#gmm better give them a new series next year

[myglwt]

Papii doesn’t like Gun calling him P’Off 🤭

[lunar-winterlude]

oh hey look, wrote about Rhett reflecting on Dave/Link (sort of) because I wanted an excuse to write a lil bit of jealous Rhett

Rhett is intimately acquainted with jealousy.

It doesn’t help that he’s hard to miss in a crowd, perpetually caught between wanting to appear non-threatening and wanting to be the smartest person in the room. He has a bad habit of comparing himself to anyone and everyone.

It’s different with Link, though. He’s both a prankster and a hard worker, but there’s not a competitive bone in his body. Rhett can relax around him.

He loves Link. It’s getting easier for him to confidently assert the fact with each passing year. He’s in love with Link, and Link’s in love with him.

Then, at one of the many summer parties that Rhett attends with Link and Stevie, Dave introduces himself. He shakes their hands and yells over the crowd noise that he’s seen a few episodes of GMM thanks to his daughters. He’s happy to finally meet them. Rhett starts to say something, but Dave’s already looking at Link.

It seems to Rhett that he never looks away.

They’re a good match, Dave and Link. Each ready to meet the other’s inclination for pushing things just a little too far, just for the hell of it.

Rhett doesn’t mind at first. He’s happy because Link’s happy. And once it seems that Dave’s interested in sticking around, they all discuss it together. Dave makes it clear that if Rhett and Christy and Jessie aren’t okay with it, he’ll back off. He doesn’t want to overstep any boundaries.

Rhett thinks this can work. Jessie and Christy are okay with the arrangement, and Link is over the moon.

He kisses Rhett more freely now, even once or twice in public. He fidgets less during meetings. The usual tightness in his shoulders only shows up towards the end of the day. Even then, he’s a bit more relaxed.

Rhett thinks it’s great.

Until that party, late in the summer, when he steps outside to the patio to get a moment of quiet, and sees Dave and Link huddled together on a bench, no space between them at all.

The sight hits him like a kick in the gut. He retreats inside, snags himself a drink, and gulps it down too fast. He’s baffled by his own reaction. There’s just something about seeing the two of them together that hurts.

Jessie finds him sitting in a corner, away from the buzz of conversation.

“What’s wrong?” she asks, perching on the arm of his chair.

He makes an effort to contort his face into a more pleasant expression. There’s comfort to be found in wrapping an arm around her and briefly burying his face in the soft fabric of her dress. She squeezes him tightly for a moment. When he tells her what he saw, she kisses his forehead.

“He still loves you, babe.”

Rhett knows she’s right, but she’s wrong. It’s all wrong.

Dave and Link have returned to the party by now, still standing entirely too close. Dave’s mouth is close to Link’s ear, murmuring something. Link throws back his head, light flashing off his glasses as he laughs.

Rhett’s insides burn.

This is how it’s going to end. Link, swept up in the arms of a famous rock star. Rhett, left in the dust with his bad back and gangly limbs and weird ideas.

He feels shaky for the rest of the night, as if someone’s whittled a gaping cavity in his chest and left him to collapse in on himself.

It sucks.

Over the next few days, he pulls himself back together. He forces himself to sit up straight, stuffing the aching gap in his chest with positive affirmations as thick as cotton. Anything to shield himself from that sick, shaky feeling of not being enough.

Link notices, of course. On their usual night together, when they’re both sleepy and curled up in bed, he lifts his head from Rhett’s chest and asks what’s going on.

Rhett insists that he’s fine. He hates the words as soon as they leave his mouth. Two years of weekly therapist visits, yet he can’t stop clamming up. It’s not like Link doesn’t see right through his bullshit anyway.

“We should talk about it,” Link says.

“Not now.”

Before Link can protest, Rhett decides it’s a good time to roll over and crush him for a bit. In the ensuing scuffle, the conversation is forgotten.

After that, Rhett makes an effort to seem happy for them. It works for a while, right up until Link has the bright idea to bring Dave in to work with them on a series of music videos.

“We’ve been brainstorming a little,” he says.

Rhett pictures their bodies entwined as they trade sleepy whispers, and he nearly bites through his cheek.

-

Writing music gives Rhett the opportunity to observe their dynamic up close.

Dave gets Link. He knows when to roll with his ideas and when he needs redirecting. He feeds into Link’s bursts of energy without hesitation. When Link starts veering into erratic territory, it only takes a few words from Dave to settle him down.

Rhett’s impressed. He’s never been able to do that. The only sure way he has of getting Link to stop is to physically pin him down for a bit.

Dave does what Rhett would do, but better. Even when it comes to writing music.

“What if we do it like—” Dave strums a few chords, adding an A minor seventh where Rhett would have stuck with A major. “How’s that sound?”

Rhett repeats the chord progression on his own guitar. It sounds great. He’s annoyed that he didn’t think of it first.

He leaves those songwriting sessions feeling shaky all over again.

When pushed too hard, his gut response is to retreat into himself. It feels hollow there now. There’s no comfort from Link’s presence, just the echo of his own thoughts.

He starts waking up more often at night, thinking about how much Dave makes Link smile. Rhett can’t top that.

He tries not to think about just how often Dave’s been topping that.

-

“What’s wrong, Rhett?”

They’re in the car on the way back to the office after that morning’s shoot. Nowhere to escape.

“I’m alright,” he says.

Link’s quiet for a bit. From the corner of his eyes, Rhett sees him rolling his wedding band between his fingers.

“Is this about Dave?”

Rhett’s knuckles go white on the steering wheel.

“You can say it, Rhett. I’ve been getting the sense that you might not like him very much.” Link pauses again as they come to a stop at a red light. “And... I’ve been wondering if you’d prefer if we weren’t together.”

He’s gone very still.

In a flash, Rhett understands that Link would do it. If it meant making him happy, Link would tell Dave it was over. And in that moment, Rhett wishes he’d told the truth from the beginning.

So he and Link talk it out. It’s a difficult conversation, strung together between filming and meetings. As they hash out their new dynamic, it dawns on Rhett that Dave is serious about Link. He wants this to work, and for that, Rhett begins to respect him.

He’s not sure when the pieces begin to click into place again, but gradually his jealousy fades.

Maybe it’s his realization that love multiplies. His love for Link never faltered when he fell for Jessie, and then Christy. It’s exactly the same the other way around.

Maybe it’s because there’s a quiet moment after a long day of filming, when Link’s napping on the office couch while Rhett and Dave trade guitar riffs and bicker good-naturedly about their favorite musicians, that everything makes sense.

Or maybe it’s the hair.

(Not that he’d ever admit that to anyone out loud.)