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So…new idea? I don't know. The thing is, out of nowhere I got completely immersed in a fanfic with the premise of a relationship between Ryland and Tom, and I thought…okay, these two have potential for various things.
Colt hates Tom for many reasons. But, besides the obvious ones shown in canon… Tom is Ryland's ex-husband.
And yes, it was an ugly divorce.
Basically, a relationship destined to fail. But it lasted long enough to hurt.
Months and months of mediation, no agreements, Tom refusing to sign, Ryland using his entire arsenal of fury during Jean Cloude's custody hearings, "I'm keeping the china," "You live on fast food, why would you use the fine china for KFC," alimony payments niether of they didn't want to make, etc.
The years spent in the divorce process are almost equivalent to the years they were married.
That, plus the fact that Ryland was soon ostracized from academic circles, and that keeps his doctoral degree cost him almost all his dignity.
And, the worst part for Colt wasn't even seeing his brother suffer through a failed marriage and a tortuous divorce… but also noticing how Tom was self-destructing after the divorce.
And he noticed it even more because he was his stunt double.
It took Ryland a couple of years of therapy to manage his emotions after the divorce. But, at least from what Colt heard during video calls, he seemed to be doing better and getting his life back on track as a children's science teacher.
But that was not Tom's case
It wasn't that Tom was the most stable—Ryland wasn't exactly a saint either, with his anger issues—but he seemed to genuinely love Tom, and Tom seemed to relax Ryland, at least during their happy years. But since the divorce, he seemed to be spiraling downward.
But I digress. The point is that, after years of not going to the set, Ryland decides to visit him for the first time at work.
And, as if fate wanted to mess with everyone… Tom decides that this time he wants to do his own stunts.
Sure, Ryland and Tom may have had a messy divorce, but still, we're talking about Ryland, he hates heights and seems to get sick watching his ex-husband dangling from an absurdly high ceiling…
Tom falls badly, on the edge of the safety mattress.
The set becomes a disaster in more ways than one. Colt had to grab Ryland and stop him from running after Tom, the emergency team tried to wake the injured man to assess the severity of his injuries, while Gail called an ambulance.
There, both Ryland and everyone else discovered two things:
Tom survived, but he was out of it while the ambulance took him away.
Ryland is still his emergency contact number.
His injuries are… very internal. I won't go into details.
The thing is, when Ryland is in the hospital, since Tom never changed the emergency contact information and still has medical authority over him, despite being officially his ex-husband, everything gets more complicated, as Tom remains unconscious even after the sedatives have been removed.
Gail tries to take charge, but she can't because legally, Ryland still has power over him. And Ryland refuses to let them do anything unusual to Tom.
Tom wakes up and the first thing he wonders is if something happened.
Of course, the doctors, Gail, and Ryland assume he's confused because of how sudden everything was, but they get nervous when they hear Tom asking about his husband and if they've been in a car accident.
The more questions Tom asks, and the fewer questions he answers, the more obvious the answer becomes: Tom doesn't remember the accident, he doesn't remember much about going to the hospital… and he certainly doesn't remember divorcing Ryland.
All he knows is that he's injured, his beautiful husband is with him, and that his brother-in-law hates him.
And yes, Tom didn't take the news that he's divorced well at all. And he seems very determined to win Ryland back.
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