Mute - Zelink Modern AU

Now or Never (27)

Breakfast was pretty much normal and was pretty much just Link and Zelda both trying to avoid the topic of the assessment they both knew were coming later that day. They had a moment of peace there and then, so they were sure to take it.

When walking to school, it had quite obviously began to feel real. Before it had felt almost fictional, like it wasn't actually going to happen. But it was. And Link finally realised that whilst coming up to the gates.

"This is really going to happen, huh?" He swallowed hard, only able to look at the ground as his feet naturally edged closer with every step he took.

"Yeah. Unfortunately, it is" Zelda replied, smiling in his direction although she was fully aware that he couldn't see her. Although she really did want to make Link feel as comfortable as possible, it was important to be realistic.

"What if people expect things from me after this? I-" He began to panic more the closer they got to the school, already feeling his muscles tense up.

"Then they can take their expectations and stick 'em where the sun doesn't shine! Seriously Link, what anyone else thinks does not matter" Zelda lifted his head up softly with her right hand, placing her left on his shoulder. She flashed a sympathetic smile, hoping from the bottom of her heart that her words would get through to him. It seemed they did.

"Because it's you who said that... I believe it" He responded, feeling his brain relax even just a little bit.

"Good" Was all Zelda replied, blushing slightly as she continued walking by Link's side, still being able to feel the impact of Link's every word. "Let's head to English" she then muttered, forcing her own anxiety to stay down.

They were the first of everyone to enter the classroom. Zelda immediately disobeyed the seating plan they normally had to stick to, and took the normally empty seat directly next to Link. As the class filled up, Link's degree of worry did also.

"I can't do this" He whispered to Zelda, shaking his head in very small motions. He moved his chair closer to her in an attempt to almost be as far away as possible from anyone else in the room.

Zelda turned to face him, noticing how his eyes had widened and that his cheeks had turned paler. He was straight up scared. Zelda swiftly picked up his hand under the table as she spoke.

"Yes you can" She whispered back. Although it was just a mere whisper, it held so much emotion in it.

She squeezed his hand, and began moving her thumb in a circular motion in hopes that it would calm his nerves at least a little bit. He responded positively, taking multiple deep breaths with closed eyes.

The teacher went down the register and called up people one by one, which meant that it wasn't long before Link's name was called directly before Zelda's.

"You can do this" Zelda whispered one more time, hesitantly letting go of his hand as he stood up. His legs were visibly shaking.

The world was spinning as he slowly made his way to the front of the class. The room was silent as this was the moment many had been anticipating. They wanted to know what Link would do, how he'd react.

People were shocked when he took a deep breath and closed his eyes, as he clutched the piece of card he had in his hands as tight as he could.

I can do this.

"Nowadays acceptance of people with things they can't help about themselves are progressing, but many still aren't realising that there are things they don't know about people that aren't visible to the eye, and they shouldn't be so quick to judge" He spoke slowly and articulated every word, focusing a bit too much on his breathing. The second he stood up, Zelda was sure to not look worried, or else that would trigger Link to worry also.

Link cleared his throat before continuing, glancing his eyes down to the card of notes he was aloud to have with him. His hands were visibly shaking as he felt his knees were going to give in at literally any second. He'd already started, there was literally no backing out. He was too aware of how much time he waited before continuing.

"Anyone you see could have something going on that you don't know about" He paused for a brief second, a little bit hesitant to say this next line. "I guarantee that most of you have secrets that are blind to the eye, of which you haven't even told your closest friends. Whether those things are good, bad or indifferent"

Slowly but surely, the words he spoke began to feel more natural, and not like they were planned thoroughly before. Some of this was going to be what he thought in the moment though, as he couldn't remember word for word what he had planned.

"And that's okay. Because I can also almost guarantee that you'd be there for your friends no matter what if they were to tell you something like that" Here he looked down at his card once again, his heart racing faster by the second.

"We as a species are all so similar, yet opposites at the same time. The reason why we're scared we're going to be judged by others, is because we judge others ourselves. Even if there is nothing to be scared about in reality, our minds paint pictures of situations where things don't go the way we'd wish them to, therefore stopping us from doing it"

He was scared that he had started to ramble, and that he should've finished up soon. Although he was speaking slowly at the start, he had naturally lost some of the composure he had then and now it was clear that he just wanted to get this over with without shortening the message.

"Some people can easily get over this and shake it off. But others... They just can't. That doesn't mean that there's anything wrong with them or that they deserve any kind of ridicule, but that they should be made aware that someone is there" He glanced over to Zelda, swallowing intently before continuing. "Always" He looked directly at her, making sure that she and everyone else in the room understood that what he said then was aimed directly to her, like another indirect 'thank you'. It was the first time he'd smiled that entire presentation.

"Because at the end of the day, we are all people. Regardless of race, gender, sexuality, religion etcetera"

"We're all equal"

Thank you so much for 35k reads!!

I've entered both Mute and Pendant into LegendofZeldaWA 's Zelda watty awards, so if you want to vote then go to their votebook and cast your votes by commenting the story title and the author. Both of my entries are in the 'Modern AU' category, and you have two votes per category. Thank you!

Due to the reactions of y'all after I mentioned a Miraculous AU, I'm gonna upload that after I've finished this story and once I'm happy with the progress Pendant is making. I'll keep you updated, so if you're not already following me and would like to see that then I suggest you do.

This is the speech I did when in my final year of high school (not exactly, I changed a few things) which I was honestly so proud of afterwards. The words come from a real place in my heart that I hope you understand <3