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Dick was in a silent war with the kids this Christmas.
All because of some mistletoe.
It had started innocently enough: they were all decorating the Tower together as a family and the next morning he woke up, he noticed a sprig of mistletoe hanging up near the kitchen. Near the coffee maker to be exact. He hadn't thought much of it, simply walked past it and went about making coffee for Rachel and Kory and was walking back to his room to grab a sweatshirt when he almost bumped straight into Kory, sleepy and gorgeous in her silk robe and fuzzy slippers. He'd reached a hand out to steady her, her hand landing on his chest to steady herself, when he noticed the mistletoe swinging slightly just behind them. Dick cocked his head looking at it with narrowed eyes before looking back at Kory.
"Sorry, I'm not totally awake yet," she mumbled sleepily, rubbing a hand across her makeup free eyes. Dick laughed, letting his hand drop even though all he wanted to do was drag her closer.
"Coffee is on," he said, nodding to the gurgling coffee pot. Kory smiled at him, sleepy and delighted, and gave his arm a squeeze as she shuffled past him to the coffee. He could have sworn he heard a series of hushed whispers from down the hall but when he continued to his room, he didn't see anyone.
This trend continued over the course of the next week.
Every morning, he would wake up and there would be a new sprig of mistletoe strung up somewhere inconspicuous but he would somehow almost run into Kory under it every single time.
So he started taking them down. He wasn't going to make a big deal about it, but he didn't want to encourage it either by drawing more attention to it.
This made things much, much worse.
This morning, it looked like the tower had been hit with a mistletoe gun. There was a sprig in every single doorway, one by the fridge, one above the mat in the training room, another outside HIS door, several leading to Kory's room. It was like the kids were leaving bread crumbs along any path that he could potentially run into Kory.
Dick looked around the living room in shocked silence, counting a total of 12 mistletoes in his immediate eyesight. Apparently the kids had stopped going for subtle.
He was so busy gawking at the ridiculous lengths the tower occupants had gone to to try and get him to kiss Kory that he didn't even notice her sneak up behind him.
"So this is insane," she said, waving her hand casually at the mistletoe forest hanging from the ceiling. Dick turned to her in surprise, feeling the tops of his ears turn red in embarrassment.
"Uh...yeah," he mumbled out lamely. He stuck his hands into the pockets of his sweatpants, feeling panicky and nervous.
They stood in awkward silence, until Kory shuffled closer. She was wearing a pair of fuzzy knee high red and white striped socks and a deep green flannel pajama shorts and a matching long sleeve. Her hair was in loose curls around her make up free face. She looked like an elf. The cutest and most beautiful elf he'd ever seen. Although she was taller than an elf, so maybe more like a Christmas elf...goddess.
His palms itched from wanting to pull her close. He shoved them deeper in his pockets.
"So...why would they do this?" She asked him, stepping closer so their shoulders were touching.
"They're clearly trying to send a message," he said before he could think too much more about things. Kory's head tipped back as she laughed, curls slipping away from her face so he could see more of her. He bit back a smile at seeing her laugh. He loved making her laugh.
"Clearly," Kory said between giggles. "And who would that message be for?" Her voice was teasing and light, a glimmer in her green eyes.
Dick swallowed nervously. "Me," he answered quietly, looking at her softly.
Kory hummed, smiling sweetly, and turned so she was facing him. He could smell her perfume from here. "And what would that message be?" She asked, clearly trying to hold back an even bigger smile.
Dick narrowed his eyes at her, fighting back a smile of his own. "I think they are trying to get me to kiss someone special," he told her, voice teasing.
"Oh, is that it?" She teased back, looking at him in faux surprise. "And when did that message go through? Was it when they put it over your door? Or my door? Or by the fireplace? Or the one by the window? How about the one over by the couch?" Dick couldn't fight his laughter anymore, laughing harder the longer she went on. She was smiling softly at him as she watched him laugh and it made his chest feel warm.
His laughter died down and he stepped closer to her, close enough that she settled her hands on his chest. He swallowed nervously again, slipping his hands from his pockets to place them softly on her hips. Dick looked up and then shuffled them back a few steps so they were standing directly beneath one. "Better," he whispered, pulling her in closer. She slipped her arms up around his neck.
"Now what?" she asked equally quiet, her eyes falling to his lips.
He leaned forward to brush his nose against hers, a smile on his lips. "Now we let them know their message was received." Kory hummed happily in response, her eyes falling shut as he finally closed the gap between them. They stood there, trading slow leisurely kisses in the quiet of their living room before they were interrupted by several happy shouts. Kory laughed against his lips but he didn't break their kiss, flipping them off behind her back which only made them all laugh harder.
Those meddling kids.