#pining rhett

[proudmythicalbeast]

Look at me, look at me

✨Your eyes are sparkling✨

I burped, then it came outta my nose.

.

.

.

Oh, that's what it was.

[rhink-ality]

Rhett : "Congratulations, I hope we have a great future together."

Rhett : "There"s always your next marriage you can get it right."

[ladycynthiana]

So, favorite part of Ear Biscuits today: the one thing that annoyed Rhett was Link facing away from him in his bunk to talk to his girlfriend.

[rileyrooin]

What Link Needs

Link needs to forget reality for a bit. He doesn't tell Rhett this; he doesn't have to. Rhett knows exactly what Link needs. That's how it's always been. When one of them falters, the other steps in to bear the weight of the world.

Rhett refuses to give Link details of his plans when he shows up early one summer Saturday morning. He simply ushers his lifelong friend into the passenger seat of the Dynasty and starts the journey east. After realizing he's not getting any information out of Rhett, Link is quiet for much of the two hour drive. Rhett assumes Link will fall into a deep sleep as he usually does on a long car trip, but his eyes remain locked on the road ahead of them, his brow creased with far too many worry lines for a college-aged man.

It's only when they pull into their destination that the lines smooth out a bit. He turns his eyes to Rhett, a faint hint of a smile playing at the corners of his mouth. "What is this?"

"It's what you need. Come on."

He leads Link into the noise and chaos of the busy beach town on the North Carolina coast. It's got the stereotypical beach boardwalk sights including rides, fried food, arcades, and shops selling overpriced chintzy souvenirs. Just as Rhett knew he would, Link embraces the spirit of the location. With each carnival game, with every bite of the sugary treats, with all of the moments clinging to one another on the adrenaline-inducing rides, Link gradually begins to seem more like himself. His eyes light up in a way that Rhett hasn't seen for far too long. Rhett watches his dark-haired companion laughing as he wins an over-sized stuffed unicorn from a ring toss game and feels a tugging at his heart that he isn't sure he has the words to describe.

When the shadows of dusk begin to take over, Rhett assumes they're going to head back home, but Link grabs his arm and says in a small voice, "Not yet. Please." So they stay, finding a spot together on the beach for the impending fireworks show. They sit in silence — Rhett, Link, and the unicorn — until the sky comes alive with unpredictable explosions in time with music piping out of a cheap set of far-off speakers. Link's focused on the show above them, but Rhett only has eyes for his friend. The sharp lines of his body are illuminated under the flashes of red, white and blue. He wants nothing more than to reach across the sand and take Link’s hand in his. But that isn’t what Link needs. Not tonight. So, Rhett holds himself back and waits, like he always does.

After the show, when they finally leave to make the drive back to Buies Creek, Link can’t stop smiling. As they pull away from the neon lights of the boardwalk, he says, “Hey, Rhett?”

“Yeah, brother?”

“Thank you.” No further words are necessary. Before long, Link drifts off to sleep, his arms wrapped tightly around the unicorn, head resting against the window. He hasn't been so relaxed in weeks.

Rhett feels another tug at his heart. He gave Link exactly what he needed. It feels good. He only hopes that someday Link will be able to do the same for him. Until then, he’ll keep waiting.

(for @lovelyrhink 💗)

[proudmythicalbeast]

✨sparkling✨

[likeaswitchinheat]

If I Had Another Me

This drabble is for @arentiaclevergirl from my follower giveaway. Thank you so much for your support 🖤 I appreciate you.

It was another late night working on songs for Buddy System. Not that Rhett minded.

“What would you do if we had ‘another we’?”

“Best not to mess with perfection.” Link winked.

“Really? Nothin you wouldn’t wanna… explore?”

Link sighed, genuinely pained, like reluctantly telling a toddler there’d be no dessert. Like the toddler had been asking for twenty years.

“Rhett…”

“I mean. Clones? Reincarnation? The multiverse?”

“I don’t know what you want me to say, Rhett.”

Rhett felt harsh truth numbing his veins.

“You don’t have to say it.”

He didn’t think he could handle it if he did.

Note: When Lora told me what she wanted, I tried to think of the song that made me the saddest, and the first lyric that came to mind was “If you could make another one of you, then you wouldn't give the other one to me” from the Sunset Rubdown song A Day In The Graveyard II.

[rileyrooin]

Link’s Hands: A Rhink Ficlet

He has to stop doing this. Rhett tells himself this, yet he continues to open a new tab to type a familiar URL.

It's stupid. Why does he need to look at pictures of the object of his fixation when he can see the real thing almost anytime he wants? Even as he mentally chastises himself, he knows the answer. There's a difference between what he's doing now and the real world. In the real world, things are complicated. There's too much scrutiny. He doesn't have the time or freedom to stare, to watch the movements of those long fingers, to appreciate their graceful nature. They're beautiful, but he has to pretend he doesn't notice. Here, however, thanks to gifs, he can watch the movements of Link’s hands for as long as he wants without too much fear of prying eyes.

Upstairs, he can hear his family moving around, oblivious to his transgressions here on the couch. He hesitates, the guilt threatening to step in and stop him from continuing. But, he can't resist.

He knows which blogs to visit. Knows the ones he can count on to capture what he wants to see: The ring fidgets. The suggestive way Link’s hands curl around objects. The fingers brushing against that cupid’s bow. That damn Hungry Hungry Hippos gif that leaves him feeling flustered and confused even though he's stared at it more times than he cares to admit. 

He tells himself this is just another of his layers. He'll be over it soon and will find something else to occupy his mind. He’ll move on to something less dangerous. He keeps waiting for it to happen, but his mind continues to be overwhelmed with thoughts of all the things he wants to see those hands doing… All the things he wants to feel those hands doing to him.

“Rhett?”

He starts at the sound of Jessie’s voice from the stairs, the iPad almost hitting him in the face in his hurry to hide the screen from her view. She doesn't approach as she continues, “You coming to bed soon?”

“Yeah.” His voice is strained, the word coming out as a squeak. “Just finishing up a few things.”

“You aren't arguing with trolls on Twitter again, are you?”

He chuckles, hoping it sounds more natural than it feels. “No. Reading some comments from today's episode.” This lie comes easy; it's not the first time it's fallen from between his lips.

“Okay, baby. Try not to stress yourself out too much.”

He waits until the soft sound of her feet padding toward their bedroom dulls to a dim muffle before he picks up his tablet again. The gifs that are most taboo are the ones he always saves for last. It's the ones that feature not only Link's hands, but his, too. He stares at one of these gifs—their hands intertwined on an episode of Ear Biscuits—and feels a familiar twinge in his heart.

This is what could have been. If they'd grown up in a different time or place, he wouldn’t have to furtively look through images of Link’s hands. He wouldn’t have to create ridiculous situations like escaping a simulation to have an excuse to hold his hand. He could just take Link’s hand in his whenever he wanted to. If things had been different, these gifs would tell a story of a lifetime of intimacy instead of one of missed opportunities.

It’s too late for any of that, though. This fixation on Link’s hands—on Link in general—has got to stop. It isn’t healthy and it isn’t fair to anyone. He should be happy for what he has instead of constantly yearning for more. 

As he makes sure he’s left no digital traces of his time on Tumblr, he swears to himself that this will be last time. It has to be.