(BL) Hunting The Field Guide novel Chapter 74

Chapter 74: You are not alone

"Kellen, why were you worried about me? We’ve been friends for so long, what triggered this?" Taylor’s soft voice came over the phone, and Kellen could feel the embarrassment welling up inside of him. He wasn’t sure if he wanted to say it, since he had a feeling he knew how they were going to react.

"Well, everyone is going to leave me when they get paired and don’t need me in their lives anymore. I’m just a placeholder." No one said anything as Kellen fought to keep the tears back. It felt like a losing battle, but he was doing his best. His face felt hot and he poured more cider into his mouth so he didn’t have to look at it anymore. He hated that he had ended up talking about this, not once, but twice, and with almost everyone he didn’t want to talk about this with. He really didn’t want to find out that his suspicions were correct about every relationship he’d ever had in one day.

"Kellen!" Gwen’s voice came at him first, before her body did. She covered him in her body, her arms wrapping tightly around his neck and began kissing his face all over. "My sweet, dumb older brother! You are not a placeholder, and you have never been a placeholder! No one could replace you!" She was practically sobbing as she held and kissed him. Hill stood up, fury written all over her expression. Her eyes were even glowing orange.

"Who the fuck said that to you? Why the hell would we ignore you as soon as we paired up? Fuck, you’re the first one to do it out of all of us, and are you going to ignore us?" Kellen was stunned at her reaction. He had kind of expected Gwen to be upset with him, but not this open display of pure anger from Hill. Taylor’s soft laughter over the phone shocked him next.

"Do you honestly think I would pair with a Guide you hadn’t personally vetted beforehand? Or with someone who didn’t like you? Fuck percentages, you’re one of my closest friends. I’m only not saying best friend because you’re in a weird headspace right now. Fuck, do I need to come over there and knock some sense into you? You big, dumb, idiot?" A laugh escaped him, and he couldn’t stop it, the same way he couldn’t stop the tears that began to roll down his face.

"No, there are already too many people witnessing me cry right now. I don’t need more." He said. Gwen pulled back, cupping Kellen’s face in both of her hands to force him to look at her.

"I would rather never pair than abandon you and Mom and Dad. You know that, right? If they were part of a Guild or whatever that was far away, I’d either make them move here, or travel back and forth all the time if that wasn’t possible. Taylor’s right. Fuck percentages." Kellen laughed, shaking his head.

"You guys are saying that now, but-" Gwen covered his mouth with her hand, her eyes flashing between grey and purple.

"Shut your trap. I know you waited a long time for your perfect match, but I’m not the same as you. I wasn’t fucking harrassed by everyone to be better like you were. Hell, if I see Uncle Tom again I’m going to-" Gwen caught the temperature shift in the room, and happened to glance towards the Captain at the same time and closed her mouth. Even Kellen, who felt like his body was numb because of all the emotions in his body at the moment, could feel the energy coming off of the Captain. He squeezed his hand.

"What did Tom do?" His voice was soft, and everyone knew that wasn’t a good sign. Gwen, caught between her own slip up, and wanting others to know exactly what Kellen went through, was unsure how to proceed. After battling with herself for a few more seconds, she sighed, giving in.

"Fuck. Alright, okay. But you can’t shoot me, alright? I’m not the one who sat back and let this happen, in fact, I don’t think anyone is to blame, except the people who did it." She glanced at the Captain, who nodded, and she continued. She licked her lips, now nervous. "So, we’re all A Class’ originally besides Kellen, right? Well, some people had a harder time accepting that than others. None of us, Kellen’s actual family, gave a flying fuck about it, but because Kellen was in shock, he went in to get retested a couple more times. Uncle Tom, and a few others, are old school kind of guys. Uncle Tom just could not wrap his head around the fact that Kellen was different then us, and he assumed it was a bad kind of difference. Through the years I’ve heard him say some fucked up shit to Kellen, and just Kellen. When I told Dad, it stopped, but I think it only stopped when they were around. Kellen’s face right now is telling me that’s true." Kellen flinched.

"I-It’s not that bad. I hardly even notice it, and I know he doesn’t mean it in a bad way." The Captain growled, and a sense of danger went straight up Kellen’s spine.

"You joyously told me you had an inferiority complex that you managed to work through on the front lines, that it was the whole reason you went there in the first place. That is not normal, especially since I’ve met your parents Mr. Woods. They are not the ones who gave that to you, and neither was your sister." He was pissed, and when Kellen looked over at everyone else, they all had a similar angry expression. Even Gunther.

"Oh, so after this gate, we’re going to limit our contracts with the D.E.C.?" Gunther suggested mildly, and Kellen felt himself pale. Hill nodded.

"I suggest we even tell the other Guilds what they did to your pair, Captain Thatcher. I think it’s about time Tom retired." Hill suggested, her eyes glowing orange. Captain’s laughter in response was dark, and the hair on the back of Kellen’s neck stood up.

"I agree, Hill. I believe I’ll let Sakura know first, since she’s also known you since high school." Kellen went to protest, but Taylor’s voice over the phone drowned him out.