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Ok, yeah, she was attractive. Sexy even. Anyone with even barely functioning eyes could see that! She had thick thighs that, especially when she crossed her legs, looked quite frankly sinful. Tiny hands that, yeah, he had fantasised about (they could probably make anything look huge). And what kind of self respecting hentai connoisseur wouldn’t drool at the very thought of her huge boobs!
From her lips to her eyes, to the way her hair looked blue in some lights, and purple in others. Obviously she was cute. The way she smiled, the sound of her laugh, even the strange way she sometimes spoke were all incredibly indisputable facts that Zelda was amazing and– NO! He absolutely did not have a crush on her!
Besides, she was obviously a total normie. She hung out with normal people, and had normal conversations, and did normal things (the persistent rumour about her tracking down every available text and tome on goetian magic notwithstanding).
There was zero chance someone like her would ever consider being with- hanging out with someone like him. Zero. Nope. Not a chance.
—--
“Wait- say that again?”
“Zelda was lamenting yesterday about how much she misses video games. So, I invited her over here to play some!” Ortho chirped, obviously grinning under his mask like the devious little rogue he is, “Did you know that some of her favourite games from her world also exist here? The look on her face when she heard was pretty funny, actually.”
“Yeah, that’s what I thought you said…” Idia mumbled, rubbing his hands on his face, trying to process his racing thoughts, “Wait, do you speak to her? Like, regularly?” His head bolted up.
“Oh, that’s right, I never told you about how we ran into each other. Well…”
....
So, it turns out that, not only was Ortho surprisingly close with Zelda, but he had also invited her for games that afternoon. Meaning Idia only had about an hour to come to terms with all this new information, and prepare to be in the same room as his definitely not crush.
Regardless, the only reason a pro gamer like him would be anxious would be that she was probably a total noob, and he’d have to go easy on her or she’d get annoyed and declare that she never ever wants to be in the same area code as him again… Right?
Wait! Guest! He should probably clean and– Oh. Ortho already did that while he was… not panicking.
*knock knock knock*
ASkjhsdjdflkhsgfhsk– Calm!
Ortho answers the door like a total pro, “Hey, Zelda! Glad you could make it! Anyway, something’s come up and I’ll have to bail, but you and Idia can totally still go ahead without me.” Something hadn’t come up. You traitor.
“Oh… that’s such a shame, are you sure Idia doesn’t mind?” She looks up, hopeful, eyes flicking between Idia, who was nervously fidgeting in his chair, and Ortho, who was looking way too cheerful.
“Yup! Have fun!” Ortho, with lightning speed, pulls her into the room, flies out past her and closes the door behind him. If Idia wasn’t already sitting in his chair, his legs absolutely would have given out at that. Definitely traitor.
“Uhh… Well… Are you sure you don’t mind me being here? I would love to play, but if you’re not up for it…” Zelda asks softly, looking at Idia a little nervous, a lot hopeful, and also very seemingly aware that Ortho is an absolute hellion.
“U-uh, yeah, s-sure. I don’t… mind… W-w-what w-would you like to play?” Eurgh, so cringe. Can’t even form a single sentence without losing it.
“Well…” She walks further into the room, bouncing slightly on the balls of her feet as her head tilts to the side, “What titles have you got? I know Ortho said Mario Kart was a thing here, but I don’t want to assume…”
“Y-yeah, I’ve got Mario Kart.” She smiles widely at that, and claps her hands together, bouncing on the spot even more. “Ok, I’ll load it up, then. How about Vs mode?” Idia quickly looks away and suppresses a tiny smile/blush at her antics, pulling out two controllers and dragging a spare chair over with his foot.
He tries to avoid thinking about how bouncy she is as he loads up the game.
“Do you mind if we do a warm up round? It’s been a while since I last played, and I don’t know how strong my muscle memory is.” Zelda asks as she sits next to him, crossing her legs and taking the offered controller.
“Uh, yeah, we can do that…” Don’t look, don’t look, “What track?” Asking for a warm up round, though. Maybe she’s less of a noob than earlier thought.
“Hmmm… How about Rainbow Road? The space station one? It’s one of my favourites to practice on!”
….
Beg the fuck what?
Idia watches as she picks her character and kart, or rather, bike; Pink Gold Peach, Comet, Azure Rollers, Flower Glider.
The way she immediately went for those options, that she knew how to check the stats, on top of her relaxed demeanour made him wonder if maybe she was actually… Nah… She was probably average.
“I’ll let you warm up on your own first. Just-just so I– you don’t… I mean– I played it like two days ago, so….”
“Thank you. I’ll just do one lap, then we can get started, yeah.” Zelda giggles lightly.
Her smile is so warm and gentle, he can’t help but watch her as she does a warm up lap. He notices the way she seems to shift when she’s focused, how she occasionally bites her lip and her eyebrows furrow as she decides between routes, and the way she smiles when she nails a particularly tight turn.
He notices her lips are painted a dark blue, today. Then…
“Ok! Ready to do Vs?”
“Ah, yeah!”
—--
Idia stares at the results screen, currently showing the placements of the race, and his silver cup. Zelda had not only beaten him, she had absolutely kicked his ass.
She was good. He thought choosing a lighter build with more speed would help, but nope, she was like an impenetrable wall of defense.
Nothing surprised her. SHE GOT HIM WITH A BLUE SHELL. WHILE SHE WAS STILL IN FIRST. She fucking slowed down so it hit both of them. She even took a sudden 90º turn shortcut, after landing a speed boost jump!
She was amazing and Idia was conflicted. He turned to look at her, still in shock… huh? Zelda was slightly fidgeting in her seat, looking down at her lap.
“Hey, uh, I don’t know how to say this, so I’ll just say it.” She looked up at him directly, mouth set in a determined line, eyebrows slightly furrowed, “I had a lot of fun playing with you, and I’d really like to play more!
But, I have also lost a lot of gaming friends after playing Mario Kart. I end up winning, and they never want to play against me again. But this was really fun! You were so much fun to play against!”
Huh… not where he thought that was going, “Oh, don’t you worry. If you think I’m going to let this score stand, you don’t know gamer pride! I have an image to maintain, and that includes being number one at Mario Kart. So you’d better practice, because I will destroy you next time!”
….
Too far?
Zelda starts laughing, slouching back and running a hand through her hair. “Fuck yeah! That’s what I like to hear!” She winks at him and leans forward again, grinning back at him all the while, “Though I don’t know about practicing, I don’t exactly have my own games setup. Not yet, anyway.”
Of course she doesn’t, she came here from another world. Idiot. You should definitely get on fixing that. But… her response was good, she’s not turned off by competitive natures, and she winked at him! So, maybe…
“Oh my god! Is that Purim?!” His head snaps up at that, quickly turning to look at the special commissioned, soft-core, buxom blonde, anime girl figurine on his shelf.
Oh no, she’s spotted his weird gamer stuff, she’s probably-… Purim?
“You know Purim?” He turns back to her, and she’s still smiling.
“Hell yeah I do! Secret of Mana was my first ever game! I played it so many times I probably don’t even need an overworld map. Oh my god, do you have it? Can we play it?”
In her excitement, she quickly stands up and bounces closer to Idia, placing her hands on his chair’s armrests. Her face is so close he can see the glitter flecks in her makeup, and he can smell something distinctly chocolate on her.
Between this and her excitement over a game that’s pretty niche in this world, Idia’s heart pounds a little harder for just a moment. Just long enough for Idia to realise.
This is the exact moment Idia knew he had it bad for Zelda.