InsaneJournal

Who: Link and Zelda (and Zelda’s Father)
When: Early April
Where: One of the Hyrule Hotels’ in-house restaurants. Hyrule.
What: Link meets Zelda’s father
Rating/Warning: Low/None
Status: Complete


Zelda and her father met up for a drink at the bar of the most ritzy Hyrule Hotel in Southern California. Link was going to join them for dinner, but Zelda wanted to make sure her father had calmed down after a long day in the office, and get a couple of drinks in him before they told him what was happening. At least, maybe he’d be a bit more amenable to the whole thing.

After giving the obligatory squeal of “Daddy!” and accepting a present from her father, Zelda ordered them some drinks from the bar. She asked him about his day, and they talked about a cruise that he was going on. A couple of drinks in, and they were told their table was ready. Twenty minutes had gone by in the blink of an eye, and the two were seated at their dinner table, waiting for Link to arrive.

Link was running behind schedule because the farm kept a schedule of its own. He’d also been stressing out over a tie. It seemed that every time he was out of his easy farm clothes, dressing was a bewildering experience. There were always tabloids to worry about. He didn’t want to ever be a source of embarrassment for Zelda. But tonight it was about much more than impressing people at the supermarket checkout lines.

This time, he was meeting Zelda’s father. And proving yourself to be someone worthy of a man’s daughter was... Well, Link was pretty sure he couldn’t use the fact that he’d saved the Princess a half-dozen times in his dreams as a point in his favor.

But he wasn’t a coward and he wasn’t going to stall inside his truck for forever. He stepped out onto the street and steeled himself with a deep breath of the less-than-farm-fresh air.

Zelda ordered Link a Coke, and switched to water herself. Then she turned her attention to the menu in front of her. She’d never been one to look at the cost of food on a menu, so she didn’t notice how expensive this place was. Her father was footing the bill, anyway, so she wasn’t bothered. It was his hotel, after all.

“What are you in the mood for, Sweetheart?” Mr. Hyrule asked as he glanced down at his own menu.

“I don’t know,” Zelda responded. Now she was wishing she’d had more to eat or less to drink at the bar. “...pizza?” They had the kind with goat cheese and sundried tomatoes.

Link entered the bar from the hotel lobby. He was familiar with the layout because Zelda had shown him many of the Hyrule hotels by now. She and her father were somewhat hidden from sight for privacy’s sake, but he spotted them quickly. Another deep breath and he began his approach, shoulders back, held high.

Zelda could sense more than see him coming. She could feel it, as if their experiences in the dreams made them more connected somehow. Her head lifted, a smile brightened her face, and she jumped up from her chair to say hello to him with a quick kiss.

Her father, on the other hand, didn’t much care either way. He glanced up from his menu at the Farm Boy, and then turned his eyes back down to his wine glass.

Link bit his lip and frowned as he watched Zelda’s father react. He had expected the first meeting to be awkward, but perhaps not right off the bat. He held out his hand to introduce himself politely, hoping that Zelda’s presence might help. “Mr. Hyrule…”

“Link.” Mr Hyrule lifted his eyes to Link’s face and gave the boy a nod. And then he reached a hand up to shake Link’s hand, too. It was a quick, tight shake, and then he released Link’s hand to turn his attention back down to his menu.

“Don’t mind Mr. Grumpy,” Zelda grinned at Link, though she sounded slightly nervous, as she sat back down again. She lowered her hand out to him, under the table, for him to take.

Link only gave her hand a faint graze. He was a little too worried about her father wondering where his hand was, if it wasn’t on the table. Not only was he meeting Zelda’s father for the first time, this was the first time he was meeting any parent of someone he was seriously dating. Then again, Zelda was the only serious girlfriend of his adult life.

He swallowed. Technically, it was a gulp. “So, do you visit your hotels often, sir?”

“No.” Mr. Hyrule closed the menu and finally gave Link his attention. His face was somewhat long, though there was a striking family resemblance between the two Hyrules at the table. It was obvious who was related to whom here. “Only when I’m planning on intimidating my little girl’s boyfriend.”

“Dad,” Zelda said, warningly.

Link chuckled nervously, because he wasn’t sure what else to do. “Well… that’s okay. I don’t scare too easily, though.” Or at least, when he was scared, he rarely made a run for it, here or in the dreams.

Zelda beamed. She was proud of her fiance, both here and in the dreams. “See? He’s not going anywhere. We… we wanted to tell you about our intentions.”

Mr. Hyrule’s eyebrows raised and he turned to his daughter with interest. “Your intentions?” There was surprise in his voice. Though, he was also interested.

Link glanced downward at the ring on Zelda finger. The size of the diamond was nothing to be ashamed of, but perhaps from her father's perspective it might be smaller than he'd expect.
"Um, yes," said Link, feeling the steam rising under his collar. He cleared his throat again. "...Zelda and I, we'd like to get married, sir. In fact, I proposed and she said yes."

There was a long pause. Zelda could feel nerves twisting in her tummy, and wondered if the drinks before dinner were a good idea. Or maybe they were a great idea. Either they helped or made the nerves worse. She wasn’t sure which. But during the pause, while her father was sitting there staring at Link, Zelda turned to look at him, too. He was so brave. She was so proud.

The pause was ended by a clearing of Mr. Hyrule’s throat. His eyes were still on Link, though they’d narrowed just slightly. “Is that so?”

Link nodded. "I know I'm probably not the sort of person you expected for your daughter. I'm a farmer and I'm not used to everything Zelda grew up with. But I'm also an entrepreneur. I've run my farm on my own for almost five years now, and in that time I've doubled it's worth and nearly tripled its profitability. I know that doesn't really matter. Zelda makes five times as much. But I want you to know that I'm not a guy looking for monetary support. I'd want to marry Zelda if she wasn't worth a penny...because she's loyal, and generous, and creative. And beautiful. I'll always think of her like a princess, sir."

It was a lot of words from a man who didn't usually use so many, but sometimes it was important to be specific.

It obviously wasn’t the sort of reaction that Mr. Hyrule was expecting. His eyebrows raised up slightly and he looked surprised at the words. People didn’t normally stand up to the Hotel Tycoon. He actually wasn’t quite sure how to respond to that sort of thing. As much as he didn’t want to be, he was impressed with the young man.

Zelda was always impressed with Link. A blush had crept across her cheekbones, and she reached a hand over to take hold of one of his. She loved him more than ever in that moment, and was more proud of him than she’d ever been before.

Finally, Mr.Hyrule responded. “I see. Well, I suppose we have no choice but to welcome you to the family, then.”

Link released a breath he’d been holding for some time, words or none. Just because he didn’t know better when it came to standing up to a hotel tycoon, it didn’t mean he wasn’t pretty close to terrified. Finally, he could let his shoulders drop. “Really?” he asked with a nervous chuckle. At the same time, his hold on Zelda’s hand tightened.

“I would have preferred,” Mr. Hyrule said, lowering his napkin to his lap and organizing it there instead of giving Link and Zelda his full attention, “if you’d asked my permission before proposing to my only daughter--”

“Daddy,” Zelda warned, cutting him off.

Mr. Hyrule took a breath, then lifted his eyes to Link again. “But I can see how much you mean to her. And I’m assuming she means as much to you…?” It was almost a question. More like a threat.

Link was struggling to work some moisture back into his mouth, but he turned to Zelda and took her in for a moment before answering. A smile spread across his face. “Before I met Zelda, I’m not sure I was fully alive.” He turned back to her father. “I lost my parents a few years ago. It hasn’t been easy since then. Zelda came along and revived me.”

Zelda took her turn to move her eyes into her lap. Her hand tightened around his. It was one thing to know that he loved her, and another to hear him say it. The man who was normally so careful with his words, was normally so quiet and thoughtful, it meant a lot to hear him say things so sweetly.

“I’m sorry to hear it,” Mr. Hyrule responded. “I’m glad that my daughter has found someone who loves her the way she’s meant to be loved. Here, a round of drinks to celebrate.” He said, and lifted his hand to flag down the waiter. “Champagne!”

Hearing that was a little like music to Link's ears. He leaned close to Zelda and whispered, "Ganon is still worse..."