Number Four

Eye Contact

One pushed open the door to the room to see Four with her head in her hands. "Oh no, no, Four. Darling, don't cry."

She lowered one of her hands from her face as he came to comfort her. "I'm not crying. My eye is bleeding." She spread the fingers of her other hand and blood trickled through.

"Oh dear. Here, let me see; look at me." He pulled from his pocket a stark white handkerchief, and, tilting her head up, nudged her hand from her face and gently held it over her eye. "It should stop in a few moments."

Four huffed irritably. "Why does it do that?"

"It's something to do with your powers." He responded mildly. "Eye contact does seem to be a part of it for you. I think it stimulates a different part of your brain to the others, so different blood vessels get stressed first. I've seen some of your brain scans; they're quite fascinating."

Four huffed again. "It's ridiculous, that's what it is. Nose, eyes, whatever, it's ridiculous."

"So you are upset." He tilted his head sympathetically, looking at her with soft eyes. Slowly, he removed the handkerchief from her eye to look. "I think it's stopped now. Although you might want to wash your face."

Suddenly, Four was very aware of how close he was to her; which was odd, as they were normally very close, at least when alone, being a lot more comfortably touchy with each other than either of them were with the rest. Perhaps it was the way her was looking at her; like he had suddenly become very aware too, his oh-so-inviting eyes skimming across her face, their faces close enough to touch, his throat bobbing nervously like he didn't know what to do.

And then, he lent down and licked the streak of blood from her cheek.

Four sniggered, wrinkling her nose. "What are you doing?"

He simply smiled. Folding up the handkerchief, white now stained with red, he slipped it into his pocket and offered her his hand. "Come on. Let's go before they really start to miss you."