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Today was quite lovely if Link was being honest.
Barely any fights, and only a few unassuming clouds in the sky that he thought nothing of, and a beautiful view in front of him as he gazed around at the town in front of him.
Despite his flat and unassuming expression, he felt happy. The breeze was fresh and the sky was clear as he quietly rode through the town, eventually making his way through Hyrule Field and just enjoying the scenery.
He rode around for a while, reaching up and pulling out the bright blue elastic in his hair that matched his brilliant blue eyes, tossing it into his pouch. He gently nudged the side of his horse with his heel, clicking his tongue at her to tell her that he wanted to speed up.
A small smile graced his face when she sped up, letting his eyes close as he tilted his head back, happily letting the breeze flow through his hair. Speaking of his hair, it was getting pretty long..maybe he should trim it up a bit soon since the ends were becoming a bit dry and were splitting.
He'd have to do that later.
————
It took a solid 3 hours before he ended up in Hateno village, humming quietly to himself as his horse quietly trotted along the path in the village.
He climbed off of his horse with a small huff after making it past the small bridge near the dye building with that odd man that worked in there, tying the reins to the nearby fence next to the river so she could drink if she became thirsty. He didn't intend to stay for very long despite him doing this, but he figured it would be fine to leave her there to enjoy the sunshine.
His lips slightly curled upwards as he stared up at the horse and gently pet her snout, perking up a bit when a couple of small children that had been playing nearby came over and excitedly asked to pet his horse. Their eyes were bright and shining with curiosity and excitement, which in turn made Link's smile grow just a tad as he nodded and gently lifted each child to pet the horse.
Each child he lifted squealed with excitement the moment their little hands touched the horse's snout, the horse not seeming to mind it at all.
A few minutes later, they seemed satisfied and ran off after thanking Link with bright smiles. He waved at them and grinned widely in return, humming in delight at seeing the children so happy.
He turned back to his horse after seeing the kids run off and begin to play in the distance and placed a gentle kiss against the bridge of her nose before he walked off to greet the others in the town, letting out a huff of a laugh on hearing the playful snort from his horse behind him.
While he was out and about, he managed to buy a few things to make some special meals for the other knights since he didn't feel right taking so much food from the royal kitchen, humming in delight as he walked back to his horse after about an hour or so of his personal shopping trip.
He placed the food in the large pouches on the side of the horse's saddle, a small smile gracing his face as he gently patted the horse's side. He looked up to the sky and noticed how dark it was finally, a soft sigh falling from his lips as he squinted in the direction of the setting sun in irritation as if glaring at it would make the sun decide to rise back up into the sky.
He lightly scratched at the side of his head and grumbled a little, knowing he wouldn't make it back in time to get good enough rest for tomorrow. He thought for a little while and finally relented, untying his horse and bringing it over to the small stable to be taken care of for the night.
He was honestly thankful that it was so close to the inn.
He walked into said Inn and pulled a singular red rupee out of his pouch to hand over in exchange for a bed, feeling relieved that he wouldn't have to ride through the dark of the night with all the monsters roaming about. They were such pains to deal with, especially those odd skeletal ones he ran into sometimes.
After paying, he walked up the stairs and yawned, covering his mouth as he did so and stretching in an almost cat-like manner afterward. He took off his pouches and placed them in the drawer of the bedside table, sliding under the covers of the bed and laying in silence until he finally fell asleep.
—————
He woke the next day, though it was around 3 in the morning, feeling like he hadn't gotten any rest at all. Well, he honestly really hadn't.
He couldn't stop having nightmares that night about something.
//
He couldn't remember much of what happened beforehand, but in the beginning of what he could recall, it felt like he was chained down to the ground by tight and painfully hot chains.
He couldn't get out of them, and it hurt to even move when he would try to free himself from the chains' grasp. When he would look up, he would see a tall man with beautifully tanned skin. The man looked powerful and had a dark and sinister look on his face. His long red hair shone and spilled over his broad shoulders, and the crown of his head was graced with an intricate golden band.
He looked elegant, beautiful even.
At least, he would if he didn't have the look of pure bloodlust in his eyes aimed towards Link.
The man would stay quiet and unmoving for a while before he would suddenly reach down and grip Link by the throat and pull him up against the resistance of the chains. This would immediately cause Link to let out a loud cry from the overwhelming feeling, the pain causing hot and stinging tears to prick the corners of his eyes and blur his vision as he struggled to even breathe because of the hand around his throat.
On noticing that he couldn't breathe, the man would laugh loudly in his face, mocking him, and squeeze even tighter, causing Link to let out another cry. Though it would sound a lot more strangled and garbled against the grip the man had around his throat the second time around.
He could remember every time how it sounded, listening to his own helplessly hoarse voice struggling to make any sort of noise, trying to voice his pain to no avail. The sound of his own racing heart was pounding in his ears and everything was dancing in his vision, the lack of oxygen getting to him.
The man would lean down close to his face and grin, that utterly disgusting grin that he had become all too familiar with, that grin that caused his stomach to churn and made bile to rise up in the back of his throat. He didn't even know who this man was, but alarm bells were ringing against the inside of his skull when he would even dare to look at him.
Link would suddenly feel a piercingly sharp pain through his chest while trying to focus on breathing through the bruising grip around his throat, a loud and hoarse cry falling from his lips at the pain, small garbled sobs coming from him as he would struggle against this vile man's grip.
His vision would become overcome with darkness as he supposedly lost consciousness from the amount of pain he was in, and would wake up with a jolt and a small gasp.
//
Every time he woke up from this nightmare, he would immediately cradle his hand over his chest where the pain originated from in his dream, but never found a wound. It infuriated him, and he didn't know why.
This happened multiple times throughout the night, leaving Link with his entire body trembling and completely exhausted from the lack of sleep and paranoia.
It had been like this for around 6 months now, and he had no idea why. He's barely gotten any sleep at all for so long, and he was honestly surprised that he was alive and even still in the royal guard at this point considering the number of times that he's fumbled over his training and completely missed his targets, along with plenty of other things that he's mucked up throughout the past few months. He supposes that he managed to hide it well enough to not be kicked out or scolded by the King himself, though.
A soft sigh fell from his lips as he stood up, carefully stretching his limbs and yawning before he grabbed his pouches out of the drawer and hooked them back onto his belt.
He figured that since he can't sleep, and wasn't planning to for at least a few days, he might as well get going.
He quietly walked out of the building so as not to disturb anyone, and perked up on noticing something cold hit the tip of his nose.
He looked up and noticed how dark clouds filled the sky, and paired with the low rumbles he heard in the distance, he knew a storm was coming. A groan fell from his lips as he wiped his face in frustration.
Great. First horrible nightmares with red haired weirdos stabbing you, and now having to ride 3 hours while also dealing with camps of monsters that he would have to pass by, just to get back to the castle, in the freezing cold rain, which was now starting to pour down. He had to make it back early enough to not get in trouble too.
Lovely.
His face scrunched up a bit at the biting cold temperature of the rain that landed on his bare skin, but it would be fine.
He hoped.
He sighed as he headed over to where his horse was being sheltered, bringing her out and mounting her before he pulled a dark cloak out of one of his pouches. Thank Hylia he thought to bring this in case it ever rained.
He put it on and clipped it into place before pulling the hood up and over his head, humming shakily at the smell of the air becoming thick with rain.
He nudged his horse to a gallop and hurried out of the town, not minding being splashed by the mud his horse would gallop through. He just wanted to get to the castle and into his own bed so he could at least read his books if he wasn't going to be able to sleep, even if it was a tad uncomfortable at times.
——————
God, this rain was starting to really get on his nerves with how slippery it was making everything. It felt so gross on his skin. He just wanted to be dry and in his bed, reading a nice book on gems or something that would make him happy.
But instead, he was stuck having to race against the pelting rain that would constantly fly into his eyes. He liked rain, but at this moment, his body and brain were just so ridiculously exhausted that he felt genuinely angry at the weather at the moment.
After spacing out for a while in an attempt to make time pass by faster, Link finally snapped back into reality with a small huff of annoyance.
Though when he did so, he noticed that there was a large monster camp up ahead that he was way too close to for him to not be noticed. He knew that even a keese could have seen and heard him coming, so he wasn't gonna be able to get out of this one without a fight. He couldn't risk getting his horse hurt by allowing the monsters to chase her, so he was stuck.
He mentally slapped himself for not paying attention to his surroundings, but it was whatever. He would just get this over with and then head back.
——————————
'This was a horrible idea.'
Link thought to himself as he finished fighting the last Moblin, his body trembling with exhaustion and cramps that seized his limbs because of him straining his muscles too much. He was so stupid for doing this, why couldn't he have just tried to make his horse go faster?? Was he just too proud?
Was it that he wanted to feel stronger after feeling so weak for so long due to the nightmares??
Whatever it was, there was no use in thinking about it now. He took one last swing at the last Moblin in the camp and watched it fall to its knees on the ground. A soft sigh fell from his lips afterward as he closed his eyes, trying to calm himself from the adrenaline rush.
As he turned around and began to head back to his horse in the distance, though, the Moblin had gotten up and picked up a rusty sword nearby before swinging at Link's back. It carved deeply into the flesh of his back, causing him to let out a loud cry as he stumbled forward. He turned around as quickly as his body would let him and plunged his sword into the moblin's abdomen after barely managing to duck under the moblin's attack right after, twisting his sword before pulling it out and watching as it finally fell.
He watched as its body turned black before its completely dissipated into a dark cloud. He stared at the cloud that had faint bright red specks and swirls lazily floating throughout it, quite fascinated with how everything worked when it came to these creatures.
He didn't have much time to ponder over such things though, the painful stinging in his back paired with the tickling feeling of something thick dripping down his back interrupting his thoughts and bringing him back to the present.
He let out a soft and shaky sigh in slight irritation, reaching his hand back and feeling the ripped cloth along with the deep wound. He hissed in pain on coming in contact with it, quickly pulling his hand back and noticing the amount of blood on his hand when he glanced down at it that was being quickly washed away by the pelting rain.
He grumbled in frustration, gathering up the monster parts that hadn't disintegrated along with the rest of the body and tossing them into his other empty pouches before he mounted back onto his horse and nudged her to a gallop again.
As he rode through the rain, he attempted to wrap some bandages around his back from under his shirt which ended in clumsily wrapped bandages that were slipping off of his slim frame.
Link sighed harshly in annoyance, just continuing to ride through the field until he finally reached the castle.
It felt like days before he finally reached it, but he was just glad he was finally here. Even when the barely rising sun was glaringly bright and trying its hardest to blind him.
He quietly trotted through the town and to the camp where the knights usually slept, putting his horse up and putting his cape up to be sewn later since it was ripped from the Moblin incident. He clumsily threw on a loose shirt to cover his wound after tossing the torn one to the side. He headed out afterwards and grabbed his ingredients from his horse's pouch and stared at them, quietly thinking to himself about what he could make before settling on an idea with a firm nod and hum to himself.
He wandered inside the castle and to the kitchen as he carried the food, setting the things on the counter. He noticed just how dirty his hands were from the mud and blood being clumped together all over his pale skin, humming quietly. He went over and washed his hands before he got to work making the food since it would take a while to get done.
And it did indeed take a little while considering he was done by around 8 in the morning, and though it only took 2 hours(which honestly felt like 10 to Link because of how muddled his brain was), he was quite happy with how it turned out despite the excruciating pain radiating throughout the entirety of his back.
He perked up on noticing the servants and chefs coming into the kitchen, quietly gesturing that he needed help carrying the plates to the knights.
They seemed happy to comply, each person helping him out and carrying a few plates at a time while Link only carried a couple at a time since he was too exhausted at the moment to even think of carrying any more than 2.
They all came outside with the food, and the knights of course seemed quite happy to be getting such a filling breakfast after they had woken up just a little bit ago at the ass crack of dawn.
He preferred his large amounts of sleep compared to the rest of these guys, thank you very much.
Link seemed proud of himself, and could surprisingly only stomach a small portion of the food before he went off to fix his bandages now that the rain was gone.
The other soldiers were worried on seeing this, but none questioned the man and just assumed it was an off day for him. They wouldn't know if something was wrong anyways with the flat and unchanging mask that he wore constantly.
He went into his own area and carefully took off his shirt, placing it to the side as he grabbed a small cloth and more bandages before he sat down by a small bucket full of water.
He dipped the rag into the water and wrung out the excess water before he reached up behind himself and began to gently clean the large wound to the best of his ability, the blood soaking through the cloth.
He would hiss and groan in pain if he pressed too hard, eventually just giving up halfway when he was almost in tears and couldn't handle it anymore and just beginning to wrap himself back up with clean bandages.
He did a better job this time at least, the bandages not being loose all over and falling down his frame. There wasn't much he could do about that one though considering his horse was galloping and his body had already been shaking.
He stared down at his bare chest, staring at one of the 2 scars that were visible under his pecs. He reached up and gently placed a finger on it, tracing it and smiling faintly at how flat it was. It was a fairly odd feeling though, with the scar tissue being numb yet sensitive at the same time.
He eventually stood and put on some clean clothes and his armor, though he knew it would hurt like crazy if it bumped into his back, and begrudgingly walked out to start his training for the day.
———
Unfortunately for him though, the pain was hard to bear, his body barely holding up the entire training session. Not to mention, he had a meeting with the princess and king later on that he needed to get through. The thought of seeing the princess made his heart jump a little with excitement, though he didn't know why. He was just glad that she wasn't being as harsh as she was when he was first assigned to be her personal knight a few months ago.
He quietly grumbled at yet another stabbing pain against his back when the armor bumped into his wound for the 10th time within 5 minutes. How in the name of Hylia is he supposed to get through 4 hours of this before the meeting??
—————————
Though he was in excruciating pain the entire time, he ended up getting through it somehow. He was relieved when he could finally take his armor off and slip into more formal clothing, though it was still a bit tighter than he would've liked, the royal blues of the clothing that matched his eyes clinging to his figure in a way he didn't find too bad.
He splashed his face with water and dried it before tying his hair into a low bun with his favorite blue elastic that he had grabbed out of the pouch he stuffed it into earlier, mentally preparing himself for a few moments before he snatched the papers that he needed to bring along with him and finally wandered into the castle.
Beside the throne stood the princess in one of her less formal, but still nonetheless beautiful, gowns that reached the floor and only gave a hint of what her shoes looked like when she would walk. The king on the other hand was of course in his best attire, sitting upright on his throne as he watched the small boy walk through the entrance of the room.
Link felt a bit anxious and jittery, but he knew it would end up being the same as usual. Just giving yes or no answers to things and handing over reports. Same as always.
Or at least he thought so until a sudden wave of dizziness hit him and he nearly toppled over, but quickly corrected himself before either of them had realized what was going on, rapidly blinking away the dizziness the best he could.
He cleared his throat quietly and tried to act normal, but his vision was growing fuzzier with each passing moment and it was making him grow even more anxious, his hands trembling behind him as he tightly gripped his knuckles.
He didn't realize he was being spoken to until there was the sound of fingers snapping, which brought his attention back to the present fairly quickly as his blurring vision landed on the king.
"Link, is something the matter? You seem very...'out of it', for lack of a better word."
His deep voice spoke, keeping Link's attention thankfully, and the boy simply gave a hesitant nod, his mind too hazed at the moment to give a proper answer.
The king looked unconvinced judging by what Link thought was a soft crease to the man's brows, but still dismissed him with a gentle wave of his hand and a nod. "You are dismissed then." He said, his voice lightly echoing through the room, still obviously uncertain about leaving the boy alone.
Link in turn nodded to this, and fucking Hylia that made his head feel like it was spinning, turning around slowly and making his way to the exit as his vision further faded until it became overtaken by darkness and he felt himself hit the floor with a small thud. He could faintly hear the sound of concerned voices quickly coming closer, but he could care less right now.
He was just so..tired.
————
It was about an hour or two later that he ended up waking up, jolting upright in the bed on realizing that he had passed out and groaning at the pain in his back, quickly regretting sitting up as small tears lightly filled his eyes at the radiating pain that came back and honestly hurt worse because he had been laying on it this entire time he was guessing.
There was suddenly a hand against his shoulder, and he flinched back with wide eyes and looked up, only to notice that it wasn't just any person, it was the princess herself.
Zelda.
His eyes widened a fraction more as he pressed his lips together into a tight line, turning his gaze away after noticing the concern in the other's eyes. He couldn't handle looking her in the eye right now.
Not when she looked at him like that.
"Link...are you okay..?-" Zelda spoke, cutting herself off and pausing before she spoke again.
"Actually, here. Before you answer that, drink some water, Okay?" She said as she reached over to the small table beside the large bed and brought the edge of a glass filled with water up to the other's lips. Link hesitated for a few moments, but felt much better when he felt the cool liquid flow down his throat. He didn't notice just how parched he was until now, drinking almost the entire thing in one go before the glass suddenly left his lips, most likely to prevent him from getting hiccups from drinking too fast.
Or something like that. He didn't know honestly. His mind was still too muddled from the pain and dizziness that he couldn't really pinpoint and hold onto proper thoughts very well at the moment.
He faintly felt his cheeks flush a little on hearing the princess softly chuckle on seeing how thirsty the other was, watching as she set the glass down onto the table again.
"Someone's thirsty, hm? Have you not drank anything at all in a while..? You need to drink water more often to keep your body healthy, you know." She lightly scolded, a small smile gracing her lips telling him that it was in a more playful manner than anything. Probably to help lighten the mood?
The corners of his lips curled up slightly on hearing her teasing and seeing her smile so warmly at him, feeling his gut churn a little. But..it was more of a pleasant churning, in a way.
He huffed in protest as she gently laid him back down and placed her hand in the middle of his bare chest, that he apparently hadn't noticed until now, sitting on the edge of the bed beside him.
"I had the servants check you over for any injuries, and they saw them all over you, Link...why do you never ask for my help..? I could have helped you, yet you chose to try to deal with it by yourself." She quietly spoke, the tension in the air thick enough to where even Link's muddled mind could put together that she was angry. That made him nervous on realization, the fidgeting of his hands against the sheets and nervous twitches of his ears obvious.
"Please..I know it's hard to trust that you'll be heard, but I swear to the Goddess Hylia herself that I will always listen to you." She said, pausing for a moment as a guilty expression came across her face.
She shifted her gaze away before she spoke again, seeming to be a bit embarrassed.
'She's so beautiful' a voice in the back of his head echoed as she spoke, and he had to physically restrain himself from hiding under the covers so he didn't embarrass himself more than he already was.
"I..had been behaving very childishly to you for so long, though, so I do understand if you do not wish to talk to me about that kind of thing." She paused yet again, thinking for a bit before she spoke again, her tone a bit softer this time. More confident in a way.
It suited her, he thought.
"I noticed you don't like talking though, so as I said, I won't force you to talk, but I would still like you to remember that you do not have to bear everything yourself, Link. Share your pain and longings, your hopes and your dreams, and perhaps even your nightmares with me. Let me share that burden with you so it does not have to weigh so heavily on your heart..please. It hurts to see you like this."
As she said this, Link was intently listening and his eyes widened a little more with each sentence spoken. He...really couldn't believe it. Why would someone want to share his burden? He couldn't. He could never do that to anyone. Especially not Zelda, who already has enough on her plate as it is. He could never force her to deal with the weight of what he faces each day. His mind was absolutely reeling right then at just the thought, the anxiety in his gut churning and carving at his ribs and lungs with a jagged knife.
He could never.
He quickly shakes his head with a bit of a panicked expression on his face, trying to convey through his eyes that he could never do such a thing to her, and she seemed to catch on as a soft sigh fell from her lips.
"I figured as much. But Link, just...remember that I will always be here. Alright?"
Zelda asked, a sincere smile on her face as she looked down at him, causing his heart to squeeze just a little at how precious she looked.
How could he ever say no to that face?
He hesitantly nodded and subtly smiled up at her, perking up when she reached down and gently hugged him. He was a little stunned, to say the least, and after a few moments of letting his muddled mind catch up, he finally reached up and gently hugged her back, raising an eyebrow on hearing her make a small noise that almost sounded like an "ew."
He looked up at her and tilted his head curiously when she pulled back, her nose scrunched up in the most adorable way as she furrowed her eyebrows slightly.
"Okay, uhm..Link..- You really need a bath."
She said with a laugh, smiling warmly at him with a crease to her thick brows that perfectly complimented her features. In his opinion they did, at least.
He felt a bit embarrassed by this, shifting his gaze away a bit as the tips of his ears turned a little pink from embarrassment, his ears flicking nervously.
She only laughed harder at this, having to calm herself down a bit as she gently took his hand in her own and smiled at him again. 'How could she always be so beautiful? It wasn't fair to his weak heart.'
"Here, how about instead of the maids helping you...I help you instead?"
This made his ears and cheeks become even hotter and more flushed than before when his mind finally caught up to what she said after a few seconds, his gaze snapping over to meet hers with a bit of a shocked expression on his face.
She stifled a giggle and hummed as if she had expected this reaction from him, gently squeezing his hand to help calm him from his shock.
"From what I can remember of her, my mother used to care for me all the time when I was having troubles, so I figured I could do the same for you. Does...does that sound okay with you?" She asked as she tilted her head questioningly, obviously a bit hesitant in case it made him uncomfortable, which of course it kind of did because of certain reasons, but he figured it couldn't be so bad once he really thought about it.
Maybe.
He let out a soft sigh and hesitantly nodded as he watched her reaction, her eyes lighting up with excitement as her smile grew even wider.
'Goddesses above, she's so cute..he might just die from how adorable she is.'
————
A little while after he had been led to the bathing area, he hummed on seeing the round baths filled with steaming water, the clay tubs having beautiful and delicate designs carved into them, similar to the designs that framed the flags that represented the kingdom.
He glanced over to Zelda who gestured for him to undress after she had came back from slipping on a shorter gown to make sure her more expensive dress didn't get soaked from the water, rolling the sleeves up and tying her long hair up into a high ponytail to keep it out of her face.
He watched her for a few moments before he hesitantly began to undress, pausing suddenly after taking his pants off and feeling very anxious at the thought of taking his boxers off in front of her.
What if she hated him because of this? What would she think of him..? Would she think he was disgusting? Would she make her father fire him, leaving him with nothing but unused sword skills and loneliness as he traveled across Hyrule with no purpose???
He knew damn well that that last part wasn't possible considering he, quite literally, was the person to pull the sword that seals the darkness out of the stone, and the king kind of needed him.
These thoughts plagued his mind as his breathing grew a little faster, his hand shaking as it gripped onto the hem of his boxers so tight that his knuckles turned white until he felt another hand on top of his own.
He perked up and snapped out of his thoughts, glancing up at Zelda who was beside him and giving him a gentle and comforting smile.
He felt his heart skip a beat on seeing her smile, pursing his lips together firmly as he sighed softly and finally relented.
Link hesitantly and slowly pulled his boxers down, covering himself awkwardly and feeling a bit anxious. When he glanced up at her, he noticed she did seem a bit surprised at first, but her only reaction after she got over the shock was to reach over and place a hand on his shoulder. She simply smiled at him, muttering a small 'it's okay', and that was all he needed to feel so much better about his situation. At least a little.
He was still a little anxious of course, but that smile she gave him and the look in her eyes told him everything he needed to know about how she felt. It felt..nice to be accepted.
He slowly lowered his hands as he watched her bend over slightly to test the water with her hand, a small hum of satisfaction coming from her after a few moments of testing the warmth.
She stood up straight and turned back to Link, gesturing for him to get in. He nodded to this and carefully climbed in after taking his bandages off, hissing in pain at the hot water that touched his wound. Her eyebrows scrunched up a little on hearing him make these noises from the pain, watching as he slowly got accustomed to it and adjusted a bit before he comfortably leaned into the water and let his muscles soak.
Goddesses above, this was such a good idea. It felt so wonderful to finally relax his muscles after so long.
Zelda simply hummed on seeing this, smiling softly as she brought over some soap that she had gathered from some cabinets.
She set the bottles of soap on the ground and sat on a stool that was beside the tub before quietly telling him that she was gonna wash his hair as a warning. He simply nodded and closed his eyes, patiently waiting for her as she poured some soap into her hands and gently lathered it into his hair after pouring some water into his hair to wet it.
He felt himself melt into the feeling of his scalp being massaged like this, almost as if he was a cat of some sort, the subtle happy flicking of his ears and small hums that came from him almost proving this in a way. He leaned back into her touch, humming shakily in satisfaction at the feeling.
He couldn't even be bothered to be flustered by her giggling at him doing this.
After she finished washing his hair, she gently rinsed it and then began to wash his body. She made sure to be extra careful around his wound, though she did wash out any debris with a different type of soap so it didn't sting as badly.
She would gently shush him when he would let out a faint whimper or groan from the pain of her cleaning his wound, making sure to take small breaks every once in a while to rub soothing circles into his shoulders in a slight attempt to distract him from the pain, ignoring the small tears that fell from his face and dripped into the water that surrounded him as not to embarrass him.
After she had finished, she stood up and walked to a large cabinet in the corner of the room before grabbing a large and fluffy towel and walking back over to him after he had finished washing the rest of his lower half.
He seemed to be done washing and rinsing, carefully climbing out of the bathtub when he noticed that she had a towel.
He was about to grab it before she gently pulled it back, shaking her head slowly at him, which of course confused him.
She chuckled and reached over before she began to dry him herself, being careful to not hurt him. Afterward, she let the towel sit on his head and gestured for him to stay before she grabbed a spare nightgown in another seperate cabinet in the room that he could use since it was loose and comfortable enough to not irritate the wound on his back.
Zelda let him dress into the gown after she thickly coated his wound in medicine and wrapped fresh bandages around his torso, gently drying his hair the best she could with the towel. She watched as he slowly became more and more embarrassed at the fact that she was staring at him so lovingly, her smile growing wider and face growing hotter with each passing moment.
She chuckled at his reaction after about a minute of staring, humming quietly as she noticed how dead the ends of his hair looked, quietly pressing a couple of strands of hair between her fingers as she felt the dead hair.
He hummed in response to her doing this, thinking for a moment before he finally lifted his hands a bit and signed "I was going to cut the split ends off of my hair soon."
She nodded to this and thought for a bit before her expression lit up a bit, a small smile gracing her face as she glanced back over at him and spoke.
"Would you like me to do it right now? It really wouldn't be too much of a hassle. I'm fairly good at cutting hair too, might I add. I might even be considered the best around!" She lightly joked with a slight smirk, which caused the boy to let out a slight snort on hearing this. He quickly slapped a hand over his mouth and shifted his gaze away, nodding. Though his smile was still very much so visible from under his hand.
When he did this, however, he missed the fact that Zelda was practically beaming right now. She was proud of herself for finally getting the other to laugh after so long, even if it was just a little bit. She felt her heart squeeze on seeing the shy expression on the other's face, not understanding why she felt this way around him.
After a bit of preparation and setting some towels down around them and around Link's neck, Zelda sat behind link with a pair of small scissors and gently held the thick lock of hair in her other hand.
She quietly hummed as she gently trimmed away the dead ends of his hair, the sound of scissors cutting away hair filling the room along with soft and steady breaths coming from both of them.
After a while of cutting, she finally finished and admired her work. She made it look as natural as it was before, but without the dead ends and maybe a tad bit shorter than it was before. He still looked lovely either way, and she just couldn't help herself as she carefully hugged him from behind, trying to avoid aggravating his wound again, and buried her face into the side of his neck after removing the hair-covered towel around it and tossing it to the side.
This caught him off-guard and he froze, but soon melted into it as he carefully leaned back against her. He soon rested one of his hands over hers, gently squeezing as he closed his eyes and yawned.
Zelda smiled warmly on hearing this and stayed like this for a while as he seemingly slowly leaned further and further back against her before she noticed his soft and steady breathing, indicating that he was fast asleep.
She softly chuckled at this and gently scooped her arms under the other, carefully picking him up in the most comfortable way that she could at the moment, holding him close to her as she brought him back to her room and laid him down on her bed.
She gently tucked him in once she laid him down and smiled, doing her nightly routine of braiding her hair and coating it in expensive oils to keep it looking healthy and shiny as it always was. Once she was done, she walked back over to the bed and grinned, watching him lightly snore with his lips halfway parted.
Absolutely adorable.
She pulled the blanket over him a bit more since it had slipped a little due to his shifting while she was busy doing her routine, and climbed into the bed next to him before she covered up with the blanket as well.
Zelda stared at his sleeping face for a while, not being able to help herself. I mean, how could she not want to stare at that adorable face of his? He still had the roundness to his cheeks that showed just how young he was and those darling blue eyes that were brimming with curiosity about different things but was never allowed to show it.
It was sad, really. But she wanted to help him break through that mask and be who he really was, because she honest to Hylia loves when Link doesn't realize that someone's listening and is cooking by himself in the kitchen while humming a small tune. She also very much so loves how he seems to adore kids when they would go visit the different villages and towns to check up on things.
Everything about him was amazingly sweet, and she could never get enough.
She got lost in her thoughts like this for a while before she finally realized that she was just gushing over Link instead of sleeping.
She couldn't help but to stare even harder at his face for a while, these thoughts flooding her mind before she finally worked up the courage to lean over and press a soft kiss against his temple. She pursed her lips together tightly and rested her forehead against his shoulder, a flush creeping up her neck from slight embarrassment.
A few moments after she did this, though, she felt Link's warm arms gently wrap around her neck as he turned onto his side and pulled her closer.
He buried his nose into her hair at the top of her head, seeming to be relaxed like this. Her heart pounded in her chest at the situation that she was suddenly thrust into, so she was frozen for a while while her mind caught up with whatever in the name of Hylia just happened before she finally relaxed and wrapped her arms around him, closing her eyes and resting her ear against his chest. She quietly listened to his heartbeat, the corners of her mouth curling up into a small smile as she was lulled to sleep by this.
She would most definitely have the sweetest of dreams tonight with him by her side, and she hoped he would too.