They’ve both had a bit to drink, and maybe they’re getting too caught up in their ploy. He’s proud of her, really, but he doesn’t want this to get sticky, not when he’s enjoying her company so much lately.
“Good. Then I won’t have to blush and flee for my dignity because you’ve found my weakness.” His eyes are laughing, even if his mind is traitorously wondering if she finds him handsome.
He reaches out to tweak her nose. “I bet you charmed all the older men to get your way. Being small as a child certainly helps.”
That gets a full-bellied bark of laughter. "By all means. Try locking me out of my own ship." He has multiple back doors and magical locks keyed to him. He'd be amused to see her try. He doesn't doubt she'd make her husband sleep on the couch, though, shaking his head as he grins at her.
"Your job was to be charming and unmemorable, look pretty and do nothing," he says, resting a hand on her shoulder. "You were terrible at it, clearly."
"On second thought, you don't need any more excuses to be smug and preen do you?" She suppresses the urge to reach out and touch him again, ignoring the desire to pay attention to his hand on her shoulder as it rises."
"Who is fishing for compliments now?" he chuckles. He has the urge to touch her face, her hair, so he pulls his hand back, busying it with taking something from whatever tray is passing by.
But the last time they drank together comes to mind, and how hurt she was that he was too hard on her, so he finds himself adding, "If you weren't pretty and charming, your strategy of manipulating older men would have never worked."
Aerith also leaps on the distraction whatever canape was being served on that tray presents, lifting three little sandwiches away before snacking contentedly, far too pleased that there was no one to tell her not to eat more than half of one to dwell on how strangely compelling Balthier was when he stood too close to her like that.
Rolling her shoulders in an evasive shrug at his assessment, she gives him a small smile, finishing off her last tiny sandwich and dusting off her fingers before she speaks. "See? A little compliment. Was that so hard?"
He raises a brow, not missing how pointedly he ranks below food and not in the least upset by it. She has good taste.
"This much preening for half a compliment. I think if I give more I shall create a monster. We are evenly matched, princess." It slips out, but no matter; it's a common enough term of endearment that no one should question it.
Freezing for a beat when the term slips out, Aerith remembers herself with remarkable quickness, swatting his chest lightly. "That we are, my prince," it's an awkward feeling thing to say at the moment, but, regular non-noble couples have terms of endearment for one another, she's read about it in books, and she feels the need to cover for his mistake.
"You throw a tantrum for my praise, and when it's your turn, you give me next to nothing."
His grin widens at how quick she is, and at how much he knows she would never call him something like that outside their ruse.
He's had enough champagne to not consider why he's having so much fun poking her buttons. "Oh?" he asks, cocking his head coyly. "Well then. You're a fine dancer and an amusing bully, and you hold your liquor well enough to not be a danger to yourself but not so well you aren't endlessly amusing. You are so adorable that it's hard to stay angry with you very long, even if you're more prone to tantrums than I."
Not bothering to try and act like the things he chooses to compliment her on don't please her tremendously, Aerith's chin lifts proudly, tilting her head from side to side as she playfully basks in the praise.
"And a successful bully," she adds pleasantly, smug that she wasn't the one to fold first, even though he's given her quite a few nice things to say about him, and the alcohol's lessened her restraint.
"You are very handsome, and a good dance partner." Then, quickly, after realizing that's just a bit too sincere for this game they're playing at. "And very good at being annoying."
It's deeply endearing how much she glows under even this couched praise. Maybe he ought to give it to her more often.
"Yes, yes, we know you are extremely proud of your ability to successfully bully others. Clearly you've done a good job of bullying me into liking you, which is no small feat."
He doesn't notice his own slip only because he stares for a moment at hers, mind uncertain what to do with the unmasked approval. Then her poking is back, and he grins again. "If I were too charming I'd never get anything done. I'd be fighting off suitors left and right, no matter how off the market I am."
She does what she can not to let the word 'like' stick too firmly in her brain, aware that there's no reason to read into it deeper than how they're spending time together, and it's not all devolving into an argument. It's a friendly word, something she should be happy for, and nothing more.
"Might be good for your image, but very tiring for your wife. Then you really will have to sleep on a sofa." Purely for the benefit of any passing eavesdropper - of course.
"Come now. I can't believe you'd let me get away with that with only banishment to the sofa." His grin is wide and his eyes are bright. If someone cheated on Aerith, he almost pities the fool. Even if he would make their life hell, likely after she'd already gotten to them.
Aerith's eyebrows raise as though he's given her an idea - and indeed, the fact that she's freer than she's ever been means if this wasn't a ruse there would be a way out hasn't crossed her mind. It's not a possibility she's ever had before to entertain when confronted with what marriage is.
"For flirting, the sofa, for more," Aerith shakes her head, stepping closer to him so that she can tip her chin up and look at him defiantly. "Where you go stops being any concern of mine, so long as it's not near me ever again." Good thing he likes her.
"You know most people have this conversation before they start calling one another husband and wife," he says, voice low and a little huskier than he realizes. "But I'm glad to hear you won't suffer selfish idiots."
There's no ignoring that having her so close makes his heart speed up. Surely it's just the thrill of this game, and how he's hardly sure what she'll do next, and not that he enjoys her bossy spirit or the thought of her being possessive over his attention. He certainly isn't thinking of the first day this ruse started, when she stormed off because, presumably, he'd insulted her, but know he wonders through the haze of being buzzed if it wasn't seeing him flirt with someone else.
He's only aware he's reached up to cup her face when his thumb meets her jaw, and he barely recovers it to a tweak of her chin. "You set an impossible task for me though," he says. "I flirt with everyone, sometimes even the furniture. It doesn't mean anything."
"Maybe that's a lesson for you, that you come on much too strongly - matters like these get pushed to the side."
There's a moment when his hand brushes her face that she stills, lips parting as she feels herself fill with anticipation, though she couldn't say for what, or why. Then he's off again, breaking the tension and running his mouth, and though Aerith's relieved, she's not entirely so.
"The furniture too?" Her bright eyes go wide with feigned innocence, speaking while she fights the smirk that threatens to rise to her face. "Does that mean instead of a dresser, you have an undresser?"
He chuckles, as amused by her leaning into their ruse as he is by how far off it is from how he actually is in relationships.
But there's a stupid moment, with his hand brushing her face and her eyes wide on him and her lips parted, that he nearly forgets himself, having the bizarre urge to press his lips to hers, see what she does.
He's tipsy, and it's been a long time since he was with anyone, and he likes flustering her. That's all this is.
Her joke shakes him out of it, and he visibly winces at her pun, even as he fights off a laugh. "You know what, yes, I do, and I drag my victims to my room so I can use its power on them."
"Good to know, I'll keep my distance from your quarters," stepping back, Aerith turns just in time to lift two more glasses off a passing tray, handing one over to Balthier while she sips the other, determined to clear her head and stop looking at him.
Something that's becoming trickier by the second, which she's sure is all the fault of the drinks and the dancing.
"Or I'll wear lots of layers if I ever have to visit."
"No one's allowed in there without my permission anyway," he says, raising an eyebrow at her even as he takes the drink and sips it too. He almost manages to hide his smile at her addendum that she'd just wear a lot of layers.
"Too clever for sorcery. I should retire now. I've found my match."
"I wouldn't think so, if just anyone could get close to the undresser you might walk into an awkward encounter every time you tried to go to bed."
Being called his match makes her laugh lightly, though the smug grin on her face blessedly masks an underlying giddiness that came along with the words.
"I'm going to take a walk in the gardens, I think." Aerith reaches down to give the fuller skirt of the dress she wore a little rustle. "I'm going to see if there's anything worth getting cuttings of."
"I'd better accompany you. You're not accustomed to the fiends here, and they slip in rather often." The excuse comes out smooth as silk, and it's not til after he's said it that he realizes he's having too much fun to let her wander off. "And that will save you time instead of you running back out to give me an armful of your spoils before heading back in."
Initially, she had thought being alone would be best, to stop her from this newfound fondness for standing too close to him while saying completely stupid things but when Balthier speaks up and moves to follow, she's instantly pleased with that choice.
Trying to hide that, Aerith shrugs heavily at him, keeping her gaze trained on the path leading toward the garden. "That's what the big skirt and all the things I have on underneath are for, silly." In spite of herself, she smiles and looks quickly in his direction before turning away again.
"But, I guess since you insist, you can be my lookout. Being caught slipping leaves into my stockings might damage your reputation."
He raises a brow at this explanation. "How many things did you smuggle around in your old life?" Maybe she really was a pirate at heart, long before all this. "And were you successful?"
To the latter, he laughs. "She deigns to let me stay in her presence. I am blessed. Don't worry about my reputation, fair lady, I've done much worse to it."
"Princesses aren't supposed to carry handbags," Aerith rolls her shoulders in a shrug, trying not to smile too much when she looks at Balthier again and feigns exasperation.
"What was I supposed to do? Everyone's got at least a few things they like to keep on their person, and the undergarments they make you wear are full of good spots to keep things." She would not be telling him this without the help of those drinks, but tomorrow she'd be mortified, tonight she's far too pleased with herself to keep these little innovations in stashing things away to herself.
"Ah, is that the real reason for this? Me being your wife will refresh your reputation, and people will know what a respectable sort you are deep down?"
"You mistake my compliment for incredulity. Those are pirate instincts if I've ever seen them. Are you sure I don't compliment you enough, or do you just miss them in your insistence I'm awful?" He's grinning as he says it, absolutely no bite to the push back.
And he roles right into her question without realizing how earnest he's being. "The real reason for you being my wife was to keep you safe with as much freedom as possible. If they do catch you, it should slow them trying to marry you off again. My reputation had nothing to do with it."
Alright, and maybe he is still uncomfortable with people knowing he is the respectable sort, but he suspects by now Aerith has seen through him.
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Date: 2023-01-05 11:34 pm (UTC)“Good. Then I won’t have to blush and flee for my dignity because you’ve found my weakness.” His eyes are laughing, even if his mind is traitorously wondering if she finds him handsome.
He reaches out to tweak her nose. “I bet you charmed all the older men to get your way. Being small as a child certainly helps.”
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Date: 2023-01-05 11:57 pm (UTC)That is definitely something she's sure married couples say to each other.
"Of course I did, that was my job, wasn't it?"
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Date: 2023-01-07 03:12 am (UTC)"Your job was to be charming and unmemorable, look pretty and do nothing," he says, resting a hand on her shoulder. "You were terrible at it, clearly."
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Date: 2023-01-07 05:43 pm (UTC)"At all of it? That's mean!"
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Date: 2023-01-07 06:11 pm (UTC)But the last time they drank together comes to mind, and how hurt she was that he was too hard on her, so he finds himself adding, "If you weren't pretty and charming, your strategy of manipulating older men would have never worked."
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Date: 2023-01-08 03:52 am (UTC)Rolling her shoulders in an evasive shrug at his assessment, she gives him a small smile, finishing off her last tiny sandwich and dusting off her fingers before she speaks. "See? A little compliment. Was that so hard?"
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Date: 2023-01-09 06:45 pm (UTC)"This much preening for half a compliment. I think if I give more I shall create a monster. We are evenly matched, princess." It slips out, but no matter; it's a common enough term of endearment that no one should question it.
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Date: 2023-01-10 01:03 am (UTC)"You throw a tantrum for my praise, and when it's your turn, you give me next to nothing."
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Date: 2023-01-11 12:19 am (UTC)He's had enough champagne to not consider why he's having so much fun poking her buttons. "Oh?" he asks, cocking his head coyly. "Well then. You're a fine dancer and an amusing bully, and you hold your liquor well enough to not be a danger to yourself but not so well you aren't endlessly amusing. You are so adorable that it's hard to stay angry with you very long, even if you're more prone to tantrums than I."
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Date: 2023-01-11 12:50 am (UTC)"And a successful bully," she adds pleasantly, smug that she wasn't the one to fold first, even though he's given her quite a few nice things to say about him, and the alcohol's lessened her restraint.
"You are very handsome, and a good dance partner." Then, quickly, after realizing that's just a bit too sincere for this game they're playing at. "And very good at being annoying."
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Date: 2023-01-11 03:25 pm (UTC)"Yes, yes, we know you are extremely proud of your ability to successfully bully others. Clearly you've done a good job of bullying me into liking you, which is no small feat."
He doesn't notice his own slip only because he stares for a moment at hers, mind uncertain what to do with the unmasked approval. Then her poking is back, and he grins again. "If I were too charming I'd never get anything done. I'd be fighting off suitors left and right, no matter how off the market I am."
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Date: 2023-01-11 06:02 pm (UTC)"Might be good for your image, but very tiring for your wife. Then you really will have to sleep on a sofa." Purely for the benefit of any passing eavesdropper - of course.
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Date: 2023-01-11 10:27 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2023-01-11 11:57 pm (UTC)"For flirting, the sofa, for more," Aerith shakes her head, stepping closer to him so that she can tip her chin up and look at him defiantly. "Where you go stops being any concern of mine, so long as it's not near me ever again." Good thing he likes her.
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Date: 2023-01-12 12:18 am (UTC)There's no ignoring that having her so close makes his heart speed up. Surely it's just the thrill of this game, and how he's hardly sure what she'll do next, and not that he enjoys her bossy spirit or the thought of her being possessive over his attention. He certainly isn't thinking of the first day this ruse started, when she stormed off because, presumably, he'd insulted her, but know he wonders through the haze of being buzzed if it wasn't seeing him flirt with someone else.
He's only aware he's reached up to cup her face when his thumb meets her jaw, and he barely recovers it to a tweak of her chin. "You set an impossible task for me though," he says. "I flirt with everyone, sometimes even the furniture. It doesn't mean anything."
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Date: 2023-01-12 01:05 am (UTC)There's a moment when his hand brushes her face that she stills, lips parting as she feels herself fill with anticipation, though she couldn't say for what, or why. Then he's off again, breaking the tension and running his mouth, and though Aerith's relieved, she's not entirely so.
"The furniture too?" Her bright eyes go wide with feigned innocence, speaking while she fights the smirk that threatens to rise to her face. "Does that mean instead of a dresser, you have an undresser?"
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Date: 2023-01-12 07:31 pm (UTC)But there's a stupid moment, with his hand brushing her face and her eyes wide on him and her lips parted, that he nearly forgets himself, having the bizarre urge to press his lips to hers, see what she does.
He's tipsy, and it's been a long time since he was with anyone, and he likes flustering her. That's all this is.
Her joke shakes him out of it, and he visibly winces at her pun, even as he fights off a laugh. "You know what, yes, I do, and I drag my victims to my room so I can use its power on them."
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Date: 2023-01-12 11:12 pm (UTC)Something that's becoming trickier by the second, which she's sure is all the fault of the drinks and the dancing.
"Or I'll wear lots of layers if I ever have to visit."
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Date: 2023-01-13 01:38 am (UTC)"Too clever for sorcery. I should retire now. I've found my match."
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Date: 2023-01-13 02:11 am (UTC)Being called his match makes her laugh lightly, though the smug grin on her face blessedly masks an underlying giddiness that came along with the words.
"I'm going to take a walk in the gardens, I think." Aerith reaches down to give the fuller skirt of the dress she wore a little rustle. "I'm going to see if there's anything worth getting cuttings of."
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Date: 2023-01-13 02:33 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2023-01-14 03:35 am (UTC)Trying to hide that, Aerith shrugs heavily at him, keeping her gaze trained on the path leading toward the garden. "That's what the big skirt and all the things I have on underneath are for, silly." In spite of herself, she smiles and looks quickly in his direction before turning away again.
"But, I guess since you insist, you can be my lookout. Being caught slipping leaves into my stockings might damage your reputation."
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Date: 2023-01-17 06:35 pm (UTC)To the latter, he laughs. "She deigns to let me stay in her presence. I am blessed. Don't worry about my reputation, fair lady, I've done much worse to it."
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Date: 2023-01-18 05:18 am (UTC)"What was I supposed to do? Everyone's got at least a few things they like to keep on their person, and the undergarments they make you wear are full of good spots to keep things." She would not be telling him this without the help of those drinks, but tomorrow she'd be mortified, tonight she's far too pleased with herself to keep these little innovations in stashing things away to herself.
"Ah, is that the real reason for this? Me being your wife will refresh your reputation, and people will know what a respectable sort you are deep down?"
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Date: 2023-01-19 07:19 pm (UTC)And he roles right into her question without realizing how earnest he's being. "The real reason for you being my wife was to keep you safe with as much freedom as possible. If they do catch you, it should slow them trying to marry you off again. My reputation had nothing to do with it."
Alright, and maybe he is still uncomfortable with people knowing he is the respectable sort, but he suspects by now Aerith has seen through him.
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