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Gift giving was an odd topic in the group. There was princess Zelda, who was royalty and could have essentially anything she wanted at any point in time, making her incredibly difficult to shop for. Then there were the heroes of the Four Sword, who just a few months ago were one singular person, which also messed up previous assumptions people could make when it came to shopping for Link. And now there was Shadow, a demon from the realm of darkness who was their enemy a few months ago and barely understood the point of the holiday they were gathering together to celebrate.
Thankfully they came to the conclusion to do a secret gift exchange. Needing to shop for one person made it all much easier and took away some of the pressure. Besides, none of them were really in it for the gifts themselves, but they wanted to celebrate their first winter holiday together properly.
Red was the one who was in charge of distributing names to everyone. The rules were simple: They all had two weeks to get gifts together, and there wasn’t a strict budget, but everyone should receive two gifts that way there wasn’t too much pressure to find the perfect single gift for anyone.
“How are we doing this?” Green asked, setting the presents he wrapped down in the center before sitting down in the circle. He was the last one to join, but to be fair he was the one decorating the room and getting everything set up beforehand.
“We could go in a circle,” Vio suggested.
“Yeah, but who’s going to start?” Green asked.
Vio shrugged, and before anyone else could chime in, Red beamed and shoved two presents wrapped in bags covered in bows and colorful tissue paper over towards his secret person. “Here! I had Zelda, so she should start!”
Zelda giggled at his enthusiasm and grabbed the bags. “Thank you, Red.” She was careful with the tissue paper, gently pulling it free from the bag to prevent it from ripping. There were a few items in the first bag that she stared at for a brief moment before it clicked. “Oh! This is perfect!”
She removed five stacked clay pots and several mini bags full of seeds. The pots were all hand painted in different colors to resemble the heroes that fought to rescue her from Vaati, Shadow included, and the seeds were labeled with different types of flowers.
“I figured since you can’t always get outside to see the wildflowers, you’d want to start your own indoor garden,” Red explained.
“That’s so thoughtful, Red,” Zelda said. “I’ll have to do some research on how to keep them alive. I would hate for the seeds to go to waste due to my own lack of knowledge on plants.”
“That’s what part two is for!” Red laughed, gesturing to the second, unopened bag.
Inside was a book titled Indoor Gardening: Cultivating Greenery In Your Cozy Space , with hundreds of pages detailing what certain plants needed in order to thrive inside. Zelda flipped through the pages excitedly before closing it and hugging the book close. “Red, I seriously cannot thank you enough! This is perfect.”
Zelda set the gifts aside and got up to give Red a hug, genuinely grateful for the thought he put into her gifts. She held him tight for a moment and quietly whispered another “Thank you,” before sitting back down and looking around the group. “So, uh… are we going in a circle?”
“It might be easier to keep track if whoever received a gift gives out their gift next,” Vio suggested. “It just seems like that might flow better.”
“I like that idea,” Green nodded.
“Well good, because you’re technically next since I had you, Green,” Zelda said, handing over one neatly wrapped box and one bag with the handles tied together with a strand of ribbon.
Green smiled and took the presents from her, taking a moment to glance at each one. “Does the order matter?”
“Not really, but maybe start with the bag?” Zelda suggested.
Doing as he was told, Green untied the bow and opened the bag before reaching inside. His hands gripped the fabric and out came a beautiful deep forest green hat held together with tight crocheted stitches in the same pattern as his signature hat. He immediately ripped the old hat off of his head in favor of the new one. The band around it went further down his head, covering the tips of his ears.
“I figured this would do a better job of keeping you warm in this weather,” Zelda said, explaining the size.
“Did you make this?” Green asked. He already knew the answer, but he wanted to give her a moment to brag about the craftsmanship.
“Yes, but it was a fairly simple pattern. Nothing too wild,” she said, trying to take the attention away from herself. “I promise I only spent the two weeks we were allotted to work on it.”
“It’s perfect, thank you,” Green said with a smile. He picked up the box next, unsure of how whatever was inside could top the handmade hat. He tore off the paper, realizing a bit too late that maybe he should’ve taken more care with it, but oh well. Once the paper was gone, he removed the lid from the box and felt the air catch in his throat. Sitting inside was a beautiful golden frame holding carefully behind glass a picture of Link and Zelda as small children, featuring the King and late Queen of Hyrule, as well as the Captain of the Knights and his late wife holding their son in her lap.
Green couldn’t find the words. Instead, he allowed the tears to well up as he moved to wrap his arms tightly around Zelda, burying his face in her shoulders. She slowly rubbed her hand up and down his back as she hugged him back, allowing him to take a moment and compose himself.
“I’m sorry for upsetting you-”
“Don’t,” Green muttered, cutting her off. “ Thank you .” Pictures were difficult to come by, and harder to keep in decent condition. After the attack on Hyrule Castle, Green thought every image of his mom had been lost. To know that there was still one left…
He sat back and wiped his eyes before passing the photo around to the rest of the group. They all took a moment to cherish it and appreciate the fact that it existed while Green smiled and continued to wipe his face.
“Is this a normal part of celebrating?” Shadow asked, taking a second to glance at the picture to see if he could understand why everyone was so emotional all of a sudden.
“It’s not uncommon to experience extreme emotions during the holidays, especially when it comes to those who aren’t here to celebrate anymore,” Vio explained softly, taking Shadow’s hand in his hand before passing the photo back to Green.
“Well now that that’s over,” Blue huffed, trying his best to appear cool and collected, “Green it’s your turn.”
“Yeah, there’s no good transition after that,” Green said, laughing a bit as he went to grab his secret giftee’s presents.
“I’m sorry!” Zelda said quickly so Green couldn’t cut her off again.
“No, seriously, don’t apologize, it was perfect,” Green said. “Don’t know how I’m supposed to follow that one, but Vio, these are for you.”
Green passed over what were clearly two wrapped books and Vio couldn’t help but chuckle as he took them. “You meant it when you called me Bookworm, huh.”
“Eh, to be fair I mean it less as an insult now,” Green said with a shrug.
Vio rolled his eyes before tearing away the paper covering the first book. It was a thick blue tome titled Heroes Throughout History with a golden stamp of the Triforce right in the center. The table of context revealed sections retelling tales from several different heroes throughout time, including the Chosen Hero, the Hero Time, and even the first wielder of the Four Sword.
“This is an impressive collection,” Vio said as he flipped through some of the pages.
“I’m not entirely sure how accurate it is, but I figured fact checking it would be a bonus for you,” Green explained.
He couldn’t argue with that. Vio nodded silently as his eyes scanned the pages. After only a moment though, Blue elbowed his arm. “You can read through it later! Open the other first.”
Reluctantly, Vio closed the book and reached for the second unopened one. It was much smaller than the blue tome, and the binding appeared to be handmade with exposed twine holding a couple dozen pages together. There wasn’t even a title on the cover, which was a simple black piece of soft, thin leather.
“It’s a little crude in its design, but in my defense I’ve never bound a book before,” Green admitted.
“You made this?” Vio asked.
“Sort of? I didn’t write what’s inside, I just collected them and put them all in one place for easy access,” Green explained. “It’s a collection of poems and short stories that feature men who express romantic feelings for other men. I think there are some poems about women in there too who prefer other women, but yeah. There aren’t any official publishing's out there, so I had to track down what I could find and make one for you. It just seemed like something you’d want on hand.”
Vio’s eyes widened at the mention of the subject matter as his hands tightly gripped the book, worried that if he let go this one of a kind piece would vanish. He wasn’t much of a hugger like the majority of them were, but he did offer Green a nod as he held the book close. “Thank you for this. I… I look forward to reading it.”
“Maybe one of these days you can add onto it,” Green suggested.
“Perhaps,” Vio hummed. He was more of a reader than a writer, but maybe some inspiration lied within the pages of queer poems and stories Green had gifted him. “Thank you for this, Green. This means a lot to me.”
“Of course, friend,” Green said with a soft smile. “Anytime.”
Vio didn’t want the attention to linger on him any longer than necessary, so he reached for the bags he brought and handed them over to Blue. “I will specify right now that a lot of people have been adding a homemade touch to their gifts, but that is not something I thought to do.”
“Same here, no worries,” Blue said as he took the bags. The first one was small, holding a long, thin strip of dyed blue leather. He stared at the item in question as he pulled it from the bag. “Okay, so I get not making anything yourself, but did you buy the supplies and forget to make the actual gift?”
Vio chuckled and shook his head. “I noticed a few weeks ago that the leather on your hammer has been wearing down, so I got you a replacement. I know you’re pretty particular when it comes to certain things though, so I figured I’d let you rewrap it. I’m happy to assist though if needed.”
“Oh, that’s sweet! Thanks, Vio,” Blue said, his face lighting up upon the realization of what the item was for. “The color is nice. A lot more vibrant than the current brown wrap.”
The second bag was much larger. Blue reached inside, his fingers grabbing a thick, plush fabric from within. He pulled it out to reveal a deep navy cloak with a hood and slots for his arms to go through. The hood was lined with gray fur, and there was a double layer of fabric that was built for keeping in heat.
“You’ve been nonstop complaining about the cold ever since Red busted you out of that ice prison, so I figured this would help with that,” Vio explained.
Blue wasted no time draping the cloak around him and pulling it tightly against his body, not even bothering with the arm holes right away. “Thank you, but I’m not getting out of this to hug you.”
Vio let out a snort of laughter. “Glad to know you like it.”
Keeping true to his word, Blue stayed tightly wrapped up in his new cloak, forcing himself to push Shadow’s presents over to him with his foot. “Everyone else has been real sappy with their gifts, but I’m going to be honest, this is all I could think of.”
“If it makes you feel better, I have no previous experiences to compare this to,” Shadow said as he grabbed the bags. The first item was wrapped loosely with tissue paper inside the bag that fell off the moment he grabbed hold of the item. In his hand sat a beautiful hand mirror with a silver frame and handle. Shadow’s reflection shone off the surface, and he couldn’t help but laugh at the gift.
“Ya know, since you broke the last one,” Blue said, smirking a bit.
“This one will be much harder to summon an army of darkness through, but I suppose I could make it work,” Shadow teased. He carefully set it down, not wanting to risk jokes of him breaking a second mirror, before grabbing the second present. This one also had a handle that made it easy to remove from the bag. Once it was out in the open, Shadow brought his other hand over and pushed up against the handle, opening up a delicate black lace parasol.
“This one I thought would help with the sun issue,” Blue explained, trying desperately not to laugh at the idea of Shadow taking a stroll through Castle Town holding a lacey parasol.
“How thoughtful,” Shadow chuckled.
“Pretty sure it’s bad luck to open it indoors,” Green said.
“Breaking a mirror is also considered bad luck,” Shadow pointed out. “Hopefully in my case, they cancel each other out.”
With that, Red was the last person to need a gift. Shadow pushed the bag and a rolled up scroll towards the final hero.
“In my defense, I’ve never done one of these gift exchange things before,” Shadow clarified as Red reached for the presents. “I wasn’t exactly sure how to go about it, and we only had two weeks to figure it out-”
“Shadow, I’m sure whatever it is will be great!” Red said, beaming widely. If anything, it was honestly a blessing that Shadow received Red since the little guy was so easy to please.
The first bag revealed a dozen or so loose, thin metal sticks. The rest of the group appeared to be confused by them, but Red’s face somehow lit up even more. “Are these sparklers?”
“Yeah, the person at the shop said they should all be different colors, but I forgot to ask her to label them so it’s anyone’s guess,” Shadow said. They didn’t seem like much, but they were as close as Shadow could get to fireworks, something else he knew the Red hero enjoyed. For such a kind soul, he sure did love pyrotechnics.
“These are awesome! Thank you, Shadow!” Red exclaimed, excitedly gathering all of them up. All he wanted to do was pass them around and herd everyone outside so they could light them, but there was still one last gift to open.
Red picked up the scroll and unrolled it to reveal the message hidden inside.
Dear Red,
I’m sorry for stealing your sword several months ago and lighting a village on fire and blaming you for it. In my defense, we were enemies at the time and I did give you a pretty sick fire rod, but that still was not an okay thing for me to do. To make up for it, I’ve been going to the village once a week to help clear away the damage and rebuild some of the sheds that are still down.
I’m not really sure if this counts as a present, but Vio seems convinced that you’ll like it. If not though, blame him.
Sincerely,
Shadow
Red laughed as tears welled up in his eyes. The apology was nice, but knowing that Shadow was actually taking the time to undo some of the damage he did, that was the real present there. “Thank you, Shadow. I’m going to see if I can get this framed!”
“There’s really no need for that,” Shadow frowned.
“Nope! It’s my present and I’ve decided I want it framed and hanging in my room!” Red declared.
“Now that just feels over the top,” Shadow sighed.
“If you keep arguing, I’ll hang it up over at the training grounds so the rest of the knights will stop questioning if you’ve really changed or not,” Red threatened.
“What color frame did you want?” Shadow asked, immediately switching his tune.
The rest of the group laughed while Red got up to grab the platter of snacks sitting over by the fireplace. Vio leaned up against Shadow and glanced up at him while Green, Blue, and Zelda huddled together to show off their gifts.
“I’d say that was pretty successful for your first winter gift exchange,” Vio said.
Shadow allowed himself a small grin as he wrapped his arm around Vio’s shoulders, pulling him in closer. “It was alright. I guess I can see why you light dwellers enjoy these kinds of things.”
“You guess, huh?” Vio teased.
Shadow laughed and gave Vio’s arm a gentle squeeze. “Hopefully next year I’m able to get something for you.”
“I’ll make sure to hold you to that.”