Work Text:
Link didn’t talk much, but he was far more observant than most gave credit for. Observing Zelda in particular was a special kind of mystery. The princess hid her true self often. She was the face of her people, after all. A self respecting princess would hide her true intentions for the good of her people no matter the situation. At the same time, it felt like she was holding them from herself as well.
Link observed -bit by bit- as Zelda started to rely on him more. Less in a ‘take care of this situation for me’ way and more in a ‘I need someone to talk to for five minutes’ kind of way. It started to become excuses he’d hear just out of earshot- “Oh, I can’t do that. I have a meeting with my confidant.” or “I already have an appointment and I don’t wish to miss it.” They were always about seeing him. Always.
The day she became so exhausted to sleep on his shoulder became requests to stay by her side at night. Next to her bed at first, then in bed with her. He smiled watching her sleep then. Did she really have no idea? Did she really think she could act this way and not have him softly fall for her in the process?
Well… Perhaps it was time for an experiment.
Zelda was in her study when Link came in. If she noticed him, she certainly didn’t make it known. Link smirked. Any other person would have made her jump, or immediately stop what she was doing. Her guard was so low when Link arrived, he might as well had been part of the scenery. A dangerous thing for a shapeshifter to know- an amusing one for Link right now.
Link gently gave Zelda a tap on the shoulder once he was close enough. Barely pausing, Zelda turned her head and smiled at him.
“Good afternoon, Link.” she greeted. “I didn’t hear you come in. Is something wrong?”
Link shook his head. Then, he placed three items in a particular order on Zelda’s desk. Zelda stared at them for a moment, then back at Link.
“Is this supposed to be a game?” she hazarded the guess.
Link nodded.
“A test.” he informed her. “Word play.”
Zelda gave an understanding nod. “Ah.” She turned her attention back to the objects and took stock of their properties.
“So, we have an olive, a yule log cake, and a jar of ink…” she said out loud to herself. “If it’s word play, then clearly there’s a full sentence hidden on those words. Hmm…”
The princess placed a finger at her chin.
“Olive… yule log… jar…? Olive… cake…. Ink? Olive… yule… jar?”
Another decisive hum.
“Olive… yule… ink…”
“I love you too, Zelda. Took you long enough to confess.”
Zelda absorbed his words- taking them in and finding their meaning. When it hit her, her face became a bright red. She tried to hide it by burying her face in her hands.
“I can’t believe I fell for that.” she half mumbled, half whined. Link let her take the time to recompose herself before she finally looked back at him. “How did you know? I’ve never… It’s never been obvious, has it? We’ve never really…”
Link’s grin was wide and boyish.
“Just a hunch.” he playfully told her. His grin went even wider before adding, “So we kiss now, right?”
Zelda’s face went red all over again. Link offered a laugh at her expense.
Test success.