A/N: Hello. This chapter kind of does what it says on the tin. Over and out.

Disclaimer: Nope.

Sadness

Vince's POV

As soon as Howard was out of the door, I burst into tears. I couldn't help it. I hadn't shown him even a little bit of my feelings. Just the tiniest fraction of the truth. And he'd run off. Maybe I'd been reading the signs wrong. Maybe he was disgusted at the very thought of us… you know. Maybe he hated me now. I decided that I couldn't stay in the shop alone, knowing Howard was out there somewhere. I took the keys from the counter, walked out, and locked up behind me. It was cold outside. A clear night. I looked up at the stars, but the moon was new. I couldn't see it. The moon was always a light in the darkness. Now it wasn't there. I followed the streets around for a bit, talking to myself. Imagining what I would say to Howard if this hadn't happened, if I was confessing to him without all the tension.

"You know, Howard, you're my best mate. In the whole world. My other mates are all shallow. They just care about stuff like looks and money and fame. But you're not like them. You care about some pretty weird stuff, it's true. You know, jazz, and stationery, and weird trilby hats. But you care about me. You care about who I actually am. Not like some of my friends. Old friends now. Mansfield dumped me cause I was a Goth for a bit; Vector fucked off cause I was poor; Jacque LeCube left me behind as soon as he got a bit well known. But you've always been there, Howard. You've never left me. You don't give a damn whether I'm good looking, or rich, or famous, cause we're always together. If one of us has got a problem, so has the other. That's what we're like, Howard. You and me, there's something there. You were right on the roof that time, when you went on about the chemistry and the sexual tension. There's a lot of that. We'll never get rid of that. We go further than mates, even if we're too scared to admit it. We should be together. I've known that since about three months after I met you. And I've known it ever since. I've always been too scared to say anything. I always thought that if I left it long enough and flirted with you enough, you might notice by yourself, and it'd all happen on its own. But I guess I was wrong about that. You haven't noticed. So I need to tell you. I love you, Howard Moon. More than anything in the world. I've become so used to you, so reliant on you, that I don't think I can live without you. If you died, I'd have to go with you. Even if there's no heaven, at least I wouldn't have to feel that Howard-shaped hole in my life. And I think this is the most poetic I've ever been to anyone. And you ain't even here to hear it. Please Howard. Where are you?" My voice cracked as I said these last words, and I stumbled a few more streets in silence, trying to see through the fog that had suddenly come down, and the haze of tears in my eyes. In the end, I collapsed in exhaustion, falling to my knees in an alley, sobbing Howard's name over and over. But he couldn't hear.