Welcome to Joyful June: a fanworks event where the goal is to let our favourite characters be happy!
The prompt calendar above is designed for maximum flexibility: if you can’t do something for every single day in a week, you can still do one thing based around that week’s theme!
(Or you can just do as much as you can anyway, whatever, the point is also for us to have some fun, but the completionism urge is strong)
Tag #JoyfulJune and #JoyfulJune26!
AO3 collection: joyfuljune26
What sorts of works?
Fanart, fanfic, music, anything that you would normally consider fanwork.
What fandoms are allowed?
This event originated on the Linked Universe discord, but any fandom is welcome! Be sure to tag the fandom clearly and if you’re creating for something in a nested fandom make sure you tag the right one (Linked Universe rather than Legend of Zelda; Rings of Power rather than Lord of the Rings, etc.).
Will you be reblogging work?
I’ll be following the tag and will do some reblogging, but I am but one person and can’t guarantee I’ll get everything, especially if a lot of people take part.
Do I have to do/post work on the day listed in the calendar?
Nope!
Is NSFW allowed?
Sure, but please tag it #NSFW and note that it won’t get reblogged here (I’m keeping this blog PG).
A one-shot for Joyful June Week 2 (Comfort). Written for a sprint on @linked-universe-discord.
First finds more than one kind of comfort.
[AO3]
---
Link jerks awake and for a moment he's disoriented. His weight is balanced wrong. The wall at his back feels… different.
It takes a moment for him to realise that he's lying down. He's no longer standing chained against a wall, weight resting on shackles around his wrists and the stone at his back.
He's lying down. On a soft bedroll, a blanket laid over him.
He gasps, tasting the soft night air, and finds there are tears wet on his cheeks and trickling into his ears.
"First?" says a quiet young voice.
He opens his eyes with another gasp. Wind was evidently on guard and now he's kneeling beside Link's bedroll, just outside arm's reach.
"Are you all right? Was it a nightmare?"
Link winces internally with a stab of shame. The boy shouldn't be comforting him; he should be the one offering that, though he's never been good with children.
Wind settles back on his heels. "You don't have to tell me," he says. "But perhaps I can help a bit." He smiles faintly. "Between you and me, you're not the first one I've talked to when they've had a nightmare."
Link sighs again, his eyes travelling to the sky in front of him, filled with a thousand stars. Open. Free.
"It… was no nightmare, young one," he says quietly. "Not that woke me. I… do not think these are tears of sadness."
Wind tilts his head curiously.
"Will you look at the sky with me?"
"Well… I'm supposed to be on watch, but sure, I can watch from there for a bit." Without further ado, Wind lies down beside him. Link raises his arm, moving willingly to accommodate the warm body pressing against his side, rather than having it forced into position and held with a chain.
"Thank you," he says. "I'm… sure I will sleep again before long."
Wind nods. "I guess the stars are different in this era? Sky said they'd changed compared to his, and you're even older."
Link nods sadly.
"Well, I can see some constellations I recognise. Shall I tell you their stories?"
Link tilts his head to look at him, surprised. "I… would like that very much. Thank you."
Wind nods briskly and starts to speak, tracing shapes in the sky with a finger. Link doesn't really listen, letting the boy's voice wash over him, feeling the soft support under his back and the friendly, warm weight against his side, tasting the free air, gazing at the open sky.
And if more tears of relief and delight run from his eyes, neither of them comment.
A one-shot for Joyful June Week 3 (Adventure). Written for a sprint on @linked-universe-discord.
First tries to apologise and Legend is having none of it.
[AO3]
—
"I feel I should apologise," said First, breaking the silence.
Legend looked at him. "For what?"
"All that you have suffered. You most of all; it seems you have been forced to undergo a great deal."
Legend laughed ruefully, fingertips tracing over the rings on his fingers. "Well, a lot of it's been rough, that's true. There's a lot I wouldn't have chosen if I'd known in advance. But that doesn't mean you have to apologise."
First frowned at him, clearly confused.
Legend sighed, running a hand through his hair. "Well, for a start, it's not your fault. You didn't ask for any of this any more than the rest of us. But anyway... it wasn't all bad." He grinned. "I made a lot of my best friends on my adventures. Had some of the most fun I've ever had. There's a lot I wouldn't have chosen if I'd known in advance, like I said, but I'd have missed out on a lot. Life on the road has plenty of benefits."
First didn't look like he quite believed it, but he smiled back tentatively.
"You need to lighten up," scoffed Legend, jumping up. "Come on, let's go find Hyrule and Wild and go scouting." He reached out a hand, his smile broadening, and after a moment First took it.
A one-shot for Joyful June Day 11 (Lullaby). Written for a sprint on @linked-universe-discord.
Time tries to create a lullaby.
[AO3]
---
Time - just Link again now, but he would always be Time, especially right now - hardly dared to breathe as he looked down at the tiny bundle in the crook of his arm. His free hand was tangled in Malon's as she slept in the bed beside him, exhausted.
It had been a long couple of days for him since she'd felt the first pangs and had caught his eye. He couldn't imagine how long it had been for her.
The baby - their baby, their little one, their future, the proof of the promise that had been made when he introduced Malon to Twilight - stirred slightly, tiny nose wrinkling. He hushed her, looking sidelong at Malon. She also fidgeted in her sleep, as if she could feel that their daughter might be waking.
Time hushed them both, wanting to let Malon sleep a little longer. Soon the baby would need more milk, but if she wasn't quite hungry yet he wanted Malon to get her rest.
The baby stirred again with a soft whimper.
Time glanced sidelong at Malon again, then started to hum softly, rocking the baby a little. He had never really been musical. He could play tunes he had learned by heart, but not create anything new of his own.
But here was something new. Something far more magical than any string of notes from an ocarina. And she deserved her own song. Zelda had a lullaby of her own, and Time was going to give one to his daughter. So he hummed, putting together strings of notes in any old order, trying to find something that sounded just right. Tunes he'd learned on his adventures. Tunes he'd learned from merchants and farmhands and people he met at the market in Castletown.
Tunes he'd learned from his boys.
Nothing really fitted. But the baby in his arm and the woman lying by his side both quietened as he fumbled his way through the years represented by the songs he carried with him.
He never did find a single lullaby, but what he offered seemed to be good enough. And that was good enough for him.
A one-shot for Joyful June Day 30 ((Found) Family). Written for a sprint on @linked-universe-discord.
Wild can't remember his parents, but that doesn't mean he doesn't have a family.
[AO3]
---
Hyrule sat down hard next to Wild, letting out a little huff of breath and looking out over the moonlit land beyond.
“Something wrong?” he asked. While Wild liked wandering alone as much as Hyrule did, it wasn’t normal for him to sit alone like this.
Wild sighed heavily. “It’s nothing, really,” he said. “Just… just thinking.”
Hyrule leaned back on his hands, swinging his legs over the edge of the little cliff on which they sat, letting the stillness of the night settle softly around them. Letting Wild choose whether or not to continue.
At last, the Champion sighed again. “It’s… a lot. A lot of things. I don’t really know… I don’t know what it was.”
“A memory?” guessed Hyrule.
“No. That… might have been easier. It was… I suppose…” Wild tilted his head back, closing his eyes. “No, I don’t know what it was. Something just… it felt like there was a memory there, but it never came. So all I had was… a gap.” He ran his hands through his hair.
Hyrule nodded.
“You know… I had a family once,” said Wild bitterly. “And I don’t remember them. Nothing about them. And every now and then something will… there’ll be something, but it never goes anywhere. And I know it’s there, but…” He shook his head.
Hyrule thought he could guess what had triggered this, even if Wild wasn’t aware of it. He’d also noticed a flash of homesickness in Four’s eyes when Time threw an arm around Twilight’s shoulders for a moment.
Wild ran his hands through his hair again. “And they’re dead, anyway,” he said bitterly. “And since the one thing I do know is that my father was a knight - an officer, it sounds like - he, at least, is probably dead because of me.”
“Hey,” said Hyrule firmly. “You know that isn’t true.”
“Yes, it is. Whose fault could it be?”
“Ganon’s.”
Wild scoffed at that, drumming his heels a couple of times against the cliff.
“Look, I don’t know if this helps, but I’ve got some idea of what you mean,” said Hyrule.
There was a moment’s pause, then Wild half turned to look at him.
“I don’t remember my family either. I was pretty young when they died.” Hyrule shrugged slightly. The thought had no power to hurt him any more. “People looked after me as best they could, stopped me wandering into any rivers and gave me places to sleep and what food they could spare, but I didn’t have a family. Not really. So I found one for myself.”
Wild looked away again.
“I’ve got Impa now. And the Zeldas. And a few others here and there.” Hyrule smiled slightly. “And I have all of you.”
Again, he let the comforting stillness of the night float around them like thistledown.
Wild was the one who broke the silence. “It’s… not the same,” he whispered, his long hair half hiding his face.
“No, but it doesn’t have to be, does it? Fruit and fresh bread aren’t the same either, but they’re both good.”
He thought he saw a moment’s smile and his heart lifted a little. That was progress.
“I suppose…” Wild sighed, a little less heavily than before.
“You haven’t got parents any more, and nor have I. But we’ve got brothers. We’ve got each other. And you’ve got your Zelda, and your friend Sidon, and the guy who built your house.”
That got a moment’s startled laugh. “I suppose… I suppose Bolson is kind of a… weird cousin,” said Wild.
Hyrule grinned. That was definitely a smile. “Right.” He patted Wild’s arm. “We can’t get people back. We’ll never see our parents again and might never even know what they looked like. We’re not like Four, or Legend, or Wind, who have blood relatives they can go home to. We’re not like Time and Twilight, who found out they’ve got each other. But that doesn’t mean we don’t have a family.”
Finally, Wild looked up, eyes gleaming in the moonlight. “No,” he said quietly. “I suppose not.”
Hyrule gently nudged his elbow and after a moment Wild shifted closer so they were leaning shoulder to shoulder.
