He pouted playfully but didn't move away from her or pull his hand back from where she held it. "It's almost as if you care more about the berries than me," he joked, unable to keep his smile hidden for long, his eyes lighting up as well. He liked seeing her so happy, and he especially liked seeing that light in her eyes.
"Of course not." She assured, leaning back to press a kiss to his cheek before pulling away again. A small smile flickered onto her lips, almost playful in nature. "Though, I do like them a lot…." She bit her lip to hide her smile, though it wasn't quite working well enough.
His smile grew when she kissed his cheek, and he saw the smile attempting to spread across her lips. "I suppose I'll take it, but from the sounds of it, I'm just barely more liked than strawberries. Slightly disappointing, I'll admit," he teased with a joking pout.
"It's close, for sure, but you've managed to pull out ahead." She said, obviously struggling even more with keeping herself from smiling. "If it makes you feel any better, the prospect of strawberry picking with you is even better than doing so alone."
"Aww," he cooed, the bright smile returning yet again. He got an idea from her reaction to his kiss on her forehead and smirked. He opened his mouth to say some sort of comment foreshadowing his next move but thought he wanted to see her reaction without any warning. He was a troublemaker at heart, so it shouldn't be of any surprise.
He closed his mouth and smiled impishly, then brushed his thumb over the ring on his index finger. Within a second of doing that, he was completely invisible. He didn't give Lily time to react before he leaned forward and pressed a featherlight kiss to her jaw.
Lily let out a small squeak, possibly in response to Rhydar disappearing, or maybe in response to the kiss to her jaw. It was more likely a mixture of both though, if she was really being honest. She pressed her lips together as her cheeks flamed, turning a bright shade of red. "R-Rhydar?"
She couldn't see it, but he was grinning at the sight of her bright red cheeks. That reaction was definitely worth not giving a warning. Before he answered her, he kissed the tip of her nose. "No, I'm a ghost named Jeremiah," he teased, still grinning.
Her nose scrunched up out of habit, though none of her attempts at willing her blush away seemed effective. "V-very funny. Wh-what–why are you…gone?" She wasn't sure whether to move back or not, part of her wanting to go for the former, another habit. Instead, she gripped the hand she was still holding, compartmentalizing.
He brushed his thumb over the ring again, and he was visible once more. His eyes were bright with mischief and delight at seeing her stubborn blush and her cute stuttering. He lightly brushed his fingers over the hand gripping his, a slight apology for startling her for that. "Because I can."
She tried to frown at him, but the expression fell short of anything more than adorable when paired with the flustered reaction. Her free hand came up to brush the spot he'd kissed, before pushing her hair back out of the way. "R-right, of course. Funny."
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.