Chapter 3: The New Delivery Boy
Three days later, Friday, Gale had pushed the incident with the weird blond to the back of his mind. He'd actually done some of the homework, showed off what he could do on the first quiz of the year for US history class, and had been a jerk to the few stupid ones who'd thought he needed a friend. Gale didn't need friends. He liked his time alone and couldn't really bother with the drama that came with friends. Once upon a time he had hung out with a few kids his age, but he realized he always ended up feeling irritable when he was with them. Maybe it was a social disorder. He never really put much thought into it because he didn't care. He was fine being a loner, he didn't care that other people thought he was strange and scary, and he didn't need anyone. He was a lone wolf – Gale liked that phrase.
Yeah. Friends were bothersome, high maintenance, and brought with them a world of drama. He understood little about the people who needed to be with their friends all the time – like the girls who went to the bathrooms together in huge groups. Did they really need to pee together as well? Pah, he was totally fine being by himself.
At least, that's what he told himself. His lifestyle was more tolerable that way.
Gale shifted his backpack on his shoulder as he approached his grandfather's home. He frowned when he saw it; just like any other day he took a good look at it when he came back from school. The house was a part of a small, upper middle-class neighborhood. Everything about it was similar to the rest of the cookie-cutter houses; soft yellow walls, a homey two stories, and a large grassy backyard. However, there was one thing that was utterly and eye-popping different about it, and that was the first floor. The first floor had been repainted in a red and white Italian theme and the walls had been replaced with large glass panes. A gigantic poster of "Irdon's Biggest Pizza" was taped to the glass door, and next to it was a flickering neon sign of a chef flipping pizza dough. Instead of having a front lawn, the driveway had been extended further across, and white lines had been painted to mark parking spaces. There was another sign on the window that claimed, "We deliver Fridays through Sundays!" The floor of the house had been converted to red and white tiles, and metallic tables and seats were situated around a marble counter. Behind the counter, he could see two black ovens and a white haired aging man shuffling about.
For Gale, everything about the pizzeria was an eyesore to the neighborhood but old Grandpa Loze was stubborn about it. He skidded his dervish to a stop and flipped back its tail, catching it in his free hand as it jumped upwards. He pushed open the door of the pizzeria and walked into the middle of a conversation.
"You'll be working a lot, I reckon, but if you're up to it then Loze's Pizzeria can do deliveries every day."
"I'll do anything for a place to stay. I don't know how much longer I can live in the car."
That voice… Gale had heard it before. He turned slowly to see a blond haired, blue-eyed teen in a dark green jacket sitting politely in one of the metal chairs. Grandpa Loze noticed Gale come in and he waved him over.
"Ah! Gale, I want you to meet Link. He's thinking of working here and doing deliveries."
"Oh, I'm not thinking of working – I'll definitely work if that means I can have a roof to sleep under," Link corrected. He waved briefly to Gale who was still standing by the doorway with utter shock and revolt written all over his face.
"What is he doing here?!" Gale finally snarled after a few minutes of trying to find his voice. He stomped off to his crook nosed grandpa and cornered him. "And why is talking about a place to stay?!"
Loze blinked his dark beady eyes and glanced from the angry Gale to the blond teen who was happily sipping a soda. "You two know each other?" He finally asked.
The boy named Link nodded. "We've met briefly. I can say truthfully that I know Gale's right fist the best." He pointed to the slightly purplish area right under his eye. "Quite a mean hook you've got."
"You punched him, m'boy?"
"He was stalking me, all right? Gramps, he's a stalker. There's no way I'm letting him live in the same house with me."
Link stood up and went over to the soda vendors for a refill. "I never would have expected someone to be in such a foul mood as to want to punch a stranger like me. And all I wanted was some help with," he paused, and then grinned, "… directions."
That lying son of a… Gale wanted to punch him again right now. "GRAMPS! There is absolutely no fucking way I'm living with this creep!"
"Watch your language boy!" Loze roared. He moved off to stand next to Link in his defense. "Link here has gone through rough times, and he deserves someone to help him out! This boy is living in a car by himself, he picks up stray quarters by the vending machines just to get through the day, and isn't even enrolled in school because he's too busy surviving! You don't know what it's like to live like that, boy, because I've always taken care of you and made sure you had a damn good life."
"You are so gullible, old man," Gale shot back. "Just look at him. Does he look like he's been struggling to get by? He looks too clean and perky to me." Gale turned to Link. "Get out, or I'm calling the police."
"It seems like you can't remember that I was the one who picked you off the street as well! Otherwise, my brain dead son and his good-for-nothing wife would have left you in the streets to fend for yourself. I choose who lives here! If you've got a problem with that then GET OUT."
Ouch. Gale seethed, but he didn't say anything and stormed angrily upstairs to his room. He heard Link trying to calm down Loze, and he cursed both of them. He threw his backpack against the wall and watched it satisfactorily slam and fall to the floor. His day had gone from boring to exciting, but exciting in the wrong direction. It was goddamned miserable.
Furious, Gale put on his earphones and turned the music up high so he could drown out everything around him. He couldn't believe gramps had let that weird guy in, and he questioned the old man's sanity in agreeing to let the kid stay. That guy wasn't normal, and there was something about him that made Gale antsy and upset.
Suddenly, the door to his room opened a crack and Gale tensed. He almost threw something when he saw bits of blond hair poke through the cracks as Link inched his way into Gale's room. The blond teen mouthed something inaudible.
"What?!" Gale snapped.
Link began to mouth something again, and then shook his head and pointed at his ears.
Oh.
Gale took off his earphones and tried again. "What do you want?"
"Uh… I just thought, you know, we weren't formally introduced."
"Let's keep it that way."
"Well, I'm going to be living here so –"
"Listen up, creep," Gale stood up sharply and walked menacingly towards Link. "I don't know who you are but –"
"I'm Malenko Petrov, but people call me Link."
Gale gave his death glare. "Well, Petrov, what makes you think you can just follow me around like a psycho stalker and show up on my front doorstep asking for a place to stay?"
"I just did that. And now I've got a place to stay."
"All right, wise guy, gramps granted you a place to stay and I can't do anything about that. Still, I can ask you to stay the fuck away from me because this is my turf, got it? I don't want to see your face as long as I'm in this house."
Link scrunched his eyebrows. "You've got a nasty temper."
"I've got an even nastier fist. Do you want to meet my left one this time?" Gale held up his balled fist.
"Not particularl –" Link began, but was interrupted by Gale's punch aimed at his face.
The next few seconds came as a surprise to Gale. Instead of having his fist connect with the stalker's mug, he felt his punch connect with Link's hand that had blocked his hit with lightning quick speed. Then, he felt his left arm twist to the side, forcing his body to follow it all the way to the floor.
"Oof!" Gale grimaced, rubbing his side that had slammed on the floor. He heard Link say something with a disappointed tone behind him.
"Fine, I'll try not to bother you while you're still sour."
Gale's door shut with a click and he spent a couple of minutes recovering from the pain and embarrassment. Recovering mostly from embarrassment. He was rarely humiliated the way Link had humiliated him moments ago. He sat there, rubbing his side and trying not to think about how Link had completely and utterly made quick work of him with a simple block. Just who is that guy?
He jumped to his feet and quickly brushed himself off. Then, he opened the door and stuck out his head. Link was nowhere to be found.
"Oy! Petrov!"
He heard some scuffling, and then Link's head popped around from behind one of the rooms. Apparently he had been assigned to the guest room that was at the end of the hallway.
"Come back here."
Shrugging, Link walked back to Gale's room with his hands stuffed in his pockets. Gale sized him up and glowered with his arms crossed.
"I need you to answer some questions," he demanded. When Link looked at him puzzled, Gale rolled his eyes. "Since I can't do anything about you living here, I might as well learn a little bit about whom I have to deal with," he explained.
"Fair enough. Ask away."
"Who are you? Why don't you have a place to stay?"
"I have a car I was sleeping in. I used to drive around, find a quiet place to park for the night, and then drive again in the morning. I've just about run out of gas so I asked your grandfather if I could stay here."
"So the car doesn't run. Why can't you do what you've been doing and live in your car?"
"Trust me, it's not really pleasant."
"So you're homeless and you don't have an income?"
"That just about explains my situation."
"Then why do you look so… I don't know… clean?"
"I go to the local gyms and sneak into their showers. I can sometimes get into schools because they think I'm a student and I use the showers in their gyms."
"What about your parents? Why aren't you living with them?"
"…"
"So you don't want to talk about that, huh?"
"… Let's just say I uh, left them."
"Hmph. Wouldn't they look for you? I mean, wouldn't you prefer to live in a car instead of a house?"
Gale eyed Link carefully. The other teen, however, refused to elaborate and he figured he wasn't going to get anything from pressing him further. The two lapsed into silence for a moment until Link sighed and leaned against the wall.
"You don't trust me, right?"
"That's right, punk."
Link bit his lip while he thought of something. Finally, he shook his head. "You know what, I don't trust you either. I never did."
"Then why –" Gale began, but was cut off by the blond.
"You might not know it yourself, but you're not who you think you are. Do you believe in reincarnation?"
Normally, Gale would have laughed at such a question and would have poked fun at its stupidity. This time, however, he was in no laughing mood. "Of course not."
"What if I said that you're actually Vaati, the Sorcerer of Winds who'd lived over 8,000 years ago? Does that name strike a chord at all?"
Gale stared. "Dear Nayru you're crazy."
"The reason why I was driving around the coast was because I was looking for you and one other person. The other person is Skull Kid, and I know I have to find him soon or something bad is going to happen. If we don't do something, a massive flood is going to sink at least fifty percent of landmass on earth."
"Wait… we???"
Link nodded, his expression full of worry. "You are Vaati. You have the ability to take us where we can prevent the flood from wiping out the world."
Okkkaaayyy, this is getting weirder. Gale decided to play along for the time being. "And how do you know that there's going to be a flood?"
"You wouldn't believe me," Link muttered.
This time, Gale managed to laugh. "You've been ridiculous enough. How much worse can it get?"
Link hesitated, appearing reluctant to explain further. At last, he spoke under his breath. "Farore spoke to me. She showed me what I had to do."
Gale couldn't take it anymore. He'd been angry before by Link's ridiculous claims but overexposure to the blond teen's crazy ideas had pushed him over the edge. The pale boy rolled on the floor and laughed until he had trouble breathing. Offended, Link turned to leave but Gale held up a hand to stop him.
"Haha – wait – hahaha – just one more question before you go," Gale gasped, teary eyed. Link gave him a scorching look. "What did this Vaati do? Was he some religious leader or something? Maybe," Gale snorted, "maybe Farore's loyal follower?"
Link's frown loosened and he smiled a little at Gale's questions. He seemed amused by something. "Hardly."
"Oh?"
As Link walked away, his smile faded away again and hardened into something fierce. "He tried to take over the world," he said. Behind him, Gale stopped laughing and a curious look came over him.
Because something about that did strike a chord.
fleets: Hmm, there's something strange about the Petrov kid. XD
Midna Hytwilian: lol 'prick.' Haha I had a feeling you'd like the chapter with Link's appearance ;) Gale's method is so risky - I go with your way too because people don't act hostile to you if you try the sweet way, and not the jerk way O.o;
(v_v;) Gale is such an ahole. I shame myself by trying to be him when writing this story (minus the ahole part though, he's kinda fun to be). O.o' rainbow colored people will scare me. BUT! I will hold nothing against them. Nor Re-Deads. Though I think if I shook their hand it'll fall off and I'll be sued for injury...
drydrydesert: Oh, Link would have one helluva time convincing Gale. Won't be easy, no, not at all. Thanks - I started reviewing to people in the stories after I realized multiple people had the same questions. The easiest thing to do was reply where everyone could see (unless it was going to spoil something).
Shadow Blues: Ohhh, I'll check it out! Yeah, Gale got quite a nice hit on him, but Link was more prepared this time around ;) No need to apologize! :O And hello on devart :D
DarkLinkvsRaineSage123: I um I um I um... please don't apologize!!! (blushing like mad in embarrassment as well) Nonono it was good that you brought it up! If you ever felt bad or suspected I was antigay, then someone else might have as well! Now that I have the super big disclaimer in the middle of this story (and also on my profile) I can hopefully lessen misconceptions. I would really hate it if other people began to think I was against gays or any other 'group.' And thank you as always for your reviews - luv ya too! ;)
Death-Note-Zelda-Kitty: Sorry, it wasn't really a 'chapter' :P It was an earlyish update though, if that counts :D
Bishieluver01: Gale seems to like punching people who bother him, but he learned his lesson this time. Violence isn't the answer. XD Fear Link's self-defence moves!
Astral S. Kepeire: Ehehe, I don't think I'll ever have a 'real' two chapters in a day update ever again. It's just physically impossible now...
I read your story and I was sad it ended with a cliffy! :(
Actually, Gale probably wouldn't have murdered you for continued stalking because you're a girl, and he likes girls. He's a sexist pig, but at least he's interested in the fair sex. Remember his guidelines? If it looks like a human and has boobs, he'll take an interest. If it looks like a human, has boobs, and a pretty face, he'll hit on it. If it looks like a human, has boobs, a pretty face, and intelligence as an added bonus, he'll... I mean... (coughcoughcough) ANYWAYS. Link. He's so different in this story so far (and no, he really didn't deserve that punch but he was better prepared this time ;) ). Of course! Draw away! I really don't mind and you don't have to ask permission as long as you give me credit for the character :D
Peka The Corsair: Indeed. If only, ey?
Reily96: I'm not sure why I thought of Burger King - I'm a McDonald's person O.o Oooh, I'll be looking out for it, whatever it turns out to be 8D. Mmm, I should've expected it, really. Now I have the disclaimer though, and hopefully that will quell fears of me being anti-whateveritmaybe.
marium: You don't have to apologize! Aww, I hope you're feeling better now though :) Oh... yeah... I might've freaked out a bit and I'm embarrassed about that, but thanks to it I've got the disclaimer this story really needed earlier. :)