Despite Damien's efforts to remain calm, his body betrayed him. Blood started rushing to the places it shouldn't have, and Theo seemed to notice it too. For a moment, Theo looked startled, but instead of pulling away, he began to handle Damien even more gently.
"Uh… Theo, can you stop now, please?" Damien's voice wavered as he reached his limit.
"Huh?! S-s-sorry!!" Theo finally snapped out of it, hastily pulling his hand away and bowing his head repeatedly in embarrassment. His hurried movements were so wild that Damien was worried Theo's horns might hit him. They were really close together after all.
"Look, do you understand now that I'm a man?" Damien asked, skipping over the awkwardness of the situation and focusing on the main point.
Theo's hands twitched slightly, as if he wanted to grab something again, but Damien ignored that. He also noticed Theo seemed about to smell his hands, which was a bit much.
"Please, don't do that," Damien said, grabbing Theo's hand to stop him. The embarrassment was already overwhelming.
"S-sorry! I didn't realize…"
"Let's just… go back to the table, okay?"
Damien led the still-dazed Theo back to the table, desperately trying to push the whole ordeal out of his mind before the embarrassment consumed him.
...
"So, now we've agreed that I'm a man, are you satisfied?" Damien asked, sitting Theo down, though Theo still seemed somewhat out of it.
He had suggested Theo wash his hands, but for some reason, Theo refused.
"Huh? Oh… yes, I'm satisfied. You are 'definitely' a man, Damien…" Theo confirmed, putting an odd emphasis on the word 'definitely.'
Damien decided not to think too deeply about it. Recalling what had just happened would only make things more uncomfortable. He was already finding it hard to sit still.
"Okay, so… even though you know I'm a man now, do I still have that… weird smell?" Damien asked, eager to get back to the original topic.
"W-weird smell?! It's a wonderful scent!" Theo replied, startling Damien with his enthusiasm.
"Uh, well, whatever. Does it still linger?"
At Damien's question, Theo twitched his nose slightly, as if testing the air.
Though Damien had brought it up himself, the idea of being sniffed so deliberately was more than a little embarrassing.
"Yes, that's certainly… oh, no…"
Theo seemed about to agree, but suddenly stood up and leaned in close to Damien, sniffing at the back of his neck, right by his nape.
With that beautiful face so close that their cheeks almost brushed—well, sometimes they did—Theo was sniffing Damien with an almost curious air.
What was going on? Was this some new form of harassment?
Hadn't Theo just said "definitely" a moment ago?
There was no need to sniff so close, was there?
"…(sniff sniff)"
He was still going at it.
Surely by now, he should know if Damien smelled or not?!
"…(sniff sniff sniff sniff)"
Damien felt his face heat up, unable to bear it any longer.
"Uh… what do you think? Did you figure it out?"
"…Huh?"