Chapter Text
Grace was sitting on his sofa completely zoned out just cycling through his TV channels when an Australian news cast comes on at around 12 am.
Out of all the channels he wondered why this one caught his eye the most, he placed the remote to the side, the screen showed a giant fire in front of the Sydney opera house the headline saying
STUNTMAN COLT SEAVERS COMMITS SUICIDE?
Grace stared at the screen for a moment wondering where he recognised the name from, his brother was named Colt, yes but his last name was also Grace so it couldn't be him, could it? No. Unless he changed his last name, something sounded in his head then
I'll change my last name, Like a stage name!
No way. It couldn't be. Before Grace could think anymore a photo of the aforementioned "Colt Seavers" appeared and...
It was him, a photo of Grace, no Colt, sure he had sunglasses on like always but it was him, his hair darker and messier than Grace's own and slightly longer as well, in the photo he had his Miami Vice stunt crew jacket on, and if Grace didn't think about this new news he had been unwillingly given he could imagine that Colt was alive, that he was alive, but he knew that it wasn't true. He felt tears prick at his eyes almost as if they were testing the waters of if Grace was sad enough to cry.
He stood slowly, careful not to fall, his legs felt unstable and weak, taking not quite two steps before his legs collapsed from under him, tears spilling over, he didn't make a sound though, just cried silently. Grace reached his hand up slightly to the screen, to where the photo of Colt was, but just as he held his hand up the photo faded away, and he was gone.
Grace had always known Colt's job would get him killed, especially after his accident, he had been worried sick, Literally, he had thrown up out of the idea of his brother dying but had felt too embarrassed to mention it to him, but now he regretted almost everything he hadn't told Colt he regretted not telling him about the times when they were children and he'd done something he didn't even remember now, he regretted everything.
He reached for his phone and decided to try and call Colt, he knew his brother although he was an emotional wreck and this was probably yesterday's news, he had to try, had to know.
One ring...
Two rings....
Three rings.....
*Click*
G:COLT??
J:Who is this?
G: I'm Ryland Grace, *sniff* who is this?
J:Jody Moreno, why are you calling this phone?
G: It's my brother's phone number so unless he got a new phone and number this *sniff* should've called his phone.
J:*unintelligible*
G:Hello??
C:RY!?
G: OH MY GOODNESS COLT YOU'RE ALIVE!
C:Oh shit I forgot to call you
G:I THOUGHT YOU WERE DEAD! I SAW ON THE NEWS! YOU'RE SUPPOSED TO BE DEAD, YOU IDIOT! YOU SHOULD'VE CALLED ME-
C:Yes Ryland I know, I should have called and I'm an idiot and I should never worry you like that again, blah blah blah
G:*sniff* I'm just.. glad you're ok
C:I guessed since you basically blew Jody's ear off when she picked up my phone *distant laughter*
G: Oh it was THAAT Jody! So like did it work out? Did my useless advice work?
J:*distantly* did he say his advice?
C:*distantly* well he said useless advice but yes
J:*distantly* did you ask your brother for relationship advice for our fling??
C:*distantly* oh shush you
G:*sobbing*
J:*quietly* is he okay?
C: RY ARE YOU OK WHAT'S WRONG?
G:*sob* it's just *sniff* you're alive, you have a girlfriend, you're alive *sobbing*
C:What happened with you and your girlfriend, you sound kinda... jealous? About it?
G:No not at all, but I'm *sniff* yeah we broke up but it's okay I don't mind
C:Okay well where are you living at the moment?
G:San Francisco *sniff*
C:Oh, hmmm...
G: Wh- what? What is it?
C: I'm in Australia...
G: Well yeah considering the news *sniff* channel that showed that you died was Australian I kind of guessed, Colt
C: Oh. Yeah that makes sense, anyway you sure you're okay now? Not just thumbs up stuntman okay?
J: *distant laughter*
G: What does that even- yes I'm actually okay
C: I'll talk to you later then?
G: Yeah talk later Colt, love you bro
C: Love you Ry, good night
Well that was a fudgeing relief he thought, so Colt wasn't dead and instead faked his death (?) but he was alive and apparently he and Jody had worked things out, which was good.
Although now that Grace thinks about it, what did Colt have his name saved as for Jody not to notice the name? Knowing Colt it was probably something stupid.
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After Colt had hung up the phone and looked back down to his phone, the contact reading
Dumb science nerd
he wasn't surprised that Jody had asked who was calling him, although it seemed Ry had changed his profile picture because it used to be a photo of him with a pair of stupid sunglasses with Ryland imitating Colt in them saying something along the lines of
"oh look at me I'm colt and I do stupid dangerous stunts ooohh"
Which, fair he did act like a douche sometimes but at least he wasn't as bad as Gail or Ryder they were terrible. Anyway, Ry's profile picture now showed an image of a fox with a small flag next to it, now Colt was part of the LGBTQIA+ community but he wasn't all that smart when it came to the flags, the one in Ryland's profile picture was an orangey yellow and teal/blue with a white stripe down the middle, he had no clue what this flag meant but eh, he didn't care as long as his brother was happy.
"So, that was your brother?" Jody asked grinning at him, smile evident in her voice "How come you never mentioned him before?"
"It's... Complicated" he sighed "After Ry got his PhD and I started doing stunts we stopped talking as much, both of us consumed in our own work to really keep in touch. And then my 'accident' happened and the guy wormed himself back into my life even if I didn't want him there, he would make sure I was living and doing okay. And if I'm honest he might be one of the only reasons I'm alive today" Colt looked to Jody after saying that, tears welled in both of their eyes "But after I came here for Metalstorm I got so swept up in the Gail and Ryder issue I forgot to call him, I guess..."
Jody looked at him then, his head was down and he was fiddling with his hands, he felt guilty for not telling his brother about what happened, he should probably talk to him tomorrow to make sure he's doing alright. Colt let out a long breath and stood from the sofa to head to the kitchen,
"Hey Jody, you want anything from the kitchen?"
"Nah but I am going to put the news on"
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When Grace woke up the next morning and had gotten dressed for work he thought about last night's event's and the emotional rollercoaster he went on because of his brother, it was nice to know that his advice had worked and Colt and Jody were together now, though. When Grace walked into his kitchen he noticed he had left the TV on the night before and it was still on the news channel from the night before although it wasn't actually the news at that second, instead it was a trailer for a new movie, Metalstorm, which, apparently, was directed by Jody. He was definitely going to go and see it knowing that his brother was probably the stunt double for... Jason Momoa? What was Colt's life.
After Grace had cycled to the school and had gone into his classroom he decided to mark some of his students' work whilst mumbling to himself before the school day started.