𝒔𝒘𝒊𝒎.

— part i.

from the very beginning of his life, romeo ryu has struggled with trying to figure out where his place in the world is. he doesn’t remember much of his earliest years, time spent in a home with parents he can only remember in far away, hazy dreams. 

his parents were young, and in lust. he was never planned, or, in the end, wanted & ended up in the foster care system by the time he was two. for most of his life he bounced around from foster home to foster home, some good and some terrible, but none of them great. he held on to and undying hope that one day he’d stumble upon the family that wanted him, the parents that loved him and the childhood he dreamed of. but year in and year out it never came, and that hope began to burn out around his 13th birthday. 

stuck in the system, he had to grow a thick skin. there was no one at his back or there to defend him, and most of his foster families only cared about the monthly check they received in return for letting him sleep under their roofs. and in the end, that’s all it really was. a place to sleep and a couple free meals. aside from that he was on his own. 

college was never an option – there was no way in hell he could afford it, and by the time he was 16, he was sick of sleeping under strangers’ roofs. he dropped out of high school in order to pick up a handful of odd jobs and by the time he aged out of the system he’d saved up enough money to leave jersey and shove the little bit of shit he owned into a one bedroom apartment in the bronx with two other guys he’d found on craigslist. it was never ideal, but it was the only place he’d ever felt he could call his own. 

from bussing in shabby live music bars to over night shifts at the bodega and early morning opening hours at the public library, romeo kept himself busy. but no matter how many hours he worked or how tired he got, it didn’t keep him from falling into the wrong crowd. it started out as just a bit of fun, just a way to get out of his own head in the few hours of free time he managed to carve out in a week, the alcohol and the drugs were just a way to pass the time, a way to make his shitty, boring life a little less shitty. 

but then it got worse. then instead of saving money he was spending it all on whatever he could afford. instead of looking to move out he was struggling to keep up with rent. his days between 19 and 20 passed in a blur, until he was hit with a reality check one night in a friend’s basement unit, so high he still doesn’t really remember what happened. but he remembers the shaking body on the floor and the cold fear in his belly and the hand on his arm pulling him away and telling him they have to go. they don’t tell anyone, and they don’t talk about. still, romeo doesn’t know who found the body or how long it took for it all to be over. 

it’s not enough of a reality check to pull him out of the dark though, and his head really only surfaces enough to get his act together long enough to get the fuck out of his shoebox apartment and away from his annoying ass roommates. he packs up, fits all his things in a backpack and duffle bag and leaves the rest, and gets on a plane across the country. 

— part ii.

he wasn’t expecting much from LA, just a change of pace and better weather mostly, but he manages to strike gold when a stranger approaches him while he’s bartending and asks him if he’s a model. romeo tells him no and then the guys asks him if he’s an actor. and when romeo says no to that he asks what the hell he’s doing in LA, and if he wants to give any of it a try. romeo isn’t exactly keen, but he asks the guy how much he’s paying, and that’s the only convincing he needs. 

acting comes easy. it’s natural to him, finally letting out all those emotions he’s been choking on for years. and his face doesn’t hurt either. he shoots his first indie film when he’s 21, and walks his first red carpet ten months later. to say he catapulted into fame would be an understatement. he blinked and he had management agencies practically kicking his door down, had gained hundreds of thousands of followers in mere weeks, and was signed onto his first major hollywood film before he’d even bought a couch for his apartment. 

it was like whiplash, the way he tossed into the grasp of hollywood. but fuck, was it fun. and confusing, suddenly having fans and people that loved him and supported him. he had the face and the talent, but he didn’t have a celebrity personality. he stayed away from interviews and side projects and award shows (as much as he could at least), but he found it hard to stay away from the after parties and the one night stands and drugs. god, the drugs were good. 

fast forward to 22 and he’s made his first handful of friends, and has officially been associated with the met cartel. which brings us to today, or a few months ago. when he was fired off the set of his most recent film and his largest project to date for drug related issues. it’s his first huge scandal, and his second wake up call. this time though, he’s got a management team to clean it up & they shove him into rehab in an attempt to clean up both his image and his act. 

as of today, he is 0 days clean, but that’s no ones business but his own. he was released from his rehab program three weeks ago, and has since been trying to get find his footing again to no avail. he doesn’t really know what else there is for him to do outside of partying and sleeping with anything that has a pulse, especially now that he isn’t working 70 hours a week. but he’s figuring it out. kind of. not really. but again, that’s no one’s business but his own. 

— part iii.

personality wise, he’s a bit of an asshole. but it’s all just surface, typical defensive behavior. he doesn’t know how to be close to people or how have real feelings in a place that isn’t a movie set. which is why the drugs are his choice of hobby. he doesn’t know he’s supposed to be when he’s sober or how he’s supposed to move throughout the world. 

but beneath all that, if you manage to get past the exterior, romeo is a sensitive being. real Sad Boy hours. he takes a lot of things to heart (though he’ll never admit it) and he’s terrified of being alone or abandoned, which gets complicated. he likes to spend most of his time with people to avoid being lonely, but he doesn’t like to get very close to them in order to avoid being abandoned. so, that causes issues. 

outside of acting he’s into music and art. he spent a lot of time working in live music bars and went through a big emo phase when was a teen so he’s really into rock / screamo / punk / etc. and working in a library he read a lot and has an interest in history, particularly art history, and poetry. very artsy, very into the idea of artistic expression as a therapeutic practice mostly bc that’s what acting is for him. it’s the only way he can allow himself to feel entirely and unapologetically, which is why he’s so damn good at it.