a/n: i haven't been feeling too good mentally recently so I'm writing stuff that makes me happy dont mind me lmao

***

"So I think it's safe to say we're the main characters of a book that isn't supposed to have really specific main characters, right?" Zelda said.

Ike and Robin nodded, leaning their heads against either of her shoulders as the three watched something off of Zelda's phone. "I feel like we should add two more people to this little group of ours, though," Robin said. "We could be like a group of besties or something, I don't know."

A chill ran down each of their spines. "That was weird," Zelda said.

"I got a weird feeling of deja vu," Ike said, rubbing his arm. The three looked up simultaneously, they didn't know what they were looking at, but they just felt the need to. Then they looked back at the phone. "Anyway, I can't believe they left us behind."

"Right? We wanted to go to that cabin in the woods too," Robin pouted.

"They probably wanted to avoid you and Zelda's nagging," Ike snickered.

"I can't believe it was October just a couple weeks ago, and yet it's already snowing," Zelda said, looking at the bare backyard. Ike and Robin looked at her with a raised brow. "Well, it is cold."

"Why is it so cold? Does the sunroom not have heating or something?" Ike said as he sat up from the couch they sat on. He then felt a tingling sensation in his nose, inhaling and exhaling quickly, until enough pressure had built up in his nose and it all exploded in the form of a ton of saliva and snot. He wheezed, coughing a couple times, before wiping the excess fluids (?) off his face.

"Gross," Zelda sneered. A text message interrupted her thoughts, and as she read it, dread settled in her chest. She groaned and slapped her hand on her forehead, dragging it down her face. "Sheik and Claude can't find the groceries."

"But... they went to a grocery store," Robin said.

"We might as well go, who knows, maybe taking a walk will warm us up?" Ike suggested.

"Do you know how temperature works?"

"Shut up."

"Aaaaand scatter!"

The three ran off to their room and looked for clothes that could shield them from this insanely cold weather. Zelda found herself a light-blue knitted sweater that slightly revealed her stomach, so she put a black turtleneck underneath. As for her pants, she wore some warm leggings and put on some fluffy socks. Robin put on a white button-up with a knitted vest over it, high waisted plaid pants, a trench coat that looked an awful lot like his normal coat. Couldn't forget his glasses either. He was dressed quite fancily for a grocery shop, sure, but nothing wrong with going all out every now and then, right? Ike found clothes quite quickly, being that he didn't care about fashion as much as the other two. He put on a turtleneck sweater and some sweatpants that showed off his... assets quite nicely. He also put on a beanie since his head tends to get cold easily.

They met back downstairs and put on their respective sneakers, then their jackets (in Zelda and Ike's case anyway since Robin already had a coat) then set out and holy crap it was cold. If only the others hadn't taken the car, sigh.

They made their to the grocery store with casual talk, that is, until Robin noticed something about the other two's outfits. They were lowkey matching. He rolled his eyes and smiled, "Tell me you're a couple without telling me you're a couple."

"First of all," Zelda said as she wrapped her arm around Ike's, "This wasn't even on purpose. I don't like matching unless there's an event that calls for it. Second of all, the difference between Ike and I and Link and I is that Ike isn't toxic."

"TRUE. Link was... yikes," Robin cringed. "I can't believe he did all of that to you and you still talk to him."

"I know right? Can't believe I almost killed myself over a man," Zelda snickered.

"You what?!" Ike almost screamed.

"Oh yeah the rest of you never found out about that, huh."

"Robin you knew about this?!"

"Where have I heard a conversation like this before," Zelda pondered. "Anyway, don't worry, love, you make me not want to kill myself."

"That's not comforting at all!"

"Anyway... Do you guys think I should get a tattoo?" Robin asked. "I've heard about a thing called magic tattoos and even though I barely use magic in here, I think it'd be pretty cool. What do you think?"

"I think you'll look nice with tattoos. What style are you thinking of getting?"

"I'm not sure, maybe sleeves on both arms-"

"We're here!" Ike declared, raising his arms up in the air. The other two hadn't even realized they'd arrived until they saw the large blue building that stood in front of them. "WalMarth!"

Silence.

"Cringe," Zelda said.

"I think maybe we should go to Ikea after this, the lamp on my desk has been a little buggy lately," Robin chuckled.

"You know, I was feeling a little hungry even before we left, I wonder if Red Robin has some nice fries," Ike said. Then he realized. "Does Red Robin even sell fries?"

"No clue, but considering it's a restaurant, I'm gonna assume so," Robin said. "Zelda, do you have any places with your name-" To his surprise, she was no longer between himself and Ike. Instead, she was grabbing a shopping cart near the entrance and was just about ready to head in the store.

She looked at them, unamused. "You done with your 2018-era jokes?"

"We're coming, we're coming," Robin said. As Zelda jumped into the cart, he looked at Ike and knew exactly what that meant. He bolted past him, but thanks to his severe lack of speed, Ike caught up with him quickly. Unfortunately for Ike, Robin had something he could never have. The element of surprise. Magical surprise. Robin sent a spark of thunder as Ike's feet, making the taller boy nearly fall and break his nose. Robin then (carefully) jumped into the cart and high-fived Zelda as Ike shot them a glare.

"It's cause I'm Latino, right?" Ike muttered as he began pushing the cart forward. "Colonizers."

"Come on now, Zelda's the only white one here," Robin grinned.

"Half-Sheikah, actually. Our dad had strong genetics, but they were reserved only for Sheik," Zelda said.

"Well you have kind of a hooked nose, so that counts," Robin said.

"Yo!"

The three of them looked forward, spotting Claude waving his hands up in the air with a very embarrassed Sheik next to him in the distance. Ike pushed the cart faster, quickly catching up to them. "Well if it isn't the dumbasses."

"Shut up," Sheik said.

"Nice ride," Claude said, just about ready to hop in too. Until he saw Ike's glare that is. He coughed. "Anyway, we can't find the lettuce."

"...the lettuce?" Zelda said, bewildered.

"The lettuce," Claude repeated, nodding.

"Have you tried to maybe, well I don't know, look in the vegetable isle?"

"We did, we're not that stupid. I think the store might've run out of it."

"What about the oranges?" Robin asked.

"They're gone too. Someone's probably making some really nice OJ right now," Sheik said as he crossed his arms.

"OJ Simpson," Ike said. The others looked at him, an eyebrow raised. He shrugged. "Intrusive thought. Carry on."

"Now that I think about it, this store is looking kinda empty," Robin said as he looked at his surroundings. "Is there some big holiday going on that we don't know about?"

"Well it was Día de los Magos recently, but I don't think anyone's gonna sell out a store for that," Ike said.

"Should we go to another store then?" Claude asked.

"The nearest grocery store after this one is forty minutes away," Zelda said as she looked it up on her phone. The group remained silent for a few minutes.

"Absolutely not," Sheik said, walking past Ike and towards the exit. "We'll come back tomorrow, and if they're not restocked, we starve."

"Or we order delivery, you know, the less tragic option," Claude grinned as he did the same. "I've been wanting to try the salmon teriyaki from this one pamphlet I saw."

"I'm in the mood for some Korean food to be honest," Robin said. "Should we go to a Korean barbecue?"

"But I want that salmon!" Claude whined.

"We could order from both places, just saying," Ike said. "Though, I kinda want some egg rolls."

"All of you shut up you're gonna make me starve," Zelda groaned.

"It's raining," Sheik noted. Once again, without realizing it, they were outside again. Robin and Zelda hopped out of the cart while Ike put it back where it belonged, then the five of them looked up at the sky. Sure enough, dark clouds sat overhead, harsh rain pouring from them. There were other people around them, likely waiting for the rain to stop.

"So who wants to go back in and buy some umbrellas?" Claude asked.

"Judging by the amount of people that are still here and not in their cars or home, I somehow doubt there are any umbrellas," Zelda reasoned.

"Touché."

"So do we wait here or do we go home and get sick?" Robin wondered aloud. One look at each of them and they were already bolting towards the parking lot, letting the harsh rain ruin their clothes and hair. At one point, Ike's beanie slipped off from his head and he almost considered going back for it, but then he realized a muddy and wet beanie is probably not what you want on your head when rain's pouring on you. He went back and picked it up anyway, 'cause he didn't wanna litter.

They were halfway home when Zelda heard a faint sound despite the pouring rain. She stopped in her tracks and looked around for any signs of whatever it could possibly be, but thanks to the rain, it was hard to see. So she listened, hoping that those Hylian ears of hers would prove to be useful.

"What are you doing?!" Sheik shouted over the rain as he and the other stopped too.

"Shush!" Zelda said as she walked up to an alley.

"Are you asking to get murdered or something? Did we learn nothing from New Year's?!" Claude shouted.

"I said shut up!" She shouted as the sounds became clearer and clearer. There, right at the entrance of the alley, was a cardboard box that was tapped closed. The sounds were coming from there. She quickly took the tape off and opened it up. A small, white kitty looked up at her with yellow eyes as bright as the sun. If only there was any sunlight in this current situation.

"Cat," Claude said, pointing at it.

"Really? I thought it was a horse," Sheik said.

Zelda rolled her eyes at her brother's sarcasm as she crouched down and extended her hand down to the kitty. It backed away at first, sniffing her hand, before hesitatingly putting its head on her palm. She almost melted right then and there. But worry picked back up as she realized just what kind of conditions the kitty was living in. It was in a completely shut box, likely for several days, a box that was now wet, there was no blanket or food in there so it was probably freezing and starving too. And it looked afraid of the others too, so it probably went through some trauma. Poor kitty. If she ever finds its previous owners, she'll kill them.

"Should we take it home?" Robin said as he crouched down too.

"I don't know if it's a good idea to leave it around Snowy," Ike said, crouching as well.

"Who's Snowy?" Claude asked.

"Our owl."

"We have a pet owl?!"

"Everyone kind of forgot about it, it's okay. He lives outside anyway, he only comes by when we call him," Robin said.

Zelda extended both of her arms out, gently wrapping her hands around its front legs and lifting it up. "Hey, little guy, don't worry, you'll be safe now," Zelda said as she opened up her jacket and placed it there, acting as a sort of pouch. She couldn't promise it would be warm, but at least it wouldn't be wet.

"We should get out of here before the rain gets worse," Ike said as he unzipped his jacket and used half of it to cover Zelda and the cat. Not very effective, but it's the thought that counts.

"I don't wanna run, what if it gets hurt?"

"I know, I know, just try to walk quickly, okay?" Ike said as he stood up, offering a helping hand to Zelda.

Once Robin was up, the group speed walked their way home, which, thankfully for them, was only ten minutes away.  Once they arrived, they wiped the soles of their shoes on the carpet then took them off, their jackets following. Zelda grabbed the kitty and placed it down in the living room floor. Normally, she would be furious at the mud that was getting all over the floor, but she didn't mind it this time. Actually, it was quite cute to see the kitty look around, its eyes full of wonder at the scenery around it. She couldn't but smile, feeling happiness tingle in her heart.

She felt a towel being dropped on her, and as she was about to take it off, it was very aggressively rubbed all over her head. She looked to her side and saw Ike crouch down, holding the towel on her head while also wiping water from his face with his own. He smiled, "Can't take care of a kitty if we're all sick, right?"

"It's so cute, what should we name it?" Robin said as he laid flat on his stomach next to Zelda, also wiping water from himself with a towel. They all were.

"Shouldn't we figure out if it's a boy or a girl first?" Claude said, sitting next to Robin.

"It's a boy," Zelda said. They all looked at her and she shook her head. "Don't ask me how I know that."

"...Right, anyway," Sheik coughed, "How about Corrin?"

"Har har," Zelda laughed sarcastically.

"What about Tio?" Ike suggested.

"Doesn't that mean uncle in Spanish?" Claude asked.

Ike shrugged. "It just popped into my head and I thought it sounded cute."

"I like it, it does sound cute," Robin said, extending a finger to the kitty. He licked it, which may as well have made Robin's heart explode.

"Tio it is, then," Zelda smiled as she patted his head. "Welcome to the family, Tio."

"You guys should go take a shower, I'll watch over Tio while you're at it," Ike said.

"I wonder what the others will say once they see a random cat that should up out of nowhere," Claude chuckled.

"It's what they get for leaving us behind," Robin snickered.

The group laughed before everyone (except Ike), went to their respective bathrooms and took a shower. The next morning, Sheik was the only survivor as everyone else was sick out of their minds. He got away with a stuffy nose.