Chapter Text
Having always been mesmerized by the qualities of rain, Rhett sat in the passenger’s seat of the truck staring blankly out of the window and into a vacant, grey parking lot. In front of him was a short sidewalk, mercilessly eroded by the weather, adjacent to a small tattered building that Link had entered just minutes before. Bullets of rain drilled into the hood of the truck to produce the constant sound of fireworks, and the muffled reverberation of thunder would occasionally roll through the clouds. Despite the entrancing nature of the consistent pattering, Rhett began to grow impatient of Link’s absence. He drummed his fingers on the seat.
Sooner than Rhett had anticipated, Link emerged from the entrance door of the building. He stood beneath a cheap awning in hesitation for moment, holding in his hand what appeared to be a brochure encased in a clear envelope. The rain continued to pummel down without remorse, and so Link lifted the acquired package over his head through his brief trip to the vehicle. In his other hand he carried a plastic bag, which he gripped at the top to prevent utterly drowning out its contents. Upon opening the truck’s door, he piled himself up into the driver’s seat and immediately slammed it shut.
“Whoo!” he exclaimed, wiping droplets from the plastic casing of what Rhett now saw was a map. “You don’t see this kind of thing in LA every day.” Link slid the paper out with ease and folded it open.
“Yeah,” Rhett agreed. They were on a road trip for the week, just to two of them, mostly to get away from the business aspect of their relationship that had so gradually slithered in between them. “I’m glad we’re headed north. I’m gettin’ real sick of the heat.”
Link glared at him playfully. “It actually feels really nice out there right now, besides the rain.”
“Well, rain cools the air down,” Rhett stated matter-of-factly, “but it makes it so humid you can’t breathe.”
“You’re not wrong.” Link studied the map, tracing his finger along the various roads around their location. “Turn right onto I-15…” he muttered. There was no particular destination in mind – but for whatever reason, they’d settled on Utah to spend their time visiting around various places, just to be in a refreshing environment. “Alright, I guess we’re just gonna get on the interstate and turn off on whatever exits might tickle our fancy. Just speak up if you wanna visit somewhere, sound good?”
“Cool with me,” Rhett affirmed. The morning sun was shrouded within the clouds, but its rays still bled through somewhat. Rhett glimpsed at the clock on the dash; 7:43. The atmosphere of the situation made him nostalgic, vivid flashbacks of eagerness on the road to a thrill-inducing destination as a child. The air always felt just a bit sweeter – a bit more worth breathing – as it inundated his lungs in electrifying anticipation. Even now, he still felt a level of excitement that was probably inappropriate given his age, but Rhett was comfortable admitting he was still childlike at heart.
Link refolded the map and stuck it between the seat and console. He then bent over and jostled his hand within the plastic bag he’d retrieved from the building. From it, he pulled out a small, colorful pouch. “Got you some trail mix,” he arose and handed it to Rhett with a tired smile.
Breaking eye contact, Rhett accepted the gift. “Thanks, Link!” His tone was rather awkward, but Link had grown accustom to it after so long. Again, he smiled, but this time it was more flat.
Link stuck a set of keys into the ignition and started the vehicle. “Alright, let’s get goin’.” Rhett noticed an odd dampness to Link’s mood, but decided against saying anything. After all, it wasn’t even 8 in the morning, so he figured his friend was probably just tired. The vehicle backed out into the lot and made its way to the road.
A long stretch of twisting and turning on circuits of roads led to light conversation that seemed to brush the weather out of the equation. Link had slowly lightened up, his smile contagious. When they finally reached the interstate, the clock read 9:12 – had it really been over an hour of navigating the streets of Los Angeles in reminiscence? Rhett pondered the fact. The windshield wipers zipped by on second-to-highest speed as drops of rain battered the glass in quarter-sized splashes.
Link kicked the gas down in the acceleration lane, taking full advantage of the unusual lack of traffic while merging onto the road. Grin in full effect, he looked entirely pleased. “Alright now, according to my calculations we’ll be on the road for about six hours before we even reach the southern border.” His eyes flicked over to Rhett after a brief silence. “So… let me know when you get hungry or need to go to the bathroom or whatever. Cool?”
“Sounds good, man.” Rhett observed Link’s motherly instinct kicking in, which caused him to feel slightly dependent – a trait that Rhett resented filing himself under. “We’re gonna switch off driving after a few hours, right?” he asked in an inconspicuous attempt to assert his self-sufficiency.
Link expressed a minute level of surprise at the offer. “Yeah, that’d be alright.”
Rhett leaned back in his seat, shutting his eyes for a while. The movements of the truck were smooth, and the sound of rain and constant whirring of the air conditioner had apparently lulled him to sleep, despite his resistance to doing so under such conditions. Groggy, he awoke to the sun beating warmly onto his jeans. He rubbed his eyes and stretched backwards, a needed relief for his back, which he hadn’t even realized was a cluster of aches.
Link looked over to his sleepy friend. “This your first time falling asleep in California and waking up in Nevada?”
Rhett simply laughed. “Not exactly… I’ve had some crazy nights you wouldn’t believe, brother.”
“Oh, gracious.” Link brushed the hair out of his eyes. “So, you’ve been out for about four hours and I’m starving ‘cause I’m stupid and forgot to eat breakfast,” he complained, resting a hand over his stomach.
Rhett rose up. “I slept for four hours? What time is it?”
“Clock says 1:30… Which is weird, because you never sleep that late, or in a moving vehicle for that matter.” Link shot him a look that was a mixture of concern and confusion. “Did you sleep okay last night, Rhett?”
Rhett bit his lip. “Uh… I guess so, yeah.”
Link wasn’t buying it. “You sure there’s nothing on your mind?”
“Yeah, Link, I’m sure.” He smiled passively without making eye contact. There was always something on Rhett’s mind; he was the type of person to think about certain things for days without cease just to understand them. He loved to dissect the inner machinations of human emotion, strangely enough, both in general and on an individual level. He loved to hypothesize psychological theories of which he contained within his own powerhouse. That isn’t to degrade Rhett’s stability, however, because in all truthfulness, Rhett was the rock and Link was typically the storm. Rhett kept himself happy most of the time, almost in a way that insinuated blissful ignorance… but he could truly understand the deepest nooks and crannies of emotion – not by personal experience per se, but simply by observance.
Link’s expression was sympathetic. “You can sleep some more if you want, man. I don’t care to keep driving.”
The offer was tempting, as Rhett was exhausted, but he promptly declined. He had Link turn off at the next rest area where they could trade places for a few hours. Upon reaching the parking lot, Rhett was pleasantly greeted with the opportunity to stretch his legs and back, which felt so much more satisfying than the position in which he awoke. “Ooooh man this feels incredible...” Rhett declared, eyes shut in contentment as all six feet and seven inches of him towered outside the truck.
Link sauntered over to Rhett’s side and pressed his back against the front door, just to Rhett’s left. He lifted his elbows to the top of the window in a rather awkward position as Rhett piled his forearms on the roof. Link crossed his legs beneath the shade of a young maple tree growing from the median in front of the lot. “I feel like I need to do like a hundred squats or something to get me prepared for this.”
Rhett chuckled under his breath, eyes wandering across the blacktop covering the mostly empty lot. “I think we can stop a little more periodically than every five hours.”
“Please,” Link begged. “My back hurts, I can’t imagine how you feel right now!”
Rhett considered for a moment, but found that he was quite content in terms of pain since he’d escaped from the seat he had himself crammed into. “I’m actually fine right now. Can’t say I’m eager to get back in though.”
Link nodded. They stayed there for about fifteen minutes to get any excess energy out of their systems before having to drive for another extended period of time, walking around and lunging to stretch out their muscles. Link ran his fingers imperiously through his obsidian hair. “You ready to go?”
“I s’pose,” Rhett acquiesced. Again they packed themselves into the vehicle, this time with Rhett as the chauffer, and advanced onto the interstate once more. Rhett noticed that Link had evidently refilled the gas tank during his slumber, the needle close to full, which was one less thing to worry about. He also noticed that Link was oddly silent after he’d taken over the job of driving. He opened his mouth to ask Link if he was alright, but as he looked over to the passenger’s seat he saw the limp body of an exhausted man leaning his head into the side of the door, mouth agape.