(BL) Hunting The Field Guide novel Chapter 67

Chapter 67: The party don’t start till Hill walks in

The Captain, Casper and Gunther chose that time to come back to the group. The Captain glanced around, wondering where Kellen’s family had gone without him until he spotted them in the hallway, fussing over their youngest. Placing a hand on Kellen’s lower back, the Captain smirked as the man didn’t even notice he relaxed his shoulders, and stepped back into the touch.

"Guide Jameson, you look a little pale. Is anything wrong?" The Captain asked, his tone full of concern. Brent opened his mouth, about to respond genuinely, until he looked up and saw the way the Captain’s eyes sparkled over Kellen’s shoulder. Brent’s lips formed into a straight line.

"Captain, if you’re going to overhear us talking, at least hide it. That’s very rude." Brent chastised, and the Captain smiled at the Guide. Casper, who hadn’t been able to overhear, furrowed his brow in confusion, pushing his glasses up as they began to shift. Gunther’s expression remained unchanged.

"What was Kellen lecturing Guide Jameson on?" Casper asked, and Brent was immediately offended. Kellen’s face brightened with his smile, and so did the Captain’s. Casper, who was being genuine, was still confused. "What? That’s the only thing that came to mind since Captain Thatcher was teasing you. Was I wrong?" He asked, and Brent sighed.

"Well, not really. It wasn’t so much of a lecture as a warning." Brent admitted, and Kellen nodded. Casper only seemed more confused, but pushed it to the back of his mind.

"What was everyone’s plan for the weekend?" Casper asked and Kellen looked around the group. Brent shrugged, and so did Gunther. The Captain had a smile on his face that Kellen didn’t trust.

"Nothing, really. Maybe workout, hang out. Nothing super interesting." Brent offered first, and Casper nodded.

"I planned to go over some files, and water my plants." Kellen was interested in the new bit of information that Casper gave.

"You have plants?" He asked, interested, and Casper nodded, a little shy.

"Yeah. Miro got me a few easy ones to take care of. I’m really enjoying it. One of my plants is going to produce a new leaf soon." He was very proud of it, and Kellen smiled. That was a very cute hobby.

"I wish I had a green thumb. I tend to kill any plant I try to take care of." The scoffing sound behind him told him that his family was back.

"That’s right. I once had a project for school which was to keep a plant alive for the semester. I had to try three times because Kellen kept killing it by being in the same room as it." Kellen took offense to Gwen’s words, and turned to face her.

"That’s not true. You never watered it. So I watered it, then Dad watered it, and Mom watered it." Gwen stuck her tongue out at her older brother. Their parents trailed behind her, holding hands. Gwen, who had been behaving boldly before, froze, as if remembering who was around her once more.

"Did you youngsters have any plans for the evening?" Kellen’s Mom asked with a smile in her voice. She looked over the group of young Espers and Guides with a smile. She was proud of her children for stepping into the new generation of people who planned to protect their world, their city. Even if it scared her that they were going to face the same level, if not more, of violence and conflict the further they walked this path. She worried the most for Kellen, her strong but delicate son. He always hid everything inside, and she worried that if the Captain wasn’t a good partner for him, he was just going to bottle everything up. At least with Gwen she knew she had several friends that she could rely on, while she’d only really heard about this Brent character and Taylor when Kellen had spoken about his friends. At least, consistently. The others would fade in and out of his stories, and she worried what that would do to her special boy. She gave her husband’s hand a squeeze.

"Yes, we’d like to invite you all to Kellen’s apartment for dinner." Kellen, who was only hearing about this now, raised an eyebrow.

"Um, wait a-"

"Well, you certainly won’t be cooking alone in my apartment, Dad." His Dad’s eyes smiled as he looked over at his son. He gave his wife’s hand a squeeze as he looked him over.