A/N: Day 16 - moonlight kiss. oooooh, spicy...

Chapter Summary: A supposed study session between Callum & Rayla suddenly turns into a night of exchanging sweet... moments. In which Rayla has something to prove & Callum's all ears. College AU.

Word Count: 1,997

Sweet Exchange

"How can you not like Coffee Crisp?"

Rayla merely rolled her eyes at the question as she turned her attention to the artist sat at his desk. Tonight was supposed to be some late night studying, him prepping her for her upcoming Philosophy test, while she aided him in his study notes for his Literature test. The night started off strong, until Rayal decided to bust out her bag of snacks to satisfy her sugar starved brain. Which led to her offering some to Callum. She simply tossed him some Coffee Crisps, claiming to have no desire to ever eat them.

"I barely like coffee," she mused popping a couple of Smarties into her mouth.

"Yeah, but does that justify the disgusting claim of saying they're terrible?" he accused her, pointing his unwrapped, half bitten coffee crisp at her. The crumbs fell to the floor and earned a mere chuckle from the Scottish girl.

"Disgusting," she proudly replied.

Callum gasped as he turned his head away, returning his attention to his desk. "I can't even look at you!" he declared.

Rayla rolled her eyes. "Not my fault," she shot back, "I thought your American chocolate would make it taste better but it clearly hasn't."

The artist turned back with a confused stare. "What?"

"Your chocolates taste different," she explained. "Like, for instance, your kit kats taste worse. I dunno how or why, but they just do," she simply shrugged.

Callum blankly stared. "That's a lie. You just want an excuse to hate on Western culture more," he claimed, shaking his head with a laugh. "Chocolate doesn't taste different just because it's being sold on a different continent."

Rayla scowled. "Oh yeah?"

Callum nodded. "Oh yeah."

"Fine," she turned over to her bag and began digging into her front pockets.

Callum's brows rose. "You have more sweets?"

"I like snacking," she muttered as she pulled out a handful of chocolates. It was a wide variety too. Kit Kats, Smarties, Rockets, Aeros; the whole Halloween bag. She picked up a Coffee Crisp and threw it at Callum, smiling in delight as it bounced off his forehead and landed on his lap.

He frowned as he picked it up. "Really?" He scoffed.

"Eat it," she nodded at him.

He rolled his eyes with a shrug. He turned back to his desk and opened his water bottle, taking a quick sip as he sloshed it in his mouth. When Rayla shot him a disgusted look, he laughed. "What? If I'm taste testing I gotta do it right!" he defended, picking up the Coffee Crisp. "How do I know this is really from Scotland? What if you just… infected it or something," he inquired as he skeptically scanned it.

Rayla frowned. "Oh yes. I contaminated that very specific Coffee Crisp for this exact day knowing we'd have this debate, and also managed to re-seal it like a production company." She stared at him with raised brow as she smirked. "Really?" He shrugged. "My dads always sent me treats from home. Along with their own chocolates, because Runaan doesn't like it when Tim eats a bunch of junk so it gives him an excuse to send them to me. Along with other snacks I can't get here in America."

Callum's brows rose thoughtfully. "Oh? Like what?"

"Tablets, wham bars, deep fried mars bars—" she shuddered as her mouth began salvaviting. "Ugh, just… good treats." She frowned as she noticed Callum's face. "Oi, eat your Scotland Coffee Crisp!"

Callum immediately unwrapped his new treat and popped it into his mouth, chewing it with a thoughtful look. Rayla squinted her eyes at his feigned pondering, and after a solid minute, he swallowed a nodded. "Yup."

"Yup what?"

"Yup…" he smiled, "it tastes like a Coffee Crisp." He shrugged. "It doesn't taste different at all!"

Rayla groaned as she threw her head back. "Ugggh, ya just have messed up taste buds!" Callum leaned over and grabbed the very same handful of the Scotland sweets she pulled out. Her eyes widened as she raced to swipe them from his hand. "No, no, no!" she pleaded, "don't eat those ones!"

Callum stared at her as he placed them on his desk, scattered all over his papers. "Ray, they taste the exact same. I'm just testing them out for myself to prove that," he smugly declared as he unwrapped a Kit Kat bar. He broke off a piece and bit into it, chuckling as he chewed. "Tastes like Kit Kat," he declared as he tossed the other bar to Rayla.

She pouted as she munched on it. "Ya're lying…" she muttered.

Callum laughed. "Maybe it's the nostalgia of knowing it comes from home that makes you think they taste different," he said through his chewing.

Rayla sighed. "No, I swear they taste different."

After finishing his sweet, Callum dusted off his hands. He noticed her childish pouted and eased up on his teasing. "Not to me at least," he compromised with a shrug. "How 'bout you share your Scotland treats? Maybe expose an uncultured American to the beauty of European sweets?"

Rayla pondered the notion. "Eh… Da doesn't exactly send much at a time and I only eat them sparingly!" she explained rationally.

Callum blinked at her with skepticism. "You already went through half, didn't you?" he questioned.

She sighed. "More like two-thirds," she corrected. "Next package they send, I'll share, promise!" Rayla placed her right hand over her heart and raised her left.

Callum chuckled as he returned to his desk. His face shifted into confusion as he noticed a strange, pyramid like chocolate wrapped in a silver foil, with a white tag attached. It had blue Helvetica font and said, Kisses on them. He pinched it with two fingers as he turned back to Rayla. "Hey, you've got some here."

She scrunched up her face. "What?"

"This," he shook it in front of her, "Kisses," he read, "that's from Scotland, no?"

Rayla's eyes widened as she slowly opened her mouth. "Cal… have ya… never heard of Kisses chocolate before?"

His brows furrowed. "No? Don't think they sell these in America."

Her face grew bewildered as she palmed her forehead. There was no way, Callum lived his entire life in the United States whilst also never indulging in the taste of Kisses chocolate before. That was impossible. She opened her mouth, but halted as she witnessed his genuine, innocent confusion. He was serious. He had never had one.

"Ya're serious?" she clarified.

Callum nodded. "Uhh, yeah?"

She clasped her hands together as she stared at the boy. The silenced filled the room, and nothing but a dead atmosphere lingered as Rayla tried to piece her brain back together. The moonlight streamed through the curtains, shining off the very treat Callum seemed to be so enamoured with. As he spun and observed the sweet, Rayla sighed.

"Callum… they sell this here…" she stated.

Callum's face grew surprised. "No they don't," he claimed, "I've never heard of Kisses before."

"No, I swear, they sell it here," Rayla insisted.

He shook his head. "No," he chuckled, "Ray, I'm pretty sure I'd know if they do."

"Well, I knew 'bout Owl City before ya did, so I think things flying under your radar might not be a rarity," she retorted, shrugging with a smirk.

Callum frowned. "Fair point. But there's thousands of pop artists in America, that's understandable." He raised the sweet. "But this? Never heard of it!"

Rayla blinked at him. "Try it," she suggested.

Callum skeptically eyed the piece of candy before shaking his head.

Rayla's brow raised. "What's wrong? Just try it!" she gestured.

The artist seethed. "I dunno," he thoughtfully replied, cupping his chin as he looked at Rayla. "How am I to know that this is safe?" he inquired.

The jock frowned as she uninterestedly stared back. "Are ya implying I'm tryin' to poison ya?"

Callum shrugged. "You said it, not me," he said as he tossed the sweet back into her lap.

Rayla stared at him in shock. She had never heard of someone every refusing a chance to eat chocolate, unless they were allergic or diabetic. She shook her head as she picked up the sweet treat and gestured it to Callum. "Cal, I swear, just try it! Ya'll love it! It's practically childhood candy everyone knows!"

Callum stared with curiosity, as skeptic as ever. "Hmmm, I dunno…"

She immediately unwrapped the wrapper, and motioned the newly naked chocolate toward the artist. He flinched—literally, he actually flinched at her sudden action—and backed away in his seat. Rayla merely rolled her eyes as she left her hand out in the open. As if it was some sort of showcase, the moonlight from the dorm window perfectly streamed onto Rayla's unfolded palm, shining off the glistening melted chocolate. She lightly shook her head, tempting her friend to take the bait, to understand that there was no real threat with this treat.

Hesitantly, he maneuvered his fingers over the sweet, forming a pinch with his two fingers and thumb. He hovered over the chocolate, eyes squinting in suspicion, as if it were it blow or something. The idea made no sense to Rayla, but she was happy to see was at least going for it. His fingers pinched the tip of the chocolate, and he slowly brought it over to his face. Time slowed to a crawl—his eyes closed shut as his lips hung ready to receive. They sat there, tantalizingly awaiting for the sweetness to arrive. Soon enough, it brushed against his lips as he dropped it into his mouth, closing tight shut.

Rayla blinked out of her trance as she realized he was finally eating it. What the heck was he doing? Why was he doing it so slowly and cautiously? She watched as Callum thoughtfully chewed the chocolate, nodding his head as he seemingly tried to piece a response. Rayla's eyes lingered on his face. Did he always look so adorable when he was this pensive? And the chocolate glistening off his lips, the framing of his face in this moonlight, he looked…

Her eyes widened as she stopped herself. She was leaning forward. She was practically off his bed and stood right near his face. Callum's thinking seemed to dissipate as he noticed her sudden closeness. He raised a brow. "Uhh, you good Ray?" he questioned.

She nervously laughed as she backed away, brushing her hair behind her ears. "Y-Yeah, I-I'm fine," she nodded. She cleared her throat and awkwardly smiled at him as he eyed her. "I… ya just… got…" she pointed at her lips. The gesture caused her face to flush, whilst Callum's brows rose.

"Ohhh, thanks!" he realized, licking his lips with a smile.

Rayla's gaze averted toward the floor. She did not need to see that. Her eyes soon fell onto her own palm, noticing a small smudge of chocolate from where she was once holding the sweet. "Uh, so, how, um, how was it?" she asked, biting her bottom lip.

Callum seemed to pause for a moment. "Oh, you mean the chocolate?"

"Yes," she nodded. What else?

No seriously, what else?

Callum chuckled. "I think I have had this before!" he exclaimed with a smile. "They remind me of that one chocolate my mom always bought after grocery shopping, what was it called?" He seemed to ponder the riddle within his mind as Rayla raised a curious brow. "Ah hah! Hershey's! That's what they were called, Hershey's chocolate!"

Rayla's face dropped to a blank stare.

Callum noticed and looked at her in confusion. "Ray?" She arched her hand back and smudged the leftover chocolatey residue against his cheek, scowling as he whined. "What was that for?" he complained, desperately attempting to shake off her hand from his cheek.

Rayla smirked in pride as she removed her hand, bringing it up to her lips as she licked her palm. "Just thought ya'd want more kisses."

A/N: And so, the College AU strikes again. Think this is the first time I've done one of my twists with the College AU, but I'm happy with out it turned out! Anyways, next prompt for me is braids, future family AU! Stay tuned, my dudes.

Until next time,

- Bleh