"Sinbad!" Maeve protested when she noticed Sinbad just walking into her cabin without even bothering to knock.
"Well I didn't think being seen entering your cabin right now would be the best idea, so I had to hurry," Sinbad explained.
"Or you could just not come here at all," Maeve snidely remarked, too confused about her own feelings to be pleasant to the object of all those muddled thoughts right now.
"You know we're being played right?" Sinbad said, ignoring her remark.
"Well of course, this was someone's idea of a joke," Maeve said, apparently not being very appreciative about being the butt of said joke.
"Bryn and Doubar think it was me who told everyone else about their sleeping arrangements the other night," Sinbad said.
"Did you?" Maeve asked.
"No! I told Bryn to get out of there before shift change, I told her I was happy for them. But while they were asleep, the night shift was awake and it doesn't take a genius to realize one of them must've come down and saw them together," Sinbad protested.
"Well what do you suggest we do about it?" Maeve asked.
"I suggest we play along, act like we haven't figured out that we've been set up," Sinbad said.
"What?!" Maeve exclaimed, obviously surprised at this turn of events.
"Just hear me out, alright?" Sinbad asked. "Doubar is really trying to win over Bryn, and so far it's working what with the gestures and the knots and things but they don't do anything together… Like.. he teaches her knots and she studies the knots and gives her stuff and she receives stuff but this way, they can see how much they enjoy working together as a team."
"Working as a team to try and trick us to get together," Maeve dryly added, the flaw in this plan seemed fairly obvious to her.
"I know it's not ideal, but it would really mean a lot to me if you went along with this…" Sinbad said, underlining the plea with his most adorable expression.
"But… but… why?" Maeve spluttered, far from immune to his charm.
"Doubar has given up everything for me, his own happiness, just so he could see me get everything I wanted… I want to do whatever I can to give him all that he deserves. I know you understand, I know what lengths you go to for your own brother… Please?" Sinbad asked, adorable puppy-look firmly in place.
"I am going to regret this, but let's do it," Maeve gave in.
"Thank you so much!" Sinbad said, enveloping her in an enthusiastic hug.
Maeve froze as the whole unintelligible torrent of her feelings rushed to the forefront, specifically in all the places her body was now touching his and she realized that pretending with him was going to muddy the waters even further and would probably leave her broken hearted at the end. She relaxed into his arms and enveloped him inside her own: the end wasn't here just yet, so she might as well enjoy it while it lasted.
Sinbad closed his eyes once he felt Maeve accept his hug. If Doubar was really right about him and his kissing a hundred girls once, then why couldn't he stop thinking about kissing Maeve?