Author's note: Well, guys. I wasn't gonna put this in, but I wanted to give the happy!days a bit of a send off since these guys have been so good to me for so long. This is a little short thing, too, so I didn't think it disrupted the flow too much. So yeah, enjoy!
20. Monotony
Dan slumped in his chair, head leaning into his hand, scrunching up the side of this face. His elbow was beginning to fall asleep from being pressed up against the armrest for so long, something Dan felt like doing. Staring blankly out the window, he tapped his booted foot rhythmically and waited for Rorschach to yell at him for being annoying. Usually, annoying Rorschach would be right up there on his "Stupid List" with poking a bear in the eye, but there wasn't a whole lot else available for entertainment. Absentmindedly, Dan wondered when physical pain became acceptable entertainment. He decided to blame Rorschach for that one.
Yawning widely, Daniel glanced over at his partner sitting in his usual seat in his usual manner: quiet and waiting. This was also incredibly boring at the moment and Dan really hated his partner's level of patience when it came to catching criminals. Any other situation and Rorschach had the patience level of a five-year-old kid and the ability to gripe with the best of them, but when it came to fighting crime, Rorschach was actually incredibly patient. It was kind of creepy sometimes.
Like now. The streets were utterly quiet, as if the criminal fraternity had decided to take the night off, just to screw with his head. Daniel sighed, fidgeting in his chair. Rorschach ignored him. Jerk. Dan figured he was trying to make a point; to show Daniel that real costumed heroes didn't squirm around in their seats like a kid on a long car ride. Well, not everyone had Rorschach's creepy ability to sit in the shadows and wait. Some people had to do something. Or at least talk. Rorschach was an inherently quiet man in movement and speech, but Dan would have thought he'd have kicked him or something by now. It's not as if he was being especially still. And Dan was still tapping his feet, a little louder this time, which should have at least resulted in a snarky, smart-assed comment from the masked man. But it didn't.
Finally, Daniel gave in, "All right man, call me impatient but I don't think there's anything out there tonight. And to top it off, I'm bored as hell, why don't we go back to the Nest and I can make you food and I'll do some work on Archie. We can try again later."
He waited for the barrage of half-insults and an indignant monologue on the vices of giving up so soon, but none came. Frowning, Dan leaned closer to the smaller man and detected the sound of quiet snoring under the shifting latex. Snickering, Dan decided that living was overrated and pulled the bag of sugar cubes from the console where they lived. In a moment of complete immaturity, he lightly tossed one at Rorschach's profile. It fell on his lap and Dan tensed, waiting for the explosion. Instead of jerking awake and proceeding to punch whatever was closest, Rorschach mumbled indistinctly and shifted slightly in his seat. The poor guy must have been ridiculously tired, Dan decided, because usually it took less than a sugar cube to wake him up. The mature, grown up thing would have been to let his partner sleep, but justifying himself to the fact that if Rorschach caught him sleeping on patrol, he wouldn't be so kind, Dan opted for the more entertaining option of lobbing another sugar cube in his partner's general direction. He overshot and he watched in horror as it sailed through the air and landed on the brim of Rorschach's battered fedora. And, by God above, Rorschach didn't even twitch.
Dan began to make a little game of it, seeing how many times he could land the little cubes on his hat, or on his shoulders without waking him up. He even kept score in his head. A good half an hour and one full bag later, Rorschach woke with a quiet snort. The sugar cubes that had accumulated on the brim of his hat fell onto his lap. Rorschach must have been really sleep addled because instead of turning to Daniel and guilting him about personal space boundaries and being immature, he stared at the little pile of sugar cubes on his lap and then looked up at the ceiling, befuddled.
Dan bit back a laugh and tried to look as innocent as possible, "What's up buddy?" He wasn't all that surprised when Rorschach pelted them all back at him.
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A/N: Wow, that was short. And nuuu! It's the last (intentionally) happy chapter!! DD: Sad days. So yeah, thank you all for your input and support and your reviews are loved on and shared with my friends as bragging rights. Lol. Hope you liked.