#post-botw

[sheikfangirl]

♥ Link's lovely boss-wife is back from work!! ♥ He is basically Zelda's Hylian Retriever awww. Hateno domestic fluff is my bread and butter.

[aufi-creative-mind]

Pre-TotK Sketches - Part 1

PART 2: [link]

These sketches are part of a headcanon I had of Link before TotK came out. I'm also just very soft for some domestic Zelink moments between their adventures. I shall reveal more in Part 2!

[between-star]

First Time (part 1)

Sequel from What is left (after the end of the world)? a collab fic with sparklyfaerie

To be continueー

I might edit some scenes as there will be suggestive parts from here on. No explicit scenes for public posting.

[link-posting]

Birth of a Godling Chapter 4- Mapping Constellations

>>Masterpost<<

Previous | Next [[Coming soon]]

Link had to balance the blupee in one arm and hold his other arm out so Zelda could try to make a sketch of him to draw the markings on. She was a surprisingly good artist when it came to diagrams and schematics after doing research with Purah between the restoration efforts of Hyrule. She often drew plants or animals to create a physical compendium of Hyrule’s flora and fauna. However, this was her first time drawing a person- and it was Link of all people!

Well… Link is a bit of an animal himself, so maybe this wasn’t so different, Zelda thought to herself, then had to pretend to cough behind the back of her hand to try and cover up her giggle.

Link was trying to wrangle the blupee- who seemed to want to just be involved somehow- when he heard Zelda giggle. She tried to disguise it as a cough, but Link would recognize that sound anywhere. His ears pinned back as their tips turned bright pink- which honestly stood out even more starkly against the white streaks in his lightened hair. Not that Link had any way of knowing that. Zelda was already planning to keep that from him as long as possible- she couldn’t help it, it just looked so cute.

“Can you turn around for me? So I can see your back,” Zelda asked, her voice quiet and shy.

Her Champion nodded, turning around and moving the blupee to hold him in front of his chest.

Zelda needed him to turn a few more times, instructing him to lift up his arm so she could map the markings on his ribs. Meanwhile, Link was struggling to hold the blupee and stand how his princess needed him to. He felt like he was juggling the little spirit. Eventually they settled on the blupee hanging over his shoulder, with Link holding it with one hand as he held out his arm for Zelda to draw.

Once she was finished, Link grabbed a clean shirt- just a plain cotton tunic he wore around the house. He knew they were safe in Hateno, so he didn’t feel a need to wear any armor while they were at home. It had taken Zelda quite a while to convince him he didn’t need to be wearing armor 24/7 anymore, so it always made her happy to see him wear just a regular shirt. Not a shirt blessed by a Great Fairy, or clothes that won’t rip from getting caught, or an armor set that makes him impervious to certain types of damage.

It was just a regular cotton shirt.

Link set the blupee down to pull the shirt on, while Zelda stood to put her notebook on their bookshelf. She decided to dedicate that one specifically to how interacting with Satori’s magic affected Link. It was not at all because she didn’t want to risk anyone else seeing her (perhaps overly detailed) sketches of Link’s shirtless torso. Nope, that was totally not the reason why.

The blupee finally hopped down from Link’s arms, causing the markings all over his body to dim. They became less obvious as the blupee hopped around the small home, exploring the different nooks and crannies. Zelda saw the marks fade and glow depending on how close the blupee was to him. The princess took the notebook back out, jotting down a quick note before walking back over to Link, who was yawning behind his hand.

“Are you ready for bed?” she asked with a giggle, walking up to him.

Link’s ears perked up, turning pink. “Yeah, I’ve been looking forward to sleeping in an actual bed,” he said, rubbing the back of his neck. “Satori made me a nice bed of cherry blossom petals but that’s not quite the same as a feather down bed,” he added, moving toward the stairs.

Zelda stayed downstairs to let him go up and change into more comfortable pants to sleep in. She came back up once Link let her know he was dressed, and she headed up as Link was opening the window beside the bed. He generally hated sleeping inside, so Zelda recommended sleeping with the window open so the breeze could make him feel less trapped. Zelda is the one who slept against the wall, because Link had insisted on putting himself in between Zelda and the door. He also slept with the Master Sword beside the bed, within arm’s reach. Some habits simply refused to die.

⋆°.☾⋆.ೃ࿔*:⋆

They had been sharing a bed for a few months now. At first Link slept outside, under the overhang beside the loft window or on the roof, depending on the weather. One day, Zelda had asked him why he didn’t like to sleep inside. She was standing inside with the window open, her arms crossed on the windowsill as she spoke to Link- who was sitting on the ground outside the window. He was quiet for a while, leaning against the wall behind him and hugging his knee to his chest.

“Sleeping in enclosed spaces… reminds me of waking up in the shrine. Not being able to feel the breeze or see the sky makes me feel trapped… Like I’m suffocating,” he said, his voice quiet. He stared up at the moon as he spoke, the gentle breeze blowing through his hair as if to reaffirm his point.

This moment of sincerity surprised the princess. Link wasn’t a very open book, emotionally speaking. He had gotten more expressive and independent since his adventure, but when it came to discussing what had happened on his adventure he tended to clam up.

Every so often, though, he let her see behind the mask. He offered her small moments of vulnerability, offering his heart to her with trembling hands. He felt so small in those moments, so different from his usual cheerful, reckless self. He was so much larger than life, yet in these moments it felt like he was as small as a Korok.

Zelda treasured these moments more than anything. It was such a stark contrast from who he was a century ago, when he wouldn’t show even a hint of emotion. She tucked each moment of vulnerability into her heart for safe keeping, protecting the parts of him that were raw and exposed. She gave them shelter even as she reached out to fill the cracks left behind.

The princess uncrossed her arms, leaning forward more so she could rest her hand over his and give a reassuring squeeze. She didn’t know what to say, any words she could think of dying on her lips. However, it seemed she didn’t need to. After she put her hand on his, there was a moment before he turned his hand over, lacing their fingers together and squeezing back. His ears were still drooping a little, but the pointed tips of his ears had turned a soft shade of pink, and she could see the shadow of a smile in his expression.

After that moment, she took it upon herself to help coax him into sleeping inside. Not against his will, of course. She asked if he wanted her help first. It took a while, starting with him sleeping on the windowsill. Zelda ended up getting a thicker blanket for the cooler nights when the wind was blowing off Mount Lanayru. She also got a smaller blanket for him to use on the windowsill so he wouldn’t have to sleep in his Snowquill set (though she had to admit the pants looked VERY comfortable). One particularly chilly morning, Zelda sat up to pull the blanket up from the bottom of the bed to find Link dozing off at the foot of the bed. He was wrapped in his blanket leaning against the wall, dozing peacefully. Despite being cold, Zelda slowly and quietly laid back down. She didn’t want to risk waking him up when he was finally sleeping under the ceiling, instead of on the roof.

When she woke back up for the day, Link was already downstairs making breakfast. She didn’t bring up that she saw him sleeping inside, but he started to sleep inside more and more. It went unacknowledged until one night she had a bad nightmare. He wake up to her whimpering in bed and hurried over, trying to figure out what to do. He hesitated, but eventually knelt at the side of the bed and stroked his fingers through her hair, whispering that she was safe, she was home with him in Hateno and he wouldn’t let anything happen to her. He noticed her hand gripping the sheets and put his hand over hers, squeezing her hand like she had done for him so many times before. She almost immediately relaxed after that, her hand turning to grab onto his.

She didn’t wake up until the next morning, their fingers still interlaced. She turned her head to see Link still kneeling beside the bed, his head resting on the bed as he slept, using his free arm as a pillow. She rolled over onto her side so she was facing him- the movement causing Link to gasp and shoot upright, but Zelda was quick to squeeze his hand and tell him it’s okay, it was just her.

After that, Link started sleeping leaning against the bedside table. When Link had a nightmare of his own and woke up gasping, his sword half drawn before he even became aware of the world around him, it was enough to wake even Zelda up. She convinced him to lay down with her, knowing the comfort just holding hands brought them both.

It had only been a few weeks since then, but neither of them could imagine sleeping alone again.

[jacksfandomrandom]

A Hero's Hurt

Summary: Link get's hurt while him and Zelda encounter a Moblin while on a walk

It was a beautiful day in Hyrule, a couple months after the fall of Calamity Ganon. Link and Zelda officially moved into their small house in Hateno Village a month or two prior. Things were going great for them. As of now, they were on a walk, picking apples and fruits for dinner later that night. Well, mostly Link. Zelda was excited to try out more photography and take some pictures of nature. But she still helped out quite a bit.

“Link! Look over there! There’s a restless cricket!” Zelda approached the rock to which a restless cricket sat upon. She crouched down to take a photo. It had been 100 years since she last got to be up close with nature. She was very fascinated with how much they’ve changed and evolved over time.

However, as she focused on the cricket, she didn’t realize the Black Moblin in the distance, rapidly approaching them. 

Link was quick to drop the basket of apples, the fruit tumbling to the ground. He drew the master sword with one hand while he ran over to Zelda and yanked her up. She was confused and a bit upset because the sudden movement had scared the cricket.

“Link, what-” Zelda quickly shut her mouth when Link put himself in between her and the moblin. She realized now what was going on and took a step back. She drew her bow and readied an arrow. Although Link wasn’t a huge fan over letting her fight, she managed to convince him to teach her how to shoot.

Two blue bokoblins suddenly appeared from the woods, seemingly to be with the Moblin. They started to surround the two, but Zelda quickly shot one of them in the head with a fire arrow, killing it. 

The Moblin raised its claymore and swung at Link. The 19 (well, technically 119) year old dodged and slashed his sword on the beast’s torso, however, he appeared to not have done much damage. The Moblin kept swinging, making Link’s movements turn sloppy as he started to run out of stamina. Eventually, he ran out, unable to move as he breathed heavily.

The Moblin took this opening to its advantage and picked Link up. Zelda unfortunately was preoccupied with the other Bokoblin that she didn’t notice. The Moblin held Link with a tight grasp, causing the young adult’s breathing to become strained. Suddenly, he threw Link into the air before using the blunt side of its claymore to blast him across the forest. 

“Link!” Zelda just killed the last bokoblin as she saw her knight yell in pain as he was thrown across the forest. Quickly, she readied an ancient arrow and shot the Moblin. The moblin’s body disappeared in the flash of the light orb. 

With the enemies now dealt with, Zelda ran towards Link and knelt down in front of him. She looked over his body and saw his left leg was askew and he was slightly holding his side. She lifted up his tunic, revealing a giant bruise on the side of his torso. Then she decided to check his leg. She barely touched his shin when he let out a pained yelp.

“Sorry, sorry! I’ll wait until we get home to check on it,” She assured him. He whimpered but nodded.

Carefully, Zelda helped him sit up before telling him to brace himself. Then she threw his arm over her shoulder and helped him stand on his other leg. He let out another small whimper. This was very concerning for Zelda. She had never seen her knight this vulnerable and weak other than when he died. A pang of guilt settled into her chest as was reminded of that time. She still blamed herself for what happened. 

Zelda pushed those bad memories down as she pulled out her sheikah slate. She sent Purah a quick message, telling her to come down to her and Link’s house. Although Purah specialized in engineering, she and Symon knew a little more about medical practices than she did.

It was a slow trek back to the house. They had to stop many times to let Link rest, despite his assurance that he would be alright. Zelda could tell how badly he was trying to tough it out, or that his adrenaline had finally kicked in.

When they stepped into Hateno, many villagers stared at them with concerned expressions. Link felt utterly humiliated. As the hero of Hyrule, he wasn’t supposed to show weakness like this. He hated the pity on the people’s faces as they watched him struggle to even limp without Zelda’s help.

Purah and Symon were waiting at the house with medical supplies. They helped Zelda carry Link into bed and got started on examining his wounds. Zelda gave them a run down of what his major injuries seemed to be and they got started. 

First, Zelda needed to take off his boot in order for Purah to get a closer look at his injury. That proved to be harder than she thought. She barely put her hands on the shoe before Link suddenly hissed in pain, trying to use his strength to move further away from her, but being unable to.

“You’re okay, Link, I just need to take off your boot,” Zelda told him. He reached down and grabbed her hand, squeezing it in pain. This made things more complicated. Link was actively searching for comfort, something he almost NEVER did, but Zelda couldn’t give him it, because she needed to help Purah.

“Why don’t you comfort him while I work on his leg?” Purah suggested. 

“Shouldn’t I be helping though?” She asked.

“You are, by keeping him calm and still,” She explained. 

“Well… alright,” Zelda moved over closer to Link’s head and held his hand.

While Purah pulled off his boot, Link yelped, biting his tongue as he thrashed in pain. Zelda held him and kept him still as she worked. She did the best she could to comfort him.

“You’re doing great, It’s alright, Link,” Zelda assured him. Link squeezed her hand tightly, hiding his face in her arms.

Purah worked quickly to wrap his ankle and shin in bandages before using a couple sticks to tie to his leg to keep it stable. While she worked on that, Symon fed Link a pain killer potion. Luckily, the potion worked almost instantly and the pain started to subside. 

When Purah had finished wrapping his leg, she propped it up on a pillow before tending to his ribs. She lifted his shirt up and gently felt the bruised area. He seemed to just have bruised them, maybe even fractured one or two ribs, but everything seemed to be fine. She rubbed an ointment on the skin before wrapping his ribs lightly in bandages.

As Link watched her, he couldn’t help but remember a time when he used to have these bandages wrapped around his chest on a daily basis. The barely visible scars underneath his pecs are a reminder that he no longer has to use those horrid bandages to keep his chest flat. But now he had them wrapped around just underneath his chest for a different reason.

Before long, the intensity died down and it was all calm. Purah had given Zelda instructions on how to care for Link’s injuries. Most of it required lots of bedrest which Zelda knew Link would not be a big fan of. He hated sitting around and doing nothing. But she figured she could somehow find a way to get him to stay in bed. 

Eventually, Purah and Symon left, leaving Zelda and Link in their house. Zelda sighed and scratched Link’s scalp. She looked at the makeshift cast on his leg and frowned. She felt like this was all her fault. It could’ve been prevented if she had been paying more attention to him. 

“I’m so sorry, Link,” She whispered, “This is all my fault”

“‘S not your fault…” Link mumbled quietly. As a mostly non-verbal individual, this was usually very big for him. He almost never talked. Zelda couldn’t imagine how much energy he must be using right now.

“I appreciate your kindness, but you got hurt because of me,” She countered. Link shook his head.

“Nu-unh. It was the Moblin’s fault,” Link said, before grimacing a little. The talking had caused quite a bit of pain to erupt from his ribs.

“Just…get some rest, okay? We can talk about this later,” Zelda told him, noticing the pained expression he made as he talked.

“Only if you admit ‘s not your fault,” Link said. The former princess sighed. She hated it when Link did this. He always cared so much about others. He really didn’t want her feeling guilty.

“Fine. It’s not my fault. Now get some rest. You need it,” Zelda leaned over and kissed his lips. He smiled and looked back up at her. She gave him a pitiful smile before standing up and walking downstairs to get started on supper.

[pinkiepixels]

The Zelink longfic returns...

Ok so I ended up taking a six month hiatus but I am back with a hefty backlog of chapters and a brand new schedule. New chapters will now be dropping on the 15th of every month.

Link and Zelda have witnessed the end of the world as they knew it, and must now carve out a new existence in a Hyrule that has moved on without them. Despite the castle in ruins, the rigid structures imposed on them since birth linger. Are they truly free to make their own choices now? To follow their hearts, in place of destiny?

This work is rated Mature for canon-typical violence. Additional tags listed on AO3. Chapter 25 is now live!

>>Read on AO3<<

[link-eats-rocks]

100 Years Later

100 years. 100 years of work.

Of battle.

Of exhaustion.

Of grief.

But Zelda had never faltered. Thoughts of Link replayed on a never-ending loop in her mind.

She thought of that first night they'd spoken when she first heard his soft, boyish voice, telling her there was no need to apologize. Of course, she'd apologized anyway.

Or their second conversation, where she complimented his cooking, watched his eyes light up, drew him out with questions about his recipes, and listened with rapt attention as he showed her a part of himself that seemed as precious and rare as a dragon scale.

After that icebreaker, each conversation got more personal. He dropped his guard with her. He bore his soul to the only person who could understand having the weight of the world on your shoulders.

And the next thing Zelda knew, in the very final days before The Calamity, she had her first taste of happiness.

She'd held Link in her arms. His big eyes had been fixed on her as she stroked his hair and he gradually sunk from her shoulder to her lap. He'd fought sleep, staring up at her as his eyelids slowly fell shut. The feeling of his soft, silky hair between her fingers and his weight against her, the steady rise and fall of deep breaths as he slept. The delicious ache in her chest had been so overwhelming that Zelda could feel it still, throughout her years of fighting.

She had to hold him in her arms again, and not like the last time. She needed him safe and happy. She needed to regain that sense that she was giving him peace. And so the years were long, but her hope was as bright as the light she was embodying.

When Ganon was gone, and she stood in Hyrule Field, those hundred years felt like nothing but a bad dream, already fading from her memory as she returned to the waking world.

She smiled, amused with herself, not quite convinced she was really here, and her Link was standing before her. She'd had 100 years to think of what she'd say to him first. And yet, with his eyes upon her, Zelda was at a loss for words.

Link looked tired. He was ruffled from battle, but he didn't look to be wounded beyond a few shallow cuts, bruises, and scrapes. His eyes were tired, too; she couldn't read them.

"May I ask..." She took a step towards him. "Do you really remember me?"

He closed the distance and clinched and unclinched his fists as he held her gaze. "You're all I remember."

[rai-knightshade-art]

SHOOT I FORGOT TO POST THIS. NO AESTHETIC SONG LYRICS JUST HAVE BIRD BARD DAD AND HIS KIDS + ZELINK BEFORE TOTK COMES OUT

(alt version below the cut, image ID in Alt text!)

Alternate version with a less atmospheric light: