Super duper short oneshot for you guys! I decided to switch around Zelda and Link's personalities a little bit, so hopefully you'll enjoy it. It's fluffy, not really a plot thing. And yes, it's named for All Time Low's song, Something's Gotta Give. It's a good song (other than the swearing... Eheheh). I'll stop my rambling now. Enjoy!
Disclaimer: I don't own Nintendo. I don't even work for Nintendo. Tbh I'd be happy being a janitor for Nintendo but alas, my parents think that would be a bad idea for some reason. Ah, well.
UPDATE: The wonderful, marvelous MalyceaDunCastellan has done a French translation of this short story! Special thanks to her. I can't read French at all. Like, I know absolutely none. So I'm assuming the translation is correct. :3 Thank you, thank you, thank you!
Something's Gotta Give
I dig my heels into my horse's flank, hoping he'll move a little faster. Why did I have to grab the slowest, oldest gelding in the stable? she thought to herself. I had decided it was high time to get out of the castle. I spent the day traveling on the plain brown horse, wishing it would move faster. I had gotten it to move at a trot at one point. The three seconds it lasted was thrilling. He seems to take an interest in the grass, putting his head down to munch on Hyrule Field's apparently delectable clover. I groan.
"Move," I tell him. He either doesn't hear me, or he ignores me. Quite suddenly, however, he is able to move quickly. Far too quickly. A hissing noise is heard from under the horse's hooves, accompanied by a rustle of grass. By the goddesses, I think, panicking. It's a snake, and horses hate snakes. The old gelding shows his youth in a haste by rearing up. The reins fall from my grasp, causing me to fall in the ground. I let out a shout, somehow landing on my hip. Pain shoots up my leg, and I yell out again. The gelding has taken off. Now he runs.
After a moment of recovery, I attempt to get up to no avail. I'm stuck in the middle of Hyrule Field with a wildly bruised hip. "Great," I mumble, looking around for something to help me. I see a tree in the distance, but other than that, I'm surrounded by grass. I watch a cricket go by, casually hopping along. "Why do I always get myself into these situations…?" I mumble, trying desperately to get up. My right leg, however, screams no. An ugly kind of squawk sends me into panic mode yet again. I almost forgot that Hyrule Field is crawling with all sorts of creatures. Most of them leave people alone when they're on horseback, but an injured human is perfectly good game…
A kargarok flies overhead, spotting me. There goes the life of the princess, I sigh. However, I pull out the rapier at my waist anyway. I was lucky I didn't land on that side when I fell. The pain in my right leg is throbbing now, and it's a bit hard to ignore. The kargarok above my head, however, becomes my main priority. I also have magic I can use, but that would be a little difficult to concentrate with my leg. It usually takes a relatively quiet situation for me to charge my magic. In cases like this, though, I might just have to use it. The kargarok dives toward my head, and I let out an involuntary scream.
Before I can attack it with my rapier, it lets out a scream of its own and falls to the ground, dead. I glance around, my curiosity and panic growing. In the distance I see a figure lowering their bow. Looking back at the kargarok, I notice an arrow protruding from its chest. The person grows nearer, slowly getting closer. I frown, trying to tell who the person is. They seem familiar for some reason. Once they're close enough, I notice he's wearing all green.
"Link," I say quietly, as if to reassure myself I'm finally safe. He reaches me, leaning over to see me.
"You managed to get yourself into trouble again," he remarks. The memory of Link comes flooding back to me. His sandy blonde hair, the scent of forest, the well-defined, unarguably handsome face, and the absolute asinine personality. Link might have saved my kingdom, but the two of us hate each other. I liked it much better when he was in wolf form. He couldn't make annoying comments about me all the time. Then again, I always fought back rather verociously as well. It wasn't something fitting of a princess (which he constantly pointed out), but I had stopped caring about my royalty around him. I completely forgot all of my twenty years of princess training. It went straight out the window when he was around.
"I could have killed it without your help," I snap back. There it was. He was always bringing out the most horrible side of me.
"Oh really? Then was that scream a battle cry, princess?" he sneers. Without a word of warning, he scoops me into his arms.
"What are you doing!?" I exclaim, fighting for all I'm worth.
"You can't walk on your own," he reminds me. He has a point there, I suppose. "How did you manage to find yourself helpless on the ground of Hyrule Field without a horse or a companion?"
"I was not helpless," I tell him.
"Oh really? Then you were just enjoying the foliage?"
"Will you stop with the rude remarks?"
"I'm the one helping you, princess," Link points out. "I could just set you down on Hyrule Field and leave you out to die. It's not as easy to defend yourself at night around here, you know." I frown. He's got the upperhand and he knows it. "It's not like you to be quiet. Did you run out of insults?"
"I'm just saving them for later." It's not true. I really did run out of insults and he knows it, but I can't give in. Not yet. "Where exactly are you taking me?"
"Back to Ordon."
"Where am I going to stay in Ordon?"
"My house." With this remark said, I start squirming again.
"You are NOT going to put your hands on me!" I yell. He nearly drops me, but holds on tightly. "You can't just take me to your house! You may have saved me, but I won't let you have your ways with me!" During my shouts of protest, Link has been trying to shut me up.
"Zelda!" he snaps, finally silencing me. The sound of my name coming from him makes me a little more settled. "I won't lay a hand on you. Goddesses forbid I simply let you rest." Oops. It looks like I actually ticked him off. He continues walking in silence.
"...Sorry…" I murmur. Link instantly gets a smirk across his goddess-blessed face.
"Did I just hear an apology from the darling princess of Hyrule?" he teases.
"Link!" I exclaim, beating on his chest again. "Did you do that just so I would apologize!?"
"Perhaps," he says. After several more insults toward each other, we finally make it to Link's treehouse. I've been here once before, though it was a brief amount of time, and I was tired. Now, I can tell it's well-kept. He started a small garden on the outside, and I can see pumpkins (no surprise here in Ordon), tomatoes, and potatoes. Epona stands nearby, quietly munching on some long grass. She lifts her head and whinnies at us as we pass. "Epona missed you," Link comments.
"Somehow I doubt it," I laugh. He carries me up the ladder somehow (I forget how strong he actually is at times) and leads me inside, where he gently sits me in a chair.
"Pumpkin soup alright for dinner?" Link asks, walking over to the pot over the fireplace and stirring it. He tastes it, then adds some herbs.
"Yeah," I say absentmindedly. I'm too busy taking in the sight of Link's house to really listen to what he says.
"Good, because it was that or starve you." I ignore him, staring at the pictographs on his wall. Some were of him with goats, others were with the village kids, and one was even him and Midna together. I continued looking and found a familiar pictograph. It was of all three of us: Link, Midna, and me right after defeating Ganondorf. Link notices my fascination with the picture. "I figured if I didn't hang some sort of commemoration of the events, I would think it was all a dream." For once, I notice that the hero is being serious. It's a rare occurrence, but I intend to keep it that way.
"I can see why," I say softly. After all, he went right back to his ordinary life in Ordon after the events. Nothing is different around here.
"Here," he murmurs, pushing a bowl of hot soup in front of me. I take it graciously. I had forgotten my hunger in the arguments with Link. "Careful, it's hot. You'll burn your tongue." For a moment, I believe he's going to be nice. Then the snarky comment comes along. "If I don't warn you, you'll make another stupid mistake."
"For a moment there, I thought you were going to be nice," I growl, blowing on the soup to cool it down.
"It's only you I'm like that with," he comments.
"Same here," I mumble. We finish our soup (which is fantastic, but I'm not about to inflate his ego by telling him that), and he starts washing the dishes. I sit on the couch near the fire. He helped me walk over to it, where I could sit more comfortably. My hip has started feeling better already, but it'll leave a huge a bruise, I'm sure. "Do you ever wonder what it would be like if none of it had happened?" I blurt out. I had been thinking about it for a moment, but I didn't really plan on asking the question out loud. Link pauses what he's doing for a moment.
"Every day, Zelda," he responds. For some reason, when he says my name, it's pleasant. I guess it's the acoustics of the old house or something, but his voice seems much more deep and soothing. "You can sleep in my bed. I'll sleep on the couch."
"Are you sure?" I ask. Link has always been foul-mouthed, but he's rather chivalrous when it comes down to his actions.
"You're injured. I can't allow royalty to sleep on a couch while I sleep on a bed, especially not when they're hurt. My bed isn't particularly comfortable, but it's better than that old thing," he motions to where I'm sitting. He finishes with the dishes, but simply leans up against the wall, looking at me.
"What?" I ask, squirming under his intense gaze. His blue eyes continue to stare, but he gives me an answer. One that's a little shocking to say the least.
"You became prettier." It takes me a while to form any kind of response.
"P-pardon?" I mean, he's pretty damn attractive too, I muse, admiring him. I knew he was attractive before (anyone who thought otherwise would have to be blind), but looking at him in this lighting, when everything is so calm, I can really admire just how attractive he is. He stops leaning on the wall to walk toward me.
"You heard me," he says, taking a seat next to me. I stare at him, but he doesn't even look at me. "Or perhaps I was unable to realize how beautiful you are when I was battling Ganondorf."
"Link, are you feeling alright?" I question, touching his forehead to see if he has a fever.
"Zelda," he says, taking my hand from his forehead to hold it in his. "Do you think the reason we can't get along is because…" He fumbles for a moment, a rare occurrence. "I think we bicker and fight like kids do. I tease you because I like you." My mouth is suddenly dry, and I'm staring at him in absolute surprise.
"Link, I…" I can't quite get the words to form, but he shakes his head.
"I realize your feelings toward me, princess," he says. For the first time since Midna left, I see pain in his eyes. The hero gets up and begins to walk away.
"Link, wait," I blurt out, grabbing the sleeve of his shirt. He turns to look at me, confused. I attempt to get up, but remember my hip.
"Don't hurt yourself, dummy," he chuckles softly, pushing me back to the couch.
"Link, I love you." This time, it's his turn to be surprised. It took me two seconds to realize my feelings. I love it when he says my name, I feel empty when he's not near me, there's a feeling I can't describe when he touches me. Every sign is there, but I've never noticed.
"Do you mean it?" he asks softly, touching my cheek and drawing closer to me. I can't form another word, so I nod instead, staring at his eyes. Without warning, he kisses me fiercely. I instinctively wrap my arms around his neck, pulling him closer. It's suddenly like we can't be close enough. His kiss is sweet, but intense. It's like he wants to be gentle, but can't manage to possibly do that. I finally pull away, but he stays close, his forehead resting on mine. "I love you too." I kiss him again without thinking.
"Link," I murmur. He buries his face in my neck, holding me close.
"Marry me, Zelda," he whispers, the breath from his words tickling my neck.
"Of course," I say softly.
"That wasn't a question. It was a command," he smirks, stealing my lips once more. He pulls back, a sly grin on his face. "Now can I have my ways with you?" he teases. My face flushes red, and I immediately beat on his chest in protest.
"Link!" I exclaim. "No, you cannot!"
"Oh, darn," he says jokingly, kissing my cheek. "You're a princess." He freezes, stopping his gentle kisses, and his arms that were wrapped around me loosen.
"So?" Hold me tighter.
"I can't possibly marry you," he groans.
"Link, I'll find a way to marry you. Don't worry about it," I tell him. He tightens his grasp on me and kisses my shoulder.
"I'm sorry I'm so mean to you," he says against my shoulder.
"You're not horrible," I tease, yawning. I finally realize just how tired I am. My eyelids threaten to close more and more with every passing second.
"I'm tired too," Link's low voice was lulling and sweet. I could fall asleep right here in his arms... Before I know it, he scoops me up and carries me over to his bed, where he tucks me in, giving me a kiss on the forehead. "Good night, princess," he whispers.
"Link," I mumble, holding onto his hand.
"Yes?"
"I love you, hero."
"And I you, princess." With that, he sneaks away, leaving me to a deep, sweet slumber.