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Mathias didn’t usually bother with these kinds of events, but as it was the holiday season and it just so happened to be one of his more favorite times of year, he’d talked Imara into coming along with him to at least check it out. It seemed cute enough, a bit on the kitschy side but that was to be expected. They had wandered around for a bit now, and he’d noticed the sprigs of mistletoe dangling around, but he knew it would take some careful and confident maneuvering to even get Imara under one.

Which was why he was quietly trying to steer her in the direction of one of them, hoping he could make a quick excuse to slip around and find some way for them to be standing beneath one. So it was juvenile - so what. Mathias was feeling sappy and when he felt sappy he acted on it. Imara could beat him up for it later.

---
“Mathias, what on Earth are you going?” Imara asked for the 10th time in the past few minutes. She has been watching him glance around several times and then suddenly find interest in another direction. At first she had thought it was his normal reaction to ‘oh shiny’ but something else was going on. “You are going to run into someone if you aren’t careful.”

Shaking her head at him, Imara slipped her gloved hands back into her coat pocket as she stopped for a moment to glance at a few snowglobes one vendor was selling. With a smile, she eyed one but then walked on, moving to the next booth where the leather bound journals and belts caught her eyes.

“Oh. Very nice.” She mumbled, picking up one of the worked holsters.
---
“Just scouting, I didn’t really expect it to be so busy,” Mathias said with a slight shrug of his shoulders. Which was true. The place was way more busy than he expected and that meant that the sprigs were hard to get a solid path to that didn’t make it look like he was steering them there on purpose. He turned his attention to the table, looking it over as she picked up one of the holsters. “Oh, that one is nice…” He said, eying a few more on the table that would have fit her current piece. He made a mental note to swing by later and pick one or two of them up for stocking stuffers.

Provided she just didn’t beat him to the punch and buy one right then - but he’d deal with that when he got to it.

“Thinking about it, we should have tried to get a booth or something,” He half-joked. “Post holiday weight loss and all that.”

Though, really - that was NOT the Gym’s function and he knew it. He did notice a path start to open up and he reached for Imara’s hand, taking it with a simple. “Oh hey, what’s that over there!”

He led her to the now open Mistletoe sprig, and spun her around, leaning in to steal a kiss from her once she was facing him. There was a moment of tension - that he chalked up to her just generally disliking PDA, before she melted against him, as she almost always did. After a moment he pulled back with a small smile.

To be staring another woman - who was not his wife - in the face. She fanned herself a bit and smiled up at him with a bit of a coyish smile.

“Well Merry Christmas to you too!” She said with a small laugh.

“Oh! Oh… uhm… I’m sorry, I thought I’d grabbed my wife,” Mathias said, suddenly mortified, and feeling just a SMIDGE guilty about it.

“Oh, well - I’m totally down to be your wife today,” She laughed, poking his bicep. “What do you say?”

He could see Imara back by the table, along with another man, who was glaring at him and stalking over with a look of murder in his eyes. Mathias wasn’t afraid of him persay, but he didn’t want to cause a scene, so he gave the other woman a weak smile. “Afraid I have to decline, I believe your friend isn’t too fond of me.”

At that point he broke from her grip and bolted behind the booths, trying to keep as much cover between him, and the incredibly perturbed man who looked ready to knock his head off, before circling back around to his Wife’s side, color gone from his face entirely.

“Well… That did not go as planned at ALL…” He muttered, a bit put out. “That was meant for you.”
---
“Did it not now?” Imara’s voice was one of both slight annoyance tinted with strong amusement. In her hand was her phone and on the screen was a photo of Mathias and the woman the moment she decided to return the kiss. Imara held it at an angle, allowing him to see it with an amused smile on her own face. “You rushed off with her so quickly that I was beginning to think something had happened.

Imara didn’t get jealous. It wasn’t in her nature. She knew very few women would be able to handle her husband just as very few men could handle her. What she did know was that Mr. Completely embarrassed at the moment had a nasty guilt streak that ran through him. And to be honest, she was feeling a bit...frisky today.

“So what will you give me for not texting this to your family and the guys at the gym? Hm?”
---
“Oh, so we’re resorting to blackmail are we?” He asked her reaching out with one hand to place it lightly against the small of her back. He leaned his head down near her ear and lowered his voice. “I’m not even going to try and negotiate. Name your price.”

The whole time, of course, he was surrounding her with his frame, trying to get his hands near enough to her phone to snatch it and HOPEFULLY delete the photo. It was a battle on two fronts - and he already felt bad about the mistake. But, in all honesty, if Imara asked for anything right then - she’d get it.

He wasn’t so proud that he couldn’t eat a bit of crow now and then when he’d been in such a rush to play romantic sappy husband he’d completely missed his mark.
---
She could feel him slipping around her, his presence both warm and dangerous as he leaned into her. Normally she would cave when he did so but she knew better this time. She was no fool and with a flick of her thumb, a visible ‘message sent’ was flashed into view. “Now, couldn’t have you sneaking onto my phone and deleting that could we.”

“At least not without insurance that I could still have a copy somewhere else.” Yes blackmail. Blackmail that she wasn’t going to let him know just WHO that went to. At least not yet.

“And my price?” Slipping her phone back into her coat pocket, Imara turned around and looked up into his face. “Or the price of the man currently hunting for your head behind us?”
---
“Your price, I’m pretty sure I already know what his is,” Mathias said with a weak chuckle. He would like to avoid a black-eye, or worse, if at all possible. It had after all been an honest mistake - but in the end, he doubted the gentleman looking to implode his teeth was really in any sort of mood to view it as such. Not that he could blame him - really. He was quite glad Imara didn’t really get jealous. It made situations like these all the easier to laugh off.

Granted, he turned up the collar on his jacket and hiked it up a bit to break up the plane of his face to make it a little harder to notice his features. But, he was sure he only had a limited amount of time before whoever the other man was - he was going to keep looking until he got calmed down.

“And fair, fair, but I had to try,” He murmured back, before wrapping a light arm around her and pulling her into his side. After the… shock… of it not being Imara, he needed to feel her close to him so he was sure he wasn’t losing his mind.
---
“Oh you did. Just don’t be surprised if you get a call from your mother.” Imara smirked. Truth was the image had gone to her email but why tell him that when she could bother him so. Sometimes, it was her turn to be a little snit. After all, Mathias was what many women claimed to be ‘perfect’ and ideal. Little did they know…

She waited to see him react before putting his mind at ease. “No, I did not send it to her. Only if you dug yourself into a hole would I.”

“As for my price, “ Stepping in front of him, she went up to be leveled with his ear and whispered “I would scar too many children if I said it here.”
---
The look on his face would have been priceless. His eyes went almost as large as saucers and the color fled from his face. “She’s going to kill m-” He’d started to say, before she followed up with her statement about it NOT being sent to her, and he let out a low, relieved sigh.

“Now that was pure evil,” He teased, before she slid in closer to him, whispering her request in his ear.

Mathias laughed, and turned his head slightly to plant a kiss on her neck as she leaned up. “Alright, alright… but before we go…” He reached around her, grabbed the holsters he’d been eying and paid for them. Once he got the bag, he offered his wife his arm.

“Now then… shall we?” He didn’t worry about her seeing the gifts - he had other surprise ones laid by, but for now, he was more than willing to meet her price as requested.
---
“We shall because…” she pointed behind him before grinning. “Godzilla just spotted you.”

Behind them, the male had turned, his eyes boring into Mathias back as his date seemed to try and stop him saying it was no big deal. Imara felt bad for her but only for a moment.

“Oh. Now he looks rather annoyed now doesn't he. Will i get to record a fight as well?”
---
“No, because we’re leaving,” Mathias said with a slight nod toward the the direction AWAY from the gentleman as he made DEATHLY certain that he actually grabbed his wife’s hand this time before making his exit as SWIFTLY as possible.

“You know, sometimes I wonder if you take a perverse enjoyment out of my mishaps,” He teased as he did his best to NOT look back and make eye contact with the guy. With any luck the two of them could get lost in the crowd and he wouldn’t have to pull a the action hero thing and possibly get decked in the face by his wife when he picked her up Princess Style to run.

He saved that for special occasions.
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