day 28 - getting injured
It was a hot day, and they'd already been outside for several hours. Seto could see that Mary's legs were wobbling as they made their way up the hill on the way home, but when he offered to carry her, she refused.
"I can do it myself," she huffed, gathering her skirts around her. He shrugged and continued walking.
Mary had been trying to get stronger lately, and he did think it was admirable, but sometimes he wished she'd just accept his help in some things. He looked back over his shoulder at her struggling up the hill, her face red with exertion. He slowed to a stop to wait for her.
"At least let me tie your hair up—" he said helplessly, knowing the heat was what was making her so grumpy in the first place.
She opened her mouth to reply and swayed dangerously on the edge of the curb. He reached over to catch her arm, and in the end that was what caused her to topple over and fall off the sidewalk.
"Mary!"
With a crash, she hit the ground. Seto cringed and knelt down next to her. "Are you okay?"
Her eyes welled up with tears but she dashed them away angrily, bolting to her feet. She almost fell again.
"…I think I sprained my ankle," she grumbled, shifting to stand on one foot she didn't put any weight on the other. Seto didn't know anything about medical things so he had no way of knowing whether she was right or not. He looked up at her.
"Please at least let me carry you home," he urged, and after a second, she nodded and climbed onto his back. He lifted her easily. Seto held her on carefully, trying not to move her injured ankle too much, and she wrapped her arms around neck for stability. He didn't ask her any more questions; he had the feeling that if he tried to make her speak she would cry. It was hot, and she had too much hair, and his body heat was probably only making it worse for her. With that thought in mind, he sped up the pace as he walked home.
When they reached the base, he shouldered open the door and went straight to the kitchen, setting her down gently on the counter top. She looked less on the verge of tears, but there was still the set to her round jaw and the wrinkle between her eyebrows that meant she was Not Pleased. Her ankle was starting to swell.
"Let me get you some ice," he said hurriedly, going to the freezer. Mary thumped her uninjured heel against the cupboards, holding her hurt leg out an awkward angle. When he came back with a dish towel and pressed the ice to it carefully, she hissed between her teeth.
"It hurts," she grumbled, tucking her chin to her chest. He frowned in sympathy.
"The ice will help," he told her, pulling it away to re-wrap the dish towel properly.
Mary gave a little sigh. "I scraped my knees too." Seto had missed that in his worry over her ankle, but when he checked she had a scrape on both knees. One of them was pretty deep, and a trickle of blood was starting to make its way down her shin. He handed her the icepack and she pressed it to her own ankle as he hurried to get bandages too.
He returned with a paper towel, which he used to wipe up the blood, and some sort of disinfectant. "This'll sting," he warned, as he carefully applied it. She nodded, but flinched anyway when it touched the scrapes. He quickly covered them with gauze, then stood back.
Mary looked like a mess. The gauze on her knees was sloppily applied, and she had both legs pulled up onto the counter so she could hold the ice to her ankle. She was gross and sweaty and she looked miserable.
"It still hurts," she complained, and stuck her leg out for him to see. Seto remembered when he was a kid and would come home with bruises and cuts all the time. He remembered how Ayaka or Ayano would kiss the bruise and tell him they'd made it better.
He leaned down and kissed her knee a few inches above the scrape. When he straightened up, her face was bright red.
"Feels better?" he asked, his voice mild.
She shook her head, flushing. "No!" she protested, and went back to holding the ice against her ankle, but she seemed happier anyway.
