Who: Eric and Harry. What: Meeting and drinking. Where: A bar. When: Late May. Rating/Warning: Low / Underage drinking and some mild language. Status: Complete.
There were certain perks to being semi famous and that was that even though Eric wasn’t exactly twenty one yet, he was able to get into almost any bar or club and get served. It probably wouldn’t be that way everywhere, but in California, more precisely, anywhere close to Hollywood, it was extremely easy. He was currently waiting outside a bar in Laguna Beach, camera free for once, waiting for Harry Osbourne. Harry had been looking for places to hang out and even though Eric had only been in Orange County for a little over a year, he still knew the good places to go as a result of the show and other friends that he’d made because of it. Harry seemed like exactly the type of person that Eric liked and he could always use more friends.
Harry definitely understood those perks. He exercised his own fame whenever he could, and it was great to be able to do that with someone like-minded. Of course he had ensured no cameras. His PR team would have flipped out and even his father, who didn’t care really what Harry did, would have had a fit just because of the bad publicity. When Harry showed up at the bar, he grinned and held out his hand. “Hey. Eric, right?”
Eric grinned in return and shook Harry’s hand, “That’s me. It’s good to meet you,” He gestured towards the door of the bar then, “After you.” After the crazy fights and just all around insane things that happened during filming, Eric could definitely use a drink or three tonight and was extremely glad that they didn’t had the cameras around tonight.
“Yeah, you too,” Harry replied, heading inside. It was a pretty nice bar, he’d have to give Eric some credit for picking it. He found a spot at the bar and after a small chat with the bartender, things were good to go. “So, this is like a day off for you, isn’t it?” he asked Eric.
Eric nodded as he ordered a drink, smirking as he wasn’t carded, “Yeah, in a way. It’s nice to have a break. I mean, I knew what I was getting myself into, more or less, but the cameras can get really fucking obnoxious sometimes.” At least filming would be over soon and he could go back to his apartment and have his privacy once again.
“I bet.” Harry ordered his own drink, trying to imagine what it’d be like to be always followed around. He was no stranger to the occasional paparazzi, but the constant presence of cameras would probably drive him mad. “What even made you decide that reality TV was the way to go?”
“Long story short, I wanted to get out of Ohio. I lived in such a small town that there was hardly ever anything to do,” He had been determined to get out somehow and when he’d seen the advert for the reality show, he thought that that would be a good way to accomplish that. “Figured I’d do a year or two, get my name out there then move on to something else.”
“Seems legit.” Harry shrugged and took a sip from his glass. “Why not, right? It seems to be working out.” He’d only seen the show here and there, so he did a bit of a Google search on Eric. Not that he’d admit it.
Nor would Eric admit that he might have googled OsCorp before they’d met up, “The perks aren’t so bad.” Eric smirked and took a sip of his drink, which had just been placed in front of him, “Nineteen and able to get into almost any bar or club I want.” Primarily reality shows usually cast people over twenty one, but they had liked Eric’s attitude and personality, “So you’re like the big wig at OsCorp?”
“Cheers to that,” Harry said, laughing as he raised his glass in a sort of toast. Then he shrugged as he took another drink. “Sort of. It’s my dad’s company. The main building is in Manhattan and OsCorp supplies things around the country and internationally. There’s a big presence on the east coast though and the old man thought it was time to start asserting ourselves over here. I don’t see the point, really. With Stark, Weyland, and Encom all here it’s a pretty tight market. But, hey, if I have to live in California and play CEO-in-training, I’m not gonna complain.”
“Impressive. Beats going to college, I’m sure.” Truthfully though, Eric had been thinking about possibly looking into some college courses in the fall. He had the money now and it wouldn’t hurt to have something to fall back on, “So what exactly does OsCorp do? Do you build things or engineer things?” He may have googled OsCorp, but since he was pretending he didn’t know anything about Harry, aside from what he’d written on Valarnet already, he figured he should ask.
“I guess.” Harry shrugged. He didn’t really see the appeal in college, either. “We mostly deal with the medical field? A lot of developing vaccines or trying to find cures for uncommon diseases. Biomedical stuff, and all. Also a lot of research with cross-species cures? Like, last time I was at the labs in New York, they were studying plant regeneration and researching different extractions to treat people. And, yeah, there’s engineering too. There’s a division devoted completely to medical equipment. It’s pretty nuts.”
“Wow. That’s pretty impressive.” Eric said, taking another sip of his drink, “Are you sciency or are you just primarily the boss?” He’d heard of and read various articles about new research for treatments various diseases and now he knew someone who was involved in all of that.
“Nah, not really. I understand it. If I read the reports and everything, I don’t get lost. It sort of runs in the family. But I just never wanted to pursue it.” Much to his father’s chagrin. “It’s really not for me. I’m way better at ordering people around than being stuck in a lab.”
“Oh I bet. I’m sure the scientists don’t mind being stuck in the labs, but ordering people around must be fun.” Eric liked to think that he’d be good at ordering people around, “Have you ever ordered someone to do something completely stupid just because you could?”
“Not as much as I should, I’ll tell you that.” Harry shook his head, amused. “I think I’ll be doing it a lot, though, starting pretty soon here.”
Eric laughed, imagining Harry telling someone to get him a very specific bagel or bring him a bowl of M&Ms, but to pick out the yellow ones. Those were things that Eric would do if he could order people around, just to be a bit of a dick, “I hope the people who work for you have tough skin.”
“They’ll learn.” For the most part, Harry was a pretty basic young adult. When it came to work, though, he was finding that he had a similar style that his father did, and that was to constantly put people in fear of their jobs. “You could probably get people to do some pretty stupid stuff, too, though. Being on TV gives a person that power.”
Eric considered that for a moment before shrugging, “Well, I have gotten a couple girls to do stuff they might not have otherwise.” During the filming of the first season of the show, one of Eric’s housemates had taken him to a bar for the first time despite the fact that Eric was barely older than eighteen and he’d started picking up girls here and there, but it wasn’t until after the first season had aired that Eric had had girls throwing themselves at him. “So, I guess that’s true.”
Harry laughed. A lot. “Geez. I don’t know whether to congratulate you or give you a weird look,” he said, shaking his head with a grin. “They probably shouldn’t let the two of us out together without supervision.”
Eric couldn’t help but join in on the laughter, “But then where’s the fun in that?” He grinned once the laughter had subsided and finished off his drink and glanced around for the bartender, “Another drink?” More drinks would likely result in more interesting stories and that was what Eric was looking forward to with his new friend.
“Another drink,” Harry agreed. “This round’s on me.” Or, well, on OsCorp, but that was just a triviality. Harry waved down the bartender and got them both new drinks, then gave Eric another toast before drinking his down.