After a fight, a simple “are we good?” repairs more than an hour spent proving who was right.

Repair and adjudication are different projects. Establishing who was right takes an hour and usually leaves both people more entrenched; asking whether you are all right takes three words and puts the relationship back above the argument. Most disagreements do not need a verdict. They need someone to signal that the thing between you survived.

Ask it plainly once things have cooled, and mean it enough to hear a no. If the answer is not yet, wait rather than pushing. You can return to the actual disagreement later, if it still seems to matter, and often it does not.