As soon as Vince finished his set, he left the stage and went to the dressing room in silence. He didn't know what had come over him. He'd gone onstage with no intention of mentioning Howard but, when it came to singing the song that made him think exclusively of the older man, he hadn't been able to stop himself talking about how much he loved him. He'd noticed Howard leaving, if no one else had. The house lights had been bright enough to see a tall, stocky silhouette getting out of his seat, squeezing past the other VIP's and leaving. He was convinced by now that Howard would have left the stadium. He'd done it again. He'd pushed Howard away, done something he knew Howard wouldn't like.

Vince wondered if he did these things because, for so many years, he hadn't had to worry about anyone but himself. He'd been able to do things people asked him not to, because he didn't care if he hurt them and it didn't matter if he did. People would let him get away with anything. But not Howard, the older man didn't have to put up with his stupidity and Vince knew he wouldn't put up with it. Howard was not a weak person, he'd overcome so much in the past and he wasn't prepared let people walk all over him, not even someone he loved. Not even Vince Noir.

When Vince got to the dressing room he searched it frantically for the older man.

"Howard!" he called "Howard! Are you here?"

No reply.

"HOWARD!" he screamed, desperation evident in his voice. He didn't think he could bear the thought of chasing Howard and explaining and apologising to him again. He really didn't want to go to the after party alone. "Howard." he pleaded quietly, when it was evident the older man wasn't there.

"What?" came a breathless voice from behind him. Vince span round to see Howard in the doorway, the northerner panting heavily, his hair all over the place like he'd just been running and he was looking more than a bit concerned. "What's going on? What's happened? Are you okay?"

"Yeah," beamed Vince "I'm fine."

"But you were screaming? I thought you'd hurt yourself or something""Oh." the rock star blushed "I just wanted to see if you were here. I thought you might've left."

"I nearly did."

"I'm sorry."

"Why d'you do it Vince? I asked you not to mention me."

"Sorry. I don't know why I did it. I guess I just wanted to prove everyone that it's still you I love and not Alice or anyone else."

"You don't have to prove your love to anyone."

"I know. I'm sorry."

"Yeah, you say that every time."

"That's because I'm sorry every time."

"Hmm. If you stopped doing things like this then you wouldn't have to be sorry."

"Don't. You sound like my teachers from school. I don't need you reminding me of a boring old geography teacher. If you think we've got problems now, it's nothing to what we'd have if every time I looked at you I saw Mr Tuck talking about land formations."

"Tuck? Volcanoes?" laughed Howard fondly. "What are you talking about?"

"No idea, and I didn't know what I was talking about back then either. I was a nightmare to teach."

"You surprise me."

"I was rubbish at every lesson… except music obviously. I was top of the class for that. All my teachers said I'd never make anything of myself with the grades I got. They were so wrong - stupid teachers."

"Finished ranting?" asked Howard looking entirely bemused.

"Yeah."

"You know, I'm sorry too. I probably over reacted, walking out like that. You were only trying to be romantic."

Vince nodded, and smiled cheekily, his eyes glinting. "You just didn't know how to react because you haven't got a romantic bone in you."

"Yes I do." protested Howard. "Remember when I took you on that cruise for your birthday."

"Mmm," smiled Vince, "And remember what we did on that cruise?"

"Yeah, and getting banned because we got caught."

Vince laughed and reached up to kiss Howard.

"Mmm," murmured Howard against Vince's lips. "Do we have to go to the party?""Yes."

"Can't we just go home? I hate parties."

"Oh and don't I know it. I ask you to go to parties all the time and you never go. Not only that, you go on at me about how much you hate parties for hours before I go out and hours after I get in."

"I do not."

"You do, your always nagging me."

"Shut up."

"Oh very mature."

"I mean it Vince, shut up before we start rowing again."

"Fine" he sulked.

"Look, I don't think I'm going to go to this party. You can go though, if you like."

Vince scowled at the other man for a good few moments until someone popped their head around the door and yelled,

"NOIR!" in a distinctly American accent. "You ready for the party man? I'm buzzing, totally off my head on this stuff." he held a bottle of what looked like Budweiser above his head.

"Frank got you some then?"

"Yeah, shipped it over for the par-tay! It's gonna one hell of an event! I'm gonna get totally wasted man! You better be getting mashed with me!"

"I'm, uh…" Vince looked at Howard.

"Oh." said the man, as if he'd only seen Howard for the first time. "Hey dude. You alright man? Harold yeah?"

"Howard" Howard corrected him holding out his hand. The American slapped it in a weird high five and said. "I'm Chad. Nice to meet ya man. You coming to the party too?"

"Yes." Vince frowned at Howard and was about to point out his weird change of heart, when he decided against it. After all, he was getting his own way. All Howard noticed was how miffed the American looked when he realised Vince wasn't going alone, but he soon cheered up and said,

"Right, I'm gonna go warm-up the dance floor. I'll get you guys a drink. Flirtini, Vince?"

"You know what I like." smiled Vince flirtatiously, as the American disappeared out of the room. Howard looked at his boyfriend and cocked an eyebrow, causing Vince to ask,

"What?"

"That's Chad?!"

"Yeah." Howard's eyes widened showing a high level of distain. "What?" laughed the younger man.

"He's a bit… full on, isn't he?""Yeah. He's brilliant. Work hard, party harder."

"Hmm."

"Oh lighten up Howard. Here, let me fix you up. Then we can go to the party." Vince smiled, tugging Howard's shirt out of his trousers and undoing a button or two. "There, much better."

"What was wrong with the way I looked before? Would I have embarrassed you in front of Chad?" Howard asked sulkily.

"Did you seriously just ask that?"

"Apparently so."

"I thought we'd put this behind us."

"Yeah, we have." blushed Howard, feeling suddenly embarrassed at how pathetic he sounded. "Sorry. Let's go."

Hey guys. Had a bit of a kick in the creative teeth yesterday (boo hoo) I know, get over myself, right? Anyway, I'm only saying it because this was a fairly weak chapter and I'm trying to come up with a (very poor) excuse as to why.

Anyway, I'm think the next chapter's much better… though of course you lot can be the judge of that when it goes up, probably tomorrow (because I have far too much time on my hands.)

Thanks for reading!

Sisi…xx

p.s: JLS to win X-Factor!! =]