To Link, it felt like a few minutes had passed since he fell asleep, but it had actually been nearly 13 hours. The sun was now shining straight through the blinds and the morning insanity had begun in the ward lobby. This was all too familiar to Link, as he scraped his fingers across his face. Link never knew why he did that every morning. He just.. did.
Link stood up and made his bed, and Charlotte knocked on the door. She let herself in and gave a wide grin to Link.
"Hello Link Neal, great to see you awake," she smiled. She placed a pile of towels on the side of the bed and Link nodded.
"I suggest you have a shower because Rhett will be here soon. Please be careful of your face, though," Charlotte said. She moved her eyes to the side of Link's face, and looked back at his eyes. Link stayed silent.
"Press the bell when you want your breakfast."
Link sighed and took his towels to the shower room. Charlotte left, and Link was with himself once again. Link's shower room was nothing fancy. Just a toilet in the corner, a small sink, your average sized shower cubicle and a floor-to-ceiling mirror by the door where Link would regularly do 'body inspections'. Again, another thing he just.. did.
He took a speedy shower, purposely avoiding getting soap on the side of his face, and changed back into his hospital gown. He was looking forward to seeing Rhett.
Link lay on top of his bed, and pondered about leaving his room. It was on a very rare occasion that he did, but it was always with Rhett. Not even Charlotte could convince him to just go and sit in the lobby for a few minutes.
He thought about the colours of the decorations Charlotte was talking about. Link had missed seeing different colours up close, as he only got the view from out of his grubby window to base his knowledge on. Link's room was anything but colourful. The most bright thing was probably his piercing blue eyes he was always complimented on, but even they had begun fading ever so slightly. He wasn't even ageing that much. It was just happening, out of his control.
He then pondered about why he was still here. He never knew to be honest; it was all kept a secret from him. He wouldn't dare ask though. Link had practically forgot everything about his past self. He was just like a robot. Waking up, doing various tests, gazing out of his window for hours on end, and then sleeping at the end. It's not like he had many visitors. Nobody visited Link, other than Rhett.
Rhett.
As soon as he entered Link's mind, he heard three firm knocks at the door. Link reached over and pressed the small, matte grey button beside his bed to let him in.
A few seconds later, a tall man with heavy-gelled hair, wearing a deep maroon hoodie and skinny jeans strolled in, and sat down on a grey chair beside Link's bed.
You'd never think he would be the age that he was, by one glance.
"Sorry I'm early, Link. I've brought you a few things," he smiled. Link pushed his glasses up his nose and gently smiled too. Link loved Rhett's presence.
Rhett began to pull a large sweater out of his backpack, and inspected it. It matched the colour of his own hoodie almost exactly.
"I thought you'd like this," Rhett said. "It was mine, but I thought you would appreciate it. It mustn't be nice wearing that thing all day," he said pointing at Link's gown. He handed it over to Link, and he inspected it as well.
"I think it will be too big," Link croaked.
"Oh.. Oh I'm sorry," Rhett sighed. "I'll take it back if you don't like it," Rhett reached over to take it from Link, but he tugged it back.
"No, it's fine. I do like it," Link answered. He put it on over his plastic-feeling gown and smiled.
"It smells of you."
Rhett smiled and reached into his bag to pull more gifts out. He brought Link some biscuits in a small packet, a can of lemonade (with no added sugar, by Charlotte's request), and a tiny figure of a potted Christmas tree.
Rhett placed the tiny tree on Link's side table and laughed.
"What's funny?" Link asked.
"It's so tiny, and adorable," he answered. In Rhett's mind he imagined himself answering differently.
"It's so tiny and adorable, like you."
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Well that got rather fluffy XD hope you liked it. What's wrong with Link's face? Why is Link even there? Tbh I have no idea either yet but that's the fun of spontaneous writing. Lol hope you enjoyed this and gave you them warm feeeels <3
