Chapter 504: Shut It
Lane couldn’t help but spare Clara a displeased glance. She was Damien’s sister, alright. Neither Lane nor Damien had been particularly careful around her, but they hadn’t been volunteering unnecessary information either, so to think that she caught on so fast was quite impressive, honestly, especially since it all seemed somewhat unbelievable, with Damien being the kind of person he was.
A moment later, though, whatever begrudging respect he felt for the woman dissipated, completely pushed to the back of his mind by a different realization.
If Clara could figure out that much with the little information she had, how much did the Allens already know about Lane?
They couldn’t have discovered the full truth, that was for sure. Lane’s abilities were unique, or at least unheard of - if there were any other Espers with similar powers anywhere in the world, they were either smart enough to keep them hidden, or unfortunate enough to not have realized the activation conditions. Either way, stealing other people’s abilities was unprecedented, so it would take much, much more for the Allens to be able to even start suspecting that.
Still, it was hardly reassuring. For his plans against the Allens to work best, Lane needed to catch them by surprise. Revealing himself as an A-rank was already bad enough, and since then he inadvertently exposed himself even more. That didn’t completely ruin his chances just yet - his connection to the secret organization shouldn’t have been exposed, so he still had that to rely on - but...
"Hello? I’ve asked you a question," Clara snapped, losing her already frayed patience.
Her voice pulled Lane out of his not-so-happy thoughts. He blinked, throwing her a quick glance before turning his eyes to Damien. The man was staring at him in silence, observing him carefully. Lane’s disquieted state of mind didn’t escape his attention, but he had also guessed that Clara was not the main issue, which is why he hadn’t responded to his sister yet. There was no urgent need to deal with her suspicions if she was not the problem.
"I’ve heard." In the end, it was Lane who replied to Clara. Not because he cared to resolve it or anything, but simply because, for some reason, it felt easier than facing Damien. "To answer you: it’s none of your business, so shut it."
"...What?" Clara’s brows twitched, forming deep wrinkles as they drew together.
"What you’ve heard. I get that you’re curious, I would have been curious about myself as well, but you don’t need to know everything. I’m just your futu..." Lane paused for a second, realizing that he had almost slipped up about his plans regarding Damien, and quickly corrected himself, "your brother’s boyfriend."
Luckily for him, Clara was too hung up on his secret abilities to care about his little stumble. "Fine. I don’t need to know. But have you reported that to the Association?"
"...Kind of?"
Damien knew the extent of his powers, more or less, and he was a part of the Association. Lane’s direct superior in the Association, at that!
"’Kind of’," Clara repeated, not convinced. She was about to grill Lane some more, but before she could, Samantha interjected,
"Damien has it under control, right?"
"...Right." Damien finally moved his eyes away from Lane. His answer didn’t sound entirely convincing, but Clara knew better than to call him out on that.
"Whatever. Since we’re done here, let’s just go home." Clara grabbed her sister by the wrist, pulling her toward the door.
Samantha hesitated briefly, throwing Lane a quick, uneasy glance. Although she was not good enough to gauge how much guiding Lane needed, she was at the very least experienced enough to be able to tell that their session hadn’t been completed. She still had enough Mana to go on, so it felt wrong to abandon it mid-way, even if she wouldn’t be able to bring Lane to full stability...
But Lane just gave her a smile and shook his head. A very obviously fake smile, but the meaning was obvious: ’Just go along with it.’
And so she did. Damien glanced after her, hesitating for a moment, but in the end, he didn’t stop her either. He was the reason behind this whole fiasco, and it seemed it finally hit him just how rash an idea it was.
The door closed behind the two women with a click that seemed to ring almost painfully in the strained silence of the apartment. For a good while, neither of them moved, Damien observing Lane carefully, and Lane suddenly showing overwhelming interest in one random spot on the coffee table. There was nothing there, just a clean surface with two tiny specs of dust that he could perceive thanks to his superior SS-ranker’s eyesight, but suddenly, it looked incredibly fascinating to him.
And then, Damien slowly inhaled, opening his mouth as he more or less settled on what question to ask Lane first.
And as if a switch was flipped, Lane blinked, snapping out of his fixation with the random spot before Damien could let a single word out. He stretched his waist, raising his arms above his head, and stepped around Damien, throwing himself on the couch with a yawn.
"How was work?" he asked in the most casual tone he could muster. "You’ve eaten yet? Should we order something? Or do you still feel like cooking, even after so many hours guarding the protests?"
Damien remained silent for what felt like forever, just staring at his boyfriend, who now started scrolling on his phone, pretending as if nothing out of the ordinary had happened. When he finally spoke, all he said was, "Lane."
"Hmm? I haven’t really eaten yet either... Well, I had some snacks, but that was a while ago. So, hmm... What do you say for fried chicken? I know it’s not really your thing, but you’re fine with it, no?"
"Lane."
"Or we can order something healthier if you want..."
"Lane."
Lane pressed his lips, his easy-going facade fading, but he still stubbornly refused to look at Damien. His eyes were now fixated on his phone screen, even after it went dark.
"What’s going on?"
At Damien’s question, Lane only pressed his lips tighter. Completely avoiding the subject wouldn’t work on Damien, though. He already knew it, tried and tested. So, in the end, he could only sigh and wave his hand dismissively.
"Just annoyed a bit. She’s going to be even more annoying now that she knows that I’m hiding my true abilities."
"...Is it really about Clara?"
"It is."
Lane finally met Damien’s gaze, bravely enduring the inquisitive stare of his deep green eyes. He felt as if his mind was being pierced, his soul stripped and observed bare. No matter how good he was at lying, in front of his boyfriend, he couldn’t completely hide...
Of course, technically he could tell the truth. Damien was privy to Lane’s relationship with the Allens, so he would understand, at least to some degree. But he didn’t know what TRULY was at stake here, so Lane didn’t want to delve into it, lest he betray himself with a careless word.
It was obvious that Damien wasn’t buying it. Not in the slightest. However, instead of digging deeper, he suddenly changed his line of questioning, taking Lane by surprise.
"What about before?"