Work Text:
"Hey Link," Rhett says as he walks into their shared office after Link and closes and locks the door behind him without his eyes leaving Link. They've wrapped up filming the main and the more episode and are currently on their lunch break before going into an afternoon full of meetings.
Link doesn't take his eyes off of his cell as he's browsing through their lunch options. "Are you thinking Chinese too? I've been craving it for days."
"Link," Rhett calls again this time from the couch. "Can you please come here and sit with me for a second? I need to tell you something."
Link finally looks up from his phone once he recognizes the tone in Rhett's voice as desperate and anxious. When his eyes land on his life long best friend, creative and business partner he sees the worry there and instantly sobers up, locks his phone, puts it on his desk, and turns all his attention to his tall friend.
"Of course bo, what's wrong?" He says as he stands up and ventures over to the couch and sits gently beside Rhett, their thighs and knees touching. He turns his torso slightly towards Rhett, drapes his hand on the couch behind him and gives him his full undivided attention.
"Are the kids okay? Jessie? Are YOU okay? Talk to me bo"
"Everything's fine Link, calm down. I just need to talk to you about today's episode. It's important."
"Oh," Link's face falls inconspicuously. "What did you want to say?"
"I just, ..." He trails off as he looks into the eyes of his best friend, owner of half of his heart, his muse, his partner in so many ways, and loses his nerve.
"Come on Rhett, just spill it. We don't have much time before all the meetings." Link says with a hint of annoyance obvious in his voice.
"Okay, okay, here goes ..." He says taking a deep breath, trying to steady his nerves and tone down his anxiety. Talking about and showing his feeling and emotions has always been a struggle for him. Even now that he's been in therapy for years and has been constantly working on it with his therapist as one of their main focuses in their sessions, and even though he's gotten a lot better at it, he still has trouble getting his emotions and feeling out in the open and allow himself to be vulnerable. What makes it even harder is the fact that for the first time in the history of their friendship, he's about to openly and voluntarily talk about his feelings for Link with LINK. His instant gut feeling is to just crack a joke and let the moment slide, but he knows better now. He needs to do this. He feels like he's finally crossed the line in today's episode. So he takes a deep grounding breath and starts answering those questions in the episode, honestly and sincerely.
"Link, I love your beautiful eyes, your kind soul, your funny mouth, your bigger-than-life personality."
"Rhett, what are you ta..."
"I love hearing stories about anything you wanna tell me. I love hearing stories about how your weekend was, about how you made your cereal in the morning, about how your date with christy went, about our younger days, our childhood. I even love hearing stories about your bowel movement, dammit!" Rhett says while furiously wiping the tears that are running down his cheek with the back of his hand.
"Rhett!"
"Link, I love how talented you are at making everyone around you feel safe and happy and loved. I love how talented you are at singing, writing songs. I love how talented you are at being the light in any room, I love how talented you are at losing any game we play," Rhett says, laughing while wiping the fresh bout of tears from his eyes. "And unconsciously or, who knows, maybe even consciously stroking my stupid ego after every win"
"Link, I love the sound of your throat when you laugh too," He says, chuckling softly. "I love the sound of your laugh when you laugh at my stupid jokes. I love the sound of your foot tapping on the floor when you're nervous. I love the sound of your fingers rapping on the desk when you're waiting for the screen to load, I love the sound of your growls when you get stuck on something you're writing and get frustrated. I love the soft sound of your humming when you're concentrating."
Link was silently listening to Rhett and his confessions while constantly wiping the tears from his eyes and smiling at Rhett with a fond look. A weight was finally, slowly lifting off his shoulders.
"Link, bo, it's so hard to put into words how strongly I feel about your presence in my life, about your choice to stick with me through everything, for better or worse, in sickness and in health." He says chuckling at their inside joke of them being 'an old married couple' while Link grins with him and continues "It's so hard, especially for me, as I'm sure you know by now, to put into words how strongly I feel about you..." He says, voice quiet and strained from the effort it takes to not break down sobbing and keep going with his confessions.
"Rhett, stop, you don't have to ..." Link says softly wiping away Rhett's tears from his face with his thumb while his hand cups his jaw.
"But I do Link! That's the point. It's time for me to finally man up and tell you how much you mean to me and how much I love you and everything about you. How much I appreciate you for sticking with me for all these years."
Link was smiling softly, "Okay, tell me bo."
"Link, if you wanted to you could easily ask me to jump off of a cliff and I'd do it in a heartbeat. If you wanted, really wanted, you could easily make anyone do your bidding because you're that charismatic and persuasive and fucking perfect darling." Rhett put his hand on top of Link's which was still on his face, thumb still stroking his cheek softly, lovingly.
"Link I love how you make my creativity come out full-on. I love how you make me the best version of myself, how you complete my fucking life baby. I love how you calm my nerves, how you tone down my anxiety. You're my own personal brand of drug Link Neal!"
"Link, I love remembering the time we met all those years ago in first grade. I love remembering all our shenanigans in school and then in college. I love remembering the feeling we had when we first recorded in our very first studio. I love remembering every part of our journey together to where we are now."
"Aww Rhett, I love you darling. You have no idea how much this means to me. You don't have to do this for me to feel your love though. You wear your heart on your sleeve Mclaughlin, at least you do around me. Your love is not that hard to see in your eyes. you have a bad case of heart eyes, Rhett, as the fans would say." Link says with a gleam in his eyes.
"Oh shut up doofus." He says, leaning slowly over to Link, closing the distance between them and kissing him on the forehead tenderly, with a touch of his lips barely there, pouring all of his love and affection and all the unsaid words and confessions left between them into the kiss. He leans back a little and whispers against Link's skin, "I love you Link."
"I love you too Rhett"
.
.