Below the Mythical Surface (Completed)

Stepping Out into the World Naked

Rhett carried another sizable box past Link, careful not to step in the way of his ever growing pacing ground. He sidestepped and swiveled his hips to avoid contact when he got too close and laughed at the glare thrown his way. Link, always one to get nervous when anything new was happening, was in an anxious mood. Rhett couldn't bring himself to resent it, though, because not only were they in it together, but Link was on the phone with his mother and if there was one thing that rhett didn't want, it was to get in trouble with his (possible?) future mother in law.

"Yeah, mama, Rhett's here too," he held the phone away and placed a hand over it, "She says hi."

"Hi mama Sue!" Rhett tossed over his shoulder and settled the box against the wall.

"Well it's small. And it's over priced... yes, I know that. Well, we'll be safe here... It's kinda dirty, but I'll get it clea- yes, I'll make Rhett help, too."

Rhett laughed to himself at the one sided conversation that he was able to pick up on, remembering that Link had had a very similar conversation the first night at their college dorm, and come to think of it, he'd carried those boxes alone, too. Some things never change, and some things change for the better. He grabbed another from their moving truck and trudged back inside, taking it to the kitchen as the label had demanded in Link's scrawl.

"Yes, mom, he's bein' good to me," Link told his mother, but grinned at Rhett. He'd known his mother loved him, but not just quite how much until he'd filled her in on everything and she'd only wished the two of them the best.

"Only good to him cause I'm scared'a you!" Rhett yelled again, hoping she'd hear him through the line.

The small joke was exactly what Link needed and Rhett enjoyed the smile that flickered for just a moment before the same look of focused concentration was back with a vengeance as Link began to look for more spots to put wayward boxes. Once Link was finally able to convince his mom that she didn't need to fly to California to help them settle in, the rest of the morning was filled with getting furniture unpacked and rebuilt. It was decided that nothing but their clothing and essentials would be taken from their old homes. This was about keeping the familiar pieces of their children's houses in tact while making new memories of their own at their new place.

Link already was getting used to more than his shaving kit in the bathroom. The recollection of Rhett and him both liking showers at night and bowls of he same cereal in the morning. Back when they live together the first time these facts were slightly troublesome. Both of them racing to the bathroom and the kitchens at the same time. Now, with a relationship changed into something so much bigger than friendship made the entire appeal of sharing both showers and bowls of shredded wheat that much better.

Once the grumbling of Link's belly got to be too loud they stopped again for a late lunch of delivery pizza. The small dining room table to only thing that seemed put together enough for eating off of safely. Rhett had shooed Link away from any furniture building after the bookcase he had been working on for the last two hours resembled more of some abstract sculpture that an eccentric millionaire would happily buy.

"I swear I can't trust you with anything even resembling a tool, Neal," Rhett had teased.

"And I can't trust you to hop off'a my back for a god damned minute," Link flustered, but when Rhett raised a brow at him, he conceded and threw his hands up in defeat. "I'm sorry, I'm sorry. That was mean and I'm sorry," he backtracked, his shame only quelled when a kiss was pressed to his brow line and he was coaxed into sitting down and relaxing.

The house was coming together nicely, and Link dreaded the next move that they'd make, though he knew that the next would be the last. And that, at least, made him a bit more anxious in a good way.