A/N: So, I happened across this old stuff the other week and thought that it could do with a bit of an update... Here's the new-and-improved Happy Thoughts. Enjoy!
Summary: "I'd always attracted the guys. My closest friend Zellie and I, we'd both like the same boy, and he'd end up liking me. I got used to it." ZeLink, from Malon's PoV. Modern school AU, slight angst. OneShot.
Disclaimer: I own nothing from The Legend of Zelda. If I did, I wouldn't be living on a student budget, now, would I?
I'd always attracted the guys. My closest friend Zellie and I, we'd both like the same boy, and he'd end up liking me. Though, to be fair, the guys I did end up dating didn't really take me out anywhere, and the relationship usually fizzled out after a month. I got used to it.
Out of the two of us, I'm the more confident, on occasion a bit feisty (read: quick-tempered), and more-often-than-not – to my deepest regret – available. Sure, Zellie's prettier and nicer than me, but I'm a hell of a lot more accessible than her, on account of her being the 'Princess' of Hyrule. Basically, she's the daughter of Daphne Nohansen, Hyrule's longest-serving Prime Minister. Completely off-limits to a boy. Her dad is way too scary and controlling. He requires full ID and a minute-by-minute itinerary of the evening before he'll even let her out of the house, and so scares off all of Zelda's possible boyfriends.
Until this one, Link Forester. Now he is a hunk. He has this dirty blonde hair that hangs in his Lake Hylia-blue eyes. And the body of a god. Seriously.
Actually, as the only gods that we have are goddesses, no he doesn't.
But still. He's got abs, baby. And very, very nice pectorals, too.
Now I thought it would be the usual kind of thing – the whole "Oh-Farore-we-fancy-the-same-guy-again", then the "It's-no-use-Mallie-he-fancies-you", and then me ending up with him.
But not this time. Oh, no. The guy I actually really, really like is going out with Zellie. Typical. Just my luck.
You know, I never really liked the others. Yes, there was Mikau (who was more interested in Lulu than me), there was Ralph (who I met on holiday in Labrynna and never saw again), and there was Shad (who, surprisingly, turned out to be a complete player and got another girlfriend within a week). But Link has something different. He's in an entirely separate league.
He's hot, but he's not a player. He's clever, but he's not a geek. He's sporty, but not a complete lad. And he's nice.
Tetra, our Hylian tutor, would probably murder me if she heard me use that word. But there's no other way to describe him. He's just… nice.
And, out of all of them, he has to be the one that goes for Zel. Not that she doesn't deserve him or anything. It's just that it would have been nice to get the good guy. The reliable one. The one who I actually see often. The one that – if Zellie's opinion is anything to go by – is a damn good kisser.
I keep telling myself not to be jealous. Zellie completely deserves him. But it's hard. Particularly because she thinks I got over him about a month ago.
Oh, Nayru. Here she comes, most likely with another update of where dear old Linky-poo took her this weekend. Probably to Café Telma, the poshest restaurant in town. Or off to see the play about the Hero of Time and the Princess of Destiny. Or both.
Life is so unfair.
"Heya, Mallie! You'll never guess where Link took me this weekend!"
She sounds really excited. I'd better humour her.
"I don't know, Zel. Where did dearest Link take you?"
I try to keep the jealousy and sarcasm out of my voice, and fail miserably. Luckily, she's too happy to notice.
"He took me for a meal at Café Telma! You know, that really posh restaurant in the South-West Quarter?"
I told you so.
"Yeah? He took you there? Wow, Zellie, that's so cool!" I actually manage to get some enthusiasm into my voice. I feel anything but enthusiastic, though.
"I know! He paid for everything, too! And then he took me to that production they're putting on at the old amphitheatre outside town! You know, the one about the Hero of Time and the Princess of Destiny?"
Wow. I amaze myself with my own psychic abilities sometimes.
"That's really great, Zellie." I tell myself I'm happy for her. I try to smile. It doesn't really work, and I think I probably look like a moblin being strangled.
"Mal? What's wrong?" She seems to have realised that I'm not overly joyous at the moment.
"Oh, it's nothing, Zellie. I'm fine. Really." And just to show her how 'fine' I am, I give her a huge, completely fake, smile. I guess I succeed this time, as she forgets about it.
"Oh, okay."
I decide that I'd better get over myself, and actually make a proper attempt at engaging with her.
"Right, spill. How far have you gone with him, then? All the way?" Her cheeks turn bright red, and she looks scandalised.
"Mallie!"
"Oh, you know I'm only joking, Zel."
"Well, as long as you are just joking." She gives me a look, and when I sigh and roll my eyes at her, she grins, and changes the topic.
"Come on, I need to do that Zoran work before lectures."
And with that, she links her arm with mine, and drags me off to our common room, babbling about something-or-the-other, and about how evil the Disciplinary Officer, Ganondorf Dragmire, is.
Me? I'm busy battling with my resurgent jealousy and general bad mood.
Think happy thoughts, Mallie. Happy thoughts, happy thoughts, happy thoughts...
A/N: Now I know that Zelda and Link belong together - and I'm very much a ZeLink shipper - but I just thought it would be cool to explore their relationship from a slightly different perspective. Don't feel too sorry for Malon, she's a big girl and can cope with it. :P Hopefully the updated version is a bit more true-to-character and a bit less like angst-y teenage writing. Anyway, what do you think?
Reviews literally make my day. Go on, you know you want to...
xHHEx
