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The first time Tom sees him he's initially confused, because why is Colt dressed like a nerd? Shouldn't he be in costume already? What's up with his hair? He hadn't really been paying attention to be fair. The very brief look he'd gotten was in passing and at a distance. Either way, it's not his problem right now.
It's a little later in the day when he realizes that he was mistaken. Gail walks beside him, going off on some guy through her phone. He tunes her out. He doesn't really care to listen in. He watches as Colt walks off set toward Jody, standing next to whom is a glasses wearing man. The same man he had apparently seen earlier.
He is unmistakably related to Colt, but for every way they are similar there are also clear differences. Differences that Tom doesn't really realize he's begun cataloging till they're only five feet away. There's the obvious things of course, like the sense of style and the natural, unbleached hair that he can see from a distance, now that he's paying attention. A little closer he can tell that the guy isn't as broadly built as Colt. He doesn't have the same rugged, rough and tumble vibe. His nose also lacks any sign of having been previously broken. He carries himself in a much more reserved fashion. Colt is as confident as this guy is anxious. It's like he's trying to hide in that slightly oversized cardigan.
Tom leans over to Gail disrupting her phone call with a snap, “Who is that?” He tilts his head toward the small gathering.
“Yes, what?” Gail says quickly before focusing in to where Tom gestured. “Oh him? Colt's twin. His name’s…. Ryland? Yeah that.”
She promptly returns to her call.
Tom returns his attention to the guy. Ryland. A twin. Colt's twin brother. He guesses he can see it more or less. He takes a moment to drag his gaze from top to bottom. He's cute enough. Tom doesn't mind the soft boy look. Colt's been getting on his nerves anyway. He’s been getting cocky. This is a perfect opportunity to fuck with him.
That and there's no harm in flirting a bit.
It's a win, win for Tom.
They move on to the next project. Tom finds himself busy, between being the best goddamn actor to exist, going to professional events and parties. Not to mention the new make-up artist he’s been casually fooling around with. Samantha or something, it doesn’t matter. Somehow he still finds time to try taking Colt down a couple pegs. Especially when Tom overheard Colt call him a douche the other day.
Tom knows just how to piss him off.
Whenever possible he simply asks after his brother or makes an offhand comment about him. Never directly to Colt, just when he’s in earshot. Colt is fiercely protective. The glares, scoffs and grimaces Tom catches show just how Colt feels whenever Tom talks about Ryland. He gets particularly pissed if Tom talks about Ryland’s looks. It's too easy.
Tom would’ve left it at that except Colt just had to push back. He’s not gonna stand for that.
He decides to approach Jody today, “Hey, Colt’s brother, Ryland?”
She gives him a suspicious look before answering, “Hmm… What about him?”
“Found his profile on Facebook, no relationship status. You know anything?” Tom asks. He’s pretty sure he already knows the answer. The little bit of research he’d done indicates that Ryland is almost guaranteed to be single.
“I’m not sure,” She looks thoughtfully to the side. “but I don’t think he’s seeing anyone.”
“Cute guy like that? You got his number?” He feels a hand gripping his shoulder. He already knows who it is without looking “Oh didn’t notice you, Colt.”
Colt turns him around so they are talking face to face, “That’s enough.”
It's said like a threat.
Tom looks at Colt dismissively, “What?”
“You know what. Leave my brother alone. You’re the last person he’d want to talk to and you are never gonna get his number. So stop whatever this bullshit is that you’re doing and back off”
Tom shrugs, dislodging Colt’s hand from his shoulder. He brushes a hand there like he’s removing dirt. Seriously? He’s Tom Motherfucking Ryder. He doesn’t take commands from Colt Seavers of all people. At this moment though he’s not going to escalate. Tom gives Colt an unimpressed look and walks away. He’s going to get that phone number one way or another. Now it's a challenge.
It takes little work to get Ryland’s phone number. He knows Gail has it due to some liability waiver Ryland had to fill out when he visited the set. It makes sense everyone has to fill those out at some point. Not that he asked Gail, but a quick sift through her laptop while she’s out of her trailer had done the job.
He sends the first message. He expects Colt will find out about it. And he’s right.
The next day Colt finds Tom after a brief rendezvous with that new make-up artist. Turns out her name is not Samantha, it's Savannah. He can’t be bothered to care. This isn’t a thing he plans to keep going for much longer, regardless. It doesn’t matter. What does matter is that Colt is pissed off. It's hilarious. Getting under his skin is so easy.
“You texted Ryland,” He seethes. “I told you to back off.”
“Well, I didn’t feel like listening,” He lifts one brow.
“He’s not going to answer,” Colt says, like there’s no other possibility.
“Is that so?” Tom drawls with a bored expression, “We’ll see.”
“He deleted your message," He levels Tom with a serious look. "Just leave him alone. What’s in it for you anyway?”
Tom doesn’t bother to answer. He just smirks and turns away. He’s gotten what he wanted out of this. The messages from Ryland in his phone directly contradict Colt after all. He’s not backing off by any means.
The thing is that Tom knows that this is no longer about pissing Colt off. If it was he’d be shoving it in his face somehow and he isn’t, so it has to be something else. He finds Ryland amusing, sure, but there's more to it. Ryland is a nerd but in a way that is charming. He sends fun photos that Tom sometimes spends an excess of time just looking at. Ryland talks passionately about his interests and his students, even if they are just in texts. He’s able to keep up with Tom’s teasing and give it right back. And for some reason Tom doesn’t mind. Normally it’d make him want to get the other person back but he likes the banter that Ryland throws at him. It’s nice to have someone that isn’t part of the movie scene. It's nice to have someone who doesn’t treat him like some kind of idol.
It’s when he talks to Ryland on the phone for the first time and tells him he wants to meet up that he realizes this might be a bit more serious. Not that serious of course. Tom would never commit to a single person. It’s never been his thing. Of course not. He’s had an on and off thing with Iggy for a while. Currently it’s leaning toward “on.” There’s been side flings on top of that. Iggy never cared so neither did Tom. Iggy knew about Savannah, the make up artist, and about Cameron, the tailor, from the project before that. Just like he knew about Iggy’s own list of side partners. He hasn’t told her about Ryland though. He’s not sure why. It's different. He’s different. Ryland isn’t a part of their world.
Which is why after a party he only vaguely remembers where he wakes up next to Iggy the following afternoon he feels surprised at the pit he feels in his stomach. He chalks it up to a hangover at first and does what little he can to try to ease the side effects of a night that was clearly a lot more wild than he originally planned. While in the bathroom adjoining the bedroom, he finds it’s not only the hangover making him feel this way when he looks at his phone for the first time. After going through some messages he checks his call log to make sure he hasn’t missed anything important. It’s there he discovers a call to Ryland from the previous night that makes him pause. He doesn’t really recall it, but between that and Iggy in the other room there’s something that feels like shame or guilt. He doesn’t know.
His phone screen goes dark.
He tries not to think about it, but somehow it keeps coming back. That’s the dilemma with trying not to think about something. He doesn’t know what to do with it, but he decides it's a problem for “later” Tom, not “now” Tom.
“Now” Tom needs to gather his clothes and get the hell out of here.
It’s while coming up with plans for their first time hanging out that the word “date” crosses Tom’s mind. A word that feels somewhat foreign to him, honestly. Tom Ryder doesn’t date. Doesn’t need to actually. So what the hell is that word doing coming up right now?
He makes the plans.
So they can hang out.
Meet up.
It is not a “date.”
He is so fucking wrong. He starts to think it is a date when he fixes Ryland’s glasses. He figures out that it is definitely a date when he holds Ryland’s hand and lets a pet name slip. An action started by an accidental brushing of fingers that Tom answered purposefully. His normal train of thought has been absolutely derailed with thoughts about this guy. Cute. Clumsy. Funny. Handsome. Smart.
He thinks he might have it bad?
It’s fine. Tom can push through this and keep his dignity. He’s an actor. THE actor. He plays up his confidence. If this is a date, then he’s gonna make sure it's a good one. He doesn’t half-ass shit. Maybe if he does that he can get a second or even a third? Actually scratch that question, because he’s definitely going to.
It's difficult to do with their schedules, the distance and trying to avoid attention, but they manage two more dates. In the gaps between they call and text almost everyday. Tom is pretty sure Ryland hasn’t told Colt. If he had then Tom would expect Colt to have at minimum given him a piece of his mind. He anticipates it might also involve a piece of Colt’s fist meeting a piece of his face. Tom could deal with that if needed and if not that’s what he has security for.
Both times Tom goes to Ryland. It's easier. Both times he walks him to his apartment. The second time ends in an actual, not on the cheek, kiss. Just a quick one. This one ends the same. Or it would’ve if Ryland hadn’t spoken up.
“Um can I… Are we,” Words seem to be a struggle to find. Tom knows Ryland has a tendency to be nervous. The term “chronic overthinker” seems fitting. He can see the gears turning and the second-guessing plain as day. Being able to read people is one of his best attributes as an actor. He doesn’t know what Ryland wants to ask, but it seems significant.
“What’s going on in that big, smart brain of yours?” He prods. A compliment can’t hurt either.
“Gosh this is so embarrassing,” Ryland mutters quietly. If Tom wasn’t so focused on him he might not have caught it. But he does. It’s funny and adorable and he manages to stifle a laugh. That would definitely stop Ryland in his tracks. “I was going to ask, because we’ve been, you know, doing this thing for a while and it seems like we are or could be or something,” He pauses, like he’s recalibrating. “I was going to ask, I don’t know if it's the right choice of word or whatever,” He let out a huff and runs a hand through his hair. “Are we boyfriends?”
That wasn’t the question Tom was expecting, but it’s not that out there either. It's a fair question in a way. One he needs to answer quickly or else Ryland will have doubts.
The issue is that Tom hasn’t made anything official in a long time. He’s still got the thing with Iggy. They’re in an “off” phase but they haven’t actually talked about it. Tom just keeps avoiding her as much as he can. He still occasionally flirts with someone on the cast or crew. It's expected. It's to keep up appearances. It doesn’t matter. There’s no harm in flirting after all.
But maybe there is? Maybe he should’ve stopped when it started making him feel sick with shame? When he would question how fair it was to do?
Right now though there's a question hanging in the air and it needs an answer. Tom tells himself he’ll deal with the rest later and meets Ryland’s eyes.
“Yeah, definitely.”