There was the loud clamor of the front door being kicked in. The barely audible sounds of elevator shoes on the wood floor. The soft padding of the shoes moved through the hallway and into the kitchen. Then the bang of his pantry being slammed open. Dan sighed, slowly leaving the warm serenity of his bed.

Rorschach.

It wasn't often the other man let himself be heard so obviously when he entered. Yet, somehow the disruption of his nightly bed reading was welcome. This, this living like any other citizen, it was getting to him. It was driving him insane, the monotony. Even if he wasn't going back to the costumes and the fighting, the long nights, it was still nice to see his ex-partner. It gave him a small taste of the thrill that used to be. But those tastes were coming less and less often as of late.

"You always go for the beans." Dan gave a small smile, watching Rorschach eat. He leaned back against the kitchen wall and folded his arms.

"Hurm."

"Why don't you ever heat them? I could do it for you…" Dan cocked his head to the side.

"Waste of time." Rorschach began eating with a new gusto, as if Dan might try to take the beans away to heat them.

Dan sighed, Rorschach's trench coat was looking baggier than usual. While having no idea what his life was like when he wasn't Rorschach, if he ever wasn't Rorschach, Dan let himself worry. While he no longer felt remotely close to the other man, something he missed greatly, he felt… responsible for Rorschach's decline into, well, more insanity.

Dan watched another spoonful of beans pass into the exposed mouth. Maybe Rorschach was lonely. Like him. It was a crazy idea, but yet…

Dan felt the need for small talk, even if Rorschach was less then likely to appreciate it as well. "How, how are the streets lately? Any better?"

"Worse. So much filth." Dan listened for the emotion in his companion's words, as faint as they may be. Anger, self loathing. Sometimes it was if Rorschach blamed himself for the crime and sin in the city. As if he felt he should be able to stop it. But where there is good there is evil, and the evil can never go away when there's good. Balance and all. But in his black and white world, full of conspiracy and lies, Rorschach was incapable of understanding that. Maybe it was for the best.

"You're doing a great job." Dan tried to smile again. It was true, for one man Rorschach was an excellent crime fighter, even with his violent ways. No one else could compare to him.

Rorschach snorted. "Then why so much filth? Bad job."

"For one person though, you make so much difference…"

Rorschach put down the now empty can with a soft clank. "Does not have to be one person, Daniel."

Dan chewed his lip. He wouldn't say it, but he did miss fighting along side Rorschach. "I know. But I can't go back."

"Hurm."

Rorschach got up to leave. "Don't go. Just because I can't go back as Nite Owl, doesn't mean I can't help you." Rorschach turned back around to face Dan. He pulled his mask down back over his mouth.

"Help?"

"Yeah. This, my home, could be your base of operations. I could help gather information, I'm not bad with computers. I can't go back. But I still want to help you."

A moment of silence filled the room. Rorschach's mask was changing almost violently as he thought the offer over.

"You can stay here, if you want. I'll make sure to have plenty of beans for you." Dan chuckled lightly at his own half-joke.

"Much better place than my home." Rorschach admitted after awhile. "Moving easy. No phone number. No people."

A pang of sympathy grabbed Dan. So he was alone too.

"So?"

"Hurm. Try it out."

Dan smiled. "I'll clear out the spare bedroom for you then? Need any help with moving your things?"

"Nothing I need."

"Oh. Um, alright. There's a bed set already, just some boxes I left it there for storage…"

"Leave. It's fine." And with that Rorschach left the house with an almost inhuman speed.

Now awake Dan found himself a little hungry. As he gathered some leftover takeout for a late night snake he mused over the thought of a roommate. It was very strange, how quickly Rorschach had agreed. He didn't feel like over thinking that now.

He turned on some jazz, sitting back in a kitchen chair so that only the back two legs reached the floor. He smiled at the smell of the leftover takeout, food always tasted better after the spices had a chance to really sink in. He looked to a clock on the wall. 3 o'clock AM. Too early to be up, but if he went to sleep now he'd miss the day. Or perhaps he could simply nap. Compromise. Yes, that might work.

The thought brought him right back to Rorschach.

So black and white. So unforgiving to anything he deemed wrong, or evil. Was it really a good idea to bring that man into his home? Or had the loneliness he'd been feeling lately push him to make a poor decision? But maybe Rorschach needed him.

The man was like a child, in quite a few ways. Stubborn, almost naïve in his gray-less viewpoint of the world. And the way he cared for himself. It was obvious that he didn't eat on a regular basis, or bathe. Possibly something Dan could change about him. Maybe being around a friend would help.

Dan snorted. Rorschach was Rorschach. Nothing would change. And yet, miracles happen all of the time.

-----

Dan woke with a start, having fallen asleep at the kitchen table. Rorschach was home, going through his bathroom cabinet by the sounds of it. Dan rushed to see what the matter could be, Rorschach was most likely hurt. That was confirmed by a few spatters of blood on the wood floor.

Turning the other way Dan ran down the hall, down the stairs to Archie, where there was a far better first aid kit.

Upon returning to the bathroom he heard Rorschach grumbling under his breath. Everything in his medicine cabinet was spilled onto the sink and floor, Rorschach was holding a very bloody towel to his forearm. He nodded at Dan who handed him the kit, knowing how much Rorschach craved independence. He

Dan stood outside the bathroom door, watching his ex-partner silently. The wound was a bleeder, but other than that not bad. While deep and long, it had missed the arm's major arteries. Rorschach had become an expert at cleaning and sewing wounds, Dan didn't worry in the slightest. He moved into the bathroom and began picking up the mess around Rorschach.

"What happened?"

"Looking for information. Dogs. Missed the dogs, forgot the knife. Busted a Meth lab."

"That's good. Big operation?"

"Big enough."

Sunlight cam through the window, it had to be around 7 in the morning. The light streamed in. Dan sighed, the days were getting shorter. He didn't want to deal with snow.

He inhaled deeply, smelling more than he wanted to. Looking to Rorschach he smiled.

"Well, why don't you take a shower and I'll make us some breakfast. Get your blood sugar up."

Rorschach looked into space. "Waffles."

"Waffles it is then. I'll bring you a clean towel and a change of clothes then?"

"Hurm."

-----

Dan sat down at the kitchen table with Rorschach, who was enjoying the waffles and coffee quite a bit.

It was strange, seeing Rorschach in his sweater and jeans. They were very baggy on him, it would have looked almost funny on anyone else. Dan couldn't help but stare at the uncovered lips. He'd never seen them in good lighting. They were thin and chapped. The chin was stubbly and rough, with sun damage and freckles.

"Do you have a job? Should I call in for you? I know you've had much worse injuries, but…"

Rorschach cut him off. "No job."

"Oh kay. Well, I'm going to get myself a shower now, help yourself to anything in the house."

"Hurm. Then business."

"Alright."

Dan leisurely walked toward his room, then the bathroom. He felt Rorschach watching him then entire time. A shiver went down his spine. But Rorschach couldn't have been watching him, he was still sitting in the kitchen.

Dan sighed to himself. It was probably just nerves. He hadn't lived with anyone else since his parents.

He stepped into the shower, the cool water was an unpleasant shock for his skin. He quickly moved to turn up the heat. He stood for a few moments, just letting the water run down his body. The drops were harder and faster than any storm, but he still found his imagination taking him outside.

It was a warm summer night. The streets were slightly quieter than usual, but Rorschach took it as an ill omen. 'The predator always is quietest before he strikes.' Dan had heard that before, but wasn't quite sure where.

A few hookers made passes at them while they walked down the street, Rorschach shrugged them off. The man seemed to barely notice they were there. Dan on the other hand blushed and gave them a polite "no thank you" which earned him a few birdies and a "faggot!".

Dan sighed. Sometimes he thought that may be true. But he had no time for that. Too much to do. And too many problems, with that type of thing.

They made a stop in an alley way. Rorschach mumbled about having a tip off that something was going down here tonight. They waited for about ten minutes or so, before the rain began. It started soft, but rapidly became a downpour. Dan was thankful for his cape being water proof, had the thing become wet he may have had to abandon it.

A car pulled up. A mustachioed man was thrown out, two goons followed him. A fat balding man came out last. A grumbled something the first man, making the goons give a vile chuckle. A gun was produced. Rorschach was on the scene in the blur of brown. He quickly broke the first goon's neck and turned around to the other, kicking the gun out of his hand and then punching him in the nose, driving bone into the hapless man's brain. The fat man stood in shock for a moment before turning to run to the car, only to be stopped by Dan. He punched the trembling man, only to knock him out.

The man with the mustache started sobbing.

Dan looked to him. "It's alright." He said softly.

"Is not right. He's an accountant for the mafia. Scum." And with that Rorschach kicked him in the head, silencing his sobbing forever.

Dan winced, but said nothing about the corpses Rorschach had left. Both men left the seen.

Soon they were inside Archie, Dan began to brew some coffee in a small pot. "I think a little pick-me-up should be nice right now."

"Hurm." Dan smiled and turned to face Rorschach, who was sitting on the floor. Dan inhaled sharply upon noticing how shirtless the other man was.

"Why did you take off your shirt?"

"Was wet. Don't wanna be sick."

Dan nodded to the wall and returned to his coffee pot.

Dan's eyes slowly closed. He could still picture Rorschach's naked torso. The scars, the freckles. The thin, wiry muscles. He should be much bigger, from the exercise he did. Malnutrition could be the only cause. The muscles weren't right at all. Aside from very overweight people, his chest had been the most ugly and twisted one Dan had ever seen. It was scared, and sickly. It must be even worse by now, with much worse eating patterns and age.

But Dan wanted to see it. He wanted to see everything.

Not even bothering to properly wash, he stepped out of the shower and dried off.

Maybe this was what he needed. It made sense, he wasn't attracted to the few women who he tried to sleep with. He couldn't even make himself aroused. But the idea of men was off too. But not of Rorschach.

A wave of desire ran through his body, the kind he hadn't felt since he was first starting puberty. The image of that sickly torso, the thin, chapped lips, the sun damaged, rough chin ran through his mind. A deaf hand ran down his body to his penis, half erect already. He though of nothing remotely sexual as he pleasured himself, not of him doing anything to that body, not that body doing anything to him.

Those images swirled and churned through his mind for what could have been anywhere from 5 minutes to an hour. The pace he stroked himself remained the same, not slow, not quick. His orgasm was nothing special, besides the fact it had been his first in years.

He ignored the guilt that threatened to overcome him. This was not the time for guilt.

He had found something to break the monotony of his life. He had found a desire, as absurd and strange as it was.

And he cried.

----------------------

Disclaimer: These characters are not mine, I own nothing related to the Watchmen, or any DC comic. I gain no profit from this story.

Please take the time to review, I know I don't always review, but I make an effort to at least try to. Even if you have nothing good to say, I'd appreciate hearing the things I should work on.

Author's Note: Despite my efforts of the last few years to get my hands on the book (I'm no good with budgeting T-T) I've only seen the movie (got someone to sneak me in ) I looked up everything I could from the DC database and the Watchmen Wikia. This is still kinda AU. If anything was noticeably OOC, please tell me.