Zelda couldn't handle going to watch the volleyball game that Friday. She didn't even want to go to school with her arm in the cast, and going to theater class and seeing everyone reading their lines for a show she'd been banned from. She didn't want to sit through even Chemistry, which she had with Link but was forced to bear the weight of every pair of eyes still on her, still being a relevant topic of discussion around the rumor mill. She wanted to do something fun. And she had just the idea.

She and Link didn't go to school.

Instead, they woke up and were in the car on their way to a new adventure for the day.

Zelda was desperate to split the drive between them. It would be four hours there, and four hours back, but Link insisted on driving both ways to give her arm a break. And just for her, their first pit stop was to her favorite place.

"Hi welcome to Hyrule Energized, would you like to try our Goron Donuts?"

"Oh, they're back? Yes! I'll take two!" Zelda said, throwing herself across Link's lap so she could be heard by the speaker.

There was silence on the other end and then the muffled sound of movement. "Actually, sorry, looks like someone inside just got the last one. There will be some more in like, 20 minutes maybe? Is there anything else you wanted instead?"

"Damnit!" Zelda hissed, feeling Link chuckle. "Alright, I'll have a medium iced coffee with soymilk and two sugars, please. And a small hot coffee, black."

"Sure thing, hon. That'll be $4.75. You can pull up."

Zelda leaned back and grabbed her backpack. Both of them figured it might help them blend in.

Link grabbed her hand and reached for his wallet. "I think it's my turn to pay."

"Is it? I don't remember, but you're driving both ways. I've got this today. We'll start the cycle over."

"No, it's my day. I've got it."

He pulled the car up to the window and held out his $5, waiting.

Zelda unbuckled her seatbelt and maneuvered so her arm was out the window as well just as the Hyrule Energized employee appeared, looking confused.

Zelda elbowed Link in the gut. "Put that away!" then turned to the man in the window. "Take my card, please. He's being stubborn."

The employee looked between them and took Zelda's card, which left Link rolling his eyes and poking Zelda in the side. She let out a yelp and jerked her arm harder into him.

"You're a sore loser, Link!" she said, settling back into place on her side of the car while he laughed, digging through his wallet again.

"Here you go," the employee said, handing the card back, and then the drinks.

And Link handed him a dollar.

"Thanks. Have a good one."

Zelda sighed, and took her drink from him. "Sore. Loser. I had a dollar."

"Get over it."

"I hate you sometimes," Zelda said, testing her drink. It was delicious, and she knew she was going to have a hard time savoring it over the next four hours.

Four. Hours.

Link just wriggled his eyebrows and headed onto the highway, beyond grateful that his beautiful non-flip phone had a GPS, or he'd have had to study printed instructions for a ride on his bike.

It didn't take long for Zelda to get bored of the music they were listening to. "You haven't been sleeping again. I can see it."

He grinned, and it melted Zelda. "I slept better with you every night."

"I slept over last night," she countered, fighting back a smile. She had to look out the window at the passing trees.

"I'm kidding, sort of. I've just got a lot on my mind."

"Hopefully, this will help ease some of it."

"Yeah. And you. You might see that this is the perfect place for you, too. Or that it's so ghastly horrible, and you never want to go here."

"Dramatic," she laughed. "Impa said it's a good school. There's apparently a ton of biology programs."

"Just tell your parents you want to be a doctor and they'll pay for you to go anywhere."

"I know, right? I might just do that. Then at the last minute, I'll just pop out with my nursing degree like, 'Surprise! I'm done!'"

"They'd be so pissed," he chuckled, glancing at her as she laughed.

"I know! It would be fun!"

Link took an exit onto another long stretch of highway. "How is Impa? You don't talk about work much anymore."

Zelda looked out the window again. "It's fine. They took a lot of responsibilities away until my arm is out of the cast. Impa told me it's not permanent like school, but you know, it still sucks. She's the one who had to inform the school, so I'm a little annoyed with her. I know it's her job, but still."

"It's not a privacy thing?"

"No, because she's the school nurse, so my file is hers at school anyway, and then the school can see it because I'm their responsibility while I'm on the premises."

"Fucking sucks. I'm sorry."

"Thanks. And then, Komali has been weird. He's been trying to help me with the trays, but I got a cart that I can wheel around, so there's no reason for me to have help, but he's just always right there, and so eager. He even took a tray right out of my hand. It's getting annoying, so I mentioned it to him. We'll see if he backs off."

She could see Link tense up slightly before he gave her a sidelong glance.

Zelda shrugged. "I don't want to lose a friend, but he just… he likes me more than a little crush, I think."

"I think so too."

"Like, what other boundaries can I set up? I'm running out! You're going to have to give me a ring for him to understand at this point."

This time, Link turned to her for a good while, an amused, incredulous look on his face.

"Oh! I didn't mean it like that!" Zelda said, feeling her face heat up exponentially. Link's was decidedly hot when he turned back, the entirety of his neck gone flushed red.

Link cleared his throat. "Well, I can punch him if he so much as touches your hand without permission, let alone kiss you or something. Then I'll just kill him. That's a good boundary."

"Maybe a little permanent," she tried laughing, but was still too embarrassed for any sound to come out naturally.

It sent them into a long stretch of silence where they were just listening to the music on the radio. Zelda eventually got sick of that and turned on the Indigo-Go's, which eased the awkwardness a fair bit.

By the fourth song, Zelda was belting out the verses like she was performing at a concert. Link had his mouth covered to try to stop himself from laughing at her excited and… animated performance. She whipped her hair around, she sang into her cup like it was a microphone. She opened the window so she could sing to cars passing by on the highway, too fast for them to actually hear what she was singing.

Link didn't last long, and joined in, blasting the radio even louder so they struggled to even hear their own voices over the music.

This went on for 17 songs, passing over an hour of their time on the road.

When their throats were raw, Zelda turned the music back down to a more tolerable background level and played a word game on her phone, reading the clues aloud to Link so he could participate. When that was done, she turned on an app that helped her memorize different parts of the body, surprised when Link began participating, and she realized that he'd been listening to her practice anatomy far more closely than he'd been admitting. He'd nearly mastered the arm, wrist, and finger bones with her. But when she called him out on his attention, he simply said it was the beautiful sound of her voice that he'd been listening to, not that he was actually interested in the information. But she knew better.

By the time the GPS announced that they were only twenty minutes away, Zelda began to sing her excitement in an off-key, made up song that consisted of very few lyrics besides 'I'm so excited, I'm so excited!'

And finally, the signs let them know that they were there.

'University of Central Hyrule, next left.'

Link pulled into the long strip of road that led to the campus and shuddered in anticipation, nerves, and excitement. "What if we need a parking pass?"

"Ask the guard," Zelda said, pointing at a little booth that they had to pass anyway.

Link stopped and rolled down his window. "Hi. We're… uh… visiting a friend. Do we need a parking pass?"

"Not if you park in Lot 7. Take a right down this road and you'll see if on your left eventually."

"Great, thank you!"

Both of them sat forward, eyes peeled. Link drove at a slug's pace, glad that the cars behind him were just taking the other lane to go around him. When they found the massive Lot 7, they found three parking spaces in the very back of the lot, and hastily pulled into them. Everywhere else was full.

Well, it was certainly much bigger than Daphnes Rhoam Hyrule High.

Neither of them had ever been to a big school, so Zelda pulled up the map of campus on her phone and grabbed her backpack, slinging it over her shoulder as she waited for Link to get out of the car.

"Okay, we're in Lot 7, and if we go straight, it's two residence halls. Cedar Hall and Pine Hall. I had no idea that there were themes to these building's names." She scrolled and muttered the names of several residence halls to herself. "Evergreen," she laughed. "Wow. This is so funny."

Link steered her by the shoulders towards the buildings while she stared at the map.

"Can we just go in one, or do we need a student ID?"

Link shrugged. "We can just try. And if something goes wrong, just look around for it and pretend we forgot it and we'll run."

As it turned out, they didn't need an ID to get into any of the academic buildings, but they enacted their plan when they tried to get into a residence hall. The security guard at the desk looked at them suspiciously but said nothing else.

They found their way to the Robbie Science and Engineering Building, and Link stopped at every glass cabinet to read every flier. He read the history of one of the early benefactors of the college, Arnold Robbie, who's designs in engineering had advanced the field beyond recognition in his time. The building was massive, with lecture halls with stadium seating, labs, small classrooms, a coffee cart, a commuter lounge on two floors, offices, professors, everything. It was everything.

Link's eyes were alight as he walked through the halls, almost forgetting Zelda was there with him, enraptured by everything around him in a world so full of possibilities he'd never even thought to dream up before then.

He stopped short outside a classroom, watching the words projected on the screen. It was something Zelda couldn't understand, some mathematical proof far beyond her skill or interest level. But not Link.

He stood in the dead center of the hallway and watched as the professor worked out the problem, only moving when Zelda dragged him by the arm so a group could pass. He sat in the chair outside the room with a clear view of the board and got comfortable.

"Can we stay for this?" he asked, looking at Zelda for a second before unzipping his backpack and grabbing his notebook.

"Sure," she said, glad to see him so happy. She wasn't going to take notes on that lesson though and grabbed her headphones. "Want a drink?"

"Water, please?"

"Sure, I'll be back."

She explored the building, wondering if every one of the buildings was like that on campus. There was no specific nursing building, but she wondered if she'd recognize a course being taught as Link had.

She grabbed two waters from the cooler and brought them to the register, feeling someone bump her.

"Sorry!" they called, presumably hurrying to their class. It was hectic as people mulled about near the food. She peeked into a room once she'd bought their drinks and looked around.

"Hi, are you looking for an appointment?" a pleasant girl at a desk asked.

"Um," Zelda muttered, stepping inside. "Sorry, what is this?"

"This is the Writing Center. We'll help you with any papers that you have for any class at any stage in the process. The other door is the Tutoring center, if you need help in something else like math."

"Oh, uh, I don't have any papers right now. I was just curious."

"No problem! Here, take this. It's our brochure. If you need to make an appointment, you can come in, call, or just go online! Just put in your student ID number and you'll get a schedule with our availability."

"Thanks," Zelda said, flipping through it as she backed out.

"No problem! Have a good day!"

Then, Zelda set about the task of finding where she'd left Link.

It took her on an adventure outside and around an entire building until she recognized the door they came in, and as she retraced their steps, she found Link just moments after everyone began to leave the classroom.

"Hey!" he said, still putting his notebook away. "I was about to call you."

"I got a little lost so I went on an adventure," she admitted, handing him the water.

They spent the next hour eavesdropping on different classes in different buildings, exploring to their heart's content long after their normal school day would have ended. But classes went on at the University.

Zelda finally dragged Link into a building with the sign, 'Woodfall Commons' outside, and the saw a great dining hall with stands separated by the companies that had set up shot. Zelda noted that the lack of a Hyrule Energized was a crime, but nevertheless, they agreed to eat dinner there soon enough.

Instead, Zelda followed the signs and pulled Link down the stairs with her as she excitedly went into the campus store. This was what she'd been waiting for.

It took all of three minutes for Zelda to befriend the student working the register, because she needed to put all her trinkets down somewhere. She'd picked out a travel mug, a magnet, a blanket, two hats, some pens, a bookmark, and a mug that said "Proud Sister of a UCH Student", which was for Aryll, Zelda explained to the boy at the register once he saw it and then watched her nearly jump on Link in her excitement.

Link wrapped his arm around her but continued his casual perusal of the sweatshirts.

"You should get a few and I can steal one. Or I'll buy it and just pretend it was yours. Oh, and you should get sweatpants. You love sweatpants. But if you do, then I'll…"

Link let her go, and she bounded to the sweatpants, grabbing several with the logo and the school emblem on them. She started to separate the into her size and Link's before handing his pile over. He was still at the same sweatshirt rack.

"Do you like any?"

Link glanced at the tags and then at Zelda. "You know I've gained weight, right?"

"I don't think you have."

"Tell that to the scale."

Zelda pressed the pants against him, as if that would magically tell her if they'd actually fit. "Do you… want another size?"

"Yeah. Larger."

"Link…"

He put the sweatshirt in his hand down and turned to her. "I quit smoking… again. I stopped going for morning runs. I eat well now that I'm on a stable schedule. I'm fine with it for now. Maybe not later, but I am right now. Does it… bother you?"

"Link!" Zelda breathed before pulling him into a tight hug. "Gods, no."

Before she could say anything else, Link grabbed a sweatshirt. "I don't really want to talk about it. But how about this one? What do you think?" He let her go and tugged it over his head.

"You look hot," Zelda said, playing with the sleeve.

Link shrugged it off and carried it. "I am. It's really warm in here."

Snorting, Zelda stuck with Link as they grabbed a few more things. Zelda was unashamed to spend more than a little too much money on their trip to the campus store, and they debated making a run to the car to put everything away before eating. But they were already there, and figured they'd just wait.

Together, they ordered their meals, surprised by the quality of the food. It was something they'd never say about DRHH. Zelda texted Makeela a picture of their meal, bragging about the taste while she'd had to eat the cafeteria food.

When they were satisfied that it was about time to leave and they no longer cared to blend in, Zelda took pictures of Link near every statue or sign that had UCH on it, even having him match the pose by a statue.

They took pictures together, and one of Link kissing Zelda's cheek immediately became her new phone background.

As the sky began to darken, they headed back to the car, and Link looked wistfully at the lit-up campus once more before sitting in the driver's seat. He had to get up early for work the next day, or he'd have considered asking Zelda to rent a room so they could explore the campus early again, but on a Saturday.

"This is where I'm going to get to go to school," he said, turning to her with a large smile on his face.

"You're going to fit right in. You've already got notes and everything."

He chuckled before getting into the car, fueled up on thoughts of the classes they'd listened to, and the food they'd eaten, and the people they'd heard.

"Thanks for this," Link said, kissing Zelda quickly before backing out of the lot. "This was a good day. A good date, too."

"Anytime, Link. I had a lot of fun. And we got a lot of good stuff! Did you get Gabe that blanket I showed you?"

"I did."

"You know," Zelda said coyly, "If I end up going here too, we're going to have to make another trip up here to go back to the store for a second haul."

"You just want more sweatshirts."

"See? You do know me well!"

He chuckled and headed out onto the dark highway, spending the next four hour drive fantasizing about a life he never knew he could dream of.

A/N: Zelda is me. I raided campus stores at every college I went to, and even those I never ended up at.

Reviews: zViridian: No worries! Yeah, Ramus is finally thinking more about Zelda than himself! And I definitely know what you mean! I did a lot of that scene like that on purpose, so I've got you! I'm also sad that this is ending soon, but also very excited to work on new fics! Bittersweet feeling! ElenaGilbert24: Yes! You've got Zelda's mom spot-on. That's exactly how she thinks. I want them to all be happy too! I feel like this fic has been me saying 'I want them to be happy' and 'that's too much happiness; make them sad!' hahahaha! But I've loved your comments, so thank you so much! Guest 1: *whispers* I'm sorry! I'll keep it down Guest 2: Is this you guest 1? I'm going to keep asking and one day, there will be a random guest who pops in and is like SURPRISE IT REALLY IS A NEW GUEST 2! Guest 3: GUEST 1 AND 2 IS THIS YOU!? But seriously, I think this was a great idea! And beautifully said! I'm really glad you included the hotline for anyone who might need it! Jojoker: She really is! But at least she has some solid ground to stand on away from her relatives. Scarlet Curls: OMG I LOVE IT! I think that's such a great way to 'frame' his personality! (I'm so sorry for the bad pun hahaha!) This was a good chapter to be proud of the way most of these (not you Arina) characters handled themselves!