A/N:Hello! Thanks again to everyone who's reviewed and added me as favourite story, e.c.t! :D

Disclaimer: I own nowt, Sir.

'Get in,'

Vince remained where he was, the noise and lights of the night club behind him overpowering the street, staring at Howard in the campervan as if his eyes were deceiving him.

'Get in,' Howard repeated, winding the window all the way down and resting his arm on the windowsill.

Vince's mob of acquaintances all whispered to one another, and the friends that had seen Howard before when he had come to pick Vince up after a drunken night out explained who he was, which caused people to snicker.

'I'm not messing around Vince,' Howard said, 'Get in. Are you drunk?'

'Not yet,' Vince replied coldly, as if he intended to go back inside.

'Yeah, well, that'll make a change, won't it?' Howard replied, wondering how in the name of all that was jazz he was going to get Vince in the campervan if he refused.

'What are you doing here?' Vince asked, in the same tone of voice, looking out at Howard from under his raven hair.

'What does it look like?' Howard replied, trying to summon an iota of command, 'I'm taking you home sir. It took me an hour to find you, and it was an hour that I said you could stay out for, and an hour is now up because an hour's gone by and you were in here whilst I was looking for you for that hour- look, in short; time's up. I am also prepared for your tirade of anger; I knew you'd have a massive, oven fried chip on your shoulder on arrival,'

At that moment, someone who Howard vaguely remembered Vince holding a grudge with, stepped out of the night club and surveyed the scene, 'you gonna be grounded, Noir?'

The crowd laughed.

'You wanna come over here an' say that?' Vince growled, already angry and in no mood to be jeered at, spinning on his heel.

Oh, Christ, Howard thought; he had only wanted to find Vince, pull-up, collect him like a glittery parcel containing a malice-tainted Goth fairy and go home before anything decidedly creepy came out of the shadows. He should have added 'and before any brawls broke out' to his journey wish list.

'Yeah, I do actually,' Vince's foe replied, making his way through the crowd.

Howard was already getting out of the van, considering just grabbing Vince and bundling him into the back. He too was in no mood for any of what was currently going on.

'See, I think you're all talk,' Vince's opposition continued, now inches away from him, 'I think you fight as badly as you dress-'

It was at that moment that Vince lunged at him, and Howard grabbed him, pulling him back towards the van still kicking and yelling and swearing.

'That's it; you take your wife home!' Howard heard the man yell, as he struggled with Vince, 'She's a wild little thing!'

'Vince!' Howard shouted over Vince's yells. It was like trying to hold onto an angry and unruly glittery Frube, 'Just get in the van will you?'

When they were finally back on the road, Howard drove in silence, the only sound Vince's angry breathing. He was certainly going to wait for him to calm down before even trying to hold a conversation with him. The moon was now shining bright in the sky:

Hey diddle-diddle the cat... an' the fiddle...

The cow jumped over da moon...

The little dog laughed to see such fun...

And da dish ran away with da spoon.

You know, it wasn't actually a cow that jumped over da moon, it was a goat.

I know cos I was there, I'm da witness.

An da dish ran away with the spoon, but 'e left a fork at 'ome...

I'm da moon.

'I thought you'd gone mad back there,' Howard said, briefly catching Vince's eye in the mirror, 'put your seatbelt on,'

Instead of protesting as usual, Vince just obeyed, 'I'm tired, Howard,' he said forlornly, after a moment had gone by.

'We'll be home soon,'

''M not talking about that,' Vince replied, 'I mean-' but then he realised just how tired he really was and nodded, 'Yeah...'

'Howard?' Vince broke another painful silence a few minutes later.

'Yeah... Little Man?'

Vince shrugged slightly, 'I dunno... I just... did you mean it 'oward?'

'Mean what?'

'That you were tired of being around me?'

'No, of course not,' Howard replied, slightly startled by the question.

'Why did you say it then?'

'It was just the heat of the moment, the fire o' the fight; you say things you don't mean, and people get burned,'

'You said it like you meant it, Howard,' Vince replied, 'and you walked out and didn't even tell me where you were...'

'Yeah, I know, I'm sorry,' Howard replied, 'and I mean that,' he tried to change the subject before it came to the jazz club, 'I've never seen you quite as angry as you were just a minute ago,'

''E dissed my garments,' Vince replied.

Another silence occurred, but Vince used it to plan his next question carefully, ''Oward?'

'Yeah?'

'If... if... if... if something bad was 'appening... I mean, if you had a problem with somethin', or somethin'... would you tell me about it?'

Howard kept his eyes trained on the road, 'Yes,' he replied impassively.

Vince just knew that Howard knew what he was getting at.

Howard cleared his throat awkwardly, 'Unless it was really bad, and the thing was going to harm you... then I'd probably try and sort the problem myself,'

'But... you tell me everything, and I always try to help you,'

'Yeah well you can't help this problem, not this time,' Howard blurted in a mumble.

'What?'

'I said there isn't this time. Anything you can help me with,'

Vince didn't answer.

'Do you want Numan on?' Howard asked.

'What?' Vince raised both eyebrows. He would have been surprised if Howard hadn't obviously been trying to distract him; there was always usually an argument when it came to what music they put on in the van, and if Naboo and Bollo were present, all four of them verbally fought. It was always anyone's game, whoever nagged the loudest won.

'Er, yeah,' Vince nodded, staring at the back of Howard's seat as Cars began to play. He couldn't help smiling wistfully as he remembered the last time the song had been playing.

It had been a late night not too long ago, and Howard had been sitting moodily behind a large jazz book, as 'Cars' played for what must've been the fifth time in a row and Vince ran into the living room in all his silver and gold.

'Are you gonna turn that racket off now?' Howard asked, looking up.

'Tha's me gettin' ready music,' Vince had told him, ''Ow do I look?'

'You look like a futuristic tin man,'

Vince had laughed, running over to Howard from behind and wrapping his arms around his neck.

'Don't touch me Vince!'

Vince had sighed, 'Sorry,'

'Just so I know; where do I fit in, in this whole equation, eh?' Howard had asked over the top of 'Cars'.

'What are you on about?' Vince had laughed, pulling shapes to the music.

'I mean where do I fit in, in general,' Howard had answered, 'Me and you?'

Vince had frozen in a shape, and pulled his red lips into a dazzling smile, his eyes lighting up mischievously like the blue neon lights he had above his bed that Howard often complained irritated his eyes, 'You're my Northern chauffeur,'

'Yeah, I thought you'd say something like that,' Howard had replied, 'And you're... a cockney tart,'

Vince had laughed outright and ran at Howard again, and Howard had actually let him hug him for all of four seconds, which was something of a small miracle before:

'Don't touch me Sir!'

When they finally arrived back at the Nabootique, Howard climbed out of the driver's seat and found Vince fast asleep in the back.

'Little Man?' he whispered, reaching in and lightly tapping Vince on the shoulder, 'C'mon,'

Vince yawned and sat up, 'Eh?'

'We're home,' Howard replied.

At that moment, Naboo came out of the Nabootique, his usually unreadable expressions clear as the night: amusement and aggravation all at once, 'You won't believe what's going on in 'ere,'

'What?' Howard asked, Vince standing sleepily behind him.

Naboo looked at Vince, 'I dunno how to break it to you,' he drew in a sharp breath to express the awkwardness of the situation, 'Just come and have a look. In fact, Howard have a look first, we might need you to restrain Vince cos he's probably gonna go feral,'

Slightly apprehensively, Howard opened the Nabootique door and peered round.

There, sitting at the counter in the barber's chair was Lance Dior, head in his hands. He looked up when he saw Howard, staring at him with blue eyes.

Howard was already holding onto Vince before he had even seen who it was, and when he had, he held on even tighter.

'What are you doin' here!' Vince cried, struggling, 'you've gotta be jokin'!'

Howard had never felt quite as tired as he did at that moment, 'Vince, please...' he said wearily.

Lance just watched him, 'I'm not here to copy you...'

Vince stopped, just plain tired of it all, noticing the tears that were starting to run down Lance's face, 'What then?' then he realised something, 'Where's the other one o' you?'

Lance shook his head, 'I don't know... I was just wondering if you've seen him.'

'No,' Vince replied curtly, 'I ain't,'

Lance stood up and headed towards them, 'I didn't think you would have... no one's seen him for two days... we had a fight...'

Vince, feeling like Lance's story was all too familiar, gave an almost inaudible livid growl which Howard almost laughed at but the atmosphere of the current situation stopped him.

'It was about me,' Lance explained, looking warily at Vince, just in case he slapped him around the face or something, 'Me being you, not being myself... I don't know where's he's gone and I never even got to say sorry...'

Vince just blinked, wondering why his furious feelings were softening to ones of pity, maybe because the story was so similar to himself and Howard.

'I'll go now...' Lance continued.

'Why did you come here?' Vince found himself saying, keeping his position in the doorway and tugging lightly at Howard's jacket to keep him in place as he moved to let Lance get past, 'You know 'e wouldn't 'ave come 'ere,'

Lance looked at the floor, 'I know... I just...' he looked up at Howard wistfully, 'Bye... then...'

Howard moved aside, not unkindly, not being able to help feeling slightly sorry for him.

'Well,'

Both Howard and Vince had completely forgotten Naboo was still in the room, standing by Stationary Village with his arms folded, 'That was entertaining...'

Vince just shook his head and stormed past.

'Vince...' Howard called.

'M'goin' to bed!' Vince called back, a slight tremor in his voice.

Howard looked at Naboo, 'What should I do?'

'About what?' Naboo said.

'Everything...' Howard sighed.

'We'll sort it, yeah?' Naboo told him, showing a surprising amount of reassurance to Howard, 'We always do, don't we?'

***

Howard had insomnia. Whenever he got overly stressed, he got an attack of insomnia. He sat up, running his hands through his hair, sitting so that his legs were over the side of the bed.

''Oward?' Came Vince's sleepy voice.

'It's alright,' Howard whispered, with a sigh, 'Go back to sleep Little Man,'

'Wassa matta?' Vince mumbled.

'Just can't sleep, that's all...'

'Can... Can I come sit with you?'

'Yeah,' Howard replied, switching on the light so that Vince could make his way across the room without falling over any of his various amounts of shoes.

Vince, in a tight black vest and blue pants crawled his way onto Howard's bed, sitting so that he was facing Howard as he got back into bed again, peering out at him from under his fringe.

'It's been a night,' he said, with a slight laugh.

'Mmm...' Howard agreed, 'A hell of a night,'

There was a pause, the usual awkward pause that made them feel the gap between them getting further and further apart. The pause that made Vince want to hug Howard and say 'Let's start again! Let's forget it! Let's go back to 'ow it was in the Zooniverse!'

Almost as if he could sense Vince tensed to spring forward and hug him, Howard moved back slightly, leaning his head against the headboard.

'Lance...' he said, slowly, and carefully, as he if he was carrying a stack of china plates.

'Lance!' Vince repeated, loudly, 'What about 'im!'

Howard dropped the plates and they all shattered into millions of pieces, 'I was just thinking...' he trailed off.

'What, y'mean about the fact that 'e's done practically the same as what we've done, 'Oward?' Vince ran a hand through his hair, ''Ow twisted is 'e? 'E's even mimicking all the bad things that 'appen to us!'

'I don't think he is,' Howard replied, 'He was crying, Vince,'

Vince drew his knees up to his chest and looked down at his feet, '... I really don't know what I'd have done if you hadn't come back... I mean, 'e ain't really me 'Oward, 'e could cope if Harold weren't there...'

'You don't know that,' Howard replied.

When Vince suddenly snapped his head up to look at Howard, the maverick was surprised to see that his eyes were shining with tears.

'Oh Vince, please don't cry,' Howard ran a hand through his hair, 'I can't... I've had enough,'

'What,' Vince sneered through his tears, 'of me?!'

'No!' Howard hissed back, starting to loose his usual calmness, 'No! I've had enough of this! I've had enough of us saying things and getting the wrong end of the stick!'

Vince started to sob and bit down on his lip.

'It was a stupid thing to say!' Howard continued, 'I could never be tired of you Vince! If I could go back in bloody time and shoot my old self just before I said it and put myself in his place I would! Because I dunno what I'd bloody do if you weren't here either sir! I'd probably be alone and miserable! And I wouldn't be half as crazy as what I am now! I know all the words to every bloody Gary Numan song and I don't even like electro!'

Vince started to laugh and cry at the same time, spluttering for breath, and he gave a cry of alarm when Howard grabbed him and pulled him into a tight embrace, growling with a mixture of exasperation and aggravation, 'You stupid bloody electro bitch!'

Vince had both hands gripping Howard's nightshirt and he was still sobbing and laughing.

'What the hell are you doing?' Howard asked, starting to laugh too, 'Crying or laughing?'

'I don't know...' Vince managed to choke.

Howard rubbed his back, 'Well please don't cry...'

Vince pressed his hands to his eyes, but he just couldn't stop; he was sad about the fact that he and Howard had grown so far apart, he was confused about Lance, and he was just plain worn out from the whole day. Plus, he was surprised that Howard was hugging him so affectionately, without flinching, or muttering 'don't touch me' or any of the silly things he usually did, and it was such a show of affection after all their crazy arguments that it made him feel even worse.

'Shh...' Howard sighed, 'Yeah, sometimes you make things difficult and you run about in ponchos and capes when I'm running the shop all by myself, you insult my eyes, you tire me out some days, but that doesn't mean I'd change any of it, they're some of the things that make you Vince Noir...'

Vince sniffled. After a few minutes, he gave Howard a reassuring squeeze, and started to make his way back to his own bed.

''Oward?' he turned out the light

'Yeah?'

Howard froze as a bundle of skinny limbs lunged themselves at him and feather-light hair tickled his cheek as Vince planted a kiss on the side of his face.

'G'night 'Oward,' Vince's silhouette could just be made out in the moonlight as he ran back to his own bed.

'Erm, yeah,' Howard mumbled, '... er... Goodnight Little Man...'

Silence commenced.

'Ah, the moonlight's goin' in me eyes! Well out of order!'

'Then shut the curtains sir! Oh, and you know; don't touch me again,'

'Shouldn't you 'ave told me all that jazz about five minutes ago?'

'Touché sir. And don't bring jazz into it,'

I'm da moon.

You know, when you are da moon...

An' it's really really late?

I do.

It gets really borin' cos all da other planets go to sleep, an' I 'ave to stay up on ma own.

Nothin' really ever 'appens in the late night times...

The other night, Saturn, 'e got up to do a wee and fell over 'is own rings, an' that was like... the 'ightlight o' the nights so far.

I'm da moon.