Master Cucco

♡♡♡

Link had never been in love as far as he can remember, which honestly isn’t very far. But he likes to think he’d remember anyone he’d been in love with. He knows and remembers a few girls that loved him. Mipha comes to mind first when he thinks of those girls. He remembers the tight feeling he used to get in his chest every time Mipha said something vaguely romantic to him. He remembers the guilt he held, and still holds, at not loving her back the way she so deeply deserved.

He remembers enough about the love in his life to know he had never loved anyone before now.

His lifestyle, his destiny , isn’t exactly forgiving enough to allow him to love. Not with the way he isn’t even home most days, and certainly not with how often he is extremely lucky that he even got to return home at all. A life like that isn’t a kind one. It isn’t one he’d want to give to someone he loves. The way he can never promise a safe return makes something heavy and dark settle in his chest.

And he distantly thinks about you .

The pretty village girl that didn't want anything from him. Everyone else has a task, a request, something they need him to do. But you're there to offer a break, with a fresh loaf of bread and maybe, if he's lucky, a kiss or two. You have no quests, you just want him. With you he isn't the Hero and the title of Champion doesn't settle heavy on his shoulders. With you he is just Link.

In the beginning, he tried hard to keep you at an arm's length, even when his heart screamed at him to do otherwise. He still aches for a day when he can set his sword down for good, a day where his destiny to the Princess and to Hyrule is complete and he can live a normal life in Hateno Village. In the back of his mind, he knows that's an unrealistic wish. He knows he'll never be able to sheath his sword and pack it away, left to be forgotten and collect dust.

And, okay, maybe he lied. But just a little. He says he kept you at a distance, but truthfully , he hadn’t actually tried that hard. If you happened to slump in through his front door and dramatically collapse over him on his bed to press kisses across his face, all the while giggling, who was he to turn you away?

Despite himself, he begins to look forward to nights like these.

He knows he shouldn’t. He knows that by letting things like this happen, things like dancing around his kitchen with you, after the sun has already set and the stars begin twinkling in the sky, he’s just making things harder in the long run. He'll inevitably have to leave, whether to free another Divine Beast or to eventually go fight Ganon and rescue the Princess. He knows one day he'll leave for good.

But, by Goddess, on nights like these, he doesn’t care. When you’re here with him. Letting him touch you and kiss you and fall in love with you more and more and over and over . He can’t help but not care, for just a moment, about anything his fateful future holds. The only thing on his mind is your smile, your hand in his, your lips on his, you, you, you, you.

And he knows you know.

He knows that you know that this won't last forever, you’re a smart girl. That this - whatever this is between you both - can never be anything more than a fleeting romance, despite how much his heart swells and fills up with you. Because he has a duty to the Princess and to Hyrule. And he knows you think about it far more often than you let on.

And you do know. You're well aware your heart happened to pick the most unavailable boy in all of Hyrule. But, frankly, you don't care. Link says this can't be more than what it is. He says there will come a day where he won't return. And while you know that statement is true in some sense, you also know that he does come back to you. He always has, and you have an inkling that he always will.

You still whisper pretty little lies to the moon on those days. The ones where he leaves, unsure when or if he'll come back. (He always, always comes back.) You pray to Hylia that he's safe and unharmed, though you know he probably isn't. Sometimes you even pray to the Princess, hoping that she can hear you and listens, keeping him safe and protected against the evil in Hyrule.

He's leaving again tonight. He doesn't know how long he'll be gone, he never really does. But something in your chest is twisting and aching and you're more afraid than you've ever been. You watch him wander around his home, taking weapons from the wall and food from the table. He packs his saddlebags quickly, too quickly - the faster he packs, the faster he leaves.

You're standing in the doorway to his house, watching him pull at his saddle and make sure everything is in its right place. Watching him prepare to leave always hurts a little too much, so you tilt your head up to look at the sky. It's warmer out tonight than it has been in weeks, the humidity thick in your lungs and the clouds rolling overhead are a sure sign of an incoming shower. Link says your name and you don't look at him. Your tears will certainly fall if you do, and you don't want him to feel any worse about leaving than you know he already does. So your chin stays pointed toward the sky.

Naydra splits the moon in half, glimmering with snow and ice. She dances her way across the sky, and you watch in muted awe as she disappears into the mountains. Link says your name again and this time you do look. The smile on his lips is the softest you've maybe ever seen. You blink twice, forcing away the stinging sensation behind your eyes as he steps forward to stand in front of you. He doesn't have to say it, you already know. It's time for him to leave. You can guess where he’s going this time. The Divine Beasts have all been freed, the Shrines have all been completed, there’s only one thing left for him to do now.

“Where are you going this time?” you hum and smile, ignoring the burn in your nose. He rarely tells you where he's going, probably to avoid you, or anyone else, trying to find him. So you have a hard time concealing your surprise when he speaks.

“A fairy first,” he says quietly, hand touching at your elbow. You barely suppress your shudder when it slides down until he's holding your wrist, and then he continues, “The one in Kakariko. After that, I'll head west.”

“You're going to the castle,” you say, ignoring the way your heart flips when he nods to confirm, “Come back, okay?”

“I will,” he hums, “I'll always come back to you.”

It's an empty promise, you're well aware. When he saves the Princess, and you’re sure he will, he won’t come back this time. But you let the words comfort you, let them echo in your head as you watch him ride away into the dark, twisting branches of the forest. You wait until he's out of sight completely to turn and step back into his home. His bed still smells like him, warm and melancholy, and you wrap yourself up in it to cry at the moon. The rain begins and the moon is weeping with you, you think, for you and your heartbreak.

And miles away, Link can feel the rain before it starts, humid on his skin with your face burned into his mind. He tilts his chin up, letting the cloudburst wash the salt from his face. It's then that Zelda lets him in on a secret, she tells him that you speak to her, ask her to keep him safe and cry to her when he comes back. She tells him she’s proud of him, says he knows what this feeling is, and Link learns, for the first time in all his years, what love is. Love is the moon, love is the sun, love is Zelda watching over him. Love is you, you, you, you . Allowing himself to love you opens his chest up in a way he's never felt before. This time when he thinks about love, you come right after, no longer held at a distance.