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Sophie could practically see the brewing storm in Howl's crystal blue eyes and the whine that would surely leave his lips before he even began speaking.
"Cheated, robbed, publicly humiliated!" Howl laments, practically wailing as he throws himself dramatically into the armchair in their newly expanded moving castle.
"Whatever are you going on about now, Howl?" Sophie inquires as she rolls her brown eyes, wishing at the last second she had bitten her tongue so as not to feed into Howl's ever-present flair for the dramatic.
"You didn't even swoon, Sophie!" Howl shouts in exasperation, similarly to how he did when Sophie had rearranged all of his bathroom products and he ended up with orange hair. "A normal woman would have swooned!" the famed wizard insists, thinking of the reactions any other woman in Market Chipping surely would have had upon receiving the romantic gesture.
"I'm still not following," Sophie admits, hanging her coat and scarf on the rack nearest the Porthaven door.
"I brought you flowers and what do you do? 'Oh, these are beautiful, Howl', and then you just kept working!" he sighs dramatically, a few of the ceiling tiles shaking with the exhale. "There was no kiss, no hand above your heart, no swooning of any kind, not even a simple sigh!" Howl continues his lament, covering his eyes with one of his forearms as he slumps further down into the chair. "You're truly impossible sometimes, Sophie."
"Funny, I was just about to say the same about you," Sophie quips, her voice low and a quirk of a smile appearing on her lips as she teases the great Howl Pendragon, reduced to such a longing state.
"Calcifer, help me out here," Howl turns his attention to the fire demon crackling silently in the hearth. "Surely you understand..."
"Not on your life, Howl," Calcifer denies immediately, sparking just a bit higher with his refusal. "I won't be dragged into another one of your little spats. The last time that happened, I only got leftovers from dinner," he reminisces, thinking back to the day when he got the scraps left from Sophie and Howl's plates, as Markl had eaten all his dinner as growing boys tend to do.
Sophie glares.
"And they were very good leftovers, I must add. My compliments to the chef," Calcifer amends, shrinking himself into the smallest flame possible so as to avoid Sophie's ire and the ever present threat of a cold bucket of water being dumped on his face.
Sophie nods and smiles in approval.
"Markl, you must see how ridiculous Sophie is being, right?" Howl then turns his attention to the youngest member of their rag-tag family, the boy returning from a magical errand Howl had sent him on in Kingsbury.
"Oh, look at the time, Master Howl! I must be going about my lessons before dinnertime," Markl insists, grabbing his messenger bag from the worktable and heading for their alchemy table. "I still have to practice that newest spell you taught me where I don't accidentally turn your hair pink....." he trails off, shutting the door firmly behind himself so as not to be in the middle of the lovers' quarrel.
Markl and Calcifer have both learned their lesson on sticking their nose into the couple's banter many times over and do not wish to repeat the experience any time soon, thank you very much.
"Dearest, you know I love the flowers you brought me today," Sophie insists, thinking of how beautiful the red and pink blooms had been when Howl presented the fresh bouquet to her when he entered the shop this afternoon to walk her home. "They're gorgeous! How could I not love them?" she continues, wanting Howl to know just how grateful she is for the kind-hearted gesture. "But, we do own a flower and hat shop not to mention you did gift me an entire field of magic flowers when I was still in the body of a ninety-year-old woman. It's going to be hard to top that, darling," Sophie smiles wickedly, knowing that Howl has truly set the bar for his future gifts sky-high even by his flashy standards.
"Ah, so my past actions have come to haunt me," Howl realizes with an expression of abject horror on his face. "Don't worry, Sophie, I shall outdo myself the next time and your mind will truly be blown!" he insists, thinking of the next surprise he has planned for his darling Sophie, the woman who both returned and owns his heart.
"I have no doubts about that, Howl," the budding witch smiles softly, crossing the room to where she stands in front of the armchair, extending her hand to offer Howl some aid in finding his feet. "Now, come, wash up and you can help me prep dinner for tonight. I'm making your favorite," Sophie reveals, knowing just how much Howl loves it when she cooks lobscows for their little family, the dish reminding him of his youth.
"You really are too good to me," Howl whispers, pressing a kiss to the crown of Sophie's head before doing the same to her right cheek.
"Don't you forget it," the budding witch winks playfully before she tenderly kisses Howl's lips in return, causing the man's newly restored heart to soar and his blue eyes to cloud over with a myriad of emotions.
The great wizard Howl nervously fingers the small, square box in his pocket, deciding his proposal can wait until another day for when he is completely alone with Sophie. She would surely swoon then, Howl tells himself, a smile glowing on his handsome face as he trails after Sophie where they can begin the dinner preparations.