(BL) Taming the Field Guide

Since it was only two minutes, Kellen didn’t need to sit down and didn’t need privacy. What was privacy to a Field Guide? Brent knew that part best. How many times had Kellen walked in on Brent being the insistent one that the location was fine, while the Espers had been hesitant? Kellen wasn’t the one who had any issues. If anything, it was the city Espers and city Guides that cared about that kind of thing.

Unless it was something outside of Guiding, then they were all the same. It was frustrating to be exposed in those kinds of situations and those were Kellen’s true feelings.

So, he had no problems standing before the others, under the watchful gaze of Rhys and Elder Ellis, as the first Esper stepped forward for their little moment of guiding. It was the man first, and Kellen took his hand firmly. He used his good hand, as he had been the whole time. He felt that putting even a gloved barrier between them might ruin the experiment, so he didn’t do that. Besides, taking off his glove was a non-starter.

His hand was still pretty messed up.

The Esper was glancing between Elder Ellis and Rhys, looking rather concerned. He wasn’t older like Elder Ellis or some of the Espers. In fact, he looked to be on the younger side, probably younger than Kellen. However, he didn’t look anywhere near Charlie’s age, so he had to be 20’s, mid 20’s.

When Kellen gave him the nod that he was going to guide him, he braced himself. It was like he was preparing for war, not a simple guiding session. Kellen began to pour his guiding into him, just enough that they wouldn’t compromise the session but also not enough that he went inside of the Esper to see what made him tick. It would take at least five minutes to get in and out of his core as Kellen saw it, and he didn’t want to do that.

He’d already told them the parameters, it was more about him, Kellen, knowing his own limits and what was enough guiding to give him without triggering him going into his core. It was still a little frustrating to Kellen that he didn’t have a full grasp on what his powers were, but he treated it as if he was still an A Class and then slowly inched up from there.

By the time he was done guiding the first Esper, he had a good grasp on what was a good amount and what he was pretty sure was the line he shouldn’t cross. He wasn’t even paying attention to how the Esper was reacting to his guiding since he was so focused on not bridging that line.

However, the Esper was in shock. He looked stunned, his eyes wide, his mouth open, and his grip so tight on Kellen’s hand he began to feel uncomfortable. He didn’t want to let go, and it was only after the alarm went off at the two minute mark and Kellen tried to pull his hand away without success that Rhys stepped in. He didn’t even give Elder Ellis a chance, but he didn’t have.

Rhys was defending Kellen, not defending his territory. He wasn’t going to be mean, but he was going to be firm.

“Let him go, Esper.” Rhys told him quietly but firmly. The S Class’ eyes were still in shock, and he was staring at Kellen like he held everything that he wanted. Ever wanted, desired, NEEDED. Kellen, surprised, but not shocked, stared at the Esper with unamused eyes.

“Esper, if you don’t let me go, I will break your hand. Make your choice.” Kellen told him calmly. The threat of violence wasn’t what shook him out of what he was doing, it was the fact that Kellen had stopped guiding him and he was slowly regaining himself.

Embarrassed suddenly, the Esper pulled his hand back as his face went bright red.

“I-I am so sorry. I wasn’t planning to, I didn’t mean, uh…” He trailed off, still embarrassed and Kellen gave him a soft smile.

“Honestly, you should just blame it on me being an S Class. It would make you feel better.” Kellen told him that with a smile. It wasn’t his first time dealing with this kind of reaction, but it was usually more mild. It wasn’t something that happened often, but all Guides had to deal with this issue.

Kellen would have to deal with it occasionally. Usually it meant that you had a high compatibility with the Esper, like how Rhys had unintentionally sucked Kellen dry when they had done Kellen’s retest, but when Kellen had gone and gotten tested with these Espers, it barely scratched 25%.

The Espers had left confused, as had Kellen. He wasn’t sure why it hadn’t worked out, since he had the same reaction with Rhys yet their compatibility was through the roof. It was clear that the Esper before Kellen was feeling the same effects, but it happened all the time with other Guides.

Kellen was just able to push back more, that was all. There was a reason there was a panic button in each and every guiding room, and why it wasn’t in just one place.

He stumbled back, bowing deeply in apology, his face red.

“I-I’m so sorry. I don’t know what came over me.” He mumbled, clearly embarrassed that he had done that. However, a few of the other Espers had sympathetic and understanding expressions. They knew what had happened, which was why a few of them were ready to get up and grab Kellen or break it up if it got bad.

It was a good thing that the Esper Kellen had guided was being well taken care of by a Guide. Otherwise, he probably wouldn’t have had that kind of reaction. He would have put up more of a fight, and Kellen could see it in his eyes. He was frightened by what had happened and Kellen wondered if it was the first time that kind of reaction had happened to him. If it was, yeah, this would be overwhelming to him.

“It happens sometimes. Don’t blame yourself. All we can be grateful for is the Guide or Guides who are helping to take care of you and manage your current state. Without them, this could have turned into something else.” Kellen decided to explain what had happened while also not getting his hopes up for Kellen. “What you experienced is normal. It’s almost a way that our bodies recognise someone we are highly compatible with. It’s the body’s way to tell us that we should go check our compatibility score to see what it is and then we would normally discuss pairing.” Kellen gave a slightly bitter smile. “However, for me, the only person who I’ve scored over 27% with is Rhys.” Kellen told him and the man stared at him, stunned.

“That was only 27% compatibility?!” He sounded shocked, horrified. “I’ve never felt like that with someone who has 50%. Are you sure that’s right?” He asked and Kellen gave a shrug.

“How would the machines lie? I was getting tested with Espers who were normally in the C Class to A Class range. All with different types of powers, but none that I knew who could openly manipulate machines or scores. As far as I know, I can’t do that either.” Kellen shrugged. “What I can say is I have been told that my guiding is rather soothing.” Kellen told him and watched as his disbelief slowly shifted, but he still looked completely rocked by his experience.

He slid his gaze to Rhys, his mouth opening before he seemed to be able to stop himself.

“How do you control yourself?” He asked, awe in his voice and Kellen furrowed his brows. Rhys gave a bark of laughter, his eyes creasing at the corners as he gave a humourless smile.

“I wasn’t able to for the first time and nearly took his future from him.” Rhys admitted and Kellen’s face darkened.

“Hey, we’ve talked about this.” Kellen growled, angry, and Rhys turned his face towards him.

“Kellen, love, they know about my condition. What I can do, what I have done. After all, it’s not like I can hide those who I have harmed, especially if they come from their regions, their Guilds. Most of them do not let me near their Guides in fear that I would hurt them.” He told Kellen softly and Kellen glowered at Rhys, hating the words that were leaving his lips. Rhys smiled. “My sweet Guide.”

“Is that true? That Esper Thatcher hurt you at first?” Those words seemed to distract from the guiding session. A ripple went through the room, as even Sergei seemed surprised and horrified. Elder Ellis even looked like he was ready to separate Kellen and Rhys from each other and Kellen groaned.

“You do understand that Guides have their own rules, right? That we aren’t normally supposed to talk about our powers, right?” Kellen said and seemed to surprise the Espers who were gearing up to beat the shit out of Rhys and Rhys, the damn fool, looked like he deserved it. Kellen scowled. “And that it’s a big deal if I’m telling you what happened to my powers, what is still happening to my powers?” Elder Ellis still had a cool head, even if he was staring at Rhys like he was an enemy, not a friend.

“Yes, we understand that, Guide Kellen.” He said and Kellen let out a loud breath.

“Okay. So when I tell you that Rhys didn’t harm me, but gave me a major boost, will that get all of you off of his damn back? I’ve already told him, over and over, that he didn’t hurt me the same way he had hurt others. I won’t deny what he did to me would be considered harm. However, for me, that wasn’t the case.” Kellen grumbled, annoyed that they had to rehash this, but he would. For Rhys’ sake.

Elder Ellis was staring at Kellen, a bit confused.

“Please explain. I was under the impression that he stole the Guide’s essence from themselves, sucking them dry so that no more powers could build. Is your body different?” He asked and Kellen hesitated.

“I’ve been slowly growing, going up in Class ever since I started Guiding.” Kellen told him. Elder Ellis blinked.

“What?” That was clearly a surprise, as it should be. This wasn’t released to the others, not really. He was sure the Guides downstairs, if they knew where to look, had found that much out.

“Yes. Over time, my guiding powers have gotten stronger. From pushing myself, draining myself, using my powers to the best of their abilities, I had been slowly inching towards the next Class. Do I know if that applies to other Guides? No. What I do know is that it applied to me. I was already near B Class when Rhys and I were going in for my retest, and then when we started it, things took a turn for the worst. I didn’t know Rhys hadn’t been taking care of himself, I had no idea about what his problems with guiding were at the time. Things went poorly, but the theory is that as Rhys was taking from me, my powers were rushing to refill, and at a higher rate. By the time that they took him off of me, breaking our handhold, I was already mid A Class.” Stunned silence. Even Kellen knew it was a bit ridiculous to hear.

“And you…know this for certain?” Elder Ellis asked and Kellen nodded.

“I was being monitored. We have the charts and watched it happen in real time.” The anger towards Rhys was still there, under the surface, but the Espers had found something even more interesting to discuss. How Kellen was able to grow his Class, how it had happened, and there was a lust for power in some eyes. Kellen could see it, feel it, and damn it, he had said it to defend Rhys, not get them excited to grow their own powers!

However, it was a good time to discuss it, and compare charts. He wasn’t sure if the others were willing to put in the work to see if they could grow or not, or if they even had access that far back. Kellen only did because he’d gone in to get tested often.

He was not the norm when it came to this conversation. Shit.