#barrit

plot. barrit recruited hasper into the cia from the academy before he graduated (work/study style but secret, think divided loyalties vansell). barrit made up some bs about aptitude but it was really because of hasper's strong psychic abilities. don't worry about all that rn but their personal and professional relationship is built on a lie and that's important

initially barrit was hasper's mentor, boss, handler, etc. very much a hands on controlling force in his* life and not that nice either. barrit kind of owned him and didn't actually like him that much. he sent hasper on dangerous missions alone, a lot, one of which got him killed. barrit said, and hasper believed, that this was just how cia work was meant to be, and it was for his own good, etc.

but hasper has been in the cia so long now and working with barrit specifically, their relationship has kind of mellowed out. at its foundation it hasn't changed - barrit still thinks of hasper as his student and property, and hasper still can't escape that control/sense of inferiority. but despite it all they have been through a lot together and are just around each other so much that it became lax and familiar. hasper grew up and barrit watched, and as questionable as barrit is in many ways, he is at least sort of bound by propriety and always gives respect and credit where it's due. he knocks back and forth between genuinely trying to do right by hasper (this kid he practically raised from a teen into a young adult) and giving in to the self-interest that makes him treat hasper like trash.

hasper, likewise, is torn between fear and resentment for the way barrit treated him when he was younger (and still does, but like, more quietly), vs. the familiar, sometimes genuinely kind and reassuring presence of his mentor and the work dynamic that's been the only thing hasper's known as an adult

anyway, all of that ends up looking like either this:

BARRIT: I never said I was going to pay the ransom. Hasper, do you recall me saying I would pay the ransom? HASPER: [Smug] No, sir. BARRIT: No. Now if you’re quite finished, I’d appreciate it if you left CIA affairs to the CIA. VICTON: You’re not going to pay? Then what are you going to do? HASPER: Why don’t you ask whoever told you about all of this in the first place? VICTON: Oh, shut up. BARRIT: [Angry at that] [He chews Victon out, actual dialogue not important here]

both of them joking together, comfortably playing into the role of mentor/student (or teacher and teacher's pet lol), and barrit genuinely getting angry when victon is rude to hasper. a protectiveness from barrit that doesn't map well onto how HE treats has, and an affection from hasper that conflicts badly with the fear and resentment he feels for barrit when things invariably get bad again

it also looks like this:

HASPER: Ransom can wait. I’m not leaving until Marcus is back. BARRIT: None of us will make it out of here alive if our TARDIS isn’t working, Agent Marcus included. I gave you an order, Agent, now GO. HASPER: Not without her. BARRIT: [Trying to be diplomatic] I will hold the door open for her, alright? HASPER: [Cold] Will you. BARRIT: You are not responsible for Marcus’ safety, Hasper, I am! HASPER: Just like you’re responsible for mine? Like you have been since I was practically a Time Tot in the Academy? BARRIT: What are you s- HASPER: Like you were responsible for my safety on Gryben? [Beat. That surprised them both. We're doing this now? Suddenly white-hot, Hasper presses on—] HASPER: [Spitting] Three shots to the back of the head, wasn’t it? And where were you? Eh? [Another heavy pause. Barrit coolly concedes—] BARRIT: Meet us in the TARDIS bay with Agent Marcus as soon as she returns. [Barrit leaves] HASPER: [Shouting after him] I still want an answer, Barrit! I haven’t forgotten!

hasper snapping in a moment of tension, finally calling barrit out for treating him the way he does. and barrit, suddenly faced with the guilt, realizing he actually kind of cares, sees hasper as an equal in this moment and backs down because his own sense of propriety demands he admits when an equal is right about something. not that they're going to be healthy and talk about it or anything, they're going to pretend this never happened and continue going back and forth between friends and enemies for the foreseeable, but things quietly shift for them in the background, constantly