The walk to the Mall Santa Claus outpost was a quiet one. Roy did not like starting conversations. With Zelda by his side, he obligated to say something to break the silence, but... what could he say that wouldn't make a complete fool of himself? Forget trying to form enough words into a sentence, he could hardly keep his eyes straight ahead because all he could think of was her right next to him.
"Roy."
Her soft voice, gentle like the spring breeze, snapped him out of his thoughts. He looked her way, then looked away when he met her calm blue eyes.
"Roy," she said again, quieter this time.
"Yeah?"
"It's... that is to say, I didn't..."
Roy's heart caught in his throat. He looked back, for a moment forgetting his place and allowing hope to overcome him. Zelda opened her mouth. Then she looked away.
Roy wished a hole would appear under his feet and swallow him up. Did she know? Did he make it too obvious?
Guilt tugged at his soul, and he returned his gaze to the front. "Please, just ignore me. It's no big deal."
"Huh?" Zelda frowned. "No, it is! You're my friend. I care about how you feel."
But from the way she bit her lip, she still couldn't bring herself to say it. The weight of his guilt pressed down on him harder. Roy ducked his head and walked a bit faster.
She needed some distance. Maybe he did too. She didn't want to outright say it–perhaps she did not want to hurt him. And... if he was being honest, he did not want to be hurt either. She was–had been his friend. Would it hurt just to put it off for a little longer.
"Wait!" Zelda said, stumbling after him.
Roy pulled up his blue cloak over his face. "I–I'm fine. You don't have to worry about me."
"No, I mean wait!"
Zelda's fingers grasped at the edges of his shirt, and when Roy turned to look, she nodded behind them.
"The stand is that way."
Roy's face lit up, and he muttered, "Oh," before trudging after her.
With all these thoughts circling his head, he couldn't even remember where he was supposed to go. Zelda was right next to him, but trying to ignore her was just making it worse. One could not simply block out the sun by closing their eyes. They had to learn to live with it.
He needed something to take his mind off this.
Someone tugged at his sleeve. Roy turned, but it was not Zelda who looked up at him.
"Roy?" Lucas asked softly. "When is Santa going to come?"
Roy hummed, racking his brain for what he knew of the Santa Claus myth. "Santa Claus comes on Christmas, doesn't he? That's in two days."
"He comes on Christmas Eve, Roy." Zelda placed her hand on Roy's shoulder, softly laughing. Roy flinched. "He comes tomorrow."
"Yes, tomorrow." Roy tore his gaze from her and looked back at Lucas with a smile. "Are you looking forward to it?"
Lucas blinked, then his eyes widened. "Tomorrow? That's too late! I need to tell him something before he comes!"
Roy frowned, confused. Talk to him? Did he mean writing a letter to Santa Claus? That was something children did, wasn't it?
Zelda tapped his shoulder again, and pointed further down the hall. "I believe he meant the mall stand."
Roy followed her finger, and sure enough, there was the unoccupied stand in the middle of the Summit arena. Roy checked the clock. 2:30 PM, forty five minutes before he and Zelda were supposed to set up.
Zelda smiled at Lucas before he could, and she said, "Oh, there? Santa will be there very soon. Do you think you can wait a little longer?"
Lucas bit his lip and kicked the ground. After a moment's pause, he sighed. "Okay." Then he turned around and trudged away.
As soon as Lucas had gone far enough to not overhear them, Zelda's fingers clasped softly around his arm. Roy opened his mouth to ask what she was doing, but she dragged him with a surprising amount of strength into a smaller hallway.
It was only as soon as she had shoved the bright red costume into his arms in front of the bathroom door that he asked, "Is there any hurry? Do you have somewhere to be?"
Perhaps she had made arrangements with Link? The thought made him sad. He would have liked to spend a little more time with her.
Roy shook his head. No, I can't think like that. It only makes sense she would want to spend more time with her boyfriend instead of me.
Before him, Zelda reached up to pat his cheek. "No. But I don't think it's wise to keep the children waiting, would it?"
As the Ice Climbers wobbled their way over to the stand, Zelda smiled and leaned over next to Roy's ear.
"As I said before, you make an excellent Santa Claus."
Roy sank into his chair, like the compliment was a weight on his shoulder. Her and her mouth.
"Thank you," he muttered.
"It is no idle flattery! You are kind and caring, and the children adore you." She frowned, and patted over his shoulders. "You are certain you prepared everything, correct?"
Then she paused. Perhaps her fussing would not be appreciated–but she was worried about the children, she truly was! She flinched and drew her hand back. Thankfully, Roy did not seem to notice, busy rifling through his pockets.
"I have the spare beard and mustache," he muttered. "And my phone. Though, perhaps I should have left that in the bathroom."
"What about the Christmas candy?" Zelda whispered.
"The Christmas what?"
Zelda opened her mouth to reply, but the Ice Climbers pushed back the door to the stall and she was forced to look away.
Zelda let her eyes roam to the shops around them. As she admired how bits of the Summit flecked off the walls and decorated the air with tiny specks of light, she watched Nana and Popo gather around Roy and tug at his sleeves.
"Hey, Santa!" Nana said. "Is it true that you're made out of candy canes?"
"Candy canes? I don't... I don't think so..."
Popo groaned. "Aw, but we're hungry. Do you have anything else to eat?"
Roy patted his pockets again. "I... I don't know," he mumbled, and he turned to Zelda. "Zelda, do we have any candy canes?"
Zelda froze. Roy realized his mistake a moment later and slapped his mitts over his mouth, but Nana and Popo's eyes had already snapped onto her.
"Princess Zelda?" Nana said in a sing-song voice. "Is that you?"
Popo leaned close to her and hummed. "Wow, I think it is her! Her ears are pointy, just like Zelda's."
Roy nervously glanced her way, but Zelda clasped her hands and tried to put on her best smile. "Indeed. On Christmas, I serve as Santa's little helper elf! But don't tell anyone else, okay?"
"But you weren't here last year!" Nana said.
And that was true. She had never worked the mall Santa Claus stand before. That had always been Peach and Mario's job. She hadn't thought they would have noticed, and that was on her shoulders for underestimating how clever children could be.
Keeping a small laugh behind her lips, Zelda bowed her head and said, "I'm not the only one here who helps Santa watch over you boys and girls. How else do you think he gets all of you your presents so quickly?"
"That's right!" Popo said, and he smacked a fist into his palm. "That's why we never see him passing by when we all try to stake out on Christmas night."
A slip which might have screwed over Rosalina and Palutena's plans to deliver the children's presents this year. The two of them had been successful because the kids had been completely unaware of them, but Zelda's quick thinking might have squeezed the cat from the bag.
She would address the problem when it came to it. Reminding herself not to spoil anything more, Zelda smiled and reached into a bag at her side. "As a reward for figuring me out, would you like some extra candy canes for Christmas?"
Nana and Popo exchanged a look. "Yeah!" they cheered, and snatched them out of her hands. Before Zelda could say anything more, they scurried away and off the Summit.
"Did you have that the entire time?" Roy mumbled as soon as they were out of earshot.
"I did," Zelda replied, and she poured out some into her hand. "I did not give you any because I assumed you had already prepared some. The fault lies within me, and I apologize."
Roy pouted. "You don't need to apologize! You saved me back there. I would not know what to do without you." Then he gazed at the floor and picked at the white cuffs of his costume. "If anything, I should be the one apologizing. I had no intentions of giving you away."
"Think nothing of it," Zelda said, and she waved aside dismissively. "One cannot hope to fit a role well if they do not learn how to fit outside it. We all make mistakes."
"But still–"
Zelda clasped his shoulder, and she smiled in a way that she really hoped looked more reassuring than desperate. "It was a mistake, wasn't it? Then what is there to forgive? We are still friends, are we not? It is what friends are for."
Roy's gaze sank to the floor. Under her grip, she felt his shoulders fall. "Yeah. Friends."
Friends. They were still friends. He had not denied it, nor had he shied away from her touch. So why, then, did he still look so guilty?
Friends. That was all that they were, and all that they would ever be.
Roy was no fool. He did not hold such stupid expectations that they could be more, but to hear her say it herself... it still hurt.
There is so much more I want to apologize for. So much more that you cannot hear. Roy ducked his head in shame, hoping maybe that would give him something else to think about.
It did not.
Gods, I'm such a horrible friend.
Zelda's hand came up to his face. Roy's eyes widened, and he backed away, but she only reached up to grab his hat and move it back onto his head. When had that begun to fall off?
"My apologies," she said, coaxing the rim to fit around his bright red hair. "This shall only take a moment."
"Oh. Thank you."
Zelda hummed. She fastened the hat to his head, tied the false beard around his face, and as her hands ran over his neck, Roy quickly realized how dry his throat had become.
"Zelda? I don't mean to impose, but..." He swallowed. "Do you think you could fetch me a drink?"
Zelda paused. Even though she was behind him, he could still here the disappointment in her voice as she said, "Did you not get a drink while you were changing into the costume?"
"I forgot to. I was in a rush."
"I see." Zelda's hands left his side, and Roy breathed a sigh of relief.
There were no children here yet as far as he could tell. It was a risk for Zelda to leave right now, but she did not hesitate to leave his side and walk over to the nearest water fountain. She grabbed a paper cup from the stack of cups sitting on top of the machine, but when she pushed the button, the fountain did not respond.
"This fountain is broken," she said, turning back to him. "Would you mind terribly waiting until the station has to close for a drink?"
"No," Roy mumbled, sinking into his chair.
No, he did not mind, but his dry throat was still bugging him. Zelda seemed to notice it too. How she did, he could not guess, but she frowned and said, "I suppose it will not take me long to find another fountain. Do you think you can handle being Santa Claus by yourself until I return?"
Roy wanted to say no. He wanted her with him, he wanted her by her side because if things went wrong, what was he to do?
But... that was exactly why he couldn't say no, was it?
"I'll be fine," Roy replied, hoping she could see her smile behind his thick white beard. "It won't take long, will it?"
"I'll be back as soon as I can. I promise," Zelda said, and with a bow of her head, she turned around and left him alone at the base of the cold Summit mountain.
Apparently, the last time I updated this story was May. I believe the last time I wrote a Christmas romance story, it took me until May to get it finished. The fact that I haven't finished this one yet is entirely on me. I haven't been very consistent with my writing schedule, and that's something I've been trying to work on lately. I mean, I'm always working on it, it's just that summer break has given me more time to think about it and try to improve.
Funny enough, over the summer, I actually got a job working at a fast food place. Not McDonalds, but at Wendy's, which is basically the same thing. Yeah, I said that. Come sue me Wendy's.
If the next chapter does not come out in a timely manner, assume that I was sued into oblivion by the Hamra legal team. I've actually got a good amount of the next chapter plotted out because it was going to be part of this chapter, but I decided to split it in half for length reasons, so expect me to be done with it reasonably soon. A week, if you want to be optimistic.
Please, don't be afraid to review. It keeps my stories in my mind and helps motivate me to visit them between writing weird original stuff. Until then, remember to take care of yourselves out there, and stay safe!
