A/N: Just a little fic I wrote for the Thanksgiving holiday~ Short and sweet, because I was in a rather fluffy mood. I hope that everyone who celebrates Thanksgiving had a great Thanksgiving yesterday! And to those who don't, I hope you had a splendid day regardless :D And I hope you all enjoy this~
Warning: Mild slash.
One would think that, in light of it being the end of the world, there wouldn't be much to be thankful for.
But there is. Or at least, they're all doing their damndest to remind themselves that there is.
Rick, Lori, and Carl are all huddled together in what seems like the longest family hug Daryl's ever seen. Shane is hovering not too far away from them, probably feeling too awkward to join in, until Rick waves him over and pulls him into it. It's pretty big of him, all things considered; Daryl isn't sure he'd be able to do the same if it were him. Then again, Rick doesn't usually have a problem being the bigger man.
He sees Dale and T-Dog sitting by the RV laughing over some joke or other, a couple beers sitting between them. Andrea is sitting near them, looking a little reluctant, but Daryl can see that even she's trying to lighten up today. There's a smile on her face despite what her eyes say, and she joins in the conversation every now and again, nursing her own beer. It's nice to her acting a little more alive, a little less tense, even though he's got a pretty good feeling that her thoughts are on the family she's lost.
There's Sophia and Carol, neither of them saying much that he can tell; Carol's just holding her daughter and stroking her hair. They're not smiling, but they don't look sad, either. Just thankful, for lack of a better word, to be sitting there with each other, still alive. In one piece. It warms Daryl's heart, even if he'll never admit it out loud, because there is just something so pure about a mother's love for her child. Something that's kind of beautiful, that he finds himself grateful he can bear witness to in a world where any kind of love is hard to come by.
So it really kind of goes without saying that he's thankful for Glenn, who's sitting next to him, yammering on about how, last year, he and some friends got several extra large pizzas with every kind of meat but turkey. This being after a failed attempt to make a real turkey at one of their apartments. Apparently getting a fire department called on them made them rethink their desire for poultry. Since Daryl doesn't have any stories that don't end with "and then Daddy (or Merle, depending on the year) got drunk, yelled a lot, and passed out in his TV dinner", he's content just listening to the Korean. It's nice to have someone to listen to like this.
Glenn's fingers resting casually on top of his, the tone of mixed embarrassment and amusement as he regales him with the ghosts of failed dinners, the way he rolls his eyes when Daryl makes an off-handed remark about Asians not knowing how to cook anything aside from egg rolls and fortune cookies ("I'm not Chinese and fortune cookies are American, jackass")- he's thankful for all of it, every single bit of it. Because the world is over and they're talking about burnt turkies and stealing cars on Black Friday and exploding cranberry sauce that make microwaves look like crime scenes.
Because in a world where any kind of love is hard to come by, Daryl is lucky enough to have someone sitting next to him, reminding him that just because love is hard to come by doesn't mean it's impossible to find. Because he's lucky enough to love a smart-mouthed chink with no poker face and a really goofy grin; because he's lucky enough that that smart-mouthed chink can actually love a quick-tempered redneck with a blunt attitude and not much to offer.
He interrupts the third or fourth tale of something he decides to name 'Holidays Gone Wrong' to say, "Happy Thanksgivin', Glenn."
And Glenn tilts his head a bit and smiles, a smile that reminds him of everything he has to be thankful for. "Happy Thanksgiving to you too, Daryl."