Supernova.

The tabloids might say that Vincent Chase's star exploded when Aquaman was released five years ago, but he would always trace that moment to when he was six years old and a mouthy Irish redhead from Queens agreed to be his best friend.

"Man, this day is going to suck. It's like minus twelve degrees outside and we have basketball in gym today," Vincent Chase complained to Eric Murphy one day at the bus stop. It was the middle of the winter in Queens, and they were in the midst of a prolonged cold spell. Eric was bundled up so much that you could barely see his face behind his hat and scarf. Vince just has an oversized parka, clearly a hand-me-down from one of his older brothers. "Hey, want half my Pop Tart? It's cherry!"

Eric looked over at the kid next to him with his dumb floppy hair and stupid puppy dog eyes and grimaced. "Yeah, I guess," he muttered, swiping at the back of his neck in annoyance before taking the toaster pastry. "I'm Eric Murphy. I think I live a few houses down from you. You guys are the ones with all the kids, right?" Vince nodded, indicating that he was indeed one of the famous Chase clan. "My dad always yells at your brother, Johnny, for parking on the lawn. He doesn't like him very much."

Vince laughed and shrugged. "That sounds like Johnny," he grinned. "He's going to be an actor in California when he grows up. He's already saved up all his money, says he's going there after he graduates from high school next year. I'm gonna be just like him when I get big. You can go to Hollywood with me and be in the movies. I'm gonna be more famous than Mr. Rogers!"

"Nah, I want to play baseball when I grow up, and the Dodgers have sucked since they left Brooklyn," he pointed out. "I'm gonna play for the Mets, third base. But I'll come visit you when we play the Dodgers. You can come watch my games!"

That is how the two of them form a lifelong bond built on promises made when they were six. While Eric doesn't become the all-star athlete he dreamed of, he does become part of a dream team all of its own. He is right by Vince's side through every step of his career, starting with the day that he decided to follow Drama to LA. Although he isn't in the passenger seat of Turtle's van when they leave Queens, he is there every single day on the phone with Vince, listening to him read scripts and advising him on what he would do if he was in his situation.

"I don't know, Vin, the movie sounds like it actually has promise," Eric told Vince when he called with the script for Head On for the first time. They had been through a small stack over the past week, ever since some studio had decided that he was the next big thing. His new agent, Ari Gold, was all about getting Vince in whatever film would launch his career, but Eric knew that the first major project would set a tone for how Vince would be perceived. "The script isn't half bad and Jessica Alba is pretty hot. It sounds like a smart choice."

Eric was still in Queens, pulling long shifts at Sbarro's at night and taking classes at Queens Community College during the day. His dad had been gone for three years by then, and he was doing everything he could to keep them afloat without his mom having to go back to work full time. Vince hated how tired he sounded every time he called E. "What if you come out here when I make the movie? You could be my guy or whatever. Make sure you're on the set with me and stuff," he offered. He could afford to pay Eric more than the shit paycheck he pulled down from the pizza chain. "They're going to give me a stipend on top of what they're paying me. Besides, I need you out here."

"You've got Turtle," Eric pointed out as he rolled the pizza cutter over the steaming pie. He was dead on his feet, having worked a double after Tina called in sick because of her kids again. He kept thinking he would fire her but he knew that she needed the money. They all did. "Besides, I am not going to be your assistant."

"It wouldn't be like that, E, not with us," he assured his best friend. "I need you to look out for me, help me make my choices and stuff. Ari's good and all, but he is still all about the business. You're my best friend, E, no one would fight for me like you do. Say you'll come out here. I miss you like hell, man. It's time for you to come to LA."

One phone conversation sent their life into a tailspin. Two weeks later, Eric stepped off the plane, and every week since then, he had sent his mother a check to help cover some of her expenses. She complained at first, when the guys were still struggling a little, but as the money got more plentiful, she came to accept that this was just something that her boys were going to do for her. When a few months had become a few years, Eric had realized that he was actually pretty good at this management business. Vince was nominated for a few awards here and there, built a strong resume, expanded into other aspects of production and became a bonified star under Eric's careful guise. There are expensive houses, luxury cars, exotic trips and women – lots and lots of women. But through it all, it stayed about the two of them until it was really just about the two of them.

Eric paced in front of the fireplace nervously, his hands balled at his side as he tried to take in Vince's words. They had fought before, to the point where Eric had to put 3,000 miles between them just to breathe. They had cursed and yelled only to make up. He had always known what to say to Vince but he was speechless now. "What do you mean you have feelings for me?" he asked, stopping his worn path to look at his best friend.

"I mean, I was watching you with that girl tonight and realized that I was jealous. And before you say it, I wasn't just jealous because she was into you and not me," Vince tried to explain. He knew he could have buried it and probably should, but he had never lied to E about anything (other than Mandy) and didn't want to start now. He had been acting weird all night and when Eric had called him on it, he had to tell him the truth. "I was jealous because you were into her and not me."

"Fuck," Eric exhaled, his voice unsure how to sound. He wasn't angry or really all that surprised; a small part of him was even a little proud. Vincent Chase was a pretty good catch. He collapsed on the opposite end of the sofa and looked at Vince. "When? How?"

Vince shrugged. He rarely had an explanation. Things just were for him, he felt them and acted on them. He left it up to E to be his logical side and think for him. "E, I don't expect you to feel anything back. I just thought I should tell you because maybe you would and what's better than getting to be with your best friend?" He had known that it would tug at Eric's heart strings. His parents had been best friends before they'd fallen in love, and E had spent his entire dating life in pursuit of that. "Just say something."

"Shut up," Eric muttered before leaping across the couch. He captured Vince's mouth easily and hungrily, putting everything he had into the single kiss. He didn't know how he felt,but if he spent too much time thinking about it, Eric would never act on it. When Vince turned his head just so and slid his hand onto E's bicep, Eric felt a little something click. Vince swiped his tongue across Eric's lips before slipping into his mouth. When they both finally pulled away breathless, Eric looked at Vince in awe and covered his mouth. "Yeah, this might work."

They were both surprised how well it did work. They start out slow, hanging out alone when they can and keeping things as chaste as possible. Vince knew that Eric liked to wait, and he relished the chance to court him. They would go on small dates in public without ever indicating something had changed. Three months in, they finally told the boys, and a year later, they came out to the rest of the world. Vince's career stumbled at first until the studios realized his sexuality didn't really seem to effect his appeal with audiences. Eric is at his side when he helps announce Oscar nominations, including one for his own work in the latest Jason Reitman flick.

"And now, for nominations for best motion picture," announced Katie Sunderland. She had been Vince's co-star in his nominated work for When the Bough Breaks and had already garnered a supporting actress nomination herself.

Vince stepped up to the microphone and started to read before putting down the envelope on the podium. "Actually, Katie, hold on just a moment," he told her. He flashed an unapologetic smile at the dozens of cameras pointed at him and shrugged before turning to where Eric was standing in the wings. He crossed the stage and took E's hand.

E was glaring at him by now, cursing softly so that the sound guys couldn't pick it up. "What the fuck are you doing?" He never liked being on camera and still hated some of Vince's more stupid impulses. Interrupting the Academy Award nominations to talk to him was probably one of those, especially when they were being broadcast live around the world.

The movie star was quiet as he knelt down in front of Eric and pulled a ring from his pocket. "I was going to wait until later to do this, but I thought that my biggest dream just came true," he said. His eyes were locked on Eric, completely oblivious to anything else around them. Eric could almost let himself be pulled in after Vince. "But then I realized that I have a different dream than I used to. Yeah, this is awesome, but it's not as amazing as getting to spend the rest of my life with you. So that's what I'm doing here, asking you to be mine forever and always. What do you say, E? Will you marry me?"

Eric accepted, punched Vince slightly on the shoulder and kissed him deeply all on national television before Vince went back to the podium to announce that his film had also received a nomination for best film. They both won, and two weeks later, they are married in a small private ceremony in New York with paparazzi chomping at the bit for the first photograph of the happily wedded couple. The whole affair threw them into an entirely different level of fame, but Eric and Vince stay within their inner circle and move into a securely gated community in the Hollywood Hills. On their first anniversary, Vince flew them both to Fiji to celebrate, and Eric arranged a two-week trip to Auckland their second year. By year five, they've both seen the world and decide to adopt a little girl from Montana after falling in love with her photo on the Internet.

Allison Mae Murphy (they are both using Eric's last name by then) was the light of their life from the beginning, already too smart for her own good at the ripe age of five. They enrolled her in dance classes and the private school where Ari had sent his kids. She played on the soccer team, which Drama helped Eric coach and Vince was present for every game. They take trips to Disney World instead of Vegas, bringing along with a newly married Drama and his wife as well as the recently reunited Turtle and Jamie. Allison doesn't mind the cameras so much and smiled prettily whenever someone asked to take her picture. Eric is more protective than Vince but they are both careful when they are in public. She doesn't seem to notice that her life is out of the ordinary.

"Daddy, can I have Haley and Alex over to spend the night on Friday?" she asked Eric one Tuesday morning as they sat at the counter eating breakfast. She was sharing a bowl of sugary cereal with Vince while he ate an egg-white omelet. Sometimes it was like he was raising two kids.

Eric took a long sip of his coffee. Alex's parents were conservative and not exactly thrilled that their only child was best friends with the daughter of a gay Hollywood couple. Still, it wasn't either of the girls' faults that they were ignorant bigots. "If their parents say it's okay, it's fine with me," he told her. "But you have to ask Dad."

"Dad, can they come over?" she implored Vince, her doe brown eyes fluttering in a way that she knew already made it impossible for him to say no. From the moment she had met them, Eric was Daddy and Vince was Dad. It was less confusing and those were the names she had chosen. "Pleeeeease?"

Vince grinned over Ali's head at Eric. They both knew where she got her charm from. "Fine with me, Ali Mae," he told her as a car honked outside. "Sounds like Haley's mom is here. Grab your backpack, and I'll walk you out so we can ask her." She clapped happily and bound up the stairs to find her backpack, leaving them alone. "So sleep over Friday night?"

Eric leaned across the counter and kissed Vince briefly. "Yeah, sounds like," he murmured between kisses. "But don't forget that she is spending the night with Turtle and Jamie on Saturday night so that we can have a little sleep over of our own."

The three of them make a happy family of their own, and Allison grew up to be a beautiful woman. She is the first one in their family to go to college, graduating with honors from Stanford with a degree in business. Vince was still making movies, a true leading man just a year shy of his 50th birthday. Eric owned stake in Ari's agency after they had taken it full-service, adding a management team headed by Eric. Drama had twin boys in high school, and Jamie and Turtle had a daughter in seventh grade and a son who just started college. All three of the boys are in love with Ali, but she had already fallen hard for someone else. Eric and Ari still hated that it had to be Jonah but knew that it was inevitable that they would be connected for life.

Vince had three Oscars to his name by that time, and Eric had a pair as executive producer on a couple of critically acclaimed films. They had been on countless magazine covers, topped Forbes Hollywood list twice and had climbed the ranks of Hollywood to sit atop a nice throne. But they were still the boys from Queens, watching the Knicks religiously, drinking beer straight from the bottle and knocking out a couple rounds of golf with the boys every Thursday afternoon. They visited Jonah and Allison in San Francisco once a month where she was working in publishing and Jonah was in his residency at Saint Francis Memorial.

It's been twenty-five years now that they've been together, and Eric is still the center of Vince's universe. The fame and acclaim mean nothing next to his daughter and husband. The tabloids still care that he is a superstar, but he doesn't need to be famous to the masses to know that he is a star in Eric's beautiful eyes. Their love affair was the stuff of fairytales, even if it was a slightly screwed up version where the prince gets the other prince.

FIN.