Rico Rosas

Background: Rico was raised by his grandparents rather than his actual parents. His father was a deadbeat who abandoned his family, and Rico’s mother wasn’t able to raise him on her own. So he grew up with his grandparents as his primary caretakers. Rico’s grandparents lived in a small, rural town where they owned a flower shop. Ever since he was little, Rico loved to help his grandparents out at the shop. Not only did he find it fun, but he also did it as a way to sort of pay them back for taking him in. Rico adored it though, and he enjoyed tending to the plant life and learning more about them. He was always enamored with how beautiful flowers were. It became a sort of therapy for Rico, his own safe space. School wasn’t the most welcoming place for Rico. He was a prime target for bullying due to his weak frame and feminine nature. Being gay and Mexican i a small town didn’t really help either, and in fact, was the main reason Rico was a target for harassment. The bullying really affected Rico, and he started to wane on his own self-worth. This didn’t really get better as he got older. Things started to get worse, and the flower shop was starting to struggle. Business wasn’t as good as it used to be, and with Rico’s grandparents getting older, they were struggling more and more to keep up. This killed Rico on the inside because the flower shop was not only his happy place, but he knows it’s something his grandparents are incredibly proud of. Rico wants to do whatever he can to try and keep the flower shop open. He wants to take over, however the money side of this still makes his dream to take over look bleak. However Rico is trying not to let his dream or the flower shop die.

Personality: Rico is one of the sweetest people you’ll meet. He is a cheerful and somewhat energetic presence that wants to keep things light. Rico is an incredibly kind and gentle soul who always makes sure to look after other people. He always wants to make sure people are doing alright and he can act a bit like a doting mother. While sometimes a little overbearing, Rico has pure intentions in doing so. He does tend to completely focus on others so much so that he tends to overlook himself and his own struggles. Though, this is on purpose. Rico tries his best to be considerate and respectful of others, He doesn’t want to step out of line and have someone get upset with him. Rico is not confrontational whatsoever, and in fact is a bit afraid of confrontation. He wants to keep the peace as much as possible as when people get loud and angry, it really puts him on edge. He somehow thinks that it was his fault even if he doesn’t really have anything to do with the argument. So to keep from this, he tries to be optimistic when things are looking bleak in order to try and keep things from getting too tense. 

Rico is someone who is very insecure, and he doesn’t really see himself in a bright light. Despite his optimism when it comes to other people and their situations, when it comes to himself, he gets discouraged very easily and he doesn’t really take compliments well. Rico is on edge a lot when it comes to how he’s perceived by other people. He is someone who acts very flamboyant and feminine. His way of speaking and moving around makes him appear quite dainty, and he is often mistaken for a girl at first. He is very self-conscious about it as well. He is a guy and his more feminine mannerisms don’t change that. Rico tends to be on edge a lot and tries to be careful with how he speaks and acts around others. He tries to act less feminine however it tends to break through without him realizing. But once he does, he quickly tries to tone it down. Even his sexuality is something that he tends to be very hesitant about making it known.

Although the closet is made of glass, Rico tries to keep him being gay on the down low. Though, most people already know. It was the root of a lot of ridicule from people, and Rico wants to go through that as little as possible. So he tries his best to tone himself down and to repress his feelings to try  and avoid the ridicule that came from people in his small town. He pushes them away like he does with most of his issues. Rico doesn’t really let his insecurities be known. He tries to bottle them up and push them to the side just so he doesn't have to confront them. His own emotions are things he does not like to talk about as it’s seen as ‘unmanly’ and ‘weak’ to be emotional. Rico is very insecure about appearing weak. He wants to be a help to others, however if he’s weak, he feels that he can’t do that. Rico hates that he isn’t physically strong, and it’s something he wants to be, but he just can’t seem to get stronger. And so, he focuses so much on other people and how they’re feeling. So he doesn't need to step up to his own feelings. 

Rico is a huge coward. He always runs from his problems and scares a bit easily. Despite him running and hiding from his own feelings, Rico is someone who is very genuine with his kindness. He is someone who doesn’t like fakeness, and he would never go behind someone’s back. Rico is an incredibly loyal guy and he will always try to have his friends' backs if he can. Rico is pretty clumsy, both physically and verbally. He can barely walk straight and he trips over himself quite a bit. When Rico gets panicked, he tends to fumble over his words and has a hard time completing full, coherent sentences. His brain tends to think faster than he can speak and he just comes out looking like a flustered mess. Rico can be a bit airy at times, and he doesn’t always think things out. He is pretty naive and wide-eyed. He is pretty gullible and Rico tends to be a bit too trusting of other people. He isn’t the most observant person, and even when the signs are obvious, he still ends up trusting people he shouldn’t. This stems from Rico being someone who is overly dependent on others. He always looks to someone else for answers on what to do, and he has a hard time making a decision for himself. He’s always very hesitant to do something on his own as he’s afraid of making the wrong choice. However, this tends to lead to him being manipulated into making the wrong choice in the end, but at least then he can blame it on someone else. When he doesn’t have someone to lean or depend on, Rico tends to become a lost puppy. He just doesn’t have the confidence in himself to really be sure of the choices he makes, and so he relies on others to do it for him. 

Rico is a bit of a hopeless romantic. He tends to crush on guys quite easily, however he is petrified of actually acting upon his feelings. He doesn’t want to read a guy wrong and end up getting beat up for it. So he tends to just focus on other people’s romance. Rico much rather tries to be the support for other people as it tends to put him in the least amount of risk of physical harm. He also is just afraid of having his heart broken. When Rico falls for someone, he falls hard. And so rather than being outright rejected, Rico tends to do what he always does and bottles up his feelings until they just go away. Despite his more cheerful and honest personality, Rico has actually gotten quite good at bottling up his own feelings. He’s gotten used to doing it so much that it has become second nature to him. When conversation starts to focus on his feelings, Rico tries to quickly steer it away and put focus onto something else. He tries to keep them hidden so he doesn’t have to put too much thought into them. 

Rico absolutely adores flowers and other plant life. Growing up helping out in his grandparents’ flower shop really gave him an appreciation for different types of plantlife. Flowers especially are things he absolutely adores. He finds them absolutely beautiful and elegant. Beauty is something Rico tends to get excited about and he tends to get really excited around things he deems are pure beauty. Flowers are the main example of this, and he is incredibly passionate about them. Rico is actually incredibly knowledgeable about different types of flowers and plant life. This originally stems from him helping out in tending to the flowers at his grandparents’ shop, however he was so interested and invested that he even loves to do research on flowers and plant life. Rico is almost an encyclopedia on flowers and knows so many things about them from how to grow them, tend to them, to even things that they symbolize. He’s a huge flower nerd, but he’s actually very proud of it. He gets to share the beauty of flowers with others. On the other side of the coin, however, Rico hates really gross things. He tends to gross out easily, and is incredibly squeamish.  Rico has a weak stomach, and he can’t handle things that are really disgusting. That’s why he tries to put so much focus on things that are beautiful. He doesn’t want to deal with gross things, so he centers in on the opposite.

Likes: flowers; plants; nature; bugs; insects; musicals

Dislikes: bigots; video games; cartoons; gross food; corporations harming the environment; school