CHAPTER 476: NOT FUN

Whizzzz.... BANG!

The firework erupted, adorning the skies over the city with thousands of colorful sparkles. Almost immediately after, countless more followed, turning the otherwise black sky into a sea of fake stars, glittering for a moment, and quickly fading, to be replaced by the new ones.

The clock had just struck twelve, announcing the start of the New Year.

Pop!

Lane pulled the cork out of the champagne bottle, and filled the two tall glasses, bought especially for this occasion.

"Cheers!" he smiled, lifting his glass and clinking it against Damien’s, before taking a sip.

They were still both in their uniform, having barely made it back home in time to watch the fireworks from their balcony. Amidst all the inspections and preparations for the summit, that’s all that they had time to do - share a bottle of champagne, while watching the city celebrate from above. Originally, they had been invited to spend the New Year at Damien’s sisters’ place... But with how busy they were, the plans had to be canceled. Eloise and Samantha had it easy, since they were still students only working part-time as the Association’s General Staff, but Damien, Lane, and Clara were all swamped with work...

"Do you regret it?" Damien asked all of a sudden.

"Hmm?" Lane tilted his head. "Regret what?"

"Joining the Association."

"...Eh?"

Where did that suddenly come from?

"Why do you ask?" Lane asked instead of answering.

It wasn’t necessarily that he regretted it. While he did have some issues with the job (well... maybe more than just ’some’), it also allowed him to spend more time with Damien. Overall, it had both pros and cons. It was just that he wanted to know why Damien was asking first, so that he could answer accordingly...

Damien stayed silent for a while. There were several reasons why he was wondering about it. But at the moment, he asked this mainly because,

"You don’t even have time to celebrate, with all the workload that we have..."

Lane blinked a few times, completely dumbfounded.

Then,

"Pffft!"

He burst out laughing.

"Are you being serious right now?" he asked once he managed to calm down enough to get any words out.

"Yes," Damien nodded his head with utmost seriousness.

Which made Lane chuckle once again.

"So, you’re feeling bad for me that I didn’t get to party on New Year’s?"

Damien thought for a moment, before nodding his head again.

Indeed, he did feel a bit guilty, since he had been the one to ask Lane to join the Association. And yes, Lane had already been a part of the Association before, but still...

"Hahah." Lane couldn’t stop himself from chuckling, amused to no end. "And what would I do with all this free time if you were at work?"

Of course, he could go to a club to party. Or contact some of his acquaintances. He hadn’t hung up with any of them at all for a long time now, but if he reached out to people, he most likely would be able to find some who would be down to partying together. However,

"I don’t want to celebrate without you."

"...Ah?" Damien paused, a bit taken aback. He hadn’t expected this answer. Yes, he and Lane had celebrated Valentine’s Day and Damien’s birthday together before... But the former was a couple occasion (and the celebration had been planned by Damien), while the latter was Damien’s celebration, so it was only natural that it had been planned with his personality in mind. New Year’s, on the other hand, was a very ’party-like’ occasion, and while he and Lane were dating, "I’m not the most fun person to be around."

He was strict, serious, prudent, a stickler for the rules, and he knew it. The complete opposite of Lane. That didn’t necessarily make him an unsuitable partner for Lane - opposites attract, or so they say - but he did worry sometimes whether he was too boring for the man... Perhaps it was fine for now, but as time went on, Lane could get frustrated and grow tired of this calm, quiet life that they had together...

Not getting an answer for a moment, he threw a quick glance at Lane.

Only to find Lane looking straight at him, no longer laughing, his expression serious instead. "What do you mean? You’re very fun to be around."

"I... am?"

In what way?

"Mn," Lane nodded his head, his grey eyes full of honesty.

It was precisely because Damien was so serious that he was fun to be around, at least as far as Lane was concerned. There was nothing more enjoyable than pushing his buttons to spark a reaction out of him, especially when it came to making Damien flush. A person didn’t have to be outgoing to be ’fun’, it all depended on their relationship and chemistry. Besides,

"I don’t even like partying that much, not really. I mean, it can be fun to have some drinks and dance, or whatever, but I usually go to the clubs to either flirt a bit and look for one-night stands, or find new targets to possess... I mean." Lane bit his tongue, realizing what he had just said. "I used to do that. Not anymore, of course. Haha," he laughed nervously.

There wasn’t anything wrong with it, of course, since Lane had been single at the time. He hadn’t done any of that in over a year, ever since he had gotten together with Damien. He wasn’t ashamed of it or anything. But talking to his boyfriend about how he used to sleep around (and worse yet, possess people) was a bit...

He grabbed his glass, and downed the champagne in a few gulps. "A-anyway!" he exclaimed, quickly trying to change the topic to cover up his blunder. "I have something for you!"

He reached into his spatial bag, which was still attached to his belt, and pulled out a black leather box. "Here you go."

Damien’s heart involuntarily skipped a beat... Until he realized that the box was a bit too big. He lightly shook his head, embarrassed that he even thought about it, before asking, "What is it?"

"A New Year’s present."

"A New Year’s present?" Damien repeated, confused. He didn’t know that there was a tradition like this...

"Just open it," Lane encouraged.

And so Damien did. He slowly opened the lid to see an elegant silver watch resting inside on the velvet lining. It looked... expensive.

"I... can’t accept it."

If it were a birthday gift, then maybe, but a New Year’s? It seemed a bit too much. He might have already accepted a lot of gifts from Lane, given to him for no other reason than Lane ’just feeling like it’, but he still hadn’t gotten accustomed to it. In fact, he didn’t WANT to get used to it, or else he might start taking it for granted... And that would have been unfair to Lane.

However,

"Yes, you can. And should," Lane insisted, pulling another box out of his spatial bag, identical to the first. "Look, I have the same one. It’s like... matching couple bracelets. I thought you would like that kind of stuff?"

Damien stared blankly at the box in Lane’s hands. Yes, he indeed liked the idea of them matching, since it was quite romantic... But who would call expensive watches ’couple bracelets’?

Well, Lane Allen, apparently.

"But... I didn’t get anything for you," Damien still tried to argue. Not because he was against the watches, but... He simply didn’t know what to do himself.

"Don’t worry about it." Lane smiled, getting up from his seat. "You can just... give yourself to me."

He grabbed his glass from the table, taking a sip before leaning in for a kiss. The fireworks were going on in the city all around them, while the cold winter air pinched their skin, but neither of them seemed to care. They barely noticed anything. All that mattered in the moment was the sensations of their joined lips and the taste of premium champagne filling their mouth...

All of a sudden, Lane wrapped his arms around Damien’s waist, and pulled him up from the chair. "Let’s take it to the bedroom," he whispered, opening the balcony door with a wave of his hand. "So that you can give me my present..."

They didn’t have much time, as the next morning, they had to be at the Headquarters at seven. There were only a few days left before the summit, and soon, the delegations from other countries would start arriving. They were going to get even busier than they had been, especially Damien... And Lane also had his own concerns, with Blanc’s plans, and whatever the Allens might have in store for him.

But, just for tonight, he wanted to forget everything.

There was a saying that the way the New Year’s Day went, the whole year would be. Thus, Lane wanted to make sure that he enjoyed himself.