Archive of Our Own ^beta

It had been a week.
A week without any hunches or any extra strangeness. (Aside from the usual weirdness that was omnipresent around the holistic detective.) Dirk was beginning to feel suspicious and anxious whilst Todd was beginning to feel rather relaxed.

“Todd?” Dirk spoke up into the silence one dark winter morning, “Are you awake at all?” This ‘speaking up’ was met by Todd’s regular grumble at having conversations post-waking and pre-coffee.

“Yeah, Dirk, I am now.” His rough voice replied from where his head was still cuddled into Dirk’s bare shoulder.

“Do you think...?” The taller man began to hesitate.

“Do I think what?” Todd sighed and thought, ‘It’s hard to think anything at 4 in the morning.’

“No,” Dirk yawned. “It doesn’t matter.”

—

Dirk had been as quiet as a loud mouse all day; as he wore his heart on his sleeve Todd could tell easily that something was wrong with his strange boyfriend and it was his job to help. So as Todd turned off the stove he looked back over his shoulder to Dirk, who was tapping his fingers on the counter and staring into the middle distance.
The American spooned a large portion of spaghetti onto one of their only remaining plates (they had a Greek case with the Rowdy 3) for Dirk and some into a bowl for himself.

Todd set the steaming plate in front of him but Dirk didn’t snap out of his staring. “Dirk? Dirk.” His boyfriend looked up at him and smiled, however it wasn’t his usual star-bright grin that lit up his eyes. It looked tired.

“Yes?”

“What’s wrong?” As Dirk feigned surprise at the question and began to open his mouth Todd added, “Don’t even try to lie to me, you’ve been upset for the last few days but today it ends. What’s wrong?”

Dirk sighed but then noticed the plate in front of him. “Do we have any cheese?” Todd first put down his own bowl next to Dirk’s and then grabbed the parmesan and the cheese grater from the kitchen. Dirk started to grate. “Well... It’s just- You know how we haven’t had a case in a while?” Todd nodded. “It’s that. What if the universe doesn’t need me anymore? What do I do then?” He said, speaking louder than he had all day. “But also what if the universe is throwing hunches at me and I can’t pick them up anymore?” There was now a high pile of cheese on his dinner.

“It’s only been a week, Dirk.” This went unheard however as Todd had now opened the flood gates, so instead Todd took the grater away from Dirk and put the cheese back into the fridge. Todd ate as Dirk continued.

“Or maybe there’s going to be an awful and massive case tomorrow or the next day, or the next day.” His energy seemed to fail him and so he took a forkful of very cheesy spaghetti.

“Let’s move to the sofa, okay?” Dirk nodded and followed Todd with his plate to sit down on their sofa. The holistic detective folded his long legs under himself and a comforter over himself and his boyfriend.

They were silent as they finished their dinner and watched ‘Life of Brian’ together. (It was a movie that was always sure to make Dirk laugh, even though Todd didn’t always understand what was funny.) As ‘Always Look On The Bright Side of Life’ played at the end of the film, Todd turned to Dirk. “I think the universe is giving you a break but you don’t want to take it... So I’ll help you with that.” Dirk gave him a curious look. “Tomorrow we’ll go to a theme park and then fuck, if you’re still worried about this we’ll go out somewhere else I don’t know, but Dirk,” Todd grabbed his hand. “you are not just a holistic detective. That’s not your whole life; I refuse to let you make it your whole life.” Dirk nodded as his eyes filled with tears. “It’s just your job.”

Dirk smiled and Todd let go of his hands so Dirk could wipe his eyes on his sleeves. “Thank you.” Todd shrugged.

“Don’t mention it, now, do you want some ice-cream?”

Dirk’s grin lit up his eyes and reddened his cheeks; Todd felt his warmth again. “No, I would like a lot of ice-cream.”