#soft gmm thoughts on a friday night

[becausethathappens]

Help me see the teeny Rhett. I just don’t get it. He look very big

hey, anon. i answered fairly seriously, so hopefully this was a genuine question. otherwise, sorry for the lengthy response. just trying to explain since i've seen this come up before!✌️

usually it's just the transgressive nature of seeing someone that big, bearded, and masculine be soft, cute, and delicate. i think that rhett defaults to being hurt or amused by something in a way that shows in his mind, he's small and vulnerable. (see the video below for an example)

beyond that, rhett has talked about having what i consider to be a relationship to his body that is close to dysmorphia (he's never used that term, so this is merely conjecture, and honestly applies to his chin insecurities, too) regarding how intimidating/inconvenient his size comes across when out in public.

when rhett does things that a lot of people who feel Large do to feel secure/smaller (contemplates his size in comparison to nature/space, gets extra gentle with people, soft spoken, leans forward/down to meet everyone at their eye level, folds his body up in ways that minimize the space he takes up) he generally gets very coy and cutesy while he does it. sometimes, if he seems to come off as insecure about his size, he'll overcorrect and act "tiny" on purpose as if to downplay his size like it's incongruous that this big, imposing guy is throwing peace signs or giggling. (also in the video below) kind of like, if i'm going to have to wear tight clothes or be tall in a crowd, i'm going to make it a bit so everyone knows that i know and don't need to hear about how the cuffs don't reach my wrists, i'll cuff the ankles myself and make it a Look, i didn't want to stand either, etc.

of course, he also has moments where he'll brag about his height or get loud or purposefully spread himself out to take up space. but part of why i assume he does this is to attempt to lampshade the obvious. that's how rhett operates. he makes the joke before you can. he is his own harshest critic (which is saying something because there's certainly a long line of volunteers, at times), so he opts to voice the criticism he expects to hear about how his size (or anything else), so it can't hurt him if someone else were to say the same.

all that rambling is to say that when i notice him having done these little things to look smaller, intentional or subconsciously, i like to celebrate them. when you're as focused on that as he is, clearly dwelling on it a lot (his whole adult life, per the video below), it's fun to buy into his fantasy version of himself too.

i'm of the opinion that if he wants to be perceived as small and nonthreatening, he deserves the chance. even if it's just to me and other people who shout out #tiny rhett spottings in the tags.

and honestly, considering how surprised some people are to find out he's as tall as a door frame or that link is 6 feet, i think he's fairly successful at it. 🥺️💕

[sofreakinmanyfandoms]

Rebound - Chapter 5

Now officially on hiatus until Dec. 5th.

Also, this chapter made me want to start a WinterIron spinoff series. I am refraining for now, but if anyone wanted it after this series is complete I just might do that.

Word count: 1552

Warnings: Tony doesn’t deal with emotions well (yeah, he’s in the story now too, I was as surprised as you are), alcohol abuse, very little of the reader actually (I’m trying to flesh out where Steve’s at in life, it’ll be important later I promise)

--------------------

You awoke slowly, head pounding and eyes protesting the light that sneaked around the living room curtains. It didn’t take long for you to become aware of the intense stare coming from across the room. Clint crossed his arms as you slowly blinked at him.

“So,” he started, “you couldn’t make it even one night without drinking?”

That’s how he was gonna be, then. “Lay off,” you grumbled, slowly sitting up, “it’s just beer. It’s not like I got smashed or anything.”

“You passed out on the couch,” he pointed out. “Even when you go out drinking, you at least make it to your bed.”

You ignored the look he was giving you in favor of searching for water. “So I fell asleep watching the Late, Late Show. Big deal.” You stumbled into the kitchen and opted for a plastic cup, which turned out to be a good choice as you immediately fumbled and dropped it.

“Look, Y/N,” Clint said with a sigh, picking the cup off the floor and opening the fridge to pull out the pitcher, “if you can’t keep yourself from drinking, this situation has gone way past unhealthy and into dangerous. I can’t let you do that to yourself.”

“Screw you,” you mumbled, accepting the full cup back. “I’m not an alcoholic.”

“Then let’s spend the night in,” he offered. “It’s my night off; Scott’s got everything covered. Let’s watch movies and eat pizza and just hang out, no alcohol involved.”

“Fine,” you sighed. It had been a while since you’d just hung out with your brother, and it did sound like fun. “But no horror movies and I get to pick the first one.”

“Deal.” Clint shot you a smile and his tone turned teasing. “Now spill. I wanna hear all about your date yesterday.”

---------- 

If Steve were honest with himself, he’d admit that he checked every text he received so quickly because he was hoping it would be from you. He wasn’t being honest with himself, though, so he kept telling himself it was because his job was particularly slow and boring that day. That didn’t keep his heart from speeding up when he finally saw your name pop up on the notification.

Spending the day hanging out with Clint. Can we move our second date to tomorrow?

He blinked at his phone. You spending time with your brother was a good thing. It would help, right? So why was he suddenly jealous of Clint?

Man, Rogers, you really have got it bad.

“Hey, Steve.”

He was brought out of his thoughts by a knock on his door and Pepper ducking her head into his office. Steve shot his boss a smile.

“Hey, Pep. What can I do for you?”

She stepped fully into the room and shut the door behind her. “Tony’s holed up in his lab again. I tried to get him out but he insists that he’s almost figured out a new improvement for James’s arm. I was hoping maybe you and James could try to get him to at least take a break to eat something? It’s been at least forty-eight hours since he’s had anything other than coffee and dried fruit.”

“Of course we can try, but no promises.” Steve sighed as he saved his current work and shut down the program. “Bucky doesn’t blame him for what happened because it wasn’t his fault, but neither of us seem to be able to get through to him.”

“You get through more than you realize,” she told him with a soft smile. “Especially James. It helps, Steve, it really does. I’ll have the food waiting on a tray outside the lab when the two of you get there.”

“Thanks, Pepper,” Steve said, returning her smile. “We’ll talk to him.”

He shot a quick affirmative text to you before sending one to Bucky as he hopped into the elevator and pressed the button for their floor. Maybe he’d see it and maybe he wouldn’t, but if he did it would be a little more warning before Steve dragged him to the lab.

Bucky did see it. He was pulling on a shirt as Steve opened the door to their apartment.

“Yeah, punk, I got your message.” He grabbed the half-finished pop tart from the counter and shoved it all in his mouth at once. “Mflts gmm.”

Steve shot him a look. “Don’t talk with your mouth full.”

He swallowed his large bite and shot his friend a smirk. “Sorry, Ma.”

The two of them made their way up to Tony’s lab. When they arrived Bucky took the lead, punching in his access code and calling out a hello as he entered. Steve grabbed the tray of food that was right where Pepper had said it would be and followed the brunet into the room.

“Hey, Tony, Pep said you haven’t been eating,” Bucky said in a tone of practiced cheer. “But see, the thing is, food is important for your brain to work well. So’s sleep and water, but we’re on the topic of food at the moment, so that’s what we’ll focus on for now. You’ve got a really smart brain and it needs fuel, so why don’t you come join us and the three of us can eat together?”

Tony didn’t even look up from where he was bending over a nearly identical replica of Bucky’s prosthetic.

“I just had some blueberries, thanks though. Need to finish these adjustments and that should improve your arm’s strength and mobility by fifteen percent. It’ll be even better once JARVIS finishes the new alloy calculations, but the current alloy can’t handle the pressure of more than –”

“Tony,” Steve cut in, “it’ll still be there when you go back to it. Come on, take a little time with friends who care.”

The genius made a rather undignified squeak of protest when Bucky stole his tools from his hand.

“Hey, I’m not done with those.”

“Of course you aren’t,” Bucky placated, “but for now you’re going to eat with us anyway. You can have them back after.”

Tony glared at both of them. “I’m only conceding because I’m not dumb enough to think I could take on either of you alone, much less together, and I’m fully aware Barnes is going to play keep-away until you’re both satisfied.”

“Smart move,” Bucky said smugly as he tucked the tools behind him. “Sit. Eat. Tell us about your day.”

“It’s been a day,” Tony snorted. “Fridays aren’t that special, no matter what the average American seems to think.”

“Uh, Tony,” Steve shared a look with Bucky, “it’s Monday.”

The genius blinked a few times, looking back and forth between them to see if they were serious.

“Oh.”

“See,” Bucky opted for a teasing tone, “I told you. Food is important for your brain. Ignore it and suddenly you’re missing things like whole weekends.”

“It’s been a bit of a blur,” Tony admitted, picking up one of the sandwiches from the tray. “I just got the idea for how to make your arm better, and I had to figure it out. I guess it’s taking longer than I realized.”

“Tony, I appreciate how much you care about making sure my arm works perfectly,” Bucky leaned forward with a serious expression, elbows resting on his knees and eyes locked on his friend, “but I need you to know that it’s already capable of more than I am. It’s more than strong enough for the odd construction jobs I get, and it can move as fast as I can think. You’ve already given me more than I could have ever hoped for.”

Tony bit his lip and stared at the floor. “It isn’t enough. It will never be enough.”

“I think,” Bucky said, bracing his metal hand on his friend’s shoulder, “that I ought to have a good idea of what I need. It’s more than enough, Tony. Hell, you’ve revolutionized prosthetic technology and it’ll make millions of lives better. That right there? That makes everything that happened worth it to me.”

Avoiding Bucky’s gaze, Tony locked eyes with Steve. “How did he end up the well-adjusted one of the three of us?”

“Hell if I know,” Steve smiled softly. “He’s right, though. You don’t owe either of us anything, so please don’t destroy your health because of misplaced guilt.”

“I’m not going to win this argument so I’m going to ignore that statement until the two of you have to leave.”

Bucky looked at Steve. “I’m free the rest of the day.”

“My date got moved to tomorrow,” Steve added with a nod, “and I’m pretty sure my boss gave me the rest of the day off, so we’re not going anywhere.”

“Finish at least one sandwich,” Bucky said with a smirk, “and I’ll let you mess with my actual arm while Steve explains when he started dating and why he didn’t tell us.”

The two of them laughed when Tony immediately stuffed the whole end of the sandwich into his mouth and bit down. He winked at them, his cheeks stuffed like a chipmunk and a smile threatening to send his food spilling out of his mouth.

Not the way I thought I’d spend the rest of the day, Steve thought, but not bad. Not bad at all.

[becausethathappens]

waiting for the day that the gmm staff pull up a photo of rhett and link sitting provocatively close to demonstrate a tangent they’re on about spooning or something and for rhett to claim it’s photoshop.

i want to see someone have to explain to him: no, rhett, that’s a still frame from episode about trying trader joe’s new seasonal watermelon snacks. 

we’re confused, too.

[becausethathappens]

so since rhett's put it to lyrics, there's a good chance he'll continue to embrace the streak in his beard as link has the one on his head.

link's gray goes up, rhett's gray goes down.

[becausethathappens]

I loved your tiny Rhett dissertation! 100% agree with everything you said. Also, just to kind of relate it back to him & Link (of course, bc they’re basically one human being), both randl are kind of larger than life personalities , regardless of physical size lol. I think there are two main reasons rhett acts smol: 1) alllll the reasons you said about his potential body dysmorphia, not wanting be threatening, urge to be cared for 2) is link. Link in alll his linkness. Link is a lot of things (and yes he is baby lol) but he really isn’t smol they way we are talking. He’s pretty aggressive and loud, but since he’s sensitive and kind, and I guess kind of dandy? (Idk how to describe it) it’s never been a problem for him.

This brings me to my main point. I find it really interesting how much room randl give the other the room to be larger than life in their own ways. Link gives Rhett the room to make a lot of their decisions, to state a lot of their opinions. He’s kind of made peace with everyone thinking Rhett is the smart one and that link tags along with whatever Rhett is thinking. Rhett gives link the room to be the chaotic crazy charming one. Link is the one who always takes the lead in social situations. After seeing them live, link kind of steals the stage performances and talk show interviews. Ultimately I think Rhett might he a natural born performer but link is naturally entertaining.

It’s just very interesting how they’ve either always fit together or grown around each other, probably a bit of both. Also, other point, it makes me want to see the 4 of them (them and their wives) interact more. They’ve all been together for so long and it seems like in every way link and Christy aren’t like each other Christy is like Rhett or link is like Rhett. For every way rhett and Jessie aren’t alike Jessie is like Link. If that makes sense? It’s all very fascinating to me.

Also; also, as an exvangelical I cannot not FATHOM how successful Rhett and link (and Jessie and Christy) were at evangelizing, like it’s kind of scary if you’ve experienced the cult like quality of it. I think it’s why so many people in the church were pretty publicly horrible to them when they came out with their deconversion stories. It made them all nervous bc they were probably some of their most successful and convincing leaders in their church at the time.

Wow that’s a lot sorry. It’s all very disorganized thought. You just made me think a lot.

because that happens when you plant trees next to each other. - rhett mclaughlin

i literally couldn't agree more. 👏😌

[becausethathappens]

Pass the happy! When you get this, reply with 5 things that make you happy and send this to the last 10 people in your notifications! I'm passing it on to you <3

I’m so shy about replying to these, so I always do it late. Thank you for this! Going to make these all GMM related because it makes me happy.  💖🥺

Rhett clearly thinking he could get away with pretending to not know what the Lilith Fair was for even a second.

Link calling Rhett out for generalizing about Lilith Fair. I know it was in fun, but I also love that Link’s go-to response is to speak up for lesbians. 

Kind of strange, but the fact that Rhett often brings up that he cries when he gets emotionally overwhelmed by things. As a woman, even though I get very far in argument/conversation before this happens, sometimes you can get really invested in the subject matter or the lack or empathy in response and get choked up. It feels embarrassing. Seeing a 6′7″ dad who looks like That and could bench me do the exact same thing is truly revolutionary to me every time he does it. It literally brings me joy any time I get upset in those moments, remembering he does to. It’s one thing to know it’s okay to be impassioned about things that matter to you, it’s another to see someone prove it and have it articulated clearly afterwards. Also showing they’re heard, respected, and supported by the person listening to them. 💞

The way Link namesearches himself on Twitter to respond to fans directly instead of only replying to responses to his posts. I think he loves keeping the conversation two-way. It’s subtle, but for all his goofiness, he comes across as the smoothest person alive in the right circumstance.

There are multiple events in their history that I read referenced in fic, first, and assumed were beautiful if a bit extreme as allegories for their friendship only to find out they all actually took place. 💀