Chapter Text
Let it be known that Colton Grace, aka Colt Seavers, woke up thinking that it was going to be a good day.
The sun was shining, the birds were chirping, that kind of thing. He had a couple stunts lined up for today, and the best part?
His twin brother was going to visit set for the first time.
Apart from Jody and Dan, no one at work knew that Colt had a twin. So he’s feeling pretty excited to look out for people’s reactions to seeing a carbon-copy double of, well, the stunt double.
As he’s driving out of his place, Colt gets a call. It reads, “RyRy :).”
Colt answers the phone with a mock tone of professionalism, the kind he reserves when he’s trying to be pretty polite. “You’ve reached Colt Seavers Taxi Service, how may I help you?” Through the speaker, Ryland’s voice rings out, somewhere between amused and exasperated. “Haha, very funny. I just got off my plane. When are you getting here?”
“Maybe…gimme 20 minutes,” Colt replied. “That's if LA traffic isn’t out to screw me over.”
There’s the sound of faint rustling in the background on Ryland’s side which Colt files in his brain as ‘airport noise,’ pausing at a stoplight.
“Did you get me a souvenir?” Colt continues, tapping his fingers against the wheel. “Memorabilia from your class of crazy kids?” He can picture Ryland rolling his eyes at that. For such an awkward guy, he carries a whole lot of sass at times.
“Colt, I’m not getting you anything because you come and visit San Francisco on your own time anyway,” Ryland huffs, some more ‘airport noise’ in the background. “Also, I’m a teacher. I’m not buying you a $25 souvenir at the airport, because I have a teacher’s salary.”
Colt laughs, quickly leaning forward to check a message from Dan. It’s nothing, just confirmation for the stunts today. “As long as I can finally convince you to let me visit your class, I think I’ll be fine.” He can hear Ryland let out an exasperated sigh. “Come pick me up Colt.” And then the man hangs up.
Ryland can be such a snooze fest sometimes.
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About an hour later, Colt is pulling up into the parking area near the production, Ryland’s suitcase stowed away in the trunk as the two brothers get out of the car.
“Are there, like, ground rules? Is there someplace I have to be as a visitor?” Ryland asks, the social awkwardness already hitting him. “Do I need a badge? Oh my god, I need a badge, don’t I? I don’t have a badge, Colt. I don’t work here. I don’t want to get hauled off by security or something!”
Colt stopped and turned around, using one hand to rest over the younger man’s shoulders. “Ryland,” The man looks at Colt with thinly-veiled panic. “You’re gonna be fine. No one’s getting escorted off set. And it’s you. People’ll like you. You’re awkward in that endearing way.”
Ryland blinked, looking mildly offended now. “That’s not…I don’t think that’s supposed to be a compliment. Was that supposed to be a compliment? ‘Cause that was…really bad.”
Before Colt can reply to that, he see Jody waving to him, heading over their way.
“Colt! There you are, Dan’s looking for-“ She blinks, her words coming to a complete stop as she fully notices Ryland, who blinks back before offering a weak smile and a wave. “You’re Colt’s twin.”
“He talks about me?” Ryland asks, looking surprised, which, why the surprise? “Oh, all the time,” Jody replies, flicking a piece of hair out of her face. “Well, to me, and to Dan, at least. Maybe a few other people, but I don’t know about that.”
“Why would you think I don’t talk about you?” Colt asks, a confused smile spreading on his face. Gosh, his brother can be so stupid sometimes. Ryland just shrugs, clumsily pushing up his glasses. “I’m- I’m Ryland, by the way. Ryland Grace. It’s nice to meet you…” Ryland stalls, his hand outstretched for Jody to shake.
“Oh! Right. Jody Meyer. Jody’s fine. I think that you and I are going to be fast friends.” She smiled, shaking Ryland’s hand, the man also smiling back. “Anyway, I came here because Gail is looking all over for Colt. You’re not late, but you know how Tom and Gail are.”
Colt groans, looking around the place and hoping that neither of them haven’t already spotted him. “Are they asking to change a stunt again? I don’t even know why they do that, Ryder never does the stunts anyway!”
Ryland tilts his head, his brows furrowing together. “Tom Ryder? He’s the actor you double for, right? And who’s Gail?”
“Gail’s his producer.” Jody replies quickly, checking her watch for a second. “She’s the one that got Tom rolling up on the whole ‘road to fame.’”
“She’s the one that wanted me to be Tom’s longtime stunt double too.” Colt shrugged. And shit, speaking of Tom Ryder, Colt turns to Ryland, tightly gripping his shoulders and staring into his brother’s eyes. “Stay away from Ryder. It’s for your own good.”
Ryland looks even more confused, glancing at Jody and back to Colt. “What? Why? Don’t you work for him?” Colt squeezes his eyes shut, shaking his head. “I work for him, doesn’t mean I necessarily like him. He’s charming, sure. But that’s all for PR. He’s a grade-A douche, is what he is.”
The three of them start walking towards the scene set, heading over to the camera crew.
“You cannot, and I mean it, Ry, you cannot interact with Tom. At all.” Colt shakes his head. “Just stay here with the camera crew. Get a coffee, chat with people. But don’t chat with Ryder.”
“Okay, I won’t, but…you’re telling not to talk to Tom Ryder because…you don’t like him?” Ryland questions him, staring at him with a skeptical gaze. “I don’t like him ‘cause he’s a douchebag!” Colt exclaims, offended. “He has issues! Like…major personality issues! Ryder is the most self-centric person ever! He’s- just…just don’t. Stay away from him. Please?”
Ryland sighed, peering at Colt over his glasses. “If he starts talking to me-“
“We’ll cross that bridge if we get there,” Colt cuts him off, not wanting to imagine that disaster just yet. “Fine. Whatever. No talking to Tom Ryder. Okay. Good luck with your stunts.” Ryland slowly nods, giving him a little thumbs up - nice one, he’s picking up stunt lingo - wrapping his arms around Colt to hug him.
They both pull away after a moment, Ryland walking over to say hi to a few people from the camera crew, standing beside Jody. They look confused at first, but eventually, it clicks for them and they’re chatting amiably with the man. Ryland’s even already got a cup of coffee in his hand.
Colt smiles, turning around and putting on his shades as he heads over to the stunt scene’s set, where he can now spot Tom and Gail standing beside the director and Dan, most likely waiting for him.
All in all, so far, it’s a pretty good day. Colt plans on keeping it that way. It’s going to be a good day.
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Spoiler alert: Colt’s going to start binge drinking.