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It wasn’t terribly uncommon for Kory to disappear for hours at a time when they were living in the tower, but once they began to live together in a considerably smaller location, Dick began noticing she spent a lot of her free time in the bathroom.
Their water bill was much higher than Dick had expected when they first moved in together, but he hadn’t really worried about it all that much. Given the sheer amount of hair Kory had, it made sense that she would spend a little extra time in the shower.
Looking back, Dick wondered how he never realized that Kory almost always smelled good. He supposed that he just assumed Tamaraneans had no body odor, but he had seen Kory after a hard fight or workout and she definitely sweat and definitely could smell sweaty.
It was nice living with someone who always smelled pleasant and clean, never overwhelmingly strong like a perfume, but rather just an aura of fresh floral scents, definitely not like used socks and onion breath, like some other people Dick had previously lived with. The type of scent Kory carried with her seemed to vary sometimes, which Dick could only determine on certain occasions.
It never crossed his mind to ask what she did to smell so nice all the time, it would’ve felt like looking a gift horse in the mouth. Honestly, he was perfectly content to just enjoy his life with his nice-smelling girlfriend, but of course he was going to find out sooner or later.
Tuesday nights had naturally become a time for them to set aside to spend with each other, and on this one Tuesday night in particular, Dick was looking forward to a night in with Kory. It was raining outside, unsurprising for San Francisco, and their speaker was playing a playlist that Dick had specifically made for his nights in with Kory. It was a lot of laid-back love songs, ones with sappy lyrics and slow rhythms. Kory loved the playlist and insisted he play it whenever appropriate.
Dick was settling down on their couch, phone in hand, when he heard the water running in their bathroom. He sat and listened for a while, before eventually getting up and heading to the bathroom to join her.
They were no strangers to shower sex, it was relatively common for one of them to jump into a shower the other was taking and initiate some intimacy. However, when Dick opened the bathroom door, he saw his girlfriend disrobing by the filling bathtub, rather than the shower.
Kory looked up when he entered, “Hello, my love.”
“Hey,” Dick looked over at the tub, where the water was a soft pink color, “Do you mind if I join you?”
Kory stood up fully to look at him. She was only partially undressed, down to her underwear with her bra hanging, unclasped, by her shoulders. It seemed as though she was in very deep thought, considering her answer to Dick’s question, which struck him as rather odd. It was uncommon for Kory to turn down any of Dick’s offers for intimacy, and on the rare occasion she did it was usually much more firm and decisive. This time, however, she paused for what felt like a long while. She looked at the bath, almost halfway full now, down at the floor, and then back at him.
“Yes.”
The force of her response took him off guard. Dick blinked, “Are you sure? You seem...uncertain.”
She took a few steps towards him, placing a hand on his chest, “I am sure. I was not sure if we were ready for a Hyj’ea, but I think we are now.”
Dick brought his hand to his own chest to place it over hers, “A hygea?”
“Hyj’ea, a bath shared by lovers.”
“Why wouldn’t we be ready?”
She looked away, biting her lip in thought, “I suppose it is more, well, serious on Tamaran. More a display of commitment,” her eyes returned to his, “A display of pure love.”
He grinned, taking a slight step closer so he was almost touching her, still holding her hand firmly to his chest, “Well, then it’s a good thing I love you. A lot. Purely, even.”
Kory couldn’t help but grin back, laughter in her eyes, “Then take off your clothes, my darling.”
The speed with which he discarded his shirt and pants made Kory snort a laugh into her hand as she took off her remaining garments. She stood by the now filled tub and turned off the water spout.
Once Dick had completely disrobed, he stepped forward to meet her. He began to swing a leg into the tub but Kory stopped him with a gentle hand on his hip.
“No, we do it together.”
“You gotta tell me these things, babe, I’m flying blind here.”
She smiled, “Sorry. I’m just a bit nervous.”
“No need to be nervous, Star,” he cupped her chin in his hand, pulling her in so he could plant a kiss on her lips. She firmly kissed him back, briefly lingering there before taking both his hands and nodding once.
Together they stepped into the tub. It was a fairly large bathtub, it was even pointed out by the real estate agent specifically when they first looked at this apartment together. It was nicely situated in the corner of the room and could easily fit two fully grown people. Given that Kory was a bit larger than the average fully grown human, they had to stay pretty close to one another, but really that was more a perk than anything.
They sat facing each other, their legs tangled together, submerged in the pink water. Kory looked beautiful in the low light of the bathroom, her submerged hair floating around them. She looked him in the eyes, their green casting a faint glow, and their hands found one another and linked under the water. Dick had found that the brightness of her eyes often correlated directly to her mood, so he took this as a good sign.
The water itself was warm if not bordering on slightly too hot, definitely a temperature that Kory would enjoy, and had a slight pink tint to it, as well as a spattering of bubbles across the surface. He smiled as he let go of one of her hands to scoop up a handful, “I see you got out the bubble bath that Raven got you.”
Kory grinned, “I love it, Earth is the first place I’ve seen anything like it.”
She also used her free hand to scoop and swirl the bubbles a bit, relishing the texture.
Kory had a couple items placed next to the tub on a nearby countertop that Dick hadn’t previously noticed, too distracted by his naked girlfriend. The items included a wide-tooth comb, some kind of washcloth, and what looked like a small decorative cup. There were also more normal things there like a bottle of conditioner, a bottle of body oil, and a bottle of body wash.
“What else did you put in the water?”
“Special bath salts I get from home. Though, I have found that certain Earth substances act very similar,” she pursed her lips in thought, “So I may give up importing them all the way here and just use those instead.”
Dick nodded, “It sure smells nice.”
“That’s the idea.”
They sat there for a couple more long moments, simply looking at one another and enjoying the warmth of the water, before Dick spoke again, “So, are there specific things we do during this? Or do I just get to look at your beautiful face?”
Anytime Dick could get Kory to blush was counted as a win for him, and this case was no different. She turned her head away slightly, a bashful smile on her face, “We’re supposed to wash each other. Our hair especially.”
She turned then, grabbing the cup, comb, and the conditioner. She slowly handed them all to him, allowing for him to place them one at a time on the tub’s edge as needed.
Dick looked down at the comb in his hand, “So, I just...comb your hair?”
Kory’s expression tightened for a moment, giving Dick the distinct sense that he said something wrong, but she just gently corrected him, “It’s much more than that. It’s a promise that you’ll take care of me always. And it’s my way of showing you that I trust you with my whole being.”
He nodded, his face taking on a much more focused look. She then shifted herself around in the tub so that she was facing away from him, giving him full access to her impressive mane of hair. Dick picked up the cup and began to scoop water up to pour gently down her hair, wetting it as best as he can.
“When you comb my hair, it’s like you are entrusted with my safety. You are mine and I am yours.”
The tenderness of her words, the vulnerability he heard there compelled him to learn forward and press a few kisses to her shoulder before resuming his task of wetting her hair, “So, in a way, it’s a way of saying I love you.”
“More than that. It’s a way of saying that you will always love me.”
Dick hesitated a moment before quickly recovering and wrapping his arms around her middle, taking her slightly off guard based on her slight flinch, “I will always love you, Koriand’r. It will be an honor to comb your hair.”
Kory smiled, squeezing his arms with her hands, “I will always love you too, Dick Grayson.”
With that, Dick continued to scoop cupfulls of water and pour them over her hair, using his hands to tilt her head back when appropriate. Her curls seemed to shrink in on themselves when wet, becoming flatter to her head. Once her hair was completely damp, he pumped a small amount of conditioner into his hand and began to rub it into her red locks.
What he quickly discovered, however, was that a small amount of conditioner was not nearly enough for Kory’s hair. He pumped a much more substantial quantity of conditioner into his hand and once again went about evenly coating her hair. At times, he had to lay her hair over her shoulder to keep it from dangling in the water. Luckily, Kory would assist him, holding her hair when he was done coating it in product.
Then, starting at the end, Dick began to comb through it using the wide-tooth comb. Her hair was impressively untangled, something that surprised him initially. The comb flowed easily through the auburn strands, a kind of warmth emanating from the hair. He slowly dragged the comb across the section of hair and then let his hand follow. Once the section was thoroughly combed out, free of any tangles whatsoever, he let it gently fall into the bath water and started in on the next section.
“Is this something you do often? Take baths, I mean.”
She nodded, “Yes, keeping clean is very important in my culture. I also use certain oils on my skin to keep them hydrated and smelling nice.”
“Do I get to rub oil on you too, is that a part of the deal?”
“Depends on how well you do this part.”
He dove back into his work, enthusiastically combing, making her laugh. Kory then closed her eyes, letting her head tip back slightly, enjoying the sensation of the comb tugging on her hair until the knot gently resolved. She sighed, slowly trailing her fingers across the bottom of the tub.
It took a long while for Dick to comb through all her hair, putting love into each stroke of the comb and really making sure it was all detangled and smooth. By the time he had finished, the water had cooled slightly, leaving it more warm and less hot. He finished the final pulls near her scalp, gently using his hand to tilt her head as was needed, and then slowly put the comb back down.
“How was that?” A big part of him was worried to hear her answer, but nonetheless, “Did I do it right?”
Kory quickly turned around in the tub, splashing water onto the floor, and pressed her lips to his in a heated kiss. Her hands landed on his shoulders, pulling him closer to her. She sat in his lap, kissing him and holding him, while he kissed her back with just as much fire and wound his arms around her waist. After a couple more moments of passionate kissing, Kory leaned back, softly exhaling.
“I assume that means I did a good job, right?”
She laughed, tilting their foreheads together, “A wonderful job, my love.”
“Good, that’s good,” Dick brought up a hand to cup her cheek gently, “I didn’t expect to enjoy that as much as I did.”
Kory nodded, and began to reassemble the supplies, “Now it is my turn.”
Given that his hair was significantly shorter than hers, he was able to remain facing her while she first dampened and then combed through his hair. She poured a generous amount of conditioner into her hair and then reached up and began to massage it into his hair.
Even without the extra length, Kory managed to fit just as much love into the work as Dick had, tenderly smoothing his hair down with her hand after she combed it. Occasionally, she pressed kisses across his face and head, on his ears, near his neck, on his jaw, and more. She worked diligently, leaving no hair uncombed, no part of his face unkissed. Dick left his hands on her waist, watching the subtle twitches in her expression when she hit a snag or right before she leaned in to kiss his cheek.
At a certain point, Dick simply leaned in and began to kiss her. He pressed kisses to her neck as she tried to finish combing his hair, and made a trail of kisses down her neck and then back up again on the other side. Once she had deemed her work complete, she tossed the comb aside and leaned into him, arching her head back to expose more of her neck for him to kiss.
“So,” he kissed the place where her neck met her shoulder, “What do we do next?”
“Next, you will take me to bed and you will rub the oil into my skin.”
He drew away for a moment, looking contently at her flushed face, before leaning back in to nip at her earlobe, “Is this still a part of the display of affection? Because babe, I have a lot of affection to display for you.”
She smiled and wrapped her arms around his shoulders, letting him pick her up, out of the tub, and into a soft towel. He gently toweled the both of them dry, Kory leaning her head on his shoulder and allowing him to pamper her for a long couple of moments. Then, she pressed a kiss to his head and softly murmured into his ear, “Thank you for doing this with me. It means more than you may ever know.”
He paused his toweling to briefly lean back and look her in the eyes, “I love you Kory, more than anything. And anything I have to do to show you that, I will do it.”
“I love you too, my love,” she said, before leading them both into the bedroom, grabbing the bottle of body oil on the way.