Disclaimer: I don't own The Legend of Zelda

Five times Link was homeless, or, the thing that happened after I said, "You always start off at Link's house, until you get to the future, and then you always start in the Temple of Time, why is that, is that where Link lives now is that where he sleeps is he a homeless bum?"

I thought maybe an actual title would emerge for this fic, but apparently that did not happen and I don't have as much dignity as I thought.

Five Times Link Was Homeless
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Even though it's dusk now, Navi sings "Good morning!" in Link's ear when he stirs. He doesn't stir a whole lot, like proper stretching or anything, on account of how he's bigger now and the only way he fits in his bed to sleep is all scrunched up with his knees tucked to his chest. So instead he rubs his eyes and blinks at the long evening shadows stretched across the room.

"Come on, get up!" she says, tugging at the end of his hat. "Let's go see what Death Mountain looks like in the future! Something's not right about that weird cloud hanging around, I can just feel it. I wonder if it has anything to do with the sages?"

Well. He doesn't know either, and there's only one way to find out. So Link drops his legs over the edge of the bed, and kicks over his boots in the process, and bangs his elbow on the headboard as he sits up.

He rubs his elbow while he looks out the window. It's pretty dark in the forest already, with all the trees, and only getting darker every minute. It'd probably be easier investigating things on Death Mountain if it really was morning. But Link's starting to get the feeling that people don't like it so much when the sun does unnatural things like pop right back up over the horizon after it's just set at the end of the day.

Probably he shouldn't play the Song of Sun so much unless it's an actual emergency.

"Hey, Link!" Navi bobs in the open doorway of the tree house, bright against the twilight shadows. "Listen, Mido's been standing outside your house all day. I wonder if he wants to talk to you about something? Oh, but he's not here now, though, I wonder where he went..."

Link's not sure what Mido would want to say to him. Except maybe to tell him off for sleeping all day, because Mido says that a lot even though Link doesn't sleep in that much. If it were Saria outside his house, she'd laugh and she'd tell him not to forget to wash his face after he gets up even if it is nighttime. But Saria's not in Kokiri Forest now, not anymore.

Link looks over at his washbasin, which is empty, and then he grabs a bucket and heads down the ladder.

Navi zips off to the creek ahead of him. Link's boots are still tumbled-over beside his bed. In the morning the forest would be all wet with dew, but it's not morning, so the grass is dry and comfy under his bare feet as he walks. The forest fireflies, drawn out into the village clearing by the deepening shadows, cluster as thickly in the air as stars above Hyrule Field.

Link takes as long as he can to fill his bucket at the edge of the creek while Navi teases him for being a slowpoke and still asleep.

Mido's waiting there at the base of the ladder when Link comes back.

Mido's got his arms crossed and he's tapping his foot, and his mouth's pinched into a thin scowl, which is how he always looks when he wants to tell Link off for something. Which is how Mido looks most of the time Link sees him, really.

Link holds tight to the handle of his bucket.

"Look, mister," Mido says. He hunches his shoulders up, and then he starts again, "It's not that we're not grateful you had something to do with getting rid of all those scary monsters that keep popping up lately. And I know you're one of Saria's friends and all, and the forest fairies have taken a liking to you for some reason. And the Great Deku Tree Sprout must think you're okay, I guess, since you haven't turned into a Stalfos yet."

At that last bit Mido tilts his chin down and squints at Link's bare feet, like he expects them to turn to bones at any second. Link looks down too, scrunching his toes in the grass, and though they're all pale he lets out his breath when they're still as fleshy as ever.

Link forgot about that. He's never had to remember before, because he's always been a Kokiri all his life. But now the Great Deku Tree Sprout says he's a Hylian, and sure Link's never turned into a Skull Kid before, but he's still kind of worried. The future is full of all kinds of unpleasant surprises.

"But even so," Mido huffs, jabbing a finger at Link, "you can't stay here! Someone's already living in this house, you know." He swings his arm around so his finger's pointing to the sign instead, the one that says Link's House on it.

"Can't you read? When Link comes back he's gonna think we gave his home away to some outsider. Well, I'm the boss around here and there's no way I'll let something like that happen!"

Mido's chin quavers. He's scared of him, Link realizes suddenly, as if Navi had whispered the idea in his ear. Right now, even though he's pretty sure Link's been helping them and fighting off the evil things in the forest, Mido still thinks he's some strange and scary adult, just like the Skull Kids do. Except, instead of shooting darts at him and vanishing into the trees, Mido's plucked up his courage to tell him off.

Even though Mido always calls him weird, and only half a person, and not a true Kokiri, and even though Link's vanished for seven years without a trace, Mido's still defending Link's house from outsiders—even if they are good guys with swords—because Link's not an outsider.

A part of Link is touched.

The other part of Link realizes he's just been kicked out of his own house. Er. But.

Beside him, Navi jangles indignantly in Link's ear with how loudly she wants to shout that this isn't fair.

But Mido doesn't have to worry about anything! Because as soon as Link's washed his face and gathered up his stuff, he and Navi will be heading out and they won't be borrowing Link's house anymore. It was really generous of everyone to let them stay, but they've got other places they need to go and they're kind of far away so it's probably not all that convenient to keep sleeping in this house anyway.

So, so if he sees Link while he's out in Hyrule, he'll tell him thanks for lending his house and that everyone's waiting to see him in the forest. Surely Link will turn up soon.

He grins at Mido because his face won't do anything else right now, just like when Navi first came to him, and Mido scowls back even harder than ever from trying not to look relieved. Then Link makes his way up the ladder, being careful not to let his bucket smack against the rungs and spill his water all over him.

"H-hey!" Mido cups his hands around his mouth and hollers, just as soon as Link's almost disappeared over the top rung. "You can't live here, mister! But I guess it's okay if you wanna come visit us sometimes!"

Link grins all the way to Death Mountain.