Work Text:
“Alright, your turn, have you been hiding something from me ?”
Ryland, who was previously checking his mail on his computer sitting in front of him, lifts his eyes from the screen to look at his twin.
They're both currently in Colt’s apartment. With the end of the school year and the beginning of the summer holidays, he decided to go visit Colt. Spend some quality time with his brother and watch him do those awesome stunts on set.
Ryland always loved seeing Colt’s stunts. Even if they scare him to death.
Colt did offer Ryland to stay at his apartment while he's here, but knowing Colt’s friend, Jody (who is more than a friend, but Colt supposedly kept it a secret until now), often comes over at his place, Ryland didn't want to disturb their peace.
It took some bargaining, but Colt eventually accepted to let Ryland take a room in a hotel.
Which leads to right now. Colt moving back and forth in his living room, talking about his relationship with Jody. He hadn't kept it a secret, per se, but he hadn't necessarily told Ryland about it either. So now he was apologizing for it, not knowing Ryland was already aware of his relationship.
Mind you, Colt is a good liar.
But not to Ryland.
Call it twin intuition of whatever, but Ryland knew he was in love with Jody, ever since he first got invited on set.
That, or Colt is just too infatuated with that woman to be good at hiding it properly.
So when they started dating, Ryland knew. Because at some point, Colt had stopped saying things like: Remember the girl I like ? or Oh yeah, and the girl I like told me… And instead said: Jody did this today ! and Jody and I ate lunch together, she was so pretty
You know, these kinds of things.
It was pretty much the same, but Ryland knew something had happened. Had changed.
But he hadn’t told Colt about it, because he didn’t want to make him uncomfortable about this new relationship. He had waited for him to mention it first.
And today was the day.
Colt snaps his fingers, pulling his twin out of his thoughts.
“Sorry, what was-what was that ?”, Ryland asks. He heard the question, but for some reason, he has a habit of asking again.
It's just something he does without even knowing.
“I just told you a secret of mine. Now, it's your turn !”
What you just revealed wasn't much of a secret, Ryland wanted to say. But he decided against it. After all, his brother was already freaking out about not being honest, so downplaying it just isn't the right way.
Even if it is really tempting.
Wait, Colt asked him a question, meaning that he has to answer (yes, good job, brain, a question needs an answer, very smart).
Ryland does have a secret, now that he thinks about it.
Something that he knows Colt won't really appreciate.
Should he tell him ?
After all, it has been going on for a few months already, and Ryland really is itching to tell his brother about it.
They've always told each other everything. Always.
Even if they were apart most of the time. Colt moving around the USA (and the world) doing insane things, and Ryland teaching his kids back in San Francisco, they always managed to stay in contact and spend hours talking about their days.
But this-
“Right, no, I'm not even sure you have a secret, you've never been the secretive type”, Colt stands near the window, looking down at the street.
“I hooked up with Tom Ryder.”
Colt freezes.
Now, the secret is out, and Ryland kind of regrets it.
Not the hooking up part, no, but the telling.
Colt turns around, and faces his twin. Ryland notes that he hasn't moved from the window. He just hovers there, still looking pretty shocked.
“You-what ? When ? How ? Why ?”, Colt quickly asks, not letting Ryland talk.
When he can answer, he says this:
“Last Saturday”
“With Tom Ryder ? The Tom Ryder ? Tom Ryder the A-hole ?”
Colt suddenly moves over, sitting down next to Ryland on the couch.
“How the hell did it happen ? Did he force you into anything?”
“What ? No. God, no” How is that his first thought ?
“Then what the hell happened?”
Ryland runs a hand through his hair and pulls his glasses down to rest on his ear and chin.
“Alright. Do you remember a few months ago when Tom gave me his number ? You told me to delete it.”
Colt nods “Yeah, I remember.”
“Well, I didn't. So we started to text. And then texts turned into hangouts. And hangouts turned into dates and suddenly we're in a relationship. Last week was…uh, the-the first time we did more than kissing.”
Colt says nothing. He just stares at Ryland like he suddenly grew two more heads.
And it kind of makes him fidget. There’s two ways Colt might react.
Either he takes it well, and supports his brother, even if he hid this relationship from him.
Or he takes it personally, and gets mad at Ryder for charming his way in his twin’s life, or at Ryland for lying (Colt could never be mad at Ryland, but tell that to his anxious mind).
“You’ve been hiding this for three whole months ? What…why didn't you tell me ?”
When Colt finally speaks up, Ryland flinches. Just slightly. He hadn't expected Colt to speak so softly.
This doesn't fall into each of the two ways Ryland just mentioned. And Ryland hates it. Colt sounds hurt about the fact that Ryland’s been hiding this for so long. Like he didn’t trust him enough to be honest.
Ryland can’t have that, he has to tell him the truth.
“Uhm. It's just…I know you hate Tom, and I didn't want you to be disappointed in me”
Colt blinks, dumbfounded. He reaches out and puts a hand on Ryland’s wrist.
“First of, I don’t hate Ryder. I respect him, he’s a good actor. It’s his personality that I don’t like. He spends his life not caring about others and flirting his way into everyone’s life, it’s infuriating. Even if he did calm down the last few months.” Ryland can’t help but feel a bit proud of himself for that. He kind of is the reason for Ryder's settling down. But this isn’t the moment to think about that.
“And second, there’s nothing you could do to make me disappointed in you, you hear me ? Even if you’re dating Tom fucking Ryder.”
Ryland chuckles, feeling like a weight has been lifted off his shoulders.
“Okay, thank you, Colt.”
Colt nods and smiles.
“Are you planning to keep dating him ?”, he suddenly asks “I mean, we both know how your previous relationships ended, and none of them come even close to dating Ryder.”
Ryland can’t disagree with this.
Back when they were in high school, he did try to date a few times, after hearing Colt repeatedly talk about his girlfriends.
But he quickly gave up when all his partners left him because they couldn’t handle him. He never knew what was wrong with him, and that left a bitter taste in his life ever since.
Colt used to say it was because he’s too smart and it scared them, Ryland thinks it’s because he’s incapable of being normal in any social interaction. Even more when it comes to romance. So he just stopped dating altogether and avoided anyone trying to make a move on him.
So for Ryland to date Tom Ryder ? Who is literally the most sociable person in the universe ?
It’s something.
“I do, I wanna keep dating him, as long as he’ll have me. I mean, I like him”, Ryland eventually says, staring down at his hands.
“Well, you do what you want, it’s not my place to say anything about it. But if Ryder is ever an asshole to you, you call me, I’ll kick his ass, okay ? You need to look out for yourself, too. Saying no or asking to stop is okay. Ryder’s a pushy bastard, so I wouldn’t be surprised."
Ryland laughs and nods. “I will. I promise”
Colt hums, feeling content with himself.
“Alright, what do you want to eat for dinner ? I’m gonna ask Jody and Dan to come over.”, he says, getting up from the couch.
However, before he could leave, Ryland grabs his wrist.
He waits for Colt to look at him before speaking.
“Thank you for being there, Colt”
“No problem, Ryry, after all, I’m older, so it’s my job to protect you”
Ryland raises an eyebrow. “You’re older by 12 minutes”
“Still counts”, Colt shrugs.
Ryland laughs and lets go of Colt “Alright, if you say so”
Colt reaches out and ruffles his brother’s hair and leaves before Ryland could protest against it.
Turns out hiding the fact that he’s dating the famous Tom Ryder, the one guy Colt hates (more or less) didn’t have much of a setback.
Ryland’s glad, knowing Colt wouldn’t have hesitated throwing a punch to Ryder if he had hurt Ryland in any way.
Ryland puts his glasses back on, focusing back on checking his mails, the school year might be over, but some parents still ask him some things, or thank him for making their children actually happy when they have class with him.
Ryland wouldn’t trade his kids for anything in the world either.
His kids or his brother, actually.