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Chapter Text

"Pull over here, please." Zelda looked up into the rearview mirror with pleading eyes. It was bad enough that her father insisted on having her chauffeured her to school in a limousine, and she hoped the driver would at least drop her off a block earlier and prevent her from causing a stir on arrival.

"I've been instructed to take you to school…"

"Please, Dmitri. It's my first day."

Dmitri sighed and adjusted his sunglasses before slowly pulling to a stop on the side of the road. "I'm going to wait here until you let me know you've arrived."

Zelda smiled widely at the uniformed man, his hair carefully slicked back and beard immaculate. Dmitri could be alright sometimes. "Thank you! You're the best!!"

"It's just for today, Miss Zelda!"

She was already halfway out the door, but she acknowledged with a thumbs up and decided to think about that later. For now it was enough that she could walk into her first day of high school as an anonymous nobody, however long that may last. The Hyrule name followed her everywhere it seemed.

She walked rapidly down the street until the building of her new school loomed nearby. The front gate was massive and imposing, and she took a moment to collect herself before entering, adjusting her uniform and straightening her backpack. Her long blonde hair danced a little in the breeze, spilling over her shoulder. This is it. This is my chance to start fresh. No one knows me here.

The thought was both exhilarating and slightly terrifying, as she walked into the school grounds and quickly became swept up in a blur of chattering students, none of them greeting her or welcoming her. Zelda held her head high and marched into the main building, feigning confidence as she made her way to the principal's office to report for her first day. The school had been empty when she first visited, seeming ripe with new possibilities. Now it buzzed with life and made her feel more than a little small and out of place. She avoided eye contact with anyone until she reached the principal's door, then gave it a timid knock. It swung open to reveal Mr Faron and another student. The principal was a short and portly man, all grey suit and shiny black shoes, eyes glittering as if he had some hidden knowledge.

"Ah, Zelda! Right on time, come in, come in."

He ushered her inside his office and closed the door. The girl who stood in his office was short and looked athletic, with shockingly platinum blonde hair swept up into a ponytail.

"Zelda, this is Impa. I've asked her to show you around today so you can find all your classes. Impa, this is Zelda Hyrule."

Zelda winced at the mention of her last name. Here we go. But Impa merely grinned and held out her hand. Either she truly didn't recognize the name, or she chose not to bring it up.

"Hi Zelda!"

They shook hands and Zelda smiled at her, relieved.

"Nice to meet you, Impa." Zelda was determined to put her best foot forward today, and she believed manners were important if she was going to make any friends. The principal handed her a neat folder with several documents and pamphlets inside.

"Here is your schedule and some school pamphlets. Impa will answer any questions, but you two should head off now, don't be late!"

He ushered them out the door, and before she knew it Zelda was being pulled along the bustling hallway by Impa, who navigated the crowds with ease.

"I'll take you to your locker later, for now we should get to our first class!"

"Okay."

Zelda got more than a little lost as Impa led her down hallways, across courtyards and into another building to find their first classroom for the day. Impa noted her confused expression and grinned.

"Don't worry, you'll find your way around in no time. Besides, that's why I'm here!"

Zelda gave her a grateful look. "Have you been here long?"

"Oh yes, I've been at this school since year 8. It's strict, but if you know the loopholes you can still have some fun."

She winked as she led Zelda into a bright and breezy classroom.

"This is our homeroom class. You'll spend a lot of time here, and the homeroom teacher is our first point of contact for anything we need."

A tall, graceful woman rose from the desk at the front and approached them, smiling.

"Hello, you must be my new student. Zelda, is that right?"

"Yes ma'am." Zelda lifted her chin and smiled in what she hoped was a confident manner.

"Lovely. I'm Miss Aliza, your homeroom teacher for the year. I see you've met Impa already."

"Yeah, we're besties!" Impa grinned and rested her arm on Zelda's shoulder. Zelda couldn't help a little flush of warmth at the thought that Impa already considered them friends, and she looked at the floor shyly.

"Now, seats have been assigned for this room already, so draw a number out of the box and then find your seat from the board."

Aliza held out a box full of slips of paper, and Zelda and Impa each drew one out. Zelda had hoped they'd be seated together, but when they compared numbers and found their seats on the blackboard chart they were in different rows. Impa sat near the front, while Zelda was about four rows back and to the left of her.

"It's okay, I'll still look out for you," Impa promised. Zelda nodded and made her way to her seat, watching as more students began to arrive and find their places. There were some glances in her direction as they noticed the new face, and she did her best to seem pleasant and smiling. Most of the students seemed friendly enough, one or two even smiled at her. Just before class started a tall, tanned boy with blue-black hair dropped into the seat next to her. Great. He looks like a bully, of course he's seated next to me. He didn’t look at her and Zelda tried to ignore him. She noticed that the seat in front of her was still unoccupied, even as Miss Aliza called everyone to attention

"Good morning, students!"

The class quieted down as the teacher stood up front and smiled at them all.

"Now, before we take attendance and discuss the year ahead, we first have a new student to introduce.

Zelda had been prepared for this, but her heart still thumped loudly as she made her way up to the front of the classroom. She was met with a sea of eyes on her. Aliza placed a reassuring hand on her shoulder.

"Why don't you introduce yourself, dear."

Zelda caught sight of Impa's encouraging grin and took a breath, remembered what she had rehearsed in her head. "H-Hello, my name is Zelda. I'm looking forward to starting school here." Gaining confidence, she smiled brightly and continued. "I enjoy studying science and English, and I hope I can get to know you all-'

She was interrupted by the door bursting open. Everyone turned to stare at a rather small boy with long-ish blonde hair and blue eyes who had just thrown himself through the door in a hurry. Aliza raised an eyebrow at him, his hair a mess, tie loose and top button undone.

"Late on the first day, Link?"

He faltered, taking in the scene as he realised he'd not made it in time despite his rush. Zelda frowned a little. He had disrupted her speech which she thought had been going rather well, and for some reason his presence had sent a ripple of giggles and whispers amongst the girls in the classroom. Aliza sighed and shook her head.

"Take your seat, it's the only one left. We'll discuss this later."

He hadn't said a word since arriving, and now he merely dipped his head and darted over to his place, moving with surprising grace considering how unkempt he looked. As he passed by Zelda his eyes flicked over to meet hers, curious about the newcomer. Zelda stared back, hoping he could read her annoyed expression, but he seemed unfazed. He sat at the empty desk in front of Zelda's, and she saw the girl next to him flush pink and immediately fix her hair. Aliza turned back to Zelda.

"Please continue. Link will apologize later, I'm sure." She sent a pointed glance at Link as she said that, and Zelda felt a rush of satisfaction as he squirmed in his chair. She finished her introduction, but since Link's arrival the classroom had grown restless and she lost her train of thought. She felt more than a little put out by the time she returned to her seat. She brushed past Link's desk, chin high, and refused to acknowledge him even though she felt his eyes on her. He was exactly the type of person she wanted nothing to do with: sloppy, late and disruptive.

I'm just going to avoid him from now on.

Chapter Text

For the first week Zelda mostly succeeded in her mission to avoid Link wherever possible. It wasn't that hard, really. He was always surround by people, girls who wanted to flirt with him, and boys who wanted to be associated with him. Soon Zelda knew more about him than she ever wanted to, simply because everyone talked about him wherever she went. "Did you see Link win that fencing match today?" "Link broke the 100m metre record again!" "Link is soooo hot!" "Guess what?? Link said hello to me today!" Link this, Link that. All Zelda wanted was to settle into school in peace, but she was quickly discovering that was easier said than done.

Impa kept true to her word, showing Zelda the ins and outs of the school, and contributing to the Link gossip even when Zelda didn't want to hear it. As she arrived in class one morning, Zelda had overheard a group of girls chattering about catching a glimpse of Link's bare torso during PE, and her patience was wearing thin. Are they for real?? She collapsed onto her chair, not paying attention to her surroundings, feeling irritated already and muttering to herself.

"It's only first period, I think I've heard enough about the illustrious hero Link to last me a month…"

"Tell me about it."

Zelda jumped at the voice next to her. She hadn't meant to say that out loud. The tall boy who sat next to her was slouched in his seat, looking just as grumpy as she felt. So far they had settled into a comfortable mutual agreement to ignore each other, and she was surprised to hear him talk. He looked over at her, green eyes glowering.

"He's not even all that, you know? So he's good at some sports, so what! He's not the only one!"

Zelda stared as he ranted. She had initially been intimidated by him, but now… well, she kind of agreed with him. She sighed and leaned her elbow on the desk.

"Well, I don't care if people like him, I'd just like to make it through one day without hearing about him every single moment."

"Exactly. Why does no one talk about the greatest archer at the school, huh?"

"Who's that?"

He seemed to sit up a little straighter, chin lifting with pride. "Me, of course."

"Oh."

Zelda didn't quite know how to respond to that. She didn't even know the school had archery, although it made sense since it offered just about every subject and sport that existed. Turns out she didn't have to respond; he kept talking anyway, a blazing determination in his voice.

"I'm going to take him down someday. It's only a matter of time before I break some school records, and then world records after that."

"Um, that's… I'm sure you will."

He glanced sideways at her, as if gauging whether she was being sarcastic or not. Apparently she passed the test because his face relaxed.

"You're the new girl, right?"

"Yes."

"Well, get used to hearing Link's name everywhere you go, but if you want to hear a new name, I'm Revali."

"I'm Zelda."

They shook hands. Zelda wasn't quite sure where this was going or what sort of friendship they would even have, but at least she'd found someone who wasn't obsessed with Link. Speaking of… She saw the flash of honey blond out the corner of her eye as he entered the classroom. Zelda busied herself with books while he took his place in front of her. He half swiveled around in his seat, and she could see him opening his mouth to say something. Don't even think about it, Mr Hero. She deliberately turned to Revali.

"So, archery, huh? Is it hard?"

Revali scoffed. "It is if you're an ordinary person. Not for me, though."

Zelda smirked when she saw Link's eyes widen at her apparent friendliness with Revali. She pretended to be very interested indeed in everything Revali was telling her about bows and form and wind resistance blah blah blah, but really she felt like she had just won a private battle against Link. He had turned back to face the front now, and she stared daggers at the back of his head. His hair was half-pulled back in its usual messy ponytail and the bright aqua earrings he always wore stood out against it. Zelda passed an expert eye over the shiny hoops. They look cheap.

Chapter Text

As the teacher dismissed them, the classroom buzzed to life with students chatting and packing up. Link had already rushed out, in a hurry to be somewhere. Impa bounced over to Zelda's desk, pulling along a petite, red-haired girl with golden brown eyes.

"Zelda! This is Mipha, she wanted to meet you."

Mipha shyly extended her hand, smiling sweetly.

"Hello, nice to meet you Zelda."

Zelda shook her hand and smiled back. Mipha was a delicate-looking beauty with pale skin, lustrous red locks and petal-pink lips. Zelda felt her emanating genuine warmth and care. Before she could answer, Revali's chair scraped noisily across the floor as he stood up from his desk. He brushed past the girls, but paused to glance at Mipha for a moment. She met his eyes and gave him the same sweet smile.

"Hello, Revali."

He didn't reply, instead looked down at her scarf which was half trailing on the floor. He picked it up and threw it roughly over her, half covering her face.

"You're going to trip walking around like that. Why are you so careless?" His voice was gruff, and he pushed on past them before Mipha could say anything else, running a hand through his dark mop of hair. Impa stuck her tongue out at his retreating back.

"Asshole."

"Impa, that's mean." Mipha reprimanded her gently.

"No, he's mean, all the time! And he's an arrogant bastard to boot."

Zelda couldn't argue with that.

"Maybe… we can have lunch together?" she suggested to the girls, hoping she wasn't being too bold. She wasn't really used to the whole friend-making thing, but Mipha beamed.

"That sounds lovely! I'll see if my brother can join us too."

---

Lunch with the girls was fun, and Mipha's brother Sidon was charming, teasing them all and giving them a hard time about being younger and further behind. Zelda noticed how protective and loving he was of Mipha, despite all his teasing. She smiled as she watched everyone laughing and joking, for the first time feeling a little more at home. After a short while Sidon stood and ruffled Mipha's hair.

"I gotta go, promised Link I'd help him with some goal kicks before third period."

"Alright, say hi to him for me!" Mipha waved as he left.

Zelda raised her eyebrows. She never would have guessed that Link was friends with these two, but it seemed they were close. Impa nudged her, the corners of her mouth lifting.

"Finally curious about Link, eh?"

Zelda frowned. "No. Not at all. I just don't see what the big deal is," she whispered, glancing furtively at Mipha who was checking her phone. She didn't want to talk badly of Link in front of her, if they really were friends. "I can't go five minutes without hearing some girl drooling over him."

Impa grinned. "Just wait until you see him in action. You'll get it."

Zelda didn't really think she would, but she kept that opinion to herself.

Chapter Text

Link was used to being liked.

It's not that he basked in the attention he received, quite the opposite in fact. He often felt uncomfortable being in the spotlight, but it also meant he was accustomed to a certain measure of friendliness from people. He received smiles and greetings wherever he went, aside from Revali who was one of the few who actively disliked him.

That is, until Zelda.

When it came to Revali, their hatred was mutual and based on competition so Link didn't really care. With Zelda, on the other hand, he was having a hard time not caring. Considering that all he'd done was accidentally interrupt her, the way she was acting towards him was a little too much. Every time he looked at her he was met with an icy gaze and an upturned nose. She often took advantage of her height to look down at him, sweeping past in hallways with her haughty, poised elegance. Even on the few occasions when he'd had a chance to say something and tried to apologise, the connection from his brain to his voice seemed to short-circuit, leaving him dry-mouthed and speechless.

It didn't help matters that she was pretty. Very, very pretty.

Link kicked the soccer ball so hard that it went flying all the way across the field and into the bushes beyond. He huffed out a breath and sprinted after it, as if he could run out his frustration. When he jogged back to Sidon, his tall lanky friend was chuckling at the display.

"Alright pal, spill it. What's on your mind?"

"What? Nothing."

Link placed the ball back down. Sidon watched him as he kicked it again, this time with more control, and it sailed in a smooth arc across the field. Sidon handed him another ball, and Link kicked it up a few times with his knees, playing around.

"I met the new girl in your class today."

Link kneed the ball way off to the side and it fell to the ground. He ran over to pick it up while Sidon continued.

"Mipha likes her, she seems pretty cool."

Link scoffed. "Does she?"

"You haven't talked to her?"

"She hates me."

"Ah-ha! So that's what's bothering you."

Link began to kick the ball again, weaving it around on nimble feet. "I told you, nothing's bothering me."

"You don't have to pretend with me Link, we've known each other long enough, haven't we?"

Sidon stole the soccer ball from him and they began to scuffle around, kicking it left and right and stealing it back from each other. Eventually Link retrieved it and sent it flying across to the goal, chuckling at Sidon's defeated look. They strolled over to collect it.

"Okay, fine." Link threw his hands up in the air, resigned. "It bothers me that she hates me, mostly because I don't even know why."

Sidon waited.

"I mean, sure I accidentally interrupted her on the first day but I didn't know, I was running late! And then I've been trying to talk to her so I can apologise, but she's been avoiding me! Like, what am I supposed to do??"

Link glared at his friend, who was clearly holding back a laugh. "It's not funny, Sidon!"

"Sorry, sorry, it's just… it's funny to see you reacting to someone who doesn't worship you like everyone else does."

"You know I don't even like that."

"Of course, I just didn't think that one girl hating you would rile you up THAT much."

They reached the other side of the field and Link nudged the ball with his toe.

"Oh, and then this morning was just the cherry on top. Guess who she's all buddy-buddy with all of a sudden?" Just thinking about it made Link clench his jaw.

"Tell me."

"Fucking REVALI!"

This time Sidon didn't even try to hold back his laughter. He practically rolled on the ground, and Link was tempted to kick the ball right into his face.

"Oh wow, that's too much… Sorry…" Sidon recovered himself and lightly bumped Link's shoulder with his fist, trying to be reassuring.

"Look dude, it all seems like a big misunderstanding. I'm sure once you can explain what happened-"

"How can I do that when she won't even give me the time of day??"

"I'm sure you'll get a chance. You're in the same class, after all, you're bound to cross paths."

"I guess," Link sighed as they began to head back; their break was almost over.

Sidon glanced at him slyly. "She's quite pretty, isn't she?"

Link refused to show any reaction to that whatsoever.

"Hmm, hadn't really noticed," he responded coolly. Which was, of course, a lie. How could he not notice? Fine elfin features, vivid green eyes, hair that shone like burnished gold… she looked like a princess. Link shook his head. Acts like one, too.

Chapter Text

On Friday night Zelda sat down to dinner with her father in the immaculate dining room. She was exhausted, having spent the week furiously taking notes and reading ahead in textbooks so that she could keep track of all her classes and stay on top of her homework. Plus, there was the small matter of constantly trying to avoid Link. Over the last couple of days he seemed to have redoubled his efforts to try and talk to her, and she had come up with increasingly creative ways to avoid him. It almost became a game for her, and she felt no small satisfaction at having made it through an entire week without interacting with him once. He should get the message now, right?

Her father had requested that they eat together tonight, and she suspected he was going to grill her about school and ensure she was doing everything possible to excel. He had reminded her on several occasions exactly how much he was paying for her to attend this school. Like it even made a dent in his wealth.

"So, tell me about school, Zelda. Is it satisfactory?" Her father Rhoam carefully sliced his chicken, and Zelda sat up straighter as she answered him.

"Yes, Dad. I'm doing really well in everything." Even came top of my class in Avoidance Tactics. She sniggered inwardly at her own joke.

"That's good to hear. I'm not surprised at all, of course. You have an exceptional mind Zelda, never forget that." He regarded her over his wine glass, not unkindly, but not exactly warmly either. Zelda sometimes felt he looked at her the same way he would look at one of his latest tech product lines: like a polished investment, an asset waiting to make him more money. She just smiled and nodded.

"I spoke to Mr Faron this morning on the phone about how you've been doing."

Zelda sighed. Of course he had already spoken to the principal.

"He informed me you've been doing well, and then we discussed an idea for you to further improve your CV for college applications in future."

"Huh? What kind of idea?" Had he signed her up for some crazy advanced class or something? Whatever it was, Zelda knew her father well enough that she wouldn't get much choice in the matter.

"There are some students at that school who don't possess the same talents as you, and thus need extra academic help. Especially those who are on sports scholarships, as they didn't enter based on their academic performance."

"I see." Zelda said cautiously, unsure where this was going.

"So, I've arranged for you to take on one of these students as a tutor, and you are to help them raise their grades over the semester."

"Oh." That wasn't so bad. She could handle tutoring.

Rhoam seemed pleased that she agreed so readily. "If you feel ready, you'll be starting Monday next week. Mr Faron agreed that an hour after school each day should suffice to start with."

She nodded, slightly relieved that an hour of tutoring a day was all she had to contend with. "Is he going to set up a meeting for us then?"

Her father shrugged.

"As far as I know he's simply arranged the timing with your pupil since he's already in your class. You can introduce yourself to Link at your first session."

Zelda dropped her fork with a clatter. She dived under the table to retrieve it, her heart racing in her chest. "S-sorry," she croaked, "did you say… Link?"

Rhoam raised his eyebrows at her, and she tried to arrange her features into a casual expression. "Yes. Do you know him already? He is rather famous, I suppose. An excellent sportsman, from what I hear."

"I… I, uh… isn't there anyone else who needs tutoring?" This couldn’t be happening. No way, NO WAY was she tutoring him.

"Why would you ask that? Have you had some kind of problem with Link?" Rhoam leaned forward in his chair, eyebrows knitted, and Zelda swallowed. She had to be careful, she didn't want to get Link into real trouble. Or herself, for that matter.

"Um, n-no, not exactly, but-"

"Then I see no problem. You can start on Monday as planned." There was a finality to her father's voice that defied any further argument. Zelda shut her mouth and nodded again, head spinning. She barely remembered eating the rest of her food, even though it was her favourite spicy chicken and crispy hasselback potatoes. She forced herself to focus when the cook brought out cake with whipped cream for a special Friday dessert, and slowly savoured every mouthful. She'd be damned if she let thoughts of Link ruin her appetite.

She lay in bed that night staring blankly at the ceiling. Her book lay forgotten next to her, and all she could think about was having to spend a whole hour with Link every day for the foreseeable future, and how awkward that would undoubtedly be.

Chapter Text

Zelda arrived at school the following Monday with a turmoil of emotions in her belly. Today was her first scheduled tutoring session, and she practically held her breath as she navigated the halls, having mini heart attacks every time she glimpsed blond hair or untied shoelaces. Over the weekend she had texted Impa to tell her about her new tutoring job, but had left out the important detail of who she was tutoring. She knew that Impa would have a field day when she found out, and chose to put that moment off a little longer if she could.

When she finally did see Link, he merely glanced at her before taking his place, his face emotionless. Did he know she was his tutor? Maybe Mr Faron hadn’t given him a name. Zelda wasn't sure if that was good or bad.

"Is there a test today I don't know about?"

It was Revali, eyeing her stiff posture and fidgeting hands. Zelda shook her shoulders out and forced a smile.

"No, I'm just, er… I just slept funny and my shoulders are sore. That's all."

Revali's eyes flicked from her to Link in front of her, clearly skeptical. Then he yawned and stretched in an exaggerated manner, flexing his arms above his head and rolling his neck around. With his height and build it drew attention, limbs spilling into the aisle, and Zelda was momentarily amused by the image of a bird preening its feathers.

"Zelda, hi."

Mipha had padded softly up to her desk, and Zelda looked up at her. "Hi Mipha! Oh, your hair looks so pretty like that…" Mipha's flaming locks were half-tied back with a few stray wisps floating around her face, and the rest cascading over her shoulders. At the compliment she shyly brushed a strand behind her ear.

"Thank you... Um, here, I brought you some cookies. Impa told me you're starting a tutoring job today, that's great! I figured you'd need some extra energy."

Zelda threw a panicked glance at Link. Was he listening to this, would he figure it out? Thankfully he was chatting to the boy sat next to him, and Zelda sighed with relief and kept her voice low.

"What, that's so kind, thank you! They look amazing."

"I'll see you during break, then." Mipha patted Zelda's shoulder briefly and returned to her desk. Zelda leaned back in her chair and looked at the neat little package. A moment later she jumped as a large, tanned hand snaked across her desk, reaching for the cookies.

"Hey!" She snatched them up and glared at Revali, who paused and looked at her guiltily. "These are mine," Zelda huffed, tucking them into the space under her desk.

"I just wanted to look at them…" Revali's gaze flitted to the back of the classroom for a microsecond before returning to her.

Zelda was not convinced. "Yeah, said no one ever. If you want one, just ask like a normal person."

Revali shrugged. "Okay. Can I have one?"

"What?" She hadn't thought he actually would, but he was so self-assured that now she felt compelled to respond genuinely. "Um, okay, but not now. " She wasn't about to get in trouble for eating in class, which was starting any second.

"Later, then."

"Fine, whatever!"

Revali seemed satisfied with that answer, and withdrew back to his desk, the tiniest of smiles dancing on his face. Zelda wondered what that little display had been all about. Since when did he act so familiar with her anyway? She would have spent more time thinking about it, but then she turned back to the front and saw Link in front of her.

It's going to be a long day.

Chapter Text

The time had come. Mr Faron had told Zelda which study room had been booked for her tutoring sessions, and assured her that her pupil would arrive soon. She sat down at the table, trying to collect herself. A moment later she got up and moved to another chair, restless.

Ten minutes passed and her nervousness was soon replaced by anger. He couldn’t even show up on time! She was on the verge of leaving, college applications be damned, when the door finally crashed open and Link entered with his usual, almost signature at this point, chaos.

"Sorry, practice ran late and I had to showe-" his eyes widened when he saw her. He peered out the door again as if looking to see if anyone else was around, then back at her, jaw agape.

"Don't worry, you're in the right room." Zelda spoke in clipped tones, and gestured towards the table. "We have a tutoring session, right? Let's begin."

She stared him down, daring him to protest, half-hoping he would leave, but he just pressed his lips together and nodded, shuffling around the table to join her. His hair was damp and still dripping slightly, and she caught the fresh piney scent of his shampoo as he sat down next to her and pulled his books out.

"What subject shall we start with?" Zelda asked, scanning his pile of rather messy exercise books and notes. When Link didn't respond right away she gave him a sharp glance. "Well?"

He shrugged. "You decide. You're the tutor, aren't you?"

"Not by choice," she said in frigid tones. Link rolled his eyes. They sized each other up for a moment, waiting to see who was going to give in first. Eventually Zelda decided that she didn't want to be here all day, and if he was going to be that stubborn she may as well take charge. She grabbed the first book on the pile decisively.

"Fine. Show me where you're up to so far, and it would help to know where your grades are at with each subject."

After a few minutes, Zelda looked at her notes of his subjects and grades through narrowed eyes, assessing the best place to start. His grades weren't all that bad, although on a couple of subjects…

Link slouched down in his seat with a sigh, and Zelda snapped her notebook shut with a thud. "Sorry for keeping you," she said sarcastically.

"What? You're the one who said you didn't want to be my tutor."

"I don't, but at least I'm trying to be professional."

Link sat up in his chair. "Oh, is constantly snubbing me for a week what you call professional?"

Zelda could feel her irritation rising; the pent-up emotions of navigating her first week, the stress of performing well, being dumped with a tutoring job, and now Link giving her attitude was proving too much for her. "Look, just because we don't like each other doesn't mean we can't be civil."

"Who said I don't like you?"

That stopped her short. He said it without hesitation, just like that. Zelda stared at him for a beat before replying. "I- I don't know, the fact that you clearly want this to be over as soon as possible is telling me a lot."

"Oh, and you haven't been acting the exact same?! Why is it okay for you but not for me? What's your deal?"

Zelda knew she was being unfair, and he was calling her out with good reason. Still, she could feel tears prickling up and the only way to stop herself from crying was to yell some more.

"Let me think! I started at a new school hoping to settle in peacefully and focus on learning, but all I get 24/7 is everyone babbling about the incredible Link and all his achievements! Link the athletic prodigy, every girl's prince charming, the pride of the school! Except all I'VE seen is a careless, scruffy-" she gestured to their notes "-academically challenged child!"

She stopped and took a deep breath. Link hadn't flinched, but his eyes were unwavering, piercing right through her like twin daggers. He spoke so quietly she had to strain to hear him.

"You don't know anything about me."

Zelda broke his eye contact, looking down at her lap. He was right, of course. Now that she'd let out all her frustration, she felt guilty, but she also didn't know how to explain herself. Link gazed at her in silence for a moment longer, then pulled one of his books over. "Forget it. Let's start with Math, then."

---

Zelda focused her mind on his schoolwork. The tranquil order of words on a page, numbers that behaved under her pencil's command, and the soothing minimalism of lined diagrams all filled her with calm. She knew this world, knew how to control it and weave solutions out of complicated problems. Link hardly spoke, but his eyes never left her and the pages of his work, which she covered in carefully penciled notes.

When Zelda had been through all his subjects and made a plan to focus on his weaker areas, including some of the assignments that were due soon, she leaned back in her chair and stretched. "I think we should wait until tomorrow to begin more serious study. We only have a few minutes left."

Link nodded, and she watched him pack all his (now categorised and colour coded) books away. Now that she didn't have something to focus on, her mind returned to their altercation from before. What do I say? I should apologise... Will that seem too contrived? I feel like an idiot, why did I have to lose my temper? By the time he'd finished and slung his bag over his shoulder she still hadn't decided on something to say. "I'll see you tomorrow," was all she managed, and even that came out stiffly.

"Okay." Link stepped to the doorway, then paused and looked back at her. "For the record… I am sorry about that first day. My dog stood on some glass at the park and we had to rush her to the vet, that's why I was late."

He vanished through the door before she could even react. She sat in shock, processing what he'd just said. He had to take his dog to the vet. It would have been scary seeing his pet injured. He'd probably arrived at school stressed and worried. She had ignored him for a week, then yelled at him for no reason.

"LINK!" She was up and scrambling to the door without thought or plan. She burst out the room and looked left and right. He was only a few metres away, head turned at the sound of his name.

"Link, wait." She ran up to him, then stood there feeling flustered, not even sure what she was doing.

"What is it, Zelda?"

"Um…" she fumbled in her bag and found what she was looking for. "Do you… want a cookie?"

"Pfft. What?" his eyebrow quirked up in amusement.

She shoved the little package at him, babbling to cover up her awkwardness. "Uh, Mipha gave them to me, because Impa told her I had this job, and she thought I might need energy-" What the hell he doesn’t need to know all this! "-here, just take them!"

Link accepted the bundle with a dip of his head, the corners of his mouth twitching. Zelda couldn't handle it anymore. She'd done enough for now, right? She could apologise properly later.

"Okay, well, see you!!" She turned around and practically ran back to the study room where she'd left her things. She could've sworn she heard him laughing as she retreated. Ugh, that was so embarrassing!

Chapter Text

---

Revali should have gone home already, but he found himself lingering. He'd been mindlessly flipping through his homework, not really doing any of it.

He decided to go the library to fetch a book for his assignment, and as he rounded a corner he almost collided with Link coming the other way. Revali narrowed his eyes at him. Link had a funny sort of smile playing about his face, like he'd just won some prize. As soon as he saw Revali his smile fell.

"Oh, it's you." Link went to push past, but Revali caught sight of what he held in his hand. He grabbed Link's bag strap and yanked him back to look more closely. Link glared at him, shaking off his grip.

"Hey, let go! You can fight me at the soccer game on Friday."

"What are you doing with that?" Revali pointed at the little package which he was fairly certain he recognized from that morning. Mipha's cookies. He had almost forgotten about them; he hadn't seriously intended on making Zelda give him any, he'd just found it amusing that morning to pester her about it. Seeing Link with them, however, made him feel differently.

"What? None of your business." Link stepped back and held the cookies closer. Revali crossed his arms.

"Didn't Mipha give those to Zelda? Why do you have them?" He was pretty sure that Link and Zelda were barely on speaking terms.

"Well, Zelda gave them to me, okay? Get lost." Link started walking away, but Revali followed, still not satisfied with his answer.

"Thought she hated your guts."

"Well, maybe you thought wrong. What are you, her best friend or something?"

Revali smirked. "Well, I'm closer to that than you are."

Link's mouth twitched. "Look, if you're so close with her, why don’t you ask her instead?"

"Maybe I will."

"Fine."

"Fine."

Revali turned on his heel and strode back towards the library, not sparing a glance back to see Link's reaction. He found Zelda leaving one of the study rooms. She appeared slightly frazzled, only noticing Revali when he was a couple of steps away from her. She finally looked up and greeted him.

"Hey, Revali."

"Where are my cookies?" He got straight to the point, albeit with a glint in his eye to show he wasn't entirely serious.

"Um, what? You mean MY cookies that you basically tried to steal this morning?"

He followed her out the library, slowing down his long steps to match her pace. "Yeah, those ones. You did say I could have one, remember?"

"Well, I'm sorry but… I ate them all already." She looked away, and Revali couldn't help but laugh at her attempt to lie. She was clearly not used to it.

"Then why did I see Link just now, holding something that looked very similar to what Mipha gave you this morning, hmm?"

She tossed her hair over her shoulder. "Must be a coincidence."

"Huh."

They walked in silence for a minute, then Zelda stopped and turned to him. "Look, Revali…" She sighed, pinching the bridge of her nose. "I um, was assigned someone to tutor and, well, that person was Link. Stop laughing!" She hit him lightly, half-angry, half-amused at the irony herself. "It's stupid, I know! But I've been snubbing him this whole week and I had to give him a peace offering…"

"Wow, I've been replaced just like that."

"Oh come on! We've spoken like two times! And I can be friends with more than one person, jeez."

"So we are friends?" Revali found himself curiously invested in her answer. Zelda was one of the first people he'd met who hadn't immediately jumped on board the Link hype train, and it was gratifying.

She looked up at him, amused. "Well, if you can forgive me for giving away your" -she held up her fingers in mock quotation marks- "cookies, then sure, why not."

He was about to reply, but just then Mipha ran down the hallway towards them and the words got caught in his throat as he watched her draw near. Her long red hair trailed out behind her, and she somehow managed to make running with a heavy backpack look graceful. She reached them and took Zelda's arm on her other side.

"Hi Zelda! Hi Revali!" Revali thought she may have smiled at him but he was too busy examining a loose thread on his shirt to see properly.

"Hi!" Zelda squeezed her arm.

"Did you try the cookies yet? Were they okay?" Mipha asked with anxious curiosity. Revali stifled a smirk as Zelda stuttered for a moment. He found the words leaving his mouth as he thought of them. "They were good, Mipha. She gave me one," he said casually.

Zelda's head whipped around and he knew she was gaping at him, but he kept his eyes fixed ahead. Mipha beamed.

"Oh, that's a relief! And how did the tutoring go then? Who's your student?"

Revali couldn't help Zelda out of that one. She fidgeted with her bag strap for a moment, eyes darting every which way.

"Ah, well… funny story, um… Turns out I'm tutoring Link! Ha ha…"

Zelda was looking away, but Revali watched Mipha's face flicker through a range of emotions. He tightened his jaw. Link, that fucking idiot. Eventually her face broke into another radiant smile, her golden eyes filled with their usual light. "O-oh! That's funny… I'm sure you'll get along just fine though…"

Zelda laughed nervously. "Y-yeah…"

He could see it on Mipha's face, the tiniest, subtlest hint of dejection. It was gone the next second. Mipha sensed his gaze fixed on her and looked over - for a brief, electrifying moment he held eye contact with her, then he turned away swiftly before she could have time to wonder.

"I left my stuff in the classroom, see you girls tomorrow." He waved briefly before breaking away into long strides away from them. Zelda called out goodbye to him, Mipha was silent.

Chapter Text

"Who are you looking for?"

Zelda jolted and looked over at Impa who stood next to her, leaning against the locker doors. "What? I'm not looking for anyone," she replied curtly.

"You've been glancing both ways down the hallway every 10 seconds."

Zelda slammed her locker shut and turned around. "I don't know what you're talking about."

Impa leapt up from her casual stance, eyes alight with the thought she'd clearly just had. "Wait a minute! I haven't heard you complain about Link yet today... Can it be? Did something happen?? Hmm?"

Zelda strode away from her down the hall. "Nothing happened. I have to tutor him and he apologized for that first day so we're good." She said it as fast as possible, stringing the words together and hoping that Impa didn't hear it fully. Wishful thinking, of course. Impa ran to catch up with her, almost tripping in her rush, her mouth wide open. "Woah woah WOAH, let's just circle back there, when you said you had to tutor someone, you were talking about LINK?? And you call that NOTHING HAPPENING?"

"Shhhh!" Zelda glanced around the busy hallway, then sighed. "Well, I didn't know it was going to be him until yesterday, but… yes. I have to tutor him, his grades are terrible."

"Hey, you told me it wasn't that bad!"

Zelda nearly jumped out of her skin. Link had materialised out of nowhere with his light footsteps, falling into step on her other side. He waved at Impa who looked from him to Zelda with her mouth falling further open than seemed possible.

"H-hi, Link," Zelda squeaked. "Um, I didn't mean - ah, your grades, well…" As if yelling at him yesterday wasn't enough…!

Link laughed cheerily, showing his pearly little teeth. "It's okay, they are pretty terrible, I know." Zelda was still trying to process his carefree demeanour, and wondered if he had completely forgotten about how she acted the day before. Surely he hasn't already forgiven me, just like that?? She was aware of Impa's presence, watching the two of them like her favourite soap opera - she didn't want to bring up yesterday's incident now. Thankfully, Impa changed the subject anyway, her brain moving a million miles a minutes as always.

"Link! What time is the game on Friday?" she asked him excitedly.

"Oh, I think… 4pm? You gonna watch?"

"Of course!" Impa bounced on her toes and pumped her fist into the air dramatically. "Wouldn’t miss the great hero Link in action!"

"Ah-ha… please don't call me that…" Link cast a furtive glance at Zelda, looking almost embarrassed.

"It's true though!"

"Okay well, it's just an in-house game so nothing high stakes or anything. Um, Zelda?"

Link was looking at her with questioning eyes. "Are you… gonna come watch us play?"

Zelda had already yelled at him, ignored him, and insulted his grades. She was still trying to plan the words to apologise properly, and she felt like saying no now, even for something so small, would be a rotten thing to do. She gave him her best smile, hoping he wouldn't notice her awkwardness.

"Sure, why not!"

---

Link felt like he'd achieved everything he needed to that day when Zelda had smiled at him like that.

He slid into his chair, humming to himself, resisting the urge to sneak a glance over his shoulder at Zelda behind him. Although… what were the chances she'd smile at him again if he looked at her? Slowly, he turned his head at the pretense of waving at Mipha near the back of the classroom, peeking at Zelda out the corner of his eye. She was deeply absorbed in her textbook already, running a finger over the pages. Zero chance, then. He briefly caught the eye of Revali instead, who gave him one of his signature scowls as he slumped further down in his chair. Not quite what Link had hoped for.

Aliza called everyone to attention then, and he sighed and tried to focus his mind on school. The day passed by in a blur of struggling through academic classes, changing for PE and fencing, showering, back to uniform, classes again, until before he knew it the day was over and it was time for his tutoring session. At least he wouldn't be late this time.

He caught a glimpse of golden hair ahead of him as he walked towards the library door, and ran to catch up.

"Zelda!"

She turned and gave him a small wave as he reached her. "Hi."

Link followed her to their study room, then plopped his bag down and took out his books. Zelda was silent, and he sat down next to her and clicked his pencil. "Zelda?"

She turned her eyes to him, forehead wrinkled in concern.

"Link, I…" she stopped and chewed her lip, then started again, looking at the table in front of them. "I wanted to say, I'm really sorry I yelled at you yesterday, it wasn't fair. And I'm sorry for ignoring you, and… being mean about your grades…"

Link leaned his elbow on the table, resting his chin in his hand. "Wow, now that you've listed it all out, that is quite a lot," he mused. She looked at him with a tortured expression.

"I know!" she winced, twisting a strand of hair around her fist. "I don't know what's wrong with me, I’m literally the worst-"

"Woah, okay! I was just kidding!" he intercepted hastily. Her eyes narrowed at him. Oops, now she's mad again... "Look, Zelda." He enjoyed saying her name, now that she was finally talking to him. He leaned further around on his arm so she'd look at him. "I've already forgiven you, alright?"

"Really?" Her brilliant green eyes were searching his for confirmation, and Link found himself momentarily entranced. He quickly dropped his hand from his face and sat up. "Really." He smiled, and for half a second the corners of her mouth lifted in return. Even if it wasn't a full smile, at least it was directed at him.

"Okay." She inhaled, then reached for his books, spreading out notes for the first subject. Then she turned to him again, eyebrow raised. "And by the way, I do know one thing about you."

"Huh?"

"Yesterday you said I don't know anything about you, but I do," she said confidently.

"What do you know?"

"I know you never tie your shoelaces." she smirked as she said it, and Link shook his head and laughed.

"Okay well, you try having to change from PE to fencing gear to uniform and back again as much as I do - see how much time you have for tying shoelaces!"

She giggled at that, then grew serious again. "Besides, you don't know anything about me either, so there."

"I know you're really smart."

She froze at that, staring at him in bewilderment. Then her chin jerked up, a habitual gesture that Link had noticed and begun to secretly look forward to seeing. "Don't make fun of me," she huffed.

"I'm not! Look, the proof is in front of us!" He gestured to her notes and study plan, and she shrugged. "Okay, whatever. Complimenting me won't make me go easy on you. Let's start with Math again."

Link groaned as she shoved his workbook at him. He figured there was a reason that Zelda had been put forward as a tutor; he'd never known someone with such unwavering laser-focus on studying. He wanted to talk to her about other things, wanted to know more than one thing about her, but she never let him get distracted from his work. He couldn't help feeling disappointed that she appeared to have little interest in anything other that her purpose to tutor him.

While his mind was swimming in formulas and numbers and symbols, he hoped that maybe she'd see a new side of him at the game on Friday.

Chapter Text

The cafeteria was chaos. Zelda almost tripped over a dropped drink can as she held her tray up high to avoid it getting knocked, following Impa to a table. She already regretted not bringing her own lunch today, wishing she could curl up in a quiet nook with her book in peace. Impa had insisted she join her in the cafeteria to experience the pre-game excitement in all its authentic mayhem.

"Oh boy, today is gonna be so good!" Impa grinned as they sat down. "Everyone is pumped!"

Zelda had never really been interested in sports, and she couldn’t see why there was cause for quite so much excitement. She sighed as the din around them rose and fell in rhythmic waves, pounding into her ears. She'd be glad when it was all over.

"You're quiet today," Impa observed, stabbing a straw into her juice. "Aren't you excited about the game?"

"Not really. I don't like sports much."

"Well, I think you'll like it once you see-"

Impa was drowned out by a roaring chant that broke across the crowded room. It took Zelda a moment to understand what they were saying, and she couldn't help but roll her eyes a little when she heard it clearly.

"LINK! LINK! LINK!"

At the far end of the cafeteria a crowd of the soccer boys burst through the door. Link was being half lifted up by two of the bigger boys, and they were all tumbling around and laughing. He caught sight of Zelda and lifted his hand to wave at her. She quickly looked back at her plate. She had been trying to avoid any attention drawn to her, and it seemed that any association with Link would result in the eyes of the whole school on her.

"Hey! He just waved at you! Wave back!" Impa was bouncing with excitement. She waved vigorously across the room at Link, but he'd already been enveloped again. Zelda was relieved when one of the cafeteria staff yelled at them to quiet down or they'd be kicked out. The team dispersed into the lunchroom and the volume returned to its normal chattering hum - she lost sight of where Link ended up. Zelda was scanning the room for Mipha in case she might want to join them, when a large figure collapsed onto the empty seat next to her with a groan. She already knew it was Revali before she looked over. He slumped over on the table, head resting on his arms. He was still dressed in his PE gear like the rest of the soccer team, the back of his neck damp with sweat. Impa raised an eyebrow.

"Um, hello? Who said you could sit here?"

Revali flapped his hand in the air vaguely without looking up. "There's no seats left, okay?" He lifted his head and flashed a roguish grin at Impa. "Besides, we're friends." He jerked a thumb over at Zelda before dropping his head down again.

Zelda ignored Impa's affronted look at her. How was she supposed to explain it anyway? She didn't even really understand herself how she'd reached this casual familiarity with Revali, but it seemed like it was going to stick.

"Erm, good practice?" she said to the top of Revali's head. He tipped his face to the side, a single green eye peering at her between strands of hair. "What do you think? That little display earlier should tell you everything."

"Oh… right." Zelda could feel the ice in his voice, and regretted asking. Little by little she was starting to put together pieces of the rivalry between Revali and Link. Although a lot of it seemed to be based on the various sports they competed at, sometimes Zelda got the feeling that it ran a little deeper, too. Revali was cold to a lot of people, but there was something more specific when it came to Link, something personal.

"How are the teams being split up to play today?" Impa had apparently decided to put aside her confusion about why Revali was hanging out with them, and instead started asking him a dozen questions about the game.

"Lined up by height, counted one to two."

"Are you and Link…"

"We're on opposite teams."

Impa sniggered. "Is that good or bad?"

Revali shot her a glare from his single visible eye, the other still obscured by his hair in disarray. "It's good, duh."

"I would've thought with you two on the same team you'd be guaranteed to win."

Pride crept back into his voice as he answered. "I don't need Link to win."

Impa rubbed her hands together exaggeratedly. "Oh boy, this game is gonna be good. Whose ego is going to inflate beyond human capacity, and whose is going to be irreparably crushed in the dirt? Will it be Link the Golden Boy Hero? Or Revali the Brooding Dark Horse?"

"Oh, shut up." Revali finally sat up, flicking his hair out of his face and crossing his arms. Zelda, who had been laughing at Impa's rather accurate description of the boys, quickly cleared her throat and turned away from him. She caught sight of Mipha weaving her way between the crowded tables, and she was about to call her over when Mipha's attention turned elsewhere. Zelda watched as she went to sit at a different table, next to Link and Sidon. She kept forgetting that they were friends as well. Again, to her chagrin, Link met her eyes across the room, and tilted his head back in greeting. His face darkened slightly when he saw Revali sitting next to her, and after a moment he turned back to his friends.

Zelda felt almost amused as she picked up her fork and stabbed at her food. What kind of bizarre, awkward diagram of friends and enemies had she got herself tangled up in? It was only the second week of school, and she was already connected with each side of what seemed to be an ongoing war.

Whatever, it's not my problem, she decided. Still, she did feel some curiosity as to how the game was going to go down, whatever she told Impa.

---

The score was neck and neck. Zelda had to admit that she could feel the rise of adrenaline as the game progressed, and she had even joined in the yelling crowd a couple of times. Some of it may have had to do with the multiple fizzy drinks that Impa has bought them beforehand - Zelda could feel the rush of sugar making her lightheaded and giddy. Impa had explained a few of the rules before it started, so she vaguely understood what was going on. The game so far had been carried by Link on one team and Revali on the other, with the two of them scoring the majority of the goals.

Most of the foul play calls and scoring disputes had been caused by them, too.

They were close to perfectly matched. Revali used his height and power to his advantage, and Link… well, Link seemed to defy the possibilities of what any normal person should be capable of. Zelda didn't think it was possible for anyone to run the way he did, and the first time he broke across the field at his full speed she couldn’t stop her gasp of amazement. He moved like a bolt of lightning, the picture of precision and grace, changing direction with ease and stealing the ball at the most unexpected times. He radiated energy and strength, infusing his teammates with high morale and motivating them to play at their best. Zelda hated to concede, but he really was incredible. Dazzling, almost.

Time was ticking, and the two teams were battling it out for the final winning goal. Revali matched Link's skill with his own relentless, almost grim determination, and several times he had turned the game back in his team's favour just when it seemed they would fall behind. He didn't possess the same otherworldly agility and skill as Link, but he was a masterful player in his own right, and Zelda truly couldn’t guess which team was going to win. Beside her, Mipha was quiet but focusing intently on the game, her eyes following Link's every move. Impa had screamed herself hoarse as she cheered and booed and groaned at the shifting scores, but she was still croaking out sounds of joy or anguish at the appropriate moments.

Revali had the ball now, and his team began working flawlessly together to maneuver closer to the goal, passing it through and around the other players. It seemed almost certain that they had the win, but in the last moments of the game Link squeezed through a gap, broke the defense and managed to gain possession of the ball again. A collective gasp rolled through the crowd, then everyone held their breath as he delivered a decisive kick - the goal seemed impossibly far away.

The ball arced smoothly and swiftly across the field, the goalie just missed, it went straight into the net and seconds later the timer sounded to indicate the game was over.

The resulting noise was almost deafening. Link's team exploded with screams of triumph and swarmed him, lifting him up to ride shoulders and celebrate their win. The crowd burst out of the bleachers in a tide of triumphant cries, and someone took up the Link chant again. It only took a few seconds for everyone to catch on. "LINK! LINK! LINK!"

Zelda looked out over the field and caught sight of Revali standing a little way off. He was stooped over, resting his hands on his knees, clearly exhausted.

"Come on, COME ON!" Impa grabbed Zelda and Mipha with each arm and dragged them down off the bleachers to join the throng. In a moment Zelda lost both of them, swept up in the melee of students. Somehow she was spat out the other side, and then saw she was only a few steps away from Revali. She stepped closer, wondering what one should say to someone who just lost a game. He looked up and gave her a tired nod.

"So, you finally got to see what all the hype was about." He looked over at Link who was still being lifted up and passed around like a birthday present, laughing and high-fiving his teammates. His voice was even, but Zelda guessed Revali was hiding his true disappointment; she wondered how many times this kind of scenario had played out before. It wasn't even that Revali wasn't good, he was better than pretty much everyone on the team. Link just appeared to be favoured by the gods, and his level of expertise and natural born talent was unmatched, even by Revali. That had to sting, she thought.

"Well, I thought you played well. It was a close game," she said truthfully. Revali gave her an odd look, then a small smile stole across his face. Not his usual mocking smirk, but an actual smile.

"Thanks." She could hear the tiredness in his voice now.

"You’re welcome. I actually… well, I enjoyed watching more than I thought I would," she admitted.

"Hmm. Have you been inspired to take up a sport, then?" He asked somewhat jokingly. Zelda grimaced. "Ew, no thanks. I feel tired just from watching you guys."

"Pfft, you should probably see a doctor about that."

Zelda laughed and shoved him.

"Alright, watch it! My talents lie elsewhere, okay??"

As she chatted with Revali she had the vague notion that she should probably talk to Link and congratulate him too, but felt it could probably wait until later. She had already made up for her earlier treatment of him, and Link had more than enough attention on him for now.

Chapter Text

Link was on top of the world.

In a literal sense as well, since he was being held atop the shoulders of his team who hadn't stopped screaming with triumph since the game ended. He laughed, giddy with his achievement, and no small amount of adrenaline. He had bested Revali, again, and it felt just as good every time.

He waved at Mipha, Sidon, even Impa, and a few other friends he caught sight of, all cheering and waving for him. Then he heard Zelda's tinkling laugh faintly through the din, and his heart leapt in his chest. He wanted to talk to her, see her reaction to his victory, have her smile at him the way she had before. He scanned the crowd below him, trying to find where she was and who or what was causing her such merriment.

When he finally caught sight of her golden hair, a smile split his face - and then moments later it froze into ice.

Revali. He was standing close to her, leaning down to talk to her, and she was laughing, and poking him while he apparently teased her about something. Link gritted his teeth, blood pounding in his ears. Even at the best of times he'd be quite willing to punch Revali, but right now he would have happily taken the opportunity to run him over with a bulldozer. Revali's words from the other day taunted him: I'm a lot closer to her than you are. Winning the game suddenly seemed like a trifle, a temporary thrill that was rapidly crumbling into dust.

The sounds of the mob around him faded into background noise, and Link trained his eyes on Zelda, willing her to turn and look at him. She didn't turn her head, not even slightly, still distracted by whatever Revali was saying to her. Almost every girl in the school was fixated on Link and calling out to him, screaming for his attention.

Every girl except for Zelda.

Once again, Link was met with an unfamiliar sensation twisting in his gut: that of being ignored. It was foreign to him, uncomfortable. Although he'd never admit to it, a small part of him deep down did enjoy the endless stream of affection and praise heaped on him - who wouldn't? He was used to having a spotlight on him, used to being dished out attention every minute, to having others strain to get closer to him so that some of his light would fall on them. Zelda was an anomaly; she possessed a spotlight of her own, and Link was hit with the cold realisation that she didn't need, nor care, for his. He watched her, her smile warming the space around her, green eyes luminescent, cheeks glowing with soft evening light. He understood then, that if he wanted her attention he was going to have to fight for it in the same way others fought for his.

Well, if he had to fight, then so be it.

Chapter Text

It was like a lightbulb moment.

Revali was standing in the field with Zelda, after his team lost the soccer game. She had surprised him again with her praise of his performance, frank and honest, even as everyone else was enamoured with Link. He couldn't tell if she truly wasn't as impressed by Link as everyone else, or if she merely had a contrary nature and had decided to purposely go against the crowd judgement when it came to him. Either way it was refreshing.

As they slipped into playful banter that was starting to come more naturally, Revali felt eyes on him. Hostile eyes, to be precise, and he already suspected who they belonged to. Sure enough, his eyes cast around and landed on Link a few feet away, still borne up by his teammates but looking at Revali like he'd just chewed up and swallowed a lemon. Link looking at him with dislike wasn't anything new, but there was a particular edge about it this time; there had to be something more going on. Revali watched from the corner of his eye as Link's gaze swept over to Zelda. She was standing close to Revali, edging away from the crushing mass of people in the field. Link's eyes blazed and betrayed his thoughts; for a brief moment Revali caught the fleeting jealousy in them.

It was suddenly fantastically obvious, and Revali had to cover his sudden smile of understanding. Link is 90% of the way to a big fat crush on Zelda.

He wanted to laugh, amused by his unique position in this scenario and what he could do with it. But first he should test his theory. How though? Link was right there watching them both, this was the perfect opportunity.

"Hey, Zelda." She looked up at him, her arm almost brushing his with how close they were standing.

"Did you know you can get to the roof of block C, over there? Look, see the door coming out at the top?" As he said this he placed a hand on her shoulder and leaned his head down to her level, pointing to the school building to guide her sight. His face was close to hers, and he surreptitiously sneaked a look at Link to see his reaction.

Revali could practically see the sparks spitting from his eyes.

"That's so cool!" Zelda was oblivious, peering over at the building to see the stairs. Then her brow furrowed and she looked at Revali again. "Are we allowed up there though?"

He chuckled. "Does that matter?"

"Well, of course it does." Zelda looked uneasy at the thought of doing something out of bounds. Revali straightened, moving his hand forward so that now his forearm rested casually on her shoulder, and enjoyed watching Link practically combust at the sight. He was helpless to move, still caught up on the shoulders of at least four other boys.

"Hmm. Some things are more important than rules, you know. Maybe you should try breaking them once in a while."

She was shocked. "What? What are you saying?"

"Just that you might be missing out. I'm sure you'll break the rules at some point, you'll see."

She shrugged his arm off and straightened her shirt. "Pssh, that'll never happen. I'm going to find Impa and Mipha."

She flounced off through the bunches of students milling around, and Revali laughed and pushed his hair back from his face with a limp hand, the tiredness settling into his limbs. He looked over and met Link's outraged gaze again. Link was too far away to say anything to him, but he was sending very clear messages with his expression. Revali held his eye contact unflinchingly this time, giving him a sly wave and grin.

Boy, was he going to have fun with this.

Chapter Text

"Is that her, with the blonde hair?"

It had begun. Zelda had managed to get through her first couple of weeks without much attention, but now the whispers and the sideways looks were becoming more noticeable. For the most part it was relatively harmless gossip. "Did you know that Hyrule girl transferred here?" "Hyrule? As in, the Hyrules who own Sheikah Tech?" "She has the latest smartphone and always wears designer shoes and jewelry, makes sense." "How rich do you think she is?" "She's pretty." "Meh, I don't really see it."

Zelda gritted her teeth and did her best to block it out, hoping that the novelty would die down and people would get bored. She had asked Impa if she'd realised who she was when they were first introduced. Impa merely shrugged. "Well yeah, but it didn't seem important enough to bring it up if you weren't going to." Zelda was grateful for her unbiased acceptance, and told her as much. She reflected, then, that Revali, Mipha, Sidon and Link had never said anything to her either.

A few days into her third week at Hateno High, the whispers turned a little nastier. It was common knowledge now that Zelda was tutoring Link every school day. Once one person confirmed it the news spread like wildfire, and that's when things changed. Link was beloved in the school, and there were more than a few girls who liked to think they had some sort of special connection with him. Zelda was attractive, rich, and spending time alone with him on a regular basis; that wasn't going to go unnoticed. "I feel like she looks down on others because she's rich." "Yeah, she seems like a bitch." "She's only nice to Link because she wants to use his popularity." Those words were harder to ignore, and she felt the sting of injustice at being judged by strangers who barely knew her. Let alone the hypocrisy of these comments coming from all the students who fawned over him because he was popular and good-looking.

One morning before class, Zelda was in the girls restroom at the end stall. A minute later she heard the door swinging open as a group of three or four girls came in together, chattering and of course, gossiping.

"Ugh, she's so pretentious, right? She even corrected the teacher the other day for Christ's sake!" Zelda recognised the voice of Gaile, a spiteful girl in her class with sharp black eyeliner that was constantly getting her in trouble with the school dean. She was always passing notes to Link and batting her eyes at him.

"Yeah, what a narcissist, right? She's probably just tutoring Link to get closer to him." another girl said. Kyra. Zelda knew all their names, although they had never been all that warm to her.

Block it out. It's just baseless gossip.

"Is she even that smart? Poor Link, he deserves someone better to be his tutor," the third girl chimed in. Zelda rolled her eyes at that. They made it sound as if she'd desperately volunteered to tutor him.

"Plus, she hangs out with Revali all the time, and we all know he hates Link. It's weird, is she trying to play them both at the same time?" Zelda could almost picture the sneer on Gaile's face as she said that.

"She thinks she's all that, honestly. Going after the two hottest boys in our class."

Kyra sighed. "Revali's so pretty, it's a shame he's such a jerk."

Zelda stifled a snort at the irony of her calling Revali a jerk in the middle of this kind of conversation. Talk about the pot calling the kettle black. Revali was full of himself, sure, and he put on a show of being aloof and mysterious, but Zelda knew he wasn't actually a bully. The girls babbled for a few more minutes before finally leaving, and Zelda came out of the stall and washed her hands. She fixed her hair and swiped on some lip gloss, trying not to think about what she'd heard. They'll get sick of me soon enough. She was trying to convince herself as much as anything.

She almost ran smack-bang into Revali as she left the restroom, so lost in her thoughts she wasn't looking where she was going. He grabbed her shoulder to stop her from falling over.

"Woah, where's the fire?" He let go as she recovered her balance, and she felt him looking at her. She didn't meet his eyes, just adjusted her bag on her shoulder. "Sorry, Revali, I was distracted. I'm fine."

He fell into step with her. "Did something happen in there? I just saw Gaile and her minions come out, and they were laughing about something."

"Um…" she didn't want to think about it, not now, and she cast around for an excuse. "Oh, haha! They were talking about you, actually."

He raised an eyebrow. "Uh, what?"

"Yeah, Kyra thinks you're pretty, just FYI." She grinned up at him mischievously as he grimaced in disgust. She knew that he despised Gaile and her friends, often throwing snide comments their way when they were acting especially obnoxious.

Kyra wasn't necessarily wrong, either. Despite the almost permanent scowl on his face, Revali was very handsome in his own cold, glass-cut way. She found herself thinking about Link in comparison. Link was all soft, boyish features and warm smiles, his fluffy hair in wisps around his face and adding to his slightly ruffled look. Zelda shook herself back to reality, annoyed that she'd inadvertently been thinking about him again.

"Ugh, I really didn't need to hear that." Revali ran his hand through his hair self-consciously, then glanced back at her. "Is that really all it was?"

Zelda wished he wasn't being quite so perceptive and persistent, it was a frustrating combination. She gave in. "Okay, not exactly, they were mostly gossiping about me."

He frowned. "Oh. I've heard some people talking about you sometimes, given that your dad is kind of famous. Is it getting worse?"

She looked down at her feet. "Since everyone found out I'm tutoring Link, it has been. In case you’d forgotten, every girl in this school is obsessed with him."

"I hadn't forgotten." There was ice in his voice. Then he turned his head sharply to her, confused. "Wait a minute, how did I end up in that conversation? Or did you make up that part as an excuse?"

"Oh no, that was there," she laughed. "Um…" This is awkward. "Well, you… I guess they've noticed that we're friends, too, and they think I'm… I don't know, toying with you and Link or something stupid."

He feigned shock, drawing a hand to his mouth. "But you would never!"

"Shut up!"

Zelda couldn't help laughing at his ridiculous acting. Still, he'd succeeded in helping her release some tension, and she straightened up as they approached the classroom. She was Zelda Hyrule, and she could handle a few petty rumours. They walked in together and Zelda immediately caught Link's eyes on her; she'd noticed that this happened a lot, and it always gave her a slight jolt. It was impossible to ignore his piercing gaze, even when he didn't say anything, and she flushed slightly and gave him a quick wave before sitting down. He never heard any of the gossip about her, because no one dared to say anything when he was around. She'd been trying not to hang too close to him so as not to fuel the rumours, and she had a feeling he'd noticed. Plus, every time he saw her with Revali she felt guilty for some reason, knowing that they were mortal enemies or whatever. Link was constantly shooting cold stares at Revali, especially when he was with Zelda. Meanwhile Revali basically pretended he didn’t exist.

She knew she'd have to address it eventually, but a part of her also hoped that everything would die down and Link would lose interest in her anyway.

Surely he would get bored at some point, right?

Chapter Text

Link thought that if he had to endure one more patronising look from Revali while the latter hung around Zelda, he'd go insane.

Ever since the soccer game Link had determined to try and get closer to Zelda, but aside from their tutoring lessons she seemed to slip away from him at every opportunity. He couldn't figure it out. After the incident with the cookies and Zelda's seemingly sincere apology, he'd thought that maybe they'd grow closer. She was friendly enough during their tutoring sessions, but at all other times she gave him a wide berth, making up excuses to leave after him or go in a different direction. Revali just made things worse; every time Link thought he might have a chance to talk to Zelda he was there, chatting to her, resting an arm on her shoulder, even bickering with Impa when she was around too. Revali also never failed to throw scathing looks Link's way, letting him know that he definitely wasn't welcome. Link returned them of course, but the fact remained that he was still the one left on the outside, back at square one.

At the end of their tutoring one day, he made an attempt to hold Zelda back.

"Zelda?" She was stuffing books into her backpack, and her green eyes flicked over to his mid-action. Link caught his breath. Every so often he was struck full-force by her beauty, long after he'd assumed he would grow used to it.

"Got somewhere to be?" He asked casually. Zelda barely paused on her way out the door. "Umm, yeah, yep! Sure do…"

"Zelda, wait!"

She was already gone, probably pretending she hadn't heard. Link sighed and gathered his things, the gears of his mind grinding away. Why was she being like this? He couldn't think of anything he'd done to her, and surely... Surely it wasn't simply that she didn't like him much? He frowned. He'd never had to consider this before, but maybe he needed to put in some more effort to win her over. How to do that though?

His thoughts were interrupted when he ran into Mipha in the hallway.

"Hey, you're here late!" he bumped her shoulder with his in greeting.

"I was getting in some extra time at the pool," she said. She peered at him more closely, pushing her slightly damp hair back. "What's on your mind?"

Typical Mipha. She could tell in an instant if anything was bothering him. Link often wondered if he wore his heart on his sleeve that obviously, or if she was particularly intuitive with this kind of thing already. He knew from experience it would be useless trying to pretend it was nothing, because she already knew he was a bad liar.

"Ummm, well…"

She waited patiently, letting him find the words.

"Mipha, do you think… well, am I, er… a likeable person?" he already felt stupid saying it out loud, and he felt heat rising on the back of his neck. To her credit Mipha didn't laugh, but merely raised her eyebrows as she responded, "Are you worried people think badly of you? You know everyone here loves you."

"No, I mean…" he faltered again, struggling to express the feeling. "I know people like me because sure, I'm good at a few things and I'm friendly or whatever, but like… that's just all on the surface, isn't it? I'm not friends with all of those people, they don't really know me. What if I'm actually nothing special behind all that?"

"You are special, Link." she said it with the quiet confidence in him that she'd always had, eyes focused ahead of her. "Remember, Sidon and I know you, and believe me, we both… like you just fine." She turned and looked at him with her soft golden eyes, and Link knew she meant it.

"Thanks… I guess I'm just, er… having trouble making new friends…" he finished lamely. He knew it was a feeble explanation, but for some reason he was reluctant to bring up Zelda by name. The knot of feelings he had bundled in his chest when it came to her was still too difficult to untie, especially in front of anyone else.

"Link, are you… are you talking about Zelda?" Mipha had waited for several moments to ask, as if she had been making up her mind. Of course she had figured that out immediately, too; he couldn’t hide anything from her. Link took a deep breath and did his utmost to meet her eyes calmly.

"I… well, you know that she's tutoring me, and… I don't know, it still feels a bit awkward, that's all. I though she'd warm up to me by now. She's friendly with you, yeah?"

"Yes…" Mipha trailed off, and he wondered if that was the end of their conversation. They reached the school gates, and Link reached out to hug her goodbye. "Thanks, Mipha. See you tomorrow!" She stepped back from the hug and smiled at him, and they turned to go their separate ways.

"Hey, Link?" he looked back. Mipha was still facing the other way, but then she turned and gave him one last smile. "You can't go wrong with being honest. If you want to know what Zelda is thinking, then ask her. If you want to be friends with her, tell her."

Link nodded as she turned and continued on her way. She had a point, but he was still unsure about asking Zelda outright, perhaps afraid of what her answer would be. Still, Mipha had at least reassured him in some way, and he went home a little lighter on his feet than before.

---

Unfortunately the comfort from Mipha's words dissolved when the first thing he saw at school the next day was Revali joking around with Zelda again. Link stood behind his locker door, quietly fuming as he listened to them chatter. Revali was talking loudly, as if he wanted his voice to carry over to Link. He probably wanted exactly that.

"I told you that vending machine was broken! How much money did you lose?"

Zelda huffed with annoyance. "I know, okay? I didn't want to go all the way across the building to the other one."

Link peeked around his locker door just in time to see Revali tapping her head playfully, shaking his head as he responded. "Zelda, Zelda, all that smarts but you're too lazy to walk across a few hallways?"

Link whipped back behind the door as Revali glanced in his direction. He couldn’t stand to see his smug face.

"Ugh, okay, I learned my lesson!" Zelda retorted. Link heard the sound of a locker slamming shut. "I have to bring this back to the library, I'll see you in class."

Link leaned out again as Zelda rushed away down the hallway, her platform shoes thudding on the floor. She hadn't once looked in his direction, and Link cursed fate for placing their lockers so far away from one another. His attention returned to Revali, who was still fussing around in his own locker. In a rush of impulse Link set his jaw, slammed his door shut and strode over to him. Revali didn't look up until Link was right beside him, and even then he barely acknowledged him before returning to gathering his books. Link stood there in awkward silence for a moment, acutely aware that he hadn't even planned what he wanted to do.

"Got something to say, Golden Boy?" Revali finally shut his door and leaned against it, all cool confidence and lazy posture. Link stood up as tall as he could muster, which wasn't all that tall next to Revali, and crossed his arms.

"What are you up to with Zelda?"

Revali didn't flinch. "The hell does that have to do with you?"

"You're trying get close to her, what do you want from her? Is it because she's rich?"

"First of all, I'm not trying to, I am close to her. And it's because we're friends, not that it's any of your business."

"You don't have friends."

Revali's mouth twitched. "Maybe I decided to try something new." His voice was low, his acid-green eyes mere slits in his face. Link pushed further, now that he'd hit a nerve.

"I don't buy it. You hang around her an awful lot when I'm around, are you telling her to avoid me or something?"

Revali barked out a laugh. "Why would you assume I'm the one responsible? You're doing that all by yourself, trust me."

"What?" Link had suddenly lost his footing. Did Revali actually know something about why Zelda was acting this way? It was just as likely that he was bluffing, but Link still felt aggravated at the possibility that he knew something more. Revali pushed away from the locker and took a step closer, looking down at Link from his full height.

"If she hasn't told you anything, she clearly doesn't feel comfortable around you." Derision edged his voice.

Link was torn between maintaining his pride and desiring an answer to his question. He tried to speak in even tones, hiding how invested he was in Revali's response.

"So what, is she comfortable enough around you then? Did she tell you something?"

Revali smiled, and Link wanted nothing more than to wipe it right from his face. With a fist, preferably. He gripped his bag straps tightly.

"Maybe. Maybe she's avoiding you because she just doesn't like you, as incomprehensible as that may be to your tiny brain."

Link knew that Revali was trying to wind him up, but even with that knowledge it was beginning to work, and anger was rising up in his chest. He had no response, and Revali took the chance to keep talking.

"Anyway, are you really in a position to be so concerned about her? Isn't that a little creepy? Maybe that's why-"

"Shut up!" Link burst out. Then he flushed, caught off guard. Revali was right, he wasn’t that close to Zelda. He had no argument here, and Revali knew it.

"Look, maybe Zelda is just the first girl to have enough sense not to fall for your heroic, prince charming act, so just get used to it alright?"

The anger was in his throat now, and Link snapped back. "And you're not putting on some pathetic charming act with her? You're a fine one to talk about-"

"Link?"

Link jolted at the sound of Mipha's soft voice in his ear. She had floated up next to him quietly, and was now looking between him and Revali with concern etched on her face. Shit.

"Mipha! Didn't see you there, um…"

"What are you guys doing? Class is starting soon."

"I, nothing, w-we-" Link fumbled around for an excuse, "we were just talking about soccer! Revali, uh-" he looked back at Revali and gaped when he saw his transformation at the arrival of Mipha. His menacing stance had melted, and now he stood with head down and fists shoved deep in his pockets. He seemed almost embarrassed.

"Was that really all it was?" Mipha directed this at Revali, and he was forced to look up and meet her eyes. He mumbled a reply so quietly Link barely heard it. "Yeah. Soccer…" his voice was meek, not a hint of the malice it had possessed just moments before. Link was getting whiplash, but he was also so preoccupied with trying to make excuses for Mipha that he couldn't really process Revali's bizarre reaction. He grabbed Mipha's arm and pulled her along with him, now wanting nothing more than to escape this disaster of a conversation.

"Quick, we should hurry or we'll be late!" He noticed Mipha look over her should briefly as they left, but to his relief she said nothing more.

Talking to Revali had been a mistake, of course. He should have known that, but it was the final push he needed to sort things out once and for all. I just have to talk to Zelda straight up. Make her tell me what's going on. Even if… No. There had to be a good reason. He glanced over at Mipha, thinking over her words from the previous day. Mipha wouldn't lie to me, so I can trust her advice.

Chapter Text

Zelda's tutoring with Link that afternoon was… quiet.

Most of the time he would get distracted, ask her unrelated questions, and frequently be cracking jokes or doing silly impersonations of the teachers they disliked. Zelda had to constantly bring him back to the subject at hand, sometimes wondering if he had ADHD or something. He seemed to contain endless physical energy to disperse, tapping his pencil, bouncing his leg or clicking his pen until it drove her mad.

Today, however, he was subdued, listening quietly and making minimal attempts to draw conversation out of her. This was new, and Zelda felt strange as she worked through the homework. She'd thought that all of Link's comments and fooling around were annoying before, but now that he wasn't doing it… No. This is better. We both need to focus on school anyway. She wondered briefly if something had happened that morning. Link had arrived in class with Mipha in tow, curiously flustered, and had hardly looked at her. She remembered Revali giving him an extra taunting grin when he arrived a moment later. Ugh. I have better things to worry about than those boy's inflated egos and whatever scrap they had.

As usual, once she wrapped up the session she immediately started packing her things to leave.

"Zelda." Link finally spoke first.

Something in his voice made her pause. It was the first time he'd spoken beyond the occasional "okay" or "got it" for the whole afternoon. Poised at the doorway, she tentatively peeked back at his serious face. He hesitated a moment, then seemed to make up his mind. "Is something… I mean, is there a reason you're avoiding me again?"

She'd known that he'd eventually question her behaviour around him, but she tried to get out of it anyway.

"Huh? I'm not avoiding you!" She laughed nervously. Link stood up rapidly and walked around the table, pinning her down with his gaze. "Yeah? Why don’t we walk together then?"

She stuttered for a moment, then gave up and sighed deeply. "Okay, fine, I may have been avoiding you-"

"I knew it!"

"A little!" she finished. "But… there's a reason…"

Link smiled, and it was the first time she'd seen him do it that day. "There must be, who in their right mind would avoid me? I'm delightful." Just like that he'd slipped back into his usual wisecracks, and Zelda couldn't stop herself from giggling at it. She was miffed a second later when she saw his satisfied grin at her reaction. She leaned back against the doorframe and rubbed her temple. "Um, look… People have already been talking about me, because of my dad…"

A shadow fell across Link's face. "Did someone say something bad about you? Who?" He had gone rigid, limbs straight and stiff.

"No, not quite… well, kind of. I mean you know that you're, uh…" she paused, then rushed on, "You know that you're popular, right? Well, I think when some of the girls found out that I'm tutoring you every day, they… didn't like that."

"Is that so," he said through gritted teeth. Zelda was taken aback by his apparent anger. She'd only ever seen the bright, careless, friendly side of him so far, and had thought him to be relatively laid back. He was short, but she had the distinct impression that there was a formidable amount of strength wound up inside his small body.

"Link?" When she spoke he finally relaxed again, although his eyebrows were still furrowed with concern, and maybe a little regret. "I'm sorry, I had no idea," he answered quietly.

"Well, you wouldn't… people don't talk when you're around," she admitted. It really wasn't his fault that he didn’t know.

"So… what does this mean, exactly?" Link asked. His eyes fell to the floor. "I… I want to be friends with you."

She didn't know what to say to that. Had she been planning to stay away from him permanently? He wanted to be friends. When she thought about how that made her feel, she was forced to acknowledge that his company was enjoyable and she'd like to be friends as well. Before she could voice any of the thoughts that were beginning to form Link continued.

"But also… I don't want to push you, if it's going to cause problems…" he was hesitating, betraying his hopefulness but clearly trying to be considerate. All of a sudden it dawned on Zelda that she'd been acting like a pushover this whole time. Letting some rumours decide who she spent her time with? She'd wanted to have a fresh start here and take control of a small part of her life, and here she was letting other people control it again. The fact that she'd slipped into the same pattern, almost subconsciously, left a bitter taste in her mouth.

"Wait… wait. No!" Zelda lifted her chin, angry at herself for being so spineless. "This is… It's not your fault. Enough of my life is run by other people already; it's idiotic to avoid you because of some lame rumours." She stepped out of the doorway and looked back at him, feeling inspired after her outburst. "Let's go together."

In half a second he'd grabbed his bag and come to her side. "Are you sure?"

"Yes, I'm sure. My real friends know the truth, anyway."

His grin nearly split his face in two. "Okay." He matched her stride, hurrying to keep up with her. Zelda glanced sideways at his bouncing step, the smile still playing about his face. The corners of her mouth started to tilt up all on their own, and she felt a weight fall from her shoulders. She considered how much energy she had expended dancing around in circles to keep away from him. Really, what had she been so worried about?

"Zelda?"

He was looking at her with those serious eyes again. She was struck by the intensity of them, deep wells of blue that seemed to look right through her. Textbook ocean eyes. She shook off the thought as quickly as it popped into her head.

"You'll tell me… if anything ever happens, right?" He held eye contact, face betraying a hint of guilt. Zelda wondered if he felt responsible for what had happened, although the more she thought about it the sillier that seemed. It wasn't his fault that other people were getting jealous over him, especially when they didn't even know him.

"What are you gonna do, kick a soccer ball at them?" she teased. Link snorted at that. "Hey, soccer isn't the only thing I can do, alright? But answer me, please; promise you won't hide it from me again if someone is hurting you."

She nodded slowly, matching his solemn tone. "Okay. I promise."

He held her gaze for a moment longer then nodded, satisfied with her answer. "Good."

As they walked into the hallway together she felt eyes on them, although thankfully most students had gone home at this hour. Zelda held her head high and stayed close to Link as they walked, resisting the urge to just run away again. He seemed to sense her discomfort, and he leaned over slightly as if to say something.

"You know, getting hit by a soccer ball actually hurts pretty bad."

She'd expected him to try and whisper something comforting, but making her laugh had basically the same effect. Later, Dmitri glanced at her in the rearview mirror as he drove her home, eyebrow raised. Zelda was still chuckling at the mental image of the tiny Link appearing to punt a soccer ball at the next person who tried to torment her.

Chapter Text

Zelda was startled out of her book by the sound of cans thunking onto the table in front of her. She'd been so absorbed she hadn't even noticed Link arrive for their tutoring session.

"Hello, earth to Zelda." Link waved his hand on front of her, then gave her his usual easy grin when she looked up at him.

"Sorry, I lost track of time- what's this?" She looked at the drink cans he'd put in front of her. Vanilla Coke and raspberry lemonade.

"Pick one." Link sat down and busied himself taking out his books.

Zelda looked at him suspiciously. "Huh? Why are you suddenly buying me stuff? Are you trying to make me more lenient or something?"

He raised an eyebrow. "So skeptical. Nope, just trying to figure out what you like. Come on, which one?"

She never expected half the things he said to her, and ended up at a loss for words more often than not. But Vanilla Coke was her weakness, and it had been a long day. She reached for it grudgingly and his face lit up.

"Ha! I knew it!"

"Knew what?"

"I just had a hunch you'd choose that one."

She couldn't guess why he was so chipper today, but she was in a pretty good mood herself, so she humoured him. "Well yeah, Vanilla Coke is elite."

He took the can of lemonade and cracked it open, then raised his can to her. "Cheers."

They tapped their cans together, and Zelda took a sip before placing it to the side. "Okay, how did the French revision go yesterday?"

"Ughhhhh…" She watched him droop and held back a laugh. Link's energy levels were unprecedented, but when it came to academics he always deflated like a balloon.

"Come on, it can't be that bad. Here, show me the vocabulary you've done so far."

She flipped to a page with a list of vocab to translate, and he sighed and rested his chin on his hand, concentrating on the exercise. Zelda sipped her drink again and watched him as he worked. She'd never really examined him closely before, usually just blitzing through his homework relentlessly every time they had tutoring sessions. But she was feeling relaxed today, and was no longer concerned about avoiding him. She let her eyes wander over his face while he was distracted.

She hated to admit it, but there was some merit to all the whispers and giggles about his looks that flew around the school. His features were finely formed, his nose a pleasing, gentle slope and his cheekbones well-shaped. Smooth skin, lips curving into a soft cupid's bow. His ocean-blue eyes were framed with rather long lashes, contrasting with the warm muted blond of his hair. Even his earrings suited him, and she was forced to recount her initial thought that they were tacky.

Without warning, his gaze flicked over to her. Zelda almost dropped her drink, and immediately looked away, pretending to take another sip. There was a brief, stilted silence as she felt him watching her.

"Were you just… checking me out?" His eyes glittered with mischief, and Zelda wanted to slap herself. Or him; she wasn't exactly sure.

"No, of course not!" She struggled to make eye contact, mortified that he'd caught her staring. Link leaned back in his chair, his expression gleeful.

"Really? Cause it sure seemed like you were," he teased. "It's okay, a lot of people do-"

"Well I wasn't! I- I was looking at your work." She jabbed a finger at the page he'd been scribbling on, then squinted at it. "You got those last two wrong, by the way."

"What?" He frowned and leaned over his work, momentarily forgetting his teasing. Then looked back at her, smile lighting up again. "Don't change the subject!"

"No, you don't change the subject! French, remember?"

Zelda refused to look at him, instead launching into a lengthy explanation of the phrases he'd done incorrectly and what he needed to fix. He listened, but there was a maddening smile dancing around the corners of his mouth and creasing his eyes. She knew he wouldn't be forgetting her little slip-up anytime soon, and she cursed herself for being distracted long enough for him to notice.

Explaining French grammar slowly calmed her down enough to dispel the blush on her cheeks and return her composure. It was silly, she thought. Link got more than enough compliments and open praise from everyone else, so why was she being so shy about it?

"Do you understand now?" she asked, having shown some examples. Link nodded slowly, and picked up his pencil to try again. She watched as he carefully translated the words and then the phrases she'd set out, and smiled as he completed the last one. "Much better!"

"Really?" he looked a bit incredulous at having done it all correctly. "Wow. That's a first. How are you so good at every single subject?"

"Um…" She wasn't sure how to respond. Part of the truth was that she loved learning, yes. But another significant part of it was that her father simply did not allow her to achieve anything less without punishment. She'd learned that if she wanted any amount of freedom in her life she would first have to tick all his boxes. She was relatively proud that she hadn't been grounded or forced to take extra classes for almost a year now, thanks to the sheer volume of time she spent studying.

The silence dragged on as she thought about her answer, and Link was now watching her with some concern in his eyes, perhaps glimpsing some of her inner struggle.

"Um… well, I just like studying, alright?" She chose the half-truth, keeping her tone lighthearted so she could brush it off, but Link didn't seem fully convinced. Still, he didn't push it any further, and she was grateful. Some things you could only talk about after a certain amount of trust was established, and Zelda felt she hadn't yet reached that with Link. She tapped her pencil thoughtfully. Funny that she assumed she would reach that point eventually… Link was just that type of person, prompting her to blurt out things she wouldn't normally say.

"Why are you so good at athletics?" she felt like flipping the question back at him. He thought for a minute, then shrugged. "As a toddler, after I escaped every single type of cot that my parents tried, my mom figured maybe I should sign up for a sport. I guess the rest just happened from there, once I found I had the knack."

She gaped for a moment, then snorted with laughter. "How many different types of cots is it possible to get?"

He chuckled with amusement and more than a little pride. "You'd be surprised. Also, my dad started adding his own reinforcements to them after a while, so the variations were almost endless. Turns out, there's a fine line between what I could escape and what they could physically get me out of themselves."

The whole thing sounded ridiculous, but it was undeniably funny. Zelda tried to picture toddler Link being bolted up inside a fortress of a cot, only to prise it open with tiny fingers of steel. Or maybe he chewed through them? That made her laugh even more, and Link just watched her, nonplussed. Eventually she calmed down and wiped her eyes. "Your poor parents…"

"Pfft. Maybe it was tricky for a short time, but now I can't get away with anything. They'll remind me in a flash how much trouble I caused as a child." He was pretending to be dark about it, but Zelda saw plainly the affection with which he spoke of his parents. A pang of jealousy stabbed her, and the laughter dissolved in her chest. It would be nice to meet his parents sometime… It was an odd thought as soon as she'd had it, and she shook it off quickly and glanced at her watch.

Zelda blinked when she saw how much time had passed and the work they still had left. "Okay! Back to it already." She scolded herself for getting so sidetracked, and opened up another of his textbooks. Link gave her a sideways grin as he picked up his drink and gulped it down. "Are you gonna take the chance to admire me again while I work?"

She responded by grabbing his trigonometry textbook which was his least favourite subject, and opening it to the most difficult concepts they'd learned that week. His face fell immediately as she shoved it towards him and aggressively clicked her pencil lead out.

"I'm sorry! I take it back!"

"Too late now. We're doing this."

She made a point of only looking at the pages of the book as she went over the problems and he quietly fumed in the background. That'll teach him to be so impertinent.

Chapter Text

"-I'm sure Link is willing, seeing as he's paying such careful attention."

Link jolted awake as the tones of Mrs Zumi's sarcasm broke through his daydream. Mrs Zumi was the drama teacher, and she stood at the front of their class with clipboard in hand, staring directly at him. Link racked his brains to recall what had been said, beyond some vague notion of looking for extra help for the upcoming school play.

"Well, Link?" Aliza prompted him. She made no attempt to fill him in, even after he sent her a pleading glance. She merely raised her eyebrows, allowing him to be punished for his inattention.

"Um… okay?" He winced as he said it, hoping that was the right answer. Mrs Zumi stared him down a moment longer then nodded, scribbling on her clipboard. "Alright, I've put you down for the role of the knight, then. It's nothing too complicated."

Giggles swept through the classroom, and Link sighed. So instead of choosing what he wanted to do he'd been assigned something already. He hoped it was only a small task. At least Mipha's in it, she'll be doing most of the work as the lead actress, right?… he turned and glanced at her over his shoulder. She looked up and gave him a smile and a thumbs up. Just as he began to turn back, Zelda looked up and met his eyes briefly, her face placid. He couldn't resist a quick smile at her, too, but she merely looked back at Mrs Zumi. Paying attention, unlike himself.

"Shall I stand at the back of the room instead, Link? Or maybe I should sit at Zelda's desk, since that’s where you seem to be directing all your attention?"

The drama teacher spoke to him icily, prompting another ripple of laughter and whispers from the class. Link snapped back to face the front again. "S-sorry!" He dipped his head, ears growing warm. He wanted to blame Zelda for distracting him, but he knew it was his own doing. He wilted under Aliza's disappointed glare, the downward tilt of her mouth giving him a hint that he'd probably be held back after class.

"Okay, moving on." Mrs Zumi seemed to let it go for the moment, referring to her notes once more. "We are also in desperate need of some help in the costume department. This may be a long shot, but is anyone here any good at sewing or making clothes?"

Everyone glanced around, unsure. Link kept his focus ahead, determined not to slip up again, so he missed the carefully raised hand at the question. Mrs Zumi looked across the room and then smiled gratefully. "Zelda? That's a relief, may I please put you down as costume assist then? Benja will be delighted for your help, he's snowed under with all the work he has to do."

Of course Link had to sneak a quick glance at Zelda then, as she nodded and dropped her hand. He quickly looked back to Mrs Zumi again, pleased that he might get to be around Zelda at least. Maybe this won't be so boring after all.

"Excellent, we're almost done here." Mrs Zumi ran her pencil down the page, murmuring to herself. "Oh, I have one last small background character for one of the boys-"

"I'll do it."

There was dead silence as all heads swiveled to stare at Revali, who was leaning back in his chair, lazily twirling a pen between his fingers. He was the last person anyone would expect to volunteer in a school play. Link glared at him over his shoulder, but Revali just narrowed his eyes and mouthed "what?" with a mocking grin. Link wasn't going to risk trying to ask him about it now, but why did he have to be part of this too? He'd bet money that Revali only volunteered so he could stir things up around Zelda again. Well guess what, we're friends now, too. His silent affirmation landed rather hollowly in his chest, but he held onto it nonetheless. He wouldn’t let Revali push him away so easily this time.

"Oh, Revali, is it?" Mrs Zumi collected herself. "Er, okay, I'll put you down. Everyone who's put their name down, please check the notice board after class for our rehearsal times. Don't be late unless you desire extra detention. I'll see you there."

She nodded to Aliza before sweeping majestically out of the room as only a drama teacher could.

---

Link hadn't been too excited about his part in the school play, but now he decided it was worth it. He waited patiently at the far end of the cramped costume room while Zelda instructed her other charges on what they should start looking for. The room was long and narrow, lined with racks of clothes and drawers stuffed to the brim with all manner of accessories, jewelry and hats. A few mannequins stood around with hastily arranged wigs and half-finished clothes draped over them. He was situated by a large mirror leaning against the wall near the changing curtain, and couldn’t stop himself surreptitiously checking his appearance before Zelda finally picked her way through the mess towards him. Link was pleased to see that Revali was at the opposite end of the room, flipping through the racks and fetching things from high shelves for the shorter girls around him.

"Okay." Zelda carefully stepped around a mannequin and appraised him for a moment with an expert eye, looking at some scribbled notes she was holding. "Since we don't really have much for the knight's costume, Benja gave me an idea of what he wants… I'll have to take your measurements so I can make something from scratch…" She trailed off, eyes darting around the room, then fetched a tape measure from a pile of teetering sewing supplies on a dresser.

"Do you know your height?" she wrote it down as he told her, then instructed him to lift his arm so she could measure the length. Link had already noticed that she stood a few inches taller than him, and being near her caused him to subconsciously draw himself up a little straighter. Zelda's posture was immaculate, her shoulders drawn back, chin lifted in a manner that accented her jawline. Even while navigating the chaotic space, she carried herself with a grace and elegance that commanded attention and respect. Well, his attention at least.

"How did you learn to make clothes?" he asked, trying to shift her out of strictly business-like mode for once. He didn't know much about her, and had a feeling there was more under the surface of her study-driven, high-achieving persona. He'd seen glimpses of what he thought was her true self, like the day before during their tutoring session when she laughed openly at his childhood stories. Her eyes softened a little as she answered, still scribbling in her notebook. "I took lessons with my mother, before she- when I was young. I wanted to be a fashion designer when I was little." She chuckled wistfully at the memory, her guard dropped for a moment. Link hadn't known about her mother, and although he was curious he felt it best to wait before prying into such a personal topic.

"A fashion designer? What about now?"

"No, not anymore. I think I want to study biology, or some kind of science…"

Link sighed forlornly. "Yeah, you're so good at biology it hurts my ego when you tutor me."

She shook her head a little at that, moving close again with the tape measure. "Okay, if you can please hold up both your arms now… like that, thanks." Link swallowed as she reached out and wrapped the tape around his chest, trying to ignore the feeling of her fingers brushing against his shirt lightly. He was close enough to see her individual eyelashes and the sheen of gloss on her lips, her sweet perfume wafting around him.

Okay yeah, so he wasn't doing so great at the whole "getting used to Zelda's beauty" thing. Being in close proximity with her just made it worse, and as she drew away to make her notes Link released a breath he hadn't known he was holding. Am I blushing? I hope I'm not blushing… He didn't have time to check his face in the mirror before she returned with the tape again.

"Last one I need, around your waist."

He was grateful that her hair fell forward into her face as she wrapped the tape around him, because he was definitely blushing now. Her fingers pressed lightly against him as she lined up the end of the tape, and it was all he could do not to flinch. Zelda turned to write the last measurement down, then froze with her pen hovering over the page. She looked at him again, eyebrows knitted.

"What is it?"

"Um… I- I'm sorry, the number just… went out of my head." She fumbled with the tape, leaning towards him once more. "Er, just give me a second to check it again…"

Are you kidding me?? At least this time she also seemed a little flustered at her mistake, and Link became very interested in a mannequin to his left while she rapidly checked the measurement again and scribbled it down on the page in mere seconds. He turned back with a grin on his face, having thought of a teasing quip to make, but to his disgust Revali had sidled up next to her and was showing her the clothes he'd found.

"This one is the right style, isn't it?" Revali held up a shirt for her to see. Zelda nodded, then frowned as she compared it to his size.

"The arms though… maybe I could add something onto the sleeves…" She held the sleeve along the length of his arm which was several inches too long. She reached for the tape measure again to check how much she would need, and Link gritted his teeth when he saw Revali lean closer to her so she could see better. Zelda checked the number on the tape then stood back and looked him up and down.

"It's going to be tough finding costume for you isn't it… you're so tall!"

"Yeah, I get that a lot." Revali grinned down at her, his eyes landing on Link for a brief moment over her shoulder. Link felt he should be proud of how well-practiced he was becoming in resisting the urge to punch him. He marched up behind Zelda and peeked over her shoulder, reading the notes she had for Revali's costume.

"Hmm. If he wore boots, it won't matter if the pants are a little short."

Zelda jumped a little at his voice in her ear, then her face brightened. "Oh, you're right! Then I can just work on a waistcoat or maybe a jacket…"

"What am I supposed to be again?" Revali came round to the other side, also looking at her notes. Zelda looked up and laughed.

"What, didn't you find out before you agreed to this?"

Revali shrugged. "Didn't seem that important."

"Well, you're a prince of some sort, that's what Benja told me."

Revali immediately shot a satisfied glance at Link. "Ha, nice. Link is probably one of my subjects."

Link opened his mouth to retort something back but was interrupted by the drama teacher's booming voice.

"Revali! There you are." Mrs Zumi walked briskly down the length of the room to them. "The director needs you for a minute, we're just working out your scene."

"Alright." Revali handed Zelda the clothes he was holding. "Later, Zelds." He spared a passing glance to Link before following Mrs Zumi out. Link was disgusted. Zelds? ZELDS??! What the actual fu-

"Pfft." Zelda's giggle brought him back to earth. She was giving him the side-eye and laughing away.

"What?"

"People think that girls are drama queens, but you and Revali, I swear…" She continued chuckling to herself as she laid out the clothes she'd collected so far. Link flushed, feeling like a child who had been caught fighting over a stupid toy.

"It's not my fault he's always looking to pick a fight!" He tried to defend himself. Zelda just raised an eyebrow at him, the ghost of a smile still on her face.

"Whatever you say. Come on, let's go see what's happening out there for a bit, I need to find Benja again anyway."

Chapter Text

Now that he stood on the stage next to Mipha while Mrs Zumi, the student director and about a dozen other students looked on, Revali slightly regretted his haste in volunteering himself for this role, whatever it may be. Once Link and Zelda were both on board, he thought it would be fun to see if he could rile Link up some more, and he had almost forgotten a crucial detail about the whole affair.

Mipha was acting the lead character in the play.

He shouldn't have been surprised when he found out that his part involved a scene with her, but his stomach still dropped to his feet when she joined him on the stage, smiling sweetly at him. What have I got myself into here? The director of the play, a senior student named Jana, was flipping through a script and consulting with Mrs Zumi about the scene. Revali pretended to be listening to them while he watched Mipha out the corner of his eye. She seemed at ease here, despite all the attention on her. He kept his expression stony, refusing to betray his inner panic and awkwardness at the prospect of performing with her in front of a crowd.

"-do it with the narrator later. Let's block it out first." Jana had finished her chat with Mrs Zumi and turned her attention to the two of them on stage. "Okay, Mipha and… Revali, yes? Revali, your part isn't too complicated, Mipha is going to be doing most of the work here. All I need is some minimal emotion."

He hoped no one noticed his sigh of relief. Jana continued, waving her papers around absently as she talked. "Since this scene is a flashback, we won't have much dialogue, but the narrator will be talking." Revali felt his calmness return. That doesn't sound so bad.

"Now, Revali, your character is a prince from a neighbouring kingdom, and this scene portrays a flashback to Mipha's past, when you two were lovers."

Revali choked on air, and only sheer willpower prevented him from dissolving into a coughing fit. He recovered himself immediately, avoiding Mipha's eyes. "I- I'm sorry?"

Jana didn't seem impressed by his jitters. "Calm down, it's nothing too intimate. For this part all you have to is hold her hand, then you hug her while the narrator finishes their lines. Then you turn and leave the stage while she continues the scene. Think you can handle it?"

He nodded stiffly. "Easy." He forced confidence into his voice, hoping it would turn into real confidence before he decided to fake an aneurism or something. He still hadn't looked at Mipha, so he wasn't sure what she was thinking or if she'd noticed him getting flustered.

"Good. Let's try a quick walkthrough so I can figure out your placements, please. Start offstage and enter from stage left."

He didn't know what stage left meant, but thankfully Mipha led the way. They stood just behind the curtain and waited for Jana.

"Okay, whenever you're ready!" Jana called. Revali nearly jumped out of his skin when Mipha's hand brushed against his softly. She pulled back and looked up, apologetic.

"S-sorry! This is where we're supposed to hold hands, I should have warned you."

"No, it's fine, my bad." He allowed her to take his hand, which felt large and clumsy in comparison to her delicately formed fingers and wrist. They stepped out together as Jana watched, directing them to keep walking to the middle of the stage.

"Revali, I'm going to need some semblance of emotion on your face."

When he glanced over at Jana, she sighed. "Preferably NOT murderous intent, although that seems to be your default. Let's work on that later, I just need to figure out the positions first."

He could feel Mipha watching him, but couldn't bring himself to look at her just yet.

"Now, Revali, you're going to stop first, Mipha takes another step then turns back to look at you - yes, that's good Mipha - now take both her hands-" Jana looked back at her script, mumbling the lines of the narrator. Revali stared down at their hands, then dared a peek at Mipha's face. She seemed perfectly unfazed, and gave him a small reassuring smile. "You're doing great," she whispered, perhaps thinking he had stage fright. He couldn’t think how to react, distracted by the two-toned gold of her eyes which he'd never examined this closely before.

"Yes, that's it Revali! I want you looking at her exactly like that, please."

He didn't have time to consider the implications of that statement before Jana moved on. "When you hear this line about the crossroads, that's when you hug her."

Slowly, mechanically, he released her hands, and Mipha took a step closer. He was acutely aware of their ridiculous height difference, and didn't know how to approach hugging her. Arms around her waist? Should he lean down? Mipha also paused, apparently faced with the same conundrum. They stood frozen inches apart for a moment that seemed to stretch out agonizingly, until Mipha finally made a decision and wrapped her arms around his waist, leaving him to fold his arms over her back.

"Hmm, wait a sec." They stepped back as Jana considered the two of them. "Mipha, can you try with your arms around his neck instead? Revali, because of your height… maybe lean down just a little, and hold her around the waist. I want it to look more romantic."

He wondered about the limits of the human heart as Mipha's arms snaked around his neck, raising goosebumps on his skin. His had sped up more times than he thought possible in the last few minutes, to the point where he hoped he wouldn't do anything stupid like faint. Tentatively, he embraced her again. She was so small that his arms practically enveloped her body. She infused him with warmth where she pressed against him, wisps of her hair tickling his jaw. How many more times would he have to go through this?

"Much better. Mipha, if you turn you head to the side, rest against him - yes, that's it. Revali, maybe you can rest your chin on her head. Okay, perfect."

Once again they stood frozen as Jana muttered to herself, then finally directed the last part. "Revali lets go first, and Mipha I want you to hold his hand as he steps away for as long as possible until he breaks the grip."

They did as Jana instructed, looking into each other's eyes as he pulled away from her grip, her fingers sliding through his. Revali was startled by the expression of genuine tenderness in Mipha's face. She even seemed reluctant to let go, but he had to remind himself that she was acting. That's why she's the lead, she's a really good… actress…

There was a scattered round of clapping from the onlookers as he exited behind the curtain and Mipha stayed on the stage to walk through the rest of the scene. Revali melted against the wall, letting out a deep exhale. His heart was running a race with itself, echoing in his ears like so many drums.

"Very smooth, Revali."

For the second time that day he jumped out of his skin, whirling around to find Zelda leaning against the wall, having apparently watched the whole thing. He let out a relaxed laugh that definitely didn't match how he was feeling. "What?"

She grinned. "I saw you getting all cosy with Mipha there."

He could control his expression, but not the sudden rush of blood to face. Zelda's grin dropped a little.

"Hang on… I was just joking, but do you actually…"

He fought to keep his cool exterior intact. "Huh? What are you talking about? I'm not used to this, that's all."

Zelda stared. "And yet you volunteered for it."

He was regretting it more with each passing minute, but he had.

"Now that I think about it, this isn't the first time you've acted strangely around Mipha."

"What? How so?"

"I dunno." She had her head cocked to the side, as if trying to solve a puzzle. "You're a little extra cold to her sometimes."

"So? Maybe I find her annoying." He tugged at his tie, loosening it. No one had ever come close to guessing he felt any type of way about Mipha, and Zelda starting to ask questions was spiking his blood pressure. He looked away from her, which directed him back towards Mipha on the stage. She was listening to Jana jabbering away, moving around the stage and pausing to adjust or repeat a line. A moment later she was joined on stage by the other lead actor, and Revali frowned to see him leaning up against Mipha and taking her hands in such a familiar manner. Mipha said something to him while Jana was distracted and he laughed with her.

"Oh my god!"

Shit. He had momentarily forgotten about Zelda, and now she glanced back and forth between him and Mipha on the stage, her face alight with revelation.

"I can't believe this!" she was grinning ear to ear now, the face of someone who'd scored the last cookie.

"Oh, do tell," he snapped, losing patience. He didn't want her to say anything more, but what with the heat rising around his collar the way it was, he was rapidly losing critical thinking skills.

"Pfft! You actually like-"

He clapped a hand over Zelda's mouth before she could finish. "Don't. You don't know what you're talking about."

Her green eyes were wide with shock, although he'd probably just cemented her ideas with that move. He glared down at her, flustered. "Just… drop it, alright?" He still held his hand in place, waiting for her to nod in agreement before he would let her go.

"I found Ben- what the hell is this?"

Of course Link had to walk in on them just at that moment. He took in the scene, Zelda backed up against the wall with Revali's hand over her mouth while he loomed over her. Revali sighed and dropped his hand. "Nothing to do with you."

"Didn't look like nothing." Link marched up and stood between them, arms crossed. He spoke over his shoulder to Zelda. "Was he-"

"No, Link, it's fine." Zelda pulled on his arm and moved to stand awkwardly between them. "Er, I was just… teasing him, that's all."

"Oh." Link visibly deflated, mollified by Zelda's hand on his arm, and Revali rolled his eyes.

"Happy now, shrimp?" He pushed past both of them and stalked back to the costume room, feeling Zelda's eyes on his back. His head was still swimming with what had just happened on the stage, his insides all twisted up at the memory of Mipha's arms around his neck, her soft luminescent eyes gazing into his. What on earth had possessed him to take part in this? He was tempted to try and tell Mrs Zumi that he couldn't do it anymore, but even in her best of moods she wasn't someone he felt like displeasing. She was infamous for her moody outbursts and impatience with problematic students, and the last thing he wanted was to be subject to one of her lengthy scoldings.

There was nothing for it but to deal with the consequences of his actions.

Chapter Text

Mipha watched out the corner of her eye as Revali skulked off the stage behind the curtain.

"Alright, Mipha, so right after he leaves you have your monologue… let's just walk through the rest of this part to plan where you'll end up on the stage, and when Greyson enters again."

Mipha picked up her script where she'd left it on the floor, and read through the lines while Jana made suggestions for where she should move. While she waited for Jana to consider what moment Greyson should enter, Mipha let her mind turn over the scene with Revali. She was perplexed. Her intuition and shrewd judgement of people had rarely failed her before, and she was used to understanding others easily, or at the very least getting a sense of what they were thinking when they acted a certain way.

When it came to Revali, however, she felt like she was trying to engage with a brick wall. Never had she encountered a person with such carefully concealed emotions. He was made of stone, fixed permanently in either a scowl or a mocking smirk. It was strange that he'd volunteered for something like this, and she felt slightly concerned about the scene they had together, and whether they'd be able to pull it off. With a scene like that, although it was relatively short, it was a significant element of her characters' story. If there was no chemistry or connection between them it was going to fall flat and potentially impact the following scenes as well.

Still, there had been a brief crack in the wall, earlier when they stood waiting for Jana to think, and they were more or less forced to look at each other. For just a moment his eyes had softened in a way she hadn't thought was possible for him. It gave her hope that it might work out okay after all, although he'd frozen right up again at the hug.

She didn't mind hugging him necessarily. He made no attempt to hold her uncomfortably close or make it creepy like she knew some of the other boys would have. It was almost the opposite problem, in fact; he was stiff as a board, and it wasn't doing much to convey the devoted lovers that they were supposed to be playing in the scene. She wondered if he was merely shy of the stage and needed time to adjust. Maybe I should try talking to him more, break the ice between us… That seemed like it would be difficult, given that he usually seemed about as approachable as a wild bear. She wound up back at the same question. Why? Why had he volunteered for this?

"Uh, Mipha?"

She startled back to reality. Her co-star, Greyson, had a hand on her arm, waiting for her to respond to whatever Jana had just asked.

"Sorry! I spaced out for a second, what was that Jana?"

Mipha brought her mind back to the present, but she had one half of her brain working out the puzzle of Revali even as she ran through her lines with Greyson and Jana.

---

At last, Jana checked her watch and waved them off.

"Good work today, you two. I trust you'll continue to work on memorisation until next time."

Mipha and Greyson both nodded dutifully. Greyson waved goodbye and dashed off to some other commitment, while Mipha made her way off the stage behind the curtain.

"Here's the star!"

She looked up at the familiar voice and smiled to see Link approaching, on his way out of the costume room. A moment later Zelda appeared behind him. The last few students were filtering out of various rooms, having finished their tasks for the day.

"Link, Zelda, hi… how are you finding the theatre experience so far?" Mipha asked.

Link flashed a grin back to Zelda. "It's fun. Zelda has to make my knight's costume."

There was a teasing undertone to his voice, and Mipha caught the eyeroll of Zelda, yet the air between them was good-natured. Link must have listened to her advice, she thought. It was surprising how at ease they already were with each other. Mipha's intuition had given her several hints about them already based on their interactions, but she was trying not to think about it too much.

"I look forward to seeing it," she said, smiling. "I hope you get to help out with some of the other costumes too."

Zelda flushed with pleasure and returned her smile. "Thanks. I'm a little out of practice but I hope I can do them justice…"

"Hey, based on the sketches I saw you doing, it's gonna be great," Link said confidently. Zelda went pink again and merely nodded.

"Hey, you all done, wanna head off with us?" Link rested his hand on Mipha's shoulder as he moved past, his eyes questioning. She hesitated, caught in an irrational fear that she'd be in the way somehow, despite knowing that wasn't the case. At last she shook her head. "It's okay, I want to run through my lines a bit more before I go."

She waved goodbye as the two of them walked off, and found her feet carrying her to the back rooms. The costume room was empty, and she spent some time idly browsing the racks, feeling the different fabrics and swishing her hands through the folds of cloth. On a whim, she picked out the most ridiculous hat she could find - a feathered and bejeweled number - and paired it with a hideous pink shawl. She walked to the mirror and chuckled. The startling pink clashed horribly with her hair. This was her little game, revisiting her childhood years of playing dress-ups and trying to invent as many ungodly combinations she could come up with. The costume room had a vast array of clothing that only seemed to grow with time, and she had uncovered some real gems before. Playing with clothes never failed to bring her joy and amusement, no matter how old she grew.

After a little more twirling and laughing, she turned to go put the clothes away and almost ran full tilt into Revali as she rounded a particularly tall costume rack. She flinched and knocked against the rack which wobbled alarmingly, and for a moment she'd thought they'd both be engulfed by a deluge of fabric; thankfully Revali shot out his arm to push it back and keep it from toppling.

"Whew, thank you," she breathed, recovering from the shock. Revali didn’t meet her eye, quickly withdrawing his arm. "It's okay. I should have been paying more attention." His eyes flicked over her strange attire, betraying the tiniest puzzlement, but he didn't comment.

Embarrassed, she quickly pulled off the hat and shawl. "Haha, I was just looking through some stuff… for fun." she hastily stuffed the shawl back into its drawer, regaining her composure. "What brings you back here again?" Maybe this was the perfect opportunity to act on her earlier thoughts. If only he'd relax around her, their job on stage would become easier.

"I left my blazer in here." He retrieved it from a nearby chair and flung it over his shoulder. They both stood awkwardly for a moment, waiting to see what was the socially acceptable thing to do. Mipha wished he'd look her in the eye so she could try and get a sense of his mood, but he kept his attention firmly fixed on the opposite wall. She still felt off-balance from being caught in her stupid outfit.

"Uh… if you're leaving, shall- shall we walk together?" she ventured, figuring they could always part ways at some hallway or another.

"Alright." He didn't sound thrilled at the idea, but then again he didn't seem annoyed either. Perfectly passive, in fact. She followed him out the door, taking quick steps to keep up with his longer strides. After a moment he glanced at her lagging behind, then slowed his pace down so she didn't have to half-run. Does that count as progress?

It was obvious that if any conversation was going to happen, she'd have to initiate it. "So... Good job today," she said cheerily. "I know you're new to this but it's not too hard, you'll see!"

Eyes ahead still. "Thanks…"

"How, uh… how did you find it? Was it what you expected?" she'd be damned if she let him off with a one-word answer on this one.

"Huh?" Revali's voice hitched slightly, and finally he looked at her with slightly wide eyes. Mipha couldn’t imagine what had been so strange about her question, but she tried to clarify all the same.

"Oh! I just meant… since you've not acted on stage before, you know. Did you find it fun? Or maybe you hated it!" she laughed in a very one-sided attempt to lighten the mood.

"I didn't!" he said abruptly. He frowned and tugged at his collar, which already had the top button undone. "I- I mean, not that I- Well, it was okay, I guess." He turned his head away from her, and she could practically see the cracks in the wall sealing up again. Still, Mipha was nothing if not tenacious and willing to rise to a challenge.

"I see," she said slowly, considering. "So can I expect a shining future on the big screen from you then?" She grinned up at him, and once again he appeared at a loss, as if unsure how to take her teasing. This kind of thing was a lot easier with Link, she thought desperately. Maybe she was going about this completely wrong-

"Hmph. Not likely." Revali's eyebrows dipped down into their characteristic frown, but he couldn't hide the way the corners of his mouth tilted up ever so slightly at the joke. Mipha felt proud, like she'd taken a teeny step in the right direction. There could be hope for the play yet. "Never say never!" she quipped back, watching him scowl further at the thought.

They were both a little surprised to find that they'd walked all the way out the school gates by this time. Mipha got a flash of déjà vu as once again they each stood rooted, waiting to see what the other would do.

"I'm going this way." This time it was Revali who spoke first, turning towards the bus stop. She nodded. "Okay. I'm gonna walk, so I'll see you tomorrow." She waved and they moved in their respective directions.

"Get home safe, Mipha." He said it quietly, and she looked back, wondering if she imagined it, but he didn't turn, just waved a hand in goodbye.

Chapter Text

Zelda loved school, but she hated PE with a passion. Especially on a day like today, when it was raining, and the gym teacher organised an indoor game like dodgeball.

"Line up! Remember the number I give you!" the gym teacher, Urbosa, boomed. She was a tall, muscular woman who never seemed to break a sweat no matter what exercise they did. And she was very sharp, too sharp to believe any half-baked excuses that Zelda tried using to get out of PE. Zelda cursed herself for using the excuse of being on her period for last week's class; there was no way she could get away with that again a mere week later. Impa dragged her into the lineup, elbowing her. "Pay attention!" she whispered. Urbosa, although she was fair and had a heart of gold, was very strict and didn't like her students slacking off.

As they split across the court into teams 1 and 2, Zelda looked across and met the chilling glare of Gaile, on the opposite team. Gaile sneered, and Zelda noticed with a sinking feeling that Link had ended up on her own side. Great. Just great. She strongly suspected Gaile would be targeting her, and she was right. Gaile sent every single throw to Zelda with vicious accuracy, and Zelda was hard pressed to avoid them. Maybe I'll just get hit and get it over with… Link, however, had other ideas, and every time the ball went anywhere near Zelda he was there to catch it, or shove her lightly out of its path. Zelda was grateful, but also wished he wasn't being quite so obvious about it. Every time Link brushed past her or grabbed her arm, she could feel the daggers of Gaile's glare.

It happened when Link was on the other side of their court, throwing a ball at the other team when he saw an opening. Zelda had been half-hiding behind Revali, but then he lunged away to dodge a ball aimed at him, and seconds later another ball whistled through the air and struck Zelda, hard, on the side of her face near her mouth. Zelda gasped and staggered back a little as the sudden shock of pain coursed through her, clearing all other thought. Urbosa immediately blew her whistle and rushed over to her.

"Zelda! Are you alright?" the gym teacher said, steadying her with an arm around her shoulders. Zelda blinked, trying not to cry at the stinging pain across her cheek. She felt unsteady on her feet, and hadn't quite processed what had happened.

"Gaile!!? What the hell!" Impa's enraged yell cut through the fuzziness in her head.

"Are you fucking serious, Gaile?" Zelda half-registered with surprise that this was Link, his voiced loud and edged with anger. She'd never heard him swear or raise his voice like that. Soon her friends were crowded around her, Link's face full of concern, Mipha patting her arm softly and Revali hovering just behind them. Impa had stomped over to Gaile furiously, and was proceeding to give her a piece of her mind.

"Link! Language, please. Impa! Back off, I'll deal with Gaile in a moment." Urbosa threw a searing glance over at Gaile, who retreated back a step, perhaps suddenly computing what she'd just done. Impa crossed her arms defensively, staring Gaile down and pinning her to the spot, daring her to even try move anywhere.

"It was an accident!" Gaile whined, twirling her hair around her fingers.

"If that was an accident then I'm the fucking tooth fairy." This time it was Revali, twirling a ball in his hand and shooting Gaile a savage glance. Urbosa closed her eyes as if praying for patience. "You too, Revali! Everybody stay put and be quiet!"

She turned back to Zelda, shielding her from the curious eyes of the other students. Zelda was unable to stop the tears flowing now - her face was on fire. "You should go to the nurse's office, that must be very painful. Can someone please-"

"I'll take her." Link didn't let her finish, and since he was right there Urbosa nodded.

"Okay, thank you Link. I need to stay here and have a conversation with a certain someone." She turned around and stalked over to Gaile, who seemed to melt back into the wall. Zelda felt Link's arm slip around her protectively, replacing Urbosa's, and she allowed him to lead her away. He paused on the edge of the court and looked back.

"Revali."

"What?"

Link flicked his eyes from Revali over to Gaile. "Make sure you kick their asses."

Rivalry was forgotten for a moment in the face of a common enemy. Revali smirked and bounced one of the balls with a hard thud on the floor, before deftly catching it again. "You don't need to ask."

Link acknowledged with a brief nod, then gently pulled her along again.

---

By the time they'd reached the nurse's office the pain had subsided into a throbbing ache, and Zelda had recovered from the shock a little. She was aware of Link's arm around her, warm and reassuring, and he didn't let go until he'd sat her down and the nurse, Mei, started fussing over her.

"Goodness, that's going to be a nasty bruise…" Zelda flinched as Mei applied some ointment. Then she shone a small torch into Zelda's eyes, making her squint.

"Okay, it looks like you're not concussed, which is good, and the ointment should soothe the bruising a little. Still, you've had a big shock and you should rest here for a bit; I wouldn't recommend returning to your class for now." Mei helped her take off her shoes and recline against the fluffy pillows on the bed. She then wrapped up some ice in a towel, and Zelda winced as she carefully held it to her face.

"Can I stay with her?" Link had been hovering, watching Mei's busy hands, and Zelda was a little embarrassed by his attention. Still, she couldn't deny that it was a nice feeling. Mei considered his request, adjusting the pillow behind Zelda's head and regarding her patient with a practiced eye. She had an empathetic heart, and Zelda was clearly still pale and shaken.

"I should really be sending you back, but maybe if I give you the important task of obtaining a nice cold, sweet drink for this young lady, you can stay for a little." Link's eyes lit up at that, and he performed an exaggerated salute and bow to the nurse, making Zelda giggle softly and Mei roll her eyes with a grudging smile.

"The knight is at the service of the princess! I'll be right back!" He dashed out the door, and returned a few minutes later with an ice cold can of Vanilla coke. He sat on the edge of the bed, cracked it open and passed it to her with a soft smile. Zelda took a sip of the cooling, fizzy sweetness, feeling her strength return.

"Thanks, Link. Um, you don't have to wait here, you know…"

"I want to." He fidgeted with the edge of the sheet, then looked at her again. "I kind of feel responsible."

"What? It wasn't your fault at all." Zelda frowned. "If anything you were like, protecting me for half the game."

He leaned back on his arm, still with that remorseful expression. "Yeah, exactly. I knew that people have been gossiping about you, and I just drew more attention to you."

He looked forlorn, his eyebrows angled upwards like a puppy's, and Zelda couldn't help smiling. She placed her drink down and reached forward, her fingers just brushing the top of his hand where it rested on the bed. His head jerked up at the contact.

"Link, listen. Gaile is going to be… Gaile, whatever you do. She'd have done that anyway, I'm sure." She faltered briefly, distracted by the twin pools of his eyes and the feel of his hand under hers. "I… I was grateful that you helped me out so much."

A smile crept over his face, then he nodded and looked down at her hand still half touching his. She drew away quickly on pretense of picking up her drink again, and took another long sip. She wasn't quite sure when she'd gotten this bold around Link, but him noticing it too made her self-conscious.

"How's the face?" He leaned forward slightly to look at it, and for a heart-stopping moment she thought he might reach up to touch her face, but he just peered at it carefully. Zelda removed the ice pack and gingerly brushed the tip of her finger against it. "The ointment helped, but I can feel it's bad… going to be a hideous bruise, probably." She chuckled, trying to be light-hearted about it, but Link shook his head vehemently.

"Nothing about you could be hideous, princess!" He said it with the same flair as his line about the knight, like he was acting a part, but Zelda still felt the heat rise to her face. She held the ice back to her face and looked away from him. Something about the way he called her "princess" gave her a strange jittery sensation in her chest.

"D-don't call me that," she muttered.

"Why not? I'm your knight, aren't I?" She knew he was referring to his role in the play but it still sounded so… intimate, for some reason.

"What? No you're not… my knight…" she stammered, aghast.

"Well, you're the one making me into a knight," he conceded. "Which is basically what a princess does, no?"

"I don't think sewing you a tunic out of curtain fabric counts as knighting you," she scoffed. He gave a gasp of indignation. "That… that's curtain fabric?? My costume?"

"Sure is, and you better appreciate what I'm doing with it!"

He still looked slightly offended at the idea of being dressed in curtains, but he never seemed to hold a frown for long. Soon his white teeth flashed into a grin again, and they were both chuckling at the thought of the curtains and chatting about the details of the play. Zelda felt the tension slowly dissolving out of her as they talked, and she wondered what was going down back in the gym.

For now though, she was happy to recover and relax like a princess, while a rather charming knight watched over her dutifully.

Chapter Text

Mipha had opened her mouth to offer to escort Zelda, but Link had been quicker. As he often was, she thought. She turned away a little, watching them leave out the corner of her eye. Oh well, as long as Zelda is okay, we might as well focus on the game. She caught Link muttering something to Revali and his response, and momentarily forgot everything amidst the shock of seeing them have a civil exchange. Revali slinked back onto the court, his acid gaze directed at Gaile on the other team. Mipha followed his eyes and frowned herself, disgusted at the girl's obvious attempt to hurt Zelda. Impa was hovering near Urbosa, obviously eavesdropping on whatever the teacher was saying to Gaile.

Seeing another opportunity to get a tiny bit more familiar with Revali, Mipha jogged the few steps over to him and caught mid-air the ball he had just bounced. He jolted out of his trance, surprised to see her right next to him. She handed the ball back to him, then stared over at Gaile.

"Wanna work together on this one?"

He looked a little taken aback by her obvious anger. Then he resumed bouncing the ball. "I'm not good at working with other people."

"Yeah, because you never do it." Mipha ignored his affronted look at her and pulled her hair out of its ponytail, shaking it out and tying it up more securely. There was only so far you could get with subtlety, she decided. If he was going to be that bullheaded, then she'd just do the same right back.

"Hey, if you're conspiring, how dare you leave me out??" Impa had popped up on Revali's other side, her fists still clenched. Urbosa's sharp eyes were apparently the only thing stopping her from giving Gaile a personal beat-down. Mipha gave a sharp nod. "Welcome to the team."

Revali rolled his eyes. "We're not a- never mind, just don't get in the way." Impa stuck out her tongue at him as he positioned himself on the court. "Just when I think he could be changing into less of an asshole. At least he's consistent." The two girls grabbed the other balls and went either side of him.

The game ended quickly. The students on the other team cowered at the sight of Revali, even though he wasn't throwing any harder than was allowed. In fact, he followed the rules impeccably, no hits above the waist, soft throws, accepting when the ball went out of bounds. Still, he was so intimidating, moving with such cold calculation that the students became unnerved, growing clumsy and making mistakes. Gaile had been allowed back to finish the game, but between Urbosa's watchful glare and Revali's aura of malice she hardly made any attempts to play in earnest.

While everyone was focused on Revali, Mipha took the chance to flit around unnoticed and picked off just as many people herself. She took no small amount of pride when it was her ball that reached Gaile and got her out. She guessed that Revali had wanted to be the one to get her, and she purposely didn't look at him when it happened, satisfaction giving her a tiny smirk.

Urbosa blew her whistle to indicate the game ending, and Mipha sidled up to Revali. "Did I get in the way?" she asked innocently. He grimaced, at a loss for words. She just smiled sweetly up at him until he looked away. "Hmph. No, I suppose you didn't."

"Oh, that's a relief. I'm glad we beat them."

"Yeah." He picked up another ball and occupied himself with bouncing it for a moment. Mipha waited. Finally, he gave her a sideways glance. "Um. Thanks."

"Of course. See, you can work with other people after all." She left him sputtering and protesting at that, and went to fetch her water bottle. Link hadn't returned for the whole game, and she debated going to the nurse to check on Zelda. Are we close enough for me to check on her in person? If Link is there, I'm close enough to him… but if he's there, why would I go as well… In the end she settled on sending Link a text to check how they were, since she didn't have Zelda's number yet.

"She's alright." She looked up to see Link grinning at her, having just come through the door, phone in his hand.

"You're back."

"Yeah, the nurse kicked me out after a while." he scratched his head sheepishly. Then his smile dropped as he spotted Gaile across the room.

"Don't worry, Urbosa dealt with her very thoroughly." Mipha chuckled. "Plus, we didn't let their team get a single point. You should have seen it." She indicated Revali, who was still messing around with a stray ball.

"We? You mean you worked with him?" Link said incredulously.

She hit him lightly. "Weren't you the one who asked him to win the game in the first place?"

"Yeah, I don't know what came over me. I didn't think you'd join in." Link's face betrayed his usual contempt for Revali but also... Worry? For her? She shook off the thought and tugged his sleeve to bring him back to the class. "You're being a drama queen. Revali is harmless."

"Hmph."

Mipha felt eyes on her as they joined up with the class again, and caught the swift turn of Revali's head when she glanced around. As much as she did believe he was harmless, she also felt she'd never get even a hint of what was going on inside his head. Zelda seemed to understand him, she thought. Maybe she should ask her for some insight…

---

A while after the nurse had kicked a protesting Link out, sending him back to class, Zelda left the nurse's office to go to her final class for the day. Mei had put a dressing on her cheek to cover the blooming bruise, and Zelda touched it lightly with her fingertip. She was still in her PE uniform, so first she swung by her locker to fetch her change of clothes. She found Impa and Revali there, still talking about what had happened. Impa ran over and looked her up and down.

"Zelda! Are you okay? Damn Link, he jumped in so fast and then Urbosa wouldn’t let me leave and see you." She squeezed Zelda into a hug, still babbling. "Although, it was satisfying to watch her chew out Gaile so thoroughly, she might even be suspended as well as getting detention…"

"I'm fine, guys. Just bruised but it'll heal." Zelda glanced at Revali, leaning against the locker doors and allowing Impa to get all her emotions out. "How'd the rest of the game go?"

The smirk on his face told all. "Thrashed 'em," he said simply. "Once Link was out of my way-"

"Oh, please, Mipha scored as many points as you!" Impa retorted, but Zelda laughed, knowing he wasn't entirely serious. She moved to open her locker and held out her fist to him. "Well, thanks for avenging me I guess. You too, Impa." Revali chuckled and returned the fist bump. "Hey, don't think I didn't notice you using me as a shield, either," he said with mock seriousness. Zelda made a face at him before ducking her head inside her locker to grab her clothes. "Well, some shield you were. Look what happened!"

She pointed to her bandaged face dramatically and slammed the locker shut. Revali shook his head, unable to think of a comeback, and Impa cackled. "Yeah Revali, you'd think with how big you are you'd be a great shield, but guess not."

He just made a face and left them standing together. Impa raised an eyebrow at his retreating figure. "Somehow he almost acts normal around you."

Zelda laughed at that. "I don’t think he's that bad at heart. He just needs to practice his people skills."

"That sounds like a nice way of saying he's a jerk most of the time, but sure," Impa said with surprising benevolence. She linked her arm through Zelda's and walked her down the hall. "Now, tell me all about your knight in shining armour who insisted on being the one to take care of you today-"

"Impa! It wasn't like that!" Zelda fired back.

"Well, he's literally playing a knight, isn't he?" Impa giggled at her own joke, and Zelda rolled her eyes. "Stop teasing me, I'm injured!"

Chapter Text

On Thursday afternoon Zelda practically ran to the theatre room, knowing she was already a little late. She'd got caught up in a conversation with her teacher about her college prospects, and lost track of time. She ran into Benja backstage.

"Zelda! There you are," he said. "Listen, we're prepping for dress rehearsal today. Link's trying on the tunic, can you check on him?"

Zelda nodded. "Right away! Sorry I'm late!!" She rushed to the costume room and burst in. Link was the only one there, standing at the far end by the mirrors. He turned around and held his arms out so she could see the tunic on him.

"Hey! What do you think?" He grinned, looking at himself in the mirror. "It fits great."

She tossed her bag on a chair and moved closer to inspect the costume. She had done well, she thought with pride. The tunic fitted his figure perfectly, draping in all the right places. The bright blue fabric she had chosen matched his eyes beautifully. Not that she had chosen it for that reason, of course…

"Hmm…" she walked around him, analysing the full look, tugging on the fabric here and there. "The tunic fits you very well, and works with those trousers. But…" she looked at his bare arms. "It still looks a little unfinished, maybe it needs another layer… hang on." Link waited while she rifled through a drawer and pulled out a white long sleeved top. She also found some leather fingerless gloves that looked like they'd fit the part. "Maybe something like this will work?" She came back and held the shirt out to him. "Try putting this on underneath, it might help-"

Before she knew what was happening, he'd pulled the blue tunic over his head in one quick motion, exposing his bare and well-defined torso. He took the shirt from her and she gasped and turned away, cheeks flushing. "What- what are you doing??"

"Oh, sh-shit! Sorry, sorry, I'm too used to changing in the boys locker room…" Zelda stayed facing away as she heard him hastily pull the white top on. She tried not to think about what she'd seen; his svelte figure, muscles rippling under smooth skin as he moved, the lines of his collarbones angling just so, sleek and agile. Oh my god, what is wrong with me… Her face burned, the image stamped into her mind despite her best efforts to wave it away. Link cleared his throat awkwardly and she turned around again, hoping she didn’t look as flustered as she felt. He was looking at the floor now, his hair in disarray after pulling the clothes on and off.

"Um, is that better?" He did a quick spin around for her so she could see the effect.

"Yeah- yeah, that's much better." she wasn't even sure if it was, but she'd fix anything later if she had to. She pushed the gloves into his hands. "Put these on as well. You better get out there now, go- go and show Ben!"

She half shoved him out, then collapsed onto a chair, trying to regain her composure. It's okay, he just caught me off guard, that's all. No sense of modesty, honestly. It would have been the same with… anyone else… She fanned herself with a nearby straw hat, and decided firmly that it was also very hot in this windowless room, which would account for how flushed she felt. Zelda stood, checked herself in the mirror and then strode out to watch the rehearsal, her calm returning. She found Impa and joined her in the theatre seats with a few other students who were spectating. Benja sat down in front of them, and turned around to give Zelda a thumbs up. "Great job with Link's costume, Zelda. Adding the long-sleeve really tied it all together well."

"Thanks! I had fun helping out," she said truthfully. "If you have other things to do let me know."

Jana, the director, soon shushed everyone down so they could begin the rehearsal. She seemed frazzled today; with the drama teacher at home sick she had to handle the rehearsal herself. Zelda exchanged glances with Impa when Jana barked orders at some unfortunate stage hand, upset that some prop or whatever was in the wrong place.

"This should be interesting." Impa whispered. Zelda felt that was perhaps not a good thing, but her attention was glued to the front all the same.

It went semi-smoothly for a while. Impa nudged her when Link came out in his costume, looking very knightly indeed with his prop sword and shield. He looked good, and Zelda was proud of her work. She could be more proud if Impa would stop giving her that sly side-eye, she thought.

"Hey, nice job on the costume," Impa whispered. "Amazing how the fabric you chose to use is the exact shade of his eyes."

Zelda said nothing, refusing to fuel Impa's teasing.

"Must've been paying reeeaal close attention to him."

Zelda resisted the strong temptation to elbow her friend in the ribs.

They both giggled and poked each other when Revali appeared for his scene, looking surprisingly passive. His costume was extravagant, and Zelda could hardly believe he'd accepted it without complaint. Then again, Jana and the drama teacher were both formidable, so maybe he'd chosen not to get on their bad side, especially with Jana's mood today. His scene with Mipha went well, now that Revali had managed to progress from looking angry to at least neutral, if not necessarily loving.

Things went down hill as he left the stage and Mipha opened her mouth to say her next line. There was an awkward silence, then she let out a sigh. "I-I forgot my line…"

"STOP!" Jana leapt up, script waving in the air. Revali hovered, still halfway off the stage. "Someone, please stop the music!!" the director was clearly angry, and Mipha looked at her apprehensively. "Sorry, Jana, I got mixed up-"

"You don't need to tell me that! How hard is it to remember a line?? We have 1 week left, and here you are making mistakes-"

"Hey." Revali stepped forward, half shielding Mipha from Jana's view. He glared down at the director, eyes flashing, voice cold. "She has the most to remember out of everyone, and this is the first mistake she's made. Give her a break."

Mipha's eyes were wide, watching Jana and Revali stare each other down. She grabbed his arm, trying to pull him back. "It's okay, Revali, she's right-"

"No, even if someone makes a mistake she shouldn't-"

"Waaaaaahhh!!" the whole room went still when Jana let out a choking sob. In an instant Revali went from anger to panic at what he'd caused.

"He-he-s riiiiight!" Jana gasped out in between her cries. "I- I'm a terrible director, it's just-"

Mipha swiftly leapt down from the stage and went to her side, placing a comforting arm around her. "Ssshh, it's okay, you're doing great Jana-"

"It's just too much! And- and you're amazing, Mipha, I'm so sorry- I've just been so stressed, and-"

Everyone gawked on while Jana let out all her woes and Mipha patted her on the back, speaking comforting words. Revali was still standing frozen on the stage like a deer caught in headlights. Zelda and Impa looked at each other wide-eyed, hardly believing what they were seeing. Mipha eventually motioned for Revali to come down and apologise, which he did rather awkwardly, and soon Jana was wiping her tears and taking some deep breaths. She stood up again and addressed her actors who had slowly collected on the stage to see what was going on.

"I'm very, very sorry everyone. I've just had a rough day but that's no excuse. If you can all forgive me, I'm sure we can continue with a great rehearsal."

Impa's jaw was still hanging open a little. She looked at Zelda once more as the stage buzzed into life again. "Damn. If I'd known there was this much real drama in drama class maybe I would have joined in sooner."

"Pfft, you'd probably be the cause of most of it if you did," Zelda replied.

Impa laughed good-naturedly at that. Then her eyes lit up with some new conspiracy, a look that Zelda was becoming familiar with. "Hey, but did you ever see Revali act so… well, noble? I didn't think he'd care one way or another as long as it wasn't him getting yelled at."

That little exchange had most definitely not escaped Zelda's notice, and she grinned to herself at the prospect of teasing Revali about it later on.

Chapter Text

The big night had finally arrived. The school drama club was performing their play for the first night, and the theatre was slowly filling up with family and friends who'd come along to support their loved ones.

Mipha peeked out from the curtain and spotted Sidon, ushering their father into a seat near the front. She smiled, and let her eyes wander out over the rest of the crowd. There were more people than she had expected to show up, and she withdrew and took a deep breath, leaning against the wall. This wasn't her first play, but it was her first time in such a big lead role. The butterflies in her stomach seemed to agree that this was a night for dance and celebration.

"Has anyone seen Mipha??"

She sighed. She couldn't hide for long, and she stepped out from her hiding place and waved at Mrs Zumi who was calling her name. Mrs Zumi was all dolled up in a navy blue pantsuit with a ruffled white blouse, and wearing deep red lipstick. She still somehow looked harrowed, hair wisping about her face and her blouse coming untucked slightly. She spotted Mipha and marched over immediately.

"Mipha! There you are. Are you done with makeup already?" Her scrutinizing eye passed over Mipha's powdered face and carefully lined eyes, while Mipha knew it was best to nod and smile as confidently as she could. "Yes, Mrs Zumi, I'm all ready. Just taking a moment to er, meditate and get in character."

The drama teacher nodded approvingly. "Good. I see. Well, you have about 10 minutes before you should be getting to your starting position. Don't disappear on me!"

"I would never." Mipha wondered with some amusement if the lead in a play had pulled such a trick on opening night before. She left Mrs Zumi and padded to the back rooms again, wondering where Link was. He always wished her luck before a play, but then he'd never actually participated before so maybe he was tied up with his own preparations. She paused by the costume room and peeked in. It was chaos, Benja was flinging costumes everywhere and there were multiple students in half costumes being dressed and pinned. Zelda was darting back and forth with surprising calm, sewing a button there, tucking in shirts here and generally serving as a counterpart to Benja's panic. Mipha spotted a familiar blond head at the far end of the room, but she couldn't bring herself to enter the cramped space. With a sigh she returned to her nook in the curtains, alternating between watching the crowd out in the seats and the students passing by backstage.

"You ready?"

It wasn't the voice she would have expected to hear. She turned and looked up at Revali who stood behind her, looking out at the crowd over the top of her head. She couldn't think of any other occasion when he'd spoken to her first, without some prompting on her part.

"I guess." She turned slightly so she could look at him easier. "This might sound unrealistic, but I still get nervous every time I'm about to go on stage."

"That sounds pretty realistic to me." He gave her a rare moment of eye contact. She was starting to get better at reading the subtleties in his expression, and although he still maintained his stony-eyed frown most of the time, sometimes she caught a shift into something more gentle. It usually disappeared in a flash though, probably as soon as he became aware he was doing it.

"Hey, I've been meaning to say… Thanks for defending me last week. That… was really good of you." Mipha smiled at him gratefully. She was used to outbursts and emotional drama in the lead-up to most plays, as the pressure would build and tempers ran high. Still, it had felt nice to be backed up all the same, especially by someone as unexpected as Revali. She'd had to stifle her giggles at his face when Jana started crying; he looked like he regretted every decision he'd ever made to lead to that moment.

"It was nothing." He shuffled his feet. "I mean, you're welcome."

"Talking back to Jana when she's in that mood is definitely not nothing," Mipha said. Revali shuddered. "If you hadn't been there to smooth things over…" there was terror in his eyes even at the memory. Mipha had to cover her smile again. To her, it had been easy to see what Jana needed and where her outburst had come from, but she had no idea how it would have played out if Revali was left to deal with it on his own. It might have ended in tears again, but a very different kind.

"How about you? Are you feeling okay about your scene in front of a crowd?" she asked. Their performance together had greatly improved since the first time, and while Revali still had a slight stiffness about him, she felt it wasn't enough to be noticeable to a distant audience. At her question, he shrugged, habitually swiping a hand through his hair. "Surprisingly, yes."

When she smiled at that, he hastily added, "Don't expect me to be doing this again anytime soon, though."

Mipha opened her mouth to ask him, finally, what had prompted him to even do this in the first place, but was interrupted by the sound of someone calling her name. It was almost time to get to first positions.

"Well, guess I can't hide here any longer." She had hoped she might run into Link at some point before they began, but he was nowhere to be found. He often gave her a last bit of reassurance before a performance, but it looked like she'd be relying on her own courage this time. She nodded to Revali as she moved past him. "I'll catch you out there, then."

"Yeah."

She had taken two steps when she heard, "Hey, Mipha." Once again she looked back, and blinked in surprise when Revali gave her a real smile, albeit small. "Good luck. You'll be great."

"Thanks, Revali-" but he was already striding away, face turned in his characteristic pose to avoid meeting her eyes. Mipha chuckled softly, a little confused but grateful for his wishes. She inhaled deeply, and lifted her chin as she made her way to her beginning position and went through her final checks.

She was ready.

---

It wasn't perfect, but as the curtains closed and the crowd cheered and clapped, Mipha felt proud of everyone who stood on the stage. As soon as they were safely hidden from the audience they all turned to each other with hugs, high fives, and congratulations. It was chaos. Mipha held back a snort of laughter when she saw Revali backing away from a few over-enthusiastic fellow actors who wanted to take photos with everyone. She herself was especially flooded with people, and after several minutes of breathless 'thank-yous' and 'you-toos', she smiled when Jana came up to her, tears streaming down her face, and hugged her wordlessly. After a moment she recovered herself and pulled back, squeezing Mipha's hand.

"Thank you, Mipha. I’m so proud of you. I'm proud of all of you!" Jana swept a hand across the group on the stage. "We still have our charity performances coming up, but for now you can all get some much-needed rest!"

They all cheered. Mipha felt a tug on her sleeve, and as she turned Link pulled her into a big hug. "You were amazing out there!" he exclaimed. Mipha glowed at his praise, her heart filling with warmth.

"I couldn't find you before we began," she managed to say at last. Link grimaced. "I know, sorry. There was a last-minute problem with my costume and Zelda was frantically trying to fix it. We got there in the end though!" He laughed his cheery laugh. "Anyway, let's go find everyone out there!" he started to pull her along, and Mipha caught a flash of green eyes on her. Revali had already turned away by the time she found him in the crowd. He looked like a pillar, tall and stiff in the midst of everyone jostling and skipping along to the exits.

"I'll join you there in just a minute," she told Link, breaking off from him. He didn't notice Revali, just nodded and waved as he went off. In moments he was surrounded by girls clamouring for a picture with him in his knight outfit. Mipha rolled her eyes a little and moved towards the other side.

"Revali!"

His head jerked up at his name, and she finally made it over to him. He looked like he'd been about to slink off around the back way. Mipha smiled at him; she had to crane her head back to meet his eyes.

"Nice work today. Can I get a photo with you?" she asked with a straight face.

His face went through a range of emotions, and when she couldn’t keep it in anymore she burst out laughing. "Don't worry, I'm just kidding! I saw some of them being a little too pushy earlier." She turned in the direction of the crowd out front. "I'm gonna go find Zelda and the others, wanna come with?" She took a step, hoping he would look past the fact that Link was clearly included in "others".

"I didn't say no…"

"Huh?" Mipha looked back, confused. Revali stared at the floor, hands deep in his pockets. Sounds of chattering and music playing from the crowd out in the seats filtered through the heavy stage curtains. They were now the only two left standing on the empty stage, the heavy velvet curtains shielding some of the noise from the seats.

"I didn't… say no to a photo."

It took her a minute to pick her jaw up off the floor. Before she could say anything Revali shrugged casually and strode forward.

"Never mind. I was kidding too, forget it."

"Wait!" She grabbed his arm, fumbling for her phone with the other before realising it was of course back stage with her belongings. "Uh, wait, wait a second!" She darted off to the dressing room, retrieved her phone and was back in less than a minute. Revali seemed to have frozen in place. Mipha grinned, stood on tiptoes next to him and held out her phone. Revali smirked. His head was cut off in the frame, as much as she strained to fit him in.

"Hey, you take it then!" Mipha huffed, giving him the phone. "Put those long arms to use."

He grumbled but took it, fitting them both in the frame with ease. Mipha gave him a sideways glance.

"You wanted to do this, so stop complaining."

"I said I was kidding."

"And I don't believe you."

He snapped the photo just as she'd looked up to say that.

"Hey! Wait, I wasn't-"

He pushed the phone back into her hands. "Let's go, everyone will be wondering where you are." In two steps he'd already left her behind, and she scrambled to catch up, still trying to look at the photo he'd taken. It actually wasn't half-bad, she decided.

"Hey, give me your number so I can send it to you!"

Revali missed the last step leading down from the stage. He recovered himself in half a second, then continued on, not looking back at her.

"Yeah, okay."

Chapter Text

As the curtains went down, Zelda and Impa screamed themselves hoarse and clapped madly for the performance. One by one the cast returned to the stage to take their bows, and Zelda smiled to see the costumes she had worked on lit by the glamourous stage lights. The performance had been a huge success, and bode well for the following ones they would do over the coming week.

Impa had managed to keep herself under control even during Revali's scene, and Zelda thought he had done well all things considered. She tried not to think too hard about how dashing Link had looked in his knight's uniform, wielding his prop sword with practiced elegance. Impa was less subtle.

"He's so hot in that costume," she whispered to Zelda when he first appeared. "Nice job. No wonder everyone wanted him to play the knight, it's like he was born for it."

Zelda had just gaped at her and blushed, even though it wasn't her saying those things. Talk of his costume only brought to mind the incident of when he'd first tried it on, and she was still trying to quash that memory and forget it ever happened. Thankfully Impa was too distracted to notice her reaction.

The curtains went down, and soon the seats began to empty. The actors and crew filtered out from the back rooms, finding family and friends who had come to support, exchanging hugs and laughter. Impa and Zelda found Link and Sidon, and while Impa pumped Link's hand enthusiastically, Zelda offered her shy congratulations. Link grinned easily at her.

"Well, thanks to you I really felt the part, after all."

Zelda smiled. "I'm just relieved that I managed to fix that hem in time. I almost had a heart attack when you showed me that tear at the last minute!"

Sidon glanced around, searching the crowd. "Link, where's Mipha? I thought she'd be with you."

"She said she'd catch up," Link replied with a shrug.

"I see her!" Impa stood on her tiptoes. "She's- oh."

None of them knew what she'd seen until Mipha trotted up to them, with none other than Revali in tow. "Hi guys!" She beamed at them all. Sidon raised an eyebrow for half a second, but then merely crushed his sister into a hug, lifting her off her feet. "You killed it, Mipha! As I knew you would!"

Revali stood awkwardly for a second, then looked at Zelda and edged over to her and Impa. Impa slapped his shoulder jovially, ignoring his glare. "Nicely done, grumpy-face. I didn't think you had it in you." Zelda stifled her giggles and tried to smile at Revali serenely. "Yeah, you did great," she said, giving his jacket a tug to straighten it. "I'm amazed you're still wearing this costume."

She caught Link's eye on her, his face unreadable. She would never get used to their pointless rivalry, she thought. Maybe she could force them to hash it all out somehow…

"Hey, I believe this is a call for celebration!" Impa declared. They all looked at her. "What do you suggest, oh wise Impa?" Sidon said with a grin.

"I was mostly talking to Mipha and Zelda, but I suppose you boys can tag along," Impa sniffed. "I'm suggesting a good old gaming session at the arcade. What of it, hmm? Losers shout snacks!"

Zelda saw that Revali had taken a step back, as if unsure whether he was technically part of things or not. "Are you gonna join us then?" she asked him. He looked at her, then at the others. It seemed to be Link's expression of disgust that caused him to make up his mind. "Sure, why not." He looked at Link, a flicker of amusement in his eyes as if daring him to protest.

"Well, Sidon and I have an old score on Pinball to settle," said Link loudly, his face giving away just how he felt about Revali joining them. "So of course we're coming too." Zelda exchanged glances with Impa, then they both looked away quickly to avoid bursting into laughter.

"Yay, the more the merrier!" Mipha said with a delighted smile. "I still need to go find my parents, just give us the details later, Impa!"

She walked off with Sidon. The rest of them regarded each other. "Well, isn't there food somewhere? Let's go already!" Impa dragged Zelda along, not bothering to check if the boys were following.

"You're impossible, Impa," Zelda said, albeit with a big grin. Impa sniggered. "I just want to watch Link and Revali making fools of themselves by taking all the games too seriously."

Zelda was distracted, thinking about how she could plan the outing without her father knowing. Eventually she went back to chattering with Impa, deciding that could be a problem for another day.

Chapter Text

Revali was getting used to ending up in scenarios he never would have expected to find himself in. He suspected it had something to do with hanging around Zelda too often, because how else could he explain why he was entering a bustling arcade with five other people, a freshly purchased game card in his hand? It wasn't like his usual self at all, and he couldn't decide whether it was a good or bad thing.

A flash of red caught his peripheral vision as Mipha skipped along, arm in arm with her friends, and he decided he could figure that one out later. He watched as she ran straight to one of the claw machines, bouncing on her toes and peering excitedly at the soft plushie toys inside.

"Mipha, no! You know those are rigged," Impa laughed, running up to join her. Mipha turned her big golden eyes to her friend, eyebrows tilted up. "But Impaaaaa, look! It's Totoro!!"

"His face is lopsided."

"It's not!" Mipha protested. "It's so cute and fluffy!"

The rest of them caught up and began to shuffle her away from the claw machine, suggesting various games they could play instead. With practiced fluidity Revali allowed himself to drop back and separate from the group. He lingered by the claw machine, eyeing the plush toy favoured by Mipha balanced on top, taunting him with glossy plastic eyes. Giving another quick look around to check that everyone else was occupied, he tapped his game card to the scanner and took the control. The lights flashed and a dinky tune played as he moved the handle around, frowning at the sluggish movements of the claw up at the top.

The first time he missed it, he attributed it to not having enough time to position the claw correctly.

The fifth time he missed it, he tried not to dwell on Impa's advice about the machine being rigged.

"Having fun?"

Revali waited for his heart to return to its normal place in his chest before he turned slowly to the source of the voice. It was Zelda of course, arms crossed, face smug, peering over his shoulder at the claw machine.

"Yes. I am," he answered curtly, moving to block her view.

Giving her a frigid stare he dared her to contradict him, even as he felt how silly he sounded. Zelda stifled a giggle with a cough and stepped around him to look inside the machine.

"I see. Is there a particular toy you want?"

"What? No, I’m just playing for fun. These things are rigged, anyways."

Zelda didn't look convinced. "You sure? If you want, I can help you-"

"Please, allow me."

Revali and Zelda gaped in unison as Link appeared in between them and shoved forward to the control, pushing Revali aside a little more aggressively than needed. He glanced at Zelda, shot a quick, acidic look at Revali, and swiped his card to start the machine again.

On Link's third attempt, Zelda's efforts at holding back her laughter were growing more and more half-hearted. Link huffed out a frustrated breath, now half-wrestling with the handle of the machine.

"Ah yes, I imagine more force will do the trick," Revali offered drily.

"I didn't see you doing much better," Link shot back, his knuckles going white with effort. The claw swooped down and closed uselessly over nothing for the umpteenth time.

"I was doing fine, actually."

Link opened his mouth, but Zelda calmly stepped forward, pushed him aside with her shoulder and started the machine going again. The two boys watched open-mouthed as she delicately wriggled the handle with a single finger, and the claw precariously grasped the left arm of the coveted plush. The machine trilled and flashed with a congratulatory message while the toy was dropped into the dispenser, and Zelda fished it out triumphantly.

"Told you I could help you!" she said brightly, pressing it into Revali's hand.

"Wait, that's yours-" Link began, but Zelda shrugged and pulled on his arm to lead him away. "I didn't really want it, but Revali might have a use for it." As she said this she gave Revali a significant look and then left him standing there, still a little dumbstruck. He supposed the machines had to occasionally work so that it would keep people trying, but Zelda had really made it seem as though she'd finessed it with her own skill and luck.

He looked down at the toy in his hands. Totoro stared back with a vacant smile. Now that he had it, what exactly had he planned for?

He took a few tentative steps into the arcade, trying to surreptitiously look around for a flash of red hair. At last he saw Mipha, jostling side by side with Impa as their characters fought onscreen. Mipha's laugh broke through their bantering frequently, louder than you'd expect from such a tiny girl. He had almost made it close enough to say something, but five feet away the blood rushed to his face and his feet halted in their tracks.

He turned and stuffed the toy into his backpack, cursing himself for his cowardice while simultaneously trying to believe that he'd find a better moment later. There was no way he was doing anything with Impa right there anyway.

Maybe this had all been a mistake.

---

Meanwhile, Link had gone from mild annoyance at discovering Zelda with Revali, to quietly chuffed when she dragged him away to a cart racing game. He was still confused about what had been happening and why Zelda suddenly decided to leave Revali alone, but he wasn't complaining.

"Think you can beat me at this?" he quipped, his energy rising at the chance to impress her. Zelda seemed to notice the game for the first time, apparently having chosen something at random. She grinned back at him.

"Only one way to find out."

They each climbed into a seat, settling behind the tiny steering wheels. Zelda shrieked the moment the game started and almost every single car overtook her. "Hey, wait, these controls are weird!"

"What a convenient excuse!" Link chuckled away while she wrestled with the wheel, complaining the whole race until eventually she sputtered in second to last.

"Look, you beat someone!" he said to her cheerily. Zelda just glared. "Let's go again. I can figure this out."

Link hopped down from his chair and went to her. "C'mon, let me just show you real quick or it's no fun." Before she could protest any further he quickly pointed out the basic controls, failing to resist the urge to lean a little closer than necessary and brush his hands over hers. His heart thumped in his chest. He wanted to know if she was noticing any of his little touches, but he was too scared to look. Idiot.

"Got it?" he finally said, having dragged out the process as long as he could.

"Yeah." She turned to look at him, the arcade lights flashing reflected in her eyes, and his throat went dry. It took him a moment to realise he was frozen in place, probably looking like a fool, while Zelda's eyebrows drew further up in what was either surprise or confusion.

"O-okay!" He scrambled back to his seat and they began the game again. He figured she would know if he let her win, so he didn't hold back, and Zelda continued to yell abuse at him while he threw all of his items at her and bumped her off the track as many times as he could. They were both laughing when they climbed down, Zelda shaking her head. "You play dirty!" she complained, but the corners of her mouth were turned up. He couldn't stop smiling himself, and when he caught Sidon's sideways glance at him across the room he felt the heat rise to his face. He stuck his tongue out at the tall red-haired boy, and Sidon laughed heartily and ran across to them.

"Can I interest you two in basketball hoops?" His eyes flicked between them with a knowing grin, and Link glared at him. "Yeah, let's go."

"I'll join you guys in a moment, I’m just getting some water." Zelda smiled and waved, and the two boys walked over to the basketball game.

"Sooooooo-" Sidon began, but Link cut him off. "Don't you say a word! Not a word, you hear?"

Sidon was stifling snorts of laughter not very successfully, and Link promptly thrashed him at the first round of the game. He wished he could control his blushing better, it was only making things worse. Sidon bumped his shoulder. "Hey, it looks like you've made progress is all."

"Y-yeah…" Link peered over at Zelda across the room, her hair a bright splash of gold in the dimly lit arcade.

"I saw you getting all cosy with her at the racing game, couldn't resist guiding her hands just a little, hmm?"

"Shut up, Sidon!!"

His friend just laughed again, enjoying the whole scenario far too thoroughly for Link's liking. He stuck out his tongue and pushed the start button again.

"See how much you laugh after I beat you again!"

Chapter Text

Zelda glanced around as she gulped down some water from her bottle. She spotted Mipha and Impa just finishing their own game. Revali was nearby, fiddling with a pinball machine. She saw the toy stuffed into his bag and rolled her eyes, then an idea sparked in her head. Link and Sidon were in the middle of what looked like a heated competition at the basketball hoops, and she saw Link glance over to her briefly, obviously waiting on her to join them again.

"Impa!" Zelda trotted over to where Impa and Mipha stood, and grabbed Impa's arm. "I'm just gonna borrow Impa for a bit, sorry Mipha!" she cut off the beginning of Impa's protest and brought her back to the boys. "Impa, play basketball hoops with us! Boys against girls."

She knew that would spark Impa's attention, and it did. Immediately her eyes glinted, and she grinned mischievously. "Oh, it's on." Impa practically ran over to the game, and Zelda managed a quick glance over her shoulder at Mipha, now alone, and Revali hovering nearby. Give her the toy you idiot!

Sighing, she turned her attention back to their little competition. "Let's go, you guys against us!" Impa said, rolling her neck around in an exaggerated stretch routine. Sidon and Link stepped aside to let the two girls take the other side, Link flashing Zelda another quick smile as she moved to stand next to him.

She had no idea where Impa's confidence came from, given that they were up against a team that had the best athlete in the school. Sidon was good too, and while Impa raged and threw smacktalk around, Zelda was slightly awed at the speed and precision with which the two boys won.

"C'mon, that was too easy!" Sidon said cheekily.

"Oh yeah? Wanna try again without Link on your team?" Impa retorted. As they bantered back and forth, Zelda caught sight of Revali slowly and painfully approaching Mipha. She gasped a little, dying to know what was going to happen.

"I uh, I need the restroom, you guys carry on!" She darted across the room and behind the next aisle of consoles, out of sight of the others, then tried to surreptitiously slink around to get a good vantage point of Revali and Mipha from behind a Pac-Man game. She was just in time to see Revali finally approach Mipha for real, and to see her look up at him expectantly. He didn't say anything immediately, and Mipha smiled brightly.

"Er, hi Revali! What- what game were you just playing?"

"Oh. Um…" Revali looked around haphazardly and seemed to choose a game at random. "That, um, fishing one."

Zelda gritted her teeth, willing him to just take the toy out and give it to her. It's not that complicated, she thought to herself.

"What are we spying on?"

Zelda squeaked and nearly jumped out of her skin at the voice in her ear. She'd been so focused, she hadn’t even noticed Link creep up next to her.

"Shhhh! I mean, nothing!" She stage-whispered back. "Why the- you scared the hell out of me!"

He pressed against her, trying to get a view around the console over her shoulder, his hair tickling her face. Zelda felt her stomach somersault, momentarily distracted from her mission. Link pulled back and looked at her, puzzled. "It's just Mipha and Revali, what's the big deal - apart from the fact that I should go rescue her-"

"Shh, wait!" She grabbed his arm to keep him in place, still trying to watch what was happening. Revali still hadn't taken the toy out, and it looked as if they were stuck in an awkward, stilted conversation. Link finally gave up asking questions, and they settled into positions where they could both see, Zelda peering over the top of Link's head while he crouched slightly further down. She forced her mind away from his proximity, his body heat, and the scent of his freshly washed hair. There were more interesting things going on, she told herself sternly, and focused once more on the disaster unfolding in front of her.

It seemed Mipha was taking pity on Revali's half-frozen state, attempting to draw him out. "Um, would you like to play this one with me?" she said cheerily, indicating the flashing console behind her. "Impa and I found it quite fun…"

"S-sure! Yep." Revali stepped up next to her at the controls, looking ridiculously oversized next to her petite figure. A few minutes of playing the game seemed to break the ice a little and relax him, and Zelda held her breath as he finally reached for his bag. The game had finished, the lights flashed, and Mipha was pointing at their score on the screen.

"Yay, we did great, look!" She said excitedly, her long hair swishing as she bounced on her toes. Revali managed a small smile. "Yeah."

"Hey, so, I kinda got this- well, accidentally," he held up the plush toy from the claw machine and Mipha's eyes widened. Revali rushed on, not meeting her eyes. "Anyway, I was just gonna throw it away, but if you wanted it- I mean, it's no big deal-"

"Wait, really? I love this character!" Mipha beamed up at him and accepted the toy from his hands. "Thank you, that's so sweet of you." Zelda smiled to herself, watching Revali melt with relief, and something resembling warmth passing across his face. The moment would have been perfect, really.

Would have, if she had just kept her damn nose out of it, instead of accidentally dragging everyone else in. Zelda was patting herself on the back with no small amount of pride, watching their sweet interaction, when she heard Impa's voice.

"There they are! What the-"

Zelda turned just as Impa reached her, all chaotic energy and curiosity as usual. "What are you guys doing?? Ooh, are you spying??"

"Shhh!" Zelda hissed.

Sensing that something fun was afoot, Impa pushed around to see. Zelda tried to pull her back, afraid that Revali and Mipha would see them. Sidon's bulk was now adding to the crush of bodies crouched around the console too, and what with pulling on Impa, trying to stay out of sight and not step on Link who was right in front of her, Zelda lost her footing. All her weight fell on to Link, who was caught off-guard and toppled forward, and Sidon, who had been half-leaning on her to look around, came with. Impa got dragged along too, taken down as Zelda clung to her to try regain her balance.

In short, the four of them tumbled down into an almost comedic tangle of arms and legs, spilling out from their hiding place behind the console and causing a racket in the process. Zelda was half-panicking at the sight of Revali and Mipha's shocked faces, and then in the next moment extremely distracted by the fact that she was literally straddling Link. He had half twisted around to catch her as they fell, and now her body draped over his with their faces much too close for casual comfort. She could feel the warm firmness of his chest, muscles tensing to bear all the weight that had just crashed onto him, one of his hands on her hip. Her hair fell in his face and he spluttered and reached up to push it aside, their eyes locking inevitably. She felt the blood rush to her face, but she was pinned down while Sidon and Impa tried to disentangle themselves and give her room to get up. Link was of course in even less of a position to move, but instead of looking away he smiled at her unexpectedly, eyes soft, and was she imagining that flush across his skin?

Zelda was grateful that Impa grabbed her arm helpfully just at that moment, pulling her up so she could stumble to her feet. She wasn't sure what her face or her loudly beating heart would have given away at that point, and she allowed the chaos of the scene to brush over whatever moment had just happened. Mipha had rushed over in characteristic concern, asking if they were all okay, albeit looking perplexed at how they had all ended up there. Zelda avoided looking at Revali, whom she suspected was giving her the mother of all death glares.

Everyone was talking at once, Revali demanding what the hell they were doing, Sidon in fits of laughter and Impa still in confusion about why Zelda and Link were hiding in the first place. "We- we were just looking for you guys!" Zelda managed at last, laughing nervously. "Then I tripped coming around the corner, and uh, took everyone with me."

It wasn't the most convincing story, but Mipha didn't push it and Revali probably had suspicions but didn't want to have that conversation in front of everyone. Zelda sent him a quick apologetic smile when she felt brave enough. He merely arched an eyebrow and didn't bring it up again, his green eyes cool and piercing as ever.

Eventually the awkwardness passed, and they began to split up again to play more games. Zelda was relieved when Impa took her and Mipha over to a cute little pixel game, while the boys went back to the basketball hoops. She felt unprepared to be in close vicinity with Link or Revali for a while, each for very specific reasons.

Chapter Text

"Pfft! Get a load of those two."

Impa's conspiratorial whisper caught Zelda's attention, and she tore herself away from her game. Impa jerked her chin in the direction of the basketball hoops, where Link and Revali were currently facing off with Sidon overseeing. It seemed as though Revali had managed to beat Link's score, at which Link raged and Revali gloated endlessly, throwing snide remarks about Link's "shortcomings" and other such digs at his stature.

The three girls laughed to see their drama playing out, although it seemed much less vitriolic than usual. Link couldn't keep a frown for long, and he was soon challenging Revali to a rematch, to which the dark-haired boy quickly agreed.

"You did that, you know," said Impa, glancing at Zelda.

"Huh?" Zelda didn't follow, and Impa tried to explain. "You somehow got Revali to open up, and then once you and Link sorted your thing out, now look, they're getting along."

"I'd hardly call that getting along," Zelda said drily, watching another heated argument break out while Sidon attempted to provide a middle ground.

"It's more than I ever thought I would see," Mipha piped up.

"Yeah!" Impa grinned. "And you're the only one who's been able to make it happen."

"Oh…" Zelda didn't quite know what to make of that. From her perspective there had been a collection of coincidences and misunderstandings which somehow led to this point. It wasn't like she had orchestrated anything intentionally, but she couldn’t deny what they were all seeing.

"And now the question is…" Impa paused and waited for them to look to her expectantly, then continued with a dramatic flourish: "Which one of these dashing young boys will win your heart?"

"Wh-what?" Zelda blushed and sputtered while Impa laughed openly at her. Mipha looked a little surprised, but then also giggled softly.

"Neither! What- what the heck are you on about!" Zelda fought to regain her dignity, and eventually turned away with a scoff. "C'mon, help me finish this level already!"

---

In the back of the car Zelda smiled to herself while Dmitri drove her home. She had begged him not to mention anything to her father, and his condition was that he wait for her and see that she got home safely. She was now curled up in the back seat, flicking through photos of the afternoon on her phone. Impa had taken multiple snaps of the group and various games, and she giggled to see a photo of Link and Revali glaring at each other after one of their basketball games. There was even a photo of her and Link playing the racing game, and a group selfie that Impa had wrangled everyone in for. They were all huddled together, Sidon and Revali at the back towering over everyone else, their faces all outlined by colourful arcade lights. Zelda looked at her own smiling, carefree face, hardly recognising herself. She felt a warmth bloom in her chest that wasn't usually there, and a sort of anticipating hope that there would be more times like this to enjoy in future.

A moment later, the warmth in her heart fizzled out like a dud firecracker. Her stomach dropped as Dmitri pulled the car in and she spotted her father's imposing black Mercedes Benz in the driveway. She had thought that he was at a dinner meeting and would be home late, but it appeared his plans must have changed last minute. She was home almost two hours later than she was supposed to be.

She wondered if she might still get away with it if she tiptoed up to her room, but she had barely cracked the front door open when she heard her father's voice.

"Zelda."

The frown in his tone was obvious before she even saw him. Taking a steadying breath, she pushed open the door and stepped into the foyer. Her father stood at the bottom of the stairs, blocking the way to her room, his face all stern disapproval.

"H-Hi, Dad…" she said tentatively, trying not to sound guilty or look nervous, and failing on all accounts. Rhoam's face was passively calm, but she knew that was the worst sign of all.

"Where have you been?"

"Ah, well, after school, I…"

"Dmitri should have driven you straight home." His eyes narrowed, and Zelda felt a stab of panic. "Please don't punish him! I- I insisted, and he waited for me the whole time and drove me home and kept me safe-" Dmitri was one of her few allies in her otherwise oppressive existence and the thought of him getting fired because of her made her stomach turn.

"You still haven't told me where you've been." Her father tapped his foot impatiently, and Zelda swallowed, casting around for a story that might sound better than the truth, all the while knowing he'd see through her lies anyway. She hung her head, hating herself for feeling so intimidated.

"I… was with my friends. We went… to the arcade." She winced as she said it, seeing Rhoam bristle out the corner of her eyes.

"I see. That would explain the drop in your performance at school."

"Huh?" She looked back at him, genuinely confused now. "What- how do you mean?"

He made no attempt to hide the disapproval in his eyes. "That's why I came home early. I did a routine check in with the school, and discovered that your ranking in the school has dropped by two places."

Zelda didn't know what to react to first. The fact that he did "routine check-ins", or the fact that he was angry about such a tiny drop in the extremely competitive rankings. She opened her mouth to defend herself, but closed it just as quickly at her father's look. He smoothed his tie, taking his time to decide on her punishment.

"I considered cancelling your tutoring with Link, but if it gives you the chance to review and understand materials better, perhaps it's still beneficial to you. You might even learn something from his dedication to his athletics."

Zelda was surprised by how relieved she was. She tried to look indifferent about this decision, nodding in agreement. "It's good study time," she managed, thinking about how often Link distracted her with his bantering and exaggerated frustration with his tests. With horror she shoved down a smile inadvertently appearing on her face, knowing that would not help her case right now.

"Now, I'm not going to ground you this time-" Zelda melted with relief- "but you'll be giving me your phone the moment you arrive home each day. No distractions, you hear? And if you pull a stunt like this again…" he didn't need to finish the sentence. "Now. Hand it over."

He held out his hand, looking at her phone expectantly. Zelda's shoulders drooped. She had been planning a delicious hour of looking through her photos slowly, finding the best ones to print on her wall, and engaging in some indulgent gossip with Impa about their afternoon. "Can I just-" she began, but Rhoam cut her off. "Now, Zelda."

She sighed and handed it over. He took it and tucked it away, then his face softened ever so slightly at her miserable posture. "Don't worry, I will keep it safe for you. And since I don't know your password, your privacy will be protected. I wouldn't- I hope you know I wouldn't do that."

Zelda nodded, grateful for that much at least. Her father seemed to falter in a rare moment of uncertainty, now not meeting her eyes. She waited, wondering if he had more to say, but after a moment he stepped aside so she could head up to her room.

"You may come down for dinner, but I expect you to be making up the time you lost today." Rhoam gave her a final stern nod before allowing her to leave. Zelda climbed the stairs, her backpack feeling heavier with each step. All things considered, it could have been worse… but now she knew that she couldn't afford to make so much as the tiniest misstep again.

She flopped face down on her bed with a groan. The sequins on one of her bed pillows scratched her face, and she propped herself up and brushed a hand over it, flipping the sequins one way and then the other. Even though she couldn't look at her photos or message her friends, the events of the day drifted through her mind. She smiled to recall Impa's intense competitiveness, perhaps only matched by Link's. He had been merciless on the go-kart racing game with her, even though moments earlier he'd been full of soft touches and patient explanations while he showed her the controls. Warmth tinged her cheeks at the memory of his closeness, which she was almost certain had been intentional. Does he… like me or something? The thought made her ears burn and her stomach flip over and over. On the other hand, was she simply so unused to affection of any kind that she was reading too much into it? It could have just been friendly teasing, and she had no idea how to tell the difference. Her fingers traced wandering patterns into the sequins, and she sighed deeply.

It didn't matter anyway. She could say goodbye to any more fun outings until she managed to force her way up the rankings again, and who knew how long that would take? Zelda tossed the pillow to the side and drooped back across the bed, indulging in a little pity party and trying not to think too hard about the subtleties of Link's behaviour.

A moment later she sat up with a determined frown. This is ridiculous, I can do this! I'm Zelda, the smartest, most dedicated, top-ranked student in the whole school. I'll get right to number one and show my dad I can do it all!

With renewed energy she dumped all her textbooks onto her desk, then sharpened her pencil with so much focused aggression that she snapped the lead. She quickly pulled out a fresh one and sharpened it more carefully, blowing the dust off the end. She opened her workbook and found her notes for the day's homework, and put pencil to paper with a grim frown.

If her father thought he could win this mental game, then she was going to prove him wrong even if it killed her.

Chapter Text

"Absolutely not."

Zelda tried to shake off Impa who was dragging on her arm as they walked down the hallway, eyebrows angling up in an attempt at puppy eyes. "Pleeeeeeeaaase, Zelda!"

"Impa, I just got in trouble for going to the arcade, let alone a party!"

Impa pouted. "It'll be no fun if you don't come. Everyone's coming! Mina's parties are famous."

Zelda shook her head resolutely. She still came home every day to her father expectantly holding out his hand to take her phone. He didn't even trust any of the staff to take it from her, personally locking it in his study until she left for school the following morning. Zelda spent her evenings furiously revising and doing twice the amount of her assigned homework, and it was starting to pay off with her rising rank in the school again. She hoped she'd get her phone privileges back again soon, but it would only happen if she didn't put a toe out of line in the meantime. Impa's imploring eyes weren't enough to convince her it was worth the risk again.

"Link will be there," Impa said slyly, changing tactic. Zelda rolled her eyes. "Say hi to him for me." Still, cool as she was acting in front of Impa, her heart skittered slightly at the thought. What would he wear to a party? She'd never seen him in anything except his school uniform and the knight's costume. And shirtless.

"Ha, you're blushing!" Impa crowed. "You DO want to come!"

Zelda angrily waved her mental image away, cursing her weak mind. She thought she'd successfully forgotten about the moment in the costume room, but here she was, simpering over some muscles like an utter fool. What is he doing to me?? she silently fumed. It wasn't fair, whatever it was.

"Impa, I would, really, but- there's just no way I can get away with it this time. If I get caught I can probably say goodbye to seeing my phone ever again. Or I'll be shipped off to boarding school or something drastic." The thought sent a shiver of dread down her spine. She wouldn't put it past her father to cut her off from her only friends if she acted out enough.

Impa dropped the subject, but Zelda sensed it wasn't the last time she'd hear about it. She sighed and rubbed her temple, foreseeing a lot of hassling in the nearby future. She would just have to stay resolute until Impa realised she wasn't going to change her mind.

---

"Wait, you can't come?"

This time it was Link asking, inevitably getting sidetracked during their afternoon tutoring and asking about the party. Zelda shook her head.

"My father won't let me."

"Oh…" his shoulders drooped, and Zelda was relieved that he seemed smart enough to accept it.

"What if he didn't know?"

Zelda stared at him, rescinding her previous thought. Link was all bright with hopeful expectation now, his eyes creasing into a boyish smile. She couldn’t help feeling warm at his obvious investment in her presence at the party. Still, it was hopeless.

"Oh, why didn't I think of that before?" she said sarcastically. "Oh wait, I did last time, and he found out immediately."

Link deflated again, and Zelda tried to ignore the pang of guilt in her chest. It wasn't his fault that he didn't know her father and what he could be like. She shoved his workbook over, tapping the section he was meant to be completing. "Show me this formula again, you haven't quite got it yet."

He lifted his pencil languidly to begin writing, then snapped upright, revelation in his eyes. "That's it!"

"What, you understood the formula?" She knew as she said it that it was a lost cause. Link never got excited about homework.

"No, listen!" his blue eyes glittered with conspiracy. "There's a math test coming up, yes?" He tapped his pencil impatiently, waiting.

"Yeah, so?" Zelda replied, unsure where this was going.

"So, it's an important one, but- oh no, I'm still struggling with learning the formulas, how will I ever be ready?"

She smirked a little at his theatrics, but still didn't understand. "I mean, you're not struggling that much, you'll do fine in the test. If you focus."

He grinned now, turning to face her fully. "Ah, but I don't think I will be. The only way I'm going to pass this test is with extra tutoring, see. Hours of extra tutoring."

"What are you-"

"It's perfect." He flopped back in his seat and twirled his pencil, clearly delighted with himself. "I tell your dad I'm struggling with math and could really use some extra help for the test. More than what we have time for at school. Your driver takes me to my house-"

"What-" Zelda spluttered, already seeing flaws in his plan, but he waved her off and continued, "-Your driver takes me to my house, because I have to be there so my dog isn't left alone, see? My parents work long hours."

She wanted to ask about his dog, but he was intent on working out the details now, the gears in his brain almost visibly clicking around and around. "Then, we arrange a time for you to be collected again. We go to the party, have a great time, and get back to my house in plenty of time before you're picked up!"

Link beamed. Zelda blinked.

Then she sighed and dropped her head into her hands. "Link, that plan is absolutely crazy, there's no way I can do something so brazen-"

"Which is why your dad will never suspect anything, right?"

She turned a little and peeked through her fingers at his smiling face. She found it incredibly annoying how charming he was whenever he was trying to convince her to do something stupid. It made resisting difficult, and it dawned on her with horror that she was actually considering this crackpot plan of his. She ran through the possibilities, thinking about what could go wrong - which was a lot - and then how they could mitigate that and give her the best chance at success…

At last she sat up, letting her hands fall to her lap. "The best I can give you right now is that I'll think about it- no guarantees!!" she added, seeing him about to burst with excitement. He did anyway, jumping up and pumping his fist in the air. "YES!!!"

"Shhhhh!" She grabbed his wrist and pulled him back down, catching sight of a school librarian passing by the window of their study room. Link laughed and collapsed back into his seat, grinning ear to ear, his shoulder brushing hers lightly. Although she'd said she'd only think about it, Zelda could feel deep down that she wanted nothing more than to go to the party with this golden-haired boy with his warm smile and insane ideas.

"Can I have that back now?" Link said slyly, glancing at his arm. Zelda jolted when she saw she was still holding onto him, and promptly let his arm go like it was a firecracker. Willing her blush away, she slammed a hand down on the still half-finished workbook page.

"Formulas. Now."

This time he didn't argue, but the ghost of a smile never quite left his face for the rest of their tutoring session.

Chapter Text

Revali was surprised to find the rooftop already occupied when he shoved the heavy door open. Usually he came up here when he needed some peace, since most of the students spent break times in their huddles, either playing games, buying snacks or gossiping.

He almost turned around and left, not willing to talk to anyone, when the figure shifted and he caught a sweep of familiar long, blonde, hair.

"Zelda?"

She flinched slightly at his voice and turned, then relaxed. "Oh, hi." The wind was whipping her hair around and she grabbed at it haphazardly, trying to get it out of her face.

Revali joined her at the railing as she turned back to face the view. "Don't normally find you up here."

She rolled her eyes. "I'm avoiding being accosted just for a few minutes."

"What is it this time?" he asked, shrugging his backpack off his shoulders with a thud. The breeze felt nice in his hair, and he glanced at Zelda, waiting for her response.

"That damn party… Impa has been trying to convince me to go all week. I've made it very clear that it's not happening, but she won't listen." Zelda glared at a pigeon hopping along the rooftop across from them, tilting its head this way and that, unaware that it was the focus of such a stern gaze. "Link is on my case, too."

"Ah. That sounds about right." He grabbed the railing and leaned back, stretching. "Why aren't you going?"

"Because I quite enjoy living, for the most part," she muttered, draping herself over the top rail. "My dad will kill me if he finds me out."

He raised an eyebrow, but merely nodded, certain there wasn't much he could say to change anything.

"Are you going?"

Revali threw his head back and laughed. "Hell no."

"Why not?"

Revali shot her a glance. "Because I hate parties? And most people there probably hate me."

"You're exaggerating. Most people feel neutral about you because they don't know you." Zelda straightened up a little from her drooping stance, looking him up and down.

He didn't have a response to that. Maybe she was right. He couldn’t accuse people of hating him when he didn't even talk to them, but it was an easier excuse to make for avoiding everyone all the time. Instead he just shrugged again, unwilling to pursue the topic any further.

"Mipha tells me she's going." He could feel her eyes on him as she said this, and he willed himself not to react.

"Well, how nice for her." It sounded like Link was going too, so Mipha would probably have a great time.

"Oh come on, Revali, don't be so stubborn! There's nothing wrong with liking someone!" Zelda carried on before he could respond, clearly warming to the subject. "You never told me how things went at the arcade when you gave her the toy."

Revali half laughed, half scoffed. "Are you kidding me? You saw how it went, you were literally spying on us."

Zelda winced. "Um, I…" she stuttered, not meeting his eyes. "I'm sorry okay! I didn't mean it all to happen like that, I just couldn’t stand it, watching you fumble around…"

"I'm sorry you had to witness something so painful." He meant it to sound sarcastic, but failed to keep the hint of bitterness out of his tone. Zelda's face fell.

"No no, I didn't mean it like that-"

He turned away with a sigh. "I know. Don't worry about it. I'm just… being an idiot, as per."

"Honestly, I think…" Zelda paused, her voice going soft. "I think you don't give yourself enough credit. I think you would have a chance with her, if you let yourself try."

There was a long pause. Revali wished he could believe her, but he knew it was hopeless. Zelda suddenly whipped around to face him, giving him a fright.

"Hey! I know! I'll help you practice."

"Wh-what??" he gaped as she grabbed his arm and pulled him over to a more secluded corner of the roof. Then she walked away a few paces and half turned away.

"Pretend I'm Mipha, and you're going to approach me at the party. I'll walk you through it."

"Zelda, this is ridiculous. I’m not going anyway-"

"Just try it!" she commanded. "It'll be fun."

It was hard to ignore her when she put on her bossy tone. He suspected it would be easier to go along for a few minutes than try and convince her otherwise, and he ran his hand through his hair with a weary sigh. "Fine."

He slouched up to her, and before he could say anything she was shaking her head. "No no no, you look like you've been sent on a dare or something. You have to look like you chose to approach me."

"I didn't, though."

She ignored him, shoving him away. "Try again. Approach me with purpose, make eye contact-" He rolled his shoulders and stepped up to her again, reluctantly looking her in the eye. "Yes, perfect!" she trilled. "Now, say something nice to me, or ask me if I'm having a good time."

She beamed up at him expectantly. Revali shuffled on his feet, feeling awkward. "Are- are you having a good time?"

"Yes! Isn't this music great?" Zelda said, hopping from foot to foot. For someone who was apparently never allowed at parties, he was getting the impression that she'd practiced this type of conversation a lot.

"C-cool…" he trailed off and she threw up her hands. "You idiot! That was the perfect opening to ask me to dance!" She gave him an exasperated glare. "Put some effort in, okay?"

"This is all hypothetical anyway," he grumbled, shoving his hands in his pockets. Zelda shook her head, then drew herself together again with renewed energy. "And that's also a no-no. Get your hands out of your pockets, it makes you look bored."

"Someone's getting the hint, then." he arched an eyebrow at her and then they both broke out into laughter. Zelda recovered first, trying to get back in character. "Revali! Stop it, I'm trying to help you out here!"

He tried to wipe the grin off his face and turned his attention back. "Okay okay, what now?"

"Body language is important," she instructed, going back to teacher mode. "Make eye contact. Move close, lean in- no, more than that."

He leaned further in than seemed necessary until she was finally happy. "Yes! That's perfect."

She grinned at him, then smirked. "Honestly Revali, you'd be popular if you were a little more flirtatious."

"Wh-whatever." Revali stood up straight again and crossed his arms, his cheeks warming slightly with embarrassment. "I'm not like Link or whatever, it doesn't come naturally."

"Exactly. You're not Link, you're his only rival, his foil, which makes you cooler than the average guy here." Trust Zelda to be the only one who could say that somewhat convincingly. She should consider being a lawyer.

Revali snorted. "If you think I'm so cool, maybe we should just go out and to hell with it." He leant over the rail again, sulking. "There's just the small problem that we both like the wrong person."

Zelda was quiet for a moment, rejoining him at the railing. "Revali, I know you're joking. I'll never be Mipha to you."

"Yeah, and I'll never be Link to you. Or Mipha."

The last part slipped out before he'd realised, and Zelda's eyes widened. "For- for Mipha? What do you mean?"

He tried to backtrack. "Oh, um, nothing! Just, you know… don't worry about it…"

But it was too late. He could see Zelda putting the pieces together; the long friendship of Link and Mipha, the signs of affection she showed to him, her quiet care that maybe to the average person would fall under the radar. She turned her large green eyes back on him. "Mipha… Mipha is in love with Link, isn't she?"

He didn't need to say anything, unable to stop his face betraying the truth. Zelda mirrored his drooping posture over the rail. "Oh, I see. It all makes sense. That's why… I always wondered if there was another reason you disliked Link so much."

They were silent for a moment. Revali finally looked at her again. "Sorry. I shouldn’t have said anything."

"No, no… it's- it's probably good that I know. I don't want to hurt Mipha…" she turned her gaze to Revali, a mix of guilt and understanding swirling in her eyes. "And I guess… you don't either."

Revali sighed and shook his head. "That's just it, isn't it. Neither of us is going to be the one to hurt her." He couldn't help the edge of anger that crept into his voice as he spoke. "Link will be the one who does that."

There was another long pause while they contemplated that slightly depressing thought. The same pigeon hopped closer to them, head tilting as it surveyed the rooftop for any morsels of left behind lunches. Revali suddenly snapped his head up, scaring it away with a flutter of wings, his frustration boiling over. He was sick of feeling helpless and never doing anything risky, or just because he felt like it. Zelda raised an eyebrow at his sudden change of expression. "What?" she asked.

Revali gave her his signature smirk, a touch of extra mischief behind his eyes. "How 'bout we make a deal. You'll go to the party… if I go?"

Chapter Text

"I can't believe Revali is the one who convinced you in the end," Impa grouched. "Does our friendship mean nothing to you?"

They were in the sports field, warming up before their PE session. Zelda caught sight of Gaile a few feet away, her back turned almost deliberately to Zelda. Ever since the dodgeball incident Gaile had been mercifully distant, choosing to instead shoot glares at Zelda every so often. Zelda felt she could handle that.

"It wasn't just Revali, Impa," she finally responded, feeling Impa's indignation radiating off of her. "You helped convince me too." And Link. She chose to omit the last part, but couldn't stop her involuntary glance towards the other end of the field where the soccer team was doing their drills. If she squinted, she could just make out a figure slightly smaller than the rest, darting around his teammates with ease.

Impa followed her gaze and smirked. "And I suppose the fact that Link is going has nothing to do with it." Zelda kept her chin high as she shot back, "And you'd be right to suppose that."

Impa shook her head. "Anyway, what's the plan? What are you wearing? Where will you get ready?"

Zelda opened her mouth, only to realise she didn't know the answer to any of those questions. "It's, uhh… a work in progress," she said after a long pause, trying to inject confidence into her voice. Impa smirked. "I guess you don't need any help from me, then," she said casually, reaching up into a side stretch, not looking at Zelda. Zelda wrestled with her pride for a moment, but in the end she gave in. "Well, actually…"

"Yes?" all of Impa's subtlety disappeared as she dropped her arm down again and grinned toothily. Zelda couldn't help but chuckle fondly at her friend. "Impa, I need your help. Please."

"I KNEW IT!!!"

"Shush!" Zelda tried to stop Impa from alerting the entire field that they were plotting something. Impa grinned wider and bounced on her toes, forgetting about her grudge. "Zelda, this is going to be so much fun."

For all she was risking, Zelda sincerely hoped so.

---

"Zelda."

She froze at her father's voice, one foot out the front door. It's over, she thought, a lump already forming in the pit of her stomach. He knew all about her plan, knew she was breaking every single rule and then some. Trying to ignore her wildly thumping heart, she peeked over her shoulder at Rhoam, who was hovering in the pristine entryway. His face was unreadable as always, features arranged in the same carefully neutral expression. After an awkward pause, he coughed and finally spoke again. "It's good of you to give Link extra tutoring, especially on a Saturday night. I just wanted to say I'm proud of you."

Oh. Well, that made her feel much worse than if he had scolded her. Zelda tried to school her face into something that wouldn't betray the bucket of guilt that had just washed down her spine. "Th-thanks," she squeaked, clutching her backpack like a lifeline. She was still dressed in her school uniform, and only bringing her usual things so as not to appear suspicious. "It's really no problem."

Rhoam nodded, seemed about to say something else, then turned and waved a hand at her. "Alright then. Dmitri will pick you up when you're ready."

Zelda collapsed against the doorframe as her father swept back down the hallway to his study. She was still fighting her instinct to call the whole thing off, had come very close mere minutes ago, but an excited text from Link just as she was resolved to do so had thrown her off again.

Safely tucked into the back seat of the car, she pulled out her newly relinquished phone and opened up his message again.

Link

Nell and I can't wait for tutoring!! ;)

It was accompanied by a blurry picture of him and his dog, who looked like a Border Collie of some kind - she chuckled looking at it. Nell looked like she was mid-leap towards Link's face, and he'd captured the moment as he was reacting and bracing himself for impact, hair flying. She stared at it for a moment longer, then hurriedly tapped out a response to let him know she was on the way. As she hit send, her phone buzzed in her hand, and she glanced at the pop-up. It was Revali.

Revali

Zelda

Help

This is a bad idea

She rolled her eyes. Like he could act dramatic about this when she was the one practically risking her life to go to this party.

Zelda

Oh no you don't

You are NOT backing out now

Revali

I don't even have anything to wear

Zelda

I doubt that

Show me what you've got, I'll help you

Revali

Or I could just stay home

Zelda

We made a deal. YOUR idea in case you forgot

There was a pause, and she was about to hit the call button to yell at him when the three dots appeared in the chat again.

Revali

Ugh fine

Image.jpg

Image.jpg

My only two options and they both suck

Zelda

Who knew you were such a drama queen

Do you have a plain white t-shirt?

Revali

I think so

Zelda

Good

Wear that with the jeans from the first picture and the black jacket

And show me your shoe options

Revali

Image.png

Zelda

Hmm, both pretty good but I think the sneakers are best

Try it on

Revali

I don't see how this is going to be better, it's the same clothes

Zelda

TRY IT ON

There was another suspiciously long pause. Zelda frowned. They were almost at Link's house according to Dmitri's GPS up on the dashboard.

Zelda

Revali

Revali did you try it on

Revali

Image.png

You're annoying

Zelda

I TOLD YOU

It looks good!!

Mipha will notice for sure ;)

Zelda saw the middle finger emoji pop up on her screen just as they pulled up to the house. She smirked and tucked her phone away, looking up at Dmitri as she unstrapped herself. If he suspected anything about this strangely noble tutoring excursion of hers, he kept his mouth shut. He turned to look at her as she gathered her things and reached for the door handle. "Take care, Miss Zelda. I'll be back to pick you up later." She nodded and smiled, then scrambled out of the car and approached the front gate. Link's house was small, but charming, with a cute front porch covered in pot plants. The garden surrounding the house was flourishing, and she swept her eyes over the jungle of flowers and bushes appreciatively.

When she reached the front door, her hand faltered, hovering over the doorbell. Impa was meeting her there, would she be there already? Or was it just-

The door suddenly clicked and swung open, and she jumped as Link beamed out at her. "Zelda! Why are you just standing there?"

She stared for a moment at the soft grey sweats he was wearing, the folds draping down his body and making him look far more cosy and huggable than was good for her heartrate. She snapped her eyes back up to his face. "Oh! I was just- ah, you have a lovely garden!" she flapped a hand vaguely at the pot plants and the flowers out front.

Link grinned. "I'll pass it on to my mum. Wanna come in?" He stepped back to let her step inside, and as she did there was a clatter of claws on wooden floor and a beautiful border collie came trotting around the corner.

"Oh!" she gasped, dropping down as Nell ran up to her, nuzzling closer and whining happily as Zelda scratched her ears.
"She's gorgeous!"

Link looked chuffed. He dropped down next to her, his knee brushing hers while he stroked Nell's back. Her tail was thumping wildly on the floor as she basked in the attention. "She likes you," Link said softly. For some reason that made Zelda's cheeks go warm. She stood up again, glancing around.

"So am I gonna get a tour or what?"

Chapter Text

Zelda was in his room.

Link tried not to overthink it, but it was hard not to. He was painfully aware of everything on his shelves, on the walls, the dog fur collected on the rug. Zelda was perched awkwardly on the edge of his bed, looking at his shelf of books, sports trophies, knick knacks and dog toys, while he was hovering around even more awkwardly and pointing out random things she probably didn't even find interesting. Impa was supposed to arrive at any minute, but for now it was just the two of them and the knowledge that they'd never been alone quite like this before.

He quietly thanked the gods that Nell was there to break the ice a little. He watched as the border collie nuzzled into Zelda's leg, asking for more head scratches which were happily supplied. Zelda lifted her head up and caught him looking, before smiling and looking down at Nell again.

"I wish my dad would let me have a pet." Zelda's eyes softened a little wistfully as she stroked the fur on Nell's head. Link bounced on his toes for a moment, then worked up the courage to go sit next to her on the bed, Nell between them providing a respectable barrier. His hands moved on autopilot, ruffling Nell's ears. "Why are you not allowed to?" he asked.

She sighed. "Too distracting? Too much work? I don't really know, to be honest. I only ever asked once, never quite got the courage to do it again."

"Well, you'll be able to one day." He smiled, catching her eye before continuing, "and until then, you can share Nell with me."

The corners of her mouth lifted ever so slightly. He knew it sounded silly, but he meant it. Zelda turned to Nell then, looking into her large brown eyes. "What do you think of that, Nell?" Nell's tail wagged energetically, thumping on the floor, and Link laughed.

"Of course she agrees, it's about time she had a mom, too."

He realised how it sounded as the words left his mouth, and promptly froze. Zelda's cheeks pinked ever so slightly, and she laughed a little louder than was really necessary in the small room. "I guess that's that then!" she said brightly, avoiding his eye and addressing Nell again. Before Link could say anything else, the doorbell rang and shattered whatever moment they'd been having. All three of them jumped up to go to the door, Nell leading the way.

Impa burst through the door as soon as it opened, clutching various bags and starting a stream of chatter almost immediately. "Sorry I'm late! Zelda, you haven't done your hair or anything?? Never mind, we'll get there. Link, make yourself useful and put some music on or something!"

She soon swept them up into her excited energy and the three of them plus Nell trooped back up to Link's room, where Impa dumped all her bags down. She looked Zelda up and down appraisingly. "I've brought like, three different outfits for you to try. Come on, we haven't got all day!"

Just like that Zelda got dragged off to the bathroom, casting a quick, panicked glance at Link over her shoulder. He just saluted her solemnly and went to choose his own clothes. Impa darted back a few times to grab various items and bags of clothes, while he pottered around.

He was aware of muffled conversation filtering down the hallway as he pulled clothes out of his closet, fiddled with his hair and carefully dabbed on some of the nice cologne he'd received for his birthday. At one point it sounded more like an argument was happening, but he figured with Impa that was to be expected, and Zelda could handle herself. He appraised himself in the mirror, then rooted around in a drawer for some jewelry, opting to change his signature hoops for something a little more sophisticated, as well as deciding on a necklace. He put on a shirt and buttoned it up, and when he reached the third to last one his hands hovered, considering. After a split second he rapidly did it up, leaving just two undone, willing the blush away from his cheeks. He had his limits of bravery, too, however much he wanted to impress Zelda tonight.

He'd been ready for a while, carefully sprawled on his bed to preserve his shirt and idly playing with Nell's ears, when the bathroom door finally clicked and Impa yelled cheerfully, "We're ready!!" Link sat up quickly and smirked at what seemed to be a whispered argument coming down the hall. He missed most of it, catching snippets of "I can't just-" and "urry up before-"

The girls both jumped when he strode down the hallway, joining them where they were still conversing outside the bathroom door. Zelda had her back turned to him, and when Impa looked over her shoulder at Link she turned, eyes going wide. Link faltered, eyes sweeping over her extremely cute outfit. She was dressed in a simple but well-cut navy blue party dress, with knee high stockings and shiny lace-up boots, a washed denim jacket draped over one arm. Her hair was half pulled up, leaving strands to frame her face while the rest cascaded over her bare shoulders. Her makeup didn't look too different than before, but Impa had added some kind of glittery eye shadow that caught the light when her head moved, giving her gaze a sparkling sheen that made Link's breath catch a little.

Impa broke the silence. "Well Link, are you gonna compliment my handiwork or what?"

He tore his eyes away from Zelda and tried to grin in a somewhat casual manner. "Of course. Zelda, you look gorgeous." He flicked his eyes back to her as he said it, and watched her blush prettily. Her eyes dipped down as she responded softly. "Thanks. You- you too…"

"I look gorgeous?" he couldn’t resist teasing her a little, despite the fact that she'd just made his heart do a somersault, and he was pretty sure he did NOT look as cool and casual as he was trying to appear right now. He could feel heat creeping up his neck and the tips of his ears flushing. Zelda rolled her eyes and giggled a little. "Yes, sure, you look gorgeous," she countered, turning quickly to follow Impa who was already halfway down the stairs. "Are you happy Impa?" Link called, following the two girls, his heart beginning a rapid beat of excitement now that they were closer to getting to the party.

Impa snorted. "Disgustingly so. Now hurry up, we're gonna be late!"

Impa had managed to sweet-talk her mother into giving them a lift, since she didn’t live too far from Link's house. The three of them waited outside for all of a couple of minutes before the car pulled up and they piled in. Impa got into the front seat, leaving the back for Link and Zelda. Link opened the door on the pavement side and swept a hand towards it. "After you, Princess." He couldn't stop himself from reverting back to the nickname, despite the play and his pretend knighthood being long over. Zelda half giggled, half blushed again as she climbed in, and Link made a mental note to call her Princess again when the opportunity arose.

The car ride was quick and uneventful, and before long they were pulling up to the house and Impa was fielding instructions from her mother to be safe, and text if she needed anything, and to be careful, and not go wandering off, and look after her friends and-

"Okay, thanks mum! I'll text you later, okay?" Impa rocketed out of the car before her mother could say anything more, while Link and Zelda offered quick thanks as they followed her out. Link had hoped he could help Zelda out of the car as an excuse to take her hand, but she was already up and out at the same time as him. Impa yelled one last goodbye to her mother, then the three of them looked at each other. Impa grinned.

"Well, what are we waiting for?"

~~~

They'd been inside for all of three minutes when Link decided he wasn't letting Zelda out of his sight for the evening. Their entrance had caused a slight ruckus, and at first he put it down to his own popularity, getting swarmed by soccer friends as first one then another person yelled out his name and alerted everyone else to his arrival. It was all to be expected, but then he caught multiple pairs of eyes going to Zelda, and really, why wouldn't they? She looked unbelievably pretty, and soon she was surrounded and being peppered with compliments and smiles and little quips about the top student being seen at a party. Link wished she at least had the decency to look uncomfortable, but she simply nodded and smiled and returned hello's gracefully, the picture of calm composure. When she laughed at some poor excuse of a joke from Robbie, a tall, freckled, and slightly-too-handsome-for-comfort classmate, Link decided enough was enough.

"Alright alright, give her some space!" he called out, keeping his tone light and joking. The crowd parted easily for him as he swept his way back to Zelda's side and tugged on her arm gently. "C'mon, let's go find some drinks." He was rewarded with a relieved glance from Zelda, and the rest of the group soon dispersed and went back to their chattering groups, seeking out snacks or games - Impa got pulled into some circle involving a stack of cards and an alarming amount of shot glasses. Link ignored a baleful glance from Robbie as he guided Zelda away to the kitchen, daring to let his fingers glance against her lower back.

"You all good?" Link asked, forcing his hand to drop away from her when they reached the kitchen. The middle island was a mountain of chaos, cups and bottles scattered, sharpies left uncapped to soak up the concoction of liquids that had been spilled. He picked up two clean cups from the stack and snatched up the only sharpie that was still intact.

Zelda nodded. "Yeah!" Her face was flushed, her prior outward calm cracking ever so slightly. She looked nervous, but there was a sparkle in her eyes and a warm tinge to her skin. She gave him a full, toothy smile, the kind that he'd been unknowingly chasing after ever since he first saw it in the school hallway. His stomach seemed to get confused about its rightful place in his body for a moment, and he felt his face stretching into a smile to match hers.

"Good. That's good."

Thankfully he didn't have too much time to dwell on how lame that sounded before Zelda spoke again.

"Is that… alcohol?"

Link shoved down his laugh. Zelda was the picture of wide-eyed innocence, squinting at the bottles piled on the counter, no doubt the efforts of one of the seniors and a fake I.D. He knew that Zelda hadn't had the same experiences of most of them - this was her first party.

"Yeah, you wanna try some?"

Zelda frowned, the doubt written across her face. "It's probably not a good idea. My dad…"

She didn't need to finish the sentence.

Link shrugged. "It's okay, if you’re not comfortable then I won't have any either."

He was halfway to reaching for a bottle of vanilla coke when she tugged on his sleeve and caught his eye again. "I mean… I kind of do want to try it," she admitted, looking down. A strand of hair fell forward off her shoulder. She brushed it back and looked up again. "Maybe… maybe just one?"

Link chuckled. "You know that's famous last words, right?"

Her eyes widened in horror and he backtracked hastily. "But if you really want to, I'll make sure it's only one. Promise."

He met her gaze steadily while she considered. "Okay," she said finally. "What do you recommend?"

Link grinned. "Well, since you like coke, let's just add a little something to it!" He poured out two cups of vanilla coke, then rummaged around the bottles until he found some vodka. "I won't put too much, alright?" Zelda nodded and watched as he glugged a small amount into each cup. He gave one to her then raised his in the air. "Cheers!"

The plastic cups clacked together with an extremely dull and unceremonious tap, and they took a sip together. Zelda only spluttered slightly, then grinned. "I still prefer just coke, but it's not terrible."

Link laughed and pulled her back in the direction of the party. "Not terrible is a great start!"