(BL) Hunting The Field Guide Chapter 134: A good outcome?

After that, class went smoothly, and then the pair moved into lunch. The atmosphere compared to yesterday was completely different. There weren’t as many harsh glares, but they weren’t entirely gone either. Brent dealt with those.

Brent would go up to the people who were too aggressive, and smile and seduce them before telling them ’too bad, I don’t sleep/guide bigots’ and then he would leave. It was surprisingly effective.

The two of them discussed their worries for the next class, since they had lost so many students. It was around that ti that Casper ssaged Kellen with a list of five new Guides who were joining from the waitlist. Kellen was thankful it was a smaller amount then they had lost, taking the class from the 30 they had originally started with, to 24 Guides in total. Kellen was a little nervous because they weren’t able to check the physical abilities of the new Guides coming in, but Brent wasn’t worried about that. They would have to get the booklets and uniforms to the new Field Guides. Kellen agreed that was a bigger concern.

So, after eating, the two of them rushed down to the storage area to grab what they needed, then headed back to their office to reprint everything that they were missing. They made it to the ti class started within five minutes, but neither was out of breath.

There, they found that the second class, that they had noticed yesterday had been disrespectful, and rather bored with the whole thing, had changed. It felt like overnight they had done a complete 180.

They were considerate, asked good questions, paid attention, and Kellen wasn’t sure if that was out of fear or not. Brent was pretty sure it was, since the new Guides brought in so serious scared vibes, but it was to be expected. So much had happened in the last two days, especially for Kellen, that it made sense.

After the class, Brent waved Kellen off to go to his guiding session with the Captain. Throughout the day, Kellen had been texting with the Captain. He thought it was rude to fully change the Captain’s na in his phone, so he had changed it to B.D. Now that he had the Captain’s phone number, they were able to communicate easier, aning that Kellen knew that the Captain had finished his most recent eting, and was heading down to the dical bay for their guiding session.

When Brent saw it, he had a lot of questions. Kellen, normally one to answer any question of him, had sealed his lips and his cheeks had flad. Brent slled sothing fishy, but when Kellen got like this, there was no point to force it. He wouldn’t answer. So, he dropped it once it was confird that it was the Captain.

He’d just go around Kellen and ask him himself.

Leaving Brent with a flourish of his jacket, Kellen headed for the dical bay without a rush. As he made his way through the building, it was nice to notice that others weren’t as afraid of him now. So, more of the Espers and Guides who hadn’t sided with the idiots, openly said hello to him, or spoke to him. The civilians who didn’t work with him were a little hesitant, while the scientists only asked him questions about how hard he had to throw soone to only bruise them, instead of breaking bones. How hard did you have to press on a bone before it broke?

You know, things that made him roll his eyes, but his heart relax.

At the dical bay, he didn’t see anyone as he headed down the hallway. Knocking on their usual door, he pushed it open after a few seconds, and found that the Captain and Taylor were chatting. Kellen didn’t know why until Taylor turned to him with a big smile and rushed him. She wrapped her arms around him, giving him a tight, Esper squeeze that Kellen knew better than to flinch from.

"You were so fucking good! I watched the whole thing! I planned to tear into Captain Thatcher since I thought he had left you to the wolves alone, but he explained your conversation yesterday, and I understood. You’re a stubborn man, and it makes sense that you would want to do it alone. Oh, you are so silly! But I am proud of you." Taylor pulled back, her grin wide, and Kellen felt his face flush. He was embarrassed by her treatnt, and it didn’t help that the Captain was sitting behind her in his spot, a happy, proud smile on his face.

"Thanks Taylor, but it wasn’t much. You guys do press conferences all the ti." Taylor made a loud, unladylike sound, stepping away from Kellen, but only far enough that she could hold on his arm. She gave it a squeeze, the smile not leaving her face.

"Stop trying to be modest. It was so cool to see you pissed on tv. I loved every second of it. When your eyes glowed? Ugh, shivers went down my spine. Now take your shirt off." Taylor gave his arm one last squeeze, her eyes sparking, before she released him. Kellen set to work doing exactly as she ordered, ignoring the way the Captain looked at him.

The guiding session itself was easy. The Captain was in relatively good shape. It was clear he hadn’t used too much of his powers, but that he was stressed. The waves were large and intense, and would have pulled him under if he had used more of his powers. But, a small improvent, Kellen didn’t feel tired after the guiding session at all. When he told Taylor that, she high fived him and the Captain. It was good news for their caloric consumption in the long run.

The three of them were excited, and Taylor even offered to go out for dinner in celebration, but unfortunately for the Captain, Hill called him and said he was needed urgently. With a great sigh, the Captain hugged Kellen for far too long, giving Kellen’s ass a squeeze, before disappearing into the night.

Taylor and Kellen went out for dinner, and ’happened’ to run into Kellen’s parents at a table set for four at a reservation in Kellen’s favourite restaurant. Kellen didn’t buy it for a second, but he didn’t need to.

The way his parents looked at him made it clear that he was in trouble. Kellen knew he was in trouble, but he didn’t think that they would tear into him in public. He was wrong.

His father went first. With his logic and facts, he pointed out that there were several other ways the situation could have been handled, and it should have been done behind closed doors. If the Captain had been here, he made it clear that he would have torn a strip off of him too for not stepping in imdiately, even if he had to break up a eting with the other Captains. A Guild was a made family, and if sothing serious was happening within it, it had to be handled right away.

He also tore into Kellen about his technique, and the fact that he fild it. Kellen sat quietly while the man whose face was plastered all over posters and billboards lectured him about never filming his cris, and what he should do next ti to not get caught. If anyone else had heard this conversation, they wouldn’t believe him.

His Mom was next. While she didn’t go for the lecture, she did cry. That was bad enough for Kellen. He hated seeing her cry. She was sobbing about her little boy, and how he had been hurt and all alone and she hadn’t been there to support him. She was worried that no one had been kind to him, or there to hold his hand. It really didn’t help that the Captain hadn’t been able to join them, but Kellen also had a feeling that Taylor had purposefully left him in the dark so that she could rub it in his face later.

She cried through most of the al, and only cald down when Kellen gave them updates on Gwen and her training, how the Guild was doing, and how his classes were going. Kellen had to give them every detail, even when they asked how his relationship was going with the Captain.

When Kellen had countered that he was going great with his pair, his parents had shared a look, but held their tongues. They knew, given how Kellen was reacting, that it was only a matter of ti before everything hit the fan. They knew that was true from Taylor’s gleeful expression as well. Kellen’s slightly flushed cheeks didn’t bode well for his insistence that there was nothing going on between them either, but at the sa ti, he was thankful to not be lectured anymore.

All in all, Kellen considered it a good end to a day that could have gone in a completely different direction.