Disclaimer- I don't own any of these characters, the setting, or anything else IN this story, but I did indeed WRITE the story. PLEASE REVIEW!
Sophie pushed a cooking pan full of raw eggs towards Calcifer, who had just returned to the fireplace not even an hour ago. He was now bent low over his logs, making content crackling noises.
"Calcifer." Sophie prodded the pan through the low orange flames. "Wake up, or there won't be any breakfast." She pleaded and threatened quite persistently until the fire demon opened his eyes.
He sprung from sleep, and said, quite annoyed, "It's too early, go back to your cupboard."
Sophie knew very well that Calcifer knew she no longer slept in the cupboard. She rather angrily thrust the pan forward while Calcifer was still awake. "Stop putting off and cook these!" She demanded. "This is not a good time to test me."
"No time is a good time to test you," he said matter-of-fact-like. "And you'd better hope those eggs cook quickly. Howl's mood, in case you took no notice in the past, is quite unpredictable when your not sharing a heart with the man."
Sophie instinctively whipped her head around towards the stair case, but Howl had yet to come down. "Yes, I know, so just-"
But she couldn't finish her sentence, because none other than the Wizard Howl bounded noisily down the stairs, wearing his sleeping clothes. He raced straight to the bathroom without a single glance at Sophie or the fire demon.
Sophie turned back towards the flames. "Well," Calcifer said, "You'll have another couple hours to make some bacon while your at it, it seems."
Sophie nodded, pushing red-gold hair out of her eyes with her free hand. She stubbornly willed her twittering heart back down into her chest where it belonged, and out of her throat. Howl was the most whiny, vain, conceded brat she ever knew, even with a heart of his own, but every time he crossed her path, her heart still preceded to lodge into her throat or sink down to her stomach.
"Your burning the eggs," Calcifer said patiently, not even bothering to lower his flames so they simply cooked slower. Sophie groaned and whipped out the pan, blowing on the slightly crusted eggs.
"I'll have to make new ones," she mused aloud.
"Those are the last ones we have left," Calcifer reminded her, clearly enjoying being more fortunate then she for a moment.
"Sophie nodded and pulled out a loaf of brown bread, jamming the eggs between thick slices so they appeared alright. Then she put breakfast on the table and threw Calcifer a log.
"What, nothing for me?" he complained, crackling noisily over his breakfast. "I did all the cooking!"
Not a moment later, Howl emerged from the bathroom along with a strong steamy scent of flowers. Sophie could not help but cough a few times before she could breathe properly. His hair had gone from black to bright gold, per usual, and he looked at Sophie with a grin, seemingly oblivious to the waves of smoke following him through the bathroom door.
Howl stepped closer to the fireplace. "Sophie!" he said, looking at her incredulously, "Why are you still cooking? You're not even the house cleaner anymore!"
If Sophie didn't know any better, she would say Howl was trying to be kind and unselfish. But ah, she did know better, and cast the silly thought aside.
"The rest of you are incompetent, so I'm afraid it has become a priority unless none of you ever want to eat," she huffed, putting the pan in a sink full of dish water.
Howl shrugged and plonked himself down at the table, shoving half a sandwich in his mouth all at once. He made a face and peaked between the two sliced of bread at the eggs. "It's burnt!" he complained through a mouthful, as though the entire world depended on the eggs being perfectly cooked and not a bit different.
Sophie threw her hands in the air, distressed, but accepting that Howl wound indeed always be Howl, and he wasn't likely to change much.
Sophie spun around and went up the stairs to her bedroom, the one she shared with Howl. They had been married for barely a week, and Sophie still referred to their bedroom as Howl's Bedroom, since it had been his so long. She felt a bit like an intrusion at times, but Howl seemed not to mind to terribly at having an additional heartbeat in his bed at night.
Sophie sat on the bed, her stiff gray dress pressing into the mattress, and sunk her chin into her palm. The dress was much more of a habit than a liking. Howl often told her the dress didn't suit her, but she hadn't the courage to shun it away.
Sophie decided to just try on a different dress, see how it looked, and then just put it right back. Howl had bought her a few new ones, so she jumped from the bed and searched her bureau. She pulled out a long, lovely blue dress with a square neckline that came just past her collar bone. It was almost too low cut for her liking, as her family was the very modest type, but she slipped it on none-the-less.
Sophie looked around the bedroom. There was not one mirror in there, and she couldn't see herself properly. The only way to get near a mirror would be to go into the bathroom... downstairs. She wanted to, but didn't want to risk getting laughed at by Calcifer. She didn't think she looked so bad, but he would laugh all the same.
"Ignorant fire demon," she muttered to herself, deciding if he did laugh she would make soup for lunch and there would be plenty of left overs for him.
Sophie stepped out into the hallway. Across the hall Michael's bedroom door was ajar. Sophie shook her head, smiling. That boy was so love sick for her sister, it was rare to see the two of them apart. Sophie had seen the small box that Michael kept in his pocket. Martha would be so very pleased.
Sophie began walking down the stairs. When she got to the bottom, she could see that Calcifer was not on his log. She sighed with relief.
Howl was rambling around the room, picking things up and looking at them, throwing things around, and making unsatisfied grunts.
Sophie didn't want another green slime episode, so she grudgingly walked over to her husband to calm him down instead of into the bathroom. "Howl, what are you doing?" she asked, remembering that she had just cleaned in here not a few days ago.
Howl whipped his head around towards Sophie and his face went from annoyed to amused. "You've abandoned your rags, I see," he said with a lingering look at her dress before searching behind the work bench.
Sophie rolled her eyes and said sarcastically, "Aren't you quite the charmer?" Then louder, she said, "What are you looking for? You're making a mess of this room!"
At Sophie's question, Howl's face regained an annoyed and lost look. "Michael didn't leave a very important ingredient on the desk like I told him to, and now I can't find it anywhere!" He stopped searching for a moment and added as an after though, "Not that it's any of your business, Ms Nose."
Sophie put her hands on her hips. Calling her Ms Nose was one of Howl's favorite ways to annoy her.
"Yes, well, don't get too upset over it, or you'll be cleaning after your own green slime, Howl."
For a moment, Howl had a look on his face that Sophie recognized as mock-offense, like he couldn't believe that Sophie thought he would ever do such a thing as erupt in green slime. And then he took a few more steps towards her until they were very close. Sophie fought to keep herself in the same mood.
"You need to calm down a bit, Mrs Jenkins," he said, and then kissed her.
For a moment Sophie closed her eyes, perhaps out of habit. She knew very well this was Howl's way of ending the conversation so she would stop nagging him, but she was still pleased by it all the same. After a few moments she regained her composure and pushed Howl's hands off of her waist.
"And you ought to be aware when your being watched, Mr Jenkins," she said in return.
Howl looked towards the door to Market Chipping, and there stood Michael, holding Martha's hand. They were both looking quite embarrassed and Martha was blushing a bit.