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After finally being able to catch a break from the intense week of attacks the Teen Titans had been dealing with, Donna thought it would be a good treat if she had a bit of a girls’ outing with Starfire. She knew that although she’d never hear the tamaranian protest, it had to be heavy on her too these past days of nonstop rushing from one place to another, trying to stop the country from falling apart, so she mustered up all the courage and forced herself to send her a rushed message earlier that weekend, deep at night.
Hey Kory!
Sorry if this is late, but how would
you feel about going shopping
this monday?
Just the two of us, some girly time!
She had gone to bed that day fully assuming her friend had forgotten to reply to her or that she might not have seen her message, but today she was woken up to the sound of the blinds being rolled up and Kory’s cheerful voice singing her name.
When she opened her eyes, a thick curtain of copper and flames surrounded every bit where light should’ve been peeking from, and two green gems looked at her like she was a strange creature that had just fallen off the ceiling into the bed. “What are you doing, asleepyhead ?” She tried, “didn’t you want to go on a walk to shop?”
So now they wandered around the nearly crowded hallways, each side perched with alluring stores with a million different colors and scents that caught the eye. Cafes, restaurants, clothing stores, toy stores, she was sure they could find anything they wanted in that mall if they looked for long enough. As they made their way through the lower floor, Kory’s dense curls, blinding curves and beautiful dress caught the eye. It probably was something she had grown used to, knowing her face had been in every magazine under the sun at some point… But a part of her felt bad for the poor woman.
“Do they bother you?” She managed to ask. When Kory turned to look at her, tilting her head to the side slightly. “All this… Staring, I mean.”
Kory turned to look around as if it was the first time she heard about such a thing, then, her eyes returned to Donna. “Do they bother you ?” She asked instead, not accusingly, but with what seemed like genuine curiosity and concern.
Donna blushed slightly. She wasn’t sure why, but the question had caught her off guard. “No, I… I don’t mind. I’m just worried you might feel objectified and all…”
She laughed, earning a surprised glance from Donna, who was now the one looking with confusion. Even the way she laughed was gentle and sweet, like the sound of water running down a young river or of the first seconds of rain as it ran freely.
“It does not bother me, don’t worry.” She shrugged. “I like clothes, I like looking pretty, so what’s wrong if they also think I’m pretty?” However, she felt her eyes tiptoeing around her, taking her in. “Do you trust me?” She suddenly asked.
Donna blinked twice.
“What?”
“I said, do you trust me?” She trotted until she stood in front of her, smiling at her with that light that rivaled the very sunset. She wondered if it was an actual power of hers to resemble the sun’s own warmth. It was such a silly thing to wonder, but the more she tried to look away from that thought, the more it chased her. “With your clothes, I mean. Would you let me choose a look for you?”
“Oooh!” Oh, indeed, she suddenly realized. Her first thought was to say no; not because she, in fact, didn’t trust Kory, but more because she wasn’t sure if it’d be awkward to… “I mean, I guess it couldn’t harm anyone… Right?”
Why. Why on Earth would you say that?
She kicked herself mentally over and over, but every coherent thought left her mind when Kory took her hand and pulled her along, encouraging her into this new world of hers. She liked her clothes like any other… But she couldn’t help but wonder what lengths did Kory’s love for fashion reach.
“Can I come in?” Kory’s voice chirped from the other side of the curtain.
“Just a minute!” She called back.
Donna had been staring at the woman standing in front of her for the past minutes. She didn’t hate the outfit Kory had picked for her, but she felt… So out of her skin, so foreign… It didn’t feel like she was looking at her own reflection, rather some stranger that had stolen her looks and skin.
She had chosen a dark blue summer dress with a low cut around the chest. It stretched all the way down to her knees, plain, beautiful, but…
The curtain rolled open, and soon Kory’s blazing curls came to view. Instinctively, Donna covered her upper body, (she wasn’t showing anything at all, but the low cut made her feel so ridiculously exposed it was hard not to) as she turned to look at her. “K-Kory!”
“How’s it looking?” She asked, turning to close the curtain again, giving them some privacy. When she turned back, she could see through the reflection how Kory took her in more properly. Immediately, a smile spread over her lips. “Look at you! Doesn’t it look amazing?”
Donna tried to see the girl she saw, tried to find whatever balance Kory found in that color and her skin tone, or the way the dress should probably be defining her curves, but…
“I… Guess.” She tried to offer her, defeated.
Kory tilted her head. “You do not like it?”
Donna sighed. “It’s not that I don’t like it, but I’m not sure this is my… Thing? Maybe I’m not used to this kind of dress, or maybe it’s just that I haven’t worn enough of them, but I don’t think my body was made for dresses…”
Her brows raised so high she wouldn’t have been surprised if at some point they started peeking through her curls. Then, like concrete, they fell to the ground in a deep frown that made her grimace, worried she had somehow offended Koriand’r. She had chosen this dress for her after all.
“What do you even mean!” She shook her head. Kory’s hands, suddenly, moved faster than her eyes could follow, and soon her hands were padding Donna’s body, accommodating the fabric to hug her figure better. All shades of red climbed up the woman’s face as she tried to squirm away from her touch, her heart pounding inside a suffocated chest. “It looks amazing on you, Donna, look at you! Your waist looks so defined, and your cleavage is so graceful it almost makes you look like a diplomat! Here, allow me to just–”
“Kory–” She tried, feeling every shade of embarrassment clinging into her body, her face, her neck. Kory’s hands were everywhere, and the worst part was that she couldn’t even blame her because she knew the woman had the best intentions in mind, but… “Kory–”, she tried again, flinching as she touched her hips trying to accommodate the dress, covering her chest as she mentioned her collarbone. “Kory! Please, stop!”
The nervous laugh that came along eased the worried frown off Koriand’r’s face, bringing along a smile. It was hard for her to look into her eyes, no matter how much Kory tried to meet them.
“Seriously, though, Donna,” she smiled, I… Think it looks lovely on you!”
Donna had been about to make some sort of excuse for her response, to defend herself in some way, but when she had finally managed to find a proper line of thought, she felt Kory’s hand gently reaching for hers, holding it carefully. Rather than courage, it was pure shock what finally allowed her to look up and meet those smouldering suns.
There was a darker shade carefully touching Koriand’r’s cheeks, and surprisingly it was hers whose eyes tiptoed down and away from hers.
Like a fluttering, a drumming feeling trapped in her chest, Donna struggled to find any words or proper reaction in her to offer Kory. She would’ve loved to say anything that would’ve eased up the heat, but all she could think of was the warmth of her hand and how it pooled on her own palm.
“Fine…” She muttered, looking away. “You win, I’ll get the dress. But this one alone. Please, jeans only from now on…”
Kory let go, excitedly clapping her hands as her smile grew and bloomed. “Perfect! I’ll go get a top I saw just now that will look amazing on you!” She announced, sneaking past the curtain, off to that clothing hunt.
Something about that statement alone was terrifying enough, but as she stripped off that dress and folded it carefully, all she could think of was how Kory’s warmth lingered in every spot she had aimlessly reached for.