Chapter Text
Ryland Grace wouldn't claim to be a saint. Many people, however, would be incredibly surprised to learn about all he got up to back in college. They looked at him and assumed he hadn't known a day of wild partying in his life when, actually, Ryland Grace was considered insane by many after showing up to ace a quiz at 7am on a Monday when he was seen on a weekend long bender hours prior, which usually ended with him picking up a random guy to spend the night with.
To his professors, he was a brilliant, responsible young man with a bright future ahead of him.
To the people around campus, well…
There were many rumors about Ryland Grace, some more ridiculous than others, some true, some taken out of context. If you were to give Ryland himself a list and ask about the fake ones, he'd have the following to say about it:
- It is physically impossible to get him drunk. (“That's a gross exaggeration, and also impossible, some people just have a high tolerance!”)
- He runs his own drug lab out of his dorm room. (“People say that!? I could get expelled for that, of course not! Stop spreading that lie, I don't want my dorm searched!”)
- Ryland has an evil twin. (“I've mentioned I have a twin before…? He's not evil, just annoying. No, that does not make me the evil twin, then, that's not how twins work.”)
- Grace found out how to clone himself and that's how he manages to leave parties at 4am and be in a lecture by 7 and not look like he's dying. (“I said I have a twin I find annoying and people think I'd willingly clone myself still? Unbelievable. Electrolytes, greasy food, coffee and a 5 hour nap after class is my secret.”)
- Ryland Grace never goes for the same guy twice. (“That's not—okay, actually, I'm done entertaining this.”)
The last one had some truth to it. It's not like Ryland had made his way through the entire campus, in reality, he only ended up hooking up with someone at every other party, but as always, his reputation had started to precede him now.
True, he didn't often hook up with the same person twice, but the list was way shorter than people thought, and it had been mainly a coincidence. Plus, there was an exception to the rule, would probably always be the exception, the one person Ryland had been with multiple times, Tho—
─────
“Tom Ryder, don't go near him under any circumstance.” Colt said, leading Ryland through the set, which was an almost endless maze to Ryland. “He's a jerk, and—”
“An arrogant prick, I know, you've complained about him for years.” Ryland interrupted him, rolling his eyes. “And I'm an adult, Colt, I think I can manage a single conversation with your jerk boss.”
“I'm just saying, try to avoid that conversation to begin with, I'm just saving you the trouble!”
“Uh-huh. Is that Jody?”
Colt made a very undignified noise, immediately whipping around and craning his neck to get a glimpse of her. Ryland laughed behind him, which caused Colt to turn back to face him, realizing he had been played by his brother.
“You–!”
“Colt, we need to get you hooked up to the harness, we’re doing a first check in 5!” Dan called over the walkie Colt was holding.
“Coming!” Colt replied before looking back at Ryland, who still looked smug. “Don’t move.”
“I’m not a kid,” Ryland replied dryly.
“Fine, then find Jody or Dan if you get lost, or ask someone where I am!” Colt called over his shoulder, already running off.
Ryland huffed, rolling his eyes at how incredibly overbearing Colt could be sometimes. He was a grown man, and this was a movie set, it’s not like he was going to get kidnapped or something.
So, deciding to completely ignore his brother and also not wanting to see said brother get punched for a living right now, Ryland turned and went to investigate the tent with various props for the movie. He had seen some magnifying glasses and fake books, and admittedly, he wanted to know why an action movie needed so many of those, and had always wondered if prop books even had words in them or not.
He was playing around with one of the magnifying glasses, finding it did work as intended, when a sudden voice to his left startled him.
“What are you doing, Seavers? Aren’t you supposed to be shooting right now?”
Ryland practically jumped out of his skin, the magnifying glass comically bouncing off his hands a million times like some juggling act until he managed to get a solid grip in it again.
“Christmas Eve!” Ryland said, because since he had reprogrammed his brain to stop cursing, he never said things like ‘Holy shit!’ anymore, like a regular adult would.
He turned, finding a tall man dressed in identical clothing to what Colt had been wearing, a dark jumpsuit with a few red details. It looked a little less snug around the shoulders for him than it did for Colt, but it was still clearly the same outfit. Another stunt guy, maybe?
But before Ryland could open his mouth to explain that no, he wasn't Colt, and Colt was, in fact, already shooting his stunt, the guy beat him to it.
“Ryland?” He asked, his voice a mix of something softer and disbelieving.
Ryland blinked. He could not see the guys face clearly from how far away he was standing, and he had on some sunglasses that obscured his eyes completely. A few blonde curls fell over his forehead too. Overall, not someone he recalled being introduced to.
“Uh, yeah, I’m guessing maybe Colt mentioned my…” Ryland started to say, but then the man fully turned and walked away. “... name. Huh. Okay. Bye, then?”
Ryland frowned, looking at the place the man had been standing in, unsure of what that had been about. He looked down, startling again once his phone rang with a call from Colt, who was most likely done already and had returned to not find Ryland where he left him.
“Jeez, Colton, I’m not 5!” Ryland said, phone to his ear as he rushed out of the tent. There was no sign of the man anywhere. “I’ll be there–!”
─────
“... for next time, I promise. Next weekend. It’s just, uh, this research paper is killing me, man.” Ryland said into the phone, laughing awkwardly, which then caused him to wince a bit from his pounding headache. He felt a bit bad about lying to his twin brother, but what Colt didn’t know, wouldn’t hurt him.
And knowing Ryland had missed their usual Sunday lunch because he had been at a frat party that dragged on until 7 am was… Not something Colt needed to know yet. Better for him to think it had been because Ryland pulled an all-nighter working on some research project.
“That’s fine Ry, I get it, you’re a cool college student now. You don’t always have time for your older brother.”
“Thirteen minutes,” Ryland said almost out of habit. “And you’re a college student now too, dipshit. What, you don’t have enough work at that college of yours?”
They had both made the decision to apply to different places for college. All their lives, they had gone to the same schools, had always been Colt and Ryland, Ryland and Colt, the Gentry twins, then the Grace twins. Always a set, expected to be together, to pair up for school projects. They both wanted a bit of independence, but had settled on going to the same city for college, and meet once a week on Sundays for lunch.
It worked to give them some space while still keeping in contact, and being close in case either needed anything.
“I am starting to regret my choices a bit…” Colt said, huffing. “You’re better suited for this than I am.”
“What, physics? Nah, you’re better at that than me. That’s why I’m in the biology branch and you’re in the calculus one.”
“College. You’re a nerd, you’re cut out for this! Man, I haven’t had a drink in like, a week.”
“How tragic,” Ryland said dryly, although he was not going to say how hypocritical of him it was to say so considering he was currently hungover. “And you’re a nerd too, you literally want to be an astrophysicist! There’s nothing nerdier than that!”
“It is tragic!” Colt cried out dramatically, completely ignoring the last part. It was times like these where Ryland questioned whether his brother was better suited for something like drama than the major in physics and astronomy he seemed set on. His twin's fixation with space was something Ryland had never quite understood. “Anyway, my friend Connor invited me to this parkour-lesson thing…”
Ryland knew for a fact he was going to either miss Sunday lunch again, or show up late the moment he was invited to yet another party. It had sort of just happened, really, Ryland had found out he was weirdly good at chugging beer in 2 seconds using the same trick he learned as a kid to drink water faster than Colt, who made everything a competition. He mentioned it to his classmate, who dragged him to a small party, where Ryland showed off that skill and… The rest was history.
He had grown up being a bit overprotected, first by his older brother, who made it his life mission to protect him from their dad to the point he had gone to jail over it. Then, once he was gone, Colt took on that role, becoming horrendously overbearing to the point people weren’t even allowed to breathe wrong in Ryland’s direction. Parties and alcohol had been something their adoptive mother did not approve of either, so either twin did not have much of a chance to try that at high school. Ryland even less so, with how much Colt hovered around him and how much he berated him for trying a cigarette one time when Colt himself had done it too.
So it was to be expected that he let loose in college. He had found out he had quite a high resistance to alcohol, hookups were decent fun, and a cigarette or joint every once in a while was not going to kill him any faster than the stress over his schoolwork would.
And here he was now, somehow the soul of every frat party he was invited to, respected for his reputation and the fact he never missed a single assignment or lecture despite the insane hours of partying.
And Colt still thought his innocent, quiet brother would only sometimes have a beer with his classmates at a local bar. Oh, he would pass out if only he knew. Good thing he had agreed to them going to different colleges.
So it was yet another party, and Ryland was examining the crowd of people around him, red cup in hand with the cheapest liquor he had ever tried but that sufficed for now.
That’s when he saw him.
Tall, slightly broad shoulders, walking with an energy that almost seemed to make the room stop and stare at him. He was wearing sunglasses on the top of his head, a crown on curls that flashed different colors along with the lights of the place. His shirt was unbuttoned, and although there was a girl very clearly trying to get his attention, he was staring right at Ryland.
Ryland stared back, tilting his head. He was mildly tipsy, not enough to cloud his judgement, but enough to make him bolder than usual. Ryland downed his cheap drink and made his way towards him, muttering ‘You will do’ to him before he dragged the guy away without even asking his name first. To his credit, the guy went willingly.
Neither asked the other’s name that night.
─────
“At least you didn’t break anything, I would not hear the end of it if you did…” Colt said, the second day he dragged Ryland to set with him. “But don’t touch the props again or you will get me in trouble.”
“Yes, mom,” Ryland said, just to be annoying. He actually did not want to get his brother in trouble, but it was his duty to annoy him. It worked, seeing as Colt rolled his eyes at him.
“Besides, I brought you to watch me work and you didn’t even do that!”
“So I have to enjoy watching my twin brother risk his life for a living?”
“I didn’t say enjoy, and it’s perfectly safe. Stunts are physics, I’ve told you this, we use actual calculations sometimes to predict exactly how a car will flip or where it will land. If something is off, I’m the first to realize it.”
“Right…” Ryland mumbled as Colt kept leading the way. Colt huffed, turning to face him, grabbing him by the shoulders.
“It’s cool, Ry! Your brother has a cool job where he does cool shit, stop being such a partypooper and watch my stunts for once!” Colt emphasized his point by lightly shaking Ryland, who gave him a grumpy expression, but nodded.
Colt seemed satisfied by that, and he patted him on the shoulder before letting him go, continuing to walk towards the mess of people and cameras.
“Ugh, Ryder is here,” Colt said as they approached. “Great, that just means he’s staying to watch and will make me do the stunt like, 4 times because there’s ‘too much face’ or something.”
Ryland looked in that direction, and sure enough, there was Colt’s boss, Tom Ryder.
He looked like your typical movie star, clothes probably too expensive for anyone normal to afford, effortless beauty that came from expensive treatments and a coffee cup from a place that probably put liquid gold into their drinks judging by how much they charged for a single shot of espresso.
Something about him was vaguely familiar, but Ryland chalked him up to look familiar in the way celebrities are—you see their faces so much in advertisements, movies, and TV shows that sometimes you can’t place where you know them from at first in real life, until you realize ‘Oh, that’s the guy selling beer during the halftime commercial break!’.
Tom was talking to the director about something when his eyes lazily trailed over Colt, and then stopped in Ryland.
Suddenly, he stood up straight, eyes wide.
“Oh, he better not…” Colt started, his protective brother mode activating immediately at the notion of Tom even talking to Ryland.
But, against all odds, Tom suddenly looked down and walked away, leaving the director halfway through saying something.
“... Huh.” Colt blinked, surprised. But Tom was diligently marching back towards his trailer without looking back, which meant he wasn't staying to watch after all, so Colt wasn't about to look a gifted horse in the mouth.
“Well, that's not the reaction most people have when they see you have a twin,” Ryland mused, watching him leave too with a confused look.
“It's probably for the better anyway, not like he would have anything good to say.” Colt huffed. “And I get to do my thing without his commentary, so that's good too.”
Ryland simply shrugged. He had yet to witness by himself what exactly made Tom Ryder as horrible, but he'd heard plenty of stories about it from Colt, going from firing a poor PA over a simple mistake, never getting the names of the crew right, and showing up to set either hangover or high.
“The only reason he hasn't been kicked out of the business is because he's actually good at his job.” Colt had reluctantly said after Ryland asked about why Tom was still employed if he was so insufferable to everyone. “But he has no actual personality beyond being a rich dick, everything else about him is fake and approved by Gail.”
─────
Ryland himself was not sure when it happened, when going back to Thomas became a habit, and when they also started sharing things about each other as they passed a joint around after sleeping together again and again.
But it did happen, and now Ryland knew things like how Thomas loved theater more than anything, how he was writing an original script that sounded insane in such a Thomas way and he was very passionate about, how much he liked old Hollywood movies Ryland had never even heard about, how he made actual CDs with songs that reminded him of every character he played, no matter how minor.
He knew Thomas now, as much as you can know someone you share vulnerable conversations with after sex and before saying goodbye, never staying the night or seeing each other outside of parties that ended with hooking up again and restarting the cycle over and over. They knew each other’s secrets, but not something as simple as each other’s favorite food or color.
And oh, did Thomas know him too. He knew Ryland had an identical twin he loved dearly, but who was just too overprotective sometimes and Ryland had to run away to another college or he would end up snapping at him; he knew Ryland had an older brother once upon a time, who loved him enough to make the decision to save him from their father even if he knew it could mean giving up his brothers. He knew Ryland had a temper, and it scared Ryland himself, how much he could act like his father during those moments where he let himself be hotheaded and say hurtful things.
“I don’t think you will ever become him,” Thomas had told him one night, passing a cigarette to Ryland, who accepted it. “Not as long as you remember what it’s like to be on the other end of it, and as long as you stay being as kind as you are.”
He didn’t fully believe him, but at the same time, those words had meant the world for Ryland. He would only fully believe them once he started to work with kids and made the realization that he had a lot more patience for kids than he had originally realized.
“Since when are you so wise?” Ryland asked after a moment, half jokingly. Thomas shrugged, the covers pooling at his waist as he adjusted himself to sit closer to Ryland, their bare shoulders touching as he accepted back the cigarette.
“I’m not just a pretty face, you know?”
“I see that. But what a pretty face that is,” Ryland replied, pulling him down for a kiss, uncaring of the smoke Thomas had just inhaled.
It was him who had made college life all the more fun for Ryland, and he never would forget those words.
─────
“I just don’t get it…” Colt was saying, sitting at a table during his lunch, eyes fixed on Tom, who had decided to leave as soon as Colt and Ryland approached craft services with Jody. “Not once has he approached to annoy me or Ry. Are we sure he's not dying?”
“Oh, we would know if he was,” Jody said, stealing a potato chip from Colt, who didn't seem to mind. “He's too dramatic not to make a whole deal out of it.”
“Fair point, I've seen him get a cold before and he's a total baby.” Colt conceded, slapping Ryland's hand away from his chips and nudging the bag closer to Jody. Ryland made an offended noise at being denied Colt's food while Jody got to enjoy girlfriend privileges. “Still makes no sense, it's almost like he's avoiding us.”
“Or he's avoiding Ry.” Jody pointed out, pointing at said twin with a stolen chip, which made Ryland even more offended.
“But why? They haven't even met before.”
Both Jody and Ryland shrugged at Colt's question.
“Or maybe he's avoiding you.” Ryland suggested, making another half-hearted attempt at swiping one single chip.
“He loves annoying me, I don't see why he'd stop. I don't think I did anything to piss him off more than usual either, considering I would be fired if that was the case.” Colt insisted, slapping Ryland's hand away again, who finally gave up.
“Well, he's a puzzle sometimes, what can you expect of a guy who picks Ryder as a stage name?” Jody said, apparently done with talking about Tom during her lunch break.
“Ryder is a stage name?” Ryland asked, curious. Both Jody and Colt gave him a look, like they expected him to be joking.
“It's Hollywood, Ry, everyone has a stage name.” Colt said, pointing at the patch on his stunt crew jacket which read ‘Seavers’ instead of ‘Grace’.
“Fair enough,” Ryland conceded, going to take a sip of his Doctor Pepper. After a moment, he couldn't help but ask. “What's his name anyway?”
“Probably something stupid,” Colt said at the same time as Jody said “I don't know, actually,” and pulled out her phone.
“Jodes, ew, don't look him up, you don't want that in your search history!” Colt immediately complained, but Jody just ignored him.
Colt pouted like a child at being ignored, watching Jody type away on her phone. Ryland just rolled his eyes at his brother and took another sip of his drink.
“Let's see… Thomas Aaron Radley, known as Tom Ryder—”
Ryland spat out his soda all over Colt, somehow also choking on the process.
─────
“So why don't you ask people to just call you Aaron, then?” Ryland asked.
Tonight was a bit of a weird night, considering they had run away from a party together, but they had ended up just talking instead of doing what they always did, a stolen bottle of cheap wine being passed back and forth as they sat together on the bed of Ryland's dorm room, the light off except for a tiny lamp at Ryland's desk that created shadows across their faces.
“I don't know, I don't like it as much. I wanted to try it in college, but there's a guy called Aaron in my classes already, it gets too confusing.” Thomas shrugged. He'd accepted the bottle back from Ryland, although he had yet to take a sip. They had barely made a dent in it, neither feeling particularly keen on getting that drunk tonight.
“Tom, then.”
“Eh, maybe, but right now it reminds me of being little. Feels too childish, you know? Thomas feels a bit more grown up. Mature.”
“I don't know, it kind of sounds like a grandpa's name.”
“Hey!” Thomas complained, although they both knew the other was joking. Thomas finally put the half full wine bottle on the bedside table, leaning in to steal a kiss from Ryland. That was happening more often, quick kisses outside of the heat of the moment that both always seemed to lean into. Neither was fully sure who had started it.
“What about you, though? How do you prefer to be called?” Thomas asked once they were both sitting normally again. “Ryland, Ry, Ray, Ry-Ry…?”
“Definitely not the last one,” Ryland huffed, cutting off Tom. “I mean, I don't really care. Colt often calls me Ry, and other people call me Ryland. Professors call me Grace. Most scientists go by their last names in the field, so at one point it will probably be ‘Dr Grace’ more than Ryland, but I don't think I'll mind.”
“Oooh, ‘Dr Grace’, fancy.” Thomas said, wiggling his eyebrows at him. “Don't forget about me when you're a famous scientist.”
“I could say the same about you, Mr Superstar.”
“That's a new one,” Thomas said, leaning back to rest his weight on his hands, staring at the ceiling with a pensive expression. “I think I have a new one for you, too.”
“Oh, yeah?”
“Mhm. Probably can't call you that yet, though.”
“Why not?” Ryland asked, also shifting to lay fully on his back, starting up at the ceiling of his dorm.
“Because I don't tend to call a guy my boyfriend before there's ever been a first date yet.”
Ryland fully froze, halfway through laying down, staring at Thomas like a deer in the headlights. He opened his mouth, but before he could say something, Thomas carried on with all the grace of a bull inside a china shop.
“Maybe after the second date, if we get that far. Which I think we might. So for the first date, I'd say—Friday, 7pm, meet me on the edge of campus?”
“... You're asking me out.” Ryland said, dumbly, like it wasn't obvious.
“I did, yes, that's why you're the smarter one.”
Ryland kept staring at him, only realizing it had been long enough without providing an answer that Thomas had started to squirm.
“Yes. Friday at 7, I—I'll see you then.”
The dopey, stupid smile on Thomas’ face was probably an exact replica of the one Ryland could feel forming in his own face as he leaned to kiss Thomas.
Ryland never thought he'd find himself falling for someone who was his total polar opposite, but he couldn't deny it was happening, and fast.
The date went perfect, better than any other Ryland had ever had before.
Too bad there was never a second one, and Thomas never did get to call him his boyfriend.
─────
“Ryland, what the hell!?” Colt said, caught between trying to dry himself and help his twin brother from dying from a coughing fit.
In the end, it was Jody who helped Ryland the most by calmly patting his back and asking him if he was okay now.
Ryland nodded, feeling a bit shaky, but also suddenly feeling like the world's biggest idiot.
Tom Ryder was his Thomas.
Dang it, of course he looked familiar, then! But also, could anyone blame him for not thinking much about it when Tom's face was currently plastered on every billboard and they hadn't seen each other in over a decade, plus he went by another name now?
…
No, he looked exactly the same, this was totally on Ryland.
“I—uh—bathroom!” Ryland said, voice strained as he suddenly bolted to his feet and ran off.
He didn't even actually know which direction the bathroom was, since he still got lost on his way around set, but he picked a direction and walked away before either Colt or Jody could protest it.
“Oh my god,” Ryland said miserably as soon as he was far away enough, pressing the heels of his palms against his eyes with enough force to start seeing tiny dots, his glasses pushed to the top of his head.
“Oh my GOD,” Ryland repeated after a moment, now dragging a hand down his face, because truly, no words felt like they could accurately convey his emotions right now.
… Well, maybe one could summarize it pretty well.
“Fuck!”
Ryland paced around, uncaring of where he was headed, just needing to do something with himself.
Then, as soon as he started pacing, he stopped.
“Oh that son of a—”
Ryland cut himself off with a frustrated groan, turning with a sudden fire licking under his skin. He'd spent years wondering what he'd done wrong, what had happened, why Ryland never got that second date he'd been promised. And now it turned out that Thomas had been employing his twin brother for years and never bothered to reach out? That any time he saw Ryland on set now he acted like a kicked puppy and avoided him?
Absolutely not. He was getting his answers.
“Hey, are you okay?” Jody asked, suddenly materializing by his side. Ryland didn't know how she'd find him, but he was grateful it was her and not Colt, who would see his angry expression and immediately jump to conclusions. “You looked a bit pale.”
“Where's Ryder’s trailer?” Ryland asked instead of giving her a straight answer.
Jody blinked, clearly taken back by his question and sudden temper. After all, she hadn't got to see the tornado that was Ryland Grace when he was pissed just yet.
Oh well, call it her introduction into the Grace family, she was probably going to marry into it eventually anyway.
Neither said anything for a moment, in which Ryland fully prepared himself to match around the set until he found the damn trailer himself, but then Jody seemed to process his question at last.
“Over that way, it's the biggest one. What's—?”
“Don't tell Colt where to find me. I have something to settle.” Ryland cut her off.
He didn't wait for an answer and simply turned away. He'd apologize to Jody for being so rude later, right now he was pissed.
The trailers were easy to find, Tom's even more so with how big it was and how his name was in all bold in a plaque outside the door.
Ryland marched over, pounding on the door. A muffled groan came from inside.
“Gail, not now—”
Ryland knocked again, more insistent. There was another groan and some shifting before the door finally snapped open.
“What?” Tom said harshly, frowning, but his face immediately shifted as he saw Ryland there.
It took him exactly 2 seconds to realize it was Ryland, not Colt. And 2 more to try and close the door again, his face pure panic now as he recognized the fire behind those eyes.
“Oh, fuck—”
“No you won't!” Ryland snapped, managing to push the door open again, fueled by pure rage. Tom stumbled back, surprised, but Ryland didn't let him go far, following him inside.
“You!” Ryland said, pointing at Tom, who nervously repeated the gesture and pointed at himself, looking like a deer in the headlights. “Thomas Aaron Radley!”
Tom visibly flinched at the name, almost like a child being told off by their parents after breaking something. Ryland had gotten scarily good at mastering that voice since he'd become a teacher.
“You owe me at least an explanation!”
“Ryland…” Tom said, but that was all that came out of his mouth.
“Don't just ‘Ryland’ me!” Ryland snapped at him. “You—You disappeared on me! Told me all this about how good of a date we had, how fun it was, how you were taking me somewhere special for the next one, and then you just vanished! Poof!”
Tom opened and closed his mouth, but nothing came out yet, so Ryland kept going.
“You could have let me down easier than that, jeez! No need to pull a vanishing act! But then, it turns out you have worked with my brother for years, years, and never bothered to reach out? Not even an explanation?”
Tom's eyes were wide, and he was looking at Ryland like he was staring at a hologram, not believing he was standing in front of him, like he would break up into light if Tom reached out to touch him.
“Ryland…”
“Is that all you know how to say!?” Ryland huffed, throwing his hands up.
Tom paused. Licked his lips, then tried again to speak.
“I… I'm sorry,”
Ryland waited for a bit. Tom didn't elaborate, so Ryland just arched an eyebrow at him. The action was still enough to send Tom tumbling over his words again.
“I'm sorry I did that, I didn't mean to, I swear! It wasn't you, or me, really, I just—I had this one opportunity on a decently big TV show and I had to get to LA for shooting immediately. I figured I'd call you once I was there, but I lost my phone, and I didn't know your phone number off the top of my head, so I thought—I thought ‘damn, okay, I'll apologize for missing the date once I'm back’ but I wasn't back until, um… Three months later?”
Ryland crossed his arms, not saying anything yet, still staring at Tom.
“Don't give me that look, you were the one who disappeared then! I asked everyone and they just said you had taken an internship in some lab, no one knew where you were either, then I got called back to LA, started doing movies, and… Well, I never really did go back to finish college, I guess.” Tom grimaced. “But I tried to reach you!”
“Okay, so it was unfortunate timing and circumstances, sure, but Colt started working for you almost 5 years ago.” Ryland said, still frowning. “You knew I had an identical twin, and you knew his name was Colt! You ever thought to say, oh, I don't know, ‘Hey Colt, can you give me your brother's number? I know him and I would like to talk with him.’?”
Tom did deflate at that, like a popped balloon losing air. He looked down again, like a kicked puppy.
“I wanted to, but I heard Colt say something about how you had a girlfriend, and I figured it was not a good time.”
All the fight suddenly drained out of Ryland too. Right. The one girlfriend he'd had, while he was trying to convince himself he was so over the dumb boy who promised him everything and then vanished. The train wreck of a relationship that contributed in a way to Ryland fully derailing his own professional career.
“And then Colt started to hate me, so I figured he would tell me to get lost if I asked about you,” Tom continued, a bit sheepish.
Ryland could honestly laugh.
That night he thought Tom stood him up and then disappeared had been the catalyst of so many of his problems. It might as well have been an actual breakup with how Ryland acted. It got so bad he'd even called Colt, and although Colt had always believed it had been a real breakup and didn't know it was Tom who broke Ryland's heart, he rushed over immediately and did everything to cheer Ryland up anyway. Then he insisted Ryland transferred to his college if he really couldn't bear the notion of going back and facing Tom, and Ryland foolishly agreed.
Then what he feared would happen, happened. Ryland got fed up with Colt hovering constantly, to the point he finally snapped. Their relationship was strained until Colt dropped out to pursue stunt work instead, and it stayed that way for years.
Ryland was tired and done with everyone, including himself, and he carried that bitterness into his professional field, thinking he was so high and mighty. He'd gotten himself a girlfriend just to convince himself he was over Tom, and ended up hurting her and himself. Until his fall from glory that finally made him snap back to his senses and fix his relationship with his brother, end the relationship, and apologize.
“... You owe me a second date,” Ryland quietly mumbled, feeling a headache coming in.
So in the end, it was a series of unforeseen circumstances that stood between them all those years ago. If Tom hadn't lost his phone, he would have called him. If he had come back earlier, he would have apologized. If Ryland had stayed, he would have been there when Tom came back. If Ryland hadn't gotten himself a girlfriend out of spite, Tom would have reached out. If Tom hadn't been so insufferable to Colt, maybe they would have been re-introduced earlier.
He would have been able to get an explanation instead of spending years wondering what could have been and what he'd done.
Tom had perked up at the mention of the date, like an eager puppy hearing its favorite word.
“I can do that. I mean, if you want to, I know I'm years overdue and—wait, you're not married or something, right?”
“Definitely not…” Ryland said, inviting himself to sit on the couch, practically sagging into the expensive and plush surface.
Tom hovered, like he was unsure whether Ryland would snap at him again if he got close enough.
“Great. I mean, I'm single, most of my relationships have been just PR anyway, and…”
“Thomas,” Ryland interrupted him, and Tom immediately stood up straight, like a kid getting called on by a teacher. “Will you take me on that date or not?”
Tom immediately nodded. “Absolutely. I'll tell Gail to make a reservation, you like caviar? Forget it, I'll get us something better—”
“I asked Thomas,” Ryland interrupted him again. “Not Tom Ryder.”
Tom blinked, taking a moment to process that, like it had been a while since he himself made the distinction between Thomas Aaron Radley, the person, and Tom Ryder, the actor. It probably had been a while.
“Thomas just took you to the café near campus for a first date and paid for your sugary coffee.” Tom said carefully.
“Yes, but he also made it an incredible date. I don't want—this,” Ryland vaguely gestured around the trailer, which was bigger than it had any right to be, and with furniture that looked way too expensive. “I want Thomas. My Thomas, who promised me he would show me something cool for our next date.”
“... Oh.” Tom said, a bit dumbfounded. It had been a while, quite a long, long time since anyone had wanted the real him under the mask of fame and money. Over a decade, in fact. Ryland had probably been the last person to know him before that mask became his face. And now, Ryland was asking to see that old face again.
Tom thought about it for a moment before he slowly sat down next to Ryland again.
“Well, it's not the same place, I'm almost sure that one's closed down. But there's a drive-in playing old movies here, so…”
Ryland lifted his head from where he'd leaned it back into the soft cushion of the couch to look at Tom.
“You wanted to take me to a drive-in theater?”
“It's…” Tom paused, suddenly looking a bit flustered. Tom Ryder, getting flustered, who would have thought? “I used to go with my mom.”
It was Ryland's turn to just say a soft ‘Oh’, because he knew how much Tom's mom meant to him, so if he had wanted to take him to the place his mom and him had shared, it really had been important.
“Okay.” Ryland said slowly. “So I'm single, you're single. You owe me a date, there's a drive-in theater here you know. You don't need to be a scientist to figure out this equation.”
Tom smiled, that same slightly devoted smile he used to have only for Ryland. The kind that he put on after Ryland would start rambling about something.
“Good, because I'm not a scientist, Dr Grace. Maybe you can help with that? Tomorrow night?”
Ryland huffed, amused that Tom's way of asking for a date was still so damn terrible.
“Tomorrow night,” Ryland repeated, an amused smile on his face.