Naboo folded his arms and eyed the pair of them. "What the hell is he doing here?"
Vince stuck up his chin defiantly. "You told me to do the right thing."
"And?"
"And this is the right thing for me."
Naboo looked between Howard and Vince. Howard began to feel uncomfortable; he hated that Naboo so rarely showed emotion. It was always so hard to tell what he was thinking.
"Well," he said eventually. "If that's what you want."
"It is."
Naboo glared at Howard. "I'm gonna be watching you though, yeah? Don't go trying any funny stuff."
Howard stifled a smile. Only Naboo could refer to murder and assassination as 'funny stuff'.
"That stuff's behind me now, Naboo. I promise."
......................................................
"Vince?"
"Hmm?"
"Have you seen glue stick number 5?"
"What?"
"And I'm missing paperclips 3 through 7."
Vince stared at him, unsure how to react. "Why…why do you want them?"
"Because they're missing from stationary village!"
Vince swallowed. "I thought you weren't gonna pretend anymore?"
"Who's pretending? Stationary village was always mine. Now have you seen them or not?"
Vince let out a snort of laughter. "It wasn't pretend?"
Howard glared at him. "Why is that funny? I like stationary."
"You don't really…I wouldn't have thought you would be…um…"
"I'll have you know I have a very nice pen collection from around the world. Now have you seen them or not, because you're starting to get on my nerves so if you can't help me I'd advise you go upstairs."
Vince got up and walked over to Howard, pressing a swift kiss on his lips before heading for the staircase.
"What was that for?" Howard called after him, confused. It was the first time Vince had kissed him since he'd returned 3 days ago.
"No reason." Vince replied, turning to smile at him. "Just…maybe you're not so different after all."
3 months later
Vince was bored. It was raining outside, which always meant one of two things. Either the shop would be full of people browsing the shelves but never buying anything who every now and again would glance out the window to see if they could leave yet; or the place would be completely deserted.
Today, seemingly, was the latter.
Howard had disappeared into town about half an hour ago to pick up a few things they needed, and ever since then Vince had been by himself. When the bell above the door sounded he didn't even bother looking up from his magazine. It was probably just someone sheltering from the rain. It took him over a minute before he realised he couldn't hear any of the usual 'browsing noises' - no shuffling, no flicking the LPs, no picking stuff up and putting it back down again…
Vince looked up and saw a woman standing in the middle of the shop. She wore a thick brown coat that looked about 3 sizes too big for her, and the little amount of hair he could see poking out from under her hat looked in desperate need of attention. She was making no effort to even pretend to browse the shelves, which Vince thought was a bit rude. If you were going to shelter in a shop you could at least pretend that's not what you're doing. He cleared his throat.
"Hi, can I help you?"
The woman shuffled nervously, her eyes darting around the shop. Vince frowned. She looked unusually pale.
"Are you ok, love?" Vince asked, standing up. "Do you need to sit down?"
"No. I'm fine. I'm just…I didn't expect him to…"
"Are you sure you're ok?"
"I'm fine. I'll…come back later." she hurried out of the shop. Vince sat there for a second before getting up and wondering over to where she'd been stood, checking if anything had been nicked.
"Why are you staring at the merchandise?"
Vince jumped and looked round at Howard. He hadn't heard him come in. "Oh, it's nothing major. This woman came in and was acting really weird. I reckon she was on something. I was just checking if she'd nicked anything."
"And?"
Vince shrugged. "I dunno. I'm not sure what was on the shelves before."
Howard laughed and shook his head. "I don't know how you've managed to keep this job for so long, little man."
"It's because of my natural charisma." Vince grinned.
Howard laughed. "Of course it is."
"What? It is!"
Howard shook his head, still smiling. "Com on, get back to whatever it is you do when you're supposed to be working. I've got stock taking to do."
Another 2 hours passed without a single customer. Vince had kept himself amused by humming the most annoying song he could think of then stopping and looking innocent whenever Howard turned to glare at him, but even that was getting boring now. He looked up when he heard the bell above the door go. He got up and nudged Howard in the arm.
"That's her!" he said quietly.
"That's who?" Howard asked, not taking his eyes off the clipboard.
"That woman! The one who was in here earlier. I think she fancies you. She's staring at you."
Howard turned his head disinterestedly. As soon as he saw the woman standing in the middle of the shop he went white.
"Vince, go upstairs." he said quickly, in a tone that told Vince not to argue.
"What? Why?"
"Vince, please just go upstairs."
"Not until you tell me what's going on!"
"For fuck's sake will you just do what I tell you!" Howard shouted, slamming the clipboard down on the counter. Vince flinched. "I'm sorry." Howard said softly, stroking Vince's arm. "Just…please go upstairs?"
Vince nodded. "Ok." he leant up and pecked Howard on the lips before heading for the staircase.
Howard watched him go, before releasing a breath and turning to the woman.
"Hello, Miriam."
"Hello…Howard. It suits you, that name. I'd never have though it would, it just seems so…"
"What do you want?" Howard interrupted.
"Long time no see. How are you?"
Howard snorted. "Cut the crap, ok? You're not here to make small talk and we both know it. How did you find me?"
She shrugged. "You can find anyone if you look hard enough."
"What're you doing here, Miriam?" Howard asked impatiently.
"Do I need a reason?" She folded her arms and eyed him stonily. "Can't a girl just drop by to visit her big brother?"