😘

val | adult (she/her) writing random stuff + beefing with angry birds

[55hroud]

confession (ryland grace x reader)

type: one shot

You’re a researcher on Stratt’s boat and Ryland Grace has come to the unfortunate realisation that he has a crush on you. How could he not? You listen to his rambles, follow up on his research questions with thoughtful ones of your own, you’ve learnt his coffee order - you even laughed at his pitiful “whoomp there it is” (and assured him afterwards that sure, it was funny, it wasn’t a pity laugh).

Now, he’s a charmer when he’s not trying. But when he realises he likes someone, he does what he does best - retreat into his shell, create distance.

You’re pretty sure you must have done something wrong because all of a sudden, he’s barely making eye contact with you. He finds reasons to have coffee or lunch on his own, like that he just has to finish up some work on the side so you go on ahead!

Eventually it gets to the point where you ask him to go on a walk so you can get to the bottom of this and apologise if you really did do something. You walk onto the deck together that night; Ryland’s very purposefully looking up at the sky, even though there’s something - someone - he’d much rather be looking at. And you’re sneaking glances at his side profile because somewhere along the line you realised maybe, you like him.

The evening breeze is chilly, especially out on the deck. You’re only wearing a T-shirt (and severely regretting it now), but amidst your shivering you decide that this is too important. So you finally open your mouth and blurt out rather ungracefully, “Did I do something?” And Ryland’s head snaps to you, his blue doe-eyes all alarmed, because shoot, his distancing backfired and now you’re blaming yourself?!

But before he can ask you to clarify or begin trying to explain himself, Dubois calls your name out from below - something about Stratt looking for you. You really, really want to finish this conversation now, but work has to come first.

When you hurry onto the deck afterwards, heart pounding, you see that Ryland is gone. Now you’re not only hurt and confused - you’re pretty peeved. You find yourself walking resolutely down the hall until you reach his bunk, ready to give him a piece of your mind about how it’s not great to ditch someone without notice just because they had to momentarily go somewhere. As soon as you lift your hand to rap on the door, though, it swings open.

And he’s standing there, eyes wide. In his arms is a jacket.

You blink. “Wh—” You shake your head, trying to compose yourself. It seems you two stare at each other in the hallway for who knows how long. At last you say, “You just left?”

Ryland raises his arm slightly, the one with his jacket slung over it. “I thought you might be cold,” he says softly. “I was getting you a jacket.”

And now you really don’t know what to say. Because as it turns out, Ryland has realised, even with all this awkwardness, even with his textbook avoidance tendencies, he just can’t bring himself to not care about you. Some would say it’s being a gentleman. He knows it’s not just that.

(Luckily, neither of you are complete social idiots - so when you realise you’re both just staring at each other now and blushing, it becomes a lot easier to end up confessing.)

[55hroud]

I’ve seen headcanons of reader pestering ryland with the classic ‘would you love me if I was a worm’ but tbh I think ryland would ALSO pester you with those questions, if not more

we’ve seen his sass+crashouts (esp now in the deleted scenes), this man can be legitimately unhinged

like one day you’re on the Hail Mary working side by side, and he just looks up from his microscope and asks, “hey, if I turned into a skittle would you eat me?”

and you sort of roll your eyes and say, “no, ryland, I wouldn’t eat you” and you both laugh cos you know it’s just for shits and giggles, plus that he mostly asked it to fill the silence

but then his laugh kinda trails off and he’s quiet for a bit and you already know he’s up to something

and then he’s asking you, “wait so, um, why? is it cos the other skittles would taste better than me? ha”

and your smile drops because this man has a doctorate yet he is sounding a little too sincere about this - and it’s only after he sees your expression of alarm that he quickly backtracks and is like “hahaha nooo im just kidding, like whaaatt” but you lowkey know he is, in fact, not kidding💀

[55hroud]

strangers

type: one shot

description: you're another researcher on the project hail mary mission. you're dating ryland - but for one playful evening, the two of you pretend you're not.

tldr: basically the bar/karaoke scene in phm but you + ryland pretend to be strangers oo la la

nights on the ship have never felt this warm, this electric. it’s karaoke night - stratt’s overworked crew have an evening to unwind and drink together, and ryland grace is currently sitting by himself.

he’s sitting at the counter of the bar, nursing a beer while the drunken singing of ilyukhina fills the room. but it’s not like he minds terribly. after all, you told him you just had to finish up some tasks and then get ready; he expects you’ll be here sometime soon. until then, his beer, and now yao and ilyukhina’s combined karaoke efforts, are enough to keep him entertained.

he’s not sure how long he’s been sitting here, and he idly watches the bartender mix up some drink across the counter when—

“now what’s a guy like you doing here all by himself?”

oh, ryland knows that voice even without turning around. his lips quirk into a small smile over the rim of his beer bottle. he finally, slowly, turns his head slightly to the side - and sure enough, there you are, looking unfairly pretty as you smile back.

ryland shakes his head slightly. his eyes hold a little glint of playfulness that almost has you breaking your act - it’s so affectionate, so him. “I was supposed to meet someone, actually.”

your smile widens as you realise yes, he indeed is playing along, and you take a step closer. “oh?” you look around, narrowing your eyes as if carefully scanning the room. “hm. doesn’t look like they’re here.”

you see ryland biting back a smile before taking another swig of beer. “no?”

“no.” you now rest your elbow on the counter and tilt your head slightly at him. “y’know, it’s their loss. a guy like you… they don’t know what they’re missing. hey, maybe i can be your date for the evening! you serious about this, uh… ‘someone you were supposed to meet’?”

ryland looks at you again, his gaze still playful but now filled with that familiar glimmer of warmth. “unfortunately I am. very serious, actually.”

“no!” you say in a soft gasp, feigning shock. “well, what is it about them? they clearly stood you up.”

ryland gives a small shrug. he’s not even trying to hide his smile of amusement, which now reads *this is so silly but I like you so much I’m gonna keep going along with this*. “well,” he replies, now sighing as well dramatically, “I’m kinda crazy about them. they’re very, very smart, and funny. and they laugh at all my stupid jokes, even though they probably think they’re pretty stupid, too.” he chuckles quietly and takes another sip of beer. all the while, your expression is softening with each word he says. ryland clears his throat and continues. “they’re also incredibly gorgeous. I, uh, have no idea how I even…” instead of finishing his sentence he simply tilts his beer bottle thoughtfully.

you’re not amused anymore. no - now, your cheeks are hot, eyes wide and barely blinking, any playful response you might’ve had ready to go now caught in your throat. and ryland, after saying all that, is just drinking his beer and now glancing over at the karaoke scene with mild amusement.

“are you kidding?!” you finally say. ryland blinks and turns back to face you.

you’re still staring at him, jaw hanging open slightly. “what on earth was that? I wasn’t prepared for you to say something that romantic!”

ryland grins incredulously at you. “you started it!” he says, to which your eyes widen further and you sputter, “yeah, but I wasn’t thinking it would get like that!”

and minutes later you’re sitting beside him, head in your hands as he laughs and orders a drink for you (great, now he’s being a gentleman, which is not helping the swarm of butterflies in your stomach).

but soon enough, you’re pulling him by the sleeve of his cardigan out of that room, and into his.

[55hroud]

ryland grace does not understand why or how you get cuteness aggression from him. he’s a grown man! a responsible adult! but every time he sits down and looks up at you with this face 🥺 without even trying, or he wakes up and blinks sleepily, you will either (a) groan and look away/walk off to calm down, or (b) grab his shoulders and shake him a little

and he is left absolutely dumbfounded each time because he’ll just be breathing and all of a sudden you’re angrily huffing and squishing his cheeks (or pushing him onto the bed if the cuteness aggression veers into other territory. in which case you find him something entirely other than cute—)

[55hroud]

ughhh too many drafted ideas do I write about Ryland or Holland first

[55hroud]

thinking about ryland grace who sees you having one-on-one lunch with dubois ONCE and immediately gets jealous

and he thinks he's sooo good at hiding it, but then dubois hands you some coffee one day and ryland can't help but cross his arms and say from his desk, "Um, they actually put two sugars in their coffee! So." he tries to make it seem lighthearted by adding a little smile after but it only comes across more passive aggressive (oops)

and he stares at dubois for a few seconds ...before clearing his throat and quickly returning to his work, his ears red

[55hroud]

(unserious phm post because I saw too many sad edits):

eridian welcoming committee deciding to make more mini earths for Grace to decorate his home with

they decide to give him a letter hinting about his present before giving it, and they really want to show off their newfound knowledge of colours that they learnt from Grace (who obliviously helped point them to the right colours) !!

and then Grace opens the letter and it just reads:

“prepare yourself for blue balls statement”

[55hroud]

More ryland thoughts where you’re both teachers/you visit him at work-

ryland, in the school basketball court, would definitely point at you and say, “this one’s for you” as a joke before tossing the ball

but then he actually does make it in the hoop and now you’re both just standing there

[55hroud]

ryland grace who insists on going down on you first

and when you tell him “you don’t have to” he just keeps his eyes fixed on your thighs and says, “I want to so bad that I have to”