Awkward

Dan x Walter

Fluff

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It was time.

The wait had been long enough; at least that's what he thought.

It was perfectly normal to do this kind of thing with a lover…

But his lover was anything but normal.

Dan sighed as he plopped down on the protesting leather of his couch. The complex gears of his mind, more used to working with machines then relationships, were trying to figure out how to work over the one with even less experience.

As if on cue (Dan occasionally wondered if the man was psychic or something, he wouldn't put it past him) Walter came casually waltzing in from the kitchen, wife beater and pin striped pants his only clothing, and a sugar cube popping from his fingers to his lips. He paused for a moment and reached down for the remote, changing the channel from the documentary Dan had been watching to the news without even giving him a glance. When Walter got settled in his home, he sure made himself comfortable.

And it was Walter, not Rorschach; he had made that clear to him the day he had first taken off his mask. They were two separate people, the sins Walter committed where not Rorschach's problems… his conditions to make this relationship possible in that strange mind of his. Dan was willing to put up with that.

Even though they were separate people, that didn't mean they were all that different. The same stubborn standards of morality still meant any advance that they could make together had to be done inch by inch. Dan was willing to put up with that too.

Dan was willing to put up with a lot, the waiting, the caution, the remarks from Walter himself… but he was growing impatient.

"Hey, Walter."

The red head, who was still flipping through channels, probably trying to find a less liberal news station, finally turned to his partner. Dan held out his arms, trying to give the best friendly/seductive smile he could possibly muster.

"Come here." He said with a slight wave of his hands.

Ice blue eyes blinked, staring in such blank way he feared he might freeze over if they rested on him for too long.

"What?" he said, finally shattering the silence that was becoming painful.

Of course it wouldn't be that easy now would it.

"You don't have to stand up, come sit here with me."

They never did anything like this, never just sat together, never held each other. Whatever they did it was always frantic and hot after patrols, almost as if it all wasn't real, just a hallucination from adrenalin. It was good, better then he had hopped, but he needed more then that. More then just being able to hold him tenderly when he was injured or unconscious, more then sitting across the couch while they listened to the events of the days, more then him up and leaving in the middle of the night, when they were finally close.

It made him sound more like a women then he wanted to admit but…

He needed to cuddle damn it.

"What… sit in your lap?" the way only one of his eyebrows rose told Dan this wasn't going the way he wanted, but it was going the way he expected.

"Well, not necessarily, you-"

"Not doing that Daniel."

He knew it, he knew it was coming… but that didn't mean he wasn't going to fight it.

"Why not?" he demanded in a much less caring voice then before. "After all we've done together how can you say no to this?"

"Women sits in the man's lap!"

"… What?"

"Not a women, Daniel."

… This was about position?

"You mean… you'd actually be willing to… if you weren't… the one in the others arms."

His eyes trailed away, as if the owl photos on the wall were suddenly very interesting, but without his mask he was helpless to his the pink that was peaking up behind his freckled cheeks.

"…suppose so."

Okay, one more thing he would have to deal with, one last thing.

"Alright then."

Walter seemed surprised that he agreed, he had apparently rested his hopes on him being just as stubborn as he was, but Dan wasn't about to put up a fight. He waited while the ginger shifted from one foot to the other for a moment or two before finally walking rather stiffly to the sofa. Dan couldn't help but smile, the terror of the underworld was always shy when it came to this sort of thing. Even with his face set in that familiar hard frown Dan could read it as easy as a billboard, he wanted this too but he wasn't about to give into that want so easy.

Still he had just volunteered to put himself in charge, and Dan was going to make sure he followed through.

Almost as soon as Walter sat down Dan swung his legs over his, amused by the other's sudden jump, he half expected him to go flying out of the room, but he didn't. Dan inched closer, closer, closer until finally he was actually perched in the other lap. There was a stillness before two arms very slowly, as if working with glass, wrapped around his waist. It was interesting to see his wirery, muscled limps trying so hard to be gentle. Dan in turn wrapped his own around his freckled neck.

The room was pregnant with silence as a slow realization took hold of them both… apparently, in this sort of situation, height was an issue…

Though Dan's weight wasn't in question, Walter could probably hold some someone a hundred pounds heavier, but he was well over a head taller. The red head's face only reached his chest and Dan stuck out almost comically above the other. It was like a parent sitting in their child's lap… and the child's face told him he wasn't about to admit he was wrong. His frown was set and his ice eyes were dull, trying to act as if nothing was odd about the position. Dan too, tried not to say anything, he was really trying… but…God if his little pout didn't look adorable, if this kept up he wasn't going to be able to hold back.

And when a small chuckle escaped, Walter gave him just the smallest annoyed look from the corner of his eye, Dan couldn't take it anymore. He burst out laughing.

"Don't see what's so funny!" he demanded, sounding ever so slightly hurt under the signature growl in his voice.

"Maybe not from down there." It was a terrible thing to say, and he got a few rather unkempt fingernails digging into his side for it. "Alright, alright, I'm sorry. But you have to admit it's a little amusing."

"No." he stated, the pink was returning to his face, probably from embarrassment more then anything else.

Dan couldn't stop smiling, but he tried to keep quiet at least. Personally, he liked the others small size, it was a shame he was so sensitive about it. "Look… why don't we forget about this for tonight, alright?"

"Hrrm." He mumbled something Dan couldn't make out under his breath.

"What?"

"Its fine." The reluctant arms strung around him suddenly tightened, bringing him close. Dan pressed his chin to the short, fiery hair, ignoring the still lingering smell left over from his rounds that night. He had to position himself to be relatively comfortable, even then the other's boney edges poked in odd places. His back hurt from bending over and Walter's legs were probably falling asleep from his weight but something about the awkwardness of made it all the better.

"Daniel…"

"Hm?" he mumbled sleepily.

"Need to loose some weight."

"Shush tiny, you're ruining the moment."