Disclaimer: I do not own Hairspray, any of its contents, characters, or songs.

Boys' Night

"Seaweed," Link said as he was shuffling the deck of cards. Ever since the Miss Hairspray pageant ended about a month ago, Seaweed and him had taken to playing a weekly game of cards at Maybelle's place.

"Yeah?" Seaweed didn't look up from his deck. A competitive person by nature, when the cards were literally down, he was gone.

Link cleared his throat, "What are your thoughts on...Tracy?"

For some reason, Seaweed was able to pull his gaze from his cards, looking at him. "What you askin' me for? She's your girlfriend, cracker boy." then returned his gaze to his royal flush.

Looking around Motormouth Maybelle's record shop, his eyes carefully scanning over each and every illuminated title that he could see from the lone light, hanging over the table. Inez and Maybelle were already asleep, and she said as long as they didn't break anything, they were more than welcome to stay until dawn. Which was his plan anyway, ever since the pageant, the whole 'family relationship' wasn't going so swell.

After a few moments, Seaweed looked up again. "Somethin' eatin' you, man?"

Taking a few moments more to stare up at the ceiling, Link answered, "It's just, I don't know man, sometimes I even wonder why I'm with her. I mean, we're so...different. She doesn't take most things seriously, she smiles too much. You know what I mean?"

Seaweed just stared at him, incredulous. Then, smacking his cards down with a thump, he crossed his arms, "Well, of course she SMILES too much, before her, you dated that one gal, what was her name?"

"Amber."

He snapped his fingers, "That's it! Man, she sure had one huge bee up her hive."

Link let out a chuckle, he sure wouldn't miss Amber von Tussle, that much he was sure of.

"Anyway," Seaweed continued, "where's all this comin' from? You love her, man, I can see it in your eyes."

"Sometimes I don't think I do." Link blurted out.

His friend just stared at him.

"I mean," he continued, running a hand through his hair, "sometimes I think I love Tracy with my whole heart, and then there are other days, where I wonder why I'm even with her."

Another incredulous stare in response.

"It's just that, it's so hard to be with her, with Amber, it was easy, it was expected--"

"I can't believe you." Seaweed broke in, shaking his head.

Link shut his mouth in surprise.

"You think that it's hard to be with Tracy because she's not one of those tall, leggy, so-called beautiful girls, but I got news for you, Tracy has got the biggest heart and sense of anyone I ever knew. And you will never," he paused, pointing a finger inches away from Link's nose, "find any other girl like her. She stuck by us all in that strike, when all we had was each other. Where were you, cracker boy?"

In all honesty, he was too scared to answer.

"Well, you were at the studio, carin' more about your career than her. Her beliefs, her wants. She wanted you there, and you didn't go."

"Come on Seaweed, don't you ever feel like that with Penny?"

"No." a silent glare followed.

"You don't?"

"No, I love her."

"But, isn't it hard? Even though integration has happened, nothing's completely gone."

"Well, yeah, but she's what I want. It don't matter what people say, what they do, I love her, she loves me. Penny could be arrested for that feelin', and so could I. But, we survive."

Link sighed, "But what about all the obstacles? Love is supposed to be easy, right?"

"What is love without barriers? As far as I'm concerned, nothin's worth havin' if you don't have to fight for it."

Another sigh.

"You love her, you're just lettin' your thoughts run away with you. I see it, your face lights up when she walks into a room, and it gets as dark as me when she leaves. Believe me, I know when somethin' is love."

"But Trace didn't fight for me."

Seaweed gave a sarcastic laugh, "And you have? All you did was sit there while she fought her way to you."

"What do you mean?"

"She fought peoples' opinions. Which is more that you ever did. You, cracker boy, just sat there while everyone fawned over you."

"Are you saying I'm full of myself?"

Seaweed twisted his face in thought, "Not as much as before. In fact, as soon as you started datin' her, it basically disappeared."

"Then what's the problem?"

"You still don't GET it. Get the fact that Tracy's the best girl you could ever hope to get, and you're ready to throw her away because some people don't like how she looks. And I should know how much of a poison other opinions can have." he paused, averting his eyes to look out the window, where the shop across the street was closing, the sign being flipped over as he watched. He took another breath, "You can't let them win, Link. You lettin' these, these people, who don't know nothin' 'bout your life, run it."

Link just looked down, shuffling his cards again and again. When it was said like that, it DID sound stupid, immature. Seaweed was right, as always. People's opinions held more power than he had previously realized. How could he have been so blind? He thought of her smile, her laugh, and his heart swelled with admiration. So that's what it was. It felt so foreign, so new that he was terrified. He had never felt it with any other girl.

That was it, Link realized.

Because he hadn't felt that same neutral, almost bored feeling when seeing Tracy, he was convinced it was her fault, that she was different.

And she was.

But not in the way he thought.

Throwing his cards down with such brute force that Seaweed flinched noticeably in surprise, Link pushed out his chair and stood up, throwing on his jacket.

"Man, where you goin'?!" he loudly whispered.

"The Turnblads'." Link said over his shoulder, throwing open the door and venturing out into the somewhat brisk spring night.

Seaweed chuckled to himself, gazing down at his cards.

A royal flush.

...

A/N: Hey everyone! I was watching Hairspray on a loop this week and decided to play off how pig-ish they made Link Larkin seem in it. (I saw it on Broadway, he comes off MUCH better on stage), this isn't a one-shot I don't think. I still want to do a lot to this storyline. So, read, review, and thank you!