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"Can we get a selfie with you?"

Link cringes on the inside, his stomach tying into knots, but he smiles kindly and nods at the innocent students as they take out their phones. He didn't even get two steps out of the men's locker room before a pair of freshmen girls squealed at him. This is what he's been experiencing for the past twenty-four hours.

First, when he walked into his Bio Diversity class on Monday, he was greeted with an unnecessary whooping applause. Link stared back at the class in horror as several girls gasped, and some guys hollered "love you bro!" while others threw their hands up in the air and did a bowing gesture. It was a tad over excessive, but he couldn't do anything about it, and at least people were thrilled to see him. Deku doesn't attract a lot of celebrities like Central does, so Link didn't want to deny anyone the excitement since he had been found out.

Thankfully, he was able to drop his history class so he never had to deal with that experience all over again, but during his Sports Skills class people began to form a line for autographs. It's astonishing how many t-shirts he signed during that period. The teacher's included.

Flashing his greatest fake smile, the two freshmen hold up their phones one at a time and giggle uncontrollably when they get their photos taken.

It's a Tuesday afternoon and it's hot and humid and all Link had on his schedule was soccer practice. Surprisingly, he really enjoys being on the NHU team so far. Link gets along with all the guys (except Revali), and all of them are super excited that he's joined (except Revali). He even exchanged a couple phone numbers and was added to the group chat to communicate outside of practice. Hopefully Revali will come around sometime soon, Link doesn't think he's such a bad guy, but it's clear he has some sort of vendetta against him.

"You smell really good," one of the young girls say while the other one nods enthusiastically in agreement. They probably smell the shampoo he just used in the shower. He gets it from a vegan, women-owned company that sells a lot of natural scents like cedar and patchouli. He smiles at the girls, mumbles a thank you, and waits until they say their giddy goodbyes to drop the fake smile from his lips. When they round the corner and are out of sight, Link lets his head fall to his chest and pinches the corners of his closed eyes with a thumb and index finger.

He deliberately waited in the locker room until all his teammates left before he decided to venture out, worried that some stragglers would be driven enough to wait a solid hour and a half after practice finished just to get a selfie with him. He makes a mental note that it will only get worse on Friday when they have their first game.

Allowing himself a couple slow breaths in the quiet hallway, Link keeps his eyes shut while he tries to calm his rising anxiety. Things will mellow out in awhile, he just knows it, but he'll have to get through some challenges first before that happens. Eventually, the sound of soft footsteps pull him from his mental break, so he raises his head and opens his eyes and—

There she is.

She's walking down the hallway in jean shorts and a loose tank top with her hair extra frizzy from the humidity and those orange sunglasses on her head. Her phone is in her hand and she's looking down at it with a large grin on her face like she's watching a cat video or reading a funny meme.

Link doesn't want to interrupt her or bother her, but he's just standing there like an idiot staring at her, wanting to reach out and say hi, but he hasn't seen her since Friday and maybe she's discovered who he really is, just like the rest of the school.

Zelda must have noticed his gaze or felt his presence because not a second later, Link watches her eyelashes twitch and she lifts her head to stare straight back at him and the moment she does her face lights up like it's done a couple times before. She stops in her tracks and lowers her phone, flashes him a sweet, friendly smile, then points a finger at him.

"When I least expect it," she says, and the past reference makes them both chuckle softly. "Love those socks by the way," she adds as her eyes dart down to his feet.

"Thanks," he smiles and taps his shoes instinctively. After showering, Link changed into a thin button-down shirt with birds on it and comfortable dark blue chino pants, but due to his long legs they end just above his ankles so he likes to wear silly socks with them. Today, it's a pair of socks with Charmanders and Squirtles on them.

He shifts anxiously as the silence falls between them and it's the perfect time to finally say it—tell her what his name is, introduce himself for god sake, but he can't form the words. Does she already know his name? Has she heard all the rumors and gossip about him? Or is he still the stranger she invited to her gig last week?

Luckily, she can see him struggling; scratching the nape of his neck like he usually does when he's nervous and wants to say something but just can't, so she starts a conversation for them. "I see you're on the soccer team," she nudges her head at the gym bag dangling off his shoulder and the cleats sticking out of it.

"Yeah," he breathes and drops his eyes from hers with a weak shrug.

"Are you heading to practice or just getting done?"

He meets her eyes briefly, "I um, I— I just got done."

"I just finished studying in the courtyard. I was about to head home," Zelda points in the direction she was walking.

"Yeah, me...me too," he nods at the floor.

He tries to steal a quick glance at her, but when he does he can't seem to tear his eyes away. She's watching him with a smile on the side of her mouth that's utterly contagious and it's not long until that same smile spreads along his lips, too.

She bites her lower lip and shifts her body diffidently. "Would you... would you mind walking me to my car?"

"Of—of," Link clears his throat to reset himself. "Of course."

Smiling brightly at one another, they start to walk towards the exit side by side as the afternoon sunlight peers through the large double doors. Zelda starts up conversation once more, but as soon as she does Link's stomach ties in knots again.

"So I hear there's some major celebrity on the soccer team."

Trying to keep his heart from racing, Link does his best to stay composed. He really doesn't want her to find out like this and have her whole perception of him change. So far, she's the only one that has gravitated towards him because she actually likes him—and his fame and spotlight had nothing to do with it.

"Uh, y-yeah I guess."

"Not interested in the rich and famous, huh?" She asks and Link glances at her quickly before he answers.

"N-no...not really."

She smiles and pushes the door open, exposing both of them to the hot heat of late summer, "To be honest, me neither. I'm completely unfazed on that sort of thing. This one time I was at a bar and met Michael Cera, thinking I knew him because I thought he was someone I went to school with. I spent a whole hour asking him if he remembered certain teachers and school events. It didn't even click in my head who he was until I rewatched Arrested Development. No wonder he didn't remember anything from my school."

They both share a laugh until Zelda notices the only bike locked beside the double doors. She asks if it's his and he nods. Honestly, he was just going to walk Zelda to her car then come back to retrieve his bike, but she smiles slyly and asks him to bring it along and Link has a nagging suspicion about the look she's giving him, but he obeys, unlocks his bike, and pulls it from the stand to continue on their way.

The parking lot she's directing them towards is across the street, so it will only take a few minutes to get there. The rhythmic sounds of his bike clicking and their shoes on the pavement fill the silence for a little while. Just being in the presence of someone not overwhelming and squealing to get a selfie is refreshing and it's starting to calm his nerves a little, so Link tries to speak again.

"What um, what c-class were you... studying for?"

"Cellular and Molecular Biology," she sighs. "I've been putting off taking that class for awhile now because I've heard it's really difficult, and it is. It's a lot of memorization for structures and functions of cells and genes."

"I only know that—that the mitochondria is the—"

"Powerhouse of the cell," they both say at the same time.

She laughs. "That's like the main thing they drilled into us in school, isn't it?" Link agrees with a few more chuckles and she smiles at him. "It took me until college to learn just how fascinating the mitochondria actually is. Did you know it has it's own DNA that's different from our own?"

"What? No way," Link says, genuinely intrigued.

Zelda launches into a brief discussion about something called the endosymbiotic hypothesis. How over a billion years ago, prokaryotic microbes were engulfed by eukaryotes and permanently infused into their structure. Link is a great listener even when some of her words fly over his head, but he understands the gist of what she's saying. He can tell how passionate she is; gesturing enthusiastically like a scientist sharing the wonders of discovery. Reminds him of a show he was on when he was a kid.

He's about to ask how the Golgi apparatus got it's name when Zelda guides them down the row to her parked car and Link immediately spots the sticker-covered Subaru, but that's not what he's smiling about.

They stand at the back of her car and Link meets her eyes with a wide grin. "So th-that's why you—you wanted me to—"

She nods as she tucks a strand of hair behind her ear. On the back of her Subaru she's installed a bike rack currently displaying no bikes at all.

"I... I figured you probably would have said yes that night when I asked if you needed a ride, so I borrowed my friend's bike rack and I've been driving around with this since Friday hoping I'd bump into you again."

"You... you did this—for me?"

"Of course," she says instantly. "It's the only way I can think of to repay you for what you did. I mean, I could probably buy you a beer at the Rusty Claymore but I didn't think that'd be enough, then I thought maybe I could buy you dinner, but I thought that might be too forward, and then I thought buying you anything wouldn't justify for how you put your life in danger to help me." She repositions the bag on her shoulders nervously and the way she has become slightly bashful as she rambled through her thought process is rather sweet and charming.

"So...would you like a ride?" She asks warmly with her head tilted to one side, "or should I continue my list of things I considered to repay you with?"

"B-by all means, you can continue." His comment makes her laugh even though she's still fidgeting where she stands, awaiting the rest of his response. "But yes, I would love a ride."

"Good," her smile reaches her eyes, making them brighter and greener before turning playful and flirtatious. "There's just one rule I have in my car."

Link raises an eyebrow at her curiously.

"I don't allow strangers in it." She raises an eyebrow in return, but her smile is still present and playful. "I think that's fair, don't you?"

Nodding shyly, Link looks down at his feet. He feels like he's done something wrong. This is the only time he can remember where he knew someone's name first —or more accurately, has learned the identity of someone before they knew his own.

"I—I'm sorry, I...I should have t-told you my name a...a hundred times b-by now and um... I just—there wasn't—" He drags a hand down his face and takes a sharp inhale. He feels like his throat's starting to close up.

"Hey, it's okay," she says with a gentle chuckle, clearly noticing his growing fluster. "I was really just joking, but I'd still love to know your name before you get in my car."

He looks at her for a long moment and the sight of that smile so friendly and sweet helps to settle his nerves. Slowly, he extends a hand out between them. "My name's Link."

"Link," she repeats and places her hand in his. "I like it. My name's Zelda, but I think you already knew that."

"I did. Again, I'm...I'm sorry."

"You have nothing to apologize for," Zelda says kindly, "now let's load your bike."

It's actually Link that loads the bike as she stands close by and watches. Zelda insists that she help in some way, but he told her "I got it" —which he did. Link could feel her eyes on him as he lifted the bike effortlessly and placed it onto the rack, securing it with a couple straps. After he finished loading it, he went to flash a smile at Zelda and caught her glancing at his backside.

Having been displayed on television for various types of entertainment, Link is used to people objectifying him in some way. There was even an article written that ranked the best soccer player butts, which he ended up as number one somehow. It's not like he was aiming for that. A well trained bum is a secret weapon when it comes to soccer and Link had always trained his whole body well, but especially his backside.

But the way she looked at him felt different. Subtle. Sweet and rather welcoming because he liked looking at her as well. She's got rounded hips and thick thighs, a dip to her waist and a fullness to her breasts that's extremely tempting to look at right now considering her cheeks and chest are flushed with embarrassment for getting caught staring at him.

She sends him a cheeky smile and busies herself by taking her backpack off to search for her car keys, so he fills the silence with what's on his mind. "I um, I... I like your shirt," he says, glancing at her cleavage.

Pulling her keys out of her backpack, she stares at him with surprised eyes. "What, this?" Zelda tugs on the end of her loose tank top. It has an image of Rosie the Riveter pulling her shirt sleeve up while she holds onto a can of beer in the other. "I got this at the beer fest last summer, and I'm pretty sure there's a coffee stain on it somewhere," she glances down at his own outfit before sending him a shy smile. "But thank you."

He suddenly feels overdressed compared to her, but she makes no comment on it. "C-can you tell me about some of the festivals in Deku? I'm kinda um...new to the area."

"Of course!" She nudges her head towards the car and he follows her.

Link loads his gym bag into the back then tries to sit in the passenger seat, but he has to move her stuff in order to do so. She's got an old denim jacket, a bottle of bug spray, lab goggles, and a couple paperback books cluttering the seat.

He picks up her stuff and holds it all in his hands as he sits down. "Uh, should I...?"

"Oh god, I'm sorry...here," She says and takes the pile from his hands, grazing his arm with her shoulder as she twists from the driver's seat and places everything in the back. "I'm usually not this messy, I swear."

Actually, it's not that messy. There's a small layer of dust on the dashboard but her car isn't littered with garbage or stains, it actually looks like she takes care of her car. The cluttered stuff in it tells him a lot about her; that she's an outdoors person, takes science classes, and likes to read.

"No, I like it," he smiles and looks around. There's a lighter and a small bottle of hand sanitizer in the cubby underneath the audio system, and a car freshener clipped to the vent that smells fresh and clean. His favorite is the dream catcher with long strands of yarn and threads dangling from the rearview mirror. Link usually drives in black SUV's or luxury buses catered to transport a whole team of Premier League players. This is much different than that. Her car is personable and comfortable, and Link could probably sit here for hours just talking with her.

Honestly, he might.

After Zelda starts her car, she reaches out to touch the long strands of the dream catcher. "I got this from the Renaissance festival. I'm one of those people that dress up and yell 'huzzah!' every chance I get. Have you ever been?"

He smiles, but shakes his head.

"Not even as a kid?"

Shaking his head again, his smile starts to lean, "but it... it sounds like fun."

"Well, you haven't missed it yet, it starts in September. You should go with a friend or a big group of people."

Link meets her eyes with a small nod, then looks down and fidgets with his fingers. He'd love to go if he had someone to go with, but it's been difficult for him to differentiate between those who might want to be friends, and those who only want an autograph.

Before he looks at her again, Link takes a long inhale. The last thing he wants is for her to feel sorry for him and she's already quiet and stiff and watching him inquisitively, so he meets her eyes bravely with a forced smile, but it's Zelda that speaks first.

"If you're free...would you like me to show you around Deku? I mean, unless you're busy and need to get home right away for work or if you have plans with a friend...or a girlfriend," she adds guilelessly.

Feeling the flutter in his chest and the warmth spreading across his cheeks, Link drops his eyes and smiles. "That sounds great, and...and no, I— I don't have a girlfriend."

"Great," Zelda returns the smile. She never explains what she's responding to; Link being free to hang out or him being single. Probably both.

Pulling her phone out of her pocket, she hands it to him. "Okay, you're DJ."

"What?"

"You choose the music, silly," planting her elbow on the arm rest between them, she waves her phone around loosely, and with a timid hand he takes it from her.

Her phone screen appears when Link taps it and it's an hilarious picture of Zelda and Kass's girlfriend mocking the pose of a marble statue in a bright, open museum. It looks like it could be the Louvre or the Vatican. Smiling down at the picture, Link unlocks her phone and opens the music app to begin looking through it as Zelda reverses out of the parking space. He starts to go through the song titles first, but that was a mistake because she has so many songs on her phone it becomes a little overwhelming. He filters through the genres next and there are a couple that Link has never even heard of before. She listens to everything. Soul, punk, bluegrass, funk, electronic, contemporary, rap, folk, R&B, variété française, and a genre called—

"What's 'wizard rock?'" Link asks.

"Oh, um..." She laughs nervously and takes her eyes off the road to glance at him quickly. "It's a music movement that started because of the Harry Potter franchise. Sometimes my friends and I will have HP parties and put this music on in the background and sob out the lyrics like we haven't done it a million times already." They come to a red light on campus so she turns to look at him. "Are you a Harry Potter fan?"

Link doesn't answer with words. He brings his right knee into his chest and pulls his Pokemon sock down to expose a tattoo on the inside of his ankle. It's the Hufflepuff crest.

"No way!" She exclaims and points to one of the tattoos on her thigh. It's just like his but in full color and it's the Ravenclaw one. "So sorry about your man Cedric."

"Forever in our hearts," Link smiles.

They talk about Harry Potter for a while as she drives; what their favorite books are (Link's: the third, Zelda's: the sixth), what they liked and disliked about the movies (not one single appearance of Peeves the Poltergeist?), and what their Patronus would be (Link a wolf, and Zelda a fox).

Soon, they drive off campus and Zelda starts to point out random places as they pass by. She shows him a cute little brick building shaded by shrubs and trees that is the old library, a small dog park where she goes to pet all the dogs, and one of the last remaining Home Video stores that survives because they also started selling cannabis.

As they drive down Main Street, she shows him her favorite shops; a family owned bakery that sells the best breads like sourdough basil or black pepper & garlic, the old Landmark theatre renovated into an outdoor bar and midnight screening, and a spice store called Fang & Bone which Kilton also owns. "You can get any herb or spice from there," Zelda tells him, which is good because Link has been searching for sumac to make a homemade za'atar blend. She also tells him about numerous taverns and clubs, the good ones and the bad ones, and Link tries his best to remember which are which.

Main Street ends where the docks start, and Zelda shares a quick history lesson about the old Ore Dock still standing today. Although it's no longer operating, it stands as a reminder for Deku's maritime and mining heritage as this region of Hyrule is rich in iron ore and would be shipped via freighters to the rest of the country. She tells him to check out the ship wreck museum —which he makes a mental note to definitely do.

Zelda points to the bright red lighthouse jutting out on a small natural peninsula and mentions how they have ghost tours throughout the night for those brave enough to venture through it. Apparently her friend Hestu is a guide, but he'll "try to scare you out of your wits," she says.

With the windows rolled down, Zelda takes the road north and drives along the water. It's a slow, leisure drive with a bike path just along it and Link has already jogged on several times by now. It's a beautiful area, especially in the morning when the sun rises over the water and the only creatures awake besides the early birds are the squirrels and the bees.

After chatting about several other Deku festivals like the holiday craft market in December and the puppy parade in the spring, they drive past the fairgrounds and come to a large opening that's just a field on one side and Lake Hylia on the other. It's clear how relaxed and content Link has gotten on their drive. The mood Zelda gives off is calm and reassuring and Link has been slowly succumbing to her energy with each soft chuckle she makes and story she tells him.

She turns to him, her hair blowing across her face from the wind through the windows. "Do you want to see one of my favorite spots to park by the water?"

He smiles and looks at her. "Absolutely."

Driving for another mile or so, trees start to shade and arch over the road and the pavement becomes a little rocky. It's definitely an older area of Deku that's typically not a hot spot for tourists. She slows her car down and pulls into a hidden drive that reveals a park with a couple old swings and a quaint log building for bathrooms. The small parking lot is completely deserted so Zelda drives to the very end closest to the water, reverses her car under a canopy of trees, and parks.

The view is stunning. He can see the small archipelago of Saria Isle way off in the distance, and a few large rocks covered with cawing seagulls protrude from the shimmering water's surface. The trees give a welcoming shade as the breeze wafts in the wonderful lake smell and the sound of calming waves splash against the rocks nearby. It takes Link a while to realize neither of them have spoken for several minutes, just smiling and watching the nature around them.

"This is..." he pauses to search for the right word, "perfect."

"Isn't it?" She takes a long inhale, filling her lungs with the lake breeze and he does the same. "This is an older part of Deku that gets easily missed when people drive up to see Saria Isle. Don't get me wrong, the Isle is beautiful, but I like little places like this too." Link nods in agreement. "I come here whenever I need to be alone. I'll just sit in my car and watch the waves, read, and smoke a joint." She looks over at him. "Have you... tried the local strains yet?"

"Oh I... I've n-never really..." Scratching the nape of his neck, Link sends her a shy look. He's only smoked a couple times at parties back in Central, but he didn't like the taste and way it made him feel. Or maybe it was the vibe around him that he didn't care for.

"Would you like to try some?"

He finds himself nodding slowly. Still he's a little apprehensive due to his past experiences with cannabis, but everything Zelda has done for him so far has been pleasant and he's enjoyed this little...date? —and he trusts her.

"Great! Because I started smoking a new strain that I think you might like," she smiles and sits up taller. "Do you mind opening the glove compartment and taking out that tray?"

Popping open the compartment in front of him, Link immediately sees a floral metal tray and a small medicinal bag with a couple buds in it. Zelda reaches in the backseat for her backpack as Link holds onto the two items awkwardly and waits for her.

Unzipping her bag, Zelda pulls out a small black grinder and rolling papers, then takes the items from his hands. She situates herself with the tray on her lap, opens the bag of buds and places a couple in her palm to show him, so he leans in and listens carefully. She explains the type of strain it is (indica), THC level, and the effect it produces when smoked, then raises her palm to his nose and lets him sniff for himself. It's incredibly dank but it's not unpleasant, and without thinking, he places a hand under hers softly and picks up one of the buds with his other to inspect it. The buds have beautiful bright purple bits that are sticky and dusty and it's definitely different than what he's seen before.

"Sorry." He releases her hand.

Zelda simply smiles and says, "It's more than okay."

She begins transforming the buds into something they can smoke together as Link watches her intensely. She works with ease, pressing the buds into her grinder and using it with practiced hands, transferring the freshly ground plant into a piece of rolling paper and rolls it with a smoothness that even Link can tell is very talented.

The finished product is a perfectly made joint that's not too large with a piece of paper rolled into it for a filter, and this is way more impressive than the couple joints he smoked in Central. She sends him a sweet smile before she places it between her lips and reaches for her lighter. Link watches her mouth indulgently as she cups the end of the joint with both her hands and lights it, takes a couple quick puffs, then one long inhale. On her exhale, she blows out a large smoke cloud and coughs so abruptly that it startles him.

"Here," she says after she's stopped coughing and passes him the joint, "you can try as much or as little as you'd like. If you're not used to smoking then just take a small hit and see how you feel."

"Um...okay." With a nervous hand, he takes the joint from her and places it between his own lips, then inhales weakly. He lets the smoke travel down to his lungs before he blows it out the window with a small cough. It's not long after that when Link can begin to feel it's effect; like his anxiety is lowering, the muscles in his face softening, and his mind which runs a million miles a minute beginning to slow —so he takes another puff, only bigger this time.

He has gotten increasingly more comfortable driving around Deku with a pretty woman that actually enjoys his company, but with a few puffs of cannabis added to the mix, the whole experience is helping to relieve the toxic stress that has been rooted deep within him for months, probably even years. He takes one more small hit before handing it back to her, then shifts in his seat to get even more comfortable.

They sit in sated silence and pass the joint back and forth to one another for the next few minutes, then Zelda disposes of it when it's done. She repositions in her seat to dangle her left manicured foot out the window as Link closes his eyes and listens to the sounds around him. The gentle splashes of lake waves and distant seagulls are immensely calming, but after awhile she starts up conversation between them again and Link happily welcomes it.

"What kind of music do you listen to? I'm getting an R&B type vibe off you." It dawns on him that he's had her phone in his lap this whole time and never once played a song because of all the talking they've been doing.

"Honestly, I'll listen to anything. It looks like you do, too," he scrolls through her phone absentmindedly.

"Was it the bluegrass or the wizard rock that gave me away?"

"Somewhere in between," he smirks flirtatiously and the look he gives her makes her cheeks tint pink. God, this is so easy with her. Why is it so easy? It's Link who continues their conversation next. "When did you learn to play guitar?"

Her smile grows wider. "Actually, I never did. I just picked up my mom's old guitar and started playing one day. I can't read sheet music at all."

"Wow, really? So you play by ear?"

She nods. "It was definitely a challenge for me when I was in marching band and we had to play a new song for the first time."

"What instrument did you play?" He's thinking flute or clarinet, maybe even trumpet.

"Tenor drums," she says, surprising him. "I was the only girl on the drumline, but it was so much fun. The guy that played guitar with me at the bar Thursday was also on the drumline with me all those years ago."

Link smiles warmly, "You guys must be very close."

"We are." She takes her foot out of the window to readjust in her seat. "Kass and I go way back. Him and his girlfriend are my best friends."

Link readjusts in his seat as well and angles himself towards her, his long legs spread wide as he lounges. "Did you all grow up in Deku?"

"Actually, no," Zelda chuckles. "We grew up in East Necluda and went to Hateno High together...for awhile." She adds vaguely. "But the three of us decided to move to Deku just over two years ago." She rests her temple on the headrest then looks at him with relaxed eyes. "What about you? Where are you from?"

"Oh, I'm—" he claws a hand through his hair and takes a deep inhale. Her question made him slightly nervous again. "I'm from Central. I um... lived with my dad on Whistling Hill." She's silent for a moment and Link can feel her soft stare lingering on his face and reading more than just his body language. He really prefers to not have his problems and baggage entering this car right now, but he doesn't exactly know what to say to steer the conversation away from himself.

"That's a pretty wealthy area. What high school did you go to?"

Link doesn't want to answer her question, but hopefully she's not familiar with, or doesn't care to know, Hyrule's top private schools. "Riverside Academy."

Against his hopes, Link feels her stiffen slightly. "That's where a lot of celebrities and politician's kids went, wasn't it?" She asks and he nods hesitantly as his heart starts to race. Any second now, she'll be asking him who his dad is, or if Link is the celebrity that everyone at NHU is talking about, but she just sighs and rests her stare on the dashboard. "That was my academy's rival school."

"Wait..." Link drags his surprised eyes up to meet her face. "You went to Lon Lon Academy?"

"Only for a year and a half. I had to leave Hateno halfway through my junior year and move in with my dad. Well...into his estate at least. He wasn't really there half the time."

"Wow," Link breathes. "Your dad must be loaded." The only kids able to get into Lon Lon are born into some of the richest families and oldest lineages in all of Hyrule, but Zelda doesn't come off like that at all.

"I guess," she shrugs haphazardly. "I don't really know him all that well. It was the biggest house I've ever stepped foot in though."

He's about to ask who her dad is, but a different question comes out instead. "Did you like going to Lon Lon after attending public school?"

She shakes her head immediately. "Not even a little bit. The gossip mongers there were way worse than public school. I never wanted to leave Hateno." A faraway gaze that's harsh and cold takes over her typically sweet and kind eyes, and Link can only imagine what dark memories she keeps and terrible rumors were spread about her when she was thrown into a completely different kind of lifestyle.

Before either one of them could say another word, Link's stomach grumbles so loud he looks at her in pure embarrassment, but she's already laughing. "You must be hungry after practice."

"I'm always hungry," he groans and lets his head fall back against the headrest. Sadly, this isn't the first time his stomach had interrupted a dismal moment. When he broke up with Mipha, it lasted so long he had to nibble on a bag of carrots while he told her it was over...and carrots are not the most subtle snack there is.

After the last of the chuckles leave her throat, Zelda's regular friendly features return. "Do you want to grab something to eat with me? I'm kinda hungry, too."

"I do, but..." He scratches the nape of his neck. "I'm kind of limited to what I can eat at restaurants." And he doesn't want to brag but...more often than not, he can make better food at home.

"Oh? Do you have a food allergy or something?"

He shakes his head, "No. I'm um... I'm vegan."

"Really?!" Her voice rises several octaves higher, then clears her throat. "Sorry, I just didn't expect that from you. You look like you eat everything. Like you'd probably eat a rock if I gave you one."

He laughs at her statement, "Honestly, I probably would." Link dives into a quick story about how he became vegan. When he was in his late teens, he read an article about several professional athletes making the change to veganism and how it increased their performance, so he tried it himself and never went back.

"Well... you're in luck, Link," She says and lays a hand on his thigh briefly. "I know some great vegan restaurants I can take you to. Do you like Lebanese?" He nods his head enthusiastically and she smiles. "Great because there's this place that has the best beyond chicken shawarma you'll ever have." She starts to buckle her seatbelt and he follows suit.

"Are you vegan, too?" He asks.

"Vegetarian," she smiles and begins to pull out of the parking lot. As they drive, Zelda tells him about the local vendors she's become close with at the farmer's market; the kind, older couple that runs a sustainable bee farm, and the family that runs the local dairy farm try their absolute best to keep their cows happy and healthy. She buys eggs from an elderly man who raises chickens that were saved from poultry farms and when they began laying so many eggs he didn't know what to do with them all, so he started selling them at the market.

Halfway through their drive, Zelda calls the Lebanese restaurant and places their order for take-out; two beyond chicken shawarmas, two lemonades, and two fries with a large container of garlic sauce on the side. "Trust me, you'll want that sauce for your fries," she tells Link and he smiles.

When they park in front of the restaurant, it's the equivalent of a hole in the wall. Nothing fancy, just a sign in Arabic letters against the old brick building and a neon sign in the window that says 'open,' but it's super busy indoors with every table full and an order line at least five people long. Link leans in his seat to take his wallet out from his pocket, but she places a gentle hand on his forearm to stop him.

"Don't worry about it."

"Zelda," he whines, "please let me get this."

She just shakes her head and shrugs. "I mean, you can try to pay, but they won't accept your money. I tutor the owner's daughter once a week and instead of paying me with cash I told him it'd be more efficient if I just got paid in shawarmas." She smiles sweetly. "I know it sounds ridiculous, that I should get paid the normal way and save it all up for something, but some things are more important to me than money. Like shawarmas." She removes her hold on him when it's clear he's not going to protest anymore, then flashes him a smile and hops out of the car. Link watches as she skips into the building and waves at the man behind the register whose face lit up when she came in.

It's rather obvious that Link had taken a liking to her before now, but as they spend the afternoon together and he's gotten to know her more, that small liking has flamed into keen interest, and he's a little intimated by this new feeling. She has a lot of selfless and kind qualities that remind Link of his ex-girlfriend, but with Zelda, she's bold and confident, unfiltered and unapologetically herself—the very same things he's been struggling with for the past few months. She's well-rounded and mature, with book smarts and street smarts, and it must be from what she's had to go through in her life...whatever that may be because transferring from public to private school against her will is just the tip of the iceberg.

When Zelda gets back in the car with a large bag full of food, she hands it to him and drives to a spot she recommends they eat. It's only a three minute drive so it's not long until they arrive at a small park by the water with a dock that has a few boats tied to it. And no picnic tables in sight.

He already knows the answer before he asks the question. "Are we going to eat on one of those boats?"

"Yep," she chirps and opens her door. "Don't tell my friend Hestu but I've been sneaking take-out meals on his boat for months." She hops out of the car then turns back to him with a guilty face. "Actually, he probably already knows. There's no way you can fool that guy."

Link laughs and gets out of the car as well, holding onto all their food. He follows Zelda down the narrow, rickety dock to the very last boat tied up at the end. It's a small, wooden runabout that can hold no more than five or six people and as he timidly climbs in behind her, he imagines all the fun times she and her friends have had on it... and Zelda in a bikini.

They get situated in the backseat of Hestu's boat and Link doesn't even wait for her to dig into her own food—his appetite too far gone to contain any amount of chivalry he usually has. When it comes to food, a lot can escape his mind.

Taking one huge bite out of the wrapped pita, Link becomes a groaning mess. "Oh my god, Zelda. This is vegan?" He asks with a mouthful of food.

She laughs at him and pops a fry into her mouth. "Yeah, they marinate the fake meats just like the real ones."

"Does the owner have another kid that needs tutoring? I can teach them some tricks with a soccer ball." He says jokingly as he opens his container of fries. They look crispy and golden and amazing.

"I'll put a good word in for you," she snickers.

Their meal is paired deliciously with easy flowing conversation. They talk about their favorite types of food, share memories of the best meals they've ever had (seafood paella in Spain before Zelda became vegetarian, and Link's mom's cholay is to die for), and as they satisfy their appetites, a comfortable silence falls between them.

He's stealing fries from Zelda's take-out box since he's eaten every crumb of his, and she lounges beside him and lets him. His gluttonous munching is drowned out by the relaxing sounds of water sloshing up against the wooden dock as a couple ducks swim over the water's surface when Zelda's voice breaks through it all.

"So tell me Link," her orange sunglasses cover her eyes as she turns her head to look at him. "Are you running away from something in Central?"

He pauses mid-munch and stares at her for a long moment. When he feels the need to breathe again, he gives in. "...am I that obvious?"

"Not really," she smiles and shakes her head lazily. "You have a face that's easy for me to read, and I'm just a really good guesser."

"Remind me never to play cards with you then," he sneers and she laughs softly. No one has ever said he's easy to read before. He's always been the 'silent guy with the focused stare and blank expression.' Emotionless and reserved. A loner standing high on a pedestal to be idolized but never understood. How could she read him so well?

She squirms a little in her seat. "Well, what is it? What are you running away from? A job? Your dad? An ex-girlfriend?"

"All of the above...?" His shoulders rise to his ears until he releases the shrug with a long sigh. "I don't know, I just...I thought I wouldn't be found in Deku. I hoped that maybe by moving here I could get a fresh start or some...freedom." He looks down at his lap for a couple breaths before his eyes go wide and snaps his head back towards her. "I'm...I'm n-not a criminal or anything, I swear."

She laughs kindly then reaches out to place a hand on his forearm. "Trust me, I didn't think that for a second."

"Okay, good," he breathes and she lets out a couple more chuckles but doesn't remove her hand from where she placed it on his arm. He's beginning to appreciate the small, subtle grazes and touches she gifts him. Usually when women hit on him, it's borderline aggressive, completely out of his skill zone, and he always had a secret girlfriend no one knew about, but he's single now and she's right —she can read him so well. Zelda has quickly learned what he's comfortable with and how much is just enough.

Gingerly, she pulls on his wrist and turns his arm over, exposing the underside where his tattoo is, takes her sunglasses off, then grazes her fingers over the black ink. "May I ask you what this means? And what language is it written in? It's lovely."

The letters are small and written in a bold black font across the inside of his forearm. Surprisingly, he doesn't get too many questions on it, not even from interviewers inquiring about his other tattoos like the Hufflepuff one on his ankle or the ancient winged crest on his shoulder.

"It's my first and middle name written in Punjabi," he says, leaning into her.

She's still touching his arm when she looks up at him. Her eyes are so green, but he notices there's a hint of gold to them as well. "What's your middle name?" She asks.

Smiling bashfully, he answers; "Singh. It's a traditional Sikh name. My mom tells me it means lion or sometimes it can mean hero."

"You have a great name Link, you should use it more often," she smirks playfully.

He wants to flirt back, he really does, but she's hit a sensitive spot without even realizing it. You have no idea, he says in his head.

After a beat of silence, Zelda releases his arm and sits back in the seat again. "Your mom must miss you since you moved."

Instinctively, Link brushes over the spot on his arm where she had just been touching. He nods slowly, but it's more complex than that. "My mom um...she lives in England and takes care of my grandmother. I only get to see her every couple of years when she comes to visit." He sighs and runs a hand through his hair. "After I got accepted to Northern, my mom was the only one that supported me when I made the decision to start over. Even from far away, she knew I wasn't happy."

Zelda's quiet for a moment, absorbing his story. "And what about now? Do you feel happier here?"

Shifting his eyes from his lap to over the water's surface, Link watches the calming waves for a while then turns to look at her, answers honestly; "I'm getting there."

"Good," she smiles and he can feel the warmth of it settle into his chest.

He wants to ask about her story; if she's close to her mom, why she moved to Deku, what made her hate attending Lon Lon so much, and why she had to leave Hateno in the first place, anything to know more about her, but suddenly her phone chimes. Leaning into his shoulder, Zelda pulls it from her back pocket and when she reads the text she responds with a, "oh shit."

"What?" He says quickly, his muscles tensing.

She angles her phone screen up to his face so he can read it. It's a text from Hestu.

Just drove past the docks and saw your car. Bro, I knew you were the one eating in my boat! 🚤

"Oh shit," Link repeats, then another text quickly follows.

Gtfo please

Instantly, they scramble from the boat with a flurry of laughter between the two of them, grabbing all their garbage in a hurry and tossing it into the bin by the parking lot. They get back into her car almost reluctantly because each of them know it's probably time for her to drive him back home. Before she starts her car, Zelda rolls another joint and pops it into a small, cylinder container, then sends him a smile.

"For later," she smiles, and tucks it into her pocket.

When she asks for his address and he tells her, Zelda does a double take and he thinks he knows why. His apartment complex is not exactly the nicest one in town but it was the cheapest, and he's sitting in her car wearing an Armani shirt and recently just told her that he went to private school and lived on Whistling Hill. Since she's naturally curious, her mind must be working overtime to try to figure him out and it's only a matter of time before she does. Will she still like him for him? Or will she get freaked out by it all and bounce? There are so many things he still wants to learn about her and Link doesn't think he'd be able to handle the flutter of a quick friendship before it's yanked out from underneath him, especially since he's extremely sensitive and fragile nowadays. His mental health isn't the best at the moment and he's hyperaware of that.

She parks her car in the lot of his apartment complex and gets out to help unload his bike even when he insists on doing it himself. He doesn't mind the heavy lifting, not in the slightest, and he's actually starting to enjoy the feeling of her lingering eyes on him.

They stand with his bike between them as they shift restlessly, unsure of how to properly say goodbye, but Link surprises both of them when he speaks first.

"I hope you don't get in trouble with your friend because of me."

She waves a hand in the air nonchalantly. "Don't worry, he's not like that. He probably told us to get out so he could eat in it himself."

Link chuckles softly and stares down at his bike for awhile as he scratches the nape of his neck instinctively, unsure of what to say or how to express all his appreciation just for simply hanging out with him.

"This is for you," her voice drags him out of his shy spell and he looks at her. She's holding onto the cylinder container with the joint in it and pointing it at him.

"Oh uh...no, that's alright. Thank you." He shakes his head weakly.

"You didn't like it?"

"I did. To be honest, I really did but..." His words drift off, unsure of what to say. He's never been very good at accepting things from people, whether it's praise or compliments, a simple thanks, or free merchandise gifted to him because he's a celebrity. Was a celebrity.

She raises an eyebrow at him. "I don't know if you noticed, but you were able to talk to me without any issues after you smoked this today."

Wow, Link says in his head. She's right. He felt much more relaxed after hanging out with her and the joint clearly helped to keep his anxiety away and stress levels down. He's been so calm and comfortable around her that his speech issues weren't even at the forefront of his mind—like it usually is.

Without her even asking, Link shares his backstory. "I um...I had really bad childhood apraxia as a kid. I went through a lot of treatments and programs and...I could only sign until I was about nine or ten." He lets out a long sigh. "Everyone thought I was going to be mute for the rest of my life. Fortunately, I overcame it but...I can never rid of it entirely." He glances at her quickly, then looks down at his feet again. "Sorry, I don't...I don't know why I told you that."

"That's okay," she says gently, so he drags his eyes up to look at her. Her eyes are soft and kind and a crooked smile covers her lips and there's something about the expression she's giving him that makes him feel accepted and understood, without the judgement or unwanted pity.

"I know it obviously isn't a cure-all but...it might help you cope with what you're going through right now. You know, the move and all. It's a big change." She offers the container again and he takes it from her willingly this time.

"Thanks, I'll um... I'll save you a seat in class on Friday if...if you'd like."

She watches his shy behavior for a moment before a smile slowly spreads across her lips. "I was kinda hoping that you would."

"Good," he says, releasing a sigh of relief as she chuckles at him. "See you in class."

That smile on her lips turns flirtatious and she says; "Bye Link."

It's so refreshing to hear his name that he almost forgets to respond. "Bye...Bye Zelda."

Link turns and locks his bike outside his apartment as she drives away. Out of all the times he's dreaded having to face a classroom full of people, he suddenly isn't so worried about it anymore.