(BL) Taming the Field Guide-Chapter 133: Gunther, a man behind but getting better

"I’m sorry, I know that everyone else is caught up, but I am feeling rather behind. I think it’s the head injury remnants. Kellen is an S Class now? When did that happen?" It was Gunther, and everyone turned to face him.

Like Kellen, he was injured, but unlike Kellen, he didn’t appear to have gained any vitality back yet. It was obvious that he’d only woken up yesterday and had pushed himself to be here. He’d been missing for a while from meetings, so it was clear that he didn’t want to miss any other ones.

Kellen took a moment to calm himself while also using this moment to look over Gunther. When the man had first joined them, Kellen had done his best not to overtly stare at the man since he had just joined them. Kellen could tell he was a little nervous and not acting like himself. Kellen couldn’t even blame him.

Who would act like themselves after they had been caught and tortured, let alone what he had to do to make the damn terrorists believe he was one of them? There was no way he was going to be back to his ’normal’ self so soon. Not since his therapy sessions would start until next week.

Just so he could get his physical injuries under wraps.

The hardest thing to look at was the fact that Gunther’s normally long, luscious white hair was gone. The nearly ass-length hair had been severed and Kellen had been denied the sight of seeing him when he’d first come in so he relied on what Hill and Rhys said they saw.

Rhys had said it was like someone had grabbed fistfuls of his hair and cut it, and Hill had backed that statement up, both Esper’s glowing like damn streetlights as they spoke. Kellen had a hand on both of them to monitor their power levels since it was such a trying moment for them. Both cared about Gunther deeply, so seeing him in such a state had probably hurt them a lot.

That said nothing about the injured arm. Barely holding on before Taylor got to him and worked her magic. It was clear she was able to save it since he was sitting at the table with both arms, but that didn’t mean that Kellen didn’t feel bad for what he’d gone through. He wasn’t missing an eye or an arm or even a leg. However, he was thin. The kind of thin that made Guides very uncomfortable.

His face was sallow, even after all of the shakes that Taylor had given him. Unlike Guides, Espers couldn’t recover from starvation or power over usage as easily. Not without the help of a Guide.

Even though Gunther had a rather serious Guide at his side, it didn’t appear as if that was enough. Especially if Gunther didn’t know everything that was going on in the Guild still. As a Lieutenant, Kellen kind of expected that Casper would have a better grasp of everything going on inside of the Guild. Kellen frowned as he looked over at the pale, thin Esper, his big, dark eyes scanning those around him.

"It’s not confirmed." Kellen told him and his Mom sighed. When Kellen looked over at her, she was running a hand up and over the top of her head. She looked exhausted, and Rhys gently put Kellen down on his feet.

"Sweetheart, we just need the chart to confirm it, but we’re all pretty sure. Your Dad and I are already worried about how we are going to keep you safe once the government finds out that not only did you jump Classes, but you did so again and now you’re one of the few S Class Guides that we have in the country. The E.A.G. is going to be shooting you out of the damn sky when you go to get Brent." Gunther’s eyes were wide as he heard that.

"Wait, Brent’s not here? What happened to Guide Jameson while I was gone?" Gunther asked, worry in his tone. Kellen felt himself frown as Sergei stilled and Hill stiffened.

Hill sighed.

"He got kidnapped by his fucked up family while we were in the middle of the monster stampede on the front lines and then the gate exploded. We thought he’d been killed in action or had been sucked into the gate until footage of him was caught overseas. Apparently, his family employs one of the rare teleporters." Hill’s explanation didn’t leave much out, keeping the pain minimal but Gunther could feel it from Kellen.

Gunther glanced at Kellen, seeing how his jaw twitched and his still red-rimed eye watered. Gunther also noticed how the man next to him, Sergei, had all but stopped breathing.

Gunther felt like he had missed out on a lot of things in the time that he had been gone. Especially since he would have never considered that Sergei and Brent could have been...anything? That hadn’t even crossed his mind, and given how everyone else looked at the table around him, they’d had time to process it.

"How fucked up is his family that they kidnapped him?" Gunther asked and Kellen was the one who answered.

"His grandfather died and left everything to Brent. He’s from a pretty famous family, apparently." Kellen said casually. Gunther was staring at him in surprise and Kellen felt his lips curl up slightly. It was nice to have this reaction since it had been a while since someone around them had had a genuine reaction without all of the weight of the situation all around them. It almost felt like an innocent reaction.

Jax and Jules didn’t count. For several reasons, but the main being that they had no idea who Brent was, and from the look on their faces, they barely even knew that Sergei wasn’t a part of the Saturn Guild.

"You know what?" Gunther said, leaning back in his chair with a faint smile. "I can see that pretty boy being from a rich family. He had that air about him." Gunther said. Kellen could feel how Sergei heard what Gunther said, and started revving up.

"Well, it wasn’t a good family." Kellen told him and Gunther gave a shrug.

"I never said that. He’s too humble to come from a good rich family, or even a moderate bad one. He had to come from a real shitty one. I mean, I was abused, and I still talk about my family. Brent didn’t even do that." Gunther said. Pamela nearly choked on the glass of water that she was in the middle of drinking.

Hill just grinned while Kellen felt Sergei’s energy shift again, but in a more positive way.

"You talk about your family? I rarely even hear you speak." Sergei said quietly and Gunther snorted. His subtle smile grew and Kellen felt good seeing him smile like that.

"I don’t want to hear anything about talking when it comes from you of all people, Sergei. Does Brent even know that you like him? Cause I made sure the person I like knew." Rhys let out a sound.

"You both should be careful in what you’re talking about. No one in this room has a leg to stand on outside of Kellen." Rhys said and the eyes that had been off of Kellen turned back to him. Kellen blinked.

"What? I can’t be the only one. Mom has to..." Kellen trailed off as he looked towards his Mom and she was shaking her head slowly.

"No, sweetheart. Your Dad was the one who made the final move." She said, surprising Kellen. Kellen looked around the room, surprised.

"But Rhys also-" Kellen started and Rhys’ touch on Kellen’s arm had him pausing.

"No, sugar. You were the one who chased me down and forced me to acknowledge what was going on. Not once, but several times." Rhys said with a warm smile. Kellen stared at him blankly. Then he looked over at Hill and she was nodding aggressively, like she agreed with what Rhys and the others were saying.

"But I wasn’t being honest then. I didn’t even know that I was really in love with him when I confronted him in the A Class gym." Kellen told them and Rhys chuckled.

"Yeah, but you told me what you wanted, honestly, without threats of any kind, without any true anger and you were being open and honest." Rhys told him and Kellen felt a funny feeling fill him. His gut was all fluttery and Kellen wasn’t exactly sure what to do with that feeling.

"Well, that’s just who I am." Kellen muttered and Rhys chuckled.

"Yeah, that’s a good thing. It makes you better than every other Esper in this room." Pamela cleared her throat.

"Eh-hem. Outside of myself, of course, but only due to the advice of Kellen." Pamela said smugly. "You were the idiots who didn’t ask him for advice." Pamela said and Hill snorted, rolling her eyes.

"Yeah, and how well did your relationship work out, Pamela?" Hill asked and Kellen watched as her face turned pink.

"T-That’s not-"

"Hill." Sergei chastised, before Rhys could even speak up. "Don’t blame Pamela for something that was beyond her control. Rene is a self destructive force all on her own. I wouldn’t blame someone as stable as Pamela for the relationship failing." Sergei speaking up was surprising for two reasons.

First, Kellen had never heard him speak ill of someone who had worked for him before. Ever. Second, it was nice to hear Sergei acknowledge that Pamela was a good person and that it wasn’t her that had messed up.

It was also nice to see how surprised Kellen’s Mom was to hear that Pamela had been dating Rene. That told Kellen that Rene hadn’t told her. That was the first sign to Kellen, and to Pamela, that there was something more going on.

Pamela’s face iced over as Kellen’s Mom let out a soft sound of surprise.

"I had no idea. Are you alright?" It was telling that Kellen’s Mom asked Pamela if she was alright. It was clear that Pamela had been prepared for some kind of push back and instead she got a supportive older woman instead.

"Uh, well, it’s been a while since...it ended." Pamela said carefully. "It was just a fling." The words sounded like they hurt even leaving her lips. Gunther let out a loud sigh.

"Casper tells me nothing." He muttered, and Kellen realised he was pouting. Pamela’s expression tightened and she sighed.

"That’s on me. I told him not to tell anyone." She shrugged. "We all work with her. I didn’t want to make it awkward." Sergei stared at Pamela, his expression harsh but Kellen could feel how it softened slightly. He’d worked enough with the man that he was able to tell. 𝙧𝙚𝙚𝔀𝒆𝓫𝓷𝙤𝓿𝒆𝙡.𝒄𝙤𝓶

"You won’t have to worry about that when it comes to the Nemesis Guild. I told her to her face that she fucked up and she needed to do some serious soul searching if she let a woman like you get away." Sergei was speaking quite a bit, and Kellen could tell that the others were impressed too.

Kellen’s Mom’s arm on his shoulder tightened slightly.

"It sounds like your Dad and I need to get in on that train as well." She muttered quietly, but everyone in the room had good enough hearing to hear her. Pamela flushed.