Fic: Made Men, Entourage, Vince/Eric, NC-17, 2/6
Continued from Part 1.
Dinner with Johnny and Larissa gets pushed back - she’s commuting to San Diego for a new television series - but Vince and Eric still use “a caponata to die for” as a code for sex the next few days. Ari calls them in the next week to talk about new projects, and Eric says he has a good feeling about what’s coming.
“He told me you should brush up on your Spanish,” he says as they ride up in the elevator, and Vince raises an eyebrow.
“Medellin? Seriously, you think?”
Eric shrugs. “Last I heard, Benecio Del Toro was attached, but maybe he’s back in rehab or something.”
“Christ, I hope so,” Vince says as they stop on Ari’s floor.
Eric holds the door for him, and Vince sees Ari’s eyes get the narrow, nervous look they so often do now. He took the news of their being a couple surprisingly well, all things considered, but he still gets jumpy about it - like he thinks if he turns his back, Vince and Eric might start making out on the couch or something. Vince thinks it’s hilarious and does everything he can to make Ari more uncomfortable, like sitting with his arm slung along the back of the couch, over Eric’s shoulders. He also makes a point of referring to Eric as “my boyfriend” when they meet (as in, “I don’t know, Ari, let’s see what my boyfriend thinks”). Ari refers to Eric’s role with different language, of course, but Vince finds that pretty funny, too.
“OK, mis amigos,” Ari says, rubbing his hands together, “you ready for some news?”
“Nah, we just came to enjoy the scenery,” Eric says.
Ari stops with his hands still pressed together. “Don’t be jealous, Vinnie, he doesn’t mean it,” he says.
“Ari, come on,” Vince says, leaning forward a little. “Did you get Medellin or what?”
“No,” he says, and Vince sighs, almost not caring to hear what comes next. “I got you something better.” He grabs a script from his desk and tosses it at Eric. “Alfonso Cuarón needs a lead for his next movie. He saw Queens Boulevard and he wants to know how you do with accents.”
“Cuarón, really?” Vince says.
“We loved Y Tú Mama Tambien,” Eric says, and Ari rolls his eyes.
“Probably for all the wrong reasons,” Ari says, but he shakes his head. “It films next spring, half in studio, half in Chicago. They’re offering five; if you go up for an Oscar, I can get it to six.”
Vince looks over at Eric, who’s looking at the script. “All right,” Eric says, “we’ll take a look.”
“Take a look tonight,” Ari says. “Once Children of Men comes out, I swear to you, Cuarón will literally mean Oscar in Spanish.”
They nod and agree to look it over, and on the way back down to the car, Vince says, “Cuarón. Seriously, E, that’d be sick.”
He nods, glancing at his watch. “I’ll read it tonight,” he says.
He doesn’t actually get to it for a few days, which turns out OK because it gives Vince time to read it. He loves the script - the movie’s about a bike messenger and a lot of missed connections, and something in it really resonates for Vince. When Eric finishes it and says, “Yeah, I love it,” Vince is glad. “I’ll call Ari,” he says, and Vince agrees.
“Should we go down, take a meeting or something?”
Eric frowns. “Not if you want this done soon. Honestly, I don’t think I have time for a meeting until next week.”
“OK,” Vince says, shrugging, and settles back in bed. “As long as we get this, I’m happy.”
And he is happy, really. He’s got two good films finished, one to look forward to, and a boyfriend whose opinion on just about everything he can trust. Fantastic. He’s also got a bunch of free time, which is not so cool, because although Vince would love to take Eric, as his boyfriend, to some new romantic hotspot and spend a few weeks making up for all the years of friendship where he wasn’t well-acquainted with Eric’s cock, Eric’s busier than ever.
Tapping the Source gets released on-time, a miracle considering the tight production and post schedule Harvey put it on, and instead of lessening Eric’s stress, it increases it: Harvey’s so happy with the results that he throws a ton of new projects Eric’s way. “It’s actually sort of a privilege,” he says, when Vince and the guys roll in around 2 one night and find Eric sitting on the couch, reading scripts. “Almost nothing gets to Harvey now without me looking it over.”
“You’re gonna go blind, if you keep reading like that,” Johnny says.
Turtle snorts. “Is that what you think is causing your eyesight problems, Drama? ‘Cuz I got a different suspicion.”
“Hey, I don’t need to whack it, Turtle, because unlike you, I’ve got a girlfriend.”
Vince laughs and drops onto the couch, and Eric shifts the script he’s reading so Vince can rest his head in his lap. “Yeah, seriously, Turtle, we need to get you a girl.”
“I’m pretty good with the single life, thank you very much,” Turtle says. “I did just fine tonight with your girl’s friend.”
Eric looks down at him, and Vince shrugs. “Some girl who was a PA on the last thing. Nothing happened,” he says, and Eric meets his eyes, then nods. “If you don’t believe me, come along, next time.” Vince wags his eyebrows. “It’ll be fun.”
“Who has time for fun?” Eric asks, but they go to bed quickly after that and indulge in Vince’s favorite pastime.
Really, though, Eric doesn’t have a lot of time for fun anymore. He’s on call for Harvey all the time, and the fruits of that labor are starting to show. He opens another movie and it makes just over its predicted take. Tapping the Source gets a handful of nominations at the Golden Globes - including Best Actor in a Drama for Vince and Best Picture for the producers, Harvey and Eric included. People start to recognize Eric when they go out. At first it’s just waiters and the occasional business guy, but after the Academy nominations come out, it’s a higher class of Hollywood recognition. Spike Lee catches them at the Lakers Game to ask Eric about an upcoming release; the next night, Stephen Soderbergh stops at their table at The Palm to chat about a script.
“How do you know Stephen Soderbergh?” Vince asks, duly impressed.
Eric shrugs. “He was in a meeting earlier this week about a new project. Nice guy. Really fucking smart. I think he’s gonna work with us.”
Eric doesn’t actually talk too much about his work with Harvey, maybe because when he does, Vince tends to tune out. He knows it involves taking a lot of meetings and doing a lot of follow-up, but that’s about it. Put that way, it doesn’t sound exciting, and that’s why Vince hasn’t been listening too much, but Soderbergh gripping Eric’s shoulder like they’re old pals, well, that’s got his attention.
“How’s Harvey treating you?”
Eric shrugs. “He’s fucking brilliant about business, Vince. I mean, did you know, he founded HWP on 47 dollars? Forty-seven dollars, a reputation as a fixer, and Barry Diller’s home phone number, I guess. Now, the next studio up is Paramount. I mean, think about that, that’s incredible.”
Vince smiles. “So what, you wanna start the next Paramount, now?”
“No,” he says, and grins. “I wanna start the next Sony. Why be anything other than number one, right?”
It’s not that hard to believe, really, that Eric might be on the path to all that.
Vince misses out on the Oscar and can’t really complain, because DiCaprio’s work in The Departed was incredible. Facing stiff competition all around, the movie took home two awards at the Globes - supporting actress and Best Drama. Seeing Eric’s smile as he stands on stage while Harvey blusters at the mic, Vince can forgive Harvey just about anything.
Eric puts the award in Vince’s bedroom. “If I’d given a speech,” he says, climbing into bed, “I would’ve thanked you first.”
“So thank me now,” Vince says, grinning, and pulls Eric down.
That award and the Oscar nominations turn them both into real players. Ari has a couple of projects in mind for him that sound good, and Eric agrees, though he’s a little more cautious. He wants Vince to wait for Coaster to release before he signs for anything else, because a solid studio movie will say something new about him, whereas winning work on two indie films is less surprising. Vince agrees. He’s always trusted Eric before, and this new Eric - slick producer Eric - seems to know even more what he’s talking about.
Vince is still on vacation, and once the awards shows and all of the interviews they required are over, he’s back to having a lot of time on his hands. So one afternoon, Vince stops in to see Eric at work after a session at the gym. “He’s in a meeting,” the receptionist says, “but you can wait in his office if you want.”
Vince nods. He doesn’t really want to hang around if Harvey’s in, but the receptionist assures him that Harvey’s in Telluride for the weekend, and Vince has a vague memory of Eric saying he was going down to harass Katzenberg about something. So Vince walks down the hall, past Harvey’s dark office and then past the open door of the conference room, and he stops because he can hear Eric’s voice from inside.
“No,” he’s saying, “no. That was not our deal. Our deal was 82 days, David. Eighty-two. And those last two were a gift, that was just something we threw in, because you said, you remember this, you said, ‘I can get it done in 75 if I have to.’”
“Things have come up,” the other guy, David, says. His voice is even but his words come out fast, and Vince can tell without seeing him that he’s panicky. “We - the scene at the bar was a lot more involved than we thought it would be, and I -”
“And you fucked up the swimming pool scene. Yeah,” Eric says, his voice knife-sharp, “I heard all about that. You think I didn’t notice when I saw the dailies? You spent five days in the water when you should have spent one. Jesus fucking Christ.”
“That was a very technical scene,” David says. Now his voice is higher, a little snotty, and Vince winces at the tone. “I don’t expect you to understand, but -”
“Fuck you, David, understand this: you just lost a million from your post budget.”
“You can’t -”
“Bullshit, I can’t,” Eric says. “You wanna go for two?” Silence. “Yeah. That’s what I thought.” Vince hears a chair scrape the floor, then Eric’s voice, a little quieter but still angry. “I’m the best friend you have in this place, you know that? Harvey wanted to go with Ericson, but I said no, let’s give the guy a chance. I sat him down with a single-malt scotch and the director’s cut of Pillow Talk, and at the end of it, he said, I sure as shit hope this guy doesn’t fuck things up, and I said, no way, Harvey, he’s got his head on straight. And now you go and pull shit like this, it makes me look like a fucking moron. When I stuck my neck out for you.”
“I know,” David says.
“I’m not mad because it’s taking more time,” Eric says. “It’s that I gotta go down to the fucking set to find out for myself. It’s that I can’t fucking trust you, David, and you’ve got a huge fucking pile of our money, for me not to trust you.”
“I’m sorry, Eric,” he says. “I know, I know. I just got caught up, and Harvey -”
“Harvey isn’t here right now,” Eric says. “Have you been dealing with Harvey? Have I ever said I’m gonna bring him in? Then why in the fuck are you hiding behind that, huh? Jesus. As far as you’re concerned, Harvey doesn’t exist. It’s just you and me, David. Look, you just - go back to your set and fix things. No, no, don’t fucking apologize, just fix it. You know I’m behind you on this, you know I’ve got your back, right? OK, then. OK. Let’s make this thing.”
Vince ducks into Eric’s office before either guy emerges, and it takes about five minutes before Eric makes it in. He smiles when he sees Vince. “Hey,” he says, his face so quickly happy that Vince feels a rush of affection, “what’re you doing here?”
“Getting hard,” Vince says, and he closes Eric’s office door and locks it. He’s already pulled the blinds. He grabs Eric by the biceps and kisses him, drawing him back toward his desk.
Eric says, “What the -”
“You’re so fucking hot,” Vince says, and leans against Eric’s desk as he starts working on his own fly.
“What are you - mm - what are we -”
“You’re gonna fuck me,” Vince says, reaching for Eric’s belt. “Right here on this desk where you can sign away a million dollars at a time.”
“Vin, we can’t - there are people -” Vince shimmies out of his pants, then sits on the desk and gets one leg around Eric’s waist. Their cocks collide and Eric groans, a delicious low sound.
“Your boss is in Telluride,” Vince says, unbuttoning Eric’s shirt enough that he can suck on his collarbone. “C’mon, c’mon.”
“Yeah,” Eric says, and his hands grip Vince’s hips. “OK.”
It surprises him a little when Eric turns him over, but then he realizes that’s a good plan, because it allows him to grab the desktop for balance. Eric slicks them both up with hand lotion or something like that he’s found in his desk, and they both groan, though quietly, when he pushes in.
“Hard,” Vince says, his hands clenched around the edge of the desk.
“Fuck, yeah,” Eric says, and he goes for it. Vince is glad for all the push ups he did, because his arms start to burn after a few minutes, holding himself up as Eric pounds into him, the angle so fucking perfect he’s seeing stars with every move, hissing yes yes yes between his clenched teeth. It feels fucking wonderful, and he eventually has to drop to his elbows so that he can bite a few of his fingers to keep from really letting the receptionist know what’s going on.
“No, no, c’mon, c’mon,” Eric says, and Vince whimpers when he pulls out. Then Eric turns him around, his hands on Vince’s hips, and kisses him breathless. He strips off both of their shirts. Vince is still so turned on and out of it that all he can do is cling to Eric, following him down to the floor, on top of their shirts. Eric gets Vince’s legs up, one over Eric’s shoulder, and he starts again, this time kissing Vince even as he thrusts manically. Vince comes with Eric still hard inside of him, and it takes Eric another minute but then he collapses onto Vince’s chest.
Vince unbends his legs, gingerly, wincing as Eric’s soft cock slips out of him, and Eric stirs and kisses his neck. His breath is just slowing enough that he can hear the faint ring of the phone in the outer office.
“Did you come here just for this?” Eric says, kissing him again.
Vince laughs. “I came to see if you had time for lunch.” He rubs Eric’s back, tilts his head back to accept another gentle kiss. He loves it; Eric’s always so cuddly after sex.
“You missed me, huh?”
“E, I miss you all the time,” Vince says, earnestly. “You’re my favorite part of the day.”
Eric smiles, slow and shy, which makes Vince want him even more. Vince would never tell him, but it’s appealing how much Eric wants him, how sometimes, when he’s being particularly unguarded, he seems surprised and delighted by every nice thing that Vince does or says for him. And Vince does want to do nice things, because he loves Eric, and sometimes it surprises him, too, that he loves Eric, and that Eric, of everyone in the world, loves him back.
Eric kisses him on the mouth, gently, his hands on either side of Vince’s face. “Mine, too,” he says. “I’m glad you stopped by.”
“You have time for lunch?”
Eric laughs and sits back. “I think this was lunch,” he says, getting to his feet. “And Christ am I glad I keep an extra shirt at the office.”
“You have another?” Vince asks, and Eric laughs.
“Looking like that, you should go straight home,” he says. He grabs his boxers and pulls them on, then drops Vince his. “You want me to call a car or something?”
“Turtle’s waiting,” Vince says, which makes Eric laugh again. Vince uses Eric’s shirt to clean himself up a little, then pulls on the underwear again. He stands up and puts his arms around Eric’s waist from behind. “Come home with me,” he says, kissing the back of Eric’s neck. “C’mon, play hooky.”
“If I go home with you right now,” Eric says, “I’m just gonna fall asleep. But if I stay here, I can get a little more work done, and then I’ll come get you for dinner.”
Vince knows that’s the best offer he’ll get. “OK, fine,” he says. He reaches for his pants. “We can just meet you.”
“Nah,” Eric says, turning around, and he puts his hands on Vince’s waist. “Not with the guys. You and me. Dinner. Anywhere you want to go, my treat.”
“Yeah?” Eric nods, and Vince grins. “Like a real date, huh?” He can’t help it; he’s got some post-sex sappiness going on. “All right. Sounds nice. You’re on.”
“Good,” Eric says. “Now put your clothes on, or I’m never gonna get any work done.”
That night, they go to a new hot bistro that Vince read about in The L.A.ist, and over a bottle of expensive barrolo (the price of which doesn’t phase Eric at all, another side effect of the Harvey job), they talk quietly about coming out. Ari’s not in favor, but Eric says it’s something they should think about after Coaster comes out in the summer. “We already have the Cuarón film up for you, we’ll get at least one more, and, I don’t know, man. The climate’s changing. I think, as long as we’re, uh, as long as things are going good -”
“Which they will be,” Vince says, clinking his glass to Eric’s.
“- then people aren’t gonna make that big a deal out of it. People like a scandal, and Harvey’s right, he says there’s not much scandalous about two guys being happy together.”
Vince raises an eyebrow. “You told Harvey?”
“Oh,” Eric says, and he blushes a little. “Yeah. Uh, last week, he overheard me on the phone with you, I guess.”
“How’d he take it?”
“He respects loyalty,” Eric says, shrugging. “He was really decent about it.”
“Actually decent, or Harvey decent?”
“Both. I mean, there was some cursing, but in general he said, ‘Whatever works for you.’” He grabs the bottle and refills both of their glasses. “Though he told me I’d better never think about working with you on a movie again.”
Vince rolls his eyes. “We work pretty good together, though.”
“We may have too much pleasure now to be mixing business in,” Eric says, but he’s smiling. “So what do you think, should we talk to Ari?”
“There’s no pleasure in that at all,” Vince says. “But if you think it’s time, then yeah.”
Eric shakes his head. “Vin, I can’t make this decision for you,” he says. “It’s your career on the line.”
“And yours,” Vince says.
Eric shrugs. “I’m not a big name. You are. Nobody cares who I fuck.”
“Except me,” Vince says. “I have a vested interest.” Eric smirks. “No, seriously, E, you know I don’t care about the toys and all that. I got into this because I like it, because it makes me happy. And you make me happy, too, so - seems like a good plan. Plus, advice like this is why I pay you, right?”
Eric’s still smiling. “You keep listening to everything I say, this is gonna work out beautifully.”
“Yeah, well, why have a mind of my own when I can get yours so cheap?” He offers his glass for a toast, and says, “To us, E.”
“I’ll drink to that.”
The next day, a little hungover, they go to see Ari. Eric’s called Shauna in , too, so they’re facing not just one but two unhappy faces as they - well, as Eric broaches the topic of coming out.
“I knew you were working too much, but I didn’t think you’d actually gone crazy. Has Harvey dropped you on your head a few too many times?” Ari says. “No. No way, no how, not any time soon.”
“Let’s pretend,” Eric says, “that I’m not asking you, I’m telling you.”
“Is Vince telling me?” Ari asks. “Because, excuse me, Eric, but I could give a fuck what you’re telling me.”
“Is that so? You really want to piss me off, Ari?” There’s a strange, steely challenge in Eric’s eye, more than his usual Ari face-off bluster. “You know how many agents I talk to in a week, now? You know how many of them would be more than happy to take our business?”
“You know how many of them are going to give you the fucking time of day after People runs a cover story calling you a cocksucking starfucker?” Ari spreads his hands out in front of him like a shield, like he’s distancing himself from the words. “I’m just saying, I don’t think your phone’s gonna be ringing off the hook.”
Eric shakes his head. “Fuck you, first of all, and second, they’re gonna have to talk to me, because I represent money, and that’s the only thing that anyone here really cares about, right? This whole song-and-dance about being friends and wanting what’s best - you don’t actually believe any of that, do you. It’s the fucking paycheck for you, and it always has been.”
“Guys -” Shauna says, and Vince leans forward, ready to interject as well.
“That’s not entirely fair, E, and excuse me if I’m not willing to take notes on clean living from Harvey fucking Weingard’s step-and-fetch it.”
“Take this note, then,” Eric says. “You know who I talked to last week? James fucking Cameron.”
Ari gets very quiet, and Vince looks between his suddenly blank face and Eric’s terrible, angry expression. “What’s going on? What’d he say?” Vince asks.
Eric says, “He wanted you for Aquaman. Called Ari on his way out of town at Sundance, and Ari had to turn him down, because we were committed to Tapping the Source. You were at the top of a very short list - the only other guy at that point was James Franco, who, by the way, is repped out of MGA.” Eric actually shakes his finger. “You fucking knew. You had to know -”
“I had no idea -”
“You had to know,” Eric says, his voice still hard. “You knew, and you pushed this, anyway.”
“You got the fucking meeting with Harvey.”
“And you told us Cameron was there for other guys,” Eric says.
“What was I supposed to do? We’d already had the press conference, we were verbally committed -”
“You know as well as I do that none of that would’ve meant shit at that point,” Eric says. “We could have pulled out that day and lost nothing.”
“Harvey would have -”
“You fucked us because you’re afraid of Harvey, is that it?” Eric asks. He falls back against the couch and crosses his arms, managing to look utterly triumphant and disgusted at the same time. “Chickenshit bastard, at least be honest about your motives.”
Ari rubs his face with both hands. “Vinnie,” he says, “look. You gotta know, you gotta remember, I wanted Aquaman for you. I was crazy about that movie, I -”
“You said Tapping the Source was our only move.”
He nods. “And it wasn’t a bad move, was it? Academy Award Nominated -”
Vince stands up and paces behind the couch. OK, sure, Tapping the Source was a great experience, and he’s glad he did it. All things being equal, though, it took him a while to bounce back from Cameron not - from thinking that Cameron didn’t want him as Aquaman. And while he’s proud of the work he’s done since, he knows that he’d be playing on an entirely different field if he was the star of James Cameron’s once-every-ten-years action-superhero blockbuster. He’d probably have Medellin nailed down, for one.
He turns and looks at Ari, who still has his hands held out. “I’m sorry,” he says. “I’m sorry I didn’t tell you, but I thought it would just be salt in the wound, at that point. Tapping the Source was a sure thing. I didn’t lie to you about that. And it is my job, Vince, to protect you from taking crazy risks. We didn’t know what Cameron was thinking; that could’ve gone either way.”
“Bull-fucking-sh-”
“E,” Vince says, and Eric glares but stops talking.
“Vince, I am sorry,” Ari says. “But all of this - it doesn’t mean that I’m not looking out for you. I am. I always have been. And I’m telling you, man, that coming out - it’s not a good idea. Not right now. Give it some time, figure out if you’re serious. I mean, hell, I’ve been married 15 years, I’m still not sure I’d put the wife’s name on the front of US Weekly. You know?”
Vince takes a deep breath. “I believe you, Ari,” he says, because he does, at least in some ways. He doesn’t think Ari is just after the money - there’s also fame and glory to be had. Really, though, he doesn’t think Ari is as evil as Eric seems to, and all things considered, he can’t fault him totally. Vince said OK to Tapping the Source, and so did Eric at the time. “OK? I do. The Cameron thing, let’s call it water under the bridge, unless he’s got something new coming up -”
“And then you’re at the top of the list and I don’t sleep until you’re headlining,” Ari says, and Vince nods.
“But you’re wrong about the rest,” Vince says. He drops his hand onto Eric’s shoulder. “We’re doing this,” he says. “At or after the premiere. You pick. Me, I’d like to take E as my date.”
He’s glad he can’t see Eric’s face, because there’s probably surprise there, and maybe some blushing, but it’s gratifying to see both Ari’s and Shauna’s mouths drop open across from him. Shauna, surprisingly, recovers first.
“Official, walk-the-red-carpets date, or he’s meeting you inside date?”
Vince shrugs. “There’s a difference?”
“What she’s asking,” Ari says, “is, are you doing press about it, or are the cameras just gonna catch you sucking face when they open the limo door?”
“Jesus,” Eric mutters.
“Well, that’s why we’ve come to talk to you,” Vince says. He takes his seat on the couch again, close to Eric, and smiles. “So what do you think?”
They finally agree to keep it low-key at the premiere - Eric won’t walk the carpet with him, which seems to be a relief to everyone but Vince - but they also agree to an interview before the movie premieres, so that the news cycle will print it after opening weekend but at around that time.
In the car on the way home, Vince says, “Why didn’t you tell me that stuff about Cameron? How long have you known?”
“I really only found out last week,” Eric says. “I ran into Emily on set.”
“You saw Emily?” Vince twists in his seat, watching Eric intently, feeling instantly - it’s not exactly worry, and it’s not exactly jealousy, but it’s something right in between.
Eric nods. “That’s sort of why I didn’t mention it.”
“Uh -”
“Not because - Christ, nothing happened. Just, it was awkward anyway, and I didn’t want you to worry or anything. Plus, I don’t know, I guess I was sort of waiting to cool off on the Cameron thing. I wanted to talk to Ari alone, but then today - he was just getting under my skin.” He turns briefly to face Vince while they’re stopped at a light. “You took it pretty well.”
Vince shrugs. “It would’ve been awesome to work with Cameron.”
“Yeah,” Eric says. “Well, Emily said he was really impressed, so maybe he’ll keep you in mind.”
“Maybe.” They start rolling again. “Where do you think we’d be, if we’d waited for Aquaman?”
Eric shrugs. “I don’t know. They’re turning it into a big franchise, the second one’s already filming, I guess. I hear Austin’s getting six for the second, maybe ten for the third if the numbers pan out. But Michael Bay’s directing.”
“Ugh,” Vince says, and Eric nods.
“I think we’d be playing on a different level,” he says. “But, if things go right with Coaster, I don’t know. Maybe it won’t matter. Why, what do you think?”
Vince sighs. “I think, if we’d done Aquaman, right now I’d be married to Mandy Moore.”
Eric laughs. “Right.”
Vince looks over. “I’m kind of serious,” he says, and Eric glances his way. “We had a thing. A long time ago, on A Walk to Remember. She - she’s the only other person I’ve ever been in love with.”
“In love with,” Eric echoes. “The only other - like you are with me?”
“Yeah,” Vince says.
Eric’s laughter this time is stunned. “Jesus, it’s like getting kissed and kicked in the balls at the same time,” he says. “You and Mandy Moore, huh?”
“I was kind of serious about her.”
“First I heard of it.”
Vince shrugs. He remembers the desperation he felt on that set, how all he wanted, all the time, was to be around Mandy, with Mandy, making Mandy laugh or cry out or just want him as much as he wanted her. It’s a little embarrassing, even now, to remember how pathetic he was about the whole thing. “It wasn’t exactly something I wanted to talk about with you,” Vince says.
“Yeah? Why not?”
Vince mimes holding up a phone. “Hey, E, how’s New York? Yeah, I think I’m in love with this girl Mandy. How do I know? It’s like the same feeling I get when you’re around, only I get to fuck her.”
Eric’s grinning. “I would’ve never let you marry Mandy Moore,” he says, making the turn into their driveway. He turns the car off, but neither of them moves to get out yet.
Vince says, “You know what, in the end, I think I’m glad we missed it. Because without Australia - who knows where we’d be now? I’m pretty fucking grateful we took Tapping the Source, all things considered.” He squeezes Eric’s shoulder, and Eric nods.
“Good point,” he says. As they climb out, though, he calls over the top of his car, “Don’t expect me to send Ari flowers or anything, though.”
The next few months move fast. Vince starts up with a trainer again to get in shape for the Cuarón movie, and Eric’s working non-stop on several projects for Harvey. He tells Vince confidentially (“swear to me, not a word to anyone, not even fucking Drama,”) that Harvey’s entertaining some buy-out deal from Paramount, and so he’s in a rush to get as many movies into production as possible to maximize their worth. This, in turn, makes Eric so busy that Harvey hires Eric an assistant, Steph. Vince feels like he sees her almost as much as he sees Eric, but that’s better than the last few months, where Harvey’s been leaving messages on their answering machine. Turtle and Johnny almost called the cops after the last message, which started with, “I’m gonna start with your mother. Then your mother’s mother. Then I’m gonna come over, I’m gonna get your boyfriend -”
“Jesus, now he has a problem with me?” Vince asked.
“He has a problem with everyone,” Eric said, hitting erase. “I’ll talk to him.”
It’s after the talk that Eric gets his assistant, and Harvey stops calling the house - though possibly that’s because they change the phone number, too. In fact, sometimes Vince could probably imagine that Harvey doesn’t exist, except that when Eric’s spent too much time with him, his jackets smell like Harvey’s cigars.
Around the time Steph comes on board, something goes very wrong for Ari at his agency, and one night Eric comes home and says that Ari’s been fired.
“You’re kidding me,” Vince says, setting down his Wii controller.
Eric shakes his head. “Harvey’s been in a good mood all week, I knew something was up,” he says, taking a seat next to Vince.
“Jeez, I wonder what that means for me,” Johnny says. “Is Adam still with Terence’s place?”
“I don’t know, Drama, but I can find out.” Eric looks tired, and Vince puts an arm around him. “Ari’s gonna come by tomorrow,” he says.
“Yeah, wow, he must be taking it hard.”
Eric snorts. “He got fired for trying to start a coup, Vince,” he says. “He’ll have his own shop up in the next few weeks, plus he’s gonna get a huge settlement from Terrence.”
“Wow, Ari getting fired,” Turtle says, and he shakes his head a little before passing over the bong. “It’s like finding out Santa Claus is replaceable.”
“Ari doesn’t believe in Santa Claus,” Johnny says.
“I would hope not, at his age,” Eric says, then takes a hit.
“I meant, Ari’s Jewish, they don’t celebrate Christmas.”
“Not this year they don’t,” Turtle says.
Vince takes another hit and lets the smoke escape kind of slow. “I totally can’t believe Ari got fired,” he says, “and yet, I totally can.”
That night, when it’s just the two of them in bed, Eric says, “Before Ari comes by tomorrow, we should talk about what you wanna do.”
“What do you mean, what I want to do?” Eric keeps looking at him. “What?”
“I mean, do you want to stick with Ari, or with the agency?”
Vince draws back. “That’s a no-brainer, right? Ari’s been our guy since day one. I mean, come on.”
“Ari’s not the only game in town,” Eric says. “I know he’s done some good stuff for you, but Vin, he’s also done some seriously fucking bad stuff. The guy’s kind of a loose cannon.”
“Yeah, but he’s our cannon,” Vince says. “I’m a loyal guy, E.”
Eric smiles and shrugs. “OK, OK,” he says. “Tomorrow we make Ari’s day.”
Eric has a meeting across town the next morning, so Vince is alone when Ari comes over. He pleads his case while Vince tries and fails to make him a latte from their new fancy coffee machine, and then Vince turns around and says, “Jesus, Ari, of course I’m gonna stick with you.”
Ari’s head bows just briefly, and he says, “Thank you, Vince, that’s what I wanted to hear.”
Vince shrugs. He offers Ari a glass of water, instead, and Ari says, “Where’s your fucking houseboy, anyway?”
“Turtle?” Ari rolls his eyes. “E’s got some meeting.”
Ari’s eyes narrow. “I suppose it’s too much to hope that that’s a euphemism for ‘off fucking someone else.’”
“Ari.”
“OK, OK.” He raises his hands up. “Just - are you guys still thinking you’re gonna do this thing, after Coaster?”
Vince shrugs. “Why wouldn’t we?”
“Just E’s a lot more known, now. I thought maybe a taste of the big life might’ve changed the little man’s mind.”
“We’re fine,” Vince says. “And we’re still together and we’re still planning to come out. If that’s a problem -”
“No problem,” Ari says. “Far be it from me to have a problem. The customer is always right at The Gold Standard.”
Vince grimaces. “Is that really your new company?”
“Don’t tell anyone,” he says, and slaps Vince on the shoulder before he heads out.
That night, Eric gets home late and falls next to Vince on the couch, and Vince tells him about Ari coming by. He mentions what he said about coming out, and Eric gets a weird look on his face before he nods, fast, and takes a sip of beer.
“Yeah, of course,” he says, almost too fast. “We’re still on.”
Vince rubs his neck. “You’re nervous, aren’t you?”
Eric shrugs. “It’s a little different now, I gotta admit,” he says.
“More people care who you’re fucking now,” Vince says, nodding. “Welcome to the club.”
“Hey, if you’re ready to stand up and say it, man, I’m right there. OK?”
Vince grins and kisses him. “OK.”
Before too long, just as Eric predicted, Ari does have his own agency up and going. He’s the same old Ari, just in a new office - a nice new office, in fact. It’s nicer even than Eric’s new office at Harvey’s place, though Vince would never say that to either of them. Eric’s been promoted to some new important title that he says doesn’t really mean anything, but Vince can tell he’s proud of it, because he breaks it out on the phone when he’s making calls. It came with some kind of raise, too, which Eric tells Vince he’s putting in the bank toward their planned vacation that summer spring. “Reunion tour,” he says, and Vince grins.
Part 3
Dinner with Johnny and Larissa gets pushed back - she’s commuting to San Diego for a new television series - but Vince and Eric still use “a caponata to die for” as a code for sex the next few days. Ari calls them in the next week to talk about new projects, and Eric says he has a good feeling about what’s coming.
“He told me you should brush up on your Spanish,” he says as they ride up in the elevator, and Vince raises an eyebrow.
“Medellin? Seriously, you think?”
Eric shrugs. “Last I heard, Benecio Del Toro was attached, but maybe he’s back in rehab or something.”
“Christ, I hope so,” Vince says as they stop on Ari’s floor.
Eric holds the door for him, and Vince sees Ari’s eyes get the narrow, nervous look they so often do now. He took the news of their being a couple surprisingly well, all things considered, but he still gets jumpy about it - like he thinks if he turns his back, Vince and Eric might start making out on the couch or something. Vince thinks it’s hilarious and does everything he can to make Ari more uncomfortable, like sitting with his arm slung along the back of the couch, over Eric’s shoulders. He also makes a point of referring to Eric as “my boyfriend” when they meet (as in, “I don’t know, Ari, let’s see what my boyfriend thinks”). Ari refers to Eric’s role with different language, of course, but Vince finds that pretty funny, too.
“OK, mis amigos,” Ari says, rubbing his hands together, “you ready for some news?”
“Nah, we just came to enjoy the scenery,” Eric says.
Ari stops with his hands still pressed together. “Don’t be jealous, Vinnie, he doesn’t mean it,” he says.
“Ari, come on,” Vince says, leaning forward a little. “Did you get Medellin or what?”
“No,” he says, and Vince sighs, almost not caring to hear what comes next. “I got you something better.” He grabs a script from his desk and tosses it at Eric. “Alfonso Cuarón needs a lead for his next movie. He saw Queens Boulevard and he wants to know how you do with accents.”
“Cuarón, really?” Vince says.
“We loved Y Tú Mama Tambien,” Eric says, and Ari rolls his eyes.
“Probably for all the wrong reasons,” Ari says, but he shakes his head. “It films next spring, half in studio, half in Chicago. They’re offering five; if you go up for an Oscar, I can get it to six.”
Vince looks over at Eric, who’s looking at the script. “All right,” Eric says, “we’ll take a look.”
“Take a look tonight,” Ari says. “Once Children of Men comes out, I swear to you, Cuarón will literally mean Oscar in Spanish.”
They nod and agree to look it over, and on the way back down to the car, Vince says, “Cuarón. Seriously, E, that’d be sick.”
He nods, glancing at his watch. “I’ll read it tonight,” he says.
He doesn’t actually get to it for a few days, which turns out OK because it gives Vince time to read it. He loves the script - the movie’s about a bike messenger and a lot of missed connections, and something in it really resonates for Vince. When Eric finishes it and says, “Yeah, I love it,” Vince is glad. “I’ll call Ari,” he says, and Vince agrees.
“Should we go down, take a meeting or something?”
Eric frowns. “Not if you want this done soon. Honestly, I don’t think I have time for a meeting until next week.”
“OK,” Vince says, shrugging, and settles back in bed. “As long as we get this, I’m happy.”
And he is happy, really. He’s got two good films finished, one to look forward to, and a boyfriend whose opinion on just about everything he can trust. Fantastic. He’s also got a bunch of free time, which is not so cool, because although Vince would love to take Eric, as his boyfriend, to some new romantic hotspot and spend a few weeks making up for all the years of friendship where he wasn’t well-acquainted with Eric’s cock, Eric’s busier than ever.
Tapping the Source gets released on-time, a miracle considering the tight production and post schedule Harvey put it on, and instead of lessening Eric’s stress, it increases it: Harvey’s so happy with the results that he throws a ton of new projects Eric’s way. “It’s actually sort of a privilege,” he says, when Vince and the guys roll in around 2 one night and find Eric sitting on the couch, reading scripts. “Almost nothing gets to Harvey now without me looking it over.”
“You’re gonna go blind, if you keep reading like that,” Johnny says.
Turtle snorts. “Is that what you think is causing your eyesight problems, Drama? ‘Cuz I got a different suspicion.”
“Hey, I don’t need to whack it, Turtle, because unlike you, I’ve got a girlfriend.”
Vince laughs and drops onto the couch, and Eric shifts the script he’s reading so Vince can rest his head in his lap. “Yeah, seriously, Turtle, we need to get you a girl.”
“I’m pretty good with the single life, thank you very much,” Turtle says. “I did just fine tonight with your girl’s friend.”
Eric looks down at him, and Vince shrugs. “Some girl who was a PA on the last thing. Nothing happened,” he says, and Eric meets his eyes, then nods. “If you don’t believe me, come along, next time.” Vince wags his eyebrows. “It’ll be fun.”
“Who has time for fun?” Eric asks, but they go to bed quickly after that and indulge in Vince’s favorite pastime.
Really, though, Eric doesn’t have a lot of time for fun anymore. He’s on call for Harvey all the time, and the fruits of that labor are starting to show. He opens another movie and it makes just over its predicted take. Tapping the Source gets a handful of nominations at the Golden Globes - including Best Actor in a Drama for Vince and Best Picture for the producers, Harvey and Eric included. People start to recognize Eric when they go out. At first it’s just waiters and the occasional business guy, but after the Academy nominations come out, it’s a higher class of Hollywood recognition. Spike Lee catches them at the Lakers Game to ask Eric about an upcoming release; the next night, Stephen Soderbergh stops at their table at The Palm to chat about a script.
“How do you know Stephen Soderbergh?” Vince asks, duly impressed.
Eric shrugs. “He was in a meeting earlier this week about a new project. Nice guy. Really fucking smart. I think he’s gonna work with us.”
Eric doesn’t actually talk too much about his work with Harvey, maybe because when he does, Vince tends to tune out. He knows it involves taking a lot of meetings and doing a lot of follow-up, but that’s about it. Put that way, it doesn’t sound exciting, and that’s why Vince hasn’t been listening too much, but Soderbergh gripping Eric’s shoulder like they’re old pals, well, that’s got his attention.
“How’s Harvey treating you?”
Eric shrugs. “He’s fucking brilliant about business, Vince. I mean, did you know, he founded HWP on 47 dollars? Forty-seven dollars, a reputation as a fixer, and Barry Diller’s home phone number, I guess. Now, the next studio up is Paramount. I mean, think about that, that’s incredible.”
Vince smiles. “So what, you wanna start the next Paramount, now?”
“No,” he says, and grins. “I wanna start the next Sony. Why be anything other than number one, right?”
It’s not that hard to believe, really, that Eric might be on the path to all that.
Vince misses out on the Oscar and can’t really complain, because DiCaprio’s work in The Departed was incredible. Facing stiff competition all around, the movie took home two awards at the Globes - supporting actress and Best Drama. Seeing Eric’s smile as he stands on stage while Harvey blusters at the mic, Vince can forgive Harvey just about anything.
Eric puts the award in Vince’s bedroom. “If I’d given a speech,” he says, climbing into bed, “I would’ve thanked you first.”
“So thank me now,” Vince says, grinning, and pulls Eric down.
That award and the Oscar nominations turn them both into real players. Ari has a couple of projects in mind for him that sound good, and Eric agrees, though he’s a little more cautious. He wants Vince to wait for Coaster to release before he signs for anything else, because a solid studio movie will say something new about him, whereas winning work on two indie films is less surprising. Vince agrees. He’s always trusted Eric before, and this new Eric - slick producer Eric - seems to know even more what he’s talking about.
Vince is still on vacation, and once the awards shows and all of the interviews they required are over, he’s back to having a lot of time on his hands. So one afternoon, Vince stops in to see Eric at work after a session at the gym. “He’s in a meeting,” the receptionist says, “but you can wait in his office if you want.”
Vince nods. He doesn’t really want to hang around if Harvey’s in, but the receptionist assures him that Harvey’s in Telluride for the weekend, and Vince has a vague memory of Eric saying he was going down to harass Katzenberg about something. So Vince walks down the hall, past Harvey’s dark office and then past the open door of the conference room, and he stops because he can hear Eric’s voice from inside.
“No,” he’s saying, “no. That was not our deal. Our deal was 82 days, David. Eighty-two. And those last two were a gift, that was just something we threw in, because you said, you remember this, you said, ‘I can get it done in 75 if I have to.’”
“Things have come up,” the other guy, David, says. His voice is even but his words come out fast, and Vince can tell without seeing him that he’s panicky. “We - the scene at the bar was a lot more involved than we thought it would be, and I -”
“And you fucked up the swimming pool scene. Yeah,” Eric says, his voice knife-sharp, “I heard all about that. You think I didn’t notice when I saw the dailies? You spent five days in the water when you should have spent one. Jesus fucking Christ.”
“That was a very technical scene,” David says. Now his voice is higher, a little snotty, and Vince winces at the tone. “I don’t expect you to understand, but -”
“Fuck you, David, understand this: you just lost a million from your post budget.”
“You can’t -”
“Bullshit, I can’t,” Eric says. “You wanna go for two?” Silence. “Yeah. That’s what I thought.” Vince hears a chair scrape the floor, then Eric’s voice, a little quieter but still angry. “I’m the best friend you have in this place, you know that? Harvey wanted to go with Ericson, but I said no, let’s give the guy a chance. I sat him down with a single-malt scotch and the director’s cut of Pillow Talk, and at the end of it, he said, I sure as shit hope this guy doesn’t fuck things up, and I said, no way, Harvey, he’s got his head on straight. And now you go and pull shit like this, it makes me look like a fucking moron. When I stuck my neck out for you.”
“I know,” David says.
“I’m not mad because it’s taking more time,” Eric says. “It’s that I gotta go down to the fucking set to find out for myself. It’s that I can’t fucking trust you, David, and you’ve got a huge fucking pile of our money, for me not to trust you.”
“I’m sorry, Eric,” he says. “I know, I know. I just got caught up, and Harvey -”
“Harvey isn’t here right now,” Eric says. “Have you been dealing with Harvey? Have I ever said I’m gonna bring him in? Then why in the fuck are you hiding behind that, huh? Jesus. As far as you’re concerned, Harvey doesn’t exist. It’s just you and me, David. Look, you just - go back to your set and fix things. No, no, don’t fucking apologize, just fix it. You know I’m behind you on this, you know I’ve got your back, right? OK, then. OK. Let’s make this thing.”
Vince ducks into Eric’s office before either guy emerges, and it takes about five minutes before Eric makes it in. He smiles when he sees Vince. “Hey,” he says, his face so quickly happy that Vince feels a rush of affection, “what’re you doing here?”
“Getting hard,” Vince says, and he closes Eric’s office door and locks it. He’s already pulled the blinds. He grabs Eric by the biceps and kisses him, drawing him back toward his desk.
Eric says, “What the -”
“You’re so fucking hot,” Vince says, and leans against Eric’s desk as he starts working on his own fly.
“What are you - mm - what are we -”
“You’re gonna fuck me,” Vince says, reaching for Eric’s belt. “Right here on this desk where you can sign away a million dollars at a time.”
“Vin, we can’t - there are people -” Vince shimmies out of his pants, then sits on the desk and gets one leg around Eric’s waist. Their cocks collide and Eric groans, a delicious low sound.
“Your boss is in Telluride,” Vince says, unbuttoning Eric’s shirt enough that he can suck on his collarbone. “C’mon, c’mon.”
“Yeah,” Eric says, and his hands grip Vince’s hips. “OK.”
It surprises him a little when Eric turns him over, but then he realizes that’s a good plan, because it allows him to grab the desktop for balance. Eric slicks them both up with hand lotion or something like that he’s found in his desk, and they both groan, though quietly, when he pushes in.
“Hard,” Vince says, his hands clenched around the edge of the desk.
“Fuck, yeah,” Eric says, and he goes for it. Vince is glad for all the push ups he did, because his arms start to burn after a few minutes, holding himself up as Eric pounds into him, the angle so fucking perfect he’s seeing stars with every move, hissing yes yes yes between his clenched teeth. It feels fucking wonderful, and he eventually has to drop to his elbows so that he can bite a few of his fingers to keep from really letting the receptionist know what’s going on.
“No, no, c’mon, c’mon,” Eric says, and Vince whimpers when he pulls out. Then Eric turns him around, his hands on Vince’s hips, and kisses him breathless. He strips off both of their shirts. Vince is still so turned on and out of it that all he can do is cling to Eric, following him down to the floor, on top of their shirts. Eric gets Vince’s legs up, one over Eric’s shoulder, and he starts again, this time kissing Vince even as he thrusts manically. Vince comes with Eric still hard inside of him, and it takes Eric another minute but then he collapses onto Vince’s chest.
Vince unbends his legs, gingerly, wincing as Eric’s soft cock slips out of him, and Eric stirs and kisses his neck. His breath is just slowing enough that he can hear the faint ring of the phone in the outer office.
“Did you come here just for this?” Eric says, kissing him again.
Vince laughs. “I came to see if you had time for lunch.” He rubs Eric’s back, tilts his head back to accept another gentle kiss. He loves it; Eric’s always so cuddly after sex.
“You missed me, huh?”
“E, I miss you all the time,” Vince says, earnestly. “You’re my favorite part of the day.”
Eric smiles, slow and shy, which makes Vince want him even more. Vince would never tell him, but it’s appealing how much Eric wants him, how sometimes, when he’s being particularly unguarded, he seems surprised and delighted by every nice thing that Vince does or says for him. And Vince does want to do nice things, because he loves Eric, and sometimes it surprises him, too, that he loves Eric, and that Eric, of everyone in the world, loves him back.
Eric kisses him on the mouth, gently, his hands on either side of Vince’s face. “Mine, too,” he says. “I’m glad you stopped by.”
“You have time for lunch?”
Eric laughs and sits back. “I think this was lunch,” he says, getting to his feet. “And Christ am I glad I keep an extra shirt at the office.”
“You have another?” Vince asks, and Eric laughs.
“Looking like that, you should go straight home,” he says. He grabs his boxers and pulls them on, then drops Vince his. “You want me to call a car or something?”
“Turtle’s waiting,” Vince says, which makes Eric laugh again. Vince uses Eric’s shirt to clean himself up a little, then pulls on the underwear again. He stands up and puts his arms around Eric’s waist from behind. “Come home with me,” he says, kissing the back of Eric’s neck. “C’mon, play hooky.”
“If I go home with you right now,” Eric says, “I’m just gonna fall asleep. But if I stay here, I can get a little more work done, and then I’ll come get you for dinner.”
Vince knows that’s the best offer he’ll get. “OK, fine,” he says. He reaches for his pants. “We can just meet you.”
“Nah,” Eric says, turning around, and he puts his hands on Vince’s waist. “Not with the guys. You and me. Dinner. Anywhere you want to go, my treat.”
“Yeah?” Eric nods, and Vince grins. “Like a real date, huh?” He can’t help it; he’s got some post-sex sappiness going on. “All right. Sounds nice. You’re on.”
“Good,” Eric says. “Now put your clothes on, or I’m never gonna get any work done.”
That night, they go to a new hot bistro that Vince read about in The L.A.ist, and over a bottle of expensive barrolo (the price of which doesn’t phase Eric at all, another side effect of the Harvey job), they talk quietly about coming out. Ari’s not in favor, but Eric says it’s something they should think about after Coaster comes out in the summer. “We already have the Cuarón film up for you, we’ll get at least one more, and, I don’t know, man. The climate’s changing. I think, as long as we’re, uh, as long as things are going good -”
“Which they will be,” Vince says, clinking his glass to Eric’s.
“- then people aren’t gonna make that big a deal out of it. People like a scandal, and Harvey’s right, he says there’s not much scandalous about two guys being happy together.”
Vince raises an eyebrow. “You told Harvey?”
“Oh,” Eric says, and he blushes a little. “Yeah. Uh, last week, he overheard me on the phone with you, I guess.”
“How’d he take it?”
“He respects loyalty,” Eric says, shrugging. “He was really decent about it.”
“Actually decent, or Harvey decent?”
“Both. I mean, there was some cursing, but in general he said, ‘Whatever works for you.’” He grabs the bottle and refills both of their glasses. “Though he told me I’d better never think about working with you on a movie again.”
Vince rolls his eyes. “We work pretty good together, though.”
“We may have too much pleasure now to be mixing business in,” Eric says, but he’s smiling. “So what do you think, should we talk to Ari?”
“There’s no pleasure in that at all,” Vince says. “But if you think it’s time, then yeah.”
Eric shakes his head. “Vin, I can’t make this decision for you,” he says. “It’s your career on the line.”
“And yours,” Vince says.
Eric shrugs. “I’m not a big name. You are. Nobody cares who I fuck.”
“Except me,” Vince says. “I have a vested interest.” Eric smirks. “No, seriously, E, you know I don’t care about the toys and all that. I got into this because I like it, because it makes me happy. And you make me happy, too, so - seems like a good plan. Plus, advice like this is why I pay you, right?”
Eric’s still smiling. “You keep listening to everything I say, this is gonna work out beautifully.”
“Yeah, well, why have a mind of my own when I can get yours so cheap?” He offers his glass for a toast, and says, “To us, E.”
“I’ll drink to that.”
The next day, a little hungover, they go to see Ari. Eric’s called Shauna in , too, so they’re facing not just one but two unhappy faces as they - well, as Eric broaches the topic of coming out.
“I knew you were working too much, but I didn’t think you’d actually gone crazy. Has Harvey dropped you on your head a few too many times?” Ari says. “No. No way, no how, not any time soon.”
“Let’s pretend,” Eric says, “that I’m not asking you, I’m telling you.”
“Is Vince telling me?” Ari asks. “Because, excuse me, Eric, but I could give a fuck what you’re telling me.”
“Is that so? You really want to piss me off, Ari?” There’s a strange, steely challenge in Eric’s eye, more than his usual Ari face-off bluster. “You know how many agents I talk to in a week, now? You know how many of them would be more than happy to take our business?”
“You know how many of them are going to give you the fucking time of day after People runs a cover story calling you a cocksucking starfucker?” Ari spreads his hands out in front of him like a shield, like he’s distancing himself from the words. “I’m just saying, I don’t think your phone’s gonna be ringing off the hook.”
Eric shakes his head. “Fuck you, first of all, and second, they’re gonna have to talk to me, because I represent money, and that’s the only thing that anyone here really cares about, right? This whole song-and-dance about being friends and wanting what’s best - you don’t actually believe any of that, do you. It’s the fucking paycheck for you, and it always has been.”
“Guys -” Shauna says, and Vince leans forward, ready to interject as well.
“That’s not entirely fair, E, and excuse me if I’m not willing to take notes on clean living from Harvey fucking Weingard’s step-and-fetch it.”
“Take this note, then,” Eric says. “You know who I talked to last week? James fucking Cameron.”
Ari gets very quiet, and Vince looks between his suddenly blank face and Eric’s terrible, angry expression. “What’s going on? What’d he say?” Vince asks.
Eric says, “He wanted you for Aquaman. Called Ari on his way out of town at Sundance, and Ari had to turn him down, because we were committed to Tapping the Source. You were at the top of a very short list - the only other guy at that point was James Franco, who, by the way, is repped out of MGA.” Eric actually shakes his finger. “You fucking knew. You had to know -”
“I had no idea -”
“You had to know,” Eric says, his voice still hard. “You knew, and you pushed this, anyway.”
“You got the fucking meeting with Harvey.”
“And you told us Cameron was there for other guys,” Eric says.
“What was I supposed to do? We’d already had the press conference, we were verbally committed -”
“You know as well as I do that none of that would’ve meant shit at that point,” Eric says. “We could have pulled out that day and lost nothing.”
“Harvey would have -”
“You fucked us because you’re afraid of Harvey, is that it?” Eric asks. He falls back against the couch and crosses his arms, managing to look utterly triumphant and disgusted at the same time. “Chickenshit bastard, at least be honest about your motives.”
Ari rubs his face with both hands. “Vinnie,” he says, “look. You gotta know, you gotta remember, I wanted Aquaman for you. I was crazy about that movie, I -”
“You said Tapping the Source was our only move.”
He nods. “And it wasn’t a bad move, was it? Academy Award Nominated -”
Vince stands up and paces behind the couch. OK, sure, Tapping the Source was a great experience, and he’s glad he did it. All things being equal, though, it took him a while to bounce back from Cameron not - from thinking that Cameron didn’t want him as Aquaman. And while he’s proud of the work he’s done since, he knows that he’d be playing on an entirely different field if he was the star of James Cameron’s once-every-ten-years action-superhero blockbuster. He’d probably have Medellin nailed down, for one.
He turns and looks at Ari, who still has his hands held out. “I’m sorry,” he says. “I’m sorry I didn’t tell you, but I thought it would just be salt in the wound, at that point. Tapping the Source was a sure thing. I didn’t lie to you about that. And it is my job, Vince, to protect you from taking crazy risks. We didn’t know what Cameron was thinking; that could’ve gone either way.”
“Bull-fucking-sh-”
“E,” Vince says, and Eric glares but stops talking.
“Vince, I am sorry,” Ari says. “But all of this - it doesn’t mean that I’m not looking out for you. I am. I always have been. And I’m telling you, man, that coming out - it’s not a good idea. Not right now. Give it some time, figure out if you’re serious. I mean, hell, I’ve been married 15 years, I’m still not sure I’d put the wife’s name on the front of US Weekly. You know?”
Vince takes a deep breath. “I believe you, Ari,” he says, because he does, at least in some ways. He doesn’t think Ari is just after the money - there’s also fame and glory to be had. Really, though, he doesn’t think Ari is as evil as Eric seems to, and all things considered, he can’t fault him totally. Vince said OK to Tapping the Source, and so did Eric at the time. “OK? I do. The Cameron thing, let’s call it water under the bridge, unless he’s got something new coming up -”
“And then you’re at the top of the list and I don’t sleep until you’re headlining,” Ari says, and Vince nods.
“But you’re wrong about the rest,” Vince says. He drops his hand onto Eric’s shoulder. “We’re doing this,” he says. “At or after the premiere. You pick. Me, I’d like to take E as my date.”
He’s glad he can’t see Eric’s face, because there’s probably surprise there, and maybe some blushing, but it’s gratifying to see both Ari’s and Shauna’s mouths drop open across from him. Shauna, surprisingly, recovers first.
“Official, walk-the-red-carpets date, or he’s meeting you inside date?”
Vince shrugs. “There’s a difference?”
“What she’s asking,” Ari says, “is, are you doing press about it, or are the cameras just gonna catch you sucking face when they open the limo door?”
“Jesus,” Eric mutters.
“Well, that’s why we’ve come to talk to you,” Vince says. He takes his seat on the couch again, close to Eric, and smiles. “So what do you think?”
They finally agree to keep it low-key at the premiere - Eric won’t walk the carpet with him, which seems to be a relief to everyone but Vince - but they also agree to an interview before the movie premieres, so that the news cycle will print it after opening weekend but at around that time.
In the car on the way home, Vince says, “Why didn’t you tell me that stuff about Cameron? How long have you known?”
“I really only found out last week,” Eric says. “I ran into Emily on set.”
“You saw Emily?” Vince twists in his seat, watching Eric intently, feeling instantly - it’s not exactly worry, and it’s not exactly jealousy, but it’s something right in between.
Eric nods. “That’s sort of why I didn’t mention it.”
“Uh -”
“Not because - Christ, nothing happened. Just, it was awkward anyway, and I didn’t want you to worry or anything. Plus, I don’t know, I guess I was sort of waiting to cool off on the Cameron thing. I wanted to talk to Ari alone, but then today - he was just getting under my skin.” He turns briefly to face Vince while they’re stopped at a light. “You took it pretty well.”
Vince shrugs. “It would’ve been awesome to work with Cameron.”
“Yeah,” Eric says. “Well, Emily said he was really impressed, so maybe he’ll keep you in mind.”
“Maybe.” They start rolling again. “Where do you think we’d be, if we’d waited for Aquaman?”
Eric shrugs. “I don’t know. They’re turning it into a big franchise, the second one’s already filming, I guess. I hear Austin’s getting six for the second, maybe ten for the third if the numbers pan out. But Michael Bay’s directing.”
“Ugh,” Vince says, and Eric nods.
“I think we’d be playing on a different level,” he says. “But, if things go right with Coaster, I don’t know. Maybe it won’t matter. Why, what do you think?”
Vince sighs. “I think, if we’d done Aquaman, right now I’d be married to Mandy Moore.”
Eric laughs. “Right.”
Vince looks over. “I’m kind of serious,” he says, and Eric glances his way. “We had a thing. A long time ago, on A Walk to Remember. She - she’s the only other person I’ve ever been in love with.”
“In love with,” Eric echoes. “The only other - like you are with me?”
“Yeah,” Vince says.
Eric’s laughter this time is stunned. “Jesus, it’s like getting kissed and kicked in the balls at the same time,” he says. “You and Mandy Moore, huh?”
“I was kind of serious about her.”
“First I heard of it.”
Vince shrugs. He remembers the desperation he felt on that set, how all he wanted, all the time, was to be around Mandy, with Mandy, making Mandy laugh or cry out or just want him as much as he wanted her. It’s a little embarrassing, even now, to remember how pathetic he was about the whole thing. “It wasn’t exactly something I wanted to talk about with you,” Vince says.
“Yeah? Why not?”
Vince mimes holding up a phone. “Hey, E, how’s New York? Yeah, I think I’m in love with this girl Mandy. How do I know? It’s like the same feeling I get when you’re around, only I get to fuck her.”
Eric’s grinning. “I would’ve never let you marry Mandy Moore,” he says, making the turn into their driveway. He turns the car off, but neither of them moves to get out yet.
Vince says, “You know what, in the end, I think I’m glad we missed it. Because without Australia - who knows where we’d be now? I’m pretty fucking grateful we took Tapping the Source, all things considered.” He squeezes Eric’s shoulder, and Eric nods.
“Good point,” he says. As they climb out, though, he calls over the top of his car, “Don’t expect me to send Ari flowers or anything, though.”
The next few months move fast. Vince starts up with a trainer again to get in shape for the Cuarón movie, and Eric’s working non-stop on several projects for Harvey. He tells Vince confidentially (“swear to me, not a word to anyone, not even fucking Drama,”) that Harvey’s entertaining some buy-out deal from Paramount, and so he’s in a rush to get as many movies into production as possible to maximize their worth. This, in turn, makes Eric so busy that Harvey hires Eric an assistant, Steph. Vince feels like he sees her almost as much as he sees Eric, but that’s better than the last few months, where Harvey’s been leaving messages on their answering machine. Turtle and Johnny almost called the cops after the last message, which started with, “I’m gonna start with your mother. Then your mother’s mother. Then I’m gonna come over, I’m gonna get your boyfriend -”
“Jesus, now he has a problem with me?” Vince asked.
“He has a problem with everyone,” Eric said, hitting erase. “I’ll talk to him.”
It’s after the talk that Eric gets his assistant, and Harvey stops calling the house - though possibly that’s because they change the phone number, too. In fact, sometimes Vince could probably imagine that Harvey doesn’t exist, except that when Eric’s spent too much time with him, his jackets smell like Harvey’s cigars.
Around the time Steph comes on board, something goes very wrong for Ari at his agency, and one night Eric comes home and says that Ari’s been fired.
“You’re kidding me,” Vince says, setting down his Wii controller.
Eric shakes his head. “Harvey’s been in a good mood all week, I knew something was up,” he says, taking a seat next to Vince.
“Jeez, I wonder what that means for me,” Johnny says. “Is Adam still with Terence’s place?”
“I don’t know, Drama, but I can find out.” Eric looks tired, and Vince puts an arm around him. “Ari’s gonna come by tomorrow,” he says.
“Yeah, wow, he must be taking it hard.”
Eric snorts. “He got fired for trying to start a coup, Vince,” he says. “He’ll have his own shop up in the next few weeks, plus he’s gonna get a huge settlement from Terrence.”
“Wow, Ari getting fired,” Turtle says, and he shakes his head a little before passing over the bong. “It’s like finding out Santa Claus is replaceable.”
“Ari doesn’t believe in Santa Claus,” Johnny says.
“I would hope not, at his age,” Eric says, then takes a hit.
“I meant, Ari’s Jewish, they don’t celebrate Christmas.”
“Not this year they don’t,” Turtle says.
Vince takes another hit and lets the smoke escape kind of slow. “I totally can’t believe Ari got fired,” he says, “and yet, I totally can.”
That night, when it’s just the two of them in bed, Eric says, “Before Ari comes by tomorrow, we should talk about what you wanna do.”
“What do you mean, what I want to do?” Eric keeps looking at him. “What?”
“I mean, do you want to stick with Ari, or with the agency?”
Vince draws back. “That’s a no-brainer, right? Ari’s been our guy since day one. I mean, come on.”
“Ari’s not the only game in town,” Eric says. “I know he’s done some good stuff for you, but Vin, he’s also done some seriously fucking bad stuff. The guy’s kind of a loose cannon.”
“Yeah, but he’s our cannon,” Vince says. “I’m a loyal guy, E.”
Eric smiles and shrugs. “OK, OK,” he says. “Tomorrow we make Ari’s day.”
Eric has a meeting across town the next morning, so Vince is alone when Ari comes over. He pleads his case while Vince tries and fails to make him a latte from their new fancy coffee machine, and then Vince turns around and says, “Jesus, Ari, of course I’m gonna stick with you.”
Ari’s head bows just briefly, and he says, “Thank you, Vince, that’s what I wanted to hear.”
Vince shrugs. He offers Ari a glass of water, instead, and Ari says, “Where’s your fucking houseboy, anyway?”
“Turtle?” Ari rolls his eyes. “E’s got some meeting.”
Ari’s eyes narrow. “I suppose it’s too much to hope that that’s a euphemism for ‘off fucking someone else.’”
“Ari.”
“OK, OK.” He raises his hands up. “Just - are you guys still thinking you’re gonna do this thing, after Coaster?”
Vince shrugs. “Why wouldn’t we?”
“Just E’s a lot more known, now. I thought maybe a taste of the big life might’ve changed the little man’s mind.”
“We’re fine,” Vince says. “And we’re still together and we’re still planning to come out. If that’s a problem -”
“No problem,” Ari says. “Far be it from me to have a problem. The customer is always right at The Gold Standard.”
Vince grimaces. “Is that really your new company?”
“Don’t tell anyone,” he says, and slaps Vince on the shoulder before he heads out.
That night, Eric gets home late and falls next to Vince on the couch, and Vince tells him about Ari coming by. He mentions what he said about coming out, and Eric gets a weird look on his face before he nods, fast, and takes a sip of beer.
“Yeah, of course,” he says, almost too fast. “We’re still on.”
Vince rubs his neck. “You’re nervous, aren’t you?”
Eric shrugs. “It’s a little different now, I gotta admit,” he says.
“More people care who you’re fucking now,” Vince says, nodding. “Welcome to the club.”
“Hey, if you’re ready to stand up and say it, man, I’m right there. OK?”
Vince grins and kisses him. “OK.”
Before too long, just as Eric predicted, Ari does have his own agency up and going. He’s the same old Ari, just in a new office - a nice new office, in fact. It’s nicer even than Eric’s new office at Harvey’s place, though Vince would never say that to either of them. Eric’s been promoted to some new important title that he says doesn’t really mean anything, but Vince can tell he’s proud of it, because he breaks it out on the phone when he’s making calls. It came with some kind of raise, too, which Eric tells Vince he’s putting in the bank toward their planned vacation that summer spring. “Reunion tour,” he says, and Vince grins.
Part 3