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Even now when the only sounds were Link's fingers tapping the keys of his laptop, he continued to travel along the path of that rabbit hole. Rhett's face in two parts intrigue and one part cringe at the suggestion took hold.
Fanfiction.
It was something that of course they knew about. Just like barely bleeped out curse words and subtle nudity. The edges of the edge of family entertainment pushed but never broke through with any real force until February 25, 2020.
Link hadn't realized that he would win in a blur of peanut butter jars and butt plugs. The crew’s laughter something that turned Rhett’s neck and face the color of a shade of red that Link hadn’t seen for years.
Perhaps decades.
Still he was here, in the shadows of the evening. His blue eyes flitted from left to right as he tried to understand it all. Outrageousness had carried him securely in the first few hours. Kinks and twinks involving double-ended dildos and Rhett teaching him the fundamentals of ball gags. No wonder Stevie had needed to take a few days off to recover.
It was in hour number three that things had shifted. The stories were more explored, and even if the writers had gotten some of the details wrong, there was enough to have Link scrolling a little slower.
This wasn't supposed to happen.
The characters on the pages had their faces and sometimes spoke in their twangs, but there was a softness to the dialogue. As if these things could have been said in an alternative universe. Splintered into phrases that Link felt somewhere in the pit of his stomach that created an ache that couldn't be filled with a room full of giggles.
A few times Link pulled out his phone, but what would he actually say if Rhett answered? Perhaps there was power in the worlds that others built for their doppelgangers to thrive. Rhett would listen to him as he rambled on. A trope just as homegrown as Link's obsession of washing dishes. Eventually, the sun would creep its way into the studio. A bright and cheerful witness to what happened when Link Neal discovered that there were so many ways to be cherished by your fandom, and that there's always more.