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This must be the first time he ever had friends over without needing them to drag him there. The youngest starts at him, nudged along by one of the taller men. Otherwise it's like he's not there at all.
And he has the perfect seat in the house to watch everything go down.
"Don't touch that," Link snarls when one of his companions reach out towards the instruments hanging on the walls. He turns just in time to snap a sand rod out of the hands of another. "Or that! Do you seriously want to flood the entire house?"
"It's not like you ever explain everything inside of your bag," the blue boy grumbled. He does do what he's told to though. "What's the-"
Link spins around again towards the next person with nary a care for what his companions have noticed. "Sky! Drop that! Not even Time's ocarina can get you back if you manage to drop yourself centuries into the past if you mess around with that."
The aforementioned Sky paled, hurrying to put down the Harp of Ages. A pity. He really looked forward to seeing what kind of songs the other could have pulled out of the instrument. But why did that name sound so familiar? He strained his mind, trying to pull back memories of his first time around. He can't-
The other blue boy, scarred all over and somehow alive, reaches out for a bird to perch on his fingers. Pale to the bone save the dark wings. He recognizes it on the spot no thanks to the strange merchant puttering around the house lately. That's Sheerow.
"You have a nice bird," the boy says. "How do you take care of it when you're away from the house all of the time?"
"Bird?"
Link looks up at the same time as footsteps echoing through the house. Ravio at least takes lightly to having almost a dozen swords thrust in his direction at once. His arms raise shakily towards the ceiling. "Family reunion?"
"No," Link says too fast to the question he's been dying to ask ever since the door opened to a bunch of people with Link in tow. "Guys, this is my freeloader. Ravio, these are the other incarnations of the hero's spirit. Alive ones. They're broke so don't bother trying to sell them anything. I think the thing I'm looking for must be in the back rooms. Give me a moment."
He pushes past the curtains just as the scarfed- hero? sputters in disbelief. "We're not all broke!" he shouts after Link but he's too far away to register any of his words. The guy slumps in defeat and he- he still doesn't know what to think about what Link just said.
And Ravio quick to adapt to everything already springs to life. Like pretty much the moment the others lower their blades. "Mister Captain Hero Sir! It feels just like yesterday when you sent me off for the last time! How has things been doing back in your era?"
"Ravio..." Mister Captain Hero Sir groans, sliding one hand down his face. "I should have known you would be here considering how many magical artifacts are scattered all over the place. What is it this time? Hint Glasses for 800 rupees? Fire Rods for double?"
"None of the sort!" Ravio protests. "All of my deals are very honest. Course I won't be able to rent out anything considering I don't know how long you're going to be away. I'm sure though you won't mind paying a bit more for being able to own your very own bow...?"
At least three people raise a bow in the air at the mention, turning around while Ravio sulks around the shop floor. He watches gleefully. Every sale proposal turned down for one reason or another. They aren't Link after all. They don't even hoard fire rods like their lives depend on it.
(Magic dances around them. Masks and curses. Swords and blood. His fingers itch with the need to experiment, to cut so deep he leaves an imprint behind. He's allowed at least that right?)
He knows because the tattooed one keeps looking at the artifacts from the side of his eye like they're going to blow up any second now.
"Are you sure they're safe?" he says to the scarred one. "You know the sort of things the Veteran comes up with in his free time. If we end up starting another forest fire-"
"Then we would have started another forest fire? You're getting yourself worked up." He prods at the various rings, his eyes flickering with interest. "Hey, do you think Sidon would like one of these-"
"What did I say?"
He glanced over at the new source, the blue boy halfway into the display cases. The big ones. Link stands right in front of him with both of his arms crossed. The blue boy freezes too. "Er, trying on your cool clothes?" He might even have pulled it off if he's reaching for anything other than the most shiniest costume out of the bunch. The one where the only reason Link grabbed it is out of completionist impulses.
"Get out now." Link hisses, acid dripping down his voice.
"You have a lot of masks on offer," the oldest says pulled taut in more ways than one. He's standing right in front of the most caged collection. His armor looks like the knights but... not? "Where did you get them from?"
"Around."
"Around?"
"That's what I said!" Link throws up his arms much to the other's annoyance. "What does it even matter to you anyways? Ravio! Is it down in the basement?"
(He's looking at the creepy mask. Why is he looking at the creepy mask? Even he doesn't look at the mask if he can help it.)
Ravio mumbles something behind the counter. Link ignores him in favor of going down the stairs. Blue boy glances back at the armor stands in deep contemplation before something else catches his attention and off he goes again. Mister Captain Hero Sir is drawing closer to where he's hiding though so he peels off a Deku nut before he can even think of looking up.
"Huh?"
On the other hand, Mister Captain Hero Sir picks up the copy of the Sea Lily's Bell. He really should have hidden it away better instead of the corner of the living room. Instead all he can do is watch Mister Captain Hero Sir make funny faces at the instrument.
Because the more he thinks about that, the less he thinks about the name slipping out of Mister Captain Hero Sir's mouth at the sight of the bell. There's no way he could know about her anyways. They're in different eras. Different worlds even.
"Ravio, where did you get this bell?"
His face pales all over when he looks up from fiddling around with the smaller artifacts. "Mister Captain Hero Sir, you really should put down that before Mister Hero sees you holding onto it. Not even I am allowed to mess around with the instruments on the wall."
"Ravio-"
"Ravio, are you sure it's in the basement? It would have been obvious if it was."
Ravio hums nonchalantly or whatever the word he usually uses. "Well there's always the shed out in the orchard. Speaking of which, you haven't mentioned what you've been searching for. You know I could always try searching myself if you're willing to- you know, provide some motivation. It has been terribly dry lately..."
Link breathed in and out. "Do you really think I haven't checked there yet? I went over on the way here. I'm not paying you a few hundred rupees just to tell me where it is. And like hell am I telling you what, you should know what I'm talking about."
"You do?" the blue boy pops up on the other side of Link, the hero not blinking the slightest at him. "What is it?"
"Fifty rupees then," Ravio decides. He grins from ear to ear like he's on a joke not even Link knows about yet. And he knows all about inside jokes by now. "After all, you've searched this house from top to bottom. There's only so much you have left to check before Kakariko Village is next."
Link makes a face. It's not even fair. Only the grown ups complain about him nowadays. The children would have all run off by now between all the dumb quests Link keeps going on, leaving them in the house for weeks on end.
"You better be grateful I actually have the money this time," he grumbles, going over his pockets with pinpoint care. His hand comes out with a single purple rupee pinched between his fingers. "Out with it already."
Ravio, the bastard, points right up. "You haven't checked the ceiling yet. He's been hiding there since you came in."
Their faces pale as they turn their heads towards the ceiling. It's strange though. He's the only thing there, pressed right between the walls with the aid of the boots he 'loaned' off of Link the day before he disappeared.
(The oldest one especially.)
"Hi Link."
Link puffed his lips together, storming over. His eyes at least are light with relief instead of irritation. "Get down here you little brat. I swear to Hylia you're going to give me a heart attack one of these days."
"Who is-?"
He only yelps because Link is a mean cheater hiding his magnet glove under his usual armor. His boots drop like two big anchors straight into Link's arms. "I almost won, meanie!"
"You can't seriously tell me you were planning to hide on the ceiling for the entire day," Link says. He turns towards the others. "This is... August, my adopted brother."
"I liked being called Gruyere. Use that name instead. Zelda already knows," he informs Link cheerily, kicking his legs back and forth. If Link grunts a little when his ankles knock up against his ribs then all the better. "Who are these guys? Did you clone yourself and they didn't come out right?"
"Huh?"
"What?"
"You have a brother?" muses the one in the back. He's a bit plain. Easy to overlook if not the divinity singing in his veins and fairy echoes calling back to him. "But the stories never mentioned the Hero of Legend having a brother before..."
"Legend," the old man says sharp. "Who is this, really? Those clothes. I've seen them before and not from this ear."
Link mutters something right over his ear. A prayer to the Goddesses he's learned by heart whether or not Link realized it as well. "He," he says at last. "is the dumb baby I accidentally brought back to life when I wished on the Triforce at the start of my first adventure."
And younger Link laughs all the way out of the living room as the group bursts into clamor louder than even an army of knights marching through.