Bastien glances sidelong at Byerly, mouth twitching into a brief smile. The smolder isn't aimed at him, but he's in the splash zone, and he's rather infamously susceptible to Byerly's charms.

He's also years past possessive fretting about where those charms are aimed. Even if Vega were ten years older and the strong odds she'd be mean to Byerly in the way he enjoyed were a real threat—no they wouldn't be. But he flicks at Byerly's shoulder with the backs of his fingers anyway. Behave without enough insistence to really interrupt the exchange. Just for show.

It's a fine line to try to walk, to let Benedict suffer just enough to squirm but not enough he fully shuts down into a sulk or runs out of the house to escape and never comes back. As Bastien puts the finishing touch on the table, he wiggles his hand in Benedict's direction to vie for his attention, then gestures to his own jacket and points toward the stairs, mouthing I can go get you one.