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"When- When did this happen?" Yellow stared at the burn scars that ran down Blue's calves.
The two had been hanging out in Blue's bedroom, having a simple chat and Blue had turned in the swivel chair to grab something, forgetting that he was wearing shorts.
Yellow had been quick to notice what Blue had been trying to hide from the group for the past week.
"I……" Blue trailed off, his eyes darting to the floor. He was biting his lip in frustration, clearly internally beating himself up over his mistake in wearing shorts in the first place. The alchemist hadn't expected Yellow to drop in right before bedtime and the siblings had gotten so caught up in laughing conversation that Blue had completely forgotten to be careful.
"Those look like they hurt…" Yellow leaned over to get a closer look, not touching the wounds yet, but certainly looking them over. His mind was visibly whirling with ideas and possible solutions, a thoughtful aspect to his expression that Blue recognized easily as Yellow's typical problem-solving face.
"They're bearable," Blue spoke softly, ignoring a particularly inconvenient wave of pain that spiked and rushed down the wounds; an occasional side effect he'd been concealing over the last several days. "They should be gone in a bit. It only looks bad because the whole Minecraft-almost-getting-destroyed thing wasn't too long ago."
"Where?" Yellow prodded gently, scooting closer to his older brother and trying to make eye contact with the cagey, embarrassed stick beside him. "Where did it happen? How?"
"I was- It- When-" Blue tried to find his words, and in the process accidentally moved his leg into the side of the swivel chair's desk. Blue yelped involuntarily and Yellow jerked his head to the injured leg at the same moment.
"Here, let me see," Yellow sighed softly and slowly reached for Blue's left leg.
Blue stiffened, but allowed Yellow to grab his foot and carefully position the leg onto the soft bed so the engineering stick could get a better look at it in the light.
The marks were a greyed out, more faded shade of blue, an unhealthy and sickly color compared to the rest of him. Some of the burn stripes resembled spattered droplets and were positioned closer to Blue's knees, the highest of the wounds. The lower areas of the wounds, that covered all of his feet as well as his ankles, resembled the markings of a dampened pair of jeans after splashing in a puddle.
Blue had been dipped into something very hot. But the only substance that Yellow could think of that scalding had to be…. surely not….
"Blue…?" Yellow whispered. "Please tell me these aren't… lava wounds… They're not, right? I'm… mistaken?"
Blue met Yellow's eyes directly for the first time since Yellow had noticed the burn spots.
"No. You're right. It was lava."
Yellow's eyelids drooped sadly and he was quick to bend over and wrap Blue in a gentle, firm hug.
Blue accepted the assuring hold, feeling a few stray tears fall down his cheeks. Whether they originated from another spike of pain or gratitude toward his brother, Blue wasn't sure.
"This had to have happened before the Witch…" Yellow thought aloud as he leaned his head over Blue's shoulder and stroked Blue's back comfortingly. "You and I weren't separated much after Reuben beat her into the skies."
"Again…" Blue whispered, voice shaking ever so slightly. "You're right. I was… I was trying to save the baby piglin from the zombified piglin army and I just… ended up in the lava for a few… excruciating seconds…"
Blue sniffled and wiped a tear away, forcibly altering his tone to be light-hearted and even making a short pun as if to distract Yellow. "Heh, Seconds…"
"Blue…" Yellow said softly, not falling for the attempted change in subject. "You know you could have told us, right? Instead of suffering by yourself for the whole week?"
"It's… only been six days…." Blue muttered, latching onto specifics just so he could have something to argue.
"Blue, that's not much better!" Yellow scolded, pulling back from the hug to take hold of Blue's shoulders and stare him down sternly. Blue nervously tittered and then froze in place at the piercing gaze Yellow was giving him.
"Okay," Yellow narrowed his eyes, taking a hand and pushing up his glasses in an authoritative manner. Blue gulped softly, knowing that whatever Yellow would say next, was going to happen and there was nought Blue could do about it.
"Here is what's going to happen," Yellow continued. "You and I are going downstairs to the dining room. I am going to slather your legs in burn cream from the kitchen first-aid kit. Then I will bandage you up and you will go to sleep."
Blue was still frozen in place at the stern expression that graced Yellow's features.
Yellow raised an eyebrow and shook Blue's shoulders ever slightly, "Understand??"
"Yep, yep!" Blue squeaked. "Understood. Very understood."
"And one more thing," Yellow's glasses glinted in the light with an almost, but not quite, menacing aura that boasted a wordless threat. "I am carrying you there. Don't you even think about hobbling about right now."
Blue knew better than to argue, only letting out the briefest of sighs as he allowed his younger brother –good thing the quadruplets were all pretty equal in strength– to carefully lift him up in a cradling position. Blue found himself increasingly grateful that everyone else had gone to bed already and wouldn't see his flushed, darkened blue face…. or the wounds.
Yellow was gentle, setting Blue on the couch with a soft smile that held nothing short of pure love and concern for him. Though there was still a fond exasperation underlying his features.
Yellow wasn't even gone for half a minute before coming back with the first-aid kit, already in the process of digging through it midair as he walked in the living room.
"Leg," Yellow demanded, in that familiar way he'd usually ask for a wrench or other tool when working.
Blue slowly and painfully shifted his left leg where Yellow knelt on the floor, the blue stick inhaling sharply as another searing rush of pain went through him.
Yellow scooped a small handful of the burn cream into his left hand, and gently grasped Blue’s ankle with his right hand. The instant he touched the cream to part of the burned area, Blue almost hissed at the contact before he felt it.
Relief. Sweet, cold relief that soothed the invisible fire tormenting his legs.
The first time his leg had felt relief since he'd been bearing the wounds.
Blue sighed deeply and his shoulders untensed. He looked up at his brother to see that classic deep-concentration face that was unique to Yellow, interspersed with hints of a –poorly– suppressed smug attitude. Blue could only assume it came from Yellow being right about his earlier point.
Yellow's hand pulled back and Blue let out a light gasp as the pain started to slowly creep back. His eyes shut and he held back tears, upset that the sweet and comforting alleviation of the burns being soothed he'd just experienced leaving him quickly.
"Did that help?" Yellow asked, concern obvious in his tone even though Blue's eyes were closed.
"It did help," Blue's voice hitched as the agonizing sting worsened back to what he'd considered 'normal' for the aggravating wounds. "And then you stopped and it hurts again."
"I worried that the burn cream might not be enough…" Yellow mumbled, looking disheartened but retaining a determination in his eyes nevertheless.
"I worried we might not have been enough," Blue replied softly. "....during the battle. It was so hard to fight because of my legs…"
His voice cracked slightly and Blue had to fight to keep embarrassing tears from falling down his cheeks.
"Wait a minute!" Yellow jumped up, slapping an excited hand to the top of his head as he started pacing and muttering incoherently in an almost excited manner. The hand he'd moved into his hair was still covered in some of the burn cream and therefore made his hair messy, though Yellow paid that fact no mind at all as he whispered to himself, as if debating over something or perhaps trying to work out math in his head to predict if something would work or not.
"Yell?" Blue asked curiously, using the nickname out of habit and also to minimize speaking as it was getting harder to stop bringing his emotional butt to light when his voice stuttered and halted involuntarily. "You… okay?"
"Sh, sh, sh!" Yellow held up a finger, grinning widely as he stared into the distance, somewhat lost in thought. "I have an idea, I think… I just need to remember the right sequence, oh what was it…"
Blue huffed out a laugh at Yellow's behavior, briefly distracted from the ever-burning pain.
"Blue, what if I grabbed the command block staff and instantly healed you that way?" Yellow spoke suddenly, deciding to confront Blue with the thought he'd been pondering.
"The… staff?" Blue said slowly.
"I could give you a healing effect!" Yellow snapped his fingers and met Blue's eyes with a wild, almost unnervingly excited look.
Blue should be more than used to it at this point, but nevertheless he still felt a little weird when Yellow gave him that very 'mad-scientist' expression.
The next thing he knew, Yellow was running off, presumably to grab the staff from wherever he kept it.
Blue didn't even open his mouth to protest before Yellow was gone.
He sighed and fidgeted on the couch. After everything, he was… wary, to say the least, about command blocks. After all, he could name several bad experiences in which the powerful items were involved.
But… it was Yellow who had it now. An apologetic, peaceable gift from King. And Yellow wasn't going to hurt him with it.
Blue eyed the open burn cream container with temptation as his legs flared up again.
And then Yellow was back, dashing into the room and coming to a quick halt with the staff in hand. He fiddled with the input on the block and then nodded in satisfaction.
"I'm ready when you are," Blue said slowly, his hesitancy mingling with his trust in Yellow.
Yellow met his eyes and grinned softly.
"Okay, on three."
Blue held his breath.
"Three!" Yellow shouted impulsively and a beam of white command-block powered light shot out from the staff, hitting Blue.
Blue accidentally let out the breath he was holding as he felt the pain… leaving him??
The white beams of light faded and Blue took a few breaths.
His legs felt normal.
Not the burning normal he'd almost gotten used to, but a painless normal. Like before.
Blue didn't even realize he was crying until Yellow spoke up.
"Oh no! Did it not work?? Where does it hurt, Blue? I'm so sorry!"
"Yellow…" Blue sniffled and he stood up by himself in a completely effortless manner. No struggle, no wince. "I can feel my legs again. No burns."
Yellow's shoulders relaxed and he let out a breathy laugh, setting the staff against the table and sighing in relief. Blue rushed forward and embraced Yellow with vigor, squeezing him gently in pure gratitude and thankfulness.
Yellow held him back, his hands automatically rubbing soothing circles into Blue's back.
"I'm not usually good with words…" Blue started, his hands gripping Yellow tightly as he tried not to cry all over again. He melted into the touch and involuntarily sniffled. "...that's your strong suit. But thank you, Yellow. So much."
"You're welcome, Blue," Yellow whispered softly, his smile obvious in his voice.
The two brothers continued hugging for a bit.
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"Noo!" Red shouted in dismay as he could only watch Blue kick the ball into the net, dipping straight past Second who was supposed to be goalie, but had instead been leaning against the pole of the netting in a sleepy manner.
Green wasn't participating, since he'd been out visiting Purple.
"Yeahhhh!!!" Blue whooped, startling Second into alertness and then prompting a sheepish expression to cross the young hollowhead's face.
"Nice job, Blue!" Yellow cheered, clapping his hands and approaching with Red by his side, Yellow's eyes meeting Blue's knowingly.
"Wh- Since when are you this good at sportsmanship, Yellow??" Red looked confusedly at his older brother and raised an eyebrow. "Usually arguing with Blue is your favorite pastime!"
"Oh, I just feel really glad about something today, Red," Yellow answered simply, his vague statement making Red even more confused.
Blue looked up at Yellow and he smiled softly before going back to cheering and jumping up and down. So. Much. Jumping.
"Yeah," Yellow sighed softly with a smile, observing Blue's joyous behavior with a knowing look. "I'm feeling glad about something and nothing could deter me from that, not even Blue's win."
Red smirked slightly and chuckled under his breath, prompting Yellow to look at him.
Red's next words hit him hard.
"Oh, really?" Red leaned closer to Yellow, a cheeky and mischievous smile adorning his features. "Not even the fact that Blue cheated with a speed potion?"
Yellow's eyebrows shot high and he turned back to Blue, taking a closer look at him… only to see the slightest of and barely visible potion effect swirls, surrounding the blue-shaded sibling.
"BLUUUE!!"
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