(BL) Hunting The Field Guide - Chapter 66

Chapter 66: Brotherly warning Chapter 66: Brotherly warning It was shortly after that that Gunther finished up his lesson for the day and the two of them came over to join the group.

Gunther had a harsh tone to his face, but Kellen ignored him in favour of his younger sister.

Gwen, of course, ignored him completely and went in for a bear hug from her Mother and another hug from her Dad.

Kellen rolled his eyes, but stayed where he was in the Captain’s arms, a smile on his face.  “Ah, Captain, if I may…” Casper started, and the Captain frowned.

He’d been having a good time observing the Woods family, and even Casper seemed upset interrupting the wholesome scene.

Kellen released the Captain, which only made him more upset until Kellen patted his shoulder.  “Go talk to Casper.

We missed a lot today.” He ordered, and it looked as if he had kicked him when he was already down.

Kellen, who wasn’t used to the Captain behaving this way, blinked, shocked, before he smiled.

“Go on, Captain.

We aren’t moving from here.” The Captain nodded, before taking Kellen’s hand in his and planting a kiss on the top of his hand.

Kellen was stunned at his simple action, along with his parents.  “Alright, if you promise to stay here.

We shouldn’t be too long.” Casper nodded, agreeing eagerly.

The Captain reached out and grabbed Gunther, dragging him along as Casper and the Captain began speaking quickly and quietly to each other.  “My my, Kellen.

You really have the Captain wrapped around your finger.” Gwen’s teasing tone filled the air as Kellen couldn’t tear his eyes away from the Esper.

He flushed.  “That’s not true.

The Captain is his own person.” Gwen’s eyes sparkled as she looked over at her older brother.

A man so completely unaware of the power he held, and who also didn’t care about it either.  “Of course.

Who would dare to say otherwise?

I’m just saying, if you batted those baby blues you have, you could get anything you wanted.” Gwen said, and Kellen rolled his eyes.

Yeah right.  “You have too high of expectations for me.” Kellen told her, quite serious, and she frowned.

Normally, he would have teased her back, but instead he was shutting her down.

She narrowed her eyes, and Kellen looked away from her.  “Kellen sweetheart, is it alright if we go out into the hallway and have a chat with your sister?

We’ll be right back.” His Mom asked, and Kellen easily let them.

The trio headed for the door, all of them smiling with their mouths, but keeping an eye on the remaining member of the family as they left the gym.  Kellen, for his part, noticed none of the behaviours of his family, or his friends.

He had no idea that everyone was quite concerned about him, especially since he had come back.

He’d had this forced, tense smiling expression that he thought was soothing, but was really making everyone worried about him.

Brent was the exception, but that was only because he knew better.

If Kellen had an issue, he wasn’t going to talk about it until he was damn good and ready.

Then it was his duty to help clean up the damage and pieces he’d plucked off himself and glue them back on.

Given his train of thought, Brent was unaware of the personal attack Kellen laid in wait until his family was out of earshot.

Kellen placed his hand on Brent’s shoulder, giving it a squeeze.  “Sorry for not introducing my family to you sooner.

Every time we came into town, the stars just didn’t align.

Plus, Gwen was always going out on the town, and didn’t want to hang out with her older brother.

I will admit though, I was a little hesitant to introduce you two, cause I was worried what you would do or say.

I’m going to warn you now Brent, you aren’t allowed to hit on her if you aren’t serious.” Brent’s eyes went wide with Kellen’s words, and a strange, slightly warped smile crossed his lips.  “So I’m allowed to hit on her if I’m serious?” He asked, and Kellen gave him a hard look.

“If you are serious about my little sister, then I need to go beat some sense into you.

That’s my little sister, and even though I know she’s pretty much compatible with everyone, you’re different.” Brent’s face hardened before Kellen continued.

“You’re my partner in crime, and I wouldn’t be able to handle it if you two got involved, it ended badly, and then I have to pick up the pieces from both sides.” Brent’s face went slack.

He’d thought Kellen was going to make a comment about him sleeping around, so he was taken by surprise by his words.

Blinking a few times, Brent threw his head back and laughed.  “I thought you would just abandon me if I hurt your sister, Kellen.” Brent was laughing, but there was something…off about it.

It made Kellen’s heart ache, especially after the day he’d had.

Kellen was feeling a little sensitive to the word ‘abandon’ and he hated that Brent had used it.

Brent should know better than that.

He should know Kellen better than that.

Kellen reached out, putting both of his hands on his shoulders and Brent tensed.  “Brent Jameson,” he started, before dropping his voice lower, “if that even is your real name.” Brent went white and Kellen continued.

“It would take a lot more than a failed relationship with my sister to make me even consider abandoning you.

I don’t abandon people.

You would have to do it first.” Kellen smiled at his shocked, pale expression.

Kellen had never brought up Brent’s sketchy background in the three years that they had known each other.

Kellen sighed.

“And I mean it about my sister.

I know she’s your type, which is why I never introduced you two before now.” Brent was still a little shocked.

He shook off Kellen’s touch, going to run his gloved hand through his hair and laugh nervously.  “How do you know my type?” He teased, but Kellen wasn’t in the mood for joking around.  “She’s a carbon copy of my Dad.” Kellen told him, and watched as Brent’s face went red.

Yeah, Kellen really did know his type.

Soft, caring, and also a little bold but easy to smile.

Brent avoided that type like the plague, which told Kellen who the relationship-phobe liked the most.

He was that kind of guy.

Form short, none serious relationships with anyone and everyone, except anyone who had those characteristics.

It sucked that Kellen’s sister also had a type that he had observed, and that Brent fell smack dab in the middle of it.

He wasn’t a cupid, which was why he avoided them meeting.

“Ha ha.

W-What makes you think that…” Brent was going to lie about it, but he trailed off when he saw the look on Kellen’s face.

It was a mixture of, ‘try me bitch’, and ‘oh you poor fool’.

The raised eyebrow may have been the finishing move of the look.

Brent looked down at his feet and sighed.

“I’ll stay away from her.” He muttered, and Kellen chuckled.

This wasn’t the exact reaction that he wanted, but it was pretty cute that Brent went this direction.  “I don’t know if either of us have control over it.

She’s my sister, remember?

And we are all now part of the same Guild.

You are also an A Class Guide, and she’s an A Class Esper.

You just saw what she’s like, right?” Brent’s expression when he raised his face was contemplative, and slightly concerned.

Kellen ignored the colour on his cheeks.

“You can do your best, but I’m not a monster, Brent.

If things end up happening, I can’t control that.

Just don’t break her into little pieces, alright?” Brent opened his mouth to make a quick retort, before he closed it again.

He scratched behind his head, before shaking it and sighing.  “You’re making it sound like it’s inevitable that we’re going to do anything together, Kellen.” He was baffled and Kellen just chuckled.

Kellen knew the two of them, and he’d also noticed something in the seven years he’d spent avoiding the Captain.

It had all been for nothing.

If the two of them were meant to be something to each other, they would consistently run into each other from this point on.

Kellen could try to stop it, but at the same time, he didn’t want to.

He knew both of them, and even if the relationship blew up, or it just turned into friendship, he thought they might be good for each other.

Brent needed to deal with whatever sent him to the front lines, like Kellen had.

And Gwen was a good balm to anything.

She was a soft place for Kellen, and he knew that she’d take Brent in with open arms.

What they did after that was none of his concern, he just wanted to make sure they both gained something from it.  “Brent, she’s my sister.

I grew up with the idiot.

There are things you learn even if you don’t want to.” One of the most obvious things was that he and Gwen had different types and personalities.

Gwen had been in several, short but serious relationships, where Kellen had run any possibility of a relationship on the horizon.

One of the concerning things was that all of the people she had dated had been like Brent, at least recently.

They’d all had a bad boy/girl air about them and it had made Kellen sigh.

Fucking bad boys/girls with hearts of gold was his sister’s current favourite flavour.

CREATORS’ THOUGHTS CalyB Thanks so much for reading you guys!