romanxdrake

[romanxdrake]

@romanxdrake asked: 💛

[romanxdrake]

There was a growing confusion at the simple fact he was alive; He wasn't supposed to be alive--his fate had been sealed before he'd passed out in Charlie's arms. Roman could do nothing against the growing panic that came from this realization, and he attempted to assess his own state to understand how it was possible that he was here, alive, looking at the love of his life.

He felt his forearm, thick gauze padding the area where flesh && nerves && muscle had been torn away with Abby's teeth. How? Why? Out of all the people who deserved a second chance in the world did some higher power truly believe Roman was one of them?

He held Charlie's hand tight upon her return and tried to make sense of things. "I didn't turn?" His eyes were wet with bewilderment, chest tight with a gnawing sense of fear that any moment now the universe would realize it's mistake and come to correct it. His grip grew tighter on her in panic. "Are you okay? The baby?"

Wait. Was that-?

A twitch?

Breath caught painfully in a ball in her chest as she stared down at him, Charlie wasn't sure if she'd seen his eyelids move or not but-

No! There it was again!

A hand lifting to her mouth, the other reached down to take his hand, squeezing it as she willed him to wake, to come back to her. It was the sound of her name that finally released the breath she hadn't even been aware of holding, ripping a sob from the depths of her chest with such force that it could have been what started her movement forward. "Yes. Yes I'm here." Lips peppering his forehead and brushing the hair from his face, she smiled down at him even as she realized that her tears were dropping on him from her chin, which she wiped away with her chin.

"I'm here... I promise." Letting go of him, but refusing to remove her gaze until she could hold it no more. Rushing into Mamode's Room she motioned the nurse to come quickly, leading him back to their room and to Roman. "He's awake." She knew the man could read lips, they'd established it before and had actually spent a decent amount of time chatting together.

Finding Roman's hand the moment they returned, she was on her knees by the bed, gripping him with both hands and lips to his knuckles. Praying to a God she'd never believed in to let him be alright.

[romanxdrake]

@ruthellry

[romanxdrake]

it wasn't that ruth was a little less put together tonight, but the liquid courage being served throughout the party was lending her an air of ease. in a rare sight: doctor ellry had let her hair down.

his features softened as he looked at her with admiration. "someone's gotten really good at knowing where all the pieces go."

he wanted to ask how she was holding up. if she needed to talk about what she saw those months she'd spent outside of the wexley, assumed dead by the rest of them. that had to be a horror all on its own and few within these walls would understand.

but that just felt too personal. so he gave her another smile and informed, "i'm really glad you made it back ruth."

there's a slight furrow to her brow, a tilt of the head that's given way to the fact that she's thinking about the sentence a little harder than she should, but when the shoe fits. "right..." she trails off, has she really been so out of practice within a few months without civilization.

his next statement is more obviously a joke, padded with the kind of story she has heard from her time in the er more than once. she almost laughs, searching for her own humor to pair with the story. but he catches her off guard, continuing to describe her work. she held his gaze for a long unblinking moment, though she could feel her cheeks growing hot. finally, she quirked a smile "i should write that down."

maybe the next time she had to stitch him back together she could say it, though he'd never been anything but a good sport. "thank you." she said finally, as though it were the natural conclusion to such honesty. what else could she say, except the one thing tequlia's able to add. "you always fit together just fine."

[romanxdrake]

His hand came to rest on her shoulder, needing her to be closer, needing them to feel like a unit rather than two individuals. Roman had thought he'd understood the role her brothers had played in raising Charlie but the recent shitshow between them all had caused him to reconsider. She really did see Jerimiah as a parent, a dad, and that realization had made things easier to swallow for Roman.

How could he fault her for being who she was? For loving Jeremiah and Jp more than she loved herself? He didn't agree with it, but at least now he felt he understood.

Roman's hand slipped from Charlie's shoulder at her suggestion and looped around her waist. He playfully tugged her towards him so they could be face to face, noses touching. "Baby let's not screw our kid over before they're even out of the womb."

He nipped her lips with his in a light kiss before pulling back with a lazy smile. "Besides, what if it's a girl? Charlotte Bird Jr?"

Nose scrunching up at the offered names, she gave a little shake of her head, unable to help her giddy laughter. It suddenly felt like she'd had a drink or two, like happiness in this time had to be artificial. This wasn't though, it was the most authentic happiness she'd ever felt in her entire life. Despite it all.

His question didn't dampen her mood, though her smile faded a little as her expression shifted with confusion, never really having thought about it before. "I-... I don't actually know. I never knew them, so... I guess I never really thought about it. To be honest... I guess I always had it in my head that Jeremiah named me, but-... that wouldn't really actually make sense now that I say it out loud."

Giving in to a little giggle, she pursed her lips a bit before looking up so she could watch his expression at her own suggestion. "What if I wanted to name it after him?" Unable to help herself, lips pursing as she did her best to bite back a grin that twitched at the corner of her mouth as she spoke again. "Roman Jeremiah Jr." Nope, there was no containing her laughter after that, though, and she had to wave it off a little. "No, no... but seriously. I would really like that... even if it's a middle name."

[romanxdrake]

the past few days had felt like being underwater. there were a handful of moments where roman had been so close to the surface his fingers could ghost across it. but most of the time he'd felt lost in the murky depths; like he'd sunken so far down there was nothing left but darkness.

the sensation of his eyelid twitching brought back a sense of awareness of roman's body. it felt as if he was coming back to himself after drifting away, being formless, lost in that dark water. roman fought against the heaviness in his mind and felt his hand twitch against something much softer than the cold flood he'd remembered passing out on.

"charlie..." his voice was hoarse and speaking stung but he repeated her name as he blinked in search of her. "charlie?" it was somehow both too bright and too dark and roman reached out towards an approaching shape that he hoped was her.

Who: @romanxdrake Where: Roman & Charlie's room, The Penthouse When: April 13th, Early evening.

Sat at the little desk by the doors to the balcony, Charlie was less eating her dinner rations than pushing them around the tray, despite just how delicious they were. James, it turned out, was an exceptional cook, but his food just turned to ash in her mouth. It tasted like betrayal.

Book open beside her as she did her best to decipher what it was she was reading in one of Toby's old medical texts about comas, but a lot of it went way over her head and her written down list of terms to look up was growing by the minute. Though nausea had finally started to creep in, it was the barely there growth of her stomach that truly had made it all so real.

Looking over her shoulder at Roman, looking far less dead and much more just asleep, Charlie gave a little sigh to herself and got up to make her way over to him. Brushing some of the hair off his forehead and a thumb over the growing scruffiness on his face, she started to mentally prepare for her rolling over of him and the gentle moving of his limbs to keep atrophy from even having any semblance of a chance to set in.

[romanxdrake]

@pxtitxrosx

[romanxdrake]

roman did his best to wait patiently, teeth gnashing against each other in quiet frustration as jeremiah's verbal assault continued. there was no point in opening his mouth until the other man had gotten his carefully rehearsed quips out of the way. his head bobbed in understanding of miah's judgements but roman was straddling the line of not giving a fuck.

what was he thinking when he had sex with charlie? he was thinking that he loved her. he wasn't worried about safe sex because he thought they were being safe; he was clean and she was a virgin. and.. he wasn't supposed to be able to have more kids. "i can show you my vasectomy scars if that clears anything up." science fucked that one up. not him.

"why didn't i come to you?" you're a fucking gangster, for starters. "it's not my thing to come to you about. it's hers." charlie was an adult and roman wasn't going to infantilize her like her brothers seemed intent on doing. "she found out like a week ago. she hasn't even fucking process what being pregnant means right now--she wasn't ready to tell you about it."

“don’t think there’s a whole lot of assumptions i needed to walk in here with unless by chance you didn’t impregnate my sister at the end of the world and she’s lying to me?” he’d waited until june was gone to make any advance on the man, of course. jeremiah wasn’t there to beat the shit out of the other man, hell he wasn’t even there to fight. though he’d thought of several things he could do to roman to make himself feel a little better but it would only prove to make his life worse when charlie found out and by fucking satan, he was tired. “you’re a fuckin’ idiot, i should beat the ever living piss out you just for not wrapping your nasty dick up before putting it in someone.” he was still avoiding the thought that it wasn’t just anyone, if it was some random he wouldn’t be there right now would he? no it was charlie. his sister who he more or less raised.

“first off, why didn’t you come to me about it like an adult?” roman was supposedly ranked higher on the responsible, good guy scale in their dying society’s eyes. yet he couldn’t come talk to him anytime over the last several days since the boat? fucking ridiculous. "i want to know what your intentions are? how are you going to make this right?"

[romanxdrake]

A small chuckle was pulled from him at Ashton's sudden tirade against all things socialization. Apparently he'd hit the head on the nail with his comment. "You strike me as the in-bed-by-nine type." Roman smirked.

His face made it clear Roman found the mental picture of the six-feet-plus slab of prime Irish lamb Lindsay O'Halloran choking on a Barbie shoe fucking priceless. "Dammit, I can't believe I missed that." Maybe June had caught it and she could give him a play by play recreation--that would be even better. "Monday he caught me with a glitter beard and I still haven't lived that down." He needed some ammo to hold over the other father's head.

"String would be the way to those little girls' hearts. Do you know how many times I day I hear them wishing they could make friendship bracelets?" Roman had been this close to pulling out his shoestrings and offering them that.

"Of course, always," there weren't too many conversations between the two men over the years, much less with either of their walls down, so Ash took a second being caught off guard, "won't stop until you make her sometimes." He chuckled at the irony of her own complaint of Ashton that mirrored his of her.

Finally someone that agreed with him, Ashton's eyes lit up with an animated gesture towards Roman, "see? You get it, a lot don't." It was still early into the night but he could foresee some people already trying to pull him in, though he appreciated their best of intentions. His head just hurts from the noise and lights from all this. "It's just kinda... a lot. Was never a party person, Ruth's always the one to convince me into these."

He noticed the concern on Roman's face on the jellybean joke and Ash waved it off to allay his worries, still can't help the chuckle that arose, "Lindsay accidentally ate a barbie shoe from the jelly beans. I'm pretty sure he's double checked the bowl since though." The smile was noticeable on Ashton's face hearing the pure innocence of the kids finding companionship with each other, making do with whatever they could, "oh yeah, the biggest deal of deals in friendships. I remember being a kid like that once." He raised an eyebrow for the new intel of the girls learning to negotiate with Hannah, "super secret, huh? Must be important. I can take a look at whether we come across paints when we can scout again, if they ever run out."

[romanxdrake]

"Souds like her." A soft smile creased his lips at the other man's praise of his ex-wife. This November, June's 7th birthday, had marked the year he and Hannah had officially been divorced longer than they had ever been together. That night had been long and hard for many reasons, the biggest the fact that his daughter was without him somewhere in this dead world on a day that should've been a celebration of life. June was a miracle--the only agreement on Faith that Roman and Hannah had ever come to.

Roman could read between the lines well enough and he appreciated Oscar bringing this up, even if Roman's permission was the last thing Hannah needed to peruse a relationship--serious or otherwise.

He couldn't help the dry laugh that came from him. "She pretty much thinks of me as a sick dog these days." There was no animosity in his words. "We co-parent. Sort of," Coparenting felt.. generous. For Roman's current involvement. "Let's just say that when June's with me, Hannah puts June in charge."

He caught the candy and held it up momentarily in silent thanks, toying with it a bit as Roman thanked him. "It's more Hannah who saved me," he corrected. "To be honest, I don't remember much after getting shot. It comes in bits and pieces," he told him of his memory of the fight. Sadly Oscar was familiar with selective amnesia, so he wasn't concerned over the lost time. "But from what I've been told I owe her big time," he admitted further with a soft, knowing chuckle as he finally opened the candy and ate it. Oh my God. It tasted fucking heavenly.

"Are you guys still close?" he asked, curious, reaching for a second piece of taffy.

[romanxdrake]

Despite the slight salt of her tear charlie's lips were the sweetest thing he could imagine right then. "Yeah?" There was excitement in his tone, wonder at the new potential in their future. Roman had had this conversation before in this life when Hannah was pregnant with June, but that felt like lifetimes ago. He was practically a different man.

"What about Travis? Or Max?" Charlie didn't need to know the names were pulled from Taxi Driver and Mad Max respectively.

After his half serious suggestions a thought crossed his mind that Roman was unsure if he should ask. He knew enough about Charlie to know that she didn't have many kind things to say about her parents. Despite this... he wanted to ask. He wanted to know the answer even if it turned out to be an ugly one because he would understand her just a little bit better.

"How did your mom name you and your brothers?"

Eyes locked on his face, trusting the guidance on his hands, Charlie gave him an appraising sort of look, a single brow raised up a little before furrowing together. The more he spoke the more her curiosity grew, and as his back pressed to the door she lifted onto her toes to try and see over his shoulder but dropped back to her heels as they stepped into the room.

Finally ripping her gaze from the strange sort of wistful seriousness that he wore, Charlie turned to drink in the space, landing on the crib along the wall with a strangled little noise of surprise. "Roman... I-...." Lifting one of her hands to brushed the tips of her fingers over speechless lips, she let her grip slide from his so she could approach it.

Letting out a small, watery kind of giggle she let her touch confirm the reality of the crib, lips pursing together in an attempt to reign in hormonal emotions that wanted to have her a sobbing mess right now. Instead, she turned to look at him with another little laugh, flinging her arms around him with a grateful kiss pressed tear dampened against his lips.

"I want to pick out names."

[romanxdrake]

If your character was a Pokémon, which one would it be, and why?

2 hands to kick ur ass and 2 hands to hold my girl

[romanxdrake]

Roman dropped his hands against the table in open surrender, his expression dropping from smug to sincere. "I plan on doing whatever your sister asks me to." He knew how little weight his words carried right now. Besides, Roman wasn't the kind of man who went blue in the face trying to profess his love. He reserved the entirety of his feelings for the person they were about, it was something private, intimate. It felt like sharing something so personal with the world would only dimmish its' value. Charlie's love for him and his for her were theirs & theirs alone.

"We haven't really made it that far." Roman didn't need to look at Jp to know how little this answer would satisfy him. His eyes lifted and Roman looked beyond Jp to ensure his sister was not close enough to overhear them. There were a lot of things Roman had managed to adapt to since losing his hearing, but volume control wasn't really one of them. He was always either shouting or whispering. "I got a crib and I got a ring."

He lowered his gaze and turned to look over the diner, ignoring Jp's eyes as he spoke. "I know she wants to keep the baby. So I gave her the crib." Charlie hadn't said as much with words, but Roman had been watching her reactions this week close enough to know she'd made a decision. "If she decides to keep me, then I'll give her the ring."

He kept it Simple. He didn't see a point in telling Jp about the moment he fell in love with his sister ( how it began to build over their late nights alone in the diner, how each time he spoke with her over a cold cup of coffee another piece of his heart succumbed to hers until all this time later roman finally realized she owned it entirely ) or how he sent her post cards from across the us to remind her that no matter where he was she was on his mind ( how each once had a haiku he'd written about nonsense and life and sometimes terrible metaphors for his feelings for her ) .

That's the kind of man Roman was-- Simple. And somehow that only served to further complicate his life.

A short, unamused, huff of a laugh fell easily from him. Cute. He couldn't tell if Roman knew about his futile attempts at slumber or not, but if he did, he had balls to take the dig at him. "The apartment is a lot quieter now, so I slept great," John-Paul lied.

God he wanted to hit him.

He had to force himself to take a calming breath and bite back at his rising need to lash out at the man. To punish him for taking his little sister for granted. For neglecting and abusing his privilege of her love. Charlie deserved nothing but goodness. Protection. Love. Kindness. She deserved someone who really saw her, despite her faults. She deserved Mal and Mal alone, but John-Paul knew Roman came as a package deal with his sister. So he was trying to learn how to accept that. But he was making it incredibly hard to do so just by being....himself.

"I'm pretty sure we both know why I'm here and it's not your worry over my sleeping habits," he told him bluntly. "So, what are you planning on doing? Anymore late night escapes coming up I should know about,?he added, the anger over how he left Charlie once already, clear.

[romanxdrake]

The weeks since the beach incident had given Roman enough time to come down from the strangled high the action and subsequent drama had left him with. Drama, that Roman was very clear on, was more or less entirely of his own doing.

Maybe seeing Charlie with Mal at Wexley's party should have been the final nail in their coffin but the gesture had inadvertently sent their relationship on a path towards acceptance. Acceptance of their limits, their needs, their responsibilities. Somewhere between the recent conversation Roman had with Malone and with the way the caretaker's eyes fell so softly on Charlie he'd come to realize that he was more than willing to accept sharing this commitment with someone else that made her happy.

Roman felt more secure in his desire to be with Charlie. He could feel the ever-present self-fulfilling prophecy of failure receding from over him. Maybe the only thing stopping him from being the man Charlie thought he could be was his own fucking fear.

They still hadn't actually spoken about what their future looked like, but Roman knew Charlie was getting used to the very new and very strange idea that the three of them had stumbled into.

Roman had seen Charlie off to work and found himself an empty seat to wait for Birdie and June to come downstairs. He was more relieved than surprised to see Jp taking a seat across from him. The anticipation had started to get under his skin and waiting for Jp to get his shit together so they could talk ( before jp got carried away and decided to sneak attack him in the dark with a knife or something ) was making him paranoid.

"It was great." He tried to go for a neutral, yet friendly expression. "You sleep okay? Get your eight hours?" Now he just sounded like an asshole.

Who: @romanxdrake

When: April 7th

Where: Rosie's diner

The blow up between the Rose family - blood or otherwise - had been worse than he could have ever expected. He hadn't talked to either Charlie or Jeremiah since. Mal either. And the only reason he and Ash had words was because of the serendipitous meeting they'd had the next morning. Otherwise they too would not have spoken. John-Paul was still fucked up over his only friends, Sada included, keeping something so monumental from him, but he wasn't keepng his silence out of malice. He could, and would, enventually forgive them all, but he couldn't get past the feeling that they would all be better off without him.

His meds were damn near out which meant he was going to be harder and harder to control. His sleep was minimal, insomnia taking over each night and the lack of sleep caused his stomach to turn at the mere mention of food. He couldn't quiet his mind long enough to even try and forget the last six months of Hell he'd been through. He was doing his best, but he was falling apart. And his uncontrolled disorders weren't exactly ideal for a newborn to be around - no matter how badly he wanted to be the best uncle he could for Charlie's kid. Hell, he would have loved to have been one to Jeremiah's kid if he'd ever had one. But he knew things would only end badlt for him. Like always. He figured removing himself from the equation was the least he could do. But that didn't mean he didn't still care about their well being. Especially Charlotte's.

Lately his appearances in the diner had become more and more infrequent, but when he'd caught sight of Roman heading inside he followed. His eyes darted to his sister behin the counter and his heart broke even more. He felt like such an asshole for avoiding both her and Jer, but what had to be done had to be done. He averted his gaze before she caught sight of him and headed over to where Roman sat, taking the space across from him. He folded his hands in front of him on the table, nearly white knuckling his grip as he fought the urge to punch him right then and there - blaming him just as much as himself for the fall of the Rose family

"Get a good breakfast in?" he asked, truly uncaring whether or not Roman had acutally been fed or not.

[romanxdrake]

He figured the fact that he was in no worse shape than he'd been before speaking with Jeremiah was better assurance than anything he could tell her about their meeting.

Roman wanted to see her expression. He circled around her so that his back was against the closed door, inching it open behind him. "I know it's early..." I know it's better not to get our hopes up. Because there were so many things that could go wrong at any stage of this that the odds of having a healthy baby in their arms nine months from now felt like a fucking fantasy. "..And we still haven't talked about what to do." He chose his words very carefully in an attempt to make it clear that he would respect her decision either way but he wasn't going to let her go through this alone regardless.

He'd hit the city to find a morning after pill right now if that's what she asked.

His voice was low as he stepped into the room and allowed Charlie to follow. "I just need you to know that I'm serious about this." His eyes stayed locked on her face, breathing all but stopped as he awaited her reaction to the crib.

The way he called her Baby never failed to make butterflies take off in her stomach, though it was his reassurances that really brought a small smile to her face and a nod of her head as she stared down at their joined hands, though she looked back up at him in surprise. "You have?" Considering it was Jer, she was less surprised that he'd gotten away unscathed than she would be if it had been JP.

Giving a little sigh of relief and another small nod that she believed he could handle himself, his gentle tugging and tease of something brought her gaze back up to his face. "Show me something?" Brows furrowing in playful suspicion, Charlie let him lead her through their his apartment and toward it's spare room.

"Roman Drake.... what did you do?"

[romanxdrake]

#same

daredevil | 3.01: resurrection

[romanxdrake]