Hello everyone!
I hope quarantine is treating you all well. I've been doing some dabbling.
For those of you that are unfamiliar with my work my usual disclaimer is as follows; Smutty As Hell.
This is all just self indulgent twaddle, but I still hope you love it.
She hadn't seen him in – what, six months? Six months since he'd left the Academy with barely a word, barely an explanation. And there he was. Standing there in the back of the room, unnoticed by everyone but her.
Of course Rose noticed him. How could she not? He looked perfect, as always. He'd cut his hair, she noted absently, but he still managed to have some of those dark locks hanging in his eyes, framing his face.
She shouldn't want to run her hands through it, but she did. She wanted to be close enough to smell him again, feel the warmth of his body, watch the candlelight play over his handsome face.
Stop it, she scolded herself. You're being creepy.
It wasn't like this was totally unexpected. After Lissa had graduated, it had only been a matter of time before they came to Court. And she'd known he would be here. Maybe she'd hoped that he'd found another assignment, one far away from anywhere they might run into each other.
No, she realised, as she drank him in from across the room. She hadn't hoped for that. She'd hoped he would be here, just like he was.
During a perfunctory scan of the room, his eyes found her, and heat flushed her face. If only she were wearing something other than her Guardian uniform. His eyes widened for a moment when they landed on her face, and then a slow smile and a nod of greeting followed.
Rose had been hanging onto some resentment, she was sure, but in this moment it felt silly. She returned the nod and the smile, and felt relief wash over her. Things didn't need to be awkward. They were both here doing a job, and it wasn't like anything had happened between them anyway.
Liar.
The queen's lavish state dinner was coming to a close, and even though Rose was technically a guest there, she didn't feel welcome. Maybe it was because in a room full of elegant Moroi in designer clothes, she was slouched in her chair in black slacks and a white button down. Or maybe she'd dressed that way because she knew she wouldn't feel welcome no matter what she wore.
She'd spent the night eyeing up the leftovers of the fancy menu as it grew cold on Moroi plates, and even though Lissa had surreptitiously slipped her every bread roll on their table, her stomach grumbled at the small portions.
She sighed, playing with her left over silverware, conscious that she was the only one that had used a single fork for the entire five course meal.
"I think we can leave now," Lissa murmured under the chatter of their table.
Rose's heart leapt in her chest, but she held back her excited smile in favour of an empty sentiment. "We can stay if you want."
Lissa laughed. "Everyone in the room can hear your stomach growling, Rose," she teased lightly. "Besides, you're not on duty. You don't have to stay with me all the time."
"Agree to disagree," Rose returned, folding her arms over her stomach, as though to stifle the noise.
"Alright then. I think I might stay for a few more hours..." A sly glance of those jade green eyes accompanied her best friend's challenge.
"I'm not -" Rose's sentence was interrupted by a singularly loud stomach gurgle. She grimaced, and glared at the Princess. "You asked me to come so you wouldn't be alone. I'm not going to leave you to the wolves now."
"Christian will be here any minute," Lissa reassured her, placing a delicate pale hand over Rose's fidgeting fingers. "Thank you for staying with me though."
A healing calm washed over Rose. Christian would be here soon, and there was no reason for her to stay. She could leave and get some real food, and maybe get an early night…
"Hey!" Rose jerked her hand out from under Lissa's, her sharp reprimand catching the attention of a few closer guests at the table. "Would you stop doing that?"
"Instinct," she said apologetically, her wide eyes too innocent for it to be wholly truthful. "Please, go."
Rose looked around the table at the sneering Moroi faces and sighed. "Fine, I'll see you tomorrow."
The sound of her chair squeaking along the timber floor swiveled the heads of everyone at the table, and she cringed internally as she snagged her blazer from the back of the chair.
Think about the food, she told herself as she crossed the floor to the exit. Think about pizza, and burgers.
"Couldn't wait to lump me with these stiffs, could you?" Christian lamented as they passed each other in the doorway.
"Pyro, you're practically on time!" she returned, her eyebrows rising in feigned shock. "Lucky you, they've only just served dessert."
"I'll be sure to enjoy the empty plate you've left me," he drawled.
Rose spun on her heel and took a backwards step just so that she could punch her friend in the arm as he crossed the threshold. "Like you're not here for the stimulating conversation."
Christian rubbed his arm with one hand and surreptitiously flipped her the bird with the other, an easy smile warming those ice blue eyes as they traded places.
She felt Lissa's elation through the bond and could tell that she'd caught sight of her boyfriend. Rose smiled absently to herself as she started down the hall, allowing herself a little peek through the bond at the two of them together. She wasn't the best company for Lissa during these things, and even thought the Princess didn't care for such social conventions, she knew that she was looked down upon for bringing a Guardian to a state dinner.
The hall had been empty, so maybe she'd let herself slip a little too deep into Lissa's head while she walked, because suddenly it wasn't empty and Rose found herself stepping, quite literally, on someone's toes.
"Shit, I'm sorry!" She came back to herself suddenly, nose to chest with an all-too-familiar Guardian. It was the scent of him that gave it away – cologne that hinted at citrus and rosewood, mingling with the familiar smell of freshly laundered shirts.
"It's okay," Dimitri assured her. His hand dropped from her elbow as she took a step back. "How are you?"
Such a casual question, asked in such a casual tone, but there was a keen interest in his gaze that gave her pause. "Uh, pretty good. Weather's nice. You?"
"Yeah, great."
Even one step back felt like they were standing too close, and Rose shifted so that there was more distance between them. Quiet fell between them, and she even though she tried she couldn't look away from his face. He didn't look different, and the six months since she'd last seen him felt simultaneously like a blink and a decade. The haircut suited him.
"Did you finish a shift, or are you just stalking me?" she joked, breaking the tension.
He blinked, as though dazed, and then smiled. "Shift," was his short answer. "But I did see you leave."
"So… Both?"
"Both."
"I'm going to go and get dinner," Rose said, the words barely processing before they slipped out. "Are you hungry?"
Dimitri gave a slight shrug. "Almost always," he answered easily. "What were you thinking?" He opened the door out to the open terrace and the two of them stepped into the morning together.
"Does Court have a takeaway? I need something huge and disgustingly greasy after that."
"Yeah, they do an amazing pepperoni pizza." He said it with a sly glance at his companion, and was rewarded with an elated grin.
"Well then, lead the way, Comrade!" The nickname left her lips much like the rest of the conversation – without thought or permission.
It was a moment where the world tilted on it's axis, and something fondly remembered was lurching into the present, and it made them both reel and stumble over feelings not quite forgotten.
But they didn't acknowledge it, and instead they walked through the sunrise streets laughing quietly about Moroi portions and stiff formalities.
Dimitri ordered the pizza, remembering how often Rose had eyes bigger than her stomach, and then the two of them sat at one of the small courtesy tables, with the oversized pizza box hanging over the edges comically, and they talked about the last six months like old friends.
Dimitri had requested a kind of "holiday" - at least that's what he thought it was – by refusing any one on one assignments for the last few months. He'd been a temporary court Guardian, covering personal leave for others and as a by-product learning and becoming frustrated with the ins and outs of the Moroi political system.
It didn't seem like the kind of work that Rose had pictured for him. Dimitri wasn't the kind to sit around and twiddle his thumbs, spending his days on boring patrols or paperwork. But then, maybe she didn't know him as well as she thought.
He asked her a lot of questions too. About her graduation, and her trial, and her final grade. He asked about her official assignment to Lissa, and she tore at an uneaten crust moodily as she admitted it wasn't formalised. That was sort of why they were here.
"What about Europe?" he asked after a long hour of conversation.
Rose looked up from her last slice of pizza in surprise. "You know about Europe?"
He shrugged casually. "Everyone knows that the Dragomir Princess holidayed in Paris without the green light from the Queen. Big uproar here."
She laughed. "Yeah, I heard Tatiana was furious. It was something Lissa wanted to do since forever."
"Did you like it?" he asked.
She mirrored his shrug. "I thought I would." She hesitated. "I guess it's more fun when you're not working."
"You said yourself, you haven't been formally assigned to the Princess," he observed. "There would have been other Guardians with you. You technically weren't working."
"Technically," she answered wryly, leaning forward over the table. "Guardians don't stop working on a technicality."
Hadn't he been the one that taught her that? There was no stopping. No reprieve from the endless list of sacrifices to be made for Moroi.
"Like tonight," he said quietly, his intense gaze on her face. "Or did you go to that dinner for fun?" His eyebrows arched, daring her to deny it.
"Did you work that shift tonight because you were rostered, or because you had nothing better to do?" she countered.
He acknowledged her point with a slight nod and a half smile. "Covering for a friend."
She tutted. "Do you have time for friends, with all this extra work?"
"Do you?"
Rose withdrew, crossing her arms over her chest. She'd gone because Lissa had asked, and Lissa was her friend, but she knew that wasn't what Dimitri had meant.
He sighed and leaned back in the steel chair, eyeing her standoffish pose warily. "You shouldn't throw your life away for a career."
"That is literally the job description," she bit back. "Besides, you're not my mentor any more. Jesus, you're not even in my life any more!"
His head cocked and his eyes burned the same way they used to whenever she challenged him. "Doesn't really look that way from where I'm sitting," he said tightly. "I'm not trying to fight with you."
"Doesn't really look that way," she mimicked, "from where I'm sitting."
Anger sizzled in the glares they shot across the table.
"Sorry guys, we're closing up," came the apologetic chirp of the shop owner from over the counter.
They stood and threw away their trash in seething silence. Where did he get off, judging her for doing her job? A small voice reminded her that it wasn't her loyalty or her work ethic that Dimitri was concerned about. All the same, she thought to herself, because he had never spent any of his free time with anyone back at the Academy and it didn't look as though things had changed at Court. He was criticising her for making the same choices he had made.
So maybe he knows better.
The shop bell tinkled as Dimitri opened it and gestured for Rose to leave first.
"I'm sorry if I crossed a line," he apologised as they stepped outside. The sunrise was well and truly over, and the last days of the Pensylvannian summer beat down on them.
Rose sighed and stretched out her neck, eyes closed against the light. "Nah, it's fine. It's just been a long day."
He didn't answer, so she turned to look at him with a smile. He was standing like she was, with his eyes closed lazily and his face turned up to the sun.
"It's nice that you're here," she said, as a peace offering.
His eyes opened slowly to watch her. "I wasn't expecting you to say that. Or to even talk to me today."
"You're the one that walked up to me," she said with an incredulous grin.
"I kind of thought you would try to punch me," he admitted, rubbing the back of his neck.
"Wow, your self-preservation has really declined in this comfy court life," she teased. "And it looks like I've matured since you've known me."
His eyes travelled over her quickly. "No, I don't think you've changed."
"Excuse me," she protested in mock indignation. "I'll have you know that I've gotten a lot more kick-ass since we last spoke."
"More kick-ass?" One eyebrow lifted dubiously.
"Way more," she confirmed with a cocky grin.
He shifted his whole body towards her, the two of them standing too close for a casual conversation as they loitered in the sun-soaked streets. "Prove it," he challenged, brown eyes sparkling.
Rose laughed and made herself step away even as adrenaline flooded her system. It had nothing to do with how he was looking at her. The sun was making her feel warm and light, not how close he was standing, not the way his voice seemed to wrap sensually around her. "In a display of my newly developed maturity, how about we postpone until tomorrow?" she offered. "It's nearly ten, and that's like two whole hours past your bed time, grandpa."
Her whole body tingled pleasantly under the warmth of the sun and his soft gaze as he answered. "Alright. Tomorrow then."