THE DAYS IN FEBRUARY
by Cappucinno
Day 16, Lucky.
In the end, Link was long gone by the time Zelda had worked up the courage to extricate herself from Starbucks. Instead she'd found herself, after some mental debate and a significant amount of wounded pride, stumbling out onto the sidewalk outside of Starbucks trying to keep her caramel macchiato (because he'd bought it for her and that had to mean something) from spilling while simultaneously running in high heels towards Beyond Bizarre Bakery.
Of course, with her luck he hadn't been there by the time she finally made it. She'd almost fallen through the door like a fool with her skirt covered with coffee, an empty Starbucks cup in her hand, and her high heels in the other and all that effort had been wasted because Link hadn't even been there. She was still a little bitter about it.
No, instead of Link seeing her looking like an absolute trainwreck (she liked to think that her dramatic appearance alone would have put her back in his good graces and had, in fact, been tempted to reproduce the feat artificially so as to get out of an actual apology), Shane and that stupid tall manager with the glasses had just stared at her like a pair of fish while she panted and tried to catch her breath.
It had taken them a full five minutes to put their eyes back into their sockets and inform her that Link wasn't there and probably wouldn't be back until the next business day and that her rushing had been in vain.
And so it was that she found herself back outside of Beyond Bizarre Bakery at seven o'clock in the morning standing on the sidewalk, staring stupidly at a new addition to the store hours.
Beyond Bizzarre Bakery!
Mon-Fri: 5 am to 10 pm
Sat-Sun: 8 am to 10 pm
And scrawled beneath that:
Full service only available:
Morning- 5 am to 7 am
Evening- 7 pm to 10 pm
(Sorry for the inconvenience folks!)
"Is that…" Zelda squinted at the looping letters, the early hour slowing her usual processing speed. "…is that wite-out?"
She shook her head and tried to pushed the door open. It didn't move. Her eyes squinted to catch a glimpse of the cashier's stand through the glass. It was empty. She squinted at the familiar face of clock above the empty cashier's stand. Exactly seven o'clock.
She checked her watch. Still seven o'clock.
Why was the Bakery closed if even the amended store hours said it should be open? She told herself that that was why she had a strange feeling in her chest, that she was really just annoyed about the whole thing because she was starting to feel like she was just out of luck. She ignored the other, smaller part of her that whispered naggingly about apologies and missed chances.
Day 17, Decaf.
Feeling a vague sense of deja-vu Zelda rounded the corner and stopped on the sidewalk outside of Beyond Bizarre Bakery. She took a deep breath to steel her nerves and pushed on the door. It swung open.
With a deep sigh she hadn't realized she'd been holding, Zelda stepped up to the register's stand (the store was open but it was still inexplicably empty) and rapped her fist on the counter. She was fairly certain that she'd be feeling some of adrenaline rush if it weren't so early in the morning, because as it was all she felt was a tingle of annoyance that she'd gone through all the trouble of waking up early to stop by before work for the second day in a row and if you weren't going to follow the damn store hours then why even bother posting them and—
"Hello?" Zelda called, trying not to sound frustrated because she was here to apologize or at least make an attempt at it. "Anyone home?"
No response.
To curb some of her restlessness, Zelda started fussing with the things on the counter as she waited. Two stacks of re-arranged gum later, she felt her foot start tapping and her patience beginning to wane.
She dusted some crumbs off the counter. She looked at the clock. Her foot tapped some more.
Don't get impatient Zelda. Remember, you're already here to apologize for running your fat mouth. Stay calm. She held on to her mantra and went back to reshuffling the gum and coffee mints.
She looked back up at the clock. 7:04. She checked her watch. 7:05.
"Hello…?"
It was seven in the morning and the shop was empty. Zelda wasn't sure if there was any valid excuse for taking this long except for some act of spite or vengeance and—
"Shhhh!" The back door open and Shane came tip-toeing up, his finger pressed to his lips. "Come on, man, what's your problem?"
Zelda pinched the bridge of her nose and tried to remember her mantra.
"Shane. The shop has been open for two hours." She kept her voice perfectly level.
"Well, yeah dude but—" He held his finger up and shushed her again, shooting an anxious look at the staff door in the back.
Zelda followed his gaze with narrowed eyes. "Is he hung over or something? Did he send you out here to shut me—"
"Dude! SHHHHH." Shane repeated, picking up a bagged cookie and thrusting it at her. "Look, here, take it, go."
Zelda took a deep breath and let it out in a long, measured exhale as she took the cookie. She passed it back and forth between her hands as if considering something, and after a moment unwrapped the plastic as loudly as she could.
Shane looked like he was about to have an aneurysm.
She reached in and broke off a piece of the cookie. The plastic wrapping crackled. And then without breaking eye contact with Shane, she put it in her mouth and—
"What the hell?!" Promptly spat it out. "Is that salt?"
She tossed the cookie onto the counter and reached instinctively for the cup of coffee that Shane had brought out with him. Saltiestcookieeverbadbadbad—Shane took the cup and scuttled backwards, looking scared for his life.
"Sahne gimmae da cupthh!" Zelda was trying not to spit everywhere.
Shane got a new cup and hurriedly ran over to the coffee maker, dispensing a new cup of coffee and rushing it over to her.
"Okay, okay shhhhh!"
Zelda took a gulp of the black coffee and tried not to gag. Her eyes watered as the salt was replaced with bitterness, but at least her mouth didn't taste like a salt mine anymore.
"Shane, what the hell was—" Shane shushed her again and she lowered her voice to a whisper. "What the hell was that?"
"What do you mean? Dude, it's just a chocolate chip cookie, look—" Shane took a bite and spit it out faster than Zelda had, sputtering into his coffee even as he took huge gulps of it.
Zelda just crooked a brow at him and set her cup of coffee on the counter, resisting the urge to smack her mouth or ask for peanut butter. Instead she grabbed the milk and focused on lightening the color of her coffee.
"Dude!" Shane said after loudly smacking his mouth a couple of time (to rid himself of the taste, Zelda sympathized). "That's awful."
Zelda smiled tightly and nodded in agreement. "Yes. Awful."
"Sorry about that, that'll be seventy five ce—" He looked at Zelda's darkening expression and recalibrated. "Um. Free. On the house."
"Great." Zelda said flatly, motioning to the back door. "Is he back there?"
Shane looked distracted. "Wha?"
"You keep trying to shut me up. Is Link back there?" Zelda asked more directly, sensing that Shane was the type who required more explicit direction than the average bear.
"Ohhh." Shane nodded and then seemed to remember himself. "No. But, shhhh."
Zelda rolled her eyes. "Okay, sure, shhh. But I need to talk to him so I'm just going to go back there and—"
"Nonononononononono—"
Zelda started walking, ignoring the surfer as one might ignore an insect.
"Nonononononoonono—"
She pushed the back door open and opened her mouth to say something to Link only to promptly shut it. The door swung closed behind her. And then back open again two seconds later as Shane came rushing in after her.
Zelda followed his anxious gaze to the swaddle of tablecloths on the floor in the kitchen.
She heard Shane start to say something but held a hand up to stop him as she cautiously approached the giant mass of white and green checkered cloth laying on the floor.
As she got closer she could vaguely make out the shape of a human being wrapped up in the cloth. She was almost upon the thing when she spotted the familiar head of blonde hair and she stopped dead, staring at the bundle in what could most accurately be described as horror.
She looked back to Shane who was shuffling back and forth and looking lost.
"How long has he been here?"
"I don't even know man! I got here at six and boss-man was already asleep and I was like, dude! And then he woke up and did like… stuff. But then he kept falling asleep so I just like, put some stuff on him and and—"
Zelda held a hand up to shut him up again. Shane complied, shutting up and shuffling his feet again.
"So he was already asleep at six?" She asked, poking at Link with her foot.
Link made some vague grunting noise and rolled over.
"Yeah man. Like, he usually comes in around five or something, but then he started coming in earlier and like leaving a lot and and—dude, do you think maybe he's sick? Because if he's sick then like no one else really knows how to cook and all the customers like him a lot so maybe we should just like—"
Zelda held up her hand. Shane shut up.
Zelda pointed at the door. Shane went.
"Alright." Zelda ran a hand over her face and looked around the kitchen. "What is going through that thick skull of yours, Link?"
Link rolled over again, mumbling incoherently in his sleep.
Zelda shook her head. "That's really helpful, Link. Thank you so much for clearing that up."
A weird hiccupy snore was the only response she got.
Zelda sighed and pulled her phone out of her pocket, sending a quick text to Nabooru.
Hey Nabooru, I'm not feeling well. Sorry, but I won't be coming into the office today.
And with that out of the way, Zelda cast another glance at the sleeping bakery-owner on the floor and rolled her sleeves up. She found the recipe taped to the hood of the range and the ingredients spread out all over the kitchen and set to work.
"Alright Zelda. Chocolate chip cookies. Can't be that hard." Link seemed deaf to the world, so Zelda went on talking to herself. "Okay. So, one of cup of flour to one cup of sugar…"
It was some time later when the second batch of cookies were in the oven and Zelda was looking curiously at the bottom of her coffee cup and wondering why she had a headache that Shane came rushing back in.
"Zelda, give me that cup!" He didn't wait for her to comply, instead ripping it out of her hands and sticking his face into it while inhaling loudly.
Zelda stared at him, her hands still holding the air where the coffee cup had been seconds before.
"Shane, what...?"
"Oh, thank the goddesses." Shane put the cup back in her hands, grinning like an idiot. "I just had to double check that it was decaf. Like, I tried to make sure and not let you drink mine, but then I just couldn't remember—"
Zelda was getting the impression that there wasn't usually much going on in Shane's head.
"—but like, it is."
Zelda nodded and mirrored his smile, feeling about as uncomfortable as she did when dealing with five year olds. "And… why did you have to make sure it was decaf?"
Shane looked at her with wide puppy-dog eyes.
"Because Link says that you're wicked grumpy in the morning and super up-tight and that we shouldn't serve you anything with caffeine because it might you worse and then he said you were probably addicted to it and that was why you're always so uptight and bitchy and—"
Zelda took a deep breath and focused on the smell of cookies and the fact that the poor kid was a little bit slow and he didn't deserve to be punished for repeating something Link had said and he probably thought that anything Link said was law and the kid had the best intentions even if he was a moron and—
Zelda heard the cloth rustling behind her and Link's voice a moment later.
"Okay, Shane, pal." His usually smooth voice sounded gravelly and disoriented and Zelda silently marveled that he could actually produce words at all for having been dead to the world for the better part of four hours. "You did good. Now shhhh, bye."
Shane shut up.
Zelda pointed.
Shane left.
Zelda turned to the mass of tablecloths on the floor behind her. Link opened one blue eye and smiled, closing it again a moment later. Despite having spoken just a moment before, the blond did not look entirely conscious. In fact, sprawled on his back on the kitchen floor with a white apron tangled up with his business suit (since when did Link start wearing business suits?) Link looked perfectly at peace.
"Link?" Zelda asked cautiously, trying not to be annoyed about the decaf spiel she was pretty sure she was never supposed to hear.
Link flashed that smile again but didn't open his eyes or respond.
"Hey, Link—"
Link mumbled incoherently and Zelda frowned, kneeling down on the tablecloth pile to hear him better.
"—n't supposed to… didn't think you were gonna come. "
Zelda's frown smoothed itself out and she found herself smiling (just a little bit) and reaching over to brush some bangs out of Link's eyes. His skin was warm to the touch and his hair was softer than she'd expected and for a second his hand moved as if to grab hers and—
Link's eyes flew open and he stared at Zelda with an expression of mild alarm.
"Zelda!"
"Link!" Zelda echoed in the same flabbergasted tone, watching with confusion as the bakery owner leapt to his feet (surprisely agile) and ran to the clock.
"Holy shit. Oh, shit." Link was in the process of stripping his apron off and simultaneously trying to make some semblance of order out of his disastrous bed hair. "Goddamn. This is not. Not—"
He must have her seen her expression because in the next second he was back at her side, pulling her up off the tablecloths and trying to brush some of the flour off her shoulders.
"No, not you. I can't believe I fell asleep and I was supposed to be at work already and—" Link did a double clock, looking from Zelda's business attire to the clock and back with a frown. "Shouldn't you be at work?"
Somewhere, some part of Zelda was flattered that he knew when she was working. The other parts of Zelda were preoccupied with the situation at hand and her reason for being there in the first place.
"I told Nabooru I was sick." She explained rather lamely, trying not to feel defensive and realizing that maybe Link had a point with the whole uptight-in-the-morning thing.
Link looked alarmed and his hands went from dusting flour to gripping her shoulders a little too tightly and looking a little intensely into her eyes with the most severe frown she'd ever seen him display.
"Are you sick?" He asked, sounding for all the world like an anxious father. "Did you get yourself sick again?"
"What? Link, no! No. Stop it! Stop fussing. I just wanted the day off because I came here to to—you know—and then you were here, asleep, and all the cookies had salt instead of sugar so I just figured that it was the right thing to do to stay and help because my work isn't all that important and—"
"You took the day off of work?" Link asked, his frown lessening to something a little less severe. "Because my cookies were salty?"
"Well… yes?" Zelda said, losing her train of thought because all of a sudden Link was still frowning but there was that soft look in his eyes again and he was smiling in a tired, but genuine kind of way and…
And goddesses, this man was making her absolutely mental.
"I mean, after yesterday, I just—I wanted to apologize and—"
And Link's hands left her shoulders and he was back to looking at the clock and cursing under his breath even though that soft look and weird smile-frown was still there.
"Zelda."
Zelda stopped stumbling over her words and decided to shut up.
Link took a deep breath and shook his head, mumbling something under his breath, before looking at her over his shoulder. "Thank you. Really."
She hated that the softness of his voice was making her knees weak.
"New cookies are in the oven?" He asked, and that softness was replaced with professionalism and suddenly her knees were working just fine.
"Yeah, and then I had two batches wrapped, and two more are in the oven now and there's a couple trays prepped to go in."
Link nodded, taking it all in and looking back and forth between the oven and the clock.
"Alright. Well, if we team up, we can get five more batches in at eleven minutes each, wrap the outbound ones, and I can still make it into the office by… eleven. It's not perfect, but at least I'll make it and—"
"Link?"
He broke off and looked at her again, grinning that boyish grin of his.
"I can stay here and help out." Zelda found herself saying as they both simultaneously reached for the oven and pulled it open. The smell of fresh baked cookies washed over them. "While you're working, I mean. Since I took the day off already. And about yesterday—"
"Forget it."
Zelda looked at him quizzically and stepped back as he lifted one of the cookie trays out of the oven.
"Doesn't matter."
"But you said—"
Maybe it was because two days had passed or maybe it was because like an idiot she'd taken the whole damn day off of work just because he'd fallen asleep on the job and his cookies tasted like shit. Maybe it was because she still looked like a disaster, dressed in her business clothes and covered in flour, or maybe it was something else entirely but there was little of the self-righteous anger that had been in his eyes two days ago.
Instead there was something that looked almost like defeat, but sweeter. It was something familiar, but not something Zelda could place.
"Let's just…" Link sighed and gave her that smile and she saw that strange look in his eyes again, that cross between a smile and a frown that looked equal parts heart-melting and pained. "Let's just not worry about it. I had some things on my mind and it wasn't fair of me to throw that at you."
"But I still feel like I should say—"
"Just, don't." Link shrugged and smiled than cast a meaningful look around the kitchen—the cookies, the recipe hanging there, the tablecloths on the floor, their business attire. "I'm pretty sure that I'm already entirely damned and this is messy and it's not perfect and I don't know exactly what comes of this but… but maybe we can just see."
"Wait and see?" Zelda asked, feeling a combination of relief, disappointment, and an annoying tingle of hope.
"Yeah, wait and see." Link nodded, not meeting her gaze as he was already busying himself with another batch of cookies. "You know, see if we kill each other or not."
Zelda rolled her eyes and punched the bakery owner in the shoulder. "You're an idiot."
"Yeah." Link nodded again, still smiling that strange pleased-but-not-entirely smile. "You've got that one about right."
A/N: In which Link wimps out and conflict is saved for another rainy day. And in which Malon is conspicuously absent and things actually go alright.