Summer of Our Discontent

Get Out

Link's eyes were shut tight as he absorbed the pain. Zelda tried her best at being gentle, but wasn't doing a very good job. She could tell that no matter how lightly she tried to wipe the blood away, Link would flinch and she would be overwhelmed with guilt – which was her least favorite emotion. And the fact that it was directed towards her least favorite person wasn't very helpful either. They were both at her house, in her bedroom. Impa had been running errands, so it was the perfect place and time for Zelda to help Link.

"Today was quite eventful, wouldn't you say?" She commented quietly, avoiding eye contact with Link. She was dabbing at his wounds with a warm cloth. So far she was only on his left arm, he had been beaten pretty badly. Link didn't reply, which prompted her to look up at him. Her heart nearly skipped a beat when she realized he had been staring at her.

"…What?" She asked.

"Nothing." He replied sharply, not bothering with averting his gaze.

"O…Okay." She stuttered, looking back down. She disregarded it, deciding that he was just angry and hurt. Nothing more, nothing less.

The awkward silence was broken when Link's phone rang. It was Malon. He took the phone with his right hand and rejected the call immediately.

"You know you're going to have to talk to her, right?" Zelda prompted, trying to get some conversation out of him – but he wasn't giving her much.

"Yeah." He said slowly.

Zelda grabbed another cloth and poured warm water on it.

"Alright-y then. I'm just saying, now is better than later. You two have issues to work out."

Link squirmed, though it was evident that it wasn't from the discomfort he felt from the aftermath of the fight between him and Groose.

"Are you sure this is helping?" He asked, changing the subject – or at least trying to.

"I have no idea. But I think I'm done with this arm. I'm just trying to clean out all the open cuts in your body to prevent infection. I know you don't want to, but you have to go to the hospital. I'm not a doctor, Link. I can't help you. At least, not this way."

"I can't go to the doctor! My mom will find out, and… and it'll be a disaster!"

"Maybe you should've thought of that before you punched Groose in the face." Zelda said quietly.

"What did you just say? You think it's my fault he kissed my girlfriend?"

Zelda's shoulders slumped as soon as he said that, and he found himself at his breaking point once more.

"Shit… I can't believe this. It can't be real." He banged his head against the wall in frustration.

"I know," she began, rolling her eyes ever-so-slightly.

"No, you don't understand. You can't see yourself right now. Aside from being Malon's best friend, this isn't your problem. And yet it drives you crazy. Everyone wants what they can't have, that's it, right?"

"Okay, you lost me." Zelda put the cloth down and focused on Link.

"That damn idiot has been lusting after you for as long as any of us can remember! You didn't care about any of it until you found out he kissed Malon! Why is that?"

Zelda bit her lip and closed her eyes.

"Oh, Nayru help me…" She said softly.

"No. Nayru help me! Why, Zelda? Answer me. You start with because, and you end with a reason. So start."

"Because… because he's always been mine."

Link felt like he was going to vomit.

"Yours?"

"Yeah." She said in an uncharacteristically soft voice, "Mine. I know I sound weird right now, just hear me out. You're right. Groose loved me. And I'd like to think he still does – erm – well… Um. Let me start over." She closed her eyes and racked her brain for the right thing to say.

"Uh, let me explain again." She finally said, "I don't like Groose. Not as a boyfriend, hardly even as a friend. He doesn't take no for an answer. That's irritating. But finding out he would kiss Malon, I mean it's so unlike him. He shouldn't have feelings for her, he should only like me. Augh! I phrased that wrong! It's not illegal for him to like other girls, he can like who he likes, I'm just not used to seeing him like other girls aside from me."

"Sounds like you're full of yourself."

"And you're very bitter." She retorted, "I refuse to feel sorry for a guy who drowns himself in so much self-pity that he has to act like an asshole to everyone else. And with that being said, you can get out of my house."

Link softened up immediately.

"But wait!" He whined. "You're not done yet!"

"Um, you don't get to decide that." She said, opening the door. "Scram before Impa gets back."

"No! I can't go." He said frantically, "For goddesses' sake, I'm sorry Zelda."

"Why do you want to stay so badly? I cleaned you up. Just take yourself to the hospital if you really –" She stopped midsentence when he lifted his shirt off. His abdominals were in perfect condition, so perfect that it looked like his body had been chiseled. It took her a few moments to notice how many bruises and cuts were also on his chest once she got past her 'Oh hot damn' moment.

"See!?" He said, pointing at his body which was flawed and flawless at the same time. He didn't even notice that Zelda was nearly drooling over him.

She coughed, breaking out of the trance.

"That, uh, looks painful." She forced herself to look into his eyes. "And you look stubborn. I guess you can stay. Just for a little bit." Their heads snapped in the direction of the living room when they heard Impa unlocking and opening the door to the house.

"But we need to clean you up in the bathroom, so we can lock the door! Come on!" Zelda whispered, grabbing Link's hand and pulling him with her.

Once they were inside she began dabbing once more.

"Why the hell do you have so many tiny cuts?" She asked, her cheeks flaming with embarrassment.

"Lon Lon Ranch is very rocky. I don't know." He said quietly.

She sighed, trying to clean out every last cut as quickly as possible.

"Do you think you can leave through that window?" She asked shamelessly, pointing upwards.

"No I can't, and I don't appreciate being hidden like some toy you weren't supposed to buy."

"I don't care, I can't let you leave the bathroom with Impa here. She'll get the wrong idea. Besides, Malon should be the one cleaning you up. I know you two have issues, but this is the time you need to spend to really talk to her."

"I know you didn't hear, since you ran off to my car before we left, but I broke up with Malon." Link said solemnly.

Zelda's jaw dropped.

"What!? You said you would give her another chance!"

"And then I changed my mind. I can't be with somebody who cheats."

"She only cheated once…" Zelda said, sounding and looking frazzled from all the shock that she was registering.

"Do you hear yourself?" He asked, looking at her with pure disgust. "I know she's your best friend, but do you not realize how twisted that sort of logic is?"

Zelda remembered how she felt upset by the fact that Link gave Malon another chance. Now, she was upset that he ended things with Malon.

"You're right, I was wrong. But by letting her go, you've practically pushed her into Groose's arms. Just saying."

He glowered, clearly disliking what she had to say.

"Let her go to him. I'm moving on with my life. She should too."

Zelda shrugged, "If that's what you really want…"

"I'm a bit more curious about you. When we were back there, Groose said something pretty interesting. You told him that you would date me?"

"Are you still hung up over THAT? I said it to get him away from me. At the moment, I'm not a big fan of either of you. So contain your excitement." Zelda said, with sarcasm evident in her tone.

"My excitement is nonexistent, I promise you. But don't forget that you admitted there was a sprinkle of truth to it. Can I really be blamed for being curious? There are a million other ways to get Groose to back off of you. Why did you tell him that you choose me over him? I mean, I wouldn't believe that. Especially after the way you reacted to him kissing Malon." He scratched the back of his head awkwardly.

Zelda threw her bloodied rag into the sink.

"It wasn't the best thing to say, but I don't know how else to explain it. I can't take back what I said, and there's no point in pondering over it. I said that in the past. The past is in the past, so let's leave it there, okay? The point is that as of right now, I don't like you Link. In fact, I can't stand you." Zelda's voice turned harsh.

She looked up at Link, who had a wounded expression.

"I think I have a right to know what you say about me, and you don't need to tell me how much you hate me. Whether it's true or not, it just sounds like you're convincing yourself that there was no meaning behind what you said. You looked pretty flustered."

"Well how would you feel if you were put on blast like that!? You think I wanted him to say something personal like that in front of everyone else? I was humiliated, being called out like that in front of you and Malon! How was I supposed to react? This is seriously one of the worst days of my summer so far."

"You weren't the only one who was embarrassed. I was embarrassed, Groose was embarrassed, Ilia was embarrassed, and so was Malon!" He snapped angrily, adding softly, "Not that I care about how Malon feels… anymore…"

"Oh save it. I honestly doubt sometimes that you ever cared at all. But that's none of my business. Put your shirt on and get on with your life. I'm so sick of seeing you, I swear we can't be civil with each other without screaming our lungs out first."

"That's not true at all. I came to your house for advice, and we didn't yell at each other then." Link said, slowly putting his shirt on, flinching every time he pulled a sore muscle.

"Yeah, okay, you got me. That was one time. What's your point?"

"Why should we yell at each other now? I know you just think I'm some sort of manslut, but I'm genuinely bothered by this."

Zelda found herself softening up a bit again.

"Yeah, yeah, I keep on forgetting… I'm sorry about you and Malon."

"I wasn't talking about her. I was talking about us."

Link stepped closer to Zelda, and for a split second she was sure he was going to kiss her – but there was a sharp knock on the door.

"Zelda? You in there? I hear a lot of noise. What are you doing!?"

Zelda panicked and mouthed to Link, "Get out!"

He didn't argue her, and went to the window, struggling to open it and jump through. Even if he left her with a whirlwind of emotions, that incessant pang of guilt seeped into her once more as she watched and listened to him squirm and grunt silently in pain before he finally pushed through.

Zelda let out a relieved breath and closed her eyes momentarily, allowing her head to rest on the door. Impa jiggled the doorknob and reminded her of why she had to force Link out.

Zelda opened the door reluctantly, smiling at Impa as she did so.

Impa was standing there with one hand cocked on her hip, the other one holding a telephone.

"Your friends want to talk to y – oh my goddesses! Is that blood?" Impa said worriedly as soon as she saw the towel Zelda had been using on Link.

"Oh… yeah! I, erm… I had a nosebleed. But, you were saying?"

Impa blinked, relaxing a little.

"Your friends want to talk to you. Something about an intervention? I don't know."

Zelda's shoulders slumped. She was sure it was Karane and Pipit that wanted this to happen. Whenever two or more people within their group of friends had a dispute, they would hold some sort of 'friendship mediation' to talk things out. Karane would take all the girls out, Pipit would take out the boys. Then everyone would come to some rendezvous point and afterwards there would be lots of hugging and tears. But Zelda had a feeling this intervention would be a bit different – and not in a good way.

Karane and Pipit had cleverly planned the intervention to happen a week after the big break-up. Seven days isn't nearly enough time to move past heartbreak, but it is enough time for some of the fire to die down – not COMPLETELY – but just enough.

"So where are we going?" Zelda asked, her legs awkwardly crossed in the backseat of Sheik's car. He and Midna had been kind enough to offer her a ride, and even though they were being very amiable towards her, she couldn't help feeling like a third wheel.

"It's a really fancy restaurant in the heart of Castle Town. The one we always see but never eat at because it's so expensive. Apparently Pipit and Karane have it 'covered.' I honestly don't know how they can afford it, though." Sheik replied.

"What… you're not talking about… you mean the restaurant where everyone dresses up all formal? Like, with dresses and suits? Is THAT why you guys are dressed for a date!?" Zelda asked angrily, eyeing Sheik's suit shirt and dress pants and Midna's shaper dress that flaunted her hourglass figure.

"…Surprise?" Midna said, laughing nervously.

"Not funny." Zelda said with a pout, looking down at her t-shirt and jeans.

"Don't worry, I have a dress and a pair of shoes in the trunk for you."

"Oh, thank goodness." Zelda said gratefully.

"We're here." Sheik said, pulling up to a large, golden building. A long line of people trailed out of it.

"Thank goodness for reservations," he remarked, flashing Zelda a wink and heading inside.

"We'll meet up with him later, for now let's get you into this dress." Midna said, pulling Zelda to the side, where there was a special entrance for the bathroom.

A few minutes later, Zelda stepped into the actual restaurant with the dress and shoes – along with a bit of eyeliner and a pair of earrings.

As she and Midna neared their table – a bunch of familiar faces popped up. It was clear that the first part of the intervention wasn't divided by gender – which was already evident by the fact that Sheik had driven them there. In addition to Sheik and Midna – Mido, Saria, Groose, and Malon were there as well. Saria and Mido were sitting next to each other while Groose and Malon sat with each other.

"Wow, looks like this intervention has a date-like set up. Midna, you don't think you could pull a hunk out of the trunk, could you?" Zelda said sarcastically.

Midna bit her lip.

"Yeah… I got nothing." She shrugged, taking her seat next to Sheik.

"Hey, it's okay, I don't have a date either." A familiar voice rang.

Zelda turned around and saw Pipit walking towards them with a grin on his face and his arms wide open.

She didn't have enough time to open her arms as well, he instantly wrapped his arms around her hips and pulled her close. The best she could do to return his embrace was adjust her head so it could rest on his shoulder.

He leaned down and whispered into her ear, "Anyways, you can be my date. And, uh… Are you okay? I know I wasn't there to see exactly what unfolded, but Ilia pretty much told me everything. If you wanna talk about it, you can come to me. I feel like I haven't seen you much lately."

Zelda slowly pulled herself away from him and smiled.

"I'm fine. I really just hope we can sort this out with everyone else."

"Okay," he said lightheartedly, but a smile crept on his face when he added, "By the way, you look breathtaking."

For Karane's sake, Zelda tried to not feel so happy when he said that – but when she turned around to sit down she knew there was a ridiculously large grin on her face.

"So it's come to my attention that last week, there was a big falling out between Link and Groose. And Ilia and Malon… And Zelda and Malon. And Zelda and Link, and Zelda and Gr –" Pipit started off, nearly tipping himself into a ramble, but Zelda was quick to stop him.

"It wasn't THAT big. The big part was Groose wrestling with Link." Zelda said, pointing at him and hoping to turn the spotlight away from her.

"Uh, he started it." Groose said with a shrug.

"That's because you kissed his girlfriend!" Zelda retorted.

"She kissed me. I know you two are BFF's, but you can't play the blame game on those you don't like, Zel." Groose glared at her, and it gave Zelda chills. It wasn't creepy, merely surprising. Odd. All sorts of things. Groose had always been lovey-dovey for Zelda, even when he was upset at her it was because of his affection toward her and her lack of affection toward him. But now was different. There was a chance that he had feelings towards Malon, and was truly angry at her.

"This was just your stupid attempt to get Link mad and get me jealous! Admit it Groose, you're just a jerk!"

"Are you kidding me? This is between me, Malon, and pretty boy. You clearly know NOTHING about what's happened, so you don't deserve to say shit about it!"

"Guys, stop." Pipit said calmly, placing his hand on Zelda's leg and giving it a tender squeeze. The action, for some reason, soothed Zelda. She turned to look at Pipit who was smiling at her. His eyes were filled with compassion and understanding. It was no wonder why he always led the mediations. He was mature and got along well with everyone. But most importantly, he was patient. Excruciatingly, frustratingly, unbelievably patient. That was a quality Zelda could only wish to have.

"Look Groose, Zelda, along with the rest of us, are here because we're all friends and we need to work this issue out together. When a problem like this comes out, we can either sit and watch friendships within our circle go to flames, or we can take it as a chance to become closer to one another. I know Zelda may not be directly involved in your… erm… 'love triangle,' but –"

"You're wrong. Both of you. Wrong." Malon piped up, cutting Pipit off. "Zelda IS in involved in our 'love triangle.' Because Link is desperately in love with her. So there."

Mido cut in awkwardly, "If Zelda was involved… wouldn't it be a love square?"

Zelda's head snapped in her direction, disregarding Mido's stupid question. Malon had the blankest expression on her face. She was clearly distraught over the break-up, but she also looked like she had given up on everything. She had ceased to care.

"No he isn't."

"He was going to give me a second chance, Zelda. It didn't have to end. And then Groose told him what you said. How you would've dated him. And maybe you didn't see it, but I did. The way his eyes lit up with hope… And he wanted nothing to do with me after that." Her voice trembled, as though she was about to cry. "I should have known it was too good to be true. That there was nothing going on between you two. But I was so hung up over him… and I… I made my mistakes, but I never meant to hurt anyone." Malon bit her lip, her eyes watered up and she got out of her chair, rushing to a hall of the restaurant with additional rooms that were made for extra special occasions.

"I'll be right back…" Zelda said, pushing her chair back and getting ready to rush over to Malon.

"No. Sit down. I'll talk to her." Groose said coldly, turning his shoulder and walking over to Malon.

Zelda's fists balled up, and she got up, following them anyway. Pipit got up to try to calm her down once more, which left Mido, Saria, Midna, and Sheik at the table.

A waitress waltzed over to their table.

"Hello everyone, would you like to ord – oh! I see you're missing a few of your friends. Well, no problem, is there anything I can get you ladies and gents?" She asked with a smile on her face.

"…I hear your bread and water is, like, bomb." Saria said, looking at the menu.

Sheik and Midna groaned.

"Hey, Malon wait." Groose said, following Malon into one of the rooms that was reserved for a birthday party.

"I was expecting Zelda to come here, but I guess you'll do." Malon said sourly, turning to face him.

"I've gotten used to wiping your tears." Groose said, trying to match her bitter tone. He regretted it the instant he said it though, once he saw her wounded expression.

"Should I just talk to you privately all the time? You know, I really don't like the way you treat me in front of my friends. You talk about me as if I'm nothing, like my only purpose is to be called out whenever you get thrown under the bus for all the bad things you've done."

Groose opened his mouth, then closed it. He had nothing to say.

"Well? Are you at least going to grace me with a response?"

"I would, if I knew what to say." He finally said. "I never realized I did that. But Malon… what you said back there… that hit me real hard. There's a lot that I never actually stopped to think about. There's a lot more depth and meaning to this than I could have imagined. I'm sorry."

"You should be." Malon said, sniffling.

Groose reached out, his large fingers catching Malon's tears perfectly.

"Hey. I know this is hard for you. It's hard for me too. You and I, we have the same problems."

Malon grabbed his hand and pulled him closer to her. He hugged her, enveloping her into warmth and affection that was reminiscent of the time they had seen each other while Malon was on her way over to Link's house.

"I love him so much, Groose."

"And I love her." He said, feeling a bit displaced by the irony of their words.

They both pulled back a bit, still entwined in each other's arms.

Groose wasn't sure what drew him to Malon, but he leaned in and kissed her anyways. This kiss seemed to have more meaning behind it, and he could tell that she was enjoying it by the way she grabbed his arms and pushed them down to her hips. They hardly had time to savor the kiss though, as an all too familiar and feminine voice rang out.

"…Seriously?"

They broke apart immediately and turned to see Zelda staring at them with an expression that looked like a mixture of confusion, anger, and betrayal.

A/N: I don't know why I wrote this. I'm having a rollercoaster of feels at the moment. I'm sorry that it's been 2 months. I didn't even realize it had been 2 months. February flew by fast which makes sense, since it's a shorter month. But March flew by even faster. Which is scary. I may not meet my goal of finishing this story by June, but I sure as hell can try. Thanks for the reviews guys. It seems as though you're happy that Link and Malon are finally over.

This chapter's theme is 'Get Out' by Jojo. It's a MAJOR throwback song, and the best song I could come up with to fit the theme of the chapter. I'll see you guys later.