(BL) Hunting The Field Guide - Chapter 241

Chapter 241: I’m a big, brave boy Chapter 241: I’m a big, brave boy Kellen followed Taylor’s suggestion.

Especially since most of the work he needed to do involved the laptop in his possession.  So, he hobbled his way up to his apartment, much to the horror of any Esper he saw him, and behaved as if everything was fine.

He even stopped by the coffee shop to pick up a tea latte.

Really proved to them that he wasn’t incompetent, just injured.  Whistling to himself, he headed for the second set of elevators, and watched the Espers who were working out inside of the gym as he passed.

They all seemed…stressed.

Kellen hated it.

He really needed to sign a deal with the Guiding Centers.

Fuck.  He should message his old Guiding Center as soon as he got up to his apartment and get the background checks started for them.

He knew them.

He knew his former coworkers, but it wasn’t about him anymore.  Someone had tried to kill his Dad.  And injure the Guild that the Captain had put so much work into.  He had to make sure that the people he cared about were safe.

He just hoped that no one got offended by it.

Or, at least, not the people he cared about.

Guiding Center A could shove a whole hand up their ass if they got offended.

He would not care.

Not after offering another Guide to the Captain in front of him.  He wasn’t going to forgive that, ever.  Maybe that didn’t make him a good person, but she did it first.

Everyone knew that they were together.

She was just being petty.

So, Kellen was going to be petty back.  She should have known better than to mess with Henry Wood’s son.  Smiling at that thought, Kellen entered into his apartment, taking a second to put his latte down on the counter before taking off his shoes.

It was a longer process due to his injury, but only by a few more minutes.  He was not, however, looking forward to the stairs.

But he needed to since he needed to change out of his work clothes.

He was in his house, it was time for his slippers and house clothes.

Fuck.  Taking a moment to brace himself for the pain he was about to be in, Kellen set up his laptop at the counter so that he could stand instead of sit after the ordeal he was about to put his body through.  He even sent off the email to his old manager that he said he would do.

He even ate an apple from the fruit bowl.

Kellen knew he was stalling.

He hadn’t had to walk down the stairs since the Captain had carried him down them previously, but now he was on his own.  He hadn’t thought this through.

He should have waited for Rhys.

Even if it would have extended their working hours.

Now he was going to do something that everyone was going to be upset at him with.

And the worst part?  All of the pain medication, outside of the cream that Taylor had just given him, was upstairs.

He was going to have to make a small stash of it somewhere down here.

Maybe in a basket on one of the shelves.  Groaning, Kellen gripped the edge of the stool at the counter, his other hand on his cane as he stared at the white screen of the laptop.

He could do this.

It wasn’t going to be as bad as he feared.

He’d done worse things.  He’d confronted the Captain of the Saturn Guild and called him a coward.

He could get up a measly flight of stairs.

He’d worked as a Field Guide for seven years!

A flight of stairs was nothing!

And!

He wouldn’t have to go back up alone after.

Rhys would never allow it.  So, gulping down his fear, Kellen let go of the stool and shuffled towards the stairs.  He did it wrong on the first step.

He used the leg he normally would, his injured one, to take the first step.  The groan that left his lips would have woken the dead.

It was more of a silenced scream.

His knuckles were white where they gripped the railing and the cane.

His leg throb, his body trembled, and he cursed the people who shot him all over again.  They were going to pay for this moment alone.

Maybe he’d shoot them in the thigh and have them walk up a flight of stairs or something.

Was that evil?

It might be.

It just hurt so fucking much.  Switching legs, Kellen began to step with his good leg, and raise his injured leg up behind him.

It was a slow, but less painful process.

When he got to the landing, he took a break, his breathing ragged.

He was never going to admit how much that took out of him.

Not when he knew that if he did, many of the people around him were going to overreact.  Taylor would also feel an immense sense of guilt, and he could have that either.

She had done nothing wrong.

She was doing her damn job, Kellen was the idiot for forgetting about the damn stairs.  Making his way into his closet, Kellen began to undress, pulling on his usual outfit that he’d been wearing around the apartment for the last two weeks.

The smell was comforting, even if it was fading, and it was warm.

He was surprised at the slight size difference between him and the captain, but he didn’t hate it.

It was just enough that he noticed it when he wore his jacket.  Kellen took a second to rub the cream in before he pulled on his sweatpants, hissing at the warm and cooling sensations the cream shot into his muscles.

He had to remain standing for a few extra moments, breathing through the sensations until he was able to slip his slippers on.  After slipping his slippers on he headed for the bathroom.

He checked his medicine cabinet and found that he had a double of most of his pain medications.

Surprised at his own brain and habits, he checked the bottles to see if any of them had expired.  They hadn’t.

His next task was to find a bag he could use to carry them downstairs since the pockets in the jacket weren’t big enough for the bottles.

Or were they?  Shoving his hands into the pockets that he hadn’t really tested this way before, Kellen wiggled his fingers.

They were quite deep.

Not as deep as the pockets in his jacket, but they might do.

Grabbing a bottle and testing it, he was pleasantly surprised to find that he could fit them quite comfortably.  Nice.  Shoving a few into his mouth from his stash up here, he swallowed them dry before shuffling back into the bedroom.

He didn’t need anything from here while he was up here, did he?

No, but he should go to the bathroom before he forgot.

There wasn’t one downstairs, and it would be an awful experience if he had to go up these damn stairs again before Rhys arrived in the apartment.  Kellen was not looking forward to the way down.

Honestly, he was quite worried he might take a tumble.

His body didn’t like when he bent the muscles in his injured leg.

Exhaling slowly, and massaging the area around the wound gently, Kellen stood at the top of the stairs and stared down the several steps he could fall down.  Clenching his hand around the cane, he lowered it first, his hand holding onto the railing as he lowered his good leg down first, sweat pooling on his forehead as the pain of the extension filled him.

This was only the first step down.

He couldn’t quit so quickly.  There was also not really a good way to get down the stairs either.

Scooting on his ass wasn’t an option, because getting up and down also hurt.

But…would it hurt as much as this did?

He didn’t know, and he currently couldn’t think past the haze of pain in his mind.  So, he kept moving.

If he didn’t stop, that meant it would be over soon.

Sweat poured off of him, making the grip on his cane tremble.

He had to stop to wipe his hands, and his face with his t-shirt underneath the jacket so that he didn’t slip.  He didn’t know how long he moved, but it felt like he’d wasted 20 minutes going up and down the stairs.  He’d admit it to himself right now.

Asking Rhys for help was less embarrassing than this was.

He wasn’t going to be a bigger man next time.

He’d just ask Rhys for help, and he wouldn’t go ahead to his apartment without him.

Not while he was in this situation.  Desperately, he made his way towards the laptop once he made it to the bottom of the stairs, sweat pouring off of him.

He practically collapsed on top of the cool, marble countertop.

He was panting, his body shaking, and with desperate fingers, he pulled the laptop towards him and pleaded with Pamela, asking how he could draft a contract with the Guides that would include a background check.

He needed it.

Immediately.  He never wanted to do that again.  Surprisingly, Pamela got back to him right away with a ready-made draft.

Kellen had never wanted to kiss a woman before, but he could have kissed her on the mouth he was so thankful.  Taking a moment to just press his face against the cool surface, Kellen sighed.

He didn’t realise how much he had begun to rely on Rhys, even in the last 24 hours.

Or on everyone around him.  Maybe he should ask Rhys for an apartment that was all on one floor?

Save himself from the embarrassment of this next time he got injured.

CREATORS’ THOUGHTS CalyB A big, brave boy indeed XD