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The night was young, the air was crisp, and the sky was clear. The periphery was bare of its natural haze, uncloaking the wonders of the stars and bright moon. Its soothing light basked Hyrule in all of its glory, more so simply shielding the view of the stars most adjacent to it. To Twilight, it was no misfortune really. He was focused on all the other thousands in the sky.
He held his breath, slowly maneuvering the telescope so that the next object of his sightseeing aligned with the red dot on the view-finder. It was a system Twilight found solace in following, its repetitive motions with breathtaking results, each more impressive than the last.
He could spend minutes, if not hours, trying to locate the exact spot in the sky, and even a few lasting seconds of the magnified view made up for all his effort.
It was a simple process.
Point the scope, stand back, adjust it to the side a little, carefully remove the grip on the dials without nudging it over, leap to the lens, adjust the resolution and focus, and relish the view of sweet, sweet success.
Whether it was an easy target; The Moon, in which Twilight could count the craters and cracks over and over again, boredom never reaching his mind. Or it could even be something more meticulous, such as the faintest hint of a far-away galaxy, or twinkling pricks in the sky, leaving Twilight wondering what they could be.
He usually spent his nights on the rooftop. Sure, it was a little breezy at some times, and there was the occasional mass of dust or debris on the ground. But it was nothing that could beat a warm jacket and some proper shoes. Twilight always found that the time alone with the sky cleared his mind the most. He didn’t have to think, or stress. He could just focus on the next target in the sky, and adjust the dials as many times as he pleased.
And even if he wasn’t busy focusing on the telescope, Twilight always had a single deck chair, so he could recline back, stargaze, and let the cold night’s are wash away his worries.
Twilight never fussed over his brothers up here, thinking of Wild’s troubles, Legend’s fragile relationship with an impressive amount of people, or even Four’s erratic and arbitrary moods.
Twilight didn’t have to worry about being the best he could be for Time. And even if the man insisted that Twilight was Twilight, and that was already enough . Twilight still felt lacking in certain areas.
Twilight could even shut out the negative memories, the everlasting flashbacks and hateful words that stuck in his mind all those years. He didn’t even think of their existence when he was up here. It was like it never happened.
The constant perturbation over the ranch work never really seemed to cease until he was up here. He didn’t have to mull over scheduling, or shoveling through hay, or clearing out the coop, or tending to Epona. None of that. As Twilight always dismissed, the ranch worries could wait for tomorrow's morning. Tonight was its own moment. And if Twilight was to invest his focus into something, it was most certainly going to be tonight.
Leaning back down from the lens, Twilight hummed to himself in thought as he contemplated his next sight, looking upwards and around, scanning each of the luminous and dazzling stars with meticulous thought.
This was until he heard the door shut.
Turning around, he found that Hyrule was in one of Wild’s coats; The sleeves hung a bit too long, and the hem of it reached to the boy’s knees. Though, his frail-feeling hands poked through the ocean of fabric to nurse something against him. A camera.
This new-found hobby of Hyrule had been discovered quite recently, when Sky was clearing out his room. He was planning on selling or lending over some of his old items to friends and other acquaintances.
This was until Hyrule asked about the camera. The boy wasn’t too familiar on photography, or other forms of art, so when Sky had explained the premise of it, Hyrule was all but encapsulated in the very idea of it.
Ever since then, Hyrule has been snapping away around the ranch. From Sky’s greenhouse, to the impromptu photos of his brothers, in which one of them, Legend was actually smiling . They seriously needed to get that framed. Other than that, Hyrule has been taking the occasional picture of Wild’s cooking; either of the ingredients, the action at the stove, or even the many posed photos of Wild in that embarrassingly frilly, pink apron.
So, Twilight wasn’t too surprised when Hyrule had decided to seek him out for more ideas. Though, it was quite odd that Hyrule knew of Twilight’s late-night visits up here. Usually, Twilight figured that the others probably weren’t aware of his disappearance, or had dismissed it as a hangout between friends, in which Twilight hadn’t bothered to let anyone know of his absence. Never had the idea that the others knew but simply didn’t care crossed his mind. But he wasn’t about to press Hyrule for his knowledge. All Twilight wanted was the peace and quietude of keeping all this space for himself. Yet again, he wasn’t ever going to kick Hyrule out, or deem the boy as unwelcome- That just wasn’t fair.
“Hello Hyrule. What’s up?” Twilight began, worried that he might have been staring at the boy in question for too long.
“Oh! Uhm- how do I say this - I, I want to… Be with you.” Hyrule winced after his response, Twilight gave him patience and time. “I-I mean, I want to take some photos, but ah, I might need some help.”
“Sure, help with what exactly?” Twilight replied warmly, hoping it would help calm Hyrule’s nerves down. Twilight all but wondered what had gotten him so worked up and in a frenzy.
“Well, I mean- I don’t want to b-bother you too much… I kind of just came here uninvited, and now I’m asking for a favor, so I-I don’t really want to…” Hyrule trailed off, rocking on his heels and fidgeting with the strap of his camera. It was clear he was intimidated. Twilight wanted to do what he could to help soothe the other, and hopefully, maybe he could even convince Hyrule that this activity is just as relaxing.
Taking a few slow steps, Twilight lowered himself on one knee to close the distance between his and Hyrule’s height. “Hey, it’s okay. Ya don’t owe me anythin’.” He said, Hyrule looked up, hope present in those timid and watering eyes.
“Are you sure?”
“I promise. Now, I’m sure we can figure out a way to attach that camera of yours to the ‘scope.”
Hyrule visibly lights up at that. Twilight feels like he’s just won a trophy.
“I see someone's all bundled up!” He teases while mussing Hyrule’s hair. “Ya look so cute!”
Hyrule hides his face in his hands, blush doting on his cheeks and tips of his ears. “Thanks, Wild gave to me. It’s so warm, I love it so much!”
“Oh, I bet!” Twilight gave a wolfish grin. “Now, let’s get things set up. There’s a few things I’d like for you to see.”
Hyrule sat patiently on the deck chair, waiting for Twilight to adjust both the camera and the telescope. It was a relatively quick process, and it didn’t seem so frustrating either. Because no matter how much Twilight found nothing through the lens and had to go to back and reposition the sight through the view-finder, there was always a subtle, but warm smile on the man’s face.
“Alrighty. I think I got it!” Twilight announced, stepping back from the lens. “Would’ya like ta see it first before we take a photo?” He guested to the camera that was now around him, as he offered to carry it for Hyrule.
“Uhm- Okay.” It seemed that Hyrule was still a little on the better end of shy, as he was still far from full sentences, alongside the occasional tripping and stumbling. But as the official older brother of the year, according to Four and Wind at least, Twilight had caught Hyrule each and every time.
Reaching to the lens, Hyrule was obviously hiding his excitement, because while he was mostly stationary, he was shaking his hands out every so often. “Oh.” He said somewhat defeatedly. “I can’t reach it.”
That was probably an error on Twilight’s end, and he wasn’t ashamed to admit that. The point of the sky that he had chosen for Hyrule was on the higher end of it, meaning that the scope was pointed more upwards. Which of course, had ultimately resulted in the lens itself being out of reach to Hyrule, and perfectly into Twilight’s.
It was moments like these that really put it into Twilight’s perspective on how taller he was than others, particularly Hyrule and a few of his other younger brothers. He could only wonder how Four must feel, dubbed as the shortest in the house.
Back to the current happenings, Hyrule looked upset all over again, and luckily, Twilight was able to come up with a solution fast.
“D’ya trust me?” Was all he said, standing right behind Hyrule.
“Wha- Yeah, I-I guess so…” Hyrule said, worried about answering correctly.
“Are you sure? I want to try picking ya up. Maybe it could help you see better, yeah?” Twilight iterated. “Tell me if you want to go back down or anything else, alright?”
Hyrule nodded, bracing himself.
Twilight’s hands met Hyrule’s side briefly before they tightened, and in just a few seconds later, Hyrule’s feet had left the ground.
With a short yelp, Hyrule held on to Twilight as his brother spelled out assurances and other comforting nonsense alike. “Is this good?” He asked. Hyrule looked down and kicked his feet a little, confirming that he was, indeed, off the ground and in his brother’s arms. “Try looking through the lens now.”
Doing as he was told, Hyrule carefully leaned forward to peer through the little hole, gasping aloud when he focused his gaze. “I-It’s…”
“I know, I know. It does that ta me too.” Twilight doted on Hyrule’s speechlessness.
“ Wow . Twilight, I-”
Twilight was right, this really was breathtaking. Hyrule didn’t even know what to focus on the most. It was a cluster of stars, all shining in bright different colors and hues, overlapping one another and creating a haze of lightly dusted covering in the sky. “It’s… It’s so pretty .” He finally finished his thought.
“It really is, ain’t it?” Twilight agreed.
“Get me down, I need to take a photo of this!” Hyrule excitedly said, tapping at Twilight’s arms a few times until the man relinquished his hold, slowly letting Hyrule down.
“Alright- Here’s what we’re gonna do. Now, neither of us are experts, yeah? So instead, we’s gonna place the camera on the lens o’er here. Then’s, you gon’ press that shutter o’yours ‘n hope it works!”
“ Hmm , okay. I guess if we mess up, we could always take another one- I think I have enough storage here…” Hyrule mused.
“Dat’s the spirit!”
It took a few attempts for them to work cooperatively enough to get a decent-enough shot. Obviously, neither of them knew enough of the camera’s settings to fix the shutter speed and exposure. So, while the photo itself wasn’t perfect, at least the experience was. Because now, Hyrule had a partner in his little photography sessions, and Twilight could bring out a second deck chair.