The Legend of Zelda, its characters and locations are all property of Nintendo. Any and all OCs and original locations belong to me unless specifically stated to belong to someone else.

The Voice
Chapter 61 - Some Vai You Are

In the Slate, Sheik had imagined waking up (under normal circumstances) a gradual and pleasant experience. The brain slowly coming online from its slumber, running through its wake-up routine, checking off the availability of all its services. One moment you were just...not there, or perhaps dreaming, if you were prone to such things, and then suddenly you were there, cocooned by warmth and greeted by the light and the promise of a good day. Perhaps you were with a lover, their legs tangled with yours, your arms holding each other close. Murmured good mornings and sweet nothings whispered into each other's ears, taking a moment just to yourselves before getting on with whatever needed doing that day.

At least, that was what he'd seen with Link and Sidon, and quietly buried his jealousy over the fact that they got to actually feel and live it, while he only got to watch it, as deep as he possibly could, hating himself for even thinking such a thing.

Still, he'd longed for the ability to experience it for himself, daring to let his imagination try to make a facsimile of it all when he realised he would likely be stuck in that fucking slate for the rest of his existence.

Maybe on some level, that was why he'd asked Link to shut the slate down when all this was over. Maybe he'd reached some sort of limit, found the straw that would break Naboris' back, the drop that would cause the Domain to overflow. Maybe he couldn't imagine being able to continue living with Link and Sidon on the other side of the glass, no longer than an arm's length away, and yet as reachable as the farthest star in the night sky...

Of course, now that he got to experience morning as every other living, biological (or semi-biological, in his case) creature got to, he wished he was back in his slate, where waking up was done in the blink of an eye and no trace of grogginess, as opposed to...whatever the fuck this was!

He felt absolutely disgusting. Sticky. Too hot.

His normal eyelid felt like it had been glued shut, and his other eye was smushed into a pillow, a stray quill threatening to go exploring a little deeper into the socket than he was comfortable with, almost poking through the metal iris.

His muscles ached and refused to move, and his thoughts swam through treacle, and even when they surfaced, they were focused on little else but the idea of going back to sleep and never waking up again, come Calamity or Ganon.

There was a groan to his left, and the soft surface (bed, his brain drowsily supplied) shifted as something moved. Slowly, Sheik realised his legs were indeed tangled with someone else's...but his mind refused to comply with the demand of opening his eyes and seeing who it was.

"Mmm," a familiar voice groaned, an arm coming to wrap around Sheik's middle, tugging him closer until his back hit a soft, very warm chest. "Morning..." Link murmured into Sheik's ear.

"I don't like it," Sheik spoke into the pillow, his words muffled by the fabric and slurred by drowsiness. "Make it stop, please."

Had this been any other time of day, Sheik knew Link would be panicking at hearing those words, thinking something was wrong, but as his studies had shown, in the morning Link's mind was wonderfully disconnected from the overactive module that provided the never-ending supply of stress and anxiety that plagued it while it was properly awake.

Which was why Link only chuckled tiredly and placed a badly aimed kiss on Sheik's neck.

It still made him shiver with delight, his skin tingling from the contact, much like it had the night before, when Link and he had been in an...educational mood. It had been a little awkward, very embarrassing, but also...indescribably pleasant and intoxicating, especially when Link had taken the lead after Sheik had proven embarrassingly bad at...well, all of it.

He felt his cheeks heating up a degree or so at the memory of it. For once, he had been the nervous wreck, not Link. The Hero had been careful, but there'd been a confidence there Sheik usually didn't see in him. Or maybe he'd been faking it to make sure Sheik didn't get uncomfortable.

Either or, really, but Sheik was grateful either way, especially after the initial exploration and subsequent...confusion.

"How do y-you feel?" Link asked, his stutter returning little by little as he re-joined the world of the living. His hand came to rest on Sheik's hip, his thumb caressing the little divot in the artificial patch of skin above the hip joint.

Sheik tried not to focus too much on the sensation, which according to his sensors had an unnecessarily large impact on his nerve centre. Coupled with the feeling of Link's hot, moist breath on the tip of Sheik's ear, it was threatening to combust.

"Tired," he said after a moment, trying to put words to just how utterly disgusting he felt. "Gross."

Link chuckled again. "N-No wonder," he said. "We were up l-late. Waking up is n-never e-easy after th-that."

"No wonder you demand to sleep in whenever we're with Sharky," Sheik said, intending to sound teasing, but it came out more like a long grunt. Voice modulation was definitely not easy first thing after waking up.

Again, Link in the morning was a blessing. Instead of turning into a blushing, stuttering mess when confronted with such an accusation, the Hero simply pulled Sheik closer to his chest and said quietly,

"J-Just wait t-till Sidon sees y-you."

Well, what good was a nerve centre, anyway? Sheik had no problem letting it catch fire, especially once his imagination decided to run with Link's words and conjure up various scenarios on how Sidon would react to seeing Sheik's new body.

"L-Like the i-idea?" Link asked with an amused hum, letting his hand rest across Sheik's abdomen, evidently enjoying the feeling of the muscles contracting beneath his exploring fingers.

But...an imagination wasn't just for good things. Sheik's mind also conjured up some less than pleasant scenarios.

"Will..." he hesitated, clearing his throat. "Will he even like it, do you think?"

Will he like me?

He didn't voice the last one out loud. Link had enough insecurities to deal with on his own without Sheik piling his on top.

"He w-will," Link said firmly. "I kn-know so. W-Won't let y-you leave th-the Domain."

A part of Sheik rejected that idea outright, but the other parts quickly seized it, refusing to let it go. He so desperately wanted it to be true, that whatever Sidon felt for him wasn't just limited to the Sheik that had been in the Slate.

Ah, but what good was speculating and worrying about things that might not happen for a while yet? At least not if Sheik couldn't figure out a way to actually get them to the Domain at a faster pace than that of a snail.

"We'll have to get to the Domain first," he said with a groan, finally able to force himself to lift his head off his pillow and open his eyes, hissing slightly at the brightness of the sunlight spilling into their chambers, grains of sand and dust dancing in the air of the rays.

"Hm?" Link hummed in confusion. "Wh-What do y-you mean?"

"Well," Sheik said, quite certain he heard his joints creak as he rearranged a couple of pillows so he could sit up properly on the bed, tiredly rubbing at his normal eye, which felt like it had decided to absorb the entire desert, "I think I mentioned it to you last night, but I guess it was lost in the confusion. I've lost access to the Tower Network."

It was like something was...missing, in the back of his head. persistent buzzing that was the Network continually pinging the Slate, asking for its whereabouts. At first, Sheik had found it annoying, but after a while it had become something of a comfort, an anchor to the world, telling him exactly where he and Link were and offering a constant stream of data regarding the greater Hyrule area.

Now, it was just...quiet, and the only thing Sheik had to mark their position was the cached version of the map, which grew less and less accurate the more he moved around without updating it.

"C-Can you g-get it back?" Link asked, shuffling about until he could rest his head on Sheik's belly, though he waited for Sheik's permission before actually doing it. His blue eyes were heavy, his vitals indicating he could easily slip back into sleep.

Sheik couldn't help but smile down at the drowsy Hero. Considerate to a fault, Link made sure that everything he did only happened with Sheik's express permission.

"You don't have to ask for that," he said quietly, letting the fingers of his normal hand thread through Link's hair, catching on a few tangles and carefully getting them out. Sidon had been right—Hylian hair was soft.

Or maybe it was just Link's...

"Everything is n-new to y-you," Link murmured, smiling at the feeling, like he was about to start purring. "W-Want y-you to b-be comfortable."

"Hm, such a softie," Sheik hummed. "As for the network...I'm not sure. At Naboris, I couldn't get a signal at all, while here...well, I can ping the nearest Tower, but it isn't responding. Might be something wrong with my greeting; I'm not even getting a challenge. Could be that Stabby's protocols aren't up to snuff, but I haven't taken a look at them yet. If that's the issue, it shouldn't be too hard of a problem to fix."

"...'n if n-not?" Link asked.

Sheik sighed. It was so much more satisfying to physically sigh than just make the sound over a speaker. Really conveyed the disappointment.

"If not, then we have a long walk back to the Domain ahead of us," he said. "If I can't access the network, I can't use the teleportation function. I guess with sand seals and horses we can cut down the travel time a little, but..."

Link hummed again, his voice causing a slight reverberation to go through Sheik's torso. A pleasant buzz, and a little ticklish.

"You'll f-figure it out," the Hero said after a moment. "If n-not...well...I l-like sand seals."

Sheik grinned. "We can't keep Kei," he reminded him, to which Link pouted.

"M-Meanie..."

Is this something we can do now? Sheik wondered. Just...stay in bed all day? Like this? Talking and...gods, cuddling?

He could get used to this.

Unfortunately, a certain Gerudo captain had apparently been granted the gift of the worst timing imaginable (or the most perfect, if you asked her), and the only warning they had was a muffled, evil-sounding snicker from beyond the door before the poor portal was assaulted by her fists.

"Up you get, lovebirds!" Ayla shouted from the hall. "Breakfast and strategy meeting start in fifteen minutes! Don't be late or you won't eat!"

Sheik couldn't contain his annoyance. "Fuck off!" he shouted back, to Link's poorly-hidden amusement.

Someone else cleared their throat, and another voice joined Ayla's.

"Sheik, that is no way to speak to our gracious hosts," Teba admonished. "I believe an apology is appropriate."

Sheik scowled. "I'm not the one who goes around waking people up by rudely banging on their doors!" he shouted, ignoring Link's continually weakening attempts at holding back his laughter. "We had a late night!"

"So did we all," Teba reminded him. "And yet, we're all awake, just waiting for the two of you. The sun rose an hour ago, and everyone is getting hungry. Please join us as soon as possible."

"You heard the bird dad," Ayla added. "See you in a few!"

"And she will be expecting her apology," the Rito said before their footsteps faded away, leaving Link giggling into Sheik's stomach.

"What's so funny?" Sheik asked, glaring down at him.

"He's a-adopted y-you," Link managed to stutter out between fits of giggles. "Y-You have a b-bird d-dad!"

The horror of the situation was so great it would take him the better part of the day for it to sink in, but Sheik felt it looming on the horizon. Which was why he couldn't help himself, and said,

"He's your bird dad too, you know. If anything, he adopted you first!"

Link shook his head. "N-Nah, that w-would mean h-he w-would have to...to..." he trailed off, his face turning an adorable shade of red. "O-Oh, Hylia..."

"What? What is it?" Sheik asked, quirking an eyebrow at him.

"H-He g-gave me th-the Talk," Link muttered. "Y-Yesterday."

Right, well, the horror was no longer on the horizon, it was right in front of Sheik, staring him in the eyes.

Sheik looked from Link, to the door, and back to Link.

"We can never leave this room," he said gravely.

"Agreed," Link said, trying to smother himself with a pillow.

Compared to the party the night before, breakfast was a very sedate affair. It was taken in the throne room, at a long table in front of Riju's seat. The table was quite low, and instead of chairs they had pillows, on which they sat with their legs crossed. Link felt his lower back protesting against the position right away, but it gave him an excuse to bump his knee against Sheik's every now and then, so all was good.

"I was afraid they'd slipped into comas in there," Ayla was saying, gesturing to the pair of Link and Sheik, her mouth full of what they had been informed was known as falafels, "I was ready to break the door down!"

"The d-door wasn't l-locked," Link said, steadfastly refusing to meet Teba's eyes. There was just something...wrong about their bird dad (Link really didn't have a choice in what to call him at this point) knowing exactly what they'd been up to last night.

"Indeed, I'm sure the latch would have worked just fine," Teba said, looking slightly disgusted by Ayla's eating habits. Link felt the Rito's gaze on him, the heat like a laser beam. "Though for the future, perhaps locking the door would be a good idea, Link, Sheik. You don't want any assassins being able to get inside your room...or have someone walk into something...unfortunate."

Link braced himself for an outraged shriek from his left, but Sheik remained surprisingly quiet, which turned out to be because he was much too focused on his food to even bother paying attention, carefully considering each item before putting it in his mouth, looking sceptical whenever he encountered something he didn't recognise.

So, it was up to him, then, to answer Teba.

"D-Duly noted," Link said, suddenly finding the patterns on his plate very interesting, resolutely ignoring the amused snorts and hums from the others gathered at the table.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Kiro asked, looking curiously between them. "What's unfortunate?"

For a moment, confusion reigned. Then, as one, the others realised.

"Kiro," Barta said, giving the Yiga a considering look. "How old are you?"

"Fifteen," he replied. "Why?"

Barta gave the rest of the table a helpless look. "Goddess, I can't do it," she said after several false starts, giving Teba a pleading look. "Master Teba, perhaps you could..."

Teba rolled his eyes. "Very well," he said. "Kiro, may I have a moment of your time later? There are some things you need to know. Things best said in private, and not at breakfast."

"Of course, Master Teba!" Kiro replied instantly, looking excited. The diners gave a collective wince. Well, Kiro's horizon was about to be widened, whether he liked it or not.

Link couldn't take it anymore, and focused his attention on Sheik again, realising he'd managed to clear his plate in the time Link had spent despairing at the state of Yiga sex education. He looked...satisfied? There was a pleased smile on his face, at least. He moved his plate aside, and pulled the small dessert dish closer, fingers dancing over the various cut-up fruits and other items on it. He carefully selected what looked like a fried ball of dough and, after sniffing it, popped it into his mouth.

Had this been in private, Link would have felt tempted to point out that Sheik's expression, upon tasting the dessert, closely matched the one he'd worn last night, during their...er...well... It would almost be worth the mortifying embarrassment, really, but he didn't want to give Sheik a bad relationship with food so soon after discovering it.

"G-Good?" he asked quietly, settling on being nice for now, vowing to mercilessly tease Sheik about it later.

"I want this for every meal for the rest of my life," Sheik replied, having closed his eyes in the throes of rapture.

"Y-You'll get f-fat," Link said, trying one of the balls himself. It was...really sweet. So sweet, in fact, he could practically feel his arteries clogging.

"I'm sure I can make my metabolism more effective to counteract the excess calories," Sheik said, giving Link a glare. "You should have some more—you're getting skinny again."

Ouch, low blow. It wasn't Link's fault that the last few weeks had been more stressful than usual. Resting at the domain had been helpful, sure, but the desert was not a kind environment.

He harrumphed and returned to his own meal. The falafels really were delicious—he wondered if he could get the recipe from someone. Sure, chances were that he'd light everything on fire the first few times he tried making it, but sooner or later he'd have to hit the charm, right?

The rest of the meal passed quickly and in good humour. The atmosphere was a lot lighter, now, thanks to the freeing of Naboris, as well as the party last night which had given everyone the cathartic release that was needed.

All too soon the dishes were cleared away, replaced by maps of Hyrule and sheaf upon sheaf of paper containing various intelligence reports.

"Now then," Riju said from the head of the table, having spent breakfast mostly in silence, watching the strange gathering around her table, "I hope the meal was to everyone's satisfaction. With our appetites sated, it is time to turn our attention to the road ahead. With Vah Naboris freed, and the Yiga in disarray after Kohga's death, the weight on our shoulders has finally been lifted. We owe a debt of gratitude to our friends from Hyrule, as well as Kiro. I intend to repay it immediately."

She nodded to Ayla, who pointed to the north-eastern edge of the desert, where the barricade had been.

"Our scouts report that the barricade erected by the Yiga has been completely obliterated," she said, grinning a little. "We don't know the details, but given what we discovered yesterday, I think I can guess." She gave Sheik a knowing look, to which the Sheikah shrugged.

Link could only assume that the entity known as Stabby was responsible, probably destroying it on its way into the desert. He wondered what had happened to it, when Sheik assumed control of the body. Hopefully, he'd destroyed it completely. He didn't like the idea of some small trace of it possibly lingering inside his lover.

Reaching down, he took Sheik's hand under the table and interlaced their fingers, squeezing a little. The skin around Sheik's artificial eye, which was once more covered by the eyepatch, twitched a little, and he looked a little confused. He squeezed back nonetheless after a moment, though, smiling.

Gods, that smile alone had Link's heart racing within moments.

"My point being," Ayla continued, "that we now have a passage into the greater Hyrule area. Soldiers have already been dispatched to secure the canyon, preventing anyone else from building a barrier, as well as constructing a small resupply base."

"The base being necessary in order feed and water our convoys after trekking through the desert," Buliara said. Even at breakfast, her massive blade was within reach. "My lady, I have already taken the liberty of ordering a general mobilisation."

"Good," Riju said, nodding. "I have also dispatched a group of messengers to the Zora's Domain. They will announce our intention to join forces with them." She looked to Link and Sheik. "The Gerudo will do our part in this fight. That, I swear."

"Th-Thank you," Link said, bowing his head a little, unsure of how he was supposed to address Riju at this point. "M-My lady," he added when Buliara cocked her head ever so slightly to the side. That seemed to be the right choice, based on her minuscule nod of approval.

Riju, though, just wrinkled her nose. "I think we're past titles at this point, don't you think?" she said. "Anyway, what is your plan now, Link? What's next for you?"

As always, Link felt his cheeks heat up a little when the entire table's attention was focused on him, and him alone. Teba's interest, in particular, seemed razor-sharp. "I...er..." he couldn't find the words. The speech he'd been forced to make the night before seemed to have drained his vocabulary.

"We'll be taking a few days to rest and recover," Sheik said after a few torturous seconds of attempted speaking. "Here, hopefully, if you can stand having us around for a little longer." He directed the last bit to Riju. "Otherwise, we'll head back to the Bazaar and rest there."

"Wh-Wha...?" Link said.

Sheik gave him a deadpan look. "You're exhausted, and the only thing you'll accomplish by heading out again so soon is getting yourself hurt. Besides, I need a little time to reconfigure my network connection and...work out some things. Also, my muscles hurt, and I think they need to recover."

"You have muscles?" Ayla asked, grinning. "Where are they?"

"We can't all be storing washboards in our abdomens," Sheik replied.

"You should come join in during training," the captain replied. "I'll get you started on those abs. I mean, just look at that flat expanse of nothing." She pointed at Sheik's midriff, which was exposed by his outfit. "Some vai you are."

"You want to tussle?" Sheik asked, leaning forward, glaring at her. "I'll wipe the floor with you."

"Oh, I wanna tussle," Ayla said, looking excited.

Link, seeing the approaching disaster for what it was, held up his hands placatingly. "M-Maybe after r-resting?" he suggested. "Sh-Sheik is t-tired t-too..."

"Agreed," Teba said. "You have both been through the wringer and need to recover." He glanced at Kiro. "You too, for that matter."

Kiro froze, unsure of how to handle the sudden parenting.

"And you?" Sheik asked. "You need some rest too, old man?"

Teba shook his head. "Unfortunately, I cannot. I must return to my village and continue helping with the war preparations...as well as assure my family that we did not die horribly down here."

"Wh-When are y-you leaving?" Link asked. He was going to miss Teba, despite the utter embarrassment he kept causing Link to feel.

"Today at noon," Teba said with a little smile. "The weather looks good, and I'd rather get a head start. Once I've reported in at home, I will join our main force to the Domain once it is ready. If all goes according to plan, we will be at the Domain in less than two weeks."

"Well, your presence here will be missed, Master Teba," Buliara said, nodding to him. "It has been refreshing, having another voice of reason in the palace for once."

"Hey!"

Three voices (belonging to Sheik, Ayla, and Riju) rang out as their owners took offence to that. Barta began to laugh, soon joined by the others.

Link couldn't help but grin.

This was...nice.

"Well, I'll see you two in a few weeks," Teba said, checking his equipment one last time, making sure nothing was about to come loose during his flight.

They were standing on the roof of the palace, where there was ample room for him to take off. He had already said his goodbyes to the others, who had given them a little privacy.

Kiro, in particular, had been in an incredible hurry to go...anywhere, really, after his lengthy conversation with Teba after the meeting. Link wasn't sure the boy would ever be able to look at him and Sheik in the same way again.

"Skies look good," Sheik said, looking northwards. "If I had access to the network, I could have told you if the conditions would last all the way home, but..."

"I have been navigating these skies since I was a child," Teba said. "I'm quite certain I can handle anything they throw at me at this point."

Sheik grimaced. "See, when you say things like that, it's just tempting fate. Knowing our luck, you're going to get struck by, like, freak ball lightning or something."

Link elbowed Sheik in the side, causing him to squeak and glare the Hylian.

"D-Don't j-jinx him," Link hissed.

"I'm just being honest," Sheik hissed back.

"Boys," Teba said in a tone that permitted no more shenanigans. Link even felt guilty when he looked back to the Rito. Was this the power of bird fatherhood? "I trust you will behave yourselves when I'm gone?"

"Well, duh," Sheik said. "We've been perfectly fine so far, right?"

"You have, for the most part," Teba said. "I can only hope the trend will continue."

"I'll k-keep an e-eye on h-him," Link told the Rito.

"More like I'll be keeping an eye on him," Sheik muttered.

"Right, well, I feel more trepidation than ever now, leaving the two of you alone with one of our few precious allies," Teba said dramatically before looking at them with a serious (even for him) expression. "Look after yourselves, all right? Make sure you rest, and do not set out again until you are both ready for the journey."

"We w-will," Link said, nodding. "P-Promise."

"Good," Teba said, hesitating a moment before, in a move so fast Link wasn't quite sure he even saw Teba moving, pulled them both into a tight hug. "I'll see you both at the Domain," he said, releasing them after a long moment. "Take care!"

Before they could really say anything in return, Teba was already running along the tiled roof, beating his wings so hard the sound made Link's ears pop. It only took a moment to reach the required speed, and soon Teba was but a dark shape in the sky, rapidly growing smaller and smaller as he turned to the north, heading home.

They stood there, watching him until he disappeared among the clouds.

"Th-Think he'll b-be okay?" Link asked, shuffling a little closer to Sheik.

"Well, he actually knows what he's doing, most of the time," Sheik drawled, trying so hard not to look affected by the sudden hug. "If anything, he'll be better off than us."

"It's o-okay t-to worry, y-you know," Link told him, to which Sheik looked offended.

"I'm not worried," Sheik replied. "You're worried. Stop projecting your feelings on me." He paused, grimacing. "I really need to get my connection up and running again, if only for the weather data. There's no telling what he's about to fly into."

Link smiled. "Y-You are w-worried."

"Shut up!"

"Wh-Why d-do you n-need it?" Link asked, carefully handing Sheik the bundle of cloth retrieved from his pack.

Sheik took it just as carefully, placing it on the desk in their room. "Just want to see what I can learn from it, I guess," he said with a shrug. "It was my home for millennia, after all. Want to see if there's anything I can recover from it."

Link gave him a doubtful look, frowning. He was wearing his Champion's Tunic, about to walk with Riju through the streets of Gerudo Town, in order to, as Riju put it, acclimatise her people to the idea of voe walking amongst them. It had to be gradual, she claimed, so the parts of the population that hadn't met them last night wouldn't be shocked.

Link wasn't looking forward to it, Sheik could tell, but he needed a little peace and quiet so he could work on the remains of the Slate, to see if there was anything salvageable in the broken pieces. Besides, Link would have Tiny and Slagathor with him at all times, which would be a comfort to them both.

"Wh-What c-can you r-recover?" Link asked, looking at the bundle.

"Oh, this and that," Sheik said, shrugging. "Stray bits of data, maybe a few of the photographs and whatnot. Scripts and functions I wasn't able to bring with me during the transfer? Can't really say until I've taken a look." He looked outside the window, saw the sun in a high position. "You're going to be late for your victory lap."

"C-Come with m-me?" Link asked, pouting.

Sheik sighed. "Link, you and I both know we'll likely cause the poor Gerudo to combust in excitement at the idea of not one, but two voe walking around the place. Gods know what they will do—have some pity on us, please?"

Link's face paled a little. "I hadn't c-considered th-that," he said unhappily.

"Look, Slagathor will be there to beat them off with a huge stick, and Tiny will shame the others into submission," Sheik said, trying to assure him. "If anything, the Gerudo will take one look at your face and faint from the sheer handsomeness of it, so you should just take it as flattery."

A smile came to the Hero's lips then, a little crooked.

"What?" Sheik asked.

"You th-think I'm h-handsome?" Link asked, stepping a little closer, slowly backing Sheik into the desk.

"W-Well," Sheik said, "I...isn't it obvious? After last night?"

"I w-want to h-hear you s-say it," Link said as he leaned forward, brushing his nose against Sheik's. "P-Please? It'll g-give me th-the strength t-to go out th-there..."

Rolling his eyes, but feeling secretly thrilled about this new side of himself that Link seemed to be discovering, Sheik said, "Fine, you're handsome."

"How h-handsome?" Link asked, batting his unfairly long eyelashes at him.

"Really?" Sheik asked, raising an eyebrow at his lover.

"R-Really," Link confirmed.

"You've gotten ridiculously needy in the past forty-eight hours, you know that?"

"Mmm, d-don't care."

"Fine, fine, you're so handsome it's hard to think sometimes," Sheik said, putting on an overly dramatic voice, giving Link a withering look the entire time. It didn't seem to bother the Hero, who simply beamed and leaned in to kiss Sheik's lips.

Sheik's legs went weak at the gentle, warm pressure of Link's lips on his. It was scary, almost, how much such a simple thing could affect him. Was it a biological thing, or a malfunction in his programming? He'd seen the same thing in Link when Sidon kissed him, though, so perhaps it was just...normal?

"Th-That was n-nice," Link said once they separated, smiling.

"Yeah..." Sheik said, intelligently.

There was a knock on the door. "Master Link?" Buliara's voice asked. "Chief Riju requests your presence in the throne room."

"Hylia help m-me," Link said miserably, pouting even more when Sheik pushed at his shoulder.

"Go on," the Sheikah said. "Time to make the ladies swoon with smouldering looks."

"I d-don't know wh-what s-smouldering looks like!"

"Just...try to look like you're about to do something very brave and dashing," Sheik said, practically shoving Link through the door, much to Buliara's (hidden) amusement. "They'll eat it up—you'll have marriage proposals thrown after you, I'm sure. Slagathor, he's all yours; please return him in good condition."

"I will endeavour to do so, Master Sheik," Buliara said with a cheeky (for her) salute. "Ayla will be in the palace somewhere—do not hesitate to pester her should you need anything. The more annoying for her, the better."

"Duly noted," Sheik said, watching her lead Link away, the Hero giving Sheik the poutiest look yet, to which Sheik could only wave cheerily. "Say hi to Risa for me if you see her," he called after them before closing the door, sighing and resting his forehead against the wood for a moment.

Finally, some peace and quiet. Ever since waking up in Naboris, he hadn't had a single moment to himself, and while he loved spending time with Link and Teba and...well, tolerated the others, it had started to grate on his nerves. It was hard enough to focus on moving about his new body and figuring out how it worked without having to keep up with his socialising as well, which was, admittedly, a challenge in itself.

At least he'd managed to get a grip on the energy required by his biological components, and the rates at which it was replenished by the food he ate. Surprisingly little was required, which was a relief since it meant he wouldn't have to worry too much about keeping that part of himself alive.

The artificial components, on the other hand, was still a challenge, and something he needed to figure out. Until he did, he'd just have to carefully conserve what he had...which was really annoying since it meant he couldn't try out the Guardian cannon installed in his head, which he was dying to discover the potential of.

All in due time, I suppose, he thought, walking over to the desk and sitting down at it, carefully unwrapping the bundle of cloth, gradually revealing the broken and twisted bits of metal and glass that was all that remained of the Sheikah Slate. Sheik could definitely not fix it himself—perhaps Purah or the garden gnome could.

He picked up a small piece, rectangular piece of metal, recognising the rune on it. It was a pity, losing the functions of those, given how useful they'd been.

Unless...

He removed the eyepatch and let the Guardian eye roam over the rune. It had some rudimentary scanning features, but not nearly as advanced as the Slate's camera, and it took a lot longer for it to recognise the code and scan points. Once the data stream was established, however, he was relieved to find the functions practically pouring into his memory.

"Hm," he hummed, holding out his left hand experimentally after removing the glove, concentrating...

There was a pop, and blue light filled the room as the bomb materialised in the palm of his hand.

Sheik couldn't help but grin at the sight of it.

"Well, well, well," he said, imagining just how much he could do with it. "Looks like the fun times aren't over just yet."