Fandom: Watchmen
Rating: eventually NC-17
Characters: Adrian, Laurie, Dan, Rorschach, Jon, OCs
Warnings: Absurdity and Crack
Notes: For DR_OIL from LJ, a 2011 Christmas present fic. Thank you findmyantidrug for the beta. I did my best to fulfill every request indicated in the form.
Summary: Adrian enjoys broken things
A SENSIBLE CHAOS
Chapter 1
In Which Foursomes Are Never Too Late To Become An Orgy
Adrian Veidt is a believer of daily learning experiences.
He also knows that the best learning experiences are acquired through means of gratuitous epiphanies and alcohol-induced frivolities.
Case in point: Telling a woman like Laurie Juspeczyk how Egyptians enjoyed sexual congress with crocodiles when she's one tequila shot away from a nervous breakdown means that, at some point, making out with her becomes excusable, even if for no reason other than she's broken.
And Adrian enjoys broken things.
"Goddammit, Veidt, get off!" she protests verbally, when she could've just punched him to deliver the same point. This means she's momentarily considering the idea of hooking up with him—but honestly, she could just punch Adrian right now and he would still take it as an invitation.
She squirms like a normal girl for a few more minutes in his Herculean grasp, but doesn't make any attempt to remove his hand from under her. Still, she continues to hurl out profanities at him, slightly reminding Adrian of a drugged Comedian in the same situation a year ago. He has to smile at the serendipity of it all.
When Laurie has exhausted all of the cussing, she manages to shout another, "Get off!"
"I'm trying to, sweetie," Adrian answers with the patience of a psychotic aunt.
"I mean, get off me, you asshole!" Laurie kicks at him but he immediately slams her to the floor, almost close to breaking her spine with the impact. He brushes a stray auburn hair from her eyes with one hand and then clutches her throat while his other hand continues to probe her.
"That's what I'm trying to do, honey," Adrian smiles at her; she was almost pitiful at this angle.
"This isn't what I want, jerkface!" Laurie grinds her pelvis against him to get away, but ends up rubbing against his chest. "Now unhand me!"
"And where do you want my hand to go this time?"
"You son of a bitch! Jon can see this!"
"Then why is he not intervening?"
And that's when Laurie starts to cry like a big dam of tears cracking and drowning him with hesitation and guilt. Adrian softens his grip from her throat and withdraws his fingers from under her skirt for a while, waiting for her to finish. When she just keeps sobbing, he's forced to pull her up against him in a sitting position and shush her. He hates being the Good Samaritan Rapist, but that's what Laurie needs right now.
"He doesn't care anymore, does he? I could light myself on fire and he'd be too busy experiencing time simultaneously to give a shit!" she cries out.
"That's actually—entirely true," Adrian replies and then readies himself when she starts shaking him violently like she wants his brain to fall off his skull so she could spit on it.
"Laurie, sweetheart, it's okay." He rubs the back of her ear like he would do Bubastis when she's in a bad mood. "There now, pumpkin, you're going to be all right, sugar babe."
Adrian always feels like his tongue burns in acid when he uses pet names on women just to be nice, but in this case, he decides to ignore it. Laurie is different from them. She used to be a crime fighter like he was. She deserves a semblance of respect at least.
"I'm a fucking shithole of a mess," Laurie says, all tears finally spent. "Look, Veidt, if you try that shit with me again, I'll kill you for sure..." she trails off, watching him with suspicious eyes before she speaks again. "I need a fucking smoke. Who do I fuck to—" she cuts herself off abruptly when she realizes the horrific timeliness of that statement.
Adrian ignores it and replies, "I don't condone tobacco indulgence in this place."
"You've got to be shitting me!"
"I can, however, provide you with opium."
A second passes.
And another.
"Now we're talking." Laurie grins at him like nothing happened and makes an attempt to roughen his hair but then he slaps her. She mouths another string of lovely profanities.
"Don't. Touch. The. Hair," Adrian warns her.
They lay like dying cicadas in the ruby-encrusted ivory floor, weak in their vaguely indirect lust.
Adrian uses a fine-toothed comb on Laurie's hair, moaning once in a while as the strands look like sparkling diamonds that smell like peaches and tobacco ash.
Laurie keeps her eyes closed, humming what sounds like Davie Bowie, and Adrian combines and deconstructs the lyrics in his head as he remembers his first trip to Morocco where a beautiful middle-aged gypsy and her fifteen-year old son took care of him and filled his senses with sensual music and history of antiquity. He was eighteen then, and coming to terms with the greatness he was meant to thrust himself upon.
"Veidt," Laurie's voice echoes in his ears, making his skin crawl.
"Anything else you desire, darling?"
"I came to you because I had no one else to talk to right now. Don't misinterpret that again."
Adrian presses his lips on her chest, creating butterfly kisses on her moist flesh while his fingers delicately count the diamonds in her hair. His other hand encircles around Laurie's left breast, pushing his thumb against her nipple as he imagines it's a button of the ragdoll he used to own as a child instead of a comfort blanket.
"Cards on the table? All I want is a gay friend," Laurie adds, purring into his ear. She wraps her legs around his waist and pulls his head from her chest so she can look into his eyes.
Her sincerity destroys him for a moment.
And then Adrian chuckles and says, "Then that's exactly what you'll get."
Somewhere in Mars where Dr. Manhattan takes mini-vacations, the said demigod watches quietly as Adrian caresses his girlfriend. He marvels at how beautifully entwined those two are in their opium-shrouded loneliness.
It has to be said that what is more marvelous is how he's not getting an erection from this.
It's two weeks before Christmas when Laurie decides to surprise Adrian with a date.
He expected this. Perhaps he even brought this upon himself. This is always a possible danger when he shares an opium session with a woman he unsuccessfully raped: he managed to make her like him somehow. How convenient is that? Doesn't matter now. He has to keep himself distracted anyway. The Karnak project is becoming a time-consuming activity that has yet to yield any promising results. Except for that. He'd rather not think about it too much.
And he had quite enough of Jon's doppelgangers walking around naked while they're working. He has supreme tolerance for almost anything (incestuous relations, interspecies relations, Madonna-themed parties) but there's a certain limit of nudity he can handle, especially when he can't even have sex with nude person in question. Not like if he is ever given a chance, he would sleep with Jon. Probably not.
So enter Laurie. "I hope I'm not being too forward or anything, but outside Jon, there are no other people I can talk to. All I know are goddamn superheroes."
Laurie is wearing a tight-fitting green turtleneck sweater and red leather skirt with matching high-cut brown boots. All that's missing are elf-ears. Adrian pretends the outfit didn't just give him an asthma attack as he focuses his attention on trying to stop Bubastis from clawing one of his pillowcases made of rare Grecian silk.
"I hope this isn't a bad time. Is Bubastis always like this?"
"When I administer her kitty medicine, she isn't!" he finally grabs the pillowcase from Bubastis but ends up ripping it in half anyway. "Oh, that's it. You're getting the mammoth needle!"
"What's that?" Laurie follows Adrian to his desk.
He responds by pulling a syringe made of genetically-produced Mammoth tusk.
Laurie gasps. "That's a big-ass needle you got there!"
"Now try saying that without sounding turned on." Adrian retorts.
The two of them chase Bubastis for a minute before the giant cat finally got her medicine. She lay on her back, her paws cuddling an imaginary big ball of thread.
"The medicine is half-hallucinogenic," Adrian explains. If his baby is going to get drugged, it had better be something she'd enjoy.
He sits behind his desk, crosses his legs and steeples his fingers—this pose always looks dead-gorgeous on him. "So why are you here again?"
"I was just thinking," Laurie begins.
"That's never a healthy thing."
"Shut the fuck up. I mean, I was wondering if you want to go to New York with me."
He can't resist mocking her then. "And do what exactly? Go sight-seeing? Have a modest dinner at Gunga Diner?"
Laurie kicks him from under the table. He doesn't avoid it because it doesn't even hurt. "I'm just trying to be friends with you, shithead!"
Adrian examines her for a while, taking his time scrutinizing her general attractiveness and sameness of personality with the Comedian; both of which are a pleasant combination. He remembers that he did promise to be her 'gay friend' after all. He isn't sure about the extent he will have to go through to keep his word but it wouldn't be a bad thing to indulge her.
Laurie flips her hair (actually flips her hair, how unlikely feminine of her) and says, "Forget it, I'm just gonna call Dan. Goodbye, Veidt."
But Adrian stands up and slowly approaches her. "You managed to find time to teleport here just to invite me to spend time with you, and I would hate it if that goes to waste."
He gently places a hand on her cheek and realizes how cold her skin feels. Their eyes linger for the most aching ten seconds and then she looks away. "You are such a jackass." She wriggles his hand away from her face and, because she's the queen of passive-aggressiveness, she still asks, "So you're coming or what?"
Adrian looks up from her face and calls. "Jon?"
"I am here, Adrian." Dr. Manhattan appears from behind them, floating in the air.
Adrian turns to him with his arm encircling Laurie's waist (she doesn't seem to mind this time) and says, "I certainly miss the Big Apple, don't you?"
Initially, Laurie felt like Adrian Veidt couldn't fit anywhere else in her life right now.
But that's how she used to think about being the next Silk Spectre, as well as the prospect of living together with Jon.
In a nutshell, first impressions are bullshit.
Adrian Veidt is not at all gay, or maybe he's too gay to even be considered typically gay—or whatever. What she knows now is that he promised to be her gay friend; someone who can understand what she's going through and keep her company in her loneliest nights.
And because Laurie wants to begin their friendship with a comfortingly familiar cliché, she decides to start their BFF date by shopping at several local boutiques that afternoon.
Adrian is very willing—and so fucking hot it's almost impossible that no one else decided to name a religion after him. Stop it, Laurie. He's your gay friend.
He sits there in the dressing room lounge as she tries on clothes one set after another. On her seventh change, she chooses a purple chiffon cocktail dress.
"I like this one so far," she comments. "Do you think it looks good on me?"
Adrian surveys her in a brisk manner and then clicks his tongue. "No. Not really."
Laurie rolls her eyes at him and is tempted to kick him again but resists. "You're just saying that because I do look good on it. And it's hardly your size so I'm pretty sure you can't wear it."
To further deliver the point home, she buys the dress, much to his concealed dismay.
As they walk towards Gunga Diner, Adrian puts a hand around Laurie's waist again and asks, "Have you noticed the growing swarm of people behind us, my dear?"
"Yeah, you're a famous piece of shit, that's why."
"Don't you think it wise if we go to somewhere more private?"
Laurie doesn't look at him because she's afraid she'll get flushed again. If he's suggesting that and she wishes he isn't, it would ruin this fantasy he helped created. There's just no way she'll screw her new gay friend. It would defeat the whole purpose of having one to begin with.
She swings her shopping bags for a while as she thinks of where to take them next. The government facility which serves as her living quarters wouldn't be so deserted. There are soldiers mucking about in that horrid place. But then again, Adrian Veidt is a respectable diplomat and businessman, isn't he? And people have already seen them together. There are probably photos by now. And Jon doesn't mind. So fuck it.
"Fine, let's head back to my place. I'm itching to wear my new purple dress anyway."
"Are you sure there's no other itch I could scratch for you?"
"Jesus, Adrian, easy on the innuendos."
She gets behind him and shoves him into an alleyway. Once they are near the dumpsters, they start to run. She can hear the collective sound of disappointment from the crowd following them but they're) getting farther away now. At some point, their hands clasp together and she is distinctly reminded of the first time he held her hand during a patrol night so many years ago. And they run and run like the city is just a never-ending landscape of nothingness. It was a horrible and wonderful feeling altogether.
Laurie starts giggling as they finally come to a halt. She catches her breath easily and isn't that surprised to see that Veidt hardly perspired from that sprint. He's already standing still, waiting for her next move.
"Oh, I know where we are. Hollis Mason's repair shop is just a block away." She really isn't suggesting anything with that.
Adrian allows a little smile as he remarks, "There's a world out there where Hollis Mason is a different man of different values and aspirations, living a much more luxurious yet less noble life."
"'The fuck are you on about now?" She realizes they are still holding hands, so she disengages from him. "You're so queer it's unbelievably out-of-this-world, Veidt."
"Do you not believe in parallel universes, Laurie?" he asks as he begins to walk away from the direction of Hollis Mason's repair shop.
Laurie lifts her shopping bags to her shoulders as she follows him. "Well, living with Jon, I won't be surprised if they're real. Why, do you?"
"Don't you think it beautiful and poignant? Several overlapping realities and consciousness and there is only a single fork in the road that may enable you to cross each one? The boundaries of imagination only limit us to some extent but if we find a way to re-wire our thinking, expand the scope of what we can achieve by means of opening other worlds—oh, we could do much more indeed." He walks with his hands behind his back, reminding Laurie of college professors. It also reminds her about Jon. Laurie's always thought Jon was fond of Adrian a little.
"That sounds great, sure. Uh, so do you want to head back to my place or what?"
Adrian stops walking and looks down. Laurie walks closer to see what he's looking at. And then she glances and sees Adrian is watching her now, his face too sad and knowing.
Laurie wants to say something mean to him just to ease the tension in the atmosphere, but he cuts through the silence first. "You were beautiful in that dress earlier, Laurie."
She lowers her shopping bags and stalks off, unable to handle the heat palpitating in her neck and face. She just dismisses him by saying, "It's gonna get dark soon. Better hurry."
For the first hour, they did have sex.
And then after that Laurie drinks herself into a mindless stupor. She wishes she started drinking earlier on so she could use that an excuse for why she fucked Adrian, in case Jon asked. Not like Jon doesn't already know. Or had known, depending on where his clairvoyance arrow is pointing at this moment. Whatever.
"Don't beat yourself up too much, Laurie." Adrian says as he continues to run his fingers on her purple chiffon dress as it clings gloriously on her body. "Your mother had walked the same thread before and she fell just as hard."
"What the fuck are you babbling about? You know what, I'm not sure if which one between you and Jon talks the most goddamn shit so just to settle it, you both win." She smashes the bottle of cognac on the floor and watches the shards of glass with a newfound interest.
And then she asks, "So there is more than one reality around us? Are they better than this one? Or is it all shitty wherever universe we go?"
"Oh, my sweet, pessimistic girl," Adrian cups her chin to get her to look at him. "Don't be so limited in your vision. Don't let feelings and shortcomings belittle what you can discover if you just stopfeeling too much. It is not your own fault, of course. Humans are creatures designed to want and hurt. If you transcend that, as Jon and I have, you will experience this world and the other worlds without being burdened by the weight of emotions."
"Shit, Veidt, I want a gay friend, not whatever this is," she interjects. "And I'm not a machine."
"Oh, you'll be better than a machine," Adrian whispers into her ear. "You'll be Endless."
He withdraws and stares intently into her face. Laurie has nothing to say.
"Do you want me to show you?" he asks.
"Maybe later." She pulls away from him. "For now, I just want to go out."
She stands up and almost steps on the broken glass, but Adrian picks her up in one swoop and carries her. He sets her down near the door and asks what she wants to do this time.
"The city is infested with filth," Laurie gives her best Rorschach impression and then giggles. She talks normally again and says, "And I'm in a very bad mood."
Adrian enjoys broken things.
He prefers watching the process unfold more than anything; a little dent here until the cracks start to resonate inside the shell itself. It satisfies him to witness the whole thing blow apart and its splinters wound the next object within perimeter. He's immune to almost any kind of raging emotion but he's not so fortunate when it comes to this one.
It's the only weakness he allows to dominate him, although he still remains in control.
And Laurie Juspeczyk, second Silk Spectre—this wild apparition of a woman—is a repeated set of accidents happening all at once.
It's so devastating and sexy.
Dan settles with a cold plastic cup of beer and leftover broccoli for tonight's dinner.
This is what dieting must be like. Like suicide.
"Appetite for finer food waning off, Daniel?" Rorschach enters the kitchen without so much as a happy greeting and then he rummages through his partner's garbage can and asks, "What's wrong with this pasta?"
"You gotta stop eating from there, Rorschach."
"Better than vegetarian meal and alcohol excess."
"Please. Just shut up. Just for tonight, man, can you do that?"
Rorschach hurms and mumbles other unpleasant things about Dan's weight that the other man is too tired to process or even argue over. He stabs the last broccoli with his fork and then gulps down his beer without another word.
"You know, Rorschach, it's been two months now. I told you I can't afford a new bed. And the sofa isn't exactly comfortable for you either. Besides, my bed is big enough for the both of us. It's not unusual for two men to sleep on one bed, you know. British men do it all the time."
"United States of America, Daniel."
"You can't handle sharing a bed with me? Even after all we've been through?" Dan stares down at his empty plate. "Man, you suck."
"You sulk," Rorschach wipes his mouth with the back of his hand and pulls down his mask. "Pasta is good though."
"Gross, man."
The loud tapping on the door cuts their conversation short. Neither bothers to answer it.
"OPEN THE FUCK UP, DANNY BOY! IT'S LAUREL JAAAAAANE—AH!"
"What the hell," Dan drags himself out of the chair to open the door at last. As soon as he does, Laurie throws herself against him and kisses him, all tongue and hands. And then she pushes him away and goes to Rorschach, who immediately yanks her by the arm and slams her against the counter in case she does the same thing to him.
She pushes her feet against the cupboard underneath and lifts herself above him, breaking several plates as she does. As soon as she has the advantage, she attacks him by squeezing his crotch. Rorschach is blinded by fury, the inkblots on his face literally screaming death. He tries choking her as he bends her on the table and this is when Dan has to intervene. Through all the ruckus, they didn't notice Adrian just standing there in the doorway.
"Whore!"
"She's drunk, Rorschach. I don't think she even knows where she is right now. And for god's sake, Laurie, stop laughing!"
Adrian steps inside and wonders if interruption is even needed for this delightful threesome. He waits for a few more minutes.
Dan manages to get Rorschach off Laurie at last. He puts every ounce of his strength to drag Rorschach from across the room and calm him down. Laurie remains bent on the table, coughing and giggling. Adrian approaches her and lifts her up with one arm. He massages two fingers on her throat where the abrasions are starting to appear.
"At least the chiffon dress didn't get torn," he remarks.
"What on Earth are you guys doing here?" Dan pushes an agitated Rorschach against the wall. He struggles to keep the smaller man's arms from hitting him. He presses himself against his partner a little more, shushing him.
"Honestly, Dan, that is not helping," Adrian says.
"I know what I'm doing. This soothes him, okay?"
"Your bodies against each other soothe him? My, the revelation."
"FAG!" Rorschach spits out.
"It certainly looks that way to me from where I'm standing," Adrian almost sings out.
"STOP PROVOKING HIM!" Dan gently burrows his elbow under Rorschach's chin. "And you didn't answer the question. Why are you and Laurie here? And where's Jon?"
Laurie has finally snapped out of her madness and answers, "We were in the neighborhood. We just finished beating the shit out of thugs and we decided to stop by to hang, you know."
"Well, you could've just called ahead, you know!" Dan wraps his arms around Rorschach now. And Adrian needs to turn away, aware that his chuckling will only aggravate the smaller man.
"Sorry. I'm a fucking shithole of a mess, I know."
"That's not an authentic excuse, Laurie."
"Well, don't start acting like my mother now."
"Wouldn't dream of it." Dan lets Rorschach go. "Now apologize."
"I said I'm sorry already!"
"Sorry for what exactly?"
"Why do you need fucking specifications anyway?"
"May I request we move this conversation along to more pleasant topics?" Adrian sits on one of the stools now, his legs elegantly crossed before him. Dan notices he's wearing khaki pants with a pink collar shirt inside a navy blue sweater. It's like he's asking to be punched around. But since this is the former Ozymandias, the scenario is likely to be the other way around.
And Laurie in a purple dress and Hello Kitty slippers? Not like wearing anything flimsy is going to stop her from wreaking havoc. There's nothing silky about this woman at all.
It strikes Dan what an unusual pair they are—and yet they fit somehow.
"Where's Jon?" he asks again.
"No one gives a shit about that, Danny boy. Now do you have beer around here?"
"I just finished the last bottle before you came storming like the goddamn Comedian!"
Laurie's voice goes dark and quiet. "You take that back."
"Now, now, my sweetness." Adrian rubs Laurie's shoulders from behind. "Don't forget your graces. We're only guests and these are our kind patrons. Isn't that right, Rorschach?"
"Will crush you like a peanut if you don't hold your tongue, Veidt."
"A peanut," Adrian mutters, an eyebrow raised. "Really?"
Rorschach immediately springs to life and would've reached Adrian if only Dan didn't hold him back again. "Okay, THAT'S IT! I've had enough! All of you take a corner and shut up!"
Silence hovers above them.
"A corner?" Laurie repeats. "You're giving me a fucking time-out, shithead?"
Dan walked towards Laurie, showing how much he can tower above her. "You got a problem?"
"Oh, Daniel," Adrian remarks. "I always knew that given the right lighting, you're utterly dazzling. Isn't he just, Laurie?"
"Yeah, it's hot." Laurie grins and takes a step back from Dan just so she can check him out some more.
The attention proves to be embarrassing enough for Dan that he cowers back from the two. He clears his throat and stutters, "Well, uh, just help me clean this mess. It's a real trouble you guys brought here. So, uh, yeah. Please?"
"You're so full of shit, Rorschach!" Laurie announces loud enough for the next street to hear. She points a Hello Kitty slippered-foot at him. "If you really don't have any kind of sexual hang-up then why won't you share a bed with your partner? Are you that insecure? Shit!"
Rorschach keeps his face down, perhaps because if he looks up he'll see through her dress. "Don't like your tone, Miss Jupiter."
"Well, get used to it because unless you stop being so tightly-wound, I'm just gonna keep pestering. I mean, look at Dan!" She pats Dan's head for effect. "Is he not the same guy whom you fight side by side with as you take down bad guys together? Doesn't it break your heart to see him all alone in his big bed, with no company to lull him to sleep?" She makes other exaggerated gestures with her hands as she speaks.
"Yeah…okay. Next time we do this, I think we should agree to no drinking," Dan comments.
"So there's a next time then?" Laurie shoots back, rubbing a hand inside his thigh. Rorschach coughs violently.
Adrian is the only one sitting on the stool while the three of them are all on the floor. He asks, "May I offer my insight?"
"Warning you, Veidt."
"Rorschach," Adrian doesn't hesitate to reach out a hand to touch the other man by the shoulder, but Rorschach squirms away immediately, muttering something indiscernible under his breath.
Adrian tries again, this time keeping his hands to himself. "I don't believe you have a sexual hang-up of any sort at all," Right. "But it seems to me that your refusal to sleep in the same bed as your partner would come off as direct rejection of his companionship. Daniel?"
Dan cleans his glasses for the seventeenth time and says nothing.
"See?" Adrian offers his hand to Rorschach. "You must know how this negatively affects your partnership. All you're going to do is sleep on the same bed. That's it."
"Yeah. Just put some pillows between the two of you or something."
"Is that what you do with Jon these days, my sweetness?" Adrian asks and Dan looks at Laurie intently like he's) waiting for an answer too.
"Please." Laurie dismisses the inquiry. "Jon doesn't even sleep anymore."
Dan pushes his glasses back to his face and clears his throat. "Well, this has been enlightening. I must say, we don't get a lot of visitors here. Thanks for coming by, guys."
"Rotten company," Rorschach remarks.
"Now don't be rude," Dan scolds him.
"Miss Jupiter is a drunk, danger to herself and others. Veidt is unwelcome."
"Your sentiments are noted, my friend."
"Not your friend. Never."
"I see," Adrian smiles and the room's temperature gets a little chilly. "Be that as it may, I would like for you to stop disrespecting the young lady. It's unbecoming."
"Making observations, is all."
"With an alarming kind of vehemence at that, Rorschach." Adrian adds.
"Nice of you to defend lady's honor. Very gentlemanly."
"Why, of course." Adrian leans down and puts his arm around Laurie's shoulder and she snuggles closer without hesitation anymore. "I'm her gay friend after all."
"Uh…" Dan trails off.
"Hurm. Acknowledgment of homosexuality is noted, Veidt."
"Screw this," Laurie sits up straight and brushes down her chiffon dress. "Let's play a game."
"Oh?" Adrian watches her curiously as she pulls him down the floor with them.
"I Dare You Bitch." Laurie reveals.
"Um, isn't that supposed to be Truth or Dare?"
"Awful, disgusting game."
"Give it a rest already, Rorschach. If you don't want to play then don't be a spoiled baby!" Laurie is taking control now. The way she brims with confidence excites both Adrian and Dan.
Laurie grabs the paper cup from the corner and orders them to form a circle around it. She seems like an expert with this sort of game while Dan is too embarrassed to admit he participated in a couple of these when he was younger. Adrian never really played well with others. And Rorschach is just out of the question.
"Spin, spin, spin!" Laurie sings as the paper cup barely even moves "Dammit." She puts one of her slippers inside it and gives it a spin again. It moves now and stops at Rorschach.
"Not playing game."
Laurie snorts. "Fine. Let's try again." Instead of spinning the paper-cup-slipper, she just turns it around and around by hand until it (she) points at Rorschach again. "The universe has spoken, shithead!"
"Hurm. Amusing but no."
Dan puts a hand on Rorschach's shoulder. "Nothing too explicit, okay. The dare will be okay. Right, Laurie?" he starts blinking at Laurie like it's a Morse code for 'Please Be Gentle'.
"Fine." Laurie pulls up the chiffon dress by the straps when she realizes her cleavage is showing a little. "Okay, uh, let's see…I dare Rorschach…to take off his coat and do The Hustle!"
"Oh my," Adrian covers his mouth with his hand, faking modesty for the sake of appearance.
"Not. Dancing."
"Come on, man, it's pretty tame for a dare."
"Not dancing for filthy live entertainment of perverted woman."
"I warned you very politely about the way you speak to the young lady."
"Dan, would you demonstrate it?" Laurie bats her eyelashes at him.
Dan swallows something spiky in his throat. He loosens his tie. "I don't know, Laurie…"
"Adrian?" Laurie looks at her gay friend.
"Well, a little demonstration doesn't hurt." Adrian stands up, stretching a little before he begins. "I do need music to start, of course."
"Rest of New York is infested with swine and now vigilantes are dancing like hippies. Ridiculous." They ignore Rorschach anyway and pretty soon all three of them are doing The Hustle. They couldn't remember themselves being happy and stupid like this for the longest time. Laurie begins to spin the paper-cup-slipper again.
"Can't believe you, Dan. Miss Jupiter I understand. Veidt—homosexual impulses are starting to take over." Rorschach stands up now, preparing to leave through the window if he has to.
"Man, it's just a game, okay! You're overreacting!" Dan grabs Rorschach by the wrist and pulls him back to the floor but Rorschach puts up another fight.
"Dan, it's you!" Laurie calls for his attention. "I dare you to wrestle Rorschach and own him!"
"Daniel, DON'T YOU DARE—!"
"D-Did you see h-his f-f-face!?" Laurie chokes back the laughter. "I mean, of course not because of that creepy mask. But still!" She elbows him. "Bet they're sharing the bed by now."
Adrian smiles quietly to himself as he walks Laurie back to the government facility. He keeps his hands behind his back as Laurie walks ahead. She is still high in spirits even though it's almost three in the morning. She's dragging her Hello Kitty slippers on the concrete, as if she is trying to erase the sawdust from the sidewalk. For a swine-infested city, New York is certainly peaceful and deserted. It doesn't feel right.
"I'm not sure what Jon will say to all that happened today."
"Screw Jon," Laurie announces, but he can tell she doesn't really mean it.
She turns around and grins at him. For a moment she looks younger. "Thanks for everything. You're the best!"
"Enough with this cliché, Laurie." Adrian takes her by the arm gently. They walk in silence for a few minutes.
Laurie speaks up again. "Dan was right. It's not I Dare You Bitch, it's Truth or Dare."
Adrian looks at her when he hears something change in her tone. He isn't sure he likes it. This is always a possible danger when he shares an opium session with a woman he unsuccessfully raped, became her gay friend and then had sex with her: he has to make sense of her feelings now. As unrefined she may be, she always seems to find a way to relate to anyone without that much difficulty—including him. She's spontaneous and genuine and quite a strong one even in her brokenness. He's starting to resent that.
"I've been thinking about what you said. The whole parallel universe shit." She waits for him to acknowledge her statement. When he doesn't, she goes on. "I think it's pretty cool. I would love to know what other Laurie could be doing right now, if she even owned this sexy purple dress I'm wearing—"
"Or the dreadfully childish Hello Kitty slippers?" Adrian looks at the liquor store to his left and hopes that a robbery will happen, just to take his mind off things.
Laurie laughs "Yeah. I mean, what if, right? What if that was a better world than this one?"
Adrian glances at her and then looks straight ahead again.
"What if in that world Jon never became what he is. Would he have been a vigilante like us? Were there vigilantes there? Did I become a veterinarian instead or what?"
"You like animals?" Adrian asks, not really caring.
"I think so." Laurie shivers The cold night is getting to her. Adrian has no choice but to pull her close to him as they walk His hand rubs her arm, knowing that it will comfort her, but he resents the fact that he actually thought of that.
"What else do you think that parallel world would be like, Laurie?" He hears himself saying although he barely realizes it. "Tell me."
Laurie removes his hand from her arm so she can hold it. "Maybe Rorschach is not an asshole. That'd be nice. To meet a different Rorschach who doesn't wear a mask and actually has a human face for once. And Dan! Oh, Dan could've been a scientist and he could've met Jon there. I could've met them during some sort of Medical Science convention and shit."
"Who would you have fallen in love with?" Adrian asks because there's nothing else to say.
"Oh don't even go there!" She laughs although he could tell she's considering it. "And you! Oh you could be poor. Or fat. Or anyone who isn't perfect and successful for a change."
"Maybe. I could have been a woman."
"Hey! What are you insinuating?"
Adrian stops walking. He faces Laurie now, his hands on her elbows. Not long ago he tried to take advantage of her and now they're not strangers to each other anymore, all in just the speed of one night. Time is so mysterious. He can't blame Jon for escaping everything through that keen awareness of time. He envies it, in fact.
They're near an alleyway now. He wonders if anyone is about to get mugged there. It wouldn't matter. Rorschach is probably around right now.
"I want to show you something very important to me," Adrian begins, maintaining the eye contact. "I expect that you guard this with your life, Laurel Jane."
Laurie just studies his face for a while as if she's trying to read his thoughts or perhaps get a brief glimpse of his soul. It makes him uneasy, but he waits for an answer.
"Okay," she replies. "What is it?"
Adrian starts pulling something from his pocket. Laurie waits with the anticipation caught in her throat. He lifts up a photograph and hands it to her.
She fixes her gaze on the image. It is of a young woman with curly blonde hair. She is terribly beautiful. The shot looks like a hasty one where she just turned around like someone called her name. She stares far away, searching for something. A familiarity settles instantly on Laurie although she can't understand why until Adrian begins to speak again.
"Her name is Adriana Mason. And as difficult as it is for you to believe this right now, please know that I'm not lying when I say that she's me. Adriana Mason is me from another world."