A/N: Had this idea digging around in my head for a while now, finally slowed down enough to put it down. LttP Zelda, and BotW Link of course. Please enjoy!
"There you are. I finally caught you!"
Link hears the bright voice and immediately forgets about his coffee mug, still steaming in the morning sun on the table. No one comes to this café. Why did she come to this cafe, how did she know? He watches silently as the girl he's been avoiding makes herself at home in the seat across from him. Looking at her turns his brain around too much. He recognizes the glossy blonde hair, the pointed tip ears so similar to his own, but not the eyes. They're brilliantly blue, almost like they're shouting the fact that they're different at him.
"Hiding in a place like this," Zelda says, playfully tapping her fingers across the tabletop as her eyes wander, "Who knew?"
Link's knuckles are clenched tight, fists digging into his pants. He exhales almost imperceptibly through his nose and his palms are laid flat against his legs. "It's quiet," he says.
"And you like that, don't you?" Zelda says, her eyes glittering.
Link nods without saying anything further. Zelda's smile wavers slightly, and for a second Link regrets being so callous. Then the smile flashes stronger and she's leaning forward with her arms resting lazily on the table and his pants bundle up in his clenched fingers.
"I'm just making the rounds, you see." She says, "I'd like to hear what everyone thinks of the flowers I picked out."
Link swallows roughly and musters up whatever self-control he can this early morning. "The dandelions on the mantelpiece?"
"The very same, above the fireplace." She starts fiddling with her hands and goes silent.
"...I thought they were fine." Link's tone betrays nothing.
Zelda searches his expression. "Truly?"
"Yes. They're...just flowers."
Zelda's expression grows cheekier. "You don't sound so certain."
Link frowns. He wasn't expecting her to be…pleased. "Yeah?"
She perks up in her seat. "There it is. Don't think I haven't noticed that same little scowl when you happen to walk by them.
"That's just my face."
"It's a good one. Even so, it shifts just enough for someone like me to notice whenever you pass the dandelions."
Link swallows roughly. "Hey, I didn't mean any-"
"Oh no, please don't take me for offended!" Zelda reaches to smoothen her hair a little and dips her chin down helplessly. "To be perfectly honest, aestheticism has never been a field I'm very confident in."
Link glances at her pretty pink-white dress, the gold tiara on her forehead with the ruby placed perfectly in the middle and the matching earrings. "Uh-huh."
Zelda follows his gaze and bursts out laughing. There's a melodic sort of quality to it. "I'm blessed with servants savvy enough to know what makes for a good wardrobe, thankfully." She looks away bashfully. "...you must think it so strange, huh? A princess who can't pick out her own clothes?"
"The only princesses I've ever seen that actually look like 'princesses' are the ones rooming here."
Zelda laughs again, and Link grits his teeth at how he doesn't hate it. She recomposes herself before continuing. "Regardless, back in Hyrule-"
She falters. The lightness vanishes and tension drops like a rock on Link's shoulders and there's a burning desire to escape the situation in his chest. Still, he stays rooted to his seat.
Zelda clears her throat. "-that is to say, back in my country," she clears her throat again, "there were so many times where I'd pick something out, a color for the drapes or what have you, because I liked it. Only to be rewarded with strained smiles from retainers and guests alike."
Link frowns more openly. "That's stupid. If they're not honest around their own princess, then when?"
Zelda waves the question away, "That's neither here nor there. I don't begrudge people for being polite."
"If you can tell, then they're not being polite."
Something lights up in Zelda's eyes. "How polite do you feel right now?"
Damn.
Zelda folds her arms and holds her chin up high as if she's made some brilliant point. Link rubs the bridge of his nose and sighs.
"Alright, alright. There are better decorations."
"Oh, thank the goddess I'm not insane!" Zelda says with hands clasped.
Link thinks to himself before speaking again. "And there are better servants to go around. Should be, at least. More honest ones."
"I'm afraid honesty is a little hard to come by in my line of work," Zelda says, "or anywhere, it seems. Just look at how I had to drag it out of you."
Link bites back what he really wants to say. "I'll try and be a little more forthcoming," is what comes out.
Zelda flashes an even brighter smile at him and Link is fighting not to scowl again. "So gruff, so reserved," she teases. "I can only imagine what she has to go through dealing with you."
The last part is rushed out, tentative and unsure. She. Link stiffens at the word. He shifts in his seat as he brings the mug up to his lips. The black coffee runs warm and bitter down his throat, having sat there neglected for too long now.
"Yeah, I'm quite a handful." He deflects in as neutral a tone as he can. He has to be fair, he reminds himself. This dainty little girl in front of him didn't choose her name, did she? It's not like Link asked for there to be three of him either, yet there are.
They aren't really him, he's quick to remind himself. Just like how this girl isn't really Zelda.
Her expression fishes for a longer response out of him, but Link doesn't speak up again. Suddenly she sighs and makes a big show of stretching her arms as she gets up.
"Well, I'll leave you to your drink before it chills completely," she says, her smile softening, "Perhaps...some time you can point me to more proper mantle decorations?"
Link considers the possibility of spending more time with this Zelda and shudders. He wonders if he has a choice.
A fire crackles in the hearth, and a single purple vase filled with dim-blue flowers decorate the mantle. The lounge is cozy to a stuffy degree, walls draped in velvet and cushy couches resting on the carpet. Link started off the night standing separate from the rest of the fighters as they mingled, and hours later he still stands a ways back in a corner of the lounge. To his regret, he's not without company.
"So there is a Death Mountain," Zelda muses as she sits and dangles her feet playfully off the pool table, "and a Kakariko."
"Mhmm." Link murmurs with the glass to his lips. Serving milk at a party feels odd, but one of the other "him"s had insisted. Drinking it brings on a faint buzz in the head and a loosening of the shoulders. Link's on his fifth cup.
Zelda is on her tenth. "And there are Zora as well-"
"Not like yours, from what you told me." Link places the empty cup down next to him as he wags his finger, "Zora are good folk."
"Right, right," Zelda hiccups, "And then there are these other races, Gorons-"
"Yep. Real fun guys."
"Rito-?"
"They bleed me dry every time I visit. Air's nice there, though."
Zelda squints as she pouts. "The topography in your time just sounds so incredibly different compared to mine."
Link nods. "I'm a little turned around by all this too."
More than a little, but Link keeps that to himself.
Zelda hops off the table and taps her chin as she inspects his face. "Such a headscratcher indeed. Are you from my past or my future?"
"Dunno. You have no idea what a camera is, that's something. Could also mean anything, though." Link masks his slight turn away from her approach with his words.
Someone in the group laughs and the pair turn to the fireplace. They're crowded around Lucina and Little Mac locked in an arm wrestling contest, Mac oddly on the losing end of things. Kirby sleeps snugly in one of the armchairs amidst all the sudden excitement.
"Everyone here is from a different time or place," Zelda says, "often both. Madness."
"Think they like it like that." Link says. "The people running the show. They want it to feel fun and crazy and all that."
Zelda sways her hips as she turns back. "It is fun, isn't it?"
Her gaze is warm, hopeful. Link can only match it for a few seconds before he looks away again.
"I think they got what they wanted." He deadpans. He needs another cup.
Zelda returns her attention to the fireplace, to the flowers resting above the mantle.
"Cannot thank you enough, by the by." She says, "Blue Nightshade, right? They're lovely."
Link's vision clears up. "Yeah. They're shy. The color is dim, but they glow. They want to be noticed, but they're modest about it."
Zelda cringes the longer Link talks about the flowers. "A far cry from my dandelions, I presume?"
"There's nothing inherently wrong with dandelions. They're actually pretty nice. They pop, they're the first thing your eyes are drawn to in any given place."
Zelda's arms loosen to her sides and she looks at Link curiously.
Link looks past her. "They're confident, in a cheerful sort of way I guess. But take a look at the lounge."
Zelda does so. Link observes the little shifts in her baby blues and can almost feel the wheels turn in her head.
"It's all very subdued," Zelda decides. "The velvet of the carpet, the crushed blacks and warm browns."
Link smiles. "Right. Now think about the dandelions, sitting on the mantle. The mantle that's positioned so it's the first thing you see when you walk through the door."
Zelda's hair swishes around her shoulders as she faces Link, "Right!"
She looks back and forth between him and the mantelpiece with her eyes dazzled in wonder and Link isn't as uncomfortable as he wants to be now. He decides it must be the milk, and curses whoever Romani is.
"The Blue Nightshade isn't a hundred percent ideal," he mumbles, "But it goes better with the atmosphere."
"How did you acquire such a keen eye for this sort of thing, doing what you do?" Zelda asks.
Link snaps his head at that. He slowly brings himself up from his spot against the wall, a mischievous glint in his eye. "Wow."
"Oh come now, you know I didn't mean any ill will by that!" Zelda laughs.
"You didn't mean to ruin the atmosphere either, but..."
She lightly smacks his shoulder. "You think yourself so clever." She rolls her eyes but she's still smiling. "Truly though, what's your secret?"
Link runs a hand through his hair and sighs. "Honestly? It might be the cooking."
Zelda gasps. "Cooking? You can cook!"
"That's a whole thing on its own, but yeah. You take the time to sit down and figure out what goes with what. Think that's the pause you're trying to look for."
It's like Zelda's seeing him for the first time. Her lips curl up as she bites lightly at her knuckle. "An adventurer and a chef. Hero in more ways than one."
"I dabble."
"Don't think you can fool me with some modesty act now. You must let me try something of yours someday, I insist."
"I cook for me and no one else."
She scoffs. "And this is some golden rule written in permanent ink?"
"For me? Definitely."
Her eyes narrow to slits as she smirks. "For me no such ink is permanent enough. You'll come around, you'll see."
He sees her sometimes. He turns his head in the mess hall and she's sitting a few seats down, or he returns to his room at the end of another aimless day and she runs past him, heels squeaking against the tiles and hands locked with another one of the princesses rooming in the mansion as they both giggle and gossip their way past. She'll look at him and smile her smile and wave and he'll wave back and she'll return to whatever it is she's doing. What does she do? She talks to a lot of people. They haven't been here very long, how has she made so many friends so fast? That must be it. He's just another friend in the mansion, another acquaintance, another check off her list. Right. Good. He has nothing to worry about. Not that he ever did in the first place.
Sun's too bright.
Link sits on a stone bench in front of a glimmering pearl fountain sheltered by the trees. They're good, full trees pocketing the green expanse around them in bunches. The breeze licks at the open cuts on his face.
"Got him good, didn't I?" Link says, breathing and sweating. Something cold dabs at his cheeks, and a dainty hand perches on his knee.
"I'll say," Zelda responds, her expression serious as she tends to Link with a handkerchief. "Utterly barbaric, that overgrown lizard. He hardly gave you enough time to breathe in there."
Link laughs and the pain's sharp in his chest. "Never any time." Zelda tries rubbing away at the scorch marks on his torn up tunic as a low fire starts burning in his eyes. "It'll be easier the next match."
Zelda huffs. "Please, you're breathing heavy enough as it is. How's your shoulder, how does it feel if I do this?"
She braces his arm with one hand and presses firmly on his shoulder blade with the other and leaves Link hissing through his teeth.
"Utterly barbaric." Her little hands ball up into fists and she makes to get up, "I'm going to give him a piece of my mind-"
"Hey hey hey," Link says and reaches out to her, "Don't bother, I've had worse. Hey," he speaks with a little more emphasis, "I got him, didn't I?"
Zelda glares at him, and Link would laugh again if he had any energy left for it. "I'm sorry, did you see him stumble off the battlefield, scraped up and bloody, fighting to catch his breath?" She says, "His tactics were underhanded, devoid of honor. I suppose I shouldn't expect anything less from a king as dastardly as he, should I?"
"Sometimes you gotta fight dirty." Link shrugs. "Just how it is."
Zelda shoots him one final withering look before sitting beside him, arms crossed and lip pouting. Link would worry about the proximity if he wasn't so preoccupied with the pain in his everything.
"And you know all about fighting, don't you?" She mutters, "All the cuts and bruises and broken bones. What if something worse gets broken along the way? You don't care."
Zelda falls silent and Link sits up a little straighter. He opens his mouth only to shut it again. She's not like this. He doesn't know her really, sure, but she's never like this. The breeze plucks at her hair as her shoulders rise and fall with her breaths. He can see the hint of blue in her eyes at this angle as they dart around before falling to rest at her knees.
"Hey look, I-"
"I should-"
They both pause and stare at each other and then they're both laughing and it's like all the weight slips right off their backs.
"Go ahead," Link says as he wipes some of the sweat and grime off his brow.
"I spoke without thinking, that's not very fair is it? I'm sorry."
"...I can't blame you," Link admits, "You're not the first princess to tell me something like that. I know how it looks."
Zelda scoots in a little closer. "And how's that?"
"Like I'm a little guy with a big stick, trying to show everyone how hard I can hit with it. That right?"
She looks at him solemnly. "And how is it really?"
Link hesitates. "I'm not sure how to put it."
He falls silent. Zelda nudges him softly with her elbow. "It's alright. Come on."
Link clicks his tongue and thinks for a moment. "You don't know if a thing is good or bad. So you need to be prepared in case a thing is bad so you can stop it before it does what comes naturally. And you can look at a thing and see the parts that go into it but no one's telling you how it all goes together. Or how to break it all down. You can't figure that out just from looking, not me at least. You need to get down there in the mud and dig with your hands."
He senses her gaze and feels stupid.
"Like a puzzle," she suddenly says, "Right?"
He turns to her and nods. "Yeah…yeah actually, kind of like that."
She's searching his expression again like she always does. Link realizes with a start that she's looking for something to recognize.
"With your hands," she muses, "I like the sound of that. That's not stupid at all, don't ever call yourself that."
Link stiffens and Zelda smiles weakly. "Sorry, we're sitting so close I sometimes pick up on things without meaning to," she motions to her head, "up here."
Mind reader. Huh. Link thinks he should be more alarmed at that fact than he is. Maybe he will be later when his head isn't so screwy.
Zelda giggles. "Maybe so. Ugh," she rubs at her temples and squeezes her eyes shut, "I cannot believe I was so callous. I truly hope you can forgive me."
Link tries to smile despite his swollen bottom lip. "Nah, don't ever feel sorry for being human."
Zelda turns away at that, gripping tightly at the hems of her skirt. For a moment they're both silent and the air is empty save for the leaves rustling and the birds chirping and the water trickling down the fountain. Link closes his eyes and feels the warmth inherent of a person sitting so close to him and the pain seems to dull a little and he sighs.
"Alright I've got it," Zelda perks up and Link's eyes snap back open.
"What was that?"
A daring grin dances across Zelda's face. "Perhaps our dear kremling king won't respond very strongly to a stern talking to. But maybe we can draw up some underhanded tactics of our own…"
Link raises an eyebrow and lets out a questioning grunt. Zelda's hand is covering her mouth and her eyes are sparkling and suddenly she springs up to lean on his shoulder and cup a hand to his ear and she's whispering even though no one else is around to hear, least of all K. Rool. She's leaning on his bad shoulder and it aches, but he doesn't complain.
They're both good at running away. They run from the roaring koopa king chasing them through the halls with egg on his face, they run from the arwing crew carrying deathly expressions covered in party streamers, they even run from the Gerudo bandit with the bunny ears glued to his head and the curry flames roaring from his mouth. They stop to taunt him specifically a little longer, but they run nonetheless.
The schemes are often by Zelda's design but she can't seem to nail the endings, hence the running. She can't run very fast or for very long so often times Link finds himself covering the rear, throwing remote bombs in their victims' faces as Zelda hikes up her dress and goes red in the face and laughs through her panting. The position feels familiar to Link, despite everything. It might be his favorite part of their little escapades.
"You're not having fun." She says.
Link sits cross legged across from Zelda on the plush pink floor. The air is fruity and heavy and there's a multitude of heart pillows of varying size strewn about everywhere in the bedroom.
"Just not used to this sort of thing, is all." Link says dryly. She's wearing these striped button-up flannel pajamas, and seeing her in anything but a flowing dress is throwing him a little.
She rests her chin on her hand and leers at him. "That's fine. It's when the lights go out where the fun really starts."
He doesn't see the big deal in pillow fights and gossip, and he wonders if this slumber party is some new variety of torture Zelda is testing out on him. He's little more than a tag-along here, the only male one at that, so maybe he's onto something. With any luck he'll just turn in early tonight amidst the sea of stuffed hearts.
"Link, darling!" Their host saunters into the room holding a wineglass, "you didn't even bring a blanket!"
Link winces at Peach's shrill voice. Her satin gown is as sickeningly pink as the rest of her room, and her face is still powdered up even as the rest of her guests behind her speak in low voices as they prepare to sleep.
"To be fair I didn't either," Zelda is quick to chime in. She shoots an apologetic look at Link. Right. Play nice.
Peach lets out an exasperated sigh. "Well this just won't do, I won't have any of my guests sleeping on the bare carpet like some common servants, least of all my best friend I simply can't!" She wags her finger in the air and nods with closed eyes, "I'll send for someone to fetch us the proper sleeping arrangements right this instant-"
"Or," Link says as he makes to get up, "I can just run over to my room and back real quick."
He can catch a few breaths of fresh air too, before spending the rest of the night in this suffocating room.
"I'll come with," Zelda announces and suddenly she's right next to him, "Our apartments are right next to each other, after all."
Something in Peach shifts. "Oh, I see." She draws her words out slowly and fixes them with a gaze that makes Link's stomach churn.
Zelda blinks. "I beg your pardon, my good friend?"
"Oh don't mind me," Peach sighs as she stirs her drink. "Just don't be too long, you two." She winks and Link is already striding away as Zelda blubbers behind him.
The hall is a dim orange glow and their steps echo throughout. Zelda is silent. The patter of her bare feet against the tiles are almost drowned out by his painfully loud plodding. They're both walking fast.
Her shoulder brushes against his and her breath sharpens with a "Sorry!." They both move away.
Almost there. But then there's the walk back.
"You know how Peach is," Zelda stammers.
"I do."
"I wouldn't put any stock in the things she says."
"I don't."
Their briskly paced shapes cast faint shadows on the sheen of the tile floor. Link looks straight ahead.
"She's a very excitable person. Things just spill out of her mouth sometimes."
"I noticed."
Finally they're here. Link's pace quickly reveals his urgency as he strides through his room and flicks on the lamplight in one smooth motion and it casts shadows over his unmade bed and his various weapons and trinkets strewn about all over the floor. He'd left the window open earlier and now the curtains gently flap as faint stars glimmer in the black ink of the sky.
There it is. He grabs the sheikah slate from beneath the sheets and turns around to see Zelda standing in his doorway and hugging a bundle of blankets to her chest. She's never seen his room before.
"Found it," Link says dumbly and he only then notices the absolute state he's left his room in. His jaw clenches in anticipation of a reaction he's sure is coming.
Zelda nods and walks expressionlessly past him, stepping over the pot lids and shields further into his room. She silently inspects the great stone club lying against his cabinet and the claymore stuck beneath his closet doorframe like some oversized letter opener and there's a burning sensation on Link's cheeks that he's not familiar with.
"It's neater than mine," Zelda huffs. "Frankly, I'm a little embarrassed."
Huh. "If this is neat I'd hate to see messy."
Zelda rolls her eyes in an affectionate manner. "I live in a world of powdered faces and empty smiles. I'd like to think I'm allowed some reprieve."
Link exhales slowly and opens his mouth to suggest they start the walk back, but Zelda's gaze grows inquisitive again and suddenly she's striding over to his bedside table. Link sees her pick up the framed photo and his hair stands on end.
The girl in the photo standing in a golden plain is all in blue save for the black of her traveler's pants. Her hair is a brilliant, golden blonde that's cleaner than his, cut short in a way that frames her soft face perfectly. Her eyes are green and there's something eternally sad in them.
"Funny. I actually took that the day before I got here." Link's throat is dry.
Zelda doesn't seem to have heard him. She runs a gentle thumb over the girl's face and pulls the frame closer as the lamp's light reflects a sheen off her big blue eyes.
"She's beautiful."
Her tone is ambiguous, it frustrates him. Then his gaze flits down and sees green eyes, and the tension that was building in his body throughout the entire night seems to just deflate out of him. This tends to happen whenever he thinks of the girl in the photo.
"Yeah, she is."