God, I'm writing this quick. It's going to end up too long if I carry on at this rate!

Just so you all know, Vince in this is 16 years old, I estimate my Howard to be about 20-21 and Gideon is about 18-19. It just felt really wierd when I was writing Howard and Vince talking, because I thought "everyone is going to be picturing Howard as 30 odd!" So I've put your minds at rest :P

Hope you enjoy!

Chapter 3

The weather was growing worse as the day bore on. Howard looked out of the window and sighed at the perpetual drizzle, he was going to have to go out and walk in that weather. But he wasn't going to let him deter him. He knew that Vince was going to turn up that evening. Howard knew people, and he knew himself, and he knew that if someone had given him such an invitation, he would definitely go. Plus, this Vince was a rebellious teen, and wouldn't usually be allowed in a pub, so he would grab any chance he got. Howard knew what he had to do. He had to convince Vince to forget about school and join ranks at the zoo. Since Tommy left, the zoo had gone no where but downhill, and they could use someone like Vince to act a general morale and business boost. And Howard couldn't help but want to be responsible for finding him. Maybe then he might have his name remembered by the other zoo keepers...maybe then Bob Fossil might treat him with a bit of the respect that he deserved...maybe Gideon might fall for him...

His head was still swimming with the possibilities when he noticed the time on the clock. He had to go and meet Vince and everyone else from the zoo. He grabbed his jacket from the back of a chair and headed out into the sleet and rain.

- - -

He was sure it was going to brake. Any moment, just come clean off the wall. Amazingly, the trellis stayed in place and Vince managed to make his way down to the patio without seriously injuring himself. He didn't notice, until his feet were on firm ground, how profusely he had been sweating. He grimaced and brushed his hands off on his jeans, with the triumphant feeling that he had managed to escape through his bedroom window and not even hurt himself slightly. He made a note to himself that the trellis was a useful escape route from his bedroom window. Unfortunately, he was no so lucky on account of the weather conditions.

Five minutes later, he was barely halfway down his street and was already drenched. His treasured hair was plastered against the frame of his face and raindrops fell against his face like tears, dripping off the end of his nose and scattering from strands of his dark hair. Vince could see the pub silhouetted by the dull amber glow of a street lamp, just at the end of the road. He quickened his pace to a jog, trying to ignore the way the soles of his shoes squished under his feet like soggy sponges.

He reached the door of the pub and pushed it open with his body weight, while his hands set to work trying to wrestle with the soaked mop that was his hairstyle. You never know who you might meet, he told himself as he brushed his limp fringe out of his eyes. His vision restored, he glanced around the smoky pub, waving at Howard when he waved at him, and making his way over to where he was sat with some friends.

"Alright?" Vince greeted Howard and the guys he was sitting with. They all looked dismally zoo keeper-ish. None of them had well groomed hair styles or skinny jeans like Vince wore. He felt like he was stood at the other side of the room instead of in the middle of a group.

They all mumbled greetings back and Howard smiled. "I thought you might turn up."

"Yeah, you knew I would, right?" Vince grinned out of the side of his mouth.

"Well I didn't know..." Howard started, but Vince gave him a look, "ok...I knew, but I wanted you to come." He turned to the other guys, who didn't seem remotely interested in Vince and Howard's conversation and were talking amongst themselves. "Hey guys, this is..." Howard stumbled, remembering that he had never found out the name of the boy who had saved his life.

"Vince," Vince filled in, "Vince Noir - rock and roll star," He gave his trademark grin with the last comment, expecting everyone in hearing range to turn and give him an instantly charmed smile. That was what usually happened. Or at least people laughed because they thought it was a cute joke. But the guys at the table just nodded at him in a way that suggested they hadn't really heard properly. Vince felt his face flush red at embarrassment. His comments never fell flat like that! He sat down on a bar stool and hung his head a little, pretending to be interested at something on his lap and allowing his wet hair to cover his burning face.

Howard sat down on the stool next to Vince and offered him a drink that he had already bought for him. He offered dumb small talk about the weather and some roadwork's that were nearby and how annoying they were. He knew he couldn't just pounce on Vince with a proposition for him to join the zoo, they would need to be friends first. But, he thought, he could still get some useful stuff from him.

"So, Vince, you're sixteen right...what do you want to do when you leave your school?" Howard asked. He was hoping he would hear the answer 'why Howard, I want to become a zoo keeper and use my talent to benefit many other people!' But he had a feeling he wouldn't be that lucky.

Vince cocked his head on one side. Howard's question reminded him of the annoying meeting they made you go to at school. Just like then, Vince felt his stomach tense up with the pressure to give an appropriate answer. "Um...I don't know...I might...maybe...go to college?" He ended his sentence with a tone that showed he was seeking approval and some sort of sign that this was the right answer.

Howard laughed, seeing through Vince's thoughts like a pane of glass. "I'm not judging you! I just want to know what you're into..."

Vince smiled in relief and searched his brain for a real answer. "Umm...well I like music...and fashion and stuff..." he tried in vain to think of a career that mainly involved those two things, "but so does everyone, so I dunno what I'm gonna do...be a really stylish musician?"

"I have the feeling you're not the first person to long to be a stylish musician," Howard laughed. He decided the time was right to drop a hint and hope Vince would pick it up. "You should do something you're good at...what are you good at?"

Vince bit his lip. "My mum says I make good cups of tea..." he murmured this so honestly it was almost pathetic, and Howard had to struggle not to laugh.

"Well there you go, you can be a tea maid!" Howard declared like it was the truest thing in the world.

Vince almost spat his beer right out, he laughed so hard. "Great, my future sorted!" They laughed about the joke for a few more seconds, before Vince tackled the more serious nature of the question. "But really...I'm not good at anything..." Howard gave him a look of disbelief but he kept on talking, "...I don't get very good marks at school. My teachers say I'm not committed." He stuck his tongue into his cheek, trying desperately to search for a positive thing. It evaded him, somehow. "I don't really like work. It's boring...I don't think I'll make a very good adult..." Vince smiled in a sort of self-pitying way. For the past few months, he had shoved all ideas related to growing up and being in anyway responsible right to the back of his mind. They gave him a headache. The more he thought about them, the more he realised how useless he would be at most jobs. He couldn't sit still for five minutes, so he couldn't work in an office. He wasn't good enough at music to really be a musician. He wasn't smart enough to be something like a doctor or a lawyer. He thought law and science were boring anyway. It was like being stuck in a maze, all the exits blocked with unsolvable problems.

Howard felt his hopes lift slightly. Vince was desperate to be good or something, and Howard was going to give him that thing, on a plate. He felt almost positive that Vince would accept a position in the zoo...it was perfect after all...he didn't need tricky qualifications...he wouldn't be sat at a desk...and most of all, he would be good at it. Howard couldn't wait to offer Vince everything he wanted. It wasn't everyday he got to make people's dreams come true. He began to construct a little mini-speech in his mind. It would be all about "aspirations" and "opportunities"...Vince would drop to his knees as soon as he heard it...declare Howard a genius and hero for offering him what he had been yearning for all this time-

"Howard?" A female voice interrupted his internal monologue. A female voice that turned him instantly into a fumbling, awkward idiot. Gideon. Howard had mentioned they were meeting at the pub, he hadn't actually expected her to turn up! He was filled with such utter delight that he spun round, almost falling off his stool, and practically screamed her name.

Gideon took a worried step back at his outburst, silently wondering why he had to shout like that. She, as usual, just shrugged off his strange behaviour and flicked her silky brown hair out of her face as a sort of greeting.

Howard struggled to get words out of his mouth in a coherent manner. "Um...Gideon, sorry, nice of you to come." He stumbled on his words, and noticed Vince staring at him like he was insane or retarded. Or both. "Um...Vince, this is Ms. Gideon...Gideon this is-"

"Vince," interrupted Vince, not trusting anyone but himself with his introduction. "Vince Noir - Rock and roll star."

After the wink and expertly delivered cheeky grin that followed, Gideon could do nothing but offer an instantly charmed smile in return.