Chapter Text
Zelda was decidedly not having a good day. In all fairness, this was (unfortunately) not out of the ordinary. Since turning eight life had seemed to be trying it’s damndest to kick her in the ass as much as possible. Today was particularly taxing. A pretty sad realisation considering it was only three in the afternoon. First her morning alarm had failed to go off, leading to a mad sprint across campus in order to make her only nine am class of the week. A class that of course had gotten cancelled the second she stepped into the lecture hall. Whatever, it was just a stupid class. Besides she had agreed to meet Impa for lunch at twelve anyway so things would definitely look up then right?
Nope. In a delightful display of their university's excellent time management, Impa’s design lab had been rescheduled to twelve. Zelda didn’t hold it against Impa of course. God knows she’d had to cancel just as many hang outs because of her own awful schedule. Still, the fact that it was happening today of all days? Ouch. So instead of lunch with her best friend that she hadn’t seen in over a week, Zelda was instead sitting in the library trying to finish off her most gruelling essay of the semester. Or at least she was until the fire alarm interrupted that as well. Logically she knew that getting mad at a fire drill that was designed to keep her safe was immature. Still, Zelda has never claimed to be perfectly logical.
All of this would be enough to have anyone curling up into a ball in their bed at their earliest convenience. However, the world was not done with Zelda yet. For the second time today she had found herself sprinting across campus. This time it was a mad dash to avoid being late for work for the second time that month. It wasn’t that she was scared of getting chewed out by her manager or anything. Daruk was perhaps the most kind and considerate manager on the planet. It reflected pretty well at his café. A quaint little shop that was always a bustling hive of activity. The warm ambience was one reason for its popularity. Despite his outwardly gruff exterior, Daruk had a pretty soft touch when it came to decorating. The place was basically a jungle for one thing. As opposed to Zelda’s inability to even keep a cactus alive, Daruk was basically a plant whisperer. It was honestly one of her favourite things about the job. On a slow day, Daruk would sometimes give her explanations about the various house plants he kept. It was basically the closest Zelda got to studying science these days. The furniture was also a stand out. An array of couches, arm chairs and tables, both soft and hard, all arranged for various heights. The sporadic nature paired nicely with the wild selection of plants. It was actually Daruk’s grandson who selected and arranged all the furnishings. As mediocre of a server Yunobo was, he did have a knack for ambiance. Maybe it ran in the family. All in all the vintage, homely vibe of the café attracted students like bees to honey. However, the main reason for the shop's success was the employees, (okay well the food too, Daruk was an excellent cook, if a bit unconventional). Daruk was a good manager in all senses of the word. He ran a tight ship, with everything always in order. Products were always stocked on time and the places were rarely understaffed, even if it meant Daruk himself coming in on his days off. He was a pretty hands on type of manager. However, he was also extremely understanding and fair. He was rarely angry at the staff. If there was a problem he would work with you to solve it. Of course, there were always rare instances when he would have to get strict with someone but those were rare for a reason. A good manager equals happy and helpful employees. Zelda strived to remember that when she eventually took over her fathers business.
All that was to say that Zelda wasn’t particularly worried about incurring Daruk’s wrath for being late. He could always sympathise with a lecture running over time. No, instead Zelda feared something far worse; the guilt. That was probably the only bad thing about having a manager like Daruk. Zelda felt guilty for every little thing, even situations outside her control like calling in sick. It was stupid to feel so invested in a part-time job but honestly Zelda couldn’t help it. Impa claimed she stressed herself out too much about trivial things but Zelda begged to disagree. It was never bad to care! Granted right now it was doing her no favours. Still she was an employee and it was her responsibility to arrive at her place of work on time. Which, quite frankly, would only happen if she sped up.
Zelda was almost there, could practically smell the croissants on the horizon, before she heard it. A meow. Not just any meow but a rather distressed one. Zelda found herself at an impasse. On one hand it would be pretty immoral of her to abandon an animal in need. Although she wasn’t much of a cat person, she could hardly leave one in distress. On the other hand, she would definitely be late for work if she stopped now. It was so close too, only another minute or so down the road… Another distressed meow made Zelda’s decision for her. With a huff she turned to survey the area around her in hopes of spotting the mystery cat. Daruk would love it of course. He was pretty much the sweetest person Zelda had ever met in her life. Well, okay maybe her flatmate Mipha could rival him to a degree. Zelda wasn’t very close to Mipha though so for all she knew, the older student could be a secret serial killer or something. Anyway, the point was Daruk would honestly be happy that she chose to be late for work in favour of helping the cat. The cat which Zelda still had yet to spot. Seriously, where could it be? The only things around her were a dilapidated bench and a solitary tree!
…
Look, it had been a long day okay. Turning her gaze skyward, Zelda peered into the branches of the tree in hopes of spotting a hint of fur. Thankfully it was coming into autumn so the tree was pretty devoid of leaves. It was a little sad looking too, tall but with only a few sparse branches. Sad for the tree but great for Zelda, because from one of the very top branches she could spot a kind of chubby and very pissed off ginger cat. Chubby was honestly an understatement. That thing was unnaturally huge. It was a miracle the branch it was currently perched on hadn’t snapped already. So that was one problem sorted. Now for the more problematic one; how the hell to get it down. Unfortunately, Zelda wasn’t accustomed to carrying climbing gear or even a trampoline in her bag. What a fool hardy decision indeed. Tragically it appeared the only thing for it was to scale the tree. Zelda cursed inwardly. She was decidedly not an outdoors woman. If only her weird ass flatmate Link was here. She’d witnessed that man scale walls three times his height when it came to food. It was probably only the fifth scariest thing about the guy. To be honest though, Zelda would rather eat a frog than ask him for anything.
Climbing it was then. Steeling herself, Zelda grasped one of the lower branches as tightly as she could. Testing it a bit, it appeared the branch was actually pretty sturdy despite appearances. Aware of how much time this was wasting Zelda began her ascent. Yeah she was definitely not adding climbing to the resume. After about ten minutes she finally made it halfway and was frankly exhausted. Okay so maybe she should give Link more credit. Beneath his twig-like appearance the man must have been hiding some serious muscles. Seriously, he made it look easy! After a few more minutes of struggling Zelda finally reached a height where she could just about stretch and reach the cat. Therein lay an unforeseen issue. How exactly was she planning to get it down? She’d barely made it up herself, there was no way she was making it down with a cat in her arms. Hylia, what was she thinking? She wasn’t thinking really and that was the problem. Happily wallowing in her own self-pity, Zelda didn’t notice the cat’s curious gaze falling on her. Nor did she notice it begin to shift slightly, testing the closest branches beneath its paws. In fact it wasn’t until the cat unceremoniously pounced on her head as a step stool and skilfully scampered it’s way down the tree that Zelda noticed it at all.
“What the!” Zelda exclaimed, nearly reaching to clutch her head before remembering the precarious situation she was currently in. The cat meowed at her happily from the safety of the ground. Then without even a glance back, it ran off across the street and out of sight.
…okay so that just happened. Under normal circumstances Zelda would have wallowed in self-pity for a while. Sadly now was not the time. She was still very much so late for work. At this point there wasn’t even a reason to rush. She still did of course but still. Climbing down the tree at a much too fast speed to be considered safe, Zelda reached the ground and took off at a sprint. If anything, that stupid cat had made matters worse. There was no way she could use it to explain her absence to Daruk now. What would she even say? Sorry I’m late Daruk, there was this cat stuck in a tree that needed help to get down but once I struggled my way up like an idiot it climbed down itself. Yeah, no way in hell. Not to mention the tree had not only messed up her hair, but also ruffled up her clothes. Well maybe the mad sprint she was currently doing didn’t help matters but still!
The cafe’s uniform was lax. Well, moreso non-existant. Daruk was well aware that his staff was about ninety percent composed of university students. As a result, as long as you didn’t show up in a ball gown or nothing then anything went. Usually that was great when Zelda didn’t look like she’d just battled a tornado. Impa lovely called Zelda’s own style “basic as fuck” so she never had to stress out too much when getting dressed in the morning. A pair of jeans and a plain t-shirt was all she needed. When she was feeling really adventurous then the t-shirt might be replaced by a blouse. Sadly that adventurous spirit was sighted less and less these days. Anyway, they all wore aprons so most identifiable clothing was out of view. At least most of her dishevelled appearance could be hidden from sight. Daruk was similarly lenient about bringing the apron home but the last two times Zelda did that she’d forgotten it for work the next day. She’d had to borrow someone else's on both occasions. Being pretty diminutive in stature, that had not exactly worked out well on either occasion. As of then, Zelda’s apron had been dutifully placed on the hook of her locker after every shift, a fact she was extremely grateful for now.
All but flying through the back entrance, Zelda grabbed the apron off her hook before zooming towards her locker. Unluckily Yunobo happened to be standing right near the entrance and jumped out of his skin when Zelda passed. Seriously, you would think such a big guy like him would have a little more back bone. Apparently all the bravery jeans had stayed with Yunobo. As annoying as his nervous disposition was, Zelda would have to remember to apologise later. After all, at least he wasn\t late for work. Throwing her bag into her locker, Zelda donned the apron, attempted in vain to settle her hair before finally putting on her best customer service smile and making her way towards the front.
Of course it had ended up being a slow day. Zelda should have predicted as much. Purrah was having a great time of course. She adored slow days because it gave her time to work on her “theories” as she called them. Frankly Zelda thought she was one step away from institutionalisation but to each their own. She couldn’t fault her for lack of creativity. At least Purrah got to actually study science. What Zelda wouldn’t give to be in her position. Currently Purrah was regalling her about some robots. Robbie had named it something like Terrance or Toronto. Whatever the name, it seemed to involve a lot of exploding which was concerning to say the least. It was impressive how explosive programming could become when Purrah was involved. Usually Zelda genuinely found herself engaged by Purrah’s mad ramblings. If any of her ideas ever worked they would certainly be revolutionary. Today was not one of those days. The mess of a morning had left her in sour humour and unfortunately Purrah was only making her mood darken by the second. It’s not that the experiment was boring, quite the opposite. Purrah talked with such genuine enthusiasm and joy. Zelda could only dream of emulating that kind of passion. She wasn’t jealous or anything. It just made her life seem all the more dull.
Thank the goddess, someone chose that exact moment to walk in the door. Zelda was excited enough by the prospect of smoothly ejecting herself from the conversation and that excitement multiplied tenfold when she saw who the new customer was.
“Impa!” she couldn’t help but explain, pretty loudly too. Luckily the cafe was basically empty. Zelda still felt her face flush regardless. Impa, being the amazing person she was, laughed at her friend’s embarrassment.
“It’s nice to see that I’m so welcomed.” Impa said, still looking far too smug in Zelda’s opinion.
“You just saved me from Purrah, that’s all.” Zelda firmly refused to give Impa the satisfaction of being right after that display. Of course, she knew it was true anyway but it was the effort that counted. Impa scrunched up her nose in disgust. That was a pretty valid reaction to be fair. Zelda only had to deal with Purrah’s colourful personality at work. Impa had been dealing with it for about twenty years.
“What are you doing here anyway?” Zelda asked, eager to change the subject. While she was genuinely happy to see her, Impa usually had classes until six on Thursdays. Which was the main reason they even had a scheduled lunch…
“My lab group finished up our work yesterday so we left early after handing the assignment in. the perks of actually having competent group mates for once. Thought I’d come by and visit my favourite girl.” Impa answered. The smile she was now sporting was blinding. Zelda felt her cheeks heat up. Again. Elated as she was though, there was yet another problem.
“It’s great to see you Imps but I already went on my break today. I don’t want you wasting your time sitting around here for nothing,” Zelda lamented. Seriously, could today get any worse?
Impa was quick to wave her concerns away. “Don’t stress so much. I knew you were working when I decided to come here. I’m just going to say hi, then get some work done in the corner. You won’t even know I’m there!” Impa emphasised this statement with a finger to her lips.
Before Zelda could continue her stressful protests anyway, Daruk, who had apparently been eavesdropping, interrupted; “Don’t worry about it kid, take an extra ten. The place is dead anyway, I’m sure Purrah and I can hold down the fort ourselves”. Purrah saluted her ascent.
Seriously, Zelda did not deserve these people. Taking the initiative, Impa started walking towards her usual corner table. Zelda hastily rounded the counter and followed.
“I saw a cat on my way in.” Impa stated when Zelda had taken her seat. “A scruffy looking, ginger guy. You should have seen him, he was massive. Like, I swear if we weren’t in the middle of town I would have mistaken it for a lynel!”.
Zelda laughed before remembering her own pleasant encounter with a cat earlier. A cat that was eerily similar to the one Impa just described. She voiced this revelation aloud.
“Maybe he’s following you.” Impa mused, wiggling her figures for added effect.
Zelda just shook her head in dismissal. “No way. I can’t possibly be that unlucky.”
Eight o’clock could not come fast enough. Impa’s visit had been great, of course, but today had been especially draining. On her days off, Zelda loved the fact that Daruk’s stayed open later than most other cafes. It was yet another way that the man in question paid homage to his student patrons. During her shifts though, the late closing was a nightmare. Realistically she shouldn’t complain. A lot of other students were stuck working in fast food well into the early hours of the morning. Her housemate, Link, was one of them. Or at least she thinks he is. That guy went through jobs like he did food. The point was Zelda had it pretty nice with her current job. Still internal monologues were an acceptable form of complaining, right? Her father would probably disagree. Ugh, no no no! No thinking like that. What was it that Urbossa was always saying? Something about mental fortitude being the precursor to emotional stability. That definitely wasn’t correct but whatever. The point was, the day was almost over and there was no point whining about it now.
Daruk, the angel that he was, decided it was dead enough to close up shop fifteen minutes early. Purrah and Yunobo had gone home an hour ago so it was just the two of them closing up. Honestly, Zelda relished these moments. Outside of Impa, she didn’t really have many friends on campus. There was Purrah but they only really saw each other at work. She spent most of her free time locked up in the lab with her partner Robbie. Her course mates were nice enough. For some reason though, she’d never really clicked with any of them. Zelda knew how to be civil, she knew how to hold small talk and she knew all the social cues. Breaking past that initial acquaintanceship was the real issue. Honestly, if Impa’s family hadn’t been business partners with her father then Zelda doubted the two would be friends now. As for her housemates… Mipha was nice enough from the little Zelda had seen of her. Being a third year medical student, she wasn’t exactly around much. As for the other two, perhaps the less said about them the better. Revali was perhaps even more closed off than Zelda herself. Not to mention he was, in Impa’s words, “the biggest asshole to grace Hylia’s holy lands”. Although not the exact words Zelda would have used, Impa wasn’t too far off. At least he was out of the house a lot. Something to do with a sports club maybe? To be honest Zelda wasn’t even completely sure what course the man was in so she could be completely wrong about that. Impa was the athletic one, not Zelda. Her final housemate Link… he was fine in theory . He’d never really done anything to Zelda personally. He was nice enough, always smiling when they crossed each other in the kitchen. Plus he was pretty close with Mipha and she was a sweetheart so surely that must mean something… Oh who was she kidding, Zelda hated him. There was just something about him that got under her skin the way no one else ever did. He never took anything seriously. It was a miracle he even made it to second year with the amount of lectures he was late to. Honestly, Zelda wouldn’t be surprised if he actually skipped more lecturers than he attended. He also had the annoying tendency of leaving every assignment to the last minute. Zelda knew that from the amount of times she walked into the kitchen at midnight for a late night snack only to be greeted with the clicking of Link’s keyboard. Not to mention he did most of that work in complete darkness which was frankly just weird. All that would be fine on its own. The real thing that grated her was that despite it all, Link was doing just fine. From what Zelda could tell he was top of his course. Probably one of those natural talent bullshit types of guys. People like that, who never had to work for anything, that were just naturally good at whatever they tried, could never understand the struggle of working your ass off for even the smallest bit of recognition. Not to mention how ungrateful he was for having the opportunity to cruise through life doing what he loved. Without realising it Zelda had assumed a death grip on the poor mop she was supposed to be using to clean the floors.
“Wow there Zelda, you’re close to snapping the poor mop in two!” Daruk interrupted her spiral. “Why don’t we get out of here. You must be pretty swamped with assignments right now.”
Zelda released a calming breath. She smiled at Daruk before agreeing. “That sounds like a great idea.”
Grabbing her bag from her locker, Zelda followed Daruk out the front door. It was a lot darker than expected outside. Perhaps that was to be expected, it being autumn and all. Still it was a calming atmosphere nonetheless. Zelda stood awkwardly, waiting for Daruk to finish locking up. Technically she could just leave but that felt rude. Besides, her father had always taught her to be mindful of her superiors. You could only get places in life by making friends in high places after all. Granted her father probably wouldn’t have included Daruk among that group… Either way, Daruk himself never questioned her nonsensical standing around so she continued to do it whenever the two closed shop together. Daruk was just turning around, no doubt to say his farewells, when a cry pierced through the night. Zelda was ninety-nine percent sure it must have been the call of a rogue keese before Daruk broke into an ear splitting grin, pointing behind her an exclaiming “Wow look at that big guy! I’ve never seen such an impressive looking cat.”
Already dreading what she would find, Zelda turned to be met with the incredulous sight of the monstrous cat from earlier. Impa had apparently been right, it had been wandering around the cafe. What it could possibly be doing here, she had no idea. Perhaps it was hoping to scrounge up some scraps from the bins. Whatever the case, Daruk seemed delighted.
“What are you doing out here little guy?” he asked, approaching the cat as gently as a six foot two man could manage. Apparently it wasn’t gentle enough as the cat let out an angry hiss. With another angry look in Daruk’s direction, it scampered behind Zelda, as if she could afford some protection.
Daruk scratched his head in thought. “He’s pretty scruffy looking and I don’t see no collar. Must be a stray.”
Zelda was inclined to agree. There was no way this demon could be tamed by mere mortals.
“We can’t just leave the little guy all alone out here. I can take him home for now then visit a vet in the morning.” Daruk decided. Once again he made an attempt to approach the cat currently taking refuge behind Zelda but to no avail. It somehow managed to produce a noise even more distressing than earlier, before taking a swipe at the man.
“Oh no, are you okay?!” Zelda exclaimed hurriedly.
Daruk laughed merrily. “Don’t worry about me little lady, a scratch isn’t enough to take down the mighty Daruk! Still he’s a feisty little guy. It’s clear he doesn’t want anything to do with me and I ain’t going to push him.”
Zelda exhaled in relief. Daruk had a point though, the cat certainly wasn’t going anywhere without a fight. Still they couldn’t just leave him there. As much of an annoyance the creature had been today, Zelda was not the type of person to leave an animal in distress. If it was docile enough to hang around the cafe all day and even to approach them this late at night then surely that must mean he needed help, right? The question was, how? It certainly had not taken a shine to Daruk, as willing as he was to help. If only Purrah or Yunobo were still here, maybe they would have had more luck. Being this late, there wasn’t really anyone else they could call to help. For some odd reason, Zelda was beginning to feel a mounting dread in the pit of her stomach…
“Yep the little guy doesn’t seem happy to go with me,” Daruk began. “You on the other hand…”
Oh no. oh absolutely not. Zelda could see where this was going and the answer was unequivocally no. Zelda had no clue how to look after another living creature! Sure the cat seemed weirdly attached to her but that wasn’t her problem. Besides, it's not like she lived alone. She had three other housemates, none of which have ever consented to owning a cat. Were pets even allowed in the lease? Not to mention how busy everyone was right now. Assessment period was swiftly approaching so it would be impossible to take on such a big responsibility. No matter how expectantly Daruk was looking at her and no matter how cute the cat looked rubbing against her leg, there was no way in hell Zelda was taking a random stray off the street to live in her crummy four bedroom flat at the height of the semester.
“Absolutely not.”
Okay so yeah, Zelda took the cat home. Could anyone really blame her? Daruk had looked at her with such hope in his eyes, she couldn’t say no. Perhaps she should have taken her flatmates more into consideration. Really she should have seen this coming. If anyone was going to have a problem with a cat it would be Revali. Mipha was definitely the most agreeable of the group. Not to mention her kindness would never allow her to turn away an animal in need. At least, that’s what Zelda had been banking on. Thankfully that gamble had won out. Likewise, Link never posed a problem. For all his many, many faults, the guy loved animals. Predictably the second Zelda had walked through the door Link had swooped in to commandeer the cat. She only took mild satisfaction in the fact that the abominable creature seemed even more put off by Link’s attention than Daruk’s. Already the man was sporting at least ten scratches on his face and arms. Not that it deterred him of course. Revali was definitely the game changer here. Outside of being just generally… disagreeable, he also apparently held some genuine vitriol for the furry creature. Zelda hadn’t seen such a sour look on his face since Link had forgotten to take off his hiking boots and tracked mud all throughout the kitchen. To be fair, Zelda had only been marginally less annoyed at the time. Still though, the hate Revali was currently emanating was impressive even by his standards.
“I already checked and our lease allows for pets.” Zelda rushed out hurriedly. She actually had looked up the contract on her way home. Better to be safe than sorry. “Not to mention outside of food, a toilet and attention, cats really don’t require much care.”
Why Zelda was all but begging Revali to allow the cat to stay she wasn’t too sure. She was, admittedly, talking a little out of her ass. Cat care was not exactly her forté. Despite wanting pets as a child, her father had always been against it, citing them as a frivolous distraction from her studies. Maybe that was where the keenness to keep the cat came from. Hylia knows the two had not been getting along so far. To be fair, Mipha and Link would probably know a thing or two about cat health so really it wasn’t that much of a lie. Apparently she was at least convincing enough to give Revali pause. The fight wasn’t over yet though.
“That may be but I for one am not fond of cat hair all over my possessions. Not to mention I appreciate my personal space and as far as I’m aware cats do not quite comprehend the necessity of privacy.”
“We’ll make sure to keep it away from your room of course.”
Mipha quickly added her support. “Yes, we all understand how particular you are about your space.”
Link very sagely decided to remain silent. Zelda wasn’t quite sure where the animosity between the two stemmed from but she did know that anything he said would only serve to sour Revali to the idea even further. Despite this, Revali’s face showed that he was still unconvinced. Zelda was a little crestfallen. They couldn’t very well force Revali to agree. It was his home too after all. If he was firmly against the idea then that was that. It looked like the cat would have to go.
That’s when Mipha chimed in; “You’re not allergic or anything are you? Oh or maybe you have a phobia of cats? My little brother used to be absolutely terrified of them when he was a child. I remember once when he was five he jumped into the river to avoid a kitten, clothes and all!”
Mipha, for her part, chuckled at the memory. Revali on the other hand scoffed incredulously. The affronted look on his face was pretty comical, all things considered. The comparison was apparently appalling enough to leave the man speechless. Zelda was frankly a little impressed. Getting Revali to shut up was no easy feat.
After what seemed like an age, Revali recovered enough to actually respond, “Me, a phobia of cats? What an asinine idea! That is not at all why I have qualms with the creature staying here.”
Once again, Mipha quickly interjected. “It’s okay Revali, we all understand. No need to pretend with that tough guy act. We’re all perfectly willing to find the cat a new home if it’s for your benefit. It would be unfair to make you afraid to enter your own home.”
“I am not afraid of cats! I have no problem with that stupid feline living in this house at all!”
“Oh so he can stay then? How wonderful, thank you Revali!”
Revali was (again) stunned into silence. In all fairness, Zelda herself wasn’t doing much better. What on earth was all that? Anyone else would have immediately taken back the statement and cleared this whole mess up. Revali was not anyone else. Looking profoundly pissed off, he merely rolled his eyes. Link lightly sniggered to himself. Unfortunately he was not quite enough to evade Revali’s ears which immediately sent him into a one sided argument. Mipha, meanwhile, was beaming. In fact, Zelda swore she detected the slightest hint of smugness in the expression. Leaning in close enough so the boys wouldn’t overhear, Zelda whispered “You did that on purpose didn’t you.”
Mipha merely gave her a wink in response. Well damn. Perhaps Zelda was right earlier in her assumption that Mipha could perhaps be a little more nefarious than her outer persona let on. Whatever the case it was an impressive victory. Really Zelda was quite grateful. She was all but resigned to turn the cat away and now it looked like she wouldn’t have to. So now it looked like she had a new pet to look after… Greattt.