Ch 10: Broom Cupboards Re-examined

As with most occurrences of dramatic intensity, an awkward silence ensued.

Like, really awkward.

As in, Zelda didn't talk to me for two days.

At all.

It was weird, because it wasn't like the other times. Most times that she avoided me, she had a good reason. Like that time I broke into her house. Or the time I tried to kidnap her… actually, that was the same night, but I think she probably counted it as having the impact of two separate occurrences.

I know I did.

Malon didn't know why Zelda was avoiding me. All she knew was that Zelda wasn't angry with me. As in, "It's not you, it's me." So Zelda was probably being passive aggressive. I think that Zelda's the most passive aggressive person I know. Sometimes I wish she'd be like Nabooru and just lash out when properly pissed, but then I remember that Zelda in a bad mood is worse than Zelda in a weird mood, because while Zelda in a weird mood is aggravating, Zelda in a bad mood is painful.

I made Malon do some spying for me on the third day of the Great Awkward Silence. I literally told her to write down anything strange about how Zelda was acting. Malon gave me an odd look but did it anyway because What Are Friends For, and then set off to be a spy.

When she returned the notebook after lunch, all she'd written down was: She's been fussy ever since the hospital. Maybe the doc dropped some bad news?

Then Malon asked Link, who clarified that the doctor had in fact dropped no bad news, but had merely pried, making Zelda remarkably uncomfortable. What sort of prying? Well, apparently it was unspecified, but I couldn't help but wonder.

I've always been astoundingly poor at minding my own business. I guess that my own business is so thoroughly dull that I have to poke my nose elsewhere for my own sanity. The Harkinians are great for this as they've always had a lot of secrets and, incidentally, have a record of being remarkably bad at keeping them.

I allowed my status to decline to that of the Professional Lurker, spending a lot of time following Zelda from a distance. She looked the same as usual, and most people probably had no idea that anything was wrong. If Zelda is good at one thing, it's making things appear to be normal. It's one of the things I resent about her.

Anyway, professional lurking got old quickly when my investigation failed to yield results. Not to mention that most people were catching on to my creeping. Treasure-wad Tingle came up to me in a hallway and told me that he knew a guy who could get me x-ray glasses in exchange for one of my sisters. (Two sisters, and he'd add in a periscope.) It took awhile to convince Tingle that I wasn't doing that kind of creeping.

That guy's on some serious Magic Beans, I swear.

Knowing that my only chance left to consult Zelda would be to corner her in private, I skipped class one afternoon. Being prefect, Zelda's free periods were often spent monitoring the halls.

Naturally, then, when I finally did nab some time alone with her, it was in an abandoned corridor. She didn't speak to me when she saw me round the corner- didn't even acknowledge my existence. I cleared my throat in aggravation.

"Well?" I said.

She half-turned, the profile of her face evident against an arched window.

"Well what?"

"You're the Hall Monitor. Aren't you going to ask me for a hall pass?"

She didn't respond… then, quietly: "Haven't you got one?"

"Nope," I answered, and- knowing fully that I would regret it- I took Zelda by the hand and whisked her into an adjacent broom cupboard, slamming the door shut and leaving us in the dark.

"What the hell-" she began, but she didn't try to escape. "What do you think you're doing?!" she whispered furiously. "Gods, I could get you suspended-"

"Why are you ignoring me?" I pressed, and that shut her up. "Something happened in that hospital room three days ago, I know it did. You two came out of there looking like cadavers-"

"Never mind what happened. It's none of your business!"

"See, this is just your problem!" I cried before I could stop myself. "You tell yourself- you tell everyone- that nothing's wrong, when everything's wrong, and it just makes you feel worse! It's like you have this shell, this armor, and it just builds up over and over… and just when I think that you're about to open up, you snap shut again like a… like a…" I pointed at her accusingly. "Like a clam," I decided darkly.

"Oh, you're one to talk," Zelda said, 100% done with my shit. "Maybe if there was even an ounce of sincerity in you, I'd be more willing to talk. But you're too obsessed with your- your street cred to have any meaning at all!"

...Stret cred?

"Keep telling yourself that, Zel," I countered hotly, fuming, now, at her words. "Keep on telling yourself that these past few weeks haven't meant anything to either of us. What about that night in the coffee shop, Zel? Or the way I carried your brother all the way back to his house when he got the shit kicked out of him behind a dumpster? Zel- Zelda- what about the burger joint?! We danced together, remember? To Sam Cooke- Zel…" My words faltered, and the rest was caught in my throat.

"I just think," she said quietly, her voice cutting through the dark room like a knife, "that things were better before I met you."

I froze. "You can't mean honestly think that," I said, and I could hear just how splintered the words sounded as I choked them out. "After all this… even I know that I don't- that I never would- that I am, I really am-" I didn't know what to say, didn't know how to explain that my feelings were real. Even if she didn't think so, even if Nabooru didn't think so, even if the world didn't think so, what I felt towards Zelda Harkinian was wonderfully, dangerously real, and damn it if I was going to lose her now.

I was hyperaware of her in that moment; hyperaware of every piece of her, of every nerve and vein in her body, of her heart, her rage, of the words of protest that had become lost to her. She was shaking like a hummingbird; I could tell because my arms had somehow become locked around her shoulders. And she was so small, and right there, and she smelled like hairspray and lavender again.

My heart was racing in my chest, my stomach was doing acrobatics, and I knew- I knew- that the same went for her, even if I could barely see her.

And in that moment I forgot that she was fuming with anger, I forgot that she was the headmaster's daughter, I forgot that she was Hylian and I was Gerudo, that she was rich and I was poor, that she had money but no love and that I had love but no money- I forgot all of that, and thought only that she was a girl and I was a boy, and I kissed her for all it was worth.

It was a few seconds' worth of shock and pleasure, and I couldn't help but note that she tasted a little like salt and a lot like denial.

And then I pulled away and it ended, kind of like when you cut a wire and suddenly all the lights go out. It was quiet for a second- deathly quiet- just the sound of Zelda's ragged breathing.

And then I saw stars as Zelda slapped me so hard I almost forgot who I was. I tumbled into a shelf behind me and would have said "ow," but the feeling of Zelda's lips crashing against mine stopped me. I could feel the electric current spark up again, and then I was suddenly making out with Zelda Harkinian in a broom cupboard. All I could register was the feeling of her against me, and there were about a thousand different emotions running through my bloodstream like a drug. It was blissful; it made no sense, but it also made complete sense, and I prayed that she felt the same way…

Suddenly: "Zellie? Where did you go?"

The door opened and light washed over us. Malon stared at us dumbly.

"Um. Carry on," she finally said, and we were coated in darkness as the door swung shut once more.

I know that the chapter was short. This is one of my favorite scenes in the entire fic, which is why I'm leaving you on it.

No, the story is not over, but it is for now.

I'm taking a nice, long hiatus from this fic and from fanfiction in general to kind of gather my life into one place. I love this website, but I've got a lot to work on at the moment, school, real life, and original fiction included.

So I thank you for your support if you've given it to me, and I hope to reunite with you all when I come back, whenever that may be. I'll still be reading some fanfics, and I do still owe a fic to Squeeb (shoutout to you, Squeeb, for your remarkable patience), so we'll see what happens.

-Ctj :)