Not this again

Run by @whumplr-reader.

(Open to new RPs, mostly about Bryce's background, more whump than comfort. Bryce can be either whumpee or whumper, although I'd like to work out a few details, so please message me if interested.)

Bryce and Roman

Heavy on the comfort.

Starting with this post in July 2023, Bryce and Roman's story is a semi-planned RP by @whumplr-reader and @hi-charlie-here . Below are links to the long-form RP that started it all (still in progress). Listed with in-universe dates in parentheses. Please note, these links will behave oddly on the mobile app 😞. (Please let me know if I have made any mistakes).

See end for original posts to this blog.

July 2023 (July 18th 2023 - July 26th)

-> Following this RP prompt, we meet Bryce when he's surprised to find Roman in the basement of the person he's come to kill. He tells his companion Mal he's going to keep Roman, and takes Roman back with him. Roman overhears more than he wants to about Bryce's work.

August 2023 (July 26th - August 6th)

-> Roman attempts to escape, which does not go well. (We meet Sling, Lenny and Kyle.) Bryce is invited to dinner with Roman's former captor — along with Roman. Roman overhears another phone conversation, this time with Bryce's friend Jean. Dinner with Roman's former captor ends in blood.

September 2023 (August 6th - August 13th)

-> Following injuries suffered after being caught trying to escape, Roman gets a new method of transportation. Bryce is under the weather and suspects sabotage.

October 2023 (August 13th - August 18th)

-> Mal finds a new "trainer", Saša Petrov, to help get her project off the ground. He gifts her a new pet. Roman accompanies Bryce to warehouses to install security systems. Saša infiltrates a warehouse and meets Roman. Mal tells her new pet a little about Bryce's past.

November 2023 (August 18th - August 22nd)

-> Roman goes to the hospital to get a CT scan and has a panic attack when they try to give him contrast dye. Mal has Bryce and Saša over for dinner, and her new pet meets Roman. (Roman learns his name was James). Bryce tells Roman he can get him out after his surgery, which causes Roman to spiral.

December 2023 (August 22nd - August 24th)

-> Kyle shares his backstory with Roman. Roman and Bryce agree Roman will stay with Bryce. Mal and Saša move forward with their plans. Bryce and Roman run some errands and eat dinner in a park.

January 2024 (August 24th & August 25th)

-> Roman gets new clothing. A storm brings a power outage and more nightmares from Roman — and a muttered statement that bothers Bryce. They begin the multi-day drive to the hospital for Roman's surgery and make a video call together.

February 2024 (August 25th & August 26th)

-> Continuation of Roman & Bryce's phone call before going to sleep in a hotel room. Mal has a meeting with Mr. Rose, where her pet serves as a table, but fails his task halfway through. Before he can be punished, he is captured by two policemen.

March 2024 (August 26th)

-> The two policemen take Mal's pet to a safehouse, where they "question" him. In a hotel room, Bryce opens up to Roman.

April 2024 (August 26th - August 28th)

-> Bryce and Roman speak about Bryce's past. Mal retrieves her pet from the police. Roman gets surgery, despite another breakdown in the hospital.

May 2024 (August 28th - August 30th)

-> Surgery arc continues. After they leave the hospital, Roman and Bryce run into someone unexpected in a hotel parking lot. Still wary of drugs, Roman refuses painkillers.

June 2024 (August 30th - September 2nd)

-> Roman and Bryce go back to the house. Saša begins to train his newest captives (we meet Madison and Ethan, as well as see Sling's perspective on the operation.) Mal's pet finishes his punishment, and she takes him on a few errands. Bryce interacts with him as well. Kyle and Roman hang out.

July 2024 (Sept 2nd - Sept 6th)

-> Bryce's nightmares lead to a discussion with Roman. Bryce's surveillance on Saša's operations lead him to plan an overnight attack. Kyle arrives to spend the night while Bryce is gone.

August 2024 (Sept 6th - Sept 8th)

-> Roman and Bryce go to eat at Mr. Rose's house. Mal's pet takes Roman out on an errand — cops find the two of them and take Roman.

September 2024 (Sept 8th)

-> Bryce retrieves Roman from the police. Saša makes progress with Madison. Kyle stops by and treats Roman's injury. Roman sees Bryce change, leading to questions.

October 2024 (Sept 8th & Sept 9th)

-> Bryce and Roman discussion of Roman's position is cut short when Boss announces she is coming over to see both of them. She questions Roman, then makes Bryce an offer he can't refuse.

November 2024 (short) (Sept 9th)

-> Bryce and Roman discuss Boss's offer. Boss returns home, where she finds Mal's pet.

December 2024 (very little!) (Sept 9th)

-> Boss speaks with Mal's pet.

Original to this blog

From @eveningecho's tags...

#the laundry room is scary and ominous #it feels like there's something hiding in there even though there shouldn't be 😁😁

#the guest house is like the third main character :D its layout intrigues me enough i tried sketching it out. think i got some things wrong

It's changed a lot over time, and I think if I tried to make everything line up exactly with every written word that might be impossible

#I'd love an official map if yall have one

I have a very unofficial and very subject-to-change map we've kind of been working off of. Note the laundry room is even more ill defined than the rest of it. (I kinda think the holding cells/cages are up against the wall opposite the door. The breaker is probably opposite the washer, and the storage cabinets probably are too).

Bryce reminisces about his first days with Roman.

(This isn't really what I set out to write, but I don't hate it. Ambiguously canon for now. Proofread only once — please point out typos)

Roman is sleeping again, his breathing slow against Bryce's chest. He's sprawled more than usual on the sofa, but he's leaning against Bryce, his face pale even against Bryce's faded Dark Side of the Moon shirt. Bryce nudges the television volume down until it's just a hair over muted. He puts the remote down and tilts his head, watching Roman breath. He seems calm, in his sleep. Peaceful. Bryce is fairly certain he actually is, too, given how he usually reacts to bad dreams.

A stray lock of hair slips over Roman's face, and Bryce smooths it back without thinking. The action feels so natural.

When did … this … become his life?

It's been just over two months since he stumbled across Roman. But that wasn't when his life changed, not really. He had a plan, like he always does, a simple plan that would have gotten Roman out of danger, out of his life, just a few weeks after he pulled him from that basement.

It seemed achievable, at the time. Not easy, but simple. Straightforward. Something he could spend a few weeks working on, engaging on an intellectual level only, and then forget. Continue through his life unchanged.

And it stayed that way… For a day? Two days? Three?

The first night was easy, and Roman too exhausted to really make an impression. The next day… Well, he let everything overwhelm him when Roman begged him to stop splinting, but overall, he could have moved past that without pausing. The day after that…? That was when Roman heard his call with Corey, which he'd expected, and failed to hide it, which he hadn't. And then been exasperated when Bryce told him how to hide it, insisting he wasn't trying to lie.

He'd felt better about it then. Felt like he probably could send him off to a decent life armed with a bus ticket, a new identity and a few grand in cash. And, of course, threats ringing in his ears, what would happen if he ever came anywhere near here again, if Bryce or any of Boss's people ever saw him again.

The next day…?

No.

That night.

It was the last thing he'd been expecting, although he should have known better. Oh, he wasn't shocked at the screaming that woke Bryce. Wasn't surprised when he was able to wake him and calm him, somewhat. He remembers that he let himself imagine staying to comfort Roman, but also that he was shocked when Roman actually asked him to wait, clearly torn between between the idea of wrapping his arms around Bryce and the reality of who he knew Bryce to be.

And he remembers giving in to his own buried reactions, sweeping Roman into his arms and holding him while he sobbed. Going against every bit of discipline he's worked to drill into himself for years, decades, and responding to Roman's plea to go home.

Was that it? Was that the moment he was lost? That he became a feeling being again, after so long being numb?

He thinks maybe it was. But still… He was hurt when Roman didn't believe him, the next day in the garden, but he wasn't shattered. Could have moved past that, rationalized it away as an off day, kept his distance from Roman emotionally. Been soft, careful, but not vulnerable…

What's that saying? When you have a breakfast of bacon and eggs, the hen is invested, but the pig is committed.

He could have stayed invested only, from that point. He thinks. (Not that he'd planned on getting invested in the first place, of course. What's the cow, that made the milk you drink with breakfast? Not invested, surely. Just…involved. Contributing. That was what he expected going in, really.)

Roman's breathing stutters, his face twisting, and Bryce rubs his shoulder automatically. "I've got you," he murmurs, and Roman's face smooths out again. Bryce waits a breath, then two, focusing all his attention on the young man snuggled against him.

Oh yeah. He's been committed for a long time, now.

Well, two months. Less…

His thoughts circle back around to their first days together. Roman's clear distrust of him, after that disaster of a conversation about the future. That hurt, but, again, he's sure he would have gotten over it.

He tries hard not to lie to himself. He doesn't think he is, right now, but he's not sure.

That was the first day they'd spent on the sofa together, he remembers. Roman didn't want contact, and Bryce tried to honor that, but he wasn't able to rest without it, and when he woke up, he wasn't in a hurry to leave Bryce's side.

Bryce wasn't in a hurry to make him, to be fair.

Was he committed then?

No, he decides, he wasn't. He liked Roman, sure, but he had no second thoughts about sending him away. Not then. Not later that day, when Roman got up the courage to ask why Bryce kept him alive, and almost seemed to believe Bryce's truthful reply. Not later that day, when Roman thanked him for the bare minimum of supplies Bryce supplied him with. Bryce was happy, true, glad to help, but… Not more, he thinks. And, true, he was relived he could help Roman sleep, that night, and fierce when he told Roman not to be ashamed of needing help, but not… Nothing irreversible.

The next day…? They looked at cookbooks together, which was nice, surprisingly so, and… All right, maybe at that point he'd have felt a little bad sending Roman away. But he'd still have done it in an instant, if he could.

Well… A minute, anyway.

That night, though… Roman asked if he had nightmares, too. Pushed for an answer, gently, true, but… Roman was concerned about him, although he'd done little to deserve it. Been better than Avery, true, but a bar in hell isn't hard to clear. And Roman still didn't believe Bryce was going to send him away, not then.

That might have tipped him over. Not to committed, not like the pig, but…

He watches Roman sleep for a few minutes, just remembering. Not analyzing, not trying to understand his own emotions, just remembering.

The next few days were rough. Mal's visit and Roman's reactions to it. He tried to pretend it didn't change anything, but he wasn't good at lying, not about that.

He is good at lying, though. He listened to Boss discuss his future without even a hitch in his breathing as he pretended the earbuds drowned out her speaking.

So why wasn't he…

Bryce shakes his head. That's not what he's trying to figure out, not right now. Not that there's a good reason for his current thoughts, but now that he's started them down a path, he wants to see where it leads. Needs to see where it leads, needs to reassure himself, somehow, both that his current life is real and that he wasn't lost to it within a week.

A week…

No, it wasn't the first week. If Roman had left after that, it wouldn't have been a blip, his feelings would have lasted longer than that, but it would have been fine.

Two weeks…? That was the dinner with Avery. Two weeks after they met, exactly. Several days after Roman's catastrophic escape attempt, and therefore several days after Bryce buried himself in work and found Avery.

It couldn't have been the dinner, though. That was a Thursday, when he had online plans with Jean, and he called the previous day to cancel. Jean already knew, at that point, just from Bryce's guarded words and questions about Roman's health. Your new kid brother, he'd said then, and he'd been right.

Was he committed, though?

He might have been, he decides. He could have kept living after sending Roman off, never to be seen again, then. It would have felt like sawing off an arm or leg: life-changing, not life-threatening. His life as he knew it could have continued, somewhat.

Not now, though. It would feel like cutting out his heart, now.

And he'd still do it, if Roman asked.

Fuck, how lucky is he that Roman hasn't asked? Isn't likely to ask.

Bryce kisses the top of Roman's head, just off from the part in his hair, and leans back against the sofa. He grabs the remote and switches to a movie, turning on the subtitles as he does.