The quiet rustle of clothing and movement wakes Rose, slowly and then all at once. It's instinct that has her reaching one hand under her pillow and curling it around the handle of her stake, but it's also instinct, this one of an entirely different nature, that has her other hand snaking across the sheets, seeking out her boyfriend's warm body. She blinks and groans when she comes up empty, and the rustling stops.

"'mitri?" she grumbles and she's answered with a low, husky laugh.

"Shh, go back to sleep," he says, and a phantom hand pulls the blankets higher over her body and smoothes back her hair. She catches his hand in the darkness, bringing it to her lips so she can kiss it gently.

"Where are you going?" she murmurs against his warm skin.

His fingers dance across her face, tracing it reverently before withdrawing. Knowing that there's no danger, her body sinks back into the mattress but rather than drifting off again, she finds herself blinking through the grogginess, searching him out in the darkness.

"I've got a shift."

Rose grumbles her disapproval and that chuckles comes again, washing over her like she's sitting near a warm fire. Dimitri shifts, and a lone beam of sunlight that's made it past their blackout curtains catches the side of his face in it's glow, illuminating the strands of his hair and it's thousand colours: umber, chestnut, ochre, chocolate, russet. She's run her hands through that hair a million times before, did so when they fell into bed together just a few hours ago, and the memory of it's silky texture brings a sleepy smile to her lips.

He ducks his head to fiddle with his belt and the light glances off his shoulders, shoulders that she loves to run her hands over and press kisses to the taught skin of. She wants to go to him, stand in front of him and slide the belt back out of the loops. She wants to draw him back into bed with her, to twine their bodies together, and fall back asleep within his embrace.

"But I'm cold," she says, as though that fact alone is enough to stop him from going to work.

His face turns towards her and she loses it in the darkness, but she can imagine the slightly raised eyebrow and skeptical expression. "I can get you another blanket," he says finally, voice flat and it makes her smile again.

"Not the same," she says into her pillow.

Because it's really not. Somehow piling another blanket over her can never compare to the sensation of being curled around her boyfriend, who Rose swears up and down perpetually runs a few degrees warmer than everyone else. Being near Dimitri is like being caught in a ray of sunlight; his smile that makes her feel as though she's just drunk a mug of hot chocolate, hands that are big and warm that glide over her skin, a love that envelopes her so completely that it makes her want to never leave it's embrace. Dimitri is the sun that Rose instinctively leans towards.

Did you guys know that roses grow towards the sunlight? That was the inspo for that final line. This is just a soft little moment, which isn't that original I guess but I like these soft moments between Romitri. Hope you all enjoyed it xx