By Zephyria 
What had I just seen?
Grayson blinked belatedly, then refocused to read the words on the box.
Nipple Clips.
He stared at it for a moment, then rubbed his eyes with his arm this time. After blinking a few times, he checked the box again.
Nipple Clips.
Grayson just stared at Dane, mouth agape, as if to ask what the hell this was. Dane glanced down at the box Grayson was pointing at and said nonchalantly,
“It’s for pinching your nipples, don’t you know?”
Dane then gave a suggestive smile and turned his gaze to Grayson.
“That thing on your favorite tits, your Nipple.”
Grayson’s vision went white as Dane uttered “tits” and “Nipple” in succession. What was he doing right now? Why was he flirting with him while trying to cheat with someone else in front of his eyes?
“Are you trying to put me off guard?”
Grayson glared at Dane with suspicious eyes. He was obviously trying to make him feel weak and then run out the back door to go to the club. No way, he wouldn’t fall for such a cheap trick.
But Dane knew Grayson better than he thought. Without a word, he picked up the Nipple Clips displayed as a sample in front of the box and held one clip in each hand. Then, standing in front of Grayson, he brought them up to his own Nipples. He spread the clips wide, placing them on either side of his Nipples, and said,
“This is how you use them. Can you imagine?”
The implication was all too clear. Following those words, Grayson naturally imagined pinching Venus’s Nipples with the clips. And Dane put down the samples, turned around, and started packing things again. There were so many things he wanted to ask—what was he going to use all that for, who was he going to use it with, where was he going to use it right now—but Grayson couldn’t ask a single question. He was just too busy imagining using those things on Venus in this way and that.
He stood there with a slack jaw and a dazed expression, only to belatedly snap back to his senses. He hurriedly shook his head and looked around, but Dane was already gone.
He missed him…!
“Hey.”
The moment he turned around in a hurry, a familiar voice flew in. He paused and turned his gaze to see Dane standing in front of the checkout counter.
Hadn’t he left?
While still bewildered, he strode towards him, and Dane, who had been waiting, gestured with his chin. He shifted his gaze without thinking, and there was a calculator. It meant he had to pay.
Once again, Grayson’s head heated up. He would never pay. For things that Dane bought to play with someone else, never…
“Buy something if you want, too.”
Suddenly, Dane blurted out. Ha, as if he would fall for it. He must be trying to get him to pay this way. Grayson twisted his lips and replied,
“No, I don’t want anything like that.”
Dane smiled slyly at Grayson’s rebellious answer.
“Don’t regret it later and buy it now?”
Grayson snorted and made a whistling sound with his lips, mocking him. Dane asked again.
“Really, you don’t want anything?”
“Yeah, nothing.”
Grayson then added sarcastically,
“I don’t have such vulgar tastes.”
He deliberately used insulting words and looked down at the basket, and Dane followed his gaze.
“Is that so?”
Dane rolled his eyes and looked at Grayson again. He shrugged one shoulder and opened his mouth in a slower tone than usual.
“Then I can’t play with you.”
Grayson, who had been very angry until then, paused at the mumbling, as if to himself. Slowly, his lips relaxed and his expression began to change. The words came next.
“…What?”
Grayson looked at Dane with surprised eyes. What had he just heard? Dane, who had not reacted much until then, looked at Grayson’s dazed expression and said again.
“I told you, I can’t play with you.”
He took out one of the boxes in the basket and pretended to examine it.
“You said you don’t do such vulgar things, right? It’s a shame, but it can’t be helped.”
Grayson belatedly came to his senses at Dane’s action of shaking his head and lightly throwing the box back in.
“Then, could it be that you, you were going to do this with me…”
As he stammered in disbelief, Dane chuckled and asked back.
“Why wouldn’t I? Do you think I would go to sleep with someone else and ask you to buy me something like this?”
“You’re capable enough of…”
Grayson stopped talking. Dane frowned, and the owner, who was watching, slipped in.
“Actually, I think so too, Dane.”
At Dane’s bewildered gaze, the owner laughed and said,
“You’re more than capable of taking money from this person and buying things to use on that person.”
He stared blankly at the man’s smiling face.
What the hell do these guys think of me…?
He was dumbfounded, but it was ridiculous to manage his image now. He had lived like that until now, so that’s how they saw him. Dane Striker gave up quickly as always and turned his attention back to Grayson.
“So, what are you going to do? You’re not going to do it? Then never mind…”
Before the words were finished, Grayson took out his card and put it on the counter. Just as the owner was about to make the payment, Dane checked again.
“You really don’t need anything? Look again.”
He kindly gave Grayson another chance. Grayson didn’t hesitate and turned around to look around the store. Most of them were items in the basket. His quickly passing gaze stopped at one place. Dane said to him as he looked at the leather Flogging Whip.
“A Riding Crop is better than that.”
“Oh, really?”
Grayson soon lost interest. Grayson, who was a polo player in college, was still playing as a player occasionally. Because of that, he raised several horses, so he owned quite a few horse-related supplies. He had more than enough Riding Crops as well.
As he slowly looked around the display case again, something caught his eye. Grayson strode over and readily took out an item on the high shelf. Grayson, who had returned, handed it to Dane, and he looked at the handcuffs drawn on the box and put it back in place without a word.
He thought it was strange that there were no handcuffs in the box, but did that mean this was not allowed?
In front of Grayson, who frowned unconsciously, Dane picked up an item in the next compartment. He held up the box once to show Grayson, then returned to the checkout counter and threw it into the basket.
“Things like that leave scars.”
Dane explained. As expected, he knew everything. Grayson felt a warmth spreading inside his chest. Unlike the ordinary handcuffs he had chosen, this one had soft fur on the inside.
Dane chose this himself because he was worried I would get hurt.
Thinking that, his chest felt strange. It was a cool sensation, as if wind had entered, but it wasn’t cold. Rather, it felt like his feet were floating in the air, a strange feeling that he couldn’t express in words.
“Please sign here.”
The owner, excited, pushed the pad over after swiping the card. While Grayson was writing his name, Dane received a large bag containing the items from the owner and held it in one hand.
“Have a good time, Dane, partner.”
Judging by the wink, it was obvious what he was imagining without having to ask. Well, he would be an idiot if he didn’t notice. Grayson thought and hurriedly followed Dane out. The sunlight was still shining brightly. But the feeling he had now was completely different from when he entered the store.
The worst feeling had soared above. Wouldn’t you feel like this if you were walking on clouds? How pleasant is the emotion called love? To feel endless happiness like this, it’s exactly as I’ve always dreamed. I knew it, I knew that love was such a wonderful emotion!
Until now, he had experienced so many failures. But this time it was different. Dane was definitely his one and only love in his life. He had come such a long way to meet this man. While tasting so many frustrations.
But it’s okay. Because he finally found him like this.
“I love you, Dane.”
Dane chuckled at Grayson’s passionate confession.
“Yeah, I know.”