I love these two. They are one of my fifty thousand or so OTPs, and I feel they need more fanstuffs!

I may not own Howl's Moving Castle/its characters yet, but Christmas is coming!

...I'm talkin' ta you, Santa. Are you listening?

Sometimes, Michael seethed, Howl really was an IDIOT. Particularly on the subject of money.

The stash of money Michael and Calcifer had been hiding from Howl in order to feed themselves had disappeared along with Howl himself two days ago, and neither had been seen since. Michael felt quite sure they were going to starve, seeing as the few coins he had managed to scrape together were unlikely to be sufficient.

Which was why he was currently wandering around the Market Chipping, in the hopes that someone might need an odd job done.

It didn't seem to be working.

After being sent away for the twelfth time, Michael finally decided to take a break, entering a warm shop apparently called Cesari's. He had one second to wonder why on earth it was so crowded before being knocked to the ground by a surly looking youth around his age.

"Watch it!"

"You watch it!" Michael replied in annoyance, but the boy was already gone. Getting up, Michael marveled at the amount of people crammed inside the shop. For some reason, they all seemed to be male. And they all seemed to be trying to talk to the same person.

"Hey Lettie!"

"Lettie!"

"Lettie Hatter!"

"Lettie, marry me!"

"What?! Ignore 'im, Lettie, marry me instead!"

The dark haired girl at the counter dashed from one spot to another filling out orders, looking half amused, half harassed. Looking up from what she was doing, she noticed Michael staring at her, and gave a little smile.

Michael felt a sudden urge to buy a cake.

He made his way to the front, struggling against the crowd, then winced at the price list. Glancing at the coins clutched in his hand, and then back at the prices listed, Michael gave a small sigh, then waded back towards the door.

Once he was out, Michael headed toward the Castle. Maybe Howl would be back tonight.

"Hey!"

Michael turned.

The cake shop girl ran up to him, panting slightly, a parcel tucked under one arm. Michael suddenly noticed that the girl was actually quite pretty.

Straightening, she shoved the parcel at him. "You forgot your cake!"

He blinked.

"...Um, I didn't buy a cake, miss."

She shrugged. "Just take it, it's good."

"I can't take it if I couldn't afford it in the first place!" He protested.

"It's uh...marked down! It's marked down, so it's really cheap now!"

The girl seemed like she wasn't going to give up until he took it, so Michael shrugged to himself, handed over the money he had, and took the cake. The cake shop girl grinned. Michael contemplated briefly that she looked even nicer than before, then cleared his head, feeling slightly embarrassed. "What's your name, miss?"

"M-er, Lettie. Lettie Hatter."

"I'm Michael."

"Pleased to meet you."

"Likewise."

There was a moment where they simply stood there, examining one another. Then Michael forced himself back to reality, remembering that Calcifer would probably be expecting him.

"It was nice to meet you," He told Lettie, who nodded. "And thank you for the cake."

"No trouble."

The two parted ways, Michael feeling oddly fuzzy in the head. Could one feel fuzzy in the head? Sort of like being lightheaded?

"Michael?"

He turned around. Lettie stood hesitantly, then said, before running off:

"Come visit me sometime!"

And though he couldn't fathom, why, Michael knew he would.