The first day of March had arrived, and Link was currently paying a visit to Telma once more. It was the time of the week when he got to visit her for his therapy, but in actuality, he and his therapist were just practicing sign language this time.

Lately, Link had been feeling a lot better. Mentally, he felt refreshed and not constantly weighed down by a mysterious, negative force. He didn't want to take this burst of happiness for granted, because who knows when it'll end? It was a brief blessing he rarely got.

During their lesson today, Link had finally learned almost the entire language—and in just two months! He was very proud of himself, even impressed that he improved so much in such little time. It wasn't as difficult to learn a new language as he assumed it would be. Although he wasn't completely fluent, he knew a good chunk of sign language now.

Telma smiled at Link, placing both of her clasped hands in her lap. "I see that look in your eyes. What are you planning to do?"

"Prom is soon, y'know." Link couldn't help but smile as he spoke, thinking of the brunette girl who managed to make him smile at just the thought of her. "I'm going to ask Zelda to go with me."

Telma's eyes filled with pride, wishing for the best to fall upon Link.

••

Lana stared absently at her lunch tray, picking at her rice as if she was a zombie. Groose was sitting beside her, poking her shoulder to try and awaken the girl from her trance. At first he thought she was just mesmerized by the rice, but he didn't know anyone insane enough to become captivated by rice that quickly.

The two had been hanging out a lot more than before, all because of their childish plan to cause a falling in Link and Zelda's relationship. To be truthfully honest, Groose didn't even feel any sort of infatuation towards Zelda anymore. Shockingly enough, his feelings were starting to aim at Lana instead. He didn't know why—she was a stuck up and annoying girl, barely anybody could tolerate her for a long time. That was the most interesting part to this. Groose didn't want to like Lana, but he couldn't help it.

The only reason she was even hanging out with him was solely for the purpose of this plan. So, Groose had to pretend to go along with all of this for however long it lasted, despite his sudden feelings towards Lana.

He had decided he would purposely fail his mission to win Zelda's heart, because he didn't care much about ruining her and Link's lives anymore. They deserved to be happy, just like he did.

Lana snapped out of her rice trance and jerked her head to the side to see Groose. "Oh, it's you. How do you do?"

"You were really captivated by that rice," Groose explained in short, causing Lana to make a face and look back at her rice.

Then she remembered. "Oh! That must've looked weird. I was really lost in though a second ago, sorry. Thanks for snapping me out of it, though. Everyone would've started to stare at me..."

Groose shrugged. "It's no problem. What were you thinking about?"

"Link," she answered immediately, flashing an attempt at a cute grin towards Groose.

"Oh," he answered dully, returning to eating the chicken he had brought for his lunch.

"I was meaning to ask you earlier, but let's hang out after school," Lana said. "To, you know, discuss all of this stuff."

Groose was taken aback by her sudden request. This time, it was Lana's turn to snap him out of his daydream. He blinked a couple of times before nodding a bit too eagerly as a response to her question, making Lana smile and return to eating the rest of her lunch.

••

Currently, Zelda was playing Splatoon 2 on her Swirl again, somewhat impatiently awaiting Link's arrival.

She had originally invited both him and Midna over to her house, to hang out as a group for the first time. Unfortunately, and quite suspiciously too, Midna declined immediately after Zelda mentioned that Link would be coming as well. Apparently, she was going to be busy today.

Zelda didn't believe her excuse for a second. While it was true that Midna may be busy, Zelda could still see that she was purposely lying. She knew her best friend very well, and Midna rarely left the house. In Midna's own words, "why would I need to? My house has food, a bathroom, and my entertainment sources." It was all so that it would just be Link and Zelda hanging out — alone.

Sighing, Zelda turned off her Swirl and sat down on her bed, mentally preparing herself for the evening that lied ahead. Anything could happen during the few hours that Link would be here, and she feared some of the outcomes her brain was coming up with, all ranging from him not even showing up to her embarrassing herself in some way.

Someone entered her room, and Zelda wasn't very shocked to see her father entering. What she was surprised by was Link's sudden appearance behind her father. This embarrassed her for some reason, knowing that Link could've been down there for—goddesses know how long—talking to her parents. If that was the case, what could they have possibly discussed with him? They probably told Link all of the embarrassing things she did when she was a child, because that's how typical her life seemed to be. Or, rather not, she was hoping.

"Have fun you two," Father signed to the two of them, grinning almost mischievously as he left Zelda's room, closing the door gently on his way out.

Link nodded and took in a deep breath, exhaling shortly after he laid his eyes on Zelda. He grinned half-heartedly at her, or what Zelda liked to call his signature smile.

She smiled back in response, eyeing him as he sat down beside her on her bed.

Zelda crossed her legs over each other, then recalled her father's departure. He didn't even talk to Link when he left. How was Link supposed to understand the words he signed? Maybe that was her father's intention, but why would he do that?

An impractical realization hit her, causing Zelda to sharply face Link and sign the words, "Can you understand this?" to him.

He did another one of those, Zelda-labeled, cute grins. "Yes," he signed back with ease, and Zelda could've burst into tears right then and there. She somehow contained her emotions, though.

A smile overtook her face. "So, you can understand everything I'm saying to you right now?" she sighed again with a questioning look on her face.

Playfully rolling his eyes, Link nodded again and signed a quick "yes" to reassure her.

That's when she actually did start crying. She knew she was so over-emotional, but she couldn't help it now. Just like with Groose, she came to the conclusion yet again that anyone who bothered to learn the language just may care about her that much.

Flinging her arms around Link, she hugged him tightly and wanted to shout thank you's to him, but she couldn't, as you all know. Flushing slightly, Link wrapped his arms protectively around Zelda's waist and hugged her in return, making the girl smile even more.

Dear Din, wouldn't it be embarrassing if mother or father walked in right now? she wondered, mentally praying that the moment she thought of that happening, that the incident occurred in the real world.

Their hugging session lasted briefly, and Link was the one to pull away first. Zelda sat a bit closer to him this time, eventually figuring out that Link wasn't fluent in the language. He knew quite a lot of it, but not entirely enough.

"So, you're not fluent," Zelda signed her statement.

"No. I don't know much," he replied, keeping his hands in the air as he thought of how to sign his next question.

"Did you hear about prom?" he inquired, laying his hands on his lap when he finished.

Now it was clearly obvious that he wasn't fluent, because he almost flunked saying the word "prom," but quickly recovered his mistake in seconds.

But, she had no idea there was prom this year. Prom was held last year when she was in ninth grade, but Zelda didn't bother attending—she knew nobody would ask her to it, and nobody did. So, she and Midna hung out that night, just watching a marathon of their favorite shows and eating unhealthy snacks, occasionally weeping in their own loneliness.

"No, when is it?" she returned his question with one of her own.

"I think it's at the end of April, or beginning of May," he signed with some difficulty, messing up on his grammar along the way. He didn't even notice, though.

Link almost did pop the question, but something was forcing him not to. He decided to listen this time, deciding that asking now, so abruptly, would be foolhardy. He wanted to wait for a better moment.

Zelda nodded, gazing up at her popcorn ceiling and trying to think of something entertaining they could do together. She had no two player games for her Swirl yet, even though she had owned the console for over a year already. What else was there to do in her boring room?

She smacked her lips together and then glanced at Link, who was just on his phone.

Gee, this must be awkward for him, she thought, hoping that wasn't the case for Link.

Standing up from her bed, she searched her bedroom to find something entertaining. Of course, nothing! She only had silly puzzles and such from years ago, things she hadn't even touched in those lonely years, leaving them there to collect dust.

Walking back over to Link, she tapped his head to grab his attention. When she had it, she smiled a bit.

"What do you want to do?" she signed, and Link turned off his phone.

"We could play truth or dare," Link suggested.

How cliché. Zelda came to the assumption that her life really replicated that of a female protagonist in a teenage romance novel. Despite her annoying conclusion, she agreed to his suggestion, nonetheless, finding no reason as to why that was a bad idea.

They both sat on the floors of her bedroom for this, legs in a criss-cross position and eyes gazing at each other.

"Truth or dare?" Zelda signed first, and Link bit his lip as he thought of an alright answer.

"Hmm..." he hummed aloud. "Truth," he signed to her.

Zelda sighed. Truth was such a boring option, but it could be a fun one, depending on what kind of question she asked. "Do you like pineapple on pizza?" she signed.

Link managed to pull off the most flabbergasted face she had ever witnessed, causing her to chuckle and move her hand to cover her mouth. An embarrassed blush crept into his cheeks, but he didn't even notice. He was too overwhelmed with the fact that Zelda had even brought up the atrocity of that meal. Could you even call pineapple pizza a meal?

"No, but I'm pretty sure my actions made it obvious where my answer falls," Link signed back with a smile on his face, laughing a bit soon after he finished his words.

Zelda's laughter died down and she moved her hand back into her lap, her smile slowly fading as Link stared back at her.

"Truth or dare?" he signed to her.

"Dare," she sighed back almost immediately. Link stared at her with mock shock written across his face, a look of impressiveness soon forming instead.

"Well, okay," he signed, closing his eyes for just a second as he pondered over the dare he would give her.

"I dare you to..." Link stopped. What an obvious route to go down, but his mind always drew a blank whenever he needed creativeness most. Unfortunately, now was one of those times. "Who do you like?"

Zelda clenched her teeth together and hid her face behind both hands in shock. Mentally, her thoughts were screaming at her to just get the dare over with. But, she was sane enough not to do that, because Link was the person she liked! Wouldn't that weird him out if she admitted her feelings right here, right now?

She uncovered her face. "How about no?" she signed with a look of mock confusion on her face.

"I figured you'd say that," Link signed back. "Okay. I dare you to eat pineapple on pizza."

"I've never even tried that before," she admitted, trying to imagine what that combination would even taste like. Was it sweet? How did cheese taste with pineapple juice? Did it make the crust soggy? Zelda grimaced at that last thought.

Link smirked. "Only until you've eaten it will you know how disgusting it truly is," he said, with a matter-of-fact look on his face.

Zelda rolled her eyes. "I'll do the dare later; promise. Anyways, truth or dare?"

"Truth."

"Would you rather hang out with your least favorite teacher, or drink dirty pool water?" Zelda asked with a smirk, leaving Link speechless.

"Uh, hang out with my least favorite teacher...then again, being around Mr. Ghirahim would be a nightmare," Link signed his pondering, then sighing heavily. "In all honesty, I'd rather drink dirty pool water."

Zelda stuck out her tongue. "Gross."

The rest of the day went well, minus the pineapple pizza incident where Zelda could have thrown up from the taste. It was definitely not what she was expecting from a food combination like that. So, aside from that, Link and Zelda decided to retire on the truth or dare idea, in favor of watching a cheesy film.

It was about eight o'clock when they did that. The beginning of the film was spent with them making fun of everything featured in it constantly, soon leading to a tired Zelda who quickly fell asleep.

Her head was resting on Link's shoulder, brown tresses hanging from there and covering parts of her face.

Link had completely zoned out from watching the film, just for a moment, to gaze at Zelda and remind himself of how lucky he was to have this life.

Rarely, Link had short bursts of happiness such as right now. In the past, he had always taken it for granted, always believing that was the end of his sadness—at last! The sadness always came back, though, and the happiness would fade.

Those times lead to him being dramatic. He remembered the poem he had written when he grew jealous of Groose and Zelda, feeling as if he had reached a very low point in his life. Now, he concluded that was being dramatic, in fact. He was only at it again, sitting at that lonely desk in his room with a pen.

He decided not to take this moment for granted, for he knew the sadness would return. Link decided to just relish in the moment instead, leaning his head atop Zelda's and closing his eyes, soon finding himself being drawn into the realm of sleep.

••