Mighty Boosh story Pt. 2

But...Vince DID say that Howard could go on without him, even if he didn't mean it 100%.

"Time to teach the little man a lesson." Howard thought.

It would be good for Vince to have the wind knocked out of his oh so glorious sails for once. Vince was always used to getting his way and this made him incredibly spoilt and so incredibly dependant on everyone else. Howard was being used, he was like a lapdog for Vince and he had only just realised. If Vince wanted Howard to wait for him, he'd never refuse because he wanted to keep Vince happy; he didn't take into account the fact that if he said no, it wouldn't be the end of Vince's world, he'd just sulk a bit, that's all.

"No," Howard said quietly to himself as he stared at Vince's closed door. " No," he repeated, heading for the stairs and slowly descending them as if his legs were independent from the rest of him, carrying him to where Howard knew in his heart he wanted to go but in his head, he still wanted to wait for Vince for god knows how long.

All the while his stomach was doing a little dance as he finally made it to the front door, whether it was excitement at finally breaking 'the rules' or guilt for leaving Vince without saying anything. The only thing that kept him going was the thought that Vince always got his way and Howard rarely got a chance to shine; he was a dull stone compared to Vince's diamond and it was time for a change.

Then Howard shut the door to the shop for the first time without Vince. He looked back inside through the glass at the dark interior and could see the faint light from upstairs; the landing light had been left on so that Vince wouldn't be in complete darkness when he finally came out.

Then he left, he walked away without giving the shop a second glance.

Vince was on his own.

*

As he hummed 'Acceptable in the 80s' by Calvin Harris while he fluffed his hair up in the mirror on his desk (that always made him feel famous because of the light bulbs that burnt bright around the sides), he thought of all the fun that he was going to have tonight.

These cool DJs called 'Secret Spies on Acid' were playing at The 333 Club in Shoreditch and he had gotten both him and Howard on the guest list. It wasn't anything special, they just got a few quid off. Plus, Vince knew the punkish one in the band - Sgt. Speed, and he invited him to the afterparty; genius!

"Howard, I'm nearly done, yeah? Just have to put my eyeliner on!" he shouted as he got his eyeliner from the desk and began to line his eyes with it.

He got no reply and assumed that Howard was just being stroppy with him. He sighed and continued to look in the movie star mirror to perfect his eyes.

He finished his eyes, clipped the lid back on and got his leather jacket from the edge of his bed. Taking one last look at himself in the mirror, he opened his door and was ready to leave.

"Hey Howard, I'm--" he stopped mid-sentence as Howard was nowhere to be seen and his tummy flipped. "Oh he's probably downstairs waiting in the shop instead," he said with a smile and a mumble of 'idiot' as he slapped himself on the forehead for being so silly and nearly jumping to the conclusion that Howard had already gone.

"Howard, you'd better be ready to get your boogie on tonight, I've heard it's gonna be amazing!" Vince emphasised, quickly pulling on his jacket as he went down the stairs. "Howard...?" he called out somewhat quietly as he reached the bottom of the stairs and still couldn't see him. "Stop hiding, we're gonna be late!" Vince said, rushing to the back of the shop and turning on the light to see if he could find him. He looked left and right, still no Howard. "Howard this isn't funny, come on, stop being weird, we've gotta go!" Vince shouted with a slight break in his voice.

He got out his phone to check the time and realised that he had a message. He opened it and read, 'I've gone, meet you at the club. Howard.'

Vince's jaw dropped and he read the message over again to be clear about what he was being told. "There's no way... Howard wouldn't..." he said quietly, shutting the light off, putting his phone back in his jacket pocket and heading for the door, looking back at the shop to be sure that Howard had actually gone.

He stepped outside and slowly closed the door behind him. "He never leaves without me." The bottom corners of his mouth twitched and he fought back the urge to cry as he headed on to the club, by himself.

*

It was too noisy in this club, Howard thought, so he had just taken a seat in a corner after getting a drink from the bar and relaxed. It was nicer than waiting for Vince, though; more exciting to see all of the lights and the bustle of people all around him.

He had hoped that Vince had gotten his message and wasn't checking all around the flat for him. It was only when he was on the bus that he had actually thought of texting Vince because he knew if he didn't, Vince would search the flat for ages and refuse to believe that he had left without him - denial.

Howard sighed and took another swig of his drink, smiling a little as he did so; he felt like a child that had sneaked out of his parents' house. He wasn't a total rebel though - he still had to text Vince, he couldn't just leave, he didn't resent him that much and he was still his best mate. All he wanted was to not have to wait, that's all.

*

As he was on the bus, Vince kept going over things in his head: Why did Howard leave? Did Howard still like him? What had he done wrong?

"Fuck..." Vince said, bowing his head and fluffing his hair up like he did when he was anxious, nervous...or just bored.

Maybe he was making too much of a big deal out of it, Howard hadn't really done anything huge, but he was so used to Howard waiting for him. He did realise that when Vince had said to leave if he wanted to, he was joking, right?

He just hoped that things were still okay between them because Howard was still his best friend.

*

Howard had checked the listings inside the club as he arrived and the band that Vince had come to see - Ninjas on Cocaine or something - were on at 1am and it was still only midnight. They had plenty of time but Vince had already missed most of the night due to taking ages in that room of his.

Howard was kind of interested in this one band that were playing about now called 'Jazz Fusion Pioneers'. They were a bit like jazz fusion as the name suggested but they had a touch of electro to them and he thought that for once maybe Vince and himself could find a band that they both liked. He would have gone to see them already but he wanted to wait for him so they could see them together and so he wouldn't lose Vince in the crowd.

Vince hadn't seemed too keen on them when Howard mentioned what they were about, but he thought if he could only see them live then he'd appreciate their sound.

Just as Howard finished his drink and got ready to get up and order another, he saw Vince appear by the bar, resting his elbows on the bar's surface with his head down.

Great timing, Vince. For once.

"Hey...Vince!" Howard said as he sidled up next to him.

"Hey Howard," Vince said without looking up.

Vince looked at Howard and then back at Tony. "Yeah alright...yeah, let's go! Catch us up, yeah, Howard?"

Howard raised his eyebrows and his jaw dropped slightly as he watched Vince go off with Tony. Howard had seemed so against the idea of JFP when Howard had told him about them and suddenly he was up for it when Tony had asked. What kind of a name was Tony anyway? Howard had never liked that name, it sounded too boring.