(BL) Hunting The Field Guide - Chapter 108

Chapter 108: knowing your limit Chapter 108: knowing your limit “Kellen!

Are you alright?” Gwen’s voice was shaking as he coughed.

He sucked air into his lungs again before looking up.

Gunther stood behind the panicked Gwen, and gone was his cocky, excited expression.

Instead, his face was stern as he looked Kellen over.  “I’m sorry Kellen.” He apologised, his tone somber and Kellen coughed again.

He rubbed his throat.

It felt sore, but he knew it was only temporary.

It should be fine tomorrow, maybe even later tonight.  “I-It’s alright.

I almost called a stop to it at the S Class level.” His voice was a little scratchy, but nothing painful.

Gwen’s eyes were saucers.  “You’re a Guide!

You have a weaker body than us!

You should have!” She was very upset, and Kellen grinned at her, reaching out to touch her face.  “Come on Gwen, this isn’t the worst I’ve had before.

Gunther stopped it in time.” Gunther and Gwen didn’t seem appeased.  “Kellen, you know better than most that S Class bots are set to kill.

You should have stopped me if you weren’t sure you could handle it.

You aren’t a new recruit in this sense.” Gwen nodded along to Gunther’s words, her eyes watering.

Kellen smiled sheepishly.  “I kinda wanted to see how far I could go, you know?” He suggested mildly and the sigh that left Gunther held a piece of his soul.  “Well, small blessings.

You got farther than all of the new recruits.

You made it to the minute and a half mark against the S Class bot.” Gwen sniffed.  “I made it to a minute, just so you know.” She bragged, and Kellen smiled.  “Glad to know all of Mom’s training worked out for you.” There was silence in the room as the other had no idea what to do.

Kellen coughed again.

“Well, I still failed, didn’t I Gunther?” Kellen asked.  Gunther seemed conflicted.

It was clear from everyone’s reactions that Kellen’s match was the only one where the bot got it’s hands on the person it was fighting.

Kellen confirmed this when, instead of being angry that some random Guide got a better score than them, the new recruits were all in shock.

Right.

They hadn’t gone to the front lines before.  Kellen stood up on shaky legs, exhaling slowly.

“It’s fine, Gunther.

I accepted the dangers when you two told me about them.

I’ll accept the punishment as well.

Step away Gwen, unless you want to get soaked again.” Kellen told her and she shuffled away.

Gunther still seemed torn about it, but when Kellen gave him a stern look, he sighed.  His eyes lit up once more, and about a bucket of water rained down on him.

It was cold, and upsetting.

Kellen shook his head, shaking water droplets out of his hair before pushing it out of his face.

Gwen sighed.  She wasn’t really looking at him, but glancing around the arena and at those around us.

Kellen could tell that the mood had gone down, and Kellen worried that he was the reason.  Gwen’s eyes lit up suddenly and she turned towards Kellen, her eyes sparkling.

Kellen was once more glad that she bounced back so quickly from scares.

It would do her wonders on the front lines.  “Well, I think going up Classes made you stronger.

Did you want to spar?” She asked and Gunther’s eyes widened.  “Is that a smart idea?

I know you’re strong, but going against Gwen….” Clearly, he was more shaken up by the bot choking Kellen than he thought.

Kellen walked over, patting him on his shoulder.  “Then do you want to spar with me?” Kellen suggested and he paled.

Kellen grinned at him.

“I wouldn’t worry too much Gunther.

Gwen and I have been sparring on and off for all of our lives.

She knows when and where to push me.” He wrapped his arm around Gwen’s shoulder when she came to stand beside him.

“Plus, if I get beaten up by my little sister, I’ll never hear the end of it from Mom.” Gwen pushed his arm off of her, for her to wrap her arm around his shoulders.

She had to stand on her tiptoes to do so.  “Come on Lieutenant Gunther!

You’ll get to see us in action!

It won’t be as impressive as when Lieutenant Hill and Captain Thatcher sparring, but we’re trained by the same Esper.

Kellen’s really good, as we all know.

Plus, I’m excited since it’s been forever since I beat his ass.” Gunther glanced between the smiling faces of the siblings and sighed.

He ran his hand over his face, clearly fighting a demon of some kind.  “Alright.

I’ll clear the arena first, as I don’t want to be the reason either of you slips.” Gwen and Kellen in unison reached out and patted Gunther on his shoulders.

A look of confusion and horror crossed his face before he stepped away from them.

He muttered something under his breath that Gwen was able to hear.

She chuckled.  “What?” Kellen asked and she grinned.  “He said we were the reason he was going to have early hair loss.” Kellen matched her grin.  “What an honour.” Gunther got to work clearing up the arena rather quickly, but that didn’t stop the crowd from dispersing either.

It worked out for Kellen.

He wasn’t really looking for an audience to watch while he and Gwen sparred, even if he knew that they had a chance to learn some things.  Gwen was busy trying to wring out her shirt as they waited for Gunther.

Kellen gave up on the prospect right away.

He just took off his damp shirt, hating the feeling of the wet fabric against his skin.

He tossed the shirt to the side, and Gwen glanced over because of the movement.

She did a double take.

‘Holy hell.

I didn’t realise you were covered in so many scars.” Her voice held an edge of wonder to it as she loved over the silvery lines crisscrossing Kellen’s body.

He shrugged.  “Well, I don’t normally spar you shirtless, so I would assume you haven’t seen them.

Don’t worry though, most were only small scratches at the time.

Nothing to worry about.” She stared at his body, doing a lap before coming around to his front with a rather serious expression.  “Do you actually mean that?

Are you actually okay?” Her gaze felt penetrating, and he chuckled.  “A few scars aren’t going to worry me, Gwen.

I’m fine.”  “Whoop whoop!

Someone call for the fire department cause we have a hottie on our hands!” Hill’s voice filled the air and both siblings turned in her direction.

They found that Hill and the Captain were approaching.

Both were grinning, but looked tired.

“I’ll have to agree.

What happened to your shirt, Mr.

Woods?” Captain asked, and Kellen gestured vaguely to Gunther.  “Oh, he had a bot set up for the new recruits and was testing them.

Anyone who didn’t make it to the end got soaked.

I failed too.” Kellen told them cheerfully as he felt both of them look him up and down.

Gwen chuckled.  “In fairness, Kellen made it to the last right, and further then I did.” I waved my hand dismissively.  “She’ll pass me in no time.

I’m just a Guide who has more experience for now.

I trust that the A Classes will be able to hold out for longer than three minutes against an S Class bot soon.” He told them with a grin.

Captain shook his head, his expression light as his eyes scanned Kellen’s body.

That changed when his eyes stopped at Kellen’s neck and it felt like the joy had been sucked out of the air around them.

His expression fell flat, and Hill glanced at him, worried.  “What is that?” His voice deepened, and Kellen swore he saw Hill flinch next to him.

Kellen blinked, and suddenly the Captain was in front of him, his face serious.

Before he had a chance to answer, his hand was around his neck, softly stroking the skin there, checking to see how tender the area was.

Kellen flinched at his sudden touch and he frowned.

“Who did this?” He demanded and Kellen chuckled.  “No one did this, the bot did.

It’s not a big deal, Captain.

You’ve seen me hurt plenty of times before this.” Kellen teased.

He could feel that something was off, but he didn’t know why.

He raised his hand to where the Captain had his around his neck, and gave the hand a gentle squeeze.

The Captain wasn’t ready to be soothed though.  “Where was Gunther when this was happening?” He wasn’t even looking into Kellen’s eyes, only staring at the mark on Kellen’s neck.

Kellen sighed.  “He was doing his job.

He stopped it in time, and I’m fine.

If anything, I didn’t alert in time.

I don’t even think this will bruise, and I am not going to Taylor to get it healed.” He had opened his mouth, but closed it quickly.

Clearly, he was going to suggest that.  “I don’t like seeing you hurt, especially when it’s a fucking handprint around your throat.” His tone held a tension to it, and Kellen wasn’t sure what it meant.

Kellen squeezed his hand again, and he finally looked up into his face.

Kellen knew that the Captain wasn’t quite in a safe state, given how pale Hill was getting beside him.

The Captain’s eyes had been glowing the whole time, but they had brightened to the point it was painful to look into them.

“Oh?

Are you jealous of a bot, Captain?

Jealous that it got to leave a handprint on my neck first?” Kellen had surprised him with his words, along with the others around him.

Thankfully, his eyes dimmed quickly because of the shock.

He made a soft noise of contemplation before he gave a soft smile, stroking Kellen’s neck with his thumb.

It was killing him, since the area was sore, but he was doing his best not to react negatively to his touch.

Kellen didn’t think it would have benefitted the situation.  “I might be.

I never realised.” He shifted, giving his neck a small squeeze.

“Do you like to be choked, Mr.

Woods?

You should have said something earlier.” Kellen avoided making eye contact with anyone else.

Especially his sister next to him.  At this point, it wasn’t about the truth.

Something was wrong with the Captain.

He didn’t normally react like this, and Hill had tipped him off that something was wrong with her reaction.

He had to talk the Captain down from whatever this was, and get him into a better mood.

If he didn’t, he knew it was only going to bring hardship to others, and that wasn’t fair.

It was kind of Kellen’s job to manage the Captain’s well being in tandem with Taylor.  “Well, I’ve never tried it outside of others trying to kill me, so we can always give it a try.

You’ll stop if I asked nicely, right?” Kellen forced his lips to turn up slightly and the Captain grinned.  “Of course.

Anything for you Mr.

Woods.” The Captain murmured, and Kellen knew he was going to kiss him.

He felt his lips graze his own, and this time Kellen watched him.

The Captain never closed his eyes, keeping them on his face.

The gently feeling of his soft lips pressed against his own, mixed with the electric feeling of guiding made Kellen’s head spin.

Did the Captain always watch Kellen when they kissed?

Kellen wasn’t sure, but this didn’t feel like the right time to ask.  Eventually, the Captain stopped, and stepped back and away from Kellen.

His hands fell to his sides as he watched Kellen thoughtfully.  “Well, now that I’m sure the arena is cleared, Gwen and I are going to spar.” Kellen told Hill, while mostly speaking to the Captain.

He didn’t know why, but he seemed to be more on edge right now compared to normal.

Had something happened in one of the meetings?

He hadn’t been like this when he had seen him earlier.

CREATORS’ THOUGHTS CalyB Kellen will always do crazy things for the sake of knowing his limits.

Now he has a few more limits to add to the list.