4


His dreams that night were scattered, visions of his life and a lifetime before.

The theme of it all seemed to revolve around friendship - having friends, losing friends. He was reminded of the unlikely bonds he seemed to create with almost everyone he met, but how they had ended with good-byes almost as soon as they had begun.

He had usually been the one to initiate such friendships because most had been rooted in the quests he had to undertake. That didn't mean they were one-sided or selfish relationships, just ones that were time sensitive and a necessity both to himself and the others involved.

But he had always put his heart into each and every one of them, and had always been sad to walk away. And that was the thing - he never stayed around long. He was always being called by something from another world, being thrust into life or death scenarios.

There comes a time however when the calling just stops.

And that's what happened about four years ago. It had been an increasingly lonely time, and it felt like his purpose had just, disappeared altogether. He didn't know what to do with himself.

He didn't seek out friendships or relationships because he didn't need to and he did not know how to initiate them without a reason. He had never experienced love - the kind of love that's different than just caring for someone's well-being. The kind that Anju and Kafei had shared, and that had stuck with him ever since.

He saw vermilion eyes in the dream and he realized that Sheik had been the one to initiate everything between them thus far. And why? What was in it for him? Link didn't know what to do with Sheik because there wasn't a motive propelling the friendship.. he didn't need rescuing, he didn't need an item retrieved, he didn't want him to clear out any pesky monsters.

"I like you, Link," the voice wafted through his brain. "Link," it said again. "Touch me," it whispered.

It was kind of like an awakening, somewhere in his subconscious mind and somewhere in the depths of his physical body. It was like an alarm that triggered, a part of himself becoming aware, waking to attention. His dream took him to a place he'd never traveled, exploring new sensations and a heated body that screamed for his touch.

He never knew this was anything he wanted.

But he wanted it now.

During the day, when he was awake, he could control his emotions, where his mind went, what he thought about. Yet now, whilst he was asleep his dreamstate took advantage, showed him things he was aware of but too embarrassed to admit. Or try. Or need.

Needless to say once he woke that morning he was drenched in cold sweat with an erection not even the coldest of baths could quell. His body felt primal and even though he tried to calm his thoughts, to rationalize, his body had other things in mind.

He was good at torturing himself - not in a physical way but more like abstaining from things that he would need in favor of what was good for everyone else, or the world, for that matter. And this was stressful now, because this thing called lust was different than any other emotion or need he had ever abstained from.

It made a hero's job seem easy.


He chopped the wood and sharpened blades as hard as he could, built up a nice layer of sweat that gleamed off his forehead and arms.

He was feeling quite frustrated, this pent up sensation that he wanted to release.

The wood didn't stand a chance as his axe pummeled through it, slicing through it one clean swipe. Once he was through with what he'd brought, he took the firewood to the inn and headed out again to the east of the city, where some vegetation had grown near the water.

When he got close to the fertile area, he swore he heard vermilion eyes in the distance. And then he'd found him, at the beachy area past the green, training with the other men from the boat. The other Sheikah were impressive, he'd give them that, but he kept his attention on Sheik who seemed to be in a world of his own.

The way vermilion eyes stretched wasn't like anything he'd ever seen before, bending and contorting during multiple backwards tumbles that took Link's mind back to the place from his dream that he'd been running from all afternoon.

He wanted to touch all the sinewy muscle that rippled through the tight uniform he wore, wanted to grip his supple behind.

And he left then in disbelief of the images that flashed through his mind, felt bad for thinking these thoughts about his new friend. And so he walked slowly back, angry at himself, and continued to chop more firewood like his life depended on it.


"Link," Sheik had breathed as he came near, "I'd been looking for you."

It was in the smaller tavern inside the maze of passageways that Link sat at a corner table, dimly lit. It was busy tonight and he had hoped to fade into the background and so he asked, "how'd you find me?"

And vermilion eyes responded, "I followed your scent."

Link laughed gently, ignoring the heat that rushed to his groin. Go away, he willed it, and then his face felt flushed too, so all he could do was take another sip of wine and look away.

Sheik sat down beside him, waved down the girl with the drinks and ordered one for himself. "Do you want to know what you smell like?" he asked.

And like bait on a hook Link turned to his left a bit more to face him, and vermilion eyes leaned in on the bench beside him and said, "like someone I wanted to see again."

Fuck was a term he'd heard many times throughout his life from various people he'd encountered on his journeys and he'd learned that it usually meant one or two things:

Damn it, curse it all to hell, or a more vulgar way of saying 'shit!',

or

Pounding someone's insides until their head explodes. Not literally.

Strangely enough, he felt like both definitions summed up what he was feeling pretty well at that moment and if going to the beach today was the catalyst for these feelings, he wished he had never went.

He hoped the hot sensation wasn't revealing itself across his face as intensely as he felt it, and all he could do was bounce his knee, play with his hair haphazardly for a second or two and finally rest his chin in his hand as he maintained eye contact with the Sheikah.

But vermilion eyes played oblivious.

They toasted to their successful excursion collecting the wild berries, Link toasted to Sheik's safe trip back home. And after drinking two glasses or so of wine, they spoke only in hushed Sheikah, Sheik challenging Link's knowledge on the exotic language.

Link sat with his back relaxed against the wall in the tight corner of the tavern, vermilion eyes slightly entangled in the other's proximity and after a while of spoken Sheikah he said,

"Mi ara tu a lavi sala."

"I.. I don't know that one, Sheik," Link said slowly while trying to think, working the words he knew out loud saying, "I want you to... 'something' me. I'm sorry, I don't know what 'lavi' means. Never heard it before." He laughed gently, face still flushed. He felt very aware of himself in a terribly awkward way.

"I'll teach you later," vermilion eyes said, and after a sip from his glass he added curiously, "you seem preoccupied tonight."

Link raised his eyebrows in false confusion, shrugged forcefully. "Oh?" he said.

"Something on your mind?"

Link shook his head slowly. "Nope," he started but realized how out of character it was for him. He never lied. So he added, "Well, there's always things on my mind." Which was true.

"Anything that I could help with?" Sheik asked.

Link took a very deep breath. "You've been nothing but helpful and I guess I should thank you for that, because.. well, I haven't done that yet." Phew, dodged that arrow.

"How have I been helpful? Sometimes I wonder if I am just pestering you. I'm sure you have more important things to do than play with me in the ocean," Sheik said, nudging Link softly with his elbow.

Damn he was cute. In a lethal sort of way.

"I know you're important, Link," vermilion eyes said, looking straight into crystalline blue.

Link sighed.

"I know who you are," Sheik said.

Would that change things?

"Yeah? And who's that?" Link asked, a little nervously.

Sheik's knee nudged Link's under the table, bumping gently once or twice. "You know, I've been waiting a long time for someone like you," he started, changing the subject. "I'm going to be honest with you - I am a traveler too, and I've been searching for the truth and my purpose my whole life. Just as I gather you have, as well. I'm not sure if what I will say next will resonate with you, but I am very intuitive, so I will just say this and it will be the only time I'll speak of it.." and he takes another sip of wine, setting the glass down carefully before continuing. "In my first life, I was from Hyrule. I had an important duty then and my days were numbered. In this life, I'm from here and it's a very different one than the last. You know what I'm talking about, don't you?"

Link nodded hesitantly, slowly.

"Some things we aren't meant to forget," he continued. "Sometimes things just don't work out the first time around." He touched his glass, rotated it so the wine left at the bottom swirled around and around. "But it doesn't mean that this life isn't worth living."

"You were from Hyrule? What ha -" Link started, but was hushed with fingers to his lips from the man seated beside him.

"It doesn't matter anymore," Sheik said. "Keep drinking with me, Link," he said in a lighter tone, "I want to get lost with you tonight."

And they spoke no more of serious matters at all after that, and the burning Link had felt in his groin earlier had been replaced with a different kind of intensity, a different kind of feeling. He couldn't pinpoint it, but it felt something like just wanting to be..

close.

And later in the passageways they walked together back to their homes in its candlelit interior, and they were silent the whole way until, out of nowhere, Sheik grabbed Link by the shoulders and pushed him hard, flat up against one of the walls.

"Stop," he said, slight exasperation detected in his voice. He didn't look at Link in this eyes this time, focused his attention somewhere near the other's collar bone. His fingers tightened onto the fabric, squeezing.

Link stalled, deep breathing and a focused expression on his face. He didn't move, didn't push vermilion eyes away.

"I'm.. really having a hard time with this," Sheik whispered, his body pressing ever closer. "I am trying to keep my hands off you but it's getting really fucking difficult." He shook his head, still avoided eye contact, squeezed ever tighter on Link's shoulders. "I'm sorry," he cried softly.

Link was surprised to hear what Sheik just admitted. He felt tongue-tied and he didn't know what to do. His head felt foggy and he could feel time ticking away, this short window of opportunity that he didn't want to mess up for good.

And that courage kicked in at just the right moment, he felt that familiar swell in his chest that hadn't ever done him wrong, and he said,

"I'm really attracted to you, Sheik."

And vermilion eyes glanced up quickly, wide-open. "Holy shit," he said and he was paralyzed.

"Let me help you," Link said softly, and he leaned in close, his breath like wispy tendrils across the other's face, and he said, "you know, I think I understand what 'lavi' meant," he began, and his lips, the softest of skin, slightly wet and blushed brushed against Sheik's own and he asked, "Beni tu ara mi a lavi sala?" His left hand feathered up and behind Sheik's neck and into the nape of his hair.

"Yes," Sheik whispered, "a thousand times, yes."

He laughed gently, lips so close and said, "I don't really know what I'm doing.. but I hope you won't mind."

"I won't mi -" and that was all Sheik could manage before Link's lips came crashing down upon his, eager, hungry, exploring, forceful. So forceful in fact, that Sheik's back hit the opposite wall and he was pinned..

and he loved it.

They kissed as if they were tasting the most delicious of foods, kissed as if their lips would never touch again.

And it was like boom, the explosion of firecrackers, sparkling heat that radiated through their bodies and it sent bolts to their very core, the friction of their bodies melded together like a burning, craving.. like two people who yearned to do this before but never got the chance.

Their erect cocks rubbed together between the two bodies that had become inseparable, and Sheik gasped at the sensation, grabbed Link's ass in response which made Link hungrier, hungrier - devouring, tasting the inside of the Sheikah's mouth.

They were out of breath, the kisses slowed after a time, and they simply stayed there in the little dimly lit corridor, holding onto each other, out of breath.

They were still aroused, but were unsure of how far to go, and so they stared at each other with newly kindled passion and thoughts racing through their minds.

They didn't know what to say, didn't know if they should speak at all, didn't know how to leave one another for the night. Didn't know if they should.

So Sheik opened Link's door near them and pushed him inside and said, "if I come in too I don't know what I'd do." As if he were an animal not sure if he could control himself. And he looked at Link in the darkness of the entryway, messy, disheveled, swollen lips, and he lingered there for a moment and then turned and took off down the corridor before he'd lose what was left of his willpower.