A/N: More fluff that poured from my even fluffier brain. I know pancake day has come and gone, but eh... The writing style changes after the first part too, so sorry about that!
Enjoy!
xxxx
Howard sniffs and flicks the page of his magazine. He knows he's behind him – waiting, biding his time; hovering like a bee over a flower. It unnerves him slightly, because sometimes he isn't sure if it's because he wants something, or if he's about to play some horrible trick on him. He mentally sighs with relief when it turns out to be the former.
"Howwwward?" Vince starts, all child-like and innocent, coming up behind the sofa and bending down to place his chin on Howard's shoulder.
Howard spares him a side-long glance before going back to his article on 'instrument of the month' and clearing his throat in an unaffected way.
Vince tugs at his bottom lip slightly with his teeth as he puts his mouth closer to his friend's ear. "Howard?"
"Yes?" he replies, not looking up.
"You know what today is, don't you?"
"Hmm?"
"Can we make pancakes?"
Howard ignores him. Vince starts to whine.
"Howwwward..? HowardHowardHowardHoward -"
In one quick motion, Howard slaps down his magazine and turns his head so fast that Vince is caught off guard, and he jumps at the suddenness of the movement as they end up bumping noses.
"Yes, Vince?" Howard asks, completely calm, their noses still tip to tip.
"Can we make pancakes?" Vince replies, collecting himself quickly and gazing at him with his big baby blues.
"Pancakes?"
"Yep – it's pancake day!"
Howard shakes his head and tries not to laugh. "Go ahead, little man," he says, although he knows full well that Vince can't make them and needs his help. Vince tells him so too.
"Howard, you know I can't make them on my own. You're the pancake king. The ingredients only adhere to your command." He smiles cheekily as Howard finally stands, a drawn out sigh escaping his lips.
"Come on then." Because he knows, if he doesn't, he won't get any peace at all.
xxxx
"Vince!"
"What?"
Howard pulled the milk bottle away from him. "You've made it too runny now."
"You said you'd say 'when!'"
"When?"
"What?"
Howard smirked at the confused look on his friend's face. "Look at you – you're a mess. You look like the flour fairy." He gestured to the kitchen table. "Sit down and don't touch anything."
"But -"
"Ah!" Howard held a finger up before turning to the runny mixture, and set about thickening it up.
Vince stared down at the table top and pouted. "I was only trying to help," he mumbled, as he brushed flour off of his purple t-shirt.
"I know, little man" Howard said, fondly, setting the mixture down and heating up the frying pan. "Tell you what – why don't you set out what you want on them."
Vince grinned, and set about raiding the cupboards, pulling out bottles of chocolate sauce and syrup, lemon juice and sugar – he even grabbed some bananas and started slicing them up. When he was done he looked up at Howard, who had his back to him, about to turn the hob on to heat up the pan. A mischievous thought entered his head, and he picked up some of the fruit and threw it at his unsuspecting mate.
Howard yelped and spun round, a hand up to the back of his head. Vince was grinning wickedly at him, holding onto a bottle of syrup.
"Vince – what are you doing?"
"Nothin'" he replied, wicked grin melting into an expression of wide-eyed innocence.
Howard shook his head. "Don't waste the food – there are starving children out there who..." he trailed off as Vince stepped towards him, the bottle in his hand now uncapped. "Vince, come on now. Naboo will go mad if we mess up the kitchen. I thought you wanted pancakes, anyway?"
Vince said nothing, just continued to step towards him. Then, with what only can be described as a war cry, he lifted the bottle, held it out, and squeezed hard.
"Argh!" Howard cried, as he was hit with a stream of sticky, golden gloop. "Vince!"
Vince laughed, and no matter how mad Howard tried to look, he couldn't help but smile.
"Fine – you want to play?" Howard grabbed the chocolate sauce and aimed it at Vince – his hair, to be more precise.
"Wha... don't you dare!" Vince cried, ducking as his friend came at him. The sauce hit the side of his face, going up in a wobbly line to his highly prized hair. "Oh, you are so gonna pay for that!"
They went for each other at the same time, squeezing their bottles and ducking and diving behind the kitchen table, both laughing hysterically. Howard chucked down his bottle and picked up the packet of flour, chucking it over Vince. It stuck to the chocolate sauce, making him look like human cake mixture, and he pelted Howard with bits of fruit before grabbing the bag of sugar and throwing it over Howard's head. Soon running out of their supplies, Vince ran to the cupboard and took out a bottle of ketchup while Howard got hold of a tin of beans, yanking off the lid by the ring pull and chucking it in Vince's face as he got squirted with the red condiment. Vince screwed his eyes closed, blowing his lips out as the beans covered his mouth. He stumbled to the side and Howard reached out quickly and grabbed him, only the action sent Howard himself off balance, and they both slipped to the floor, crying with laughter and wiping the backs of their hands over their faces. Vince licked his lips.
"Mmm, chocolate and beans."
"You think that's bad," Howard splutted, "ketchup and sugar!" He tilted his head to the side, looking at his friend.
"What?"
"You got a little something right..." Howard leaned slightly and put a hand to Vince's cheek, wiping away some of the sticky mess with his thumb. "...there."
Vince grinned. "Gee, thanks. For a second I was worried I had it all over me."
Howard smiled, and looked round the kitchen. "We have to clean this up."
"Yeah."
"Although I really want a shower first."
"But then we'll just get dirty again when we clean."
"True – but if we clean while we're covered in the entire contents of a supermarket, it'll just get spread about again."
They sat there against the cabinets for a while longer, catching their breath, which was peppered with dying laughs as they calmed down.
"You're not freaking out over your hair," Howard noted.
"Eh – it needed a wash anyway." Vince reached up and wiped away some beans, then he reached over and wiped them down Howard's face.
"Oi!" he chuckled, grabbing Vince's hand and pulling it away. He caught his eye, and they stared at each other for a moment, neither letting go of the other. Vince unconsciously shuffled closer to his mate, his chocolate covered thumb rubbing gently over Howard's syrup covered hand, their sticky skin sliding together, slowly warming up.
"Vi -" Howard cleared his throat, reddening slightly at how high his voice sounded. He tried again. "Vince."
"Yeah?" Vince licked his lips again, pulling a face as he got the bitter taste of flour on his tongue.
Howard smiled softly at him, head resting back on the cupboard door, but still turned in Vince's direction. Vince mimicked him.
Their hands stayed joined.
"Nothing," Howard continued. He was very aware at how close their faces were, and he wondered briefly why neither of them seemed to be able to move. He saw Vince's free hand hover towards his face, but he felt frozen in time, and was therefore unable to do anything about it. He felt sticky fingers glide down his cheek, Vince's eyes searching out and locking onto his, his face moving closer and closer, so close that Howard's vision stared to blur, and his breath involuntarily quickened.
Vince, himself, wasn't quite sure what he was doing, and he didn't know where this strange pull was coming from, but all of a sudden, sitting there, covered in gloop and sugar and bits of banana, Howard was looking more and more irresistible.
Howard, being the taller of the two, was now looking down at Vince, and he kept his eyes open even as he saw his friend's lips coming towards his. He watched Vince's baby blue's flutter closed, and as their mouths brushed together lightly, a spark of electricity pulsed through him. He felt Vince's lips skim gently over his and... was he trembling? Vince pulled away slightly, and Howard suddenly felt very naked, and he wanted those lips back very much so he could kiss them properly, the ghost of the light-as-air caress making his mouth tingle. Vince was barely a centimetre away, so Howard took the plunge and leaned into him, returning the tender kiss with a much firmer one. Vince sank slightly beneath him, a sigh pushing out air in a rush out the side of his mouth, and he reached up and put his hands either side of Howard's face, holding him closer. Howard had just enough time to register that, unlike the party kiss, he was actually now fully involved in it and wasn't doing too badly, before the feel of Vince's tongue gliding over his lips sent his head spinning, and he opened his mouth to him, and as the wet hotness overwhelmed him, he was certain he was going to pass out. He could taste chocolate and baked beans, the two very different flavours combining to make something not entirely unpleasant, not that Howard really cared, because Vince was kissing him, and he was kissing Vince and... he gasped and pulled away, partly because he needed air and partly because he finally realised that was kissing Vince – Vince, his best friend Vince.
Vince looked up at Howard, eyes half closed and glazed over. "Howard?" he sat back, shaking his head to clear the fog from his mind, and it was only then that he registered the shock on the bigger man's face, and he suddenly felt like he'd been punched in the stomach. "Shit – Howard, I'm sorry. I -"
"Shhh," Howard put a finger to his lips and cut him off, now aware of how he must have been looking at him. "I'm not," he whispered, his voice slightly husky.
"Not what?" Vince replied, quietly.
"I'm not sorry."
Vince smiled softly, and the expression widened as Howard's fingers reached under his chin and gently tilted his head upwards. "Is that an invitation?" he breathed.
Howard just smiled back and kissed him again, his confidence growing with every brush of lips, every slide of tongue and every tiny moan that escaped Vince's mouth. His arms went round him, pulling Vince half onto his lap, hands moving up into his sticky hair, vaguely aware that Vince would be screaming blue murder later when he tried to brush the knots out. No amount of conditioner was going to de-tangle that on its own. Howard decided that this would definitely be worth the yelling. He also decided that food fights were a very good thing, especially as Vince had now moved down to his neck and was licking off the syrup there, and he sighed happily, feeling Vince's mouth tug into a smile against his skin.
"Howard?"
"Mmm?"
Vince looked up at him suggestively. "Let's go and wash this off, shall we?"