Never Without You │ BOTW modern AU fanfic

よろしくおねがいします

"Only because you keep asking about her," Link counters with a playful smirk.

I disregard the awkward and extremely adorable comment and hope my cheeks aren't giving anything away. "Thank you for letting me stay here. I really appreciate it! Oh, and Link has told me a lot about you as well!"

His smile is subtle but it's there! I'm so glad that his father seems to like me so far. My heart is racing from the joy I feel at his English skills.

"You are hungry? Let's eat." Link's father takes a seat at the table. Now I see; there is a hollow area for our legs beneath the table. How cool!

"Famished," I reply.

I remember the seating arrangement so I sit in the center opposite him. Link sits next to me and the rest of his family joins soon after. Now comes another challenge... eating with chopsticks. I should be decent enough at it after eating at Vah Rudania for years but I'm still terrified of making etiquette mistakes.

I keep my back unnaturally straight while Link's mother serves the food; looks like we're having rice, soup, and... chicken? Some kind of meat, that's for sure. It looks good, that's all I care about right now.

When everyone puts their hands together in front of their chests and says the phrase Link tried to teach me a few minutes ago, I stay quiet and repeat the phrase in my head, hoping to remember it for the next dinner.

"You want sleep?" Link's father asks me as he pours me a glass of water. What? Oh, is he asking if I'm tired?

"Yes," I admit.

"You take good sleep tonight," he says with a calm and confident smile. He seems so friendly. Not at all like the version I created in my nightmares.

Link leans closer and talks in a low volume. "We can just chill tomorrow and depending on your jet lag we can explore the city a little," Link tells me. "My job doesn't start till Monday, so we have... like... 4 days where I don't have to be anywhere."

"Sounds good," I reply with a tired smile. I am at my limit here. If nobody else was in the room, I might just put my head on the table and call it a night right here, right now.

Link and his father are the only family members to talk to me during dinner. His mother attempts to ask me something but I can't understand her and Link ends up translating for us. I wish I could talk to her, she seems very sweet. Aryll however... she just clings to Link, not letting go of him once. I have to find a way to get along with her. I wish I could assure her that I'm not trying to take Link away from her but she doesn't seem to understand any English.

At least his parents and grandmother seem to like me, even if I can barely communicate with them. I should really take a Japanese class next semester. Link and I could take it together, I miss taking classes with him. And I've been meaning to learn another language anyway.

After dinner, we say goodnight to Link's family and head upstairs. The stairs are old and creaky and the air is very thick up here, motionlessly sitting between the dark wooden walls. The hallway is just as tight as the one downstairs and contains four doors. Link slides open the third door, which leads to a tiny bathroom with only a bathtub... I look at him in confusion.

"The toilet's downstairs. This bathroom is only for taking baths," he explains. "You take a shower first to clean up next to the tub, then you get into the bath. I know it's strange to you but that's how we do it in Japan."

"I suppose I just have to get used to it. Where is your room?"

"Right here," he says and slides open another door. His room is small but due to a lack of furniture, it feels a bit more spacious than it really is. It has a small single bed, a simple wooden desk, and a shelf with a bunch of trophies. I'm happy to see that his younger self still cared about trophies and didn't hide them in dusty boxes under his bed. A younger version of Link... I smile at the thought. I'd like to know more about his childhood. This is the perfect place to learn more about him and I can't wait to hear all the stories of his time before he moved to the States.