He tried to not notice how adorable she looked—he really did—but it was a lost cause. His expression softened, and he lightly squeezed her hand. "Hey, you good?" he asked, because he realized that he just might've gotten a little too bold with that move.
"Yes, b-beyond being startled." She assured, still trying to frown. After a moment, she gave up, sighing softly. "I'm alright, Rhydar. J-just, er-flustered." She promised, returning the squeeze and shooting him a small smile.
He returned her small smile with one of his own, wishing he could pull her into a hug but knowing that would be too far. He opted for looking around the gardens and thinking over his promise to her. "Well…I'm gonna have to clean these papers up and take them back to my room. But after that, we can get straight to strawberry picking."
"Do you-want some help carrying them up?" She managed to avoid stuttering this time, though she did hesitate slightly between words. She didn't quite want to let go of his hand yet, so she put off standing up just yet.
He idly ran his thumb over her hand while he listened to her. He quirked his lip up slightly. "I could use the help," he said, "There's a lot of papers here, and four hands are better than two." He didn't deign to mention that she'd have to let go at some point to make the clean-up easier.
"That's true." She nodded, pushing her hair away from her face again. After another moment, she released his hand, standing up. Once she'd gotten her feet back under her, she held out her hand again, this time in offering to help him up. "You got quite a bit of work done, though. Good job." She smiled down at him, close-lipped as usual, but warm.
He grabbed the nearby papers with one hand and took her offered hand with the other. He let her help pull him up, but he made the task just a tad easier on her as well. "Thanks," he said with a small smile of his own. Once he was standing, he twisted his lips and stared at the other papers they needed to get. It would be easier if they differentiated the different stacks somehow so they didn't get messed up again.
Lily tilted her head, her nose scrunching up in thought as she studied the papers. After a moment, she let go of Rhydar's hand, making her way to the edge of the path. A small copse of mixed flowers grew next to the cobblestone, and she knelt down to look them over before picking a few of them, leaving most of the stem and cupping the flowers in her hands as she returned to where Rhydar was standing. "We can use these to keep them apart. Plus, it'll press them, and then you have dried flowers as a bonus."
He rose his brows at her in slight surprise, a slow smile creeping up his lips as he watched her. When she crouched down to pick the flowers, he turned to see her fully. She looked so precious as she came back up to him with the flowers carefully cupped in her hands. He had never considered using flowers to sort papers, but leave it to Lily to find a way to incorporate them. And, of course, she saw the bonus of having the flowers as souvenirs afterward. He chuckled lightly and pressed a quick kiss to her forehead. "That can work," he said when he pulled back.
A light blush returned to her cheeks as Rhydar kissed her forehead, the gesture drawing a small and happy smile to her lips. "I hope so. I used to use flowers to mark my places in books when I was younger." She said, the sort-of faraway look returning to her eyes for a moment as she knelt to gather up the papers, using the flowers to divide them. "It drove Daisy, my older sister, crazy. Because I would leave them in the books after finishing, and she'd find flowers just there, inbetween the pages."
He shook his head, still smiling, and crouched down to help her. "Why am I not surprised?" he said lightly, gathering papers and reaching out for a flower to divide the stacks. "It's cute," he randomly said, tilting his head as he watched her for a few seconds, then added with a smirk, "Just like you."
She paused, halfway to handing him a flower, and blinked. And then her cheeks were more red than pink, and she was quickly passing him the flower and returning to gathering papers, biting her lip. "I-I don't-I'm n-not sure cute is a word that describes me."
His smirk broke into a full-out grin, pleased with her reaction. It was just three words that had set her off, and it wasn't even the best kind of flirting he's done. It was nice to mess with her every now and again, and hearing her stutter and turn beat red was the perfect endgame. "Sure it is," he said with a shrug, going back to the papers, "Along with beautiful, strong, kind, smart, gentle, funny, and loveable."
She shook her head, letting wisps of hair that had fallen free shield her face as much as they could. "Those all s-sound like things to d-describe another person." She said, fiddling with the petals of a flower that she'd accidentally kept too much of the stem on. After a moment, she set it aside, stacking the separate piles of papers with flowers inbetween.
He shifted so that he was right behind her. Taking extra care to not touch her anywhere else, he rested his chin on her shoulder. "Maybe, but I'm aiming them at the girl right here," he murmured into her ear, glancing over at her face even though it was covered by her hair.
"O-oh." She squeaked out, after a moment of startled quiet. His breath on her ear sent a small shiver down her spine, the way it had last night. "You, er-are you sure those a-are the right words?" She bit her bottom lip, chewing on it slightly as she kept her gaze on the papers in her hand.
He smiled and hummed, lifting his head and pressing a lingering kiss to the side of her head. "Positive," he reassured her, "There's no way you can convince me otherwise." She flusters so easily, he mused to himself, not bringing himself to point it out to her. He doubted she'd appreciate it.
She opened her mouth, definitely to try and change his mind, and paused. Did she really want to change his mind? Having someone care about her like this…it was nice. She liked feeling liked, liked feeling like she mattered. Was her lack of self confidence something she was going to let get in the way of that? "If you s-say so." She finally said, voice soft as she leaned back just a bit.
He flicked his eyes down at her when she leaned back. He didn't make a move to get closer, but he didn't try to back away either. He had done quite a bit without her permission today; he wouldn't push his luck any further than he already had. It was her choice of how much she wanted to push her limits in one day. He was perfectly fine with whatever she wanted to do, but only on her terms. "I do," he said softly, still looking down at her.
She finally shifted to look at him, an expression that was equal parts soft and hopeful and happy lighting up her face as her eyes met his. She didn't fully lean back into him, but it was definitely close, an obvious vote of trust. "I guess I really can't argue with you, then." She said softly, raising an eyebrow slightly as though he might change his mind.
His only answer was a small smile. There was no way in hell he would take back anything he said regarding how amazing Lily was. She was truly a light in a world of darkness—a light that had to fight for its right to shine. She might be still flickering, but she was steadily growing stronger and brighter as the days went on. He slowly and gently hooked his fingers around her arms, keeping her steady so she didn't lean too far back.
She studied him for a moment, her skin tingling slightly where his hands touched her arms. Without saying anything she picked up the flower she'd set aside, careful not to disrupt his arm as she reached up. She proceeded to tuck it behind his ear, her fingers brushing his skin as she did. She kept quiet still, though her smile brightened somewhat as she met his eyes again.
He couldn't help it. That was the sweetest and most adorable gesture he's ever seen—and he was already smitten with the sweetest and most adorable girl he knew—so it was no surprise that his lips unbiddenly spread into a bright smile as he flicked his eyes over to where she had tucked the flower. He looked back over to her, meeting her gaze, his eyes bright but soft at the same time.
"Purple looks nice on you." She said softly, the corners of her eyes crinkling just slightly with her smile. The purple of the flower definitely drew attention to his eyes, something she was all for. She wasn't all that sure why she'd decided to give him the flower, let alone tuck it behind his ear, but if the way he was smiling at her was any indication, it had been an okay decision.
He tilted his head as if that would help him get a better look at the flower. It didn't, but this was Rhydar we're talking about here. "I usually go green, but purple's a nice change of pace." He flicked his gaze back to her but kept his head tilted. Strangely enough, he wasn't opposed to the flower. Maybe it was just because it was a gift from Lily, or maybe because his heart was still melted by the adorable gesture she just made. Perhaps it was because he simply loved seeing Lily smile, and if it meant wearing a flower, then so be it—he's wearing a flower and going to be proud of the flower.
She huffed a small laugh at the way he tilted his head, the action lighting up her face a bit more. She wouldn't have blamed him for removing the flower, but the fact that he hadn't yet just made her smile grow as she looked up at him, pulling away slowly and with obvious reluctance. "A change of pace is always good, you know."
He let go of her when she pulled away, not making her stay near even if she looked reluctant in her actions. A tiny smirk ghosted his lips as he simply said, "I know," while he looked to her. Everything he did with Lily was a change of pace, and he was happy to say it was a nice one. She brought out the better parts of him that he never really showed to people, and that was just because he felt compelled to show her.
How are you so amazing? The thought came suddenly, but Lily found herself dwelling on it slightly as she turned a bit to look at him. There were so many different things that might have contributed to what exactly made him so amazing to her, starting with the way he let her pull away. She'd listed a few of them earlier, but that barely even scratched the surface. "Why don't we keep up with that change of pace then? Starting with strawberries, since I still have a hard time believing you've never gone berry picking."
He rolled his eyes and grabbed the rest of the papers, separating them with the remaining flowers. "Yeah yeah yeah. Believe me or not, but I can honestly say I've never gone berry picking." He held out a hand for her as he stood up, offering to help her up if she wanted to. A small but warm smile settled on his lips as he looked down at her.
She accepted the hand without hesitation, letting Rhydar help her up. Once standing, she didn't step back, but left a tiny bit of distance between them, more for his sake than her own. She still had her moments of wariness when it came to his boundaries. "Blasphemous. Are there any other important things you haven't done that I should be worried about?"