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There was blood in his mouth.
Did anything else exist? ...No. At least not anything that didn’t hurt to think about, like other red things. Specifically a red person he’d recently lost. But that didn’t matter. He couldn’t get distracted from the blood on his mouth. Blood was something he was comfortable with; something he had. It was something he knew almost everything else had too. Blood was life. He was alive.
A͜ r̴ e̢ y o̴ u̢ ̕d r e a m i͘ n͝ g ,͞ ̵L i n k ?
That voice was distracting and he didn’t like it. That voice came from something that didn’t have blood.
He dragged his tongue— my tongue exists — over his bloodied teeth — they exist too —in order to correct his train of thought. He had blood and he was alive. The blood was in his mouth.
An icy current twisted against his bare skin. It slithering into his chest and then back out between his shoulderblades to coil around on more skin. Something about it made him feel like he was burning and that he needed to match that cool temperature. No, that’s all a trick. That’s not blood, I only needed to focus on —
D͟ o y o u f e̸ e̛ l p̨ a͢ i͞ n͏ ? Something about the tone of the voice had changed. He got the feeling that it wasn’t curious for entertainment’s sake. It cared. The care made him want to answer it, so he gave answering a shot.
Maybe he had felt pain once. Maybe it was even recent. Maybe it had been pouring rain and the coldness had jostled him awake. The stretcher of sorts he might have been laying on was being carried by a group of running, screaming, desperate people. Perhaps they had been forced to let him cry and scream while they ran, unable to stop and tend to him at the time. He’d possibly seen a beautiful blue city fading into the distance while a strange voice had laughed at his agony. There was a chance his “saviors” let him suffer until he nearly passed out.
I '͟ l l p͜ r o t e͟ c t̷ ̷y o͡ u b̵ e̶ t t e ŗ f r̶ o͡ m ͘n o w o͡ n. S l e e͢ p s o҉ u̷ n d l͢ y͜ f o̧ r ͘n o̷ w, s w͟ e e t H y̸ l i a n . The voice sounded raspy but intense about its promise. A͜ n d ̶p l e a s e l i v e͏ . Hm. This speaker might have been different than who he thought they were.
“I’ll try, Sidon,” Link whispered into a pillow.
That’s when the bulk of the daze lifted and he found himself trying to blink moonlight out of his eyes. It was streaming in from a partially curtained window right onto his face and the white blankets that looked heavily rolled-around-in. The room had dark wooden floors and beams framing the off-white plaster walls. Scrolls with inky drawings of cuccos hung from the walls and so did red banners. Ah, so he was in Kakariko Village.
Link looked around the rest of the room and immediately saw Sidon. The large Zora was lit from behind by orange paper lanterns on the floor in the middle of the room. Though he was sitting on the floor, Sidon’s upper body was leaning up on Link’s bed. His knuckles were folded under his jaw and he was looking down at papers scattered about on the blanket wearily. Every so often his eyelids would droop but then he blinked a few times and scrunched his face in an attempt to read some more.
The pleasant fluttering in Link’s chest was dumbing. He wanted to try and recall the scenario that had really landed him in this bed, but instead his mind took off in ridiculous immature directions. Lots of random bullshit about getting lovingly smashed by the prince. No no, don’t be brainless, I’m in this bed to recover from some kind of a monster.
Sidon’s eyes had drooped again and his head was beginning to loll.
After a few moments, when Sidon’s eyes didn’t open, Link joked, “Looks like we’re taking shifts?”
That did the trick: Sidon shot up onto his feet. His jaw dropped slightly when his eyes landed on Link, who wore a playful smirk while he was trying and failing, constantly falling back onto his elbows, to sit up in the big bed. After a few moments taking that in, Sidon’s shocked expression was replaced by an adoring one and he said Link’s name under his breath. The next thing Link processed was Sidon inside his space with his palm on Link’s forehead, so he stopped trying to sit up. A touch of worry darkened the sharp-toothed smile a bit, implying a fever. Then Sidon’s fingers pressed against Link’s wrist.
Sidon had always been good at understanding Link, with a few specific exceptions like his constant misunderstanding of Link’s flusteredness. At this point in their friendship, Link was pretty confident in his abilities to read Sidon too. And right now the Zora was troubled. Troubled enough to almost make Link nervous. Almost.
After a long observation of his pulse, Sidon took Link’s hand and started to rub the Hylian’s palm with his thumbs. Finally he sighed, “We almost lost you, Link.”
The bandages all the way around Sidon’s middle caught the Hylian’s attention and he frowned. They looked fresh but made Link feel wrong for some reason.
“ I almost lost you,” Sidon rephrased, now picking his words more slowly. “Right after we found each other, you… could have been gone forever.”
Though that sounded ominous, Link opted to keep it light and coyly asked, “Where was I going?”
Sidon chuckled but diverted his eyes and chewed on his lip a little. He was being cautious. That didn’t feel good to be on the receiving end of, especially with someone as reckless as Sidon. But Link could also see the energy buzzing around in the Zora just from having seen Link awake. He’d been falling asleep only moment before so the change made the hero’s stomach do little flips.
There was blood in our mouths.
And just like that Link remembered everything: Shy Scales, the Twilight Realm’s crushing depths, those arms grabbing him... Sidon confessing to loving him. Him confessing back.
Link felt dizzy. And then a different kind of dizzy when he felt the prince’s hand brushing into his hair as he took the side of Link’s face in his hand. The extra-cold feeling of Sidon’s skin could have been because of Link’s fever, but the Hylian could also feel a blush boiling his cheeks and ears.
Pink was expanding across Link’s cheeks again, painting his sweet little face in a way a Zora’s could not. The sight stirred up a lot of the emotions Sidon hadn’t been able to feel without terror accompanying them for the week and a half Link had been asleep. Now the love had come alone. Link was stable, he’d finally woken up and was safe. And from now on the prince of the Zoras would keep it that way.
Sidon’s previous thought process was promptly abandoned due to the purr Link stole his attention with.
Then the young man tried to sit up again. He faltered twice but succeeded in the end, bringing his face right up near Sidon’s and exhaling warm breath right into the Zora’s chin. The expression on his face was knowing, although a tad shy all the same. “It’s okay, Sidon. I remember.”
“....Everything?”
Link raised his arms to slide them around Sidon’s neck and down his back and then nodded. His eyes centered squarely on Sidon’s own. They reflected the warm flickering lanterns that barely lit the room.
A dumbstruck few moments passed before Sidon answered himself, “Everything then.” He remembers I love him. That felt good . He remembers Shy Scales defeated us. That felt bad. Really bad: a horrendous weight that crushed Sidon’s light feelings in an instant. This meant Link also remembered being hurt. Link remembered failing the Zora Domain. Link remembered… no wait. He couldn’t remember everything after all. Sidon himself couldn’t remember how they’d been rescued or healed, although he’d been told thoroughly once he woke up. Even that was a bit hazy though...
Healing! Sidon remembered with a start and jerked out of Link’s arms without meaning to. The healers need to check him out and make sure he’s okay!
Before he’d climbed completely off the bed, Sidon spotted the hurt look on Link’s face. His arms were still outstretched as if he were about to hug the ghost Sidon had left behind. His eyes were confused and very sad. He looked like he was trying to find the words to say something.
“Oh no no, it’s not that!” Sidon said quickly. He silently scolded himself for always giving Link all the wrong signs. “I’m getting the healers, they need to come check you out. I’ll be back in just a minute.”
Link’s sad look remained and his arms were still outstretched. He pulled them back towards his torso and began to look unsure.
Sidon paused. Nope, this wouldn’t do. He didn’t want to be the master of misunderstandings anymore. So he climbed back onto the bed and returned to his spot, practically looming over his beloved Hylian.
Link’s face somehow got even pinker, but he remained with furrowing raised brows.
“I love you, Link,” Sidon reminded him, “and I want to make sure we’re healing you properly. Do you mind if I run and get the local healers of Kakariko as well as the best Zora healers?”
“....Yes.” Link suddenly looked smug. “I do mind. If you get them, you’ll be forcing me to wait to kiss you.”
Sidon stared and he could feel his head-tail wagging to express his delight at hearing such a thing. “Well. We can’t have that, can we?”
Link shook his head. After a couple unsure movements up towards the Zora, his eyes fluttering shut as he shoved his face upwards into Sidon’s, planting one quick first kiss on the Zora’s mouth. Then he laughed when Sidon returned it just as quickly and maybe a bit too rough at first because he almost lost his balance and smushed the Hylian into the bed. Almost... Maybe next time.
The two found themselves laughing against each other’s quick kisses for a while before they ended up locking lips more deeply. Even during the deep kiss, Link’s mouth had a playful way about it. His lips were soft and Sidon would feel them spread into a smile every so often. His tongue was whimsical, a tricky little devil that had a knack for surprising the Zora. It would move slowly back into Link’s mouth then quickly slide past his own. But most of all Sidon enjoyed happy little noises Link was making. Not quite moans, more like muffled laughter. Still, Sidon was very interested in hearing real moans if Link was interested in anything moan-worthy down the line...
At some point Sidon had pushed Link down onto the bed. He snuck a few glances at the way Link’s hair fanned around his head on the pillows before he closed his eyes again to enjoy the feeling of kissing the Hylian. They had also begun to busy their hands by encircling their fingers.
After a while, Sidon pulled away to allow them both to catch their breath. Even while panting hard, they wanted to laugh, so they tried. It was breathless and caused their recovery to take even more time.
“I love you too,” Link exhaled deeply and turned his head towards where Sidon was still pinning one of Link’s hands. He gave his red wrist a quick kiss, then beamed back up at Sidon. “And that was nice.”
“It was,” Sidon agreed breathily. “We should do it again later.”
"We should. And we should switch around who's on top too." Link’s beaming remained, although he had begun to narrow his eyes a bit in amusement. His good mood was making Sidon lose his mind in puzzlement over how he had managed to earn the affection of such a darling, talented, wondrous person like the Hylian. How was this real? How had they managed to be together after such a terrible battle, having recieved such nasty wounds...?
“The healers!” Sidon remembered and then groaned at himself because that meant he would have to leave. He released Link’s hands and retreated from the bed awkwardly, rolling part of the way and shaking out his static-numbed legs once he’d touched down on the wooden floor. “You are quite distracting, my wonderful friend! I’ll be back in a moment.”
He’d not even made it to the door when he heard Link’s drawn out huff, so he turned back to look at him questioningly.
The blonde was propping his jaw up with the back of his hand, elbow stretched out and now laying on his side. He scoffed, “My “friend” Sidon?” with a mocking kind of disappointment, not at all genuine, and his eyes glinting with humor.
Oh. Oh yeah. They were more than friends now. What sort of words did people refer to their lovers with? “My… darling,” Sidon tested. No that sounded awkward. “My sweet.” No. “My sun and moon.” Nope.
His petname testing was very amusing to Link. The Hylian had flopped forward and was giggling into the blankets. Sidon occasionally heard Link’s muffled voice repeating some of his tests like, “my anemone” or “my shimmering sea” into the sheets.
Rather than Sidon remembering his mission, it was a knock on the door that drew them out of their new game. In an instant, Sidon was composed and Link had yanked the covers over his head and was hiding in them.
“Prince Sidon?” a timid voice called, “It’s time for us to check on the hero and see if he’s still recovering smoothly. May we come in?”
Sidon saw Link’s little arm protrude from the blankets and give Sidon a big thumbs up, so the prince smiled and opened the door to allow them inside.
The wound was completely gone. Had he survived it naturally through some miracle, the trident wound would have left the largest scar Link had ever received. Instead the only marks on Link’s chest were from wounds which were completely healed long before that fight with Shy Scales.
This had happened before once. The shrine of resurrection tended to completely erase the killing blow, but not the little scars he had collected throughout his adventures. The majority of his scars were from his life one hundred years ago, so he couldn’t even remember their stories.
He sat very still on the bed listening as the healers explained. Sidon stood tall at the back of the room, watching Link carefully.
It had been the Zora guard force which had saved them. They’d rolled the giant fake sun from the party through the halls and right onto the pool Shy Scales had emerged from, effectively sealing the portal it had come through. But with all the pools everywhere in the domain, it had been deemed unsafe. After having slowed the blood loss of their heroes as much as they could, removing everyone from the vicinity in a great evacuation had been their next biggest priority.
Muzu’s the one who had the idea to to fiddle with the Sheikah slate to see if they couldn’t teleport the hero and prince somewhere with immediate medical attention. But it could only transport Link himself. It only took an hour for the bird they sent alerting Kakariko of their plan to return, saying the healers of Kakariko village were ready and waiting in the shrine of resurrection for him, so they had sent Link alone.
He couldn’t have survived otherwise, apparently. He’d been torn too badly. While he didn’t truly die, the shrine had healed him while the healers kept close watch over him.
Sidon’s recovery was simpler. Zora skin was so much tougher, and that included their internals. Everything that had been damaged was easily fixed, it had just been the bloodloss which was his most major issue. Being the beloved prince, he’d had an overabundance of willing donors.
Link didn’t really know what to say. He knew he lost, but didn’t know what questions to ask for answers. On top of that, he just wasn’t in the mood to speak. Guilt gnawed away at him for failing so greatly and inadvertently causing the entire Zora population to flee their home of thousands of years. What could he say? Sorry? All he wanted to say instead was "how?" even though they'd given him answers. But something about that just didn't feel right.
“I believe he needs time to process,” Sidon told the Sheikah and Zora healers when he registered that defeated look on Link’s face. “It might improve his health faster if he did so privately because that’s when he’s most comfortable.”
The healers exchanged little “uh huh sure” glances and scuttled out of the room with little giggles.
At least… at least they seem to be doing okay here, Link tried to cheer himself up. There had been two Zoras among the healers who had just briefed him about what happened after checking to see if he was still hurt. They looked very grateful toward him and were eager to see him fully recovered, holding no grudge against him for the abandonment of their homes.
He felt Sidon sit beside him on the bed, causing him to sink a little bit to the left and fall right into the Zora’s arm, bumping his own and his head against it limply. The prince yawned. “I know you just woke up but maybe you should try going to sleep again,” Sidon mumbled. "It's the middle of the night, and all."
“Is that because you’re tired?”
The sleepy look on the prince’s face confirmed Link’s suspicion. Though he'd been caught red handed Sidon still smiled, as that was all either of them were really able to do around each other right now, and yawned, "Perhaaaps."
“Then I guess I could go for another nap if you're going to stay. You should sleep right next to me...”
Sidon’s eyes widened a bit and his shark-head-tail wagged as he basked in that thought. "I'd be honored."
Once they were both under the covers and sharing each other’s warmth, Link couldn’t help but forget all the guilt he’d been on a terrible cliffside wavering over. Instead he just felt cherished and warm and very much in love. This was good, and he could easily forget the bad in Sidon’s presence. He fell asleep with his forehead pressed against Sidon’s chest, dwelling on the taste of kissing.