Dancing in the Dark Part 14
We are back! And this story is complete and will be 17 chapters.
In this we have a batch of award shows, but not the Oscars yet. And we met the incredible Joyce Byers.
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 |
~
“Take the glasses off!” “Take the glasses off!” “Take the glasses off!”
The press was relentless as Steve walked down the red carpet at the SAG Awards. He was in a simple black tux with an off-white vest and priest collar shirt.
He was still sporting his cut from ‘Black, No Sugar (Unless it’s You)’. It was a faux-hawk with frosted tips and he could tell from the reactions that people were not liking it.
He just smiled and waved at the fans who had shown up to see him, glasses firmly on his face. It was only once he got past the media and to the fan line up did the glasses come off.
A fan ducked her head and blushingly said, “I like your glasses.”
Steve grinned at her and tapped her pink tortoiseshell glasses. “Me too.” He signed her photograph and moved on to the next fan.
He finally got into the venue feeling a little stretched thin. He looked around and let out a pained sigh. He didn’t see Eddie or Elise anywhere. They were all seated together, but he couldn’t see them in the densely packed crowd.
The crowd parted and Steve let out a little gasp. There was Joyce Byers. She recently done a sequel to a Tim Burton movie and she was nominated tonight. She spotted him and made a beeline straight for him.
Steve frozen where he was. Someone as famous as Joyce Byers knew who he was. This was more terrifying than any audition ever.
“Steve Harrington,” she asked, cocking her head to the side. “Right?”
“Yes, ma’am,” he managed to croak out. “I don’t think there is a person in this room who doesn’t know who you are.”
She blushed and waved her hand at him. “Flatterer!”
Steve raised an eyebrow. “Yeah, that’s not hyperbole or an exaggeration and you know it.”
Joyce’s smile went from shy to sly. “So all the rumors that you’re just a dumb bunny aren’t true, noted.”
“My parents have tried a lot of things to sully my name,” Steve said with a shrug. “That one was the one that stuck.”
Her face and shoulders fell. “I did hear about that, honey. I’m so sorry about how you were treated. I’m glad you were able to overcome all that and still act. I’m not sure I would have had that been me.”
He smiled at her. “All thanks to Robin Buckley and her parents. Owe them so much.”
“Richard was such a charmer back in the day,” Joyce said wistfully. “And Robin definitely gets that from him.”
“And she knows it,” Steve said with a grin.
“I just want to congratulate on that absolutely sublime of a film you did with her,” she said with bright smile, putting her hand on his forearm. “If they have any sense in their head, all three of you will win tonight.”
“Thank you for that,” Steve said, positively beaming. “We all know that there is very little sense in Hollywood. It’s practically embedded in its DNA.”
Joyce laughed. “That certainly true. But there was another reason I came over. Are you familiar with the film critic, Nancy Wheeler?”
He frowned. “A bit. She was the one who broke the story of my being caught in the back of a limo with a producer back in the day. I don’t have very fond feelings toward her for that. Even if she thought she was doing her job.”
She nodded grimly. “She’s friends with my Jonathan and I happened to overhear an argument they were having over her next article for Variety.”
“Uh oh,” Steve said darkly. “That can’t be good.”
“No,” Joyce said with a grimace. “She’s writing a piece about how only people of LBGTQ+ people should play those roles and that in this day and age actors don’t have the ‘problems’ getting non-gay roles these days, therefore they should just come out.”
Steve let out a pained sigh. “Going after Eddie for not being gay and going after me for playing to ‘type’ in the same breath. That is some extra kind of fuckery.”
“Agreed,” she murmured. “I was looking for Eddie to tell him, but I spotted you first. Jon was really upset about it, especially since I’m currently dating Jim.”
“So he was looking out for his mom’s boyfriend,” Steve surmised. “Because that kind of backlash would absolutely blow back on the movie itself.” She nodded. “Thanks for the heads up. I’ll pass it along and let my agent know we’ll need to get out ahead of this.”
“Of course,” Joyce murmured. “I’ve told Jim and if you tell Eddie then we can all avoid this unpleasantness.”
Steve thanked her and then set off for where his seat was supposed to be, and thankfully Robin and Eddie were already there.
He gave each of them a hug as a greeting but when he hugged Eddie, he whispered, “There’s something I need to talk to you about of the ceremony.”
Eddie just nodded and they all sat down for the award show, Steve sitting between the two of them.
The lights dimmed and the comedian hired to host immediately started in on the jokes. Making everyone they could vaguely uncomfortable and being asinine.
Steve grimaced through the butt jokes about a couple of queer movies including their own. He really hated those kind of jokes because there were plenty of people on both sides of the aisle that enjoyed it and making it a joke only served to further stigmatize it from someone who might actually enjoy it from trying it.
First up was Steve for Best Supporting Actor in a Motion Picture.
“And the winner is...” said the rail thin blonde who looked only vaguely familiar. “Steve Harrington- ‘Dancing in the Dark’!”
Eddie and Robin were pounding on his back and congratulating him. He went up to stage and took the award from her.
“Wow,” he breathed. “There are a lot of awards worth having, but I think the greatest one you can get is when your own peers see the work you do as worthy. So thank you. Also thank you to my best friend and best director an actor could ever dream of, Robin Buckley, my co-star Eddie Munson, you make my work better just being who you are, Richard Buckley for giving me the chance, and to all the cast and crew who all came out of this movie with a hatred of Karo syrup and red dye.” He raised the award and then repeated, “Thank you!”
There was thunderous applause and he was carefully lead away as someone slipped into his empty seat.
He was brought back stage and the award was whisked away and he was given a heavier actual award that he was told to get engraved later. Then he was shoved in front of cameras and interviewers as they shouted questions at him.
“What do you say to rumors that you are dating your co-star, Eddie Munson?” was the first shouted question.
Steve burst out laughing. “God, if you believed every rumor about Eddie’s dating life, he’ll have had seventeen boyfriends and forty-two girlfriends in the last three years alone. Give it up, guys. He’s never going to come out and tell you who he’s dating and frankly, you won’t hear it from me either.”
“That’s not a no,” the interviewer said wagging their eyebrows.
“It’s a ‘none of your business’,” Steve insisted.
“Steve!” another interview called. “What’s next for you?”
Steve looked over and smiled. It was Veronica Stiles. The interviewer who had threatened to eviscerate anyone who asked him the hair question again.
“I’ve got a busy and packed schedule coming up,” he said with a smile. “I just wrapped up ‘Black, No Sugar’ with Jim Hopper and I’m on my way to play video game heartthrob and swashbuckler Billy the Blackheart. Then if all goes well you might be seeing me in tight spandex soon.”
“Oooh...” Veronica cooed. “Any hints on who it might be? Like DC or Marvel?”
Steve just smiled and shook his head. “My lips are sealed.”
There were a few more questions and then he was allowed to finally go back to his seat, award in hand.
Eddie shook his shoulder in excitement and grinned back at him.
There were a few more awards and then it was time for Best Leading Actor in Motion Picture. Steve reached out and took Eddie’s hand. Win or lose, Steve would still be proud of Eddie’s work on the film.
“And the winner goes to...” the presenter said, tugging at the envelope. “Gosh, they sure do seal these things tight.”
Eddie’s knee started jumping up and down from the sheer amount of suspense.
“And the winner goes to, Billy Hargrove- ‘Light of an Alaskan Dawn’!” she screamed.
There was a bunch of clapping and Eddie looked up at the camera as it passed over him, his disappointment evident on his face. Billy’s movie was pure awards bait and everyone knew it. It was an one-man epic about a man struggling with depression during the six months of no light in Alaska and how like the sun, he eventually came back around.
Steve leaned over and whispered something in Eddie’s ear that made him burst out laughing just as Billy passed them.
Billy shot the two of them a dirty look, but wisely said nothing as he got up to give his acceptance speech. He spoke about how meaningful the movie was and how grateful he was for the opportunity.
Steve wanted to gag, it was all too much. And likely too fake, too.
The music began as Billy waffled through his speech, so he raised his award and then was led off stage.
Robin gave them a strange look, but continued the rest of the show ignoring them.
She cornered them both and demanded to know what Steve said to Eddie that made him burst out laughing.
Steve shook his head. “I’ll tell you after I tell you what Joyce Byers told me before the show, because wooboy are we going to need something light to brighten the mood.” And then he explained her warnings.
“Did you hurt Nancy Wheeler in a former life or something?” Eddie asked with a scoff. “Dated her brother? Something, anything.”
Steve actually grimaced. “Not her brother, no. But our parents were friends and they set us up, I think her parents thought that dating a movie star would get her into places she wouldn’t have otherwise. Then when she cheated on me with...” he let out a pained sigh.
“Jonathan Byers,” Robin finished for him. “Though in Jon’s defense, she told him they had broken up when they had sex. They even dated for awhile before Jon found out about the cheating.”
“Holy shit,” Eddie hissed. “I would have dumped her too. My uncle always said never date a cheater because how they got you is how they’ll get the next one.”
Steve nodded. “Yeah, that what he said his mom said, too. Then of course Jon leaving her was my fault so she stalked me for awhile to try prove that it wasn’t her fault she cheated.”
“Oof,” Eddie muttered shaking his head. “So what, is she anti-LQBTQ now?”
Robin snorted. “That would hypocritical of her considering she’s got her own girlfriend, but it’s more that she’s gone down the leftist rabbit hole of only disabled people should play disabled people, trans people should play trans, gay should play gay... etc.”
Eddie’s eyes went wide. “It’s dickheads like her that made that one British actor come out as bi after playing a bi teenager. Like the kid was barely seventeen at the time but he was forced to come out just to stop the harassment.”
“Yeah,” Steve said with a nod, “and I think she’s smelling blood in the water.”
“Fuck!” Eddie said softly. “She’s not after you, she after me.”
Robin pursed her lips. “I’ll lunch with Bob, Chrissy, and Jim and see if we can’t form a unified statement.”
Eddie and Steve nodded.
“So what was it that you told Eddie that made such a scene?” she asked pulling her phone out of her purse.
Eddie and Steve shared a glance and then Steve said, “That he must have slept his way through the SAG-AFTRA voters.”
Robin blinked at them for a moment before nodding solemnly. “That tracks. The media likes to portray Stevie here as a slut, but I don’t think Billy’s gone to an event with the same woman twice.”
Steve grinned, feral. “They only do that because I’m gay and Billy’s straight. Trust me if the shoe was on the other foot, they would absolutely be painting Billy with the same brush.”
“True,” Eddie said. “At least a made a disappointing moment more fun.”
“Don’t worry, darlings,” Robin said, putting her phone away and then draping her arms over each of them. “There is always the Oscars!”
~
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