Caught [Rhett & Link]

Kryptonite

Rhett couldn't face him. They barely spoke at work the next day, one avoiding their office when the other was in it, making up reasons to have other things to do.

Filming GMM that day made him mad. He was thankful it was one of their list episodes, just going back and forth telling wacky stories about other people's lives and requiring less eye contact and interaction than some of the more elaborate stunts or off-location episodes they did from time to time. At least they'd been bantering long enough that Rhett had a decent ability to fake it, but he knew he wasn't as opaque as he'd like to be.

Link, on the other hand, had this infuriating ability to shut off his reality for the camera, to be cute, goofy, endearingly awkward Link, grinning at the audience and charming the pants off everybody like everything was fine. Rhett was not fine.

He needed to talk about it, but he couldn't talk to Jessie, and he couldn't talk to Link. So he asked Stevie if she could grab lunch with him.

They got burgers from In-N-Out and sat outside on a bench to eat in peace. Stevie looked him over scrutinizingly before taking a bite.

"What's up, Rhett? Something on your mind?"

Rhett sighed. He'd asked her to join him with the purpose of talking, but now that he came to it he wanted to keep pretending. But that wasn't going to help.

"I can't stay away from him."

She nodded understandingly, taking a small bite and giving him the space to continue in his time.

"Last night we hung out outside of work for the first time since it happened. It was going so well and then we just...well, it could have been worse. Somehow I managed to put on the brakes. Stevie, I just lose my mind around him."

She smirked slightly, though not unkindly.

"What?" Rhett asked, a little offended. "It's not funny."

"No, it's not funny. It's just...it's cute, that's all. I always saw the chemistry between you two. It's just a shame it's so complicated. You two would be really happy together."

"We were. I guess it just required completely blinding ourselves to reality and living two lives. Which isn't really so happy."

"No, it's not. And your wives, they're good people."

"Yeah, they are."

Rhett looked down at his burger, considering whether he had any appetite or not. Who was he kidding? He took a bite and chewed as he thought. There had to be a way out.

"I don't know what to do, Stevie. I don't feel like I can control myself with him. I wish there was a switch in my head I could just flip off and go back to thinking of him like my brother, and being able to hang around him for days or weeks at a time without it upending my life." His voice dropped to nearly a whisper. "Being around Link used to be a good thing in my life. Now it's just this destructive force."

Stevie looked conflicted and sad. She put her small hand around his wrist and squeezed gently.

"Are you two okay when you're at work? I mean, I know it's weird today because something happened yesterday, but in general, do you feel like you can work together?"

Rhett considered this. "I think so..."

"Well, what if you just make the choice to not hang out together outside of work?"

He sighed. It was a lot to give up. Like Jessie had said, they all used to hang out, their whole families. She and Christy were friends, their kids were friends. And Link...Link had always, always been his best friend. Sure, their relationship had gone through seasons and there were times as children when they had individually grown close enough to other kids that their own friendship had been somewhat back-burnered for a time, but they always knew the other was there. They were each other's constant, eternally dependable. What they had was beyond special; it was epic. It was genuinely, wholly rare. Were they supposed to just become nothing more than business partners and co-workers?