The Guide is Actually a Body-Switching Esper [BL]
Chapter 128: Fast Food Date (2)

Chapter 128: Fast Food Date (2)

"Wha, what?" Lane asked in between coughs.

So Damien had done some digging. He must have had. During their short exchange, Lane never told him his age or date of birth. Damien must have known it from his file or somewhere. And who his parents were as well, since otherwise, he and Nyla could be two unrelated people who just happened to share their date of birth. Unlikely case, but Damien wouldn’t state such an assumption out loud without concrete evidence.

Lane gulped down the drink Damien pushed his way and put the half-empty cup down, gasping for breath. "She has a brother?"

"Yes..." Damien drawled, his emerald eyes now fully focused on Lane. "You didn’t know that?"

"How was I supposed to know?" Lane arched his brows, and grabbed another wing, acting as casual as he could.

"I thought you were familiar with the Allens?"

"Well yeah... But we were never close or anything. I always thought Nyla was an only child." Lane shrugged his shoulders.

He would have liked to change the topic...

But it wasn’t what he wanted to do right now, but rather what he would have done if he wasn’t ’Lane Allen.’ Considering his strong dislike for the Allen Guild that Damien was already aware of, and his personality... He’d probably be interested in the gossip, right?

Hell, even now he was curious what Damien had to say about ’Lane.’ They’ve already established that Nyla was gorgeous... But now he had an opportunity to hear about Damien’s impression of HIS real looks...

So, he asked, "How is he?"

Casually, as if he was making small talk, and it wasn’t all that important...

"Who? Lane Allen?"

Lane almost got chills. Hearing Damien say his name, his real name, in his low, mellow voice... Was marvelous. Would have been even better if he was a bit hoarse and gasping for breath...

But now was not the time to let his imagination run wild. Squeezing his calves to maintain his calm, Lane nodded his head. "Mn."

"We didn’t get to talk much, so I don’t know." Damien’s answer was as boring as it could be, causing Lane to roll his eyes.

"But his looks?"

"He resembles Miss Nyla, but he’s taller. And has pink hair."

"So he’s handsome?" Lane held his breath, despite still acting nonchalant.

"...Yes, very."

Ah...

Lane had to try very hard to stop his mouth from stretching in a wide grin. Hearing Damien admit that felt amazing! Not that Lane had ever had any doubts about his handsomeness, but that didn’t mean he didn’t like receiving compliments. Especially from people whom he was interested in.

He had to stay in the role though, so he shook his head with a heavy sigh. "Praising others in front of me again... What, maybe you’re gonna say next he’s more handsome than me?"

For a while, Damien didn’t answer, just stared at Lane, a mix of emotions in his eyes. Lane pretended not to notice, busy nibbling on the wings, even though inwardly, he was full of anticipation.

There was only one correct answer to his question, and that was ’Yes! Lane Allen is the sexiest and most handsome man I’ve ever seen in my entire life! Totally my type!’ - that was more or less what Lane wanted to hear from Damien.

As for Damien... He was in a pinch. There was still a chance that ’Lane Allen’ was the man sitting in front of him, his boyfriend that is. How could that be possible Damien didn’t know, but his gut feeling urged him to consider it. And if it was indeed the case, then he should answer truthfully...

But if his feeling was wrong? Then ’Jonathan’ might feel offended. Even though he had changed his body three times already since they’d met, and honestly, Damien didn’t care much about looks, he just wanted this fickle and arrogant man, regardless of his face... ’Jonathan’, however, seemed to care a lot about his appearance, so... What would be a good answer?

Beads of cold sweat were dripping down his back, as he stared at the man in front of him, his mind in chaos. Was it a trick question? Or was it just whatever?

Not getting any answer for a while, Lane lifted his eyes, and as soon as he saw Damien’s frowny, consternated face, the corners of his lips went up. Till now, he was the one stressing over every word, but with this he managed to reverse the situation! Not that he was entirely safe, it was unlikely that Damien’s suspicion would disappear so easily, but still.

Pleased with himself, he let out a heavy sigh. "Fine, I get it. He’s more handsome. I expected you’d think that."

"...I still think you-" Damien started, but Lane instantly cut him off.

"Ah, spare me the pity. I was just messing with you, I don’t care that much." As if to prove his words, he gave Damien an amused smile. "But earlier, did you say pink hair? You mean dyed?"

Now that he was let off the hook, Damien exhaled with relief. "I would assume so. As far as I am aware, people don’t have natural pink hair," he stated matter-of-factly.

"True, true... But pink? For a guy? Isn’t that kind of ridiculous?"

"Why ridiculous?" Damien furrowed his brows. "People have different preferences. And it suited him quite well."

...Oh damn.

Lane involuntarily paused, his heart skipping a beat.

Damien really was great. Lane could almost fall for him.

But, of course, he wouldn’t! He wasn’t that easy. He wouldn’t be swept away by some feelings or attachments. Nope, no way.

Still, it was a bit of a pity that Damien would never get a chance to be under the real Lane, since, ahem, he found him handsome, and even liked his hair! Well, technically Damien never said that he LIKED Lane’s hair, but still, close enough.

Lane finished his drink, trying to drown the butterflies ravaging his stomach. "Hm, I guess you have a point. But, anyway! How’s work? Are we still on tomorrow?"

"Ah, about that. I meant to bring it up... I’m sorry, but I don’t think I can."

"Why? Haven’t finished yet?"

"I did... However," Damien hesitated for a moment, glancing at Lane. He wasn’t used to discussing his duties with anyone, but it wasn’t anything classified, and they were in... relationship, so it was normal to do so, right? "Section Leader assigned me more paperwork today."

Lane clicked his tongue with annoyance. That damned Section Leader, he KNEW he had something against Damien!

However, Damien quickly added, "I’m alright with it. Everyone’s busy right now, because the summit is coming up soon. We will be gone for two weeks, and we can’t leave any piled up paperwork behind..."

Lane didn’t comment on that, just observed Damien carefully. Perhaps Damien didn’t mind, but it irked Lane to no end. That Section Leader... It would be great if he got into some sort of, ahem, accident... But Lane himself had too much on his mind to take care of it, so it would all have to wait.

"Alright then," he finally sighed. "Then I guess we will have to postpone it, until we’re back from the summit."