(BL) Hunting The Field Guide novel Chapter 15

Chapter 15: A Soft place to land

Originally, the space that Kellen now called his own had been built as an in-law suite for when his grandmother had still been alive. After she had passed away, Kellen and Gwen had used it as a 'secret' playroom away from their parents' prying eyes.

When Kellen had left for the first time, heading out for Guide training, Kellen had given up his bedroom in the main house thinking he wasn't going to have to come back. His old room was now his Father's craft room, and he had had no desire to take away that space from him. Gwen, like the baby she was, had kept her room even after she had to move out for Esper training. When he had moved away officially to go to the front lines, his parents had moved all of his remaining things to the in-law suite since Gwen had no use for it and they weren't going to rent it out.

When Kellen finally came back, roughly 7 years later, with no place to call his own since he'd been in temporary living the whole time, his parents had insisted that he use the suite to get back on his feet. Kellen had tried to refuse it, but it resulted in his Father bursting into tears, his Mother calling him an ungrateful child, and even Gwen guilt tripped him into moving into the inlaw suite.

Needless to say, Kellen begrudgingly moved into the suite above the garage.

Now that Kellen had been there for a few months, he finally felt like he had settled into the space. It wasn't a large space, being only one room with a small bathroom across the hall. The bathroom only had a shower so if Kellen wanted a bath he had to go into the main house, which was a rare occurrence. As soon as you opened the door, you were greeted with the small kitchenette, and after that was the small two seater table. To your right mounted on the wall was a t.v. his parents had gifted him, saying they had just had it laying around the house and weren't going to use it anymore. In front of it were a few shelves, and a small couch that backed onto the double bed he'd gotten as soon as he got back into civilization. Kellen used a folding screen as a way to divide the bedroom from the kitchen, which worked for him. He didn't need much, especially since coming back from the front lines. He'd lived out of what felt like two duffle bags for almost seven years, having even this one room felt like a blessing.

He'd 'picked up' some nick knacks thanks to his Dad's habit of trying to spruce up the space, and Gwen coming over like a friendly crow and dropping off shiny rocks and things she found interesting. One of the small shelves below the t.v. was already full of several shiny pebbles, polished animal bones, and one strangely designed button. He had a few books he had picked up over time, with some being so worn that he needed to tape their bindings to keep them together. His Dad had also gifted him a brand new set of cooking books, along with the utensils and appliances to go along with them. Some of them were still downstairs in the garage since he didn't have the space for them in the kitchenette, but his father had been insistent. He had told his son that there had been a deal going on at the store he'd picked them up at, and he couldn't return them. Kellen didn't want to call his Dad a liar to his face, so Kellen just shook his head and accepted the gifts. Kellen was fairly certain that half of the reason he'd forced them upon him was because his daughter was incapable of cooking, and he wanted to share his passion with at least one of his children. Kellen liked cooking, and he never wanted to hurt his Dad, so he had accepted them willingly. The $400 000 car, however, had been returned.

Kellen sighed, letting the heavy door close behind him as he took in the space before him. The scent of his Mom's incense still floated in the air, and he knew he'd be smelling it for days. It was always the case when the two of them came to visit. He didn't hate the scent, but it felt so distinctly like his Mom that he couldn't associate it with anything else. He had only ever burnt the supply his Mother had sent him on the front lines when he had truly missed home. The scent had sometimes clung to him as he headed inside of gates, and it was the closest he would get to feeling the hug of his parents while there.

Kellen was in slight disbelief that as soon as he finally decided to settle down, build a stable base for himself and lay roots, that the rug was pulled out from under his feet. He also was having a hard time wrapping his head around the fact that the one who was doing all of this was Captain Rhys Thatcher, a man, an Esper, that Kellen had been trying to avoid ever since he met him on the front lines over seven years ago. He'd only been a fresh faced Captain at the time, but it hadn't diminished any of his authority. He'd been powerful, compelling, and incredibly handsome. Kellen had worried that the Captain wouldn't have associated with such a low Class Guide, but instead, the Captain had treated everyone he interacted with as an equal. It had been refreshing, and in a way, Kellen felt like they had grown together. Kellen was fairly certain the Captain was several years older than him. Maybe five? And Kellen had met him when he'd just come out of the Guide Academy, fresh faced, a chip on his shoulder, and a desire to prove himself. Kellen knew he must have done or said stupid things in front of the older man, but thankfully he couldn't remember them in detail. He hoped he never remembered them.

Kellen chuckled. Given how the Captain had behaved today, he had a feeling that when he went to sign his formal contract tomorrow that there would be a clause stating he had to move into the Saturn Guild tower. For safety, of course. Kellen, having only witnessed that kind of possessiveness from afar thus far, wasn't sure how he felt about it. He knew that he probably should be more concerned about that kind of behaviour than he was though. As much as he had built this space to be his safe haven, he hadn't been here for long. Even with Captain's pitiful excuse of safety, Kellen wasn't opposed to moving again. He assumed that if he didn't have to take his own bed and furniture it would be provided, and given the shoes and uniform that they had provided him already, he wondered what quality they would be.

Speaking of the uniform, Kellen placed the bag containing the empty shoe box and folded uniform down on his small kitchen table before pulling off the Captain's jacket and hanging it on the set of hooks beside the door. Kellen hadn't even used them for his own clothes yet, and found it slightly humourous that the Captain's jacket was the first thing to hang there. He methodically took off the shoes, lining them up against the wall next to his other shoes. Then, he proceeded to remove his work clothes, or, former work clothes. He'd have to stop by Guiding Center B at some point to pick up the few belongings he'd left there, but it was mostly books so he wasn't terribly worried about it.

He shuffled towards the small cloth bag he used to store dirty clothes before opening the drawers underneath his bed where he stored his clean clothes. Pulling out a pair of black sweatpants and a black t shirt, he dressed himself before pulling on his house slippers. Once done, he pulled up a food ordering app to order in. The amount of food he was about to order for one person would probably surprise a normal person. But a Guide wouldn't bat an eye.