Happiness is a Myth

Chapter 1

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Everyone questions their life choices at some point in their life. There comes a time when one reaches a tipping point where all that is left is choosing between the lesser of two evils. A break it or make it kinda situation. We all lose sometimes and Link knew that his misery is not in any way special.

Rhett and Link have been through a lot in the past year. They market themselves as best friends and share almost everything in life; the good and the bad. What they didn't anticipate was reaching that tipping point at the same time.

Seven months ago, their wives, Jessie and Christy, planned a spa day together. On their way back, their car got hit by a drunk driver and they tragically lost their lives. Rhett and Link took a three months break to mourn their loss but they had mouths to feed and had to return to work.

They were not ok.

While Rhett grieved by lashing out and secluding himself in their shared rental home, Link found himself on autopilot. He was too busy taking care of others to actually assess his emotional state and confront the epic state of denial he found himself in.

It was hard.

People around them were supportive for a while but everyone has their own lives and issues to deal with. Link coped by creating a full routine that left no time for a head scratch, much less the time needed to reflect on his broken heart.

He leans his head on his hands at the meeting table, hearing nothing but white noise as the mythical crew around him brief them on the episode script ideas for next week. Link honesty didn't give a rat's ass over what they wanted from him at this moment. All he wanted to do was sink into the ground and just die so he can finally rest.

A bang of guilt pierces through his heart over how selfish that sounded to him. Not only was he taking care of his own traumatized kids, he found himself with two more. Rhett emotionally and physically checked out and Link didn't want to pressure him into stepping up as a father so he did it instead. He convinced himself that at any moment Rhett would get his shit together and take back the rains.

From the bruises he has on his body caused by intentional and unintentional aggressive lash outs from his friend, Link doesn't predict that Rhett will find closure any time soon.

If only Link could control time so this sucky phase of his life would end sooner. Every bone in his body ached. He feels like he's about to faint if someone breathes wrong at his direction. He thought he was shaky before, now he's downright unable to hold a glass of water without using both hands.

He is struggling.

Link didn't know how long he could keep this up.

His body will fail him or his mind will melt any second now. He just hopes no one sees it happen, especially not Rhett.

A sharp piercing pain radiated from his right side and he clamped his mouth to cover his silent scream. He turned to look at what caused it and saw his friend, crossing his arms and looking passively away. Rhett just pinched Link hard on his side. Link found himself staring at his unapologetic friend as waves of hurt, physical and emotional, radiated through his midsection from his friend's unprovoked attack.

This was not the first time Rhett used physical provocation to get Link's attention. But it's the first time Link sees no regret or acknowledgement of wrongdoing from his friend.

Link felt his eyes water uncontrollably. Were they even still friends at this point?

The big guy refuses to speak to him without turning whatever the conversation was into verbal abuse or a reason to release tension on the too-tired-to-argue-back Link. At the beginning, right after they received the news, Link thought he was being a good friend and allowed the yelling, screaming and jabs without fighting back. Link would rather have his friend unleash his anger on him than the kids, their family or their crew.

After all, no one knew how painful it is to suddenly lose a life partner and soulmate more than him. He kept his mouth shut, endured the out-lash until seven months later. The yelling turned into bone-breaking grips under the table to stop Link from talking while they film and stronger than necessary slaps and shoves on the go.

Link never thought he was a doormat but enduring his friend's wrath so silently makes him hate himself.

"..nk.. LINK!"

Link wiped his head to stare back at a frowning Stevie across the meeting table. He whispers: "Wah?"

Stevie sighs loudly: "Did you even hear anything we said?"

Link gently rubs his aching side and swallows hard: "No.. I'm sorry."

Stevie stares at him for a few seconds then shakes her head. This meeting is running long and she didn't want to make a scene so she let Link's space-out moment pass: "We have three main ideas: We want to turn you into a human burrito, "Will it shave ice cream?" and we want to make a game about the next Eponym Report."

Link tries his best to ignore the hot fire spreading from his side and says: "No, yes and no."

Rhett scoffs but doesn't say anything. Stevie frowns at her boss: "I will need more than one word responses to ideas we've been discussing for a week, Link."

Link swallows hard, trying his best to bring forth his 'boss voice': "I don't want to be a burrito. I think that human-sized food ideas are past us at this point. Eponym can kiss my ass. We will not support anyone who makes a living by violating other people's privacy and destroying their lives. He or she is a scumbag and I refuse to have our name in any shape or form associated with these unGodly deeds."

Stevie crosses her arms, clearly pissed at Neal: "I'm fine with scrubbing the Eponym game if you feel so strongly about it but you know that the human-sized-food episodes are one of our top ranked episodes. Why are you being difficult?"

Link closes his eyes, hoping to God that no one can tell that he's on the verge of openly sobbing from pain and exhaustion. Over the past half year, he has lost a lot of weight and Rhett hasn't been kind to him. He was covered in bruises that he didn't want to explain..

He takes off his glasses and stealthy pretends to rub his eyes and says: "Maybe.. Maybe we can do the human burrito next week? I honestly don't feel like doing it this week. I'm sorry."

Stevie sighs loudly: "Fine. We will think of something else to cover this week's episodes.. Does anyone else have anything to add? We have one hour to prepare for today's shoot so make it quick."

When no one said anything. People just started to file out, going back to the set to prepare for today's filming session. Rhett glares at Link on his way out as the smaller man stares at his phone, trying to figure out how he can shift things around to get all the stuff on his list done.

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