I saw you liking all my sandlot posts which I appreciate very much. However you must now answer my riddles three /j /nf
1. How do you think the other sandlot boys would react to Benny and Smalls' relationship (which is 100000% canon)?
2. I have seen fanfiction exploring the idea of Phillips growing up in an abusive family. How do you feel about this headcanon?
3. Favorite trivia/details about the film?
1. It depends how old they are when they come out to them.
Late 60s - Teen years - Scott and Benny do not choose to come out. They have a sleepover for 2 in the patched up treehouse and the other boys crash it for a very petty reason. After years they are sick of Smalls getting the best friend special treatment. Benny and Smalls are caught in the act. It's undeniable. The other boys fall apart in dramatics. Taking the rejection to heart, Smalls starts crying. Benny is cursing them all out for making Smalls cry. It doesn't end until Squints shouts over everyone and to break down that the reason Smalls was getting special treatment was because "Smalls was like your boyfriend or something". Benny agrees of course. And suddenly the boys are over it. Unless they all join the "free love movement" Benny wasn't going to spoil his friends like a boyfriend. Swearing they totally always could tell. That unfortunately for Benny they were exclusively for the ladies. They all get a good laugh when Bertram is into the "free loving" idea and Benny shuts him down and kicks them all out the tree house.
70s - College & Young Adult - They are all in college or slowly starting their adult lives. The thing between Benny and Smalls is an unsaid thing in their friend group, but Squints has caught on. Afterall he's a bisexual swinger, he knows the signs. He defends his buddies aggressively whenever they visit town. On phone calls with the other guys he maintains their secret. They other guys only find out when they visit Benny and Smalls shared apartment one too many times. One room is more lived in than the other. Even with Squints bullshitting the other guys eventually figure it out. Once they know they are shit at hiding it from Benny and Smalls. They are so smug about figuring it out they refuse to believe Benny when he admits he wasn't going out of his way to hide anything. Smalls was shoving Benny in the closet for his career harder than Benny ever did.
80s - Start of Careers - Smalls privately dedicated himself to supporting aids victims and the other guys don't understand it. One poorly made joke about Scotty Smalls being one of them has them all thinking about Smalls differently. Bringing it up to Benny they'd thought he would be shocked. He spent the most time with the man. It has the opposite effect. Benny chews them out for being insensitive. People were sick and dying and Smalls was being a man about what mattered to him, while they were whining about his choices. Whining about it wasn't going to make Smalls like women anymore than it would heal the sick. Worry about something that mattered. Eventually the guys all straighten up and appologize to Smalls. Helping him serve others the best they can, even if most of them weren't comfortable volunteering at homes and hospitals like Scotty. Months later Benny comes out to them about his relationship with Smalls which is mainly shocking because Benny is hiding this fact while playing professional baseball. He thanks them for standing by Smalls. Benny could take it if his life-long friends cut ties for his sexuality, but it would break Smalls heart. As men, they respect each other more than ever.
90s - Mid-life - Benny and Scott are practically married, but are still too afraid to tell their childhood friends. They reunite every 10 years or so to play a pick-up game on the sandlot. They bought a quiet house in the neighborhood to raise their mastiffs and have become the unofficial hosts of these reunions. When they finally rip the bandaid off the other men are shocked into silence. Finally, Ham breaks the silence, "oh, this is why you were willing to get mauled by the beast". The aggressive aggreement afterwards took out any remaining tension.
"Was wondering that for years"
"Back then it wasn’t adding up, but I didn’t want to be the 1st to say it."
"Mystery solved"
2010s - Senior Years - Scott has retired from announcing and Benny still assisted the Dodgers from time to time, but after the legalization of gay marriage they rush to the court house. If Benny has to retire from the game now, so be it. The two are pleasantly suprised to get phone calls or facebook messages from all their childhood friends (even Bertram) congradulating them and wishing them a happy marriage.
2. Honestly, could see it. The bully in the Sandlot 2 having an overbearing perfectionist father has me feeling this isn't out of left field.
3. The Sandlot was mostly filmed in Utah. They tend to have cast reunions in Utah because of that.
