The Party

"How do I look, Bollo?" Vince asked, before stepping out from behind the door and striking a pose in his brand new party outfit.

"Magnifique," Bollo replied.

Vince nodded firmly. He had to make sure all the stops were pulled out for Howard. He'd gone for something Vince-like, very outrageous and 'magnifique' as his primate friend liked to call it, but he'd chose something a bit different this time. Not the usual glitter and sparkles. He'd purposely picked out an outfit Howard would like, and it wasn't difficult, because Vince knew him inside and out after being his friend for so many years. And Vince had qualifications in fashion.

An hour later, the party was pretty much in full swing. Vince had had a few drinks but wasn't really drunk yet. Howard was in the corner with Lester, most probably talking about jazz. Howard then suddenly caught Vince's eyes lovingly gazing at him before he looked away, embarrassed.

Within the next hour Vince had gotten a lot of girls approaching him, trying to flirt with him. But he wasn't having any of it. He only had eyes for Howard, no matter how hot these girls were. The conversation had only lasted half a minute before Vince muttered "Would you excuse me" and hurried away, only to be faced with another girl seconds later. Little did he know Howard was viewing this from the corner, feeling a little over-protective of him.

After Vince had abandoned the entire female population in the flat, he was pretty much out of it. The only reason he was this drunk, far much more than usual, was to give himself an excuse to get away from the ladies, by filling up his glass on the other side of the room, far, far away from them. He stumbled around, not being able to help himself from staring at Howard possessively, who was flirting with a girl in the corner. After assuring Bollo he was completely fine, he tripped over his own boot heel and fell backwards – into strong, firm arms.

Vince was unfortunately too drunk to realise that those arms belonged to Howard. Or maybe it was better that he didn't know that Howard hadn't rushed forward to catch him, like a knight in corduroy, but Vince happened to fall into him.

"I think this little man needs to be put to bed," Howard said to Bollo, who nodded before getting distracted by a friend jumping on his back.

Vince's mind jumped awake at the sound of Howard's voice, which sounded quite close. It took him a while to piece together the fact that he was being held by him, but when he finally did, Howard had flipped his legs up, and was carrying him to their bedroom, which was out of bounds to the party guests.

Howard carefully laid Vince down on his bed, pulling off his Chelsea boots. Vince managed to force his eyes open wide enough to watch Howard do this, a look of warmth and care on his face, the expression that he adored.

"Alright there, little man?" Howard chuckled.

"'Oward…" Vince slurred.

"What is it? You going to be sick?" Howard asked, resting his hand upon Vince's shoulder.

Vince shook his head, determined to keep his eyes open. It was now, or never. Howard was pretty much sober, and Vince now had the confidence to confess his true feelings – if he could manage to piece together words that made sense, that is. And Howard would remember these words.

"'Oward, I…" Vince started, but couldn't finish.

Howard patted his back. "I'm gonna leave you to get some rest," he said softly.

"No, wait!" Vince snapped. He couldn't miss this, not after what happened at the last party, months before his true love had left for showbiz. He couldn't wait any longer.

Howard raised one eyebrow. "What is it, Vince?" he asked, somewhat impatiently.

"'Oward, I…I lo-ove you." Wow. It took much more effort than he thought it would to push out those three, simple words.

Howard laughed. "I love you too, little man. Best pals, eh?" he nudged him playfully.

"No, you don't understand," Vince slurred. "I love you, 'Oward Moon. More than I should."

Howard's eyes widened as he realised the message his electro friend was putting across. Vince studied his face, as its expression turned to shock. He didn't care what his reaction was now, he just felt like a large weight had been lifted off his shoulders. As long as Howard knew, the shit that came after it didn't matter. Now Vince didn't have to pretend anymore.

"Vince, I-"

"No," Vince whispered, holding a finger up to Howard's lips. "Go and enjoy the party. I'mma gets some sleep."

But as Howard stared down at him, feeling mixed emotions, not knowing what to say, numbed by shock, Vince didn't feel at all satisfied. He had to do one last thing.

And before Howard could do anything else, and before Vince could stop himself, he threw himself at the man above him, and their lips met. It was absolute bliss. As soon as skin came into contact, time moved incredibly slow. Vince felt on top of the world for the second time, his heart was pounding in his chest, fireworks and butterflies and explosions were all present and active in the pit of his stomach. The world around them stopped, the yells and laughing and music from the party down the corridor were muted. It felt like the two of them were discovering the first kiss on planet Earth, like they invented it. Vince, knowing at that moment it was his duty to deepen the kiss, since he was the one who began it, began to move his lips, slowly, almost as if asking for permission. Howard began to move his aswell, and the two kissed in sync, holding each other, the explosions in Vince's stomach increasing. But he still wanted more, and his drunken state allowed him to forcefully push his tongue into Howard's mouth, a little too forcefully, for Howard pulled away, and stood up, panicking. Vince watched him, wanting badly to reverse time and take that tactless move back. Everything was going so well! He thought to himself as Howard backed away, spluttering.

"I-I…Vince, you- what on earth do you think- we can't do this- don't you understand?" his splutters turned into snaps of anger. "You're just drunk! How dare you do this to me- and how dare I take advantage of you." And with that, he quickly opened the door, and rushed out, slamming it behind him.

Vince didn't do anything else. Just drunkenly cried himself to sleep.