(BL) Taming the Field Guide

Chapter 214: Brent’s thoughtful touch

Brent came knocking relatively early in the morning the next day. Kellen was already awake, getting his cup of tea started for the morning. For some reason, he’d actually gotten three cups of tea ready as if he was able to predict that a few more people would want some.

He offered it to Brent at the door, letting the man come in with Sergei trailing behind him with two clothing bags in his hands. Sergei looked stiff coming into the room as Rhys came around the corner, topless, drying his hair with a towel.

Sergei paused, scanning Rhys and Kellen swore the man turned up his lip in disgust before looking away from Rhys. At least that was something Kellen never had to worry about. He did notice how Brent scanned Rhys, mild interest in his eyes before he turned to Kellen and accepted the cup of tea.

"Thank you, Kellen. How nice of you to be prepared." Brent said with a smile. Kellen shrugged.

"I just had a feeling you would stop by." Kellen admitted. Rhys paused, Sergei paused, and both Kellen and Brent paused because of their reaction. Sergei carefully moved towards the couch to drape the clothing bags over the edge of it before he turned towards Kellen, his blue gaze serious.

"You had a feeling?" He asked and Kellen nodded. Rhys made a small, annoyed sound in the back of his throat.

"I don’t like that." Rhys told him plainly, and Kellen stared at him blankly. He didn’t like it? Why did he think he had an opinion on something Kellen just did? Sergei nodded and Brent and Kellen shared a baffled look.

"I don’t either." Sergei agreed and Kellen felt rather confused.

"I don’t think you get a choice in this?" Kellen suggested and Rhys frowned.

"I know, but I can still voice my dislike. The only good thing about this is that you aren’t fainting right now, but I don’t like witnessing it. Sure, it’s how many people will want tea right now, but it could be something more serious later down the line." Rhys sounded very upset while Kellen just stared at him, still confused. Brent seemed to pick up on what the two S Classes were upset about and he gave a soft gasp.

"Oh! He’s upset that you’re subtly using your new powers to predict how many people are going to want tea. Which is why you have three cups instead of four." Brent said. When it was finally spelt out for him, Kellen blinked a few times before he grunted.

"Ah. I didn’t even realise. It was just...natural." Kellen muttered, his cheeks warming. "Still, you two have no control over this." Kellen pointed out, pointing a finger at the two Espers. Both sighed in unison, and then cast a look at each other in annoyance.

"Why don’t you go put a shirt on, Captain Thatcher?" Sergei said quietly and Rhys scoffed.

"It’s my damn apartment. Why don’t you go somewhere else if it makes you so uncomfortable?" Kellen felt his spine stiffen. This was the small-level bickering that had started right before Kellen had to rip into them. Kellen jerked his head into their direction, his glare piercing.

"If you two are about to start fighting again, I’m going to steal Brent for the day and we’ll go on a date instead, understood?" Kellen’s voice was rough, angry, and both men became meek in a second.

"Understood, Guide Kellen." Sergei muttered, looking flustered. Rhys had drained of colour.

"I would never fight Sergei." Rhys lied and Kellen huffed. Rhys wilted. "I’ll go put a shirt on." He mumbled and Brent chuckled.

"Take the clothing bags with you. I picked out some things that I thought would look nice on the both of you. The top one should be yours, Rhys." Brent said, nodding with his chin at the bags. Rhys glanced at Brent, his eyes narrowing slightly, but he didn’t say anything else. He instead put the towel around his neck and picked up both bags. He moved towards the bedroom, glancing back at Kellen, Sergei and Brent.

"Don’t get up to too much fun while I’m changing." Rhys joked, but there was a serious edge to his eyes. Kellen rolled his eye.

"Stop being ridiculous, Rhys." Kellen told him, and Rhys gave him a small smile before disappearing. Brent huffed.

"What’s up with him today?" Brent stage whispered, knowing that Rhys could still hear him. Kellen let out a deep sigh.

"I wouldn’t let him do what he wanted last night so I think he’s pouting." Kellen said at a regular volume. Brent’s eyes went wide, as did Sergei’s and Kellen heard the sound of something hitting the edge of something in the bedroom. Kellen hypothesized that it was either Rhys bumping his foot, arm or hip against something. Either way, he could tell that the man didn’t like Kellen airing out their dirty laundry.

He didn’t think it was such a bad thing. After all, they had traveled with Sergei for several days. Sergei wasn’t an idiot, and he himself had probably wanted to get his hands all over Brent. Kellen was just too nervous to let the other man touch him in case he let something slip about today. There was also a small part of him that thought it might be more romantic if they waited until tonight, after the proposal.

He knew that Rhys didn’t know what was going through his mind so he was probably just upset. He hoped that he would forgive him after tonight.

"Kellen. You shouldn’t say that." Brent whispered, but his green eyes were sparkling with mischief. Kellen sighed, shaking his head as he took a sip of his tea.

"Well, I don’t see the problem in telling the truth. I plan to make it up to him, but I just didn’t think last night was the right time." Kellen said. "Forget Rhys and I, are you two planning to do anything today?" Kellen asked, happy for a distraction from his life. Sergei glanced at Brent who flushed a bit.

"Uh, well, nothing serious." Brent said cautiously.

"Your Aunt has invited us to lunch." Sergei clarified. Kellen felt his eyes widen. That sounded pretty serious to Kellen. Especially after the night they’d had and his Aunt’s reaction to Sergei and the others...and how protective she appeared to be over Brent...

"Good luck, Sergei." Kellen told him sincerely. Sergei nodded while Brent grumbled.

"It won’t be that bad, will it?" Brent asked, and Kellen found himself staring at the man. He’d spent the most time here. Kellen and Sergei were the least qualified to soothe anyone’s concerns right now, but it appeared that Brent was being delusional.

Brent saw the way that Kellen was looking at him, the pity, and he winced. He raised his own mug of tea to his lips and took a sip before he sighed.

"How bad do you think it’s going to be?" Brent asked as Kellen, Brent and Sergei moved towards the couch. Brent and Sergei sat down on the couch while Kellen rested himself against the armrest. Kellen tried not to watch every little move that Sergei and Brent made, but it was hard not to. He felt like he was watching animals move about in those old school zoos that he’d read about in school.

They didn’t exist anymore, not in the traditional sense, but he was sure that what was doing was similar to what it was like for the animals inside. He felt like a damn pervert, but he couldn’t stop himself. He was just fascinated in seeing how awkward and strange Brent was behaving around Sergei, and how awkward Sergei was in return.

It was...cute, in a way.

"Are my parents attending as well?" Kellen asked and Brent nodded. He looked relieved, but Kellen knew better. Kellen sighed loudly. "Mm. That could mean that it’s easier or harder. That will depend on how much my Mom likes you, Sergei." Kellen didn’t see a point in lying to him. He watched as Sergei’s lips drew into a firm line.

"I don’t think she likes me much." He admitted and Kellen sighed.

"Well then, Brent, you’re going to have to fight to keep the energy up during lunch." Kellen told him seriously. "I’m sorry that I won’t be able to help, but Sergei, you should be looking at this as your first big hurdle to climb. It’ll be a nice feeling once my parents accept you. Just ask Rhys about it." Kellen suggested. Sergei seemed...thoughtful, while Brent seemed even more embarrassed.

"I never thought I’d have to worry about something like this." He muttered and Kellen smiled at him warmly. He could tell that Rhys was almost finished getting dressed, which meant it would be Kellen’s turn soon. He felt a slow, warm heat spread across his chest and body. It was beginning to feel real.

His life was going to change, he was going on a date with Rhys, and at the end of the day he would be asking the man to marry him. Kellen’s grip on his mug tightened slightly.

"I think it’s a good thing, Brent. Having a proper family that cares for you is nice, right? You know that if anything happened that my parents would be there for you in a heartbeat. Weren’t they when Aunt Dina was being truly unreasonable?" Kellen asked and found that Brent was even more embarrassed.

"I just...it’s hard for me to rely on others that aren’t you." Brent admitted. Kellen glanced at Sergei, wondering if he would get upset about that but instead he found the Esper nodding slowly.

"Guide Kellen is a very reliable person. I’ve relied on him for a lot of things as well, especially during our travels here." Sergei said and now it was Kellen’s turn to flush.

"That was just my job." Kellen pointed out and Brent chuckled.

"Yeah, and you were asked to do it because you’re good at it." He pointed out and Kellen flushed a deeper pink. That was when Rhys decided to step out of the room dressed in the outfit that Brent had picked out for him.

Kellen felt his whole body stiffen.

Brent clearly knew Kellen quite well if this was the outfit he had chosen for Rhys, and Kellen was a bit embarrassed about how much he liked seeing Rhys in the outfit. It was layered. He wore a thin shirt at a base, another shirt on top of that with a nice, soft-looking sweater thing. He had a jacket on top of everything, with buttons, lapels and shiny, thin trim that he’d partially done up.

His pants were casual dress pants, framing his thick thighs nicely and he even had nice, shiny shoes. He wore a thick watch, his hair was slightly shaped, with nice waves worked through. His yellow eyes seemed a little hesitant as they met Kellen’s, like he was nervous about what Kellen would think of his outfit.

Kellen felt like he could barely breathe through the thick emotions that were choking him. He was gorgeous.

"Do you think he likes it?" Rhys whispered to Brent and Brent was grinning ear to ear.

"Like it? He can barely speak, Rhys. I think he might even forget about your plans today." Brent teased. Kellen gulped.

"I would never." He swore seriously and Rhys’ eyes curled at the corners in pleasure. Kellen was feeling like he might make a bad decision if he didn’t take his eyes off of him.