What a delight this was! And why do I imagine the man on the radio sounding like Lee Mack? Hmm, I wonder... ;) (I loved that homage to Graham and the radio show a lot. <3)
But I really, really did love the opening scene for this chapter, because it demonstrates so clearly how the epiphany from the previous chapter (thanks to Little Man and Chewy Teeth), plus the developments in his relationship with Howard, have helped shift Vince back into a more positive and, well... Vincey place. For the first time in a long while, he's totally self-assured when he takes control and turns that dial, confident that it'll work out. Because now HE feels secure--because of Howard. And of course it pays off--that he would get Gary Numan on a random twist of the dial is both perfectly Booshy and also an excellent sign that his luck has changed, along with his attitude. (Well, that plus Vince's statement that he can't wait to get back to civilization and be shiny again, purely because he likes it. When he was depressed, he couldn't bring himself to bother.)
But it's exactly like he reflects in the tent: when Howard is around, Vince's head is too full of Howard for him to fall victim to all his anxieties. (And yes, he has lots of them, too.) Howard makes Vince feel happy, secure, confident, capable, and it's because he Vinces Vince so much and makes Vince feel Vinced. Vince is the way he is BECAUSE of Howard, and that comes through perfectly when Vince tells him quite sincerely that he enjoys everybody's attention but only cares about Howard's opinion. It's a shock to Howard to realize how much his opinions matter to Vince, but something he's well overdue to know.
And Howard's genuine worry over how his fame and the scrutiny it brings might affect (and hurt) Vince, and his reaction to hearing Vince talking about Vincing to Little Man and Chewy Teeth...! <3 On a certain level, it must be excruciating to him to feel so exposed and transparent, but Vince is never, ever going to laugh at him for that. They are, together, slowly easing into this terrifying emotional intimacy thing (finally), and hopefully Howard will never again find himself choosing the likelihood of being eaten alive by bears over the possibility of perhaps being rejected by Vince... (Such a Howardy thing! Death and suffering and humiliation, he sees as inevitable, but heaven forbid he put himself out there for the one he loves and not have his feelings reciprocated. That is actually a fate worse than death to him!)
One other detail that I adore is the notion that Vince is the one who's been making Howard's clothes--in styles he hates, because he knows it's what Howard likes, but luxurious fabrics. Partially that is, as he said, for the benefit of his own hands, but... it also highlights something that is true in the canon but rarely pointed out, which is that Vince cares for Howard, too. His methods are more covert than Howard's both because of his own shyness and because being sneaky is the only way to get Howard to accept care without getting weird about it, but he does look after and care for Howard. He makes him clothes, he cuts his hair. He wants Howard to look good and feel good, and that's an expression of love. On some level, Howard probably always knew that, or why else would he hope that it might be Vince sneakily leaving him beautiful clothing to make him look good?
All that feeling, and you managed to make it Booshy and funny, too. You monkey genius! The callback to Howard having starred in all those alphabet-soup acronym shows was particularly perfect.
But I really, really did love the opening scene for this chapter, because it demonstrates so clearly how the epiphany from the previous chapter (thanks to Little Man and Chewy Teeth), plus the developments in his relationship with Howard, have helped shift Vince back into a more positive and, well... Vincey place. For the first time in a long while, he's totally self-assured when he takes control and turns that dial, confident that it'll work out. Because now HE feels secure--because of Howard. And of course it pays off--that he would get Gary Numan on a random twist of the dial is both perfectly Booshy and also an excellent sign that his luck has changed, along with his attitude. (Well, that plus Vince's statement that he can't wait to get back to civilization and be shiny again, purely because he likes it. When he was depressed, he couldn't bring himself to bother.)
But it's exactly like he reflects in the tent: when Howard is around, Vince's head is too full of Howard for him to fall victim to all his anxieties. (And yes, he has lots of them, too.) Howard makes Vince feel happy, secure, confident, capable, and it's because he Vinces Vince so much and makes Vince feel Vinced. Vince is the way he is BECAUSE of Howard, and that comes through perfectly when Vince tells him quite sincerely that he enjoys everybody's attention but only cares about Howard's opinion. It's a shock to Howard to realize how much his opinions matter to Vince, but something he's well overdue to know.
And Howard's genuine worry over how his fame and the scrutiny it brings might affect (and hurt) Vince, and his reaction to hearing Vince talking about Vincing to Little Man and Chewy Teeth...! <3 On a certain level, it must be excruciating to him to feel so exposed and transparent, but Vince is never, ever going to laugh at him for that. They are, together, slowly easing into this terrifying emotional intimacy thing (finally), and hopefully Howard will never again find himself choosing the likelihood of being eaten alive by bears over the possibility of perhaps being rejected by Vince... (Such a Howardy thing! Death and suffering and humiliation, he sees as inevitable, but heaven forbid he put himself out there for the one he loves and not have his feelings reciprocated. That is actually a fate worse than death to him!)
One other detail that I adore is the notion that Vince is the one who's been making Howard's clothes--in styles he hates, because he knows it's what Howard likes, but luxurious fabrics. Partially that is, as he said, for the benefit of his own hands, but... it also highlights something that is true in the canon but rarely pointed out, which is that Vince cares for Howard, too. His methods are more covert than Howard's both because of his own shyness and because being sneaky is the only way to get Howard to accept care without getting weird about it, but he does look after and care for Howard. He makes him clothes, he cuts his hair. He wants Howard to look good and feel good, and that's an expression of love. On some level, Howard probably always knew that, or why else would he hope that it might be Vince sneakily leaving him beautiful clothing to make him look good?
All that feeling, and you managed to make it Booshy and funny, too. You monkey genius! The callback to Howard having starred in all those alphabet-soup acronym shows was particularly perfect.
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