4 Leaf Clover - ᴹˣᴹˣᴹˣᴹ

14.

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Once all of them were back in the house, Clover felt a hand on his shoulder which compelled him to sit on one of the stools at the kitchen island. Clover glanced back at Yuki who was opening cupboards looking for something. He eventually hauled out a dark green container clasped shut with a thick white plastic latch. He placed it down in front of him on the island and emptied it. Clover noticed the lid of the container had a white first-aid symbol.

"What happened?" Elio questioned as he stood beside Yuki who was rummaging through the first-aid.

"He broke his finger," Yuki said casually while pulling out a small wrap to tie it to another finger.

Clover, embarrassed, pulled out his hand from his coat pocket and put it on the bench so Elio and Finley could get a satisfactory look at it. It was aching, like a stinging sensation each time he attempted to move it but surprisingly Clover wasn't too disturbed with the pain. It wasn't pointing at any uncomfortable angle, it was merely turning more black as time passed.

"Oh, Jesus," Elio said, his face pulling back into a grimace, despite his career choice, seeing injuries never made him better accustomed to them.

Clover was almost beguiled to say 'Don't say the lord's name in vain', a casual daily slogan for his parents. Instead, he chuckled at Elio's grimace and left it at that. Yuki took a look at the finger, gently raised it and squeezed it in places driving the stinging sensation to escalate to a searing pain.

"Sorry, I have to see how bad it's fractured you see," He explained and Clover nodded, his lack of knowledge about such things was obvious.

Yuki placed the wrap over his inoperable pinkie finger, and then a second wrap over his ring finger, securing the two together with minimal activity. Clover thanked him, and carefully manoeuvred his coat off and onto a peg. Clover desired to thank him more, show his gratitude for what he did and for damaging his feet while sprinting to him. He wandered back over and witnessed Yuki had taken Clover's shoes off to study his feet.

"What did you do?" Elio asked, taking some medicinal wipes out of the first aid kit.

Clover gently seized it from Elio's hands and bowed down to sit on his knees. Despite the tiled floor harming his knees, Clover sat calmly and lifted Yuki's feet in the air to wipe them clean. He wanted to make sure Yuki's feet weren't hurting, they weren't dirty and they wouldn't get infected if he was wounded. He started cleaning it with gentle hands, looking up occasionally at Yuki to see if he was accidentally hurting him.

"So..." Elio announced awkwardly, "What happened?"

"Um," Finley took the initiative, "Yuki and I were arguing and Clover left so we ran after him,"

Both Yuki and Clover subconsciously agreed, not wanting to escalate the problem or make Elio uncomfortable with the fact Yuki and Finley were squabbling about Clover. Elio nodded, suspicious and went to the fridge to look through it.

"Are you not going to change out of your uniform?" Yuki questioned and Elio looked down and nodded.

Clover finished cleaning both of Yuki's feet, he found no wounds or bleeding but his feet were red regardless. He didn't have the knowledge in his mind to know how to relieve his feet so he gently began messaging them.

"You don't have to do that," Yuki coughed out and Clover hastily removed himself and apologised.

"Are you blushing Yuki?" Finley teased, pinching a part of Yuki's cheek between his forefinger and thumb.

Clover took a quick peek at Yuki - he was surprised to discover that the skin under Yuki's eyes was tinged pink, almost as if he had been drinking. The very tips of his ears, nearly concealed under his lengthy black hair were tinted a very deep red, slightly more than beneath his eyes. In turn, Yuki's deep blush set Clover's face alight with a hot flush.