The Guide is Actually a Body-Switching Esper [BL]
Chapter 112: Enticing Starting Benefits

Chapter 112: Enticing Starting Benefits

"Thanks for today," Eloise smiled at the two men, as they were getting dressed by the entrance. "Come visit again sometime."

"Yeah, no problem! If we ever have any leftovers..."

"Not just with leftovers!" Samantha cut in. Her cheeks were all flushed and eyes blurry - clearly, she had had one beer too many, so now she didn’t even realize she interrupted Lane, as she cheerfully encouraged, "You can stop by anytime. It’s good to see Damien so happy..."

Was he THAT happy? Lane couldn’t help but glance at the man. Sure, his frown was not as deep as usual, but the smile on his lips was still rather faint... But, well, people had different ways of expressing themselves. Samantha knew Damien for YEARS, living under one roof for most of their lives so far, so she surely knew what she was talking about.

So, he just smiled at the girl. "Yeah, sure. I gladly will."

Clara, standing at the back with her arms folded, only tsking under her nose. Somehow, throughout the dinner, she ended up being the one most excluded from the group. Perhaps because of her stubborn insistence on treating Lane coldly, while the other two sisters were far more welcoming.

"We’ll get going then," Damien nodded at his sisters. "Take care."

"Mn, you too."

Lane swept his eyes over the three women, his gaze twinkling playfully as it lingered on Clara, earning him another loud "Tsk," and turned around, following Damien down the stairs.

"So, what now?" he asked, hooking his arm around Damien’s and clinging to the man.

"Well, we’re off for today, so you can return home. Just make sure to fill in your application to attend the summit."

"Hmph," Lane scoffed quietly. How boring. "Do you have any plans for the rest of the evening?"

Damien hesitated for a moment, but still calmly answered, "I have some documents to go through."

"You drank beer though? Is it really a good time to go to work?" Lane pointed out. "Come on, let’s just stop by my place... We can have some fun, hm?"

"...I’m not ready to move forward yet." Or so Damien said, even though his breathing instantly turned more uneven and shallow, his shoulders and muscular arms all tense.

It caused Lane’s lips to curve up in a smirk, and he lifted his hand, brushing Damien’s cheek playfully. "I never said anything though?" he bit his lips, trying to hold his laughter at Damien’s mortified expression. It was so funny he couldn’t help but continue, "I only meant watching a movie, and maybe cuddling on the couch while we’re at it?"

Of course, his initial meaning wasn’t so innocent. There was no need to admit to it though, when he could tease the man instead!

"And besides, don’t we have some things to talk about?" he added. "Such as our relationship and whatnot?"

All of a sudden, he felt a strong pull, to the point that he almost lost his balance. Or, well, to be precise, rather than a pull, it was just that Damien stopped dead in his tracks, frozen solid. So, with their joint arms, it was as if Lane tried to pull a streetlight together with him without exerting any real strength.

"I..." Damien muttered, opening and closing his mouth several times, struggling to find the right words.

It was all because of that word, ’relationship’. He said it to Clara, because he didn’t know what to call whatever the thing between him and Lane was, but... was it too much? He didn’t want to scare the man away by rushing to stabilize their bond in any way!

Lane indeed was initially a bit taken aback by it. But now that he thought about it... Was it really that big of a deal? ’Relationship’ was just a temporary thing. Statistically speaking, most romantic relationships would end up with a breakup eventually. And it was very simple - one party just had to say it was over, and problem solved...

So, why not date? He was too busy to chase after other people, and with a sexy man such as Damien right by his side, everyone else seemed rather bland anyway... He had never been in a relationship before, but it didn’t mean he couldn’t give it a shot, right? It was just a label slapped upon what was between them anyway.

Having reached such a conclusion, he hugged Damien’s arm tighter, tugging on it. "What made you so surprised?" he chuckled, tilting his head. "Isn’t that what you wanted?"

Damien cast him an apprehensive, disbelieving glance. "You... are alright with it?"

"Why wouldn’t I?" Lane shrugged his shoulders. "You’re handsome, a great kisser, and you bring me homemade sweet treats. The starting benefits are quite enticing, I must say..."

He barely managed to finish his sentence, because a split second later, he found himself unable to speak, his mouth blocked, as Damien claimed his lips. The man sucked right up to him, cupping Lane’s face in one hand, while the other wrapped around his waist, locking Lane in a tight embrace, pressed to Damien’s muscular torso...

’Well, well. If I knew it’d be like that, I would’ve agreed to it earlier...’ A thought passed through Lane’s head, and he hung himself on Damien’s neck, digging his finger into that tidy, dark brown hair.

They kissed so hard that they were constantly out of breath, separating their lips only to take a gasp of air, before jumping in to devour each other again, their tongues intertwined in a passionate dance. They were both on fire, to the point that they forgot that they were still in public, at the bottom of the staircase leading to Damien’s sisters’ apartment. The doors closed somewhere in the distance, far above them, but focused on each other, their brains barely registered anything else...

"Ahem!" a loud cough resounded, echoing around the empty hallway.

On the half-level just behind them, stood Clara, shooting daggers at them - or, at Lane, to be precise.

"Are you going to have sex here as well?" Her voice was frosty, like a blizzard, threatening to freeze everything on its way...

But Lane, despite not having any ice resistance, was not affected. Unfortunately, perhaps - because if he was, then perhaps it’d stop him from saying, "Hm, probably not. I don’t have any lube on me, you see... Unless, you have some I could borrow?"

/// Mini Theatre

Lane:

A few years later: Getting engaged is not that big of a deal, you can always just cancel it.

Then: Marriage is just a temporary bond, you can always divorce!

Decades later: Growing old together and getting buried in one grave is just a casual thing! It’s really not that special to have my remains dumped in the same hole with Damien’s!