Will be without a PC for a week so I'll post this chapter a day before and the next on wednesday. Thank you so much for every comment and follow/favorite! Hope you enjoy this!

Malo's room was filled with neatly organized boxes. Link hit his pinky with one of them, just as he was entering the room. Malo found Link crouched over with his brows scrunched over, "You all right?"

Link raised a finger, asking for a moment to control himself. Malo rolled his eyes and kept on putting things in a box.

Link straightened himself a while after, Malo gave him a pointed look but kept on tidying his room.

"You know Epona won't be able to carry all of this."

Malo let a book fall hard on a box and glared at Link for thinking him so stupid, "I'm having Talo send these after."

Link looked around, Malo had done a thorough job with his things, "Are you like, not planning on coming back?"

This time Malo didn't even glance back, "I'm leaving stuff, and I'm coming back."

Link wondered whether Talo was really okay with this. Or Malo's mother and father. Or Mayor Bo, even. Malo was still a kid, technically speaking. Truthfully speaking, Malo had everything already figured out, unlike... well, Link.

Malo huffed and sat on his heels, "Why are you here, Link?"

Link started and looked around, as if searching for a reason, "Because we're leaving," Link said, but it sounded almost like a question, the way he had raised his voice on the last part.

"Tomorrow," Malos said, deadpan, he then shook his head, "Are you avoiding Illia?" he swallowed down the 'again?' and just sighed.

Link snorted, "No." Where was Talo when one needed him? Of course he had been avoiding Illia. Also Uli , Rusl and Mayor Bo. It was grating to hear everyone doubting Link's every decision. Malo was glaring at this point, and Link was trying not to beg for refuge.

"You can stay for as long as you want. Mother and father are still trying to spend every waking moment with Talo and won't let him go, and Illia won't come barging in, so relax."

Link gave out an attemp of a smile and sagged his shoulders. But hearing it come from Malo's mouth made him realize how wrong it was to actually avoid people, so if anything, "Are you all right with your parents doting on Talo and not you?"

Malo didn't even bat an eye, "The only reason they are doing so is because a couple of days ago I gave them a stern talking about how I'm not dead and I have a business to run so they better get used to it. Talo just had to suffer the brunt of it, but he's not complaining."

Malo shuffled through his room and Link could understand. Link could understand eveything, but it didn't make it sound less- "Do you really think I find the village boring?"

Malo's mouth attemped to rise on one of its corners, he was in the middle of recovering a book from a shelf, "Is that what's been eating at you?"

Link thought about it, "No, not really. I mean yeah, somewhat. It's just- Does it look like it?"

Malo thought about Link giving him bags upon bags of rupees, about Link stopping in between travels just to check on them on Kakariko - all ragged and exhausted -, about Talo's sunshine smile upon hearing from Link on Castle Town, about Illia's relief about the news, about Uli's sweet smile when hearing about her boy. And now Link was looking troubled, thinking that somehow people thought him to be- What? An adventurer? The very thing he had to become to rescue them all? If people were to even suggest to Link that he had done wrong, then Malo would-

"Of course not. If you thought it boring I doubt you'd come back, right? And yet here you are." Link breathed in as if to prepare to say something, so Malo beat him to it, "And for the record, I don't find the village boring either, it's just," Malo waved around him, "There's a huge ass world out there, and we've been given a slice." Link looked more in peace with himself but also confused so Malo snickered and shrugged, "Calm down, all right? Nobody thinks that about you. And for me, well, when I say those things is because, you know," Malo put on his best poker face, "I have and image to portray."

It had been a surprise for Robert, really. As soon as Link had left, Robert had waved goodbye his early mornings, thrown away the goody-two-shoes act, drowned his nice-yes-I'm-here-to-help-smile. Robert had felt free to spend his time however he wanted, laze around till noon and only spend his waking moments in eating and flirting.

But Link had rubbed off on him. Hard. It was like now he smelled like him, in a very metaphorical way. People, normal peasant-like people, people who knew Robert had been a Keen, people who had even seen him trying to kill the very blond idiot who had helped him after, those people, who had every right to sneer at Robert and give him mean eyes. Those people. They were asking for him. By name.

It was crazy.

And somehow, even after spending the day kneeling in the garden of Misses Lorn, after receiving just lemonade as a reward, after being whisked away by a man who needed Robert's help to fight a nest of rats - nasty little fucks -, after being rewarded with a 'I'll pay you back somehow, I swear' - really, now? Was Robert running a charity now? - after arriving at Telma's, after dragging his ass upstairs to let himself fall to his bed - exhausted - after all that, the only thing that Robert could feel was the way his room had been cleaned and his window had been left open and the way the wind caressed his locks and eased his sore muscles.

Crazy.

Robert heard the steps getting closer to his room but he really lacked the energy to sit up and receive his guest in a more proper fashion.

Telma whistled away, "What a sight. It makes this whole deal a lot easier."

Robert snickered, "You can come join me whenever you want, Telma, dear."

Telma snorted and made a dismissive sound, "It's no fun if you do that." Robert made no attempt to move, but Telma knew he had been working non-stop since Link's departure. "You have visitors, sweetie, they're waiting for you outside."

Robert whined and groaned, "What more do they want from me?" he cried in dramatic fashion, but Telma stood with a gentle smile on her face and jeez, Link was really at fault here. Robert stood and plodded to the door, "I'm gonna at least look pissed off," Telma gave him a you-do-you look and walked in front of him, by the time Robert walked out of Telma's bar he was walking to his full height and had fixed a smile on his face.

The air was cool and even though he would listen to the man, Robert was going to turn him down whatever the task - a man needed his sleep. Robert walked the mini stairs that led to Telma's courtyard. There was a hooded man sitting in a bench, and Robert was beginning to feel the blood rush to his head.

"A hood, really?" The man stood and stilled, "Am I supposed to feign surprise or something?"

"Why did you change inns?"

Had Telma known? "This one's cheaper." She had said nothing. Did it mean nothing to her?

"This one is frequented by him."

Robert had to bit his tongue, "Link, you mean," Robert should bit his tongue harder, control himself, "he was the one to bring me here, go figure."

The man tried to search Robert, tried to find something, "What's wrong with you?"

Robert scoffed hard, was he feeling pain? Kind of, it felt like it hurt, "Can you at least take off the damned hood?"

The man grabbed the hood and pushed down, as if to make sure that it was covering his face properly, "Can't be seen with you."

Robert clapped his hands, amused "Right, because I'm a Castle now," he then remembered Telma, "What if the owner recognizes you, huh?"

"I made sure to cover my face."

"Right, but maybe it's pretty fucking obvious who you are if you are looking for me, you know."

The man shook his head, "Not now. Now everyone looks for you, don't they."

Robert scoffed, the fucker was right, "Well, not at night, you dumbass." Or maybe, he had done it on purpose, maybe he wanted to plant the seed of doubt in them, made Robert look like a traitor. Robert had the man against the wall and the hood moved, showed a pair of blue eyes under furrowed eyebrows. "What do you want?"

The man opened his mouth in disbelief, "What do I want?" he struggled with Robert's hand and then pushed at Robert's chest, "The fuck is with you, huh?"

Robert let Richard go with disgust, "Don't pretend that everything is dandy, you fu-"

"We were waiting for you to come back, you doofus," Richard gave strenght to his voice but said everything in a whisper, "The moment you received the fucking punishment we were waiting for you to come back."

Robert shook his head, Richard was getting red in the face and Robert could tell he was telling the truth, but, "No, you don't get to put it on me, brobro, father just threw me out and you know it."

"Father threw you out to take the peasant away, right? With the ploy we had machined beforehand, right? As a ploy, you remember that?"

Robert felt the tears prickling at his eyes and he was breathing heavy and he could feel the way his chest expanded and contracted, "No, shut up."

Richard gave a step towards Robert, "Robert-"

"No." His father had given the order, "My father disowned me."

"And all you had to do- all you have to do is go back and... ask for him to let you go back."

Robert chuckled, "Ask, Richard? Really, just ask?"

Richard motioned with his hands, in an attempt to find the correct way to talk, "You just have to go to father and-"

"Beg," Robert spat, "grovel and kiss his ass, become the mockery of the kingdom once again because he wishes me to." Robert felt disgust in the pit of his stomach, "No, fuck that, he had already threatened to disown me and then he delivered, nothing new."

Richard looked confused for a second, and then it clicked, "Robert, that was years ago."

Robert gave a step back, felt the need to defend himself, "I was only told about the ploy," he mocked, "if it succeeded to make Link disappear, nobody told me about what happened if I lost."

Richard swallowed, "Yes, well, father wanted for authenticity and-"

"Fuck it. No, I'm done." Robert turned and waved his hand, "Thanks for coming, but I'm out."

Richard felt a lump in his throat, "Robert," he called, but his brother walked away, "Robert," again, but Robert was going down the stairs. Please, "Robbie."

Robert felt pain on his chest, "Yes?"

Richard walked towards him, he was now almost a head and a half taller than Robert, and he felt it was hard to talk. Richard brought his hand to Robert's head, "We are your family, Robert," and I'm, "and I'm your brother," Richard kissed Robert's head, "Just remember that."

Robert sniffled and looked at his brother. All to protect their image. All to protect their father's image. Richard put on his hood and walked away.