Work Text:
Cash isn’t normally approached by the others when he’s working, unless of course, it’s because they need a translator.
A translator for Daryl, that is.
It’s a running joke amongst almost every community that you need a whole separate dictionary to understand the intricacies of Daryl Dixon. He’s like Shakespeare, if Shakespeare spoke in caveman noise dialect and fidgety hand motions. There really aren't many people that understand most of what Daryl’s quirks mean, in fact most just brush it off as nothing. But to those who pay attention, specifically to Cash, there’s actually quite a lot behind every grunt and throw of his arm.
And so, him being the most well-versed in the study of Daryl’s mannerisms, he’s always the one that people go to when the hunter is being uncooperative. And today is one of those days, it seems, because even as he’s busy fiddling away in the dirt of Alexandria’s crops, he still looks up and finds Carol smiling down at him with a warm yet worried expression.
“Hey, Care.” Cash returns her smile as he sits up a little straighter, resting back on his heels with his hands in his lap. He already knows what she wants from him, but he’ll play dumb until she says it outright.
“Hey,” She responds in that friendly, bright tone of her’s that Cash much prefers over the solemn one she also can carry. “Whatcha up to?” She’s just trying to break into the conversation slowly, and though Cash doesn’t understand why, he plays along.
The blonde shrugs. “Nothin’ much. Just babying some of the seedlings.” He puts a hand on one knee and the other one the ground as he lifts himself into a standing position, sighing as he shakes some of the dirt off one of his pant legs. “Do you need me for something?” He cuts to the chase without directly saying what he already knows, his suspicions only further confirmed by the way Carol mimics his earlier sigh.
“It’s Daryl.” She confesses, dropping the small talk as she should’ve from the start. “He’s not talking to anyone. At all. And he’s just acting…weird.” Cash nods as she explains, chewing the inside of his cheek as he thinks on it.
It’s rare that Daryl goes fully nonverbal, even though the man is mostly quiet as is. He still usually responds in quick, one-word ways or gives some sort of verbal acknowledgment. Something has to really be bothering him for him to fully shut down, and that sparks some concern in Cash’s mind.
“I’ll see what I can do, then.” Cash turns his head back to Carol after that moment of consideration, gesturing with a little extension of his arm. “Lead the way.”
It doesn’t take long for them to reach Daryl, since he doesn’t really change his daily routine much unless there’s new surprises in store. But even though he’s in a very normal Daryl location overall, he’s not in a very normal Daryl spot within said location.
The broken down remnants of a scorched building near one of Alexandria’s far corners is nothing new. It was trampled and burned back with the Wolves attacked, and went mostly unnoticed by most of the community, except for Daryl, of course. Daryl frequently stops by it to try and rebuild the structure, insisting that it could be rebuilt into another medical facility despite how far off it is from the other one. Really, he just does it because he always needs to keep himself busy, and it’s something to do on days where he’s not needed for a supply run or other duties.
And he’s actually been making decent progress too, the building’s porch almost fully restored by now.
What’s more surprising than the location is the fact that Aaron is also there at the moment, a hand on his chin as he stares into the building with a concerned expression. There’s also the distinct lack of Daryl in any immediate area, which is more odd, because normally the back of Daryl’s vest or the sound of heavy footfalls from the man’s feet on loose boards are the first noticeable things. But Carol took Cash here, so this must be where Daryl is, he must just be hidden away somewhere. Definitely adding onto the list of growing reasons why this is far from normal Daryl behavior.
“Aaron?” Is the first thing out of Cash’s mouth as he gets closer, causing the other’s attention to snap towards him. “What’s going on? Where’s Daryl?” He tries to keep himself from sounding too anxious, the simple yet clear change in Daryl’s behavior pattern putting an unpleasant feeling in his gut. He’s an overthinker, it’s his biggest fault by far, and try as he might he can’t keep calm when it comes to his lover.
Aaron’s presence has a calming way to it no matter what though, and just the sound of his voice eases at least some of the nerves buzzing in Cash’s mind and body. “He’s in there.” Aaron nods his head the slightest bit towards the burned structure. “All I get when I try to talk to him is grunting and…well, you get the point.” He sighs, crossing his arms over his chest now.
With a sigh, and a heavy nod, Cash begins to walk once again. “I’ll take care of it.” He says with a dismissing wave of his hand, though neither Carol nor Aaron leave as they watch him walk up the porch steps and into the building.
He walks quietly as best as he can with the rubble and scarily loose boards of the building, not out of fear but because he doesn’t want to spook Daryl when he finally gets close to him. He looks around, frowning as the sunlight only illuminates certain parts of the interior, not able to tell if Daryl is anywhere within the darker patches without getting closer.
“Daryl?” Cash calls to him, looking around and cursing under his breath when his pant leg catches on a splintered board sticking up. He looks behind him, back through the doorway and out at Carol and Aaron, who both seem equally as unaware of Daryl’s exact location as he is.
He practically jumps out of his skin when he hears a soft grunt from behind him, whipping around quickly and nearly falling over as he looks at the source. In one of the most shaded corners of the structure, right by the entrance, is the darkened shape of Daryl sitting there with his knees pulled up to his chest, arms slung over them. He’s barely looking up at Cash, but his eyes are the most visible thing in the darkness as they peer through his bangs.
Cash sighs for what feels like the millionth time in the past twenty minutes, relief washing over him as he finally lays eyes on his partner. He approaches Daryl less quietly and methodically than before, less afraid of scaring him now. He crouches down in front of Daryl, leveling with him and smiling at him as his stare flicks from one of Daryl’s eyes to the other, back and forth.
“Hey.” He starts quietly, keeping his voice hushed in hopes that Carol and Aaron can’t hear it. He knows they’re probably still trying to, though. Aaron’s sort of an eavesdropper even when he doesn’t realize it, and Carol’s too protective of Daryl to not be straining an ear. “Carol said you stopped talking.”
Daryl makes a low, rumbling, almost growl-like sound in the back of his throat, like a wild dog or something. Clearly he’s not happy to be disturbed at the moment, more irritable than usual, but Cash doesn’t let up. Unsurprisingly there’s no further answer other than a quick rise and slump of his shoulders, so Cash presses onwards.
“Are you okay? Did something happen?” His tone continues to be gentle as he reaches a hand out to brush Daryl’s hair from his eyes, but the other man pulls back from it, scrunching up further into the corner. Cash tilts his head to the side and furrows his brows, curious as to what’s causing this. Daryl’s behavior is certainly the same as when he’s overwhelmed with emotion, like when he’s angry or hurt and trying to avoid comfort, but he doesn’t know of anything that could’ve caused those sorts of feelings today. So he asks another question, one more specific that maybe he can get a better response to. “Why are you in the dark?”
There’s a pause, and he almost thinks Daryl is going to speak for a moment, but he doesn’t. Instead, he nods his head in a similar way to how Aaron had before, this time in the direction of the brightly lit center of the room. Cash looks over his shoulder to examine the area, taking a second to understand, but only a second. He really should’ve already known.
“Your eyes started hurting, huh? It was too bright in here?” He asks when he turns his head back to Daryl, sympathetic again. Daryl nods, barely perceptibly, but he does, and makes another soft grumbling sound. He’s less angry now, it seems, and more grumpy, which are two very different moods in the great dictionary of Daryl Dixon.
He nods back in response, but his face slowly contorts back into one of mild confusion the more he thinks on it. Daryl’s eyes are sensitive to light, yes, and they get irritated easily and tend to cause him discomfort, but most days it doesn’t affect him all that much, and certainly doesn’t swing his mood downwards like this. At most, it gives him a headache and makes him a little snippier, but not full-blown grouchy and hiding in corners levels of snippy.
After a while, he just decides to ask outright. “Why are you in the corner though?” He can’t help the way his tone lost just some of its softness due to his curiosity. “Usually it’s not bad enough to warrant…” He pauses, waving his hand at Daryl’s slumped form. “…all this.”
The glare he gets from the brunette actually shocks him a little, blinking back his surprise as he gets no response at all this time.
And that just sort of annoys him. Doesn’t piss him off, because he could never be pissed at Daryl at a time like this, but the stubbornness does annoy him a little. It also serves to fuel that spark of worry into more of a flickering flame in the back of his mind, and he’s not taking things calmly anymore. He thinks maybe that part of the issue is the presence of Aaron and Carol still lingering around, so the solution has to be taking Daryl somewhere else.
So in a movement that’s so sudden it pulls a surprised grunt from the brooding man, Cash is grabbing one of his arms and hauling him to his feet, noting how the fight Daryl would usually have in him disappears immediately when he’s in the blonde’s grip. The movement causes Cash to stumble a little, as Daryl is still a decent chunk larger and harder to tow than he is, but his look remains firm as he locks both of his arms around one of Daryl’s.
“C’mon.” Is all he says as he looks up at the wide-eyed hunter, getting a shocked nod from him as confirmation before he’s hauling Daryl out of the burned building. Aaron starts to say something but Carol gives him a look to keep his mouth shut as the couple passes by, Cash clearly set on getting Daryl as far away from anyone else as possible at the moment.
Daryl makes another low grunt as he’s pulled, like he’s still a little peeved, and brings a hand up to shield his eyes from the sunlight. Cash notes both of these things, aware of how hyper-sensitive Daryl seems to be to his surroundings, even down to the way he’s tensed back up uncomfortably. He loosens his grip a little while still making sure he can guide Daryl, just to provide an ounce of relief to the other man’s tension. It works somewhat, Cash feeling more than seeing the way Daryl’s shoulders slump with resignation to the situation.
When they’re out of earshot and eyesight, he speaks again;
“What, are you on your period or something?!” Cash whispers as he walks Daryl along, tone closer to a quiet yell or hiss than anything. He’s not mad, truly he’s not, he’s just concerned, and it’s coming out intensely.
The suggestion makes Daryl go wide eyed and vigorously shake his head, looking around even though there’s nobody else close to them. “Nobody heard.” Cash mumbles, still sounding more disgruntled than he means to as he tugs the significantly beefier man with him.
Cash walks Daryl around one of the currently unoccupied houses of the community, sunlight blocked out by the shade of the roofs in the small space between two buildings. He removes his arms from around one of Daryl’s to place them on the hunter’s shoulders, gently pushing at them and making the other sit down on the stone bench you’d normally see in a garden. He stands in front of Daryl, looking down at him and scanning for any sign of pain or anything closd to that on his features, just to be safe. He’s gentle but firm in his actions, moving Daryl around like a ragdoll in ways nobody else is allowed to. It’s a bit like how you’d treat a stressed child.
As soon as Daryl is sat down, he peers around the edge of the building, eyes darting across every nook and cranny far off from where they are. He doesn’t want to be seen — or more accurately, be judged — in this moment of what he would consider weakness. Cash can see that, he knows that, and he can’t have Daryl worrying. So, he takes both sides of Daryl’s face in his hands, cupping his cheek gently, and slowly turns the brunette’s head back to him.
He stares right into Daryl’s eyes, still with that firm but caring demeanor. He doesn’t like forcing eye contact with Daryl, especially at times like this, but sometimes it’s the only thing he can do to get his lover to focus. And luckily it has its intended effect, because those nervous blue eyes are holding his own gaze without flinching, at least for the moment.
“What’s. Wrong?” He punctuates both words, but his tone is far softer than it was on the walk over here. His thumbs rub gently over Daryl’s cheeks, brushing past scruffy facial hair and making little circles against the skin.
Of course, Daryl doesn’t give a worded response to that. His eyes fall to the ground now, eyebrows furrowing like he’s glaring at it. Pouting, basically. Cash has to fight off a smile at the sight. Shortly after, Daryl is letting out another sound, a short but deep exhale with the faintest grumbling sort of sound in the back of his throat.
In Cash’s many days with his partner, he’s come to acknowledge a noise like that as one of discomfort or annoyance. Judging by the way Daryl hasn’t pulled away though, and his almost shy and tense body language, it doesn’t seem to be directed at the blonde.
So Cash does some mental deduction, running through a checklist of things. When he lands on the most likely possibility, his voice is even softer than before; “Are you overstimulated, hon?”
Daryl doesn’t nod or shake his head, and still doesn’t speak. But his eyes flick more to the side now, the same way they do when he’s embarrassed or particularly anxious about something, and that’s always been a staple of his overstimulated movements as well. He’s always ashamed of admitting it, because he doesn’t like people feeling the need to fuss over him. But he can just deal with that, because Cash is absolutely going to try to take care of him in this state.
Cash’s expression fully softens now, thumbs still rubbing soothingly along Daryl’s cheeks. “Ok,” He says through a sigh, letting his hands drop from the other man’s head.
Cash shuffles around to sit next to Daryl on the bench, the thing so small it’s barely big enough for the both of them but he manages it anyways. Slowly, so that Daryl has enough time to flinch away or stop him if he doesn’t want it, Cash begins to wrap an arm around Daryl’s shoulder. When the larger man doesn’t shove him away, or make a discontented sound, he hauls him a little closer, letting their sides press up against each other.
The next sound Daryl makes is another huff, though this one is quiet and has a hint of a hum to it. The noise makes Cash’s chest swell up with a bit of pride in himself, because he knows that he’s helped Daryl’s mood now, at least a little bit.
“Do you need to go home? Or do you just wanna stay like this for a while?” He asks as he looks up at Daryl, smiling as to reassure him. Daryl still doesn’t look at him, looking down at the ground as his foot taps onto the dirt. The tapping begins to slow after a few seconds, and Daryl shakes his head, sharp and quick in a blink-and-you’ll-miss-it type of way. Cash doesn’t miss it though, and he nods. “Then we’ll stay here.”
So he leans back, arm still wrapped around Daryl, and lets his head rest against the exterior planks of the house behind them. The shade provided in this little opening is nice, far nicer than the harsh sunlight he was getting out in the garden. It’s soothing for his already sunburnt skin.
He feels Daryl shift after a while, and is about to ask what he’s doing, but stops when he feels Daryl’s head come to carefully rest against his shoulder. It’s a soft giggle rather than a question that leaves him then, and he gives Daryl a short and affectionate squeeze around his shoulders. As Daryl lays there, breathing slowly with his eyes closed, messy hair falling into his face and looking absolutely relaxed for the first time today, Cash leans his head over to place a kiss to the top of the hunter’s head.
Cash’s face stays pressed into the messy mop of Daryl’s hair as his hand begins to rub up and down the other’s shoulder soothingly. He whispers quiet, love-laced words of affection into Daryl’s hair, delighting in the way his lover will occasionally make a low humming sound or nuzzle his face against the fabric of Cash’s garden-soiled t-shirt. Neither of them really seem to care much about the dirt or grime on them from their work in the community, the lack of picture perfect hygiene just being a staple of their life nowadays.
After a few minutes of gentle “I’ve got you”s and “It’s okay”s into Daryl’s ears, a rumbly, accent thick voice speaks for the first time;
“‘M okay now…I think…”
Cash is surprised to actually hear Daryl speak, but he nods anyway, planting another kiss to Daryl’s head. “You sure? Think you’re okay to get back to work?” He keeps brushing his fingers along Daryl’s shoulder as he speaks, feeling the deep rumble of the noise he makes this time too.
“Yeah.” Is all he gets as a response, and he nods, feeling Daryl moving again and accommodating him by removing his arm to let the hunter sit upright.
Cash hops up off the bench — literally hops, not exaggerating there — and holds a hand out for Daryl before the other begins to stand. “Well, c’mon then, big guy.” He says with a grin.
Daryl finally cracks a smile at him, nodding and taking the smaller man’s hand as he pulls Daryl up off the bench. Cash’s grip loosens like he’s going to let go, but Daryl’s hand tightens at the same moment, keeping their hands intertwined like he still needs the support. He’ll let go when they’re closer to the others, so he doesn’t get teased for holding hands and blushing like a grade school boy, but he just needs to hold on to Cash for a little bit longer.
Cash doesn’t comment on it or make any acknowledgment of it, but the warm tingle in his stomach from the little gesture certainly does. He gives the taller’s hand a little squeeze as they start taking their time in walking back to the others, barely hearing another very quiet and content hum from the other.
Yeah, he thinks he’s cracked Daryl’s code pretty well.