"Oh please, darling, we aren't going to eat him for dinner."

Zelda cringed at her mother. "You are. It's just going to be metaphorical. Ask him if he likes me and if he says yes, tell him he can leave."

Ramus groaned on the couch. "We took work off for this. Let us do what we want, Zelda."

"You didn't take work off, you switched shifts," she muttered, fixing her hair again, fixing her dress…again, fixing the couch cushions again.

"Stop it, Zelda!" her mother hissed. "You are making me nervous."

Zelda sat at the kitchen table and pulled out her phone, playing a game while she attempted to take her mind off everything.

It was a week since her birthday and a Friday, so she felt the relief of not needing to do her homework. Link had gone to work, gone home to get ready and change, then was coming over. And he'd already texted her that he was on his way. It was a waiting game. And Zelda was losing.

She nearly jumped out of her skin when her phone vibrated. "Am I allowed to kiss you hello? Or should I just give you a handshake too?"

"Oh gods," she muttered, unsure of the answer. "If I don't answer the door, maybe stick with a hug?"

She stood up and ran her hands through her hair again before sitting back on the couch with her parents. "Do you have any questions before he gets here?"

"Nothing I won't ask him," Ramus muttered.

Arina looked up from her phone. "You said you told him not to bring anything, right? I don't need to find a vase?"

"No, I begged him not to bring anything."

"Zelda, please don't be dramatic."

She shrugged. She'd been a good mediator so far, from expressing to Link her parents disinterest in plants that needed to be kept alive, to admitting to her parents that Link wasn't just someone she was dating, so they had to try their best to stay off their phones for her sake. She'd tried to subtly ask them not to bring up things like finances, past, or family, but she was positive that would go ignored.

"How… how would you feel if I gave him a quick hello kiss?"

Arina turned to her daughter. "Why would we mind that?"

"I don't know."

"You have told us several times that you're dating and that he's your boyfriend. I'd have been more surprised if you didn't."

Ramus stood from the couch. "You're our child. I don't want to see you two making out."

"I would never!" Zelda gasped, mildly mortified at the thought of being caught making out with Link, let alone greeting him that way… well… greeting him that way in front of her parents.

There was an echo of a car door closing too close by, and Zelda sprinted onto the porch, ignoring her mother's chastising voice behind her and met Link where he was getting out of Aryll's car. Smart move to leave the motorcycle for another day.

Link chuckled when he saw her and kissed her cheek. "You look beautiful. And nervous. Calm down."

He was wearing the same thing he'd borrowed from Gabe for Homecoming, but without the tie. And thankfully, he'd listened to Zelda and hadn't brought any gifts.

"I can't calm down. Is my mom at the door?"

Link glanced up and hummed an affirmative, smiling at her as he did.

He let Zelda lead the way before he was inside the house and officially meeting Zelda's parents.

"Mom, this is Link. My boyfriend. Who I am dating—" Link had to hold back a chuckle as Zelda continued. "And Link, this is my mom."

Arina held out her hand, and Link took it, feeling her other hand clasp his, so she had him in a firmly trapped grip. "Link. A pleasure to meet you officially."

"You as well, Mrs. Harkinian."

Ramus strode over, slow and deliberate before holding his hand out as well. "It's our fellow tradesman again. Good to see you again."

Link firmly shook his hand. "How is that key fob doing, Mr. Harkinian?"

"Works beautifully, thank you."

"Come in, Link," Arina said as she closed the door behind him. "The food should be done in a few minutes."

"Is there anything you need me to help with? The table, a portion of the meal?"

Arina smiled. "No, thank you. We're all set up. Why don't you take a seat and I'll join you in a moment?"

Zelda urged Link to the couch, but she went past him to whisper to her mom. "He isn't one of your clients. You sound like you're talking to one of them."

"I don't!"

"You do!"

"Go sit with him."

Zelda rolled her eyes and went to sit beside Link. Her father had ducked into his study, and she could hear him on the phone.

Link glanced at her and grinned before checking the coast was clear before signing to Zelda. "I'm afraid to touch you."

Zelda chuckled and put her hand on Link's leg for a moment before her father returned.

"Sorry about that," he muttered quickly. "Brief call. So, where did you two meet?"

"In school, Dad," Zelda breathed. "I told you that."

"Right, you did. So, Link, you work in repair. Is that where you see yourself in a few years?"

Link adjusted himself on the couch before answering, his hands clasped so no one, not even Zelda, could see them shake. "I wouldn't hate it. The owner where I am now is a good friend. But, ideally, I'd rather be dealing strictly in mechanical or electrical engineering."

Ramus nodded to himself as Arina joined them. "So, Link," she said, taking her own seat. "Have your parents met our Zelda yet?"

Link wrung his hands together so tightly that his knuckled had gone white. He and Zelda had both prepared for this question. He gave her a quick glance before returning her attention to Arina and Ramus.

"I don't live with my parents. I live with my older sister. But she's met Zelda, and she loves her."

"Oh!" Arina gasped, clearly not expecting that. "I'm not surprised she likes Zelda, but may I ask… why don't you live with your parents? Are you emancipated?"

"No, I'm not. My sister is my legal guardian. My parents… they're both entirely out of the picture."

"No grandparents?"

"Mom!"

"No," Link said calmly. "It's just my sister and I."

"Oh," she said again. "Well, what does she do, then?"

Clasping his hands together harder, Link cleared his throat. "She's in school. She's studying to be a social worker."

"That's lovely," Arina said, thankfully not asking why that was her goal. "Excuse me while I check the food."

"Damn," Ramus muttered, swiping the screen of his phone as he stood. "Hello?"

Zelda noticed Link's white knuckles and ran her hand along the inside of his wrist until her hand was in his. "You're doing great." She could feel him shaking hard and gave him a reassuring squeeze.

"They're going to ask," he muttered.

She wasn't sure if he was talking about asking for more details about his parents, or about his past, but either way, they'd tried to be prepared for that as well. The truth.

"Sorry again," Ramus said, sitting back down. His eyes drifted to where Zelda still had Link's hand. "Your parents. Did you ever live with them?"

Link tried to loosen his grip and pull away when he noticed Ramus' gaze, but Zelda kept her grip until Link settled comfortably back into her hand, despite the shaking. "I did. Until I was fifteen."

"What happened then?"

"Dad, please, can you not assault him with questions?"

"What? I want to know about him. His parents not being in the picture is not something I thought I'd learn."

Link cleared his throat again and took a deep breath. Zelda's worth it, he reminded himself.

"My best friend was killed in a car accident that my father caused. And my mother left us years prior. My sister stepped in for me after that."

Ramus' eyes darted to Zelda, almost ashamed that he'd pushed. "Oh, I understand. Your father is incarcerated then?"

"Yes, sir, he is."

"I am sorry that your father was irresponsible enough to end up in jail. It must have been hard on you."

"Yes, sir," Link said, swallowing hard and praying to anyone who was listening that they not stay on the subject of incarceration or the quality of people who've been in jail. He wasn't sure he'd be able to hold it together through that one.

"Are you financially compromised?"

"Dad!" Zelda hissed again. This time, she grabbed Link's arm. "Don't answer that, Link. Dad, back off. Would you ever ask anyone else that question?"

"Zelda, stop. This is my day to ask whatever questions I want. He's dating you. You're spending time with him. There are things I want to know."

She turned to Link, but he shook his head. "It's fine." And then to Ramus, he nodded. "We have government assistance, I have two jobs, and my sister also works, so we are stable."

Ramus' neck twitched at the words 'government assistance', but he was otherwise able to remain neutral.

Arina forced a smile to her face from where she stood and glanced at her phone. "Link, how did you and Zelda become acquainted? Are you also friends with Revalli, Ruto, and Makeela?"

"Oh, no ma'am. I'm friends with Makeela, but that's only since Zelda and I have been friends. We first started talking after being partnered in class. From there, we just kept meeting, became friends, and here we are."

There was a ding on the stove and Arina headed back into the kitchen. "Ramus, come get this. It's hot."

"Excuse me," he said again, leaving Link and Zelda on the couch… again.

"I'm going to pass out," Zelda muttered, pressing her face into Link's arm.

"For real? Or metaphorically?"

"I don't even know. I'm sorry, this is horrible."

"It's not," he whispered, rubbing his hand along her back. "No worse than what I went through when you met Aryll. And at least they're not giving us any… you know… at least they're not doing what Gabe did."

Zelda snickered and tried to stifle her giddy, nervous laughter into his arm. Link joined her, unable to stop himself.

When she looked up, she saw her mother watching them. "It's been some time since I heard that laugh."

Without pulling away from Link, Zelda nodded, agreeing. "You could, you know? If you'd come home from work some time."

"Zelda, not now. Not in front of a guest." Arina's smile faltered and she pulled out her phone again.

"Yeah," Zelda muttered.

"Let's go. Dinner."

"Okay."

They headed to the set table and Zelda sat down. Link turned to Arina. "Are you sure there's nothing I can do?"

"No, Link, thank you though."

He sat across from Zelda, while Ramus and Arina brought out the meal and sat at opposite ends of the long table.

"Link," Ramus asked after several moments in blessed silence. "How did you get into fixing phones and cars?"

Link wasn't going to correct just how limited that made him sound, but he cleared his throat, still too nervous to avoid the gesture. "My best friend and his family taught me. I just… learned that I really enjoyed it and I kept at it. Started repairing things I found around and kept training with my mentor who owns the job I work at. He'd give me something that was broken and give me a few days to see if I could figure it out."

"So, you work well on the spot?"

"I think I do, yes."

Ramus nodded, taking a deliberately long bite of his food before humming. "What about hobbies?"

Link shook his head for a moment, forgetting what it is that he does for fun. "Oh, um, I exercise, and I play the guitar."

Ramus started to belly-laugh. "Well, you're a better man than me if you consider exercise to be a hobby!"

"Where do you live, Link?" Arina asked, looking at her phone, though she was moving her finger around like she was looking at a map. "Is it… one of those areas that offers… assistance?"

"Yes, ma'am. I live right near North Park."

"Oh, North Park? And… Zelda has been there? Isn't that neighborhood… unsafe?"

"I've been there," Zelda said, offering Link a reprieve. "It's a really cute apartment and the park was quiet."

She glanced at her phone again. "I assume you know that our Zelda is going to school for economics. She has several options all over the world that she'll have to sort through when the letters come in. Where do you want to go?"

"I'm hoping to go to the local college in town."

"The local…" Arina looked up to Ramus before back at Link. "You aren't looking to go to a more prestigious school? You'll surely get more job offers."

"Um, I'm looking for a scholarship that's specifically for this school. It's not offered elsewhere, so I'm shooting for it."

"That's nice," Ramus said, shooting Arina a look that warned her to drop it. He glanced at his phone.

Zelda narrowed her eyes and caught him on a website with large text. Questions. "Why do you want to date my daughter?" was the next one. "Ask about birth control," was the next one.

"Mom! Dad!" she balked, standing up. "Can I see you in the kitchen?" She shot Link an apologetic look, but her expression left little room for them to argue. They followed her.

"Zelda, it's rude to leave your guest."

"You're using a phone to come up with questions for him? You can't just talk to him like a person?"

Ramus put his hand on her shoulder, though she shrugged away. "He's not who we expected you to bring home. His mother ran away? His father is incarcerated? He's poor and has two jobs? He's going to the community college? Zelda, I'm concerned he's going to hold you back. What if you decide to follow him to that college?"

"So your real problem is with me? You don't think I know myself? You don't think I know how to pick a good guy to be with? You think I'll drop my future plans for someone who could easily fit into them with me, not derail me?

"He's practically a genius, he likes school, he likes learning. He's good. He's a good person, and he's good to me. Those are the questions you should be asking. Do you know why I like him so much? He makes me happy. His personality, the things he says, all of it makes me laugh, and it makes me happy. But you didn't think to ask that because it's not on your list. His greatest feature is his strength, mentally. Did you know? He's been through so much, things you're thinking bring him down, but they bring him up because he overcame them. All you see is someone who's doing his best to answer every question in your inquisition. Get off your phones, please! I'm begging you to get off your phones! This means so much to me. He means so much to me."

Zelda wiped at her eye and went back to the table, letting out a deep breath. "They're using their phones to search for questions to ask you. I told them to stop," she signed quickly.

Link made a face. "They're nervous, too."

"You're too good," she muttered aloud before they joined the room once again, making a show of placing their phones far away from the table. If nothing else, Zelda appreciated that.

"Link," Arina said in her most polite voice, though it was shaking, unprepared and winging it for the first time possibly in all her life. "Y-you play guitar? What… what music do you like?"

"Um, Zelda and I have similar taste, actually. My favorite band is the Indigo-Go's."

"Oh, she went to that concert a few months ago."

"I heard. I was incredibly jealous, but she showed me some videos she took."

And for the first time that night, there was a break in the interrogation into Link. And he took that moment to breathe, but also to learn. "Are either of you interested in music as well?"

Ramus chuckled. "You know the original Indigo-Go's? Arina and I first met when she was buying their album at my workplace. Years before we started dating, but we do both remember that day."

"If you don't mind my asking, when did you two… start dating?"

"Oh, our late twenties? We ended up working at the same firm as competing interns. Only one of us could advance from the program and the other would be released."

"Who won?"

Arina took over the story now. "Neither of us. We both quit before it could be announced so it would never impact our relationship. But the company was so upset that they were going to lose us both, that both of us were given positions in different branches. And here we are."

The rest of dinner continued with that casual back and forth, less a one-sided assault, and more of a conversation. Zelda nodded her thanks to them, letting them check their phones in peace while she and Link cleaned the pans before putting them into the dishwasher.

"Not too bad," Link whispered, looking at her closely. "You feeling better now?"

"A little," she admitted.

But then she felt a light splash, and a large bubble was on her nose.

Turning to Link, she made a face, trying not to laugh at his humored set of his mouth. Innocently grabbing a cloth, she wiped it along her face before tossing a handful of suds from the sink at him. They didn't go far and mostly landed on his arm or simply floated to the ground.

With a playfully threatening expression, Link turned the faucet on, his hand hovering near the stream of water.

Stretching lazily, Zelda put her hand near the kitchen sink sprayer, aiming it in Link's direction. "Try me, Link."

"If I wasn't here trying to make a good impression, I would try you. Watch how fast I can get that aimed at you."

"Another day then," she laughed, letting go and putting the pan into the dishwasher.

"Achoo!" he said, miming the action with his hand, flicking a decent amount of water at her. It splattered her face.

"Oh! You want to go now?" she chuckled, flipping her hand through the stream.

Link grabbed the towel and covered his face, missing about half of her water splash. He threw the towel at her before hurrying to grab her hand from the water, threading his fingers through hers so she couldn't go for a second water strike. "Stuck now."

She kissed him, perhaps with a little more vigor than she'd intended initially.

Link broke the kiss and picked up the towel, letting go of her hand and wiping his dry. "I'm trying to be good. You're making it hard."

She flashed him a grin before giggling and grabbing the next dish.

And all the while, neither of them noticed Ramus and Arina watching from a distance in the hallway.

A/N: Okay, so this is the part where I'm supposed to switch back to daily updates, but I'm really enjoying this every other day/ every two days kind of schedule for right now! I also started working on another fic that I might end up posting eventually, so this gives me time to not only do legit work-work, but also work on some of the other fics I have going. So, in short, I'm going to stick with this every other day(ish) thing for now!