Work Text:
Where is she?
Callum paced back and forth in his room, occasionally glancing at the large oak tree outside his window. The rest of the castle was surely asleep, but Tuesday nights were special, at least to Callum. This was the time he got to see someone very important.
This was the time he got to see his girlfriend, a Moonshadow elf. Rayla.
Their meeting had been rather unexpected. She was sneaking in through his window to gather intel for some assassination mission, while he was up late drawing. After much confusion involving hasty words and blades flashing, she’d left, her mission being a failure. And for some reason, he didn’t tell any guards that she had been here.
She came back the next week, and the next week, and the next week. And every time, he caught her without fail. Eventually, the meetings devolved into friendly ones. And more recently (after the time Rayla had finally kissed him), they had become more like romantic “dates”.
Callum sat down on his bed, a little frustrated. He understood if she couldn’t make it, but… he was really looking forward to seeing her.
His sketchbook lay on his bedside table and he picked it up, resolving that if she didn’t show up by the time he was done drawing something, he would go to sleep.
He doodled idly, sketching whatever came to mind. A small purple flower he’d seen that day, Bait hiding behind a chair, and… Rayla. A lot of Rayla. He couldn’t help that she took most of his thoughts these days, every little thing reminding him of her.
“Knock, knock,” someone whispered suddenly.
Callum whipped his head around in a fright, only to see Rayla climbing in through his window. Relief flooded through him at the sight of her. She was as beautiful as ever, in clothes fit for an assassin, her white hair almost glowing in the moonlight.
“Rayla!” He quickly moved to wrap her in a hug, burying his face in her shoulder. “I thought you wouldn’t come!”
“Sorry,” she said, untangling herself from his arms. “Got a little caught up sneaking out, but I’m here now.”
“I’m glad.”
She perched herself on his bed, her eyes moving to his abandoned sketchbook. “Were you drawing before I got here?”
“Yeah.” Rayla knew he liked drawing, but this was the first time they’d really discussed it. “I’ve had that book since I was four.”
“Wow,” Rayla said, sounding rather impressed. “Can I have a look?”
Callum immediately froze. He wasn’t sure exactly why he’d be nervous- lots of people said that his art was good, and he didn’t mind showing it to people. His stepdad and brother and friends always loved his drawings. So why was he nervous now?
Rayla must’ve caught on to his discomfort, because she rushed to explain. “Sorry, it’s no big deal, I was just wondering-”
“No, no!” Callum swallowed back his conflicting feelings and flashed her a smile. “It’s okay. You can look.”
Rayla took his sketchbook and flipped it open, starting right at the first page. Callum internally cringed at his four-year-old drawings as Rayla giggled. “Aw, when did you make these?”
“When I was four,” he muttered, already feeling a blush crawl up his neck. This would be an ordeal.
“They’re adorable,” Rayla assured him, continuing to flip through the book. Most of the drawings were of his family, his mother laughing and his stepdad smiling, of baby Ezran giggling with a grumpy Bait. Soren and Claudia were there too- he drew Claudia a lot, he realized. There were a few of Aunt Amaya and Gren, and one or two of Viren. He never had cause to draw Soren and Claudia’s father unless he was drawing all of them as a family.
Rayla seemed to like them a lot, smiling as she continued looking through the book. The quality kept improving the farther she went, which was good. Callum’s blush only deepened as she got to the pages where he practiced anatomy, but her grin never flickered as she skimmed through them.
Now they were getting to more recent ones, ones that he could actually remember drawing. Soren trying to do push-ups, Claudia reading under a tree, Ezran and Callum in ceremonial armor, the baker feeding Bait jelly tarts.
“You draw your friends a lot, hm?” Rayla commented, nudging his shoulder.
“What can I say?” Callum shrugged. “They’re a great inspiration.”
“That’s sappy, prince,” Rayla teased, turning the page. “But I… I....”
Callum didn’t understand why she stopped until he saw what was on the page. It was all drawings of Rayla. There was her leaping through the forest, and her bold smile, and her confidently staring out of the page.
He gulped. What could she possibly think of them?
“You made these?” Rayla whispered, her voice strangely strangled.
“Yeah,” he fumbled for words. “Sorry if that’s weird or something, I just really like drawing you, you’re- mmph!”
He was cut off by a searing kiss from Rayla, and he pressed against her as she pulled him closer to her by his scarf. They separated with a gasp, Callum staring into her eyes, confused.
“Thank you,” she said, still a little choked up. “They’re beautiful.”
“It’s nothing, really,” he blabbered. “It’s… an honor to draw you.”
He could’ve sworn he saw tears in her eyes before she kissed his cheek. “Sappy prince.”
“Hey, you like it.” He nudged her shoulder playfully.
“Sure,” she laughed, flipping absentmindedly through more drawings. “These are beautiful, though. If you weren’t a prince, you could be an artist.”
He smiled fondly at the thought. “We could travel the world together. I could draw, and you could be, like, a mercenary or something.”
She laced their fingers together. “I’d like that.”
They both knew it was a fantasy, wishful thinking. At the end of the day, he was a prince and she was an assassin and there was no way they could be together. They would have to make do with what they had. Still, it was a beautiful wish.
Rayla looked like she was about to say something else, but the first light of the day creeping through Callum’s window made them both stop. “I should go,” she said, and their moment was over.
They parted with a soft kiss, Rayla’s touch lingering before she let go. She leapt out the window like a beautiful bird, Callum running over to see her climbing gracefully down the large tree.
He smiled and laid back down in his bed, hoping to get in a few hours of sleep. Maybe he couldn’t see her everyday, and maybe that was horrible and unfair and wrong. But they had every Tuesday night to spend together, they had each other, and they had their love.
And maybe that would be enough, at least for him.