Below the Mythical Surface (Completed)

Always Looking

Stevie spent most of the next few days trying to get Rhett and Link to at least try to talk to each other when the camera weren't rolling. It was obvious with the way they didn't quite connect their smiles that whatever issue they were having was hurting them both. 

She felt like a hostage negotiator.

Link took the approach of this just being one of those random disagreements that Rhett and he would have from time to time. Nothing to do but just wait it out. Rhett decided to lean into the anger and made sure to keep his distance whenever possible. Even in their shared office there was an invisible barrier placed between them that neither would dare to cross.

The next couple of shows crawled along without many fans noticing the strain. The tenseness in the air was broken only with slightly forced laughs. This wasn't who Rhett and Link were, yet they seemed to have no way of knowing how to fix the broken parts of themselves and each other.

Vidcon was the following weekend and Link was struggling as he tried to figure out how they would get through it. Fans would be there expecting hugs and smiles, and Rhett would barely look at him now. Thankfully Link insisting on separate hotel rooms would help with staying out of each other's space just in case they were still this angry when the convention started.

Making a point of only working late now on Thursdays, they both sat on opposite sides of the couch. Each of them focusing on their laptop screens. Other than the occasional clearing of a throat and tapping of fingers on the keyboard there was silence.

Link couldn't help the lingering stares from his side, the hardset gaze of Rhett's always having been a weak point for him. Even at his angriest he was still beautiful, and Link worried that he may never get to look at him the same way again. Nearly every time Rhett could feel eyes drilling into his skull, he'd snap to meet them and Link would go back to focusing on his laptop, some elementary game that Rhett was growing tired of. Just another way that Link was too emotionally immature to handle this... whatever it was.

Link however, didn't see it the same way. He was thinking of all of the ways that he could apologize, to make up for hurting Rhett so badly all of those years ago. It wasn't as if he could very well take it back now, but the idea of Rhett being so emotionally destroyed killed him a little inside. Rhett was his best friend, it was supposed to be his job to protect him, to keep him from being sad or upset or... anything except happy, but somehow he'd done the exact opposite and Rhett had still stuck around. Link didn't deserve a friend like that. Not really, he thought. What'd he ever do that was so great that he could be served with unconditional love and support for so long without ever putting any real effort in?

He hadn't realized he was crying until the sob got stuck in his throat, forcing itself out with a particularly strained breath. It was then that he noticed the wetness on his cheeks, the dampness in the neckline of his T-shirt. He sat his laptop down on the table beside him and used the already wet T-shirt to wipe at his face, not caring if it looked gross.

Noticing that you're crying is usually good for one thing... making yourself cry more. And that's exactly what he did. He didn't say a word or make eye contact as he left the office for the nearby restroom. There wasn't anything to say. He needed to clean himself up so that he could go on pretending. Pretending that Rhett's feelings didn't matter and that he didn't want to see or speak to him. Pretend that the entire week he hadn't felt like he was missing a piece of himself.

The more he thought about it the more strangled his cries became. He tried to hush himself. Try to keep quiet so that Rhett wouldn't know that he was breaking apart from the inside out, but he never was very good at being stealthy. He stared at himself in the mirror, barely recognizing the red and blotchy face that looked back. Both hands rested on the sink in front of him for support as he leaned over it. What else was there to do? He just had to wait it out.