The Guide is Actually a Body-Switching Esper [BL]
Chapter 60: Guide Me

Chapter 60: Guide Me

Damien was already there.

Even though he had just sent the request, he was already in the room, waiting for Lane. Working on his laptop, of course, so he wasn’t wasting time, but still.

Lane took a deep breath, and stepped in, closing the door behind himself. It was an automatic action, something he always did whenever entering one of the private rooms. Only when it was already done, did he realize that perhaps it would have been better not to close them, so that they wouldn’t have that much privacy...

But what was done was done. Opening them again would feel too awkward now. Besides, what was the worst that could happen?

So, he put on a polite smile, approaching Damien. "Good morning, Team Leader Lennox."

"Good morning," Damien nodded, lifting his eyes from his laptop. He stared at Lane for a moment, before asking, "You’re really not going to call me by my name?"

"Ah..." Lane paused, looking away. "This... Doesn’t feel appropriate. You’re higher ranking than me..."

"But you’re older."

"Eh?"

Lane couldn’t help but flinch, his eyes widening. ’How did he know? Both Evan and Noah were younger than him...’

It took a moment before he realized.

It wasn’t that Damien somehow figured out his real age. He meant Aidan. Aidan was almost a decade older than Damien.

"That’s... a good point." Lane scratched his head.

He didn’t mind it, honestly. He never cared about the rules in the first place, and never thought of Damien as his superior anyway. All he was concerned about was behaving differently than ’Evan’ and ’Noah’...

’Ugh... Whatever.’ Lane clicked his tongue inwardly. He was starting to get a headache from all this thinking and overthinking... Perhaps he should just go with the flow. The situation couldn’t get much worse than it already was, not from such a little thing.

"Well then, Damien... Shall we start?"

"If you’re ready." Damien closed his laptop and put it away, his eyes following Lane as he walked over to the couch and took a seat. "...I think you need to sit a bit closer."

Lane took a seat at the very end of the couch. And it was a pretty long couch. Long and deep, designed for comfort, in case any of the pairs wanted to get intimate... So that when the two sat on opposite ends, they would have to awkwardly stretch their arms just to be able to touch each other’s hands.

"...Right." Lane let out an awkward laugh, and scooted closer.

Damien stared at him for a long while in silence.

"Um, so, Damien? Your hand?"

"You don’t have to do it."

"What?" Lane lifted his brows.

"You can say no. If you’re uncomfortable with guiding me, or holding my hand..."

"That’s not it," Lane interrupted, letting out a sigh. "It’s just..." He paused, unsure what to say.

He didn’t know himself why he sat so far away. It wasn’t like him at all.

Perhaps he really was a bit uncomfortable. Anxious and tense. But this unusual state only made him more and more annoyed.

"Well, either way. I said it’s fine, so it’s fine." He reached out, and grabbed Damien’s hand. "Unless Team... I mean, unless you don’t want it anymore?"

"No, I... Then, please guide me."

"Mn." Lane exhaled deeply, trying to relieve his tension, and started the guiding.

Unlike the Espers he just guided in the public area, whose wavelengths only needed a little bit of smoothing, Damien was like a neverending mess of knots and bumps. Although his state wasn’t bad enough to be in urgent need of guiding, he was still far from stable. They could sit there for hours, and Lane still wouldn’t be able to untangle it all.

It seemed that Damien still was getting only enough guiding to barely get by... No wonder he looked so tired.

"Well? How is it? Does it feel good?" Lane asked after a few minutes.

"Yes. It’s great."

Lane couldn’t help but lift his brows, staring at the man in disbelief. Did he really enjoy it, or was he saying this just so that Lane wouldn’t stop?

But if he didn’t, then why would he want it? It was something Lane struggled to comprehend.

"Is there something the matter?"

"Ah, no." Lane shook his head, quickly fixing his expression. "It’s just that... I’m not sure if it’s of any use. I guided a few other Espers this morning... And compared to them, our compatibility seems very low..."

"Is that so?"

"Yes."

"Well... It’s true that it’s not the highest..." Damien looked away, hesitating for a moment. His ears appeared a bit red, when he finally said, "However, there are ways to improve the efficiency..."

Lane tilted his head, blinking a few times. Did he perhaps mishear? "You mean..."

"Ahem," Damien cleared his throat, the flush spreading over to his cheeks. "Physical intimacy... Such as... kissing, for example."

Lane just stared at the man in shock. Was that really the Damien Lennox he knew? He certainly looked the same. His hands also felt the same. And the faint scent of herbal shampoo and shaving cream was also the same. But the words coming out of his mouth...

He shook his head, trying to recover from his shock. "Isn’t that just a myth?"

"Have you tried it before?"

"...What?"

"Have you?"

"Well... no."

Of course, Lane had. But ’Aidan’ shouldn’t have had the opportunity to do so yet.

Damien’s brows twitched. He was aware it was a lie, but instead of pointing it out, he said, "Then how can you be so sure?"

Now Lane was so dumbfounded, that he even unconsciously interrupted his guiding.

Those were... his words, weren’t they? He said that a while ago, when he was ’Evan’, trying to seduce Damien. He suggested the same method to ’improve the efficiency’, and asked the same question when Damien questioned the point of it... Damien was basically repeating the same scene, only switching the roles.

"Would you like to give it a try?"

Lane flinched at the sound of Damien’s low voice. Before he realized it, the man was right next to him, staring straight into his eyes, his face barely a few inches away.

"This..." he muttered, unable to find his words. His stomach was weirdly fuzzy, and his heart was thumping loudly against his chest... He even almost forgot how to breathe. "Mn. Okay."

His head was spinning. Damien’s heat and his closeness were almost driving him insane from the anticipation.

No, but really, who the hell was this man?

Damien scooted even closer, his large hand cupping Lane’s cheek. All of his actions were a bit reluctant and clumsy, his cheeks and ears flushed, and his gaze bashful, but still. The boldness of his actions...

"Are you sure you’re okay with it?" he asked again.

Lane couldn’t help but click his tongue, his brows twitching.

Now that was more like the man.

’What is he waiting for, a written permission?’ he complained inwardly, but his lips curled up. The sense of familiarity brought him back to his senses a bit, and he felt in control once again.

So, he answered the question. By wrapping his hand around Damien’s neck, and pulling him closer, capturing his lips before the man had even a chance to react.