#hetsus gift exchange

[stjimmykingofshitmountain]

Cross Stitch

 Oh look Kei remembered how to write.. ANYWAYS.. this is a piece as part of Hetsu’s Gift Exchange!

Ship: BOTW!Link and BOTW!Zelda

Warnings; none really? Mute!Link - he communicates via sign, Zelda might be a bit OOC with the swearing. The format is a little janky

Words: 710.. quite short and sweet

Anyways.. enough out of me! Enjoy!

‘Ok, ok.. Over, under tie the knot and - AAGH’ The knitting needles fell out of Link’s normally dexterous hands with a clatter against the wood of his porch, accompanying the sound of his inner monologue for what felt like a lifetime. In reality it had been at most a couple of hours. 

Link crouched over in his seat with a tense inhale as he reached for the needles and blue wool which had fallen moments earlier and his brain whirred to life yet again…

‘Over, under.. Loop-the-loop and pull..? No! Agh! That’s shoelaces!” They threw the work into their lap with a huff.

To an outsider this would be incredibly decent progress; it was clear that the soft item he was working on was a scarf with yellow,sage and blue wool interwoven intricately to create an almost spring-blossom meadow illusion. However to an impatient perfectionist like Link - it was about as useful as a skeletal Bokoblin arm.. Which to be fair he had found to be pretty useful! OK.. so bad example but you get the picture.

The point is - if it wasn’t perfect immediately - then it was worthless. Given this is a gift for Zelda, it has to be absolutely beyond the realm of perfection and when you’re an adventurer who sacrificed fashion for survival - that was quite the quest.

Link  leaned all the way back in the seat he had brought out to his porch to knit in the crisp winter air and brought his arms up to sign one simple word:

‘Shit’ He dropped his hands with a sigh.“LINK! Watch your fucking language people can see you!” Link almost fell backwards out of seat in shock- thankfully Zelda rushed to help him stay upright, the knitting fell to the floor once again. “Wah! I’m sorry! I’m sorry!” Zelda fussed, pulling him out of the seat and dusting him off. Link pulled her away at arms length and signed ‘I’m ok’ with a half-hearted grin. 

“Good! Well I was at the market just now and I got you some more glass bottles,some fresh herbs and some - OH! And I ran into Mrs. Itho, you know over on the hill, and she-” As Zelda brushed past Link rambling about her day Link’s eyes fell to the once again discarded knitting and he was just contemplating kicking it off the side of the porch to be swallowed by the trench he dug to funnel rainwater when-

“Link?” He was brought out of his daze by Zelda. “Are you alright, my love?” 

The tips of his ears tinted themselves a warm shade of red as always with any pet name from Zelda, as he looked away signing ‘I’m fine’ once again. Given he’d turned his head he missed Zelda briskly moving around their counter towards where he stood… beelining for his line of sight.

“No you’re not! You’re usually quite daydream-y but you always listen to me talk about my da- What’s this?” Link’s head shot up as he clocked Zelda carefully holding his unfinished…. Whatever it is in her hands delicately, her thumbs grazing the material. “Link? Are you.. Knitting?”

Link's hands frantically began to sign excuses.

‘No! It’s um..’

‘It’s not what you think!’

‘It;s something for my travels in the colder terrain.’

‘I can.. .start it again.’

Zelda just stood staring at her beloved doofus and moved forward to grasp his wrist and lower his hands to clasp together in front of him. Link watched on carefully as she tied off the last stitch with unbelievable grace, set the needles down on the chair and carefully extended the length of the scarf in her hands.

“There we go.” She mumbled softly to herself as she moved her hands to wrap the garment around her neck. “Oh Link! It’s lovely!” She brought one end to her cheek and rubbed it against her cheek. “Thank you!”

Link looked on with the most lovesick expression on his face as he slowly brought his  hands up to sign ‘You’re welcome, beloved.’. Zelda smiled softly and gently held his hands again - only to pull him to her, this time, into a gentle kiss.

As she pulled back and slowly let go of his hands to make her way inside, Link decided he could learn that maybe things don’t need to be immediately perfect - as long as someone else could appreciate his efforts perhaps he could as well.

[keikbird]

Happy Hetsu’s Gift Exchange to @chimpukampu!!💗✨

(Thank you and also I’m sorry that I used your gift to get some practice with my new tablet)

[skelelen]

My submission for this year’s Hetsu Gift Exchange on the Zelink discord server!!! 💕💕💕

For @lunabrush 💕

[spices28]

The Winter Festival - A post!TotK Zelink story

After the events of Tears of the Kingdom, a coronation, and a marriage, Queen Zelda and King Link hold a winter festival.

On the day of the festival, Zelda carries a secret, and Link is very touchy. By the end of the afternoon, Zelda comes to a realization.

This is a fluffy piece with a sprinkle of angst. A Slice of Life post-upheaval.

This is dedicated to the wonderful @linksthoughtbrambles as part of Hetsu's Gift Exchange '23.

Prompt: Endings are also beginnings

A massive, massive thank you to my wonderful phenomenal beta @shameless-fujoshi.

[dawn-the-rithmatist]

The Weather Outside is Frightful

Happy holidays @zeldaseyebrows! I got your prompt for hetsu's gift exchange! here's 2.5k words of the Champions being goofy and Zelink being cute. I hope you enjoy! Read it under the cut or here on ao3.

Zelda sputtered as another snowball smacked her in the face.

This is getting ridiculous, she thought to herself, wiping snow from her eyes. By the time she could see again, he was already gone. How does he keep doing that? She was starting to regret not staying back in the warm castle with Daruk.

By all counts, she should have the tactical advantage. She had built a series of snow walls- not the highest quality of construction, but it was snow after all- on the top of a hill. She had cover, she had the high ground, and she still had snow on her face. The tactical advantage may be hers, but the battle was still very clearly favoring Link.

She heard Revali skwak indignantly from somewhere above her, and she braced herself for an aerial assault. He had staged several such attacks already, dumping armloads and buckets full of snow on her unsuspecting head. But no frigid payload ever dropped.

Instead, she looked up to see a soggy Rito warrior, scanning the battlefield with unparalleled fury. She might have laughed, had she not been just as soaked. They had both taken more hits from Link than they could tolerate.

“Pssst,” she whisper-shouted from her snow fort. “Revali!”

His attention whipped to her, raising a snowball in preparation to throw. She raised her hands, then waved him towards the fort.

His green eyes narrowed, but after a moment of hesitation, he swooped down and landed behind her not-so-secure walls, kicking up a flurry of snow behind him.

“This is just ridiculous,” he complained. “There’s no way that he should have seen me coming. How can he even throw that high?”

“And how can he get through my defenses without me noticing him?” Zelda huffed. She had dug pit traps and everything! How was he doing it?

“We need a plan,” she said, mind already spinning into motion.

“We?” Revali asked, skeptical. “In case you’ve forgotten, Princess, this fight is every champion for themselves.”

“And how is that going for us?” she retorted. “We’re getting destroyed. I haven’t seen Urbosa or Mipha in a while, so I can’t speak for them, but the two of us are clearly taking more hits than we’re landing.”

“You’re proposing an alliance?”

Zelda nodded. “Short term. We organize a coordinated strike to avenge ourselves. After that, you’re free to resume your air strikes against Fort Snowball.”

Revali snorted- she didn’t have time to come up with a better name, okay?- but extended a wing towards the snowy plain serving as their battlefield. “We don’t even know where he is, Highness. How are we going to lure him out?”

Zelda smirked. “Leave that part to me. Here’s what we’ll do…”

—

Zelda crouched behind a rock, feeling far more exposed than she would have liked. She missed the relative safety of Fort Snowball. Granted, it hadn’t actually repelled many attacks, but it was the principle of the thing. She was outside of her comfort zone. She was in enemy territory.

The only notice she got before she was hit in the back of the head with a snowball was the softest crunch of snow beneath a foot. He hit her in the back! Some “honorable knight”!

She pushed down her pride. She had to make this convincing.

She turned just as he disappeared behind a snow drift, cold ice sliding down the collar of her shirt. Oh, he is going to pay for that one. “Wait!” she called out, hoping he hadn’t fully left yet. “I have a proposal!”

For a tense moment, there was nothing but Zelda, soaked and cold in the snow, breath fogging in front of her. Then, a tuft of blonde hair poked out from behind the snow drift.

“A proposal?” Link called back. His cheeks were adorably flushed, she noticed. It made his eyes stand out. Not what she should be focusing on, but very nice to look at all the same.

“Yes,” she hissed, looking around as though worried about other combatants. She crouched low, gesturing Link over to where she was.

He gave her a skeptical look, but scanned their surroundings before bolting over to her and squatting beside her. “What’s the proposal?” Even crouched like this, he was casting looks over his shoulder, ever on alert. That wouldn’t do.

“Well, I was wondering if maybe…” she trailed off. Keep his interest. He needs to be distracted. She glanced down, then looked up at him through her eyelashes. “Maybe you would be interested in teaming up?”

He narrowed his eyes. “Like a truce?”

She nodded. “I’m clearly struggling, and you’re only able to attack one person at a time,” she said. She had his attention now, and just in time- there was Revali, gliding silently overhead carrying a bucket of snow along with him. Just a few more seconds. “With my strategies and your physical prowess, we could dominate the battlefield!”

Link tilted his head, chewing on his lip as he thought it over. “You really mean it? This isn’t some kind of trick?”

Revali landed silently, picking up the bucket, ready to dump it over the back of Link’s head.

“I think we would make a good team,” she said, smiling sweetly. He looked so hopeful, and she felt a pang of guilt. Oh, maybe this was mean. Yes, he was winning the war, but lying to him? I should stop this before-

A wave of cold washed over them both, and Zelda froze in shock. That had come from behind her. She looked up at Link, who was already back on his feet, and at Revali behind him, who had dropped the bucket and was shaking snow from his feathers with indignation.

Urbosa was whizzing away from them, kicking up waves of snow as she shield surfed down the hill. So that’s where she is, Zelda thought.

“Mipha, now!” Urbosa called back. Uh oh.

The snow beneath their feet erupted upwards in a geyser, throwing fresh powder at Zelda, Link and Revali.

Revali let out one last outraged squawk and took to the skies, desparate to escape the frigid onslaught. “She can do that with snow too?” Link hissed, grabbing Zelda’s arm and dragging her away from the geyser.

This had gone poorly. Urbosa and Mipha were in kahoots. Revali had fled the scene and she would have a tough time flagging him down again.

“Was that a setup?” Link asked, expression torn between mischievous and betrayed. “Were you working with them?” He bent over, scooping a snowball up, ready to take revenge.

“No no no,” Zelda protested, but Link just grinned and scooped up more snow. “Nononono-” she cut off with a shriek as he nailed her with the snowball, then doubled over laughing.

“You-” he gasped, “you should see your face!”

She wanted to be angry. She really did. But it had been a setup, and… well, he was cute when she laughed. If her heart was too soft to be angry at the moment, well, sue her.

“Are you finished?” she asked, hands on her hips and voice full of false haughtiness. “My offer for a truce stands, and there’s revenge to be plotted.” It may have been a trap, but he didn’t have to know that. Sabotage was a thing of the past, as far as she was concerned- she had a new enemy in her sights. Well, two enemies. Mipha and Urbosa were going to pay.

—

Link and Zelda crouched low on the embankment, gazing across the river. Urbosa and Mipha were on the assault, an increasingly frustrated Revali being harried by snow geysers and sprays of ice from Urbosa’s shield surfing.

“Are you sure about this?” Link asked.

“Trust me,” she promised. “It’ll work.”

He gave her a smile and a resolute nod. “You better not let me fall in,” he said. He moved to stand, and before she could overthink it, she grabbed his jacket, pulled him back towards her, and gave him a quick kiss on the cheek.

He looked at her somewhat awestruck, raising a hand to the place she had kissed. “For luck,” she said, internally gushing over the way the tips of his ears turned red when he blushed.

“Right,” he said, grinning and blinking out of his trance, and took off at a sprint towards the river and jumped.

Just before he hit the surface of the freezing water, Zelda whipped out the Shiekah slate and fired off a Cryonisis rune. Link landed on solid ice, keeping his footing with his incredible balance, and jumped again. They repeated the tactic until Link was all the way across. This was where it got tricky.

“Revali!” she yelled, crossing her fingers that the Rito’s feathers were ruffled enough for him to prioritize revenge. “Keep Mipha busy!”

She didn’t have time to check if he had agreed- Link was gathering snowballs, and Urbosa was speeding towards him. This had to be timed perfectly. She aimed the slate carefully, waiting until Urbosa was in range, and fired off Magnesis.

Urbosa’s shield lurched to a stop beneath her as the rune took effect, throwing her off and into the snow. Link didn’t hesitate. By the time Urbosa was back on her feet, there was no defending against his snowy attack. She paused for a moment to marvel at how fast he could fire off snowballs, and with impeccable aim- it was as though time was slowing down, just for him- then remembered her own role.

Guiding the shield with the slate, she dipped it down into the snow, scooping up a pile of it before raising it carefully up into the air. Link was keeping Urbosa busy- now was the time to strike!

With one quick motion, she dumped the payload over Urbosa’s head, soaking her completely. “Take that!” she shouted across the river, not bothering to hide her gloating. Everything was going according to plan.

Until it wasn’t.

“Princess, look out!”

Link’s warning came just a split second too late as she felt the snow shift beneath her. Mipha was on the attack yet again, and her backup was across the river. There was no way she could make it out of the geyser’s range before it erupted. She turned around, dread in her stomach, and saw the flash of red darting towards her, hands raised to pull the snow-eruption from the ground-

And then a snowball smacked her in the face, throwing her off.

Link was scrambling across Cryonisis blocks once again, one arm full of snowballs while the other hauled him up over the edge of the ice. “You won’t get away with that one twice,” he said. The moment he reached the top of the block, he let another snowball fly.

He would be there soon. Mipha seemed to realize this and surged back into motion. Before she could attack, however, Zelda triggered Stasis. She had recently worked out the upgrade with Purah- now it could hold Mipha stil for just a few seconds. Not long, but long enough to make a difference.

She shoveled snow up around her friend on all sides, Link joining her as soon as he made it across their makeshift bridge. “Focus on the hands,” he said, flinging snow furiously. “That’s what she needs to use her water abilities. Bury them and she can’t hit us again.”

Zelda nodded, piling the snow higher and higher as the slate beeped out the last seconds of Stasis.

There was a tense moment as the rune’s effects ended, and Mipha blinked twice before realizing that she was now buried in a pile of snow. “Oh,” she said. “I suppose I’ve been defeated.”

Zelda straightened, curling numb fingers into fists and placing them on her hips. “Does this mean you surrender?” she asked.

“Y-yes, it does,” she sighed, attempting to squirm her way out of the snow.

“Ad you?” Link yelled to Urbosa, who was wringing water out of her hair. “Had enough?”

“R-relax, boy,” she called back with a shiver. “I know when I’m beaten.”

Zelda grinned. That left only Revali. She scanned the area and found him perched high up in a tree, watching the Battle of the Frozen River from a safe distance. He saw her look and scoffed.

“Like I would ever surrender to him,” he scoffed. “Sorry princess, but as long as you’re on his side, I’ll never-” he cut off as a snowball hit him in the face.

Link tossed another snowball up in the air and caught it. “What was that, bird brain? You want some more?”

Zelda snorted as Revali shook snow from his feathers. Who knew her knight was competitive?

“Fine,” Revali snapped, jumping off of his branch and dropping down to the ground to meet them. “But let the record show that I was not defeated, I simply agreed to a truce.”

“W-well at least now we can go and warm up,” Mipha said cheerfully, extracting herself from her frozen trap.

“And dry off,” Urbosa added. Zelda didn’t think she had ever seen the Gerudo Champion look so cold. She almost felt bad about it, then remembered the shield surfing attack. The guilt went away after that.

Everyone began the trek back to the castle, but Link stayed put. “We did it,” he said, giving her a grin that was far brighter than the winter sun.

She smiled back and pushed numb fingers through his hair to the back of his neck. He shivered. “Yes, we did.”

He was blushing again, the tips of his ears bright red, fidgeting under her gaze. Were her hands that cold? She frowned and pulled away, only to be confused when he chased after the contact. “What is it?” she asked.

He flushed darker. “I was wondering if maybe… I could have another kiss?”

Oh. She smiled. “What do you need luck for?” she asked, teasing.

He scratched at the back of his neck. “Oh, well uh. I, uh…”

Poor man. She took pity on him. “How about as a thank you?”

He jolted. “A thank you?” he asked, eyes going wide.

“Mhm.” She wove her finger into the soft hair on the back of his head, pulling him in until his lips met hers. The kiss was slow and unhurried, warming her like molten sugar from the inside out.

She drew back slowly, giggling as Link chased after her lips. “Thank you for your assistance,” she said sweetly.

He blinked at her, mystified. “Y-you’re welcome.”

Zelda grabbed his hand, pulling him into motion with her as she began the walk back to the castle. “Although I must say, I’m not sure if that was sufficient.”

“It… what?”

“Well, we did win the day,” she said, tapping her chin as though she were weighing her options. “Not only did we get revenge, we managed to secure the surrender of our enemies. I’m not sure one kiss is going to cut it.”

Link pulled her to a stop, grabbing her shoulder and spinning her around to face him. “How many do I get?” he asked, darkened eyes flitting down to her lips and across her features like a general might analyze the terrain before a battle.

“Planning on making them count, are we?” she teased, the question coming out more breathless than joking.

“How many?” he asked again, leaning in slightly until his warm breath fanned across her face.

“Well,” she answered, leaning forward to meet him, “why don’t you let me know when you think you’ve had enough?”

“Enough of this?” Link smirked. “Never.”

(A/N) Not pictured: Revali complaining that those two refuse to just get a room, ad Daruk waiting for all of them with hot chocolate. (the snow makes gorons sleepy. he would have destroyed them all had he been able to compete.)

[ellensyu]

A really late gift for Beanadelphia for Hetsu Gift Exchange on one of the discord servers I’m in.

TPZelink for the soul.

[peekingtitan]

Day 3 of ax as a korok. Find us and you'll get a korok seed that you can exchange for "inventory" pouches with weapon stickers of if youre lucky you can get hetsu's gift

[stjimmykingofshitmountain]

Sunlight

This is my gift for Hetsu's Gift Exchange 2021!

Link hit the ground with a grunt as he glared up at the apple that was too high up to reach. He had beat Ganon and here he was being bested by an apple, not even the biggest on the tree. At this point, he had set his mind to it, and Link was nothing if not stubborn to a fault. He shifted his gaze towards a flock of birds flying overhead as he sighed and rose to his feet.

“Link! Do you have those apples yet?” came a voice from inside their home, a modest place situated at the foot of the Ebon Mountain. “I need to get this pie made!”

Link huffed and shifted his gaze back towards the apple at the top of the tree. With a newfound determination, he backed up and prepared to sprint up at the tree. Just as he was about to set off in a brisk sprint-

“Link! Can you acknowledge me when I call please?!” the sudden appearance of Zelda behind his to trip over as he, yet again, hit the ground with a thud and Zelda’s face came into view. “I’m sorry!”

She reached her hand forward to help him up as he tried to rise to his feet for the umpteenth time.

Zelda stumbles back slightly as she pulls him to his feet, and the back of her legs knocks something over. She turns to investigate and spots, what was once, a substantially sized, carefully stacked pyramid of bright red apples, the mid-morning sun reflecting off of the few that had rolled into it’s light out of the canopy of the tree.

“Link, you already have a huge pile! Way more than I would need for a single pie!” Zelda murmurs, still looking at the pile in awe and confusion. As she turns to Link, he looks away sheepishly rubbing the back of his neck, a flush as red as the apples beginning to paint his cheeks in embarrassment. As Zelda turns her head to face him again. “You don’t need that one, silly!”

Link lets out a rare, wavy sigh and slowly raises his hands in front of him and slowly signs a singular word: “Bored.” and moved to lean against the trunk of the tree, shifting his gaze to the skyline once again.

“Bored? What do you mean bored? There’s much to do!” Zelda softly glares at him, one eyebrow raised in an arch. Link shifts his hands, once again, without looking at her.

“Mundane stuff” He signs. “Not exciting enough. I need adrenaline, adventure… fun” He didn’t even dare shift his gaze back to the girl in front of him.

However, while he was looking away, Zelda’s gaze softened, the hands that had been resting tensely on her hips lowered, and she let out a light sigh of her own. She understood, not on her part but on his. Link had never been one for the quiet and peace unless he was sleeping. He’s always been wired, energetic, craving adventure from a young age as children. He wasn’t good at relaxing.

“Link…” She begins tentatively, her soft tone causing Link to look back at her. To further prove her point, Zelda allowed a smile to grace her face with the grace of a butterfly on a spring morning. “Everything doesn’t have to be go, go, go all the time. You’re allowed to relax.”

Link begins to raise his hands again, but before he can, Zelda continues;

“I know, I know. You’re not good at it, but who else would I get to do the heavy maintenance around here? Who else is silly enough to go on the roof in a rainstorm to fix it?”

Link huffed out a small chuckle at that and shifted his gaze one more time to the apple and back to Zelda, who in turn rolls her eyes. “One final try, hero.” She laughs as she moves away to give him space.

This time, instead of sprinting at the trunk, Link jumps and swings his body onto the lowest, sturdiest branch. He begins to navigate his way gracefully towards his prize at the top of the tree, a newfound dedication now that Zelda was watching him. He climbs to the highest point closest to, what he believed to be, the reddest and juiciest looking apple, as if this sole fruit would make or break the pie Zelda was preparing to make. He reached at an arm, outstretched his hand to snag the apple… only for him to lose his footing and plummet to the pond below him.

Zelda couldn’t help it, the juxtaposition of his graceful climbing to plummeting into the pond below was just so perfectly Link, so she did what any caring partner would do - she burst out laughing. Once Link had resurfaced and finished spitting out pond water and picking the weeds from his hair he was so beyond lovestruck by his beloved’s sweet laughter, her hair shining like a halo in the sunlight, that he had already forgotten about the apple which he hadn’t even noticed bob past him as he rose out of the water.

Once he was out and deemed himself acceptably dry, he made his way over to Zelda, who was now laughing so hard she had crystalline tears streaming down her cheeks, that were now also flushed a sweet pink colour.

The timing between Link reaching her and Zelda straightening up was too perfect as Link planted a sweet kiss against her lips in the glow of the sun, now nearing noon so at its highest point, his calloused palms cupping her checks affectionately. Zelda’s own hands resting on his hips. It was rare Link spoke outside of Hylian Sound Language, very few he allowed to hear him speak, rare, but it did happen on special occasions - Birthdays, Hylia’s Blessing, sometimes, when he’s dripping wet in his backyard after falling out of a tree trying to grab an apple. His voice is slow, quiet and dripping with sweetness;

“I can learn to relax.” He spoke barely above a whisper against Zelda’s lips. “If it’s with you. I love you, my princess” He flicked his blue eyes to her own, with the softest smile on his face.

Zelda in turn appreciated every time she got to hear him say anything - from random swears when he believed he was alone, all the way to moments like this, like now. More tears gathered in her waterline at his words, and she leaned forward to bury her face against his neck.

“I’ll be your guiding sunlight, Link. I love you too.”

They stayed there for a while, just basking in the moment, in the sunlight basking them in a comforting warmth, holding each other.