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𝔖𝔬𝔫𝔤: 𝔗𝔴𝔬 𝔅𝔦𝔯𝔡𝔰 - ℜ𝔢𝔤𝔦𝔫𝔞 𝔖𝔭𝔢𝔨𝔱𝔬𝔯
A/N: Platonic. Also, I apologize to those of you who don't like almond-flavoured things. I grew up on almond stuff, and it always reminds me of fall.
f/s - favourite smell
feat. Idia Shroud
⚜ ————- ⚜Ѽ⚜ ————- ⚜
Y/N hummed quietly as she mulled about the stands, carefully inspecting the goods being offered by the vendors. Some were wonderful handcrafted trinkets, others were selling fruit that had been carefully cultivated and harvested over the growing season that year. The entire market smelled of fresh jams and pies, the hot chocolate stands that were set up every ten stalls, and the fresh fruit that had been pulled in only a few days prior.
Y/N stopped by a candle stall and quietly perused the selection, thankful that the vendor was otherwise engaged with selling some of his larger candles to another client. Y/N tucked some hair out of her face and bent down to pick up one. She raised rubbed her thumb over the edge and lifted her thumb to her nose, smiling when the scent of f/s filled her nose. It was absolutely delicious. But, she set it down and continued on, her basket swinging from her arm.
The next stall was selling some scarves and Y/N decided to stop as a f/c one caught her eye. She ran her hand over the fabric, feeling the soft material and admiring the way that the threads shone in the afternoon light. The intricate design eventually managed to intrigue her enough and she handed over the thaumarks to the vendor, taking the scarf and tucking it into her basket. She was already wearing one and didn't need another. It was chilly, not freezing.
Gentle music filled Y/N's ears as she neared the centre of the market. A large stone fountain sat in the centre of the market and Y/N decided to give her feet a break and sat down on the edge. She reached into her basket and pulled out some of the baked goods that she had gotten earlier. The almond croissant was looking extremely delectable. She bit into the end of the puff pastry and hummed in delight as the almond electrified her taste buds, sending her down in a blissful spiral. If only she had bought a hundred more!
Suddenly, there was a loud crash up the lane that she had just come from and her head shot up, curious as to what had made such a racket. To her surprise, a familiar young boy was standing in front of a stall, looking ashamed, his eyes focused in on his "shoes", while an angry old woman shouted at him for knocking over one of her wooden sculptures. Y/N quickly got to her feet, tucking away her croissant for the time being, and sprinted over to the boy.
"-just waltzing through like you own the place," the woman was saying. More like shouting, actually. The entire lot could hear her shouting at the poor boy, and Y/N felt her irritation and fury grow as she neared the woman. And yet, she still managed to keep her head on her shoulders as she addressed the woman.
"Excuse me," Y/N said, glaring at the woman as she picked up the unharmed sculpture. "I would appreciate it if you didn't yell at my brother." She placed her hand on the boy's shoulder and pulled his timid form closer to her, allowing him to throw his arms around her waist and nuzzle into her stomach. She set down the art piece.
"Well you should keep a better eye on him," the woman shouted.
Y/N glared at her. "You shouldn't be shouting at him so that the entire market can hear you. And besides, if you don't want things to be knocked over, you shouldn't put them in the middle of the lane." She could feel the boy shaking in her arms, clearly terrified by this woman's anger.
"He broke -"
"There was no damage," Y/N snapped, slowly starting to lose her cool. "But nonetheless, I'll pay for the damages and we'll be on our way." She set some thaumarks down on the edge of the stall and scooped the wooden sculpture into her arm, guiding the young boy away with the other. She didn't feel like talking with the woman anymore if she wasn't going to listen to reason.
"Are you okay, Ortho," Y/N asked softly once they had made it back to the fountain. She set down her things and pulled Ortho close to her, gently rubbing his back.
Ortho nodded and leaned against Y/N, not wanting to be far from her. "Thank you, Nee-san."
Y/N smiled and pecked Ortho on the forehead, reaching into her basket and pulling out a trinket that she had gotten earlier. She handed it to Ortho, whose eyes lit up at the sight of it. He quickly hugged Y/N, thankful for the small present.
"Where's Idia," Y/N asked, wondering where the older Shroud brother was, and why he hadn't been paying better attention to Ortho. "He came with you, didn't he?"
Ortho shook his head. "Nii-san decided to stay back at the school. I came with Lilia, Cater, and Vil."
"Really?" Y/N didn't think that those three would be the ones willing to care for the young boy. She glanced around the area, wondering where the three boys were. Idia wouldn't be pleased if they returned to the school without his brother in tow. He was probably already stressed out, wondering if Ortho would be all right.
"Do you know where they are?"
Ortho shook his head. "I saw you and wanted to say hi."
"So they don't know where you are?" Y/N quickly dug into her pocket and pulled out her phone, pulling up Cater's contact and pressing the call button. He would probably be the most likely to pick up.
"You can't just run off like that, Ortho," Y/N said, holding the phone to her ear.
Hello?
Y/N let out a quiet sigh of relief when she heard Cater's voice on the other end of the phone.
"Cater! Um... by any chance... did you lose a child?"
Huh?
Y/N glanced down at Ortho who was snickering behind his hands. She rolled her eyes.
"You went to the market with Vil and Lilia, right?"
There was a pause on the other end.
Yes...
"And did you take Ortho Shroud with you as well?"
Ortho was hardly able to contain his laughter at this point and was laughing into Y/N's side, clutching the fabric of her shirt as he tried to contain himself.
Ah! Lilia! Where's Ortho?!
There were sounds of panic on the other end of the line and Y/N rolled her eyes. She waited patiently for the boys to clue into the fact that she knew Ortho was missing from their group. It took a moment before the other end of the line went quiet.
Uh... N/N... You don't... happen to have Ortho with you... do you?
Y/N handed the phone to Ortho.
"I'm with Nee-san," Ortho chirped, a gleeful smile on his face.
Ah, Ortho... You scared us!
"Sorry~" He did not sound incredibly sorry and Y/N could still his body shaking with silent laughter. "Here's Nee-san!" He handed the phone back to Y/N and she snickered, holding it to her ear.
"I'll watch Ortho," Y/N said. "You boys just have fun."
Thank you, N/N.
"Have fun," Ortho said into the phone before Y/N hung up.
⚜ ————- ⚜Ѽ⚜ ————- ⚜
As the afternoon passed and the evening started to settle in, Y/N and Ortho made their way back up the path towards the mirror hall, both carrying an assortment of treats and trinkets for Idia. Ortho had been fascinated by nearly everything, especially the new video games that one stall happened to be selling. And of course, Y/N had given in without Ortho even asking her and had bought a few for the older Shroud brother to test out.
"Do you think Idia will like what we got him," Ortho asked as they entered the Ignihyde dorm. He picked up one of the bags of cookies that they had gotten him. Ortho had been an excellent help in picking out what sweets he thought Idia would like the most, and they had gotten the boy a vast assortment to choose from.
"Nii-san," Ortho shouted as they reached Idia's dorm. He pushed open the door without waiting for an answer and stepped into the dorm, followed by a hesitant Y/N. Though she spent much of her time with the younger of the two brothers, she hardly ever spoke with the elder. It wasn't as though he was around much to talk to.
"Ah, Ortho. You're back?" Idia was sitting at his computer, as usual, his headphones on, and his microphone in front of his lips. He tucked the microphone away, however, when he heard Ortho's voice, and paused the game. He was happy to hear that his brother had returned safe and sound, though surprised wasn't enough to describe how Idia felt upon seeing Y/N standing at his door, rather than one of the other boys that he had entrusted Ortho.
"Y-Y/N," Idia exclaimed. He nearly fell to the floor in surprise, but quickly shot to his feet. "W-what are you doing here?"
Y/N smiled. "You might want to talk to Idia, Cater, and Vil about keeping a better eye on Ortho. He was able to slip away from them completely undetected. I wouldn't have even noticed him if not for the fact that there was a slight issue."
Idia glanced between his younger brother, who was now floating near his bed, and the girl standing at the door.
"W-what issue?"
Y/N quirked an eyebrow at Ortho, expecting him to explain what had happened.
The younger boy sighed. "I saw Nee-san and wanted to say hi, so I left Vil-sama, Cater-sama, and Idia-sama. And then I bumped into a wooden carving at one of the stalls and the lady got mad at me." He looked down at the ground in shame.
"No harm done though," Y/N added with a smile. "And since Ortho had come to find me, I decided that I would watch over him for the rest of the day. I just thought that I would take him back here to say hi to you as well."
Idia flushed a bit around the ears, the roots of his hair turning pink. It was bad enough that Ortho called Y/N Nee-san when she wasn't his sister, but hearing Y/N speak of Ortho as though he were her own brother made Idia's heart throb. He had harboured a crush on the girl for too many months to count, though he had never acted on it.
"Nii-san? Why did your heart rate increase?"
Idia's eyes shot from Y/N's tranquil form to his brother, who was staring innocently between the two as if trying to piece together two pieces of a puzzle.
"Eh?! O-Ortho," Idia exclaimed. He glanced back at Y/N, trying to gauge her reaction. At first, it seemed like she had none, but Idia soon noticed a tinge of heat beneath her eyes and felt his own cheeks turn pink at the sight. Was there a part of her that liked him too?
"Well, I should probably get back to my dorm," Y/N said softly, gesturing over her shoulder. "Night Ortho." She paused. "Goodnight, Idia." She turned to go, but before she left completely, she made a sudden decision and sped walked to Idia. She pecked him on the cheek, winked at him, and left, blushing madly as she realised what she had just done.
Though Y/N was still functional after the sudden affectionate display. The same could not be said of Idia. He remained rooted to the spot in his dorm, his face now completely red, his hair sparking pink.
"Ortho," Idia asked quietly after a moment. "Did she just..."
Ortho nodded and giggled. "Maybe Y/N-san really will become my Nee-san!"