Work Text:
Revali hates Hebra.
There’s at least a certain homeliness to Tabantha. Wildflowers are always scenting the frigid winds there, and there’s usually a little more company than lizalfos and pigeons. Hebra is a wasteland on the best of days, shifting and unpredictable. Revali despises its veneer of snow. It’s too barren to be perfect, too calm to truly be so.
He has to admit that Link by his side makes it easier to bear.
But only a little.
He still can’t ignore the subtle light in Link’s eyes when he sees where the dead grass bleaches into the first thin layers of snow, but it’s hard to keep quiet about it when he wraps a hand around Revali’s wing and starts dragging him past the Hebra border.
Revali barely muffles the squawk into his free hand, digging his talons into the last of the available earth until he loses his grip and stumbles forward with him. Link speeds up if anything the moment his boots sink into the snow. The subtle change in weather from Tabantha to Hebra doesn’t seem to affect him at all.
“Have you lost your mind? I said we’d go to the border of Hebra, not beyond it!” Link turns to him with a wide-eyed stare, face otherwise impassive.
“Your village has a pond right past the bend here,” he says, voice only slightly less blank than his expression. “Can we go see it?”
Revali knows what he’s talking about, but the pond itself is nothing special. In the late summer it occasionally melts into something that would pass as water, but winter has already hit them hard and the ice will be inches thick.
Still, Link is staring at him. The hand holding his squeezes once and Revali sighs.
“If your princess complains when we’re not back soon enough for her, don’t try and pass the blame on me.”
He hides his smile beneath his wing when Link’s face lights up and he continues leading him up the gentle slope.
The pond is exactly as Revali had predicted to himself. Link still doesn’t hesitate when he sees the thick ice covering what little water remains underneath it, stepping carefully off the snowbank and onto the surface of the pond. Revali only flinches a little when he slides forward, but he keeps his balance and turns to face Revali, holding out a hand.
Rito Village is almost out of sight here. For whatever reason, it means his face has relaxed into something just a little more genuine--a slight smile, the tilt of an ear. Revali takes his hand, unsure of what he’s seeking from him, only to gasp when he takes a step back and pulls him towards the frozen pond.
“Rito are not made for walking on ice , Link!”
“Neither are Hylians,” he laughs, still easing Revali onto the ice with an almost practiced sureness, “but growing up in Necluda has some benefits, I guess.”
“You grew up in--ah!”
At about the exact moment Revali’s claws hit the ice, he’s already slipping backwards. He tears his grip on Link away, wings flailing uselessly in an effort to not crack his head on the ice or be plunged into the snow near the pond’s banks, and it’s all he can do to bite down on a startled screech before Link of all people hears it.
Arms wrap abruptly around his waist, and while Revali’s head still jerks violently back he finds himself safe from the snow and complete embarrassment by a scant few inches. He closes his eyes, breath still rattling in his chest. They snap back open when he hears Link’s soft chuckle, but any rebuke dies in his throat when he looks at him.
Link’s face is flushed, with cold or mirth he doesn’t know, or maybe he’s had the decency to be embarrassed in Revali’s place. And he’s looking at him with excitement, not whatever derision he’d imagined in the space between his falling and this. Whatever this is.
Because Revali doesn’t know, and he doesn’t trust himself to make assumptions past what he can see. And he sees Link, hair tousled and face reddened, grinning in a way he never does around the Princess. Link, who looked so pleased when Revali asked him to come with him to Hebra. Who looks so happy to see the snow again. Who looks kind and gentle and smiling at him. Who looks perfect.
(Quietly, he wonders if Link looks at him and sees the same.)
His arms, still wrapped around his waist, soften some as he gently pulls Revali upright, stepping back a little to let him catch his balance on his own.
Revali scoffs when he sees the gentle shade of concern on Link’s face. “I could’ve told you this was a bad idea, you know.” He resists the urge to cover his face as he looks away, keeping both feet on the rough surface of the beach even when Link moves one arm back to take his hand.
“Don’t be like that. Stay close and I won’t let you fall.”
He manages to come very close to objecting, but then Link smiles fully for once and Revali’s talons hit the frozen pond again halfway before he realizes what he’s doing. His claws grate unnaturally against the ice and he almost falls again, accidentally throwing his weight onto Link’s shoulders. He stays blessedly still while Revali leans on him, smiling wordlessly just beneath his beak and only moving once he gets his footing as best he can.
In what must be an attempt at steadying him, he presses a hand firmly to the small of Revali’s back. The touch feels like it’s burning through his feathers.
“Lean forwards and look up,” he says, just barely edging out of the monotone Revali is so used to hearing. There’s a strange sort of laughter buried deep in his voice, and he can’t tell if he wants to ignore it or draw it out. “And put your legs apart a little more. Walk with me like you’re shuffling your feet.”
Revali nods shakily, and when Link sweeps a leg out behind them both with a lot more grace than he’d ought to have, he clumsily mirrors the action. Link nods and smiles, eyes flicking down before he looks back up to Revali. He stares hard at the ice moving slowly but steadily beneath them, either out of the fear of slipping again or the refusal to look back at Link.
They’ve only moved a few yards into the ice of the lake in an embarrassingly long amount of time, silent except for the soft shick of the ice beneath them and Revali’s far too loud breathing. Link is the one to break it first.
“I’m surprised you never thought to try this yourself. You talk so much about shield surfing.”
“What reason do I have to try?” Revali spits, though it comes out far less vitriolic than he wants. “I hate this region.”
Link snorts and brings them to a stop in the center of the lake,
“It’s a beautiful place, Revali.” He just shakes his head in response, grabbing tighter to Link’s arms as his claws skitter against the ice again. Link huffs out a laugh and squeezes his hip in return.
“I’ll concede. You make it beautiful.”
His fingers are frigid to the touch when he pushes them below Revali’s beak, just firm enough to part the thin feathers there. He doesn’t have time to stutter or push back the flush creeping up on him.
“Look up,” Link whispers again. He smiles when Revali does as he asks, forcing his gaze away from the ice beneath their feet and into Link’s eyes.
Oh gods, into his eyes.
Revali desperately wants to look away, to say something harsh or soundly moment-breaking, something that makes Link recoil, that pulls them both out of this , anything .
Link takes a step backwards, a longer one this time, and he follows him as they both begin to move again.
The motion, however unnatural it is to Revali, reminds him of dancing, of the most basic variant of waltz Zelda could be bothered to teach him before she gave up.
Link’s hands eventually ease off his waist entirely, and he backs up to hold Revali’s wings instead. They pull apart a little more, just by a few inches, and the halting crawl they’d been forced under eventually smooths out to a slow glide; stopping every few feet and starting again with a precision that comes naturally after so long in practice. When the first stars have begun to shine through the orange light, Link nods and takes his hands away completely, and he stays upright beside him.
“I suppose that this is to come naturally,” Revali laughs like his voice hasn’t gone quiet as well in the perfect calm of the evening--whenever it got to be evening, anyway. “You’ll notice that I do excel at most things, in the end. A few slip ups in the beginning are trivial.”
Link smiles with him, keeping their movement going as they spiral around the pond.
“I would expect nothing less from Revali.” and like a secret, he adds, “the great Rito Champion.”
Revali chokes on the dry air and his pace stutters. Link stops instantly, staying close. When he tries to move forward his claws slip again, damn them, at quite possibly the worst time they ever could. Revali doesn’t even have time to shout in surprise or dismay before he falls, this time directly on top of Link.
If he’s not expecting it or similarly has no time to react, he doesn’t show. They collapse together in a pile of limbs and feathers, and for once Revali is more concerned about the thud of Link’s body against the hard ice than he is his own impending death by embarrassment. His first movement is to cradle Link’s head, checking underneath it for any damage.
Link is shaking suddenly, and he pulls back in fear only to find him pressing both hands hard to his mouth, eyes sparkling. When he sees Revali’s face again he bursts into laughter, the loudest he’s ever heard from him. Revali quickly becomes aware of his body so close to his own nearly pressed together from their mutual fall. Link is still laughing hard when he lets out an embarrassed groan and tries to pick himself up off of him, something the ice is apparently intent on not allowing.
It doesn’t help when Link throws his arms around Revali and pulls him down. His beak clacks on the ice and he snorts in shock at the sensation, but this other one is so much better he can hardly bring himself to mind.
“It’s late,” Link murmurs once his laughter has died down, staring over his shoulder as if he’s only just noticed the fading light. “We should go back to Rito Village.” His eyes flicker back to Revali’s and his smile turns just a little sharper. “Here, tomorrow? A little earlier?”
Revali still needs a few moments to remember how to function, but he blinks hard and scoffs anyway.
“If your princess keeps you from doing so, little knight, I will be sorely disappointed.” He looks away and nods slowly. “Tomorrow.”
When Link sits up, it only brings their faces closer together. He tilts his fingers underneath Revali’s chin, drawing him back to stare down at him.
“Deal, he says.