Encounter at 31 Flavors
Disclaimer: I do not and never will own the characters of The Legend of Zelda. Nor will I ever own Nintendo. Damn it.
Zelda Harkinian was not a stalker.
Or at least that was what she was trying to convince herself of very badly. And it didn't help that her best friend Malon Lon wouldn't stop accusing her of it either.
Well, okay.
There was a slight possibility that Zelda had just a little bit of stalkerish-ness in her. But it wasn't bad. Of course not.
"You are such a stalker." Malon said, rolling her eyes as the two girls walked up the street to the local Baskin Robbins.
"Shut up." Zelda said defensively, grinning ear to ear as she linked arms with her redheaded friend.
"Stalker."
"I am not!"
"You are so."
"No- oh my god." Suddenly Zelda had a death grip on Malon's arm.
"What?" Malon asked, rolling her eyes at the frozen blonde girl next to her.
"I can't do this." Zelda said, paling as they stood on the corner of the street. With the ice cream shop just across the street.
"Oh hey, is that him worki- woah!"
She was quickly yanked into a small novelty shop where her friend stood hyperventilating. It was completely retarded. The redhead rolled her eyes again as she grabbed the blonde girl.
"Come on." She said, dragging Zelda towards the door.
But Zelda wasn't having any of it. She shook her head vehemently and sat down in the middle of the shop. Lucky for them it was empty with the exception of the cashier.
Who was currently extremely amused with the scene playing out before her.
"Why not?" Malon asked exasperatedly, hands on her hips.
Zelda whipped her cell phone out and pointed at the time that was cheerily displayed.
"It's four o'clock." Malon stated, shrugging slightly. "So?"
"So?" Zelda's voice rose an octave. "His shift JUST started."
"And the problem with that it..?"
"Won't that look a little weird?" Zelda asked.
"Uh… no." Malon said, a grin painting itself on her face. Really, Zelda was just being ridiculous. Nothing bad could possibly happen from going to see some guy at the ice-cream shop.
What kind of teenagers would they be if they didn't go out for ice-cream? Completely ridiculous.
"Okay, we can go in… twenty-three minutes." Zelda said affirmatively nodding.
"Why do we have to wait?"
"So our timing looks natural." Zelda said, as if it were the most obvious thing in the world.
"Oh." Malon's eyebrows dropped. "Right…"
So Zelda spent that time pacing around the shop with the shopkeeper just staring at the two high-schoolers. Malon was never one to pass up a conversation.
"Hey, how much are these rings?" Malon asked, spinning a small ring display around.
"Normally $23, but right now they're $11." The green haired girl explained, looking over at the near hysterical pacing blonde in the background. "So… what are you guys up to?"
"Oh," Malon looked over her shoulder at Zelda who was staring at her cell phone counting down the minutes until they could walk across the street. "My friend over there has the hots for this guy who's working over at Baskin Robbins."
The green haired girl, her nametag read 'Saria' nodded in understanding. "So, you guys are just waiting for her to work up the nerve to walk across the street?"
"Pretty much."
"Cute." The girl commented. After a moment's pause she looked over at the blonde girl in consideration. "So what are your names?"
"I'm Malon, and that's Zelda." Something registered in Saria's eyes and all of the sudden the girl smiled broadly.
"Oh really?"
"Yup." Malon rolled her eyes as the blonde continued to stare down at the clock, her pacing halting abruptly. "Stalker-extraordinaire."
"You know... my brother works over there." Saria said amusedly, and Malon smiled slyly at the girl.
"Would his name happen to be-"
"Link-time! C'mon Malon!"
And with that note she was dragged out of the small store, leaving Saria waving amusedly at the duo.
She couldn't wait to tell Link when she got home.
The minute the two girls reached the Baskin Robbins parking lot they had slowed considerably. Mostly due to Malon's urging.
It seemed to have been Zelda's complete intention to just bolt into the store and then just stare at the guy behind the counter. Which she almost did.
But their entrance wasn't quite so… undignified.
Instead the two girls casually walked in with Malon laughing her ass off and Zelda's face going beet red.
Because there was a certain Link Kokiri ringing up a cone for a sweet elderly woman.
And then Malon ditched Zelda.
"Sheik!" She greeted, crossing the store. "How did the race go?"
Sheik and Malon were both in the equestrian club, and obviously infatuated with each other. Nevermind the fact that they were both dating other people.
Thus Malon was ditching Zelda as soon as she saw her not-so-boyfriend.
A fact Malon must have neglected to mention to Zelda who had immediately just sat down at a table trying to regain some composure.
Poor girl.
A certain blonde haired boy casually made his way out to the empty the trashcan, conveniently stopping on his way to open his mouth, shut it, and then keep walking.
That was attempt #1 at conversation making.
Malon and Sheik looked amusedly at the two seemingly mute blondes. Zelda staring intently at the table and Link emptying the just emptied trashcan.
Pathetic.
Eventually Zelda got up to go look at the ice-cream flavors and Link was back behind the counter following her every move.
And both of them were completely silent.
Malon could've guffawed.
Eventually Link spoke up, just as Zelda opened her mouth to ask about some odd-looking flavor.
"Heyyou'reinmyartclassright?" Came the unintelligible question.
"…" Zelda looked blankly up at him. "What?"
"You're in my art class. Right?" Link asked, only the slightest bit embarrassed that his voice had failed him.
Miserably.
Okay, so maybe he was more than a little embarrassed, but that wasn't the point. The point was Zelda Harkinian, the really cute girl from his art class, was right there in Baskin Robbins on his shift and he was serving her. Totally brag-worthy. If you skipped over the fact that he couldn't seem to will himself to say anything, and Zelda seemed way more into the ice cream labels than him.
But that was okay, because she was talking to him, and not the ice-cream.
"Oh. Yeah! You're uh…" Zelda appeared to have forgotten his name, which Malon knew full well she hadn't. "Lll… Uh… Link, right?"
The other blonde nodded.
"I'm Zelda."
"Nice to meet you."
Nevermind the fact that this had to the fifth time they'd introduced themselves.
"So uh…" Link began, drumming his fingers on the counter as Zelda shifted awkwardly. "What did we do in art today?"
Zelda raised a brow.
"I- uh- wasn't there." Yes, he was.
But Zelda smiled and played along anyways.
"You ditched?"
"Well I was- err. Wasn't there, if that's what you mean."
"Uh-huh…" Link was sweating so Zelda cut him a break. "Well umm, we… drew."
Cricket. Cricket.
"Oh, cool."
"Yeah…"
"So umm… did you want any ice-cream?" Link asked, feeling quite awkward at this point.
"Oh, yeah. Ice-cream. Duh." Zelda pretended to smack herself in the head as she paced up and down the counter a few times. "Um, can I get a kiddy cone of mint chip?"
Link wasn't paying attention.
"…Uh… Link?"
"Oh- what? Yeah, sorry. Cone. Mint chip. Got it."
Zelda nodded, too nervous to really do anything else.
And Malon was just standing there with Sheik, both of them rolling their eyes. This was just ridiculous.
"Uh, did you want a small or a large?"
"Kiddy cone." Zelda repeated.
"Right."
A few minutes later they were all rung up and the two girls were just walking across the parking lot. Zelda absolutely giddy.
"Oh my god! Oh my god!" She squealed, waving her ice-cream cone around.
"What?" Malon asked, apparently finding nothing squeal-worthy about their little trip to Baskin Robbins.
"He actually spoke to me!" Malon nodded, as if her friend weren't completely insane and Zelda stood there for a second with a giddy smile on her face. "And you know what else?"
"What?"
"He-"
"ZELDA!" the two girls turned around to find Link running after them, a hand up in the air as if trying to frantically signal them to wait. Or actually, just Zelda. He didn't seem to notice Malon.
"Well uh…"
"Yeah?"
"DidyouwanttomaybecomebackinanhourwhenI'moffshiftandgogrababitetoeatmaybepleaseIdon'tknowhatI'msaying?"
Zelda looked at him blankly. Brainfart.
"Hu-"
"Yeah, she'll be back." Malon answered and Link looked up grinning broadly.
"Great."
And he grabbed Zelda's shoulders and quickly kissed her cheek before turning and jogging back into the store. His silly grin hidden from their view.
Which, thankfully, hid Zelda's.
"Oh my god!"
"What?"
"He touched me!"
Malon rolled her eyes.
A/N: Just a goofy little one-shot. Something cute and light and fluffy and just… yeah. I had fun writing this and making Link and Zelda a little more realistic. I mean honestly, who can be all cool and collected like in the movies?
Reviews will be adored.
Capucinno