(BL) Hunting The Field Guide novel Chapter 90

Chapter 90: A bad boy’s past

Casper left the two Field Guides at the elevators when he was called away by a young Guide who seemed to be panicking. Brent and Kellen didn’t take it personally, and Kellen was happy to see that Casper was trusted by the Guides.

The two, who had forgotten some things at the conference room, headed back up to grab their things. When they arrived, they found that most of the important players that they had expected to see, were either busy (Hill), or weren’t there. Traces remained of them, like Kellen’s parent’s laptop, or the Captain’s jacket, but they were gone.

Thinking nothing of it, Kellen made sure they had all of their things, before heading back to their office. Confusingly, Kellen noticed that Brent was quite quiet as they moved around the tower. For a man who usually, like Hill, kept a constant, semi-nonsense filled stream of words, it was a little alarming. Kellen found out as soon as they were behind closed doors, without prying eyes or ears.

Kellen was resetting up the laptop on his desk, just settling in while Brent made his home on the couch again. He was in his own head, thinking about how much time he had before he needed to head down to the medical bay when Brent spoke up.

"Why the hell do you never ask me questions, Kellen?" Brent’s voice was angry, but quiet and Kellen for the life of him couldn’t figure out why he was angry. Kellen met his gaze, which was peeking out over the edge of the papers he held on the couch. Kellen scanned the other man, taking in his tied up sleeve, his Guide uniform, his mused hair and slightly tired green eyes, and sighed.

"It doesn’t matter to me where you come from or what you are running from, Brent. I know your true nature, so-" Brent cut him off.

"There is no way that’s true." He protested, and Kellen frowned. He pushed the laptop aside so he could lean on the desk, staring at the other Guide.

"Brent, how many times have we gone into gates together?" He asked, and Brent shrugged. For some reason, Brent broke eye contact with Kellen, but Kellen kept his gaze on him.

"...A few." Kellen smirked.

"Yes, a few. What’s something that we both know happens when you go into gates with others?" Brent looked anywhere but at Kellen’s face. Kellen would have sworn that he had puffed his cheeks out slightly. It was kind of adorable.

"...People tend to show their true colours when faced with extreme situations." Kellen chuckled. It felt like he was speaking to a student again.

"Yes, and would you say that some of the gates we had been in were extreme situations?" He asked. Brent sighed. He put down his papers into his lap and met Kellen’s dancing, laughing gaze.

"I get your point. You don’t need to make fun of me." Kellen’s smile grew.

"I’m not making fun of you. Think of this as a training moment for when we have students." Kellen leaned back into his chair, away from the desk. "That being said, Brent, I do know your true colours. I know that whoever you are, you are a good person at your core. You know better, especially after our first time in a gate together, then to hide who you are. It puts yourself in danger in gates, and I think you’ve done a wonderful job of walking that fine line of being true to yourself, while also keeping a wall up between you and others." Brent seemed stunned at the praise Kellen was giving him. He didn’t have to wonder if he was being sincere. Kellen didn’t give praise for no reason.

"People don’t usually praise walls, Kellen." Brent mumbled, embarrassed. Kellen smiled at his friend, his coworker, and shook his head.

"It’s impressive. I don’t think I could do it. No, I know I couldn’t. I’m not great at hiding everything away." Brent gave Kellen a sharp look, and Kellen laughed. "Am I? Look how it blew up in my face, Brent, and tell me that I’m decent at it." Brent shook his head, sighing.

"Give yourself more credit. I think it’s because your sister was there that you crumbled so quickly. I’ll have to keep it in mind if I think you’re getting too stubborn about something." They chuckled, and Kellen thought that they were done with their conversation. It wasn’t until he had pulled the laptop in front of him again that Brent spoke up again. "It’s...it’s my family I’m running from." Kellen looked over at him.

Brent, who had been laughing slightly before, had a rather somber expression now. His face was pale, as if he hated speaking about this, and his eyes had a far off, pained look. His mouth was set into deep lines, and Kellen realised he’d seen this look before. Sometimes, when Kellen was sure Brent thought no one was paying attention to him, he’d fall into this expression on the front lines. That only made Kellen’s heart squeeze. He couldn’t imagine having to run from his family the way that Brent was, but he wasn’t going to downplay his pain. It was obvious that it came with some deep scars.

"Alright. Do you need help to hide you? Protect you? I am more than happy to help. You know that." Kellen offered, and the laugh that came out of Brent only made Kellen more concerned. It was full of pain, and self-deprecation.

"I appreciate it, but I don’t know if you have enough power to protect both of us." Brent exhaled, staring at the nearly empty bookcase across from him. "If it comes down to it, I’ll leave." Panic infused his features and he turned to Kellen. "I’ll come back, I promise. I like it here, and they’ll probably give up quickly." He met Kellen’s surprised gaze, before looking away. Kellen wasn’t surprised by his confession. He had always kind of assumed it was something related to his family. It was a gut feeling, especially around the time that others got letters or messages from their families on the front lines, and Brent would be anywhere but the pick up tent.

It was the Captain showing up to the office that made Kellen realise it was time for their guiding session. Worried that he’d gone over time, he glanced at his phone and found that the Captain was a few minutes early. Brent chuckled as Kellen relaxed.

"Get going Kellen. We’ve got everything ready. I’ll message Lieutenant Casper and make sure that we have a meeting time for tomorrow. And make sure that the handouts are printed out as well." Brent grinned at the Captain, who nodded to Brent. Kellen, noticing that the Captain’s eyes were a little dim, and his uniform was a little askew, nodded. He picked up his jacket from the back of the chair and tossed it over his arm, before grabbing his phone from the desk and shoving it into his pocket.

"Alright. Message me if you have any problems." He told him, and Brent nodded, saluting him half-jokingly.

"Alrighty, Boss! Get out of here. You have a loooot of work to do." With that reminder, Kellen flushed, and grabbed the file folder he’d almost forgotten. The Captain, who he still hadn’t been able to have a serious discussion with, narrowed his eyes.

"What was that about? Did something happen?" He asked, and Kellen sighed, shaking his head.

"No no, nothing awful happened. In fact, it seems like there are quite a few Guides who want to become Field Guides." Kellen told him, dodging the topic as they were still in public. He’d like to have it with Taylor around, or in private. The Captain opened the door to the research department, as Kellen waved goodnight to the researchers.

"Why don’t you sound excited about that?" He asked, curious. His tone held no judgement.

"Well, I’ve only trained one Guide at a time in the past. Field Guide training is very one on one. If we have too many new recruits, it could end up not being a good training program." The Captain nodded, thoughtful.

"That wasn’t something we considered when we first made the tentative department. If that’s the case, and you’re so worried, just make two intakes. Get the first one set, and make a waitlist. It could be a way to wean out those who weren’t serious." Kellen, who hadn’t thought of that, cursed, pulling out his phone to text Brent. The Captain chuckled, watching Kellen as he rapidly told Brent the Captain’s words. Brent had already replied by the time they had gotten to the elevators.

Kellen was so focused on his solution, that he hadn’t noticed the Captain’s arm around his waist, pulling him against him as they rode the elevator down to the medical bay.