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Drabble: Scenes from an (On-Set) Relationship

Title: Scenes from an (On-Set) Relationship Rating: R (for language mostly) Word Count: 4100 Characters: Bennett “Bowie/Benny” Washington, Benjamin “Benny” Monroe, Darlene Cohen, Amanda “Mandy” Bach Relationships: Bennett Washington/Benjamin Monroe, Bennett Washington & Darlene Cohen, Bennett Washington & Amanda Bach, Bennett Washington & Amanda Bach & Benjamin Monroe Trigger Warnings: Underage (relationship, implied sexual content, marriage), domestic violence (emotional manipulation, love bombing, gaslighting), spoilers for a fictional episode of Law & Order and multiple spoilers for a fictional television show that sadly only exists in my head. Summary: Five times Bowie and Benny were awkward on set. Or five glimpses into Bowie and Benny’s relationship on-set. Playlist: A Death After Life Fan Mix

2005

Benny didn’t understand exactly what filming a pilot meant. Sure, he was seven years old, and that meant he wasn’t a baby, but no one had explained to him what pilot meant. All he knew was that his dad was really excited because the producer was one of his friends. That really didn’t mean much to him, but things were always easier when his parents were happy. It usually meant they forgot he existed, and that was his favorite way to deal with his parents. Still, it would have been nice if someone explained why it was such a big deal.

It wasn’t like it was his first time on a TV set. Hello, he got to play a killer on Law and Order last year. Obviously he knew what he was doing. He just didn’t understand what the difference was between the usual guest star spots he did, and filming a pilot. From what he could tell pilots weren’t a real show, but they could be a real show one day. He just didn’t understand why this wasn’t a real show and why everyone kept putting an emphasis on the fact that it was a pilot, and kept telling him he needed to throw his everything into this role. It was making him really mad, and he hated when he was mad because being mad usually made him cry, which made people think he was a baby, which he obviously wasn’t. Bennett just thought it was annoying.

“Hey, are you okay?”

He glanced up, and found another boy towering over him. No. He wasn’t a boy. He was a teenager. A tall teenager, and he was pretty. Also, he looked really familiar, but Benny wasn’t sure why.

“Yes.” He lied, even though he felt his lip wobbling. “It’s not like I’m lost or anything. I already did make-up and hair… It’s just…” He huffed in annoyance. “Everyone’s treating me like a baby and no one will tell me what’s going on.”

The teenager made a pitying face, and for a moment Benny hated him. Then his face smoothed out, and Benny couldn’t help but to like him again. “Is this your first pilot?” He asked as he squatted down to Benny’s height. Ugh, he hated when people did that. It made him feel like a little kid, and he couldn’t be a little kid – he worked. People who worked weren’t little kids. Still… there was something about this person that made him want to trust him, and he didn’t know why.

Benny bit his lip as he thought about lying. Instead he found himself saying, “Is it that obvious?”

He laughed and shook his head. “Only ‘cause you look like you don’t know what’s going on. I looked like that during my first pilot shoot, too. C’mon.” He bounced to his feet and nodded his head over towards craft services. “No one is paying attention to us. Let’s raid the sweets before the adults notice.”

A grin slid across Benny’s features when he realized that this guy didn’t try touching him. Adults tried to touch him all the time and he hated that. Why did strangers think it was okay to hold his hand just because he was younger than them? “So, uh… what is a pilot? No one has told me. Oh! I’m Benny by the way.”

Suddenly the teen started laughing. “No shit?” He asked him, shaking his head. He held up a hand as if to tell Benny that he wasn’t laughing at him, just laughing. “My name is Benny, too. That’s gotta mean something, right? Us having the same name?” The teen, no, Benny, asked him. “Although if we have a lot of scenes together, that’s gonna get confusing real fast.”

Benny found himself laughing, too. And he liked how he didn’t censor himself. Some people tried to limit their swearing around him, like he hadn’t filmed a movie with Samuel L. Jackson when he was five. “Do you think they did that on purpose?” He asked Benny, almost shyly.

The other Benny shook his head. “Nah, I think it was just a happy accident.” He took a cookie off the table and handed it to Benny. “A pilot is a filmed sales pitch to TV stations. It’s how they show the networks what the show would be like. And then test audiences watch it. If they like it, then a station will pick up the show and we get to film the whole show.”

Instead of saying something, Benny shoved the cookie in his mouth as he thought about what the other Benny said. After he swallowed he found himself muttering out, “Thank you.” And when he got a weird look, he added on: “For explaining what a pilot was.”

It was quiet as they both ate their cookies. It didn’t feel uncomfortable though, which was new for Benny. Usually new people made him feel uncomfortable, but Benny was different. He wasn’t sure what that meant.

2006

It was his first day on set, and everything was starting to hit him. This was his show. He had his own TV show. He wasn’t going to be a guest star. He wasn’t going to just film for a week, and then move onto something else. No, this was his TV show. He wasn’t going to leave after completing an arc, or after filming an episode like he had for the pilot. No! He was eight years old, and was going to be filming thirteen whole episodes because they were a mid-season filler show. He was practically a TV star already.

“Hey, are you lost?” A teenage girl asked him. She didn’t look familiar, and he vaguely remembered that they had recast the person they originally hired to play Alice. They didn’t think she had good chemistry with him, but he didn’t know who they cast. He guessed that was who this was. Unless it was a guest star?

He made a face at her. “No. Are you?” He snapped at her.

She started laughing. “Oh! You must be Benny Junior.” She said, holding out a hand for him to shake. “I’m Mandy. Well, Amanda, but like only my parents call me that. I’m playing your mom. Well, sort of your mom since I think your character is older than mine, even though you’re actually younger than me.”

Benny found himself relaxing slightly, as he shook her hand. She seemed nice, and she wasn’t baby talking him like the first person who played Alice had. Something she said was bugging him. “Benny Junior?” He asked with a frown.

Mandy nodded. “Well, like, it’d be weird to call you Big Benny and Little Benny. So everyone’s been calling you Benny Senior and Benny Junior.” She explained as she pulled him over to the chairs that were set out for them.

He made a face. “That makes it sound like we’re related, and…” He shook his head. “I don’t want to be related to him.”

A surprised snort escaped from Mandy. “How old are you again?” She asked with a huffing laugh. “I think you’re a little young to have a crush on someone who’s eighteen.”

Benny groaned. “I don’t have a crush on Benny.” He whined out, feeling his face getting hot. “He’s just really nice, and we had a lot of scenes together in the pilot.”

Mandy laughed. “Sure.” She didn’t sound like she believed him. “So… we need to figure out a different name so people don’t get confused.” Her nose wrinkled up as she thought. “So he’s a Benjamin and you’re a Bennett, right?”

He nodded.

“Ben and Benny wouldn’t be too bad.” She admitted. “But you don’t look like a Ben and Benny Se-” She changed direction when she saw whatever face he was making. “Other Benny doesn’t like being called anything else. He’s older so he has seniority. Sorry, dude.”

Benny shrugged. “Nah, that makes sense.” He admitted before taking off the big clunky necklace that wardrobe made him wear. It was hurting his neck.

“Bow?” Mandy asked as she took the necklace from him, and saw the sticker wardrobe but on the back of it so they knew it was his. “You’re supposed to take these off when you put your costume on.” She explained. “They do that when it’s a piece that’s going to be specific to you for a long time. Guess we have to work on your neck strength.” She took the sticker off, and handed him the necklace back. “Why’d they put Bow though?”

Once he knew what she was talking about, he shrugged. “Those are my initials: B. O. W. -- Bennett Orion Washington.” He explained.

She grinned. “Bow.” She rolled the name around in her mouth. “That could be a cool name, but it sounds a little off.”

“Bowie.” He corrected, perking up in his chair. “Bowie Washington.”

Mandy all but shook him. “YES! That’s it! Bowie. Bowie and Benny. That just sounds right.”

“What just sounds right?”

Bowie turned around to find Benny standing behind him. “Our names.” And why was his face feeling hot again? “Benny and Bowie.”

To his credit, it only took Benny a minute to realize what Bowie was talking about. “Bowie…” He tried the name out, much like how Mandy had. “Like your initials, right? That’s cute.” Before anyone could say anything else, someone called out to Benny and he left them after giving Bowie’s shoulder a gentle squeeze.

“Oh, yeah. You don’t have a crush at all.” Mandy teased.

“Shut up.”

2011

“C’mon, Bee. No one’s gonna say anything. I promise.” Benny was sprawled across the couch in Bowie’s trailer, half-assed playing Grand Theft Auto. Bowie barely played video games. He didn’t even know why he had an Xbox. Actually… that might have actually been Benny’s. They had separate trailers but somehow they always ended up hanging out in Bowie’s trailer, and eating and napping in Benny’s trailer. Bowie didn’t even know how that happened. Sometimes it was hard to remember what his life was like without Benny in it.

Sighing, Bowie looked up from his homework. He was only thirteen, but he was almost finished with his sophomore coursework. Bowie was determined to finish all of his high school coursework before he was sixteen. It was an easy enough goal when all he did was work, and hang out with Benny. “Yeah, I think I’m gonna stand out in a nightclub, Benny.” He pointed out with a shrug as he closed his notebook. When Benny got into moods like this, it was impossible to get anything else done.

“It’s not like a ‘nightclub’ nightclub.” Benny tried to explain as he paused the game, and made grabby hands for Bowie. “It’s an afterparty for my new movie. It’s a movie premiere. It just happens to be in a nightclub. But they’re not going to card you or anything. You’re going to be my date.”

And that was a new thing that started happening a few months ago. Benny started calling their dinners out ‘dates,’ and he’d started using pet names all the time. It had caught Bowie off guard at first, but no one on set had said anything bad about it so he figured that meant it must be okay – whatever this was.

Sighing, Bowie crawled onto the couch, his newly gangly limbs making the climb a little more awkward than what he was used to. He overcompensated, and wound up half-sprawled across Benny, his face pressed against the fly of Benny’s jeans. He pushed himself up to a sitting position, getting a mouthful of jeans and accidentally rubbing his lips against Benny’s half-chub in the process. Because that was another thing he noticed. Whenever they were in each other’s space, Benny was almost always half-hard. “Don’t you wanna take someone your own age as a date?”

It was Benny’s turn to sigh. He adjusted himself before wrapping an arm around Bowie, and pulling him against his side, practically back onto his lap. “Why would I do that, Bee? Why would I want to take anyone other than my boyfriend to my movie premiere?” He asked in confusion, gently tracing a finger over the curve of his jaw.

Bowie blinked, and looked at him. “I’m your boyfriend?” He frowned at him, but scrambled into his lap anyway. That was another new thing. He’d started sitting on Benny’s lap when they had serious conversations. He didn’t remember why they started talking like this, but he also knew he had Benny’s undivided attention when they spoke like this.

“Well…” Benny looked at him from under his lashes. He looped his arms around Bowie’s waist to keep him from toppling backwards. “I’d like you to be my boyfriend. That’s the direction we’re heading in, isn’t it? We’re practically living together, Bee.”

He blushed. Benny wasn’t wrong… “You wanna be boyfriends?” He asked, eyes dropping to Benny’s lips. “You wanna date me?”

Benny shook his head. “I wanna do more than just date you, baby.” He purred out, leaning closer to him, his lips hovering above Bowie’s. They hadn’t kissed yet, but Bowie knew Benny had been trying to kiss him. It was just that every time Benny tried to kiss him -

“Pumpkin, how’s your geometry homework - oh no you don’t!” Darlene stomped into the trailer, and immediately pulled Bowie off Benny’s lap. She pushed him back towards his desk. “You - finish your homework.” She crossed her arms over her chest. “And you?” She raised her eyebrow at him. “You have your own trailer that’s far away from my charge. Off you go, Mr. Monroe.”

With a dramatic sigh, Benny turned off the TV and pulled himself to his feet. He adjusted himself in his jeans again, not caring that Miss Darlene was right there. “Aw, c’mon Darlene. Doesn’t Bee get a little break?” He tried to sway, even though he had to have known that Miss Darlene didn’t like him at all. “I was just telling him about our date tomorrow night.”

Darlene raised an eyebrow. “Oh, you mean your movie premiere that Bennett will not be attending because he’s not eighteen?” She challenged back.

Bowie shrugged, as though to tell Benny ‘I told you so’ before he opened his notebook back up to work on his homework.

2014

It was one of those days on set. A day where nothing was going right, and the director’s patience was razor thin. Nothing any of the actors did was right. They’d filmed the same scene fifteen times, and he just wasn’t happy. It was exhausting, but thankfully right now he wasn’t the person annoying the director: his husband was. And fuck. Wasn’t that a trip? He was a married man. Sixteen and married. Not that anyone else knew they were married yet. It had just happened last week, and they were keeping it for themselves – at least right now.

“What do you think his problem is?” Mandy whispered to him. They were sprawled out in their makeshift nest in the corner of the soundstage. They’d stolen a couple of exercise mats from the stunt team, and piled them high with soft blankets and pillows. It was where they usually hung out in between scenes but weren’t allowed to go back to their trailers. At some point Mandy had been reading a magazine, and Bowie had been working on an assignment for Psych 101, but now they were both absorbed in whatever the hell was going on in front of the camera.

Bowie couldn’t tear his gaze away from the scene in front of him. The director was now standing in front of Benny and screaming at him. “I have no idea.” He whispered back.

The sound stage door slammed open, causing everyone to startle. Mandy and Bowie locked eyes before they both glanced towards the door in an attempt to figure out who the hell would enter the sound stage when the ‘filming in progress’ sign was up. The director looked furious, but not even he could get any words out before Hurricane Darlene stormed onto set.

Now that he thought about it, he hadn’t seen Darlene for a couple of weeks. His mom said Darlene had a family emergency. It was why she and Dad stayed with him for the week before his sixteenth birthday. Darlene hadn’t even called to wish him a happy birthday. It hurt, but he wasn’t her family, and he’d accepted a long time ago that she wasn’t actually his mom - as much as he liked to pretend she was. He didn’t know how to explain whatever this was.

“You son of a bitch!” Darlene screamed, making a beeline straight towards Benny. “You absolute son of a bitch.” She pushed past the director. “How fucking dare you!” She slapped Benny, the sound echoing through the now silent soundstage. “He is sixteen years old! SIXTEEN.”

What the fuck. This was about him? She was here because of him? He was vaguely aware that he was standing up. Mandy’s hand was wrapped around his, trying to tug him back into their nest. He also sort of thought someone was yelling for security to do something. Everyone was just sort of stuck though. It was Miss Darlene; she’d been with Bowie for eight years. Everyone knew her. She was his caretaker. The person he wished was his mom.

“And you were what? Biding your time until he was an appropriate age to marry him? Arianna has all but been throwing him at you since he was fourteen. You could have married him then if you really wanted. California doesn’t have a minimum age for marriage with consent.” Darlene seethed. “Or you could have waited until he was eighteen, but no. You found out I was getting him away from you. You found out I was fighting his parents for custody, and you couldn’t have that, could you?”

Bowie found himself standing right behind Darlene. “What’s going on?” He whispered out, his voice sounding small. For once he felt his actual age. “Custody?” But she was already on a roll. He wasn’t even sure if she could hear him with how enraged she currently was.

“So you what? Mentioned to Arianna that you’d marry him? Let her know that she could fire me because she didn’t need to worry about Bennett having a guardian any more because you would be his guardian? Be his husband?” She snorted, and it sounded like it hurt. “All because you were afraid your favorite possession would be taken away from him by someone who truly wants what’s best for him?”

“DARLENE.” And it took Bowie a moment to realize that he was the person who’d spoken. That was his shaky voice.

She spun around to face him, and immediately deflated. “Pumpkin…” And she was pulling him into her arms. “I’m so sorry I failed you. I’m so sorry.”

“You missed my birthday.” He whispered out, and it wasn’t what he meant to say, but it was like his mouth wasn’t connected to his brain.

Her arms wrapped tighter around him. “I know, Pumpkin, I didn’t mean to. I wouldn’t have if I was allowed to see you.”

Bowie has no idea what she was talking about. She wasn’t allowed to see him? Why? What the hell were his mom and Benny keeping from him?

“Stop it. Stop it. Stop it!” The words exploded from him, pushing away from her. “Stop talking around me! You’re both doing it!” He waved an accusatory hand towards Benny. “Just tell me what’s going on!”

Security chose that moment to arrive, but Benny held his hand towards them to tell them to not approach quite yet. “Bee, sweetheart…” His husband started, taking Bowie’s hands and pulling him towards him. Mandy was hovering nearby, and he could see her holding back from taking his hand again. He didn’t know what he did to earn a best friend like her. “I know how much you care about Darlene, but your mom and I filed a restraining order against her a couple weeks ago.”

Darlene was saying something, but all Bowie could focus on was his husband in front of him, and his best friend hovering, waiting to whisk him away from any stress. “What?” He blinked, swaying towards him. “Why?”

Benny gave him a sad smile. “She’s mentally unwell, baby. She had it in her head that she’s your mother.” He told him, pulling him closer. “Like biologically. And we know that’s physically impossible. She’s just another obsessed fan. Like that girl in Colorado who was stalking us.”

“I am his mother!”

And it was too much. Too much. He found himself pulling away from Benny, and turning towards Mandy instead. “I can’t…” He told her, sounding helpless.

There was chaos behind him - security taking Darlene away and there was screaming, and he let Mandy pull him away, Benny close behind him.

Now

Bowie forgot what it was like filming for eighteen hours. It’d been eight years since the last time he was behind a camera, and all he wanted to do was lay down for like a year. He opened his trailer door, and immediately closed it. Frowning he looked over at the sign, and sighed when he saw the name. It said Bowie Washington which meant…

He slammed the door open. “Nope, nope, nope. Get out.” He told his ex-husband as he entered his own damn trailer. “We are not doing this tonight. You are leaving, and I’m sleeping for the next thirty minutes until they pull me back on set.” Used to Benny’s antics by this point, he ignored him, and instead started taking off the heavy ass necklaces they still had him wearing.

“Aw, c’mon, Bee. It’s like old times again. Let’s just watch something, and veg out. You can never fall asleep on set anyway.” Benny all but whined.

Bowie spun around to face him. “I told you if I was going to do the reboot, you couldn’t pull this shit again, and here you are. Trying to act like we’re still together. We’re not. It’s been six years.” He hissed out. “What do you really want?”

The older man sighed. “Okay, Benny, you got me.” He ran a hand through his hair. “Come sit.”

Bowie collapsed next to him, doing his best to keep as much distance between himself and his ex as possible. “Spill, Benny.”

And that felt natural. As much as he hated Benny, being his friend had always been natural. If they ever were friends to begin with.

“I talked to Franklin today.” He said, referring to the show runner, which meant it couldn’t be anything good. “And he didn’t think our good will tour after the sex tape came out was enough. He thinks we need to… give a hint of reconciliation.”

His eyes closed. “He wants us to be seen out and about together more. He wants me to start going to premieres with you again.” He surmised.

“And social media. The drama works in the favor of the show this time around.”

Bowie groaned and just let himself sink into the couch. He did not want to deal with this. Not now. Not ever.

The trailer door swung open and Mandy walked in, took in the sight and threw herself down onto the couch between them. “Oh good. You told him about Passover.”

Benny groaned, and Bowie jerked upright. “What about Passover?” He asked warily.

“We have a long weekend, and Mandy and I don’t have enough time between filming to fly home before restrictions hit.” Benny started. “So we’re both coming home with you.”

And Benny was on his feet. “Nope. Nope. Nope. Not happening.” He spun around to face them both. “Mandy, obviously, you’re welcome, but you…” He wagged his finger at Benny. “Darlene, you know Darlene. The woman you got fired, and had a restraining order against when she tried to fight my parents for custody as my biological mother who gave up her rights to me? Yeah, she lives with me.” He stared the older man down. “And no. We haven’t talked about that day or about who she is to me, but she looks after Livvie, and will be looking after the twins when they’re born. But you are not welcome in our home.”

Mandy sighed, and grabbed at Bowie’s hands, pulling him back down onto the couch with them. “But it’s Passover. Isn’t having annoying family members over for any holiday a Jewish right of passage?” She tried.

“You don’t have anywhere else to go, do you?”

Benny’s silence was telling.

He sighed. “Fine. Let’s bring my ex-husband home for Passover. What’s the worst that could happen?”

#queen city rpg #drabble #death after life

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