Chapter Text
Link looked over at his friend in the passenger seat, he wanted to ask him again what he was doing on his phone that was so much more important than talking about todays episode. He looked out at the traffic they were sitting in and sighed. This had been going on for weeks, had he done something wrong? Rhett had been staring at his phone at every opportunity he had, after filming, in the office, and even on the car rides to and from work. He had gone so far as to have his phone on the table during dinner the other night and every time Link had asked him about it he would just look up and say “oh sorry man” and put the phone away. Link had wracked his brains to figure out what he could be doing, he wasn’t typing or texting so he couldn’t possibly be talking to anyone. He wasn’t staring blankly at the screen watching videos or moving his fingers to play a game. He was just staring at the phone, sometimes he would chuckle, or say something like “oh, ok” under his breath and it was driving Link crazy.
They pulled into the studio and Link got out of the car, grabbed his bag and started to walk toward the door. He looked over his shoulder and Rhett still hadn’t gotten out of the car.
“Come on man, it’s time to go in!” Link shouted at him
Rhett jerked his head up to look at his friend, and then looked around the car and blushed. He jumped out of the car quickly almost hitting his head on the ceiling in the process. He hurriedly walked over to Link to put the code into the door, he knew Link didn’t remember it and that must be why he was getting so frustrated with him. He loved Links grumpy face, that furrowed brow over those sky blue eyes.
He laughed and said “What’s wrong buddyroll? What’s on the agenda for today?”
“You would already know that if you had listened to anything I was saying on the way in, man” Link quipped back at him.
Link brushed by him, Rhett hadn’t even been aware that Link had spoken at all on the way in, he was going to have to tell him what he had been reading and why he couldn’t tear himself away from it but he didn’t know how to bring it up. So he just dropped his head and sighed, following his best friend into the studio.
The show went well, everyone seemed happy with the taste test they’d preformed and after the show Link was nowhere to be found.
Maybe he’s gone up to the loft for a quick nap, Rhett thought to himself as he walked to their shared office to work. Rhett sat down at his desk and turned on his computer, it would be so much easier to explain his fixation to Link if he would just send him the link to what he was reading. He had discovered a website called “Archive of Our Own”, it had been sent to him by an obsessive fan and normally he wouldn’t have even opened it in an attempt to keep himself from reading such things. But the title had really caught his eye and he thought it might be an interesting read to see how he and Link would have met In an alternate universe. But after he had read one, he wanted to read more. And the more he read, the more he wanted to see and do the things described in such vivid detail. He could feel his heart aching to be with Link, even to be in the same room as him, to feel his body heat and smell his familiar scent. He allowed himself to get lost in another story.
Link pulled into the studio parking lot, he had practically run to the car after the shoot so that he could go get some real food to wash the taste of pig anus out of his mouth. He shuddered just thinking about the taste of the fish eyeballs they had tried. He had also needed some time to think about how to confront Rhett about his recent obsession with his phone. He shook his head in frustration, maybe he could bribe Rhett into talking about it, he grabbed the McDonalds bag and headed into the studio.
As he entered their office, Rhett didn’t even look up at him, he was fixated on his computer screen. It looked like he was reading something but what could he possibly be so into that he didn’t even notice the office door open and close. Link studied Rhett’s face, his eyes were hooded, and his tongue quickly flicked out over his lower lip. God, Link thought to himself, he looks so hot when he does that.
Link quickly dispelled those thoughts and cleared his throat loudly “Hey man I brought us some real food!”
Rhett snapped himself out of it and a blush quickly covered his cheeks. “I was wondering where you ran off to, were the fish eyeballs too much for you?” he tried to sound like he was joking but his voice was too dry from 30 minutes of not speaking.
“uh yeah, I couldn’t seem to get the taste out of my mouth so I thought you would be in the same boat” Link replied handing a couple burgers to his buddy.
“Listen man I have been meaning to talk to you about something” Link started
Oh god, he knows, Rhett thought to himself, he knows and he is going to tell me how disgusting I am.
“Its not what you think man, I’m not like that” Rhett blurted out.
Link looked confused “Not like what?” He asked “I was going to ask you why you’ve been on your phone every waking minute for the last two weeks”
“oh” Rhett sighed and put his head in his hands.
Link quickly went from frustrated to concerned and he went over an put a hand on his friends shoulder “What is eating at you bo, you can tell me anything, whatever is bothering you I want to help!”
Rhett lifted his head to look at Links face, his eyebrows were furrowed and his eyes were pleading with him to just tell the truth, he had to look away “I don’t even know how to tell you”
“Rhett, we’ve been best friends our whole lives, what could you possibly tell me that I wouldn’t understand” Link said softly “Did something happen?”
“Not exactly” Rhett said softly “A fan sent me something”
Link laughed “Oh come on man that happens all the time, how bad could it be?”
Rhett just shook his head, giving in, and glanced at his computer screen that had changed to the screen saver.
“Is it on there” Link asked, concern creeping back into his voice.
Rhett just nodded “You can look at it if you want, I’ll be in the kitchen eating if you still want to be friends after what you see” and he walked out of their office, quietly closing the door behind him.
Link was baffled, he had never seen Rhett behave this way. He was worried about his buddy and almost wanted to just walk into the kitchen and tell Rhett that it didn’t matter what he had seen, he would always be his friend no matter what. But the other part of him was dying to just jiggle the mouse and see what was behind that screen saver, what could it possibly be that had Rhett in such state.
Rhett took his time walking to the kitchen, talking to his friends and employees, making sure that everyone was having a good day. After all this was probably the last time he would walk through these offices as the man he had come in as today, if he ever walked through them at all after this. When he finally reached the kitchen he slumped into a chair, not even caring that his legs didn’t fit under the table. He stared down at his burgers, the last food that Link would ever buy for him and he tried to hold back his tears.