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The breeze beckons through the wind chimes on the veranda as Zelda claims her first kiss.
Underneath her, Link twitches before going still. But his hand remains on her cheek, and after a few pounding beats of her heart, its angle changes to mold to the curve of her jaw. With the slightest pressure of his fingers, he pulls her in.
Zelda rocks forward until his back hits the floor.
He grunts, but there's a note of relief in his rough voice that makes her wild with the hope that he's been wanting this as much as she has. He angles his head to better receive her as she sweeps her mouth over his, over and over, dizzy with the warmth of it, Link's breaths coming hard through his nose and fanning out over her cheek. He makes a noise in the back of his throat that makes her lips buzz when she runs her hands down his chest.
They separate only to breathe; Zelda seizes the moment to open her eyes, and there's sunset spilling into the room, Link's body spilled eager and pliant across the floor under her, glossy blue gaze searching her own before straying to take in the rest of her. His breaths are quick, heart beating hard into her palm. She presses it more firmly into the muscle of his chest, watches it rise and fall under her hand.
Her eyes meet his again. He looks like he's in pain. This time, Zelda knows what to do.
She pitches back down, following the pull of gravity home to his lips. Her chest swells with need when his hands dare to wander, one sliding down the slope of her neck, the other squeezing hard around her waist. Her stomach flip-flip-flips like one of the tiles strewn about the floor as he drags her closer - their game - and suddenly she remembers the door is still wide open behind them. As if she had made the observation aloud, Link makes an urgent noise and turns his head away hard, their lips breaking apart with a clicking sound that only makes Zelda want to fit them back together.
"Princess," he pants, voice low. Zelda glares, but doesn't let the pang of annoyance deter her from smothering the plane of his cheek in hard kisses. "Someone could - " Zelda nips at his earlobe, just because it's there, and Link's words die in his throat and come out of his mouth as a choked groan. His fingers dig harder into the meat of her waist.
She can't help the noise she makes.
" Zelda ." Link says it through gritted teeth, and the rush of it makes her dizzy.
She cups the side of his face to hold him still as she kisses along the cut of his jaw. "I don't care."
He makes an incredulous noise. "You don't mean…" Her fingers slide up into his hair, tugging just enough to make his head tilt. Her lips find his pulse. She can feel it when the words die in his throat, this time. His grip on her waist is almost hard enough to hurt. She wouldn't mind if it did.
"I don't care," she says again. She lifts her head to look down at him, at the red on his cheeks, outmatched only by the hue of his swollen lips. He struggles to maintain a stern expression as he looks up at her.
Zelda laughs, and she can't decide if she's halfway out of her mind or thinking clearly for the very first time.
Still - "I don't care."
Finally, Link's eyes begin to soften, the knot of his brow tugged loose. He sighs through his nose. His gaze searches her face for something it doesn't seem to find, and after a few moments he starts to shake his head.
"Can't believe I'm doing this," he murmurs. Zelda just manages to catch the corner of his mouth tugging upward before he kisses her.
He cups her face like he's drinking from it, and Zelda's knees wobble even though she's still perched squarely in his lap. She holds onto the front of his shirt as she leans closer into the frenzied pressure of his mouth, breath hitching when he pulls her bottom lip between his. Her jaw falls open at the first graze of his teeth, a high noise tumbling out of her that Link answers with a hum as he sucks on her lip. A sweet ache begins to bloom there and echoes through the whole of her body, pulsing pure need.
She breaks away for a moment only so she can tug on Link's lip with her teeth in turn. And he likes it, she realizes with awe as his back arches and a moan spills between their lips, he likes it as much as she does - he likes her. And then she's pushing harder, wet and hungry, fingers in his hair, thighs squeezing his waist, hollowing him out with her tongue until she tastes honey-apple.
His hands scrabble at her back for a few moments before anchoring in the straps of her dress. He's finally, finally, finally touching her the way she'd scarcely allowed herself to dream of, and he's as desperate for it as she is.
His hands push her closer, his head lifting up off the hardwood floor to chase her lips when she tries to catch her breath. His kiss lands on her chin, and then he's mouthing under her jaw because it's all he can reach and he can't seem to stop, teeth scraping just hard enough to raise goosebumps over her skin.
"I missed you," he rasps, nuzzling into her neck. "I missed you like a limb, even before I remembered. Had a piece missing when you were gone." The words come as if bursting through a dam, accompanied by torrents of kisses.
Then he ebbs back, eyes shining with desperate resolve. "I can't be away from you."
Zelda sinks her fingers into his hair and pulls him up, crushes his mouth to hers, kisses harder the more her eyes sting. His arms secure around her waist like a harness as he tips her backward, and just when she accepts that she's going to hit her head on the floor, his hand flies up to cradle it and cushion her fall.
She's crying again; she can't help it, something in her is running over, her hands curling into fists in his hair. If it hurts, he doesn't show it. She's not sure she could bear to loosen her grip.
"Princess," he breathes, gentler this time. Another kiss, and then - "Zelda." His smiling lips make wordless shapes against hers as he searches for what to say. Then he lets out a happy breath and opts to keep kissing her instead.
They don't stop until the sun goes down and the breeze sweeping into the room goes cold. Link hovers half-over her, propped up on one elbow as he waits for Zelda's choppy breaths to level out. He brushes a thumb over her cheek to wipe away the last of her tears before pressing and holding his lips there. For a moment she thinks that will be all, but he kisses her temple next, then the tip of her nose, before finally returning to her lips, each kiss warm and lingering as if it were the last.
When he finally does pull back, lantern light from outside spills over his bunched cheek as he smiles down at her, and she returns the look when she notices how disheveled his hair is, pulled this way and that by her own fingers.
"Do you think Lady Impa actually had any business to attend to?" she murmurs, smoothing down the worst of his cowlicks.
The pad of Link's thumb follows the line of her eyebrow. He's still smiling. "I asked her to give us a moment alone earlier."
Zelda's eyes go wide, her hand pulling back against her chest. "You did?"
Link nods. "You were avoiding me." His fingers brush stray hairs out of her face, and it makes her wonder if hers is as disheveled as his. "I wondered why."
Zelda blushes. She averts her gaze, eyes settling on the bow of his lips. "And are you satisfied?"
He hums as he draws the backs of his fingers down the side of her face.
"No," he says.
Zelda glances back up into his eyes. "No?"
The smile on his lips begins to fade, his eyes focused in thought. He combs his fingers through her hair as he sweeps it behind her ear. His head dips to press a soft kiss to her mouth.
"No," he says again.
Zelda places a hand on his chest. "I'm sorry," she whispers. "I truly didn't think it would hurt you."
It sounds terrible to say now, when he's gone to such lengths to reassure her of his feelings, but the doubts that have plagued her over the months since they reunited still cast shadows in the corners of her heart.
Link's lashes dip as he looks down, his thumb brushing over her chin.
"Princess," he says, voice low. Then he closes his eyes fully with a brisk shake of his head. "Zelda." His eyes open again, two shining blue half-moons. "You don't realize how much I adore you."
And as Zelda stares at him, she knows that she needs to remember this face. The slightest pinch between his eyebrows, the tilt in the line of his mouth, the red shadow on his cheeks. He's pouting. And he needs her.
She reaches up. Her fingertips touch the flat of his chin, the soft ridge of his cheekbone, the silvery nick in his eyebrow. Finally, she cups his cheek.
"You're going to make me cry again," she whispers.
Link props up his head in his hand, a warm grin lighting up his face. He strokes the underside of her chin with the back of his forefinger.
"Can't have that," he murmurs, leaning in.
After the frenzied hunger of their previous kisses, the pressure of Link's lips now is heartbreakingly gentle. Zelda drinks it in with a pleased sigh, arms curling around his neck, pulling him down, down, down until he's laying half on top of her. He laughs against her lips, but he doesn't stop kissing her, and suddenly Zelda can't see herself ever wanting him to.
She's not sure how long they stay there, kissing on Impa's floor, but it hasn't been long enough when Link parts their lips and says, "It's getting late."
She tightens her hold around his neck. "No," she mumbles, pecking his mouth again.
He returns her kiss with a smile. His next words are squished into the corner of her lips. "Princess, don't tempt me."
"Zelda."
"Drat." He laughs under his breath. "That will take getting used to."
Zelda sweeps tendrils of golden hair out of his face. "Say it."
His gaze is so warm. "Zelda."
"In a full sentence."
He thinks for a moment, a playful smile on his lips. "You're very pretty, Zelda."
She bites the insides of her lips, fighting a grin. She loves this side of him. "Another one."
He makes a show of rolling his eyes. "You're stalling, Zelda."
She brushes her thumb across his bottom lip. "You don't truly want to go, do you?"
He gives her a serious look before his eyes flutter shut and he kisses the pad of her thumb.
"Don't be silly, Zelda," he says.
She sighs and whispers, "One more kiss."
It's a dozen before he's helping her up off the floor. Then another one when their fingers brush as they scoop up the scattered Othello tiles. Another when they've finished. And another when they're at the door.
Link holds both of her hands in his from across the threshold, haloed by lanternlight. Behind him, the streets are still and empty. He still looks both ways before he kisses her again.
"Didn't think it could get any harder to leave you," he mumbles against her lips. His thumbs sweep tender arches over the backs of her hands.
Zelda squeezes his fingers. "Neither did I," she whispers back. The sympathetic smile on Link's face makes her heart ache.
"Say it again?" she asks, voice small.
He kisses her. "Zelda, I need to go." He kisses her again.
Her hold on his fingers tightens again as she tips further into his side of the threshold. Link's hands steady her. His teeth press gently around her bottom lip.
"I have to go," he whispers. He brushes his nose against hers before letting his heels touch the ground again and kissing her once on the back of each hand. "But I'll be back first thing in the morning."
Zelda nods. Even with all she's been through, she knows this will be one of the longest nights of her life. Now more than ever she regrets not staying with Link at the inn.
"I don't think I'll be able to sleep," she admits. Not when she could use that time to relive the feeling of Link's lips in her memory. Giddy excitement tickles the lining of her stomach at the thought.
He brings her hands up to his face. "Me neither." His lips press to where her thumbs meet, lingering as he draws in a breath. With his eyes closed, his lashes rest against his cheekbones, delicate as if painted there.
He raises his head to meet her gaze again. After squeezing her hands one more time, his fingers begin to slip away. He takes a half-step back.
Goodnight, Princess , he tells her, smiling wistfully in the low light.
Zelda curls her arms around her middle, narrowing her eyes.
His shoulders shake with a quiet laugh. And then, slowly, he makes a sign that takes her a moment to recognize, a single finger extended as he draws it through the air in a lightning bolt shape. Then his fingers curl halfway into a fist, and when he extends his forefinger again, he does the same with his thumb.
He lingers on every letter, his smile crinkling his eyes at the edges. Zelda holds herself tighter.
Zelda, he says. Sweet dreams.
She smiles so wide her cheeks ache, touching her fingers to her lips as he descends the steps leading from the veranda. He turns to look at her again when he reaches the bottom.
She uses the opportunity to blow him a kiss and watches it strike him like an arrow through the heart.