Watchmen Sickfics

Rorschach x Laurie

"Dan?  Daniel, are you...oh god..." Laurie Juspeczyk stumbled into Daniel Dreiberg's house, face pale.  She was holding her stomach and trying her very hardest not to vomit. She heard something fall in the kitchen and her brow furrowed. This wasn't like Dan.

"Daniel?" She walked into the kitchen, footsteps falling on the carpet silently, and as she stepped onto the linoleum a familiar figure was leaning against the sink, facing her.

"Rorschach? What in the hell are you doing here?" She asked. His mask was pulled up to free his mouth, and he was eating from a can of beans.  The stench of the beans made her stomach turn.

"Just dropping in.  Dan is out." The shorter man replied. He frowned and cocked his head at Laurie as she coughed into her hand, clearing her throat.

"Well this is Dan's house, not yours.  Get out."

"Not yours either." Rorschach amended.  He was still staring at her, she presumed, from where his face was pointing, and she couldn't figure out why until his jaw clenched and she knew he knew.

"You're sick." He said. It wasn't a question.

"No, I just...you know I always get sick when Jon teleports me." She thought quickly.

"Heard the cab drive away." Rorschach said. Laurie mentally facepalmed.

"No, you...well you know what, so what?  What are you going to to about it, huh?" Laurie said. "Because I came here looking for Dan, not a snoop going through his cupboards and eating his food." She blinked hard; her throat was hurting terribly, and she could have sworn there were two of Rorschach standing there just then...

"Get away from me, you --" Laurie watched as the man moved, intending to move towards her, and she tried to step away; the last thing she wanted was this creep touching her. But as she moved, the world seemed to tilt underneath her, and she stumbled. She braced herself, expecting her head to hit the floor, but it didn't. She was in Rorschach's arms.

"Get away from me...Don't." She slurred, trying to push his hand away but it rested on her forehead anyways. his glove was cool and dried the sweat from her brow.

"Burning up."Rorschach said. He hadn't pulled his mask down and she focused on his lips, his ginger stubble, as he lifted her and set her down on the closest thing he could find, the couch.

"Getting you a drink. Don't move." He warned her. Through the fevered veil, Laurie wondered why he was being so nice to her.  This wasn't very characteristic of sociopaths.  Maybe he wasn't one?

Don't be stupid, she reminded herself. Look at him, you think he actually has the capacity to be caring?

"Rorschach?" She called groggily as the man was about to leave the room.  She studied his ever-changing mask as he grunted his acknowledgement.

"Hmm?"

"I've always...hated...you."

The smaller man grunted again, but the sound astonished her -- it sounded almost like a laugh, if she didn't know him better. But Rorschach didn't laugh.

Did he?

Laurie drifted off into feverish dreams.

When she awoke, there was a mug of tea sitting on the floor next to her hand, and a note scrawled in Sharpie.

WANT SOME BEANS?

The signature was the man's familiar double R, Rorschach test symbol, and Laurie found his awkward bedside manner almost comical.

"Awake." Rorschach grunted from the doorway. He pointed to the tea. "Drink. Help break fever." His mask swirled around quicker than usual, and Laurie realized this wasn't any more comfortable for him than it was for her.

Still, she really didn't like him.

"The last person I want to take care of me is you, Rorschach."

"Doesn't look like...you can do it yourself." The man observed, black splotches on his face shimmering and writhing, making Laurie dizzy.

"Well --"

"Can't."

They went on like this, arguing like children, for a good five minutes before Laurie looked up at the man, once presumed a sociopath.  Her eyes were red-rimmed, and she was growing tired, both of this game and physically tired.

"You're right." she sighed.

"Can't take care of —" Rorschach scrutinized the woman and made one of his odd noises. "Hurm." He walked back into the kitchen and came out with a bowl of soup. Laurie's jaw actually dropped.

"You made...s-soup?" She sputtered.

The mask swirled around the man's cheeks, like a twisted sort of blush. "Microwaved." He said, holding the bowl out to her. As she sipped at the canned soup, she watched Rorschach intensely until she could tell he was getting even more uncomfortable. He turned and was about to get back to his beans, when Laurie called him back.

"Rorschach?"

"Hrrh?" He grunted.

"...You're...not as bad as I thought."

Rorschach's mask twisted in a way that seemed like he was either smiling, or grimacing.  Probably the latter. "Let's not...make this...sappy." He said. Laurie ate the remnants of the soup and looked after the man as he retreated to Dan's kitchen.

"Thanks, Rorschach."