"Rorschach, we need to talk." said Dan, catching his breath."Everything is fine. Shouldn't worry." Rorschach was looking directly into Dan's eyes. "Now come here."Dan's pants were around his ankles, just like the man in Hollis' story, within seconds, and he couldn't say a word of complaint. Rorschach's secretive nature had just enhanced this meeting, and somehow, it turned Dan on. Rorschach kissed up and down Dan's side, tasting each and every rib. He used his strong arms to hold Dan against the cold porcelain sink as he turned the man's legs into jelly with his lips and fingers. He couldn't feel a hint of numbness from the alcohol anymore, everything was such a rush of , between shivers, Dan found the time to think. Was this an apology? Rorschach hadn't ever been good with words, or even sentences for that matter. This was definitely making up or everything it could. The kisses felt apologetic, and were worth more than any word that the shorter man could have uttered. Kisses on his arm, traveling to his shoulder. Kisses on his chest, traveling down his stomach. Kisses on his hips, traveling to his…

The shower curtain came down next as the men almost wrestled, as if in a fight to please each other to the largest extent. The rubbery plastic squeaked and gave under quivering bodies, and the small rings dug into Dan's bruises, but he hardly noticed. Rorschach was back, he could put the other incident out of his head, he wouldn't have to hide a thing from everything was over, and clothes were located (under the sink, across the shower curtain rod, on the curtains), the two men stood in the middle of the bathroom. Dan looking into the mirror, Rorschach behind him."Rorschach," Dan began."Hm?" The other man sounded distracted."Thanks. Thanks for putting my mind to rest." Dan felt vulnerable. Like he was saying a little too much."Told you not to worry." before his sentence even ended, Rorschach had wrapped his arms around Dan's torso, a little too tightly. "Ror-" started Dan, but it was too late, his body hit the tiled floor of the room. It echoed, as it hit, and the rug moved aside as if ordered."I love you." said Rorschach, as he left the room.*Dan woke up, groggy, hungover, and aching. He hardly remembered what happened the night before. He held his forehead in his hands to avoid the bright light. It gave his pupils a white hot pain that he felt other places but couldn't quite focus on. One place at a time, the hangover instructed."I will never drink again." then he winced. Even his voice was too loud in his head. His hangover didn't agree with noise either sat up, favoring his side, and looked around the bathroom. Things started coming back to him. The shower curtain was bunched into a corner of the tub, marked up and a bit torn. He saw the rug on the other side of the room, hiding from what happened last night with the radiator. Rorschach had thrown him to the ground. Dan wanted to cry. As soon as Rorschach kissed him, he had been so confident, so sure of things. How had he let this happen again?--He groaned as he got off the floor. He'd have to tell Hollis to not let him ever drink that much ever again. He vowed to go downstairs and get some coffee. That would help. It always did. That and a cold shower. Dan turned to look at his bathtub, debating against showering first. He took in the disgruntled shower curtain and all its detached hooks all the way across the room. "Definitely coffee first." Dan descended his stairs, being careful of his footing as he planted them on each step. When he got to his kitchen and turned the coffee pot on, he turned to his table, noting a few discarded sugar cube wrappers and feeling a twinge somewhere deep in his chest. He didn't want to think about Rorschach. But he couldn't stop. The pot beeped, and Dan poured himself a mug, dropping two sugar cubes into the brownish plopped into his chair and picked up the paper that lay on the table still from yesterday, he hadn't had a chance to read it. He tried to read the headlines, but his eyes couldn't focus on the text, creating jumbles of black and white splotches before his eyes that were doing too good of a job of reminding him of his masked partner. He set the paper down and sighed, taking off his glasses and rubbing his forehead, trying to rid it of the ache concentrated beyond it. He replaced his glasses and opened his eyes, almost falling out of the chair when he saw who was sitting across the table from him."Damn it, Rorschach, you have to stop doing that to me.""Doing what?""Sneaking up on me like that. Oh, never mind.""Just wanted to say good morning, Daniel. Wanted to see how hangover was." Rorschach said quietly, looking at the fingers of his gloves. "Know you were drunk last night.""So?" Dan said. "You can't tell me not to drink just because you don't.""Dirty habit. Habit for scum. Makes people not act how they are." Rorschach stated, matter-of-factly. Dan didn't know what to say to that comment. So he said nothing. Silence echoed off the walls of the kitchen for a few more minutes, before Dan couldn't handle it anymore."Rorschach, we need to talk.""About?" he asked, popping a sugar cube into his mouth."Last night." Dan edged. He wanted to plan out what he was going to say more before he just jumped into this."Nothing to talk about.""Of course there is, how can you say there's-""Because, there isn't." Rorschach said with striking finality. He stood, pecking Dan on the cheek before pulling his mask down and turning away. "Will see you tonight."

Dan opened his mouth to say something else, but his partner had already gone. He huffed out a large breath, leaning his forehead on the palm of his hand and rubbing his hair out of his face. He threw back the last of his coffee and trudged up the stairs and into the bathroom. Once there, he remounted the shower curtain and reunited the rug with its rightful place on the floor. He flicked the faucet on as he took off his clothes. He stepped in, onto the cold porcelain and closed his arms around his torso, leaning into the cold spray. He whimpered as the water hit cuts on his back that he hadn't been aware of till that moment. That was it, the straw that broke his back, figuratively or not. Tears streamed down his face and he blearily looked at his naked chest. The bruises there were nothing short of awful. Something in the back of his mind reminded him that bruises always looked worse in the shower, and of course he knew that, from the bruises he'd received from countless thugs on the street, but these bruises...these were from Rorschach, and they shouldn't be there. The only bruises from him should be on his neck. From teeth. Not fists, or feet, or the floor. He was starting to get goose bumps. He couldn't stay in here for much longer, but he didn't want to get out. Behind the vinyl curtain all his problems were doused in the icy water, nothing mattered but him. But he couldn't stay in there like a coward all night. He knew he had to get out, and get ready for patrol. If he didn't show up, and Rorschach got mad...well, he didn't want to think about soon donned his cowl and cape, after popping four, or six, advil, and made his way out the nest door, down the street to the alley that he and Rorschach met in when they did their patrols on foot. Dan didn't know if he felt safer on the ground or in Archie at this point. Still, he trudged down the alley. He heard voices, saw shadows. He was quiet, listening to what they were saying. It was a man, and a woman, that much he could tell."No, baby, I'm sorry, it wasn't-""I don't care, you stupid bitch. You told me you'd be there and you weren't!" The man yelled. Dan heard a sound that sounded like skin hitting skin, but he couldnt be sure. He didn't want to intervene just yet, too soon."But, honey, my gram, she-""I don't give a fuck about your gram!" it was unmistakable, he was hitting her now. Dan's heart went out to the girl. She was pretty, brown hair, blue eyes, maybe twenty. Dan opened his mouth, drawing in breath, getting ready to use his intimidating superhero voice. He was beaten to the punch, quite literally, by his partner swooping in from above."Bad, terrible, worthless scum!" Each punch was punctuated by each word. Dan watched, helping the girl to her feat, making sure she was alright as she mumbled breathless thank yous. But his eyes were glued on Rorschach, pounding his fists into this man for hitting this woman. For doing exactly what he had yesterday. How was this any different? Except that the man was angry. But it was so hard to tell when Rorschach was angry from when he was pleased, an infinitesimal gap between the two. The man was moaning, whimpering and Rorschach was whispering to him. Daniel couldn't hear what he was saying. He could feel the girl still leaning against his arm, and a twinge in his chest, and an almost unnoticeable one in his crotch. No. He was not jealous that Rorschach was hitting this ragged alley man, and not him. No, that was preposterous. That was terrible. It was wrong. He was breathing harder, out of anger, out of god knows what else. The man was unconscious, Dan heard Rorschach tell the woman that the police were coming. "Come, Nite Owl. More places to go, more scum to clean." Dan followed, his eyes wide under his goggles, trying to calm himself out of the cold sweat and uneasy feeling in his stomach.

This is not very long. But here you have it. Okay, thanks for reading.