Howard had hoped that he and Vince might be able to talk when he got home but had also been secretly relieved to see his best friend passed out on the bathroom floor instead. Well, perhaps relieved was the wrong word, since Vince looked to be in a pretty bad way, but at least he wasn't out on the streets somewhere or worse, awake and angry at Howard for whatever had gone wrong in their arrangement. He stashed the Bounty bars and got ready for bed quickly and efficiently, carefully stepping around Vince to flush the loo, grimacing as he did so. Vince seemed to have vomited until there wasn't even bile left and it turned Howard's stomach. He brushed his teeth quickly and left a plastic tumbler of water on the floor where his friend would see it when he woke up feeling dehydrated, as Howard knew he would. There wasn't much else he could do until Vince woke up and Howard could hand him a Resolve and a plate of dry toast.

He'd just settled down to sleep when the noise started. At first it was a strange keening, like an animal in pain and Howard's first thought was that another fox had moved in to the alley behind the shop but then it got louder and soon the flat was full of tortured screams and Howard went racing from his room to the bathroom and the source of the noise. Vince sounded like he was being attacked by mutant slime creatures, or worse, having his hair shaved off, but when Howard arrived there was no one attacking Vince. Vince wasn't even awake. He was twitching on the floor, his arms and legs bruising as they were thrown about the tight space, his face almost purple from the shouting. His hair was a mess, the water had spilt and Howard watched for far too long before he realised he should probably try to wake his friend up, or at least calm him down.

"Vince?" he called, kneeling down gingerly as Vince continued to howl. "Vince, you need to wake up now. Wake up, little man, you're having a nightmare."

It was no good. Howard put his hand nervously on Vince's shoulder and was surprised when Vince's movement decreased and his shouts began to tail off.

"Vince?" he whispered again. "Vince? What's wrong?"

Vince's eyes burst open, darting around and not focusing on anything for a long while. Howard helped him into a sitting position but when Vince put his hand in the spilt water he jumped and tears began to tumble down his cheeks.

"I'm sorry," he croaked, his voice barely audible and so raw it made Howard wince. "I didn't m-mean to..."

Howard frowned until he saw that Vince's distress was centered around the damp puddle he was sitting in.

"It's just water, little man. I left a drink for you and you knocked it over in your sleep. That's all."

Vince nodded but didn't look any calmer. His body was thrumming with tension and he still didn't seem to know where he was. Howard had witnessed Vince's nightmares before, but only once or twice and never like this. Usually Vince shrugged him off as soon as he was awake and then went for a really long shower. This time it was different. He carefully pressed his hand to Vince's cheek to tilt his face up, trying to get Vince to look at him so that he could somehow sort this out but when he saw Vince's eyes he gasped. While one was simply red from crying the other was red from blood, the whole eye swollen and angry and Howard suddenly realised why Vince wasn't able to focus on anything and seemed so disorientated.

"Vince," he whispered, shuffling himself closer on the cold floor so that he could support the smaller man. "Vince, can you see?"

"I..."

Vince tried to speak but Howard could clearly hear how it was hurting him. He shook his head and Howard bundled him into a cuddle. He was still shaking and trying to cry, though silently this time, and Howard tried to think of a possible reason for Vince's behaviour. This wasn't how things usually went between the two of them. Vince was the bright, sunshine one; if anyone should be having night terrors it should be Howard, except that nothing had ever happened to Howard to cause this level of distress.

It couldn't be because of their... Sunday night activities... could it? Vince had seemed skittish and yeah, he'd run off, but surely even Howard's performance wasn't so bad that the thought of doing it again left Vince in this state. He desperately wanted to know what'd sparked off what had obviously been a very intense nightmare but knew that there were more pressing matters to attend to first.

"Vince," he spoke as gently as he could. "We need to get you to the hospital, little man."

"No-" Vince croaked desperately before his throat seized up and he began gasping for air. Howard scooted them both closer to the sink and filled up the tumbler with water. He was impressed at his ability to do so with one hand, from the floor, and with a lap full of distressed Vince but decided that he'd boast about it later. Vince wasn't in a fit state to compliment him anyway.

He held the water to Vince's lips and watched as the other man closed his eyes and drank. It was an action so reminiscent of their first time together that it made Howard shiver. It was an act of surrender, of vulnerability, of trust in Howard to look after him, and Howard suddenly began to wonder whether he had failed in that. Vince had dressed up tonight because tonight was six months since they'd started... whatever it was they were doing and he'd seemed unsettled and especially needy of late. There had been the whole, 'I want to do it this way' thing and last week Howard was sure Vince had tried to kiss him on the mouth, only to chicken out at the last minute and kiss his cheek instead.

Was it possible, could it really be, that Vince Noir had fallen in love with Howard Moon?

The thought was too big, the size of it was pushing at his skull and threatening to take over the whole bathroom and he knew he needed to set it aside, at least for a while. Vince had calmed down a little more but one look at his eye steeled Howard's resolve.

"We do need to go to the A and E, Vince," he said softly but sternly. "You're eye's all red and you can't see a thing out of it, am I right?"

Vince whimpered and clutched at Howard's pajama shirt, trying to form words against the will of his damaged throat.

"I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I won't do it again. Promise."

They were barely words but if Howard could understand Vince when the man had a mouth full of jelly tots, he could understand his hoarse whispering.

"You've got nothing to be sorry for, little man," he murmured in reply. "Let's just get you to a doctor, ok?"

He lifted Vince gently back onto the floor and stood up reluctantly. Vince was still grasping for him and he felt horrible leaving him there but he needed to get dressed and find Vince's wallet and... phone a taxi, he realised as his head span slightly at the sudden shift in his posture. He'd had five beers and he was tired and he wasn't sure that he could make it to the hospital safely at all. He grabbed his phone and punched in the number for the local cab company as he struggled out of his pajamas and back into his cords. He should make himself a coffee too, he thought. This was probably going to be a long night. From the bathroom he heard the desolate sound of Vince's broken sobbing and sighed shakily. This was definitely going to be a long night.