(BL) Taming the Field Guide

It appeared that they had gone through something very traumatic, and that was why the couches and the soft bed had been formed. For them, and the others had just found spots to rest around them.

Did Kellen like the idea of practically tossing Rhys to the side even if he knew that they would all be able to hear what they were talking about? No, especially since the man had been practically on top of him in the bathroom, but he didn’t have that strange gut feeling inside of the room.

Kellen turned to Rhys, staring into the yellow gaze that watched him, waiting for Kellen’s decision. Kellen hesitated and Rhys raised their interlocked fingers and pressed a tender kiss there. Kellen watched him as Rhys stared at Kellen, ignoring the whispers that filled the room. They were good whispers, clearly approving of Rhys’ actions.

“Whatever you want, love. Do you want me at your side?” Rhys asked and Kellen hesitated.

“I’ll be fine.” Kellen told him and Rhys’ yellow gaze hardened for a second.

“You’re sure?” He asked, his words holding a deeper meaning than what those around them could understand. Kellen nodded. The feeling wasn’t exactly the same as what he was used to, but for some reason he knew that it was similar and that it worked in a familiar way.

“Yes. I’m certain, and it’s not like you won’t be able to react in a second either, darling.” Kellen told him and watched as colour touched Rhys’ cheeks. Kellen rarely called him pet names, and from the wide, boyish grin that touched his lips, he knew exactly why Kellen did.

Kellen was marking his territory, and Rhys was never, ever going to deny him his right.

“Understood. I’ll be on my best behaviour.” Rhys said with a wink, pressing another kiss against Kellen’s fingers before he let him go and moved towards where the other Espers were waiting. The other Espers in the room were more like guards, stoic, silent, but it was clear from the heated looks they were giving Kellen and Rhys that they wished they were able to do the same thing.

The other S Class Guides were watching Kellen in confusion, like they hadn’t expected that from him of all people, and Kellen just shrugged. He glanced around, found a solo chair nearby, grabbed it with his own hand and carried it over until he was sitting down near the combined couches, along the edge of an armrest. He was included, but not on the bed.

That was a damn deathtrap for someone like Kellen, and he felt that there were already enough people on it. He had his gun on him, he didn’t want to slide into someone and have something terrible happen. Rhys knew how to handle him with his gun, so he wasn’t worried when he touched him.

However, that giant cushion of a bed? No thank you.

“You don’t want to sit with us?” The blonde asked, blinking her big, glowing eyes. Kellen shook his head.

“It’s for your safety. Besides, I’m in my uniform. It’s not the most comfortable on such soft surfaces. It gets tight in places.” Kellen told them bluntly, not bringing up his gun. He didn’t feel like they needed to know, and he also didn’t think that they would care. Who would care? The Espers around him, and he didn’t need that kind of smoke. He had no intention to harm the Guides here. In fact, his own protectiveness was growing for them.

That was another reason why he was sitting outside.

“Oh.” She said, glancing at his outfit as if seeing it for the first time and sighed. “All those damn buttons. I stopped wearing those as soon as I could.” She muttered and Kellen forced his face to remain neutral. She wasn’t trying to be funny, Kellen could tell. She was being honest, and Kellen could appreciate that. He turned his gaze to the others there.

There was, of course, the person who had severe burns all over their body. Kellen wondered why they hadn’t gotten treated, especially now. The proper Healer would be able to take care of them, and it didn’t matter if they were imprinted or not. Healing Espers had some kind of glitch that allowed them to treat everyone, and make the Espers of the Guides they were treating not freak out as well.

Kellen didn’t ask too many questions when it came to that.

The other three Guides were women as well, proving to Kellen once more that it was rather strange that he knew so many male Guides. Not only that, but that he and Charlie were from the same city.

The first was a brunette, with a rather reserved air about her and distant, glowing blue eyes. She looked a little older, or at least, Kellen thought so. Nothing was certain. Her skin was a darker shade, reminding Kellen of Carlos or Isabella. Maybe she shared the same heritage that they did, but he wouldn’t ask. That was too rude.

The second was a dirty blonde, short hair, styled, with dark makeup and tons of piercings like Sergei. She wore dark lipstick, dark clothes, and she was staring at Kellen with bright blue eyes that seemed to be weighing him for his worth. Kellen almost smiled.

The third had her black hair in a thick braid, a set of deep brown glasses covering her blue eyes, a splattering of freckles across her cheeks. She also had a rather distinctive birthmark on the side of her neck. It took up half of her neck on the left side and slid down the front of her throat. She wore rather conservative clothing, a dress shirt with a sweater overtop. Kellen wasn’t one to comment on anyone’s fashion so he kept all of his opinions to himself.

The last Guide was covered in a blanket, their burns only peaking out so Kellen had no idea what they were wearing and they also had a hat on covering their head. He was, again, not rude enough to point any of this out. He instead sat there, letting them watch him as he watched them in turn.

“I feel like you might be familiar with me, but I have no idea who any of you are.” Kellen said softly. That brought smiles to all of their faces.

“That’s intentional, dear, and we like to keep that. We don’t even know each other’s real names.” The brunette said, smiling at Kellen and Kellen nodded. Fair enough. It was rather dangerous to be an S Class Guide on a good day. There was a reason that it hadn’t been announced in his city either.

“I understand.” Kellen said, sliding his gaze around the Guides again. “You wanted to speak with me? Or did you just want to see me in person?” Kellen asked, no bite to his words. The dirty blonde laughed.

“Both, actually. Glad you’re smart enough to catch on.” The one who had her hair in a braid sighed.

“He’s a Field Guide. Of course he’s smart enough to catch on. You wouldn’t last a day as one.” She accused of the dirty blonde. She snarled at the other Guide, but she was unphased. She raised her eyes to Kellen, staring at him for a long moment. “I knew your father once. We were in the same high school. He graduated before me.” She told him and that was surprising to Kellen. He was interested, of course, but something didn’t quite feel right about that statement. She looked…too young to be near his father’s age.

“Is that so?” Kellen asked and she nodded. “That’s good then.” Silence. Kellen sat in the silence, watching them. Kellen didn’t have as much experience with S Class Guides outside of his Uncle who had passed as he did with S Class Espers. Part of it was because of the fact that S Class Guides were protected not just by their Espers, but by their governments. They did not speak to people they did not want to.

The silence carried on and Kellen could feel that Rhys was getting a little restless behind him. Kellen himself was getting restless, but he stayed still, waiting.

“How is your mind doing?” They rasped, and Kellen turned his attention back towards the S Class who this nest was made for. Kellen sighed.

“Well, I’m not fully sure. I think asking Rhys is the better call, since he’s the one who’s been watching.” Kellen said with a shrug. “And it’s not a fair question, since I was also poisoned right around the time that it came to light that I had jumped from A Class to S Class.” Kellen explained. They seemed even more interested in that.

“I forgot. Right. You jumped twice.” The blonde who had led Kellen here said, blinking her eyes. Kellen nodded and glanced towards Rhys. Rhys cleared his throat, drawing their attention.

“It was less obvious insanity, and more that Kellen, who is normally rather level-headed, was having emotional reactions. He still continues to do so, but for the most part I haven’t noticed anything else that would be very concerning.” He lied. Kellen furrowed his brows.

“That’s not fully true.” Kellen said. “I had that moment where I lost track of time before.” Kellen said and Rhys’ eyes brightened.

“Yes, but we haven’t confirmed yet if that was tied to your new S Class status, Kellen, or if something is wrong with your healing.” Rhys told him gently and Kellen clued into why Rhys hadn’t told them initially. He was still trying to hide Kellen’s second Class, and Kellen, the fool, had just ruined his attempt to hide things until it became clear. Kellen’s face warmed.

“Ah. My apologies. I just thought you were hiding information, but yes, we do have to confirm everything at this point.” Kellen agreed and Rhys hesitated for only a second before he stepped off from the wall and went for Kellen. He squeezed his shoulder, bending to kiss him on the cheek.

“I would never get upset over something like this. You’ve gone through a lot already today, and we’re discussing a topic that you have a lot of personal loss in. You can have as many free passes as you want.” Rhys told him, pulling back with warm, loving eyes. Kellen relaxed slightly, reaching up his gloved hand and placing it on top of Rhys’ for a moment before Rhys pulled back and went back to his spot on the wall.

“You two love each other.” It wasn’t a question, but a statement. The raspy voice was almost soothing to Kellen, while he was sure it hurt them to speak.

“We do.” Kellen agreed, before he smiled slightly to himself. “We’d danced around each other enough for years that I don’t think it makes any sense to hide it anymore. Does it make you uncomfortable?” Kellen asked and all five of them shifted slightly. The dirty blonde sighed.

“A little.” She admitted. “I mean, after all, we were all kidnapped by our Espers.” She said and Kellen stiffened.

“Kellen.” Rhys said warningly and Kellen wasn’t even aware that he was reaching for his gun. Kellen knew that was normally the case. He knew that. He wasn’t stupid, he’d read his books, he knew that the situation for S Classes was that they were normally stolen, confined, and then whittled down until they agreed to imprint with said Esper. He knew that, yet hearing them say that just-

“Why is there a glow behind your eyepatch?” The blonde asked, and since she was the closest she reached for Kellen’s eyepatch. He couldn’t move fast enough to stop her since he was already a little shocked, but Rhys did.

He grabbed her wrist, gently of course, mere millimeters from Kellen’s blind side. The tension in the room skyrocketed as Rhys smiled at her but the other Espers began to stir.

“Apologies, but Kellen doesn’t like it when people just grab him when he can’t see out of his eye right now. It’s rude to flip it up without him saying it’s okay.” Rhys told her, staring at her while Kellen reached for Rhys and grabbed his thigh. It was in support, not warning, because what Rhys said was right.

She slid her shocked gaze from Rhys, to Kellen, and back to Rhys.

“You’re going to let him speak for you like this?” She asked and Kellen blinked.

“We speak for each other like this.” Kellen told her. “He’s just speaking more right now because this is a space he’s familiar with. When we’re places where our roles are reversed, Rhys lets me do the same.” Kellen watched as confusion seemed to cross her face and Kellen realised why her actions didn’t bother him as much as they probably should.

She was behaving like the younger S Classes that had been rescued. She was behaving like a 12 year old, as if she hadn’t fully matured in certain aspects. A cold sweat went down Kellen’s spine. Was that what the burnt S Class was asking Kellen? If he was changing?