i genuinely can't remember if i've ever done this idea but it wouldn't be the first time I reused an idea

This is set in that lil time where he lived with Kori in an apartment in the Judas Contract era but she gets to keep her model career (my fave thing they did for her out of work job, i love this concept dearly) and Donna is still in the picture

Kori couldn't be happier when she went to unlock her apartment door only to find it already unlocked. She'd been on a particularly long photo shoot with a particularly annoying photographer and wanted nothing more than to vent to her boyfriend who (despite having no idea who the photographer was) would agree with her. She texted him throughout the shoot but he hadn't replied, something not uncommon since Dick had a terrible habit of being sucked into the case with only screams and the sound of his alarm breaking him out of it. 

"I'm home!" Kori announced as she walked in, sounding like she was straight out of a 90s sitcom. She didn't get a reply, again, not uncommon if Dick was working on a case. She sighed to herself and locked the door, hoping he hadn't spent all day at the computer. His back could only take so much hunching over. 

However, the apartment was notably lacking the sound of keyboard keys tapping. Maybe he was watching something with earphones in? But he always had the worst habit of playing videos and music out loud unless told not to. There was no sound of running water or weights being lifted or even the sound of movement. The apartment was silent but he had to be there. Why else would he leave their door unlocked?

"You won't believe the day I had," she continued partially to keep herself calm. "The photographer was awful, he has to be new. He had no idea how to keep control of the set or how to pose someone above 5ft 9." She moved through the apartment, peeking around for any sign of Dick. Whilst she looked for reassurance, she could only find things that concerned her more. 

His office was empty and exactly as it had been the night before so he hadn't done any work today. That was entirely unlike him. Even on the rare days when he didn't have a case to follow or a villain to keep tabs on, he still spent time in the office to finish off tasks he'd been ignoring to concentrate on the bigger picture. If he wasn't in his office then what had he been doing?

Kori took a deep breath and decided to mentally retrace his steps. He would wake up, work out and then go to the kitchen to get coffee and sometimes a bite to eat. Maybe he used the last of the coffee or he'd dumped the rest of the sugar in his coffee. He could've gone out to get more but then he would've sent her a text asking if she wanted anything. He usually passed it off as being kind although they both knew he sent texts like that just in case something bad happened to him. She received no such text. Maybe he only just left? 

She pulled out her phone and called him, deciding that he was probably already halfway somewhere and was going to text her when he got there. He wouldn't mind a check-up call. Only when she called, she heard his ringtone in the next room. He didn't leave the house without his phone. He didn't go out on patrol without a communicator. Even if either ended up broken or out of reach, he still brought it just in case. She followed the sound and the pit in her stomach grew.

His phone was on the kitchen floor and a cup of cold coffee sat on the counter, a small puddle of coffee beside it from what looked like nearly knocking it over. Upon further inspection of the rest of their apartment, his car and motorcycle keys were still on the nightstand. His trainers were at the end of the bed and the rest of his shoes were still in the closet. The only thing missing were his pyjamas that he usually left strewn over a chair in their bedroom so he could quickly change into them after work.

Kori took a deep breath and took out her phone, going onto the camera system Dick insisted on installing after one too many home invasions. She had been wary at first but Tim and Cyborg had both made sure it was far too difficult to hack into so she'd been reassured that being spied on would be the least of their worries. Now she was glad to have said yes as she went through the recording to pinpoint what happened. 

Two hours prior

Dick started the day feeling rotten and felt even worse when he turned over and saw that both half the day and his girlfriend were gone. He didn't feel sick the night before and hadn't been shocked awake during the night thanks to a queasy feeling, in fact, he slept quite soundly without interruption, but when he woke up he felt like he hadn't slept in years. Rolling his shoulders, he forced himself out of bed and went about starting the day even if most of it had already gone. He doubted that Kori would let him out from under a blanket if he looked as bad as he felt so he needed to get stuff done before she came home.

Now, Dick was no stranger to seeing things. He'd hallucinated on quite a few occasions on and off mind-altering substances so when he saw something move in the corner of his eye, he didn't think much of it. Almost like when you see a bus go past whilst you're on a walk. It was just another thing your brain took in as information but since you don't need the bus, you let it slip. He heard it was better not to give too much focus to them if they weren't malicious or maybe he just told himself that was a good tactic.

However, he'd never felt such pure dread before in that moment of seeing something slide away from his field of vision even when it was Jason following him around and whispering horrible things. He whipped his head around to get a look at it, knowing he wouldn't see it front on, and then rushed out of the room hoping to leave it behind. It was probably just paranoia or a high fever making him feel so out of sorts. He'd feel better when Kori got home in a couple of hours.

He walked to the kitchen and started making a coffee as he decided on something logical to cling to. He landed on it being the last dregs of a fever-induced nightmare he couldn't remember making him feel wrong. Still, he didn't plan on going back in the bedroom until he had to and he'd make sure he didn't have to.

To distract himself, he got his phone from where it was charging on the kitchen counter and scrolled the hellscape that was Instagram reels. He could go on Tik Tok but it was a little early to doom scroll. Yet he couldn't have them any louder than the lowest setting for fear of missing hearing something. Dick found his eyes wandering around the room against his will, searching for something he didn't quite know. 

When the coffee stopped dripping, he poured himself a cup and took a swig. The black coffee woke him up but didn't chase away the dread like he hoped it would. Not that anxiety was ever helped by coffee but he thought it would at least make him alert enough to realize how stupid it was to be scared by something he couldn't even see. Still, his eyes drifted to the hallway to the bedroom. Waiting.

Something shifted in the darkness and on any other day he would've investigated. Not today. Today he had to put his coffee down for fear of spilling it thanks to his shaking hands. He braced himself against the counter, hardly noticing how he'd knocked his phone onto the floor. His body filled with adrenaline before he could even attempt to rationalise that it was probably just a trick of his mind. 

Then, just as he thought about calming down, something creeped out of the shadows. He jumped back and vaulted over the kitchen counter to duck behind it. The cup of coffee toppled and crashed to the ground, not smashing but pouring its contents onto the floor. He took a deep breath and peeked back over the counter as he saw more things spilling from the shadows. He could wait and find out what on earth it was. 

On any other day, he would face this with bravery. 

On any other day, he'd think about calling Koriand'r to make sure she didn't come home to this creature or to be prepared for a fight if she did. 

This wasn't any other day. 

As soon as he saw it somewhat advancing towards him, he ran. Right out the door without shoes and in his pyjamas. No keys to his car or motorcycle. He simply ran.

Present time 

Not many things scared Dick to his core. The few things that did were conceptual. They weren't something physical that could chase him out of his own home. They were ideas, potential futures and repeats of the past. Nothing would've had Dick retreat like that. It wasn't a tactical fallback and judging by the lack of her phone blowing up, he hadn't contacted anyone for backup either. Kori's stomach twisted and churned. Whatever it was that had him on an impromptu sprint wasn't here anymore. If it were ever here in the first place. 

Her mind trailed to the night before. Kori had stayed at Teen Titan's Tower whilst he went out on patrol. Although they didn't live there anymore, they both spent a lot of time there and it was like a second home. Donna and her had spent the night catching up on their favourite TV show whilst Wally, Garth and Roy complained about not being able to watch theirs. She left around midnight and Dick came home in the early hours of the morning. She didn't stay up since she had her photo shoot the next day but she roused at the sound of him coming in. In her sleepy haze, she didn't take notice of anything strange. He just took off his suit and crawled into bed, slotting himself into her arms and hiding his face underneath her chin. Nothing abnormal about that.

She decided her best bet was to call in the Titans if only just to search for him in the vast city. 

"What have you got yourself into my love?" she muttered to herself as she hit the call button. 

The Titans convened at their apartment rather than the Tower, with Wally and Donna agreeing to search the city whilst they looked for clues. They fanned out over the apartment for any sign of an intrusion or evidence of something else being there. 

Roy took to the office and snooped through the recently opened files when something caught his eye. A drug ring bust that Dick was planning to do last night. Nothing new or interesting there. What had his attention though was what the drug ring was. It wasn't your average dealer of cocaine cut with baby powder. They were high-profile providers of cruel and unusual psychoactive drugs. Roy vaguely remembered a conversation he had with Dick a few days before. How there'd been a weird influx of bodies being found in strange places after people saw them running. He recalled how Dick was deadset on saying running. Never running away, being chased or escaping. Always running. 

"Star," he called, poking his head out of the office. She glanced up at him with reluctance. She didn't like his tone. "You said he ran, right? He just started running away from nothing?"

"Yes, it looked he saw something and then he suddenly started running. I can't see what he ran from though," she explained. "Why?"

"Do you know how his drug bust went last night?" She shook her head.

"He went right to bed."

"I think he might've gotten a hit of something," he continued. Garth stopped his own search to listen to the theory. "He talked about these bodies popping up and how he'd connected it to this drug ring. They all got a hit of something and ended up running until their hearts gave out. He didn't know what caused them to run though, he planned to figure that out once he put a stop to it."

"He wouldn't have dosed himself purposefully...right?" They knew Dick could be reckless but he wouldn't be that reckless. Although they all had to admit he'd been playing chicken with danger a little too much since his brother passed. 

"No," Kori said confidently. "He promised me. He doesn't break promises like that."

"Then he must've ingested it by accident or they dosed him with it. Either way, we need to find him ASAP and get him to the medbay. There's no record of someone surviving it so far."

"But that could be due to no one knowing about it in the first place," Garth quickly added when the alien's face twisted in terror. He shot a dirty look Roy's way for not picking his words carefully. 

"And the victims were mostly rich guys in their 50s. He's in good shape and you caught on early. He'll be fine," the archer explained, trying to correct himself. 

The grim atmosphere was broken by the sound of their communicators going off. Kori was quick to answer.

"Donna here, I've found him and pinged my location. He's communicating but he's not making much sense. Just keeps talking about something following him," she announced. "I tried to stop him but he really didn't like that. What's our plan?"

"He's most likely been dosed with a drug that makes the victim run until their heart gives out. We should try detoxing him in the medbay," Roy replied. Kori wasn't going to wait around though and she swiftly made her way to the balcony before taking off to their location. She had to see for herself that Dick wasn't dying just yet.

"I don't think he has any plans of heading back to the city," she pointed out. 

"Then I think he's gonna need some tough love," Wally said, his voice making it clear that he was grimacing. 

"I'm on my way, wait until I'm there," Kori stated. 

When Kori finally spotted Donna, she was flying behind Dick who was still dashing as though his life depended on it. She quickly swooped down to stand in front of her lover and was just about to reason with him when he grabbed her hand and forced her to run alongside him. She frowned and looked over to Donna only to receive a shrug. 

"Dick?" she called. "Why are we running?"

"Something's there, we've got to go," he said through pants. He was dishevelled at this point, his face pale and caked in sweat. She glanced down to his feet and her eyes widened when red seeped between his toes. Bludhaven's streets were so dirty they suggested dogs wear shoes so they didn't get broken glass in their paws. His feet were likely destroyed by this point and they'd have to keep a keen eye on them to prevent infection. His eyebrows were pinched together so she knew he must've felt the wounds on the bottoms of his feet but that did nothing to slow him down.

"There's nothing there."

"Then only I can see it and we need to keep going," he insisted stubbornly. Kori sighed and grabbed his arm, forcing him to a stop. Donna quickly joined her to grab his other arm in case he managed to slip out of her grip. As strong as he was, they would always be stronger. They expected him to shout at them or to try to wiggle out of their grip but his reaction horrified them.

Dick screamed.

It was a scream of desperation and terror. A scream neither of them had heard from him before but they would know it was his if they couldn't see him and they were certain they never wanted to hear it again despite how it would haunt their dreams long after today. He struggled against their grip, writhing and throwing his body in any shape that could possibly make their hands slip. Of course, Donna and Koriandr's grip was ironclad. They wouldn't budge in most cases but most certainly this one. 

"Shh, my love, you are safe," Kori insisted.

"We're going to bring you back to the tower and get this out of your system. You'll be fine come morning," Donna added, matching her teammate's soothing tone. They may as well be silent as he didn't acknowledge either of their reassuring comments and continued to scream. His voice cracked painfully and they knew it would be raw in a matter of minutes if he continued. As powerful as they were, neither thought they could endure the flight back if he was screeching like this. 

"Okay, no tower. We will keep you moving," Kori suggested. He stopped screaming as though she'd recited some secret magic words and he looked at her desperately. "You need to keep moving but your body won't last much longer. We'll keep going whilst you rest."

"Really?" he asked, his eyes flicking over to Donna to confirm. She nodded but she wasn't entirely sure where Kori was going with this. "You promise?" It was a testament to how exhausted he must be that he was considering their proposal so easily. If he had been a bit more aware, he would have noticed that they weren't on the same page and they weren't about to fly him to nowhere in particular when he needed at the very least a saline drip.

"We promise. We only want to keep you safe. That's why we tracked you down," Donna explained. 

"You can't go back to the city. You have to keep going forward."

"We can do that," she replied. "As long as you rest." He watched her carefully before whipping his head behind him to look at the imaginary thing stalking him. It must've been closer than he expected as he almost snapped his neck whipping it back and nodding in agreement. "Who's carrying?"

"No offence D but I'd rather my girlfriend than my sister." There was some silent relief in hearing him joke after the ear-bleeding screaming. Donna let go of his arm and Kori quickly scooped him up, letting his head rest in the crook of her neck and his arms loop around her shoulders. She pressed a kiss against his forehead before nodding to Donna and taking flight. 

By the time they arrived, Dick was fast asleep in his lover's arms. She took great care in making sure he didn't stir before they managed to get him in a bed and hooked up to various machines. She glared at Donna as she reached for the straps to hold him down in case he did wake up before they could flush the drug out but relented after determining it was for the better. 

"Our best bet is activated charcoal but I don't think he'll take it if we wake him up," Garth theorised. "Did he have any research on it? How it was ingested? What it did?"

"I didn't notice anything but I've brought the files here. Thank God the guy believes in paperwork," Roy revealed as he held up the manila folder. One of the few good things Batman taught was to never rely on technology that can easily be taken away. It wasn't the best for the environment to print out every case file but it saved them the trouble of downloading it all onto a USB and then waiting for it to download. 

"Oh give it here, I'll speed through it," Wally offered, giving a little wink at his joke. They weren't in the mood to laugh so he quickly moved on to reading. He stopped after two seconds with a satisfied hum. "Looks like the drug causes the hallucinations that lead to movement so it can attack the cardiovascular system. As long as we keep him asleep, he should be fine."

"How long will be unconscious?" Kori asked. 

"Let's play it safe and keep him under for 24 hours. Keep flushing out his system as best we can."

"And sort his feet out. They look like they've been in a fight with Slade," Roy joked grimly. 

"I'll do it," Kori said although it sounded like a demand. 

"Let me put him under first. The guy can sleep through an earthquake sometimes but I doubt he'll sleep through you picking glass out of his feet," Donna replied. "He'll be okay," she added knowing Kori needed to hear it. The alien nodded to herself and gently moved Dick's bangs out of his face despite it not bothering him. 

"How long until he can patrol? You know he'll ask as soon as he wakes up."

"He's not even looking at his suit until those feet heal. I say two weeks maybe, depending on how well they heal," Wally suggested. He's not going to like that, Kori thought. He'd pretend to be fine a few times before he got the message she wasn't going to let him out. He was going to be a handful but in all honesty, she wouldn't have him any other way.

Dick groaned as he woke up, his body feeling stiff and sore. He felt grimy thanks to the layer of sweat that had since dried against his skin. He knew there was something wrong with his feet, they were tight and he could feel his body trying to repair them. The only good feeling he was greeted with was someone carding their hand through his hair. He knew immediately it was Kori. Her nails were long enough to give soothing scratches without fear of breaking the skin. He leaned into it with a pleased sigh and heard a breathy laugh in response. Peeling his eyes open, he found Kori sitting beside him with a warm smile he couldn't help but return. 

"Hey."

"Hey," she responded softly. 

"Am I in trouble?" he asked. 

"Not if you didn't do this intentionally." He hummed and tried to think what she meant. His memory was fuzzy but he remembered something or other being in his apartment and making him leave before he could figure out what it was. He felt sick, he knew that but he couldn't figure out what made him sick in the first place. Seeing his deep concentration, Kori enlightened him. "You were drugged with something that would make you run until your heart gave out." 

"Oh, that?" He pushed himself to think past waking up in the morning. He made sure to cover up but..."Shit, my suit."

"What about your suit?"

"Didn't sew a hole well." She raised an eyebrow. "It's contracted through the skin."

"So it was unintentional?" she clarified.

"Of course. Why wouldn't it be?"

"You've not been yourself lately," she muttered.

"Made a promise didn't I?"

"I still worry."

"I know," he replied, leaning into her touch further. "What's the damage?"

"At least two weeks of bed rest until your feet are healed."

"But maybe one week on good behaviour?"

"Four if you try any sooner than two," she told him with a teasing grin.

"You win. As long as you're there with me. I don't know what I saw but it'd be nice if you're here to tell me it's gone." She nodded and pressed a kiss against his hair. "How long until I can shower? I feel gross."

"Give yourself some time to wake up first."

"I know a way you can wake me up," he hummed flirtatiously. 

"Maybe when we get home," she replied. It sounded like a promise though and he did his best to hide his blush. "I'm glad you're okay, my love. You scared me for a moment."

"You couldn't get rid of me even if you tried."