How Literaly Tom recieve Ryland's lawyer every each - fudging- time. 😅
Because someone literally slid into my DMs asking about it too.
And @purtiniii left a comment that had me overthinking heavy.
Answering some Qs.
How bad was the divorce? A literal nightmare. It’s a miracle it didn’t hit the media, considering how famous Tom is and the prestige Ryland holds.
Was Tom really that bad?
Yeah, Tom was a total nightmare during the divorce.
He refused to talk to the lawyers; he only wanted to corner Ryland. He never showed up on time to their mediation meetings, and when he did, the tension and the arguments escalated so fast that both lawyers decided to just talk privately between themselves.
At first, they were sleeping in separate rooms, but it was impossible, so Ryland had to move into Rocky’s flat (yes, Rocky exists here, they met—ironically—because Adrian, who has a PhD in everything microbiology and wildlife, met Ryland at a conference) because Tom wouldn’t stop looking for him.
While Tom was never physically violent with Ryland, he wasn’t afraid to unleash all his frustrations during a fight.
Honestly, neither of them had any chill, but we all know Tom is way more shameless than Ryland.
It even got to the point where every time the lawyer told Tom about a detail of the trial, he’d grab his phone just to berate Ryland about it.
And when he wasn’t being aggressive and hostile… he seemed completely detached, like he was ready to give up everything.
But it was always a phase, because then he’d backslide right into his old ways. Ryland’s lawyer wanted some furniture? "Sure, let him have it…" only to demand it back later in exchange for something else.
Plus, he used absolutely anything as ammunition.
Ryland’s constant business trips, the fact that he was always busy, his anger issues (I mean, there’s a reason Ryland went viral for that insult during the Geneva conference), etc.
Is Ryland just a sad victim?
No, Ryland isn't a total angel either. Yeah, he had anger issues, which is exactly why he ends up attending anger management sessions later, 'cause his fuse was short af back then.
He also had his petty, slightly unhinged moments where Colt literally wondered if he had lost a marble.
More than once during mediation, he threw accusations that Tom was probably cheating on him; neither of the lawyers could confirm it though, since they were always long-distance.
When he finally left the house, he changed the locks and put glitter everywhere—even in the pipes. And since he kept the flat, he fire-sold it at the lowest price possible just to get rid of it.
And in a total move of pure spite—and real love, honestly—he fought tooth and nail for custody of the dog, which had been a gift from Ryland to Tom. Unfortunately (from Ryland’s POV at the time), Jean Claude loves Tom too much, so Tom kept him.
Now that a few years have passed and he’s graduated from therapy, he admits it was for the best, since Tom—post-divorce—took the dog everywhere with him and never left him in a kennel.
What happened right after the divorce?
Mmm, good question.
Would I say Tom went on a partying bender? He was acting like a total idiot, so nobody was shocked when news dropped of him hitting up a new pub every single weekend.
My other theory is that Gail, to keep him from completely ruining his life, decided the best move was to drown him in millions of projects.
Let's remember, Tom did not want this divorce, which is why it dragged on for years.
But Gail knows him well enough to know that if she left him to his own devices, he’d do something incredibly stupid.
The months when Gail went on holiday were the most complicated eras of the divorce process, because she was the only one keeping Tom on a leash for his own sanity and for the sake of his public image.
But keeping him booked and busy with projects was his way of healing. Ryland? Straight to therapy.
That was around the time the Geneva conference insult incident happened, so he took a "gap year" while sorting out his personal life.
That’s why, when Tom gets into the accident, Ryland seems cooperative. He already has his emotions locked down and you could say he’d decided to heal a lot of his old wounds.
Why did Ryland have medical power over Tom?
I think I went a bit wild with the plot here, ngl, lmao.
But basically, since Tom never changed his emergency contact, and considering they were married, Ryland is legally the best option from a medical standpoint. Tom, at least in this AU, is completely estranged from his family.
So looking for them made zero sense, because even Gail—for the plot of this AU—doesn’t know who they are or how to contact them.
Instead, Ryland only shows up at the hospital because Gail calls him since his name is still on the paperwork.
When they stabilize Tom and the worst of it passes, Ryland was—ironically—the one who could make the best medical decisions for him. He knew his allergies, his limits, all of it. And since Tom was unconscious, Ryland was the one in charge of signing off on treatments.
How is Tom processing all of this?
He is massively confused. When he wakes up, chronologically speaking, his brain thinks he’s on a road trip with Ryland to visit a national park.
That trip happened back when the marriage was still happy, probably right after Tom’s first major breakthrough role in a TV project. Ryland was probably doing his Master’s or lecturing at university and had planned a celebration trip for them both.
Tom wakes up in the hospital, completely immobilized, with Colt (he knows it's not Ryland, his Ryland is more handsome) half-asleep on the sofa. He fears the worst.
That's why he thinks they were in a car crash, because the last thing he remembers is kissing his husband while driving onto the motorway.
He only calmed down when—realizing Tom was truly terrified—Colt told him Ryland was fine and just talking to the doctors.
But since he’s not entirely out of the woods yet, nobody is telling him about the divorce. They only plan to tell him because Ryland refuses to let Tom live a lie; Tom isn’t as clueless as he likes to pretend, and any minute now he’s gonna check the date, do the math, and realize they don’t live together or even in the same country anymore.
How does Ryland feel about the whole situation?
Mmh 🤔
Let’s just say that, much like in Project Hail Mary, he had already "made peace" with everything that went down during the divorce.
Generally speaking, there’s a lot of nostalgia. The kind that hurts in a beautiful way.
Tom calls him Ry, asks why he isn't lecturing at university, and mentions little things from back when everything was still simple.
It took him completely by surprise, honestly. He was the first to demand they tell Tom the truth, but he acknowledges that it wasn’t the right moment.
But if we look deeper… he just feels hurt. Mostly because Tom seems reluctant to let him go, and the last time Tom tried to hold onto him, it ended terribly for them both.
Even though he knows Colt isn't keen on the idea, Ryland is the one who patiently explains everything about the divorce to Tom. No blame, no hatred. He simply decides to lay it all out like a case study—admitting what he did wrong, and acknowledging what hurt him about Tom. He puts all his cards on the table.