And now for something completely different. Because Smash Bros.
I still regret nothing.
Disclaimed.
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11: Gloves
It turns out he's not the only one at the tournament with something to hide.
Link, Robin decides, is irritating.
It's not the fact that he avoids talking and instead stares at people until they flush and look away (thanks to Tharja, that doesn't bother him anymore). And it's not his fierce overprotectiveness towards Princess Zelda either (Robin is, in fact, much worse). No, it's nothing simple like that.
It's the fact that he's trying to read and Link will. Not. Stop. Sighing.
Robin snaps his tome shut and shoots Link a look. He's expecting it to have some response; after all, he's had royalty (and their bodyguards) cowering away from him with this particular look. The Hylian, however, simply sighs again.
Robin scowls and glares at his tome, absently stroking the cover, allowing the crackles of Thunder magic to calm him. "May I ask what happened to have you so upset?"
Link sighs again, then cuts himself off when Robin glares. "Oh, it's nothing, really. Just… destiny's kind of… oh, what did Captain Falcon say… ah yes, kind of a bitch."
Robin nods sagely. "Don't have to tell me that. How so?"
Link shrugs, hesitantly holding out his left hand palm-down to display the three triangles shining through his gauntlet. Ah, yes. That. "On the plus side, at least it's a good thing. Blessing of the goddesses and all. But still, it's kind of annoying. I can't get away from the knowledge that I'm supposed to do something amazing…"
Robin hums. "Have you tried gloves?" He wiggles his own gloved fingers. "Your gauntlets came from your gods in a way, didn't they? Gloves might cover the glow."
Link sighs again. "Maybe…" He runs his fingers along the triangles, lips pressed tightly together. "So what are you hiding?"
Robin blinks. "Pardon?"
The Hylian rolls his eyes. "You seem oddly knowledgeable about hiding divine symbols, so what's yours?"
The tactician chuckles. "Don't have one. Besides, we're talking about you."
"Aw, c'mon," Link begs, shooting Robin a puppy-eyed pout. "I'm sure you've got something; just take your gloves off for a minute! If there's really nothing, you don't have anything to worry about anyway!"
Robin presses his fingers to his eyes. "Oh, very well." He carefully strips the gloves from his hands, running a finger along the back of his right hand out of habit before holding them up to show Link the perfectly blank skin. "You see? Nothing. Now, we were talking about you."
Link groans, flopping back against his chair. "You are no fun, you know that?"
"I've heard words to that affect, yes." Robin pulls his gloves back on and opens his tome again.
Link sighs again. The tactician glances up. "Yes?"
The hero grins. "I knew that would get your attention. So, if you're so smart, how am I supposed to wear gloves and gauntlets?"
Robin lowers his gaze to his tome again. "I am a tactician, not a fashion designer. Ask Peach."
Link smirks, eyeing the other man's oversized black and purple cloak. "Definitely not a fashion designer."
"Are you trying to get electrocuted, or is that just a happy side effect?"
The Hylian merely smirks even wider and stands, straightening his tunic. "I'm just stating a fact."
Robin raises an eyebrow in a way that makes Link suddenly wish he could teleport. "I don't need fashion advice from a man in a dress."
"Oh, those are fighting words!" Link wraps his fingers around the Master Sword's hilt, only half joking.
Robin merely chuckles, snapping his Thunder tome shut in as flashy a manner as shutting a book can be. "Are you starting something?"
"I have an entire kingdom on my side. I'm friends with the princess."
"I'm one of the Exalt's closest friends, and close to his sister and daughters, and his sister's son. Also, master tactician."
Link sighs, just to be irritating, and releases his sword, flopping back to a comfortable seat. Robin chuckles, opening his tome once more. "Have you considered not wearing gauntlets? Do you really need them?"
The swordsman laughs. "How much do you rely on your magic? Gauntlets are very useful if you don't want your hands cut open."
Robin considers this. "…Or you could just not block with your hands," he points out. He runs his fingers along his tome's cover. "You carry a shield, don't you? Why can't you block with that?"
Link chuckles. "Doesn't always work. We can't all blast our opponents with lightning, y'know."
"…True." Robin sighs. "So, about that mark of yours."
"What about it?"
The tactician tilts his head to the side in a questioning way. "What does it mean, exactly? Divine marks are a hobby of mine, and I like knowing about them."
"Huh." The hero doesn't sound convinced, but he allows the not-entirely-accurate excuse. "Well, they're the symbols of the Golden Goddesses. The top one is for Din; she's the Goddess of Power. She created the earth and the Gerudo tribe, a group of all-female warriors. Except for their king. They… aren't around anymore. Actually, sometimes I feel kind of bad about that, because I killed their king and he was the only left, I think. But he was trying to destroy the world, so I think it's justified."
Robin nods sagely. "Killing anyone is justified if the world is at stake. Ah, the mark?"
Link glances at him, flushing in embarrassment. "Right, sorry. Zelda always says I get distracted too easily. So, yeah, the Triforce. The triangle on the left is Nayru's; she's the Goddess of Wisdom, and she created… um… laws…? Something like that. Sorry, my education was a little shaky. And she also created the She… Sheikah…? I think that's it. The Shadow Folk. They're extinct now too, I think. And the right-hand triangle, that's Farore. She's the Goddess of Courage, and she created just about everything else."
"Why is that triangle—Farore's, I mean—glowing?" Robin asks.
"Oh." Link rubs the back of his neck sheepishly. "It's because I have her blessing. So I'm supposedly really brave and… things."
The tactician chuckles. "Supposedly? You seem plenty brave to me."
"I guess. I don't think it's that impressive." The hero glances at the white-haired man shrewdly. "So what's your story? And don't bother saying you don't have one. You have to have a pretty good story just to get into the tournament."
Robin shrugs. "Oh, I was just unlucky. It's nothing that special." He looks at the clock. "Oh, I have a match in a few minutes; excuse me."
Link smirks. "Alright, fine. But this isn't over! You got me to spill my destiny, don't think I won't make you tell me yours!"
Robin just smiles sweetly. "We'll see."
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There will come a day when I write a decent chapter for this. But it is not this day!
Shitty references aside, I think I just made myself ship Link and Robin. Okay, sure, I can write that. Look forward to it. (Nah, it'll be shit too.)
I wrote this at 10:30 last night and I'm going to two funerals today. Be thankful. Well, actually I'd rather be doing this, so not really.
Next time: Ink
(…Yeah, I got nothing. Tattoo parlour AU, anyone?)
See ya~!
-Bird