I watched in shock for a second before realizing what was going on and rushing over, ignoring Link's pants for him to stop.

"Skull! Get the hell off of him!"

If only life were that simple, because we all know that that's gonna work, so let's end the chapter HERE rather than having it be as long as planned. You got that sarcasm, right? Good.

"G-… S-stop." Link panted.

Even punching the guy's arm doesn't work! Hey, I might be a pacifist, but that doesn't mean I'm not strong.

"Dark Link?" I looked when my name was being called, but didn't stop trying to force Skull off of Link.

"Vaati, give me a hand!" I said through gritted teeth, not even sure if he heard me until I saw him standing over the other side of Skull Kid, gripping his wrist and pulling back. I repeated the process, suddenly kinda glad that the hand that I grabbed wasn't pinning both of Link's arms to the wall…

I ended up punching the kid in the eye as I threatened him to leave Link alone. Then I heard Link's ragged breathing, leaving me to turn around and pull him into my arms.

"Sorry," I muttered over and over again, in his ear when I looked up to see the dyed-blue hair, the tattoo-ed-blue skin, a black tattoo under his eye and the red-contact-ed eye that wasn't covered by hair.

"Thank you, Vaati."

He grinned and put his hand on my head. "You know you can always count on my Darky-poo."

"That's because you're a stalker."

"By trade," He nodded, taking his hand off of my head.

"Dark…" Link muttered under his breath and I looked at him.

"You gonna be ok, Link?"

Slowly, he nodded, but it was so slow, I almost didn't notice.

"Can you talk?"

"Y-Yeah."

"Good, for a second there, I wasn't sure if you could breathe either."

"Wha- why?"

I grinned and squeezed him, making him gasp. Vaati laughed from behind and pushed his hand through my hair.

"Hey, what did I say about doing that?" I snapped, still hugging Link, but much looser now.

He chuckled as I pulled away from Link and wiped his cheeks—I hadn't realized he was crying back there.

"Link, calm down." I grinned at him, trying to imitate his smile—I don't think it worked very well. "Link, you're fine. Probably going to be emotionally scarred the rest of your life, but fine, nonetheless."

Slowly, his breathing evened and he smiled. "Yeah, emotionally, definitely."

"Hey, Link, this is my friend—and dad's colleague—Vaati. Vaati, Link, Link, Vaati."

I felt only one of Link's hands around my back as he turned slightly, but shook hands nonetheless… And then Link shied away from him.

I laughed slightly and looked at him with a grin, "I swear to god he won't touch you. This one may be a stalker, but he's a good one."

"There's a such thing?" Link remarked.

"Yeah. When it's your job." Vaati replied, still grinning.

"Uh…?"

"No, he doesn't smile."

"That's what you said when we first started hanging out, remember?"

"Yeah, and that's what I thought, too." I finished.

"Is he the guy you were talking about yesterday?"

"No, he's not the guy!" I snapped, rolling my eyes. "Does he act anything like you?"

"Not that I know of… But, then, uh… was he?"

"Yeah, he was texting me earlier." I nodded, wrapping my arm tighter around his waist.

"Darky-poo?"
"Midna started it." Vaati cut in.

"Now, Vat, I'm not a test subject, nor is Link."

"Damnit," He cursed and waved as he walked away.

"Test subject? Link replied.

"Uh… never mind that now."

"So, how many more friends do you have?"

"That's it."

"Which one do you like?"

I hit my forehead, turning to him completely and held his head in my hands. I watched his eyes dart back and forth as I pushed against his lips.

Didn't see anything after that, though, but I did feel him push back.

So, maybe I do have a chance!

Or so I thought