New Home - BotW Link x Reader (Undergoing Revisions)

Chapter 42 - Among Asters and Cosmos

"Thadd, come on," Leah demanded. "Stop being a chicken!"

"But this is embarrassing," he said in protest, and I giggled lightly.

"It's not that embarrassing," I replied, looking at him. "It's just pretend!"

"It's not pretend for him," Leah stated rather deviously. "Not since he likes you!"

"I do not," he protested vehemently.

"You do too," Leah said.

"Do not!"

"Do too!"

"Stop it," I cut in. "Come on, are we going to finish the game or not?"

"Right," Leah chimed. "Ok, so! Thadd, the knight, just beat me, the dragon, and rescued (Y/n), the princess! Now, you gotta kiss her!"

"I gotta... gotta what?!"

"Huh? Since when was this part of the game, Leah?!"

"He only saved you because he's in love with you! It's part of the story!"

I looked at Thadd apologetically, a bit shyly. He couldn't quite meet my gaze. "We gotta kiss, though...?"

"Yeah," Leah pressed, setting her hands on her hips. "You gotta do it!" At our continued hesitance, Leah huffed dramatically, rolling her eyes. "Alright, fine. You don't gotta kiss on the lips or anything, you pansies! Just like... on the cheek is ok. I guess."

"But you can't watch," Thadd said seriously, his cheeks burning and rising up into his pointed ears. "You got defeated, so go pretend to be dead or something!"

"That's no fun," Leah began to whine, but I was with Thadd on this one.

"No looking," I said to her, my own cheeks burning. "And no peeking, either!"

"You two are ridiculous," she muttered, turning away anyway. She pretended to be dead, covering her eyes with her hands even as she faced away. Left now with no other way to stall, I looked shyly at Thadd.

"Just on the cheek," I said quietly. "Leah's right. They fall in love in all of the stories."

"But a kiss just seems kinda..."

"Yeah, I know," I said. "We don't have to if you don't want to..."

"No, no, wait," he said. "I just... I didn't think you wanted to! But we can. Um... yeah. We can."

"Ok," I said shyly. I began to lean in on several instances, but it was hard to just go for it. Man, this was nerve wracking!

"Come on, just do it," Leah drawled out, still looking away. "One day, you'll really fall in love and you'll want to do nothing but kiss!"

"Ew," Thadd and I said in unison. "Nuh-uh!"

"Oh Thadd, don't start," Leah said with a laugh. "I've seen the way you look at her! You're in love~!"

"No I'm not," he protested, and struck with a sudden wave of confidence, I leaned in and kissed his cheek, leaving him a stuttering mess as he tried to say something, anything. The sight of him like that made me giggle, and I ran, taking Leah's hands in my own and pulling her to stand. The two of us ran, leaving Thadd standing there, cheeks aflame.

—

Leah always had a keen eye for that sort of thing. She was the type of person who could so easily read others that it was hard to hide anything from her. The harder I tried hiding something from her, the easier it was for her to figure out.