Well, this is quite a short one, isn't it? Sorry 'bout that, folks. At least you aren't getting this one late. More thanks to Alpha for continuing the task of beta reading for this one!
Anywho, let's continue where the boys left off!
"…What?" Link finally asked, his wits still eluding him in light of the pairs of eyes trapping him in place. In particular, Pipit's leaning toward him with a nigh-unbreakable stare was beginning to scare him just a little bit. It had never made him want to run away screaming before, either; but there was a first time for everything, he supposed.
"That kind of excuse is long expired, you know. In fact, it's been used so much that it might as well be the same thing as saying, 'I admit it!'"
Most of the faculty, who had the pleasure of observing him since before he could form complete sentences, would probably agree. He did use that excuse a lot over the years, even more so over the past few days, in a clearly-futile attempt to maintain the status quo of his relationship with Zelda, or besought lack thereof. With the onset of adulthood, relentless fantasies of the two of them together turned through his head like pages in a storybook. While each scenario twisted his stomach with the bittersweet feeling of deep longing, it also made him violently shiver with dread.
Still, regardless of wherever his thoughts and feelings fell on the spectrum, he was all too often quick to shake his head and ignore them. If he never thought about them, he often told himself, it would never happen; then, he would never have to worry about complicated romance and family matters. They could live a simple life and just be friends. Yes… Just…friends…
Link wasn't sure whether or not Pipit was trying to get him to personally admit something about himself to better express it. Probably, it was a way to unclog his mental pipeline so his feelings would no longer have to remain bottled in. He appreciated that much, at least. But at the same time, he thought it just as likely that Pipit did it out of the sheer enjoyment of getting as many silly, helpless-looking faces out of him in quick succession as he could. It was quite unbecoming of him to be paranoid of that sort of thing, least of all from someone like Pipit, one of his most-trusted friends. Perhaps it was all a matter of that day's accumulated fatigue and hunger and the little voices in his head resulting from the former.
When Link, once again, couldn't defend himself, Pipit shook his head and sighed. The prosecution was to finally rest, as it were.
"Okay, fine!" Link finally said when his frustration from the lack of empathy around him finally burst from his nostrils like a whistling teapot over a bonfire. "Believe what you like! It doesn't change a thing."
With that little outburst, Groose shushed him and timidly looked around and listened for any more passersby. A few seconds passed before he decided the coast was clear. Charged with a breath of relief, he turned his attention back to Zelda's door and continued listening in, but not before glaring at the source of the outburst with an unspoken, "Do that again, and I'll toss you off the island."
Pipit's strange and intense means of extracting information, not to mention him enjoying every second of it, completely blinded him from his surroundings. All that the silent threat really did was remind him that Groose and Cawlin were still there and were yet to be dealt with. The soon-to-graduate senior, while clearly amused at the sudden display of his seldom-encountered forgetfulness, decided that enough was enough. "All right, you two!"
Oh, boy, Link mused behind a smirk. Here comes the ol' Pipit "commander voice" again. As every student knew, he meant business when the "commander voice," as Link affectionately named, was being brandished. It was every unprepared rabble-rouser's nightmare to pompously stomp around like nobody's business, only for the chivalrous do-gooder to smack them with the ultimatum like it were a military whip. The confident audacity in his voice made it all the more effective, not to mention satisfying when the elicited responses ranged from a simple twitch of the eye to a full-on, submissive flinch in the weakly-disciplined.
"Tell you what: If you beat it right now, the headmaster won't know about this." The voice was working its magic, all right—but sadly, most of the effect was on Cawlin, who looked about ready to cower into a fetal position and start rocking back and forth. Needless to say, he acquiesced with only a few ignored grumbles; Groose, however, stood there with crossed arms and nary even an eye twitch.
Arguably, the only twitch noticeable was on the edge of his lip, which bared a few teeth dulled by the half-lighting. "You think you can bribe Groose out of hearing his fair share of gossip about yours truly, do you?" he chuckled, which was a distinct noise all on its own for the students at the academy. All of a sudden, Link realized that somewhere on that floor was a wall just begging for a few quick smacks from his forehead.
Gracefully shaking off that laugh's rage-inducing properties, Pipit didn't let up. Of course, all he had to do was motion toward the headmaster's office a few meters away. As per usual, judging by his unwavering smile of confidence alone and his aloof, high-chinned and -chested stance, Groose was calling a bluff; however, there was a slight tic in his eye that gave Pipit enough of an excuse to keep pushing that same button.
He turned around and stepped unusually slowly and quietly toward the headmaster's office, closed off from the rest of the building by two doors carved from old, discolored mahogany. The closer he got to the doors, the more twitches Link could spot on Groose's mug, until his face was almost having a seizure.
He couldn't stand it any longer. Pipit was really going to do it! "All right! You win!" Groose bellowed as a knuckle stopped inches from the wood. "Don't tell the headmaster!"
The elder slowly turned toward the will-broken bully and chuckled to himself, satisfied with the fruits of his work. He strode back over to the others (in their eyes, it was practically skipping) and resumed his hardy stance. "Now, then," he said, "I think we're all on the same page now, so why don't you—?"
He stopped as soon as voices reached his ears. Angry voices. Angry female voices.
"Don't tell me you didn't hear that."
"Oh, I heard it…"
The boys, frozen from panic and fear, could only slowly look at each other when they heard the fateful voices coming from the walls. They had neither the courage nor the mental faculties to say anything. They knew what they were in for; both of the girls had the eerie ability to make the guys feel utterly shamefaced whenever they did something out of the bounds of social decency. If the girls, having had their feathers ruffled, ever got on their case, it could be likened to ripping tape from their faces: It had to be quick and painful.
They heard the sound of heavy footsteps from behind the doors coming their way. When the source was almost at the door, not even Groose or Cawlin could control their legs. Almost in a flash and as quietly as they could, they fled the scene, but not without giving one last shove to topple the other two students over.
"Later, suckers!" they heard Groose say one final time before the fiery tip of his pompadour disappeared from view. Cawlin followed suit with a wail that sounded almost like crying. As funny as that would have been otherwise, Link and Pipit couldn't bring themselves to laugh and dig their graves even deeper than they were already.
They struggled to escape their small pile on the floor without making much noise, but obviously, it proved to be much more difficult than it looked, given the absence of equanimity and lucidity on their part. And, sadly, by the time they could get up onto their feet and leave, the girls' doors opened simultaneously, revealing two glaring women, ready to pounce.
Clearly, it was a good thing neither of them had to use the bathroom then.
"Pipit!"
"Link!"
The feeling of the glares cutting their skin like burning knives felt like the real thing. Their faces tensed with fear to where neither was able to see their noses in front of their eyes, let alone the two aggravated girls standing just barely outside their rooms.
Perhaps to lessen the gravity to a bearable level, Link summoned what strength he had to overcome his fear-based throe and lightheartedly asked, "Hey, what's up?" Of course, the overly-chipper tone in his voice—due, of course, in no small part to his lack of composure—only made things worse. If he'd had control over his feet, Pipit would've probably kicked him, if only lightly, to show his disapproval. He'd sooner kick himself for allowing Groose to heap his deserved punishment back onto him, though.
Little did Link know that it would lead Zelda to rush up to him, pull him to his feet, and drag him into her room. Karane eyed her incredulously as she did this, even in spite of her mutual feelings toward her male classmates. The fierce look in Zelda's eyes quite adamantly said, "Don't you worry; I got this taken care of," so she trusted her friend enough to at least not to kill the poor guy. However, whatever Karane was to do with Pipit was now officially out of her jurisdiction as soon as she quickly closed her door. Link could've also sworn he heard a click and shivered at the sight of the small form of a key entering her pocket. Perhaps he was hallucinating from the spur of the moment and the hunger, but he couldn't be sure.
He only knew he was trapped.
Next time on Closed Doors and Thin Walls, Zelda vs. Link! Place your bets, everybody!
Sorry once again for the shortie; the next one should be considerably longer for you (and it'll be released on a special day, won't it...? Hehe...). Believe it or not, I was thinking of moving some content from this chapter to the next one to change the ending, but that would've shortened it by about 12%. As you can see, I've decided against it. I mustn't have you guys waiting patiently for laughably-short chapters, after all. Not to say this isn't laughably short, but...
Bah, I've droned on long enough. Until next time!