Everything hurt.

Her arm felt like it had to weigh at least a hundred kilos as she reached up to rub the heel of her hand against her eyes, keeping them shut in an attempt to block out the light flooding her room.

Why had she not remembered to pull down the blinds in front of her window? Thinking back, she could recall having stepped into the flat, throwing her purse at the nearest horizontal surface, kicking off her shoes as she continued through the corridor, before finally reaching her destination: the safety and comfort of her own bedroom, where she had then flopped down onto the bed. But had she remembered to cross the room first to make sure that she would not be forced to wake up as soon as the sun crept up high enough on the sky to reach the window leading into her bedroom? Mipha couldn't remember, but since her eyes hurt every time she tried to do anything other than lie there in her bed with her hands thrown over her face, she must have forgotten.

Zelda's jacket.

She was awake in an instant, having pushed herself up into a sitting position the next moment as she searched the room for the article of clothing, the sun completely forgotten as her heartbeat sped up like she had just run for hours on end.

The jacket was hanging over the headboard. She must have thrown it there mere seconds before falling asleep.

Mipha didn't know whether to laugh or cry. It was safe, she had not managed to lose Zelda's jacket only a little under a day after Zelda had given it to her, but on the other hand, she had still forgotten everything about it.

She eventually gave up trying to go through with her plan to remain in bed until she would once more feel like she was ready to face the world as the smell of coffee moved through the flat, creeping into her room from under the door and making her realise just how tired she was. Strange, actually. She had not been up later than she normally would have if she had decided to simply stay at home and get some of her homework done, but it did not feel like anyone had bothered to inform her body about that, for her head ached and her eyelids felt impossibly heave as she forced herself away from the bed and somehow managed to make her way out of the room.

She found Revali already in the kitchen. Standing in front of the kitchen counter with a cup of coffee in one hand as he silently poured the oat milk into another cup and handed it to her, Revali looked almost as happy as Mipha felt miserable. It was almost like the barely contained joy was making the air around him feel a couple degrees warmer. Or maybe it was the combination of the cup of coffee and Mipha's tired brain that was beginning to connect things that had nothing to do with one another that had played a trick on her.

"Slept well?" Revali asked, eyeing the cup as Mipha tilted it backwards, unable to care about how the coffee had barely cooled down enough to no longer qualify for the label of 'scalding' as she finished the cup in one long sip. The mumbled clutter of words she managed to get out must have been enough of an answer for him, as he continued. "I didn't see you leave. Did you get a chance to talk with Zelda about the invitation?"

And that seemed to be the thing that made Mipha unable to stay silent anymore. It was almost funny how she always did her best to avoid ending up in a situation where she would have to admit how she really felt to someone just in case she would end up being embarrassed by what she might say, only to suddenly let herself blurt out what she thought about something. In time, she supposed, it might grow to become a funny story, but as she stood there in the kitchen, hand shaking slightly as she tightened her grip around the cup, Mipha could not find the comedy of her situation.

"You know what? The evening was horrible for me." something inside her, something cruel and selfish that Mipha would have liked to deny even existed, liked the way Revali's eyes widened in surprise as he took a step back, the happy expression on his face faltering when he was confronted with the fact that Mipha had not enjoyed their night out, and maybe that was what made her continue rather than calm down like she might have done any other day. "And just if you were interested in knowing the reasons for that, I can tell you that you were wrong yesterday. She really had not meant anything more by inviting me to go get muffins than for the two of us to spend some more time together as friends."

"Oh." and for once, Mipha saw Revali stand speechless with nothing to say to her, simply opening and closing his mouth as the silence in the room grew until it almost felt suffocating. But Mipha was determined. She would not be the one to break it, so crossing her arms and leaning back, she sent Revali an expectant look, daring him to try to figure out what to say. And of course it barely took Revali more than a minute before he had managed to collect his thoughts enough to try again. "I am sorry to hear that. I thought things were going great between you. I mean, that was why I left the two of you alone."

She could have responded with a biting remark about how Mipha was sure that Revali and Link leaving had more to do with them than with Revali's assessment of how she and Zelda would do without them, but the comment died in her throat, long before she would have had a chance to let it escape, leaving behind a bitter taste of regret and guilt. She could almost feel how the anger evaporated, and how her shoulders fell a little the moment she no longer had that to hide behind.

What was she doing? The answer to that, Mipha supposed, was actually rather simple. She was blaming everyone around her, that was what she was doing, attempting to not have to deal with things.

"Yeah, I thought that that we were doing just fine as well," Mipha admitted with a shrug, trying to blink the tears away, "but I was wrong. I just—I had completely misinterpreted everything between us."

Seemingly deciding that now she was no longer emphasising her words with little jabs in his direction, he could risk getting closer to her again without her lashing out at him, Revali moved to pat her shoulder. "If it is any consolation, at least I must also have misjudged the situation." his laugh sounded fake, obviously nothing more than an attempt to try to make the tense mood in the room disappear, but Mipha still welcomed the sound of it. At least he had not left her completely alone, which, given how she had just tried to blame him for the evening, would have been completely understandable. Interrupting his own effort to bring the sound of laughter into the room, Revali squeezed her shoulder. "And, I mean, given how good I usually am at reading those kinds of signals, there was nothing you could have done. If I got the situation wrong like that, you would never have been able to not get it wrong either."

It was dumb, but there was something about Revali's tone, so confident and cocky that made Mipha giggle, the sound breathy and barely audible, but still there. "Yeah, right," she said, lightly punching Revali's arm, making it fall from her shoulder, "okay, Mr. I can always tell when people are into me, if that is the case, then tell me how the evening went for you and Link."

She could tell what the answer would be long before Revali had even opened his mouth to respond. The way he stood up a little straighter, puffing out his chest while he ran a hand through his hair, lightly fluffing the strands as he smiled down at her, already told her what he would say. But she still stayed silent, tilting her head as she waited for him to decide how to tell the story.

"Well," Revali began, and Mipha could tell from the way he extended the sounds of the words that he had been waiting for her to wake up so that he could tell her about it, perhaps to the point that he had gone over the story in his head just to make sure that it would be perfect, "we had to get past the ten apologies about how he was so sorry that he was late, and that he just really had not expected that there would be so many cars on the roads today, but by the time we actually reached the bar, I had luckily managed to convince him that it was fine, and that we had not been waiting for him for that long." nodding along to his own story, Revali did a little toss of the head, letting his hair fall back into place. "When they brought us our drinks, we thought about going back to the booth, but, well, we decided that we would actually prefer not to have to move through the crowd again, so we stayed were we were already." the joy on his face disappeared for a second, as he shot her a look. "Now, in hindsight, that was probably not the best decision, but, well, I thought that I was the right thing to do at the time, and since I am usually right about things like that, I thought that—"

"Don't think about it," Mipha insisted, gesturing for Revali to continue the story, as she tried to ignore the pangs of guilt. Why could she not just have stayed silent about how her evening had gone or at the very least refrained from blaming everyone around her? Yes, it had made her feel better for a moment, but seeing how Revali expression of joy looked just a little less sincere when he continued to tell her about how the night had been for him and Link only made her feel even worse than if she had simply stayed silent. Still, Mipha did her best to plaster a smile onto her face and leant forward, hoping that it would be enough to trick Revali into thinking that she was fine.

Perhaps it worked. Really, Mipha would be surprised if Revali was not aware of how she was only listening with half an ear, but at least he did not bring it up, instead continuing to describe how they had sat there and talking about this and that.

"I think it must have been sometime after that," Revali said, pausing for a moment before nodding, "yeah, I am pretty sure that it was about that moment that we heard the someone change the song, and once we realised that we both knew it, we just stood there for a while, swaying back and forth to the rhythm until Link said that he needed to get some fresh air."

She knew where it was going. The way Revali swayed back and forth , almost like he had mentally gone back to the bar again, told her what he was about to tell her. But despite all of that and how she had had time to prepare herself for the pain of knowing, when Revali retold how they had gone outside, stopping right outside the bar—they must have been standing in the same spot where Zelda had offered to let Mipha take her jacket, she realised, trying to forget about that as she listened to the story—slowly moving closer to one another.

"The kiss was magical, it had to be, there is no other way to describe it," Revali said, a dreamy look in his eyes, "and you know what? It turned out that you had actually been right; he did reciprocate my feelings."

It was almost painful to force the corners of her mouth to curl up into a smile that Mipha could already tell would not reach her eyes. A kiss. It was the exact same thing that had led to her standing outside, shaking with panic to such an extent that it had made Zelda believe that Mipha would not be able to last for long without a jacket. But where Revali was now standing in front of her, happily telling her the story, Mipha was doing her best to try to forget that it had ever happened. It was impossible to do, she knew that. There was simply no way she would be able to forget about the look in Zelda's eyes as she had pulled her closer to her, at least not just yet.

But still, she tried her best to appear sincere, trying to force a surprised tone into her voice. "Oh, wow, really?"

"Yes," Revali said, "so, not to sound like I am too sure about myself, but you might want to call Sidon and tell him that you might have to move in with him again."

There was no need to try to fake a surprised expression this time. "Why?"

"Well, when Link and I move in together, we are obviously going to get this flat, I mean, after all, we will be two people to call dibs on it." somehow, Revali actually managed to keep a straight face for several seconds, simply raising his brow at her. But then doubled up with laughter, keeping upright by placing a hand on her shoulder and leaning forward, towards her. "Kidding, just kidding."

"Of course it was only a joke," Mipha said, trying her best not to say anything that might lead to Revali's joy being stained by the tight feeling in her chest that worsened the more she allowed herself to imagine what could have been if things had gone differently, "there is no way I would have moved in with Sidon."

"Aw, why not?" Revali said, nudging her in the side. "It would be perfect, you would get a new roommate and so would I."

"Excuse you, I did not leave home just to move in with my brother a few years later," Mipha laughed, "besides, if I did that, I know that I would miss you."

"Oh, that's sweet, are you really saying that you would not want to live anywhere without me, because that is what I am hearing!" Revali smirked at her.

"Don't push your luck, or I might just change my mind."

"No, it is too late now. I am going to remember that one the next time you complain about how I rearrange the kitchen. Can you imagine, I am just here, trying my best to clean up after your culinary adventures where you keep on insisting that my way of keeping track of everything in here is wrong." reaching up to open the cabinet above the counter and beginning to move a couple of the glasses around, still maintaining eye contact, Revali changed the pitch of his voice, his voice becoming a high-pitched sound Mipha could tell was supposed to sound like her voice, even if it failed miserable to achieve that goal. Still, that did not keep Revali from blinking at her as he continued. "And you come in, saying something about 'Revali, the pan is not supposed to be there, here let me put it away', but I will have the ultimate ace up my sleeve since I can just tell you that you would still miss my way of arranging the things in the kitchen if I left, even if you love to complain about it."

"Actually, I take everything back. Even living with my brother could never be as annoying as you are right now." but even while she said it, Mipha could still not keep a smile off her face, and it was clear that Revali knew that, for he simply cocked his head and laughed at her.

"Sure, sure. Although from what both you and Link have told me about the guy, and from what little I know, even being more annoying than him is not that bad at all."

"Do you want me to compare you to someone else?" Mipha teased. "Because I could do that. Let's see, what about our good old friend, the Coffee-man?"

Feigning resentment, Revali pressed a hand to his chest and pointed at her. "You wouldn't dare! I have nothing in common with him."

"Oh, really? Let's see, you both love to make a scene at the café, I am pretty sure he has gotten close to throwing his own cup of coffee at you a couple of times just like you have, he insists that he is right when talking about the menu even though he is often wrong." Mipha held her hands up in front of her. "What can I say, the powers of the villain mirrors those of the hero."

"With me as the hero?"

"Obviously."

Revali laughed, but the sound was interrupted by his phone as it started ringing. Mouthing an apology to Mipha, Revali dug the phone out of his pocket, pressing it to his ear.

And just like that, the moment had passed. The way Revali said his own name before his face lit up, his voice sounding like he had just drunk an entire pot of coffee immediately after winning the lottery, as the other person presumably responded by stating their own name told Mipha that it had to be Link who had called. There simply was no other explanation. And although Mipha knew that she should be happy for him, should be ecstatic that they had finally stopped simply sighing after one another those times they got the chance to talk at work, it was difficult to do that. This would most likely end up making it so that every time she shared a shift with one of them, Mipha would be reminded of how the evening had actually ended up leading to great things for one half of the group. And those few shifts were all three of them would have to come to work… just thinking about it and how she would have to act as if she was not at all jealous of them with Zelda sitting across from her already seemed like it was more than she could do.

It wasn't right to feel that way, she should be happy for them. Mipha was not exactly sure if Link had told Sidon about the evening, but if he had, she knew that Sidon would have responded in a better way than she had.

The call ended, Revali turning around to face her just as Mipha had managed to force a smile onto her face.

"Sorry, but Link just called," Revali said, gesturing towards the phone like the identity of the caller had not already been obvious, "he just wanted to get a chance to talk with me, you know, to figure out if we wanted to try out what it would feel like to call this thing between us an actual relationship."

"And what did you say?" could you force a smile so much that it would start feeling natural at some point? Mipha hoped so. If that was the case, then at least there was a chance that the forced cherry attitude would stop feeling like a lie soon.

"What do you think?" Revali chuckled, having already shoved the phone back into his pocket. "I said yes, so I am supposed to meet him in the park in twenty minutes." it finally seemed that he saw through the façade, because he stopped halfway through a step towards the doorway to look back at her. "You are okay with that, right?"

Not trusting herself not to ask Revali if he could stay behind to give her a chance to cry to someone about how she had been wrong and might just have messed up everything, Mipha kept her mouth shut. Although she tried to remind herself that, all things considered, the evening had been great since she would now no longer have to deal with both Revali and Link complaining about how their feelings for each other would never be reciprocated, right then, it was difficult to not just give in to the tempting idea of making Revali stay to convince her that everything would be fine.

But she forced herself not to do that, to think of Revali for a moment, as she nodded.

And the way Revali left the apartment, running so quickly he all but flew out of the door did almost manage to make Mipha feel a little better, but not quite.

She managed to stay calm for an entire minute after the door slammed behind Revali, but at that point, Mipha did also almost collide with the door to her room as she sprinted towards it, digging through her purse to find her phone, feeling her blood turn to ice as she could not find it. If she had lost it, Mipha did not know what to do, she might be able to salvage the napkin from the trash, but there was no saying whether or not the numbers written on it would still be legible.

Just as Mipha could feel herself beginning to panic, she noticed the familiar coldness of the phone under her fingertips, and for a moment, she just clutched it against her chest. She had at least not managed to lose that as well. It was a small comfort to know that, even if she might just have lost her friendship with Zelda, she still had her number, but it was a comfort nonetheless.

Summoning as much courage as she could muster, Mipha pressed the little square of the screen with Zelda's name on it and held the phone up to her ear.

The phone rang once. Twice. After the fifth time, a robotic voice told her to leave a message, but Mipha instantly pressed the button to end the call, feeling her heart sink. Of course. She had not even considered how Zelda might have decided that it would be too awkward to continue seeing her after that kiss, but of course that would be what would end up happening. Zelda had decided that she could not continue to see her if it meant having to having to change the subject every time there was a risk that any of them might bring that evening up.

It was understandable, Mipha could not claim that she might not have done the same if she had been in her place, but the knowledge of that did not help.

She could lie. She could call Zelda and tell her that she just wanted to clear up any misunderstanding between them and say that she had been really drunk the day before and that she might have said a few things she did not actually mean and then just hope that it would be enough.

Only, that would not be right. As much as Mipha wished she could simply lie and deny everything, she would not do it. It just did not feel right to hide things like that, and Mipha knew that if she were to actually discuss her feelings with Zelda, she would have to be honest with her and tell the truth. And the truth was that although Mipha would never admit it to anyone, the kiss had felt real and she had wad wanted it to be real so badly that she had convinced herself that it really was. That was her own fault and her fault alone. So, ignoring the urge to call Zelda again, Mipha put her phone on silent and put it back down into her purse, not trusting herself not to make another attempt to call Zelda if she kept it close to her.

Besides, she had to catch up with the homework she had neglected to finish to instead go to that bar with Revali.

The assignment ended up requiring her to spend more time on her computer than she had expected.

Perhaps it was in part also due to how she struggled to keep track of the different numbers and words she scribbled down, the sentences not making any sense the moment she tried to read them again in an attempt to figure out what she had meant. It was simply not possible for her to pretend to care about finishing her homework when her mind continued to return to the subject of Zelda and the phone that still lay at the bottom of her purse.

It was not the best strategy to simply ignore it all, Mipha knew that, but just yesterday, it had felt like it was the smart thing to do to delay the moment she would have to worry about Zelda and what had happened at the bar again. Now, however, Mipha was starting to doubt her decision.

With another sigh, Mipha tried once more to focus on the task at hand, before giving up completely and closing her computer. It just was not working.

"Are you finished with the project?" the sound of Revali's voice made Mipha snap out of her self-pitying thoughts for a moment to look up.

He was standing in the corridor, holding an umbrella in his right hand, with water dripping from his hair.

She barely managed to keep her face blank when she remembered how he had left that morning, saying that Link had suggested going hiking together. Why was it that, while Mipha had absolutely ruined everything for herself, Revali and Link had apparently already turned into that kind of couple that went hiking together?

Mipha supposed she should say something to Revali about how he was creating a puddle as he stood there with his umbrella, but she just could not bring herself to actually care about it. It was just water, and they could always clean it up later, so why did it even matter?

Pushing her feet against the ground to avoid looking at him and see the joy in his eyes, Mipha shook her head. "No, not really."

"Well, if I can help you with anything, don't hesitate to ask, okay?" she could almost hear how Revali blinked at her, trying his best to cheer her up. "I might not study medical science, but I am sure I could figure it out."

"Yeah, sure," she said, but even Mipha could hear how her voice was cold, completely devoid of any emotions.

And so could Revali apparently, and the next moment, Mipha heard the umbrella hit the floor after having been thrown through the hallway, surely sending drops of water flying through the air, and Revali stepped into the room, sitting down across from her on her bed.

"Are you okay?"

"No, not really," Mipha admitted.

"Is it about Zelda?"

A nod.

"Okay," she could hear the bed creak slightly as Revali shifted to bring his feet up beneath him, "tell me about it. Has it gotten worse since yesterday?"

Doing her best to hide how she shifted slightly to glance towards her purse like she could force her phone to show that she had actually received ten missed calls from Zelda if she just kept on staring for enough time, Mipha nodded slowly. "Yes. I tried to call her—you know, to return her jacket to her," the lie sounded pathetic the moment it had left her mouth, but she continued nevertheless, "but she hasn't answered a single one of my calls."

"Oh," she could hear the realisation set in in Revali's voice, and it felt just as terrible to hear him arrive at the same conclusion as she had reached, like she had for some reason hoped that Revali would tell her that she had actually been worrying over nothing, "I am sorry to hear that."

"Yeah, so am I."

They sat there in silence for a bit. Mipha tried not to look up, not to look at Revali and see how she had surely just succeeded in ruining his day.

"She might have forgotten to plug in her phone after she returned home," Revali finally offered, but he barely even managed to sound like he himself believed what he was saying. "Or she could have lost it somewhere in the bar."

Mipha was about to open her mouth and tell him that she doubted Zelda would actually have been able to lose her phone, but then she noticed the way Revali was looking at her, a slightly raised eyebrow as he waited for her answer. He was not saying it in an attempt to salvage his own day; he really was just trying to say something that might take a bit of her worries away. She changed her words at the last second. "Yeah, I guess."

Maybe she was a better actress than she had thought, or perhaps it was simply Revali who was desperate to believe that she was feeling better, for he jumped off her bed and patted her on the back as he pulled her to her feet, halfway dragging her out of the room and out into the living room, halfway leading the way for her.

With an excited little yelp, Revali jumped, twirling around in the air before landing in front of her, having somehow managed to plaster a smile onto his face during the fraction of a second he had had is face turned away from her. "You know, I have the perfect idea for what we can do to get your mind of Zelda and that phone."

"And what might that be?" Mipha asked, happy to note that the excitement in her voice did not feel as fake as it had done mere moments before.

"We can watch a film together." he must have seen the doubtful look she sent him, for Revali quickly added. "I will let you choose, and I promise that I won't begin to make sarcastic remarks if you pick a romantic comedy."

"But my homework," Mipha protested weakly, though she was already following along with Revali, letting him push her over towards the couch.

"It can wait. Look, you did me a favour by going with me to the bar to make sure that I would not end up being all alone if Link had for some reason not realised how amazing I am, and for that reason, you ended up getting hurt in the process, so there is no way I am going to let you sit here and do your homework while you are still feeling sad about it."

"I don't think my professors will accept that as a valid excuse for not knowing everything on the curriculum," Mipha said with a smile, but she still accepted the remote when Revali handed it to her.

"Well, then you can just ask me to convince them," he said, "we both know that there is no way I would not be able to convince them that you should get a chance more after you spent most of your weekend crying."

"I haven't cried at all." she tried her best to sound convincing, but Mipha was sure that Revali could see the truth either in how it was written across her face or in the way she refused to meet his glance. For the truth was that she had cried. Maybe she had managed to control herself Friday and not cry when she left the bar or when Zelda came outside to ask her what was wrong, but she had indeed spent a good chunk of Saturday lying in her bed while feeling sorry for herself.

At least Revali did not bother to mention the lie, and, right then, Mipha could not have been more grateful when he jumped over to sit next to her on the couch. Motioning towards the television, he shushed her. "Anyway, let's not discuss homework anymore. Pick a film and let's try to think about something else."

It felt nice to let someone else take responsibility for her own poor choices, so when Revali insisted on taking a break to relax, Mipha followed along.

Although, perhaps she was not able to pretend to feel fine for long periods of time, for Mipha didn't pick a romantic comedy despite Revali assuring her that he would not make fun of the plot. It was already hard enough to watch Revali and Link act like they had finally reached the end of their own fairy tale, she did not also need to see actors act out the story with the perfect ending while trying to forget about Zelda as well.