This is my first story that I'm posting on here. I thought it was cute and wanted to share it. Feel free to review, comment, whatever. Sophie and Howl are trash children and they love each other and that is that. I am also sorry for the gratuitous use of "cariad". It's too adorable not to use, and Howl with a Welsh accent is truly my favorite thing in the world.

It was a clear night in Market Chipping. The air had been damp, and hot, keeping everyone in their homes for the day to keep out of the worst of it. That had not, however, stopped Sophie from cleaning the house, ignoring protests from both Howl and Michael, and dodging around them as they went about their wizardly business. Nothing particularly out of the ordinary.

That is, until everyone had retreated to their rooms for the night, and Sophie found herself in a bout of fitful sleep. She hadn't even been asleep long, before she shot up in her bed and almost fell out of it. Breathing hard, she clutched her chest, looking around the room in a panicked daze. It took her a few minutes to realize that she was awake, and once it occurred to her, she let out a sigh of relief. But that did not stop her from fumbling with the blankets, planting her feet too hard on the wooden floor, and wobbling down the hall.

Something in that nightmare of hers made her absolutely need to see Howl. Worry crackled through her body with each step she took, and although she knew that she was being absolutely irrational, she couldn't help but be afraid of what she might find. A broken, bloody, feathered Howl? Or, worse, a completely gone one?

Her hands shook as she turned the doorknob, and slowly, she peered into Howl's room. Everything was as it should've been, the room a complete wreck and Howl, snoring softly in his bed where he belonged. Sophie could then truly breathe a sigh of relief.

She opened the door wide enough for her to slip through, but it creaked as it opened and she jumped slightly. She closed it softly behind her, and padded across the room to the side of the bed. She gently prodded the sleeping man's cheek, and with a grumble, he opened his eyes, blinking up at her with slight annoyance until he realized that something was not quite right.

"Mmm…Sophie, what is it…?" he asked, his voice low and husky from sleep. "It's late, you know, and as a Royal Wizard, I need my beauty sleep…" His eyes closed again, but his breathing did not even back out, proving to Sophie that he was, in fact, still listening.

Even so, Sophie was not keen to bothering Howl too much. Her habits from when she was an old woman have still seemed to stick around. Wringing her hands, Sophie replied, "Yes, I know…I apologize for bothering you. I'll leave you be."

It would be obvious, to anyone who really knew Sophie, that her behavior was unusual. She was never timid, always level-headed and brave, and rarely backed down from anything. Much like a bull, Howl had remarked fondly a few times. Suffice to say, her actions raised some suspicion in him.

"Sophie," he mumbled, a little more awake now. "Come back." And that she did, hesitantly shuffling back to the bedside. He blinked up at her, annoyance lacing his eyebrows together. "I was only kidding, cariad. Do you need me?"

All too timidly for her, she looked to the floor again and nodded. She hated asking for help, and she hadn't planned to need him as much as she felt she did then. A goofy smile found its way onto Howl's face then, and, slowly, he pulled one arm from beneath the sheets and offered a hand to her. It took Sophie a matter of half a second to take it.

Howl's fingers curled around Sophie's, and he tugged her arm lightly, giving her a decision; lay down with him, or keep standing? Her cheeks stained red, but she took his offer, bringing her legs up onto the four-poster bed and laying down beside him. However, she kept her distance, and that made Howl frown even more.

Atop the sheets, Sophie curled up on her side, facing away from Howl, eyes closed. To most, it would look normal, but Howl knew Sophie all too well. He could sense the faint shaking of her small, balled-up form, and he wondered why she was pretending.

"Sophie, cariad, please. We both know you're not good at faking." He scooted near to her, making the sheets rustle and bringing his other arm out from beneath the fabric. He wrapped both arms around Sophie's waist, not allowing her to slither out of this just as he would, and, lifting his head, he mumbled, "Tell me what's wrong?" into her ear.

Surprisingly, Howl's arms around her do a world of difference. They keep her from worrying, remind her that he's there and not going anywhere. She found herself almost melting into him because of it, and she hummed, leaning her head back against his chest.

"It was just a nightmare…" she murmured, making it sound a lot less serious than it had been. "No big deal…"

"I'd have to disagree," Howl stated as he pressed his lips to her shoulder lightly. "If it made you come in here to bother me at three in the morning, as well as making you act like some timid mouse that you are most certainly not, it must have been at least a decently big deal. Though I am quite curious, you do not have to tell me about it if that is not what you want to do."

She most certainly did not wish to tell him. So, she did not, and instead, she rolled onto her other side, forcing him to pull his arms away for a moment before she settled and he could rest them around her again. Before he even had a chance to react, her nose was buried in his chest, and one of her arms was wrapped lazily around his middle, trapping him there whether he liked it or not.

Not to say that he didn't like it, of course. With a smile playing on his lips, he brought a hand up, and began running his fingers through her ginger hair. He silently wished that she would do this more often, though he would not want her to have nightmares in order for that to become a reality.

Sophie, however, was thinking about her nightmare again. And, unknowingly, she was spilling some of the details out of her mouth, in a mumbling mess. "I thought you were dead…or, gone…Howl, please don't go away…"

Howl's eyebrows furrowed. "What was that, Sophie?"

"What?" she mumbled, looking up at him. Ohnoheheardmedidn'theohno. "Ahah, uh, nothing!" she stated, burying her face back in his chest.

Howl frowned even further, and without warning, his nose was pressed into Sophie's hair. "I'm not leaving you, Sophie," Howl said, as if they were the easiest words that'd ever come out of his mouth. "Now go back to sleep, cariad. It's late."

Raising an eyebrow and pulling back from Howl, acting as if she'd never heard his first statement (although, she had, and she wasn't planning to let him break that promise), she asked, "…Is that…okay?"

"Um. Duh," Howl said, sounding a lot like a ten-year-old. "Why wouldn't it be?"

Sophie spluttered out, "Howl, we're not…married…and Mrs. Fairfax told me that you're not supposed to share a bed with a man you're not married to, and…"

Howl put a hand over his mouth, trying to conceal his laughter, but with Sophie pressed to his chest this way, there's no hiding anything.

"Stop laughing at me," Sophie grumbled, pouting.

"No, no, I'm not laughing at you, it's just…ridiculous...! Mrs. Fairfax has no idea what she's talking about, and even if she did, I'm pretty sure that when she said 'share a bed', she meant in a way much more intimate than this," Howl snickered, watching Sophie's face turn bright red. "We're just sleeping, Sophie, dear. I say bother to Mrs. Fairfax. You need sleep, which you're obviously not getting without me here, and I'm already going to be miserable tomorrow because of this. Listen to me for once, would you?"

With a roll of her eyes, Sophie pressed back into Howl's chest. "Alright…just this once." With a smile on his face, Howl pulled her in again, and buried his nose in her hair once more.

"Sleep well, love," he mumbled, closing his eyes and letting his breath even out, 'til he was fast asleep.

Next morning, when Michael came up to get Howl to help him with a spell and found the two curled around each other, there was lots of explaining to do.