Way Too Late
pairing: ryland grace x reader
a/n: guys i lost the post but someone had the brilliant idea of using Too Little, Too Late for a ryland angst fic and it gave me so much inspo
word count: 1.6k
tags/warnings: angst no comfort!! elementary teacher!reader, established relationship, you’re alone and Ryland just got sent to space
Fwip.
You taped up the last paper onto your wall with a swipe of your thumb. The crude drawing, surrounded by a couple dozen others just like it, depicted a familiar figure: beloved, former teacher, Ryland Grace.
But to you, he wasn’t a middle school teacher. Nor was he an outcast scientist. He was just Ryland. Your Ryland.
The words “my hero” floated above him on every paper. Like a halo. A cruel reminder that he’d never return to you.
Your classroom in Grover Cleveland Elementary was quiet. With the scribbling of crayons and the kid’s chatter gone, your only company in the empty room was silence. All of your fellow teachers left an hour ago, and your third graders had scrambled to leave long before.
The sun was beginning to dip below the horizon, bathing the room in warm, golden rays. Yet, you couldn’t tear your eyes away from the wall of papers.
Not when the man you loved, albeit poorly drawn, stared back at you from thirty different papers. In every single drawing, he had a huge smile on his face. You frowned looking at it.
Earlier today, you’d assigned this classic project to your students. The instructions were clear: “Who is your hero?”
In past years, most kids did their parents. Moms, dads, and the occasional superman or spiderman would fill the exact wall you stood in front of now.
But this year was different. The Hail Mary launch was only a few weeks prior, so you’d expected one, maybe two pictures of Ryland.
Yet, you greatly underestimated how enthusiastic your kids would be about space, and how a science teacher, who was formerly a part of Grover Cleveland’s staff, was on the mission.
You scanned the papers, wishing he were here next to you to admire the work. Normally, he would be, and you struggled to avoid thinking about the gaping hole in your life with him gone— No more pop in’s during your lunch breaks. No more texts in the middle of the day, asking if you guys should get takeout or cook at home for the night. No more returning home to a warm house full of life. Full of him.
You felt fresh tears springing up in your eyes, so instead, you thought about your class from today.
Excited gossip filled the room as your kids dutifully colored. You sat at your desk, grading last week’s vocab quizzes, trying hard not to think too hard about Ryland. Unfortunately for you, it was nearly impossible to ignore the rapid fire commentary happening around you.
“Mr. Grace is so cool! I want to go to space like him!”
“I wish I had him as my teacher!”
“He’s so brave, he’s definitely my hero.”
“I bet he was excited to help save the world!”
That last comment made you pause. You looked at the sweet little girl that said it, and how earnest her smile was.
She had already moved on, only meant it as a passing comment, but her words echoed in your head. Because you knew, deep in your soul, it was a lie.
Ryland had been acting strangely over the past few months. He would return home at unpredictable hours, the dark circles under his eyes progressively getting worse. All you knew was that he had been recruited as a scientist to help figure out the Petrova line problem. He couldn’t tell you much else, not just because of the NDA’s, but also because of how little he was home.
Most nights, you would try to wait up for him, but sometimes he wouldn’t even return. And when you’d wake up in the morning, bleary eyes meeting his vacant spot, your heart would twist with the bitter realization that he was barely there anymore.
You’d give anything for his side of the bed to be warm again.
When you eventually saw him a few days later, you knew something was wrong. He brushed it off as last minute experiments and late night meetings, and blindly, you’d accepted his words. You thought, surely, there must be hundreds of other scientists working on this sun dimming problem.
Ryland was just doing his part, rejoining the scientific community, and using his knowledge to help the world. And at the end of the day, he’d return to you like he always did. But never in your worst nightmares did you imagine him getting ripped away from you so suddenly and violently.
And that was the worst part. You had no notice. No time to prepare. Only immense, immediate loss and the soul crushing news that he was gone for good.
And without a doubt, you knew that your student's innocent words were false. You knew Ryland wasn’t excited to save the world, and that he didn’t sacrifice himself, because he would have come back to you. Just to hold you one last time and sear a final kiss into your skin so you’d never forget the feel of him. Hell, knowing him, he wouldn't have left in the first place.
Whatever it was, if it were truly up to him, he would have come back. That, you were sure of.
A knock on the door startled you out of your thoughts. You glanced up and saw a woman walking in, wearing all black and a grim expression to match. She had sympathetic eyes, but the weary lines of her face had clearly been an accumulation of stress over the years, hardening her exterior.
None of that mattered though. What immediately caught your attention wasn’t her looks, but what she carried— an all too familiar yellow raincoat.
You sucked in a sharp breath, eyes widening when you saw it. “Where did you get that.”
She dipped her head solemnly, wasting no time in answering despite your accusatory tone, as if she was already prepared for your harsh greeting. “Eva Stratt with the Petrova task force. This was Dr. Grace’s. He would have wanted you to have it.” Her voice was punctual, like she wanted to get straight to the point. She held the jacket out, but your body refused to move.
You eyed her, the tension in the air thickening by the second. The Petrova task force. What Ryland had been working on before he abruptly got on that cursed, one way ship.
A moment of silence filled the room. Finally, you slowly met her eyes, your voice barely coming out in a whisper. “It was you. You forced him to go, didn’t you?”
She closed her eyes, a quiet sigh escaping her, and it told you all you needed to know.
You shook your head, almost disbelieving. “You murdered him.”
Eva spoke softly, like she was trying to justify her actions. “You were the greatest factor in the decision. We— I tried to come up with another solution, but there was no alternative. Dr. Grace was our only hope.” A beat of silence. “I’m sorry.”
You scoffed. “You’re not,” you laughed bitterly.
She accepted your words, not even trying to fight back. It only made you angrier. Wordlessly, she held out the jacket again, gesturing for you to take it.
You snatched the fabric from her hands, desperate to preserve any remnants of Ryland you could. It still smelled faintly of him, and the jacket wrinkled from your vise-like grip.
“The pocket.”
You glanced up at Eva, who now had her arms crossed. As she said the words, her brows scrunched up ever so slightly, like she was fighting back from showing too much emotion.
Slowly, you reached into the right coat pocket, a feeling of dread suddenly coming over you. At the very bottom, your hands wrapped around a smooth, velvet box. Your stomach dropped.
With trembling fingers, you brought the small box out, delicately setting the coat down on your desk. You knew what it was, and yet you’ve never wanted to be wrong more in your life.
You popped it open. At the sight of the small object inside, you couldn’t contain the sob that escaped you.
A simple diamond ring twinkled up at you from its snug spot. It was one clearly bought off of a teacher’s salary. Not too flashy. Made with your favorite metal. Exactly how you’d like it.
Undoubtedly from Ryland, to you.
You weren’t sure when you crumpled to the ground, or when the tears started flowing freely, or when your ragged breathing turned into choked sobs. All you could think to do was clutch the precious band in your fingers, wishing with your entire being that none of this was real.
But all you felt was a gaping hole in your chest. He had been so close. So close to tying the knot and allowing you to take his last name, ensuring your lives would be intertwined.
But no. Your future, the one that included Ryland, had been irrevocably altered. By fate, the universe, Eva Stratt. It didn't matter who did it, just that it had been done.
Eva couldn’t watch anymore. She knew as soon as she found the ring that she would deliver it to you— it was meant to be yours, after all. Only the person meant to give it to you would be different. She'd decided the sooner the better, and now, the deed was done.
“Goodbye, Mrs. Grace.”
Eva dipped her head and left. She didn’t say anything more, and she wasn’t even sure if you heard her. She simply closed the door with a soft click, muffling your sobs from the rest of the world.
You’re not sure how long you sat there, grieving the man that got torn away from you before he could even propose. Really, it didn't matter how many hours you'd spend on the cold floor of your dark classroom, or how many times you could exhaust your eye sockets of tears.
All the time in the world would never be able to heal what you'd lost.
"whisper vows, I'll never say to you ... cause it's too little, all too late" ♬⋆.˚
