There was a tube of Savlon on standby next to the couch, in case the jazz got a bit too much. He knew that he couldn't say no to Howard's only birthday wish, though. Not without feeling like the world's biggest dickhead.

Black and white films were all a bit bewildering to him. Why were they even called black and white films? There was very little actual black and white, it was mostly just shades of grey.

They hadn't watched a film together in ages. Vince smiled at the memory of them curled up in the zookeeper's hut underneath a pile of sleeping bags watching cartoons late at night. He looked at the empty space on the couch between them and felt a lump in his throat.

"I'm cold, Howard," he said wheedlingly.

Howard sighed and held out an arm for him. Vince smiled and pressed his body close to Howard's side and took the outstretched arm and wrapped it around himself. Howard flinched slightly at the warm body in his personal space, but tightened his arm around Vince's waist.

"Thank you," Vince said against his shoulder and smiled gently.

The film was pretty good really. These two guys dressed up as women who got to get cosy with Marilyn Monroe. She was a bit of a lezzer in this, Vince decided, she was giving 'Josephine' definite signals and she thought that he was a girl. Genius! Girls were nice, all soft and squashy and girls with other girls gave him a predictably male tingle down his spine.

Boys were nice too, he thought, feeling Howard's manly body up against his. Being Vince, he'd never over thought his own sexuality. It didn't make sense to limit himself to one gender, when they were both attractive in their own way. He generously didn't mind other people being straight or gay, but neither felt right to him.

He started idly trailing his fingers up and down Howard's chest plucking at his shirt gently. Howard caught his wrist and held it down against his stomach.

"Tickling," he said shortly.

Vince blew at his fringe and started to rub small circles into Howard's belly with the tips of his fingers, enjoying the way the soft stomach flub gave way to a hard layer of muscles.

"You're distracting me, Vince," Howard said in his best stern teacher voice.

He apologized softly and held still for as long as he could before he had to start wriggling around a bit. Howard sighed and pulled him onto his lap. Vince squealed softly and tucked his head underneath Howard's chin and made a happy little sound in the back of his throat.

They watched the rest of the film like that and at some point, Howard's hand crept up and started petting Vince's hair. When the credits started to roll onto the screen he guiltily dropped his hand and looked at Vince uncomfortably. Vince whined at the loss softly.

"Did you like it?" Howard asked gently.

"Felt good," Vince pouted slightly and Howard blushed.

"I meant the film," he said, looking down.

"Oh!" Vince blushed as well, "Yeah, it was good. I usually don't like your weird oldie films, but that one was good."

They avoided each other's eyes for a few minutes.

"Howard-" Vince began and stopped himself, biting a thumbnail.

He leaned in close and kissed the other man softly on the lips and pulled away almost immediately.

"Sorry," he said and started to sidle off Howard's lap surreptitiously.

Howard held his upper arms and kept him in place. He looked at him questioningly.

"I'm sorry that I love you," Vince clarified, "I tried not to, but I can't not." He looked away guiltily.

"You said you were over me," Howard replied after an age, "You went off with that girl."

"I didn't!" Vince said suddenly, "We just had a bounce. On the bouncy castle, I mean," he qualified hurriedly.

"I haven't... with anyone. Not since, you know," he pointed upwards.

"You went celibate over me?" Howard asked incredulously.

"No, I just haven't wanted to do it with anyone else. Just you," Vince looked up at him through his eyelashes.

"Oh Vince," Howard said fondly and pushed his hair out of his face.

"It's alright, I know that you don't- you're not- well anyway I just got a bit- with the film and you were playing with my hair and-" Howard stopped his mouth by pressing their lips together.

"But I'm a man," Vince said when they broke apart.

"No one's perfect," Howard smiled.