Chapter 347: Friendships that last forever, with the Captain
"Gunther, are you in there?" Rhys asked, knocking on the door. There was a soft chuckle on the other side before the other man opened it up. He looked...okay. He was in the Guild’s gym clothes, his hair around his shoulders. It was at least brushed this time, unlike when he’d been by before, and the split lip was healing nicely. The other things were fixed with Green’s healing power, but for some reason he wanted to keep the split lip.
Rhys knew he should have asked some questions, but he didn’t want to.
"Where the hell else am I going, Rhys? Or should I call you Captain Thatcher?" Gunther joked, his lips turning up in a smile, but his eyes weren’t laughing. Hill sighed, while Rhys felt his heart squeeze painfully.
"Oh don’t be mean. He comes to visit you as much as he can. With two Lieutenant’s benched, he’s got his hands full. Now let us in, fucker." Hill stepped forward, pushing Gunther out of the way while Rhys watched Gunther with pained eyes. Gunther only took his eyes off of him as Hill marched further into the room. Rhys stepped inside, closing the door behind him.
At least now the couch wasn’t destroyed, the kitchen was in one piece, and Gunther seemed...okay on the outside. Rhys knew he was probably lying to everyone, biding his time until he got free to do whatever he wanted.
Rhys had done the same thing when he’d first been declared an S Class Esper and everyone thought he was a monster. Fuck.
"I’m sorry." Rhys said, and both Gunther and Hill paused. Gunther turned, an incredulous look on his face.
"Now you’re apologising?" He said and Rhys winced at the look of pure mockery on his face. "Oh, how kind." He snorted and Rhys sighed softly.
"You have every right to mock me. I should have apologised earlier. I should have...there are a lot of things I should have done." Rhys trailed off. He clenched his hands tightly, dropping his gaze before he looked up and met his gaze again. "When you told me about what you and Casper had done, or what Casper had done to you, I should have...I shouldn’t have supported it. I should have told you it was wrong. I was just so caught up in the realisation that we had taken two different approaches to our shared history that I was...I was in shock." Rhys swallowed. "I’m sorry, Gunther. I should have realised it sooner. I was too...I was self absorbed, or I had put blinders on. I didn’t want to see how you were hurting, and I thought being with Casper would fix it for you. That wasn’t the right answer, and in the end I hurt everyone." Hill’s face twisted from behind Gunther.
She opened her mouth, about to say something before she shut it, shaking her head. Gunther was silent, his expression softening from the pure mockery and scorn that it had been before, but Rhys wasn’t able to tell what he was thinking.
"What do you mean that we had two different approaches?" Gunther asked and Rhys made a pained face.