Sophie was cleaning. Again.
Howl would never understand why she felt the need to clean so much. She messed up all his spells and upset his spiders, and was just generally a nuisance. He had thought that returning her to her real age would reduce the amount of cleaning she did, but it just meant that she was more energetic about it. Sometimes, he really couldn't remember why he kept her around. But then she'd glance around and catch his eye, and it would all come rushing back. He should have left his heart with Calcifer, because honestly, it had bothered him much less then. Then he would remind himself that if Sophie had wanted to bother it, she would have found a way, no matter who had it- and he didn't mean it as a compliment. He wasn't entirely sure what it was about her that captured him so completely. Perhaps it was the fact that she didn't worship him, like all the other women, the fact that she still fought him. He would never forget the blazing row they'd had the last time that she had tried to clean his bedroom- he had simply refused, and she, stubborn as she was, had not relented. It had ended, sadly, in another instance of green slime, as it had seemed to be the last resort. It also meant that Sophie was too busy cleaning the rest of the castle to bother about his bedroom.
When he had said that he and Sophie would live 'happily ever after', he had meant it, he really had. He just hadn't gotten around to it. Come to think of it, that could be why Sophie was being so manic about her cleaning. It had, after all, been a little over a month since he had got his heart back, and he was sure that Sophie was waiting for him to say something (which was odd, because usually Sophie said whatever was on her mind). He didn't know how to approach her with this though. He shifted in his chair, from which he had been watching her clean. She looked around.
'What's wrong now?' She sighed, sitting back on her heels. He cleared his throat and strengthened his resolve.
'Well,' he started. 'As you know, I have my heart back off Calcifer.' Sophie froze. He could tell that she knew what this was going to be about. 'And, well, when I got it back, I said we could have a happily ever after.' This was a lot harder than he had anticipated .'And er, if you'd like to start on that, we could.' He mentally hit himself. He was usually so suave, so good with words, and the one time he really needed to be able to articulate himself, he lost it. Sophie, however, didn't seem to share that opinion.
'Of course, you silly, overdressed wizard. It took you long enough.' He smiled a little. This wasn't going to be easy. But it was going to be worth it.