Chapter Text
You, for all intents and purposes, knew this was a bad idea. Wind, wearing a spare beanie you owned to cover his pointed ears, bounces in the passenger side. Twilight sits in the back with a large cowboy hat besides a frowning Legend with a spare bandana on to cover their ears. All wearing some of your spare clothes that either barely fit or look too oversized to be normal.
Yet, you take another look in the mirror and softly wince. There’s no way you’re surviving in your two bedroom house with nine human-sized men wearing only one outfit. Ones that don’t really work for a modern world. Besides, you don’t want to share clothes on a daily basis with men that roughhouse for fun. And you feared what modern deodorant would do to unprepared skin, but that’s more a personal concern than theirs.
“So are we going back to that old lady?” Wind asks, ever so curious. You shake your head in quick denial as you turn on your blinker. Turn complete, you answer, “Nah, as much as Nonna has opinions on everything, her store’s only thing is food. So, we’re heading to a different place.”
Admittedly, you could take them to the clothes store across the road of Nonna’s. Easier, and probably a better deal on them too. But, news spreads far too quickly in the small suburbs and you’d rather not have any nosy neighbors peeping around. Instead, you’re driving to the city over for your mental sanity.
“And why did you bring us along?” Legend sighs before hissing tightly as you go over a speed bump.
You have a long prepared reason for him. One hand leaves the wheel to point at the three individuals.
At Wind. “Second shortest, easiest to match to Four and a reason to shop without questioning in the kid’s section.”
At Twilight. “Broadest shoulders, I’ll be able to work off the other tall ones from him.”
Then Legend. “You match Hyrule and Wild in lanky builds. Besides, you look like you have some good opinions on fashion.”
That appeased the shorter man. Even if you can’t tell through the rear view mirror if that frown is happier or neutral to your words. You take what you can get.
“Are we there yet?” Three groans follow after the sailor’s question.
+~+
There’s a reason you keep a quiet life. The hustle and bustle of city life being something more uncomfortable than just an active HOA. All those people living out a life you’re peeking into just felt like a big problem. The skyscrapers that cover each sunset and sunrise with just how much they look over humanity. A feeling of being a single being floating in a sea of activity. Such a dream wasn’t for you. Besides, it was probably for the best when you hardly had time to be surrounded by the afternoon traffic.
Cars blare their horns and you even catch sight of certain fingers being flung about as each so-called important business folks hurry back to their workplace. All while you four quietly sit in the middle of the storm.
“It’s busier than the other place,” Wind quietly admits, hands restlessly moving.
“Yeah,” you softly agree. One hand leaves the wheel to plop on his beanie covered head. “But I’m glad for the company.”
He shoots you a small smile, even if he playfully shakes your hand off. The other two shown in the rearview mirror seem to adapt to your ease even if their shoulders remain hunched away from the doors.
“What’s their problem?” Twilight asks, watching as a car speeds past you with a man screaming at his wheel. You merely hum, “Best guess is road rage.”
Legend sneers, “And this is…normal?”
“Expected even,” you sigh as your eyes flick to the clock. Some minutes have passed and you’ve barely cleared a foot. You can hear the memory of Boss Man’s voice chastising you about timing once again.
Wind turns the radio up a notch, arms finally at the proper length to fiddle about. The pop song floats through the air with its bubbly tune as you four watch the traffic slowly fix itself.
“And it’s gone just like that?” Twilight murmurs as your car glides back to its earlier speed. “Where is it they all go?”
You let yourself sweep your gaze across the road. Various cars of numerous makes and colors speed by in a hurry. Some pull up to tight packed apartments while others hurry to large and imposing buildings meant to make a statement of some sort. All living and working for their dreams. Your eyes turn back to the road.
“Who knows.” You shrug. “Probably back to work, which means it’ll be easier to go shopping. Less folks and all.”
Pulling at the wheel, the car turns with ease into a large parking area. There’s a couple cars scattered around, so not that bad. A small grin settles as you say, “Speaking of such, we’re here, gents.”
Three pairs of eyes immediately scrutinize the area as you merely watch. Wind takes it in with the excitement of a kid ready to explore and plunder such a large area. Twilight looks more and more like a country boy just by how lost he looks at the bewildering size of such a shopping center. All while Legend looks more like he regrets agreeing to come at your offer.
You’re the first out of the car, shoes hardly making a noise against the asphalt. The other three slowly follow, testing their weights against the new type of road. Twilight sniffs before coughing. When he finishes, you tilt your head in question.
“It smells…wrong,” the man answers with a frown. “Like corruption of some sort.”
The other two hylians try to sniff the air as well, crinkling their noses at the odd odor. You, long used to humanity’s downsides, sighs, “Yeah, don’t breathe it in too much. But welcome boys to the mall.”
+~+
“Are you sure I can’t help you?” A persistent shop attendant asks nervously, eyes flicking about the scene before her.
Twilight and Legend are arguing something fierce. While the shorter man looks more upset about something all while Twilight looks more ready to toss Legend across the store. You weren’t there for all that madness, having been busy hunting Wind down from the throngs of cloth and people.
You give the poor worker a short smile. “Just peachy.”
The second her back turns, you let a sigh escape from that tightly restrained place of your patience. While perhaps this chaos was a creation of your own making, you’ve decided to make like Victor Frankenstein and leave for a better place. Namely just to check once more where Wind could possibly be.
“What are they doing now? I could hear them over this stupid music. Louder than any pair of seagulls I’ve ever heard.” Speak of the cretin and he shall appear.
You let your eyes linger on the frowning pair for a moment longer before looking down. Wind meets your gaze, hands busy holding up a large pile of bits and bobs. While the good majority appears to be the clothing apparel like you had hoped, you can see some hints of plastic shine through the weak cover.
“Uh huh,” you hum as you lift a finger to move aside a sleeve. Just under it lies the brightly designed packaging of a monster truck box. You raise a brow at the teen.
The item is quickly hidden away, not without bringing to light some other items that most definitely are not the clothes you asked him to obtain. The pirate’s words come out strong as he laughs, “Can’t blame me if there’s treasure lying all about.”
“I mean I could,” you sniff as you see the hint of a green dollar bill poke out. “But I’m just gonna let you have fun this time. You haven’t gotten every person in this darn store’s attention at least.”
Your last sentence is raised, targeted to a specific pair. They both look at you, and you just know their ears are flicking at you in heightened emotions. And as much as you loathe to draw attention to yourself, you wave them over.
“Mind telling me what the whole screaming match was about?” You ask because you should probably be a proper guide in this world. Or maybe just in case you have to lie to security but that’s neither here nor now.
Legend has the soured look again. That one he held since most of your decisions through the day and probably the majority of his time spent near you. You’d consider it his resting face if you were trying to be truthful. All while the veteran huffs, “Farm boy can’t figure out what even matches properly.”
Lifting an obnoxiously orange shirt up, the hylian in question frowns. “I don’t see what the issue is. You’ll be easy to spot in a crowd like this.”
“Precisely!” Legend throws his hands up as a fire alights in his eyes. “You’d be a walking target with such an atrocity.”
“Well, we ain’t in Hyrule anymore. No reason to be chased or to chase.” The gritted out statement was true, but you can hear the uncertainty lingering underneath. It’s short, but there’s a longing wariness that whistles through the low tones. You wonder, ever so briefly, if this was Twilight’s way of trying to test the boundaries of this world. To see if something dark and malice filled wandered as well into this mundane universe.
Legend backs off. Maybe he heard the same emotion you did or maybe the fight has been drained from the fact of his sword brother’s words. There's that tense look in his eyes, the one that never fully died off since the first night you met him. Not just directed at you, but his comrades burned a notch lighter than you in his sight as well. Nevertheless, you take a step in between like you were just passing by.
Delicately plucking the shirt and its kin from the meager pile in Twilight’s arms, you consider multiple things. Twilight has his shoulders set, determination with an odd defensive touch ringing through. Though, you can’t help the shudder down your spine at the mismatched batch of clothing. You swear you can even see sequin covered bellbottoms flaring in ancient glory. Twilight’s pride be damned, you gotta fix this.
“Legend.” The man stiffens at your lackluster tone. “You have my full permission to make sure Time and Warriors don’t kill me for Twilight’s choices.”
“Wha? That ain’t fair, I was doing fine on my own,” the rancher argues. You pause briefly, eyes settling on a pair of jeans with small rhinestones on the hems. Uh huh. So as a compromise, you offer, “Then tell me what that argument was about fully and I’ll let you make all the choices. I know it wasn’t just about the color of a shirt.”
It’s the result you expected. Twilight swings his head away, unsettled displeasure obvious. You suspect that you probably won’t know for some time. Not that you should peek into private affairs when you have the chance.
Legend marches to Twilight and drags him off with a quiet grumble. They’ll be fine. Even if you see the hints of another tense conversation brewing in their thoughts. Well, at least you’ll be out of sight by then.
And then there were two. You look back at Wind and see a face you haven’t seen in some time. Observing and playfully calculating. A smile grows on his sun tanned cheeks as he hums, “For someone who swears she isn’t all that caring, you sure don’t stick to your words all that much.”
“Hmm,” you nonchalantly drawl, “I always thought I was at least honest in one part of my conversations.”
“For sure, for sure…But ya sure don’t tell everything, huh?”
“Meh, as I said, ask any question and I’ll tell the truth.”
“But is it the full truth?”
“…Depends on the question, I suppose.”
“So if I really asked about how you felt about us then you’d answer with complete honesty?”
“Pirate’s honor. Wait, don’t pirates lie a lot actually? Ugh, nevermind.”
The teen snickers, seemingly aware of your style. Still, you let him have this moment. You even let a hand plop onto his head again as he pushes against it. Fully a sibling from his soul. You could enjoy such peace. At least until you hear the speakers over the store go off.
“If a Miss Y/n could come to the registers please. Misters…Twilight and Legend are waiting for you.”
You sigh, that last shred of patience slipping away in the breeze. “Remind me to beat your brothers’ butts later.”
“I think Time and Wars will help you make them walk the plank too,” Wind offers as he follows after you. Hasn’t even been a good five minutes and you’re back to fixing stuff. You wonder if this is what your boss and brother meant. Then you shrug it off as you already hear the loud shouting from the front. You’d consider those words later, if you don’t end up busy once more.