The Switch
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Bonus Chapter: Howard and Vince Roll Credits
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Note: I realize this is a bit long for credits—just pretend that an unusually large amount of people worked on this "episode."
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It was a Friday night, and all the regular clubs were caught in a tipsy whirlwind of deafening music and sweat-misted bodies in clothes like onion skins. It was exactly Vince Noir's kind of scene: gaggles of breezy, lost souls with perfect teeth and hair that looked like it was arranged by someone with a degree in civil engineering—all grinding and laughing together, bodies empty vessels for the thundering bass.
Vince tended to flock to such places to escape, to put himself on display in some immaculate costume, to dance and feel absolutely nothing for the teeming mass of people besides wanting them to form the ocean of music and movement for him to stay abreast of. He went when he wanted to look beautiful, drink, and surround himself with admirers and girls with pretty laughs and tasty lip gloss.
But not that night.
Alone in their bedroom, Howard and Vince looked as if they were cast adrift in an ocean of a different sort—bright puzzle pieces of every shade and shape were strewn across the floor around their bodies almost as far as the eye could see. Howard sat cross-legged in his shorts, sorting and poring over heaps of what looked like colorful cardboard confetti, placing pieces he'd already examined into carefully constructed piles.
Vince lay on his stomach beside Howard in a plain t-shirt, propped up on his elbows and swinging his legs behind him. He happily grabbed at pieces to inspect and discard leisurely, often tossing them into one of Howard's meticulously sorted piles. With more than a little satisfaction, he snapped one piece together with another, bringing the count of puzzle pieces that were in any way conjoined to… two.
"This is fun, isn't it, Howard?" he ventured, cheerful in a simple sort of way. He scratched at the back of his head with one hand before grabbing his two connected pieces to mime them flying through the air.
Howard frowned. "Can you pass me the top of the box, please?"
Vince had rolled over onto his back, hair forming a jet black silhouette around his head, to continue playing with his puzzle pieces. He was too busy making fighter plane and gun noises to hear Howard.
"Vince," Howard repeated, forcing patience into his tone.
"Reeee-ee-ee-ee-ee-ee… Oh god, me toenails!"
Howard rolled his eyes and leaned over Vince to grab at the puzzle box's lid. Vince squirmed a little underneath him before the taller man managed to straighten with his prize firmly in his grasp.
"Watch it!" Vince protested, annoyed.
Howard ignored him. His beady eyes flickered back and forth in quick volleys over the picture displayed on the lid, brow furrowed in concentration.
"I don't understand this," he muttered.
"It's a puzzle," Vince explained tartly, still sounding a little irritated from being reached over. "You put the little pieces together and they make the picture on the box."
"I know how a puzzle works, okay?" Howard snapped. But with a short exhale his anger at Vince retreated, to be replaced with perplexity. "It just doesn't add up."
Vince froze for a brief moment, guiltily looking the other way. "The point isn't to add things up," he attempted, sitting back up and casually flicking his conjoined puzzle pieces back into the fray. "Just go for it, you know? Pieces will just find each other."
He smiled thoughtfully, drawing his knees up to his chin and tucking a strand of hair behind his ear as he idly sifted through the thick covering of puzzle pieces on the floor. "It's sort of more romantic that way, don't you think?"
"It's not romantic. It's a puzzle," Howard said flatly. He carefully turned a single colorful piece between his fingers. "It's a test of calculation and logic—an equation to be solved. Besides, that's not even how romance works in any case. People are a bit more complex than bits of colored cardboard. Things don't always just snap into place."
Vince flopped back down onto his back, puzzle pieces clacking as they flew out from under him as he landed. He looked up at Howard from the floor in front of him, blue eyes bright, as he held a single puzzle piece out to the jazz maverick.
Howard glanced down, raising one eyebrow in mild interest, and took the piece from him. He held it up to the piece he was currently examining—even from far away it was easy to see that the two pieces weren't a match. Howard shook his head, chuckling a little.
"Luck comes easily to you. I'll give you that. But did you honestly think that would work?"
"This one, then," Vince offered softly, his optimistic smile untouched. Howard rolled his eyes and held his puzzle piece out to Vince on his palm. Vince pressed his offering down into the taller man's hand.
It fit.
Howard stared at the matched pair, dumbfounded. He then switched his gaze to Vince, who was looking up at him, his face shining with laughter. For all his annoyance at being proven wrong, Howard couldn't seem to begrudge his friend his happy triumph at this small wonder.
Howard stared for another moment at the puzzle pieces, trying to formulate a response. He tried to narrow his eyes suspiciously at the beaming man lying on the floor, but he couldn't help letting a little laughter sneak into his question.
"…Are you a leprechaun?"
And Vince laughed too.
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The End! : )