Link is trying to pay attention. He really is.

Doctor Robbie just started class five minutes ago by asking how everyone's summer had been, and chatting with several students he'd recognized in the huge lecture hall. The room is just like an auditorium with three sections of seating and two wide ramped aisles between them, and a stage down in front where the professor is speaking. Each seat has a small desk that unfolds out so a piece of paper can just barely lay flat on it, but Link's elbows are all over the blank pages of his opened notebook as his jaw rests lazily into one palm, trying to stay focused.

There are two huge projector screens behind Doctor Robbie that has recently just switched from his powerpoint presentation's title page that said 'ENG 280: World Literature to 1400' to that meme of a screaming woman pointing at a cat sitting at a dining table. Link doesn't understand the joke, but it says "Confucius and Laozi talking about ethics and daoism," and "everyone still going with legalism."

Originally, Link registered for this class because he loves history. The description of the course discussed reading ancient texts from a variety of cultures and time periods, and Link thought that maybe reading, interpreting, and dissecting some historical writings would be interesting—a great educational experience for him—but like most college classes; it's a whole lot more than what you've signed up for.

Most of his credits he previously received at Central Hyrule University transferred to Northern, but he's no longer a part-time student working towards a degree in health and physical education. For this semester, Link decided to take any classes that he found an interest in, and it's the first time he's ever taken classes for the hell of it, without a decided major... and it feels amazing.

In Hyrule, education is free —but that doesn't mean it's not expensive. Link still has bills to pay and groceries to buy, and textbooks cost about an arm and a leg, but this is also the first time he's living like a normal person. He was even excited to find some shitty retail job here in Deku, but unfortunately, no one has hired him yet. He's never needed a resumé/CV before, and he tried his best at making his own by copying examples he found on Google, but his references and past jobs might be either extremely overqualified, or not having any experience in the proper fields, at all.

Maybe he shouldn't have given almost all his money away.

Bouncing his leg nervously, Link checks his Apple watch again. It's 10:07. Where is she? There are over one hundred other students sitting in this lecture hall, and Link has scanned every single one of them three times. He's sitting in the first seat of a long row to the right, towards the back of the hall. He's not in the very last row, but he has a decent view of the two rear entrances that are almost parallel to him, and he can see the front two perfectly if a student arrives late. He was even one of the first people in the room fifteen minutes before the class started, even earlier than the professor—so he would have seen her walk in.

He's a little upset about how he handled everything last night. He should have taken her to the hospital, should have called the cops for her and put that asshole on a lookout list or something, but in all honesty; she probably has the same views about the police as Link does. Even though Hyrule is a great country to live in, it still comes with its problems and injustices. Would the cops had taken them seriously if they arrived at the scene to find two people of color claiming assault from an attempted rapist? Zelda has even darker skin than he has and it's clear by her features she comes from mixed cultural backgrounds, just like himself, so if the police showed up and found him beating the shit out of a white guy, it's likely that Link would have been the one arrested.

Glancing at his softly bruised knuckles, his Apple watch goes off again; 10:09. It's not like she's missing much anyways, and maybe that's why she's late, because she knows that. All Doctor Robbie has done so far is tell the class about himself, trying to break the ice and loosen the awkward nerves which comes with every first week in a semester. Since this class only meets on Fridays, the lecture is two hours long, so it's not like Robbie is in a hurry to spend the next couple hours explaining a syllabus everyone probably already gets the gist of. In fact, he's probably killing time.

Link has decided to disguise himself a little better today. He's wearing his hair down under a green beanie, black jogger pants, a grey Balenciaga t-shirt, and for extra disguising efforts, his bluelight glasses. They have large lenses with thin metal frames, some might even call them daddy glasses, but no one in public has ever seen him wearing them, and so far this morning he hasn't received a single glance. Maybe he'll just pretend they're his prescription and wear them all the time now.

Last night while he was sitting on the picnic table at the park, Link discovered word had gotten out that the Hylian Champion has moved to Deku. It's all over the Northern University social media page, and he had gone through comment threads and stranger's profiles to see if anyone in his classes had recognized him. Unfortunately, Link found a few people who had their suspicions about "the muscular guy who sat in the back of class." Next week, he's already anticipating he'll have to start signing autographs and taking selfies.

Perfect.

Trying to stay on topic, Link drifts into Doctor Robbie's discussion again. He's still on the first page of the syllabus, going through the requirements for the course. That's when Link hears the two girls sitting behind him begin to whisper.

"Did you hear? The Hylian Champion transferred to Northern," the first girl says in a hushed, excited tone.

The second girl gasps quietly, "No way! God, I love him. He has such a nice ass."

"Ugh, I know," the girl's voice drones, "he was so hot in that sports movie where they had all those hot athletes in it."

"Are you kidding? What about his guest appearance on that one show? You know the one I'm talking about?"

"Oh my god yes, where he was shirtless in the locker room?"

The second girl groans, grunting almost, "Totally. What's his real name? I can't remember."

"Neither can I, it's something weird."

"Yeah."

Dropping his head down and scratching the nape of his neck with both hands, Link closes his eyes and sighs. He's flattered; one girl even said she loved him, but comments like that never went to his head or ego, they just made him more self-conscious and hyper aware that he's spoken of like an object instead of a person.

It's true, he had been a guest star for a couple movies and tv shows, thanks to his dad. His father's career as a famous soccer player was surrounded around cameras in some form or another; commercials and modeling, soccer highlights and talk shows. Link had grown up in that lifestyle, it was normal for him. He had appeared on camera several times as a kid, but after he went through puberty and started to become recognized for his own physical fitness and skill, directors and producers started calling the house for him, instead of his father. He had enjoyed it for awhile, until it wasn't what he wanted anymore.

He wants to go to college and sit in a coffee shop and study without being interrupted several times to ask if he's someone famous—"hey, you're that one guy!" Link wants to find real friends that invite him out because they actually enjoy doing the same things he likes to do, instead of going to bougie parties with snobby kids that couldn't care less about him, just his social status. Deku doesn't have the same vibe or priorities as the one he left in Central. It's known as being where all the adventurers with wanderlust go to swim and hike, climb and explore the wilderness.

But this is college, and young adults are pretty much the same everywhere, and a famous person is still a famous person no matter the location. They are put on a pedestal and admired, out of reach and simultaneously being reached out to, and Link has had enough with that type of treatment. He cannot go his whole college career sitting in the back and not participating with anything, but how is he suppose to make friends and meet people if he can barely look anyone in the eye? Ripping off that band-aid and coming out in the open at NHU will only bring with it the same things he has been trying to avoid.

At the thought of rhetorical band-aids, it's 10:12 and the left door in the front of the room opens with an obnoxious thud, interrupting Doctor Robbie's monologue and silencing the whole class. Everyone is staring at the late student who just walked in—including Link.

She's still wearing the dancing cat band-aid on her head and dressed in tight, high-waisted blue jeans that hug her wide hips and a short blue blouse almost the same shade as Link's eyes. Adorning bright orange sunglasses, she immediately takes them off to adjust to the lighting of the room as she holds onto a black tumbler that must be full of coffee, and a green Fjällräven backpack hangs off her shoulder.

Turning to the professor, who is just as silent as everyone else, Link expects Doctor Robbie to be annoyed, but he's smiling brightly at his podium.

"Ah, so we meet again Mrs. Zelda," the professor smirks.

"Doctor Robbie, always a pleasure," she smiles and nods to him, like they're about to have a dance off or rap battle. At least... that's what it seems like in Link's head.

"Was there not enough literature puns in Colonial Lit for ya?"

Zelda makes a 'psh' sound with her lips and speaks with attitude. "Doctor Robbie, there's never enough literature puns, am I right?" They're chatting like there isn't a whole class of a hundred students listening in on them.

"Spoken like a true book nerd," he says jokingly, then points to her tumbler. "That coffee better be for me if you're arriving late to my class."

"Um... Yes?" Zelda's voice rises, expression displaying a sweet diffidence, and the whole class chuckles softly.

"Two creams, two sugars, like I asked?" He says sarcastically.

"Oh, shoot, I forgot. Oops." She takes a sip of her coffee rather mockingly and he laughs.

"Next time you're late, you better have coffee for me, Mrs. Zelda," he banters. Doctor Robbie seems like he enjoys getting to interact with his students, especially those who keep their grades up and isn't afraid to joke along with him. That seems just like Zelda. "Now, are you going to find a seat or should I have you take over teaching the class?"

"Maybe next week," she turns with a persiflage shrug, and starts walking towards all the rows of students as Doctor Robbie continues his lecture.

Link watches Zelda instead of listening to the professor. It looks as though she's searching for someone; scanning over the rows of students with her chin tilted up and eyes leisurely inspecting the room. Is she looking for a friend?... or him? But he's sitting in the back, towards the other side of the lecture hall, blending in with the large crowd, and she needs to find a seat quickly before the professor decides to make another witty remark at her.

Now, of all times, Link wants to be found.

She gives up and picks a seat where Link can see her perfectly, but she'd only be able to see him if she turned her head over her shoulder, and looked across the room.

The next hour drags on with Doctor Robbie going over a tentative schedule and class etiquette, and Link spends more time glancing at Zelda rather than paying attention to the professor. Every so often she'll reach for her coffee, then her eyes will leave the podium to start peering over the rows in front of her, examining each student slowly before bringing her attention back to the professor. She's working her way back towards Link, and she's getting closer and closer to where he's sitting every time she takes a sip of that coffee.

Link can't stop watching her now because her eyes are on the row in front of his own, calmly glancing over the features of each student, and he doesn't want to miss the moment she sees him because he just has to know if she's looking for him and not anyone else.

Suddenly their eyes meet and Link sees it—that reaction he was looking for. It's the same face she gave him when she spotted him in the crowd at the Rusty Claymore last night. Her features brighten with realization, a large smile forming across her lips, and maybe it's because he was looking right back at her when she found him.

Hi, she mouths to him.

Hey, he mouths back.

Smooth and slow, she glances back at the front of class then back at Link, making sure the professor isn't watching her, then she draws two boxes around her eyes in the air with both her index fingers.

I like your glasses, she mouths and it makes Link chuckle silently.

Thank you, he mouths to her with a dimple-filled smile and bashful eyes. They stare at each other for a couple more seconds, smiling sweetly, before she turns around and focuses on class again.

She stopped scanning the room after that.

He wishes there wasn't a huge lecture hall full of students and scratching pencils and rustling papers between them. That he could just walk over to her and ask how she feels after being physically attacked the night prior. She looks okay and she seems to be in high spirits, especially after finding him in the classroom, but Link is still worried. If she wasn't extremely traumatized after last night's events, then what has she gone through in her life that was worse? Perhaps she's such a mellowed-out person that she can recover from something like that quickly, or maybe she's an optimist, simply relieved she wasn't badly injured or...or—

Link doesn't want to think about that. She had been right; who knows what would have happened if Link wasn't there to help her. If his time in Deku ends up being a huge waste and he comes crawling back to Central—back to his old life—at least he knows he had been here for someone who truly needed him.

The rest of the class period drags on with a mundane blur. Doctor Robbie has announced the first reading they'll be doing which is an excerpt from the first piece of literature ever written; The Epic of Gilgamesh. Link has never heard of it before and it sounds intense, but he's not focused on that right now.

Class is dismissed and Link quickly packs his bag and immediately starts heading towards Zelda's side of the room. Nothing is going to stop him from talking to her this time—well, he's going to try at least. Link has always been a shy person and a lot of it is because of what he had gone through as a child, and the last several years that he lived in the spotlight has taken a toll on his whole demeanor. It's hard for him to speak to people because the responsibilities that burdened him, but above all; he feels like his personality is so washed out and uninteresting that if he's not talking about soccer details then what good is he? He doesn't even know who he is anymore.

But maybe Zelda, with her bold and confident personality, a woman who knows exactly who she is—perhaps she can help Link find himself here in Deku.

Just as hastily as Link, she had stuffed her binder into her backpack and stationed herself against the wall of the room, allowing students to pass and watching Link as he strolls across rows of seats to find his way to her.

When he gets to her, all his confidence goes out the window. He stuffs a hand into his jogger's pocket and holds onto his satchel strap with the other as he tries, but fails, to keep eye contact with her. What was he going to say or ask her? The only dumb word he can think of is—

"Hi," Link breathes with a shaky exhale.

"Hey," She chuckles at him and the sound calms his nerves slightly. "Walk with me?" She asks, and Link meets her eyes with a smile and nods.

She doesn't seem to mind his anxiousness, almost as if she had been expecting it at this point, but as they begin to walk together, Link is the one to speak first —or tries to. "..Are you? How..how do you—"

"I feel fine," she says, saving him from his struggle. "I have a couple bruises on my legs and neck, but I'll be okay."

Link reaches for the door, holding it open for her, and they leave the classroom to stand outside in the hall together.

"What about you?" Her eyes dance around his face, looking for cuts or bruises. "You didn't seem like you were hurt at all last night, but I... I never asked."

"Oh, um," he takes his hand out of his pocket absentmindedly and examines it. The small bruises on his knuckles were because Link's vision had filled with rage, punching that guy over and over until he was able to gain some control back and he let the attacker run away so Link could, more importantly, tend to Zelda.

"That's it?" She says surprised, staring at his hand. She looks up at him and raises an eyebrow, "That guy was filled with beer and determination and you dragged him away like he was a rag doll, and yet, you are..." she lets out a small sigh, "—you're sweeter than cherry wine."

Link laughs at her comment and looks down at their shoes when he feels the blush form across his cheeks. She's silent for a moment and Link glances at her under his lashes. She's eyeing him carefully with a playful smile, trying to figure him out. As Zelda takes a slow sip of her coffee, a realization dawns on him—making his heart flutter and his breath to catch.

Wait... Does she not know who he is?

Loud heels click on the glossy tile floor and both of them turn their heads at the interrupting sound. Walking towards them is a lean, middle-aged man in a clean suit, and when the man meets Link's eyes, the stranger begins to speak.

"Ah, I was just coming to find you," the man says without smiling, stopping a small distance away from them. "The Dean would like to have a word with you in his office."

Link's eyes go wide and he instinctively turns to Zelda, but she's wearing the same surprised expression as him.

She turns to the man, asking the question that is in both their heads. "Is this about last night?"

But the man seems puzzled, wrinkling his brow at her. "Excuse me? This doesn't concern you, this is about him." The man turns to Link and he hears Zelda scoff at his rudeness. "Come with me, young man," the guy says with haste and a fast wave, and Link barely has enough time to say goodbye before being swept away. Are they always going to keep meeting at inconvenient times like this?

"I—I'm sorry," Link shakes his head reluctantly and begins to follow.

But she just smiles kindly and meets his eyes. "Don't be. I'm sure I'll bump into you again when I least expect it."

"Promise?" Link is walking backwards with smoldering eyes and a smirk to his smile and a smoothness to his movements that has only been captured on screen.

Zelda sends him a flirtatious smile back. "I'm looking forward to it."

Chapter Notes: Sorry, not sorry I made both of them be POC in this story. If I haven't warned previously, this is a self-indulgent fic so don't ask if I'm stealing things from my own life and putting them in here because the answer is a very, very unconvincing "...noo.."