"You're pretty, you know that?" Zelda says, tentative fingers moving under Midna's hood to let it fall back. It reveals this massive amount of bright orange hair, soft as ever, and Zelda runs her fingers through it, appreciative.
"Says you, Little Miss Sunshine," Midna chuckles, biting her lip. She feels overwhelmed by the mere look Zelda gives her, the attention she never received, the carefulness with which Zelda treats her -- like she's a crystal creature, shattering into a million pieces when it slips through Zelda's hands.
"Hm," Zelda muses, "Take a compliment for once, would you? Without redirecting the attention to me."
"That-" Midna starts but stops halfway. That's hard to do -- you don't just take compliments from someone. Compliments are like precious little gifts, fabricated in the minds of the giver, shaped perfectly to fit the receiver. The receiver, usually, is expected to smile, maybe blush, and thank the giver -- and that's that.
Midna can't do that.
She goes into this mind spiral -- first, she wonders whether or not the giver is serious, or if there's some sort of malicious intent behind it all. Then she tries to assess the words given to her, breathe them in one by one to see what they mean, and she tries to hold them dear. And then the hardest part, thanking the giver for what they've said and acknowledging honestly what it means to her.
No, it's much easier to skip past all of the sincerity, the godawful vulnerability of it all and just smile and nod, and create a compliment in return.
"I'm gonna give you so many compliments, you'll have to accept each and every one of them." Zelda cups Midna's face, fingers soft as silk as they trace the skin over her cheekbones, cradling the cerulean skin like it's something Zelda has never seen before. Her eyes are bright, and there's a small fire lighting up inside them, telling Midna that there's a challenge she's formed for herself, and it will be one Midna loses.
"But my darling, that's torture of the highest form!" Midna faux gasps, and places a hand on her own chest -- anything to get some distance between them, before she'll drown in the mere presence of Zelda, and because humor is easier than letting the weight of Zelda's words work in on her.
Zelda chuckles, and it's this bright sound that has Midna freeze dead in her tracks for a second. God, if she'd get to listen to that sound for the rest of her life, she succeeded.
"Just you wait," Zelda says, before winking. She boops Midna's nose briefly -- a short reminder of how playful she can be, but it also functions to accentuate the things she stated, so that they don't get lost.
Zelda turns away from Midna, and she turns to the sun. Her silhouette is illuminated by the bright light source, and Midna almost has to shield her eyes, but she can't find it in herself to miss just one bit of Zelda before her. The brown locks are highlighted by the orange sun, the hue of the entire sky fits perfectly with Zelda's brown and orange aesthetic, and Midna has never seen someone so well in place as Zelda around sunset.
It's almost like the two things were made for each other, like the sun rays hug Zelda's frame as if she's a daughter that hasn't been home in a little while.
Midna watches her go and hopes that one day, maybe, they'll form a home together.
--
"Oh, hello gorgeous," Zelda smiles, moving to sit by Midna in the grass.
It's late at night, and the moon is their only light source. Its reflection lights up the sea before them, and Midna has her toes in the water. She looks up to meet Zelda's warm eyes, and feels her entire face light up, "Hello, sunshine."
"I almost didn't want to disturb you, you seem so in your element like this, with the moon highlighting your hair, and your wonderful outfit." Zelda looks at Midna like she's something worth checking out, and again Midna feels heavy under her gaze. There's a huge difference between being looked at, and being looked at. Midna's used to being looked at -- she dresses in a certain way that has people looking twice, with her shiny hood and big jewelry. But she wouldn't consider herself someone to be looked at, to be appreciated, to be praised.
Zelda changes that for her, and the entire concept of being looked at is reinvented simply by the way she marvels her eyes over Midna. Midna's face, skin, body, eyes, hair -- everything has suddenly become something special, and the magic of it is found in Zelda's touch.
"I- I had been waiting for you," Midna says, swallowing down a lump in her throat and feeling grateful that her voice cooperated.
"Oh, have you now? My compliments not that big of a punishment?" Zelda laughs, and it crinkles her eyes.
"N-no, not- not that- just-"
"Just what?"
"I like-" Midna takes a deep breath, looking away from Zelda's piercing gaze to find some serenity in the moonlight, "I like being around you."
"Oh!" Zelda exclaims, "Is this flirting, I hear?"
"N-no..."
"Then what is it?"
Midna scoffs, "Miss Compliments Left And Right, you're the biggest flirt here."
"So you are flirting!"
Midna spares a small glance in Zelda's way, before curling a strand of hair behind her own ear, "Are you?" She asks, challenging.
"Are you?" Zelda retorts, and -- okay, fair.
"Maybe."
"Well, maybe so am I."
Great, now Midna still knows nothing. If only she could stop herself from getting all tangled up in messes of her own mind, she might actually be able to push this crush to something real, something serious. But no, joking around and hoping for the best is easier, so that's what her nature always goes back to.
She takes a deep breath, then lies down on the grass. The grass is cold to her skin, but not unwelcome. She looks up at the moon and wishes for dear god that it holds the answers to her questions, the solutions to her struggles, the ways to get where she wants to be.
There's ruffling beside her, and she doesn't have to look to know that it's Zelda laying down too.
"Do you ever wonder about the reason we live?" Midna says, just to find another topic to talk about, away from the whole will-they-won't-they crushing thing.
"Woah, damn, never pegged you as a philosopher."
"You haven't pegged me at all- wait- that sounds wrong-" Midna chuckles, heart beating so loudly in her chest, she's sure Zelda can hear it, trembles crashing like waves over the grass, reaching her skin and telling her just how desperate Midna is for her.
Zelda isn't laughing, and Midna only realizes this when her own rapid breathing slows down. She looks at Zelda, worried that she said something wrong.
But even in the dim moonlight, Midna can see how Zelda's eyes are darker than they usually are. She says, voice low, "Would you want me to?"
Midna takes a deep breath, throwing her head back into the grass, "I should go for a swim," She sighs, after a long beat of silence, "Care to join me?"
"Hmm, switch the topic, smooth as you are," But there's no bite to it. Then: "Can't, I have to go in a bit again. Go ahead though! I'll watch you dive and then I'll leave."
"Okay," Midna says, and while part of her screams to her to wait just a little while longer, to keep laying beside Zelda while she can, she moves up to take a dive into the water. Before she does, she says, "See you soon."
"See you, Luna," Zelda says, and Midna smiles softly at the nickname.
--
"Remember when you asked me what the meaning of life is?" Zelda says, a few weeks later. They're walking into the forest, onto finding their special spot in the middle -- an open place where the sun shines through, surrounded by trees, and there's this big log in the middle on which they can sit. Midna's taken her likings to laying on the ground, so she lays by Zelda's feet on the grass, looking up at the beauty herself.
"Or, no, you asked me about the reason we live, remember? By the waters?" Zelda continues.
Midna nods in confirmation. She had already forgotten the question -- certainly not the insinuations that followed -- and feels almost endeared with the idea that Zelda remembered, that she took her time to think about it, and wonder about the question.
"I think that the reason we live is simply to love."
"To love?" Midna says, leaning upon her elbows to look at Zelda closer.
"Yeah, really. It's what drives people to do things."
Midna chuckles, she had expected a lot of things, possible ideas for which people wake up every day, but the concept of love had passed by her.
"Don't laugh! Love lays at the root of all things. Even hatred is born out of love, one way or another."
"And for what do you love, Zelda? What gets you awake every morning?"
Zelda smiles this certain laugh, of which Midna does not know the meaning. It's not to Midna, but to Zelda herself, something private, like a stray thought that passed by that has her smiling but holds no worth mentioning. She pats on the log beside her, and Midna eyes the movement of her hand. She looks up at Zelda again.
"C'mon, come sit next to me."
Midna grunts, "I was comfortable, answer the question."
"I will, just come sit, first."
"Fiiiine," Midna rises from the ground, and places her legs on either side of the log, fully facing Zelda.
Zelda smiles, hands moving to cup Midna's face instantly, and Midna startles.
"You are the reason I do things every morning, you're the reason I smile, you're the reason I have joy in life, you're the reason I cannot wait for what tomorrow holds. You are my reason to live, my love."
Midna freezes -- look, over time, she's gotten slightly more used to Zelda's compliments, but not this. This is the true definition of overwhelming, her heart clenching tightly, her throat dry.
She blinks a few times, and Zelda's expression hasn't changed, her smile not fading, and her eyes still glittering with mirth.
"Flirt," Midna jokes.
"For you, yeah," And with that, Zelda leans in, and kisses Midna on her mouth, for the first time ever, but certainly not the last.