Howl and the Soulmate Stone

Part Eleven : Plan and Execute

The Turnip was clearly off his rocker.

"E-excuse me?" Howl stammered. Justin's cool eyes met his, an air of faked authority about him.

"Yes," the prince said, keeping up a valiant charade of confidence despite his uncertainty and the pinkness of his cheeks. "You and I are going to the ball and you are going to pretend to be Sophie. No one in my family has seen her before. They won't be able to tell the difference if we do this right."

Howl seemed at a loss for words. Finally he exclaimed: "No! No I shall not strut around dressed as a woman pretending to be in love with you! And... and you can't make me!"

The wizard spun on his heel and began to stomp away when the prince called after him. "Actually, I can. Howl, I am ordering you." It almost hurt him to say, but Justin forced out the words.

Howl stopped but didn't turn around. "Are you insane?" he asked quietly. "Turnip this will not work."

"And why is that, exactly?" the Prince replied in exasperation.

"Because Suliman has met Sophie. And I refuse to believe that anyone will think that I am actually girl. I am far to handsome to fool people," he added, gesturing to his hair and face.

Suliman was the one person Justin hadn't thought of. She did know Howl and that could end their whole operation.

"And what is she going to do about it? Tell my father? He's quite gullible, I doubt he'll see through your disguise at all," he replied finally.

"But think of my reputation if any of the great wizards find out!"

"I'm fairly sure it won't be nearly as bad as your reputation of being literally heartless," the prince sighed. Howl glared at him for several moments.

He was quite positive that Turnip's plan was going to go horribly wrong somehow but what was his alternative? Leave the prince at the mercy of his family and attend the ball with a girl who's looks wouldn't stop reminding him of her brother.

He hated what he had to do, but beneath his air of confidence, Howl could see that Justin was truly desperate and oddly enough that bothered the wizard.

Besides, he mused, this way the Turnip would definitely owe him something big. Maybe he would agree to give Howl his bed... then he wouldn't have to steal it and go through the effort of manually dragging it back to his castle.

"Alright, Turnip," he finally agreed. Then with an air of sarcasm, "I would be honored to attend this ball with you."

Justin laughed in a relieved sort of way and gave a mocking bow to Howl who, in turn, held out his hand to him. The prince paused, then quickly brushed his lips across the back of the boy's hand. He stood up quickly, wishing that he could just stop blushing whenever Howl looked at him.

Howl's mouth was opened slightly in wide eyed surprise. He had held his hand out, sure. But part of him hadn't expected the Turnip to actually kiss it. His lips had been very soft. The boy turned his gaze away quickly, trying to sort through the reasons why his heart could be beating this quickly and coming up empty.

Maybe he was having a mild heart attack. Maybe he was dying.

It had never beat like this before... maybe he was just angry at the Prince for dragging him into this.

Yet that didn't stop him from looping his arm through Justin's when it was offered to him. He refused to look at the prince, but that didn't stop him from accompanying him the entire way back to the boy's chambers arm in arm.

He didn't notice the glances Justin kept sending him, or the fact that the prince wasn't the only one whose ears were more red than tan.

Howl didn't notice those things, but Justin did. He felt every brush of their shoulders, the warmth of Howl's arm through their sleeves. And he had heard the hitch in Howl's breath of when he kissed his hand.