Chapter Text
Revali emerged from the hangar, his now two-person circus of costumed clowns following close behind. The thought struck him for a moment that this seemed just ridiculous and random enough that it might actually just be a really, really weird dream.
He subtly pinched himself and when the slight pain registered, he remembered that, no, this was just what his life was since Link had entered it. Not exactly a nightmare, but there was certainly a lot of senseless confusion- which in some ways was just as stressful.
He glanced back to send the blond an accusing look. Link however, just perked up and smiled, happy for any bit of attention. Ug. If he really wanted to punish him, he really ought to start ignoring him more instead.
Or maybe that was a terrible idea. For as absurd as he acted when Revali was watching, he seemed to act out even more when he wasn’t. It was in Hyrule’s best interest that he should keep him entertained less he release the next cataclysm onto the world. Also… it was overlooking the fact that Link was altogether quite impossible to ignore anyway. Even when he wasn’t almost completely naked and wrapped furs like some male lead on a dramatized romance novel cover, he just had this strange quality that caught and held the eye. More and more Revali found himself unwillingly being drawn to Link any time he was in the immediate area, like he was some walking lightning rod for his gaze. (usually because he was doing something so distractingly moronic, mind you)
They passed Harth on the trek across Revali’s grassy acreage, archery bag hitched over his shoulder. The bartender stared at the assembly with just the vaguest expression of bafflement. He opened his mouth but Revali quickly cut him off. “Don’t. Just…don’t ask. Please.”
Harth just nodded slowly but continued to stare as they stalked away towards the house.
Revali did not want to explain himself right now. He didn’t feel like he had a good explanation. The reality was starting to bear down on him and it wasn’t looking good.
They had basically just abducted a child yet there he was just thinking about Link of all things! Admittedly she was also the strangest child he had ever met under the strangest of events ever considered but that didn’t change how blatantly felonious this felt.
Perhaps this was less about him seeing reality so much as a certain paranoia he had always had around minors kicking up.
Revali was from the city where any interaction with a stranger’s kid felt decidedly illegal. He was raised in the days of the stranger danger social epidemic and that sort of panic went both ways. He refused to be mistaken as some sort of deviant or criminal. He gave most children a wide and skeptical berth, treating even the babies that liked to wave to people on the bus as if he expected every one of them to be an undercover cop just waiting to accuse him of looking at them weird.
Yes, while he found pre-teen girls chilling for both their almost sociopathic penchant for cruelty that paired terrifyingly with their accelerated social intelligence over most of their male peers who really only caught up in their- Revali considered Link- late twenties, he actually found all children somewhat frightening.
It took months of knowing both Saki and Teba before he stopped trying to block Tulin’s unsolicited hugs and even now he would awkwardly turn his body to subvert them into restrained side embraces.
Goddesses above. Could they just turn around and take her back where they found her or would her mother now reject her since she carried their scent? He had not signed up for this at all. Come to think of it, WHY hadn’t they just dropped her off at a town with a police station and been done with it? Taking her home was NOT the rational thing to do no matter how you thought about it.
He sent Link another accusing look for how he had so obviously frayed at the pilot’s sense of sanity and rationality. Once again, the blond brightened, this time waving back happily.
Revali’s growl was almost audible.
Riju walked up next to him, surveying the acreage, and turning a contemplative eye back towards Harth, now left a ways down the little dirt trodden trail. “Is this your land?” She asked.
“Yep,” Revali said, still decidedly on edge.
“It’s bigger than I expected. You must do well for yourself. Do you hold a title? Was that one of your servants?”
The reaction was instantaneous, Link rocketed forward and quickly covered her mouth giving her a quick shake of the head. She (rightfully) gave him an unimpressed glare and he backed off quickly. Still, she cleared her throat and amended, “ah, never mind. I… misspoke apparently.”
The hell was that?
They were not being subtle. Link was still nervously chuckling and Revali just turned to her and answered. “No…” There was something in his tone though that hinted at his unmistakable ‘suspicion’. Who the heck called anyone a servant anymore? He was sure it wasn’t a label that flew with the modern-day strides towards public correctness. While he always thought that getting all in a huff over terms like ‘secretary’ was a bit much, even he agreed ‘servant’ was blatantly dehumanizing.
She just hummed an unvoiced thought.
What a weird kid. It was becoming more and more obvious every time she opened her mouth. Actually, even when she didn’t there was something unnerving and altogether off. She was always watching. Every single thing that they did she just stared at them in this intense and unreadable way. It was downright unsettling. Even when they went inside and took off their shoes, she just stood there and Revali felt remarkably like an ant under a microscope. Only when they had completed the action of placing them on the shoe rack did she parrot it. Everything she did had that same sort of hesitant delay straight down to when they had fastened their seat belts on Medoh. It was like she needed to be reminded on how to act like a functional human being… or like she had never done any of these things before but that would be absurd…
Regardless, they needed to get this sorted right away.
He sighed and guided his guests to the living room and gestured to her and then the sitting area. “Take a seat.”
She looked at him for a moment before striding forward and perching regally on the detached armchair with the strange confidence of if it were her personal throne. She quickly got comfortable crossing one leg over the other and resting her chin in her palm aloofly.
She wasn’t doing anything, and he still found her excruciatingly annoying.
Revali sighed. Where to even begin here?
Link looked at him, his poorly fashioned-together boar pelt cloak sliding just a little lopsidedly down his dirt-caked shoulder.
With him. He was starting with him, no doubt.
“Okay first I think the ‘adults’ need to have a little private chat.” Revali announced to the group.
Link tilted his head as if he had no idea what this talk could possibly be about.
“And at least one of said adults needs a shower before he is allowed to touch anything in this house, so it might take a while,” he said this second part to the girl. “I’ve got cable, the remote is on the coffee table. Bathroom’s down the hall. Do whatever you want as long as you don’t make a mess.”
She stared at him almost perplexed and Revali quickly dragged Link into his bedroom before shutting the door behind him.
He quickly wheeled on the blond.
Link immediately had a weird kind of smirk that pissed Revali off. ‘Wow, how bold,’ he signed.
Revali just stared at him, not understanding the joke. Link quickly pulled out his phone. Second nature at this point, Revali did the same and waited.
‘Inviting me into your room like this after one date. Didn’t know you were that kind of guy.’
That was not worth the electricity or the brainpower it took to read it.
“Do I look like I’m in the mood right now?” Revali snapped.
Link just looked surprised and damn how good Revali had gotten at reading every single one of his expressions with almost telekinetic accuracy. “I meant that I’m not in the mood for your jokes!” He clarified. “I am not saying that under other less bizarre circumstances I would bed you, you absolute pervert!”
Link clicked his tongue in partially faked disappointment. How was he still acting so juvenile when they were in a crisis?!
“Who is she?” Revali interrogated.
‘Riju.’
He wanted him to react to that. He would not.
He spun around and started rummaging through his drawers instead, finding that same pair of track pants Link had worn during his last stay and an old worn t-shirt from an army fun-run. “Fine. We’ll talk after your shower. Maybe once you’re back to looking presentable to human society you’ll start acting like it too. You can use my ensuite.”
Link casually walked over to the attached bathroom and peered inside. He turned to Revali and gestured to it vaguely.
“What?” Revali asked and then, incorrectly guessing the question, he replied before Link could even respond. “There’s a little cupboard to the side with towels. It’s fine if you want to use my soap and shampoo. In fact, I encourage it. Oh do you want to know how the nozzle works?”
Link just signed. ‘Wanna join?’
He was immediately pelted in the face by projectile clothing. “Back to joking I see,” Revali growled.
Link erupted into a cheeky grin, unable to hold his poker face a second longer.
“Clean out your dirty mind while you’re at it,” Revali commanded then left him there before he could say a single other absurd thing.
He ended up rejoining Riju in the living area.
She had… just been sitting there. She hadn’t even made a single move to turn on the tv or peruse his shelves for a book.
Like he’d originally thought,
She was just… weird.
He sat down on the couch, unconsciously choosing the spot the furthest away from her.
They ended up locked in a staring contest that both were too proud to break first.
“Not a fan of TV I take it?” He asked.
She just shrugged but didn’t reply.
When Link finally emerged a few minutes later, he found them still like that. If he noticed the sour energy in the room, he didn’t make any special note of it.
“Oh good, you’re back,” Revali said. “So, where do we go from here?” He looked back at Riju, eyes narrowing. “Where do you live? For the simple reward of getting you out of my house as soon as possible, I will fly you absolutely anywhere in Hyrule that I have to.”
He half expected her to just hold the cryptic smirk but his words actually managed to rattle her. She looked down for the first time. “I… suppose I don’t live anywhere anymore.”
Her shoulders slumped for only a fraction of a second before she seemed to have caught herself and sat back up straight and proud as if nothing had just happened.
Link’s smile slipped from something natural to something wider and more forced as he placed a hand on Revali’s shoulder before quickly withdrawing to type.
‘I have a massive favour to ask.’
“It often feels like our whole relationship is just me doing you massive favours,” Revali pointed out.
‘Yeah but this might be the biggest one yet.’
He was getting a VERY bad feeling. Link continued to type. ‘It would just be for a short while so I can go back to the city and get some things figured out.’
“What’s he saying?” Riju asked, “I can’t see from here.”
‘Could you just let her stay here for a little while?’
“LET HER STAY HERE?” Revali repeated in outrage.
For the first time ever, Riju seemed to be on his same page. “With him?!” She asked incredulously.
Link looked between the two in a panic, not able to find a form of communication that would adequately reply to them both so he turned back to Revali. ‘JUST FOR A BIT.’
“Define ‘a bit’!” Revali snapped.
Link started backing up and he put his phone in his pocket. ‘I don’t know.’ he signed.
Revali got up and started following after him. “I swear to the Goddesses Link! Where do you think you’re going?”
Link was very clearly edging towards the door. ‘Just a bit,’ he repeated.
‘Do I look like a babysitter?” He asked.
‘Please,’ Link begged. He actually did stop moving though and the look he sent Revali was so desperate that the pilot was stopped in his tracks too. ‘This is very important.’
“When is taking care of a child not important?” Revali asked.
Link ran his hand through his damp hair in agitation. ‘Can you trust me?’ He signed.
“Link…” Revali sighed. “You have to realize this doesn’t look good, and even now you refuse to tell me the full story.”
‘Can you trust me?’ He repeated. His eyes were pleading and so very, very blue.
Revali let out a disgruntled sigh. “Yes. Against all reason, I can and DO trust you but-“
Link smiled. ‘Great!’
“Wait” Revali said.
‘I’ll contact you soon.’
“No.”
‘thank you so much!’ Link was back to fleeing to the front door.
“Link, no.”
Link kicked his boots on and then he was outside, racing to his car.
“LINK! THAT WAS NOT A ‘YES’! GET BACK HERE THIS INSTANT," Revali yelled from the entrance.
Aaaand he was gone.
Revali just stood there for a good long while in disbelief.
He returned to the living room, sat back down at his spot on the couch, and resumed his staring contest with Riju.
This time however, they both just looked bewildered.