Disclaimer- I do not own Howl's Moving Castle… or Howl T.T. One of these days Miyazaki. One of these days -across the seas in Japan, Hayao is locking up the rights to all his stories-.

One-shot: The Drama King

She was going to beat him. She just needed to find him first.

"Howl?" She opened another closet door. Nothing. Sophie sighed, shut the door then continued to check behind all the doors in the castle. Howl had been missing all morning. She knew he was in the castle somewhere.

She had swept through the castle twice now and there was no sign of him. It was to be expected though. He was a great wizard and could probably conceal himself as a rock or a plant, or something. In which case, she shook every plant in the house vigorously. Just in case.

"Howl I am going to skin you if you do not stop behaving like a child, and come out this instant. We broke the curse, remember?" She muttered, looking under a rug. When you're Howl anything was possible.

In the months since the end of the war, life had been… well nearly perfect. Everyone was so kind, and they were closer and more dear to her than her actual family, she was afraid to say.

The issue was the size of the castle. She did love to clean but it was such a huge job she needed a little help now and then. So in order to save her sanity she'd written up chores for Howl, Markl, The Witch and even Hein. Calcifer being perpetually doomed to one location couldn't do much, so she didn't bother with him.

Markl was assigned dishes. Being the adorably self sufficient little boy that he was, he told up the job with much gusto, eager to show Sophie he was useful.

The Witch was assigned windows. There were dozens of window in the castle, but by doing one each day then circling around to the one she had started with, it wasn't all that time consuming. Actually, she didn't really seem to mind it. She said it brought back memories of her and her beau when they lived together and divided chores.

Hein would pick up small items off the ground and put them in a basket for Sophie to return there proper places later. Once a pair of Howl's underwear found their way in there. Howl had blushed to the tips of his ears and turned Hein into a pigeon. It didn't matter to him that Sophie did his laundry anyway, it was the principal of the thing. It took them nearly a day to convince Howl to change Hein back. He also doubled as a duster. Hein's fur was mostly static electricity so when he waddled around the castle, one can nearly see the dust bunnies following him.

Now all Howl had to do was swept the floors and pick up after himself. That was all. Did he do it? Nooooooo. He'd been avoiding it for days. She really shouldn't say he was acting like a child, because it was unfair to Markl. But that man had a lot of growing up to do. She had to admit since the curse had been broken, he was becoming more and more mature and in great leaps and bounds. But when it came to housework Howl was incorrigible.

"Lazy… stubborn… man!" She muttered searching high and low.

Markl ran up to Sophie, "Sophie! I think I found him."

"Where?" She asked, amazed.

"Under his bed." He then dashed upstairs.

She felt like smacking her forehead with the heel of her hand. She had checked his room, but not under his bed. Wasn't that the most common hiding spot? She sighed and followed Markl to Howl's room.

Once there she knelt on the floor and looked under his bed. Sure enough there he was, like a lump of clothing curled up under his bed.

"Howl, what on earth are you thinking? If you really hate chores that much I don't mind doing them, but at least tell me you refuse."

Howl muttered something inaudible, sounding as if he had a sock in his mouth.

"What?" Sophie asked, her brow knitting.

A little rustling and Sophie could see the top of Howl's head. "I said, I'll do it, but not now. Leave me alone."

Sophie felt a little twinge in the region of her heart at his cold dismissal, "Not until you come out."

"Sophie, please! I don't want you to see me like this." He moaned.

Sophie cast a quizzical glance to Markl, who shrugged his shoulders. Sophie turned back to Howl. "What do you mean? You don't want me to see you acting like a baby? Is that it?"

"No! That's not what I mean. I'm hideous. You… you'd hate me, if you saw me." He said quietly, his voice breaking a little.

A little jolt of fear went through her. Did removing the curse have some sort of side effect? A sick feeling in her stomach, she reached under the bed to touch Howl. He jerked away from her. "Please, Sophie. I don't want you to see me."

"Howl…I love you. I loved you when you gooed all over the floors when your hair turned red. I loved you when you protected us from the war. I loved you when you had turned into more monster than man. You can't get me to stop loving you, no matter what you do or how you look. Now please, come out and we'll face whatever the problem is. Together." Sophie held her breath, praying that Howl would confide in her and trust her not to turn away in fear or disgust.

After a moment of silence on Howl's part, he shimmied out from under the bed. He sat Indian style in front of Sophie, with a blanket over his head. Quickly, as if the blanket would burn him, he whipped it off.

Beneath the blanket was… Howl. He was as gorgeous as ever. His eyes held the same intensity. His hair was the same color. Her heart still pounded at the sight of him. This time he seemed to be the one holding his breath. Sophie examined him top to bottom with her eyes but she could see no difference in him. With bewildered look, she looked him in the eyes.

"Howl, I can't see anything different about you."

His expression tortured, he said, "Look closer."

She did and leaned in to examine his face. Still nothing. "Ah, Howl…"

"Look here!" He exclaimed, pointing to his chin. Sophie did and after a moment of complete shock, fell backward in laughter. Howl had a very hurt look on his face, and she stopped immediately when she noted it.

"I'm sorry, Howl. I didn't mean to laugh but you've made a very large mountain out of a very little mole hill." At his confused expression, she explained further, "Everyone gets a pimple, now and again. After a few days it'll disappear. You're still my Howl, pimple or no." She said, leaning in to kiss his cheek.

Tentatively, he touched his chin, "Are you sure? You don't think I'm disgusting?"

She grinned, "Howl, if I can survive your goo, then I can survive anything."

Howl pulled her to him and hugged her fiercely, "Thank you, Sophie."

Feeling warm and safe, she hugged him back, "You're very welcome, Howl." Howl tipped her chin up and kissed her softly.

"Blech. Grown-ups." Markl muttered, shaking his head and left the lovedbirds to thier own devices.

Fin

(A/N: I know I've said I hated one shots, but I just got this idea in my head and I had to write it down and share. Thanks for reading -wink-.)