Work Text:
There weren’t many country stations available on Southern California radio.
Link groaned as he tried yet another set of numbers, quickly fiddling with the dial when he came to yet another standstill on the always-crowded LA freeway.
“The LA Dodgers play the Anaheim angels tonight…”
He groaned as he rapidly flipped away from yet another sports radio station, cutting the commentator off mid-sentence. He couldn’t believe that he could get like, six different sports stations but couldn’t find one single station that played any sort of country music more authentic than some old Taylor Swift songs.
“He’s the reason for the teardrops…”
If Link heard this song one more time, he was going to scream. In a final desperate attempt, Link spun the dial and turned his attention back to the traffic, slowly inching his car forward in line.
“The first thing I remember knowing,
Was a lonesome whistle blowing…”
The familiar twang of the guitar caught Link’s attention. Creeping slowly forward and coming to a stop behind the car in front of him, Link turned his attention fully to the song now pumping through his speakers.
“And a young un’s dram of growing up to ride,
On a freight train leaving town…”
Slapping his knee in joy, Link quickly turned the volume up on the stereo, letting the sounds of Merle Haggard wash over him. He couldn’t believe his luck that, after flipping through what felt like a million and one stations, he happened to land on a country station that just so happened to be playing one of his favorite songs. Link smiled and tapped out the beat, suddenly far less annoyed at the bumper-to-bumper traffic that pretty much guaranteed his late arrival to work.
“I turned twenty-one in prison doing life without parole!” He sang out, allowing the open window to carry his song out of the car on the breeze, enjoying himself too much to care whether or not the other drivers could hear him.
“Mama tried to raise me better but her pleading I denied, that leaves only me to blame ‘cause Mama tried!”
He turned to his side to glance quickly at the cars in the next lane, only intending to spare them a quick glance. However, he stopped short when he caught the man in the car next to him fixing him with an amused stare.
Color bloomed across Link’s face, rushing down his neck and causing the tips of his ears to burn. He quickly turned his head back to face forward. However, movement in his peripheral vision caused him to turn his head back around.
The man, no, the giant upon second glance, in the other car was motioning for Link to further lower his window. Maybe it was his surprise at the request, but Link complied without too much thought. He lowered his window the rest of the way and turned down the volume on the stereo, curious to see what would happen next.
To his surprise, the sounds of Merle Haggard filtered through instead.
“No one could steer me right but Mama tried, Mama tried.”
The warm baritone of the stranger’s voice drifted through the window and the sounds of LA rush hour traffic and into Link’s ears. He felt his spine tingle and a smile gradually creep its way onto his face. He opened his mouth and began to sing as well, the crisp tenor of his voice harmonizing effortlessly with the rich tones of the stanger.
“Mama tried to raise me better, but her pleading I denied, that leaves only me to blame ‘cause Mama tried.”
They finished and smiled at each other. Link was about to shout an introduction to the other man when the blaring of a horn startled him out of his reverie.
He glanced in the rearview mirror, only to be confronted with angry gestures from the driver behind him. Glancing forward, he realized that the line of traffic had moved and he was now blocking the way. He waved apologetically, grimacing in embarrassment and drove on.
He finally arrived at work a half an hour late and hurriedly parked and headed inside. His assistant Stevie greeted him at the door.
“Link! There you are! You’re late.”
Link nodded absently, his mind still on the strange encounter on his morning commute. Link couldn’t deny that the other man was attractive and he’d have been lying if he said that he didn’t feel a twinge of regret at not having a chance to learn the other man’s name.
Stevie furiously waving a stack of papers in his face brought him back to attention.
“Link! Hello, earth to Link?” Link snapped back, giving her a sheepish smile. She simply rolled her eyes, her lips twitching up in a fond smile.
“Sorry to zone out like that Stevie, it’s been a weird morning.” She simply nodded and thrust the papers into his hand.
“Be that as it may, you have like, ten people waiting outside of your office to interview for the assistant film tech position and with the combination of stress and this heat, they’re probably starting to sweat pretty badly, so I’d suggest you get in there before it gets much worse.”
Link nodded, grabbing the papers from her and making his way to his office. He leafed through the resumes as he entered, ramdomly selecting one and calling out the name at the top.
“Rhett McLaughlin?”
A tall man unfolded himself from the impossibly small plastic chair in the waiting room, rising to his full height and extending his hand for Link to shake.
When Link looked up from the resume, he had to suppress the gasp that formed on his lips. Standing in front of him was none other than the mysterious singing stranger.
If the look in Rhett’s eyes was anything to go on, Link wasn’t the only one who was surprised at their second chance-encounter of the day.
Quickly regaining his composure, Link smiled warmly at Rhett. He took a moment to fully appreciate just how attractive the other man was before motioning for him to follow Link into his office.
Once the door closed behind them, they were enclosed in awkward silence. Link stared at Rhett and Rhett stared at Link.
Clearing his throat, Link prepared to break the silence. “So…you’re here to interview for the assistant…”
“Do you want to go get coffee with me?” Rhett blurted out of nowhere, cutting Link off. Link blinked in surprise at the outburst. He wondered if he looked half as shocked as Rhett did.
“Oh my gosh, I’m so sorry. I don’t even know…”
Link was surprised, of course he was. But it had been a strange day and fate had helped him find a country station on the radio, something he’d been trying to do for months, and that station had been playing one of his favorite songs. And then he’d looked over and seen Rhett and hadn’t gotten his name, but they’d sung together and it had been weird and strange, but Link had always been too cautious in his life. Maybe it was stupid and maybe it was a mistake. But Merle had never done Link wrong before.
Plus, Rhett was really hot.
So Link smiled.
“Sure” He said simply, watching as Rhett’s entire body noticeably relaxed.
“Yeah?”
Link nodded. “Yeah.” And Rhett smiled.
“Cool.”