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"You're not."
"What?" Midna met Link's eyes from her spot hiding in his shadow. They'd just entered the west wing of the Palace of Twilight.
"A hideous little imp," he told her. "You're not."
She rose, still in her shady, translucent shape, to face him. "Yes, I am!" she snapped. "This form is absolutely appalling!"
He reached down to cup one of her hands in both of his, and before she knew it, she'd unconsciously solidified into her physical form. His warm palms covered hers gently, so gently.
He was always so kind and gentle with her.
"You're not," he repeated, again. He gazed into her eyes, his own bright blue ones hard in resolve, as if his opinion was the correct one. "And you shouldn't say things like that about yourself."
She glared at him. "How can you say that?" she asked him, her lips tugging down in a frown. She looked away from his impassioned expression.
"Midna, look at me." He took one of his hands and gently tilted her chin back up. She let him. His face had already softened. "I can say that because it's true," he said firmly.
"How?"
"Your eyes," he blurted. "Your smile." He reached around her Fused Shadow helm and ran his fingers through her long, red-orange ponytail. "And... your hair."
"What about them?"
"They're beautiful."
"And?! They have nothing to do with - with the rest of me!"
"Well," he started. "There's also... Um." Pink bloomed across his cheeks.
"What?!" she demanded. "Spit it out!"
"You're kind of, uh... a short stack." He looked away from her, face growing redder by the second. He pulled both of his hands behind her back, rocking from foot to foot in that way that he did when he was bored or nervous.
"A... short stack?" she said, anger and frustration quickly draining away to surprise.
"Yeah," he said, meeting her eyes almost shyly, face still flaming red. "It's like... you have, um, curves. And your, uh, your butt is...." He trailed off awkwardly looking away again.
"Link," she started, mouth stretching into a tremulous grin. "Are you saying you actually find me attractive? Like this?"
He nodded.
Her heart was pounding into her eardrums. She found a blush was rising in her own cheeks.
She turned away, looking up at the dull gray ceiling, listening to the keese chime and babas breathe on the other side of the room. She crossed her arms.
"Well," she said, grin growing more devilish and fang poking out. "Enjoy it while it lasts. I'll be taller than you soon enough."
"What? Say something!"
She wasn't kidding. Midna was more than a full head taller than him. Link's eyes were nearly level with her, well... He looked up to meet her gaze.
"Am I so beautiful you've no words left?" she teased, smirking down at him. Her ruby red eyes were sparkling with delight. She looked gorgeous haloed in the light of dusk. (Well, she was the Twilight Princess, after all.) She was even more... curvaceous than before. And the way part of her bare leg was visible through the long slit in her skirt...
Her brilliant sunset-orange hair was also still striking.
She was completely breathtaking. In every way possible.
(Well, she'd always been breathtaking. And he still couldn't believe she was actually taller than him.)
"I mean, uh..." He snapped his jaw shut. Link could feel the heat rising in his cheeks. "Yeah...?"
She laughed. "And here I thought you were into short girls!"
"Well," he began. He looked up and matched her smirk with a small smile of his own. He'd actually never thought he'd be into girls taller than him, but... "Maybe I'm just into Midna," No matter what she looked like.
Midna laughed again, louder this time. She reached up and ruffled his short blond hair, before lowering her hand and pressing it against his back to gently nudge him forward. "Come on, little wolf. Let's go back to Zelda. I cannot believe you left her alone with Ganondorf's dead body."