I'm glad to finally be posting this. It was an idea I had a while back and I didn't start writing it until the other night. It turned out a lot better than I'd imagined. It was originally supposed to be a one shot, but I felt like it would be too long if it was. So... multi-chapter it is. ^_^

I've been unsure about what to write for Life In Termina, so this gives me a nice break while I figure out exactly where I want that to go. I just love writing stories about Grog! He's always been my favorite LoZ character for some reason. :P I love fanfictions about him! ^_^

Anyway, in this story, Link is younger, around Romani's age. I hope y'all enjoy it! :)

Spying On Cucco Boy

Chapter One.

The bright sun shone down on Romani Ranch, causing the peaceful area to look almost as cheerful as the smile on Romani's face as she chased Link around the ranch. She knew very well that he was faster than her, but he always ran a little slower just so she'd have a fair chance.

Of course, she was good at shooting and talking about aliens, but he seemed to be better at just about everything else. Except talking. He had never been too good about that. At least not in her opinion.

Lately, in his spare time, he'd been spending a lot more time with the young farm girl. Her sister was always busy with work, so she couldn't spend a lot of time with Romani. But Link always seemed to find time and both girls loved him for it.

However, Link and Romani had almost run out of things to play. Romani loved to make up games, but they had already played all of her favorite games. And it's not like Link would have suggested any new ones even if he were a chatterbox, like her.

She laughed and stopped chasing him, trying to catch her breath. "What should we do now, Grasshopper?"

He smiled that bright smile of his as he jogged back over to her and shrugged.

She rolled her eyes. "Maybe we could play the cow trick on Cremia," the redhead suggested.

Link shook his head. "We already have," he pointed out, "and it scared her enough the first time."

Romani giggled with mischievous delight. "We could go play with the dogs."

Link shook his head at that as well. The dogs had never been too fond of Romani. "We could play cards," he suggested. He figured Cremia would be very pleased if he helped calm Romani down before it got too much later. The girl was always so hyper. Not only that, but Link figured that he might, just might get another hug from Cremia if he did a good deed. His face went scarlet just thinking about it.

Suddenly, Romani turned back to Link, an idea already in the making. "No. Cards are boring. Let's do something fun."

"Like what?" asked the Hylian boy warily.

"Like spying on Cucco Boy." She smirked.

"Who?"

"Cucco Boy. You know, that lonely guy who always sits by himself with the cuccos?"

"Why would we spy on him?" Link questioned.

"Because... Haven't you ever wondered why he's so... creepy?"

Truthfully, Link had never seen Grog as creepy. Maybe he was just misunderstood. "Uh... not really."

"Well, I have." Romani looked sure of herself this time. "We're going to go spy on him."

"I'm not so sure this is a good idea, Romani. We don't want him or Creamia getting angry at us if we're caught."

"You worry too much, Grasshopper. Besides, don't you want to have some fun?"

Link sighed. There really was no changing her mind. She was far too persistent. "Fine."

"Come on."

The cuccos hopped around happily. All of them seemed to doing well. They enjoyed being around each other, but even more so, they liked being with Grog. They could tell he really cared about them.

He sat under his favorite tree, as always, just watching them as the day went on. His mother had once told him that it was a waste of time to sit around all day just to watch a bunch of cuccos, but he really enjoyed it. It was the only thing that made him happy. He felt better when he was around them, like maybe the world wasn't as bad as he'd always thought.

And with the cuccos, he found what he couldn't find anywhere else: acceptance.

Those cuccos didn't judge him because of how he looked, how he acted, or who he was. They accepted him without question and that was all he had ever wanted from anyone. So, he didn't care what anyone else thought. He was happy where he was.

"He doesn't do much," Romani commented in a whisper.

Link nodded in agreement. The pale teen had only been sitting there the whole time, oblvious to the two children spying on him from behind a few boxes.

"All he does is watch cuccos all day," she went on. "What's wrong with him?"

Link shrugged. He, admittedly, had always been curious about Cucco Boy, but he'd never been so curious that he actually felt like spying on the dude.

The hero was just so sure that the two of them would get caught, though. They wouldn't, of course, if this was one one of his famous missions to help save a land haunted by troubles. But since it wasn't, he figured they'd be caught in no time.

"Maybe we should go back to the stable," he told her.

"Since when were you so boring?" she asked. "Spying is important to Romani and you're usually good at it."

"Yes, but that's when we're spying on cows or Them. Spying on a person for no good reason seems like an invasion of privacy."

"No," the girl insisted. "I want to learn more about this Cucco Boy mystery. There has to be a reason why he never does anything other than sit under that tree."

"You're right," Link said, trying to get more enthusiastic about their "mission" to make Romani feel better.

"Romani is always right," she corrected. "Now, just sitting behind these boxes isn't helping our mission. We need to find out more about Cucco Boy." She stood up. "Follow my lead."

Link hesitantly stood and followed Romani off of the porch-like thing they were on and over to Grog.

Grog looked up as they apporached him, his face emotionless and his eyes so colorless that they almost scared the farm girl.

"Hi," she greeted the teen, sounding nearly too innocent.

Grog nodded at her.

"Grasshopper and Romani are just here to play with the cuccos. You don't mind, do you?"

He shook his head, causing Romani to roll her eyes.

"Jeez, Grasshopper, he talks less than you do," she muttered.

Link raised his eyebrows and headed over to a random group of cuccos. Romani followed him. "So, what's your plan?" he whispered.

"Well," she began, glancing over her shoulder at Grog, "I figured since he sees us, he'll have to start up a conversation. Because, seriously, who can purposely ignore two sweet little kids?" She batted her eyelashes at the hero.

"I guess you're right..." He wouldn't tell her, but he'd actually met a lot of people who had the ability to ignore "sweet" little kids. It wouldn't be all that surprising if the cucco caretaker did the same.

When Romani noticed that she truly was being ignored as she stood near the cuccos, she finally walked over to Cucco Boy and stood directly in front of him, looking around the area as though she didn't notice he was there.

He looked up at her, confused, but hung his head again and went back to his lonely thoughts.

She inwardly sighed at this seemingly hopeless cause and began to hum, rather loudly. Link rolled his eyes, wondering if the people in Kakariko Village could hear her.

Grog didn't even look up this time and Romani let out an exasperated sigh.

He finally, reluctantly, looked up at her.

"Some people are just so rude!" she told him angrily before turning on her heel to leave. "Come on, Grasshopper. Let's go."

Link slowly went to follow her, passing Grog and mouthing, "Sorry."

"Grasshopper!" Romani yelled. "Hurry up!"

He walked a bit faster and the two of them exited the Cucco Shack.

"He doesn't talk at all!" Romani said loudly. Link barely had time to shut the door behind them. "What's his problem, anyway? Two cute little kids show up and he can't even manage a 'hello'?" She crossed her arms over her chest. "What do we have to do to get him to speak?"

Link raised his eyebrows. "Talk to him, maybe?"

She narrowed her eyes at him. "We tried that." She sighed. "Come to think of it, I've never heard him say one word. Not only that, but he's always acting really weird."

"It's not that big a deal," Link told her. "Maybe you're overthinking things."

"No." She shook her head stubbornly. "Romani is not overthinking things. We're definitely going to get to the bottom of this, no matter what."

Link was suddenly worried. Knowing Romani, she would make up some crazy plan. This couldn't be good. Especially not if it could offend Grog or even make Cremia mad.

"I have an idea," the girl said after a moment of thinking. "But you can't tell Cremia."

Link sighed. Great.

"Also, I know what's wrong with Grog."

"What?" Link asked, his eyebrows furrowed.

"He's lovesick!" she proclaimed. That, truthfully, was the last thing the boy had expected to hear. "How else would you explain why he only spends all his time with the cuccos? He's upset and lonely because he has no one to love!"

"What gave you that idea?"

"It's just obvious," she explained. "Anyway, I can't tell you my plan, but I can tell you that we're going back in there."

Link opened his mouth to politely protest, but Romani had already dashed into the Cucco Shack. He raced after her. Maybe he could stop her before she said anything unneccessary.

By the time he reached her, she was already standing in front of Grog again, frantically waving her arms around as she spoke. "I would be in so much trouble if my sister knew I was telling you this!" she was saying. "But I have to tell you now or you'll never know!"

Grog looked confused, but didn't say anything.

Link's eyes widened. This couldn't be good.

"Cremia is in love with you!"

Thank you so much for reading! Review if you like it, please! ^_^