(BL) Hunting The Field Guide novel Chapter 65

Chapter 65: Comforts from home

"Oh! You must be the Brent that I’ve heard so much about!" Gwen jumped from her Dad’s hold to the ground, doing a little flourished bow before offering her hand to Brent with a cheeky grin. Kellen narrowed his eyes, watching as Brent’s widened slightly and his ears tinged red. Fuck. The man was hooked. Brent took Gwen’s hand and gave it a shake.

"And you must be Kellen’s younger sister, Gwen. I, too, have heard quite a bit about you." Gwen shot a dirty look behind her at her older brother.

"What the hell did you tell the handsome man about me, Kellen?" Kellen, immediately falling into his older brother role, smirked.

"Only that you snore incredibly loudly, you have smelly feet and you chew with your mouth open." Gwen’s jaw dropped as Brent’s eyes lit up from within. Gwen pulled her hand from Brent’s to turn on her brother.

"How could you! None of that is even true!" She protested, and her Mom’s eyes danced.

"Well, not anymore. You used to have terrible table manners as a child. We almost considered having you stay with your Nana when she was still alive to correct it. Thankfully you grew out of it." Her Mom easily teased, and Gwen puffed her cheeks out. She looked cute, given she was a carbon copy of the man who held her. Anyone could see that they were a family, and a close one at that.

"While I appreciate the morale boost, Esper Woods does need to finish her training for the day." The Captain interrupted, a smile on his face and in his eyes. Gwen straightened up immediately, nodded, and after giving her Mom and Dad a kiss on the cheek, joined Gunther as he headed towards the group of Espers waiting nearby. It was then just the Captain, Casper, Brent, and the remaining Woods family members. "If you’ll excuse us for a moment, Casper and I have some word related business to discuss." The Captain smiled at his in-laws, before turning his gaze towards Kellen. Kellen, who noticed the Captain checking up on him, smiled, nodded, and the Captain and Casper headed outside into the hallway for a little bit of privacy. That left the four of them.

"Well, they certainly seem to be feeding you well. You’ve practically doubled in size since I last saw you. Good. It’s good to see you almost back to your old self." Kellen’s Mom said, her smile in her eyes as she groped her son’s arms. Kellen flushed at his Mom’s fussing, while his Dad was no better. He just wasn’t touching him.

"I brought you a little basket to welcome you into your new apartment. It has a bunch of the recipes I spoke about with Taylor, as well as the granola I was talking about. Share some with Brent. He seems like he could use it too." Brent, who had thought he was safe, jerked. He glanced towards Kellen with wide eyes, but he didn’t notice his look. Kellen was instead patting his Dad’s shoulder with his hand, shaking his head.

"Thank you for the basket, but I promise you we’re eating enough for now. I haven’t gotten the results for the first week yet from Taylor, so nothing is set in stone yet. I appreciate your worrying, but-" Kellen’s Mom cut him off, a glint in her blue eyes.

"Don’t you dare say that it’s not needed. I saw what happened, young man. It was broadcasted on live television, and internationally. Your Father and I had phone calls from all over when they saw you on the screen." Kellen winced. He’d forgotten about that. Now he was in for a berating. "Did you already forget everything you went through earlier in the week? You were completely drained, twice, so you thought overexterting yourself was the best thing? I saw the cooler next to you, Kellen. Whoever listened to you clearly has no idea about the cost of overexterting yourself." Kellen seemed to get smaller and smaller with his Mother’s angry words, and Brent watched on with amazement. He had never seen Kellen get like this in real time. Of course, he’d seen his Mother and Kellen talking on the phone, but it had never been like this.

"You’re Mother’s right. It was a very dangerous thing for you to do. You know better, and you should have taken a break. The Captain is a big boy, and I’m sure he knows the depths of his own powers well enough that he could have told you when he was at a dangerous level. You need to have more care for yourself. Your powers just changed, and knowing you, you’re probably still trying to test your bounds. If this was one of those tests, Kellen, I am going to be very cross with you." His Father warned, and Kellen’s eyes went wide. He hadn’t thought of it that way, but maybe he had been subconsciously testing his limits. Both of his parents watched his facial expressions change, and both of theirs hardened. Kellen raised his hands in a placating gesture.

"Before you two get any madder, it wasn’t intentional. I only just realised that might have been true." Kellen sighed, shaking his head. "No, you’re probably right. I was subconsciously checking where my edge was. I’m sorry. It wasn’t a conscious thought, and I was worried about everyone else. I should have discussed this with the Captain, but I also didn’t want to pester him. He was...well, incredibly busy." His Mom scoffed.

"He stood in the same place for over half an hour, Kellen." He narrowed his eyes at her response.

"Yeah, in a self made crater because he was using his powers. Talking to him felt like talking to someone in another time because his movements were so measured. Even holding his hand felt like interrupting him. He was holding three blocks together so that others could search them for more explosives." Kellen told his parents, and they actually seemed impressed. Kellen was a little confused. The two of them were good friends with Uncle Tom, and it wasn’t as if the Captain had never worked at the D.E.C. They probably had access to every Esper who had ever worked at the D.E.C. power chart. The Captain working at the D.E.C. and then opening his own guild was kind of a famous situation, but maybe Kellen was just sensitive since he’d found the box.

Oh fuck, the box. _{frёeweɓηovel.coɱ}

He’d left it out in his closet because he didn’t think he’d have people over so soon. He should have known better. Everything wasn’t spread out, but if anyone got curious and opened it, he was screwed. Especially if it was the Captain. He was sure that someone would snoop, and out of everyone, he’d put money on either his Mom or Gwen finding it. It was a small blessing that his family had already forgotten that he’d admired the Captain when he was younger, and he did not want to reopen that can of worms now that he was paired with him.

"Alright Kellen, there’s no need to get upset about it." Kellen was confused by the calming tone his Dad was using, and it clearly showed on his face because his Father’s face softened. "You’re feeling a lot of emotions, and so your eyes have begun to glow. It doesn’t happen just when you’re guiding, Kellen. Like Espers, if we," his Father stuttered in his words for a moment, his eyes beginning to water before he exhaled shakily. Kellen’s Mom placed her hand on his back as he was overcome with emotions, before continuing. "If we feel a great deal of emotions, to the point where we can’t regulate them, our eyes glow as well. I’m sorry for my emotional display. I just...I never expected that I’d be able to say that to you." Kellen’s eyes began to water as well. He was a sucker against his parent’s tears, especially his Father’s. He moved towards him, easily wrapping his arms around the older Guide.