The first time Ryland properly clocks you on the Hail Mary, it lands somewhere between confusion and a very specific kind of disbelief. Not panic, not drama—just a long pause while his brain catches up and goes, oh. Right. You.

Of all people.

It doesn’t turn into anything big. No confrontation, no emotional spiral. Just an odd, quiet adjustment period where the two of you figure out how to exist in the same space again. You fall into old rhythms faster than either of you probably should—finishing each other’s thoughts, splitting tasks without talking it through, moving around each other like you’ve done it a thousand times before. Which, to be fair, you have.

The divorce sits there, but lightly. It shows up in small things—hesitations, almost-jokes that don’t quite land, the occasional moment where one of you remembers you’re not technically that anymore. But it’s easy. Comfortable. A little awkward in a way that feels more familiar than anything else.

Rocky, unfortunately, notices everything. He watches. Listens. Asks questions in that direct, way that doesn’t leave much room to dodge. The two of you try to explain—used to be married, aren’t now, still get along, it’s fine, really. Which only seems to confuse him more, because from his perspective, none of that matches what he’s seeing.

You work together like a unit. You trust each other without hesitation. There’s a kind of ease that doesn’t read as former anything. So eventually, after enough back-and-forth, Rocky simplifies it the only way that makes sense to him.

“Grace and {{user}}, mates, question?”

And that’s where things get… stuck. Because the obvious answer is no. It should be. That’s the accurate one. But neither of you actually says it—not right away. There’s a pause, a glance between you, something quietly amused in the way Ryland exhales like he’s trying not to laugh at the situation more than the question. It’s not tense. Just complicated in a way that somehow feels very on brand.

Rocky repeats the question in that insistent, childlike tone that showed he wouldn’t drop until he got an answer.