Dan woke up with a feeling of contentment he couldn't place until he remembered he'd slept without bandages and nothing was chafed or hurting. Checking himself over during a morning shower he decided he was healed, patches of skin were still pink and new but healthy. Only one patch had scarred, a few inches wide and to the left side of his stomach, it was shaped like the treasure island maps he had scribbled as a child and puckered white. No great matter, all vigilantes collected their share of scars, and certainly nothing to dampen his mood.

Rorschach would be coming for dinner, but he had a whole day before then and he was sick to death of the hotel. He asked Hollis, as bored as he was, if he wanted to visit the bird sanctuary with him. Once there he found their newest arrival was a magnificent bald eagle, hit by a car while eating carrion on the side of the road. She'd been stunned and dehydrated when she was brought in, but now she was just pissed off; glaring at her well meaning captors with a violence that, for all it's apparent coldness, was born mostly of fear. Dan tried to sketch her, but he was more draftsman than artist and although he could manage a decent approximation of her patterning he couldn't catch the defiance in her eyes.

Hollis, watching over his shoulder, said quietly, 'I can see why you like them so much.'

Dan smiled, still mostly intent on his drawing. 'They're so strong and so fragile. They live right on the edge, always one meal away from starvation, but they survive. And they have so much pride, even injured and afraid they won't give in.' He stopped talking when he realised he wasn't just describing raptors anymore.

When Rorschach arrived that night, slipping in through the window in the same way as always, the first thing Dan noticed was that he was clean. Even his trenchcoat had been washed and his face, when he pulled his mask off, was freshly scrubbed with hair two shades more vibrant for being clean. Dan grinned at him, still buoyant with newly recovered health.

'Ready to start laying villain traps?' he asked, putting aside the eagle picture he had been colouring from memory.

'You're better?' Rorschach ran his eyes over Dan critically and nodded. 'We can go after dinner.'

They did, sneaking into the owl's nest through the underground entrance and being as careful as possible that nobody saw them. There were only the two entrances and Rorschach blocked the one to the house, nothing fancy required beyond making it completely unopenable, while Dan set up lasers and motion sensors around the other. Not surprisingly Rorschach finished first, pacing restlessly around the workbenches once he had. His wings kept lifting and settling in a way that reminded Dan not of raptors but of migratory birds. The way they would signal flight again and again before reneging, working themselves up to a long journey to a place many of them had never even seen. There was something in the pocket of his trenchcoat that he kept reaching for as well, before stopping and fiddling with the buttons instead. Dan tried not to let it distract him from the task in hand.

'There, finished,' he said when all the lasers were set. 'Here, take this. Its alarm will go off if she sets off the motion sensors.'

Rorschach caught the black rectangle, like a remote control but with only two buttons, that Dan threw to him and slipped it into his pocket. Dan grabbed one of his experimental owlsuits, a wetsuit that wouldn't conduct electricity, as well as his regular costume and shoved them both into the bag he had brought.

'Going back to hotel?' asked Rorschach, as both of them started down the tunnel. Dan used his own controller to set the trap behind them, although it was unlikely to catch anything when they hadn't yet laid the bait.

'Yes. Are you coming?' He expected the answer to be no, that four o'clock in the morning was still time to patrol, but was surprised when Rorschach nodded.

On the walk back to the hotel Rorschach was getting more and more agitated, finally stopping one street away from it and saying, 'Should probably patrol.'

'We're nearly there now. You might as well stay for a coffee.' Dan was pretty sure Rorschach was working up to telling him something, and if he kept him around long enough he might just manage to spill it. Before he got a reply a scream rang out and both of them were in motion.

Dan was in civilian clothes but neither of them thought of that, the instinct to rescue too ingrained to ignore. The person in trouble was a man being beaten by five thugs. They had been vandalising a corner shop when they were interrupted, probably the man they were beating was the owner. A glance up showed two children peering from the window above the shop, a boy and a girl desperately holding hands.

Rorschach dived into the fray, knocking one man down with a punch to the face while a wing almost casually took another down behind him. The same wing came forward in a lethal blur of feathers, taking a third under the chin. Dan managed to knock out one, far too distracted by the first time he'd seen his partner fight with wings, and the fifth tried to run. Rorschach was after him in an instant, both of them disappearing into an alley while Dan went to see to the wounded civilian.

'Are you all right?' he asked. 'Should I call an ambulance?'

The man shook his head, too shaken for words, he was still looking towards the alley Rorschach had run into with a look of awe on his face. Dan could understand that. He checked none of the man's wounds were too serious and then tied up the criminals. Rorschach returned with the fifth over his shoulder, throwing him down roughly onto the heap, and turned to the civilian as Dan had.

'Need anything?'

'No.' The man swallowed hard, looking up into Rorschach's unnerving mask. 'Are you an angel?'

Rorschach froze, complete bewilderment running through his posture. 'No.'

Dan walked over and grabbed the man by the shoulder to help him to his feet. 'I think you'd better go in. Your children are worried.'

The man looked up and Dan saw him realise that his children had seen the whole thing, sadness settling over his features in place of awe. He went in with murmured thanks to them both.

'We'd better get back, I can phone these in from the hotel,' said Dan.

They did, Dan looked up from the phonecall to find Rorschach sitting on the edge of the bed with his back to him. When Dan walked over to look there was a small wooden case in his hands, worn around the edges but polished to a gleam, with a marquetry owl in flight on the lid. There was also a crack running right across the owl and Rorschach was cradling the box like a wounded animal.

'What's that?' asked Dan.

Rorschach didn't look up, just pulled a wing around himself to hide it from further view. 'It. Was for you.'

'Can I still have it?'

'Broken.'

'I know, but I still like it. And I've got some wood glue, somewhere. Maybe it can be fixed.' Probably it couldn't, not with the crack going across the picture, but Rorschach bought it for him and he wanted it for that. There was so little tangible in their relationship.

A heartbeat and then the wing retracted and the box was thrust into his hands. 'Something inside too.'

Dan flipped the catches eagerly, reminded of birthdays back when every present seemed to contain infinite promise. Inside was a quill pen, made with a black and white barred feather. Not a flight feather as most quill pens were, it was a blunter oval and with softer barbs.

'One of yours,' said Dan softly, running the feather reverently between his fingers. Maybe it was just meant to express gratitude, or friendship, but it seemed so intimate to literally offer someone a piece of yourself. 'It's beautiful. Thank you.'

Rorschach stood up and pulled off his mask, looking at Dan with wide and earnest eyes. He swallowed, looked away and back, clearly working his way up to saying something. If this is meant to be goodbye, if he's changed his mind about our partnership again, I'm going to hit him, thought Dan, trepidation churning coldly in his gut.

'Love you,' the words came out as a hoarse whisper. All Dan could do was stare, certain he'd misheard. Rorschach was blushing, pale pink clashing horribly with his freckles. He swallowed again and continued in a slightly stronger voice. 'I love you. Have for a while. Didn't realise. Not much experience. With love.'

Oh God, thought Dan. What was he meant to do? He'd never tried to define his feelings towards Rorschach, certainly never expected to have to act on them. He'd been aware of his own bisexuality for a while, but had never done anything about it. He still liked girls, after all, it was easier to stick with what everyone expected. What would Hollis say? And what was wrong with him? Rorschach had apparently overcome his numerous issues enough to tell him this and he was wondering what Hollis would think.

'Understand you not feeling the same. Just. Wanted you to know,' Rorschach continued, sounding more certain about that than his confession.

It made Dan want to hug him, and maybe that was love because there was no denying he cared about his partner. Maybe he was being too metaphysical, maybe he didn't need to find a working definition of love right now, maybe it was about whether he could imagine spending the rest of his life with Rorschach. Because that's what it would mean, Rorschach wouldn't have said anything if he didn't intend to make a commitment. Five weeks ago Dan might have baulked at the idea, heaven knew Rorschach could be hard to get along with, but the weeks on the farm had been his happiest in a long time. And maybe he'd just been offered the chance to never be lonely again.

It took Rorschach going over to the window to snap him out of mental panic mode and into action, fumbling the quill and box onto the bedside table and grabbing Rorschach's hand.

'I do,' he said, pulling him back into the room. 'Feel the same. You just really startled me, saying it like that. I hadn't even thought…'

Rorschach looked up at him, intent brown eyes searching his for a lie. Dan realised he'd been about to leave his mask behind, and for Rorschach that would be like accidentally walking off without his foot.

'Mean it?'

He'd never lied to Rorschach, ever, so he said what he was thinking and hoped it was good enough. 'I want to spend the rest of our lives together. That kind of seems like love to me.'

Rorschach smiled, a proper one not the twitch around the corners of his mouth that Dan had seen before. It didn't make him handsome, it made him cute. Dan was reminded of troll dolls, adorably ugly under their mops of bright hair, and hastily squashed the thought in case Rorschach could read it in his eyes. And what kind of thought was that, anyway, to have about someone he was almost certainly in love with?

Rorschach kissed him, on the lips but oddly chaste, standing on tiptoes to do it with his hands resting on Dan's shoulders. Dan teased Rorschach's lips apart with his tongue, darting his own between them, surprised when Rorschach allowed it and still more when he responded in kind. Rorschach glanced past Dan at the bed, blushing harder than ever but clearly wanting this. Tenderness and elation bubbled in Dan's chest as he reached past Rorschach to close the curtains before gently pulling him towards the bed.

Rorschach was almost weightless as he straddled Dan's hips, it leant him an air of the supernatural as if this was a tryst with an Aztec god with severe features and lethal wings. But no god would have gasped as if he'd never been touched before, almost panicking when Dan tried to go below the waist even as their erections rubbed together through layers of fabric. Rorschach seemed more comfortable with his wings being touched than his body so Dan started there, reaching up to ruffle the feathers spread above him, working through them as though he was preening while Rorschach gradually relaxed. When he found the spot where they joined the body, a line of uncovered down where the larger pinions gave out, Rorschach arched and moaned at his touch. He kept one hand there, distracting Rorschach with sensation, while he slid the other down slowly over his hips and stomach.

When Dan's hand found its way inside Rorschach's briefs he made a strangled noise that was almost a sob and Dan pulled back. 'Do you want me to stop?'

'No. Want.' Rorschach's hands fumbled at Dan's pants and Dan obliged by trying to wriggle out of them. Rorschach was trying to take his off as well and lost his balance, winding up sprawled over Dan. He slid off to lie beside him, both of them naked now, and took advantage of their new position to wrap a wing over Dan and draw him close with it. Smooth feathers pressed against Dan's naked skin and the curve of the wing tenderly cupped the back of his head. The same wing he'd seen knock a thug unconscious with a flick, and the thought hit Dan with a surge of lust.

As Rorschach's hands slid tentatively over his chest, Dan's found the spot behind his wings again. Rorschach's mouth fastened on Dan's neck, warm and shocking, and Dan bucked against him trying to find friction. He took both of them in his hand, expecting protests, but Rorschach's wing only tightened around him, pressing him to the bed with the same muscle power that could keep him in the air. Dan had never felt so helpless, or so close to anyone, as this and he groaned Rorschach's name as he thrust raggedly into his hand. Rorschach came at the sound of his own name, with a startled gasp, and lay there panting while Dan finished himself off.

Afterwards they lay together with Rorschach cuddling determinedly against Dan, trying to fit their bodies together by force of will when it would be so much easier if he'd just relax. Dan kissed his forehead, feeling that the rest of his life looked pretty good right now.