4 Leaf Clover - ᴹˣᴹˣᴹˣᴹ

26.

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Elio eventually arrived home after an exhausting day - even though the 40-minute drive home was tiring, Elio was excited to arrive home and see his favourite people. He put on a smile as he strolled into the house, he followed the rackety commotion in the kitchen and stopped at the dishevelled sight. A lot of spilt gravy was covering the marble benches, and the sink was full of appliances needing to be washed.

"What the fuck..."

Clover and Finley pivoted to Elio was was watching their backs. Finley and Clover had become artists after cooking all the food, and they plated their cooked food as if they were chefs. They smiled at each other, then at Elio. Clover slowly brought a plate to the Island and made Elio sit down.

"What is this?" Elio questioned, looking at the food, he had to admit, it did look delicious.

"We made it together because we knew you would be tired," Clover answered as Finley covered up a plate to keep it warm for Yuki.

Elio smiled sweetly, he wanted to embrace them for thinking of him while he was working horrendous hours. It made his chest fill with fondness for the men, and not only that he was willing to devour this food. Whether it was awful or not, he would eat it and make sure that Clover and Finley knew that he appreciated their endeavours. The rice was flawlessly cooked and the chicken looked nicely seasoned. The potatoes looked a little soft, probably over-boiled but Elio didn't mind.

He cut up the chicken first and took a bite of it. He looked at Clover and Finley who sat beside him and offered them a thumbs up. He was pleasantly surprised by the food, and he was proud of the two who never usually cooked. A lot of the time, Elio and Yuki were the ones who cooked meals and Finley liked to bake here and there but he was accident-prone. He was surprised to see a full edible meal. Then, he spotted Clover's finger.

"What happened?" Elio asked as he picked up Clover's unattended hand.

"I cut myself using the peeler," Clover announced, slightly embarrassed.

Elio let out a little chuckle, hoping his reaction would make Clover feel a little better about his apparent humiliation. Clover smiled and went back to eating. The three of them made idle conversation, talking about their days a work, Clover learned that Finley was out in the field a lot, making arrests whereas Elio liked being behind the desk more and did a lot of the filing of criminals and the difficult writing stuff.

"Anyway, all of us are doing something this weekend," Elio stated, "I was thinking we could go camping or something,"

"Yuki won't enjoy that," Finley laughed as he collected the dishes and put them on the pile in the sink.

"Yeah well, he needs to leave the house sometimes," Elio laughed, "He can't be a hermit forever,"

"I guess he could just bring loads of books," Finley shrugged.

Clover followed the conversation quietly, until Elio turned to him with a small smile.

"Have you ever been camping?" Elio asked him, and Clover thought about it for a second.

"No," Clover answered, "But I'd like to,"

"Good, then we're going," Elio announced and Clover let out a laugh.

It was true that he had never been camping before - he had never stayed a night in a tent or been out around the woods in the dark. His mother was very superstitious and believed ghosts and demons stalked in wooded areas because of the rituals that took place hundreds of years ago. She believed unlived places had hauntings and could possess the soul if you remained there. So, camping was a no-go in his family. However, there were times when his family would set up campfires in their own backyard, and sing hymns and bible verses together.

A sudden ring of the doorbell set everyone on edge for a second, till Elio acknowledged it might be the items they ordered for Clover. He stood up, Finley quick to follow him to the door. Clover saw the seriousness coming from them and shadowed behind them cautiously. Elio peeked through the lookout hole and sighed.

"Just packages," Elio whispered before he pulled open the door.

Clover heard a few voices before Elio gathered up a box and locked the door. He followed the two men to the sitting room and glanced at the plain brown box that was placed on the coffee table. He turned to Elio who was already looking at him expectantly.

"It's for you," Elio said.

Clover looked surprised and remembered the three men said they wanted to shop for him. He sat down beside both of them and dragged the heavy box onto his lap. He used all of his force the tear it open, and then he took a peek inside. Clover was satisfied to report it was some books to put on his bookshelves in his room. He examined each book, some were romantic, and some were fantasy, but the last one captured his eye. A blue cover, with a small bow and arrow in the centre.

"Thank you," Clover said, "I'll make sure to read them all,"

Elio chuckled, "There's more packages due by the end of the week,"

Clover didn't really know what to say to that, he was thankful to have such considerate friends who desired to make him more comfortable here. As the night darkened, and Finley had put on a movie, Clover couldn't help but not pay attention. It was a suitable movie, with a lot of comedy and action scenes but Clover's attention was robbed by the blue book sitting at the top of the box. Elio leaned over and whispered to him.

"Take it upstairs if you want,"

Clover almost shook his head as if he refused to be disrespectful by not watching the movie, but he remembered that the men cuddling on the couch wouldn't mind at all if he wanted to start putting the books away. Clover thanked Elio quietly and gathered up the box. He sneaked his way upstairs and into his room. He picked the books up and positioned them delicately onto the shelves. He stood back and looked at the fuller shelves - that blue book was really striking.

Clover picked it up and turned it over to the back where the blurb was. He read the words, and a feeling of nostalgia hit his bones. He was nearly positive he had read the words somewhere. Was this the book he had been looking for? Although he had forgotten the title of it, and the cover was different than a few years ago, he was sure he had remembered the similarities of the blurb. Was this truly the very book that had made him realise the world was a lot different to how his parents made it out to be? Was this the book that made him realise just who he could be?

He took it to his bed and opened the first page, ready to read himself asleep.