They were slowly and carefully making their way up the mountainside. Link had quickly learned that Pipit had injured his ankle as well, but that must have been a sprain, because it wasn't cut up like his arm was. Due to Pipit's bad ankle, most of his weight was being put on Link, which slowed them down a lot. For some reason, Link didn't mind it; slowly adventuring the mountain, with his arm around Pipit. He was starting to feel the same way he had the previous night, and for some reason, it didn't bother him this time. No; this time he was enjoying it, fully basking in the closeness with him.
As the sun started to set, Link gently leaned Pipit at the bottom of the vine-cliff. He decided they would tackle climbing it in the morning, and that they should just stay there for the night. When Pipit argued that they should keep going, Link told him of the big sand-slope that was up the cliff, and that with his ankle, they wouldn't be able to get up that either, and that they would probably roll right off of the mountain in their sleep up there. Link took one of his empty bottles and filled it with the water from the tiny puddle-spring, then gave it to Pipit, and their gaze met: Pipit's eyes gleamed under the starlight. He then took out another bottle, but kept it for himself.
Link took a deep breath, remembering the smell of sulphur that would stick on his fresh clothes for another week. "So much for staying clean" he thought to himself. Pipit seemed a lot less intrigued in the world around him than Link would have thought, and when Link started paying attention, he noticed that Pipit was shivering. "How can you be cold? We're on the side of a volcano," he thought, but didn't say out loud.
"Hey, are you cold?" Link figured another blunt comment would just cut to the chase, instead of beating around the bush. He definitely wasn't a man of many words. Pipit only nodded, and with that, Link sat next to him, put his arms around him, and pulled him close. "No point in letting you freeze your butt off; you can't afford anymore injuries." This earned a silent laugh, which Link wouldn't have noticed unless Pipit hadn't moved his entire body trying to stifle the laugh.
"Hey Link," Pipit moved his head a little farther so that he could look at Link's face, "What happens if things do change?" And suddenly Link realized what he meant; he wasn't talking about a friendship at all, but something more than that; or was Link's mind playing tricks on him. He decided to clarify,
"I'm afraid my brains full of lava fumes; you're going to have to clarify what you mean." Link smiled his sweet smile, and waited for Pipit.
"I mean, what happens when you and Zelda get closer? Where do I end up?"
"Who says me and Zelda get closer? What happens if… you and I got closer instead? Where would that lead us?"
"I guess I didn't think of it like that…"
"Maybe my mind has been doing weird things to me then." Link stared into Pipit's eyes, and when his glare softened, Link took his chance. Very, very slowly, Link started to lean in, only hoping that he wasn't making a mistake. When his lips were only an inch or two away from Pipit's, he figured there was no turning back, and closed the gap. His lips tasted very… masculine. "Duh" he thought to himself, "He's a guy; they're going to be masculine." Pipit was definitely kissing him back, so when Pipit's mouth was opening for another kiss Link pushed his tongue into Pipit's mouth. He had wanted a more lustful kiss with Zelda earlier, but he wasn't brave enough then; but that wasn't a problem now. Exploring Pipit's mouth, Link kept wanting more and more. So when Link lowered one of his hands down Pipit's back, Pipit groaned into Link. "Is he telling me to keep going? Or stop?" Unsure, Link slowly continued to go down Pipit's back, and when there wasn't any hesitance in Pipit, his hand went up the back of his shirt onto his bare skin. His skin was cool, but somehow warm at the same time. Pipit had stopped shivering, so Link figured not only was this pleasurable, but it was also heating Pipit up. And sure enough, soon Pipit's hands were sliding down Link's chest. One rested on his chest, while they other kept going.
The sun hadn't even finished setting, and Link realized they had a long night ahead of them, and that there wasn't any rush for anything. So he took his hand that wasn't up Pipit's shirt, and grabbed Pipit's playful hand.
"What's the rush?" Link said, briefly separating their lips.
"I suppose we have all night, don't we?" Pipit said, and hummed as they reclosed the gap between their lips. It was going to be a fun night.