#impa: *sweating* well. um. you see.

[skyward-floored]

Imagine if at some point after finding out about his true heritage HDW Wars gets sick but with every sneeze he accidentally sneezes fire and no one can figure out how to stop it.

So I don't know if I want this to be how Zelda actually finds out but I couldn't resist writing this—

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"No no, seriously, don't go in there!" Mask says with an increasing amount of panic, moving to block Zelda's path to Link's tent. "He's like, uh, he's really sick! Like, like throwing up and coughing and sneezing on everything, it's super gross! You don't want to go in there!"

Zelda raises an eyebrow.

“Mask, I'm more then well-aquainted with 'super gross sickness', as you put it. It’ll take more then that to stop me from visiting Link.”

“But... you might get sick!” Mask quickly argues, and Zelda considers for a moment. Then she continues forward.

“That’s true. But I doubt five minutes to wish Link well and check up on him will hurt anything."

"W-well, he," Mask splutters as Zelda strides past, "he, he doesn't want to see you!"

"Oh, is that so?" Zelda asks a tad mischeviously. "Funny, a minute ago you said Proxi was busy and that Link was so sick he could barely speak. How is it that you know what he wants?"

"Uh... that was before he couldn't speak," Mask quickly adds, but Zelda merely strides around him, nearly to the entrance of Link's tent. "Wait wait wait!"

Zelda pauses with her hand on the flap, looking down at Mask, who's still trying to block her while sporting a very odd expression on his face.

"...Is anything I say going to keep you out?" he asks, sounding like he already knows the answer.

"I'm afraid not."

Mask grimaces.

"Well... alright. If he asks, tell him I tried, and don't say I didn't warn you," he mutters, and steps aside. "You might wanna watch your hair."

Zelda raises an eyebrow, but Mask doesn't elaborate, and she enters the tent.

The first thing she notices is the smell of smoke in the air, just thick enough to be noticeable upon entering. The small lantern lit on the table doesn’t seem big enough to make the tent smell as smoky as it does, but nothing else seems to be on fire, and her attention is quickly drawn to the cot in the corner.

Link looks miserable, curled up under a thin blanket, dressed in only his undertunic and pants, and shivering hard enough that Zelda can see it from where she stands. Tune is sitting next to him with a bucket at his feet, and the sailor looks just as worried as she feels.

Tune looks up as she walks in, startles, then turns a glare on Mask.

"Mask, you—"

"I know, I know. Look she has to find out eventually, why not now?" Mask huffs, crossing his arms.

"He didn't want her to find out like this, he wanted to actually tell her," Tune hisses, and Mask has the decency to look a bit guilty.

"Have me find out what, exactly?" Zelda interrupts, and Tune and Mask both look at her, strange expressions on their faces. Neither of them gets a chance to speak though, as Link suddenly groans, and screws his face up.

“...Uh oh.”

"Hit the deck!" Mask yelps, and Zelda has just enough time to wonder what in the name of the goddesses is going on before Link lets out a loud sneezing cough.

Which sends a small burst of flame straight across the tent.

Zelda jumps back in surprise, and Tune quickly grabs the bucket at his feet and splashes water on the part of her skirts that ended up catching the edge of Link’s flames.

Smoke drifts from Zelda's now-doused skirt, and Link groans, Tune gently patting him on the head.

Zelda stares.

“How on earth..?” she breathes, and Tune and Mask look up at her, then at each other. “Is he all right? Is this a curse? How is it that he’s breathing fire?”

“Sneezing fire, technically,” Mask corrects, and Tune elbows him.

“Look, it’s... it's a little hard to explain,” Tune says carefully, and Zelda crosses her arms, suspicions suddenly raised.

“Was this one of you two’s faults?”

“No! Of course not! Look, it’s just...” Tune says, obviously struggling, and Mask sighs and gestures to Link.

“Turns out his dad is Volga,” he says simply.

Zelda blinks.

“Link’s... father. Is Volga. The dragon knight.”

Mask and Tune nod.

“That’s the one,” Mask says.

A lot of odd things that’ve happened in the past month suddenly add up in Zelda's head, strange looks, awkward avoidances, the uncertain glint that sometimes appears in Link's eyes. Zelda had assumed most of that was because of her hiding Sheik's identity (and she does still feel guilty about that), but Volga being Link's father...

Zelda’s head spins, but she doesn’t have time to ask further questions, as Link drags his eyes open with a groan.

“Captain?” Tune asks, and Link looks at him, face haggard with exhaustion. His gaze drifts around the tent, pausing on Mask for a moment, then drifting past him and settling on Zelda. Link stares at her, startles, then pushes himself upward, raising a hand in a shaky salute before Mask shoves him back down.

“Your Highness,” he croaks, and Zelda winces at how painful his voice sounds.

“At ease Link, you don’t need to treat me like that,” she assures, almost wishing she was still in disguise as Sheik. Link was never so concerned with protocol around her then. “Especially not while you’re sick.”

“‘S just a cough,” he rasps, and Tune sighs.

“Yeah, a cough that’s making you sneeze fire. Not exactly ‘just’ a cough.”

Link hums in a croaky way, then he startles as he realizes just what Tune has said, and looks at Zelda. Blue eyes meet blue, and Zelda can practically see the thoughts running rampant through Link's head.

"Y-your Highness, I'm—"

"Link," Zelda interrupts, her voice gentle. "Tune and Mask already told me. You don't need to hide it."

She sees him swallow, and Tune pushes his head back down to his pillow, a little frown appearing on his face when Link barely resists.

"So you... know," Link whispers, closing his eyes with a small cough. The action sends some smoke puffing from his lips. "My father's... Volga."

"Yes," Zelda replies, the shock beginning to fade, but still present.

There's always been something a little different about Link, something that set him apart from the other soldiers. Zelda had always thought it was more due to being the Hero, or the piece of Triforce he held, not... being related to a dragon.

She brushes her thoughts aside. "I apologize. Mask did his best to keep me out."

"She's too stubborn," Mask huffs, crossing his arms.

Tune's face hitches up in a smile. "Zeldas always are."

Link looks slightly more at ease, but still uncertain, and his eyes drag open again, circles dark beneath them.

"Princess," he begins in a rasp, "I know... it isn't much, but I promise you I am loyal to the crown. Volga is still my enemy. I wasn't a... aware of his relation to me until very... recently."

"Link, I didn't come in here to question your loyalties," Zelda says, pulling a chair over and sitting by his bed. "And I'm not in the practice of judging others on the actions of their parents. I heard you were ill, and came to see how you were doing."

Link blinks at her, and Zelda reaches a cautious hand out to feel his forehead, wincing at the heat radiating off of it.

"You have quite the fever," she says as she looks over at Tune, and he nods, eyebrows pinching together in worry.

"I know. We're not really sure what to do for him. We were just treating it normally, but then he started the fire thing..." he trails off, and scratches the back of his neck.

"Impa's getting a book that has some information on dragons in it though, she's hoping it'll help," Mask adds, and Zelda hums, pulling her hand back from Link’s forehead. She’d wondered where Impa had gone off to.

"I take it she's aware of this information too then?"

Something flickers in Tune's gaze. "She is."

Link screws his face up again, and Zelda dodges the flames that come out when he sneezes this time, Mask splashing some water on the corner of the tent the flames try to lick at.

“Uh... I’ll get more water,” he says as he looks down at the empty bucket, and slips out of the tent. Zelda is left alone with Tune and Link, and Tune sighs, brushing some of Link’s hair out of his face.

Zelda watches them in silence for a moment, Link’s raspy breathing the only sound in the tent.

“I hate to pry, especially while you’re sick, Link, but... when did you learn of your father?” Zelda finally asks, voice soft. “You said it was recently. Did Volga tell you?”

“No. It was before Cia split time,” he whispers. “That day she ended up... talking to me alone. She told me about Volga.”

Anger on Link’s behalf rises up in Zelda as he coughs again, from ending up alone with their enemy, from hearing such sensitive information from Cia of all people, from becoming such a major player in this war at all... but she tampers it down, and meets his eyes, dull with sickness.

“I’m sorry,” Zelda says quietly.

Link lets out a raspy sigh, and closes his eyes again. “I’ve had some time to... come to terms with it.”

He lets out another abrupt sneeze, flames shooting across the tent, and another several accompany it, the fire brighter each time. Zelda leaps to her feet, but before the flames can cause any damage, Tune whips out the wind waker and blows them all out.

The sneezes seems to have taken what’s left of Link’s strength, and he curls up again, looking exhausted as Tune lets out a sigh of relief. The younger hero pulls the blanket over Link’s shoulders as he tucks the wind waker back in his pocket, and then he smiles a little apologetically at Zelda.

“I think he could use some more rest,” he says, and Zelda nods, dusting some ashes off her skirts. She’s likely going to smell of smoke for a while.

“Of course. I need to be on my way anyway,” she sighs, not looking forward to going back to her maps and strategies.

Zelda looks down at Link, eyes closed in exhaustion, shoulders faintly shivering, the smell of smoke and sickness about him, and she swallows.

“I hope you feel better soon, Link.”

“Thank you your highness,” Link whispers in response, and sighs, seeming to fall asleep moments later.

“...he’s quite sick, isn’t he?” Zelda says once she’s sure he’s asleep.

“He could be worse, but... yeah,” Tune says quietly, then smiles at her. “But Impa will be back later, and I bet she’ll have some information for us. Link’ll be fine.”

“I’m sure he will. He’s terribly resilient,” Zelda says with a small smile of her own. “Thank you for looking after him.”

Tune shrugs. “Somebody’s gotta stop him from setting the whole camp on fire.”

Zelda can’t help her chuckle at that, and Tune lets out a laugh of his own as he walks her out, pausing at the tent flap.

“Princess... would you keep all of this to yourself?” Tune asks her, a strange expression flitting across his face. “Link’s still struggling with it, and if the rest of the army knew...”

“I won’t say a word,” Zelda promises, and Tune relaxes a hair. “Only to Impa, or you and Mask.”

“Thank you,” Tune says gratefully.

Zelda takes his hand and gives it a squeeze. “You’re welcome, Tune. I’ll try and come back once Impa returns, maybe we can all discuss this together.”

Tune’s eyes do something funny again at the mention of Impa. “Maybe. See you, Zelda.”

Zelda says goodbye in return, and Tune slips back inside the tent, a puff of ash accompanying him.

She stands there for a few moments longer, thinking about Link and Volga, and Impa a little as well. She’s curious about what this all means for Link, being part dragon (whole dragon?), and what he’s doubtlessly been going through since he found out.

She wonders how Impa found out about all of this as well. Did Link tell her? Or Tune perhaps? Was Link concerned about what him being related to their enemy would mean? And how long has Impa known of the identity of Link’s father?

Zelda shakes her head, scattering her thoughts, and begins the walk back to her tent.

“So many questions,” she sighs to herself, and rubs some more ashes from her skirts.

As if this war weren’t already complicated enough.

[5hfanfiction]

Love Drunk (Chapter 5)

chapter 5: green is such a beautiful color on you 

***

“Fuck.”

Camila hummed against the pale expanse of Lauren’s neck, grazing her teeth over her pulse point.

Lauren let out a quiet moan, her hands shooting up to tangle in Camila’s hair. “Camila, this isn’t right, we should stop,” She panted as she felt Camila’s tongue dart out against her skin.

The younger Latina placed a soft kiss under Lauren’s ear, moving to nibble it. “What’s wrong?” She whispered. “I thought you wanted this, Lo.” Camila continued her path of light kisses up to Lauren’s jaw.

“I do,” Lauren gripped Camila’s hair tighter when she felt another nip against her skin. “But what if he finds out?”

Camila pulled her lips away from Lauren’s skin to look the girl directly in the eyes. Her green orbs were now darkened and lust-filled; her lips were parted, allowing her heaving breaths to escape, and her skin was flushed, no doubt from Camila’s scattered kisses.

She leaned forward to press a quick kiss into Lauren’s mouth. “He won’t,” She whispered against the girl’s lips. Her hand cupped Lauren’s cheek to pull her into a deeper kiss, to which the dark haired girl complied.

Lauren’s hands grip the hem of her shirt-removing it in one swift motion-and then they’re guiding her to lay back. Once she’s straddled Camila’s waist, she tugs her own shirt off and throws it somewhere across the room. Camila’s mouth waters at the sight of Lauren’s full chest encased in black lace, a perfect contrast against her creamy white skin.

Lauren drapes her body over Camila’s, pressing the exposed parts of their skin together deliciously and connecting their mouths in a heated kiss. Camila groans into the kiss and snakes her arms around her waist, dragging her nails down the girl’s back.

When Lauren’s mouth attaches to her neck, Camila’s eyes almost roll back in pleasure. Her kisses are so sensual, so full of desire, and Camila knows that Lauren is taking her time to worship every inch of her skin.

Suddenly, Lauren’s lips are gone, and the pressure of her body is lifted, leaving Camila frustrated and confused. When she opens her eyes, her jaw drops in shock.

Mason’s kneeling between her thighs, his head is cocked to the side, and Camila can’t quite make out the expression on his face.

“It’s not so easy to resist temptation is it, Mila?”

His eyes roam over her skin-no doubt taking in the red marks and bruises from where Lauren’s lips have been-from where they've claimed her.

Camila doesn’t have time to formulate a response before Mason is leaning over her, one hand wrapping tightly around her throat. It’s not enough to hurt her, but the pressure isn’t entirely pleasant.

He’s face to face with her now, staring intently into her eyes as if he’s searching for something he can’t seem to find. He presses harder against her throat, causing her hands to wrap around his own.

It’s getting harder for Camila to breathe. “Mason-”

Mason’s other hand joins the one already pressed against Camila’s throat. She struggles against him, which only causes him to add more pressure.

“I don’t want to hear it, Camila. Nobody likes a hypocrite.”

His eyes are vacant, and his hands are heavy. He squeezes Camila’s throat as tight as she can, a haunting smirk forming on his lips as her air supply is cut off. She continues to writhe beneath him in any attempt to fight him off.

The last thing she sees before the darkness begins to encase her vision is the sinister curving of his lips in a devilish smile.

Camila jolts awake, her heartbeat thunderous and her skin covered in a light sheen of sweat. Her breathing is erratic as her eyes frantically jump around the room. She runs a hand through her messy hair when she remembers that she’s in Lauren’s bedroom.

Lauren!

Camila turns to look at her friend, hoping she hasn’t woken her up. She’s lying on her back facing Camila, with her eyes still shut and her chest is rising and falling slowly.

Camila sighs in relief. She was still asleep. Her hand settles against her chest in an attempt to soothe her racing heart. She counts to ten while breathing deeply and slowly.

Once her heart calms, Camila runs her hands over her face and then untucks the blanket out from underneath her feet. She carefully climbs over Lauren to get out of the bed. When she checks the time, it’s only a little after nine.

After she brushes her teeth and uses the bathroom, Camila wanders out into the kitchen in hopes Lauren has some coffee she can prepare.

She fills the pot with water, then pours it into the machine and opens the cabinets in search of the coffee grounds and filters. Her tongue pokes out in concentration as she feels her way around the contents of the shelf she can’t entirely reach.

A hand appears from somewhere behind her, locating the items she was in search of and placing them on the counter beside Camila.

“I take it you were looking for that?” Normani’s voice fills the empty kitchen.

Camila spins around, guilt evident on her face. “I-yeah. Thank you. I didn’t wake you up or anything did I?”

Normani unscrews the lid on the container of coffee grounds to scoop some up and put them in the filter. “Nah, I was already up anyways. I needed some coffee myself, the timing is perfect.” She places the filter into the coffee machine and turns it on after sending Camila a smile. Plus your best friend snores like a freight train and I couldn’t deal with it anymore.“

Camila laughs quietly as she leans against the counter. "You get used to it eventually.”

“Hopefully,” Normani reaches up into the cabinets to pull out a box of pop tarts. She takes out a packet and offers it to Camila, who graciously accepts. They eat together in silence as they wait for the coffee to finish brewing. Once it does, Normani pours two cups, then hands one over to Camila.

“I’m not sure how you take it, but there’s sugar right next to the coffee pot and creamer in the fridge.” The dark-skinned girl smiles again, stepping around Camila to have a seat at the table.

Camila fixes her coffee and joins Normani at the table, sipping slowly at it in case she burns her tongue.

Normani eyes her for a second before she places her mug on the table and leans her chin against her hand. “Do you mind if I ask you something?”

Normani notices how Camila’s eyes widen for a split second before a wave of calmness washes over her, as if she’s trying to collect herself. She clears her throat. “Sure, of course.”

“I know we just recently met and all,” Camila nods, “So I don’t expect you to trust me, or want to share anything personal with me right away.” Camila nods again in understanding. “And I totally get it if you don’t want to tell me, but is there something going on between you and Lauren?”

Camila’s cheeks turn a light shade of pink. “What makes you say that?”

Normani grins and takes another sip of her coffee, “Well, for one, Dinah and I found you guys cuddled together on the couch last night.”

“Oh my God,” Camila groans. “She’ll never let me live this down.”

Normani throws her head back in laughter. “It’s okay, we both thought it was really cute. You guys are cute together.”

Camila fidgets with the handle of her coffee cup, avoiding Normani’s eyes. “Um, thanks,” She mutters quietly.

“Sorry, I’m not trying to make you feel awkward or anything. I was just wondering. Lauren’s been really happy lately, I haven’t seen her like this in a while.”

Reagan, Camila thinks and frowns.

“Lauren makes me happy too.”

Normani smiles genuinely. “I’m glad.”

“I like her a lot.” Camila shifts in her chair and finally meets Normani’s gaze. “You have a really amazing best friend. She has such a good heart. There’s no doubt she’s going to be so important to me-that she already is.” The dark-skinned girl listens intently. “But we’re just friends and right now, I can’t give her more. Maybe someday, if she wants to try, we could.”

“That’s understandable,” Normani nods. “She likes you a lot as well, I can see it. Lauren is very patient, she would be more than willing to wait for you. You guys seem to complement each other well.”

Camila smiles as she recalls Dinah saying something of the same sorts. “Yeah, I think we do, too.”

“She’s fiercely loyal and she never gives any of that half-assed love. If you decide to keep her around, she won’t ever leave your side.”

“That’s good to know.”

Normani wiggles her eyebrows, “And she makes some damn good cocktails.”

Camila laughs around her sip of coffee. “That she does.”

The distinct sound of approaching footsteps causes Normani to look past Camila, and just by the way her entire demeanor lights up, she knows it has to be Dinah.

“Morning, Mila,” The blonde says sleepily as she plants a kiss on the top of her head.

“Good morning, D,” Camila says as Dinah rounds the table to lean behind Normani and wrap her arms around the girl’s neck.

Normani turns her head to press a kiss into Dinah’s mouth gently. “Why are you up so early?” Dinah giggles and nuzzles her face into the side of Normani’s neck affectionately.

“Couldn’t sleep without you.”

“Goals,” Camila says under her breath.

Dinah presses one last lingering kiss to Normani’s cheek before she unwraps her arms and pads over to the coffee pot. “What have you guys been up to?” When she’s done pouring her cup, she takes a seat next to Normani.

“Just talking.”

Dinah redirects her gaze to Camila. “Lauren’s still asleep?”

“Yeah, she is.”

“You tire her out, huh?” Dinah quirks an eyebrow, her coffee cup hiding the smirk Camila knows is creeping up on her face.

“We didn’t have sex, Dinah.” Camila narrows her eyes at the blonde.

“But you guys did something,” Normani mutters under her breath-or at least, what she thinks is under her breath. Judging by the look on Dinah’s face, she’d heard.

“Am I missing something?”

Camila chews on her lip, contemplating whether or not she should tell Dinah about the almost-kiss. “Sort of,” She says unsurely.

“Oh my God, did something happen?”

Normani laces her fingers together and rests her chin against them. Dinah shifts impatiently. Camila isn’t sure if she should tell them-Lauren might not want her to, and she doesn’t want to disrespect that. Normani senses that Camila must be having some sort of moral debate in her head, so she speaks up, “You don’t have to overthink it, Mila. Lo mentioned she had something to tell me later. You can tell us if you want to, I’m not going to say anything to her.”

Camila bites at her lip again. She runs a hand through her hair, a habit she’s picked up since meeting Lauren. “Okay. We almost kissed.”

Dinah’s mouth opens then closes when she can’t manage to get anything out.

“Really?” Normani asks, wide-eyed but not entirely surprised. “Who initiated it?”

“I bet it was Lauren,” Dinah mumbles.

Camila confirms it with a nod. “Technically it was her.”

“How did it happen?”

“I was showing her how to play an Ed Sheeran song,” Dinah rolls her eyes because how cheesy can they be, “And we just sort of got caught up in the moment.” Camila’s cheeks start to flush and she swallows hard. “I’m not entirely innocent, I kind of-uhm, I sort of got on top of her…”

Dinah’s mouth drops in shock, contrast to the amusement written all over her face. “Kinky Karla’s come out to play.”

“Shut up,” Camila leans over to hit Dinah on the shoulder. “Anyways, we almost kissed but the pizza guy interrupted us.”

“Interesting,” Normani says, her head tilted to the side. “What happened after that?”

“She started acting weird.”

“Weird, how?” Normani tenses slightly against Dinah.

“Weird like she started ignoring me and being a little rude.”

The dark-skinned girl sighs in what Camila can only say must be defeat. “Typical Lauren. She always does that when she gets awkward.”

Dinah rests her cheek against her palm. “Do I need to beat her ass?”

“No,” Camila and Normani both say simultaneously.

“Okay,” Dinah holds her hands up in surrender.

“You guys are okay, right?” Normani eyes Camila.

“Yeah, we’re fine. We talked about it, everything is good between us.”

“So, you guys are both aware of the fact that there’s something between you, but you’re just taking it slowly?”

Camila’s fingers trace the rim of her coffee cup as a small distraction. “I’m just sort of going with the flow. I’m still working through my own issues and I don’t want to drag Lauren into it so I’m not going to force anything, if it’s meant to be, it’ll sort itself out.”

“…Or you could just let Lauren sort you out.”

Normani glares threateningly at the blonde before slapping her exactly where Camila had. “Can you be serious for like one second?”

Dinah looks like Normani just kicked a puppy in front of her. “Okay, damn. Stop hitting me, both of you.” Dinah scoots her seat away from Normani to avoid her slaps. “I’m happy for you, Walz. That’s really great.”

“What’s really great?” Lauren’s voice-even huskier since she’s just woken up-joins the three girls, making Camila jump. Lauren enters the kitchen looking a complete mess. Her hair is everywhere, strands sticking up in different directions-none seeming to agree on how to fall. Her shirt is wrinkled and hanging off one shoulder. Her eyes are tired, yet still shine bright.

“It’s really great that Camila’s coming to karaoke night at the bar tonight,” Normani covers smoothly. Dinah nods in agreement, and Lauren drags her tired eyes to meet Camila’s.

“That’s cool, you’re gonna love watching these people make complete asses of themselves.” Lauren runs a hand through her tousled hair to flip it over to one side. “My stomach always hurts by the end of the night from all the laughing.” She runs her hand through her hair again, before asking in Normani’s direction, “Coffee?”

“On the counter,” Normani confirms.

“Cool, thanks.”

Lauren pours herself a cup then settles into the seat next to Camila.

“So what are you guys doing today?”

“I have class at eleven. Then I’m working twelve-thirty to five.” Dinah sticks her tongue out.

Normani smiles at her girlfriend. “I’m free all day so I plan on being lazy until we go out tonight.”

Lauren nods. “What about you, Camz?”

“I have a few classes today, but I’m free afterwards. So, I’ll probably just study or watch some Netflix I guess. I don’t know. You?”

Lauren frowns, Camila finds it quite cute. “I have classes a majority of the day, then I have to work late tonight. Sorry we can’t really hang out again today, but I’ll see you tonight.”

Camila gives her a small smile. “It’s okay.”

“You can come back over after your classes today, Mila,” Normani says in-between bites of her pop tart. “I’m not doing anything, I could use some company. If you want, of course.”

Camila perks up at the suggestion. She likes Normani, she wouldn’t mind spending some time with her. “Sure, that sounds good.”

“Trying to steal my girlfriend, Walz?”

Camila makes a show to bat her eyelashes flirtatiously at Dinah. “Of course. Judging by the fact that she invited me over, it must be working.”

Dinah narrowed her eyes challengingly at the Cuban. Lauren looked on, an amused smile on her face.

“Girls, relax,” Normani interrupts the mock-fighting. “There’s plenty of Manibear to go around. I have enough love for everyone!”

“Dinah looks like she needs it more than the rest of us,” Lauren snickers, gesturing to Dinah with a tilt of her head, who has her arms folded with her face turned away from the group. She narrows her eyes again, turning to Lauren.

“Suck my dick, Lauser.”

“Dick’s not really my thing right now, DJ.”

“I’m sure,” Dinah snorts, smirk forming. “You’re more interested in Walz’s pus-”

“Dinah Jane!”

Normani clamps a hand over Dinah’s mouth. “Too much.”

Lauren’s blushing profusely as she jumps hastily from her seat-chugging the rest of her now warm coffee-muttering something about ’need to take a shower and get ready or I’ll be late’ before she deposits the cup in the sink and leaves the room in a flash.

It’s silent as Normani and Camila both shake their heads disapprovingly at Dinah.

“See what you did? You made her awkward.”

“Sorry,” At least Dinah actually has the decency to look apologetic. “It was out of line. But she didn’t deny it. She totally wants the kitty, Walz.”

“Dinah,” Camila hisses, mortification setting in. “Oh my god.”

“Don’t act like you’re not into it.”

“Stop antagonizing her, DJ.” Normani glares at the blonde. “Be nice.”

“I’m always nice!” Dinah huffs.

“You’re a pain in the ass,” Camila replies, gathering her mug for another cup of coffee.

“Why did I even bother getting out of bed?” The Polynesian grumbles.

Normani pinches her cheek lovingly. “Maybe you should go back to sleep, you grump.”

Dinah bats her hand off, “Fine. I’m tired anyways. You’ll come back soon?”

“Yeah,” Normani confirms. “I’ll join you in a little.”

Dinah smiles then retreats back to Normani’s room.

“She’s so grumpy in the morning.”

“She’s a mess.”

“But she’s our mess.”

Normani smiles softly at Camila. “That she is.”

***

Hanging out with Normani proves to be a lot less intimidating than initially expected. Camila can definitely see how she and Lauren are best friends and how Dinah is so head over heels as Normani’s incredibly funny, sweet and attentive; now that she’s thinking about it, they all carry similar qualities.

Maybe that’s why they’re becoming so close.

“So Dinah always mentions how you two have been friends forever, but she’s never actually told me how you guys met.”

Normani looks over from her spot on the couch where she’s curled up in a blanket. After Camila’s classes, she’d come back over (Normani told her to bring some clothes for when they go out later) and they’d settled on sharing some ice cream and watching Netflix. Normani liked Friends as well, so they could watch and talk without missing anything they haven’t already seen.

Camila hums. “Really? Weird, I figured she would have.” Normani shrugs half-heartedly. “I actually met her during the summer after seventh grade. Her family was vacationing in Miami. We met on the beach, and I was so heartbroken when she had to leave.”

“Aw, that’s so sad!” Normani pouts. “Did you guys keep in touch long distance?”

“We did for a while,” Camila confirms. “We talked on the phone every night after school for hours. I was really shy in school, so I didn’t have a lot of friends. She was the only person I was ever really close with.”

“I can see that.” Normani makes a face at her comment. “You being shy, I mean. Not the part about you not having a lot of friends.”

Camila chuckles lightly, “I know what you meant.”

“Good,” Normani chuckles along with her. “Insulting my girlfriend’s best friend isn’t exactly the best way to win her over.”

“I’m pretty sure you’ve already succeeded at that.”

“Really?” Normani’s eyebrows quirked up in mock surprise. “Was it my amazing sense of style or my wonderful personality? Maybe the hair?” She gestures to her messy hair from where she was leaning against a pillow.

“It was actually your abs,” Camila jokes. “I was hoping you could share some of your secrets with me.”

Normani feigns a deep sigh. “So you only like me for my body, I should have known.” She pretends to wipe a tear away before huffing. “At least you’re honest.”

Camila smiles wryly. “At least Dinah will be happy we’re getting along.”

“Is she in on this? Does she only want me for my body as well? Or is she only using me to get to Lauren? We all know those eyes are hypnotizing.”

Camila taps her fingers against her chin in thought. “That they are. But no, I’m one hundred percent sure she likes you and isn’t trying to get to Lauren.”

“Good.” Normani smiles sweetly. “Lauren would never go for that anyways, she’s so into you.”

Camila bites her lip to stop the smile threatening to break out. “Has she said anything to you about me?”

“I’m sworn to secrecy, because you know, best friends and all that,” Camila rolls her eyes jokingly while smiling with a soft ’of course.’ “But she wouldn’t have to say anything for me to know. I’ve seen the way she looks at you. Eyes don’t lie, girl!”

Camila blushes.

“And I’ve seen the way you look at her.”

Camila blushes even harder.

“And I know you’re still dealing with a shitty breakup, but if I’m being completely honest-and I’m not just saying this because I love Lauren with my entire heart and she’s my bestest friend in the entire world-there is no one better for you than her. She is the sweetest person alive.”

Camila agrees easily, Lauren is one of the kindest people she’s ever had the pleasure of meeting. 

“And I really, really hope you guys get a chance.”

Camila ducks her head to hide behind her hair. “Thank you, Mani. That’s really sweet of you to say.”

Normani gives her a lop-sided smile. “You’re both really good people and you deserve to be happy. And I know Dinah would have a field day once her ’ship’ sets sail. She’s all about you two. I’m honestly surprised she hasn’t made T-shirts yet.”

Camila laughs loudly, “Dinah is such a fangirl.”

“I know, right? It’s hilarious.”

“God, you should’ve seen her when Cassidy got voted off America’s Next Top Model. She wouldn’t talk about it for an entire month.”

Normani lets out a proud, soft laugh. “My girl’s dedicated.”

“Very true.”

The two girls continued to chat aimlessly about various topics; friends, work, school, and their plans for the night. Once Dinah was off work, Normani texted her to come over and join them. When there was a knock on the door, Normani jumped up to answer it. Dinah barely said a word as she brushed past her girlfriend into the apartment to plop down angrily on the couch. She crossed her arms and huffed.

“Uh-Dinah? What’s wrong?” Normani shut the door and approached her girlfriend cautiously.

“Work was really stressful and I have so much homework I think my brain might explode.”

Normani rubbed her arm soothingly. “Aw, babe. I’m sorry you had a shitty day, come here.” She extended her arms for Dinah to cuddle into her. The blonde shuffled forward and wrapped her arms around Normani’s waist.

“I can’t go out with you guys tonight. I have too much to do.”

“It’s okay, D,” Camila said softly. “Your schoolwork is important.”

“Yeah,” Normani agrees. “We can always go another night.”

“You guys should still go, don’t stay home just because I have a long, boring night ahead of me. I want you guys to go out and have fun. Do it for me!” Dinah juts her bottom lip out in a pout, her eyes shining with mischief. “Get super drunk and dance your asses off.”

“If you insist.”

“I do. Even if I’m not there, give ‘em the Dinah Jane experience.”

Normani quirks an eyebrow skeptically, “I don’t know if dancing on the bar where my best friend works is a good idea.”

“Probably not,” Camila adds.

“Whatever,” Dinah rolls her eyes. “At least sing some Beyoncé, then?”

Camila smiles. “That’s doable.”

“What are you guys gonna wear?”

Normani squeezes Dinah’s shoulders to hug her a little closer. “We haven’t decided yet. Do you wanna help us get ready?”

“Hell yes!” Dinah scrambles out of Normani’s hold, eagerly grabbing her and Camila’s hands.

***

Lauren punched a couple of buttons on the screen to clock in for her late shift. Karaoke nights were usually pretty busy, and thankfully her boss had scheduled plenty of people tonight. She was helping set up the equipment, so that definitely took some of the pressure off having to deal with customers for now.

The Latina grabbed the box full of microphones and cables that had been passed to her and placed it on the nearest table. She began to pull things out of the box when someone tapped on her shoulder.

“Hey, Laur.”

Lauren spun around at the sound of her name and smiled. “Hey, Dev.”

“You ready to see a bunch of drunk idiots sing horribly tonight? I brought some ear plugs if you want some.” He reached into his pocket and pulled out a bag of unused earplugs.

Lauren shook her head as she laughed, “No thanks, but I appreciate it. It would make it too hard to take people’s orders. I can barely hear them with all the screaming half the time anyways.”

Dev threw his head back and laughed unabashedly. “True, well, good luck tonight dealing with that.” He gave her a military salute and sauntered back through the double doors into the kitchen.

When all of the machines were setup, the DJ started taking names of people who wanted to sing and their song choices. The karaoke started at nine, so they had a good forty-five minutes for everyone to sign up early if they wanted to.

Lauren was in the middle of taking a customer’s order when she spotted Normani and Camila walk through the door. Normani flashed her a dazzling smile and Camila waved sweetly. They sat at the bar, only a few seats down from the customer Lauren was with. When she punched in his order, she made her way over to her two friends.

“Hey, Lo,” Normani greeted at the same time Camila had said, “Hi, Lauren!”

“Hey guys. I didn’t think you’d be here for a while.” Lauren furrowed her eyebrows. “Where’s Dinah?”

“She couldn’t come,” Camila said with a pout. “She has some assignments she has to catch up on.”

“That sucks.”

Normani shrugged her shoulders. “It’s okay. We have plenty of opportunities to hang out later. It’s time to get ready for karaoke.”

Lauren quirked an eyebrow. “True.” The girl slapped on her trademark smirk. “So, what can I get for you two?”

“Surprise me,” Camila challenged. “You know what I like.”

The younger Latina made a point to wink at Lauren and a blush blossomed over her cheeks. Normani tried to stifle a laugh, slapping Camila lightly on the thigh. It was funny to see her best friend squirm as Lauren was rarely ever embarrassed.

“I’ll have a shot of vodka,” Normani added after she recomposed herself.

“Assholes,” Lauren mumbled as she poured Normani’s shot and mixed a drink for Camila. She made sure to make it strong as payback.

Normani downed her shot quickly. Camila took a sip of her drink and her face contorted in displeasure.

“Damn. That’s really strong. You trying to get me drunk, Jauregui?”

“Yup,” Lauren said, popping the 'p.’ “Just making sure you’re entertaining when you get on stage.” This time, it was Lauren’s turn to wink at Camila.

“I’m not going up there. I’m embarrassing enough as it is.”

“What!” Normani’s mouth fell open in shock. “What do you mean you aren’t singing? Dinah isn’t here, you totally have to.”

“Yeah,” Lauren agreed as she poured another shot for Normani. “I’m working so I can’t go up there. You can’t leave Mani to sing by herself.”

“Oh God.”

Normani stuck out her bottom lip in a pout. “Dinah would want you to sing something with me. Please, Mila.”

Camila rolled her eyes at the two girls. They weren’t playing fair at all.

“Fine.” Camila took a long gulp of her drink, finishing it off and sliding the glass towards Lauren, much like their first encounter. “But I’m gonna need a lot more alcohol.”

Normani squealed in excitement as the corner of Lauren’s mouth curled up in a smile.

“That I can help you with.”

***

Lauren’s seen Normani drunk enough times that she couldn’t keep count.

One of her favorite times was back in high school when they had stolen a bottle of her mom’s Jack Daniels and snuck out to a bonfire. Normani was a funny drunk. She was also very touchy. She laughed loudly, and without reservation. She cuddled into Lauren’s side and never let go of her. Overall the night had been wonderful, and they didn’t even get caught.

Well, until a week later.

The first time Lauren ever saw Camila drunk was pretty depressing. The poor girl just had her heart broken, and even though she eventually managed to smile, Lauren saw that it didn’t completely reach her eyes.

This version of Camila in front of her right now-the one that was throwing her head back and clutching her stomach as she laughed goofily with Lauren’s very own best friend while recounting her adventures with Dinah-was almost like a completely different person.

She was glowing. Her smile was infectious, her laugh like a sweet symphony to Lauren’s ears, and she was so, so incredibly beautiful.

Lauren knew she was starting to fall hard for this girl.

She snapped out of her staring, finally tuning back into the conversation. The last thing she caught was something about Dinah using her little brother to help her get a date.

“I can’t believe Dinah did that,” Normani said, clutching her stomach as she laughed. “I love that idiot so much.”

Camila’s laughter halted as Normani’s words sunk in. “Wait, what? Am I just really drunk and hearing things, or did you say you loved Dinah?”

“You are really drunk, but you’re not hearing things.” Lauren’s eyes widened. “Mani?”

Normani stared back at Lauren, a twin expression on her face. “Uh…”

“You love Dinah?” Camila’s voice grew soft. “You love Dinah,” She repeated in awe.

Normani’s face grew hot. “Yeah…I love her. I think I have for a while.”

“Aw, Mani!” Lauren jogged around the counter quickly and pulled her friend into a hug. “You’re in love! Oh my God! You need to tell her.”

Normani squeezed Lauren’s waist lovingly. “I will tell her. But when I’m sober. I don’t want to think I’m only saying it because I’m drunk.”

Lauren presses a kiss to her friend’s head and stands back behind the bar.

“Smart,” Camila mumbles behind her glass.

“I’m not worried if she doesn’t say it back, either. I’ll give her all the time she needs.”

“Oh my God,” Camila clutches at her shirt, where her heart would be. “I’m going to get diabetes from all this sweetness.”

Normani snorts out a laugh and-due to the alcohol-shoves Camila a little harder than she normally would have. Camila stumbles, but Normani grabs her before she falls.

“Fuck,” She says worriedly, yet still laughing. “I’m sorry, Mila. I didn’t mean to push you that hard.”

“S'okay,” Camila giggles back.

Watching her best friend and crush interact like they’ve been friends forever made Lauren’s heart soar. She hopes Camila will stick around so they can have many more moments like this.

“Alright, ladies and gents!” The DJ yells into the mic, capturing the crowd’s attention. “It’s time for karaoke! And first up we have Jen with Shot to the Heart!”

The crowd claps as a woman in her mid-thirties jumps on stage and grabs the mic. She’s clearly bordering intoxicated, and Lauren’s already grinning wildly.

When the music starts, it only gets worse. The woman is practically yelling into the mic. Her limbs are flailing at a dangerous pace, and even the DJ looks concerned that she might fall off the stage.

When she finishes, the DJ awkwardly claps as he introduces the next person.

Normani and Camila keep drinking through the rest of the performances. The next couple aren’t as bad as the first, but the drunker the person is, the more entertaining it is. One guy was headbanging to the music so hard, Camila swore that his mohawk almost flew off.

Lauren watched the ridiculous performances as she served the customers and stopped to laugh every now and then.

“That was great, Ethan!” The DJ said as a man bowed then exited the stage. “Okay, next up we have Normani and Camilla,” Camila shakes her head at the mispronunciation of her name, “with Countdown by Beyoncé!”

Her eyes widen as Normani jumps from her seat to pull Camila along with her. She’s panicking.

“Wait! I can’t do this!”

“You can, Mila! Do it for Dinah!”

Green eyes meet brown and Camila gulps audibly. Lauren crosses her arms and leans against the bar casually. “You got this, Camz. Have fun.”

Camila thinks it’s best to ignore how hot Lauren looks like right now. She allows Normani to drag her to the stage and thrusts a mic into her hand. The music booms through the speakers and Camila winces at how loud it is from up there. She grips the mic tighter when Normani brings her own mic up to her lips to begin.

Oh, killing me softly and I’m still falling

Normani starts the song confidently, her gaze shifting to Camila, who stands frozen peering out into the crowd. Lauren waves her hand from behind the bar to get her attention and when she does, she holds both thumbs up at the girl.

Still the one I need, I will always be with you

Camila swallows and pushes past her fear, using the alcohol to her advantage. She begins to sing into the mic, and Normani smiles.

Oh, you got me all gone, don’t ever let me go

The longer Camila sings, the more comfortable she becomes. It helps that Lauren is smiling brightly from across the room at her and singing along. Normani makes it more bearable as well. 

The crowd seems to be enjoying it too. There are several woman in the front row dancing and singing along with the song. Some of the men aren’t as into it, but they’re still bobbing their heads appreciatively.

Camila allows her body to get more into the music as she interacts with Normani. She steps closer to dance in time with the girl. Normani goes along with it, falling into sync with her movements. They continue belt out the lyrics together.

Me and my boo in the coupe lip locking

All up in the back because the chicks keep flocking

All that gossip in ten years, stop it

London speed it up, Houston rock it

The next time Camila looks to where Lauren is, the green-eyed girl is gone. It’s a little disappointing, but Camila knows that she’s no doubt making her rounds. She is working, after all. She turns back to give Normani her full attention, and is awestruck with the way she’s killing it with her incredible dance moves.

She’s a natural performer.

Oh, killing me softly and I’m still falling

Still the one I need, I will always be with you

Oh, you got me all gone, don’t ever let me go

Camila decides to go all out, she sways closer to Normani, practically grinding against her. Normani nods appreciatively, her mouth moving in what Camila makes out as ’get it, girl.’ She laughs and grabs Normani’s hand to twirl her around.

My baby is a 10

Camila finally spots the pair of green-eyes she’d been looking for, but her smile falters when she realizes they aren’t looking back at her.

We dressing to the 9

There’s some blonde girl hanging off Lauren that Camila knows is laughing way too loudly and obnoxiously at something she says. Camila feels a little better when Lauren attempts to pry the girl’s hands off her.

He pick me up at 8

It doesn’t last long because Camila watches as Lauren nods enthusiastically at something the girl says, seemingly more interested in the conversation now.

Make me feel so lucky 7

Camila’s never been much of a jealous person when it comes to her friendships. She knows the kind of bond she has with someone, and she also knows that nothing real can be threatened. She’s never even been jealous when it came to Dinah. But there’s just something about this interaction, and the fact that it's Lauren, that’s making her stomach twist in knots and it’s a really shitty feeling.

He kiss me in his 6

Normani can see the growing look of apprehension on Camila’s face.

We be making love in 5

The dark-skinned girl’s palm comes to rest against Camila’s back in a way that says ’are you alright?’ Grateful for the concern, Camila shoots her an appreciative smile with a slight nod of her head.

Still the one I do this 4

It’s probably a lie, but Normani isn’t going to push.

I’m trying to make us 3

From that 2

Lauren is back behind the bar now, and the girl is leaning against it, still holding onto the conversation. Camila’s irritated that the daggers she’s been shooting have missed every time.

But then again, she’s never had good aim.

He still the 1

They hit the last note of the ending before the music fades out and everyone claps. They clapped for the other performances-despite how cringeworthy they were-but this time it was more lively. Normani figures it’s probably because they were grinding against each other.

“That was great, ladies!” The DJ says enthusiastically. Normani waves at the crowd, then reaches for Camila’s hand as the two girls walk off stage and head back over to their seats.

The blonde girl is still talking to Lauren, she’s now halfway across the counter-no doubt drunk as fuck-seemingly trying to whisper something into Lauren’s ear. Lauren’s face is a little red, and she smiles awkwardly when the girl pulls back.

Normani walks slow enough for the blonde to see her approaching, which causes her to stiffen a little then push off the counter. She adjusts the strap of her purse.

“To be continued, Laur.” She blows the Latina a kiss and brushes past Camila, almost clipping her shoulder on the way.

Normani takes her seat at the bar and quirks an eyebrow at her friend. “Who was that?”

Lauren clears her throat awkwardly as Camila glares after the girl. “Uhm…you remember when I was hooking up with that girl Nikki?”

Normani bites her lip and thinks for a second. “Vaguely.”

“Okay,” Lauren says quickly, wanting to end the conversation. “Well that was her.”

Camila’s eyebrows furrow in annoyance. She picks at the wood of the bar before lowly asking, “What did she want?”

“Uh, nothing really. She was just-she wanted to talk…” Lauren trailed off as her face flushed an even deeper red. Her eyes quickly shift to Normani, silently begging her to help. Normani takes the hint and clears her throat, really wanting to avoid any drama.

“Did you like the performance, Lo? Camila did great, didn’t she?”

Lauren nods eagerly, thankful for the distraction. “Yeah, it was awesome, Camz. I didn’t know you could sing that well. You totally crushed it.”

Thankfully, Camila takes the bait. She smiles softly and tucks a strand of hair behind her ear. “Thank you. I’m not that great, but thank you.”

“Dinah would be proud.” Normani chimes in. “And who knew you could dance like that, girl.”

“Y'all don’t know half of what Mila is capable of.”

Normani whips around in her seat, almost falling off of it. Dinah rushes forward to grab her girlfriend before disaster can strike. “Damn, Mani. I know you’re excited to see me, but don’t hurt yourself.”

“Dinah!” Camila jumps out of her seat excitedly and attaches herself to her favorite blonde. “I thought you were busy with your schoolwork?”

“I was,” Dinah confirms, trying to cradle both Normani and a very excited little Cuban, “I got half way through and said fuck it. I can finish it later, I just wanna hang out with you guys.”

“I missed you,” Normani says sweetly.

Dinah kisses her fondly on the cheek. “I missed you too, cutiepie.”

“Did you just get here?” Lauren asks as she pours Dinah the shot she knows she’s going to ask for.

Dinah accepts it gratefully, then downs it quickly before answering, “I got here like five minutes ago. Just in time to see my girlfriend and best friend grinding all over each other.”

Normani knows Dinah’s just messing with her, but her face flushes anyways as she squeaks out, “Oh my god! You know it wasn’t like that, DJ.”

“Mhmm!” Dinah points at Normani in an accusatory manner, yet a widespread smile claims her face. “The Cuban booty has hypnotized you!”

“Dinah Jane!” Camila shrieks, scandalized by Dinah’s words.

“You have your own girl, Walz,” Dinah gestures to Lauren. “You don’t need to come after mine!”

Camila stares at the Polynesian, completely flabbergasted. Normani giggles and cuddles further into Dinah’s embrace. When she finally looks at Lauren, there’s an amused smirk playing on the bartender’s lips.

Camila sighs in defeat, her own lips mirroring Lauren’s smirk. “Shot, please.”

***

“I like your girlfriend, Dinah.”

The girls had relocated to one of the booths to get away from the crowd forming at the bar. It had gotten progressively busier and they just wanted to move somewhere a little quieter.

“Thank you, m'lady.”

“Don’t tip your invisible fedora, Mani. That’s so uncool.”

“You’re uncool,” Normani slurs back. “You’re just mad because your bestie liiiiiiiikes me.” Normani squishes Dinah’s cheeks together with one hand as the other grips onto a thigh just in case she falls over Dinah’s lap.

Dinah swats her hand away playfully. “Why would I be mad? That’s like, ultimate relationship goals you dummy.”

“Dummy? Wow, I love your pet names. So romantic.” The dark-skinned girl rolls her eyes when Dinah plants a kiss on her cheek.

“Speaking of romantic, where’s your girl, Mila?”

Camila downs the shot that’s been sitting in front of her for the past five minutes then rests her chin against her palm as she tries to focus her eyes to look around the bar. “Uhm…customers, I guess?”

Normani perks up immediately, drunken smile growing wide. “You didn’t deny that she’s your girl!”

“What?” Camila slurs. “Who’s my girl?”

“Lauren,” Dinah and Normani answer simultaneously.

“We aren’t dating.” Camila frowns.

“Not yet,” Normani winks at the Latina. “Camren is real, though.”

“Camren?”

“Your names,” Dinah clarifies, the slur in her voice becoming more defined as she drinks. “You know how Brad and Angelina are Brangelina?”

“Yes.” Camila blinks slowly, digesting her words. “But they aren’t together anymore.” Her hands come up to bury in her own hair as she slides forward on her elbows on the table. “Thanks for triggering me, Dinah Jane.”

“So sad,” Normani adds, her lip beginning to jut out.

“I thought I was the dramatic one.” Dinah huffs loudly when both girls agree. “Anyways, you guys are Camren. Camila plus Lauren equals Camren.”

“Cool,” Camila says simply. “In that case, this half of Camren,” Camila points a finger to her chest, “needs another drink.”

“That sounds like a good idea,” Normani agrees. She takes the intuitive to flag down one of the other bartenders. Lauren has been MIA for the last half hour or so, but the girls knew she was probably busy.

Camila waits until Normani finishes ordering the drinks before she asks Dinah, “So, if we’re Camren, what does that make you two?”

“Norminah.”

“Why not Dimani?”

Dinah thinks for a second, “Eh. It sounds weird.”

Camila smiles. “And Norminah doesn’t?”

“Hey,” Dinah pouts, folding her arms over her chest. “Don’t come after my ship just because yours is docked right now.”

Camila scoffs while rolling her eyes. “I’m not coming after anything.”

Dinah takes a tentative sip of her drink. “Not with that attitude.”

“Here you go,” The bartender interrupts them by placing their drinks down on the table. Camila grips his sleeve before he can get away.

“Sorry,” She says, gesturing to her grip, loosening it. “Hi, I was just wondering if you knew where Lauren was?”

“It’s fine,” He smiles reassuringly. “She’s been dealing with that group of customers over near the karaoke machines. They’ve been requesting her service.” Camila peers over his shoulder and finally spots Lauren. Surprise, surprise, Nikki’s monopolized her time once again.

“Oh,” Camila releases him, a scowl on her lips. “Okay, thanks.” The bartender nods and leaves them.

“What’s wrong, Mila?” Mani asks.

Camila sighs. “Nothing.” She fakes a smile but Dinah can see right through it.

Camila has always been shit at hiding her feelings. Dinah’s always been able to tell when something was bothering her. That was one of the reasons why they told each other everything; they just couldn’t hide it, so there was no point in lying.

“Mila…” Dinah’s eyes are looking right through her façade; if Camila didn’t love Dinah so much, she would find it incredibly unnerving how in sync they are.

“It’s just-” Camila glances over to Normani, who’s also waiting patiently for her to finish, “That girl again.”

Normani turns in the booth in an attempt to find Lauren. After a lot of squinting, she finally spots the familiar head of dark hair and sure enough-right beside her is Nikki again. Normani isn’t really sure how to feel. On one hand, she understands that Camila is jealous because she likes Lauren; and Normani likes Camila, she really does. A lot more than Nikki. But on the other hand, Camila and Lauren aren’t together, so even if Lauren wanted to hook up with this girl again (which would never happen, Lauren found out the hard way this chick was insane)-she could and Camila wouldn’t have a say in it.

The Latina looks like a wounded little puppy right now, and Normani isn’t going to be the one to kick her.

“If it’s any consolation,” Normani places her hand over Camila’s to comfort her friend, “Lauren’s too smart to mess with her again. From what I can remember, she was pretty psycho.”

Camila watches the liquid swirl around in the glass as she shakes it. “It’s fine,” She says, an edge to her tone. “She’s allowed to do whatever she wants.” Camila takes a long drink when the liquid stops spinning. She knows she’s probably made it awkward and she’s starting to feel kind of bad, so she tries to lighten the mood. “Hey, do you guys wanna sing?”

Normani declines, stating she’s ready to eat something to soak up the alcohol, but encourages them to go for it. Dinah agrees, allowing Camila to pick the song if she wants.

Camila knows the perfect song.

She doesn’t tell Dinah what it is (and asks the DJ to keep it a secret), although she assures the blonde that she will be able to sing it without having to read the lyrics off the prompter. They take the stage, mics already in their hands, as the music begins to drift through the speakers.

Lauren immediately looks up from where she’s serving customers when the familiar sound of drums echo through the room. Her and Camila make eye contact, to which Lauren smiles at her song choice, but Camila doesn’t smile back. Instead, she sings.

I’m in the business of misery, let’s take it from the top

She’s got a body like an hourglass, it’s ticking like a clock

It’s a matter of time before we all run out

She pulls the mic away from her mouth, hoping Dinah picks up that it’s her turn to sing.

When she does, Camila smiles wide.

When I thought he was mine, she caught him by the mouth

I waited eight long months, she finally set him free

I told him I couldn’t lie, he was the only one for me

Camila joins in again.

Two weeks and we caught on fire

She’s got it out for me, but I wear the biggest smile

Dinah winks at Camila as the drums build up until they belt out the chorus together.

Whooooaaa, I never meant to brag

But I got him where I want him now

Ooooooh, it was never my intention to brag

To steal it all away from you now

The blonde grabs ahold of Camila’s hand and bangs her head to the music. Camila follows suit, adding a little bit of air guitar for dramatic effect.

But God, does it feel so good

Cause I got him where I want him now

And if you could, then you know you would

Cause God, it just feels so, it just feels so good

Normani watches the crowd. The people that know the song are copying Camila and Dinah’s movements, head banging and singing along loudly. Lauren’s even nodding her head, although there’s an odd expression on her face.

As Dinah sings through the second verse, Camila takes it upon herself to interact with the crowd. Carefully walking down the steps-the crowd parts for her-she’s marked her target like a lioness on the hunt.

Lauren swallows thickly when Camila’s eyes train on her and refuse to look away. She’s glad she’s already put the drinks on the table, otherwise they’d probably be on the floor. Nikki’s head swivels from Camila to Lauren quickly as she frowns.

Camila stops directly in front of Lauren, and allows her eyes to scan over the green-eyed girl’s body not-so-subtly. Se licks her lips before bringing the mic back to them as she sings,

I never meant to brag

But I got you where I want you now

And God does it feel so good

Camila touches her hand to Lauren’s bicep as she walks around the girl. Lauren’s face is as bright as a tomato and every eye in the room is undoubtedly on her.

Normani almost feels embarrassed for Lauren-but goddamn she’s gotta give her credit-Camila sure knows how to claim her girl.

The brunette pinches Lauren’s cheek-leaving her a bumbling mess-then sways away from her to redirect her attention to Nikki. When the blonde meets her gaze with narrowed eyes, Camila shakes her head with a smirk.

Oh, It was never my intention to brag

To steal it all away from you now

But God, does it feel so good

Cause I got her where I want her now

She winks at the blonde before blowing her a kiss and turning on her heels, bounding back up the steps to rejoin Dinah. They finish out the song, bowing while the crowd claps as they return their mics. Camila blows them a drunken kiss.

“Holy shit, Mila,” Dinah exclaims. “That was fucking amazing. I can’t believe you did that.”

“Agreed,” Normani adds, smirk on her lips. “You really know how to make an exit.”

“Did you see Lauren’s face? She was so fucking shook,” Dinah laughs loudly.

At the mention of Lauren, Camila searches for the girl, but doesn’t see her. “Fuck,” She mumbles.

“What?”

“Fuck,” Camila’s hands come up to fist her hair. “Fuck, was that too much? Oh my God, I shouldn’t have done that. She’s probably so mad.”

“Relax,” Dinah holds onto her hand. “It wasn't that bad. So, she might be a little embarrassed, it’s not a huge deal. It’s not like you announced to the entire bar that you wanna fuck her.”

Normani rolls her eyes at Dinah. “Maybe you should find her and talk to her if you’re worried?”

Camila chews on her lip. “Good idea. I’ll find her, I just gotta use the restroom really quick.”

She bolts into the restroom, leaning back against the closed door. Taking a deep breath, Camila pushes herself off the door to walk to the sink. She splashes some cold water against her skin and mutters profanities to herself.

“How could you do that?” She grumbles to herself. “You’re so fucking stupid, she probably hates you now.” She turns the faucet off and stares at herself in the mirror. “Fuck, I shouldn’t ever drink again. I’m such an idiot.”

“Camila?”

Camila jumps at the sound of her name. Lauren is standing behind her, their eyes locked in the mirror. Camila’s heart speeds up and the guilt creeps in. She whips around, tears already forming in her eyes, “Lauren, I’m so sorry, I-”

She’s effectively cut off when Lauren’s hands grip her waist and she’s pushed into the sink. Camila can feel the puffs of Lauren’s breath against her neck, and her hands settle on Lauren’s shoulders. “Lo?”

Lauren removes her face from Camila’s neck, resting her forehead against the other girl’s. The tips of their noses brush together teasingly. Camila swallows hard, the tension making her head swim.

“I can’t believe you did that,” Lauren whispers.

“I’m sorry,” Camila rasps out miserably, her throat tightening. “I’m so stupid. I understand if you’re mad at me.”

Lauren’s grip on her waist tightens, her nose brushing harder against Camila’s. If she were to move a little closer, they’d be kissing. Camila’s heart is aching at the thought.

“I’m not mad at you,” Lauren says quietly, her breath warm against Camila’s lips. “Honestly…that was pretty hot.”

Camila blinks slowly a few times, unable to comprehend what she’s hearing. “What?”

“It was hot,” Lauren presses her a little harder into the sink. “You were jealous, weren’t you? That’s why you did it.”

“I-” Camila bites her lip, debating on whether she should lie or not. Figuring there’s not really any point, she relents. “Yeah. I was jealous.”

“I figured.”

“I’m sorry,” Camila tries to pull away. “I know I have no right to be, especially after I told you I’m not ready for a relationship.” The younger Latina presses against Lauren’s shoulders to create space between them, the insecurity creeping into her voice. “I’m being confusing and annoying. You don’t deserve this.”

Lauren grabs a hold of her hand and intertwines their fingers. “You’re not. I get where you’re coming from.”

Camila looks down at her shoes. “I’m just drunk and being stupid.”

Lauren trails her fingers up Camila’s jaw, tilting it so they’re eye to eye. “Drunk? Yes. Stupid? No, never.” She smiles at the girl fondly, brushing some stray hair behind her ear. Her thumbs rubs against Camila’s cheek.

“Lo…” Camila’s eyes flick down to Lauren’s lips.

“Camz.”

Something in the way she says this causes a shiver to creep up Camila’s spine. It’s so soft, so gentle, so loving. Lauren’s looking at her like she’s the most precious person on the entire planet. Camila’s eyes flutter closed as Lauren continues to rub her thumb soothingly against her cheek.

“Lauren,” Camila breathes out shakily, sick and tired of resisting,“…Just kiss me. Please.”

Camila can hear the hitch in Lauren’s breath. Can feel the hesitation in her confident touches. Something in the air changes, the tension growing thicker. Camila almost opens her eyes until she feels Lauren’s nose nudge against hers again.

As soon as she feels it, it’s gone. Then Lauren’s lips are pressing lightly against her cheek.

She huffs in frustration. It sucks to be on the receiving end this time.

Lauren chuckles against her skin then dips her head lower to kiss a patch of sensitive skin on Camila’s neck. The featherlight touch of lips causes Camila’s hands to shoot back up to grasp Lauren’s shoulders. Thankfully the fabric of the girl’s shirt isn’t too thin, otherwise she’d probably have claw marks.

Lauren’s withdrawn her mouth too soon for Camila’s liking, but she’s quickly forgiven when the green-eyed girl smiles adoringly at her. “Not yet,” She says. “Not like this.”

The heat of her body disappears and the only sound Camila’s left with is her hammering heart and the door thudding shut after Lauren’s disappeared.

***

A/N: As always, hope you enjoyed the read. Camren is sailing, and so is Normila. 👀 Thank you soooo much for the 4k I’m so happy you guys are enjoying the story, it means a lot that you’re reading it! Love your feedback and thoughts. See you soon!

[goldenworldsabound]

Chapter 1 - The Desert Hides Many Secrets

Breath of the Wild AU where Champions didn’t die, but were also put into resurrection chambers. More self inserting aaaaaaah

“Woah, woah, woahwoahWOAH!” She fell face first into the sand, while the sand seal seemed to laugh at her with it’s snorting and barking. The woman stood up, brushing sand off herself while glaring with irritation at her animal companion. “I didn’t want you to speed up! You knew that!”

The seal simply rolled over onto it’s back for a moment, before burrowing into the sand.

“You think they gave you to me because they knew you were difficult?” She wondered aloud, before taking a look at her surroundings.

The Gerudo desert.

She had thought, before she’d come out here, that she knew heat. And as much as she hated heat, she thought she knew how to deal with it. She had been thoroughly wrong, and had been lucky to make it to that oasis...of course, it was cold in the night, but traveling at night was dangerous, with all the skeletal monsters running amok.

But it had always been this way. She’d grown up in a small village in Hyrule where they were warned not to leave at night because the monsters would get you. Heck, even during the day, monsters were out and about. And it had been this way as long as she remembered.

So what was she doing in the desert, sweating despite wearing traditional Gerudo clothing?

“Well, I suppose we made it despite your...shenanigans. Wait for me here while I investigate.” She told the sand seal, as she wandered over to some crumbling ruins sticking out of the sand like discarded bones.

As she dusted sand off and around the old stone, she couldn’t help but think about how unlikely it was she’d find anything. There didn’t seem to be many Sheikah relics out in the Gerudo desert, but she held on steadfastly to the hope that this was simply because they were buried under the sand, and no one had looked. So far her investigations had been fruitless, but this particular set of ruins seemed...promising?

Oh who was she kidding. This seemed hopeless.

She slumped over one of the mostly destroyed walls, sighing heavily, bangs falling over her eyes. She groaned.

As she stood up, she squinted at an odd thing. A little...bump in the sand? A bit of...metal sticking out, perhaps?

She stumbled around the wall in a hurry, excitement growing. Her hands frantically but gently removed the sand covering the object, and her eyes widened in excitement. There was a metal orb, maybe a bit bigger than her head, with a gently glowing orange band wrapping around it.

“Woah…” She ran her hands over it, mesmerized. She had seen something like this once, in Kakariko Village. But it had been brief, and she had not been permitted to do more than gaze upon it. She was sure, if Impa cared about it, it had some special meaning. She bet it was related to the Sheikah.

She remembered a pedestal she had seen just a few feet away. In fact, there were two pedestals, each with slight indents that seemed roughly the size of this sphere…

Grinning, she went to lift up the sphere and-

Immediately dropped it, narrowly missing her own foot. She yelped.

“Aren’t you just a heavy boy.” She murmured, blinking quickly in surprise. She shook her head, and went to pick up the sphere again with proper preparation. She lugged it a few feet and took a break. After a few iterations of this, she proudly put it on the pedestal, sliding down to lean back on it as she regained her breath.

“But where’s the other round boy…” She wondered, getting to her feet. She didn’t have a lot of time, if she wanted to make it back to the Gerudo village before it was dark. But she couldn’t leave after this, without finding the other orb!

After about an hour of searching and being mocked by the sand seal for her efforts, she finally found it. Covered in sand and sweat, but feeling victorious she put the second orb onto the pedestal.

Nothing seemed to happen.

Frowning, she walked forward between them, trying to see if something had changed and she had just missed it.

The ground started to rumble, and suddenly what she was standing on was descending, forming stairs below her.

“YAAAARGH” She yelled as she tumbled down the stairs, landing hard on the sandy stone.

“Ugh…” She groaned, propping herself up to a sitting position. She gasped audibly as she realized what had happened. In front of her the tunnel (it was pretty below ground level, and it had felt that way too as she tumbled down the stairs) continued for a bit, and lines here and there glowed a light blue.

She stood up and started walking down the tunnel, holding herself back from running. In a short amount of time she came to a set of double doors. Try as she might, she couldn’t open them. She stood back from them, thinking, looking around. The tunnel was wider around the double doors, and there seemed to be a few boxes.

She opted to investigate those. Opening up a few, she found some traditional Gerudo weapons and shields, and some Gerudo armor and clothing.

Despite how incredible this find was, she couldn’t help but feel disappointed that the only Sheikah looking things here were the tunnel itself and those orbs. And this door, which, to be fair, had the Sheikah symbol on it, but...she couldn’t open it.

“Well...I guess I don’t have much reason to stick around then.” She mumbled to herself, reluctant to admit defeat.

At that moment, there was a rumbling, and the doors slowly opened. She watched in suspense as the doors revealed the contents of the room behind them. There was a lot to take in - it was clearly some sort of Sheikah technology. However, she failed to notice any of that.

Because a beautiful woman had been the one to open the doors.

She was a Gerudo. Tall, muscular, and drop dead gorgeous.

And most surprising of all, completely naked.

The Hylian stared at the approaching Gerudo, her face burning a fierce shade of red. The Gerudo woman made eye contact with her, and the Hylian felt herself panicking.

“Oh oh oh, um, I’m sorry, I’m, uh, I’ll just, um!” She stared at the ground, one hand over her mouth, the other gripping the side of her head.

The Gerudo seemed unperturbed. “What’s your name?” She asked, striding confidently over to the blushing Hylian woman.

“Oh, um, my name, my name is, is Wendy.” The Hylian replied, nervously fidgeting as the naked Gerudo walked up to her. “Uh, sorry to, um, to bother you, I, uh, didn’t know anyone….anyone lived here.” She finished lamely, unsure if the dizziness she felt was from dehydration or infatuation.

The Gerudo chuckled. “I wouldn’t say that I live here.” The smile disappeared from her lips. “I’m not even sure where here is.” She noticed the boxes, now opened, in the tunnel. “Oh! My armor. Wonderful. Did you bring this here, Wendy?” She asked, walking over to one of the boxes and taking out the clothing and armor.

“Uh…” Wendy’s eyes reflexively followed the Gerudo as she moved across the room. She stared for a moment before looking at the ceiling. “No, that was...there. It was um...I opened them…” She admitted sheepishly. “As for where we are, we’re kind of...in the north north eastern ish portion of the Gerudo desert.”

“I see. Why are you here?” She asked frankly, but sincerely.

Wendy jolted into a straighter posture at the question. “Well, I...I was just, you know, exploring the ruins in this area…” Her voice took on a proud tone. “You see, I’m interested in Sheikah relics.”

“You probably wanna check out that room, in that case. Definitely some Sheikah tech in there.”

“Really?!” Wendy turned to face the Gerudo, and was relieved to see that she had finished putting on her armor. She was still gorgeous, and the Hylian woman still felt a blush creeping over her features at the sight, but she could think a bit more clearly now. “Um, gosh sorry I didn’t ask earlier, but what’s your name?” She had an itching feeling that this Gerudo looked a little familiar.

The Gerudo smiled at her knowingly. “Urbosa.”

“It’s nice to-” Wendy paused mid-sentence as she processed the name. Urbosa. Urbosa? Urbosa!

The Gerudo Champion from 100 years ago!

But how?

And as she thought about it, the dehydration and the heat finally caught up to her, and she passed out.

Wendy sputtered back to consciousness as she felt water splashing onto her face.

“I’m glad to see you awake again.” Urbosa smiled at her from above.

“What...happened?” Wendy asked, taking in the situation. Her head was in Urbosa’s lap (a fact which immediately caused a huge blush), and they were in the deeper chamber Wendy had wanted to explore. The water had come from what appeared to be some sort of bath in the middle of the room. It glowed an unearthly blue, like the lines in the tunnel.

“You fainted.” Urbosa replied simply. “I thought some water would be a good idea, but I’m not sure if you should drink this water...since I’ve been sleeping in it for who knows how long…but dehydration in the desert is no joke.” She scooped some of the water into her hand, watching it drain thoughtfully.

“Oh, I think I still have some water with me.” Her pack was on the ground nearby. She pulled out a water flask, and noticed that it was still pretty heavy, and pretty full...which was probably why she was dehydrated. She took some long slurps from the flask, relishing the feel of water, even lukewarm water, caressing her dry throat.

“Um, do you, do you want any?” Wendy asked, holding it up to Urbosa.

Urbosa shook her head. “I feel...completely refreshed.”

Wendy sat up to lean against the bath walls herself, looking around the room. There was a pedestal with a little oddly colored rectangle-

Wendy gasped audibly and scrambled to her feet, to the amusement of Urbosa, who grinned.

“LOOK AT THAT, IS THAT WHAT I THINK IT IS?!” She dashed over to the pedestal while half yelling, pushing her face close to the rectangle with the Sheikah icon on it. “OH MY GOD, I DIDN’T THINK I’D EVER FIND ONE MYSELF.” She gingerly touched it, and then pried it out of pedestal.

It was a Sheikah slate. She squealed in delight, looking it over, wondering how to turn it on.

“Urbosa, it’s a Sheikah - Urbosa?” Wendy turned back to the Gerudo with excitement, which faded into concern at the Gerudo’s expression.

Urbosa was gazing up, face looking serious, her eyes not focused on anything particular. She looked focused. A voice was speaking only to her.

Urbosa? You’ve awakened early. A lot of time has passed, but Link is not ready to return yet. Wait for him. Do not try to fight Ganon on your own. It should be soon that he awakens. Take the Sheikah slate. Find...the other Champions, if you can. Thank you for everything, and I am sorry to ask you for more…

As Zelda’s voice faded from Urbosa’s mind, she shook her head a bit, and smiled. “It’s no trouble…” She murmured, looking content.

“Um, is everything okay?” Wendy asked, shuffling closer to Urbosa hesitantly, clutching the Sheikah slate to her chest.

Urbosa turned to her and grinned. “Yes, things are fine. I think I understand the situation a bit better now.” She stood up. “How long ago did Calamity Ganon appear?” Her tone turned serious.

“That was, you know, almost 100 years ago…” Wendy answered. “Speaking of which, how are you even...alive?” She cringed at the way her own words sounded. “I mean, um, you know, it’s been, it’s been that long...and I thought...all the Champions perished…”

Urbosa laughed, heartily, at the way Wendy was failing to be tactful.

“This...is I believe what is called a Room of Resurrection. I don’t remember being brought here. I remember almost dying. I remember losing.” Her face turned dark for a second. “The Sheikah made this room, with technology we still don’t understand, to bring a person back from the brink of death...to full recovery.” She looked at her own hands, flexing them, feeling the muscle, the tendons, the life flowing through them.

“That’s amazing.” Wendy said quietly. “So this...Sheikah slate...probably was intended for you.” She held it out, looking a bit sad, despite her attempts to hide it.

Urbosa gently took the Sheikah Slate from her. “That’s right.” She turned it on. Most of the functionality didn’t appear to be on. It appeared to show a small, rough map of the local area, but very little else. You could mark places on the map. She went to mark this place, and noted that there was an icon here already. It looked like one could teleport here if desired. Oh, and the camera feature was here already. That was nice. There was a tracker, but it was inactive. She couldn’t tell what it was looking for, just yet.

Wendy fidgeted with her hands behind her back, watching as Urbosa fiddled with the device.

“I’ve been given a task to complete, so it seems that I should get started on that.” Urbosa gathered up a shield and a few weapons from the box. “Here, why don’t you take this shield?As a gift.” She offered a traditional Gerudo shield to Wendy.

Wendy took it, holding it up at different angles to see how she might use it. She hooked it to her bag for the moment. They headed out of the tunnel, and Wendy fell slightly behind Urbosa, looking a bit glum.

A task to complete? Did that mean she was going to go off now, and Wendy wouldn’t see her again? And the Sheikah slate...it was totally because of the Sheikah slate, she justified, and not because of the extremely attractive woman who was now leaving, that she was sad.

As they came to the entrance, Wendy spoke up, putting on a cheery face. “Where are you off to, then?”

Urbosa looked surprised for a moment, then grinned. “Where are we off to.” She corrected.

Wendy felt herself blushing a bit. “We? Wait, I...I get to come with you?!” She couldn’t help smiling.

Urbosa nodded. “You said you study Sheikah relics...your knowledge will be extremely valuable. In fact...why don’t you hold on to this?” She handed over the Sheikah slate.

“Oh! Um, thank you.” Wendy was so pleased, she felt a bit flustered, grasping the Sheikah slate tightly before securing it to her belt. “In that case, where are we going? What are we doing? Who was the task from?” Wendy rattled off her questions as they swirled to mind.

“Princess Zelda has asked me to awaken the remaining Champions. The Hylian Champion, Link, will awaken soon as well...and we are to assist him.” Urbosa’s face was more serious, and she gazed across the desert.

She turned to Wendy. “How exactly did you get here?”

“Oh, um, I had a sand seal- oh shit. Don’t tell me you left?!” Wendy ran frantically over to where she’d left the seal. “No no no no-AAAAAAAAAH!”

The sand seal leapt out from underneath a pile of sand, barking and snorting wildly, startling Wendy almost to tears.

“YOU SCARED THE EVER LOVING SHIT OUT ME!” She screamed, shaking slightly. The seal peeked around her and noticed Urbosa, who walked over, chuckling a bit. The seal’s posture seemed to change, as if it respected the Gerudo approaching. Wendy glared at it, noticing the change.

“I should mention, Wendy…” Urbosa put her hand on Wendy’s shoulder. “I don’t think it’s time to reveal myself. What a stir it would cause...so please bear that in mind as we come into contact with others.”

Wendy nodded seriously. “I understand. Maybe it would be best to go to the oasis along the path to the Gerudo Canyon, rather than to Gerudo Town itself…”

“I agree. Good thinking.” Urbosa replied, before kneeling next to the sand seal. Wendy blushed, feeling a swell of pride at the small compliment. Meanwhile, Urbosa spoke to the seal.

“I need you to do a special job for me, okay? I need you to pull both of us. And no tricks or naughty trouble, okay?” She said sternly but gently to the seal. It seemed to nod, understanding the request. Satisfied, Urbosa stood up.

Wendy managed to find more rope in her bag, and they each hooked up to the sand seal, standing on a shield and ready to go. The seal pulled away, dragging them slowly behind it. They turned south, running along the towering cliffs for a bit.

As they pulled away from the cliffs, an arrow suddenly whizzed by, snapping the rope connecting Wendy to the sand seal. Before she could react she was falling forward as the shield slowed down but she did not.

Urbosa turned and saw this happening, and cursed under her breath as two red clad Yiga clan members swooped in and grabbed Wendy out of the air. She forcefully turned the sand seal around, but it was too slow, and the masked figures were disappearing. Wendy hadn’t even had time to react or cry out.

“Faster!” She urged the sand seal to go faster, heading to where she hoped the Yiga’s clan hideout still remained, within the canyon walls...

[dominodebt]

LoZ WIP Test?

Okay so fun fact about me: I absolutely adore Legend of Zelda, particularly Ocarina of Time. The seven year time gap in the game has always fascinated me, and with Breath of the Wild bringing the franchise back to the center of things, I’ve been thinking about it even more, to the point where all I’ve been doing today is planing/writing a fic about it.

So the question is: would anyone actually read it lmao

Because the thing is even if y’all are like “sorry Domino but Legend of Zelda ain’t my thing” that’s fine!! I’m gonna write it anyway because at this point I’ve spent too much time on it plus I really like the idea, but your feedback will dictate how quickly I finish it

So here’s a look at the first part? I guess? Um basically it takes place right after Link went to the Temple of Time with the Spiritual Stones and is getting ready to draw the Master Sword, and Zelda is over the fuckin moon because her visions came true and she thinks she’s saved Hyrule

spoiler: she hasn’t

It’s an AU, mostly because we have no real idea of what exactly happened during the seven years Link was asleep, but I kind of took it as an opportunity to look at Zelda and the other characters more closely, and follow Zelda’s attempts to keep peace in Hyrule while Gannondorf is trying to fuck up the Sages and their Temples.

I guess if you have more question about like, the details of it you could shoot me an ask?

Anyway here’s a look? I guess? Please don’t hate it?

ps this by no means I’m not gonna keep writing Overwatch. I just have a lot of love in my heart for this AU and wanted to finally make it happen, but I’m juggling a few other Overwatch WIPs too!

Castle Town is well acquainted with the Princess Zelda.

          It would be difficult to not be, what with the town being—as the name would suggest—just outside the grounds of Hyrule Castle. It is a bizarre mix of cultural significance, historical propriety, and utter lunacy.

          Truly. The Happy Mask Shop is mere feet from the Southern Gate of the Castle.

          Lunacy.

          Still, the people are kind and resilient and just wary enough to be safe. They adore the Royal Family and dote on the Princess like she is the collective daughter of every adult Hylian in the country. She is well loved, well respected, and—to her attendant Impa’s annoyance—well recognized.

         So when she does descend from the Castle to traipse her way around the town, it is not without Impa at her back, a cowl over her head, and a knife in her boot.

         Presently, however, the Princess Zelda is running through Castle Town’s market lacking all of these things.

           She ducks under a man hauling in planks of wood, weaves around a pair of women haggling with a merchant, skirts the well in the center of town, and hikes up the long skirts of her dress as she sprints towards the Southern Gate of the Castle, grinning despite herself.

           She knows Impa will scold her senseless for this little escapade—though part of her is still secretly thrilled that she managed to sneak past her Sheikah guardian at all—but even the promise of a lengthy lecture cannot ruin her mood.

          She’s done it. Farore, Nayru, and Din, she’s done it!

          The guard at the Southern Gate looks appalled at the Princess’ sudden appearance—alone, unattended, and dressed in near full Royal regalia to boot—and hastens to stammer out some kind of greeting, but Zelda cuts him off, and brightly requests that he opens the gate.

          He does so, though not without some fumbling and more than a few confused glances back at the Princess, who simply waits for her order to be carried out, fingers linked behind her, rocking back on her heels, head tipped up towards the sky.

          Hyrule is safe.

          Just wait until she tells Impa.

          The gate creaks open and Zelda hurries to duck under it, ignoring the guard’s shouts as she takes off towards the Castle, passing by more and more guards who patrol the grounds

       They all exchanging looks as she races by them—as though to confirm with each other that yes, the Princess of the entire country, the ten year-old heir to the throne of Hyrule, did indeed just run past them all—and one at least makes a valiant attempt to give chase, rushing after the Princess as she crosses the Castle grounds, calling for her to stop.

       She declines, obviously, and in a rash moment of pure adrenaline and glee, ignores the bridge to her left and instead leaps across the river that ribbons its way around the Castle.

       The guard pursuing her stops dead at the sight, and simply stands and watches—lips quirked in amusement—as the Princess lands a bit clumsily on the other side, her boots slapping sharply against the stonework, before she’s off again, this time racing around to the side door that will grant her entrance into the Castle.

       Leaning on his spear, the guard just offers the young Princess a salute she can’t see.

       Rapping loudly on the door, Zelda catches her breath, heartbeat thrumming loud and bright in her chest, as the door is pulled back by a very confused maid.

       A state of confusion that only grows when she realizes who is knocking.

       “Why, your Grace!” she gasps, seeming unsure if she should keep the door open or drop into a curtsey. “I—begging your pardon, Miss, but what are you—?”

       “I am perfectly well, thank you for asking,” Zelda replies politely, managing a wide smile as she attempts to right her headdress where it had been knocked askew in her rush to the Castle. “Though I would like to speak with Impa, if that could be arranged?”

       The maid just stares down at her. The hem of her gown—her Royal gown, the maid notes with horror—is splashed with mud, and her boots are caked with dirt. And, despite the Princess’ best efforts, most of her hair has escaped the updo beneath her headdress, and blonde tresses hang down, sticking to the sweat on her face and neck.

       Zelda smiles brightly.

       The maid does not recall a time she’d seen her Highness is such high spirits.

       “Certainly, your Grace,” she says, stepping aside and graciously allowing her entrance. “I will have her sent to your quarters right away. Would you like something to eat?”

       “No, thank you,” she answers, stepping across the threshold and deciding to cut her losses with the headdress as she just pulls the whole thing off her head, running a thin hand through the sweat-stiff locks.

       She glances over her shoulder at the maid, who is still watching her closely.

       “And if you could send Impa to the Courtyard, that would be lovely.” She flashes another smile and turns to hustle up and out of the corridor the side door empties out into, making a hard right as she heads towards the Courtyard.

       She only manages about three steps before a figure—tall and lean and sculpted with muscle—seems to detach itself from the shadows cast by the flickering torches that line the corridor, and suddenly a figure looms above the Princess, blocking her path.

       Zelda tips her head back, smiling up at the imposing figure.

       “Hello, Impa,” she greets cheerfully.

       Impa stares down at her, red eyes glowing in the darkness of the hall.

       “And where,” her guardian asks, a low and dangerous drop to her tone, “have you been?”

       Zelda doubts very seriously that Impa is unaware of where she’s been, meaning it is a rhetorical question.

       She bites her lip. That is never a good sign.

       “Do not be angry,” Zelda rushes out, pressing her back against the opposite wall as Impa just gazes down at her. “Please, Impa, just listen to me.”

       Impa arches a silver brow.

       “I always listen to you, your Highness,” she remarks somewhat frostily. “I am your confidant in all things.” A pause. Impa folds her arms across her chest. “Although that is a role that usually requires my presence at your side.”

       She gives the Princess another pointed look. Zelda shrinks from it, wishing the bricks at her back would swallow her up.

       “I promise I wasn’t getting into trouble!” she insists, to which Impa just scoffs.

       “Naturally,” she replies, voice dry as the Gerudo Desert. “You simply waited until you knew I was tied up in a meeting with your father and the Head Guard—a time during which I specifically requested you not stray anywhere near the outskirts of the Castle—and slipped off to…where?” She offers a falsely inquisitive glance. “Castle Town? The Watchtower? Perhaps you crossed the bridge into Hyrule Field. Now wouldn’t that be an adventure.”

       Zelda flushes at her attendant’s biting sarcasm, balling her fists. She knows her scolding is deserved—she truly should not have given Impa the slip like that—but Nayru’s Love she’s saved Hyrule—!

       “I was at the Temple of Time!” she bursts out.

       Impa blinks, and the sharpness of her features softens as she leans back, staring down at her ward with guarded concern.

       “You what?”

       “The Temple at the edge of Castle Town,” Zelda explains in a rush. “The one in my dreams—I was there.”

       Sheikah can—or, could, Zelda corrects herself awkwardly—hide their expressions expertly. Some joked that the true purpose of the race’s treasured Lens of Truth was to see past the impassive masks the Shadow Folk constantly gave each other.

       Impa, however, seems to have abandoned her usual dark façade of indifference, and looks down at her ward with urgency in her eyes and a tautness to her jaw.          

       “Zelda—what were you doing there?” she demands lowly, leaning down to level herself with the Princess. “Who were you with? How long where you there? I have told you a thousand times not to—”

       “I was with Link,” Zelda nearly shouts. Impa immediately hushes her, glancing around to make sure no one’s overheard them, before pulling the Princess back into the shadows that ring the hall, seeming to melt straight into the darkness.

       “The boy from the forest?” Impa whispers, eyes bright even in the gloom. “Why, Zelda? What were you two doing?”

       Zelda frowns, lips pushing out in a pout. She knows that tone. Impa is not asking what she was doing; Impa is asking what was she up to.

       The Princess resents the assumed guilt that comes with such a question, and squares her shoulders, lifting her chin.

       “We,” she announces in a ringing tone that has Impa hushing her again, though this time she ignores her warden. “Were saving Hyrule.”

       “How?” Impa’s voice is a hiss.

       “Link collected the Spiritual Stones,” Zelda responds, voice still arch with confidence in the face of Impa’s obvious disquiet. “And I gave him the Ocarina of Time, and after playing the Song of Time—which I taught him—opened the Door.”

       She smiles, pleased with her tale. Impa’s face is ashen in the darkness.

       For a moment, the two simply stare at each other, before Impa is picking the Princess up—Zelda protests hotly at the action but is smoothly ignored—and swiftly ducking back out the way Zelda had entered.

       “Impa, what are we doing?” Zelda demands, as her caretaker dumps her rather unceremoniously on her feet back outside in the Castle grounds.

       Instead of answering, the Sheikah woman gives the nearest guard a dark look of warning for his curious glances, and he quickly attaches his gaze to the base of a tree a few feet away in the opposite direction.

       “We are going to the Temple of Time. Now.” Impa sets off at a brisk pace, leaving Zelda scrambling to keep up.

       “Impa, what are you so upset about?” Zelda demands. “I know it was wrong to run off, and I am sorry, but going back to the Temple is not going to—”

       Impa turns on her heel, startling Zelda, who rears back.

       Her attendant tilts her head as she stares down at the Princess—an action that blocks the sun from Zelda’s view, bathing her face in shadow.

       “You have not saved Hyrule. You have opened the Door for anyone—good or bad.”

       Zelda frowns at her words, jaw falling open to protest, when suddenly a searing heat lights up on the back of her right hand. She staggers at the sudden sting, crying out as she cradles the hand to her chest, eyes wide with shock and pain, and Impa is on her knees before her in a moment, gentle coaxing her hand away from her chest and into the light.

       There—on the back of the Princess’ hand—is a small triangle. Slightly off-center and glowing softly against her skin.

       Zelda gapes at it, but Impa’s countenance is eerily calm as she inspects the new mark—the burn of which had vanished just as quickly as it came—and Zelda stares at the way the golden light reflects in her retainer’s eyes.

       “Come,” Impa murmurs, rising back to her feet and gently pulling Zelda along after her. “We must hurry.”

       “But, Impa, that mark—”

       “The Triforce has been fractured,” Impa answers without turning back. “Hyrule is in jeopardy. You are in jeopardy.”

[startrek-z]

STZ V: Part 4

Link endured the Astro-botany, a class in interstellar economics, and an Earth history class-mandatory  for all non-Earther  cadets. But while he sat shivering and clenching his jaw shut to keep his chattering teeth still, he found his mind constantly floating back to his conversation with the girl Melissa and her offer to fence later- and most surprisingly of all his acceptance of said offer and the subsequent butterflies in his stomach.

 ‘Why do I feel this way?’ he wondered as he walked back to his room after the Earth History  class.  ‘Am I actually feeling nervous about it? Does she feel she has something to prove after I criticized her the other day?!’  He came in to the room and threw his books and himself down on the bed. Jeremy looked up from his desk and raised and eyebrow but didn’t say anything, for which Link was grateful. The human was beginning to learn about his room mates odd moods.   After a few more minutes off silent rumination Link got up and went to his own computer terminal and was pleased to see he had a message waiting for him. His excitement grew when he saw it was from Pavel on the Reliant.     Dear Link, I’m sorry it’s taken me so long to get back to you, but sending  messages from this far out it takes a while to receive/reply.  How is the academy? I’ll bet not much has changed sense I left. You may not love Jeremy, but at least he’s a human…you could have gotten stuck with a Vulcan!   I heard from Sulu the other day, he said he’d be sending you a message, but I’ll bet a months pay he forgets. Some things never change.   Life here out in the middle of nowhere hasn’t been very interesting. After a while all the planets start to look the same, and so far we haven’t discovered any new life forms or civilizations. Makes  me wish for the ‘good old days’ on the Enterprise with Admiral Kirk when there was always something going on.   Any way, send me an update soon, I’ll be waiting. Oh, Kyle says ‘Hi.’ I’ll tell him you said ‘Hi.’ Back you he’ll leave me alone! Maybe sometime when were in range I’ll send you a vid message.   Be good and do well in whatever your asked to do. I’m proud of you and miss you. And don’t forget to take care of your sister!              Much love,                 Pavel Link couldn’t help but feel the tears well up in his eyes for a second as another strong wave of homesickness hit him. Leave it to his friend to remind him to take care of  Zelda!   After taking a deep breath, he reread the note, and this time couldn’t help a chuckle. Kyle was the Reliant’s Communications officer and a friend of sorts, and Link found himself remembering a trick he and Pavel had palyed on him a year or so ago…was it really only that long?!    Jeremy smiled at Link’s back as he watched his room mates total demeanor change, so he ventured to ask, “Who’s it from? Your sis again?”    “No, it’s from Pavel.” Link replied not minding the prying. “As in Commander  Pavel Checkov…Kirk’s navigator!?” Jeremy gasped.   Link gave him a long suffering look, ‘I thought we’d been over this before!’ he thought mildly  irritated. “Yes one in the same. He’s a good friend of mine, and one of my sponsors.”    “Oooh, makes sense…” Jeremy mumbled to himself, “Your really lucky you know that?”    “Yeah I guess…” Link sighed, sometimes, actually most of the time he wasn’t really. Jeremy was continuing to go on and on about how ‘lucky’ Link was to be tight with the former officers of the Enterprise , but the other boy wasn’t listening.  He was too busy composing a reply.     After a space of quiet work for both of them Jeremy’s stomach made a loud noise. “I’m hungry.” He complained.   “Your always hungry,” Link replied automatically, forgetting who he was talking to. “Yeah, so sue me!” Jeremy laughed, “Why don’t we head out for dinner now?”     Link looked up a the clock ,it was  19:30, there was only half an hour left for dinner. Then he had to meet up with Melissa. Again the butterflies wiggled in his stomach.    “Sure, lets go.” He said getting up and shutting the economics book.   “Yes!” Jeremy exclaimed shooting up from his desk a putting a fist in the air. “Food, here I come!”    The Hylian shook his head in mock despair. “You remind me of some one you know that?” he commented dryly.   “Who?”  the other asked as they walked down the hall.      “My sister. She’s obsessed with food.” He replied. “Really?  There’s nothing wrong with that…she sounds like my kinda girl.”   Link could only snort in laughter at that one.    “What?!” His friend demanded., but he didn’t get a reply. They went into the room and it was mostly empty and quiet due to the late hour.  They had very little competition in the food line . “Maybe we should eat this late all  the time,” Jeremy suggested, “We can eat in peace. No crowds , no fights , no noise…”   Link had to admit it was nice. You could actually hear yourself thinking, and it was easier to hold a conversation- if you were inclined that way any way.  Time passed quickly and Link found he was actually hungry for once, and he ate more than usual. He was thinking about going up for one more cookie- a new indulgence of his- but he saw the time and realized he had go.   “See ya’ later Jeremy,” he said casually getting up and pushing in his chair.   “Hey! Where ya’ goin’?” the human asked as he walked away with a little wave. “Freako.” Jeremy muttered, looking around for someone else to ‘hang’ with. *** “You’re late,” Melissa said with a slight grin. Link uncertainly returned the smile, fighting off waves of the in-explainable nervousness. She tossed him a mask and blade. “Let’s get started, shall we?” He nodded, fumbling a bit with the mask as he put it on. He didn’t feel the warmth he normally did as he wrapped his hand around the blade’s hilt. The weight of the weapon felt unfamiliar and awkward. 'What’s wrong with me?’ he wondered nervously. This had never happened before. Was his focus really that offset? “Link? We gonna start?” Melissa asked, watching him closely. He straightened, snapping to attention. Her violet eyes locked with his, and again the nervousness clouded his being. When had he felt this before? 'Malon.’ The realization of it startled him, and he literally flinched. He had felt this way about Malon. So now, why did Melissa make him feel this way? 'Because you love her,’ Impa, Zelda’s sheikahn attendant had told him. Of course, she’d been talking about Malon at the time. For a moment, those purple eyes seemed blue, and the light hair looked beautifully red. “Link?” “Um…yeah,” he stammered, shaking his head a little as though throwing off the memories. “Let’s go.” The bowed to each other, then began. They circled wearily, both anxiously looking for an opening. Link could feel beads of sweat gathering on his face and neck. She attacked; he dodged. He didn’t feel the rythym–his focus refused to return to him. What was happening to him? There was an opening. He lounged forward to strike. Suddenly, he was fighting Ganondorf again…he was running the Master Sword through the monster’s skull–he could feel the tension ease as the blade passed through bone and into brain. The fencing foil dropped to the ground with a clatter before it even touched her. Melissa stared in surprise as Link put a hand to his head. “Link?” “I’m sorry, I can’t do this tonight,” he murmured. “Are you alright?” “Yeah, I…I just have a headache is all,” he lied, pulling off his mask with a trembling hand. “I’m sorry, I’ve wasted your time.” “No, not at all!” she stammered, shocked at the ghostly white pallor of his face. “Are you sure you’re alright? Maybe I should take you to the infirmary–” “No! …no, that’s not necessary. I just…need some air. I’m sorry, I’ll talk to you later, okay?” She nodded, and watched worriedly as he walked out. As soon as Link was outside, he started running. He ran and ran and ran, trying desperately to get away from the memories. He wasn’t aware when the buildings stopped and the trees began, hoping to pound out the troubling thoughts with each jarring step. His breath clouded in the cool evening air with each heavy gasp. He’d been running for nearly 20 minutes before he finally stopped, tired and short of breath. He’d reached a long rocky shoreline. The sea stretched out forever before him; the smell and taste of salt was so strong, he wondered how he’d overlooked it on his way here. The water was calm and still, tinted with a light shade of maroon, the color of dusk. The sky seemed alive with red and orange flames. Without warning, another memory exploded into his eyes. Blood ran thick down his hands as the huge form of Ganon loomed over him, screeching. Violent splotches of scarlet blinded him and he heard that horrifying roar once again. He was on his knees, retching, trembling. He was back on Earth, near the shore, the remains of his dinner now splashed over the cold rocks and dripping into the violet seaweed below. As his senses returned, he crawled a distance away, and lay down on a large flat boulder, pressing his flushed cheeks against the cool, rough surface. 'what is happening to me?’ he wondered again. For awhile he simply lay there, breathing deeply, trying to calm down and regain control of his racing mind. It was long after dark before he finally sat up, feeling a little better, though very drained. Shimmering drops of moonlight danced on the calm sea waters, and above him the stars twinkled brightly. His blond bangs fluttered a bit in the breeze. He knew it had to stop. He couldn’t keep going with images dancing in his head, rendering him senseless. The waking nightmares were disturbing, and he couldn’t imagine trying to explain it off if one suddenly struck during a class or field exam. But… Who could he turn to? He didn’t want to worry Pavel, he’d done enough of that for one lifetime. Zelda was out of the question…after all, she’d just told him to stop living in the past. He didn’t dare say anything to Jeremy or Melissa; they’d probably write him off as crazy. He wasn’t sure he wanted to see Melissa anytime soon, anyway…not after realizing that he was attracted to her. He felt ashamed of those feelings–Malon was his love…his fiancé. Though now they would never get the chance to marry, he didn’t think it right to have his eyes on other women; it was an insult to her memory. “Malon,” he whispered, looking up at the twinkling stars, “I’m so sorry.”

Previous | Index | Next