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- The Goddess Statue
The first time that Zelda caught Link sleeping somewhere he shouldn’t have been was actually the first time they met- odd, considering she had thought she knew all the children on Skyloft.
She hadn’t been expecting anyone to be near the goddess statue- there wasn’t really much there to see, aside from the statue itself, and no one had a reason to see that outside of ceremonies. It was one of her favorite places- the courtyard was so pretty, and so quiet , and there was no one to get upset at an eight year old for being too loud or too clumsy or just… not an adult. She didn’t have to grow up just yet, not when she was by the statue, because no one was around to care if she behaved like a child.
And yet, that day, someone was there.
She didn’t realize it was a person , at first. The faint rumbling sound echoed off of old stone, disturbing the divine silence surrounding the statue. Naturally, she assumed it was some kind of monster. It was getting dark, after all, and everyone knew Skyloft wasn’t really safe after the sun went down.
Or perhaps, the thought occurred to her, it was the goddess. The sound was coming from the direction of the statue. Zelda stepped closer. Was this what people meant, when they said that the goddess spoke to them?
“Excuse me,” she said, voice still quiet, still a bit hesitant because what if it was a monster? Sure, she knew how to fight in theory. Her father was the headmaster of the Knight’s Academy, and you didn’t live around someone like that without picking up a thing or two. But she was, unfortunately, still a child, and any monster that had found its way up here would likely make short work of her.
But… if it was the goddess… shouldn’t she at least try to listen?
“Hello?” she asked, a little louder now, and her voice bounced off the walls alongside that strange rumble.
It’s funny, she thought, creeping closer. It almost sounds like someone is-
A boy roughly as old as she was laid curled up against the base of the statue, eyes closed and chest rising and falling steadily.
- snoring.
Her trepidation vanished, replaced by annoyance. This was her hiding place, not his! That silly… sleepy… stinky boy needed to leave!
(Not that she really knew he was stinky, but boys were all stinky, and this one was the stinkiest of all for taking her hiding spot.)
“Hey!” she yelled, and the boy sat up with a gasp, eyes wide with alarm. “You’re not supposed to be here!”
He stared at her blankly, then looked around as though he hadn’t quite remembered where he was. “I’m… sorry?”
She knew it should have helped, but the apology didn’t make her feel any less annoyed. “Why did you say that like a question?” she snapped. “You’re not sorry at all, are you?”
The boy flushed, then ran a hand through his hair. “No- I mean, yes- I mean I am sorry I just… didn’t know this place was off limits?”
“I… well it’s not , technically, but…”
“Oh.” He looked confused- goddess, was he somehow still sleepy after her wake up call? “Then… why do I need to be sorry?”
Oh no. She didn’t really have a reason, did she? Because it was her spot, but her father always said that good children were supposed to share, and she guessed that meant this boy hadn’t really done anything wrong.
But she was still annoyed, and now a bit embarrassed as well, so instead of backing down she shrieked, “ BECAUSE YOU’RE GETTING COOTIES ON THE GODDESS!”
He jumped- which was fair, really, considering she had just screamed at him- and stammered, “B-but I don’t have cooties! I promise! That’s Groose, not me!”
Zelda wrinkled her nose. Groose definitely had cooties. “My dad says all boys have cooties and I should stay away from them as much as I can,” she said, crossing her arms. “And he’s the headmaster, so he’s really smart. He would know .”
“Oh,” the boy said again, and this time he at least had the decency to look ashamed of himself. “Do I need to like… wash them off? I can clean the statue, if you want. I didn’t know, honest,” he swore, and he looked so earnest that Zela felt even worse.
“No, you don’t have to- look, just go sleep at home , okay?” she sighed.
He nodded, eyes still wide, and scampered back towards the rest of Skyloft. Zelda scowled at his back- his shirt green from grass stains- until she could no longer see him.
Zelda frowned down at the place the boy had been sleeping, the grass all squashed down flat. It was the perfect spot to sit up here, and it was her spot. Yes, it was probably as good for napping as it was for hiding, what with the breeze and the quiet and the way the statue’s arms blocked the sun, but it was hers.
Yet as she sat down, she realized that she didn’t feel like hiding out there anymore. That stupid sleepy boy had probably ruined it with his cooties.
So instead she marched back to Skyloft after him, determined to avoid him so he couldn’t ruin anything else.
—
- The Bazaar
The next time Zelda saw the boy, only a few days later, he was sleeping peacefully on the grass outside of the Bazaar. It was a bit absurd, really- how could anyone sleep in such a busy place? Surely the grass wasn’t that comfortable.
Although, it seemed his peace was about to be disrupted. Three figures loomed over him ominously, the one in the middle sporting a shock of bright red hair. Groose, Cawlin, and Strich.
It was really none of her business what they were up to, even if Cawlin was holding a jar of black paint in his hand. Even if that kind of paint was the one used to stain wood that would be exposed to the elements- the one that was designed to stain and not fade.
Zelda sighed. She really didn’t need to help out a dumb boy like him, but…
“We’ll show him,” Groose crowed- he was so noisy , so it really wasn’t her fault she overheard. “He thinks he’s so special with that crimson loftwing of his.”
“He’d look a lot less special with raccoon eyes,” Strich chortled.
“Or a unibrow,” Cawlin laughed along.
She grimaced. It really wasn’t her problem, but her father had told her that knights had to protect people. Zelda might not be a knight just yet, but she would be someday, and this sleepy boy was in dire need of protection.
“Groose!” she called out, and all three bullies stiffened before turning to face her, the jar of paint hidden carefully behind Cawlin’s back.
“O-oh! Zelda! Hi!” Groose stammered, frantically smoothing down his shaggy red hair. It was a lost cause, in her opinion- he would probably have to gel that ridiculous mop straight upright to keep it out of his face. “What brings you here?”
“Eagus said he’s lost some of the paint he was planning on using for the training grounds,” she lied. She had been planning on browsing around the Bazaar, but it was worth it for the way that Groose and Strich shot panicked looks at Calwin- no one would be stupid enough to steal from Eagus. “I’m trying to help him locate it.”
“B-but the paint was Mallara’s, now- OW!” Cawlin yelped as Groose cuffed him over the head.
“That’s right, he’s borrowing the paint from Mallara,” she said, adapting easily. Her father would probably be upset with her for lying, but she was being knightly! It probably balanced out. Probably. “How did you know?”
“Um… lucky guess?”
Zelda hmm ed, pretending to consider him. “You haven’t seen it, have you?” she asked innocently. “Black paint, stains easily… I think it’s stored in a jar very similar to that one behind your back.”
The three of them blanched. Zelda met their horrified looks with a sickly sweet smile.
“So you haven’t seen it then?” she asked, picking at her nails, and this time they flinched, knowing their game was up. “A shame- Eagus said he wouldn’t have to go after the thieves as long as they returned it to Mallara and apologized.”
The three glanced at each other, debating their next actions and communicating mutual terror with incredible efficiency. She almost had them.
“Of course, if Eagus has to get involved, he said it might be enough to bar the thieves from the knight’s academy.” It was a bluff, and a risky one. If word got back to Eagus, or worse, her father , then she would be the one in danger of being barred from the academy for telling lies about instructors. But it was worth it when the three turned tail and dashed towards Mallara’s house; if she had to guess, they would be staying well away from Eagus for a very long time.
Now to deal with him.
She trudged closer to the sleeping boy- how on earth had he managed to sleep through all that boasting and blubbering?- and nudged his arm with the toe of her boot. “Hey dummy,” she said, watching as his eyebrows scrunched together in protest at her prodding. “Get up before they figure me out and come back.”
The boy made a sound something like Hmnph? and slowly opened his eyes, lifting a hand to block the sun overhead. His gaze fell on Zelda, hands on her hips and scowl on her face, and he bolted upright.
“It’s you!” he said, clumsily clambering to his feet. There was grass in his hair, she noted absently. “Wait, did you say before they come back ? Before who comes back?”
“The three stooges,” she said, wrinkling her nose. “Groose and Calwin and Strich. They were going to paint on your dumb sleeping face.”
The boy lifted a hand to his face and scrubbed at his cheek with his sleeve, as though trying to wipe away some phantom stain. When he looked at the fabric, it remained clean, and Zelda had only grown more exasperated.
“They didn’t do it ,” she sighed. “I scared them off.”
He slowly lowered his hand, looking at her with confusion. “But… you don’t like me. I have cooties, remember?”
“Yes, well,” she huffed. “Groose and his friends have more cooties, so… yeah.” The response was a bit lame, but what was she supposed to say? That he didn’t have cooties after all, and she had told him off for nothing? That would be absurd.
Deciding that she had spent entirely too much time around dumb boys today, Zelda turned back towards the Bazaar, ready to put the whole thing behind her.
“Wait!”
“What now?” she snapped. Hm. That had been a little rude, hadn’t it? After all, he hadn’t technically done anything to her. Aside from being a dummy.
He gave her a small, shy smile- one that she hadn’t seen before, because he was always sleeping or confused or apologizing. She supposed that at least one of those things was her fault. “What’s your name?”
She hesitated, because that felt a little bit like… like something you would ask if you wanted to be friends. Not something for when you intended to avoid someone or ignore them. “Zelda.”
His smile widened into a grin. “Thanks, Zelda. I’m Link!”
“Um… you’re welcome, I guess.” That grin reminded her of sunshine on puffy white clouds.
Which was a weird thought, so clearly it was time to go. His cooties were probably infecting her.
With a polite- if a bit stiff- nod, she turned and walked into the Bazaar, the sound of “Bye Zelda!” ringing out behind her.
—
- The Training Hall
Zelda’s father liked to tell her that it was as important for a knight to be smart as it was for them to be strong. Knowledge, he said, was power, and therefore she should seek it out at every opportunity.
Well, Zelda would be entering the academy soon, and she was going to soak up all of the knowledge that she could get.
So far, the knowledge she had acquired included the fact that the training hall was unlocked about thirty minutes before the students showed up for their combat lessons, and during that time Eagus would be busy setting up. Too busy, she hoped, to notice her darting through the doors and settling herself in a nook behind one of the weapons racks lining the walls.
Except when she arrived, someone was already there.
“You again!” she whispered, scowling at Link. He was, of course, asleep. She was beginning to wonder if it was some sort of disease, or if he was just naturally tired all the time.
She ducked behind the weapons rack before Eagus could spot her and kick her out, then shook him by the shoulders. There was a moment of disorientation before his eyes focused on her, and then he groaned. “I fell asleep again, didn’t I?” he asked, and she shushed him.
“Yes,” she whispered, “and now you’re being entirely too loud. Keep it down, will you?”
He nodded, and she removed her hand. “Sorry,” he whispered. “Did I miss training time?”
She shook her head. “No, it hasn’t started yet, but- wait. Why would you care about training time?”
“Well,” he chuckled, scratching at the back of his head. “I’m… kind of hoping to be a knight? And I want to see what I’m getting into.”
Zelda sighed. “Of course you are.” Was the goddess playing tricks on her? Was she fated to never be able to escape this boy? “And you stole my hiding spot, too. Again. ”
His eyes widened. “ Oh! Sorry. I can move, if you want. There’s another rack down there that should probably work.”
“You can’t use that one, you dummy. They’re using the swords today- they’ll see you when they’re getting them off of the rack.”
“I see.” He chewed his lip, scanning the training hall for somewhere else to hide. There were none, of course. Zelda knew- she knew all the best hiding places around Skyloft.
She watched as his frown grew deeper and deeper, watched his shoulders slump as resignation set in, and she could see him about to offer to leave.
If she had gotten there first, she would have defended that spot with her life.
“Let’s just share,” she said before she could second-guess herself. “There’s space for both of us if we squish.”
His eyebrows shot up. “Are you sure? You’re not worried about my cooties?”
“Girls don’t get cooties,” she said, dismissing it with a wave of a hand. “We’re immune.”
“Huh. That’s a neat trick.” A spark of mischief flashed in his eyes. “Think you could teach me?”
Zelda laughed, then remembered the need to be quiet. “Don’t be ridiculous,” she whispered, even as her shoulders shook with laughter. “You’ve got a lot of cooties. Too many to fully get rid of them, probably.”
“Really?”
“Mhm.”
“Can you see them?”
“No… but I can sense them.”
“Can you teach me that ?”
“I- no, and stop asking!”
“Why not?”
“Well you’d probably fall asleep as soon as I tried to teach you!”
“Well… yeah, that’s probably true.”
They were both stifling laughter again when the doors opened and the academy students came pouring in. Despite her jokes, Link stayed alert the entire time, watching the students’ every move with a sharp eye. He didn’t disturb her once, except to point out someone practicing a tricky maneuver off to the side that she otherwise might have missed.
It was… nice, she realized. Having someone with her like this. Maybe he didn’t have so many cooties after all.
—-
- Knight Academy Roof
Why was it that Link was never where he was supposed to be?
After a full year of training together at the knight’s academy, it was becoming something of a theme with him. Much to the instructors’ collective annoyance, Link had a frustrating habit of never being in the right place at the right time- usually because he had nodded off in some obscure corner of the academy. In spite of that, however, he excelled during every assessment.
Zelda could pat herself on the back and proclaim that it was all thanks to having the academy’s most diligent study partner- but that would be a lie. On the contrary, in matters of combat, it was often Link who was helping her . It would be infuriating if he wasn’t so goddess-damned helpful. Ah, well. At least she was still better than him at archery.
Grateful as she was for his help, she was still going to kick his ass for pulling another disappearing act on her. As soon as she found him, that was.
It took the better part of an hour before she found him, flopped on his back and sound asleep on the roof of the Knight’s Academy.
She didn’t hesitate to march over to him and poke his nose. He woke up with a noise of protest, and she greeted him with, “You stood me up, dummy.”
Link’s brows furrowed, and he glanced from her, up to where the moon hung high above in the sky- blanched- then back to her. “ Crap ,” he muttered, running a hand through his hair. “Zel, I’m so sorry, I just-“
“Fell asleep again?” she finished wryly, and he nodded. “What were you even doing up here? How did you even get up here?”
“I wanted to watch the sunset,” he admitted, a bit sheepish. “And I got up the same way you did- I climbed.”
“We’re not supposed to be up here this late,” she said, sitting down next to him on the roof.
“Nope,” he agreed, popping his lips on the end of the word.
Neither of them moved.
“We can still study, if you want,” he offered, turning his gaze up to the sky. The night was clear, and the moon just the barest sliver, allowing the stars to shine brilliantly against the darkness.
“I just had a few questions. Nothing important,” she said, tipping her head back to look with him. “I was mostly just annoyed that you stood me up.”
“Sorry,” he said again, then chuckled. “It’s been a while since you called me a dummy.”
“Well, you were being dumb. It was only fair.” She lifted her thumb up towards the sky, squinting with one eye closed. The moon was almost the same shape as the white of her fingernail, if she squinted a little.
“I was,” he agreed quietly, and she felt his eyes on her. “Every time I’m asleep when I could be around you, I’m the biggest dummy there is.”
“Well, not the biggest,” she corrected, a smile and a blush sweeping across her face in unison. “That would be Groose. You’re just a sleepyhead.”
He snorted. “I don’t know. Groose would never stand you up.”
“What? He hates me,” she scoffed. “That or he’s scared of me. The guy starts sweating like crazy whenever we’re in the same room.”
“ Hylia , Zel,” he wheezed. “I never thought I’d feel bad for him of all people.”
She couldn’t help but grin. Was Groose really that scared of her? The thought was a little silly- someone nearly a foot and a half taller than her (when you counted the hair), afraid of her .
At least, the thought was entertaining until Link muttered, “I never thought I’d have something in common with him, either.”
And suddenly it wasn’t funny anymore.
She dragged her eyes away from the stars to find Link watching her carefully. She froze. “Wait, Link do I… scare you?” She knew she could be assertive, and her father had often told her that she could channel Hylia’s own divine wrath when she was angry. It had never felt like a bad thing. But the thought of Link being afraid of her…
Link looked like he was somewhere between laughing and crying. “Yes,” he whispered, sounding as though the breath had been punched out of him, and her heart dropped. “You terrify me.”
“Oh.” She turned her eyes back to the sky so he wouldn’t see the way her eyes watered. She had thought… she had thought a lot of things. That he didn’t mind all of those things that Groose was afraid of. That they were friends, best friends. Partners in crime, in some cases. Apparently she had thought wrong. She… she had messed this up somehow, hadn’t she?
When her throat no longer felt quite so tight, she took a deep breath and said, “I can back off, if you want.”
“What?”
“You don’t have to keep helping me, if it bothers you. I can always just ask one of the instructors, or- or Pipit, he’s done all of these things already since he’s a year older-“
“ Don’t you dare ,” he said, grabbing her hand. She looked at him, her eyes brimming but her jaw set firmly, and when she turned he looked… intense. Not angry, but with just as much fire. It wasn’t a look she had seen before- usually he was all sleepy smiles and teasing smirks and laughter in the wind on the back of his loftwing.
“The reason you terrify me… it’s the same reason that Groose hates my guts, and the same reason your father always looks at me sideways when we sign up for training slots together. It’s…” He trailed off, then shook his head. “It’s a good thing, Zel.” He gave her hand a squeeze. “I promise.”
She almost didn’t want to believe him, almost pressed him a little more, but… his eyes were soft, his expression fond, and in that moment she had no choice but to take him at his word.
“Okay,” she said, the word too small in her mouth, but it was the only one she had. She wiped away the tears from her eyes and flopped back onto the roof, letting the cold of the stones seep into her skin and ground her. A moment later, Link leaned back beside her, brushing against her from their shoulders down to their knuckles.
They stayed like that for… she didn’t know how long, side by side with their eyes looking up at the stars. Her chest felt all knotted up, too many emotions all tangled up and tugging at her. But more than that, her mind fixated on the heat of Link beside her where their arms met, battling against the chill in the night air and somehow warming her whole body. She searched out constellations to distract herself, then thought about training the next day, then about the maneuver she and Link had practiced that morning, then about Link next to her, then- damn. This wasn’t working.
She had to know. “Link, what exactly is it that makes me scary? I… I really don’t want you to be afraid of me. You’re my best friend, and I- Link?”
A gentle rumble had started up beside her: one that had sounded monstrous when she was younger and now was as familiar as the color of her loftwing or the smell of her father’s old books.
She glanced over at him and saw his hair sticking at an odd angle, his chest rising and falling gently beneath his Knight Academy uniform. His face was perfectly relaxed now, with no trace of his earlier intensity.
“You really are just a sleepyhead,” she whispered, smoothing out his hair, then caught herself and laid back down, determined not to look at him again. If she scooted a little closer to him, well, she would blame it on the chilly night air.
They really weren’t supposed to be on the roof, but… maybe they could stay here for a while longer.
—-
- The Light Tower
Zelda’s blood was boiling as she dragged Link by the leg across the top of the light tower, as far as she could get him from the edge.
“Ow- hey ! Zelda, I can walk, you know.”
“Oh really?” She asked, words dripping with false honey. “Last I checked, you can’t walk when you’re asleep . And even those who do don’t really have a way of telling which direction will lead off a giant cliff .”
She dropped his leg, leaving him sprawled on the ground in the center of the roof, and turned the full force of her glare on him. Idiot. Stupid, dumb, reckless-
“You’re angry,” he said warily.
“Do you know what else you can’t do when you’re asleep?” She asked, ignoring him. He was going to listen , dammit. “Whistle! And as a result, you also can’t summon your loftwing. Which means you can’t save yourself from falling off of the damned light tower .”
Link climbed to his feet. “I’m pretty sure falling off of Skyloft would be enough to wake me up.”
“I don’t know, you seem to be able to sleep through quite a lot,” she shot back shortly.
Link winced, and some part of her wanted to take it back; it was harsh. But she was furious , and worried , and maybe harsh was what he needed to hear to get it into his dumb sleepy brain.
“There are knights who patrol for people who fall,” he reminded her.
“Yes, and those knights don’t waste their time chasing after people who can usually call their loftwing!”
He squinted at her. “You’re really upset,” he noted, and she bristled.
“Oh, have you woken up enough to realize that now?” She folded her arms and stuck out her chin..
He took a step closer. “You were never this angry when you found me sleeping up here before.”
“Maybe because I thought you would have learned by now,” she retorted, her voice cracking with anger- with worry - and he stepped closer again. “One of these days you’re going to get yourself killed , you idiot, and then who the hell am I supposed to be a knight with? Groose? Strich?” The fear she had felt before was bubbling up towards the surface now- the fear of seeing her idiotic, stupid, wonderful sleepyhead unconscious atop the tower with one leg already dangling over the edge. All it would have taken was a quick roll to the side, a sudden reaction to a dream, and-
“I would never leave you alone with Groose,” he swore.
“You’d better not,” she snapped, but the words tumbled out sounding scared instead of angry. She was supposed to be angry .
“Zel, look at me.” He stepped into her space and took her hands in his, then moved them so she was cupping his face. Her heart stuttered in her chest. “I’m okay. I’m still here, and I’m not going to leave you. Not now, not ever.”
He leaned in and pressed his forehead against hers, and she squeezed her eyes shut. “I…” she started, then stopped because she didn’t quite know what she was saying anymore. “All of this,” she tried again, “doesn’t mean anything unless we get to do it together.”
“I won’t let anything separate us,” he promised, and he was standing close enough that she could feel the words vibrating in his chest, in her chest, straight to her heart that, admittedly, was no longer hers. It hadn’t been hers for a while, if she was being honest, but she had refused to acknowledge it because she would not do anything to push him away. But now here, with that promise…
His eyes flickered down to her lips.
Maybe she was the dummy.
“Stop me if I’m doing something stupid,” she said, then pressed her lips to his, hard at first but then softer, moving slowly as he gasped and then kissed her back. His hands left hers where he had held them against his cheeks and instead went carding through her hair, circling around her waist, pulling her closer , because nothing would ever bring them apart.
With him warm and near and wonderful like this, she could put aside her worries and those odd dreams that had been plaguing her lately, and believe that those words were true.
—
+ 1. Link’s room
Link didn’t remember falling asleep. But then again, that was fairly normal for him.
He refused to open his eyes just yet, enjoying the way the sunlight danced against his eyelids through his bedroom window, the cozy softness of his blankets and bedsheets, and the warmth of the person next to him.
Oh. That wasn’t normal.
His mind was quick to connect the dots. Zelda had come over- to study, she insisted, even though they had both been finding every excuse to touch and hug and disappear for a little while since that day on the light tower- and they had stayed up together, losing track of time and not caring in the slightest when the moon rose and the night grew darker. They had talked until their mouths were dry and kissed until their lips were sore and somewhere along the way they had ended up here, wrapped up in each other on his bed, and… he must have drifted off.
He tightened his arms around her ever so slightly and smiled. She had stayed.
He finally let his eyes open, the draw of the girl beside him far more powerful than that of his dreams. She was still asleep, blonde hair splayed out across his pillow and tangled where he had run his fingers through it last night- the same way he did now, slowly and gently working each tangle out to make it easier for her later. There was a crease mark against her cheek from the sleeve of her dress, which was now absurdly wrinkled with the long skirt tangled up in both of their legs.
Crap. Yesterday’s clothes. If her father saw her on the way back to her room, he would kill Link. Never mind that nothing had really happened- he doubted the man would give him time to explain.
Zelda sighed and snuggled closer, and his breath caught. Well, even if he was a dead man walking, this was definitely worth dying for.
Still, better if she left early- the headmaster was a late riser.
He took one more long look: the sunlight dancing across her cheekbones, her face serene where it was normally so animated, laughing at him and grinning at him and smirking every time she outscored him during target practice. He could get used to this peaceful Zelda too; in fact, he wanted nothing more than to see this expression every day and look at it so often that it became something familiar, an ordinary extraordinary.
And then he poked his finger against her nose and said into her ear, “I thought I was the sleepyhead here.”
She scrunched her nose up- the same way she did when she was angry, he thought with a smile, only cuter. “ Whadoyouwan,” she garbled grumpily through lips still half sealed shut with sleep, and he grinned wider.
“ Zel-da ,” he singsonged. “Time to wake up.”
She cracked one eye open, scowling at him with playful animosity. “I don’t want to,” she said, then squeezed her eyes shut again.
“You need to get back to your room,” he said, although he would love nothing more than for neither of them to move from this spot ever again. That sounded perfect, if he was being honest.
She sighed, then jolted. “Oh goddess,” she whimpered. “I stayed the night in your room.”
“Yup.” He popped his lips on the end of the word, grinning as she glared at him. “I wonder if you picked up some of my cooties.”
“My dad is going to kill me ,” she groaned, covering her face with her hands. “He’s going to kill you, and then he’s going to kill me, and if we somehow survive all of that killing, I’ll die from embarrassment the moment someone mentions it, and- stop laughing at me !”
“Sorry,” Link chuckled, not sorry at all. When she lowered her hands to shoot him a betrayed look, he took the chance to peck her on the forehead. “You’re cute when you’re catastrophizing.”
She blushed. “And here I thought you were terrified of me.”
“Oh I definitely am. More now than ever, actually.”
“But why ? What have I done?”
“I’m afraid of you,” he said, heart picking up speed in his chest, and he pulled her closer so he wouldn’t have to feel her eyes on him while he spoke, “because I am head over heels in love with you, and have been since about the second time you yelled at me. And I’m terrified of losing you, because I’ll say or do something stupid, or you’ll find someone who won’t sleep through study dates, or-“
“Well then I’m scared of you too,” she said, interrupting him, the words spoken against the fabric of his shirt on his chest. “I hate the thought of losing you more than anything.”
The words settled in his chest like a little sun, warming him through.
“Link,” she asked, shifting so that she could peer up at him, “do you think that there are people who the goddess destined to meet each other?”
He didn’t even need to think on it. “Yeah,” he said, touching his forehead against hers. “Yeah, I do.”
“Well, I… I had this dream…”
He pulled back to look at her, tilting his head to one side. She looked… troubled. But when she saw his expression, the worry smoothed away and was replaced with an easy smile. “It’s probably nothing,” she said. “I’m just… very glad that I met you.”
“I-“
“ Hey Link, are you up? The headmaster says he can’t find Zelda and we were hoping you could help us look.”
Oh no.
“ I’ll go out the window, ” she hissed, rolling out of the bed and frantically straightening her clothes. She perched on the sill- a long drop, but they had both done it more times than they could count- and shot him a smile.
Link caught her arm before she pushed off and gave her a quick, soft kiss. “I’m glad I met you too.”
She grinned, and then she was gone. Well, that was alright, he thought, even though he already missed her. They had all the time in the world, after all.