It was dark by the time Vince returned home that night. The house was silent and Vince had a horrible sinking feeling that Howard had long gone. It was understandable, Vince was pretty sure he would have left if Howard had been that mean to him. He went into the living room and was devastated to find it empty. Howard always waited up when Vince went out (to make sure he got home safe) and anyway, it wasn't that late. He rushed to the kitchen, maybe the Howard was making some food… apparently not. He raced to the studio, maybe Howard was writing some music. Empty. With every room he looked in, Vince became less and less hopeful of finding Howard. He checked everywhere:
Dining room, study, studio, bathroom, bedroom. Oh thank god! There he was. Wrapped up in the thick duvet, snoring lightly and with an expression which suggested that whatever he was dreaming about wasn't overly pleasant.
Vince breathed a sigh of relief and walked to the bed placing a gently kiss on his boyfriend's cheek. Then, feeling suddenly full of inspiration with the emotion pounding through him, he crept downstairs and back into the studio. He picked up his guitar from the corner and began to strum a few chords. The lyrics were already in his head. He'd been working on them whilst he was out and slowly he built a tune to fit with them.
Howard was woken a while later to the sound of Vince soft singing, creeping up the stairs. He lay there for a second, straining to hear the words but it was too muffled. Slowly, he got out of bed and shuffled quietly down the stairs, stopping at the studio door. Vince was sat in a spotlight created by the moon shining through the window. His hair shone and his skin glowed in the ghostly light. He had his back to the older man but Howard knew he had his eyes closed as he began the song again.
Sometimes we fight'
Bout who's wrong and right
And stay up all night
And sometimes we drink
And say hurtful things
That we don't mean
Vince's voice was hauntingly beautiful and so full of truth and emotion that Howard's heart physically hurt.
Yeah, we're both screamin'
But nobody's listenin'
Let's take this madness
Out of the kitchen
Come to bed
Let's just lay down
There's just one way
We're gonna work this out
Forget what I did
Forget what you said
Oh, darlin'
Come to bed
Howard shifted his weight slightly and the floorboard creaked beneath his feet. Vince jumped and turned around.
"S-sorry," he stammered "Did I wake you?"
"Yeah," Howard whispered, not wanting to break the magic of the moment. "But it's fine." He smiled as he entered the room and sat down on the piano stool. "Keep playing." Vince nodded and started up where he'd finished. He didn't close his eyes this time, instead he had them fixed on Howard. Boring into his soul, singing just for him.
Well, I love you
You know I do
And you love me too
So let's just stop
Remember what we've got
Before it all gets lost
Just take my hand
It's been way too long
Turn out the lights
And turn each other on
Howard smiled at this. Vince grinned back cheekily.
Come to bed
Let's just lay down
There's just one way
We're gonna work this out
Forget what I did
Forget what you said
Oh, darlin'
Come to bed
Suddenly, Vince, his voice straining and his eyes shining with tears, slowed the song down completely. Howard felt his insides melt. He had a million and one emotions surging through him at once. He'd hated Vince all day but now he loved Vince more than anything. The smaller man looked too beautiful and Howard could tell he was truly sorry. And it wasn't as though it was just Vince who'd been hurling the abuse.
Just come to bed
Let's just lay down
There's just one way
We're gonna work this out
Forget what I did
Forget what you said
Oh, darlin'
Come to bed
Vince broke into a slow, heart wrenching rift. The tears flowing softly down his cheeks and landing on his deft, moving fingers until Howard stood up and tugged the guitar gently from his grip. He raised the smaller man to his feet, so their eyes met.
"I'm so sorry." Vince breathed. "I didn't mean it, I swear."
"Shhhh." Howard whispered, so quiet it was barely audibly. He cupped Vince's cheek and wiped away his tears with his thumb. "I don't wanna fight with you anymore. I don't even know why we started fighting. Let's just forget about earlier. We were both emotional with everything that happened this morning and we both said things we regret." Vince nodded tears still falling from his beautiful blue eyes. "Come on." smiled Howard, bringing Vince towards him and kissing him soothingly on the forehead, then on the nose, cheekbone, down his jaw line until, eventually, he found his mouth. They shared a gut-wrenchingly sensual kiss before Howard took Vince by the hand and led him silently upstairs.
--
Vince shifted slightly, turning into Howard's embrace, making peaceful noises. Howard smiled and kissed him on the top of his head. Vince was so emotionally drained, he really seemed to have the weight of the world on his shoulders; maybe it had something to do with this album pressure. Or maybe it was the fact that he, Howard, kept asking if he'd cheated. Now, in the quiet with only the light of the moon seeping through the gap in the curtains and Vince's light breathing for company, Howard could really think about everything.
He couldn't believe what Alice had done to him, he hated her and he was pretty sure he'd never forgive her. But he had only seen her twice since he'd moved to London, once on his birthday and once at Christmas and both times she'd only stayed for a an hour or so because Vince had been making things incredibly uncomfortable for everyone. In the grand scheme of things, she didn't matter, not really, not anymore.
Vince, on the other hand, was the most important person in the world to him and yet he kept picking unnecessary fights with him. Yeah, the comment about turning the machine off had cut him deeply but he supposed that Vince had been hurting from Howard's accusations and Howard had said he hated Vince. Maybe they needed to put all this behind them now, move on, just focus on the love that they felt for each other. But Howard knew that if things were going to work in this relationship, he'd have to trust Vince over everyone else and Vince would have to stop losing his temper so quickly.
But he could think about all this negative stuff at some other time. For now, he'd just enjoy the feeling of holding Vince close, the smaller man nestled in his arms, snuggling into his chest. They hadn't just curled up together for a while and Howard hadn't realised how much he'd missed it. Eventually, he fell into a sweet, serene slumber, cuddling Vince like a child cuddles a teddy.
----
The sunlight fell on the clothes strewn across the floor and the crumpled bedclothes pulled tightly around the two men. Vince was stirring slowly, his hair fanned around him on the white pillow like a darkened halo. Howard pressed a gentle kiss onto his boyfriends cheek and said "You look so beautiful."
Vince smiled prettily. "I think that's the nicest thing I've ever woken up to."
"You're the nicest thing I've ever woken up to." replied Howard, then he rolled on to his back and said "Even in my head that sounded cheesy, I don't know why I said it."
Vince laughed and shifted so he was lying half on Howard.
"I liked it." he grinned.
"Hmm."
"So, what are we going to do today?"
"Haven't you got some charity gig to do?"
"Yeah, but that's not until this evening. We can spend the day together." Vince said, drawing shapes across Howard's chest with his finger, until Howard took Vince's hand and brought it to his lips, kissing each finger individually before sucking lightly on his index finger.
"God that's sexy." sighed Vince. "Not as sexy as this though." he added, retracting his hand from Howard's mouth and disappearing under the sheets. Howard felt a pleasurable moan escape him as Vince began to run kisses up the inside of his leg. Higher. Higher. Higher.
Ring Ring
Howard let out a small, undignified whimper, when Vince suddenly stopped what he was doing. "Ignore it, ignore it." The older man pleaded. "Keep going." Vince obeyed, giving Howard's inner thigh a small lick.
Ring Ring
Suddenly, Vince appeared from under the duvet, resting his chin on Howard's stomach and said "Shouldn't you get that?" The older man let out a loud roar of frustration before he reached for the phone on the bedside table.
"Hello?… get lost… I don't care… no." Vince had never heard Howard be so rude on the phone, or anywhere for that matter. His face must have depicted his confusion because Howard removed the phone from his ear and said "It's Alice."
"What!? What does she want?"
"She says the papers are saying we've split up."
"Why's she rung here then? If we'd split up, you wouldn't be here."
Howard thought for a moment and then said "Good point. If we'd split up" he repeated down the phone "then I wouldn't be here… Oh, I understand." Vince waited patiently for Howard to relay the explanation. "She rang to yell at you." he said.
"Hang up!" shrieked Vince, jumping up from his position between Howard's legs. "She's a cow!" Then before Howard could stop him, Vince was running from the room.
"Where you going?" Howard called.
"Back now." was the fading reply.
By the time Vince re-entered, Howard had hung up the phone and was sat on the bed, arms folded and a frown creasing his face.
"Where did you go?"
"Wanted to see what the papers were saying about us."
"And?"
"You're not gonna like it."
"I'm thick skinned." Howard smiled, patting the place on the bed next to him so that Vince knew to sit down. Howard put his arm round the smaller man and pulled him in close, resting his head on his shoulder so that he could read the paper. This first thing he saw was the picture. Howard throwing Alice out of the house with a positively expression on his face that wouldn't be out of place on a homicidal maniac. In the corner there was a much smaller picture of Vince sat on a bench, head in his hands. He looked like he was crying but Howard couldn't be sure.
End of the Road for Moon and Noir
After months of ear splitting rows, house rocking arguments and earth shaking fights, Noir has finally left Moon after what has been a short and arduous romance for both men. It appears that Moon came back from a pub to find Noir getting 'up close and personal' with Moon's own sister, Alex, 26. Alex herself was seen leaving the house in tears early this morning after being thrown out by her angry, lied-to brother. Howard Moon has not been seen since, although neighbours suspect he left during the night, under the cover of darkness.
Neighbour, Agatha Branwich, 72, had this to say "I've never trusted that Vince. He's got that look about him, his eyes are too far apart. It doesn't surprise me that he hasn't stayed faithful. To be honest with you, I think he's been playing away for a while. He's always going out all night and there's a constant horde of harlots waiting at the gate for him. I don't know what they see in him, he needs a hair cut if you ask me. If I was his wife, partner… what ever they call it nowadays I'd be suspicious. Howard obviously is though, they're always screaming at each other in that house, it destroys the peace of the street. I was surprised, I didn't realise their sort were that bothered about cheating."
"Their sort?" chuckled Vince. "Homophobic and nosey, what a combination."
"Branwich? Is that the one who always wears that weird red cardigan?"
Vince nodded, chewing his lip as he read on.
"Grumpy old bat she is," continued Howard thoughtfully. "I swear she crosses the road to avoid me." Vince laughed and then put a finger to his lips before pointing back at the paper. Howard rolled his eyes and read the next bit.
Fans of Noir insist this is the end of the rock stars 'gay phase'. "We never believed he was gay." says Carys Daniels, 16, self confessed number one Noir fan. "There's a whole group of us on Facebook, like 250,000 of us who don't believe it. We wont be fooled."
"oooo" laughed Howard "a group on Facebook, well in that case it must be true."
"Yeah, they wouldn't be saying that if they saw what me and you got up to last night." smirked the younger man.
"Did you really say that?" Howard asked, pointing to the next paragraph. Vince smiled and went a bit pink. "I was upset" he shrugged.
We asked Noir to comment but he told us to "F**k off because you don't understand anything you f**king journalistic w*nkers."
It seems, therefore, that this moment has been hotly anticipated by Vince Noir fans all over the world and this affair just cements what everyone except Moon, already knew that the rock prince will never change and a playboy can never find love. Not even the 'Moon Magic' was going to be enough to hold this doomed relationship together.
"Moon Magic?" frowned Howard "What's that?"
"It's what they're calling your ability to me monogamous. Everyone's saying it. NME, MTV, Cheekbone. They were thinking of putting it in the dictionary for a while."
"Really?" beamed Howard proudly.
"Yup."
"Is there anymore to the article?" noting that the paper was folded in half.
"Ummm… yeah." Vince said apprehensively.
"Let me read it then."
"I'd rather not."
"Why?"
"Because you'll… no reason." mumbled the rock star, dipping his head forward so that his hair covered his face.
"I wont accuse you, if that's what you're worried about." Howard said, realising suddenly why his partner looked so nervous.
"You sure you wont go mad?" Vince joked, though Howard could tell from something in his eyes that he wasn't entirely joking. So he opted to take the serious response.
"Of course I wont go mad." he smiled, kissing Vince's neck and rubbing his shoulders reassuringly. Vince nodded and unfolded the paper.
And with Moon out of the way, this allows Noir to spend more time with his long-term, on/off lover Chad, the new drummer in his band.
Vince looked nervously as Howard and, for a moment, he thought the older man was going to go crazy but Howard managed to remain calm. He took the newspaper from Vince and tossed it over his shoulder.
"What a load of rubbish." he groaned, dragging Vince in for a long kiss. Vince smiled against his lips and began to slide back down Howard's body to resume his position from before the phone rang and it wasn't long before Howard was groaning for a completely different reason.