The sort of last chapter. One last little bit to go.

It was Tuesday.

It should have just been another ordinary day, well, as ordinary as Vince's days were, but he'd woken up nervous and he knew why. If Howard was going to come, (arrive, easy) it would be today. He'd sent the letter a week ago but he hadn't been nervous before now.

Tuesdays, as far as Vince was concerned, were magic.

They always had been and he wanted them to be so forever. If it was going to happen it would be today.

He took a deep breath and stepped outside, blinking in the sun. Once he'd thought of the country-side as boring and, to be fair, Howard had done his best to make it as mind numbing and unattractive as possible, but this place was different. The light was different. The air was different. Maybe it was because it was his. Soon he hoped it wouldn't be just his. A place to finally call their own.

It was a bit quiet though.

...

"Vince? Vince! Vince! Vince?"

"Wha?" Vince looked up from his work as the huge brambly creature stumbled out of the bushes and onto the long drive. For a second he thought it was some sort of French yeti but after a moment he recognised that the gait, the voice and the lumpy suitcase the creature was dragging, were all achingly familiar.

"Howard?"

"Vince!"

"Howard!"

Vince sped off, upsetting his paints but not minding in the slightest. The driveway was hard packed dirt and his 'sensible' chelsea boots, brought up small puffs of dust as he ran as fast as he could. His lungs burned and his hair whipped around his face but he didn't care. Hair wasn't as important as Howard.

He could see the other man running toward him. Well, ambling awkwardly toward him in any case, and he started to laugh. They didn't so much embrace when they met as collide, but even with the wind knocked out of him, Vince couldn't stop the laughter bubbling out of him. Until...

"Ow! Ow! Gah, Howard! What are you covered in you great lummox?"

"I lost the path and my map was all wrong and I thought I'd never find you!"

Vince took a step back and brushed the twigs and brambles from his clothes before taking a good look at his friend. Howard looked a bit thin, and a bit tired and Vince felt a little bad that his friend had suffered during their absence. He did look sexy though. All rugged and wild. The tears would have to go.

"Oh, Howard. What am I going to do with you?"

...

Howard just stared. He knew he should say something. It was his turn and Vince was smiling up at him with such reminiscent affection that his heart ached. He needed to get this right, say this right, else he might lose Vince for good.

"What's that on your head?"

Wrong! That was wrong. Howard worried that he might have completely blown his chance. He should just leave now. Vince would probably... start laughing?

"It's my hair, ain't it?"

"Yeah, sorry."

Vince brought his hand up to ruffle his feathered locks and Howard admired the effect. He'd seen Vince with dozens of different hair styles and colours but this was something else. There were a few highlights but it mostly seemed to be his natural colour. It wasn't overly styled or straightened and in the breeze it blew about his face. His hands were covered in paint, as were his black skinny jeans and his vibrantly coloured t-shirt, although it was hard to tell with the t-shirt, the paint splatters looked rather fashionable. Or maybe that was just Vince.

He was so beautiful and looked so utterly perfect in this setting that Howard suddenly wondered how he could ever have existed anywhere else, especially places like Leeds and Dalston.

He realised with a jolt that he was desperate to touch his friend. He wanted to hold him close, stroke his hair, entwine their fingers the way they had used to do. But there were things to be done. He'd got it a bit wrong first time, but he needed to let Vince know that he was sorry, that he did in fact...

"Is there... that is," he gulped and looked down at his boots. "Can I come inside, Vince?"

There was no response, not in words anyway, but Howard felt Vince's hand creep into his, slender but strong fingers holding on tight, and when they gave a little tug he followed Vince up the long path to the house.

"Vince-" he gasped as he took in his first clear view of Chateau Noir. "Is this really your house?"

It was beautiful. Like a forgotten dolls house or something from a fairy story. The vines that climbed the walls were a deep green and the frames of the windows peeking out between the leaves were painted a delicate yellow. The door was pale blue and as Vince pushed it open with little ceremony Howard noticed that someone had painted a strange little monkey skull where a key hole might otherwise have been.

"Yup, this is my house," Vince glanced over his shoulder as Howard, still holding his hand firmly as he all but dragged him through the front hallway.

"I've nearly painted the whole thing."

Howard barely had time to take in his surroundings before he found himself in a cozy kitchen and being pushed into a chair at a rustic looking table.

"I'll give you a proper tour later, if you want," Vince said, pottering around and still not looking directly at Howard.

"But I figured there's stuff we need to talk about and that you could probably do with a cuppa. Did you want something to eat?"

Howard shook his head, partly to answer Vince's question and partly to try and sort out the jumble that his thoughts had become.

"I'm fine, Vince. Tea would be lovely but I, um, I brought you something. Well, some things."

Pulling his pack onto his lap, Howard removed the box of sandwiches, opened the lid and pushed them across the table. Vince let out a small gasp before turning away to pour out the boiling water. He didn't look up until they were sat across from each other, each nursing a mug of sweetly scented herbal tea.

"Is that marmite in those?"

"It is."

"Wow."

Howard nodded. This wasn't going as well as he'd hoped.

"I haven't had marmite in months. You can't get it at the store in Bouzigues."

"Oh. If I'd known I would have brought a jar with me."

"That's alright."

They sipped their tea quietly, each examining the table until Vince finally looked up, his eyes so large and forlorn that Howard wondered whether he'd ever be able to fix things.

"Howard..."

"Yes, little man?"

"Can you... ask the question?"

Howard frowned. What question did Vince mean? The sandwiches were right there and Vince was eyeing them off hungrily but he wasn't touching them, unless...

"D'you want a sandwich, Vince?"

The grin that spread across Vince's face was so bright Howard worried he might be overwhelmed by it and he couldn't stop his own grin as he watched the smaller man tuck into the sandwiches with obvious delight.

He took the opportunity to take a closer look at the man he had gotten so used to seeing over the years that for a while he had barely seen him at all. He wasn't skinny anymore, like he'd been when they were kids, or round cheeked like he'd been in his late teens, or worryingly thin like he'd been for most of his twenties. He looked... grown up. If Howard had to describe him now he'd say Vince looked lean; slender but strong. He looked good.

While he was occupied with the sandwiches, Howard took the opportunity to take out the other items he had brought with him. The book came first, slightly battered but still in fairly good condition after fifteen years, followed by the two small pouches, one well known and one brand new.

Upon seeing them Vince's chewing slowed until he finally stopped eating altogether and swallowed noisily.

"Howard look-" he began but Howard cut him off.

"I'm sorry, Vince," he said softly and Vince nodded. Howard wondered if he knew what the apology was for.
Vince pulled the book across the table and began to flick lovingly through the pages. It had been his copy of Peter Pan before he had given it to Howard and he looked fondly at the pictures and old fashioned type set.

"I didn't read the book, Vince. I should have read the book. I should have done a lot of things but I didn't. I should have told you how much I love you. I should have told you every day and I should have acted like it too. So I'm sorry."

Vince nodded again, staring at the picture of Peter and Wendy hand in hand flying through the night sky. Howard took the small, silver thimble out of its pouch and began to turn it around and around with his fingers.

"I only read it after you left. I pulled it out, and the thimble. Haven't left the house without it since. And I got you this."

Vince looked up as the second pouch was pushed in his direction, taking it carefully and pulling out the trinket that was inside.

"It took me ages to track down an acorn cap button. Had to bribe Naboo into taking me to Shamansbury in the end. Was worth it though."

Howard decided it was probably time to stop talking so he let the silence stretch and watched as Vince examined the acorn cap reverently, as if it were a precious artifact. When Vince eventually spoke, it was in a whisper that had Howard leaning across the table to hear.

"So you know what this means, Howard? You know what you've given me?"

"Yes, Vince. Or at least, I think so."

Vince gave a melancholy smile but Howard wasn't about to let this moment get ruined.

"I think I've just given you a kiss. The first one I've ever given away freely. And I've given it to the only person I have ever, seriously considered wanting to give it to. And," he continued, doing to scariest thing in the world: making eye contact.

"And, I think I've just given you a token as well. I always thought that you'd given me a good luck charm, a token of our friendship. It was so much more but it was that too. And so is this. It's a token of my love for you, Vince. It's my gesture. It's... I love you."

The smile he got in reply wasn't the bright, mega watt smile, or the cheeky, suggestive smile, or the Vince Noir pure charm smile. It was something gentle, something that developed, like a realisation, as what Howard had said sunk in and was accepted in Vince's head.

"In that case," Vince whispered. "I think I'd better give you a gesture too."

And in an instant which seemed to stretch beyond time and space he had leaned across the table, closing the gap between them. It took Howard a moment to realise that he was actually kissing Vince again but as he began to relax into it he heard, and felt, Vince sigh happily and that was enough, more than enough for him to let go completely. He let his eyes close and when he brought his hand up to run his fingers through Vince's hair the contented moan from his best friend sent a jolt of electricity through his spine.

He smiled against Vince's lips before deepening the kiss further and the rest of the world seemed to fade.

...

And that was how it started.