Link knew what embarrassment felt like; he knew that it made him want to disappear and escape or pretend he wasn't there. He knew that shame had similar effects, and confusion could lead to mild panic, and that all of these feelings fell under the umbrella term of "stressed".

Which was a total understatement for how he felt in this moment.

The thing causing the stress was lying across from him in the unfamiliar double bed, silver-white hair splayed (somehow elegantly) over the second pillow, its eyes slowly brightening with consciousness and its lips curling into an amused grin.

"Stare any longer and I might just have to charge you." It - the man - said. Link could hear the amusement in his voice. It made him feel so tense that he felt like he'd turned to cheap, faux ivory, brittle enough to shatter under touch. He quickly cast his eyes down, unable to move anything else, and noticed he was shirtless.

The nausea began.

"Oh God," he said, involuntarily, so he clapped a hand over his mouth immediately after saying it. He couldn't raise his eyes anymore to look at his bedmate, so he looked to the floor where his clothes were. He fled to them, his only protection in an unfamiliar realm, noticing with little relief that at least his boxers were on and he wouldn't have to stand completely naked in front of this near stranger as he changed.

"Leaving so soon?" The man said in a disinterested tone, and Link looked up after putting his shirt on to see him stretching out and snuggling under the covers contentedly. He felt his cheeks flush. How could this guy be so nonchalant about this?

"Yeah," Link replied, the only thing he could manage to say voluntarily in the moment, and then grabbed his jacket and fled the bedroom.

The walk home was a nightmare. His head was pounding, a result of combining a hangover with the aforementioned stress, and was likely the reason he threw up in the bushes at the end of the street. Through all the chaos and internal screaming that he waded through inside his head, a name floated up to the surface: Ghirahim.

Ghirahim, yes, that was his name. He was a Drama student, second year, flamboyant and full of himself and was known to be the promiscuous type. Link had heard enough of his ramblings during the theatre group that met every Wednesday (and more recently, Saturdays as well) to know that this man slept with all kinds of people, and liked talking about it.

Link groaned, or half-sobbed, and rubbed a hand over his face. If this got out...

And he was going to have to see him later today, since he played for the club.

The job had opened up a few months ago, the Saturday extension being added only two weeks ago as Spring semester started and the cast wanted to rehearse more. It only required Link to read the provided music and play the piano at the right cues, and it even payed a little bit of money, so he couldn't complain. Either way, the reason he'd wanted the job in the first place was because it'd give him the keys to the department's piano - an old Mason & Hamlin that was somehow still in brilliant condition. Link had never even thought about love at first sight until he saw that piano, and he knew he couldn't risk losing her now.

So skipping the club today was out of the question, if he didn't want to get in trouble. Link tried to reassure himself that, while he'd been unintentionally picking up little bits of information on the cast over the months, Ghirahim had never seemed to even consider that there was a human being behind the old piano, and as far as he was concerned the music just occurred by itself. So as long as Link didn't mess up his playing and draw attention to himself, he'd be safe.

.

"Link, could you put the stereo onto track 2 and start it on my signal?"

Link looked up from studying his newly-assigned sheet music at his name being spoken. The voice belonged to Keet, a third year that not only was the director of this production, but also possibly the least invested in it. He seemed to only be there to flirt with the female lead, Kina, a pretty girl with a sweet voice and always elaborately-styled black hair. Link could see the appeal in her, though couldn't come up with an honourable reason to give her one of the leading roles, since her acting was only so-so.

Still, Keet had bothered to learn Link's name, which was more than what most of the cast had done, so Link happily obliged and didn't think anything of it as he left his place at the piano and waited by the stereo.

He looked around the drama studio, at the stage lights falling onto the current scene's cast - Kina, and a guy called Groose who had attended the same high school as Link and Zelda. Groose was playing the Hero, a role in which he was clearly satisfied with.

The scene that had just started was part of the second act - where the Hero and his stolen love were finally reunited for a brief moment, before she disappeared again until it was safe. The ambience for this scene just wouldn't be right on a piano, so Link had to play sound technician and operate the stereo as well. He stood back after pressing the button and watched the scene unfold behind the rest of the cast who were standing by, until he noticed one head was turning away from the scene, its body following it. Link's heart stopped.

The person who had turned around, towards him, was Ghirahim. Link quickly looked around for something to do, some reason for him to get away. He spotted a pile of CD cases and picked them up, and proceeded to walk purposefully away with them and behind the large, floor-length curtain that ran around three walls of the studio.

After getting under cover he felt his heart beating again, pounding in his chest, which caused his face to flush. He lowered his head until his forehead was resting on the top of the pile of plastic cases, and gave into the embarrassment that flooded him. He'd been seen. Was Ghirahim going to think he was a stalker, now?

"Do you always play for us?" A voice said behind him, and Link half-yelped from the shock. He whipped around to see Ghirahim, all tight pants and eyeliner and stereotypical scarf, leaning against the wall on one shoulder. "You're very good."

"...Thanks," Link managed, albeit awkwardly. Ghirahim didn't say anything else, just peered at Link through the dim behind the curtain, which made him shuffle uncomfortably. "Why are you back here?"

"I could say the same to you, lambkin." He said, and Link blanched. Ghirahim smirked. "You were very good last night as well, by the way."

"Don't," Link snapped, and moved forward to squeeze past him, but Ghirahim held out a hand to block his way.

"I'm not trying to shame you, I'm interested."

Link stared up at him, eyes wide. Really?

"Well, I'm not," he said sharply. Because he wasn't. He knew Ghirahim slept around, and he didn't want to be with someone that casually (again). He didn't even remember if Ghirahim was good.

"You're really not?" The taller man said, tone of mock sadness and lips pushed into a pout.

Link's curiosity began to bubble over. "What exactly did we do... Last night?" He said, trying not to sound bothered. Ghirahim saw through his act and grinned.

"Well, after you'd made out with half of the sports students I had to pull you away or you would have gotten crushed! And then you just went down on me before I could even stop you," He recalled, and Link's mouth dropped open. Ghirahim nodded. "It's true. Right in front of everyone. You don't really seem like that type so I'd blame the alcohol; if you hadn't drank so much then you'd remember the threesome we had afterwards as well. She must have left before we woke up..." He trailed off, looking away thoughtfully. Link looked like he was going to vomit.

"Oh, I'm only teasing!" Ghirahim said, laughing.

Link shook his head. "...What?"

Ghirahim shook his silver hair out of his face and grinned. "I can't believe you fell for it, that was adorable!" He said, before pushing off the wall and putting a hand on his hip. "Nothing really happened. We kissed. We went upstairs. You went down on me and then we both must've passed out." His eyes roamed briefly -and incredibly unsubtly- over Link's form, "Huge letdown, really."

Link blushed bright red, and frowned, then pushed past and out of the curtains.

"The conscious parts were great, though!" Ghirahim called after Link, who could still hear the smile in his arrogant voice.

.

My goal is to write as many SS characters into this as possible. It may ruin everything, but I don't care, because I'm incredibly excited for toilet hand.

Also, in case you couldn't tell by my spelling, I'm English! I'm not sure how uni/college works over in the States but I know that it's unusual to do majors here; we typically just do the one course, so I'll just be writing what I know.

I know this AU will have been done before, and I am just writing for fun, but any feedback would be appreciated! Thank you for reading:)