Puffshroom Problems (Tears of the Kingdom-Link)

[Akahana]

Got an anon request on Tumblr and ended up banging it out in one sitting lol I love Link and I love this game

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“The President’s standing! That was brilliant! I would have never thought of it.” Addison yelled as the oddly angled Hudson Construction sign stayed precariously upright, and quickly got to work securing it. Link huffed in amusement; this was not the first time he’d helped the ambitious man to put up these signs. Rather than creativity, it was probably more the lack of his Ultrahand ability that stunts Addison’s endeavors. Or his continuous lack of proper planning – that could also be it.

 

“Perfect! With your help President Hudson is now standing proudly and firmly in place!” Addison cheered before rummaging through his backpack. Link sighed but waited patiently; the other man had insisted on showering him in gifts as thanks every time he’d helped in the past, and objections had only fell on deaf ears. Some pocket change, a ticket for free stable lodging, and some veggie rice balls were pushed into his arms with much excitement. Link nodded in appreciation, smiling as he tucked the gifts into Epona’s pack, before Addison called for him again.

 

“You know, I still don’t feel like I’ve thanked you enough! So here, this is something form my special collection!” And with that Link was presented with a… mushroom? Though not one he’d ever seen before. It was vibrantly patterned with a strange pitcher shape, and a cloud of fine spores fluttered from the opening when it was pushed into his hands. Link scrunched his nose.

 

“This is a Puffshroom! It was recently brought up from the Depths, I have a friend on the exploration team so I had him bring me back some interesting things. He said that if you throw this little thing into a hoard of monsters, it causes them to get confused and start attacking each other! He also said it’s bitter and inedible, and I don’t know if I want to know how he found that out-”

 

While Addison was chatting more at Link than with him, the Puffshroom continued to release spores whenever he so much as shifted his stance. The smell it released wasn’t very strong but it had a subtle tingle to it that was starting to make Link sniffle. He absentmindedly shifted the shroom to one hand so he could itch at his nose with the other. His first mistake was missing the layer of powder dusted over both his hands.

 

“hhih! hH-Att-!!”

 

“Oh! Hylia’s blessings!”

 

The tingle in his nose had quickly solidified into a sneeze, hastily stifled for it’s unexpectedness. His second mistake was in his surprise Link had sneezed towards his own chest, jostling the Puffshroom and causing a substantial cloud of spores to puff up directly into his down turned face. His nose did not like that.

 

“Uh, friend? Are you gonna-?”

 

“eh- hah- hAH!!”

 

Link quickly shoved the Puffshroom towards Addison as his breath hitched frantically, not caring if he hit his mark as long as the tickly spores were AWAY from his face. He wrenched himself opposite the other as a desperate sneeze threw the swordsman forward, spraying the ground and unable to cover his sneezes or touch his nose with his hands covered in powder.

 

“aAH’Tchhu!! -T’chiew! Hih-hI! hyAT’chhh!!”

 

Link sniffled as his irritated nose gave him a second to breath, tears leaking down his cheeks from the sheer itchiness. Embarrassment washed over him as he started to hitch into more sneezes; he was completely helpless and out of control, unable to even rub his nose without making everything worse. His head was thrown back into a series of sharp, ticklish gasps, only to stall just before release. Link whined slightly, almost tempted to tickle his own nose with his dusted fingers just to get it over with. Before he could do something he’d regret, an unexpected pair of fingers covered in a soft cloth settled around his frustrated nose. A soft nudge to his septum all he needed for the stuck sneezes to come crashing through him.

 

“hHHA-!! AK’TCHHIEWw!! hih- k’Tchuu! t’Chu! Uh’tChiew!! oh...snf!”

 

The end of his fit left him red faced and panting, a hand held tightly against shoulder for support. He quickly took the slightly damp handkerchief from Addison’s other hand. Link was known to have an unbreakable poker face in a bygone age, but he wasn’t sure he could keep the flaming heat from his cheeks no matter how hard he tried.

 

“Goddess’ many, many blessings my friend! I’m so sorry my gift caused all this trouble, come here lets wash you off in the river. Follow me.”

 

With a little gentle washing and some embarrassingly productive nose blowing, Link came out of the other side of this experience flustered but ultimately no worse for wear. He didn’t seem to truly be having any allergic reaction, just an adverse response to the smell and feel of the spores. Addison still looked incredibly guilty by the time the two made it back to Epona’s side.

 

“You know, I still think the Puffshroom could be of use as a surprise attack. Maybe you could attach one to an arrow so you aren’t in the spore’s radius?” His downtrodden expression quickly shifted to excited as he rushed back over to his pack, coming back with a small leather bag.

 

“Here! If you keep the Puffshrooms in this, it will keep the spores contained so it doesn’t get all over your other stuff. Then when you want to shoot one you’re only exposed to it for a second! I really think you should keep them just in case, they might help you get out of a tough situation you know.” Link sighed and smiled once again, nodding and tucking them away in a separate pocket. As Addison bid him goodbye to go put up more signs, Link urged Epona to continue their trek towards then nearest stable. He’ll find a time to use the shrooms of course, he’s just going to have to be careful he doesn’t cause himself a sneezing fit in the middle of battle. Now THAT would be an embarrassing way to go.

[SexualOddity]

Ah this was cute. I don't really know LOZ but my 6 year old is obsessed with it so it's a regular topic of discussion in our house and it was nice to see a little bit of that world on here.

 

I love Link's gradual realisation that this thing is not something he wants to stand close to  and then his frantic scrambling. Adorable.

[FanficFan]

Omg this was perfect! Never even thought of puffshrooms possibly having this effect, that's such a fun idea! Also gosh poor Link! XD And poor Addison!! All he wanted to do was say thanks!

Which, thanks for writing this, it was super fun to read!

[NYXIE]

This was amazing! I've been a fan of Zelda since I was 7, so seeing this, set in the ToK timeline is super awesome! I'd love to read more! Thanks for posting this one!

[AceOfSpades]

I’ve been getting more into LoZ lately, this is fantastic! Love the spellings, they really do fit.