This one's for yunacarman!
Drabble:148
"Rose".
Dimitri uttered just her name, but he managed to pack an entire message within it-a message mostly radiating disapproval and exasperation.
Normally, Rose was good at reading his subliminal messages, but today it left her puzzled. She hadn't done anything recently to warrant either disapproval or exasperation from her mentor. You know, other than being a brat to Stan and being generally late for practice.
She turned towards him from the water-filter, where she had been refilling her water-bottle, ready to protest innocence, but the words got stuck in her throat when she saw what he was holding in his hands.
"No", she replied firmly, inching away from him. "Oh, no you don't, Comrade"
"Rose", Dimitri sighed again, the frustration in his voice almost tangible, but Rose was undeterred. There was no way she'd take…that thing, not even from Dimitri.
"Can you stop behaving as if I'm trying to hand you rat poison or something?", he said, when she started swatting at his outstretched hand with her bottle.
"Nope", she replied succinctly, wary eyes fixed onto the object in his hand. "There's no handing going on, because I'm not taking it"
"You will", Dimitri affirmed resolutely. "Rose, it's for your own good"
"Don't you dare use the trust-me-I'm-awesome voice on me, not for that.", she replied, pointing a finger towards the box in his hand.
"It won't kill you"
"You don't know that", she shot back. "I'm not having that, never have, never will, so take it away. This is so not happening"
Dimitri looked at her calculatingly a moment before sighing. "What if….I share, with you?"
"Come again?"
"Rose", Dimitri replied softly, pinning her with his eyes.
"Will you get me chocolate doughnut afterwards?", Rose hedged, torn between fleeing for the hills or accepting Dimitri's offer and spending some more time with him.
"If that's what it takes, sure"
"2. I want two doughnuts", Rose demanded.
"Follow me", Dimitri replied with a small smile, happy that he'd accomplished this mission that Alberta had entrusted to him.
Meanwhile, Lissa was searching for Rose in the cafeteria.
When she didn't appear after fifteen more minutes, Lissa became concerned (it was lunchtime, and Rose was missing…that couldn't be normal). She started asking around after Rose and when Meredith said she thought she saw Rose following Dimitri towards the gym, Lissa set off towards that building, after sweet-talking the lunch-lady into packing a box with fries and nuggets for her (read, for Rose).
She saw Dimitri first-thanks to his height-sitting on the grass, and perusing a battered book. And sitting next to him was Rose, who was….
"You're eating a salad", Lissa choked out, eyes bugging out.
"I'm aware", Rose said drily, sparing an irritated glance towards her mentor, who greeted Lissa by closing his book and bowing to her with a mumbled 'Princess Dragomir'.
"No, you're eating a salad. With actual vegetables in it. I don't think you've done that…ever", Lissa replied incredulously. "And please Dimitri, call me Lissa"
"He convinced me", Rose replied darkly. "Which reminds me, your turn", she said, shoving the box towards Dimitri.
"How?", Lissa asked, genuinely curious, watching as Dimitri picked up the fork from the box and shoveled some greens into his mouth.
"He used the puppy-dog eyes on me", Rose rolled her eyes, sticking out her tongue at Dimitri; who, after eating another mouthful, handed the carton to Rose.
"I think I might need to sit down", Lissa said faintly, making the dhampirs laugh.
Lissa watched the camaraderie between her two future-guardians and the ease with which they interacted, and felt happy that Rose had found such a good friend in Dimitri.
"Actually, I gotta go", Lissa said, feeling the heat of the sun, even through her umbrella. "Christian", she clarified, when Rose opened her mouth to ask. "But here. I brought you some junk-food"
"Mine!", Rose screamed, snatching the box and holding it away from Dimitri, making both him and Lissa smile.
"Oh, Roza", Dimitri replied fondly, with a headshake, picking up her discarded salad-box. "Would you require an escort, Princess?"
"No, thank you", Lissa replied, smiling at Rose, who was shoveling fires into her mouth. "Goodbye"
After Dimitri nodded and Rose grunted a goodbye, Lissa set off towards the chapel.
A glance back showed Dimitri and Rose laughing together, and miracle of all miracles, Rose accepting the forkful of salad Dimitri offered her.
This didn't quite go how I wanted it to, but viola!
Thank you for reading, guys! If you liked this moment, don't forget to review.
Also, thank you RoseLissaBelikova and VA Lover for your reviews!
Cheers!