Vince's little secret was grating on Naboo's nerves. When Naboo had first found out he was mostly worried about Vince- he was a great shop-keeper- charming, charismatic, big eyes drawing people in. It was obvious to all who knew Vince that his biggest drawback was his friendship with Howard. Now it seemed the idiot actually loved Howard. At first Naboo was glad that Vince had buried that knowledge deep within himself. If he actually realised that he loved Howard, if they became a couple… Well, poor Vince would be destroyed by having Howard on his arm. Naboo might lose a great shopkeeper.

But now that Naboo had had a week to digest the information and to observe Vince and Howard interact… well now it was grating on his nerves in another way. He just wanted to shout out, "you are in love you stupid ball bags!" It was all so obvious that Naboo wondered how he could have never seen it before. Now as he watched Vince and Howard interact he found it was obvious in every moment that they were in love…all the little shared jokes and shared memories…the way they were always bickering like schoolboys with a crush…or the big giveaway- the fact that most customers seemed to assume that Vince was Howard's wife, not just a lady but Howard's wife. Where would the customers get such an idea? From the fact that Vince acts just like Howard's wife!

"Naboo! Naboo! Naboo!" Vince's voice finally cut through Naboo's thoughts, "Could you stop staring at us. We're trying to run your shop here and you keep coming down here and just staring at us. That's well creepy."

"You might want to go a little easy on the drugs, hey?" Howard suggested, "Take a leaf out of my book…clean living…I'm aware of my surroundings aren't I? Always have my eye on the periphery…never spaced out…that's my style…they call me Mr Aware the…"

Naboo laughed loudly and cut Howard off , "Howard, you can't even see is right in front of you…you've won the lottery and you don't even know it you ball-bag. I'm out of here."

As Naboo crept upstairs Vince shot a knowing look at Howard- they'd been speculating all week about the reasons behind Naboo's recent strange behaviour including his new habit of staring at them, "I told you, he's gone wrong…"

Later that night Naboo was smoking with Bollo and trying to relax but even the weed wasn't helping. Naboo felt agitated. He wasn't used to feeling agitated.

"What's wrong?" Bollo asked.

Naboo sighed, "I just can't stop thinking about those idiots…"

Bollo screwed his gorilla face up in confusion, "What idiots?"

Naboo ignored Bollo's question and seemed to come to a decision, "Right, well, I'm just going to have to fix it, aren't I? I'm going to talk to Vince, Bollo"

Bollo watched Naboo leave, heading for Vince's door, still not understanding but nevertheless not liking the situation, "I've got a bad feeling about this," he muttered to noone in particular.

Naboo knocked on Vince's door. He found Vince sitting in front of his mirror playing with his hair. "Alright, Naboo…" Vince said barely glancing away from the mirror, "What's up?"

Naboo stepped into the room and closed the door. He still wasn't entirely sure how to raise the subject. He decided to start with, "Vince, have you ever been in love?"

Vince stopped playing with his hair and turned to Naboo, "Are you coming on to me?"

Naboo sighed, "Not me you ball-bag. Look- just answer the question. Have you ever been in love?"

Vince shrugged, "Sure I've loved loads of girls…"

Naboo shook his head, "I'm not asking about your sexual exploits, Vince, I mean love…"

Vince looked confused, "What do you mean?"

Naboo decided he needed some brutal honesty, "Vince- when you were under the truth potion you said you loved Howard…you said you were secretly in love with him and that you couldn't even admit it to yourself…"

"What?" for a moment Vince looked genuinely flustered but he recovered in the next moment and turned back to the mirror, "Oh I get it. You and Howard are both in on the joke. I didn't fall for it then and I'm not falling for it now. Maybe a loose perm would look good…"

Naboo sighed, "You have to listen to me. I think maybe you are confused about what love is. How can I explain it?"

Vince shrugged still looking at his reflection, "Just put it in fashion terms then I'll get less confused"

"Ok" Naboo answered, "Well, when you say you've loved loads of girls that's like how you feel find you find a new look…you're elated, excited…its the thrill of the hunt and then you've got it - you've put together something new and trendy…and it's yours"

Vince nodded still focussing more on his reflection than what Naboo was saying, "Yeah, yeah love's just like that. So what?"

Naboo continued, "No- that's not love. That's infatuation."

Vince turned to face Naboo suddenly interested, "That isn't love?"

Naboo shook his head, "No- love's like how you feel about your hair straighteners. Remember when you thought you'd lost them? You were completely panicked. I bet you can't imagine life without them…or without Howard…"

A look of complete realization passed across Vince's face he started mumbling to himself, "yeah…I think I know what you mean…I couldn't imagine life without Howard…it is like we've always been together, we're like ying and yang…just like the hair straighteners…"

Naboo nodded, "Yes- you love him"

Vince smiled and his big blue eyes lit up with the possibility of it, "Maybe I do. That time when we kissed was so…"

"Wait," Naboo cut him off, "You two ballbags have kissed?"

Vince was instantly jolted back out of his new realization, "Shh…alright. It was just a kiss."

Naboo continued angrily, "You mean I'm sitting here all agitated by watching you two idiots stumble about not even realising the blindingly obvious fact that you are in love and you ballbags have actually kissed? Don't you think a kiss is a bit of a giveaway?"

"No- it wasn't like that," Vince replied quickly backtracking, "It was just a kiss. The head shamen was going to kill me. It was no big deal. I mean, he's my best mate."

"No big deal? You snog your best friend and it is no big deal?"

"You know," Vince replied decisively, "I've had enough of this joke Naboo. I don't want to hear it again. Sort yourself out because this is well creepy. Now leave my room."

Naboo sighed and walked towards the door pausing for a moment before he left, "Just think about it, Vince"

Vince shrugged and turned back to the mirror, "Yeah, yeah, whatever. Hmm… I think a loose perm would look good"