Hey guys! Happy Valentine's Day! I love childhood friendship stories, so I decided to write another one. :)
I hope you enjoy!
-My Valentine-
A knock was heard at her door that morning, at seven-thirty am sharp. Zelda expected that knock every day, as he had always come over at this exact time for the past year. She opened the door to find Link standing there with a grin. He was wearing a bright red shirt, that with the sun, almost looked pink for a minute. Oh wait, it was pink!
"Happy Valentine's Day!" He greeted her.
She laughed before saying good morning and repeating the holiday phrase to him. Every day Link came over and they walked to school together. They were both nine years old and in fifth grade. When they were five, Zelda had stood up to a bully in kindergarten that was picking on Link. The bully, a larger boy much taller than the two of them who was named Groose, laughed when she had said to knock it off and leave Link alone. When he had insulted her with "you should mind your own business, you pretty little princess," she had shoved him backward and he tripped over a chair and went sprawling on his back. Groose had made a heavy thud on the ground but he had been otherwise just fine.
Right after that she had helped Link up and told him to stand up for himself next time! Zelda had gotten in big trouble for pushing Groose over the chair, which had actually been half accident, but she didn't care in the slightest. She hated bullies, she hated seeing people getting picked on, and she had had enough of watching Link get picked on for being quiet. Not that that was really a crime, she kind of liked him because of it.
Through the past five years he had remained shy and quiet, around other people that is, but when it came to his best friend he had a lot to say. At school he was almost always silent, which was something Zelda constantly nagged him about and told him people would lessen up on the jokes and teasing if he just opened his mouth more. But what Zelda didn't understand was that Link actually didn't care if they picked on him at all.
That day, the color of his shirt caught everyone's attention and the boys jeered at him and poked fun in his direction. But that was to be expected, as pink was a girly color.
Zelda was right by his side and he could see her getting mad like always, eyebrow twitching and jaw set firmly. She was just about to tell Groose off when Link spoke up first, shocking them all.
"You're just picking on me because you're not man enough to wear a pink shirt. I doubt you could even pull it off."
Everyone exploded in laughter, and Link knew they were laughing at him but he laughed with them. He joined because even if he had sounded dumb, Groose's eyes widened and his jaw had dropped in shocked stupefaction. He had actually looked speechless for a couple of seconds before he broke out in a loud snicker and everyone else had joined him.
"Yeah, Groose. You should take some fashion hints from Link there, buddy." Karane cut in as the laughter died down.
"I think Link is awesome for wearing pink." A shy little voice from the back of the class said, and Link turned to see Paya, who put her hands over her cheeks in embarrassment.
"He is!" A loud girl named Purah yelled afterwards.
Zelda grinned at Link with a thumbs up. An orange haired girl everyone was afraid of, regardless of her being the shortest girl in the whole class, walked up from behind Groose. Her red eyes stared up at his and even he backed away from her.
"You shouldn't pick on anyone with these pink heart boxers sticking out of your pants." She said stepping behind him, grabbing them and giving him one hell a wedgie.
Groose screamed and Midna jerked him to the side, making him turn around and involuntarily show everyone his quite unmanly underpants. If they had exploded with laughter at Link before, the room was destroyed with the sound of hysterical laughter as Groose ripped her hand away from him with a face so red it might have rivaled a tomato. His embarrassment went on for only a couple seconds before their teacher yelled.
"Everyone to knock it off and sit down right this instant!"
The class went so dead silent it was unnerving as Groose ran out the door. Link watched him run and, instead of being happy that the bully who had given him hell for the past five years had gotten what he deserved, he felt sympathy for him and a cold feeling in his chest. It was strange since Groose had publically embarrassed him a hundred times and Link had wished many times that the bully with the red pompadour would be humiliated himself, but this was wrong. This was taking it too far.
He looked over at the loud, brash, fearless Twili girl beside him. She had an evil grin on her face and had her hand to her lips still trying not to laugh. He got why she thought it was so funny, but he didn't know why she had done that. Midna caught sight of him looking at her and glanced at him with her blood red eyes and smiled. "You're welcome." She whispered and Link blinked at her, shocked.
Did she do that in his defense? Why would she do that for him? He looked at Zelda and she shrugged, before their teacher started talking. Link didn't hear anything the teacher was saying as his brain was full of confused thoughts. Everyone had stood up for him. They never had before, so Link was left flabbergasted as he looked around at his classmates.
After lunch and recess, everyone gave their friends valentines of colorful paper and candy. The room was full of laughs and jokes as everyone else received the gifts and Link sat at his desk alone. Zelda, Purah, Paya, and Karane stood around a table with Midna talking loudly.
"That was the single best thing I have ever witnessed!" Purah exclaimed.
"He sure deserved it." Karane said crossing her arms with a smirk.
"I'm not sure anyone deserves that." Zelda said. "But you sure gave him a lesson he'll never forget. Shows him right for treating everyone else like horse crap."
"I hope he stops now." Paya commented.
Link found himself smiling at the brown wood of his desk, overhearing the girls. A goron boy named Yunobo came over and put one of his large hands on Link's desk.
"That was great, Link! You actually stood up to him. I wish I was brave enough to do something like that."
Link didn't know what to say, but Yunobo waited patiently for him to answer. "It's not about being brave, it's about not letting others push you around." He said, quoting Zelda from one of her many lectures to him. He thought it was good advice, even if it had been weeks since she told him that and only that day he had used it.
Yunobo looked thoughtful before giving Link a grin. " I'm gonna use that, bro."
"Credit Zelda, she's the wise one."
After giving him a thumbs up, Yunobo went to talk to a Sheikah kid with white hair that was always in his eyes. Link couldn't remember his name. After sitting there a couple more minutes he saw Groose sulk back in the classroom looking at the floor and his arms crossed, a heavy frown on his face. He had never seen him look so…down. It seemed what Midna did to him broke his strong demeanor a bit. Or maybe it was his own fault, as he wasn't sure she would have wedgied him if he hadn't stood up for himself. But maybe she was really just as evil like she looked. Yeah…probably that.
Link watched as everyone exchanged valentines and looked inside his desk for the one he made, pulling out the red and pink paper he had cut up into little hearts and glued together. He felt his cheeks go red as Zelda walked over and sat next to him. He quickly, hopefully without it being obvious, put his hand holding it under his desk.
"Why are you over here all alone? Don't you have someone to give a valentine to?"
He nodded and the tips of his ears went red as he quit hiding it and held it out to her. There was nobody else he even thought of giving a valentine to other than Zelda. She took it as their eyes met and she smiled.
"Me? Aww, thanks."
"Y-you're welcome. I hope you l-like it." He said, stuttering horribly and squeezing his knee under his desk. He watched Zelda open the handmade card and read it. Inside there was another pink heart glued down with his scraggly handwriting in it. It said "Happy Valentine's Day, Zelda, my best friend in the whole world."
"Thanks Link! This is really sweet." Zelda said leaning over and hugging him from her chair, which was right next to his. Link went rigid and when she didn't let go for several seconds, he tentatively wrapped his arms loosely around her as well till she let go.
"I…uh..didn't make a valentine for anyone this year." She said, looking away bashfully.
"That's okay. You didn't have to."
She nodded then dragged Link over to a table where some of their friends were sitting. A tall Zora boy, so tall he had to sit in the back of the class so the other kids could see, greeted them cheerfully.
"Hey Zelda. Link! You were so cool earlier! I think everyone died when Midna embarrassed him though. Can you believe those hearts on his underwear? I didn't think Groose would wear something like that." He said snickering.
"Sidon! You're being rude, don't you know he's right over there?" Zelda hissed jabbing her thumb over her shoulder. Sidon blinked then nodded muttering sorry.
"I feel bad for him." Paya says quietly. "That was really mean of her. I know he's really mean, but he's all alone over there now."
"I doubt Midna feels bad about it." Sidon said.
They all looked across the classroom at the Twili girl and saw her talking to Sheik, holding out a small piece of pink paper. He looked horribly uncomfortable as he took it and gave her very forced smile.
"Huh, how interesting. I guess even she has a heart." Purah said.
"Of course she does! Everyone has one even if they hide their feelings. " Zelda snapped.
"But he looks terrified of her. Honestly, I would be too." Link said and everyone looked at him and he said "What?" as four pairs of eyes locked onto him.
"We all heard her whisper "You're welcome." to you." Sidon said. "Did you ask her to do that?"
Link choked on the piece of chocolate Paya handed to him when they had come over to the table. "What? Of course not!"
"Link wouldn't do that." Zelda defended him.
"Why would she have done it then? As far as I know, she doesn't care for anyone."
"You can ask her, here she comes." Purah muttered.
Their table went quiet instantly and Purah kicked her toes into Sidon's shin, making him wince.
"Hi Midna. We're wondering, why'd you do it?" He said biting back pain.
Midna shrugged before answering and stopping at their full table. "When I saw the pink waistband sticking out of his pants I couldn't resist, especially after he had just been teasing Link. There was no way I was passing up the chance to show the class. It was ironic that you said that you know, as Groose was making fun of you when he was wearing pink himself." She said directing her attention to Link at the end.
"Don't you feel bad at all?" Zelda asked.
The orange haired threw her head back laughing. "No! He deserved it and you all know it."
Nobody said anything for a couple seconds before nodding in agreement. All of them except Zelda and Link.
"Do you two think otherwise?" Midna asked.
"I think you should apologize." Zelda told her.
Midna's face scrunched up in a questionable expression, and Zelda thought she might bite back with a rude retort when instead her answer shocked them all.
"You think so?" She said it quietly with what Link could have sworn was guilt in her voice. Zelda nodded and glanced over at Groose and then back to her.
"I guess it was a bit over the top." She said turning and walking over as everyone turned and watched.
"What do you want?" Groose asked her bitterly, eyes scalding as he stared up at her. Well, kind of up at her, he was almost as tall as her sitting in his chair.
"Look, I'm sorry. Nobody deserves that….I mean, what I did."
The whole classroom had gone quiet by now, so everyone could hear their conversation without trying. Groose's face heated up again and he bit his bottom lip, growling and looking around the room at everyone with firey eyes. But it didn't stop anyone from continuing watch and listen. He looked back to Midna, whose shoulders were dropped, and an uneasy expression was plastered across her pale face.
"It's…fine. I probably had that coming." He muttered.
Midna walked away from him then and went over by the windows, staring at the cold world of dead grass and leafless trees outside. Zelda walked up beside her and leaned her elbows on the counter of cabinets right in front of the glass.
"Well, that went a lot better than I expected."
"I don't really do apologies… but it was the right thing to do. I heard you guys talking about me by the way. I guess you saw my fail of giving a valentine to Sheik. He was so scared of me he could barely say thank you." Midna said with a sad frown.
Zelda put her hand on her shoulder. "You don't try to be scary, do you?"
Midna shook her head. "It's these stupid eyes of mine, and my hair. I know I've only been at this school for a couple months but I thought people would at least like me."
"I don't think they don't like you, they just don't really know you. How about you start by smiling more? You always look so mad. You can hang out with me if you want."
"Really?"
Zelda nodded enthusiastically. "I actually think you're pretty awesome. Now, let's go back to everyone else, they can suck it up and learn to accept you because I have just claimed you as my friend!"
Midna laughed loudly saying she couldn't just do that, but she nodded, following Zelda over to the table and pulling up an empty chair. Everyone shared more chocolate and heart candies that Purah dumped out her backpack in the middle of the table. Within minutes they included Midna into their conversation and were laughing at a couple jokes she told them.
Soon school was over and everyone parted ways getting in buses or walking home. Link and Zelda walked to her house before heading to his like they always did. Usually they would drop his backpack off and go play in the woods behind his house, but Link had had an idea this morning that his mom helped had him plan out. He asked Zelda if she would like to go to the park instead. She agreed, so he went into the kitchen and grabbed the small basket from the counter he left it on before school.
"What's that?"
"You'll see when we get there."
Crossing her arms and sticking out her bottom lip, Zelda stared Link down as she hated answers like that. She didn't like stuff hidden from her. But when Link walked past her ignoring her irritated look, she followed him back out the front door. His mom called out "Have fun and be careful!" as the door shut.
Ten minutes later they stood in the middle of Hylia park. Link set the basket on the ground and pulled the small folded up blanket out of it and laid it on the ground, before pulling out two bottles of soda and a plastic container.
"I…planned a picnic for us. I hope you're hungry." Link said, feeling his cheeks and ears go red.
"Okay." Zelda said her own face going pink as she sat down on the blanket and he did the same.
Link opened the container after setting the two paper plates on the blanket for them. Inside were four individually wrapped peanut butter and honey sandwiches that he knew were her favorite. His mom had helped him cut them into heart shapes for Valentine's day. He set one on each of their plates after unwrapping it. He also took a couple sugar cookies, red frosted with pink sprinkles and of course heart shaped as well, and set them on the plates. Sitting in the park with Zelda was much more embarrassing than he had originally thought.
"They are PB and honey."
"Awesome!" Zelda said grinning. "I've always wanted to do a picnic with someone. It's a little cold outside though, but that's okay."
"I didn't think of that." Link said biting into his sandwich.
Zelda shrugged opening her soda. "It doesn't matter that much, this is still cool."
They ate their sandwiches while talking and watching a couple kids ice skate across the park on the pond. Zelda brought up his first time ice skating, which had coincidently been with her. She laughed about him falling down the moment he stepped on the ice, it had been so funny to watch.
"You didn't even make it one step!"
"That really hurt." Link said laughing too. "I'm glad I got better, even though I still suck at staying on my feet."
"Me too, it wouldn't be fun skating alone."
"You have a lot of other friends you could have skated with."
"True, but none of them are you." Zelda said poking him in the chest.
Link looked away from her and she tilted her head to the side and told him to look at her. Link glanced at her before she took his face in her cold fingers and made him look at her.
"Are you being shy again?" She teased.
"No." He said quickly. Too quickly.
"Yes you are. Come on, Link. What are you thinking about?"
"I'm not thinking." Link said grabbing his second sugar cookie as she lowered her hands.
"Uh huh."
Her tone was so disbelieving. Link knew that she always knew when he lied, so he didn't know why he bothered doing so. He was thinking she looked pretty sitting there smiling ear to ear as she talked about their memory. His mom knew he had a crush on Zelda, and she told him it was really cute, which he hated. That was really the reason she helped him get that picnic he refused to call a "date" ready. It wasn't like that…or so he kept telling himself. He just wanted to do something special for her.
"We should go home and get our ice skates too. It's been a while since we skated." Link said, changing the subject and hoping she would let it go. Zelda nodded, and once they were done eating, they got up and Zelda helped Link fold the blanket back up. Link stuffed it back in the basket with the other stuff.
Link swung the basket back and forth as they walked to Zelda's house. She asked her dad if she could go skating at the park. Zelda's dad said it was okay with him as long as Link's mom could go with them. Her dad picked up the phone in the kitchen and dialed a number. A minute later, her dad told them yes. Zelda ran upstairs to her room and grabbed her skates, earmuffs, and gloves before they left for his house to meet his mom.
Down at the park again, Zelda jumped and spun in the air on her ice skates, landing gracefully like she always did. She had practiced a lot, and told Link she learned a new trick. He asked to see it so Zelda showed off her new trick on the ice, holding her leg up in the air behind her head and gliding across the frozen water. Link was mostly amazed by the fact she could practically do the splits standing up. Keeping her balance like that was also incredible to him. He clapped and grinned widely before saying "That's so cool!"
Losing her concentration at her best friend's enthusiasm, Zelda lost her balance as she put her back down and fell on her face. She let out a loud shriek before smashing into the cold, hard frozen water.
"Zelda!" Link shouted and quickly rushed over to see if she was okay. Zelda pushed herself up on gloved fingers and Link helped her to her feet, wobbling himself.
Zelda wiped her cheeks of tears and sniffed. A tiny line of blood ran down her chin from a small scratch. She wiped that off with her sleeve when she rubbed her red nose. Link wondered if she noticed at all that she was bleeding.
"Zelda! Oh dear, honey are you alright?" Link's mom said coming to their side. Link had been about to ask the same thing, his eyes full of concern.
Zelda sniffed and nodded, eyes red and puffy. "I'm okay. It's not the first time." She mumbled.
Link's mom checked out her tiny injury which had already stopped bleeding, and deciding she was fine, they stayed at the lake skating for a little while longer.
Walking home to Zelda's house, Link felt so bad for making her biff it. He apologized and Zelda asked what for. He explained that he had distracted her, which made her fall. Zelda laughed and said it wasn't his fault.
"Don't worry about it, you dork." She said with a smile that told him he never needed to apologize. A couple minutes later she started laughing again. "It must have been funny to watch, huh?"
Link didn't think so. He'd been too concerned she had hurt herself- worse than she had. But thinking of it, if he were watching someone else, he probably would have laughed. Zelda's feet had completely left the ground before she went face first into the ice. They'd probably joke about it later.
"A little." He said giving her a grin.
When they stood on her front porch, he looked at his feet as his mom explained what happened to Zelda's chin as her dad examined her. When that was over, and she'd convinced her dad she was fine, Zelda took Link's hand and asked him if he wanted some apple cider. He nodded, cheeks red as her gloved fingers wrapped around his and squeezed, pulling him through the front door.
Link stood next to Zelda as she reached on her tippy-toes for the box of powdered apple cider in the cabinet. It was on the bottom shelf but she could still barely reach it, as it pushed to the back behind other stuff. Link grabbed two blue coffee mugs from the cabinet next to the sink before filling them with water. After he set them down on the table, Zelda added the cider mix to the water before they put both cups in the microwave. Zelda then pressed the "3" that set it for three minutes.
Bringing their cups in the living room, they sat on the couch. Zelda flipped through TV channels. They decided on cartoons and sat there sipping warm apple cider, laughing occasionally at the TV. When their cartoon ended Zelda's dad called her for dinner, which meant Link had to go home with his mom.
Link and Zelda walked over the front door and he put his coat on. Their parents were still talking in the kitchen so they stood there alone.
"Thank you for the picnic, Link. It was really sweet of you to plan that." Zelda said, stepping over and kissing his left cheek before hugging him tightly. Link felt his face flush so red that he felt the tips of his pointed ears burning. He forgot to hug her back in his embarrassment and Zelda let go.
"Y-you're welcome!" He said too loudly and his eyes darted from hers as he remembered the violent blush on his cheeks. That only got worse at his accidental, overreacting outburst.
Zelda giggled as Link's mom walked around the corner. Link made himself look at her, and Zelda smiled with pink cheeks as well. He returned her smile, feeling a little better she was embarrassed too.
"Bye Link. See you tomorrow." She said before walking into the dining room.
"Bye Zelda."
Link had a smile on his face the entire walk home, which he was careful to hide from his mom. She kissed me. He thought over and over, feeling warm even if it was cold outside.