Never Without You │ BOTW modern AU fanfic

Hero

Link's POV:

"What are you doing?" I ask Ruto when she leans closer to my desk to look at the picture of me and Aryll on the slopes. She's seen that picture a million times, why's she acting like this is all new to her?

She moves on to the shelves. "I remember when you got this trophy," she says. "You didn't even smile when they announced that you got first place."

"I was pretty exhausted that day."

"You must have been exhausted every day because you never once smiled when receiving awards."

"I don't brag."

"It's not bragging. People smile because they're proud of their accomplishments and happy that they made it." Well maybe I wasn't happy. "It's crazy how time flies."

She's right on that one. Last time we hung out like this was in our last year of high school. When things were still good between us. Before I signed the contract for HU...

I'm surprised she's acting so... friendly. I was a dick to her and she deserved a better ending. She stopped coming to my games when she found out I was leaving Japan, and at graduation she didn't even look at me.

I scratch the back of my head and take a step towards her. "I actually meant to talk to you about that."

"About what?" She asks, still looking at my medals and stuff.

"About back then. High school and all."

"What about high school?"

"I mean... I wanted to talk about... us." She turns around to look at me. She's not smiling anymore. She looks kinda curious. "Things ended on bad terms."

"Mh... We don't have to talk about that."

"Maybe we should?"

She walks up to me. A little too close. But she smiles innocently at me and I don't have it in me to move away from her.

"Why?" She asks. "Why open up old wounds? You seem like you've moved on."

I don't know what to respond with. Saying yes could hurt her feelings but I can't deny it either.

"Right?" She steps closer to me.

"Ruto..." I take a small step back.

"Link?" She tilts her head. "You're happy now, right? It's not a trick question. I care about you and I want you to be happy."

"I care about you too." I take her by the wrists to show her that I'm serious. "Which is why I want to apologize for the way I treated you back then."

"What?" Her eyes widen.

"I'm sorry for treating you bad," I say.

She takes a moment to think about my words. Her smile is gone and she gives me a shy nod. "You weren't the nicest person back then."

"Yeah..."

"Is that all you wanted to talk about?"

"Um..."

"If that's all you have to say to me, let's go back to the living room." She pulls her wrists out of my grip and moves past me to leave the room.

"Wait a second—" I call after her in a whisper and follow her down the stairs.

She grabs her bag and jacket from the couch where Zelda is passed out. Zelda is so out of it that she doesn't notice any of this happening.

"Are you leaving?" I ask Ruto in a low volume.