A/N: Thanks everyone that is reading :D

The song in this chapter is Still Not Falling :)

Link for the album album/1delDCd0G5H1kZE3oNndal?si=lj1xWu5rSL-zuyNe9P0AEA

Good reading!

Hearing

I ain't a world class gentleman baby

You don't know me like you should, that's ok babe

We could work it out or we could work it through

We could end it now or we could run it to the ground

Totally unexpectedly, Barbara had decided to comment on how inattentive he seemed these days. It had happened when he had caressed the exposed skin on her shoulders with his fingertips, but said "huh?" after she said something that, um, should be important. When he heard about paying little attention, and at that point Babs had tilted her head, Dick just raised his eyebrows at her and smiled as if it didn't make any sense – she didn't seem convinced, but he kissed her deeply and the matter ended in their hands together under the sheet.

Fortunately for him, Richard thought as he kissed the skin on her belly, only someone trained by Batman himself could see through his expressions and, thank God, he hadn't been seeing the Dark Knight very often since he moved into the apartment. Bruce and Alfred, accomplices, would certainly have smiled at each other suggestively, at the first sign Dick gave of being distracted. Robin, Tim, for his part, was too busy with his teenage problems to care or notice much about his older brother.

Still, Nightwing knew he should start taking care. He was not that type of guy who mixes things up and makes them confused; he had learned how to separate work from romance when he started dating Zatanna and needed to pretend a purely friendly concern when she got hurt on a mission. Since then, he had had enough romances with superheroines – girls who understood that he couldn't dedicate himself 100% to them, because he already dedicated himself 100% to heroism, saving the world, blah blah blah – to understand how to handle a relationship with someone with similar responsibilities to his.

That was why he should be more careful than he was being now. He couldn't keep an eye on her, when he should gather the clues from the last mission, when he needed to plan training with Aqualad, when he had to make reports. Dick already had an obligation, a duty, which he was neglecting because of Starfire and her beautiful face – it was time to put an end to it.

Easy to talk. It was really hard to contain all the times he said to Kaldur, directly and without embarrassment, that he wanted to go to Alpha – just because she was there too. His Atlantic friend was beginning to suspect that something was wrong; usually Nightwing preferred to stay in the tower, next to him, monitoring the Team, and would only leave if it was an emergency where he was extremely needed. But when Aqualad put Starfire on the front line, Dick just couldn't resist. He wanted to go. He wanted to see her in action, because, God, there was nothing else, since he met her, that he liked to admire so much.

He loved the way she fought, her flexible muscles moving in a way that he couldn't in a thousand years, even with all the training and circus background in his veins. She flowed, she threw herself, she experienced the blows on her body as if they were never going to penetrate her luminous tamaranean skin.

But mostly, Dick loved her war cries.

Whenever she suffered a heavier attack, Kori would murmur words in her native language, wrapping her tongue in phonemes that would certainly sound coarse and rude in other voices, but not in hers. In hers, he hated having to admit, they sounded like sighed kisses, old music sung under a lute. Honestly, he couldn't understand a thing. He would bet, by her irritated expression, that there must be some bad words. But, heavens, Kori was just beautiful cursing like that – and he just hoped to hear more.

When she spoke Tamaranean, her voice was more hoarse and low, so different from the sweet and caring way she spoke normally. It felt like a breath, a promise that she would do unthinkable things... Dick would like to know what. Starfire had a high-pitched voice, extremely feminine, and, more than that, naturally... Sexy? Yes, that was the word. Even when she said something innocent and silly, when she asked something whose answer seemed obvious and simple to him, God, Richard could have sworn it sounded like a provocation to his hearing – but, in the end, it was probably just the melodious tone she used. But not in battle. In battle, Kori was aggressive.

And he was fucking attracted to both.

Kori cursing angrily, in a commanding voice that belonged to a warrior, trained with blood and exposed, plucked, wounds, and a princess, a leader by birth. And her curious Star, babbling, in her delightful voice, running her tongue over her red lips, how everything was so different now than she used to know; letting out passionate sighs about all the things she liked on Earth, like cotton candy, jam, soda and salad with lots of mustard. Muttering how she liked the view of the sea and being there, with them, with him. Laughing… Her laughter was like bells, vibrating through his chest and making him smile with her, laugh with her, even without knowing what was funny this time. He could hear that sound for endless hours.

There is nothing more to say about this; Richard was sure that, in a crowded room where everyone was talking, he could spot her, eyes closed, without a problem. Her voice had already left a scar on his chest, period. A deep mark, still undefined, but that would take a long time to come out.

"I know it doesn't suit you so much," his attention was drawn when Batgirl started to speak from his side, her deep blue eyes fixed on his face. He preferred green. "but we were thinking about going to a karaoke next week. Everyone will be there, you know, to relax." She shrugged. She didn't need to relax at all, but she enjoyed the company of others. "You don't need to come if you don't…"

"I will" Dick interrupted, too quickly. A voice trying to sing some difficult music and bursting out laughing filled his thoughts and, involuntarily, the ex Boy Wonder smiled.

Babs, frowning, looked at him in a funny way and then in the direction that Nightwing was looking, before she got close.

"Yeah, I bet you will," she replied, good-naturedly, waving to a Starfire who had just caught her eye.

Dick was distracted thinking, for a second, that the only sound he hadn't yet heard from Kori and, God, how he wished he had the chance, were the moans and sighs, calling out his name, leaving her without any control, when he would be on top, kissing the middle of her perfect golden thighs.

Somehow I knew that you would

know me better than that