Secrets: Rhink One Shots

The Beginning Or The End?

(This has been on here for ages and I forgot to publish it? I'm so sorry😂)

Requested by @AllOfDaShips I hope it's what you wanted my friend.

Disclaimer: Rhett and Link never got married.

Link looked into the mirror that stretched across the wall of the small bathroom, and watched through misty eyes as tears rolled down his cheeks. He couldn't do it anymore, he couldn't take the never ending rumours and arguing all over social media regarding his personal life. The thing that hurt most of all was that he felt like he was the one in the wrong and that he was lying to everyone, maybe he was. That was all about to change though.

"Good mythical morning!" Rhetts optimistic voice ricocheted around the room, snapping Link out of his daze. He adjusted his glasses and smiled at the camera "yes, mythical beasts, you asked for it and now we've done it, a full half hour loaded with songs, sketches and the never ending drone of our voices straight to your very own ears." Rhett laughed at his joke turning to Link to see if he too was laughing, he wasn't. In fact he looked like he'd just sat through the saddest and most heart wrenching film ever made.

"Erm...actually Rhett would you mind if we started a little differently today? I've got something that I'd like to say to you and all the mythical beasts watching." He looked at all the confused faces around the studio, immediately regretting doing so as it just made him even more nervous. He broke the silence, eyes now fixated on his hands that were shaking violently in his lap.

"So, as you all know, I'm not really one for sharing much about my personal life, I like to have my own space outside of anything internet related...it's just...everyone here and all the people that watch our videos have become some what of a family to me now. I love all of you, every single one and I'd do absolutely anything for you."

He paused. Took a breath and then continued.

"I appreciate the support you show us day in and day out, but I don't deserve it. Not really. I...Ive been lying to you." Rhett looked over at his friend of so many years and reassuringly rest a hand on his shoulder, causing Link to look up at him with tear filled eyes. Rhett had so many things racing through his mind. What has he been lying about? Does he not want to do the show anymore? Is GMM going to be over? Still he sat quietly giving Link all the time he needed to finish what he wanted to get off his chest.

"I'm so sorry I've let it go this far, but I'm-"

He looked directly into the camera, his heart racing and his throat burning from choking back the tears as best he could. His next words were shaky and formed barely a whisper, heard only due to the microphone in front of him.

"I'm gay"

Rhett stood up immediately, turning away from Link with what looked like a mixture of hurt and anger written all over his face. "Turn them off." Stevie looked to Rhett unmistakably surprised, "what?"
"The cameras. Turn the damn cameras off!" He stormed out the room and down the hall, his footsteps breaking the stunned silence that fell over the studio. "Link, he just-"
"No, it's ok...I- I didn't expect any less."

Rhett burst the door to their shared office, slamming the door behind him with such force the pictures on the walls shook. "How could I let this happen?" He growled under his breath as he turned back and walked to the door. He kicked it hard and then followed the kick with punch. Then another and another. He hit the door repeatedly until his knuckles bled and his wrist ached. "I had one job. Protect Link, don't let anything bad happen to him. Blood brothers. Blood brothers."

There was no stopping the tears. He sobbed with his head pressed against the cold wood of the door while his nails dig into its frame. "I let him get to this point. I let him go all this time thinking he had to hide who he is. What must he have been through all these years? I've failed him and I can't-"

He stopped mid-sentence when a large book on a shelf in the corner of the room caught his eye. "No. I can fix this."

When he returned to the studio the whole crew turned to look at him, Stevie looked up from beside Link glaring at him. "What do you want?" Rhett ignored her and sat down in his chair placing the book in front of Link. He opened the first page to reveal a mixture of old photographs, "this is us around the time we became good friends."  He skipped a bunch of pages to more photos of them only slightly older this time and pointed at one. "This is the day I convinced you to help me build a fort in the back yard because aliens were coming to attack us"

He continued turning pages, stopping every now and then to explain some of the photos as he had previously done until he got to more recent photos. "At some point during this book I let you down Link." Link looked up at Rhett for the first time since he'd stormed out, his eyes bloodshot and sore. "I let you think you couldn't be yourself and there is no way I will ever forgive myself for that. I'm so sorry I've allowed this to happen."

He wiped a stray tear away from Links cheek with his thumb and gave him a reassuring smile. "I would die for you. I would abandon everything and spend an eternity in a world of misery if it meant I could undo everything you've had to go through."

Link couldn't speak. He was so overwhelmed with relief he couldn't think of a single thing to say that would express his feelings in that moment. He latched his arms around Rhett and pulled into a suffocatingly tight hug. Never in his life had he ever felt so at home.

This was it. This was the beginning of the rest of his life.