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“Does that…actually taste good?” Dick asked skeptically.
Kori’s pizza had at least fifteen different toppings. The pizza was so loaded that the cheese wasn’t even visible.
"I love Earth food!" Kori said and took another bite.
Dick had three younger brothers – and Stephanie – so he was used to disgusting food, but Kori’s taste in pizza rivaled anything Dick had seen his siblings eat.
Kori and Dick were in Dick’s Bludhaven apartment. Kori had been off-world for over two months, so they were catching up and enjoying each other’s company outside of missions. It made Dick nostalgic for their Teen Titans days, where they’d just hang out together.
Kori cocked her head to the side. “Is that my sweatshirt?”
Dick glanced down and blushed. He was wearing a worn Wonder Girl sweatshirt that definitely wasn’t his. Donna would never let him live it down if Dick owned anything with her face on it. “Sorry. I didn’t notice. It must’ve gotten mixed up with my laundry somehow.”
That was a lie. Before she’d left Earth, Dick had snuck a few shirts and sweatshirts from her closet. It was creepy – stalkerish, really – but wearing them almost made it feel like she was there with him.
“I don’t mind,” Kori said. She rested a hand on his shoulder. “I like seeing you in my clothes. It reminds me of the old days. You were always stealing my things.”
Dick’s face burned even hotter. “Bruce never let me bring anything but my Robin suit, and your stuff always fit best.”
She tugged lightly at the sweatshirt. “Still a little loose though.”
“Callin’ me short?” Dick said, grinning.
He elbowed her gently. She shoved him back and laughed as he almost toppled over. “I believe you are the one who said it,” she teased.
“Oh, it’s on.”
Dick set outside his plate and pushed Kori off the couch. She grabbed him, taking him down with her. She cushioned their fall with her body and then rolled him over on his back. They play wrestled, until Kori inevitably won, pinning him to the ground. She was straddling his hips and holding his hands over his head.
“Do you yield, Nightwing?” she said.
As she leaned over him, her hair cascaded down, acting like a curtain, so that all he could see was her. Dick laughed, a little breathless. “Never.”
He tried to flip them over again, but she was too strong. “Always so stubborn,” she said affectionately. “We seem to be at an impasse.”
“I’ll show you my secret gummy bear stash if you let me up,” Dick bargained.
“Your sweets are hidden in an empty cereal box on your fridge,” Kori said, eyes sparkling.
“Have you been snooping around in my apartment?” Dick said. “Not even Wally can find my secret stash, and he can be more sugar-obsessed than me.”
“Perhaps I know you better than you think,” Kori said. “I like this idea, though – a trade. I will release you with your honor intact, and you will give me something in return.”
“I think it’s a little too late for my honor, but what do you have in mind?” Dick said. “My secret skittles stash? A ride on the Wingcycle? An annoying little brother? I have three – I could probably spare one. Bruce might not even notice.”
“No, I have another idea.” Kori looked uncharacteristically uncertain. “Earth customs are strange to me, but I believe that to initiate courtship, you must agree to a date.”
“A date?” Dick echoed, wide-eyed.
“Yes,” Kori said. “On Tamaran, I would prove my strength by sparring with a chosen member of your family. If your family approved, we would court for a few weeks and then wed. I know that it is different here, and so I will follow your customs to make you mine.”
“Yours?” Dick said.
His heart was beating wildly in his chest, pumping blood into his face, making it fiery hot. He struggled to process her words. Her affectionate gaze held him still him even more than her physical hold on him.
“Mine,” Kori said. “It angers me when others treat you like theirs. I wish for you to be mine alone. Donna tells me that you can refuse my offer of date, but I would not force you regardless. I will release for a date, but if you would rather, I would settle for your secret skittle stash.”
“Oh,” Dick said. It was hard to have this conversation with her on top of him. He couldn’t look away from her searching eyes. “I, um…What does that mean? For you? If I was…yours?”
“On Tamaran, it would mean our families joined and the prospect of children. We would defend our people together,” Kori said. “On Earth, we are given the luxury of love, so I would ask that neither of us have any other lovers. Our intimacy would be ours alone. I have observed that relationships here move at a slower pace. You are worth waiting for, so that is all I ask for now. Later, I would wish to live together and share a bed. Eventually I would ask to formalize our relationship under Earth law.”
“By intimacy, do you mean sex?” Dick asked. Everything hinged on the answer.
“Donna has informed that sex repulses you,” Kori said. “Our intimacy should not include anything that causes such discomfort. Even in my own language, I do not know how to describe what I mean. Perhaps I could show you?”
“Y-yeah.”
She released his wrists but still stayed above him. She cupped face with her hands and gently kissed his forehead, holding her lips there for a long moment. She then threaded her fingers in his hair and pressed their foreheads together. She gazed into his eyes, and he couldn’t look away, enraptured by the love and softness that he saw. Dick felt lightheaded but in good way.
“You are perfect,” she murmured, her breath light on his face.
Dick struggled to breathe. He wanted to squirm away but also wanted to never leave – to stay the center of her attention and revel in the overwhelming warmth of her touch.
“Will you be mine?” she asked.
It took Dick a few seconds to remember how to speak. “Yeah,” he said. “Yeah, I’ll be yours.”