#and do i think that negan is a good person? not particularly

[katierosefun]

they got me feeling foolish

[theteasetwrites]

So you don't think Daryl was a bad person for killing innocent families and children at The Sanctuary just because he wanted Negan dead? I don't think a good person does that. I'm not sure there are any GOOD people left in the twd universe

my friend, i’m a daryl dixon x reader fanfiction account. ofc i do not think daryl is a bad person. i would suck the soul out of that man.

but anyway, yeah everyone in the walking dead universe has to work with their own moral compass that is largely affected by the way the world is in this post-apocalyptic landscape.

and of course all of the characters are going to do morally wrong things for the sake of survival. every character has done bad things.

i never said i excuse daryl’s actions. i don’t think it was a good idea and i think he was being irrational. i don’t think he is a bad person because of it. i don’t think any of the main characters (besides the villains) are bad people. they are people who mostly mind their own business and try not to get in the way of other communities UNLESS they pose a threat to their community.

that’s what separates them from literally every bad group/villain they’ve come across. i don’t think they’re saints or whatever but i also think that they are not bad guys. they are trying to rebuild the world so that human beings can beat out the walkers. that is their main objective.

daryl does make morally questionable decisions, but the world they live in goes by different rules: there are no rules.

additionally, we need to understand daryl’s state of mind during that time. now i am not saying this excuses his rash decisions, but i am saying that daryl was particularly brutal against the saviors because of multiple factors:

he felt guilty for denise’s death, and thus wanted to avenge her

he felt guilty for glenn’s death, and thus wanted to avenge him

he was humiliated, tortured, and brutalized by the saviors (which also likely could’ve reminded him of past traumas if we really want to analyze it)

he had seen negan’s evil FIRSTHAND. he knew the kind of shit that man did. he watched negan burn half a man’s face off. he probably even saw more sick shit while he was being held at the sanctuary.

again, i am not trying to say these things excuse it, but it puts into perspective daryl’s frame of mind during seasons 7-8.

so no i do not think daryl is a bad person. i also don’t think the twd world operates in terms of black and white anyway, which is what makes it so compelling to watch. i mean some people are just plain BAD, but there is still a nuance to most things.

daryl has also done many many good things so let’s not forget that.

[thesongbiird]

in your ideal world, what does life look like in the universe where beth has never died? how has beth developed without that happening? what kind of person has she become? what is her relationship like with some of the characters that came on after she died? do you think she would still eventually die from something else, if so what? or do you think she'd outlive everyone?

Oh my goodness, thank you so much for sending this!! I'm going to try and break this down bc I always have way too much to say about Beth in general, and I can feel this is gonna get long!

Firstly, in my ideal world, if Beth never died, I believe she would have continued her journey into becoming a fighter. We saw glimpses of who she was becoming. She was strong and resilient, and she survived that hospital all on her own like a damn boss. I think that experience would have made her believe in herself and her own capabilities and realise that she didn't have to be taken care of. She could protect herself and the people around her. I think she would have grown to be a real asset, tough and strong but never losing her heart and kindness. Honestly, I think the group really suffered with the loss of Hershel and then Beth, the two characters who had the most hope and optimism.

I think she would have absolutely thrived in Alexandria and would have thrown herself into the community. She would have remained close in particular with Daryl and Carol, given that she spent time after the fall of the prison with Daryl and she had taken care of Carol when she was in Grady. In terms of the characters Beth never got to meet there are a few relationships that I think could have been great to explore. I think she would have gotten close with Sasha, I feel that her and Maggie are fairly similar and Beth would gravitate toward her because of that. I feel that it could have been so interesting to see her dealing with the aftermath of Negan, especially given what we saw of Beth's character. She would struggle with her morals, despising Negan for what he did to Glenn and Maggie but I don't think she'd want him dead. I think on some level she'd agree with Rick's decision to keep him alive and maybe that would cause some conflict with Maggie.

If I'm being honest I think she probably still would have died. Most likely in Alpha's line up. Obviously I would have wanted her to live and to survive and have a long and happy life but I don't imagine that's too realistic. I also think that could have made the whole whisperer arc/Alpha's lineup a lot more impactful and interesting. On the show I liked it but the characters we lost weren't ones who had been around for particularly long.

On the whole I would say that Beth is a great example of wasted potential and killing a character for shock value. Personally I adore her character because she's the most relatable to me. She doesn't immediately know how to fight and thrive during the end of the world. She's soft and sweet and she struggles but then the writers gave us a glimpse of who she could become, without losing those traits I already loved about her and I feel that her death was a total waste of that potential. It wasn't the death itself but the timing of it that it found disappointing. If they'd continued her arc and let her grow and become the character that she was proving to be and killed her off later it would have been one of the most heartbreaking deaths in the show and a wonderful character arc. Instead it felt as though they had a great character potential which was totally thrown away.

I have ranted for so long but to conclude I love Beth Greene with my whole damn soul and I MISS HER EVERYDAY.

[savedpeople]

//1. what is your muse's sexual/romantic orientation? //4. does your muse find any specific features particularly attractive? //6. would your muse kiss on the first date? //8. is your muse a good kisser? are they experienced or inexperienced? //13. what traits does your muse value in a romantic partner? //20. how does your muse feel about public displays of affection? would they engage in them? //23. would your muse be good at recognizing their partner's needs right away, or would it take some time? //27. is your muse more confident or shy when it comes to approaching someone they like?

Romance & Relationship Headcanons | Not Accepting | @wexarethewalkingxdead

Negan is bisexual, with a strong preference for women. He is also, technically, biromantic, but he's unaware of this. He's never had romantic feelings for another man, and so views his attraction towards them as strictly sexual. And it largely is. When it comes to any MxM ships I have on this blog, in those cases it's his first time developing feelings for a man and it's new territory for him; and even then, he sees them as more of an exception than anything. But aside from those developed ships, he's never had intimate relations with men outside of sex.

Negan finds a lot of things attractive though physically speaking, there's some features he does tend to be more drawn towards. They can include: dark hair, chests/breasts (cleavage really gets him going regardless of gender lol), curves and long legs on women, facial hair and strong arms on men, pretty smiles, and eyes you can get lost in.

Negan would absolutely kiss on the first date if the date went well and finds himself really into the person. And if he gets the feeling that they're not ready for an actual kiss, then he might give them a kiss on the cheek or hand instead.

He's had plenty of experience kissing and it's safe to say he's good at it. I think some people would be surprised by how sweet and tender his kisses can actually be-- and also heated and intense, but I think those are more expected.

There's a few traits he really values in a romantic partner, a sense of humor being one. He also, as we all know, likes strong personalities, and values confidence and independence in a partner; he stays away from overly dependent or clingy people. He needs someone who will support him and vice versa, but they need to be able to act fully independently on their own, too. He values when someone can be tough and call him (and others) out on his shit, but has a softer, more nurturing side that will allow him to be vulnerable and feel loved and cared for in private. And though he's unable to have kids of his own, any long-term partner has to like kids, or at least tolerate them.

Negan doesn't mind public displays of affection, but will also not hesitate to comment when it becomes what he deems to be too much. If you're making out or heading towards heavy petting, expect him to draw attention to it and make some comment about getting a room or letting him watch. As far as engaging in it himself, he doesn't mind holding hands, hugging, or kissing in public, but probably won't do a lot of it unless he's trying to "show off" or something/someone has him feeling jealous. His feelings on PDA are also completely separate from any sexual interest he has in consensually watching/being watched, or trying to get frisky without getting caught.

(Questions 23 and 27 were answered here!)

[faerune]

🖊 + tess. i’d love to hear about her platonic relationships with the other survivors <3

Tess has a pretty close relationship with all of the survivors and no matter the individual differences really considers them family. She'd do anything for them.

Glenn: Like I mentioned before, the pair of them are incredibly close! Tess considers him like a little brother and they are honestly best friends. His death absolutely devastates Tess and she feels like she failed him.

Michonne: I feel like the two of them have similar temperaments though Michonne sometimes has to ground her especially during moments where Tess' drive to protect those around her leads her into some pretty bad places. They're both intelligent well-educated women and they both have a similar sense of humor too!

Rick: These two are super close! They're around the same age (I believe if my memory serves me) and both kind of start the apocalypse with the okay this isn't going to break me or make me into a different person mindset. Meanwhile like nine seasons later lmao...(they still keep their core values I think, they just moreso adjusted to a different world to keep the people they love alive). Alongside Daryl and Michonne, Tess is one of the people who Rick would entrust the group with if he was gone. He also is incredibly grateful to her as Tess is separated with Judith during S4 and she did everything she could to keep the little girl alive.

Carol: They both struggle with the same sort of violence and anger towards those who threaten the group. And they both deal with the morality of it in similar ways. They regret, they're in pain but Carol isolates herself and tries to stop it while Tess accepts it as something she needs to do. These two are really close tbh.

Maggie: Isn't as close to Maggie initially as some of the others but Tess really likes her and thinks she's good for Glenn. Eventually, the pair form their own kind of familial love towards each other particularly after Glenn is killed. Tess is incredibly protective over both Maggie and Hershel as she feels she owes it to Glenn.

Carl: He calls her Aunt Tess eventually. Tess would do anything to protect that little man.

Judith: See above, also calls her Aunt Tess. They have a special bond.

Rosita: They don't have too much in common with each other but they quite like each other. It's one of those things where I don't think they'd be friends in a non-outbreak AU but being thrown together made them realize they like each other.

Negan: Hates him. Will never forgive him. Forbids him from coming anywhere close to her children.

[thegnasticious]

Farewell The Walking Dead

This is not much an expository piece as much of it is an opinion. A relatively popular show in recent history is known as The Walking Dead. It is finally coming to a grinding halt at its 13th season, likely to open up room for spin-offs, and rival production teams to branch off. It should also be noted The Walking Dead is now a title on Disney + (UK)

The original seasons of The Walking Dead traversed parts of Atlanta, showing Rick’s character in a sort of singular conflict. This as with the later Darryl focused episodes, tredded better ground than ones which seem to focus on the group, jumping from the conflicts of a deaf person to all sorts of stuff (even a 3D tiger). In my opinion the earlier show is what drove the popularity, the later institutionalization of it, led to a jumping over the shark effect. If Fonzie jumped the shark some 18 more times in individual episodes after. Like Gilligan and the island, TWD relied on tropes usually limiting or altogether hampering a lead character’s ability to seemingly escape the show. Rick and The Junkyard lady are the only early escapees, and after he leaves the show, the show really lost its grips. For a while it tried to course back on track, but would fall victim of crowd-funded script decisions, that were usually more in lieu of driving individual actor’s careers than the whole show.

TWD has an interesting presence still, even given its room for ridiculous redundancy, and occasionally good acting performances, as well as bad. The current show is definitely a strange joke of what it once was, but maybe beating the dead horse is the proper ending to such a mess of a mid-show conflict. I recall the show getting particularly stupid after the Rick/Negan stained glass attack. But I still sat it through, and I plan to watch it to the end, no matter how stupid it gets. And believe me from the child narrated flashbacks every episode, it gets real stupid.

I think most true fans of the show want to see it ended. It can’t do much more, and arguably the show was mostly over when they discovered the disease center in that arena place. I would say that about surmised the show. The current show is so lost, that even a conclusion won’t setup for an easy transfer, that’s why hopefully a lot of these supporting characters die off somehow. The story has way too many driving elements, and every character has been given way too much room for survival. Obviously by the spin-offs announced it can be assumed Negan, Rick, Michonne, Darryl, Carol, and a few others will be making it out. I forecast Eugene is gonna go the way of Abraham, he has had a really long go, and all he keeps doing is things in reflection of self-interest (love in the apocalypse is sweet, but shit man isn’t there better things you can be focusing on). He also puts the safety of the group at risk multiple times for what turns into some, “be sorry for me, I just love her”, or whatever. I’ve kind of had it with his arc, and I hope him and the commonwealth go their own way. Also those Stephanie reaction shots look like they were taken out of a smooth jazz adult film.

I’ve noticed that most of the episodes done by Bear Mc and Greg Nicotero on set, tend to be the best. These had a sort of gritty realness, that seems intentionally sapped in later episodes. Be this for a sensitization of hopes of a child-centric series, I’m truly not sure what they going for here. My favorite arc of the show was the Darryl arc with his brother. To me that was the most powerful, and the earlier conflicts without leading tyrants, tended to have more impact. Almost all of the leading bad guys have their bad acting moments in the show. From Lance’s over-done eye movements, to the Governor’s stale presence not many of the bad guys were as well-acted as the main characters (besides Negan of course, phenomenal performance all through-out, even when show is doo doo butter).

In recent shows, TWD has had a really long run. It didn’t quite break the record, but it definitely set a standard for any zombie show to come. I personally hope the show goes back to its roots through spin-offs, and away from things certain producers who joined the show wanted to do, many of these things being deviations from the core show. Maybe the later show is just a result of too many chefs in the kitchen, it is unsure why such a mixed meal came from so much work. Overall ending it and starring individual teams and pursuants for those IPs seems to be the best route. Not sure what’ll come next, but the show being freed from itself can only be a good thing

[a-writer-on-elm-street]

Like One Of Your French Girls

Pairing: Negan x Fem!Reader

Summary: Negan walks in on you drawing and asks you to draw him.

Warnings: Strong language, handjob, oral sex (m receiving), fingering, choking, unprotected sex.

A/N: Before you read this, I just want to stress that I'm still learning when it comes to writing smut so if it's not great then I apologise. But personally, I actually quite like this one so I hope you enjoy! :)

You were barely aware of your surroundings as you stood in front of your canvas, carefully dragging the pencil across it.

In fact, you were so absorbed in your artwork that you didn't even notice Negan come up behind you until you felt his fingers brushing along your hips.

You shuddered underneath his touch, turning around to look at him.

"Hey beautiful." He smirked, pulling you closer to him.

You smiled. "Hey."

"I had no idea you were into drawin' and shit."

"Yeah well you don't know a lot about me Negan."

"You any good?" He asked you, leaning closer to you.

"I don't think I'm particularly bad."

"Could you draw me?" He asked, giving you a smirk as he teased his hand along your inner thigh. "All of me?"

"I suppose I could." You breathed out, suddenly feeling very hot at the suggestion.

He just flashed you a grin before stepping away from you, quickly stripping his clothes and laying out on the couch in front of you. "Draw me like one of your french girls, (y/n)."

You struggled to keep your composure as you returned to the canvas, swapping it out for a fresh one and proceeding to attempt to draw Negan.

You tried to ignore the heat pooling between your legs as you dragged the pencil over the canvas, unable to stop staring at Negan's cock as he laid out on the couch.

"Gotta stay focused sweetheart." Negan hummed, a wicked smirk on his face as he looked over at you. He knew what he was doing, and you struggled to have restraint as you continued to focus on the drawing.

You probably only managed a faint outline before you dropped your pencil and walked over to Negan, immediately kneeling down to come face to face with his cock.

"Woah hey, what do you think you're doing?" Negan said sternly, lifting up off the couch a little to look down at you.

"Let's just say I'm...getting a feel for the subject." You smirked before wrapping your hand around his length, making him inhale sharply at the touch.

"Well in that case." He groaned, looking down at your hand wrapped around his cock. "Don't let me get in your way."

You began to move your hand over his length a few times, before bringing it back up to swipe your thumb over his tip, making him squirm under your touch.

"Am I doing good?" You asked, smiling up at him as you continued to pump him with your hand.

He nodded, tilting his head back slightly. "Fuck yeah."

You continued your caress over his length before finally leaning down to lick the tip, making him shudder beneath you.

You released him and proceeded to leave a trail of kisses over his thighs, making your way back up to his swollen cock.

He moaned when you finally closed your mouth over his tip, sucking slightly before taking him into your mouth.

"Fuck darlin'." Negan groaned, reaching down to grip the back of your head.

He pushed you further down his length, making you gag a little when his tip reached the back of your throat.

"That's right." He smirked. "Take my cock like a good girl."

His hand pushing on your head only spurred you on as you began to bob your head up and down on his lap, making sure to lick a stripe up the underside of his cock as you moved.

You felt his hips jerk up into you when you swiped your tongue over his tip before pushing yourself back down.

You continued your movements over him before almost pulling completely off of him, sucking him hard enough to draw another moan out of him.

"Shit." He groaned, pushing your head back down him as he began thrusting himself into your mouth.

You gripped onto his thighs whilst you let him roughly fuck your mouth and after a few hard thrusts, you felt him twitch inside your mouth before you felt his load hit the back of your throat.

When he let go of your head, you pulled off of him, swallowing before wiping your mouth and standing up.

"Well damn, I think you definitely got a feel for the subject." Negan grinned, turning to sit forward so he could look up at you.

"I'm not done yet." You breathed out, proceeding to slowly remove your clothing in front of him.

You hooked your fingers under the hem of your shirt, gently lifting it up your body before slipping it over your head, dropping it to the floor beside you.

You saw how he watched you intently whilst you started to unbutton your jeans, attempting to seductively push the material down your legs as you kept eye contact with him.

"Damn, you're really givin' me a show."

"Like what you see?" You asked him, walking over in your underwear to straddle him.

He gave you an enthusiastic nod as his hands reached behind your back to unclasp your bra. And you gasped when he ducked down to take a nipple into his mouth, sucking slightly before moving onto the other one.

Heat was pooling at your core and you struggled to keep still when you felt his hardened dick against your clothed cunt.

It didn't take long for his fingers to dip under the waistband of your panties, carefully slipping them down your thighs. You lifted yourself off him slightly so he could pull the material off your body and when you lowered back down on him, you moaned at the feel of his bare cock brushing between your thighs.

He pressed sloppy kisses to your chest, and you gasped when you felt his fingers teasing your entrance. You clung to him when he slipped two fingers inside you. He pumped you a few times before flipping you over onto your back, removing his fingers and sucking them clean with a smirk.

He dipped his head down to attach his lips to your neck, leaving lazy kisses across your skin.

"I don't think I can wait to have my dick inside you." He mumbled against your neck. You could feel his hard cock pressing against your thigh as he bucked into you.

"Then don't wait." You whispered, just as desperate as he was to have him inside you.

He pulled back then, gently pressing his lips to yours before pushing himself inside. You both groaned into each other's mouths at the sensation of him stretching you.

"Fuck, you feel so good." He breathed against your ear, your mouth now pressed against his shoulder.

He stayed in place for a moment to allow you to adjust to his size and when he finally moved, you moaned, your back arching off the couch. "Jesus Christ Negan!"

"This is the best damn art session I've ever had." He chuckled, pulling almost all the way out of you before sliding back in.

You dug your fingers into his shoulders when he started to thrust deeper inside you, burying himself. And when he reached up to wrap his hand around your throat, you groaned in pleasure.

"Harder." You demanded, desperate for more friction as he slapped his hips up against yours, his fingers tightening around your throat. "Harder!"

"As you wish." He smirked as he pounded into you harder, making your head hit the arm of the couch with every thrust.

"God!" You panted, desperately clawing at his back as he continued to ram into you, his dick beginning to hit that special spot deep inside you. "Fuck!"

It didn't take long for the heat to begin pooling in your belly and you threw your head back at the immense pleasure that was coursing through your body. Your mind grew hazy as he continued to forcefully push himself into you, his hand still wrapped tightly around your throat.

When Negan sped up his thrusts, slamming into you at a bruising pace, you let out a strangled moan as you dug your fingernails into his back, coaxing a low groan from him.

His fingers tightened slightly around your throat and after a few more heavy thrusts, the fire finally exploded in your belly. You moaned loudly, screwing your eyes shut as Negan continued to fuck you through your orgasm.

His grip loosened on your neck as he leaned down to place a sloppy kiss on your lips, his mouth staying against yours as he groaned, your pussy clenching around him.

"Shit." He whispered breathlessly as his dick twitched inside you.

He pushed deep inside you one more time before you felt him fill you with his release, a loud moan leaving his lips as he collapsed on top of you.

"Fuck." He breathed out, pushing himself off of you so he could sit up.

You sat up slightly, grinning at him. "So much for the drawing huh."

[Main Masterlist] [Negan Masterlist]

TAGS: @neganswoman

[daryl-dixon-daydreams]

Words: 6,689 Pairing: Daryl Dixon x Reader Reader pronouns: she/her Era: pre-Negan Alexandria Warnings: language Summary: When Daryl starts dating an Alexandrian, Y/N tries to deal with the feelings she has yet to acknowledge. A/N: yaaaaaaaas Jealous!Reader fic is here!

Your name: submit What is this?

“Who is she?” Rosita asked, leaning against the top rail of the fence. Carol lowered her canteen from her lips, her eyes fixed in the same direction as Rosita’s where a woman was standing close to Daryl, talking animatedly.

“Emma something,” Carol said. “She teaches the older kids, middle school age, I think.”

“Hmm,” Rosita hummed, squinting under the bright sun.

You threw a particularly aggressive swing of your pick axe into the hard ground, drawing both of their eyes. “Have you met her?” Rosita asked you.

Your teeth clenched and you aimed and swung again, cracking the soil open. You sighed and wiped the sweat from your brow with the back of your gloved hand. “No. I haven’t met her,” you murmured, tossing the heavy axe down and picking up the shovel. You thrust it down into the earth, propelling it deeper with your boot before turning the soil over.

“That’s all you’ve got to say? She’s dating Daryl and—” Rosita started again. You and Daryl were extremely close. You always had been. You certainly considered him your best friend… and had thought perhaps, maybe, there was something else there. Something more. You’d certainly felt it. You thought he had too… You’d spent so many late sleepless nights together, early mornings watching the sun come up as you headed out to hunt or search for supplies, close calls watching each other’s backs, patching each other up, quiet but comfortable moments doing nothing at all… But now, you were rethinking everything. Everything you thought you’d felt, every glance or touch, all of it. You felt like your feet were on unstable ground, ground that was crumbling like the clay at the tip of your spade.

You spun on Rosita and sighed. “I haven’t met her. What else am I supposed to say?” You turned hurriedly back to your task and kicked the shovel in more deeply again.

“Well, I’m sure she’s a completely fine person, but I don’t get it,” Carol said suddenly, twisting the top back on her canteen.

Rosita leaned on her elbow and cocked her head at Carol. “You’re really falling into your suburban housewife busybody persona, hmm?” she joked.

Carol shot her a look. ���She’s been inside the walls here since almost the beginning. She’s got no idea—” she broke off, shaking her head. “It’s not going to last. Trust me. She’s not right for Daryl. He needs someone that knows what it’s like out there. Someone who understands how he feels inside the walls. I give it two weeks,” she said dismissively.

Rosita laughed. “Well, he doesn’t have to marry her. Maybe the man just needs to get laid…”

Your hands clenched around the handle of the shovel. “If you two are done gossiping, I’d really appreciate some help with this damn garden plot. This clay is a fucking nightmare.” You hadn’t meant to say it through your teeth, but that’s the way it came out.

“Right. Sorry,” Rosita said, moving back around through the gate and grabbing her shovel from its place against the fence.

Carol, on the other hand, dusted off her hands. “I’m actually due at the pantry to help Olivia organize the canned goods. Manual labor is just too hard for little me,” Carol said with a wink.

You shook your head at her. “Just for the record,” you said, “I really hate this persona you’ve created. It’s way too sugary. Makes me want to throw up…” you added, thrusting your shovel back into the soil. Rosita snorted beside you.

“I agree! If these people knew what you were really capable of—? Come on. Ridículo.”

“That’s the point. They don’t. I’m harmless and nothing,” she replied, with a forced smile. “And you’d be surprised what people will tell you when they think you’re harmless and sweet.”

You and Rosita watched her disappear down the street and continued working on the new garden plot for the rest of the afternoon. By the time you were heading back to the group’s shared house, you were filthy and sweaty from the day’s hard work. Daryl was sitting out on the railing of the porch, his back against a wooden support beam, but he jumped to his feet when he saw you coming.

“Hey,” he greeted you. He tried to stop his eyes from wandering over the way your clothes, damp with sweat and smeared with dirt, were clinging to your skin in the heat. But they wandered anyway…

You pushed your hair away from your face with the back of your hand and gave him a tight smile. “Hey.”

“Have a good day?” he joked. You glanced down at your filthy clothes and shrugged.

“I’ve definitely had worse.”

He let out a small, amused exhale. “Ya. Ya, me too.”

The two of you looked at each other briefly and then both said “Piggly Wiggly” at the same moment before laughing lightly. You’d shared a particularly bad supply run experience back in Georgia that involved being trapped in a former meat locker with the most well-fed walker you’d ever seen and ended with the two of you having to find a way down off the roof. Luckily, you were both still alive to laugh about it now.

The air felt thick between you suddenly and you shifted anxiously. Daryl looked like he was about to say something, but instead just ducked his head, as if he’d thought better of it.

“Well, I need to grab a shower,” you said. “Obviously.”

He nodded. “Right. We got a wedding party to go to later, right? Ya can’t be showin’ up lookin’ like ya just came from mud wrestling,” he drawled.

You nodded. “Yeah.” A sigh escaped you. “Surreal, isn’t it? A wedding party. In the apocalypse.”

“Mhm,” he hummed, nodding. His eyes fixed on you for a long moment. “But—I get it. I mean, I get what Maggie and Glenn are doin’, ya know? They found somethin’—” he broke off, and his gaze seemed to stay on your face a little longer than it needed to. The hair on the back of your neck prickled as if from a charge of static electricity. Finally, he cleared his throat and ducked his eyes again. “Hey—uhh—” He rubbed a hand awkwardly over the back of his neck. “Emma’s really wantin’ to meet ya,” he said.

Your stomach twisted, but you managed to nod. “Yeah. Sure. Of course. Maybe you can introduce us tonight.”

He nudged his nose up in a nod. His lips were pressed together briefly in a tight line.

“Well, I better get cleaned up… I’ll see you later,” you said, continuing on your way back into the house. You shut the front door and leaned back against it for a moment. Shit. She wanted to meet you? Of course she did. You were the best friend. Ugh... You were going to have to stand there with both of them and—and act like your heart wasn’t sitting on the fucking ground outside your body, beating only out of obligation. At least there would be alcohol…

Hours later, you found yourself with a beer in hand, hanging at the edge of the makeshift dance floor. You felt like a rock in a stream with the water just breaking around you. You were in the middle but you weren’t part of it. You tried to think your way out of the dark mood you were in, but it was impossible. You had a bubble in your chest, and it was growing bigger and bigger, putting pressure on your lungs. You felt like it could burst at any second.

“Well, look at you!” Aaron’s familiar voice was suddenly beside you, light and full of joy. Eric was next to him of course, too. “Y/N, you look stunning,” he said, taking in the way your hair was shining beneath the string lights and pinned just so, framing your face perfectly. You scratched absently at the glass of your beer bottle with your thumbnail.

“And where the hell did you find that dress?” Eric asked, letting out a wolf whistle and grinning at you.

You cocked your head at the two of them and actually cracked a smile. These two always made you feel better. “Shocking, right?” you said, glancing down at the silky fabric. “Sasha found it in some closet.”

“It fits you perfectly,” Aaron said, giving you a fond smile. “What doesn’t make sense is that you’re standing over here alone looking like this,” he said pointedly.

You took a sip of your beer. “Apparently the ‘fuck off’ stamp on my forehead doesn’t work on you two, huh?”

“Oh, we see it. We just know you’re more bark than bite. Everyone else will figure that out eventually, too,” Eric said with a laugh.

You felt your eyebrows lift at that. “God, I hope not…”

The two of them laughed and rolled their eyes at you. “Just—try to have some fun tonight, would you? It won’t kill you,” Eric said seriously.

“Yeah, I’ll remember that,” you said, ducking your head and staring down at the glass bottle in your hands.

Aaron gave your shoulder a friendly squeeze and then glanced at Eric beside him. “Well, I guess we better make the rounds. We don’t want to tip everyone off that you’re our favorite,” he said with a wink.

“No. We can’t have that,” you agreed. “I’ll see you later.”

As if on cue, as the two of them drifted away, the music softened and slowed and you found yourself looking out across the crowd, your eyes searching for a set of familiar broad shoulders and wavy brown hair. Eventually you saw him, almost directly across the floor from you. He was leaned back against one of the tables, a drink in his hand, with her tucked up against him. His arm was draped behind her and you couldn’t tell if it was wrapped around her or—fuck. What did it matter? It was none of your damn business anyway, what he was doing or with whom. You discarded your empty beer bottle on the nearest table and were just about to go in search of more alcohol when you felt someone lightly touch you on the arm and say your name. You turned to see Deanna’s son, Spencer.

“It is Y/N, right?”

You nodded. “Yeah. It is.”

“Did you, uhh—want to dance?” he asked. He almost seemed nervous. That was unexpected. You’d always thought he was arrogant and over-confident.

You stared at him for a moment and pulled in a deep breath. “Listen—don’t take this the wrong way but—”

He laughed good-naturedly and nodded before you could even finish. “It’s alright. You can just say ‘no’. You don’t have to give me some excuse. I figured it was a long shot anyway,” he said.

“…Why’s that?”

“You’re over here by yourself… Doesn’t really make much sense, unless you want to be. That, and maybe everyone is a little too intimidated to try,” he said.

You gave him another long look but couldn’t really think of anything to say in response to that. He was actually being kind of sweet, but you were far too preoccupied to care. “Thanks anyway,” you finally murmured. He left looking a little disappointed, but you were sure his ego would rebound in no time… You needed another fucking drink.

You managed to edge through the crowd toward the refreshment table and grabbed another drink, this one made of something stronger, before again planting yourself at the edge of the party. You searched out the members of your family purely to pass the time. Everyone seemed to be enjoying themselves. Abraham and Rosita were showing off on the dance floor. Maggie and Glenn were both glowing. Rick had Judith in his arms and seemed to be talking with someone different every time you looked up. But no matter how hard you tried to distract yourself, your eyes kept going back to Daryl. And she was always right there. This time, when you glanced his direction again, it was just in time to see her arch up onto her toes and kiss him.

Your stomach twisted and you tore your eyes away. There was a hot flame of jealousy licking upwards in your chest and spilling heat into your cheeks. That was it. That was all you could take. You felt sick, and more than anything you needed to be anywhere else.

You abandoned your drink on the nearest table and started to make a beeline for a gap in the crowd. Just at that moment, maybe having sensed something, Daryl had looked up and saw you disappearing, sinking into the shadows at the edge of the gathering. You seemed to be in a hurry.

The echoes of your shoes reverberated off the dark and still houses on either side of the street. Behind you, the din of conversation, laughter, and music was sinking to a low mumble as you headed home, alone, and on the edge of tears. You were happy that Maggie and Glenn finally got to have a proper “wedding”, you really were. But you couldn’t get around the pronounced ache in your chest. You just couldn’t stay any longer... not with her all over him the way she was. You wrapped your arms around yourself and tried to push the images of her leaning in and kissing him from your mind. You felt the prickle of hot tears in your eyes and knew you were losing the battle with your emotions.

“Hey!” You spun, surprised, at the sound of Daryl’s voice and boot steps, hurrying to catch up with you. You hoped he wouldn’t be able to see the tears in your eyes and hurriedly tried to blink them away. “Where ya goin’?” he drawled, slowly to a walk.

You shrugged. “Home.”

“Mmm,” he hummed, nodding a little. “Partied out?” he asked.

You ducked your eyes, unable to look at his blue eyes any longer without that pang in your heart and constriction in your throat. “Yeah, something like that.” You cleared your throat, clasping your hands together tightly in front of you. They felt cold, like the rest of you, despite the balmy evening air.

“Everythin’ alrigh’?” Daryl asked suddenly. This drew your eyes right back to his handsome face, now with a heavily furrowed brow and an expression painted with concern.

You nodded. “Yeah. Fine.” Your voice came out much quieter than you’d meant it to.

He hesitated and you saw skepticism flash in his eyes. “Ya sure? Ya seem—I dunno…”

You anxiously chewed the inside of your cheek and nodded again. “I’m fine. Did you need something?” you asked, needing to deflect to a different subject before you crumbled.

“Nah, I just—feels like I didn’t really get a chance to see ya tonight. And then I looked up and ya were leavin’,” he drawled, rubbing a hand over the back of his neck.

An image of her leaning up against him flashed in your mind again. “You were busy. It’s okay. I’m just tired. I was digging all day and… I’m just gonna head home and get some sleep,” you lied. You weren’t tired. And you were quite sure sleep wasn’t waiting to envelop you as soon as your head hit the pillow.

“Alrigh’...” he drawled.

You studied his expression for a moment. Was that disappointment you heard in his voice? Fuck. You needed to get out of here before you did something stupid. “Goodnight, Daryl.”

He watched you turn and head toward the house. “Night...” His eyes lingered on the bare skin of your back and the angles of your shoulder blades, revealed in the deep V of the back of your dress, as you walked away. He tried his best to swallow his worry and headed back toward the crowd, despite the fact that he really rather wished he was walking with you toward home.

_ _ _ _ _ _

Restless. Sleepless. You rolled over on your mattress for what felt like the thousandth time and heaved a sigh, stubbornly squeezing your eyes shut as if you could trick your mind into quieting. But it was hopeless. You let out one last noise of frustration and threw the blankets off yourself before sliding over to sit on the edge of the mattress. It was around one o’clock in the morning. You rubbed your hands over your face and planted your feet on the ground. Maybe some air would help calm you.

Pulling on some warmer clothes, you made your way through the silent house with soft steps and pushed out onto the porch. Some movement to your right startled you and you glanced over just in time to see Emma peeling herself away from Daryl. Your heart dropped into your stomach like a lead weight.

Daryl separated himself from her almost urgently and was giving you a look you couldn’t quite read before he ducked his head.

“S—sorry—I just needed some air. I’ll—” you started down the steps hurriedly, just needing to get the fuck out of there. Your heart was pounding and you could feel hot tears starting to sting your eyes again. It’s your own fucking fault for not telling him… Another voice answered. And risk ruining everything? If I lost him because I opened my stupid mouth—

“Y/N—hold up—” Daryl’s voice behind you. You turned back at the bottom step and looked back, biting your bottom lip so hard in an attempt to distract yourself from the way your heart was crumbling that you thought you may have drawn blood. He took a big stride toward you but Emma quickly grabbed onto his hand and tugged him back. You heard her whispering something to him. Daryl responded in a low murmur and you ducked your eyes, staring down at the yet untied laces of your boots.

He extricated himself from her grip a moment later and started making his way over but she called him back again and was obviously upset about something.

“I’m—I’m just gonna take a walk. Sorry to bother you,” you said in a rush. Before Daryl could respond again you were gone. He watched your distant figure fade into the darkness. You crossed your arms tightly over your chest, hugging them to yourself as you wandered up the sidewalk. The thought of the two of them back on the porch was enough to finally send the tears spilling out onto your cheeks. You breathing was staggered and shallow when you suddenly realized you were at Aaron and Eric’s front door. The thought of going home and again seeing the two of them, her with her arms around his neck again, leaning in, was almost unbearable, so instead you raised a hand and knocked loudly on the door.

You hastily wiped the tears off your cheeks, but when Aaron finally pulled the door open he could see that your eyes were red and glassy. “Y/N? Oh my God. What’s going on? Are you okay?”

You shrugged vaguely and more tears spilled onto your cheeks. “No,” you managed. “I’m an idiot.”

Aaron’s face was clouded in concern. He stepped back and nudged you inside. “Get in here. Come on.”

A short while later you were sitting on the couch with a hot mug of tea in your hands. Aaron and Eric had listened patiently as you’d explained exactly what had you so upset.

“It’s not even fair of me to dislike her… She didn’t do anything wrong. It’s my own fault for not—not saying anything. And somehow I had deluded myself into thinking he felt what I did and—and now he’s with someone else. And he has every right to be. Somehow I just never thought—” you broke off again and fell silent.

“You’re not an idiot,” Aaron said. “And—I’m sure you didn’t imagine everything. I mean, this is Daryl we’re talking about. It’s you and Daryl. Don’t you think it’s entirely possible he’s feeling the exact same thing and is just as worried about screwing up the friendship? I mean, he could have talked himself out of what he’s feeling the same way you did. It’s easier to convince yourself you’re imagining it than to take a risk and go for it.”

You looked up at him hesitantly. You shook your head. “I don’t know…” You sighed and rubbed a hand over your tired eyes. “It doesn’t matter anyway. They’re together and I’m not gonna be the shitty person who starts fucking with someone’s relationship.”

“So, you’re just gonna keep all this to yourself?” Eric said.

“What am I supposed to do?” you challenged him. “Run home and suddenly confess my feelings in some kind of big dramatic outburst?”

Eric glanced sideways at Aaron. “Yeah, actually that sounds good…”

You rolled your eyes. “I can’t do that! I just can’t, okay? Because it really could ruin everything.”

“Or it could make everything infinitely better,” Aaron prodded gently.

You shook your head and stared into your tea for a long moment.

Aaron finally sighed. “Alright. It’s late. Why don’t you stay here tonight? Guest room is all yours. Try and get some sleep,” he said gently. “Things will look better in the morning.”

“Yeah,” you said absently. “Thanks for letting me barge in at this hour. I’m—I’m sorry.”

“Don’t apologize,” Eric said, putting a friendly hand on your shoulder as he got up. “Just get some sleep if you can.”

You couldn’t. You dozed off and on, maybe for a grand total of a couple hours, but by the time the light was burning orange on the curtains, you were up and out of Aaron and Eric’s place. You’d intruded enough on them. You took your time wandering back to the house, admiring the dew droplets shining on the grass, breaking the light into tiny rainbows, and breathing in the cool morning air. You were exhausted. But I’m here. I’m alive, you reminded yourself. There were worse things than being crossed in love. Oh, shit. Love. The word hit you and stuck between your lungs. Of course you loved Daryl. But now you were realizing that you were in love with Daryl.

“Hey.” A familiar southern drawl and you looked up, wide-eyed, as you were still reeling a little from the realization you were having. Daryl was climbing to his feet on the steps where he’d apparently been sitting. Alone.

You tried your hardest to snap out of it. “H—hey,” you said vaguely. He was chewing on his bottom lip anxiously, shifting his weight from one foot to the other.

“Ya didn’t come back last night,” he said. It wasn’t a question.

“What?”

He scratched a non-existent itch on his head nervously. “After yer walk. Ya never came back…” You narrowed your gaze as you peered at him. “Did—did you wait up here all night?” you asked.

“Well, ya kinda went runnin’ off last night. Twice. And—I dunno,” he said. “Guess I was worried.” His brow was furrowed heavily over his strikingly blue eyes.

You stared back at him, unsure of whether the daze you were in was from lack of sleep or the fact that this man had waited for you all night out of concern… The latter. It was the latter. “I stayed at Aaron and Eric’s,” you explained.

“Oh,” he said, chewing on his bottom lip again. “This ain’t got anythin’ to do with that Spencer guy, does it?”

“…What?”

“Deanna’s dumbass son. I—I saw him talkin’ to ya at the party last night. He didn’t—I mean,” he wasn’t sure how to phrase what he was trying to ask. “Was he botherin’ ya?”

Wait. Had Daryl been checking up on you last night? He had seemed to notice you leaving pretty quickly… You shook your head. “No. No, it was fine actually,” you said.

He nudged his nose up in a nod and the silence stretched for a moment. “Alrigh’…” He cleared his throat. “What’d he want?” he asked, a little hesitant.

“Nothing,” you said, shaking your head. “Nothing at all.” You gave him a tight smile. “I slept like shit, so I think I’m just gonna go lie down for a while before I head back to work on that garden plot. You should get some rest, too,” you said. “You really didn’t need to wait up for me like that.”

He turned and fell into step beside you on the steps, shrugging a little. “Ya, I did.” He sighed and touched you on the arm so lightly you thought you imagined it for a moment, but your heart jumped immediately in response and there was no ignoring that. “Listen, ‘m sorry fer last nigh’. Ya know, with Emma bein’ here and—felt—uhh—”

You shook your head and ducked your eyes. “Don’t apologize, Daryl.” That sinking feeling was back in your stomach.

“I am anyway.” He pulled the front door open for you. “Can we go do somethin’ tomorrow? Ya know, just the two of us.” He sounded nervous. “Go huntin’ maybe? Get outta the walls for a bit.”

You gave him a long look, trying desperately to read between the lines of what he was saying, but you were getting caught up in stupid, foolish hope. “Yeah. Of course. I’d like that.”

He looked more relaxed and actually gave you a tight smile. “Alrigh’. Good.” He watched you breeze past him. “Hope ya can get some rest,” he murmured. You looked back at him over your shoulder.

“You too.”

_ _ _ _ _ _

After a little sleep in your own bed, you were back in the garden plot, this time planting the tomato cuttings and rows and rows of corn. You heard the squeaky hinges of the gate and looked over your shoulders to see her, and she seemed to be headed straight toward you.

You turned back to your task and tried to hyperfocus. Maybe she wasn’t heading over to talk to you.

“Hi. Y/N?”

Shit. Maybe she was…

You straightened up and turned to face her. “Yeah?”

“Hi,” she said again, giving you a tight smile. “I’m Emma,” she said, holding out a hand to you.

You glanced down at your dirty gloves and lifted them up, palms out so she could see the layer of soil still clinging to them. “Sorry. Bit dirty at the moment,” you said. In truth, you just didn’t want to shake her hand. You knew it was petty but you couldn’t help yourself.

She dropped her hand a little awkwardly. “Right…”

A somewhat tense silence stretched for a moment before you broke it. “Something I can help you with?”

“I just wanted to introduce myself,” she said. “I know you and Daryl are—friends. And we didn’t have a chance to talk last night at the wedding so…” she trailed off.

You nodded. “Yeah. I headed home a little early.”

Another awkward silence settled over the two of you. Why was this so uncomfortable?

“Actually, while I have you here, there is a favor I wanted to ask you.”

A favor? You’d literally just met her and she wants a favor? You didn’t reply and simply kept waiting for her to go on.

She cleared her throat and you watched her body language shift. “Daryl and I are together now,” she said firmly. “And I would really appreciate it if you’d give us some space.”

You felt your brow draw down over your eyes. “…space?”

“Yes.”

You shook your head. “Um… I’m not really sure what you mean by that,” you said, pulling off your work gloves and fiddling with them a little anxiously.

“I just mean that it’s new and I’d really appreciate it if you would back off and give us some space in the relationship.”

“Back off?” you repeated. You could now hear the edge in your own voice.

“Yeah,” she crossed her arms over her chest.

You let out a wry laugh. “Sorry. Maybe I’m confused… you’re telling me not to spend time with Daryl?”

“It doesn’t sound like you’re confused,” she said. “He’s with me. And I’m asking you for a favor so we can explore this relationship without interference.”

“Interference?” you repeated. Now you couldn’t help yourself and another laugh left you. “…Does Daryl know you’re asking me for this ‘favor’?”

“Yes,” she said. “We discussed it last night. After you interrupted us on the porch.” There was a biting edge to her voice now too.

You stared at her for a long moment. Was there even the slightest possibility she was telling the fucking truth about that?. Another sardonic laugh escaped you. “Wow,” you murmured. “Okay. Umm… I think you should leave,” you said.

“What?”

“I think you need to leave,” you said more strongly.

“Look, I’m just trying to have an honest conversation with you and put some boundaries in place,” she said hurriedly. Had she thought you’d just be a pushover and complied with this bullshit?

“Boundaries?” you repeated. “Daryl is a grown ass man. If he wants to put some boundaries in place with me, he can come talk to me himself.” You started to pull your work gloves back on. “Are you having this conversation with all of Daryl’s friends, or did I win some kind of shit lottery?”

She clenched her teeth and the muscle in her jaw clenched.

You laughed again and shook your head, a dry smile on your lips. “Got it. I think we’re done here,” you said. And with that you turned your back on her, secretly fuming inside, and went back to your tomato plants. A moment later you heard the squeaking of the metal hinges again on the gate and knew she’d left.

For the rest of the day, you busted your ass in the garden trying to work off your anger and frustration about that fucking conversation. Actually, conversation wasn’t the right word. Demand seemed more fitting. You’d resolved to mull things over and talk to Daryl the next day on your hunt when you’d cooled down. That was the right move, right?

Only you never got that far.

You’d come home and showered and were lying back on your bed, staring aimlessly at the ceiling when Michonne appeared in the doorway. “Thought I heard you up here,” she said. “Daryl was looking for you.”

You pushed yourself up to sit on the edge of the bed. “Oh. Where is he?”

“I think he’s in his room downstairs,” she said.

“Thanks.” Michonne gave you a smile and breezed off. You sighed, your heart already hammering in your chest. You were annoyed at how you had no control over that. You headed all the way down to the basement and knocked on the doorframe when you hit the bottom of the stairs.

“Come in,” Daryl drawled.

You took another step into his space and caught sight of him sitting on the edge of his bed, shutting a worn paperback and tossing it down on a nearby box. “Hey,” you said.

“Hey.” He stood and chewed on his bottom lip anxiously for a moment. “I gotta talk to ya ‘bout somethin’,” he said.

You nodded. Your stomach lurched with nerves. He seemed pretty serious. “Okay.”

He rubbed a hand over the back of his neck awkwardly. “Emma came by earlier.” He paused, studying your expression closely. “She was all upset about somethin’.”

Great.. You suppressed the urge to roll your eyes. “Okay…”

“Said she went to introduce herself to ya and that—that ya threatened her.” His blue eyes were still fixed on your face, but he couldn’t perceive any change in your expression. Inside, your mind was whirring. Before you could respond, he went on. “Ya wanna tell me what really happened?”

Oh. He knew that was bullshit. Of course he knew.

You shrugged vaguely. “Not really…” you replied. His blue eyes narrowed and you sighed. “Look, she just—she was being pretty possessive of you. I just told her to leave to end the conversation. I didn’t—”

He sighed heavily. “S’my fault,” he murmured, ducking your gaze.

“What? No. Daryl—how could that possibly be your fault?”

He shook some his wavy hair from his eyes and fixed a stare on you again. “Guess ‘m more transparent than I thought.”

You gave him a questioning look.

“She must have sensed that—ya know, yer a threat.”

You shook your head, your thoughts still muddled. “Daryl, I swear I didn’t—”

“Nah, ya dun get it,” he sighed, rubbing a hand over his face. He was so nervous he felt shaky. “Yer a threat to her cuz—one word from ya and I’d be right where ya needed me, whatever ya needed.” You felt like your heart was suddenly in your throat. “I’ve tried to ignore it, ‘cuz ya deserve so much better than me but—Y/N, I’ve got feelin’s for ya that I ain’t ever had fer anyone else. I was tryin’ to make myself forget. She was interested and pursued me and I thought maybe if I was with someone else that—” he let out a frustrated sigh. “But she musta seen how I feel ‘bout ya…”

You were still standing there, frozen, staring at him a little wide-eyed.

“Ya deserve way better than me but I can’t pretend that I ain’t—ain’t in love with ya,” he drawled quietly. “Last night, I couldn’t stop stealin’ glances at ya even though I was with her. And then when ya didn’t come home, I was so worried I felt fuckin’ sick. I kept thinkin’ maybe ya had gone and were with that asshole Spencer. I—I wanted to come look for ya. I wanted to burst in and—the thought of ya bein’ with him—”

“Daryl—”

“Nah, I just gotta get this out and then I won’t ever bring it up again. But I need ya to know. Yer the best fuckin’ thing I’ve ever had in life. And whatever that means, however ya wanna be with me, whatever, it’s—s’fine. But I just needed ya to know that. And yer not just too good for me but yer too good for this fucking shithole of a world we live in now.—”

“Daryl.”

He wasn’t looking at you, apparently too nervous to be talking so freely about his feelings, worried about being rejected, already assuming he would be. “—I think yer the most amazin’ person I’ve ever known. If all ya wanna stay as is friends, I can—”

You shut him up finally by crashing your lips against his. It was instantaneous—the way he melted into you. His arms wrapped around you and pressed your body more tightly into his. You looped your arms around his neck, arching up onto your toes and kissing him deeply. His lips were hungry against yours and you felt his fingers tangling into the ends of your hair a little shyly.

You pulled back only because you desperately wanted to see his expression. Now he was the one looking stunned. You smiled at him. “I was so fucking jealous of you being with her. I couldn’t stand the sight of the two of you together. That’s why I left the wedding early. That’s why I stayed at Aaron and Eric’s—I couldn’t bear coming home and finding the two of you together again…”

His eyes flitted between yours. “‘M sorry. That was… the whole thing was fuckin’ stupid. I knew she couldn’t ever compare to ya… And the fact that she treated ya like shit and ya still weren’t doin’ the same—” he shook his head. “Yer just—I dunno.”

You ducked his eyes for a moment. “I was gonna talk to you about it tomorrow. Just to tell you what happened… but I also didn’t want to get involved in—”

He cut you off with a shake of his head. “I knew she was lyin’ immediately. Ain’t no way it went down like she said.” He shifted anxiously and then paused and studied the flecks of color in your eyes. “I’ll try to—to be good enough for ya…” he drawled.

“Are you insane?” You shook your head. “Daryl. You are more than enough. You always have been and you always will be,” you said, pressing a hand gently to his strong chest. You could feel his heart hammering beneath your fingers. “I’ve been in love with you for—for a long time. I was too scared that you didn’t feel the same way and the thought that I could fuck up the perfect friendship we have—it was too risky…”

He clasped your face, his thumb traveling over your cheek gently. “Ya ain’t ever losin’ me. Not if I have a damn thing to say ‘bout it. I promise.”

“Me either,” you said. You kissed him again, relishing the electricity sparking from his fingertips as they trailed up your back. You both had dreamy smiles of disbelief on your faces when you broke apart.

“Feel like ‘m dreamin’,” he drawled.

“Same,” you said. You brushed your fingers through his hair and his eyes closed at your touch.

He ducked his eyes again, a little bashfully. “Wanna know somethin’ fucked up?”

“Hmm?”

“Every time she kissed me, all I was thinkin’ ‘bout was what it’d be like to kiss you.”

You caught his eyes again and shook your head. “How could you possibly think you don’t deserve me? You’re my favorite.” You draped your arms around his neck again.

“Could—would ya lay with me a while?” His heart was pounding and he was still trying to tell himself that this was happening. You wanted to be with him.

Your smile beamed up at him. “I’d love that.” He nudged his head back toward the mattress and you grabbed his hand and pulled him toward it. He collapsed down beside you with a smile, and his heart jumped again as you moved into him.

He draped his arm over your waist, but he couldn’t make himself closing his eyes. He didn’t want to miss a second of this. You seemingly read his mind, and your eyes opened again beneath dark lashes.

You gave him a small smile. “Daryl. I’m not going anywhere. I’m guessing you’re as tired as I am, with how last night went.”

He nodded. “Can we take a raincheck for our hunting trip tomorrow?” he asked. You gave him a questioning look. “I just—dun think I’m gonna wanna get outta bed,” he drawled.

A smile curved your lips again and you nodded. “I agree. Raincheck.” You brushed some hair out of his eyes again and he finally relaxed into the pillow and closed them. Soon both of you were asleep.

[cosmic-glow]

Dating the boys from TWD

Sumarry: headcanons about your dating him.

Pronouns: none.

Warnings: mentions of anxiety and death. A bit of inappropriate language. SFW.  Mentions from season 6 º to 8 º .

Gender: headcanon.

Notes: I tried to write all relationships in a healthy way, i hope you like it ;)

Characters: Rick; Daryl; Carl; Glenn; Paul; Negan and Merle (they are not my authorship).

Please do not use my content without permission, thank you.

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Rick Grimes

Rick would be a great boyfriend and no one can convince me otherwise.

He's soo considerate.

He would always know when something was bothering you, and  know perfectly well how to approach this subject and help or comfort you.

He would always have great advice if you needed one.

"Do you need something babe?" - he asks every time before going out in search of supplies.

"I got you something"- He would say every time he came back from a run for supplies.

Sometimes it was something you asked for, or something you needed but didn’t asked for to not overwhelm him.

Or when he didn't find anything like that, he would bring something simple, like a lost pendant, gum, a small decorative statue, or a simple flower.

Anyway it was really cute to see how he always bothered to bring you something.

He loved seeing you curious about what it could be this time, and your smile right when him revealed what was, made him feel so good.

You like to talk with him, but you particularly love the quiet times you two share.

Rick's company has always given you a feeling of calm and security that even you couldn't explain, but you liked.

Soft good morning kisses<3

You and Rick got involved little by little, demonstrating loyalty and trust in each other gradually in a very intense way.

Until one is totally surrendered to the other.

He always smiles when sees you interacting well with Carl and Judith.

This man would give his life for you if he had to.

So please let him know you love him as much as he does.

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Daryl Dixon

Your relationship with Daryl could be very slow if you weren't a little direct at some point.

Daryl has many insecurities about himself, as much as he would never admit it.

So he would wait a while (a lot) before making any kind of statement.

I'm not saying if you preferred to give only hints he wouldn't understand, on the contrary, he would notice very quickly.

At first he would probably think you were just being nice, because of him insecurity.

But when he realized you only acted that way with him, he would think about how to approach the subject without scaring you.

And then things would start to flow so naturally between of you, that it wouldn't even be necessary to confirm anything.

It was more than obvious that you were together now.

Daryl would be very protective of you.

And honestly, no one can judge him, the current  world is sucks, the last thing he would want is to lose the person who makes this world better for him.

He wouldn't want to say it, but he LOVES your smile.

Several times throughout the day he would try to make you laugh with his sarcastic comments.

We all know that Dixon is a quiet person most of the time.

So in conversations you end up being the most active.

But you know he likes to hear you talk because always responds when you ask him something and looks like to be paying attention.

Daryl also always notices when you are annoyed with something, he is very good at reading people so there are few times you need to say something.

He's a great listener and will always wait for you to finish unburden before saying anything.

Daryl is not very fond of PDAs, but he makes it very clear to you that he loves you a lot with attitudes.

He really loves you a lot, he just doesn't know how to say it verbally, have a little patience with him.

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Carl Grimes

Carl would want to protect you at all costs.

I mean, since his childhood he lost so many people he loved, he doesn't want you to be one of them.

You two were about the same age when you joined the group so he was interested in you from the beginning.

Maybe you would just be a friend, but for someone who has been without someone with things in common with him for so long, it would be great.

As you grew up together Carl began to have feelings for you.

And when he realized that, he decided to be straight with you, but without scaring you.

You were already in Alexandria, it was a cool day, the sky was a little cloudy but in a beautiful way when he decided to tell you.

Carl said everything he felt for you and in the end said he would totally understand if you didn't feel the same way, just being your best friend was enough for him.

When you said you felt the same way, he smiled feeling something filling his chest, he was so happy.

It was just before you kissed, a hug right after that, happy for the feeling mutual in each other.

If before you used to be together, now you were inseparable.

Everywhere you went, Carl accompanied you and vice versa.

You two talk a lot about absolutely everything.

But love spending time together in silence just reading comics.

In case you didn't know, Carl would teach you to shoot and defend yourself, he wants to make sure you can protect yourself if he's not around.

��� As much as he prefers to always be around.

In serious and risky situations Carl could be cold with you.

But that was just because he wanted you listen to him so he could keep you safe.

Carl loves you very much and this is very obvious due to your attitudes and displays of affection.

If you're upset about something he's automatically worried about you trying to help.

All he wants is to see you happy and safe.

And he wouldn't mind putting his own life on the line in order to have that.

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Gleen Rhee

He is sooo sweet<3

Definitely a kind guy who always wants to make you laugh.

From the beginning he couldn't take his eyes off you.

Every time you talked to him, he could only think: “Damn, why so beautiful?”.

It was obvious that Glenn had a crush on you.

Always flirting with you, exchanging words, and getting flustered when you were around.

Well… But it's not like he's trying to hide it anyway.

Whenever you went out he insisted on going with you, no matter if it was risky or not.

Glenn has an amazing ability to always lighten the mood, especially for you.

He likes PDAs, and he loves when you take his hand or hug him in public.

When you started dating he was SO happy.

The next day you weren't surprised that practically the whole group already knew.

If you show your love to him I guarantee you that he would do even the impossible just to make you happy.

This boy is totally in your hands.

Glenn has a habit of hugging you from behind and placing a gentle kiss on the back of your neck.

At first he did this to scare you once you were distracted, but over time it became a habit.

Glenn likes to always show how much he loves you, whether it's saying that or with attitudes.

This boy is totally connected to you, let him know you love him too.

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Paul Rovia (Jesus)

The kind of boyfriend who is first and foremost your best friend.

He is always soft and gentle with you.

But it has a little crush to tease you sometimes with jokes.

But never with something that can really upset you.

One day you decided to tease him back by giving him nicknames.

And he loved it!

Every time you came up with a new nickname he would laugh and say something like “very creative, honey”.

Another guy once tried to play this kind of joke on you.

Which made you visibly uncomfortable.

He immediately intervene saying "I don't think you know how to do this so is better you just stop."

Jesus had an arm around your shoulders, and the way he looked at the man made it more than obvious that you were together.

"S-sorry"- the man said to you before walking away.

"Thanks, bodyguard"-you said before laughing at the situation.

"When ever you need it, dear"-he said laughing too.

The atmosphere between of you is very good, it's very rare for you two to quarrel.

Paul always kisses your forehead when he says goodbye to you.

He likes to hold your hand and doesn't mind with PDA.

He always manages to understand you very well, even when you can't explain  what you're feeling.

Paul is also a bit protective, but he knows you can fend for yourself.

He just loves you so much and can't imagine himself without you anymore.

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Negan

Okay, I'm going to try to write here the healthiest relationship I can imagine for Negan.

Because I think that's what you're wanting to read.

When you arrived in Alexandria Negan was already under arrest.

You weren't sure what he did.

You knew he had killed people, and probably done a lot of worse things to get arrested.

But nobody wanted to tell you everything what happened.

You sometimes saw different people coming down to bring him food in his cell.

They all looked annoyed at having to do this.

So you offered to do this task.

That way you could know why people find him so nasty and maybe even know what he did.

At first they were afraid of you doing this, after all you just arrived, he could manipulate you in some way since you didn't know him.

After much conversation and several warnings about him, they left you in charge of this task.

The first time he saw you, he looked you up and down and said, "New meat?"

Over time you realized why they hated him.

Negan could be insufferable when he wanted to.

And it seemed like he always wanted to be.

But when you just tried to talk to him, he stared at you for a while, as if looking to see if you had any ulterior motives.

Finding nothing, he sat in the cell and began to answer what you asked.

Did he say why he was there with a look that mixed sadness and… lack of it?

But when he told you everything you understood why.

What he did was horrible, but he missed having that power, being great, being free.

You can't tell if Negan has changed.

But for you, a man who helps children with their homework, listens they unburden when are sad and always defends and protects them, deep down, are a good man.

Even though he doesn't believe it anymore.

Over time, did Negan's jokes become kinder? If you can put it that way.

He noticed that you always came back the other day even after he was rude to you.

So he decided to be more sociable, as a thank you.

When you first realized it, you were talking and laughing with that man that practically all the inhabitants of Alexandria hated.

"You know, if I wasn't in jail I'd make you mine"- He said one afternoon at random.

"And why does that stop you?"- You thought.

And instantly cursed yourself.

Were you falling in love with Negan?!

You knew your two love would be impossible.

"You better not provoke, I might end up accepting"- You countered, but in a sarcastic tone that made him laugh.

What you didn't know was that Negan was also falling in love with you, and he also cursed himself too.

Because knew as much as you that it would be impossible.

But there was no way, with time even the locals began to notice that you spent more time than necessary with him.

And needless to say, they freaked out when they found out you were together.

Negan think you deserve someone better.

But that thought is silenced by his willingness to call you his.

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Merle Dixon

Your relationship started in an unusual way.

Because you hated each other at first.

You've known Merle since before the apocalypse, but you were never close, because like I said, you guys hated each other.

Until you ended up meeting in the middle of the forest when he was hunting for the group.

"Hiding of me, my prey?"- He said when he recognized you with his corner smile who got on your nerves.

You ended up joining the group for survival.

When you guys went out hunting and getting supplies together and he saw you killing the walkers so deftly, it got to him.

He was determined to get your attention now.

Merle started protecting you and taking care of you, even if you didn't need to.

Which ended up pissing you off, and he knew it.

When you asked him why he cares so much, he just replied, "Ya're like a damsel in distress who needs to be protected, dear."

In the end he still pissed you off.

But gradually you started to understand Merle.

He wasn't a bad person, the world was just always horrible to him.

And he then began to return that hatred, as a form of defense.

You were afraid you were falling in love with him.

But you couldn't help it, that man did everything for you, even though he liked to piss you off so much.

In fact, you could tell he was kinder to you now, but it was still unbearable.

You never admitted that you were together… But you never denied it either.

When someone questioned him about that he just said you were his now.

He liked to piss you off with that too.

Asking, "Tell me sweetie, who ya belong to?"

Whenever you didn't answer his name he would say: “wrong answer, I'll have to make ya remind”.

In resume, you loved each other, but didn't like to say it and preferred to “hate” each other in your own way.

Merle loves you far more than he lets on, and believe me, he'll kill anyone who tries to get between the two of you.

Sorry for any typos.

Open ask, accept orders :)

[walkerwords]

“The Savior Sessions” Part 21 of 33 - Negan x GN!Reader

IMAGE CREDIT: AMC/SKYBOUND

SERIES MASTERLIST

Summary: The months after the blizzard were full of bliss, but now the reader needs to get back to work. What happens when Judith finds a mask belonging to one of Alpha’s people? What does this mean to the survivors? How is the relationship going with Negan?

Word Count: 5512

Warning: Swearing, Fighting

Song I Wrote To: “Battlecry” by Jordan Mackampa

Note: So yes, there is the time jump in this! However, throughout the next chapters, I will reference some flashbacks from both Negan and the MC’s POVs. Remember from now until the end, we are changing a bit from season 10, but there will be some of the bigger moments present. With the new episodes coming up, I just want to make it clear that this story will finish with “Certain Doom” I have no plans to continue the plot into Season 10C or Season 11. ALL ASL IN ITALICS

————

Winter wasn't easy.

Food stores were low and with the Kingdom out of commission and the forests barren, it was a harsh few months. The snow came in waves, blanketing the ground with fresh white powder only to be turned to slush and ice with the rain the next day.

At least there was one good thing to come out of it.

Negan was out of his cell when it got to be too much on certain nights.

Whenever a particularly cold front came through, he was granted permission to stay at your place for the night as long as you returned him to his jail in the morning. Provided that extra blankets and warm food were supplied, you agreed to the terms.

Those cold nights became the very thing that held you together. Negan has been right, body heat was incredibly beneficial. Every waking moment of the day, Negan was on your mind. His hands, his body, that damn smile of his too. However, while you enjoyed the sex and the feeling of him asleep beside you, you were in love with the conversation just as much.

You also began to learn more about his life before the Apocalypse. His life as a gym teacher, his love of vintage t-shirts, and even some things about Lucille as well. Never did you bring her up on your own, but you also never shot him down when he did either. Just as he never told you to not talk about Sasha.

Sasha became a regular topic when you began talking about the past. You missed her so much and all you wanted was to keep her memory alive. Talking about her to Negan helped with that. He would then tell you about his time with the Saviors and how he actually liked a lot of the people who he worked with.

Simon was an asshole, but Negan admitted that he was one of the smartest men he had ever met. Dwight was a nightmare at times, but still, Negan oddly admired his heart.

You weren’t surprised to learn some of this, but you were shocked to learn just how protective and jealous he could be when he wanted to.

Daryl had finally moved back into Alexandria with Lydia, Daryl moving into the Grimes’ basement, and Lydia into your guestroom. You would spend as much time with Daryl as possible whether it was for personal reasons or because you were still on edge about the Whisperers.

This didn’t go unnoticed by Negan who was starting to get suspicious. He even asked you if you and Daryl had once been involved.

“You’re joking, right?” you asked when he had brought up the subject one day as he was helping with repairs to one of the walls.

“Is that such an odd question to ask?”

“Kind of,” you said. “Negan, Daryl is like a brother to me. We’ve never...absolutely not.”

“I just find it hard to believe that you never found yourself being with anyone since this whole shit show started.”

“Didn’t have much of a chance,” you had said. “As I have said before, I’m better off alone.”

“Yeah, well don’t expect me to leave you alone any time soon, alright?” Negan had said as he finished his job. You had nodded, but something was telling you that he couldn’t keep that promise, nobody could keep promises anymore.

Your injury had fully healed just as Negan said it would, but it left an angry scar that still stung on the colder days. It wasn’t pretty, but none of your scars were, they were just part of the new world and you had to get used to them.

You were trying to stay positive as the months went by. Rosita eventually had her daughter, Judith became a stronger fighter, and you were starting to get nervous.

Everything was too calm.

It seemed that the Whisperers had gone underground for the harsher months of winter. However, like all predatory species. They would soon be returning to their hunting grounds, you were sure of it.

Domestic life was starting to be too much. Your nightmares were getting worse and on the nights that Negan lay beside you, he would wake you with a hard shake in order to be able to snap you out of sleep. You would never tell him what plagued your dreams and he never asked, but you knew he wanted to.

You also knew that he wanted to move forward with you and start thinking about a future together. However, you also knew that if that were to happen, you would need to leave Alexandria. Nobody, no matter what he did, would accept Negan as part of the family and you didn’t blame them.

Still, you wanted to be able to hold his hand as you walked through the streets and kiss him in the rain, but he was still Negan and while you got to play normal on certain nights, the cell was still his home.

It was months after the blizzard that you began planning. You began to stash bags in your house. They were filled with canteens, extra clothes, extra gauze, and when you were able to get it, non-perishables. After so many years of feeling as if you had put down roots, you were slipping back into survival mode because if you had to, you were ready to leave with him.

You loved your family, but you couldn’t live without Negan. Not anymore and not after Alpha had taken so much away from everyone. You thought back to what you had told Daryl that night when he came to visit you in the infirmary after the blizzard. You had told him that you would fight for your family even if it meant betraying Negan.

Now, you knew that wasn’t true. Negan was your life now and nothing was going to make you stop fighting for him.

And while you wanted to spend every moment with Negan, everyone knew war was imminent. Even though Alpha, Beta, and their people had gone quiet, you and everyone else knew they were still out there and so, you began to prepare.

Coco, Rosita’s daughter was just a few months old when Daryl interrupted your babysitting duties to tell you that he had spoken to Cyndie and Rachel. It was time to get ready to fight their enemies.

When Daryl announced that he would be taking people to Oceanside to prepare and learn to fight in formations with new weapons and with new strategies, there were immediate volunteers. Siddiq, Eugene, and Ro were going to be staying behind with Gabriel, but Judith and RJ would be going with their mother just as Aaron would be going as well.

You didn’t get much of a choice. You had to go as you were second in command when it came to security. You were also going because Michonne wanted time to continue the training you had been doing with her, honing your skills with your sword.

Negan wasn’t thrilled when he found out you would be leaving, but you promised him that it wouldn’t be for long and that it was necessary. You spent the night before leaving in the cell with him, curled into his side as he lulled you to sleep. You told him you would be coming back soon and asked if he could look out for Lydia when he could.

You immediately pulled Lydia under your wing. You trained her, using the new staff Alden had made for her. It was much like the one Henry once used. You taught her how to hunt and track while she helped you move around the Dead as if you were invisible. Being able to learn from one another solidified your bond quickly.

Lydia was a naturally curious young woman who wanted to hear stories about everything. You told her everything from the farm to meeting Jadis’ people for the first time. When she asked how you met Negan, you had told her one night in the quiet of your living room. Lydia had been patient the entire time as she listened.

When you were finished, she had exhaled deeply and then reached over and took your hand in hers. “I guess we both care about people capable of horrific things,” she had said and that line had stuck with you. It replayed in your head even now as you stood behind a barricade on a white sand beach, prepared to fight.

—————

Every inch of your body was coiled to a spring as your sword weighed heavily in your hand.

Aaron led the charge, he and Alden using the metal shields to stay in formation as they moved towards the old boat. Judith struck a waterlogged Walker that tried to drag itself up onto the shore. Returning to her position between you and Michonne, her wakizashi poised for battle.

Ezekiel and Jerry pulled open the door of the ship and the Dead spilled from the rusted wreckage. Walkers weren’t as sophisticated as Whisperers, but they did act as great decoys and practice for fighting the enemy.

Daryl walked along the edges of the main battle, observing and making adjustments when needed. The archers were behind, ready to fire when ordered and then, there was your group. You, Michonne, Judith, Ezekiel, Magna, and others kept your weapons raised, ready to strike.

For months, you and Michonne practiced whenever you could. She taught you different ways to hold your blade, how to use it to block, and most importantly, how to kill. Walkers were easy, but you had yet to fight an actual armed enemy.

While you wouldn’t give him a weapon, you were practicing your fight skills with Negan whenever he was in your home at night. This was more for his benefit than yours, but the two of you would take turns in practicing hand-to-hand.

Lydia would watch on with curiosity as you and Negan exchanged punches and holds. Negan would then give her tips on how to move with her weapon, how to keep balanced, and even where to strike on both Living and Dead threats.

That training came in handy now as you and Michonne moved forward, swinging your swords. The sun glinted off the metal as you fought back to back, taking the Walkers down by removing their heads from their shoulders.

Daryl joined the fight as soon as the Walkers began to overwhelm the fighters. His dual knives cut through the Walkers easily. You were so used to seeing Daryl fight long-distance with his bow just as you once excelled at with your rifle, but this was a whole new Daryl.

There was zero hesitation in his strikes and you had to keep focused on your task so you didn’t get too distracted. Moving to cover Michonne, you slashed out at a pair of Walkers who were moving in on Kelly. With a single strike, their rotting heads rolled from their bodies.

A sharp sound came from behind you as Daryl shoved a knife into a Walker’s head that tried to grab you. You didn’t have time to thank him before Alden’s spear soared over your head and you ducked. The weapon found its target and you kept moving.

Taking out the remainder of the Walkers took some time, but between every fighter on that beach, you dispatched them cleanly and without incident. The final Walker that stumbled on the beach approached you and with a hard swing, you cut its head into two, your blade sliding right down the center of its skull.

With a hard pull, you removed the sword with a huff. As the body fell to the ground, you rested your blood-soaked blade on your shoulder, trying to relieve the fatigue that plagued your biceps.

Daryl, who was standing just a few feet away, watched as your weapon lay against your shoulder and it was oddly familiar. He watched as you dropped it back down to your side, but he saw it. It was hard not to. It was as if you were holding Lucille and not Jesus’ sword.

There were still a few left inside so you jogged up to help Ezekiel clear them out as Aaron began calling out orders. Once you finished working through the remaining Dead, Ezekiel let out a tired breath.

“Nicely done,” he said and then offered his hand for a high five. You obliged and tapped your palm to his.

“You too,” you said as you scraped the blood off your sword. You then noticed that he was looking at you with a tilted head. “What? Do I have Walker blood on my face?” you asked, worried.

“No, I just noticed something,” he said.

“What’s that?” you asked.

“You seem happy,” Ezekiel said.

“I am,” you said. “I didn’t think I would be able to feel this way after what happened at the fair, but all I feel is this underlying aura of happiness.”

“Are you worried that that is a bad thing?”

“I feel almost guilty to feel happiness after everything that happened. It almost feels inappropriate to feel any sense of joy, you know?”

“I do know,” he said sadly and then you immediately felt horrible.

“Your Majesty, I’m sorry, I didn’t mean…” you trailed off when he raised his hand.

“One, you don’t need to address me with that title,” he said. “And two, it’s okay. I miss him every day, but I can also understand that he would want me to smile on occasion.”

“Henry was a good boy,” you said, reaching out to grip his hand. “I’m so sorry.”

“I know,” he said, squeezing back. “I also know that many people aren’t happy with whom you’ve chosen to love.”

“Ezekiel…” you began, but he was already speaking.

“I don’t care,” he said. “I do not care who he is. I have just missed your smile. If Negan is who it takes for you to get that light back in your eyes, so be it. I think we have all missed that even if you haven’t realized it. I know what he’s done, but I know that you also know as well.”

“I do, but I can’t help but love him.”

“And that’s okay. It’s...unorthodox, but it’s okay. The heart wants what the heart wants, (Y/N).” You didn’t hesitate to reach out and hug the man before you. If that was the way that he thought then perhaps there would be more hope for those who disagreed with your new connection with the former enemy. However, there was also the realization that many would begin to shun you just because of your relationship with Negan.

In that rust-filled ship hold, you smiled at the king who had just lost his kingdom and realized that perhaps he understood at least that part of Negan’s past. As Negan once said, he knew what it felt like to lose a kingdom.

————

On your way back to the main area of Oceanside, you ran into Luke.

“Call on line two,” he joked as he handed you the radio. You immediately knew what he meant and with a roll of your eyes, you took the walkie from him and began walking away from the masses.

“What do I owe this pleasure?” you asked.

“I have to admit,” Negan said on the other line, “I feel like a teenager sneaking into the basement to call his secret love.”

“Some things never change then,” you said with a laugh as you found a boulder to sit on as you watched the waves crash against the shore.

“No, they do not,” he said and you could tell he was smiling. That thought sent a jolt into your chest.

“What did you do to get this privilege?”

“I may have paid off this kid, Brandon,” Negan said.

“With what? Tomatoes?” you asked, amused.

“Nope, just a little life advice and maybe some instructions on how to make moonshine,” he said smugly.

“Hilarious,” you deadpanned.

“You love it,” he teased.

“Mmhmm,” you said.

“Tell me about your day,” Negan said.

“We’ve been working on battle formations,” you said. “Daryl thinks that we need a stronger defense.”

“What do you think?” Negan asked.

“I think that someone needs to find me a gun so I can take Alpha out,” you admitted.

“Easy, Darlin’,” Negan said.

“Why? Why can’t I want the bitch dead?”

“Oh, you definitely can. I just think that perhaps you may wanna think it through before going all Terminator.”

“In order to do that, I’d need a gun and we are out of bullets,” you said and then your hand found its way around your neck where the old shell casing Daryl had given you hung on a chain.

“I wish I could help,” he said and then you sighed, leaning back on the boulder.

“You are helping,” you said. “You’re keeping me sane.”

“That’s a first. Especially cause I specifically remember you telling me that I drive you crazy. I think you were on top that time.”

“Wow, you are such a romantic,” you said, but you were smiling nonetheless.

“I am the best at romance, trust me.”

“Always do,” you said without hesitation.

“God, I fucking miss you,” he said.

“I miss you, too,” you said as you watched Aaron take down another water-logged Walker.

“What else is going on?” Negan asked.

“Carol is comin’ back today,” you said, turning your gaze to the horizon.

“I’m sure Daryl is thrilled about that,” he said.

“What do you mean?” you asked.

“Ah, come on, don’t tell me you haven’t noticed those two? I clocked it the first time I saw them together.”

“There’s nothing going on between Daryl and Carol,” you said with a dismissive scoff.

“Right, and I’m the damn Pope,” Negan said.

“No, you’re not. The hat wouldn’t look good on you,” you argued.

“Uh, I look good in everything, (Y/N). Don’t lie to yourself.”

“This is true,” you agreed, trying not to smile.

“Speaking of,” Negan said. “What are you wearing?”

“And we are changing the subject now,” you said.

“Buzzkill,” he countered.

“Perv,” you shot back.

“Oh, shut up, you know you love me.”

“Lord help me, but I do,” you said, smiling to yourself.

“Knew it,” he said. You smiled, but then turned the conversation onto something else.

“How’s Lydia?” you asked, worried about the teen.

“She seems okay,” Negan said. “I talked to her this morning. She misses you,” he said.

“Yeah, I miss her, too,” you said. “I’ll be home soon, though. Is anyone messin’ with her?” you asked, concerned she was going to be met with the negativity that should only be reserved for her mother and her former family.

“Just the odd dirty look behind her back so far,” Negan assured you. “Nothin’ she can’t handle.”

“You don’t know that,” you said. “She hasn’t had to be around people beside Whisperers. Let alone people her own age.”

“Well, she’s got you now, so I know she’s gonna be okay,” Negan said gently and you let out a breath, letting his words soothe you.

“Just please keep an eye on her when you can please,” you asked him.

“Don’t worry, I got her,” he promised. You were relishing in the sound of his voice when you realized that you needed to get going. You were then wishing for a time machine to go back to when unlimited minutes were available on cell phones. “What are you thinkin’?” he asked.

“That I should get goin’,” you said with a sigh. “I know Luke wanted me to help him set up dinner with Jules.”

“Who’s Luke again?” he asked.

“Uh, the violin guy. New group,” you explained.

“Right…” Negan trailed off.

“What?” you asked.

“Nothin’, just… Is he keepin’ his hands to himself?” Negan asked and you couldn’t stop the grin that spread across your face. So, instead of calming his nerves, you decided to have some fun.

“Nope, he is definitely not,” you said nonchalantly. “In fact, we’ve already had a steamy make-out session and Cyndie has agreed to marry us at sunset. Daryl is giving me away and Jude is gonna be the flower girl. I think it will be a wonderful ceremony. I’ll send you a piece of cake.”

Negan was quiet for a moment and you figured he was either rolling his eyes or staring off in the distance as he sighed deeply. Eventually, he pressed the talk button and said, “You really need to work on your sense of humor.”

“And you need to get back to work before Brandon realizes that you don't actually know how to make moonshine,” you said.

“Fine,” he sighed. “I’ll see you soon, okay?”

“See you soon.”

“I love you,” he said softer and you leaned your head against the radio.

“I love you, too,” you whispered back, and then, static returned to the channel.

You let the radio rest in your hand for a moment as you thought of him. Being together for all those months without any break was almost like living a different life and now it felt alien to be away from him.

Hopping off the boulder, you began to head back to find Luke. “Who was that?” Jumping at the voice, you turned to see Connie and Kelly behind you. 

“Jesus Christ,” you swore, signing as you did. Connie snorted. 

“Nope, just me,” Connie signed and you couldn’t help but laugh. 

“Well, who was that?” Kelly asked. 

“Nobody,” you said with a shrug, but after knowing the sisters for a while now, you knew they saw right through your bullshit. 

“Right,” signed Connie. With a sigh you relented.

“It was my boyfriend,” you explained. Connie and Kelly both raised their brows at that. 

“Why do I feel like that wasn’t a positive reaction?” Kelly signed to her sister. 

“Because,” Connie began, “they are with Negan.”

“Who’s Negan?” Kelly asked you and then you told your story. Connie had to remind you of a few signs such as “baseball bat” and “murderous widow”. You managed to finish without straying from the main train of thought and when you did, Kelly whistled low. “Shit,” she said. 

“Tell me about it,” you said. 

--------

After helping Luke and Jules set up the fire pit, you went in search of Aaron, but you found Daryl and Carol first. 

“Look who’s back,” you said as you approached Carol. She reached out to hug you tightly.

“Good to see you,” Carol said. 

“You too,” you said with a smile and then tapped your fist against Daryl’s. It was then that Negan’s comment came back to you. You couldn’t help but try to see what he was seeing when he looked at the duo. Perhaps he was right after all. 

“What?” Daryl asked

“Nothing,” you said quickly, but he was still looking at you with narrowed eyes through his messy hair. 

“Right,” he said. “We were just talkin’ about Maggie.”

“Anyone heard from her lately?” you asked as you began to walk beside them. 

“Not yet,” Daryl said. “She has been checking in less and less lately.”

“Are you worried?” you asked and then turned to Carol, “Is he worried?”

“He’s Daryl,” Carol said, causing the man on her left to roll his eyes. 

“I hate when the two of you are together,” he muttered and Carol hooked her arm in his, playful leaning her head on his shoulder.

He let her of course and you could just hear Negan saying, “I told you so, Teach,” in your mind. You hated when he was right. 

“You worried about her findin’ out about Negan?” Carol asked and you shot Daryl a look. 

“Yeah, I told her,” Daryl said. “You ain’t really making it a secret.” 

“Guess not,” you sighed. “I don’t know, Carol. I don’t really want to imagine what her reaction would be. The woman scares me enough.” 

“Ya weren’t that close,” Daryl said. 

“Close enough,” you said.

You and Maggie had an odd relationship. While you were close with both Glenn and Beth, you and Maggie were never particularly close enough to be considered good friends. You had each other’s backs and you cared for her, but you never really knew what she was thinking. 

“I think she’d hit you,” Carol said casually. 

“Thank you, Carol. Your support is incredible,” you quipped and she just gave you a wink. 

“Come on, we have bigger things to worry about, right?” Carol asked. 

“You got that right,” Michonne said as she jogged up to you three. She carried something in her hand and when she raised it, Carol froze at Daryl’s side. It was one of the Whisperer’s masks. “We need to talk.”

--------

“It washed downstream,” Rachel said as she looked at the mask on the table. You and the leaders were standing around one of the tables in the main meeting room trying to figure out what to do next. “It could have been from months ago.” 

“That doesn’t make me feel any better,” said Michonne. 

“Thoughts?” Carol asked, looking at her friend. 

“It could be something, but it could be nothing.” 

“We’ve agreed to her damn borders,” Daryl said from his spot next to Cyndie. 

“Which we shouldn’t have done,” you added. 

“I agree,” said Carol. 

“And then what? She kills more of us?” Michonne said. “It’s not that simple and you know it.” Carol was quiet then, stewing in her own thoughts about the woman who murdered her son. 

“We need to tell Hilltop and Alexandria,” Enid pointed out. She and Alden had taken on roles of leadership along with Ezekiel at Hilltop. 

“I’ll go call Gabriel,” Daryl said as he grabbed the radio and left the room to contact Alexandria. You were staring at the mask before you and you remembered a moment from a few months ago...

It was the middle of the night and you were out walking the streets of Alexandria, trying to shake off your nightmares. The weather was better so Negan was back in his cell. You had begun to walk to him, only to be sidetracked by the sound of the windmill. You stood there in the dark, staring up at the moving blades and a feeling crept up your spine.

It was almost as if someone was watching you. Scanning the darkness, you only saw shapes that were slightly illuminated by the moonlight. Still, that feeling followed you as you continued to pace around the community. Eventually, you found yourself at the stables, stroking the horses to calm yourself. You had been able to not think about the Whisperers for moments at a time, but in the dark of night, you could only think about the way they moved and the way they whispered to one another. 

Looking down at that mask with its hollow eyes now made you feel sick. It was as if it was a message from Beta, telling you that he always knew where you were, where Lydia was. While Alpha scared you, Beta was who your nightmares were about. Alpha was smart, cunning, and ruthless, but Beta was her sword and Beta was going to be the one that struck first, you were sure of it. 

“(Y/N)?” Enid said, snapping you out of your memory. “Are you okay?” 

“I’m fine,” you said, not looking at her. “Excuse me,” you said before following Daryl out of the room and back into the fresh air of Oceanside. 

You didn’t look back as you kept moving towards the water, taking in deep breaths of the salty air. You tried to focus on the waves and how they crashed into one another on the shore, but it was hard to think of anything that didn’t send your heart into a panic.

Your hand gripped your sword at your side and you felt as if your fingers were about to break, but you tried to steady yourself.

It was just a mask.

Except, it wasn’t.

You felt a nudge at your back and turned to see Dog standing behind you. Connie was walking up behind him, giving you a friendly smile. You smiled back, scratching Dog behind his ears. 

“Are you okay?” she asked. 

“Fine,” you said. 

“I did not mean to call your boyfriend out like that earlier,” she said with a frown. You waved her off. 

“It’s okay, Connie,” you said. “He’s not a secret, at least I’m trying not to make him that.”

“He is lucky to have someone who cares for him that deep,” she signed. 

“Thanks,” you said, turning your eyes to the setting sun. Connie got your attention again as she began signing. 

“Are you going home?” she asked.

“I might have too,” you said with a sigh. “I don’t like Lydia being there alone.” 

“She is a good kid,” Connie said. “I can see that you care about her.” You nodded, agreeing with Connie’s statement. You also knew that Connie had a soft spot for the teenager as well. She had been with Daryl when they rescued Lydia and Henry from the Whisperer camp and brought them back to Alexandria and then the fair. You also knew that Connie felt guilty for what happened to Henry, you all did. 

“I’m not sure how that happened,” you said. “We just connected.”

“You know,” she continued, “you would be a great parent.”

“Easy there, Connie,” you said with raised brows. 

“Just saying,” she said with a shrug. It wasn’t as if you hadn’t thought about it before, becoming a parent. You knew that your friends had done it. Maggie, Rosita, Aaron, and of course Carol, but you never saw yourself in that light. At least not until you found Alexandria and began to take care of Judith when Rick was still around. He trusted you with both of his kids and then Aaron did as well with Gracie.

As a teacher, you loved teaching and taking care of kids, but after Elliot’s death, you shied away from the possibility of ever taking care of one of your own. However, now, with Negan in the picture, perhaps taking care of one wouldn't be that bad. Especially if it was Lydia. 

“Does he love you?” Connie asked after a moment. 

“He does,” you answered easily. “But it’s complicated.” Connie shook her head then. 

“There is a reason that the past stays behind us, (Y/N),” Connie said. 

“Not after what he did,” you said with a meaningful look. 

“Nobody is a saint. That was taken from all of us as soon as the first Dead began to walk.” Connie then reached out and took your hand, squeezing it tightly in her own. 

“You’re wise,” you said and Connie scoffed and then let go so she could use her hands again. 

“No, I just know how to see people in a different light,” she explained. 

“How?”

“I try to see them as people who make mistakes, and not mistakes masked as people,” she said and you smiled at that. 

“Thanks, Connie,” you said and you really meant it. 

“Anytime.”

-------

You were heading back towards the cabin that you were sharing with Daryl and his dog when you ran into Judith.

“Are you leaving?” she asked, concerned.

“Tomorrow,” you said, already having decided that you would ride for Alexandria the following morning. Judith frowned then, her attention on her boots. “What’s wrong?” you asked.

“I’m worried about Negan,” she admitted.

“Why?” you asked, kneeling down so you could see her better.

“People are angry,” she said with a sigh. Her hat was low as she tried to avoid your eyes. You reached out and pushed it off her head, taking her shoulders in your hands. She looked at you with those eyes that reminded you so much of Shane. Regardless of what that man did, he helped make an incredible kid and you saw him in her eyes every time.

“They’re mad at Alpha, not Negan,” you assured her, trying to soothe her nerves.

“I don’t think that matters,” she said, kicking at a loose seashell.

“I know,” you said, brushing a piece of hair off her shoulder. “It’ll be okay. I know you care about him.” Judith nodded and then moved forward to wrap her arms around your neck, resting her head against the junction between your neck and your shoulder.

“Thank you,” she whispered.

“For what?” you asked, squeezing her back as she held you

“I like that you see him as a human being,” she said and you nearly cried at her words. You just held the little Grimes back.

“I always will,” you promised.

“No matter what?” she asked.

“Yeah, kid. No Matter what.”

Tags: 

@cameronsails @lucillethings @stark-dreams 

@amaroho​ @thanossexual​ @yes-sir-hotchner​ @boom-bunny​ @delusionalteenagewhispers​ @scootankle​ @ritajammer21​ @writteriguess​ @tea-atfive​ @jennydehavilland​ @waspyyy​ @yespleasejayhalstead​ @hoemadegrace​ @writingdeadangel​ @huffledor-able541​ @pulplorrd​ @felicisimor​ 

[negans-savior-complex]

Plotted starter for @wrathfulmercy

Negan hadn't been in New Orleans in years. Hell, he couldn't even remember how long it had been since his parents had last dragged him from his hometown in Virginia all the way to Louisiana to meet up with family there. Felt like a lifetime ago now.

But now he was here and it looked exactly like how he remembered. Sure, things had changed in twenty or so years but he had spent so much time wandering these streets as a kid and a teen during one of those lengthy family trips in the summer and winter, he didn't think he could get himself lost even now.

Of course he hadn't talked to anyone in his family since the day he'd fled home, neither his family in Virginia nor the ones here. He didn't know how they were doing, just like they probably didn't know where he was, or if he was even still alive. After all, he hadn't left home in the best of conditions.

He was doing better now, a lot better, but he still felt no desire to reconnect with his family. They were part of his old life and there was no room for them in the new one. It was probably best that way, the life of a hitman wasn't exactly the safest, so he was better off alone, keeping contacts to a minimum. It was what worked for him.

That was why he was here. Simon had sent him the info on a new target about a week ago and now it was his job to track down his target here in New Orleans, learn their schedule, set up a plan and carry it out, make it look like an accident. The target was some kind of bar owner, who supposedly had been sleeping with the wife of a friend. It was the same old story he'd heard so often before and Negan didn't particularly care for the details on a personal level. Just on a professional one.

A good hitman was one that came prepared.

Either way, he expected to be spending at least a few weeks here, if not longer, before he was ready to make his move. That left him with plenty of time to kill, no pun intended.

Negan took another deep drag of his cigarette and closed his eyes, letting the acrid smoke settle into his lungs, lingering for a handful of seconds before he blew it back out, smoke drifting away on the gentle breeze. Dropping the stub on the asphalt and snuffing it out with the heel of a heavy biker boot he rose up from the comfortable seat of his motorcycle with the heavy creak of leather and swung his leg back over to stand next to it, peeled off his gloves and stored those along with his helmet in one of the baggage compartments.

Fuck, he loved this bike. Sure, he'd gotten it secondhand a few years ago and it had still cost him a fortune but goddamn... what with all the traveling he did, he couldn't imagine doing it any other way. Cars were seriously overrated anyway.

Pocketing the keys Negan turned and peered up at the quaint little flower shop in front of him, welcoming and friendly looking. Flowers in every size and color were laid out in vases and pots filled with water in front of the windows outside, on either side of the entry way, little tags with handwritten prices stuck in the soil or clinging to the thin plastic film wrapped around the stems. The air was thick with their sweet scent, all cloying together and Negan didn't think it would be all that better inside without the fresh air, but he couldn't remember the last time he'd bought flowers for anyone, sooooo...

Yeah. He was here to buy flowers. Fancy that.

The little bell on the door jingled happily when he stepped inside and wrinkled his nose to resist the urge to sneeze, the scent of flowers and damp earth assaulting his nostrils. There were a few other people inside but he ignored them and looked around. Jesus, where to even begin? There were so many to choose from! Fuck, he felt so out of his element here-

“Can I help you?”

Negan almost jumped out of his jacket and whirled around on his heel, blinking at the young girl in front of him with wide open eyes. She wore a light pastel green shirt with the shop's name embroidered on the front in a neat cursive font, marking her as an employee. “Uh- yeah, probably. I uh...” Clearing his throat Negan scratched at his stubbled jaw and gestured towards the wall lined with more colorful flowers then he could shake a fist at. “Um... what kind of flowers would you give to your favorite aunt on her birthday, from her favorite nephew she hasn't seen in years?” Because yeah, even though he wasn't interested in reconnecting with family, Auntie Isabelle lived here in New Orleans and she really was his favorite aunt.

And he really was her favorite nephew. He could at least sent her some flowers even though he wasn't planning on actually showing his face.

The girl's warm smile widened and she nodded. Aw, this poor but very tall and handsome stranger who looked so lost and out of place in their little flower shop... of course she'd help him! “Well, lilies always do well in a birthday bouquet, they represent happiness and positivity. Roses too, and gerberas are very cheerful.”

… okay? Like he knew what the fuck a gerbera even looked like. Wasn't that some kind of rodent or something? “Y'know what?” He raised both hands with his palms facing forward, an abashed smile flashing across his features. “You clearly know what you're talkin' about so... how about you put something nice together that you think will work? I trust your judgment on it.”

“Oh, of course! I'd be happy to! Would you like to write a card for your aunt in the meantime?” She gestured towards the counter and Negan followed where she pointed, spotting the small stand with little pastel-colored cards in flowery print and nodded. Yeah, that was probably a good idea.

“I'll do that. Thank you, darling.” He flashed her a warm smile and she watched as her handsome customer walked over to the counter to browse the little cards they had available, breathing out softly before she too turned and reached for the lilies. Oh, she'd always secretly had a thing for bad boys and he was cute.

[twdeadfanfic]

Bonded to you Pt.2

Daryl Dixon x Reader

Chapter: 2/17

Words: 3519

Summary:  Daryl and reader had a something while they both stayed at the Sanctuary after the Saviours were defeated, a secret sort of relationship, that reader wanted to make something more. However, after Rick blows the bridge, Daryl leaves her without a word, unaware of her being pregnant with his child and it’s not after almost two years that Daryl finds out he has a child…and his anger at reader for not having told him before, rivals with reader’s anger at having being tossed aside as nothing by him those to years ago.

Dad Daryl, cute fluffy baby-toddler moments, angsty reader relationship.

You can find more chapters and  Daryl fics in my masterlist.

Last chapter, we got a glimpse into Daryl’s and reader’s relationship dynamic, and they decided it was time to leave the Sanctuary, now that Carol offered to take over...

“He’s adorable!” You grinned like a fool as you held baby Hershel, staying at the Sanctuary you hadn’t been able to visit him.

“He is, and he knows it!” Maggie smiled softly, looking even more tired with that black eye and bruises. She had told you all what had happened with that asshole of Gregory…you knew you should have kicked him out long ago. Maggie said she was going to deal with it, though.

You looked at Daryl, you knew he was worried and angry about what had happened, but he was smiling softly looking at Hershel. “Wanna hold him?” You asked and as you passed him the baby

“Hey there,” he said, but his smile was sad, and you knew he was thinking about Glenn. He’d told you about it a few times before. Looking at him and baby Hershel, you still didn’t know what surprised you more, how much he seemed to like kids, or how good he was with them, and kids liked him too, Hershel was already giggling.

Those warm and fuzzy feelings that you had watching Hershel and Daryl, and playing with the baby, left you once it was dark and time to deal with Gregory. Maggie wasn’t making just threats this time, she was going to hang him. Rick and Michonne were against it, you knew, you guessed they’d have locked him as they did with Negan. Honestly, you were leaning more towards Maggie’s side, but you didn’t like that Daryl was the one carrying on the execution, not Maggie or anyone from the Hilltop.

Maggie had asked him, and he’d said yes, like he’d said yes to going to the Sanctuary, as if Daryl never said no to his family. You knew he agreed with Maggie and wanted to protect her and Hershel, that he hated Gregory and what he had done and thought that something had to be done, that he’d kill for his family, he’d done it, but you weren’t sure if he was on board with executing someone himself like that. You hadn’t known how to ask and you hadn’t had the chance.

You wondered if it was something twisted or broken in you, when you heard Gregory begging but didn’t feel any sort of pity, neither you felt anything when he hung to his death. Still, you didn’t want to be there longer than necessary, and after a couple of words to Maggie, you retreated to the trailer that you had been lent for the night.

Maggie had offered you a room in the house but you had asked her to stay in a trailer, if she didn’t mind and if there was any free that  they didn’t mind to spare. Maggie had thankfully not questioned you, and you had gotten a tiny trailer. You hoped that it’d be easier for Daryl to join you that way without it being too evident, if he wanted to…which you hoped he did. He hadn’t wanted a room inside the house either, and you had no idea of where he might want to stay.

You waited for a long while, you knew that Daryl would be helping Maggie to deal with the body and anything else she might need, before calling it a night. You were starting to feel worried thinking that he wouldn’t come, when there was a knock on the door. You rushed to open, finding Daryl there. “Hey,” you greeted quietly and he nodded at you, walking in, seeming tired. You locked the door and turned around to find him flopping down to sit on to the small bed.

“You okay?” You asked, reaching out to brush your knuckles over his face, and Daryl hummed, nodding. “Sure?” You arched your eyebrows at him, and Daryl seemed to understand what you meant and what you were asking.

“It had to be done,” he said.

“Doesn’t mean it had to be done by you,” you said softly.

“He had it coming,” Daryl shrugged and you didn’t know what else to say. He placed his hand on top of yours on his cheek for a second, looking at you with that soft smile he sometimes gave you and that always gave you the butterflies.

Daryl let go of your hand to wrap his arms around you, pulling you closer to him and letting out a tired sigh as he buried his face on your shirt, and you smiled when he nuzzled your stomach. You wrapped an arm around him, holding him, while your other hand caressed his hair.

“Thank you. For coming with me.” Daryl murmured, his face still hidden in your shirt, and you felt as if you might melt or be overcome by emotion at his words.

“Yeah well, it’s not like anyone might want to stay at the Sanctuary if they don’t have to.” You teased to try and cover how emotional you were feeling.

“Could have gone somewhere else. Back to Alexandria. To sunbathe at the beach at Oceanside.”

“I’ve always been more of a mountain girl than a beach one myself. There’s no mountains here but…there’s that cool looking mansion and cute horses.” You joked and Daryl chuckled, finally looking at you again.

“I wanted you to come with me,” he murmured. “But don’t want you doing shit you don’t wanna, just ‘cause me, ain’t fair.” You smiled sadly, reaching out to stroke his cheek. If only he understood how you felt, how you couldn’t take the idea of being away from him, or him being lonely and sad, how you’d miss him…how you wanted to do shit for him, because you cared…if only you knew how to put all that into words for him…if only you knew he’d share your feelings…

Daryl nuzzled your shirt again and then he pulled away from you, kicking his boots off and leaning back on the bed, tugging at your hand, and so you moved the lie next to him, wrapping an arm around him and letting out a content sigh when he curled up to you, resting his head on your chest.

“Rick ain’t happy…”

“He can’t tell Maggie what to do, not here…he can lead Alexandria however he wants, but this is Maggie’s community.” You said, playing with Daryl’s hair, it always helped you to relax.

Daryl hummed at your words. “Rick talked with Eugine through walkie, reckons that next week we could start building that bridge he was talking about.”

“So that means we have a whole week of vacation at Hilltop?” You half-joked and Daryl chuckled.

“We gotta help Maggie with shit here.”

“Still sounds like holidays…” You kissed the top of Daryl’s head and closed your eyes to try and sleep.

*

You all had been working on the bridge for little more than a month and honestly, you were surprised by how good it was looking. Only one person there had experience in construction before, another one had experience working with wood, and the closest thing to an engineer was Eugine, but the bridge was looking…well, like a bridge, kind of professional even. You were surprised and proud.

It was hard work, though, each passing day you felt more and more exhausted. Sleeping on the floor of your tent was uncomfortable after being spoiled on a bed for so long, and yet you fell asleep almost instantly every night, sometimes you didn’t even wake up when Daryl sneaked in with you, which he did more often than not.

Today, you were feeling particularly tired…not tired, not exactly, just...unwell. Maybe you were working too much, maybe you shouldn’t work for too long under the beating sun. You hoped you weren’t getting sick, but you were starting to feel dizzy.

“Laura?” You called for the ex-savior, who was working near you.

“Yeah?”

“I think I’m going to rest on the shadow for a bit, I think I’m getting a headache for the sun.”

Laura looked at you and frowned. “Actually, you’re not looking that good…you sure you’re okay?”

“Yeah, I’m fine, I-” You couldn’t finish your sentence as you felt a wave of nausea. You tried to hold it down and got up, rushing off the bridge and to some trees, and throwing up.

“Told you, you aren’t looking good,” Laura said, following you. “You should go rest in your tent.”

“There’s work to do…” You reached to take the bottle of water that Laura offered you, taking along sip.

“You’ve been working a lot, just rest today before you become really sick.”

“Okay…”

*

You ended up dozing off for a bit in your tent and when you woke up you felt better. Maybe you had actually been working too hard and you needed some rest, or maybe it had been the sun. You were about to get up and go back to work when Daryl walked into your tent.

“Laura told me you’re sick?” He asked, kneeling in front of you, frowning as he examined you, and you wondered, not for the same time, if Laura knew that something was going on between you two.

“I’m not sick, I think I just spent too much time under the sun.” You shrugged, it wasn’t a big deal. Daryl just hummed, reaching out to hold his palm to your forehead. “Daryl, I’m okay,” you assured him, though you couldn’t help your smile, seeing that he worried about you being unwell…you knew that he would, in theory, but really seeing it felt good.

“Did Enid check you?”

“No, there’s no need, I told you, I’m fine. Just a bit too much sun.”

Daryl was still frowning, but finally he nodded. “Alright…”

*

You felt good for the rest of your day, right after dinner. You usually devoured your food after a hard day of working, but that day your dinner seemed to upset your stomach before you even dug in it. Fighting a wave of nausea, you decided not to try your luck, and left your dinner untouched, passing it to somebody else, and resigned to go to sleep on an empty stomach.

It was late at night, and you had already dozed off, when Daryl joined you, but you woke up when you felt him. “Hey…” you greeted groggily.

“Hey,” he reached out to stroke your hair and you closed your eyes. “You still feeling sick?”

“Told you I wasn’t feeling sick…” You murmured.

“You didn’t have dinner, I saw you.”

Oh… “I wasn’t hungry.” You hated to lie to him, but you didn’t want him to worry too much. Your stomach, though, decided to betray you, gurgling and growling now that you were awake.

“Yeah?”

“I just didn’t feel like eating…” You didn’t know how to explain it.

Daryl let out a sigh. “I’m gonna get you something to eat.” He was back soon with a bowl of warm stew, and even though you were starving, you felt nauseous too as he gave it to you. Still, you were hungry and Daryl was looking at you with worry, and so you made yourself eat the stew, fighting the nausea and trying not to show it.

After your late dinner, you went back to sleep hoping to feel better in the morning, You weren’t lucky, though, as a wave of nausea woke you early in the morning, even before Daryl left.

“What…” he murmured, waking up confused as you pushed him away in your rush to get up and get out of the tent to throw up outside. As soon as he realized what was going on, though, he got up too, rushing behind you, rubbing your shoulders until you thought you were feeling better. “You gotta see Enid,” he said, and this time you nodded, giving up.

*

Enid didn’t know what was wrong with you, though, and she looked so stressed and overwhelmed now that Siddiq had left her on her own, her nose always in a medicine book, that you took pity of her. She thought you might be right and you might be feeling unwell due to the heat and the sun, but she also was afraid of you having caught a bug or something, and she asked you to go visit Siddiq in Alexandria…you didn’t look forwards to it, at all, but as you tried to work that morning, you kept feeling unwell.

You approached the area where Daryl was working but you stayed away, watching him talking with Aaron as they worked, until Daryl spotted you and made his way to you.

“What did Enid say?”

“She’s not sure, she says I should go to Alexandria and have Siddiq check me…”

“Alexandria?” Daryl frowned and you knew where his mind had gone, same place, same person, than yours. “Can’t be Hilltop?”

“No, he’s staying at Alexandria...”

Daryl chewed on his lip but nodded. “Okay, you gotta go.”

“I know…” You had felt nauseous trying to eat again. “But I don’t want to…” Daryl reached out as if he went to touch you, but there were people around, and he lowered his hand, though his eyes seemed torn. “I guess I’ll leave this afternoon, there’s a cart going to Alexandria to get more food I think…”

“I’d give you a ride but…”

“Yeah, there’s work to do, I know…” You shrugged. “Anyway…I’ll be in my tent picking up my things…” You hoped Daryl got it, and you turned around, walking back to the camp.

He did, joining you in your tent right when you thought you were leaving without saying goodbye, though looking at him you felt even less like leaving, and it was a bit embarrassing but you felt like crying.

“I’ll radio Michonne to ask what Siddiq said later,” he told you and you nodded, grateful once more for having walkies to talk from community to community now.

“I’m sure it’s nothing, I’ll be back in a couple of days.” You tried to believe your words, smiling.

“Just take care and do whatever Siddiq tells you.” Daryl was still seeming worried, and if being sick meant that he got to show you that he cared, that he was like this with you, maybe you didn’t mind being sick.

You nodded and leaned to kiss him, wrapping your arms around his shoulders when Daryl kissed you back, pulling him closer, as close to you as you could. You usually didn’t kiss him like this, always afraid of being too much, of overwhelming him, of him pushing you away from him finally one day, but he didn’t seem to mind, as he held you just as close, kissing you…yeah, maybe you didn’t mind being sick that much.

*

You felt like an absolute moron. Like a complete idiot.

You had just told your symptoms to Siddiq when, without needing to check you any further, he had suggested one of the reasons why you might be feeling like that…and oh well, that hadn’t been on your radar at all.

But yes, now that you thought about it, you hadn’t had your period that month, right? What about last month? You didn’t remember…You had never been good at tracking it, or caring about it, but seriously? How many times had Daryl and you had sex in all your months at the Sancuary? Sure you didn’t need all the fingers in one hand to count them.

But…it could be. You could be pregnant. Holy shit you could be pregnant. You felt like throwing up and like fainting again, though you were sure that now it wasn’t due to any sickness you might have gotten or due to your potential pregnancy but to the fact that you could actually be pregnant…had you ever planned on having a baby? Like…in the apocalypse? Without even being in an actual relationship? This was surreal.

Clutching the pregnancy test that Siddiq had given you, you made your way to the bathroom. You couldn’t believe that there were pregnancy tests still around, but the doc seemed to have some in his cabinet. Maybe you weren’t the first one to get knocked by surprise.

Some minutes later, and there was your answer. You were pregnant. Yes, you were definitely going to faint on the bathroom floor. This couldn’t be real. What were you going to do now?

Shit…you had to tell Daryl…how was he going to react? He was going to freak out for real…This couldn’t be happening. These last days you had been wondering about his feelings, about maybe trying to have a conversation with him about your relationship, if he wanted you both to keep going with whatever you had, or if maybe he’d want something more…serious? Official? You weren’t sure he might want something like that…and now you were supposed to tell him that you were pregnant? Damn, this couldn’t be real…

You walked out of the bathroom feeling brainless and lifeless like a walker. “You were right,” you muttered to Siddiq, heading outside the infirmary, but you didn’t go far, sitting down on the stairs at the outside and burying your face in your hands. What were you going to do…how you were going to tell this to Daryl…

Would he be upset about it? You knew him enough to know that he’d step in, he’d help you with the baby, you knew you wouldn’t be alone in this, but still…You didn’t want Daryl to be with you only because a baby, you didn’t want to wake up each day thinking that he felt forced to be in a relationship with you just because you had his baby, without actually wanting it…

Maybe you were overthinking it, though. Yes, he would step in, Daryl would do anything for his kid, you knew, but that didn’t mean he had to marry you or something, you both could just co-parent. It might mean that you’d end whatever relationship you had that involved something more romantic than a good friendship…or, maybe, maybe…he’d actually share your feelings, he’d actually want to be with you the way you wanted to be with him, maybe you could raise this baby as a family…maybe…maybe not get your hopes high. He had never hinted at anything like that.

You really needed to stop overthinking this and go speak to Daryl, even if your stomach knotted with nerves at it.

You got up and you were about to go see if someone was going to the bridge camp so you could join them, when you saw Michonne, Maggie and a couple of other people rushing down the street…what? You didn’t even know that Maggie was there.

“Hey what’s going on?!”

“We have to go back to camp!” Maggie yelled at you without stopping. “We got word some saviors attacked it and the herds are going too!”

“What?!” Your people were there, Daryl was there. This day couldn’t be real. “Wait, wait for me!” Before you could run to them, a hand on your arm held you back, and you turned to find Siddiq holding you back. “What the hell?!” You spat.

“You shouldn’t go, you’re not feeling well.”

“Yeah, we both know I’m not sick, don’t we?” You hissed and you struggled when you looked back and saw that the others were already riding through the door on the horses without you, but Siddiq didn’t let you go. Maybe you were actually going to have to punch the man.

“You really want to risk it? What if you feel dizzy fighting saviors and walkers? And you really want to risk…that?” Siddiq nodded to your belly and you stopped struggling, though you still weren’t sure about punching him and going to get a horse yourself.

Maggie had fought the war against the Saviours while pregnant, sure you could fight a few of them pregnant too. But then again, Maggie wasn’t throwing up and feeling dizzy more often than not. What if Siddiq was right, what if you felt dizzy fighting either saviors or walkers? What if you passed out? You’d die, and maybe you’d even get people killed trying to help you, and you’d get this baby killed as well. No…no you couldn’t do that.

You hated it, though, not doing anything. But you had to trust that your people could deal with the problems. They’ve always done. Daryl was a fighter and a survivor, he’d be okay…he had to…

“Okay…” You murmured, swallowing hard and trying not to cry. Siddiq squeezed your arm gently before letting go of it, and when you sat down on the stairs again, defeated, he sat down next to you.

“They’ll be okay, they’ll fix whatever problem is it and they’ll be back soon…” He said, and you said nothing. Things were going bad already when you left, with Saviors disappearing, it’d seem like they weren’t going to keep working…now they might be rebelling or something…you hoped Siddiq was right and your people fix it soon…

“All this throwing up and fainting…you think there’s something wrong with…” You waved a hand above your belly.

“No, no I don’t think so, I think it’s like that during the first months for some, not for all women though,” Siddiq explained.

“Lucky me.”

*

I wanted some fluff before everything explodes.

Thank you all so so much for the support on the first chapter of this, all your comments, reblogs and likes made me so happy, it really means the world and I’m so happy to talk to you all. I hope you’ll still enjoying this fic and will keep reading, because there are so many scenes and moments in this that I can’t wait for you all to read! Thank you all so so much for the support! It really keeps me going when I feel like giving up or like hating in my writing or I get stuck.

As always, excuse my english, is not my first language.

If you want to be (un)tagged let me know.

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[mycrofts-gunbrella]

Negan x Reader- Letting You Take Care of Him

Word Count- 1.9k

Summary- Negan comes back from a particularly long run feeling like absolute shit and lets you take care of him.

Your concern was beginning to grow more and more with each passing day. For the 5th time in the last month, Negan had come back to the Sanctuary late and covered in numerous cuts, bruises and aching all over. He was really working himself hard ever since that Alexandria group piped up. The worst part out of all of it was that he was refusing any kind of help when he returned, barring the once over he allowed you to have for your own piece of mind, and you couldn't remember the last time he properly slept rather than a 'power nap'. Tonight you were finally going to talk to him about it properly. If he was planning on going out all the time for work then he needed to take care of himself a lot more. But before that, you wanted a bath so you walked over to the bathroom and ran the hot water, adding bubbles to the mixture and shutting it off once it was full. You began to play through the conversation in your head about Negan when you heard his heavy boots echoing in the hallway to your shared bedroom. You knew that Simon and some of the other saviours had tried to convince Negan to have a day off from it all but he would always refuse, telling them to stop telling him how to do his job but a part of you believed that you had a chance of him listening to you.

"Fucking hell am I glad to be back." His deep voice exclaimed as he opened the door and into the room. You could already see that this run out must have been pretty bad. His white shirt had been ripped at the side, exposing a cut along the skin and he had a black eye with a cut just above his eyebrow. You watched him as he went to slump on the sofa, limping a little on the way. Following behind him, you took the space next to him on the sofa, turning to face him.

"Let me guess, 'you should see the other guy', right?" You smiled sympathetically, placing your warm hand on his cold cheek and lightly brushing your thumb over the forming purple bruise. He leaned a little into your touch and chuckled.

"You fucking know it." He grinned, inspecting the spatters of blood still coating the top of Lucille. He went to move forward to kiss you in pride of his triumph but his grin changed into a pained expression as an ache in his back formed from the movement. "Shit. Guess I should've used Lucille a little earlier." He moaned, moving back into his earlier position. You moved forward yourself and placed a small kiss on his lips. You decided to save him on your little lecture- for now at least- and just focused on trying to make him feel less pain.

"Well I've just ran myself a bath but I think you need it a lot more than I do. It will help you relax... and you stink a bit." You joked, standing up to go to the bathroom.

"That sounds fucking heavenly, sweetheart. Thank you." He smiled back. That was one of the things you really loved about Negan. To his men and the rest of the saviours he acted like this stone cold monster who only cares for destruction and hurting people. But you always saw through his facade and realised he only behaved this way because he truly did care about them. All of them. Even the ones that could be complete dicks sometimes. And that was one of the things that drew the two of you together. He knew you didn't fall for the way he acted and used you to have real conversations with. These conversations led to the two of you fooling around and then ended up with him getting rid of all his wives and being fully committed to you. You loved how he could just be himself around you and you loved how he trusted you with every one of his personal thoughts, almost making himself vulnerable to you. It was like he was a different person when he walked through the door to your room. Well, apart from the swearing, but you don't think anything could change that.

You walked into the bathroom and pulled out a towel for him before walking back into the front room and practically lifting the man off the sofa into the bathroom. Hissing a little in pain, Negan stepped in, sighing in content as the heat went to his muscles. "Better?" You smiled at him, watching as his face went into complete relaxation under the bubbles. He took a deep breath and nodded his head, letting the heat take over his body. You leaned back and reached for the bottle of shampoo on top of the cabinet, pouring a small pool of it in your hand before leaning over and massaging your fingers into his scalp. Small moans left his mouth as you ran your fingers through his hair, tugging a little at the ends each time before cupping water in your hands and washing it out of his hair, watching as the foamy white slowly cascaded down his chest.

"That feels so fucking good." He hummed in a low voice as you washed out the last bit. You smiled at knowing that he was finally letting you help him relax. Next, you lathered your hands in soap, running them over his shoulders and down his chest, cleaning any bits of mud and dirt that made it through his shirt, being careful not to get the cut on his side. Within 10 minutes, the water was beginning to run cold so you helped Negan get back out. He put on his boxers and climbed onto the bed, the ache in his joints coming back almost instantaneously.

"Lay on your stomach." You told him, trying to softly roll him over from his back. He raised his eyebrow in confusion at you, trying to work out what you were doing. "Please? It'll be worth it." You convinced him, watching as he followed your orders, wincing in pain at each movement. You moved over him and sat on his arse, lowering your weight carefully to make sure you wouldn't hurt him.

"What are you doi- oh fuck." He cut his own question short with a low moan as you began to rub his shoulders, pushing in with the tips of your fingers. You could feel how tense his muscles were and knew that this would help. Your fingers trailed lower, focusing on his lower back which was causing him the most pain, massaging circles with the base of your palm as you felt him unwind. You continued doing this for a further 20 minutes before moving down and doing the same with the backs of his thighs and calf muscles, small moans escaping from the man's mouth at each little push as the aches began to slowly disappear.

"Who'd have thought that big man Negan could come so undone with a little massage?" You chuckled, sliding off his body after feeling satisfied with your work. The man in question rolled over and moved back up the bed, climbing under the covers and taking you with him.

"Thank you so fucking much for that. Damn that felt good, makes me feel 10 years younger." Negan stated.

"It's okay, Old Man." You grinned, laughing as his hand came up to flick your forehead while he muttered a 'rude' under his breath. You moved your hand up to his cheek as he leaned in and kissed you, pulling you closer to him and wrapping his arms around you. Your fingers found their way to his hair again, running through the greying strands. "Negan, can you promise me something?" You began to question, watching as his eyes peaked with interest. He nodded his head, confused again. "Please look after yourself better. No matter how much I love being able to take care of you for once, I'd love it so much more if you were to come in here the way that you left. Can you take the rest of the week off, please? Simon and the boys are good men, they can take care of anything that you need them to. You just need to get back to your usual self; I can see the way you're working now is exhausting you." You finished. You saw that he was about to open his mouth to retaliate. "Please, for me?" You practically begged. "It hurts so much seeing you like this and whenever you go out in a bad state it makes me worry that you won't be coming back." You confessed, moving your hand to rub the now dark purple bruise under his eye. He sighed.

"Okay but under one condition only." He responded with a smirk on his face. You looked at him quizzically. "As soon as I can move about properly, I'm paying you back for what you did for me today. I honestly can't believe how fucking lucky I am. Shit, I honestly don't know what I'd do without you." He said, whispering the last part as if he were embarrassed to admit something like that. You went to argue back that you didn't do it so he would do something in return but you knew that whatever you said would be futile so you simply nodded your head. You both laid down and you rested your head on his chest, being soothed by the sound of his heartbeat.

"I love you." You whispered against his chest, placing a kiss on the skin there. You felt him wrap his arms tighter around you and pull you closer.

"I love you too, doll."

[wrathfulmercy]

Ask the mun ✌ ✿ 웃 ♂ ➳ ❤ ☂

Ask the mun from here

✌ :  Fondest role-play memory, between muses?

So many 🥺 the first kisses, the first times, the headcanons, falling in love, breakups and reuniting… all the times someone cherished my muses is a fond memory 😭 you can’t imagine how much it means to me if someone loves them 😭

✿ :  Fondest role-play memory, between muns?

So so many 🥺 I met so many nice people through rp and one of my best friends I know since 16 years was one of my first long time rp partners ❤️ I also lost many partners which always gave me a big heartbreak, but still I shared so many nice memories with them too that I’ll always keep them in my heart and try to focus on the good things ❤️

웃 :  An existing character you’ve played in the past that you miss?

No one really cause I wouldn’t play the muses I played back then. The only one I would consider playing again is Mylene, with the faceclaim of Mylene Jampanoi cause I think this woman is just ❤️ but I love my Alex so much that I don’t need another female muse I think.

♂ :  Do you have a role-play/writing routine? If so, what is it?

Yes. Getting into comfy clothes, turning on some music and laying down in bed to write :) often I also light candles that remind me of the muse I play and reread older threads or scroll through pictures to get into the mood.

➳ :  Do you prefer writing on your own, on tumblr/a forum, or on an IM platform? Why?

I always used to play on IM platforms after MySpace closed, but since I started on MySpace in the comments where you could include pictures and gifs as well this is still my favorite way to do it. I love how you can jump through threads and memes on tumblr, that’s something that doesn’t exist on IM platforms. And forums are a bit tooooo open for me cause I feel easily judged and like to keep it in private. I’m a very visual person so I love aesthetics, gifs, manips, crackships, fan made videos, art… everything inspires me and I need it to write. That’s also a reason why I can’t play with characters who have no faceclaim or are animated or have a face I don’t connect with cause that’s not real enough for me. On tumblr it’s so easy to make threads and memes look pretty with all the banners and gifs and different fonts that’s why I love this platform. Also on IM platforms (amino for example) I often had the feeling that one liners use it more often while I find a lot of literal players here.

❤ :  What are some role-plays that you have done/are doing that you particularly enjoy and wish to share with your followers?

I had such amazing stories with partners I don’t write with anymore I would love to share but of course I won’t cause we don’t have contact anymore and I wouldn’t share anything against their will. Besides that I’m writing amazing private rps with @negans-savior-complex and @ricks-survivor-complex but I share a lot of it already so :)

☂ :  Spread some love: mention someone you’ve met that has influenced you or your writing in a positive way, and explain how.

Oh damn so many and I probably forget some people here…

@we-will-begin-again Mica introduced me into this rp twd fandom and she was one of the first muns I ever talked to on here. Of course her Lori is one of the most important characters for my Rick and I love how amazingly she portrays all of her characters. besides that she became so important to me as a friend cause she always listens and became my kind of rp manager 😂

@xgoldxnhour El is such an amazing character and her mun inspired me so much! Whenever we write I feel like getting better and better in my writing too and our stories will probably never end ❤️

@lovelylostminds Charlotte was one of the first muses who gave my Rick an original pre established relationship and I loved it from the beginning. Also her mun is such a good friend to me and I can’t stop cherishing her enough ❤️

@thesongbiird my babe 🥺 she was one of the first writing with my Rick and she made me fall in love with the brick ship ❤️ she also was the first one who taught me about jumping through threads and verses and memes and she is the reason why I now enjoy tumblr rp so much cause before I met her I only followed one thread, one continuing story without memes or jumping. Without her I probably wouldn’t play here anymore ❤️

@negans-savior-complex your writing is sooooooo good that I’m absolutely blessed you share your Negan with me 🥺 sometimes you feels like a lost twin and I absolutely adore you for sharing your creativity with me ❤️

@tigeriisms Kevin was the first male muse I shared my Rick with besides Negan. Before we met I never could imagine Rick with any other man especially not an OC but this mun made me love OCs so thanks to my boy I started writing with so many OCs and I would have never done it without Kevin ❤️

@mettleborn I said that so many times already but Erin is one of my biggest inspirations on this platform. Her writing is not from this earth and I wish I had her skills, ngl. She made me such a better writer, was the first one including gifs and songs in threads and therefore I did it too. I can’t thank her enough for writing with me and her muses are absolutely amazing ❤️

@negans-savior-complex

[twdmusicboxmystery]

TTD for 10x21: Splintered

First of all, they talked about Leah A LOT in TTD. One of the Property Brothers, Drew, was on as a guest, and even he kept mentioning her. Which tells me he was coached because other than one question Chris asked, why else would he? They didn’t confirm she was a hallucination or anything, but they did confirm it was Leah’s knife and that Daryl giving it to Carol was meant to be him letting go of Leah.

So even if we turn out to be wrong about the hallucination (doubtful) people don’t have to worry about a continuing romance between them. From a hallucination standpoint, you could say he’s letting go of the hallucination, and in this episode, I truly do think we see sequences that foreshadow him find Beth, so…

Okay, so they didn’t say how long it would be, but apparently ep 22 is “extended” so it will be a longer than usual episode. I noticed a black and white chess set behind Cooper. And of course, he’s at his home, but I couldn’t help but wonder if that was intentional. They also said that of the 6 bonus episodes, they filmed this one first. I’m not sure why or if we should be reading into that, but it’s kind of interesting.

About the pirate book? They say in the Behind the Dead stuff that it’s important because when Daryl and Carol first talked about leaving in 10x01, she wanted him to come on the boat with him and they could be pirates. So talk about leaving on the bike, which we know they’ll do in the spinoff, and pirates, are all synonymous. Not that I needed it, but that’s just proof to me that this foreshadows those future storylines, especially for how/when they’ll find Beth.

So, the things they talked about and emphasized are all things I’m reading into as TD clues.

They talked a lot about why Dog went with Carol rather than Daryl. At first, I think Chris asked Melissa this. I didn’t take away tons from what MMB said. She talked about how, in 10x18, Carol was spoiling Dog and giving him food, so that may have been why. But also that maybe Carol just needed the company, and Daryl needed some alone time. And dogs are very intuitive about that sort of thing. Then Drew (Property Brother—I had to go look up is name so I wasn’t objectifying him ;D) said he felt like it was the last straw of betrayal for Daryl. Like, everyone in your life had either abandoned or betrayed you, and to add insult to injury, even your dog leaves you.

Now, that’s a weird thing to say about THIS episode. Because here, they make light of it. Daryl says “nice” and then at the end, he goes back and Dog is happy to see him, and everything is okay. So it’s weird for sometime to suggest that based on this episode, Daryl felt like Dog betrayed him, except in a salty, roll-his-eyes sort of way. So that tells me this foreshadows a time when Daryl truly will feel betrayed by everyone and totally alone.

But then, later in the episode, Cooper randomly chimed in about this again. He just went, “oh, you know that thing we were talking about earlier? I have some thoughts.” So it wasn’t something he was asked, but rather something he really wanted people to know.

He basically said that, as far as why Dog went with Carol, we could also ask why Dog went with Daryl when Daryl first met him as a pup. Why did he go with Daryl over Leah so often? And the answer (which is clearly symbolic/thematic) is that Daryl needed him Dog at the time. Here, Carol needs him.

Then Cooper even goes so far as to say the same thing is true of the knife. Daryl kept the knife and had the knife for a long time, because, emotionally, he needed to hang onto it. He doesn’t anymore. But Carol is in a dark place now and she needs it.

It made me think also of Beth and Daryl’s interactions in S4. You could argue that, not from a literal, plot standpoint, but from an emotional/thematic standpoint, Daryl needed her. So the writers put her with Daryl. Of course that’s not the only reason, but Daryl was in such an emotionally distraught place, that he needed Beth to pull him out of it.

So, how do we interpret that? Here’s what I’m thinking. I’ve said before that once Daryl and Carol split up (in the future when they leave together on the bike) Carol will get a reunion with Beth first, right? So I’m wondering if we’ll hit a point where Beth will want to go find Daryl, but she’ll choose to stay with Carol for a short time, because she can see Carol is in such a dark place and needs her. More on this later and some minor things in my timeline that I’m rethinking. Because I think symbolism in the episode supports it.

When they did the “in memoriam,” Chris all of sudden said, “but not the rat! He made it out of there!” *coughs Beth*

They randomly started talking about demolition because of Drew Property Brother. He joked that he wanted to put Carol on his demolition crew because of what she did to the wall. But then (again very random mention) he says that she really ought to go to Leah’s cabin and do work there, because it clearly needed more work than the kitchen did. So, I’m taking that to be their way of showing that both the wall and Leah’s cabin represent the same thing. And we’ve called both of them tombs.

About the stone soup story? Cooper said it represents all the little things Carol has done to keep people alive, when she thought she was doing the right thing. So the person getting all the ingredients eventually results in soup, which is food, which people need to live. And they’ve been talking about not having enough food right now in the show. But then Jerry says, “it doesn’t sound very tasty.” And that’s because all the little things she’s done—like blowing up the cave, letting Negan out, etc—were necessary to defeat the Whisperers and keep everyone alive, but of course it seemed really destructive at the time. So, that’s why Jerry says it doesn’t taste good. Whether the soup tastes good or not, it’s necessary to keep everyone alive.

They also talk about how Daryl isn’t seeing it this way yet. He’s not seeing that some of these things may have been necessary in the long run, even if they sucked at the time.

This is kind of minor, but several of them brought up the idea of Carol using the rat to make soup. I didn’t think of that, but given that she’s wanting for ingredients, it only make sense that she would try to use the rat, but they didn’t do that at all. And the director didn’t really say anything about it. He just kind of laughed and went, “haha, um, no, she didn’t.” And I had to chuckle at that because it really would have been the logical thing for her to. If they didn’t do that, it’s purely for the symbolism of it. We can’t have Carol putting Beth in a pot of soup, now can we? ;D

Back to Leah. When they confirmed it wasn’t her knife, they said it was significant how it passed along the chain (from Leah to Daryl to Carol) and that at the end, Daryl is willing to give it up and let Leah have it. They didn’t say how or why it was significant, just that it was. So yeah. Side-eying that.

Again, the director said Carol probably took the knife as Daryl giving her a peace offering after their fight, but symbolically it represents him letting go of Leah. Melissa also said Daryl and Carol are mirroring each other a lot here.

Another interesting thing they talked about is that Daryl realizes he needs the thing he gave Carol. While obviously this symbolically represents Beth, I’m very curious to see what it is in a more literal sense in the plot when this plays out later. But the point is, he gave Carol the knife, and then he needed it and didn’t have it. And that’s kind of what drove him to the cars and the traintracks and to find the military walkers (CRM). So it’s very interesting from a symbolic/foreshadowing standpoint.

One thing we haven’t discussed is that Daryl falls into a dry riverbed. There’s even a small bridge and a round, water tunnel (like we used to see in the opening credits) behind him. And the director said one thing about it that I thought was weird. Chris was asking him if he ever gets squeamish after being on TWD so long and if walker kills ever bother him. And he said he thought Daryl killing the walker in the ditch was one of the most brutal kills they’d ever done on the show.

Umm? I have to say I disagree. I guess I need to rewatch it. I think he stabs it in the head, but other than the obvious, it didn’t seem particularly gnarly to me. I could name 10 other kills off the top of my head that were way grosser. (Terminus, anyone? Daryl with pipe?) But I wonder if he’s hinting at something symbolic here.

Here’s an interesting thing we’ll probably analyze for a while. They said Carol taking the red bucket out to get ingredients for the soup (and bringing ingredients back in it) is a callback to season 1 when Amy brought fish back to the camp in the same red bucket. Yikes, we could go down a rabbit hole with that!

Both represent bringing food back/feeding everyone/keeping them alive. And as we already discussed, Carol does things to keep the group alive, even if they don’t “taste good.” But I wonder if we could apply that to every instance of the red we’ve seen. I mean, I know we’ve discussed the idea that what happened with Beth in Coda “had to happen” in some way. (It went the way it had to, etc.) I don’t know. But that’s definitely an interesting callback they gave us. Plus the fish symbolism, etc.

Okay, then Drew talked about the army walkers again. He said there were two of them and they were all decked out in their fatigues and Daryl actually finds a lot of supplies on them, but we didn’t see any army vehicles. So Drew said he wondered fi there was some place in the vicinity that we don’t know about yet.

And when he said that, the director, David Boyd, gave him a thumbs up. So they’re definitely confirming and hinting at future storylines here. They also confirmed (inside the dead) that Leah has a military past. So, to be fair, we don’t know if this “unknown place in the vicinity” is still standing. These guys could have come from the same place Leah did, and based on her story and the fact that they’re walkers, it might not be a thing anymore. But then again, it might.

They did talk about the Daryl under the car scene, but they didn’t say much about it. It was like they wanted to draw our attention to it, but couldn’t actually say much. They mostly talked about how the car was on pulleys and it was very safe, with no real chance of Norman getting hurt. But that was pretty much it. I mean, Glenn crawled under the dumpster to live, so maybe Beth crawled under the car? I don’t know. I’m sure that scene is super important, but I haven’t decided what I think about it yet.

They had a SUPER random callback to Lizzie, of all things, and I have no idea why, other than that this was a Carol-heavy episode. They asked Cooper what a Jerry, Nabila, and Kids spinoff would look like. Cooper said it would be a “3-wall comedy” and then started talking about how the kids would want to keep the walkers as pets. And then everyone started going, “don’t name them! Whatever you do, don’t name them!” So, they didn’t actually mention Lizzie by name, but clearly…

Um, and then we got the sneak peek of Here’s Negan. We see him digging in a field outside the walls and he finds Lucille. Then the flashback to 12 years ago starts, and he’s clearly run afoul of some kind of biker gang, but that’s all we get in the peek.

Notice the viper/snake reference on his jacket.

 That’s it for TTD.

Thoughts?

[twdbegins]

An Injured Man

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Simon x Fem. Reader

Warnings: Injury, Language.

Word Count: 1,502

“That’s what’s keeping me going,”

__

It wasn’t at all abnormal to have a Savior come into the infirmary with some sort of gruesome injury. While the Sanctuary wasn't exactly the safest place on Earth, it was a hell of a lot better than having no where to go. As the Sanctuary’s in-residence doctor, you had seen pretty much everything. Anything from bullet shrapnel in some guy’s leg to one of the wives having a pregnancy scare were familiar to you. However, it wasn’t often that you had someone you were close to come in because they were sick/injured. Of course everyone knew you since you were the only real medical help around, but there were only a handful of people that you were super tight with and associated yourself with. So, it was only natural for things to get personal when someone you cared about came in. 

You weren’t particularly busy that day. Only a savior with a minor wasp sting and another savior with a somewhat badly scraped knee. Nothing super out of the ordinary. However, things took a turn when you heard Negan and Dwight’s frantic voices down the hall accompanied by the sound of a man’s painful cries. The entered the doorway and you were met with a gruesome scene. Dwight and Negan had Simon draped on their shoulders as his blood slowly leaked from his leg. All the color was drained from his face and he was visibly in pain. He was trying to hold it together, but the way his eyes were rolled back, he wouldn’t be for long;

“[Y/N],” Dwight said as he and Negan carried him to the table, “He hurt his leg.”

You stood in front of his left leg, pushing up his blood soaked pant leg to see a deep spiral cut from his ankle to the middle of his calf;

“My God, what happened?” You said rushing to the cabinet to put on gloves.

Simon’s voice was strained as he spoke;

“I got caught in the fence,” He said swallowing hard, “Ripped me up when I got out of it.”

You grabbed a bottle of cleaning alcohol and medical pads from the same cabinet. You had to disinfect it before you could do anything else; you had to lower his risk for infection. Dwight and Negan were watching as Simon’s state began to get worse. This kind of deep cut was extremely painful, so much to the point where you can lose consciousness;

“Si, this is going to hurt a little, okay?” You said sweetly and calmly; “I’ve got to clean this out.” 

He was gripping the sides of the table so hard that his knuckles were white. You poured a little of the alcohol on his leg and Simon went ballistic. His legs started flailing and his head flew backwards, you stopped pouring;

“Guys, hold his legs.” You said to Dwight and Negan. 

Each of them obliged and held down a leg, Dwight taking extra care since he was holding the injured one. Simon’s breathing was erratic and heavy;

“Baby, I can’t. I-” 

Negan’s head snapped to you at the endearment. Simon hadn’t even realized that he had said it. With the pain he was in, he’d give up government secrets for some relief. You looked to Negan with a look that read don’t-even-think-about-bringing-it-up-now and focused back on Simon.

“Shh, you’ve got to stay still,” You hushed him gently, “It’s going to hurt worse if you move. I’m going to clean it, give you something to numb it, and stitch you up as fast as I can. I just need you stick with me here, okay?” You said as he gripped your hand tightly.

He managed a weak nod as he let go of your hand. You began pouring the alcohol back on his leg, working through his screams. It hurt you to hear his painful screams and desperate cries as you placed the alcohol soaked pads on his leg. Honestly, this wasn’t the best way to do things, but your resources were limited. You were just trying to help him, but causing him pain only made you feel worse;

“I know, I know,” You said softly as he continued to groan in pain, “Negan, talk to him. Keep him calm. I’m afraid he’s going to go into shock.” You stated under your breath to keep from scaring Simon. 

Negan looked a little frazzled at first, but quickly started spitting out words;

“You’re one tough son of a bitch, you know that?” He said in his usual Negan voice.

“I sure don’t feel like it.” Simon said feeling his hands begin to shake from the pain.

You couldn’t help but smirk to yourself at the sound of their brother-like conversation. To you it wouldn’t have been all that comforting, but it was keeping him distracted, so you didn't say anything. While Negan continued to talk, Dwight was rather silent. You were pretty sure he wasn’t the best with graphic stuff like this, you were just hoping he didn’t pass out so you wouldn’t have two people to take care of. You took the syringe to draw back the lidocaine to numb the area before stitching. 

“Just think, once you’re stitched up, you’ll have a pretty doctor to take care of you for the next two weeks.” Negan said with a wink.

Simon managed a slight laugh;

“That’s what’s keeping me going,” He said looking down at you; “I guess it’s not really a secret anymore.”

You looked back with a smile as you began to stitch his leg. Negan had to admit, he was amused that you managed to go this long under the radar. The numbness would cause Simon to lose mobility of his leg for a couple hours, so it was important that Dwight kept his leg from falling off the table for now. Speaking of Dwight, he didn't look so good;

“Dwight, you okay? You going to make it?” You said half-jokingly looking at his pale face.

He nodded;

“Yeah, just a little light-headed.” He said shortly. 

“You hear that, Si? You’re doing better than Dwight over here.” Negan laughed. 

Simon was way calmer now, the pain meds taking over. He was a little woozy and would be for a few hours. You finished stitching his leg after about fifteen or twenty minutes and wrapped it carefully to protect it. You set a hand on his shoulder;

“It’ll take a few weeks for the stitches to heal. He’s not going to be able to walk on it for a little while,” You said to Negan, “I’d advise you have someone take over his work.”

Dwight, who was still a little pale in the face, knew this meant he would be the substitute in question;

“Hear that, Dwighty-boy? You’re gonna be my right-hand-man for the next few weeks.” Negan remarked. 

Simon groaned on the table;

“You’re gonna be fine,” You said looking at him, “I’ll take the stitches out in a few weeks.” 

Simon slurred a string of incoherent words causing you to stifle a laugh. A few minutes later, after talking more, Negan and Dwight left to finish out the day’s work. That left you and a very drugged Simon. You would keep him in the infirmary overnight to monitor him;

“[Y/N]...” He croaked; “What are you doing?”

You were across the room, organizing a cabinet;

“Going through some supplies. What are you doing?” You asked obviously knowing the answer.

When you didn’t get a response, you turned around to see him fast asleep. You laughed to yourself, turning back to the cabinet. You rummaged through supplies before you heard his voice again;

“[Y/N],” He called again; “Come here.”

You snorted, glancing over your shoulder at him. You stood next to him, looking down at him;

“Yes?” 

He looked up at you with glassy eyes;

“You’re really pretty,” He complimented; “I think you’re pretty.”

Your cheeks grew hot at his words. Even when drugged he was still the same charming guy you loved so much. You cupped his face in your hand, stroking with his thumb;

“Well, I’m sure glad you think so.” You giggled.

“Do you think Negan knows?” He asked immediately after.

You shrugged, but nodded as well;

“I would definitely say so. You kind of gave it away.” You admitted.

He hummed;

“It’s fine. Not like I ever wanted to hide it.” He confessed.

“I know, but remembered we agreed it was best for a little while. We didn’t expect to always keep it a secret.” You reminded him.

He grumbled something incoherently before letting his eyes flutter shut. Poor guy was exhausted. 

“I’m glad I don’t have to anymore. You’re too special to be hidden away.” He meweled.

Before you could even get out a reply, he was fast asleep once more and didn’t show any signs of waking up soon. You smiled at him again, kissing his forehead. His leg would heal quickly. You were sure of it. 

He’d be back to being Negan’s right-hand-man in no time.