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Zelda aimlessly observed the dust she swept be pushed around by the head of the broom, watching as it took to the air briefly before settling on the wooden floor again. She had done everything she needed to do, surprisingly – formulated lesson plans, made more progress in her research of Brightbloom Seeds and their luminescent properties, finally succeeded in breeding a more resilient type of Silent Princess (an endeavor she had been working on for months), added a few more seeds to her catalogue and wrote in her journal – and yes, she had taken a walk, gone down into Hateno Village to buy some groceries, said hello to whatever students of hers she saw and admired the new Hateno Botanical Gardens. She truly had done everything – her husband had gone out to hunt. She had hastily reassured him that “it’s really alright, dear, I can go and buy meat down at the village marketplace” – but he had insisted that “No, Zelda, the meat’s gonna taste better if he worked for it”.
Well, speak of the goblin himself. Zelda heard huffing as Link came up the hill and thump as he dropped something heavy. Glancing out the window, a dead boar now lay in their front yard.
The wooden door creaked open, and she turned to greet her husband before her throat went dry.
He was huffing, most likely because he jogged up the hill to their Hateno home carrying the carcass. Link’s white, long-sleeved tunic was tied around his waist, leaving him completely topless. He said a quiet ‘hello’ to her, kissing her briefly on the cheek, before hanging his bow and ducking outside to the boar carcass, knife in hand.
She had never seen such a boar being skinned in such an… artistic way.
It probably wasn’t the boar being cut that was artistic, no – it was the man cutting the boar. Her man, no less.
She admired his torso as he plunged the blade into the creatures hide – the way his back muscles flexed slightly as he gently cut through the skin, moving down the belly. His entire torso was covered in a gleam of sweat, and she watched from the window as it dripped down him.
Link moved around to the other side, and Goddess, now she could see his front side. His shoulders were pumped, likely from the hunt, and every time he carved through the somewhat-resistant hide of the animal, his delts flexed through his skin. Sweat dripped down his body, falling off his pecs and his abs as he cut through. His bicep veins were showing, practically shining in the light as he continued his operations. Zelda tuned out the sound and sights of the boar being dissected to focus on his Goddess-damned forearms – oh, how veiny they were after an hour of slashing through thick grass and pulling a bowstring repeatedly. The shadows accentuated them (as well as the rest of his physique) seemingly just for her, and Zelda sent a million thanks up to the Goddesses for creating the sun – Link looked absolutely stunning during the golden hour.
He was beautiful. It wasn’t simply handsomeness, or being pretty – no, he was a mix of both. His androgyny was pervasive through every part of him – masculine in that his body was sculpted over the course of a century after spending a good ten years training to be a knight before the big nap, fighting two calamities, spending countless net total hours hunting food, killing the last of Ganon’s monsters and lifting heavy things for the villagers who needed help- feminine in that he was so graceful – dancing with him even just a few times had proven that, not to mention his cyan earrings his long hair, currently tied back . His eyes, though sharp and as deep as an ocean, were gentle – his skin was somehow as smooth as silk without effort, his nose was curved perfectly to catch her attention and his lips were soft to the touch – or to the kiss.
Zelda had been staring for a while. Long enough for Link to finish skinning the boar – and long enough for him to notice. He flashes her a grin, giving her a thumbs up, which she reciprocates with a shy wave – strange, considering this is the man she’d been married to for about five years. Zelda finds that her face is hot – it’s only getting hotter it seems. It makes absolutely zero sense – she’s seen him shirtless (and more) plenty of other times, and it never fails to make her go wild, and Oh my goodness he’s letting his hair down-
Link undoes his cyan hair tie, tying it around his wrist. His dirty blonde hair cascades down his neck, and he shakes his head slightly, brushing a few strands out of his eyes.
Is he trying to kill me?!
She turns away and returns to sweeping before she explodes.