Chapter Text
“I feel kinda mean…” Todd murmurs under his breath, keeping the volume to a minimum as he watches Dirk finish tying his laces. It had been harder than anticipated, staying quiet as they rushed to get ready to meet Farah for breakfast. Even now they were running late, but their sense of urgency wasn’t caused by their tardiness. Instead, it was caused by the sleeping form of the crazed assassin in the guest bedroom.
“To be fair.” Dirk whispered, his voice still shrill and remarkably British, “She did try to kill me. Twice. We still don’t know if we can trust her.”
“Dirk?”
Todd nodded shamefully towards the doorway, and Dirk almost jumped out of his skin when he turned to see Bart stood behind him. She was clearly still half-asleep, her dishevelled hair tied up loosely in braids, Todd’s t shirt hanging off her thin frame.
“Hiya, Dirk.”
She slipped past the men, walking into the kitchen and starting to rummage through the cupboards.
“Thought ya said that you would wake me up before lunch?” Bart says in her strange dialect, pulling out packets and jars until she finds the old box of pop tarts that Todd had tried to conceal on the top shelf.
“We were… going to,” Dirk begins, failing to keep the tremor out of his voice. “But you just…” he trails off, looking over at Todd for help.
“You looked so peaceful.” Todd interjects, and Dirk nods along a little too enthusiastically. Bart didn’t seem to mirror their comical exaggerations, studying them as she chewed the pop tart. Once she’d finished, crumbs all over her front, she sat on the bar stool besides Dirk.
It wasn’t a total lie. Bart was a very heavy sleeper, and it was slightly endearing to see someone who’s usually so extreme in temperament to find solace in her dreams. But that’s not why they didn’t wake her.
“You were gonna leave without me again.”
Neither men could hide their shame, and eventually Todd drops the façade, nodding weakly. “We just… things are still sensitive, Bart. People are still sceptical of us.”
“So? I can handle them.”
“That’s the point!” Dirk says, his voice raising slightly. “You can’t just go around letting yourself attack any of all people who make your skin crawl! You’re gonna get us back in trouble, Bart, serious trouble. We just want peace!”
Bart blinked up at him slowly, clawing at the grime on her knees with her nails. “I don’t kill no more. I changed.”
“You might have changed, but the universe didn’t!” Dirk replies, his voice even higher. “And if it makes you want to kill and you ignore it, you will be the one who ends up hurt, Bart. You’re a liability!”
Todd winces at Dirk’s choice of words, but Bart doesn’t seem to care. Or, if she does, her face didn’t display it.
“Okay. Have fun, Dirk.” Bart eventually replies, watching as he awkwardly collects himself and shuffles out the front door. Todd smiles tightly, nodding at Bart. “You, uh… want us to… get you something to bring back?”
“Coffee.”
⋆༺𓆩⚔𓆪༻⋆
“How does Bart drink this stuff? It’s just sugar.” Todd says, attempting to seem nonchalant as he climbs in the car beside Dirk. It wasn’t as flashy as the other times him and Dirk had driven around, but at least the second-hand ford was theirs, not stolen on behalf of the universe.
Farah was pleased to see them, even if they were late. They’d only been out for an hour, Dirk increasingly anxious of leaving a holistic assassin home alone and unpredictable. With a hurried goodbye and apologetic smile, they had got Bart her caramel latte and set off back to the flat.
Dirk sighs, leaning his head back against the headrest as Todd takes the wheel. “I didn’t mean to- “
“-I know.” Todd cuts him off. “She didn’t seem upset.”
“Of course she didn’t. She’s Bart. I still feel bad.”
The two stay silent for a while, the static of the radio filling the car and making Dirk’s head throb.
“She was only supposed to stay for a night.” Todd mutters. “I mean… we’ve been more than hospitable. We could always just-“
“-no.” Dirk interjects. “we can’t just kick her out. Scary as she is, she’s… like me. The universe just takes her places, and if we let her go, who knows where she’ll end up next.”
Todd bites his tongue for the rest of the drive, until the lonely silence softens into some form of peace. Him and Dirk get back to the apartment as the clouds start to roll in and make it back just in time to stay dry against the impending November forecast.
“Bart? We got your coffee.” Todd calls out into the hall, kicking his shoes off and entering the kitchen. It was cleaner than it was earlier, surprisingly slow, the overflowing garbage now gone, the crumbs on the floor vacuumed up. It would’ve been a nice thing to return to, if the silence that echoed in the apartment wasn’t so jarring.
“Bart? You asleep again?”
“Todd.”
Dirk picks up a note from the coffee table, the writing also ineligible.
“Gon to fight bad guys. Thanks 4 lettin mee stay.
- Bart.”
“Fuck.”