Chapter Text
Since becoming a teacher, staying late every Friday to grade assignments and work on lesson plans has kind of become a regular thing Ryland did. His first year of teaching was almost over and it had gone pretty smoothly, definitely better than most of his first years at past jobs went, there were still some hiccups but overall Ryland loves being a teacher, his fellow teachers are funny and enjoyable to be around, his kids are eager, clever, and quick-witted with everything, and it seemed like the school’s admin liked him.
And just like every Friday for the past 9 months Ryland was staying late again, however, unlike all other Fridays he wasn't grading assignments or working on lesson plans, no, instead he was waiting outside for his assho–knucklehead brother to come pick him up. Ryland’s twin brother, Colt, had been working as a professional stunt-man doing odd jobs on random movies for several years, but two years ago he signed on to work as the exclusive stuntman for some egomaniacal actor. Ryland didn't care who the actor was because honestly he didn't really watch many movies, and most of the time Colt would just share videos of his stunts so there was no reason to waste time watching a movie that barely credited his brother anyways, all Ryland cared about right now was-
“Where the hell is he! Why is he taking so long” Ryland huffed
“You seem like you're a bit frustrated?” someone next to him added. It was one of the other science teachers, Ms. Lang, who taught 6th grade science and looked at Ryland with remorse.
“Im fine, just a little annoyed” he clarified
“Mr. Grace annoyed? I don't believe it, now you have to tell me” Ms. Lang teased,
Ryland sighed and shoved his phone in his coat pocket, Colts not responding anyways no reason to keep looking at it.
“It's my brother,” Ryland relented, “he's a stunt-man so he's always travelling! And for the first time in over a year he's here! Filming in San Francisco! We made plans for him to come pick me up from work and now I can't get a hold of him!” Ryland threw his arms up and let them fall back down in annoyance.
“I feel your pain Grace, siblings can be so aggravating! I swear planning stuff with my siblings is like planning with a brick wall” Ms. Lang remarked
Ryland laughed “well im glad you get it and its not just me”
“Defently not” she reassured,
Ryland went to respond until his train of thought was cut off by an older Ford truck screeching into the student pickup line stopping dramatically in front of him, Ryland’s shoulders scrunched up at the noise,
“well im guessing thats him” Ms. Lang remarked “Get home safe Grace don't let your brother give you too hard of a time”
Ryland waved as she walked over to her car “Thanks! Have a good weekend!” he shouted after her.
Ryland let out a sigh, as he collected his things from the ground Colt hopped out of the truck and wrapped his arm around Ryland’s neck and scruffing his hair as much as possible
“RRRYYYY RYYYY RYLANDDD hows it going man” Colt hollered,
“I’d be doing better if you helped me get this bike into the truck bed and LET GO OF ME” Ryland pleaded in between laughter while trying to push Colt off of him
“Fine, fine! I relent! Lets get out of here, c’mon hop in!” Colt acknowledged.
Finally after getting the bike loaded up into the truck they were on their way.
“So Ry you have to fill me in, how's the first year of teaching going?” Colt asked,
"I love it, it's great, everyone has been very welcoming and helpful, how's the stunt work going? Are we still stopping by set today”
“UGHHHH” Colt huffed, his entire posture drooping,
“That's bad huh?” Ryland remarked with an awkward smile
“No no it's mostly fine, the stunts are fun and intense ya know? Money's good, and oh! there's this stunning camera operator, she's so funny, it's just GOD my boss is such a self-absorbed dipshit!” Colt ranted, gripping the steering wheel like it owed him money,
“a girl? Oooo Colt dont tell me you have a crush” Ryland teased,
Colt relaxed “oh shut up man, crushes are such a middle school thing, you've been around your students too much” he said swatting at Ryland’s face playfully
“Come visit more often then!” Ryland quipped back
Colt relented on the teasing “whatever, but yeah man to answer your question we are still stopping by set, i have a stunt im supposed to do in like” he looks at his watch “sheesh 30 minutes”
Ryland stared at him flatly “10 out of 10 timing as always Colt”
Colt let out an annoyed sigh “yeah yeah I know”
The conversation calmed out after that, leaving just the two brothers in silence listening to some random 80’s rock music on the radio, it wasn't an awkward silence, just calm and relaxed, both of them just enjoying each other’s company, they were also testing to see which one would relent and break the silence first,
it was Ryland, he has way to many questions to ask right now
“soooooo tell me about this camera operator” Ryland asked slyly
“i knew this would come back up!” Colt said in an exasperated tone
“well you can't just tell me about someone you're dating on set and then just move on” Ryland stated smugly
“WE ARE NOT DATING” Colt quickly corrected "we've only been working together for a few weeks and we haven't even hung out outside of set, it's just been a little bit of playful flirting” Colt explained rubbing then back of his neck awkwardly,
Ryland looked at him over his glasses, reached out putting his hand on Colt’s shoulder like he's comforting him “whatever you say Colt, but dont worry im happy to be your wingman”
Colt swatted Rylands hand off his shoulder and laughed “yeah sure Ry cause thats something you do”
Ryland feigned being offended “I have no idea what you're talking about”
“Uh huh whatever you say Ry just grab whatever you want with you on set we're here” Colt dismissed jokingly as they pulled into the parking lot.
Being on a movie set this big was a first for Ryland, sure he had been on a set before when Colt was first starting out years ago but those were much MUCH smaller sets with very minor production teams, comparing those sets to this one would be like comparing a 3rd grade science lab to a NASA testing center, they just don't compare to each other. That honestly didn't matter right now, what mattered was making it to the correct warehouse on time for Colt to do his next stunt, they were weaving through people as they hurried, well, Colt hurried, Ryland trailed a little farther behind him, it's not like he was going to miss anything, Colt had already mentioned while making their way over that the director and lead actor were really particular about how the stunts, and really everything else, looked so there was a good chance they'd end up doing multiple takes.
Thankfully Colt made it just in time, and as Ryland trailed into the warehouse he could see Colt talking to the director as some other people helped prep the set for the stunt,
“Colt, what in the world took you so long to get here man? I paged you almost 10 minutes ago telling you we needed film this stunt” the director said very emphatically
Colt put his hands up in defense “David chill out, i was picking up my brother, i’m here on time”
The director, apparently named David, shook his head like he was scolding a small child "there's no such thing as ‘on time’ Seavers, you're either early or late”
Colt let out an awkward pleading laugh
Ryland stepped towards the director reaching a hand out “Sorry for holding Colt behind sir i have a bad habit of trapping him in conversation”
David looked at Ryland sideways for a half second before reaching out as well to shake his hand “man Colt wasn't kidding about you guys being twins, nice to meet you” David said shaking Rylands hand
Ryland smiled “likewise, and don't worry i’m just here to watch, ill stay out of the way”
“I appreciate it pal, ALRIGHT PEOPLE PLACES! STUNTS READY?” David barked at the crew members around the set,
Once everyone verified that they were ready to go David yelled action and they started filming. The stunts weren't anything super crazy, just some fake fight scene that included Colt getting thrown through a table and window. Ryland winced at pretty much every hit Colt took, fake or not it still looked painful. It took roughly 6 takes to get a shot David liked, Colt really wasn't kidding when he said the director was particular. Once one of the crew members finished making sure Colt wasn't injured after the final take he ran over to Ryland.
“Hey! Ry! what did you think?” he said excitedly
“pretty crazy to watch it all up close, seems like all the other people on the stunt team like you” Colt laughed “yeah well its not a super high bar when the guy you do stunts for is a major dickhead”
By now the twins had been talking for close to 25 minutes as other actors worked on the next scene, Ryland and Colt were far enough away that they could hear what was going on without being in the way, and one of the main things they heard was David slowly getting less and less patient with every take.
“Man he's really losing it huh?” Ryland whispered
Colt sighed “yeah thats how hes been the last few days, not sure why he's been so uptight”
right as Ryland went to respond his train of thought was cut off by David yelling “ALRIGHT EVERYONE JUST TAKE 15 AND THEN WE’LL GET BACK TO THIS” before turning to chew out his assistant and a writer that were next to him,
Ryland, ever so curious, turned to Colt “i kind of want to ask whats up”
Colt laughed “be my guest but don't be mad if he bites your head off”
Ryland smiled, technically it was more of a smirk, and walked over. As he got closer to the director he heard the conversation that he was having with one of the writers
“Do you know how far up my ass the studio is over this show? they are so damn picky about the science of it i mean come on! It's a zombie show. How accurate does the science need to be in it? It’s not like Tom is gonna say the lines right anyways”
Ryland laughed to himself a little bit, that’s what’s been making David so snappy? science? Ryland can absolutely help with that, science is like his whole thing.
“Hey David, you alright? seems like you’re having a bit of an issue?”
David jumped clearly not expecting Ryland to have walked up next to him “Uh yeah we are, the studio is annoyed over the ‘accuracy of the science’ or whatever just annoying stuff, uh sorry i know you’re Colt’s twin but i don’t think i caught your name earlier” David held his hand out to shake again
Ryland smiled, he usually didn’t like using his education as a way to brag or gloat, he felt like it just made him look egotistical but right now a small bit of bragging in front of all these movie big wigs might just actually help,
he shook David’s hand “Dr. Ryland Grace”
David looked surprised “Doctor? well i guess if anyone is hurt i know who to call” he joked.
It helped that Ryland was still in his nicer work clothes which definitely made him look way more professional than he usually does. Ryland chuckled a little putting his hands in his pockets
“I’m not a doctor of medicine I'm a doctor of molecular biology”
David, the writer, and the assistant all stared at him slightly slack jawed.
“You have a doctorate in molecular biology and you’ve just been ‘hanging out’ on set?” David ran a hand through his hair “man why didn’t you say something earlier? could’ve saved me at least one headache today”
before Ryland got a chance to respond David turned and shouted
“HEY SEAVERS GET UR ASS OVER HERE”
Colt grumbled to himself and jogged over “hey man whatcha need” he asked sarcastically
David pointed his finger at Colt “you never said anything about your brother being a molecular biologist you said he was a middle school teacher”
Ryland shrugged awkwardly “can't I be both?”
David's head whipped around “well MOST people aren't! Ok. I need to breathe.. Ryland, what can you tell me about the science in the show so far?”
Ryland thought to himself for a moment before saying “not much right now but if you have a script i can probably help correct it”
David clapped his hands together before snatching a script from the writer next to him and shoving it into Ryland’s chest “take a quick look at that im going to go find Tom and drag his ass back over, this is his scene after all! Don't go anywhere!” David sputtered before his assistant and him walked off muttering things into their radios.
Once they were out of earshot Colt started doubling over in laughter
“Oh my god shut up Colt” Ryland pleaded,
unfortunately all Colt could do in response was hold up a finger signaling he would respond once he stopped laughing and caught his breath, all Ryland could do is roll his eyes,
Colt took a deep inhale and stood up straight “i gotta say Ry there's no way I could've predicted that”
Ryland went to respond but stopped when a woman he had never seen before walked up,
“Jesus Colt catch a breath” she stated,
Colt looked at her “Jody! You have perfect timing!”
slinging an arm around Ryland he continued “Jody, this is my twin brother Ryland and he just totally screwed himself over!” he announced with pure joy.
she looked back and forth between the two of them, Colt looked like a kid on Christmas, and Ryland looked like the most confused person ever, Jody pinched the bridge of her nose
“Do I even want to know?”
Colt looked at Ryland clearly waiting for him to respond, Ryland sighed “i may have offered to help with some of the science in the script” he trailed off looking at the massive script in his hands waiting for a response
Jody snorted “oh man thats… that's rough”
Ryland sighed and flipped open the script scanning over any scene set in a lab and WOW it was not great, whoever wrote this had the right idea but man you can tell they did not research anything, half the tools in the scene aren't used correctly and the other half don't even need to be there, That plus the poor wording and over-dramatization of everything else just made Ryland cringe
“That bad?” Colt asked with actual surprise
“im guessing it is based on his face” Jody added
Ryland rolled his eyes “it actually is that bad i’m shocked this ever got greenlit! It's awful!”
his sheer bluntness must have surprised Colt and Jody cause they both burst out laughing, he could see why Colt liked her, they seemed like they got along great and that's one of the most important things in an early relationship right? Ryland laughed along with them cause what else was he supposed to do?
It was a nice moment until Colt looked up and his entire demeanor changed from happy to totally annoyed, he snapped his fingers and pointed
“heads up guys, Ryder 12 o’clock”
Ryland only had about half a second to process his brother’s drastic change in mood before his mood was ruined too.
“SEAVERS! Man, did I hit my head or something? I'm seeing doubles, why's there two of you? Two Colt Seavers is like my own personal hell” Tom stated as he walked up with David and a few other people trailing behind, he made sure to give Colt’s shoulder and small push, just enough to annoy him.
“uh huh, hi to you too Tom and no you're sadly not in hell, this is my brother.” Colt grumbled flatly, crossing his arms.
Ryland pieced everything together very quickly, this was the “self-absorbed dipshit boss”, this was the guy who Colt was a stuntman for, and this was the guy who was the lead in this ridiculous show Ryland accidentally volunteered for. Ryland waited to say anything or even introduce himself until David and everyone else got there, but regardless of what Ryland wanted Tom had something to say
“cat got your tongue Colt #2?” he sneered,
Ryland stared back at the man over his glasses and flatly retorted “no i just don't talk if I don't have anything good to say.”
For a short moment Tom was stunned, thankfully that moment was swiftly cut short as David's booming voice started
“I see you and Tom have met” he joked, clearly trying to break the tension "I'd also like you to meet Gail Meyer, Tom’s producer”
Gail reached out, grabbed, and shook Ryland’s hand, he smiled, no better time than now to introduce himself.
“great to meet you, I’m molecular biologist Dr. Grace” he said as professionally as he could
both Gail and Tom nodded in response which felt a little uncharacteristic, but Ryland wanted to keep his introduction as professional as possible not just because this was a professional environment but also to give as little information about himself as possible, last thing he needs is to give Tom fuel to mess with Colt.
“Alright Dr. Grace” David clapped his hands together "indulge us on how we can adjust the science in this show”
Ryland smiled, annoyed as he was he was also a little excited to trash on this script,
“i’ll actually have you guys follow me onto this set right here” Ryland directed as he walked onto the set Colt was crashing around in just an hour or so earlier, the small group of people wordlessly followed him.
Once over there Ryland began to, very kindly, tear into the script and set’s inaccuracies, Colt basked in every second, who could blame him? He brought his brother onto set for fun today and now he's watching pretty much everyone who's in charge of him be completely captivated by every thinly veiled insult and scientifically accurate thing Ryland said. It was great.
After almost an hour of Ryland correcting what felt like everything David thanked and dismissed him so he could work with Gail and Tom for a bit.
Ryland’s shoulders slumped as he walked over to Colt, who was sitting all alone, seems like Jody must have bailed out at some point, as he got closer all the tiredness of his day finally hitting him
“you doing alright?” Colt asked
Ryland sat down next to him and sighed “god i swear the more i talked the more inaccuracies and plot holes came up”
Colt chuckled softly and put a hand on Ryland’s shoulder “for what it's worth it was pretty satisfying to watch you school Ryder and everyone else over there”
Ryland looked over at Colt and smiled “i’d imagine it would be, i barely spent an hour with the guy and he makes me feel like i ingested a bunch of ammonia”
Colt threw his head back and laughed, Ryland jokingly rolled his eyes and smiled
“Now you know how I feel,” Colt added.
Ryland stood up and stretched “im going to step outside and get some fresh air ill be back in a bit”
Colt gave him a thumbs up.
Ryland walked outside, it was so much darker out now than when they first got to set, wherever these warehouses sat it must have been away from the city because Ryland could actually see stars. He took a deep breath and sat down against the wall feeling the cool air against his face. Ryland closed his eyes and pulled his glasses down so they were hanging off his face, the odd calmness of the set was a nice bit of tranquility in an otherwise chaotic day, Ryland let his head fall onto the wall his was sitting against, after about a minute of peace he heard someone walking up to him, Ryland initially assumed it was just a crew member coming into the warehouse until the footsteps stopped in front of him, something in Ryland’s gut told him to keep his eyes closed and let whoever it was walk away while his brain was curious and wanted to know who it was, whatever, Ryland trusted his brain most of the time anyways, he opened one eye and… shit. It was the last person he wanted to see.
“Morning sleeping beauty” Tom teased
Ryland rolled his eyes “is there something you need Ryder?” he asked plainly Ryland’s lack of enthusiasm clearly was throwing Tom off
"Not very warm and friendly are you Grace?” Tom commented
Ryland just looked at him blankly without responding
Tom shifted awkwardly where he was standing. “Man I'm surprised Colt never mentioned anything about being a twin to me, you'd think it would come up at least once right Grace?” Tom commented
Ryland was truthfully very done with this conversation, he had been since it started, “I’m not shocked, Colt is pretty busy” Ryland responded fidgeting with his glasses “and its Dr. Grace, Ryder.” he stated
Tom began to laugh a bit “MAN! You are cold! C’mon Grace we’re pals!”.
Oh man Tom really knew how to get on someone’s nerves, Ryland went to respond but was cut off by Colt and David,
“Tom? I'm surprised you're out here, normally you go to your trailer or apartment for the rest of the night” David acknowledged jokingly
Colt just glared at Tom for a few seconds before turning to Ryland “were wrapping up for the night, just let me know when you're good to go”
Ryland let out a long exhale, finally he could go home, today was fun but he was completely exhausted
“actually Dr. Grace I had a question” David chimed,
Ryland raised an eyebrow “yeah what can i do for ya?” he asked
“I was wondering if you'd be interested in working as a consultant on the project, we could really use someone with your skillset”
Colt’s jaw dropped open in surprise, somehow Ryland wasn't surprised, the question hung heavy in the air,
“I’m sorry but no” Ryland insisted, clearly this was not the response anyone was expecting
“can i ask why?” David pleaded
Ryland stood up with a sigh “look, i appreciate that you would like to include me on the project, however, i have other commitments, i still have a few weeks left in the school year and im not going to be able to work on both, sorry David but my students always take priority”
Ryland felt a little bad for the guy, clearly what he had critiqued was helpful, “ill tell you what” Ryland acquiesced “ill give you my contact information, during the week feel free to text with any questions all i’ll try to respond throughout the day”
that seemed to be an agreeable compromise for David “ill take it, thank you, Colt do you think you could send over the contact info?”
Colt nodded “yeah man ill do it right now”
“Can I have it too?” Tom asked
Everyone turned to look at him, before anyone could say anything Ryland quickly stated
"Absolutely not. David and Colt are the only two that will have that information”
Tom emphasized his point “that's so inconvenient! what if i have script or story questions?”
Ryland glared at him and shrugged “i guess you'll just have to ask Colt or David”
Colt stared at Ryland with a smile the bordered on proud and creepy “well unless either of you need anything we’ll be heading out” Colt stated
Ryland groaned “thank god i am so tired”
David smiled “have a good night guys, thanks again Dr Grace”
Tom scoffed “fine. night Colt” he paused and leaned into Ryland’s line of sight “Good night Dr. Grace~” Colt and Ryland both ignored him as they walked away.
“Well what did you think?” Colt asked Ryland as they hopped into the truck
“Almost everyone is great, you weren't kidding about Jody being hilarious, but what is Ryder’s deal? Is he always that weird?”
Colt took a minute to think “actually he was kind of off today, i mean he was still his normal rude-ass self but also something else? Who knows, I stopped trying to make sense of his behavior a long time ago”
Ryland hummed in response.
“I guess we’ll know tomorrow” Colt added
“Yeah, I guess,” Ryland replied.