Never Without You │ BOTW modern AU fanfic

祇園 小森

Link's POV

We reach the bar at 7:21 PM. Shit, we're so late.

"Is this the place?" Zelda asks me.

I nod and we head inside. Ruto is sitting at one of the tables and sees us enter the bar. She smiles and waves us over.

"Hey I'm sorry we're late," is the first thing I say. "My boss didn't leave until 7PM."

She waives her hand and says, "No worries. You'll make up for it, right? The first round is on you?"

"Yeah. Sure," I smile. Before we sit down, I go to the restroom to change into casual clothes. I hate wearing suits. The best part about being an athlete is that I can wear athletic wear and still look dressed up for the job hehe.

I wash my hands and take a quick look into the mirror to fix my hair. Ruto is really chill. I'm not used to her being so understanding and patient.

Zelda and I sit down across from Ruto and look at the menu. Zelda uses her phone to translate some of the options but that's taking forever so I just order her the same drink as for me. We're lucky that nobody is asking for IDs because we're not even 20 yet. I think it's because Ruto is friends with the owner.

"So," Ruto grins at me. "How is America?"

"It's fine."

"Just fine? You left Japan for 'just fine'?"

"It's cool. I like the weather and the people," I tell Ruto. I feel bad for Zelda. She doesn't understand anything we're saying and can't really talk to Ruto either. "Do you speak any English by the way?"

"Mh..." Ruto takes a sip from her sake. "Just what I remember from high school."

I remember her almost failing English class. She was good at other subjects but she never really cared about foreign languages. She knew she was always going to stay in Japan. I was kinda the opposite. I knew I wanted to leave. I knew I had to eventually.

The drinks arrive and we clink our glasses. "Kanpai!"

I look at Zelda. "Do you like the sake?" I ask her in English to make sure she doesn't feel left out.

"I'm not a big fan of beer," she says but drinks it anyways.

"It's not beer. It's rice wine."

"Oh. Well, I guess I'm just not used to it yet," she say.

"You don't ever have to get used to it. I can order you something else. I kinda forgot that you don't drink alcohol."

"No it's fine," she quickly replies. "I want to."

"You sure?"

"Yes. It's normal in Japan, right?"

"What is?"

"Drinking with friends at this age, and hanging out at a bar after work."

"I guess, yeah. Sometimes we just drink at home though."

"What are you guys talking about?" Ruto asks me. "I understood beer and bar." I switch to Japanese and tell her what Zelda and I just talked about.

"What did she say?" Zelda asks me, so I tell her that I told Ruto what I told her. Ugh–This is going to be harder than I thought.

I rub my sore neck. I've been translating reports at work all day and now I have to translate for Zelda and Ruto. Just great.

The night goes on and the bill gets bigger. The more we drink, the less I function as a translator but surprisingly, the conversations get easier. Ruto and Zelda start talking to each other, not with words but by pointing at stuff and basically playing charade. Both are tipsy and giggly now and I am just listening and watching their poor but very amusing communication.