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“I have a problem.”
Red looked up from where he was reading a spellbook on the Links’ couch. Vio lent it to him, to help him expand the Fire Rod’s capabilities and possibly make it do more than just set things on fire (maybe shoot fireballs? Oh, or lasers!). It was turning out to be much more interesting than he’d expected.
Red immediately spotted Green standing in front of him, twisting his fingers together over and over like Link used to. Both he and Vio had inherited that nervous fidgeting, Green twisting his hands more often than not and Vio tapping his heel on the ground no matter how many times he tried to sit still, but Blue and Red hadn’t really gotten anything. Green was shuffling his feet, as well, like he’d rather be somewhere else, and he was staring at the ground. Not at Red.
Red closed his book, not bothering to mark the page. He could find it later. Instead, he turned his full attention to Green. “What is it?” he asked. Green glanced up, then looked towards the stairs leading up to their rooms, then back at the ground.
“I kind of want to talk about it somewhere more private? Maybe.” he muttered. Red raised an eyebrow. The de-facto leader of the Links had never been so… nervous before. The closest situation Red could think of would have to have been when Erune…
Oh.
Oh.
“Yeah, sure!” Red said, giving a small smile at Green as he stood up. “We can talk in my room?”
Green nodded. “That’d be great,” he said. The two went up the stairs and into Red’s room, Green shutting the door behind them. Only Blue was home, Shadow talking with Zelda at the castle about some sort of meeting and Vio visiting Erune in her village, and so Red wasn’t worried about any eavesdropping. Sure, Shadow might, but again, he wasn’t home, and Blue wouldn’t dare try to butt into someone else’s private life. That was really rude, even for him.
Red’s room wasn’t what someone would expect. While people who didn’t know him that well would think he’d have a lot of stuffed animals or something similar because of his innocent, optimistic personality (well, not that innocent, but still.), they would usually be wrong. He did have some stuffed animals, but they sat in a fireproof box under his bed most of the time. He worked on his Fire Rod a lot in his room and often ended up accidentally setting it off.
No flammable things here, nope! His walls were fireproof, as was his furniture, and any trinkets he had were also shoved in fireproof boxes and put on shelves or under the bed. The room looked almost empty, actually.
His Fire Rod, the Four Sword, and his shield hung on his wall, there were spare clothes in his wardrobe (also fireproof), and he had a bomb flower growing in a pot on his desk. That was it (The bomb flower was a gift from Erune for his birthday last month, and while he sort-of wanted to plant it in the garden, he ultimately decided against it, since Shadow and Blue often sparred out there, and their sparring could get… hectic on its own. No need to throw explosives in the mix).
Red sat down on the bed, bouncing a little on the feathery mattress (literally, it was stuffed with cucco feathers). He patted the spot next to him, and Green easily sat down as well. “So, what did you want to talk about?” Red asked eagerly. He already had a pretty good idea, so he was mostly asking out of politeness, but he also didn’t just jump right into his own conclusions like some people did (cough, Vio, cough)!
Green laced his fingers together. Unlaced them. Laced them. Unlaced them. A long bout of silence passed. “I might… have a crush on someone. I kind of need your advice.” he finally mumbled under his breath.
Red was right. However, he didn’t know as much as he wished he did. Guessing game time! “On who?” Green stiffened. “You don’t need to tell me outright! Just… tell me some stuff about them?” he elaborated quickly. Green still didn’t relax. “Or… why you wanted to talk to me about it?” I mean, I know I’m the emotional one, but really--”
“You’ve been on the most dates out of all of us, Red.” Green interrupted. “It’s not just because you’re the ‘emotional one,’ as you put it. Sure, Blue’s had a couple admirers, and Vio and Shadow have been together for a while, but asking them would just feel awkward and none of them are as good with… romantic stuff as you are.”
“Oh! Well… thanks.” Red muttered. That was actually nice to hear, in a way. “What did you want help with? Confessing?”
Green’s cheeks reddened as he ducked his head, his eyes hiding under his bangs. “Maybe.”
Red nodded seriously. “Well, then, why don’t you tell me a liiiitle bit about your crush so I can actually give you more advice!” that was true, he did need to know more about Green’s crush in order to help, but also… he just wanted to guess who it was.
Green reached up and ran a hand through his fluffy hair, letting out a huff of nervous laughter. “Well… they’re really nice, I guess. And they talk a lot. I really like to listen to them, actually, they have a lot of interesting things to say about stuff they enjoy.”
Hm. That applied to a few people Red knew, but really it could be anyone. “Do I know them?” he asked. Green nodded.
“Definitely.”
Well, that sure narrowed the list down a lot (it didn’t, Red knew way too many people for it to work)!
“They’re pretty… important! Yeah, yeah, important, uh…”
“That’s cute.” Red giggled. Green’s blush deepened. “They’re pretty important?”
“Y-yeah…”
Red thought for a moment. Who did he definitely know, who was important and could also be classified as pretty (there was no way he was ever going to let that go)? It wasn’t Zelda, obviously. They’d all had a crush on her before, of course, but it was more puppy-love than anything, and the Links had all actually had a long (rather hilarious) conversation on whether any of them still liked her like that. The answer from everyone was a perfectly honest ‘no’-- or a ’fuck no,’ in Blue’s case.
He gasped dramatically and clutched a hand to his heart. ”Green,” he breathed out, horrified. “Don’t tell me it’s one of the Maidens!”
He was only half-joking, really, but Green obviously thought he was completely joking because he burst into laughter. “No!” he wheezed, slapping a hand on his thigh as he doubled over in hysterical giggles. “Why would-- ew! They’re way too old for me!”
“Not the Pearl Maiden… she’s only nineteen now.”
“And we’re sixteen.” Green enunciated. “Still too old for us.”
“That was the joke.” Red laughed. He went back to thinking. It didn’t take long to rule out other important people he definitely knew, due to age or just them never having met Green, and soon he had his answer. His face fell as he stared at Green. “Oh, no, Green,” he whispered. “You have a crush on Shadow?”
Green stopped smiling and stared at the ground bitterly. “Yeah.” he confirmed.
Oh, no.
“Green, he’s dating Vio!” Red protested, gesturing wildly with his hands to show how bad the idea of Green confessing to Shadow was. “You can’t just butt in like that--”
“That’s why I need your advice!” Green replied. “I don’t just like Shadow, I like Vio too and I don’t know how to deal with it!”
Red’s mouth snapped shut as he processed that information. “Oh.” he said softly. It wasn’t that much of a shocking revelation, Link had liked multiple people at once before. Red just didn’t think-- since he only liked one person at a time, he didn’t think the others would be like Link either. “That… might be better. Or worse. Depending on how you look at it.” he said slowly. “How long have you liked them?”
“I realized I liked Shadow at the, uh, Summer Festival.” Green said. Well, that absolutely made sense, Shadow’s dress at the Summer Festival would have made anyone realize they liked him. The realized crush was only a few months old, then.
“And I’ve liked Vio since we met Erune for the first time.”
“Oh, shit!” Red gasped, trying not to actually yell. “You’ve liked him for four years?!” Green threw his hands in the air.
“Yes! I need help!” he said, almost shouting his words. “I’d barely come to terms with liking Vio of all people when we all got split up, and then he seemingly betrayed us and almost killed me, and it hurt so much! and then we found out it was all a trick and he was still on our side and I was so happy because that meant I had a chance with him, but then Shadow died and he threw all his work into getting him back and I realized he loved Shadow instead--” he practically spat out Shadow’s name like poison, envy laced through his words. “And then Shadow was brought back and they actually got together and once again I had absolutely no. Chance. No chance!”
Green laughed, short and bitter. “I tried to come to terms with that for years, you know that, and then, just a couple months ago, I thought, ’no wonder he likes Shadow, he’s absolutely amazing,’ and then I had to overanalyze that thought, and boom! Another guy who plagues my every waking thought, all the time, and who better than the one person who kept me from confessing to Vio in the first place, right?” he sounded almost hysterical at this point. “I’ve been miserable for years and I don’t think I can even do anything about it, now!” Green finished, breathing heavily and glaring at Red.
Red reached out a hand towards Green hesitantly. “Green--”
His ears turned up and he and Green both tensed at the sound of the front door opening. That was either Shadow or Vio returning. They both stayed perfectly still as the sound of footsteps got closer to Red’s bedroom door, and soon Shadow appeared, throwing the door open with all the politeness of a fucking giraffe because he didn’t know the meaning of ’please, for once in your life, please just knock on the door before entering.’ He’d obviously expected Green to be there, because he started talking to him as soon as he opened the door.
“So Zelda has this big treaty meeting coming up with the Queen of Labrynna, you know, and the Queen wanted to meet the Heroes of Hyrule and I knew that meant more meet-and-greet political parties that you and Vio absolutely hate, Green, so I suggested that instead we-- hey.” Shadow paused in his chatter as he frowned, his yellow eyes flicking from Red to a still-clearly-upset Green. “Are y’all okay?” he asked softly.
“We’re fine.” Green said, trying to hide the bitterness in his words and absolutely failing as he stared at Shadow. That look of complete adoration in Green’s eyes was so obvious that Red wanted to laugh, but that would definitely make Green more upset than he already was.
Shadow tilted his head, leaning against the doorframe slightly as he stared at Green, still frowning. “You sure? You… kinda look like you’ve been crying.”
“I’m fine, Shadow.” Green emphasized. Shadow took a step back.
“Okay, sorry. Uh… feel better soon?” he tried. Green smiled at him.
“Sure. I’ll talk to you later, Shadow.” he responded. Shadow smiled back and left the room, closing the door behind him quietly. His footsteps faded and Red put his head in his hands.
“Green, you’re so obvious.” he whined into his palms. Green swatted the air near his head as a warning, not looking back at him and still looking at the door where Shadow was. Red lifted his head and stared at Green with a raised eyebrow. “Do you think either of them know?”
“They both might. I don’t know.” Green mumbled, tugging on a strand of his hair nervously. “Like you said, I’m obvious.”
Red thought for a moment. In his opinion, if Vio and Shadow also liked multiple people, Green absolutely had a chance. They spent a lot of time hanging out with Green when they weren’t alone together, more so than with Red or Blue. They also talked to him a lot. Red could easily see the three of them actually dating.
Someone knocked on the door again and Green looked ready to break off the door handle and throw it at whoever had knocked. “Come in,” Red called, and Blue opened the door, stepping in awkwardly and shutting it behind him. Shit.
“So, Green, you shouted a lot and I wasn’t trying to eavesdrop but Red’s room is right next to mine and you were really loud and that conversation with Shadow was so painfully awkward so I think I should say my opinion on this before it gets worse.” Blue explained in one big breath. Red sighed and motioned for him to continue and Green’s expression was that of complete devastation. He was expecting Blue to say something bad, he definitely was.
“So, first of all, Shadow definitely likes you.” Blue began. They both stared at him in shock and Blue rolled his eyes. “Don’t look at me like that. You don’t even know how many times Shadow’s been talking to me about some prank or something and has gone off into a tangent like: ’Oh, and wouldn’t it be wonderful if Green joined in too? He’s really smart and great at planning and stuff and I’m sure whatever things he came up with would be absolutely amazing! Don’t you agree, Blue?’” Blue paused in his admittedly horrible Shadow impression. “...I don’t know about Vio, though, that dude’s always been a wild card.”
Green’s mouth had actually dropped open during Blue’s explanation, his eyes wide as he stared at him. “...Really?” he asked, hesitant to believe him. “You’re not just being a dick and trying to prank me, right?”
Blue made a face and crossed his arms. “No! Sure I’m an asshole, but I’m not that mean!” he protested. “I just wanted you to know that, y’know.” he added in a mutter, turning and stalking out of the room.
The sound of the front door opening, paired with the faint noise of Shadow yelling ”Vio!” downstairs signaled Vio’s return to the Link’s home. Red grinned at Green.
“So, Green… gonna do anything with that information?” he asked. Green blushed again.
“Maybe, I don’t know.”
“I can ask Vio about you, if you want! He can’t hide anything from me, his best friend.” Red bragged. Green hunched his shoulders, tapping his heel on the ground. “Or… you could just try and confess to them now? I’m sure they want to hang out with you after being gone for the whole day-- a week, in Vio’s case.”
Almost as if on cue, Shadow threw the door open once more, this time with Vio looking over his shoulder (not that it was that hard, Shadow barely reaching 5’2’’ and Vio easily surpassing 5’9’’). “Hey, hey, Green, wanna go to Castle Town with Vio and I? There’s this new stall run by a guy in a bunny mask that just opened, and I wanted to check it out!” he asked eagerly, his eyes shining. Vio smiled at Green and waved from behind Shadow.
“Nice to see you again, Green, Red.” he said, voice practically monotone as always but at this point the Links could all easily pick out the emotion carefully woven through his words and written in his bright purple eyes.
Green stood up, and gave a nervous smile at Red before turning that smile to Vio and Shadow. “Sure!” he answered happily. “Just let me get my shoes on.”
The three left the room and went downstairs, Shadow chattering away and Green occasionally adding his own quiet comments. Red heard the front door shut a minute later and left his room himself, spotting Blue standing in the hallway and leaning against his door. Red grinned at him. Blue grinned back.
Those three would be fine. Red was sure of it.
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