A/N:

hey

hey you

yeah the person who judges people based on ships

yeah no shoo

like ive said before, this story has a lot of crack ships

so if you don't like that

too fucking bad

kay bye bye

<><><>

Ike slung his gym bag over his shoulder and sighed as he walked out of his dorm room. What he was about to do was extremely embarrassing  and stupid, like the rest of his life. But this was especially embarrassing and stupid. Why? Well today is the last football game of the year, he knew Zelda was coming, he had an extra team jersey. See where he's going with this? Bad idea right? Was he still gonna do it? Yeah.

So he walked out of his dorm building and headed to the building next to it. Ike should run and just forget about it and focus on his game. But all he could think about was how cute she would look in it. Considering their height difference, it was bound to be way bigger on her. He blushed at the thought and blew it away as if he never thought of Zelda wearing his clothes before. What is wrong with him. She's a year younger than him for god's sake. At least he never thought about, uh, doing the do with her. But now that he did- NO. 

He stopped in front of her door trying to mentally prepare himself. Okay, Ike, just breathe. It's just a simple question and if she says no then that's okay. It's not like he's asking her out or something. Though, he did want to do that at some point, but now is not the time for that! Just ask her. 

"Ike?"

AH. WHAT. OH it's just her. Standing right next to him outside, with shopping bags in her hands. Had-had she been standing there the whole time? Watching him silently freak out about knocking on the door. Curse his life.

She tilted her head. "What brings you here? Shouldn't you be at practice for the game tonight?" 

"Uh, well, I wanted to ask you something," he said.

"What is it?" She asked.

He scrambled around with his bag until he finally found control of himself. He willingly took some of the bags from her hands, which surprised her a little, but she said nothing as she unlocked the door to her dorm. She dropped them off next to the bathroom door, so all he could think were that these were... delicate items of hygiene.

"Where's Robin?" Ike asked.

"He's out with Claude right now, he'll be back later," Zelda said. "So what'd you want to ask me?" 

"Oh yeah, right," he reached into his bag and took out the black and red jersey he was hoping she'd wear. "Well, I happened to have an extra jersey from sophomore year, and I was, um, I was hoping you'd wear it. To support...me?"

Her face flushed as her eyes went wide. That's... probably not a good reaction. "Uh, I didn't grow much since then, and considering our height difference now, it's probably gonna be very big on you, but, uh." His voice was trembling and he could feel himself shaking. "I-it's okay if you don't want to wear it, um, I realize it's a very weird question to just ask out of no where. I-I'm sorry for creeping you out, um-"

"I'll wear it." 

Wait what. His shaking stopped as a slight blush covered his cheeks and he looked up to her. She looked nervous yet excited and happy at the same time. 

"R-really?" he breathed.

She nodded. She walked up to him and took the jersey from his hands. She slipped it on over her other clothes, backwards, and looked up at him, determination in her eyes. "Yes! I'll wear it and I will support you! So... do your best, Ike!" 

Oh, there goes his heart. Is he in heaven? 'Cause it really feels like he is. As he expected, it looked twice as large on her than it did on him, which only made her look smaller. And she wasn't small, she was actually pretty tall, but damn if she didn't look like a tiny little dwarf in that. It tug at his heart strings. 

"Thank you, Zelda," he laughed slightly. Oh goddesses that smile. It wasn't often Ike smiled that way, but when he did, oh it was like a gift from the goddesses. It was so pure and pearly white, yet so small. But it seemed the most genuine too. It was gone all too quickly though, replaced by a more casual smile.

"No, smile more," she murmured.

"What'd you say?" he asked. He'd heard her, and he was trying not to freak the living hell out, but he wanted to see if she would say it again.

"UH, WELL, um, I just thought you should smile more. You have a very pretty smile," Zelda said quietly, twirling a strand of her hair on her finger. 

oH. OH. He- HE WASN'T ACTUALLY EXPECTING HER TO SAY IT AGAIN. ABORT MISSION. His brain short circuited for a while but he was able to gain control of himself again. 

He laughed, trying to keep it cool. "Well, if you like it that much, then I guess I'll have to from now on, if it means seeing you so happy."

Was that smooth? No that wasn't smooth at all. But, did it work? All that mattered was if it worked or not. It looks like it worked, she was blushing pretty hard. He'll call that a victory for now. 

"Thank you," she muttered. 

He smiled. "How have you been doing? Have you eaten?"

"Yeah, I have," Zelda said.

"Good, keep it like that, okay?" Ike asked, but it sounded more like he was begging.

"Geez, you worry too much, I've gotten better already," Zelda laughed. 

He chuckled. "If you say so."

***

People piled in the bleachers, filling them up within minutes. He'll be honest, Ike wasn't expecting this many people to show up. Almost the whole school was there. He was looking for someone in particular, but he didn't see her anywhere. He was hoping she did actually wear the jersey and didn't just give him a false sense of hope. The game was about to begin, they were already getting in position, but still he couldn't see her. 

Then he heard his name being called. He thought it was coach calling him, but then he realized it was coming from the bleachers. He looked up, all around until he finally spotted that brown hair he knew so well. She was wearing his jersey, though it was tied at her waist, revealing her bellybutton. Some of her hair was tied back in a bun while most of it was down. She had two stripes of face paint under her cheek, on black and the other red to represent the school. She had her arms up, waving down on him. Once she saw him looking at her, she smiled widely and gave him a thumbs-up, as if saying "you got this!" 

All the confidence he had lost had come back. He returned her thumbs-up and smirked, letting her know that he'd win. She smiled and sat back down. He took a deep breath and looked forward, ready to be this team's quaterback and lead them to victory.

Turns out victory wasn't gonna be so easy to achieve. The opposing team was way better than any other team they've faced. But all of that was because they played dirty, however they were very careful about it so the coaches wouldn't notice. They couldn't really do anything aside from dealing with it. Right now, Dimitri was carrying the team with all the touch downs and throws he'd been making. Ike was sure he'd become the next quarterback after her graduated. The guy could tackle, and break a couple of your ribs in the process too. He could also survive a tackle. The guy was indestructable. 

Right now, he was waiting on Dimitri to make a throw so he could go for a touchdown. They were at a very far distance from each other, but with Dimitri's inhumane strength, that throw would be no problem. He saw the ball hurtling towards him, as well as some of the players from the opposite team going for it because they thought it wouldn't make it that far. He caught it cleanly in his hands and made a run for it. He could hear other players hurrying towards him, but he didn't care. He kept moving forward, forward to victory. If he could make this, then the team would be at an advantage. Even if it wasn't by much, it still did something good for the team.

But then disaster struck. A knee was pressing on the back of his own, a hand was pushing his head down, and he was falling. He was falling, he was gonna crash on the ground. He nearly let go of the ball, but held on to it. He felt as he hit the hard ground, his knee falling out of its socket, or worse, braking. His head smacked hard on the helmet he was wearing and he nearly lost consiousness right then and there. He let go of the ball.

The crowd stopped chearing and audible gasps were heard all through out. The person responsible for this got off Ike and ran away before anyone could catch him. He could hear Dimitri calling for him, but a continous ringing in his ears wouldn't let him hear him clearly. His helmet was removed so he looked up. Dimitri was holding his helmet as he waved over someone, probably the medics. He felt as he was lifted on to a flat board, put into a careful position once it was evident he had a broken knee. He felt too numb in his head to even feel the massive pain from it. He looked up at the bleachers and saw a couple people rushing down to see what was happening. Zelda included. He passed out.

***

Zelda rushed into the hospital where they'd brought him, asking around for any information on him. She was able to get his room number after a lot of begging and annoyance. She was warned he was a bit loopy from the hit to the head and the anesthesia they'd put on him, but she didn't care about that right now. She wanted, no, she needed to know that he was okay and that nothing too serious had happened. 

From where she sat, his left leg definitely did not look okay. It looked very messed up. As in, that's very much so not the way it's supposed to go. She couldn't see his face clearly, but he looked like he was in pain yet very numb at the same time, and that really worried her. She was glad they caught the guy who did it thanks to Dimitri and that they got a free point, but what she most cared about right now was Ike.

She knocked on the door with the room number they'd given her. No response. Maybe he was asleep. But, isn't it not okay to go to sleep after being hit in the head hard? She opened it anyway. All she saw when she came in was the bottom of a bed and a leg wrapped up. She heard soft humming, too, and she recognized it. Riptide, was it? She opened the curtains a little and peaked behind him. And there he was, looking extremely bored and loopy. He was drawing circles in the air with his fingers as he hummed the song, moving his head from side to side as he did. He looked her way, realized what he was doing, and slowly lowered his hand and gave her an awkward smile.

She giggled. "Hey, how are you feeling."

"Well," she noticed there was cotton in his mouth. Looked like he noticed it too and spit it out. "That was because I bit my tongue pretty hard, but the bleeding stopped now."

"Is that so," she said as she took as seat next to him, close to his head. 

"Uh huh," he was definitely loopy, "I also got a concussion and a broken knee. Wonderful right?"

She frowned. "No, not at all."

"It's nothing big really, this things happens when you do sports," he said. "Especially football."

"Well, I guess I'm glad I don't do them then," she chuckled slightly.

He laughed, which only made her start laughing. He stopped and took a moment to admire her. She was... perfect. In every way. But her laughter had to be his favorite thing about her. Why was he thinking this? Is it 'cause he's loopy? Or maybe, it's the thoughts he'd held back. He'd love when she laughed whole-heartedly, he loved her cackling,the snorts she would let out sometimes and how embarrassed she'd be after the fact. He loved it though. He loved all of her. 

"Zelda, have I ever told you you're amazing?" Ike said, his voice low and husky.

Her laughter stopped as her face flushed. "Wh-what?"

"You're perfect, Zelda," he said. "You're kind to others and care more about them than yourself, which isn't always the best but you take care of yourself too."

She looked away. "I-I wouldn't say that-"

"You're beautiful, too. Your hair is so long and soft, your eyes," he reached his hand up and placed it on her cheek. "The deepest yet brightest I've ever seen."

"Ike..."

He smiled goofily. "You're amazing." 

His hand on her cheek was so warm, she couldn't help leaning her head on it. Her heart was going through the roof right now. Those words really got to her. She didn't know why but she felt like crying. Never in her life had someone been more genuine with her. She knew he was loopy, but what he said and how he did really made it sound like it was coming from the bottom of his heart. She just... she wanted to kiss him so bad. 

His hand snaked to the back of her neck, pulling her in slightly. He stopped when they were only centimeters away, asking with his eyes for her permission. She gladly gave it to him. The kiss was full of passion, a long left lust finally being released. She put one of her hands on his cheek and the other on his chest, while he put both of his on her cheeks. 

They didn't stop until they were finally out of breath. Panting, they stared into each other's eyes and smiled. He took her hand and kissed it, holding it tight as he closed his eyes and fell asleep. With that, it looks like she finally made her choice.