Title: Misconceptions
Author: vanillavinegar
Rating: K (pure fluff within)
Summary: Link is not in love with Princess Zelda. No, really, he isn't. [post-Spirit Tracks Zelink]
Warnings: Spoilers for Spirit Tracks!
Disclaimer: The Legend of Zelda and all associated characters, settings, etc., belong to Shigeru Miyamoto and Nintendo. The only profit I make from this work of fiction is my own satisfaction and, possibly, the enjoyment of others.
Author's Notes: A little romantic oneshot, because the Link and Zelda of Spirit Tracks were totally adorable, y/y? Set several years after the game's ending.

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Link was not in love with Princess Zelda.

Really, he wasn't. He knew what love was like, and how he felt for Zelda wasn't anything like that.

He remembered how Niko talked about his wife – dead now for more years than Link had been alive. The old man's tone was always wistful, not sad, but with palpable affection. His eyes would soften whenever he mentioned her name, and a slight smile would form on his lips.

Link did not feel any of those things nor act in any of those ways when he thought or spoke of the princess. So he knew it was not love.

Alfonzo had courted a woman from Whittleton for a while – well. He claimed that it was merely friendship, never courtship, but Link had been present any number of times when the postman would deliver one of her letters to his mentor. Alfonzo would always stop the man from reading the letter aloud with a hand over his mouth and a few rupees in his pocket before storming off with a blush, letter clenched in his hand. And Link – along with the rest of the village – knew when it had ended because Alfonzo went around for days with only two moods: despondent and quick-tempered.

Link did not act like that when he received a letter from Zelda. He couldn't ever imagine acting like that, either. So he knew it was not love.

What Link did feel would be hard to explain or categorize. He supposed it was most like anxiety. When he thought or talked about Zelda, he frequently felt like he was in Ferrus' balloon, having left his stomach on the ground far below. He could feel his face heating up, but surely that was only because he tended to talk more quickly when he was speaking of the princess. Not that he disliked talking about her or wished to finish rapidly; he merely felt that he had so much more to say about her than any other person he had ever met.

Then, too, when he saw the golden seal on a letter that told him its author before Postman could even open his mouth, Link could feel a strange sort of contentment sweep over him. Postman had commented more than once on the grin that sprang onto Link's lips whenever he got such a letter, but he never said a word about love. And surely the man had delivered enough love notes to recognize its signs, right?

So Link knew it was not love.

He had been gone several months – more than he expected, really, but renovations to the Spirit Tracks must be done carefully – not that Malladus was a problem any longer, but such inherently magical things like the Tracks required delicacy when altering, and who better to oversee such a project (or so common thought apparently ran) than the Hero of the Rails?

Especially as Zelda's been busy entertaining the dignitaries from… wherever it is, Link mused, only half his mind on the navigation of the castle's many corridors. He made a soft noise of irritation. Honestly. She slaps me with that silly title and then expects me to do all of the hard work while she's chatting with some ambassador or other at a ball. But he grinned even as he thought it – supervision of the Tracks had been more time-consuming than strenuous, and for all that she could be terribly girly at times (especially to the mind of a teenage boy), his Zelda had never been fond of either small talk or balls.

He was still smirking slightly when he knocked on her door, his feet having easily carried him there while his mind was preoccupied. A moment later, a faint "Come in!" floated to his ears. He opened the door and barely had time to open his mouth before there was a shriek and he found himself enveloped in a cloud of pink silk and golden hair.

"Hello to you, too, Princess," he said, amused, but hugging her back willingly. He was never amazed at the strength in her arms; others might have been, but never he who had watched her aim arrow after arrow at the possessed demon who had once been her chancellor.

She pulled back from him to beam into his face, staying close enough that his hands merely fell to her waist while hers lay comfortably on his shoulders. She had to tilt her head back a bit to look him in the eyes and had had to do so for several years now, a fact that once annoyed her to no end. The delight in her eyes and the joy in her smile belied the notion that she had ever been anything but happy, though, and he felt something odd in his chest, near where her gloved hands rested lightly. It was as though his heart were suddenly leaping about.

She gave him no chance to dwell on such a strange prospect before she said, "I missed you so, Link."

And then without even thinking about it – without even considering such an action, because really the very idea was crazy, laughable even, and Link was not in love with Zelda anyway – he leaned in. She met him halfway, standing on tiptoes to reach him, and then his eyes were closed and soft, warm lips were pressed against his and his mind was – almost – completely blank.

Mmm… Zelda…

Several very long, very pleasant eternities went by before they both pulled away. He rested his forehead against hers, staring bewilderedly into her laughing, over-bright – beautiful – eyes. They were both silent for a moment, catching their breath.

"Zelda, I…" He swallowed, heavily. "That… What was…?"

"Oh, nothing," she murmured, moving closer so she could lay her head on his chest. He saw her eyes flutter closed as she squeezed him tighter. "I'm just madly in love with you, that's all."

He gaped down at her as she snuggled into the front of his tunic, wondering for a moment if she could feel his heart racing. Then a tension he had never noticed before suddenly left him, letting his shoulders relax as he pulled her closer still.

Perhaps love was not exactly what he had understood it to be. Perhaps, Link thought, burying his nose in her hair, it was even more thrilling and complicated and, yes, wonderful, than he had imagined.

And perhaps he was in love with the princess – with Zelda – after all.

END