Villain's Second Heart: Trapped in A Fantasy Novel (BL)-Chapter 15: Shine Bright For Me Tonight

Oberyn stood in the center of the room, clutching his shirt and wriggling nervously.

"You okay?"

"You know how I said Nephilim are superior beings," Oberyn murmured, his voice a tremble. "Well, there's just one downside. One single, stupid downside."

Oberyn gulped. "I...might need to take my clothes off."

"What!?"

"Shut up!" Oberyn blushed, looking away from him. "It's not because I want to! My digestive system works a little differently than yours, and I had two meals today to recover my energy. So...I'm really full right now..."

"Listen, if you need to go to the bathroom, don't do it here."

"No, it's not that," Oberyn snapped. Usually when I sleep is when I release energy back into the air...and I can't do that very well if my skin's all covered up. So..."

"You can't just leave your underwear on?"

"I can!" Oberyn said quickly.

"So what's the big deal? You saw me without a shirt on. Don't worry, I won't stare."

"It's not that I don't want you to see me - I mean - " Oberyn scrambled, trying to say the right words. "I just..."

"No need to explain. Here I go, laying with my face against the wall. You do you."

"But what if you wake up before I do?" Oberyn worried.

"I'll wait for you to get up. Don't worry."

Ezra closed his eyes, and all he could hear was the quiet sound of Oberyn undressing.

'Do I want to take a peek? Sure. But I wouldn't dare. I promised him I would stay here, just like this.'

Ezra squeezed his eyes shut as hard as he could. He heard the clink of Oberyn's belt, and the thump as all his clothes were thrown into a pile next to the bed. Then, he felt the sheets tighten around him as Oberyn laid on top of all the bedding on the other side of the bed.

Even with his eyes closed, he could sense that a bright light suddenly shines into the room. He opened his eyes abruptly, startled.

"Do you see that light too?" Ezra asked, staring at the wall.

"You said you'd close your eyes!"

"I'm not looking at you, but how could I possibly not notice that bright light! No way you don't see it!"

"I can't get dim without taking more clothes off, so you're going to have to deal with it!" he hissed.

"More clothes? Aren't you just in your underwear? Wait, that light is coming from you?"

Oberyn didn't answer.

"Look man, I'm not trying to judge here, but give me a heads up next time you're doing a naked light show, eh? You're making it really hard not to look at you right now."

"You can't!" Oberyn insisted.

"It just sounds really, really, really cool!"

A brief moment of silence.

"Cool?"

"Yeah."

Ezra sighed, burying his head under the covers. "You can literally glow. I came to this world because I wanted to see magic for the first time in my life, you know. I've dreamed of a world like this since as long as I knew what dreams were. I'm sorry."

"It's okay."

More silence.

"It is pretty cool," Oberyn mumbled, just loud enough for Ezra to hear.

Oberyn raised his arm into the air, looking at it. All of his skin glowed with shimmering red light - so bright it was almost orange.

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"Oh what, you're gloating now?"

"You can look, if you want."

Ezra opened his eyes. "But you said..."

Ezra sat up in the bed, and looked over at Oberyn. The Nephilim stared directly back at him, his eyes alight with amber light and his entire body radiating effervescent light.

"I was embarrassed by it..." Oberyn's voice trailed off. "I thought you'd find me weird, or freaky."

"No." Ezra's voice was clear with conviction. "I mean...I already thought you were weird, don't get me wrong. But this - this isn't weird. You're beautiful, Oberyn."

Oberyn let out a light gasp. He wasn't expecting to be called beautiful. He watched Ezra as the young man stared at the light in total fascination. Then, their gaze met, orange radiance twinkling in both of their eyes.

"You are, t - I mean - thank you," Oberyn corrected himself. The Nephilim inhaled shakily, flustered.

"No. Thank you."

"For what?" Oberyn said quickly, breaking their eye contact.

"For being my first friend."

Time seemed to grind to a halt - at least for Oberyn. If he gasped one more time in this conversation, he was sure he'd choke on air.

"I've hardly been a friend," Oberyn said. "I tried to kill you only this morning."

"And yet I'm still alive," Ezra smiled. "You're the best friend I've got. The best I've had in a long time."

Ezra laid back down on the bed, facing the wall again.

It was silent for over five minutes before Oberyn spoke again.

"In this world, you're my first friend, too."

Usually, Ezra struggled to fall asleep, but that night, he was out like a light.

Then, morning came...

...

By the time Ezra awoke, Oberyn was already up, fully dressed, and ready to head out. He and Deek went outside to see him off.

Oberyn stood before the two of them and bowed deeply.

"Thank you both for your kindness and understanding. I am in both your debt."

"Yeah, yeah. If you really feel that way, come help me take care of the geezer sometime."

"There's no debt at all, my friend," Ezra smiled.

Oberyn adjusted his belt, checking his sword. "I hope to meet you both again someday. Should you have need of me, you may inquire at the Royal Magic Academy."

"Wait, you're a student?"

"Was. I started doing field missions last week."

"Wait! You went to the Royal Magic Academy and finished Basic Training in just two months!? That's even faster than Mr. Rav did!"

Oberyn smiled. "I'm something of a natural at using magic, you could say. Being a Nephilim helps a lot with that!"

"Well, when I awaken MY Magician powers, I'm going to finish in ONE month."

"With your feistiness, I wouldn't doubt it at all." The two shared a hearty laugh.

"But if you do, Deek...my advice would be to stay away from Asteria."