The Legend of Zelda (and Link)

Link took a little longer than he normally would in order to pack, the conversation playing in his mind.
"Why are you such an idiot, Link?" he sighed to himself.
He grabbed his Sword and Shield and headed for the door. There was a knock at it. He reached for the handle to find the Mayor there.
"Link, I wasn't sure if you'd gone to Zelda's yet"
His eyes wandered down to the bags Link was holding and gave a friendly smile.
"Off to finish packing then, I presume?"
Link sighed and nodded.
"Something the matter?" he asked, raising an eyebrow.
"Oh...nothing. Forget it." Link said, moving so he too was out of the house. He closed the door firmly behind him.

They both started walking towards Zelda's house.
"What's the matter Link? You know you can tell me."
Link looked at him, then turned his head to the clouds.
"It's Zelda, well...me and Zelda."
The Mayor stopped for a moment and gave Link a serious look. He leaned in slightly.
"Yes? What about you and her?"
"It's just...I...well...oh never mind." Link said, stopping outside Zelda's house.
The Mayor walked towards him.
"You said something stupid, didn't you?"
"You know me too well." Link said, looking down.
"Don't worry about it Link. These things have a way of working themselves out in the end."
The Mayor turned to the door and knocked three times.


[[I'm down to about 6 heart pieces left, but they're a pain X_X
I can't for the life of me do the DohDoh dive or score 600 on the Pumpkin shooting minigame
Makes me wish I could hit Fledge with the arrows instead o.O]]
 
Zelda rushed over to the door and flung it open one-handed. Though her eyes gleamed happily, she looked a smidge frazzled. It happened when she cooked. A pink flush sat across her cheeks, strands of hair falling from the bun and settling messily round her smiling face.
"I almost thought you weren't coming after earlier Link, I'm glad y-" She broke off abruptly, mildly surprised to see the Mayor on the doorstep too. "Oh, hello. I thought... Well, never mind what I thought. You should come in, I can't be away from the oven for too long right now." She let the door swing open and retreated back.

She was all the way back across the room in a few quick steps, hovering about the oven. She let the door hang open, heat flooding through the room as she removed the food. It was transferred quickly to plates and left in the front of the oven as she turned back to the Mayor and Link, presuming that the former needed to speak with them. With the door open it wouldn't burn, just stay hot. Her fingers hooked into her hair tie as soon as she was done. Her hair came cascading back around her shoulders.
"Now I can talk. You wanted to see us, sir?"



[[oh god, the skydiving stuff gets me really badly >.< I spent like half an hour trying to get the skydiving thing right from the top of the goddess statue. Felt like a right twonk. Gonna spam everything over the next few days probably.]]
 
Both the Mayor and Link stood and watched Zelda as she worked, both quite marvelled by it. Link slowly breathed in, taking in the wonderful aroma of Zelda's cooking. His stomach rumbled with the desire to dig into whatever wonder she had made for them.
They both snapped back into reality when she spoke to them.
"Yes, indeed I do. The Gorons are getting a little impatient. As a result, the pair of you will need to leave at Sunrise. We were planning a little fanfare to see you off, but there's no time for that. One of you will have to stay at the other's house so there's as little delay as possible in getting you on the road. It would also be prudent to ensure if one of you oversleeps," he shot a glance at Link, "then the other can be sure to get them up, by whatever means necessary." he finished, now looking at Zelda.

"I shall come for you both at Sunrise so we can get a move on. Mr. Equius is putting Epona to sleep as we speak so she's well rested. Make sure you're both fully packed and ready tonight. Well I shan't keep you from your frankly deliscious smelling dinner. I shall see you both, well rested, in about 10 hours."
He turned and left the house, leaving Link standing there, staring blankly at the space where the Mayor had just been, thinking over what he'd said. Suddenly, his stomach rumbling wasn't the thing that was occupying his mind any longer...


[[Hehe, know the feeling. Must'v taken me about 20, maybe 30 attempts to get that Skydive right the first time around DX
Thankfully this time round I think I only have one or two Goddess Cubes left to get, so I'm on track for 100% ^^]]
 
The Mayor's words made sense to Zelda, though the glaring question was what would be done about sleeping arrangements. She nodded her understanding to him even as he left. Link was staring blankly into space, understandably preoccupied.
"Link." She waved her hand slowly before his eyes. "You in there, Link?" She half-smiled, stepped forward once more, and took hold of his hand.
"You shouldn't think too hard about what he said, not right now at least. We can deal with it when the time comes to sleep." She tugged him gently across to the table and wanded to get their plates.

"Remember, we'll have to be essentially in each other's pockets on the way out. Might as well get used to it somewhere comfortable." She had come to this conclusion while Link was away and through it managed to banish most of her embarrassment, though there was a tiny spark of apprehension still in her voice. She set the plates down and wandered round to her seat, crossing her ankles down below the table. She watched Link with concern, nibbling the end of a fry.
 
"In each other's pockets?" Link asked, not quite understanding what she meant.
He picked up his burger and looked at it for a few moments, evidently still thinking about what the Mayor had said. Despite his best efforts, a creeping thought came into his head. It was a cold night, and their blankets and bedding wouldn't quite keep them warm enough...
Link shook his head, snapping himself back to reality. They would be going towards an active Volcano, and it was the beginning of Spring. There would be little or no chance of something like that happening! But if it did...
Link shook his head again and tore a large bite out of his burger. It was even more delicious than he expected, but Zelda's cooking always exceeded expectations.

They had estimated the journey to Eldin Volcano would take around 3-5 days depending on whether or not they ran into any trouble. Then it would probably take another 2-3 days to get from there to the village, but only after a few days waiting for the Gorons to clear a path. Then however long negotiations would take, and then home, probably taking around 5-7 days. It seemed likely they'd be gone for around three weeks. That was a long time to be out with Zelda. His mind began to wonder again at just what might happen whilst they were out there...


[[Soooo sorry for the late reply DX
Been desperately trying to finish SS with 100% =S
Just 3 more heart pieces then I'll be done!]]
 
"Oh. It just means we'll be together pretty much all the time." Zelda smiled. "I'd say it's rather applicable, at least until we meet up with the Gorons." She watched Link as he drifted into thought once more. If she was imagining a fair few situations that could turn rather too intimate for her friend's liking, she could only wonder what he was thinking. She gazed at him, watching him chewing absent-mindedly and nearly forgetting her own food.
"You know, it might not be too bad. I mean, sure, there might be some awkwardness at first, but it'll be good in that we both get out of the village for a while. We can have some fun without the adults there to judge us." She giggled.


[[Sorry it's short and delayed, having a bit of a block and been out most of the last couple days. I'll try and keep the posts consistent though.]]
 
Link sat there watching her. Everything she said seemed to race through his mind at a thousand thoughts a minute. Together all the time? This was something he might only have dreamed of. So of course he couldn't help but wonder if this was indeed all but a dream. He made a mental note to pinch himself later to see if it was or not. It was her last words that set his mind on fire. Exactly what kind of 'fun' did she mean? Was he just being filthy because of his feelings for her, or was she imagining the exact same things. Link stared blankly at her for the longest time. He was very tempted to ask exactly what she meant, but thought better of it. He was suddenly becoming all to aware that he and Zelda were in a world of their own. Not children, indeed it could be argued they hadn't been children for a long time. But they were not yet adults either, and perhaps this was time they could spend finally enjoying their youth, even with such a hefty task weighted on them?

A small smile creeped across his otherwise confused looking face.
"You're right. We've both been working far to hard lately. Even with this mission, we should still try and enjoy ourselves. After all, who knows when another opportunity for us to both get out of the village, together no less, will present itself?"

[[No worries, we all get Writer's block Dx
Sorry for the delays myself, I'v been surprisingly busier than I expected]]
 
She could never help but smile back when Link's smile showed up, though this one was rather different than the norm. A distant expression with the slightest upwards twitch of her lips. Silence wrapped comfortably round them as they ate.
----------------------------------------------

Some time later Zelda was shaking the last of the water off her hands, dishes stacked in a clean, wet pile on the counter. The heat of the oven had worn off and a fire now burned bright in her fireplace; she'd left the door to her room wide open to let the new warmth shift through. Her room was the only place with adequate space for them both to sleep, not to mention the one with most of the creature comforts. She could already imagine some issues arising when they relocated through. Link's silhouette was thrown on the wall alongside her by the dancing flames. She scrabbled through a drawer for candles. She wasn't entirely comfortable being in the dark at night. Candles comforted her for some reason quite beyond her, as long as they didn't set things alight. That done and clutching them in her hands, she turned sharply.

"Link, do you need to grab anything else before I close things up for the night? I assume we're going to stay here after what the Mayor said..." She cast a sideways glance at him, biting down softly on her lower lip.


[[Jeez, I'm starting to think I need to bitchslap my internet upside the head. I got stuck on the Preview Post button so many times x.x]]
 
Link looked at her rather sheepishly. In all the years he had known her, and all the times he had visited her house, this was the latest he'd ever stayed. So the prospect of staying over was getting him positively giddy. Perhaps more than it should have been...
"I think I grabbed everything when I packed."
He leaned down to his belongings and sifted through them to be sure. If he had gotten anything, he wasn't bothered about going out in the dark and getting them. He wondered if he should talk to Zelda about that. He used to have some trepidation when it came to the night, but that had been something adventuring outside of the village had forced him to get over. The night air no longer bothered him, unless of course it was freezing out.

"I have everything. I don't mind staying here, but only if you're comfortable. If you're not I can return to my house and just make sure I get up a little earlier and return back here. I don't want to impose on you if you don't feel happy with me staying the night." he said, walking a few paces towards her, having made sure he did in fact have everything he would need for the journey.


[[Dammit DX That sucks. Why must the internet be so awesome and so hard to tolerate at times?]]
 
"I thought it was physically impossible for you to get up early without someone to wake you up, silly me." Zelda smirked at her friend, then wandered across the room and slid the door's bolt across.
"No, I'm happy enough with the arrangement so you stay here." She moved back to Link's side and grasped his wrist, leading him through to her bedroom. Dozens of multicoloured pillows were strewn every which way and the heavy curtains were drawn across the window, keeping the warmth in. There wasn't as much pink as one might expect, but the room screamed girl regardless. Zelda set down the candles on the bedside table, plonking one into the candlestick and lighting it quickly.

"Main question is where do you actually want to sleep?" She sank down on her bed, crossing her legs and leaning back on her hands. "Most of the stuff in here is comfortable enough but I don't know how it weighs up to what you're used to..." She gazed at him, mischief twinkling somewhere in her eyes.
Let's see how he reacts to that... Ought to be amusing. If it were anyone else I'd worry about this backfiring, but Link should just get flustered and cute. The image in her head made her smile.
 
Link looked Zelda in the eyes. He had a funny feeling she was now just toying with him, and it was working! Damn that girl. Link's cheeks went a bright red of their own accord as he struggled to come up with the answer, knowing Zelda would find this just hilarious.
Eventually he settled with a sigh and steeled himself.
"The couch is fine for me." he said and turned around. "It's too girly in here for me. I need to preserve my manhood...or something." he said with a joking tone.

"And for the record I so can get up early...just, y'know...about a minute or two before I'm meant to. It's not my fault sleep is so enticing and welcoming. It helps that my bed is pretty comfortable too."
He grabbed the least girly looking cushion and a blanket, heading for the sofa. He arranged it so it would be comfortable, and laid down, his head on the pillow. He knew normally it would take him seconds to fall asleep, but not tonight. The fact Zelda was in the other room meant his mind just wouldn't rest, no matter how hard he tried forcing it to.
 
Zelda expected the blush that jumped to Link's face, but she giggled at it all the same. His brain ticked over, searching for words. She raised an eyebrow as he spoke, the amused smile only widening as he grabbed at the blanket. Link stumped from the room and a pout fluttered across her face. She closed the door behind him to change, figuring at least she should give him a little time to attempt to sleep. The minutes dragged as she exchanged the dress for a full-length nightdress, then listened at the door, judging when to follow him back out.

She extinguished the candle to open the door without attracting his attention, then proceeded to tiptoe back to Link's side. She dropped to her knees, draping her upper body across him as he lay on the sofa.
"You left me by myself, Link..." She pouted at him, twirling her fingers in circles across the blanket. "That was rather mean, I didn't even get to say good night!" She pressed herself closer, fighting to keep the pout from sliding off her face. The urge to laugh was overwhelming. The fire crackled and flared behind her, still faintly burning in the grate. One hand slid below the covers and found Link's, feeling out the creases in his palm.

"Would you leave me if I was playing with you on the trip?" Innocence radiated from every pore and laced her voice, though it was negated by her close proximity to him and the playful glint in her eyes.
 
Link's mind was racing like never before. He couldn't help but get a little annoyed at Zelda for messing with his mind like this. He should have known better than to think he'd just get to sleep. This was Zelda after all, probably the most playful girl in the whole world, and his best friend no less.
"Now now Zelly," he started. Zelly was his playful nickname for her, used only when he knew he'd have to engage in such playful terms with her.
"You know I don't like it when you pout. Remember the time when the Mayor told you that you weren't allowed to come with me on my very first trip? you pouted for days and days without end. And what happened? I had to come and find you, and make you not pout with my special brand of Link style anti-pouting powers."

He knew she knew exactly where he was going with this. That time, the only thing he'd been able to think of to get her to laugh instead of frown and pout...was to tickle her...a lot! He clasped her hand without warning and turned himself over so they both fell gently onto the floor, this time with Link's body laying on top of hers, their faces inches from each other.
"You can't fool me with your innocence Zelly, I know you far to well by now. You're playful and micheivous, so either you stop pouting, or I'm going to have to tickle the heck out of you until you do...and we have aaaaaall night."
 
Tickling was a major weakness of Zelda's. Link had realised when she was a kid that if he pinned her down and so much as poked her sides or stomach, she burst into fits of giggles. She had always been breathless in minutes, and sometimes ended up roughhousing with her friend in an attempt to stop it. Right now though, she was more preoccupied with the predicament she found herself in. She'd squeaked as Link tipped them both off the sofa, more out of surprise than anything.

She blinked rapidly at him as they landed in a heap on the floor, not entirely sure how she was meant to react to this. She could feel his breath ghosting across her face. The pout still sat on her lips but heat had risen to her cheeks. She squirmed beneath him, trying to protect her sides from Link's already-poised hands. Her nightdress bunched up in awkward places as she shifted, clenching her hands on the material, keeping her arms pressed tight into her sides.
"You can't tickle what you can't touch, so what if I just keep everything covered, huh?" She opted to taunt him as best she could from her disadvantageous position beneath him, hoping against hope he wouldn't notice the flush across her cheeks or the quickness of her heart beating in her chest.
 
"You make a valid point, Zelly. But you forget one thing. Your hands might be nimble and light, but mine have spent years trained in the ways of the sword and facing opponents bigger and stronger than I. I'v learned well the arts of parrying, trickery and sleight of hand. His hands moved, tracing across her body, head and sides, determining the best place to strike her. He moved his head down, so his mouth was next to her ears.
"Gotcha." he whispered, and struck in that instant.
His hands found their way somehow through her iron defence, and he began tickling her upper legs, knowing she'd inevitably reach down to protect them. The moment she did of course, he would dash his hands upwards, her defence all but gone and tickle her sides.

He had noticed her breath becoming more flustered, and at first he'd put it down to the shock of being toppled over, and being thrown into this game so unexpectedly. But as his eyes surveyed his friend and noticed the awkward position she was in, and just how weak her defence was because of the unexpected nature of what he'd done, he couldn't help to think maybe there was more too it than that. He realised just how close their bodies were to one another. Despite having already started to tickle her, his face too, had become a light red, not at all associated with the tickling, but rather the compromising position he realised he had Zelda in.
 
Distracted by his words, her guard wavered. Link moved quickly, whispering into her ear and making her shiver in the precious few seconds before he attacked. His fingers found sensitive spots on her legs to start tickling. Zelda let out an assortment of miniature shrieks, punctuated by the occasional whimper or high-pitched giggle, and made a fruitless attempt to pull her legs away from him. That failing her, she let go of the nightdress and started swatting at his hands.

"I hardly think this constitutes fair play, Link." She managed to rebuke him through the odd noises, all too aware that she was breathless and sounded rather unimpressive as a result. His hands shot up to her sides to begin torturing there, regardless. She squeaked and arched her back, trying to writhe away from his evil fingers.
"I'm so getting you for this later," she spoke once more, this time the words nearly lost in the tight little voice that meant she was trying not to break down into a giggling fit.


[[...don't have much experience at tickle fights. I just kick >> might read a little awkwardly ^^;]]
 
Link launched his hands at her sides the moment she relented. He knew she'd be far more ticklish here than on her legs. And besides, if he tickled her thighs, his mind tended to wander into forbidden territory...
"Fair play? That's rich coming from you Zelda. What with all the teasing and innocence you give off just to confuse me and make me blush. Not that I mind of course, but I have to get my own back somehow. So you getting your own back would only constitute fair play if I then got my own back against you again, and I can think of a few other things than tickling which I could do." he said with a sly smile.

After a minute or two, when he was sufficiently happy she'd giggled enough to make up for all the toying with him she'd been doing, he rolled over so he was laying beside her. His hand found it's way to hers and rested gently on it.
"So on a scale of one to mad, how mad are you at me for that little stunt?" he asked her curiously.


[[No worries, I realise it was probably a bit of an odd thing to say, it just came at me from nowhere =/
But Link and Zelda awkwardness for the win!]]
 
Squeals and giggles gave way to relative silence when Link rolled off her, punctuated by the sounds of her breathing, somewhat ragged given the merciless attack. Zelda glanced over at him when his hand found hers, mock-glaring at him. Her eyes were too soft for it to have the desired effect, which had been to make him squirm for a while before she answered him.

"I'd say not too high up. I should have expected it, I suppose." She shoved herself into a sitting position and started to straighten out her nightgown. "Though it wasn't a very gentlemanly punishment, was it now? That could have ended in a manner completely unbefitting of a lady!" She spoke the last part with a deliberately hoity-toity air, stepping to her feet and shifting to sit on the sofa this time. She gestured he should follow, assuming for the moment that they were pushing back sleep.



[[I'm sorry this took so long. My sisters' folio work has been dominating the computer time. I'll have my laptop back by Tuesday or Wednesday, so hopefully this should be the last of the major holdups x.x]]
 
Link laid there for a moment staring at the ceiling, confused to say the least. He'd never considered Zelda 'ladylike' before, though for once knew to keep his mouth shut as it would make her angry if he told her that. It wasn't like he wasn't aware she was a girl, but she was just as playful as he was at times, perhaps even more so. He had been more confused by her lately than ever before.
Link sat himself up next to Zelda on the couch.

"And what kind of gentlemanly punishment would the lady of the house have expected from her knight?" he asked, mocking her aristocratic tone with one of his own.
"And besides, you can't be mad at me, since you started it anyway."
He didn't say that with any anger though. Almost as if she had been right to start it, and give them a chance to be playful before the dawn broke on their mission, where time for being playful would have to be carefully considered and weighted alongside seriousness.
[[Don't worry about it ^^. I might not be on too much over the next day or two anyways Dx]]
 
Zelda considered the question with her head tilted to one side as Link plopped down next to her on the sofa.
"I admit I can't think of one right now, but surely there was something more fitting than having a playfight on the floor?" Her hand found Link's knee and came to a rest, her fingers still idly tracing circles when they sat. "I guess I'm always paranoid someone will come in and see us like that. I'm meant to be a lady now, whether I act like it or not." She smiled, then indulged her childish side, sticking her tongue out at him before turning her gaze back to the fire. Long moments passed before she moved again.

She slumped against Link's side with a sigh, pulling her legs up to her chest and folding up on herself.
"You're warm." She murmured by way of explanation before closing her eyes and settling there for now at least. "Let me sit here for a while..."