Moving Objects

Chapter 26

"Much better Christmas than last year," Dimitri said so quietly that he could have just been saying it to himself. I nodded against his chest and kissed the warm skin beneath my cheek. The stillness and quietness in the air made our breathing sound so much louder when a hissing noise broke the almost silence.

The hot water tank. I sat up a bit and smirked at DImitir when the realization crossed his features too.

"The hot water must be on the emergency generator," I said, momentarily dreaming about being under the hot spray.

"Which one of us is going to brave the cold to check if there is hot water first?"

Realistically, it was cold in here, not quite freezing temperature but close. Dimitri smirked at me before gripping me tight against him and pulling us both out of the warm bed and into the cold. I shrieked and clung to him as we walked to the bathroom, his chuckle ringing in my ear.

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I raised my brows at him, thinking that I was hallucinating his request.

"You want to go to the gym?" I repeated back, wrapping my mind around it. Dimitri nodded as he pulled a t-shirt over his head before pulling on a pair of sweatpants. I slid out of bed and did the same, pulling on a bra and shirt, stumbling around to find a pair of pants. Dimitri smirked and went into the bathroom to brush his teeth. I fumbled around to get ready and joined him in the bathroom, brushing quickly.

We headed over to the gym hand in hand when I remember that this was prime time for the gym. I didn't know how he would handle that, but we were about to find out. Dimitri opened the door for me and I smiled up at him, stretching up on my toes to kiss his cheek in passing. I quickly got went to the change and met Dimitri back and stood in front of him.

"Ready?" I asked. Dimitri took a deep breath and nodded. I strode in ahead of him, catching Eddie's eye coincidentally and frowned before nodding in understanding. I turned as Dimitri walked in too and I could feel the tension in the room change. The room went from being loud to dead quiet aside from the music.

"Spar after warm-up?" Dimitri asked quietly, his eyes surveying the room. I nodded my head and started on my warm-up, eager to get to my favourite part of training. Dimitri did well to ignore the stares and those whose eyes lingered too long, I glared at them until it made them uncomfortable. One guy even got a smack in the back of the head from Eddie when he wouldn't take the hint.

Now that our warmups were done, I excitedly dragged Dimitri to the mats set out for sparring. I gave him a cheeky smile as we got on the matt and I faced him, taking a defensive position. I could hear the other Guardians whispering to each other over Dimitri making an appearance here, but I paid no mind to them. This was about Dimitri getting back into a normal routine.

Sparring with Dimitri had always be cathartic and I could see small bits of weight falling from his shoulders the longer we spar. Dimitri's fist came down over my chest, resting over my heart. My chest rose rapidly with my laboured breath and I gave him a shaky smirk as my head thumped down on the matt. Dimitri's breath was heavy like mine and he rolled off of me, resting beside me on the matt.

"You...really...made me...work...for that one," Dimitri panted as his hand intertwined with mine. I chuckled and nodded my head as I tried to control my breathing.

"I couldn't just give it to you," I replied as a person loomed over us, extending their hands. I squinted to see and smirked to find Eddie standing above me. Dimitri and I both extended hands and pulled ourselves up, starting to stretch our warm muscles.

"I haven't seen two people spar like that in a long time," Eddie said, handing me a water bottle.

"I haven't sparred with anyone like that in a long time. I feel a little out of practice," I joked giving Dimitri a tender look. Dimitri rolled his eyes and wiped his face with the towel from his bag when one of the watching Guardians approached.