Aquila: Whoo, still alive. This one took a it longer because real life hit me hard and also executive functioning/mental health issues. But I have managed to fight them off enough to get this up(although this was kind of written over that span of time and I don't have the mental energy to do much editing, so if stuff is weird, that might be why. Also I am posting this update with my freaking phone by copy-pasting the story text paragraph by paragraph from an email because the Internet I'm using has this website blocked and im impatient so I hope it doesn't mess up too bad)

Vasheel slumped forward on his desk, fingers running through his hair as he grasped the back of his head. There was a slight crinkling sound as his breath stirred the pages of the book next to his head. A bright, high sound of glass on glass sent him bolt upright, rapidly scanning his surroundings for the source until a shout from downstairs extinguished the tension. He checked the window. No light came in from between the boards, but the fact that the old woman was still on the main floor meant that it wasn't sundown yet. The shop was still open.

Vasheel massaged the side of his neck as he stretched his shoulders out. One of the wonderful things about being stuck in this room was the fact that it was completely impossible to keep track of time. Fortunately, it didn't matter for him as long as he kept quiet and discreet. Of course, it also meant that he forgot when he should be eating or sleeping. By a rough estimate, he'd been awake for a day and a half now.

He glared at the worn book. This one had been more weather-damaged by the time he'd gotten to it, and he'd been trying to copy it over to a more easily legible format, but the past section had a few particularly bad water stains that were really starting to grate on his patience. It was going to have to wait until later or he'd be throwing it against the wall. Vasheel slid it back into its place on the shelf. What sucked the most was the fact that this was the only one he could find on regional variants of plants. He was familiar with the ones near Kakariko, but if there were differences in the appearance or properties of commonly-used plants within the borders of Hyrule, he needed to ensure that he understood them. Especially since he was travelling further and further away with the Sheikah.

Letting out a groan, he pressed his face against the side of the bookshelf. Sleep now, ruminate about that later. Vasheel sunk into his bed, tossing the blanket over himself before falling asleep.

A light shifting from above woke him what seemed like moments later. He tensed, waiting for something else to happen. It could have just been a guay, but he had been on that roof often enough himself to know it took substantial weight to make any noise. There was a person up there.

But what could he even do about it? If they wanted to get in, they were going to get in, and he didn't have anywhere to go. Vasheel tried to restrain his breathing as he looked around for a weapon. Something rattled the window and he snatched up a knife from the desk. It was meant for cutting ingredients, but his disgust at the idea of getting blood on one of his tools was overpowered by the panic aroused by the creaking of the shutter.

He had managed to slide directly under the window when the hinges popped and a figure dropped through the opening. Their roll to absorb the impact from falling landed them a few feet in front of Vasheel. As they examined the space, he moved to jump them.

Instantly, they grabbed his arms, twisting his wrist until he dropped the knife. A moment of grappling, then a panicked whisper. "Vasheel?" One hand tilted his face into the moonlight, also giving him a view of the intruder. Sheik stared him down for a few seconds before hugging him tightly. "Thank Nayru," he breathed.

Vasheel made a face as he tried to find a way to subtly pull the other off. "You were expecting someone else? Okay, let go, there's no need for that." When he finally separated them, Vasheel brushed himself off pointedly. "The hell are you doing here? You specifically agreed not to do this."

Sheik had already gotten up and was re-approaching him, slower this time. "I know what I said, but this is an emergency." He eyed the window as if judging how quickly he could climb back up. "Get anything you want to keep and we're going."

"What? Why?"

Not bothering to wait, Sheik pulled him off the ground. His expression was hard, none of the usual warmth behind his eyes. "Ganondorf is back."

Everything went hazy as he attempted to process that simple statement. His head dipped to meet the Sheikah's gaze. "What, in Hyrule? I don't see how that means I have to-"

"He's still searching for the princess." Sheik pressed his nails against the wrappings on his palms. "So it's very likely he'll want to check on the villages again – you're not safe here. You don't have a choice." He softened a bit. "They will find you here, and we're not letting that happen." Turning away, he crossed his arms. "Take whatever you don't want them to find or can't stand to leave. I don't know when, if ever, it'll be safe to come back." There was a hint of bitterness to the last words.

Vasheel surveyed the room, then went straight for his bag, dumping everything out on the bed. "Easily replaceable, need a few of the rarer ones." He continued mumbling to himself as he packed away a few bottles and bundles of plants, shifting to the other wall. "But what I really have to see…" It was fortunate he'd already given Impa back her Sheikah books, as well as lending her a handful of others he'd thought potentially useful for their missions. That still left him with more than enough books he didn't feel comfortable leaving, though. "Hey," he called to Sheik, "come get some of these." He had gathered a decent pile and tied it together, but stopped after turning to hand them over. "What?"

"Oh, sorry." He forced himself to stop staring. "You're just really pale. I mean, I knew that before, but I guess I've just never seen that much of your skin at once." Sheik flicked his hand up to indicate the other's bare arms. Only Vasheel would roll up his sleeves but leave his collar unfolded so it went up to his chin. More interesting, though, was the fact that Sheik could tell he had more scars than would be expected. The same white as his skin, they stood out because of the way their texture reflected the moonlight differently. Mostly cuts, but there seemed to be a few sizeable burns as well. Sheik's concentration broke as a stack of boo

ks was pressed into his hands.

A huff. "It ends up with plant or ink stains otherwise." Vasheel tugged the sleeves back down as he circled the room one more time. "I'm ready."

He looked from the full shoulder bag to the additional books in both of their arms. "You really need all of these?"

"Each one is information we have that they don't. I'll take every bit of power over them that I can. Besides, they'd probably be destroyed otherwise, and I don't like that either," he said, struggling to fix his hair with a half-free hand.

Sheik sighed. Tempted though he was to object, he also did not want to deal with the other's stubbornness. "As long as you can get out with them." Shifting his bundle to one hand, he used the shelves under the window to climb up and out onto the roof.

They were met by Impa outside the border of town. She escorted them along the trees and cliffs on the edge of the fields, ordering them not to talk until they reached their destination. Otherwise silent, she appeared even more on edge than Sheik had been, constantly looking over her shoulder and shadowing them.

This hiding space was just outside the Lost Woods, close enough that Sheik could faintly sense the place's magical aura from where they were. Impa ushered them inside, checking the seals on the entrance as the two went further on in. After the initial tunnel, which curved just enough to be out of sight of the door, it opened up into a single rather spacious cavern.

Vasheel sat against one of the walls, putting down his items in slow, measured motions. He needed rest now more than before, and he wasn't sure if he could count on being able to right away. Once everything was settled, he checked on Sheik. Impa had come down and was talking to the boy in a low voice, her hands on his shoulders. Vasheel wondered, not for the first time, if they weren't related after all.

She took notice of him and brought the conversation over. "This is the most secure location we have right now. It's far from any town, and even most monsters are hesitant to enter the Lost Woods." A stern glance to each of them in turn. "You are not to so much as touch the door, understood? I'm not risking either of you. I'll come back with supplies and information as much as I can." Running a hand over Sheik's hair, she smiled at him and turned to Vasheel with a curt nod before leaving.

As soon as Impa was gone, Vasheel had taken half the blankets from the pile of supplies left there and piled them into a lump, which he fell asleep on.

Sheik, on the other hand, had too much going through his mind to rest. They had only found out about Ganondorf's return when he appeared in Castle Town a day ago with an army. Looking back on it, they should have known it was coming. The number of monsters in Hyrule had been increasing recently in correspondence with the Gerudo's approach. Monsters required dark magic to survive. Very little of it existed naturally in the land, but someone with his power generated enough background magic to support huge numbers of them. Even here, it was palpable, just on the edge of Sheik's magical senses.

But Impa had warned him not to use them. They didn't yet know how far Ganondorf's awareness would reach, and even a spell that didn't use his light magic could carry enough of a signature to be dangerous. It was another reason why she'd decided to hide him and Vasheel together – to disguise his trace.

Sitting on the edge of the table of supplies, Sheik picked at the wrappings on his arm. Ganondorf. Despite all the time preparing for the inevitable fight, he hadn't given much thought to the man himself. It was now five years since he had seen him, a fleeing glance past Impa as they escaped the castle. Try as he might, Sheik couldn't bring himself to feel much of anything toward him right now. Odd, considering how the state of Hyrule - the direct result of that man's actions – was one of the only things that elicited true anger from him.

He kicked a table leg and shifted back to his feet, pacing. Those thoughts could wait. Right now he needed to make it through however long he'd be stuck down here.

XXXXXXXX

The two of them ended up being alone in the hideout for two days before Impa returned. It was a quick visit, long enough to drop off more supplies, inform them that Ganondorf's followers were still searching everywhere, and leave again. Sheik looked after her with a concerned expression while Vasheel went digging through the stuff.

With a grunt, he extracted a bag containing the partially-finished fabric. "Plenty of free time to complete it." A frown as he paused in the middle of untangling strips of hide. "Not that we'll get to use it any time soon." Vasheel glanced up for a second to see if Sheik was paying attention, then went back to piling the materials to the side. He had settled himself against a wall with everything spread out around him before the silence was broken.

"Sorry, did you say something?" Sheik looked away from the door to where the other had been, glancing around when he noticed the other had moved.

Sighing, he shook his head. Instead of acknowledging the question, he began picking things out of their respective containers to drop into a bowl in front of him, stopping every once in a while to lean down check some measurement in the book. "Of course it has to be written in the most unintuitive- ugh. Here, make yourself useful" Vasheel tossed a cloth bag across the room "and peel these open for me."

Opening the drawstring with one hand, Sheik examined the contents for a moment. After noticing that Vasheel wasn't commenting further, he sat as close to the other as he could without disturbing anything and held it out. "Are you sure you wanted these?"

"Yeah," he said, tossing a handful of seeds into the bowl with more force than necessary. "Figured they'd be easy because of the natural gap in the shell."

He checked the bag again. "But they're deku nuts. You know, throw them and you get a bright light and an explosion. They're meant for stunning things."

A flat look as he paused in his work. "That's one use, yes, but this plant happens to be one of the most versatile out there. The sort of sap on the inside, which is what produces the light, can be used as a type of lantern oil – not a particularly effective one, mind, but better than nothing." Vasheel reached over and pulled one out, running his hand over the parts in turn. "Now, the stringy plant fibers in the middle, the bit you can see in the gap, those, when properly extracted and brewed, can produce a paralytic poison of varying levels of strength, from mild difficulty moving for a short time to permanent paralysis everywhere. And if you grind down the hard exterior shell…"

Even though the concept was a bit interesting, Sheik found himself beginning to tune the words out. What kept him from completely ignoring Vasheel was the fact that his expressions of what seemed to be amusement were too amusing. The level of detail he was getting into made it hard to excuse the rambling as showing off – it wasn't as though it was about anything particularly impressive – and Sheik still found it odd that he would care that much about that kind of thing.

"Are you still listening?"

"Hmm?" Sheik's thoughts were interrupted, and he realized that he'd been absently staring at Vasheel for what had probably been a while. "Oh, yeah. Yeah. But why do we need them for this?"

While he narrowed his eyes, he didn't remark on the other's drifting off. "The insides can be made into a pulp that works as an adhesive, which we need to help put all these parts together." A tap against the side of the bag. "So get these open for me."

After Sheik had settled, Vasheel found himself glancing over, still worried despite the fact that his back was turned. The staring earlier had weirded him out a little, and now his mind couldn't stop trying to figure out what it had been about. The only stares he ever remembered getting before were because of his unusual appearance, which wasn't true here. Sheik's expression had been almost… fond, and he wasn't sure how to think about the feelings that thought brought up. Come to think of it, the Sheikah had had a similar look while studying him the night he'd broken into the potion shop.

Ducking his head down towards the bowl, he shook his head ever so slightly. That didn't mean anything, the boy was spacey as hell anyway. Besides, Vasheel wasn't finding himself able to put the thoughts that followed that train of logic into comprehensible words anyway. He looked up again to see Sheik in deep concentration, chewing on the inside of his mouth as he worked, and jolted his head back down. Shit. Forcing his hands to be as steady as he could, Vasheel threw himself as deep as he could into the work. Because he was notgoing to think about thy way his chest had just tightened and momentarily caught his breath.

Of course, the increased speed meant that he got to the point where he needed the deku nuts faster. Squeezing the side of his leg with one hand, he growled under his breath. Stop being so foolish. "Let me see what you have." Although he did look up, his head was tilted so that while he was technically facing Sheik, his bangs obscured enough of his vision that he couldn't actually see the boy.

Which meant that he didn't notice Sheik's look of confusion. He furrowed his brows as he thought. Ok, so he hadn't done the best job of opening the deku nuts, but he didn't see how that justified the look of frustration Vasheel was giving him. He shook his head. It was probably just another one of his weird moods, which meant it wasn't personal. Sheik managed to shrug it off and sprawled out on the ground, aimlessly fidgeting now that his part was done.

Vasheel calmed a bit. Now that the other was out of immediate attention, he could easily compartmentalize and bury his stress. By the time he'd set up the mixture to set, the moment was almost completely out of his mind.

Once he moved away from the supplies, Sheik rolled over on his side to face him. "You done?" Pulling himself up, he smiled. "Good. Stand over here, will you?" He indicated a spot slightly in front of where he was positioning himself.

"Why?" Arms crossed, he stopped where he was, regarding the Sheikah with suspicion.

Sheik rocked back on his heels. "Training. Look, I helped you with your thing, so it's only fair. Besides, I haven't worked with someone else in forever."

"Yes, but that was something that benefits both of us."

"Then you can train too." He pulled one arm over his head, stretching.

Well, the calm had been nice while it lasted. Vasheel glowered, taking an exaggeratedly slow step back to make his point. "I'm not interested in getting thrown around right now, especially since I'm not learning anything from it."

"What do you mean?"

A heavy sigh, accompanied by a roll of the shoulders. "As helpful as being able to hide is, it's not exactly a viable long-term solution. If someone's searching the area thoroughly, I'm going to slip up eventually, and then I'm screwed."

Sheik lowered his arms. "You want to learn to fight?" If the apprehension in his voice had gone unnoticed, then his wide eyes certainly gave it away.

"No," he scoffed. "I'm well aware I would never stand a chance in a fight, but that can't be the only option if I end up in a direct confrontation."

"Ohh. So, like dodging stuff. Getting out. Escaping." That seemed to reassure him. Sucking his lip between his teeth, he stared at the ceiling. Then, he brightened. "Okay, I have something we can try. Stand across from me."

With only the briefest of hesitations, he did so.

Once he was in place, Sheik shifted so that his body was facing sideways and his weight was on the balls of his feet. "Now, this is more of a combat training thing, but I think it'll work here too. Copy me." He started shifting his balance back and forth between his legs. "See what I'm doing? What you wanna do is keep bouncing like this. Keep up on the front part – yeah, like that, but try to make it a little more fluid. The idea is that you're not leaning too much on one leg, so that when you need to move," without any signal that he was going to act beforehand, he sprung forward and twisted to the side so he was standing next to Vasheel, "you can just do it." A nod, and then he started circling. "I didn't say you should stop."

Vasheel rolled his eyes. "You sound like your guardian. And this isn't as easy as you make it look."

"She's the one who taught me." He gently brought the other's arms up in front of his body. "Again, this is more of a fighting thing, but try to keep your hands like this. It's easier to react when they're up, 'specially if you want to block stuff from your face." More circling. "Now keep going. You want to get a good sense of the rhythm here."

A slight cramp was starting to develop in his leg when Sheik called him off. "Ok, so here's what you're going to use it for. You know someone's coming at you but you're not sure exactly where they are or what they're going to do. If you're ready like this, it's easier to avoid them." He stood so they were across from each other again, starting to bounce on his feet. "Here, come try to grab me."

Wavering for a moment, Vasheel jumped directly at him, only to find his arms swinging through the air as the Sheikah hopped backwards. An attempt to back up and get him from the side was met with a sidestep and a kick that threw him off-balance. He sighed. "I thought this wasn'tsupposed to involve knocking me over."

"Heh, sorry. You made it a little too easy." He offered a hand to stand up. "But you see what I mean? Now you try."

Although he grumbled about it, once he got back into position Vasheel found that moving away from things was easier than attacking. It wasn't particularly intuitive at first, but eventually the movements became more automatic.

Confidence rising, he aimed a light punch towards the other.

Sheik sidestepped it easily. Looking through the bangs that had fallen in front of his eyes, he laughed. "You've never been in a fight before, huh?" Another strike dodged.

The corner of his mouth twitched and he swung his arm in a horizontal arc at the Sheikah's torso. When he managed to dodge, Vasheel was thrown off-balance. The glimpse of the other's triumphant expression at that moment set something off in him. He swung his back leg forward to catch himself and shifted weight on the front half of his feet, turning as he did so. With that momentum, Vasheel threw himself forward and into Sheik.

Sheik, not expecting someone to collide with him, fell to the ground.

In the process, Vasheel overbalanced himself and landed on top of him. "Ow." He barely had enough time to process what had happened before the Sheikah pushed him off and to the side.

"Was that really necessary?" he retorted as he sat up, wrapping his arms around his torso.

"You're just upset that you ended up falling this time."

Sheik gave him a flat look. "Didn't change much for you, though."

An oddly cheerful laugh. "Still progress." He shifted so he was lying on his side facing Sheik. "Not so fun being on the receiving end, huh? Gives you something to think about." Vasheel's expression was almost exaggeratedly smug.

"Well, I certainly would have preferred not to have someone clumsily land on me." It was Sheik's turn to laugh as he watched Vasheel start at his description. "But do you really think I haven't had to deal with this kind of thing before? I've just learned enough to avoid that now."

He scowled. "Fucking Sheikah," he whispered under his breath.

Sheik put his hands to his hips. "That's not very nice." He paused, eyes flickering upward in thought. "At least I think so. Never heard anyone else use that word, so…" An offhand shrug. "And you can make anything sound insulting."

"I'll take that as a compliment."

Does he ever stop? What am I thinking, of course not. Tugging at the end of his cowl with both hands, he narrowed his eyes. "Please don't"

"Too late." The barest hint of a smirk appeared as he stretched out a bit more. He was going to get the better of the conversation this time.

At that, Sheik swung his legs under him and leaned over to Vasheel. "Because what I meant by that is that you're terrible at sounding like you mean things any other way."

Vasheel pushed himself up ever so slightly to meet the other partway. Fine. If he wanted to make him work for it, he was fine with countering. "Huh. You say that as if that isn't how I always mean things." Sheik responded by staring him down, making him instantly regret saying that. They were now way too close together, and he was only going to be able to avoid the other's gaze for so long, and he wasn't sure if he could stand it much longer before he started visibly showing his discomfort. Shit, can he tell? Is he doing this on purpose. No, he can't be that perceptive.

He was saved from having to do anything, because then Sheik grinned, shrugging his shoulders. "Heh. You're not that good of a liar, you know," he said, tapping a finger against Vasheel's nose before standing up.

A confused look was all Vasheel could manage as the other walked off and out of sight. Alright, so he wasn't completely unobservant. And while it hadn't been about what he was worried about, the fact that the other could notice things meant he might have to be careful going forward. Then, he finally registered the touch. It was something familiar, friendly, almost playful – something he had never been on the receiving end of, and frankly didn't really trust. The hell did he mean by doing that? Vasheel wanted to comment on it, but all he managed to do was mouth a "what…?" still staring off into space and growing ever more conscious of the warmth in his face.

Holy Nayru formatting is a pain on mobile. Don't be like me kids.

Guesty: I don't really remember my characterization of Sheik in that aspect being a conscious decision, but I guess I would say it's because I really do see Sheik as a child. I mean, I can't remember exactly how old he is at this point off the top of my head (fifteen I think), but in my experience that's not exactly the most emotionally stable age group. Also the impression I got of oot Zelda in the game was that she was someone who trusted people easily as long as she had some reason. Like even just a sense (hence trusting link because he fit her dream). So I was kind of going off that. He's probably going to change some over time but we'll have to see.

fleets: hah, my way of motivating myself whenever I get stuck writing this is to go "how can I make this as interesting/snippy as possible?" and that was kind of a thing a lot in this chapter, so... yeah.

well, I think this chapter gives you more of an idea of the "conflict." (TBH the story is kind of just a justification for writing and a way of stringing together a bunch of Vasheel/Sheik interactions I have in my head in a way that other people might actually be able to understand. As much as I tell myself that that means I shouldn't be so worried about the story being less quality, it still bothers me. Although what astounds me more than anything is that other people are interested in what is basically my self-indulgent ramblings disguided as fanfic)