Chapter Text
The plan was simple.
Well, at least Callum had thought it would be simple. Just wait until it was late at night, then sneak into the kitchen for an hour or two to bake Rayla’s favorite dessert. No big deal.
Then he’d told Rayla the plan and, either out of boredom or actual concern for secrecy, it had taken on a life of its own. She didn’t bother to think about the logistics when she’d first thrown her arms around him with glee in the library—he remembered fondly, smiling to himself warmly now as he walked down the hall from that very library—but the next morning, as they walked back to the castle from their campsite, she’d started asking a lot of questions about the operations of the kitchen and the dining hall.
By the time they’d arrived back at the castle, it has been nearly lunch time. Hungry from a night of little food and lots of kissing, he’d suggested that they eat. She’d told him to go ahead. That she’d be there in a minute. With curiosity, he agreed but didn’t go inside, instead plopping down on the empty bench outside. He watched as she walked around the side corner of the dining hall a little too casually, checking over her shoulder one too many times. He followed her with his eyes until she disappeared. Before long she had reappeared from around the other side of the building.
“What were you doing?” He asked, when she approached again.
”Recon,” she shrugged, as if it were the most obvious thing in the world.
For the last 48 hours, she’d spent spare moments hanging around various doors that led into the dining hall, insisting on sitting closer to the kitchen when they ate, and even asking Ezran questions about Barius, the baker. He’d been silently shaking his head behind her back whenever he caught her not-so-surreptitiously doing “recon.”
After all, what was the worst that could happen? They were discovered and someone, what? Tells his brother, the king? Who also has an infamous love of baked goods? The only reason Callum cared to sneak around at all was be to be alone with her. But, there was no way he’d tell her how ridiculous he found her all her planning and plotting.
Mostly because her fascination with the epilogue to their date was so ridiculously cute.
He wandered into the courtyard that led out to the dining hall, still smiling warmly at his thoughts of his lovely, stealthy elven sweetheart, who he knew to be perched high-up in the tree above him, watching all of the comings and goings in and out of the dining hall. For what reason, he could only guess. They were sneaking into the kitchen at midnight, not midday.
Despite knowing what her plan had been for this sunny morning, Callum was still surprised when she jumped down behind to him, mostly because she’d done it silently, then immediately looped her arms around his waist, settling her chin on his shoulder. His skin tingled at her touch, even more than usual.
“Did I scare you?” Rayla asked in his ear mischievously, having felt him jump at her touch. He relaxed feeling her warmth breath against his ear.
”Pshh, no, of course not,” he shrugged, placing his hands on top of hers. “Hey stranger,” he said. She squeezed him tighter around his waist, then released him, keeping just his hand in hers, as she came around to stand beside him. Her smile melted him, as usual.
”Hey yourself,” she said. He reached to take her other hand as well, turning her to face him, and leaned toward her. He felt his heart skip a beat, like it always did when they shared their first kiss of the day. “What have you been up to?”
“Copied the recipe out of the book,” he said, holding up the folded piece of paper he’d produced on his library trip. She snatched it from his hand eagerly, unfolded it, and traced the lines of ingredients with her finger as she read. She wandered to a nearby bench to sit, and he followed.
”...we have more moonberries than this, right?” She raised an eyebrow, looking at him sideways.
”Uhh, how much?” He brushed her hair to the side to peer over her shoulder at the recipe. “I think we have two pints?”
“I don’t do Katolian measurements. This is in cups. How many cups do we have?” She asked, turning to face him.
“Four? Maybe?” She glared at him as he shrugged. “I don’t know! I don’t exactly bake all that often.”
”Well this calls for three, and I can tell you now, that is not enough.” She handed the paper back to him, and crossed her arms.
“We can get more. We have all day.” He shrugged, tucking the recipe away again. “So, what time are we meeting here to—?”
”Shhh!” She exclaimed, a finger to his lips. She brought her tone down to a whisper. “It’s not exactly sneaky if you blab about our plan right outside of the scene of the crime!”
”Oh right. I mean, what time do you want to go on our date tonight?” He winked, playing along with the seriousness of her plan. She rolled her eyes.
“It’s going to be late,” she said flatly, unamused. He, on the other hand, was very amused with her dramatics.
”How late?” He placed his hand on top of hers and rubbed his thumb against hers.
”Probably midnight. Maybe 12:30.”
”I don’t know if can be out that late,” he winked again. “That’s past my curfew.”
”Oh my—come here.” She yanked him up by his hand. Startled, but pleased to go wherever with her, he willing stumbled along. She pulled him around the corner of the building, away from the bright courtyard. He observed her as she looked back and forth to check they were alone before shoving him into a dark alcove where they wouldn’t be seen or heard. He’d ended up against the side wall, about six inches of space between their lips.
“Well, hello...” He leaned up, eyes half-lidded, expecting a kiss.
“Cut it out, dummy,” she said, poking him in the ribs. He winced with a laugh.
”Aw, c’mon Rayla! You can’t shove me into a dark corner and then leave me hanging!” He touched her forearm, running his finger along the line of her wrist guard, trying to entice her closer.
”Focus, Callum. Moonberry Surprise. Midnight.” She poked him in the chest this time. Even her scowl was cute.
”Yeah, yeah, yeah,” he said. “I know all that already.”
“We’re going to have to sneak out of our room too, though. I think we’ll have less of a chance of waking up Ez if we leave one at a time.”
He rubbed his thumb against the bare skin of her arm as she spoke. She looked down at the motion. He smiled when she paused, hoping he’d succeeded in distracting her. To his disappointment she kept explaining, so he brought his other hand to her other arm to continue the distraction.
“So I’m going to leave at 11:30, and you should leave at 11:45. That’s when the guards are furthest from our hall. We’ll have to go the long way around, though. To the left, not the right. I’ll watch for you from the tree and make sure we’re in the clear.”
He brought one hand up to tuck a piece of hair behind her ear. Her eyes followed his fingers, even as she finished her instructions.
“I-If I don’t jump down when you come by the tree, then you should go back to bed and we’ll try again tomorrow night.”
“‘kay. You’re cute.” He stated, having watched her lips the whole time. He reached for her waist with both hands. He wished she didn’t have her armor on.
“Did you listen, even a little bit?” She asked. Her tone conveyed annoyance but the smile on her lips suggested otherwise.
”Mmhmm, of course.”
She sighed, then allowed his fingers on her waist to pull her closer as she stepped toward him, her own hands wrapped in the fabric of his scarf. She pushed his body between hers and the wall, then fell in to him, kissing him. Oh, he thought noting her assertiveness with pleasure, realizing that their entire torsos were connected now. His eyes flew open in surprise when his head touched the wall behind them as she deepened their kiss. She ran her tongue along his lip, and he opened his mouth gladly to let her caress his tongue with hers. She broke away much too soon for his liking. “Did you eat the moonberries?” She grumbled, still close to his lips.
”...I might have had a couple.” He grinned sheepishly.
“We already don’t have enough!” She complained. She turned sharply and started walking away from him. He caught her hand just in time to keep her from going. She turned slowly back to hear his plea.
”Rayla,” he whined. “Come back and kiss me! We’ll go get more moonberries in a minute.” She pushed him backward again with the full weight of her body, hands pressed flat to his chest. He exhaled as he hit the wall again with a thump. She didn’t kiss him though. Instead she left just a centimeter of space between their lips, their bodies just as connected as before. He could’ve easily closed the distance between them, but he played along with her game. “Rayla...” he whispered, sucking in air around them, intoxicated by her scent so close to him for so long.
“Hmm?” She hummed, and moved her hands up from his chest to his shoulders. She pressed her thumbs into them, rubbing small circles. She kept her lips tantalizingly close to his. He swallowed, his tongue feeling thick in his mouth.
”Kiss me,” he asked. She closed the distance between them gently—too gently for the amount of tension between them and too gently for the pressure of her body against his. He let her lead though, his hands comfortably against her lower back, right where her body curved out to her hips. His hands were unimpeded by her armor here, at least.
Her kisses were short and soft, contrasting with hard wall she kept him pinned to. Her lips never fully closed as she brought them to his over and over. When he was just about to give in and cradle her face gently in place to lengthen their next kiss, she finally kept her lips attached for longer than a moment. He sighed as their slightly open lips allowed him to taste her mouth—a slightly stronger, certainly more intoxicating version of the scent that had lingered in the air before she’d kissed him.
He regretted sighing, though, because it made her stop their kiss to pull away and say, “Having fun?” She chuckled a little and leaned her forehead against his. Her nose brushed against his. She was still pressed flush against him, which he’d become more and more aware of as the moments passed.
”This is...addicting,” he whispered reverently. He really could kiss her—and more—all day. She kissed his cheek.
“Moonberries,” she stated, tapping on his chest with an open hand. “Let’s go.” He sighed, then took the hand now resting on his chest and surrendered himself to be pulled along.