"Oh, bother you all!" Howl exclaimed suddenly, and yelled something in the thunder clap language. There was a bang and a jolt. Sophie stumbled slightly, vaguely aware of being suddenly in a rather dark and musty place. Muffled shouts of surprise reinforced the sense that she had been suddenly removed from the main castle room to somewhere else nearby. Just at that moment, however, she felt familiar hands steadying her by the shoulders and rather forgot to care exactly where she was, due to who she was with.
"Howl!" She hissed, though her inability to stop smiling rather ruined the effect, "did you-?"
"Shh!" Howl muttered, glancing uneasily at a door to her left. "If they find us now it'll be ages before they let us alone."
Sophie opened her mouth to form a response, having something to do with all the things left to do and not wanting to worry anyone, but Howl had looked back at her and she found her mind humming a warm, pleasant blank. His eyes, still startling green but no longer glassy, were almost unsettlingly expressive in the dim half-light. She felt rather like she had when Mrs. Pentstemmon pinned her with that all-seeing stare - exposed and sort of wobbly - except this time she had a sensation of wanting to lean into it rather than away.
"Well?" Howl said, the smile spreading across his face again as their eyes met. He had quite a lovely smile, Sophie thought vaguely, even when he wasn't trying to charm someone. Especially when he wasn't trying to charm someone.
"Well what?" Sophie asked. Her brain seemed to have gone mushy, like turnip-head. Or was that Wizard Suliman all along? The details seemed to be escaping her.
Howl laughed softly. His hands on her shoulders shifted slightly, and she felt them give the barest pull toward him. He swallowed, his smile becoming vague as a most un-Howl-like hint of nervous anticipation passed over his face. 'Oh,' she thought, stupidly, and then - she wasn't quite sure afterword how it happened - he had his arms around her and she could feel his newly-restored heart beating fast under her palm and her whole body seemed to go hot and cold and shivery all over as their lips met.
It was a soft, sensitive kiss, as first kisses often are, punctuated by the tumult of muffled voices from the other room.
"Young man, return my dear friend's niece this instant!"
"Sophie! Sophie, where are you? Are you all right?"
Sophie felt Howl's mouth curve into a smile, as she was sure he could feel hers doing as well. He chuckled throatily.
"Well, Mrs. Nose. Shall I return you? Are you all right?"
Sophie grinned. "Maybe not quite all right... Yet."
Howl responded obligingly.
