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The thing about being immortal, you eventually get bored as shit. Powers wax and wane. Believers come and go. Even though everything is always changing, it becomes all so same-y.
Rhett was hardly an important god. That’s right, lowercase g. You don’t use a capital h for humans, do you? No. Didn’t think so.
Especially for a God of speech. Not of Language, not of the written word. No, it was solely over how well one spoke. Difficulty getting your words across? You can thank Rhett for that.
His current hobby involved sitting in coffee shops, causing mortals to stumble over their tongues, or even just forgetting their words. Each place had many different faces and many different flavors to taste.
That’s why when he found himself in a small café, run by a well-liked young man, he was floored to taste the most delicious brew he’d come across ever.
The old gods are known to play tricks on unsuspecting mortals. Stepping out of their usual blessings and curses to draw mortals to them like moths to a flame. Yet, Rhett felt no such inclinations.
No, he just watched as the dark haired owner stumbled over his own words, occasionally granting him a reprieve from his tongue-twisted ways. Watched the man age far more gracefully than those around him, first with glasses, then with silver streaks dancing through his hair.
“Link,” he said softly one day. The mug pressed across the counter almost hesitantly. “Thank you.”
Rhett only picked up the cup with a curious glance. “Oh?”
“You look different every year, but you always order the same thing.”
The god had decided to change his appearance, as to not alert the man on the other side of the counter. His brows furrowed, even as the man, Link, flushed crimson.. No other words passed between them that day. But Rhett called the mortal by name in greeting.
Humans are such fragile creatures. How could a god forget? So when the owner was out sick for well over a week, Rhett began to fret.
The coffee hardly tasted the same when the other staff made it. It was lacking something distinctly Link.
When Link returned, Rhett felt something like relief flood his system. Before the mortal could retract his hand from across the counter, Rhett found his fingers curling around a delicate wrist. “I am a god.”
“Yes?” Large blue eyes blinked up at him owlishly.
“I want to offer something to you.”
“You’re holding up the line.”
The line that consists of one uninterested teen. “But..”
“Have a good day sir!” The owner's smile was far too intense for brushing aside a god.
Rhett was brushed aside any time he used the words “offer” or “god”. It was beginning to feel arduous and the normally temperamental god was getting ready to lose it.
“Are you trying to anger me?” Again that delicate wrist was trapped by his grasp. He had to fight the nagging feeling that he should just bend the man to his will.
“I meant no offense. I’m sure there are those more willing than myself. Perhaps one who knows you, your name.” Link’s blue gaze was locked onto where the two were joined.
“It isn’t them I want. I want you,” Rhett spoke softly between them.
That pretty pink flush dusted the mortal’s face. “I must be misunderstanding you.”
“Mayhaps. But Listen to my offer at least.” The god didn’t release him, his grip only tightening slightly.
Link nodded his head silently.
“I want to offer you immortality, for as long as you will keep this coffee shop running. Aging and disease will mean nothing to you. I won’t ask for your answer right now. I understand that this is, a lot.”
“Understatement of the century, I’m sure,” was the sassy reply.
Rhett huffed a fond sigh. “Please just think about it.”
Link rolled his eyes, pulling free of the god’s grasp. “I’ll think about it, sure.” He slid the coffee mug across the counter. “Have a good day.”
The pair didn’t bring it up for several weeks. Link refusing to make eye contact, and Rhett not pushing for conversation.
“So…” The dark haired man started.
“Yes?”
“Your name? I never got it,” the human’s voice was soft.
The god blinked, had he not? “Rhett.”
“If I decide this is no longer what I want?”
“You will have full control of your fate.”
“Alright Rhett, I’ll take you up on your offer, in exchange for one tiny thing.”
Rhett frowned, what more could the mortal want? “Oh?”
“I mean, if it isn’t too demeaning that is,” Link’s face was crimson, and the god could almost feel the rush of words pressing against the human’s forehead.
Rhett extended his powers to the flustered mortal. “Just breathe, Link.”
The bespectacled man took a deep breath, pushing the frames that had slipped from their place on the bridge of his nose. “Could we maybe go on a couple of dates? Eternity seems like a long time to be single…”
The god could never recall flushing before, yet he could feel the pink stain on his cheeks, even as he cleared his throat. “That seems amenable."
The brilliant smile the owner flashed him with had face darkening from pink to red.
And so the god gifted the mortal everlasting life. In exchange for coffee and the occasional date. No matter what the other gods might say.
In order to escape suspicion, the pair tended to move around only staying in a place for five to ten years.
Rhett could honestly say he hadn't intended it, but he had fallen in love with Link somewhere along the way. So when the day comes where Link says he's done with this life, well, Rhett will happily follow him into the next. Use the last vestiges of his power to be reincarnated with Link in his next life.
That's what love is, he thinks, giving it all up for that one person. Like Link had done for him. Before he had realized how the dark haired man felt.
But until that moment, Rhett was going to enjoy his coffee, and his love.