(BL) Hunting The Field Guide-Chapter 437: The second day after everyone arrived on the front lines

Chapter 437: The second day after everyone arrived on the front lines

Kellen’s Dad reaching out seemed to be the right thing to do. While Rhys and Kellen’s Mom had been reaching out for days, feeling like they were pulling teeth, it had taken Kellen’s dad literally 12 hours to get a response.

He got several, in fact.

Just went to show that Guide solidarity was more powerful then an Esper bowing and giving up his pride to ask another a heartfelt question.

Rhys had been pissed when his Dad had forwarded him a detailed response from one of the pairs of an Esper he had personally reached out to, but he didn’t get mad at anyone there. He was just frustrated that his efforts had meant nothing.

Either way, the responses weren’t in their favour. So far, out of everyone who they had gotten a response from, nothing similar had happened. They were also open to telling them their compatibility score and how it had increased over time. It was looking like Kellen was just an anomaly.

Kellen was fine with that, except for the fact that it meant he didn’t know what to do. He had no rules to follow, and he had no idea what that would mean for him personally, long term. Rhys didn’t like it for the same reasons, as did everyone else.

Taylor was frustrated because even to the other Espers of her Class and type, they didn’t have any answers either. They had a similar agreement as the Guides and shared information willingly. They were just as shocked at Kellen’s ’mutation’ as Rhys and Kellen had been.

Kellen didn’t really like being the ’first’ to do something in this regard. That meant that if word really got out to everyone, he would have to change how he lived. He didn’t want to do that.

Granted, he wasn’t leaving the Guild Tower much right now because of the E.A.G. threat, but he did like to move around the city when his life wasn’t obviously being targeted. He wanted to be able to walk down the street, maybe go shopping with Rhys again once this had all calmed down.

He didn’t think that would happen if it came out that he, Kellen, had acquired some of Rhys’ powers. Because the next obvious question was, could he do the same with others? Kellen didn’t want to test that. He’d had to do some pretty intimate stuff with Rhys to get to this point, and he didn’t think Rhys would be cool with that now that they weren’t just a pairing, but boyfriends.

He also didn’t want to do that kind of testing, point blank. He already had severe and debilitating issues around getting retested. He could only imagine what kind of tests they would want to run on him if that came out. No thank you. A shiver ran down his spine just thinking about all the weird instruments and machines he’d have to be around.

Awful.

So, it was a good thing that Kellen had suggested it. He hadn’t been sure that they hadn’t reached out, even using Casper, but his Mom’s reaction had made it clear that they hadn’t. Now they at least had some answers right away, and they would probably get a few more trickling in as time went by.

This was the first day that Charlie was officially joining the morning class. Like yesterday, Kellen had everyone arrive at the A Class gym, only now this included Charlie. He got an escort by Kellen’s Dad, all smiles, who offered both his son and Charlie a warm hug smelling of sugar and spices before he went to go pick up some tea and snacks for him and his wife. Charlie waved, as did most of everyone else in the A Class gym, and he left.

That’s what happened when you were the poster boy for pretty much all Guides and had been spoken about positively for nearly three decades.

Charlie was excited, bouncing as unlike the others, he was dressed in the work out clothes for the Guild, not the Field Guide uniform. Kellen wouldn’t say he was excluding him, just that Charlie would need to earn his uniform since he was part of the group that Kellen considered the ’second wave’. That group also consisted of most of the other Guides, but Charlie was getting treated slightly differently because...he was Charlie.

They would not get one on one training time with Kellen. They would be getting the new teachers as their instructors. With that said, Kellen got the groups organised, keeping them the same as the groups that went inside the simulations the day before, and then turned back to Charlie.

He was sure that he had no idea what he was about to get into.

Charlie kept his smiling demeanor until they got to the more intense workout portion. Then the smile faltered on his lips. Kellen told him that they were doing this to learn his limits, learn what he could and couldn’t do. That meant Kellen was leading him around with a little clipboard and multiple workouts written down.

He was testing Charlie on everything. Each column was set up so that Kellen could repeat this again and again. Charlie seemed to think that Kellen was punishing by the time that they got to the bottom of the first page. Kellen didn’t notice until Charlie spoke up.

"Am I...a problem?" He asked carefully, hesitantly and Kellen paused. He had been writing something in the margins of the page, a small note that he needed to remember when he tested Charlie tomorrow.

"Pardon?" He asked, not quite hearing him. Charlie swallowed. He was sweating profusely, his clothing sticking to his body. His cheeks were flushed, his eyes watering and he looked like he was trembling. Kellen thought it was from the fact that he had been pushing his body, but then he spoke again and his voice was trembling.

"Do you not want me to bother you?" He asked, and Kellen felt his eyes widened.

"What? You aren’t a bother." Kellen said strongly and Charlie sniffed.

"Then why does this feel like a punishment?" He asked and several of the Espers within hearing distance had to turn away, stopping their reps so that they could laugh. Kellen’s face flushed.

"What? Are you having a hard time? You were supposed to tell me if you were having a hard time, Charlie. Of course I am not punishing you! I’m just checking where your fitness levels are at so that I can know how to help you grow in the future." Kellen said and Charlie sniffed.

"You didn’t tell me that at the start." He whined and Kellen froze. Hadn’t he? He thought that he had? Maybe he’d been so distracted by the feeling lingering in his gut that he’d forgotten.

Kellen tucked his pen into the metal clip of the clipboard before he tucked the board itself under his arm. Then he bent, crouching down to make eye contact with Charlie. He was on his stomach, having just finished doing pushups. Kellen sighed, reaching out with his other hand and ruffling his hair.

"Charlie, I’m sorry I didn’t specify. I’m not ’doing’ this to you as punishment. I’m trying to help your body learn, grow, and adapt. This is basic training for Field Guides. You can’t do any of the cool things without a solid base. Most, if not all of the other FIeld Guides went through the same thing that you’re going to go through." Kellen wasn’t lying. While Charlie’s was a more advanced version, and was going to be harder for him to attain the same form as the others, the basic practise was the same.

He was going to have to push himself, as the others had, to get anywhere near close to the level of Kellen. Kellen knew that was probably what Charlie wanted to be like. ’Cool’ like Kellen.

He could tell by the way that Charlie’s expression darkened with contemplation after Kellen had said the words that he had that he was probably correct with his assumptions. That was confirmed when Charlie let out devastated sigh and fell onto his front, his face turned away from him.

"How long is that supposed to take? You already made me wait this long because I was too skinny, and now this? I think you do hate me, you just don’t want to admit it." Charlie complained, and Kellen was glad that all the time with his parents had paid off.

The younger man was behaving younger then his age, but that was fine. He was voicing his own concerns, his own worries, and expressing himself. It was different from how he had been when Kellen had first met him.

Kellen felt his lips turn up in a smile before he chuckled.

"You aren’t going to like the answer, and I already said I don’t hate you and I’m not punishing you. That, or you could view it as the simple fact that I punished all of the Field Guides I’ve trained so far." Charlie complained while several of the other Espers around them chuckled at Kellen’s response. "Besides, if I had attempted any of these workouts with you in the state you had arrived in, you would have fainted and then I would have had Taylor pissed at me. Probably would have reported me for abuse." Kellen told Charlie with a grin.

Charlie tilted his head to look up at Kellen, still pouting.

"I am afraid to speak to the other Guides because they might tell me you’re a demon, Kellen." Kellen tossed his head back and laughed at that. He smiled, warm, and reached out to ruffle Charlie’s hair again.

"Being a demon doesn’t sound too bad. Kellen the Demon. Has a pretty good ring to it." Kellen joked and a few of the other Espers around them chimed in.

"I’m sure the Captain has no problem with it." One of them joked. Another one, smirking, spoke up from where she was lifting weights.

"I’ve heard from the other students that they used to curse your name when they first started. My Guide still holds a little bit of a grudge." She said. Kellen felt his grin widen.

"Oh, are you complaining right now? I know you like them a little more bulky." Kellen shot back and the Esper flushed, before she shook her head. She gave Kellen a thumbs up and pretended to zip her mouth closed.

"Heard and understood, Mr. Demon sir." Kellen chuckled, turning his attention back to Charlie who was watching him interact with the others. There was a level of envy in his gaze, and when he looked back at Kellen, his expression softened.

"I wish I could interact with them like that. Like you do." He told Kellen. His voice was raw, and the good feelings didn’t leave Kellen, just shifted. He reached out, placing a hand on his shoulder and giving it a squeeze.

"We’ll be able to do that, Charlie. You will be able to do that. It’ll just take some time." Kellen promised.