Chapter 3

I'm not dead! Sorry for being so MIA, but I'm very lazy and had a bit of a block, but I finally decided I needed to update so here it is.

My other fic should hopefully be updated soon as well, if you haven't given up all hope yet :P

This chapter is pretty dull, but it's just a little filler until the actual story starts.

Chapter 3

Sunlight filtered in slowly through the hot pink curtains in Vince's bedroom. Soon, the whole room was bathed in a sort of soft, warm, raspberry glow. The moment the rays of light hit him, Noel's eyelids fluttered open. For a moment, he couldn't remember where on earth he was. Then he remembered, strictly speaking, he wasn't on earth at all.

He couldn't remember the last time he had woken up without actually having something wake him up. Usually is was an alarm, a phone call or a raised voice that dragged him into consciousness, accompanied by a blinding headache and eyes that begged to be closed again. Noel pulled himself into a sitting position, clutching his covers to his chest with one hand and teasing strands of his hair into their correct position with his other. Just the absence of his usual hangover meant the morning was already a thousand times better than a morning back home.

After stretching and stifling a yawn, Noel took a moment to notice the feeling in the air. Light, exciting and crackling with electricity, it told him that something was going to happen. Perfect. That's just what I came here for...adventure...I wonder what weird things the Boosh can come up with without me there to write it...what if nothing happens at all?

He had the sudden urge to look out of the window, as if someone on the street might be holding a sign that told him exactly what adventure was in store. Or maybe he just had an oddly middle aged urge to see what the weather was like. He wasn't sure.

The only window in the room was on the other side of Vince's bed, and the only way to look out of it was to be actually sitting on the bed. Noel had the urge to jump on Vince's legs. Give him a rude awakening similar to the one that he himself had received when he had first stayed in the Boosh flat. It seemed appropriate, but Noel decided he wanted to enjoy the tranquillity for a moment more before Vince thoroughly disturbed it.

Still, he really wanted to look out of the window. He had half a thought that when he looked outside, he would just see the mess of wires and wooden planks of the TV studio, and Paul King's voice would yet "cut!" through the magenta air in the bedroom. They would have to film the "waking up" scene fifty times before it was done correctly, by which time Noel would be so stressed out that he would want to throw his boiling hot coffee on anyone who dared interact with him.

Luckily, the bedroom wasn't a TV studio like he suspected. The air remained still and heavy with the heat of blinding morning sunshine and Noel still wanted to look out of the window. He perched gingerly on the edge of Vince's bed. Vince didn't look like he was going to be easily disturbed. He wasn't a person, he was just a ball of patterned bed sheets, with a shock of black hair where they ended, locks of hair spilling over the pillow like drips of paint. Only an occasional snuffle or mumble told Noel that Vince was in fact a living thing, and not just part of his bed.

Keeping one foot on the edge of the bed, Noel stood carefully and placed the other one where the edge of the bed touched the wall, his toes crushed between cotton and wallpaper. His hands out in front of him, resting on the window sill, he poked his head through the curtains. The sunlight stung his eyes and then settled, leaving Noel with a disappointingly normal view of the street outside. He had been looking for the dramatic purple sky. Maybe a rumble of thunder. Something to hint at him what was on the way. But in fact, the weather was exactly the same as it had been back in London. Noel could have easily been in his own bedroom...except this one was pinker.

"What are you doing?"

The voice coming out of nowhere made Noel jump. His hand slipped on the window sill and he collapsed on to the sharp tangle of Vince's legs, his chin whacking the wall on his way down.

"Ouch! Fuck, Julian, why did you do that?" Noel groaned, turning to look at his friend, who was stood at the bedroom door with a slightly satisfied grin on his face.

"Because I thought you might do that!" He laughed. Noel manoeuvred himself off the bed, ignoring a disturbed Vince, who was tossing and turned whilst trying to make sense of the situation.

"Why are you awake?" Noel asked, frowning and putting a hand to his now aching chin.

Julian shrugged. "I didn't sleep that well...the question is, why are you awake?"

"Um..." he thought it over for a minute, "I'm not sure...I suppose I actually slept for long enough for once..."

"Why were you lying on Vince?"

Noel felt his face go hot. "I wasn't! I was looking out of the window, and then I slipped and I fell on him."

"Looking out of the window? Is that what the kids call it these days?" Julian grinned, enjoying winding up his friend as always. He knew just the little things that Noel was sensitive about, and enjoyed exploiting them from time to time. It was easy to feel a little bit less important than him, and he needed something to pick him up from time to time...and it wasn't like Noel never had his revenge.

"Yay! I forgot you guys were here!" A black mess suddenly sprang from under the covers and threw it's arms around Noel's neck, forgetting about the previous day's injury and cutting off the airflow to his lungs.

Noel gave a couple of short choking coughs. "Ack! Vince!" He struggled to loosen Vince's vice-like grip.

"Whoopsie, sorry," Vince giggled. He slumped back against the wall, pushing his shock of dark hair away from his face with one hand and grinned with white teeth. "You guys can help me look after the shop. I always do something wrong and get in trouble, so I could use your help."

Noel grinned. "That's a great idea! We would love to help out, wouldn't we Julian?"

Julian covered his face with a hand and sighed. He didn't see the point in disagreeing.

"Oh my, look at the amount of amazing adventures I am currently experiencing. There is no way I you could make this up...sitting on a chair...oh my goooooodddd!"

Noel threw Julian's sarcasm a dirty look. Ok, so it wasn't exactly going as planned. They hadn't really done much adventuring so far. They had eaten breakfast, opened the shop and sat in the shop.

"It's almost lunch and there hasn't been one customer..." Julian was complaining again. "Did you perhaps consider, Noel, that without us writing adventures, nothing actually happens?"

"I don't know!" He was beginning to get annoyed. It wasn't his fault that keeping a shop could possibly be the most boring thing in the entire world. Not only that, but the suffocating weather seemed to have followed them to the Boosh and he should have known that Naboo wouldn't have bothered to install air conditioning. It was a horrible anti climax.

"If something hasn't happened by the end of the day, we're going home." Julian moved from the counter to the front door of the shop, flipping the sign so it read "closed" and they could enjoy a lunch break which was destined to be just as thrilling as the previous three hours.

"Fine by me...but Vince will be upset, he thinks we're staying for a few days."

"And whose fault is that?"

Noel didn't bother to answer, he just pulled out a copy of Cheekbone (leant to him by an enthusiastic Vince, who was doing something or other in the flat upstairs, relieved of his shop keeping duties) slapped it on the counter and started to read, ignoring Julian with a frown on his face.

"Then we've got to return home, with no home of a storyline, and get something written before next week. We are doomed," Julian moaned, leaning forwards in his seat and laying his arms out in front of him on the shop counter. "And all I've achieved is backache from the stupid sofa..."

"Stop complaining!" Noel rolled up the magazine and hit Julian lightly on the head with it. "Let's just treat this as a holiday. What happens, happens...anyway, you'll get to meet Howard this afternoon. That'll be fun, won't it? He's your soul mate!"

Julian raised an eyebrow. "He's a social retard, isn't he?"

"Like I said, your soul mate!" Noel giggled and unfurled the magazine again, ducking away from Julian's attempt to hit his arm. "Anyway...if you don't like sleeping on the sofa, you can try sleeping on the floor of Vince's room. He talks in his sleep."

Julian laughed, "like what?"

"I think I heard him say 'not the face...please, anything but the face...except the hair...not the hair either', I think he was having a nightmare or something. He kicks too."

"Ahh, of course, did you find that out when you were laid lovingly on his calves?"

"I'm not going to dignify that with an answer..." Noel shook his head, settling down to reading the magazine again.

The bell on the door of the shop gave a tinkle. Neither Noel or Julian bothered to look up, Noel just waved his hand in the direction of the door. "We're on lunch break...come back in half an hour..." he mumbled whilst studying a deeply informative article on the lifestyle of Pete Neon. He did look up when the footsteps entering the shop carried on until they reached the counter. There was no need to, he didn't need to see the intruder to know who it was.

The figure spoke when it reached Noel and Julian. "Alright boy? I'm looking for Vince Noir...and I think you might be able to help me..."