Link was restless that night. He had only one thing on his mind, and it was Zelda (no surprise there). But, he was more focused on the time he had spent with her today. Feeling like he had done everything wrong, and once again, he was here in his bed; laying awake in the early hours of the morning and finding it hard to catch sleep.

He hated when this happened, but he wasn't surprised when it did. Link just wished that it didn't happen and never told anyone about it. Doing that would probably help him, even if it was just a little, but it was so hard getting your problems out there like that. When you didn't have anyone you trusted that deeply, it was the most difficult thing to harbor.

Eventually, he came to peaceful terms with his restless mind. Analyzing his day was not healthy for him at times, but there was always the moment when he had to accept the fact that what he did that day was done; it couldn't be taken back.

He tried to be hopeful.

Today was fine. Zelda smiled a lot around me. That made me happy. Zelda makes me happy.

Thinking of other things and people that made Link happy, he eventually drifted off into a short slumber, one that quickly ended when his alarm clock rang at five thirty in the morning.

His will to get out of bed was at a low this morning, unsurprisingly. Aryll would occasionally storm into his room and attempt to drag him out of bed, which worked well. He was hoping that would happen, because otherwise, he'd be fine with staying glued to the comfort of his bed. He would probably just stay there, anyway.

Soon enough, he heard someone running up the stairs and towards the door of his bedroom. Whoever was there didn't bother to knock or anything, and instead barged in.

It was indeed Aryll, who slapped Link's forehead. That woke him up, and he jolted upright from his sleeping position and creased his eyebrows at his younger sister.

"You didn't have to slap me," he groaned, rubbing his sore forehead.

"How else would you have gotten out of bed?" Aryll teased, then sighed. "Breakfast is ready, anyways. Get dressed and stuff before you come downstairs."

Aryll made her way out of his room, stopping at the door to say one more thing. "You're visiting Telma again after school, by the way."

Link raised an eyebrow as he climbed out of his bed. "I thought I was seeing her this weekend. On Saturday."

"I guess the schedule has been changed," Aryll said with a shrug, skipping away from his door and bounding back down the stairs.

Link got dressed and freshened up, making sure he didn't look like a zombie that day at school. Fast forward to breakfast, where he ate a small plate of pancakes and grabbed his backpack afterwards.

Link found himself at school now, going through the same boring doors and walking down the same boring hallways, expecting another boring day ahead of him.

Boring, boring, boring! But what else is there to expect from this place?

He spotted Zelda entering the school, but the bell rang all of a sudden. Had he really been that late?

Algebra went by so slowly, that Link felt all of his brain cells slowly dying as the teacher carried on and on about some sort of mathematical method, one he and most of his peers did not understand. Which is why they were given a lecture on how they must strive for better grades, and that they were irresponsible for not getting good grades. Good grades, good grades, don't fail, success, keep dreaming, children.

Everyone was falling asleep in class, and Link was on the verge of it. Their teacher never bothered to wake anyone up, and everyone already asleep was awakened by the bell.

As Link exited his classroom, he internally groaned.

So much for boosting our confidence, he thought with slight anger. How does our teacher think putting us down will make us want to do better? It just makes me want to give up even more.

Before the bell could ring again, Link rushed over to Zelda and signed the word hello to her.

Midna was standing beside her this time around, giving Link a strange look that he couldn't decipher.

Things went by quickly, and the bell had rung again. How fast was this day going? Link stopped himself there. He didn't want to have an existential crisis right now.

As Zelda and the others scurried off to class, Link included, Midna grabbed him by the hood of his hoodie and he let out a choked sound.

Turning him around, Midna placed her hands on her hips and smirked.

"Do you like Zelda?" she asked.

Silence.

Link's face flushed and he slowly shook his head. Great, now he was feeling like that again. The moment he pictured Zelda in his mind, he felt all tingly inside. His heart thumped a little quicker than usual, and his stomach flipped constantly. Weird.

"No. An—Anyways, shouldn't we be heading to class?" Link said with a nervous laugh; it was obvious he wanted to ditch this conversation, but Midna grabbed him by the hoodie again.

"Don't lie to me. It's obvious you have some sort of crush on her," Midna informed, and her smile dropped all of a sudden. "Why?"

"Why? I don't know. I can't control my feelings, Midna," Link answered simply, rolling his eyes unnervingly.

"No," Midna said in a bitter tone. "Why did you come back to her all of a sudden? I thought you hated her."

"I..." Link felt his words get clogged up in his throat. This always happened when he really wanted to say something, but he thought—no, he knew he couldn't say it. Midna would criticize him!

He couldn't tell her the real reason why he needed Zelda's help. It was—it seemed pathetic to him.

"I just needed someone's help," he decided to answer with, thinking it was his best way to answer the question.

"Uh-huh. You could've asked anyone else," Midna stated, waving her hand around to gesture to the student body.

"Well—I choose to talk to Zelda, okay? I wanted to apologize to her, too... It'll help me."

"Why can't you tell me what's wrong?" Midna asked earnestly.

Link didn't want to talk to Midna anymore.

"Stop asking me," Link snapped, mentally cursing himself for making that come out so rude.

He walked off, entering his next class on the verge of tears, for some reason.

Don't cry, loser, he thought.

••

Link hadn't spoken to Zelda all day, not even through text.

School had ended, and everyone was exiting he building. Either in groups or just with one friend by their side, Link was jealous, wanting a friendship like that.

He didn't deserve it, even if anyone would tell him otherwise. Link could never believe it.

As Link was making his way towards the sidewalk that lead to his home, he heard someone skip up behind him. Glancing to his side, he saw Zelda walking alongside him and wearing a small smile on her face.

Midna had told Zelda what happened between her and Link today, so Zelda made it her priority to cheer Link up.

But then she thought, why am I doing this? I'm supposed to hate Link, not enjoy being around him. I'm not supposed to help him!

The deal didn't matter anymore to Zelda; she just wanted to help Link. Because she was slowly figuring out the puzzle that was Link. Zelda knew that once she started something, especially something logical and difficult like this, she just couldn't back down.

She would help him.

Zelda halted her footsteps, which caused Link to stop in his tracks as well. He looked at her, giving off a facial expression that asked what she was doing.

It was a bold move, but Zelda held out her hand to him. Link stared at it quizzically, wondering what she was trying to get him to do. Her hand gesture didn't make any sense to him.

Zelda emphasized her hand, trying to get the point across. Come on, her mind chanted. It's so obvious what I'm doing!

Wait, wait, wait—did she want him to hold her hand?

That couldn't be true. Absolutely not!

Hesitantly, Link lifted the hand opposite to jets up and silently hoped that his assumption was right. Link placed his hand in hers, watching in awe as Zelda slowly intertwined their fingers.

It was a tender moment, and Link didn't feel too anxious about it for once. It felt calming and soft, as if the goddesses were wrapping a cozy blanket around his weary heart.

Zelda squeezed his hand tighter, looking straight into his azure eyes and smiling the warmest smile he had ever seen her show.

A smile like the sun.

••