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PLAYER INFORMATION
PLAYER: Pixy
AGED 18+? Yep
RESERVED? Yep!
IN-GAME CHARACTERS: V invited me.
CHARACTER INFORMATION
NAME: Freddie Baxter
CANON: Cucumber
CANON POINT: Running out of the door of Henry's house in the final episode.
ARRIVAL TYPE: A mix of rescued/accidental. It's a time when he's in need of rescue, and he doesn't realise the door leads somewhere else until he's through it. Accidental if one must be specified.
IC USERNAME: freddieornot
HISTORY:
Within the context of the series, Freddie is just the pretty boy who works in the office canteen that everybody seems to have a crush on. Everybody specifically including one Henry Best, a 46 year old insurance salesman in a long-term, loving but sexless relationship with his boyfriend, Lance.
Freddie lives with Dean (19, mail room at the same office) in a massive, half-finished warehouse flat which they rent for peanuts from dubious landlords.
Henry and Dean strike up an unlikely acquaintance, and when a threesome-gone-wrong blows up catastrophically and explodes Henry's relationship, he offers to pay Dean's rent if he's allowed to move into the Calico Warehouse in a room alongside his fantasy boyfriend: Freddie.
Freddie is vaguely horrified by the intrusion of this middle aged stalker into his personal life, viciously ripping apart Henry's intentions towards him as he bans him from so much as wanking over the image of him. Henry is on hand for a close-up glimpse of Freddie's personal life - no money, little ambition and a constant stream of sex with very willing partners. In an argument with Lance, Henry states that maybe, just maybe if he stays for a thousand days in the company of 'the most beautiful boy in the world' one day Freddie may be drunk, or bored, or bereaved, or may just decide to be kind and actually sleep with him.
When Henry later presents this possibility to a slightly off-guard Freddie, it's met with a noncomittal 'yeah'.
It's a chance encounter with someone from Freddie's past that causes Freddie and Henry's relationship to change. Freddie runs into the teacher who groomed him into a relationship between the ages of 14 and 18. Gregory was Freddie's first love, and he was a controlling one. Freddie wasn't allowed to come out as bisexual when they were together. He was never allowed Gregory's phone number, or photos of him. Gregory, meanwhile, is married with two baby girls, but decides he wants a last fuck with Freddie. Freddie struggles to say no, but runs at the last minute - only to invite Gregory to the warehouse later. There, Freddie engages in sex with Gregory, only to confront him with his controlling, pedophilic past, and take photos to send to Gregory's wife. Gregory attacks Freddie to retrieve the photos, at which point Henry arrives and (fairly uselessly) attempts to intervene.
Finally Lance shows up and successfully stops Gregory going for Freddie, and Henry shares that he was always scared of his sexuality, and Freddie should refuse to be scared, and send the photos. Freddie does.
This changes how he views Henry. They become more friendly, and Freddie even sets Henry up on a date. However when Lance is murdered, and Henry is distraught, Freddie finds it very hard to cope with the emotional shift and decides to move out.
He changes his mind after Henry breaks down, and after finding out that Henry has never had sex, and is in fact scared of it. Freddie offers himself to Henry that night when he hears Henry crying - but is turned down.
The Warehouse is turned over by the dodgy landlords, who kick them out and steal all their stuff. Henry invites Dean, Freddie and a collective of misfits from the Warehouse flats to come and live at the house he once shared with Lance. For a while there's a non-stop party and Freddie is in his element. But gradually people start moving out to get on with their lives, and Freddie is left living with Henry. After Henry starts performing domestic tasks for him, Freddie panics that he's become the new Lance - trapped in a sexless relationship with Henry. In his horror at this he lashes out viciously, has sex with Henry's best friend while ensuring Henry listens, and then runs away. He doesn't see Henry again for 6 years.
PERSONALITY:
Freddie's personality is shaped by his early experiences of abuse. He, however, does not quantify it this way and is unwilling to describe himself as a victim. However his first sexual experience was with a 35 year old pub landlord who got him drunk (though he says he wanted it, now he sees what the man was doing). Then he fell into a very controlling highly groomed relationship with his teacher, where he was forbidden from being sexually open with anyone, while being allowed no true intimacy with the man he felt he was in love with. This certainly stunted his ability to form healthy relationships, and set up a number of patterns for his life.
Freddie also had an abusive older brother who, among other things, knew that Freddie was bisexual (male leaning) and brought a boy home to fuck loudly while Freddie listened. As his brother wasn't gay, Freddie felt this was 'like he was robbing me'. It's also notable that Freddie repeats this motif when specifically trying to hurt Henry as much as possible. Freddie mentions that his brother was diagnosed with many mental disorders, but says that his own diagnosis was just 'cunt'.
After breaking up with Gregory aged 18, Freddie left school and went to university to study architecture. This shows significant academic aptitude, and it's apparent from Freddie's quick responses in conversations that he's smart and capable. However he imploded at university and only managed the first couple of terms.
All these things are secrets. Freddie doesn't mention Gregory until the man is caught attacking him, then never discusses him again. He refuses to talk about his brother. The story about university changes between getting kicked out to dropping out, depending on who he's talking to. He curates his own life and exposes as little of himself as possible.
Thanks to his history, Freddie is very concerned with control and vulnerability. He hates being seen as vulnerable, and this means that he prefers not to become emotionally close to anyone. Though there are signs he'd like to change this - he does attempt to date someone, but as soon as they make any demands on him he feels like he's being controlled and breaks things off.
He is hypersexual, a common outcome of being sexualised from an early age. All his self worth is tied up in his sexuality, and being rejected by Henry is a real kindling point for his later destruction.
I think the actor who plays Freddie, Freddie Fox, described him very well in these interview responses:
• He’s been sexualised from a young age – long before most of us are – and he happens to be very good at it. So he uses it as a way to protect himself and as a weapon, and also, because he’s good at it, as a way to validate his position in the world.
• In certain respects, he is heartless about certain things, but ultimately, no he’s not. He has got a heart, and a big one, but he just protects himself with an armour of sex and outward expressions of beauty. That’s so he can control other people, but that’s only there because it’s hiding aspects of his life that he simply will not show. As the friendship between Freddie and Dean and Henry grows, and they become more cemented together by their proximity at the warehouse, you see a much more humane and sensitive Freddie emerge.
Freddie is a bit of a lost boy, with sex his only grounding in the world. He's a talented artist and able in many other ways, but works a shitty job because trying for something might mean failing. In the six years after the main action of the show ends we're told he continues to drift, with new starts in several countries, tattoos he regrets and even a marriage that failed to last. He's in need of a grounding force in his life, but becomes frightened when he might have found one.
He's a surprisingly caring friend, though he will protest that he doesn't care even while looking after someone who needs him. He's also generally friendly and chatty and gets on well with people, though he can cut them dead when they overstep an invisible line in the sand. People can get close, but trying to break down his walls meets with fierce resistance.
Essentially I could have summed all this up with Freddie Baxter: human disaster - but he has a catlike quility of falling often but usually managing to land on his feet.
INVENTORY: Black t shirt, Black leather jacket, Blue jeans. Record bag containing: underwear, a couple of shirts, an ipad loaded with music/porn/an art app, condoms, lube. One photo of Freddie, Henry and Dean.
CHANGES: None.
SAMPLES