A/N: Wooh! First story uploaded to fanfiction in a long time. This was done for a prompt on tumblr I received in my ask. Hope you enjoy!
Title: Nice Crossbow
Prompt: "Daryl tries to flirt back to Carol but comes out flat and like the group got all confused." asked by anon
Rating: T (for suggestive talk and Daryl's sailor mouth)
Summary: Was it so bad that he wanted a girl he could talk to? What the fuck was he talking about? Of course it was.
Daryl wasn't a hopeless romantic. Hell, he wasn't even a romantic or at least that's what he liked to tell himself. In reality, he didn't know how to deal with the opposite sex. They were giggly and forceful and it turned him off or at least the girls Merle brought home were.
Was it so bad that he wanted a girl he could talk to?
What the fucking was he talking about? Of course it was.
He cursed himself and continued cleaning his arrows which were down in numbers. He still had the feathers from that owl in his pack, even after all this time and he was wondering if he had gotten any flesh when he yanked them out and if it'd start to stink (which didn't mean much these days since they all smelled rank but he wanted to be courteous to Lori and her sensitive stomach to smells like that. He couldn't count how many times she had to get out of the car and puke at the smell of a walker).
There was the sound of feet on the steps and he gripped his knife instinctively, wondering if it was one of those creepy ass inmates. Sure, they had given them access to medical supplies that had taken a weight off their shoulders and saved Hershel's life but that didn't mean he wanted to get to know them. He knew men like them.
Personally.
He made sure to stay up a little bit later to make sure everyone's cells were locked tightly.
Carol's head popped over the steps and his body relaxed, setting his knife on the ground. He nodded to her and she smiled, lowering herself onto her knees to be at eye level with him.
"Eat. You know there's plenty," Carol said, handing him a bowl of stale cereal with powdered milk.
He eyed it before looking back up at her, knowing if he didn't eat he'd have her nagging his ass all day. He took it, took a sloppy bite, slurping the warm milk before he set it on the ground.
Daryl didn't know how to react to her proposition the other night. Sure, the idea of sex was appealing to him. He hadn't slipped it in since before this whole thing happened. Months before actually. But Carol was….Carol. She was his friend.
But still no matter how many times he assured himself that was all they were he always seemed to come back to her daring comments that made him take a step back and actually look at their relationship. Which Daryl didn't do much.
And there was this nagging feeling that if he didn't reciprocate that he'd lose her. And that was the worst feeling. That he was just making a fool of himself when in reality Carol liked him just the way he was. The anti-social redneck with commitment issues.
He was her redneck.
And that was something he liked. She didn't judge him. She understood him, cheesy as it sounded. She was what he wanted.
Carol was looking at him oddly, calling his name as he stared at her, lost in a deep train of though.
"Sorry," he grunted. "Thanks," he said after a moment and Carol took that as permission to plop herself down next to him. Her change this past winter was admirable. It helped him, showing that people can move on and even though it was an unspoken rule between them that they knew about each other's abuse but never spoke about it he found it comforting.
"Can I help?" she asked, wiping her hands on her jeans.
He grunted, feeling that nagging feeling rise up again. He should stop being so awkward and say something.
The voices of Rick and some of the others coming in roused them out of their own private conversation as Rick's thick voice called out to them. The group joined around him, including the convicts who got weary looks from a couple of the others. Carl stood protectively near Beth which made Daryl smirk.
Rick talked about clearing block D and all the things they needed to do today. Hershel had put Lori (and himself) on bedrest for the last couple months of her pregnancy so they weren't present which Rick reminded everyone not to disturb them.
When everyone began to broke up, Daryl who had been thinking about it the whole meeting, going over and over it in his head his head finally spoke up.
"I like your hair today," he told Carol, a little too loud than he would have wanted. Some of the others stopped and turned, quirking an eyebrow at him who immediately knew what he said was stupid and the worst attempted at flirting and fuck he should just go thrown himself at those damn walkers.
Daryl Dixon never got embarrassed. Never.
Carol, an amused little smile on her face, nodded at him.
"Your crossbow's lookin' pretty slick there," she teased. "C'mon, let's go practice with that new whatsahoosit gun."
"MP4?" he offered, glad she took it in stride despite the other staring and snickering.
"Yeah," she smiled and turned on her heel, walking off, letting Daryl spin around, snarling at those staring.
"The fuck you lookin' at? Dumbasses," he muttered, trailing after Carol.