A/N: Sorry it has taken me so long to put up the next chapter of this story, there is no excuse other than I just met a guy and my mind has been on other things Oh and thank you so much to everyone who reviewed the last chapter and added the story to their favourites. It makes my day to see all the lovely emails waiting for me.
Disclaimer: They still don't belong to me; all characters belong to Noel Fielding and Julian Barratt.
Vince had all but bounced up the stairs and into the flat, clutching his seahorse and muttering something about needing to speak to Naboo. Howard had watched him go on ahead aware that he had not stopped smiling all day. This was a very new feeling for him, he usually passed his days thinking deep thoughts and struggling to find anything in the world to smile about. Yes sir, Howard Moon was one of life's deep thinkers, often found pondering the great mysteries of our time. Except at the moment he couldn't get his brain to settle on any subject except Vince. They had only declared their feelings for one another less than a day ago but Howard couldn't stop himself from thinking about their future and all the things that they would share. He couldn't believe how lucky he was to have the man he loved love him back. He had spent so many years convinced that Vince would laugh in his face if he declared his feelings for him. Now that it had happened Howard had to keep pinching himself to make sure that this wasn't just another one of his Vince dreams.
Part of him was still incredibly scared though, he was only too aware of how fickle Vince could be and he knew that there was a chance that Vince would change his mind and decide that Howard was too unfashionable to be around or some other shallow reason for them not to be together. Howard tried to block the negative voice out of his head and concentrate on the incredible happiness that being with Vince had bought into his life.
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Things had been going well for the best part of a month between Howard and Vince. They still bickered and Vince still insulted his love of jazz and his choice of clothing but there was a new lightness to it all. Most of their disagreements would be ended by them finding something more interesting to do with their mouths than fight. This happened much to the disgust of their two flatmates. Though Naboo and Bollo were for them being together in theory, actually walking in on them snogging in the kitchen first thing in the morning was a bit too much for either of them to take and there had been many pointed comments about them keeping these kinds of activities behind closed doors.
Howard had pretty much decided that he was going to carry on doing what he was doing regardless of what his flatmates thought. He was also aware that being with Vince was changing him, hopefully for the better, as this was not a course of action he would have ever considered before. All it usually took was one look from Bollo or one threat of Naboo turning his back on him to make Howard do whatever was expected of him. Now that he had Vince he was able to ignore these comments and do what made him happy for once in his life.
The only thing that was bothering him was the issue of his virginity. Vince was fully aware of Howard's lack of experience and had so far been incredibly considerate of Howard's need to take things slowly but Howard knew that at some point soon Vince was going to get bored of waiting for him to be ready. He loved Vince with all of his heart and wanted to their relationship to be complete but the thought of actually going through with it turned him into a gibbering wreck that was a world away from his usual man of action persona. He wasn't sure exactly what it was that was making him so nervous; he knew that Vince would be kind and considerate. It was probably the fact that his first time was going to be with another man. In school when they had been taught about these things it had always been heterosexual and there had been no mention of how things worked between two men. Howard was aware of the concept but the practicalities of it left him feeling more confused than ever. How were they supposed to know who went where?
Howard tried to get on with his life as much as possible, working in the shop, putting in his hours at stationary village and spending most of his evenings with Vince but all of these questions were constantly swirling around inside his head and the more he thought about it the less ready he felt for the whole thing. He knew he needed to talk the whole thing through with Vince who was infinitely more experienced than himself but he never seemed to find the right time or the right words.
Vince on the other hand was having the opposite problem, he had had so much experience and so many nameless, faceless partners that he didn't know how he could reassure Howard that this was the real thing and he wasn't just another conquest. Vince had never felt like this about anyone before, he was usually more the quickie in a club toilet kind of a guy. This was defiantly love though, he didn't even care that they had gone no further than kissing in nearly a month. Vince actually found himself wanting to take things slowly and enjoy each new experience. He may be the more experienced of the two but everything with Howard felt new and exciting; maybe because this was the first time his heart had been involved.
The more he thought about it though the less he knew what to say to reassure Howard that things between them would be different from all his other times. He kept finding himself staring at Howard wishing that the right words would magically form on his tongue to reassure him.
Sorry it's a bit on the short side but that just seemed like a good place to stop for now. Hope you enjoyed