Chapter Text
A statue of Ryland.
It looked just like him. Simon’s fingers trembled even as they tightened around Ryland’s hand. They had really let him go, just like that.
Tears of anger and harsh hatred burned his eyes- but Ryland himself was sniffling for a completely different reason.
“I can’t believe it… they really put up a statue in my honour?”
“Honour- Ryland, they thought you were dead!”
“Simon, I really, really should be,” he said quietly. Fingers shaking even as Simon clenched them as tight as he could.
“That doesn’t matter. They gave up on you, just like that!”
“And what was a middle school supposed to do? The decision was made 3 days before launch, they probably didn’t know I was gone until Stratt told everyone,” Ryland tried to reconcile. Simon tried to stay mad, but Ryland’s eyes were telling him to let it go. He really couldn’t fight him on this.
“Anyway, I wasn’t the most popular amongst my coworkers. I find it touching that they did anything at all..” Ryland gave the pedestal a cute little pat, then pulled Simon towards the front doors.
They stepped into the school, and Ryland got a little look on his face- the one he got when he was about to lock in on one thing. Simon stopped him before he could get any further, as one of the staff noticed them.
“Excuse me? Do you need anything?” She asked.
“Hello, uhm… we’re… parents-! Yes, we are parents that… need to speak with our daughter’s teacher about… our daughter.” Simon lied through his teeth.
“O…kay. Well, unless you have an arranged-”
“It’s arranged!” He insisted.
“Can I get a name-”
“Room 432. It’s room 432,” Ryland blurted.
The staff member frowned slightly. She looked around, then nodded a little.
“Okay, then. I’ll need names.”
“I’m Ryla- er, Ryan. And this is my husband-”
His heart once again jolted
“-Simon! Simon Lung. Yes. Simon Lung and I’m Ryan Lung.”
“What… unique names.” She made a face, but wrote up two name tags for them.
As they hurriedly shuffled down the hall, Simon leaned in.
“‘Husbands’? Are we married?”
Ryland tilted his head down.
“For now, yes.”
“I’ve always wanted a partner,” Simon grinned. Ryland looked away from him, grumbling under his breath and blushing.
They reached the classroom when Ryland finally rubbed the flush from his face.
He stopped dead outside the door, suddenly squirming.
“Got cold feet now? Come on, it’ll be fine,” Simon said, rubbing shoulders with him.
“I-I’m good suddenly… I don’t know if I want to meet… who they replaced me with.” Ryland said softly.
“Oh, bullshit. Come on,” he grumbled, banging on the door.
It opened, and there was a sweet young woman with curly brown hair.
“Hello? How can I help you?” She asked warmly. Ryland was fully ignoring her, straining his neck to see into the classroom.
“Hi, I’m Simon Lung. Ryan Lung’s husband, and we were… coming in to collect our daughter’s things.”
“Oh? I don’t think we’ve met before! What’s your daughter’s name?”
The second they got inside and the door was shut, Simon dropped the act.
“Listen, I don’t really care what you think, and it’s a long, long story. He’s not my husband- yet-”
Ryland choked on his spit
“-and I’m not exactly from here. Point is, do you know where Dr Ryland Grace’s classroom… stuff went?” He hissed.
She looked almost panicked for a second. Then paused. Looked Ryland up and down, then gasped.
“Oh my God- are you a ghost?!”
“Not yet,” he said pathetically.
“It’s really you?! They said you died on the Hail Mary! How is this possibl-”
“Long story. Where did the stuff from his classroom end up?” Simon insisted. She swallowed nervously, looking around.
“Well… It could be long gone. If it was kept though- it would probably be in the storage closet.. Oh my!” Ryland was already halfway to busting down the door.
She unlocked it while Simon held Ryland up in the air as he squirmed and thrashed.
Then he dove right into the messy closet, sorting through what only looked like junk.
Simon took the time to properly look around a real school. It was nothing like the school he went to on Eden. It was almost… comforting. Warm. There was a solar system hanging from the ceiling and aged wooden desks with many, many initials carved into the well-worn finish.
There was a flag pinned to a white board and strangely enough, a prayer.
“Earth schools say prayers before classes too?” He asked aloud.
“I don’t think I like how you said ‘Earth schools’...” The teacher said nervously.
“Why not?”
“Well, it implies you’re not from Earth.”
“I am,” he said quickly. “I’m from Ohio.”
“Ahhh…” she magically didn’t question him again. He walked around the room, taking in the stained tiles and old stickers on furniture. Ryland yelped excitedly from the closet and stumbled out with a dilapidated box of his possessions.
“Oh, God. I would’ve loved to learn here,” Simon smiled at him. Leaning up against a desk.
“Maybe I wouldn’t be so… I dunno.”
“Academically challenged?” Ryland said tenderly.
“I was going to say stupid,” he said dumbly. The blonde man scowled and shook his head.
“Nuh uh, You’re not talking bad about yourself. Especially not in my classroom,” he said with an authority that came second-nature. He really was just a teacher at heart.
It was… endearing.
Simon’s face warmed up and he was sure it was visible at that point so he just turned away and scratched at a desk.
“Mary, I never thought I’d be standing here again… after everything..” Ryland sighed, rummaging through the box.
He pulled out a small, clean golden plate with his name carved into it.
“What’s that?” Simon asked.
“A plaque. They gave these name placards to all the doctors. And since I’m technically Dr Ryland Grace… Placard for me, baby!” He said, then sorted through more of his stuff. It was a miracle it had survived years and years in a storage closet.
“This room’s jumped teachers a lot. Nobody really felt… good, so to say, staying in it for too long. So nobody’s really gotten around to cleaning it out,” the teacher explained, fiddling with her lanyard. It did feel kind of invasive to have taken over her room like that. But Ryland deserved to get his stuff back, even if… all of Earth thought he was dead.
“Uh… thanks for this. Really. Is there anything I can do?” Ryland asked her. She shook her head stupidly. Then nodded even stupider.
“Can I- gosh, it sounds so stupid- can I get an autograph? My students really, really love watching some of your old videos. I just started this job and its… nearly impossible to fill your shoes.”
“Oh. Oh- of course!” He fumbled with a pen, signing about fifteen different pieces of paper.
“There! It's the least I can do! I uh… I kinda broke in here.”
“Somehow, that doesn’t surprise me. Bye, Mr Lung. Dr Grace,” she smiled and waved.
“Goodbye,”
“Thanks for everything!” Ryland called. He seemed almost giddy, cradling his box to his chest.
Simon looked over at him, quirking an eyebrow.
“You really do miss it, huh?”
“Of course I do!”
“Then… why leave it when you have the chance to stay?”
“Not this again.. Simon, my mind is made up. I want to go back to Erid. That’s my home now. I loved my job here, but all of my students have grown up. It won't be the same, and I don’t really feel like shoving into my old life and trying to make everything the same because- well, it’s not. I’ve changed, Simon.” He said, pushing open the door with his hip. Simon went first, holding it open for him.
“I guess that makes sense,” he mumbled.
“I want to see if I can get any of my old stuff back… I had some pictures I never got to take with me, considering Stratt packed up all I had on a navy ship in the middle of the night,” Ryland chuckled awkwardly, opening the car door. Simon sat down and buckled up, stretching himself out. Then he looked down and tore the name tag off of his shirt.
“Next stop, my… old apartment! What did you think about middle school?” Ryland asked.
“It was… nice, actually. A lot different from Eden. Like, a lot. But you still say prayers before school.”
“You mean the pledge of allegiance?”
“Ryland… I can’t believe I’m asking this… but did you teach in a cult too?”
“Uh, no. It’s just American tradition.”
“Wait.”
“Too??”