#IAU sunset arc babey

[skyward-floored]

For IAU requests… anything Four related? Sorry if that’s too vague lol

Don’t worry about it anon, being vague is fine! Precise prompts are fun too, but having some more vague ones adds some nice variety. And gives me the freedom to do stuff like this, hehe.

(Set when they’re all a little older. Four is somewhere in his early teens).

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“Hey, um... Link?”

Four startled, nearly banging his head against that of the girl leaning over him. She jumped back, and Four blinked a few times, trying to focus on her face. Freckles swam into view, and Four finally recognized the girl as his friend Dot.

Friend, despite how his brothers tried to tease.

“Ah, sorry! I didn’t mean to startle you,” Dot apologized, and Four waved her off, yawning.

“‘S okay,” he mumbled, rubbing his eyes. “Did you need something?”

Dot hesitated, something odd shining in her eyes. “You um, really seem tired today, Link. Are you all right?”

No. “Yeah.”

Dot studied him a second, then leaned down, and lowered her voice so the other kids couldn’t hear her as easily.

“I... I heard your brother was in the hospital.”

Four swallowed as the familiar ache in his chest came back, and he looked at his desk as he nodded.

“I’m really sorry,” Dot continued, her voice soft. “Is there anything I can do?”

“No,” Four mumbled, not wanting to think about Twilight, still struggling to recover after a hit from a mysterious weapon had nearly killed him. Hyrule’s powers had had almost no effect on his injury, and they’d exhausted every option they had. And though Twilight was finally no longer on death’s doorstep, he still wasn’t healing like he should be.

He could easily slip back to a dangerous level, and if that happened again he might not have the strength to pull through this time.

“...Link?”

Four swallowed. “Sorry. Thanks though. Appreciate it.”

Dot hesitated, but nodded, and patted his shoulder as the bell rang, signaling the start of class. She sat in the desk next to him like she always did, and poked his arm whenever he started to drift off, giving him a light shake when that wasn’t enough.

The school day dragged on, and dragged him with it, Four fumbling his way through his classes. Dot stayed at his side for all of them that she could, and the part of him that was awake enough to notice was grateful for it.

He’d barely slept the past few days, his emotions were a wreck, and on top of all that he’d had a nasty argument with Wild last night.

“He doesn’t need this right now!”

Four swallowed. All he really wanted to do was go back to the hospital and sit with Twilight, but instead he was stuck in school, currently learning about some math formula while his and Wild’s angry words rang in his head, along with the noise Twilight had made when he’d been hit and Four couldn’t stop thinking about how still he’d gone after he’d fallen—

“Mr. Forester, I asked you a question.”

Four blinked, and realized his math teacher had come up to his desk, arms crossed as her foot tapped on the floor. The classroom was quiet, and Four swallowed when he noticed everyone was looking at him.

“Mr. Forester?” the teacher reminded sternly, and Four swallowed.

“I’m... could you repeat that, please?” he stammered, and she sighed.

“I asked if you knew how to solve the problem,” she said, raising an eyebrow. “And I would appreciate an answer sometime this year.”

A few of his classmates tittered, and Four blinked the exhaustion out of his eyes, trying to remember if he’d actually heard her say the problem or not. His cluttered brain couldn’t focus though, too many thoughts and feelings clogging his usually sharp brain. The writing on the board blurred, and Four swallowed, looking at his desk.

He had no clue what he was supposed to be solving.

“I... n-no. I’m sorry,” he whispered, and to his horror, his eyes began to water.

His teacher sighed, and went back to the front of the class. “Disappointing, Mr. Forester. I expect more from you. Can anyone else tell me how to work these equations? Miss Castor?”

Someone else spoke up, but the words just buzzed in Four’s head, his throat tight as he stared at his desk.

His brother could be dying right now, and he was wasting his time sitting in a math class.

Four bit his lip as it trembled, flipping up the hood of his jacket. The argument with Wild wouldn’t stop replaying through his mind, the way he’d yelled and how Four had yelled back, and how he’d split in the middle of it and said things he knew he’d regret, but they’d felt so good leaving his mouth, and the way Wild’s face had looked so miserable as he’d run away, and how his father had just looked resigned to the fact that they were going to lose Twilight—

A hand squeezed his arm, and Four looked through his hair at Dot, her face sharply worried now. He swallowed rather thickly, and Dot suddenly raised her hand.

“Yes, Miss Gustafson?” their teacher asked as she turned around, and Dot stood from her desk.

“I think I need to take Link to the nurse,” she said firmly, hand still holding Four’s arm. “He hasn’t been feeling well all day, you can see for yourself he’s pale.”

“Are you certain?” their teacher asked, and Dot nodded, unwavering. Their teacher thought for a moment, tapping a finger on her desk. “Hmm. I suppose he has been acting unusual today... that would certainly explain some things. You may escort him.”

“Thank you,” Dot said with a nod, and she pulled Four out of his desk and out of the classroom before he could blink.

They didn’t go to the nurse’s office though, rather Dot pulled him to a small spot behind the stairs, one so small only a few kids could actually fit back here. Four and Dot fit fine though, and she tugged Four down to sit, rifling in her bag.

“Okay, go ahead,” she said, pulling something out.

“Go ahead?” Four asked, barely stopping his voice from wobbling.

“Go ahead. Cry. You were on the verge of breaking down in there, you’ve got to let some of it out or there’s no way you’re making it through any more classes today,” Dot said matter-of-factly. She held up a small packet of tissues. “So cry, please.”

Four let out a hollow laugh. “I’m not going to just start crying because you told me to, Dot.”

“It’ll help, trust me,” Dot urged, and her voice softened. “It’s okay to be upset, Link. Anyone would be with what you’ve got going on. Just cry for a bit, and then we can go back. We don’t even have to go to the nurse if you don’t want to.”

Four laughed again, but the sound was watery. “Dot, just because Tw-Twilight is in the, the hospital, doesn’t m-mean, I...”

For some reason saying it out loud made it all crash down on him, and Four’s voice broke.

He tried to keep talking, but his breath hitched, and suddenly he was crying instead, a sob hiccuping from his throat. Dot stayed quiet as she set a hand on his shoulder, and Four felt tears begin to drip down his cheeks.

She rubbed it a little bit, and Four hiccuped again, wishing in the back of his mind that he could split. Then only a fourth of him would be sobbing his eyes out in front of Dot, and this would be a little less embarrassing.

But his powers were secret, and supposed to stay that way. So Four continued to cry, Dot scooting over to sit more closely beside him, her hand warm on his shoulder.

He didn’t know how long they sat there, Dot patting his shoulder while he cried his eyes out, but it was long enough that he was sure their teacher would be suspicious.

“Y-you should go back,” Four finally said, shakily wiping his eyes on his sleeve. “You’ll be missed.”

“Oh don’t worry about that, I can just say you threw up on me and I had to clean myself up,” she shrugged, offering him a tissue. Four let out a watery snort, but took it, shakily blowing his nose. “Or that the nurse wanted to make sure you hadn’t infected me. Ooh, or maybe you were so delirious you begged me to stay at your side, and I was forced to forgo math in order to stop your feverish ramblings.”

“No way that would work as an excuse,” Four said, his voice still wobbling.

“It might, you never know.”

Four fondly shook his head, then sighed, feeling drained from all the crying he’d just done. He didn’t feel... better, exactly, but he felt less overwhelmed by it all. His head felt less cluttered at least, and he gave Dot a grateful look.

“Thanks Dot,” he said quietly, and she nodded, then gave him a quick hug.

“Of course. If you need to talk, or just... anything else, just ask, okay?”

Four nodded, and hugged her back. “Okay.”

They sat under the stairs a little while longer, trying to make Four look like he hadn’t spent the last half hour crying, and then Dot pulled him to his feet, and they went to the nurse’s office together. They at least needed an alibi for being gone so long, and it would be suspicious if Four was never seen going to the nurse. Even if he only felt sick because of worry.

Four sighed as they walked down the hallways, and Dot squeezed his hand, giving him a little smile. He somewhat succeeded in returning it, and his thoughts drifted back to Wild, and their argument.

As soon as he made it through the rest of the school day, he’d... try and talk to him. He owed Wild that much at least.

And... Twilight would want him to try.