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"Are you sure you’ll be okay?"
Dick really had a natural talent for sneaking up on people, huh?
Kory turned round to face him, leaning on the console as she conjured all of Bruce Wayne’s unblinking eye power to endure Dick’s prying stare. “What makes you think I won’t?” She challenged, cocking an eyebrow.
But Dick wasn’t letting up. Certainly not today. “Kory,” he huffed, drawing out his hands from his pockets.
“I’m with the kids all the time, Dick,” Kory pushed on, not letting up either. “Gar and Conner can’t cross me. I mean, have you seen me sparring?”
Dawn and Hank were away already warming up to the crime den that was Gotham. For a place Dick had painted out as being harsh, unforgiving and deadly those two surely loved to challenge the status quo.
Maybe that was why Kory was in here with Dick and not out there with them. She was all he had left when the darkness crept in and, maybe, she was the same to him.
“Don’t worry about me, Grayson.” She pushed herself up from the console and smiled, catching just a hint of red on Dick’s face as she took a few steps closer. “You look nervous. Don’t tell me that red hooded weirdo is doing this to you because it shouldn’t.”
Dick winced at the name. “He’s not the typical weirdo, Kory,” he bit out, jaw clenched tight. “He’s stronger, faster and smarter. I don’t want him coming near any of us.
Touchy. Kory had seen Dick that way many times before: protective, fierce, on the edge. However, something about this Red Hood issue was ruffling his feathers different. There was fear, and it was swirling black and fierce now in his protruded eyes.
“Soon he will come, though,” Kory risked, stamping on the thin ice between them. “And I’ll be right here waiting for him.”
“Your powers aren’t back yet,” Dick reminded her. It was his turn to stamp on the thin ice.
No, not thin ice. An iceberg. Dick had outright just crushed it whole and now a flood was upon the both of them. They were drowning in the sea of awkwardness she’d been trying to avoid since leaving the Tower. Since arriving in Wayne Manor.
Kory feared the prickle in her eyes wasn’t her artificial lashes acting up. Briskly, she looked down at her purple, velvet boots. “Big bummer, huh? I’m used to it by now, though. Can’t stay down forever, can I?”
“That wouldn’t be the Kory I know.”
Kory foolishly looked up to find herself pinned by Dick’s smoldering, burnt brown gaze. Intense but soft and unguarded. But it wasn't to last long in the casual Wayne manner. He darted his gaze away and so did she, her stomach a hot, churning mush inside.
Why did she always get this way with him? No, why was she asking herself such a stupid question? It wasn’t like friends had passionate, slow and tender sex every so often like they’d once had at Bruce’s safe house a year ago. It wasn’t like friends gave each other surreptitious longing looks as often as they did. It wasn’t like…
“I think you should get going,” Kory said, effectively snapping herself back into the moment. “The commissioner wouldn’t be so happy if you were late.”
“She can get used to it.”
“She?”
He sounded very casual about that commissioner.
“That’s a story for another day,” Dick breathed, shoving his hands into his pockets and pressing his lips into a thin line. He was getting nervous again.
“Gee,” Kory giggled. “Why the sudden mystery?”
“I’d ask you the same thing.” He cocked his head to one side as he looked at her, stubborn determination burning so fiercely in them that Kory froze, unable to stop what was coming.
“Your sister.” He closed the distance between them, giving Kory no choice but to lock eye contact. “She’s the one that did this to you, isn't she?” He demanded, his brows knit together in pained concern. “Why did she do it, Kory?”
Of course, Dawn had told him. Kory had long known that would happen but it was no less a shocker.
She swallowed, ignoring the mistiness in her eyes. “I’m not ready…to talk about it. It’s not easy for me, I need time. Can you give me that?”
“I…” Dick trailed off, noticing what was going on with her.
The last time Kory had shown a tear to him was at the Asylum, an experience she much rather preferred now to being betrayed by her own blood.
“I can do that,” Dick conceded.
It was obvious he wanted Kory to let him in. And his hands, now hanging limply by his sides were threatening to do the inevitable; to reach out and touch her so that her façade of strength could melt away; so she could pour her depths of grief all over him. But that wasn’t what Dick needed now, as much as Kory knew he wanted it.
“Thank you, Dick.” She took a step back, blinking away the haze of unshed tears. “You always care about us.
“I care about you,” Dick blurted out.
A deafening silence followed, and the more it stretched the more Kory was pressed to ask him, than to wait out the awkward moment. What did she mean to him exactly? Why was she important? What could they do about that bubbling energy pulling them closer within and without a time of need?
She could see it in Dick’s eyes that he was thinking the same thing.
But then he conveniently ripped his gaze from hers, just when she had him cornered with that floating question, to glance at his watch. “You know what, you’re right. It’s been ten minutes already.”
“What are you waiting for,” Kory quickly approved, just relieved that the wave of awkwardness was over. “Get out of here!”
“Call me,” Dick said, walking backwards towards to the Batcave exit.
Kory rolled her eyes, her face flush with heat. “Gar and Conner will be fine, I swear.”
“Don’t let them into the Batcave.”
“Grayson!” Kory cried out, warning him.
Dick stopped short at the exit before leaving to let out a playful smile. “Sorry. Got it.”
Finally he was gone, like a ray of sunshine withdrawn to its source. Once again, Kory was in the dark. Alone. Swarmed with thoughts of only one thing: how to kill Blackfire.