#o:lincoln

Peyton’s finally calmed down completely now, thankfully. He’d been talking her through it all, distracting her from the shaking and racing thoughts, making her feel normal. She feels a little bad that he’s had to do this so much since they met, but he’s been making her feel better since the beginning, so she’s thankful at the same time. 

Her head is on his shoulder now, their conversation having come to a brief lull as she needed a moment to restart her thoughts. She’s relaxed against him, and his arm is wrapped securely around her as he rubs up and down her arm. 

"Thank you, Link.” Peyton lifts her head up to look at him, her smile warm, “Really.”

He replies with a grin and a shake of his head. “I told you it’s nothing, Pey.”

“But it’s not nothing!” she laughs.

“It is because I care about you.”

She has to pause for a second at that, her heart kickstarting again for a whole other reason. Her poor cardiovascular functions can’t seem to catch a break tonight. 

“Don’t you get that?” He squeezes her arm. 

Link’s grin widens enough that his eyes crinkle and she swears she can hear her stomach flipping.

“But- But if that’s the case then I feel like just a thank you isn’t enough!”

“How is it not enough?” He laughs, amused.

She’s playfully frustrated in her response, rolling her eyes. “Linky!”

“Okay, you give me whatever extra you want.”

“Oh my god,” she groans, quelling her smile, “C’mon help me out here-” 

“Wait so it’s my choice?”

“No duh!”

She leans up towards him jerkily just as more of a dramatic punctuation to pair with her raised brows, but all that seems to have done is that their faces are much closer. Has it always been this hot up here? She’s half sure it was pretty breezy just minutes ago.

“There’s gotta be something, right?” 

Peyton doesn’t mean for her voice to grow quiet, but she notices him swallow and her focus completely strays. 

Their lips are pressed together in the next moment, and the familiar sensation makes her tense up and relax all the same. When was the last time they kissed? That last day of filming in New York last year, she’s pretty sure. Though if they were being honest at that point, they didn’t need the practice anymore. This kiss is chaste, but her stomach’s turned into flapjacks at this point and it’s almost overwhelming.

But it’s not enough. When he draws away, there’s an air of hesitance. Are they allowed to his anymore? What does it mean?

-

“Link?”

She gave it a moment to pause and wait for an answer, but all she got back was his steady, soft breaths. 

“Babe?”

She looked down at him just to confirm. Out like a light - just as she expected.  Peyton couldn’t help but giggle as she carded her fingers through his hair. She wasn’t annoyed or anything, it wasn’t like they were having a particularly important conversation.  Quite the opposite, actually, if anything. Idle pillow talk, with him nestled against her bare chest (where he claimed was the most comfortable), holding her around the waist, tight against each other under the blankets. 

Three weeks of tight in-and-out filming schedules, and not including the month before they all had found their way back to Vancouver to film for Batgirl, made it impossible for them to be alone together. Just finding the opportunity to be alone together had proven to be something of a challenge too. It’s not like she didn’t love being around her friends, she did! She missed them a lot and hanging out with them was so much easier when they were all filming the same thing. But… she also missed her boyfriend. A lot. Especially since he lived states away usually.  

So, when they realized that they could finally be alone for a few hours, it felt nice to finally just go at it. Peyton never pegged herself as the type, but it certainly felt like they were horny teenagers in the moment (and only one part of that was true, considering their ages). Making sure her trailer door was locked, hands desperately pulling at the clothes they had on, pausing and laughing quietly every time they heard footsteps near. 

It was fun, and exciting, but most importantly, felt right. It always felt right with Link, so much so that her dumb brain doubted it in the beginning because it was too easy. Because apparently to her at the time, nothing good was easy. Dumb way of thinking, she knew now. And despite all the kid-like fun she had, it never felt… childish. (There was nothing childish in the way he never questioned her difficulties with her anxiety especially.) It was real, and mature. 

Feelings she didn’t think she would be able to feel, at least not this early in her life, they were there, clear as day. Clearer than the bright afternoon sun shining through the blinds hitting their skin. She could’ve never imagined understanding so effortlessly that she was feeling these feelings for him, but she did. Peyton couldn’t see a life without him now. She loved him.

She loved him.

Wait.

Peyton blinked a few times, her heart beating inconceivably fast, hand stopping at the base of his head. Wait. Having his face sit cuddled right between her boobs might be skewing her view a little. It could be a fluke. Like post-coitus-bliss-induced-overthinking-conclusions… or something.

Love was such a big word. A huge word. Her own mom didn’t know if she loved her step dad until three months after they moved into the Green household. Hell, her mom didn’t even know if she really loved her birth dad. It was so heavy in her mind that how easily she seemed to come to that conclusion couldn’t be possible. Was it? She squirmed her way down in his hold so that they were face-to-face, her hands resting on his chest. Okay. She’d look at him and get her head straight and then she’d think about this later. In the next year, maybe even the next couple of years. 

But, when her eyes landed on his Link’s sleeping face, all that she felt was her chest open up. All that warmth, and joy, and love, filling her up to the brim within a quick second, telling her, reassuring her  -  

She loved him. 

She did. Peyton really did. It wasn’t a fluke or something she had to question herself about. She knew, she just did. The little bit of anxiety nibbled at her, but it was trumped by how excited she was from this. Hey, maybe that bit of fear just sprung her to know it wasn’t some quick thought. Her hands slipped up to his face, fingers smoothing over the skin of his cheeks, careful no to wake him, just needing to feel him underneath her hands in some way. Because he was really here, silently helping her confirm that it was real.