(BL) Hunting The Field Guide novel Chapter 425

Chapter 425: We are doing a good thing

The next day rolled around. Kellen’s normal dinner plans with his Guides wasn’t allowed due to how overprotective Rhys was being, so he pushed it back to today.

Kellen had kicked up a stink to sleep in his own bed, and after Kellen threatened that he was going to sleep somewhere else besides the Medical Bay, whether or not it was his apartment or otherwise, Rhys relented.

That meant Kellen got to wake up in Rhys’ arms when the alarm rang in the morning for his gym session. He was looking forward to this. He hadn’t been neglecting his body, or his workouts, but it had been a month since he’d had a companion in Brent, so it was an exciting day.

Rhys grumbled when Kellen took his arm off of him and got ready to go to the gym. Feeling a bit sorry for the man, Kellen gave him a kiss before heading down, anticipation thrumming through his body.

When he got to the gym, Brent was already there. Kellen felt a huge smile split his face and noticed that Brent wasn’t able to contain his excitement either. The two men approached each other and this time Kellen was able to give him an actual hug instead of the one he’d given him the day before.

It was a warm welcome, Kellen lifting up the other man as he laughed.

"That excited to see me, huh? Rhys’ll get jealous." Brent teased and Kellen just laughed.

"He knows better. My heart practically beats for that man." Kellen told Brent without any remorse or embarrassment. Brent’s face went red at Kellen’s easy way of saying it.

"Wow. I feel like a lot has happened while I’ve been away. Anyway, shall we head in?" Brent suggested, waving with his prosthetic arm for them to enter the gym. The usual crowd was inside, but they all lit up when they saw Brent. They went around chatting to everyone, Brent getting some hugs and pats of welcome that had the man grinning.

It was about 20 minutes after Brent had caught up with the others that they started their workout. It was nice, this moment that he had with Brent. He had really missed this routine that they had gotten into when he had gone away for a month. Kellen knew it was important for Brent to be on the front lines, and that he was going to take the next round of Guides with him when he went back this time, but it still felt a bit sad that he was going to miss more time with the man.

He didn’t realise having a friend that he had been close to for along time would impact him this way. Before, Kellen wouldn’t have cared. He had told himself that it was normal for friends to ignore each other until they were face to face. It was clear that was just some conditioning he’d had to get used to from his old ’friends’.

Now that Kellen was going to therapy for that issue, and the others had made it clear that that wasn’t what true friends were like, Kellen felt like he had a lot of feelings.

Well, he’d always had them, but he was feeling them in the moment now instead of suppressing them. Which was why he was able to surprise Brent when mid press, Kellen spoke up.

"I missed this. I missed you." Kellen told the other man sincerely and Brent nearly dropped the weight. Kellen caught it, helping him, while Brent stared at him, wide-eyed from where he was laying down. The other Esper’s in the gym spun to stare at Kellen. Kellen, for his part, didn’t understand why everyone was reacting at his words while Brent’s expression softened.

"I missed you too, Kellen. What brought this on?" Brent asked, sitting up and Kellen frowned slightly.

"I’ve just been working through some things with my therapist. Nothing crazy. We’ve just been unwinding my feelings about my previous friendships and my stance on relationships as a whole. I realised that I like friendships, and that what I was in before was just...financial abuse, honestly." Kellen murmured before he let out a deep sigh. "I like hanging out with you. I didn’t realise how much I was suppressing my feelings until I saw you again and how much I was looking forward to this morning." Kellen told him. "Plus, things had been tense between Casper and I for a while, so..." The words ’I was lonely’ caught in Kellen’s throat.

Brent’s expression softened further, and he tugged Kellen down to sit next to him on the bench.

"I’m glad you were able to realise that and that you’re working through that shit." Brent said earnestly. "I’m glad that you’re being open with me, and honest. I like spending time with you too, and I was also excited to work out with you this morning. I missed it too. There isn’t anyone I can tease as easily on the front lines, nor someone who I trust as much to have my back. It was...it was hard to make sure that everyone was safe, that everyone made it out alive. It’s different from before. Before, there wasn’t as personal of a connection. I was able to let some injuries roll off my back. With the new recruits?" Brent sighed, dropping his head as he slumped his shoulders. "I don’t know how you did it. Over and over."

Kellen was a little perplexed by what Brent was referring to, but Brent clarified it before Kellen needed to ask.

"Everywhere I looked, I saw people you had trained, people you had brought up from scratch. I hadn’t realised it when you’d left the front lines because there wasn’t any separation for me. But after I had been away, and you had been away, coming back with the people you had taken the time to seriously train, it was so obvious. Everyone wants those Guides, Kellen. Everyone wants who you’ve trained. There was a greed in all of their expressions. Such a heavy desire, and then the pressure to make sure that none of them got hurt while I was watching them was like a wound in my shoulder. I always felt it, always knew it was there." That wasn’t the feeling that Kellen wanted to give to Brent.