Walking felt weird, like the first time he wore heals. He was too tall, his legs too long, moving seemed unnatural. He felt off balance and swayed slightly to one side as though drunk, reaching out to steady himself with a hand on the wall. "Woah," he muttered, that's gonna take some getting used to."

To his left, Howard was still gazing in horrified fascination into the mirror, touching his face and watching his reflection as though unable to believe it was his own.

"Oi, careful with my hair," said Vince as he wobbled towards him.

Howard looked up in surprise. It wasn't the first time Vince had spoken, but it was weird. It wasn't Vince's voice, but it wasn't his own either. Vince's accent. Howard's voice. Presumably to someone who didn't know them it would sound perfectly fine, but to Howard it sounded pretty odd, and only made the situation seem even more strange. "Your hair?" His eyes wandered back to the mirror, "Do you really think that should be your most pressing concern at the moment?"

"It's my most pressing concern most of the time," Vince told him, "and even more now it's left in your unskilled hands."

Howard put the mirror down and started to get up, thought better of it and paused before allowing any weight to rest on his feet, sat back down and removed Vince's high heeled platform boots, "Still no answer from Naboo?"

"His phone's switched off. I bet he did this on purpose. He knows I can't resist shiny things."

"Right, because he knew you'd be excavating the side of the sofa, did he?"

Vince shrugged, "Maybe. Maybe he's the one that hid the remote."

Howard glanced around the living room of the flat. Piles of old issues of Cheekbone magazine towered higher than the TV. Discarded clothes littered the floor and furniture. In the corners of the room, dust was so thick you couldn't even see the carpet any more. Naboo's favourite bong took pride of place on the coffee table, surrounded by old bags of crisps, packets of biscuits, and magazines of gorilla porn. "I don't think he'd have had to hide it," Howard commented, "just put it down somewhere. Anyway, if he's not answering, we'll have to go and find him."

He got to his feet, took a step forward and immediately stumbled. Vince instinctively reached out to grab him, but still not used to his body's new reach was caught off balance and the two ended up sprawled on the floor. The ridiculousness of the situation finally got to Vince and he started to laugh.

"Something funny?"

That sounded so much like Howard, but to hear it coming out of his own mouth, it shouldn't be funny, he knew that, but somehow it was. The laughter came even harder, shaking his body so violently that he could hardly breathe, lying on the floor, half on top of Howard. Howard with Vince's face, but wearing an expression that was so very classically Howard. Howard's frown cracked as he made eye contact with Vince and caught the giggles too. For a few minutes neither of them could move as mirth turned to hysteria, which got even worse whenever either one looked at the other.

Howard recovered first. Taking a deep breath, he sat up, then half pulled himself back onto the sofa, where he sat panting, watching Vince, who was slowly recovering, but whose entire body was still shaking with silent laughter.

He watched for a minute, two minutes, four. This was starting to get silly. "Vince?" The only response was a deep breath and another wave of hysteria. "Vince, stop it now, okay?" He was having no effect. Tears were running from his eyes, an expression more of terror than amusement on his face. "Vince!" Howard dropped back onto the floor and grabbed the other man hard by the shoulders, shaking him a little, "Vince, that's enough now, please. You're going to pass out."

With considerable effort, Vince bit down hard on his bottom lip, took a series of deep breaths and wiped the tears from his face. He opened his mouth, but the only sound that came out was a kind of croak. His lips twitched into another smile, which he quickly smothered with his hand. Another deep breath, released slowly, and he pulled himself up into a sitting position on the floor. He cleared his throat and took a sip of water from the glass Howard was offering him. He knew it had been sitting on the table since last night, he didn't know whose it had been, but he didn't care. He gulped it down, closed his eyes for a moment, then opened them looking straight at Howard. "Sorry about that,"

"You okay now?"

Vince thought about it for a minute, then nodded. "I think so,"

"Good. You take a few minutes to recover, then we'll set off."

"Set off?" Vince climbed to his feet collapsed into the nearest chair, "Set off where? There's no way I'm letting you outside in control of my body."

Howard stood up and walked, a little more carefully this time, to the sink, replenished Vince's glass and handed it back to him, Vince accepted it gratefully. "So what do you suggest we do?" he asked. "You know what Naboo's 'weekends away' can be like, he might not be back for a week, he's not answering his phone. What are we supposed to do in the meantime, just hide out in the flat waiting for him?"

Vince frowned, "Come on, he'll turn his phone on again sooner or later, unless he's forgotten the charger again. And even if he has, it's only one weekend. I mean, alright I had plans, but they can be put off 'til next week."

"Did you not listen to a word I just said? We don't know how long he'll be gone. A weekend to Naboo doesn't seem to mean the same thing as it does to normal people like us." He paused, "Did I just call you normal?"

Vince rolled his eyes at Howard "But how are we meant to find him? He's a Shaman? He has a magic carpet, travels to different worlds? It's not like he's just popped to Asda, is it?"

Howard had already started to leave, and his voice floated back into the room from the hallway, "He left a note on the fridge, he's staying with a mate in Brighton for a few days. I've got the address. Come on. You've had time to recover, we should get going."

"I haven't had time!"

Howards voice came through a little more irritated this time, "I know my own body, sir. You've had ample time. Howard Moon bounces back like that!" He snapped his fingers.

Vince glanced knowingly at the boots left in the middle of the floor, folded his arms and waited.

Howard appeared back in the doorway, "On second thoughts, I'd better put some shoes on first, hadn't I? What are you just sitting there for, are you coming or what?"

Howard walked quickly into the bedroom, seeming to have got used to his new proportions now. He opened a large cupboard and surveyed Vince's shoe collection with distaste. His own two pairs lay by the wall, teasing him as he glanced at them longingly. Oh, for comfortable, sensible shoes designed for function rather than fashion. But they wouldn't fit right now. Unless...

He glanced over at the bed, his favourite pair of sandals were just visible, half underneath. He reached for them, slipped his feet inside and fastened the buckles tightly over Vince's pink and black striped socks.

"No Howard! No way!" Vince had followed him into the room and was looking at him with nervous uncertainty, as though not sure whether this was a joke or a nightmare.

"What? They're a bit big, but they'll do."

Vince shook his head slowly from side to side, "Howard, you're not going out...you're not making me go out looking like that."

Howard sighed, "If we're going to find Naboo, Vince, I need to be able to walk, don't I? It's hard enough not tripping over your feet as it is, I wouldn't get out the door in any of those bizarre things you call shoes without falling and breaking my neck. And don't forget, little man, it's not my neck at the moment, it's yours."

That was true, Vince didn't want to get back in his body with broken ribs and two black eyes, but there had to be a better solution than this. People would see Howard and think it was him,and if anyone saw him like that, they'd think he'd gone insane. He'd be laughed out of Camden.

"I want to get this fixed as soon as possible. What if it sticks if you leave it too long? You want Naboo to come home and say 'Sorry, if you'd come and got me yesterday I'd have been able to fix it, but now you're stuck like that forever.'?"

Howard was probably right. For a day or two, this would be tolerable, maybe even kind of fun, but a lifetime? "Okay, but please lose the sandals. I've got some shoes you'll be able to walk in. Well, one or two pairs."

"Without glitter?"

"What difference does it make? People aren't gonna see you, just me."

"Just like any other day, then," Vince realised the weight of those few words, but didn't really know how to respond, and so ignored them. Howard thought about it for a moment, then nodded, "Okay, fine. Show me the shoes."