Damn this is a long chapter! As such, don't expect a new one for at least a week. Probably more. Ah well, hope you like this one! (And I love those reviews!)
zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz
9. Blame it on the Rain
"Thanks for coming," Link said. "I really appreciate this."
"It's no trouble," the girl called Bonanza replied, smiling. "So what's up?"
"Well, I don't know if he's told you this, but Sheik's sixteenth birthday is in a week."
"What!" Bonanza exclaimed. "It is? Really?"
"Uh-huh."
"Why didn't he tell me? Oh, what am I gonna do?"
"Relax Bonanza, I have a plan."
She looked up. "You do?"
"Uh-huh." Link removed a small bundle of fabric from his pocket. "Sheik outgrew this awhile ago, but he wouldn't stop wearing it until it got almost completely destroyed recently. I was wondering if, well, you could make him a new one?"
Bonanza took the fabric and unfolded it. "Hey, this is that rag he was always wearing. You were right about it being destroyed. What happened?"
"I think Sheik should be the one to tell you that. But the important thing is, can you do it?"
"Make a new one of these? Easily enough, but the pattern is pretty elaborate. Do I have to copy it exactly?"
"Yes!"
Bonanza blinked. "Okay, okay, sheesh. What's so important about it?"
"You're Sheik's friend, you oughta know."
Bonanza looked at him oddly. "You're his friend too you know."
"Sometimes I wonder," Link said softly.
"You are! He talks about you all the time!"
"He- he does?"
"Yeah, he does." Bonanza cocked her head. "Um, are you blushing?"
"What? No..." Link blushed even harder.
"Well, whatever. I'll see what I can do for Sheik's...vest-thingie, and be back on Thursday, 'kay?"
Link smiled. "Thanks Bonanza, you're the best."
"So I've been told," she smiled back.
zzz
Thursday, just as promised, Bonanza returned and delivered the completed vest.
"Why are your fingers all...multi-colored?" Link asked. "And covered in band-aids?"
Bonanza blew a strand of hair out of her face. "I said I did it, not that it was easy. You know, I thought of something though. Why didn't you just ask Sheik's mom or something? I mean, if it's a Sheikah thing wouldn't it make more sense to ask his family?"
"Mm, yeah, I thought of that. But I don't really know how to get in touch with his family. And the one time I met his sort-of mom she kinda...scared the living crap out of me."
Bonanza laughed.
"Look, I've gotta go, we're cleaning the highway again, but I'll tell Sheik what you did when I give him this later."
"All right, see you Link."
"Bye."
Link left smiling.
zzz
It started raining after they'd been outside only ten minutes, and still hadn't stopped two hours later when they got back.
Link rushed back to his room to grab Sheik's present, but before he could track his friend down a guard found him and told him he had a visitor.
"Link!" Saria exclaimed. "Why are you all wet?"
Link flicked his damp bangs out of his eyes and stared at her. "It's raining," he said simply.
"Well why were you out in the rain? And why haven't you dried off?"
Link looked down at himself. He shrugged.
"Well go do it! Do you want to catch pneumonia and die?"
"Um, no?"
"No! Of course not! Go take a warm shower and put on some dry clothes."
Link sighed. "Yes Mom."
"And don't roll your eyes at me young man!"
They grinned at each other.
When Link got back he and Saria sat down to really talk.
"So how are you really?" Saria asked. "I'm sorry I haven't been by more often, but, well, some stuff came up..."
Suddenly Link sat up and blinked. He had just remembered something. "Saria," he said seriously. "When's the last time you saw Mido?"
"Well, uh," Saria fiddled with her hands in her lap. "The thing is, um, a while ago we figured out that we, I mean all the Kokiri, can leave the forest with no ill effects. So Mido left to...I don't know, do stuff, and, well...we- we haven't seen him since."
Link clenched his fists for a moment, debating, then said, "I have."
"You have? Where is he?"
"Here."
Saria blinked. "Here as in, here?"
"Here as in, he was arrested and has like three years to go."
"Oh dear..."
"That's one way of putting it, yeah." Link looked at Saria's stricken face, and made the instant decision not to tellher what Mido had done to him. She was his sister, in many ways, and he didn't want to hurt her.
And that reminded him. It hadn't been long since he'd gotten it, so he still forgot about it sometimes, but if Saria noticed...
Casually, Link slid his left hand behind his back.
"What did he do?" Saria asked.
"I, uh, I'm not sure," Link lied.
"I don't believe you," Saria frowned.
"No, really! I don't know!" Link waved his hands in his effort to assay her.
One of his hands caught her eye. "What is that?"
"Uh..."
Saria grabbed the hand. "Link! Did you draw on yourself?"
"No," he said truthfully.
Saria peered closer at the picture on his hand. She licked one of her thumbs and wiped it across it.
"Saria! Ew!"
"Link," Saria fixed him with a glare reminiscent of Impa. "Is this a tattoo?"
"Erm..."
"You got a tattoo?"
"Well it would be silly to say no now."
"Link!"
"It's got nothing to do with you!" Link snapped. Then he saw the hurt look on her face and bit his lip. "Sorry. I didn't mean it like that. It's just...I like this tattoo."
"Yeah, okay. I'm sorry too, it's not my place to judge what you do. Not any more..."
"Um, Saria, you're my friend and all, but it was never your place."
"Yeah...you're right." Saria sighed. "I guess I've known for a while now that you and I aren't...the way we used to be."
"What do you mean?"
"You know I'll always be your friend, but I guess I can't be the type of friend I used to be."
"Saria..."
"You've grown up Link, and I never will."
"But you are grown up Saria. Just because you're no bigger than a ten-year-old, doesn't mean you aren't more grown up that I will ever be."
Saria smiled. "Maybe you're right. But...I think there is a reason the Kokiri don't normally leave the forest. Even more than that silly superstition. This...isn't our place. Our world. We belong in the forest, and nowhere else."
Link stared down at the floor. "And I don't belong there," he said softly.
"No, I guess not."
"I wish I did."
"I know."
They were both silent for a while.
"I love you Link," Saria said. "You are a good brother and a decent friend. Take care of yourself."
"Okay," Link said. "I love you too."
"I know." Saria got up, smiling. "Goodbye Link."
"Goodbye..."
zzz
Link, brain buzzing with thoughts, had trouble falling asleep that night. Sheik had been enormously happy with the new vest. So happy that he'd actually hugged Link. He'd never done that before, and it bothered Link how much he kept thinking about it.
That, along with saying goodbye to Saria, kept sleep at bay for a long time. Even the lulling sounds of the rain on the roof didn't help.
And when he did finally fall asleep, his dreams were very odd.
He dreamt that he woke up, still in his bed, with the rain still drumming loudly above his head, and saw a girl.
She was about his own age. Blonde, curvy, a little bit shorter than average, but definitely beautiful. In fact, though he didn't know why he thought this, she was exactly Link's type. He hadn't even known he had a type until he saw this girl, but he knew she was. She was dressed in Sheikah clothes, very like the ones Link had seen Sheik wearing a time or two, but she didn't look like a Sheikah.
And, oddly enough, she was soaking wet. From head to foot, completely drenched. She looked cold.
And then his dreams shifted and the girl was gone.
zzz
Link woke up late the next morning. He was used to getting up early to spar with Sheik, but it was almost too late to do that now.
Quickly Link threw off his covers and dressed. Only then did he notice something odd.
Sheik was still in bed.
Link grinned. This was the first time he had ever woken up before Sheik, and he fully intended to take advantage of it.
"Sheik, you lazy dork." He walked toward the other boy's bed, still grinning. Sheik was curled up under his sheets, only half his face visible. His hair was a tangled mess on the pillow, and he was frowning slightly in his sleep. He looked...really cute actually. "Come on Sheik, wake up. We should practice."
Shiek frowned a little bit more, then moaned.
"Sheik?"
Suddenly Sheik started coughing. A harsh, hacking cough that sounded painful and wracked Sheik's body with spasms.
"Sheik!" Link knelt down beside the bed and took hold of the other boy's shoulders. He coughed a bit more, then flopped down in the bed.
Link released one of Sheik's shoulders and wiped some hair out of his face. Then he gasped and drew the hand back. "Sheik! You're burning up!"
Sheik moaned again, looking like he was in real pain.
"Oh, Sheik..." Link had to suppress the urge to call him "baby," and he didn't want to think about why.
zzz
"Well?" Link asked urgently.
"I can't be positive without a blood test," the nurse said. "But it sure looks like pneumonia to me,"
"Pneumonia?" Saria's words flashed through his mind. 'Do you want to catch pneumonia and die?' "So he could...die?"
"Unlikely," the nurse reassured him. "If it is pneumonia, and I'm not saying it is, all he needs is some antibiotics and rest. Although, since we need a blood test, he will have to go to the hospital for a while."
"But he'll be okay?"
"I'm sure he will."
"He had better be."
The nurse looked at him sternly. "You can go now."
Link scowled, but he left.
He decided to do something he did very rarely, to get his mind off Sheik. He flopped down on the couch in the TV room and prepared to veg out.
"Break-in at the royal palace!" the anchorwoman announced. Link's ears perked up. "Late last night a young woman in Sheikah dress was seen entering the palace through a back window." A still picture appeared on the screen. It was of exactly what they'd said, a young woman in Sheikah clothes climbing through a window. Even though the picture was grainy and made worse by the rain, Link could tell the woman was beautiful. Blonde and lithe, with dangerous curves.
She looked familiar.
"She left only a few moments later, before the authorities had time to arrive," the TV said. "Nothing seems to have been taken, and both the palace rep and the police are refusing to comment."
"Weird..." Link muttered.
zzz
The next day Link pestered the nurse until he finally just gave Link a copy of the blood test results. Sure enough, pneumonia. Sheik had been moved to the hospital, and would be staying for a couple of days.
"Normally we would notify his family," the nurse said, "but we don't know if he has any."
"Impa," Link said.
"What?"
"There's a woman named Impa, I think she's his aunt or something, she visited him just a couple of weeks ago."
"All right, I'll check the visitor records and call her. Thanks."
"No problem."
"Don't you have anywhere to be?"
Link knew the price of saying no, so he left. Outside the infirmary, Link sighed then wandered down the hallway, staring at the papers.
"Hey Link," a couple of younger boys approached him. "What happened to Sheik?"
"He's sick," Link answered simply. "They took him to the hospital."
"What's he got? Is it bad?"
"See for yourself," Link handed them the papers.
"Pewmonia?" one boy said.
"It's not pewmonia," the other one rolled his eyes. "It's puh-newmonia."
"Uh, guys," Link tried to correct them but they weren't listening.
"Holy crap! Isn't that, like, bad?"
"Yeah! People can die of that!"
"Sheik's gonna die!"
"Oh no!"
Link sighed. "Sheik is not going to die."
The boys still weren't listening, but Link didn't have the energy to argue with them.
He spent the next few days trying and failing not to worry, and following the palace break-in story on the news and in the papers. One of the tabloids suggested that the young woman was the secret mistress of the king. Another thought she was the princess. Link thought they both were being ridiculous. The woman was much too young and acting far too sneaky to be the king's mistress, and the princess was a princess; she wouldn't be breaking in anywhere.
The nights were difficult. Without Sheik's soft breathing he found it difficult to fall asleep, and the fact that the reason the breathing was gone was because Sheik was in the hospital didn't help.
On the third night, after hours of lying awake, Link got up and climbed into Sheik's bed.
The sheets had been washed already and the pillow replaced since Sheik had contaminated them, but the mattress still had a dent in it from where Sheik's body had lain so many nights...
Link closed his eyes, and dreamed of Sheik.
zzz
"Link," a guard said.
"Yes?" Link looked up from the weeds he was pulling.
"You're wanted," the guard jerked his thumb back toward the main building. Link gulped, but followed him.
There was a police officer waiting for him in the entrance hall. "Your friend has been asking for you," he said. "His aunt insisted we bring you."
"Sheik?" Link said. "And...Impa?"
"That's right," the cop said. He held up a pair of handcuffs.
Link winced. "Do I have to?"
"Do you want to go?"
"Yeah..."
"Then yes, you have to. They told me you were an escape risk." This was true. After Link had ranted to Ruto for the umpteenth time about how much he hated being indoors so much, she'd had no choice but to report him. There were no hard feelings, Link didn't know what he'd do if he had the chance either.
"Can I at least be cuffed in front?" Link asked. Having his hands cuffed behind him had made him feel so vulnerable last time.
"Fine."
Link was cuffed, loaded in a suspiciously unsuspicious sedan just outside the building, and driven out of the complex.
For the first time in six years, Link was outside the complex and not even cleaning the highway. It was a very odd feeling.
Being in the hospital was even odder. He'd never been to a hospital before. In a way it was like juvie, with the gray hallways and lack of decoration. But in other ways it was very different. It smelled like lemons and antiseptic instead of cigarettes. It was full of people trying to help other people, or hoping to be helped, instead of young punks and grumpy guards. Though the doctors and other employees were dressed similarly, none of them were wearing orange jumpsuits. It was hard to believe Sheik was somewhere in this maze of overly clean hallways and constipated-looking doctors and nurses. Link never thought he'd miss the disgruntled male nurse back at the complex.
The cop gotdirections from the woman at the desk, Link didn't know if she was a nurse or what, and led Link up an elevator and down a hall.
Impa was standing outside the room, looking nearly as constipated as one of the doctors. "Wait here," she told the cop, "I'll take him in."
"But-"
"My nephew trusts him, so I'm willing to. Stay out here."
Not even the cop could stand up to Impa's blood-colored glare. He nodded and sat down in a chair near the door.
Impa grabbed Link's wrist and led him into the room. "Listen up," she hissed. "I don't know you, and I don't trust you."
"But you said-"
"I lied," she snapped. "The point is, Sheik likes you and he threatened to do something...foolish unless I let him see you. So here you are." She released Link's wrist and stepped back from him. "You have five minutes." She vanished into the hallway.
Link turned toward the bed. Sheik was lying on it, completely motionless, with a tube in his arm. Link ran a hand nervously through his hair, then stopped suddenly. He stared at the hand he'd just moved. He was uncuffed! Impa had uncuffed him!
Maybe she wasn't so bad after all.
Link, nervous again, sat in the chair beside the bed. "Hey Sheik."
"Hey Link," Sheik opened his eyes and smiled weakly.
"You okay?"
"Sure."
"Okay."
They were both silent.
"Seriously now," Link said. "How are you?"
Sheik laughed, the shallow huffing laugh of someone who knew if he laughed too hard he would start coughing. "I'll be okay, really."
"I don't know anything about pneumonia..." Link began. "But...should you still be this sick?"
"No," Sheik admitted. "I fought them a lot at first. I refused to let them do anything to me until Impa got here."
"Why would you do a thing like that?"
"Uh..."
"Sheik?"
"I shouldn't have said that. I'm kind of high right now, what with the painkillers and all..."
"Sheik, you can tell me. You can tell me anything."
Sheik looked at Link, and his eyes were rather unfocused. "I've been lying to you Link," he said softly. "About my name, about my life, about...everything."
"It's okay Sheik, I don't care."
"But you will care...once I tell you..." His voice was so soft Link could barely hear him. "You'll... hate me..."
"No Sheik!" Link grabbed Sheik's hand. "No! I could never hate you! I lo-" He stopped abruptly. Sheik was asleep or unconscious, and Link had just realized what he had been about to say.
He released Sheik's hand and stood up. He removed all expression from his face with conscious effort, then turned and went to the door.
He opened it just a bit and looked out. "He's asleep, Miss Impa," he said flatly.
"Very well." Impa stepped into the room and snapped Link's cuffs back on, then led him back into the hallway.
Link was quiet all the way back to the complex, and even after he got back. A couple of people tried to stop him, ask him where he'd been and what had happened, but he didn't even look at them.
He walked straight to his room, flopped on his bed, and pulled out his journal.
He stared at a blank page for several moments, hardly able to believe what he was going to write. But it was true, he finally realized it was true.
I love him, he wrote.
He loved him. Link was in love with Sheik. It was not friendly, or even brotherly love, it was "I want you, I need you, please baby, please" love.
Except he didn't feel that way about Sheik. Link wasn't gay, and he wasn't just denying it because he was scared. He was genuinely not attracted to guys. Even in his erotic dreams about Sheik (and now that he thought about it there had been quite a few) the other boy had always sprouted breasts, at the very least.
And yet he loved him. It didn't make any sense. Goddammit! Link scrawled. Why couldn't I at least be gay? At least then this would be okay, or at least make a hell of a lot more sense.
"Goddammit!" Link realized with a jolt that he had said that last one out loud, instead of writing it.
He dug his knuckles into his eyes. It hurt. The knuckles, the thing with Sheik, it all hurt. But he couldn't do anything about it. How could he tell Sheik that he meant more to him than anyone else ever had, and still expect him to believe that he wasn't interested in his body? It was far too much to ask.
I want to spend my life with him, Link wrote. I want to be by his side forever and always and never have to worry about solitary or Mido or twins getting in the way. I just want him.
Link closed his eyes and thought for a moment, then bit his lip and started writing furiously. It can't be though. It's too messed up to ever happen. Sheik likes girls, I like girls, but I love him. If we were to live together, after we get out of here, how long could I keep it up? Pretending I didn't have these feelings. I've had them for a long time, I realize that now, and I'm pretty surprised I didn't notice before now. God! I've been like a lovesick puppy around him! Has anyone else noticed? Could they have? I hope Mido hasn't...
Huh, I wonder what Mido would do if I was really gay? Nothing good of course, but I have to admit his initial reaction would be priceless. He grinned, though there was no humor behind it.
I wish I was dead.
zzz
"Sheik's out of the picture," Mido said as he paced before his ragtag group of followers. "That means Link's vulnerable, in more ways than one. Now is the time to strike!"
"So what do we do Boss?" a toadie asked.
Mido grinned. "Listen well my children, for this will make or break us..."
zzz
With nothing better to do, Link kept following the story of the break-in at the palace. For one thing, he needed something to distract him from thoughts that were bordering on suicidal. For another, the girl who'd done it was a total babe.
The media was finally dying down about it. Link didn't know what the palace had said, but it seemed to have done the trick. Without the story though, Link didn't know what else to do.
It was only two days after Link had seen Sheik in the hospital, and he was feeling more lost than ever. Now that he understood the truth about his feelings, he was afraid to be around Sheik, but he still wanted to be near him.
Plus, though he didn't want to admit it, he was feeling rather self-destructive. He wanted to see Sheik because he knew it might ruin everything, and a part of him wanted it ruined. The same part of him that clenched his fists until his fingernails dug into his palms deep enough to draw blood.
Link had his first meeting with Ruto since Sheik had gotten sick that day. Her first question?
"You okay?"
"Fine," Link said.
"That's a guy 'fine,'" Ruto said accusingly. "You say it when you're not fine but don't want to talk about it."
"If you already knew, why did you ask me?"
"No need to be grumpy," she snorted.
"No? My best friend is near death." Saying the words only increased the pain. He knew he would never be able to tell Ruto what else was wrong.
"Sheik!" she exclaimed. "What happened to him!"
Link blinked. He hadn't realized Ruto knew him well enough to automatically know he was talking about Sheik when he said "best friend." "He, well, he caught pneumonia."
"Pneumonia? What's that?"
Link should have realized a Zora wouldn't know anything about a disease often caught by standing out in the rain. "It's a pretty bad disease, people used to die from it. I think you get it from being wet and cold and not warming up."
"Well how did Sheik get wet and cold?"
"It was raining when we were cleaning the highway."
"You were there too?"
"Yeah."
"But you're not sick."
"I dried off."
"Anyone else sick?"
"No..."
"So...everyone but Sheik dried off?"
"I- I guess so..."
Ruto blinked all four of her eyes, slowly. "Didn't you tell me Sheik is smart?"
"He is! He is... Normally... This time I guess he just...wasn't."
"Uh-huh," Ruto had slipped into sarcasm mode. "You sure he's not suicidal?"
"No, that's me."
Ruto stared at him.
Link clapped his hand over his mouth.
"I- I have to go." Link got up and rushed out.
"Link! No!" Ruto called after him. But he was already gone. "No..."
Link, running down the hall, almost tripped over someone smaller than him. "Sorry," he muttered, then tried to move on.
But the small person had grabbed his shirt in a surprisingly strong grip, and wasn't letting go. "I don't think so," a familiar voice said.
"Oh hell."
zzz
"Here's the deal," Mido grinned as he paced before him. "You and me are going to have it out, and whoever loses, a.k.a. you, takes the blame for whatever we trash."
"That's the worst plan you've ever had," Link glared at him.
"Well we're doing it."
"Ever."
"You don't really have a choice."
"Ever in the history of ever."
"Shut up!"
"I'm not doing it."
"What if I just punch you in the head and we go from there?"
"I don't believe this is your whole plan."
Mido blinked. "Uh, wh- what do you mean?"
"Us beating on each other? That cannot be your whole plan. For one thing, why am I tied to this chair?"
Link was, in fact, tied to a chair. Mido had threatened to scream and pretend Link was hurting him if he didn't come quietly, and somehow that had led to Link not complaining when Mido and his cronies tied him up.
It was that self-destructiveness again.
He didn't even want to know where they'd gotten the rope.
"Hey Boss?" one of the toadies said. "Uh, you remember when you told me to watch for guards?"
Mido sighed. "Is a guard coming?"
"No..."
"Are several guards coming?"
"Kinda..."
"All right, everyone scatter."
"But what about..." the kid jerked his thumb toward Link, who was struggling furiously against his bindings.
"Leave him. Doesn't matter."
The boys ran, leaving Link in the chair.
"I hate that guy so much..." Link muttered. Then he resumed his struggling. Several seconds of grunting and wiggling only resulted in the chair tipping over. "Oh yeah, I really hate that guy."
zzz
No one found Link. The kid had been wrong about guards coming, or they'd been going somewhere else. Either way, he had to struggle and writhe until his wrists were scraped up and his shoulders sore, but at least he was free.
It was only twenty minutes till lights out, and Link didn't feel like eating. He hadn't felt like eating for a while. He just went back to his room, lay down on his bed, and stared at the ceiling.
Mido wasn't going to just give up, not after this. Link couldn't help but wonder what his real plan was, but couldn't worry about that now.
Now he had to worry about Sheik.
zzz
"Okay," Mido grumbled. "That didn't work. But we can just go back to my original plan instead of that weird improv one."
"But Boss, I thought you wanted to pound that guy."
"I will, I will, but we need to go back to Plan A."
"We lettered the plans?"
"There is only one plan!" Mido exclaimed. He sighed. He had forgotten how stupid children could be. Just because they looked like his peers, didn't mean they were even close. "Look, do you remember what you're supposed to do?"
"Yeah," they chorused.
"Then we start tomorrow."
zzz
Link wandered down the hall to breakfast, still moping. He almost passed by the small boy crying softly against one wall. But Link was a good guy, he couldn't just ignore a crying kid.
"Hey," he leaned down and put his hand on the boy's shoulder. "You okay?"
The boy looked up at him. He didn't look like he'd been crying.
"Leave me alone!" the boy screamed.
"Hey!" Link tried to step back, but the boy had grabbed the hand he'd put on his shoulder and was holding on tight.
"Help! Help!" the boy sounded terrified.
Some cut-off part of Link noted that the boy was a pretty good actor.
By now the boy's screams had attracted gawkers and guards, and Link was in trouble...
He ran for it.
zzz
Later, just before lunch, Link almost tripped over another small boy who had darted out in front of him. The boy threw himself to the ground and yelled, "Hey!"
"What?" Link asked.
"You shoved me!"
"No I-"
"You jerk!"
"What? But-"
"Waaaaahh!"
Link was starting to recognize this boy, but the guards were coming again. Link ran.
zzz
Late that afternoon, it happened again. The same little boy ran up, grabbed his hand, put it on his head, and started flailing wildly as though Link was pulling his hair. It was a good bit of acting, and the boy had a surprisingly strong grip.
Link couldn't escape this time...
zzz
Naturally, the guards didn't believe Link when he said the boy had just started screaming for no reason. It wasn't at all unusual for the older boys to pick on the younger ones, but it was very unusual for one of them to actually care about anyone else. It wasn't good for a person's reputation, for one thing. And, of course, there were the times when hehadn't even been crying.
Link stuck to his story for as long as he felt like it, then just said "uh-huh" to all their questions until they confined him to his room for a few days.
On his way to his room, he ran into Mido.
"Well?" Mido asked.
"Well what?" Link muttered. "You wanna throw down? Because I'm in the mood for that."
"Nah," Mido grinned. "I just want to know what they did to you."
"Nothin.'"
"Nothing?"
"Nothin' important. I'm grounded."
"Grounded!"
"You gonna repeated everything I say?"
"So you're confined to your room!"
"Yup." Link noticed the stricken look on Mido's face. He bent down and grinned at him. "You gonna miss me?"
"What? No! But how am I supposed to mess with you if you're locked in your room!"
Link laughed. "That's your problem. I think I'm actually going to enjoy this."
Mido growled.
zzz
"Plan backfired," Mido told his toadies. "You," he pointed at the "good actor." "You're dead to me."
"Aw, but-"
"Dead!"
The boy left reluctantly, muttering under his breath.
"So now what?"
"As soon as he gets out I'm gonna... We're gonna... I don't know!" He growled and started pacing again. "That bastard...thinks he's so cool..." There was a mad light in Mido's eyes as he gritted his teeth and paced wildly.
His toadies started backing up.
"All the time he was there...everyone's attention... Even in juvie he's the most popular guy around!" Mido punched his palm. "I'll show him. I will! I'll prove I'm better than...Stop creeping backwards before I break all your legs!"
The toadies stopped creeping, but they couldn't help but exchange frightened glances.
Mido had gone over the edge.
zzz
Link lay on his back on Sheik's bed, staring at the ceiling. He never thought he would miss something like Sheik's scent, but suddenly all he wanted was to be able to smell his hair.
Maybe he was just being stupid, maybe he should just try to forget about Sheik. But how could he forget about him when they slept in the same room? And he didn't want to forget about him. He liked loving Sheik. Whenever they were together he felt...better, more complete than when they were apart. It felt good.
But it wouldn't work. He could never be with Sheik the way he really wanted to be, not only because Sheik didn't have the proper anatomical parts.
Link sighed again. Maybe things really would be better if he were dead. At least he wouldn't have to worry about anything. Ever again.
What would everyone think if I died? Link wondered. Mido'd probably throw a party, tell everyone back home, and make Sheik miserable for mourning me.
Sheik...
Link sat up. If I died, Sheik would be sad. Just like how I would be sad if he died. Just like how I am sad because he might be dying... Okay, suicide is bad. I'm going to live, if only because I don't want to hurt the one I love.
The one I love...
Link gritted his teeth and punched Sheik's pillow.
"Hey! What did my bed ever do to you?"
Link turned slowly, sure he was hearing things.
Sheik stood, grinning, in the doorway. He looked a little tired, but otherwise fine.
He was the most beautiful thing Link had ever seen in his life.
"Sheik!" Link leapt up and threw himself at the other boy, practically knocking them both to the ground. "I missed you so much man! You have no idea what I went through while you were gone! First Mido tied me to a chair and then-"
"Link," Sheik grinned sheepishly and tried to pry him off a little. "Let's talk in our room, okay?"
"Oh, uh, right." Link released him reluctantly and Sheik came in, shutting the door behind him.
"So what's this about Mido?" Sheik asked, sitting on his bed.
Link sat across from him and started telling him the story, but he didn't get far before Sheik interrupted him.
"You visited me at the hospital?"
Link blinked. "You don't remember?"
Sheik looked up, thoughtful. "I think I remember you being there, but I was pretty heavily medicated most of the time. It's all a blur."
"So...you don't remember what you said?" Link's heart sank.
"Not really," Sheik shrugged. "It was like it was all a dream, you know? Like it was very far away..." He fiddled with his fingers awkwardly, then asked, "Did I say anything... weird?"
"Well, not weird exactly. You said you'd lied to me about everything and that I was going to hate you."
Sheik laughed. "You call that not weird? I've got no idea where that came from."
"So you aren't lying to me?"
"Nah, not really. Not about anything important anyway." He grinned. "You've already guessed that my name isn't really Sheik, haven't you?"
"Well, it is kind of an obvious pseudonym..."
"It was the best I could do at the time. I was ten years old!"
Link smiled fondly. It was so good to have Sheik back...
Sheik was smiling at him too.
For awhile they smiled at each other, and they may have stayed like that, smiling like idiots, for hours if the call for lights out hadn't come.
They had to change in the dark, for which Link was grateful, but as soon as they were in bed, Sheik whispered, "So what else did Mido do to you?"
Link told him, and Sheik didn't even drift off halfway through it. It wasn't until the story was long over that Sheik's breathing slowed and Link could be certain he was asleep.
Then he rolled out of bed and crossed the tiny room. He kneeled beside Sheik's bed and looked at as much of his face as he could in the dark.
"You awake?" he whispered.
Sheik didn't even twitch.
Link leaned down until he could feel Sheik's breath. He closed his eyes. He inhaled deeply. The scent of Sheik's hair...
"I love you Sheik," Link whispered. "I couldn't go on without telling you. I love you..."
Sheik's breathing didn't change.
Link wanted to kiss Sheik more than anything, but he didn't. He couldn't risk waking him up. He had told Sheik how he felt, and that was enough for now.
It would have to be.