Gingerbread Man - Howince

One: Things Howard Moon Can Count On.

Howard was a simple man

He took pride in himself and his life, even though it wasn't all that glamorous.

He took pride in the things he could count on. Like Jazz, and poetry, and Vince.

He was thankful for these things, they kept him sane, and made him forget the bitter truths of the day

And although he'd never admit it, the last thing on that list was by far his favourite.

Vince was his best friend/roommate/colleague. Howard had taken him out of school when he was 16, and although now he was only 19, it felt like they'd known each other forever.

Vince was a sunshine kid, he made people smile and laugh without even trying. Everyone loved him, even if he dressed weirdly and was obsessed with terrible music.

Despite all of these things, for some reason, Vince was Howard's best friend. Although he teased Howard and called him daft, Howard knew Vince took everything he says to heart. He was completely wrapped around Howard's little finger.

And although Howard didn't realise it, he was equally as under the thumb. He was under the impression Vince was stupid, but it only took Vince a smile or a bat of his eyelashes and a cute 'please?' To make Howard's knees weak.

Howard didn't want to admit he had feelings for Vince, it just wasn't something he wanted to admit. He was in denial about his sexuality, and just thought it was confusion caused by the fact he'd never had a proper girlfriend.

He tried to tell himself he didn't love him, and that it was just a fascination. But deep down he knew friends didn't have a 'fascination' about how soft their friend's hair looked, or how they smelled like gingerbread.

Though he knew Vince was in love with him. Every night Vince would tell him 'I love you, goodnight' or something along those lines. He didn't respond, and would just pretend to be asleep.

It wasn't because he didn't love Vince. It was because he was in denial of who he was.

"Howard, Howard, are you even paying attention?" Vince asked irritably.

Howard shook himself out of it "Sorry, what were you saying?"

He thought Vince had just been on a rant about Gary Numan or Mick Jagger or something, so zoned out pretty much immediately.

Vince looked surprisingly hurt "You know what, if you aren't going to listen I might as well just go and talk to myself" he huffed

"Vince, calm down" he sighed "I didn't mean to zone out, what were you telling me?"

"It doesn't matter anymore"

"Don't be silly, Vince. I want to listen to you."

"Well, maybe now I don't wanna tell you."

Vince left the room, disappearing to God knows where.

Howard followed, going outside to look for him. His first instinct was to go to the ape enclosure. Vince would probably be there, ranting angrily to Bollo, who was the gorilla he claimed he could talk to.

When he got there, he was surprised to find it empty (apart from Bollo, who was trying to play table tennis with himself).

"Moon!" Came a loud, posh voice.

"...Bainbridge, what do you want?" Howard grimaced and turned to face the smug man

"I came to gloat. How does it feel to not be getting the head keeper title even though youre the oldest keeper?"