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“Ugh...”
That was the sound that came out of Daryl Dixon’s mouth as he fell back against the bed of the truck he was sitting in. The sweltering Georgia heat was doing nothing to help the hangover that he was currently nursing. Daryl really did know better than to stay out ‘til 6 in the morning at the bars with his brother, especially when he knew that he had to spend the entire rest of the day out in the heat helping their father out with his produce business, but Daryl couldn’t possibly say no to his big brother.
Since their father’s cancer had taken a turn for the worse, Daryl and Merle took turns every Sunday running their family’s produce business... which really wasn’t much, considering the ‘business’ was nothing more than a small road side stand about a mile off from the on-ramp to the interstate.
Daryl cursed himself for drinking too much the night before, and cursed his brother twice as much for never wanting to pull all-nighters like this the night before he had to work the Sunday shift.
He lay there in the bed of that truck for a few moments, praying that the Advil he had taken would kick in and cure his pounding headache, and hoped like hell that nobody would come by and bother him today.
Glenn had been driving for what felt like forever. He had no idea that the small detour he had taken off of the interstate to try to find a gas station would get him so helplessly lost, but here he was, driving his newly bought Mercedes around the back roads right outside of his destination of Atlanta, with his gaslight on.
According to his GPS, he was only 24 minutes away from his newly bought townhouse, but he couldn’t find his location anywhere on the map. That’s how backwoods this place was, it wasn’t even on the damn map.
Great.
“Only you, Glenn, would be stupid enough to take the exit that led to absolute fucking nowhere,” he murmured to himself, before the small road side stand on the opposite side of the highway caught his eye.
“Finally,” he thought aloud, slamming on the gas pedal and quickly peeling out so that he was now crossing over to the opposite side of the highway toward that road side stand.
The roar of the engine revving in the distance roused Daryl from his laid back position. He instantly sat upright, just in time to see the candy apple red Mercedes crossing over to his side of the road. He immediately felt his heart swell; fuck, was that a hot car...
Daryl felt his throat go bone dry as the very same car that caused his heart to momentarily forget how to beat pulled to a stop next to his beat up pickup truck, and all but forgot how to breathe as quite simply, the most dashing, sharp dressed man emerged from within that absolutely breathtaking car.
“Hi,” the man said, flashing an absolutely brilliant smile at the hopelessly blushing redneck.
“Hi,” Daryl all but squeaked out, his heart literally skipping a handful of beats as he took in just how utterly breathtaking the well dressed man’s smile was. “Can I, um.. what can I do for you?”
Glenn took one look at the man in front of him, and felt something strange happening deep inside of his chest. Christ, that smile... and those biceps...
Glenn had never been more grateful for sleeveless shirts before in his entire life.
“I um, I’m so sorry to bother you, but I’ve been driving around for awhile and I’m running helplessly low on gas,” Glenn finally managed to reply, as he flashed (what he hoped was) a charming smile in the stranger’s direction. “Do you know where I can find the nearest gas station?”
Daryl felt a similar strange phenomenon happening deep within his own chest at the way the well dressed man was smiling at him, and couldn‘t help but crack a wide smile of his own at him in return.
“Oh, that’s easy,” Daryl replied easily, gesturing for the man to follow his lead. “If you go right up this road, yer gonna wanna hang a left, then go down about half a mile or so. There’s an old country store that has a full station service pump, ya can’t miss it.”
Daryl watched as an immediate wave of relief washed over the (ridiculously gorgeous) man’s face, and felt that (strange, though somewhat familiar) tugging at his heart yet again.
“That’s great, thank you so much for your help. I was thinking I’d be stuck on the side of the road before too long if I didn’t find a gas station soon,” the man replied, looking up at Daryl through his long lashes.
“Well, if something should happen on your way there, you can just give me a holler and I can come and give you a lift if you need one,” Daryl spoke quickly, quickly hushing the small voice in the back of his head that was yelling at him to bid the stranger a farewell and send him on his way.
“Oh, that would be great!” The man replied, with those perfect cheekbones arched high across his face into what could only be defined as the perfect smile.
Daryl found it incredibly easy to smile back in return, and extended his hand out for the man to shake.
“Name’s Daryl,” the redneck said, and if he weren’t sure that the sun was playing tricks on him, he would have sworn that the man’s smile somehow grew even more breathtaking than before.
Must be the hangover... he thought to himself, though all he could feel at that very moment was the warm, soft skin of the stranger’s hand as it fit perfectly into his own.
“Nice to meet you, Daryl. I’m Glenn,” the man replied, holding tightly on to Daryl’s extended, larger hand.
They remained like that for what felt like hours; grinning shyly at one another, hand in hand, calloused skin upon soft skin, until Daryl’s eyes fell upon their joined hands, and he saw just how remarkably clean Glenn’s skin was compared to his own.
He quickly pulled his hand away, blushing furiously as he cleared his throat. Thank goodness it was such a particularly hot day, he could easily blame the blush on his cheeks to the sun, and his seemingly long forgotten hangover...
Daryl then reached into his back pocket to retrieve his wallet, and grabbed a slightly tattered business card from within.
“My brother and I run the local garage,” Daryl explained, as he handed the card over to Glenn. “If you run into any trouble on your way to the gas station, or beyond that, my number is on there in case you need anything,” he added. Daryl couldn’t help but notice that his voice had come out slightly more gruff than he intended for it to, but before he could even attempt to figure out why this may be, the brightness that was radiating from the (mindblowingly gorgeous) man in front of him caused all train of thought to drift completely out of the window.
“I really can’t thank you enough,” Glenn beamed, looking at the business card that Daryl had just given to him.
Sure enough, Daryl’s phone number was listed right under the ‘Dixon Bros. Trucking and Garage’ logo, right under someone that called himself Merle’s phone number. Glenn pulled his own wallet out of his sports coat pocket, and tucked the card safely away inside of it.
“So uh, what have you got here?” Glenn wondered aloud, gazing thoughtfully at the redneck, before turning his attention to all of the merchandise that Daryl had to offer. Daryl blushed extra hard as he looked at the pitiful display of fruits and vegetables that was set up next to his beat up pickup truck, and sighed.
“Oh, just your typical roadside tourist attraction,” Daryl replied, shrugging his shoulders. “Finest that this part of Georgia has to offer.”
“I can tell,” Glenn mused, flashing the redneck a smile that Daryl thought was nothing short of absolutely gorgeous. Normally, when someone made a remark like that, it was taunting and full of malice. But there was something in the way that Glenn smiled at him, hidden deep inside as he spoke those few simple words in that soft spoken voice of his, that told Daryl that he meant every word.
“I’d really like to contribute to your sales for the day in exchange for you helping me,” Glenn said, smile still securely in place as the squeezing in Daryl’s chest tugged harder than before. “What do you recommend?”
Daryl took a quick look over the slightly bruised tomatoes, the small strawberries, and wilted turnip greens and immediately realized that nothing he had to offer was good enough for someone as devastatingly good looking and well put together as this Glenn fellow.
“Tell ya what,” Daryl said, as a brilliant idea flashed in his mind. “Remember that gas station I was tellin’ ya about?”
“Yeah,” Glenn replied, as the smile on Daryl’s face turned the well dressed man’s legs to absolute jelly.
“If you wanna do me any sort of favor, make sure you stop on inside and see Ms. Nancy,” Daryl said, his tone causing Glenn to hang on to his every word.
“Ms. Nancy?” Glenn repeated, as Daryl nodded.
“Most beautiful woman in all of Georgia,” Daryl reiterated, which caused Glenn’s heart to momentarily stop beating for several seconds. “She just so happens to make the best strawberry lemonade in the entire south... if you want to spend your money on something worthwhile, that strawberry lemonade is what I would recommend you spend it on.”
“Gas station... ask for Ms. Nancy... strawberry lemonade. Got it,” Glenn repeated, hoping that his smile wasn’t reflecting how deflated he felt on the inside. “Well Daryl, I thank you again for the directions. Take it easy,” Glenn said, backing slowly away from the incredibly sexy man in front of him, and regretting every last step that he took toward his car.
“Anytime, Glenn,” Daryl replied, his words catching slightly in his throat. “Remember, if you run in to any trouble, you’ve got my number.”
“I will,” Glenn smiled in reply, before ducking into that incredibly sexy Mercedes Benz of his, and waving goodbye to his kind new acquaintance.
“Bye,” Daryl murmured, as he watched the most devastatingly handsome man he had ever seen back out onto the highway, and disappear into a cloud of dust away from him.
It was only when Glenn had rounded the corner and was no longer in sight, that Daryl became painfully aware of the throbbing in his temple, as well as how stiflingly hot the air had become all around him.
“Fuck me, man...” Daryl groaned, as he fell back once again to lay out in the bed of his beat up pickup truck.
Glenn’s stomach was in knots all the way to the gas station. He almost didn’t even want to go into the gas station, and it would be exceptionally easy for him to just stop and fill up his gas tank like he had originally intended, but after speaking with Daryl, he realized that his throat had become incredibly dry.
Must be the heat, Glenn thought to himself. Yeah that’s it, the heat, Glenn rolled his eyes at the ridiculous attempt to convince himself that it wasn’t Daryl that had him feeling all hot and bothered. While it was true that Glenn wasn’t at all used to the scorching southern Atlanta heat, he knew that Daryl was completely to blame for how warm he had suddenly become. He shrugged his sports coat off, leaving him in just the plain black v-neck underneath. Though he did feel instantly better, his throat remained bone dry, and he knew that it would probably be awhile before he found another convenience store in these inconvenient back roads on the outside of Atlanta.
He had no choice but to stop in and see Ms. Nancy like Daryl had recommended...
It wasn’t that Glenn was jealous of this Ms. Nancy lady. He had just met Daryl for chrissake; there was no way that he could possibly be jealous of anyone that was pre-existing in the roadside salesman’s life. While all of this was true, Glenn couldn’t deny, no matter how hard he tried to ignore, that his heart had immediately deflated once Daryl had mentioned the little fact about Ms. Nancy being the ‘most beautiful woman in all of Georgia’... of course someone as gorgeous as Daryl Dixon would have an equally beautiful woman in his life.
Glenn pulled up to one of the pumps at the gas station, and reluctantly turned off the engine. He grabbed his wallet from his coat pocket, and with a heavy heart, wandered aimlessly into the small, yet cozy little country convenience store, and was pleasantly surprised at what he saw.
Lining the shelves were snacks, cold drinks, knick knacks, souvenier items, and other random goods, but it was the sweet voice that was singing along to the Patsy Cline song that was playing on the radio that had him drawn in. The voice belonged to an older lady that was behind the counter, who had her long graying hair pulled back into a bun. She had been scribbling something on a piece of paper until Glenn’s footsteps gave away that she had an audience.
“Why, hello there!” The lady greeted Glenn with a smile so warm, that it made him immediately ache to be back home with his own mother. “How you doin’ today, darlin?”
It took Glenn several moments to snap back to reality, before he was able to form a coherent sentence. “I’m good! Great, actually,” Glenn replied, truly meaning his words as everything sank in and began to make sense to him. "You must be Ms. Nancy,” Glenn thought aloud, as the woman nodded.
“Why, I sure am,” she beamed, gazing curiously at Glenn.
“Daryl sent me over,” Glenn immediately added, as recognition flashed within her piercing blue eyes that Glenn swore he knew from somewhere...
“Oh, that Daryl,” She mused, with a warm smile. “He sure is a handsome one, isn’t he?”
A deep shade of crimson immediately flushed Glenn’s cheeks, and right away he secretly hoped that the floor would open up and eat him whole.
That is, until Ms. Nancy placed a hand on his shoulder, and with the sweetest of smiles, said, “It’s okay, dear. You don’t have to be shy with me.”
Glenn took a deep breath, and thought about her words for a moment. It was pretty obvious that Glenn was a gay man. He wore designer clothes, got expensive haircuts, and got manicures, for chrissake. He chose to keep that part of his life closed off from the general public, because most people that he had chose to be open and honest with about his sexual orientation had been pretty damn awful thus far.
That was part of the reason that Glenn was fighting so hard to become the best civil right’s attorney that he could possibly be, but there was something in the warmness of Ms. Nancy’s smile and the sincerity in her deep blue eyes that made Glenn immediately relax. He somehow felt like he was right at home, and could tell this woman just about anything right now, and it would be okay with her.
“Can I tell you a secret?” Glenn asked, as Ms. Nancy nodded eagerly.
“Of course, dear,” She replied, as Glenn gave a crooked smile.
“A little while ago when I was driving around and I was helplessly lost, looking for a gas station and the interstate, and happened to stumble upon the little roadside stand that Daryl was working at,” Glenn began, as Ms. Nancy held on to his every word. “I’ve never been more happy to be lost, because being lost led me to Daryl...”
Glenn paused for a moment, as the warm, fuzzy feeling that he’d been feeling continued to spread throughout every vein in his body. “He is quite literally the most gorgeous person that I have ever seen,” Glenn admitted, as Ms. Nancy cheered happily.
“Come on, sug,” Ms. Nancy beamed, grabbing Glenn by the hand, and leading him off toward the soda shop that was set up next to the counter. “Let’s get you somethin’ to drink.”
Daryl felt like kicking himself. Hard. Repeatedly.
If he weren’t hungover, maybe he would have been smart enough to get Glenn’s phone number. He had given Glenn his number, but he was sure that someone like Glenn would only use the number on that business card that Daryl had given him if he needed a tire changed or broke down on the side of the road.
To make matters worse, it was barely even noon, and the Georgia heat was beating down on him more fiercely than ever. As Daryl laid back down in the bed of his truck, with his legs mindlessly swinging off the edge, he was pretty sure that today would be the longest day of his life.
Daryl placed his sunglasses over his now shut eyes, and felt himself begin to drift off back to sleep...
He couldn’t be sure how long he had been out for, but somewhere in his subconscious, he heard a car pulling up next to him.
“’m on break,” Daryl grumbled as he heard footsteps crumbling against the gravel. He threw an arm over his face, and hoped like hell that whoever had invaded his nap would take the hint and go away.
“Good,” he heard a voice say, as his eyes snapped open to reveal the very handsome, sharp-dressed man named Glenn, perched on the side of his truck, smiling at him.
“Mind if I join you?”
Daryl watched in disbelief as his eyes drank up this very sexy vision of Glenn, and threw his arm back over his eyes. “I must still be dreamin’ or somethin’” he mumbled, though a small smile played on his lips as he spoke those words.
“Oh yeah?” Glenn mused, as the words that Daryl had just said rang over and over in his head. Still dreaming? About him? This was better than he could have even hoped for...
“Mhm,” Daryl grumbled, though a small smile still played on his lips.
Glenn thought for a moment, before deciding that if Daryl could be bold enough to reveal that he had been dreaming of him, he could be bold enough to prove that the real thing was even better.
“Was it a good dream?” Glenn asked, his voice taking on a more sensual tone than before.
“Oh yeah,” Daryl murmured, as he felt his heart rate begin to increase. His eyes were still shut as he felt curious fingers on his thighs, and felt his body involuntarily tremble at the sensations those strong hands were causing him to feel.
Glenn all but convulsed himself at Daryl‘s reaction, and decided there was no harm in taking things a bit further.
“Tell me about it,” Glenn teased, as he spread Daryl’s legs open just the slightest bit wider, and settled himself in between them. Daryl took a deep, shuddering breath, and shook his head.
“No point,” Daryl shrugged, as Glenn felt a tugging at his heart.
“Why not?” He almost didn’t ask, his voice quiet.
Daryl felt that same tug at his own heart; a strange, violent tugging that he had never quite felt before at the way Glenn seemed to be pulling away. He reached out immediately to grab onto Glenn, to keep him right there where he was settled right where he so desperately wanted Glenn to be in between his legs, securing him in place as he dared to defy his still slightly hungover mind, and opened his eyes.
Daryl’s heart skipped a beat and a half as his eyes fell once again upon Glenn. “’s no way you could really be here,” he said, his brain deadset on the obvious disbelief that Glenn was not really there with him.
That statement hit Glenn like a ton of bricks.
“And why’s that?” He asked, cautiously, as Daryl gave him a knowing look.
“You kiddin’ me?” Daryl replied, as if it were the most obvious thing on the planet. “Someone like you couldn’t possibly be int’rested in someone like me.”
“Are you kidding me?” Glenn quickly retaliated, as a wide grin spread wide on either side of his attractive face. “You’re sexy as fuck and inexplicably gorgeous. You’re co-owner of a very successful garage, and from what your mom said to me just a little while ago, you’re just about the sweetest guy imaginable.”
Daryl felt his heart do yet another backflip at all of Glenn’s words. Glenn had gone down to see his mom, Ms. Nancy, after all.
“She’s just biased,” Daryl blushed, covering his face once again with his arm, but this time, Glenn grabbed the intruding limb, and positioned it to where it was now lying above Daryl’s head, as he leaned in to hover over him.
“Well, this may be,” Glenn nodded, as Daryl took in all of the gorgeous splendor of Glenn and that little crooked grin that he wore on his face as he peered down upon him. “But anyone who would look after their father’s roadside stand for him every other weekend while he’s out sick seems like something that a pretty sweet guy would do.”
Daryl felt all of his words quickly escape him then, so he did the only thing that he could think to do. He reached up to grab Glenn by his shirt collar, and pulled him down so that his lips could collide hungrily to his own. Daryl kissed Glenn like he needed it to breathe, like the end of the world was near, like this was the last thing he would ever do, and Glenn immediately responded with an equal amount of fervor.
Glenn broke apart from the older man only after the need to breathe had become an issue, as a previously forgotten thought flashed back in his mind.
“Oh, I almost forgot,” he spoke suddenly, as he reached into his pocket and pulled out a folded up piece of paper. He handed it over to Daryl, who in turn took those sunglasses off to read over the words that Ms. Nancy had written for him.
‘Daryl,
Thanks for everything that you do. I want you to take the afternoon off and spend it with Glenn. Bring him by the house for dinner tonight, if you want. Love you, darlin! - Ma'
Daryl was all grins as he read over those words. He placed the note carefully in his pocket, as Glenn extended an arm out to help him sit up.
“So Daryl, I was wondering... since I am new to the area, maybe you could recommend a good place for dinner?” Glenn asked, his tone a bit shy, despite still being able to taste Daryl on his lips from that absolutely amazing kiss they had shared earlier. “And um, if you have time, maybe, if you wanted... to spend the afternoon with me?”
“I know the perfect place,” Daryl replied happily, before pulling Glenn in as close as he could, leaning in to kiss him again and again.