Rhink One Shots

Welcome to the Jungle | Part 4

The blond tall man woke up by himself. His body ached as soon as the guy tried to move. With a whine, Rhett straightened his legs. With another whine, Rhett pulled himself up and exited the small shelter.

Outside, the sun was barely up. Fortunately, it wasn't as cold as before. He felt the small blanked falling from his shoulders. As a yawn escaped his mouth, Rhett kneeled down to pick up the piece of cloth. His back gave him a friendly reminder about how much it hurt.

- Gosh... - he complained with an exhale. The adrenaline always blocked out the pain. And adrenaline was something that took over his body many times. Rhett was quite glad for that. But as soon as a quieter moment arrived, Rhett's body always made him remember that he was no teenager.

Birthdays were rarely celebrated now, obviously. But the blond was pretty aware of his 38 years of existence. When the world was normal, the tall man was actually convinced that he was in pretty good shape for his age. He had always told himself he'd be one of those healthy and fit old people. Gym was a part of his everyday life. There, therapy for his back, which was a pain in the ass from early years. He didn't choose to be so tall, so why was he being punished with back problems? Rhett sighed.

Putting the blanket on the seat of his horse, the blond looked around. Charles was sat beside the river, completely oblivious of Rhett's presence. Or, at least it seemed like it. Walking closer, the blond saw his machete in the dark haired man's hands.

- Are you planning on killing me? – he joked, slowly sitting beside the smaller guy.

Lincoln jumped with the unexpected interaction, the handle of the weapon quickly being grabbed by his right hand. As he saw Rhett, the hand relaxed. – I- I- No. – he stuttered for some reason. Obviously Rhett was kidding. Just, the sudden question made the dark haired get a little lost. – I was just cleaning it up. – he recomposed, coughing to clear his throat. – They get blunt if they stay dirty for too long...

- Oh. – the blond smiled. – Thank you.

Lincoln just nodded and handed him the now clean weapon. Rhett carefully took it.

- We should keep moving soon. – the dark haired said shortly, ready to stand up.

- It's nice isn't it? – Rhett interrupted him. For some reason, the blond wanted more interaction. The moment seemed to be perfect for that. It was so quiet and calm... The dark haired sat back. – This silence, the clean air. – Rhett continued. – It's nice and relaxing. Almost makes us think there's no apocalypse happening.

By the corner of his eyes, the blond watched the other man. Link was looking up at the sky. Rhett often thought he could compare the dark haired man's eyes to the sky, but they actually weren't similar. The sky had different shades of blue, but that was it, just blue. Link's eyes were... a different type of blue. The one you'd see in the water, if you're lucky enough to find a lake or river so clear.

- Yeah... - the smaller answered with a deep inhale and then exhale. And there was another moment of silence. Just birds singing and leaves ever so lightly moving with the small breeze that passed through them. Rhett remembered how he took a yoga class one time. They played these "the sound of nature" tracks, with birds and light wind and water. But now that you're actually living in that wildness, those tracks seem pretty pathetic and overproduced. The blond smiled. They were just nonsense compared to this.

Link's head moved slightly and Rhett realized he was till staring. For some reason, he didn't look away. Somehow, the longer he looked, the softer Link's features seemed to become. His cheekbones, naturally shaded by the lack of food, his eyes, shaded by the black paint, the stubble that started to be more visible, kind of softening the dark haired man's sharp jawline. All of those - mixed with the shades of green, orange and blue around them - just seemed to soften. Rhett wondered how it felt to touch them.