Summary: Kori Anders and Richard Grayson have been the best of friends since they were kids. Did she love him... of course. Did he love her? ... without a doubt. Although, this type of love was more along the lines of what is shared between close family members so what happens when playboy Dick Grayson, sophomore in college, decides to room with 'seemingly innocent' Kori, new incoming freshman? Will sparks ignite, feelings become realized? In other words, this once standard, sturdy form of love shared between them... will its definition suddenly change?... will it become more or will it furthermore be brought to an end?

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Chapter One: Arrival

It was the beginning of a new school year. The scent of intimidation and fear as new incoming freshman scrambled to find their dorms, the anxiety of up and coming seniors screeching passed with barely the ability to hold on for one more year, and all the classes in between feeling rushed with the reality of school and the weight of responsibility it brought... it was all in full swing. But... if you were lucky enough, had made the right friends, the right connections, as of this very minute you would have ignored all the stress of college in this instant, if only for one more night, as a result of the rare invitation to the one and only Dick Grayson's party which was to take place this very special evening.

Now, I'm certain most of you are wondering, waiting for confirmation on one small yet very important detail. Dick Grayson, you ask? Dick Grayson as in heir to the Wayne fortune? Eventual successor of Bruce Wayne himself? Playboy? Ladies man? ... Well, yes, yes and yes. So, next question. What was he doing straying so far from Gotham? Well, he was taking that stepping stone of college years just like any one of us. This charming, never more desired man was a sophomore this year and was convinced things would be different; better; proceeding this party which was his last chance to let loose.

Although, party aside, what new occurrences did he expect to take to life his second year at Jump City's University? Only one small factor in the grand scheme of things. He still anticipated the easily swayed plethora of women that always found their way to him, he still expected parties consisting of heavy drinking, friends, all of it. The only difference this year was her.

This was the year she would finally be here; the year he had dreamt would arrive quickly and while it hadn't, tomorrow was the day she'd finally resurface in his life. Her name: Kori Anders. Her relation to him: the one person, Bruce aside, that meant anything at all to him; the one person he could honestly say he loved. Which, I'm sure is absolutely confusing. A reputably heartless yet charming, womanizer yet still desired playboy actually having a close relationship, pletonically speaking with a member of the opposite sex? You better believe it because that's what this story is about. Now, I never said that things would stay that way. Sure, Richard and Kori had managed to remain strictly friends, regardless of their overly affectionate behavior toward one another, but this bond between them had been unshakable for the entirety of their lives... a few years rooming together at college wouldn't change that... would it? And if perchance things did change or escalate between them on a more intimate level... which of the two would be the first to break? ... the first to experience altered feelings for the other? Richard or Kori? Perhaps both?

"Where is he?" a slinky blond girl asked, her body turned toward her current boyfriend, yes, Garfield Logan, but I think we'll leave it at Gar. "This party is suppose to be the event to kick off the year and Dick hasn't even showed."

Gar rolled his eyes, completely immune to the reality that Terra, above said blonde, seemed rather taken by Richard. It seemed everyone, even Richard was aware of this, but Gar felt too much in love to notice.

"I don't know." Gar began, his arm slinking around Terra's thin waist as he turned to Vic, one of his college friends. "Hey Vic... where's Dick?"

Vic turned back to Gar with a sigh, his suspicious eyes settling on Terra in judgement before responding. "He said he'd be here soon." Removing his glare from Terra, Vic brought his attention to his girlfriend Karen within his grasp. Sending a sweet kiss to her cheek he smiled. "He wouldn't miss tonight."

Karen scoffed at this. "I hope he does. He's an asshole."

"What makes you say that?" Terra asked somewhat defensively.

Karen turned to Terra with a raised brow, well aware of her personality which did not exist without a hint of duplicity hiding within the shadows. "He's Dick."

"He's always been charming to me."

Karen rolled her eyes, of course Terra would be the one so naive not to realize Richard's behavior as anything other than forced courtesy; get in line; it seemed as though all these women were naive to his ways, either that or they expected to be the ones to change him. Ha... that was a joke in itself; Dick Grayson couldn't be changed. "Trust me, Dick is anything but charming and if he is he's only trying to sleep with you."

Vic sighed. "What did he do to piss you off this time?"

"I didn't say he did."

Merely by Karen's stiff posture, Vic could tell something had to have happened between the two in order for her to be so openly against him. "Really, come on, what did he do?"

Karen paused. "Nothing, he's just an ass is all." She paused, all eyes on her now. "Fine,... he slept with one of my closest friends and basically broke her heart. Now he refuses to even acknowledge her..." she exhaled curtly. "... not that he even recalls her name anyway."

"Oh come on..."

"No Vic..." Karen snapped. "Don't you dare defend him. I know Dick's your friend or whatever but ..."

Vic sighed, waving a hand in front of Karen in order to calm her. "Do you really think your friend was unaware of how Dick is? Everyone in the world knows what a playboy he is." He, as well as Gar broke into laughter. "Trust me, she knew what she was getting into when she slept with him."

"They all do." Gar added.

Terra became uneasy again, her mind focused down at her phone. "It's already midnight... where is he?"

"Why are you so concerned?" Karen asked, her arms still crossed and a sinister gleam within her gaze. If not for Vic being so close to Gar, Karen wouldn't care of Terra's interest in Richard but as of right now she was playing Gar and it irritated her.

"I think he's a little stressed out about Kori." Vic offered in a calm tone, hoping to disintegrate the flames being exchanged in the glare between Karen and Terra now.

"Who's Kori?" Terra asked curiously; her eyes snapping from Karen up to Vic now.

"You know about Kori. Dick talks about her all the time." Gar laughed, earning a roll of the eyes of annoyance in response.

Lifting a beer to his lips Vic leaned into the wall behind them with a laugh. "I sense trouble."

"Trouble?"

"You really think it was a smart move for Dick to convince Kori to live with him in the dorms?"

There was a brief pause before Terra spoke up once more. "You mean to tell me Dick is going to be living with... a girl?" Her eyes narrowed. "He can barely stand prolonged company with me or Karen and we're just friends. He hates women."

"That isn't true." Gar interrupted. "Dick loves women, he just doesn't enjoy the drama they bring. He uses them for what he needs and then separates himself from them as quickly as possible, but no, he doesn't hate women."

"He's not wrong."

All three jumped at the familiar sound of Richard's voice which approached them now. They all turned, nervous smiles on display in an attempt to hide they were speaking of him behind his back; not that it was anything really negative as much as it was fact and not as though he would truly care.

Richard inhaled deeply, glancing around the room with a sigh. "It looks like a fun night." He glanced back to Terra with a dashing smile to which she instantly succumbed to shudders down her spine. "Seems as though everyone is getting along just fine without me here."

"What took you so long?" Gar asked, handing Richard a beer.

Accepting the bottle Richard sighed, his body turning to face the crowd of peers beside him. "I had a few things to take care of, don't worry about it."

The small group fell silent now, which was expected. Whenever Richard had his gaze set on a crowd it was usually for the sole purpose of singling out his momentary interest for the evening. The silence remained, for a long while before Richard zoned into a blond dancing into the distance. Finishing off his drink he passed a confident smile back at Vic then disappeared into the crowd, returning without much effort with the blonde.

"This... just might be the best party to kick off the new school year of all time." Slurred an auburn haired, muscular man who approached alongside Richard. "Dick..." He shook his head, placing a hand upon his friends' shoulder with a chuckle. "I'm certainly glad I made friends with a millionaire playboy like yourself... your parties never disappoint."

"That's comforting, Roy." Richard said with a roll of his eyes, his attention more concerned with the sweet little piece of eye candy sitting upon his lap.

"There's no other place on earth the women of this university would rather be then at a party being held by none other than Dick Grayson himself," laughed Gar.

"This is very true." Cooed that blonde, her name, to him at least, was deemed nothing but irrelevancy at this point of his creeping drunken haze.

Just as Richard captured the blondes lips once more, in hopes of initiating a more intimate turn of events to occur this evening, he came to a frustrated pause at the shove of one of his friends against his shoulder. He looked up to Vic now with a glare. "Is it important?"

"Didn't you say Kori was going to be here? Where is she?" Vic asked loudly; his ability to recognize Richards desire to be left alone went unnoticed at his equally drunken state.

If it wasn't obvious to anyone else, the blonde within his lap seemed to notice a change of attitude overwhelm Richard. His body tensed at the drawn attention of his dear friend Kori and his grip upon the girls waist suddenly faltered. "Actually yea... she's suppose to be here tomorrow so make sure you're all cleared out of the apartment by the time she gets here."

"Who's Kori?" The blond asked; it was a question delivered not for the purpose of curiosity as much as it was spawned from jealousy; the smiled that developed across Richard's face only adding to her discomfort in the matter.

Before Richard could respond verbally, it was Vic that announced Kori's connection to him. He leaned down to Richard with a shove at his shoulder and a forced dreamy coating in his eyes; his voice high-pitched in a taunting manner. "Kori... Kori Anders... the one girl capable of putting this playboy in his place." He released a dreamy sigh which only amplified the hysteric laughter that sparked around them, Richard himself in aggreeance to Vic's words. "The one girl Spike here can't help but have a weakness for. She alone is proof he does have heart within that cold womanizing chest cavity of his."

"Have you actually met her?" Gar asked with a squeal of a laugh. "I've only heard stories about her."

"I've actually seen a few pictures, " Added Roy. "She's sexy as hell."

This instantly brought a scowl to form across Richards features and he turned within his seat to face Roy; Roy becoming uneasy upon realizing Richard's sudden anger in this moment. "Don't talk about her like that."

"What... is she your girlfriend?" The blond asked with a disgusted look on her face, her cheeks glowing red in envy.

Richard rolled his eyes. "No, of course not. She's my closest friend..." he burrowed his dark brows in a glare that sought out the attention of each of his male friends, his voice ringing with warning. "I repeat, my closest friend so that means she's off-limits to all of you." He cleared his throat, as if shaking off his sudden frustration in the matter of Kori's attractiveness; an attractiveness he could never enjoy as a result of their lifelong friendship, and her utter innocence. "Everyone's off-limits to her."

Vic laughed at this. It was one thing for Richard to be immune to Kori's beauty but that didn't change the reality that Kori was far too attractive to be ignored by the student body; especially not in Jump City. If he were being honest, before he had met his current girlfriend Karen, whom he actually found himself falling head over heels for, he used to have a secret admiration for Kori. "Yea right... I'm the only one who has actually met Kor and I can guarantee she'll be all the rage when she gets here. You're going to have a hell of a hard time keeping the male population of this school away from her."

"I don't think so." Richard scoffed confidently. "Kori isn't like that. She wouldn't play into anything these college guys have to offer." Leaving no ample time for rebuttal, Richard stood, his blonde at hand and led her to his room; the others turning to one another with a sigh.

"So... what was her name? Kori?" Roy asked curiously, lifting the beer at hand to his lips as a far too familiar mischievous gleam took hold over his gaze.

"Yea..." Gar responded with a smile. "She's the epitome of Dick's every thought so I wouldn't get your hopes up at getting in her pants." His thin, pale arm motioned to Vic. "Vic's right, she's literally the only thing Dick actually, genuinely, cares about."

"And he's extremely protective of her so I would take grass stain here's advice and just forget about it." Vic laughed, then taking Karen's hand and disappearing into the crowd.

"Look, I never said I was interested." Roy said with a curt exhale; his own playboy attitude resuscitating itself now. "I am curious though..." he paused long enough for the previously lost attention span of Gar returned to him. "... what's so special about this Kori chick that makes Dick care about her so much? I mean the guys an asshole, playboy, he doesn't care about anyone or anything so... why her?"

Gar shook his head, he knew the answer but the answer itself was far too personal and if Roy didn't know it was best that things remained that way; as it were, he, himself, had only come to learn the special bond between Kori and Richard through Vic on a slip up of information. He knew that if Richard even caught wind of his knowledge of Kori's past and how it coincided with his it would cause more issues than he was willing to create himself.

Gar gave an awkward shrug followed by the recession of his feet as he moved toward the crowd of dancing peers beside them. "Who knows man? I wouldn't test your luck against Dick though. If he finds out your even interested in Kori he'll beat the shit out of you."

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Ugh... that beeping... that obnoxious beeping of Richard's alarm clock which resided a few inches from his face was enough to escalate his sharpening hangover with each second. With a small growl of frustration that echoed within his throat, he forced a hand to the taunting device and slammed a fist down upon it, but the silence did not linger for long. His mind had a total of three seconds before that whining, shifting upon the bed beside him, the presence of ... whoever it was he was with last night, became realized. His eyes narrowed behind closed lids and another growl moved passed his lips.

"Dick... I had..." the girl's voice just might have been even worse than the alarm clock. At least he could silence that pounding siren with a knock of a fist. The reality that this girl was still lingering within his room, his apartment, his life... that would take some effort to silence. "I had a wonderful time. Perhaps maybe next time..."

"Why are you still here?" His groggy morning voice projected in an uneven manner, resulting in a scoff from the girl whose name was never even attempted to be learned.

Richard could feel the bed move more violently as the girl stood up, quickly gathering her things in a huff. Muttered curses that refused to contain their volume in pitch surrounded him, vibrating off of his mind in a relentless stream of annoyance.

"You are such a fucking asshole."

This statement, or fact rather, earned the hysteric girl a mere chuckle of satisfaction. Richard knew he was an asshole and otherwise didn't take offense to being called out on it; after all it's not as though he really tried being anything else.

Swallowing against his alcohol induced dry throat, he shifted upon the bed. "You should consider yourself lucky..." there was a pause in the girls shuffling of belongings, a small fragment of hope invading her mood, as she turned to face Richard who put no effort into wasting energy to meet her gaze. "... most girls are kicked out of my room before sunrise. You can thank the alcohol for that."

"You really are a fucking asshole. I'm with her on this."

Richard's mind went blank. That wasn't the voice of... whatever her name was that he had slept with last night. His mind was still in a lag of sorts which resulted in his hesitation to respond to that divine melody of a voice he adored so much.

"Who the fuck are you?" The blond asked with much distaste.

Ignoring the girl Richard's body jolted alert and he turned to find none other than Kori Anders smiling down at him, her arms crossed over her chest. "Holy shit... Kori?"

Her smile widened as she pushed past the devastated stranger and jumped onto Richard's lap. The laughter which erupted between the two as they hugged at each other aggressively was enough to inspire the blonde to find her exit.

"I..." Richard laughed more excitedly now. His arms tugged at Kori's presence tighter almost suffocating her but she was reciprocating such affection so they continued without pause. "I can't believe you're here."

Kori's giggle sounded as she pulled out of the embrace, her eyes staring into his with encompassed emotion that only he could understand. She placed her hands on either sides of his face and delivered several, scattered kisses all across his features, speaking between purses. "I miss you so much." A small squeal emanated from her lips. "You look so cute." Another squeal, another hug, another giggle, then it was back to suffocating kisses to which Richard only laughed back at; absorbing all the love she had for him. "Oh my God, Richard." There was a pause now, Richard swallowing hard as Kori's chest rose and fell desperately. The sudden shift in her emotions being all too normal for him to expect anything else. "I just..."

"It's okay Kor." Richard said with a comforting smile as he ran a hand down her cheek, his other arm securely around her waist. A small chuckle released him as his eyes scanned over her thin figure. "I almost forgot how beautiful you are."

She smiled, a hand upon his chest now commencing in the same adoration of his appearance. "I just..." There were tears that asserted themselves now, trailing down her tan cheeks sweetly as her shoulders perked ever so sweetly. "I've really missed you Richard."

Richard smiled, sending a kiss to her forehead then placing a hand behind her head as he brought her into a warm embrace once more. "I know. A year is a long time." He paused, her childlike whimpers breaking loose within his bare chest. He shook his head, a hand running up and down the center of her back as they held onto one another. "But you're here now and everything will get back to the way it was before." This brought an intense amount of comfort to Kori and as she looked up at him again, he smiled once more. "I promise."

His brows burrowed as Kori placed a hand over her mouth with a giggle submerged in consistent tears. "You're naked beneath that sheet aren't you?"

His eyes widened and as she burst into laughter now, he shrugged. "Yea. Deal with it. You're the one who came barging in here unannounced."

Kori flung herself to the side of the bed, leaving him to tighten the thin sheet over his lower body now as he stood. "Forgive me for interrupting your highly reputable Dick Grayson charm..." she rolled her eyes. "Or lack there of. Maybe it's because it has been a while since I've seen your arrogant playboy side at play but you really are an asshole. What does that say about me that I condone such behavior?"

He rolled his eyes, a hand gripping the sheet securely around his waist as he brought a knee to the center of the bed, his body leaning over Kori as he bestowed a lingering kiss against her cheek. "Ahhh, but I would never treat you that way." He gave her an endearing grin before standing once more. "I'm going to shower so you just... just don't move. I really want to talk to you about... about a lot so..."

A record of ten minutes, that's all it took for Richard to resurface from the bathroom fully clothed, hair styled in his signature spikes, and sunglasses shielding those ever so desired piercing blue eyes. He became uneasy as he realized Kori was no longer within his room. With a sigh he raced out of the bedroom and came to a halt within the living room finding Vic and Gar passed out around the couches.

Narrowing his eyes, he raised his voice. "Wake up and get the hell out of here!"

The bodies jumped up quickly but it was Vic that stood, rubbing at his tired eyes with a reply. "What's wrong? We said we'd be gone before..." Vic came to a pause at the presence of Kori as she stepped out of the kitchen and into the living room. He smiled wildly, tossing his arms around her. "Kori! Geeze, I thought you weren't suppose to be in town until later?"

Kori's giggle muffled its way through Vic's strong arms as he held onto her tightly. "I know. I got an earlier flight." She hugged at Vic tighter now. "It's so good to see you again."

"Alright that's enough." Richard said, tugging at Kori's hand and pulling her from Vic's grasp and back toward him, his glare setting on the staggering group before them. "Come on, get your things and get out."

"Oh stop." Kori sighed, she placed a hand upon Richard's arm, leaning her body into his side, a bright smile beaming up at him. "I don't mind. It'll be great to meet your friends." She gave a small pout as his glare refused to waver. "Come on..." she tugged at his hand, pulling him toward the kitchen. "Lets all have breakfast."

Gar and Vic exchanged nervous glances but followed the two, situating themselves upon the stools which resided before the bar counter top which looked into the kitchen. They sat quietly, uneasy against the irritated glances Richard continued to send their way.

"Where is all your stuff?" Richard asked, finally breaking the silence as Kori pulled a few ingredients from the fridge.

She shrugged her petite shoulders, giving him a sweet smile to which he could not resist returning. "I have someone taking care of it." She giggled as he sent her that 'what do you mean' gaze. "I sort of name dropped you and suddenly everyone at the airport seemed very accommodating."

Richard rolled his eyes, no longer fighting the urge to hold her in his arms as he brought her into a warm embrace; ignoring the others that stared back somewhat unsure of the open affection they had never seen Richard provide toward anyone for any reason.

"I"m so glad you're here." He said with a kiss to her forehead. "You should have called me though. I wanted to pick you up from the airport."

Kori allowed herself to rest her head into his strong chest, the feeling that rose within her, that comfortable feeling of home that sparked, it was irresistible. "I know." She hesitated as he ran a hand down the center of her back. "You want to make it up to me?"

"Of course." He said looking down at her, becoming suspicious against her mischievous gaze.

"Then..." she brought a hand to his jaw line. ".. remove those damn sunglasses. Who are you Bono?"

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