Friends; Zelink, Modern (The Legend Of Zelda)

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"Ouch!" Zelda hissed.

"Sorry," Link apologized, dabbing a little more gently at her knuckles. The skin was broken, and fresh blood had begun to well in the wounds.

"Why'd he have to be wearing a mask..." she growled. "Why was I so stupid to want to punch him on the nose. He was wearing a mask, by the goddesses, could I have hit him anywhere worse?"

Link smiled slightly. "You aren't stupid. Anyone can act on an impulse and almost break their fingers on an imbecile's face."

Zelda squeezed her eyes shut as he dabbed again with the alcohol soaked cloth. It was red with her blood already, and she didn't want to see it. And for some reason squeezing her eyes shut helped block out the pain, as if seeing it made it worse. "What will everyone say on Monday..."

"Does it matter?"

Zelda opened her eyes and looked at him. She hadn't actually thought about that. If she said that they did matter, it would be incredibly shallow of her... Not to mention tossing Link aside. Besides, it wasn't as if she valued Lana's 'friendship' all that much. She didn't have any real friends, besides Link, and so she knew she shouldn't care... And yet she still couldn't respond.

Link pressed the cloth in a new area, and earned another hiss of pain from Zelda. "Sorry," he mumbled as he flicked his eyes up from her hand to meet her eyes. They held a comforting depth to them, as if he was about to say something that could hurt her more than her hand did. "They don't give a crap about you, only what you can do for them."

She closed her eyes again. "I know that..."

"If you continue to just do what they expect, or want you to do, how can you remain true to your own self? I don't want to see you change to stay popular... High school isn't that long in the whole scheme of life... And it's your last year."

Zelda bit her lip. "That doesn't make it any easier to accept...It should. But it doesn't..."

Link nodded slowly. "On the bright side though, at least it was Dark you punched, and he won't be there."

"But Lana will be there. And she'll make sure I pay for breaking her boyfriend's nose." At the last part of her comment she couldn't help the devilish grin that spread across her face. She at least had that satisfaction.

Link smiled. "Do you really think that anyone is going to mess with you after what they witnessed?"

Zelda raised an eyebrow. "I don't think anyone would challenge me to a duel, but I do think they'd mock me or something at a distance I can't hit then from."

"Listen..." he started, hoping to distract her. "How about I... take you out tomorrow, to thank you for what you did."

Zelda blinked a few times as she processed his words. "Like... a real date?"

Link nodded and a small smile appeared on his face. "Yeah."

"What would we do?" she asked.

Link shrugged. "I thought we could just..." He bit his lip. "Would you mind to just hang out here? Maybe watch a few movies?"

Surprising even herself, Zelda nodded enthusiastically. "Just you and me? No social interaction, no watching myself in public, none of that leaving the house nonsense?" She grinned. "That sounds absolutely amazing."