Magic

"Any extraordinary or mystical influence, charm, power, etc."

"It's like they're drawn to me," Dan complained, rubbing the bridge of his nose. "Instead of actually fighting crime, I end up spending the night fending off some lunatic desperate for 'punishment'." Rorschach made a noise, noncommittal and probably not even paying attention. He decided to leave it at that, setting his beer on the floor by his feet.

"That Carnage bothering you again?" Dan sat up straight, making a face and staring at his partner's back.

"You were listening?"

"I always listen, Daniel." He shrugged. It was hard to tell sometimes, especially with that mask. For all Dan knew, Rorschach could be sitting there pulling faces. "Is Carnage bothering you again?" Dan stood up and meandered away, slightly embarrassed by the whole thing. He wasn't used to that side of the underworld, the people who weren't violent or abominations but simply insane. Imagine being desperate enough to get off that you would willingly dress up like a freak and follow vigilantes around.

Then again, Carnage wasn't the only one running around with his underwear on the outside of his pants. It was somewhat hypocritical to assume that it took some kind of mental deficiency to be someone like them… or was it?

"Yeah. It's just… obnoxious, you know? I mean, I could handle it if he was just some weirdo, but…" He extended his hands in a show of helplessness. "He's everywhere. I can't seem to get rid of him." Rorschach grunted again, and Dan could almost see the wheels in his head turning. He flushed – of all the people he had to complain to, he chose the one that would immediately assume he was too wimpy to fix the problem. Great. "Look, man, you don't have to worry about it. I just needed…"

"Not worrying. Simply curious. Is that a crime?" Now, Dan sighed, now he had reason to be concerned. That innocent lilt in his voice is enough to tip him off – Rorschach was definitely going to try something, and that was more than humiliating enough.

"He'll go away, if I ignore him long enough," he said. "You don't have to intervene. I'll be all right." Rorschach came to stand beside him, and he got the impression that he was being scrutinized closely. He could feel the flush creeping onto his face again, and behind his goggles, he shut his eyes and willed the red to stay away with all his might. There were some days he just hated Rorschach's complete disregard for others' personal space. After a long, awkward moment, his partner turned away and recovered his fedora, planting it firmly on his head.

"Should go. Dawn will come soon – good work tonight."

"Yeah. Uh…" Dan faltered briefly. "You need a place to crash? The couch is always open." Instead of his typical response, one of derision, Rorschach simply jams his hands in his pockets.

"Thank you. I'm fine." Then he's gone, disappeared into the early morning, and Dan waited a moment or two before removing his goggles and rubbing his nose again.

The next night, Rorschach never showed up for patrol. Dan ended up taking Archie out on his own, spending the night lazily scanning the city and occasionally breaking up a minor mugging. At about midnight, he parked the ship on top of a building and relaxed, seeing no point in floating around aimlessly if the city had decided to be quiet. Perhaps it knew he was alone tonight, he thought almost fondly, and had decided to give him a break.

Sometimes, he thought, leaning back in the pilot's seat, Rorschach wouldn't show up for days at a time, and then reappear without fanfare and refusing to respond to any questions. This wasn't odd at all, and yet, something about his polite questions earlier was still nagging at him. Besides, he hadn't seen Captain Carnage all night – a rare occurrence in itself. On a regular patrol, he'd already have shown up five times by now.

A tap on Archie's hull grabbed Dan's attention, sending a little stutter through his heart. Through the metal framework, he heard a dull, unintelligible muttering, and smiled in relief. With the press of a few buttons, the door whirred open and Rorschach stepped through, looking unusually clean and composed.

"Hello, Daniel."

"Uh… hey. You… never showed up tonight, so I figured..."

"My apologies. Had some business to take care of." Dan eyed him as he moved about the ship, searching for anything suspicious. There were levels of privacy between them, never asked too much about the other's life outside costumes and gadgets and masks, but he couldn't help it. There was just something funny about the whole thing. "Ran into Carnage on street," Rorschach said, sounding impossibly casual and even somewhat cheerful.

"You what?"

"Won't have to worry about him. He's gone." Oh, no – Dan should have seen something like this coming. "I see what you meant – his pleas are severely annoying."

"Oh, man, what did you do?"

"Nothing." There was something in the way Rorschach refused to even look his way – by now, at least, he knew his partner was terrible at lying.

"So you expect me to believe that he magically disappeared off the face of the earth?" Dan asked, a little more biting than he intended it. Rorschach shrugged, keeping his gaze averted. The silence lasted for a few seconds, and then Dan hung his head with a heavy sigh. "Seriously, man, what happened? He pulled the whole 'punish me' thing on you too, didn't he?" His partner nodded this time, willing to divulge this bit of information. Having realized that Dan wasn't anywhere near as gullible as most thought, he leaned back in the seat and drummed his fingers on the chair's arm.

"Tried to ignore him, as you said, but he wouldn't leave. I assisted his departure. Dropped him down an elevator shaft."

Dan didn't know whether to be amused or angry or upset, but for a second the swirling shapes on Rorschach's mask reminded him heavily of a self-satisfied smirk, so he put his head in his hand and howled with laughter.

AN: I wholeheartedly love the whole Captain Carnage thing. I think it's perfectly hilarious, even though some shred of my human decency wishes otherwise. I don't know the specifics of it (does anyone?) so I assumed that this doesn't mess with what actually happened. I also love the idea of Rorschach being protective over Daniel, at least at the beginning, before he could take care of himself.

On another note, this is somewhat based off the whole "10 Songs" challenge, except instead I randomly picked 15 words and am using those instead. I expect it to be entertaining, if somewhat difficult, and I'll update as I go along. Most of these, I think, will be focused around Nite Owl II and Rorschach because they're my favorites (like everyone else). I hope they're enjoyed.