Progression

Howard and Vince need something else to do at night.

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Notes: This story is one of Moment’s.


Progression by A Moment In Subtext

After the crimping had gone public, there was really no point in doing it under cover of darkness. They’d tried, but it had felt awkward and forced, and they agreed never to speak of it again. Instead, they watched movies voraciously, half of their paychecks going almost directly to the video rental place down the street. They got a special discount card and everything.

It was probably a bit strange.


They’d started with the childrens movies.

Vince perched on the edge of the couch, eyes glued to the screen, totally immersed in the story. His features melted into a youthful melange that made Howard feel vaguely dirty to look at.

“Isn’t this great, Howard?” he would ask, turning around to smile brilliantly at him.

Howard would look away and quickly focus his eyes on the telly.

It wasn’t that strange, was it?


Next they’d gone through the action/adventure films.

Nothing of note happened.


After that they’d dabbled in horror films.

They sat side by side, heckling the victims stupidity and hiding behind each other when the monsters came out. If the movie was scary enough, Vince would spend the whole thing clutching Howard’s arm and hiding his face in his shoulder.

Howard didn’t much notice the film those nights.


They spent even less time on the comedies.


The sappy, chick-flick romances were next.

After the first ten minutes, Vince would scoot across the couch and curl up against Howard’s side, his head resting on Howard’s shoulder. Sometimes, he’d fall asleep that way, and Howard would shift until they were lying down, not having the heart to wake him. Vince was always gone when he woke up.


Soon enough, there were no enlish films they hadn’t seen, and they moved on the foreign ones.

Vince couldn’t read the subtitles fast enough to follow the plot, so he sat very close and Howard read them into his ear.


They ran out of movies to watch.


The television was on, but they weren’t watching it. Events played out on the screen while they stared straight ahead, thinking how strange it might have been. Howard nursed his tea and tried very hard not to count how many gay babies were being born from the awkward silence that had settled between them. They carried on like that for quite some time.


Vince took the teacup out of Howard’s hands and set it on the table, half-expecting Howard to yell at him for not using a coaster. Howard just watched him curiously. Moving slowly so as not to frighten the other man, Vince straddled his lap and looped his arms around his neck. Howard fought to keep down a blush while Vince wiggled into a comfortable position.

Vince leaned in and brushed his lips against Howard’s, a completely different kind of kiss than the one they’d shared on the rooftop.

“Alright?” he asked, pulling back a bit.


The girl behind the counter held out a DVD case expectantly.

“Just came out today,” she said through a wad of chewing gum. She blew a bubbled and popped.

Howard and Vince exchanged a glance.

“No, thanks,” Howard said, putting his wallet back into his pocket. “We’ve found better things to do.”

The girl looked between the two of them and smirked. “I’m sure you have.”


Naboo and Bollo chose to ignore the fact that they spent most of their time on the couch, necking like teenagers.


In the end, it wasn’t that strange after all.

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