Do you have any starstruck headcanons? (Some spicy ones can be slipped in 👀)
tom is a side sleeper, ryland is a stomach sleeper, and generally ryland runs HOT while he sleeps so he doesn’t initiate cuddling very often. tom has caught onto this and turns the ac freezing at night so he can get away with cuddling ryland (even though he wakes up shivering on the rare occasions that they dont cuddle through the night)
ryland is a book person, tom is a tv show person (despite doing mostly movies as an actor, he prefers tv shows because he doesnt always have time or attention to sit in for up to 3 hours for a movie). a lot of times they parallel play when one can’t handle the other’s preference at the time, ryland has headphones just for when tom is watching tv so he doesnt get overstimulated
tom is a sucker for musicals, he was a theater kid growing up! i wrote this into dear future self (hands up!) already but i’m re-stating it here lol, he got to play in theater when he was in highschool though his first starring role in theater was noel from ride the cyclone (the one who sings “i want to be that fucked up girl!”) but when he became a big leagues actor, this was one of the aspects of himself he had to change in order to fit better in the eyes of the public as an action star. after meeting and dating ryland, he reopened parts of himself he had to retire for the big leagues, and one of those parts was his love for musicals. now he just likes to get ryland into his musicals too, likes to perform them for himself to practice, and likes to get ryland to jump in on the performances just for the sake of hearing him giggle (the best sound in the world, btw)
ryland has a gift aversion, doesn’t like being responsible for reacting to gifts usually because it feels like he isn’t being genuine enough and the entitlement that goes in reverse of owing something to someone, it’s a whole thing. tom usually gets around this by sending gifts anonymously or long distance, so ryland doesn’t have the pressure of reacting “correctly” for tom. tom absolutely refuses not to shower ryland in gifts in one way or another.
in that same vein, tom has discovered rylands little amazon wishlist for things he’d like to add to his class room, and tom buys every single thing on that list and then some, hunts down items he’s heard ryland talk about before (‘that old clock on the wall gets stuck half the time so i didn’t realize i was running late, i’m so sorry’ and ‘i really need to replace my desk, the drawers are starting to go out now’). despite being gift averse, he doesn’t necessarily see these as gifts for himself because a lot of these are quality of life things for his students as well, and ryland LOVES doing things for his kids
tom has done a lot more charity work since dating ryland! he hosts a lot of charity galas, food runs, donates to fund a lot of projects (especially the ones ryland is passionate about but he has some movements he cares a lot about, too!)
ryland hates cooking. it’s not that he couldn’t learn if he wants to, he just doesn’t care to do it. his time is pretty limited, so it’s always better spent doing something else. tom enjoys cooking a lot, as it’s one of the things him and his mother bonded over, so he makes it a point to cook for ryland when he can, and at the very least, gets ryland to order healthier foods (or just orders them for him!)
tom likes everything plush, he needs his bed to be soft and he wants his blankets to be velvety, or at the very least, soft and fluffy like it. ryland doesn’t typically enjoy his beds super super soft, but he doesn’t have a stern preference (but he does usually toss the blanket off of himself and relies on the bedsheets, again, because he runs so hot and plush retains heat very well)
tom also has stuffed animals in the bed whenever ryland isn’t there, ones that they’ve won at the fair together. he has a little pig that he likes the most, one that ryland won for him at ski ball, and he treasures that thing. will sooner die than let ryland see that he still cuddles it though.
ryland isn’t necessarily ashamed about asking for money when he needs help - he was a scientist, which is a lot of asking for money through grants and funding, he’s used to having to ask - but he usually doesn’t even get to the point of asking honestly. tom is a sucker who has started a bit where, whenever ryland makes him stupidly giddy over text, he’ll send “a tip” (usually $100+) and if ryland refuses it he starts tacking on hundreds more at a time, has and will blow rylands phone up with apple pay/cashapp notifications just because rylands being “bratty” by not accepting them
they have an ongoing romantic gestures ‘competition’ sort of? if you would call it that? sometimes they’ll do little things just to startle their lover - tom stuffs a bunch of rose petals in ryland’s helmet so when he tries to get on his bike, he gets a nice little petal shower. whenever tom gets home from a long day whatever it might be, ryland will already have a bath drawn for him and a cup of hot cocoa waiting on the edge of the tub. tom will ship entirely bouquets to ryland’s school, so every class gets one, but ryland? oh ryland gets three of the biggest, most extravagant bouquets. he knows ryland has a space for each one of them. ryland also likes to hand out the flowers to his kids when theyre leaving class, will even give them extras to take home to their parents if he’s their final period teacher. you get the idea
tom is only close with his mother in his family, he keeps the rest of his (very large extended) family at arms length, mostly because of how they talked to/about him when he was a kid after he came out as a victim. his mom was the only one who fought for him, through and through, made every effort to help and protect him and amplify his voice, and it made all the difference in his long term relationship with her. he makes an effort to call her once a week. she knows ryland’s name, asks about him every time tom calls, and asks when tom’s finally gonna put a ring on it (ryland has overheard this more than a handful of times. she’ll even ask him directly sometimes!)
colt and courtland are rylands brothers and the only family ryland has left. his mother died when he was in college, birth father died to court when he was 11 (ryland was the one targeted during this incident in my iteration, which is why colt is so protective of ryland now, cause he couldn’t help him back then and didnt want courts sacrifice to go to waste), and their step father is kind of a religious nut who barely talks to any of them now that their mother is gone. ryland and colt are super close, but ryland doesn’t know much about court these days. for his safety, he knows, but he still misses his big brother a lot
court scares the SHIT out of tom. genuinely. tom is never more uneasy than when court is staring daggers into him, judging him, as if asking ‘are u rly good enough for my little brother?’ (court approves of tom, but he finds it funny to get tom squirming)
colt, as we know, doesn’t necessarily like tom but he doesn’t hate tom as much as he used to. tom has also mellowed out a LOT over the years with ryland, which makes tom all the more endurable. tom and colt have typical guy friend beef now, everything they say is picking a fight but never seriously, and they play wrestle all the time. yknow that thing some guys do to their siblings where they pretend to be boxing? go for a swing and then stop just near the persons cheek? thats something these guys do. all the god damn time.
tom does have henry as his best friend, who’s also a stuntman (though not tom’s stunt double, colt is still on contract for that) and colt and henry get along SUPER well. ryland and henry… not so much.
whether you approach this in a modern/no astrophage au or not, i think if tom ever met simon, they would be IMMEDIATE OPPS. neither one likes each other even tolerably. you know that trope where two people hate each other so much that theyre threatening each other and barely holding back from throwing down at any given moment, but then the third character turns around or comes into the room and those two people immediately just enter a detente, forcing smiles and being like “ohh! yes! we’re doing great! best friends!” through gritted teeth with clenched fists. thats tom and simon. they do not like each other even a little bit.
rocky. i think tom loves rocky as a rock, i think hes okay with human rocky/rocktiz. if you hc them post astrophage, rocky likes to come around EVERYWHERE ryland goes, rocky is like a little kid learning everything there is to know about the world and he’s so damn cute. of course, adrian and their pebbles came along, so tom and ryland share their space with rocky, adrian, and the pebbles as much as they’re able, and tom happily funds the biodome building project to get rocky’s family their own space and opportunity to live independently if they like (but they always have a space at toms house). if you like the human/rocktiz aus, tom probably just thinks of rocky as an acquaintance, totally respects that he’s ryland’s best friend and makes an effort to get to know rocky but they don’t have much in common, and rocky is a very blunt person, he’ll tell tom to his face if he doesn’t care for tom’s antics (and he does so. often. rocky also thinks ryland deserves better.)
tom is a switch by moment, ryland is a switch by energy, meaning tom will take whatever role fits best with the encounter they’re having (so if ryland wants to take control, tom doesn’t fight him by any means for it), whereas ryland’s terms for switching is pretty dependent on the day, on the energy he physically has to give for being dominant. he’s usually pretty content to let tom lead the way.
ryland is somewhat touch aversed; he’s gotten better about it while being with tom, but there are plenty of times where touch can be too much - even and especially while they’re having sex - so tom tries to make an effort to keep his hands to himself during these days. ryland usually tells him if he can’t handle too much touch, but after the first few times, tom figured out the little tells that says ryland needs some space, and so he doesn’t always need ryland’s verbal confirmation to keep the touch minimal.
this also works in reverse - some days, when ryland wants to get over his aversion, he asks tom to touch him as much as he possibly can. it works a treat for overstimulating ryland very fast, tom always checks in with him to make sure ryland isn’t overdoing it (and if he thinks ryland is, tom will stop touching him so much, won’t take ryland’s complaints for an answer)
ryland and tom are both suckers for praise but ryland LOVES condescension too. tom has learned to enjoy it as well. whether ryland wants to be talked down to, or he wants to do the talking, either way, ryland is too fucking pretty not to love it
the first time they had sex was slow, casual, super experimental, tom was giving ryland every option to back out whenever he wanted, and ryland did not. it was the first time sex didn’t feel like a chore or an overstimulating, fleshy, squishy nightmare to ryland, he genuinely enjoyed himself, in LARGE parts because tom - when he tops - is a service top, through and through. he solely seeks his partner’s pleasure, he experiments to find exactly what works for ryland. now, ryland is usually the one who initiates, tom does too but not as often
tom’s kinks consist of: praise, degradation (to a degree), bondage, a little bit of pet play (collars and name tags and nicknames, thats the extent of it), power imbalance dynamics, toys, voyeurism, exhibitionism, dacryphilia, edging/orgasm denial, a little bit of sadism, and clothes. he likes lingerie, obviously, but he likes skirts, dresses, thigh highs, shorts, tank tops, sweaters, you get the gist. he’s fucked ryland because of his clothes so many times, he’s had ryland fully nude while he keeps his clothes on and vice versa, he’s gotten ryland to dress up for him, etc. he eats that shit UP
ryland’s kinks consist of: praise & degradation (give him BOTH! to the MAX!), toys, voyeurism, sweating (like working out ughhh), role play, edging (but not denial, he wants to come eventually), punishments, voyeurism, exhibitionism, mirrors/photos/videos (mostly just being perceived), light breath play, sadomasochism (very lightly), begging, tattoos (the roles tom gets to have fake tattoos? FUCK.) belly bulging from a dick, brat taming (theyre both so good at this)… breeding…. can anyone hear me……
role play was so hard for them to experiment with at first just because of how giddy and giggly ryland was, he couldn’t keep up with the acts most of the time, but tom is so good at staying in character. he’s so good at getting ryland into the moment, believing the dynamic, whatever it might be. ryland has passively introduced tom to a/b/o stories before and tom asked if that was something he was interested in and ryland just. shrugged. didn’t expand more. so tom, of course, experimented like any good scientist’s boyfriend should do, and researched a/b/o, and played it out for ryland and holy Fuck ryland likes it more than he thought he would. the degradation that comes with being an omega for someone, the breeding aspect, tom cockwarming after coming inside of him (as if he has a knot), tom just being so comforting and curling ryland into a little nest, it made ryland feel so loved when tom did all that for him
tom is so good at sex, but he does not expect ryland to be, too. whether tom tops or bottoms, doms or subs, ryland is always matching his pace so well, he’ll give tom just what he needs every time. submissive top ryland with tom riding him, ryland’s brain is so mush but he can’t stop praising tom anyway, can’t stop calling him so handsome, so good for ryland, he’s so touchy, guiding and squeezing and pulling him in for kisses as much as he can get away with, it makes tom feel so fucking loved. and then dominant top ryland, ugh, he loves teasing tom, pushes his face into the pillows and keeps his ass in the air, he’ll keep grazing, keep touching tom’s ass, his hips, rocking his cock between his asscheeks but not pushing in. no, he makes tom beg for that, he builds up that anticipation in tom so well, he’s so fucking cruel. “you want it, love? speak up for me, you can’t just get what you want by whining at me.” he is gooood at condescending tom while he’s dominating, ugh, it leaves tom feeling like jelly every fucking time
they get sloppy with it, too. sometimes tom will just dry hump ryland’s leg and that’s enough for him right there, especially if ryland talks him through it, pushes his hair out of his face, guides his hips back and forth against ryland’s thigh. sometimes ryland doesn’t need more than tom’s mouth, or even just his hand, and that’s enough for them for a night. sometimes they’ll wake up for slow, messy morning sex, either refusing to get out of bed or leaning into each other at the bathroom sink which ends with one of them grinding against the other which becomes it’s whole own thing
tom is a method actor, sometimes he’ll bring his roles home with him. sometimes ryland will love the role so much, he just has to get tom back to his trailer. it depends on the role. i like to imagine tom plays tangerine in bullet train, and i just know ryland LOVES it, loves the clean suit, the trash stache, the british accent, loves the energy. pulls him aside more than a couple times just to fuck his british-sounding brains out. he likes to hear tom babble while he’s trying sooo hard to keep up with the accent
i’m sure i have more rattling around and i know a couple of these are also in my older starstruck headcanons post but its okay i have a good chunk of new stuff here too :3
