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“Hello! Good evening, good evening, good evening, good evening. And tonight on the couch we have a very special guest – or should I say, guests. Hollywood's favourite playboy, Tom Ryder, is going to join us, ladies and gentlemen! And with him is the elusive Mr Ryland Grace, the man best known for locking down the world's sexiest man, as voted for three years in a row! Join me in showing them a warm welcome.”
Ryland’s smile was wide, but his hands trembled. He wiped them against his trousers. Tom knew that look. Ryland hated seeing his media smile; he said it made Tom look like someone else entirely.
As they moved from the green room towards the set, Tom pulled him to a stop with a squeeze of his hands. “You’re gonna do great, baby. If anything gets too much, just say, okay?”
Ryland smiled at him fondly. “You do know this isn’t my first time in front of the cameras, right?”
“I know.” Tom pressed a fleeting kiss to Ryland’s lips, before they stepped out onto the set to a roar of applause.
“It’s always a pleasure, Graham,” Tom said with a wide smile, accepting a handshake and moving towards the couch. He waited for Ryland to sit first, ignoring the crew’s increasingly obvious attempts to direct him towards the guest-of-honour seat closest to Graham. Instead, Tom took the spot to Ryland’s left, settling himself with one arm wrapped around his partner.
“Thanks so much for having us,” Ryland said, a small, lopsided smile in place. “Tom’s always said you’re one of his favourite interviewers.”
Tom had never said anything of the sort.
“Really, now? That’s so kind of you to say, Mister–”
Tom’s fingers flexed against the couch. “It’s Doctor, actually.”
Tom had done hundreds of interviews. He knew the questions, the rhythm. He knew how to smile at the right moment and give answers that sounded spontaneous, funny, and just a little bit deep, despite having heard some variation thirty times already. He also knew approximately thirty seconds after sitting down beside Ryland on Graham Norton’s couch that this one was going to be different.
Graham’s easy smile didn’t falter as he flicked through his cue cards, searching and failing to find anything on Ryland’s degree. “I’m so sorry about that, Dr Grace; I have it down here that you’re a middle school teacher?”
“That doesn’t erase his doctorate–” Tom’s mouth snapped shut as Ryland’s hand dropped to his thigh, lightly squeezing.
“It’s okay. Really. We’re not here to talk about me.”
The audience tittered in that overly polite way, as if Ryland had made a joke. Tom felt his shoulders lower despite himself. That was what Ryland did to him; one word, one touch, and it was like nothing else mattered.
“So,” Graham said, looking between them with an expression of barely concealed delight, “this is your first interview together since your relationship went public?”
“Pretty much,” Tom said, hand resting lightly behind Ryland’s shoulders.
“And you’re both looking very pleased about it. I take it things are going well?”
Ryland shifted in his seat, eyes darting towards Tom, who smiled at him encouragingly. “Nothing’s changed, really. Though, I suppose I might have to walk down the red carpet with him now instead of sneaking around the back.”
“Only if you want to, baby,” Tom cut in immediately. “You know I never expect you to do that.”
The audience responded with an immediate chorus of awws.
“Awww, aren’t they sweet? They’re so sweet. Now, Ryland, speaking of changes; how do you manage your relationship around Tom’s schedule? I imagine his work must make things rather complicated.”
Ryland blinked, glancing at Tom before answering carefully. “Well… Tom… kind of has to work around my schedule?”
Graham laughed. “Does he, now?”
“I mean, I’m a teacher. I have classes. Grading. Lesson plans. Parent-teacher evenings. Conferences, occasionally. A few former colleagues have been asking for help with research again.” Ryland shrugged. “There’s quite a lot before adding in Tom.”
Tom was already grinning. Graham turned towards him. “You’re finding this funny.”
His grin widened. “I just think it’s adorable when people think I’m the one with the complicated schedule. I’m an actor. I sign a contract. Sure, I’m busy for a few weeks or months while we’re prepping, and filming, and reshooting. Then there’s the press junket. But Ry’s the one we really need to work around. Y’know, he only agreed to come to this because he’s got this conference in Geneva in a couple of days he doesn’t wanna miss, and this was practically on the way.”
Ryland smiled sheepishly and shrugged. Tom knew better. He knew how many calls it had taken to rearrange his schedule and make Geneva possible.
“Really, now? And here I thought teaching would be the easier profession to work around, with the set hours and all. Well, presumably, there are some sacrifices involved. Ryland, has it been difficult adjusting to the spotlight?”
As Graham leaned forward, Ryland tilted his head to one side. “I mean, not really?”
“Not really?”
Tom laughed. “You do realise he’s basically me in the science world, right?”
Ryland’s cheeks flushed pink. Tom felt a warm little rush of satisfaction. “Tom, I–”
“What? It’s true. Right down to the bad-boy reputation. Did you know he once called a rival–”
“I really wouldn’t call that man a rival.”
“–microbiologist a–”
Ryland neatly covered Tom’s mouth with one hand. Tom looked at him innocently for half a second before licking his palm in retaliation. Ryland snatched his hand back, grimacing.
The audience dissolved into laughter, and Graham looked delighted. “Right. Well. I think we’re all beginning to understand the dynamic here.”
Tom looked entirely unrepentant. “Ry’s being modest. Ask anyone in his field and they’ll know exactly who Dr Grace is.”
“So perhaps the spotlight isn’t quite as unfamiliar or as overwhelming to you as I thought,” Graham said, neatly turning towards Ryland.
“Not really,” Ryland admitted, though he still looked faintly embarrassed by the suggestion. He reached for his water, taking a sip to give himself something to do with his hands. “People have been interested in my work before. It’s just a little different when they’re interested in me because of who I’m dating.”
Tom’s expression softened. He didn’t mention that Ryland had once completely forgotten Tom was filming in London and accidentally called him at 3AM. Or that he routinely forgot when Tom was up for nominations unless someone else mentioned it directly to him.
There was something wonderfully grounding about being just another guy to Ryland; well, other than the being in love part. Tom couldn’t remember the last time he’d had a partner who genuinely didn’t care about his fame, or what it could get them. He hoped it would never stop feeling so refreshing.
“Well, I suppose there must be some sacrifices involved,” Graham pressed. “I imagine you’ve both had to put aside career plans from time to time to support one another. Surely…”
Gail had asked him the same thing once, after he’d texted at the last minute to rearrange an audition so he could attend a conference Ryland had been invited to with almost no notice. Was he really going to pick some guy over his career? Tom knew the answer without hesitation. It still hadn’t changed.
There would always be another audition. Another opportunity. Another sponsor. But Ryland had fewer things he could simply walk away from. A parent-teacher evening didn’t happen twice because Tom wanted company on the red carpet. Conferences and symposiums couldn’t be rescheduled because Tom felt lonely on set.
People might look at their relationship on paper and assume their world would work around Tom. But Tom knew how to make his schedule bend. He could ask Gail to move things around, turn down the occasional event, take later flights. That was the joy of being known as the best. Tom could choose Ryland, over and over again, without missing out.
“Well?” Graham pushed gently.
Tom smiled. “I suppose we’ve both made a few adjustments.”
“A few? Any examples you can give us?”
“Maybe more than a few,” Tom conceded as Ryland glanced at him. A little smile tugged at the corner of Ryland’s mouth, brow faintly drawn together. Tom smiled. For all that Ryland was brilliant at some things, when it came to this sort of thing, he could be completely clueless.
Graham, sensing there was more to that answer than either of them was willing to explain on national television, swiftly moved on. “And when you first decided to live together, was there much discussion about where you’d settle? I imagine moving from a teacher’s salary to the sort of home an A-lister can afford must have been quite an adjustment?”
There had never really been a question of moving Ryland to LA simply because Tom’s work often took him there. Ryland had a school he cared for, students he loved, and a research career finally beginning to reopen its doors. Tom had no intention of ruining that.
“Well, it’s not as though Tom’s wardrobe would fit in my old apartment. And I couldn’t just leave my kids for another school district like that…” Ryland explained with an awkward little shrug.
“He says that like his book collection is any smaller.”
The audience laughed again as Ryland spoke up, “They’re important!”
“I know they are, baby. That’s why we found a compromise that works for both of us. Somewhere Ry can have a shorter commute, and neither of us has to give up the things that really matter. Like his books and my Alaskan King.”
“So, no LA?”
“Not for now,” Tom confirmed. “Maybe over the summer, depending on what Ry’s got going on. And if I’m filming.”
Ryland shot him a look. “You’re making me sound very difficult right now.”
“You are very difficult,” Tom said without missing a beat. “Impossible, even. But I’ve dealt with worse.”
He leaned over to press a kiss to Ryland’s lips. Satisfaction warmed Tom’s chest as Ryland flushed the cutest shade of pink.
Graham glanced between them before moving through the inevitable questions about Tom’s upcoming film, Stormchaser. “Which premieres are you looking most forward to? Or do all the red carpets start to blur into one?”
“I’m not actually sure which ones I’ll make it to yet,” Tom admitted. “Ry’s been nominated for Teacher of the Year in his district and, well… we can’t miss that.”
“Tom.” Ryland immediately looked embarrassed. “I keep telling him it’s really not that big a deal.”
“It is to me.”
“You don’t have to miss a premiere for it,” Ryland said with fond exasperation.
Tom shrugged. The look Ryland sent him said he knew perfectly well what Tom was going to do, and that they would be talking about it again later. Tom smiled. He could miss a premiere. This would be Ryland’s first teaching award; he was sure of it.
“Well, there we have it, ladies and gentlemen. Hollywood’s sweetest new couple. Or should I say science’s cutest couple?” Graham waved to the audience, prompting a round of applause. Ryland groaned, but he was smiling all the same as he leaned into Tom’s side.
“Please don’t encourage him.”
Tom pulled Ryland closer, feeling his familiar warmth seeping through the thin layers. Both smiled and waved, as Graham moved on to introduce the next guest.
Maybe Graham had come into the interview expecting to discover what it was like for a 'normal teacher' to be swept into Tom Ryder’s world. Tom couldn’t blame him. From the outside, it probably looked that way. But Ryland had never been swept anywhere. Tom had simply made room for him. And if the world had to rearrange itself a little to make room for Ryland too, well, Tom had never seen the problem in throwing his name around to get shit done.
