CHAPTER 382: PREPARATIONS

Without a doubt, Ethan’s plan was to delay their return.

And damn, did it work well. Although Lane was a strong swimmer, it still took him a long time to fish Ethan out. Then, the man pretended to be unconscious. Luckily, he had to give up his act the moment Lane started to give him CPR - Lane must have broken a few of his ribs with the first press, and Ethan was unable to endure the pain. Still, even though he quickly ’regained’ consciousness, they still had to take a break for him to get changed into dry clothes and drink something warm.

Even after that, he continued to slow them down. To which no one could say anything, because technically, he HAD suffered a bad fall, and he was just a Guide... Damien had asked him if he wanted to stay back outside or return home early, since even without him, they met the required Guide to Esper ratio, but Ethan refused, stating, while wincing, that he ’wanted to do his job’. And Damien was reluctant to dismiss him when Ethan insisted on staying, because of his sensitive status and all.

Until eventually, Lane couldn’t take it any longer. It was already 7 PM, and they were still in the middle of inspecting the fourth dungeon. At this rate, it would be at least 10 PM by the time they got back. Pretty late, especially considering that they had work the next day as well, and Lane didn’t want his plans to be cut short... Regardless of how the night would end up going. So, he approached Ethan, who was dragging his feet at the back of the team, with three of the team members watching over him, to make sure that he was alright.

"Get on," he said, as he crouched down in front of the Guide.

"What?" Ethan lifted his brows.

"Get on. We don’t have the whole day. You’re slowing us down too much."

Ethan didn’t say anything for a moment, hoping that others would jump to his defense... But the rest of the team was actually also annoyed with him, so no one had. He had no choice but to speak up for himself, "Hey, it’s not my fault I’m slow!"

Even though it obviously was. He had not only staged his fall, but also was exaggerating his condition. There was no need for him to walk this slowly.

"Yeah, yeah, whatever," Lane didn’t argue with him. Not because he didn’t want to, but because it would be a waste of time. "Either way, you’re slow. So, I’ll carry you for the rest of the way."

Ethan hesitated for a little bit longer. If Lane were to carry him, then they would be done with the inspections in no time...

But then again, he had already delayed them for so long. Perhaps even long enough to ruin Lane’s plans for the evening. So, he let out a long sigh, "Fine. I don’t want our team to have to work until late because of me..."

Having said that, he climbed onto Lane’s back, throwing his arms around his neck. He made himself very comfortable, as if he had no shame.

Everyone around them glanced at him with weird expressions on their faces. Not necessarily because of how he clung to Lane’s back - it was only natural to hold on tight, since he wouldn’t want to fall - but rather because of what he had said. He didn’t want them to work until late? Then he should have just listened to Damien, damn it!

They didn’t say anything, though. Ethan was still an injured man, after all.

And neither did Damien, even though he couldn’t help but glance back at the two of them every now and then. Quite often, actually. Although he understood why Lane did it, that it was just Lane carrying ’injured’ Ethan so that they could go back home sooner, and that there was nothing going on between the two of them (at least nothing good)... Somehow, he still didn’t like it. To the point that he was even tempted to offer to carry Ethan instead...

But even he was aware that that would be even worse, considering that Ethan was trying to seduce him, for whatever reason.

Thankfully, at least it worked. With Ethan not being able to slow them down any longer, they soon finished their last inspection, and got back in the minibuses. Since it was past the evening rush hour, the drive back to the Association Headquarters was also much quicker...

Still, it was way past 8 PM when they finally parked the minibuses in the parking garage. Over an hour till Damien’s latest estimate.

And almost two hours past Lane’s dinner reservation.

Thankfully, knowing that you never knew what might happen in a dungeon, he had asked them to hold the table until the closing time (by paying a lot of extra money), so it was still fine. As they got out of the minibus, he snatched the keys from Damien’s hand, and tossed them to Hallie.

"Please return the keys for us, alright?" he called, already dragging Damien away.

"Wait," Damien briefly tried to protest, glancing at Ethan - as a Team Leader, he should check on the ’injured’ member of his team first - but it was no use. Lane pulled him with too much force...

Well, not like Damien was actually trying to stop him. Although he didn’t know exactly what Lane had planned, he at least knew that there was a dinner reservation.

The day had gone all wrong, but finally, the evening was back on track, even if with a sliiiight delay. The dinner went nice, in a private room in a fancy restaurant, and after the meal and a glass of wine, they got back to Damien’s apartment...

"I’m going to shower first, alright?" Lane asked, or rather stated, as soon as they stepped inside, as he nervously glanced at his phone. Because the dinner got delayed, he was worried that the distraction might not work...

But the moment he checked his notifications, the corners of his mouth immediately went up.

"Actually, how about you shower in another bathroom?" he asked, turning to Damien. "To save time."

Damien furrowed his brows, confused. That was so unlike Lane. "You don’t want to shower together?"

"Hmm... Not today," Lane smiled in response.

It was suspicious. Damien was about to ask Lane about it again...

He didn’t get a chance to do it, though, because at that moment, the doorbell rang.

Perfect timing.

Damien glanced between Lane and the door, but in the end, he went to open the door.

Lane didn’t wait to see who it was. Not because he wasn’t interested... But rather, because he already knew. It was Eloise and Samantha. Lane had secretly made a deal with them, so that they would stop by to drop a birthday present for Damien. Why? So that he could have more time to prepare everything, of course! Damien wouldn’t be in the shower for too long, after all.

He quickly rushed to the bathroom, practically tearing off his clothes on the way, and jumped in the shower, scrubbing himself clean. Then, he reached out to the tube standing on the side, and after making sure that he could still hear voices coming from the other room, he squirted some of the gel onto his hand, took a deep breath...

And plunged his finger down his hole.

He had to prepare himself beforehand, after all. It’s not that he didn’t trust Damien to do it well, but... It would be Damien’s first time being the top, and Lane’s first time bottoming, so it was good to do some extra prep, no? Just a little bit. He couldn’t afford to do much, since that was not all the preparation he had to do.

He waited for a moment, trying to get used to the weird sensation, before starting to move his finger around to loosen up his rectum muscles.

It was odd, very odd... But it wasn’t as bad as he thought.

Still, it was just one finger so far. His long, but slender middle finger, sticking maybe halfway inside. It couldn’t even begin to compare to the size of Damien’s cock. Lane took a deep breath...

And added the second finger.

Clank!

Just then, he heard the sound of the door closing in the distance, making him flinch.

It was bad. Damien’s sisters must have left. Which meant, he was out of time...

He quickly rinsed his hand and ass, and jumped out from the shower, quickly drying himself, as he stepped out from the bathroom. As he did, he heard the faint sound of running water coming from another bedroom...

Damien was already in the shower. Lane had maybe five minutes left.

He gulped loudly, feeling nervous all of a sudden. He had planned it all for a while, so all the props were prepared, but... Even though it had been over three months since he had made this decision, he still didn’t feel mentally ready.

’...Should I save it for Damien’s thirtieth birthday?’ A thought briefly passed his head.

But a moment later, he shook his head.

Nope, it wasn’t good to delay it any longer. Those were uncertain times, who knew where they might be in a year, with everything that had been happening with the secret organization and the dungeons? He might have to propose to Damien before his next birthday. And before he proposed, it was essential to test THAT... To make sure that either it was something that he could occasionally go along with, or that perhaps Damien wasn’t all that much into that.

So, he grabbed the props from his spatial bag, and quickly started setting the scene up. When the shower in the other room turned off a few minutes later, he was all done and waiting for Damien to discover his ’present’.