(BL) Hunting The Field Guide - Chapter 172

Chapter 172: A secret for five Chapter 172: A secret for five “A-Anyways, how is the gate, Hill?” Brent slapped his hand down on the table in between them, his eyes flashing.

“Oh no you don’t!

Kellen!

You’re in love with the Captain?” He asked, and Kellen knew his whole face went red.

He raised his hands to cover his face, but knew he couldn’t hide it.

He finally nodded and Hill let out a squeal.  “Oh thank the gods!

I was so worried he wasn’t going to be able to woo you.” She said, and Brent sat back with a snort.  “I had complete confidence that he would snag him.

Kellen’s always had a weak spot for him.” Kellen wanted the ground to swallow him up, while Hill gave Brent a confused look.  “What do you mean?

Kellen and Captain Thatcher haven’t been-” Brent’s look shut her up.

Hill’s eyes widened, staring at how red Kellen was, before she covered her mouth.

“Kellen Woods!

You liked the Captain?” Kellen groaned.  “My question is, how long have you liked Captain Thatcher?

Hmm?

Cause I remember when I finally got you to answer who you found attractive you basically described the Captain.” Kellen wondered if his face was ever going to go back to a normal colour.

The two of them leaned forward, eager to hear his response.  “I…It’s been a long time.” Kellen muttered, and Hill let out a squeal.

Her grip on Kellen tightened again.  “Oh my god.

How long are we talking?

The whole time you were on the front lines?” Kellen wasn’t able to control his expression well, and Brent laughed in the face of his discomfort.  “I don’t want to answer that.

You’re going to judge me.” He admitted softly, and Brent reached out, gripping onto Kellen’s other arm.  “We aren’t going to judge you.

I always thought it was cute that you had a crush on him.

Whenever either one of you thought the other wasn’t paying attention, you’d follow each other with your eyes.

It was really cute.” Kellen’s face couldn’t turn anymore red.  “If it makes it easier for you, I can tell you some stories about Captain Thatcher from the front lines.

Is that a fair trade?” Hill negotiated, and was pleased when Kellen raised his head and gave her an interested look.  “You have stories?” He asked her, and she scoffed.  “Oh do I!

I have so many I don’t even know what to do with them.” Brent squeezed his arm.  “Take her up on it.

I think it’s a good deal.” He said encouragingly, and Kellen hummed and hawed for a minute before giving in.

He knew he always was going to, he was just lying to himself for a moment.  “Well…alright.

I’ll accept your terms.” Kellen told her, and Hill pumped her fist into the air.  “Yeah!

You go first.” She said, and he winced.

Fuck.

“I…I’ve liked the Captain since I was a teen.

Right when he joined the D.E.C.” He admitted and the two were quiet for a moment, before Hill wrapped Kellen up in her arms and picked him up from his seat, squeezing him.  “This is too fucking precious.

Holy shit.

Wait.” She froze.

“Have you told him?” Kellen felt their eyes like brands and he flushed.

“I-I!

Of course I did!” Kellen protested, indignant.

What kind of person did they think he was?

Brent whistled, leaning back and releasing Kellen’s arm.

His green eyes were warm as he looked over his fellow Guide.  “I’m actually impressed that you did.

I would have thought you would chickened out.” Kellen frowned and Brent moved away so that he couldn’t hit him.  “What is that supposed to mean?” Kellen demanded, and Hill came to his defense.  “Yeah, what is that supposed to mean?

Kellen came into a room where everyone was, called the Captain by his first name and asked him on a date.

That’s a pretty big deal.” Hill really thought she was doing Kellen a favour, but it only made Kellen flush more.

Brent snorted, chuckling.

“Awe, our sweet little Kellen has grown up.

He even called him by his first name.” Kellen gave Brent the finger, and Brent laughed.

“Shut up.

It is a big deal.

I’ve idolized him for years.

Do you know how hard it is to change how you view someone who you always thought was out of your reach?” Kellen demanded, and they both froze.  “The Captain was never out of your reach, Kellen.

You both were legal adults when you met in person for the first time.” Hill said, and Kellen huffed.

He had a feeling that even though he’d brought this up before, he wasn’t going to get any sympathy from the natural A Classes before him.

Taking a sip of his tea, Kellen then leaned back and crossed his arms, glancing at the two before him.  “Yes he was.

I was a C Class, and he was-” Hill waved her hand.  “That doesn’t play a part in this.

It isn’t a big dea-” “Yes it is!” Kellen cut her off, his voice growing in volume, startling the others in the coffee shop.

Kellen wasn’t even embarrassed.

“It is a big deal.

I know that you two can get whoever you want, whenever you want, but it’s not the same.

Do you think anyone would have thought it was normal if we were together out on the front lines?

Hmm?

How many people would have gossiped behind our backs, or said awful things about the Captain and I to the media?

You two don’t get it, because you’ve always been powerful enough for people to keep their mouths shut, but I’ve lived as a C Class a lot longer than I have as an A Class.” Kellen huffed, and the two stared at him, shocked.  Realising what he had said, Kellen turned his gaze towards the window, not apologetic.  “Kellen, I’m sorry we upset you.

I didn’t mean it that way.” Hill started, clearly trying to comfort him, and Kellen frowned.

“I know you didn’t mean to hurt me, and I didn’t say it to belittle you either.

I don’t care that you two like to sleep with people, but I just want you to understand.

It wasn’t like I didn’t want to sleep with people.

I just…no one valued me enough to see past my compatibility rating, and at some point, I agreed with them.”  “Kellen, you aren’t just a fucking battery to Espers.” Brent told him, growing angry, and Kellen slid his gaze to Brent, raising an eyebrow.  “Maybe you weren’t, Brent, but I’m sure you were aware of the difference in treatment I got when I was alone versus when you were beside me.” Brent shut his mouth, turning to the side as Hill seemed helpless with the direction this conversation had gone.  “Kellen, we wouldn’t have cared if you got involved with him.

Maybe…I’ll admit, I was a little bit worried in the beginning when I realised that the Captain had feelings for you, but it wasn’t related to your Class level or anything like that.

He was just…fuck, Gunther and I promised not to speak about this, but I think it’s important for you to know.” Hill started, and Kellen glanced at her.

She seemed incredibly uncomfortable, and was scratching the back of her head.  “I won’t say anything.” Brent said, settling into his seat and Hill laughed nervously.  “Neither of you can say anything about this, especially to Gunther and the Captain, alright?

I’ll be in big fucking trouble if this gets out.” She made them promise, before she continued.

“Gunther and I…we’re his right hand men.

We noticed something was up.

At first, we thought it was because you had done such an impressive job, and didn’t doubt why he would hire you any chance he got.

But then…things got weird.

There were his mood swings, of course, but he would schedule training exercises when you were checking equipment outside, and other strange things that we didn’t connect the dots to until later.” Kellen felt his eyes go wide at her words, but Hill only seemed to grow more nervous.

She licked her lips, glancing at Brent.  “It got worse when you joined Kellen.

I think he wasn’t aware that he was jealous of you until much later, and by then, you were busy doing what I was doing so he then got angry thinking you were cheating on Kellen.” Brent, who had foolishly been taking a sip of his drink, nearly spewed it everywhere.

After several coughs, he gathered himself enough to speak.  “Cheating on Kellen?

Who in their right mind would do that?” He demanded, glancing at Kellen.

Hill nodded, also glancing at him.

Kellen only grew confused.

Why did they both agree to that?

“I know, right?

So he sent me and Gunther to make sure you two weren’t in a relationship.

All it took was a quick conversation with anyone and it became clear you two didn’t have that kind of relationship, but he was irate for a while.” She sighed, before turning her full attention to Kellen.

“And then, Kellen, you declared you were going to go back to the city and work in a Guiding Center.

It was like a bomb had gone off in the Guild.

We were all functioning normally on the outside, but we were doing some serious damage control on our side.

He was on a fucking bender, but then one day, suddenly, he was fine.” “Uh oh.” Brent said, and Hill’s face became grim.

“Yeah, uh oh.

Gunther and I followed his every fucking move, trying to find out what he was up to.

He slipped up and didn’t burn something completely, and that was how we were able to trace what he was doing.” She winced.

“He had hired a body double.

He was going to kidnap Kellen from a gate right before he left, probably a D Class gate, and then he was going to whisk him away to a cabin in the woods.

No one knows where that cabin is, even now.

He had hired Espers, powerful ones, who don’t do things for money, but for the thrill, and he had even planned out an elaborate story.

He was going to fake this huge love story with the body double before going off into seclusion with the real Kellen.

That’s what Gunther and I talked him out of, with threats to his own fucking life.

The man was still saying that he wasn’t in love with him, even after planning all of this.” Kellen was at a loss for words.  He had figured it was something extreme, since Rhys had been so serious.

He had told Kellen not to forgive him for it, saying he was no better than the other Espers.

Kellen now understood what he meant.

That was at least A Class Esper behaviour, and coming from a man who was normally so cool, calm and put together, that was a serious situation.

Kellen burst into laughter.

CREATORS’ THOUGHTS CalyB What a cute love story.