Disclaimer: The Legend of Zelda, its characters and locations are all property of Nintendo. Any and all OCs and locations belong to me unless specifically stated to belong to someone else.
Friday Interrupted
Note: This takes place some time after The Prince and the Daredevil.
There was something to be said for the peace and quiet of spending a Friday night in...even though said quiet was mostly interrupted by the sound of several computer cooling fans, all humming away as they diligently tried to keep the fragile electronics cool enough to continue operating.
Sheik smiled to himself as he planted himself in his swivel chair and turned on his main monitor. It immediately lit up and displayed his desktop in glorious 4K, where a multitude of terminal windows greeted him, their prompts blinking in anticipation of his commands. He took a moment to change their order a little, unable to contain the small burst of glee at the sheer amount of space he had to work with on the screen now.
The monitor had been horribly expensive—just about the only piece of computer equipment he'd bought new at full price rather than find it used or discounted on the internet. He'd told himself he needed something that large and with such a high resolution in order to house all his program windows, but that was only part of the reason. He'd just wanted a 4K screen, and he'd set aside parts of his stipend for months in order to afford it.
Had she known, Impa would have given him a lecture on the frivolous use of money, and told him he should have set it aside for a rainy day...which was true, he had to agree, but here he was...and what Impa didn't know couldn't hurt her, right?
He lifted his arms over his head and stretched, cracking his knuckles and getting the kinks out of his back, like an athlete limbering up before a big run. He was in for a workout, definitely, but of the mental sort rather than the physical. He preferred it that way, actually. Where else would he get to exercise in his rubber ducky boxers?
Oh man, if someone saw him dressed like this, in a huge, black T-shirt and a pair of oversized baby blue boxers with bright yellow rubber duckies on them, and his hair undone and looking a ratty mess, he'd a laughing stock. Kafei in particular would have a field day, especially if he managed to take a photo or two. Din above, if Kafei got it into his head to send Link one of those photos...well, Sheik would just die and melt into a puddle of shame, wouldn't he?
So, that could never happen, which was why he always made sure he only wore this outfit to bed on days he knew there was no chance in hell that his meddlesome cousin would try to invade his apartment again. The outfit was comfortable, damn it, and perfect for the times he worked on his studies into the night. Useful for just diving into bed in the early hours of the morning, when even his screwed-up internal clock couldn't keep him up anymore, too.
Having made himself comfortable, he let his fingers fly across the keyboard, logging in to the various single-card machines and second-hand desktop computers he had attached to his network, satisfied to see that none of the services he used them for had failed during the day. A few scripts had failed to execute, to his disappointment. He hated debugging those. He hadn't gotten the hang of them yet, especially not when the information was supposed to be shared among the various servers and processed. In this case, he was having trouble actually getting the information off the original server and shared among the rest.
He took a deep breath. No need to panic. He had weeks yet to turn in this particular assignment, and he had plenty of time to fix the scripts. If they had, he'd spend the night optimising them anyway, so that wasn't a problem.
Some Friday night, he thought, chuckling a little to himself and glancing at the clock on his desktop. Half past ten. According to Kafei, at this point Sheik should have been out partying, having the time of his life with people his own age, not sitting cooped up in his apartment doing school work. He could practically hear the revulsion in Kafei's voice.
You should be out having fun, Kafei would say, still not understanding that this was fun...at least for Sheik.
Nothing could beat the exhilarating feeling whenever something he programmed actually worked, when executing the file actually produced the results he wanted, and then building on that until he had, at the very least, the start of something that could be considered a proper application, a system that ran smoothly and did everything it was supposed to.
...well, some things involving a certain person could be more exhilarating, but he was busy with schoolwork of his own tonight, so...
So here he was, having a perfectly nice night in.
Still not quite there, he thought, but we're getting closer.
He opened up the first script that had failed, narrowing his eyes as he began to read the code. It was the connection script, the one that would facilitate the communication between the different servers. Step one, basically. To fail that early...eugh, it was going to be a long night.
As if on cue, his next-door neighbour decided it was time for a pre-party karaoke session, if the off-key singing coming through the wall was any indication. Bad enough that he was singing badly, he didn't even get the lyrics right.
"It's 'while I kiss the sky', you idiot," he muttered, retrieving his noise-cancelling headphones and turning them on. "If you're going to butcher a classic, at least get the words right."
Blissful silence followed, and he put on one of his work playlists, the one that was meant to induce a state of deep focus. Mostly electronic ambient stuff, with a few beats here and there. Heaven.
Identifying the first flaw in his script, Sheik began to type.
He did not stop for some time. All his focus and attention were directed at his monitor, fingers flying over the keyboard as he corrected typos, rewrote functions and objects that did not work the way he wanted them to, basically redid everything he'd already done. He wanted this to be perfect, or as close to perfect as possible. He wanted good grades, he wanted proof that he was doing well. Anything to stave off the elders back home who had scoffed at his choice of education and possible career.
The terminal windows on the screen multiplied as he brought more and more of his machines into play, the red, orange, and green lights blinking cheerfully as he bent the network to his will...or attempted to, at any rate. Sometimes he succeeded, and sometimes he failed...and was left with a desire to hurl the offending machine out the window.
The worst part of that was that Sheik knew that a computer would only do exactly as it was told, meaning that when something failed it was only he who could be blamed for it; the human element would always be the source of the error. As one of the department techs had once told him: "The problem is always between the chair and the keyboard."
It was a humbling thing to know...and annoying as all fuck when all he got from his database server was a message telling him that the queries he was trying to do were impossible to process.
Also known as the "You're stupid and your commands are stupid"-message.
"I'll show you who's stupid," he muttered under his breath, pausing his typing to look through the query once more. It was a lengthy one, asking for information from quite a few tables and arranging the results in a very particular way. Of all the subjects he'd tackled in his studies so far, database manipulation was his least favourite. It was so...finicky.
He found what appeared to be a mistake in the query and made to attend to it when he became aware of a steady, persistent knocking sound that was definitely not a part of his music. The current track was a very mellow one, and the beats had not been present when he'd last listened to it.
It was probably one of his neighbours who'd very inconsiderately decided to have a party. Technically, such things weren't allowed in Sheik's building, but the landlord had long since given up on actually punishing those who did. It was unavoidable really, seeing as the building almost exclusively housed college students.
Sighing, Sheik removed his headphones, intent on identifying which apartment around him the sound was coming from and then post a very passive-aggressive note on the building's message board (because he was a coward like that, he supposed) thanking whoever it was for being really annoying.
However, upon removing the headphones, he realised that the knocking wasn't coming from any of his neighbours—it was coming from his front door.
His stomach lurched uncomfortably. He wasn't expecting anyone, so who was it and what did they want? Had he accidentally left his speakers on? He'd done that once, and gotten yelled at by his next-door neighbour and had his ceiling stomped on by the girl living above him. That had been a mortifying experience that had taken him weeks to get over, and even just thinking about it now made his heart skip a beat with anxiety.
To be safe, he checked his speakers, seeing no tell-tale red LEDs signalling that they were powered on. So, he hadn't been noisy...unless someone had decided to take offence at the sound of his typing on his keyboard...but he'd made sure he didn't get the loud kind when he bought it! He hadn't been tapping his foot either, so surely he hadn't managed to annoy his downstairs neighbour?!
His heart was starting to beat faster and faster as he realised the knocking hadn't stopped, only getting more and more urgent as the knocker grew impatient. Already feeling the cold sweat slicking his forehead, Sheik rose from his chair and padded barefoot across his apartment, toes curling against the linoleum. He paused by his walk-in closet, opening the door and fishing out his metal bat.
It had been a joke gift from Kafei, who'd insisted he'd need it to fight off all the boys who'd be lining up outside his door. Not quite what his cousin had in mind, but Sheik appreciated the thought all the same.
He set the bat in the corner by the entrance door, which was still being mercilessly assaulted, so it would be within reach, in case whoever was on the other side turned out to be one of those anti-Sheikah types. One could never be too safe about these things.
Breathing deeply to stave off the impending panic attack, Sheik rose to his tip-toes and looked into the peephole, expecting to find angry-looking neighbours or men wearing black masks, or...or a threatening note. Anything, really.
He did not expect, however, the flash of blue and golden blonde. He gasped, and then his hands were desperately working at the multitude of locks and security chains that kept his sanctuary safe. Cursing his sudden lack of grace, he all but ripped the door open, red eyes wide.
Link blinked, his blue eyes equally large, his fist poised to keep knocking on Sheik's door. He had his messenger clutched protectively under his other arm, and Sheik could see the tail end of a power supply chord hanging out the side. He was dressed casually in grey-black jeans, and a soft-looking hoodie with the Hyrule Motors logo (a series of stylised, golden triangles stacked in a pyramid) embroidered on the front. The fabric hugged his chest in a very attractive fashion, Sheik's treacherous mind told him.
"Uh...hi?" Link said hesitantly, nervously tugging at a lock of hair that had come loose from his ponytail, which had been a bit of a rush job from the untidy look of it.
Like I'm one to talk, Sheik thought.
"Ah...h-hello?" he replied in a very intelligent fashion, not sure how to handle the sudden appearance of his...boyfriend? Friend? Datefriend? What even were they to each other at this point? They hadn't defined anything, having yet to progress beyond kissing after the dates they'd been on, and those had been the innocent kind, so...Sheik had no idea, and had spent a quite a bit of time trying to figure it out. He'd never liked uncertainty of any kind. So, what were they? Boyfriends? Friends who occasionally went on dates and kissed? People did that, apparently.
Anyway, Link was here, at his door, at his apartment, and his mind was practically shutting down in the face of that fact.
And what's worse...
A cool draft wafting over his bare knees brought Sheik's attention to the fact that he was, to his horror, greeting Link in his sleepwear...which still consisted of the large T-shirt and huge boxers with the...the...oh gods, the rubber duckies!
Time seemed to slow down as Link—sweet, funny, wonderful Link—noticed Sheik's state of undress as well, his gaze slowly dropping from Sheik's face to the T-shirt, and then alighting on the monstrosity that was the ducky-covered boxers. Sheik felt his cheeks heat up, and it was only a momentary comfort to him that he saw Link's face go a little red as well—at least the embarrassment was mutual! The way the corner of Link's mouth quirked upwards a little, however, was the last straw.
"HiLinkwhydon'tyoucomeinexcusemewhileIputsomethingdecentonhaveaseat!"
The words left his mouth in a rush, resulting in more of a garbled mess than anything that could be identified as speech, as he threw himself back inside his apartment, tearing his closet door open in order to find something that wasn't embarrassing as all hell to be greeting someone in. Link seemed to understand the gist, as Sheik saw the Hylian step inside the apartment and close the door behind him, still clutching his bag protectively, like it was liable to disappear at any moment.
"Sorry to bother you this late," Link said quietly, looking a little lost in Sheik's entryway, eyes roaming the small apartment in an apparent attempt to not look at Sheik while he was getting dressed.
Or trying to get dressed, at least.
I have got to start doing laundry more often, Sheik thought as his frustration grew when he could only find dirty clothes or wildly inappropriate ones. A paisley shirt? Really?!
The only clean article of clothing he did find was a pair of worn sweatpants with an embroidered Sheikah eye on the right thigh. The fabric had been black at some point, but years of washing and general wear and tear had left it a slate grey instead. Not good-looking or flattering whatsoever.
Then again, when the choice was between rubber ducky boxers or covered legs, covered legs would easily win every time, he supposed, pulling the sweatpants on.
"I tried texting you," Link continued quietly. "Called you, too, but you didn't answer, and then I got worried..."
"Th-That's okay," Sheik said hurriedly as he tied the sweatpants off, the elastic having long since given up. He knew he was a bit on the skinny side, but this was ridiculous. "I must have so far away I didn't notice..."
"I didn't wake you, did I?" Link asked, brows furrowed, as Sheik stepped out of his closet. Sheik's cheeks were still a little warm from the boxer incident, and he shook his head at the Hylian.
"Not at all, I was working," he said, waving vaguely in the direction of his desk. He didn't like how lost Link looked, still standing in the entryway, so unsure of himself. Sheik waved him in. "Come on, have a seat, make yourself comfortable."
It never ceased to amaze him just how small Link could appear to be when he wasn't in his motorcycle leathers, or had his face obscured by a helmet visor. On the track, Link—under his Courage persona—was larger than life: confident, outgoing...sometimes even a little arrogant, but off it, it was like he went out of his way to make himself appear harmless and non-threatening. A defence mechanism developed in response to anxiety and phobias, most likely. Link certainly didn't appear confident as he hesitantly strode further into Sheik's sanctum, jaw dropping a little when he saw the sheer number of computers and other pieces of tech that littered Sheik's apartment.
"This is...amazing," he said in awe, the sort that Sheik always thought was reserved for, say, discovering a hidden burial chamber inside the great pyramids, or something. Not for his decidedly tiny and messy apartment. Link gingerly stepped over a bundle of network cables that crossed the living room area (that is, the area that served as Sheik's living room, bedroom, office, dining room...well, every room, really), and pointed at the biggest cluster of single-card machines, asking: "What're those?"
Thrown a bit by Link's statement (again, who would call this place amazing?), Sheik came up behind him, wringing his hands nervously.
"Just...just a bunch of servers I use for school," he said. "I could probably do just as well with a bunch of virtual machines—would definitely save on space and power bills and stuff—but I like having physical units to mess around with. It gives me some valuable experience with patching and pulling cables, arranging switches and the like, which will definitely help with future careers in data centres and the like if that's where I end up and...and...eh...I'm rambling now, aren't I? Sorry..."
He had a bit of doing that when he was uncomfortable or anxious. Not that Link being in his apartment was the cause of it, of course; No, it was more the idea that someone had appeared in his apartment so suddenly, without warning, and seen the mess inside without giving Sheik a chance to brace himself. He hadn't even been able to clean up! Hell, Link was probably even the first person apart from Kafei, Elenwe, and Paya to see it!
"No, no, no!" Link said hurriedly, waving his free hand. "I like it when you talk about this stuff! I may not understand all, or even half of it, but I still think it's interesting!"
Lies and deceit, Sheik thought, feeling a burst of affection in his chest for the slightly ridiculous Hylian.
"I didn't mean to interrupt you in your work," Link continued, gesturing at the door. "I can leave if you want, I—"
"No!" Sheik exclaimed, a lot louder than he intended to, and clapped a hand over his mouth. "I mean," he continued at a lower volume, "you didn't interrupt anything important. I was just up to my usual Friday night stuff." He gestured around him, to his little empire of blinking lights and whirring fans. "I'm a very exciting person, as you can see," he said, only a mite sarcastically.
"I think you are," Link said, and Sheik could tell that his mouth had bypassed his brain filter entirely this time, judging by the way Link's face immediately reddened like a ripe tomato again.
Unable to handle such a compliment in addition to Link being in his fucking apartment at the same time, Sheik busied himself with terminating his server connections and closing the terminal windows on the screen, making sure the work he'd done so far was saved. As he did so he surreptitiously checked his phone and found, to his chagrin, that he'd missed no less than ten texts from Link, and three calls. There was even a text from Kafei, asking if Sheik wanted to join him and Elenwe at their place for a sing-along musical night.
Sheik would never accept such an invitation again in his life. His nerves just couldn't take it. He could still hear the off-key singing in the depths of his nightmares. Kafei had made for a terrifying mad alien scientist—he'd even worn a corset and stockings with suspenders for the occasion. Not that he didn't have the figure to pull the look off, Sheik had just never wanted to see his cousin in such a getup.
Shaking his head in an attempt to delay the unwelcome return of the mental images, Sheik focused on the texts from Link, which were mostly to the tune of "Are you home?" and "Are you okay?". The amount of question marks and exclamation points grew exponentially with each unanswered one.
"I'm sorry I missed your texts and calls," he apologised, looking over his shoulder, noting that Link had gingerly taken a seat on the edge of Sheik's very much unmade bed, which made his brain make some very strange noises inside his head. He also found himself really wishing he had a couch or something for guests to sit on. "I wear my headphones when I work and I just...tune out everything around me," he continued, gesturing to said headphones.
"I figured," Link said, scratching his neck and laughing a little. "I just...when you didn't reply, I got worried, and...well, I was desperate."
Sheik turned to face him, raising an eyebrow. "Desperate?" he asked.
Quietly, Link opened his bag and fished out his laptop, which to Sheik's disappointment was, indeed, the Pear monstrosity Link had mentioned on previous occasions.
"Can you fix it?" Link asked hopefully, holding it out to him.
Sheik took it carefully, giving the outer case a quick look, satisfied to see no scratches or other signs of physical damage aside from the usual wear and tear from normal use. That was good. Link was very careful with his electronics, even though he could be a little clumsy at times. They'd only met because Link had dropped his phone at Sheik's feet, after all.
"What's wrong with it?" Sheik inquired, opening the laptop. He was pleased to find a very clean-looking keyboard and an immaculate screen. That made him happy. Computers deserved to be treated with love and care.
"I don't know," Link said with a groan, standing up and coming to stand beside Sheik, reaching out to tap a key to wake the laptop up. "It keeps slowing down and freezing! I have to work on the presentation I have to give on Monday, and I can't because it won't cooperate!"
"Unlock it?" Sheik said, angling the laptop so Link could type his password. He almost winced at how long it took for the prompt to even appear, and at how jerkily the mouse pointer moved across the screen when Link touched the trackpad. Hell, the field itself took an abnormal amount of time to even accept Link's input, the letters appearing one by one with a few seconds in-between.
"See what I mean?" Link said, frowning.
"Mhm," Sheik said absently, mind already racing with thoughts of what could be wrong here. Admittedly, he didn't have much experience with these computers or their operating system. The price for the hardware alone was ridiculous and way out of his budget, and the restrictions on the software itself made it impossible to install and get to know the OS on cheaper computers...unless he was willing to violate a few EULAs and break a law or two, which was easy enough to avoid getting caught for, but still not something Sheik was willing to risk.
That said, he knew the Pear OS was based on the same kernel and source code as the Penguin OS that ran on his servers, so theoretically there should be some similarities provided he delved deep enough in...but first he had to figure out how the hell to do that.
"Do you have the charger?" he asked Link as he put the laptop on his desk. Link handed it to him, and he plugged it in. The last thing he needed while fucking around with Link's computer was for the power to fail in the middle of a critical write to the hard drive.
"How long has it been acting like this?" he asked, the desktop finally appearing on the laptop screen. It was somehow minimalist and flashy at the same time. Sheik found himself unreasonably annoyed by it.
"About a week?" Link said, standing behind Sheik's chair, looking over his shoulder. "I mean, it's always been kinda slow, but it started getting worse last Wednesday, and now I can't get anything done."
"Did you try rebooting it?"
"I did," Link said, sounding a little offended by the question. It made Sheik's stomach give another uncomfortable lurch. He hadn't meant to sound condescending. "And it helps a little, but only for an hour or so before it starts slowing down again," Link continued, leaning forward to point at the fancy-looking icon for the built-in presentation software. "I can barely open that before it all just...freezes, you know?"
"Uh-huh," Sheik said vaguely, trying in vain to ignore just how close Link's cheek was to his own. It was stupid; they'd already kissed several times, but having Link so close still made him feel all giddy and like his stomach was full of butterflies. He breathed through his nose, and the smell of Link's shampoo immediately assaulted his senses.
Coconut.
Absolutely lovely.
Okay, I just sniffed my kind-of-boyfriend-but-possibly-not, he thought. That's not good. Bad Sheik, bad!
Link seemed to realise how close he was standing and, presumably taking Sheik's sudden silence as discomfort, moved a little away...to Sheik's disappointment.
Not that he was about to demand that Link come back, though.
"So..." Link said. "Do you think you can...?"
Sheik frowned. "I'm not sure," he said, honestly. "I'm not familiar with the operating system on these things, or how it works, or where to start debugging. I have a few ideas, but not a clue where to start."
"Oh." Link's entire form seemed to droop with disappointment. "That's okay—I'll just take it to the service place, then." He reached for the laptop. "Thanks anyway—"
Out of habit and instinct, having been around Kafei and his extreme need to touch rather than look for too many years, Sheik (gently) slapped Link's hand away.
"I said I wasn't sure, not that I wouldn't try," Sheik said, trying to push down the horror of what he'd just done. "And anyway, those places charge you a premium just for looking at the damn thing, and even more for actually fixing it!"
He held something of a grudge against the official repair places and their outrageous prices, and the less said about the on-campus so-called "techs", the better. The last thing he wanted was for Link to get ripped off when Sheik could (hopefully) fix it himself.
"Well, yeah, but I don't want to you to overwork yourself at..." Link glanced at the system clock on the desktop. "Oh geez, half past midnight!" He shook his head furiously, tugging at that stray lock again. It was almost unfair, how distracting that was. "Shit! I'm so sorry, Sheik! I just got so worried and desperate and I didn't even think about the time and I'm so sorry—"
Sheik knew the beginnings of a panic attack when he saw one, or at the very least an episode, and stood up. He put a hand on Link's chest (dutifully ignoring how firm his pecs were) and gently pushed until Link took the hint, stepping backwards until the backs of his knees hit the edge of Sheik's bed, the joints collapsing so that he was forced to sit down.
"Link, calm down," he said firmly, still keeping his hand on Link's chest. "Breathe with me, okay? I'm not angry, and I'm certainly not upset about the hour."
Link, realising the attack himself, did as he was told, breathing as deeply as he possibly could, his gaze locked with Sheik's.
"I usually stay up late anyway," Sheik continued, wondering if his babbling might actually come in handy for once. "Kafei and the others yell at me for it all the time, threatening to tell Impa, but they don't realise that it's at night I get my best work done, and my classes mostly start late in the day anyway, so it's not like I don't make it to them on time. I probably shift my internal clock around a little, but I don't care about that...anyway, my point is that I don't mind you coming over this late at all, okay?"
And he really didn't, he realised. Sure, he was upset, but that was mostly with himself and his ridiculous need to have a schedule he could stick to, as well as the absolute mess his place was at the moment, giving Link a clear view of just how untidy a person Sheik was at heart. To his surprise, though, he considered Link welcome in his space at any time.
Not even Kafei had that privilege.
Mostly on account of the time Kafei had accidentally (or so he claimed) knocked down the network switch from its perch and thrown the entire server cluster into disarray. Kafei had been semi-banned ever since and was only allowed in when there was someone there to supervise him. More often than not, that honour fell to Elenwe, who could be just as bad at times.
Maybe Paya...though she tended to start cleaning the place up and making that horrible, disappointed face at him that made him want to defenestrate himself out of shame.
A warm hand enveloped his own, and he realised Link was smiling brilliantly up at him. "Thank you," the Hylian said gently. "I didn't realise I was spiralling...I was just so upset at the computer not working, and worried I was bothering you and...well...you know how it goes."
"I do," Sheik replied, knowing just how easily it was to get caught in a spiral of anxiety like that, turning his wrist to squeeze Link's hand. "And you're welcome. Now, let's see if I can revive your computer, shall we?"
"Please," Link said, smiling back.
I'm a horrible boyfriend, Link thought as he watched Sheik working on the laptop he had probably permanently ruined by being his unique brand of stupid at it.
Sheik had probably looked forward to a night of uninterrupted studying, intended to make a lot of progress at his coursework, and here Link came traipsing into his apartment and all but demanding that Sheik fix his stuff.
And Sheik, sweet as he was, had even stopped a panic attack in its tracks when Link had realised how terrible he was being...and then gone right to work.
I don't deserve him, the Hylian thought. Why does he even tolerate me?
Through all these thoughts, he also couldn't get the image of Sheik's boxers out of his head. Rubber duckies were, by definition, the most adorable things in the world, and sight of Sheik in a pair of oversized boxers bearing their image was just...too cute for words. Problem was, the sight was juxtaposed by that of Sheik also wearing an oversized T-shirt that hung slightly off his slim shoulder, exposing just enough skin to tantalise...it all resulted in simultaneously the cutest and sexiest thing Link had ever seen.
Add Sheik's hair not being braided for once, allowed to fall free to his shoulders, and Link was just...gone.
It was a relief that said boxers had been covered up with a pair of worn but very comfortable-looking sweats...but also immensely disappointing.
What's wrong with me? he thought.
"How long has it been since you backed up your drive?" Sheik asked suddenly, breaking through the echo-chamber of Link's mind.
"Um...a couple of weeks?" Link replied, trying and failing to remember when he actually had done a backup. At least a month, he knew. He wanted to slap himself silly—hadn't he learned anything since last time?!
Sheik hummed. "Okay...might have to restore from that if I can't fix this, you know? Just a warning."
"I know, thanks," Link said, knowing he was absolutely fucked if Sheik couldn't fix it. He'd definitely have to go to that repair place if so, and his budget really couldn't handle that sort of expense at the moment.
Sheik went quiet for a while after that, clicking the trackpad and occasionally typing something. Link had no idea what he was doing—it was all magic to him. Really, everything in Sheik's apartment was magic. He'd hoped to see it someday, but under more...suitable circumstances? Such as actually being invited as opposed to barging in?
He still couldn't resist looking around, though, drinking in the sights and sounds. Sheik had three computer monitors. Three. And one of them was absolutely huge and super-wide and...well, just fucking cool! And there were at least three desktop-sized machines, along with what seemed to be his school laptop, quietly charging in a docking cradle, and a million smaller computers the size of credit cards. Sheik had called something special...single-card machines? Yeah, that was it. They were all connected by wires to a complicated looking array of blinking boxes and what Link was pretty sure was a Wi-Fi router. There were so many lights and thingies and doodads...how did Sheik keep track of it all?
And the apartment itself...well, Link couldn't help looking at that either. It was a one-roomer, with a small kitchenette with all the basic necessities tucked into a corner, and a bathroom near the entrance. Pretty typical student apartment, really. Sheik's bed with a small nightstand was set in one corner, opposite of a low bench on which a TV stood, along with a surprisingly retro video game console. Sheik's desk and computers dominated most of the remaining free space.
Network wires crisscrossed on the floor, most of them bundled together with zip-ties, which definitely presented a significant tripping hazard to those not familiar with the place. Sheik probably knew where they were by heart, though, easily stepping over them if he had to get up during the night.
He also noted, with amusement, that Sheik clearly had a fondness for sweets, if the small store of them (poorly) hidden behind the second, inactive monitor was anything to judge by. Fruit caramels, in particular, appeared to be the favourite.
Adorable, he thought, smiling to himself.
Next to the sweet stash was a veritable mountain of fidget toys of various types: spinners and cubes and balls, all meant to keep Sheik's hands occupied whenever he felt particularly anxious. Link remembered seeing Sheik's hands fidgeting intensely the night they'd met properly, at the races, and felt a little lucky that his anxiety wasn't the sort that needed that kind of stimuli.
Sheik was also bit of a Messy Bessy, it seemed. There were random piles of clutter and stacks of various items like tech magazines everywhere, especially on the small coffee table in front of the bed. While his apartment was a little messy, it was also nearly spotless from what Link could see. Every surface was clean and dust-free, especially the kitchenette. It was a bit odd, but Link figured that meant Sheik could handle a little chaos, but did not tolerate actual dirt.
Organised chaos was a term he'd heard somewhere, and that was definitely a fitting descriptor for Sheik's apartment. And damned if Link didn't find that even more charming.
All in all, he loved his boyfriend's place.
I should invite him to mine sometime, he thought. For fairness' sake.
"Ah-hah!" Sheik exclaimed, causing Link to nearly jump out of his skin.
"Wh-What?!"
"I figured out the problem," Sheik said, swivelling his chair around to face him, looking triumphant. "Or...part of the problem, at least. The reason the computer's so slow and freezing up is because it keeps running out of resources—especially RAM. It's using like ninety-nine percent of it, which means that each program and process is fighting the others for the space to store their temporary data, right? And the CPU is working overtime as well—it can't keep up with all the calculations and actions the programs want it to make. That's why the fans are running wild, see?"
He urged Link to come closer, swivelling back to point at a window on the laptop screen displaying numbers, percentages, ID tags and a whole bunch of other things the daredevil had no hopes of understanding at all—it all looked Greek to him—but he still nodded along, more than happy to hear Sheik speak about something that clearly interested him a lot.
He loved listening to Sheik talk in general—his accent was...alluring, and the way he could just go full-speed with the computer talk, apparently not even realising when he was doing it...
"...lately?"
Link blinked. "Huh?"
"Have you installed any new applications lately?" Sheik repeated. "In the last week, in particular?"
Link paused. He had. "Uh...there was this one app that said it would make my computer faster..." he gulped when Sheik's eyes narrowed at him. "It was free, and I figured what's the harm, so I installed it and it while it didn't seem to make it any faster it also didn't make it explode, so..."
Now he was starting to babble, and he only stopped when Sheik held up a finger.
"I do believe I know the problem," Sheik said drily. "Rule number one of computers: Do not ever install or execute random applications you find on the internet." He paused, appending: "At least not without checking to see if there are any independent reviews for it. Or running it by me first, so I can check it out."
Link nodded, feeling a little chastised...and deservedly so. "I know...I just got...curious..."
Sheik smiled. "I do too, sometimes, but I have a special virtual machine I use as a sandbox for those things, just in case there's malicious code in them. What was the application you installed called?"
"PearBooster," Link said, realising by the second just how fishy the whole thing had seemed. He'd just gotten so excited by the idea of getting a faster computer without having to upgrade or buy a new one...which was probably exactly what the bastards who'd made it were counting on.
I'm a walking computer disaster, he thought bitterly. I should just be banned from having them.
"It promised a fifty percent increase in performance...which, as I say it, I realise is far too good to be true," he said sheepishly.
"Pretty much," Sheik said, nodding as he refocused on the laptop screen. "Removing the application itself is pretty easy, I think, but the annoying thing about malicious software like this is that it tends to leave traces and code behind that can and probably will keep executing every time the computer is rebooted, and there really is no way of telling what exactly it's doing unless I check the code itself, which is usually obfuscated and hashed to hell and back to prevent just that."
"Ah..." Link said, feeling very stupid for installing the dumb app.
"I'm going to have to do some research on this," Sheik continued, turning to his own computer and opening up a web browser. Wow, his monitor's image was sharp, Link noted. "I'm sure someone else has run into the app and knows how to remove it completely."
"I see," Link said. "I'm s—"
"Don't apologise," Sheik said, poking Link's shoulder without looking at him. "The sooner we can get rid of this stuff, the better. You need this for your schoolwork, after all, and I'll even do it for free, because I'm your b...boyfriend." There was a slight pause at the last word, and Sheik glanced at him, looking a little nervous. "...right?"
"Of course," Link said brightly, squeezing Sheik's shoulder gratefully.
Some of the tension in Sheik seemed to depart at that, as if he'd been waiting for the confirmation, and Link realised he probably had. Impulsively, Link leaned forward and pecked Sheik's cheek, leaving them both blushing.
Link wasn't used to being so forward in anything he ever did in his life, but he refused to leave Sheik feeling uncertain of their relationship, knowing how anxious it made the younger boy.
True, Link only had marginally more experience than the Sheikah in this sort of thing, but that still left him as the...guide, as it were, in this relationship.
And wasn't that just a terrifying thought? Already he could hear Zelda cackling madly when he inevitably approached her for advice. She was a good sister, but she also very much enjoyed that special sibling prerogative of being able to torture him without repercussions. All in a playful manner, of course.
Or so she claimed.
"Here," Sheik said, handing Link a remote with a logo matching that of the TV. "This'll probably take a while, and it's not really fun to watch me stare at a screen the entire time. I've got basic cable, and the console's on input two if you want to play something."
I could watch you for hours, Link thought (though he kept a tight hold on his treacherous mouth), obediently taking the remote and turning the TV on, making sure to keep the volume low, aware of how sensitive Sheik was to sounds when he was trying to focus.
He flipped through the channels for a while, trying to find something to occupy his attention, but he found himself unable to focus on programs entirely, his gaze inevitably being drawn to Sheik, who was pulling some absolutely hilarious and adorable grimaces as he divided his attention between his browser and Link's laptop. Link glared at the offending machine, wishing it wasn't so troublesome...and then felt guilty for thinking badly of it when he was the one at fault.
Sorry, he told his computer mentally. Just cooperate with him, please?
The scowl that appeared on Sheik's face moments later told Link what the computer had thought of that idea.
Eventually landing on some sort of panel show where the guests talked about humorous historical facts, Link was already feeling restless, his foot bouncing on the floor. He wanted to explore Sheik's apartment, turn over every figurative stone and learn everything there was to know about Sheik's home. Zelda's nosiness had definitely rubbed off on him, to his annoyance.
Of particular interest was the picture frame on Sheik's nightstand. It was turned towards the bed at an angle that left Link unable to see most of the picture, but he could definitely spy a younger-looking Sheik in the photograph, along with a stern-looking Sheikah woman and a few other individuals whose features he couldn't make out. Presumably, the woman was Sheik's aunt, Impa, and the others were probably relatives.
"Shit!" Sheik suddenly exclaimed, swivelling to face him, looking annoyed. Link's stomach gave another lurch. Had he done something to bother Sheik? Was the TV too loud? Had he noticed Link's attempt to look at the picture?
"I just realised I'm being a horrible host," the red-eyed boy explained. "I'm sorry; would you like something to drink?"
That was the last thing Link expected Sheik to say, and he blinked in what was probably a very stupid manner at the Sheikah for a few (extremely long) seconds.
"Uh...no, thank you," he said once he found his words again.
"Are you sure?" Sheik asked, looking a little anxious, his hands immediately starting to wring themselves for the lack of something to do. "Impa would tan my hide if she found out I had guests over and I failed in my duties..."
That look was too much for Link to bear, so he nodded. "I...uh...if you have some milk, I'd love a glass," he said, glancing at the kitchenette and the small fridge tucked in under the counter.
Eugh, why did I ask for that? he wondered, knowing that drinking milk by the gallon as he sometimes did was far from what normal people did.
"Of course!" Sheik said, looking relieved and practically hurling himself out of his chair, starting to putter around the kitchenette, bare feet tapping against the linoleum. "I take my tea with milk, so I always have a supply on hand," Sheik said. "Kafei and the others don't like it, but they just don't know what they're missing."
He quickly poured a glass with the drink of gods, and, after a moment's thought, filled his electric kettle with water and turned it on.
Tea, Link thought. He drinks tea. With milk.
Was it wrong of him to want to wrap his arms around Sheik from behind and just squeeze? Because he really wanted to that, and look over the other boy's shoulder as he prepared tea. It probably was, and so Link kept his hands to himself, though he did stand up from his seat on the bed and walk over to the kitchenette, smiling gratefully as he accepted the offered glass and taking a sip.
Cool and refreshing, and soothing in a manner no other drink was.
"Thank you," he said, smiling.
"You're welcome," his boyfriend (boyfriend!) replied, blushing a little when their fingers brushed together.
"Zelda always gives me grief for drinking this," Link said, feeling a little disappointed when their hands separated, and he settled for leaning against the counter, surreptitiously moving a little closer to Sheik, hoping he wouldn't notice. He didn't want to make Sheik uncomfortable, but he couldn't help himself either. "Calls me a baby." He grimaced a little at the last bit.
He nearly jumped out of his skin when the kettle gave off a loud ping to signal that the water was boiled (goddamn it, that was fast!), but Sheik was kind enough to not comment on that.
He did scoff, however, at the baby comment.
"Nothing wrong with drinking milk," he said, hands moving in a practiced manner as he prepared himself a cup of tea, adding a dash of milk to Link's secret joy.
Then Sheik paused, a wrinkle appearing between his eyebrows as he stared hard at the steaming cup on the counter.
"I just realised I forgot to ask if you wanted a cup..." he said, giving Link a look more suited giving condolences than forgetting something so insignificant. "I don't have guests over very often." He chuckled, shaking his head. "I'm a bit out of practice."
"I think you're doing just fine," Link said firmly, smiling. "I'll gladly have some tea some other time; right now I don't think my nerves need any more caffeine."
"Fair enough," Sheik said, looking grateful for not getting chewed out for such a minor oversight. Had Sheik been harshly scolded for such things at home? If so, Link would need to have a word with Impa...and possibly a few beers to work up the courage first. Sheik must have been a mind reader, because he held up a hand. "I-I tend to work myself up over small things; Impa just taught me how a host should act and...and..." he sighed, staring even harder at his cup. "I wish I wasn't like this," he said quietly.
What was a guy to do, when confronted with such a thing?
Link carefully placed his glass on the bench before stepping closer, opening his arms wide. He waited for a moment, giving Sheik a chance to escape, but when the Sheikah didn't move, Link closed them, pulling Sheik into an embrace.
"I like you just the way you are," he said, rubbing his cheek against Sheik's. "You know that, right? You don't have to worry about not being a perfect host with me. A perfect anything, really. And you should see the disaster that I am when I have guests over—it's a surprise I have any friends left at all."
Link smiled to himself when he felt Sheik's arms wrap themselves around him in return, and the slight tremble of the other boy's chuckles reverberating through them.
"Surely it's not that bad?" Sheik asked, voice slightly muffled against Link's shoulder.
"I once spilled an entire pitcher of iced tea on Zelda's lap," Link said in a serious tone. "And when I tried to wipe it up and dry her off, I elbowed her father in the face and made his nose bleed."
Oh man, the mortification of that night had given him nightmares for weeks.
"Oh no," Sheik said, shaking with even more mirth.
"Oh yes," Link confirmed. "He knew it was an accident, of course, but still...you haven't felt the cold grip of death's fingers around your throat until you think you just broke your foster father's nose."
Sheik pulled back, and Link reluctantly let go. It had felt nice, holding Sheik like that, even if he felt like his face was about to catch fire.
"I guess I should be careful around you and pitchers in the future, then?" Sheik said, grinning at him.
"You have no idea the damage I can do with them," Link said gravely, struggling to keep a solemn face, the mask failing utterly when Sheik lowered his head and giggled.
Fucking giggled.
How could one person be so fucking precious?!
The laughter subsiding, Sheik took a sip of his cup, nodding in satisfaction. "I should get back to work—I think I'm pretty close to a breakthrough."
"Yeah?" Link said, a flare of hope in his chest.
"Yeah," Sheik said, sitting back in his chair and pointing at the laptop. "The good thing about this OS is that the developers have made it extremely difficult to execute arbitrary code, as well as hide it. That means I don't have to search that hard to find the traces of it."
"That's...great," Link said, a feeling of immense relief leaving his shoulders feeling a lot lighter than before. "So you think you can remove it entirely?"
"I should be able to, yeah," Sheik confirmed. "Shouldn't even take that long."
"That's...thank you, Sheik, really," he said. "You've really saved my ass."
"It's what I do," the Sheikah said in a fake, haughty voice. "Feel free to kneel before me in supplication."
I'd do a lot more than that, Link thought, finding his way back to Sheik's bed. The historical facts show had ended while they'd talked, and now there was some sort of...bachelor show on? The sort of show that left Link cringing from the sheer awkwardness of the people involved, especially those whose feelings weren't requited. Another brief surfing through the channel list didn't yield anything watchable...and the console was looking mighty tempting.
"Was the console on input two?" he asked.
"Mhm," Sheik hummed in confirmation, completely engrossed in his work.
Link turned to the right channel and switched the console on, not bothering to check which cartridge was in it. To his delight, the main screen that came on was that of one of his dearest childhood memories, and he could not stop the big grin that came to his face as he picked up the controller and let himself sink beneath the pink waves of nostalgia for a while.
Sheik admitted to feeling a little grudging respect for the Pear company. For all their price-gouging and holier-than-thou attitudes, their OS was a pretty well-designed environment, and while the user didn't have anywhere near the same control over the computer as the Penguin or Doors systems offered, it was built to be pretty much idiot-proof in a way that didn't require the average user to skulk about in it.
Really, once Sheik had found the command line interface, he was pretty much good to go. Most of the commands were the same, and even though he ran into a few significant roadblocks along the way that denied him access to the more critical parts of the OS, he'd managed to do what he needed to in order to excise Link's computer of the horrible demon known as PearBooster.
A devious little program, it was mostly used to add the infected computer to a bot network, which in turn was used to launch DDoS attacks against websites and service hosts. It also gathered information on the user patterns and sent it back to whoever was on the other end, probably for nefarious purposes.
Luckily, it wasn't one of the many malicious programs out there that embedded itself so deeply into the infected system that the only solution was a complete reinstall. The OS simply didn't allow any applications other than those developed by the parent company itself to delve that deeply.
That was good, because it meant Sheik didn't have to deliver bad news to Link, whose hesitant answer to Sheik's backup question had been a confirmation of sorts that no recent backups existed.
In the back of his mind, Sheik made a note to give Link one of his external drives, formatted specifically for backup purposes. All he'd have to do was plug it in, and the OS would do the rest automatically.
He read through the PearBooster removal guide he'd found on his favourite malware forum once more, just to be sure that he'd followed the steps correctly. Yup, he had. All that was left to do was the system-wide scan to ensure that all traces of the malware had indeed been removed.
It was mostly a formality, but Sheik really wanted to make sure he'd done a proper job. Both for the sake of his reputation, and to ensure that Link would...would be happy. And hopefully stick around, despite Sheik's eccentricities and, let's face it, awkwardness.
He seemed to handle it well so far. He'd managed the tea incident with full marks—the hug had been greatly appreciated, even if Sheik had never wanted to let go. Hell, even the accidental giggle (Giggle! How embarrassing could one person possibly be?!) had been worth it.
It was unfair, though. Link was solid all over, not a single spot of pudge or underdeveloped muscle could be felt by Sheik's covert and surreptitious exploration. Sheik wasn't exactly pudgy himself, but he could definitely work on his strength training a little (a lot) more than he did. IT work wasn't really conducive towards an athletic build.
Maybe he and Link could go to the gym together? That would be nice...Sheik felt far too awkward and self-conscious to go there alone, and he wasn't nearly as strong as the regulars, whose gazes felt deep and piercing and mocking...
He shook his head. No, no, no point in going down that road. Stop it, right now!
Satisfied that his work was done, Sheik started the full system scan, finding to his dismay that it would take hours before the thing would be finished. It shouldn't have come as a surprise; Link kept a lot of files on his computer. There was a lot of data to go through.
Oh well, he would simply have to ask Link to let him keep the thing until the morning. He put his main desktop to sleep and turned the monitor on, swivelling around in his chair, amused to find Link deeply engrossed in the game he was playing.
He was pretty good, too, judging by the progress he'd made.
"Legend of Hilda, huh?" he asked out loud.
"Huh?" Link said, blinking once before realising he'd been spoken to. "Oh, yeah...heh, Zelda introduced me to it the day I moved in. I'd never played anything like it before and it just...got me, you know? I've played some of the newer ones, but it's always this one I keep coming back to."
Sheik nodded, watching the pixelated figure of the main character, Ravio, march across a grassy field, fighting equally pixelated monsters along the way, on his quest to save Princess Hilda.
"It's a classic for a reason," Sheik said. "Did you start a new save file?"
"Of course," Link said. "I wouldn't dream of ruining yours."
If considerate wasn't already on Sheik's mental list of things he loved about Link, it would have been written in stone at this point.
"Zelda and I had some terrible rows about it back when we were kids, so her dad made a rule that we were only allowed to play on separate files," Link continued, grinning at the memory. "I don't think he really understood what it was all about, but he definitely solved the problem...and the many others that came along as I grew up."
"He sounds like a good man," Sheik said.
"He is," Link said with a firm nod. "The best."
Clearing his throat, Sheik pointed at the laptop. "Anyway, I'm just about finished here. Just have to run a full scan to make sure it's all gone—after that it'll be as good as new. It'll take a couple of hours to finish, though, so I suggest you leave it here with me for the night so it can finish."
"I can't thank you enough," Link said, his whole face lighting up at the news. He'd clearly been worried it was broken beyond repair. Sheik felt his heart skip a beat at that, knowing he'd put that smile on his ...his boyfriend's face.
Hearing Link confirm their relationship status was...immensely relieving, and also incredibly scary at the same time. It meant that Sheik didn't have to panic about trying to define what they were to each other, but also introduced a whole new level of questions and worries. He had no idea how to be a good boyfriend, or what he was supposed to do...but if it meant he was supposed to help put smiles like that on Link's face, then at least he had something of a guideline to follow.
And that was all he wanted, really.
"But here goes," Link continued, suddenly standing in front of Sheik, slightly bent down so their faces were at the same level. "Thank you," he said sincerely before leaning forwards and kissing Sheik gently, carefully, like he was afraid Sheik would break.
It'll take more than that, Sheik thought as he let his hand find the back of Link's neck, and pull the Hylian closer to deepen the kiss, taking the initiative of opening his mouth and running his tongue along Link's lower lip.
Hands were caressing his cheeks, but Sheik could only focus on the incredible sensation of Link's tongue gliding against his own at a calm, languid pace, just exploring and enjoying the feeling.
He could only hope Link felt as reluctant as he when they separated, wanting nothing more than to dive right back in and kiss some more, but position was probably incredibly uncomfortable for Link, so Sheik didn't insist upon it.
Besides, there was a perfectly nice bed right over there...
...bed...
...bedtime...
...time...
What time was it? A cursory glance at Link's system clock revealed that it was about three in the morning.
"Gods, the time!"
Link blinked in confusion before he too realised what Sheik meant. "Oh, man...I'm sorry, I didn't mean for it to take so much time!" He shook his head, giving Sheik apologetic glances between tidying up after himself...which didn't amount to much seeing as all he'd really made a mess of was his glass of milk, which he dutifully rinsed in the sink. He then gathered his bag and went for the door.
Which meant that he was leaving.
Sheik didn't want that.
"What are you doing?" he found his mouth asking without his brain's permission. Had presumably taken it as a given.
"Uh...getting out of your hair?" Link said, glancing at the door. "I mean...it's three in the morning. You must be dead-tired."
He wasn't not tired, Sheik had to admit, but that didn't mean Sheik wanted this night to end on that note. "That doesn't mean you have to leave." He looked at the clock again. "I mean...it's not safe out there at this time of night. What if you get mugged?"
"I don't think that's a problem in this part of town—"Link began, but Sheik cut him off, his mouth continuing to speak without consulting his brain first.
"Still, there is no need to risk it," he said, standing up and blocking Link's path to the door, holding his arms out wide, as if that would stop Link if the Hylian truly wanted to leave. "You can stay here—I insist."
What am I saying? he wondered. He never had anyone stay the night—not even his relatives were welcome to do that unless it was an emergency. Like that time Kafei had showed up drunk at his door after a tiff with Elenwe and needed a place to crash.
Sheik had made him sleep on the floor, with a bucket nearby.
The bucket had come in handy later that night.
"Well," Link said slowly, once more tugging at that unruly lock of hair. It should have been Sheik tugging at it. "If you insist..."
"I do," Sheik's mouth spoke firmly. "It would be irresponsible of me to let my b-boyfriend go out at this time of night alone. So, you're staying here, and that's final."
"Okay," Link said, looking defeated but not at all unhappy about it, dropping his bag by the door. "I don't have anything to sleep in, though..."
...and none of my clothes will fit him, Sheik said, taking in those broad shoulders of Link's, and his long, graceful legs.
This is not the time, he told his libido.
"Y-You can sleep in your b-boxers," Sheik suggested with a shrug that in no way looked as nonchalant as he'd meant it to. The stutter certainly didn't help. "I mean...I don't mind..."
"If you're sure," Link said. "Do you have an air mattress, or a futon?"
"N-No, you'll be sleeping with me," Sheik replied, only catching what he'd said after it was too late.
"On the bed, I mean. With me, in the bed. Together."
His face was surely a tomato by now, and he wanted nothing more than to slam his head against the wall.
"If...you're okay with that..." he finished lamely.
At least Link's face was a matching shade of tomato-red. Good thing he wasn't the only one embarrassed.
"That's...definitely okay," Link said.
"Er...there's a spare toothbrush in the bathroom," Sheik said, gesturing vaguely to the door. "I keep a few on hand in case of...you know...emergencies..."
Thankfully, Link didn't ask what a toothbrush-related emergency could possibly constitute. Instead, he took the cue and went inside the bathroom to brush his teeth and whatever else he usually did before going to bed, leaving Sheik standing alone in the middle of his apartment, wondering what the fuck his major malfunction was and why he had to be so fucking awkward all the time.
Deciding to occupy himself before his mind could construct all the horrible scenarios and ways in which this would fail horribly, he saved Link's place in the game before shutting the TV and console off. He then checked the scan's status, finding it to still be less than five percent finished, and turned the laptop screen off.
The sound of running water inside the bathroom suddenly ceased, and Link came back out of the bathroom, looking apprehensively at the bed.
"Er...which side do you prefer?" he asked awkwardly.
"Doesn't matter, you can take the inside," Sheik said quickly, heading to the bathroom himself. He'd had tea, which meant he needed to brush his teeth again.
As well as give himself a long, hard look in the mirror, and a pep talk on how not to scare away boyfriends by acting like a creepy lecher at the thought of sharing a bed with them.
By the time Sheik was done and his mouth was minty fresh, Link had undressed and crawled underneath the sheets. His clothes were left in a neatly folded pile on the floor by the bed, having stripped down to his underwear. He'd even folded his socks! He'd made himself comfortable against the wall, though he appeared to be trying to take up as little space as possible...which just wouldn't do.
Not that Sheik knew how to tell him that, though. At least not without his entire blood supply making its way back to his face and causing it to explode in a re-enactment of the elevator scene from The Shining.
...gods, his brain was a fried mess right now, apparently.
His hands trembled slightly as he undid the string of his sweatpants. Link had already seen him in his underwear/sleepwear, but that had been an accident, and undressing in front of him was still a little...scary? But also exciting? It was a good thing he was still planning on sleeping in the T-shirt and ducky boxers, because exposing himself completely to Link was still not something he felt comfortable with, but...
Link must have sensed his discomfort and cleared his throat before turning his head, so he was staring directly into the wall.
Grateful, Sheik breathed out and quickly slid out of the sweats and crawled into the bed beside him, turning off the lamp on the nightstand, plunging the apartment into darkness...save for all the little lights of his digital empire, blinking cheerfully in the dark.
Thank the gods he'd gone for the quiet cooling solutions rather than the loud ones.
He felt Link shift on the mattress beside him, aware of how close they were. Heat seemed to radiate from the Hylian, the bed already pleasantly warm from Link laying in it. An elbow brushed his arm, and Sheik felt his spine tingling pleasantly. It felt...nice, to have Link in his bed. Strange, unusual, but...nice.
"Are you okay?" Link's voice spoke in the dark, next to him. A gentle whisper.
"Y-Yeah," Sheik replied.
"Are you comfy?" the Hylian asked.
"Of course," Sheik said, half-lying. He was comfortable, but not as comfortable as he'd hoped. He knew what he wanted, but he didn't dare ask for it.
"Mmm," Link hummed, his hand finding Sheik's under the sheets and linking their fingers together, squeezing slightly. "Are you sure?"
"Mhm." He didn't trust himself to speak at this point, too engrossed in the feel of Link's hand around his.
"Can I try something?"
His thoughts screeched to a halt. "Er...y-yes?"
"Turn on your side," Link said. "Facing away."
As if it were a command, Sheik did, wondering what Link had in mind. He felt the mattress dip and heard the shuffle of fabric as Link moved in closer behind him, jumping slightly when Link's hand let go, only for the Hylian's arm to slide down along Sheik's front before pulling him backwards, until he was lying with his back flush against Link's chest.
It was...wonderful. Link was a solid presence behind him, the arm holding him close so...protective. Grounding. The smell of coconut seemed to envelop him like a warm, second blanket.
"This okay?" Link asked, his breath, minty like his toothpaste, ghosting over the shell of Sheik's ear, which made him shiver.
"Y-Yeah," Sheik said, realising that nodding didn't really work in the complete darkness. "Thanks..."
"I should be saying that," the Hylian said with an amused huff, clearly noticing Sheik's reaction to the sensation of it. "Putting up with me for the night, ruining your studying, fixing my computer...I don't how I can repay you..."
Shivering, Sheik smiled to himself. "I'm sure I c-can think of something..."
"Looking forward to it."
Then there was the tickling sensation of a pair of lips kissing Sheik's neck, right below his hairline. That was just...just lovely.
"You okay?" Link asked again.
"More than okay," Sheik said, snuggling a little closer to Link, taking the hand at his front with his own. "I...I like this..."
"Me too," Link murmured, kissing Sheik's neck again. The action was a little sloppier this time, and Sheik could tell Link was close to falling asleep...and so was he, for that matter.
"Go to sleep, Link," he said, stifling a yawn. "We can talk more in the morning..."
"Mmm, sure...night, Sheik..."
It took a little while longer for Sheik to fall asleep after all, but he didn't mind that. Insomnia was only a problem when trying to sleep was an exercise in frustration, rather than the warm, content feeling that was filling his chest at that moment.
Sure, his Friday night had been more or less ruined in terms of what he'd planned...but he found that he didn't mind that at all, as long as it involved Link.
In fact, he wondered if he could find a way to make this the new norm instead.
But that was something he'd have to figure out later, he decided, as he took a deep breath of calming coconut and let himself fall into oblivion, Link's arm around him a calming anchor.
The End