[Samuel x Roman]

Rabbit

Misguided Ghost
Original poster
FOLKLORE MEMBER
Posting Speed
  1. 1-3 posts per day
  2. One post per day
  3. Multiple posts per week
  4. One post per week
Writing Levels
  1. Intermediate
  2. Adept
Preferred Character Gender
  1. Male
  2. Female
  3. Nonbinary
  4. Transgender
  5. Agender
  6. Primarily Prefer Male
Genres
romance, modern, drama, modern fantasy, horror
Samuel x Roman

Current date

January 2041
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Current events


- Character introductory moment. Soccer practice? [January]
- Roman having like a fifth existential crisis and also Letha starts high school. [Febuary]
- Harper complaining to Emmie. [February]
- Peeps fangirl about Harper to Letha [March]
- Harper and Dude has an argument [March]
- Harper and Dude hook up at partayh [April]
- Stella comes out she gay [May]
- Secret rendezvous things, + conversation [May]
- Sweet date [June]
- Harpers birthday [July]
- Eden awkwardly interacts with a human being [august]
- Public coming it [August]
- Eden and Marisol talking [September]
- Letha gets her period [September]
- Eden explodes [October]
- Eden tells the daddos [October]
- Eden talks to Matthew [Octobr]
- Eden Harper talks [November]
- Samuel and Roman reflects over producing so many queer kids [December]

Future events



Important dates

Birthdays:
Harper: July 31 2025
The twins: February 15 2027
Letha: November 4 2028
Allison: December 24 2017
Ruby: December 2028
Jojo+Will: August 2029?
Luka: May 2031
Dakota: most likely late 2031 or early 2032
Samuel: June 1 1999
Roman + London: September 2 1999
Evan: April 4 1999
Elliot: October 1999
Bella: Probably May 1999
Blake: march 1999
Other dates:
Romuel got together: March 2017
Moving to Melbs: January 2018
Romuel wedding: March 2024?
[not finished lmao]




S a m u e l

This really isn't fair, was the one thought running through Samuels mind as he angrily stomped his way through the hallways, not at all. It was afternoon, around the time when most classes ended and after school activities began, which meant he was supposed to be on his way to the locker room with the rest of the team and not in the opposite direction.

They had all been laughing and talking throughout class, him, Ricky and Evan, and seeing as school had barely even properly started for the year yet it shouldn't have been that huge of a problem. But apparently laughing extra loud while some shy girl got an answer wrong earned you a detention anyways. Or maybe it was talking back to the teacher when he was asked to apologize.

Either way, Samuel hadn't even been laughing at her, he had been laughing at Evans stupid comment about the subject, which had been way dumber than the girls' answer. And now he was being punished. Not Ricky, not Evan, they would both be out on the field feeling they rays of sun on their skin while he would be indoors doing god knows what with the drama kids.

Not only was it unfair, but it was a weird punishment, couldn't he just get regular detention where he could be somewhat productive and do homework instead of having to endure an hour of helping out the drama club? He probably should have known better than to talk back to the teacher, who was known for coming up with other ways to give kids detention, though. But it was easier to be mad at others than himself.

Samuel continued passing the other students who were happily chatting by their lockers and making their way out of the building to get home until he stood in front of, what he was pretty sure was, the room the drama kids resided when they weren't in the auditorium preparing for a play. It was also the room his teacher had told him to got to. He knocked carefully on the door rather than just barging in, hoping that maybe nobody would hear him or even be there to open so he could use that as an excuse to go to soccer practice instead.
 
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r o m a n
Two weeks into the term and they were already preparing sets for a play. Roman was ecstatic, both because he had gotten the lead role, and because this was his last year of high school, or, as he liked to call it, hell. And he was singing, like always -- a twenty one pilots song called Message Man, not that the song had anything to do with the situation. Rather, Singing Roman meant a Happy Roman, and Happy Roman was much better than Bitchy Roman.

Though he was always a bit of a bitch.

Someone knocked on the door and Bella, a fellow Year 12 with bright pink hair that was very much against the school rules, got up to let the person in. In entered a Hispanic guy Roman didn't know the name of -- despite having gone to school with the male for thirteen years. All Roman knew was that he was on the soccer team.

"Can we help you?" Bella inquired. She was much more pleasant to be around than Roman, who was currently twisted in a pretzel-like sitting position -- one leg under him, the other propped up like he was kneeling as he bent over the set he was painting, holding himself up with an elbow -- and smirking at the jock with a raised eyebrow.

"This is the guy who got detention so he has to help us paint, Bell," Roman reminded her. He set his paintbrush down, rose to his staggering full height of six-foot-seven, and stretched his arms, causing his joints to crack in a satisfying manner. "Which is a tad insulting. Helping us should be a reward for good behaviour."

The other drama kids chuckled and Roman gestured to the set he had been painting -- which was really quite beautiful, a landscape of a dry field so well done it looked like a photo. "Right, you're not touching mine -- take this one." He nodded to a green field he had already painted the day before. "Just add some splotches of pink and yellow and try and make them look like flowers."
 
The door opened and the first thing that hit Samuel was the colour pink, and since it was not at all what he had expected it took him a moment to realize that it was, in fact, a person who had opened the door. He was just about to answer the girl when another voice was heard and Samuel turned his head to see who it was.

He had seen this guy around, in classes and in hallways, it was not only his height that made him stand out enough to remember but also his constant defiance of the dress code and his kind of loud demeanor. It was probably impossible to forget he was in the drama club, yet somehow Samuel hadn't cared enough to remember. Until now. He had to as his voice grabbed the attention of the entire room.

When the guy, he really couldn't think of his name, joked and the rest of the group laughed Samuel shifted uncomfortably on his feet, truly feeling as out of place there as he was. It was clear that he would be more in the way than help by the sound of it and part of him really just wanted to ask if they would be cool with him leaving and them just telling their teacher he had been there. That was probably something that would end him up with more detention in the end though and he decided to be quiet as he got instructed.

When the guy seemed to have told him all he needed to know, which apparently wasn't much, Samuel just stood in place for a moment, accepting his fate before finally muttering "Yeah, sure, whatever" and walked into the room, grabbing a clean paintbrush on his way to where he had been instructed. He sat down far away enough from anyone so that he hopefully wouldn't need to interact too much with them but close enough to be able to reach the paints.

Actually properly looking at the painting in front of him made him sure he really wouldn't be of help, it was good, really good, Samuel wasn't. What he was, however, was sure that he would ruin it, but if it was what he had been told to do he wouldn't object and just get it done and over with.
 
r o m a n
Roman watched as the soccer player moved to the green field and sat down, chewing on the end of his paintbrush as he observed the male. He was about ninety percent sure he was hiding something, whether it was Roman's naturally suspicious nature or something else, his bi-fi was pinging. Licking his lips and turning back to the dry field, he squatted down and added a darker shade of yellow-brown to shade the dry blades.

"What if he fucks up your painting, Row?" The condescending tone came from Elliot Darter, who lacked any artistic ability and was sewing some costumes for the play instead. Elliot had a soft face and dark brown hair, and he was seated beside their lesbian friend Blake, who was very androgynous in her appearance.

"He couldn't fuck it up more than you could, Elliot." Bella and Blake snickered. The four drama nerds and the jock were the only students in the room, since the rest of the drama class couldn't be bothered staying back to work on the sets. Fucking losers.

"I'll show him what to do if it's so much of a concern to you." Roman sat down beside the jock and put his hand over the other boy's, wrapped around the paintbrush. "Dabbing motions," he murmured, guiding Samuel's hand and showing him the correct technique. "Try and make them look blurry. Put a couple of centimetres between them so they don't look clumped."
 
Samuel could feel irritation start growing as the people in the room talked about him as if he wasn't there, making him feel even more like he should be somewhere else. He didn't look up as they talked, though, opting to ignore them and pretend that he didn't care as much as he apparently did.

He did turn his head when the guy, presumably nicknamed Row, unless that was his full name which Samuel doubted, sat down next to him, something he didn't appreciate. He didn't appreciate him wrapping his hand around his to show him what to do either. But for whatever reason he couldn't even explain to himself he let it happen and watched as the brush strokes, or dabs rather, suddenly turned out better. Once reality hit again and Samuel realized what this guy was actually doing he quickly, but carefully as to not actually mess up the painting, twisted his hand out of the other's grip.

"Okay I get it," he said with a glare, the built up irritation seeping through his words, and tried to lean away without it being too noticeable. Had the rest of the guys been there he would have probably thrown out an insult as well, but seeing as he was the odd one out here, surrounded by the drama kids in their own territory, he kept his mouth shut and tried to continue to paint as if nothing had happened.

He tried his best to do what he had been shown, he wasn't a douche bag who would actively ruin something that had had effort put into it out of spite, even though he was tempted. It looked better than before, but worse now that it was only his hand holding the brush.
 
r o m a n
Roman smirked. The kid's reaction pretty much confirmed his suspicions -- actually straight guys never shied away like that. Also, actually straight guys weren't so defensive about their sexualities. In fact, most actually straight guys were chill with gay people as they weren't insecure about themselves.

"You're pressing down too much," Roman told him, before standing up and leaving the boy to his own devices. This painting would be in the very back of the stage, anyway, no one would really notice the detailing of the flowers unless they were standing right in front of it.

Roman set the dry field painting up against the wall and sat down in front of it, cross-legged, as he added sheep to the field. Their play began in the summer, in outback Australia, hence the dried, barren field, then progressed to spring, hence the green field the jock was adding flowers too. Roman, who was just as good at painting as he was at singing and acting, had been creating the huge backdrops for the plays since he was twelve years old. Each painting was even taller than Roman, and stood in the back of the stage to create the illusion of a background.

"Roman," said Bella, who was creating a wickerwork basket as a prop.

"Bella."

"Has Mrs Thomas told you what the musical will be yet?" Roman was very close with the drama teacher, and therefore got inside knowledge of the musicals and plays before everyone else did.

"Yeah. I'm not telling you, though." Roman snickered and proceeded to sing New Perspective by Panic! At the Disco in a soft, perfect voice, just loud enough for everyone to hear.

"What's your name, anyway?" Bella asked the jock.
 
Samuel let out a small and unnoticeable breath of relief when the guy stood up again. He wasn't sure if he should've been happy for the instructions or annoyed at the way he had gotten them. He settled for both and continued to paint the unconvincing flowers, now a little more confident in what he did, as the others talked. Until the guy who's name apparently was Roman started singing.

Samuel glanced over at him as his voice, and his voice only, started filling the room, he was good and he exuded the kind of confidence you got from knowing it. It was almost a little annoying, but also absolutely captivating. His attention snapped back and he reminded himself to continue painting and not be weird again when the girl who had opened the door, Bella, spoke.

"Oh um, It's Samuel" he answered her question, using the Australian pronunciation of his name that was used by everyone, including himself, except for his father. He was slightly appreciative that she had directly addressed him, asking for his name made him feel a little less awkward and a little more welcomed, even though the girl, Bella, had no other intention than slight politeness, he assumed.

He wished he had something more to say, making conversation usually ended with less awkwardness, but the whole situation felt too weird, not only was he actually talking to the Drama kids, but he was also painting fucking flowers while listening to Roman sing some song he hadn't heard before.
 
r o m a n

"Who cares? Divine intervention, I wanna live crazed from a new perspective ..."


Roman was hardly listening to the conversation, instead singing quietly to himself as he painted. Samuel. The name fit him for some reason, though Roman really didn't care what his name was. Why would he? He was just a dumb jock who was so insecure in himself that he couldn't even come out of the closet like a man.

"And maybe now would be a good idea, so catch me up and get me out of here ..."

"So what did you do to land detention, anyway?" Bella inquired. Roman rolled his eyes at the sheep he was painting. Who cared? All that mattered was that he was here and he had better not fuck up the painting Roman had made for the play, or he'd lose his shit. He wouldn't hit or fight, since Roman's illness allowed him to literally die from a bruise, but he'd be pretty pissed.

Having finished with the sheep, which was the last feature of the painting, Roman signed his name at the bottom and wiped off his brushes. He then rose to his feet, still singing, and went to help Elliot with the costuming.
 
The singing was starting to become more of a pleasant background noise rather than something distracting. Samuel had to admit that the atmosphere in the room must be pretty nice on a day when someone like him wasn't interrupting, had he been someone else he could probably see the appeal in the drama club better.

As Bella continued speaking to him he took a break from the painting to focus on her and to not mess anything up.
"Nothing serious, I was just being loud in class" Samuel answered, laughing it off as the nothing he truly felt it was. He might not talk to these people outside of class, if even that, but right now talking seemed better than him being awkward and silent. So he tried to actually come up wit something to continue the subject on as she didn't seem to mind talking.

"Shouldn't you be in detention as well, though?" he gestured to his own hair with his free hand to show her what he was talking about, honestly a little curious how the pink haired girl and all of the drama kids got away with breaking the dress code all of the time.
 
r o m a n

"Roman's loud all the time and he never gets in trouble," Elliot remarked.

Roman stopped singing and snickered. "They expect it from me by now," he reminded his friend. The only time Roman wasn't singing, talking, providing an amusing comment or roasting someone in a savage manner was when he was incredibly upset and sulky. He even talked in his sleep. The teachers had long given up on him.

"And they expect this from us." Bella gestured to her hair, then to Elliot's green pants instead of the school's navy, and the abundance of chains hanging from Blake's neck. Roman wore about five pink bracelets. "They've just stopped trying, to be honest. Sometimes we'll get a warning, but --"

"FUCK!"

All eyes snapped to Roman, who had dropped the dress he had been holding and was cradling his left hand in his right. It was evident that he had stuck himself with a pin, but ... no pinprick bled like that. The minute hole in his left palm was streaming red blood at an alarming velocity, so fast that it was starting to pool on the floor below him.

And Roman's friends snapped into action.

"Where's your needle?" Bella asked quickly as Elliot located a rag and wrapped it around Roman's hand. Blake located a biscuit and broke it into little pieces, feeding it to him like a doctor would give a patient who had just had a blood test.

"In my bag." Roman's voice was shaky.

Bella went to the bags and pulled a white, pen-looking apparatus out of Roman's bag. She uncapped it to reveal a long needle and Blake pushed Roman's sleeve up. Bella injected the needle into his vein.

Roman removed the rag, which was now completely soaked with blood, to see that the blood flow had stopped. Elliot applied a bandage and Roman shakily exhaled.

Silence for a few moments. Then --

"Ask," Roman said hoarsely to Samuel. "I know you want to ask."
 
After Roman had shouted everything was happening faster than Samuel could even register. Suddenly the room was in full motion. Everyone seemed to know exactly what to do and how to do it while all Samuel could see was an alarming amount of blood. Way to much for a wound that small.

When things finally calmed down and got quiet, everyone was in different places with the exception of himself who had frozen up as he had watched everything unfold. He could sense the yet to be asked question hanging in the air. Roman seemed to as well, or maybe it was just a situation he was used to at that point.

"okay, yeah, uh," Samuel started, not really sure how to phrase it and also not really sure if it really was his place to ask, "What's going on?"
He looked around at the people in the room, for an answer but also in discomfort as he knew this probably was something he hadn't been supposed to witness.
 
r o m a n

"I have literally the worst form of haemophilia."

Roman's voice was strained, as if it took him a tremendous amount of effort to speak those words. In reality, he hated admitting it to people like Samuel -- popular people. People who could use his illness to their advantage if he pissed them off too much.

But he had to explain, since Samuel had witnessed it and if Roman explained instead of allowing the soccer player to jump to a conclusion, it would look like Roman had control of it. Which he did not.

"Meaning that my blood doesn't clot at all, and if I hadn't had this needle --" he held up the epi-pen that had been drained into his arm, "-- I would have probably bled out onto this floor. I could die from a pinprick. Or a nosebleed. Or a fucking bruise."

Roman's voice was incredibly bitter. Like he was salty about his health condition -- which he absolutely and completely was. He hated living his life in fear of dying because he knocked his hip into the kitchen bench.

Bella left the room for a moment, only to come back with paper towels and some soap from the bathroom. She got to her knees and began to wipe the floor.

"Let sme --"

"Absofuckinglutely not." Blake, who hadn't spoken before this, had a stern voice. She and Elliot helped Roman to his feet -- which was hard for his height -- and helped him over to a chair beside Samuel since he was still weak.

Roman wanted to complain, but he did feel very weak. He'd guess and say an entire arm's worth of blood had been lost. And his friends had witnessed him die far too many times now, so he slumped down in the chair and leaned his head against the wall to make their lives a tiny bit easier.
 
He had probably heard about Romans condition before at some point, maybe not by name and most likely just in passing on TV or in a movie, and it added up with what had just happened. It was still kind of hard to wrap his head around, though. He couldn't really imagine having to deal with something like that, Samuels own knees and palms were covered in scars from playing as a kid and being out on the field, and Roman apparently couldn't even get a bruise.

Samuel carefully looked over at Roman as he sat down in the chair beside him. He actually felt bad for him knowing he himself wouldn't have wanted to disclose information about health issues to a stranger. Had Samuel been in his place he would have most likely run off, or maybe kept completely quiet seeing as Roman did not seem to be in any kind of shape to run anytime soon, after the whole ordeal rather than to deal with it. It only showed off that Roman probably was more confident than him, something that should've made Samuel jealous but instead gave him a sense of respect for they guy he probably wouldn't have gotten otherwise.

Samuel sat there quietly for a while watching as the drama kids deal with the aftermath. When he spoke it wasn't the offer of help he probably should have given.
"I can leave, you know, if you want me to"
He didn't say it as an excuse to get out of detention, as it probably would seem. He also didn't really say it out of concern to the person next to him who looked about ready to faint from blood loss. He said it for himself mostly, because the whole situation was weird and his discomfort really was starting to hit its peak.
 
r o m a n

Roman's naturally pale skin was even paler, the colour of paper, or snow, and there were deep shadows beneath his startling green eyes. He slumped into the chair, picking at the corner of the bandage that covered the tiny pinprick that honestly could have killed him.

Roman checked the time on the clock on the wall. "You have ten minutes left of detention," he said to Samuel in the way of saying 'you don't need to leave'. Roman had always been exceptionally talented at reading people, but it didn't take his level of empathy to know that Samuel felt incredibly awkward here. And he didn't blame him.

"Sorry you had to see that." Apologies were very uncharacteristic for the drama nerd -- Roman emitted an aura that indicated he thought very highly of himself. Like he thought he could do no wrong. That was very much not the case.

"Roman, you should go home too," Bella said from the other side of the room. "Call your dad to pick you up, you can't walk."

"We've still got three sets," Roman protested.

"Don't be fucking stupid," Blake snapped. "You can do those tomorrow."

Roman scowled at the floor. His entire life was dictated by this stupid disorder and he hated that. But he pulled his phone out and texted his dad anyway.
 
Even if there were ten minutes left Samuel had trouble seeing how those ten minutes would actually consist of any detention worthy work so gave Roman a small smile at his apology, waited until the others had convinced him to leave as well and then stood up.

"Hope you feel better soon," he said to Roman, though the words held little to no meaning as they almost felt like a mandatory thing to say to someone who had gotten hurt it still felt better than to leave without saying anything of the like.

Samuel then simply walked over to the door, giving the rest of people in the room a quick "See ya" before he was out, walking back through the hallway he'd stomped through an hour earlier.

He didn't make it all that far before he stopped and rested his back against one of the walls full of scrawled down words and messages. The halls were mostly empty by now and he was thankful they were. He needed a moment for his brain to catch up with the whole situation and that was easier now tat he was alone.

He could maybe make it in time for the last part of practice if he hurried, or at least catch up with Evan and Ricky and take the same bus home, but he honestly did not really feel like it right now. He just wanted do get home, be alone and then get back to the mundanity that would be the next day.
 
r o m a n

Friday night arrived, two days after Samuel's detention with the drama kids, and Roman was going to be alone for the evening. This was odd for him. His parents and sister had gone to Melbourne for the weekend to see his older brother Brooklyn but Roman had stayed behind, since his mother didn't want him traveling so soon after an incident.

This happened frequently, and so Roman would usually invite someone over. Whether it be his friends or a guy or girl he was into, he'd have someone over to keep him company. But all of his friends were super busy with homework or family things and he wasn't interested in anyone at the moment.

So Roman was actually going to be alone.

He had no idea what to do with himself, so Roman had dragged himself outside, very uncharacteristic of him in this hot Australian February weather since heat could dry out his nose and therefore he'd get a nosebleed. He made his way through the park across the road from his house and to the supermarket to buy sweets because his house was void of them.

As he filled his basket with vanilla Coke and Turkish Delights, he saw Samuel out of the corner of his eye. He smirked and tossed a screwed-up receipt at the back of his head.

"You improved at your flower painting?"
 
Samuels mother had already taken Daisy on a walk before he had gotten home from school that afternoon, but had decided not to stop by a store on the way since she didn't want the poor dog to have to wait out in the heat. This had led to her sending her son out to buy the things she needed. And that was how was how Samuel wound up, by himself, in the snack isle that Friday evening.

As he was standing there trying to decide which kinds of chips he would buy, the kind his mother like or the kind he did, he felt something lightly hit the back of his head, confused as to what it was he turned and looked around the aisles to figure it out.

Roman was kind of impossible to miss, it was also really impossible for it to be someone else since he had been avoiding bringing up his afternoon of painting flowers with the drama kids to most people he knew.

"Can't say It tried again" he said with a shrug once he had gotten over the initial confusion as to why Roman was talking to him. Samuel was almost certain he wouldn't have done the same if he had seen the other first, but since contact had already been made he didn't really mind, "sorry for leaving by the way, but I don't think I was of much help anyways. Did things turn out alright?"

He asked because even if he had mostly moved on and gotten back to his normal routine of not talked with the drama kids or any of the likes he had still walked around slightly guilty for just leaving throughout the rest of the week.
 
r o m a n

"What a disappointment. You were really showing some raw potential."


Roman licked his lip ring, added a couple of packages of popcorn to his basket and walked over to Samuel. Not because he was trying to be close to him, but because he wanted some sweet potato chips and Samuel happened to be standing right beside them.

"Honestly I don't blame you, so don't feel bad about it." Roman threw a couple of bags of chips into his basket -- the way he was shopping, one would think he was buying for his whole family. But, no, this basketful of sugar was for Roman only. Being so tall he ate a lot more than most people, though he never gained weight.

"My sister is so squeamish -- my mother actually doesn't like leaving her alone with me because she knows that if I had another incident, I'd be better off alone than if London was there with me." Roman rolled his eyes and added a couple of packets of gummy bears.

"So, what brings you to this glorious chain establishment? I'm purchasing an unhealthy amount of snacks for my own consumption, then I'm going home and ordering pizza while watching some horror movie." Roman was a naturally talkative person and he'd probably spill his entire life story if Samuel would listen.

"You can come with if you like," he added as a joke, not expecting him to take the offer seriously.
 
The way Roman was adding more sweets to the growing pile in his basket, rambling on about his family and evening plans as if the whole situation was the most normal thing ever was almost comical and Samuel couldn't help but chuckle quietly as he listened to him.

Samuel was glad he hadn't minded him leaving, though. It was something he now could completely push out of his head. He would have probably rounded the conversation off and head back home now that he didn't have worry about. That was until he was asked to join.

He was a little taken aback by Romans offer, not sure if it was a joke or not, it probably was, but honestly his plans honestly seemed more fun than spending the evening listening his dad complain about the bad decisions the people on the shitty reality-TV show he would undoubtedly end up watching with his mum. His other option for the night would have been some party Ricky had talked about which he couldn't be bothered to endure even if he hadn't already turned it down.

"I mean I was getting chips for my mum," he said, "but I'm sure she can live without them, so I guess I could?"
He let his answer be open for Roman to actually say that, no, that wasn't something he actually wanted to do. And honestly, it was probably odd that Samuel hadn't just laughed it off to begin with, but, hey, even if the guy might be one of the weird drama kids he at least seemed somewhat fun to be around.
 
r o m a n

Roman's eyebrows practically shot up into his hairline. He had been joking, and he had been expecting Samuel to laugh it off, or to call him a faggot and leave in disgust, in the way closeted guys tended to do.

But, no, he had accepted the invitation. And ... he wasn't horrible company, so Roman didn't mind having him over. He was going to be alone, anyway.

"Fabulous," Roman declared. "I just live on the other side of Princes Park so you won't need to walk too far in the heat." It was about a seven-minute walk. Roman wouldn't have come out if it were any further, since he'd melt in the black T-shirt and shorts he wore. But the sun wouldn't dent the aesthetic he had going on.

"Let's go." Roman chucked in a few more items he didn't need, lead Samuel up to the checkouts, flirted with the female cashier a little and soon, he was leading Samuel through the door to his living room.

The house was large but middle-class. The Hemlocks were obviously living comfortably, but they weren't millionaires or anything. Roman's father was the head of the Maryborough Police Department and his mother taught in the primary school section of Maryborough Education Centre.

Roman lead Samuel up the hall and to the very end, where two doors sat adjacent to one another, and ajar. On the right, a pink, feminine room was visible and on the left, one decorated entirely in black. Roman entered the black room.

"Make yourself at home." Under the window stood Roman's king-sized bed, elongated to fit his tall frame, with black covers. Opposite stood the large television, on top of his chest of black drawers. On the left of the drawers stood a bookshelf built into the wall that displayed Roman's several awards and collections of movies and books. On the right stood a floor-to-ceiling mirror. A desk stood adjacent to the door.

But the most noticeable feature of the room was the ceiling. It was mostly black, but Roman had painted a galaxy so defined it looked like he had printed out a picture and stuck it to the ceiling.

Roman dumped the snack bags onto his bed, but the drinks in the mini fridge under his bedside table and sat down in his desk chair. "What do you want for dinner?" he asked Samuel. "I'm ordering Italian."