Bent Part 4
Title: Bent
Author: Concupid
Rating: PG-13
Warnings: sexual aggression, mild violence
Pairing: Howard/Vince
Summary: Naboo has his concerns about Howard and Vince, but remains hopeful.
Howard couldn’t stop his hands from shaking. He felt like his brain was going to explode. Everything in his world had been turned on its side.
Vince was dressed in an old outfit, but it looked different on his post-GI diet body. The flares slid low on Vince’s hips and his red pants were showing. His tee-shirt was no longer skin tight. With only remnants of make-up and bedhead, Vince looked more truly androgynous than he’d looked in a while. He could have been a pretty girl or a pretty boy. Recently, Vince alternated between looking like a woman or looking like a man in drag, but his old clothing on his waifish body perfectly represented the seventies androgyny Vince so loved. He looked beautiful and so very handsome.
And Howard wanted Vince so much. It was nice to be kissed by him and to feel wanted. It was so much easier to have Vince making all the moves than to try and figure out what he was supposed to do. He’d been waiting thirty-two…ish years to figure out how to kiss someone without making any headway. He’d done his homework, but everyone promised he would know what to do when it was time. Eventually, he figured that since he had no idea what to do, it must not be the right time and maybe it never would be.
But when Vince kissed him, he knew what to do. If Vince would just slow down and stop being so angry and grabby, they could make love and Howard would finally feel like a man. Sort of.
Vince snatched the keys from Howard’s hands.
“I’ll drive,” Vince announced.
“You don’t know how to drive,” Howard protested. “You don’t have a license. You thought the R on the gear shift stood for ‘real fast’…”
Howard’s argument was cut short when Vince shoved him so hard he nearly fell over.
“Hey!” Naboo barked.
Vince stopped in his tracks, his eyes comically wide.
“Howard, I-I’m sorry,” he stammered. Vince looked so baffled by his own behavior, Howard was compelled to put him at ease.
“No harm done,” he said with a forced smile.
But Vince still walked to the driver’s side.
“Um, Vince…”
“I can drive, Howard. Please just back off.”
Vince’s voice was terse and he looked tense and ready to snap again.
“I’m just concerned…”
“We’re going to be driving through a magical mountain range,” Vince groaned. “What do you think is going to happen, Howard? I’m going to run over a leprechaun? Get distracted by a passing unicorn and fly off the road into a back projection?”
“Vince go too far,” Bollo grumbled.
“He’s right, Vince,” Naboo added. “Breaking the fourth wall is one thing, but you have to maintain the integrity of our shared reality.
Vince leaned against the van and stared straight up at the sky. He was breathing deeply and his hands were shaking. Howard shifted from foot to foot and wondered how they were going to survive a van ride alone.
When Vince finally held the keys out to him, Howard was startled and took a step backwards. Vince looked annoyed, but otherwise did not react. When Howard tried to take the keys from him, Vince put his hand on top of Howard’s.
“You drive, Howard. You keep your hands on the steering wheel while I sit in the passenger side. I’m sure I’ll think of something to do with my hands.”
Vince was smiling but the threat/promise was clear as he grinned and wiggled his fingers.
“On the other hand,” Howard said, “Maybe you should drive. It will be good practice.”
Vince smirked and tossed the keys in the air, catching them with confidence.
“Glad you finally see things my way.”
Xxx
Naboo wasn’t sure why he assumed Howard and Vince were from well-adjusted families with positive gender role models. They were good guys, but in retrospect, he had no reason to assume the two men in their thirties sharing a bedroom (but not a bed) in his flat had healthy childhoods. Clearly they had been emotionally stunted and stifled from birth.
He watched Vince slowly move his hand to Howard’s thigh. Howard jumped and batted the hand away like it was an especially hairy spider. Naboo had never learned much about human mating behavior. Selling drugs, telling fortunes at a zoo and running a psychedelic boutique didn’t bring him contact with many people involved in healthy relationships. However, he’s seen some telly and he knew that whatever was happening between Howard and Vince was not normal. Switching genders had amped up the sexual tension, but they were still acting more like children in a school yard (who had seen too much telly) than grown men.
“What’s the point of this potion, anyway?” Vince asked after Howard gave up on subtlety and put a road map between them as a physical barrier. “It just seems stupid.”
“Sometimes it’s used to increase understanding of gender norms,” Naboo explained. “I mostly sell it to wives who want their husbands to stop being dickheads. Sometimes companies will use it as part of a sexual harassment sensitivity course. Some people use it to spice things up in the bedroom.”
Howard rolled his eyes and said, “I’ll bet.”
“Who wouldn’t want a potion to make their boyfriend more of a prude than usual?” Vince smirked.
Naboo felt a stab of sympathy for Howard’s confused expression. Howard and Vince had been a couple for so many years, and yet Howard was still in the dark. He didn’t correct the people who called Vince his wife, but he never fully accepted the reality. Naboo was fairly certain Vince and Howard’s relationship was odd, even for humans, but it was obvious even to strangers that they were two halves of a whole. Everyone could see it, with Howard being the only notable exception.
“What is it we’re meant to find in the Mountains of Lost and Found?” Vince asked after he finally gave up on trying to grope Howard through a map.
“Mountains of Lost Dreams,” Naboo corrected. You’ll be searching for the River of Reflection. You’ll need to bathe in it to wash away your… Oh, hell. What did the book say, again?”
Bollo flipped through the pages to the Post-it Note.
“Wash away the build up of previous assumptions and toxic cognitions,” Bollo read aloud.
Vince groaned, “Great, sounds like a colonic.”
“Vince,” Howard warned in a voice that must surely have belonged to his mother. “There’s no sense in being negative or unpleasant. We’re all in this together.”
During the scolding, Howard let the map drop. Rather than respond to his words, Vince immediately reached out and clamped his hand on Howard’s thigh. Howard sighed, but didn’t try to push Vince away. They rode in peace for a few minutes before Naboo noticed Vince was trying to move his hand further up Howard’s thigh. Howard had both hands on Vince’s, but rather than push him away entirely, he moved Vince’s hand down closer to his knee and held it there. Naboo was prepared to break up another argument, but then Vince and Howard exchanged a look. It was one of their creepy mind-reading looks, the kind you only saw with freaky twins and people who have been married forever. Howard let Vince’s hand go. Vince gave Howard’s knee a squeeze before putting his hand back on the steering wheel. Maybe they would be able to work things out on their own.
But Naboo slipped a tracking device into Howard’s luggage just to be certain.
Author: Concupid
Rating: PG-13
Warnings: sexual aggression, mild violence
Pairing: Howard/Vince
Summary: Naboo has his concerns about Howard and Vince, but remains hopeful.
Howard couldn’t stop his hands from shaking. He felt like his brain was going to explode. Everything in his world had been turned on its side.
Vince was dressed in an old outfit, but it looked different on his post-GI diet body. The flares slid low on Vince’s hips and his red pants were showing. His tee-shirt was no longer skin tight. With only remnants of make-up and bedhead, Vince looked more truly androgynous than he’d looked in a while. He could have been a pretty girl or a pretty boy. Recently, Vince alternated between looking like a woman or looking like a man in drag, but his old clothing on his waifish body perfectly represented the seventies androgyny Vince so loved. He looked beautiful and so very handsome.
And Howard wanted Vince so much. It was nice to be kissed by him and to feel wanted. It was so much easier to have Vince making all the moves than to try and figure out what he was supposed to do. He’d been waiting thirty-two…ish years to figure out how to kiss someone without making any headway. He’d done his homework, but everyone promised he would know what to do when it was time. Eventually, he figured that since he had no idea what to do, it must not be the right time and maybe it never would be.
But when Vince kissed him, he knew what to do. If Vince would just slow down and stop being so angry and grabby, they could make love and Howard would finally feel like a man. Sort of.
Vince snatched the keys from Howard’s hands.
“I’ll drive,” Vince announced.
“You don’t know how to drive,” Howard protested. “You don’t have a license. You thought the R on the gear shift stood for ‘real fast’…”
Howard’s argument was cut short when Vince shoved him so hard he nearly fell over.
“Hey!” Naboo barked.
Vince stopped in his tracks, his eyes comically wide.
“Howard, I-I’m sorry,” he stammered. Vince looked so baffled by his own behavior, Howard was compelled to put him at ease.
“No harm done,” he said with a forced smile.
But Vince still walked to the driver’s side.
“Um, Vince…”
“I can drive, Howard. Please just back off.”
Vince’s voice was terse and he looked tense and ready to snap again.
“I’m just concerned…”
“We’re going to be driving through a magical mountain range,” Vince groaned. “What do you think is going to happen, Howard? I’m going to run over a leprechaun? Get distracted by a passing unicorn and fly off the road into a back projection?”
“Vince go too far,” Bollo grumbled.
“He’s right, Vince,” Naboo added. “Breaking the fourth wall is one thing, but you have to maintain the integrity of our shared reality.
Vince leaned against the van and stared straight up at the sky. He was breathing deeply and his hands were shaking. Howard shifted from foot to foot and wondered how they were going to survive a van ride alone.
When Vince finally held the keys out to him, Howard was startled and took a step backwards. Vince looked annoyed, but otherwise did not react. When Howard tried to take the keys from him, Vince put his hand on top of Howard’s.
“You drive, Howard. You keep your hands on the steering wheel while I sit in the passenger side. I’m sure I’ll think of something to do with my hands.”
Vince was smiling but the threat/promise was clear as he grinned and wiggled his fingers.
“On the other hand,” Howard said, “Maybe you should drive. It will be good practice.”
Vince smirked and tossed the keys in the air, catching them with confidence.
“Glad you finally see things my way.”
Xxx
Naboo wasn’t sure why he assumed Howard and Vince were from well-adjusted families with positive gender role models. They were good guys, but in retrospect, he had no reason to assume the two men in their thirties sharing a bedroom (but not a bed) in his flat had healthy childhoods. Clearly they had been emotionally stunted and stifled from birth.
He watched Vince slowly move his hand to Howard’s thigh. Howard jumped and batted the hand away like it was an especially hairy spider. Naboo had never learned much about human mating behavior. Selling drugs, telling fortunes at a zoo and running a psychedelic boutique didn’t bring him contact with many people involved in healthy relationships. However, he’s seen some telly and he knew that whatever was happening between Howard and Vince was not normal. Switching genders had amped up the sexual tension, but they were still acting more like children in a school yard (who had seen too much telly) than grown men.
“What’s the point of this potion, anyway?” Vince asked after Howard gave up on subtlety and put a road map between them as a physical barrier. “It just seems stupid.”
“Sometimes it’s used to increase understanding of gender norms,” Naboo explained. “I mostly sell it to wives who want their husbands to stop being dickheads. Sometimes companies will use it as part of a sexual harassment sensitivity course. Some people use it to spice things up in the bedroom.”
Howard rolled his eyes and said, “I’ll bet.”
“Who wouldn’t want a potion to make their boyfriend more of a prude than usual?” Vince smirked.
Naboo felt a stab of sympathy for Howard’s confused expression. Howard and Vince had been a couple for so many years, and yet Howard was still in the dark. He didn’t correct the people who called Vince his wife, but he never fully accepted the reality. Naboo was fairly certain Vince and Howard’s relationship was odd, even for humans, but it was obvious even to strangers that they were two halves of a whole. Everyone could see it, with Howard being the only notable exception.
“What is it we’re meant to find in the Mountains of Lost and Found?” Vince asked after he finally gave up on trying to grope Howard through a map.
“Mountains of Lost Dreams,” Naboo corrected. You’ll be searching for the River of Reflection. You’ll need to bathe in it to wash away your… Oh, hell. What did the book say, again?”
Bollo flipped through the pages to the Post-it Note.
“Wash away the build up of previous assumptions and toxic cognitions,” Bollo read aloud.
Vince groaned, “Great, sounds like a colonic.”
“Vince,” Howard warned in a voice that must surely have belonged to his mother. “There’s no sense in being negative or unpleasant. We’re all in this together.”
During the scolding, Howard let the map drop. Rather than respond to his words, Vince immediately reached out and clamped his hand on Howard’s thigh. Howard sighed, but didn’t try to push Vince away. They rode in peace for a few minutes before Naboo noticed Vince was trying to move his hand further up Howard’s thigh. Howard had both hands on Vince’s, but rather than push him away entirely, he moved Vince’s hand down closer to his knee and held it there. Naboo was prepared to break up another argument, but then Vince and Howard exchanged a look. It was one of their creepy mind-reading looks, the kind you only saw with freaky twins and people who have been married forever. Howard let Vince’s hand go. Vince gave Howard’s knee a squeeze before putting his hand back on the steering wheel. Maybe they would be able to work things out on their own.
But Naboo slipped a tracking device into Howard’s luggage just to be certain.