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The wind was knocked out of Dirk when Priest’s hands slammed him back against the wall of his room in Black Wing.
“I'm warning you, Svlad,” Priest growled, using Dirk's old name to taunt him. “You'll go along with our tests, or your little friend dies.”
“Leave him alone!” Dirk begged, eyes filling with tears at the sight of Todd being held at gunpoint by another Black Wing soldier. “Take me, but not him. Please not him.”
Priest sneered, taking Dirk by the throat. “Don't think we don't know how you feel about him. We're going to kill him, make him suffer, and make you watch.”
Dirk sniffed, eyes screwing shut. How did Priest know about his feelings for Todd?
He couldn't move. Priest was chuckling, nodding towards the other soldier who shot a struggling Todd straight through the head.
“No!” Dirk yelled. “Todd!”
He crumpled into a ball on the floor, watching helplessly as Todd bled out across the room. His best friend was dead, and it was his fault.
“It's what you deserve,” Priest laughed cruelly, kicking at Todd's body. “Now you're completely alone, like you deserve to be.”
“Todd!” Dirk continued to scream, tears blurring his vision. “Todd!”
-
Todd was woken up by someone screaming out his name.
It had to be Dirk, he was the only other person in the apartment with him. Todd rubbed his eyes and sat up in his bed, looking over to the sofa where there was an absence of a sleeping Dirk. Instead he was sprawled out on the floor, blanket tangled around his legs and trembling violently.
“Dirk!” Todd called out. “Wake up!”
Dirk's eyes shot open, he was still breathing heavily. He blinked and looked up, shocked at the sight of his best friend right in front of him.
“Todd!” Dirk beamed, trying to stand up but stumbling over his blanket and back to the floor. “You're alive!”
“Last time I checked I was, yeah,” Todd said, watching Dirk wipe tears from his eyes. He wondered what he was dreaming about; they'd been through a lot of traumatic experiences together so it could be anything. Perhaps Black Wing was most likely.
“You were dead, they killed you,” Dirk clutched the blanket to his chest, leaning back against the sofa. “They shot you Todd, in front of me.”
“Dirk, it's just a nightmare. I'm here,” Todd said softly, patting his bed. “Hey, how about you have the bed tonight? Would that help?”
Dirk's eyes lit up. “Really?”
“Yeah, of course man.” Before Todd could even leave his bed to sleep on the sofa, Dirk had dived in next to him and was tugging at his arm.
“Come on Todd,” Dirk said, his mood almost completely changed. “This isn't how cuddling works, is it? Usually both parties are involved. ”
“Uh… Dirk…?” Todd began, but was pulled down onto his back by an insistent Dirk. This seemed to be one of the occasions he forgot how oblivious Dirk was to normal human interaction, and the fact that two friends didn't tend to share a bed. And that he'd implied that he'd be the one sleeping on the sofa and Dirk alone in his bed.
Todd resigned to his fate when Dirk threw his arm over his middle, snuggling into his side and hooking a leg between his own. He was actually quite warm, a reassuring presence by his side. It'd been a while since someone had held him like this; quite a few months ago when him and Farah had something going on. It was nice to have someone next to him, even if that someone was clinging onto him like a fucking koala bear.
“Dirk?” Todd said, trying his best to relax. His heart was pounding a mile a minute.
“Yes Todd?” Dirk looked up from his place against Todd's shoulder. “You'd prefer spooning? I've never tried it before, but I'm sure it's pretty easy to understand. I'll be…” he rolled over, facing away from Todd, “...the ‘little spoon’.”
Todd sighed, rolling his eyes. He was too tired to protest, so he slipped an arm around Dirk's waist. Dirk immediately cuddled back into him, letting Todd's head rest against the back of his neck. At least whatever they were doing was calming Dirk down from his nightmare.
Moments later, Dirk was fast asleep again and Todd was left wide awake, unable to find the heart to move away. Somewhere deep down, he found he didn't want to. Dirk smelled nice, and this felt natural. They were practically holding hands as well.
Todd knew he was bisexual, but he had very little experience with the same sex. It'd mostly been women he'd dated or hooked up with. Maybe he'd made out with a guy once or twice after a Mexican Funeral gig, but that was years ago.
Did he have feelings for Dirk?
Maybe he did. Maybe he'd known for a while,but simply ignored it. He'd been fixating on Farah for a while, but things between them were strictly physical. Sometimes he found himself wanting more with someone, but Farah didn't want that with him.
Dirk was a difficult person to read. Had he even kissed anyone before? When he said the rainbow haired girl from Wendimoor wasn't his thing, did he mean girls or everyone weren't his thing?
Fuck, Todd was too tired for this. He found himself drifting off, clutching tightly to the man beside him.
-
It was morning, the sun was streaming through the windows of Todd's apartment. Dirk felt comfortable; more than he had been in a long time. Possibly ever. And he hadn't had any more Black Wing nightmares.
There was an arm around his waist. And a head nestled between his shoulder blades.
Dirk had never been held like this before. It was incredibly relaxing. He melted back into Todd's arms, savouring the feeling. He smiled to himself, still surprised that Todd had actually invited him to share his bed last night. Todd really was the best assis-friend.
There was stirring behind him; Todd must be awake.
“Mornin’.”
“Good morning, Todd. How did you sleep?”
“Pretty well, actually,” Todd removed his arms from around Dirk, and he swore he felt his heart physically sink. “How did this happen? Was I drunk?”
Dirk turned around to face him. “No, you were very much sober. You invited me here.”
“Did I?” Todd stretched his arms over his head, revealing a bit of skin from under his pyjama shirt. Dirk's eyes were drawn to it for a moment, then he immediately tore them away.
“Yes, Todd,” Dirk sat upwards, bolting over to where his clothes were in a heap at the end of the sofa. “I'll call Farah, she wanted to meet up today. Something about an escaped horse.”
“Sounds great,” Todd's eyes widened when he noticed Dirk rapidly stripping before him. “Dirk, do you know I have a bathroom?”
“Indeed,” Dirk said, wrestling out of his pyjama shirt and picking up his button down. “It's too far away.”
“It's literally five meters away, Dirk,” Todd sighed.
Dirk obviously wasn't listening to anything he was saying.
-
Todd didn't know whether to look away or just stare helplessly. Dirk really was oblivious to friendship boundaries. There he was, standing completely naked in the middle of Todd's apartment, pulling a pair of boxers up his legs as if it was the most normal thing to do in front of your friend.
He was actually a lot more ripped than Todd had expected when he first looked at him. He'd seen his arms and legs when they were in the death maze, but never his whole body. Damn, he was getting pretty close to the ‘attractive as fuck’ category in Todd's mind.
“Come on Todd, get dressed!” Dirk exclaimed, pulling on his yellow jacket. “What we have here may be a new case.”
“Yeah, of course,” Todd shook all those thoughts away. He could really do without them right now.
-
It became a norm for them; Dirk would have a nightmare and immediately climb into Todd's bed. It happened both when they were in Todd's apartment or Dirk's; when they were at Dirk's Todd was the one moving from the sofa to join Dirk in bed. And they always cuddled.
Tonight it was worse. Dirk wouldn't stop shaking; he was curled up in a ball on his bed. Todd was rubbing his back, trying to calm him down.
“Dirk, it's OK, I'm here,” he'd whisper, running a hand through his friend's hair. That seemed to be what worked, and not that long after, Dirk's breathing had slowed and he'd uncurled.
“Todd,” Dirk breathed out shakily, tugging at Todd's arm again. Todd knew the signal, lying down to wrap his arms around Dirk's waist. Dirk was still pretty tense, so Todd continued to run fingers through his hair.
“Black Wing won't find you, Farah and I will make sure of it,” Todd said softly, and without thinking took Dirk's hand in his own, intertwining their fingers. Dirk seemed to relax a bit more when he did that.
“What if they kill you, and it's my fault,” Dirk murmured against the pillow. “I'm a danger to both you and Farah.”
“No, Dirk, look at me.” Dirk rolled over, and Todd cupped his face, brushing the tears away with his thumb. “We care about you.”
Dirk sniffed. “I don't deserve your friendship.”
“You're so wrong,” Todd found himself leaning forward, pressing his lips to Dirk's. He felt Dirk go rigid for a moment, then relax into him. Todd continued to stroke his thumb over his cheek as he kissed him softly, after a moment pulling back and resting their foreheads together.
Dirk was speechless, just lying in front of him breathing heavily.
“That enough proof for you?” Todd said, his heart pounding. He'd probably fucked everything up between them, but it was a spur of the moment decision, and Dirk had kissed him back. Slightly clumsily, but still enthusiastically.
“Todd,” Dirk exhaled, “I-”
“Hey,” Todd smiled at him. “It's OK. You feeling any better?”
Dirk nodded. “Thanks Todd.”
Todd pulled him into his chest, wrapping his arms securely around him. They both fell asleep almost instantly.
-
“Dirk!” Farah exclaimed, bursting into Dirk's room. “Oh… sorry, am I interrupting something?”
Todd immediately untangled himself from Dirk's sleeping form, sitting up and trying to hide his bright red face. “Farah! I didn't expect you here so early.”
“I- I'll just go…” Farah slowly backed out of the doorway.
“It's not what it looks like!” Todd called out, but Farah was already gone. He sighed, falling back against the pillows.
“What's not what it looks like?” It seemed that Dirk had woken up, and was staring over at Todd.
“Nothing, it was Farah. She saw us, uh…” Todd ran a hand over his face.
“Oh,” Dirk blushed a little.
“Yeah… she left,” Todd rolled over to face Dirk, not realising the massive heart eyes he was giving him. “Hopefully she won't tease me about it forever.”
The corner of Dirk's mouth twitched upwards. They just lay there in silence for a moment, staring at each other. Weirdly, it didn't feel awkward.
“Todd…” Dirk said, raising an eyebrow. “You remember last night, when you did that thing? The thing with your thing.”
Todd chuckled to himself at how much Dirk was blushing. “Kissing? With my mouth?”
Dirk cleared his throat, avoiding eye contact. “Um… yes?”
“I do remember that, very well,” Todd found himself blushing slightly. He felt like a teenage girl with a crush.
“Can you, uh, do it…” Dirk was fidgeting nervously, “...again?”
Todd fought back a grin, wetting his lips with his tongue. “You liked it?”
“I- I did.”
Before Dirk could stutter any more, Todd was kissing him again. Soon he was on top of him and kissing him more and more. Neither of them looked like they wanted to stop.
-
OK, maybe Farah did tease them a little. When they'd hold hands down the street, or running on a case, she'd give them a knowing look and Todd would turn away and blush. When they'd stare at each other for a little too long, Farah would clear her throat and embarrass both of them. But they were happy.
And Dirk's nightmares were almost completely gone. Every night he fell asleep in Todd's arms, knowing he'd never have to feel alone again.