Set in Shadow Kiss, after the plane incident but before the attack on the academy.
Every single muscle in Dimitri's body locks up tight when the alarm starts to blare, loud and insistent, through St Vad's. It takes him a long moment, but he realises that it isn't a breachment alarm but a garden variety fire alarm. Not that that's any less worry-inducing, but he is at least able to breathe again.
Yuri, with whom Dimitri is in the middle of sharing a coffee, turns to him, eyebrow raised in something between genuine concern and exasperation. They know it's not a drill - they would have been alerted beforehand if it was - and it's likely due to a minor incident in one of the Moroi's magic classes. Regardless, they both set their coffee aside and are on their feet in an instant, heading towards the door.
"I swear if it ends up being one of those punk fire-users pulling a prank…" Yuri mutters under his breath before trailing off.
Dimitri forces himself to huff a breath of laughter. He knows logically that it probably is, just a joke or a classroom exercise that got a little out of hand, and yet he still can't find it in himself to unclench.
They emerge from the building and Alberta falls into step beside them, her quick pace meaning that she easily keeps up with Dimitri and Yuri both despite being nearly a foot shorter than them.
"Know what it is yet?" Dimitri asks, glancing sidelong at her.
"One of the magic classrooms?" Yuri interjects, but Alberta shakes her head grimly.
"Home ec."
Dimitri's blood instantly runs cold and he stumbles, mind running over Rose and Christian's schedule because of course even with her limited duty she's on today, and of course Christian has home ec class right now. He lengthens his stride, forcing Alberta and Yuri to practically jog to keep up and even that doesn't feel fast enough, not when every instinct he possesses is screaming at him to run.
When they finally make it up the stairs to the classroom they find the fire out and the room in a state of organised chaos, having been beaten there by half a dozen guardians as well as Dr. Olendzki. One guardian is standing at the front of the room with the teacher who is shaking her head, hand over her mouth, as though she can't quite comprehend what has just happened. The other guardians are checking the damage which seems contained to a large scorch mark on a wall near one of the stations. Most of the students are gathered in the back corner amusing themselves, but two are sitting apart with one being tended to by Dr. Olendzki.
When Dimitri sees who it is, he crosses the room in a handful of long strides, Alberta and Yuri on his heels.
"Roza," he says, the loving moniker coming out without even thinking as he touches her shoulder. "What happened?"
Rose glances up at him, seemingly unperturbed by both his worried expression and the fact that her arm is currently being examined by the doctor. She rolls her eyes half-heartedly, flicking a stray strand of hair out of her face. "Nothing, just the idiot behind us stopped paying attention to what he was doing and his damn station nearly exploded."
"Rose reacted so fast," Christian puts in, uncharacteristically impressed. "The flames were coming right at us and she shoved me out of the way."
Rose grins up at them, hiding a wince as Dr. Olendzki prods at her arm. "If only one of you guys had been around, you would have given me full marks for my response time."
"Is she alright?" Dimitri asks Dr. Olendzki, ignoring Rose's wisecracking.
"I'm fine-"
"Is she alright?" he asks again, a little more forcefully.
"Just a first degree burn, and a rather mild one at that," the doctor says, looking faintly amused.
She indicates a slightly red area on Rose's forearm, and, unable to help himself, Dimitri takes Rose's arm in his own hands, forcing himself to be gentle despite his haste, and looks for himself.
"I'll prescribe some burn cream to put on it, but that's more for her own comfort than anything else." Dr. Olendzki turns back to Rose. "I'll send some to your dorm later, okay? But come see me if the pain continues after three days."
Dr. Olendzki touches Rose's shoulder reassuringly and snaps her bag closed, nodding to Alberta before making her leave.
"You're done for today," Dimitri says instantly to Rose, who, predictably, opens her mouth to argue.
"No, come on, I'm fine."
"I said you're done."
"I'm on limited duty already, I need to be on today"
Alberta raises an eyebrow, glancing between them with a hint of surprise at their vehemence. Yuri coughs uncomfortably and excuses himself, while Christian, looking perplexed, also glances between them.
"You heard Guardian Belikov," Alberta says finally, putting an end to the argument. "He's responsible for you and he said you're done, so you're done. Go back to your room, Rose," she continues, voice softening a fraction. "Take the rest of the afternoon off and put some cream on that burn."
Rose still looks ready to argue but Alberta simply walks away, protests falling on deaf ears.
Christian clucks his tongue in vague sympathy. "Sucks, Rosie."
Rose directs a vulgar gesture towards him and Dimitri doesn't even have it in him to sigh at their bickering or reprimand her. "Come on," he says, touching the back of her shoulder to usher her out of the classroom.
"I really am fine, Comrade. You didn't need to do that," she sas as they walk down the hallway, frowning when she doesn't respond. "Hey, what's up?"
Dimitri merely shakes his head, unable to describe the level of panic that had swept over him when he'd realised she might be in trouble. The panic that seems only inches away lately with everything that's been going on and the constant reminders of how easily she could be taken away from him.
"Seriously," she says, stopping and grabbing his arm to force him to do the same. "You're worrying me now."
Dimitri takes her by the elbow, gentle and mindful of her burn and pulls her into a forgotten alcove, where he brackets her against the wall, hands on either side of her head. "Tell me the truth," he says, staring intently into her eyes. "Are you alright?"
"Yes," she says, her voice sure, all lingering traces of amusement vanishing. "I'm okay."
The air leaves Dimitri in a rush and his eyes slide shut as he leans forward to rest his forehead against hers.
"Hey," she whispers, hand coming up to rest lightly against his cheek, fingers tapping out a nervous, staccato rhythm, the only sign that he's still worrying her. "What's wrong? I'm okay."
I know, he wants to say. He wants to say but can't because he doesn't know if she really is these days. He doesn't know if she's okay because she seems to have all these hurts that he can't do anything to fix. These hurts that he would do anything to fix but doesn't know how.
And so, because it's the only thing he can do, instead of answering his hand comes up to cover hers still against his face and he turns his head to press a kiss against her burn, lips so achingly gentle that it makes Rose sigh. Because he might not be able to fix all her hurts, but he can kiss this one and make it a little better.
holy crap, two updates in three days? who is this productive bitch? couldn't be me. truthfully this update would have been out last night but uh i was drinking and did not trust myself to finish editing and post it lmao. that being said, i hope you like it, i've had this idea in my head for a while and it actually turned out way longer and kind of angstier than i originally had intended but i kinda dig it ngl. hope you liked it as well and please comment letting me know what you thought.
also, i really don't like doing this, but to the guest reviewer who commented on the casting of zoey deutch in the va movie, i would really prefer you didn't talk about her body in the way that you did, especially because zoey has come out and talked about how the va fandom talked about her body in a way that made her feel really uncomfortable. and that's not something i want to encourage in the review section of my fics. everyone has their own opinion about the movie (and now the tv show i'm sure) and i'm happy for you all to express how you feel i would just ask that you think twice about the language you're using in doing so. i hope you can understand where i'm coming from and continue to enjoy my fics.
stay kind everyone xx