Sequel to 'Who said it would Last Forever?' It wont make sense if you haven't read that (so there's the warning).

D/C: No, it's still not mine!!

Dedicated to my buddy Left T, for pretty much forcing me to write this (only joking), but she has been checking up on me, which is the only reason it was written so fast and also for checking a few bits I wasn't sure about. THANK YOU!!

"What d'you mean you want to come with me?"

"I just think it would be good if we both went."

"An hour ago you were coming up with every reason under the sun as to why you couldn't go. What's changed?"

I didn't realise Vince would be there an hour ago. Howard thought. It was true, he'd just assumed that the once-a-week art teacher wouldn't bother turning up to something as dull as parent's evening but when his son, Vince, had come home from school that day shouting happily about how his mum would love Mr Noir. Howard had had a sudden and seemingly unexpected change of heart.

"Nothing's changed." he lied, "I just think it's important for Vince to realise that both his parents support him."

"hmmm." Maria frowned, clearly still a little suspicious. "Well, obviously I'd prefer it if you were there." she said eventually. "And I don't want that cow Cheryl going around telling everyone I'm a single mother again."

"Right." nodded Howard awkwardly. Even after five years of living with and loving Maria, he still wasn't entirely sure how to act around her sometimes. He wasn't completely at ease with her and, now and again, he still pined for a certain someone else. Some nights when he was alone, when Maria was at some jazz club with her band 'Mean it' and little Vince was tucked up in bed, he'd rummage deep in his private draw and pull out the photo album of him and Vince at the zoo. Sometimes when he did this he'd feel angry, sometimes he'd laugh but usually he cried. He'd never cried over Maria. He loved her, of course he did, but she wasn't right. She wasn't quite perfect. She wasn't… Vince.

"You going to go and get ready then, or not?" snapped Maria.

"W-what? Oh right. Yeah course." Howard rushed to his room to the sound of Maria muttering and "I don't know who I'm going to get to look after Vince at such short notice."

--

The traffic on the way to the school had been horrendous, they were definitely going to be late and there was so much tension in the car it was almost visible . Maria was already annoyed because her mother had been out, so she had had to ask the neighbour's daughter to baby-sit, who, on seeing how desperate they were, had decided to charge them double the usual rate. Howard thought Maria was going to kill him when all he'd had to say on the matter was "Smart kid."

"Right," said Maria, as they got close to the school "You park the car and I'll go and find out what the plans are."

"Aren't we just walking in sitting down, being talked at and then leaving? Surely that doesn't take much planning, Vince could do it."

"Shut up Howard. If you're going to be this annoying you can go home."

Howard was about to take Maria up on her offer when the thought of seeing Vince Noir again became too much.

"I'm fine." he sulked and drove off in search of a parking space.

--

It took him ages to find the right class room. It wasn't an overly big primary school, maybe 15 classes at the most, but there were parents and teachers milling around everywhere and Howard was totally lost. Eventually a kind teacher took pity on him and pointed him in the right direction, though when Howard walked through the door and was met with a furious Maria he began to wonder why he'd tried so hard to find her.

"We don't both get to see all the teachers." she spat, in a hushed tone. "Apparently, there're too many parents and not enough time, so we have to 'split up'."

"Well, how many teachers does he have? He's in primary school."

"Exactly! He's got two teachers. Mr Noir, who teaches art and Mrs Long, who teaches everything else. And yet one of us only gets to see a stupid, know-nothing art teacher."

"I'm sure he's very talented." Howard retorted, a bit too quickly."Hmm. Look, Howard. I know you wanted to come and see the teacher too but would you mind going to see the art teacher. I really want to talk to Mrs Long about Vince's spellings and I'm couldn't care less about whether he's going to be an artist or not…"

"I've seen him draw the stick man in Hang man. He's no artist." laughed Howard. He was managing to keep very calm considering that inside he was leaping around like an enthusiastic child on Christmas morning. "And I don't mind seeing Mr… what was it?"

"Noir."

"Noir. I don't mind seeing Mr Noir, if you want to see Vince's proper teacher."

"Oh Howard, you're wonderful." she said, leaning up and kissing him lightly before walking briskly to join the queue for Mrs Long. He felt a wave of guilty wash over him, but it was soon pushed down by a much stronger bout of nerves as he walked considerably less briskly to the other queue. Mr Noir's queue. A much, much shorter queue.

In fact there was only one other man waiting outside Mr Noir's door and he wearing a face, which wouldn't have been out of place for a man on death row.

"You wanna go in front?" he asked. "I'm tryin' to avoid goin' in. I 'ate these teacher types. They make me feel so bloody small."

"I… well, I mean… I don't mind." Howard didn't want to seem too eager, in case anyone became suspicious but inside he was screaming 'yes let me in, I have to see him. I have to!'

"Ahhh, you go 'en. Take your time too mate. In fact if you can manage to stay in there the entire allotted hour, that'd be perfect."

Howard's initial reaction was 'he's setting me up'. After all, he was saying exactly what Howard wanted to hear. It couldn't have gone more perfectly if he'd scripted it himself. So, before he had time to talk himself out of his gift or back out with nerves, he took a deep breath, knocked on the door and went in.

There he was. Sat behind a desk, scribbling something on a piece of paper. He looked older, more sensible and, much to Howard's shock, he was wearing a suit. He had shorter hair as well (not short, but definitely shorter and less wild) and Howard wondered that had he just seen this new Vince walking down the street whether he'd have recognised at all.

"Take a seat." Vince said, without looking up. "I'll be with you now. Let me just finish this paperwork."

Anyone who didn't know Vince would probably believe this, but Howard could tell he wasn't doing paperwork at all. The furrowed brow and the tongue sticking out the at corner of his mouth (which was just one of Vince's gorgeous little habits Howard missed) were a tell tale sign that he was doodling.

Howard suddenly had a very strong urge just to grab his old friend and never let go but he managed to quash it and contented himself with sitting in the chair opposite the teacher.

"Sorry about that." Vince said, putting his doodle in a draw. "So, hel-" he looked up. Silence.

Vince went white, his blue eyes grew wider (if that were at all possible) and his mouth dropped open.

"Howard?" he whispered.

"Hi." Howard replied, in the same hushed tone.

"What are you…? How did you…? I mean, I didn't know you had a kid in this school."

"Yeah. My son. He's five."

"Oh right, yeah."

Silence.

Howard twiddled his thumbs and Vince twirled his now mousy coloured hair around his finger.

"So…" Vince said eventually. "your kid, is he artistic?"

"No." smiled Howard, "He follows his dad for that I'm afraid."

"Right, w-which is your boy?"

"The one who's surname is Moon." Howard said, not wanting to admit he'd named his son after the man sat in front of him.

"I don't know their surnames." Vince smiled, "I got no reason to know them and I don't like learning stuff when there's no need. What's his name?"

"Umm." Howard blushed.

"Come on Howard, unless yours is the boy called Susan, his name can't be that embarrassing."

"Vince." he mumbled.

"Sorry?"

"Vince"

"Speak up."

"Vince!" he almost yelled.

Silence again. Vince raised his eyebrows bemusedly but he just smiled and said. "Nice name."

"Maria chose it." Howard lied quickly.

"Right." Pause. "Uh, how is she?"

"Fine, yeah."

"Didn't say anything about my… er, announcement at your wedding then?"

Howard shook his head, eyes still fixed on his knees."I'm really sorry about that Howard. I shouldn't have said it. I was just… upset, you know." He laughed bitterly. "I'd loved you for so long, I just… I guess I never thought that I'd finally work up the courage to tell you on your wedding day. Then seeing you with her looking so happy… I mean, it was the final straw. I just… I…"

"So, how long have you been in Leeds?" Howard said quickly, desperately trying to change the subject. He couldn't dwell on what might have been anymore, he'd done enough of that over time. Vince looked a surprised and more than a little hurt at being cut off mid-apology but Howard pressed on. "I came to see you, Bollo and Naboo last year but the Nabootique had gone."

"Oh, yeah. They've gone to America. Naboo's got his own show like a cross between Dr. Phil and Jerry Springer. The yanks love him and Bollo's starring in the remake of King Kong Vs Godzilla. He's Godzilla."

"Right, and what are you doing with yourself?"

"Ahh, bits and pieces. Just keeping alive. I'm running four jobs at the moment." he smiled and Howard suddenly noticed Vince looked a little rough. He had black rings beneath his eyes, a thin layer of stubble on his chin and his eyes; they weren't quite as blue as they used to be.

"Where are you living?"

"Everywhere, kip on my friend Lilly's floor mainly. Sometime's a motel or something if she's 'entertaining', if you get what I mean."

"So you haven't got a home?"

"Not exactly." Vince said, looking incredibly uncomfortable at being interrogated. After all, who wants to meet up with someone they used to love only to find that they're married, in a good job, earning lots of money judging my his appearance and you haven't even got a stable home at night. Suddenly, Vince beamed at the other man and said "Shouldn't we be discussing little Vince now?"

"Yeah course. So… how's he doing?"

"He's good actually. Not overly artistic but he's quite creative and enthusiastic. He's told me he wants to be a famous musician like Jagger and he appreciates the beauty of electro music. We're doing an art project at the moment, where we listen to Gary Numan and just throw colours around to see what Numan make's us draw. He told me it's better than what his parent's listen too." Vince laughed suddenly. "You're kids cooler than you are. That must be terrible for you."

Howard smiled despite himself, though he'd only been half listening. He still had a question he needed to ask.

"I still don't understand why you've moved to Leeds."

"This is parent's evening Howard. I'm supposed to be talking to you as a parent."

"Well I want to talk as a friend." Howard said, imitating Vince's irritating emphasises.

"We haven't been friends for over five years, Howard. So please, don't make me answer all these questions."

"Just answer one question then."

"Okay, if you answer one for me."

Howard nodded his agreement and then said "Why did you come to Leeds?"

"I came up here with my boyfriend about three years ago." Howard felt anger and jealousy building up, though he knew he had no right. "But we broke up over a year ago and I just didn't want to go back to London. Now your question; did you know I was going to be here today?"

Howard thought about lying, but he decided not to, after all, Vince had answered his question with unrelenting honestly so he just nodded silently.

"Right."

"Actually, that's the only reason I came. I just wanted to see how you were doing."

"I'm doing fine."

"I know you better than that Vince."

"Howard, I'm fine. Don't worry about me."

"I can't help it. I still care you know."

"You gave up the obligation to care about me years ago. Please stop, I'm doing fine."

"Come and live with us." Howard said suddenly, surprised by his own impulsiveness.

"What?!" Vince said, looking at Howard as though he was crazy and perhaps he was.

"I don't like the thought of you slumming it on people's floors."

"That's the stupidest idea you've ever come up with, do you know that?"

"Why is it? I've got a spare room."

"Please Howard." Vince looked a little tearful now. "Stop. I don't want your generosity."

"Well, you could pay rent if you wanted though I wouldn't ask for it. Would that be less generous?"

"Stop." Vince was almost begging. "Thank you Howard, but no."

"Take some money then." Howard said. He was determined to do something.

"No."

"Why not?"

Vince was silent for a moment and then said, "If I took your money, would you tell Maria." Howard blushed furiously and Vince said, "Thought not, I'd hate to be your dirty little secret."

"We wouldn't be having an affair."

"Wouldn't we?" Vince asked suddenly. "Can you guarantee me this wouldn't lead there eventually? Because I can't promise that I wouldn't try. I still think about you all the time Howard and I can tell from your eyes that you still think about me."

"H-how? W-what?" Howard stuttered uselessly.

"There's only one place this generosity would lead and I've been there once, and I'm not ready to going there again."

"I think you've got this all wrong. I was just offering you some help. I didn't expect sex in return. You're not a prostitute." Then a thought hit him. "You're not, are you?"

"No. Give me some credit. I ain't stooped that low, yet."

"Right. So, that's a 'no' to the money then."

Vince nodded.

"I still want to see you sometimes though." frowned Howard. "I mean, now that we've found each other… it just seems stupid to pretend I never knew you. Maria's hosting a dinner party next week. Why don't you come?"

"What if your friend's recognise me?"

"They wont. They haven't seen you for years and anyway, you look totally different. What's going on with that anyway?"

"Oh yeah." he smiled. "I don't know. I guess I just didn't want everyone looking at me anymore."

"What?" Howard jaw dropped open.

"Well, I only want people to look at me when it's going to fill them with jealousy… not pity."

"Wait, Vince Noir's lost his confidence? I never thought I'd see the day, sir."

"Yeah, well, I got pushed into the shadows, didn't I?"

"By who?"

"What does it matter? Unless you're going to go all 'No one puts Baby in a corner' on their arse, you don't need to know."

"Who's hurt you Vince?"

"What, apart from you?" the younger man asked bitterly. Howard fell quiet and Vince felt immediately sorry.

"I probably deserved that." Howard whispered.

"mmm."

"So, you going to come to the party?"

Vince shrugged infuriatingly. Howard wanted to slap the younger man for being so blasé about this entire situation. Inside, Howard was all over the place. One minute he was furious, the next he was upset, then lustful, then concerned, happy, sad, and now angry again. He reached for a piece of paper and a pen and scribble out the address on it, handing it to Vince.

"Look, come if you can make it. Okay?"

"Okay." Vince said, taking the paper. Howard turned to leave and as he reached the door Vince called, "Tell Vince, he's really cool and that he's doing really well! After all, that's all we've been discussing when Maria asks, isn't it?"

Howard gritted his teeth but decided not to rise to the provocation and instead left calmly.

"You okay?" Maria asked, when he finally found her in the crowd of parents.

"Yeah, I'm fine." he said, pulling her in for a long and unexpected kiss.

"Howard." she giggled, "People are looking."

"I don't care. You look absolutely beautiful by the way. I don't think I've told you today."

"Oh, Howard." she smiled. "What's brought all this on?"

"I just remembered how much I loved you."

Maria smiled even wider and said "I love you too honey. How did it go with Mr Noir?"

"Yeah, fine. Vince isn't going to be an artist but apart from that… he's really enthusiastic and apparently he loves electro."

"Not electro."

"Yeah, Gary Numan is his favourite."

"Like your idiot friend who tried to ruin our wedding."

"Mmm… about him."

Maria frowned questioningly.

"He rang me the other day."

"Really? Why?"

"He said he was in the area or something. Anyway, I've invited him to your dinner party."

"You what!?" Maria practically yelled. "Why would you do that? He'll ruin it. He ruined out stag and hen do, he ruined our wedding and he'll ruin this."

"Alright, shhhhhh" Howard said, painfully aware of the attention his wife was drawing. "Look, he probably wont be able to make it but I had to ask him, didn't I? I was just being polite."

"Well, next time, don't be."

"Okay, I'm sorry."

"Well, we better get home. This baby sitter is costing enough as it is."