FIC: There's No Replacing You, Entourage, R, 4/4
Continued from Part 3.
The nausea comes back with a vengeance. He’s halfway to Travis’s house before he realizes he didn’t call, he doesn’t even know if Travis is home, so he gets out his phone. “What happened?”
“Long story,” Eric says. “Are you at home?”
“I’m - actually, you want to meet me? You still have time to shop today?”
Eric swallows. Shit, he forgot. “Sure,” he says. “Where are you?”
Travis gives him an address, and Eric punches it into his nav system and then hangs up. He doesn’t really want to go shopping, but maybe it will be a good buffer. He can just follow Travis around, let him carry the conversation, just find a way to be with him for a while without having to talk about this crap with Vince, yet. And maybe they can get Eric some Tums or a 7-Up or something on the way.
The address Travis has given him is a house in a gated neighborhood. The guard lets him through when he shows his license, says he’s expected, and Eric can’t remember what Travis said he was doing over here. The house is mid-sized for Hollywood, a little smaller than Vince’s but nice, two stories, lots of windows, kind of modern. Eric knocks on the front door and a woman in a sleek black business suit answers. “You must be Travis’s partner,” she says, shaking his hand.
“Uh, yeah,” he says. “Eric.”
“Nice to meet you.” The place smells like cinnamon and cookies. Eric’s stomach lurches. “Travis is at the pool with Terri. Shall we join them?”
“Actually, is there a bathroom I could -?”
The woman points him down a hallway, saying something about it being the best feature of the house, and so Eric hurries - he pretty much jogs - through a massive master suite and into the attached bathroom. His stomach is doing flips, but he’s not quite at the point of needing to throw up, not yet, he just feels really fucking bad. He sits on the edge of the massive jacuzzi and crosses his arms over his chest. There are candles burning on the marble countertop; the room smells like cranberries. His mouth still tastes, very faintly, like cherries. That nearly pushes him over the edge.
He doesn’t know exactly how long he sits there, trying to just hold still, waiting to feel better, before he hears footsteps on the stone floor. “E?”
He looks up and over at Travis, who’s lurking in the doorway. “Hey.”
He walks in and leans against the counter, right across from him. “You all right? Laura said you looked kind of sick.”
“Just still hungover,” Eric says.
“Jesus.” Travis sits next to him, and he starts to rub Eric’s back, gently. “I’m sorry. You want to go home? Want some water or something?”
“In a bit,” Eric says. “I just want to sit for a minute.”
“Sure.” Eric turns just a little so he can rest his head against Travis’s shoulder. “Why’s your hair all wet?”
Eric sighs. “Things didn’t go so well with Vince.”
“Yeah? What happened?”
“He came on to me,” Eric says, and Travis’s hand pauses. “He kissed me, actually.” He can hear Travis swallow.
“I guess I’m not surprised.”
“Don’t worry, all right? I told him to go to hell.”
Travis starts rubbing his back again. “What happened?”
“I’m - I’m not sure I can talk about it yet,” Eric says. He looks at Travis to see if that’s OK, and sees it probably isn’t, that he’s got to be a little more clear. So he tries. “I told him I’m in love with you. I bitched him out for not being any kind of friend about this, told him I don’t even think of him as my best friend anymore.” Travis frowns, sympathy in his eyes. “I told him I tell you everything.”
He moves up to rub his neck. “I’m so sorry,” he says. “I really do think - he’s an asshole, but E, he loves you, he’s gonna come around.”
“You’re just saying that because you love me,” Eric starts, and then he looks over at Travis.
“I do,” he says, and there’s no blush or flinch. “I’ve been in love with you for a while.”
Eric smiles, and he takes Travis’s hand into both of his own. “Good.”
He hears a distant knock. “Mr. Walters?”
“Just a minute,” Travis calls.
“Where are we?” Eric asks. “I thought you were shopping.”
“I am,” Travis says. Now there’s a little flush on his cheeks. “This, uh, this is what I’m shopping for.”
“A new house?”
He nods. “It’s kind of my lame attempt at asking you to move in with me.”
Eric gapes at him. “Seriously?”
“Bad timing, I know,” Travis says. “But - I’ve been thinking I should get an actual house, and you’re at my place a lot, and I like that, and you seem to, too, and I just thought this was something we could do together.”
Eric looks around the marble bathroom. “I can’t afford this place,” he says.
Travis grins. “That’s what you have a problem with?”
“The rest of it makes sense. This is the next step.”
His grin gets a little wider. “So you wanna look around? This place has a nice pool.”
Eric looks down at his hands. “I don’t know if this is such an auspicious start for a place of our own. But, yeah, I’d love to start looking.” His stomach groans audibly. “Though maybe not today.”
“OK,” Travis says, and he kisses the side of his head.
The next day, Eric gives Travis the blow-by-blow of his fight with Vince, up to and including Vince’s invocation of Turtle’s plan. Travis takes it all in stride. “I guess if I had to worry about any of that, you wouldn’t be here today,” he says, and Eric agrees. “So what now?”
“I don’t know,” Eric admits. “I’m just hoping he shows up tomorrow.”
Vince does show up to the lunch, and he makes a big show of sitting close to Eric and being all friendly, and Eric’s not sure if MacEnroe catches on that it’s all an act. It doesn’t matter, it turns out, because the guy likes Vince’s look and Eric’s lifestyle, and they get a verbal deal on the movie sewn up over dessert. Ari offers to buy them both “drinks or hookers or whatever, a trip to the fucking moon, seriously,” afterward, but Eric begs off. He’s pretty sure Vince doesn’t want to be around him, and he doesn’t, really, want to be around Vince. Instead he goes to the office and makes a few calls on Josie’s behalf and then pages through some of the real estate ads around Beverly Hills. It’s a nice distraction, though it brings its own problems. There’s no way he’ll be able to afford even half of a place in a neighborhood like Travis deserves, not unless Josie and Vince and fifteen clients he hasn’t found yet make record-breaking movies every month for the next fifteen years.
“Hey, I’m not asking you to pay for it,” Travis says at dinner.
“But I want to help.”
Travis shrugs. “So when your condo sells, you can buy some art you like for the place.”
Eric rolls his eyes. “You’re gonna buy a house and you want me to decorate it?”
“I want you to live in it,” Travis says. “Why is this such a big deal? Vince bought you a car.”
“Not a good direction to go in this conversation,” Eric says, and Travis apologizes and they change the subject.
They go house hunting again that weekend, on a tour of several houses in Beverly Hills and Malibu that Travis’s broker team - Laura and Terri - are crazy about. The house Eric likes best is a sharp Spanish-styled place with a view of the ocean and a gorgeous second-floor master suite with a comfortable area for reading, working, and television watching. It even has a wet bar. “We would never have to leave this room,” Travis says, and Eric puts his arms around him from behind.
“Sold,” he says against Travis’s shoulder blade, and Travis snickers but then repeats Eric’s words on the driveway.
The house is 6.2 million dollars. They argue over the costs again. Eric’s uncomfortable with the inequity of their contributions. His million-dollar condo isn’t going to sell very quickly, so the money he’s just made from Vince’s film will be going mostly toward keeping up payments on that. But Travis doesn’t seem to get it, and he does really want to hurry up and buy a place. They start the paperwork, but Eric’s reluctant to go in and really meet with the finance people, because - it’s not his money.
He tells Turtle about the house while they’re sitting around waiting for Vince to finish up at a fitting. “Seriously, the guy bought you a house?” Turtle says, and Eric winces.
“It’s not like that. It’s ours.”
“But he’s paying for it.”
Eric shrugs. Travis won’t even hear about him contributing some to the expenses. The thing is, it’s not a Vince-like gesture of grandiosity - Travis can match Eric figure for figure about why he should pay for things. “I pay for stuff, too. Plus I’ve still gotta keep paying on my place until it sells.”
“You’re selling your place?” Turtle raises an eyebrow. “How much?”
“More than you’ve got.”
“Yeah, but Vince was saying he might spring for a place of my own.”
Eric cocks his head. “Uh, what? He’s gonna live alone now?”
“I don’t know. Said he thinks maybe he should try it out. You ask me, that’s something Erica said before they split up.”
“Stop calling her that,” he says tiredly. He wants to ask more about all of this, but Vince is walking out. Eric’s really curious, though; if Vince is seriously considering splitting off from the other guys, well, that’s a major shift. Maybe Anita did have something to do with it, but more likely than that, Eric thinks, it could have something to do with their big fight.
Today, he’s roped into lunch because they’re supposed to meet Shauna. She calls to say she’ll be late, which is fine except Eric still doesn’t much want to be in the same booth, much less the same room, as Vince. Since the thing at his house, all he’s been able to think about is Vince saying, I don’t know what else you want from me, like everything is Eric’s fault. It buzzes around in his head like a swarm of bees, so that sometimes, just thinking about Vince makes his pulse race. He works hard not to make eye contact at lunch, willing himself to just float in the conversation between Turtle and Drama. It’s easier that way.
“Hey, maybe E should get the bill,” Turtle says, when the waiter brings their check. “He’s going back to living rent-free.”
Eric’s not sure whether he actually groans out loud or not. “Yeah, not for a while,” he says. “The place has to sell first.”
“You’re selling your place?” Drama asks. “I mean, I’m not currently in the market, but real estate is never a bad investment.”
“Jesus, even I know that’s not true,” Turtle says.
“Yeah,” Eric says. “I talked to the broker yesterday.”
“Vin, what do you think? Good place,” Turtle says.
Eric finally looks over at Vince. His expression is one of open-mouthed surprise. “You’re moving in with Travis.”
Eric nods. “We’re house hunting,” he says. Vince’s face changes, just slightly: he looks surprised and sad, now, and for some reason, it just pisses Eric off even more. He shakes his head, pushes his plate back. “One of these times, you’re gonna have to believe me when I say I’m serious about this guy, Vince.”
“He’s buying you a house?”
“We’re buying a house together,” Eric says. “Because that’s what you do, when you’re serious. When you’re committed.”
“Whoa, OK, we get it, bro,” Drama says, and Eric realizes he’s been speaking a little too loudly; a few people are glancing over. Eric flinches and sinks into his seat a bit more, goes back to studying his plate. Motherfucker, he thinks, over and over and over, until it’s just the usual drumbeat of anger in his head when Shauna walks up and he has to function again.
After lunch he says a tight good-bye to the guys and then takes a cab to Travis’s place. It’s deja vu, finding Travis laying on the couch, but this time Eric doesn’t pause or even think. He just slips in behind him, then rests his head on Travis’s chest, and when he closes his eyes he can picture it, the new house, the new life. He says, “Let’s go meet with your finance guy tomorrow morning.”
“Yeah?”
“Yeah,” Eric says. He’s been dragging his feet because of the money issues, but he’s tired of fighting. He just wants something in his life to be settled.
By the next week, they have the house. It was move-in ready, and Travis’s finance guy got everything expedited, so Eric takes the next Friday off work to supervise the moving company. His condo is almost completely cleared of personal objects. Only a little of his furniture is making the move - his broker says it’s best to leave some in place, to stage the rooms, and they won’t need his bed or couch or second-hand dresser at the new place. Eric goes through all of the drawers methodically, making sure nothing is left behind, and finds only an old movie ticket and a really old bag of Cheetos. Even the trash cans are gone.
He sits on his bed and takes a last look around. It’s not an impressive place, but it’s the first place he ever owned on his own, and maybe, if things work with Travis, it will be the last. His doubts about just letting Travis pay for everything have returned, but there’s not much he can do at this point. The house is theirs, and it’s way too expensive for Eric to make a meaningful contribution. Maybe swallowing this pride is the price he has to pay to live with the guy he loves.
There’s a knock on the door, and Eric figures it’s Travis. They’re supposed to go to dinner, and then over to the house to see how the moving process is going. He yells, “Come in!” and then lays back, waiting, staring up at the first ceiling he ever owned.
“Hey.”
Eric sits up so sharply, he’s briefly light-headed. “Vince? What are you doing here?”
“You’ve been avoiding me,” he says. “Turtle told me you were moving today. Since I don’t know your new address, I figured this might be my last chance to find you.”
“Find me for what?” Eric asks, instantly ready to fight.
“So we can talk.”
“I don’t really want to talk to you, right now,” Eric says. He stands up and walks to the door, hoping Vince will follow, but instead Vince drops onto the bed, in the space Eric’s just vacated.
Eric’s ready to fight, to yell, to run. But Vince says, as calmly as if they’re just hanging out, as if there’s not horrible tension in the air, “I always liked this place. It reminds me of home.”
Eric shakes his head. “I’ve seen home for you,” he says, “so -”
“I mean, it’s not very Hollywood,” Vince says. “What about your new place? Is it all Hollywood?”
Eric starts to snap back, but Vince quickly holds up his hands, almost defensively. “I’m sorry,” he says. “I didn’t mean that to sound bad. I didn’t come here to fight with you.”
“Why did you come here?”
“To say I’m sorry,” Vince says. He lowers his hands, then looks down at them. “I had a plan, too. Like Turtle’s.” Eric leans back against the wall, right by the door. He doesn’t know what to say to that. “New Year’s. I called you, remember? I was gonna - I was gonna say, maybe we should - but then I met Anita. And she was, you were right. She was like you, only - not you.”
“A girl,” Eric says, and Vince nods.
“And it seemed like a good solution, only then you started up with Travis.” Vince looks up. His voice is strangely gentle, soft. “It made me crazy.”
“I got that,” Eric says. He wants to edge away, but he’s also frozen, terrified but enthralled.
“You were wrong about something the other day,” Vince says. “I do know what I want.”
“Vince -”
“I want things to go back to how they were,” he says. “I do. E, I want that more than anything. I - it’s just - I get it, OK? Travis is a great guy, and he’s - he can give you stuff I can’t, and - and it’s hard. You’ve been my best friend my whole life, and I don’t - I just don’t deal so well with being replaced.” He smiles as he says it, which is a little heartbreaking.
“Vin, I’m not trying to replace you,” Eric says. “You’re my best friend. Or you were, before you became a total fucking headcase about this.” Vince is still looking at him with that same painful expression. “Just because I have a boyfriend, it doesn’t mean I need a best friend any less. It doesn’t mean I need you any less.”
“Yeah?”
“Look, I get what you’re feeling,” Eric says. “I felt the same way with Anita.”
Vince rubs his face. “You were right about her,” he says. “I was - in a way, I was trying to replace you. I thought, if I could just find a girl just like you, then maybe I wouldn’t feel so… fucked up about you being with a guy.” He looks up, and his expression is sad and resigned. “I think, honestly, E, I think I am kind of in love with you. I think I probably have been forever. But I know. I mean, I know, you're right. It wouldn't work for us. I’m not built like you, I don’t think I could ever settle down enough to be what you deserve in a lover.”
Eric nods slowly, wanting to show that he's taking this seriously, because he is. He knows, Eric absolutely knows, that he should feel shocked or triumphant or something, but what he feels immediately is just - sorry. Sorry, that Vince has finally realized what Eric has known for so long, that they are meant to be together, but not in the way that would make the most sense, and sorry, that he's managed to find happiness outside of it. He loves Vince more than almost anyone in the world, and certainly, clearly, enough to know the truth of everything he's saying.
“But everything else, all the friendship stuff,” Eric says, as gently as he can, “that doesn’t have to change, Vince. I love you, too, man. You’re the closest thing I’ve got to a brother.”
Vince nods. He reaches out, and Eric crosses over so they can bump fists, then Vince grips his hand for a second and lowers his forehead to rest there. “I’m sorry,” he says again, and Eric nods even though he can’t see it. “I just - today, it hit me, you’re moving and I don’t even know where, and I couldn’t - I can’t lose you completely, E. I don’t know what I’d do.”
“You won’t,” Eric says. “Just stop this bullshit, OK?”
“Yeah.” Vince lets him go, and Eric takes a slow step backward. “Where are you moving, anyway?”
Eric tells him about the house, then, and somehow, all of the stuff that he’s been wanting to tell someone forever - about Travis paying for everything and his mixed feelings, about how weird it is to leave his own place - just starts rushing out.
“I get that, I totally do,” Vince says, and he looks over to where Eric’s sitting next to him.
“Christ, I missed having you to talk to,” Eric admits, and Vince smiles, just a little.
“That makes two of us. Hey, at least you’ve had Travis.”
“True,” Eric says. He pauses, then says, seriously, “You know, you’ll like him. He’s a good guy, Vince.”
“I know,” Vince says. “And he’d better be, because my best friend’s in love with him.”
They move to the living room after a few minutes, talking lightly about the upcoming movie and some Drama and Turtle hijinks Eric’s missed in the last month. That’s where they’re at when Travis walks in. He looks between them, then focuses Eric, his gaze steady but slightly wary.
“Everything OK?” he asks.
“Yeah,” Eric says. He’s not sure what else to say, exactly, but luckily Vince steps up.
“I owe you an apology, Travis,” he says. Travis looks at him. “I’m sorry. It’s just - he’s kind of a hard guy to let go of.”
“I get that,” Travis says, and they shake hands. For some reason, that’s what finally makes it feel real, that these two guys he loves more than anybody are finally, really, hopefully going to get along. Eric’s grinning so big he can barely stand it, and he takes Travis’s hand as they leave, barely even thinking about it being the last time he’ll really be in his place.
“I take it we have some stuff to talk about?” Travis asks, after Vince is on his way home and they’re in Travis’s car.
“We have some stuff to celebrate,” Eric says, and kisses him before they drive toward their new home.
Things slowly get back to normal. Two weeks later, they throw a house-warming party for a few friends - Travis’s and Eric’s - and Vince brings a bottle of expensive wine and a Wii with every accessory known to man. They all mingle around the pool and in their new spacious living room, and Eric spends most of the evening feeling very grown up and a little freaked out by that.
Around midnight, Travis sits next to him on a lounge chair by the pool. Eric’s been talking to his friend Taylor for about half an hour about sound systems, and he’s glad for the relief of Travis’s presence and even more for his hands as they start to rub his shoulders. When Travis tells Taylor that another friend is looking for him, Eric closes his eyes so the gratitude won’t show so much on his face.
“Thanks,” he says, after Taylor’s moved away and they’re alone.
“Mm-hm,” Travis says. He kisses the back of Eric’s neck. “I think our house is a hit.”
“Yeah,” Eric agrees. “If we’re not careful, Turtle’s gonna move in.”
Travis laughs. “I was talking to the guys earlier,” he says.
“Yeah?”
“Yeah. Vince says I should let you pay some for the house.”
Eric opens his eyes, turns a little to face Travis better. “You’ve been talking to Vince?”
He nods. “He says me paying for everything really bugs you.”
“You knew that,” Eric says.
“Not really,” Travis says. “Or - I knew something was bugging you about the whole thing, but - for a while, E, I really thought you didn’t want to do this.”
“What?”
“You dragged your feet forever on signing the papers. You wouldn’t meet with Barry.” Travis shrugs. “I really thought you might be working up to tell me you’d had second thoughts.”
“Not - not about us,” Eric says. “Just about the money.”
“Yeah,” Travis says, “that’s what Vince said, too.”
“What else did Vince say?”
“That it’s always gonna be hard for you to take money or gifts like this. Like it makes you feel dependent, and you hate that.”
“It kind of does,” he admits. “Look, I - I trust you. I don’t think you’re gonna kick me out. It’s not about that. It’s about - I just kinda learned, a man pays his own way in the world.”
Travis takes his hand. “You probably also learned a man doesn’t fall in love with another man.”
“I’ve managed to throw out a lot of that crap,” Eric says, “but some stuff - it’s just the way I am, the way I see it.”
Travis nods. “OK,” he says. “I can respect that.” He squeezes Eric’s hand. “So, whatever you used to pay on your condo - why don’t you just put that toward the house every month? And when you make more, we can renegotiate, if you want.”
“Yeah?” He nods again. “OK.”
“And you can use whatever’s left over to help keep me in the manner to which I’ve become so accustomed.”
“You mean I should buy a subscription to the NASCAR channel?” Eric asks, and Travis laughs.
The party winds down about an hour later, and Vince and the guys start talking about hitting some club. Eric says no thanks. “I’m pretty much done with that scene, you know? I’m looking forward to getting really, really boring. House payment, committed partner, in bed by midnight.”
“Just not boring once you’re in bed, right?” Vince says, waggling his eyebrows. “How’re you gonna hang on to a movie star without a little spice in your life?”
“Jesus, kill me now,” Turtle says, and Eric and Vince laugh.
“You guys heading out?” Travis asks, joining them at the doorway.
“Yeah, they say the night’s still young,” Eric says.
“So do I,” Travis says, and Vince winks at Eric.
“You kids have fun,” he says. “E, lunch tomorrow?”
“Late lunch,” Eric agrees, and they shake hands all around before waving the guys off from the doorway. Once they’re gone, they walk back in, lock up, and decide unanimously to leave most of the clean up for the service in the morning. They make their way to their new spacious bedroom, and Travis falls right onto the bed. “Finally, the place to ourselves,” he says, grinning up at him, and Eric smiles back. It’s been a good night, and it’s only going to get better.
“Home sweet home,” he agrees, then eases himself down for the first of many good-night kisses.
[The End!]
The nausea comes back with a vengeance. He’s halfway to Travis’s house before he realizes he didn’t call, he doesn’t even know if Travis is home, so he gets out his phone. “What happened?”
“Long story,” Eric says. “Are you at home?”
“I’m - actually, you want to meet me? You still have time to shop today?”
Eric swallows. Shit, he forgot. “Sure,” he says. “Where are you?”
Travis gives him an address, and Eric punches it into his nav system and then hangs up. He doesn’t really want to go shopping, but maybe it will be a good buffer. He can just follow Travis around, let him carry the conversation, just find a way to be with him for a while without having to talk about this crap with Vince, yet. And maybe they can get Eric some Tums or a 7-Up or something on the way.
The address Travis has given him is a house in a gated neighborhood. The guard lets him through when he shows his license, says he’s expected, and Eric can’t remember what Travis said he was doing over here. The house is mid-sized for Hollywood, a little smaller than Vince’s but nice, two stories, lots of windows, kind of modern. Eric knocks on the front door and a woman in a sleek black business suit answers. “You must be Travis’s partner,” she says, shaking his hand.
“Uh, yeah,” he says. “Eric.”
“Nice to meet you.” The place smells like cinnamon and cookies. Eric’s stomach lurches. “Travis is at the pool with Terri. Shall we join them?”
“Actually, is there a bathroom I could -?”
The woman points him down a hallway, saying something about it being the best feature of the house, and so Eric hurries - he pretty much jogs - through a massive master suite and into the attached bathroom. His stomach is doing flips, but he’s not quite at the point of needing to throw up, not yet, he just feels really fucking bad. He sits on the edge of the massive jacuzzi and crosses his arms over his chest. There are candles burning on the marble countertop; the room smells like cranberries. His mouth still tastes, very faintly, like cherries. That nearly pushes him over the edge.
He doesn’t know exactly how long he sits there, trying to just hold still, waiting to feel better, before he hears footsteps on the stone floor. “E?”
He looks up and over at Travis, who’s lurking in the doorway. “Hey.”
He walks in and leans against the counter, right across from him. “You all right? Laura said you looked kind of sick.”
“Just still hungover,” Eric says.
“Jesus.” Travis sits next to him, and he starts to rub Eric’s back, gently. “I’m sorry. You want to go home? Want some water or something?”
“In a bit,” Eric says. “I just want to sit for a minute.”
“Sure.” Eric turns just a little so he can rest his head against Travis’s shoulder. “Why’s your hair all wet?”
Eric sighs. “Things didn’t go so well with Vince.”
“Yeah? What happened?”
“He came on to me,” Eric says, and Travis’s hand pauses. “He kissed me, actually.” He can hear Travis swallow.
“I guess I’m not surprised.”
“Don’t worry, all right? I told him to go to hell.”
Travis starts rubbing his back again. “What happened?”
“I’m - I’m not sure I can talk about it yet,” Eric says. He looks at Travis to see if that’s OK, and sees it probably isn’t, that he’s got to be a little more clear. So he tries. “I told him I’m in love with you. I bitched him out for not being any kind of friend about this, told him I don’t even think of him as my best friend anymore.” Travis frowns, sympathy in his eyes. “I told him I tell you everything.”
He moves up to rub his neck. “I’m so sorry,” he says. “I really do think - he’s an asshole, but E, he loves you, he’s gonna come around.”
“You’re just saying that because you love me,” Eric starts, and then he looks over at Travis.
“I do,” he says, and there’s no blush or flinch. “I’ve been in love with you for a while.”
Eric smiles, and he takes Travis’s hand into both of his own. “Good.”
He hears a distant knock. “Mr. Walters?”
“Just a minute,” Travis calls.
“Where are we?” Eric asks. “I thought you were shopping.”
“I am,” Travis says. Now there’s a little flush on his cheeks. “This, uh, this is what I’m shopping for.”
“A new house?”
He nods. “It’s kind of my lame attempt at asking you to move in with me.”
Eric gapes at him. “Seriously?”
“Bad timing, I know,” Travis says. “But - I’ve been thinking I should get an actual house, and you’re at my place a lot, and I like that, and you seem to, too, and I just thought this was something we could do together.”
Eric looks around the marble bathroom. “I can’t afford this place,” he says.
Travis grins. “That’s what you have a problem with?”
“The rest of it makes sense. This is the next step.”
His grin gets a little wider. “So you wanna look around? This place has a nice pool.”
Eric looks down at his hands. “I don’t know if this is such an auspicious start for a place of our own. But, yeah, I’d love to start looking.” His stomach groans audibly. “Though maybe not today.”
“OK,” Travis says, and he kisses the side of his head.
The next day, Eric gives Travis the blow-by-blow of his fight with Vince, up to and including Vince’s invocation of Turtle’s plan. Travis takes it all in stride. “I guess if I had to worry about any of that, you wouldn’t be here today,” he says, and Eric agrees. “So what now?”
“I don’t know,” Eric admits. “I’m just hoping he shows up tomorrow.”
Vince does show up to the lunch, and he makes a big show of sitting close to Eric and being all friendly, and Eric’s not sure if MacEnroe catches on that it’s all an act. It doesn’t matter, it turns out, because the guy likes Vince’s look and Eric’s lifestyle, and they get a verbal deal on the movie sewn up over dessert. Ari offers to buy them both “drinks or hookers or whatever, a trip to the fucking moon, seriously,” afterward, but Eric begs off. He’s pretty sure Vince doesn’t want to be around him, and he doesn’t, really, want to be around Vince. Instead he goes to the office and makes a few calls on Josie’s behalf and then pages through some of the real estate ads around Beverly Hills. It’s a nice distraction, though it brings its own problems. There’s no way he’ll be able to afford even half of a place in a neighborhood like Travis deserves, not unless Josie and Vince and fifteen clients he hasn’t found yet make record-breaking movies every month for the next fifteen years.
“Hey, I’m not asking you to pay for it,” Travis says at dinner.
“But I want to help.”
Travis shrugs. “So when your condo sells, you can buy some art you like for the place.”
Eric rolls his eyes. “You’re gonna buy a house and you want me to decorate it?”
“I want you to live in it,” Travis says. “Why is this such a big deal? Vince bought you a car.”
“Not a good direction to go in this conversation,” Eric says, and Travis apologizes and they change the subject.
They go house hunting again that weekend, on a tour of several houses in Beverly Hills and Malibu that Travis’s broker team - Laura and Terri - are crazy about. The house Eric likes best is a sharp Spanish-styled place with a view of the ocean and a gorgeous second-floor master suite with a comfortable area for reading, working, and television watching. It even has a wet bar. “We would never have to leave this room,” Travis says, and Eric puts his arms around him from behind.
“Sold,” he says against Travis’s shoulder blade, and Travis snickers but then repeats Eric’s words on the driveway.
The house is 6.2 million dollars. They argue over the costs again. Eric’s uncomfortable with the inequity of their contributions. His million-dollar condo isn’t going to sell very quickly, so the money he’s just made from Vince’s film will be going mostly toward keeping up payments on that. But Travis doesn’t seem to get it, and he does really want to hurry up and buy a place. They start the paperwork, but Eric’s reluctant to go in and really meet with the finance people, because - it’s not his money.
He tells Turtle about the house while they’re sitting around waiting for Vince to finish up at a fitting. “Seriously, the guy bought you a house?” Turtle says, and Eric winces.
“It’s not like that. It’s ours.”
“But he’s paying for it.”
Eric shrugs. Travis won’t even hear about him contributing some to the expenses. The thing is, it’s not a Vince-like gesture of grandiosity - Travis can match Eric figure for figure about why he should pay for things. “I pay for stuff, too. Plus I’ve still gotta keep paying on my place until it sells.”
“You’re selling your place?” Turtle raises an eyebrow. “How much?”
“More than you’ve got.”
“Yeah, but Vince was saying he might spring for a place of my own.”
Eric cocks his head. “Uh, what? He’s gonna live alone now?”
“I don’t know. Said he thinks maybe he should try it out. You ask me, that’s something Erica said before they split up.”
“Stop calling her that,” he says tiredly. He wants to ask more about all of this, but Vince is walking out. Eric’s really curious, though; if Vince is seriously considering splitting off from the other guys, well, that’s a major shift. Maybe Anita did have something to do with it, but more likely than that, Eric thinks, it could have something to do with their big fight.
Today, he’s roped into lunch because they’re supposed to meet Shauna. She calls to say she’ll be late, which is fine except Eric still doesn’t much want to be in the same booth, much less the same room, as Vince. Since the thing at his house, all he’s been able to think about is Vince saying, I don’t know what else you want from me, like everything is Eric’s fault. It buzzes around in his head like a swarm of bees, so that sometimes, just thinking about Vince makes his pulse race. He works hard not to make eye contact at lunch, willing himself to just float in the conversation between Turtle and Drama. It’s easier that way.
“Hey, maybe E should get the bill,” Turtle says, when the waiter brings their check. “He’s going back to living rent-free.”
Eric’s not sure whether he actually groans out loud or not. “Yeah, not for a while,” he says. “The place has to sell first.”
“You’re selling your place?” Drama asks. “I mean, I’m not currently in the market, but real estate is never a bad investment.”
“Jesus, even I know that’s not true,” Turtle says.
“Yeah,” Eric says. “I talked to the broker yesterday.”
“Vin, what do you think? Good place,” Turtle says.
Eric finally looks over at Vince. His expression is one of open-mouthed surprise. “You’re moving in with Travis.”
Eric nods. “We’re house hunting,” he says. Vince’s face changes, just slightly: he looks surprised and sad, now, and for some reason, it just pisses Eric off even more. He shakes his head, pushes his plate back. “One of these times, you’re gonna have to believe me when I say I’m serious about this guy, Vince.”
“He’s buying you a house?”
“We’re buying a house together,” Eric says. “Because that’s what you do, when you’re serious. When you’re committed.”
“Whoa, OK, we get it, bro,” Drama says, and Eric realizes he’s been speaking a little too loudly; a few people are glancing over. Eric flinches and sinks into his seat a bit more, goes back to studying his plate. Motherfucker, he thinks, over and over and over, until it’s just the usual drumbeat of anger in his head when Shauna walks up and he has to function again.
After lunch he says a tight good-bye to the guys and then takes a cab to Travis’s place. It’s deja vu, finding Travis laying on the couch, but this time Eric doesn’t pause or even think. He just slips in behind him, then rests his head on Travis’s chest, and when he closes his eyes he can picture it, the new house, the new life. He says, “Let’s go meet with your finance guy tomorrow morning.”
“Yeah?”
“Yeah,” Eric says. He’s been dragging his feet because of the money issues, but he’s tired of fighting. He just wants something in his life to be settled.
By the next week, they have the house. It was move-in ready, and Travis’s finance guy got everything expedited, so Eric takes the next Friday off work to supervise the moving company. His condo is almost completely cleared of personal objects. Only a little of his furniture is making the move - his broker says it’s best to leave some in place, to stage the rooms, and they won’t need his bed or couch or second-hand dresser at the new place. Eric goes through all of the drawers methodically, making sure nothing is left behind, and finds only an old movie ticket and a really old bag of Cheetos. Even the trash cans are gone.
He sits on his bed and takes a last look around. It’s not an impressive place, but it’s the first place he ever owned on his own, and maybe, if things work with Travis, it will be the last. His doubts about just letting Travis pay for everything have returned, but there’s not much he can do at this point. The house is theirs, and it’s way too expensive for Eric to make a meaningful contribution. Maybe swallowing this pride is the price he has to pay to live with the guy he loves.
There’s a knock on the door, and Eric figures it’s Travis. They’re supposed to go to dinner, and then over to the house to see how the moving process is going. He yells, “Come in!” and then lays back, waiting, staring up at the first ceiling he ever owned.
“Hey.”
Eric sits up so sharply, he’s briefly light-headed. “Vince? What are you doing here?”
“You’ve been avoiding me,” he says. “Turtle told me you were moving today. Since I don’t know your new address, I figured this might be my last chance to find you.”
“Find me for what?” Eric asks, instantly ready to fight.
“So we can talk.”
“I don’t really want to talk to you, right now,” Eric says. He stands up and walks to the door, hoping Vince will follow, but instead Vince drops onto the bed, in the space Eric’s just vacated.
Eric’s ready to fight, to yell, to run. But Vince says, as calmly as if they’re just hanging out, as if there’s not horrible tension in the air, “I always liked this place. It reminds me of home.”
Eric shakes his head. “I’ve seen home for you,” he says, “so -”
“I mean, it’s not very Hollywood,” Vince says. “What about your new place? Is it all Hollywood?”
Eric starts to snap back, but Vince quickly holds up his hands, almost defensively. “I’m sorry,” he says. “I didn’t mean that to sound bad. I didn’t come here to fight with you.”
“Why did you come here?”
“To say I’m sorry,” Vince says. He lowers his hands, then looks down at them. “I had a plan, too. Like Turtle’s.” Eric leans back against the wall, right by the door. He doesn’t know what to say to that. “New Year’s. I called you, remember? I was gonna - I was gonna say, maybe we should - but then I met Anita. And she was, you were right. She was like you, only - not you.”
“A girl,” Eric says, and Vince nods.
“And it seemed like a good solution, only then you started up with Travis.” Vince looks up. His voice is strangely gentle, soft. “It made me crazy.”
“I got that,” Eric says. He wants to edge away, but he’s also frozen, terrified but enthralled.
“You were wrong about something the other day,” Vince says. “I do know what I want.”
“Vince -”
“I want things to go back to how they were,” he says. “I do. E, I want that more than anything. I - it’s just - I get it, OK? Travis is a great guy, and he’s - he can give you stuff I can’t, and - and it’s hard. You’ve been my best friend my whole life, and I don’t - I just don’t deal so well with being replaced.” He smiles as he says it, which is a little heartbreaking.
“Vin, I’m not trying to replace you,” Eric says. “You’re my best friend. Or you were, before you became a total fucking headcase about this.” Vince is still looking at him with that same painful expression. “Just because I have a boyfriend, it doesn’t mean I need a best friend any less. It doesn’t mean I need you any less.”
“Yeah?”
“Look, I get what you’re feeling,” Eric says. “I felt the same way with Anita.”
Vince rubs his face. “You were right about her,” he says. “I was - in a way, I was trying to replace you. I thought, if I could just find a girl just like you, then maybe I wouldn’t feel so… fucked up about you being with a guy.” He looks up, and his expression is sad and resigned. “I think, honestly, E, I think I am kind of in love with you. I think I probably have been forever. But I know. I mean, I know, you're right. It wouldn't work for us. I’m not built like you, I don’t think I could ever settle down enough to be what you deserve in a lover.”
Eric nods slowly, wanting to show that he's taking this seriously, because he is. He knows, Eric absolutely knows, that he should feel shocked or triumphant or something, but what he feels immediately is just - sorry. Sorry, that Vince has finally realized what Eric has known for so long, that they are meant to be together, but not in the way that would make the most sense, and sorry, that he's managed to find happiness outside of it. He loves Vince more than almost anyone in the world, and certainly, clearly, enough to know the truth of everything he's saying.
“But everything else, all the friendship stuff,” Eric says, as gently as he can, “that doesn’t have to change, Vince. I love you, too, man. You’re the closest thing I’ve got to a brother.”
Vince nods. He reaches out, and Eric crosses over so they can bump fists, then Vince grips his hand for a second and lowers his forehead to rest there. “I’m sorry,” he says again, and Eric nods even though he can’t see it. “I just - today, it hit me, you’re moving and I don’t even know where, and I couldn’t - I can’t lose you completely, E. I don’t know what I’d do.”
“You won’t,” Eric says. “Just stop this bullshit, OK?”
“Yeah.” Vince lets him go, and Eric takes a slow step backward. “Where are you moving, anyway?”
Eric tells him about the house, then, and somehow, all of the stuff that he’s been wanting to tell someone forever - about Travis paying for everything and his mixed feelings, about how weird it is to leave his own place - just starts rushing out.
“I get that, I totally do,” Vince says, and he looks over to where Eric’s sitting next to him.
“Christ, I missed having you to talk to,” Eric admits, and Vince smiles, just a little.
“That makes two of us. Hey, at least you’ve had Travis.”
“True,” Eric says. He pauses, then says, seriously, “You know, you’ll like him. He’s a good guy, Vince.”
“I know,” Vince says. “And he’d better be, because my best friend’s in love with him.”
They move to the living room after a few minutes, talking lightly about the upcoming movie and some Drama and Turtle hijinks Eric’s missed in the last month. That’s where they’re at when Travis walks in. He looks between them, then focuses Eric, his gaze steady but slightly wary.
“Everything OK?” he asks.
“Yeah,” Eric says. He’s not sure what else to say, exactly, but luckily Vince steps up.
“I owe you an apology, Travis,” he says. Travis looks at him. “I’m sorry. It’s just - he’s kind of a hard guy to let go of.”
“I get that,” Travis says, and they shake hands. For some reason, that’s what finally makes it feel real, that these two guys he loves more than anybody are finally, really, hopefully going to get along. Eric’s grinning so big he can barely stand it, and he takes Travis’s hand as they leave, barely even thinking about it being the last time he’ll really be in his place.
“I take it we have some stuff to talk about?” Travis asks, after Vince is on his way home and they’re in Travis’s car.
“We have some stuff to celebrate,” Eric says, and kisses him before they drive toward their new home.
Things slowly get back to normal. Two weeks later, they throw a house-warming party for a few friends - Travis’s and Eric’s - and Vince brings a bottle of expensive wine and a Wii with every accessory known to man. They all mingle around the pool and in their new spacious living room, and Eric spends most of the evening feeling very grown up and a little freaked out by that.
Around midnight, Travis sits next to him on a lounge chair by the pool. Eric’s been talking to his friend Taylor for about half an hour about sound systems, and he’s glad for the relief of Travis’s presence and even more for his hands as they start to rub his shoulders. When Travis tells Taylor that another friend is looking for him, Eric closes his eyes so the gratitude won’t show so much on his face.
“Thanks,” he says, after Taylor’s moved away and they’re alone.
“Mm-hm,” Travis says. He kisses the back of Eric’s neck. “I think our house is a hit.”
“Yeah,” Eric agrees. “If we’re not careful, Turtle’s gonna move in.”
Travis laughs. “I was talking to the guys earlier,” he says.
“Yeah?”
“Yeah. Vince says I should let you pay some for the house.”
Eric opens his eyes, turns a little to face Travis better. “You’ve been talking to Vince?”
He nods. “He says me paying for everything really bugs you.”
“You knew that,” Eric says.
“Not really,” Travis says. “Or - I knew something was bugging you about the whole thing, but - for a while, E, I really thought you didn’t want to do this.”
“What?”
“You dragged your feet forever on signing the papers. You wouldn’t meet with Barry.” Travis shrugs. “I really thought you might be working up to tell me you’d had second thoughts.”
“Not - not about us,” Eric says. “Just about the money.”
“Yeah,” Travis says, “that’s what Vince said, too.”
“What else did Vince say?”
“That it’s always gonna be hard for you to take money or gifts like this. Like it makes you feel dependent, and you hate that.”
“It kind of does,” he admits. “Look, I - I trust you. I don’t think you’re gonna kick me out. It’s not about that. It’s about - I just kinda learned, a man pays his own way in the world.”
Travis takes his hand. “You probably also learned a man doesn’t fall in love with another man.”
“I’ve managed to throw out a lot of that crap,” Eric says, “but some stuff - it’s just the way I am, the way I see it.”
Travis nods. “OK,” he says. “I can respect that.” He squeezes Eric’s hand. “So, whatever you used to pay on your condo - why don’t you just put that toward the house every month? And when you make more, we can renegotiate, if you want.”
“Yeah?” He nods again. “OK.”
“And you can use whatever’s left over to help keep me in the manner to which I’ve become so accustomed.”
“You mean I should buy a subscription to the NASCAR channel?” Eric asks, and Travis laughs.
The party winds down about an hour later, and Vince and the guys start talking about hitting some club. Eric says no thanks. “I’m pretty much done with that scene, you know? I’m looking forward to getting really, really boring. House payment, committed partner, in bed by midnight.”
“Just not boring once you’re in bed, right?” Vince says, waggling his eyebrows. “How’re you gonna hang on to a movie star without a little spice in your life?”
“Jesus, kill me now,” Turtle says, and Eric and Vince laugh.
“You guys heading out?” Travis asks, joining them at the doorway.
“Yeah, they say the night’s still young,” Eric says.
“So do I,” Travis says, and Vince winks at Eric.
“You kids have fun,” he says. “E, lunch tomorrow?”
“Late lunch,” Eric agrees, and they shake hands all around before waving the guys off from the doorway. Once they’re gone, they walk back in, lock up, and decide unanimously to leave most of the clean up for the service in the morning. They make their way to their new spacious bedroom, and Travis falls right onto the bed. “Finally, the place to ourselves,” he says, grinning up at him, and Eric smiles back. It’s been a good night, and it’s only going to get better.
“Home sweet home,” he agrees, then eases himself down for the first of many good-night kisses.
[The End!]