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English
Series:
Part 29 of Linktober , Part 5 of nine heroes, one spirit
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Published:
2023-10-06
Words:
1,266
Chapters:
1/1
Comments:
23
Kudos:
255
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33
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2,179

men's boots, too big

Summary:

“They told me I was the right person at the wrong time." Time sighed. "So I had to grow up fast.”

Warriors muttered, “I shouldn’t have let you fight with us.”

Linktober 2023 Day 6
LUtober 2023 Day 8: Mask

Notes:

I never ended up coming up with a backstory for why Time is feeling overwhelmed, so feel free to make up your own headcanon :)

Anyone recognize what inspired the title?

(See the end of the work for more notes.)

Work Text:

“Old Man, where are you?”

This time, the nickname didn’t bring an exasperated smile to Link’s face. He scrunched his eyes even tighter and held his knees closer, praying the captain wouldn’t see him like this.

Boots crunched on the dead leaves scattered around the roots of the large, hollow tree. Through a slit in the bark, he could see Warriors crossing his arms.

From his vantage point, Warriors seemed infinitely tall—capable and mature enough to handle anything. Battle-hardened, confident, efficient. A leader. A real man.

Link bit back a sob and buried his face in his knees. What was he doing?! What was he doing, trying to lead a group of heroes? What was he doing, hiding like a scared little child? What was he doing, pretending to be a grown man? What was he doing, letting his feelings take over his reason? What was he—

“Hey.”

He jumped and instinctively reached for his sword, but his hand grabbed air.

Warriors put up his hands. “Woah, it’s just me.” He proffered Link’s Biggoron sword. “You left it in the house.” His mouth opened again like he wanted to say something more, but he left it at that.

Like he had conditioned himself to do, Link’s internal turmoil stopped to let a mask of maturity take over. “Ah, there it is,” he said nonchalantly, like his long, adult limbs weren’t crammed into a fetal position inside the hollow of an old tree.

The sword wavered. “You want to grab it, or…?”

“Too heavy for you?” He eyed the shaking pommel.

Despite retorting with an indignant huff, Warriors laid it on the ground and sat next to it, facing the same direction as Link. “I was holding it with one hand, alright.” His fingers idly tapped the blade.

A woodpecker in a nearby tree echoed the pattern. Taptaptaptap—tap.

Link sighed. “Why are you here? I know these woods. You didn’t need to bring—”

“Why are you here?”

He set his jaw and turned his face away.

“Come on, don’t give me that. Answer me straight. What’s going on?”

“You can’t fix it, so there’s no point in telling you.”

“Try me.” He lifted his chin.

He shook his head firmly. “It’s not your responsibility to fix the problems of your elders.”

“Lucky for you, then, that once upon a time I was older than you.” He crossed his arms, smirking. “Checkmate.”

“That’s not relevant,” he grumbled.

Warriors shrugged. “It is what it is, Sprite.” He grinned cheerfully.

Link tried to glare at him, but couldn’t muster up the fire. Defeated, he hung his head. “Fine.” He took a deep breath. “My mind keeps telling me that I’m a—” he grimaced— “a… kid.” He continued quickly, “I know I’m not! I’m not crazy—I know the truth. I’m an adult. Guess it’s just, uh, a feeling thing.”

“Huh.” He leaned back against the bark. “I never would have guessed. Then again, we all have our... masks.”

That got a mirthless chuckle out of him.

“Has it always been like this?”

“Comes and goes. Ever since my first adventure.” The word tasted bitter. “They told me I was the right person at the wrong time. So I had to grow up fast.”

Warriors muttered, “I shouldn’t have let you fight with us.”

“You needed my help.”

“You were a child! I was so stupid, letting you convince me. I should have been more responsible.”

“Woah there, Captain. That was ages ago.” Still, that anger on his behalf felt nice. Really nice, actually.

"Not for me." He gestured to Link’s still-cramped form. “And evidently it doesn’t feel like ages ago for you!”

“It is in the past, whether I feel like it or not.” He sighed. “Besides, it was my destiny to—”

“Destiny doesn’t mean shit if you’re not ready for it,” he snapped. “It doesn’t matter if you’re a tiny child or king of the battlefield.” His voice lowered again to a mutter. “So much pain could have been avoided.” His gaze was hard, staring at the dead leaves on the ground.

Warriors was talking about himself, wasn’t he. “We both did our best.”

“Well, you shouldn’t have had to.”

“I still don’t agree, but… thanks.”

“Tch.” He shook his head. “You’re still so stubborn.”

“So says the pot.”

“…Touché.”

Link cleared his throat. “Malon knows, if you’re wondering. She knows everything about me.”

“Honestly, what I’m thinking is that I’m surprised you didn’t go to her for this. Aren’t spouses for pouring your heart out to? But instead you’re alone. In a tree.” He gave him a look.

“The tree is with me, so I’m not alone,” he retorted, but he knew he had lost. “Malon… She’s my equal. An adult. But right now, I…” He looked down. He knew they fit right, but his boots just looked too big.

“Ah.”

His ears felt hot.

“Well, I guess that’s what I’m here for, then. You’ve got me, too. Not just the tree.” His gaze softened. “Come out of there. I have something to give you.”

“I don’t want the sword right now.”

“I never said that’s what it was. Come on.” He beckoned with his hand. “Captain’s orders.”

Link huffed, but started standing up anyways. It took a little more twisting to extricate himself than it took to get in, but in the end, he managed. He put his hands on his hips. “Alright, what.”

Warriors moved the sword to his other side and tilted his head to the open spot.

He rolled his eye. He sat.

“Slouch.”

“What?”

“Slouch. You’re too tall. Get smaller.” When Link didn’t comply, he gave his shoulder a gentle downwards press.

Whatever. By now his dignity was long gone. Link slumped against the tree bark, his head now shoulder height. “Happy?”

“Not yet.” Warriors scooted closer and put his arm around him. “There we go. Brotherly bonding time.” He pulled him into a side hug.

Link spluttered and wriggled in his grasp. “You said you were going to give me something!”

He held on tight. “For your information, my dumb little brother, this is called ‘giving a hug’. And this is ‘giving a noogie’.” Suddenly, he rubbed his knuckles hard on the crown of Link’s head.

“Ow!” He pushed his hand away.

Warriors laughed.

Some things never did change. Link rubbed his sore head and grumbled. Still, he stayed where he was. He’d never admit it out loud, but it felt nice being hugged like this. While Warriors’ muscular arm behind his head wasn’t the softest pillow, the feeling of being protected by a warm, strong presence was more of a comfort than he remembered. It was much better than being scrunched up in a cold tree. He felt safe. Secure.

Warriors sighed contentedly. “I’ve missed this. It’s been a long three years.”

A tear squeezed out from Link’s eye. It was silly, he knew, but the younger self inside him was overwhelmed with gratitude at hearing that someone actually missed him. Actually cared. Almost everyone around him had only paid attention to him as an adult. He had never blamed them. Being an adult was more useful than being a child.

But maybe he didn’t have to be useful. Maybe... he could just sit around and be hugged every once in a while. The thought was admittedly scary—to step back and let himself be taken care of for once, but yet, as he found himself dozing off to the rhythm of Warriors’ breathing, a part of him felt like maybe it was okay to be a child sometimes.

Notes:

Sorry if the end is too sudden! Idk why but I was really struggling to get it to sound right. Anyways, as always with my LU fics, I haven't actually read LU yet, so plz lmk if there's something OOC that I can fix.

Thanks for reading! If you liked this, please let me know by leaving a kudos (and comment if you can!)

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EDIT: Check out this lovely fanart by the wonderful @kikker-oma on tumblr!!