Chapter 233: Someone’s a bit moody
Thankfully, the Captain didn’t fight Kellen when he needed to leave him to head to work. He did watch him like a lovesick puppy though, and Kellen had to laugh. He appreciated that the Captain was giving him some space so that he could leave, even though he was sure that the Captain just wanted to follow him around.
It was cute, and Kellen was planning to reward him for it later.
Heading down to the Research Department so that he could go to his office, he had completely forgotten about how others would react to his cane. Maeve was horrified, as were all of the other scientists at the sight of it, and Kellen realised that they probably had some idea what had happened, but probably not to full picture.
"Guide Woods! Are you okay?" Maeve was fussing over him and Kellen hadn’t even had a chance to step into his office. The other scientists were shoving snacks into his free arm, and Kellen was doing his best to keep his happy guide face on. He was too busy for this.
"He’s fine. Esper Green said he was going to be okay." Brent’s voice over Kellen’s shoulder felt like a godsend. He turned to stare at the other Guide with warm eyes and Brent flushed. "Don’t look at me that way. You’re too handsome." Brent protested, and Kellen’s jaw went slack.
Him? Handsome? Had Brent not looked in a mirror lately?
"Then why does he have a cane?" Maeve protested, and Brent sighed. He was wearing the Field Guide uniform today with his shorter leather jacket. He ran a gloved hand through his hair, clearly tired and also done with answering questions. The day hadn’t even started for them yet.
"Because we don’t have enough Guides right now to deal with all the issues we have. That’s my theory, and Kellen isn’t denying it either. He was supposed to be fixing that, but someone didn’t like that idea. So, please, we’re both busy and Kellen has too much on his plate to be fussed with right now." Brent said, and Maeve looked genuinely hurt.
"Oh. Were we bothering you?" She asked Kellen, and Kellen wasn’t sure how to answer that. Yes, he had been growing frustrated because he had so much work to do, but he never wanted to hurt their feelings.
Brent’s arm wrapped around his shoulder, knocking him off kilter but Brent supported him.
"Kellen’s too nice to say it, so I’m saying it for him. He probably didn’t hate it though. He’s just taken on a lot of work, and needs every hour in the day." Maeve still looked upset, and hesitatingly, Kellen opened one of the snack bags with his teeth and squeezed the snack into his mouth.