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We belong together

Chapter 57: We belong together

Dick slept well last night, better than he had in days. Yesterday's events were a vague memory as he slowly began to open his eyes. Once he blinked a few times to clear his eyesight he took in his surroundings and he instantly knew he wasn't in his bedroom. The room he was in now had light green painted walls and a mahogany bookshelf and desk. On top of the desk was a television and it in perfect alignment with the bed. Dick recognized this room. It was the guest room to Kori's house...

"Oh boy..."

The memories all came rushing back to him. All of them. He remembered the argument he had with Kori and his secret being exposed. He remembered the painful slap and the promise he made to Kori. Dick sighed, he hoped he would be able to keep that promise, he never wanted to cause Kori pain ever again. His thoughts went to the red-head and he wondered about her whereabouts.

"Probably downstairs." he said to himself as he got out of bed and slipped on his sunglasses which were resting on the night stand next to the bed. Dick saved a lot of time getting downstairs since he was already dressed. He had slept in his jeans and socks but not in his shirt. For some reason sleeping without a shirt on was a habit of his.

As he reached downstairs he made his way over to the kitchen and stepped inside. Kori was already there, just like he predicted she would be. She was sitting at the kitchen table with her face buried in her hands and her elbows resting on the table. Her hair fell over like a curtain and shielded her away from his gaze.

"Kori."

Upon hearing his voice Kori instantly looked up. Kori could feel her cheeks burn red as she saw Dick was missing his shirt. "Hey... I didn't expect you to be up so soon."

Dick gave short noise of agreement and sat opposite of her at the kitchen table. Things were quiet and awkward.

"Are you hungry? I have some cereal if you like. Or would you prefer to fix something for yourself?" Kori asked.

"No, cereal is fine." Dick said as he began to stand up. Kori stopped him.

"No, sit. I'll do it." she said and she went to collect the necessary things for eating cereal.

Out of the corner of his eyes Dick looked at Kori as she reached for the cereal. She was wearing pajama checker-styled pants and a loose t-shirt. As her arm reached upwards the sleeve rolled down and Dick caught sight of her bruised arm. Guilt surged through him and he looked away. Before he knew it a bowl was being placed in front of him filled with cereal along with a spoon. Kori sat opposite of him and smiled.

"Well, eat up!" she said cheerfully though the cheerfulness seemed to be a forced.

Dick raised the spoon to his mouth but placed it back down with a sigh. "Kori, we need to talk."

Kori sighed and put her spoon down as well. "Yeah, we do."

"I just wanted to say I'm sorry about hurting you," he said as he looked over at her arm. "I didn't mean-"

"I know," Kori interrupted. "It's ok. It barely even hurts anymore. Besides, I guess we're even now since I slapped you."

"Um... one more thing," Dick said quietly. "About yesterday. I didn't mean what I said, you know, when I basically called you a slut. I'm sorry."

Kori sighed and turned her spoon around in circles in her cereal. She stopped and looked up at him. "We both said some things we weren't proud of. We were both angry and... Let's just put it all behind us."

"Yeah, you're right." Dick said in agreement.

"I spoke with Bruce last night after you fell asleep." Kori said after a long pause.