On the track of Betsy or whatever ridiculous name you've given the shrew. You looked tired yesterday so I thought I'd let you sleep. Be back soon. Love, H.
Vince imagines Howard debated for what was probably a significant length of time over whether it was too soon to use the word 'love' in a note. Vince smiles. It's not too soon.
After a few minutes of silence, he gets bored without Howard, so he chats it up with the cats. They're very talkative.
Howard needs batteries. Just plain, regular, everyday batteries for the portable tracking device. The man behind the counter of the drug store is brandishing a knife in his face (thankfully, there's a cover over it) and saying "This? You want this?"
"That's not exactly what I had in mind, no."
The man looks puzzled. Howard sighs and says, "I'll just look for them myself, okay?"
The man stares suspiciously at him. Howard backs away from the counter and retreats to one of the aisles.
"No, not coughdrops," he mutters irritably, and he turns the corner into the next aisle and runs into someone.
"Oh my God!" the someone says. It turns out to be a young woman, probably a few years younger than Howard. "I'm so sorry."
"No, no," Howard says, and then he notices the woman is holding a pencil case. For reasons he can't understand, he finds this highly endearing. "My fault."
They stare at each other for a few seconds, then Howard says, "Well, bye," and hightails it out of the store.
He walks back to the apartment feeling strange. He didn't inadvertently cheat on Vince by talking to a woman, did he? No, that'd be ridiculous.
When he comes in, he finds Vince asleep on the couch, and the laptop is by his face. Howard doesn't want to wake him, but presumably there was a message from Fossil that he has to find out. He puts his hand on Vince's shoulder and says, "Wake up," very softly.
Vince slowly opens his eyes and stares up at him. "Oh, hey," he says. He looks completely content, smiling and still half-asleep, and something catches in Howard's throat at the sight of him like this. How anyone could be so happy living with a nutter and working such a strange job is completely beyond Howard's understanding.
"I got your note," Vince says. He sits up and reaches for Howard's hands. Howard assumes that Vince wants help getting up, but instead Vince pulls him down onto the couch next to him with a surprising show of strength. Howard gives a squawk of indignation and Vince laughs. "Not as weak as I look, yeah?"
"What did Fossil want?" Howard asks, pointing to the laptop.
"He wants us to get moving faster, you know, the usual. He seemed upset that you weren't in."
"But I was working!"
"I told him that, but he's a complete screwball. Didn't believe me. I shut the window on him."
"Vince, he's our boss!" Howard cries. "You can't blatantly disrespect him like that!"
"Too late," Vince says, grinning. "So, did you find anything?"
Howard sighs. "The tracker died, and I couldn't get any batteries. Then—" Howard is about to tell Vince about the Pencil Case Girl, but he thinks better of it. Vince would just get suspicious, and a suspicious soulmate never bodes well. "Then I came home because I missed you."
Vince laughs. "As if. You just got tired of walking about doing nothing."
"No!" Howard says, suddenly desperate. In light of recent events, he feels he has to make sure Vince knows…well, that Howard won't be doing any cheating any time soon. Or ever. "I did miss you. I love you, Vince." He's blushing, but it must be said.
Vince looks at him curiously. "That's not exactly news to me, but it's nice to hear," he says. "I love you, too, although you're a bit strange." He smiles as he says it, and Howard feels better.
"Right, then," Howard says, and he moves to stand up, but Vince latches onto his sleeve and tugs him back down.
"Where are you going? This is nice, yeah?"
Howard pauses. Sometimes he finds it difficult to believe that he could have gotten so lucky, what with having a—that word that's even difficult to think—boyfriend who genuinely loves him back. It's times like these when he feels supremely unworthy.
"Yeah," he says. "This is nice. You're nice. Have I told you that lately? You're very nice."
Vince grins, and Howard thinks he may even be blushing, just a little. Either way, he's obviously delighted. Howard thinks that this moment couldn't get any better.
And he's right, because just as Howard begins to revel in the happiness, one of the mangy cats walks over and shits on his shoe.
There's a pause, then Vince says, "I think we need a litter box."