It's been a long time coming, but we've finally hit chapter 50, and with it a milestone I've been dying to reach. This takes place after 'Remember', 'Dispute' and 'Apology', coming up very short on Phantom Hourglass. Nothing else to say; I hope you enjoy.


Kiss

Grunting, he heaved and lifted the crate, setting it rather unkindly onto a second one. It must have been some law that the cargo bay would become disorganized no matter how clean it was kept. He never even saw it happen; it may as well have been someone playing a sick joke. Despite that, it bothered him when he couldn't find something he happened to be looking for. So he'd taken it upon himself to once again tidy up upon discovering its state of disorder. The immediate regret was that he had attempted such a task alone.

He sighed and leaned against his new tower. Removing his hat and tossing it aside, he ran his fingers through his damp hair to cool off. It was a little warm down here – there was no circulation of air, which left a stale taste in his mouth. There was no sunlight reaching this low either, hence the dimly lit candles mounted on the walls. It was actually a decent, peaceful atmosphere. If one could get past the nagging mugginess, that was.

"Link?" He glanced to the stairs. "You still down there?"

"Not going anywhere," he called back. "I might actually just die down here. It's become sort of homey."

A light laugh carried down the stairs along with its source, and she glanced around in the dim light. "Hey, not bad," she complimented. "You work fast. It's only been about a half hour."

"Well, I don't like to brag, but I am motivated by 'I don't want to be down here'," he joked, and they shared a chuckle. "So what's up? Found the ghost?"

"No, not yet," she shook her head. "I had something I wanted to talk about."

"Alright," he replied with a shrug. Taking a seat on a crate, he asked, "Is it serious?"

"Um…" she trailed off, glancing down at her feet. He raised a brow curiously, but she seemed to be battling over a response. After a moment she said, "I guess it is to me. Is that okay?"

"Of course," he nodded. Placing his hands in his lap, he waited expectantly while she began to pace back and forth. The silence drew on longer than he'd anticipated; whatever she wanted to talk about, it was definitely personal. Although, the fact that she was addressing it of her own accord was a pretty big step for her.

"Okay, uh…" she began hesitantly, "I think – and correct me if I'm wrong – but I think there's a bit of… tension between us."

He blinked, confused. Whatever he'd been expecting, it certainly wasn't this. For that matter, he wasn't even sure what it was she was saying. "What sort of tension?"

"Like… I don't know," she mumbled, staring at the wall while her face began to glow. "Like… Attraction."

He stared at her, unsure of what he'd just heard. Attraction? Had Tetra just uttered the word 'attraction'? Was she feverish? "You mean, you…?"

"Maybe?" she shrugged. "And I get the feeling that you do too."

He wasn't sure what to say. Part of him wanted to deny it, but he decided against it. She had come down here and admitted to it, so why should he lie? So he nodded. "I… Sort of."

"Thought so," she replied, and they let an awkward silence hang between them. Their secrets were out in the open, and rather unexpectedly. Had she come down simply to confirm that? Or was there another motive behind it?

"Why did you want to talk about it?" he asked, glancing at her and hopping off his seat. She sighed and fingered the bridge of her nose, trying to organize her thoughts. He watched her patiently. She had never appeared like this before. She was standing before him, opening up her feelings without any prompting from him to do so. There was no frustration in her eyes, or sadness in her frown. Which meant that he wasn't sure how to read her. What was it she wanted?

"I don't really know anymore," she sighed again. "I thought… that maybe talking about it would help, for some reason. But I wish I hadn't mentioned it. This is really awkward. I mean, no offense."

"Hey, it is for me too," he responded quickly. "Don't get me wrong, I'm glad you felt you could talk to me about it. It's just sort of weird now that it's actually known, you know?"

"I know," she nodded. Fidgeting with her fingers, she looked at him and took a deep breath. "Link, can we… kiss?"

"I- What?" he asked, taken aback. She was just full of surprises today. "Why?"

"Because, we've come close a few times already, right? I think that just says something about our feelings. And on your birthday, when were so close, and we were interrupted…" She glanced away, her blush deepening. "I just want to find something out."

His mind was blank with the thought of kissing her, but he found himself nodding – he'd be lying to himself if he said he didn't want to. Quickly, she added, "It doesn't mean anything has to change, okay? We don't have to, like, get together, or whatever. I mean, unless we want to. Goddesses, I don't know…" She buried her face in her hands and took a deep breath.

He stepped closer until they were directly in front of each other. Gently pulling her hands away, he whispered, "Just one kiss, right? Something to think on?"

She swallowed and nodded. "Sorry, I'm really nervous now. This wasn't quite how I imagined it happening."

"Right, yeah, I totally saw it happening this way too," he replied with a roll of his eyes, and she giggled. "Forget about being nervous. We just kiss, and then go back to our jobs."

"Right," she nodded. They stared quietly into each other's eyes, observing the other in a way they hadn't before. She stepped close so that their faces were only centimetres away. He glanced down at her lips and felt himself leaning closer. Or was she? He couldn't tell, and honestly, didn't care. She looked so pretty… Her eyes flicked shut as their lips were about to meet, and he followed suit a brief moment later.

The sensation of her lips against his was… tingling. They were soft, and warm. And she was kissing him, and he was kissing her, and Goddesses what was happening, how had it come to this, he didn't care because it was what he'd wanted for weeks now! She was kissing him firmly – inexperienced, but with intention. He wasn't much better but did the best he felt he could, pressing against her as much as he reflexively allowed.

How long had they stayed like this? It felt like an eternity, but was probably only a few seconds. He tenderly drew away, opening his eyes a hair to observe her. She looked bewildered, as if she'd come to understand the biggest secret of her life. Blinking, she stared at him and tried to find something to say. Before she could though, he found himself leaning in once more and taking her lips against his, and they lost themselves once more in the moment. He fought the urge to fall to the floor from his weak knees, but she was so much more important and was making it pretty hard to focus on standing up…

After another infinite length of time, she pulled away and could not suppress a wide smile. His face became hotter as he studied the genuine look that she gave him. "So… How was that?" he asked sheepishly.

"I think…" Her name was called, and she glanced back to the stairs. Smiling, she shot him a wink as she headed back up to the deck. "I think you've given me lots to think about."

She disappeared from view and he simply slouched to the floor against a box. His mind was racing with what had just occurred, but the buzzing feeling didn't compare to the absence of pressure on his mouth. He couldn't believe that had just happened, but it was amazing. There had been so much going on in that moment that he couldn't even put it into words. So he didn't try.

Rather, he let the moment of her leaning closer replay itself in his head, until his aching muscles caught up and drifted him off into a tired sleep. And so it was that he failed to hear the call indicating the spotting of the haunted ship.