(BL) Hunting The Field Guide - Chapter 74

Chapter 74: You are not alone Chapter 74: You are not alone “Kellen, why were you worried about me?

We’ve been friends for so long, what triggered this?” Taylor’s soft voice came over the phone, and Kellen could feel the embarrassment welling up inside of him.

He wasn’t sure if he wanted to say it, since he had a feeling he knew how they were going to react.  “Well, everyone is going to leave me when they get paired and don’t need me in their lives anymore.

I’m just a placeholder.” No one said anything as Kellen fought to keep the tears back.

It felt like a losing battle, but he was doing his best.

His face felt hot and he poured more cider into his mouth so he didn’t have to look at it anymore.

He hated that he had ended up talking about this, not once, but twice, and with almost everyone he didn’t want to talk about this with.

He really didn’t want to find out that his suspicions were correct about every relationship he’d ever had in one day.  “Kellen!” Gwen’s voice came at him first, before her body did.

She covered him in her body, her arms wrapping tightly around his neck and began kissing his face all over.

“My sweet, dumb older brother!

You are not a placeholder, and you have never been a placeholder!

No one could replace you!” She was practically sobbing as she held and kissed him.

Hill stood up, fury written all over her expression.

Her eyes were even glowing orange.

“Who the fuck said that to you?

Why the hell would we ignore you as soon as we paired up?

Fuck, you’re the first one to do it out of all of us, and are you going to ignore us?” Kellen was stunned at her reaction.

He had kind of expected Gwen to be upset with him, but not this open display of pure anger from Hill.

Taylor’s soft laughter over the phone shocked him next.  “Do you honestly think I would pair with a Guide you hadn’t personally vetted beforehand?

Or with someone who didn’t like you?

Fuck percentages, you’re one of my closest friends.

I’m only not saying best friend because you’re in a weird headspace right now.

Fuck, do I need to come over there and knock some sense into you?

You big, dumb, idiot?” A laugh escaped him, and he couldn’t stop it, the same way he couldn’t stop the tears that began to roll down his face.  “No, there are already too many people witnessing me cry right now.

I don’t need more.” He said.

Gwen pulled back, cupping Kellen’s face in both of her hands to force him to look at her.

“I would rather never pair than abandon you and Mom and Dad.

You know that, right?

If they were part of a Guild or whatever that was far away, I’d either make them move here, or travel back and forth all the time if that wasn’t possible.

Taylor’s right.

Fuck percentages.” Kellen laughed, shaking his head.  “You guys are saying that now, but-” Gwen covered his mouth with her hand, her eyes flashing between grey and purple.  “Shut your trap.

I know you waited a long time for your perfect match, but I’m not the same as you.

I wasn’t fucking harrassed by everyone to be better like you were.

Hell, if I see Uncle Tom again I’m going to-” Gwen caught the temperature shift in the room, and happened to glance towards the Captain at the same time and closed her mouth.

Even Kellen, who felt like his body was numb because of all the emotions in his body at the moment, could feel the energy coming off of the Captain.

He squeezed his hand.  “What did Tom do?” His voice was soft, and everyone knew that wasn’t a good sign.

Gwen, caught between her own slip up, and wanting others to know exactly what Kellen went through, was unsure how to proceed.

After battling with herself for a few more seconds, she sighed, giving in.  “Fuck.

Alright, okay.

But you can’t shoot me, alright?

I’m not the one who sat back and let this happen, in fact, I don’t think anyone is to blame, except the people who did it.” She glanced at the Captain, who nodded, and she continued.

She licked her lips, now nervous.

“So, we’re all A Class’ originally besides Kellen, right?

Well, some people had a harder time accepting that than others.

None of us, Kellen’s actual family, gave a flying fuck about it, but because Kellen was in shock, he went in to get retested a couple more times.

Uncle Tom, and a few others, are old school kind of guys.

Uncle Tom just could not wrap his head around the fact that Kellen was different then us, and he assumed it was a bad kind of difference.

Through the years I’ve heard him say some fucked up shit to Kellen, and just Kellen.

When I told Dad, it stopped, but I think it only stopped when they were around.

Kellen’s face right now is telling me that’s true.” Kellen flinched.  “I-It’s not that bad.

I hardly even notice it, and I know he doesn’t mean it in a bad way.” The Captain growled, and a sense of danger went straight up Kellen’s spine.  “You joyously told me you had an inferiority complex that you managed to work through on the front lines, that it was the whole reason you went there in the first place.

That is not normal, especially since I’ve met your parents Mr.

Woods.

They are not the ones who gave that to you, and neither was your sister.” He was pissed, and when Kellen looked over at everyone else, they all had a similar angry expression.

Even Gunther.  “Oh, so after this gate, we’re going to limit our contracts with the D.E.C.?” Gunther suggested mildly, and Kellen felt himself pale.

Hill nodded.  “I suggest we even tell the other Guilds what they did to your pair, Captain Thatcher.

I think it’s about time Tom retired.” Hill suggested, her eyes glowing orange.

Captain’s laughter in response was dark, and the hair on the back of Kellen’s neck stood up.  “I agree, Hill.

I believe I’ll let Sakura know first, since she’s also known you since high school.” Kellen went to protest, but Taylor’s voice over the phone drowned him out.  “A great plan.

Sakura has always had an obsession with Kellen, so she’ll view anything against him negatively.

And not in a sexual way, Captain Thatcher.

She’s always viewed Kellen as a challenge to conquer.

Like a mountain.”  “That’s not very convincing, Taylor.” Brent told her, watching the Captain’s face as she spoke.

“The Captain looks like he’s about to kill a man.” Taylor chuckled.  “Ah, well, oops.” Kellen was still in full panic mode over the whole situation.  “I…why are you guys even thinking about doing this?

I’m just a Guide.

I-” This time, it was the Captain’s hand that covered his mouth.

Kellen turned his head to look at him, even as Gwen still held his face.

His eyes were glowing a shade of yellow Kellen hadn’t seen in a long time.

Kellen shivered.

The last time he’d seen that they were about to handle a swarm in a gate from a very aggressive breeding season.

A lot of people had been injured.  “Do not speak of yourself like that ever again.

I won’t hurt you, Kellen, but I will punish you.” His words were quiet, but he was sure everyone heard them.

Kellen knew it wasn’t time to say it, but he felt a little hysterical from all the tension and attention on himself.

He moved his hand away from his mouth to speak.  “See Gwen?

I’m not the kinky one here.” The Captain’s gaze narrowed, and Kellen’s smile faded as he swallowed.

Gwen shook her head, flabbergasted.

“Kellen, we care about you and are worried about you.

Can you not crack jokes right now?

This is serious.

You thought we were all going to abandon you at some point.

That’s fucked up.” Her eyes began to water and Kellen knew he was well and truly fucked.

He pushed the Captain’s hand away with more force then he expected from Kellen as Kellen put down the cider bottle and grabbed Gwen’s face in his hands, cursing.  “Fuck, shit, it’s alright.

I’m fine, Gwen.” She shook her head and gently thumped her fist against his chest.  “You are such a fucking liar.

If Mom was still here she’d be bawling.

I can’t believe you.

We talk about almost everything!

You should have said something to me.

You know I don’t care what they think of me.” The tears running from her eyes killed Kellen.

Everyone was watching the sibling pair in shock.  “I-I didn’t want to burden you.

You’re my little sister.

I can’t do that to you.” That didn’t appear to be the right answer, since more tears fell down her face.  “You dumbass!

We’re supposed to support each other!

Do you think I watched you go through all of that shit just so that I could ignore you after you went through it?

I wanted to be there for you to lean on.

Why are you such a stubborn goat when it comes to yourself?” Gwen ducked her head and sobbed against his shoulder.

It was clear to anyone watching that Kellen hated when his sister cried, and he was panicking.  “I am here for you to lean on.” He tried to soothe her, and that only made it worse.  “Yeah, but I don’t want to always be taken care of by you.

Why the hell did you think I applied for a Guild that wasn’t supposed to discriminate against what Class you were?” Kellen’s heart jerked, and the Captain didn’t seem surprised to hear that was the reason she had accepted his offer.

Hill, Casper and Gunther were surprised though.

“I had so many offers from other Guilds.

International Guilds, Kellen!

I didn’t have to go through the Esper Games, but I wanted to join a Guild that didn’t care about that shit, only cared about how much effort you put into your work.

I never want to support a group that wouldn’t support you.” She sniffed.

“I never want you to feel like you can’t tell me things.” Kellen wrapped his arms around his sister, holding her, and her grip in return felt like a vice around him.  “Gwen, I can’t even keep Christmas presents a secret from you.

I tell you a lot of things.” “Stop making jokes, Kellen.

I’m serious!

You keep doing this, and I hate it.

No one hates you.

You’re so kind and caring and you give so much of yourself to others.

I hate that they keep abusing your kindness for them.

I hate that you think you aren’t worth it.

That there isn’t a justified reason that we’re all angry at them.

For you.” Kellen gulped.

Fuck.

He was one wrong word from her and he’d be bawling too.

Kellen felt a warm, familiar hand on his shoulder.

“She’s right, Kellen.

I am never going to let others try to walk all over you again, so you need to tell us when someone tries to.

You are not some Guide to us.

Please, please understand that we do not want you to think so poorly of yourself.

We have no plans to leave you.” There was such desperation in his voice.

Kellen shakily exhaled, tightening his grip on Gwen before he slowly released her.

Gwen, knowing she had to share, let go and Kellen turned to face the Captain.

He sat beside him, handsome, fierce, and so sad all at once.  “I…It’s going to take me a while before I believe you.” He admitted softly, and Gwen sobbed, wrapping her arms around him from behind.

The Captain’s face fell, twisting Kellen’s gut, but he didn’t look disappointed.  “At least you’re trying.

Just…please, Kellen, you need to tell us about everything.

Please.” A shiver went down Kellen’s spine.

The Captain was being liberal with his name and he wasn’t sure what to do about that.

Numbly, Kellen nodded, and the Captain’s lips turned up slightly.

Kellen couldn’t help it when the second shiver went down his spine.

A sad Captain, with big, yellow eyes was far too handsome for the situation they were in.

Kellen wasn’t sure what to do with himself.

CREATORS’ THOUGHTS CalyB I like that Gwen doesn’t want to be the baby of the family, specifically for Kellen.

She’s younger by five years, and had to witness all of the shit that Kellen went through.

She doesn’t want him to be alone anymore.