Fourth of July
"Vaaaaatiiiiii"
Link hammered his fist on the heavy wooden dorm room door for the third time.
"Dude, come on, you're not seriously sleeping in today are you"
The door opened to reveal Vaati standing shirtless, wearing only sweat pants. He had clearly only just been woken up and was certainly not happy about it.
"Link….what the hell, do you have any idea what time it is?" he growled, putting both hands either side of the door frame in case Link should try to barge his way in.
Link flung his arms wide happily.
"Yep, it's ten thirty and it's the fourth of July! Hurry up man we're gonna be late"
"Forget it, today's my first day off in weeks"
"Awww come on, the sun is shining, it's a beautiful day….aaaaannnnd….."
"And what?"
"And we're going for a picnic in the park"
Vaati couldn't help but notice Link got way too excited about this kind of stuff. It was like being around a little kid sometimes.
"We?" Vaati snorted, "Are you serious?"
"Very…..we're having a picnic, playing some football and later there's fireworks, come on man, shoes, shirt and let's shove off"
Vaati yawned irritably and pretended to think it over for a minute.
"Hmmm nope" he turned to shut the door in Link's face but the blonde put his foot in the way, stopping him.
"Come on man, you've been over here three months now, time to start taking in some good old fashioned American culture, play some football, eat blueberry muffins, grow a dodgy mullet"
Vaati rolled his eyes, seriously hoping Link was kidding about that last suggestion.
"First of all, it's 'American Football,' real football is what I play at home, second of all, we Brits don't usually go in for all this patriotic malarkey"
"Malarkey? What's malarkey? Never mind, look I'll take the soccer ball too if you like, everyone's waiting for us already"
Vaati groaned and rolled his eyes again.
"You're not gonna take no for an answer are you?"
Link grinned and shook his head
"Nope"
Vaati sighed then a small twinkle came into his red eyes.
"Zelda coming?" he asked hopefully.
"Dude, it was her idea, and she wanted me to make sure you were showing up"
Vaati grinned a little at hearing this.
"Okay fine, I guess I can put in an appearance"
"Great" Link beamed, "You'll see, it'll be fun"
Xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo
Link and Vaati strolled towards their friends sitting on the vast field of Hyrule Park. Link carried his football and bag of extra drinks whilst Vaati dawdled behind, bouncing a soccer ball on his knees as he walked.
Zelda stood up as soon as she saw them coming.
"Hey guys, over here" she smiled, waving.
"Hey Zel," Link smiled, "hey everyone"
Vaati said nothing, just concentrated on his keepy-uppies, hoping Zelda was watching him. He'd lost count but he hadn't let the ball drop since they'd left the car, so it was definitely a personal best.
"Wow, Vaati, that's really impressive, didn't know you were so talented" Zelda smiled at him.
Vaati said nothing, but felt his face begin to flush red, making him drop the ball.
"Nice move dumbass" came a sneer from the other side of the group.
Vaati's face contorted to a scowl when he saw Dark standing there, laughing at him.
"Better than you, freak" Vaati snapped back, picking up the ball and throwing it hard into Dark's chest.
"Ha! Let's see if you can pass like that on the field"
"Boys, please don't fight" Zelda pleaded, "Can't we just enjoy a nice day together"
Dark and Vaati were still scowling at each other.
"Fine…for you Zelda" Vaati answered softly.
"Thank you Vaati" smiled Zelda, hugging him, "Dark, what about you"
"You're not gonna hug me are you?"
"Not unless you want me too"
Dark shuddered coldly.
"Uughh! Fine I'll behave"
Link piped up between Vaati and Zelda, way too peppy, as usual.
"Great, now that unpleasantness is over with, let's play football!"
Vaati was seriously considering slipping some valium into this guy's lemonade.
"Just to clarify….which one are we playing" he asked.
"Our kind, you know the normal one" sneered Dark.
"Can it, Dark" Link shouted.
It was only a little game of touch football, the guys against the girls, but Vaati was still getting pretty roughed up. It kind of reminded him of playing rugby as a kid, although he hadn't been much good at that either. His bumps and bruises today were mainly as a result of Dark tripping him constantly, trying to make him look an idiot in front of Zelda.
By the time they stopped for lunch Vaati was sporting a split lip, several grazes up his knees and his long purple hair was in serious need of re-styling, not to mention the twigs and grass caught up in it. Worst of all his shirt was ripped.
"Awww Vaati what happened to your shirt?" cried Malon.
Vaati looked down glumly at the long tear up the side. It was his favourite shirt, he'd have to get another one shipped from home to replace it.
Dark however, was laughing at him again.
"Awww. The little baby gonna cry over a shirt, boo hoo"
Vaati glared at the shadow of his best friend, more determined than ever to show him up when they got down to the other kind of football.
Just you wait Dark, you'll get yours.
But Dark's mocking continued…
"Can't believe you're sulking over a….what is that….is that a spurs shirt"
"What the hell would you know about it Dark…nothing" Vaati glowered back.
"Actually I've got an uncle in London, I go over every year, so plenty as it happens"
Vaati growled under his breath, clearly Dark's family were all a bunch of gooners.
"Guys please" Link chimed up, "This is Vaati's first fourth of july here, can't we just make it special for him, you know, friendly American hospitality and all that"
"Yeah, Dark" added Ilia, "besides, we're playing soccer after we eat, I bet Vaati will clean your clock"
Vaati sat next to Zelda whilst they ate, with Zelda occasionally feeding him pieces of blueberry muffin.
Finally it was time for a quick kickabout with the soccer ball and Vaati was rubbing his hands together with glee.
"I think Vaati should be team captain against Dark" said Zelda.
"Fine" groaned Dark, "I pick Link"
"I pick Zelda then" replied Vaati.
"Malon, you're with me" Dark smirked devilishly.
"Ilia, you're with us" finished Vaati.
They marked goal posts and kicked off.
Vaati wasted no time in running circles around Dark, who, despite being light on his feet , was no match for Vaati, who dribbled the ball around him with ease.
GOAL!
"That was pure luck" Dark complained.
A couple of minutes later, Vaati scored again.
Zelda leaned into Ilia and whispered
"I'm pretty sure he doesn't actually even need us"
"Me too, shall we just sit out and see how he gets on?"
The two girls sat on the sidelines watching the spectacle unfold. Within a few minutes they were joined by Link and Malon, leaving Vaati and Dark to go head to head.
Another goal by Vaati.
"Give it up Dark, he's got you beat" Link shouted.
"Never!" Dark shouted back.
"Tell you what Dark" Vaati said, "I'll agree that the next goal wins the game if you agree to stop giving me such a hard time"
Dark thought it over for a moment.
"Okay, deal"
The two of them kicked off again and darted and weaved around each other, each trying to retain possession of the ball. Both of them were beginning to feel exhausted and Vaati's scrapes from earlier began to sting.
Suddenly, Dark managed to sidestep Vaati and score his winning goal.
"Yesssssss" he cried, "suck on that loser"
Whilst Dark was running around with his shirt off like a lunatic, Vaati wandered over to Zelda with a slight grin on his face. Zelda smiled back at him, her hands on her hips.
"I saw what you did there Vaati"
"What?"
"You let him win"
"No way, he beat me fair and sq….ok you got me, I guess I just couldn't do it to the poor sap, he really had his heart set winning"
"Well, you know, I think that was …really sweet"
"Really?"
"Yeah"
Later on, the six friends sat on the green grass watching the firework display. Dark kept his word and didn't give Vaati anymore grief, that could wait for another day. Link cast an eye over to his friend who sat next to Zelda, her head leaning against his shoulder, with his arm wrapped around her, holding her close.
"Good first fourth of July then?" he asked his friend
"Yeah" Vaati replied "the best"
THE END!