Kellen felt like he was the one being tad. No matter what anyone else said, Rhys was the one who was doing the taming, and Kellen was just going along with it.
The monster? Him. And the tar? Captain Rhys Thatcher.
Kellen opened his mouth as another forkful of food ca towards him, and Rhys chuckled.
"You’re being such a good boy, Mr. Woods." The whispered words had Kellen nearly choking. Coughing, he tried not to spit food everywhere, while Rhys, in concern, tried to pat his back. "Are you alright?" He asked, and Kellen glanced up at his big, yellow eyes and wanted to yell at him.
He was the reason Kellen had reacted this way!
Hill’s chuckle beside him told him that she knew that as well, but was holding her tongue.
"i-I’m fine. Went down the wrong pipe." Kellen told him, and Rhys tsked.
"We can’t have that. You need to let know ahead of ti. I’ll be gentle." Kellen was almost at his limit.
It had been like this the whole hour.
For the whole hour the Captain had been saying the most outrageous things to him, and then shoving a forkful of food into his mouth so he couldn’t protest. Honestly, it was a surprise that he’d only choked once in response to the things that he had been saying to him.
Kellen could feel his whole body tingling. He felt like if the Captain touched him in the wrong way right now, he might embarrass himself.
Huffing, frustrated, and not sure why, Kellen closed his laptop once he’d gathered himself enough. He checked the ti, and closed his eyes for a mont, before turning to the man beside him.
"I have to get going now. I need to talk to Brent before our next class." Rhys frowned. Pouted, actually. There was only a plate of food left, done intentionally on Kellen’s part. The man hadn’t eaten while he’d been feeding Kellen. Kellen had hoped that he would have, but it was clear that he had been so focused on that, that he’d neglected himself.
Gesturing to the plate left with his head, Kellen tucked his laptop into its bag before slinging it on his shoulder.
"You should eat that. You haven’t eaten the whole ti I’ve been here." Rhys’ eyes ward.
"I have been eating. I’ve been eating up your enjoynt of the food." Kellen flushed.
"That doesn’t keep your body functioning. Make sure to eat it. In fact, send a picture of the empty plate." Kellen told him, and Rhys stared at him. Kellen gave him a look when he didn’t respond and Rhys laughed.
"Alright, Mr. Woods. I will do as you say. You’re so controlling of ." It sounded like he was chastising him until Rhys bent forward, his lips brushing against Kellen’s ear. "I like it." He whispered and Kellen’s lips turned down in a frown as his face ward.
"W-Well, it would be bad if you didn’t like it. I’m only going to get worse." Kellen warned, and Rhys pulled back, a smile on his face.
"Oh, I’m quite excited. I can imagine that your Mother is completely whipped by your Father, and I’m excited to emulate them." Kellen’s heart raced in his chest.
Unable to stop himself, Kellen bent forward and pressed a kiss against his cheek.
"I’m glad I ca here. Now, help get my cane, will you?" He asked, embarrassed, and Rhys sat frozen.
Hill’s chair moved behind him, and she moved to get his cane. She handed it to Kellen, her brown eyes sparkling.
"You can’t pull that kind of action and expect a normal reaction, Kellen. Look at him. He’s frozen in bliss. It’s so nice to see him like this." Hill chuckled as Kellen took the offered cane. It was also nice to see that given everything that was going on, she didn’t look too exhausted.
No, it was Pala, who had co back about half an hour into the ’feeding session’ that had looked like she needed to sleep for a week. Her bags were giant under her eyes, and her hair was in just a ponytail. Even Hill was walking on tiptoes around her, as if sothing else had gone on when he hadn’t been looking.
No doubt it had sothing to do with Rene.
He just had no idea what it was that had happened, and now wasn’t the ti to ask.
"Pala, is everything going alright on the PR side of things? How is the public taking the shooting?" Kellen asked while Rhys was still in lala land.
Pala, who had been seated in a different group on the other side of the room, jerked, before stumbling to her feet, grabbing her tablet, and moving towards Kellen.
"Stay seated! I’ll co to you!" She declared, almost desperately, and Hill snorted.
"She doesn’t take injuries well." Hill whispered quietly enough that Pala wasn’t able to hear it. Kellen was appreciative of the information. It was sothing new he had learned about Pala.
"I will stay seated." He told her, having no need to try and work her up more. The woman looked like a grain of rice could ruin her whole day. Maybe he should send so coffee, or treats her way. He’d ssage Hill about it after he left.
"Okay." Pala said, coming to a halt in front of Kellen. It was around that ti that Kellen felt the Captain’s hand on his thigh. Giving him a look, he found that he was back to ’normal’, but his expression was hard.
"Don’t look at the footage if you don’t want to." He told him, and Pala huffed.
"I am not foolish enough to show Mr. Woods a video of his Father getting shot. He was there. He does not need to see it again." Pala snapped, and Rhys’ grip on Kellen’s thigh tightened.
"I wasn’t saying it to you, Pala. I was telling Mr. Woods." She shot Kellen a hard, scathing look.
"Don’t you dare ask that of . I will not do it." Kellen chuckled, and wondered what they took him for? He wasn’t an idiot. He knew his limits. He wasn’t going to view the footage right now. It wasn’t safe for him to do so. Even the ntion of their being footage set his whole body on fire. His heart was racing, his hands were sweating.
He released the cane to wipe his hands on his pants, and sighed.
"I see you don’t think highly of in this regard." Kellen deadpanned, and Rhys sighed.
"I know you have a habit of forcing yourself to get stronger. Now is not the ti. I would like it if you never saw it, but I know you well enough to know that you are going to look at it at so point." Rhys spoke, and Kellen felt uncomfortable knowing that Rhys knew him so well already. Kellen felt like he didn’t know him that well at all.
"Either way, you were curious about how things are looking, right?" Pala interrupted them, tapping away on her tablet. "Things are looking...rough. Not for you, but the D.E.C. and the Guild. Many are asking why that was even allowed to happen, and how. The Guild isn’t taking the brunt of it, but people are unhappy that we’ve gone into shut down mode. Not allowing tours or anything like that has impacted our image a little bit, but enough supporters are speaking up in our defense that it’s okay." Kellen nodded.
"I’m glad that no one is getting angry at us." Kellen said, and Pala sighed.
"Yeah. And it helps that everyone knows we are protecting your Father right now too. Mr. Woods is a widely known mber of our city. And soone who has been the face of our city for almost two decades. He is beloved. So most are forgiving us, but not forgiving who did this. No one has co forward yet, but there are only a few groups that we can think of, and your Mother did give us a few nas to look into. They aren’t coming up with anything, and when we contacted them, most were devastated that he was attacked."
Kellen wondered who was on that list, but at the sa ti, didn’t. His parents were allowed to have a life outside of his own. He just hoped that it didn’t result in this attack. Hill’s sigh drew his attention to her.
"I think it’s the terrorists. They’ve done attacks like this before." She said, and Kellen’s eyes widened.
"The new group? The one who did the bomb attack?" Kellen confird, and she nodded. She crossed her arms, her gaze serious, and slightly orange.
"Yeah. Those fuckers. We’ve done so digging into them since the attack, and I found that this is their M.O. They love to sow discord like this. Attack important people in the city and revel in the chaos it creates. And try to take over during the chaos." Her jaw clenched tightly. Kellen’s blood began to boil.
"They’ve done this to others?" Kellen demanded, and everyone’s expression was grim. "Oh. If it is them, I’m going to kill them." Kellen growled. "No one gets away with attacking my parents, and attacking my city and gets away with it." Rhys chuckled darkly behind him.
"They haven’t attacked a city like us before. Sure, we’re dealing with a gate right now, but there are many, many S Classes who call this place their ho. I’ve already sent word to our two other mbers who were on an outing for them to co back. We will not be taking this sitting down." Rhys’ voice held an edge that Kellen liked.
"Good. Pala, I appreciate all that you’re doing. You should take a nap in an unused Guiding room, or, better yet, book a guiding session with . You look exhausted, and that could cause you to slip up. Do not make bench you like I did Casper." Kellen warned, and she blinked several tis, before she glanced at Rhys.
"I’ll let him do it." He warned, and she sighed. Kellen watched as she closed her eyes, took a deep, calming breath, before she opened them again. The pink had dimd slightly.
"Alright. I hear your warning. I don’t have ti right now, but I’ll make sure I take sothing to help get so sleep tonight. I just...haven’t been sleeping well." She muttered.
"If you’re worried, sleep in the Guild Tower. I’ll bring you so of my Dad’s calming tea suggestions." Kellen told her, and Pala’s tight, tense expression softened.
"With that leg? No you will not. It’s not that kind of worry, Kellen, but I appreciate your concern. I’ll be better tomorrow, for your sake." She told him, and Kellen stared at her. He scanned her, and Pala turned red as he did so.
"Well, I’ll take your word for it then. If you look worse tomorrow, no exceptions, I’m going to take you to a guiding room and I will put you to sleep. One way or another." Hill laughed as Pala went white. Rhys even chuckled.
"Mr. Woods, don’t threaten to knock out my lieutenants, please. It gives us a bad image." He teased, and Kellen sniffed.
"I wasn’t saying I would knock her that way, but if that makes you take care of yourself, I will take full advantage of it." Kellen declared, before sighing and pushing himself up from the giant pillow.
His thigh protested, and through clenched teeth, he got on two feet.
All three of them hovered around him, and Kellen couldn’t help but laugh.
"Wow. I have so many Espers who are worried for . I’m spoiled." He joked, and Rhys grumbled.
"You have more than that, and that already makes worried. Now, go speak to Guide Jason before I decide that you don’t need to teach your second class." Rhys told him, and Kellen sighed. He stared down at the man who remained seated, and with one glance around the room, he pressed his lips against the Captain’s.
It was quick, fast, and made Kellen’s cheeks flush. Rhys was frozen stiff.
"You wouldn’t stop from doing my job, would you? Now, have a good rest of your day everyone. I’ll see you, Rhys, after work." Kellen said, his face warm. He shuffled towards the elevators as Hill whistled.
"Oh, he’s going to be like that for the rest of the day. Everyone, now’s the ti to make mistakes!" Hill joked, and Kellen shook his head, smiling. It quickly took away his embarrassnt at the act. He’d never kissed him like that without it being related to guiding. But he just couldn’t help himself.
The man had been teasing him for an hour. This was at least what he deserved.
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