Chapter 301: A velvet man and a fuck boy walk into a bar...

The morning of the press conference finally came.

It honestly couldn’t come soon enough in Kellen’s mind. Between everything that had happened with Elder Ellis and Rhys, how nervous Brent was, and the strange attitude that the others around him had, Kellen was just glad to get this over with.

This was the first hurdle that they needed to get over to start the war he’d wanted to wage on E.A.G. members. Sure, some could be salvaged, Carlos was a good example of that, but Kellen didn’t care about those members. He wanted to hunt down the ones who had been hurting people over and over.

Killing Guides, killing innocents, harming the general public. Kellen was feeling a little blood-thirsty and the only blood that would satiate him was theirs. There was a small part of him that was sure Rhys would offer up his body on a silver platter if Kellen wanted it, but that thought was quickly pushed to the back of his mind as Uncle Parker entered the small meeting room where his group was scheduled to meet.

After all, Kellen needed to become the fabric background that they would be speaking in front of, so his makeup process was going to take a while.

A makeup artist was already there, and to Kellen’s surprise, they seemed to get along with Uncle Parker quite well. In fact, Kellen narrowed his eyes, they seemed to be wearing the same wedding bands.

It was a detail Kellen previously would have never noticed. The man didn’t care about things that didn’t matter to him, but ever since he’d begun thinking about weddings and rings and marking Rhys as his, he’d been more aware of such things. He wondered if that happened to everyone when they started wanting someone to be more of a part of their lives, and then brushed that thought out of his mind.

Uncle Parker beamed at Kellen, his hand firmly planted on the younger person’s shoulder. From Kellen’s perspective, he couldn’t quite tell if they were a boy or a girl. It was leaving Kellen at a bit of a loss while Uncle Parker continued to smile as they continued to set up the body paint.

"Kellen, this is my partner, Salem. They don’t go by she or he, but they/them." Uncle Parker said carefully, and Kellen watched as Salem raised their eyes, meeting Kellen’s. They were, in fact, wearing a lot of make up around their eyes and on their face so Kellen thought they were perfect for helping him get ready. Their eyes looked...smokey? Was that a makeup term?

He vaguely remembered Gwen saying something about smokey looks when he lived with them still and she was just getting into makeup, but he didn’t feel confident in that. What he could tell was that they had put a lot of effort into making their brown eyes prettier, and their face paler, and their lips darker.

Kellen nodded slowly, and then gave a thumbs up.

"Cool. If I get it wrong the first few times, please don’t get mad. It’s very much not intentional." Kellen told them and watched as Salem blinked a few times, before they seemed to flush.

"I see." They said softly, and even their voice confused Kellen. Not too high, not too low. He bet they had to be on some kinds of drugs like Sakura had taken, but even he knew it was rude to ask, so he didn’t. Kellen realised he was being rude as he hadn’t introduced himself.

It must be the nerves over the whole situation. He would never disrespect Uncle Parker like this otherwise. He shoved his hand towards Salem, offering it with a smile.

"Name’s Kellen. I’ve known Uncle Parker for years now. I won’t call you Aunt or Uncle since that doesn’t seem like something you’d like." Kellen said and watched as Salem turned another shade of pink and Uncle Parker laughed.

"Kellen, be nice." He joked and Kellen felt his eyes go wide.

"I am being nice. Very nice, I think! This is the first time you’ve introduced us and I am being very respectful. Honestly, you should worry that I tell them bad stories about you from my childhood and all of the stuff you used to get up to. Though I think Dad would be worse." Kellen argued. Uncle Parker laughed, relaxing, and Kellen watched as Salem seemed to relax when he did.

They had to be a civilian, and meeting so many powerful people was probably pretty scary. Kellen only regretted that he wasn’t as soft as others in this moment because it would gut him if he scared his Uncle’s partner.

"You’re here to help with my makeup for today, right?" Kellen asked and Salem jerked, nodding their head.

"I-I am. I’m not a full professional, but I used to help out on film sets occasionally." They said and Kellen nodded.

"That’s fine. It’s better than anyone else can do, and I appreciate the help. Plus, if you’re half as good at doing your own makeup as you are doing someone else’s, we’ll be fine." Kellen said, offering another sincere smile as he sat. "Do I need to strip off any of my layers, or do you want me clothed?" Kellen asked, getting down to business.

Salem, for their part, seemed rather confused and a little flustered. They slid a look towards Uncle Parker, who just grinned.

"I told you not to worry about Kellen. He doesn’t care. He’s never cared about that kind of thing, sweetie. He’s a good guy who just cares if you’re competent at your job, and you are, so don’t worry, Salem." Uncle Parker said. Kellen nodded, sitting down across from Salem in the chair he assumed was for him.

It wasn’t like anyone else was getting painted like a backdrop.

"Exactly. While I don’t expect you to be comfortable with me, it’s not like you’re the first person I’ve met who doesn’t want to go with what everyone else does, and like Uncle Parker said, I don’t care as long as you’re happy, healthy, and not hurting anyone else." Kellen said, nodding. Uncle Parker chuckled.

"They’ve been worried about meeting the others because they think that the Espers or Guides would judge them like the civilians do." Uncle Parker said and Kellen watched as Salem’s face turned down in a scowl. It was clear that they didn’t like Uncle Parker talking to them like this. Kellen chuckled.

"That’s the one thing I think they wouldn’t judge about. I would honestly brace them for being babied. They’re weaker inherently compared to Guides, so Espers are going to want to coddle them as a whole. It’ll be dangerous in that regard. They’ll try to herd you to ’safer’ locations. Espers are notorious for this and you’ve probably noticed that Uncle Parker has been doing the same to you." Kellen pointed out. Uncle Parker coughed while Salem seemed to find some reality in Kellen’s words.

Their head snapped back, finding Uncle Parker and glaring at the older man who coughed again and turned his head away.

"You have a lot of explaining to do when we get home." Salem warned and Kellen snorted.

"Sorry. I didn’t mean to stir up anything, but they do have a right to know. I do the same to my Guides, Uncle Parker. Don’t hide anything from your partner, especially if you’re married." Kellen warned. Salem glanced at Kellen, scanning him, before an air of professionalism came over them.

"Thank you for the advice. In regards to what you asked earlier, can you strip your top layers off and change into the bottoms that you’ll be wearing if you’re not already wearing them? I want to see what I need to change, if anything, when it comes to your outfit." They said and Kellen nodded.

~

After that, it was a fairly painless process. Salem, much like Izzy, was very good at their job. It only took them an hour or so to get Kellen ready and when they compared him to the background fabric, over and over, he blended in. In different lights, if it was windy, all of it. Kellen was painted, ready, and strapped. It was a bit unnerving when he walked around the Guild and everyone would jump when they saw him, but maybe that was what he wanted at the same time.

After all, he wanted to startle people. That’s why he was painted this way.

When he went to check on Brent and make sure he was doing okay, he nearly stopped in the doorway. Someone was adjusting his tie, an older man that Kellen had seen around but couldn’t remember the name of. He seemed to know Brent well enough since he was letting the man get close to him, but Kellen was frozen in the doorway for a different reason.

"You look like you have old money." Kellen said from the doorway and the people in the room looked towards him. Brent glanced at Kellen, opening his mouth to respond before his eyes bulged out of his face and he burst out laughing. The older man helping Brent didn’t seem to like his reaction, but he didn’t stop him either.

"What the fuck? You look fucking ridiculous." Brent snorted, trying to control his laughter but he couldn’t seem to stop. Kellen frowned, but he supposed, no one could tell that he was. Uncle Xavier, who was in the room tapping away on a tablet similar to Pamela’s, snorted. He covered his mouth, his shoulders shaking.

"I was worried you were going to commit a fashion crime, but I shouldn’t have. Wow, who did the painting? You look...good. Like a curtain." Uncle Xavier said and Kellen blinked.

"I’m supposed to be a curtain. Of course they made me look like a curtain." Kellen said it like it was obvious and Uncle Xavier smiled.

"Well, they did do that. You almost look...velvet? We decided on the velvet background?" Uncle Xavier seemed a little confused about that, which was surprising since he was in charge. Kellen felt the blood drain from his body.

"Am I painted the wrong colour?" He asked, horrified, and Brent giggled.

"We can change out the background, Kellen, especially since you went so far as to-" He burst out into laughter again. "Oh god, I hope they get photos. Did you take any next to the background yet? You need to. I want to play guess where Kellen is with others. Especially when drunk." Brent kept laughing while Kellen looked over the other man.

He was in a cream suit, but it had beige pinstripes down the fabric. It suited the blond-haired man well, and fit his body perfectly. He wore a pale green dress shirt, probably a nod to his eye colour, with an even darker shade of green tie. His shoes were beige to match the pinstripes and his hair was styled perfectly.

If it wasn’t for his scars on his face, he’d look every inch the pretty, old money fuck boy that Brent made his persona for most of his life. Yet the man was laughing at him, when both of them were dressed up to hide who they really were? Ridiculous.

"Yeah, and I hope they have plenty of photos of you, Mr. Jameson." Kellen drawled and watched as Brent scowled.

"How dare you. It’s Guide Jameson, and Mr. James. Get it right." Brent muttered, fluffing his jacket. Kellen rolled his eyes, but was glad that Brent was in a good mood. He’d need it to get through this hell.