Story Title: The Definition of Together
Disclaimer: I don't own TP.
Author's Notes: So I took a moment to pause from working on an action-orientated chapter of "Wind" to write something short and sweet. I wanted to see if I could write something less than a thousand words and it still be complete and entertaining. The final piece was closer to three thousand words but that's usually a shorter piece for me anyway…
Link finds a cat too and he will never not take a cat home if he can. I pictured it being a Maine Coon breed as a reference, being that those cats can naturally grow to be exceptionally large for housecats. I never outright said it was a Maine Coon because there is no Maine in Hyrule but it's a big ass cat and I cannot picture a world where TP Link would not want to make friends with a big ass cat.
As always, thanks for reading.
-o-
Story Title: The Definition of Together
-o-
His head bowed and the tip of his Hylian ears red in embarrassment, Shad drew in his bottom lip in embarrassment. Sitting in the chair to his right, Ashei shook with suppressed laughter and smirked. As Shad's apparent-but-nonetheless-unforeseen admirer sashayed away in an exaggerated, overly-feminine manner that made the scholar wonder if one of her heels was shorter compared to the other or had been removed completely, Ashei's dull look of disbelief over at Shad caused him to tightly close his mouth shut to stifle his own laughter.
"That was a first…" he said, rubbing the back of his head after the last of their awkward, astonished giggles faded out.
"I've been telling you for years that not everyone loves a man for his muscles," Ashei said, a victorious edge lining her smirk. "Not that it matters for you now anyway. You're taken already, yeah?"
"Pardon?" Shad blinked. "What ever are you insinuating?"
Ashei reached for her cup and picked it up. "Don't get huffy and play dumb with me," she said, pausing before she drank. "Frankly, I should be hurt and demanding an apology from you that I had to learn from Link and not you. Nothing wrong with Link, he's family too but you don't keep secrets from family, yeah?"
None of them were blood-related but not long after the Group met Link and assisted him with disposing the great evil holding the kingdom captive in darkness, Ashei had adopted Shad as her little brother. Aware that her only source of family had been her father, her declaration making him and the entire Group, to unspoken extents, family sincerely moved him. That was not to say that there were not times she played up her role as his big sister too well.
"I have not withheld a single secret from you," Shad said. "I possess not the slightest inkling of what you might be referring to."
"Why are you pretending to be so thick-headed?" Ashei said and the scholar stared at her and furrowed his brow in confusion. "You! You and Link. You're together, going out, dating."
Shad leaned away from her as he reeled in surprise. "I do not understand how you arrived at that conclusion but I assure you that I and the old boy are not in a relationship beyond platonic."
Ashei's stare was paper flat. "He has a drawer in your bedroom."
"How in heavens is that any sort of proof that we are a couple?"
"You gave him a drawer. You physically removed your things and allowed him to put his things in that emptied space." And as he still did not comprehend her meaning, she briefly raised her eyes to the ceiling and explained, "You made him a part of your home, yeah?"
"It was more convenient for him to store a few articles of clothing at my residence, should he need to remain in Castle Town for more than a week, than to lug around a packed rucksack. It was practical, not romantic."
She shook her head in vigorous disagreement. "He stays with you. Not at the inn, not with Telma, not even the stables, but with you," she replied. "Every time he comes to Castle Town, it's your place he spends the night and day at, yeah?"
"And, as another one of my good friends, family even, when you are in need of a place to stay, do I not permit you to stay at my apartment as well?" Shad countered. "I say, by your logic, are we now in a polyamorous relationship?"
Ashei did not find his retort humorous. "I've never stayed so often that your landlord had you change your lease agreement to include me as a tenant, yeah?"
"That was a dishonest ploy for money, his objective to strong-arm me into increasing my rent was as clear as Lake Hylia, and I regret ever signing to those terms..." Shad said, his voice tense. "But Link insisted that he did not mind paying his half of the rent if it meant we could stay."
"See?" Ashei smirked. "You said we…"
The scholar frowned in displeasure as his adopted older sister continued to smirk in presumed victory.
"Ashei, quit teasing the boy," Telma said in a mildly reprimanding voice as she stood by Shad's chair. "Now you and Link better be here at six because I made a big kettle of lamb and rice stew and he'll beg like a dog for me to make more if he doesn't get any. …Isn't your six-month anniversary coming up soon anyway, honey?"
"We are not dating." He felt a nerve pulse on his forehead in annoyance.
Unconvinced, Telma stared back at him and smiled as she laid a hand on his shoulder. "Shad, honey, we all know and think you're so sweet together it hurts. You don't need to keep the two of you secret."
"He is not my boyfriend," he quietly insisted.
"Didn't I run into you lovelies shopping in the market just the other day?" Telma said.
Shad could not believe he was repeating this conversation all over again with Telma. "Since when has the basic necessity to eat become a sign of true love?"
"Making dinner for him might be a marriage proposal to Link," Ashei said. "You don't know that it's not, yeah?"
Telma tipped her head to the side in playful agreement. "Besides, you were holding hands."
"Only because the old boy had reacted too enthusiastically to the sight of a box of free puppies and dragged me across the market," the scholar explained hastily.
"His mail gets delivered to your box," Telma said.
This conversation was getting ridiculous. "As enlightening as this discussion has been, I must unfortunately take my leave," he said as he rose from his seat. "If you wish, collaborate amongst yourselves and the others and cobble together another list of circumstantial evidence substantiating your wild mass assumption that Link and I are anything but dear friends."
Farewells said and promises to see one another later made, Shad left Telma's bar still rather bothered by Ashei and Telma's similar skeptical expressions and unswayable opinion that he and Link were involved intimately. Their reasoning, after all, was absolutely ridiculous. It was not even factual, just mere speculation and happenstance. Somehow, for whatever reason, one of them had come to that conclusion and proceeded to twist truth to validate their claim and convinced the others.
So, yes, Link's mail came to his post box and Link bought groceries and paid rent after his avaricious landlord forced him to include Link as a tenant because he was a frequent visitor of Shad's. It was true that they spent plentiful time together day and night, went out to dinners, and enjoyed festivities here and in Ordon Province among friends and family alike. And while Shad had luckily never let slip that since last winter he and Link had been sharing his bed—oh, if Ashei had known she would have hammered that fact as irrefutable proof, it too was not romantic in intention but two good fellows capitalizing on their collective, shared body heat to stave off the cold.
Though, despite that the season was on the verge of late spring, early summer and Link was still sharing his bed and holding him at night, Shad had to wonder why their arrangement had not naturally ceased with the warming clime or why he had not said or thought to say anything to Link before.
As he climbed the stairwell to the second floor of his apartment building, he thought and wondered and speculated for himself through memories, conversations over drinks, starry nights gazed, stray animals tended to and sheltered in Shad's apartment that Link only released after Shad insisted several times over, and expeditions that rarely produced more than a sole lead or two but had led them through many quaint villages and stunning landscapes. The scholar began to notice an intertwining pattern, one that he reluctantly admitted could be reinterpreted in other ways.
It is merely speculation and false speculation at that. Any proof can be made if one wants to prove their particular point. I swear Ashei is getting to me… She can be quite skillful at that when she desires to be, Shad thought, pausing outside his apartment door. He turned his head to the side, looked down at nothing in particular, and smiled at his folly.
Regardless if he knew Link was there or not, he announced that he was home. Link was actually home—he rarely wasn't—and said hello in return as he peered out over the back of the sofa. Shad noticed the tip of a fluffy tail rise and walk toward Link. A cat that was well known in the neighborhood and was as long and wide as Link's chest laid down and stretched out on Link's lap, the armrest, and part of the other sofa cushion.
Because he knew that he was not supposed to bring animals home anymore, Link claimed the cat had followed him home. In fact, he informed Shad twice that the cat had definitely followed him home. While as overly-friendly as that giant cat was toward everyone, Shad had no doubt that Link had outright picked up or in the least encouraged the cat to come home with him. Shad informed Link that the cat did indeed possess an owner and, after a half-pleading grin from Link, he agreed to allow the cat to visit.
Though he knew it was an odd question to ask, especially to simply come out and ask without properly bridging the question into polite conversation, Shad knew not if he would have the nerve to ask once he created the correct time. As he picked up his field journal from the coffee table, Shad headed over and sat down in a nearby chair, what with his typical seat by Link on the sofa mostly occupied by a resting body pillow of fur.
Partly to gather his courage, he flipped idly through his notes. He almost decided to hold off asking Link at all, as he was worried about creating an awkward moment, but he expected once he explained the others' misconception that Link would laugh off his question as nothing more than a new embarrassing story to tell.
He was nonetheless hesitant to ask. "Link, are we…together?" he said, lowering his journal to his lap and closing it.
With all his joy and focus on petting his new cat friend until now, Link looked over and met Shad's gaze. "Yea, you're here, I'm here, this kitty is here," he said, smiling softly. "We're together."
"Yes, but I mean are you and I together-together?"
Link's face read that he had no idea what he was saying.
Shad wished the old boy had caught onto his intended connotations of the word. As dear as he was to him, the brave young man could be incredibly simple-minded at times. Not to say that he was dim-witted at all, because he wasn't.
"It seems that the others are under the assumption that we are in an established romantic relationship." And when Link still did not show any sign of understanding, Shad clarified, "They think we are lovers."
The scholar watched as Link's bewildered expression fell into a frown as he looked down at the floor. "…We aren't?" he said quietly, with obvious hurt.
A pang of guilt mixed with shock bolted through Shad. "You thought as well?" he said. "Oh dear…"
Still hurt and slightly stunned, Link asked, "What made you think we weren't?"
"What was there to indicate we were?" Shad said. "You never asked me out formally, for starters."
As he looked away, Link snorted harshly and shifted in his seat. "Our first date, we had lunch on the banks of Lake Hylia." Link's small spark of anger puzzled the scholar. "I said to you that morning, 'Let's go out for a picnic on Lake Hylia together' and you said yes. We've been going out ever since."
Shad recalled most of that day but by no means did he remember being overwhelmed with the excitement of new love and the uncertainty of a first date. "In no regard does that indicate that you intended to initiate a romantic relationship with me, old boy."
"It did for me," Link said and briefly he looked away as he thought and reconsidered. "Okay, I see your point but nothing ever gave you a hint? I've never known you not to notice anything. I thought you knew."
"There was nothing particularly romantic for me to notice," he said. "How was I to know?"
"Shad…" he said matter-of-factly, "we cuddle."
Shad blinked and felt flustered. "I-I would not say we cuddle per se. We have held one another—"
"We cuddle," Link insisted.
Well, he supposed technically by definition they did cuddle…
"I bought you a gift. For our six-month anniversary," he said, his smile hard and his eyes humorless. "You think it would've been more awkward if I found out we weren't together then? Because right now I feel pretty stupid." Shad was certain the cat in his lap was glaring at him.
"No, do not fault yourself," the scholar pled, leaning forward in his chair. "If anything, I am to blame."
"For what?" Link raised an eyebrow. "I'm the stupid one who thought we were together." Link was a strange wash of emotions—his voice was stern, slightly cold even, as he tried to hide the sharp hurt of learning that his happy, loving relationship did not exist. He was angry and upset at Shad and himself, and the scholar did not disagree that he had the right to be unhappy with him.
Shad bowed his head in apology. "I was not exactly the perceptive one in this either," he said, rubbing his wrists in nervousness. "It never registered in my head that your displays of affection were meant to be taken romantically."
To say that he had been oblivious was an understatement. He wondered if anyone in his place would fail to notice Link's non-platonic affections if they possessed a similarly natural and seamless bond as they shared. Relationships were built. They grew. And while both were true in their case as well, Link and Shad's friendship also was, as in their bond was also an existing state of being. After the twilight lifted, bit by bit they had intertwined themselves in the other's lives until they were like Lake Hylia on a calm day, its still water reflecting the sky so well it was impossible to tell where one began and the other started and the illusion could only be broken by skipping a rock across its surface.
While he had been quick to deny that he and Link were romantically involved, his aggravation stemmed more from the inaccuracy of their assertions rather than an actual lack of attraction. He had never expected to be any more than good friends and he never would have asked Link if he wished to be more than dear friends. And clearly he never would have known they were actually like-minded in their desired affections unless Link more or less told him outright.
"So we have been together for six months?" Shad said, tentatively raising his head up and peering over at Link.
Still frowning, Link tipped his head to the side in affirmation.
"It does not have to be time wasted…"
A flash of surprise darted through Link's face as his anger and hurt were tossed aside and hope flooded through him in their absence as he met Shad's shy gaze. He seemed to be listening patiently and his quiet anticipation gave the scholar the impression that if the giant cat on his lap moved elsewhere and if he was physically able to sit on the edge of his seat, he would be.
"It may not possess the same temporal significance," he said, interlacing his fingers to keep from tapping them, "however, we can rejoice that it is our…first day anniversary?"
Relief, then joy rushed through Link as he smiled.
"I would come to you, my dear, but it seems your personal space is otherwise occupied to full capacity," Shad said.
Both knew that Link could simply set his cat friend aside but they both knew well that Link would let the cat, any cat really, lay on him until it no longer found him comfortable. As the cat sat up and then proceeded to rest its large head on his shoulder and draped its massive body over Link like a welcome mat, even causing Link to utter a brief 'oof' at its weight, it was clear that Link made for a comfortable bed.
Truth be told, Shad was actually quite aware of that already too.