Below the Mythical Surface (Completed)

Another Picture

He felt him before he heard him. The same soft lips that Link could recognize so well now. Had memorized in the hundreds of times he kissed him. Then came the pauses between the gentle nibbles against his neck and shoulders. He didn't want to open his eyes yet. Link wanted to see how far the delicate parts of Rhett's mouth would go.

"So many lovely places to find," Link heard. "I could spend the rest of my life looking for new spaces to rest my lips on you."

Link sighed deeply, and twisted so that he was fully on his back now. Rhett chuckled.

"I remember this scar," Rhett continued, and Link hummed as the lips touched the right side of his narrow hip. "Fell off of the swing set at my folk's old place. Clumsy as hell even back then."

He couldn't help but giggle, and Rhett's ticklish beard didn't help.

"Then there's that mole you worried your head over."

Link moaned as the mouth pecked the edge of his chin.

"Nothin' but a beauty mark," Rhett tutted. "Like you can get even prettier."

Another chuckle spurred Rhett on. The green hue floating dreamily over the tanned flesh like a prospector looking for yet another nugget of gold. His eyes stopped again, finding another gem of perfect imperfection.

"That little birthmark traveled," he whispered as he gave more attention. The thin line created a dark brown circle that rested on the left side of his v line. Once upon a time it used to be much higher up. Rhett remembered it clearly whenever Link was brave enough to take off his shirt when they were too young to care about swimming trunks before they dove into the river. Their moms screamed like the dickens each and every day of each and every summer when they came home with their clothes drenched. The apologies never sounding right with as much as they were smiling.

Rhett was smiling just as much now as he placed his thumb on the birthmark. The size and shape was perfect, as if he had marked Link as his decades ago.

Maybe he had.

The blue eyes opened to see the man he loved above him, then lifted his head just enough for Rhett to stop his quest for a briefest time.

"You can't make me love you even more," Link mumbled. "So stop tryin'. You already got me. Pretty sure for the rest of my life, unless the crew keeps givin' me knives during the show."

"Hush, baby. Don't ruin the mood with talks of dismemberment," he laughed, carefree and painfully happy.

Link grinned up at him, almost shyly beneath the cover of thick lashes and messy hair. The golden sun shining through the windows caught his eyes and it made them look almost like glitter. Or maybe like stars? Glistening snow? Rhett didn't know, but what he did know was that they were beautiful, and in that moment he felt so incredibly lucky that it almost wasn't fair to everyone else that they couldn't love someone the way that he loved Link.

"You make me feel young again," Rhett mused, and Link was delighted.

"Oh, please. Why you butterin' me up? If I didn't know any better I'd say you're tryin' to get in my pants."

"Well," Rhett teased and pressed his midsection against link's leg, "generally speaking, yes. But not right now. Right now I just wanna tell ya how much I love ya. S'at so bad?"

"Naw," Link whispered and pressed a delicate kiss against the pinkened apple of Rhett's cheek. "That ain't so bad at all. I love you, too. I wouldn't be here if I didn't. Wouldn't'a put up with your shit all this time either,"

Within a moment Rhett laughed, and cackled harder when stiff fingers were jabbed into his ticklish sides.

"Careful with my ribs, man," Rhett wheezed. 

His words came out with a heavy southern drawl and they was transported back in time. Back to the riverbanks and backroads. Barbecues and sleepovers. So much time had passed and here they were, closer and better than ever. Yeah, if there was a word for it, it was definitely luck.

"Sorry, didn't catch what ya said," Link giggled back. "Not even sure you're speakin' English, country boy!"

With another wave of his hands Rhett was a mess of loud laughs underneath the smaller man's fingertips. They shifted enough for Link to now be above the other and looking for more ways to keep hearing Rhett's musical chuckles for as long as he could. The green eyes closed tightly as the bearded mouth was opened wide and shaking with a mirth that Link had created. Link was doing this, and he couldn't get enough of it. Enough of being the one to see this side of Rhett. To peer over the more intimate parts of his soul for more than a couple of moments.

It was this revelation that had Link's hands still. Had him openly staring down at Rhett as he inhaled the air to recover from the tickle attack mere seconds ago. The blue eyes watched the longer torso slow down to more regular breaths as Rhett finally regained the footing to see where Link was. Their gazes connected and they were silent. Motionless in the moment.

Rhett continued to lay there pressed against the mattress and allowed Link to observe. Inviting him to stare and reflect, and Link appreciated every last bit of it.

"Take a picture," Rhett muttered. "It'll last longer."

Link snorted softly at the running joke, with lips held up to keep the grin even after the amusement had past.

"Maybe I will," Link replied. "Take a whole lotta pictures so I can look at you whenever I need you. Should we start now? Can I take a picture of ya like this?"

"Okay, bo."

Another grin and he stretched without leaving his place on Rhett's lap, grabbing his phone and swiping the camera on.

"Say cheese," he joked and snapped. Rhett's eyes hadn't left his, and love was pouring out of the picture. Link smiled down at it, and decided that it might just be his favorite that he'd ever taken.

"Wish we could stay here all day, maybe forever," Link murmured dreamily before dropping down and covering Rhett's body with his own. The hands that went to his back and rubbed gently up and down soothed his soul in a way that he'd never thought possible. And they were his, all his, forever and ever.

"Me too, but we're eventually gonna have to get up, you know."

"No, cancel the world. I wanna stay in."

Really, could he have gotten any cuter? Sweeter? More pure? Rhett didn't think so, and the warmth seeping into his chest was a feeling that he knew he'd never tire of, and knowing that he wouldn't have to was worth more than all of the gold in the world. He didn't need anything else.

"World bein' cancelled may screw up the charity concert tonight," Rhett smirked. "That's kind of important."

The grumble from Link made his chest vibrate but he knew that this was what Link needed to at least begin to get up. Link was nothing if not loving to the fans, and the charity concert was such a big deal to him. Within the next ten minutes Rhett had the hotel phone pressed to his ear and ordering breakfast. All the while enjoying Link's body against his legs and stomach. The soft dark hair fluttering in between his long fingers as he ran his hands through it.