Learning to Dance in the Rain

baby!Colt and baby!Tom meet… somewhere? and become best friends. Like… running all over the playground, going on adventures like only two hyperactive little boys could.

Colt is happy to have a friend his age who's willing to do all this fun, wacky shit with him (because as much as he loves his twin, Ryland is a scaredy-cat) 

Rich, child actor!Tom is just happy to have a friend that isn't posh and stuck up and (isn't just friends with him because he's famous and) is willing to play pretend with him and just be a normal kid. His parents aren't particularly thrilled about Colt, but Tom having a “normal” friend is very good for his public image.

Insert childhood promise that when they're older, Tom will be a famous-er (famous-est even!) actor, and Colt will be his stunt double (obviously because Colt can jump higher and run faster than Tom, so it'll look even cooler on camera!), and that way, they can work together and be best forever!

And of course Colt introduces Tom to Ryland, because Ryland is his twin and his other best-friend-forever. And Ryland doesn't really play with them all that much (he only joins them on their tamer adventures) because he prefers reading and maybe swinging on the swings (but not too high because he gets nauseous), but he watches movies with them all the time and whenever he knows an interesting science fact about something that happens in the movie, he tells them all about it, and he's a lot more interesting than their boring science teachers.

And as they grow up, something also grows between Tom and Ryland.

Colt's obviously happy because if they end up married, then they'll all be family!

Court is well aware that, while he's happy for Ry (and for Tom, because by this point, he's basically part of the family in his eyes god knows the kid needs someone to actually care for him), their father wouldn't be. And it's his job to keep his brothers safe from him. All he asks them is to be discreet, at least until they’re 18.

But they're teenagers and in love and if they're somewhere secluded enough, no one would see them kissing (Tom promises that no one ever comes here)…

Only only…

(tw again bc this is where the shit starts)

Somehow, Tom's parents find out, and enough is enough. This game has gone too far. 

To make sure the twins (and their terrible influence) stay away from their son, they call their father, who assures them he'd take care of it.

And by that, he means beating Ryland within an inch of his life so he learns his lesson, possibly in front of Colt, just to make sure they both understand it thoroughly. 

Colt tries his best to stop him, but he's not strong enough.

And Court… Court is their older brother, and it's his job to take care of them, no matter what. Even if it means killing their father.

Everything after that is a blur. 

Court is taken away by police and thrown in jail where he later dies (oR DoES hE??!!).

CPS gets involved and they're whisked away to somewhere far away from their hometown (to save them from gossip and bad memories).

Ryland spends months in a hospital. During some of that time Ryland is in a coma, through some of it, he's trying to regain his memories.

Colt spends what time he can in the hospital with Ryland. He tries to contact Tom, but can't get a hold of him.

Once he's better, Ryland also tries to get a hold of him. But nothing is working, and it's like they were blocked on every existing platform there is. He wants to curl up and cry (and he can't seem to ignore the voice in his head telling him that it wasn't like someone like Tom would forever be interested with someone like him).

But Colt is mad. Because he knows (Ryland told him) that it was Tom's idea to kiss in public. And now that he's gotten Ryland hurt (and now that they lost Court and their dad and are all alone), he's blocking them? Like they meant nothing? Fine. He doesn't need him anyway.

Meanwhile, one day everything is perfect, and the next his boyfriend, his best friend and his sort-of-hopefully-future older brother-in-law are just… gone. No explanations. 

He tries to contact them, but can't seem to get a hold of them. Like they blocked him or something.

And his parents blink at him, confused, when he asks about them. Because apparently they moved away, didn't they tell you?

And it's fine. It's not like he needs anyone else or anything. He thought they'd be different, but in the end everyone uses you until you've got nothing else to give, and then they throw you away.

So why should he care?

Years pass. Tom becomes a famous actor, Colt becomes a stuntman. 

This has nothing to do with their childhood promise at all, they swear.

They start working together but can't seem to get along and even seem to hate each other. Obviously, Colt doesn't tell Ryland (who thankfully gets too anxious to watch the movies Colt's in because he already lost one brother, and it doesn't make sense and he knows Colt is alive, but last time he tried to watch one of Colt's stunts in a movie, he had a panic attack) because the last thing he needs is for Ry to get his hopes up, especially since Tom turned out to be the biggest dick ever.

Stuff happens or whatever.

Tom and Colt end up having a shouting match.

Tom yells at him for using and abandoning him. For leaving without telling him.

Colt yells at him for getting Ryland hurt, that he was in a come for months, that they lost their brother because of it, and Tom had the audacity to block them.

Tom yells at Colt for blocking him.

No one is listening to anyone until blessedly, Jody saves the day and beats some sense into both of them.

And maybe they can all start moving towards healing together.

Also from here obviously it can be Starstruck re-learning each other…

(with potential, but not necessarily, for Bloodymary and my new rare pair hell known as whatever the ship name for Simon Iron Lung/Tom Ryder/Ryland Grace is... idk how i got into rare pair hell again but here we are fml

In which Ryland and Simon met and fell in love but also he never fully got over Tom. Simon wants his boyfriend happy, and isn't against sharing+getting another lovely boyfriend. Tom is smitten and Ryland is happy to have both of his loves)