Author's note: It's me again. I enjoyed writing my last story so much that I thought I would share another one with you all. Even though I wrote it so I know what was going on, I still feel like there was so much more to Walking Away than met the eye so I have decided to give you all Vince's perspective on it. I hope you enjoy!
Disclaimer: They still belong to the Gods that are Noel Fielding and Julian Barratt. I just play with them for my own amusement.
Vince had been enjoying looking at himself in the mirror whilst he played with his hair, making sure that each strand was exactly in the right position to perfectly accentuate his face when he had heard the crash. It had sounded suspiciously like someone's leg hitting a coffee table at high speed and was swiftly followed by a loud northern voice calling out his name followed by a choice selection of swear words.
Knowing that part 6592 (or was it 93?) of the ongoing row between him and Howard was more than likely about to erupt, Vince took his time leaving the sanctity of the bedroom that the two men shared, switching off his straighteners, giving his hair a final spray with the root booster and checking his outfit to make sure that it hadn't gone out of fashion since he put it on an hour before.
When he finally made it out of the bedroom Vince realised that instead of calming down since he had called out Howard had just got angrier. Vince could see that there was a vein pulsing in Howard's temple and his hands were tightly clenched as if Howard were having to stop himself from grabbing hold of Vince and shaking him or worse. Looking at Howard like this Vince felt that now common mixture of anger, guilt and weirdly lust. He was angry with himself as much as he was angry with Howard, he knew that the way he had been acting was unacceptable but Howard had just accepted every insult and every joke played at his expense. Vince wondered when it was exactly that things had changed so drastically between them. They used to be the best of friends, sharing every minute of their lives with one another.
Instead of asking Howard this though he launched himself full force into their ongoing argument. Insults were thrown, accusations were made and the next thing Vince knew he was outside the shop not quite knowing how he had ended up there.
Vince wandered the streets around the Nabootique for a while, his poor brain cell working overtime trying to figure out what had happened and how it could be put right. Eventually he found himself in a small park area and sat down on a bench by a duck pond that was more rubbish dump than wildlife home. He went back over the mornings events and started to make sense of what had happened.
It appeared that Howard had been on his way to the bedroom to bring Vince a cup of tea when he had tripped over a Chelsea boot that was lying abandoned in the living room, sending the cup of tea flying and hitting his leg on the coffee table. Vince felt a flash of guilt at this point; Howard had been doing something kind for him and had ended up being injured by clothing that Vince had left lying around.
Vince knew deep down that all the fighting and tension between the pair was mainly down to him but he couldn't seem to do anything about it. Ever since they had left the Zooniverse he had struggled to find his place in the world. He had been comfortable in the zoo, spending his days talking to the animals and his nights curled up in the cramped hut with Howard talking about anything and everything. Once they left the sanctity of the zoo things had changed. He knew that he had always been different from others, being brought up in the forest by Bryan Ferry wasn't a normal way to live, but living in the normal world had really brought this fact home. Everyone looked at him, making him feel like a freak and the more he tried to fit in the further away from Howard he ended up. He thought that the people who had started talking to him and even copying the way he dressed were his friends but the more time he spent with them the more he realised that they were only going to stick around until something better came along. They didn't care about him the way that Howard did. He was just something sparkly that had caught their attention.
Vince knew that the real problem was the feelings he was harbouring for his best friend, feelings that you shouldn't have for a friend. Vince was in love with Howard, he wasn't sure when these feelings had started, maybe they had always been there but he knew that they were getting stronger every day. Howard would never feel the same way about him; Vince knew that even after Howard has told him that he loved him when they thought they were going to die in the tundra and even after their kiss on the roof. Howard was as straight as they come, even if he never actually managed to pull a girl to prove it. This was the main reason Vince had been acting the way he had recently, he hoped that if he acted like he didn't care about Howard at all then maybe he would be able to trick his brain into believing that it was true. It should have worked as well considering how self absorbed he knew his brain could be at times; Vince thought that it would love the opportunity to go back to thinking of himself all the time. Only it wasn't working.
Vince sat on the bench for a while longer trying to figure out what he could do to fix the situation between him and his best friend. Eventually he came to the conclusion that he would just have to go back to the flat and see what happened.
Vince reached the entrance to the shop and paused for a second wondering why the closed sign was still showing, surely Howard would have opened up by now?
Feeling worried for his friend Vince opened the door and stepped inside noticing two sounds immediately.
The first was that someone had left the radio playing and Avril Lavigne was singing about someone you love being gone. This concerned him slightly as he was not a fan of hers but not as much as the other sound in the room concerned him.
Much quieter than the radio was the sound of sobbing. Male sobbing.
Vince looked down and saw something that made his heart break. Crouched down against the counter was Howard, hands covering his face as he cried his heart out.
Vince immediately rushed to comfort the older man, wrapping his arms around him and whispering nothing words in his ear desperate to stem the flow of tears.
He apologised to Howard, knowing without having to ask that he was the cause of the tears. He knew that he didn't deserve to be forgiven but he needed Howard to know how sorry he truly was.
"What has brought this on little man? I thought you hated me and didn't need me anymore? You seem to have outgrown our friendship." Hearing the old term of endearment from Howard along with Howard thinking he didn't need him anymore caused a blush to spread over Vince's cheeks. It took him a few seconds of looking into Howard's eyes before he could work up the courage to speak again and when he finally did all the words he had held inside for so long suddenly spilled out. He told Howard how he felt like he didn't fit into the world since leaving the zoo and without any conscious thought on his part he found himself blurting out his feelings for Howard.
After declaring his love for the jazz maverick Vince found that he was unable to look at him anymore so settled on staring at the floor instead, wishing that it would open up and swallow him whole so he would not have to hear his love tell him how he thought of him as a friend.
He was shocked out of his thoughts when Howard started speaking "Little man you should have told me, I know these things are hard to say but I feel the same way. I always have done. Why do you think I put up with so much from you? I love you." Vince was so shocked when he heard these words that he forgot to respond when he felt Howard's lips meet his.
The feel of those lips on his made him feel like his old self, light and playful and made out of sunshine and he found he was able to tease the other man slightly joking about the song that had been playing and how even though he loved Howard too they may have to break up if he had been enjoying it.
The words were lost though as Howard captured his lips in a much less gentle kiss and Vince felt his heart soar.
Grabbing his lover's hand with one hand and the suitcase that he found at the bottom of the stairs with the other he ran up the stairs to the flat, laughing and smiling all the way.
Once they reached the flat Vince finally took in the mess around them. The clothes strewn around, the matching tea stains on the floor by the coffee table and the kitchen table and the pieces of broken mugs scattered around the floor and knew that Naboo would kill them when he got back from his shaman's weekend but for now he didn't care as he dropped the suitcase and wrapped both of his arms around Howard's neck and capturing the other man's lips in a lingering kiss.
It didn't matter what happened in the future, for now he was as happy as it was possible for him to be and that was all that mattered.
Hope you enjoyed that, it's hard to tell unless you leave me some reviews!