Chapter 9: It's Not a Date!

"What am I going to do? What am I supposed to wear?" Link exclaimed as he paced around Captain Falcon's room. The racer stood leaning against the wall and Mario was comfortably sitting on the bed, both of them following the panicky Hylian with their gazes.

"Don't-a worry, dates are pretty nice-a," Mario said in a half-hearted try to calm Link down. They all knew that it would be futile and Link completely ignored his friend.

"I've been washing this tunic three times, but is it really clean?" Link went on and pulled at his green tunic that looked extraordinarily nice for once. "What if she thinks it smells bad?"

"I can smell the detergent over here," Falcon said and rolled his eyes.

"Oh, no! What is Zelda going to say?" Link cried aghast.

With a heavy sigh, which caused a glare from Link, Captain Falcon walked over to his closet and began digging through it.

"Those are some pretty-a nice trophies," Mario commented as he eyed a cabinet he had just noticed that was filled with golden cups.

"Yeah, those are to scare my opponents if they dare to come in here," Falcon replied, his head still inside the closet. "People should know they are dealing with a winner."

"They are-a all racing trophies," Mario said flatly.

"I better get myself a fighting trophy this time around then," Falcon responded with a laugh and surfaced from his closet with a pair of jeans and a green T-shirt.

"How can you talk about trophies at a time like this?" Link asked in disbelief. Falcon waved the clothes in front of the Hylian's face.

"Perfect dating clothes," he said and Link swiftly grabbed them after only half a second's doubt. Hurriedly he threw off the green tunic, the white shirt underneath, kicked off his boots, and stepped out of his tight, white pants.

"I need a belt. They are too big," Link said when he four seconds later was dressed in the jeans and stood twisting in front of Falcon's mirror. "Why can't you have a full-length mirror?" the hero asked gruffly. Captain Falcon gave him a friendly pat on the shoulder as he grinned at Link's reflection.

"I forgive you, because you're just jumpy about this whole thing with the date."

"That's-a right Link, we know-a you don't mean to be so rude-a."

"And if you worked out a little more you'd have a little more muscles and fit into my pants."

This seemed to hit Link like a rock. "You don't think that Zelda thinks I'm weak or too scrawny, do you?" he asked worriedly and immediately got down on the floor to do some push-ups. It was quite amusing seeing a well built man like Link put that much effort in improving already handsome looks that made women swoon.

"Oh, enough already!" Falcon exclaimed and pulled Link to his feet. "Put on the T-shirt," he ordered and shoved it into Link's hands. Link did as he was told and skeptically scrutinized his reflection. The tee was just a little too big for him.

"You don't think it's too simple? Zelda is always dressed so fancy."

Captain Falcon slapped his forehead. "You'd rather want one with a Metallica print? Trust me, this is a nice T-shirt with a color that suits you and it's also brand-name clothing."

"And that is good?"

"Very."

Mario nodded in agreement and Link actually seemed to relax, but it didn't last long.

"You sure it isn't too simple?"

Captain Falcon groaned and pulled out a tux from his closet. "Will this do?"

Link cringed at the sight of it.

"See, you naturally hate stuff like this. What you're wearing now is perfect," Captain Falcon told him. Mario nodded.

"Are-a you ready to go-a?" Mario asked with a grin. Link nodded determinedly and buckled the belt Falcon just had offered him after hanging the tux back inside the closet.

"She won't be able to resist you," Falcon encouraged Link and pulled up the white flowers from the vase standing on the windowsill. "Give her these."

While Link was making himself ready Zelda was sitting at her desk twisting a piece of paper in her hands as she nervously glanced at the clock. She took a deep breath and then sighed.

"Oh, I am acting silly. There is nothing to be nervous about. I am simply going to spend a nice day alone with my best friend."

A sudden knock on the door startled Zelda, not that anyone could have noticed if they had been there to see her, and the princess walked over to the door.

"That's strange," she thought aloud. "It cannot be Link, we aren't going until after an hour and a half."

She opened and found Samus waiting outside, observing the wall to the side. "Oh, Samus, what a pleasant surprise! What can I do for you?"

"Tell me about this date," Samus demanded and she stepped inside, not waiting for an invitation.

"Date? Please, it's not a date!"

"Sure," Samus said and Zelda could see the ridicule in the bounty hunter's eyes behind the visor. With a sigh the princess sat down next to her on the bed.

"Well, what do you want to know?"

"Don't girls like you usually go around giggling and making themselves ready three hours early?"

"I don't quite know", Zelda replied as a faint blush colored her pale cheeks and Samus immediately felt more attached to the princess. "Uhm, mind if I ask? Where did you hear about this… date?" Zelda added and faced Samus.

"From both Link and young Link, I guess the little one is the one who's spreading it around", Samus replied airily and walked over to Zelda's double door closet. The bounty hunter was not usually interested in things like match-making, she could leave it to girls like Peach, but she had to support Link in this case. Also, the more time she spent with Zelda, the more convinced she became that it was meant to be. She would be making both her friends a huge favor.

Samus silently held up a knee-length, black dress and picked out a red blouse that she thought went well with it when a shriek made her toss them aside and aim her gun at the door.

"Wearing that would be a crime!" Peach screeched as she rushed inside and Samus lowered her gun. With a shudder Peach put the clothes back inside the closet, one at a time so that they would not be too close to each other.

"I felt that we needed to spend some time together Zelda, or we might grow apart," Peach explained with plaintive eyes directed at Zelda when she closed the doors to the closet.

Samus rolled her eyes as she leant against one of the now closed door and Peach advanced on Zelda with her sorrowful pleading.

"Are you dressing up to go out?"

Zelda nodded shyly and Peach squealed in delight, dropping the sad act, and pushed Samus out of the way of the closet.

"Let me help."

After throwing out every single piece of clothing onto the floor Peach frowned. "This won't do. Let's go to my room."

And she pulled Zelda out the door with Samus following, because she could not help but to worry.

Peach's room was as pink as always and Samus looked like a trapped animal as she glanced around. Peach hurriedly positioned Zelda on the bed, where the princess remained obediently with folded hands, and then rushed over to her own closet which went along an entire wall.

"Now, we want to make him breathless, right?" Peach said with a sunny smile. Samus raised her eyebrows. She would never believe that Peach would help Zelda make Link lose his breath, unless the lack of oxygen ended up killing him.

"It's so hard to dress up when you're a princess since you… well, are always dressed up," Peach said with a giggle as she compared two dresses. "So, what we'll do, if I were to decide…"

"Which you will," Samus muttered under her breath.

"…we'll take modern clothing, not too fancy but still stylish and add a really nice necklace. I recall us buying a very nice one for you when we were out shopping. Samus, could you be a dear and go get it, it's in… uhm, where do you keep your jewellery Zelda?"

"It's in the box on top of the desk," Zelda replied and Peach immediately shooed Samus out the door and closed it. In less than a second the princess of the Mushroom Kingdom had pulled out something that looked like a really, really, really short laced white nightgown and held it in one hand as she pulled Zelda up from the bed with her other one. She quickly, probably faster than Zelda could have managed herself, stripped Zelda down to her underwear, that including taking off her stockings, and pulled the white dress over her head.

Zelda gazed down, in shock, at the transparent piece of fabric through which she could see her underwear.

"It's a bit… short", she said weakly, because it barely reached down her thighs.

Peach giggled. "Don't worry, these are just undergarments."

Zelda was about to take a sigh of relief but it got stuck in her throat as Peach pulled out a corset from her wardrobe.

After a few painful seconds, because Peach tied it both hard and fast, Zelda stood gasping and staring down at her body, ready to break into tears at any moment.

"And now for the dress," Peach declared, sounding a bit kinder since she could hint Zelda's distress. "Close your eyes."

Zelda did as she was told, hoping for the best. She felt the soft fabric as the dress was pulled over her head and Peach then led her over to the three full-length mirrors that stood positioned in a half circle around a low pedestal.

"Okay, open them!"

Zelda opened her eyes and was at a loss for words, unfortunately not because of any optimistic thoughts of the dress. It was the red color of wine, so short she could hint the white laces from the dress underneath and so low-cut she could make out some deep cleavage. Peach did not wait for any remark. She was already busy tying a big ribbon with a wide, and very long, band of silk around Zelda's waist. Zelda's breath was taken away as Peach tied the tight knot, as if the corset wasn't bad enough.

Peach showed up again two seconds later with a pair of scarlet shoes, the heels higher than on any other shoes Zelda had ever worn before, and swiftly put Zelda's feet into them.

"Now for the hair," Peach said enthusiastically as she eyed Zelda from top to bottom. Zelda didn't care that it was Peach watching her, she blushed crimson anyway. A knock interrupted them before Peach had time to attack Zelda's hair.

"Is it safe for me to come in?" Samus voice could be heard from the other side of the door.

"Just in time," Peach chimed and skipped over to the door. "Samus, you're sort of like a guy, so I need to hear your opinion on this," Peach said through the small crack between the door and the wall. Samus response to Peach's request was to close the door.

"Oh, she's just shy," Peach told Zelda with a smile and then opened the door to hunt down Samus.

"Please, Peach, don't," Zelda pleaded, definitely not wanting Samus to see her like this. She respected Samus and she felt that this kind of clothing would be offensive to the bounty hunter.

"Stay here," Peach begged before she closed the door. Zelda quickly started thinking about any possible way to escape but Peach had managed to find Samus immediately and was back about as quick as she had left.

"So, what do you think?" Peach asked as she shoved Samus through the door to her room where Zelda still stood on the pedestal, surrounded by the big mirrors and the big ribbon around her waist so that she looked like a very appealing present. Both Zelda and Samus blushed furiously, Samus thanking heaven for her helmet. Despite barely knowing Zelda it felt unnatural to see this much of her bare skin, considering that Zelda always wore ankle-length dresses with a high neck.

"Well, I need you to say something," Peach urged, looking very satisfied with their reactions.

"Guh," was all that left Samus's throat and she shut her lips tightly because of the dumb response. She hated looking stupid.

"Just the answer I wanted from a man," Peach squealed happily. Samus snapped back to reality to cross her arms disapprovingly at the comparison between herself and a man.

"Peach, I don't think I can wear this," Zelda said weakly, feeling vulnerable and exposed on the pedestal.

"But Marth will be at your feet, and don't tug at it like that, if you look like you don't think the clothes are right everyone will see them as wrong."

Samus stepped forward with the quilt she had grabbed from Peach's bed and wrapped it around Zelda.

"She's going out with Link," the bounty hunter said stiffly.

"It's not a date," Zelda squeaked.

"With Link!" Peach cried.

A hush fell over the three girls as they stood silently in a circle, watching each other.

"You simply can't be serious," Peach then yelled. "Say this isn't true Zelda."

"W-We are just going to…"

"True as the color of this pillow is pink," Samus cut in forcefully, grabbing one of the many pink pillows on Peach's bed and holding it up before her.

"Zelda, this is not a good idea," Peach said reproachfully as she turned to the other princess.

Zelda just sighed. It felt like she had done that a million times today.

"People are all putting too much into this. I'm just going to spend the day in the city with a friend."

"That's what he wants you believe," Peach said darkly as she approached Zelda with a furrowed brow. "It might start out innocent enough, but then…"

She didn't get further because Samus put an arm around Zelda, who still held the quilt tightly around herself, and brought her out of the room.

"Thank you," Zelda said as she was safely inside her own room. "I hope I did not insult Peach."

"I'll deal with her, I bet she's right outside the door," Samus said and took it upon herself to try and make the storm blow over for Zelda's sake. As she had guessed Peach was just about to storm inside when Samus opened the door.

"I have to speak with Zelda," Peach said. "She's doing the biggest mistake of her life."

Samus crossed her arms and blocked the door, not saying a word. Peach was about to argue when Zelda opened the door as much as Samus would allow and glanced uncertainly at Peach.

"Peach, would it be too much asking to borrow a dress from you? I saw one that I thought was very pretty."

"You should just have said so from the beginning," Peach chimed and easily pushed Samus out of the way. "I guess you aren't ready to have men gawking at you."

Zelda blushed and could not find a suitable answer. The idea was too ludicrous.

"Hurry, hurry! When are you going to leave?"

"It's not that long…"

"Then we better hurry."

Zelda, who had thought up the idea about the dress just to make Peach happy, searched frantically for a dress that would be okay when she once again found herself inside Peach's room.

"This one," she said and pulled out a blue one, just to notice afterwards that it was identical to Peach's own dress, except for the color.

"I'm flattered, but no," Peach said and pulled out a pink dress that would reach barely down to Zelda's knees if she was to wear it. "How about this?"

"I am not sure I will feel very comfortable showing that much leg," Zelda said.

"Much leg? Darling, this is everyday wear for women. Besides you do have splendid legs."

Zelda evaded her gaze and Peach shook her head at the ceiling. "Would a pair of stockings make you feel better?" she asked and Zelda nodded.

"They are… skin colored…" Zelda said hesitantly as Peach tossed her a pair. Peach nodded contently.

"They'll make your legs look all glossy, but you are so awfully pale I hope they aren't too dark for you."

When Zelda finally was dressed Peach examined the result. The pink dress was of a wide design and flowed pleasantly down her body to swirl around her legs as she walked. As not to make the shape of her body disappear she also wore a short jacket with a soft flowery pattern that hugged the dress closer to her body. Peach had loosely braided her long hair and put on some lipstick on her small lips too.

"It would have looked so good with deep red lips to that other dress," Peach sighed as she smeared on the pink lipstick. "I would never be able to wear anything like that. It was just so much fun having someone with your looks to dress up. Now where did Samus go with that necklace?"

"You left her outside of my room," Zelda reminded her.

"I'll go get her then."

There was no use for Samus to protest as Peach grabbed her arm and pulled her along. "Do you still have the necklace?" Peach asked.

"I left it in your room," Samus snapped. In comparison to Zelda, Samus had not forgotten Peach's pushy behavior.

Peach shrugged. "Fine, throw jewelry around, but try to say something more than guh this time around when you see Zelda, sugar."

And with that she shoved Samus into her room where Zelda sat on the bed waiting, her legs together in a diagonal line and her hands folded on her lap.

Samus nodded approvingly before she remembered, mostly due to Peach staring into her face, that she was supposed to say something.

"Uhm… the dress looks… nice with…" she trailed off. Fashion just wasn't her.

"Good enough. I think that the dress matches everything. Even the ribbon that I tied when doing the braid," Peach filled in, smiling appreciatively at Samus.

"Thank you so much for your help," Zelda said with deep sincerity as Samus put the necklace around her neck. The click when the door closed behind Zelda as she left made something click in Peach's mind too.

"That's right," she cried. "It's Link she's going out with!"

In fury, or possibly embarrassment for forgetting, she started banging on Samus's suit.

"We have to stop her."

Samus managed to grip both of Peach's wrists with her one free hand and the princess twisted and struggled to get free.

"Honestly!" Peach shrieked as she got one hand free and started banging on Samus and at the same time try to pull her other hand away.

"Don't get in the way," Samus told her coldly.

Zelda was sitting at her desk while she waited for Link to show up. She had moved from her bed to the desk and back again five times before she finally heard knocks on her door. She exhaled and strode over to open. All that talk about a date wasn't getting to her, was it?

"Link, you are five minutes early," she said approvingly as he stood before her, smiling anxiously and his hands behind his back.

His eyes had turned wider at the sight of her and he had to bite his tongue not to plunge into daydreams.

"You look so nice, it's not all for me?" Zelda said when no words would come out of her hero. She was sure he had washed his hair and for Link to change his clothes, that was only for very special occasions.

"Uh…"

What was he supposed to say to that? Why could he not be witty when it mattered? Okay, what had Mario told him. If your mind goes blank just try to recall a few simple rules like flattering, complimenting and… oh, to Termina with all of it.

"I got you these," he blurted out and held out the flowers, water still dripping from the ends of the stems.

"They are beautiful," she said with a surprised gasp and beamed at him. "You really didn't have to."

Oh, shooting Octorocs! There went the rest of his mind.

"Just let me put them in a vase and I will be ready in a second," Zelda told him and walked over to her desk, her braid swinging from side to side and her dress swaying below her hips. She put them in an empty vase and took a few extra seconds to arrange them properly before she walked back to Link.

"There, all set."

Since he found it most suitably, he had learnt at least a little what was considered appropriate at the court, Link offered her his arm.

"My, you sure are polite today."

"Today?"

She giggled, glad the way he jokingly raised his eyebrows at her. "We are going to have a great time, I don't understand why we both worry this much," she said and gave his arm a friendly squeeze.

"I can't imagine you worrying."

They had just reached the end of the stairs and Link finally started to relax. Things could not go wrong. After all, he was with Zelda. Ganondorf felt that, for the sake of his bet, he had to do something. To begin with he could just block their way, which he did.

"Where are you going?"

"My, Ganondorf, I thought everyone had heard," Zelda said, casting a meaningful glance on young Link who ducked behind the sofa.

"I'm just taking Zelda out to explore the city a little," Link said indignantly.

"Exploring, eh?" Ganondorf said and leant a bit closer to Zelda, but still speaking loud enough for Link to hear. "Terrible with men who can't put aside their interests, if our hero explores any more he'll…"

Link released himself from Zelda's gentle grasp to grab her shoulders and tow her past Ganondorf.

"If you'll excuse us," Link said through clamped teeth.

"You mean I can't come?" Ganondorf said in mock disappointment.

"Of course you can't come," Link snapped.

"But I heard this wasn't supposed to be a date so what's the problem?"

"And I thought you said you hadn't heard anything about it at all," Zelda remarked.

A cry interrupted from on top of the stairs where Samus were trying to hold Peach back, while Peach, despite Samus holding her in a tight grip, tried to come to Zelda's aid.

"Let… go… of… me," she said through clenched teeth.

"Not… a… chance," Samus hissed back.

Just then Captain Falcon came rushing down the hall with a jacket and ran straight into the pair and all three of them tumbled down the stairs to end up in a big pile on the floor. As Peach took this opportunity to slip away Samus was left beating Captain Falcon senseless. When Samus finally seemed to calm down Captain Falcon, who was sure he had made whatever he had done up to her by staying to take the beating, ran over to Link and Zelda.

"You could use a jacket," he said to Link with a meaningful look.

"Thanks," Link said and hung it over his arm. "Shall we go Zelda?"

She nodded and Link reached out for the door handle. Just then it hit him just how awfully quiet it was and he turned around to take a better look of the living-room. To his great astonishment every single Smasher, with the exception of Marth, was there staring at them.

"Zelda, please don't go," Peach pleaded and grasped Zelda's free hand, the other already being held by Link.

"Peach, remember how you earlier told me how important it is for friends to socialize or they will glide apart?"

Peach nodded.

"I haven't spent much time with Link lately, you understand, don't you?"

Peach nodded again.

"Let's go," Link said impatiently, feeling everybody's gazes burning his body.

"Why are you two going alone, boy and girl?" Ness suddenly asked.

"Because it's a date," Nana replied, blushing and bringing her hands to her cheeks to feel the warmth of them.

"No, it…" Zelda began with a nervous smile but was ignored as Popo spoke.

"You don't know what a date is Ness?"

"Well, do you?"

"Of course, Na… uhm… Someone, really manly, told me."

"But I told you what it was!" Nana exclaimed.

"Nana! Please don't cry!"

Soon everybody was speaking at the same time and Link took the opportunity to sneak out the door with Zelda.

"Why do things have to be so hard?" Zelda said with a sigh.

"Don't care about them. It's just the two of us now, right?"

Both smiled at each other and Zelda squeezed his hand. "You are right."


This chapter was as though it just wrote itself. Like always I never seem to get to the point though. I ended up writing and writing, each scene popping into my head as soon as I had finished the last one until a whole chapter was done (I'm actually quite in shock). I would also like to thank you all for the wonderful (cries) reviews! I appreciated every single one just as much, it's great hearing people's opinions! Oh, and Marth will be back for the next chapter, the poor thing. If you really want to know I can reveal that he is sulking in his room (denying that he cares about this 'date'). Also, Marth and Zelda kind of had a fight that they need to overcome (do I sense a deepening relationship?)