CHAPTER 421: UNCLEARED GATES

When Damien got back home in the afternoon, Lane was already done with his ’the Boss of the secret organization’ stuff, and was lounging on the couch with a half-eaten package of cookies and a strawberry milkshake, playing on his console. Of course, it wasn’t that he had finished properly reading through all the reports...

But he had already done a lot, right? He had worked for almost four hours! He deserved a break.

Damien sighed quietly, his frown involuntarily relaxing at the sight. This man... After causing so much mess (possibly. Damien couldn’t actually say for sure whether Lane was the culprit behind the uncleared dungeons just yet), Lane was just playing games without a care in the world...

He should have been angry, or at least a bit annoyed. And yet... Damien found it rather endearing.

Lane didn’t have any bad intentions with those dungeons, after all. He just wanted to raid them together with Damien. Simply because he was a battle fanatic, whose love of fighting the monsters was losing only to perhaps sex and sweets...

And although he was giving the Association’s busy Field Agents more work, technically he was also bringing the Association a lot of benefits through it. Especially financially. The Association was always struggling, so the resources they would obtain from those high-ranking dungeons were going to be extremely valuable...

Those were just excuses, of course, and if it were anyone else, Damien would probably disapprove. But Lane was Lane, and Damien couldn’t help but bend the rules for him, even ignoring his moral compass.

Love was blind, after all.

"I’ll start on the dinner a bit later, alright?" he said, as he moved to the bedroom to get changed, already unbuttoning his uniform shirt.

"Mn, sure," Lane muttered in response, lifting his eyes. He was about to say something more - probably suggest that they could order something instead, if Damien was tired - but he forgot what he wanted to say the moment his eyes fell on Damien...

Because the man’s chest was already half-exposed.

Of course, it was already a very familiar view for Lane at this point. They had been living together for a while now, and had seen each other naked countless times. Even Damien was used to it to the extent that he started undressing before he even reached the bedroom. They were home alone, after all, so what was the problem?

However, something being familiar didn’t necessarily mean that it was no longer exciting. Damien’s muscular chest was still as mouthwatering as when Lane had laid his eyes on it for the first time, perhaps even more for some reason... (Such as the feelings that may have developed along the way, but Lane didn’t take that into consideration.)

And it was ESPECIALLY alluring after being forced into celibacy for a few days. After the time they had been overheard by Ethan, Damien had refused to agree to any more intimacy while they had been staying in the same villa. And after they had come back, they had an intense training on Saturday, so Lane didn’t want to pester Damien, as the man looked like he needed some rest... More from the stress than physical exhaustion, but still. They had only had one round in the shower, that’s all.

It was only natural that Lane was starved for Damien. He quickly swallowed the cookie that he had in his mouth and tossed the controller aside, forgetting to even pause the game, in order to trail after his boyfriend, following him to the bedroom...

Wearing only socks, he moved quietly. Combined with the fact that Damien’s brain was still overloaded with work stuff, the man didn’t notice Lane’s presence.

Not until Lane’s hands sneaked around his waist, reaching to unbutton his pants.

"Lane..." Damien sighed, stirring in Lane’s arms, as his boyfriend’s hands brushed against his crotch. It didn’t help that with his movement, his ass rubbed against Lane’s crotch, which was already getting hard...

"You said that the dinner will be later, so we can have some fun first, right?" Lane murmured, pushing the collar of Damien’s shirt away with his chin to plant kisses on the man’s nape.

"Mmh..." Damien stirred once again. He still retained enough clarity of mind to argue, "But I need to put the laundry in."

"...Just do it later," Lane wasn’t giving up. "Or we can always buy more clothes, if you don’t have enough?"

"No need," Damien simply rejected. After dating Lane for a while, he was no longer so shocked by such ridiculous suggestions. "We also need to talk," he just said.

"About what?"

"Work. There are a few Gates in the Capital that are still uncleared..."

"Ah." Lane paused. He could quickly figure out what Damien was talking about, since he had read about the same thing a few hours prior. A moment later, though, he shrugged his shoulders. "Don’t worry about it."

"What?"

"It’s my bad, but... Whatever, it’s not a big loss."

Damien furrowed his brows, confused. He could more or less guess what Lane probably meant, so he explained, "The two A-rank and two B-rank Gates are going to be cleared by the A-rank team."

"Ah?" Lane paused once again, surprised. "We’re getting them all?"

"Yes... Most likely."

"That’s great!" Lane turned Damien around and picked him up, as he swirled in circles, a wide smile on his face.

So he didn’t lose any dungeons, after all! It was a bit different from what he had initially planned, since they would be clearing it with the A-rank team rather than with Damien’s, which would result in Lane having fewer monsters for himself, as his teammates were going to be stronger...

But, oh well. At least he would get to go on four raids! After so many inspections, it would be such a welcome breather!

"Come on, we have to celebrate!" he laughed, as he threw Damien on the bed. "I can even let you top me once as a thanks?"

"I... didn’t do much, it’s the board’s decision," Damien explained, but Lane only waved his hand.

"Doesn’t matter! You’re probably just too humble, anyway!"

Damien let out a sigh... But he didn’t resist.

Just like Lane was hungry for Damien, Damien was also hungry for Lane...