Hey guys! I've gotten tired of doing sappy stories so I thought I'd write something a little more cheery. This will be a collection of one-shots, mostly about Rose and Dimitri. I might have few different characters though, depending on whether or not they let me in their heads : ) Read and enjoy!

The Race - Part One

My breathing was ragged. My pulse uncontrollable. The things this man could to me, and he wasn't even shirtless.

We'd just made our way back to the gym after having finished all of my twelve laps around the track. This time however, Dimitri had decided to run with me. Do you know how unbelievably cruel it is to have to get up every freaking morning to run twelve laps around a stupid track, on your own? Well I guess this morning he was feeling sympathetic – or maybe he was just bored –because when I got to the field I found him warming up and doing stretches. He was wearing a pair of black sweatpants and a grey sweatshirt, his hair was pulled back as usual but the grin he wore on his face added a lightness that usually wasn't there. He seemed very happy this morning and I was determined to find out why.

"Finally get bored of those Westerns, Belikov?" I shouted, I still hadn't quite reached him.

He turned around and shook his head disapprovingly. I guess it was a bit early to be yelling. I jogged up to where he was and started doing stretches of my own. Dimitri just looked at me for a moment before shaking his head again and muttering something in Russian. At least I think it was in Russian.

"Oh, Rose. What am I going to do with you?"

I turned around and smiled, "Not make me do laps?"

It was a long-shot but I had to give it a try. I knew running laps was for my own good, as well as Lissa's, but there was only so much I could handle. If he even tried to yell at me about my time again, I was going to sock him in the eye. It was bad enough that I had to be out of bed even before the sun had fully set, Dimitri was always going on about how long it took me to run those twelve stupid laps. Why don't you try it sometime? Not that easy.

"No, it's for your own good. Trust me," he said sternly.

"Haven't I run enough already? Not even the track team runs this much," I whined. I was seriously not in the mood to run today.

"Rose, the track team's never going to need to run for their lives' the way you might. You need this. Now stop whinging and start running. You're wasting practice time with the dummies."

My mood totally just hit rock bottom. Not only did I have to run but instead of sparring with Dimitri, I was going to be beating up a bunch of dummies. Whoopee for me

I started jogging at a steady pace, keeping my breathing controlled. Dimitri came up beside me, slowing his pace to match my own. We stayed like this for a few laps but he eventually got tired of my speed and started to jog ahead, I groaned. He was going to start with the yelling again.

"Rose, pick up your pace. My grandmother can run faster than that!" He shouted. He was already a good 50 feet away.

I must have woken up on the wrong side of the bed this morning because Dimitri was seriously grating on my last nerve.

"Shut the fuck up, Belikov!" I yelled back. He stopped in tracks, clearly shocked by what I'd just said. I took my sweet time getting to him and when I'd passed by he was still rooted to his spot.

Feeling proud of myself, I began running at a full sprint. It wasn't after a few minutes that I realized Dimitri still hadn't joined me and that I was alone. I glanced back around expecting to see him still rooted to his spot but was surprised when I crashed face first into his chest. Dimitri stumbled backwards, not expecting me stop; I on the other hand ungracefully fell on my ass. I yelped as the cold, hard ground made contact with my behind. Dimitri, who had just balanced himself, looked down at me and pursed his lips. I thought he was angry but only realized after he'd helped me up that he was holding back his laughter. His shoulders were shaking and he wore a shit-eating grin.

"Are you laughing at me?" I asked him angrily.

Dimitri just laughed one of his very rare carefree laughs. Nine times out of ten, I would have loved to hear this sound. Right now I just wanted to punch him.

"Rose, Rose, Rose," was all he said. Or all he could say.

He was laughing so hard that I thought I saw a tear rolling down his cheek. I stormed off and began running again. He might be the hottest person to have ever set foot on the Earth but there was nothing to stop my fist from connecting with any part of his body. I'd almost finished my eleventh lap when I felt his hands on my shoulders. I tried to shrug them away but he just tightened his grip. I turned around, praying that my face wasn't sweaty and red.

"What?" I snapped. I didn't exactly enjoy being laughed at, especially not by him.

He looked down at me and smiled, I frowned in return. Dimitri lifted my chin and looked me straight in the eyes, "I am sorry for laughing at you," he said. My heart melted at his sincerity. He really did look like he meant it.

"Okay."

There was no way I could ever really stay angry with him. He made it impossible, with those brown eyes and soft lips. Staring at his lips, I found myself fantasizing all the ways he could make it up to me. Dimitri he cleared his throat, I blushed and looked up into his eyes. I could tell that he'd been watching me while I watched him and he probably had a pretty good idea about what I'd been thinking about. He smiled again and I couldn't help but smile myself.

"Race me?" I challenged, trying to switch subjects. He was also in a good mood today but I wanted to see exactly how good.

"What do you get out of it?" he asked suspiciously.

I pretended to be offended, "I'm glad you think so highly of me, Dimitri."

He shook his head, "I know you too well, Roza," he answered. He must be in a really good mood because he was calling me 'Roza' which was name in Russian. He only ever used it when he was feeling particularly affectionate.

I smiled innocently and batted my eye lashes. "If I win, no laps for a week and no Zen lessons for a month," I said.

Dimitri looked serious for a moment. I thought he might have been considering my offer but instead he totally shot me down.

"I can't allow that Rose. You need do to these laps. Don't you remember my first lesson?"

I groaned, he was in ful mentor mode again. No more fun for me, I guess.

"Oh come one, Comrade! It's not like I'd actually beat you anyway. Plus if you win, I won't complain about doing laps for a month and I'll even let you play your weird music during training."

He smiled but I thought he was going to say no again. Instead he nodded and shook my hand. I looked at him, looking for any sign indicating he was only joking. All I saw was one very happy looking Russian.

"Are you coming then?" he grinned as he started to make his way to the start line.

-x-

The suspense! Who do you think will win? Who would you like to win? Fingers crossed, I'll be posting part 2 by the end of the weekend. So tell me what you think because reviews are like the highlght of my day.

uncomplicatedButterFLY