protect icarus

yes! I love this prompt because I am a dirk!angst fan (what’s wrong with me) & this is our first look into the blackwing side of dirk’s story & therefore it’s easy to put todd into that situation as well. plus I love me some protective todd.

(I’m not sure if you wanted todd to interfere with the actual scene or to talk to dirk afterwards but this is what I ended up writing)

-

“It’s all real, isn’t it? You really are what you say you are. Some kind of… Holistic detective?” Todd asks, already knowing the answer.

“I’m trying.” Dirk replies sincerely. “Is this enough proof? Will you help me?” He asks.

Todd can see the desperation in Dirk’s eyes, how much he really, genuinely wants Todd’s help. Todd doesn’t say anything right away, he still feels unsure about this mess he’s somehow been dragged into, but he also knows he will eventually accept it. There’s no way out for him, not anymore. Besides, something about Dirk just makes it feel like this is supposed to happen. Todd never used to believe in stuff like that. None of that ‘everything happens for a reason’ crap. Yet somehow meeting Dirk seems like something he was meant to experience. Somehow Dirk is supposed to be a part of his life. It doesn’t mean Todd is thrilled about the danger and illegal aspects it has brought him, but he knows he can’t walk away from it. From him.

“Fine.” He finally replies.

Dirk’s face lights up like a child’s on Christmas. He gives Todd a huge smile and pats him on the shoulder. Then he turns around and basically hops down the stairs. Todd is left standing in the hallway. There’s many things on his mind, most of them questions.

He turns around to go back to his apartment, but his feet stop moving before the thought really registers in his mind. After everything that’s happened, after the revelation of Dirk being… Whatever he is and Todd actually committing to this bizarre case they seem to be on, he doesn’t feel like going about things the normal way. He doesn’t feel like going into his apartment and sitting on the couch, chatting with his sister. It all feels… Different.

As quickly as he’d stopped mid-step, he turns back around to go after Dirk. He’s not sure why. He shakes his head, mocking himself for choosing to go after the man who broke into his apartment and claims that they’re friends instead of going back to the safety of his apartment. Then again, his apartment wasn’t exactly safe at the moment. A man had been killed there. It had been broken into. Twice. 

Todd reaches the stairwell that leads to the ground floor and he sees Dirk at the end of it, but something stops him. An ominous voice Todd doesn’t recognize.

“Hello, Project Icarus.” The voice says.

Todd has about half a second to wonder what the hell that means, until Dirk reacts.

“No..” Dirk whispers. “Leave me alone.” He says, but it comes out as more of a plea than an order.

A feeling of anxiety sets in Todd’s stomach. He’d come across all kinds of crazy people in the last few days, but none of them had made Dirk pale the way this man did.

“Svlad, we have to talk.” The man continues.

“That’s not my name anymore.” Dirk says defiantly.

Dirk isn’t his real name? Todd suddenly considers the things he knows about Dirk aside from his eccentric personality and comes up with nothing. He doesn’t really know anything about Dirk, or Svlad, or whatever his name was.

“Dirk then.” The man complies.

“I said leave me alone!” Dirk says with more power in his voice now.

Suddenly a man charges at Dirk and tackles him, both of them collapsing against the bottom stairs. Todd instinctively takes a rushed step forward, going through any self-defense techniques he’s seen on tv in his head, ready to pull the man off Dirk, but stops as the other man yells.

“Friedkin! Friedkin, goddamn it, get off him!” The first man orders.

Todd stays still, but on guard. These people were obviously not friends of Dirk’s and if the situation escalated, he would need help.

“He was escaping!” The younger man explains, still holding Dirk down.

“You release him now, soldier, that’s an order!” The older man yells.

Soldier? Who the hell are these people?

The man, the soldier, gets off Dirk and sits next to him on the stairs. Dirk scrambles to get up and basically wraps himself around the pole at the end of the staircase, grunting and panting franticly. He was obviously shaken, understandably so.

“Is this what you do now!? You just attack people!” Dirk screams once he’s recovered.

“Sorry, sir, I got confused.” The soldier says and gets up from the stairs and walks back to where Todd assumes his commanding officer is standing, out of view. Todd rolls his eyes.

“He seems like a winner!” Dirk comments sarcastically.

“Dirk, listen to me.” The older man says.

“Why? You have new lies to tell me?” Dirk comments.

Todd furrows his brow. What is Dirk’s history with this guy? In the short time he’s known Dirk, Todd’s never seen him so shaken or as defensive as he is around this guy. He lied to Dirk? About what?

“We need you to come back in for a debriefing.” The man says.

Debriefing? On what? Was Dirk… An agent of some sort? He couldn’t have been telling the truth about the CIA… He admitted it was a lie?

“Oh yes, why not, it’s only been sixteen years!” Dirk exclaims in frustration.

Sixteen years? Dirk must’ve been a teenager sixteen years ago? What kind of agency would employ a teenager? 

“Blackwing is under review. That’s why we bailed you out when the police brought you in. It’s the least you can do.” The man explains.

More and more questions form in Todd’s mind. What the hell is Blackwing? They bailed Dirk out?

“The least I could do?” Dirk repeats in disbelief. Dirk obviously didn’t think he owed these people anything. Todd started to feel like this situation was truly threatening.

“This is in your best interest.” The man says.

In Dirk’s best interest? Was Dirk in danger? Well, of course he was, Todd had experienced more danger in the short time he’d known Dirk than in his previous 30 something years of life, but was there more danger than he originally thought? Was someone specifically targeting Dirk?

To Todd’s surprise, his first thought was worry towards Dirk’s safety, not his own.

“You promised them something you couldn’t deliver. You promised me something and you couldn’t deliver.” Dirk says.

Todd frowns. This man had obviously hurt Dirk. Just a few minutes ago Todd couldn’t have imagined hearing the fear and bitterness in Dirk’s voice that was clearly present now. This made Todd worry.

“Dirk, I am not the enemy here.” The man says and takes a step closer to Dirk, now coming into Todd’s view too. Dirk quickly stands up and backs himself against the wall, like a scared animal. Todd suddenly feels the need to stand between Dirk and the man who scares him so.

“And you’re not a detective.” The man continues and Todd can see tears forming in Dirk’s eyes. “You’re going to get yourself hurt or killed if you-”

“I am on a case!” Dirk interrupts in a teary voice. “I have friends! And we found clues! We’re gonna solve a mystery! A real one! And some people think I’m a pretty good detective!” Dirk yells, the last words coming out shaky. He sounds like a child trying to defend himself to adults.

Dirk’s teary, shaky voice breaks Todd’s heart. Dirk takes so much pride in his title as a holistic detective and just earlier he told Todd how he was trying to live up to that title, and now this man was demeaning the thing Dirk put so much effort in? So much so that the man’s words made Dirk nearly cry? Now, Todd hadn’t exactly been on board this holistic detective train until a few minutes ago, but seeing the normally cheery, optimistic Dirk so sad and broken by just the sight of this man? It makes Todd’s blood boil.

Dirk kept panting and fighting tears as the man opened up his mouth again to speak, but suddenly Todd decided he’d had enough. He marched down the stairs, drawing the strange men and Dirk’s attention to him.

“Todd…” Dirk almost whispers, obviously surprised to see him.

“Who is this?” The man asks.

Dirk opens his mouth to speak but Todd beats him to it.

“I’m his friend. And I’d appreciate it if you left him the hell alone, now.” Todd says, coming to stand between Dirk and the man, trying his best to appear as intimidating as he could despite being the shortest of the four men.

Dirk looks at Todd, his eyes shining with unshed tears, his expression somewhere between shocked and grateful.

“This doesn’t concern you.” The man says.

“Like hell it doesn’t. I don’t appreciate people making my friends cry. Actually, I have a tendency to punch the daylights out of people who do that.” Todd replies.

“Todd.” Dirk says, his voice a clear warning, but Todd doesn’t break the intimidating staring contest with the older man.

“Do you want me to take him down, sir?” The younger man asks.

“No!” The older man and Dirk exclaim at the same time, the man’s voice giving out an order, Dirk’s tone more pleading.

“Dirk…” The man tries again.

“I suggest you get the hell out of here unless you want me to call the cops.” Todd says with no intention of actually doing so, since he is currently, possibly a murder suspect. “And I never wanna see your face here again. Or anywhere near Dirk for that matter.” Todd continues. 

The man seems unsure for a moment before nodding slowly. He walks towards the doors and then stops and turns back.

“I’m only trying to protect you, Dirk.” He says.

Dirk shakes his head behind Todd. “I don’t care. I don’t need you.” He says.

The man sighs and gestures for the younger man to follow him. Once both of them are out of the building, Todd turns towards Dirk.

“Are you okay?” Todd asks, adrenaline still burning in his body.

Dirk swallows. “Yes. Well, no. But yes. I’ll be fine.” Dirk mumbles. “Thank you, Todd.” He whispers.

Todd gives him a reassuring smile. “Sure.”

Dirk gives him a small smile, still a bit shaken from the interaction.

“Who the hell were those guys anyway?” Todd asks.

Dirk looks down at his feet. “It’s… A long story. And I’m afraid it’s not a happy one.” Dirk replies.

“Hey,” Todd says and places a comforting hand on Dirk’s shoulder, which gets Dirk to look up at him again. “It’s okay.” He promises. Dirk smiles a little more brightly this time.

Then Dirk sits back down on the bottom steps and sighs. Todd follows suit, sitting right next to Dirk and immediately placing his hand back on his shoulder. Dirk looks to Todd, as if to ask for permission. Todd gives him an encouraging nod.

Dirk takes a deep breath.

“They’re a part of a CIA operation called ‘Blackwing’…”

-

if you have any fic ideas, please send me prompts! I’d love to write them. my inbox is open! xx

this is fun!I hope this is fine, It did turn out to be just a little different way for todd to get involved with the hurricane of crazy that is dirk.todd’s less hasty to dismiss dirk in this, but in my mind it works because he has more time to think since dirk is unconscious.

(also I took the liberty to make the knocking out part slightly different, something I could see happening with how these two characters are.)

~

Todd had had a weird day. Questioned by the police? Because of a murder? How could that be his life? You only saw those things on tv in some crime show that has been running for a decade, it doesn’t actually happen to people!Except that it does. And now it was happening to him.Todd let out a deep sigh as he walked into his messy apartment. All he wanted was to give Amanda a call and then fall asleep, preferably for a week or so.Unfortunately, that was not what the universe had planned for him.Todd closed the door and turned on the lights in his apartment.Something caught his attention from the corner of his eye. As he turned towards the window, his eyes widened in shock.There was a man, halfway through his window into his apartment. The man had an awkward smile on his face and he stopped climbing in for a second to acknowledge Todd’s presence.“Hiiii…” He said in a soft British accent.

Todd screamed and without really thinking, he reached down to pick up a shoe and chugged it at the stranger.The man let out a squeal and fell all the way into Todd’s apartment. He quickly got up, seemingly unhurt. Todd, in a weird adrenaline rush, rushed towards the man and tried to get a punch in. The man was protesting but all Todd could make out was ‘hey’ and ‘ouch’.Finally Todd managed to punch the man in the face, which only seemed to offend him.“Oh now you’re gonna get-“ He said and did a couple of what Todd could only assume were meant to be karate chops at Todd.Todd tried charging at the man again, but the man quickly jumped over Todd’s kitchen counter and fell into the kitchen. Todd ran around the counter to confront the man again, only to find him unconscious on the floor. The punch hadn’t done it, but apparently he’d managed to knock himself out while landing on the kitchen floor. A bruise was already forming on the side of the man’s face, right where Todd had punched him.Todd tried to catch his breath. He lowered his fists and stared at the unconscious stranger on his floor.What the hell is happening?What the hell is this day!?He felt relieved to get a minute to breathe and think about his next move. Until he realized he had no idea what his next move should be.The normal thing to do when someone breaks into your home would be to call the police. However, Todd was currently a person of interest - a suspect? - in a murder investigation. He had no idea who this man was. What if he was the real killer? Todd couldn’t get mixed up in any more crap right now. He was on thin ice.The thought of calling Amanda crossed his mind, but he knew it wouldn’t be a good idea. She wouldn’t be able to get to him and she would just worry.That pretty much left taking care of it himself as the only option.Todd sighed. He did not feel up for this.He examined the man again and furrowed his brows. What the hell kind of a burglar wears a bright yellow jacket and a tie while breaking into someone’s house? If this guy wasn’t there to steal, what on earth could his motive be? Who was this guy?Todd found himself more curious than scared now and he was convinced that he was insane. Who is curious about the back story of the wacko that breaks into their home?Todd decided that the police would have to get involved only if the man was indeed going to harm him. But he hadn’t. In fact, he had said ‘hi’ upon seeing Todd. Something about the situation felt odd. Well, it was odd as hell, but even more odd than just a break-in.Todd decided, possibly idiotically so, to wait for the man to come to so that he could question him. Of course, precautions had to be taken.Todd dragged the man into the living room and lifted him up on the couch. The man was surprisingly light. He was tall, well taller than Todd, but he was lanky.Todd looked around the apartment, looking for something to use as a weapon, just in case.He remembered he had a baseball bat in his bedroom and ran to get it. Then he sat on the coffee table and stared at the unconscious Brit.After a while he realized this could take longer than he had thought.He looked the mysterious man up and down. He was pale and skinny. His hair was one of those colors you couldn’t really describe with one word. It was short on the sides, but a fringe flopped onto his forehead from the front.Todd noticed a small cut on the man’s forehead, probably from the impact that knocked him out. For some reason, Todd then found himself walking into the bathroom and retrieving a first aid kit. He cleaned the cut and put a bandaid on it. And immediately felt stupid afterwards. He just bandaged up the intruder in his home. What’s wrong with him?Suddenly the man stirred and Todd grabbed the baseball bat and stood up.The man slowly opened his eyes, soft blue eyes meeting Todd’s and confusion immediately visible in them.“What- what happened?” He asked.“I knocked you out.” Todd replied, choosing to not let the man know what really happened. He needed to appear intimidating. “Why did you do that!” The man whined and touched his forehead which was probably hurting.“You broke into my apartment!” Todd exclaimed and pointed the baseball bat at the man.“Don’t point that thing at me!” The man exclaimed and pushed the baseball bat in front of his face. Then his fingers landed on the bandaid. “You put a bandaid on me?” He asked.“You were bleeding.” Todd mumbled, embarrassed of his decision to help the man out, since he couldn’t really explain why he did it.“How considerate of you. Especially since you’re the reason why.” The man snorted.“You. Broke in. To MY apartment.” Todd said again, enunciating all the words clearly and putting emphasis on ‘my’ to make his point.“Yes, yes, I’m aware. Though technically, your window was open so there was no breaking involved. Only entering.” The man explained and sat up straight on the couch. Todd raised the bat again. The man rolled his eyes.“Please, I’m not going to hurt you. Why would I?” He said.“Sorry if I’m a little wary of people who break in-““Into your apartment, yes, we’ve established that.” The man interrupted him.So apparently, if the man was to be trusted, he meant no harm and the police didn’t have to be involved. That was a relief. However, it explained absolutely nothing of what was currently happening.It was Todd’s turn to roll his eyes. “Well, if you don’t want me any harm, then why on earth are you here and why did you come through my window!” He demanded to know.The man’s face lit up and he stood up, taking a few steps closer to Todd.“Have you noticed an acceleration of strangeness in your life as of late? Perhaps a series of intense or extraordinary events which as of now seem unconnected with the exception of each being separately bizarre. Perhaps every day before now has, for the most part, been humdrum and inane? Your life a mundane, unvarying slog through unfulfilling jobs, shallow depression and boring, BORING sex? And then suddenly today everything changed and your life became a swirl of interesting activity?” The man ranted, slowly leaning closer to Todd as he went on.Todd couldn’t think of a word to say as a response. Who the hell was this guy!? How could he POSSIBLY know all this? Todd wanted to punch him again in frustration, but at the same time… He was weirdly intrigued. He studied the man’s face, now unnecessarily close to Todd’s. Something about this guy didn’t make Todd feel as weird as he definitely should feel considering the circumstances. The man seemed… Friendly. A nut job, but a friendly one.The man seemed to take Todd’s silence as a confirmation and smiled brightly. “An assistant. I knew it!” He said, patted Todd on the shoulder and sat back down on the couch.“An… Assistant? Wait, what the hell are you talking about? Who are you? How did you know all that?” Todd exclaimed, annoyance overpowering the intrigue now.“My name is Dirk Gently. I live here now. And I’ll be sleeping here tonight.” The man replied and turned to lay down on the couch.Todd was definitely annoyed more than intrigued now. He was fuming and the man, Dirk Gently, could tell.“You wouldn’t throw an injured man out on his arse, would you?” He asked, raising his eyebrows innocently.Todd blinked a few times.The man wasn’t dangerous, apparently. He wasn’t there to rob him. He wanted a place to sleep.But then again, how the hell could he have known so much about Todd’s life? Was he a stalker? And what the hell was that assistant comment about?Todd took in a deep breath.“Fine. I won’t throw you out.” He said and Dirk Gently’s face immediately lit up. Todd held up his finger. “But, you are going to explain what the hell is going on and then, only then, am I going to decide if you can actually stay here or not. Deal?” Todd asked.Dirk thought for a moment, then stood up and offered his hand for Todd to shake. Todd did.“Deal.” Dirk replied.Todd nodded and sat down on the coffee table facing Dirk, who sat down as well.“I’m a holistic detective.” Dirk said after a while, in a voice that suggested that ‘holistic detective’ was a term that everyone should know.Todd sighed. What the hell had he just gotten himself into?

~

if you have any ideas for fics, please send me prompts! I’d love to write them. my inbox is open! x