Hey everyone!

This series is just a collection of TP Zelink one-shots and drabbles. They are based on my fic BMTR but you can read them as stand-alone stories without reading the multi-chapter fic.

Thank you to @ilovework for this first suggestion! :)

Feel free to send suggestions either here or on Tumblr @sun-aries. Follow and favorite for more! Thanks!

Tawny evening light shed through the sheer folding screen as her lady's maid unfastened the stays of her corset. Each lithe tug resulted in the zipping and shuffling of silk before the bodice finally slackened around her body. When the gown finally pooled around her ankles, the queen let out a relieved sigh and stepped out of the ring of fabric.

Confining corsets and binding bodices were something she'd long been accostumed to, but the further she went along in her pregnancy, the more unbearable they became. With the way she was growing and changing with every passing week, having her body bundled to the brim wasn't exactly ideal. Although the corsets that were designed for expectant women weren't nearly as constricting as most, there were far more ties along her hips that took a far greater time to undo, meaning she had to stand on her feet for longer.

And her feet hurt the most.

They were constantly tender and sore, especially around the laces that cut into her skin all day. Untying her shoes was like dousing a fire, her entire body slackening as if she'd been water-logged. Even as Irene tugged off the boot with a great level of difficulty, the leather seemed to cling to her stockings as if the shoe itself was keen on continuing its torment on the queen.

Zelda hissed through her teeth. "Aye," Lady Irene said with a click of her tongue, "they get more swollen by the day, don't they? I'll get the ladies to fashion some new shoes for you."

Though Link could only make out the silhouettes from behind the screen, his wife's plaint caught his attention – as it always did, as if her pain set off some sort of alarm in his mind. His head snapped towards the screen but he waited until Irene walked Zelda out from behind the divider, finally clad in her nightwear, before asking, "Are you okay?"

She nodded dismissively as she tottered to bed, eager to take the weight off, while he closed his own wardrobe and turned to Irene for guidance. The older woman smiled consolingly as she swung the used clothes over an arm and prepared to head out. "Just some swelling in the feet. Nothing to fret about."

But just as she passed, she turned to the hero and said in a low voice, "She won't let me touch them, but see if she'll let you give her a foot rub." With a conspiratorial wink, she slipped out of the room and left the young couple to their own devices.

When the door closed, their eyes met. "Don't even think about it," she said with a scowl.

He shook his head, amused, and sat at the foot of the bed. "Let me see."

"They're sensitive."

"I can help."

After a moment hesitation, her eyes fell to her lap and she twisted her hands: a familiar habit of hers that he recognized all too well. Exasperated, she finally said, "They're unsightly."

His brows nearly flew up his forehead. That was not what he expected her to say. Zelda wasn't typically insecure about anything - at least not physical things, but certainly many intangible ones that she found a thousand and one reasons to feel guilty for.

Either way, there was never a good reason to be insecure about something like that - especially considering how strong and beautiful she was to him, and especially not when she was carrying their child. To hear her speak about herself like that...it was just wrong. "Nothing about you is 'unsightly.'"

Flashing him a daring look, she untucked her feet from the comforter and placed them flat on the sheets. Granted, they were very swollen, especially puffy around the ankles, and he could see the notches and bruises in her skin from the tight lacing of her boots. But they were certainly not ugly, and more than that, he was far more concerned with how she felt rather than how she looked.

Renado said it was normal for pregnant women to have swollen feet, but even if it was normal, it looked like it really hurt. And he would bet her tight shoes weren't helping anything. "I was right," he said firmly. "Not unsightly." Then, reaching out, he looked to her for permission. "Can I?"

She held his gaze but it didn't falter; she could see he was not going to give up without a fight. With a small sigh, she waved the white flag. Perhaps a massage wouldn't be so bad. "All right then."

A smile flitted across his face at the small victory, but then he rolled up his sleeves and got straight to work. Toiling in the ranch taught him a few things about using his hands. In the colder months, the Ordonian goats often got stiff and taut, and the ranchers would give them massages to ease the tension. But that was the extent of his knowledge about massages or anything like that and he would certainly be far gentler with her.

At the first touch, a soft sated sigh slipped from her lips and she melted into the mattress like sugar in tea. His hands cupped her ankle, working his thumbs and fingers into her skin with a tenderness one might not expect from looking at him. But Zelda was his wife and she knew his touch; she knew how he could be very gentle when he needed to be.

The feeling of his calloused fingers against her skin, the contrast of his gentle touch with the deep pressure was very pleasing and effectively distracted her of thoughts of welts and bruises. Her head sunk into the downy pillow. "That's nice. Thank you." His smile returned at her praise and his hands travelled down to her heel, kneading and pressing, and earning small, contented noises as he went along.

They were quiet for bit - that is, until his hands went down to her arch of her foot. When his hands travelled past where the laces had nicked her, that same hiss from earlier escaped her.

"Sorry," he said swiftly and loosened his grip. "You shouldn't be wearing these shoes, y'know. They're really digging into you."

"My maids have been very diligent about adjusting my clothes for my pregnancy. We've been doing the best under the circumstances."

"I know, but maybe it's not just the size... I don't care if they're fashionable or whatever. You're bruising from it."

He was far more down-to-earth than she was, especially when it came to her own well-being. Despite her better judgment, she tended to be more reckless in order to maintain a certain 'respectable' image. Though it was often a cause of disputes between them - her caring too much about decorum and him not giving a damn - she really did appreciate his perspective. Growing up outside of the castle had spared his rationale from getting warped.

After all, it was silly, caring about shoes that hardly peeked out from under her skirts. "Perhaps you're right. I could speak to them about commissioning a looser fit."

He was glad, at least, that she was willing to talk to them about it. He didn't know much about style and status, but he knew she did and it always ended up coming at a cost.

It wasn't that he didn't appreciate everything that she did as queen: he did, even things that he didn't really understand. After all, she was perhaps the best ruler Hyrule had ever seen and he was so proud of her for it. But she risked everything - even her welfare - time and time again, and it wasn't worth it to him.

But as time went on, he noticed the little ways she started to look out for herself, whether it was taking more breaks from work or going outside for some fresh air. Especially since discovering she was pregnant, she started to take proactive measures to remain healthy.

"Still, it will take some time before they're ready," she added after some time.

He nodded thoughtfully but it was only a moment later that an idea came to him. His lips stretched into a wolfish smile. "That's okay. I know what to do."

Walking into court the next day, her chancellors were quick to notice the heavy thuds in place of the queen's typically lithe and quiet footsteps. It wasn't until she stepped up to the podium that the toes of her boots peek out, and nearly all the chancellors exchanged a surprised look at the undeniable sight of the oversized men's shoes on Zelda's feet. But she wouldn't deny that Link's boots were quite roomy on her and it was definitely worth a disapproving look or two.