Romitri One-Shots

One Week

Rose's POV

I woke up before my alarm. It didn't happen very often and seriously considered going back to sleep but changed my mind and pushed back the covers. Kirova's words from last week rang in my head once again. Your continued enrollment at St. Vladimir's is strictly probationary. Step out of line once, and you're gone.

With a sigh, I got out of bed and changed out of my pajamas into my favorite sport bra and the first leggings that I caught my eyes. I had been glad to be assigned my old room back but it still had felt weird that they removed all the décor - which mostly consisted of pictures and posters - I had set up. I grabbed my toothbrush and toothpaste and made a note to myself to ask Alberta for my personal belongings back.

The bathroom was at the end of the hallway and was a little surprised to see that I wasn't alone. Meredith, one of the few other female senior novices, smiled at me when I came in. "Hey, Rose," she said warmly.

"Hey," I said with a smile. I applied toothpaste on the brush and turned to her. "What are you doing up so early?"

She blushed. "Um, I didn't exactly go to bed last night." Before I left, Meredith and I had been good friends. When I wasn't hanging out with Lissa or Mason, I usually found myself messing around with her. "Though, I heard that Alberta wanted to see me after curfew and got really suspicious when I didn't answer the door." Her shoulders dropped. "I'll probably get detention until graduation."

I smiled. "Just tell her that you were with me. I had a girl problem last night and asked you to help me. You were in my room until really late."

"Really? Thank you so much," she said gratefully. "I owe you." She started heading toward the door but turned around. "I'm really glad you're back."

I smiled, unable to answer with my toothbrush in my mouth. She smiled back and left. That interaction had really warmed me up. I was glad to be bonding with her again. She was one of my oldest friends and being two of the few females novices, we had always had a complicity that I didn't have with Mason and Eddie or even Lissa.

When I was done brushing my teeth, I went back to my room and glanced at the clock. I onlyhad a few minutes before my training with Dimitri. I grabbed my duffle bag and threw a towel, some soap, my water bottle, a pair of jeans and a t-shirt inside. I took my keys and left my room. This was only the second week that I was back at the academy but I could already feel the change in my body. Thanks to these private lessons, I was back in shape and starting to catch up with the other novices. No matter how many times a day, I complained about these training sessions, I was grateful that Dimitri stood up for me and offered to help me.

I pushed the heavy door of the gym and was about to greet Dimitri when I realized that he was one the phone. I sat down on the floor next to him and put my bag on the bench. I couldn't help but eavesdrop on the conversation. I couldn't understand a thing since the conversation was in Russian. He was speaking with a woman and if I had to guess I would've said he was talking with his mom.

He shot me a quick look and I could tell by the tone of his voice that he was excusing himself and starting to end the conversation. A few seconds later he hung up. "You're here on time," he said as if it was something he thought would never happen.

"Good morning to you too," I said ironically, rolling my eyes. I stretched out my legs and reached out to my toes. "Was that your mother on the phone?" I quickly realized how indiscreet my question was and immediately regretted asking.

Though, Dimitri didn't seem to mind. "No, it was just a friend. I actually haven't spoken to my mother in a while," he said wistfully. I tried to picture Dimitri's mother.Somehow, I felt like Dimitri inherited his tall figure from his father, but she had the same eyes as Dimitri and the same silky light brown hair. And she was beautiful, just like her son.

"Me either," I said after a while. Dimitri looked up and started studyingme thoroughly. I wondered what he was seeing, how he was seeing me. Was I just a petty teenager who didn't know a thing about the real world but thought she knew everything, or was I a novice that had braved the outside world to protect her best friend in who he had seen some potential?

I suddenly felt stupid thinking that. What he thought of me shouldn't matter. Only, it did and I couldn't help but blush under his heavy gaze. There was something in Dimitri that made me feel strangely comfortable around him, as if I didn't need to pay attention to anything. We had almost nothing in common, but after only a week of knowing each other, of working together, I felt like we got along really well and even though our sessions were intense, I felt relaxed around him.

Dimitri looked away and we started our training with laps. No need to mention that I was the only one running. I hadn't gotten used to his weird 80s music and was still convinced he was the only one in the whole academy who owned all of a-ha's CDs.

After what seemed like an eternity, I finished my laps and we started working on the punching bags. I tied my hair up in a pony tail and started punching the bags like I'd done everyday for a week. I was concentrated on what I was doing but I could still see Dimitri shaking his head from the corner of my eye.

"Rose, stop," he said only a minute after I'd started. "Your position is wrong." He detached himself from the wall and came up to me. "Your feet have to be parallel to each other. Better," he added when I adjusted my feet. Without a warning, I felt his hands on my shoulders, sending chills down my spine. "Shoulders back," he said, oblivious to the fact that I had stopped breathing. His hands then slid down to my elbows, gently lifting them up. His touch was light and his fingers brushing against my skin were delicate and soft and I suddenlyfound myself wanting more.

Then, his hands left my arms and came to rest on my waist, slightly swinging it to the right. "Don't forget to keep your hips aligned with your shoulder and one of your fist must always protect your face," he said, softly. He was so close that I could feel his breath on my skin. I nodded slowly, unable to speak. I expected him to move away but he didn't. When I looked up, he plunged his eyes into mine and I was lost in an ocean of dark brown, once again taking my breath away. Was he feeling what I was feeling? I fought the envy to reach out and slide my fingers through his hair, no matter how much I wanted to.

Then, at the same time, we pulled away from each other and Dimitri cleared his throat. "Better. Much better," he said uneasily."Carry on."

+++

It was only when I slid into bed, at the end of the day, and found myself in the dark, that I allowed myself to think about what had happened in the gym. It felt as if my body was still frozen by his touch and my brain hadn't yet remembered how to breathe.

That night, I dreamed that Dimitri and I were humans, total strangers that met in a bar and I told myself that maybe in another life, we could've been the heroes of an epic love story. Maybe. Hopefully.

Hiiiiiii! I hope you liked this one-shot! It was very interesting to explore Rose's character as a novice and I personally wished we had more Romitri moments as novice/mentor in the first book when they were still only falling in love with each other. Anyways, tell me what you think and don't forget that requests are welcome! Love you!!!!!!