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"Don't think I got one," Daryl mused, digging an arrow further into the mud. Why you insisted on aggravating him with stupid questions was beyond his comprehension but he'd be lying if he said you were actually bothering him.
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You'd volunteered to take watch with him tonight while everyone else got some sleep. Winter was settling in and so were Lori's mood swings. She'd been so spectacularly bothered by everything lately that no one wanted to be around her. To make it worse, the only viable shelter for the night was a rundown looking trailer in the woods. Daryl had jumped on night watch, if only to avoid suffocating in the confines of the trailer with everyone else. He took up a spot in the front of the trailer, sitting on the small porch and digging arrows through the mud. It was quiet and promised to stay that way, at least for a few days, but Lori was hellbent on moving instead of trying to rest.
"Mind if I join you?" You asked, closing the door and latching the screen before making your way over to Daryl. The sun was already set and the night was well under way. You had volunteered to keep watch with Daryl before anyone else could offer. You knew Rick was eager to be away from Lori but you were just as eager to be alone with Daryl for longer than five seconds.
He shook his head, a silent 'I never do' though he played the part of annoyed pretty well. Tonight he looked indifferent but he watched from the corner of his eye as you lowered yourself to sit next to him. It was starting to get cold in the evenings and you had found a hoodie inside to wrap yourself in. Daryl reached over with one hand and pulled the hood up over your head, pushing your hair into your face.
"Stop," you laughed, nudging him with you elbow and pushing both hood and hair out of your face. "I bet you were that annoying kid who pestered people all the time when you were little."
"Don't know what yer on about," he replied, grinning as you jumped off the porch, wiping your hands over your sides. When you looked back at him he was holding the arrow he'd been digging with, waving it to indicate that he'd prodded you with it.
"Seriously," you huffed, climbing back up and putting some distance between the two of you.
Reaching over, Daryl grabbed the hem of your shirt and pulled on it, indicating that he wanted you back beside him. You shuffled over, thigh brushing against his. The hand that was holding your shirt let go, smoothing along your back before pulling away to settle on dragging his arrow through the dirt again. You turned your body into his side, resting your head on his shoulder and tucking your hands into your hoodie. Daryl's skin was cool beneath your cheek. While Daryl could just sit and watch and wait you were never able to keep yourself occupied, constantly shifting around. Even now you pulled your leg up, resting your knee against his lap and tucking your foot under your other thigh. Daryl knew you well enough to know that in ten more minutes you'd be fidgeting again but he said nothing about it and just put a hand on your knee instead.
"You think it'll be cold in the morning?"
"How should I know?"
"You can track and stuff," you shrugged, "figured you could like, read the weather and shit too."
"Yer a pain in my ass ya know that?" he asked, tilting his head slightly and kissing the top of your head.
"Hey," you shifted slightly so you could look at him, "that's a compliment, you should be flattered I think so highly of you."
He only rolled his eyes "Why'd ya wanna know?"
"Cause I saw a river not too far from here and I wanted to wash up," you replied, stretching your legs out in front of you and then letting them dangle over the side of the porch. "My hair is getting greasy. You could use a wash too." You reached up and brushed a piece of Daryl's hair behind his ear.
"I'm fine."
"You're a little gross." You reply, wrinkling your nose for effort.
Daryl shrugged, "then don't sleep next to me," he said matter of factly, like the sleeping bag you'd been sharing was just an agreement between the two of you and not anything more but he would be terrified if you suddenly stopped sleeping next to him. He could go down a rabbit hole of possibilities when his insecurity really got the best of him; then even acting indifferent didn't help. Was he bothering you? Were you going to sleep somewhere else? Would you stop going on watch with him?
You leaned over and kissed his cheek, "you're lucky I like you so much," you teased, "and that my feet get cold when I sleep alone."
"I got a pair of wool socks from the last house in my bag, if ya want 'em," he'd grabbed them from the master bedroom as Rick was calling everyone to head out. They looked hand sewn and he knew, with the weather getting worse, your hands and feet would get cold faster.
"You're too good to me," you insisted. It was too dark to see the faint blush that lit up Daryl's face but you did feel the light squeeze he gave your knee in response. You snuck a quick kiss to his bare arm before turning away, "I don't know how you're out here without a jacket."
"It's over there," he nodded his head toward the door behind you and you looked back to find his jacket laying across the porch bench.
"It's cold Daryl." You lifted his arm, wrapping it around your shoulders and hugging his waist.
"Keeps ya awake, we're supposed ta be watching fer geeks," he replied, turning his head just enough to kiss your forehead.
"Oh, that reminds me!" You pulled away, his hand dragging across your shoulders and back as you stood up, almost as if he was reluctant to let you go. And truthfully, he was.
Daryl tried to act as indifferent as he could, knowing that the reality of this world didn't guarantee anyone any sort of confirmed happiness. In the short time that he'd known you he'd lost his brother, Rick had almost lost Carl, Carol had lost Sophia, Andrea had lost Amy, and they had all lost Dale and Andrea. He was familiar with loss and he knew it was just a symptom of this world, so he was reluctant to let himself feel anything. But when he was with you it was impossible to keep up the charade of indifference. When he'd heard you pipe up to volunteer for night watch with him, he'd been unable to stop himself from feeling happy.
He couldn't exactly remember when things between the two of you had started. Or when you'd gone from being just some girl at the camp and became something more important to him. He thought it had something to do with the overwhelming amount of affection you seemed to have on hand. Daryl had hated to admit it but he looked forward to the simple touches, a brush of your hand against his arm, a kiss to his cheek, the way you held his hand in your sleep when the two of you had started sharing a tent at Hershel's farm.
"Look!" You stood behind him, leaning over and dangling an old green stanley thermos in front of him, "coffee."
"How long's it been in there?" He asked, grinning as he took the thermos from you.
"I made it. Glenn made that fire earlier and I boiled some water for coffee. Keep us up." You informed him.
In another instant you were sitting down beside him again and he realized that not only had you gotten coffee but you were now wearing his jacket over your stolen hoodie. You left another kiss to his cheek and huddled close again. Maybe more optimistic than Daryl you were not at all indifferent to him. Everyone knew he was your favorite person long before he realized it. Glenn had teased you mercilessly over your crush when it was just that, silent yearning that Daryl would maybe get the hint that you were interested in him. You weren't entirely sure how you'd gotten here either, sharing sleeping bags and staying up late. You talked about silly things and he listened intently. It was a far cry from being too nervous to speak to him.
You watched him swallow a gulp of coffee, biting your lip to stop a laugh when he grimaced, "sorry, I like it strong."
"I'll be up for another month now," he commented, handing the container back to you.
Once you had the coffee securely between your thighs, Daryl wrapped his arm around you again, the chill of his skin raising goosebumps when you held his hand. "You should take your jacket, I don't want you to be cold."
"I ain't cold."
"Yeah but you wouldn't tell me if you were cold. You'd just sit there and freeze like the caveman from Scooby-Doo." You replied. When he looked your way, incredulous and slightly bemused, you kissed him. "You have seen at least one episode of Scooby-Doo right?"
Daryl shrugged, "I don't know."
"I used to watch it all the time with my best friend Ally. It was about a talking dog who used to like, solve crimes. Like people thought there were ghosts but it was just a banker or a lawyer or somebody scaring people off." You replied, turning in closer to him. Daryl could tell you were starting to get sleepy, even with the coffee. You always started talking nonsense when you were tired. "Who was your best friend?"
"Don't think I got one." He shrugged, digging his arrow into the mud with his free hand.
"Everyone has a best friend." You mused, "you're mine."
"Thought that was Ally," he teased, lifting your hood over your head again.
"When I was eight!"
Inside the trailer you could hear movement. Daryl shifted slightly, his arm dropping from your shoulders as the door opened. He still wasn't entirely comfortable with whatever this was going on between the two of you. It felt stupid to call it a relationship, people couldn't properly have those with the world being the way it was now. And you certainly weren't the giddy, sneaking off to the barn, types like Maggie and Glenn. Still, when everyone else was around Daryl still got shy about his affection, keeping a little distance between the two of you despite everyone knowing that it was more than friendship or situational tolerance that had you sharing the same sleeping mats or staying up on watch together or going out to hunt. Though you contributed little to hunting other than moral support.
Before the screen door could open you stole one last kiss from Daryl. He grinned but then the door opened and he was turning to see who had come outside.
You looked behind you to see Rick and T-Dog. "Hey, you two wanna sleep?" He asked. It wasn't near morning yet, maybe a few hours until the sun officially came up but you imagined Rick was restless and would rather this than be inside.
"Sounds good to me." You nodded, handing your coffee over to Daryl and standing up. You went to the door first, holding it open as Daryl got up and walked passed you into the tiny trailer. Before you'd gone on watch you'd spread the sleeping bag and two blankets out in the corner of the room, beneath the front window and close to the door. You weren't a fan of being so close to the outside but you knew Daryl would want to be by the door in case anyone needed anything or any walkers made their way towards camp. "Home sweet home," you whispered, glancing back at him with a smile.
Another roll of the eyes before the door shut and you couldn't see anymore. While Daryl kicked off his shoes and laid down you took your time getting ready. At the farm he'd teased you mercilessly the first time you stayed in his tent because you insisted on taking off your jeans and your bra to sleep. Even now as you pulled your bra out from under your hoodie and folded it on top of your jeans you heard him criticizing you.
"Yer gonna get bit one day, insisting on not sleeping ready." He commented as you got between him and the wall.
"That's why you sleep on the outside," you whispered back, kissing his cheek. You pulled the blankets up to your chin and shifted so you were practically facing the wall, his arm beneath your head.
"Trying ta get rid a me," he muttered, pulling your body close to his.
"Never." You snuggled further into the cocoon of Daryl and blankets. Once morning came he'd be up and, most likely, hunting, while you were still trying to get one last minute of sleep in. How he managed to wake up early every morning without an alarm was beyond you but you thought maybe it was just because he was such a light sleeper.
Your eyes closed, tucking your head further into the blanket when your nose got cold and listening to the quiet sound of Glenn snoring from across the room, trying to lull yourself to sleep. Daryl had shifted you into a spooning position already and you pulled the arm that was around your waist up so you could hold his hand and place a kiss against the inside of his wrist. Colder than he'd told you he was.
"I knew you were cold."
For a moment there was no answer and you thought maybe, for once in the short time you'd gotten to know Daryl, he'd fallen asleep before you, but then he pressed a kiss to the back of your neck.
"Thought about what you said," he whispered, voice barely there in the darkness. Typical, changing the subject.
"About what?" You hadn't stopped talking from the moment you got outside.
"You're my best friend too."
You turned your face into the arm under your head, smile so wide he could feel it against his skin and he smiled himself from the knowledge that he'd said something to make you happy. Indifference out the window and without the burden of having to know exactly what it was the two of you were to each other he was confident in the knowledge that you were his favorite person and that was plenty for both of you.