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constantcrisis19 · 1 year

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Stay With Me - Part 1

Daryl Dixon x GN S/O

AN: Just a bit of a heads up, if you like Carol then this might not be such a great fic to read because I do bash her character quite a bit in this. Sorry guys. Otherwise, feel free to read on!

Word Count: 2,306

Part 2

You blinked the stinging sweat out of your eyes, squinting against the blinding sun as you miserably trudged across the blacktop.

It was one of those blisteringly hot days that made you miss being able to sit inside your shitty apartment with the air conditioning cranked up as high as it could go as you sat on the couch and demolished a pint of delicious ice cream.

You sighed and adjusted the strap of your shoulder bag for the umpteenth time, lamenting the loss of that blissful cold as the sun beat down on you.

You could hear Daryl’s labored breathing as he walked next to you and -not wanting to be caught staring at your best friend a second time- you stubbornly kept your gaze on the road ahead of you, watching the air above the tarmac swim.

In an attempt to counter the heat, everyone had stripped down as much as possible while still remaining decent and Daryl turned out to be no exception. And, while he had admittedly held out longer than everyone else in the group, he did eventually cave under the sweltering heat.

Daryl had stiffly removed his shirt and vest before roughly stuffing both articles of clothing into his bag like they had personally offended him, leaving him bare chested.

You couldn’t help but stare at the man as he stripped, his tanned skin glistening under the golden rays of light and putting his various scars on full display, the tension in his frame easing when it became apparent that no one was going to draw attention to the marks on his back.

His shaggy hair dripped with sweat as he wandered down the road, your eyes tracking the drop as it slithered down his exposed collarbones and chest, finally prying your gaze away when it began to roll over his solid abdomen, getting dangerously close to the waistband of his low hanging jeans.

Unlike everyone else, Daryl managed to do the impossible and make heatstroke look attractive.

Your eyes rose from Daryl’s body and back up to his face, your cheeks reddening in a way that had nothing to do with sunburn when you met his gaze, his head subtly tilted towards you. You jerked your head around and forced your eyes forward, not daring to look at him again lest you make him uncomfortable as embarrassment flooded your system.

You let out a slow breath at the memory and lifted the bottom of your thin henley in order to wipe at your sweaty face with the fabric, revealing the soaked, gray tank top that you had on underneath. You heard someone snort and dropped the shirt, your gaze finding Glenn -who was walking a few paces to your left- and raised a brow at him in question.

Glenn shook his head with a secretive smile, unhelpfully refusing to tell you what he found so damn funny, and you felt a brief spike of irritation shoot through you, the horrid weather and the uncomfortable sensation of your wet clothes sticking to your overheated skin making you less tolerant than usual.

“Shut up, Glenn.” You snapped half-heartedly, gaining a breathless laugh of surprise from Maggie at your unexpected attitude, before you rolled your eyes and turned your attention back to your shirt.

“What did I do?” You heard Glenn ask Maggie incredulously as you frowned down at the damp spot that wiping your face had left on the fabric, lightly brushing the pads of your fingers over the darkened material.

You felt a pang of loss as you stared at the ruined Henley, already grieving the loss of your favorite shirt since the odds of stumbling across a body of water to wash it in at this point was practically nonexistent, so -when it inevitably stained- you would have to get rid of it.

Then Daryl was lightly tapping at your shoulder with his knuckles and, when you looked over at him, he gestured to the road in front of you, bringing your attention to the fact that everyone had stopped.

You slowed to a halt and stared in shock at the back end of a traffic jam, a cold shiver rolling down your spine as you looked out at the sea of rusted, rundown vehicles.

You tried to ignore the sinking feeling in your gut but it was impossible. Something about this place was bothering you, but you couldn't quite place your finger on what.

Rick, who was apparently just as hesitant about entering unknown territory as you were, tilted his head as his narrowed gaze scanned over the mess before he lifted one of his hands to wave you and Daryl forward.

“I need you two to scout ahead, make sure it’s safe.” Rick stated when you came into hearing range and you shared a look with Daryl before giving a sharp nod, turning to make your way into the graveyard of cars, being sure to stay low and quiet as you weaved through the mess.

After Terminus, no one was about to underestimate another seemingly innocent area.

As you prowled through the abandoned vehicles, you quickly realized that the jam just kept going with no end in sight, so you weren’t surprised when Daryl signaled for the both of you to turn back with a whistle only about ten minutes into your journey.

You let out a sigh and pivoted in order to jog back, Daryl catching up with you before you exited the traffic jam, the two of you trotting over to where Rick was standing.

“Well, the good news is that there’s nothing suspicious. Though I still don’t trust it.” You said in lieu of a greeting, scuffing the tip of your shoe on the road. You watched as Rick’s brow rose at your blunt statement, the man glancing over at Daryl as if to confirm your observations, Daryl meeting Rick’s gaze before nodding.

“It goes on for a while, we didn’t get ta the other end.” Daryl added quietly, shifting from foot to foot as he spoke, his narrowed gaze darting over to the traffic jam blocking the group’s way, as if he was expecting something to happen.

You couldn’t fault Daryl for his paranoia since you also had a bad feeling about the situation as a whole.

“Give me a moment.” Rick asked politely, his expression thoughtful as he turned away from the two of you to stare out at the packed road.

The moment that you were both dismissed and stepped away from where Rick was contemplating his options, Carol trotted over and caught Daryl by the arm with a smile, halting the man in his tracks.

You barely held back a scowl as you watched the woman rush to catch and hold the man's attention, though you unfortunately weren't surprised at the turn of events since this kind of behavior wasn't exactly unusual for her.

It wouldn't be the first or last time that Carol felt entitled to Daryl's time.

Daryl resisted Carol’s insistent tugging for a moment, his eyes darting away from the woman who was currently trying to draw him away and over to where you were standing. And, upon realizing that you had his attention, you crossed your arms over your chest and shrugged in response to his silent question, feigning indifference.

You stubbornly resisted the urge to fidget as he scanned over your forcefully casual posture and, fortunately enough for you, it didn’t take him long to find whatever it was that he had been looking for, the man giving you a sharp nod before finally allowing Carol to drag him to the fringes of the milling group.

You watched as they were swallowed up by the small crowd, allowing a frown to take over your features when Carol’s hand lingered on Daryl’s arm even though they had come to a stop and there was no reason to hold onto him anymore.

You startled when a hand dropped onto your shoulder, your head snapping around as you looked for the threat, your hand simultaneously dropping to the knife you had holstered on your hip.

Your hand hesitated next to the leather sheath when your gaze met familiar ice blue eyes before your hand dropped back to your side, your lips pressing into an unimpressed line when you met Rick's amused expression.

You rolled your eyes in response to his teasing look, allowing his touch as you stuffed your hands into the pockets of your ratty jeans. Then, keeping his hand firmly on your shoulder, he called for the group's attention.

“We’ll be going through the traffic jam.” He stated confidently and, when no one immediately began to protest, he relaxed a little, losing a bit of the tension in his shoulders. “Take anything that we can use and be sure to be on the lookout for anything suspicious.”

After he was finished with his instructions he easily handled the various concerns that several members had brought up, ensuring that everyone knew what to do just in case things went sideways.

Once the questions died down, Rick took his hand off your shoulder and stepped up next to you, his ice blue eyes scanning the crowd to find Daryl before giving the man a sharp nod.

I followed Rick's gaze over to where Daryl was standing just in time to watch the scout dip his chin in return before taking point with Carol, leading the group toward the edge of the traffic jam.

You opted to stay behind with Rick, taking up the rear with your appointed leader and walking with the man in a companionable silence.

Unfortunately for you though, Rick was much more perceptive than he had any right to be and he brought up a topic you’d been desperately trying to avoid thinking about.

“I’ve noticed that you seem very uncomfortable when Daryl and Carol are together. Would you like to talk about it?” Rick asked and your gaze cut over to him, brows furrowed.

You glanced around, spotting Daryl looking back every so often from his place at the front of the group, but otherwise everyone else was occupied with scavenging supplies from the vehicles surrounding them.

“Keep your voice down. Jesus.” You snapped as you slowed your pace, getting some distance between the two of you and Tara, who was walking in front of you with Michonne.

The last thing you wanted was for anything said during your conversation to get back to Daryl because -knowing him- he'd take everything out of context and engage you in yet another screaming match.

It wasn’t exactly a secret that the two of you have had quite a few intense arguments fueled by miscommunication since meeting him. Daryl just always seemed to assume the worst.

When it became apparent that Rick wasn’t going to drop his current line of questioning, you let loose a resigned sigh and told Rick that, while you personally believed that Carol wasn't good for Daryl, you respected his desire to spend time with her and didn't hold it against him.

Though, that being said, any bad blood that was between yourself and Carol wasn't due to me being jealous of the other women's friendship with Daryl, but rather Carol's intense envy of my close bond with the man.

Rick took the information in stride and you had the jarring realization that the reason behind the man's sudden interest in bringing up your own relationship with Daryl was most likely because Carol had said something to him, and the mere thought of the other woman trying to sabotage you had your blood boiling.

Sure, you hadn't been with the group for as long as Carol, but you hoped that Rick wouldn't take her word over yours just because of something as shallow as seniority.

You stopped Rick with a hand on his chest, his previously thoughtful expression morphing into one of concern as he took in your defensive body language.

You and Rick stood together in a brief, mutual silence as the group kept on, the gap between the both of you and the others growing with every second that went by.

“Daryl always asks where you are on the rare occasion that he isn’t with you. Usually he just goes around from person to person until someone can give him your location.” Rick stated conversationally and when you didn't immediately respond, Rick looked you right in the eye before continuing. “Now I’ve known Daryl for a long time and he’s only ever behaved that way with you.”

Before you could even begin to process what that meant, a low, impatient whistle pierced the air, drawing your attention to Daryl, who -upon realizing that the two of you were falling behind- had stopped the group and was looking back at you and Rick with an unimpressed stare.

Rick waved him off with a good-natured grin, the two of you sharing a look before beginning to walk again, catching up with the group. Once you and Rick had rejoined the others, Rick gripped Daryl’s shoulder and gave a firm squeeze before letting go, the man then turning to you in order to nudge you towards where Daryl was standing.

When you shot him a questioning look, the man smiled before speaking. “Y/n, why don’t you and Daryl go on ahead and make sure the way is clear.”

And, despite being unsure of what angle Rick was playing, you decided to just go along with his plan and join Daryl, expertly ignoring the way Carol's face twisted up in distaste at Daryl being paired off with you -as per usual- as the two of you prowled into the mess of broken down vehicles.

#the walking dead #twd #daryl dixon #daryl dixon x reader #season 5 #on the road #mutual pining #friends to lovers #jealousy #oblivious reader #rick ships it #part 1 of 2

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demetriandelibinaryboyfriends · 7 months

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WAIT UR THE ‘demitri and eli take a gay little road trip to find miguel’ GUY?? I LOVE THAT FIC OMG

YES HI I'm That Guy!!! That's my fic!!! Thank you for still noticing and reading it!!! <3 <3 <3

TBH it hasn't been getting a lot of comments or interaction lately, so I wasn't sure if people were still following it or really thinking about it much D: I definitely am going to continue and I have pretty solid plans up through about Chapter 13, but I got caught up in good old Adult Things (got a car part stolen and had to speedrun finding a job, and by some insane miracle I landed a good one???) and had to sorta get my life together for a while. I was also pretty bummed and discouraged that the Elimetri fandom kinda fizzed out after S5, and the hype that was there after S3 and S4 seems few and far between these days </3 And when someone DOES show up and get hyped about my boys, it always seems like they get bored after like 2 weeks and vanish into the ether again D: I feel like an immortal roaming the ruins of a once great and thriving civilization akjsalksufhdulrh

BUT ALL THAT TO SAY this is really encouraging <3 <3 Love that people are still invested, and now that my life has stabilized a bit, I may actually get Chapter 7 done ^^; The canon Mexico plotline was the most underwhelming thing I've ever seen in my entire life (and Season 5 as a whole and I just...did not really Vibe for a lot of reasons), and it's frustrating because like!!! Why would you introduce this grand epic quest for Miguel to find his dad and learn about his Dark Past™️ and then have it be over in 5 minutes and reveal nothing interesting whatsoever about Hector!!! Like if the point was to have Johnny prove he could be a good father figure to Miguel after all and to cause conflict between Miguel and Sam, then there were like...ways to do that without yeeting Miguel to another country with no ultimate character development or narrative payoff :/

And they really expect me to believe Miguel and Robby sat in petty stony silence the whole several-hour drive home and didn't even try to talk through ANY of their issues??? Didn't have ANY road trip bonding whatsoever??? WHAT A FUCKING WASTE. LAME.

ANYWAYS. I know a lot of people were against the Mexico subplot from the jump (mainly because of the potential problematic directions the show could go with it I think), but I might have been in the minority in being excited for it and thinking it had a lot of potential to see a world outside the Valley. Potential which it...did not fill at all. Like at least show us what sketch-ass shit Hector actually DOES!!! My god!!! Also not Robby being like "I wanna make things right with Miguel!!!" and then...clearly not doing that. Like considering their apartment brawl later was the first time Robby has shown onscreen remorse for what he did to Miguel, Robby didn't even apologize in the car ride on the way back??? Or speak a single word to Miguel about the whole, like...Paralysis Incident??? For all Miguel knows, Robby was tagging along just for kicks ajhdsukhfuyh

The whole thing is a mess tbh. I blame rushed production for S5. Deadass thank god for the writer's strike??? Maybe with more time for the writers to actually do their jobs, S6 will give its plotlines some room to breathe.

SO YES, long story short, I wanna do this plot thread some justice and also have my OTP be gay as shit the whole time <3 And give Miguel the epically dangerous adventure of self-discovery he deserves while ultimately still showing him he is very loved and does not need his shitty biological dad!!! God bless!!!

Thank you again for sliding into my inbox about this fic, I am always looking for motivation to keep going with it :D

(For anyone who doesn't know, the first 6 chapters of the fic in question are posted on my AO3, SummerPhlox!)

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