Dirk Gently and The Ghosts of Time

Welcome To Ocean Hill

"Todd?" Dirk whispered as he turned around on the couch to face Todd's bed. "Toooooooddddd?"

"Is everything ok, Dirk?" He lazily turned over.

"Can't sleep. My brain is always hyperactive, part of the whole holistic thing. Normally, I can ignore it when I try to go to sleep but with everything that happened today-" Todd cut him off.

"I can already guess what you're going to say." He rolled his eyes.

"Can I? Please?"

Todd smiled. "Of course."

Dirk got up and pumped his fist in victory to which Todd laughed. He lifted up the covers and snuggled up next to Todd, he rested his head on his chest.

Todd played with Dirk's hair and all was silent for a moment before Dirk spoke up, "I have nightmares, bad ones. I'm afraid to sleep most of the time. They all feel so real. And I know it sounds stupid and I know they're just dreams but-"

"They still hurt right?"

"What?"

"It doesn't matter that they're 'just dreams', they still hurt, they still affect you. It's ok. It's not stupid."

"That means a lot."

"And hey," Dirk turned his head up to look at Todd. "You don't need an excuse to cuddle with your boyfriend." Dirk smiled.

"You know that the great thing about us is, Todd?"

"What?"

"We see through each other's bullshit, we can practically read each other's minds-although I wouldn't be surprised at all if we could actually do that at this point-and we're honest with each other."

"I guess that is pretty great."

"Love you, Todd." He kissed Todd's free hand which was intertwined with his.

"Love you too, Dirk." He kissed the top of his head.

And thanks to Todd, he didn't return to Blackwing in his nightmares that night.

——————————

Todd woke up to the warm sun shining on his face. He rubbed his face and turned over, "Goo-" but Dirk wasn't there. He panicked for a moment until he heard that delightful, cheery accent.

"Good morning, Todd!" He sat up to see Dirk in the kitchen. Making... something.

"Morning, Dirk." His voice groggy. He got up and stumbled to the kitchen. "What are you doing?"

"Making breakfast. I thought I would repay you for helping me so much yesterday. You know what they say about breakfast- do you know what they say? I've always heard people saying something about breakfast, although I'm never quite sure what they're saying... Oh!" He put his hands in the air as if pitching the idea. "Breakfast. The... oh bloody hell, I forgot again. What was I saying? Oh right, anyways I'm making breakfast. Here's some coffee for you," He handed Todd a fresh, steaming, mug of black coffee. "And I'll be done with the pancakes in a bit, I'm almost done with the batter."

"Dirk, do you even know how to make pancakes?" His cooking was... how should he put this? Bad.

"Sure I do! You put the flour, and the milk, and the butter, and the sugar in the bowl, and then you mix it and then you put it in the pan and then you cook them." Todd was too tired for this.