“It mentions that you walked off set, and hints that now there are tensions behind the scenes onOut There.”
Simon did walk off set while they were shootingTree of the Gods, that much is true. But he’d bet the article says he stormed off set,which is—well, that’s probably true too. His scene partner was crying, the showrunner was yelling at them, it was over a hundred degrees and his costume involved leather pants, and all Simon could think was that he needed to not be there.
Only after he got home—his ears still ringing, his nerves still jangling—did he realize he’d fucked up. He’d come back the next day, mortified.
Even before the first season aired, there were rumors about the set being toxic, full of feuding actors and drama queen behavior, probably because the showwasfull of feuding actors and drama queen behavior. The story about Simon walking off set—stripped of context so he was just a spoiled actor unwilling to take direction—fit that narrative and served as a handy illustration of why the show was behind schedule.
“I guess the implication is that I’m the common denominator,” Simon says. “I’m impossible to work with.”
Charlie’s lecture about treating his coworkers decently feels even worse now than it had last night. Had Charlie read the article? Had everyone at Lian’s read the article? They’d probably heard the stories already, so it shouldn’t matter, but Simon wants to hide under a blanket and never come out.
Until now, he’s assumed that all he needs to do is leaveOut There, and the rest of his career will fall into place. He’ll be offered some roles and at least a few of those will be interesting. Problem solved. But Simon isn’t nearly enough of a draw to make up for being difficult to work with. Queasiness settles in his stomach.
“Anyone who’s worked with you knows those stories don’t mean anything,” Jamie says, because he’s loyal but deluded.
“A few weeks ago, I threatened to bite Charlie.”
“On set?”
Simon nods miserably.
“Maybe don’t do that again? For what it’s worth, the article linked to an old story about Charlie getting into a bar fight.”
That had been over six years ago, duringOut There’s first season. The fact that Charlie’s old sins are being dredged up too does make Simon feel marginally better. Getting into a bar fight is objectively worse than storming off set, right? Then he realizes he’s judging his own behavior against Charlie Blake’s and barely coming out on top.
“I’d tell you to call Ken,” Jamie says. “But you’d do just as well to tell the dog.”
“Jamie—”
“Or, like, write about it in your journal.”
“I don’t have a journal.”
“And you hardly have an agent.”
“I don’t want to deal with any of this,” Simon says. He’s barely handling a basic, no-complications kind of day. Throw in anything else and he’s hopeless.
“Ken or the bad press?”
“Yes?”
Jamie taps his fingers on the counter. He looks like he wants to say something but, in the end, he just starts making omelets. “Do you want me to email Ken?” he asks when they’re eating. “I can cc you and say I’m your assistant.”
Another thing that Simon doesn’t want to deal with is that Jamie is, basically, his assistant. And, for the past few weeks, his personal chef.
“It’s fine,” Simon says. “Don’t worry about it.”
Interstitial
From anOut Therefan Discord
GalactoseIntolerance:trying to figure out (1) if Simon Devereaux is actually a nightmare to work with and (2) whether I care
SupervillainApologist:I’m going with “probably” and “absolutely not” personally
SimonDevereauxsCheekbones:who is in here slandering my biological son simon devereaux
GalactoseIntolerance:
