(BL) Taming the Field Guide

Kellen was not prepared for how bad Elder Ellis was. His insides were a mess, and as soon as Kellen began pouring his guiding into him it was like pouring into a vacuum.

Kellen nearly swayed on his feet, Rhys shifting quickly to catch him and Elder Ellis went to pull his hand away. Kellen, barely conscious, snarled at the elder. It was surprising to the rest of the S Classes in the room, but not surprising to anyone who had been on the other end of a Field Guide like Kellen.

“No.” Kellen growled, his grip tightening to a painful level on the Elder’s hand. Elder Ellis stared at Kellen, surprised, as Kellen’s body began to shift. He knew it was supposed to be only two minutes, but how could he leave the man alone like this? The other two had been taken care of on a regular basis, but Elder Ellis? Something else had to be going on because this was not normal.

Kellen did not like it, considering that the man was so important to the rest of the group. A man who was respected, who had done his time protecting people and growing and protecting the community was at such a poor level of guidance? Kellen hated that, and was going to give him a tongue lashing once this was over.

“Kellen, love, the test.” Rhys told him softly, carefully, and Kellen breathed out between his clenched teeth.

“Fuck the test.” Kellen growled and Rhys only sighed in response. Kellen couldn’t see that he was smiling, even if his eyes were bright. Sergei was rising to his feet, coming to help him hold Kellen up as Rhys went to the basket and got ready to catch Kellen when this was over.

“We’ve got you.” Sergei whispered to Kellen, letting him know that he had support in his actions, even as Elder Ellis tried to fight against Kellen’s hold. Kellen wouldn’t let him, and the fight disappeared as Kellen saw into the core of the man.

Elder Ellis was a glowing, white void on the inside. At first, it was rather confusing what Kellen needed to do. Knowing he had a limited amount of time, Kellen began to move through the void, trying to find something, anything that he could do to help him. Why was Kellen feeling so anxious? Kellen wasn’t quite sure, he just knew that he was on a timer. Did Elder Ellis have the ability to cut off guiding? Or suck everything from a Guide as well? Kellen didn’t know, but he was trusting his gut feeling.

Kellen could feel that something was about to go wrong when he noticed a small crack in the floor. As soon as he spotted it, he noticed that it wasn’t just a small crack, but several spiderwebs that covered the floor. Gasping, Kellen realised that if he hadn’t noticed and began pouring his guidance into a kind of repairing paste, the floor could have literally dropped out from under him. The brightness of the room made it hard to notice, and had blinded him to the issue. Without his gut feeling which, now that he was aware, probably stemmed from his Esper powers, he might have had something bad happen to him.

Kellen didn’t take any longer thinking about how he found it, and instead focused on repairs. As he plopped his guiding down and began smearing it into the cracks, the bright light began to dampen until by the time that he had to retreat, the room wasn’t as blinding. It was still too bright to look at for a long time, but it was far more manageable.

Kellen came out with a gasp, his body jerking as Sergei made sure that Elder Ellis let go of Kellen’s hand. Kellen wasn’t aware of it, because he was coming out of his own intense reaction. Rhys was there, helping him, feeding him. He wasn’t aware that it was going to take so much out of Kellen, but the man who had been building up his muscle was about half the size he’d been when he arrived.

Kellen let Rhys help him, even letting him escort him to the chairs near the podiums. Kellen sat down heavily, Rhys holding snacks up to his lips. He wasn’t aware of anything that was going on, especially how Elder Ellis had stopped smiling as soon as Kellen had gone inside of him to guide him and was now watching him like a beast staring at a surprisingly delicious snack.

Sergei was the one keeping an eye on all of them, his eyes silver as he asserted his dominance in the situation. Some of the other S Classes, particularly the Espers who hadn’t been harassing Brent at Aunt Dina’s Guild, were also getting to their feet and putting themselves in the way. They were creating a barrier between Kellen and Elder Ellis.

It took a full ten minutes before Elder Ellis finally came back to his senses. That time was enough for Kellen to consume enough calories that his hands stopped shaking and he was glowering at Elder Ellis. Those who didn’t know him thought that he was glaring at him because he was about to attack him, but Rhys kept his hand on Kellen. He knew his man, and he knew that he needed to keep an eye on Kellen as much as the others were keeping an eye on Elder Ellis.

“Why were you like that?” Kellen demanded. His voice was a little raspy, a little rough, and he had to clear his throat for the others to hear him clearly. He repeated. “Why were you like that, Elder Ellis?” Kellen didn’t take his eye off of the other man and Elder Ellis, who had just had a rather overwhelming experience himself, ran a shaky hand through his long, white hair.

He exhaled slowly, blinking his eyes intentionally before he turned his gaze to Kellen.

“I should be asking you the same thing. How were you able to do that?” His voice was cool, not calm. He wasn’t the happy, smiling man that he had been before he’d accepted Kellen’s hand. Right now he was watching Kellen with suspicion and Rhys tensed. Kellen, however, gave a low, bitter laugh.

“How was I able to do that? It’s my job to be able to help others. It is not my fault that you’ve neglected yourself. In fact, everyone here should be pissed at you for doing that. Everyone knows that Espers that don’t get regular guiding are more prone to insanity. How you’re able to keep yourself upright without harming others worries me, and makes me even more angry that you didn’t get more guidance.” Kellen sniffed, huffing, and gladly took the high calorie treat that Rhys gave him without protest. His jaw was a little sore, but he wouldn’t stop. Not when Elder Ellis leveled him with a serious look.

He then turned his gaze to the other two who had been guided by Kellen and there was an understanding there. Elder Ellis closed his eyes for a second, taking another deep, controlled breath. Kellen almost worried that he wouldn’t exhale for a second, but Rhys shoving more food near his mouth distracted him.

“I’m fine.” Elder Ellis finally said, turning towards the other S Classes. “I won’t attack him or attempt to steal him. He’s made it clear he belongs to Rhys, and honestly, I’m too old to be competing with Esper Thatcher for Guide Kellen anyways.” He gave a low, almost defeated chuckle and Kellen scrunched up his face more.

“There’s also the fact that my consent is important, and I would never allow something like that. No offense meant, but even I have my preferences.” Kellen’s voice was icy, and angry. Rhys was surprised, as were Elder Ellis and Sergei.

“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to upset you.” Elder Ellis told him kindly and Kellen glared at him.

“Well, you’ve done so, and on several levels. I cannot believe you let yourself get to this level of disrepair. Rhys won’t let me do anything that will harm me, and I am kicking myself for not bringing any of Taylor’s shakes. Otherwise, you would be on several back to back guiding sessions.” Kellen told him bluntly. “And my preference is Rhys, so no, no one else would have mattered. Very little else would have been able to interest me.” Kellen didn’t mind staking his claim, and he was unaware of the fact that his eye under his eyepatch was glowing.

Rhys sighed in defeat as he watched the other Espers notice, and grow even more surprised.

“Kellen, love, you need to calm down. My guess is that Elder Ellis didn’t do it intentionally. While I do think you have every right to rip into him, I also think that you’re missing a rather important piece of information.” Rhys spoke gently, carefully. He knew how angry Kellen was because he had been on the end of it before. He was different now because he had Kellen, but the others didn’t.

They were envious, and they should be. Having someone like Kellen, who got angry when they didn’t take care of themselves, who was willing to argue and push for them to care about what kind of state they were in…that was something worthwhile. Rhys knew it, and that was why he was keeping an eye on Kellen and protecting him. Coddling him even when he knew that Kellen wasn’t one who liked it when he was this angry.

“What is that?” Kellen spat, still pissed, and Rhys chuckled. He smiled at Kellen, even if it made Kellen scowl deeper. Rhys glanced at Elder Ellis, getting a small nod in confirmation.

“Well, Elder Ellis and I have discussed some…issues that we share. That being that normal guiding hurts us. Immensely.” Kellen felt some of his anger dim as realisation washed over him. Kellen did grow embarrassed, because that still wasn’t an excuse to let himself get to such a shitty level of guidance before going to such an important meeting, but he could be more understanding.

“Even to this day?” Kellen asked, holding no punches when it came to someone else’s health. Elder Ellis laughed.

“Guide Kellen, you put your hands on me. You’ve seen me at my core. What do you think?” His smile was bitter and Kellen didn’t like the feeling that was left in his stomach.

“That’s not fair.” Kellen muttered, annoyed. One of the S Classes nearby scoffed.

“Yeah, we know, but what can we do about it? Guides have more control over it.” There was clearly animosity in his tone. Sergei and Rhys tensed, but Kellen grew thoughtful.

“I think blaming Guides is part of the rhetoric to divide us.” Kellen said. “After all, I found out that some Espers are more compatible with others only a few days ago by following who got more annoyed being around others and who they could tolerate being around. Part of that could be exposure, but I think, maybe, what if Guides are the same? What if it’s not as simple as some numbers on a page? Or a few charts telling you the basics? There could be more to it, but I don’t have any of my resources to compare anything, and frankly, I’m already in a long-term relationship. Someone else should be looking into this.” Kellen declared. Elder Ellis tossed his head back and laughed.

“Well, so much has happened that I feel like we lost the point of all of this testing. Let’s brush this all under the rug for the moment and focus back on the main point. Guide Kellen, are you feeling well enough to continue the meeting? Did you want to go downstairs for a breather?” He was being thoughtful and Kellen shook his head.

“No. I will probably take a step back and let others talk while I regroup and consume some more calories if that is okay. I’ll just be over on the couch Rhys found for us.” Kellen said and Elder Ellis’ gaze lingered on him for a moment too long before he nodded.

“Sounds perfect. We’ll continue then.”