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Dick's head was so far in the clouds as he moved around the kitchen, making dinner, singing and dancing to the music playing on his speaker, that he started (just slightly) when he caught sight of Kori leaning against the wall, smiling at him softly.
"Hi," he greeted.
"Hi," she repeated, smiling softly.
He took her in, in between stirring the pot on the stove and rhythmically chopping the food on the cutting board. She looked so… soft, domestic, in their apartment, wearing an old, thrifted band shirt and too short sweatpants that probably used to be his, curly hair a beautiful mess cascading down her back. She was relaxed and comfortable and he wanted to cuddle her, wrap around her like an octopus and fall asleep together. (He loved her.)
"Brought you something." She stepped forward to place a small object on the table.
He paused his movements to take a look. It was a short, round container with a familiar logo on the lid. He gasped and whipped his head up. "You didn't."
Kory was smiling at him. "Unscented."
"You know me so well. You're fantastic," he pouted at her. …Dick may have had a collection of candles. Just maybe. And sometimes he liked to light multiple and turn their apartment into a fire hazard (fire extinguisher always on standby), but too many scented ones gave him a headache, so his beloved friend and alien knew to get unscented ones. (She loved him.)
"Should I put it with the others?"
"Yes, please. Thank you!"
"Of course." She caressed his face before picking it up again and heading down the hallway.
"Love you!" he called after her.
"I love you, too!" she called back, he could hear the smile in her voice.
He continued his movements around the kitchen. Almost done.
When she returned she leaned her hip against the wall again. "Do you want help?" Kori asked.
He considered the question. "I'm good… but, we could have a movie night?"
Her pupil-less eyes brightened, glowing softly, understanding what he was suggesting. "I'd love to," she said. She floated over to the living room to gather all their blankets and pillows to create, for lack of a better word, a nest to cozy up in.
Dick soon finished with dinner and Koriand'r finished setting up the living room. They took their food, curled up in their nest and let a movie on the TV set the background noise, speaking quietly to each other and setting their dishes aside when they were done.
"I love you, Dick," Kori said and he leaned further into her.
He knew it like how warm he was from her skin and the blankets wrapped around them. He knew it like the bubbly, giddy feeling he got whenever she wore his ill-fitting clothes. He knew it from all their hugs and cuddles and affectionate words. Kori loved him and he loved Kori.
And he knew the way Kori loved him.
Through thick and thin, through blood and sweat and tears. Through hugs and sex and moving in together and not falling in love with each other. Through being strangers and teammates and friends and partners and partners. She loved him and he loved her. He was in love with Kori, but not in love with her.
It was his own expression of in love: an in love that didn't mean romantically, and wasn't solidly platonic. He'd looked up words and definitions once and alterous attraction had a nice ring to it. The nonbinary of romantic and sexual attraction. He didn't use the word much, but the feeling of knowing the word existed was nice.
Kori had similar feelings on the subject. She loved him deeply and had thought she was in love with him, a romantic kind, near the beginning of their relationship. But after learning more about how humans defined love and "falling in love" and "being in love" with someone… she'd come to the conclusion that that wasn't how she felt.
They'd gone through it together, figuring out their relationship, especially when everyone thought they were or expected them to be dating and in love with each other. But they weren't. Not the way people expected anyway.
But they loved each other anyways, it didn't matter what people thought, it was their relationship. Some days Dick was in love with Kori, while she was never in love with him. Sometimes they were dating, sometimes they weren't. Every once in a while they talked about the benefits of getting married. Occasionally they had sex, other times they didn't. They were roommates, they loved each other, they weren't in love with each other. (Most of the time.) It was their relationship and they understood what it meant to them, and what they meant to each other.
Dick loved his queer-platonic relationship and his queer-platonic partner. Sometimes he had a girlfriend, he always had a friend and right now he had a partner. He was happy.
"I love you, Kori," he replied.