(BL) Hunting The Field Guide - Chapter 82

Chapter 82: Hey Bestie Chapter 82: Hey Bestie As much as Kellen was stressed about what he had discovered, he was still excited to see what Taylor had ready for him.

He was a little jittery while heading down to the medical bay.

Getting out of the elevator full of other members of the Guild, Kellen headed for her office.  Knocking on her door, Taylor hollered for him to come in and Kellen found that she wasn’t alone.

Miro was in the office again, hooked up the same machine he had been hooked up to last time.

Taylor had her head down and was typing away at her keyboard.

Miro was blinking, his head drooping as he sat in his chair, clearly fighting sleep.

He gave Kellen a sleepy nod in greeting while Taylor grinned when she looked up.  “Oh hey Bestie.

So glad to see you could join us.” Kellen felt his cheeks heat.  “I was really hoping you weren’t going to bring that up.” Her smile didn’t dim as she spun and grabbed a small folder she had set aside behind her.

She handed it over, her blue eyes shifting to green to glance over Kellen’s body.

Always working, always on the clock.

That was Taylor.  “I absolutely will not.

I am not going to drop it.

I am never going to drop it.

Since I found out the truth, you better be in for a love brigade from yours truly, Bestie.” She winked, her eyes fading back to blue while Kellen groaned.

It was a threat, and she wasn’t one to go back on her words.

She chuckled.

“Now, here’s the information.

I made it into a nice little spreadsheet for ya.

A reminder, I will want to continue our sessions for the next week, and maybe longer.

You are a new case so it’s my job to keep an eye on you.

Of course, you can say no if you’d like, but I’ll make sure that the Captain wants to continue.” Taylor’s smile reached her eyes and Kellen shivered.

He didn’t understand why she was being this way, until he opened the file.  Glancing over the numbers and words, his head swam for a moment before everything began to click together.

His eyes went wide as he stared at the spreadsheet Taylor had made.

Over the last week, Kellen’s guiding had been mostly consistent.

He’d been able to maintain a solid average, right around his normal rate, if not a little lower.

What surprised him the most was how much the guiding cost.

The simple hand holding, the most basic level of guiding, cost about 3000 calories.

More than the average intake of calories for a regular human male.  Kellen’s Father ate more than that a day, but he’d been doing that for years to maintain his wife.

How much was Kellen going to have to eat to maintain the Captain?

He began flipping through the papers when Taylor spoke up.  “You and the Captain haven’t done any higher level guiding yet, have you?” Her tone was professional, and Kellen fought to keep a straight face.  “No, we haven’t.

I had to explain to the Captain that we wouldn’t be able to for a while, and once he understood the reason why, he was agreeable.” Taylor snorted.  “Oh, so what you’re not saying is that you’ve gone further, but without guiding.

Good.

You should enjoy yourself.” Kellen glanced away from the papers to shoot her a glare, but the way his face heated took some of the bite away from it.

Taylor grinned, spinning in her chair slightly.

Kellen couldn’t argue with her.

Sure, the two of them hadn’t gone as far as he was pretty sure everyone assumed, but they had done…things.

The weekend was a good example of some of them.

But from Taylor’s expression, and from how others talked about him, it seemed like everyone thought that the Captain was a sex-crazed maniac.

Kellen wasn’t sure if that was because he was an S Class Esper, and most S Classes had the ‘crazy’ title, or if it was because he actually was a maniac, but was being gentle with Kellen.

Kellen wasn’t sure what he wanted the truth to be.  “Taylor, I had side effects.

There were going to be some things we couldn’t avoid.” He sniffed, while Taylor chuckled at the colour he was turning.

Kellen turned his attention back to the papers, once more looking over the results.

She had estimated that he should be eating between 10 000-12 000 calories a day to maintain his body weight and build up stores for excess energy.

The reason being that higher level guiding was going to cost….it was going to cost….

“Taylor, is this true?” He asked, surprised at the numbers before him.

Taylor sighed.  “Well, it’s not like I was going to ask if I could monitor you two while you did higher level guiding.

I’m not a pervert.

So those numbers are just assumptions based on what I’ve found through the first week.” She told him, and Kellen could feel the blood draining from his face.

He gulped.  “Have you thought more about my suggestion of branching out the flavours of the shakes?” He asked, and she chuckled.

Her eyes were kind when she looked over her best friend.

He was taking it fairly well.

Most people who were faced with that kind of number would have fainted.  “What flavours would you like, Kellen?” She teased, her eyes sparkling with mischief.

Kellen sighed.  “Uh, maybe something fun?

Like cream soda?

Or orange?

Chocolate, vanilla and cookie dough are getting a tad boring, and I’m going to have to use them to supplement my diet.

Unless you come up with another genius invention.” Taylor shrugged.

“Unfortunately, I’ve had to put all inventions to the side to help with the gate acquisition and planning.

You’d be surprised how many meetings I’ve had to do as a Healer.

And so much damn paperwork.” She muttered, before glancing at Miro and getting to her feet.

She squeezed past Kellen and began taking Miro off of the machine.

“Seems like your session is over now Miro.

I’ll see you again in two days.” She unplugged everything from Miro who nodded sleepily.

He took off his glasses to rub his eyes, blinked a few more times before he stood up, yawning.

Taylor scanned him with her eyes before she nodded, and Miro headed for the door.

He paused with his hand on the door handle and turned to Kellen.  “If you need any plants or anything for your Field Guide thing, I’d be happy to help.” He offered, and both Taylor and Kellen smiled at him.  “You’ll be the first to know if I need anything involving plants, Miro.” He nodded at Kellen’s words.

He turned to leave, when Kellen stopped him.

“Wait, Miro?” The younger Esper turned to face him again, blinking slowly.

“Do you grow plants from the gates?

And if you do, are they all docile or do you grow some hostile ones as well?” Miro, who had been slow and sleepy, brightened up at Kellen’s question.

His eyes lit up from within.  “I-I do.

Why?

Do you need some?

Are you going to hurt them?” His words fell over themselves, spilling out of his mouth in excitement.

Kellen couldn’t help the chuckle that escaped his lips.  “Well, I’m going to start training some Guides soon, and I don’t think it would be a bad idea if they got to recognise real flora in a safe environment.

Especially pointing out the differences between friend and foe.

When it’s time, can I bring them to see your plants?” Miro stepped away from the door handle to grab Kellen’s free hand in both of his.

His eyes were big and sparkling, and it was a huge shift from the man that Kellen had seen only seconds ago.  “Of course!

I would love to talk to them about the plants.

Just give me notice and I’ll make a lecture.” His whole body was radiating joy.

It was actually quite cute to see this side of him, and Kellen had to fight the urge he felt to ruffle the other man’s hair.

He didn’t think he’d take kindly to it, and he didn’t want to upset him.  “I’ll make sure to send a list of the types we’ll go over so we can cross reference if you have the plants first.

I want to do it in sections, so that the students don’t get overwhelmed either.

Hopefully that would be okay?

As long as they behave well?” Miro nodded enthusiastically.  “It would be wonderful for them to get visitors.

Usually only the researchers visit.

I’ll be waiting for your message, Kellen.” He grinned, and it lit up his whole face.

Enchanted, Kellen waved as Miro let go of his hands and left the room.

He turned to glance at Taylor, making sure he hadn’t just imagined all of that.

Taylor was staring at the door as well, shaking her head with a slight smile on her face.  “He’s so cute when he smiles, which is why it’s a shame he doesn’t do it more often.” She muttered.

Now that Miro wasn’t in the room anymore, she turned her full attention to Kellen.

“I only scanned you briefly before.

Sit.

I want to do a more thorough check before we have our guiding session later in the day.

Did you and the Captain get up to anything steamy that I need to worry about?” Kellen’s face went red and she raised an eyebrow at the immediate reaction.

Usually, Kellen actually had to think about it, but for it be at the forefront of his mind, it must have been steamy.

“Spill, Kellen.

Are you hurt?

Do you need healing?” She asked and Kellen knew, no matter how much he didn’t want to discuss this, he was going to have to.

He cleared his throat.  “Uh, well, on Saturday….” He started, and he could already tell he was going to have a hard time saying the words out loud.

Taylor stared at him expectantly, her eyes still blue.  “On Saturday…?” She trailed off, prompting him to continue.

Kellen put the file down on her desk, sitting in one of the comfy chairs and covering his face with his hands.

How the fuck was he supposed to phrase this?

He didn’t want to come across as…as loose, he guessed?

Not that it should matter, it was his pair, but it felt weird.

He’d never engaged in this kind of activity before, and so he wasn’t sure how to explain everything correctly.

“Kellen?” She prompted, when he stayed silent for too long.

A long, weary sigh left Kellen’s lips.  “On Saturday I’m pretty sure the Captain took me out on a date.” Taylor nodded.

She would have been disappointed if the Captain hadn’t taken him out on a date this weekend.

“And after…I invited the Captain in for some tea.” Taylor blinked, silent for a second before she gasped, and covered her mouth with her hand.  “Kellen Woods!

He didn’t invite himself in, you did?” Kellen froze.  “I thought I was being polite!

I didn’t expect him to-” He cut off, clamping his lips closed as Taylor lost it, laughing.

She was laughing so hard she had to wipe tears from her eyes.

While Kellen sat, his back was stiff as a board as she laughed at him.  “Oh, fuck.

This is hilarious.” She turned her gaze onto Kellen, her eyes sparkling once more.

“I know you have no idea why what you did turned into whatever you’re going to tell me that you and the Captain did, so I’ll explain it to you.

The Captain gave you a chance to end the date where it was.

He was being kind, polite.

When you ask someone to come over for tea, or anything, really, you are inviting them in for…other reasons.

Tea is not actually what you are offering, do you understand?” Kellen blinked at her, and Taylor sighed.

“Sex, Kellen.

That’s usually what you’re asking the other person in for.” Kellen flushed almost immediately as his mouth hung open.  “I just wanted to have tea with him!” He protested, and Taylor laughed.  “And did you end up having tea?” She teasingly asked, knowing damn well that they had not.

Kellen’s facial expression alone told her that.

He refused to make eye contact with her, which only made her laugh more.

“Well?

Did you, Kellen?” She watched as Kellen’s lips firmed into a thin line, and that only made her laugh harder.  “No.

We did not.” Kellen muttered, and she shook her head.  “Did you have fun then?” She asked and Kellen had to actually think back on it.

Sure, he had been upset the next day, and had torn a strip off of the Captain about it.

But in the moment, had he had fun?  Kellen’s cheeks slowly turned pink, followed by his ears and neck and Taylor had her answer.

CREATORS’ THOUGHTS CalyB How many calories do you think it is going to cost Kellen to guide the Captain at the final level?