Author's Note: The Link here is the Link from the Legend of Zelda/Captain N cartoon, and all character development is based on said cartoons.

Link's Kiss

"Hmpf!" thought Link, pouting "Stupid Game Master with his stupid Power Pad… Thank Goodness they're gone!"

A cool breeze of wind ruffled through the hero's hair. The stars shone clear in the sky and the silvery light of the moon fell onto his troubled face as he looked down over the rooftops and battlements of the sleeping city from one of the ramparts of mighty Hyrule Castle.

Barely a few hours before, Kevin Keene, also known as "the Game Master" –Link made a little grimace when he thought of this- had been over to Hyrule, and they'd stopped Gannon from regenerating. Well, actually, Kevin had stopped Gannon from regenerating; Link had just sort of tagged along like a useless idiot. Of course, in the end they'd all parted happily, and even he'd forced on a smile, but it was so fake that he was surprised no-one, not even Zelda, had noticed it.

But then again, why would Zelda notice it, Link thought bitterly? She barely even paid attention to him anymore. They'd been living in the same castle since, what, forever, and he hadn't even managed to get her to kiss him… And Lord knew he'd tried! But that was all fine and well, she was a Princess after all, they're supposed to be all coy and royal and whatnot, and he could take that. He'd shrugged it off, even if it did hurt him every time she pushed him away, and every time she referred to him, no matter how dire the situation, as her "friend,". Spurned he couldn't count how many times, condemned, as it seemed, not to have his love requited no matter what he did, he'd faced every situation with humour and good nature, and even if it was hard, he'd tolerated it, to the point where his love for Zelda had withered down to a sort of obsessive habit. But then this Captain N comes barging in, barely fights off a few monster and she goes and kisses him without so much as acknowledging Link's existence? What the heck?

Was he just so much worse than Kevin? Granted, the Game Master was good looking, but not that much.

"Well, excuse me, Princess!" Link thought bitterly.

Good thing that Captain N was gone now... probably for good, too.

But then again, how could Zelda not have fallen for him? He was, or at least had seemed to be in as far as he'd seen him, a lot more powerful than Link himself… Not to mention he really was good looking as far as Link was concerned. And such a nice guy… Now that Link thought about it, in fact, Kevin had been nicer to him during the whole adventure then Zelda had: it was pretty sad, but he'd been the first to notice how distraught he was, and to mention it. Kevin, for all his cocky super-hero-ness –that probably wasn't even a word…- had been the only one to notice how Link was anxious to prove himself, always trying to be useful, and always trying to show that he could be a hero too. All in all, it pained Link to admit it, the Game Master really was a nice guy, while Zelda had just sort of agreed and explained to Kevin how Link was jealous.

"Well, shouldn't I be?" Link thought "She goes and kisses him right in front of me. Stealing him..."

And then it struck him; almost right out of nowhere, the truth of the situtation struck Link, and it seemed like such a simple revelation that it was a wonder he hadn't realised it yet:

All the competition, all the tension, all the trying-to-prove-himself-more-of-a-man… Link wasn't jealous of Kevin stealing Zelda away from him; he was jealous of Zelda stealing Kevin away from him.

Link, much to his own dismay, was in love with Captain N.

Everything, just about everything there was about the Game Master enamoured Link, from his in-charge, hands-on leader attitude to his dark brown hair, to his cheerful, almost stupidly good and determined eyes.

"Aw, great," thought Link "Now I'm gay too… That's just fantastic!"

Then, he thought about how Kevin had said that he was a "video game legend where he came from", and that sort of made him feel better, and even smile a bit: admiration is not as good as love… but it's something.

But just then, just when he'd arrived to this conclusion, Link heard the sound of footsteps of the stone staircase of Hyrule Castle. Someone was coming up the stairs.

Link didn't turn around, at first; he thought to himself that it was "probably nobody important", and he was in a far to emotional moment to be worrying about Gannon.

But then, the hero heard the last voice he would've expected to hear here, and also the only one that was positively sure to have melted his heart:

"Hey, Link! I've been looking for you all over the Castle!"

Link at once turned around, and his heart jolted, barely believing what his eyes saw.

"Kevin?" he exclaimed in disbelief.

"Yup," said Kevin "It's me…"

And sure enough, standing there before him in the flesh was Kevin Keene, alias Captain N, the Game Master. Link was, understandably, quite awed:

"W… what are you doing here?" he muttered, not without a bit of hostility. He'd been interrupted during very intimate thoughts, and by the worst possible person, and so he'd automatically put on his defenses.

Kevin looked very serious.

"I looked for you through the entire Castle," he said "I tried not to wake everybody up: I warped here after everyone over at the Palace of Power was asleep to find you."

"What? Why? Link enquired.

"I really need to talk to you…" said Kevin, with just a tinge of embarrassment.

"What about?" Link asked.

"Can you give me your word as a hero that you'll never, ever tell anyone?" said Kevin, hopefully.

"Yeah, I guess," said Link, "What is it?"

He was getting impatient, or at least trying to seem so. Inside he was pretty much burning to know what could possibly be so important as to have Captain N come over all the way from the Palace of Power.

Here, Kevin took a deep breath. It was obvious he was going to announce something that was either very important or very embarassing, or possible even both of those. Link could even make out a bit of red on the Game Master's cheeks. But even with all this, the Hero of Hyrule could never, ever have thought what Kevin was going to tell him. Captain N clenched his fists, and, finally, he blurted it out:

"Link, I –don't hurt me for this- I… " he said "But I... I think I'm in love with you.

Link's eyes opened like saucers.

"What?" he exclaimed.

"Look, I know it's crazy," Kevin hastened to reply "I know it's gross and everything, but I thought you had to know. I mean, it's not like we're going to be seeing each other a lot, and you look like a nice enough guy to not tell anybody… and I just needed you to know. Not like it was hard to tell, all those looks I gave you, and how I was always trying to impress you during our entire quest…

Link didn't know what to say; he was amazed, distraught, discombobulated even.

"S… So…" he stuttered "So, you mean all that showing off in front of Zelda..."

"Zelda?" said Kevin "What Zelda? She's a nice girl, and good princess, but with the way she treats you, I'd have to be crazy to go after her."

"Thank God I'm not the only one to think that!" said Link.

"Yeah," said Kevin "Yeah, I guess, but… Link, listen to me! Did you hear what I just said?" here, he grabbed the hero's arms "Link, I love you damn it!"

And, feeling Kevin's arms on him like this, holding him, and hearing that cocky, angelic voice speak to him like that, was like a Godsend miracle for link. So, suddenly, all of the hero's defences fell, and, blushing a bit and turning his head away from Kevin, he said:

"You know what, Kevin?" I… I love you too."

"You what?"

"What, you really hadn't noticed?" said Link "Not that smart for a Game Master, are you? And I'm sorry I had to be such a jerk around you, too, by the way…But you are really cool."

"Me?" said Kevin "Yeah, right… maybe for what, two more seasons? I'll be long gone and you'll still be saving the world…"

"You really mean that?" said Link.

"I guess I do… And anyway, I wasn't so good either," said Kevin "But if you love me, and I love you, then that means…"

"I guess it…"

"So we should…"

"Uh…"

This was really awkward for both the boys. They certainly weren't very good at romantic escapades –one has but to look at Link's track record- and even less with other boys, and here we had not one, but two air-headed heroes confessing their love to each other. But then, Link bolstered up the same courage he'd gotten from Zelda, looked the other boy in the eye, and said:

"Kiss me!"

And with that, he managed to dissipate all the doubts, and he got that answer which he almost never managed to get before, as Kevin played along:

"Sure thing!" he said, and he leaned in.

And Link, in the moonlight, on the ramparts of Hyrule Castle, finally, finally got his kiss, and it was a thousand times better than anything Zelda could have given him.