#so i scrapped that and made em sadder

[lillybean730]

thinking about my wol and their family... pain

[casspurrjoybell-29]

Forging Ties - Chapter 16 - Part 2

*Warning Adult Content*

Skye felt like bothering someone and Miriam was deep in a conversation with Sera with no end in sight and Hamish and Duran sounded like they had plans with one another, so when Slone got up from the table, Skye followed him.

Slone went to the kitchen and convinced them to empty their bin full of food scraps into a sack and then he headed out of the inn.

"You coming with me, then?" Slone asked as he turned onto the road that led up the hill.

Skye nodded.

"I won't say no to the company. It's been an interesting night, huh?"

Skye shrugged.

"Guess the one before this was pretty interesting, too. Y'know, with the vampires and all."

"Yes."

"You ever run into a vampire before?"

"Hmm..."

Skye stared up at the stars as he thought.

"I don't remember."

"Seems kinda memorable."

Skye shrugged.

"There used to be a nest of 'em near where we lived until a couple years back, so I'm pretty familiar. Nasty things. Y'know, the Fae make a decent amount of predatory things and there's a good bit of brutality in the heart of even a housecat but vampires... vampires got a real human kind of malice in 'em. Funny how something can eat your intestines while you're still breathing but it don't feel evil without that bit of human in the mix."

"I'm pretty sure that's never happened to me."

Slone laughed.

"Well, me neither but y'know. Point is, predatory animals ain't got the smallest slither of empathy for their prey but that ain't evil, right?"

"No," Skye said because he thought that was probably the right answer but he didn't really understand the point of any of this.

Having your intestines eaten seemed pretty bad no matter who was doing it or why.

"Maybe even vampires ain't that bad when you look at things like that. A vampire ain't making a choice. They can't be anything but what they are any more than a bear can, right? We both dealt with Declan and he was like a kitten compared to those vampires but it kinda leaves you thinking in a different way. Makes you wonder about how someone could go out and be like that when they coulda chosen not to."

Skye nodded. They were nearly to the edge of town now.

"Seems like you choose to be good, even when it might cost you. Why? Doesn't seem like you care all that much about being seen as a hero."

"Oh," Skye said. "I don't know."

"Yeah?"

"My memory gets pretty foggy if I try to think back more than a few years, so I just do whatever feels right."

"Damn. Sounds rough."

Skye shrugged.

"No. I'm fine."

They'd reached the top of the hill now and they continued to follow the cobbled road out of town.

Once they were far enough away that the sounds and lights of the town had faded into the distance, Cookie leapt down from a nearby tree and made a chittering sound at them.

"Ah, there you are," Slone said. "Got some dinner for ya."

Cookie took the sack from Slone and shoved her face deep into it. Sloppy eating sounds followed.

Skye crouched down and watched her eat.

"What is she?"

"Cookie?" Slone asked. "Just her own thing, I guess. There's a whole long story about how she came about but I dunno if she wants me sharing that around."

"Hmm," Skye said.

There was something about her, like a forgotten word on the tip of his tongue.

It felt important but the harder he tried to focus on it, the sadder he felt, so he stopped.

[wren-beowulf]

Wren smiled down at Tim, though it seemed a bit sadder than before, kissing his face. "Well, Grew up in the Alley, ya can tell just by my accent. Dad was an Ex-Cop, the real corrupt kind, mom was a real estate agent, a terrible one. Dad was an alcoholic who got mean and angry, throwin' things and yellin', mom was a smoker who didn't give a shit 'n used my hands as an ashtray. Brother wasn't 'round a whole lot, probably for the best. My uncle had custody over him so he only came down on weekends. I used 't love weekends."

Wren let out a deep sigh. "But then he went away 't University when I was 11, and I was alone in that house. Shit got worse for a while, but then my brother came 't get me when I was 12, and I was just happy 't get out if there. I think... somethin' happened 't me. I remember drownin' but everythin's fuzzy. I lived with him for a while, even enrolled in the academy, though dropped out 6 months later for... reasons. My brother had a roommate. Fabian. He was awful. He wanted 't use my abuse against me so that I'd enter a sexual relationship with him. It worked, I was only 12 and had never even been 't school before, I didn't know it was wrong. I was too scared that my brother would hate me 't tell him, but Fabian got so violent and sadistic with it I just couldn't stand it anymore. There was a trial, but it didn't matter. Fabian only got 5 years. He did those things 't me for a year and a half."

Wren let his head lay down on Tim's chest, fingers tracing circles into his palm. "After all that I couldn't stay, so I ran away. Got a job collectin' scraps and fixin' stuff up for this guy, a bunch of street kids were doin' it. But... this guy owed MarConi some money, and he couldn't pay it back. So he sent his guys over 't take one of us, and I just got the short end of the stick. I worked for MarConi then, but I wasn't some lil tinkerer. He made me into a callboy, jailbait. I was 14, and their prostitute. I didn't wanna, I resisted, and they cut me up for it, gave me that big scar on my back. And after I still fought back, they started force feedin' me drugs to tame me. It worked, I got hooked, and it felt like I was never gonna leave."

Wren wrapped his arms tighter around Tim. "It was years before I managed 't get away. Just turned 17, and I saw an opening, so I took it. Penguin's people took me in, they were good 't me. I met Jacyn when we were workin' for 'em, and we just kinda clicked, ya know? Eventually I was off doin' my own thing as Lurcher, got into a bunch of Gangs and mobs for connections, became a Villain. Reconnected with my brother a couple years back, he helped me get clean, helped me get sober again. And then, I met up with Jay again, and that led me to you."

Wren cupped either side of Tim's face. "My shinin' light at the end of the tunnel."

Wren knocks on the door. He seems to be doing that a lot lately.

"Heya, love. 'M here. Can I get one of ya lovely kisses?"

@wren-beowulf

Tim opens the door letting Wren in before hugging him tightly and kissing him. "God I missed you." He mumbled against his lips.

[lr-supernaturaladdict]

Time Goes On- Part. 10

Summary:You are a vampire that had been recruited by a group of hunters working for the not yet named Shield.  For years you were a hunter, killing your own kind for your own protection as well as protecting the innocent lives around you. When WWII hit nearly 20 years after your recruitment you were itching to get onto the battlefield, but you had a much more important job. You needed to train Captain America himself, in between meet and greets of course. You fell in love with him in the process, not realizing it even possible to feel anymore after nearly being dead for 40 years. But was winning the war really worth the cost that you felt in losing the first Avenger? Even after you meet a young Sam Winchester who made you feel as alive as he had made you feel?

A/N: I am so sorry for making everyone wait so long, have had very bad writers block and have been busy with life. Hope this chapter makes up for it though.

Word Count: 2982

Warnings: Angst

Tag list: @renner-hawkeyeloves @primenumberscanbeintimidating

My Masterlist

Part 01 Part 02 Part 03 Part 04 Part 05 Part 06 Part 07 Part 08 Part 09

2008:

“I seriously don’t understand why I agreed to come to this thing with you when you just ended up gambling the entire time,” you groaned annoyed at the man you were accompanying.

“Look,” he looked down at you with a smirk. “I get that you have more pressing matters, but I needed you here on my big night.”

Rolling your eyes you walked past him as he handed his award he received to a random casino goer. “Whatever Tony,” you scoffed and pushed aside his bodyguard Happy, who was standing in front of the car you’d be taking.

“(Y/N), hold on,” Tony called out to you as he ran after you.

“No Tony, I won’t hold on. I agreed to come because this was a big accomplishment for you, not to stand around watching you hit on random sluts and gamble away thousands of dollars,” running your hand down your face, you looked around to make sure there wasn’t anyone close by. “Dean’s running out of time and I’m running out of ideas. Being here,” you paused and pulled on the fancy green gown you were wearing. “Wearing this, this was us three years ago when I didn’t have the fate of the world and my boys life on the line,” putting your hands on his cheeks you made him look you dead in the eye. “I love you, but I’m this damn close to socking you in the face with all of the questionable things you’ve been doing.

“I’m sorry okay?” he put his hands over yours and sighed. “I wasn’t thinking.”

Before you could say anything else an attractive blonde haired reporter walked up to you both. “Excuse me, Mr. Stark can I have a moment?” rolling your eyes you knew how this was going to go.

Tony gave you a look silently asking if she was attractive and you just nodded. “Just be quiet this time,” you whispered to him before moving away and getting into the awaiting car. Before you had a chance to ask, Happy had gotten into the front seat and started the car.

“Mr. Stark will be finding another way home tonight,” he had said to you.

“I figured as much, but thank you Happy,” you smiled at him in the rearview mirror as you made eye contact.

“Anything for you miss Winchester,” he smiled back at you. You couldn’t help but smile at your title to him. Of course you didn’t give him your actual last name for the sake of keeping your life a secret, but it didn’t hurt using your families name. Tony even thought it was a good idea, even Tony’s personal assistant knew you as a Winchester. If anyone asked who you were currently, you were a cousin visiting from the south.

…

“Bobby I know it’s almost time,” you sighed into the phone, pinching the bridge of your nose. “And I’m scared shitless, but I’ll make it. We’ll figure this shit out and we’ll save him, we have too.”

“Kid, I know that you’re scared, I am too. I helped raised these boys almost as much as you did. He’s starting to freak out, he needs you here. Sam needs you here,” you could hear him keep his voice low, the boys were there and he didn’t want them to hear him.

“I know, I’ll leave as soon as I can. Tony hasn’t called me yet saying he made it to base, I’m getting worried,” you rubbed the back of your neck as you looked at your now finished packed bag. You didn’t have a lot, so you just kept it with you wherever you went.

“Just hurry, please (Y/N).”

“I’ll leave now, I’m sure he’ll call me later,” you grabbed your bag and threw it over your shoulder making your way out of your room and the house. “I have to focus on Dean,” you could feel the burn in your eyes from unshed tears. “I’ll be there by breakfast tomorrow, tell the boys I love em.”

“Will do, and (Y/N)?” he waited for you to respond before answering.

“Yeah Singer?”

“Be careful,” you could hear the worry in his voice.

“Always,” you smiled and got into your car. “Bye Bobby.”

“Bye Kid,” you heard the line go dead as you started the car and pulled out of the long driveway of Tony’s mansion.

…

You had only been on the road for 12 hours when you finally got a call. You were expecting it to be Tony, but when you saw it was an unknown number your heart dropped.

“Hello,” you answered the phone as you turned down your radio.

“Hello, is this Ms. Winchester?” a deep voice asked on the other end. They referred you by Winchester, meaning it had to of been something to do with Tony, all of the hunters you know would know your real name.

“Yes, this is she,” you raised an eyebrow in question as you pulled your car onto the exit ramp you needed to take.

“(Y/N), this is James Rhodes,” his voice sounded different now, sadder.

“James? Is everything okay, did Tony make it to base?” you swallowed the lump that formed in your throat.

“No, he didn’t,” he sighed before continuing. “The jeeps that were escorting Tony were attacked, no survivors were found.”

“What?” you could feel your throat close, is took all of you not to lose control of your emotions. “Tony’s dead?” your voice broke.

“No, he’s alive. At least as far as we can tell,” his voice didn’t sound any happier.

“So what are you trying to tell me?” you looked at the GPS you were using on the dashboard, still 13 hours until you made it to Sioux Falls.

“Tony was taken by the terrorist organization known as the Ten Rings,” his voice sound gruffer.

“You’re saying Tony was kidnapped?”

“Yes, I’m so sorry (Y/N),” he sounded so sincere it broke your already dead heart.

“No,” you whispered. “What are you going to do about it?!” you yelled at him over the phone.

“We’re trying to find him, we’ll call when we do.”

“Well you better try harder,” you hissed before hanging up and throwing your phone on the seat next to you. “FUCK,” you screamed and slammed your hands against the steering wheel.

Taking a deep breath you pushed your foot harder onto the gas, making your car speed well over the speed limit. You had to get to Dean, you may have lost one of you boys for good. You couldn’t lose another. Tears ran down your cheeks as you pushed your car harder.

…

Pulling up to Bobby’s scrap yard at 6am would have felt like a blessing, but it felt more like a curse. Since you found out about Tony the drive felt longer than it really was. More then once you wanted to let your anger get to you, but that wouldn’t be good to anymore. You can’t control your hunger when you’re angry, that’s not what anyone needs right now.

The sun was barely peeking over the horizon when you pulled up to the house, you knew you didn’t have much time left before Deans year was up. Tonight was it. You had spent all your spare time doing research on how to get out of a demon deal. Right now the only option you had was to kill the demon who held the contract. From what you’ve learned it was Lilith, the demon who had seemed to be in charge after Azazel's death. You didn’t understand why it was so important for her to hold his contract, but you didn't care. She had to die.

You turned off the ignition to your car and just looked at the front door of Bobby’s house. How did everything become such shit in your life? Yeah things were never perfect, but two people you care about are in danger, one could already be dead. You know why Dean did what he did, to protect Sam. But at what cost.

You could feel warmth touching your cheek, you knew what it was but now wasn’t the time to cry. Wiping your cheek with the back of your hand you looked at it curiously. “How the fuck did you end up here again. Crying over a human,” taking a deep breath you clenched your jaw. “Fuck,” you breathed out, clenching your fists onto the steering wheel as tightly as you could.

You moved quickly as you opened the car door and slammed it shut, you didn’t know what you were doing. Your feet moved on their own accord. The next thing you knew you found yourself in Bobby’s shop. Looking around frantically you found a crowbar. Grabbing it you went back to your car. It was the car Tony had given you. “Steve,” you whispered as you stared at the color of the car, the same light blue that always reminded you of his eyes. “I can’t take this anymore,” you felt more hot tears stream down your cheeks as you lifted the crowbar above your head.

You don’t even remember the first hit, but you sure as hell remember hearing them run towards you as you continued smashing the crowbar into the windshield and hood of the car. You could barely hear them call your name, it all sounded muffled. “Howard, John, I couldn’t keep ‘em safe,” you whispered before dropping the crowbar and ripping the side mirror off the drivers side.

Before you could make anymore moves towards the car large arms were wrapped around your smaller frame, not that it meant anything because of how strong you were. You could feel your fangs pierce through your gums as your struggled against their hold. When you managed to kick out their knees behind you, you turned to face your attacker. Only realizing who it was after the fact. “(Y/N)!” a voice from beside you yelled. “SNAP OUTTA IT.”

“Bobby,” you looked towards the voice and then back at your attacker. “Sammy,” you retracted your fangs immediately and fell next to him. “I’m sorry,” you whispered and reached to touch him, only for him to recoil away from you.

“Get up,” you heard Deans gruff voice next and his strong hand grabbing your bicep roughly.

“I didn’t,” you stood up and looked up at the green-eyed hunter. “I didn’t mean to.”

“I know,” Dean quickly pulled you into a hug, embracing you tightly. You felt your legs give out underneath you as you lost yourself in emotions, but Dean lowered himself with you. “We saw the news,” he whispered. “I’m sorry (Y/N/N).”

You pressed your face into his shoulder and continued to cry. Another hand that didn’t belong to Dean ran up your back. “We think you should stay back tonight,” it was Sam.

“No,” you instantly pulled back all of your emotions and moved away from them both.

“Kid,” Bobby moved closer to you all. “I ain’t ever seen you like this,” he looked so broken. “You need to stay here, especially if they call about Tony.”

Standing up once more you brushed off your knees. “I’m fine, just a little pent up aggression is all. You need me if you want to stop this SOB.”

All three men looked at you with sympathy in their eyes. We’ve all lost someone we cared about, but do they really understand? They couldn’t, you’ve watched so many people you loved die like you were a toxin in their lives, poisoning everyone with your presence.

“We understand that you want to help Dean, but you’re unstable we can’t afford you getting hurt,” Sam looked at you with his puppy dog eyes, any other time you might have listened but now was not the time.

“Don’t you mean you can’t afford me getting in the way,” you stepped closer to him, but he didn’t step down. A man his size should intimidate a person your size, but you were different. He should be afraid of you.

“(Y/N),” Dean put his hand on your shoulder trying to get you to step away from his brother.

“Do you even care if you die tonight,” you whispered just loud enough for them to hear you.

“Of course I do,” Dean said sadly, knowing full well what may happen.

“Then stay out of my way,” you brushed his hand off and walked towards the house, not looking back at the expressions each man wore. You stopped at the front door and clenched your fist. “I’ve lost to many god damn people to sit on the sidelines without a choice, I’m going,” you said loudly and clearly enough for them to hear you.

…

“You sure this is the place?” you looked back at Sam who had chosen to sit in the back seat in the Impala, allowing you to take the front.

“Yeah, she’s possessing someone in that house,” he nodded his head towards it. “You sure you’re up for this?”

Grinning you grabbed your gun, making sure it’s loaded. “I’ve never been better,” you smiled at him and got out of the car.

“You believe her?” Sam said, looking at his older brother who just shrugged.

“If tonights my last night, I ain’t fighting with her. No bad blood,” he opened his door and got out.

“Right,” Sam pursed his lips and got out of the Impala behind his brother.

“Who the fuck are you?” you hissed pushing a blonde woman into the fence surrounding the house. You held your pistol to her temple.

“Care to call off the attack dog,” she said looking past you.

“(Y/N), let her go. She’s here to help,” Sam quickly came up to your side.

“A demon is here to help? And you wanted to freakin’ bench me,” you glared at the youngest Winchester, but didn’t release her.

“How do you know I’m a demon,” you could hear the smirk in her voice.

“Because you smell like skank,” you looked back at her, smirking your proudest smirk at her. “Give me the knife,” you said bluntly.

“What knife?” she said innocently.

“Fine,” you turned her quickly and grabbed the demon knife out of her boot. “The minute Sam said you were here to help I knew who you were, you cross us I will gut you like a fucking fish,” you pushed her into the fence harder, savoring the amount she was struggling. “Seems like they didn’t tell you much about me either, I can’t kill you without that knife, but I have my ways of torture,” you pushed her to the ground roughly. “Nice to meet you Ruby.”

She grimaced and stood quickly, attempting to move towards you. “Wouldn’t do that if I were you,” Dean said with snark as you handed him the knife. He moved it in his hands skillfully, what you taught him. “Thanks for bringing it back,” he saluted her and walked in the opposite direction.

Instead of saying anything else she just huffed and looked innocently at Sam. You couldn’t help the pang of hurt in your chest at the way he looked at her. She was a demon, he shouldn’t have agreed to work with her in the first place, that’s what this was about. Right? “We go in once Bobby finishes with the water supply,” Sam nodded but before he had a chance to say anything you walked away in the direction Dean left in.

…

“I knew I didn’t fucking like you,” you hissed at the Ruby meatsuit, who now actually contained Lilith.

“Right back at you honey,” she smiled wickedly at you before turning her attention to Sam. “You’re everything I expected and more.”

“Get away from him,” Dean screamed from where he was pinned, attempting to go after her.

“I swear to god I will stab you in the face and rip your throat out if you touch him,” you snarled with your fangs on full display, you just weren’t strong enough to fight her hold.

She moved away from Sam slowly and whistled, you knew what was about to happen. You heard them, but Dean saw them. “DEAN,” Sam yelled, trying to pull out of her hold harder.

“NO,” you felt something digging into your skin, but it didn’t matter you had to get to him, but it was no use.

You watched as something ripped into Deans leg, blood and bone. You couldn’t hear him scream, everything just blending together and all you saw was the blood. It ripped into him, making sure not to leave any spot unblemished. There was so much blood, but it didn’t urge on your hunger. It made you sick, but you couldn’t look away.

The moment you fell to your knees you still couldn’t move, so you weren’t sure how you ended up right next to him, holding onto his hand for dear life. The longer you stayed with him, the more his blood would affect you, dead man's blood.

You weren’t sure how long it had been, but when you heard Bobby’s voice as clear as day you knew that it had been awhile.

“Kid, you’ve been sittin with him to long. You’re going to get sick,” he pressed his hand against the back of your neck.

Taking a deep breath you shook your head. “I don’t care.”

“I have to get the pire ready,” he put his hand on your shoulder.

“No.”

“What?” Bobby looked up at Sam who had the same look on his face as you.

“We bury him,” he said without looking at Bobby.

“Sam, we have to burn him,” Bobby looked at you for help.

“He needs a body for when he comes back,” you held Deans hand to your lips.

“(Y/-,” you stopped him by standing up quickly,

“He’s coming back. So we bury him.”

[kaenith]

It’s still February so it still counts as Valentine’s Day fic, right?  Right? *nervous laugh*

There’s another drawing, too, but it really belongs at the end of the story, so it’s under the spoiler cut.

Inspired by this post about a Valentine’s Day-ike holiday for Hyrule - almost all the worldbuilding about Ribbon Day is from there, so credit where it’s due, those aren’t my ideas!

Ribbon Day

8,007 words, Vio/Shadow, rated T

Summary: When Shadow is introduced to a Hyrulean holiday celebrating different kinds of relationships, he starts to question whether his feelings for Vio are really as platonic as he has believed them to be for the past two years.  But even if he lets himself admit that it’s romantic love, he can’t escape the feeling that he’s getting it wrong somehow.  That he’s missing some crucial piece.

Who would expect a shadow-demon to be able to love properly, anyway?

Featuring asexual!Shadow, internalized acephobia/self-loathing, and lots of pining.  Which makes it sound like a much sadder story than it actually is.  I swear it ends well!

Wintertime, in Shadow’s opinion, was for sleeping in late.  Of course, in his opinion most of the year was for sleeping in late, but at least in the colder months he had an excuse. ��The dreary grey days just lent themselves to such behavior.

But when he shuffled out of his bedroom, yawning, he found the living space he shared with the other four Links was anything but grey and dreary.  Brightly-colored ribbons and scraps of paper adorned the walls and littered the table. Some had even fallen off onto the floor. Red sat at the center of it all, a smudge of ink on his chin as he folded an envelope.

Only a small corner of the table remained clear of craft debris, occupied instead by Vio and a stack of books.  Vio had a pen out, writing something on note paper, but he looked up and put it aside as Shadow entered the room.

“Morning,” Vio greeted him, the corner of his lips twitching with restrained amusement.

“Debatably,” Shadow replied, finishing the joke with a smirk.  He picked up one of the pieces of ribbon from the table.  “What’s with all this?”

Red gasped, and Shadow could swear his eyes actually sparkled.  “I forgot you weren’t in Hyrule last winter!  This will be your first Ribbon Day, won’t it?”

“You have an entire holiday to celebrate ribbons?”

That sent Red into a fit of giggles, so Vio answered for him.  “It’s symbolic.  Ribbon Day is about celebrating the relationships that connect us to one another. People exchange ribbons of different colors to represent how they feel – yellow for friends, green for business partners, blue for family, or for close bonds that are like family, and so on.”

“It’s a great big festival!” Red bounced in his seat with excitement. “It’s two days from today. There’s gonna be a feast, and dancing, and games, and everyone wears the ribbons they’ve received!  Here, Vio, did you want to tie your own ribbon on this?” He handed Vio the envelope he’d been working on, which already had three yellow ribbons wrapped around it.  Vio picked up another and began weaving it amongst the others.

“What’s that?” Shadow asked.

“Oh, that’s for Erune!” Red frowned, thoughtful.  “I guess you didn’t meet her, did you?  She’s a girl we met at the Blue Maiden’s village. I wasn’t sure if you’d want to send her a ribbon, too…?”

Shadow snort-laughed. “Is there a color that symbolizes ‘sorry for sending monsters to kidnap you and your friends and plunge your town into chaos’?”

“Probably not,” Red conceded.  Then his expression turned mischievous.  “Though I did ask Blue if he wanted to send her a red ribbon instead of yellow.”

“And you got hit upside the head for the trouble,” Vio reminded him.

“I think I’m missing something,” said Shadow.

“Red ribbons are for romantic love.”  Red made his hands into a heart shape, as if to demonstrate.

“I’ve told you about Erune before,” Vio said to Shadow.  “She’s the one Blue, Green, and Red all developed ridiculous crushes on.”  He stressed the word “all” with a teasing tone and a pointed look at Red. “And yet somehow, it seems you’re not including a red ribbon of your own, Red.”

“Aww, c’mon.”  Red’s ribbon may have been yellow, but his face had started to turn pink.  “It was just a silly crush, like you said.  I got over it ages ago!”

A growl from Shadow’s stomach interrupted the conversation.  “Ugh.  I’m guessing I missed breakfast, didn’t I?”

“Yep.”  Red gave him an apologetic shrug.  “You could go see if there are any leftovers in the kitchen?”

“I wouldn’t recommend it,” Vio said.  “Arcy and the other chefs are still pretty afraid of you.”

Shadow grinned, showing teeth.  “Won’t scare ‘em if they don’t see me!” he said, heading for the door.

Red jumped to his feet, too. “I’ll come with!  I need to drop this in the mail anyway.”  He waved the ribbon-wrapped envelope, and followed Shadow out.

“Ribbon Day is one of my favorite holidays,” Red said as they walked.  He bounced with every step, like an excited puppy.

“I think you’ve said that about every holiday we’ve celebrated since I got here.”

Red laughed.  “Fair enough!  But Ribbon Day is especially great.”

He paused, then sent Shadow a sly sideways look.  “Soooo… you gonna get him a red ribbon?”

“I— what?  For who?”

“For Vio, silly,” Red said, as if this were incredibly obvious.

“That’s not—  I mean, that’s ridiculous!  You said red ribbons are for… And we’re not…”

Red watched Shadow flailing for words, his skeptical expression edging far too close to pity for Shadow’s liking.  Shadow bristled.

“I’m going to go get breakfast,” Shadow grumbled, his ears folding back.  He stalked away, heading for a shortcut through the castle courtyard. Red didn’t try to follow.

It was cold outside – not bitingly so, this close to spring, but still chiller than was comfortable. The earliest flowers of the year were clearly thinking about starting to bud, but hadn’t quite committed to it yet.  A light mist clung to Shadow’s skin and clothes and faded distant objects to blue-grey silhouettes.

Despite the weather, he wasn’t alone in the courtyard.  Up ahead, a young man and a young woman in a chef’s apron stood under a gazebo.  As Shadow approached, he could see their hands were wound together around a red ribbon as they kissed.

Shadow was struck with the sudden, vivid mental image of kissing Vio like that, fingers laced together and their breath warm between them in the cold air.  He nearly stumbled.  Dammit Red, planting a seed like that…

But he couldn’t deny the fluttery feeling in his chest at the thought.

He shook his head to clear it. He’d reached the kitchen, anyway – he could smell baking bread and feel the warmth of it. The heat of the oven fires meant they kept the doors open even in cold weather.  Slipping inside unnoticed was simple enough, especially with his shadow-powers to help.

Shadow grabbed a loaf of bread from a cooling rack as he passed, then tucked himself into an out-of-the-way corner to eat.    The bread was still warm from the oven, honey-sweet with a sprinkling of cheese baked onto the top.

In the kitchen around him, the cooks laughed and gossiped as they worked, voices rising and falling over the metal clatter of pans and the bubble of a boiling pot of soup.

“Is Ella still out there?” one of them asked.

Someone peeked out the window to check.  “Yes! She’s going to get in trouble if she keeps slacking off like this.”  They sounded more amused than annoyed, though.

There was giggling. “She and her fellow just couldn’t wait for Ribbon Day, could they?”

One of the cooks dropped her voice to a conspiratorial hush.  “Do you think we’ll be seeing a baby come next autumn?”

“They do call late-autumn babies ‘red ribbon babies’!”

Someone scoffed. “Well, my bedroom shares a wall with Ella’s, and let me tell you…”

Shortly thereafter, Shadow bolted for the door, hoping to escape before the conversation could get any more explicit.

Right.  He’d forgotten the other aspects of the sort of relationship a red ribbon implied.

He considered returning to the Links’ shared rooms, but he didn’t want to run into Red.  Or Vio for that matter – he didn’t feel like he could meet Vio’s eyes right now without every detail of his conversation with Red showing on his face.

He found a deserted, out-of-the-way stairwell instead, and sat down to finish his breakfast.  The bread seemed less enticing than it had before. He picked at it half-heartedly, wishing he’d thought to grab a cup of water, too.  It was hard to swallow past the dryness of his throat.

The problem was, the more he thought about it, the more he realized that Red was right.  He cared about Vio more than he had words to describe.  He craved closeness to him, never passed up an opportunity to sling an arm over his shoulders or lean against him.  Now that the thought of kissing Vio had gotten into his head, Shadow found he couldn’t shake it, nor the wistful sort of wanting that came with it. But the thought of anything further, of sex… it still turned Shadow’s stomach, just as it always had.

And weren’t you supposed to want sex, when you were in love with someone?

It’s because you’re a shadow.  The thought crept into his mind, taunting and bitter, and Shadow’s neck prickled as he recognized Vaati’s voice in it.  You’re a creature of darkness, corrupted at your heart.  Whatever made you think someone like you would be capable of loving properly?

Shadow leapt to his feet, causing the remainder of the bread loaf to roll off his lap and down the stairs. “Shut up!”  he snarled aloud.

His voice echoed against the stone walls of the empty stairwell.

Shadow took a few deep, ragged breaths, willing his jaw to unclench.  When he felt like he could move without punching something, he walked down to the landing where the half-eaten bread loaf had fallen and picked it up.  He considered finishing it anyway – would have, if he’d had to – but he decided he wasn’t that desperate.

Instead, he went back out to the castle grounds, climbed up on the wall over the main gate, and started tossing down a few crumbs of bread to draw the attention of the local flock of cuccos.  He rationed the bread sparingly, only dropping enough to keep the birds interested. He would wait until someone walked under the archway, then drop a whole handful of crumbs on their head and watch the ensuing chaos as they were swarmed by cuccos.

An amusing game, most of the time, though his heart wasn’t really in it today.

A blond-haired head passed by under the archway, and Shadow scattered a handful of crumbs before realizing – too late – who it was.

“Hey!”  Green cried, swatting at his hair and clothes.  An ambitious cucco leapt up to peck his ear, and Green yelped.  He danced in place, trying to shake off both bread and birds.

Oops.

Shadow considered taking this as an opportunity for a head start, but fleeing would only prolong the inevitable.  When Green escaped the cuccos and climbed the ladder to the top of the wall, Shadow was still sitting there, doing his best to look appropriately contrite.  Which wasn’t easy, faced with the sight of Green with cucco feathers sticking out of his disarrayed hair.

Green held out a hand, and Shadow passed him what was left of the bread without complaint.  There was less than a fist-sized chunk left, anyway. Green sat down beside him and started pulling the remaining bread apart into smaller pieces, then dropped it to the cuccos all at once.

“Any particular reason you’re up here bribing the livestock into causing trouble for you?” Green asked.

Shadow chewed the inside of his lip, thinking.  “What is it supposed to feel like, when you love someone?”

Green seemed taken aback. “Well, it feels like caring about someone an awful lot.  Wanting to prevent them from coming to harm.”  He gave Shadow an odd, confused look.  “But I’m pretty sure you already knew that.”

Below, the cuccos still pecked about hopefully, in case any more food happened to rain from the sky.

Shadow considered correcting Green, explaining that he meant romantic love, red-ribbon love…  He stayed quiet.  He’d already spent what emotional openness he had in him for the day, thank you very much.

Green didn’t press for details, just sat there with him for a while longer in silence, in case Shadow changed his mind about talking.

They could see a good deal of the castle grounds from their vantage point atop the gate.  Below, people bustled back and forth, preparing for the upcoming festival.  A maid walked past with an armful of streamers, followed by a fluffy grey cat batting at the trailing ends.  The cuccos scattered at the cat’s approach, but the cat was too distracted to care about the birds.

After several minutes, Green stood up.  “No antagonizing the cuccos,” he said, using his ‘leader’ voice that sounded so much like his father.  “Or using the cuccos to antagonize people.  If I catch you causing trouble again today, I’ll put you on stable-shoveling duty to keep you busy.”  He paused long enough for Shadow to wrinkle his nose and nod grudging agreement, then added in his normal voice, “Please tell me you at least got Blue, too?”

That got a snicker out of Shadow.  “’Fraid not. He didn’t walk by.”

Green heaved an exaggerated sigh.  “Perhaps it’s for the best.  If that happened and I didn’t get to see it, I’d be very disappointed.”

He gave Shadow a friendly clap on the shoulder, then climbed back down the wall.

Perhaps it was too awkward to question Green about romantic love, but Shadow knew where he could find the answer.  The same place Vio always went when he needed answers: the castle library.

But when Shadow poked his head around the door of the large, high-ceilinged room, he realized a flaw in his plan: Vio was already there.  He was sitting at desk near one of the tall windows, looking down at a sheet of note paper with a slight frown of concentration.  Light streamed through the window behind him, casting him in a golden halo glow.

Shadow’s heart thudded in his chest.  He ducked back out the door.

Normally, Shadow loved being in the library with Vio.  They’d spent many hours there, talking or reading together, or just sharing companionable silence while they each did their own thing.  But the subject Shadow needed to research now…  No, he absolutely could not do that while Vio was in the same room.

But when Shadow checked back an hour later, Vio was still there.  The sun in the window had sunk lower, and the pile of notes on the table had grown taller, but nothing else had changed.  It continued like this for the rest of the day.  Whatever research project Vio had become embroiled in, it kept him there right up until the librarian came by to lock up for the night.

The next morning at breakfast, Shadow poked at his scrambled eggs and wondered if he’d have to break in to the library during off-hours just to get a shot at it without Vio being there. Even sitting next to Shadow at the breakfast table, Vio still had his nose in that book, scribbling away at his notes.  Shadow reached over and stole a strip of bacon right off Vio’s plate.  Vio didn’t so much as blink.

What was he even reading about?  Shadow glanced sideways, trying to read over Vio’s shoulder without being too obvious about it, but the angle was too awkward and the text too small for him to decipher from just a quick look.

He was distracted from his endeavor by Princess Zelda sitting down at their table, between Red and Green. She was dressed for archery, wearing bracers instead of her usual silk gloves, with her red hair pulled back in a braid. As soon as they all finished exchanging a brief round of “good mornings”, she turned to Vio.

“You’ll be participating in the archery tournament tomorrow, yes?” she asked.

Vio looked up from his notes with a slight startled jump that made it clear he’d only been listening with half an ear, and being addressed directly had caught him off-guard. “Yes?”

“Excellent!”  The princess clapped her hands together. “Care to come and practice with me after breakfast?  I refuse to embarrass myself by being rusty tomorrow.”

Vio hesitated only a fraction of a second before nodding.  “Of course, Zelda.  Though I doubt you’d embarrass yourself, regardless.”

Zelda beamed at him.

Red leaned over the table to talk to Green and Blue.  “Which of you d’you think will do better at the carnival games tomorrow?”

“Me, of course!” they both said in unison.  While the two of them descended into playful squabbling, Zelda gave Red an amused look.

“You just want them to win a stuffed animal for you, don’t you?”

“Guilty as charged!” said Red, looking smugly cheerful and not at all guilty.

After breakfast, Zelda and Vio left for the archery field, and Shadow had the opportunity he’d been waiting for.

As he stepped into the library, it occurred to Shadow that he’d never been here without Vio before. It felt different by himself, not quite right.  The already-large room seemed even bigger than usual, cold and empty and quiet. Shadow hummed, some half-remembered tune, trying to fill the silence as he skimmed his fingertips across the shelves.

With all the time he’d spent here with Vio, he’d learned the library’s organization system fairly well. The section he was looking for now wasn’t one he’d frequented before, but he didn’t know where else to look: romance novels.

He picked one at random and sat down on the floor to read.  Pages fluttered as he leafed through them, looking for a section that seemed to describe the protagonist’s feelings for her beloved.  The writing was flowery, full of convoluted metaphors that Shadow could only puzzle out about half the time.  Shadow frowned down at the page.  He was fairly sure that “cerulean orbs” was meant to refer to the protagonist’s eyes.  But then again, perhaps she was a mage of some kind and the orbs were magic crystals?

In several places, he got the feeling that innuendo was being made, but couldn’t work out what it was, and trying to do so only made his head hurt. Shadow put the book back and started looking for another.  Maybe one with a male protagonist?  

The next book described feelings like fire, burning through the veins and centered low in the gut. Shadow tried to think back to earlier days, to the Fire Temple, where this had all began.  He remembered giddy, bubbling joy – or had that just been the fruit juice?  He’d been practically light-headed with it, as if Vio’s presence itself was intoxicating.

Fire on the other hand… that had come later, and it hadn’t been pleasant.  Fire had been rage and tears burning in his throat, betrayal like a gaping chasm. Somehow he didn’t think that was what the book was describing.

Nowadays being around Vio didn’t feel like fire or like being drunk.  It felt more like being in the eye of a storm – a small pocket of calm and peace, no matter how loud or bright the rest of the world could be.

He flipped through a few more pages of the book, but it didn’t get any more relatable.

The next book seemed promising at first.  Shadow read two pages of it, then flung it away from himself with a vengeance.  It landed face-down, with the spine pulled open and the pages squashed against the ground.  Shadow felt a twinge of guilt.  Vio wouldn’t approve— but no, actually, he felt Vio would understand. That particular book was stupid.

Shadow leaned back against the bookshelf, pulling his knees up to his chest and crossing his arms over them.  Every book he’d tried, as different as they all were, had one thing in common: they all described sexual feelings.  And if anything, Shadow was more certain now than ever that he didn’t experience those feelings.

See?  The taunting thought-voice had returned.  You’re not like them.  You’re broken.  Defective.

Shadow’s ears tipped back, and he clenched his fists until his nails dug into his palms.

It’s only to be expected.  What could a monster know of love?

Shadow stood and paced up and down the aisle a few times.  There had to be at least an hour left until Vio would return, but Shadow didn’t have it in him to continue reading.  It would be pointless anyway.  Much as he hated it, he had the answer he’d come looking for.

He picked up the book he’d thrown, and was immediately tempted to throw it again, just to have thrown something.  His blood thrummed with restless, angry energy.

He restrained himself enough to put the book back on the shelf, then left the library and headed for the knights’ training field.

There weren’t many people in the field when he arrived.  Artura had a group of young squires going through basic fencing stances, but that was all.  They gave Shadow a brief wave of greeting, but didn’t try to speak to him or approach him. Good.  Shadow didn’t think he was capable of having a polite conversation just now.

He went directly to a padded training dummy and slammed his elbow into it hard enough to send it rocking back on its weighted base.  When it swayed back up, he met it with a palm strike.  He continued to pummel the dummy with elbows, fists, and feet, channeling hurt and anger and flinging it out in the form of violence.

He imagined the head of the dummy as Vaati’s dumb, smug eyeball, and what he’d intended to be a punch turned into a clawed-hand strike that shredded the canvas surface of the dummy. Shadow stumbled back, breathing hard. Sweat stung his eyes – sweat, he told himself, not tears – and he wiped at his face with the back of a hand.

Someone started clapping, and Shadow looked up to see Blue standing several paces away.  He carried two wooden training swords tucked under one of his arms.

Now that Shadow had stopped attacking, Blue approached and examined the shredded training dummy. “Man, between your anger issues and mine, we go through these things like crazy.  I think I can probably patch this up though, no need for a new one quite yet.”

He turned back to Shadow, frowning dubiously.  “This the part where I’m supposed to ask you if you want to talk about what’s wrong?”

Shadow gave him an incredulous look.  “I’d really rather you didn’t.”

Blue slumped in obvious relief.  “Thank the Goddesses.  So, you want to spar?”  He held up one of the practice swords.

“Sure.”  Shadow could feel himself starting to grin as he raised a hand to catch the sword Blue tossed to him.

“Just do some proper warm-ups first,” Blue cautioned.  “I know you didn’t before demolishing that dummy, and I don’t want to hear the lecture Green would give if one of us got an easily-preventable training injury.”

The sparring helped, giving Shadow somewhere to channel his energy and something else to focus on. Blue was a good fighter, much as Shadow was never, ever going to tell him that to his face.  It took concentration for Shadow to hold his own, especially without using his shadow powers.

Well.  Without getting caught using them, anyway.

When Shadow returned to the Links’ shared quarters that night, Vio, Green, and Blue were playing a card game, while Red fidgeted with something in the mass of craft supplies that still littered the table.

Shadow dropped onto the couch next to Vio, leaning into his side.  They’d sat like this countless times before – it felt so natural Shadow had done it without thinking – but this time he found himself bracing for some sign of discomfort or rejection from Vio.

It didn’t happen.  Vio shifted so that his arm was draped across Shadow’s shoulders instead of being pinned awkwardly between them, Green passed Shadow a hand of cards, and they continued without comment.

Several rounds of the game later, Shadow tossed the ace of clubs onto the table, and Blue frowned.

“Hang on a minute,” he said. “I played the ace of clubs two turns ago.  It should still be in the discard pile.”  He gave Shadow a suspicious look.

“Well I couldn’t very well use the ace of diamonds,” Shadow huffed.  “Vio’s had it tucked up his sleeve for the past five minutes.”

“Hey, don’t sell me out!” Vio complained.  At some point during the game, his arm had slipped from Shadow’s shoulders to his waist – giving him the perfect angle to poke Shadow in the ribs.

Blue made indignant noises, and Green clapped him on the shoulder, laughing.  “You should know better than to play cards with those two if you don’t want creative interpretations of the rules!”

Before grumbling could escalate into an argument, Red interrupted by dumping a pile of ribbons on the table.

“We need to be ready for Ribbon Day tomorrow!” Red said, passing them each a bundle of narrow yellow and blue ribbons.  “I thought it’d be nice if we take turns braiding them – that way we’ll each have something we all worked on together.”

Yellow for friends, blue for family.  Shadow couldn’t help smiling a little as he looked down at the ribbons.

“Someone’s going to have to show me what I’m supposed to be doing here,” Shadow said.  “This is more string than I know what to do with.”

Red leaned forward to point at the ribbons Shadow held.  “First, take these two pieces and cross them, like this…”

Shadow settled back into the warmth of Vio’s side, following Red’s instructions and listening to the others’ quiet conversation.  

Ribbon Day dawned no warmer than the days preceding it, but at least significantly drier.  The chilly grey mist had given way to clear blue skies, with only the occasional wisp of white cloud, as if the sky itself were joining in the holiday spirit.

The castle gates had been thrown wide open.  Throngs of festival-goers wandered freely between the castle grounds and the streets of Castle Town.  In the fields between, booths seemed to have sprouted overnight like wildflowers, all bright colors and fluttering streamers.  Their proprietors shouted cheerfully, advertising games of skill and chance, or last-minute gifts and ribbons, or festival food.  The air was full of the scent of an especially popular pastry, made in the shape of ribbons for the holiday.

There wasn’t a person in sight without at least one ribbon.  Doe-eyed couples walked hand-in hand, bedecked in romantic red.  Groups of similar-looking children shouted and played, their arms wrapped in the blue of family.  Store owners proudly displayed green to signify their successful business partnerships.  Argumentative neighbors exchanged truce-grey.  Yellow friendship ribbons were everywhere.

Red had done his best to wake them all early for the festival.  Shadow had been the only one to successfully resist, which earned him a few more hours of precious sleep, but also meant he’d missed the others leaving. Fortunately, the archery contest would be starting soon, and Shadow knew they’d all be there, so he made his way towards the tournament field.

A natural hillside, lined with benches, sloped down to a flattened field where the tournaments were being held.  Fabric awnings had been set up to protect the viewers from rain, though with the change in the weather they had become sun-shades instead.

It was a crowded part of the festival.  The archery competition seemed likely to be especially popular, since both the princess of the land and one of the heroes participating.

Vio was busy helping a few other knights set up the archery targets, so Shadow had to content himself with shouting “good luck!” across the field.  Vio looked up when he heard and waved in return.

Zelda stood near the edge of the field, surrounded by a crowd of festival-goers eager to meet their princess.  She had forgone her royal crown for the day in favor of a wreath of ribbons – yellow from friends, blue from family, green from political allies, and even a single strand of red that was sure to make rumors fly.  She smiled and waved when she caught sight of Shadow, and the throng of people around her parted to let the princess speak to her friend.

“Good luck today, Zelda,” he said.  He pulled out the yellow ribbon he’d been carrying in his sleeve and presented it to her.

She took the ribbon and added it to her already-elaborate wreath.  Then she produced a yellow ribbon of her own that had been tucked into her archery quiver and handed it to him.  “You had better be wishing me more luck than you are Vio,” she said, her grin turning cheeky.  “I know you like him best, but after we practiced together yesterday I’m afraid to say I’m confident I need the luck more.  He doesn’t need any extra help.”  She gave a put-upon sigh, but the laughter in her eyes showed her true feelings on the matter.

He took the offered ribbon, tying it to his wrist with the others.  “Then I’ll wish you the best of luck.”

Shadow noticed a small girl standing nearby, holding a toy bow and arrow, shifting back and for from foot to foot.  The child was clearly desperate to speak to the princess, but too polite to interrupt. “I won’t keep you from your adoring fans any longer,” Shadow said.

“And I won’t keep you from your spot in the stands!  Red has been trying to get your attention for a while now.”  She pointed over his shoulder, and Shadow turned to see that, indeed, Red was seated under one of the cloth awnings with Blue and Green, waving both arms above his head.  With a quick farewell to Zelda and another wave to Vio, Shadow went to join them.

We saved you a spot!” Red said, patting the bench beside him.   “We’re gonna have the best view from here.”

The crowd settled somewhat as people found places to sit.  Out on the field, the knights finished setting up the last of the targets, and then, with the chiming of the hour, the competition began.

They started with a few dozen archers, but that number dwindled rapidly as each round increased the shooting distance and competitors were eliminated.  Vio and Zelda both progressed without much difficulty, as Shadow had known they would.  Finally, it came down to five archers, Vio and Zelda among them.

The final round had a twist unique to the ribbon day festival – they’d be shooting one at a time for this round, and in addition to increasing the shooting distance again, two knights came back out onto the field to set up a scaffolding framework between the archers and the target.  Ribbons hung from the frame, nearly every color of the festival: all the common ones exchanged between festival-goers, and even the more uncommon ones, like the orange that was sometimes tied to trees as a thanks for the blessings of nature, or the purple that represented the unseen beings and spirits inhabiting Hyrule.  Only black wasn’t present, its purpose as remembrance for the dead considered too solemn for the event.

It would be hard enough to aim past the shifting field of fabric, but the real prize was the bonus points awarded to those who managed to catch a ribbon on their arrow and pin it to the target.

The first archer to step up to the line – a knight a few years older than the Links – seemed disoriented by the movement of the ribbons, and her first shot went a little wide. She adjusted quickly, and her next two were much more accurate, but she didn’t catch any ribbons.

The next competitor got in two clean shots, then caught a grey ribbon, and a cheer went up in the stands. Grey wasn’t one of the higher point values, and the weight of the ribbon had pulled his arrow a little off-course, but he’d still made a respectable score.

The third pinned a yellow ribbon, and then it was Vio’s turn.

Red, Green, Blue, and Shadow cheered, along with a good portion of the rest of the crowd, as Vio stepped up to the line with his usual graceful composure.  Vio took a deep breath – the rise and fall of his shoulders visible even from the stands – lifted his bow, nocked an arrow, and let it go.

His first shot flew straight through the field of ribbons and struck the center of the target, sending scatted applause through the crowd.

Vio lowered his bow, turned to look up at the hillside.  He found the other Links – no doubt helped by Red’s enthusiastic waving – and for a moment his eyes met Shadow’s.  Then he turned back to the target and drew his next arrow.  This one arced high, catching the purple ribbon and pinning it to the target just shy of the middle ring.

The crowd roared encouragement.  Even as he joined in the yelling, Shadow found himself oddly sentimental. Purple.  The color for acknowledging the magical beings of Hyrule. Of course, it was only a coincidence. Purple was one of the highest value ribbons, points-wise, and it was Vio’s own signature color.  Of course he’d aim for that one.

Then Vio’s final arrow pinned the red ribbon dead-center to the target, right under the purple one.

Shadow felt like he’d had the breath knocked out of him.  He was barely conscious of the crowd rising to their feet around him, until Red pulling on his arm on one side and Green on the other brought him to his feet as well to join in the cheering.  Shadow sought Vio’s eyes through the chaos, but Vio didn’t look at the stands as he went to retrieve his arrows and the ribbons he’d captured.

Eventually the onlookers settled back.  A hush of whispered excitement filled the air, half appreciation for the impressive shooting they’d just seen, half anticipation for the last contestant, their princess.  Shadow only half paid attention, too busy trying to talk himself out of reading too much into Vio’s shooting.  It was a coincidence.  It had to be. Both of those ribbons were worth a lot of points, it made sense he’d aim for them.  It didn’t mean anything.

While Shadow mulled this over, the crowd around him cheered Zelda on as she scored well and caught an orange ribbon.

Shadow had mostly dissuaded his overactive imagination and tamped down the dizzy feeling by the time the rounds of shooting ended.  After Zelda collected her arrows and the orange ribbon she’d pinned, all the competitors filed back onto the field to bow to the audience and shake hands with each other.

Vio, having scored the highest, was awarded first place, and all the finalists were allowed to keep any ribbons they caught during their round.

The stands once again became a slow-moving shuffle of people as everyone got up to leave.  Shadow and the others made their way down to the field to congratulate their friends, but it was slow going considering how many people were moving to do the same.

As they waited their turn, Shadow noticed a cluster of six or so teenage girls, giggling and whispering, sending glances toward the archers.  The girl in the center of the group twisted a pink ribbon nervously between her hands, blushing scarlet as her friends poked and teased her.

Come to think of it, Shadow had seen a pink ribbon among those in the final round, too, but he didn’t know the meaning of that color.  “Hey Red.”  He jostled Red’s elbow.  “What’s pink for?”

“Huh?”  Red followed his gaze to the group of girls. “Oh!  Pink is for secret admirers.  Tradition is that if you tie a pink ribbon to your crush’s doorknob, they’ll notice you.”  Red laughed, then dropped his voice quieter so only Shadow would be able to hear him over the crowd.  “Last year Blue and Green got in a fight over which of them more of the ones on our front door were meant for.  No one could get all the way in to our rooms, of course, so it was pretty difficult to tell. Some people had enough foresight to write our names on them, and Blue was unbelievably smug that eight of them had his name and only seven had Green’s.”

Shadow started to snicker at the thought of the petty squabble, but then something occurred to him and he felt a cold weight in his stomach, like he’d swallowed a handful of snow. “You guys get a lot of pink ribbons, huh?”

Red faltered, realizing the implications of what he’d said.  “Um.  Well. Yeah!”  His voice wavered a bit.  “We are heroes and all.  I guess it makes us kinda popular!”

Shadow wanted, urgently, to ask how many Vio got.  He didn’t. He looked for the girls again, but they’d been lost in the crowd.  Which archer had they been fawning over?  Would one of them leave a ribbon on the heroes’ door?  Would one of them write Vio’s name on it?

He’d be better off.

Shadow nearly cursed aloud as the bitter, taunting thoughts resurfaced.

Vio is one of the heroes of Hyrule.  There are so many out there who’d happily be with him.  And any one of them would be better for him than a demon from another world who can’t even love properly.

Vio deserves a full, complete relationship.  Not the pale imitation of one, with a pale imitation of a person.

Shadow stopped in his tracks.  “No,” he growled under his breath.  Red looked back at him in confusion, but Shadow ignored him.  “No, I’m not listening to you.  If nothing else, Vio deserves my honesty.”

In a louder voice, Shadow called out, “Don’t wait for me, I’ve got something to do!”  He darted off before any of the others could reply.

Shadow wove through the crowd, ducking and dodging and not hesitating to use his elbows when applicable. He made his way out of the stands, angling for where he remembered seeing booths selling ribbons earlier. The press of people thinned out somewhat as he got further from the tournament field, and it wasn’t too long before he arrived, out of breath, at the booth he was looking for.

The woman managing the store looked a little alarmed to see Shadow run up suddenly out of nowhere, but she put on a polite smile anyway.  “What can I help you with, sir?”

“That,” said Shadow, not feeling much up to words, but pointing to a length of silky-looking deep red ribbon to get his point across.  He pushed a few rupees towards the woman.

Her smile slipped a little. Probably his look of pained determination wasn’t the expression she usually associated with people buying declarations of love.  But rupees are rupees, so she took the money, handed him the ribbon, and wished him good day.

Feeling a little bad about being rude, Shadow did his best to smile in response before turning and running back the way he came.

The crowd at the tournament field had dispersed a little in the time Shadow had been gone, but only a little.  It still took a bit of effort to make his way to the front, where he found Green, Red, and Blue talking with Zelda, but no sign of an archer in a purple tunic.

“Is Vio here?” Shadow asked.

The four of them jumped a little, surprised at his sudden reappearance.

Zelda’s eyes flicked down to the red ribbon in his hands, and comprehension dawned.  “I’m afraid not,” she said.  “You just missed him.  He went back to your rooms to put his archery gear away.”

Shadow gave a little huff of frustration, but nodded and turned around once more to forge his way through the crowd.

When he got to their living quarters, he found the front door already adorned with several pink ribbons. His stomach dropped a little at the sight, but he resisted the urge to check them for names, and instead pushed through into the common area.

This part of the castle was quiet and dark, with everyone else out enjoying the festival.  Shadow could hear his own footsteps as he crossed the room to stand in front of Vio’s closed bedroom door.  He paused.  The thought flitted across his mind that he could leave the ribbon on the doorknob and run. He rejected the idea almost at once. Shadow was many things, but he wasn’t a coward.

He lifted a hand to knock, but his knuckles had barely brushed the wood when the door swung open.

Vio blinked at him, surprised.  “Shadow? What are you… oh!”  His eyes widened at the sight of the red ribbon Shadow carried.

“Vio… I’ve got something I need to tell you.”

“So I can see.”  Vio’s voice was quiet.  He still looked a little shocked.  “Would you like to sit down?”

Shadow nodded, and Vio moved aside to let him into the room.  The window had a bench seat, and they sat down there, side-by-side.  The comfortable, familiar setting steadied Shadow somewhat, though there was only so much it could do against the rising tide of nerves that threatened to overwhelm him.

For a long while, Shadow stared down at the ribbon in his hands in silence.  Vio waited patiently, letting Shadow gather his thoughts, until…

“Is it possible to l-love someone romantically without wanting to have sex with them?” Shadow finally burst out, the words running together in his stumbling haste.  Now that he’d started, he couldn’t seem to stop. “Because I really think I’m in love with you.  You mean the most to me of anyone in the world, and I love being close to you, and I think I want to k… to kiss you.  But I don’t… I’ve never wanted sex, not with anyone.  And you deserve better than that, you deserve someone who’s not broken and I—“

“Shadow!”  Vio sounded horrified.  Shadow’s already-nervous stomach twisted itself into further knots.

“You are not broken,” Vio insisted, his voice firm.

“But I—“

“Wait here.” Vio got up, crossed the room to his desk, and picked up a large, leather-bound book. Shadow watched him, confusion beginning to overpower sick terror within him.

Vio brought the book over and sat back down next to Shadow. Up close, Shadow recognized it as the same book Vio had been poring over the past couple days, and his confusion deepened. About a third of the way through, several loose sheets of paper had been tucked between the pages. Vio let the book fall open to that point, removed the notes, and passed the book to Shadow. Their shoulders brushed as he leaned in closer to point out one passage in particular.

Shadow frowned down at the text. At first glance, it seemed much like any of the other scientific tomes from the library. The writing was small and dense, and academic enough to trip Shadow up in places. Still, now that he was able to study it more closely than the quick glance he’d taken at breakfast, he was able to piece it together.

The paragraph Vio had pointed to read:

“It has been observed that a small subset of the population lacks the experience of sexual attraction altogether. Studies have uncovered no link or common factor between these non-sexual people, other than their lack of sexual attraction. As such, current theory holds that it is simply a normal, if uncommon, occurrence. A lack of attraction to any gender is just as natural as attraction to any gender or combination thereof.”

Shadow sat back, stunned. “I’m… not broken.”

“You are not,” Vio agreed vehemently.  “And… you might want to read these as well.”  He handed Shadow the loose notes that had been tucked between the pages.

Vio’s handwriting was unmistakable.  So this was what he’d been putting so much time into writing lately?  It seemed to be several attempts at a letter, each one having been covered in crossing-outs and margin notes before being rejected, and another attempt begun.

Shadow chose the most complete-looking and started reading.

My Dear Shadow,

I think it’s no secret that I am deeply fond of you.  For some time now, I have been aware that these feelings are of a romantic nature.

But I fear But it would be disingenuous of me to pursue such a relationship without first telling you this: the phenomenon described in this book, an innate lack of ability to feel sexual attraction, applies to me.  I had wondered if such a thing might develop as the two of us grew closer, but in nearly two years, it seems it’s not to be.

Sexual feelings or no, the fact remains that I am truly fond in love with you.  If you are still interested in pursuing a romantic relationship with me, even knowing it would be a sexless one, then I would be honored

you have my heart

I would

It was there that the note trailed off into a frustrated scribble.  Apparently, Vio had been unsure how to conclude.

Shadow couldn’t hold back a short laugh, which came out so choked it was nearly a sob. “You get so formal when you’re nervous,” he teased.

Vio gave him a wry grin. “Well, I thought I was writing to tell the person I love something that might be a romantic deal breaker to him.”

“It’s not.  Goddesses, Vi, this is the furthest thing from a deal breaker.”

Shadow was still holding the red ribbon he’d bought at the festival.  Closing Vio’s book and setting it aside, Shadow turned so he was facing Vio more directly and held the ribbon out to him.  Rather than take it, Vio held out his own wrist, so that Shadow could tie the ribbon around it.  He did so, his hands shaking a little from the lingering effects of the emotional gamut he’d just run.

Then Vio lifted his other hand and offered Shadow the red and purple ribbons he’d won during the archery contest.  Affection warm in his chest, Shadow held out his arm for to Vio tie the ribbons to. Vio deliberately wound them in such a way that the arrow holes would show.  Thinking back to the moment during the contest when Vio’s eyes had met his, Shadow realized that Vio really had chosen those two ribbons on purpose.  The fact that they had been won for Shadow made the gift that much more precious.

As soon as the ribbons were secure, Shadow wrapped Vio in a hug and buried his face against Vio’s shoulder. When Vio returned the hug, it felt like something being set right in the world, some puzzle piece that had been ever so slightly off-kilter finally falling into its proper place.

They pulled back, just far enough to look each other in the eye.  Vio tilted his forehead against Shadow’s and lifted one hand to cradle the side of Shadow’s face.  Shadow leaned into the warmth of the touch, savoring it.  He was still trying to get his head around the fact that he could have this.  That Vio wanted this too, the same way he did, and wouldn’t be expecting more than Shadow could give.

He said as much, and Vio’s expression was a mix of amusement and sadness at the irony of it.  “I’ve been worrying about this for some time,” Vio said, his voice soft.  Close as they were, there was no need to speak louder.  “That you’d be disappointed, or upset.”

“I was in denial until two days ago, but I think I’ve done more than enough worrying since then to make up for my late start.”

“We may be a pair of idiots for worrying and pining, when we could have had this all the sooner if we’d just spoken about it.”  Vio brushed his fingers through Shadow’s hair.  “But at least we’re a matching pair.”

“We always have been,” Shadow replied.

They stayed like that for a long moment, foreheads together, breathing in unison.  Then Vio spoke again.

“You said something earlier, about wanting to kiss me?”

Shadow gave a startled little laugh.  “Yeah. I did.”

When they pressed their lips together in their first kiss, they were both smiling.