Far From Friends; Modern LoZ Zelink Oneshot

Far From Friends

(Me, drawing the cover: it's just toast, don't go crazy; 30 minutes later: *award-winning toast* Above song is "Secrets" by One Republic--I thought it was fitting.)

Just a reminder that this story is Mature. Not explicit, but Mature. 18+ recommended.

Zelda had been the one to propose the idea. She had come over one evening while Link was finishing his dinner and had been clearly on edge. Their apartments were in the same building, so it wasn't much of a walk. Such proximity aided their unlikely friendship—a genius college student and a full-time waiter. She was taking above the recommended credit hours and he was working over fifty hour weeks. Zelda had first met him at the restaurant he worked at, which was how they had discovered they lived in the same apartment complex. Then Link had invited her for dinner and gotten her number, and she started texting him almost every day, and then they would spend their weekends together in whatever free hours they could find to watch movies or play video games.

They had become very good friends in a few months.

It had all changed when Zelda came over unannounced one evening, ready to tear out her lovely blond hair. She had been fed up with school and her father and Link had let her rant for almost an hour. He had noticed the dark circles under her eyes—barely hidden by her cyan, tortoiseshell glasses—even before she had admitted that she had been unable to sleep as of late.

This wasn't new. Link had already offered her ideas and resources for dealing with her stress before—everything from aromatherapy to meditation. Apparently, it hadn't been enough this time, and frankly Link didn't know what to do.

Zelda had suggested something then that made his stomach drop and his heart race. She said she would be willing to try if he was and assured him that they could look at it like an experiment if that was better.

Zelda had brought up the idea of "friends with benefits." Neither of them had ever been in a relationship even remotely like that before, but Zelda and, eventually, Link had been willing to try.

That night had been their first night of passion. They had vowed to play it very safe

It had been a bit awkward at first, but then Link had remembered that this was Zelda, and he had treated her like a goddess because that was honestly how he saw her. He had tried to remain somewhat level headed and reminded himself that Zelda didn't really want this—want him. It was Zelda's hunger that had confused and excited him beyond measure.

The rush of adrenaline had made a mess of memories that didn't quite line up in Link's head, and he wasn't even sure if it had been real save for the pieces of evidence—like a long, golden strand of hair in his bed or the red scratches he saw on his back in the bathroom mirror the next morning. When he saw Zelda later that day, she reported that she'd had much more energy and thanked him profusely. He wasn't quite sure how to respond to that. On the one hand, his body was buzzing just being next to her after what had happened the previous night. On the other hand, that was fairly normal.

Link had already started to fall for Zelda and he knew that his feelings would only complicate their friendship. He didn't dare admit his feelings, especially after their first intercourse as "friends." Zelda hadn't wanted anything in their relationship to change now that they had had intimacy. Link had outwardly agreed and tried his hardest to keep his feelings secret.

But it got harder a few weeks later when Zelda's midterms came up and she needed to let loose. Or a week after that when her father had almost withdrawn her funding because she acted out, so Zelda requested they do it again. It got harder to hide his feelings each time after that.

Still, they were in no way together. Link had once asked her why (more like 'how') she was single and she had said that she didn't have time for a romantic relationship. So he tried his best to respect that.