(BL) Hunting The Field Guide - Chapter 183

Chapter 183: Don’t look down on bake sales Chapter 183: Don’t look down on bake sales Kellen watched the two of them like a hawk as they left the room.

He was tense, focused, until he felt an arm wrap around his shoulders.  “Triple chocolate cherry cookies?” Hill asked, and Kellen nodded, feeling his lips twitch at her curious tone.  “Yeah.

I used to do a lot of baking in high school.

Made a killing with bake sales.

It’s how I bought my first car.

I had to sell it when I went to the front lines.” Kellen told her, and she seemed impressed.  “Nice.

Sucks you had to sell your car though.

If you have any extra after baking for Taylor, would you send some my way?” She asked, and when Kellen glanced at her, she was fluttering her eyelashes.

She looked ridiculous since she was on her toes as she wrapped her arm around Kellen’s shoulders.

He burst into laughter.  “I’ll just make a triple batch.

I know how much you can put away, and I’m sure Casper will like them.”  “What?

None for me?” The Captain’s voice rang out from across the room, and Kellen couldn’t stop his laughter at his indignant tone.  “Do you even like sweets, Captain?

I wasn’t sure you did.” Kellen teased, not calling him by his name as he had requested.

He frowned as Kellen continued to smile, his shoulders still shaking.  “I like sweets, but I also like anything you make.” Kellen wiped a tear away from his eye, shaking his head.  “I was planning to make you something with oranges, since I know you like them, that’s why I wasn’t including you in the request, Captain.” The Captain narrowed his eyes, before he sniffed.  “Well, if you were planning to make me something special, I guess that’s okay.” The Captain’s eyes sparkled as he looked at the laughing Guide, his smile wide and warm.

Kellen slowly stopped laughing, and swallowed.

The Captain wasn’t hiding anything, especially since Kellen had admitted everything yesterday.  Or, because he had admitted his feelings yesterday to himself, and to the Captain, Kellen was noticing it now.

Coming to that realisation, Kellen felt his face heat.

Hill, who noticed the sudden change in a laughing, good mood Kellen, to a thoughtful Kellen, grew concerned..  “What’s up Kellen?

You all good?” Hill asked, and Kellen sighed, nodding.

Running his hand over his face.

He was going to be fine, he was just struck with the fact that he’d been in love with this man for a long, long time, and now, he was his.

The Captain belonged to Kellen.  Fuck.  He wanted to hug him.

Hill, sensing something was slightly different about Kellen, slowly grinned.  “What?

Didn’t get enough of the Captain’s love yesterday, Kellen?

Was he not as generous as I thought he was?

I haven’t heard any complaints before now.” Kellen knew that she was twisting part of the conversation that they had earlier, especially the parts that Brent had said.

Kellen wanted to smack her, but refrained, but did toss her arm off of his shoulder.  “Hill, you know that’s not the case!

I am just trying to think about how much work I’m going to have to do now that Casper’s off to take care of himself.” Kellen liked smoothly, and Hill laughed.

She jumped towards him, giving him a gentle hug by her standards, before letting him go and taking a step back.

She pulled a lollipop out of her pocket and began taking the plastic off.  “Uh huh.

Of course I’ll believe that.

You always sigh like that when faced with a lot of work.” Her grin was filled with childish glee.

“But what I’m not hearing you say is that he was generous?

Did the Captain give you enough?

I’m worried, you know.

I can’t have our first pair in the Guild have any issues.

As the premier Esper with the most experience, you know you always have a shoulder to lean on if you need advice.” She was having the time of her life teasing Kellen as he felt his face heat more.  “Do you want those cookies or not, Hill?” Kellen warned, and she backed off, shoving the lollipop into her mouth and raising her hands above her head.

She had a little grin on her face that told Kellen she wasn’t remorseful at all.  “Alright, alright.

I have some of the things Casper was working on, so I can send them your way tonight.

I’ll also make sure that his secretary sends you his schedule and the like.

I know you wanted to leave the Guild tomorrow, so I’ll help you organise that so you still can.” She said, before turning back to her work.  Kellen knew that she had finished her teasing, and was about to relax until he heard a rather loud throat clearing from across the room.

Kellen glanced up to find the Captain, with his own teasing grin on his face.  “Well?

I’d like to hear your answer, Mr.

Woods.

Did I give you enough love yesterday?” Kellen knew that there was a part of him who had missed this teasing, but at the same time, he wondered if there was an award for how quickly someone’s face could turn red.  He had a feeling he’d be in the running.  Kellen couldn’t even remain too angry since the Captain seemed to be genuinely delighted at the fact that Kellen could change colour so quickly.

The sigh that left Kellen’s body as he covered his face with both of his hands wasn’t something he could have prevented.

It felt like it was the only way he was going to release the embarrassment that was building inside of him.

He could hear several people laughing, but he was paying more attention to the sound of footfalls approaching him.  The Captain reached out, wrapping his arms around Kellen until his face was tucked against his shoulder, his arms warm and welcomed as they wrapped around Kellen.

“Sorry.

You were so cute that I wanted to tease you.” He spoke into Kellen’s hair, keeping his voice low.

His hands patted Kellen’s back comfortingly.

“There there.

This isn’t embarrassing.

You just have to get used to it.” He told Kellen cheerfully, and Kellen sighed again.  Well, this wasn’t how he wanted to find himself in the Captain’s arms, but, he also wasn’t going to complain.

Kellen wasn’t fond of how many eyes were on them, but he was happy to feel him wrapped around him.  “I-It was enough.” Kellen muttered into the Captain’s chest, trying to be quiet.

The Captain’s arms gave him a squeeze.  “I’m slightly disappointed.

I didn’t think it was enough at all.” Unlike Kellen, the Captain did not keep his voice quiet, and Kellen shuddered.

Glaring up at the Captain, his face bright red, Kellen smacked the Captain’s chest.

He laughed.  “Captain Thatcher!’ Kellen protested, and the Captain shook his head, laughing still.

Taking one of Kellen’s hands in his own, he pressed his lips against his fingers.

His lips were soft, and Kellen’s mind easily went elsewhere.

That only made Kellen blush more.  “You’re very cute when you’re like this.

Shall we head home now?

We can deal with the rest of this tomorrow.” The Captain’s words were soft, and tempting.

If he was trying to seduce Kellen, he didn’t need to try hard.  That being said, Kellen was having a hard time believing that what the Captain had referred to as ‘this’ was the situation of the gate mutating, and Casper being put on bedrest.

How the man could be so calm given the fact that one of his Lieutenants was out of commission surprised him, but then again, this was the Captain they were talking about.  The man could walk into the middle of a storm and behave as if it was an everyday event.

He’d probably be smiling still too.  That part of him, the part that always had a strong front, was very attractive to Kellen.

When he had first become a Field Guide, Kellen had always been scared.

Every time Kellen had walked into a gate, he had worried that it was going to be his last time.

He hadn’t told anyone that, but it was an unspoken thing about the front lines.  Often, you’d see someone going up to another, and without a word the two would hug.

It was unspoken on the front lines that if you cared about someone, you made sure you saw them before they disappeared into a gate.

Because you never knew that if the next time you saw them you might be recovering their body.

Kellen, until Brent, hadn’t had a person like that on the front lines.

“I’ll have to do some work even if we get back.

Taking over Casper’s duties means I have to rearrange my schedule.” Kellen told him.

Even if the Captain had heard him talking to Hill, he wanted to tell him to his face instead of assuming that he knew.

The Captain’s gaze was still soft, but his arms tightened around him.  “I was hoping you were going to push everything onto Guide Jameson.” He muttered, and someone snorted before Hill’s laughter could be heard behind them.

Kellen felt his lips turn up slightly.  “I’m not evil, Captain.

I’m going to have him take over what he can, since he has a better compatibility level with everyone, but I will do my half of the work.” Kellen looked to the side, sighing.

“It just means that I’m going to have to double my intake.

I’m not looking forward to that.

Eating takes such a long time already.” It was Kellen’s turn to mutter and the Captain squeezed him again.

When Kellen looked up, the Captain had a soft, thoughtful look on his face, his eyes bright yellow and full of life.  Kellen fought the urge to kiss him.

CREATORS’ THOUGHTS CalyB Kellen is slowly growing into his feelings.