A/N Thanks for the reviews and for reading :)
"It's such a bummer Link has to work so much now," Shadow said. He and Sheik were taking an after school jog. Shadow didn't mention the fact that if his dad weren't in jail, he'd still have money, and if he had money he could help Link and Aryll and Grandma. He said nothing because he felt like everyone was sick of hearing about his dad being in jail. He wasn't embarrassed, he just . . . wanted things to be normal. But they couldn't be, and now he was stewing in his emotions.
"Right?" Sheik agreed, checking out the trees along the street. "He's missing out. Hyrule is beautiful today!"
Shadow was jerked out of his negative thought train. He grinned widely enough to show his fangs and laughed. "What's with you? You're in a good mood these days!"
"Dad's coming home!"
Shadow skidded to a halt, eyes wide in worry.
Sheik gave him a weirded out look, but still smiled. "Why are you stopping?"
"Sheik . . ."
"It's ok. We talked. I think he'll come around eventually. He has to. I'm his kid!"
You said kid, not son. He still doesn't accept that you're trans.
Rolling his eyes in an attempt to laugh it off, Sheik said, "It's fine, Shadow. Why can't you be happy for me? I haven't seen my dad in months!"
Yeah, because he didn't bother to come see you. "It's just . . . You're always really happy right up until your dad calls, then after, you're a mess."
Annoyance sparked across Sheik's face. No, almost anger. But it disappeared quickly. "It's just because I miss him. That's all. I'm miserable when he leaves, that's why I'm upset."
Yeah, it's got nothing to do with him treating you like a fucking girl.
"Don't you get that?"
Shadow chose to end the discussion and keep his thoughts to himself. He could tell Sheik was getting really insecure, like he always did about his parents ever since they separated a few months ago. He didn't want to make Sheik mad, or upset him more. He also wasn't looking forward to the fallout. Before it was just phone calls and Sheik would devolve into a self destructive storm cloud. What would happen when it was an actual visit?
He found out when they jogged up to Sheik's mansion half an hour later. A long limousine kind of thing sat outside the circular driveway, and as they got closer a man with a black goatee and wearing a suit and tie stepped out of it.
Sheik went careening across the lawn in the center of the circle right toward the man. "Dad!"
Shadow followed more slowly.
Mr. Harikinian smiled. "Hey, peanut!"
Sheik collided with him and hugged him tightly. Mr. Harkinian set him back on his feet. Parents do this thing where they look you up and down if they haven't seen you in longer than two seconds—Shadow's dad did it all the time, especially since the transplant. So it was weird when Mr. Harkinian didn't do that. It was hard to tell behind the man's sunglasses that he was looking anywhere but Sheik, but Shadow caught it, and so did Sheik.
Laying his hands self consciously over his binder, Sheik blushed. "I'm sorry," he said. "I didn't have time to get ready. I didn't know you were coming already."
Shadow stood nearby, resisting the urge to tell Sheik he didn't need to apologize for not dressing up as a girl for his stupid dad's comfort. But saying that would just upset Sheik more, he knew from experience, so he directed his discomfort into kicking a rock. It went careening into the driveway. Shadow hoped Mr. Harkinian ran over it and it would magically pop a tire. Then Sheik would be stuck here.
"That's alright, dear," Mr. Harkinian said, patting Sheik's shoulders while holding him at arm's length. "I couldn't wait to see you. Do you need anything out of the house? Let's leave now."
"Um, I need to change—"
"Don't you need new clothes? Let's take you shopping!"
"Uh, okay. Don't you want to talk to Mama?"
"I talked to her briefly before you came."
"Oh. Well, alright then." Sheik turned to Shadow with a relieved grin. "Are you gonna be okay if we don't do our usual?"
Was he supposed to say no? He shook his head.
"Okay. See ya, Shadow!" Sheik excitedly got into the limo with his dad, and soon they were speeding around the driveway.
They ran over the rock.
Didn't even slow them down.
Shadow sighed. He didn't mind a rain check with Sheik, but as selfish as it sounded, he'd been looking forward to getting fed by his mom. She always fed them.
"Shadow?"
He turned around and none other than Mrs. Harkinian herself stood at the top of the steps into the mansion. "Hi Mrs. G. Sheik just left."
She looked regretful. "I know. I was hoping to catch him, but I was too late. I wanted to speak to his father."
"Mr. H said he already talked to you."
Her expression barely changed, but that was the tip off. She was doing that thing parents do. Hiding feelings. Shadow felt he understood. Sheik's dad had lied to him, he hadn't really talked to his mother, and his mother couldn't say anything about it without making Mr. Harkinian look bad or risking Sheik not believing her and getting mad at her instead. And she wouldn't talk to Shadow about it, because Shadow was just a teenager, and if she accidentally said something, he might have to tell Sheik because bro code.
That's what he guessed, anyway. He'd ask Vaati later. Vaati was better with drama, even grown up drama.
Noticing Shadow was still standing there, Mrs. Harkinian said, "Do you want to come inside?"
Shadow hopped to the steps like a hot potato ready to be fried. "Sure!"
"—and I know Vaati doesn't wanna talk about why he disappeared, but I can't help wanting to ask because he always looks so sad, you know?"
Mrs. Harkinian handed him another cookie. "I understand."
Shadow lay on his back on the fancy plush couch in the Harkinian's living room. It was amazing here. He could come here and say whatever he needed to, and Mrs. Harkinian just listened. Sometimes when he came over with Sheik, he didn't actually want to be with Sheik. I mean, he did, but he spent a ton of time with Sheik, and besides, most of the time Sheik just wanted to do his homework anyways, so there were always at least a couple hours where it was just him laying on the couch, and Mrs. Harkinian, sitting in her fluffy chair with her tea listening to him gripe about stupid shit.
"And it's just . . . right now, he's staying with dad and me, so I always know he's safe, but once the trial comes, dad says we might lose the house so . . ." His voice faltered. Where will I go? Vaati has a flat with Kohga and Zant, could I live there? He raised to his elbows and looked at Mrs. Harkinian desperately. "Isn't there anything you can do?"
Mrs. Harkinian's eyebrows bent sadly, and she shook her head. "I'm afraid I've done all I can to put the trial off, Shadow."
"Can't you tell them something? That I just started school? It's gonna really screw up my future. You know?" He was just blurting anything off the top of his head.
Mrs. Harkinian just shook her head some more and stood up, tapping his shoulder before heading out of the room. "I'm sorry, Shadow, I truly am. Get up. I made vegan pudding."
Shadow shot straight up. "Pudding?! Wow, you're amazing!"
As he followed Mrs. Harkinian's perfect brown bun through the hall, and watched her gracefully walk, her dress swishing behind her, and he couldn't help thinking, is this what having a mom is like? He didn't feel like he could do anything wrong. Or, well, he could, but only when it mattered, then she'd give him some stern lesson but follow it up with cookies, so how could he feel bad about it? It wasn't like his dad, who used to scream at him about everything. Since the operation, the screaming has stopped, but even that was awkward.
Mrs. Harkinian looked back at him and smiled before turning into the kitchen.
When he got to the kitchen, she was already pulling two small bowls of pudding on the counter.
He charged over to one right away. "Aah! Chocolate!" He picked up a spoon and dug in immediately. "Mmmm, dark chocolate."
Mrs. Harikinian laughed, a giggling, bubbly sound. Not something you'd expect from a graceful senator's wife. "You're the only teenager I know who prefers dark to milk."
"Milk is for the weak!" Shadow declared, putting a large spoonful into his mouth, sucking every last tasty morsel off the spoon. "Also not vegan."
"You know, Shadow."
"Whazzat?" he said around a mouthful of glorious chocolate.
"If worse comes to worst, you can stay here."
He froze, spoon still in his mouth. "Dow youw men dat?" He pulled the spoon out of his mouth self consciously.
"I'm not saying you'll ever need to," she said. "And I know you'll probably want to live with Link and your grandmother—
Oh, right, he thought. That's probably where I'll go. It was strange he hadn't thought of that.
"But . . ." She looked him dead in the eyes, as serious as only moms could be he guessed, and continued, "If worse comes to worst, now, or anytime in the future, and you need a place to stay, for a little, for a while, for a long while, you can always come here."
Um, why were his eyes watery? He set his pudding down. "Um . . ." He wiped his eyes quickly. "Um . . . Thank you, Mrs. H, uh, Mrs. Harkinian, aah—"
Well, shit, now he was obviously tearing up, but he pretended he wasn't and put his hands on his hips to ask, "How did you know I was, uh, worried about that?"
She came over with her arms open. "It's a mom thing." She hugged him.
"I miss my mom," Shadow said into her shoulder. "I don't even fuc—I'm sorry."
"It's ok, Shadow, just talk."
"I don't even fucking know her, but I still miss her. Like, where is she? She should be here."
"I know she'd be here in a second, if she could be," Mrs. Harkinian said. "But in the meantime, I'm here instead." She pulled away and patted his cheeks. "Oh! Vaati's welcome, too. It's a big house."
Shadow laughed chokingly. "You gonna have a whole bunch of boys in your house?"
She shrugged as she strode back to the fridge. "Well." She patted her hair. "Not to brag, but I'm pretty good at raising boys!"
It made him grin when Mrs. Harkinian spoke about Sheik like that.
She was sweating through her shirt. She imagined how, if she were in the Twilight Realm, she could just rip it off and no one would ask questions.
Nobody polices Twili ladies there, she thought. Everybody runs around in mostly the nude.
Midna stood in the center of the coliseum in the center of the city, looking up at the shattered Twilight Mirror.
Well, partially shattered. The last several months she'd used her recently unblocked Twili powers to begin rebuilding it. She'd come quite far, at least a tenth of the mirror was back to normal.
Through the holes in the coliseum she could hear patrons of the historic site, curious Hyruleans who had come to ogle the great behemoth portal rock. The curators of the site had managed to limit patron entrance into the actual coliseum so she could work, but there was only so much they could do against prying eyes.
Ah, screw it, she thought. Let them see the power of Twilight!
Blue lines coursed through her as she activated her magic, her hair beginning to glow bright orange as it formed a fist. She was about to pick up a mirror piece when she saw Malon coming in with a box of food and a milk bottle.
Her day just got a thousand times better. "Ah, food!" Midna said, casually, as if she didn't even know Malon.
"Delivery!" Malon said in a convincingly business like manner.
"Hey!" Midna winked at her. "Thanks, I'm famished."
When they were standing in front of each other, Midna whispered through her fakely grinning teeth, "I really wanna kiss your face, but I can't."
Malon spoke through a tiny smile. "I mmmmmay have kissed the lip of the milk bottle."
Midna almost blushed. Couldn't have that! She swiped the box and the milk from Malon's hands and started walking away. "I left a tip on the table by the door!"
"Alright, thank you."
Unable to resist, Midna stopped and looked back, smiling. "See you tomorrow."
Malon giggled and waved. "See ya."
When Malon was gone, Midna sat on a rock and set the food beside her, the world suddenly several shades darker, and not in the cool Twilit way. She grabbed the milk bottle first and uncorked it. It made her giddy to think Malon's lips had been on it, and it felt so silly to feel so connected through something so small.
This is stupid. Are we in middle school? This . . . Is stupid. I should be able to kiss my girlfriend whenever I want!
She knew she couldn't. The council finding out she was gay was the last thing she needed right now. Even though she'd returned the Triforce of Power to the Hylians, and even though it was basically a fact that Yuga had given it to her when she was a baby in order to suppress her Twili powers (something about Light and Dark magics canceling each other out—Vio had known the details), Zant had somehow successfully made the Twili council believe she could still be a traitor, a defector to the Hylians.
Of course, they weren't telling her that.
No, they just betrothed her to Zant, of all people, so he could babysit her.
He's not even of Royal blood, like I am, so why does he get such a strong voice?
No matter the idiotic disbelief of the council, Midna was determined to prove that Yuga, the Prime Minister of Lorule, had something to do with the mirror's original shattering, and she was determined to fix it, and find her parents, and restore their rule over the Twili in Hyrule.
I'll never have to marry Zant, then!
"Twilight Princess~"
She suppressed a groan. "Zant." She bit into her sandwich aggressively.
He sat down next to her. The nerve! "How is my fiance?"
She almost spit out her food as she snapped, "Don't EVER call me that!"
"Pleasant as ever, I see." Ever since the council had chosen his side, Zant had gotten even cockier than normal. He didn't even complain about her bitchiness anymore. "I know the princess is doing her absolute best, but the council is anxious to know—how are the repairs going?"
No longer hungry, Midna slammed her sandwich back in the box and stood up. "Better if I didn't get interrupted by the likes of you." She turned back to him, hands on her hips. "Didn't they give you the report I sent this morning?"
"It wasn't complete."
"What are you talking about?"
He procured a copy of her report from his sleeve, rolled up and slightly crumpled. "I mean, it doesn't say when this effort will be finished. They are wondering."
"How should I know? This isn't a jigsaw puzzle."
"Yes, but you can understand their eagerness."
"No, I can't. You pestering me isn't going to make me go any faster. Besides, is the council, wondering, or you? The second that mirror gets fixed, you're off the council. You know that, right? No way is a young upstart gonna be kept when I'm sure there are older, wiser Twilis on the other side. Both of us are getting replaced." Thank goodness.
Zant made a show of gasping. "Why, it's only a mirror to our ancestors, Twilight, it's a beautiful piece of history, a connection to our homeland. Of course I want it completed!" He snarled.
"You're an orphan. You don't have any family there. Hyrule is all you know."
Suddenly he was earnest again, leaning forward with his fingertips pressed together. "But aren't you curious? It's our world."
Crap. "There's a lot better people for me to marry, also, I bet. I doubt this engagement will hold."
"Maybe. Maybe not."
Does he know something I don't? Why is he so confident?
He stood slowly. "Regardless," he said, "you ought to let me help you, princess."
"You are helping me. I need you in the library translating the old spellbook. You're better at it than I am." Before now, she'd thought Zant was as loyal to the Twili as she was. That was the whole purpose of their feud. He disagreed with how friendly she was with Hylians. Now, she wasn't sure he was loyal to anyone but himself.
He'll do anything to keep his power, won't he?
Sighing, he pulled out a stack of papers from his robes.
She raised an eyebrow at them as she took them. Can I even trust his translations? For all I know, he could be sabotaging the mirror!
"I'll tell the council you have no more news," Zant said, voice dripping with acid.
"Do that," Midna said, and turned away.
The next day at lunch, the group sat around the table like usual, and Midna joined them. Vaati had one arm around Shadow's shoulders and the two were laughing at private jokes, Kohga sat next to them, arms folded and head lolled to the side as he snored loudly. Link and Nabs sat together like always.
Midna sat across from Groose, noting Sheik wasn't here. She needed to talk to him about Zant's translations. The council would hate her for it, but she trusted Sheik a lot more than she trusted Zant. "Sheik in the bathroom?" she asked Groose. She got a little worried suddenly. Did he go alone? Why hadn't Groose gone with him? Going as a group might be a girl thing but Sheik was trans and there might be boys in there who'd beat him up and—
"He's not at school today." Groose's mouth set in a tight line and he stirred his soup absently.
Midna plopped her tray on the table. "What? Is he sick?" He's on that new birth control to stop his periods, maybe he's just super hormonal?
But Groose was already shaking his head. "He's with his dad."
The world kept spinning, but Midna froze. "Serious?" she finally got out.
"Serious," he repeated sadly.
Midna was pissed. Sheik skipping school? This is all his dad's fault! That manipulative, selfish, stupid Hylian bastard son of a—
"Hey, hon."
She looked up to find Nabooru grinning at her from under her golden eyeshadow.
"What's up, Nabs?"
"A lot, actually. When was the last time we hung out?"
Midna groaned with a dramatic shrug. "I work, you work, when are we supposed to?"
"I mean . . . Linebeck's is pretty laid back, if you wanna come over sometime."
"I could really use a break . . ." She thought about it. Linebeck's was a Hylian store, but an international one. It wouldn't cause any political problems to go there and chat with a Gerudo, would it?
"Besides, Link is taking this Saturday off to be with Aryll. I'm gonna be so bored."
Midna smirked a fangy smirk. Link was another Triforce holder. If he was out of the picture, that made it easy. "I'll try to sneak out."
While Midna and Nabs chatted, Groose turned to Link.
"So Link," he said, "have you thought about joining the Loftwing team?"
"I don't have time, dude," Link said. "I told you before, I have to make money."
"Yeah, but . . . You're super tough, and if you get good enough, there's scholarships, and sponsorships, and programs . . . Lots of money."
Link's food paused halfway to his mouth. He considered it for a long moment. Money, maybe college? A future? Then shook his head. "No. No, I'd have to be too good. There's no guarantee I'd be good enough. I've never even ridden a Loftwing, or done any sports." He rapped his knuckles on the table in agitation. "And I wouldn't get money forever. I need money now." He took a big bite of lasagna.
Groose pouted. "Darn."
"Yeah."
Link tried not to sulk on the way home. He had to walk past the Loftwing field to get to the bus stop. They flied overhead in formation. He recognized Groose's big red pompadour on the lead Loftwing. With his hands in his pockets, he imagined what it would be like, to be part of a team, to fly in the air, set records, beat his own records. He missed being on Darunia's research team, going to amazing places, doing amazing things.
But Loftwing games seemed even more fun.
I have lots of friends, what am I complaining about?
He tried to pull up the last time he'd actually hung out with them—like really hung out, party style. Karaoke, video game tournaments, sleepover, competing with each other at the skate park.
It took a long time to pull anything up.
I hate being a grownup, and I'm not even grown up yet. He didn't know of any other fifteen year olds who had to work two jobs on top of school. Except for Nabs. Everyone else had rich parents, even Sheik, and Shadow.
Shadow . . .
He didn't even have his own twin brother living with him anymore! They'd stay up late playing guitar or else talking about whatever. Before he got to the bus stop, he pulled out his phone and dialed.
"Yallo!" said Shadow. In the background Link could hear other voices laughing, probably Vaati and those other two kids he hung out with.
"Hey," Link said.
"What's up, bro?"
"Uh, nothing, just on my way to work, just thought I'd call. How are you doing?"
"Great! We're about to start watching Hyrule Warriors, remember that stupid TV show they made for it?"
Someone shouted, "It's not stupid, it's PEAK comedy!"
Link's chest ached. "Sounds like you're having fun."
"Haha, yeah, wish you were here, it's pretty dumb."
"I guess I'll hang up now, don't wanna bother you."
"Nah, it's fine, do you need something?" The voices in the background disappeared. Shadow must have gone into another room.
Thoughts hurried through Link's brain. Can I stay over at your place tonight? Can you stay at mine? I'll fall asleep the moment I'm home, but I still want you there, is that stupid? "Nah. I'm good. I'm glad you're having fun."
"Okay. See you at school!"
"K. Bye."
Ahead, he saw the bus drive off without him.
Shadow stared at the phone in his hand as he went back to the living room and sat on the couch. "Well, that was weird."
"What, Shay-shay?" Vaati asked, looping an arm around Shadow's shoulders immediately. Kohga had finally gone to shower, it sounded like, and Zant was in his room.
"It was Link," Shadow said. "It's weird he would call. He never calls anybody."
"Huh. Maybe he's worried about you?"
"Why?"
Vaati shrugged. "I dunno, you kinda almost died."
Shadow laughed. "But that was months ago, and he almost died, too. We all almost did." Maybe he's right, maybe Link is worried, I haven't checked in lately. He started texting Link a funny message.
Vaati hugged him close. "I'm sorry I wasn't here."
His fingers froze. Maybe he's going to talk about it finally! He set the phone aside and turned to Vaati, putting an arm on the back of the couch. "Yeah, you know . . . I was really worried about you, V."
"I was just at the island, why were you worried?"
"No you weren't. Remember? Your phone got disconnected, you withdrew from the Academy, I didn't hear from you for months. I even called Ezlo."
Vaati leaned back. "What?"
"I waited six hours for the phone guy to go find him, too. You know there's only one phone on the entire island?"
"I know that." Vaati sounded slightly irritated, so Shadow shut up.
Did I say too much?
"You really called him?" Vaati asked timidly.
"Yeah."
"When?"
"Uh . . . A couple weeks before the snowball fight where you said, um, goodbye." He still felt upset about it.
"Oh." Vaati sat with his legs together, shoulders slumped, tapping his fingers together in his lap.
Shadow couldn't resist. He leaned even further. "What happened Vaati? Where did you go? What happened to you?"
Vaati stood up suddenly. "It's in the past!"
Shadow stood up too. "Not for me!"
"It's a Picori thing!"
"I'm your friend, Vaati, I had nightmares because of you!"
"It's not about you!"
"No, it's about US!"
Vaati covered his face with his hands. "Don't ASK me, don't ASK me about it, Shadow!" His voice was shaking.
"Vaati, I'm right here for you, why won't you talk to me?" He tried to take Vaati by the shoulders, but the smaller kid pushed him in the chest.
"I DON'T want to talk about it EVER, Shadow!" Vaati ran from the room faster than Shadow could follow. He locked himself in the room he and Kohga shared.
Shadow put his ear against the door. He could hear Vaati sobbing loudly on the other side. "Vaati!"
He got no answer.
"I'm not leaving!" His own voice shook from hearing Vaati screaming. He sounded so helpless, and now Shadow felt like an idiot for making him so upset he was too embarrassed to be out here.
The bathroom door opened, and Kohga came out in a towel, brushing his teeth. His upper half was a forest of muscles.
Damn, Shadow thought.
"What's up?" Kohga asked, nodding at the bedroom door.
Oh, right, it's his room, too. "Uh, I pissed Vaati off. He's locked himself in."
Kohga sighed. "Well that's great."
"You want to try to talk to him? He won't answer me."
"Nah, he gets like this. There's no point." Kohga sat on the couch half naked and grabbed the remote.
"He . . . Does this? Does he do this a lot?"
"Two or three times a week. Though it's been a while cuz he's been at your place."
Vaati was emotional, he cried all the time, over serious stuff, over regular stuff, over stupid movies and crap.
What happened that was so bad he didn't want anyone to see him cry about it?
"He'll be done in an hour or so."
How could Kohga talk like this was normal? This was not normal. He didn't know what to do, he just stood there outside Vaati's door, watching the TV.
"Dude, he'll seriously be out in an hour. Just chill. Sit down. You're making me tired."
Shadow lowered his brows. "We don't do that in this family!"
"Family?" Kohga scoffed. "Do what, exactly?"
"We don't leave each other alone to cry." He turned and pounded on the door. "VAATI! OPEN UP! OR I SWEAR TO GOD I WILL PULL A DAD AND BREAK DOWN THIS DOOR!"
There were running footsteps, the door was flung open, and Vaati ran out and straight into Shadow's chest. He buried his face in Shadow's shirt, clutching him tightly. "I'm sorry! D-don't hurt me!"
Shadow wrapped his arms around Vaati protectively. "Vaati . . . I'm not going to hurt you. Why would you think that?"
"I'm sorry . . . I'm sorry . . ."
"Shush, what are you apologizing for?" He held Vaati's head against his chest and stroked his back, trying to calm his shaking.
"Huh," Kohga said from the couch. "That's new."
"Shh!" Shadow hissed. He held Vaati closely and whispered, "You don't have to talk about it. I'm sorry. I'll hold you til you're done crying. Don't worry, V." He carefully pulled them both into the room. He briefly considered letting Kohga get some clothes first, but then he got pissed at Kohga's cavalier attitude about Vaati's crying, and he closed the door firmly with his foot.