glare.
"Only on occasion, dear."
"You’ve terrorized me for half of my life and you’re telling me that you want to speak to me?"
Orion looks genuinely confused by his expression, then he shrugs. "I don’t just want to speak to you, I’d also like to take you out."
The room descends into silence as Adrien waits for the punchline, but none comes.
"Take me out?"
"Yes." Orion nods.
"Like, you want to murder me?" freewebnσvel.cѳm
"No." He responds looking mildly offended. "I want us to go on a date."
The room goes completely still.
"A what?"
"A date."
"Y-you?" Adrien stammers.
"Yes."
"You are asking me?" His eyes narrow.
"Yes."
Adrien wonders if grief had finally broken his brain because that would be the most likely explanation for whatever in god’s name he’s hallucinating.
Because there’s no world where Orion Vassilis would casually ask him out on a date.
And yet, here they are.
Orion crosses his arm. "I’d like us to talk."
Adrien’s mind immediately supplies several horrifying possibilities.
A talk about Masamune.
A talk about Niko.
A talk about whatever deal Niko was referring to.
A talk about things Orion isn’t supposed to know.
Orion continues speaking, completely oblivious to the panic surging through him. "I think you’ve been avoiding certain conversations."
Adrien nearly chokes. "W-What conversations?"
"Most of them," Orion responds flatly.
"Oh."
"And you’re grieving...Anna, was it?"
The sound of her name hit harder coming from Orion, and Adrien hates that.
"I know one of your people died. I don’t know why, but I know she did."
The pain returns instantly. Fresh, raw, and horribly unbearable. Adrien looks away.
"You don’t look like you should be alone right now."
Something inside Adrien cracks. Not because the words were particularly profound or that they fixed anything, but because they sounded sincere.
And sincerity coming from Orion, coupled with his familiarly unfamiliar clear-headedness is nothing short of dangerous. Unnaturally so.
Adrien can’t afford his sincerity. He can’t afford this side of him. Nothing good has come of the times when he’s seen this side of him.
And if anyone were to think that this side of him is less dangerous, they would be unpleasantly surprised.
Adrien can’t handle this. Not now. Not with Niko’s words rattling around his skull and every instinct of his screaming that something terrible is about to happen.
His thoughts tangle together.
Niko. Masamune. Anna. The deal. Orion. Questions. Questions. Questions. Too many questions. He can’t breathe.
He can’t think.
He can’t stop imagining Orion sitting across from him later tonight and casually revealing something that destroys everything.
He needs the conversation to stop. Immediately.
He needs it to stop before Orion asks anything— before Orion says anything. Before he completely loses control.
Orion takes another step closer. "Adrien— "
And Adrien kisses him.
The decision happens before he consciously makes it. One second he’s standing there, in the next, he’s grabbed Orion’s shirt and pulled him forward.
Their mouths crash together in a desperate and impulsive tango of lips.
The moment it happens, Adrien realizes exactly what he’s done, and immediately prepares for disaster. He prepares for Orion to shove him away in anger.
He prepares for Orion to retaliate with violence.
But nothing happens.
For a second, Orion simply freezes, completely motionless. Adrien’s gut twists. Then Orion kisses him back.
The realization hits harder than any of his father’s punches. His brain stops functioning entirely, because this isn’t manic Orion. This is clear-headed Orion.
And clear-headed Orion is kissing him back, with one hand pulling him closer by his waist. A kiss that Adrien can only describe as dangerously gentle.
It eats away at his desperation and panic.
The room seems to disappear. All his grief, fear, and panic vanish for one impossible moment. Adrien hates how much relief he finds in this.
He hates it, but needs it anyway.
The kiss deepens briefly, just enough to make Adrien forget how to think. Then Orion calmly pulls away.
Adrien stares quietly at him, his breathing uneven and his pulse thundering in his ears. He sees that Orion looks considerably calmer than he feels.
Of course he does. Damn bastard.
Neither of them speaks as they stare each other down. Then Orion’s lips curve into a sly smile. "As methods of changing conversations go, that one was surprisingly effective, dear."
The low timbre of his voice sends shivers down Adrien’s spine. "Shut up."
His smile morphs into something a little bit real. "I was trying to ask you out on a date."
He ignores the groan Adrien lets out. "I still am, dear."
The panic starts creeping back in— Niko, Masamune, questions, his uncertain future. Yet somehow, it all feels farther away now.
Not gone, just delayed.
Orion adjusts his sleeves, completely unbothered. As though being kissed out of nowhere by Adrien is a common occurrence for him.
Finally, he steps back towards the doorway. "We’ll talk tonight."
Adrien immediately tenses. "There it is. You and your threats."
"I’m not threatening you."
"You absolutely are." He scoffs.
Orion considers that, then shrugs. "Maybe I am."
Adrien rubs his temples in annoyance. Somehow his life has become so absurd that Orion now asks him for dates.
And not the lunatic Orion, but the clear-eyed one. Which is somehow even crazier.
Orion pauses at the doorway. For the first time since entering, his gaze visibly softens. "Choose another room that you’d like, and try not to trash that one too. I’ll come pick you up at eight, darling."
Adrien opens his mouth to argue or refuse, but nothing comes out, because it doesn’t sound like Orion is ordering him. He just can’t tell it what it sounds like.
And Orion, who was already turning away, stops. Without looking back, he calls out. "Adrien?"
Adrien frowns, pettily refusing to answer.
"I’ll send you something nice to wear."
The sound that escapes Adrien is somewhere between a groan and a strangled scream. Orion disappears, leaving him standing alone in the wreckage of the room.
Adrien’s heart races, mind spiraling with an emotion other than grief.
Clear-headed Orion is truly the worst for him. ƒгeeweɓn૦vel.com
*****
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