"Wha—What did you say?" Groose asked nervously, grabbing pieces of his red hair and pulling them outwardly in anxiousness.

Lana just smirked. "We're going to ask Link and Zelda—if they want to go out! Like, on a date. Like, you ask Zelda, I ask Link—"

Groose suddenly shrieked like a small child, covering his face with both of his giant hands. "I don't have the courage to ask that!"

"C'mon! It's not that hard!" Lana tried to reassure the burly man, but nothing seemed to be working at all. She bit her lip, trying to think of another way to get him to do this.

"You know, if you don't ask Zelda soon, someone else is going to ask her out eventually..." Lana said. "And I think you know who that specific someone is."

Groose's head finally perked up, his eyes widened and his hands slapping the lunch table they were both sitting at. "Good point. Alright, I'll go ask her now—but only if you ask Link!"

"That's what I was planning to do, bastard!" Lana exclaimed, jumping out of her seat and trying to spot out Link.

Fortunately for her, she found him within seconds, just entering the cafeteria, about three minutes late. With an overly-joyful smile on her face, she skipped over to him and caught his attention. He looked quite disappointed the moment he laid his eyes on her, but that easily flew straight over Lana's head.

"Hi," she greeted him normally at first, clearing her throat and sucking in her breath. "I was wondering...do you want to hang out with me later today? Like, at the park or something."

Link looked taken aback by her sudden question, biting his lip and sneakily looking over Lana's shoulder. Not to his surprise, he saw Groose pestering Zelda again, who actually looked fearful this time compared to yesterday. So, she didn't like him, right? Right?

Silencing his thoughts before they progressed, Link returned to the real world. He didn't want to make Lana feel too disappointed, despite the fact that he disliked her, so he sympathetically smiled at her and said his reply.

"No thanks. I'm kind of busy after school anyway—" he began, but Lana excitedly cut him off.

"Then how about tomorrow? Tomorrow's a Saturday, so surely you'll be free then! Right?" Lana suggested, batting her eyes and trying but failing to flirt.

This time, he just nervously grinned. "Uh, I'm busy then, too."

Their conversation, of some sort, lasted for two more minutes, with Lana constantly asking if he was free on every single day of the week. Eventually, Link gave up the act of being busy and just flat out told her he wasn't interested.

Lana stood there, dumbfounded, not even bothering to watch Link make his way over to the table where Zelda was sitting.

During this time, Groose had begged Zelda for a date, to which she declined every single time he asked the question. Once she saw Link sitting down at their table out of the corner of her eye, she felt as if she had been saved.

Thank you, Hylia, she chanted, watching an angered Groose stare down Link.

"Get out of here!" Groose yelled at Link, pointing to a random table somewhere else.

Link shook his head. "Nope. I want to sit here."

"Zelda doesn't want to sit with losers!" Groose retorted, resisting the urge to slam his fists down on the table.

"Groose! You still use second grade level comebacks?" Link retorted. This irked the pompadour man to no end, causing him to grab his lunch tray and furiously leave Zelda's table.

Midna, who was watching this entire episode play out, couldn't help but laugh at what she witnessed.

"That was entertaining," Midna signed to Zelda, then saying the actual words to Link. They both nodded wholeheartedly in agreement with her statement.

Thinking back to what Lana had asked him sparked an interest in Link. Suddenly, he had the courage to say anything to her now, instead of limiting himself to what he thought was right to say. Clearing his throat, he pulled out his phone and slowly began to type a text message to Zelda.

Rereading the text over and over made him feel even more anxious about doing this, but it would be better if he just got it over with. Besides, he was still visiting his therapist, Telma, a person who he cared about now. Wouldn't she be proud of him for taking such a bold step forward?

He sent the text, deciding to wait for her reply instead of running away and cowering somewhere else. Midna looked over his shoulder sneakily and read the message, a smile erupting on her face once she had read it. She knew she shouldn't have, but she couldn't help it.

Zelda felt her phone buzz in the pocket of her jeans, causing her to grab her phone and unlock it. She didn't read the text message until she entered the messaging app.

: do u wanna hang out after school

She watched him get nervous over sending this, but why? He had asked her the same thing last year.

: sure! like a date? ;)))))))

Smiling, she glanced upwards to see him staring at his phone with a light blush covering his cheeks. Slowly, he typed out his reply and sent it.

: not really

: it's cool with me. where to?

: um.......how bout a coffee place?

: I mean

: do you even like coffee,??

: yea. That sounds cool with me.

: epic

••

Both of them went home first, making sure to properly prepare for their first date. Well, Zelda considered it a first date—she didn't know for sure if Link was keen on that idea.

Staring in the mirror, she realized only now how bland she looked. Compared to Midna or any other person at Hyrule High, Zelda considered herself boring and unattractive. She didn't know why Link even hung out with her in the first place. It wasn't out of pity, she knew that. But she still couldn't help her wandering mind.

Deciding to just stay dressed in the outfit she wore to school that day, Zelda made sure to brush out her hair so that it looked a little nicer. She wasn't wearing much makeup, only concealer, so she put lip gloss on just to make her appearance sort of pop. She wanted to stand out a little more.

Looking back in the mirror, she groaned when that little touch didn't make her look special at all. She gave up on trying to look stunningly gorgeous—after all, it was just a small date at a coffee shop. It's not like they were going to an expensive restaurant or anything.

Asking her parents if she could use their car, they kept asking her why she was even going out at this time. Sheepishly, she said that she and her friend were hanging out, to which her parents assumed was Midna, and let her off the hook. She had mentioned Link before, but she knew they'd just tease her about this date if she told them otherwise. Zelda couldn't handle that right now.

So, as she was driving to the coffee shop they agreed to go to, she began to ponder over what would happen this evening. Zelda began to pray that everything would go right as she pulled into the small parking lot and parked.

Zelda didn't bother to read the sign of the place, just hastily making her way towards the front door when she saw Link sitting in one of the tables beside the front window. The snow underneath her boots made a soft crunching noise, the fluffiness of it soon disappearing once she had reached the front door.

As she entered, a small little bell tinkled above her head, although she didn't hear it—well, because she couldn't, obviously. She made her way over to the table where Link was and sat down directly in front of him.

Looking up from his phone, he smiled once he saw her face. He pointed to the two coffees sitting on the table, gesturing for her to take one of them. She had already texted him what her favorite coffee was, so he probably bought just that, Zelda assumed.

Zelda took one of them, taking a sip of it and feeling like she was in heaven. Which, this scenario could easily be described that way—spending time with someone she liked and drinking her favorite coffee? Pretty cool.

: lol guess what

: hwat

: .....

: idk. let's just talk about stuff

: yes

: we shall talk while I enjoy this delectable coffee, thanks for getting my fave 😘😘

: uwu

: ur welcome

: lmao

Throughout their date, they communicated with each other through text, sharing laughs at the texts they sent each other. They learned quite a lot about each other during their date. Link already knew Zelda liked to draw, but she finally showed him a good amount of her artwork, all of which Link was marveled by. Although he was a bit embarrassed to admit this to her, he told her about how much he likes to write. Zelda said that she loves to read, and she would love to read anything he did write, which made Link feel very happy about his knack for writing.

Some others stared, wondering why the two were just texting and not interacting at all with each other, all of which neither minded.

Link was encased in his own little world of happiness for once in his life. Zelda always seemed to make the room a little brighter. Her presence was just that glowing and that captivating and goddesses, Link loved it.

They had already downed their coffees, but neither of them bothered to throw them away just yet. It was used as a sort of excuse to stay around each other longer. Currently, they were having a vivid conversation about chip flavors—what they would taste like if you combined two specific flavors, cool flavors they should make, etcetera.

Soon, it was getting dark outside, and both of their parents wanted them to come home at this point (it was obvious by the frantic texts their parents sent to them). Much to both of their disappointment, they stood up and threw away their empty cups of coffee, exiting the shop and entering the chilly January weather in Hyrule.

Zelda was struggling to put her gloves back on, since her fingers felt so clammy due to the weather. She thought that the tips of her fingers could snap off any moment now, and half of her wasn't even exaggerating.

Watching her do this was hard, so Link just grabbed the other glove from her hand and began to slip it onto her bare hand. Zelda slowly kept putting her other glove on, mostly paying attention to Link's help. Her cheeks and the tips of her ears were red, not only from the cold weather, but mostly because of what was happening right now. Whenever Link's fingertips brushed over her own skin, there was a jolt that shot through her body and made everything all tingly.

When she finally had both gloves on, the warmth encased her once shivering and red hands, allowing Zelda a sense of tranquility. She sighed in relief, opening her eyes once more and noticing that Link's face was, probably, equally as red as hers.

It could be due to the cold only, but she would never know.

Before they said goodbye, they gave each other a quick hug, a smile gracing Zelda's face.

Just like last year when they had embraced each other in a similar fashion to this, Zelda felt safe in his arms, as cheesy as that sounded. She knew all her statements and thoughts about him thus far made her sound like a stupid, lovesick teenager featured in every romance novel, but she didn't care at this point. She cared about him very much, and she didn't even bother to remember their rusty history.

Because, you know the reason. The past is in the past, and there's no need to dwell on past events forever.

Zelda was thankful that her ninth grade-self made that decision last year.

••