Chapter Text
“This place better be worth it,” Zelda mumbled to herself.
“It will be, I promise,” replied Midna with an eagerness about her in her gait. Crap. Midna always managed to hear Zelda’s muttering. “Besides, has this coffee passport failed us yet?” She held up a lightly crumpled booklet with a brown cover. Inside, most of their locations had been marked off with a variety of stamps from their local coffee shops.
Zelda could have supposed that Midna was right, giving her a small smile. The pair had started this sidequest during the summer, traveling across the city to small businesses they normally would have passed by if it wasn’t for the 25% discount for having the passport. But since the school year had started a few weeks ago at Hyrule University, Zelda wasn’t too enthused to go to a coffee shop that required two buses to get to when her backpack weighed heavily on her shoulders and her bun was too tight. Midna had been insistent to finish the passport, however, and Zelda took it as an opportunity to discover a new study spot with her friend.
As they approached Saria’s Coffee House, Zelda thought it was cute. In the middle of the downtown square stood a small shop with a wood-like exterior, likely tile, and large windows that allowed for the sunlight to shine through. Inside, the wood-lined walls were lined with ivy and small, leafy plants perched upon shelves, their color matching the sage chairs accompanied with oak tables. Coffee grounds filled the air with that familiar smell that neither of the girls could resist.
Behind the pastry lined counter, two employees donning black aprons worked. A girl with a bob haircut and dyed green hair focused on steaming milk, while a shorter guy refilled the pastries in their display. The girl noticed their two new customers had walked in, calling out, “We’ll be with you in a sec.” With her hands still occupied, she called over to the other barista with a small nod in their direction, getting a nod in response. “He can help you.”
He wiped his hands on his apron and approached the tablet at the front of the counter. Zelda noticed strands of his blond hair slipping out of his ponytail, framing his face and his expectant smile, waiting for them to order. She quickly looks away to look at their menu.
Midna breaks their silence. “So… I was thinking of a coffee on the way here, but it took a bit to get here so now I don’t know, maybe I should get a hot chocolate? Ooh, or should I get that green tea smoothie?”
The boy didn’t speak a word. Instead, he pulled out a laminated version of their menu and placed it on the counter between them. He tapped his finger repeatedly on their specialty spicy hot chocolate with Goron spice, then held a thumbs up.
“Oh! Sure, I’ll get that! Can I still apply the coffee passport discount on it?” The coffee passport now lay open on the page with the coffee shop listed. He responded with a small nod, then stamped their tree logo on her passport. Midna thanked him and paid for her order as he wrote her order on her cup and placed it to the side before grabbing another cup.
Zelda continued to eye the menu. “Could I get your special lavender latte but with four shots of quick-pulled espresso, two pumps of lavender syrup and light foam?” Her gaze dropped to his blank expression, glanced at his nametag which read “LINK” in scrawled handwriting, and looked back at him. He hadn’t started writing her order. “... did you get all that… Link?”
“Well, excuse me, Princess,” he mumbled under his breath as he wrote her order on the cup.
“Sorry, what was that?”
Link shook his head, finishing the transaction by stamping her pristine coffee passport. She snatched it swiftly, paid for her order, and looked for a table by the large window in the front. With a thud, Midna dropped her bag on the floor next to her as she sat down, waiting for the other to follow.
“I don’t understand why you always have to make such complicated orders,” Midna teased. Zelda rolled her eyes, going on a rant about testing how they could truly test the integrity of their coffees that she was sure Midna wasn’t listening to. She knew they were complicated, but that was how she liked her coffee.
As their orders arrived, the two took a mandatory selfie to post on their social media later. Zelda snatched Midna’s phone to check the photo. She noticed her finger next to what looked like a smudge on her cup, squinting to get a better look. Then glanced down at her cup.
“Princess” was written on the side of her cup. Right next to the instructions for her order.
Zelda was taken aback. “Wha-... What is this?!” She knew that that Link had muttered something to her. She turned her cup towards Midna and pointed at the word their barista had written on it, only to be met with her raucous laughter. Zelda turned red. “Quiet down, it’s not that funny.” But Midna laughed so hard she cried, wiping away the tears from her eyes.
“I mean, you have to admit it’s hilarious. He has the gall to say that to you? Hysterical!” She replied with a sip. That sip brought a calmness to her face, her eyes closing and tense shoulders dropping. “Mmm, now that is tasty. I’d have to rank this in the Top Five, at least.”
Zelda rolled her eyes. It couldn’t be that good. Yet, a sip proved her wrong. It even proved Midna wrong. Her coffee was made perfectly, and it placed as the number one coffee shop in her mind. Her glance went from her cup, now tinted with her lipstick, to Link, who was back to wordlessly putting away pastries as the other barista blabbed to him, back to her cup. A small smile appeared on her face unconsciously.
“Whatever,” Zelda said simply, pulling out her books from her backpack. “Let’s just study.”