Link and Zelda woke up three times on Tuesday. For that, they were glad they were on school break still, because they were decidedly not getting enough sleep these days. They'd opted to spend a night at Link's house, if only because too many nights in a row at her own had made her slightly anxious about her parents' return in a few days.

So, she slept comfortably beside Link on his futon bed, too besotted by the heat his bare skin gave off to even consider changing back into something warmer. And Link was all-too eager to act as their blanket, reveling in her own warmth as his arms tucked her tightly against him.

But Link's eyes shot open and he sat up in horror.

"Zelda," he said, shaking her awake. "Hey, Zelda, wake up."

Zelda groaned. They'd just fallen asleep. "What?"

"We haven't been thinking. We fucked up. We didn't use a condom our first time. Times. What do we do?"

Zelda groaned and turned to him, too groggy for this conversation and too tired to smile at the woken panic in his voice. "Do you have an STD, Link?"

"What?"

She blinked a few times and then didn't bother, closing her eyes again. "An STD."

"No."

"You sure?"

"Yeah. I got screened when I went to jail, which was after—"

"Okay, then we're fine," Zelda muttered, grabbing his arm and trying to make him lie down again. "Go to sleep."

"Yeah," he whispered, "but I meant… like, I've never seen you take a pill or anything. I mean, it's okay if you're not taking anything but I think we should have thought about that beforehand, you know?"

"You're right; I don't take a pill. But it's in my arm, so you can go to sleep in peace. Give it a try."

"It's… in your… arm?" he repeated. "Your pill is in your arm? Dissolving?"

"Okay, we'll talk now," Zelda relented, pulling the blanket with her as she rolled onto her back, her head lolling towards him. "It's not dissolving. It's a little stick that they put in my arm. I go back in a few years to get it replaced. It's the same as the pill, just much easier. And it's over 99% effective. And with timing and everything, we're pretty safe. It's… three in the morning. Sleep, Link. Don't worry about it."

Link's eyebrows shot up, stifling an embarrassed laugh as his face reddened, barley hearing her request for him to calm down. "It's really 99%? Good to know. Have you been planning all of this longer than I thought?" He cleared his throat and made a vague gesture to her arm. "Can you feel it?"

She scoffed and stretched out her arm, realizing that she wasn't going to get to sleep yet. "While I had hoped it would come to sleeping with you, I have not been secretly acquiring birth control in preparation or anything, Link. I had to get this when I was younger. I have some… you know, some weird health things. So I needed the pill, which made another health thing worse, so they gave me this. And no, I can't feel it. You can, if you want. It's near the surface."

She adjusted her arm and offered Link her hand so she could guide him.

He took it. "Are you ever going to give me more details on your health?"

"Nope," she said, grabbing his wrist. "Not until I need to. I like to pretend I'm totally normal and don't randomly pass out on people."

"Am I still just 'people'?" he asked as she placed his finger over the smallest scar, barely more than the smallest discoloration of skin. He could feel something when she pressed his fingers down, something like a small lollipop stick. "Oh shit, I can feel it."

"Yeah," she laughed, letting go of his hand, sobering up to look at him intently. "And you're not just people, Link. I don't even tell Makeela any details. I'm not dying or anything. I just don't like not having a normal, healthy human body like everyone else. That's all."

"You're okay though?"

She ran a hand comfortingly through his hair. "Yeah. I'm okay. I promise."

They fell asleep after that, holding each other a little tighter.

The second time they woke up was because both of them had forgotten to turn off their alarms for school.

They'd jumped in a panic, reaching for their phones in a clumsy search, fumbling around until their bleary eyes found the phones and turned off the alarms.

Zelda had been quick to return to sleep, listening to Link's racing heart as she rested her head on his chest. But Link couldn't quite fall back asleep. Nightmares had been haunting him for hours before this anyway, so, he took to running his fingers through Zelda's hair again and again. While the nightmares hadn't been about her—or at least, he didn't think they were since he couldn't quite recall the details—just her presence was a comfort.

One thing he loved about their newfound comfort with each other was simply letting his hands run along her smooth skin. His hands were rough and almost aggressively calloused. She'd said that she'd quite liked that about him, but he couldn't imagine anything being better than her soft skin.

Eventually, his hand stilled, and his eyes drifted closed.

Only to shoot open again when his door whipped open a few hours later.

"Ah!" Aryll yelped, seeing the state of the bed, the clothes on the floor, and specifically Zelda's back. She turned away. "I'm sorry!" Slamming the door shut, they could hear her nervous giggling on the other side.

Link sat forward, accidently knocking Zelda off him. Their heads bumped as they both tried to sit up, and Zelda hastily pulled the sheet around her before reaching across Link to grab her shirt off the floor. She hiked Link's up at him too, and they both raced to get changed before Link hurried to the door and Zelda sat on the end of the bed, the picture of innocence.

"Yes, Aryll?" Link asked, clearing his throat.

"How long has this been happening?" Aryll asked, unable to stop herself.

"Aryll…"

"Okay, fine," she laughed, tapping the doorframe anxiously. "I'm going to Collin's for two days. I have a few tests at school and it's just easier to stay there. You'll both be okay? I mean… you won't lack for entertainment, but that's not what I mean."

"Get out," Link grumbled, trying to close the door on her.

"Be safe! I'm not ready to be an Auntie!"

"Gods," Zelda muttered from behind Link, stifling a nervous laugh. "How embarrassing!"

They stayed in the room until they heard Aryll's keys jingle and she called out a pleasant goodbye to them before closing the door with a loud thud.

It was only then that Link felt he could let out a breath. "Imagine if we'd been at your house and it had been your parents though? Talk about mortified."

"Good gods, I've never had a worse thought than that." She sat up and grabbed some of her things from her backpack, tucking them under her arm. "I'm taking a shower. We have to go soon anyway."

Link grabbed a few things from his drawers and nodded, unable to pretend he was anything but ready.

/

Link slid out of Zelda's car, bursting with excitement. Admittedly, she was pretty excited herself, but seeing Link practically bouncing had her grinning like a fool, his worries from the night entirely forgotten for the time.

Before they reached the door, Link pulled Zelda aside, away from the large windows, and kissed her. "Thank you for this," he whispered before pulling away and leading her inside.

She followed, holding the door open as she marveled at the interior of the building. The walls were lined with art, displays with books lined the back of several couches and overfilled an end table. She glanced at one while Link went to the counter.

Flipping the pages, she realized she was staring at, not just art, but potential tattoos. And she turned the page again to see the art she'd just looked at etched into someone's arm, just as gorgeous and detailed as the sketch had been. Entranced, she studied the pages again and again, marveling at each one of the examples. It was only when she felt the couch sink down that she realized Link had returned.

They leaned into each other so they could both look at the pages.

"He's drawing it up now," Link said, stilling her hand from turning a page as he scrutinized one of the images before letting her flip again.

"And you're sure about where you want it?"

He grabbed a different book, and Zelda set hers down, intrigued that it seemed each book contained a different style of art. She looked on with Link.

"Yeah, I'm sure. I'll just have to suffer Mrs. Joy when we get back."

Link would be getting a new tattoo on his upper arm. It was of an ancient eye, ever seeing and watchful, finding the truth and keeping the bearer safe from harm. Zelda knew he liked his tattoos to have meaning, but she couldn't help but wonder if it meant something more was going on inside his mind.

When he was called in, Zelda followed. They greeted Tijo, the tattoo artist and showed Link the work. Approved, Link sat in the chair.

"This your girlfriend?" he asked, smiling a greeting at Zelda while he got his things ready.

"Yep. She's never seen someone get a tattoo before."

Tijo chuckled, taking his seat. "You going to be my next customer?"

Zelda crossed her arms, watching from the corner. "I don't know. My parents would disown me." She thought on that for a moment. It seemed like they were pretty close already.

Link shot her a sad look, but Tijo didn't notice the subcontext of it. "Well, maybe someday when you move out and live on your own."

"Maybe," Zelda said with a forced smile.

The high pitched buzzing of the needle reminded her of the dentist's office. The music playing in the background reminded her of a rock concert. It was two very conflicting feelings she was left with, not knowing which felt more appropriate.

Tijo himself, however, reminded her of her hairdresser.

As he set to work on Link's arm, he started talking and talking, telling stories of other customers that had them both laughing along.

"—and he wanted this crazy fish thing, some folklore fish god, and I was like, 'Man, I don't know what you're talking about. Give me a reference or I'll just be freehanding a giant fish.' So that pissed him off, because apparently I'm supposed to know what every god looks like off the top of my damn head. Finally, he gets me the picture. It's a fucking whale. He could have said 'draw a whale' and it would have been closer than what he'd been describing to me. Needless to say, that was the best godsdamned whale I've ever done."

Zelda was most intrigued with how much Link's arm bled. It wasn't significant, not a wound, but—despite the fact that she was aware that tattoos were needles and ink injected into skin—she hadn't quite expected to see any blood.

A couple of hours in, and Tijo finally put his things down. "Okay, you're all set. Take a look."

He held a mirror out for Link, who inspected his arm with a wide smile on his face. "It's fucking incredible," he laughed, turning his arm.

Zelda had to agree as she looked on. It wasn't nearly as detailed as his larger one of the goddess, but it didn't slouch. The smaller details, the colors, it was stunning. She could see why he'd only gone to Tijo for his tattoos.

Once it had been covered and Link had been given his instructions to care for it, though it was clear he was barely listening since it wasn't his first time around, they left the parlor and sat in the car.

Link grabbed Zelda's hand and she flinched away.

"Gods, your hand is so cold."

He chuckled and tugged on his short sleeve. "I'm freezing."

Zelda smirked and rested her warm hand on the back of his neck.

His head snapped back, pinning her in place so she couldn't move it and he let out a contented sigh. "You're going to have to drive like this now." He tilted his head, keeping her pinned, and lightly kissed the inside of her arm, all he could reach from that position. "Thank you again for the gift. Don't pay that much again, though. But thank you."

"Glad you liked it."

"What'd you think in there? Everything you imagined?"

She wriggled her hand free and shifted gears. "Not exactly what I'd pictured. It was more fun though. I think that scene in Dating Shad scarred me, because I though it would be a dark basement looking rom with a little lamp or something."

"Dating Shad? You watch that?"

"Shad needs to find love too, you know."

He snorted and rolled his eyes. "That's such a fake show."

"So is Moonlight Howl and we love that."

"Don't bash Moonlight Howl, Zel."

"Don't bash Dating Shad, Link."

Link smirked and leaned against the window. "Hey, look."

Zelda squinted as a few raindrops hit the windshield. But as she looked closer, she let out a breathy laugh. "It's snowing."

"Yeah. A little early for snow."

"I like it. I hope we get a foot."

Link tilted his head to watch Zelda, a smile on his face. "I'd rather we get snow during school. Snow day."

"Fair point. But snow means we get to stay inside. And you know what we can do inside?"

Shrugging, Link waited, though he knew exactly what she was implying.

She chuckled, glancing at his nonchalant expression. "We can watch The Twilight Throne. Obviously."

"Or Dating Shad."

"If you end up with dysentery someday, I'll sit on the couch and binge Dating Shad with you."

"You're the worst," she laughed.

"You love me."

Stopping at a red light, she turned to Link, admiring him for a long moment. He was relaxed, calm, happy. "Yeah, I do."


A/N: Okay, this was a filler chapter for several reasons. 1: I've severely miscounted the number of hours in a day and decided it was a great idea to do Linktober, Whumptober, Drawtober, and work on 4 full-length fics all at once. Also wrote Revali a 3000 word backstory mini fic for absolutely no good reason that I might post to my Tumblr eventually. 2: I graded and actually commented on 160 annotated bibliographies this week and submitted midterm grades EARLY FOR ONCE! (I'm a chronic procrastinator so this is big). 3: I just want to get to the next chapter because I like it way better than this one. So, this is definitely not the best chapter I've ever written and it's like, a mess, but honestly, I just wanted to get this chapter over with after how crazy this week has been. Please forgive how not-great this chapter is. I promise I'll do better next time. We'll probably just call October "the month with the fewest chapters getting done." I needed to vent. I'm good now. I'm going to go work on the next chapter.

Reviews: Shadelz5665: Thank you! I really like their relationship, so we'll definitely be seeing it! ElenaGilbert24: He's a nervous wreck and I love him for it! And I love that sign language has become a secret way of communicating with Link and Zelda, even if Pipit is there! You definitely don't have to think too hard to imagine all the possible things Link was signing ahhahha! And yeah, her parents' storyline will be coming back soon, so we'll see her deal with them again! Hello-world8467: lol, yes, that sounds about right hahaha James Birdsong: Thank you very much!