growing pains. that’s what they were called. supposedly, it took you four years to move into a place you’d never lived in before. and sure, she was from the carolinas, so it only felt appropriate that she’d come and make her home here. but frankly? it hasn’t been easy. getting her studio set up, getting it registered as a business, trying to find the drive to cook more than once a week ( she was a mcdonald’s VIP ) … all of it was hard for someone so sweet, someone so young.
that’s why she’s found here, in a drugstore picking up pain medication. the line for the pharmacy is too long, but it’s the only place in town she can get everything all in one go. burn cream, a compression sleeve, pain meds… she hadn’t expected the seasalt air to irritate her skin so much. ( she’s grateful for the hoodie she’s wearing. ) in line, she’s looking at… what is that, a new multivitamin, and her shopping basket connects with something else as she steps forward, brown eyes widening. “ ——— ohmygod, i am so sorry ! ”
there’s something... funny about a drug dealer waiting in line for the pharmacy. but the pills aren’t for him but for his dad. he’s been standing here for god knows how long and the line is backed up all the way into the vitamin aisle. he’s been playing on his phone for what feels like forever when he feels something push him, and it sends them into a domino effect. the person in front of them gets pushed by him and he drops something that he had found from one of the other aisles. he sighs, grabbing his things and looking at the culprit. “it’s not the end of the world, relax,” he says, seeing the way their eyes widen and their voice goes up an octave. “maybe watch where you’re going.”
marcia had gone from working at concert venues & staying up until all hours to spending her days managing a business and chasing down a two year old- her head was still reeling from the change, which was how her youngest brother managed to escape her attention and take off across the coffee shop, managing to swipe a piece of muffin from a stranger’s plate before marcia even realized he was gone. “shit, i’m sorry, i swear, i feed him,” she hastily apologized after scooping up the little boy, who looked rather pleased with himself with muffins around his mouth. “can i buy you another muffin?”
it was amazing that he was even awake at this early of the morning, but he needed to figure out his dad’s finances and didn’t feel like doing it at the bar. so he was here. he had ordered a coffee and a muffin and had a bunch of paperwork in front of him. benjy used to be so good at math, and did decent with his... other job, but there were many things on these documents that made no fucking sense to him and he couldn’t ask his father because he wouldn’t understand. he watches as the kid takes his muffin, a little smile on his face as he looks down, letting it be. “no, i’m good.” he says, “little man can have it.”
have you met benjamin ‘benjy’ watson yet? he has lived in saltlight for his entire life & i believe they’re twenty eight. they are determined, adaptable, & sharp, but can also be abrasive, angry, & cold; they work as a drug dealer/bartender. they look exactly like joe keery & their label is the dirtbag.
full name — benjamin watson
nickname(s) — benjy
name meaning — son of the right hand
age — twenty-eight
date of birth — november 1st
place of birth — saltlight
current location — saltlight
gender — cis-male
pronouns — he/him
sexual orientation — bisexual (heavy preference to men)
religion — atheist
occupation — bartender / drug dealer
education level — high school
family — jude watson (father), mila watson (mother, estranged) elodie & celestine (half siblings, estranged)
finances — poor
spoken languages — english, spanish
faceclaim — joe keery
You were a sweet boy, that’s what your father says while you sit with him during his long doctors appointments, you were a sweet boy with a big heart and so much love to give. What happened to that sweet boy? Where did he go?
Benjy was the kid on the south side of saltlight that everyone knew because they all loved his father, a kind man in his own right, did everything that he could for the community that needed some joy in their life. He was the favourite school teacher that everyone loved and would take just about any kid under his wing that didn’t have a parent, and it never made Benjy jealous, it just made him proud. But eventually there came a time when everything got to be too much for his mother, his dad was spending all their money for this community that he loved so much, sometimes, she says, i think you love them more than us.
He’s ten when he watches her leave, the last thing that he heard about her was that she had gone off and married someone else. It was hard for him to look at his father after that, his father who loved everyone so much.
It starts when he’s thirteen, maybe he can blame it on growing pains, maybe he can blame it on the fact that he and his father were constantly in a state of losing their house, or that no matter what he does he will never be enough to get into the good schools that he needs to for a bright future but he starts acting up, he’s caught stealing from a woman he’s known his whole life, when she catches him he watches this kid with a pinched face and a chip on his shoulder and gives him kindness instead of calling the police on him. She knows that his mother left, knows that his dad has now taken on a second job that he shouldn’t have to to make ends meet.
It’s then that he starts working for her, doing small things around her shop. It's not much, it’s not even a real job but she pays him, and he sits and does his homework while she works the register and his father picks him up at ten pm like he always does. It’s a kindness that Benjy didn’t deserve, and he kept it with him after she died. He was fifteen then, too young to take on the shop itself he watched it close down, it later became a high end thrift store and Benjy can’t walk past it anymore.
He gets arrested when he’s seventeen for stealing a car.
It’s the first string of small offenses and he’s only saved because another teacher sees potential in him.
You’re a smart boy Benjy, he looks at him with empathy in his eyes, it’s a look that you can’t fake.
Benjy starts getting better grades and is even staying out of trouble, and then he meets his partner, the one that he swore he was going to marry. They set him on the right track, they’re a good influence on him, and Benjy never liked planning too far ahead in the future but he wanted one with them.
When it comes to their last year of high school things start to change again, his dad starts forgetting things, and then he forgets how to drive. It’s a phone call you never want to get from someone, he and his partner rush to the hospital and it’s then that he finds out that his father has early onset Alzheimers. All thoughts of the future are put on halt, Benjy makes it into college but it’s not the university that he wanted. He breaks up with his partner not long after he drops out and starts working full time at the bar and taking care of his dad.
Benjy doesn’t blow his life up like he used to but he did get into somethings that he shouldn’t have, and all he can think about is the people that had helped him along the way and how they would feel if they saw him now and what he does outside of the bar. It’s the only way to get money since his father is no longer capable of teaching.
At the heart of it, Benjy likes to think that he’s still good, his foundation is just a little cracked.
CONNECTION IDEAS:
Exes / First Love—i had mentioned this in his bio but will go more into it here, but he really loved this person, they were such a big influence on his life and he would talk about their future together because he wanted that for both of them. Eventually it just got to a point where he had to end it because it wasn’t fair—he thought that maybe they could go off and be the things that he couldn’t be which is mainly why he ended it—it wasn’t because he didn’t love them anymore. This could go with either m/f/n he’s bisexual so open to any gender <3
Childhood / High School Best friends—Honestly he needs a bestie, someone that’s been through it all with him and probably is the only one that actually knows how his dad is doing because they come by so often.
FWB—honestly he probably wouldn’t be that “friendly” with this person and would never bring them over to his house because that’s simply too personal, but they sleep together and that’s fine as long as he can leave at the end.
Client—so since he’s a drug dealer maybe he deals to your characters.
I’m open to anything else, this is just at the top of my mind!
