Who: Link and Zelda When: Sunday, May 26 Where: Zelda’s House What: Sleepover! Rating/Warnings: PG-13 for hot tub smooshing, but it's pretty tame Status: Complete
Zelda was thrilled. The cleaners had been by during the day, while she was on set. Of course, as little as she’d been home lately, there wasn’t a whole lot for them to clean. Zelda had no animals, no roommates, so while she was working 14-hour days (or longer) the house sat, empty, and clean.
Tonight it was full of life, though. She’d been shooting some brief, short bits today, and it was still exhausting, even though she was home earlier than normal. She was setting up flowers from her garden in the kitchen and living room, and one of the guest bedrooms for Link. The tomatoes weren’t quite ready yet, or else she would have picked some to serve.
She hadn’t had time to cook today (and hadn’t thought to call the cook in) so she ordered pizza. When she heard the knocking at the door, she thought it was the pizza guy. After grabbing the cash from the counter and turning the stereo down (she’d been listening to Cyndi Lauper at full volume) she popped over and opened the door.
Link had struggled over what to pack and it nothing to do with the new multi-pocketed backpack Zelda had sent him as a gift. That was really nice. Part of the problem was that as a boy living on a secluded farm, he hadn’t been to many sleepovers. He also didn’t take many vacations. Aniticipating everything you might need was stressful, even for a laid back guy like him.
And then there was the idea of being ready for... Um... In case they... Um...
His smile was bright but a little forced when Zelda opened the door. “Hey!”
Zelda was surprised at Link standing there. Pleasantly so. She broke into a huge grin. "Hey!" Then sprung forward and wrapped get arms around him in a huge glomp hug.
Link almost went Oof! as he caught her with his free arm, because the other was holding onto his new backpack. As they separated, he looked down at the money in her hands. “I assume that’s not for me,” he chuckled.
“What? Oh! No!” Zelda gave him a bright grin. “No, I just didn’t have time to cook, so I ordered pizza. I hope you like pizza?” She released him completely and stepped aside so he could come into the house.
Zelda lived in a five thousand square foot home. It had a huge yard, over half of it converted into a lush garden, and a large pool. The style was modern. The house had only been built twenty years or so ago, and all of the furnishings were new and beautiful. Zelda wasn’t wearing shoes. She had actually changed into some old sweats and had her hair up in a messy ponytail. She wasn’t wearing make-up or perfume. This was Zelda; Unplugged.
Who didn’t like pizza? Link stepped into the house and his eyes didn’t know where to go. Everything was so clean and new and stylish. It was really pretty; very different from what he was used to, but he didn’t feel as overwhelmed as he might have. He really was getting over a lot of his fears about Zelda’s lifestyle.
Even in the midst of all this, she was dressed like a farmgirl. It was adorable.
Zelda closed the door behind him and watched him carefully. She was the tiniest bit concerned that he might feel uncomfortable or intimidated. It’d been mentioned to her lately that even though she was used to this sort of thing, not everyone had been raised to have nice things, or live in huge houses. She was still wrapping her mind around the differences between them, too.
“I just got the...um... House Special, thing. It’s got peppers, onions, sausage... I said light cheese.” She saw he was holding the backpack she gave him, and that made her grin a little more brightly. “You like it, then?”
Link lifted it a bit. “Oh yeah, this is awesome!” He beamed. He wasn’t the sort to follow up with anything like, But you really shouldn’t have. He hadn’t grown up poor, but being raised on a farm meant new things and shopping trips were rare. Gifts were always something to be thankful for.
Zelda beamed. She really had no idea what kind to get, so she’d looked at a lot of pictures online in her trailer, then sent one of her friends to buy it for her. She was glad that it worked out. “You’re welcome! It looks rather handsome on you.” She said, motioning for him to follow her into the hall.
“You can stay in any of the guest bedrooms,” she offered, pushing open slightly ajar doors as they went along. “This one’s my bedroom.” It was obviously the largest in the house, with a huge, canopy bed and a bay window. There was a massive bathroom attached with both a walk-in shower and a massage jet bathtub.
Link didn’t say anything as he followed her. He took in the size of her room with somewhat large eyes and smiled a sincere smile, though his lips were pressed together. Yes, it certainly was a big room; that was for sure. Nice, too. And big.
More importantly for him, she had made it clear that he--at least in planning--would be sleeping somewhere else. He couldn’t call what he felt relief, but it was good to have some clarification.
Maybe she should have said you can stay anywhere you like instead of in any of the guest bedrooms. In any case she wanted him to feel comfortable in her home.
The doorbell rang and save them from those thoughts. Zelda excuse herself leaving him quickly in her bedroom and ran the front door to pay for the pizza.
Link shuffled from side to side, trying not to look at the bed, trying not to think about... He turned and hopped to the other side of the threshold, and decided to wait for her in the hallway.
Zelda brought the pizza in and set it on the kitchen counter. Once it was in, and the pizza guy drove off, she remotely closed the gate to the driveway and set the alarm. (Jack would be proud.)
Then she turned around and saw Link standing in the hallway. A bright smile crossed her features. He both loomed completely out of place, and as if he belonged at the same time. "Want to listen to some music?" She asked, moving to meet him half-way down the hall. "Pizza's here, if you're hungry."
He set down his backpack and nodded. This time, it was more like relief that he felt. "I'm always hungry. It really is a problem." Link chuckled and followed her back to the kitchen. "Music is good," he added, unsure of how else to phrase it. He dtidn't do a lot of music-listening, because he didn't own more than one really old cd player, and lugging it back and forth between the barn and the house was a hassle. Music wasn't a part of his life like it was for most people his age.
Zelda beamed. Music was a big part of her life. Mostly pop stuff, though she found a few other things that she enjoyed. And a lot of her music came from another generation. She loved Madonna and Cyndi Lauper along with Taylor Swift and Kelly Clarkson. Yeah, pop. Shuddup.
She moved over to a table between the hallway and the living room and grabbed a remote. It looked like a computer tablet. She tapped some buttons on the screen, and one of Taylor Swift’s popular songs, Love Story, came on. (There were tiny speakers all over the house, hidden up in the corners of hallways and rooms.)
“I think we can help you with your hunger problem, then. I’ll get plates!” She bounced into the kitchen to serve the pizza.
Link looked pleasantly up at the speakers and took a seat at the kitchen table, since putting pizza on plates was really a one-person job. He continued to smile and rapped his fingers on the table. “Your house is really nice,” he said. Oh wait, had he said that already?
“Thank you!” Zelda made quick work of putting a couple of slices of pizza onto each plate, then grabbing a couple of drinks from the fridge. (Soda, though she had beer and wine, too.) “I needed help with the design, you know. When I first moved in. I wasn’t sure what I wanted the place to look like. It’s intimidating, moving into a big house. I didn’t have any furniture or anything, so I had to do a lot of shopping. Filling all the rooms.”
"You built this place?" Link asked, wide-eyed, as he took the plate and soda from her hands. Then again, his great-grandparents had originally built his. "I mean, you had this place built?"
“My family did, yeah.” Zelda said. She slipped into the seat next to his and set the sodas down on the table. “I made sure they put in the stereo system, and the hot tub. Did you bring a swimsuit?”
Link nodded, glancing back over his shoulder in the direction of the backpack he’d left in the hallway, even though he couldn’t see it. “Yeah. I had to buy one.” Not a lot of swimming on the farm. There had been a pond when he was younger, but it had gotten pretty scummy over the years.
"Oh, I didn't mean to make you buy one," she said, though she was really glad he did. It'd be fun to climb into the hot water together. And make out. Zelda blushed as she ate her pizza. More music came on, different Taylor Swift songs. Mostly love songs, but all Zelda's favorites. "We'll go out there for a soak after dinner."
He blushed too, because he was thinking the exact same thing, although he’d never been in a hot tub before. He’d seen them on TV, mostly reality shows. Seeing Zelda in a swimsuit was going to be a very good thing. Link found it difficult to eat his pizza without choking.
After dinner came fast enough, and they went into separate rooms to change into swim wear. Zelda came out to the hot tub wearing a bikini, and carrying a couple huge, fluffy, white towels. She set about getting the top off the tub after putting the towels aside. 'There's some champagne in the fridge," she called out when Link came out of the guest bedroom. "Want to grab it?"
Link had sidled in quietly in his bare feet and had actually been standing there for a few minutes before Zelda had realized it. Now, he was a good boy by any standard, but when a beautiful girl in a bikini was bent over the side of a hot tub, one knew better than to say anything that might end the moment prematurely. He stared. He must have looked far more innocent than he felt, because Zelda didn’t seem to think anything of it when she finally turned around.
“Uh, sure,” he said, electing to back away, rather than give her a glimpse of his profile. It looked a little awkward. He got the champagne and glasses and returned to the patio.
Zelda fiddled with the temperature guages and made sure that everything was perfect--the bubbles were in working order. She wasn’t sure if he’d want the jets on or off, so she waited for him to come back before setting those on. Of course, she was innocent enough to not really understand why he was backing back into the house rather than turning around. A grin broke out across her features as he came back.
“Awesome. Ready?” Then she climbed up the steps and slipped into the hot tub. She’d pulled her hair up into a loose bun on top of her head so it wouldn’t get wet.
Holding everything high over his head, Link climbed into the tub, as well. There were seats inside and he sat down, but not before placing the glasses on a little shelf behind them. He fumbled with the champagne, unsure how to open it. He’d never drank it before. Suddenly, the cork popped and flew across the yard. “Yikes!” he giggled.
Zelda laughed, too, holding out the glasses for him to fill. "That always happens!" She couldn't count the number of times champagne had spilled into the hot tub. When her glass was full, she lifted it in a toast. "To pizza and hot tubs."
Link laughed again, tapping the side of his glass against hers. Already, this was just about the sexiest setting he had ever been in. He sipped the champagne and even though he wasn’t positive he liked it, he didn’t care. He wrapped his free arm around Zelda’s shoulders.
After sipping from her glass, Zelda cuddled in against him. She leaned her head to rest against his shoulder, finding it to be just a little hard, since her body wanted to float in the water. “Should I put on the jets?” She asked. The lights were already on, making the water glow blueish green. It was terribly romantic. Sexy, actually. Terribly sexy.
There was more? Link nodded. Eagerly.
Soon, the bubbles were coming at full speed, churning the water, making the lights seem more like flashing neon. It was just awesome. It was hot, a word he didn’t use too often, and right now it had nothing to do with the temperature of the water.
The look on Link's face was priceless. Zelda gave a laugh, then settled against a jet, letting it massage her back and shoulders. "Well? She asked, looking over at him. "What do you think?" Her hand found his in the water and she laced their fingers together.
The jet hit Link in just the right spot, right between his shoulderblades where he tended to carry a lot of tension from milking cows. For a split second, his eyes rolled back. He finished his first glass of champagne and placed the glass behind them, on a little shelf. He let go of Zelda’s hand only to trace his fingers up her arm. “This is awesome.”
Sometimes just sitting in the hot tub was enough. She could come out here on her own, have a glass of wine (or not) and relax in the hot water with or without the bubbles. But having Link here with her tonight... well, that was the best thing. Way, way, way better than being in the tub on her own. She finished the last of her own glass and set it aside before scooting up against him again.
“You’re welcome over anytime you like.” She said, softly. Her eyes were bright as she smiled at him.
Link pulled in the flesh of his lower lip, chewing it while he took her in. He smiled and nodded. Words seemed really unimportant all of a sudden, but that wasn’t anything new for him.
He stole a kiss, instead.
Zelda beamed. She stole one back, then settled down against his shoulder again, wrapping her arms around his middle. It was warm and relaxing. His skin felt nice under her hands. (And he looked really nice in his bathing suit, too, by the way.)
“I think we may need to make a habit out of this,” she said after a moment of (mostly comfortable?) silence.
Link hummed, smiling. He kissed Zelda’s ear and then moved his lips to her temple. Even if they weren’t ready to start sharing a room and a bed, they could still make out. Right about now, he was having a little trouble not making out with her.
Zelda’s eyes fell closed at the feel of his lips against her skin. He was strong and masculine, but not overbearing or intimidating. At least, not to Zelda. He made her feel like a princess. Even when he was just holding her and kissing her skin, he made her feel safe and wanted. She turned up and tilted her face in so she could catch his lips with her own.
Was it possible for Zelda to know just how much Link desired to make her feel that way, to keep her safe, to love her forever. The feeling had everything to do with the way he kissed her now, and yet it was also a different feeling entirely: a sense of devotion and a soldier’s duty. He was her knight and she was his princess.
He kissed her deeply, and hoped it would somehow communicate both sides of what he felt.
It was hard to keep the kiss from growing in passion, deeper and more meaningful. With the passion came hunger, and something stirred deep inside Zelda’s belly that she wasn’t really used to--but it wasn’t bad. On the contrary. The safe, warm, comfortable feeling that she had around Link was growing into something stronger. Something that was driving her to action. Though, she didn’t know what kind of action. Her hand came up to rest against the side of his neck, holding Link’s face against hers as they kissed.
The people of Hyrule would see this as a scandal--a wandering knight and the royal princess!--but Link was past the point of caring. In fact, his mind was practically melting right now. Falling in love with Zelda had intensified everything. Each kiss was absolutely like a surge of electricity. And there was a pressure building up inside of him, and Link felt like he was moments away from either telling Zelda that he loved her, or start making love to her.
He broke off the kiss. His face was bright red. “I um.. I uh...” But he had no idea how to explain himself.
Zelda was a little breathless when he broke the kiss. Her eyes blinked open, though they obviously wanted to stay shut. The loss of contact, loss of connection, nearly drew a whimper from her.
"What is it?" She asked, looking up into his eyes. She was a little nervous that she'd done something wrong. And that twisting in her gut wasn't helping her brain process things.
Link was finally able to shake his head. He splashed a little water on his face, too, even though the water was hot. “No, I uh... I was starting to feel a little... I don’t want to make you feel...” God, what was he even trying to say? Why couldn’t words be his friend, just this once?
Zelda removed her arms from around him when he splashed some water on himself. It was a sort of a peculiar thing to do, she thought. "Feel what?" She asked. Her heart was still thundering from being so close to him, from wanting him.
Link covered his eyes for a moment. The steam stung them. It had been a long time since he’d more than just kiss a girl--and really, it had been a long time since kissing, too. But that wasn’t really the point. The point was that he was in love with this girl and he didn’t want to do anything stupid. He needed signals and signs. “Uncomfortable, I guess.”
"You make me feel safe," Zelda said, giving her head a little shake. "I can't imagine anything you’d do that would make me feel uncomfortable." Except, possibly, giving her that crazy twisting sensation she felt below her belt. That was the only thing.
Horny. She wasn't used to it, didn't know how to handle it. But it was true; that was a sensation he brought out in her in spades.
Link’s shoulders relaxed ever so slightly and he took a breath. It was just that Zelda seemed so innocent. He knew he wasn’t reducing what he felt to lust, but he didn’t want to do anything that she wasn’t ready for or might regret later. Sometimes he suspected she was a virgin, and the idea of being her first made him a little nervous.
"I wouldn't worry about it if I was you," Zelda said. "I know you would never hurt me." She wasn't really sure what he was talking about, but she was starting to catch on a bit. She wasn't the only one in the tub that was feeling the heat.
"Let's just... take things as they come?" She added, lifting her hand up to cup his cheek again. Zelda wasn't a virgin, but was as good as. Her sexual experience was incredibly limited. That didn't mean she was a prude, though. She was just waiting for the right one.