••

Link was sitting in his room, and he was terribly bored. He couldn't think of a single thing to do that would entertain him in any way.

Aryll noticed his lack of interest in anything today, often times attempting to cheer him up. But, Link began to lock his door after Aryll paid one too many visits to his room. In the end, Aryll just gave up and returned to her daily activities, paying no mind to her older brother.

As he laid in his bed, he thought back to just a week ago when he asked Zelda out on their first "date." Well, Zelda herself considered it a date, so therefore he did as well. A smile erupted on his face at the word, date, his heart soaring when he remembered the time they spent together that day.

All the more he reminisced on it, the more he urged himself to grab his phone and ask Zelda out again. There was so much doubt in doing this, though, since their last outing was only last week. Link felt like it'd be awkward to ask her again so soon, but he really wanted to do this.

Just the other day, Link had paid his weekly visit to his therapist, Telma. He told her all about his first date with Zelda, which easily pleased Telma to know that he was feeling much happier and even managed to hang out with someone outside of school. She then suggested that he ask her again sometime soon, making Link find even more courage to ask Zelda again.

Link couldn't stand the straining feeling of wondering what would happen today—plus, he was so bored and had nothing better to do with himself—so, he grabbed his phone and immediately began to text a message.

Before he sent it to Zelda, he read it over a couple of times, making sure to correct typos and make his question sound more normal. When he was satisfied with his words, he hurriedly sent the text, immediately turning his phone off afterwards. He sat it down on the floor and anxiously awaited the buzzing sound it would make. If that sound would even occur.

That sound did emit from the floor eventually, and Link let out a shaky sigh as he leaned off his bed to grab the electronic device. Once it was in his hands, he pressed the home button and saw her text.

Before he could read a single word in it, he just opened his phone completely and entered the messaging app, tapping on his conversations with Zelda.

: yes! I have nothing to do today anyways

Just as he finished reading her first message, she sent another one.

: where do you want to hang out this time?

Maybe she isn't considering this outing a date, Link thought, a bit of disappointment settling in his heart when she didn't mention that four-lettered word. At the same time, he felt relieved that she didn't find his request weird.

He faintly remembered Telma suggesting they visit a specific coffee shop in Hyrule—it was different from the one they visited last week, but it was worth a shot.

: there's this cool coffee place

: didn't we go there

: it's a different place u weirdo

: I heard it's pretty nice

: oh ok

: yes that sounds cool

: so is later today okay with you?

: yeah,, I mean it's noon right now but it's sunday tomorrow so any time is cool with me

: understandable

: how about two hours from now

: 2:00?

: that works

: see you then 😎

: 🅱️ye

This time, he let out a content sigh after ending that conversation with Zelda, going straight back to lounging around in his room.

But then again, he only had two hours to prepare. That included making his appearance look nice and mentally preparing himself for this. Both were not very easy tasks most of the time.

Two hours can surely go by in a flash, because the next thing Link knew, there were only five minutes until the clock would strike two.

Fiddling with his hair, he tried to tame its messiness. This was always the hardest part of getting freshened up for such outings, but everyone always said his hair looked fine, even if it was "messed up" in his perspective. But that's the odd way this world works—someone you consider beautiful could think that they're the ugliest person alive, and vice versa.

When Link was decently satisfied with his appearance, he made his way to the front door of his home, grabbing his car keys along the way.

"Link! Where the heck are you going?" Aryll cried out when she noticed him leaving the house. "Mom and dad are almost home, can't you wait a little bit?"

He sighed, facing his little sister. "I think you're old enough to stay here by yourself, just for a little bit."

Aryll laughed dryly. "Yeah. But mom and dad think otherwise."

The moment those words slipped out of her mouth, the garage door began to open. Link looked outside and saw his father waving to him from his car.

"That's my cue!" Link exclaimed, directing those words towards Aryll. He slammed the front door shut and began to race to his own car.

It took awhile to actually enter his car, since his father began to question where he was even going. After a lot of explaining, his father let him off the hook, and Link tried to get to the coffee shop as quickly as she could.

When he did, he saw Zelda walking up to the front door. She looked terribly confused when she couldn't spot Link's figure anywhere. So, a bit awkwardly, she stood next to the door, pretending to be occupied with her phone. She was too nervous to enter the coffee shop without Link.

Witnessing this, Link jumped out of his car and locked it, stuffing his car keys into his pocket. Running up to Zelda, she looked up from her phone and caught sight of him. As Link approached her, he noticed her sapphire eyes filling with relief.

Link gestured for her to enter the coffee shop first. Quickly, he opened the door for Zelda, to which she dramatically curtsied his gesture. The two shared a laugh, now inside the coffee shop and sitting down at a table they chose.

Link texted Zelda that he would be ordering their coffees. With that, he stood up from his seat and walked up to the front counter.

When the lady there didn't turn around at first, he cleared his throat quite loudly. A few people stared, but for the first time, Link didn't care.

"'Scuse me," he tried gaining the woman's attention. She finally turned around, revealing a familiar woman he knew all too well.

"Telma?" he gasped out in shock, and the bigger woman just chuckled at his reaction.

"Your reaction—priceless!" Telma said with a hearty laugh, causing such a distraction that made Link's face turn red from embarrassment.

Miraculously recovering from his brief embarrassment, he retuned to the task at hand. "I just want to order some coffee."

Telma nodded, listening to Link's order and smiling, almost mischievously, when he ordered two coffees instead of one.

"Two, huh?" she murmured to herself, looking over Link's shoulder and noticing a girl about his age, mindlessly typing away on her phone.

"Who's that person?" Telma questioned, pointing over at Zelda.

"Oh, that's Zelda," Link answered.

"Zelda? So, that's what she looks like." Telma observed her a bit more. "She's a cutie!"

"Yeah," Link agreed at first, his face slowly turning red when he realized that he said that aloud. "Well, I mean—"

"There's no need to feel embarrassed," Telma said, rolling her eyes in a playful manner. Typing away at the register before her, she put in both of Link's orders. One of the other ladies behind the counter saw the order, frantically moving around the area and preparing both coffees.

"Well, I need to ask, why're you working here all of a sudden?" Link questioned. "I didn't know you had two jobs."

"I just work here part time, but I'm only doing this for my spoiled, rotten kitty—Louise," she explained briefly. "But I love that cat."

"Oh, so that's why you suggested this place. I was considering going back to the place Zelda and I went to last week—" He stopped talking there. Incoming teasing from Telma, and Link was not fully prepared for it.

Telma chuckled, wearing an amused expression. "So, this is your second date with her?"

Link flushed. "I never said it was a date." He rolled his eyes.

"It's obvious you like her, though."

"Is it really that obvious?" Link blurted out. "Zelda never seems to notice..."

"I don't know how she doesn't," Telma said with another laugh, turning around when the shorter lady behind her tapped her shoulder. Graciously taking the two fresh coffees from the lady, she nodded her head towards the table where Zelda sat.

"Go sit down, I'll bring these over to you guys." Telma held up the two coffees, beginning to walk around the counter.

"I can carry them over just fine," Link interjected, but Telma paid no mind to his statement and shook her head. Link started to reach for the two coffees, but Telma was quick to pull them out of his reach.

"I'm already doing it," she stated.

"But—"

"Go sit down."

With a huff of annoyance, Link walked back over to his table and sat down in front of Zelda. She looked up from her phone and beamed at him. That only made Link smile really stupidly back, and Telma noticed that small scene play out.

She sat the two cups of coffee down, placing both hands on her hips and smiling at Zelda. "So you're Zelda," she said.

When Zelda just stared aimlessly at the taller woman, Telma had a look of confusion strewn across her face.

"She can't hear," Link informed Telma without Zelda noticing his lips moving, and Telma lightly nodded.

"I can speak sign language," Telma told him. "I thought it'd be useful to know for my other job and this one, too."

How convenient, Link thought, placing his head in the palm of his hand and glancing at both Zelda and Telma from time to time.

Telma had begun conversing with Zelda via sign language, something that Zelda was overjoyed to discover. Link had no idea what they were discussing, but he was really hoping it didn't involve him whatsoever. Telma knew more about Link than Zelda did, since he was supposed to vent all of his problems and feelings to her. It was her job to listen, and she heeded everything he said so well. So, she could spew anything at Zelda that could embarrass Link in some way. Maybe not things about his mental health, but the dumb things he mentioned to Telma when he found himself getting too far off in a conversation.

They were conversing normally for about two minutes, until Telma made a strange face as she was signing to Zelda. Many signs later, Zelda's cheeks turned red with joy, giggling at whatever Telma had said.

A look of skepticism crossed over Link's features, causing him to raise one eyebrow and give Zelda a questioning look.

However, Zelda was too endorsed in whatever Telma was speaking to her about. Whatever it was, it must have intrigued Zelda so much, because she wasn't even glancing Link's way.

Telma said a couple more things to Zelda, glancing at Link—she was basically yelling, "This conversation is about you, Link!" Then again, maybe not, but his cheeks still grew red in embarrassment.

"Telma, what're you telling her?" Link finally demanded through clenched teeth, his demeanor changing in an instant and causing said woman to stop signing and look at him.

Telma laughed one of those hearty laughs again. "Oh, nothing important."

"You're not talking about me, right?" Link inquired again.

"Absolutely not," Telma reassured him, but the joyful grin plastered over her face said otherwise. "I'm not that evil."

He sighed. He wasn't going to get anywhere with this.

"Can you...leave, please?" Link pleaded, and Zelda began to look at both of them, wondering what was going on now.

"Don't take this personally, but, this is our...date," the word took some effort to roll of his tongue, "and I'd like to be...y'know...alone with Zelda."

Telma dramatically placed her hand over her heart. "Goodness, forgive me. I was getting too into the conversation with dear Zelda here, but I'll be on my way now."

"Thanks," Link whispered, watching Telma walk off for about three seconds, then facing Zelda again.

Watching Telma communicate with Zelda so easily using sign language sparked an even bigger interest in learning the language himself. A bright lightbulb illuminated in the back of Link's mind, making him smile at the idea he had been given.

Just like their date last week, this one went quite well. They delved into strange conversations, as per usual, sipping their coffees with delight. Often times, Zelda would just giggle for no reason, and Link assumed she was remembering something funny—he feared it was something that Telma had told her.

Telma had obviously talked about him to Zelda, but he would never know what exactly she said.

Heaving a sigh, Link checked the time and realized how late it had become. Had they really been here for two hours? It was only four o'clock, but that would mean dinner would be prepared in a few hours for most families.

: can you believe

: we've been talking for two hours

: two hours!!!!

: unbelievable!!!!!

: should we just leave now

: I think that'd be best....the workers here are probably wondering why we've been here so long lol

: u right

: well this was very fun thank you for coming here with me

: no problem, I had fun too

Zelda stood up as she sent this text, smiling down on Link and causing his cheeks to flush red. She found this adorable, but managed to contain herself. Instead of hugging him like she usually did when bidding a goodbye to Link, she just waved at him with a positive look in her eyes.

As she left the coffee shop, Link got one more text from her.

: might I add that u looked very cute today ? just thought I'd let u know

: see u later

Why is she doing this to me? Link's thoughts screamed. He covered his face with his hands, feeling his cheeks increasingly warm up as her text reread over and over in his mind.

She thought he looked cute?

Link felt proud of himself for actually trying to look decent, now.

He didn't forget about that lightbulb that appeared in his head earlier. Scrambling out of his chair, throwing away the two empty cups at his vacant table, Link hustled over to Telma.

"Telma," he snapped to get her attention, to which the red haired woman turned around with slight shock in her eyes. That disappeared when she saw it was just Link.

"Oh, you're still here?" she said. "I observed you two—you seemed to be having lots of fun."

Link chuckled, feeling a bit bashful. "We were just texting."

"I saw your smile, you looked overjoyed," Telma commented, turning to face him now. "You look like you're getting better, and I couldn't be more than happy to see that."

"I guess." Link shrugged, and then his eyes widened with excitement. "Listen—I need your help with something."

Telma raised an eyebrow. "With what?"

"I didn't know you could speak sign language, but now that I do, I—I need you to teach me how to speak it, too," Link explained, slapping his hands together in a prayer motion. "Please help me. I want to be able to talk to Zelda properly and—and make her... y'know.. happy."

Link's therapist was a bit taken aback by his sudden request, but she was more than happy to oblige and help him with this problem. After all, she could teach him the language during his therapy sessions with her. It would work well.

"Thank you," Link said to her, followed with multiple thank you's afterwards.

"You really love her, don't you?" Telma whispered, although Link did hear her words.

His thank you's halted and his cheeks turned red—again. Some sort of delightful feeling bubbled in his stomach, settling completely when Zelda's face appeared in his mind. Link smiled a little at the image.

Sheepishly, with pink cheeks and a grateful smile on his face, he looked down at his shoes. "I do."

••