#Teenage years

[smellslikemarlbororeds]

✧･ﾟ: *✧･ﾟ:* *:･ﾟ✧*:･ﾟ✧ 𝒷𝒶𝒷𝓎 𝒷𝑒𝓁𝓁𝒶 𝒽𝒶𝒹𝒾𝒹 ✧･ﾟ: *✧･ﾟ:*

[jezcat-18]

Actual BABY Duff 💗

[visuac]

forever walks a drifter

[lovebeing-a-girl]

I wanna be wild I wanna go out late at night and just roam around with my friends and get McDonald’s and scream until my throat hurts

I wanna live my teenage years but I am losing them to my strict parents

[jakesebb]

Chasing sunsets 🌅

Photo by @JakeSebb

[see-mab]

do y'all ever feel extremely disconnected from reality?? cuz same

[starlonga]

[intramoon]

Nessy circa 2014 (17) — another scrapped/unfinished edit

[unabashedlygrumpy]

bella swan shaped me

[sak-supernatural]

Thought I’d check in on an old friend, I waisted many good hours here as a teenager. While I never had an account or even thought of posting anything back then I was an avid reader. It was my ao3 before I understood ao3.

I was so happy when I heard about the movement to ao3 but it’s been too long since I last checked in on Spirk and I was feeling like something familiar.

K/S archive evokes a distinct memory for me of reading fanfic sitting on my bedroom floor next to my radiator with my back leaning against my TV unit. Anyway, that’s my nostalgia for the day!

[angelgirlie999]

[mattnben-bennmatt]

The start of something new

I am fascinated by the beginnings of their friendship. Even though they first met each other in 1980, at 10 and 8 years old, when Matt moved into the neighborhood, Matt has said that it was only when Ben started high school that they "started hanging out". This happened in 1986/1987, and Ben and Matt were "thick as thieves through that school year."

But they didn't seem to become besties straight away (despite Ben's wishes). Apparently, Matt felt a bit "threatened" by Ben's previous acting experience and was afraid he might displace him in the school's drama department. And so when Ben joined the Fall production of "The Visit" (playing Matt's son), Matt pulled him aside to offer some "advice". “This is the theater. It’s not about your looks. It’s about the work.” Ben took the words to heart. He really looked up to Matt and respected his opinion. But he also wanted to earn his respect, and, unable to perceive Matt's own insecurities at the time, Ben was hurt that Matt apparently thought so little of him and his acting abilities. He was so marked by this interaction, that he has often recounted it throughout the years, naming it a "stand-out" as one of the dumbest things Matt's ever done.

So how did they go from circling each other to "thick as thieves"? How did Ben finally manage to earn the respect of the older, cooler, taller, "good-looking" Matt? How did Matt decide to overcome his own fears and insecurities and let Ben into his heart so that they would never be jealous of each other again, always wishing the best for the other? How did they become partners?

I believe the big turning point took place in the Winter of 1986:

MATT: The last fight I got into would have been in the mid-80s*. I remember it, we had a snow day at school, so we would all meet in the Cambridge Common and play tackle football. Cause there would be a foot of snow on the ground and so it was kind of like you can't get hurt. So it was a really fun thing to do. I mouthed off to a kid that I knew. But he was your height. He was like 6''6', right? And I might have been 5''3' at the time. And I said something. I scored on him or something, I don't know, I said something but he came for me. And it was like this mountain of a guy came at me. And I was like, "Oh man..." So before I knew it, I was on the ground. He was above me and I was like, "This is gonna be bad!" And it was right then that little 5''2' Ben Affleck tackled this dude off of me. Like out of nowhere. I was a junior and he was a freshman. And he tackled this kid off of me — literally at the risk of his own life. And really quickly then everyone broke it up. Cause they wanted to get back to the football game. Cause that was fun and this was ridiculous, right? And so that was the end of it. And the kid was reasonable and he was like, "Alright, I'm not fighting, I'm reasonable, let's play!" But I remember that was a big moment, going like, "This guy. He will put himself in a really bad spot for me. This is a good friend to have."

*This episode likely took place in late January 1987, as that was the only time that winter that the snow depth in Cambridge, MA, reached 6 inches, what would usually qualify for a snow day in the region.

The most likely date of the snow day in question is Monday, January 26th, 1987. While the snow depth reached 7 inches on the previous Friday, January 23rd as well, this happened during the night. It drizzled the rest of the day and by 7 PM the snow was back to 3 inches. The following Monday, however, it snowed all morning, reaching 7 inches by 3 PM. By that point, it had stopped actively snowing, likely inviting kids to go play tackle football in the Cambridge Common.

But so we have it. On that snow day in late January, brave little Ben risked "his own life" to come to Matt's rescue. And it was this reckless, ride-or-die devotion that made Matt finally go "This guy. [...] This is a good friend to have."

And from then on out they were "thick as thieves." They had "business lunches", where they spoke life into their dreams, and "planned their careers" together. They opened a shared bank account (with password "RiverP", after the recent breakout start River Phoenix, who they both admired). Ben even started secretly withdrawing his Voyage of the Mimi earnings from his college trust fund — $200 a week in a total of $7,000 before he was caught — which he has said was used to buy beers, pizza, and video games (but which I believe was also partly used to support their trips to New York for auditions). After all, "if one kid had enough for a candy bar, then the candy bar was bought and split in half—that’s just the way it’s been."

These acts of devotion, of being ride-or-die for each other, of pooling all their resources into their shared partnership, remained a linchpin of their friendship in the years to come. Even now, they always have each other's backs and are actively building a future together, through Artists Equity. And to me, it's just all the more wonderful to see where it all started.

[visuac]

tree hugger and two weeks in december

[sadexecutivelove]

[arilovescookies]

Real photo of me at the age of thirteen drinking an entire bottle of Acodin just to get high 😋

[yorimonnii]

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