Daniel woke suddenly, his heart rate elevated just slightly as if he had woken from a nightmare. Only he hadn't. Fumbling for his glasses, he looked at the clock. It was just a little after three in the morning. Strange. He usually didn't wake up in the middle of the night. He wasn't sure what woke him, till he heard it. A soft sound of movement downstairs. The sound of someone trying to not wake him.
Daniel quietly slipped out of bed, struggling to put on a pair of underwear and trousers in the dark. One thing he did NOT want to do was to confront a burglar wearing nothing but a bathrobe. He paused from time to time to listen, but there was no longer any sound. Did the burglar leave? He had to be sure.
Barefoot he crept downstairs, knowing from habit which squeaky steps to avoid. He looked around the kitchen, but saw nothing disturbed there. But then he saw something that made his heart stop and his blood run cold. The door to the Nest was slightly ajar. The doorjamb was undamaged, so someone must have picked the lock. What if the burglar had gone down there? His identity would have been compromised! True, he was no longer Nite Owl, but he didn't want people to know who he had been. Rorschach had always warned him about his lax security and how it'd get him into trouble someday.
As he reached for the handle of the door, he heard a sound from the living room. A soft sound like….breathing? He tiptoed into the living room and was confronted with a sight he hadn't seen in years. Rorschach sleeping on his couch. The trench coat was slung over a chair, the hat settled on top of the coat, and shoes sat neatly next to each other on the floor. Otherwise, he was fully clothed and still wore the mask, though that was pushed up over his nose.
In years past, Daniel had always marveled that Rorschach didn't snore. Even in his sleep, he was a quiet man. Daniel softly approached and looked down at his former partner. The smaller man was curled up in a tight ball, arms in front of his face, as if to ward off blows. He often wondered what had happened to Rorschach that caused him to be so defensive even in sleep. He had always suspected that the man had been abused as a child, though he had no way to confirm it. Rorschach was very tight-lipped about himself.
With a sudden burst of affection, Daniel reached out to touch the man. He suddenly wanted to pull him into a hug and tell him how happy he was to see him again after so long. But his hand stopped short of Rorschach's shoulder. He remembered another time, long ago, when Rorschach slept on his couch. It was the first time the man had agreed to stay the night.
*/*/*
They had only been out an hour when it happened. They had just knocked out the last member of a gang and could hear the sirens getting closer. But Rorschach had gotten injured. Daniel had managed to get him into the Owlship and they were hovering above the rooftops of the low-rises.
"Come on, Rorschach! Let me look at it! It might be broken!"
"Not broken. Simply sprained it when I fell over that man you knocked out."
"At least let me check to make sure!"
"No."
Daniel pulled back his cowl. "Oh, come on, man! We've been partners for two years now! You can't trust me enough to check your ankle?" He ran his hands through his hair. "I won't even take the boot off. I just want to be sure. Please?"
After a moment, Rorschach stuck his leg out. "Thank you!" Daniel was grateful that Rorschach wore ankle boots. It'd make the task a little easier. He gently slid his fingers into the top of the boot, feeling his partner stiffen. He felt along the ankle as best he could, gently pressing. He could hear the squeak of leather and knew that Rorschach was gripping the armrests. "It seems like nothing is broken."
"Told you."
"Yeah, yeah. But I'm still calling it a night. You are in no condition to fight." He sat in the pilot's seat and steered the ship toward home.
"Criminals are not going to stop, just because we do!"
"You can't fight like that!" This arguing wasn't going to get him anywhere. He decided to try another tactic. "How are you going to have my back, if you can't even defend yourself."
"Hrn. Reverse psychology, but I get your point. Drop me off anywhere."
"No way. Either you tell me where you live, or I'm taking you back to my place."
"Fine. Your place."
Daniel sighed. Rorschach never told him where he lived. He never understood why. Maybe he didn't have a home. That thought saddened Daniel and made him more determined that Rorschach was going to stay the night at his place. And not on the workbench down in the Nest. When he told his partner this, he was less than happy.
"Can walk home."
"Walk? You can't even stand on that foot! I had to half-carry you onto the ship!" He looked over at Rorschach and saw the smaller man's arms crossed over his chest.
The rest of the flight was quiet. He glided Archie smoothly into the Nest and settled him down. He turned the engines off and swiveled in his chair to face his partner. The man hadn't moved a muscle. Arms still crossed over his chest, looking pointedly away from Daniel. For being five years older than me, he sure can be childish sometimes.
"You can either come up willingly, or I can carry you up. The choice is yours."
"Don't need to be carried," he growled. He carefully pushed himself to his feet, balancing his weight on one foot. As Daniel approached, Rorschach put his hand on his shoulder. Daniel knew that this was the extent that Rorschach was going to accept his help.
Ever so slowly, they made their way upstairs and into the living room. He settled Rorschach on the couch in the living room and then headed to the kitchen. He grabbed a plastic sandwich bag and put some ice in it. He closed it with a twist-tie before wrapping it in a dish towel.
When he returned to the living room, he found Rorschach curled up on the couch asleep. He was still fully clothed, though his hat had been placed on the coffee table. He pulled the coffee table a little further from the couch, so that he could kneel down next to the couch. Kneeling next to the sleeping man, he gently put a hand on his shoulder.
Before he even knew what happened, he was on his back, wedged between the couch and the coffee table. Rorschach was on top of him, with his hands around Daniel's throat. Daniel could imagine the clenched teeth and eyes narrowed in anger under the quickly swirling mask. Daniel grabbed Rorschach's wrists and tried to pry them from his throat. He managed to get just enough air to gasp, "Rorschach!"
The hands loosened. "Daniel?" The two men stared at each other. It was only then that Rorschach seemed to realize that he was straddling his partner. He desperately scrambled for the next few moments trying to get himself off of Daniel, which wasn't easy since they were both stuck between the couch and the coffee table. Daniel realized, with amusement, that Rorschach was embarrassed by it. He had never seen Rorschach embarrassed before. He fought hard to keep the grin from his face as he put his hand under the coffee table and managed to moved it out a few more inches. Just enough for the smaller man to get himself off Daniel and onto the couch.
Daniel got to his feet and went to retrieve the ice bag that flew out of his hand during the attack. Picking it up, he turned back to his partner. Rorschach was sitting on the couch, head turned away. Daniel could tell that he was still embarrassed by how fast the mask swirled. "So what the hell was that about?"
Rorschach growled. "Shouldn't have grabbed me while I was sleeping."
"I just touched your shoulder! Man, you're defensive!"
Silence followed. Daniel watched Rorschach's hands clench and unclench on the couch cushion. The black images on the mask weren't quite so frantic, so it seemed like the smaller man was calming down. Daniel tried to think of something to say, when Rorschach spoke up. "Apologies, Daniel. Thought I was being attacked."
Daniel rubbed his throat. "S'okay, man. I'll just poke you with a stick next time." Rorschach made a sound that Daniel took to be a laugh. "Anyway, I brought some ice for your ankle." He set the bag on the coffee table. "Unless you need anything else, I'm heading to bed." Rorschach shook his head. "Now, I don't want you to leave until that ice is completely melted, understand?" Rorschach nodded. "Alright then. Good night, Rorschach."
He was halfway up the stairs before he heard, "good night, Daniel."
*/*/*
Daniel slowly moved away from the sleeping form. He quietly moved to the linen closet and grabbed an extra blanket. He carefully draped it over his former partner, lightly tucking it around him. He smiled down at the sleeping man, happy to know that even years after their partnership ended Rorschach still felt that this was a safe place.
He watched Rorschach a few more moments before making his way back up to his room. Later that morning, he woke to the smell of coffee. Smiling, he threw his bathrobe on and hurried downstairs. The only things in the kitchen were an empty coffee mug and a bowl with just a little bit of milk in the bottom. The door to the Nest was closed and locked. In the living room, the coat, hat, and shoes were gone. The blanket was folded and sat at one end of the couch.
He couldn't hide the disappointment he felt that Rorschach was already gone. He went back into the kitchen and grabbed a mug from the cupboard. By the coffee pot he saw a folded napkin next to a black marker. He unfolded the napkin to see a mark he knew very well. It was a mark he saw countless time over the years. He smiled, knowing what it meant.
To no one, he said, "You're welcome."