Class One: How To Cook
When the trio arrives at Dan's home, it's just after five o' clock. Archie runs into the kitchen from the Nest, the too-long coat sleeves flopping around his teeny fists. "Wow, I've never seen the upper part of the house before!" he exclaims as his two 'parents' follow behind him at a snail's pace. "It's so pretty! I mean, lookit at the owl stuff!"
Daniel runs a hand through his hair as he stops at the doorway leading into the living room, which has a very interested Archie rummaging through it. "We need to get you some clothes," he mutters.
Archie glances over at his original creator. A silly grin breaks out on his lightly freckled face. "I can wear some of yours until we can go shopping, Mom," he suggests.
Dan makes a face at the title, a minute blush appearing on his lightly tanned cheeks. "Don't call me 'Mom', please," he tells the young boy.
Archie shrugs. "Okay," he agrees. He leaps off the couch and runs up a short flight of stairs to Daniel's room for clothing. When he returns, he's dressed in a cream buttoned shirt and a pair of brown slacks rolled up at the bottom, and tightened at the waist with a thick black belt. He walks over to the taller brunet. Seemingly out of nowhere, he remarks, "I think I'm hungry. My tummy just made a weird noise, like the noises I've heard yours make when you work too late and forget to eat."
The new parent blinks. "Oh. Um, I don't have that much around the house right now, but there's a frozen pizza in the fridge that I can pop in the oven for you."
"Awesome! I've never had food before, so I can't wait to try it! Does it taste good?" he wonders.
Daniel smiles at the boy's naivety. "Yes, it tastes very good. Pizza is one of the things that taste the best, actually. I'll go preheat the oven right away."
"Okay," Archie says as he watches Daniel walk into the kitchen again. He turns to Rorschach, whom is just entering the room. "Are you gonna stay for dinner?"
Rorschach stops walking, having fully been decided on leaving out the front door. "No."
Archie doesn't like the sound of this. "That's not fair! I just came to life and I only get to see you for a few minutes before you leave? That's not fair at all. At least stay and eat with us," he pleads.
Rorschach glance at the boy and can't help but groan in compliance. The kid is manipulative without meaning to be; his big, soulful eyes and sweet, oval face are enough to convince the Walter half of Rorschach to stay for a little while.
"And as they say, the Grinch's heart grew two times that day," Daniel chuckles as he returns from the kitchen to find Rorschach begrudgingly sitting down on the couch beside Archie, whom insists on watching television. He nods in his partner's direction. "I guess even you have a soft spot for children."
It was in fact that soft spot that made Rorschach become callous in the first place; a child by the name of Blaire Roche. But this information is trivial now; it's been too many years.
"Hnk. Not all children, just him. Was right, what he said earlier; he is like a son, own flash and blood, so I can't abandon him. Refuse to, after what own mother did. Wouldn't be right."
"And you're all about right and wrong," Dan snorts half-seriously, half-sarcastically. Rorschach was all about black and white, but he chose to right wrongs in the oddest of ways (like using murder as a punishment for murder; it's almost hypocritical).
Archie glances away from the TV long enough to look at the two of them. "What's wrong with you guys? You didn't always act like this."
"Daniel quit hero work, made years separate us." Rorschach states as he removes his gloves and shoves his hands in his pant pockets. His coat is lying upstairs on the floor of Dan's room, and already he wants it back but doesn't feel like entering such personal territory for it.
"So… all those years made you two uncomfortable with each other?" Archie clarifies as he slides his baggy shirt sleeves up to his elbows. He frowns. "That's stupid! Friends should always be friends, right? And besides, M– I mean, Dan – didn't quit for good! The reason he took me to Jon was because he wanted to make a new ship. He's going to be a hero again!" And the eleven-or-so years old boy bounces on the couch as he says this last sentence, because he's extremely excited about it.
Rorschach's inkblot face is cast in Daniel's direction now, the black blobs formulating a symmetrical shape that can almost be called curious. "Dan will be Nite Owl once more?"
Daniel fidgets in the doorway. Behind him, the oven beeps to signify that it's done preheating. Using this to his advantage, he says, "I'll be right back; I have to put the pizza in."
While he rushes off, Rorschach's brows bunch under his mask in a frown. Next to him, Archie giggles. "Don't worry, Mom just doesn't like being on the spot. I'm not lying or anything, and he won't deny it when he comes back." He pauses in thought. "He really missed being a hero; he felt like something was missing from his life – apart from me, of 'course," he adds with another giggle. He looks sideways at Rorschach. "And I think he missed being with you."
Now, Rorschach knows what the child means, but the word choice isn't ideal, because it makes the meaning sound contorted. "Missed me," Rorschach breathes, more Walter's voice than his own, and an invisible shiver runs through him.
Footsteps lead the brunet back into the room, and he's rubbing his hands together anxiously. "Anyway," he launches directly into his reply, "Archie's right. I am trying to get back into the swing of things, and I was going to start with a new ship. Then, uh, I was going to see if… well, if you wanted to be partners again, Rorschach. I'm not, well… I'm not very good on my own. Especially not after years of retirement. So what d'ya say? Help me build another ship, take care of Archie, and fight crime again?"
Rorschach watches the nervous expressions flit over Dan's face, and debates internally with himself and Walter for a moment. In the end, he nods to agree on all accounts.
Dan's face lights up, the anxiety gone. "Great! Thanks."
Archie claps his thin hands together. "Hurray for the reunion of a great team! And I can help, too; I might not look like it, but I have a really smart brain up here; I know all kinds of mechanics since I used to be something mechanical. I can help sketch blueprints with you, Dan, and build the parts that aren't too heavy or dangerous for me." He's grinning broadly, as if he just figured out how to cure cancer. "It's going to be so fun!"
Daniel laughs despite himself. "Yeah, a lot of fun," he agrees. He feels less awkward now, and decides to plop down in the empty half of the couch on the other side of Archie.
Immediately the young boy scrambles to Dan's side and wraps an arm around his pudgy middle. Dan hesitates for a moment, unaccustomed to the affection of a child, whom he has to remind himself is his child and not a stranger's as he returns the gesture by placing his hand on Archie's back. The previous owlship shuts his eyes and snuggles into Dan. "This is a lot better than being a hunk of metal," he says, and his slightly sad tone warms Daniel's heart. "'Cause now I can show you how happy I am that you created me." Another thought occurs to him. "Oh! I have to do something for Dr. Manhattan, too! I have to thank him for making me this way," Archie smiles. He glances down at his stomach and grimaces as he pulls up the large shirt to reveal flat skin. "Although… I wish I had a belly button. After seeing yours a few times when you changed out of your owl suit, I wanted one. They look so… human."
But belly buttons are for people with mothers, people who have had umbilical cords while in the womb as a fetus. Archie wasn't created that way.
"Weird." Rorschach states in his rumbling rasp as he takes a quick look at what the boy is talking about.
Archie shrugs as he puts the shirt back down. "Oh well. At least I have a beating heart now." He smiles as he turns and places a hand over Rorschach's chest, the other over his own, smaller one. Rorschach visibly flinches, his dislike for contact apparent. "I always thought that, if I had a heart, I'd want it to have a pulse like yours, Rorschach. As a ship, I could feel your heartbeat through your seat when you gripped the armrests really hard. Yours was always faster than Dan's. Even now," he places the hand from his own chest to Daniel's, and has to stretch his arms as far as they can go since the two men are seated pretty far from one another on either side of him, "It's beating more like, thumpthumpthump instead of, ba-dump ba-dump ba-dump." He removes his small, pale hands from both of them. "Is that because you're always pumped up on adrenaline? Or is it because you're scared of something?"
"Not scared of anything," Rorschach growls lowly. The kid and Dan didn't know it, but the fast-beating heart is Walter's fault. The other, non-hero half of him is very contradictory to the Rorschach half, because Walter admits to holding more sentimental feelings towards Daniel than Rorschach's strictly-business sentiments. In Walter's eyes, Daniel is a friend. A good friend, the kind you can find deep companionship in. But sometimes Rorschach wonders if those feelings will remain stagnant or if they will eventually evolve into something romantic. He shudders at the thought of homosexuality; it's both better and worse than his prostitute mother.
"Okay, so it must be the adrenaline," Archie thinks aloud to himself. He's enjoying all these small discoveries; each human experience is new to him, since his memory is nothing but that of an airship's.
For the next fifteen minutes, the three flip channels on the television. Rorschach appears to not want to be present, but Archie is chatting to him every so often and clinging comfortably to Dan, so Rorschach opts to linger a hair longer; at least for dinner, like Archie requested.
In the distance, the oven beeps. Daniel murmurs something to Archie, and the two leave the living room to enter the kitchen. Steadily, Rorschach gathers himself up and follows.
The kitchen is dimly lit, and Daniel is taking the pizza out and sliding it onto a pizza stone as Rorschach walks in. Archie retrieves three plates from a cupboard that Daniel gestures to. He sets the table, and begins searching for cups and something for the three of them to drink. He pours milk.
"This is so weird," Archie muses to himself in his high kid-voice. He sits down in the middle seat of the small table, leaving Rorschach and Dan to sit across form one another. "I really feel like I'm in a family."
There is a tenor hint of sadness in the higher pitches of his tone, and it drives the owl-obsessed man to stare at the boy as he lays the recently sliced pizza in the center of their triangle of plates. "You've always bee part of a family, Archie," Daniel says softly. "Only you were part of the family of mechanics I made. You just switched to the human part of the family, that's all."
"Right," Archie agree with a short nod of his shaggy-haired head. His gentle curls fall haphazardly onto the narrow plane of his forehead. He brushes the hair from his eyes with his hand. "So, who wants the first slice?"
Rorschach pauses in lifting his mask onto his nose. "Doesn't matter."
"Okay, then what about saying grace? On TV that one sitcom family said a prayer before –"
"Not religious," Rorschach grunts. He knows that Daniel has a slight religious background, although he rarely acts on it.
"Oh," Archie says, a bit disappointed. "Well, we'll just dig in, I guess."
Dan doesn't like seeing the poor kid downhearted, but he's not sure what to do to change that, so he simply takes two slices of pizza and a sip of his milk. His eyes wander to Rorschach's partially-exposed face, and notices for the first time the dusting of freckles at the base of his cheeks, above vaguely orange stubble. So the way Archie looks really is based on a mix between himself and his rugged partner; funny. Funny in that kinda-of-ironic way, since Rorschach seems like the last person who would produce a child with anyone. – Not that the way Archie was made into a child is at all normal…
The silence between the three is filled only with the sounds of mastication, all chomping jaws and licking lips. Then, before he gets his second slice, Archie states, "This tastes really, really good. What's it made out of?"
"Oh, um," Dan begins, startled out of bizarre thoughts, "The bottom is bread dough, the red stuff is tomato sauce, and the stringy stuff on top is mozzarella cheese. Oh, and the spicy circles are pepperoni."
"Hmm," Archie considers all of this mildly as he takes another bite. "Humans must be really smart, to think of such a yummy combination."
Daniel chuckles airily. "Yes, I guess some humans are." He glances up at Rorschach, whom is polishing off his third slice and beginning to tug down on his mask to cover his face. He stands. Startled, Daniel adds, "You know, you can stay the night… if you, er, want to. But you would have to sleep on the couch, because I have to give Archie the guest bedroom…" The brunet trails off with a nervous adjustment to his glasses.
Rorschach grunts noncommittally. But he pauses in his stepping, as if bearing the thought in mind. Then, monotonously, he states, "Can't."
"That's alright," Daniel shrugs, feeling like his offer had been more obligatory anyhow. "See you."
"Hnm," the other grumbles, and then he's exiting via the Nest entrance.
Archie makes a mock-pouting expression on his youthful face. "I suppose Daddy has to go to his day job in the morning, huh?" he remarks casually, but it's meant as a joke, because his pout is becoming a smile.
The newly reinstated hero laughs. "Yeah, I suppose he does." His smile droops into a frown. "Wait a minute. If he's 'Daddy', does that mean you're calling me the 'Mommy'?"
He sounds offended, and Archie winces. He raises his hands in defense. "I didn't say that," he says a tad shyly. "Although…"
"Don't even start," Daniel groans. "I know I'm a bit protective and easily worried about people, and I know that I made you, but I'm not going to be compared to a woman."
"I understand," Archimedes says with all honesty. He shoves his plate away and yawns. "And I'm tired. Can I go to bed?"
Daniel shakes his head and waves a hand. "Of 'course you can. I don't believe in curfews, since I never obeyed the ones set on me. Just go to bed when you feel like it."
Archie grins. "Thanks!" He hops off his chair and maneuvers around the table corner to kiss a surprised Dan on the cheek. "G'night!"
As the young lad scampers off, a goofy, heartwarming beam illuminates Dan's lips. He's never smiled like this before, and to think it's all because he's beginning to feel joy and warmth at the idea of having a child – his child – around the house. It's a sweet notion he never imagined he'd be able to have, due to his lack of girlfriends (or any sort of love life) and overabundance of (often painful) heroics.
Somehow, he gets the feeling that living with Archie is going to be exciting and more full-filling than it was when the boy was merely an airship.
Next chapter:
Class Two: How To Clean
